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Pakistani Taliban Leader Hakimullah Mehsud Confirmed Dead

Aired February 09, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

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STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: After months of robust, Taliban sources confirmed Hakimullah Mehsud is dead. What does that mean to the insurgency in Pakistan? We'll have a live report from Islamabad.

Nearly one month after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, another amazing story of survival. We've got the exclusive pictures.

Plus more (INAUDIBLE) as one of his most popular brands is the latest to get hit with the recall.

From CNN Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, this is PRISM where we take a story and put it under the prism to look at it from multiple perspectives. I am Stan Grant.

Confirmation from Taliban sources today that Hakimullah Mehsud is dead. The leader of the Taliban in Pakistan was said to have been killed in a suspected U.S. drawn strike last month.

The Taliban initially denied that, but today, Taliban sources say Mehsud died on his way to a treatment center in Kurashid (ph). Let's go live now to Reza Sayah in Islamabad for more.

Reza, what we are able to piece together about the circumstances behind this death?

REZA SAYAH, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Stan, there's been a lot of mysteries surrounding the condition of Hakimullah Mehsud for the past few weeks.

Last week, a U.S. intelligence official finally told CNN that he believes Hakimullah is dead, but Taliban sources continue to deny until today. Three Taliban sources telling CNN that indeed Hakimullah Mehsud was injured in a U.S. drawn strike back in mid-January.

And he was in such bad shape that early this morning, he was being transported to get medical treatment, but the Taliban sources telling CNN, he did not make it. He passed away on the way. Hakimullah Mehsud, of course replaced the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud last August.

He rapidly earned a brutal reputation as a merciless Taliban leader. Some of the deadliest suicide attacks ever in Pakistan were launched under his leadership. Analysts here in Pakistan say this is certainly a setback for the Pakistani Taliban, but it's not the end of the Pakistani Taliban.

GRANT: Reza, what about a successor?

SAYAH: Well, two names have emerged as possible successor, Stan. One of them is Maulvi Toufan. He is a Taliban leader in the Aurakzaih Agency who emerged over the past few weeks in a videotape of a public beheading.

The other name that analysts say is a possible replacement is Qari Hussain. He is believed to be the trainer of suicide bombers among the Taliban. What the Taliban usually do to determine a successor is hold together a shura. This is where tribal elders get together and make a decision.

The last time this happened with the passing of Baitullah Mehsud. The Taliban showed a remarkable ability to regroup and fight again. Will it happen again? That's an open question - Stan.

GRANT: Reza, thank you. Reza Sayah joining us live there from Islamabad.

Well, across the border in Afghanistan, neither troops, Taliban, militants and Afghan civilians are all preparing each in their own way for a major battle. Mahja (ph) is the last major Taliban stronghold in Helban (ph) Province. The allies have long planned to join Afghan major offensive on the city.

And now, it looks as if Operation Mustarak (ph) as it has been named is about to begin.

I think it will be a little bit of mixed bag. I think some of our units will go in some pretty heavy contact. I think some of our units may have less contact. We don't know. All I know is we've let every single (INAUDIBLE) to prepare and (INAUDIBLE) of this big operation, I think we're ready.

GRANT: Although the assault on Majah (ph) has yet to begin in earnest, some British and Afghan forces have already conducted a number of ground operations to prepare for it.

It's one of the world's largest oil-producing countries. It's being without a working leader since November. That's because President Umaru has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia with a heart ailment.

Now, Nigerian lawmakers have taken action. They temporarily suspended the president and given (INAUDIBLE) vice president good luck (Jonathan) for now. From political power to nuclear power.

Iranian state media says the country is going ahead with its plans to produce highly enriched uranium. Under the eyes of a team of U.N. nuclear inspectors, Tehran insists it is producing the nuclear fuel for a research reactor.

Our Ivan Watson has more, from the CNN Iran desk and Ivan, patience wearing thin and skepticism very high.

IVAN WATSON: That's right. A lot of criticism from western governments even from Russia about this decision. The head of Iran's atomic energy agency saying that, at the Natans Nuclear Facility, they're going to start enriching uranium up to a level of 20 percent.

That's far below a weapon's grade, 90 percent enriched uranium, and of course, Iran insists that it is only doing this for peaceful civilian energy needs. It is also saying the doors are still open for negotiations. But there are fresh calls for sanctions against Iran from the U.S. and its European allies.

Meanwhile, many Iranian experts and analysts that we've been talking to say, this is a thriving through strategy by the Iranian government to try to divert attention from their own internal problems. Let's take a listen to what one of these men had to say - Stan.

The (INAUDIBLE) government is very medial (savvy) and almost excels in manipulating international public opinion with regards to what is important to - in regards to Iran. And they would love to see the nuclear issue dominate the headlines this week. So nobody talking about these hundreds of detentions and nobody would be paying attention to what happens in the country on Thursday.

And Stan, all the indications are that the Iranian government is just trying to clamp down on information flow out of Iran right now. They have rejected our applications for visas to attend the 31st anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

We're also getting reports that internet has been shut down nearly completely and a lot of text messaging services as well. Meanwhile, we've seen widespread crackdown on the opposition movement in Iran over the course of the past eight months.

Show trials being carried out of opposition leaders, two opposition activists executed by hanging last week and the former deputy foreign minister who was sentenced to six years in prison on charges that he was trying to overthrow the government and/or divisions within Iran not only political but within the ruling Shiite clergy.

We're getting reports from opposition web sites that a prominent and very senior Ayatollah by the name of Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili. He went in his wheelchair and this man used to be the head of the judiciary in Iran and he made a personal appeal to the supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And he said, please release the political prisoners and distance yourself from these extremists. If you do that, then we can try to settle these deep divisions in the society, and according to the reports in opposition web sites, the supreme leader rebuffed him. Opposition activist say, they are going to try to show their descent in the upcoming state- sponsored demonstrations that are scheduled for later this week -- Stan.

GRANT: Ivan, thank you for that. Ivan Watson from the Iran Desk.

Another week, another recall and another apology from Toyota's CEO. The world's largest automaker. It seems that he's just keep on counting. The latest embarrassment involves brake problems in the popular Prius and other hybrids. Kyung Lah is tracking that story from Tokyo.

KYUNG LAH, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This document made it official. The safety recall is on. Toyota filing papers notifying Japan's government of its recall. The affected models, the 2010 Prius and three other hybrids due to a braking glitch.

Take the right steps to maintain safety warn Japan's government. Hours later, Toyota's top men announced the recall was global. Affecting some 400,000 cars. Akio Toyota, his grandfather founded the company made this promise, speaking in English to his customers around the world.

Together we will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers.

The problem says Toyota is with the antilock brakes, hit ice or uneven surfaces and the brakes appear to fail for a fraction of a second. Toyota says a software fix corrects the problem in 40 minutes. Hooked up to a dealership computer for about two weeks.

Amidst Toyota's recall of more than 8 million cars for sticky accelerators and faulty floor mat, the company's president was out of the public eye. Now, he's out in front saying he personally tested the Prius and felt the braking problem himself.

Toyota says the company is not failure proof and he was making the Prius recall announcement to send a message to customers in his own words. It is about time says Japan expert, Jeffrey Kingston.

JEFFREY KINGSTON: Up until now, it's been a total disaster. One can only hope that it will do better in crisis management from here on. I think that he has shown that he is shaken by events and hopefully he'll be learning from that.

While there is a fix for the Prius, there is no fix yet for the other recalled hybrids, the Prius plug in, the Lexus HS 250H or the (INAUDIBLE), which all of similar braking problems.

Sales have been temporarily suspended until there is a remedy. Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

GRANT: A shock in Haiti. Officials say that another survivor has been pulled from the earthquake rubble. Doctors believe Eden Mansi (ph) was trapped since the quake struck nearly a month ago. He was discovered when people were clearing out the market place in Port-Au-Prince.

Twenty eight days, now we're hearing (INAUDIBLE) it's hard to believe

And the story that we were told is that he was actually trap under the rubble in the market place and that they're able to (INAUDIBLE).

The patient is suffering from extreme dehydration, but doctors say he does not appear to have significant crushing injuries.

(INAUDIBLE) space shuttle program (INAUDIBLE). Will the U.S. sit on the sideline? The new space (processes). Talk about sideline. Washington.

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GRANT: The crew of the "Endeavor" are in sleep mode this hour. Their first day in space was spent preparing to dock with the international space station and taking for any damage for Monday's lift off in Florida.

It was a spectacular early morning launch and the final one scheduled in the dock before the space shuttles (INAUDIBLE). The five men and one woman crew are carrying the last major pieces of the space station and the U.S. space agency, NASA, is getting ready to enter a new era.

We're departing from the model of the past, in which the government funded all human space activities. This represents the entrepreneurial mindset into a field that is poised for rapid growth and new jobs.

And NASA will be driving competition, opening new markets, and access to space, and catalyzing the potential of American industry. So the decade old space shuttle program is nearing its end. With four missions left after the current one, shuttle flights are scheduled to wrap up this year.

The first launch was April 12, 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia. The reusable space craft launching like a rocket orbiting in space and landing like a plane. NASA lost two shuttles and 14 astronauts with the Challenger disaster in 1986, and the Columbia in 2003.

There has been 129 successful space flights with more than 600 crew members. Sending more than 3 million pounds of cargo into the space. We'll through the Prism this evening, cost versus benefits.

Is ending ban space flight for NASA for now the way to go. Under President Barack Obama's proposed budget, the U.S. space exploration program known as constellation will be cancelled.

At least the existing program and thousands of employees worried about their futures. The White House budget director explains the decision to eliminate funding for constellation this way.

Let me be clear about what is happening at NASA. The constellation program, which is over budget and behind schedule, was intended to do what we've already done, which is return a man or woman to the moon

We believe in the future of human space flight. We believe that NASA can inspire Americans and lead to scientific advances. So we do have actually a small budget increase for NASA. What we're saying is let's redirect that towards longer range R&D, advance robotics, research and development and find those new technologies that will actually allow us to go further in space and not just repeat what we've already done.

GRANT: Under President Obama's plan, NASA's budget will actually increase by $6 billion over 5 years, but it will shift the focus away from efforts to reach the moon and funding would largely go to support the commercial development of technologies more than $3 billion allocated for constellation would disappear under the Obama plan.

That doesn't sit well with NASA supporters. All of these leave the door open for countries like China, India, Japan and South Korea. They all have robust programs underway with plans to send astronauts to the moon and beyond. The Chinese conducted their first ever space walk last year although a brief one.

Plans are to send an unmanned vehicle to collect samples from the moon and eventually to carry out unmanned trip. Listen to how the deputy chief of China's Science Academy fuse the country's progress then the comments from the second U.S. astronaut to walk on the moon.

We still need a lot of time before we establish a space station, but to send an astronaut to the moon does not seem so difficult. We believe we could send an astronaut to the moon by the year 2030.

Now, why would China want to take resources from helping the peasants? Because they want to demonstrate I think to all the citizens of China that they are the country that will dominate the 21st century. They want to demonstrate that to their people. They want to demonstrate that to the world too.

GRANT: Well, the global scramble into space is not gone unnoticed in the U.S. after an official in Washington was quoted as saying "It's not necessary for the U.S. to return to the moon. Alabama Congressman (Parker Griffith) was indignant (INAUDIBLE) to several NASA facilities.

Griffith is quoted as wiff online as saying, "Language like this is a slap in the face. It's disrespectful to the lives lost. The thousands of hours put into research and development that have gone into mad space flight."

Let's bring in someone now with an exceptional knowledge of the U.S. space program for you. From New York, former CNN Space correspondent, Miles O'Brian is joining us.

Miles, scrapping constellation, is this means that the U.S. is stepping away from the space race or do you think it's going to continue in a different fashion?

MILES O'BRIAN: Well, you know, Stan, I think you can make an argument that the U.S. stepped away from a space race after the last Apollo landing. When you look at what was happening with constellation. It was a chronically underfunded program.

It was announced by President George W. Bush in 1994. The goal was to return to the moon and maybe develop technology that would lead humans to Mars someday. But it never got the funding that was required to do that in any - why you can't get to the moon on a shoe string, and it was shoe string operation.

So what was cancelled was a notional idea of going to the moon, but not a program that was really ever going to get us there. So I think to the extent that the Obama administration has realized that this was not going to get the job done and maybe the idea of going back to the moon is not exactly the best goal. Maybe they got it right.

The problem is they haven't really given the people who would like to see people go to Mars much (INAUDIBLE).

GRANT: Miles, is the commercials be better equipped to deal with the future of space exploration than government?

O'BRIAN: Well, the idea is to give the lower (INAUDIBLE). The trips at the space station is all about and the space shuttle is all about to the commercial players. But the jury is really outstanding as to whether they can deliver on that promise. It's still not very easy getting to space even in lower (orbit).

Now the thinking is if you give these commercial players a little room to create a business, they could possibly be sending tourists up there and have a business on their own, and leave the longer distances to NASA.

What the Obama administration has said is the longer distances, there's no date certain, no destination certain, will go into work on some technologies which might get us there. And that's what gets people nervous. They don't see a specific goal.

They see some money being spent on plasma rockets which might get people there faster, but no notion of what it might happen.

GRANT: Is NASA really comfortable and would astronauts be comfortable working with commercial interest such as this, and what about question such as safety and other precautions?

O'BRIAN: Well, this changes the way NASA does business. NASA has never built its own rocket. It's always had commercial players doing it. Typically bend the traditional aerospace defense contractors. The Boeing of the world and the lucky martins of the world.

And these relationships were the typical kind of Pentagon-type relationship. A big long list of requirements. NASA watching every screw and volt being turned and a cost plus contract. So all of that led to kind of a gold-plated program with the notion that this is the only way you can do it safely.

What we've been doing it that way for 50 years and it's extremely expensive, and that doesn't leave any room for commercial providers to see if they can do it any cheaper. Maybe there are ways the commercial providers can do it cheaper, but part of that whole idea would be NASA would have to get out there business a little bit.

And NASA is not used to doing that. That's a new way of operation for that agency and it requires them to really change their culture.

GRANT: Miles, thank you very much for that. Miles O'Brian, a former CNN Space correspondent joining us today. Thank you very much, Miles. A look through the "Prism," major changes to the U.S. space program.

Tomorrow, we'll look at deterring terrorists, what works? Send us your thoughts on Twitter at cnn/abudhabi.

Hip high snow is already causing headaches in part of the U.S. as another wintery blast approaches. Will the region break more records? And a Hollywood power couple takes on a (INAUDIBLE). The report on Brangelina, all round up.

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Welcome back. If there's one thing Washington does not need, it's more snow. Nevertheless, the nation's capital is bracing for yet another light winter storm that could dump another 50 cm of flakes on the White House.

Let's go live to Washington now where Reynolds Wolf is standing by with more on the preparations for this latest storm - Reynolds?

Hello, Reynolds. What are the preparations like?

REYNOLDS WOLF: Well, the preparations that they have here. They're doing the very best they possibly can in terms of treating the roads. They've really started that operation about 72 to 96 hours ago by first using a brine solution on many of the roads then of course, they had a lot of the snow (INAUDIBLE) south.

They move a lot of the snow on the side and then on top of that, they've had, you know, (INAUDIBLE) things like that. But even with all the preparations they've had, (INAUDIBLE) still with all kinds of rough conditions on these roads in Georgetown, which is suburb of the nation's capital here in the United States.

Now the amount of snow fall that we had in this area for our friends around the world, was about a meter in some places. Many places far or less, but the issue is that we might see another say 30 to 50 centimeters of snow fall back in the forecast.

That is really alarmed us quite a bit. Temperatures have been near zero degrees Celsius. So when you have that snow, the temperatures there have been very, very low and then more so (INAUDIBLE) it's in the forecast, it certainly is cause for alarm.

In terms of travel here in nation's capital here in the United States, things have been slow going on the road ways. But in terms of say public transportation, we've had limited activity in terms of buses. Planes are now taking off in major airports, but as soon as the additional snowfall which is going to come back in around say 2:00 local time here in the United States Eastern, we probably going to see more delay stock up.

And then in terms of say, public transportation as in the Metro trains, the underground trains are still operational, but they're running in basically every 30 minutes. The other trains above ground. There are some of them that are operating, but they really are few and far between. The additional snow fall that is in the forecast, it certainly should have limit those also in days to come.

That a wrap on the situation that we have here. The skies again quite cloudy. We're expecting the snow to move in and we're bracing for the second blast that mother nature is going to send our way. Let send it back in the studio.

GRANT: Reynolds, thank you very much for that. Reynolds Wolf in a very snowed under Washington, D.C. Let's bring Mari Ramos now at the CNN Weather Center for a look at the global weather picture and most (INAUDIBLE) no doubt.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CENTER: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) that they're calling this on the internet, they're calling it snowmageddon. I don't know - all of the snow and Armageddon at the same time. It could be pretty bad for some people and interesting, some of the things that Reynolds was saying. You know, when Washington, D.C. for example, so far this has been the third snowiest winter on record.

We can get pretty close to that or maybe surpass it as we head through the next 24 hours. Similar situation for Baltimore and back over here toward Philadelphia as well. This is going to be a big deal this snow storm. You can see it right on the radar, already the moisture starting to push in.

To the south, we have very heavy rains. To the north, we have very blustery snow fall extending all the way up into the northern plain. Travel delays not just in Washington, D.C. as we heard from Reynolds, but also as we head into Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore. Also into the big airports in New York as we head through the day tomorrow.

Airlines have already cancelled many flights into this region so make sure you call your airline ahead of time just to make sure. These are some of the snowfall totals that we're expecting. Maybe 14 cm to 15 cm, maybe up to 16 cm in New York City, 20 additional centimeters of snow in Washington, D.C. alone.

So it is a big deal. The travel delays are going to be very widespread. You can see a lot of (INAUDIBLE) map over here, Stan, as we head through the next 24 to 48 hours. So it's not going to be easy going at all.

As we head to Europe, well, here we're looking at some pretty cold conditions as well. A little bit better today in London, you were below freezing at this time yesterday, for today minus 2 though in Paris. Coldest air still here across central and eastern Europe so the south milder conditions, but we do have an area of low pressure that's making its way throughout the region.

And this, you know, picking up a lot of moisture here from the Mediterranean sea, heavy rain for you across the portions of central Mediterranean here. And farther north, that rain of course, turning into snow - Stan, back to you.

GRANT: All right, thank you very much for that. Well, one of Hollywood's most prominent couples on the red carpet, Brad Pitt and Angelina Julie suing a British tabloid declined the couple was on the verge of separating.

The news of the world print of the story on January 24, the stars say the allegations are false and intrusive.

That's it for me, Stan Grant in Abu Dhabi, the World Untold Story is up next after we update the headlines.

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