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CNN Sunday Morning

Target Terrorism: The U.S. Response

Aired October 07, 2001 - 17:30   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. It's Sunday, October 7. From New York, I'm Kyra Phillips.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: And in Washington, I'm Jeanne Meserve.

PHILLIPS: And here are the latest developments as America Targets Terrorism. A prominent Pakistani cleric who supports Afghanistan's ruling Taliban was placed under house arrest today. Maulana Faziur Rehman heads the party of Islamic Clerics and has been leading many of the recent anti-American street rallies in Pakistan.

CNN has learned the Taliban are moving a significant number of troops toward Afghanistan's border with Uzbekistan. And Taliban officials said, on radio, that forces were prepared to fight in order to block any ground invasion.

The Taliban movement follows the deployment of some 1,000 U.S. troops from the elite 10th Mountain Division in Uzbekistan. Uzbek president announced Friday he was allowing the U.S. to use an air base but only for humanitarian missions.

Yesterday, President Bush warned the Taliban that time is running out for the regime to hand over suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

MESERVE: President Bush is expected to leave Camp David this morning and attend a firefighter's memorial service in Emmittsburg, Maryland. The president held a videoconference with his National Security team over the weekend. CNN's Patty Davis joins us now from the Pentagon with the very latest.

Patty, what do we know about the state of play?

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. military buildup continues as the U.S. continues to ratchet up pressure on the Taliban to turn over Osama Bin Laden. Now that 1,000 troops from - Army troops from the 10th Mountain Division deployed to a base in Uzbekistan, near the border with Afghanistan. For now, that base though only to be used for humanitarian purposes, airdrops of food, also airdrops from medicine, a whole rescue mission if that becomes necessary. The troops there are to provide security for that base although that country has not ruled out using that base for a military strikes as well. Now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said those humanitarian drops will only come if the U.S. has assured that surface-to-air missiles and the aircraft fire out of Afghanistan wouldn't pose a problem to those unarmed flights.

Now, no comment from the Pentagon on word from the Taliban foreign ministry that Taliban anti-aircraft positions opened fire on an aircraft without hitting it. That aircraft not identified as an American aircraft. And U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has returned here. He returned yesterday, on Saturday, from a five- country tour, including Turkey, Oman, Egypt, Uzbekistan, as well as Saudi Arabia, trying to drum up further international support and moral support for possible U.S. strikes - Jeanne.

MESERVE: Patty, of course, the Pentagon, itself, was hit on September 11. What are hearing about the cost of repairing the building?

DAVIS: Well, the Pentagon now saying that that bill could run as high as $800 million. They have quite an extensive job to do. In fact, some of that renovation that repair work, already being started. And they're hoping that they can get even half of it within about a year. But $800 million looks to be the price tag at this point - Jeanne.

MESERVE: Patty Davis at the Pentagon. Thanks so much. And we'll be back with some more coverage in just a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In New York, FEMA has pulled out of the search and recovery mission at the World Trade Center disaster sit. Yesterday, another body was pulled from the rubble and the task of recovery nearly 5,000 others is now left up to New York officials.

Here are the latest numbers, 4,979 people missing and presumed dead, 393 are confirmed dead and of those, 335 have been identified.

This program note too, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be profiled in today's edition of "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." That's at 4:30 p.m. Eastern and again at 8:30 p.m.

A new study finds that Americans' psychological health is on the road to recovery nearly four weeks after the terrorist attack. CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wellesley Daniels was withdrawn and depressed when I met her just four days after the World Trade Center tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you been writing some letters too?

GUPTA: It made her feel better to do her part by writing letters of encouragement for the rescue workers. She placed them on their pillows at a local shelter where many slept.

WELLESLEY DANIELS: Help God because people are -- like, I thought people would die a lot, and they won't - and -- but they knew they would get a lot of people, and not -- and some people wouldn't die.

GUPTA: While thousands still recover physically, Wellesley, along with the rest of the nation, struggles to recover emotionally.

DR. BARBARA ROTHBAUM, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I think the best coping strategies are the healthy coping strategies that have worked for us before, so exercising, talking to people we're close to, talking about it to our loved ones, to our friends, to our colleagues, working. I think working is actually very healthy for most people to have some place to go and to feel productive and just distract ourselves from our own thoughts.

GUPTA: While this is unlike anything we have previously experienced, Dr. Barbara Rothbaum notes some lessons from Oklahoma.

ROTHBAUM: For most of us who were not directly affected, I think we are going to gradually improve over time. I think we already have. I think we're getting back to normal. We're going to ball games. We're watching ball games. We're living our lives normally again. And I think that will continue as long as nothing else happens.

GUPTA: A new survey by the Pew Research Center has found America is feeling somewhat better from three weeks ago but still has a long way to go. Some of their findings -- 71 percent were depressed. That has dropped to 40 percent. Thirty-three percent had trouble sleeping, now 17 percent. And 74 percent of Americans felt they simply could not stop watching the scenes of destruction and loss on television. That has fallen to 61 percent.

ANDREW KOHUT, PEW FOUNDATION: One of the interesting things about the survey is that the poll found that these psychological effects were as great in the South, in the Midwest, in the West as they were in the Northeast, and as great in smaller communities as they were in cities.

GUPTA: The Pew director has found Americans are turning to each other and to God for solace.

KOHUT: It's a combination of national unity. People say that they are -- they like, they aren't put off by the patriotic songs, by the, by the -- by all of the demonstrations of the flag. They're pulling together and recognizing that we're all in this together, and also prayer, a very large percentage of people say they're praying more. We are a very religious country.

GUPTA: But there is concern -- every new threat and tragedy may start the cycle all over again.

ROTHBAUM: I think what events like the bus hijacking and the plane explosion brings up for us is that we were scared other things would happen, and now they are happening. And I think that it is just going to fuel people's fears even more.

GUPTA: Sometimes it's the children who provide the most honest insight, such as the healing that come from taking action.

DANIELS: I think sort of well - it made me feel better. It seems like people are OK and it seems like we're really helping the firemen.

GUPTA: And while the nation heals, Wellesley Daniels will continue to write her letters.

DANIELS: Dear firemen and policemen, thank you for being so brave and for saving all the people. And we are glad you are stronger now. And we feel safe.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A letter writing campaign is credited with helping many people around the world deal with the emotional fallout from the September 11 attacks. Twelve-year-old Maura Stuard came up with Notes To New York and Washington and she joins us with her mother, Kathryn Howard this morning.

Good morning, you two.

MAURA STUARD, NOTES TO NY & DC: Morning.

PHILLIPS: Don't be nervous. We're going to have fun here. You're going to tell me all about your project, OK?

STUARD: OK.

PHILLIPS: Why don't you tell me about it? How did you come up with this idea?

STUARD: When I was five, I saw the Oklahoma City bombing, what happened was I was worried because I was kind of unstable about that and I was just thinking about how all the kids must have felt and I wanted to maybe draw them or picture or write a letter except I couldn't write that well. So I asked my mom if she could maybe write a letter and we could send it down there with a picture that I had made to somebody who was my age and who maybe went to a school that was kind of like mine. And from there, it was kind of mom's...

PHILLIPS: She helped you out.

STUARD: Yes, she did it from there on because I was only five and probably not able to go across country.

PHILLIPS: Probably not.

(LAUGHTER) PHILLIPS: Catherine, what was your reaction when your daughter came up and - with you - to you with this idea and tell me how it escalated from there?

KATHRYN HOWARD, NOTES TO NY & DC: Well, I was kind of taken aback. I said, you know, we've given money. We donated blood and we've given blankets. And she said, "Well, let's write some letters and draw pictures." And I said, "Well, let's tell some other people about it." So we told some churches and Girl Scout troops and schools and the next thing I knew, we had 5,000 letters.

PHILLIPS: What kind of impact did you make not only in your community but the people that you were delivering these letters to and sending letters to? How did they respond to you?

HOWARD: It was amazing. People couldn't believe that a small upstate city would think about people in Oklahoma. Not just the rescuers and the victims and the families of the victims but everyday people - gardeners and bus drivers and window washers and that we were writing to those people. They were astonished.

PHILLIPS: So Maura, what did you write in your letters?

STUARD: I just wrote - telling the kids that - telling the people who I wrote to that it was OK that I felt like I couldn't completely understand what they were going through. I kind of knew. And I told them about my every day life, like - well, like, just things that we were doing in the kindergarten and things that we were going to do and just about my every day life, like what books I like to read. I asked them questions about their life.

PHILLIPS: You made them feel really special and you guys got a lot letters back. You want to talk about this one, Kathryn that pretty much blew you away when you got this, right?

HOWARD: This was probably the best letter I've ever read in my life. This is from a pilot's family of another crash - "Even though we've grieved for all lives lost, we felt an immediate bond with the families of the pilots that lost their loved ones. We, too, have experienced a horrendous loss in our family. The pilot of TWA 800 that crashed in July in 1996 off Long Island was our beloved brother. Grieving is such a personal matter and it's only intensified when it becomes national headlines. Dealing with the press and the curiosity of the public can become unbearable in this living right now. And yet, our only consolation was that the thoughts and prayers of so many people were with us."

PHILLIPS: Wow! And that just shocked you.

HOWARD: I couldn't believe that they would reach out and write after what had happened to them. This was really a pure letter.

PHILLIPS: Maura, do you reach - do your realize what you've created here? Do you realize what an impact you're making on people?

STUARD: Well, sometimes - I mean I definitely realize that but sometimes it just seems like it would so much more meaningful if like we could do this for even the little things, like even for when a small goes down and people would just instantly think, "Hey, why don't we write a letter to somebody we're alike, who happened to be in that plane crash or why don't we just, for the people around them who have to deal with it, to deal with the press. We don't we just write some letters to them?" And also for big things like this, just instantly not even having to have press and that kind of...

PHILLIPS: Sure, like a really big situation like this. Well, we're going to bring up your Website and let people see how they can get involved here by logging onto your Website. And then you are going to go and deliver letters today, right?

STUARD: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Where are you guys going to go?

STUARD: We're going to go to a church right after we finish with you guys. And later on in the day, we're going to go to some hospitals around the city and deliver letters to nurses and doctors because we got a lot from nurses and doctors. But - and tomorrow, we're going to a nursing home.

PHILLIPS: Wow!

STUARD: These actually are from a daycare center...

PHILLIPS: A picture.

STUARD: ... to the nursing home people, these pictures.

PHILLIPS: Do you want to go ahead and show everyone quickly there? Do you want to show everybody? Not only letters but pictures too. So anybody can get involved and draw pictures and send those in.

HOWARD: Anybody, any age, anywhere can do this. It doesn't cost a cent.

PHILLIPS: It's amazing the impact you can make by a simple letter. Kathryn Howard and Maura Stuard, we salute you both. Thanks so much for coming in this morning.

HOWARD: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We'll be following your trail today, OK?

HOWARD: OK.

PHILLIPS: See where you take those letters. Thanks.

Well, a check for your workweek weather is just ahead and it's the end of an era for a baseball legend. We'll have those details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MESERVE: Good-byes are never easy and baseball is saying good- bye to the "Iron Man." A sellout crowd turned out last night at Baltimore's Camden Yard to see Cal Ripken off. The Orioles star retired after playing 3,001 games. From 1982 to 1998, Ripken played a record 2,632 consecutive games. Many fans of baseball say the game will never be the same.

And business is bombing that is if you're in the business of weddings. Some eager newlyweds take the plunge. Stay tuned to find out why. And coming up in the 8:00 Eastern hour, aid agencies step up the pace in their attempt to head off a refugee crisis in Afghanistan. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, there may be a slump in some areas of the economy but not in one. As CNN's Anne McDermott reports, many military couples are saying, "I do" before they say, "good-bye."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: War weddings, they've been around as long as, well, as long as wars have been around. And ever since September 11, they're back in style.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm worried on what's going to happen and what the future holds.

MCDERMOTT: And so before shipping off to France or Vietnam or Somalia or who knows where they pause to exchange a pair of rings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For richer or for poorer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For richer or for poorer.

MCDERMOTT: This corporal and his bride were supposed to have a big wedding but ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things happened and plans got changed.

MCDERMOTT: Yeah -- things happened. And now at this wedding chapel outside a southern California Marine base business is up 50 percent.

Part of its appeal is walk-ins are welcome and if you've got 40 minutes like these two Marines, you've got yourself a ceremony. And you don't have to stand on ceremony here.

But all war weddings have one thing in common, says a Psychiatrist, that in times of trouble people really do need people.

DR. BRUCE SPRING, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: We need each other. Our desire to be connected with other people is very, very primal, very deep, very whole in us.

MCDERMOTT: So do war weddings last? Well, this couple managed to make a go of it. And this couple says they will, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Por bueno y por malo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Por bueno y por malo.

MCDERMOTT: For a lot of these couples their real fear is what if something happens. That's why this wedding chapel officiator always gives couples the same advice.

RAE WEEKS, "I DO" WEDDING CHAPEL: If they just have a month together or a week together or even a few hours, make the most of it.

MCDERMOTT: Her other advice to couples is develop a good sense of humor because sooner or later you'll need one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I present Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Fuller.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

MCDERMOTT: Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: After a break, the latest on reports of Taliban troop movements in Afghanistan and CNN's Miles O'Brien is in Atlanta with a look at the difficult job of getting help to the refugees who need it. And I'll be right back with Jeanne Meserve in Washington.

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