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CNN Sunday Morning
Hundreds Forced from Homes in Wildfires out West; Air Strikes in Fallujah Kill 14
Aired July 18, 2004 - 09:30 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.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It is Sunday, July 18th. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Drew Griffin.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. If you are just waking up on the West Coast, it's an early 6:00 a.m. Thanks so much for starting your day with us. Here's what we have going on:
More wildfires breaking out across the West forcing hundreds of people from their homes in California.
Bombs continue to explode across Iraq. We'll get a report on the state of affairs and look at how the new Iraqi government is handling the continued violence.
Plus, a drug company comes up with its own plan to lower the price of prescription medication. First though, a look at the stories topping the news.
GRIFFIN: The U.S. military launches a round of air strikes in Fallujah overnight in Iraq. Health ministry officials say 14 people were killed. U.S. forces have bombed several targets in the city thought to be safe houses used by terrorist militants.
Accused U.S. army deserter Charles Jenkins and his family have now arrived in Japan from Indonesia. Jenkins has been hospitalized in Tokyo for medical treatment. The U.S. has will likely pursue Jenkins for desertion charges dating back to 1965.
In Saudi Arabia, another 27 wanted militants surrendered authorities in Riyadh. Saudi officials say the leniency offer exempts terror suspects from the death penalty not though, from civil suits filed by victim's families. The month-long amnesty offer is set to expire this week.
California dotted with wildfires. This morning, two big fires new Los Angeles have chased thousands from their homes. One blaze in Riverside County has grown to more than 3,000 acres. Another in northern Los Angeles County has burned more than 16,000 acres. Keeping you informed, this is CNN, the most trusted name in news.
NGUYEN: The final report of the 9/11 Commission is due out on Thursday. Now a source says the report recommends a cabinet-level position that essentially creates a national director of intelligence. The reasons why? Well, they are reportedly many. White House correspondent, Susanne Malveaux, joins us with the latest.
All eyes are really interested in this new position that's under this plan -- Susanne.
SUSANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Betty, it really is expected here that this report is going to be critical of the White House. This is something the Bush administration has been preparing for, perhaps in a preemptive move of its own, President Bush indicated he would support major overall of the CIA. Now, according to a source familiar with the 9/11 Commission's final report that will released on Thursday, it will call for a cabinet-level position, a new national director of intelligence. This is one person that is going to oversee intelligence that has been, so far, handle bid the CIA, the Pentagon, FBI, the NSC, and many other agencies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS KEAN, 9/11 COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: A unified command and control is very, very important. I mean, people have to know where the buck stops.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that the president should, long ago, and this is not the first time I called for it, I pushed for this previously. It is long overdue that we have a coordinator of national intelligence in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That was democratic opponent John Kerry of course, who has called for this overhaul, as well, varies so much what the president has said, but he seized on this opportunity to accuse the president of being slow-footed in this incident. We are told also that the report, Betty, is going to call for major restructuring of the FBI, as well as, a new way of having Congress oversee some of the vetting of intelligence. This is something that is fair to say spares no one. It is going to be highly critical of many different government agencies -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Suzanne, any indication as to how this new position can resolve the turf battles between the different agencies?
MALVEAUX: It's going to be very difficult in the beginning because, as you know, the Pentagon is very much involved with the budget. You're talking about the CIA, you talking about the White House, many different agencies that are all involved in intelligence matters. In the past you've had turf wars, you've had battle wars -- budget wars, rather. These are the kinds of things that are going to have to be worked out, but they believe that they have a cabinet level position, someone who is going to oversee all of that, that perhaps some of those, the fragmentations, will be bit less so.
NGUYEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much.
Well hat do you think about the 9/11 Commission report? Weigh in with us this morning and send us an e-mail. We are asking whether you think the findings of the commission's report will help prevent ant future terror attacks. You can message us right now at wam@cnn.com.
GRIFFIN: Jihad could just be a mouse click away. Terror groups have turned increasingly to the cyberspace to promote their causes, apparently with some success as Sean Callebs explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Qaeda terror training is moving from the battlefield to the Internet.
They can use it to communicate, to recruit, raise funds, to negotiate.
CALLEBS: The U.S.-led war on terror has shut down many terrorist camps. These days through the online magazine "al-Battar," or "The Sword" al Qaeda is using the Web to spread fear and promote jihad. "Al-Battar" looks like a slick, well-produced Web magazine, colorful, featuring a table of contents, an op-ed page, and a letter to the editor's page.
JOSH DEVON, SITE INSTITUTE: It's not a manual that you would read at the CIA or something, it's in laymen's terms and it's meant for the average person who wants to get involved in this to start doing what al Qaeda wants them to do.
CALLEBS: Published twice a month, each issue of "al-Battar" focuses on one topic, such as cleaning and care of weapons, assassinations, targets inside cities, and in this case, kidnapping. Al Qaeda watchers point out the rash of kidnappings in Iraq and Saudi Arabia flourished after the magazine articles came out.
GABRIEL WEIMANN, U.S. INST. OF PEACE: It's a detailed description who should be chosen as a target, where should the action be held, how should the hostage be kept, about negotiations, informing the media.
CALLEBS: Using the web to promote terror is not a new idea, but al Qaeda watchers say seven years ago they monitored 12 terrorist Web sites, today that number has swelled to more than 4,000. Experts say there is no way to shut down the sites. The same analysts say it may sound odd, but the U.S. does not want to silence all the sites because they do provide analysts with important so-called chatter.
WEIMANN: Actually there's a lot to learn from them and for intelligence purposes, one of the motives would be to keep it alive and get as much as you can and learn from them.
CALLEBS (on camera): "Al-Battar" claims to be published by al Qaeda military arm in the Arabian Peninsula. As much as anything, the online magazine is aimed at Muslim youth. A computer screen, replacing the battlefield, and analysts say "al-Battar's" message of basic terror training is capable of reaching millions.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Dealing with these terror Web sites poses a challenge and it's not likely to get easier. Some experts point out how adept terrorists have become at exploiting the web.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN VENZKE, CEO INTELCENTER: They are constantly exchanging different ideas, different philosophies on how to perfect their profession or their trade craft, and the terrorist has understood the benefit of that. In many ways they are much better than us in terms of taking what you call "lessons learned," previous attacks that they carried out, seeing what works well what didn't work and how they can work on improving it, and then sharing that information, something that we're still struggling with, with all of it members and its affiliate groups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: And as Sean reported there are now more than 4,000 sites up from just a handful a few years ago.
NGUYEN: We want to shift focus now to security at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. The laboratory's director suspended virtually all work being done there to put an end to security lapses. This move comes a day after the lab was ordered to halt classified work. That order was spurred by the discovery that two electronic data storage devices were missing.
GRIFFIN: Now to the wildfires blazing across 10 western states. In California, thousands have been forced from homes in Riverside and Los Angeles County. Seven hundred homes are in the path of one fire known as the Melton fire. A shelter has been set up at a local high school.
Meanwhile, more than 600 fire fighters are battling another blaze called the Foothill fire. Hundreds have fled their homes from this one. There have been no reports of damage or destroyed structures, so far.
For the latest on these fires, though, we're going to talk by phone with Captain John Harvey who's been up all night. He's with the California Department of Forestry and Fire.
Mr. Harvey -- Captain Harvey, what can you tell us about the latest weather conditions and the latest firefighting conditions for you?
CAPTAIN JOHN HARVEY, CALIFORNIA DEPT. FORESTRY AND FIRE: Well, we expect the weather to not cooperate today, but continue to be very hot and warm, today. Our temperatures for our Melton fire are expected to be 101 degrees or and higher, today, with a relative humidity of six to 15 percent throughout the day, which is very low for us. We're also expecting wind gusts of 10 miles an hour.
GRIFFIN: What can you do to try to contain this given those situations? Are you going to try to get out there as early as possible before those winds kick up?
HARVEY: We've been out there all night long. In order to try and contain this fire, we're going to hit it hard and heavy today with aircraft, as well as putting heavy fire lines around it using bulldozers and hand crews. We also have quite a few pieces of fire equipment out around there that's been working all night long that's going to also help to try to contain this fire. At this point we only have about a 10 percent containment on it. And the fire is about 3,200 acres.
GRIFFIN: And give us a sense of the homes that are potentially in the path? Are we talking about communities or ranches?
HARVEY: That area is a mixed area of homes, ranches. We have about 500 structures that are threatened due to the fire, with the potential of 4,000 structures threatened.
GRIFFIN: And is there any weather break predicted in the next few days?
HARVEY: Well, according to the San Diego National Weather Service, we will continue having our hot dry spell. However they do say that here's a possible that we may get our monsoonal moisture about Friday or Saturday.
GRIFFIN: All right. But with temperatures today in the 100s and humidity down to the teens even single digits this will be a daunting problem. Are the firefighters -- are you getting enough support, enough firefighters and enough aircraft?
HARVEY: We are doing our best. There is competition for the resources due to the other fires in southern California, in San Diego, San Bernardino and L.A. County. So, you know, resources are limited, but we do our best to share the resources, to the areas that are most threatened.
GRIFFIN: And one final question, Captain. Do we know how any of these fires started? Have you been able to determine that as of yet?
HARVEY: The Melton fire was human caused. It was caused by a gentleman out there who was doing target practice with firearms.
GRIFFIN: Hmm. All right. Thank you very much. That is Captain John Harvey, who stayed up most of the night trying to battle these fires out in California -- Betty.
NGUYEN: There is better news for fire crews in Nevada. They are going home. An erratic fire that burned for nearly a week and charred nearly 8,000 acres is under control in Carson City. Fifteen homes in the state capitol were destroyed along with a number of outbuildings. Investigators who thought teenagers started the blaze on Tuesday say it may have actually been smoldering undetected for days.
GRIFFIN: Other parts of the country are dealing with nature's wrath, as we go across America, the small southern New Jersey town of Medford Lakes was flooded again this weekend. This time the deluge was volunteers instead of rain, fortunately. Eight hundred people arriving to help clean up the area that was doused by downpours, last weekend. President Bush declared the area a national disaster clearing the way for federal aid. NGUYEN: A balloon ride in Baltimore was supposed to be fun, but 20 people were stranded for more than an hour. The helium filled ride is an attraction at the Port Discovery Children's Museum near Baltimore's inner harbor. It became stuck high above the city by yesterday's high winds. Now, after workers finally reeled it back in, four people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
GRIFFIN: A man on the FBI's 10 most wanted list is in custody thanks to a TV show. Agent's say a tip from a viewer of "America's Most Wanted" helped nab that man, Michael Alfonso, he was in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Alfonso accused of killing two former girlfriends in Wheaton, Illinois, one at a fast food restaurant, the other at a park.
And Florida man facing charges after allegedly hitting his girlfriend with a pet alligator during a fight. There, this is the guy. The woman told the police she was hit with the three-foot gator that the couple was keeping in their bathtub of their mobile home in Port Orange, Florida, near Daytona. The animal has been turned over to wildlife authorities. This man has been turned over to police.
NGUYEN: Let me must tell you, this story has so many people talking, especially around here. He hit her with a pet alligator, of all things. Oh, the story that comes out of there. OK.
GRIFFIN: Who will get the first interview?
NGUYEN: Yes, exactly, people are just standing in line for that one. Well, Grammy-bound. We'll introduce you to one unique group that could win best original song.
But first in Iraq, and now that the U.S. has handed over control, how is the Iraqi security force handling the day-to-day violence? An update just ahead on CNN's SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: A heavy death toll today in a U.S. air strike in Fallujah. An angry crowd gathered at the scene of the attack. Our Michael Holmes is in Baghdad and he reports it could be another attempt to take out a terrorist mastermind. What's the latest in the hunt for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Michael.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah Betty, that appears to be exactly what this was, another, in what's been a series of attempts over the last couple of months, through aerial bombardments to take out that known terrorist the U.S. has been trying to get for a long time, now. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the man, a Jordanian militant thought to be responsible for numerous incidents around Iraq that has claimed the lives of soldiers and Iraqis -- a lot of Iraqis. The target on this occasion were 25 insurgents that the coalition believes are linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They were clustered around an area that they're describing as trenches, defensive fighting positions, and a checkpoint near a house that had been partially demolished. So, it wasn't a building they were after, it was this area. And that they say they saw 25 insurgents in this area just before the strike, asked for Iraqi permission to carry it out. The prime minister, they say, gave them that permission and they dropped a couple of very large bombs there. We're told that, from the minister of health, that 14 bodies were taken to hospitals, three wounded. No identification on the bodies at this stage.
As I say, this is the latest in a series of attempts to get al- Zarqawi who was thought as recently as yesterday to have been responsible for an attack that nearly killed the justice minister, here in Baghdad. That was a car bomb that blew up next to his convoy, taking out four of his bodyguards, the justice minister, on this occasion, escaping unscathed.
Now, also I want to report that there has been an arrest of what a fairly -- what the U.S. likes to call a high-value target. In this case, a major general from the Special Republican Guard, Sufian Maher Hassan was arrested in Tikrit two days ago. We're only just getting word about it now. He was in charge of the Special Republican Guard forces around Baghdad. Those forces, of course, did not do much to stop the U.S. advance on the capitol, melting away into the suburbs. He's being accused of fomenting attacks against both coalition forces and Iraqis. He's in custody being questioned at a detention facility -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Michael, what's the latest on the Filipino hostage and those troops from the Philippines leaving Iraq?
HOLMES: Yeah, that's a good question because they are on their way out. They are handing over the last of their duties, these Philippine troops, to Polish troops. That's going to take place in Babil province at Camp Charlie, where they've been based. And then they're headed for Kuwait. And they will be out of the country in the next 24, 48 hours or so. And they will be handing over duties to Polish troops, as you know. This is all related to the holding of the Filipino hostage, Angelo de la Cruz, the 46-year-old father of eight. Those holding him say they will not release him until the last Filipino soldier has left the country. So, we'll wait and see what happens in that development. That was, of courses, a concession to the hostage takers by the Filipino government that did not in anyway please the U.S. government nor the Iraqi government, for that matter -- Betty.
NGUYEN: And that deadline is July 20. All right, CNN's Michael Holmes in Baghdad, thank you for that report -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: The violence does continue in Iraq, but also there are some hopeful signs. We're going to get an assessment now, from defense analyst David Isby who joins us from New York.
David, nice to see you, this morning.
DAVID ISBY, DEFENSE ANALYST: Good morning.
GRIFFIN: We still see this violence, but no apparent political goal, as far as we can see. Are we talking about just thuggery here, or is there a leader out there who is actually fomenting this violence?
ISBY: Well, there are multiple leaders; we talked about al- Zarqawi, the foreign people devoted to jihad. There is a remnant of the Baath party which moved from a totalitarian ruling party to an underground movement, in many ways a criminal movement, and you have some of the Shia movements, al-Sadrs who have their own theocratic way of doing things. So, we don't have a single political war-fighting entity opposing us, and that's one reason why one can be guardedly optimistic that the new government in Iraq can start to improve.
GRIFFIN: When you say "guardedly optimistic," I fail to see the optimism when we have so many different criminal or violent elements running around and eventually probably will -- competing against each other.
ISBY: Which is perhaps a -- one of the reasons they don't have an integral -- an insurgency is primarily a political action. In Lebanon you had, for example, the Hezbollah emerging from being a mafia family, sort of organization, into having a political arm, a legitimate parliamentary arm, that sort of thing. We are not seeing that from the opposition currently in Iraq. They are killing people, they're attempting to kill people. It's going to be a long, hard road, but they're not offering an alternative to the government to compete for legitimacy in the hearts and minds of Iraqis.
GRIFFIN: The Iraqi government is trying to weed out these characters, but also convince its own citizens that the country is safe. This week the passport office open and was flooded with people trying to get out. It is still very dangerous daily for Iraqis, is it not?
ISBY: Certainly the security situation there is bad. That's part of legitimacy. A government to be legitimate has to show it can protect its own people. Another key issue is infrastructure, which has been a key limitation. Things like electric power, the oil infrastructure, that's something else that's going to have to be. That's one of the reasons they try and attack legitimacy by killing people to show that the government cannot protect its own people.
GRIFFIN: Mr. Isby, quickly now, on the Philippine issue, the Philippine troops cutting and running, basically, in the demands of the terrorists. Is that likely to fuel recruits within Iraq?
ISBY: Certainly it's likely to show that kidnapping is a low- risk, high-gain issue. And terrorists throughout the world have used it for years and when they get a success like this, it encourages more.
GRIFFIN: David Isby, joining us from New York, we thank you for your thoughts on Iraq and hope to talk to you soon.
ISBY: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Pfizer's new drug plan -- will it help seniors pay less for the prescriptions they need? We'll get the bottom line when CNN's SUNDAY MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, good morning to you, Washington. This is a beautiful look at the White House, here. A live look on this Sunday morning. We will have the weekend forecast in just a couple of minutes. So, stay tuned.
I'm Betty Nguyen, here's our top stories at this hour. Wildfires in southern California are forcing even more people from their homes. Two new fires, yesterday, are adding to the dozens already burning. U.S. planes struck a house in Fallujah, Iraq, overnight. An Iraqi government spokesman says Prime Minister Allawi approved of the attack. The Iraqi health minister says 14 people were killed in fighting in the city, but it's not known how many were victims of the air strike.
The final report of the 9/11 Commission will reportedly recommend a cabinet-level intelligence post creating a national director of intelligence. Sources also say the report will conclude that intelligence responsibilities are spread too widely across the government.
GRIFFIN: Will the commission's report help prevent future attacks? We have been reading your e-mails and here are more of them this morning: "I believe the 9/11 Commission will create no able to prevent future terrorist attacks. It gives a window into seeing what the terrorists are capable of and types of havoc they can achieve, but unfortunately it won't be a key in prevention."
NGUYEN: Carol from Toronto Canada writes: "If you don't find out why a process isn't operating properly, how you can hope to fix it? It's a necessary first step."
GRIFFIN: Charlene in Maine, "The 9/11 report, nothing but scapegoating, President Bush, the architect of the war on Iraq with instruction from Cheney," let's assume that's Vice President Dick Cheney, "without their part in this we will never know what really happened."
NGUYEN: And John definitely has opinions, here, he writes from Atlanta, saying: "The 9/11 Commission has recommended that a new post be created to oversee the intelligence community. Great idea! We could call it 'president'."
And of course we thank you for all your responses, and as always on the weekends we have the e-mail questions of the day, so you'll stay tuned for that and do write in.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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Aired July 18, 2004 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It is Sunday, July 18th. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Drew Griffin.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. If you are just waking up on the West Coast, it's an early 6:00 a.m. Thanks so much for starting your day with us. Here's what we have going on:
More wildfires breaking out across the West forcing hundreds of people from their homes in California.
Bombs continue to explode across Iraq. We'll get a report on the state of affairs and look at how the new Iraqi government is handling the continued violence.
Plus, a drug company comes up with its own plan to lower the price of prescription medication. First though, a look at the stories topping the news.
GRIFFIN: The U.S. military launches a round of air strikes in Fallujah overnight in Iraq. Health ministry officials say 14 people were killed. U.S. forces have bombed several targets in the city thought to be safe houses used by terrorist militants.
Accused U.S. army deserter Charles Jenkins and his family have now arrived in Japan from Indonesia. Jenkins has been hospitalized in Tokyo for medical treatment. The U.S. has will likely pursue Jenkins for desertion charges dating back to 1965.
In Saudi Arabia, another 27 wanted militants surrendered authorities in Riyadh. Saudi officials say the leniency offer exempts terror suspects from the death penalty not though, from civil suits filed by victim's families. The month-long amnesty offer is set to expire this week.
California dotted with wildfires. This morning, two big fires new Los Angeles have chased thousands from their homes. One blaze in Riverside County has grown to more than 3,000 acres. Another in northern Los Angeles County has burned more than 16,000 acres. Keeping you informed, this is CNN, the most trusted name in news.
NGUYEN: The final report of the 9/11 Commission is due out on Thursday. Now a source says the report recommends a cabinet-level position that essentially creates a national director of intelligence. The reasons why? Well, they are reportedly many. White House correspondent, Susanne Malveaux, joins us with the latest.
All eyes are really interested in this new position that's under this plan -- Susanne.
SUSANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Betty, it really is expected here that this report is going to be critical of the White House. This is something the Bush administration has been preparing for, perhaps in a preemptive move of its own, President Bush indicated he would support major overall of the CIA. Now, according to a source familiar with the 9/11 Commission's final report that will released on Thursday, it will call for a cabinet-level position, a new national director of intelligence. This is one person that is going to oversee intelligence that has been, so far, handle bid the CIA, the Pentagon, FBI, the NSC, and many other agencies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS KEAN, 9/11 COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: A unified command and control is very, very important. I mean, people have to know where the buck stops.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that the president should, long ago, and this is not the first time I called for it, I pushed for this previously. It is long overdue that we have a coordinator of national intelligence in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That was democratic opponent John Kerry of course, who has called for this overhaul, as well, varies so much what the president has said, but he seized on this opportunity to accuse the president of being slow-footed in this incident. We are told also that the report, Betty, is going to call for major restructuring of the FBI, as well as, a new way of having Congress oversee some of the vetting of intelligence. This is something that is fair to say spares no one. It is going to be highly critical of many different government agencies -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Suzanne, any indication as to how this new position can resolve the turf battles between the different agencies?
MALVEAUX: It's going to be very difficult in the beginning because, as you know, the Pentagon is very much involved with the budget. You're talking about the CIA, you talking about the White House, many different agencies that are all involved in intelligence matters. In the past you've had turf wars, you've had battle wars -- budget wars, rather. These are the kinds of things that are going to have to be worked out, but they believe that they have a cabinet level position, someone who is going to oversee all of that, that perhaps some of those, the fragmentations, will be bit less so.
NGUYEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much.
Well hat do you think about the 9/11 Commission report? Weigh in with us this morning and send us an e-mail. We are asking whether you think the findings of the commission's report will help prevent ant future terror attacks. You can message us right now at wam@cnn.com.
GRIFFIN: Jihad could just be a mouse click away. Terror groups have turned increasingly to the cyberspace to promote their causes, apparently with some success as Sean Callebs explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Qaeda terror training is moving from the battlefield to the Internet.
They can use it to communicate, to recruit, raise funds, to negotiate.
CALLEBS: The U.S.-led war on terror has shut down many terrorist camps. These days through the online magazine "al-Battar," or "The Sword" al Qaeda is using the Web to spread fear and promote jihad. "Al-Battar" looks like a slick, well-produced Web magazine, colorful, featuring a table of contents, an op-ed page, and a letter to the editor's page.
JOSH DEVON, SITE INSTITUTE: It's not a manual that you would read at the CIA or something, it's in laymen's terms and it's meant for the average person who wants to get involved in this to start doing what al Qaeda wants them to do.
CALLEBS: Published twice a month, each issue of "al-Battar" focuses on one topic, such as cleaning and care of weapons, assassinations, targets inside cities, and in this case, kidnapping. Al Qaeda watchers point out the rash of kidnappings in Iraq and Saudi Arabia flourished after the magazine articles came out.
GABRIEL WEIMANN, U.S. INST. OF PEACE: It's a detailed description who should be chosen as a target, where should the action be held, how should the hostage be kept, about negotiations, informing the media.
CALLEBS: Using the web to promote terror is not a new idea, but al Qaeda watchers say seven years ago they monitored 12 terrorist Web sites, today that number has swelled to more than 4,000. Experts say there is no way to shut down the sites. The same analysts say it may sound odd, but the U.S. does not want to silence all the sites because they do provide analysts with important so-called chatter.
WEIMANN: Actually there's a lot to learn from them and for intelligence purposes, one of the motives would be to keep it alive and get as much as you can and learn from them.
CALLEBS (on camera): "Al-Battar" claims to be published by al Qaeda military arm in the Arabian Peninsula. As much as anything, the online magazine is aimed at Muslim youth. A computer screen, replacing the battlefield, and analysts say "al-Battar's" message of basic terror training is capable of reaching millions.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Dealing with these terror Web sites poses a challenge and it's not likely to get easier. Some experts point out how adept terrorists have become at exploiting the web.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN VENZKE, CEO INTELCENTER: They are constantly exchanging different ideas, different philosophies on how to perfect their profession or their trade craft, and the terrorist has understood the benefit of that. In many ways they are much better than us in terms of taking what you call "lessons learned," previous attacks that they carried out, seeing what works well what didn't work and how they can work on improving it, and then sharing that information, something that we're still struggling with, with all of it members and its affiliate groups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: And as Sean reported there are now more than 4,000 sites up from just a handful a few years ago.
NGUYEN: We want to shift focus now to security at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. The laboratory's director suspended virtually all work being done there to put an end to security lapses. This move comes a day after the lab was ordered to halt classified work. That order was spurred by the discovery that two electronic data storage devices were missing.
GRIFFIN: Now to the wildfires blazing across 10 western states. In California, thousands have been forced from homes in Riverside and Los Angeles County. Seven hundred homes are in the path of one fire known as the Melton fire. A shelter has been set up at a local high school.
Meanwhile, more than 600 fire fighters are battling another blaze called the Foothill fire. Hundreds have fled their homes from this one. There have been no reports of damage or destroyed structures, so far.
For the latest on these fires, though, we're going to talk by phone with Captain John Harvey who's been up all night. He's with the California Department of Forestry and Fire.
Mr. Harvey -- Captain Harvey, what can you tell us about the latest weather conditions and the latest firefighting conditions for you?
CAPTAIN JOHN HARVEY, CALIFORNIA DEPT. FORESTRY AND FIRE: Well, we expect the weather to not cooperate today, but continue to be very hot and warm, today. Our temperatures for our Melton fire are expected to be 101 degrees or and higher, today, with a relative humidity of six to 15 percent throughout the day, which is very low for us. We're also expecting wind gusts of 10 miles an hour.
GRIFFIN: What can you do to try to contain this given those situations? Are you going to try to get out there as early as possible before those winds kick up?
HARVEY: We've been out there all night long. In order to try and contain this fire, we're going to hit it hard and heavy today with aircraft, as well as putting heavy fire lines around it using bulldozers and hand crews. We also have quite a few pieces of fire equipment out around there that's been working all night long that's going to also help to try to contain this fire. At this point we only have about a 10 percent containment on it. And the fire is about 3,200 acres.
GRIFFIN: And give us a sense of the homes that are potentially in the path? Are we talking about communities or ranches?
HARVEY: That area is a mixed area of homes, ranches. We have about 500 structures that are threatened due to the fire, with the potential of 4,000 structures threatened.
GRIFFIN: And is there any weather break predicted in the next few days?
HARVEY: Well, according to the San Diego National Weather Service, we will continue having our hot dry spell. However they do say that here's a possible that we may get our monsoonal moisture about Friday or Saturday.
GRIFFIN: All right. But with temperatures today in the 100s and humidity down to the teens even single digits this will be a daunting problem. Are the firefighters -- are you getting enough support, enough firefighters and enough aircraft?
HARVEY: We are doing our best. There is competition for the resources due to the other fires in southern California, in San Diego, San Bernardino and L.A. County. So, you know, resources are limited, but we do our best to share the resources, to the areas that are most threatened.
GRIFFIN: And one final question, Captain. Do we know how any of these fires started? Have you been able to determine that as of yet?
HARVEY: The Melton fire was human caused. It was caused by a gentleman out there who was doing target practice with firearms.
GRIFFIN: Hmm. All right. Thank you very much. That is Captain John Harvey, who stayed up most of the night trying to battle these fires out in California -- Betty.
NGUYEN: There is better news for fire crews in Nevada. They are going home. An erratic fire that burned for nearly a week and charred nearly 8,000 acres is under control in Carson City. Fifteen homes in the state capitol were destroyed along with a number of outbuildings. Investigators who thought teenagers started the blaze on Tuesday say it may have actually been smoldering undetected for days.
GRIFFIN: Other parts of the country are dealing with nature's wrath, as we go across America, the small southern New Jersey town of Medford Lakes was flooded again this weekend. This time the deluge was volunteers instead of rain, fortunately. Eight hundred people arriving to help clean up the area that was doused by downpours, last weekend. President Bush declared the area a national disaster clearing the way for federal aid. NGUYEN: A balloon ride in Baltimore was supposed to be fun, but 20 people were stranded for more than an hour. The helium filled ride is an attraction at the Port Discovery Children's Museum near Baltimore's inner harbor. It became stuck high above the city by yesterday's high winds. Now, after workers finally reeled it back in, four people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
GRIFFIN: A man on the FBI's 10 most wanted list is in custody thanks to a TV show. Agent's say a tip from a viewer of "America's Most Wanted" helped nab that man, Michael Alfonso, he was in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Alfonso accused of killing two former girlfriends in Wheaton, Illinois, one at a fast food restaurant, the other at a park.
And Florida man facing charges after allegedly hitting his girlfriend with a pet alligator during a fight. There, this is the guy. The woman told the police she was hit with the three-foot gator that the couple was keeping in their bathtub of their mobile home in Port Orange, Florida, near Daytona. The animal has been turned over to wildlife authorities. This man has been turned over to police.
NGUYEN: Let me must tell you, this story has so many people talking, especially around here. He hit her with a pet alligator, of all things. Oh, the story that comes out of there. OK.
GRIFFIN: Who will get the first interview?
NGUYEN: Yes, exactly, people are just standing in line for that one. Well, Grammy-bound. We'll introduce you to one unique group that could win best original song.
But first in Iraq, and now that the U.S. has handed over control, how is the Iraqi security force handling the day-to-day violence? An update just ahead on CNN's SUNDAY MORNING.
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NGUYEN: A heavy death toll today in a U.S. air strike in Fallujah. An angry crowd gathered at the scene of the attack. Our Michael Holmes is in Baghdad and he reports it could be another attempt to take out a terrorist mastermind. What's the latest in the hunt for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Michael.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah Betty, that appears to be exactly what this was, another, in what's been a series of attempts over the last couple of months, through aerial bombardments to take out that known terrorist the U.S. has been trying to get for a long time, now. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the man, a Jordanian militant thought to be responsible for numerous incidents around Iraq that has claimed the lives of soldiers and Iraqis -- a lot of Iraqis. The target on this occasion were 25 insurgents that the coalition believes are linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They were clustered around an area that they're describing as trenches, defensive fighting positions, and a checkpoint near a house that had been partially demolished. So, it wasn't a building they were after, it was this area. And that they say they saw 25 insurgents in this area just before the strike, asked for Iraqi permission to carry it out. The prime minister, they say, gave them that permission and they dropped a couple of very large bombs there. We're told that, from the minister of health, that 14 bodies were taken to hospitals, three wounded. No identification on the bodies at this stage.
As I say, this is the latest in a series of attempts to get al- Zarqawi who was thought as recently as yesterday to have been responsible for an attack that nearly killed the justice minister, here in Baghdad. That was a car bomb that blew up next to his convoy, taking out four of his bodyguards, the justice minister, on this occasion, escaping unscathed.
Now, also I want to report that there has been an arrest of what a fairly -- what the U.S. likes to call a high-value target. In this case, a major general from the Special Republican Guard, Sufian Maher Hassan was arrested in Tikrit two days ago. We're only just getting word about it now. He was in charge of the Special Republican Guard forces around Baghdad. Those forces, of course, did not do much to stop the U.S. advance on the capitol, melting away into the suburbs. He's being accused of fomenting attacks against both coalition forces and Iraqis. He's in custody being questioned at a detention facility -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Michael, what's the latest on the Filipino hostage and those troops from the Philippines leaving Iraq?
HOLMES: Yeah, that's a good question because they are on their way out. They are handing over the last of their duties, these Philippine troops, to Polish troops. That's going to take place in Babil province at Camp Charlie, where they've been based. And then they're headed for Kuwait. And they will be out of the country in the next 24, 48 hours or so. And they will be handing over duties to Polish troops, as you know. This is all related to the holding of the Filipino hostage, Angelo de la Cruz, the 46-year-old father of eight. Those holding him say they will not release him until the last Filipino soldier has left the country. So, we'll wait and see what happens in that development. That was, of courses, a concession to the hostage takers by the Filipino government that did not in anyway please the U.S. government nor the Iraqi government, for that matter -- Betty.
NGUYEN: And that deadline is July 20. All right, CNN's Michael Holmes in Baghdad, thank you for that report -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: The violence does continue in Iraq, but also there are some hopeful signs. We're going to get an assessment now, from defense analyst David Isby who joins us from New York.
David, nice to see you, this morning.
DAVID ISBY, DEFENSE ANALYST: Good morning.
GRIFFIN: We still see this violence, but no apparent political goal, as far as we can see. Are we talking about just thuggery here, or is there a leader out there who is actually fomenting this violence?
ISBY: Well, there are multiple leaders; we talked about al- Zarqawi, the foreign people devoted to jihad. There is a remnant of the Baath party which moved from a totalitarian ruling party to an underground movement, in many ways a criminal movement, and you have some of the Shia movements, al-Sadrs who have their own theocratic way of doing things. So, we don't have a single political war-fighting entity opposing us, and that's one reason why one can be guardedly optimistic that the new government in Iraq can start to improve.
GRIFFIN: When you say "guardedly optimistic," I fail to see the optimism when we have so many different criminal or violent elements running around and eventually probably will -- competing against each other.
ISBY: Which is perhaps a -- one of the reasons they don't have an integral -- an insurgency is primarily a political action. In Lebanon you had, for example, the Hezbollah emerging from being a mafia family, sort of organization, into having a political arm, a legitimate parliamentary arm, that sort of thing. We are not seeing that from the opposition currently in Iraq. They are killing people, they're attempting to kill people. It's going to be a long, hard road, but they're not offering an alternative to the government to compete for legitimacy in the hearts and minds of Iraqis.
GRIFFIN: The Iraqi government is trying to weed out these characters, but also convince its own citizens that the country is safe. This week the passport office open and was flooded with people trying to get out. It is still very dangerous daily for Iraqis, is it not?
ISBY: Certainly the security situation there is bad. That's part of legitimacy. A government to be legitimate has to show it can protect its own people. Another key issue is infrastructure, which has been a key limitation. Things like electric power, the oil infrastructure, that's something else that's going to have to be. That's one of the reasons they try and attack legitimacy by killing people to show that the government cannot protect its own people.
GRIFFIN: Mr. Isby, quickly now, on the Philippine issue, the Philippine troops cutting and running, basically, in the demands of the terrorists. Is that likely to fuel recruits within Iraq?
ISBY: Certainly it's likely to show that kidnapping is a low- risk, high-gain issue. And terrorists throughout the world have used it for years and when they get a success like this, it encourages more.
GRIFFIN: David Isby, joining us from New York, we thank you for your thoughts on Iraq and hope to talk to you soon.
ISBY: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Pfizer's new drug plan -- will it help seniors pay less for the prescriptions they need? We'll get the bottom line when CNN's SUNDAY MORNING returns.
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NGUYEN: Well, good morning to you, Washington. This is a beautiful look at the White House, here. A live look on this Sunday morning. We will have the weekend forecast in just a couple of minutes. So, stay tuned.
I'm Betty Nguyen, here's our top stories at this hour. Wildfires in southern California are forcing even more people from their homes. Two new fires, yesterday, are adding to the dozens already burning. U.S. planes struck a house in Fallujah, Iraq, overnight. An Iraqi government spokesman says Prime Minister Allawi approved of the attack. The Iraqi health minister says 14 people were killed in fighting in the city, but it's not known how many were victims of the air strike.
The final report of the 9/11 Commission will reportedly recommend a cabinet-level intelligence post creating a national director of intelligence. Sources also say the report will conclude that intelligence responsibilities are spread too widely across the government.
GRIFFIN: Will the commission's report help prevent future attacks? We have been reading your e-mails and here are more of them this morning: "I believe the 9/11 Commission will create no able to prevent future terrorist attacks. It gives a window into seeing what the terrorists are capable of and types of havoc they can achieve, but unfortunately it won't be a key in prevention."
NGUYEN: Carol from Toronto Canada writes: "If you don't find out why a process isn't operating properly, how you can hope to fix it? It's a necessary first step."
GRIFFIN: Charlene in Maine, "The 9/11 report, nothing but scapegoating, President Bush, the architect of the war on Iraq with instruction from Cheney," let's assume that's Vice President Dick Cheney, "without their part in this we will never know what really happened."
NGUYEN: And John definitely has opinions, here, he writes from Atlanta, saying: "The 9/11 Commission has recommended that a new post be created to oversee the intelligence community. Great idea! We could call it 'president'."
And of course we thank you for all your responses, and as always on the weekends we have the e-mail questions of the day, so you'll stay tuned for that and do write in.
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