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CNN Saturday Morning News
Major Developments in India; Gifts for the Holiday Season
Aired November 29, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this November 29th. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
You know, some major developments had happened overnight out in India. We want to take you there and show you some videos. The siege in Mumbai -- it is over at this hour. Soldiers are diffusing explosives as they make their way through the 565 rooms at the Taj Mahal Hotel, and what they're trying to do is make sure everything is clear.
HOLMES: Also, we now know that 195 people are dead, five of them Americans. Another 300 people are injured.
NGUYEN: And now, more of the focus will turn to who exactly did this. And part of that investigation is taking detectives off the coast of Mumbai.
HOLMES: Like Betty just said, it is over, after 60 hours of terror. Well, now, India wants answers. Among those questions: How could two dozen terrorists launch such a well-coordinated, well-armed attacks on several sites including the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels?
CNN's Andrew Stevens joins us now on the phone from Mumbai.
Andrew, police still are going through a lot of these crime scenes. What else are we learning now that police are able to go through several of these locations?
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (through phone): Well, we're still waiting for more details about the background of who might have been behind this, T.J. But what is actually happening at the moment is that they are moving very, very cautiously through the big hotels, the Taj and the Oberoi -- first, looking for clues in the Oberoi. But here at the Taj Hotel, they are looking really just to clear the building. This is not a sanitized, as they call it, building at the moment. It's a massive structure. There's more than 450 rooms.
So, they are going very cautiously room-to-room, searching for mainly, bobby traps at this stage and just to thoroughly check all possible areas to make sure it's clean. What they are learning at the moment is that, they are just getting more and more details of about how well-organized this was. They are keeping the information pretty much to themselves at the moment, T.J. So, we haven't gleaned yet as any hot information as to who might have behind this, although the Indian authorities...
HOLMES: Yes.
STEVENS: ... and sources as quoted by the local media, keep pointing towards the connections to Pakistan.
HOLMES: All right. And, Andrew, you mentioned that the police, the authorities have to move through these massive hotels really cautiously. Is there any sense -- are they giving you any idea that, you know what, maybe any of these terrorists are still holed up anywhere? I think we understood that they thought they had one of the hotels cleared and they, you know, just looking for explosives and things that might have been left around -- but any sense you're getting from them that maybe, there might still some terrorists out there?
STEVENS: No, to be honest, no. They are not saying that they are still, certainly, expecting to encounter anybody. But, these three days -- these last three days, there's been a lot of the information coming out, a lot of conflicting information coming out from various local authorities and the military. So they are just double-checking, but this is absolutely the end of it. Certainly, they declared it's the end, but as we found out over the past few days, the declarations and the actual facts as they come to light a little bit later can be a little bit different.
But they are not suggesting that there is any other terrorist, any terrorists still left in the Taj. Like I said, it's more really sweeping through, looking for booby traps as much as anything. And just so that they can clear the place and start getting on to try to do the mopping up operation.
HOLMES: All right. Andrew Stevens for us in Mumbai. Andrew, we appreciate you.
And he's just referring to there, one of the two hotels, been really the centerpiece of this siege. The Oberoi was one, but the Taj that he's talking about there. And the Taj Mahal Hotel really just a palace in itself, if you will. A 565-room hotel and been around for 100-plus years. It has hosted presidents and kings and it's also a longtime popular spot for westerners.
Yes, that was the scene. That's just one of a number of explosions that hit the hotel since Wednesday. Authorities have been searching the room, the whole hotel room by room. That's a heck of a process to go through and a tedious one.
Anubha Bhonsle of CNN's sister network in India, CNN-IBN, shows us now some of the damage done to this historic hotel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANUBHA BHONSLE, CNN-IBN REPORTER: This is the first inside look that we've had after the terrible tragedy that went on inside the Taj. You can see these broken glass panes, they're really testimony to the horror of that night. This is the first time we've really been able to come inside to the first corridor lining up to the Taj.
We're going to look past to all these shops that have their front doors down. But I can tell you for sure that guards out there, we aren't really allowed north, but, of course, we have an access (ph) to what's happened. You can see these glass planes (ph), we want to try and go inside. All of this is knocked down. The chandeliers are still on. We believe (ph) that the commando operation is continued over the last two to three days, and it's still continuing.
But these broken artifacts of this beautiful hotel are really what remain. And there (INAUDIBLE), the remnants. You can see everything lying low (ph), broken, shattered. (INAUDIBLE). We're not allowed access. Really, but this is the first time we've come up until here to see them (ph) inside.
They told us (INAUDIBLE) windows. These large sheets that have been put really on all windows to cover any sort of access. (INAUDIBLE). Here you can see (INAUDIBLE), broken glass, broken wood, things that have fallen off of the roof down here. This is the terrible state of this building, the Taj. The operation is still not over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, those who did lose their lives trying to save others, they are being honored in Mumbai. A state funeral for the man who led the city's anti-terrorism squad, Hemant Karkare, was gunned down by terrorists outside the Cama Hospital on Wednesday. A colleague remembers him as a daredevil officer. Also, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was killed in the fight at the Taj Mahal. The director of India's commando unit says he gave up his own life to save others.
And this -- a Jewish center in Mumbai, the Chabad House, was also the scene of some intense gunfire. That is where some of the American victims lost their lives.
CNN's Nic Robertson was at the center during much of the police commando action. They cleared the building late last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Explosions ripped through the air as gunshots echo off the tightly-packed walls of this densely populated Mumbai neighborhood. Everybody, it seems, was watching. Everyone wanting to know what was happening to Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his young family.
Commandos airlifted hours earlier on the roof to his Chabad House who were desperately searching for ways to save him. His wife held hostage by Islamic extremists a few floors below. The situation -- confusing.
Then, in the last hour of daylight, intense commando activity. Smoke bellows with massive explosion. Heavy equipment pulled up from the ground. Out of sight, more commandos broke down the building and in through the wall they just blew open. As the light fades, more gunfire, more explosions.
We heard (ph) information. We head down to the street as the mood changes.
(on camera): The rumor is that the standoff is over. There's quite a jubilant situation here. People on the roof have been cheering. People on the streets are now pushing to get forward, pushing to see what's going on. We're going to take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm seeing a policeman.
(INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTSON: Is it possible to go forward? Is the situation over?
(INAUDIBLE)
(voice-over): We are told nothing.
(on camera): It's just not clear if it's over. Everybody down on street is pushing. We're inching forward to take a look. But remember (ph) we're being held by (INAUDIBLE).
(voice-over): It turns out with good reason. Police cleared the streets. There are more explosions. Then rumors turn sadly real. The rabbi, his wife, and three unidentified others are dead. As the police chief approaches the crowd to greet them, an ambulance takes away a lone body.
(on camera): After 48 hours, the siege here is over. It will resonate through this community for the weeks and months to come. They will know that they are no longer as safe as they thought they once were.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Mumbai, India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, facing off against terrorists, India's elite commandos. We're going to go inside their mission to save hostages and capture the attackers. Plus, the deadly operation that started at sea. Terror threat on the water.
But first, though, remembering two of the American victims.
HOLMES: Yes, a retired art professor and his precocious teenage daughter. Their quest for peace and how other members of their group survived the attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: Some pictures there of those 60 bloody hours that had left an indelible mark on India. One hundred ninety-five people were killed in the terrorist attacks including five Americans. So, here's what we know right now. The siege is over but now comes the task of finding out who is behind the well-planned attacks. Investigators from around the world have offered up help and police have found some clues off the coast in a fishing boat, of all places. Authorities are doing a floor to floor search, in the meantime, of the Taj Hotel. That's where the last of the terrorists had holed up.
And police set off a series of explosions there this morning as they diffuse explosives left behind. As we said, though, five Americans were killed in the attacks, including the rabbi in the Jewish center. Three hundred people have been wounded and 23 of them -- foreigners.
HOLMES: One of the first scenes secured by the Indian military was the Oberoi Hotel. This is a sprawling luxury hotel, 200-plus rooms there. The siege there lasted about 36 hours. Terrorists there did hold some hostages, but also, there are a lot of people there who just hunkered down, they were hiding in their rooms. One of them was Vinka Clemmett.
Listen to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VINKA CLEMMETT, SURVIVED SIEGE AT OBEROI HOTEL: We are grateful that we're out. We think that the Indian army were magnificent. We were there (ph) for 36 hours in our room. But strangely, we felt quite, you know, it was pretty shocking every time a bomb or an explosion went off, but we kind of felt at peace.
When we heard the first explosion, we just sort of -- a big tray, a big silver tray had dropped on the floor. And then about five minutes later, we heard the shooting. And it just went on and on. And my first reaction was, "Oh, God, forgive them" because I knew that people were being killed. It was just obvious that something terrible was happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Vinka Clemmett had no idea what was happening to two friends. Now, she was in India with the Synchronicity Foundation. It's a group dedicated to spirituality and meditation. Alan Scherr organized that tour. He was actually downstairs with his young daughter at a cafe in the hotel lobby when the terrorists stormed in. And they are among the five Americans confirmed dead.
Here's CNN Jill Dougherty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alan Scherr's spiritual life was tied to India. He visited many times. And that is where he died, along with his 13-year-old daughter Naomi in the terrorist attack on Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel.
Scherr, 58, shown here with his daughter and his wife Kia was a former college professor who became vice president of the Synchronicity Foundation, a meditation group in Faber, Virginia, based on the teachings of an Indian spiritual teacher. Twenty members of the group were on a meditation pilgrimage to Mumbai.
The foundation says the rest are now safe. The foundation spokeswoman said, some of the group went to a cafe at the Oberoi for a snack when the terrorists walked in and opened fire.
BOBBIE GARVEY, SYNCHRONICITY SPOKESWOMAN: The three people that were injured and went to the hospital told us that they saw Alan take a bullet to the head and go down. They also told us that Naomi was also on the ground although they didn't know whether she was shot or not.
DOUGHERTY: The group's other members spent 45 hours barricaded in their rooms.
GARVEY: The grenades were going off. There was constant, you know, gunfire. They didn't know at any time if that door was going to open and there was going to be someone to save them or it was going to be someone to take them out.
DOUGHERTY: Garvey describes Alan Scherr as brilliant and passionate. Naomi, he says, wanted to see the world.
The Synchronicity Foundation set up a Web site for the Scherrs. It's already filled with tributes from the U.S., Canada and countries around the world. Alan Scherr once wrote he was living a simple life. "For me," he said, "real freedom means living life in each moment, as it unfolds without concepts or conditions."
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Also, members of a Hasidic Jewish community are mourning a rabbi and his wife who were killed in those attacks in Mumbai. You see them there. The bodies of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg of New York and his wife Rivka, they were found inside that Chabad House we've been hearing a lot about, that Jewish community center in Mumbai. The couple's nanny, however, managed to get their toddler out of danger. There was also another New York rabbi who was also found dead at that scene.
NGUYEN: Well, we're going to turn here just for a second because Black Friday, you know, that big shopping day of the year when you're excited and get up really early in the morning for it, well, it actually turned tragic at a Wal-Mart in New York.
HOLMES: Yes, some people apparently got just a little too excited, got chaotic. We'll tell you how an employee died while opening the store the day after Thanksgiving.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, five-day winning streak on Wall Street. Stocks rallied in a shortened trading session yesterday. The Dow and S&P 500 ended higher for the fifth session in a row. It closed up 102 points. Friday's moves are the first time the Dow has held gains for five consecutive sessions since last November.
NGUYEN: Well, a whole lot of retail therapy for millions of Americans not daunted by the idea of huge crowds or the struggling economy. Shoppers, in fact, turned out in force to take advantage of Black Friday, which is the official start of the holiday shopping season. Some major retailers say yesterday's crowds were at least as large as last year's. However, it's not yet known whether shoppers spent as much as last year.
HOLMES: All right. This next story is an outraged story and ridiculous that this had to happen -- a death at a Wal-Mart in New York on Black Friday. Why these frenzy, crazy scenes you always see people can't wait to bust in and get in to get these deals and this was the result. Police say, a temporary employee trampled to death by frenzy shoppers who were trying to get in there and cash in on Black Friday sales.
(INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: And I apologize there, a little audio issue, you can't hear what they're saying. But, essentially, the scene was, thousands of people, about 2,000, we're told, lined up at that particular Wal- Mart up in New York. They've been lining up since the night before, trying to get in there and get deals. Well, you know, they started pushing and you only got a few employees in there trying to push back.
And, Betty, we're talking about this story. This guy was there, a temporary worker was trampled.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: People kept running right over him, trying to get...
NGUYEN: Busted part of the door out...
HOLMES: Bust the door out.
NGUYEN: ... because they're trying to, you know, just get in there. And we see these scenes all the time and sometimes they are kind of funny. We see people, you know, lose their wig and blah, blah, blah. But this time, it became deadly and it's just become so much.
In fact, I've learned that some stores are deciding -- you know what, we're not going to just open the doors and let everyone make a mad dash. We're letting so many in at a time just so that they can have some kind of crowd control.
HOLMES: There were several other employees trying to get to that employee. They were trampled as well.
NGUYEN: Yes. HOLMES: At least four of the people are injured. And one of them, Betty, was an eight-month pregnant woman who had to be taken to the hospital...
NGUYEN: Oh, my goodness.
HOLMES: ... because people trampling over. You know, like you said...
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: ...you see these scenes, we tape them, we do this and in video. I mean, in the news video, we see this video, but it's not funny sometimes and it's her day (ph).
NGUYEN: And as to that pregnant woman, just so that you know at home, she is fine. The baby is also fine. But thank goodness for that. But again, unfortunately, one person is dead because of that shopping frenzy there.
All right. So more Black Friday violence.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Listen to this story, guys. At Toys "R" Us in California, you think it's a happy place, right? Well, police say two people were actually killed after gunfire erupted at the store in Palm Desert. Frightened shoppers took off in all directions. Some ducking for cover in a nearby gym when those shots rang out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, KMIR)
SGT. DENNIS GUTIERREZ, RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: At 11:31, the Palm Desert Police Department received a call of shots fired here at the Toys "R" Us. The police department arrived within one minute. So we (ph) can well see there were patrons running out of the store. The officers did make entry into the Toys "R" Us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Police say the shooting was not related to the bargain hunting frenzy. Toys "R" Us did issue a statement saying that it appears to have been a result of a personal dispute.
HOLMES: And to some weather now. And the hurricane season coming to an end, actually, it's going to be over, officially, this weekend. But, you know, the devastation remains for people along the Texas coast. Many are still living in temporary homes 11 weeks after Hurricane Ike -- you remember that one?
Our Reynolds Wolf has more on the record-breaking impacts of the closing hurricane season.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was the fourth most active since 1944, with 16 named storms, eight hurricanes, and five major hurricanes. Now, three of those hurricanes struck the United States. And the first was Dolly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you can see this is a category two hurricane and it's incredibly treacherous.
WOLF (voice-over): Dolly's savaging winds ripped through the southern most part of Texas and crashed on South Padre Island with peak intensity winds of 100 miles per hour. The worse storm to think it island in more than three decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The garage just blew off the building that we're on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what these winds, but these are definitely the heaviest winds we've had.
WOLF: Hurricane Gustav took the Gulf of Mexico by storm, spinning its way into a category four with top wind speeds of 150 miles per hour. Though slowing down before landfall, Gustav still crippled communities, businesses, and homes from Haiti to Louisiana.
Tropical storm-turned-hurricane Hanna first brought massive floods to Haiti, killing hundreds and leaving thousands helpless, homeless, and hungry. Quickly, the system picked up speed and headed off towards the Carolinas.
The most destructive cyclone of the year -- Ike. Its unstoppable force wiped out neighborhoods in parts of Texas. Even a week later, remnants of Ike's impact was still being felt in the Great Lakes region.
(on camera): Total damage for 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was a mind-blowing $54 billion in U.S. currency. That's the second most destructive hurricane season on record. The worse was 2005, the year of Katrina.
Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, it's going to be a busy weekend and extreme weather is not what we need, especially when folks are trying to make it home from Thanksgiving. Karen Maginnis joins us this morning.
Karen, how is it looking out there?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Betty, it looks pretty rough, especially across the southeast and the central United States. But we're not finished yet. We have an evolving weather system right across the central U.S. and it's going to be the most significant snowstorm that we've seen so far this season.
All the way from Hattiesburg to Atlanta, extending up towards Charlotte, we've got a mess with some thunderstorms rumbling around just at north of Hattiesburg. Hattiesburg, yesterday, saw just under three inches of rainfall. That was a record-setting amount for the day.
Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, you're all looking at various forms of precipitation. But more than likely by this evening, it's going to change over to all snowfall. Temperatures now are mostly hovering around the freezing mark.
Into the eastern Great Lakes, though, in Buffalo and Syracuse, not unusual this time of year but we're not going to see it enhanced, that we see heavy volumes of snowfall. But you'll see a couple of inches. So, drive carefully.
But here's the major snowstorm that is developing. It's going to move across the Midwest. In the meantime, we've got this area of low pressure in the Deep South. So, for travelers on Sunday, this is what you've got to look forward to -- all the way from Chicago into Buffalo and Rochester, not necessarily New York, it's going to be -- you're going to be impacted by the wind and the snow. On top of that, very cold temperatures.
The southeast is going to be inundated with cold air and the lingering effects of snowfall, while much of the west is going to remain quiet but on the cold side in the northwest.
Betty and T.J., back to you.
NGUYEN: Karen, thank you for that.
HOLMES: And throughout the crisis in Mumbai, some of the most popular images have come from people who happened to be nearby and just picked up their cameras.
NGUYEN: Yes. Our Josh Levs has been looking through your iReports. He joins us now.
Hi, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there. Good morning to you.
We got the aftermath in a restaurant, candle-lighting for a lost soldier, and what the inside of the Taj Hotel looks like. Our iReporters will show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: New today: The siege is over in Mumbai. But now, investigators -- they are on the hunt for clues. These cell phones and a GPS, I'll get you that video in a second, right there, were found on board an abandoned boat off the coast of Mumbai. And police suspect that they may have been used by the gunmen before the attacks.
We have a lot of information for you this morning, folks. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. We're glad you could start your day right here with us on this Saturday morning.
NGUYEN: All right. Let's bring you up to speed with the situation that's going on in Mumbai. India's 60-hour nightmare, it is finally over.
Here's what we know: Authorities are searching each of the 565 rooms at the Taj Mahal Hotel. They did carry out a series of controlled explosions a little bit earlier today. But that death toll from the attacks is now at 195 with at least 300 injured. Investigators are now trying to find the group responsible for all of that bloodshed.
In the meantime, though, police say the phones found at an abandoned boat floating off the coast of Mumbai, well, a log on those cell phone's calls shows that they were placed to Pakistan. Once inside the city, the attackers moved through Mumbai with apparent ease. They knew the layout of the Taj Hotel better than India's elite commandos.
Let's get more on that now from our Tim Lister.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The operation to rescue hostage from the Taj Mahal and Oberoi -- and arrest or kill the terrorists fell to India's military elite, navy commandos. This is believed to be the first time they've spoken to the media but they did not reveal their identities. The commandos painted a grim picture of that challenge at the Taj. They didn't know the hotel but their enemy did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people -- they were very, very familiar with the layout of the hotel. They knew all entries and exits.
LISTER: The commandos had little guidance from the staff. And they held fire for fear of wounding or killing guests.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we first exchanged fire, we could have one of those terrorists but there was so much of the hotel guests there outside, the bodies were lined to (ph) here and there.
LISTER: According to an army commander, the operation also took longer because so many doors were locked.
LT. GENERAL N. THAMBURAJ, INDIAN ARMY: A number of rooms were locked from inside. It is possible that some of the hotel guests have locked themselves in, and for their own security and safety. Even though we have identified ourselves, they are not opening the doors.
LISTER: The commandos said they did not hear the terrorists speak but were struck by their appearance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did not have any masks or sort of anything on them. They were putting on normal t-shirts.
(INAUDIBLE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were not very old. They were about less than 30 years of age.
LISTER: And they seemed well-trained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons, not everybody can throw grenades like that. So, for using such weapons and explosives, it is obvious that they would have had being trained somewhere.
LISTER: Though they would not speculate where. The commandos' assessment matches that of intelligence analysts that described this as a well-financed and meticulously planned attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Foreign money. They had dollars. They had about -- they had seven magazines, filled magazines, fully filled. And spare round, approximately 400 round.
LISTER: During the news conference not far from the Taj Mahal, the commandos several times used the same words to describe the terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were very well-determined lot (ph), remorseless.
LISTER: And unlike any that India has seen before.
Tim Lister, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And you've seen that piece, you saw those commandos, they were covered up. They had their faces covered up. They are equivalent of U.S. Army's Special Forces Unit, if you will. And they have to cover up their faces because of possible retaliation against their families or them by those who are out there fight against those terrorists.
Well, a lot of those terrorists we've been hearing about -- they were well equipped, they were well-trained and well-prepared. And with that kind of description, now comes a myriad of questions now. Questions I've been talking about the past couple of days here with our security analysts, Mike Brooks.
Mike, good to have you here with us again this morning.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Good to be with you, T.J.
HOLMES: We've been talking about these weapons. It seemed like they were well-equipped and well-armed. And they arrived, we think, by boat.
BROOKS: Right.
HOLMES: Did they haul over stuff with them? Was it waiting on them when they got there? What? BROOKS: That's all lead to a great question. And you know, there's a possibility they may have come ashore in these boats, at one or two locations.
HOLMES: All right.
BROOKS: So the question is, did they bring them with them from the mothership wherever they launched from? Because they had to launch from somewhere. They believe it was about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai and then came in. Because, you know, we look at where they came in, there's a -- and all the different locations that where they hit.
So, you know, it's interesting to see whether or not they did have local help. You know, there's been talk that there was this, possibly, kind of a mafia figure, if you will...
HOLMES: Yes.
BROOKS: ... who's been involved in incidents in Mumbai before, Dawood Ibrahim. Now, there's a possibility that his syndicate could have supplied weapons and ammo. And that's one of the things that Indian security forces are looking into right now.
Because, you know, when they did come ashore, they came ashore, possibly at two different locations, and then, you look at the different locations that they hit, the Leopold Cafe, because they know that there are a lot of westerns, a lot of backpacker, you know, terrorists there and then the Colaba Market, I mean, where you're going to have a lot of people there, and then the Taj Mahal Hotel. This station here.
Now, there's talk that they even went to a police station, killed some police officers, took their uniforms -- and we saw yesterday during that timeline piece that we were talking about of them driving through downtown shooting out from a police vehicle. So, was that one of the ways that they were able to get around so quickly?
HOLMES: How much recon work was necessary? Is it possible that could have been elsewhere? Could have wherever they were, send up on the Internet, and they just plotted it out, let me MapQuest, I need to go here and do this and that? Or would they have had to have been certainly getting help there on the ground -- I know these are speculations now but...
BROOKS: Sure.
HOLMES: I mean, common sense tells the fool you have to have gotten some help there.
BROOKS: Just because of the way they moved around so quickly...
HOLMES: Yes.
BROOKS: ... from one location to another location to another location -- and some of my intelligence sources are also telling me that they are looking into the possibility that there could have been one or more of the terrorists that were employed at the Taj Hotel.
Now, does that make sense? Absolutely, because, you know, you go into a hotel, what do you usually see? Not too much, but there's so many small little back halls and everything else as you move through a hotel. In fact, we heard from the commandos yesterday that, in fact, you know, they had a hard time moving around. They didn't have any plans. You know, and when the commandos come in, you know, they were confronting these people, just running gun battles through the hotel and through the city.
HOLMES: What are we going see now in the next couple of days as far as the coordination with all these different intelligence agencies from the U.S.? I mean, Pakistan has even offered to send an intelligence officer as well.
BROOKS: Right.
HOLMES: But how was this coordination going to work to try to figure out who this was and we heard from one of the analysts yesterday, a former CIA operative, says, "You know what, we might never know who did this." But how is the work going to proceed?
BROOKS: I think we will eventually find out who was responsible for this or maybe at least some of the funding, as you go, because they were able to capture some of the people. Now, you know, here's where they came across (ph). They came in right by the gateway and right in this particular area here. And, you know, then they deployed out through the city, through the different locations. And how they got -- they had to have logistical help.
You say, yes, you can be back in Pakistan -- you could be anywhere else planning this. But you have to have people there doing the recon for you, doing reconnaissance on exactly, OK, how are we going to hit these places because -- the other day, talking to Jim Clancy from CNN International, they had had, apparently, a pretty high security profile at this hotel and at other hotels in Mumbai and they had just lowered it.
So, you're not going to know that if you're in Pakistan or somewhere. That's why you have to have local logistical help doing your reconnaissance there on the ground. They are talking possibly six months. I would say six months to a year in the planning for something like that.
HOLMES: Yes, and expensive.
BROOKS: Very extensive. And, you know, they talked initially about two dozen gunmen that came ashore here.
HOLMES: That's sufficient to hit nine different locations.
BROOKS: That's what I'm saying -- I still think, yes, you might have had 24 operators, if you will, but you had other people behind- the-scenes, maybe at the two hotels, maybe near the Jewish community center, maybe at these other locations that they hit, providing logistical support. And I'm going to be anxious to see if they found radios, those kinds of things, to see exactly how they did communicate from one group to another group.
HOLMES: A lot of questions there. We're going to have you here throughout the morning, talking about this more.
BROOKS: Yes.
HOLMES: Mike Brooks, security analyst, good to have you. Good talking to you, as always. (INAUDIBLE).
BROOKS: Thanks, T.J. Absolutely.
NGUYEN: A lot of questions like you said.
Well, you know, CNN iReporters -- they've been helping us tell this story from Mumbai. And now, some of you are actually weighing on who you think is responsible for these attacks.
HOLMES: And Josh Levs looking into that for us.
Good morning, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you, guys. Some amazing iReport images, I've been seeing them ever since this happened. I want to show you, guys, some of the most striking ones today.
Let's actually zoom right in here. I want to start off with these over at the Cafe Leopold. These were taken by Aaron Cadry (ph) who lives in South Mumbai, who went over once, he said, it was safe, to get to the Cafe Leopold. And he says you can see a sense of the destruction there. Even though it had passed now (ph), you can see everything is just a mess.
Let's go over to these, this is interesting. This -- you know, maybe someone else wouldn't have thought of this. It comes to us from Bennie Pandit (ph). It's outside of a police office and these lights that you see over here are candles that were lit in memory of a soldier who died in this fight and he points out this is just one small way of marking a life, someone who gave his life, ultimately, for the war on terror.
Also, I want to show you this. These are pictures of what the inside of the Taj Mahal Hotel looked like before everything that just happened. These were sent to us from someone who visited two years ago, Julie Kurtzman (ph). Let's zoom right in. Look at this. She says some of the staircases are absolutely amazing.
You can get a sense now of the people who were trapped inside what physically it was like for them. And we've heard some stories of people trying to jump down from different areas. We also heard that this is, you know, an incredibly important historic and also expensive hotel, and the economic impact it could have on India, tremendous.
Now, also, as Betty just mentioned, some people are now weighing in on who they think is responsible. We got this video from Jimmy Deol of Toronto. Let's take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY DEOL, IREPORTER, TORONTO, ONTARIO: This type of groups trying to define a cause for their existence or the type of cowardly acts that they do, these ideologies of these groups are rooted into that religious divide that goes as far back as 1947.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And by 1947, he's talking about the original partition, India and Pakistan. It's an interesting theory. There are a lot of people weighing in. You invite you to do that or to send us your photos, your videos, your stories -- anything you got safely over here at iReport.com. You can see it right here: Reactions to Mumbai Attacks. And no matter where you are in the world, no matter what your perspective is on this, we're inviting you to weigh in.
We also have a Twitter page set up where you can get some of the latest information we have on iReport: Twitter.com/CNNiReport.
And, guys, I'll be back next hour to show you some of the amazing resources that CNN.com has set up to help everyone follow what has happened and live in real-time what is happening in Mumbai.
NGUYEN: All right, Josh, we do appreciate that.
HOLMES: And meanwhile, President Bush has been watching what's been going on in Mumbai. He's been watching from Camp David. He'll be back at the White House today, though. The president calls the killings so horrific and says he and the first lady mourn the loss of life. In a statement, he also said, "We will continue to cooperate against these extremists who offer nothing but violence and hopelessness."
NGUYEN: Well, reactions are flying into the CNN Heroes Program.
HOLMES: Yes. Who is your hero? We'll get into that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Yes, it's holiday time. We want to bring our Rick Horrow in, you know, our business sports analyst. We love to have him here on the weekends with us, on Saturday mornings.
And you got all this shopping. You know, Black Friday was yesterday. People are thinking about ideas for the season. You got some gifts here that will work, assume for the sports fan. What do you got?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Sports fans but for everybody else. You know, CNN.com reported that the mid-level, low level stores were taking a hit. But now, we got a solution because we've got five big time gifts for the holiday shoppers, sports inclined. Number five: trade yourself.
HOLMES: What? HORROW: It's actually a deal -- trade yourself. Topps Card Company allows you to have a likeness of yourself or a friend with the stats on the back. Even your, you know, meager stats from Arkansas when you played ball. Anybody can do that and have it as a gift. So, that's number five.
HOLMES: A likeness -- now, that means your picture?
HORROW: Your picture, obviously. And, you know, when you were...
HOLMES: OK. Well, is that likeness?
HORROW: Well, your picture, OK?
HOLMES: OK. Thank you.
HORROW: So, you know, 10 years ago when you were playing and you flipped the cards, and, you know, you can be there for a friend. Second prize for you is two of those.
HOLMES: All right. What's -- let's keep going down list. Go ahead.
(LAUGHTER)
HORROW: Number four: Skyfire. It's free. It is a device works on Motorola, Nokia, and other phones where you can you actually stream all of the games, all of the sporting events on your phone. There it is right now. And if you had it for the Olympics, you could have watched that marvelous team hand ball or any of the other stuff that was on, and you didn't have to go to your TV set.
HOLMES: OK. That was kind of cool.
HORROW: It's called Skyfire.
HOLMES: All right.
HORROW: That's pretty good gift.
HOLMES: OK -- you said you had five?
HORROW: Well, here we go. I'm going to ask -- all right. Rick what about number three? Glad you asked.
(LAUGHTER)
HORROW: "Sunday Night Football Cookbook." It's put out by -- Bobby Flay is contributing, Jerome Bettis is contributing, Carl Eller, and even Brett Favre and for $28, he doesn't have the recipe for humble pie.
HOLMES: Oh, I don't know.
HORROW: Yes. HOLMES: OK. What's number two, Rick?
(LAUGHTER)
HORROW: Thank you. Well done. Number two: The world baseball classic set of replica jerseys. There is an event that Major League Baseball is putting on. And so, the bottom line of all of that is you have jerseys all over the place. And that's a big deal.
So, now, I guess we have number one.
NGUYEN: That's new, though. (INAUDIBLE) for years.
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: All right. Sorry.
NGUYEN: That's number two in your list?
(LAUGHTER)
HORROW: Well, but you want to hear number one?
NGUYEN: Well, I can't wait to hear number one.
HOLMES: Better be good.
HORROW: Carivintas Victory Dog Wines. Michael Vick in jail. But, remember, the 22 dogs that were rescued from his stable, each of the wine bottles have 22 faces of those dogs and the whole set costs you $672. You could also help the Humane Society. There they are right there. A victory toast, really kind of cute dogs, if you want to make the case and talk about being socially responsible. Well, there they are.
HOLMES: OK. That is nice.
NGUYEN: So, the money goes to charity. I got you. OK, yes.
HORROW: That money goes to charity.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing here, though, Rick, and this is something we've been hearing about. You've been telling us about really of the past couple of weeks, really, how professional teams trying to help out their customers a bit, the fans out there with some of the ticket prices. We saw, I think, a job fair one as well. What are they continuing to do here?
HORROW: Well, you called it. It's probably the economy more than anything else. But it is a gift to fans. Major League Baseball, most of the teams are stabilizing their ticket prices. Boston Red Sox holding off, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Houston Astros, even the Pittsburgh Pirates are lowering their prices. So, the gift to the fans, in addition to helping out to economy, are lower ticket prices.
NGUYEN: How much lower though? I mean, are we looking at deep discounts here?
HORROW: Well, deep in baseball's all relative term talking to 15 percent, 20 percent across the board.
NGUYEN: OK.
HORROW: But lower, especially for the Red Sox, for example, is not raising them.
NGUYEN: Yes, that's true. Good point.
HOLMES: You know, that's good for the fans. Fans want to keep going out there and supporting their teams, and enjoying something, and get their minds off the economy sometimes. So, that's nice to hear.
HORROW: And, really, importantly, both of you guys have won your college football games. Now, you got to wait for somebody else. Arkansas, you wait until next year. And Texas, you wait until for the Oklahoma game (ph) tonight.
NGUYEN: We're still in it, though. Yes.
HORROW: Yes, exactly.
NGUYEN: Don't even get me started on that. All right, thank you, Rick.
HOLMES: Rick, good to see you. Happy weekend, buddy.
HORROW: Next week, see you. Bye, yes.
NGUYEN: But let's get started on this. The Heroes Program here at CNN. It's a great one that really shows you what people are doing around the world to make it a better place.
HOLMES: Yes, we're going to tell you more about some of those heroes coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: CNN Heroes. Hopefully, you got a chance to see the show. But now, you're getting a chance to see who indeed is your hero -- your very own personally-picked hero.
HOLMES: You were my personally picked hero.
NGUYEN: Oh, whatever.
HOLMES: In all seriousness, to you all. Not just a joke here. We did have an internal thing as well. Betty was one of our CNN Heroes among our employees. So, congratulations to you for the work you do with helping the hungry in Vietnam.
NGUYEN: In Vietnam, yes. Thank you, T.J.
Josh Levs joins us now with a look at what others are saying about their hero.
LEVS: Yes, Betty, you know, we all admire the work you do. And now that we see all the stars you got to meet, we're all even more jealous that got to be there. It's so unfair.
NGUYEN: It's fun.
LEVS: A lot of (INAUDIBLE) come on.
All right. Check this out. I want you guys to see. A lot of people are saying they loved the special, and now want a chance to weigh in on who their hero is. And we actually have a system set up for you. This is our CNN Heroes page. It tells you a lot about the contest and about how the whole system works -- an incredible work that all the nominees and all the heroes have done.
And this over here at iReport.com says who is your hero. Lots of responses coming in, we've been getting tons of them. People are using some -- saying some political figures, but in general, we're hearing a lot of people talked about those who have played a role in their personal lives, starting with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN HSIAO, IREPORTER: My hero is my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Crowe (ph). I came to the States when I was nine years old, and not speaking any English, and Mr. Crowe kind of took me under his wing and taught me English, made sure I did acclimated to the U.S. and I wouldn't be the person I am today without him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That's Kevin talking about his fourth grade teacher.
Also, another one, a lot of people talking about family members. I want to show you David now, who said that when he was young, he always thought of heroes as being these superheroes and maybe sports stars. In recent years, this has changed. Now, this is his hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As cheesy as it may sound, my hero is my dad. My dad died three years ago, and, you know, I miss him very much everyday. But the lessons he taught me when he was alive and how I try to live my live now, I think, is testament to the fact that he's my one and only hero really and will always be. So that's me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: You can see more from them and you can weigh in over at iReport.com. We also want to invite you, watch to see who you voted for as CNN's Hero of the Year. You can hear some amazing stories and you will be inspired by all 10 CNN Heroes this year. Our Anderson Cooper is hosting this "CNN Heroes: The All-Star Tribute," and you can catch it tonight at 8:00 o'clock Eastern -- guys?
NGUYEN: It's a great show. OK, thank you.
LEVS: A great show, yes.
HOLMES: Well, the questions now, how did it happen, who did it? Police in Mumbai want answers now. It might be a while before they get them. Of course, we're talking about those deadly terror attacks we saw starting on Wednesday.
NGUYEN: Right. We're also taking you inside the Taj Mahal Hotel, a century-old landmark, now the scene of horror and devastating loss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, November 29th. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
The siege is over in Mumbai but still a little chaos there. Soldiers defusing explosives in the Taj Mahal Hotel, making sure that every single one of those 500-plus rooms is clear.
NGUYEN: The death toll now is 195 and five of those victims, they are American. Eleven of the gunmen were killed, but some 300 people are said to be wounded or injured.
HOLMES: Also, an FBI team is headed for India to help out with this investigation. Indian officials say the sole gunman in custody was from Pakistan and are laying blame with, quote, "elements in Pakistan."
NGUYEN: As we just mentioned, India's 60-hour nightmare finally over, but now an angry nation wants answers. Investigators are trying to learn who financed the well-coordinated, well-armed attacks on several sites, including the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels.
CNN's Andrew Stevens joins us now on the phone from Mumbai.
Andrew, what are the police saying about what they're able to find so far?
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (through phone): Well, they're not saying too much about what they've been able to find so far. It's still very much in a cleaning-up operation, particularly at the Taj Hotel, which is one of the sites. It was only 7:00 this morning, about a little less than 12 hours ago, that they finally declared that the last of the terrorists had been shot dead by police. And since then, they've been going methodically room to room through the hotel looking for any booby traps, looking for any evidence that they can. I don't think we're going to know for quite a while what they actually find there. This is going to take some time, this operation, but the Taj is now clean. We've been hearing explosions pretty much through the afternoon as they detonated the hand grenade. They said they found something like eight grenades still in the Taj when they were doing their cleaning up or operations. They were detonated. At this stage, we're not getting a lot of information out of the police about exactly what they're looking for and what they've actually found.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: Andrew, maybe you can clear this up. We've been talking about the fact that it was reported that one of the terrorists was still missing. They were still on the hunt for him. Have you heard any more about that?
STEVENS: Well, it's very difficult to actually nail down exactly how many terrorists were sent on this mission. There have been estimates of between 20 and 25. But if you look at the number of the terrorists either captured or killed, they don't seem to add up to that number. So there's some speculation is that some may have gone to ground inside Mumbai. They may still be out in the city somewhere. There's real concern still that they could plan some sort of further attacks. Obviously, this is just speculation at the moment. But until the authorities say once and for all whether there are enough -- whether they have actually got the numbers and the numbers all add up, it's going to be one of those situations. There can be a lot of fear in the city for some time to come.
NGUYEN: No doubt and speaking of those numbers, also being reported that one of those terrorists was captured alive. Any information coming out of that area?
STEVENS: No information out of that area, but we have been hearing here that -- indeed, there's a lot of newspaper speculation quoting unnamed intelligence sources in the Indian intelligence community saying that some of the terrorists have links with Pakistan. Indeed, two terrorists said to have booked into the Taj hotel where we were staying actually, the CNN crew here on the 22nd, that was a couple of days before the attacks took place and they were described as Pakistani nationals. Obviously, it's going to be difficult for us to prove this. We're waiting for further information from authorities on that one. I think as far as this city is concerned, the mood in the city is also one of anger in that how could this have happened at all. This is a city, as you well know, which has had more than its share of terror attacks in recent years. And the fact that it has become a much wealthier economy over the past two or three years, the fact that the money may not have trickled down to the intelligence services or, if it did, it hasn't been used successfully, there are a lot of questions in the city being asked about that right now.
NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Andrew Stevens joining us live by phone. Thank you Andrew.
TJ HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: Five bodies were found at a Jewish center in Mumbai. Two of them were Americans. All of them had been held hostage. The bodies of two terrorists also found at that Chabad (ph) house. One of the dead was a rabbi from the United States killed along with his wife. Their toddler son was taken out of the building 12 hours after the attacks began. The nanny was actually able to get that child to safety. And many of those lost their lives trying to save others also being honored in Mumbai. A state funeral for the man who led the city's anti-terrorism squad. His name was Amin Kerkori (ph). He was gunned down by terrorists outside one of the hospitals there on Wednesday. A colleague remembered him as a daredevil officer. Also, there was another officer who was killed in the fighting at the Taj Mahal hotel. The director of India's commando unit says he gave up his own life to save others.
NGUYEN: Keeping in touch during a siege. One American family kept in constant contact by texting. Carol and (INAUDIBLE) Mackoff were in their hotel room hiding as those shootings took place and explosions went off all around them. But there was a lifeline and that lifeline being thousands of miles away from that hotel. What they got were critical updates from their sons in Chicago and they were able to let them know that they were OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN MACKOFF, PARENTS SURVIVED MUMBAI ATTACKS: To go through what they were going through. But we had constant information about how they were doing and they were able to get information from us, too.
MYRON MACKOFF, PARENTS SURVIVED MUMBAI ATTACKS: They didn't know what was going on and so I filled them in a little bit. And told them not to say hello if someone knocks on the door since people were looking for Americans and Britons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The Mackoffs say that they stayed in touch with U.S. government officials as well. Carol Mackoff's sister was staying actually down the hall and those Mackoffs are expected to be back home in the states today.
HOLMES: Well, this is such a massive story, so many moving parts, such a fluid situation and you know what, it's hard to get to all those stories if you will. We're still getting so many incredible stories and pictures from that siege.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, more survivors, they were ready to tell their story, living through the terror that they faced in Mumbai.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Images there of India's 60-hour reign of terror, which does appear to be over at this hour. Now an angry nation wants answers, so here's what we know. Investigators from around the world have offered to help find who is behind these well planned attacks. And police have found some clues off the coast in a fishing boat. But a final floor by floor search of the Taj hotel so far turned up explosives left behind by those attackers. Police set off a series explosions there this morning to defuse them. The Taj hotel is the last site to be cleared. And in all, 195 people were killed in the attacks. That could go up as they continue those sweeps, although those attacks were carried out in different locations. Of those killed, five Americans were among them; 300 people were wounded.
HOLMES: You've been hearing an awful lot about those two hotels, the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, full of tourists. In many cases they're frequented by westerners as well. But a lot of people in there after this thing started were quite literally held hostage by terrorists. Many others were held hostage in their rooms by fear. They just hunkered down. They didn't know if it was safe to come out or not and they just stayed. A lot of those folks we're talking about were able to survive. Many, many others did not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first bomb went off. I got out of bed and went to the window and as I got to the window, a huge sort of cloud of gray smoke was coming up from the road. And I knew something was up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hotel shook with an immense blast. About three, four minutes later there was another large blast. Three, four minutes later, there was another blast. The whole building was shaking. I looked outside. I could see crowds running, chaos, gunshots. It looked very, very nasty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard two large noises and they sounded like thuds within the room. That's when we realized that there was something serious happening. When I heard the two thuds, that's when I looked out the window and onto my left, I could see the Oberoi hotel. There was a restaurant in the Oberoi hotel which was under flames.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heavy machine gunfire in the stairwell right where I was. So looks like the commandos were basically chasing these guys who were taking people out, because two guys, they ran up -- no, two guys ran down from the hostages, so they ran away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We barricaded ourselves in there, put a bed against it, that would absorb any blasts coming out. And we just waited there for like 30, 34 hours or something like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After a few hours, it just seemed like it was all surreal, it wasn't really happening. You could hear the bombs outside but I bought a DVD. I was cleaning out the minivan just thinking well, this is going to be over soon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew we couldn't get out through the normal exits and we also saw a little bit of the fire coming our way, ashes and things and we knew that if we stayed there for long, we would be trapped. So some people inside the room decided to drape the windows and they pulled down the curtains so the fire would not come into that site. And we then -- and luckily enough, when we finished doing that - (INAUDIBLE) and we climbed down from the ladder and the firemen saved us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard some noise outside. We didn't see or hear anybody. We didn't see terrorists. But when I looked through, I saw what looked like police. They were wearing armor and body armor. They had weapons. So I kind of tapped on the door, made a, hello, I'm in here. I was afraid if I ran out in the hall, they might think I was a bad guy, so we were careful about that. They came in. They checked our credentials. They looked at our passport. They made sure the room was cleaned and they brought us out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right, so let's take you back now to Wednesday night. William Stadelmann was having dinner in his room at the Taj Mahal hotel and at first he wasn't sure what was happening, but then it became painfully clear. He joins us now by phone this morning from his home in Boston. William -- and I know you like to go by Willie, so let me ask you this. So you're in the room with your wife having dinner and then you hear gunfire and explosions. Walk me through what happened.
WILLIAM STADELMANN, ATTACK SURVIVOR: Well, first we thought it was just fireworks, maybe something going on because the hotel was right on the harbor. It's a beautiful spot in Bombay. Then two loud booms came and I said that's not gunfire. Then the hotel called, believe it or not, the room and said that there were some gunmen in the hotel and security was taking care of it and lock your door. But as things proceeded, I said that's a lot more than just a couple of gunmen. Something is real wrong here.
NGUYEN: You, in fact, spent 16 hours in that room. What was going through your mind? Because I know at one point you looked out the window and you saw people climbing out on to lower roof areas.
STADELMANN: Well, people were trying to climb down the wall -- the outside wall of the hotel from higher floors to get to a roof area that was probably one floor higher, a floor and a half high below us. And they just weren't making it. They were falling. It was horrible. I don't know whether they just panicked. I don't know whether there was just so much fire behind them at that time that they had to -- I think they just panicked.
NGUYEN: So you, in fact, got on your computer and started e- mailing your family -- that was a lucky thing that you were able to do that. But were you afraid that maybe a light would come through the bottom door of your room in your room and someone coming through the hallway might find you?
STADELMANN: We had the door pretty well blocked because there was so much smoke coming in. We were more afraid of the fire than anything. And then I had the computer under the bed with pillows around it so they couldn't see the light. Thankfully for you people, we kept getting little update of what was going on outside our room because we couldn't really see anything.
NGUYEN: So were you able to watch television or were you getting the information on the Internet?
STADELMANN: I had CNN on on the computer. I don't think the TV was working anyway. We just had one power, one outlet in the room at the computer station. But the -- the only really outside world I had was from my daughters in Boston and my family -- we were e-mailing back and forth and of course I could bring up the cnn.com.
NGUYEN: So were you trying to devise some kind of escape plan in your mind? Or were you just ready to wait it out in hopes that someone could come and save you? Although I imagine for quite a while you felt like a sitting duck.
STADELMANN: The only escape plan was I tied sheets and cloth together to make a rope to go out the window. But I just felt for the moment unless we had to, I just felt that you were more a sitting duck on that flat roof with 500 windows looking down at that roof in that hotel, terrorists could be sitting there shooting people from any window. So I didn't think that was the safest thing to do.
NGUYEN: Finally, you got a knock at the door. Were you nervous? I mean, did you know for sure the people on the other side were there to take you out of the building, because it could have gone terrorists.
STADELMANN: We had listened to the sounds throughout the night and were coming closer and closer to us and blowing doors open. Because in an atrium type hotel, you get it for (ph) six floors high in the area we were and you can hear everything because it's an open atrium. And the -- but when these people came down, I could tell it was a group together and it wasn't just someone sneaking along or yelling crazy. And so I -- when they banged on our door, I answered back and then they sort of didn't even hear me, went to the next door. So I pounded on the door a little bit and I cracked it a little bit and saw the troopers with the special -- Indian armed special forces were there. So I opened the door.
NGUYEN: And they led you out the building. What did you see on your way down?
STADELMANN: Blood all over the place, a horrible mess. The water was real deep on the floor because the sprinklers had been running for hours and hours. The stairwells -- they led us some strange way through the hotel, seemed to take an hour but we went -- because every exit, every corner, they'd run ahead with their machine guns and cover that corner and then cover the next one and cover the next one because I knew -- this was, as you know, the terrorists were there two days later, so they knew it wasn't safe. And then we went through some root cellar that seemed to take - we went through locker rooms and boiler rooms and they covered every inch of that as we went along. Then we went outside the hotel, along the back of it and then back inside the hotel. So apparently what they must have had, they must have secured a pretty safe route out.
NGUYEN: Will, you are a lucky man. In fact, you left as fast as you could. No passports, no wallets, just the clothes on your back. Unfortunately one of the men that was in the tour with you was killed in the lobby, is that correct?
STADELMANN: Yes, that's correct.
NGUYEN: I'm sorry to hear that.
STADELMANN: From Australia, a real nice guy.
NGUYEN: All right. Well, thank you so much for sharing a little bit of your experience with us.
STADELMANN: Thank you for the coverage. You got us through it a little bit.
NGUYEN: We appreciate that and glad that you are back home. Willie Stadelmann joining us live by phone.
STADELMANN: Thank you very much. Bye now.
HOLMES: A lot of speculation in the past couple of days, really immediately after these attacks in Mumbai about who was possibly responsible for this. Many would say that we knew it was going to happen. The finger will be pointed towards Pakistan. Many would say, usual suspects, if you will, any time there are attacks, given the history of attacks that have happened in India and Mumbai also specifically. Well, immediately, the Pakistani government fired right back saying, hey, we had nothing to do with this and from no evidence we see anybody from Pakistan had anything to do with these attacks. And the Pakistani foreign minister, we just heard from him a short time ago at a press conference about this. In fact, let's take a quick listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Do you feel like whether the government --
SHAH MEHMOOD QURESHI, PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER: Finger pointing --
QUESTION: Assaulted the military --
QURESHI: All coming to hasty conclusions will be playing into the hands of the common enemy that is the terrorists. The cabinet appeals to the people of Pakistan to maintain unity in these challenging times. The cabinet resolved that national interest of Pakistan will remain supreme in all decisions of the government. It was decided by the cabinet to remain fully engaged with the political leadership and establishment of India.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, no doubt a rocky relationship for some time between those two countries, India and Pakistan. India, some of their officials already saying that they believe there are connections between these terrorists responsible for the attacks and Pakistan. Pakistan saying there is no evidence of that at all. Also, some things starting to piece together, word that some cell phones that were found in a boat that the terrorists might have used were some cell phones that they traced and the call log had phone calls that had been made back to Pakistan. So, still, a lot of speculation about who might have been responsible but already the back and forth and the blame game has started. But Pakistan saying this is playing into the conditions of those who are common enemies to jump to hasty conclusions. A lot more coverage of what's happening in Mumbai. The investigation continues now. But at least the siege appears to be over.
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NGUYEN: Thousands of shoppers stormed retail stores to cash in on black Friday but they didn't exactly break the bank. The holiday shopping season officially kicked off yesterday and many people said they were buying fewer and cheaper gifts. Retailers were already fearing the worst. This shopping season is expected to be the weakest in decades. Let's look at some numbers now, though. Oil trading at 75 bucks a barrel? That's the price the king of Saudi Arabia says he'd like to see. Oil closed yesterday, though, at under $55 a barrel. OPEC ministers are meeting in Cairo right now talking about falling oil prices. The Saudi minister said the group will do what needs to be done to stabilize prices, but probably won't do anything until the next meeting and that's in mid-December.
HOLMES: We know the holiday season and the holiday shopping season has started. Another season is ending. We can celebrate the ending of this one, marks the official end this weekend of the Atlantic hurricane season, runs from June 1st to November 30th. This year was the fourth most active since 1944. We had 16 named storms, five of them were major hurricanes. The worst was hurricane Ike that hit the U.S., tore through the Texas Gulf coast, damages from Ike at more than $8 billion. I know they're glad it's over. Betty, you were down there during that time during Ike.
NGUYEN: And they're still trying to recover. That's been a big problem.
Speaking of problems, if you are traveling home this weekend, you might want to pack some patience. Karen Maginnis joins us now with a look at the weather and what people will be facing.
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HOLMES: Throughout the attacks in Mumbai, cnn.com has been a site for people all over the world to get and share the very latest information.
NGUYEN: Our Josh Levs is going to talk to us and really show us more importantly some of these top features they're sending.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's unprecedented. I mean in the midst of what happened there, the kinds of resources you can get to follow every step of the way. We'll have a timeline, live video from the scene and your chance to weigh in on it and put you through all that and more.
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NGUYEN: You know, people all over the world are still trying to understand where these attacks in Mumbai may have come from and who is behind them. Our Josh Levs joins us now with a little information on that. Hi, Josh.
LEVS: Hey there Betty. I want to show everyone some of the amazing resources we have got set up at cnn.com. Obviously, this is our top story right now. We can zoom in on the board and it's going to continue to be that way very often as you can imagine. But what you might not realize are some of the other features we have. This is a map, an interactive map that traces you through everything that's happened this week. This over here shows you where Mumbai is in India. It's that red dot over there on the west coast on that side. Every place that you see a red mark you can click on one of the key locations. For example, this says Taj Mahal hotel. You click on it right here. It gives you some history of the Taj Mahal hotel. And obviously we're reporting on what happened here. You learn about the Cafe Leopold, one of the places that was attacked. And speaking of that, take a look at these. These are some I-report photos that we got from the Cafe Leopold that shows the devastation from the I-reporter who went afterwards once it was safe, I'm going to emphasize that again, to go there.
Let's get back to the map here. You can see all these, but there's also something else I want to show you quickly. This is the timeline. This traces you through a bunch of attacks that occurred in India going back to the late 1990s all the way through 2007 when at least 65 people were killed and about a dozen wounded in a bombing. And then again, earlier this year in May when there was a series of explosions, at least 60 people killed.
