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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

U.S. Troops on the Ground in Afghanistan; More Anthrax Cases Discovered; Interviews With Benjamin Netanyahu and Saeb Erekat

Aired October 19, 2001 - 19:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: "Target Terrorism." As the air war continues, some U.S. troops are now on the ground in Afghanistan; their mission top secret. The Taliban insists they're standing firm and united. We'll go live to the Pentagon, and to Islamabad. More cases of anthrax. Are investigators making progress? We'll go live to the New Jersey post office that could be a critical link in the anthrax mailings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: A lot worse can happen and might happen until this entire terror network is dismantled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I'll discuss international terrorism with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and we'll go live to China as President Bush tries to strengthen the counter-terrorism coalition.

Good evening. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington. They're not giving away any details, but U.S. officials say small numbers of Special Forces troops are on the ground in Afghanistan. The latest now from CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unlike last Friday, the Pentagon says there was no let up in the U.S. bombing for the Muslim day of prayer. And as of Day 13, Pentagon sources say a handful of U.S. special forces are on the ground in Afghanistan, but not engaged directly in combat. Pentagon officials say in the North, a small number of U.S. troops have been on a liaison mission with the anti-Taliban forces, meeting with the General leading part of the Northern Alliance.

Other U.S. officials tell CNN there are also a limited number of U.S. troops in the south, something the Pentagon won't confirm.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN STUFFLEBEEM, JOINT STAFF DEPUTY OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: There may be a right time to talk about what has or what is, but now is not the time.

MCINTYRE: What the Pentagon will say is that the U.S. is now providing direct aid to opposition groups such as the Northern Alliance, providing them with food, arms, ammunition or the money to buy them.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We clearly are also working with forces on the ground that are opposing the Taliban and Al Qaeda and working with them in a variety of different ways depending on which part of the country and which group and they vary considerably.

MCINTYRE: More cockpit video shows the concentration of U.S. firepower on Taliban forces. A barracks destroyed near Kandahar and near Jalalabad a surface to surface missile is hit along with a tank that was protecting it. The Taliban claim to have survived the bombing onslaught so far without the loss of a single leader. The Pentagon doubts that.

STUFFLEBEEM: We are confident that their communications have been severed and therefore, I'm not confident that they necessarily know all that they think they know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Now there are indications at this hour that an operation is underway, but Pentagon officials are not confirming it. Several senior officials said they might be able to say something within an hour or so later tonight about a possible operation underway involving U.S. special operations troops. But at this point, the official word from the Pentagon is that they have nothing to say, Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie, we've been saying for several days now that U.S. special operations forces have been on the ground in various places in Afghanistan. What's so different about the report that's coming out today?

MCINTYRE: Well, there's a couple of aspects to this. One is the troops that are in the north as part of the assistance to the Northern Alliance, that's been going on for a little while and it marks an effort to increase cooperation. But now late tonight, there are indications that there are attacks underway in the south or at least an operation underway in the south. Again, no confirmation from the Pentagon on that. It's the kind of thing that they said if they had actionable intelligence, if they had a good target where they could send commandos on an in and out kind of operation, that's the kind of thing they would do. And again, indications tonight that something is underway, but no official confirmation from the Pentagon who says maybe in an hour or so they might be able to give us some idea of what's up.

BLITZER: And we know you'll be on top of the situation. Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon thank you very much. And as intensive U.S. airstrikes continue without a let-up, how are the Taliban holding up? Let's go live to CNN's John Vause. He's in Islamabad, right next door, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Wolf. Those airstrikes continuing again tonight. There was in fact a lull today, the last airstrike around 10 am local time. They resumed just around midnight, but as you can imagine after almost two weeks of intensive airstrikes there suddenly appears to be widespread damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over) In Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold, the U.S.-led airstrikes are being punishing. What appears to be residential buildings have been badly damaged. So, too, Taliban offices. The agricultural ministry and the offices of security. The Taliban Ministry of Vice and Virtue was reportedly hit for the third time in two days.

Still, despite almost two weeks of airstrikes, those who either can't or won't leave continue with their daily lives. The markets are relatively busy. Stores are open. Perhaps after more than two decades of war, this is business as usual. And local workers at international aid agencies report ten civilian casualties in Kabul, including four who worked for the U.N.'s demining program. The Taliban claims 70 people have been killed there since the bombing began.

And across Pakistan, more anti-American protests, some calling for the resignation of Pakistan President Musharraf. And in the border city of Chaman a flood of refugees in the past 24 hours, three- and-a-half thousand. The most in a single day since the bombing began.

FATUMATA KABA, UNHCR: The situation there is reportedly chaotic with panic-stricken Afghans who say that they have fled very heavy bombardment on Kandahar.

VAUSE: The Taliban says they've taken military casualties, but insist their forces are still strong and waiting for a ground war.

ABDUL SALEEM ZAEEF, TALIBAN AMBASSADOR TO PAKISTAN (translator): We know that this is going to be a long war therefore we are going to safeguard our ammunitions and our military capabilities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And also at that press conference, Wolf. The Taliban ambassador was playing down any split in the Taliban. He was asked about reports that moderates within the Taliban were trying to cut some kind of deal to hand over Osama Bin Laden. He, in fact, said there was no such thing as a moderate Taliban quote, "we are all one." Wolf.

BLITZER: John, what's the latest on the refugee situation from your vantage point?

VAUSE: Well, as we saw in that report there, there seems to be quite a bit of movement towards the border today. It seems that they were in fact taking advantage of that lull in the airstrikes. One U.S. spokesman said that something like 80 percent of Kandahar, a city of about 500,000 people is now, 80 percent of the population rather has now left heading towards Pakistan. Now the 3,500 people that arrived on the border today they were all let in because they had the proper documentation. But there are reports that thousands more are still stranded on the Afghan side of the border unable to cross because they don't have their documentation. And as we've been hearing for the last couple of days the situation is becoming increasingly desperate.

BLITZER: John Vause in Islamabad. Once again, thank you very much. Meanwhile here in the United States, some tense moments in Philadelphia several hours ago when police found a suitcase with explosives in a locker in a Greyhound bus station. Authorities say the stash contained enough C-4 military grade explosives to take out the terminal. The bomb squad safely removed it and the FBI is now trying to track down whoever left the explosives in the locker.

On Capitol Hill today, a sign of the homeland fight against anthrax. A team of E.P.A. workers in white protective suits conducted an environmental sweep in several buildings on and around Capitol Hill. They were also checking the air flows in the House office buildings for possible traces of anthrax. And in New Jersey a possible link in the F.B.I.'s anthrax probe. CNN's Brian Palmer joins us live from Hamilton Township with more. Brian, what's the latest?

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Wolf. First to the medical details. What we know now -- two postal workers in the Trenton, New Jersey area have been diagnosed with anthrax, that is the cutaneous version, variety. The less severe variety of anthrax. A female letter carrier from the West Trenton post office, that's in Ewing, New Jersey, and also a male, 35 years old from Levittown, Pennsylvania who worked at this facility here in Hamilton Township. He was a sorter. He sorted mail here. This is a distribution and processing center for the postal service. Now there's a third case that the New Jersey Department of Health is referring to as possible or likely. They cannot prove whether this person did indeed have anthrax because he started taking antibiotics before tests were conclusive, before they could conduct a full range of tests.

There are usually three benchmarkers used to ascertain whether someone has anthrax. The first, clinical signs, what we consider to be symptoms nausea, flu or fever and flu-like symptoms. Next, positive signs of anthrax in the blood and then third biopsy. A positive sign from a skin sample. Now the Department of Health could not confirm this because again he started taking antibiotics before this.

Now on the investigatory front, the Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge had a rather startling announcement this afternoon in Washington, which represents a breakthrough in the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, DIRECTOR OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The F.B.I. has been able to identify the sight where the letters were mailed and that's the only specific piece of information I can give you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PALMER: Now we have not heard anything else after that. We've received no expansion, amplification or confirmation from F.B.I. agents on the ground even as they fan out throughout the neighborhood covered by this female letter carrier. She served about 200 to 250 businesses and homes in the area. F.B.I. agents were out there today interviewing people as to where this tainted letter could have come from, Wolf.

BLITZER: Are there any signs now, Brian that you can detect of the investigation on the ground right now underway?

PALMER: Wolf, if you're looking behind me you can detect those signs here, but at the Ewing facility at the West Trenton post office, CNN producer Sheila Steffen tells us that the New Jersey State Police has pulled up a command center there. The Trenton Fire Department has hazmat offices there on the scene. And the Philadelphia office of the F.B.I. is also on the scene. They're preparing to go into the building. They're considering it a crime scene and they are continuing their investigation now, Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Palmer on the scene in New Jersey. Thank you very much. And this footnote, CNN has confirmed that an envelope contained a powdery substance that initial test show are consistent with anthrax was mailed and received at the New York Time Rio de Janeiro bureau. No one was hurt. The letter was put in a plastic bag. We'll have more on this as details become available.

And for more on the anthrax situation go to my Web site at CNN.com/Wolf to read my daily online column. And coming up next, I'll speak with the former Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu about terrorism and counter terrorism. And letter, we'll go live to China as President Bush seeks support in his war against terrorists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Beautiful evening here in the U.S. capital. Welcome back. He's written several books about international terrorism and devoted much of his energy to the fight against terror. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds very strong views on the subject. I spoke with him a short while ago from Jerusalem and I asked him who he suspects is behind the anthrax attacks in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NETANYAHU: Well, it looks like Bin Laden. It looks like that kind of fiendish mind and it requires obviously people spread around various places in the world. This is not the worst that can happen. A lot worse can happen and might happen until this entire terror network is dismantled.

BLITZER: You know there are some here in the United States -- Joe Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut was on my program last night pointing a very, very strong finger towards Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Do you see his fingerprints behind these anthrax attacks?

NETANYAHU: Well, he certainly has the capability. He has those weapons that again, too I know. Whether or not he's made that technology available to someone else that I cannot say. But I think it's just a question of time before the terrorist groups will have in their hands the distribution capability that will make these weapons a lot deadlier. I think that I myself have been disturbed by a different phenomenon and that is in the battle against terrorism there have been attempts to dilute the principle of clarity. That is if you fight terrorism everywhere.

Some have asked Israel to pay the price. That is squeezing the democratic ally who was also attacked by terrorism to try to placate or appease terrorist regimes like Arafat's. That is sending the wrong message to the entire terror network. I think they have to know that faced with this kind of unlimited, uninhibited savagery that the West will go all the way and it will do so fighting the terrorists and the regimes that support them and not one of its democratic allies. CROSSTALK send the message that you're going to reward terrorism.

BLITZER: Are you suggesting the Bush Administration, President Bush is doing that to Israel right now?

NETANYAHU: President Bush I think has basically got it right. His convictions, his ideals, the principles that he put in his historic speech were absolutely on target. I think this represents his inner beliefs, his core being but I think that calling for a Palestinian state went out of the realm of these principles. And in fact, I'm sure that the president meant otherwise but it sends the wrong message.

It sends the message that if you kill Americans you will get rewarded. You will get America to press Israel to give basically give concessions to a classic, a quintessential terrorist state that Arafat's regime -- that has suicide bombing camps for kindergarten children, that has suicide universities as we speak that sends their people to murder Cabinet ministers or that tolerates all of this. And I think that's just the wrong thing. I don't think that was the president's intent and he also spelled out that he expects the state to recognize Israel's right to exist. But Arafat doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist.

In Arabic, not in English he says very clearly that he's out to destroy the state of Israel so altering the Palestinian state, even raising it at this time is interpreted throughout the Arab world as a reward for terrorism. That's not the president's intent, but that could be the result.

BLITZER: The assassination of the Israeli tourism minister this week has sparked an editorial response in the Los Angeles Times among others here in the United States saying that Israel should have foreseen this by its own what it calls targeted killings of Palestinians. The LA Times writing today this, "continued retaliatory assassinations when global tensions are at their highest level in decades threaten to escalate into an all-out war that could easily explode beyond the region." Is it time for Israel to stop its targeted killings of Palestinians?

NETANYAHU: Well, I think, I suppose we'd show the same amount of restraint that the U.S. is showing in Afghanistan. No less or no more and I think the U.S. is acting right. They know that what you need in the war against terrorism in fact is clarity and consistency. And in fact determination and not restraint. I think that the attempt to create the equation between our circle to strike against terrorist chieftains and terrorist operators and the elected representatives of democracy. I think is wrong. I think it is dead wrong if I can use that word.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today. And after speaking with the former prime minister, I wanted to get Palestinian reaction and spoke by telephone with the Palestinian Cabinet minister and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in Jericho on the west bank. I asked him about Mr. Netanyahu's point that killing suspected terrorists is a lot different than assassinating an Israeli Cabinet minister.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR (via telephone): I don't know where this will lead, Wolf. I think this will lead to the killings of more Palestinians and Israelis and the right thing to do now is to get Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table. I don't think that finger pointing or blame assignments or scoring points will save the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. The most important thing Palestinians and Israelis need now is to come back to the negotiating table and try to end it all. It's really high time for us to end it all and start the peace process again in order to end the Israeli occupation and to provide Palestinians and Israelis with the peace they both desire.

BLITZER: The Israelis say the first step to getting back to the negotiating table should be the Palestinian President Arafat handing over the suspect in the assassination of the Israeli tourism minister, handing him over to the Israelis.

EREKAT: I'm afraid the Israeli government's trying to poke us in the eye and score points against us. The last thing they did was compare the Palestinian authorities to the Taliban. It's shameful really. The American who were killed in New York and Washington do not occupy anybody else. I don't think the United States occupies anybody else.

I think mere and the mere insinuation and comparison is endangering the lives of American men and women in uniform and this will not happen. And what we should do now is every opportunity exists by the Palestinian authority by President Arafat to bring those who killed Minister Zeevi to justice under Palestinian law and the Israelis and the Americans and everyone else knows that every effort is being exerted now. But the point remains we need to come back to the negotiating table immediately without condition because this is the only way to save lives of Palestinians and Israelis. BLITZER: Saeb Erekat, thank you very much for joining me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And he's officially in China for the APEC Summit, but the war on terrorism is dominating President Bush's agenda. We'll have a live update from Shanghai when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: And now to China where President Bush is meeting with the world leaders to build his anti-terror coalition ahead of the APEC Summit. CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett is traveling with the President. He joins us now live from Shanghai where it's already Saturday morning. What's going on, Major?

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well good morning, Wolf. You know one of the key reasons President Bush made this trip to Asia was to have his first face to face encounter with the Chinese President Jiang Zemin. And following that encounter here is basically a scorecard of how it went. The U.S. got what it most wanted, which is a commitment from China to support the campaign against terrorism specifically by China providing intelligence assistance to the United States and committing to shutting down bank accounts that might fund terrorist organizations. That was the big goal for the U.S. and it achieved it.

As far as the personal rapport between the two leaders, senior administration officials describe it as about average. They met for about three hours yesterday and under the great dynamic personal reaction that the President achieved with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, but nevertheless administration officials say a solid connection was made between the two leaders. Nevertheless, the Chinese leader made it clear that he expects the United States to hold on to the one China policy as it relates to Taiwan. President Bush pushed back on the issues of weapons proliferation and also on human rights and religious rights.

And in his general statement to the press afterwards, President Zemin made it clear that while he supports the campaign on terrorism, that support does now come without some key conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIANG ZEMIN, PRESIDENT OF CHINA (through translator): I've made clear that we are opposed to terrorism of all forms. And what we have done in the past has shown this attitude of ours very clearly. We hope that anti-terrorism efforts can have clearly defined targets. And efforts should hit accurately and also avoid innocent casualties. And what is more, the role of the United Nations should be brought into full play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: That last reference, Wolf to the United Nations senior administration officials said did not represent to them a signal from the Chinese that they would use their permanent seat on the U.N. security council to block any future of the U.S. military campaign. Senior administration official telling us, "the U.S. has the right to defend itself under the U.N. charter and it will do so very directly," Wolf.

BLITZER: Major Garrett reporting live from Shanghai. Thank you very much. And for our viewers in North America, "Crossfire" is coming up next. Bill Press and Tucker Carlson tonight.

BILL PRESS, "CROSSFIRE": How could anybody hate us? But the fact is a lot of people do, especially in the Middle East. Why do so many people of the Arab world hate the United States and why should we care? Get ready for a hot debate, Wolf, coming up next in the "Crossfire."

BLITZER: We'll be watching very much. We'll be watching. Thank you very much, Bill and we have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with a re-cap of the latest developments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here are some of the latest developments we're following this hour. There are indications that a limited number of elite U.S. forces are on the ground in Afghanistan. The Pentagon will not confirm what they're doing. And Germany has issued a warrant for a 24-year-old Moroccan suspected of involvement in the September attacks. Prosecutors say Zakariya Essabar knew and worked with some of the suspected hijackers. That's all the time we have tonight. I'll be back Sunday twice at noon Eastern on "LATE EDITION."

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