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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
U.S. Asks bin Laden Family's Help; A Look at an al Qaeda Admirer; FAA Employee Blows the Whistle on Airport Security
Aired February 27, 2002 - 17:00 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, HOST: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: a way to tell if he's dead or alive. The U.S. asks Osama bin Laden's family for a favor.
A talk with an al Qaeda admirer. Is this elderly Swiss businessman part of a frightening terrorist coalition?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hitler has always said that the only religion I respect is Islam. And the only profit I admire is Mohammad. This is very interesting, when I tell this to young Muslims or young so- called neo-Nazis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A government agent goes public: His job is to get guns and bombs past airline security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At one airport, we had a 97 percent success rate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And a promising pill sitting in your medicine cabinet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ERNEST HAWK, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE: It seems to be one of the most effective drugs at preventing cancer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Topping our news alert: Osama bin Laden's fate and the science that may confirm it.
The U.S. government is seeking DNA samples from the family of Osama bin Laden. The samples would be used to determine if bin Laden was killed in a recent missile strike in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say one of those killed was tall and dressed in a white robe, a description that possibly could fit bin Laden. There has been no response from the bin Laden family. We'll have much more on this in just a moment.
The former Soviet republic of Georgia could become the next front in the war against terrorism. President Bush is sending as many as 200 U.S. military personnel there to help train Georgian troops to fight against guerrillas linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network. The president also says the United States military will help any nation where al Qaeda is operating.
Officials in Boston have charged 20 workers at Logan International Airport with using fake Social Security numbers to get jobs or security badges. At least 15 have been arrested. Some of those arrested worked as janitors, cleaners and checkpoint screeners.
Pakistan is stepping up security in Karachi, the city where American journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped last month. The move comes after a caller threatened to attack a police building if Pakistan extradites the key suspect in Pearl's murder, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. The caller said he represented the group that claimed Pearl's abduction.
More now on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Almost six months after the September terror attacks, bin Laden may still be in Afghanistan, may have fled to another country, or possibly, he's dead. The fact of the matter is this: the United States and its coalition partners in the war on terror don't know if bin Laden is dead or alive.
Now U.S. officials are turning to the science of DNA in the hunt for the world's most wanted man. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has details on this new strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trying to determine whether Osama bin Laden was killed in missile strike in Afghanistan, sources tell CNN that the U.S. government has asked the bin Laden family for DNA samples. And sources confirm the request was made through foreign government intermediaries in the last few days.
A spokesman for Osama bin Laden's brothers and sisters tells CNN that the government could readily get family tissue samples from doctors and hospitals where bin Laden family members have been treated. The family has disowned Osama bin Laden and is willing to cooperate, he said.
The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology is studying human remains collected in eastern Afghanistan after a CIA missile, fired from an unmanned drone, killed three men on February 4th. A video camera on the drone showed that one of them was tall, dressed in Arab robes and treated with deference by the other two.
The best test option would be DNA from Osama bin Laden himself, but the U.S. doesn't have any. DNA from bin Laden's mother, or any of his brothers and sisters who have the same mother could also establish whether the remains are bin Laden's. DNA from a half-sibling, one with the same father, but a different mother, is another possibility. But a match is less certain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Wolf, officials tell us tonight they still have no particular reason to believe that bin Laden was killed in that CIA missile strike. But if they can get that DNA tissue, they hope to learn more about his fate -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much. And joining us to talk more about the role of DNA in the hunt for Osama bin Laden is the terrorism expert, Jim Walsh. He's a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Dr. Walsh, thanks for joining us. Well, what do you make of this request for DNA? Is that going the prove much, do you think?
JIM WALSH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVT.: Thanks for having me, Wolf. I don't know what it's going to prove, but I think what it does is highlight the broader issue. And the broader issue is: how do we define success in the war against terrorism?
Certainly one of the biggest measures is whether we get bin Laden or not. I don't think that's the only measure, but it is very important, I think, to the American public and to particular officials. And the sooner they can show that they've either captured or killed him, the quicker they'll be able to claim victory in this campaign.
BLITZER: You've said that in the war between the United States and Osama bin Laden, the U.S. is in a no-win situation. Explain to our viewers what you mean.
WALSH: Well, like many conflicts, when you start out in a conflict you try to tell people that it's not about one person, it's about a broader organization, that this is a campaign that will take time and it's going to take attention. But what inevitably happens, whether it is Milosevic or Saddam Hussein or whoever, is it becomes a personalized conflict. And in order to rally public support, what you do is you focus on the evil person, and you define the conflict in terms of that person.
Well, that's good at rallying support, but it makes it more difficult when you try to figure out if you're winning or losing. Because then you really have to get the person in order to be able to claim success. Again, I don't think we have to do it that way. But that's the trap that most presidents fall into, which is personalizing the conflict for political purposes.
BLITZER: The al Qaeda terror network is a loose alliance of dozens, if not hundreds of various groups. Presumably, that threat will continue with or without Osama bin Laden, right?
WALSH: Absolutely, the threat of terrorism will continue. I think if bin Laden is taken out of the picture, that certainly helps. It helps in a couple of different ways. No. 1, it reduces some of the financial assets that he was able to bear in support of his operations. No. 2, it takes away a bit of an inspirational leader, and it makes it more difficult for them to organize operations.
When you disrupt the command and control center of an operation, it makes it more difficult for them to operate. So those would all be victories. Those would all be helpful things. But terrorism and terrorists are going to be here for a while, and we shouldn't expect that they're suddenly going to go away once bin Laden goes away.
BLITZER: As far as those sleeper cells that are out there, presumably in some 60 countries, including here in the United States, do they need Osama bin Laden to be activated?
WALSH: Well, I do think that they need some coordination from a central headquarters. You may remember, Wolf, some of the tapes that we've seen. The videos indicate that on the day of the September 11 attacks, different pieces of the organization were unaware of their mission up until the last moment. And the different operatives had not even met each other.
The only way you can organize that sort of sophisticated, complex operation, where you have blind cells, is if you have a central headquarters that can pull the strings and make the puppets behave the way they way they want them to behave. If you don't have that central organizing command, yes, you can mount operations. You can always try to leave a truck bomb in front of an embassy. But the more sophisticated operations become much more difficult.
BLITZER: Jim Walsh of Harvard University, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it very much.
And this note, please don't miss our CNN "WAR ROOM" tonight. That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Among my guests, Senator Richard Shelby. He's the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. And Representative Jane Harman of the House intelligence committee. We'll talk about plans to send U.S. troops to train forces in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and the request by the U.S. for DNA samples from Osama bin Laden's family.
You can participate, by the way. Simply go to my Web site, cnn.com/wolf. Click on "send questions" and I'll try to ask as many of those questions to our panel as possible.
Let's move now to the situation in Texas and the case of a Houston mother on trial for drowning her five children. A short time ago, the children's father took the witness stand to defend his wife. Russell Yates repeated what he said many times before, that his wife, Andrea, became severely depressed after giving birth to their fourth child. But despite a psychiatrist's warning, they had another child. And because of that, he testified, the medication she was on seemed to be working. Andrea Yates has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Joining us now for some legal insight into this case is Cynthia Alksne. She's a former prosecutor. Cynthia, thanks for joining us. Is he in any -- a lot of viewers have e-mailed me that Russell Yates should be responsible, at least partially, for the murder that his wife committed. He should be held responsible in some legal sense because he knew how sick she was.
CYNTHIA ALKSNE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, there's moral responsibility and legal responsibility. And he probably doesn't have any legal responsibility here. And for every problem, there is not a legal solution. And this happens to be one of them.
BLITZER: Because as you know, manslaughter and all sorts of charges, theoretically, could be put up against her.
ALKSNE: In intentional murder case, when somebody takes the time to drown five children in a row, the person who puts their head under the water is the only person who is going to be held responsible.
BLITZER: Involuntary manslaughter, that's not going to wash?
ALKSNE: It's not going to happen. I think the only thing that will happen here is there will be a lawsuit. He will sue the doctors, the people who are making these different medications that she was on, perhaps child protective services, perhaps the educational system, because they should have been checking she was home-schooling the kids. You may see a lawsuit there, but he doesn't really have any criminal responsibility.
BLITZER: He's a defense witness. He's clearly trying to protect, help his wife avoid the death penalty in this particular case. A husband coming forward like that, how much of a sway would that have on a jury?
ALKSNE: I think he's an important witness. Not only factually, but morally for them, emotionally for them. Because the jury has to make this decision about whether or not she is going to be convicted or excused, based on her illness. And if you're on the fence and you don't really know what to do and you look over there at Andrea Yates every day and there's no husband there, you don't understand that because he's not been allowed in the courtroom under the legal rules.
And all of a sudden, there he is. And he explains why he hasn't been there, and that he is supportive of her. And he talks about her crumbling emotional state and how they had her in and out of psychiatric institutions, that they had her on medicine. She was doing better, and then she just stopped. And he goes through her crumbling. Those are important factual things.But the fact that he's supporting her helps a juror, emotionally, when they're making that decision.
BLITZER: The fact that she's now taking the cocktail of four separate medications seems to be helping her right now. But she had stopped taking any medication in the weeks before the murder.
ALKSNE: Right.
BLITZER: Is there anyone else going to be legally held for that decision, or was that a decision perhaps that she made by herself without telling anyone?
ALKSNE: That's a decision I understand she made on her own without telling anyone. No one else would be held criminally responsible if she is not. But there will be civil lawsuits to follow.
BLITZER: Cynthia Alksne, thanks for joining us, as usual.
ALKSNE: Glad to be here.
BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.
And an FAA whistleblower who says his supervisors ignored security loopholes at airports across the United States is arguing his allegations today in Washington. The claims were deemed serious enough for the government to launch an investigation. We get the latest from CNN's Kathleen Koch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The charges are stunning: that an FAA security team in the late '90s found widespread problems at major U.S. airports, was sometimes told to cover them up, and that nothing was done to correct the vulnerabilities. FAA whistleblower, Bogdan Dzakovic, now says his team has been grounded, barred from inspecting airports, since September 11th.
BOGDAN DZAKOVIC, FAA WHISTLEBLOWER: Now that we're in this national crisis of security, the last thing they want is for us to emphasize that there's still major problems. We're still engaged in a facade of security, as we were before September 11th.
KOCH: The Transportation Department says its inspector general has been conducting weekly tests of airport security. And the former FAA security director denies anyone hid or failed to address security problems.
CATHAL FLYNN, FMR. FAA SECURITY CHIEF: We used that data very fully to improve the system, and to require the air carriers or the airports who weren't doing the job properly to improve their procedures. That was done. There was follow-up on the red team testing.
KOCH (on camera): While Dzakovic's allegations are troubling, it will be risky for any future aviation security employee to publicly report such problems. That's because, unlike every other federal worker, employees of the new transportation security administration won't have former whistleblower protection.
(voice-over): Consumer watchdog groups are concerned.
PAUL HUDSON, AVIATION CONSUMER ACTION PROJECT: Without whistleblower protection and other strong oversight, we run the risk of more cover-ups and, as we restore the transportation system to its full capacity, having those security levels actually decline towards where they were on September 11th. KOCH: Screeners too are worried.
(on camera): Do you think it's important the screeners have the ability to go to Congress, go to the media with concerns about how this operation is being run, without fear of retribution?
JEFF PROSANSKY, SCREENER: I hope it's not necessary, but it is important.
KOCH (voice-over): A spokesman insists the Transportation Department will set up its own informal system to encourage employees to speak out. But critics say workers may not be willing to bet their jobs on that. Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The FAA whistleblower, Bogdan Dzakovic, joins me now to talk about his allegations. Mr. Dzakovic, thanks for joining us. First of all, you are still working -- there's been no decision to fire you or anything like that, is that right?
DZAKOVIC: Not that I'm aware of.
BLITZER: What is the concern that you have right now about safety at U.S. airports?
DZAKOVIC: My biggest concern is that the information I had leading up to September 11th was caused by mismanagement, to say the least, at FAA. And basically they are bringing those same managers back into the TSA, and we're basically doing the same job we did before September 11th, but wearing a different hat.
BLITZER: TSA being the Transportation Safety Administration, the new agency that was set up to deal with airport security. Are American passengers, fliers, safer today than they were before September 11th?
DZAKOVIC: Well, to give the new TSA organization the benefit of the doubt, I do believe there is a stronger deterrent value in what's going on now. But as far as the actual mechanics of a dedicated terrorist group, I think if they wanted the airplane you happen to be on, they would get it.
BLITZER: Why possibly would your supervisors ignore your complaints about security problems over these past several months and years?
DZAKOVIC: Well, basically FAA is bought and paid for by the industry. And we have demonstrated in the red team that there are major problems in virtually every aspect of airport security that we've tested. And I know for a fact that nothing has been done to correct these deficiencies leading up to September 11th.
BLITZER: But why possibly would the aviation industry want to have unsafe procedures at airports and on planes around the country and indeed around the world? DZAKOVIC: Because everybody goes into denial that September 11th would never have happened.
BLITZER: But since September 11th, it's obviously in the interest of the aviation industry to have great security. Otherwise, no one's going to want to fly.
DZAKOVIC: Well, you would think that. But if nothing happens for another year or another two years, regarding aviation, people are going to fall into the same lackadaisical frame of mind and get really sloppy on security all over again. And I think there's evidence that this is happening now.
BLITZER: So what needs to be done, in your opinion, the most immediate steps that the government must take right away?
DZAKOVIC: The first thing to do is, we're not going to prove or disprove my allegations over the news media. Congress needs to conduct an investigation into my allegations, as well as other people's. Come to the truth on what happened and what led up to September 11th, hold people accountable, and make sure those people are not involved in the next phase of security.
BLITZER: OK. Bogdan Dzakovic, thanks for letting us know your side of the story. But of course, as there almost always is, there's another side of the story as well. And joining us now is the former FAA security chief, Cathal Flynn.
Mr. Flynn, thanks for joining us. You heard the allegations from Bogdan Dzakovic. What do you say?
FLYNN: I say that Bogdan Dzakovic cared greatly about security. They belong to an organization, the special activities staff for the red team, that did enormously valuable work, and that we paid a great deal of attention to their work and to the results. We used the red team to find flaws in security, to verify flaws that we thought existed and to improve our procedures. And the red team work is enormously valuable. And Mr. Dzakovic's work in that was very valuable. And the notion that we ignored it is not right.
BLITZER: Well, one of the allegations, among many that he's made, is that you repeatedly ignored his recommendations, and at one point, when he suggested going back to a certain airport which was found to be derelict in its responsibilities, you wanted to notify that particular airport and others that they were coming back, which would undermine the whole validity of this kind of exercise.
FLYNN: That's not so. It simply is not so. I never wanted to notify the airports of the red team activity. We worked purposefully to correct flaws in security. Sometimes the red team would be sent to verify some things that we thought we already knew, inadequacies of equipment. They would do it, we would move on to substitute alternative procedures or different equipment.
An example is testing of X-rays, ordinary X-rays, for screening checked baggage. We thought that they weren't effective against more sophisticated threats, more sophisticated bombs. We thought that we'd have to substitute for them machines that are called explosive detection systems. The X-rays cost $40,000. The EDS costs $1 million. You want to be sure of what you're doing before you do that. And to send people back to reverify what you have already believed is the case, have sent the red team to confirm, you move on.
BLITZER: Mr. Flynn, the other allegation you just heard only a few minutes ago, is when he said the FAA in effect is bought and paid for by the aviation industry. As a result, you really are not working for the safety and security of the flying public.
FLYNN: That's simply not so. There are a great number of people in FAA. Bogdan Dzakovic is not the only person who cared about security. There are hundreds of people, the 1,100 people in FAA security, who cared greatly about the job. And they're paid for by the United States taxpayers, not by any airlines or airports.
BLITZER: All right, Cathal Flynn, formally with the FAA, thanks so much for joining us.
FLYNN: You're very welcome.
BLITZER: And our Web question of the day is this: do you think the FAA is doing an adequate job of keeping U.S. airports safe? You can vote at my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, let me know what you are thinking. There's a "click here" icon on the left side of the page. Send me your comments and I'll read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. Also, you can read my daily on-line column, cnn.com/wolf.
A pill in your medicine cabinet may help prevent a killer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's no doubt that it will be one of the weapons in the arsenal against cancer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Coming up: the excitement over aspirin.
Also ahead: how are the parents of Danielle Van Dam coping? I'll talk to the man counseling them, "America's Most Wanted" host, John Walsh.
And later, a talk with an accused terrorist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Al Qaeda is a very honorable organization. I mean, apart from some things they did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. In San Diego there's talk of possibly making a deal with the man charged with kidnapping and killing a 7- year-old girl. David Westerfield has pleaded "not guilty" in the disappearance of Danielle Van Dam, who vanished from her home almost a month ago. Right now, prosecutors are debating whether or not to go for the death penalty in this case, depending on what information Westerfield might have about the missing 7-year-old.
A short time ago I spoke with John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted," who's been counseling the Van Dam family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
John Walsh, thanks once again for joining us. There's some speculation that the DA in San Diego might be willing to accept a plea agreement with David Westerfield in exchange for his cooperation in looking and helping find the body. Would that be something you think would be justified?
JOHN WALSH, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Oh, absolutely. I think the hell that the Van Dams are in right now, not knowing where Danielle is, is the worst that you can imagine, Wolf. They're looking for justice and closure, but they're looking primarily for their daughter. So it's always a possibility.
I've been tracking these guys for years. Usually they're ruthless, cold-blooded, and they don't ever make a deal. They usually think they're going to get away with it. But the DA would consider a deal, probably offered David Westerfield life without possibly of parole rather than seeking the death penalty, if he would confess and take them to where Danielle's body is. So that's a possibility.
But after being there yesterday at the arraignment and looking at this guy and his lawyer, I don't think they're ready to make a deal.
BLITZER: What can you tell us about your meeting with the family? How are they dealing with this?
WALSH: Well, yesterday was the worst day in the three and a half weeks that Danielle has been missing because the DA had to sit them down and say, look, I think your daughter's dead. And they're saying, no, no, no, we're still searching. We want to hold out hope, like all parents of missing children, that our daughter is still alive.
And the DA is saying, look, I've got to explain one technicality to you. We've got DNA evidence on his jacket. We've got DNA in the mobile home. I'm charging him with kidnapping. But even if we convicted him, he'd probably only do seven to nine years. He could then get out. We could never charge him with the murder of Danielle. If we find her body, it would be double jeopardy, so I've got to charge him with murder. Because we believe he killed Danielle and we just haven't been able to find the body. So it was a really tough day for them.
BLITZER: How different is this case from so many other heart- wrenching cases you've been associated with, going back to your own personal tragedy with your son?
WALSH: Well, in the 20 years since Adam has been murdered, I've been involved in thousands of cases of missing children. And there's usually three scenarios. No. 1, the child, the Justice Department says most stranger-abducted children are dead within four hours. Lots of times we'll be involved in a case where a body is found, someone is charged. That is one result.
There are thousands of parents whose children have never been found and they don't know anything and no one has ever been charged. This case is so unique because of all the DNA evidence, a prosecutor has gone ahead and said this guy kidnapped Danielle and he murdered her. But they're going to trial without any body, and that is important evidence in a homicide case.
BLITZER: So how critical do you think finding that body and convicting him will actually be?
WALSH: I think they've got a very strong case. And Woody Clark, who is probably the preeminent DNA specialist, works for the DA's office here in San Diego. I've worked with him on a lot of cases. So they've got a strong prosecution team. But searchers are still searching.
And Westerfield admitted -- he only admitted when he got caught, when a truck driver said that he pulled him out of somewhere in the desert a mobile home shouldn't have been. So they placed him in the desert. But he was in the desert all weekend, and there are hundreds of miles that he could have placed Danielle's body. Searchers are still searching, but the body would be very key. But I think they've got a good case. They're going ahead full steam, Wolf.
BLITZER: John Walsh, as usual, thanks for joining us.
WALSH: Thank you, Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's check some stories on today's "Newswire." At the dog-mauling trial in Los Angeles, a woman who witnessed the attack on Diane Whipple through her apartment's peephole took the witness stand today to describe the horrifying scene. She testified that she heard a voice crying out for help and heard dogs growling and barking. The dogs' owner, Marjorie Knoller, and her husband, Robert Noel, are on trial on involuntary manslaughter charges. Knoller also is charged with second-degree murder.
Police in Marathon, Florida, are trying to determine why someone placed a bomb in a woman's car. The bomb went off this morning, severely injuring the 51-year-old victim. Authorities say there are no indications the blast is related to terrorism.
A new report says there's not enough evidence to determine a link between Agent Orange and other herbicides used in the Vietnam War and a form of leukemia that has shown up in some children of Vietnam veterans. An earlier report found limited or suggestive evidence of such a link. The latest report is the work of a committee put together by the Institute of Medicine. The panel recommends that more research be conducted.
There may be a new weapon in the fight against cancer, and it may be as simple as taking an aspirin, which is already known to help prevent heart disease. Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, there.
ARNOLD BROWN, TEST PATIENT: Good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your name?
BROWN: Arnold Brown.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A few years ago, something scary happened to Arnold Brown. Doctors found polyps in his colon -- polyps that could likely turn into cancer. So what are they doing for him? They removed the polyps, he's getting regular colonoscopies, and he's joined a study that might reveal a new radical role for an ordinary drug: Aspirin.
HAWK: It seems to be one of the most effective drugs in preventing cancer.
COHEN: About 30 different studies have suggested that if you take aspirin regularly, you're about half as likely to get certain cancers than if you don't. Now the National Cancer Institute is doing the more focused study, putting people on aspirin to see if it really works.
So why would aspirin prevent cancer? Substances in the body called prostaglandins send messages to cancer cells telling them to multiply. Aspirin appears to stop the prostaglandins from sending those messages, so the cancer stops growing. A few other painkillers seem to work, too, says Dr. Ernie Hawk, who reads the NCI study.
HAWK: I think there's no doubt that it would be one of the weapons in the arsenal against cancer.
COHEN: But Dr. Hawk adds that aspirin can also cause gastrointestinal bleeding. That's another reason why they're doing the focus study to see if the side effects are worth what could be a wonder drug in the fight against cancer.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: A good idea is to check with your doctor before taking those aspirins.
In the meantime, the tape is extremely disturbing, but it may help investigators get the killers of Daniel Pearl. Coming up: CNN's Connie Chung describes some of what she saw. In the U.S. war on terror, this man is on the radar screen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The United States has listed you, basically, as a terrorist. Were you surprised to see your name on that list?
AHMED HUBER, SUSPECTED TERRORIST: No, I was just laughing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Does he have something to hide? And why is he showing off pictures of Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Topping this "News Alert": Investigators are waiting a few days before they drain a lake near a crematory in North Georgia. They have poured chlorine in the lake to kill any fish so it will be easier to search for bodies. So far, 339 bodies that were supposed to have been cremated have been found on the property.
More bloodshed in the Middle East, the latest incident just reported at a West Bank checkpoint: Israeli soldiers say a car exploded, wounding at least two police officers. They say the driver, believed to be a Palestinian woman, was killed, as were two other Palestinians in the car.
Hundreds of American National Guard troops are headed for the Canadian border. Attorney General John Ashcroft says he hopes all of them will be at their new posts within two weeks. It's a temporary duty designed to help cover staff shortages at security checkpoints.
In New York, a hotel security guard pleads guilty to making false statements about an Egyptian guest. Ronald Ferry, seen here in the gray jacket, told a judge he lied when he told federal agents an aviation radio was found in Abdallah Higazy's room September 11. Higazy, whose room overlooked the World Trade Center, was detained by authorities for a month.
The United States is offering up to $5 million for information about the kidnappers and killers of journalist Daniel Pearl. Meantime, talks continue in Pakistan over extraditing Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheik, the accused mastermind behind Pearl's abduction.
CNN's Connie Chung viewed in Pakistan the videotape made by the killers of Daniel Pearl. CNN does not have the tape. We are not showing the tape, nor are we going to talk about those scenes where the murder is committed. You will not hear the details of Daniel Pearl's death.
The tape shows it. And we have reported on it in as much detail as we feel we need to. But the tape is of value to investigators. And there is enough news value in the tape to talk about it in some detail.
Connie Chung broke this story on CNN's "NEWSNIGHT."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONNIE CHUNG, CNN ANCHOR: The tape begins with Daniel Pearl saying, "My name is Daniel Pearl. I'm a Jewish American."
I'm reading it because I did take it verbatim and I want to get it absolutely correct.
Later on it's very, very clear that what he is uttering is pure propaganda that the terrorists demanded that he utter. He talks about his heritage. He says, "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am a Jew."
Later on, looking at the camera he says, "We've made numerous family visits to Israel." He says that there is a street called Heim (ph) Pearl Street, which was named after his great grandfather who was one of the founders of the town.
Then again there is clear editing. And at this point he's somewhat struggling to speak in the sense that you can tell that the terrorists have demanded that he utter these words.
He says, "Not knowing anything about my situation, not being able to communicate with anybody, and only now do I think about some of the people in Guantanamo Bay. They must be in a similar situation, and I have come to realize that this is the sort of problem that Americans are going to have anywhere in the world now."
He then looks off camera, clearly under duress, saying "We can't be secure, we can't walk around free as long as our government policies are continuing and we allow them to continue."
He then -- there's another edit, again he looks at the camera and says we as Americans can not continue to bear the consequences of our government's actions, such as the unconditional support for the state of Israel. It almost seems as if he's reading from memory. He's speaking from memory. He's not reading a text, but he's speaking from memory. He's struggling to try to remember what he's supposed to say. It clearly is pure propaganda. During this portion in which he's speaking it runs about a minute 35, 37 seconds. Then comes the graphic portion of the videotape, which I will not describe out of respect to Daniel Pearl and his family. That runs approximately 50 seconds.
In the end, the videotape, in the end the videotape shows a picture of Daniel Pearl, and there is a title that says the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistan Sovereignty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Connie Chung.
And Connie Chung also reports that the videotape shows a list of demands and a threat of similar actions in the future. It shows pictures of bodies and funerals, along with the names of locations, including Afghanistan and Kashmir. Investigators are closely studying the tape to see if it includes clues that will help them identify Daniel Pearl's killers.
There's a special section at CNN.com with more information on Daniel Pearl, including an interview with his wife, Mariane Pearl, and Connie Chung's entire description of the videotape. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. The AOL keyword is CNN.
Just ahead: a man who says he finds humor in the U.S. assertion that he is a terrorist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUBER: It's not even a lie. It's stupid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
The U.S. targets him as a terrorist who has helped al Qaeda move money around the world. He admits to being an admirer of Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler.
CNN national correspondent Mike Boettcher sat down with the man who points with pride to a shadowy alliance called The Third Position.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER (voice-over): In a typical Swiss house complete with garden hose, on a quiet home not far from the former residence of the U.S. ambassador, lives a 75-year-old Swiss man who the U.S. government says is a terrorist. The company he helped direct was even targeted publicly by President Bush.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Al Taqwa is an association of offshore banks and financial management firms that have helped al Qaeda shift money around the world.
BOETTCHER (on camera): The United States has listed you, basically, as a terrorist. Were you surprised to see your name on that list?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I was just laughing, because, first, it's absolutely stupid. It's not even a lie. It's stupid.
BOETTCHER (voice-over): Ahmed Huber may have laughed, but the U.S. government is dead serious. It has frozen Huber's assets and is pressuring the Swiss government to arrest him for being part of the al Qaeda money network, alleging that al Taqwa management, later called Nada Management, funneled money to Islamic terrorist groups through a complex scheme of offshore banking. Huber was on the company's board of directors. HUBER: I have never seen anything which was lousy or not correct or suspicious, because I -- you see, I could not have afforded to be a part of something doubtful.
BOETTCHER: That is because, according to critics, Huber has a very doubtful past.
HUBER: You see, here is a rumor I read.
BOETTCHER: One only has to take a tour of his study.
HUBER: It is Osama bin Laden, who laughs.
BOETTCHER: There is a smiling Osama bin next to a stern Adolf Hitler, all situated below a photograph of the Ayatollah Khomeini. And, oh, yes, there is one other bit of memorabilia.
HUBER: This piece here is a piece from the house of Hitler on (SPEAKING IN GERMAN) from the kitchen.
BOETTCHER: Huber, if you haven't guessed, is an admirer of Adolf Hitler. And he is convert to Islam, has been for 40 years. However, far from a simple convert, counterterrorist experts believe that Ahmed Huber is the living, breathing embodiment of a dangerous alliance of Neonazi and Islamic extremists, a coalition united in its hatred of America and Jews, a coalition known as The Third Position.
Author Michael Reynolds has been tracking The Third Position and Ahmed Huber for years.
MICHAEL REYNOLDS, AUTHOR: Herr Huber has spent the last 12 years diligently, tirelessly moving this coalition forward. And, in that sense, of course he's dangerous, because this movement, at the end of the day, only sees violence.
BOETTCHER: Huber forged close ties to the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution.
(on camera): What did you think of Khomeini? You met him, correct?
HUBER: Yes. He was a fantastic man.
BOETTCHER (voice-over): At the same time, he worked with extreme right-wing politicians like France's Jean-Marie La Pen and Germany's Neonazi party, the NPD. Now Huber is after a new generation of believers.
HUBER: Hitler has always said: "The only religion I respect is Islam. And the only prophet I admire is Mohammad." This is very interesting. When I tell this to young Muslims or to young so-called Neonazis, then they drop from their chairs.
BOETTCHER: Huber's critics worry growing numbers of Third Positionists could forge a new transnational terrorist threat.
REYNOLDS: Huber's connections go from Tehran to the United States to Germany.
BOETTCHER: Huber insists he's not anti-Semitic, just anti- Zionist. However, his statements suggest otherwise.
HUBER: We say Jew-nited States of America. We say Jew-York.
BOETTCHER: Huber says he admires the American people, not their government, and rejects terrorists.
But listen to what he says about the September 11 Pentagon attack.
HUBER: If they kill a few American generals in the Pentagon, I don't feel very sorry, because these guys have done a lot of trouble in the Muslim world and in the Third World.
BOETTCHER: And on the subject of al Qaeda?
HUBER: Al Qaeda is a very honorable organization, I mean, apart from some things they did.
BOETTCHER: Bin Laden and Hitler: two men Huber admires, two agendas rooted in hate and embraced as one; The Third Position: an emerging threat with dangerous potential.
Mike Boettcher, CNN, Bern, Switzerland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Tomorrow on this program, learn how terrorists may be talking to each other. A computer hacker has a hunch. He will show our Mike Boettcher tomorrow, 5:00 Eastern.
And his role in history may be changing. Coming up: how this big guy may not have been as big or as bad as first thought. Plus, music fans are counting down the hours until tonight's big Grammy show. Can R&B newcomer India.Arie be the Grammys' golden girl?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
There's been a dramatic accident in Erie County in Pennsylvania along a highway. AP is reporting perhaps as many as 100 cars involved in a pileup. Local authorities say one person is dead. Between 20 and 30 people were sent to area hospitals. In this accident, as you can see, heavy snowstorm along Lake Erie led to the chain-reaction crashes involving perhaps, once again, as many as 100 cars and tractor trailers. We'll have more on this story, of course, as it becomes available.
Meantime, it's a big night for the music business. The 44th annual Grammy Awards are tonight in Los Angeles. The ceremony will recognize the old and the new in music.
Our Michael Okwu previews the prize show. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If music transcends time, the Grammys seems to stop it. In one night on one stage, Dylan and a quartet of young divas, Jagger and Ja Rule, all have a chance to bask in the spotlight.
Veterans and newcomers top the list of hopefuls this year. U2, who walked away with three Grammys last year, could run away with eight more, while neo-soul newcomers India.Arie, Nelly Furtado and Alicia Keys have 17 nominations among them.
INDIA.ARIE, GRAMMY NOMINEE: Whatever we're talk about is our experience. That's the kind of common thread that me and Nelly and Alicia all have.
Album of the year pits U2 "All That You Can't Leave Behind" against Bob Dylan's "Love and Theft," Outkast's "Stankonia," India.Arie's "Acoustic Soul," and the bluegrass soundtrack for the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou." It sold four million copies. It was one of the 10 biggest selling records of the year. Nobody expected that. India.Arie broke out with seven nominations, including song of the year for "Video." This category, which honors songwriting, also includes "Trains Drops of Jupiter," Alicia Keys "Fallen," U2's "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of," and Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird."
NELLY FURTADO, GRAMMY NOMINEE: I know it's a cliche, but just being nominated feels like winning.
OKWU: Ariez's "Video" is also nominated for record of the year, along with "Fallen," "Drops of Jupiter," U2's "Walk On "and "Miss Jackson," the record from Southern hip-hop artists Outkast.
Organizers might have a more difficult time this year creating buzz for the show. A handful of the big name performers on Grammy night have already headlined at high-profile events, including U2, who sang at the Super Bowl and Alicia Keys, who was featured on MTV's video music awards last fall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The "Lady Marmalade" girls will be a big spectacle, but they already did that on MTV Two. I haven't seen yet anything that's unique to this show that will be a big story.
OKWU: Except perhaps for some solemn tributes. Billy Joel and Tony Bennett will perform their Grammy-nominated collaboration "New York State of Mind." George Harrison will be remembered, along with Aaliyah, who is nominated posthumously in two R&B categories.
MICHAEL GREENE, RECORDING ACADEMY PRESIDENT: In the 44 years of the show, we've never really done any tributes to deceased individuals. This year, we are. One of the big questions: Who will win best new artist? One of the neo-soul threesome, Alicia Keys, India.Arie or Nelly Furtado, or alternative singer David Gray, rockers Linkin Park, and who will deliver the breakthrough performance, or wear the gravity-defining dress, becoming fodder for tabloid chatter until the next event comes around.
Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And the Grammys will be more than awards. There will also be tributes for the late artists George Harrison and Aaliyah. And Tony Bennett and Billy Joel perform "New York State of Mind" as a tribute to the victims of September 11.
Forget what you saw in "Jurassic Park." Maybe T-rex wasn't such a swift killing machine after all. That is the word from Stanford University researchers. They say new models of the leg muscles of Tyrannosaurus rex suggest the dinosaur might not have been able to run at all. The new information appears in the British journal "Nature."
Do you think the FAA did an adequate job of keeping U.S. airports safe? The results on our Web poll next -- and a viewer's concern about the Andrea Yates trial.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's go to New York and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Thank you very much, Wolf.
Coming up: Analysts take the stand at the Enron hearings today. And, in our special series for investors, "Who Can You Trust?" we'll take a look at the role of Wall Street analysts in driving up Enron stock and holding buy recommendations while it was imploding. And Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says he sees sign of economic recovery. We'll have a live report for you from Washington. And I'll be joined tonight by CNN military analyst General David Grange. We will be talking about what's changing in the war against terrorism -- all of that, a lot of more at the top of the hour. Please join us.
Now back to Wolf Blitzer in Washington -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou.
And now our results of our "Question of the Day": Do you think the FAA did an adequate job of keeping U.S. airports safe? Sixty-two percent of you so far say no. Remember: This is not a scientific poll.
Time now, though, to hear from you. Many viewers wrote to us with comments about the Gallup Poll released yesterday.
John writes this: "The recent poll of the Muslim world reflecting unfavorable attitudes toward the U.S. is about as big a surprise as news in 1969 that the moon wasn't made of green cheese. This is probably the greatest failure of U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy in the last 100 years."
And Neekyba makes this request: "Please conduct a survey of Western attitudes about Muslims. I think you would be interested to see that a very large percentage of Westerners see Muslims as murderers and terrorists."
Andrea has concerns about the Yates trial: "Shouldn't questions about Andrea Yates' insanity plea be more focused on whether or not she understood the consequences of going off her anti-psychotic medication rather than whether or not she was sane at the time of the drownings? She went of medication understanding the possible consequences. That speaks more accurately to the culpability question."
I'll be back in one hour with more from the CNN "War Room." Should the United States train ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia troops to fight the war on terrorism? And then this note, tomorrow on this program at 5:00 Eastern: Elizabeth Dole's first nationally-televised interview since she officially kicked off her campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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