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Your World Today
Pleas for Jill Carroll's Release; Bin Laden Threat; 11 Indicted in Ecoterrorism Plots
Aired January 20, 2006 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The father of a U.S. journalist adding his voice to growing pleas for her freedom as a deadline still looms in Iraq.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Searching for answers from Google, why the U.S. government wants to know what millions of people type into the world's largest search engine.
CLANCY: And an unexpected visitor to London making a splash in the River Thames, to say the least. Onlookers are thrilled but hope their guest will soon swim home.
It's 8:00 in Baghdad, 5:00 p.m. in London.
I'm Jim Clancy.
VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee.
This is CNN International, and this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
Growing pleas with time running out. The forlorn face of a captured U.S. journalist is captivating the world, her life in the balance.
CLANCY: And this is coming as the long-anticipated Iraqi election returns. Landed on the world's doorstep, with preliminary results showing a win for the Shia, as expected, but not a big enough win to have an absolute grip on parliament.
As the deadline looms, a growing chorus of voices is calling for the release of that young U.S. journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq.
VERJEE: Jill Carroll's father made an emotional appeal on two major Arab TV outlets. Jim Carroll described his daughter as an innocent woman and told the captors that they should use Jill to be their voice to the world.
CLANCY: Kidnappers have threatened to kill the 28-year-old Jill Carroll unless all female Iraqi prisoners held by the U.S. are released. The freelance journalist for the "Christian Science Monitor" was abducted on the 7th of January. Carroll had planned to interview an influential Sunni politician the day she was kidnapped.
Adnan Dulaimi also pleaded for her release. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADNAN DULAIMI, SUNNI POLITICIAN (through translator): I'm pleading and calling with those who kidnapped the U.S. journalist Jill Carroll. I call for them to release her. She is a woman who strived for Iraq, defending Iraq and Iraqis, condemning war on Iraq.
She is here to cover Iraq's news and bring it out to the world. I call on her release for god's sake, for holy things that you believe in to release her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Muslim leaders in France and former hostages also urged kidnappers to spare the journalist's life. Gathering at Paris' grand mosque, they called on Washington to help mediate a solution.
CLANCY: Well, to get the latest on the American hostage crisis in Iraq, we talked a little bit earlier to our own Michael Holmes, who's in Baghdad right now. We talked to him about Jill Carroll's case, as well as about the elections.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: First, about Carroll's case, and what does set this case apart from so many others that we have seen in the past?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What is different about this, Jim, I think, compared to other kidnappings, is you go out on the street and you talk to everyone, Sunni, Shia, Kurd, even the iman of a mosque, a Sunni mosque we went to, they all say that the kidnapping of Jill Carroll is wrong, that it's a mistake, and that she should be set free.
We've heard, of course, her father on Al-Jazeera, her mother's been on CNN, which is seen here. It's an unprecedented level of local coverage and local support in not just Iraq but the region -- Jim.
CLANCY: Now, the group that's holding her had been demanding the release of all female Prisoners held by the United States. We understand there's only a small number of them. And there might have already been plans in the works to release some of them.
Have we heard any more?
HOLMES: Yes. It's reasonably complex.
There are 14,000 prisoners being held on insurgent-related activities. Only 10 of them are women.
Now, what we were told by the Justice Ministry is that they had requested six of those women either be charged or let go. The U.S. says -- and that was unrelated to the kidnapper demands, we have to say.
The U.S. says, well, we have procedures in place. Those procedure are being gone through, and we don't have plans to release them at the moment, anyway.
CLANCY: All right. We're ticking down the hours now. We are waiting to hear some kind of a response coming from the kidnappers in the coming hours.
In the meantime, we hear a response from the people of Iraq. Official election results, Michael. How are people there reading them?
HOLMES: Yes. They came out pretty much as we had been expecting. The predictions were all, for a change, pretty accurate.
The United Iraqi Alliance -- that's the main Shiite group -- getting 128 seats. And the Kurdish bloc about -- well, getting 53 seats.
Now, what's interesting is, if they come together as a coalition, there are still at only 65 percent. That's short, just short of the two-thirds they need to form a government on their own, pick a president, push through any reforms they would like.
Of course, now the difficult job, and that's forming a government that's going to satisfy this often divided population. And by that I mean Sunnis. They need inclusion, and they've got about 55 seats. And they're going to want something in order to come to the table.
CLANCY: Earlier this week the president told you that he thought that it's going to be fairly easy to form a government. Has anything changed as result of looking at the numbers?
HOLMES: No, I think not. Though, I mean, certainly, yes, the president, Jalal Talabani, told me personally -- that he said he wants to be the uniter. He wants to bring all the groups together to form a unity government. And Shias and Kurds have indicated a willingness to do this in the past.
The results do show that the Sunnis have little bargaining power. But Jalal Talabani says, and he sticks with his view, that he does want this to be a unity government.
The key is going to be whether the Sunnis are happy with what gets offered to them. Is it a senior portfolio, like defense? Is it more than one portfolio in cabinet? And their reaction to what is on offer is going to be key.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Michael Holmes reporting there from Baghdad.
VERJEE: U.S. intelligence officials say they're taking Osama bin Laden's direct threat against the U.S. seriously, but they add that the al Qaeda network has been seriously disrupted.
Bin Laden made the threat in an audiotape released by the Arab channel Al-Jazeera. A former director of the CIA says this tape may bolster the Bush administration's position to conduct surveillance on Americans communicating with suspected terrorists abroad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES WOOLSEY, FMR. CIA DIRECTOR: The best analog to something like this is what happened a year and a half ago in Europe, after the Spanish bombing. He essentially announced that if the British and others would withdraw their forces from Iraq, he would leave them alone. Otherwise, he was going to attack. And then they did not, and the attacks came in the subways in Britain and so forth.
So, there is at least a chance that what we're seeing here is a -- is a repeat of that pattern. Now, that may -- the fact that he says he's planning something, that he's done something like this in the past, may make some people rethink such issues as whether or not the president ought to be trying to find out who al Qaeda's communicating with in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Despite bin Laden's chilling threat against the United States, the nation's terror threat level remains unchanged.
Joining us now with a little more on this from Washington is CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
Jeanne, what are the reasons that U.S. officials say they are not going to change the threat level?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are many. The primary one is that they don't have any intelligence indicating that attacks are imminent.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security sent this two- page bulletin to state and local governments and law enforcement urging them to be vigilant. It does not request any specific additional security steps, and most cities are not taking any.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice over): More police will be more visible at Los Angeles International Airport.
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES: At this time, I'd like to emphasize there is no known direct threat to Los Angeles. But as always, we remain vigilant.
MESERVE: Other major cities, including the prime targets of Washington, D.C., and New York, are not increasing security.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: People's antennas are up, but fundamentally, we treat today like any other day. There is always a risk.
MESERVE: Counterterrorism officials say there is no plan to raise the national threat level at this time because there is no intelligence indicating an attack plan is in motion. And they have seen no upsurge in so-called chatter.
J.D. CROUCH, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We're probably not going to be changing the security level simply because we don't nee in this particular document a particular threat. It's a general threat.
MESERVE: Six times, specific credible intelligence triggered boosts in the threat level. The seventh time, last summer, it was hiked as precaution after the London train bombings, but only for transit. It has never been raised solely because of a tape from Osama bin Laden. And it shouldn't be this time, according to the man who created the system.
TOM RIDGE, FMR. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Based solely on the tape, absolutely not. It's not news that we're a target. It's not news that he would say publicly that they continue to plan for attacks in the United States.
MESERVE: In the nation's capital, the deputy mayor for public safety who would help craft D.C.'s security response still had not received official notification about the tape eight hour after its release.
EDWARD REISKIN, WASHINGTON DEPUTY MAYOR: It is information that we would like to have, even before it's been vetted, validated, verified.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: The law enforcement at all levels is following up any and all leads. Officials tell me this morning that at this point they have not turned up any new intelligence which would lead to a hike in the threat level.
Zain, back to you.
VERJEE: And the Bush administration rejected Osama bin Laden's offer for a truce.
What are they saying?
MESERVE: Well, they don't negotiate with terrorists, first and foremost, is the thing that they say -- Zain.
VERJEE: CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
Thank you -- Jim.
CLANCY: Turkey's Supreme Court says the man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II nearly 25 years ago must go back to jail, must serve more time. It overturned a decision to release Mehmet Ali Agca.
The justice ministry had appealed Agca's release from prison last week. He had served less than five years for the 1979 murder of a Turkish newspaper editor. Before that, he had spent nearly two decades in an Italian prison for shooting Pope John Paul. No arrest warrant was immediately issued, and Agca's whereabouts aren't known.
VERJEE: Just ahead, the U.S. government goes after Internet giant Google.
CLANCY: That's right. When YOUR WORLD TODAY returns, we're going to have an inside look from an analyst at this demand for access to some of the things that you and I look at every day.
Stay with us. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: Hello. And welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
The U.S. government says it's trying to protect children on the Internet, but that's put on a crash course for the Internet search engine Google.
Daniel Sieberg has details now on the legal battle and all the worries it raises.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Bush administration wants to know what millions of people have been looking for on Google, the world's biggest search engine. But Google says no way.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in California demanding that Google turn over data it says will help the government ultimately keep children from accessing pornography on the Web. But critics worry that this could lead to government spying on all types of Internet searches.
The government is seeking Google's search records over a random one-week time period that could mean tens of millions of search requests. It claims they won't be tied to a person's identity. It also wants a random sampling of one million Web sites in Google's database.
In the past few years, Google has become a massive clearinghouse for everything from satellite images to library documents to driving directions. Privacy advocates have routinely been scrutinizing the company's behavior. But this time, many of them are in Google's camp.
When Google went public last year, its motto was "Do no evil." In this case, Google says it won't comply with the government's request, arguing that it can expose the identities of some users. It also worries the information would be highly valuable to its competitors.
Google says it plans to "vigorously fight the lawsuit."
(on camera): All of this comes in light of news about the National Security Agency's program to monitor U.S. citizens. But it's also the latest chapter in a long-running debate over whether there needs to be more laws to protect children online.
Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: We want to explore some of the issues, some of the questions that come out of this entire Google versus the government case. And we're going to bring in Jerrold Spiegel. He's an attorney specializing in e-commerce and privacy issues.
Welcome.
Jerrold, the bottom line for you, when you look at a case like this one, all of us on the outside wonder, well, this is about our own personal privacy. But it's about more than that. Isn't it?
JERROLD B. SPIEGEL, INTERNET & MEDIA LAW EXPERT: Well, actually, it's about privacy only in its remotest sense, because the information that the search engines have gathered, that the government is seeking, is not private information, and you've shared it with a third party. So it's -- you're not really entitled to any level of privacy.
CLANCY: Well, then where do -- where do we stand legally on that? Is it up to Google to say, I don't have to give this up? It's like a trade secret?
SPIEGEL: Well, that's the basis on which -- one of the basis on which Google has contested this subpoena. And obviously, they are extremely concerned about the potential impact on their business. This could have a real chilling affect on people's willingness to type in to search boxes things that they're interested in looking for.
CLANCY: Jerrold Spiegel, when we look at Google, when people use it in their millions every day, people would say, well, I don't want the government knowing what I'm searching for. On the other hand, if I'm the parent of a child that has been kidnapped, and they were contacting someone or searching for someone on Google, I would want to the say that this company should give up that information.
SPIEGEL: Well, any information that they have that would be evidence of a crime clearly could be discoverable by the government and used by the government. And everyone's very interested in that. But this is really about a broad-based request for information without regard to whether any law has been violated.
And, hey, I use Google every day, and I type in search query and I type in dozens of search queries a day. Do I really want the government reviewing that material? Or do I really care if it's not tied to my personal information if they don't know who I am?
And that's really what the issue is here, because over the last 10 years, the search engines and other Internet companies have become huge depositories of tremendous quantities of information, and some of that information can be tied back to people personally. And there's really no guidance and there's no law that exists that addresses the issue of how to protect people's privacy in that situation. CLANCY: Is the government right to be saying, give us a sample of this? Do they have a case here? And what would they use it for?
SPIEGEL: Well, the subpoena requests the information in connection with a lawsuit in which the Child Online Protection Act was enjoined by -- ultimately by the Supreme Court and sent back to the district court. So this subpoena is in connection with that litigation.
Google claims one of their defenses is that they're not a party to that litigation. And so, therefore, the subpoena's inappropriate.
But I think what the government's trying to do here is to really figure out exactly what's going on online, and so they're asking for this information. And frankly, I think any of us kind of have both -- two sides to this issue.
We certainly are interested in protecting children against inappropriate content. On the other hand, we have a long tradition of free speech and privacy in this country, and what does this really mean for the future of those rights in this country?
CLANCY: All right. Another right undefined, because we've got shifting targets here.
Google wasn't anything to anyone for so many years. Suddenly, it's important in all of our lives. And now we're trying to figure out how it's going to legally affect us in the future and how it can all be managed.
And I want to thank you very much for being with us, Jerrold Spiegel, to explain some of the parameters that we're looking at here.
SPIEGEL: Thank you.
VERJEE: The U.S. government's subpoena in an effort to get information from search engine Google is the subject of our question today. We really want you to weigh in on this.
Should Google Internet searches be subject to government intelligence searches?
CLANCY: E-mail your thoughts at YWT@CNN.com. We're going to read some of those later right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
VERJEE: We're also going to check on what's moving international markets. That's coming up.
CLANCY: And still ahead, find out what surprises discovery prompted Japanese agricultural officials to halt delivery of U.S. beef.
This is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in a few minutes. But first, let's check on stories making headlines here in the U.S.
Just minutes from now, federal law enforcement officials plan to hold a news conference that will involve the indictment of nearly a dozen people allegedly tied to two eco-terrorist groups. One is called the Animal Liberation Front, the other is the Earth Liberation Front, which has been blamed for a series of attacks in several states.
We'll have live coverage of the news conference, now scheduled for about eight minutes from now.
Less than three weeks after the Sago Mine tragedy, a new drama unfolding inside another West Virginia coal mine. On the other end of the state, rescue teams are now searching for two miners believed trapped after a fire separated them from their co-workers.
CNN National Correspondent Bob Franken has been following this developing story and joins us from Melville with the latest.
Bob, hello.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest, Daryn, is that there's been a change in tactics a little bit. There had been an approach by the five rescue teams that have been rotating in and out that they would allow the flames to burn because they could circumvent them as they looked for the two miners who had missing since 5:30 p.m. Central. But now they've decided that the smoke that has been created has become such an impediment that the rescue teams are just not able to see well enough to conduct their search, all of which was disclosed in a briefing about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG CONAWAY, MINE SAFETY OFFICIAL: Where we're at now is we've moved -- or concentrated our efforts on fighting the fire. We feel it's necessary at this point to try to contain the fire. And then once we do that, maybe the conditions will clear a little bit better with the smoke and make traveling much easier going up -- going up in -- onto this section.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: So they're sprayering foam and water on the fire. Hopefully after that they can begin the work of putting what they call geophones, Daryn. That's a device that they use to try and hear if any surviving miners are there -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Bob Franken live from West Virginia.
Thank you for that.
Other news today. A 12-year prison sentence has just been announced for a former Pentagon analyst. Larry Franklin plead guilty last year to giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat and a pro-Israel lobbying group. Franklin was a specialist on Iran.
The man who knew about the Oklahoma City bombing plot but did nothing to stop it is expected to get out of prison today. Survivors and victims' families received word this week of Michael Fortier's release. Fortier served most of a 12-year sentence in his plea deal with the government.
Former president Gerald Ford remains hospitalized today. It was wildly believed that the 92-year-old had recovered enough from his bout with pneumonia to be released yesterday. Doctors say they will keep him a bit longer for therapy even though he's said to be getting out of bed and reading the newspaper.
They are slogging through another soggy day in western Oregon. Rain has been falling there almost every day since the weekend before Christmas. Damage from high winds, floods and mudslides is mounting, and the governor has declared disasters in 24 of 36 Oregon counties.
Forecasters say a dry spell may take hold over the weekend, which leads us Jacqui Jeras and a look at the West and the rest of the country.
Hi, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Daryn.
Yes, it depends what you consider a dry spell. It three days covers it, then you've got a dry spell on the way.
Looking forward to that. In fact, things starting to dry up into parts of Oregon and into Washington at this hour. And we'll watch for improving conditions late today. But another round of wet weather arrives for tomorrow, and your big break starts on Sunday.
A live picture out of Seattle. Still looking very soggy there at this hour. Overcast conditions.
The rain is ending right now. We will have a dry afternoon. And temperatures, though, by the way, are going to be a little cooler than they have been, down into the middle 40s.
We want to show you some other wet weather to talk about for today across the nation's midsection, where it's been drier, especially in northern Illinois. There you see the snow come downing. A little icy into Kansas City.
Chicago is dry now, but some very heavy snow is on the way later on tonight. So go ahead and get the movies now. It will be kind of a rough one. But good by tomorrow -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right, Jacqui. Thank you for that. Let's check out the markets. A lot of pressure is lying on the markets today, including major gauges sinking as the oil prices rise and disappointing earnings weighing on the market.
Look at that, the Dow into triple losses, down 120. And the Nasdaq in negative territory. It is down over a percent, down 34 points as well.
Freedom at last. Twenty-five years ago today for 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for more than a year, 25 years. One of those former hostages talks about his experience on "LIVE FROM" at the top of the hour.
Meanwhile, I'll be back in a few minutes with live coverage from Washington as federal law enforcement officials announce nearly a dozen indictments related to eco-terrorism.
I'm Daryn Kagan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY right here on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.
VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. Here are some of the top stories we're following.
With a deadline looming, leading Iraqi politicians joined family and friends of the kidnapped U.S. journalist to appeal for her immediate release. Jill Carroll's father appeared on two Arab TV outlets on Friday. Kidnappers have threatened to kill 28-year-old Jill Carroll unless all female Iraqi prisoners are released. The freelance journalist for "The Christian Science Monitor" was abducted on the 7th of January.
CLANCY: Iraq's long-awaited election results are out and they point to some deal-making that's going to be needed before the country's next government will take shape. Election officials say Shia Muslim interests won the majority last month with 128 seats, but that is still not enough to rule alone. Their Kurdish partners in the transitional government got 53 seats. Sunni Arab groups won 55.
VERJEE: Turkey's Supreme Court has just ruled that the man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II nearly 25 years ago must return to jail. Mehmet Ali Agca was released from a Turkish prison last week after serving time for the murder...
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. We're going to interpret our international coverage for a major development here in the U.S. The Justice Department announcing the indictments of 11 different people allegedly involved in ecoterrorism.
With more on that, let's go to our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENTS: Daryn, these incidents took place allegedly across five states on the West Coast. As you said, 11 people indicted. Three of those people, though, not in custody. They are believed to be overseas. Our sources saying some information suggesting one is in Canada, one in the Middle East.
The crimes that they are allegedly guilty of are everything ranging from arson, of setting fire to ranger stations to a ski facility in Vail, to car dealerships. Just quite a number. There are 17 separate incidents, and this is allegedly, according to investigators, a group of individuals who call themselves "The Family." People who say, allegedly, are a affiliated with both the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front.
The FBI refers to this as domestic terrorism. No lives lost as a result of any of these attacks, but millions of dollars in property damage. Both the ATF and the FBI say that this is one of their top priorities in terms of domestic terrorism, is going after these groups. And, Daryn, it's interesting because these incidents date back to 1996. So some of these cases, very cold. And we're seeing some of the first indictments today.
KAGAN: And some of the video we're looking at in one of the corners of our screen there, these groups allegedly carry out their attacks and they videotape so that they can release that and show their work?
ARENA: That's right. And also to instruct others exactly how to do it as well.
KAGAN: I see Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Let's listen in.
ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm joined by FBI Director Robert Mueller, ATF Director Carl Truscott, and Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher from the Criminal Division.
Yesterday, a grand jury in the district of Oregon returned an indictment charging 11 members of the Portland-based cell of animal rights and environmental extremists for their roles and in a pattern of domestic terrorism activities.
The 65-count indictment includes numerous charges of arson, attempted arson, conspiracy to commit arson, use and possession of a destructive device, and destruction of an energy facility.
The indictment tells a story of four and a half years of arson, vandalism, violence and destruction claimed to have been executed on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front or Earth Liberation Front, extremist movements known to support acts of domestic terrorism.
Specifically, the indictment alleges that a group of defendants, who refer to themselves as "The Family," worked together with extensive planning to influence the conduct of government and private businesses through the use of coordinated force, violence, sabotage, intimidation and coercion. On a number of occasions, they constructed incendiary devices made from milk jugs or plastic buckets, petroleum products and delayed timers and then used them to destroy buildings, vehicles, and other targets chosen to harm the government, disrupt the public, and strike at the economic well-being of state governments and private businesses.
This cell was responsible for more than 15 incidents across five states, a well-coordinated series of violent attacks that including arsons or attempted arsons at U.S. Forest Service ranger stations, animal holding facilities, lumber companies and timber farms, the Vail Ski Resort, and the Eugene, Oregon, Police Department.
GONZALES: In addition, three of the defendants are charged with destruction of a high-tension tower at the Bonneville Power Administration in Bend, Oregon.
In many cases, the group publicized the incidents with graffiti, press releases and communiques attributing the actions and the stated reasons for those actions to the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front terrorist movements.
In all, their trail of destruction across the Pacific Northwest and beyond resulted in millions of dollars of property damage.
Today's indictment is a significant step in bringing these terrorists to justice. Six of the defendants were arrested more than a month ago and are currently being detained, including one Canadian citizen that ICE found in possession of a forged green card and Social Security card. Two more were arrested this week on criminal complaints charging them with arsons mentioned in this indictment. And three others are believed to be outside the country.
We're working hard with a number of partners to find these individuals and bring them to justice here in the United States.
As this and all criminal indictments are not evidence of guilt, the defendants named in this indictment are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The investigation arrests and indictments in this case are the result of widespread cooperation and coordination throughout the law enforcement community.
I'd like to thank the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon and the many prosecutors and investigators from a host of law enforcement agencies at every level for their work on this case and their continued determination to help protect Americans from the threat of terrorism, both foreign and domestic.
I'd like to now invite Bob Mueller to the podium. And he will be followed by Carl Truscott. And then we'll be happy to take any questions you may have.
Bob?
ROBERT MUELLER, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Afternoon, everyone.
Today's indictment marks the culmination of an intensive investigation by the FBI, as well as our partners, including the ATF; an investigation focused on a group of individuals who have committed numerous violent acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes.
MUELLER: But terrorism is terrorism, no matter what the motive. The FBI is committed to protecting Americans from crime and terrorism, including acts of domestic terrorism in the name of animal rights or the environment.
And there is a clear difference -- a clear difference -- between constitutionally protected advocacy, which is the right of all Americans, and violent criminal activity. It is one thing to write concerned letters or to hold peaceful demonstrations. It is another thing entirely to construct and use improvised explosives or incendiary devices to harass and intimidate victims by destroying property and to cause millions of dollars in losses by acts or threats of violence.
The FBI becomes involved, as it did in this case, only when volatile talk crosses the line into violence and criminal activity.
Today's indictment marks significant progress in our efforts to combat animal rights extremism and ecoterrorism. Thanks to the outstanding cooperation and strong partnerships we've had both at the federal level, as well as the state and local level, we have taken the first steps toward bringing this cell to justice.
And we in the FBI will continue to work with our partners to investigate and bring to justice extremist movements whose criminal acts threaten the American economy and American lives.
Now let me turn it over to Carl.
CARL TRUSCOTT, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS: Thank you very much, Director Mueller.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
The indictments announced today represent the culmination of almost 10 years of persistent work on behalf of ATF and our federal, state and local partners.
These crimes were committed by extremists using arson and incendiary devices to cause tremendous destruction and to endanger people's lives.
As the federal agency that investigates crimes involving arson and explosives, ATF conducted the investigation surrounding the origin and the cause of the various fires.
TRUSCOTT: We are pleased to have contributed the ATF's unique expertise of our certified fire investigators, our forensic laboratory analysts, our explosive enforcement officers and our accelerant detection K-9s to these complex arson investigations.
ATF's laboratory in Walnut Creek, California was instrumental in processing and linking evidence from the crime scenes.
The 17 separate criminal incidents occurred in five states and causing millions of dollars of damage. ATF and our partners aggressively pursued these cases and linked them together to bring these indictments announced today.
ATF will continue to work with the Department of Justice. We will continue to work with the U.S. attorneys offices for a successful prosecution.
The indictments announced today clearly demonstrate what tenacious law enforcement can achieve when we work together, when we bring our varied expertise to the table, and when we effectively share information and when we effectively share intelligence.
Arson is an extremely complex and difficult crime to solve. but the message to any person or group that seeks to further its cause through crimes of violence is this: We will be relentless in finding you and bringing to you justice.
Thank you.
GONZALES: OK, any questions?
QUESTION: How seriously should Americans take threat from Osama bin Laden?
GONZALES: Well, here we, of course, have been very concerned about the threat of terrorism, generally, since the attacks of 9/11. And obviously we expect the American people to live their lives as normally as possible.
But those of us in government -- particularly those of us in the law enforcement community -- we clearly understand that we have a very real threat against the United States, United States interests here and abroad, and that we ought to be doing everything that we can do to protect America against that threat.
QUESTION: On the same subject: What do you make of the timing of the release of the tape yesterday? Is there any link to the Predator attack?
GONZALES: I've got no comment to make with respect to the timing. Obviously, we're still evaluating the tape and there are still discussions within the executive branch about the tape, but I've got no other comment to make about the timing.
QUESTION: Mr. Mueller, can you elaborate for us about your concerns regarding the NSA surveillance program and whether they were the same concerns that the former deputy attorney general, James Comey, had?
MUELLER: Let me say that what are you mentioning is a program that is not an FBI program. You are talking about a legal analysis which is the purview of the Department of Justice. And that is about all I can say on it at this point.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
MUELLER: As I think I just said, it's the purview of the Department of Justice to determine such issues, the legal analysis and the like, and it's a program that is highly classified. And I cannot say more about it.
QUESTION: Regarding Google and your request for data from Google and the other Internet firms, they say that they felt that it was a privacy issue and they denied that request. What's your response (OFF-MIKE)
GONZALES: Well, we are trying to gather up information in order to help the enforcement of a federal law to ensure the protection, quite frankly, of our nation's children against pornography. There have been other Internet service providers that have been forthcoming in sharing of information.
We are not asking for the identity of Americans. We simply want to have some subject matter information with respect to these communications. This is important for the Department of Justice and we will pursue this matter.
KAGAN: We've been listening to a news conference from the Department of Justice as they announced the indictments of 11 different people on ecoterrorism charges, on crimes that go back well into the '90s.
With more on that, let's bring in our justice correspondent Kelli Arena -- Kelli.
ARENA: Daryn, sources, a variety of sources, tell us that a lot of this case hinged on the cooperation of an informant. These groups, the Earth Liberation Front, Animal Liberation Front, are notoriously secretive and they don't often cooperate with law enforcement, even when taken into custody. So this was a pretty big deal for investigators who have been working such cases, to get the level of cooperation, I'm told that they did receive in order to bring this indictment forward.
This group of individuals has been described as a cell, as an Oregon-based terror, domestic terror cell. And we're also told that the investigation is ongoing, because it doesn't only involve the 11 people indicted today, but the group is as large as at least 20 people, they say, that may be involved.
But it's a painstaking process to piece together the evidence, as you heard from the ATF director, very difficult to solve crimes of arson -- Daryn.
KAGAN: The kind of crimes you're talking about -- arson, violence, vandalism, spread over five different states, a number of years and two different groups. But I guess they're saying that the people they went after were involved -- well, there was overlap between the two groups?
ARENA: Yes, and there often is, Daryn, with these types of group. You have people who affiliate themselves with both, depending on the attack that they're carrying out at the time.
KAGAN: Kelli Arena, thank you.
ARENA: You're welcome.
KAGAN: And we listening to that news conference while we -- while we interrupted CNN International. We're going to go ahead and rejoin their coverage right now. They are doing a story on New Orleans and the fishing industry there.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE GERICA, LOUISIANA FISHERMAN: ... you couldn't even look this way because it was so hard a rain. If you looked this way, it would sting your eyes and stuff.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Gerica, his daughter and his mother rode out the storm in a tree. The tree is still standing, but not much else.
GERICA: My bigger boat was this one here that's on the side here. It's got a big hole in the bottom, it's split in half on the bottom. You know, it's all in pieces now.
MARCIANO: Louisiana fishermen like Gerica are stranded all over the state and fighting huge obstacles. Gerica gives us a tour.
GERICA: There's stuff sunk in the middle of the pass there, so you can't get in and out.
MARCIANO: Many of the canals are clogged with sunken boats and other debris, all ready to snare fishing boats or their fragile nets. And for the few who do catch something, there's yet another hurdle.
(on camera): Scenes like this. Demolished fishing boats line the bayous of Louisiana. But even if your vote was lucky enough to survive Katrina, it doesn't mean you're in business. There's no place left to sell your fish. This used to be a huge dock where fishermen would come and unload their catch. The dock's gone, as is the processing plant. The fishing industry here in Louisiana is crippled.
There's no easy way to get fish from boats to restaurants and supermarkets.
GERICA: In the back here was a two-story building, which was the crab shed, where we sold our crabs. It's gone.
MARCIANO: If you even had a big catch of crab, you got nowhere to bring it to? GERICA: Well, I'd have to take and call somebody in town and have them truck them to someplace else. And so you're going to get less money.
MARCIANO: Right.
GERICA: Bottom line, you're going to get less money.
MARCIANO: The cost of doing business has gone way up.
GERICA: It's gone way up.
HARLON PEARCE, HARLON'S LOUISIANA FISH: As the tides come and go.
MARCIANO: Harlon Pearce is a seafood processor. He warns that if the docks aren't rebuilt soon, the nation's seafood supply could dry up.
PEARCE: 81 percent of the shrimp caught in this country come from Louisiana; 40 percent of the crabs caught in this country come from Louisiana. This country is heavily dependent on what Louisiana does. But without Louisiana, this country's seafood is going to suffer. It's going to hurt.
MARCIANO: For fishermen like Gerica, quitting is not an option.
GERICA: We all got saltwater in our banks. You can't take us away from the water. We'd be miserable.
MARCIANO: It could be the only thing keeping fishermen from being miserable, is knowing that saltwater is clean.
(on camera): Just this afternoon, Nola put out its own report on the water and it jives with the EPA, the FDA, the DEQs of Louisiana- Mississippi. That report, too, says that the water is clean.
Rob Marciano, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: All right. Well, Zain, you know, it's time to check our inbox. It was about Google wasn't it?
VERJEE: Yes, we've asking you, should Google Internet searches be subject to government intelligence searches? We've got good e- mails from you, as always. Here's how you replied.
CLANCY: Torge From Brazil -- I think I pronounced that right -- He says, "Internet searches should be treated like phone calls. The government should have access to that information."
VERJEE: And Mark from London writes, "I think the Bush administration has already taken away most of the liberties of the American people. I support Google, and I hope they win this fight." CLANCY: Mohan from Canada says, "I hope Google does not give out that sort of data. I believe that no government should request such information about its citizens.
VERJEE: Finally, Justin from Cleveland in Ohio writes, "When I go to Google, I don't want anyone knowing what I'm searching for. This is between me and Google, not me and the federal government."
CLANCY: Well, there you have it.
VERJEE: YWT@CNN.com for your input.
CLANCY: Meantime, a big splash in the River Thames is just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
VERJEE: Yes, that's whale of a problem! And thar she blows!
CLANCY: We're going to take a closer look at what's getting all of the attention on the Thames today. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: Rather distinguished visitors making quite a splash in London right now, Jim.
CLANCY: It happens to be taking place in the Thames River, and it's getting a tumultuous greeting, but darkness is falling. Officials are worrying this visitor may be lost.
VERJEE: And they're trying to arrange an escort home. Our Becky Anderson is at the water's edge to tell us all about it. Becky, what's going on there?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there isn't a lot going on at the river at the moment. So that escort they're getting together in order to try and get this whale home seems to have disappeared at this point. But I guess they will be tracking what's going on.
It's over my right shoulder, just over here, and you won't be able to see much. This is the River Thames, and just beyond me there is a 20-foot Northern Bottle-nosed whale. It's some three to seven tons, 20-foot long, as I say.
And this is unprecedented. For the first time since records began, Zain, a whale has found itself this far upstream, past the Houses of Parliament, past Big Ben, past the big ferris wheel that you've probably seen last time you were in London, and into the salubrious area of Chelsea -- Battersea there and Chelsea here.
The whale is struggling, as you've suggested. The experts are saying that it is getting weaker and weaker. And they're very concerned that as it gets weaker, it won't find anything to eat in this river, and things, experts say, aren't looking good for at the moment -- Zain. CLANCY: Well, let me ask you this -- this is Jim, Becky -- and what I'm really wondering about is, there's a lot of ship traffic there that could really pose a threat to this whale before they're able to push it back out to sea.
ANDERSON: Yes. Well, we saw a lot of activity earlier on. There was talk at one stage that they would stop the activity here on the river. They didn't actually do that, Jim. But what they did, between these two bridges, was effectively fence in this whale, which is in very, very shallow water.
Let's remember, this whale is normally out in the open sea, which is some 40 miles, 60 kilometers, downstream of this, in the North Sea, up by Norway in the Barents Sea. They don't know how it got here or why it got here, perhaps following a school of fish.
Potentially, sadly, the whale, experts say, could be ill. And that's the reason why it's found shallow water. But as I say, they ring fenced it at one point. It had hit a boat, and they were concerned that it was concussed. And that's why it's sort of swimming around fairly disoriented as the tide goes down, as they'd ring fenced it in and were hoping that they could get the other traffic access past the whale.
Well, there isn't a lot of activity on the river at night, let me tell you. Most of the boats that were tracking the whale have now gone. I guess -- I mean, out in the darkness there, there is one boat. I guess that's the boat that's keeping an eye on it. But at this stage, as I say, the tide's going down. The whale is fairly disorientated. So they're not holding out an awful lot of hope at this point.
CLANCY: All right, Becky Anderson, a brave girl out there, staying with the whale, even in the darkness and the cold. I think we should let Becky go in and warm up a little bit.
VERJEE: Have a nice hot cup of tea, Becky. Thank you so much.
CLANCY: All right. Bye-bye to Becky, and it's bye-bye to everybody.
VERJEE: Bye-bye us.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.
VERJEE: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. You are, and I'm Zain Verjee.
CLANCY: It's Friday. We're not in a hurry to get out of here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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