USS Abraham Lincoln Getting Ready for President Bush's Visit Tomorrow
ZAHN: Thousands of sailors onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are getting ready for a very special visit, a visit from their commander in chief tomorrow. Kyra Philips had been embedded on the USS Abraham Lincoln during the Iraq war. She has returned to the ship, now in the homestretch of its journey. She joins us from at sea tonight. Kyra, I know there is a strong sense of anticipation. I'm just wondering what the level of concern is in spite of the success these pilots have had in landing their planes on this carrier, having the president attempt that with two talented pilots.</s>PHILLIPS: Well that's a great question, Paula, and I have the perfect person to address that for us. We're here on the flight deck. You can see behind me that that's where they're going to be setting up the platform for where the president is going to speak to all of the sailors that are still on the ship. Now during the war, it was very busy out here. There was aircraft launching day and night. Now you can see it's pretty much cleared out. That's because half the air wing has already left, headed home to their various areas. And tomorrow is the final flyoff. I'm going to introduce you now to the CAG (ph) of the air wing, Captain Kevin Albright. He's the commander of Airwing 14. Sir, thank you so much for being with us.</s>CAPT. KEVIN ALBRIGHT, COMMANDER AIRWING 14: Absolute pleasure.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Now you are the one that decided on the aircraft and the pilots to fly the president. Tell me how you selected both.</s>ALBRIGHT: Well, actually, I didn't have a whole lot of say in it, but I did get to pick the pilots. And we picked two mature pilots that also are very good landers. So that was the criteria.</s>PHILLIPS: Of course. Now why does this mean so much to hour airwing that the president is coming here?</s>ALBRIGHT: Well, it's a momentous occasion to have -- I've been on eight deployments, and we've never had a president come out and welcome us home. So it's a pretty big event for the airwing and the ship crew.</s>PHILLIPS: And this is a president that's been pretty pro- military.</s>ALBRIGHT: Sure has. Sure has. So it's an honor.</s>PHILLIPS: Where are you going to position him in the aircraft?</s>ALBRIGHT: We're going to let him fly in the co-pilot seat.</s>PHILLIPS: You're going to actually let him fly?</s>ALBRIGHT: I imagine he will. He's an old fighter pilot, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't take a turn at the stick.</s>PHILLIPS: Do you think he might let him attempt to land on this carrier?</s>ALBRIGHT: Probably not. Probably not.</s>PHILLIPS: And maybe we should talk about that for a minute. Let's talk about the wires and how important it is. You definitely don't want your pilots to hit this first wire right here on the flight deck, why?</s>ALBRIGHT: The one wire is a little closer to the back end of the ship. So we tend to get a lower grade. We grade every landing. If you land on the one wire, you tend to have a below average grade. The target wire is going to be the three wire, which is a little ways up the flight deck. And that's where the pilot will try to land the airplane tomorrow.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, you know a trap, it's a pretty strong feeling to hit that wire and get pulled back. What if the president gets sick?</s>ALBRIGHT: Well, he'll have an airsickness bag with him, but I suspect his previous flight experience, he'll do just fine. And it's over pretty quick.</s>PHILLIPS: How long is the flight going to take?</s>ALBRIGHT: I'm not sure. I don't think we're going to be far at sea, so it shouldn't take a very long time. But I imagine if he wants to fly around a little bit, it will take longer. We'll have a ready deck when he gets here.</s>PHILLIPS: So, basically, he has the option to fly as much as he wants.</s>ALBRIGHT: Yes, he's the president.</s>PHILLIPS: Thank you so much for your time.</s>ALBRIGHT: Thanks, Kyra.</s>PHILLILPS: You bet. So tomorrow morning the president will be arriving right here on this flight deck getting ready to address the remaining squadrons in the airwing, the F-18 squadrons, in addition to the rest of the sailors, basically thanking them for what they did during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Paula, and officially calling an end to the war.</s>ZAHN: I noticed in that interview there wasn't a great sense of danger communicated about what the president's going to attempt to do tomorrow with two very talented pilots. But is that something you've heard much talk about?</s>PHILLILPS: Actually, there really hasn't been -- it's interesting because I asked CAG (ph) about that. I asked a number of the pilots about that. And you pretty much get the standard answer, Paula, "This is what we train for. We didn't have any incidents during the war, very rarely do we ever have an incident." They have picked their best pilots. I know what type of aircraft they have selected. It's a very steady aircraft. So they feel confident and feel secure, secure enough to put the president of the United States in that aircraft.</s>ZAHN: Well we just hope when the president takes a turn at the stick that it is a smooth ride and he doesn't need to use the airsickness bag that they're going to give him.</s>PHILLIPS: That's right. We'll be watching, Paula.</s>ZAHN: It should be a very exciting landing. Kyra Phillips, thanks so much. And that wraps up this hour of LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES. Coming up next, children at risk. We're going to be talking with a number of people about the Amber Alert system with the grandmother of the child that inspired a new tool to find missing and exploited children across the nation. And as we wait for the identification of that missing boy in North Carolina, we're going to take a closer look at DNA tests. Why do they take so long to come back with an answer? Those stories and much more in our next hour. Please stay with us.</s>ANNOUNCER: Donald Rumsfeld asks the Iraqi people for help in capturing the remnants of Saddam's regime. Can the U.S. count on the Iraqi people? Can they count on the U.S.? President Bush signs off on a nationwide Amber Alert system.</s>BUSH: In your great suffering and loss you have found the courage to come to the defense of all children.</s>ANNOUNCER: Will a nationwide network to find kidnapped children result in more happy endings to every parent's nightmare. Is the child found in Chicago the same boy who disappeared from North Carolina more than two years ago?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it's not him, he's got a twin.</s>ANNOUNCER: Is this Buddy? LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES with Paula Zahn in New York.</s>ZAHN: Good evening. Welcome. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We've got a busy night for you. Forty-two days ago, almost to the hour, the U.S. launched a missile strike on Baghdad. It was an attempt to take out Saddam Hussein and it started the war. Now, as Baghdad rests in U.S. hands and Iraq is under coalition control, President Bush is getting ready to declare an end to the major fighting. Over the next 30 minutes, we're going to take a look at what brought us to this point as well as some of the day's other big headlines in the order in which they happened. Plus, we're going to take an in-depth look at the issue of missing kids. Are America's children at risk? We're going to talk with experts and examine some startling statistics. But first, we're going to start off our timeline with the latest on the spread of SARS. At 4:00 a.m. Eastern time, the acting major of Beijing says the spread of the deadly virus remains unchecked and the city's health system is overwhelmed. In his words, SARS is an epidemic that hit us head on. In fact, he says none of the city's hospitals specializes in respiratory illnesses. The World Health Organization says mainland China accounts for more cases of SARS than the rest of the world combined. Nearly 3,500 cases and 159 deaths have been reported there. While Beijing has been dealing with SARS, the Iraqi town of Fallujah, just west of Baghdad, was dealing with bloodshed. In the 4:00 a.m. hour as well, hospital officials there say two people were killed, 15 wounded, when U.S. troops opened fire on protesters. It is the second such deadly incident since Monday. Karl Penhaul has more.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqi protesters, American armor, beaten back by taunts and sandals thrown by the crowd. On the streets of Fallujah the death toll keeps rising, 17 civilians killed in clashes with U.S. soldiers in less than 48 hours, 65 others wounded. The most recent shooting was outside this U.S. Army compound Wednesday morning. Each side accuses the other of firing first. "The United States has killed children. The United States has killed people in their own homes" he says. "The United States is a terrorist country." A coffin makes its final journey through the streets of Fallujah, one of two demonstrators shot dead Wednesday. He was in the throng that had gone to protest the deaths of 15 of his townsfolk in a separate demonstration Monday. "A convoy of four or five American vehicles passed by the peaceful demonstration" he says. "One soldier from the convoy fired a shot which provoked the other soldiers in the compound to fire at us." Captain Mike Redenmuller (ph), the commander of the unit in the compound, tells a different story.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't fire first. Somebody in part of the crowd took a weapon, fired at one of the soft skin vehicles, shot it and hit it. At that point, we fired two warning shots from this compound. What happened from there, from the convoy, I know they returned fire and that's all I know.</s>PENHAUL: The U.S. Army has pledged to investigate the deaths but for now soldiers who came to free Iraq of Saddam Hussein can only hunker down and watch the mood go sour. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Fallujah.</s>ZAHN: And as it often does, the British Prime Minister's question and answer period in parliament got pretty heated this morning during the seven o'clock hour. Tony Blair told critics that the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq will continue. The prime minister was asked if he would quit if chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons are not found. Blair said he was absolutely convinced that signs of the banned items would be found and that would mean some people would have to reexamine what they had been saying.</s>TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I am absolutely convinced and confident about the case on weapons of mass destruction and I simply suggest to him, and others who believe somehow that this was all a myth invented by us, I would refer them first of all to the 12 years of United Nations reports detailing exactly what weapons of mass destruction were held by the then Iraqi regime. And we are now in a deliberative way and in a considered way investigating the various sites and we will bring forward the analysis of the results of that investigation in due course and I think when we do so, the honorable gentleman and others will be eating some of their words.</s>ZAHN: One of those rocky Q&A; sessions that I defy you to sleep through. It's always good theater tuning in to those once a week with the prime minister. Confirmation came during the nine o'clock hour that President Bush will announce an end to major combat operations in Iraq. The White House says the president will address the nation from onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as the aircraft carrier returns to the U.S. He's actually going to fly onto the carrier. The presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer pointed out that the address is not a declaration of victory and does not mark the end of the war. Also during that hour a hearty thank you from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to U.S. troops in Baghdad. Rumsfeld told the troops they have rescued a nation and liberated a people. Barbara Starr has more on his visit to Iraq.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 20 years after Donald Rumsfeld came to Baghdad as Middle East peace envoy, he returned, this time putting on an armored vest and riding in a military convoy through the city, the most senior U.S. official to visit. At Baghdad International Airport he thanked the troops but said the job wasn't over just yet.</s>RUMSFELD: We have to help Iraqis restore their basic services and we have to help provide conditions of stability and security so that the Iraqi people can form an interim authority, an interim government, and then ultimately a free Iraqi government based on political freedom, individual liberty, and the rule of law.</s>STARR: Along the road some Iraqis waved, some stared, impossible to tell if they knew what was happening, security tight at all times, military helicopters overhead. The secretary went to a power station for a briefing on progress in restoring electricity, the lights now back on in half the city, U.S. officials say but without full power, there are still problems. Sanitation services not fully functioning and the civilian coordinator, retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner insisting there is no humanitarian crisis. GEN. JAY GARNER</s>U.S. CIVIL ADMIN. FOR IRAQ: You all are reporting a lot about some demonstrations and stuff like that. Yes, there are some demonstrations. That's the first step in democracy. You're allowed to disagree.</s>STARR: Still, General Garner later said parts of Baghdad remain unstable. Militias still need to be brought under control. The problems for the people, he conceded, remain very real. Even so, the hope is to begin to have Iraqis take control of some government functions within weeks. And, military commanders who met with the secretary at a bombed- out palace warned there is still criminal activity. Saddam Hussein allegedly flooded the streets with weapons before the war. U.S. soldiers now find themselves removing 40 truckloads of weapons and ammunition each day from Baghdad. (on camera): It's been an extraordinary day here in Iraq, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld coming to this capital city that U.S. forces conquered so quickly. Here at this bombed-out palace of Saddam Hussein, now a military base, he is meeting with his commanders to discuss the security situation, the progress in the reconstruction, and beginning to think about just how soon U.S. military forces might be able to return home. (voice-over): But those commanders warning that a U.S. presence will be required for some time to come. Barbara Starr, CNN, Baghdad.</s>ZAHN: And, during the ten o'clock hour, a different kind of roadmap was given to the new Palestinian prime minister. Israel's prime minister got a copy of that too. White House Correspondent John King looks at the roadmap to peace in the Middle East.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president say there is a lesson from the Iraq war that should help him enforce the new roadmap for Israeli-Palestinian peace.</s>BUSH: Those who harbor terrorists, fund terrorists, or harbor weapons of mass destruction, will be held to account. That in itself helps create the conditions to move peace forward.</s>KING: That was a blunt message to Syria and Iran, long accused by the White House of backing Palestinian militants. The roadmap was delivered only after Mahmoud Abbas was confirmed as the new Palestinian prime minister. Mr. Bush never tried to hide his contempt for Yasser Arafat and says in Abbas there is finally a Palestinian leader he can trust.</s>BUSH: He's a man I can work with and I look forward to working with him and will work with him for the sake of peace and for the sake of security.</s>KING: The roadmap envisions a provisional Palestinian state by early next year and a final agreement creating an independent Palestine by 2005. But to achieve that historic ending the Israelis and Palestinians would need to set aside decades of violence and mistrust and meet the roadmap's key interim benchmarks: an immediate ceasefire; a crackdown on Hamas and other Palestinian militias; a dismantling of Jewish settlements created since February, 2001; and direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.</s>BUSH: Israel is going to have to make some sacrifices in order to move the peace process forward.</s>KING: The administration's effort to enforce the roadmap is likely to require frequent shuttle diplomacy by Secretary of State Powell, hours of personal diplomacy by the president, and direct pressure on Israel to halt settlement activities.</s>FMR. SEN. GEORGE MITCHELL, FMR. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: There's no way that this can be done without active and sustained American leadership at the highest level and I think a great deal of patience and perseverance because there are going to be setbacks.</s>KING: The effort begins with a Powell trip to the region next week.</s>KING: And the president promises to prove wrong those who question his personal commitment and Mr. Bush tells top aides that combined with the effort in post-war Iraq his administration has a historic opportunity to reshape the politics and the direction of the Middle East - Paula.</s>ZAHN: John King thanks so much. And then, when our timeline continues...</s>DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials are saying Attash knows about plans for future al Qaeda attacks. His capture could save lives.</s>ZAHN: The arrest of suspected al Qaeda terrorists includes one who may have a lot of inside information. And then, a little boy lost, is Eli Quick, Tristen "Buddy" Myers? The FBI is waiting for some DNA evidence to crack the case.