Filipino Truck Driver Released in Iraq; 09/11 Commission Expected to Mention Iran in Connection with Hijackers
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning -- his abduction caused a nation to reverse gears in Iraq. A Filipino man is free. It's Tuesday, July 20, and this is DAYBREAK. Well, good morning to you. From the CNN Headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello. Now in the news, a Philippine truck driver taken hostage in Iraq earlier this month is a free man this hour. A spokesman for the United Arab Emirates says he is now safe in their Baghdad embassy. His release came after Manila agreed to remove its small contingent of humanitarian troops. Former national security adviser Sandy Berger is under investigation for allegedly removing classified material from a National Archives screening area. Berger, who served in the Clinton administration, was in charge of reviewing numerous sensitive documents for consideration by the 9/11 Commission. Berger says he took the documents by mistake. Israel's West Bank barrier, the International Court of Justice says, it should come down. This afternoon, the U.N. General Assembly can vote on whether to back the court. And Haiti's prime minister is seeking $1.3 billion at an international donors conference going on today in Washington. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the group just about three and a half hours from now. Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news. We want to check in now with Chad Myers for a look at the weather on this Tuesday -- good morning, Chad.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Well, we do want to get more now on the Filipino truck driver who has been released in Iraq. A spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress says Angelo de la Cruz is at the United Arab Emirates embassy in Baghdad. He is waiting to be handed over to the officials at the Philippine embassy. We want to go to CNN's Matthew Chance, who joins us now from Baghdad with the latest -- Matthew, it looks like the hostage takers have lived up to their end of this bargain.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It looks like it. Certainly we've had confirmation from the embassy of the United Arab Emirates here in the Iraqi capital. They do now have that Filipino hostage in their hands. Angelo de la Cruz, who was abducted by kidnappers earlier this month, in fact, on July the 7th. His release comes just a day after, though, the Filipino government ordered out its 51 strong contingent of humanitarian troops that have been operating in Iraq. That was the demand of the hostage takers. They'd threatened to behead Mr. de la Cruz if that demand was not met. His fate became a big political issue in the Philippines itself and it put the Filipino government in a very awkward dilemma with its own people and with the U.S. administration, along with the interim Iraqi government, both of whom had been working extremely hard to get the Filipinos not to move their troops out of Iraq. But they've done that in the end. The Iraqi interim government has said that that sets a bad precedent. But both countries, of course, have said they will continue to work with the Philippines in the future. And, of course, for Angelo de la Cruz himself and for his family, the outcome has been a really positive one -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Matthew, Iyad Allawi had called the Philippine president, asking her not to remove the troops. This bad precedent, is that in regard to the fact that possibly this could spark more kidnappings?</s>CHANCE: Well, that's the big concern, not just of the interim Iraqi government, but for all the foreign expatriates working here in Iraq. In fact, over the last two days, there's been another hostage released -- just last night, an Egyptian hostage, after the company that he worked for, a Saudi Arabian transport company, agreed not to operate in Iraq anymore in exchange for the release of that Egyptian hostage. So there have been a number of negotiations taking place between various parties, governments and companies and the hostage takers. And the fear is that that will embolden, encourage these splinter groups, these factions that have emerged over the past few months and started to use kidnapping as a tactic to exert pressure on companies and on countries to step up that activity. And certainly that's something we're all concerned about here in Baghdad.</s>NGUYEN: Absolutely. CNN's Matthew Chance in Baghdad. Thank you for that. And, of course, we will continue with this story with CNN's Maria Ressa in Manila. We'll have that a little bit later on in the show. Meanwhile, Samuel Berger, the national security adviser in the Clinton administration, is in trouble this morning. It's a result of preparations he made for an appearance in March before the commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Berger is under a federal criminal investigation for allegedly taking classified documents and handwritten notes from a National Archives screening room. Berger released a statement saying, "that he inadvertently took a few documents." He goes on, I'm quoting here, "I also took my notes on the documents reviewed and when I was informed by the Archives there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had, except for a few documents that apparently I had accidentally discarded." Now, we will have more from our national correspondent, Bob Franken, in the next hour of DAYBREAK on this story. More legal troubles to tell you about, this time the Halliburton Company. The Texas-based company says it's received a federal grand jury subpoena for documents from its Cayman Island subsidiary, which has operations in Iran. The U.S. has trade sanctions against Iran. A U.S. company cannot own or manage a foreign subsidiary in Iran. Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil field service companies, says it will work with the government to resolve this matter. And we could be hearing more about Iran later this week. The commission that investigated the 2001 terrorist attack releases is -- or it releases that report on Thursday, I should say. It's expected to mention Iran in connection with the hijackers. Now, our Suzanne Malveaux has more on this story.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11 safely passed through Iran. The details of how that unfolded will be released by the 9/11 Commission in its final report on Thursday. Emerging from an Oval Office meeting, President Bush was asked whether there was a link between Iran and the 9/11 attacks.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to direct connections with September the 11th, you know, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one.</s>MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's comment follows statements made over the weekend by the CIA's acting director that while Iran was used as a frequent route for traveling al Qaeda, it did not support the terrorist attacks.</s>SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no evidence that there was any official involvement between Iran and the September 11 attacks.</s>MALVEAUX: In fact, privately, administration officials say there is no new information that has emerged from the 9/11 Commission's investigation that would suggest otherwise.</s>BUSH: I have long expressed my concerns about Iran.</s>MALVEAUX: From his 2002 State of the Union Address, Mr. Bush declared Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea...</s>BUSH: An axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world.</s>MALVEAUX: The Bush administration has designated Iran a state sponsor or terror, accused of pursuing nuclear weapons, supports Hezbollah and harboring al Qaeda. On Thursday, the 9/11 Commission is expected to release a critical report of the administration's handling of the terrorist attacks. And it will address any aid offered to the 9/11 hijackers by Iran. The report will be an opportunity for those who questioned the invasion of Iraq to make their case.</s>SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: We focused so much energy on Iraq when other countries may have been more directly linked to 9/11.</s>MALVEAUX (on camera): The Bush administration argues that each member of the so-called axis of evil should be examined individually, that international pressure to get Iran to abandon its weapons programs is the more appropriate course of action than regime change. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.</s>NGUYEN: We want to go back now to our top story, the Filipino hostage whop is now free in Iraq. News of the release of Angelo de la Cruz comes one day after the Philippine government pulled last of its troops out of Iraq. The family of the father of eight is reacting to the news with caution. The Philippine government has come under enormous international criticism for meeting the demands of these hostage takers. We want to go now to our Maria Ressa in Manila with the latest on this -- good morning, Maria.</s>MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. You know, at this point there is still no official confirmation from the Philippine government here. They are exercising extreme caution. They say they will not announce he has been released until he is actually in Philippine government hands. Meantime, a Philippine official in its embassy in Baghdad did confirm with CNN that one of their officials, a representative, is now at the UAE embassy to try to coordinate these efforts. Everyone here in the Philippines is -- the family, the friends, the neighbors of Angelo de la Cruz continue to wait. They are watching and waiting for word -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: As they wait with caution, is there a sense there in the Philippines that this plan, this deal really did work? Or do they feel like maybe they just caved into the demands of terrorists?</s>RESSA: Well, you know, at this point, short-term gain -- there is a lot of criticism that the short-term gain may not be worth what the Philippines sacrificed in the long run. But if you ask Filipinos, a recent poll showed that the Philippines' 80 million people are roughly split 50-50 on whether the government did the right thing. Angelo de la Cruz himself has become a sort of icon, a symbol of the Filipino everyman, one of the millions of overseas contract workers who work in often dangerous places to send money home to their families. And yet, at the same time, the Philippines now stands to lose a lot in terms of its own war on terror. After all, it's fighting three al Qaeda-linked groups here in the Philippines. In addition to that, it's turned its back on one of its main allies, the United States, which has lobbied to keep the Philippine troops in Iraq, as well as the Baghdad government itself. So there's the feeling that the Philippines may have lost credibility in the international arena. However, short-term gain, right now, seems to be what's winning in terms of public opinion -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: And for the family, all they want to do is see Angelo de la Cruz very quickly. Any indication as to when that will happen?</s>RESSA: Not yet. No indication yet at this point. His wife and his brother are waiting for him in Amman, Jordan. His family -- he's got eight children. His whole neighborhood and town have been basically putting yellow ribbons up, waiting for his return. So they are waiting and hoping for word, the Philippine government being extremely cautious. But we are told as soon as he is in Philippine government hands, the Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will be the one to make the announcement herself -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: CNN's Maria Ressa in Manila. Thank you. Still to come here on DAYBREAK, it was exactly what British security officials did not want anyone to see. Coming up in about five minutes, a top secret file outlining Heathrow Airport's most vulnerable spot, it ends up at a newspaper, but only after it was found somewhere else first. In 10 minutes, it happened 35 years ago today, one of America's proudest moments, a walk down memory lane via the Moon. Then, at the half hour, we'll go inside Baghdad's green zone. A photographer's images puts you where only a select few Americans are allowed, including a face to face encounter with Saddam Hussein.