[Erica Hill, Cnn Anchor:] We're going to go live now to Baghdad. Jane Arraf joins us by videophone from just outside the Baghdad airport, with an exclusive update on that crash that we're mentioning Jane.
[Jane Arraf, Cnn Correspondent:] Erica, we're actually in the Baghdad airport, just on the flight line. We just landed from a point south here and as you mentioned the U.S. military spokesman saying two people from the 1st Cavalry Division have been killed in that helicopter crash, after the helicopter was apparently shot down. Now, the helicopter from the 1st Cavalry, which is coming over to take over from the 1st Armored Division in perhaps one of the most critical times here, regarding that helicopter, military sources tell us that it appears to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile. We've just come from the south, where fighting has eradicated, according to U.S. Military officials there, most of the opposition from the militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Al Sadr in Kut, that's about 100 miles southeast of here. The streets were calm, major bridges had been taken; major facilities had been taken by the military. But instead of shipping out, as they were going to, and going home, they intend to stay there for some time.
[Hill:] And Jane, going back real quickly to the crash, anything else in the area that we're hearing now, word that it may have been arms fire that took it down, anything else in the area that could be related to that?
[Arraf:] We're actually hearing from military sources that it appears to have been a surface-to-air missile, rather than small arms fire, that took that down. It is an indication that things are particularly active, to say the least. The military's facing threats on several fronts, but it does appear not to be small arms fire. It appears more likely to have been a surface-to-air missile shot at the helicopter, bringing it down, not very far, apparently, from the Baghdad airport west of Baghdad. Erica?
[Hill:] And the Baghdad airport where you are now, joining us live. Jane Arraf, thank you.
[Holly Firfer, Cnn Anchor:] Here in the U.S., soldiers at a Texas army base are getting a presidential visit this Easter. President Bush is attending Easter service with troops at Fort Hood. The visit comes during a somber week. At least nine soldiers from the base were killed in Iraq in the past week. There are more than 20,000 Fort Hood troops in Iraq. The White House releases a briefing memo outlining some of the threats against the U.S. by Al Qaeda. But the bush administration says the threats were not specific or totally accurate. We get more on the administration's decision from CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Saturday, the White House declassified the president's top secret briefing he received at his Crawford ranch one month before the September 11 attacks. The August 6, 2001, presidential daily brief, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," lays out the Al Qaeda leader's capability and determination to hit the United States. It warns the CIA and FBI were investigating a tip that a group of Bin Laden supporters were in the U.S. in May, just months before 911, and were planning attacks using explosives. It begins, "Bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington. The Millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S." The brief emphasizes the Al Qaeda leader's resolve, recounting his 1998 attacks against U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that involved years of preparation. The brief says Bin Laden's followers are prevalent in the U.S. "Al Qaeda members, including some who are U.S. citizens, have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks." A source specifically mentions a Bin Laden cell in New York in 1998 that was recruiting young Muslim-Americans to carry out strikes. The brief lays out Bin Laden's plots. An uncorroborated report that in 1998. "Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to win the release of his comrades in U.S. custody." Ongoing activity from the FBI of "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks11 attacks, adding that there is nothing in the brief pertaining to the 911 plot. He said all threats were aggressively pursued.
[Malveaux:] But some commissioners believe that there was at least enough information the administration had, when it came to Al Qaeda's capabilities and intentions, to issue some kind of warning to the public that an attack was possible. Holly.
[Firfer:] Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much.
[Hill:] Still to come here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, when we return, we'll be joined by international journalists to take a look at the upcoming week for President Bush and his meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon. More on that just ahead, when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.