[Miles O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] Welcome to LIVE FROM..., I'm Miles O'Brien.
[Kyra Phillips, Cnn Anchor:] And I'm Kyra Phillips. We begin this hour with the 911 hearings on Capitol Hill. Household names they're not, but they're headed for the headlines. Thomas J. Pickard and J. Cofer Black, one former leader of the FBI, and the other the CIA's counter-terrorism office, are about to go before the panel investigating September 11. On September 10, Pickard's request for extra FBI funding was rejected by the current attorney general, John Ashcroft, who is also testifying today. Already today11 federal law enforcement. CNN's Bob Franken brings us up to speed Bob.
[Bob Franken, Cnn National Correspondent:] And we move now to the present administration. Tom Pickard was the acting FBI director during the summer of 2001. Cofer Black was the head, as you pointed out, of the CIA's anti-terrorism office. We're having a staff report now which precedes the afternoon session. It's with some really heavy charges. First of all, the one this morning charged ineptitude, bungling on the part of the FBI for a variety of reasons which they say perhaps missed clues that might have prevented the attacks on September 11. This one now talks about Attorney General Ashcroft, and charges that he gave short-shrift to the terrorist threat, at one point telling Pickard not to brief him anymore on the terrorist threat. That is something that Ashcroft and his top aides deny he said. There is also a discussion about Zacarias Moussaoui, he of course charged with conspiracy in connection with the September 11 attacks; that had there been an effective communication with British intelligence, they might have found out information that Moussaoui had attended an al Qaeda training camp. He was in the United States taking flight lessons. According to commission, had they found that out, a series of actions could have been taken that "might have disrupted the plot," talking about September 11. Ashcroft, the attorney general himself is expected after this present testimony. This afternoon he will be denying that he gave short-shrift to terrorism. As for the testimony this morning, the featured person was Louis Freeh, the FBI director from 1993 to 2000. And responding to the criticisms of the FBI, he said that most of them were just second-guessing.
[Louis Freeh, Fmr. Fbi Director:] Neither administration put its intelligence agencies or law enforcement agencies on a war footing. A war footing means we seal borders. A war footing means we detain people that we're suspicious of. A war footing means that we have statutes like the Patriot Act, although with time-set provisions, give us new powers. We weren't doing that. Now whether there was a political will for it or not I guess we could debate that. But the fact of the matter is we didn't do it and we were using grand jury subpoenas and arrest warrants to fight an enemy that was using missiles and suicide boats to attack our warships.
[Franken:] There has been quite a difference in tone. Last week when we watched the testimony of Condoleezza Rice, there was little argument over her contention that anything could have happened that would have prevented September 11. Now we're at least hearing the commission suggest that had certain things been done properly, September 11 attacks could have been thwarted. So it's beginning to get more intense, the debate more intense as the commission moves ahead with its investigation Kyra.
[Phillips:] You talk about things becoming more intense, but is anything sticking out like in the past couple of weeks, Bob, when we talked about Richard Clarke's apology and we talked about the August 6 PDB, anything to this point that has stood out that you think will be talked about more so than other points made?
[Franken:] Well, you just pointed out one of them. The PDB, there is some talk now about having the commission interview the author of that PDB. We're talking about the Presidential Daily Briefing that he got in August, just a little bit over a month before the September 11 attacks. But what is really occurring is an accumulation not only of knowledge but impressions. And the commission seems to be developing a hypothesis that there were things that might have been done that could have prevented the attacks. Of course, the mandate for the commission is to try to come up with recommendations for preventing that to happen again. But this of course is hugely important politically. This is an election year. So there is a lot of maneuvering going on. Democratic members are the ones who are really pushing that more than the Republican members. This morning, Louis Freeh was saying that you can talk about this all you want, but the truth of the matter is, is that before the September 11 attacks, terrorism was not given the significance in the U.S. political world as well as just the general world that it was as big a threat, of course, as it is now in the wake of September 11.
[Phillips:] All right. Bob Franken, covering the 911 investigation. Thanks, Bob. And as we mentioned, the commission's afternoon will be devoted to former acting FBI Director Thomas Pickard and former head of the CIA's counter-terrorism center, J. Cofer Black. Now Attorney General John Ashcroft is due to appear after that at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
[O'brien:] Now to the fighting in Iraq. Coalition forces are massing and on the hunt for the two new most wanted. In Fallujah, U.S. soldiers are trying to flush out insurgents. Coalition forces believe Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be in the city or nearby. Al-Zarqawi is linked to al Qaeda and believed to be behind terror attacks in Iraq. Despite a unilateral cease-fire, overnight two Marines were killed during an intense exchange with insurgents. Now outside Najaf, where Muslim Muqtada al-Sadr and many of his followers are holed up, U.S. forces are taking up strategic positions. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt says a significant number of troops are moving into place so they can do whatever is needed to get al-Sadr. An aide to the radical Iraqi cleric was detained by coalition forces for five hours today in Baghdad and then was released. Now amid the turmoil about 40 people from 12 countries are being held hostage in Iraq, among them, American contractor Thomas Hamill. And new word now that a French journalist has just been kidnapped in Baghdad.
[Phillips:] Hamill went to Iraq for a job. He knew it would entail a great deal of sacrifice, being so far away from his family. But at that time he probably thought it was worth the risk. Our Gary Tuchman visits Macon, Mississippi, Hamill's home where residents are anxious but hopeful.
[Gary Tuchman, Cnn National Correspondent:] The people of Macon, Mississippi are asking for help.
[Unidentified Male:] You will hear and answer our prayers.
[Tuchman:] One of Macon's own is in peril. Thomas Hamill took a job driving trucks in Iraq. This video was taken by an Australian news crew after he was kidnapped by insurgents.
[Unidentified Male:] What's happened?
[Thomas Hamill:] They attacked our convoy. That's all I'm going to say.
[Unidentified Male:] OK.
[Tuchman:] Hamill's attackers threatened to kill him this past weekend. His wife and two children in seclusion in this home do not know if he is still alive. Macon Mayor Dorothy Hines is close friends with Hamill's wife Kelly.
[Mayor Dorothy Hines, Macon, Mississippi:] He's just a good old country boy. And he just wanted to try to get a job and do something that would help his family.
[Tuchman:] In this poverty-stricken part of Mississippi, the 43- year-old Hamill had sold this dairy farm, but still found himself in financial trouble. He took the job in Iraq with a division Halliburton because it paid good money.
[Scott Boyd, Reporter, "the Macon Beacon":] It was a chance to go and earn wages much higher than probably what he could have made staying and working here, even though there were a lot of sacrifices that came along with the job.
[Tuchman:] And now a community puts up yellow ribbons and American flags. And a loving family sits and waits, praying that Thomas Hamill hasn't paid the ultimate sacrifice.
[Unidentified Male:] Want to give us your name?
[Hamill:] Hamill, Thomas.
[Tuchman:] Thomas Hamill's family members have asked the people of Macon to limit their public comments about the situation. Their fear, that publicity can make things worse for him. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Macon, Mississippi.
[Phillips:] Straight to the 911 investigation now. The commission, the live hearing, we're going to listen when Thomas Pickard starts to address the commission.