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Who should investigate MH17 crash?
7/18/2014 9:01:20 PM
- 298 people lost their lives in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine
- Jim Hall, Peter Goelz: There must be an immediate and competent investigation
- They say Russia and Ukraine should not conduct investigation; leave it to the Dutch
- Hall, Goelz: International community must stand up for safe and secure global travel
Editor's note: Jim Hall is the former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Peter Goelz is a former managing director at the board. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.
(CNN) -- Today, we are all mourning the loss of 298 people who died in the tragic crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Ukraine and Russia have been trading blame on who is responsible for shooting down the aircraft. As more details come in, U.S. officials believe that pro-Russian rebels fired the missiles.
Whatever the political repercussions are, the international community owes it to the deceased and their families to conduct an immediate, thorough, competent and, most important, independent investigation of what exactly happened and who is responsible.
We cannot afford to have another aviation accident investigation that appears to stumble at its outset. The families of the 298 innocents on board deserve competence and justice. Most of those on board were Dutch, but there were also Australians, Indonesians, Germans, at least one American and a Malaysian crew. Some of the world's top AIDS researchers were among those killed.
Clearly, given the political tensions between Ukraine and Russia and the disputed area in which the crash occurred, these two countries should not conduct the investigation. According to Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, multiple parties are entitled to be involved in the investigation. While our own National Transportation Safety Board will have a say, since Boeing in the United States made the aircraft, we believe that the Dutch Safety Board should be the lead investigatory body, and it should be appointed immediately.
The Dutch Safety Board was founded in 2005, is noted for its thoroughness and technical skill, and has conducted many aviation investigations. Its leader, Chairman Tjibbe Joustra, is a career politician and the national coordinator for security and counterterrorism. Given his experience in both aviation and national security, he would be an outstanding fit for the work.
It is vital that investigators get to the scene of the accident immediately. With unconfirmed reports that Ukrainian rebels are combing through the wreckage and may even have possession of the black box, security at the crash site must be established to preserve evidence and allow investigators to determine how and why this aircraft was shot down.
It is critical that investigators obtain possession of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, the "black box." As the NTSB did in the investigation of TWA 800 using black box data, a sound spectrum study can provide telling information on where on the aircraft and when the explosion occurred.
The Russians, the Ukrainians and the rebels should commit immediately to full transparency and to guaranteeing the complete safety of the investigative team. Anything short of that should bring immediate world condemnation and a denial of landing rights for flights originating in their respective countries.
This is more than just an investigation of an aviation accident. Our global economy is greatly dependent on aviation. People are able to access the farthest corners of the globe for business and family purposes with remarkable speed and unprecedented safety. If there is an ongoing threat that commercial airliners will be shot down, our global commerce will slow to a halt. In the United States alone, 97.5 million passengers flew internationally on U.S. airlines in 2013.
The United Nations is meeting today on the MH17 tragedy, and it needs to show strong leadership to ensure that a true independent investigation is immediately launched.
The world's countries must stand up for safe and secure global travel, and by demanding a transparent and unfettered international investigation, they will take the first step in bringing those responsible to justice.
CNN Flight 17 full coverage
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A pilot's view on missiles
7/18/2014 9:01:30 PM
- Bill Palmer: Pilots' main defense against missiles is to avoid flying over conflict areas
- He says Iraq was a no-fly zone during the war, and parts of Ukraine are off-limits
- Palmer: Most planes have no defenses against missiles
(CNN) -- U.S. officials say they believe that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down by a surface-to-air missile, resulting in the death of 298 people over eastern Ukraine.
CNN spoke with pilot Bill Palmer about the considerations of flying in and around areas of upheaval. Palmer, an Airbus A330 captain for a major airline, is the author of "Understanding Air France 447," an explanation of the details and lessons of the crash of that aircraft in June 2009.
CNN: As a professional pilot, do you think about the possibility of this kind of incident as you do your job?
Bill Palmer: No, not usually, as we don't normally fly over areas where there is hostility below.
However, for certain types of operations -- such as military charters to certain locations -- the threat may be significantly higher.
Recall the case of a DHL Airbus A300 cargo jet that was struck by a surface-to-air missile in November 2003 in Baghdad. Despite a steep climb departure procedure due to the threat, a missile made contact with the airplane's left wing. Miraculously, despite knocking out all of the aircraft's flight controls and a fuel-fed fire in the left wing, the crew was able to land the airplane successfully.
CNN: Do airlines consider geopolitical battles as they plan their routes?
Palmer: The companies' dispatchers work closely with security advisers and authorities who produce continuous assessments, air traffic control agencies and meteorologists in planning the route. Dispatchers additionally obtain overflight authorizations where those requirements apply. These type of security issues are indeed taken into consideration. For example, the situation in Israel is under close watch, as it may affect flights.
For those operations, such as military charters in regions where tensions are higher, certainly the risk is considered.
Past shoot-down incidents, such as Korean 007 by Russian fighters in 1983 and the Iran Air 655 shoot-down by the USS Vincennes in 1988, occurred when tensions were high, if not in the public eye, at least among military commanders under pressure in the area. It is likely that this will be an element in this latest tragedy.
CNN: How have airlines and pilots altered routes in recent years due to events such as the Iraq War?
Palmer: In the case of Iraq, the entire country was a no-fly zone when there were hostilities taking place on the ground. Operations to areas such as Afghanistan carry warnings about using Afghanistan, even for emergency diversions. But commercial airliners routinely transit countries such as Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Specific routes and minimum altitudes can apply in those areas, and the threat to commercial aviation is continually evaluated.
CNN: Are parts of the Ukraine off-limits due to the civil strife in that nation?
Palmer: Yes, since April there has been a special U.S. aviation regulation that applies to all U.S. air carriers and U.S. commercial operators prohibiting (PDF) operation over parts of Ukraine, with few exceptions.
However, the prohibited area is over the Crimea region in southeast Ukraine, south of the area MH17 is reported to have been lost in. (After Thursday's disaster, the FAA said that it had issued a notice prohibiting U.S. airline flight operations in the airspace over eastern Ukraine until further notice.)
CNN: Can commercial jets spot and evade missiles in any way?
Palmer: No, with the possible exception of some El Al aircraft, commercial aircraft do not have the capability to detect missile threats. It would be extremely difficult to see a missile coming at the aircraft visually, and there are no detection systems in place. Additionally, while in cruise, even if a missile threat was known (which is very unlikely), the maneuver capabilities of the aircraft are quite limited. Airliners routinely operate close to their performance limiting altitude; with very little additional engine power available, their operating speed is also limited to a narrow range between the minimum and maximum speeds.
CNN: Is there more that should be done to protect commercial aviation?
Palmer: The major threat to commercial aircraft, especially from shoulder-launched missiles, does stretch back some years. TSA statistics indicate that 36 confirmed attacks on airliners have occurred since 1978, most of which were smaller aircraft. Those weapons are very portable, relatively inexpensive and easy to hide, with terrorist elements in mind as the antagonists, not established military units equipped with more sophisticated, longer-range and powerful missile systems, as may be the case with MH17.
As early as 2004, the Air Line Pilots Association has been intensely studying the subject of the small missile threat. But even for that, the solutions are very expensive and not without serious issues. Existing military systems cannot simply be installed in commercial aircraft for a number of technical, practical and economic reasons.
Can or should more be done to protect commercial aviation? Sure, but it's not clear what the best solution is. Would there be any defense against the type of missile likely used against MH17? Probably not, as those same missiles are used to take down military aircraft as well.
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Children found in squalid shelter
7/17/2014 1:42:18 AM
- Mexican authorities found nearly 500 children living in squalor at a refuge in Michoacan state
- The children were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse, authorities say
- The operator of the shelter was detained along with eight of her employees
- Michoacan governor Salvador Jara Guerrero: "We must not allow these things to occur"
(CNN) -- Mexican authorities are still unraveling the horrors allegedly committed on nearly 500 children sheltered at "La Gran Familia" refuge in the western state of Michoacan.
At The Big Family shelter, scores of children -- some as young as two months old -- were denied visits from their parents, virtually imprisoned in vermin-infested quarters and routinely subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse, authorities said.
Authorities raided the sprawling, squalid shelter in the city of Zamora Tuesday after a number of parents complained about being denied access to their children, Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karan told reporters.
"We found close to 500 children in truly deplorable conditions," Murillo said.
Victims told investigators that children were routinely forced to beg for money on the streets, eat unsanitary food and sleep on hard floors crawling with rats and roaches, Murillo said. It was not clear from Mexican authorities how so many children -- along with some adults -- came to be at the shelter.
The operator of the shelter, Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, was detained along with eight of her employees, authorities said. They were being questioned in connection with abuse and other charges.
"This is truly upsetting," Michoacan governor Salvador Jara Guerrero told reporters. "We did not expect to find such conditions... We must not allow these things to occur -- not in Michoacan, not in the republic."
Tomas Zeron de Lucio, chief investigator with the attorney general's office, said babies born at the shelter were allegedly registered under Verduzco's name. The biological parents were told that the babies would be allowed to leave when they came of age.
One victim told investigators that she asked Verduzco permission to leave the home when she turned 18 but was kept there as a worker for an additional 13 years, Zeron de Lucio said.
The victim said she gave birth to two daughters while living at the shelter and both were registered under another name, Zeron de Lucio said. She was allowed to see the girls for three hours every two months.
During her last meeting with Verduzco, the victim told investigators, she offered the shelter operator about 10,000 Mexican pesos -- or about $750 -- to get her daughters back.
"Get the money together," Verduzco reportedly told her, "and give me a call."
Authorities were working to rid the shelter of rats, bedbugs and roaches because there was no other place to immediately move the scores of children on short notice.
"Right now, we're undertaking an exhaustive cleaning because there were bedbugs, roaches and rats even in the food," Maria Ampudio, who works with a charitable organization, told CNN Wednesday. "The food given to the children was spoiled and outdated."
Ampudio said some girls reported being thrown to the ground and kicked in the head.
The shelter, which houses people ranging from newborns to 40 years of age, had been in operation for more than 40 years, authorities said.
The majority of the minors are between 3 and 17 years of age -- 278 are male and 174 female. There were 138 adults from 18 to 40 years of age also at the schedule. Also recovered were six babies and toddlers.
The website of "La Gran Familia" shelter said Verduzco started caring for abandoned children when she herself was a teenager. She later worked as a grade school teacher and earned a meager living to care for her charges. The children, the website said, helped raise money by selling newspapers and sweets in the town square.
Verduzco later left her charges in the care of a poor, elderly woman, according to the website. She moved to Mexico City to work with a charitable foundation, where she cared for 33 children and sent money back to Zamora. She later returned to Michoacan to start La Gran Familia, which housed more than 4,000 children over the years, according to the website.
CNN's Fidel Gutierrez contributed to this report.
5 die as copter crashes in city center
7/17/2014 12:47:28 PM
- The helicopter was carrying firefighters and rescue personnel
- They were on their way home after taking part in the search of the sunken Sewol ferry
- The helicopter crashed on a street in the southwestern city of Gwangju
- The cause of the crash is not yet known
Seoul (CNN) -- A helicopter carrying emergency workers involved in the Sewol ferry disaster operations crashed Thursday in a South Korean city, fire officials said, leaving five dead and one injured.
The helicopter came down in an urban area in the southwestern city of Gwangju, according to Gwangju and Gangwon Fire Headquarters.
Video footage from the scene showed what appeared to be the aircraft's wreckage blazing on a city sidewalk near a stop light, with high-rise buildings only yards away.
The firefighters and rescue personnel on board were on their way home after spending the past four days supporting the search of the ferry, an official with Gangwon Fire Headquarters said.
At least 292 people, including more than 200 high school students, died after the ferry sank in April. Eleven people remain missing.
The dead included two pilots, two rescue workers, and one mechanic, the official said. The helicopter crashed after taking off from a refueling stop at a Gwangju airport.
The cause of the incident is not yet known.
The Sewol ferry was headed from Incheon to Jeju island on April 16 when it capsized. Most of the passengers were high school students on a field trip.
CNN's KJ Kwon reported from Seoul; Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London
Broadway actress Elaine Stritch dies
7/17/2014 3:03:27 PM
- NEW: Elaine Stritch will be buried next to her husband in Chicago
- NEW: Broadway to dim lights in Stritch's memory Friday night
- Her autobiographical one-woman show "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" won a Tony and Emmy
- Stritch made her Broadway debut in 1946
(CNN) -- Actress Elaine Stritch, known for her brash persona, gravelly voice and versatility over seven decades on Broadway, died Thursday, longtime friend Julie Keyes told CNN. She was 89.
Stritch died at her Birmingham, Michigan, home early Thursday, surrounded by family, Keyes said.
Funeral arrangements have not been made, but Stritch will be buried next to her husband, John Bay, in Chicago next week, Keyes said.
The marquees of Broadway theaters will be dimmed for one minute in Stritch's memory at 7:45 p.m. Friday, the Broadway League said.
"Elaine Stritch's big personality was matched by her big talent," Broadway League Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin said. "Collaborating with some of Broadway's greatest playwrights and composers throughout her lengthy career, her signature numbers and singular style created a memorable legacy."
New York City named Stritch one of its Living Landmarks in 2003.
Just 17 when she moved to New York to study acting, Stritch made her Broadway debut in 1946.
She was nominated for five Tony Awards and eight primetime Emmys over her long career. She did not win a Tony until her autobiographical one-woman show -- "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" -- won the 2002 special theatrical event Tony.
Her 2002 performance also won an Emmy after it was made into an HBO show. Stritch was awarded two other acting Emmys, including one for a guest star role on "Law & Order" and one for playing Alec Baldwin's mother on "30 Rock."
Stritch was born in Detroit in 1925 but moved to New York City to study acting when she was 17.
Her Broadway debut came in "Loco," a comedy that ran for just a month in October 1946. Her first musical role on Broadway came a year later in "Angel in the Wings."
"The Ladies Who Lunch," from Stephen Sondheim's "Company," became her signature song when she sang it on Broadway in 1971. The performance earned her a Tony actress nomination.
Her other Tony nominations came from "Bus Stop" in 1956 and "Sail Away" in 1962.
People we've lost in 2014
CNN's Jane Caffrey contributed to this report.
Does Dick Cheney 'believe his lies?'
7/18/2014 11:02:02 AM
- Paul Begala says he is appalled by Dick Cheney and his relentless effort to revise history
- Begala: Cheney won't admit any error, misgiving or remorse or apologize for any mistake
- Begala: Cheney misled, lied and did anything to drag America into a war with Iraq
- He says whether Cheney is a liar or fool; thousands of troops are dead; Iraq is a disaster
Editor's note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House. He is a consultant to the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- As an American, I am appalled by Dick Cheney and his relentless, pathetic and ultimately doomed effort to revise the history of his failures.
But as a Democrat, I am thrilled that an incompetent, dishonest and reviled figure is hell-bent on making himself the face of the Republican Party, hogging the spotlight from rising stars like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio -- and eclipsing more honorable Republicans from the Bush era, like Colin Powell.
Cheney's endless media appearances, including this remarkable interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, reveal a nearly sociopathic refusal to admit any error, express any remorse, apologize for any mistake.
And so let us review the Cheney record: No vice president has done more damage to our country, not even Vice President Aaron Burr, who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton 210 years ago.
In the first months of the Bush-Cheney administration, Cheney was ordered to convene a task force on terrorism. Instead, he ignored the problem, the Cheney terror task force never met, and the warnings about an impending terrorist attack were ignored.
Later, instead of apologizing, Cheney cravenly blamed the White House counterterrorism czar (PDF), Dick Clarke, who had tried to warn anyone who would listen that an attack was coming.
"Richard Clarke was the head of the counterterrorism program in the run up to 9/11," Cheney said. "He obviously missed it." Blaming the guy who did his job when you're the one who didn't do yours.
From there, it was off to the races, as Cheney did and said anything to drag America into a war with Iraq. The good folks at Vox have compiled a damning indictment of Cheney's deep dishonesty about Iraq. In the interest of brevity, let me focus on a few lowlights:
He said the lead 9/11 hijacker "did go to Prague, and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service ... several months before the attack." Wrong, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report.
He said Saddam had "an established relationship with al Qaeda." Wrong (PDF).
Cheney claimed there was "irrefutable evidence" Saddam had reconstituted his nuclear program. Wrong.
He said Saddam "had an established relationship with al Qaeda, providing training to al Qaeda members in areas of poisons, gases and conventional bombs." Wrong (PDF).
He said there was "overwhelming" evidence of ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. Wrong.
He said that we'd be "greeted as liberators" and that the insurgency was in its "last throes" nine years ago. Wrong and wrong.
And that's just on Iraq. Need I mention that, as CEO of Halliburton, Cheney opposed President Clinton's sanctions on the terrorist regime in Iran, calling the Clinton administration "sanctions-happy"? And he breezily defended doing business with the terrorists in Tehran -- through an overseas-based subsidiary -- explaining that "the good Lord didn't see fit to always put oil and gas resources where there are democratic governments."
Need I mention he told Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that "deficits don't matter"?
One can debate whether Cheney's misstatements were the result of willful mendacity or incompetence. I believe the former. But at a deeper level, it does not matter. Regardless of whether Cheney is a liar or a fool, thousands of heroic American troops are dead. Tens of thousands are injured. Iraq is a disaster -- and will be for years to come. And America is weaker and poorer because of Cheney.
I know that powerful people don't like admitting error. But Hillary Clinton did so in her new book, candidly admitting that in voting for the Bush-Cheney war in Iraq, "I got it wrong. Plain and simple."
Cheney, however, has no room for such candid introspection. When he turned 70, he was asked his greatest regret. He did not mention the death and devastation he brought to Iraq or that he and others ignored the terror threat before 9/11. He didn't mention his votes in Congress against banning plastic guns or opposing the release of Nelson Mandela.
He said, "My misspent youth." Seriously. A three-word oblique reference to a couple of drunken driving incidents a half century ago are the biggest regrets of this man's life. Other than that, Cheney sees his life as a flawless, virtuous existence.
Were it not for the tragedies of 9/11 and Iraq, perhaps the thing Cheney would be remembered for was that he was the second vice president to shoot a man, albeit Cheney's was in a hunting accident and Harry Whittington, thank God, survived.
Still, as a longtime quail hunter, I have no doubt Cheney was in the wrong. Every hunter is responsible for knowing where his buddies are. And Cheney violated a cardinal rule: He was drinking before he picked up the gun. (He claims to have had only one beer, but even one is too many when you're hunting.)
But here's the thing: Even after Cheney shot him in the face, there's no indication he ever apologized to Harry Whittington. I suppose being a sociopath means never having to say you're sorry.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly indicated an affiliation between the Washington Post and the independent news website Vox.
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