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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
What Was Found in al Qaeda Computer?; Could John Walker Still Face Death?
Aired January 16, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, more charges against alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Reid's indictment alerts us to a clear, unmistakable threat that al Qaeda could attack the United States again.
BLITZER: What was learned from an al Qaeda computer?
Will charges also be added to John Walker? Could he still fact the death penalty. I'll ask famed defense attorney Roy Black and Congressman Stephen Buyer, an Army JAG lawyer who dealt with Gulf War prisoners.
Another airport security scare, a checkpoint is breached while a guard ties his shoe. The help wanted sign is up.
NORMAN MINETA, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We are looking for people with experience, people who are stress tested, individuals who can step in right away and take charge.
BLITZER: The FBI also looks for help, agents who are accountants to work on the Enron investigation, as Congress steps up its own probes and President Bush keeps the scandal at arm's length.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(on camera): I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're following several developing stories this hour. Was accused shoe bomber, Richard Reid, involved in an al Qaeda sponsored scouting trip? And how does the White House distance itself from the tangled Enron debacle? Two former White House insiders join me later this hour with advice for President Bush.
First, let's get a quick check of this hour's latest developments. A gunman opened fire at a law school in Grundy, Virginia killing three people and wounding three others. One of the victims is the Dean of the Appalachian School of Law. Another faculty member and a student also were killed. The suspected gunman, a student at the school, is in police custody. Accused shoe bomber, Richard Reid, has been indicted on new charges, including Attempted Murder and Placing Explosive Devices on an airplane. Reid allegedly tried to set explosives off in his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. The indictment charges that Reid received al Qaeda training in Afghanistan.
A suspected al Qaeda financier has surrendered to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The man turned himself in at the Kandahar Airport. A U.S. military spokesman says the man claimed to have provided money to various causes.
The body of the seventh marine killed in a plane crash has been recovered in Pakistan. Seven marines were killed in the crash of a refueling plane on January 9. The body is being returned to the United States.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is urging both India and Pakistan to avoid going to war. Powell held talks with the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, during his first stop of a visit to South Asia. India and Pakistan have massed troops on their border following a flare up in their long dispute over Kashmir.
Attorney General John Ashcroft calls Richard Reid an al Qaeda trained terrorist. Ashcroft's remarks came after the accused airplane shoe bomber was indicted on new charges. Our National Correspondent Susan Candiotti has been covering the story all day and she joins us now live. Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Wolf. Alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid is slammed with a nine-count indictment, including eight new charges. A Federal Grand Jury in Boston delivering the charges less than a month after authorities say an airliner was nearly blown out of the sky.
The new charges include attempting to use a plane as a weapon of mass destruction, attempted homicide of U.S. nationals outside the U.S. during a transatlantic flight from Paris to Miami, placing explosive devices on an aircraft (shoe bombs), and the attempted murder of nearly 200 passengers and crew.
On December 21, American Airlines Flight 63 landed safely under escort in Boston. After the crew and passengers subdued Reid, a flight attendant stopped him from allegedly lighting explosives in his sneakers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Reid's indictment alerts us to a clear, unmistakable threat that al Qaeda could attack the United States again. The lessons for Americans are undeniable. We must be prepared. We must be alert. We must be vigilant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Intelligence sources say there is strong circumstantial evidence Reid and a man described in an al Qaeda computer may be one and the same. Information retrieved from a computer hard drive, purchased by the "Wall Street Journal" and confirmed by CNN, outlines the movements of Abdul Ra'uff. He travels across Europe and scouts tall buildings and religious monuments in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Haifa, and describes airline security.
Intelligence sources say this apparent al Qaeda scout and Reid appear to be the same man. Attorney General Ashcroft suggested the newspaper's information turned over to Justice might result in additional charges against Reid, and if convicted, five of the nine counts, Wolf, carry a maximum life sentence.
BLITZER: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for that report. And joining us now is one of the co-authors of that "Wall Street Journal" report, the report that Susan just referred to with that intriguing new twist in the Richard Reid story. His name is Andrew Higgins. He's one of the writers for the "Wall Street Journal".
Specifically, I guess his name was the Arabic name that he was given, brother Abdul Ra'uff. Is that, as far as you could tell, the same person as Richard Reid?
ANDREW HIGGINS, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Yes, brother Abdul Ra'uff is clearly a code name, but the similarities between his travels, his passport history and other elements are so -- the similarity with Reid are just unbelievable.
BLITZER: It does underscore the meticulous nature of the planning. He was supposedly Abdul Ra'uff or Richard Reid, if in fact they are the same, on a scouting mission to look for targets of opportunity, potential terrorist attacks in Israel, Egypt, Turkey, elsewhere.
HIGGINS: Well, he was sent out and he scouted various sites. He was in Tel Aviv, where he looked at tall buildings. He was taking photographs of tall buildings, but took care to sort of disguise his interest in these tall buildings by mixing them with photos of beaches and other sort of tourist shots, so that if anyone stopped him, he'd say "I'm just a tourist." And then he moved on.
He was in Bethlehem. He was in Haifa. In Haifa, he noticed that even if you couldn't get inside the main railway station, you could go to a reception area, where he commented that there would be at least 100 people and it would be a very good place to plant a bomb. And they use this chilling phrase throughout, which is "exceptionally good opportunities."
BLITZER: And then he would write -- he wrote a report up for the al Qaeda leadership?
HIGGINS: He didn't write it himself. He seems to have been debriefed by the author of this report who was not actually named. He seems to, as far as we can tell, was a sort of al Qaeda operations manager who met with these scouts when they came back from their missions and wrote up their reports.
He gave a sort of transcript of what this guy said, and then at the end of it added his own sort of commentary and drew his own conclusions.
BLITZER: I was going to say, Richard Reid also had a British passport and you learned, if in fact Richard Reid was Abdul Ra'uff, the degree to which he tried to hide the almost puritanical nature of his Islam.
HIGGINS: Yes, one of the interesting aspects of this was, the report was during his 10-day stay in Amsterdam, which as we know is one of the most free-wielding European capitols. He took great care to disguise his sort of puritanical beliefs and his Islamic faith.
And, for example, when he was in a hotel, he'd scrounge cigarette butts from adjacent rooms and dump them in his ashtray. He'd go out at night and get empty beer and other alcohol containers and then put them in his room, so people would think that he was whooping it up at night.
BLITZER: And then he managed to get two new British passports to conceal some earlier stamps in those passports?
HIGGINS: Yes, that is one of the most extraordinary elements of this that this guy, who seems to have aroused suspicion from a number of people, got a British passport on July 6 in Amsterdam and then five months later was in Brussels saying "I need another passport" and they gave it to him.
BLITZER: And he showed incredible detail in that El Al flight he took to Israel.
HIGGINS: Yes, exactly. On this flight -
BLITZER: How did he get out of that plane, given the security that El Al has?
HIGGINS: They grilled him extensively and they were clearly very, very suspicious. They held him for 90 minutes at the airport, went through all his belongings. This is another sort of parallel with Richard Reid. Abdul Ra'uff reports that they looked at his shoes, and we know that Richard Reid had his shoes checked. Abdul Ra'uff was put at the back of the plane next to a sky marshal and so was Richard Reid. And throughout this, the parallels are just extraordinary.
BLITZER: And finally, tell us how the Wall Street Journal got all of this information.
HIGGINS: Well we actually, my colleague who was in Afghanistan and so was I, he broke his computer while traveling into Kabul over the pass, and the screen was broken, so he was interested in sort of where he wants to buy another computer. So we had some contacts with computer merchants and towards the end of our stay there, a guy came up and said you know "are you interested in this? Have I got a deal for you."
BLITZER: And they sold it to you for $1,100?
HIGGINS: $1,100.
BLITZER: And the Secretary of Defense today praised the Wall Street Journal for cooperating with U.S. law enforcement intelligence to get some of this information available to them as well.
HIGGINS: Well, we've given, shared some of this with the authorities.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Andrew Higgins of the Wall Street Journal, appreciate it.
HIGGINS: Thanks.
BLITZER: And John Walker, the American Taliban fighter, is expected to be turned over to the Justice Department, officials say very soon. As far as we know though, right now he's still in the custody of the U.S. military aboard the USS Bataan.
The 20-year-old former California resident faces four criminal charges, including Conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, and supporting terrorist groups. A conviction could land him in prison for life. Today, the Attorney General rejected criticism from Walker's parents that their son had been denied legal counsel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHCROFT: The charges are based on evidence which we have, evidence substantially related to the statements made by John Walker Lindh, after he had been informed orally about his right to counsel, and after he had been informed in writing, and after he had waived those rights in writing.
They relate to assisting terrorist organizations and conspiring to kill Americans overseas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: One person who understands quite well the legal workings of the military is Congressman Stephen Buyer of Indiana. He's a former Judge Advocate with the U.S. Army, served in Europe as well as in the Persian Gulf. Congressman, thanks for joining us.
The information, as far as you can tell, that John Walker provided to the U.S. military during interrogations, will that be admissible in a civilian court of law in a Federal trial here in northern Virginia?
REP. STEPHEN BUYER (R), INDIANA: Well, maybe admissible after a conviction at a sentence to mitigate any penalty that may go against him, but I think the administration here has treated Mr. Walker almost kindly. What could happen is they could have held a hearing or a tribunal to conduct his status. There is an act, an immigration act that sets forth seven patriating -- ex-patriating acts, and he committed two of them.
He served in the military of a foreign state, and he took up arms against the United States. You could have held a hearing and said that he lost his citizenship by having constituted actions in violation of this act and lost his citizenship.
And so, if he lost his citizenship after that hearing, he would be thrown in and treated like all the other Taliban that were left in Afghanistan and left to the new country to take care of. So for the Justice Department...
BLITZER: So, are you saying...
BUYER: ... to treat him as an American citizen and in our own court system, I think his parents ought to be thankful.
BLITZER: Well, was that the right decision as far as you can tell?
BUYER: Well you know, I conducted during the Gulf War, when I served as counsel at the Western (UNINTELLIGIBLE) prisoner of war camp, I conducted tribunals to conduct, to determine status of the prisoners and, you know, just because the administration is treating it one way and I would have treated it another doesn't make them wrong.
I probably would have examined his status, and if in fact he committed ex-patriating acts, his American citizenship should have been removed, and he should have been treated as any other Taliban soldier and left in Afghanistan.
So I think the administration really is treating him probably nicer than what the new government in Afghanistan would be treating him.
BLITZER: And as you know, Congressman, so far they've stopped short of accusing him of any crimes that would carry with them the death penalty. Right now the crimes he's accused of would carry life in prison. A lot of people are not happy about that, are you?
BUYER: Well, I -- just because this is the opening round of charges does not mean that more charges may not be coming against him, and I am one who will send a letter to the Justice Department and to the Department of Defense. I think they should have a hearing and find out whether or not he committed these ex-patriating acts, and have his citizenship removed.
BLITZER: And as far as the issue of Treason is concerned, assuming he remains a U.S. citizen, and indications are they're not going to take the steps that you recommended, at least not now, as far as treason is concerned, that would carry the death penalty but that is a very, very difficult charge to prove.
BUYER: Right. I don't think it's necessary to, if you're going to try him in an American court system in the criminal side, I don't think it's necessary to try him for Treason. I mean, we can definitely throw the book at him, but you know there are many options here that the administration has, and I don't think this is -- this is just the opening salvo. BLITZER: Congressman Stephen Buyer, thanks so much for joining us today.
BUYER: Nice to be with you.
BLITZER: Thank you. And, the Attorney General does not rule out more charges against John Walker, charges that might indeed, when all is said and done, involve the death penalty.
So how do you go about defending him? Joining us now from Miami, with his insight, is the famed criminal defense attorney, Roy Black. I know you're not defending him, but if you were, what would you be doing right now, Roy?
ROY BLACK, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Wolf, if you're going to throw the book at somebody, you ought to at least read what's in the book. I mean, just joining a foreign army doesn't waive your American citizenship, and the United States Supreme Court held that 30 years ago.
But putting that aside for a minute, let's take a look at the first charge that they are alleging against him, which is the conspiracy to kill American nationals. It has been the law of war since the beginning of time that, merely being a member of a hostile army does not subject you to penalties like this.
Under this theory, we could imprison or execute anybody who was ever hostile to an American Armed Force. Under that theory, North Vietnam could have executed every American it captured during the war.
We don't do things like that because of the laws of war. We have the Geneva Convention and things like that, and I think the statute is going to have to be narrowly construed. Just being a member of a hostile army is not enough to convict you of a conspiracy to kill American nationals.
BLITZER: What about the comments that he made in that interview that we aired here on CNN, which expressed his support for the Taliban, indeed for al Qaeda, the indications he gave apparently to investigators sort of waiving his Miranda rights, that he was in fact trained by them?
BLACK: Yes. No, I think that's probably the most difficult thing against him and one of the big hearings is going to be the voluntariness of those statements. But remember what happened, and what the complaint says is that he was given the option of going to the al Qaeda activities, which is terrorism against the United States, or going to the frontlines to fight for the Taliban, and he elected to go to the frontlines to fight for the Taliban.
He doesn't say anything in these statements about wanting to kill Americans, and in fact, declined to do so. So I don't think that's so clear-cut.
BLITZER: So what's the best argument he's going to have, his defense attorneys will have, once he's brought to northern Virginia and goes before that Federal panel?
BLACK: Well, Wolf, this is going to be extremely difficult for him and his defense lawyers. First of all, he's going to have to move to suppress or throw out all the statements that he's made. I mean, we've all seen those interviews on CNN, where he's obviously in pain. He's being given morphine and other kinds of drugs. He could certainly argue that those statements were not voluntarily given.
We don't know the circumstances of the FBI interrogations, but certainly he's being held in a prisoner of war camp, people with a lot of guns. It's going to be a frightening situation. But let's face it, most Federal judges are not going to suppress that confession.
If the confession comes in, then of course, it's going to have a difficult time, and I think he's going to have to plea bargain to some lesser offenses.
BLITZER: And what if he just insists, "I was intimidated. I was being held by the military. I thought I was going to be killed. I was willing to say whatever they wanted."
BLACK: Well, you know, there are people like that and that's going to be a matter that's going to have to be proven at a hearing. There are many people who are intimidated by firearms, by police, by interrogators like the FBI, and there's going to be a serious question about the voluntariness of what happened and a judge is going to listen to the testimony.
BLITZER: And finally, if you take a look at the argument that his parents have made, at least his father has made, "he was brainwashed. He was a young kid. He was naive. He didn't know what he was doing." Does that have a good chance of winning some support?
BLACK: I'd say it has about zero percent chance of winning any support. It didn't work for Patty Hearst. No one's going to buy that. He's over the age of 18. As the Attorney General said, he made choices and now he's stuck with them.
So, I don't buy that idea that he was young, impressionable, and he's a typical northern California aspect of this. I just don't buy that.
BLITZER: Roy Black, thank you very much for joining us, as always.
BLACK: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: And more analysis on the Walker case tonight in the WAR ROOM. The former Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder, the former CIA Director James Woolsey, and the retired Air Force Major General Don Shepherd will join me at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific.
You can participate. Go to my web page, cnn.com/wolf. Click the icon "send questions." I'll get as many of them to my panel as possible. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf. They saw themselves as Holy warriors waging war in Afghanistan in the name of Allah. Now some of those al Qaeda and Taliban fighters being held by the U.S. military in Cuba are vowing to kill Americans. Our National Correspondent Bob Franken is covering this and other developments. He's at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Bob joins us by telephone. What are you hearing that these al Qaeda detainees and Taliban detainees are now vowing to do, Bob?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as a matter of fact, there was a news conference today by Brigadier General Michael Leonard, who is the man in charge of all the security here, and during the news conference, and I want to quote him now.
He says, "these are not nice people. Several have stated their intention to kill an American before they leave Guantanamo Bay. We will not given them that opportunity." A fairly chilling remark, it was a way of his emphasizing that in the wake of some criticism that perhaps they're not being treated as humanely as they should, there is the security concern that there is a belief among the people who are in charge here that these detainees, as they prefer to call them, must be kept under their thumb.
Now, there are 30 more of them tonight who are getting processed at Camp X-Ray, which as you know is the outdoor prison facility that's been constructed. That brings the number now to 80. They're going to be -- they have a capacity now of 200, and by the end of the month, they'll have more than a capacity for 300.
And, as a matter of fact, they're now saying that the more permanent facility that they're building is going to be a modular one, which can then be torn down easily and put somewhere else. It's not going to be ready for the next three months.
So for three months, up to 600 detainees will be staying in what some people are calling a cage, others are calling an outdoor cell. We've described that at great length. It is something that has a little wooden roof over it, but for the most part it is a chain-link fence cell. Some have even been very critical, some of the human rights groups, saying it sounds more like a kennel than anything else.
But tomorrow, there will be an official inspection. The International Red Cross is due to send its representatives to Camp X- Ray to, in fact, talk to the detainees. We're told that so far they will be allowed to talk to each and every one of the detainees, and get that process going.
Now if that's reminiscent of the Geneva Convention treatment of prisoners of war, what they're saying here and the wording is very interesting, they're saying that they're going to be "guided by the Geneva Convention" as opposed to being required to adhere strictly to it.
And the reason for that is, that the United States is not wanting to call these detainees prisoners of war. That would convey on them certain legal rights that the U.S. does not want to do. So, the wording is very careful. All of this is being done very carefully, and probably the most careful thing of all is the heavy, heavy security. Wolf.
BLITZER: Bob Franken, there on the scene in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba at the U.S. Naval Base, thanks so much for that report. And despite the U.S. assurance that the detainees are being treated humanely, critics are not backing down. Some of the most heated criticism is coming from one of the United States' closest allies.
Our senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As more detainees arrive at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba there are more questions being asked about their treatment. Dozens of prisoner are housed here now. At least three of them claim to be British citizens.
The U.S. says they are illegal combatants. Now the U.N.'s Human Rights Commissioner has publicly disagreed and called them prisoners of war.
MARY ROBINSON, UNHCHR: Their status is defined and protected by the Geneva Conventions of 1949, that they are prisoners of war.
MACVICAR: In Britain, there is a growing chorus arguing the U.K. should more vigorously protect the rights of the detainees.
CHARLES KENNEDY, LIBERAL DEMOCRAT LEADER: Would the Prime Minister make clear, where the British citizens are concerned, his views as to them being hooded, shackled, sedated, and kept in cages.
MACVICAR: In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister asked for time, saying representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross will visit the prison this week.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I just think it is important, rather than believing exactly what is reported in the media straightaway, that we get to the truth of this. The International Red Cross will go and see them. British officials will see those people from Britain, but there should be no doubt about two things.
First of all as I say, we're dealing with very dangerous people. Secondly however, we are civilized people and we will treat prisoners in a proper and humane way.
MACVICAR: There is also concern for what seems to be a double standard, an American civilian trial for American Taliban John Walker. In an uncertain legal future, perhaps a military trial for those incarcerated at Guantanamo, including those who may prove to be British.
JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: They should be extradited to this country, so that they could, if necessary, face trial here. MACVICAR: The U.S. says U.K. officials will be able to see those claiming to be citizens, "as soon as possible." But the British Government has not yet been told when that will be, as the U.S. comes under increasing pressure to bring the question of the status of the detainees before a court.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: A gunman opens fire at a tucked away law school in Virginia, the death toll and possible motive when we come back. Plus, the law catches up with Patty Hearst's alleged SLA cohort, 27 years later.
Also, a security breech at Detroit's airport, will there be more scenes like this when new baggage rules take effect on Friday?
And accounting for Enron's fall, will the reverberations shake the White House. Former Attorney General Dick Thornburg and former White House Chief of Staff John Pedesta join us live at the half hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Authorities in Virginia are searching for a motive in a deadly shooting spree at a law school. Three people were killed, three others were injured in today's shooting rampage at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy.
Among the dead, L. Anthony Sutton, Dean of the law school, and Al Gore's Chief Counsel during the 2000 Presidential campaign. A teacher and a student also were shot to death. Students apparently tackled the suspected gunman.
A short time ago, CNN spoke with the county coroner. He's also a doctor who once treated the suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JACK BRIGGS, COUNTY CORONER: The person who did the shooting was also a patient of mine at one time. He saw me once because he was worried about stress.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: He talked to you about that?
BRIGGS: That's correct, six months ago, seven months ago.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Did you have any idea it could affect him this way?
BRIGGS: Well, I had no idea that it would affect him this way; however he was a time bomb waiting to go off, you know. There are lots of things that will come out in the trial that I think are probably pretty pertinent to his personality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Dr. Briggs describes the suspect as an international student who flunked out of the law school. To the West Coast now, where authorities have arrested three former members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The radical group is probably best known for kidnapping newspaper heiress, Patricia Hearst in 1974.
Today's charges though, focus on a bank robbery that ended in death. CNN's Charles Feldman takes a closer look at the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You'd almost think it was the '70s all over again. This Friday, former SLA member Sarah Jane Olson is to be sentenced for taking part in a plot to blow up an LAPD vehicle.
While today, in California's capitol city, the announcement of arrests in a 27-year-old case of a bank shooting that led to the death of a customer.
Taken into custody, three former members of the so-called Symbionese Liberation Army, a self-described band of revolutionaries whose genesis was the prison rights movement. Among those arrested, Bill and Emily Harris.
TIM FINDLEY, FORMER CHRONICLE REPORTER: They thought of themselves in terms of being able to succeed in an urban revolution in the United States.
FELDMAN: The three former SLA members allegedly held up the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California back in 1975. Along for the ride, kidnapped newspaper heiress, Patricia Hearst, who transformed herself into Tanya, a sort of female Che Guevara.
PATRICIA HEARST: I was given the choice of, 1) being released in a safe area, or 2) joining the forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army. I'm fighting for my freedom and the freedom of all oppressed people. I've chosen to stay and fight.
FELDMAN: Hearst later claimed brainwashing as a defense, but served time anyway, and was eventually given a Presidential pardon by Bill Clinton.
And the other SLA members? They perished in a shootout in LA with law enforcement agents that was back in 1974. But police were haunted. One former SLA member, Sarah Jane Olson, who back in the '70s was named Kathleen Soliah, vanished, while investigators argued for 27 years about what to do with the Carmichael bank robbery murder case. Sarah Jane Olson was flushed out by a TV show that ran an old photo. She was living the life of a doctor's wife in Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the son of the woman gunned down in that 1975 bank robbery, he kept the flames going with a Web site he set up, and now the announcement of arrests and the renewed question of whether prosecutors will eventually go after Sarah Jane Olson on charges on Murder in that case.
Charles Feldman, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And now, checking these stories on today's "Newswire". The U.S. Supreme Court is stepping into a battle involving managed health care plans. And the court's decision will affect 119 million Americans. At issue: Do HMOs have to accept an independent second opinion when there is a dispute with a patient? The case involves an Illinois woman with a rare nerve problem. She sued her HMO for refusing to pay for a complex operation to correct the problem. She won and her HMO appealed.
The Oregon man accused of killing his wife and three children was arraigned a short time ago on murder charges. Christian Longo was returned to Oregon this morning from Texas. He had been held in Houston after his arrest in Mexico.
French aviation officials are out with their official report on the cause of the Concorde crash near Paris two years ago. The report says a Continental Airlines jet shed a piece of metal on the runway just before the Concorde took off. The metal punctured one of the Concorde's tires, leading to a chain of events that caused the supersonic jetliner to crash. Continental says it does not believe one of its planes was responsible for the accident.
The latest developments in America's new war are straight ahead. Then, what went wrong with Enron and the company charged with auditing the once successful company? Some tough questions on Capitol Hill -- we will have a live report. And later, the scramble to meet new security rules at the country's airports: Learn if it means extra headaches for you, travelers, when they take effect on Friday.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Let's check this hour's latest developments: Shoe bomber suspect Richard Reid faces a number of new charges, including attempted murder. He was indicted today in Boston. In the indictment, he is accused of being an al Qaeda-trained terrorist. If convicted, Reid could get up to five life sentences.
The latest group of al Qaeda and Taliban detainees from Afghanistan arrived several hours ago in Cuba; 30 detainees were on the latest flight to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay. They join 50 other detainees already there.
Part of the battle against terrorism is now focused on possible threats from the sea. The United States is calling on countries around the world to improve port security and consider inspecting cargo containers before they leave port. Among other things, the U.S. also is pushing for criminal background checks for seafarers and security plans for all commercial ships and seaports.
The Hart Senate Office Building here in Washington is set to reopen on Friday. It was closed almost three months ago after an anthrax-laced letter was opened in the office of the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle. Authorities say the cleanup effort has been difficult. They now call the building clean and safe.
There is a new development in the Enron debacle. The White House says its economic team examined the impact of the potential collapse of the energy firm as it struggled for its financial life -- this as a fired Arthur Andersen partner, David Duncan, faced questions from congressional investigators. The accounting firm says Duncan instructed others to destroy Enron documents.
Our CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow is on Capitol Hill. She is covering all of these developments. She joins us now live -- Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I just checked in with the committee that is questioning David Duncan, the former Andersen employee. They tell me that eight investigators continue to question Mr. Duncan at this hour.
In fact, they told me earlier they may go until about 7:00 or 8:00 Eastern time, so a couple of more hours worth of questioning. You will recall that yesterday Andersen dismissed David Duncan. He was formerly the top guy in their Houston office working on the Enron account. But he was dismissed, as you mentioned, because, they say, he ordered documents to be destroyed. A committee spokesmen says he is answering questions. He is sitting there with several lawyers present.
And particularly they are asking him about the shredding of documents, as this aide put it. They are talking about that. They are also asking him about Enron's accounting practices and another memo that has surfaced raising questions about how much Andersen top officials knew about a whistle-blower, a woman who wrote a seven-page letter last summer warning Enron that she was worried about their accounting practices. How much did Andersen's top officials know about that? They are asking him about that issue. We do expect this to continue, as I mentioned, for some time into the evening hours tonight.
Now, one other note on this committee: It is the House Energy Committee that is looking into this matter, one of many committees looking into it. It is led by Billy Tauzin, who is a Republican from Louisiana. And one thing that came out today is more information about Andersen's contributions. This is Arthur Andersen, not Enron. Enron, of course, was a major contributor politically, but so was Andersen.
And you will see there that Billy Tauzin, the very man who is leading this investigation of this one particular committee, is the top most recipient of House members receiving money from Andersen. He got $47,000 dollars over the last 10 years. But then look at further down the list. You will notice, when we put the symbols on there, there are two Democrats there in the top four and two Republicans.
So Andersen, while it contributed quite a bit to Billy Tauzin, was also an equal-opportunity giver, Wolf, if you will. They were giving money to Democrats as well.
BLITZER: As a lot of big companies, as we all know, do here in Washington. Thank you very much, Kate Snow, for that report.
And the Enron debacle has been a hot topic at White House briefings with reporters. In the latest sparring only today, White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, again declared the Bush administration has done nothing wrong, either before or after Enron declared bankruptcy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Now, if you are asking, "Is the White House engaged in any effort to determine whether or not any contact was made with anybody at Enron for any reason?" I suggest to you that there is no hint there of any wrongdoing. If you have any information, any evidence you would like to bring forward about potential wrongdoing, we will do our best to track it down for you. But other than that, I liken to it a fishing expedition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Just about every day, there are new revelations on the stunning collapse of Enron. On top of all of this, some of President Bush's critics are already asking the famous question: What did he know and when did he know it?
Joining us now to talk about how the Bush administration is managing the crisis, two seasoned pros: John Podesta -- he was President Clinton's White House chief of staff -- and former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, who served under the first President Bush.
Thanks to both of you for joining us.
You had your share of Whitewater, all sorts of other scandals, investigations, impeachment, Monica Lewinsky.
JOHN PODESTA, FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF: Better to be sitting here today, Wolf.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: I'm sure you are happy you are sitting here.
How are they doing? And what advise do you have for the current White House team?
PODESTA: Well, this is a case in which it doesn't appear that anybody did anything wrong, but they're still having trouble getting their story out. And I think the one thing they have to do is to be able to manage, to control, get the information together and get it out. Each day, we have some new revelation that is somewhat inconsistent with what Ari Fleischer said the day before. And that ultimately eats away at your credibility. So that's what they really need to do.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But, Dick Thornburgh, isn't that an almost impossible task, given the extent of what was going on, for the White House to be on top of every little thing, knowing in advance what all the questions are going to be? Aren't they bound to screw up a little bit?
DICK THORNBURGH, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, you have got a dreadful situation here.
Here is a corporation that understated its indebtedness by moving over $1 billion off of its books and that overstated it profits by some $600 million. And while the stock plummeted from $90 a share to less than $1 a share, all the management and executives were cashing in the stock options and the ordinary employees with the 401(k)s were left holding the bag. It's a terrible, terrible commentary on the system.
And it's pretty tempting to look and say: Well, who in government is responsible for this? And I think that's what the Bush administration is trying to cope with now. It's pretty tempting for Democrats to point the finger, because this has come to light when George Bush was president. It's tempting for Republicans to say: Well, all these practices developed when Bill Clinton was president.
I don't think either of them are correct. And I think it is going to be a task for both parties in both branches of government to handle.
BLITZER: The first rule -- a rule that your former boss, President Clinton, didn't follow -- was, when there is bad news out there, get it out right away and get it out yourself rather than...
PODESTA: And we paid a price for that.
BLITZER: ... rather than let your critics do it.
Is this White House doing that? If there is any bad news, are they getting it out and getting it out quickly, or letting the critics get it out?
PODESTA: Well, as I said, I think they are trying, but I think that, the last week or so has been a failure at that, issues if Mr. Lindsey knew about this analysis. The White House had put out a different story a few days ago. He is sitting in the White House meetings. He should have known that.
Secretary Evans had briefed Andy Card after Ari Fleischer said that no one in the White House had been briefed about the phone calls to Ken Lay. So, those kind of things are maybe minor screw-ups. But they do add up, ultimately. And then people think, where, again, it appears that no one did anything wrong legally, you end up without a legal problem, but you definitely have a political problem.
BLITZER: And Ari Fleischer did talk about a fishing expedition. These kinds of investigations, as you well know, Dick, they can get a life of their own.
THORNBURGH: Oh, yes.
BLITZER: They can snowball, get momentum, a dozen hearings on the Hill, congressional investigations, a few hundred reporters looking into all this. So how do you cope with a potential political embarrassment?
THORNBURGH: Well, John is right when he cites I think the oldest and best rule. And that is, get everything out there. Be transparent throughout the entire -- do exactly what Enron didn't do. And that is to level with people.
You have got a funny situation here. I mean, all these political contributions, to be sure, were made, as your report pointed out, to Democrats and Republicans. Enron was at the top in terms of trying to purchase influence. But what did they get for their money? Nothing. They were stiffed every time they went to the administration to try to get some help.
Even when they used Bob Rubin, the former Clinton secretary of the treasury, they couldn't get any relief. And I think that's the good news. The bad news is that, you are right. These do acquire a life of their own. I have been on both sides of these types of situations. And it's very difficult to slake the public and media interest.
PODESTA: See, I think that is where the Bush administration does have a political problem, though, which is -- again, from a legal perspective, it appears that they did nothing for them. But, again, if you think about it, they got an energy policy that was much to their liking. They got tax policy that was much to their liking. They had that inside access, those private meetings with Dick Cheney in developing the energy policy.
And I think now the vice president also needs to get that information out. Who did he meet with in developing that? That's been requested by the GAO. Last summer, they claimed executive privilege. Boy, I think today they ought to back off, put the information out. You know...
BLITZER: But you could make that case Enron had the same kind of access to people during eight years of the Clinton administration.
PODESTA: Well, I think that, again, people need to get out what meetings they had, what happened, etcetera. I think that, with regard to the energy policies, you know, ours were -- our didn't favor big oil the way the Cheney energy plan did. But that's something that is appropriately subject to public debate.
BLITZER: And I think everybody is a lot smart with 20/20 hindsight.
Dick Thornburgh, this was the seventh largest company in the United States. Wouldn't it be understandable that they had some access to top people in Washington, whether during the Clinton administration or the Bush administration?
THORNBURGH: I think either administration would have been foolish not to pay any attention to them in terms of what their advice and their viewpoint was. But certainly in neither administration is there any evidence trickled to them in any way or did their bidding. And that is the fatal thing. I think it's missing here. There is no indication whatsoever of any quid pro quo or any favoritism shown to them.
BLITZER: I think both of you will agree that the scandal here is the bookkeeping practices, what Enron was doing, not necessarily anything that any official member of Congress or an administration official was doing.
PODESTA: And what their accountants did.
THORNBURGH: What their own lawyers called creative and aggressive accounting. I think that's a term that is going to pass into ignominy and we ought to see an end to the kind of practice and much more transparency in the way these corporations report their financial statistics.
BLITZER: OK. Thanks to both of you for joining us, John Podesta, Dick Thornburgh. It's good of both to you spend some time with us.
And on the Enron story, tonight on "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": accounting for the accountants. Also, Martha Stewart, will she pull out of floundering Kmart? Find out at 6:00 Eastern, 3:00 Pacific.
And defending the homeland: Are we going to see more scenes like this one today in Detroit once new baggage rules take effect? And later: the embarrassing mix-up involving James Earl Jones.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A security breach at Detroit's Metro Airport forced authorities to evacuate two concourses. A security guard should have made a Northwest Airlines passenger go through a second screening, but the guard reached down to his shoe and the man moved along. An airport spokesman says the incident appears to have been unintentional.
Just two days from now, airport waiting lines are expected to get a lot longer. Friday is the deadline for airlines to put procedures in place to screen all checked bags for explosives. Today, the transportation Secretary, Norman Mineta, outlined the new guidelines.
We check in now with CNN's Kathleen Koch. She has been covering this story -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, what it comes down to is that a patchwork of measures will be in place to meet this bag- screening requirement, different ones in place at different airports. And that's happening because only 53 of the nation's 429 airports have in place the most effective screening mechanism. And that is the explosive-detection screening machine.
So Secretary Mineta today outlined other acceptable security checks that airlines can use.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORMAN MINETA, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Baggage will be matched to its passenger. Computers will screen passengers. And passengers will be screened and checked for weapons, often multiple times. In addition, more bags will be subject to sniffing by trained dogs, to more comprehensive screening by both explosive-detection machines and explosive-trace-detection devices, to manual searches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: There are a few problems with some of the options. Hand- checking bags is obviously slow and tedious. Bomb-sniffing dogs are trained to check planes, a room, or a single suspect bag and experts say not an area packed with hundreds of suitcases for explosives. So they warn that the dog teams could become bored and inattentive.
And finally, some argue that bag-matching, the method most airlines will be using, is problematic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID STEMPLER, PRESIDENT, AIRLINE TRAVELERS ASSN.: Bag-matching doesn't protect against a suicide bomber. It just protects against someone who tries to plant a bomb on an airplane and then not get on the airplane. And we know in this country we haven't had a bomb on an airplane in dozens of years. I can't remember when. A lot of that has been overseas. But, again, it's a small improvement. And one of the benefits for passengers is that we'll probably have fewer misdirected bags, because everyone will be checking where the bags and the passengers are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: But not benefits, but problems are what people are expecting potentially on Friday as these new measures go into effect around the country -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Kathleen Koch. We will be following all of that.
And from the airport to the seaport now: new procedures to try to strengthen security along the nation's shores.
Our Jeanne Meserve is covering the homeland defense beat. She joins me now live with that -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the United States Coast Guard believes that international action could significantly diminish the risk of a maritime tragedy similar to the attacks of September 11.
CNN has obtained a copy of security recommendations the Coast Guard will formally introduce in February to the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, the United Nations body which deals with maritime safety -- among the most controversial proposals: mandatory background checks and verifiable identification documents for seafarers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE ANGELO, U.S. COAST GUARD: As the ships come in, these seafarers want to go ashore. They want to have a beer. They want to see the sights. There may be crew changes that are taking place. We want to make sure that the people coming ashore have positive, verifiable I.D. so we know who they are that is coming ashore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: The Coast Guard is also asking for an international standard for port security plans and a requirement that ports undergo periodic vulnerability assessments. It also wants to require security plans for ships and offshore facilities and security officers on ships and in shipping companies.
It wants to accelerate plans to put transponders on ships that would track their movements. And it urges consideration of other security measures, like stern radar to detect hijackers approaching from the rear, and alarm systems that would notify authorities if there were a hijacking.
Then there is the difficult matter of shipping containers. An estimated 11 million containers go in and out of U.S. ports each year. And only a fraction are opened and examined. The U.S. government is still formulating a strategy for closing this big gap in security. And because it has not yet come up with one, the Coast Guard, for the time being, is only asking that the IMO reconsider having containers inspected at their port of origin.
It is unclear how many of these recommendations will be adopted. The IMO is taking up this proposal on an expedited way, but that means perhaps action in December -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.
MESERVE: You're welcome.
BLITZER: And when we come back: a new perspective on the president's pretzel incident -- just ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Let's go to New York now and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE," which begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Wolf, thank you very much.
Coming up: the latest on the unfolding Enron scandal, including a live report from the White House on the growing sensitivity to some questions about telephone calls from Enron executives. American Airlines lost a record amount of money last quarter. We will be joined by American Airlines CEO Donald Carty. Kmart stock is plunging, the company on the verge of bankruptcy. Martha Stewart will be here to tell us how that could affect her relationship with the company. And stock prices plunged more than 200 points on Wall Street. And we will be telling you why in just a few moments.
Please join us. Now back to the Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou. We will be joining you.
And this correction now to an earlier report we had on this program. Anthony Sutton, one of the victims killed in today's shooting spree at Appalachian School of Law, was misidentified as Al Gore's chief counsel during last year's presidential campaign. He was -- actually, the 2000 presidential campaign -- he was a former acting assistant attorney general and attorney for the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign.
And what is in a name? Find out next how a mixup made the famous infamous -- and waxing further about the Bush bruise.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Our final word tonight involves a word and a major mistake. It's on a plaque to honor actor James Earl Jones at the Martin Luther King Celebration. Instead, it thanks James Earl Ray, the man who confessed to killing King in 1968. The company that made the plaque calls it a very unfortunate mistake.
And President Bush's incident with the pretzel has struck it big across the Atlantic. London's famous wax museum, Madame Tussaud's, has updated the president's lookalike, showing Mr. Bush holding a pretzel and the bruise on his cheek he got during his fainting spell.
I'll be back in hour with the CNN "War Room." Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. CNN's coverage of America's new war continues with "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That begins right now.
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