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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Bush Outlines New Plan For Palestine; Massive Blaze Threatens Arizona; Bus Crash Kills Kids on Way to Summer Camp; Richard Ricci Suspect in Smart Kidnapping; Profile of Victims of Terror

Aired June 24, 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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Now on this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from Jerusalem, a vision of peace in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And the harsh reality -- Arizona burning. Massive blazes merge into a 50-mile wall of fire, consuming all in its path. We'll hear from Arizona Senator John McCain.

Horror on a Texas highway, a bus taking kids to summer camp is involved in a deadly crash.

And have authorities found a big piece of the puzzle in the mystery of the missing Utah girl?

It's Monday, June 24, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem.

Can President Bush's latest vision for a new mission in the Middle East get off the ground? Will it achieve what he wants, a two-state solution, Israel living alongside Palestine?

As the president was speaking, Israeli tanks have rolled into Ramallah, forming a ring of steel around Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters. Meantime, in Gaza, a senior Hamas activist is among six Palestinians killed in an Israeli missile attack. All this as the president delivered his delayed speech on the Middle East peace making process.

Among other things, he's calling in his words for, quote, "A new and different Palestinian leadership, so a Palestinian state can be born."

We'll have complete coverage of the Middle East, all of these late breaking developments including reaction from Israelis and Palestinians.

But first, let's go to CNN's Miles O'Brien. He's in Atlanta, and he'll tell us what is happening elsewhere in the world -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, HOST: Thanks very much, Wolf.

A deadly crash on Interstate 20 in Texas where a bus carrying children to camp crashes into a bridge pillar. We'll have the latest from the scene there and a monstrous fire marching toward an Arizona town. I'll be speaking shortly with Senator John McCain of Arizona about the catastrophe gripping his state.

For now, back to Wolf in Jerusalem.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Miles O'Brien. Let's first of all report to our viewers a statement released by the prime minister's office here in Jerusalem. The first official reaction from the Israeli prime minister's office to the speech delivered by President Bush in Washington. Among other things, the Israeli government is saying now that Israel is a country that wants peace.

The prime minister said several times that when there will be a complete cessation of terror, violence and incitement, and the Palestinian Authority undergoes true reform, and will be headed by a new leadership so that a different authority will be created, it is possible to advance at that time on a political level. Generally favorable, warm response here in Jerusalem to what the president of the United States today had to say.

Let's get the gist of what Mr. Bush said. Let's go to senior White House correspondent John King. He's standing by at the White House -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the president outlining the framework, his framework for how he believes the Israelis and the Palestinians should move away from violence and back to diplomacy. A short time ago here at the White House, as we have been reporting, the president said he was open down the road a bit to recognizing even a provisional Palestinian state before any direct agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Bush saying he would recognize a provisional Palestinian state, but he added a huge if.

He said first there had to be dramatic security and political reforms by the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Bush laying down this marker -- he says he will support Palestinian statehood if the Palestinian people choose someone to lead them other than Yasser Arafat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership, so that a Palestinian state can be born. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror. I call upon them to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Other demands in the speech, only one immediate demand on Israel that it end settlement activity in the Palestinian territories. Mr. Bush also saying that if the violence subsides he expects Israel to pull its troops out of the Palestinian territories, expects Israel to lift travel and economic restriction on the Palestinians. But this speech will be remembered today by the tough words laid out against Mr. Arafat.

Mr. Bush saying if the Palestinians want a state they must, in his view, vote Mr. Arafat out of office -- or certainly White House officials are explaining to us tonight -- into a symbolic role with no role in day-to-day decision-making in the Palestinian Authority. It now falls to Secretary of State Colin Powell to try to sell this plan.

No word yet on whether he will make a trip to the region in the near future. Although, we know there are tentative plans on the table for that. Secretary Powell also to set up the framework for an international conference on the Middle East late this summer. Mr. Bush laying out this policy today, Wolf, as you noted, initially favorable reaction from the Israeli government.

The Palestinians did not like what they hear. They do not believe this White House has the right to tell the Palestinian people who should be their leader. This White House in response saying they're not telling the Palestinian people who to elect, they are simply telling them they do not believe their current leadership is committed to peace -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John King at the White House, thank you very much.

Let's bring in our Matthew Chance. He's in Ramallah. That's where the Palestinian Authority leadership is based, including Yasser Arafat.

Any hard reaction directly from the mucatta (ph), the headquarters of Yasser Arafat yet, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's been word from Yasser Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, inside the compound with Yasser Arafat, a short statement issued to CNN over the telephone. I'll just read it to you here.

It says President Arafat welcomes the ideas of President Bush and hopes to discuss the essential details in direct talks with the United States and administration. So something of a positive gloss at least placed on the comments made by President Bush in that policy statement calling for a change in leadership of the -- of the Palestinian people.

Of course no mention was made of Yasser Arafat's name in that speech. And perhaps Yasser Arafat is thinking -- perhaps he's believing that this leaves room for him to perhaps stand in the elections that he's promised to hold by the end of the year and go to the U.S. administration with a renewed mandate.

Obviously that's not the interpretation that's being put from many of the analysts we've been speaking to elsewhere. But it's something obviously Yasser Arafat is clinging to here, Wolf.

BLITZER: Matthew, the Palestinians were expecting, I assume, a little bit more balanced speech by the president. This one seemed to be very, very supportive of the Israeli positions requiring major changes in the Palestinian leadership calling for major reforms, calling for much tougher action in fighting terrorism.

How surprised were they?

CHANCE: I think expectations were very low all along. I mean I don't think there were very high expectations of what President Bush was going to announce.

Obviously the perception amongst Palestinians, amongst the Palestinian leadership, Palestinian officials, as well as ordinary Palestinians on the street is that the United States is the unswerving ally of Israel, and in fact, is the power that gives it the green light to conduct the military operations that we're in the midst of here in the West Bank that make ordinary life so difficult for many Palestinians. Although, of course, Israel is doing this for the purpose of its own security.

So understandably I think there's quite a large measure of skepticism amongst Palestinian officials that we've spoken to, amongst ordinary Palestinians as well, about what President Bush has actually offered here.

A great deal of disappointment, though, particularly over the fact that the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the issues of the status of Jerusalem, the final borders of a Palestinian state and what to do with the millions of refugees that are in the surrounding Arab countries from historic mandate Palestine. What to do with them?

Those issues have been essentially sidestepped in this Bush statement. No timetable has been introduced to try and resolve these very emotional and key issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Wolf.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance, our man in Ramallah where the Palestinian Authority leadership is based. Thank you very much.

Let's go back to Capitol Hill now in Washington for some reaction. Joining us, Representative Tom Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee.

Congressman, thanks for joining us. What is your reaction to what the president laid out?

REP. TOM LANTOS, (D), CA: It's an excellent speech. The president laid it on the line. The Palestinians need a new leadership. They must put an end to terrorism. They must create a transparent democratic functioning society, and then we can move towards two states living side-by-side in peace.

I commend the president and if, in fact, the president succeeds in achieving this, I will be happy to help lead the fight to provide the economic and humanitarian assistance that this plan will call for.

BLITZER: But you've studied this region for many, many years. Congressman Lantos, do you believe the president can now implement that vision he laid out? What will it require?

LANTOS: Well it will require an awful lot of cooperation by a lot of countries, including the Europeans, who have not been very helpful; including the Egyptians, and the Jordanians, and the Moroccans and the Saudis. There is a long and difficult road ahead, but the president deserves credit for laying out a vision, which is a rational vision.

He understands that until terrorism is completely terminated, nothing can happen and he, of course, put an end to the Arafat regime. He called for a new Palestinian leadership, which many of us have been calling for, for a long time. It was a fine speech and the president has broad bipartisan support on the Hill.

BLITZER: Congressman Tom Lantos from Capitol Hill. Thanks very much for joining us.

Let's get some Palestinian reaction now. Also in Washington, Nabil Shaath, he's a Palestinian Cabinet minister who brought a Palestinian proposal to the Bush administration only within the past few days.

What is your reaction, Mr. Shaath, to what the president had to say?

NABIL SHAATH, PALESTINIAN SPOKESMAN: Well on the positive side, the president is talking about a permanent settlement, about a final settlement solution. He's talking about a clear deadline of three years to achieve that. And he's pledging his support and all of that of the United States to do that. He's talking about end of occupation. He's talking about the borders of 1967.

He's talking about an independent Palestinian state. On the short run, he's talking about ending settlements, stopping all settlements, ending the siege, ending the occupation and pulling the Israelis back to the borders of the 28th of September, year 2000, giving the authority back its money that Israel had (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

I mean he's talking about a lot of things that I hope the support from Congress that Mr. Lantos referred to will cover all of those besides, of course, talking about reform, which is a topic that is of great importance to the Palestinians and something that every Palestinian wants to do and wants to happen, to have happen as soon as possible.

BLITZER: But among other things, Mr. Shaath, the president was very blunt, and I'll read precisely what he said. He said, "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so a Palestinian state can be born." That seems to negate or reject Yasser Arafat's leadership.

SHAATH: Well I think -- I don't want to argue that, except to say that he linked that to the emergence of an independent state, and not to the commitments of Israel to end occupation. Ending occupation is a requirement by Israel. It has no preconditions and there should be no precondition to end that occupation. Recognizing an independent Palestinian state is something that the United States and every other country has to weigh in terms of exactly what the state should look like.

And therefore, every country should have some opinion about the states that they are going to recognize. And since he explained that that should happen through the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) election, well fine. Elections supervised by international monitors should produce new leaders whether some of them have been renewed or some of them are totally new, it will be a new leadership elected by the people.

BLITZER: The president -- the president, Mr. Shaath, was also very blunt in saying this. He said, "Today Palestinian Authority leaders," in his words, "are encouraging, not opposing, terrorism." He says that the Palestinian leadership must do much more if anything is going to get off the ground. What do you -- what do you say about that?

SHAATH: Well, this is a refrain that the president has been using for a long time. This is not new. This is something we -- I take issue with, I disagree with, but it is something that the president has talked about. Every time he spoke about the Palestinian and Israeli issue in the last seven or eight months. I think there will be a time in the future, which these suspicions will be disproved, I hope. The important thing is to move towards the future and not to be shackled with our opinions of the past.

BLITZER: Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Cabinet minister in Washington. As usually, thank you very much for joining us.

Now let's get some reaction from the Israeli government. Joining me here in Jerusalem, Ambassador Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, now a senior adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

I take it your government is pretty happy about what the president had to say.

DORE GOLD, SENIOR ADVISER TO ARIEL SHARON: I think what was important is that the president now for the first time has introduced real standards into peace making. The Israeli government has said for a long period of time, that if violence is vanquished, if the incitement ends, if we have a new and different Palestinian Authority, then we can move forward and Israel can reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians.

But while we have suicide bombers moving around Jerusalem or moving around Israel, we can't get back to the negotiating table.

Now President Bush has established a clear standard for how we go from where we are today, to where we want to be tomorrow.

BLITZER: He also said that Israel needs to withdraw fully, in his words, withdraw fully to the lines of September 28, 2000. That's before this latest intifada began. Is your government prepared to do that?

GOLD: Well, you know, if the violence ends, we have no interest in being in the center of Nablus or the center of Jenin. We have no interest in calling up our reserves and disrupting our economy.

So obviously under conditions that are completely different than the conditions we have today, Israel is prepared to move back to those lines of September of 2000. But the president also held out for the possibility of secure and recognized boundaries for Israel at the end of the negotiating process and those are not the 1967 lines.

BLITZER: Well he said that 242 -- Resolutions 242 and 338 -- he did call for secure and recognized borders, didn't get into specifics. He did say, though, that Israel needs to end settlement activity, in his words, in the occupied territories consistent with the Mitchell plan. Settlement activity continues right now.

GOLD: Well, you know, the Israeli government is not establishing new settlements. But we feel that when we have a situation of territorial dispute, these are disputed territories, Israel has a right to build natural growth in its settlements, just as the Palestinians build in their towns.

We accepted the Mitchell recommendations way back when, when they were proposed originally, even though they involve difficult concessions for us. But those Mitchell proposals that include dealing with the issue of natural growth of settlements also require the Palestinians to take difficult measures. We both have to make sacrifices for peace. We are prepared to do so.

BLITZER: If the Palestinians hold these free democratic elections, as they say they will hold, and Yasser Arafat is once again elected the president of the Palestinian Authority, is Israel prepared then to deal with him?

GOLD: Well here's the problem. I mean the president made it very clear that you can't have a Palestinian leadership tainted with terrorism. And you know, for the last two months, we've been running around the world with documents that we took from Arafat's offices, the mucatta (ph) in Ramallah, which clearly proved, without any question, that Yasser Arafat was involved in the financing and support of terrorism.

We need a new Palestinian leadership. We need a different Palestinian Authority, one that understands the standards which President Bush established. Are you with us? Are you against us? Are you opposing terrorism or do you support terrorism? He is saying to the Palestinian people, drop the terrorism, you can't advance your political interests that way and then we can all do business.

BLITZER: Were you surprised how far the president went when he said that peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership? Did that surprise you? GOLD: You know, Wolf, as somebody who was a negotiator with the Palestinians in the Hebron Agreement, in the Y (ph) conference, one of the problems we faced over the last decade was that we tried to have a peace process without any minimal standards of behavior, without a code of conduct. And therefore Happas Alasad (ph) in Syria could negotiate with us and send Hezbollah to kill our soldiers, or Arafat could negotiate with us and send Hamas or give a green light to Hamas.

And therefore we had no peace process with any firm standards of how to break out of the situation we were in. I think what President Bush has done, and that's what's really important here, he's introduced standards, a code of conduct for how we proceed. And if the Palestinians adhere to that code of conduct, we can move forward.

Of course, we'll have our interest in a unified Jerusalem and secure borders. But we can move forward to an eventual peace settlement. But without those minimal standards being maintained, we're not going to get out of the situation we're in.

BLITZER: Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, now a senior adviser to Prime Minister Sharon. Thanks for joining us.

GOLD: My pleasure.

BLITZER: And you have a chance to weigh in on this very important story of the day. Our Web question is this: Do you think you will see a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in your lifetime?

You can you go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote. While you're there, let me know what you're thinking. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily online column -- cnn.com/wolf all this week from Jerusalem.

A towering wall of flames threatens to incinerate hundreds of homes in Arizona. The latest on the inferno when we return.

Plus Senator John McCain on what's being done to protect residents in his home state, Arizona. Many of them are at risk.

Also a church bus with children on board slams head-on into a bridge. We'll go live to Dallas for the latest.

And Amtrak off track. A decision on the future of passenger train service. All that coming up plus more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Hello, I'm Miles O'Brien in Atlanta.

Turning now to those deadly wildfires in the West and those devastating wildfires. CNN has learned President Bush will travel to Arizona to visit with firefighters tomorrow. The fate of the Show Low, Arizona fire appears to be all but sealed this afternoon. A wall of flame, 50-miles wide, is moving straight toward the town of 8,000, which is now virtually empty.

The fire is a combination of two blazes that merged yesterday. Together they have charred more than 330,000 acres since last Tuesday. They destroyed more than 200 homes and other structures.

Joining us from Washington to talk about the disaster is Senator John McCain of Arizona. Senator McCain, good to have you with us.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Now you had an opportunity to fly over the fires over the weekend. What were your impressions?

MCCAIN: Very difficult to describe. You see it on film and it's impressive, but it's nothing like seeing it from a helicopter or from an airplane. The immensity and enormity of it is staggering, and the extent of human tragedy, fortunately, has been minimized as far as loss of life is concerned. But thousands and thousands of people's lives have been dislocated and thousands of others are in danger.

O'BRIEN: Give us a sense, if you will, about the fatigue factor. Those firefighters out there, obviously a tremendous amount of frustration, tremendous amount of fatigue as they continue to try to battle this blaze.

Do they have enough resources, enough support, enough men and women on the fire lines?

MCCAIN: I think they have enough now, and I believe that it's incredible, the work they're doing. They're 16 hours on and eight hours off in the hottest, terrible, most difficult condition. Another -- we're now seeing another generation of American heroes and all Americans, particularly, the citizens of Arizona are very grateful for them -- those not only from Arizona, but from all around the country.

And I think that you've got to understand that a fire of this magnitude where the winds complicating the situation as it was up until we got a brief rest yesterday, make it almost an impossible task for them to get it under control. And we, the Congress, can't do anything now but watch.

But I think it's time we reviewed the policies of the past that have allowed this immense undergrowth to grow up in these forests, which has made them horrendous fires whereas they might not have near -- might have been not nearly as serious if it hadn't been for radical environmental organizations and others that have kept us from cleaning out these forests.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk for a moment about that and the root causes, if you will. The "Arizona Republic" today had a piece on this very subject and there's a quote I'd like to read to you from that particular article. It said, "For the past century, the United States has let its forest grow thick with underbrush, creating lush, rustic landscapes that with the right conditions can turn into potent tinder boxes." Fire prevention, ironically, that has been championed by environmentalist, the tree huggers, if you will, is leading to the devastation of the largest stand of Ponderosa pines in this country. There's a bit of sad irony there, isn't there?

MCCAIN: Yes it is and not all environmental groups oppose this clearing out this underbrush and new growth and leaving the old growth trees in being (ph), but there was enough of them that they kept lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit, that kept us from proceeding. We, Arizona Congressional Delegation, we've known about it.

We've written letters. We've been involved in it for years because we've got some good people up at Northern Arizona University that are experts on this, as well as our fire service people in Arizona. We've been trying to do it for years. And it's a tragedy and I hope now that these radical environmental organizations will join with us, and do whatever we need legislatively and regulatory ways to encourage commercial organizations to come in there. Leave the old trees alone, use their resources and talent to get rid of this new growth and prevent such a disaster from ever happening again.

O'BRIEN: So Senator, would you say it's time to once again begin prescribed burns, something that's obviously very controversial.

MCCAIN: Yes, but I don't blame that all on the environmentalists. People in neighboring towns and cities including the ones that I live in don't want the ash and the smoke impacting them. So it's also been a bit of a NIMBY problem. But yes, prescribed burning is one of the answers as well.

O'BRIEN: All right. Not in my backyard. Senator McCain...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: ... with a little sense of what it's like right now on the fire lines. He has flown over it just this past weekend.

Thanks for spending a little bit of time...

MCCAIN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: ... with us on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

To give you an idea of just how large this fire is, well take a look at this NASA image, which comes from a satellite called "Tara" (ph) which is orbiting the earth. This area kind of in the upper center portion of your screen is the four-corners region. Down here lower left, those red dots, those are areas that are actually damaged by the fire. And if you look, this is Arizona right here. You see the plume of smoke moving into New Mexico.

As I move the screen over, you can see that plume of smoke goes over almost the entire northern part of New Mexico. Then as you move up into the Colorado region, you see those red dots there, indicating some of the fires there, including the Hayman blaze there and the smoke that is caused by them. Truly devastating fires, truly milestone fires, which will be remembered for some time to come. And we wish the firefighters and the front lines well there.

The woman accused of starting the Hayman fire in Colorado could face some more trouble. Forest Service worker Terry Barton is being held on $600,000 bail.

And now doctors say, an asthma attack that killed a Colorado woman has -- was brought on by smoke from that Hayman fire. The woman's husband says he holds Barton responsible. Prosecutors say too soon to comment however.

Well the premier broadcast of CNN's "CONNIE CHUNG" tonight will feature an exclusive interview with Terry Barton's family. Find out how they feel about charges Barton deliberately started the worst fire in Colorado history. You can you join Connie at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

Now after that, CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" features an exclusive interview with the parents of murdered "Wall Street Journal" reporter, Daniel Pearl. That's all tonight right here on CNN.

A trip to a church youth retreat comes to a deadly end. The latest on the fatal bus crash in Dallas that killed four children and a bus driver.

Plus police turn the focus to a new man in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case. Did a handyman abduct the 14 year old from her bedroom?

And he has five wives, now he's been found guilty of rape. The trials and tribulations of a notorious polygamist.

BLITZER: What state holds the record for having the highest recorded temperature: Alabama, California, Florida, Wisconsin? The answer, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem. We'll have some heartfelt stories coming up from Israelis who've lost their loved ones in terror over these past several months. But first, let's check some other top stories at this hour.

A surprise rally on Wall Street leads those top stories. This afternoon, the Nasdaq Composite Index bounced back from a notable decline earlier in the day. It had slipped beneath the post September 11 closing low of 1,423. But by this evening's closing bell, the Nasdaq bounced back to 1,460.

An al Qaeda spokesman says Osama bin Laden is not only alive and well, but will soon appear in a new video. This message of a pending bin Laden video was mentioned on a recently released al Qaeda audiotape, but it never mentioned when this new bin Laden video would surface.

And in New Jersey, 36 people today were indicted on charges of trafficking in fake driver's licenses and other forms of state-issued identification. Eight employees of the Department of Motor Vehicles are among those indicted. Officials say there's no evidence the indicted had links to terrorists.

Let's get some other news now. Once again, my colleague and good friend, Miles O'Brien, he joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Wolf. A summer adventure turned deadly in Texas today. A bus on its way to summer camp crashed near Dallas, killing four teenagers and the driver. Shaun Rabb of CNN affiliate KDFW joining us now from Terrell, Texas with more. Hello, Shaun.

SHAUN RABB, KDFW REPORTER: Good evening, Miles.

The Interstate 20, one of the major East-West arteries through Texas just now opening only 10, 15 minutes ago. It had been shut down all day since the accident this morning with this charter bus.

Let me describe for you what the bus looks like. We'll go to the video. But imagine a can of sardines being peeled back. That's the way the bus looked after it left the Interstate and rammed into a cement embankment, wedging itself between that embankment and some cement pillars.

Let's take a look at the video. The entire left side of that bus simply sheared off. Five people on that bus killed instantly. The driver and four of the young people on that bus, ranging in age from 13 to 17 or 18 years old, all headed to Louisiana Tech for a weeklong church camp for young people this summer. It was supposed to be a pleasant time starting today, but a horrible, horrible Monday here just 30-miles east of Dallas.

No one is sure at this time what caused the accident. People behind the bus on the Interstate described the bus as weaving back and forth before it left the road, again slamming into that cement pillar and shearing off part of that bus, kind of like you peel back a banana even, simply unbelievable.

One person described it as bodies and blood everywhere. Another church minister who was driving behind the bus said it's the worst thing he ever saw.

At one time today, there were as many as eight Care Flight helicopters hovering here in this area, transporting 35 injured children to hospitals in east Texas, some of those even were taken back to hospitals in Dallas, Texas.

There were so many Care Flight ambulances here -- the helicopters, it looked like a flock of birds at one time hovering over this part of Interstate 20, just three miles from Terrell, Texas. The Metro Church is located in Garland, a suburb just east of Dallas. It is a huge church, a growing church, a nondenominational church catering to young people. The church has been flourishing and many of those young people today continue to talk about their faith not being wavered in God despite this accident that transpired here.

In fact, just a few moments ago, one of the young men who was on the bus broke a leg, was here with his crutches, the cast on his leg and flowers, bringing flowers to the point where his friends lost their lives when this trip turned tragic.

O'BRIEN: Wow, that's a poignant moment. Shaun Rabb of our CNN affiliate KDFW, thank you very much for that story. We appreciate it.

Transportation officials met behind closed doors in Washington this afternoon, hoping to reach an agreement that will keep America's passenger trains rolling.

Amtrak, the federally-subsidized national passenger railroad, says it needs $200 million to avoid a shutdown that could begin this week.

Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta was scheduled to make an announcement this afternoon. So far though, he has not appeared.

Besides affecting inner-city rail passengers, a shutdown could stop local trains serving hundreds of thousands of commuters.

In our "Justice File," the Supreme Court has ruled that judges alone can not determine who gets the death penalty. In a 7-2 decision announced today, the Court says juries must participate. Today's ruling bars executions ordered by judges without the input of a jury, meaning more than 100 death sentences in five states may have to be reconsidered.

Utah polygamist Tom Green (ph) convicted of bigamy last year was convicted today of child rape as well. One of Green's five wives was 13 years old at the time of their marriage. It took a judge just a half an hour to find Green guilty. He'll be sentenced in August and could face life in prison.

Investigators say a handyman with a nearly 30-year criminal record could be a big piece of the puzzle surrounding the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart. CNN's Ed Lavandera live now with more on this new figure in the case.

Hello, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Police going as far today as saying that Richard Ricci is at the top of five or six strong leads that they are pursuing at this point.

Now we understand that Richard Ricci came into the picture a couple weeks ago as police were starting, beginning their investigation into the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. When they went to the house, they were trying to gather up lists of names of all the people who might have had access to the home over the last couple of years.

Sources tell CNN that Richard Ricci's name came up on that list and they did some background information on him and it turned up a 30- year criminal history, which includes aggravated assault, burglary, attempted murder of a police officer, a crime for which he served 15 years in prison. He also tried to break out of a state jail here in Utah in 1982. He spent two weeks on the run because of that crime.

Now this afternoon, Richard Ricci, we found out lives in a trailer park community with his wife, just south of Salt Lake City. CNN's Jeanne Meserve was able to speak with Ricci's in-laws who were there this afternoon. They say that Ricci is a gentle man, a smart man, a very kind, gentle person, who was at home the night that Elizabeth Smart was abducted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROXY MORSE, RICCI ACQUAINTANCE: He just seemed like a natural person, down to earth, common sense type of guy. He was in prison before but I don't know anything about that, and you wouldn't ever think he'd been in prison if you didn't know it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Ricci -- police say that Ricci hasn't admitted any kind of guilt in connection with this crime. They also say that he is not a suspect at this point. Ricci, though, is being held in a Salt Lake City jail where he's being held without bail.

He'll remain there because police have picked him up on a parole violation. Ricci was paroled on another -- what was it -- paroled in September of 2000 and he was picked up for a parole violation on June 14.

So he's been in police custody for ten days, and he's been answering their questions and they say that the story he's given them so far leaves a lot of suspicion for police and that's why they'll continue to question him -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Ed, before you get away -- what about Bret Edmunds, the person that was discovered in West Virginia, having had a drug overdose apparently in a hospital? Apparently, he's cooperated with investigators. Is that part of this story over, or do we expect to hear more about Bret Edmunds?

LAVANDERA: Police say they still haven't scratched Bret Michael Edmunds off of the list or the theories that they're looking into at this point. They say he has been cooperating, that he's provided all of the information that they've wanted.

They won't go into specifics about that, but the investigator and the FBI agent who spent the weekend interviewing Edmunds in West Virginia have returned to Salt Lake City, and they say until now, everything's -- they're happy with what they've gotten from him so far.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Ed Lavandera joining us from Salt Lake City, thank you very much.

Now, let's turn it back to Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Miles. Beyond the news headlines and the live television reports, the victims of terrorism have to deal with an incredible amount of trauma and pain. When we come back, my special discussion with some of those victims of terror here in Israel, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. This week, we're taking a closer look at the toll of terrorism here in Israel. Only this year, some 225 Israelis have been killed in terror attacks.

CNN does not wish to minimize the political elements involved or the suffering of the Palestinian people. That suffering is, of course, very real, but we've covered that. We'll continue to cover that.

This week, we're focusing in on the victims of terror. For now, CNN will continue to cover that part of the story. Earlier today, I had a chance to speak to some of those victims of terror, a mother whose son was beaten to death last year on a wilderness hike; a clinical psychologist who deals with the impact of suicide bombings; a man who lost five members of his own family at the Sobaro Pizzeria (ph) here in Jerusalem last year; and a young woman injured in the bombing of that discotheque in Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEIR SCHIJVESCHUURDER, LOST FIVE RELATIVES IN SUICIDE BOMBING: A suicide bomber got into the Sobaro (ph) pizza in downtown Jerusalem in 9 August and he murdered 15 people, including my five siblings, my family, my father, my mother, my two little sisters and one of my little brothers.

BLITZER: How have you coped though with losing your parents and three brothers and sisters in one suicide bombing?

SCHIJVESCHUURDER: I don't -- it's hard to give an answer to this question. It changed my life forever.

BLITZER: Sherri, tell us the story of what happened to your son.

SHERRI MANDELL, KOBY MANDELL FOUNDATION: Koby is one of over 550 people who have been killed by terrorism in the last year and a half.

BLITZER: Here in Israel?

MANDELL: Here in Israel. Koby was an eighth grade boy. He was 13 years old. He was just -- he's my oldest son. He was just starting to grow up. The night before he was killed, about 10:30 at night, he came into my room. He said, "mommy, I love you so much," and he gave me a big hug, and that was the last time I ever kissed him.

The next day, instead of going to school, he and his friend Joseph Ishran (ph) who was 14, they went hiking in the canyon right behind our house. We had moved to our community because it's such a beautiful nature spot and such a beautiful wilderness area.

And he went down there hiking with his backpack and his salami sandwich in his backpack, and there he was met by terrorists who took rocks, boulders the size of bowling balls and smashed his head in, smashed his whole body, battered him so he was unidentifiable, and took his blood and smeared it on the walls of the caves. He was killed because of one reason, hate. Terrorism is hate. Terrorism is cruelty and terrorism is taught.

BLITZER: Polina, talk about what happened when you went to the discotheque at the Dolphin area near Tel Aviv.

POLINA VALIS, SUICIDE BOMBING VICTIM: We were standing in the line waiting for the door to open and we just wanted to dance.

BLITZER: You had just finished high school.

VALIS: Yes. No, I finish high school this year. I finished my exam. I did well. So we decided to celebrate it, and suddenly I heard the big hard noise, big boom, and I found myself on the floor.

I felt something burning next to me and I saw that the floor was covered with blood and bodies and everything. I didn't realize what happened to me. I saw my friend running so I ran after her and we were hiding behind the car.

I realized what happened only in the hospital when I saw on the television what happened there. They started to read the names of the people who were dead and I saw lots of friends of mine were there on the list.

BLITZER: Dr. Brom, how do people manage to come back after these personal tragedies, these horrific stories that we hear? You deal with them on a daily basis.

DANNY BROM, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, well I think you hear it from these people. These people, who have gone through hell, they come here at night. They get up every morning. They function, the majority of them. There are people who can not function, but there are -- the majority does.

It's a different story when you talk about what are the long-term consequences, especially if you talk about the loss of a close relative, especially loss of a child. The loss of a child, I think, in our culture at least is the most horrific and the most traumatic thing you can go through, and that is something you will carry with you throughout your life.

But on the other hand, people have strength and they do cope. They mourn. They have to remember it and they have to forget it, and those two poles pull at you all the time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And tomorrow we'll continue this special series on the victims of terror. We'll speak to those first responders, the people first on the scene seconds after a suicide bombing.

For more information also, go to cnn.com for a special report, "Israel's Victims of Terror." Living with the fear and pain of terror has become a part of daily life for Israelis. Get their stories, photos, biographies, along with a time line of the attacks, cnn.com.

Let's go back to Miles now and get a quick check of what's still ahead this hour -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Wolf. A crucial test is at hand for a pair of one-year-old conjoined twins. Doctors are to decide whether surgery can save them. That story is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked what state holds the record for having the highest recorded temperature? The highest recorded temperature, 134 degrees, was recorded in Greenland Ranch, California, July 10, 1913.

O'BRIEN: So how hot is it in Baltimore? So hot you could probably fry a crab cake on the sidewalk. This is a live shot from Baltimore, Maryland where early summer temperatures are expected to nudge near 100 degrees today and tomorrow. That shot courtesy of WJZ, our affiliate by the way.

It's the same steamy story in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., so the customary heat wave advisories have kicked in across the region. You know the drill, but let's go through it anyway. Limit outdoor activities, drink plenty of fluids, wear light-colored clothing.

Doctors in Dallas are encouraged by early test results on conjoined twins from Egypt. The one-year-old boys have separate brains but share a crucial vessel that must be split between them. Preliminary tests show they don't share as much vascular tissue as first thought. Doctors, though, say it's still too soon to know whether the boys can, in fact, be separated.

Let's go to New York now and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" which begins at the top of hour -- hello, Lou.

LOU DOBBS, ANCHOR, MONEYLINE: Hello Miles, thank you.

Coming up next, the president today announced his plans for a Palestinian State, calling for the removal of Yasser Arafat. We'll have a report for you from the White House and reaction from the Middle East.

Out West a raging wildfire is advancing on the town of Show Low, Arizona. Firefighters now say it is inevitable that that blaze will move through the town. We'll be going live to Show Low for the very latest.

And Martha Stewart's damaged reputation in the ImClone scandal has spread to her own company. We'll have a report on the deepening troubles for Martha Stewart. All of that and a lot more at the top of the hour please join us.

Now, let's return to Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou, and you have just two minutes remaining to weigh in on our "Question of the Day." Do you think you will see a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in your lifetime? Go to my web page cnn.com/wolf and vote. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now, here's how you're weighing in on our web question of the day. Earlier we asked: Do you think you will see a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in your lifetime? Look at this, 33 percent of you said yes, 67 percent said no.

Remember, this is not a scientific poll. That's all the time we have today. I'll be back here in Jerusalem tomorrow, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll continue our "Victims of Terror" special report.

For Miles O'Brien, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem.

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