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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Afghan Government Urges More Caution in U.S. Operations; Russian Republic Bereft at Plane Crash; Balloonist Circles Globe
Aired July 02, 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: They'll empty the terminals at the drop of a hat, but are airports too quick to evacuate?
Scores of Afghans are dead. Was a U.S. gunship responsible?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The air crew and the airplane believed they were returning fire against anti-aircraft weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Looking for the cause of a midair collision. Among the victims, more than 50 children.
Police say they failed a breathalyzer test after taking the controls. Should all airline pilots be tested for alcohol?
And he did it!
It's Tuesday, July 2nd, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're following a developing story right now. The U.S. Marine Corps has a proud history and reputation for discipline and integrity. But the results today of a two-year drug investigation at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina are tarnishing that well-polished image.
CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us now live from the Pentagon with details -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, tomorrow Wolf authorities from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and civilian law enforcement down at Camp Lejeune will release what the result was of a two-year investigation of illegal drug use by marines and sailors at Camp Lejeune, finding that 84 of them were involved in either the sale or distribution of so-called designer drugs.
It was called Operation Exterminator and they say that they found about 61 of those marines or sailors who were actually distributing these drugs, another 23 or so who were using them. This was an operation that primarily went into the clubs around the base at Camp Lejeune where these people were conducting this activity in their off hours. It involved informants and observation, and again, it has turned up over a two-year period, more than 80 active duty Marine and sailors who were involved in these illegal drugs.
Now most of these cases have already come to trial and people have faced court martial. Most of them have been expelled from the service. Now, the Marine Corps says that while 84 sounds like a big number, they point out that it's less than .001 percent of the 50 to 60,000 marines who cycled through Camp Lejeune during that two-year period - Wolf.
BLITZER: That's a good point. Jamie, I remember from my days covering the Pentagon this is by no means a problem that only the Marines face, this has been a long-standing problem involving all branches of the military, right?
MCINTYRE: That's right. Last year, for instance, the Air Force Academy had a bit of a drug scandal themselves when 38 cadets out of the 4300 there were implicated in illegal drug use involving designer drugs and marijuana. As a result of that, the Air Force Academy increased its drug-testing program, put more emphasis on ethics in their training, but the Marine Corps and all the military says they're aware that this is a problem. It's part of the training, and that this Operation Exterminator is simply part of their effort to crack down on it.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much. Let's move on now to talk the war on terror. A worldwide caution from the State Department and code yellow here in the United States. Americans prepare to celebrate their freedom on alert for terrorists.
The words from the State Department are alarming. The U.S. government continues to receive credible indications that extremists individuals are planning additional terrorist actions against U.S. interests. Such actions may be imminent and include suicide operations.
The worldwide caution warns Americans traveling abroad to avoid places where Americans congregate, including clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools or outdoor recreation events. No specific targets, timing or method of attack are mentioned in this advisory, which is similar to one issued in March. That warning had followed an attack on Americans at a church in Islamabad, Pakistan. Americans are urged again to remain vigilant and to exercise caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Ending the threat of terrorism will not be easy. The road ahead will be long and sometimes bumpy. Deadly attacks may take place again at any time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Those kinds of attacks could take place inside the United States as well. The latest FBI bulletin urges state and local law enforcement authorities to take heightened precautions in advance of the July 4th celebrations. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEP. DIR. JAMES BOLDEN, MEMPHIS POLICE: The information from the federal government has been very helpful to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We welcome people to come (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We want them to enjoy themselves and we are prepared to almost handle any situation we have.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: The overriding message that we have concerning security in New York on the fourth is relax and let our law enforcement professionals do the worrying for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Still, the nation's terrorist threat advisory level will not be raised from its current yellow or elevated status. Homeland Security Adviser Tom Ridge tells CNN there is increased al Qaeda operational activity, citing recent arrests in Morocco and Tunisia, but he adds there is no specific threat involving the 4th of July.
President Bush offered this suggestion to Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They should celebrate heartily, because we have freedom and we love freedom, and I -- they should also know our government is doing everything we can to make the homeland secure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: That vigilance is especially intense around the nation's landmarks, including in Washington, DC.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All bags will be checked, purses, backpacks. We want to make certain that this is a family environment and once someone comes on to park property they can feel comfortable in knowing that the person that they're sitting next to has also gone through a security screening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: More than 6 months ago in response to anthrax attacks, the Postal Service began to irradiate congressional mail. Employees are still experiencing health problems such as headaches and skin rashes, but a report by the Congressional Office of Compliance, which monitors workplace conditions, says there is not sufficient information to link the irradiated mail conclusively to the symptoms. Investigators did find chemical irritants produced by the irradiation process, but could not measure their effects. The report calls for further studies while suggesting employees handling the mail wear protective gloves. It's been nine months sense the wave of deadly anthrax letters began passing through the U.S. mail. "New York Times" columnist Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, has written a stinging piece accusing the FBI of -- quote -- "lackadaisical ineptitude in pursuing the killer." Nicholas Kristof joins us from now live from New York.
Nicholas, thanks for joining us. Give us the thrust of what you're reporting in the "New York Times" on the op-ed page today.
NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES: The gist of it is that it has been nine months and that the FBI has been treating this in what seems to many of the people in the bio defense community as a plodding, careful, typical law enforcement case, and it's not. It's an urgent national security issue, to show that people cannot get away with mass murder through bio weapons, and also an urgent need to prevent the perpetrator from escaping to some kind of rogue state out there and helping their bioterror program. So really, my aim was to try to help light a fire under the FBI and to deal with this more aggressively.
BLITZER: The FBI, we spoke to them today -- repeatedly they insist they're doing everything possible to find out who's responsible for those anthrax letters. I want you to listen to what one FBI agent said earlier today in Newark, New Jersey.
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LOUIE ALLEN, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, it's like this. It's not television. It takes a long time. Sometimes investigations can be protracted. There's a lot of legwork. There's a lot of -- just a lot of things that go into an investigation, a good investigation, and whoever did this was pretty good. And we're spending numerous, numerous amounts of time all over the country investigating this thing. And we just can't come up with great results every day.
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BLITZER: And they also say they do have scientists working on this as well, but you've come up with some suspicions of your own. Why don't you tell our viewers what they are.
KRISTOF: Well, I think you're referring to the "Mr. Z" who I wrote about. I didn't use his real name. Initially in a column back in May I first wrote about him kind of elliptically. He's somebody who is in the bio defense community in the kind of military intelligence establishment, somebody with deep connections, and there's been a lot of buzz about him as somebody that people think should be investigated a lot more closely.
And it's kind of incredible that all this buzz is going on and it seems to be imperative that the FBI either move more aggressively and tie up these loose ends concerning "Mr. Z" or else take steps to try to exculpate. But we have this very strange situation right now going on where everybody in the bio defense community - you know it's a small group of people who could produce that kind of aerosolized dry anthrax, are talking about somebody, and I don't want to go into him by name, but he certainly has got an incredible past that bears scrutiny.
BLITZER: And one of the things you do write in the - in the column the bureau's lackadaisical ineptitude in pursuing the anthrax killer, continues to threaten America's national security by permitting it to strike again or more likely to flee to Iran and North Korea.
This "Mr. Z", you say has all sorts of background ties to former country of Rhodesia, South Africa, and that he's been allowed to travel even to Central Asia recently. Is that -- that's one of the points you make.
KRISTOF: Yes, that's correct. I mean it seems to me, you know, that if the perpetrator, you know, whoever that person proves to be, feels the world kind of closing in on him, then they've got every incentive to run off to Iran or to North Korea and not only to continue to threaten us, but also to provide their incredible skills to that kind of country. And so I think that, you know, this isn't just another law enforcement case.
It's a real national security issue, and the idea that we're helping send one person in whom there is great interest to Central Asia seems to me, you know, astonishing. And also there is the question about South Africa and Rhodesia aside from the question of who sent the anthrax. "Mr. Z" worked for the armed forces of the white Rhodesian government and the white South African government and the idea that we would have a mercenary for two white racist regimes helping, you know, work with some of the most deadliest - some of the deadliest germs for the U.S. bio defense establishment seems to me just remarkable.
BLITZER: All right, Nicholas Kristof writing a very, very strong piece on the op-ed page of the "New York Times" today. Thanks for joining us. We'll continue to, of course, follow this story and hopefully get the FBI's take on it as we go along.
The FBI insisting once again they're doing everything possible to find out who is responsible for those anthrax letters. And here's your chance, by the way, to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this.
Do you think authorities will find the person or persons behind the anthrax letters? 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 read some on them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also where you can read my daily online column, CNN.com/Wolf.
A U.S. military convoy has come under attack in Afghanistan. The convoy, carrying civil affairs and medical personnel, was traveling near Kandahar when it was ambushed by gunmen. One American was slightly wounded. The U.S. team had just visited a hospital where Afghan civilians were taken after being fired on Monday by U.S. forces. Pentagon says it was most likely an AC-130 gunship that mistakenly shot up an Afghan village yesterday, killing or wounding dozens of civilians. U.S. investigators are on the ground now trying to figure out precisely what went wrong.
CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wounded and in pain, Afghan children recover in a Kandahar hospital. Victims, relatives say, of a coalition attack on a wedding party. Survivors say 120 to 130 of the 300 partygoers were killed in a three-hour bombing raid. Estimates, however, conflict with the official Afghan death toll of 40. Coalition forces spokesman also disagree with reports from Kandahar that claim celebratory gunfire at the wedding could have cause mistargeting by coalition aircraft.
COL. ROGER KING, U.S. ARMY: The people on board the aircraft felt that the weapons were tracking them and were making a sustained effort to engage them.
ROBERTSON: Coalition spokesmen say the area had been hostile to previous Special Forces operations.
KING: There was also some intent to exploit what intelligence had told us would be a sensitive site, which could be a place that would contain weapons, documents or personnel that we were looking for.
ROBERTSON: So far the joint U.S. Afghan and coalition forces investigation team traveling to Daraward (ph), where coalition forces say the incident took place, have yet to report on any of these discrepancies.
GEN. DAN MCNEILL, COALITION FORCE CMDR: ...that if indeed something went wrong, what it was, and we will do our best to make it right.
ROBERTSON: Making it right in the future is what Afghan leaders are now calling for.
DR. ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: It will not be acceptable for the people of Afghanistan if that becomes a pattern. Civilians are civilians, and we have the responsibility to protect them.
ROBERTSON: While Afghan politicians are hardening their attitude to civilian casualties caused by coalition forces, an attack on a U.S. convoy late Tuesday in the southern city of Kandahar, leaving one soldier with a bullet wound in his foot, hint some Afghans may be losing patience with the international soldiers.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Bagram, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Pilots allegedly boozing it up before taking flight. Two were busted for it yesterday. Now the question, how common is it? We'll get to the bottom of the bottle on this story.
Plus, a plane filled with children crashes head-on into a cargo jet. Miles O'Brien with a special report.
And Sammy Sosa faces the tough question on steroids. Why won't he take the test? We'll have an exclusive "Sports Illustrated" report later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. American and Russian investigators set out for southern Germany today to search for clues in a deadly plane collision. At least 71 people are believed to have died when a Russian jetliner and a cargo plane collided over a resort area. The jet was carrying a group of Russian teenagers on a vacation outing to Spain. Authorities say it's a miracle that no one on the ground was injured.
CNN's Miles O'Brien joins us from CNN Center with more on the collision and how it unfolded -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. It's a tragic tale, really, because it seems as if a lot of the equipment worked here, but there was a coincidence of timing and perhaps a little bit of misunderstanding relating to languages, which might have led to this tragedy. First of all let's take a look at the map, give you a sense of where these two aircraft were, where they were headed.
Just to tell you where these points on the map are, that is Munich there. That is Bergamo, Italy. This is Barcelona, Spain. Up here is Brussels. The DHL 757 was traveling from Bergamo to Brussels, that directions. The Tupolev 154, which began in Moscow and was ultimately headed to Barcelona had stopped in Munich and was headed in that direction.
You see where the two routes intersect. That is basically where the accident occurred and that's where the trouble began. Let's take a look at how it all unfolded - 3D animation put together by our team here to give you a sense. In the fore ground here, that's the 757, the DHL cargo hauler. That's the Tupolev 154, not unlike the Boeing 727, sort of the Russian version of that.
As they were flying into the same sector, controllers realized that they were on a collision course. Both aircraft were at 36,000 feet, and it was clear from radar screens in Switzerland that the two would intersect at some point in this location. The controller, a Swiss controller, radioed to the Russian pilot of the Tupolev 154 and asked him to descend 1,000 feet to 35,000 feet. That would put him out of harm's way. The DHL aircraft would have sped by.
Well, there apparently was some language difficulties here. The Russian pilot, after all, English not his first language, the Swiss controller, English not his first language. English is the international language of aviation -- took him some time to comply with this request. What happened in the interim time was the device on the 757, which looks for opposing traffic, sent out these sort of radio beams and told the pilot on a screen that this was a potential collision target and told the pilot of the 757 to go down.
I think you might be guessing what happened. Both planes apparently simultaneously descended at the same rate, thus apparently leading to that collision. Truly, one in a million type of circumstance in the air, really unprecedented at that altitude for two airliners to come together in that way. Let's look quickly at the Web and give you a sense of what this TCAS, traffic collision avoiding system does.
It sets up kind of an oval, an egg, around a plane, gives it some forward indication of potential targets that might be causing some difficulty. This one would be the intruder. Let me show what it looks like inside the cockpit of a plane to give you a sense of what the pilot would see and how he would be able to discern that there might be trouble out there.
You see these little dots here. Those are hypothetical traffic targets. Now that might lead to you some concern, but each of those targets is heading in various directions at different altitudes. The computer identifies the target that might be the one to cause you trouble, and it tells the pilot to either go up or go down in a hurry.
In this case it told the pilot to dive, dive, dive, we believe and unfortunately that Tupolev 154 pilot made his decision to go down and comply with that controller's request at just about precisely the same time. That's at least the way it's unfolding for now Wolf.
BLITZER: Miles O'Brien at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Thank you very much. A last-minute decision sent those group - that group of Russian children to their deaths in the sky over Germany. They had been placed on a special charter flight to Spain after missing an earlier flight.
We get more now on the victims and the reaction to the tragic crash from CNN's Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: This is where they came as soon as the news broke. Parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, the loved ones of those who perished when two planes collided. The 52 children who died were on their way to a vacation in Spain. Now in their home city UFA, the small Republic of Bashkortostan, east of Moscow in the rural mountains, the families try to understand. The grandfather of a 14-year-old girl...
MIKHAIL STARTSEV, GRANDFATHER OF VICTIM (through translator): She was the only child in the family, he says, and her father loved her more than anybody. We will never manage to overcome this tragedy.
DOUGHERTY: The children who died on that flight were the best and the brightest of this Republic. Outstanding students, athletes, budding artists, all specially chosen for a trip abroad. Doctors and psychiatrists tried to help.
RASHIDAM YUSUPOVA, ASSISTANT CHIEF DOCTOR, (through translator): All the relatives were in complete shock, this doctor says. We came here as soon as we heard about it.
DOUGHERTY: At the airport in Ufa (ph), staff from Bashkirian (ph) Airlines man a hotline, checking lists to see whether someone was aboard. The company says part of the children's group did make it to Spain over the weekend on another airliner.
The children who died missed their initial flight when they went to the wrong airport and had to leave Monday. Bashkirian (ph) Airlines officials claim that, contrary to initial reports, their pilots were experienced and spoke English. The plane, they say, met all European technical requirements. The families, meanwhile, are applying for visas to travel to Germany to the site where the plane went down.
KHALYAF ISHMURATOV, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF BASHKORTOSTAN (through translator): They just want to see the site of the crash, says the deputy prime minister, the place their children died. They want to take at least a piece of soil that could contain even one drop of blood. Three days of mourning have been declared in the Republic, as the families prepare to bury their dead.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Ufa, Russia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: What a tragedy.
Here in the United States, federal officials are promising smarter security at the nation's evacuation plagued airports where the current policy seems to be when in doubt, clear them out.
CNN's Patty Davis has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport shut down for hours in November, 10,000 passengers ordered out on a street when a man runs past security to get his camera bag. Louisville, passengers rescreened, flights delayed in February after a security employee reportedly falls asleep on the job.
New Orleans International Airport, evacuated in February, a suspicious package later found to be harmless gumbo -- all part of the Transportation Department's zero tolerance policy. It's resulted in 126 airport evacuations since last October. Three thousand flight delays for security reasons.
Now the Transportation Security Administration is telling airport security to ease up. Not every incident requires the evacuation of a concourse or the rescreening of passengers, says a new security directive. In addition, planes won't be called back to the terminal to rescreen passengers if there's a breach. The TSA says a blanket response to security breaches instituted after September 11 won't work. Airport officials agree.
IAN REDHEAD, AIRPORTS COUNCIL INTL: With this more common sense approach, it should really facilitate a smoother package for passengers through the checkpoints.
DAVIS: The guidelines direct new federal airport security staff to act immediately when there's a breach, but use more discretion, shutting down only parts of an airport, if necessary.
The directive comes as security screeners at the nation's 32 largest airports reportedly missed one in four fake weapons in tests by undercover agents. TSA vows security will improve when all federal screeners are in place and so will airport gridlock.
Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Two America West pilots are accused of operating an aircraft under the influence of alcohol after they failed a breathalyzer test. And they're now on paid leave as an investigation gets under way. Police in Miami say the pilots were arrested after their Phoenix-bound jetliner was called back to the terminal.
One hundred twenty-four passengers were on board. Security screeners say they smelled alcohol on the pilots' breath as they passed through a checkpoint. The two men were released on bond. With me now to talk more about this is the former FAA Chief of Staff Michael Goldfarb.
Michael, thanks as usual for joining us. I'll put this -- the numbers up on our screen. The first - the Captain Thomas Cloyd had .091 amount of alcohol in his blood. The First Officer Christopher Hughes .084. In Florida to operate a car, if you have more than .8 -- .08, you're drunk.
MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FMR. FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: Right, and you're in jail in many states. Wolf, this is the last thing we need since 9/11. Enough white-knuckle flyers today to worry about aviation security. This is not an aviation industry-wide problem. There is zero tolerance in the industry. What were they thinking?
I mean this is an experienced crew. It is just highly unusual to have this kind of thing occur. America West, in fact, has a 12-hour policy, not even the 8-hour federal requirement, which means 12 hours prior to a flight, no alcohol, nothing, not a sip can be - can be consumed.
BLITZER: How common is it, though, for pilots, for people up in the cockpit to be -- to go on having just consumed some alcohol?
GOLDFARB: It's uncommon. It's uncommon. If you're talking about while they're on flight and duty time, it's absolutely not tolerated.
BLITZER: There are only a handful of cases each year ... GOLDFARB: There's never been an accident tied to alcohol, thankfully. And in fact the penalties are quite severe. If you're caught and convicted, you lose your ability to fly pretty much with any airline in America. They're checked every year. There's a random testing at every airline, and 25 percent of all the personnel are checked randomly. So it is not a problem. We have enough going on right now to worry about. This is not one of them.
BLITZER: So standard, the breathalyzer tests going in for pilots just going on a plane ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... that would - that would not be a good idea.
GOLDFARB: That would cause more harm than good. It would take the attention off where it really needs to be. You know we had a debate about guns in the cockpit and whether that's the best way to secure a plane. We need vigilance among the flight crews and the airlines nowadays to recover civil aviation, to provide the protection the passengers need, and hopefully this is a one-day story ...
BLITZER: But if you're the chairman or the chief executive officer of America West, what do you do now to restore confidence in the flying public that your pilots are not drinking before they're flying?
GOLDFARB: Well I think if you're America West chairman, I don't know what floor that conference room is on (UNINTELLIGIBLE) boardroom, but you go ballistic. You fire these pilots. They should be fired. Something is not right about the story.
There's something strange about it, that these two pilots -- one pilot joined in 1990. He's had over 12 years of flying these aircraft. To suddenly come in with that degree of blood alcohol in their body and get the - and get on the - taxi out onto the runway - luckily we had the screeners and we had air traffic control act to prevent a potential catastrophe.
BLITZER: What about illegal drugs - cocaine ...
GOLDFARB: It's - in the industry the statistics are very low compared to other transport workers and the general public. So we just don't have that kind of problem right now.
BLITZER: OK, Michael Goldfarb, thanks for your insight. Thank you very much.
Sammy Sosa under pressure to take a steroids test. He says, "No way." We'll find out what's behind his hesitation in an exclusive report when we return. Plus, a record-setting day for Steve Fossett, finally, how a millionaire business mogul turned into an adventure thrill seeker and the royal saga -- Prince Charles stepping out publicly with Camilla in Scotland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are in Scotland this week. When in Scotland, the Prince of Wales is called what? Prince of East Wales, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Scotts, King of Plaid? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. The baseball steroid controversy continues to make waves. Reports that some of the game's biggest stars take muscle-enhancing drugs have many players on edge. There was an angry confrontation in the Chicago Cubs locker room when "Sports Illustrated" columnist Rick Reilly suggested that slugger Sammy Sousa should be tested. Rick Reilly joins us now to talk about the incident. He joins us from the studios of KMGH television in Denver.
All right, Rick, tell us what happened.
RICK REILLY, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Well, Sammy has been saying to the press all year, "When this testing comes, I want to be first in line." So I thought what I had was a good column idea, to go to him and say, "Look, let's go to this place called Lab Corps, which is 45 minutes from Chicago to get tested. And when you come up positive, I'll write the column that hey, here's one slugger that's not on steroids."
So I did my interview for a while and then, I said, "Hey, you still want to be first to be tested?" And he said, "Yes." And I said, "Well, you don't have to wait. Here's a place to go." And you ought to have thought I'd have handed the guy a bucket full of anthrax or something. I mean he just kind of freaked.
BLITZER: When you say, "kind of freaked," what did he say? What did he do?
REILLY: Well, he said, "You know you don't tell me what to do. You're not my father." He said, "What are you doing, trying to get me in trouble?" And I said, "Well, how can you be in trouble if you're not doing anything wrong?"
And you know, he just continued to say that I was - and he -- you know he threw a few f-bombs at me. Hey, it's not the first time an athlete's has thrown an f-bomb at me. But I was just puzzled by a guy who seemed to want to be the first guy tested and here's a chance to clear the cloud over his head and the cloud over - you know, it would clear some of the cloud over baseball's head. And he didn't say, "Let me think about it," or "Let me talk to my agent," or "You call my agent." He just said, "Get the f*** out of my face" and you know, "You're unprofessional," this and that.
You know, I don't know what to say except I wonder why he's reacting that way.
BLITZER: He's reacting on videotape now. I want you to listen. We just got this videotape and I want you to listen to what he's saying in the aftermath of what you're reporting. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMMY SOSA, CHICAGO CUBS: It's something that I really -- it's not supposed to be happening, because everybody knows that I'm really -- just want to be able to play baseball. And you know, I'm a happy person and I take a lot of pride in my job. It's my life, so...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Clearly, he's not reacting directly, but he's obviously not very happy, though, by this whole series of exchanges he's had with you. Give our viewers, who may not be all that familiar with the background -- right now, the Players Association doesn't want players tested, is that right?
REILLY: Well, baseball is the only major sport except for hockey that doesn't test for steroids and this includes the NCAA, Olympics. Everybody tests for steroids. Baseball has such a powerful union, they don't allow players to be tested and that includes the 40-man roster into the minor leagues.
Now, in the last four years, we've had a number - we've had the Major League record book pretty much just shredded like an Enron document. I mean it's just a joke. I mean it took us 120 years to find two guys to hit 60. Now, in the last four years, it's been done five times.
So everybody is looking at these numbers like this doesn't quite add up. So when a guy comes out, as Sosa has come out and said, "I want to be tested. I want to be the first to be tested" and you call him on it. And you say, "Look, here's your chance. Go get tested. Here's how we'll do it. We'll have the results in 10 days." And he freaks out on you. Then, it really makes you go -- what is going on?
BLITZER: But you're - are you suggesting, Rick, that you are suspicious how Sammy Sosa managed to hit all those home runs?
REILLY: Gee, the guy - the most he'd ever hit until four years ago was 40. And now, he's had three seasons over 60. So yes, I'm suspicious. I think everybody is suspicious with what's going on in baseball. And now, we're going into this all-star game and then, possibly a strike after that. This would have been something good for baseball to have the leading home run hitter in the league come out and say, "Look, not only am I saying I'm clean, I am clean. Look at the tests."
But he didn't want to do it. So now, we're going to have to wait for perhaps baseball to put in testing and it's probably going to be a watered down version. It won't be for a year. Everybody can clean up. So we'll never know probably, unless someone steps forward with the nerve to do it, whether these numbers are real.
BLITZER: Rick Reilly of our sister publication, "Sports Illustrated," thanks for joining us.
REILLY: All right, Wolf, thanks. BLITZER: We're going to continue to follow this story as well.
Updating you now on another record-breaking event. The balloonist, Steve Fossett, continues to float above Australia at this hour. But he's already drifted into the record books.
Several hours ago, Fossett became the first person to make a solo balloon flight around the world. The 58-year-old millionaire calls his achievement "a very satisfying experience."
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BLITZER (voice-over): He holds boating and flying records. He's been a competitor in the Iditarod sled race. He's driven at Le Mans and he even swam the English Channel. But Steve Fossett will be remembered for becoming the first person to fly a balloon by himself non-stop all the way around the world. It was his sixth attempt. Previous efforts ended in a series of forced landings. But Fossett isn't the kind of man to give up.
Born in California in 1944, he became an Eagle Scout. He began rock climbing at age 11 and went up the Matterhorn during his junior year at Stanford University. He got a Master's Degree at Washington University in St. Louis, in recent years, the site of mission control for his balloon flights.
Then, he went to work in Chicago as an options trader. A friend says he was willing to willing to assume a higher level of risk than other traders. The risks paid off handsomely.
Eventually, Fossett formed his own securities firm. He says he always thrived under pressure. In 1998, he teamed up with British billionaire Richard Branson in an attempt to fly a balloon around the world. They got more than halfway when bad weather forced them down near Hawaii.
A month later, a rival team achieved the goal Fossett and Branson had sought. But instead of giving up, Fossett shifted his focus and decided he'd become the first person to make a balloon trip around the world flying solo. One of hi attempts ended in Canada, one ended in India. When a storm shredded his balloon above Australia, he plunged into the Coral Sea.
STEVE FOSSETT, BALLOONIST: I though it would kill me. And - but I got some left, in 30 seconds, I cut away my tanks. Maybe I gave the balloon a little bit of loft. So I hit the water and then, the capsule was immediately pulled under water and filled with water.
BLITZER: But Fossett didn't give up. And on June 18, his sixth attempt to make a solo balloon flight around the world began in western Australia. Thirteen-and-a-half days and more than 19,000 miles later, Fossett was back where he began, crossing an invisible finish line at 117 degrees longitude and heading into the record books.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Steve Fossett's record-breaking flight is expected to continue for a few more hours until he finds a safe place to land, most likely in southern Australia.
As for the future, Steve Fossett says he's interested in flying a glider above 60,000 feet. Congratulations, Steve.
The beat goes on for two men who took modern medicine to the cutting edge. We'll check in on both of them and find out how their mechanical hearts are holding up. You'll want to see this.
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BLITZER: Welcome back. One year ago today, doctors at a Louisville, Kentucky, hospital gave a patient the world's first totally implantable human heart. The recipient was able to live five months with the device. And several similar devices have been implanted in other patients. CNN medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland looks at where things stand and at some of the ethical questions now being raised.
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TOM CHRISTERSON (ph), HEART TRANSPLANT PATIENT: Hi, you all.
RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventy- one-year-old Tom Christerson (ph) made medical history in April, getting a hero's welcome when he became the first artificial heart patient to actually go home.
CHRISTERSON (ph): Well, I'm here and proud to be here.
ROWLAND: The heart's been implanted in seven men so far. Christerson (ph), who was just days away from death, got his heart nine months ago, then, had to overcome a 107-degree fever and endure weeks of grueling therapy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really kind of mind-boggling. I don't know exactly why, you know, he made it. It took a lot of hard work.
GEORGE ANNAS (ph): If we didn't have him, it would be over.
ROWLAND: George Annas (ph) specializes in health law and bioethics. He is concerned the last two artificial heart recipients died during surgery and three recipients had strokes, which the heart's maker says may have been due to a design flaw that's been fixed.
The other living patient, James Quinn, looked good when this video was taken in January. But days later, he developed pneumonia that doctors say was not related to the artificial heart. This is Quinn on June 30, marking his 52nd birthday. When we talked to him the next day, he did not regret his struggle to recover over the past few months.
JAMES QUINN, HEART TRANSPLANT PATIENT: It's been beautiful. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are taking out a life sustaining organ and replacing it with a machine and praying that this is going to work.
ROWLAND: But the experiment has not been working for Quinn's wife, Irene.
IRENE QUINN, WIFE OF JAMES QUINN: It just hurts so bad. I could not - I mean my husband would be crying out, "Somebody help me." This is something I don't think I'll ever, ever get over.
ROWLAND (on-camera): So if you could turn back the clock, what would you do?
MRS. QUINN: Go the other way. We would have never had it done.
ANNAS (ph): I've always thought that these artificial heart experiments are essentially experiments on the family.
ROWLAND: Quinn and the other men who took a chance on this experiment feel they've made an important contribution. And the families, who've supported and suffered with them, hope this leads to answers for others suffering the devastation of heart disease.
Rhonda Rowland, CNN.
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BLITZER: Prince Charles is officially dating and raising some eyebrows. When we return, she may not be a princess, but Camilla Parker Bowles is certainly taking her place in the royal history books.
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BLITZER: Earlier we asked - when in Scotland, the Prince of Wales is called what? The answer, the Duke of Rothesay.
In Britain, more signs that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles' relationship is getting closer. The couple attended a garden party today in Scotland. With us now from London, the royal biography Robert Lacey.
Mr. Lacey, thanks for joining us. What do you make of all this public attention being given to Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles in Scotland?
ROBERT LACEY, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: Well, it's what's been happening this year already. Camilla played a very prominent role in the jubilee celebration. She was actually in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. That itself seemed quite shocking to many people.
The new stage that's being reached here in Scotland is that Prince Charles is, at the moment, taking his mother's place. Every year, about this time of year, the queen goes up to Scotland and effectively becomes Queen of Scotland. It's a more and more important role in that for the last five years now, Scotland has been devolved. It's got its own parliament. It's got its own first minister and it's normally the queen who goes up there. At the moment, it's Prince Charles.
He saw the first minister of Scotland this morning. He had a lunch for all the press. He gave a garden party and - here's the crucial point - he had Camilla staying with him in Holyrood House, the royal palace. There was no pretense that she wasn't with him.
And indeed, an even more significant point, this afternoon at the garden party, Prince William was there at Prince Charles's shoulder, giving a very close signal that so far as he's concerned, Camilla and dad are all right, that he's very happy for two of them to be together.
BLITZER: Would they ever be able to get married in your opinion? What would that do if they were to get married?
LACEY: I think it - I think the marriage is now not a question of if, but when. And indeed, the bookmakers in Britain have stopped taking bets on whether or not they'll get married. All you could bet on is the year when they are going to get married. I think the shortest odds are in about two years time.
That question you asked earlier about what Prince Charles is called when he's in Scotland has a certain relevance to this because it's not acceptable for people in Britain - for Camilla to become either Princess of Wales or in the future, Queen. She'll have to some other title. And one of the ideas being floated is that when she marries Prince Charles, she will take the title of Duchess of Rothesay.
And there's a precedent to this because the queen's consort has a Scottish title. He is Duke of Edinburgh. So the thought is that we may well see in the future a King Charles III and a Duchess of Rothesay. And they're trying out the relationship and how it goes in Scotland at this very moment.
BLITZER: As you know, many of us on this side of the Atlantic, we're all fascinated by what's going on in the royal family. But how would the public in Britain respond, react, by and large, if Prince Charles were to get married to Camilla Parker Bowles?
LACEY: Well, the polls show that with every passing month, more and more people favor it. On the other hand, whenever I, for example, go on British shows to discuss this and the way in which British public opinion seems to be swinging in favor of Camilla, the phones lines are then opened and the most incredible vitriol and dislike of Camilla comes down the line from the Diana lovers.
And they've got their anniversary coming soon. The end of August will be the fifth anniversary of Diana's death. And one can expect, as one has seen in past years, that many of the wreaths and flowers laid in her memory will contain explicit condemnations of Camilla.
BLITZER: So basically, we're seeing that...
LACEY: So it's with hope, that's the answer.
BLITZER: Prince Charles continued association, obviously, a relationship with Camilla. That would appear to great - again, great for those who still love Princess Diana.
LACEY: Yes, but that is a dying constituency. It's very interesting. Of course, after she died, there was all this fuss about whether or not the flag should be lowered over Buckingham Palace. The Queen, as we remember, gave way over that.
But five years later, there's no public memorial to Diana anywhere in London. There's a little playground that's renamed in her honor. And it's strange that the British public seems to have forgotten and this doesn't seem to cause much unhappiness. I think Camilla's got it all coming her way.
BLITZER: The royal biographer, Robert Lacey, thanks for joining us from London tonight. Appreciate it very much.
Let's go to New York now and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That of course, begins right at the top of the hour. Jan Hopkins is sitting in for Lou tonight - Jan.
JAN HOPKINS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Thanks, Wolf. Coming up on "MONEYLINE," WorldCom's CEO went public today about the accounting scandal for the first time. We'll tell you what he said.
The Afghan foreign minister says 40 civilians were killed by U.S. aircraft yesterday. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says it's too early to know what really happened. We'll have the latest from the Pentagon.
It was another losing session on Wall Street. The Nasdaq fell to new five year low. We'll have complete market coverage. All that and a lot more ahead on "MONEYLINE." Please join us -Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Jan.
Why on Earth would 3,000 people take their clothes off together, outside? The answer and our "Picture of The Day" might surprise you. And you still have a couple more minutes to weigh in on our "Web Question of The Day." Do you think authorities will find the person or persons behind the anthrax letters? The results just ahead.
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BLITZER (voice-over): Just after today's business world, another edition...
ABBY JOSEPH COHEN: The most successful companies are the ones who have stuck to what they know best, the ones that have really focused on strong returns, on capital, strong returns on equity. So it hasn't been just growth-for-growth's sake. It has been growth that leads to an improvement in profits, which in turn, of course, allows companies to hire more workers. And when we think of the overall economy, that really is the ultimate goal. TED BENNA: Our motto is always, you know, putting the client first, doing what is in their best interest, and in the long run, believing that would be in our best interest as the business. And you know it's what I've done for 40-something years.
SALLIE L. KRAWCHECK: If you're very focused on customers and giving them a real value position, which in our case is independent research and if you're constantly talking to them, you're constantly focusing on what you're good at. Independent research can, in fact - can, in fact, exist and exist profitably.
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BLITZER: Now, here is how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Earlier we asked - do you think authorities will find the person or persons behind the anthrax letters? Look at this; the votes are almost evenly split. Forty-nine percent of you say yes. Fifty-one percent say no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.
Looking at our "Picture of The Day," it was downright chilly in Chile. The temperature hovered at the freezing mark. But despite the cold weather, and a cold reception in one of Latin America's most conservative countries, 3,000 people took their clothes off for a Santiago photo shoot. It's part of the U.S. Artist's Worldwide Series, titled "Nude Adventure." OK.
Time now to hear from you on the dispute between the United States and the United Nations over the International Criminal Court. Paul writes - "The U.S. shouldn't be involved in peacekeeping missions in the first place. We are doing the world's dirty work, a job no other country seems to want to do. The last thing we need is an international court breathing down our neck if we happen to make a mistake."
Mary disagrees. "U.S. peacekeepers should be subject to prosecution just like anyone else. What arrogance! We are promoting democracy ALA Orwell - 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'" Finally, this from Barry - "Congratulations on doing such a great job for CNN. You are "Must Watch" TV news. I especially appreciate the fact that you do thorough reporting while maintaining the right level of civility. Keep up the good work." Thank you, Barry. Thanks for that nice comment.
That's all the time we have today. I'll be back tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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