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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Israeli Forces Attack Arafat's Compound; Police Still Search for Madelyne Gorman Toogood, Wanted for Beating Her 4-Year-Old

Aired September 20, 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, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, September 20, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're monitoring three breaking stories right now. The first involves the case of a mother caught on camera allegedly beating her daughter outside an Indiana department store.
In Kentucky there's breaking news on a political sex scandal. The Governor Paul Patton is expected to speak momentarily about a sexual harassment lawsuit he's facing. And in Ramallah on the West Bank Israeli tanks bulldozing around the compound of the Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian fears that the building could, could collapse with him in it.

But we begin in northern Indiana and that shocking surveillance tape we brought you on this program only 24 hours ago. Our National Correspondent Gary Tuchman is joining us now from Mishawaka, Indiana. He's got the very latest on what's going on. Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it was one week ago that a 25-year-old mother attacked her four-year-old daughter. The mother knew full well what she was doing. What she didn't know is that a video camera on a store was watching her do it and ever since then authorities have been looking for this woman

Within the next few minutes, we're expecting a news conference here in St. Joseph County, Indiana right behind me where we are told we will hear some optimistic news. We're not being told if they have found the little girl. We are simply being told at this point that the news is optimistic.

Now the video is very hard to look at but authorities here want it to be seen by everybody across the United States because they believe it will help them find this little girl who they believe desperately needs medical help. The girl was at the Kohl's Department Store here at St. Joseph County, Indiana with her mother.

Her mother looked around to see if anyone was around and then just started beating the little girl, pulling her hair, shaking her and this continued for more than 30 seconds. It is believed by authorities this little girl is seriously hurt and they have absolutely no idea where she is.

They were in the Kohl's store with her sister when it happened. The sister has been arrested today. Her name is Margaret Daily (ph) arrested for not reporting a child abuse. We'll have the news conference when it starts. Wolf. BLITZER: All right, Gary, stand by. We'll be getting back to you. There's another developing story we're following this afternoon, allegations of a political sex scandal in Kentucky where the Governor Paul Patton is speaking to reporters right now.

GOV. PAUL PATTON (D), KENTUCKY: Sunday night I was informed that an inappropriate personal relationship of mine was revealed to the press as a part of a lawsuit that was going to be filed. Realizing the impact that this would have on Judy and the rest of my family and friends, my first response was to deny my unfaithfulness to Judy.

I was wrong. The denial was another mistake. I didn't sleep at all Wednesday night as I prayed for forgiveness from God and for guidance and for strength. I finished my scheduled activities in Washington Wednesday and Thursday but I already knew what I had to do. I spent Thursday evening with Judy and our children and apologized to them and asked their forgiveness. I now apologize to the people of Kentucky and ask for your forgiveness. I do believe that now I am on the right path.

It's not easy for me to discuss private failures in a public forum but I do so because I want to be honest with the people of Kentucky and try to earn their trust and respect again. My mistakes are mine alone. I take full responsibility for them. I now publicly, as I have already privately, apologized to Judy and my family. I also ask the people of Kentucky to forgive my personal failure as I begin the process of sorting through and reconciling the problems that I have brought upon my family.

These personal failures on my part will be the focus of my private life going forward. Relying on my faith in God, I ask for your forgiveness and for your prayers. I've talked with the leadership of the General Assembly and apologized to them and reassured them that I have not let my personal weakness affect my administration of government. I want to give that same assurance to the people of Kentucky. Under no circumstances have I, or anyone under my direct control, tried to punish Mrs. Connor (ph). I hope that she will go forward with her life as I'm going to try to go forward with mine.

I expect the Executive Branch Ethics Commission to make full and complete review of these allegations and I'm confident that they will conclude that I have done nothing wrong in my capacity as governor. I pledge to fully cooperate with the commission.

BLITZER: There he is the governor of Kentucky crying, very tearful, apologizing not only to his family but to all of the citizens of Kentucky, apologizing for the affair that he had with this woman who has now filed a suit saying that her nursing home whole business went into bankruptcy because state regulators forced it into bankruptcy. Let's go back to Indiana where we're following a news conference involving that young mother who allegedly beat her child in the parking lot of a store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First off, an attorney representing the suspect has contacted our office. WE have had some brief preliminary discussions with him and we're hoping that those discussions eventually result in the suspect turning herself in. That's impossible to know at this point whether that actually will result, but that certainly is our hope.

Our focus at this point remains trying to find the little girl and finding her mother. Most importantly we want to make sure that the little girl is found as soon as possible so we can have her examined by a doctor ad we can ensure that she's safe and that she is not injured or severely injured. So at this point, we continue to encourage the public to provide us with any information which may help us locate the child or her mother.

That's where we are right now. We're hoping that the discussions with her attorney will result in her turning herself in and leading to the location of the little girl so we can ensure that she is safe and she hasn't been injured.

QUESTION: Do you still believe that she's in the Indiana area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, we have no idea where she's at and that's what concerns us. We have had hundreds of leads come in to the Mishawaka Police Department and they are performing the gargantuan job of trying to sift through hose leads. They've done a great job throughout this case and they continue to do a great job and hopefully some of those leads will bear fruit.

QUESTION: Have you asked the attorney where the little girl is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point the attorney has not been forthcoming with that. We're hoping that the discussions we had with the attorney will lead us to some positive developments.

QUESTION: Where is the attorney from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point I'm going to hold off on that. The attorney has entered into discussions with us in good faith. As I said, they have not progressed too far at this point but we'll continue those discussions.

QUESTION: Are you putting some pressure on this attorney? This girl's life could possibly be in danger and are you telling this man perhaps has an ethical obligation to tell you where this child is or to tell you how the child is doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attorney is aware of the serious nature of this. He is aware that we are very concerned that we find that little girl as soon as possible and we hope that our discussions with the attorney will result in the right thing being done and the right thing is the suspect turning herself in and making sure we can get this little girl some medical treatment.

QUESTION: Has he told you anything about the condition of the girl or nothing whatsoever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We have no further information and I'm not sure he has any information at this point about that. QUESTION: Is there some concern that this is a stalling tactic to give time for this group of families to flee the area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's really nothing that can be done through this to make it a stalling tactic quite frankly. I mean we are still vigorously trying to find this little girl. We are vigorously trying to find the suspect and nothing has changed in that regard. We're going to continue doing that and if the discussions with the attorney lead to us being able to find the little girl and the suspect that's great but we are still going full horses on trying to find both the little girl and her mother.

QUESTION: Can you shed any light, please, about the family? You said the fact that they're drifters. There's something out there that's been reported that she may have been a part of a group called Irish Gypsies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we can really say at this time is that the suspect had had frequent moves, had numerous different addresses, and as the case develops we might be able to provide more information about that.

QUESTION: What about the sister that you've arrested is she still in custody and what is she charged with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both the sister and the suspect have been charged. The suspect, Madelyne Gorman Toogood has been charged with Battery to a Child as a felony and her sister has been charged with assisting a criminal which is a felony and also failure to report child abuse.

QUESTION: Is she still in jail or has she bailed out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is still in custody. We have also filed a motion for an upward departure of bond in those cases and we're seeking an increased bond for both individuals.

QUESTION: Would you characterize this discussion with the attorney as a negotiation to lead to her arrest?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not going to enter into any negotiations. Our concern is simply arranging to have this woman turn herself in and really there's nothing to negotiate here.

QUESTION: So you're arranging for her arrest, though, is that fair?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to arrange for that. We are hoping that further discussions with her attorney will lead to that but all I can say at this point is that's unclear. We're really going to have to see where that goes. In the meantime, however, we're going to continue doing everything we can to locate the little girl and her mother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're losing focus too on just the arrest of the female. Our concerns for the welfare of that young child, that's what we want. We want that child in here so we can get medical treatment to her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

QUESTION: Well, do you think they're not together any longer then?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know. No, bottom line is we don't know where the little girl is and we don't know where her mother is and that's what's very concerning to us at this point. We don't know where the little girl is. It's very possible that she needs medical treatment. It's very possible that there may be other injuries not related to this particular instance.

Goodness knows if somebody is going to do something like this to a little child when there's people standing around in a parking lot, it's scary to think what might be happening to this girl when no one is around except her mother.

QUESTION: Sir, in the world of post 9/11 surveillance cameras are everywhere. How do you credit surveillance cameras with being able to help you out here because had that camera not been there you wouldn't know about this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's what's scary. Certainly this isn't an isolated instance with child abuses in general. This probably goes on a lot more than just this and in this case for the little girl's sake we got lucky in that a camera was looking at this as it happened, otherwise it's really frightening to think what could have happened in the future. But the fact still remains we've got to find this little girl and we've got to make sure she gets some medical treatment and we have to make sure she's safe.

QUESTION: Have you told the attorney that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have told his office that. We have stressed our concern and that that's a priority.

QUESTION: What has the attorney's office said in response to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attorney is aware of our concerns.

QUESTION: Was the sister arraigned on the first charge yesterday (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the failure to report?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charges were filed this morning that were signed by a judge this afternoon, so the second charge of assisting a criminal has been signed off by the judge and she now has two charges pending against her.

QUESTION: Was it true that the security guards were suspicious of them to begin with and that's why the camera was following them? Why didn't anyone go after them inside the store?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because to their knowledge she hadn't committed a crime at that point so there was really no need to pursue the woman at that point but obviously they had some concerns, they had some suspicion so they trained the camera on her as she left the store.

BLITZER: Police in Mishawaka, Indiana reporting that they're still searching for the 25-year-old mother, her name Madeline Gorman Toogood, 25 years old, accused of beating her four-year-old daughter in the parking lot of a Kohl's Department Store, a videotape that by now most of us have seen, shocking videotape.

Police say they're primarily concerned about the fate of the little girl four years old. She was badly beaten as seen on that videotape. They're trying to work with this woman, Madeline Gorman Toogood's attorney to locate her. In the meantime, they're searching for her, searching for the little girl trying to get some medical attention for that girl. We'll continue to monitor that story as well. Our Gary Tuchman is in the room there. We'll get back to him with more details, of course, as they become available.

Let's go overseas now. It's been another day of tension, mounting tension involving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Indeed one can say it's reached another flashpoint. Israeli demolition operations in Ramallah on the West Bank have moved so close to Yasser Arafat's personal presidential compound there. Palestinians say Arafat's own building is in danger of collapse.

CNN's Matthew Chance is monitoring the situation. He's close by nearby in Jerusalem and he has the latest.

Matthew, give us the details.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well thanks, Wolf, and there has been an upsurge in that kind of demolition activity inside the compound of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah over the course of the last hour or so. As you mentioned, throughout the course of the day those Israeli demolition teams have been very busy destroying various structures and buildings inside the compound.

The latest that we have is that a bridge connecting Yasser Arafat's private offices with another building just alongside has now been completely destroyed by those Israeli demolition teams backed by armored personnel carriers and tanks in the compound and Palestinian officials are expressing their concern that destruction of that bridge is destabilizing the very building in which Yasser Arafat is currently located.

Now for their part the Israeli officials say they have absolutely no intention whatsoever of harming the Palestinian president. They say they are not setting out to destroy the entire compound, rather instead they say they intend simply to surround, to isolate Yasser Arafat and to draw out the suspected Palestinian militants that are holed up inside the main office alongside Yasser Arafat.

They've identified four specific individuals, amongst them the head of West Bank Palestinian Intelligence, senior figures in the Palestinian Authority as well as in Palestinians' own private security forces they say are people who have been implicated, who have organized attacks against Israeli civilians and are on Israel's wanted list. There have been already over the course of this evening a number of individuals taken into custody but we're told these are merely civilian employees of the Palestinian Authority -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Matthew, as we take a look at these live pictures of the compound in Ramallah, I also want to bring in some videotape just shot showing some of the hostilities, some of the fighting that was occurring in Ramallah just a little while ago. Let's watch this. A loud boom as that machinegun and other explosives continue to unfold in Ramallah.

Let me just get this straight, Matthew, before I let you go. Are the Israelis directly blaming Yasser Arafat for the suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv that apparently sparked this latest move against his headquarters in Ramallah?

CHANCE: Well our understanding at this stage, Wolf, is they've stopped short of making that exact connection between Yasser Arafat and the ordering of the latest suicide attack in Tel Aviv but they do say that Yasser Arafat's presidential compound is being used as a sort of planning base from which generally attacks against the Israeli civilians are planned. That's the reason, they say, they've gone there this evening.

BLITZER: All right, Matthew Chance reporting from Jerusalem. We'll be getting back to you as this story continues to unfold as well. Thank you very much. When we come back, we're going to move on and take a look at some other important news developing right now. President Bush tries to make a new ally out of a former adversary in his campaign against Saddam Hussein.

But before we go back, I want to go back to Ramallah. We're seeing some developments indeed right now unfold. Let's listen and watch to see what's happening.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance is going to rejoin us. Matthew if you can see and if you can hear what's going on maybe you have a better sense of this late development. What do you see?

CHANCE: OK, fine.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance, I don't think can hear us anymore, but to our viewers who may be just tuning in, you're looking at a live picture of what was the presidential compound, Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank. We just saw some fire, some explosives unfolding there.

Israeli troops have surrounded this compound. They're going back to try to search for what they say are Palestinian terrorists that are being shielded inside the compound. I think we have some videotape of what just occurred. Let's show that videotape to our viewers right now.

(VIDEO CLIP OF RAMALLAH COMPOUND)

BLITZER: There it is the videotape of what is occurring in Ramallah, that videotape that was shot just a few moments ago. Israeli troops and forces, armor, surrounding the compound of Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank. We're back to a live picture of this building that still remains standing. Palestinians inside say they're afraid the building could collapse with Yasser Arafat inside.

This has been a story that's been developing over the past 24 hours as Israeli forces moved in to Gaza, excuse me into the West Bank after a suicide bombing in the heart of Tel Aviv, a suicide bombing that has killed six Israelis, injured 40 or 50 others. Yasser Arafat and his top aides remain inside this building. You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound in Ramallah, the authority of the Palestinian Authority. One of Yasser Arafat's top aides is now joining us on the phone. Mr. Abu Rudeineh is that you, can you hear me?

NABIL ABU RUDEINEH, AIDE TO YASSER ARAFAT: Yes, I can hear you, go ahead.

BLITZER: Tell us where you are first of all.

RUDEINEH: First of all, I am in the main headquarters of President Yasser Arafat's office. The situation is very delicate and very dangerous because the Israelis are shelling and rocketing the main building right now after they damaged the bridge and they separated the main building from the conference hall building and after ruining the next adjacent building.

Right now, they are rocketing the main building, which President Arafat is sitting and working, and this is a very dangerous escalation and this situation will lead a raised confrontation and most probably for a real massacre in the coming hours.

BLITZER: Mr. Abu Rudeineh, how close are you to Yasser Arafat right now?

RUDEINEH: We are in the main building and we are in the same offices and the main office is large enough that hundreds of people are still inside but the problem that they are shelling and damaging and bulldozing and exploding which puts everybody in danger.

BLITZER: Have the Israelis made any demands on you to give up certain Palestinians who may be inside?

RUDEINEH: Not at all because there is their real pretext. Israelis are looking for damaging the peace process. The Israelis are not serious because there are no wanted people here and they know very well that there are agreements and there are no wanted people here. If they are serious they should stop their attack. They should withdraw and come back to the negotiating table and give it a chance for the efforts that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) including the American effort.

But the aim of this Israeli government is to ruin every single effort to find a political solution because their aim is to continue their escalation in order to dictate a solution on the Palestinian people which will never happen. The Israelis are committing a blunder, a great mistake.

They are not just challenging the Palestinian people and the Arab world, they are challenging the world community and they have to remember that this is not Afghanistan, that they will never find a Palestinian who would accept any dictation from anybody unless the Israelis withdraw, unless the Israelis stop their attack. Everything will reflect negatively on everybody, on Israelis and on everybody in the region.

BLITZER: Nabil Abu Rudeineh, stand by for one second. I want to show our viewers, who may have missed it, some videotape of what happened just a few minutes ago. There was a burst of Israeli gunfire around the building. I want you to listen to this as well Nabil Abu Rudeineh, and then we'll get back and continue this conversation. Stand by for one moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Nabil Abu Rudeineh, I don't know if you could hear that. You probably could. But were you anywhere near that burst of gunfire that so dramatically came through on that videotape? I think we may have lost Nabil Abu Rudeineh. He's one of Yasser Arafat's top aides. He's inside this building. You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on the West Bank.

The entire area, once again, under siege by Israeli military forces who moved in shortly after a suicide bombing, a Palestinian suicide bombing attack against Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv yesterday. Six Israelis were killed, 40 or 50 injured, many of them very seriously. The Israeli military insists it's undertaken this operation in the search for what they say are Palestinian terrorists inside the compounds, terrorists wanted by Israeli forces.

The Palestinians, as we just heard from Nabil Abu Rudeineh a top aide to Yasser Arafat, denying there are any wanted Palestinian terrorists inside. They say the Palestinians, that the Israelis are simply going after the Palestinian leadership trying to destroy it, indeed trying to destroy Yasser Arafat himself.

The Israelis completely deny that. They say they are not trying to kill Yasser Arafat. They're not trying to force him to leave that compound. They say they're not trying to go after him. They say they're simply trying to search out four wanted Palestinian terrorists inside.

We're in the process now of getting a spokesman from the Israeli army, from the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, to tell us what is going on from the Israeli perspective. Clearly, inside as Mr. Abu Rudeineh just told us many Palestinians hundreds of Palestinians surrounding Yasser Arafat in his office. We do now have a spokesman, spokeswoman indeed from the IDF. Is it Ruth? I'm not sure what your last name is but go ahead and first of all identify yourself and tell us what's going on.

BRIG. GEN. RUTH YARON, IDF SPOKESMAN: Wolf, good evening. This is Ruth Yaron, brigadier general, IDF spokesman. The situation...

BLITZER: Ruth Yaron, Y-A-R-O-N, the spokeswoman for the IDF, tell us precisely why the Israeli Army has encircled Yasser Arafat's compound and is engaging in this operation.

YARON: Wolf, our aim is one and only one and this is to catch the 20 or so terrorists who are in the building and are finding refuge there. We are talking about some heavy terrorists with blood on their hands and people who were responsible for perpetrating many terrorist acts against Israelis, who cost the lives of many of our citizens and Israeli families.

Our aim is to catch them and this is why we have circled the compound and we have called upon them last night as we did today during the day and as we did again tonight to call upon them to surrender themselves and 20 people have surrendered themselves last night, those were checked and all of those who were not identified with any terrorist act were released.

We are looking for the people who are connected with terrorist action and not more than that. If there are innocent people in the building, they will be checked and we'll let go as we did with the people of last night. But our aim is the terrorists and this is done in order to stop any future terrorist -- any future terror attack as we have seen in the past 48 hours in the streets of Israel and in the streets of Tel Aviv which cost the lives of nine Israelis in only 48 hours. This is our main purpose.

BLITZER: Ruth Yaron of the IDF, of the Israel Defense Forces, we just spoke to Nabil Abu Rudeineh who is a top adviser, as you well know, to Yasser Arafat who says that the Israelis have not submitted any list of wanted Palestinians inside the compound. They say this is just a pretext that you have to, in effect, go after Yasser Arafat and his leadership, indeed destroy it.

YARON: Our aim again is those terrorists who are hiding there, people like Kirawi (ph), people like Ahmed Shuwish (ph), people like Darme (ph), all of those are known people who have been active, very active in many terrorist attacks. I'm sure that everybody knows the list especially there inside the building. Now we have called upon them and we have called upon the...

BLITZER: Let me interrupt for a second. Are you saying you've submitted a list to the Palestinians inside with names?

YARON: No, I'm saying...

BLITZER: With names of people you want?

YARON: Wolf, I'm saying that the people who are inside the building know fully well who do we mean by saying those people suspected and engaged in terrorist attacks. Kirawi for one is a good name that everybody knows. But what I'm saying is that let's not be fooled by all kinds of reports that are coming out of there.

We have one purpose and those are those terrorists who we expect them to surrender and to be given to Israeli interrogation and to a legal system if they are indeed the people that we are looking for. We know that there are people there that have nothing to do there and that's why we have called upon them with loud speakers to come outside and to surrender and some two dozen of them have been doing exactly that.

BLITZER: As far as the loudspeaker, have you put names -- specific names on those loudspeakers, telling the Palestinian leadership who you want?

YARON: Wolf, there are many dozens of people. There is not more than that in those two buildings. And in there there are people who have nothing to do with that, like most of the people who have come out of the building last night.

And, again, they will be checked, and if they are not connected with terrorist acts, they will be let go.

The other who we know...

BLITZER: Ruth...

(CROSSTALK)

YARON: ... exactly who we mean should come out, surrender and be kept responsible for the act of terrorism that they are responsible for.

BLITZER: And if they don't emerge on their own, what will you do?

YARON: We will keep the pressure on the building until they come out. This is what we have been doing in the last 24 hours. We are pressuring and urging them to come out, and we will continue to wait for them to come out.

BLITZER: There was an extraordinary burst of gunfire just a few moments ago. We've shown the videotape to our viewers.

Ruth Yaron, standby, I want to show it once more and get your reaction.

Now Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Ruth Yaron, spokeswoman for the IDF, Israel Defense Forces, what's the point of that heavy burst of machine gun fire and explosions in an area where there are a lot of civilians, presumably in danger?

YARON: Wolf, what you have seen are our troops shooting on the side as a warning shot, several warning shots in order to urge the people in the building, especially those who are innocent, to come out. And as you have seen earlier, those who have come out who have surrendered were not hurt, nothing happened them, and this is how we intend to keep it.

But the shootings that you've heard and seen were warning shooting in order to urge the people in the building -- and those shots were not aimed at the building, but at the side of the building in order to convince the people that we mean business and we are serious. We intend to wait until those terrorists will surrender. We'll wait.

BLITZER: All right, Ruth Yaron from the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces. Ruth Yaron familiar to many of our viewers in the United States, a former press secretary at the Israeli embassy here in Washington.

Thanks for joining us.

We're getting some reaction now from the White House. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is standing by, and she has some details.

Suzanne, how are they dealing with this over there?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, I just talked to a senior White House administration official who says that they're monitoring the situation at this time.

And again he reiterated a number of points from the administration, their position in all this, saying that they were pleased it was a significant amount of quiet that was behind the scenes. There had been a stained period of quiet, with no homicide bombings; and that Israel -- again, they reiterated that Israel has a right to defend herself, to deal with security.

But also, again, in the words of this official, saying Israel also needs to bear in mind the consequences of the action, that Israel has a stake in the development of reform of those Palestinian institutions. Also reiterating again that Palestinians have the responsibility to make certain that they also prevent these attacks and halt these attacks.

So, again, the administration making it very clear that Israel has the right to go ahead and defend itself. We can see in the pictures just how dramatic that has unfolded just within the last half hour.

The administration also making clear that Israel pays a price, that actually has responsibility -- bears some responsibility for the outcome of this as well, when it comes to the peace process -- Wolf.

BLITZER: As you know, Suzanne, no love lost between the Bush administration and Yasser Arafat.

But what you're suggesting is that the administration may be at least in part justifying this Israeli siege of the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, including the presidential compound of Yasser Arafat.

Am I misreading the statement that you've received from an official there?

MALVEAUX: What the statement says is that they are simply pointing out the response that was given earlier today when Ari Fleischer was asked the question, the reaction to the siege that was going on with Arafat's compound earlier. He said that he would simply say, reiterate again, what Ari Fleischer had stated before, and that is Israel's right to defend itself.

But at the same time, the price, the consequence of defending itself, and also the responsibility of the Palestinians in preventing these type of homicide attacks.

But the White House also saying they're, at this moment, just monitoring the situation. They want to see what happens, how it develops before they make any kind of specific reaction with regards to the shooting that we've us seen in the last 15 minutes.

BLITZER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux on the north lawn of the White House, thanks for that update with some U.S. reaction from the Bush administration.

A dramatic situation in Ramallah on the West Bank. Right now Israeli military forces have encircled the presidential compound of the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Heavy gunfire.

The Israeli spokeswoman for the IDF, Ruth Yaron on CNN just a few moments ago insisting that the gunfire are warning shots. They say there are Palestinians inside wanted as terrorists.

Some dramatic videotape that we've been showing our viewers. This is a live picture of what's going on rights now. Looks like the gunfire has stopped.

There was, just a fuel moments ago, though, some dramatic gunfire. We'll show it one more time, and then we'll continue with other news.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound of the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, encircled by Israeli troops and tanks, heavy equipment as they demand the surrender of what they say are scores of Palestinian terrorists inside.

A demand that the Palestinians so far have rejected, and one denied by Palestinian officials. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top adviser to Yasser Arafat here on CNN only a few moments ago insisting this has nothing to do with suspected terrorists inside, but everything to do with the effort by the Israelis to try to destroy Yasser Arafat's leadership.

The spokeswoman for the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, Ruth Yaron also here on CNN just a few moments ago insisting that they are not going after Yasser Arafat himself or any of the senior political leaders, but they are going after a list of Palestinians they say are well known as terrorists.

This follows two suicide bombings in Israel over the past couple days, one in northern Israel, one in Tel Aviv itself, and the standoff outside the Palestinian Authority compound continues.

You're looking at these live pictures right now. We'll follow this story, this dramatic story, potentially very, very significant story on what's unfolding in Ramallah. And we'll get back to it as events warrant.

But let's turn to the war on terrorism here in the United States, concern over possible 9/11-type attacks have spurred law enforcement officials to action.

BLITZER: Let's get some late breaking developments now from our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, sources say that federal authorities have in custody a former Sudanese air force pilot who may have been planning to hijack an airliner and fly it into a target in the United States. Sources say he was picked on September 13 and is being held in North Carolina, where he has lived for several years. He is 30 years old and was in the United States legally, and sources say he was working as a taxi driver.

Officials say the intelligence gathered was general in nature and did not point to a specific target, but caused enough of a concern to have him picked up. Currently, he's not facing any terrorism related charges, but sources say that he has already been charged with making false statements by submitting multiple names while applying for a visa.

He has a court appearance scheduled for Monday.

Separately, officials say that several Sudanese citizens are being held and questioned at an undisclosed location as part of the government's anti-terror investigation. Sources are not drawing any link, however, between these two incidents, Wolf.

Back to you.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena, thank you very much for that update. We will be watching that story.

At the same time, there have been more disturbing revelations today from the congressional inquiry into the September 11 terror attacks. U.S. intelligence agencies missed opportunities to pursue some of the hijackers beginning a year and a half before they struck.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor has more on today's hearings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a tense hearing room, FBI and CIA witnesses, two with their identities concealed by a screen, sometimes spared with members of Congress over what could and could not be said in open session on what they knew before 9/11 and how they knew it.

SEN. JON KYL (R-AZ), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: This shouldn't be talked about in public. I'm sorry. It should not be. We can't go there.

ENSOR: Some members questioned the whole exercise.

KYL: We are revealing in open session today a lot of information about how we operate which will be are the very useful to our enemies. That's not good, and it's not necessary.

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: I believe that it is important and it is a right of the American people to know what their government is doing.

ENSOR: Chairman Bob Graham added Americans need to know how bad the problems were before 9/11. A committee staff report details communications breakdowns between the CIA and the FBI and within the FBI itself about two of the hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almidhar, who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. The report said, "A CIA communication in early January 2000 states that Almidhar's travel documents, including his multiple entry visa for the United States, were shared with the FBI for further investigation." The report says no one at the FBI recalls having received such documents at the time.

The report also quotes CIA Director George Tenet conceding his agency should have put the two men on the watch list to be kept out of the U.S. 18 months before September 11.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

ENSOR: From behind the screen, the FBI agent said that less than two weeks before 9/11 he had tried to further investigate Khalid Almidhar, but he ran into bureaucratic roadblocks. So wrote an e-mail with a warning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we do not change the system, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), someday someone will die.

ENSOR: The CIA man made a plea for more people, more resources.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The comment I hear most often from working- level people on both sides, CIA and FBI, involved directly in the bin Laden business is one with a panic-stricken look in their eyes saying we are going to miss stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are missing stuff. We can't keep up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Wolf, in a late breaking development in the last hour or so, the White House has made it known that in a sharp turnaround, the president favors a blue ribbon commission to look into 9/11, to go on beyond where these intelligence committee hearings have gone. It would be broader. It would investigate all the other matters that are related, from the airline industry to all sorts of other issues that have come up. But it could also cover intelligence, Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, you've been speculating about that blue ribbon commission for days. Thanks for bringing us up to speed. I'm sure you'll bell covering that story as well. Thank you very much.

The Bush administration is the pressing one important partner to help out in the showdown with Iraq, or if not, at least to try to keep out of the way.

Once again, let's go back to our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Wolf, this administration is really engaged in a full- court press to try to get a U.N. resolution passed -- a tough resolution -- before those weapons inspectors go back into Iraq. It is really a race against time, but today the administration focusing on a critical ally, Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush off to Camp David after 24 hours of hardcore diplomacy. The target, the Russians. Secretary Powell with the foreign minister secretary, Secretary Rumsfeld with his counterpart in defense. The president is pushing not to allow U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq without a tough new U.N. Security Council resolution, which would force Saddam to comply.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's important to have a different type of inspection, one that's effective, one that will make certain that Iraq has disarmed.

MALVEAUX: After Mr. Bush's meeting and his call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia's top advisers suggested some openness to change.

IGOR IVANOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Russia and the United States are firmly interested in making the work of international inspectors in Iraq effective.

MALVEAUX: In addition, Russian officials have said for now that a new U.N. resolution isn't necessary in their view, but the United States would like the Russian support.

JAMES SASSER, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: If the Russians go with the resolution, the Chinese are not going to block it. They'll either vote for it or abstain. But if the Russians say we are not going along with it, the Chinese will follow suit.

MALVEAUX: But the White House made it clear that the U.S. would go it alone in Iraq if necessary. Earlier, the president released his groundbreaking national security strategy mandated by Congress. In it, he emphasized the need for the U.S. to take preemptive action against its enemies, the top priority now fighting terrorists and terrorist sympathizers in rogue states.

In the 33 page report, the president states, "We will not hesitate to act alone -- if necessary, to exercise our right of self- defense by acting preemptively.

MALVEAUX: The administration is now seeking a congressional resolution to carry out its preemptive policy in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, the United Nations wants those inspectors back in as early as October 15, back into Iraq. The administration is hoping to get some sort of draft of the resolution by the U.N. Security Council in the next couple of weeks -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux doing double duty for us at the White House. Thank you very much.

While a possible war with Iraq may be months away, U.S. military planners are apparently close to finalizing an invasion strategy, one that aims at achieving its goal within days.

More now from our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pentagon officials and military analysts tell CNN the current U.S. strategy for toppling Saddam Hussein is a 21st century blitzkrieg: a ferocious opening air assault with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of all-weather satellite-guided bombs and cruise missiles, combined with covert missions and psychological operations. But the goal this time is not simply neutralizing air defenses; instead, it's delivering a first-round knock-out punch to demoralize Saddam Hussein's generals and dissuade them from following orders to unleash chemical or biological weapons. DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Saddam Hussein might not have anything to lose personally, but beneath him in the chain of command, those other people would most certainly have a great deal to lose. And wise Iraqis will not obey orders to use weapons of mass destruction.

MCINTYRE: The strategy is a recognition that with his back to the wall, Saddam Hussein may not be deterred from using deadly germs and nerve agents. Unlike in the Gulf War, the U.S. can't afford a 38- day air war followed by a four-day ground assault or to build up large number of troops at seaports or other staging areas, where they might be vulnerable to chemical or biological attack.

The first thing you would do is try to attack whatever infrastructure associated with WMD you could. That would be the first thing you would do.

MCINTYRE: Analysts say the current plan targets centers of gravity that keeps Saddam Hussein in power: his weapons of mass destruction, his Republican Guard, his presidential palaces. It's a full-spectrum warfare strategy, combining punishing attacks with psychological warfare and covert operations.

Signs point to a winter offensive, in January or February. One reason, waiting until next year would give U.S. assembly lines time to replenish stocks of JDAMs, the cheap, accurate, 2000-pound satellite- guided bomb that was used to devastating effect in Afghanistan.

(on camera): Pentagon sources say the latest version of the Iraq plan has been briefed by General Tommy Franks to senior Pentagon and administration officials. But those sources talked to CNN in part because the war plan is still not final.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: This important programing note: Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent will have an exclusive interview with the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, tomorrow -- that's Saturday -- at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. on the West Coast.

Attack of the angry fans. He got beaten by a mob on first base. We'll tell you about a Big League brawl coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Fights are not exactly uncommon in baseball, but the one last night at Chicago's Comiskey Park was very unusual. A father and son seemingly came out of nowhere and rushed Kansas City Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa and pummeled him. That emptied the Royals dugout and prompted a full-scale brawl. The father and son were eventually arrested and now face battery charges. The coach, fortunately, is in good shape, not hurt from this incident, at least not physically very seriously hurt. A different kind of sports fight could result in something new at next year's Masters golf tournament. Picket lines outside Augusta National Golf Club. The National Council of Women's Organizations is holding out the possibility of a protest because the club refuses to allow women to join. Here to talk with us about that, both of these sports stories, is syndicated sports columnist and author Mike Lupica. Mike, thanks for joining us.

It's an amazing thing, that brawl last night, first of all, in Chicago. What's your take on that?

MIKE LUPICA, SYNDICATED SPORTS COLUMNIST: Well, you know, we go out of our way, Wolf, to convince the fans that they're part of the action, and then a couple of slobs go too far. What's troubling every time I look at this tape is, first of all, the first baseman looks like he's doing a Michael Jackson moonwalk away from the action, and the umpire just stands there. And you wonder what they would have done if they had seen a similar thing happening on the street. And as a fan, the only thing I was hoping for was that the security would give the team about five more minutes with these guys before they actually broke it up.

BLITZER: It's pretty unusual, though. We see brawls all the time where they empty the dugouts, but when a fan actually jumps out and starts beating up a first base or a third base coach, this was a first base coach in this particular case, that's pretty extraordinary.

LUPICA: Yeah, and it's just -- it's -- the lack of civility that I see more and more at the ball park and in the stands, just ran amok last night. And you know, once and for all, fans have to understand that they have certain rights that come with buying a ticket, but not the right to do what they did last night, and I hope that when these two goobers -- I mean, these are guys I'd write about in a book, you know, but I'd make fun of them -- stand in front of a judge some day, that he sends a strong enough message that the next guy who thinks about how funny it would be to run around on the field during the World Series thinks twice about it.

BLITZER: So, what's your take, Mike, while I have you on, on the whole women and the Augusta tournament, the PGA? What's going on here? CBS' decision to go ahead and televise the Masters despite all these protests?

LUPICA: Oh, well, CBS would have televised the Masters if it were on the moon, Wolf. But you know, this again is a dumb fight by Augusta National. They're going to lose eventually. It's a question of how costly it's going to be. And when they fired their sponsors a while ago, you knew that they were now going to put CBS, who has been an unbelievably great partner to them, squarely in the crosshairs of these women's groups. And as shrill and unlikable as Martha Burk is, she's going to win eventually, because they're going to admit women members in this time in this country. How far do you go with this?

And you know, I've been saying all along, Hootie Johnson thinks he's doing something right and noble, but if he's going to act this way and hold the line on women this much, any self-respecting woman would ask herself, why would I want to join any club that has Hootie as a member?

BLITZER: And what about Suzy Whaley? Should she go ahead and play in the men's PGA now that she's qualified?

LUPICA: Yeah, and if she does good, I'm going to tee it up against Anika Sorenstam. My game needs work, but I think, you know, with enough practice and enough diligence, I may try out for the women's tour next year.

BLITZER: Hey, Mike Lupica, you got a hot new novel, "Wild Pitch." You can't make this kind of stuff up, although you do in that book. It's a great book. I love all your books. Thanks for joining us.

LUPICA: Thank you very much. I can't keep up with real events anymore, Wolf, I'm sorry.

BLITZER: It's amazing what's going on out there in the real world. "Wild Pitch" -- it's a good read, read it.

When we come back, we will update you on our top story. There is fighting going on, severe fighting in Ramallah on the West Bank involving the Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat and the Israel Defense Forces. We will update you. We will go there live right when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound in Ramallah, on the West Bank. Encircled by Israeli forces, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, inside, with a few hundred of his aides. Israelis say there are terrorists inside. They want them. The Palestinians deny it. Much more coming up on "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE," which begins right now.

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Search for Madelyne Gorman Toogood, Wanted for Beating Her 4-Year-Old>


Aired September 20, 2002 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, September 20, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're monitoring three breaking stories right now. The first involves the case of a mother caught on camera allegedly beating her daughter outside an Indiana department store.
In Kentucky there's breaking news on a political sex scandal. The Governor Paul Patton is expected to speak momentarily about a sexual harassment lawsuit he's facing. And in Ramallah on the West Bank Israeli tanks bulldozing around the compound of the Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian fears that the building could, could collapse with him in it.

But we begin in northern Indiana and that shocking surveillance tape we brought you on this program only 24 hours ago. Our National Correspondent Gary Tuchman is joining us now from Mishawaka, Indiana. He's got the very latest on what's going on. Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it was one week ago that a 25-year-old mother attacked her four-year-old daughter. The mother knew full well what she was doing. What she didn't know is that a video camera on a store was watching her do it and ever since then authorities have been looking for this woman

Within the next few minutes, we're expecting a news conference here in St. Joseph County, Indiana right behind me where we are told we will hear some optimistic news. We're not being told if they have found the little girl. We are simply being told at this point that the news is optimistic.

Now the video is very hard to look at but authorities here want it to be seen by everybody across the United States because they believe it will help them find this little girl who they believe desperately needs medical help. The girl was at the Kohl's Department Store here at St. Joseph County, Indiana with her mother.

Her mother looked around to see if anyone was around and then just started beating the little girl, pulling her hair, shaking her and this continued for more than 30 seconds. It is believed by authorities this little girl is seriously hurt and they have absolutely no idea where she is.

They were in the Kohl's store with her sister when it happened. The sister has been arrested today. Her name is Margaret Daily (ph) arrested for not reporting a child abuse. We'll have the news conference when it starts. Wolf. BLITZER: All right, Gary, stand by. We'll be getting back to you. There's another developing story we're following this afternoon, allegations of a political sex scandal in Kentucky where the Governor Paul Patton is speaking to reporters right now.

GOV. PAUL PATTON (D), KENTUCKY: Sunday night I was informed that an inappropriate personal relationship of mine was revealed to the press as a part of a lawsuit that was going to be filed. Realizing the impact that this would have on Judy and the rest of my family and friends, my first response was to deny my unfaithfulness to Judy.

I was wrong. The denial was another mistake. I didn't sleep at all Wednesday night as I prayed for forgiveness from God and for guidance and for strength. I finished my scheduled activities in Washington Wednesday and Thursday but I already knew what I had to do. I spent Thursday evening with Judy and our children and apologized to them and asked their forgiveness. I now apologize to the people of Kentucky and ask for your forgiveness. I do believe that now I am on the right path.

It's not easy for me to discuss private failures in a public forum but I do so because I want to be honest with the people of Kentucky and try to earn their trust and respect again. My mistakes are mine alone. I take full responsibility for them. I now publicly, as I have already privately, apologized to Judy and my family. I also ask the people of Kentucky to forgive my personal failure as I begin the process of sorting through and reconciling the problems that I have brought upon my family.

These personal failures on my part will be the focus of my private life going forward. Relying on my faith in God, I ask for your forgiveness and for your prayers. I've talked with the leadership of the General Assembly and apologized to them and reassured them that I have not let my personal weakness affect my administration of government. I want to give that same assurance to the people of Kentucky. Under no circumstances have I, or anyone under my direct control, tried to punish Mrs. Connor (ph). I hope that she will go forward with her life as I'm going to try to go forward with mine.

I expect the Executive Branch Ethics Commission to make full and complete review of these allegations and I'm confident that they will conclude that I have done nothing wrong in my capacity as governor. I pledge to fully cooperate with the commission.

BLITZER: There he is the governor of Kentucky crying, very tearful, apologizing not only to his family but to all of the citizens of Kentucky, apologizing for the affair that he had with this woman who has now filed a suit saying that her nursing home whole business went into bankruptcy because state regulators forced it into bankruptcy. Let's go back to Indiana where we're following a news conference involving that young mother who allegedly beat her child in the parking lot of a store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First off, an attorney representing the suspect has contacted our office. WE have had some brief preliminary discussions with him and we're hoping that those discussions eventually result in the suspect turning herself in. That's impossible to know at this point whether that actually will result, but that certainly is our hope.

Our focus at this point remains trying to find the little girl and finding her mother. Most importantly we want to make sure that the little girl is found as soon as possible so we can have her examined by a doctor ad we can ensure that she's safe and that she is not injured or severely injured. So at this point, we continue to encourage the public to provide us with any information which may help us locate the child or her mother.

That's where we are right now. We're hoping that the discussions with her attorney will result in her turning herself in and leading to the location of the little girl so we can ensure that she is safe and she hasn't been injured.

QUESTION: Do you still believe that she's in the Indiana area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, we have no idea where she's at and that's what concerns us. We have had hundreds of leads come in to the Mishawaka Police Department and they are performing the gargantuan job of trying to sift through hose leads. They've done a great job throughout this case and they continue to do a great job and hopefully some of those leads will bear fruit.

QUESTION: Have you asked the attorney where the little girl is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point the attorney has not been forthcoming with that. We're hoping that the discussions we had with the attorney will lead us to some positive developments.

QUESTION: Where is the attorney from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point I'm going to hold off on that. The attorney has entered into discussions with us in good faith. As I said, they have not progressed too far at this point but we'll continue those discussions.

QUESTION: Are you putting some pressure on this attorney? This girl's life could possibly be in danger and are you telling this man perhaps has an ethical obligation to tell you where this child is or to tell you how the child is doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attorney is aware of the serious nature of this. He is aware that we are very concerned that we find that little girl as soon as possible and we hope that our discussions with the attorney will result in the right thing being done and the right thing is the suspect turning herself in and making sure we can get this little girl some medical treatment.

QUESTION: Has he told you anything about the condition of the girl or nothing whatsoever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We have no further information and I'm not sure he has any information at this point about that. QUESTION: Is there some concern that this is a stalling tactic to give time for this group of families to flee the area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's really nothing that can be done through this to make it a stalling tactic quite frankly. I mean we are still vigorously trying to find this little girl. We are vigorously trying to find the suspect and nothing has changed in that regard. We're going to continue doing that and if the discussions with the attorney lead to us being able to find the little girl and the suspect that's great but we are still going full horses on trying to find both the little girl and her mother.

QUESTION: Can you shed any light, please, about the family? You said the fact that they're drifters. There's something out there that's been reported that she may have been a part of a group called Irish Gypsies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we can really say at this time is that the suspect had had frequent moves, had numerous different addresses, and as the case develops we might be able to provide more information about that.

QUESTION: What about the sister that you've arrested is she still in custody and what is she charged with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both the sister and the suspect have been charged. The suspect, Madelyne Gorman Toogood has been charged with Battery to a Child as a felony and her sister has been charged with assisting a criminal which is a felony and also failure to report child abuse.

QUESTION: Is she still in jail or has she bailed out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is still in custody. We have also filed a motion for an upward departure of bond in those cases and we're seeking an increased bond for both individuals.

QUESTION: Would you characterize this discussion with the attorney as a negotiation to lead to her arrest?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not going to enter into any negotiations. Our concern is simply arranging to have this woman turn herself in and really there's nothing to negotiate here.

QUESTION: So you're arranging for her arrest, though, is that fair?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to arrange for that. We are hoping that further discussions with her attorney will lead to that but all I can say at this point is that's unclear. We're really going to have to see where that goes. In the meantime, however, we're going to continue doing everything we can to locate the little girl and her mother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're losing focus too on just the arrest of the female. Our concerns for the welfare of that young child, that's what we want. We want that child in here so we can get medical treatment to her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

QUESTION: Well, do you think they're not together any longer then?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know. No, bottom line is we don't know where the little girl is and we don't know where her mother is and that's what's very concerning to us at this point. We don't know where the little girl is. It's very possible that she needs medical treatment. It's very possible that there may be other injuries not related to this particular instance.

Goodness knows if somebody is going to do something like this to a little child when there's people standing around in a parking lot, it's scary to think what might be happening to this girl when no one is around except her mother.

QUESTION: Sir, in the world of post 9/11 surveillance cameras are everywhere. How do you credit surveillance cameras with being able to help you out here because had that camera not been there you wouldn't know about this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's what's scary. Certainly this isn't an isolated instance with child abuses in general. This probably goes on a lot more than just this and in this case for the little girl's sake we got lucky in that a camera was looking at this as it happened, otherwise it's really frightening to think what could have happened in the future. But the fact still remains we've got to find this little girl and we've got to make sure she gets some medical treatment and we have to make sure she's safe.

QUESTION: Have you told the attorney that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have told his office that. We have stressed our concern and that that's a priority.

QUESTION: What has the attorney's office said in response to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attorney is aware of our concerns.

QUESTION: Was the sister arraigned on the first charge yesterday (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the failure to report?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charges were filed this morning that were signed by a judge this afternoon, so the second charge of assisting a criminal has been signed off by the judge and she now has two charges pending against her.

QUESTION: Was it true that the security guards were suspicious of them to begin with and that's why the camera was following them? Why didn't anyone go after them inside the store?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because to their knowledge she hadn't committed a crime at that point so there was really no need to pursue the woman at that point but obviously they had some concerns, they had some suspicion so they trained the camera on her as she left the store.

BLITZER: Police in Mishawaka, Indiana reporting that they're still searching for the 25-year-old mother, her name Madeline Gorman Toogood, 25 years old, accused of beating her four-year-old daughter in the parking lot of a Kohl's Department Store, a videotape that by now most of us have seen, shocking videotape.

Police say they're primarily concerned about the fate of the little girl four years old. She was badly beaten as seen on that videotape. They're trying to work with this woman, Madeline Gorman Toogood's attorney to locate her. In the meantime, they're searching for her, searching for the little girl trying to get some medical attention for that girl. We'll continue to monitor that story as well. Our Gary Tuchman is in the room there. We'll get back to him with more details, of course, as they become available.

Let's go overseas now. It's been another day of tension, mounting tension involving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Indeed one can say it's reached another flashpoint. Israeli demolition operations in Ramallah on the West Bank have moved so close to Yasser Arafat's personal presidential compound there. Palestinians say Arafat's own building is in danger of collapse.

CNN's Matthew Chance is monitoring the situation. He's close by nearby in Jerusalem and he has the latest.

Matthew, give us the details.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well thanks, Wolf, and there has been an upsurge in that kind of demolition activity inside the compound of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah over the course of the last hour or so. As you mentioned, throughout the course of the day those Israeli demolition teams have been very busy destroying various structures and buildings inside the compound.

The latest that we have is that a bridge connecting Yasser Arafat's private offices with another building just alongside has now been completely destroyed by those Israeli demolition teams backed by armored personnel carriers and tanks in the compound and Palestinian officials are expressing their concern that destruction of that bridge is destabilizing the very building in which Yasser Arafat is currently located.

Now for their part the Israeli officials say they have absolutely no intention whatsoever of harming the Palestinian president. They say they are not setting out to destroy the entire compound, rather instead they say they intend simply to surround, to isolate Yasser Arafat and to draw out the suspected Palestinian militants that are holed up inside the main office alongside Yasser Arafat.

They've identified four specific individuals, amongst them the head of West Bank Palestinian Intelligence, senior figures in the Palestinian Authority as well as in Palestinians' own private security forces they say are people who have been implicated, who have organized attacks against Israeli civilians and are on Israel's wanted list. There have been already over the course of this evening a number of individuals taken into custody but we're told these are merely civilian employees of the Palestinian Authority -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Matthew, as we take a look at these live pictures of the compound in Ramallah, I also want to bring in some videotape just shot showing some of the hostilities, some of the fighting that was occurring in Ramallah just a little while ago. Let's watch this. A loud boom as that machinegun and other explosives continue to unfold in Ramallah.

Let me just get this straight, Matthew, before I let you go. Are the Israelis directly blaming Yasser Arafat for the suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv that apparently sparked this latest move against his headquarters in Ramallah?

CHANCE: Well our understanding at this stage, Wolf, is they've stopped short of making that exact connection between Yasser Arafat and the ordering of the latest suicide attack in Tel Aviv but they do say that Yasser Arafat's presidential compound is being used as a sort of planning base from which generally attacks against the Israeli civilians are planned. That's the reason, they say, they've gone there this evening.

BLITZER: All right, Matthew Chance reporting from Jerusalem. We'll be getting back to you as this story continues to unfold as well. Thank you very much. When we come back, we're going to move on and take a look at some other important news developing right now. President Bush tries to make a new ally out of a former adversary in his campaign against Saddam Hussein.

But before we go back, I want to go back to Ramallah. We're seeing some developments indeed right now unfold. Let's listen and watch to see what's happening.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance is going to rejoin us. Matthew if you can see and if you can hear what's going on maybe you have a better sense of this late development. What do you see?

CHANCE: OK, fine.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance, I don't think can hear us anymore, but to our viewers who may be just tuning in, you're looking at a live picture of what was the presidential compound, Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank. We just saw some fire, some explosives unfolding there.

Israeli troops have surrounded this compound. They're going back to try to search for what they say are Palestinian terrorists that are being shielded inside the compound. I think we have some videotape of what just occurred. Let's show that videotape to our viewers right now.

(VIDEO CLIP OF RAMALLAH COMPOUND)

BLITZER: There it is the videotape of what is occurring in Ramallah, that videotape that was shot just a few moments ago. Israeli troops and forces, armor, surrounding the compound of Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank. We're back to a live picture of this building that still remains standing. Palestinians inside say they're afraid the building could collapse with Yasser Arafat inside.

This has been a story that's been developing over the past 24 hours as Israeli forces moved in to Gaza, excuse me into the West Bank after a suicide bombing in the heart of Tel Aviv, a suicide bombing that has killed six Israelis, injured 40 or 50 others. Yasser Arafat and his top aides remain inside this building. You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound in Ramallah, the authority of the Palestinian Authority. One of Yasser Arafat's top aides is now joining us on the phone. Mr. Abu Rudeineh is that you, can you hear me?

NABIL ABU RUDEINEH, AIDE TO YASSER ARAFAT: Yes, I can hear you, go ahead.

BLITZER: Tell us where you are first of all.

RUDEINEH: First of all, I am in the main headquarters of President Yasser Arafat's office. The situation is very delicate and very dangerous because the Israelis are shelling and rocketing the main building right now after they damaged the bridge and they separated the main building from the conference hall building and after ruining the next adjacent building.

Right now, they are rocketing the main building, which President Arafat is sitting and working, and this is a very dangerous escalation and this situation will lead a raised confrontation and most probably for a real massacre in the coming hours.

BLITZER: Mr. Abu Rudeineh, how close are you to Yasser Arafat right now?

RUDEINEH: We are in the main building and we are in the same offices and the main office is large enough that hundreds of people are still inside but the problem that they are shelling and damaging and bulldozing and exploding which puts everybody in danger.

BLITZER: Have the Israelis made any demands on you to give up certain Palestinians who may be inside?

RUDEINEH: Not at all because there is their real pretext. Israelis are looking for damaging the peace process. The Israelis are not serious because there are no wanted people here and they know very well that there are agreements and there are no wanted people here. If they are serious they should stop their attack. They should withdraw and come back to the negotiating table and give it a chance for the efforts that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) including the American effort.

But the aim of this Israeli government is to ruin every single effort to find a political solution because their aim is to continue their escalation in order to dictate a solution on the Palestinian people which will never happen. The Israelis are committing a blunder, a great mistake.

They are not just challenging the Palestinian people and the Arab world, they are challenging the world community and they have to remember that this is not Afghanistan, that they will never find a Palestinian who would accept any dictation from anybody unless the Israelis withdraw, unless the Israelis stop their attack. Everything will reflect negatively on everybody, on Israelis and on everybody in the region.

BLITZER: Nabil Abu Rudeineh, stand by for one second. I want to show our viewers, who may have missed it, some videotape of what happened just a few minutes ago. There was a burst of Israeli gunfire around the building. I want you to listen to this as well Nabil Abu Rudeineh, and then we'll get back and continue this conversation. Stand by for one moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Nabil Abu Rudeineh, I don't know if you could hear that. You probably could. But were you anywhere near that burst of gunfire that so dramatically came through on that videotape? I think we may have lost Nabil Abu Rudeineh. He's one of Yasser Arafat's top aides. He's inside this building. You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on the West Bank.

The entire area, once again, under siege by Israeli military forces who moved in shortly after a suicide bombing, a Palestinian suicide bombing attack against Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv yesterday. Six Israelis were killed, 40 or 50 injured, many of them very seriously. The Israeli military insists it's undertaken this operation in the search for what they say are Palestinian terrorists inside the compounds, terrorists wanted by Israeli forces.

The Palestinians, as we just heard from Nabil Abu Rudeineh a top aide to Yasser Arafat, denying there are any wanted Palestinian terrorists inside. They say the Palestinians, that the Israelis are simply going after the Palestinian leadership trying to destroy it, indeed trying to destroy Yasser Arafat himself.

The Israelis completely deny that. They say they are not trying to kill Yasser Arafat. They're not trying to force him to leave that compound. They say they're not trying to go after him. They say they're simply trying to search out four wanted Palestinian terrorists inside.

We're in the process now of getting a spokesman from the Israeli army, from the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, to tell us what is going on from the Israeli perspective. Clearly, inside as Mr. Abu Rudeineh just told us many Palestinians hundreds of Palestinians surrounding Yasser Arafat in his office. We do now have a spokesman, spokeswoman indeed from the IDF. Is it Ruth? I'm not sure what your last name is but go ahead and first of all identify yourself and tell us what's going on.

BRIG. GEN. RUTH YARON, IDF SPOKESMAN: Wolf, good evening. This is Ruth Yaron, brigadier general, IDF spokesman. The situation...

BLITZER: Ruth Yaron, Y-A-R-O-N, the spokeswoman for the IDF, tell us precisely why the Israeli Army has encircled Yasser Arafat's compound and is engaging in this operation.

YARON: Wolf, our aim is one and only one and this is to catch the 20 or so terrorists who are in the building and are finding refuge there. We are talking about some heavy terrorists with blood on their hands and people who were responsible for perpetrating many terrorist acts against Israelis, who cost the lives of many of our citizens and Israeli families.

Our aim is to catch them and this is why we have circled the compound and we have called upon them last night as we did today during the day and as we did again tonight to call upon them to surrender themselves and 20 people have surrendered themselves last night, those were checked and all of those who were not identified with any terrorist act were released.

We are looking for the people who are connected with terrorist action and not more than that. If there are innocent people in the building, they will be checked and we'll let go as we did with the people of last night. But our aim is the terrorists and this is done in order to stop any future terrorist -- any future terror attack as we have seen in the past 48 hours in the streets of Israel and in the streets of Tel Aviv which cost the lives of nine Israelis in only 48 hours. This is our main purpose.

BLITZER: Ruth Yaron of the IDF, of the Israel Defense Forces, we just spoke to Nabil Abu Rudeineh who is a top adviser, as you well know, to Yasser Arafat who says that the Israelis have not submitted any list of wanted Palestinians inside the compound. They say this is just a pretext that you have to, in effect, go after Yasser Arafat and his leadership, indeed destroy it.

YARON: Our aim again is those terrorists who are hiding there, people like Kirawi (ph), people like Ahmed Shuwish (ph), people like Darme (ph), all of those are known people who have been active, very active in many terrorist attacks. I'm sure that everybody knows the list especially there inside the building. Now we have called upon them and we have called upon the...

BLITZER: Let me interrupt for a second. Are you saying you've submitted a list to the Palestinians inside with names?

YARON: No, I'm saying...

BLITZER: With names of people you want?

YARON: Wolf, I'm saying that the people who are inside the building know fully well who do we mean by saying those people suspected and engaged in terrorist attacks. Kirawi for one is a good name that everybody knows. But what I'm saying is that let's not be fooled by all kinds of reports that are coming out of there.

We have one purpose and those are those terrorists who we expect them to surrender and to be given to Israeli interrogation and to a legal system if they are indeed the people that we are looking for. We know that there are people there that have nothing to do there and that's why we have called upon them with loud speakers to come outside and to surrender and some two dozen of them have been doing exactly that.

BLITZER: As far as the loudspeaker, have you put names -- specific names on those loudspeakers, telling the Palestinian leadership who you want?

YARON: Wolf, there are many dozens of people. There is not more than that in those two buildings. And in there there are people who have nothing to do with that, like most of the people who have come out of the building last night.

And, again, they will be checked, and if they are not connected with terrorist acts, they will be let go.

The other who we know...

BLITZER: Ruth...

(CROSSTALK)

YARON: ... exactly who we mean should come out, surrender and be kept responsible for the act of terrorism that they are responsible for.

BLITZER: And if they don't emerge on their own, what will you do?

YARON: We will keep the pressure on the building until they come out. This is what we have been doing in the last 24 hours. We are pressuring and urging them to come out, and we will continue to wait for them to come out.

BLITZER: There was an extraordinary burst of gunfire just a few moments ago. We've shown the videotape to our viewers.

Ruth Yaron, standby, I want to show it once more and get your reaction.

Now Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Ruth Yaron, spokeswoman for the IDF, Israel Defense Forces, what's the point of that heavy burst of machine gun fire and explosions in an area where there are a lot of civilians, presumably in danger?

YARON: Wolf, what you have seen are our troops shooting on the side as a warning shot, several warning shots in order to urge the people in the building, especially those who are innocent, to come out. And as you have seen earlier, those who have come out who have surrendered were not hurt, nothing happened them, and this is how we intend to keep it.

But the shootings that you've heard and seen were warning shooting in order to urge the people in the building -- and those shots were not aimed at the building, but at the side of the building in order to convince the people that we mean business and we are serious. We intend to wait until those terrorists will surrender. We'll wait.

BLITZER: All right, Ruth Yaron from the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces. Ruth Yaron familiar to many of our viewers in the United States, a former press secretary at the Israeli embassy here in Washington.

Thanks for joining us.

We're getting some reaction now from the White House. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is standing by, and she has some details.

Suzanne, how are they dealing with this over there?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, I just talked to a senior White House administration official who says that they're monitoring the situation at this time.

And again he reiterated a number of points from the administration, their position in all this, saying that they were pleased it was a significant amount of quiet that was behind the scenes. There had been a stained period of quiet, with no homicide bombings; and that Israel -- again, they reiterated that Israel has a right to defend herself, to deal with security.

But also, again, in the words of this official, saying Israel also needs to bear in mind the consequences of the action, that Israel has a stake in the development of reform of those Palestinian institutions. Also reiterating again that Palestinians have the responsibility to make certain that they also prevent these attacks and halt these attacks.

So, again, the administration making it very clear that Israel has the right to go ahead and defend itself. We can see in the pictures just how dramatic that has unfolded just within the last half hour.

The administration also making clear that Israel pays a price, that actually has responsibility -- bears some responsibility for the outcome of this as well, when it comes to the peace process -- Wolf.

BLITZER: As you know, Suzanne, no love lost between the Bush administration and Yasser Arafat.

But what you're suggesting is that the administration may be at least in part justifying this Israeli siege of the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, including the presidential compound of Yasser Arafat.

Am I misreading the statement that you've received from an official there?

MALVEAUX: What the statement says is that they are simply pointing out the response that was given earlier today when Ari Fleischer was asked the question, the reaction to the siege that was going on with Arafat's compound earlier. He said that he would simply say, reiterate again, what Ari Fleischer had stated before, and that is Israel's right to defend itself.

But at the same time, the price, the consequence of defending itself, and also the responsibility of the Palestinians in preventing these type of homicide attacks.

But the White House also saying they're, at this moment, just monitoring the situation. They want to see what happens, how it develops before they make any kind of specific reaction with regards to the shooting that we've us seen in the last 15 minutes.

BLITZER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux on the north lawn of the White House, thanks for that update with some U.S. reaction from the Bush administration.

A dramatic situation in Ramallah on the West Bank. Right now Israeli military forces have encircled the presidential compound of the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Heavy gunfire.

The Israeli spokeswoman for the IDF, Ruth Yaron on CNN just a few moments ago insisting that the gunfire are warning shots. They say there are Palestinians inside wanted as terrorists.

Some dramatic videotape that we've been showing our viewers. This is a live picture of what's going on rights now. Looks like the gunfire has stopped.

There was, just a fuel moments ago, though, some dramatic gunfire. We'll show it one more time, and then we'll continue with other news.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound of the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, encircled by Israeli troops and tanks, heavy equipment as they demand the surrender of what they say are scores of Palestinian terrorists inside.

A demand that the Palestinians so far have rejected, and one denied by Palestinian officials. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top adviser to Yasser Arafat here on CNN only a few moments ago insisting this has nothing to do with suspected terrorists inside, but everything to do with the effort by the Israelis to try to destroy Yasser Arafat's leadership.

The spokeswoman for the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, Ruth Yaron also here on CNN just a few moments ago insisting that they are not going after Yasser Arafat himself or any of the senior political leaders, but they are going after a list of Palestinians they say are well known as terrorists.

This follows two suicide bombings in Israel over the past couple days, one in northern Israel, one in Tel Aviv itself, and the standoff outside the Palestinian Authority compound continues.

You're looking at these live pictures right now. We'll follow this story, this dramatic story, potentially very, very significant story on what's unfolding in Ramallah. And we'll get back to it as events warrant.

But let's turn to the war on terrorism here in the United States, concern over possible 9/11-type attacks have spurred law enforcement officials to action.

BLITZER: Let's get some late breaking developments now from our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, sources say that federal authorities have in custody a former Sudanese air force pilot who may have been planning to hijack an airliner and fly it into a target in the United States. Sources say he was picked on September 13 and is being held in North Carolina, where he has lived for several years. He is 30 years old and was in the United States legally, and sources say he was working as a taxi driver.

Officials say the intelligence gathered was general in nature and did not point to a specific target, but caused enough of a concern to have him picked up. Currently, he's not facing any terrorism related charges, but sources say that he has already been charged with making false statements by submitting multiple names while applying for a visa.

He has a court appearance scheduled for Monday.

Separately, officials say that several Sudanese citizens are being held and questioned at an undisclosed location as part of the government's anti-terror investigation. Sources are not drawing any link, however, between these two incidents, Wolf.

Back to you.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena, thank you very much for that update. We will be watching that story.

At the same time, there have been more disturbing revelations today from the congressional inquiry into the September 11 terror attacks. U.S. intelligence agencies missed opportunities to pursue some of the hijackers beginning a year and a half before they struck.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor has more on today's hearings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a tense hearing room, FBI and CIA witnesses, two with their identities concealed by a screen, sometimes spared with members of Congress over what could and could not be said in open session on what they knew before 9/11 and how they knew it.

SEN. JON KYL (R-AZ), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: This shouldn't be talked about in public. I'm sorry. It should not be. We can't go there.

ENSOR: Some members questioned the whole exercise.

KYL: We are revealing in open session today a lot of information about how we operate which will be are the very useful to our enemies. That's not good, and it's not necessary.

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: I believe that it is important and it is a right of the American people to know what their government is doing.

ENSOR: Chairman Bob Graham added Americans need to know how bad the problems were before 9/11. A committee staff report details communications breakdowns between the CIA and the FBI and within the FBI itself about two of the hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almidhar, who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. The report said, "A CIA communication in early January 2000 states that Almidhar's travel documents, including his multiple entry visa for the United States, were shared with the FBI for further investigation." The report says no one at the FBI recalls having received such documents at the time.

The report also quotes CIA Director George Tenet conceding his agency should have put the two men on the watch list to be kept out of the U.S. 18 months before September 11.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

ENSOR: From behind the screen, the FBI agent said that less than two weeks before 9/11 he had tried to further investigate Khalid Almidhar, but he ran into bureaucratic roadblocks. So wrote an e-mail with a warning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we do not change the system, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), someday someone will die.

ENSOR: The CIA man made a plea for more people, more resources.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The comment I hear most often from working- level people on both sides, CIA and FBI, involved directly in the bin Laden business is one with a panic-stricken look in their eyes saying we are going to miss stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are missing stuff. We can't keep up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Wolf, in a late breaking development in the last hour or so, the White House has made it known that in a sharp turnaround, the president favors a blue ribbon commission to look into 9/11, to go on beyond where these intelligence committee hearings have gone. It would be broader. It would investigate all the other matters that are related, from the airline industry to all sorts of other issues that have come up. But it could also cover intelligence, Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, you've been speculating about that blue ribbon commission for days. Thanks for bringing us up to speed. I'm sure you'll bell covering that story as well. Thank you very much.

The Bush administration is the pressing one important partner to help out in the showdown with Iraq, or if not, at least to try to keep out of the way.

Once again, let's go back to our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Wolf, this administration is really engaged in a full- court press to try to get a U.N. resolution passed -- a tough resolution -- before those weapons inspectors go back into Iraq. It is really a race against time, but today the administration focusing on a critical ally, Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush off to Camp David after 24 hours of hardcore diplomacy. The target, the Russians. Secretary Powell with the foreign minister secretary, Secretary Rumsfeld with his counterpart in defense. The president is pushing not to allow U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq without a tough new U.N. Security Council resolution, which would force Saddam to comply.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's important to have a different type of inspection, one that's effective, one that will make certain that Iraq has disarmed.

MALVEAUX: After Mr. Bush's meeting and his call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia's top advisers suggested some openness to change.

IGOR IVANOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Russia and the United States are firmly interested in making the work of international inspectors in Iraq effective.

MALVEAUX: In addition, Russian officials have said for now that a new U.N. resolution isn't necessary in their view, but the United States would like the Russian support.

JAMES SASSER, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: If the Russians go with the resolution, the Chinese are not going to block it. They'll either vote for it or abstain. But if the Russians say we are not going along with it, the Chinese will follow suit.

MALVEAUX: But the White House made it clear that the U.S. would go it alone in Iraq if necessary. Earlier, the president released his groundbreaking national security strategy mandated by Congress. In it, he emphasized the need for the U.S. to take preemptive action against its enemies, the top priority now fighting terrorists and terrorist sympathizers in rogue states.

In the 33 page report, the president states, "We will not hesitate to act alone -- if necessary, to exercise our right of self- defense by acting preemptively.

MALVEAUX: The administration is now seeking a congressional resolution to carry out its preemptive policy in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, the United Nations wants those inspectors back in as early as October 15, back into Iraq. The administration is hoping to get some sort of draft of the resolution by the U.N. Security Council in the next couple of weeks -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux doing double duty for us at the White House. Thank you very much.

While a possible war with Iraq may be months away, U.S. military planners are apparently close to finalizing an invasion strategy, one that aims at achieving its goal within days.

More now from our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pentagon officials and military analysts tell CNN the current U.S. strategy for toppling Saddam Hussein is a 21st century blitzkrieg: a ferocious opening air assault with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of all-weather satellite-guided bombs and cruise missiles, combined with covert missions and psychological operations. But the goal this time is not simply neutralizing air defenses; instead, it's delivering a first-round knock-out punch to demoralize Saddam Hussein's generals and dissuade them from following orders to unleash chemical or biological weapons. DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Saddam Hussein might not have anything to lose personally, but beneath him in the chain of command, those other people would most certainly have a great deal to lose. And wise Iraqis will not obey orders to use weapons of mass destruction.

MCINTYRE: The strategy is a recognition that with his back to the wall, Saddam Hussein may not be deterred from using deadly germs and nerve agents. Unlike in the Gulf War, the U.S. can't afford a 38- day air war followed by a four-day ground assault or to build up large number of troops at seaports or other staging areas, where they might be vulnerable to chemical or biological attack.

The first thing you would do is try to attack whatever infrastructure associated with WMD you could. That would be the first thing you would do.

MCINTYRE: Analysts say the current plan targets centers of gravity that keeps Saddam Hussein in power: his weapons of mass destruction, his Republican Guard, his presidential palaces. It's a full-spectrum warfare strategy, combining punishing attacks with psychological warfare and covert operations.

Signs point to a winter offensive, in January or February. One reason, waiting until next year would give U.S. assembly lines time to replenish stocks of JDAMs, the cheap, accurate, 2000-pound satellite- guided bomb that was used to devastating effect in Afghanistan.

(on camera): Pentagon sources say the latest version of the Iraq plan has been briefed by General Tommy Franks to senior Pentagon and administration officials. But those sources talked to CNN in part because the war plan is still not final.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: This important programing note: Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent will have an exclusive interview with the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, tomorrow -- that's Saturday -- at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. on the West Coast.

Attack of the angry fans. He got beaten by a mob on first base. We'll tell you about a Big League brawl coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Fights are not exactly uncommon in baseball, but the one last night at Chicago's Comiskey Park was very unusual. A father and son seemingly came out of nowhere and rushed Kansas City Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa and pummeled him. That emptied the Royals dugout and prompted a full-scale brawl. The father and son were eventually arrested and now face battery charges. The coach, fortunately, is in good shape, not hurt from this incident, at least not physically very seriously hurt. A different kind of sports fight could result in something new at next year's Masters golf tournament. Picket lines outside Augusta National Golf Club. The National Council of Women's Organizations is holding out the possibility of a protest because the club refuses to allow women to join. Here to talk with us about that, both of these sports stories, is syndicated sports columnist and author Mike Lupica. Mike, thanks for joining us.

It's an amazing thing, that brawl last night, first of all, in Chicago. What's your take on that?

MIKE LUPICA, SYNDICATED SPORTS COLUMNIST: Well, you know, we go out of our way, Wolf, to convince the fans that they're part of the action, and then a couple of slobs go too far. What's troubling every time I look at this tape is, first of all, the first baseman looks like he's doing a Michael Jackson moonwalk away from the action, and the umpire just stands there. And you wonder what they would have done if they had seen a similar thing happening on the street. And as a fan, the only thing I was hoping for was that the security would give the team about five more minutes with these guys before they actually broke it up.

BLITZER: It's pretty unusual, though. We see brawls all the time where they empty the dugouts, but when a fan actually jumps out and starts beating up a first base or a third base coach, this was a first base coach in this particular case, that's pretty extraordinary.

LUPICA: Yeah, and it's just -- it's -- the lack of civility that I see more and more at the ball park and in the stands, just ran amok last night. And you know, once and for all, fans have to understand that they have certain rights that come with buying a ticket, but not the right to do what they did last night, and I hope that when these two goobers -- I mean, these are guys I'd write about in a book, you know, but I'd make fun of them -- stand in front of a judge some day, that he sends a strong enough message that the next guy who thinks about how funny it would be to run around on the field during the World Series thinks twice about it.

BLITZER: So, what's your take, Mike, while I have you on, on the whole women and the Augusta tournament, the PGA? What's going on here? CBS' decision to go ahead and televise the Masters despite all these protests?

LUPICA: Oh, well, CBS would have televised the Masters if it were on the moon, Wolf. But you know, this again is a dumb fight by Augusta National. They're going to lose eventually. It's a question of how costly it's going to be. And when they fired their sponsors a while ago, you knew that they were now going to put CBS, who has been an unbelievably great partner to them, squarely in the crosshairs of these women's groups. And as shrill and unlikable as Martha Burk is, she's going to win eventually, because they're going to admit women members in this time in this country. How far do you go with this?

And you know, I've been saying all along, Hootie Johnson thinks he's doing something right and noble, but if he's going to act this way and hold the line on women this much, any self-respecting woman would ask herself, why would I want to join any club that has Hootie as a member?

BLITZER: And what about Suzy Whaley? Should she go ahead and play in the men's PGA now that she's qualified?

LUPICA: Yeah, and if she does good, I'm going to tee it up against Anika Sorenstam. My game needs work, but I think, you know, with enough practice and enough diligence, I may try out for the women's tour next year.

BLITZER: Hey, Mike Lupica, you got a hot new novel, "Wild Pitch." You can't make this kind of stuff up, although you do in that book. It's a great book. I love all your books. Thanks for joining us.

LUPICA: Thank you very much. I can't keep up with real events anymore, Wolf, I'm sorry.

BLITZER: It's amazing what's going on out there in the real world. "Wild Pitch" -- it's a good read, read it.

When we come back, we will update you on our top story. There is fighting going on, severe fighting in Ramallah on the West Bank involving the Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat and the Israel Defense Forces. We will update you. We will go there live right when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're looking at a live picture of the presidential compound in Ramallah, on the West Bank. Encircled by Israeli forces, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, inside, with a few hundred of his aides. Israelis say there are terrorists inside. They want them. The Palestinians deny it. Much more coming up on "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE," which begins right now.

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