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CNN Talkback Live

Maryland Sniper Keeps Communities On-Edge As Police Continue the Search; Bush Calls for end to West Coast Port Lockout

Aired October 08, 2002 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR (voice-over): Sniper on the loose. From the schools to the corner coffee shop, an entire community learns to live with fear.

JOESPH RIEHL, ATF AGANET: Who would shoot mothers in the back, and wjo would shoot a child?

BLITZER: I'll ask former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt.

Unlock the docks. Moving to break the billion daollar back-up of the ports. The president tells both sides to cool it.

Showdown: Iraq. Keeping the pressure on.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake about it. We will prevail.

But Baghdad isn't buckling. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) his response to an attack will be hard and decisive. For U.S. marines training in Kuwait, it suddenly turns very real.

And flash, a long-term study shows Americans keep putting on the pounds. Would a tax on fatty foods get us to take them off?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's Tuesday, October 8, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Center in Atlanta. The entire Washington, D.C. areas is on edge as authorities work desperately to find the sniper who's killer six people and wounded two more, and as residents wonder when and where the shooter will strike again.

Schools are locked down. Members of Congress have been told to lie low, and the Starbucks chain has even suspended outdoor seating. We'll hear live from the police chief of Montgomery County, Charles Moose. He's coming up, and we'll also hear from the former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt in just a few minutes.

But we begin with CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's outside police headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. That's just outside Washington, D.C. -- Kathleen. KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a new development this evening in this story. Sources here at the Montgomery County Police Department tell me that they are now looking at an earlier shooting, a shooting that also occurred in southern Montgomery County back on September 14. A man was shot outside a liquor store at a shopping center and police now believe that that may be the first of the shootings in this deadly shooting spree. The man did survive.

Police tell me though they don't believe that it is important if that case is indeed the first. They say they believe they have enough cases to pursue this killer for and enough evidence, a mounting body of evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): Critical evidence, a shell casing found in these woods at the site of Monday's sniper shooting at a Maryland middle school.

CHIEF GERALD WILSON, PRINCE GEORGE'S CO. POLICE: It was found over I would say 100 feet or yards into the woods on the same side as Benjamin Tasker. It could have been ejected from the weapon used by the suspect, could have been.

KOCH: The number of investigators involved in the manhunt, now 195 after Montgomery County Police got the go ahead for federal help in catching the serial killer. Authorities are comparing the details of the eight shootings with crimes and databases across the country looking for similarities.

RICHARD BOUCHARD, SPECIAL AGENT, ATF: We ask all the police departments to entire projectiles and cartridge casings from shootings into that system, and there are 230 plus systems throughout the United States. We've entered the information from this case into that system to query if there are any other similar type projectiles or cartridge casings in that system nationwide.

KOCH: Maryland's governor challenged the killer to surrender.

GOV. PARRIS GLENDENING, MARYLAND: We're talking about a person here who is basically a coward. This is not an individual who's out there doing something strong or manly or anything of this type. This is a person who is shooting elderly men, shooting women, and now shooting little children.

KOCH: But how will such words impact the killer? Profilers say the shooter is watching. Credible leads now number 1,250. The reward for information leading to the killer's capture $237,000. School attendance was down in both Montgomery and Prince George's County as schools were locked down for a fourth day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: And meanwhile, the man who was shot yesterday morning in Prince George's County remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. One note of good news today, the 43-year-old woman who was shot in Virginia on Friday has already been released from the hospital -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch, she's on the scene for us in Rockville, Maryland. Thanks very much. So who could be behind these killings and why? Joining me now live from our Washington Bureau Clint Van Zandt, he's an expert on criminal psychology. He's also a profiler, spent 25 years with the FBI. What do you make so far in looking at what we know from the public record, Clint, about this killer or killers?

CLINT VAN ZANDT, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Well, you know, the FBI is being very close, as is the police department on not releasing a demographic profile. Obviously, they don't want people to start self eliminating but psychologically, Wolf, we've got someone, whether we call him anti-socials, whether we call him a sociopath or a psychopath, this is someone who has the ability to range at least a week now throughout our communities to shoot.

He doesn't empathize. He is selecting individuals who represent all races, sexes, ages. What he's telling us in this terrible, terrible way, Wolf, is that you can not protect your community. You can't protect your children. This is terrorism, Wolf. Whether this guy looks like Mohammed Atta or Ted Kaczynski, or Timothy McVeigh, whether he's homegrown or foreign born doesn't make any difference right now with the exception of we've got to find him and stop him.

And, what was reported earlier, Wolf, that the potential of an earlier shooting where that becomes important is that we're trying to understand motive. We're trying to understand what set this person off. Is he part of some cell? Did he just self initiate? Is he an angry person acting out? Is he speaking a language called homicide that we don't understand, we have to translate?

We usually have to start at the beginning and, if in fact this first shooting that was spoken of on your program, if this is related then it gives us another point. It gives us perhaps the beginning dot as we try to connect the dots on this serial sniper.

BLITZER: Does it so far and obviously we don't know the answer, but does it appear to be the act of an isolated individual killer or killers?

VAN ZANDT: Well, at most Wolf, again statistically and, you know, we've got one witness who suggests that the witness saw two people in a vehicle. Right or wrong we don't know yet. But from looking at these over the years, we never see a spree shooting with normally more than two people, usually one, sometimes two where one is the dominant, one is the follower.

So, logistically you'd have a driver and you'd have a shooter. Something like that would make sense, but it does not exclude one person acting on his own. There are a lot of leads being generated on this. As we know, the chief of police asked the A.G. for federal assistance. What we're going to see very quickly, Wolf, is probably the largest manhunt conducted in Washington, D.C., maybe since President Lincoln was shot. BLITZER: Clint Van Zandt, he's a profiler. He knows what he's talking about. Thanks for joining us. And let's get a little bit more on what's going on in the investigation right now. Joining me, the police chief of Montgomery County, Charles Moose, Chief Moose thanks for joining us.

First of all any new developments, we heard Kathleen Koch report that an earlier shooting at a liquor store may have been the first act of this killer. What can you tell us about that, if anything?

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: Sir, I appreciate your interest but it's been our practice to not really talk about the investigation.

BLITZER: So you don't want to say if that shooting at a liquor store was, in fact, part of this same series of deadly killings?

MOOSE: I don't want to say anything that will compromise our case, make it even more difficult than it already is for our investigators. I just feel like people in our community would be more inclined to have us catch this person or the people involved in this, and then they can hear the story and the details later.

BLITZER: Well, obviously all of us want you to catch this killer or killers. Is it your working assumption that it's one person or more?

MOOSE: Sir, I have not made any assumptions in this case. We're going to let our investigators and the evidence take us where we need to go. We're going to keep an open mind and we're going to take a broad approach so that we don't overlook anything in our zealousness to meet an assumption.

BLITZER: As you know, a lot of us, and I live in Montgomery County so I'm just as concerned as everyone, as you are and everyone else, a lot of us wonder why this killer, for example, may have picked various locations in and around the Washington, D.C. area. Is it your assumption that he or she lives there?

MOOSE: Again, it would be improper. At this point, we simply want to get the evidence to catch this person or these people and I guess in some way, sad as it may seem, we're not focused on the why. We're focused on getting this person or these people off the street.

BLITZER: That's fair enough. Chief, without getting into any details, is there any new development that you can share with us that gives you reason to hope that you may be getting close to finding this person?

MOOSE: Well, sir, I think the real hope that makes me optimistic is that again as I look into the eyes of our investigators, as I see people cancel trips to weddings or planned vacations saying that they're going to stay here. We're not asking them to do that, people coming to work on their days off asking if they can help, that kind of commitment and enthusiasm gives me great hope that we're going to be able to solve this case. BLITZER: This may be the largest manhunt certainly in the history of Montgomery County just guessing, is that right?

MOOSE: Well, I haven't had a chance to do all of my research there but certainly that would be something that it would be tough to prove otherwise.

BLITZER: Should our viewers who live in your area, in your jurisdiction, be doing anything special other than going about their day-to-day activities?

MOOSE: We've asked them to remain vigilant, to look for things that seem out of place. Please call us if they see someone acting in a bizarre way. We want them to use the 9/11 system. If they have information, if they have a coworker, a neighbor, a friend, someone that they've heard about that's acting strange, haven't reported for work, changed their behavior, we want them to call our tip line at (240) 777-2600.

BLITZER: You've been working nonstop for all of us. Chief Moose, thanks for joining us on our program, appreciate your hard work, appreciate all of the work of the law enforcement officials who are working together with you in Montgomery County, indeed in the entire region.

MOOSE: All right, thank you sir.

BLITZER: The 13-year-old boy who was shot outside his suburban school yesterday remains in critical condition. CNN's Michael Okwu was at Bowie, Maryland's Benjamin Tasker Middle School when students returned to class this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came by bus. They came en masse. But on this day, many came with parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can drop them off right behind...

OKWU: On the day after, they came to forget, to move on. Doing otherwise wouldn't be normal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

OKWU: But these aren't normal times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, don't be a moving target.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got this sniper going around just senselessly just killing innocent people and, you know, it's not supposed to happen, you know especially to kids.

PENNY ROBERTSON, PARENT: I feel pretty safe, you know, knowing that there's, you know, a lot of security, but I want to walk her to the door just to make sure.

OKWU: Helicopters hovered overhead, extra security covered the ground as parents shepherded their kids to school, battle ready middle schoolers less innocent now and somehow more vulnerable.

HENRY OLLIE, PARENT OF TASKER M.S. STUDENT: As a parent, you just want to know that your children are going to be safe.

OKWU: Henry Ollie walked his 12-year-old son Charles to school. Charles would normally take the bus, not on this day. Charles has been asking himself endless questions, questions more comfortably asked at home.

CHARLES OLLIE, TASKER M.S. STUDENT: I was thinking that where could he be? Where would he be hiding right now? And, why would he be such a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and why would he try to do it on children?

H. OLLIE: When you're out in the open, you think about it all the time, but again, you can't hunker down. You can't stay at home.

OKWU (on camera): Officials say it was just another school day as one administrator here put it, with teachers teaching and students learning, but it wasn't. On the day after with a lockdown still in place, attendance was at 66 percent, down from a typical 98 percent.

OKWU (voice-over): By noon, a field where students would usually enjoy their recess was silent and still, but for the occasional movement of armed guards, a welcome sight until things can really get back to normal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if they can't supply safety for our students, well I'm going to be a stay at home mom and teach them at home.

OKWU: Michael Okwu CNN, Bowie, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And now to fears of terror abroad, a marine killed during a shootout. How did the shooters get so close? We'll go live to our Christiane Amanpour. She's on the ground for us in Kuwait City, and more on a warning from the head of the CIA about Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

And, President Bush moves to end the West Coast port lockout, but is the economic impact already too deep for a quick recovery? We'll go live coast-to-coast for a reaction. Also, a CNN exclusive inside Port Huachuca see how the army trains its top intelligence gatherers. But first, today's news quiz.

Fort Huachuca trains Army soldiers in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Which historic manhunt led to the founding of Fort Huachuca? Was it the search for Annie Oakley, John Dillinger, Geronimo, Billy the Kid? The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. U.S. Marines found themselves under fire during a training exercise at an island off Kuwait today and it was all too real. One marine was killed in what the Kuwaiti government is now calling a terror attack. Our Christiane Amanpour is joining us now live by videophone from Kuwait City with the latest -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say one U.S. Marine was killed and another one was wounded in what was a drive-by shooting incident on the island of Failaka, about 20 kilometers off the coast of Kuwait. We are still not sure exactly why that happened and who the perpetrators are affiliated with, but the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry did say a short while ago that they believe that this was an act of terrorism.

The two assailants were shot dead in return fire by the U.S. Marines. Their names have been released. They are Kuwaitis, according the Kuwaiti government here. One is called Anas al-Kandari and the other one is called Jassem al-Hajiri, both in their 20s.

Again, it has not been publicly revealed whether they have any affiliation, but several Kuwaitis, perhaps more than two dozen have been rounded up and presented to the Kuwaiti government for further questioning. A western diplomatic source here tells us that they have been rounded up as potential witnesses.

Also, when the marines and others did start their investigation on the island of Failaka, they found that the vehicle that was used in the shooting incident contained other assault rifles and ammunition. That is the latest from here, Wolf, on that incident.

BLITZER: Christiane, I assume the marines, U.S. military personnel on the ground in Kuwait have changed some of their security procedures in the aftermath of this shooting. What can you tell us about any changes that may, in fact, have occurred?

AMANPOUR: Well, they don't officially comment on security when we ask them precisely that, but of course they have removed the contingent of about 150 marines that were conducting live fire exercises on that island. They brought them off the island as a measure of precaution, and we don't know whether this live fire exercise is going to resume.

It was called Operation Eager Mace and it is part of a routine annual U.S. training maneuver here in Kuwait. Sometimes the U.S. Marines and other U.S. forces here do train with the Kuwaitis but this was entirely a training exercise involving only U.S. forces and, of course, this is an ongoing situation in terms of the investigation and it does continue, and perhaps more details will be forthcoming some Kuwaiti officials have said by the morning time.

BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour on the scene for us in Kuwait City, thanks for that report.

Meanwhile, secret deportation hearings introduced in the United States after last year's terrorist attacks got a boost today from a federal court. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld the policy. The government argues that closed hearings are needed for detainees whose cases are of special interest to the terrorism investigation, but civil liberties groups call the secrecy unconstitutional. The ruling affects only the Third Circuit, but similar challenges have been filed in other federal court districts.

Port workers may be back on the job soon. The president stepped in on the labor dispute. Can it stop the billions of dollars being lost every day, every hour indeed? We'll go live coast-to-coast for a reaction.

And, a warning about Iraq from the CIA Director to a member of the U.S. Senate. We'll tell you about fears of terrorism.

And, exercise more, eat less, we've all been told how to slim down so why are Americans bigger than ever? An in-depth look at new ideas to stop the bulge.

And, we want to hear directly from you. Should there, for example, be a tax on fattening foods to help Americans lose weight? Log on to cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote.

But first, the news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Pakistan test fired a medium-range ballistic missile today. It was the second test in less than a week and it came just two days before national elections inviting speculation it was timed to impress voters.

Elections in the Indian-held portion of the disputed Kashmir Province were marred by a grenade and gunfire attack on a polling station. Islamic guerrillas are blamed. Authorities say one police officer and one attacker were killed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is trying to hold things together in Northern Ireland. Protestant Leader David Trimble says his party will pull out of Northern Ireland's coalition government unless a hard line Catholic Party (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is expelled.

Australia's annual bush fire season has started and if the first fires are any indication, it could be even worse than usual. Seventy fires are burning along Australia's East Coast and several homes on the outskirts of Sydney have been destroyed.

It may be time for Australians to rewrite their history books. Experts have discovered what could be the remains of a 17th Century Portuguese war ship beneath the beach in Queensland. That would mean Europeans reached Australia a long time before Captain Cook arrived in 1770.

It may sound about as exciting as watching the grass grow, but 2,000 spectators turned out to watch a six-hour lawnmower race in Britain. While top speeds may be somewhat short of the Indianapolis 500, racers insist the thrill is intense for contestants who make the final cut, and that's our look around the world. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Bush is invoking an executive power that hasn't been used in almost 25 years in an effort to get cargo moving on the West Coast once again. Twenty-eight major ports have been virtually shut down for more than a week by a dispute between dockworkers and shippers. We have coast-to-coast coverage with Suzanne Malveaux, she's at the White House; Frank Buckley, he's at the Port of Long Beach in California.

Let's begin with Suzanne. The president taking action, Suzanne, tell us all about it.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it really is an extraordinary move for this free market administration. The Bush White House really reluctant to get involved in the first place, but the president is invoking the Taft-Hartley Act. It means that Attorney General John Ashcroft will go before a federal court seeking an injunction to try to suspend this lockout.

He will make the argument that this is so damaging that it actually imperils the national health and safety of the country. He will say not only affecting it economically, costing $2 billion a day, but also militarily, that it's not getting the supplies to the military forces that are necessary, that it is actually harming and is an issue of national security as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Americans are working hard every day to bring our economy back from recession. This nation simply can not afford to have hundreds of billions of dollars a year in potential manufacturing and agricultural trade sitting idle. We can't afford it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, if the court grants an injunction, it would mean an 80-day suspension of the lockout, a cooling off period. During that period, crews would be forced to go back to work. The negotiations would resume. If in the last 20 days of that cooling off period they do not come up with some sort of agreement through a secret ballot vote, then the lockout could continue -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux our White House Correspondent, thanks for that report.

For some union reaction, let's go to our national correspondent Frank Buckley. He's on the scene for us in Long Beach, California -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, at this moment, longshoremen continue to walk the picket line here in Long Beach, but they say they are ready to go back to work when their union orders them back to work. They say they've been willing to work all along. From their point of view, this is a lockout, not a strike. The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the terminal operators and the shippers, they call this a defensive shutdown because they claim that the longshoremen engaged in work slowdowns.

Whatever the case may be, we can tell you today that the longshoremen watched on television with great interest as the president invoked the Taft-Hartley Act. They watched but the workers that we talked to said that they were disappointed that the federal government stepped in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMON PONCE DELEON, LONGSHOREMEN UNION SPOKESPERSON: Because it leaves the parties as adults to work their things out. That's how it should be. It should be the parties that are negotiating a contract under a collective bargaining process. That's America. This is how it should happen. When the parties can't agree, I guess the president has to step in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: And now that we are awaiting the injunction to come forward if, in fact, the workers get back to work, this is what you are looking at, ships parked off the West Coast here, some 200 ships that we are told will take somewhere from four to six weeks to offload. This is a very crucial time in the U.S. economy coming into the fourth quarter, but it will take some four to six weeks to offload these ships -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Frank Buckley thanks for that report. We'll continue to monitor this important story. It's costing all of us billions and billions of dollars. The president lays out his case against Iraq. Was it enough to justify a preemptive strike; a look at both sides when we return.

Also, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the final exam, a CNN exclusive inside army intelligence training, what soldiers call the brain of the beast. And Ephedra in the hot seat, the government cracks down on this popular dietary supplement. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up a CIA report on Saddam Hussein, what would he do if pushed against the wall?

There's a new warning today from the director of the CIA. George Tenet says that if President Saddam Hussein feels cornered, Iraq might launch terrorist attacks against the United States. Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is joining me now live with details --David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, in a two-and-a-half page letter delivered yesterday to the Senate Intelligence Committee, George Tenet warned that if Saddam Hussein became convinced that an American or allied attack was inevitable, he might decide to use terrorism against this country.

Here's how he put it in the letter --- "Should Saddam conclude that a U.S. attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions. Such terrorism might involve conventional means or chemical and biological weapons."

For now, Tenet said in the letter, the Iraqi leader appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with chemical or conventional or biological weapons.

Back during the Gulf War, the first Bush administration warned Saddam Hussein that use by Iraq of weapons of mass destruction would guarantee the most severe reaction, a not-so-subtle hint that he himself might become a U.S. target.

Now, Tenet has said to lawmakers it is the view of U.S. intelligence that if he knows a U.S. attack is inevitable, if his life is already in great danger, a man like Saddam who has used chemical weapons on his own people, would be less constrained to use such methods against the U.S. or against American forces.

In the past, intelligence analysts have called him an amoral leader who wants to make a significant mark on history and doesn't much care how he does it. It's a sobering thought for lawmakers who are of course considering the Iraq resolution -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David, before I let you go, any reason why they decided to declassify this assessment and make it public?

ENSOR: Well, Chairman Graham -- Senator Graham of Florida, has been pressing the CIA to come out with more details, specifically on what it thinks Saddam will do if attacked. So this letter, which is two-and-a-half pages long -- and we have not seen the full letter -- contains some of the response to that pressing from the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee for more analysis -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, who's on the scene for us, thanks as usual.

Congress, meanwhile, is debating a resolution of support for possible military action against Iraq.

Our national -- our Congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl, has the latest from Capitol Hill on this day after the president's big speech last night -- Jon.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as this debate goes on, it looks increasingly clear that the president will get exactly what he's asked for, a resolution giving him the authority to wage war on Iraq.

And he will get that by a pretty large margin here in both the Senate and house. But the president's allies on Capitol Hill are working very hard to try and get as wide a victory as possible. And one of those up here doing some hard lobbying today was Secretary of State Colin Powell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's a resolution that I think will draw a very, very solid and strong, overwhelming bipartisan and bicameral support. It's a resolution that will definitely strengthen my hand as I try to do the diplomatic work up in New York to get a U.N. Security Council resolution. I think the resolution is timely and we need it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: The outcome seems fairly certain up here, Wolf. There still is a very spirited debate going on in both the Senate and the House and those opponents to this resolution are especially vocal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), HOUSE SPEAKER: We must not let evil triumph. We must do something. We must pass this resolution, support the president of the United States as he works to disarm Saddam Hussein, and win the war against terrorism.

REP. DAVID BONIOR (D), MICHIGAN: The costs have already been horrendous and the question we have to ask ourselves -- is there not another way? I believe there is. Vote against this resolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: And that vote in the House will take place on Thursday and it looks increasingly likely that it will take place also in the Senate on Thursday. But Wolf, as you know, it's never quite certain when you're talking about timing of a vote here in the U.S. Senate -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll be watching it closely, but not as closely as you will. Jonathan Karl joining us now from Capitol Hill, thanks very much.

As President Bush argues the case for possible military action against Iraq, Iraq is accusing the president of misleading the American public. Our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf has the latest.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Wolf. Well, the Iraqi president is has actually made a show this evening of meeting with some of the very generals that President Bush is warning not to follow the president's orders.

He had a meeting shown on Iraqi television with his youngest son, who's in charge of security, with his air force commander, with his air defense commanders, as well as the head of his Military Industrialization Commission, the commission that was responsible for making weapons, and the head of his Atomic Energy Agency.

Now, the point of this, according to the news was for the president to tell these generals and other military people that Bush could not twist their arm, that he was unable to compromise them. And Iraqi officials of all sorts say that Iraq will continue its diplomatic push of the kind that is seen. The foreign minister toured the Gulf at this moment and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Syria and Lebanon, but they say Iraq will fight if it has to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. MOHAMMED AL-ADHAMI, BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY: We don't want war. That's why Iraq is using the diplomatic ways and methods to reach an agreement with the United Nations. But at the same time, we have to be ready to defend ourselves if they came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF: Officials made that point in quite an unusual way today, Wolf. They held a rally, not your usual rally. This one had the usual chants of "With our blood and souls, we will sacrifice for you, Saddam." But they took it a step further. They actually gave blood and it was used to paint slogans saying, "Yes, yes, Saddam." That's a reference to a referendum to be held in 10 days from now, which Iraqi officials hope will demonstrate Iraqi support perceived or otherwise for the leader --Wolf.

BLITZER: Jane Arraf, our Baghdad bureau chief, thanks for that report. It looks like a waste of precious blood to me, but we'll get more assessment of that down the road.

Meanwhile, a CNN exclusive, a rare look inside the Army Intelligence Training Center. Plus, growing bigger every day. Americans just can't seem to stop overeating. What should the government do to intervene on the health crisis? Our Elizabeth Cohen joins me with new ideas being tossed around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Americans in weight loss trouble, a just-released report. It's brand new. Learn what's not working and hear the extreme advice that may give some incentive to keep the pounds off. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked, which historic manhunt led to the founding of Fort Huachuca? The answer, the search for Geronimo. In 1886, General Nelson Miles designated Fort Huachuca as his advance headquarters and forward supply base for the campaign to capture the Apache leader.

There's been a lot of talk about intelligence failures before September 11, but in the war against terror that started one year ago, there have been countless intelligence successes. Many of them thanks to the U.S. Army's Intelligence Brigade. In this exclusive report, our national correspondent Mike Boettcher gets a rare inside look at how the forces trained to fight the intelligence war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan like needles in haystacks. But Bravo Company, Second Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division launches to find a dozen needles in Afghanistan's towering haystacks. Intelligence says they are here and the war against terrorism more than any other in U.S. history is a war of intelligence. The speed with which it is gathered. The speed with which it is projected. Both crucial. Last summer, Colonel Mike Flynn directed Army intelligence in Afghanistan.

COL. MIKE FLYNN, 111TH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BRIGADE: This is a free-thinking, adaptive enemy, which has to cause our intelligence systems and our intelligence training and the people that are involved in that to be able to adapt to that type of environment.

BOETTCHER: CNN was allowed a rare look at where the intelligence revolution begins, the Army Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and an even rarer glimpse at how changes are being implemented in the real world of Afghanistan.

(on camera): One hundred and twenty years ago, during the Indian wars right here in Arizona, the U.S. Army encountered its first enemy that used unconventional tactics. An officer wrote at the time that if the U.S. Army was going to win, it had to adapt three rules -- adapt, adapt, adapt. Right now, for the soldiers in Fort Huachuca, during this war on terrorism, those three rules still apply.

(voice-over): At Fort Huachuca, experience from every conflict since Vietnam is incorporated into this intelligence-gathering exercise, a span of 30 years where the United States enemies employed unconventional tactics.

Here in an imaginary war in Arizona's desert, students are challenged to gather information from the front lines of a fictional conflict. It's part Bosnia, mixed with Kosovo and a touch of Afghanistan, a confusing and ambiguous scenario for students to sort through.

C.W.O. WILLIAM LUX, CHIEF OF FIELD TRAINING: Not everybody's good. Not everybody's bad. There are elements of the local national forces that we are supporting who are members of a terrorist organization and they have to seek them out and stop them. There are U.S. personnel who have crossed to the dark side and they have to locate them and pull them out.

BOETTCHER: Interrogation and interview techniques practiced for six weeks are tried out on instructors and professional role players.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Are you saying that you're a Special Forces soldier?

BOETTCHER: For seven days and nights, the course's final exam. In this training scenario, an intelligence agent befriends the spurned wife of an enemy leader in an effort to gain information.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Compromising your guy's love, it's kind of like he's compromising his ability. And like...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: You know we got a kid, too?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Do you really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Yes. Oh, that's so terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Oh, he's going to be so devastated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: What is your kid's name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Chad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Chad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: You just have one kid?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Yes.

BOETTCHER: At a nearby airstrip, the grids of human intelligence give way to the wizardry of pilotless observation aircraft. Students are taught to use speedy computer systems that collate intelligence from the drones, humans, satellites and antennas and get the information to the soldier on the front line, who in real life, is digitally connected to all of it, even in a tent in Afghanistan as Bravo company was.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Yes, we've all kinds of ordinates going in along this ridge line here.

BOETTCHER: Here, everything taught in Arizona is used at task force headquarters in Afghanistan.

Inside, CNN was allowed to peak behind an always closed curtain, into a top-secret facility known as the SCIF, Special Compartmented Intelligence Facility, the brain of the beast is what soldiers call it. Predators, pilotless spy planes were being monitored, satellite images transmitted, radio intercepts plotted and translated and human intelligence analyzed. All of it almost immediately available to Bravo Company as it approached the suspected location of al Qaeda on the Afghan/Pakistan border. But even with the best intelligence, the enemy always has a vote, even a low-tech adversary. And this time al Qaeda voted with its feet, slipping away, needles in a hay stake that only soldiers with the best of intelligence will eventually find.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And I can tell you what you're seeing in Mike Boettcher's reporting, only the tip of the iceberg. A lot of the best intelligence of course remains deeply, deeply classified.

We run. We jog. We hit the gym. But Americans are fatter than ever. So why are we losing the battle of the bulge? Elizabeth Cohen joins us live to tell us what we're doing wrong. I want to hear about this when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: On the "Health Beat," a popular herb used by many dieters and bodybuilders is under the microscope on Capitol Hill. A Senate panel is looking to claims that Ephedra is unsafe. Hearings were held this morning. The herb is legal to sell in the United States as a dietary supplement. And it can be bought over-the-counter at convenience stores and other retail outlets around the country, but critics want it banned citing its connection to dozens of deaths and hundreds of cases of heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke.

And just as you're getting ready for dinner this evening, here's a story that might take your appetite away. Americans are not getting a handle on their problem with obesity. In fact, the country is getting more overweight by the year, that word from a new national study. Let's find out more from our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

You've been watching this. What's going on?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are the creme de la creme of obesity statistics, Wolf. These are just out from the CDC. Usually, when they do obesity statistics, they call people up and say, "Well, Mrs. Smith, how much do you weigh" and Mrs. Smith usually lies. So what they do here in this study is that they actually bring people in, they weigh them, they measure them so they know they're getting it right.

And here are what the statistics are saying. Let's look at it historically, actually. The same study in 1962, 13 percent of Americans obese, 1980, 15 percent of Americans obese, 2000, 31 percent of Americans are obese.

Now let's take a look at kids ages six through 11. In 1974, four percent were obese, in 2000, 10 percent are obese. Now, you may be wondering, what do you have -- what weight do you have to be to be considered obese or overweight. Go to cnn.com/wolf. We have a calculator there and you can figure it out.

BLITZER: And have they changed any of the diagram -- any of the information since all these...

COHEN: No, these are all based on...

BLITZER: Standard procedure. So what can be done about reversing this very worrying trend?

COHEN: Well, what the public health community has been doing for several decades now is they've just been getting out there and saying, "Exercise more, eat less. Exercise more, eat less." As a matter of fact, CNN just did an interview with Tommy Thompson and we talked about some of his own struggles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: I've lost 15 pounds. I'm asking everybody in the department to lose weight if they should, and I'm asking them to eat properly and to exercise. And that's a message across America. We have got to change this. It's an epidemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Now, this tactic of saying, Come on, let's go, let's try to lose weight, experts now are saying, You know what, we don't think it's working so well. I mean the statistics show that it's not working so well. So some have even said let's tax-fattening food. That hasn't gone over very well and obviously hasn't happened.

But there are other proposals out there that are a little bit different that sort of go beyond just telling people to lose weight, try to eat well and exercise. For example, maybe the government should require calorie labels in restaurants. You go order off a menu board in a fast-food restaurant and the calories are right there. Maybe the government should require junk food out of schools. Maybe they should require healthy food ads on TV because there are so ads for bad foods. Perhaps bike paths -- more bike paths and sidewalks would help.

That's what some are saying and also, financial incentives for health programs. For example, the government could say health insurance companies have to give companies breaks if they encourage their employees to exercise.

BLITZER: As you know, Elizabeth, a lot of reasons why Americans are getting fatter and fatter and fatter -- can you boil it down to a few though?

COHEN: The two that the experts really point to is that Americans just don't move as much as they used to. And so, therefore, they're getting fatter. Another one that's getting more and more attention is just portion sizes. And we actually have some examples here.

We have some French fries from McDonald's. And McDonald's is the largest fast-food restaurant in the country. This small one over here, that I'm pointing to with my pen, that's in mid-50s. That is all you could get, according to the "American Journal of Public Health." You could only get a small. That was your only choice.

Well, now you can get a medium size fries. You can get a large fries and if you really want to, you can Supersize it. Well, McDonald's says you know what, we are just one of the many choices that consumers have. They say our portions are just fine and the National Restaurant Association says, you know what, it's up to the consumer.

Yes, the portions may be getting bigger, but it's up to the consumer to just say no. But study after study shows when you give people these big portions they eat it all. BLITZER: Is this notion of taxing fattening food like taxing tobacco, for example, or alcohol, is that really serious? Has anybody seriously put forward that proposal?

COHEN: There are some obesity experts respected in the field, work in universities, who have seriously put forward these proposals. The reason why it hasn't gone over well is that it's kind of easy to tax tobacco in a way. I mean tobacco is just bad. No one is supposed to be smoking tobacco.

However, everyone is supposed to be eating and they don't want to -- and you're not supposed to -- the foods aren't evil. You shouldn't say, "Never eat ice cream. So we're going to tax it." So no one wants to vilify food or most people don't want to vilify food. But these experts are saying, "Well, we don't want to vilify it, we just want to make you pay more for it."

BLITZER: Elizabeth Cohen, helping us deal with a very serious problem. Thanks.

COHEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our "Web Question of The Day" is this -- should there be a tax on fattening foods to help Americans, all of us, lose weight? We'll have the results later in this program. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. It's also of course where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

This programming note, actress, Teri Garr makes a major announcement about the battle for her life tonight in an exclusive interview on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." It's coming up at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

I'll be right back with the results of our "Web Question of The Day." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now here's how you are weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Earlier we asked -- should there be a tax on fattening foods to help Americans lose weight? Twenty-four percent of you say yes. Seventy-six percent of you, not surprisingly, say no. You can find the exact vote tally and continue to vote by the way on my Web site, cnn.com/wolf. Remember, this is not -- repeat not -- a scientific poll.

Let's hear from you directly, some of your e-mail. John writes this -- "President Bush's case for war with Iraq would gain credibility if he suspended discussion of the issue for a month, until after elections are over. We have waited 11 years, another month won't kill us."

On the sniper attacks, Jerry sends this -- "Is it possible the Maryland shootings are tied to terrorism? They have taken place within days of the anniversary of the anthrax attacks and the realize of a tape of Osama bin Laden telling us to expect the worst."

And finally, this from Philip -- "Just a comment on yesterday's `Web Question of The Day' on your Web site, should the Bush Administration's top priority be the war with Iraq, the war on terror or the economy? They should be able to work on more than one issue at a time. If not, we need a new administration."

Good advice from all of our viewers. Remember, we want to hear from you. Send us your e-mail every day, cnn.com/wolf. I'll try to read some of it on the air each day of course at this time.

That's all the time we have today. Join me tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Please also join me for our new program, "SHOWDOWN IRAQ," every weekday at noon Eastern. I'm on twice a day now. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Center in Atlanta. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Continue the Search; Bush Calls for end to West Coast Port Lockout>


Aired October 8, 2002 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR (voice-over): Sniper on the loose. From the schools to the corner coffee shop, an entire community learns to live with fear.

JOESPH RIEHL, ATF AGANET: Who would shoot mothers in the back, and wjo would shoot a child?

BLITZER: I'll ask former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt.

Unlock the docks. Moving to break the billion daollar back-up of the ports. The president tells both sides to cool it.

Showdown: Iraq. Keeping the pressure on.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake about it. We will prevail.

But Baghdad isn't buckling. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) his response to an attack will be hard and decisive. For U.S. marines training in Kuwait, it suddenly turns very real.

And flash, a long-term study shows Americans keep putting on the pounds. Would a tax on fatty foods get us to take them off?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's Tuesday, October 8, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Center in Atlanta. The entire Washington, D.C. areas is on edge as authorities work desperately to find the sniper who's killer six people and wounded two more, and as residents wonder when and where the shooter will strike again.

Schools are locked down. Members of Congress have been told to lie low, and the Starbucks chain has even suspended outdoor seating. We'll hear live from the police chief of Montgomery County, Charles Moose. He's coming up, and we'll also hear from the former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt in just a few minutes.

But we begin with CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's outside police headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. That's just outside Washington, D.C. -- Kathleen. KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a new development this evening in this story. Sources here at the Montgomery County Police Department tell me that they are now looking at an earlier shooting, a shooting that also occurred in southern Montgomery County back on September 14. A man was shot outside a liquor store at a shopping center and police now believe that that may be the first of the shootings in this deadly shooting spree. The man did survive.

Police tell me though they don't believe that it is important if that case is indeed the first. They say they believe they have enough cases to pursue this killer for and enough evidence, a mounting body of evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): Critical evidence, a shell casing found in these woods at the site of Monday's sniper shooting at a Maryland middle school.

CHIEF GERALD WILSON, PRINCE GEORGE'S CO. POLICE: It was found over I would say 100 feet or yards into the woods on the same side as Benjamin Tasker. It could have been ejected from the weapon used by the suspect, could have been.

KOCH: The number of investigators involved in the manhunt, now 195 after Montgomery County Police got the go ahead for federal help in catching the serial killer. Authorities are comparing the details of the eight shootings with crimes and databases across the country looking for similarities.

RICHARD BOUCHARD, SPECIAL AGENT, ATF: We ask all the police departments to entire projectiles and cartridge casings from shootings into that system, and there are 230 plus systems throughout the United States. We've entered the information from this case into that system to query if there are any other similar type projectiles or cartridge casings in that system nationwide.

KOCH: Maryland's governor challenged the killer to surrender.

GOV. PARRIS GLENDENING, MARYLAND: We're talking about a person here who is basically a coward. This is not an individual who's out there doing something strong or manly or anything of this type. This is a person who is shooting elderly men, shooting women, and now shooting little children.

KOCH: But how will such words impact the killer? Profilers say the shooter is watching. Credible leads now number 1,250. The reward for information leading to the killer's capture $237,000. School attendance was down in both Montgomery and Prince George's County as schools were locked down for a fourth day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: And meanwhile, the man who was shot yesterday morning in Prince George's County remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. One note of good news today, the 43-year-old woman who was shot in Virginia on Friday has already been released from the hospital -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch, she's on the scene for us in Rockville, Maryland. Thanks very much. So who could be behind these killings and why? Joining me now live from our Washington Bureau Clint Van Zandt, he's an expert on criminal psychology. He's also a profiler, spent 25 years with the FBI. What do you make so far in looking at what we know from the public record, Clint, about this killer or killers?

CLINT VAN ZANDT, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Well, you know, the FBI is being very close, as is the police department on not releasing a demographic profile. Obviously, they don't want people to start self eliminating but psychologically, Wolf, we've got someone, whether we call him anti-socials, whether we call him a sociopath or a psychopath, this is someone who has the ability to range at least a week now throughout our communities to shoot.

He doesn't empathize. He is selecting individuals who represent all races, sexes, ages. What he's telling us in this terrible, terrible way, Wolf, is that you can not protect your community. You can't protect your children. This is terrorism, Wolf. Whether this guy looks like Mohammed Atta or Ted Kaczynski, or Timothy McVeigh, whether he's homegrown or foreign born doesn't make any difference right now with the exception of we've got to find him and stop him.

And, what was reported earlier, Wolf, that the potential of an earlier shooting where that becomes important is that we're trying to understand motive. We're trying to understand what set this person off. Is he part of some cell? Did he just self initiate? Is he an angry person acting out? Is he speaking a language called homicide that we don't understand, we have to translate?

We usually have to start at the beginning and, if in fact this first shooting that was spoken of on your program, if this is related then it gives us another point. It gives us perhaps the beginning dot as we try to connect the dots on this serial sniper.

BLITZER: Does it so far and obviously we don't know the answer, but does it appear to be the act of an isolated individual killer or killers?

VAN ZANDT: Well, at most Wolf, again statistically and, you know, we've got one witness who suggests that the witness saw two people in a vehicle. Right or wrong we don't know yet. But from looking at these over the years, we never see a spree shooting with normally more than two people, usually one, sometimes two where one is the dominant, one is the follower.

So, logistically you'd have a driver and you'd have a shooter. Something like that would make sense, but it does not exclude one person acting on his own. There are a lot of leads being generated on this. As we know, the chief of police asked the A.G. for federal assistance. What we're going to see very quickly, Wolf, is probably the largest manhunt conducted in Washington, D.C., maybe since President Lincoln was shot. BLITZER: Clint Van Zandt, he's a profiler. He knows what he's talking about. Thanks for joining us. And let's get a little bit more on what's going on in the investigation right now. Joining me, the police chief of Montgomery County, Charles Moose, Chief Moose thanks for joining us.

First of all any new developments, we heard Kathleen Koch report that an earlier shooting at a liquor store may have been the first act of this killer. What can you tell us about that, if anything?

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: Sir, I appreciate your interest but it's been our practice to not really talk about the investigation.

BLITZER: So you don't want to say if that shooting at a liquor store was, in fact, part of this same series of deadly killings?

MOOSE: I don't want to say anything that will compromise our case, make it even more difficult than it already is for our investigators. I just feel like people in our community would be more inclined to have us catch this person or the people involved in this, and then they can hear the story and the details later.

BLITZER: Well, obviously all of us want you to catch this killer or killers. Is it your working assumption that it's one person or more?

MOOSE: Sir, I have not made any assumptions in this case. We're going to let our investigators and the evidence take us where we need to go. We're going to keep an open mind and we're going to take a broad approach so that we don't overlook anything in our zealousness to meet an assumption.

BLITZER: As you know, a lot of us, and I live in Montgomery County so I'm just as concerned as everyone, as you are and everyone else, a lot of us wonder why this killer, for example, may have picked various locations in and around the Washington, D.C. area. Is it your assumption that he or she lives there?

MOOSE: Again, it would be improper. At this point, we simply want to get the evidence to catch this person or these people and I guess in some way, sad as it may seem, we're not focused on the why. We're focused on getting this person or these people off the street.

BLITZER: That's fair enough. Chief, without getting into any details, is there any new development that you can share with us that gives you reason to hope that you may be getting close to finding this person?

MOOSE: Well, sir, I think the real hope that makes me optimistic is that again as I look into the eyes of our investigators, as I see people cancel trips to weddings or planned vacations saying that they're going to stay here. We're not asking them to do that, people coming to work on their days off asking if they can help, that kind of commitment and enthusiasm gives me great hope that we're going to be able to solve this case. BLITZER: This may be the largest manhunt certainly in the history of Montgomery County just guessing, is that right?

MOOSE: Well, I haven't had a chance to do all of my research there but certainly that would be something that it would be tough to prove otherwise.

BLITZER: Should our viewers who live in your area, in your jurisdiction, be doing anything special other than going about their day-to-day activities?

MOOSE: We've asked them to remain vigilant, to look for things that seem out of place. Please call us if they see someone acting in a bizarre way. We want them to use the 9/11 system. If they have information, if they have a coworker, a neighbor, a friend, someone that they've heard about that's acting strange, haven't reported for work, changed their behavior, we want them to call our tip line at (240) 777-2600.

BLITZER: You've been working nonstop for all of us. Chief Moose, thanks for joining us on our program, appreciate your hard work, appreciate all of the work of the law enforcement officials who are working together with you in Montgomery County, indeed in the entire region.

MOOSE: All right, thank you sir.

BLITZER: The 13-year-old boy who was shot outside his suburban school yesterday remains in critical condition. CNN's Michael Okwu was at Bowie, Maryland's Benjamin Tasker Middle School when students returned to class this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came by bus. They came en masse. But on this day, many came with parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can drop them off right behind...

OKWU: On the day after, they came to forget, to move on. Doing otherwise wouldn't be normal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

OKWU: But these aren't normal times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, don't be a moving target.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got this sniper going around just senselessly just killing innocent people and, you know, it's not supposed to happen, you know especially to kids.

PENNY ROBERTSON, PARENT: I feel pretty safe, you know, knowing that there's, you know, a lot of security, but I want to walk her to the door just to make sure.

OKWU: Helicopters hovered overhead, extra security covered the ground as parents shepherded their kids to school, battle ready middle schoolers less innocent now and somehow more vulnerable.

HENRY OLLIE, PARENT OF TASKER M.S. STUDENT: As a parent, you just want to know that your children are going to be safe.

OKWU: Henry Ollie walked his 12-year-old son Charles to school. Charles would normally take the bus, not on this day. Charles has been asking himself endless questions, questions more comfortably asked at home.

CHARLES OLLIE, TASKER M.S. STUDENT: I was thinking that where could he be? Where would he be hiding right now? And, why would he be such a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and why would he try to do it on children?

H. OLLIE: When you're out in the open, you think about it all the time, but again, you can't hunker down. You can't stay at home.

OKWU (on camera): Officials say it was just another school day as one administrator here put it, with teachers teaching and students learning, but it wasn't. On the day after with a lockdown still in place, attendance was at 66 percent, down from a typical 98 percent.

OKWU (voice-over): By noon, a field where students would usually enjoy their recess was silent and still, but for the occasional movement of armed guards, a welcome sight until things can really get back to normal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if they can't supply safety for our students, well I'm going to be a stay at home mom and teach them at home.

OKWU: Michael Okwu CNN, Bowie, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And now to fears of terror abroad, a marine killed during a shootout. How did the shooters get so close? We'll go live to our Christiane Amanpour. She's on the ground for us in Kuwait City, and more on a warning from the head of the CIA about Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

And, President Bush moves to end the West Coast port lockout, but is the economic impact already too deep for a quick recovery? We'll go live coast-to-coast for a reaction. Also, a CNN exclusive inside Port Huachuca see how the army trains its top intelligence gatherers. But first, today's news quiz.

Fort Huachuca trains Army soldiers in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Which historic manhunt led to the founding of Fort Huachuca? Was it the search for Annie Oakley, John Dillinger, Geronimo, Billy the Kid? The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. U.S. Marines found themselves under fire during a training exercise at an island off Kuwait today and it was all too real. One marine was killed in what the Kuwaiti government is now calling a terror attack. Our Christiane Amanpour is joining us now live by videophone from Kuwait City with the latest -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say one U.S. Marine was killed and another one was wounded in what was a drive-by shooting incident on the island of Failaka, about 20 kilometers off the coast of Kuwait. We are still not sure exactly why that happened and who the perpetrators are affiliated with, but the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry did say a short while ago that they believe that this was an act of terrorism.

The two assailants were shot dead in return fire by the U.S. Marines. Their names have been released. They are Kuwaitis, according the Kuwaiti government here. One is called Anas al-Kandari and the other one is called Jassem al-Hajiri, both in their 20s.

Again, it has not been publicly revealed whether they have any affiliation, but several Kuwaitis, perhaps more than two dozen have been rounded up and presented to the Kuwaiti government for further questioning. A western diplomatic source here tells us that they have been rounded up as potential witnesses.

Also, when the marines and others did start their investigation on the island of Failaka, they found that the vehicle that was used in the shooting incident contained other assault rifles and ammunition. That is the latest from here, Wolf, on that incident.

BLITZER: Christiane, I assume the marines, U.S. military personnel on the ground in Kuwait have changed some of their security procedures in the aftermath of this shooting. What can you tell us about any changes that may, in fact, have occurred?

AMANPOUR: Well, they don't officially comment on security when we ask them precisely that, but of course they have removed the contingent of about 150 marines that were conducting live fire exercises on that island. They brought them off the island as a measure of precaution, and we don't know whether this live fire exercise is going to resume.

It was called Operation Eager Mace and it is part of a routine annual U.S. training maneuver here in Kuwait. Sometimes the U.S. Marines and other U.S. forces here do train with the Kuwaitis but this was entirely a training exercise involving only U.S. forces and, of course, this is an ongoing situation in terms of the investigation and it does continue, and perhaps more details will be forthcoming some Kuwaiti officials have said by the morning time.

BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour on the scene for us in Kuwait City, thanks for that report.

Meanwhile, secret deportation hearings introduced in the United States after last year's terrorist attacks got a boost today from a federal court. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld the policy. The government argues that closed hearings are needed for detainees whose cases are of special interest to the terrorism investigation, but civil liberties groups call the secrecy unconstitutional. The ruling affects only the Third Circuit, but similar challenges have been filed in other federal court districts.

Port workers may be back on the job soon. The president stepped in on the labor dispute. Can it stop the billions of dollars being lost every day, every hour indeed? We'll go live coast-to-coast for a reaction.

And, a warning about Iraq from the CIA Director to a member of the U.S. Senate. We'll tell you about fears of terrorism.

And, exercise more, eat less, we've all been told how to slim down so why are Americans bigger than ever? An in-depth look at new ideas to stop the bulge.

And, we want to hear directly from you. Should there, for example, be a tax on fattening foods to help Americans lose weight? Log on to cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote.

But first, the news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Pakistan test fired a medium-range ballistic missile today. It was the second test in less than a week and it came just two days before national elections inviting speculation it was timed to impress voters.

Elections in the Indian-held portion of the disputed Kashmir Province were marred by a grenade and gunfire attack on a polling station. Islamic guerrillas are blamed. Authorities say one police officer and one attacker were killed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is trying to hold things together in Northern Ireland. Protestant Leader David Trimble says his party will pull out of Northern Ireland's coalition government unless a hard line Catholic Party (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is expelled.

Australia's annual bush fire season has started and if the first fires are any indication, it could be even worse than usual. Seventy fires are burning along Australia's East Coast and several homes on the outskirts of Sydney have been destroyed.

It may be time for Australians to rewrite their history books. Experts have discovered what could be the remains of a 17th Century Portuguese war ship beneath the beach in Queensland. That would mean Europeans reached Australia a long time before Captain Cook arrived in 1770.

It may sound about as exciting as watching the grass grow, but 2,000 spectators turned out to watch a six-hour lawnmower race in Britain. While top speeds may be somewhat short of the Indianapolis 500, racers insist the thrill is intense for contestants who make the final cut, and that's our look around the world. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Bush is invoking an executive power that hasn't been used in almost 25 years in an effort to get cargo moving on the West Coast once again. Twenty-eight major ports have been virtually shut down for more than a week by a dispute between dockworkers and shippers. We have coast-to-coast coverage with Suzanne Malveaux, she's at the White House; Frank Buckley, he's at the Port of Long Beach in California.

Let's begin with Suzanne. The president taking action, Suzanne, tell us all about it.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it really is an extraordinary move for this free market administration. The Bush White House really reluctant to get involved in the first place, but the president is invoking the Taft-Hartley Act. It means that Attorney General John Ashcroft will go before a federal court seeking an injunction to try to suspend this lockout.

He will make the argument that this is so damaging that it actually imperils the national health and safety of the country. He will say not only affecting it economically, costing $2 billion a day, but also militarily, that it's not getting the supplies to the military forces that are necessary, that it is actually harming and is an issue of national security as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Americans are working hard every day to bring our economy back from recession. This nation simply can not afford to have hundreds of billions of dollars a year in potential manufacturing and agricultural trade sitting idle. We can't afford it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, if the court grants an injunction, it would mean an 80-day suspension of the lockout, a cooling off period. During that period, crews would be forced to go back to work. The negotiations would resume. If in the last 20 days of that cooling off period they do not come up with some sort of agreement through a secret ballot vote, then the lockout could continue -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux our White House Correspondent, thanks for that report.

For some union reaction, let's go to our national correspondent Frank Buckley. He's on the scene for us in Long Beach, California -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, at this moment, longshoremen continue to walk the picket line here in Long Beach, but they say they are ready to go back to work when their union orders them back to work. They say they've been willing to work all along. From their point of view, this is a lockout, not a strike. The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the terminal operators and the shippers, they call this a defensive shutdown because they claim that the longshoremen engaged in work slowdowns.

Whatever the case may be, we can tell you today that the longshoremen watched on television with great interest as the president invoked the Taft-Hartley Act. They watched but the workers that we talked to said that they were disappointed that the federal government stepped in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMON PONCE DELEON, LONGSHOREMEN UNION SPOKESPERSON: Because it leaves the parties as adults to work their things out. That's how it should be. It should be the parties that are negotiating a contract under a collective bargaining process. That's America. This is how it should happen. When the parties can't agree, I guess the president has to step in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: And now that we are awaiting the injunction to come forward if, in fact, the workers get back to work, this is what you are looking at, ships parked off the West Coast here, some 200 ships that we are told will take somewhere from four to six weeks to offload. This is a very crucial time in the U.S. economy coming into the fourth quarter, but it will take some four to six weeks to offload these ships -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Frank Buckley thanks for that report. We'll continue to monitor this important story. It's costing all of us billions and billions of dollars. The president lays out his case against Iraq. Was it enough to justify a preemptive strike; a look at both sides when we return.

Also, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the final exam, a CNN exclusive inside army intelligence training, what soldiers call the brain of the beast. And Ephedra in the hot seat, the government cracks down on this popular dietary supplement. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up a CIA report on Saddam Hussein, what would he do if pushed against the wall?

There's a new warning today from the director of the CIA. George Tenet says that if President Saddam Hussein feels cornered, Iraq might launch terrorist attacks against the United States. Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is joining me now live with details --David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, in a two-and-a-half page letter delivered yesterday to the Senate Intelligence Committee, George Tenet warned that if Saddam Hussein became convinced that an American or allied attack was inevitable, he might decide to use terrorism against this country.

Here's how he put it in the letter --- "Should Saddam conclude that a U.S. attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions. Such terrorism might involve conventional means or chemical and biological weapons."

For now, Tenet said in the letter, the Iraqi leader appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with chemical or conventional or biological weapons.

Back during the Gulf War, the first Bush administration warned Saddam Hussein that use by Iraq of weapons of mass destruction would guarantee the most severe reaction, a not-so-subtle hint that he himself might become a U.S. target.

Now, Tenet has said to lawmakers it is the view of U.S. intelligence that if he knows a U.S. attack is inevitable, if his life is already in great danger, a man like Saddam who has used chemical weapons on his own people, would be less constrained to use such methods against the U.S. or against American forces.

In the past, intelligence analysts have called him an amoral leader who wants to make a significant mark on history and doesn't much care how he does it. It's a sobering thought for lawmakers who are of course considering the Iraq resolution -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David, before I let you go, any reason why they decided to declassify this assessment and make it public?

ENSOR: Well, Chairman Graham -- Senator Graham of Florida, has been pressing the CIA to come out with more details, specifically on what it thinks Saddam will do if attacked. So this letter, which is two-and-a-half pages long -- and we have not seen the full letter -- contains some of the response to that pressing from the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee for more analysis -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, who's on the scene for us, thanks as usual.

Congress, meanwhile, is debating a resolution of support for possible military action against Iraq.

Our national -- our Congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl, has the latest from Capitol Hill on this day after the president's big speech last night -- Jon.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as this debate goes on, it looks increasingly clear that the president will get exactly what he's asked for, a resolution giving him the authority to wage war on Iraq.

And he will get that by a pretty large margin here in both the Senate and house. But the president's allies on Capitol Hill are working very hard to try and get as wide a victory as possible. And one of those up here doing some hard lobbying today was Secretary of State Colin Powell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's a resolution that I think will draw a very, very solid and strong, overwhelming bipartisan and bicameral support. It's a resolution that will definitely strengthen my hand as I try to do the diplomatic work up in New York to get a U.N. Security Council resolution. I think the resolution is timely and we need it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: The outcome seems fairly certain up here, Wolf. There still is a very spirited debate going on in both the Senate and the House and those opponents to this resolution are especially vocal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), HOUSE SPEAKER: We must not let evil triumph. We must do something. We must pass this resolution, support the president of the United States as he works to disarm Saddam Hussein, and win the war against terrorism.

REP. DAVID BONIOR (D), MICHIGAN: The costs have already been horrendous and the question we have to ask ourselves -- is there not another way? I believe there is. Vote against this resolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: And that vote in the House will take place on Thursday and it looks increasingly likely that it will take place also in the Senate on Thursday. But Wolf, as you know, it's never quite certain when you're talking about timing of a vote here in the U.S. Senate -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll be watching it closely, but not as closely as you will. Jonathan Karl joining us now from Capitol Hill, thanks very much.

As President Bush argues the case for possible military action against Iraq, Iraq is accusing the president of misleading the American public. Our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf has the latest.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Wolf. Well, the Iraqi president is has actually made a show this evening of meeting with some of the very generals that President Bush is warning not to follow the president's orders.

He had a meeting shown on Iraqi television with his youngest son, who's in charge of security, with his air force commander, with his air defense commanders, as well as the head of his Military Industrialization Commission, the commission that was responsible for making weapons, and the head of his Atomic Energy Agency.

Now, the point of this, according to the news was for the president to tell these generals and other military people that Bush could not twist their arm, that he was unable to compromise them. And Iraqi officials of all sorts say that Iraq will continue its diplomatic push of the kind that is seen. The foreign minister toured the Gulf at this moment and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Syria and Lebanon, but they say Iraq will fight if it has to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. MOHAMMED AL-ADHAMI, BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY: We don't want war. That's why Iraq is using the diplomatic ways and methods to reach an agreement with the United Nations. But at the same time, we have to be ready to defend ourselves if they came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF: Officials made that point in quite an unusual way today, Wolf. They held a rally, not your usual rally. This one had the usual chants of "With our blood and souls, we will sacrifice for you, Saddam." But they took it a step further. They actually gave blood and it was used to paint slogans saying, "Yes, yes, Saddam." That's a reference to a referendum to be held in 10 days from now, which Iraqi officials hope will demonstrate Iraqi support perceived or otherwise for the leader --Wolf.

BLITZER: Jane Arraf, our Baghdad bureau chief, thanks for that report. It looks like a waste of precious blood to me, but we'll get more assessment of that down the road.

Meanwhile, a CNN exclusive, a rare look inside the Army Intelligence Training Center. Plus, growing bigger every day. Americans just can't seem to stop overeating. What should the government do to intervene on the health crisis? Our Elizabeth Cohen joins me with new ideas being tossed around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Americans in weight loss trouble, a just-released report. It's brand new. Learn what's not working and hear the extreme advice that may give some incentive to keep the pounds off. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked, which historic manhunt led to the founding of Fort Huachuca? The answer, the search for Geronimo. In 1886, General Nelson Miles designated Fort Huachuca as his advance headquarters and forward supply base for the campaign to capture the Apache leader.

There's been a lot of talk about intelligence failures before September 11, but in the war against terror that started one year ago, there have been countless intelligence successes. Many of them thanks to the U.S. Army's Intelligence Brigade. In this exclusive report, our national correspondent Mike Boettcher gets a rare inside look at how the forces trained to fight the intelligence war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan like needles in haystacks. But Bravo Company, Second Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division launches to find a dozen needles in Afghanistan's towering haystacks. Intelligence says they are here and the war against terrorism more than any other in U.S. history is a war of intelligence. The speed with which it is gathered. The speed with which it is projected. Both crucial. Last summer, Colonel Mike Flynn directed Army intelligence in Afghanistan.

COL. MIKE FLYNN, 111TH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BRIGADE: This is a free-thinking, adaptive enemy, which has to cause our intelligence systems and our intelligence training and the people that are involved in that to be able to adapt to that type of environment.

BOETTCHER: CNN was allowed a rare look at where the intelligence revolution begins, the Army Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and an even rarer glimpse at how changes are being implemented in the real world of Afghanistan.

(on camera): One hundred and twenty years ago, during the Indian wars right here in Arizona, the U.S. Army encountered its first enemy that used unconventional tactics. An officer wrote at the time that if the U.S. Army was going to win, it had to adapt three rules -- adapt, adapt, adapt. Right now, for the soldiers in Fort Huachuca, during this war on terrorism, those three rules still apply.

(voice-over): At Fort Huachuca, experience from every conflict since Vietnam is incorporated into this intelligence-gathering exercise, a span of 30 years where the United States enemies employed unconventional tactics.

Here in an imaginary war in Arizona's desert, students are challenged to gather information from the front lines of a fictional conflict. It's part Bosnia, mixed with Kosovo and a touch of Afghanistan, a confusing and ambiguous scenario for students to sort through.

C.W.O. WILLIAM LUX, CHIEF OF FIELD TRAINING: Not everybody's good. Not everybody's bad. There are elements of the local national forces that we are supporting who are members of a terrorist organization and they have to seek them out and stop them. There are U.S. personnel who have crossed to the dark side and they have to locate them and pull them out.

BOETTCHER: Interrogation and interview techniques practiced for six weeks are tried out on instructors and professional role players.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Are you saying that you're a Special Forces soldier?

BOETTCHER: For seven days and nights, the course's final exam. In this training scenario, an intelligence agent befriends the spurned wife of an enemy leader in an effort to gain information.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Compromising your guy's love, it's kind of like he's compromising his ability. And like...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: You know we got a kid, too?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Do you really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Yes. Oh, that's so terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Oh, he's going to be so devastated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: What is your kid's name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Chad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Chad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: You just have one kid?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Yes.

BOETTCHER: At a nearby airstrip, the grids of human intelligence give way to the wizardry of pilotless observation aircraft. Students are taught to use speedy computer systems that collate intelligence from the drones, humans, satellites and antennas and get the information to the soldier on the front line, who in real life, is digitally connected to all of it, even in a tent in Afghanistan as Bravo company was.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Yes, we've all kinds of ordinates going in along this ridge line here.

BOETTCHER: Here, everything taught in Arizona is used at task force headquarters in Afghanistan.

Inside, CNN was allowed to peak behind an always closed curtain, into a top-secret facility known as the SCIF, Special Compartmented Intelligence Facility, the brain of the beast is what soldiers call it. Predators, pilotless spy planes were being monitored, satellite images transmitted, radio intercepts plotted and translated and human intelligence analyzed. All of it almost immediately available to Bravo Company as it approached the suspected location of al Qaeda on the Afghan/Pakistan border. But even with the best intelligence, the enemy always has a vote, even a low-tech adversary. And this time al Qaeda voted with its feet, slipping away, needles in a hay stake that only soldiers with the best of intelligence will eventually find.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And I can tell you what you're seeing in Mike Boettcher's reporting, only the tip of the iceberg. A lot of the best intelligence of course remains deeply, deeply classified.

We run. We jog. We hit the gym. But Americans are fatter than ever. So why are we losing the battle of the bulge? Elizabeth Cohen joins us live to tell us what we're doing wrong. I want to hear about this when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: On the "Health Beat," a popular herb used by many dieters and bodybuilders is under the microscope on Capitol Hill. A Senate panel is looking to claims that Ephedra is unsafe. Hearings were held this morning. The herb is legal to sell in the United States as a dietary supplement. And it can be bought over-the-counter at convenience stores and other retail outlets around the country, but critics want it banned citing its connection to dozens of deaths and hundreds of cases of heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke.

And just as you're getting ready for dinner this evening, here's a story that might take your appetite away. Americans are not getting a handle on their problem with obesity. In fact, the country is getting more overweight by the year, that word from a new national study. Let's find out more from our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

You've been watching this. What's going on?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are the creme de la creme of obesity statistics, Wolf. These are just out from the CDC. Usually, when they do obesity statistics, they call people up and say, "Well, Mrs. Smith, how much do you weigh" and Mrs. Smith usually lies. So what they do here in this study is that they actually bring people in, they weigh them, they measure them so they know they're getting it right.

And here are what the statistics are saying. Let's look at it historically, actually. The same study in 1962, 13 percent of Americans obese, 1980, 15 percent of Americans obese, 2000, 31 percent of Americans are obese.

Now let's take a look at kids ages six through 11. In 1974, four percent were obese, in 2000, 10 percent are obese. Now, you may be wondering, what do you have -- what weight do you have to be to be considered obese or overweight. Go to cnn.com/wolf. We have a calculator there and you can figure it out.

BLITZER: And have they changed any of the diagram -- any of the information since all these...

COHEN: No, these are all based on...

BLITZER: Standard procedure. So what can be done about reversing this very worrying trend?

COHEN: Well, what the public health community has been doing for several decades now is they've just been getting out there and saying, "Exercise more, eat less. Exercise more, eat less." As a matter of fact, CNN just did an interview with Tommy Thompson and we talked about some of his own struggles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: I've lost 15 pounds. I'm asking everybody in the department to lose weight if they should, and I'm asking them to eat properly and to exercise. And that's a message across America. We have got to change this. It's an epidemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Now, this tactic of saying, Come on, let's go, let's try to lose weight, experts now are saying, You know what, we don't think it's working so well. I mean the statistics show that it's not working so well. So some have even said let's tax-fattening food. That hasn't gone over very well and obviously hasn't happened.

But there are other proposals out there that are a little bit different that sort of go beyond just telling people to lose weight, try to eat well and exercise. For example, maybe the government should require calorie labels in restaurants. You go order off a menu board in a fast-food restaurant and the calories are right there. Maybe the government should require junk food out of schools. Maybe they should require healthy food ads on TV because there are so ads for bad foods. Perhaps bike paths -- more bike paths and sidewalks would help.

That's what some are saying and also, financial incentives for health programs. For example, the government could say health insurance companies have to give companies breaks if they encourage their employees to exercise.

BLITZER: As you know, Elizabeth, a lot of reasons why Americans are getting fatter and fatter and fatter -- can you boil it down to a few though?

COHEN: The two that the experts really point to is that Americans just don't move as much as they used to. And so, therefore, they're getting fatter. Another one that's getting more and more attention is just portion sizes. And we actually have some examples here.

We have some French fries from McDonald's. And McDonald's is the largest fast-food restaurant in the country. This small one over here, that I'm pointing to with my pen, that's in mid-50s. That is all you could get, according to the "American Journal of Public Health." You could only get a small. That was your only choice.

Well, now you can get a medium size fries. You can get a large fries and if you really want to, you can Supersize it. Well, McDonald's says you know what, we are just one of the many choices that consumers have. They say our portions are just fine and the National Restaurant Association says, you know what, it's up to the consumer.

Yes, the portions may be getting bigger, but it's up to the consumer to just say no. But study after study shows when you give people these big portions they eat it all. BLITZER: Is this notion of taxing fattening food like taxing tobacco, for example, or alcohol, is that really serious? Has anybody seriously put forward that proposal?

COHEN: There are some obesity experts respected in the field, work in universities, who have seriously put forward these proposals. The reason why it hasn't gone over well is that it's kind of easy to tax tobacco in a way. I mean tobacco is just bad. No one is supposed to be smoking tobacco.

However, everyone is supposed to be eating and they don't want to -- and you're not supposed to -- the foods aren't evil. You shouldn't say, "Never eat ice cream. So we're going to tax it." So no one wants to vilify food or most people don't want to vilify food. But these experts are saying, "Well, we don't want to vilify it, we just want to make you pay more for it."

BLITZER: Elizabeth Cohen, helping us deal with a very serious problem. Thanks.

COHEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our "Web Question of The Day" is this -- should there be a tax on fattening foods to help Americans, all of us, lose weight? We'll have the results later in this program. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. It's also of course where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

This programming note, actress, Teri Garr makes a major announcement about the battle for her life tonight in an exclusive interview on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." It's coming up at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

I'll be right back with the results of our "Web Question of The Day." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now here's how you are weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Earlier we asked -- should there be a tax on fattening foods to help Americans lose weight? Twenty-four percent of you say yes. Seventy-six percent of you, not surprisingly, say no. You can find the exact vote tally and continue to vote by the way on my Web site, cnn.com/wolf. Remember, this is not -- repeat not -- a scientific poll.

Let's hear from you directly, some of your e-mail. John writes this -- "President Bush's case for war with Iraq would gain credibility if he suspended discussion of the issue for a month, until after elections are over. We have waited 11 years, another month won't kill us."

On the sniper attacks, Jerry sends this -- "Is it possible the Maryland shootings are tied to terrorism? They have taken place within days of the anniversary of the anthrax attacks and the realize of a tape of Osama bin Laden telling us to expect the worst."

And finally, this from Philip -- "Just a comment on yesterday's `Web Question of The Day' on your Web site, should the Bush Administration's top priority be the war with Iraq, the war on terror or the economy? They should be able to work on more than one issue at a time. If not, we need a new administration."

Good advice from all of our viewers. Remember, we want to hear from you. Send us your e-mail every day, cnn.com/wolf. I'll try to read some of it on the air each day of course at this time.

That's all the time we have today. Join me tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Please also join me for our new program, "SHOWDOWN IRAQ," every weekday at noon Eastern. I'm on twice a day now. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Center in Atlanta. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

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