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CNN CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT
Americans Urged Not to be Afraid, But Ready; First Tried in Connection With 9/11 Attacks Gets 15 Years From German Court
Aired February 19, 2003 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
Tonight, to combat terror, the government is launching a new ad campaign. Will it work?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Homeland insecurity?
TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Fear is the terrorists' most effective weapon.
Today, America's families declare we will not be afraid and we will be ready.
ANNOUNCER: Americans are urged not to be afraid, but to be ready.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having these plans in place is just sort of common sense.
ANNOUNCER: But will a media blitz really ease a nation in high anxiety?
The first tried in connection with the 9/11 attacks, an accessory to 3,000 murders gets 15 years from a German court.
For the second straight day, police search the home of Scott and Laci Peterson. Are they any closer to cracking the case?
His lifelong dream...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always wanted to fly F-14s in the navy.
ANNOUNCER: ...now a reality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as you go over that Iraqi border, you know, it seems you're senses are tweaked a little bit.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, a U.S. top gun ready to fight in the skies over Iraq shares his goals and his fears.
Meet a 5-year-old whiz kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ANNOUNCER: A boy who will give any presidential historian a run for his money.
And, our "Person of the Day." Her little plane on the prarie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, Connie Chung.
CHUNG: Good evening.
Tonight, the 21st Century version of duck and cover. The government, in the form of the Department of Homeland Security, is rolling out a massive new ad campaign telling Americans not to be afraid of a new terror attack. Why? Not because there might not be one, but because Americans can be ready for it if it happens. And according to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Americans should do so without panicking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIDGE: Oh, and yes, I have to say, stash away the duct tape. Don't use it. Stash it away and that premeasured plastic sheeting for the future -- and I emphasize future -- use. Experts tell us that a safe room inside your house or inside your apartment can help protect you from airborne contaminants for several hours, and that could be just enough time for that chemical agent to be blown away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: The ad campaign is funded almost entirely by private funds and corporate donations. The centerpiece is a series of new television ads telling Americans what we can do to maximize the odds of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
RIDGE: There are a lot of real simple things that people can do to protect themselves and their families.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making sure you have a communications plan with your family is important.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Store water and non-perishable foods for at least three days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a flashlight. You know, extra batteries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Also having, you know, prescription drugs available.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking the simple necessities of life.
RIDGE: We're asking America to be ready, and we will be ready. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Learn to protect yourself and your family at ready.gov, or call for a free brochure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: After Ridge announced the program, he spoke with CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve, who joins us now from Washington.
Jeanne, was this P.R. blitz a reaction to all the heat that Ridge took for all the controversy over duct tape and plastic sheeting?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Connie, he says absolutely not. He says he started talking with the Ad Council about this campaign back in November of 2001, and it simply has taken a lot of time to craft this.
They spent a lot of time doing market research, trying to make sure that they expressed the message in the right way, so people would not only listen to it, but they would act upon it.
I should mention, however, that the secretary did talk about duct tape and plastic sheeting today. It is still recommended that people have it in their emergency kit, but the emphasis is on having it in the kit. Don't put it up, they say.
CHUNG: So essentially, what is the message?
MESERVE: The message is get yourself prepared. Preparedness is the best antidote to panic. A lot of the information that's being put out has been available before, but it's been scattered among several different Web sites: FEMA, the Red Cross, the Department of Homeland Security. What they've tried to do is bring it all together in one Web site and make it more accessible to people, make it easier to read.
And eventually, in about a week's time, they say that Web site will be up in Spanish, sometime down the road they're going to also have it in Chinese and in Arabic so they can reach the maximum number of Americans. Their fear is that even though the information has been out there, people have not been paying attention, and they're saying pay attention now, please.
CHUNG: Jeanne, I know you had a chance to talk to Tom Ridge. Did he give any indication of when the alert level will be lowered?
MESERVE: We did ask him about that on the airplane coming back. We've been expecting that with the Hajj over that perhaps that threat level would come back down to yellow. Here's what the secretary had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIDGE: The process of raising and lowering the threat level involves really an assessment over several days. And so the decision to raise it was based on information accumulated and analyzed over several days, and the decision to lower it is a process that involves taking a look at information over several days. So, at a point, after we look at all the information, pre the announcement, and subsequent to that, we'll make a determination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: The secretary said there's a little bit of science in all of this and a whole lot of art. About the only thing that I an say with confidence, Connie, is that that threat level isn't going to change tonight.
CHUNG: Jeanne Meserve, thank you.
MESERVE: You bet.
CHUNG: Of course, the new campaign talks about what Americans should do if a terrorist attack occurs. But what is the American government doing to prepare?
Thousands of airport screeners have been hired. Almost two dozen agencies have been folded into the Homeland Security Agency. Billions of dollars have been allocated. But is it enough?
Stephen Flynn is a former coast guard commander and is now senior fellow on national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Thank you so much for being with us.
STEPHEN FLYNN, SENIOR FELLOW ON NATL. SECURITY STUDIES: I'm delighted to be here.
CHUNG: Steve, I think we can all assume that we are better prepared than we were the day before 9/11. But I want to find out from you, are we? On a scale of 1 to 10, would you say that we are prepared?
FLYNN: Well, on a scale of 1 to 10 I would say we were probably at a 1 on September 10.
CHUNG: No! Oh, September 10. I'm sorry. You were about to -- I thought you were scaring me.
FLYNN: And we're up to about two-and-a-half right now.
CHUNG: No!
FLYNN: We are struggling, really, with how do we deal with this new threat environment.
You know, we built the national security establishment we have essentially for an away game, to deal with problems over there so we can largely go about our lives unencumbered here at home. The problem we face now is, of course, is an adversary that says, We'll do a home game. We'll come here. And this is a real struggle for government to deal with, and also the fact that the frontline soldiers are the first responders, the police and the firemen, and also agencies that traditionally we wouldn't see in these kinds of terms, the coast guard and Customs and INS. They have to play a role of being the first folks who are out there, and these -- they don't have the resources to basically be able to bring us up to the kind of level I think Americans are expecting them to be.
Another critical point: 85 percent of the critical infrastructure in this country is owned by the private sector, the things that make our lives tick, is owned by -- in private hands. They basically are looking to the federal government largely for resources to take care of these new security imperatives.
CHUNG: And are they getting it?
FLYNN: They're not.
It's a bit of a dance that's been going on. The federal government sees this job largely as coordinating, informing, and providing -- at least getting the federal government's act together. But in terms of what's happening on the ground, we face a situation where virtually in every city in this country, the policemen can't talk to the firemen because they don't use the same radios.
CHUNG: You mean simple communication between the police and fire and emergency workers?
FLYNN: Don't exist in this country...
CHUNG: Are you talking about every single city?
FLYNN: Virtually every single city. Not all of them. There are a few that have managed this problem. But that's not bringing -- when you have a catastrophic event, communications are so key because you have this basically mixing bowl of players. Federal, county, state, all have to talk at once. We don't have the wherewithal.
They don't -- 87 percent of the fire departments in this country say they're not prepared to deal with a biological hazardous event; 90 percent of the fire departments have been laying off firemen since 9/11.
CHUNG: All right. Let's go back to that. The fire departments say what again?
FLYNN: They cannot, basically, respond to a chemical or hazardous attack....
CHUNG: And that is because....
FLYNN: ....chemical or biological attack.
CHUNG: All right. And that's because they don't have the protective gear...
FLYNN: They don't good the protection equipment. They don't have the training. These are resource-intensive activities, and, you know, our states and cities are hemorrhaging in red ink right now. The budgets are in pitiful shapes. They are looking to the federal government for resources.
Now, the president had announced in January 2002 at a State of the Union address ,he was going to ship $3.5 billion to first responders.
CHUNG: Right.
FLYNN: That money never got there. It has not got there yet.
CHUNG: Because?
FLYNN: Because it got held up in the fiscal year of the '03 budget, was just approved by Congress this week. The money has not got out.
So here we are, a nation about to go to war. We need to understand this -- the risk of catastrophic terrorist threat goes up when we go to war and when we occupy Iraq. Now, that risk may be worth bearing because of the other threat of Saddam Hussein.
But that being said, we're facing a growing terrorist threat, very soon. And the people on the front lines just don't have the resources they need to protect us and to be able to respond.
CHUNG: You know, Steve, I'm clinging still to something that you said right in the very beginning. I asked you if we're prepared, and you put it on a scale of 1 to 10, you said two-and-a-half. That is shocking.
When will we be in better shape?
FLYNN: Well, it's clear, you can't take a nation as big and as complex as this one and turn it on a dime.
But while we're acting like a nation at war when it comes to the overseas portion of this, we are not acting at all like we're at war here at home. That is the sense -- there's a lot about the administration's approach to this in putting a department together that I commend, the strategy and so forth.
It's the level of urgency that we're dealing with this and the level of resources we're committing to it that I'm deeply concerned about. The money is not being identified quick enough, inserted into the right places in an expeditious way so we can respond to the real threat, the threat that we continue to hear about that's there is real, but we have to be able to sort of act again like a nation at war here at home.
CHUNG: All right. Steven Flynn, I thank you so much. I can't -- I can't tell you that I appreciate necessarily what you've been telling us because it's all -- it's all very depressing news.
FLYNN: But there's a lot where -- we're a great nation, we can step up to this challenge. I think we just need to accept the reality that 911 changed our lives, we have to get on with it.
CHUNG: Recognize it. Thank you.
So what about the complaint that Washington is asking cities to shoulder too great a burden? The new ads say it's not just big cities, all Americans have to get ready.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Families in Florida prepare themselves for the hurricane season. Families in California prepare themselves for earthquakes. Every family in America should prepare itself for a terrorist attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's irrelevant where you live or how many people live in your community. It's America. America's the target. Not just New York. It's everywhere. And we all have to pitch in. It's time to get serious about preparation. The threat is very real. We know that. And there are some positive things that you can do to better prepare yourself and your family to deal with these problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Learn to protect yourself at ready.gov, or call for a free brochure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: But the reality is September 11 was not the first time terror came to New York or Washington. Both cities are front and center in the cross-hairs of terrorism. Ray Kelly was New York City police commissioner the first time terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and he's back in the job again, preparing for whatever the next attack might be.
Commissioner Ray Kelly, thank you so much for being with us.
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPT.: Good to be with you, Connie.
CHUNG: On a scale of 1 to 10, how prepared is New York City for a terrorist attack?
KELLY: Oh, I think it's difficult to put a number on it. We're much better prepared than we were on September 11. That's for sure. And we get stronger every day. We're working more closely with our federal partners than ever before. We've done a lot of things. As a city we've done a lot of things -- as a police department to be better prepared.
CHUNG: I'd feel much better if you said yes, it's about an 8 or a 9 or 9 1/2. KELLY: Well, again, I think it's difficult to put a number on it because we're never going to be fully prepared. We have to strengthen our capacity every day. And that's what I believe we're doing as a city.
CHUNG: There are some who believe there was a communication problem within the fire department during 9/11. But the question is let's go forward.
Is there a communication problem? Will there be a communication problem between the police, fire department, and emergency workers here in New York?
KELLY: I don't think so. The fire department has improved its own radios, its ability to communicate within the fire department. We're doing a lot of drills with the fire department and other city agencies that enable us to coordinate much more effectively. Throughout the country there's an 800 megahertz radio system that facilitates communication between emergency agencies. So I think the problem has been recognized. Agencies certainly in this city are working to better the situation.
CHUNG: All right. Is there enough money for first responders?
Because the Democrats are saying there is not enough money allocated for first responders.
KELLY: Well, we'd clearly like more resources from the federal government, no question about that. We say we've taken a hit here for America, and we really haven't received anything of significance to help us better prepare to protect the city. Washington, D.C., on the other hand, has gotten some resources. Obviously, that's where Congress resides. So we'd like to see more here. We're hopeful that in this budget or in a supplemental that might come forward or next year's budget that need is recognized.
CHUNG: So in the meantime we have to live without?
KELLY: We have to do it on our own, with our own resources. And again, that puts a strain on our budget here. We're facing a big deficit for fiscal year 2004, which begins in July 1. So it's a real challenge for us. But we've done a lot in the city and will continue to do it.
CHUNG: There's a lot of anxiety and concern about riding the subway.
If in the event of a biological or chemical attack, will we survive?
KELLY: I think so. I think we've done an awful lot to protect our transit system. Again, we can't predict exactly what's going to happen or if there's going to be another attack. We've deployed additional officers in our transit system, the metropolitan transit authority has done a lot. There some detectors in place. We're having drills. We're conducting drills with our emergency services in the transit system. But you know, obviously, we can't predict exactly what's going to happen.
CHUNG: I mean, does -- do all of the emergency workers have some kind of gear to protect themselves from a chemical warfare?
You know, then we'll be able to help people?
KELLY: Not all, but we're moving in that direction. Again, the federal resources would help us in this regard. We're in the process now of equipping our officers, our transit bureau officers have protective masks. We need officers on street patrol to have that, and so do other agencies. The MTA is getting masks for their employees as well. So we're moving in the right direction, but it is 17 months after September 11. We'd like to see some money coming from Washington to help us get this gear online more quickly.
CHUNG: Commissioner, you know, for me you have always been the face and the voice of reassurance. But I have to tell you, the generalization that you give us when I ask these specific questions actually makes me nervous.
KELLY: Well, it's difficult, again, to say what the threat is. We know that there are terrorists out there that want to harm us, that want to kill us. We've seen it twice here in the last ten years. We've been targeted four times. I think we're doing everything that we reasonably can do to protect this city. But we live in a dangerous world. Our world has changed after September 11, and really it changed with the first World Trade Center bombing, and we didn't fully accept it or recognize it as a country. It should have been a huge wake-up call. Well, it wasn't.
CHUNG: Commissioner Kelly, thank you.
KELLY: Thank you.
CHUNG: Still ahead -- from the war on terror to the possible war on Iraq, the latest developments in America's push for international support. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up -- 15 years in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks. An accessory to 3,000 murders. CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: We've been talking about how prepared the U.S. is for another terrorist attack. Now, 17 months after the attacks, they killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a tiny piece of justice.
For the first time an accused 9/11 conspirator has been convicted. It was a German trial of an al Qaeda member who helped others in al Qaeda maintain their cover as students, funneled money to terrorists in the U.S. and not only knew about the 9/11 plot, but planned to dance on the victims' graves. CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Hamburg.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mounir el Motassadeq, bearded and thin, appear in the Hamburg court, flanked by his lawyers. His sentence, 15 years, the maximum for his crimes under German law. His lawyers say they will appeal but already this case is a legal first.
As well as belonging to a terrorist organization, Motassadeq was also found guilty of being an accessory to murder of 3,066 people killed in the 9/11 attacks. The courts uncompromising message might open the way to further prosecutions.
Motassadeq has always admitted close links with the 9/11 pilots Mohammed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi. He was a signed witness on Atta's last will and testament, and had power of attorney on al-Shehhi's bank account, which he used to pay al-Shehhi's bills.
MOUNIR EL MOTASSADEQ, CONVICTED TERRORIST (through translator): This is true. It's normal and common to help others. When he was traveling home, I was taking care of payments for his apartment, tuition for universities.
CHANCE: In an exclusive CNN interview before his arrest, Motassadeq said he only knew the would be hijackers as Muslim friends in Hamburg. It later emerged he trained in Afghanistan in camps Atta and others had passed through. but Motassadeq still denied any prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks.
But prosecutors successfully argued Motassadeq played a key role in supporting the Hamburg al Qaeda cell, never intending to take part in the actual hijackings, but making sure their rent and tuition fees were paid in Germany. A cog, in other words, without which the 9/11 killing machine may have been unable to run.
(on camera): In passing down his sentence, the German judge said Motassadeq was part of a group that regarded the United States as its enemy, and that Motassadeq himself had prior knowledge of a plot to strike at America's political and economic heart.
But the true significance of this trial stretches well beyond a single sentence for the families of the victims of 9/11, justice in courts around the world has finally begun.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Hamburg, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Because German law gives co-plaintiff status to the families of victims, Stephen Push had access to the trial and evidence that would be unheard of in an American court. Push, who lost his wife, Lisa Raines, on the American flight that hit the Pentagon, joins us now from Washington, D.C. He is a spokesperson for the group Families of September 11. Stephen Push, thank you for being with us.
STEPHEN PUSH, SPOKESMAN, FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11: You're welcome, Connie. CHUNG: Now, I know this trial had to be very difficult for you to sit through and watch. What did you think of the 15-year prison sentence?
PUSH: Well, I was shocked several months ago when I realized that this was the maximum that the judges could give him in a case of this nature. I think the German legal system is far too lenient with crimes like this. But given the fact that those were the constraints placed on the judges, I was very pleased that they found him guilty and gave him the maximum sentence.
CHUNG: Now, Stephen, I know you took the stand and you talked about the loss of your wife. And some people in the courtroom cried. Were you able to see the defendant in front of you? Was he watching you? Was he listening? And what was his demeanor?
PUSH: Yes. I watched him during part of my presentation and also watched him when some of the other families were presenting. And at no time did he show any emotion. There were reporters were crying court guards were crying. Even the translator, who was translating into German broke down at one point.
But I saw no emotions on the defendant's face. And in fact, afterwards some reporters told me that at one point when I wasn't looking at him, when I mentioned that my wife's memorial service was held in a synagogue the reporter told me that he smiled.
CHUNG: Why did you want to become a co-plaintiff in this case?
PUSH: For two reasons. One is I wanted to show the human face of the victims. I think one of the reasons why he got the maximum sentence is that we were able to testify in court and remove the crime from the realm of abstraction and actually show how much the victims and their families have suffered.
The other thing is to get access to more information. There is 45,000 pages of documents, of evidence in this trial, which I'm going to get on -- put onto a disc, and I'm going to provide it to whomever I feel can use it well. For example, I will provide it to the independent commission that's recently been appointed to investigate the attacks.
CHUNG: One of the I think shocking parts of this trial was the discovery that German officials were actually -- actually had surveillance on these terrorists and nothing came of it. That had to be -- you had to be incredulous.
PUSH: That is very disturbing, that the German authorities had been tracking these guys for three years, looking at their travel, knowing that they were obviously up to no good, knowing that they were very dangerous individuals, and yet just as with the CIA and the FBI in the United States, never connected the dots, never really figured out what they were up to the extent that they were able to thwart the attack.
CHUNG: Well, do you think because of that embarrassment that they decided we've got to get somebody on this, we have to find someone guilty, and that this man, who was found guilty, may not very well be involved?
PUSH: No. He was -- he was very much involved. He was -- he trained at an al Qaeda training camp for terrorists in Afghanistan. He attended lectures by bin Laden. He bragged about his -- bragged to his friends about how radical he was and how much he wanted to participate in an act like this.
And he took specific steps that helped the other hijackers, the other conspirators in the plot evade detection and make it look like they were still students in Germany so they could carry out their plot. He knew what he was doing, and that's why he got the maximum sentence.
CHUNG: Stephen Push, do you feel somewhat gratified by this conviction? I mean, and is there some closure for you? Is there some satisfaction?
PUSH: There's some satisfaction that one -- that one of these animals has been taken out of circulation and hopefully will be kept out for as long as possible and that maybe the world is just a little bit safer than it was before.
And I also hope that the German nation will take a close look at their penal system and think very seriously about whether 15 years is enough of a sentence for a crime like this and whether or not they ought to pass additional legislation that will give more severe sentences to people who commit such crimes in the future.
CHUNG: Thank you, Stephen Push. I know that if he had been tried in the United States it would have been either a life sentence or the death penalty.
PUSH: I wouldn't rule that out. The death penalty would have to be taken off the table, but if the U.S. government did take the death penalty off the table perhaps they could convince Germany to extradite him and he could also stand trial here.
CHUNG: I see. Thank you so much, Stephen Push.
In Iran details are still emerging about a deadly military plane crash tonight. A domestic flight carrying more than 300 people went down in bad weather in Southeastern Iran. State television reported officials of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard were among the dead. Right now news about Iraq tops tonight's "Look At the World in 60."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG (voice-over): The Bush administration will propose a new United Nations resolution on Iraq either this week or the next. It will likely declare that Iraq has failed to disarm, clearing the way for military action.
The U.S. says Turkey has 48 hours to decide whether U.S. troops can be based there. Turkey is holding out for more economic aid. Meanwhile, NATO approved the shipment of military defensive equipment to Turkey.
Palestinians fired rockets on a town in Southern Israel in retaliation for a major Israeli incursion in Gaza. The violence has left 11 Palestinians dead.
Tuesday's arson attack on a South Korean subway may have been a suicide attempt. The suspect, who has a history of mental illness, told police he wanted to die with others in a crowded place.
House Democratic Leader (sic) Dick Gephardt, a 26-year veteran of Congress, officially announced he's running for president. If elected, Gephardt promised to repeal President Bush's tax cuts and deliver health care to every working American.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Next, the search of Scott and Laci Peterson's house for a second day. Why are police not naming him as a suspect? CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Modesto police today continued searching Scott Peterson's home without saying why or what they're looking for. Last night, police removed dozens of bags of possible evidence and they also briefly took Peterson's truck. Police aren't saying what evidence they took, but some of the evidence bags were labeled "photo albums" or "phone books." They did, however, reiterate what they've been saying about Peterson's status in the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today is still the same thing, is that we have not been able to eliminate Scott from this investigation. We'd like to. And we're hoping that we're going to be able to do that at some point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: CNN's Rusty Dornin has been following this latest development in the Modesto mystery.
Rusty, can you tell us if police have revealed to you or anyone else what they've been looking for?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They've been keeping that very close to the vest, Connie. They are not talking about if they are looking for anything specific or not.
But a couple of the things they did a little differently today, when they arrived today, they put up this police line tape, keeping folks away from the investigation. And they also began measuring, very carefully measuring the backyard, the front yard, and even took a tape measure around the circumference of the house. They also continued to bring out bags and boxes of more evidence from the house.
It was a little bit more difficult to see today, because they had backed up -- you can see the police van -- they had backed it straight up to the backyard there, just bringing it out that back gate and putting it directly into the van.
CHUNG: Has Scott Peterson been seen today?
DORNIN: He has not been seen today. And, yesterday, he came -- he was at the house when they arrived. And he came back a couple times during the day, but he has not come back today.
And one interesting thing is, the van -- the pickup truck that they confiscated briefly yesterday, they had brought back to the house. And then this morning, they pulled the truck out of the driveway and told reporters that they were actually going to deliver the truck to Scott.
CHUNG: Without saying where Scott was?
DORNIN: Without saying where Scott was. And they continue to also say his movements are not restricted and they are not monitoring his every move.
CHUNG: Now, I know you spoke with Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha. What did she tell you?
DORNIN: Well, it's been a rough time. And she's actually not feeling very well right now, anyway. But she said that they are not commenting at all on this search. She said they really have absolutely no idea what's going on. She did say she did speak to Amy Rocha, of course, Laci's sister, who was here yesterday with investigators. And she obviously was very upset after having come into the house with the investigators yesterday.
CHUNG: All right, Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California, thank you.
When we return: American troops preparing to do battle -- right after this.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up: the story of a young gun training for the challenge of a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CHRIS COLLINS, U.S. MARINES: We've been practicing so long, it's -- I think they're all -- we're all ready for game day on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And his family back home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK COLLINS, FATHER OF CHRIS: He's got a dangerous job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT returns in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: As we mentioned earlier, the U.S. is trying to speed up the world's timetable on Iraq, pushing for a decision from Turkey this week on housing U.S. troops there and pushing by next week for a new U.N. resolution on Iraq. The administration says Iraq has weeks, not months, to disarm.
Tonight, we begin CNN's series on "American Warriors." Of the 40,000 U.S. troops in the seas around Iraq, many are fighter pilots. One of them, 28-year-old Marine Captain Chris Collins, has been waiting six years for this moment, his first overseas mission. But he's been preparing for it all his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG (voice-over): Captain Chris Collins is a top gun. Make no mistake. He could have been something else, but this is what he loves.
C. COLLINS: And all my friends back at home make quite a bit more money than I do. There's a lot of stockbrokers out there, but there's not a whole lot of F-18 pilots.
CHUNG: As he was growing up in a middle-class Connecticut neighborhood, all he could talk about was flying.
C. COLLINS: I always wanted to fly F-14s in the Navy, since I was a youngin'. And I guess, watching "Top Gun," I always thought that would be a pretty cool thing to do.
CHUNG: Collins now flies a $35 million fighter bomber, the F-18 Hornet, right off the deck of an aircraft carrier.
C. COLLINS: It's a beautiful day in the Persian Gulf. I'm going to go off for a 45-minute cycle.
CHUNG: His job: patrolling the no-fly zone over Iraq.
C. COLLINS: The first time I flew over Iraq, it was very barren. And I just equated it to be in, like, Yuma Arizona. But the entire country was like that.
CHUNG: But just flying over Iraq is vastly different from dropping bombs in an air attack. In a surprising moment of candor, Collins reveals how many pilots feel about war.
C. COLLINS: Deep down inside, probably every pilot, whether they tell you or not, probably wants it to happen, sort of. We've been practicing so long, it's -- I think they're all -- we're all ready for game day on Sunday. BARBARA COLLINS, MOTHER OF CHRIS: So you can prepare that dinner tomorrow for me?
CHUNG: Chris is the only son of Barbara and Jack Collins. But you won't hear them fret about it. For luck, Barbara has vowed to wear a Marine and American flag pin until Chris comes home.
B. COLLINS: I worry, but I believe that he's highly trained and he'll -- he'll be OK.
J. COLLINS: He's got a dangerous job, but I don't worry about him. I really don't. He seems in great spirits. And he only regrets when they're not flying.
SHANNON COLLINS, SISTER OF CHRIS: The danger that he's in every day, every time he goes up in the air, it scares me.
CHUNG: Chris's younger sister, Shannon.
S. COLLINS: When we were little, he was always doing model airplanes and -- I can't even remember Chris without thinking of him as wanting to be a pilot.
CHUNG: Fortunately for Chris, his grandparents lived in Florida, right across the street from an Air Force base.
B. COLLINS: Chris was just fascinated. He would want to go there every day just to watch those jets. He just would film the jets for two or three hours at a time.
CHUNG: At only 12, he started learning how to fly, paying for pilot lessons with money from baby-sitting and mowing lawns. This boy was determined to earn solo privileges by his 16th birthday, and he did, even before he got his driver's license. But during his solo tests, his mom's heart skipped a beat, for a good reason.
B. COLLINS: As he was coming in for one of his landings, there was a small passenger plane coming into Bridgeport. And Christopher was on his approach. And we could see him. And we had a radio listening. And all of a sudden, all we could hear was, abort, abort your landing. And he pulled up and he was fine, but I wasn't.
CHUNG: Collins is made of the right stuff. Just ask him. He'll tell you.
C. COLLINS: Becoming a carrier pilot, you don't get out here because you're an average pilot. The guys who make it set goals.
CHUNG: For him, flights have become almost routine.
C. COLLINS: First thing you're going to hear out of me is going to be rage one (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the left, rage two (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the right.
CHUNG: He knows what he's doing.
C. COLLINS: I'm going to execute my best break turn.
You know what? I need to find out where the hell my jet is. I don't see it back there.
CHUNG: Collins is by no means foolish. He knows real war is not a game. Before taking off, he strips himself of his identifiable patches.
QUESTION: Why do you take off patches?
C. COLLINS: In case I get shot down, no one will know who I am.
CHUNG: When in the air, he's poised for the worst.
C. COLLINS: As soon as you go over that Iraqi border, it seems your senses are tweaked a little bit.
CHUNG: And as he heads back after a mission, the danger isn't over. How do they do it, land on the deck of an aircraft carrier they can barely see?
C. COLLINS: I usually have this impending fear of death every time at night. The boat looks much, much smaller at night than it does during the day. You don't have the visual cues of the deck coming up at you.
CHUNG: For Captain Chris Collins, no more model airplanes, no more dry runs. This is the main event.
C. COLLINS: We've been training for the past two years for this. And then, if we do have to go in with the conflict with Iraq, the way we'd go about things would change slightly, but everyone's pretty well prepared to do -- to shift to that new mind-set.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: As part of our "Warriors" series, we'll be following Captain Collins and his family and we'll bring you updates on them over the next month, as the crisis with Iraq continues.
Still ahead: The verdict and sentencing came only last week, but Hollywood delivered its verdict weeks before. Here's a two-word hint: movie deal.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: After Presidents Day came along, the nation lost its holidays honoring specific presidents by name. But take heart. A 5- year-old boy -- yes, 5 -- has taken up the challenge, committing the name of every American president to memory. And while Trevor Eck may not have an especially strong opinion on the merits of the Electoral College, he does know an astonishing amount of presidential lore, which is why we asked him to join us tonight, along with his mom, Rose, for his first interview on national television. Give me five, Trevor. Oh.
Hi, mom.
ROSE ECK, MOTHER OF TREVOR: Hello.
CHUNG: How are you?
R. ECK: Thanks.
CHUNG: Thank you so much for coming.
All right, I know that you can name all the presidents in order, all 43. But I'm going to ask you something else to start, OK?
TREVOR ECK, 5 YEARS OLD: OK.
CHUNG: Who's your favorite president?
T. ECK: Thomas Jefferson.
CHUNG: Why?
T. ECK: Because he's top-notch in the brains department, like me.
CHUNG: Because he's...
T. ECK: Is top-notch in the brains department, like me.
CHUNG: Top-notch in the brains department, like you. Good reason.
And who's your next favorite?
T. ECK: George W. Bush.
CHUNG: Why?
T. ECK: Because he gave me a Christmas card.
CHUNG: Absolutely great reason.
I'm going to look at my list so that I make sure I don't get this wrong. OK? Who's the tallest president?
T. ECK: Abraham Lincoln.
CHUNG: Who's the shortest?
T. ECK: James Madison.
CHUNG: Who's the oldest?
T. ECK: Ronald Reagan.
CHUNG: And who's the largest?
T. ECK: Howard Taft.
CHUNG: All right. I'm just checking to make sure you're right. And you're right, you know?
OK, let's say, who is the 32nd president?
T. ECK: Thirty-second?
CHUNG: Yes.
T. ECK: Franklin D. Roosevelt.
CHUNG: You got it.
The 12th president?
T. ECK: Zachary Taylor.
CHUNG: Right.
The first president to live in the White House?
T. ECK: John Adams.
CHUNG: You're right. OK.
And let's talk about presidential pets, OK?
T. ECK: OK.
CHUNG: Who had three dogs?
T. ECK: Herbert Hoover.
CHUNG: Oh, my golly.
Who had cats?
T. ECK: Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: OK. And what kind of pet did John Quincy Adams have?
T. ECK: An alligator.
CHUNG: An alligator. You're right. Oh, my gosh.
Let's see. What president had such a long beard that he got it caught in his soup?
T. ECK: Rutherford B. Hayes.
CHUNG: Rutherford B. Hayes. You're right. What can you tell us about Warren Harding?
T. ECK: Warren Harding?
CHUNG: Yes.
T. ECK: He was a handsome man, but he was one of our worst presidents.
CHUNG: He was?
T. ECK: Yes.
CHUNG: Why was he so bad?
T. ECK: I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: OK.
I know that you do a great imitation of Richard Nixon. OK, you ready?
T. ECK: Yes.
CHUNG: Will you do it for me? OK.
T. ECK: I am not a crook!
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: That's great. That's great. All right.
Now, let's see. Now, before -- I want mommy to at least say one little thing, right?
T. ECK: OK.
CHUNG: OK.
Rose, how did you do this? How did it happen?
R. ECK: Well, I didn't do anything. Trevor did it all.
CHUNG: He's brilliant.
R. ECK: Well, thank you very much.
It all started at the last presidential election. I brought him with me to vote. And he was really interested in the whole process. He asked me a lot of questions. So, I went out and got him some books. And that took off after that.
CHUNG: And he just started remembering all these facts and figures? R. ECK: Well, actually, no. It was the flash cards that sealed the deal. We were going on a long road trip. And we bought things to keep him occupied. So, we bought him these flash cards. And they kept him occupied for a long time after that. They became like his best toy. He'd play with them all the time.
CHUNG: Trevor, are you a Republican or a Democrat?
T. ECK: Republican.
CHUNG: Do you know why?
T. ECK: Because poppa is.
CHUNG: Because?
T. ECK: My poppa is.
R. ECK: His poppa is a Republican.
CHUNG: Or, your pop is. Gotcha. Gotcha.
I have one last question for you. Do you want to be president someday?
T. ECK: Yes.
CHUNG: OK, you've got to give me five. All right. Thank you so much for being with us, Trevor.
And thank you, Rose.
R. ECK: Thank you.
CHUNG: Trevor and Rose, man, what a team.
Right now, the fate of a fugitive, if he ever gets caught, tops tonight's "Snapshot."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG (voice-over): The heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune faces 124 years in prison if police ever find him. Andrew Luster vanished January 3 while on trial for drugging and raping three women. He was sentenced yesterday.
"The Hollywood Reporter" says CBS already had a TV movie deal in the works on the Clara Harris murder case even before the jury sentenced the Texas woman to 20 years in prison. She ran over her philandering husband three times in her Mercedes.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has announced its list of the 12 worst-polluting vehicles, led by Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini L-147, and GMC Yukon XL.
Mike Tyson's fight with Clifford Etienne in Memphis is on again after a cancellation when Tyson missed his plane. At the fight, Tyson will be sporting a new tattoo on his face.
And "Variety" reports that Fox is planning "Joe Millionaire II" after Monday night's blockbuster ratings. The series finale brought in 40 million viewers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead: our "Person of the Day," her little plane on the prairie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Tonight, our "Person of the Day" enabled an amazing rescue, not because of wilderness skills or survival training, but good old-fashioned American TV trivia.
Beatrice Likens (ph) was at the controls of this Cessna when it went down about 35 miles outside of L.A. The rescue was tricky because of the plane's precarious position. After administering first aid through shattered cockpit windows, rescuers took her and her injured passenger to the hospital. But how did rescuers know where to find her in the first place?
Well, after the crash, suffering from broken bones, she got on her cell phone and told rescuers she had gone down near the site of where the classic TV series "Little House on the Prairie" had been shot between 1974 and 1983, an excellent use of TV lore, proof that useless couch potato trivia actually can come in handy and more than reason enough to make Beatrice Likens our "Person of the Day."
And tomorrow: The president said he welcomes people's rights to express their opinion. So, why did a Michigan school ban a student's T-shirt calling Bush an international terrorist? You'll meet this student tomorrow.
And coming up next on "LARRY KING LIVE": Scott Peterson's sister- in-law, Janey Peterson, and the latest developments on the search for Laci Peterson.
Thank you so much for joining us. And for all of us at CNN, good night and see you tomorrow.
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