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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Texas Battered by Hurricane; Is U.S. Financial Health in Danger?

Aired July 15, 2003 - 17:00   ET

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

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


WOLF BLITZER, HOST: New pictures from Texas battered by a hurricane and we've got new information on the storm.
Also, a red ink record, war and a weak economy bust the budget, is our nation's financial health in danger? Will you and your children wind up paying the price?

WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Claudette lashes the Lone Star state.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see the rain and the wind now blowing near Port O'Connor, some damage now.

BLITZER: We're live on the Texas coast.

LAVANDERA: And most intense rain.

BLITZER: The president's handling of Iraq, Senator Kennedy takes the gloves off.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: All the evidence points to the conclusion that they put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth.

BLITZER: North Korea says it's ready to make nuclear bombs. Is the U.S. headed toward another war?

Rhode Island rage, the governor takes on a tribe and now the tribe is fighting back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.

BLITZER: It's Tuesday, July 15, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.

With howling winds and blinding rain, Claudette just downgraded to a tropical storm but it's still lashing the state of Texas at this hour. The storm slammed ashore this morning along the central Texas Gulf coast as the season's first hurricane. Its fury we can see in these pictures from Galveston.

And, from the air these scenes show the heavy surf as it battered beaches and property up and down the coast and here we see how strong the winds can be in just a minimal hurricane. They were powerful enough to rip through buildings and send trees flying through the air.

And, on the high seas a dramatic rescue as Claudette threatened the lives of two shrimpers. A Gulf Coast helicopter plucked the two men from the churning waters of the gulf after their boat fell victim to the storm.

The storm slammed ashore this morning after moving across the Gulf of Mexico for almost a week. Here are some of the scenes of the fury felt by coastal communities as Claudette swept in from the sea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: The situation is going from bad to worse. The rain has ended by the wind is getting even stronger. You can see right here (unintelligible) even worse right now. We'll continue to bring you updates off and on all evening.

Power is out in the city of Port Lavaca right now. Authorities are urging everyone to stay indoors if they have not evacuated as of now.

You can see the rain and the wind now blowing here at Port O'Connor, some damage now to the homes. The rain really hurts so excuse me if I don't look at you while I talk.

You can see some of the damage now on some of the roofs of the houses right along Matagorda Bay. You can see the bay itself. We're shooting with a home video camera. We already damaged our truck trying to open the door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the causeway in Surf Side and residents are trapped. There's a population of beach front property about 600 people. There's a woman right here that has a husband trapped inside. Ma'am, what is your name?

ANN JOHNSON: Ann Johnson and my husband is Doug Johnson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is he trapped?

JOHNSON: We live right under Surf Side Bridge on Shark Lane. The water is in our bottom stairs up two foot in the house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, he can't get out?

JOHNSON: He's walking out right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: And, at last resort several homes have been damaged or destroyed in this hurricane. CNN's Ed Lavandera felt the storm's fury as it swept through Port Lavaca. He's with us now from that small town on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Ed, it's calm now but how bad was it?

LAVANDERA: Well, Wolf, we experienced several intense hours here in Port Lavaca, just one of the more intense moments. This piece of tar from the roof across the street there of the antique building across the street, this roof came flying off at one point all in one big piece.

You can kind of get a sense of just how big that piece is. The rest of the roof is pretty much still laying across the street. All of that came flying up at one point and was standing straight up from the building and then came flying across the street back over to our location over here as well.

This is the kind of damage we've been seeing here in Port Lavaca. Several of our CNN crews that had been patrolling the area throughout the storm saw several roofs blowing off of structures here in this area and also the concern was rain in this area.

It did bring heavy rain and southwest of here, toward Corpus Christi, in the town of Surf Side, aerial footage from that area showing the low-lying areas how easily they could become flooded here along the Texas Gulf Coast and all along that's what emergency officials were warning people and urging people to evacuate those low- lying areas.

But the good news is so far we haven't heard any reports of injuries in this situation. I talked to some of the officials here in Port Lavaca who say that for the most part this town has made it out quite nicely through the brunt of Hurricane Claudette -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Ed Lavandera. Fortunately he's OK and it looks like everybody else seems to be OK as well. Thanks, Ed, very much.

Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is keeping an eye on Claudette as it moves now inland in Texas. She's with us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with the latest moves. Jacqui, tell us what the latest is.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest is that it's now a tropical storm, Wolf, but still a very strong tropical storm, packing winds of 70 miles per hour so that's only four miles an hour away from hurricane status, so this is still a very serious situation.

The center of it now is right near Beeville (ph) which is also about 40 miles away from Victoria, Texas. The eye, well you can see still producing quite a punch. We're still getting wind reports very common around 50 miles per hour in Victoria and the reports of damage continue to come in now.

I want to go ahead and show you some of the wind gusts reported from Claudette and there you can see some video. This is from Port Lavaca right where Ed Lavandera is and you can see that tree snapped in half. We did have a report of a tornado there as well, which caused some damage to homes.

And, let's look at some of those wind gusts now because they are quite impressive, well over 100 miles per hour, 111 at Sea Drift. There's Port Lavaca about 100 mile an hour gusts there, Long Mott about 95 miles per hour and 75 miles per hour there in Port O'Connor.

Now, the rainfall amounts have been rather heavy, about one to four inches on average. This dark gold area this is near Surf Side where we saw about three to six inches of rainfall.

Also, storm surge has been a problem with about four to six feet above average tide. That is going to start to reduce now and we're probably going to start to see Claudette weaken even further and probably turn into a tropical depression overnight tonight and into tomorrow.

It will be heading over towards the Rio Valley and we'll watch for additional rainfall amounts, about one to three where you've already seen it. We'll see maybe up to five into the Rio Valley for tomorrow -- Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: It was bad but it clearly, Jacqui, could have been worse. Jacqui Jeras thanks very much.

Stormy weather also made, by the way, for some frightening moments in Minnesota, tornadoes hop-scotched across parts of southern Minnesota late yesterday leaving behind a trail of damage. The winds destroyed at least three homes and damaged many other buildings. No injuries have been reported.

Near Mancado (ph), there were reports of soybeans falling from the sky as the tornado swept across farm fields.

As parts of the desert southwest cope with record heat a big wildfire has hundreds of people on the run. The blaze sparked by lightning has scorched almost 6,000 acres on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. As many as 5,000 people had to leave their homes yesterday as the flames spread.

And, hot weather is not, repeat not, helping conditions. The thermometer hit 123 degrees yesterday in Bullhead City, Arizona, and 119, 199 degrees in Palm Springs, California.

Things are also heating up again on a different front as far as North Korea is concerned following an ominous message from Pyongyang about nuclear weapons. Let's go live to our CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. She's following this incredibly important story -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf the Bush administration faces yet another challenge, this time not from a country that denies it has a nuclear weapons program but rather a country that claims it does.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): For a week President Bush has had to answer charges that the White House exaggerated intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs to justify the war but now his administration is facing criticism about its handling of another so-called member of the axis of evil, North Korea.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECY.: Reprocessing is a serious concern and it's something that we will work to address.

MALVEAUX: North Korean officials told the State Department last week the regime has produced enough plutonium to make a half dozen nuclear bombs moving it one step closer to becoming a nuclear power and threat. The administration is working to confirm if Pyongyang's claims are true, at the same time defending its policy of using international diplomacy to keep North Korea in line.

MCCLELLAN: We seek a diplomatic solution but as we move forward we will remain in close contact with South Korea, Japan, China, and others to address this and find a solution.

MALVEAUX: But some national security experts believe the diplomatic solution is a failure. Former Defense Secretary William Perry in an interview in the "Washington Post" published Tuesday said: "I have thought for some months that if the North Koreans moved toward processing spent fuel rods that we are on a path toward war."

BUSH: I believe this is not a military showdown. This is a diplomatic showdown and it can -- we can resolve this peacefully.

MALVEAUX: But, if North Korea's King Jong-Il is not bluffing about going nuclear, the Bush administration may be forced to reconsider its strategy.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: North Korea continues to build its weapons of mass destruction virtually unabated.

MALVEAUX: Since the standoff began last October, the Bush administration has refused to offer Kim Jong-Il any concessions for giving up his weapons a move it considers nuclear blackmail. Mr. Bush has also refused to meet with the North Korean leader one-on-one for negotiations.

BALBINA HWANG, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Undoubtedly, North Korea thinks it will able to reach a very specific deal with the United States and then force all the other countries to come along and we have to send the message that that can simply not occur.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now, one way the Bush administration is sending that message is by setting up an international embargo to block illegal drugs as well as weapons being exported from North Korea to further isolate it from the rest of the international community and to damage it economically -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thanks Suzanne very much.

For a different view of the North Korea showdown we turn to this satellite imagery. We're taking you to a nuclear power complex called Pyongyang. We're going to move closer in. You can see a facility near the smokestack. It houses spent nuclear fuel rods.

U.S. officials believe North Korea is processing old fuel rods to make weapons grade plutonium that's used in nuclear bombs. What's more the U.S. says air samples from this site show the presence of Krypton-85 which is a gas byproduct of producing plutonium. The United States believes North Korea has at least one nuclear bomb already and as many perhaps as three.

Could the United States be headed for war with North Korea? Is there a way to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle? Joining me now to discuss this is a leading nuclear expert Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Joe, thanks very much for joining us.

William Perry, the former defense secretary, a very thoughtful, respected person, says the U.S. may be on the verge of a war with North Korea. How worried should we be?

JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, William Perry is like E.F. Hutton. When he speaks people listen. He's not prone to exaggeration, not given to hyperbole, well respected on both sides of the aisle, and I can't think of an official who knows more about the situation than he does.

So, when he tells us that he believes that the administration's policy is failing that their diplomatic efforts have gone nowhere then you've got to pay attention. You have to take that warning very, very seriously.

BLITZER: Well, the North Koreans, a very unstable regime, they're moving very quickly. Why not, and some are raising this question, why not simply launch a preemptive strike along the lines of what the Israelis did in 1981 against the Iraqi nuclear reactor and take out those North Korean nuclear facilities before they can do any damage?

CIRINCIONE: This is exactly what Dr. Perry is worried about that because the administration has not been serious about its diplomatic efforts, because they haven't offered to actually negotiate a deal with the North Koreans that those in the Pentagon and those in the White House who are pushing a military solution might get the upper hand, that something will happen. A misstep will happen. North Korea will do something more provocative that will be responded to by the United States.

Here's the problem with that. Number one, we don't know where all their nuclear materials are so any strike would not eliminate the program, although it might delay it.

Number two, North Korea has said, and we have to take this seriously, that it would respond by launching an all-out war against South Korea. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans would die almost immediately. That is a recipe for disaster. That is why military solutions are the last resort.

BLITZER: There are nearly 40,000 U.S. troops along the DMZ and in South Korea as well, although the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been saying let's move those troops further south or move them out of Korea.

CIRINCIONE: There's a very interesting op plan that has recently circulated.

BLITZER: That's an operations plan?

CIRINCIONE: An operations plan that has recently circulated that actually calls for the U.S. taking various provocative measures towards North Korea, sending airplanes into, perhaps crossing the border, doing interdiction efforts, bringing patrol boats up near North Korea, perhaps crossing the border.

There is some fear that some in the administration actually do want to provoke a North Korean response. This also is part of what has Secretary Perry worried. Hot heads on both sides might get us into a war that cooler heads would rather avoid.

BLITZER: North Korea being one of President Bush's axis of evil, the three countries of the axis of evil, Iraq, Iran, North Korea. So, how does the United States and North Korea how do these two countries step back now, resolve this matter so North Korea is not rewarded and perhaps walks backward from its nuclear program?

CIRINCIONE: Well, actually China may be helping us out. There is news today that the deputy foreign minister of China has just returned from a visit to North Korea where he met with Kim Jong-Il, the president of North Korea, gave him a personal letter from Hu Jintao urging him, the president, to meet in China.

BLITZER: But Kim Jong-Il and the North Koreans say they don't want China. They don't want Japan. They don't want Russia. They want direct bilateral talks with President Bush.

CIRINCIONE: Right, so let me cut to the chase. What we need is a face-saving way to give the North Koreans the direct negotiations they want with the United States and give the United States the multilateral setting that they want. China could provide that but here's the rub.

BLITZER: Well, let me...

CIRINCIONE: The U.S. has to be able to -- willing to negotiate something. They have to be willing to give North Korea something.

BLITZER: Bill Clinton did this in '93, '94 with the North Koreans, then made a deal. We promised them all sorts of economic assistance but they cheated. They lied. They went ahead with their nuclear program nevertheless. How can you trust North Korea? CIRINCIONE: Well, the deal worked in the whole. It stopped and froze the plutonium program. They did not build bombs. If that deal had not happened they might have 50 weapons by now.

The problem is you can't trust them so you have to be able to negotiate a deal that's iron clad that removes their reactor fuel, that removes their nuclear facilities. Ironically, a Republican president is in a much better position to negotiate just that kind of deal.

BLITZER: One final question very quickly could, God forbid, could there be a war between the United States and North Korea this year as feared by Bill Perry?

CIRINCIONE: Absolutely. There's no question about it, miscalculation or the logical chain of events, we're trying to ignore North Korea. North Korea doesn't want to be ignored. They're going to do something provocative. They may succeed in provoking us and then all bets are off.

BLITZER: Let's hope it doesn't happen. Joseph Cirincione, let's hope that cooler heads will prevail somehow, appreciate it very much.

CIRINCIONE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Here's your turn to weigh in on the story.

Our web question of the day is this: "Should the United States launch a preemptive strike against North Korea?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast. You can vote at cnn.com/wolf.

And, while you're there, I'd like to hear directly from your, our viewers. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

It doesn't get more important than this. A federal raid turns violent. The fight over tax-free tobacco, did police cross the line by going onto tribal land?

Plus, serial arsonist on the loose, burning down people in their own homes. Police ask for your help to find a killer.

And, the federal deficit hitting record levels, the impact on your pocketbook and the political future of President Bush. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A Rhode Island Indian tribe is suing the state over a dramatic raid on a tribal store. It played out yesterday in front of news cameras.

CNN's Sean Callebs is at the CNN Center with the pictures and he has much more on this conflict -- Sean. SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, state officials in Rhode Island are unrepentant over the raid. Members of a Narragansett Tribe are refusing to back down and this is a long way from being resolved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS (voice-over): The Narrangansett Tribe says it's like using a howitzer to kill a fly. Two dozen members of the Rhode Island State Police raiding a small trailer where tribal members were selling 300 cartons of tax-free cigarettes, the raid reported by local TV stations.

Eight people were arrested. The Sachem Matt Thomas is heard demanding to see the federal warrants authorizing the raid.

SACHEM MATTHEW THOMAS, NARRAGANSETT CHIEF: We have these people coming down here with dogs. It looks like something out of Mississippi in the damn '60s.

CALLEBS: Rhode Island state officials say the raid was carried out legally, even though it occurred on tribal property which is federal land. The governor says the tribe was defiant and cheating the state out of tax money.

GOV. DON CARCIERI (R), RHODE ISLAND: The Narragansetts have refused to cooperate and have chosen instead to flout state law. They have knowingly violated our law and have done so with impunity.

CALLEBS: Members of the tribe are seeking help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and say they are considering filing a federal suit alleging a violation of their civil rights. A spokesman for the tribe says it's filed a motion in federal court demanding the cigarettes be returned, an acknowledgement the raid took place on tribal land.

THOMAS: Well, get off our land.

CALLEBS: There's been growing tension between the tribe and the state. The tribe has wanted to build a casino near here for nearly a decade which the governor adamantly opposes.

CARCIERI: My opposition to a casino has nothing to do with the Narragansett Indians. I have been opposed to a casino sponsored by anyone period.

CALLEBS: The Narragansetts had agreed to shut down the smoke shop if the governor changes his position on the casino. Now, it's likely the whole matter will have to be resolved in court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Tribal members are calling what they view as heavy handed treatment by state troopers surreal. The governor believes it was a well orchestrated media event by the chief to make the state look bad. The governor points out local media were given plenty of notice there would be an altercation. Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island has weighed in. He says he is saddened and wishes the two sides could sit down and work things out but admits the courts will probably have to decide this one.

One other note, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri is scheduled to speak on this case in about 15 minutes and we will bring you those comments if warranted -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much Sean Callebs for that report.

And topping our Justice File, fresh fallout from another government raid, the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff and fire near Waco, Texas, survivors have been trying for years to sue the federal government for wrongful death but an appeals court is blocking the latest effort. It says a lower court judge who found cult members set the deadly fire themselves was not biased.

The first guilty plea in that infamous high school hazing incident in suburban Chicago in May, an 18-year-old got two years probation for alcohol-related charges. Three others are facing similar charges while 15 are charged with misdemeanor battery.

And, in Syracuse, New York, a sentence of 18 years to life for a retired handyman who kidnapped women and kept them as sex slaves, John Jamelske apologized for what he did to his five victims. The women range in age from 13 to 53 and were housed in a basement for as long as three years.

A serial arsonist who preys on people asleep in their bed, police are asking for your help to track down a killer before he strikes again.

Also, the Clintons and Whitewater a decision, who will pay the legal bill. Who will pay the legal bill for all the trouble?

And, praying for political deliverance, Pat Robertson turns his lot on the United States Supreme Court. Find out his new mission.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's a red ink record, the Bush administration conceding today that war and terrorism, among other issues, will likely push the federal deficit past $450 billion this year.

CNN's Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider measures the impact on the average American.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: A $450 billion deficit, what does that mean for me taxpayers want to know. Is somebody going to send me a bill? Actually, many taxpayers are going to see their federal tax bill cut. That's one reason why the deficit is getting bigger, along with Iraq which is costing the U.S. $1 billion a week. The Bush administration expects lower taxes will lead to more spending and more investment.

BUSH: The tax bill we passed is really good for the American economy and will make it more likely somebody is going to find a job.

SCHNEIDER: More jobs and better pay will lead to higher revenue from taxes which will bring the deficit down eventually. As they say in Australia, no worries.

Well, actually some. A $450 billion deficit means the federal government will be competing with private businesses to borrow money to pay the bills. The result...

ALAN GREENSPAN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Interest rates would rise and very likely ameliorate if not considerably diminish fully any growth that might be achieved.

SCHNEIDER: A bigger deficit puts pressure on the federal government to hold down spending and pressure on state and local governments to spend more if they don't want to cut more programs.

But unlike the federal government, most states have to balance their budgets. The result higher state and local taxes, in many places enough to offset the federal tax cuts. What the Feds giveth the states taketh away.

Most Americans believe deficits are deplorable but the issue rarely has much political impact. The candidate who really put the deficit issue on the political agenda was Ross Perot in 1992.

So, when Bill Clinton got elected he embraced the cause of deficit reduction and raised taxes. Did he earn the thanks of a grateful nation? No. The Democrats got creamed in 1994. Eventually the economy did turn around. The deficit vanished. Clinton got reelected and the Democrats became the party of fiscal responsibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe in a balanced budget. No Republican has balanced the budget in 34 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: But will the deficit help the Democrats next year? Voters think deficits are terrible but they think other things are worse like cutting spending or raising taxes in order to reduce the deficit -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Bill Schneider explaining a complicated situation for our viewers, a very important subject, though. Thanks very much Bill Schneider for that.

Washington, D.C., the greater D.C. area in fact is being terrorized once again, an ominous update about an arsonist who's on the loose right now. We'll speak live to the man leading the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: It's a disgrace that the case for war seems to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Also -- hammered over uranium, among other issues. The fallout intensifies over the war in Iraq.

And another reason to cut out the red meat, at least potentially. Find out the latest link to cancer. There's new information being released right now that you need to know.

First, today's news quiz. What's the health benefit of a vegetarian diet? Lower risk for cancer? Lower risk for obesity? Lower risk for heart attacks? All of the above? The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. We're following several major developments. First, though, the latest headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: As the violence in Iraq drags on, Democrats are starting to pile on, and another well known figure leaped into the fray just today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy had been a fierce opponent of going to war against Iraq, but once the fighting started and during the weeks that followed, he held back. But now, the gloves are off.

KENNEDY: It's a disgrace that the case for war seemed to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence. All the evidence points to a conclusion that they put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth.

BLITZER: He's part of an expanding coalition of critics, mostly Democrats, emboldened by several developments. Saddam Hussein remains at large. Attacks against U.S. forces continue, and, according to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, may intensify. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. And the White House itself now acknowledges that shaky intelligence on Iraq's alleged nuclear ambitions made it into President Bush's State of the Union address in January.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The bottom line is that we should not have put that line in the speech. And we've made that clear.

KENNEDY: They have undermined America's prestige and credibility in the world and undermined the trust that Americans should and must have in what their nation tells them. How many will doubt a future claim of danger, even if it's real?

BLITZER: Kennedy is by no means alone. Senator Carl Levin is the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He wants a formal inquiry.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: There is a significant amount of troubling evidence that it was part of a pattern of exaggeration and misleading statements, and that is what a thorough and open and bipartisan investigation should examine.

BLITZER: The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee have just returned from a visit to Iraq.

REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Thus far, the emerging evidence in Iraq does point to WMD programs, but does not point to the existence of large stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.

BLITZER: Despite all the current criticism, the Republican chairman is encouraged by what he saw.

REP. PORTER GOSS (R-FL), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Things are going a lot better than the press has been reporting on virtually all fronts. We are going to be there for a while. It is dangerous. It is dirty. It is hot. It is not pleasant, but it is moving forward, and the strategic doubt does not exist.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In Iraq, the new governing council is taking steps to deal with Saddam Hussein and his inner circle. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad. He's joining me now with the latest -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the governing council in their third session today said that they were going to propose a new court with special powers that could try Saddam Hussein for war crimes. They said that the court would also very likely want to try those 55 most wanted senior Iraqi Baath Party officials, senior people in the Iraqi government, as well as Saddam Hussein's two sons.

The governing council also said that this court would be open for criminal charges and anyone else they considered of acts of genocide, people who could be tried for war crimes, would also be tried in the court as well. The governing council saying that it would also begin to reappropriate property stolen by Saddam Hussein and his regime from people around Iraq, finding consensus relatively quickly on those issues. On the issue of appointing new government ministers to the new interim cabinet, the governing council saying probably it will get to that issues next week. Many different opinions, 25 different people in that council, many different opinions to be weighed in this decision making process, Wolf.

BLITZER: Tense moments continuing, obviously, in Iraq. Thanks very much, Nic Robertson, for that. Back here in the United States, more fires are being blamed on a serial arsonist terrorizing the greater Washington, D.C. area. Now six, six fires are conclusively linked, but the actual number could be as high as 24. CNN's Patty Davis is following the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four people were in this house in Chapel Oaks, Maryland, when officials say it was set on fire last month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't imagine who would want to do something like this, you know.

DAVIS: Luckily, all got out in time. Authorities now believe a serial arsonist is responsible for this and five other fires in the Washington area. With few solid leads, they are asking for the public's help.

CHIEF RONALD BLACKWELL, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT: There is no way that we could say today that the person we are looking for is male or female, is old or young. None of that information is available to us.

DAVIS: Eighteen other fires are considered suspicious or similar in nature, including the fire at this home that killed 86-year-old Lou Edna Jones. Her front door had been doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire, which fits the arsonist's M.O. All of the fires have been set in the middle of the night in occupied homes, fueled, according to one source, with gasoline.

At a town hall meeting Monday night, Jones' daughters complained officials should be doing more to prevent the fires.

GLORIA JAMES, ARSON VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: What I'm hearing today doesn't even put a Band-Aid on the murder of my mother. It is way too little, way too late.

DAVIS: Officials have upped the reward to $20,000 in hopes of tracking the serial arsonist down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: Investigators say they are making progress. They are convinced that someone somewhere has important information that could help them break this case -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Patty Davis, thanks very much for that.

Let's move on and get some analysis now. What exactly is going on with this arsonist who's on the loose?

Ronald Blackwell is the fire chief of Prince George's County, just outside of Washington. He's in Largo, Maryland.

Chief, thanks so much for joining us. Are you any closer to finding this arsonist today than you were a week, two weeks, three weeks ago?

BLACKWELL: Actually, Wolf, we think we are. I met with investigators this morning. We've been meeting twice daily, sometimes more often than that.

Our group is energized. We believe we're on the right track, but we do have some gaps as it relates to information. We believe the public or someone has information that can help us get these crimes resolved.

BLITZER: Well, do you have a specific suspect in mind?

BLACKWELL: At this point, we don't, which is why we continue to appeal to the public for information. What we do have is some very good physical evidence that we have used to link some of the fires together. But there is still that information piece and there is someone out there in our community or somewhere in this region who perhaps heard something that they didn't think was important at that time, but maybe what we need to get the case cracked wide open.

BLITZER: This is an area, as you well know, Chief, that suffered through the sniper investigation, through the sniper ordeal not that long ago. Is there a motive that might be out there, given the nature of the victims who have suffered at the hands of this arsonist?

BLACKWELL: Well, to this point, motive is going to be difficult to determine. And it's one of those things that we probably won't have until we make an apprehension or are able to get with some people, sit down in a room, talk to them and figure out what this may have been all about.

BLITZER: Have the victims been mostly of one specific race? Because there could be a racial motive here involved, at least that's some of the speculation that's out there.

BLACKWELL: Well, race is certainly something that's been speculated to, and I'd certainly want to avoid that.

We really don't know. And until we've had an opportunity to speak with the person or persons responsible, it would be a bit irresponsible for me to speculate on that.

BLITZER: Well, let me rephrase the question. Have most of the victims so far, in the six cases you've concluded, are involved with this arsonist? Have they been black?

BLACKWELL: Yes, they have.

BLITZER: So does that mean anything necessarily? I don't want to go too far on this, chief.

BLACKWELL: Well, and that's the thing we need to caution ourselves against is going too far, or drawing conclusions that are not indeed based on fact. True, the victims have primarily been African-American, but we don't know that that means anything at this point. BLITZER: So what exactly should our viewers who may be watching, who may have some information, what is the best thing they can do right now?

BLACKWELL: Well, we've heard from a number of people throughout the community about their fears. But we think, rather than them be scared, people should be prepared. There are some things that they can do like ensuring that they have a working smoke alarms in their homes. We've recommended exterior lighting. We've talked to people about doing things that would reduce the number of combustibles or things around the house or outside the house that might make an attractive target.

BLITZER: Ronald Blackwell is the fire chief in Prince George's County, just outside of Washington, in Maryland. Good luck to you, Chief, and good luck to all of the men and women who are working with you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

BLITZER: The message: limit your fat. Coming up, we'll tell you about a new study that's just out right now about younger women and the risk of a deadly disease.

Plus, the Reverend Pat Robertson is hoping some divine intervention will change the makeup of the United States Supreme Court. We'll tell you why.

First, let's take a look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A nightly nightmare in northern Uganda. Aid agencies estimate 13,000 children flood into this city each night to avoid being kidnapped by rebels in search of fresh fighters and slaves. At dawn, the children return to their homes, miles away in the countryside.

In southwest China, at least a dozen people are dead in a landslide brought on by flash flooding. Several people are still missing, and rescue efforts continue.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in London, urging British officials to pressure Palestinians to dismantle militant groups. He also asked them to cut ties with Yasser Arafat, a request that was politely refused.

A European heatwave is bringing record temperatures to some cities. Paris hit 96 yesterday, and across the continent, people are flocking to fountains and parks to keep cool.

In New Zealand, a nasty fight over the so-called flatulence tax. Farmers are mailing manure to lawmakers to protest a proposed tax on greenhouse gas emissions from their flocks and herds. And street protests interfered with today's 10th stage of the Tour de France, slowing American Lance Armstrong and his main rival. The four-tome champ finished 45th, but remains in first place overall.

And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: How you eat and what you eat may increase your risk of one kind of cancer. There's new information, a new study that's being released right now. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is about to join us. He'll fill us in on the latest developments.

Also, Pat Robertson playing for a surprising reason. You'll hear all about it. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked: "What's the health benefit of a vegetarian diet?" The answer: all of the above. That's because, according to the American Dietic Association, vegetarian diets are typically lower in fat and cholesterol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A new health warning today for younger women. Let's check in now with our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's joining us live from New York. Sanjay, tell us about this new information.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's sort of interesting study, Wolf.

There's been a long standing belief in the medical community that there might be a link between the food you eat and certain types of cancer. And now one of the largest studies out there may provide a little bit more fodder for that particular thing. We're specifically talking about younger women, women between 26 and 46, and their likelihood of developing breast cancer.

What this study found, a very large study, looking at over 90,000 women, was that women who had a higher intake of animal fat -- animal fat specifically -- and animal byproducts, such as dairy products, had a higher incidence of breast cancer, about a 33 percent increase risk of breast cancer in those particular women.

Now, again, specifically talking about animal fat. Interestingly, Wolf, they did not find a correlation between overall fat intake and breast cancer. Again, a longstanding belief in the medical community that higher intakes of certain types of fats might lead to certain types of cancer. This is perhaps some of the most direct interplay. Really important information, although some of the evidence is still a little bit inconclusive. Still, the author of the study came out and had this to say, some good news possibly coming out of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EUNYOUNG CHO, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: I think this is the good news given that woman don't have many choices to modify their risk of breast cancer. So by reducing their intake of red meat and high-fat dairy product, they can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and breast cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Dr. Cho pointing out reducing the risk of animal fat. Again, no one is saying eliminate these fats altogether, but certainly possibly by reducing animal fats as a percentage of your overall diet, you may reduce the risk of breast cancer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: But what's the downside, Sanjay, about eliminating meat and dairy products from your diet, because I don't want people to run out and just simply conclude, You know, I'm going to become a vegetarian on the basis of this study.

GUPTA: That's right. A very important point, because a lot of these animal fats and dairy foods do provide some very important nutritional content for the body. They help your nerves conduct more thoroughly. They help cells rebuild themselves. All sorts of things.

While there are advantages to a vegetarian diet, no one is saying on the basis of this study that you should eliminate all animal fat.

Basically, if the animal fat is a very high percentage of your diet, and they said almost a quarter of your diet is made up of animal fat, then those are the women who had the highest intake of animal fat and had a subsequently higher risk of breast cancer. So it's a little bit -- it's a little bit of give and take there, no question. But I think that the evidence is pretty clear, based on, again, the study of over 90,000 women that if your animal fat content as an overall percentage of your diet is approaching 25 percent, that's probably too high. And then in addition to causing all the problems associated with obesity, heart disease, stroke, it may also be causing breast cancer.

BLITZER: Right. So the bottom line is cut down, but don't necessarily eliminate.

GUPTA: Exactly, Wolf.

BLITZER: Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much. Always giving us very important medical advice.

AWOL from the NAACP. Just ahead, who showed up and who is now in hot water.

And he wants his national audience to pray for the removal of Supreme Court justices. We'll tell you what's going on. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The religious broadcaster Pat Robertson wants his nationwide audience to pray. The televangelist isn't happy about last month's Supreme Court ruling which decriminalized sodomy. He wants divine intervention to remove three Supreme Court justices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: Before it's too late, Lord, please hear our prayers. Answer, Lord, we pray. We cry out to you, and we ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court. Lord, let there be a dramatic change, we pray, in the name of Jesus, show your mighty arm!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Robertson has launched what he calls a 21-day prayer offensive to achieve his aims.

One of the first rules of politics is this: Don't ignore your base, but three, three Democratic presidential candidates seemingly ignored a key constituency when they passed up this week's convention of the NAACP. Now they are in very hot water with the organization's president, Kweisi Mfume. He's joining us now live from Miami. Mr. Mfume, thanks very much for joining us.

They were busy. They had various reasons for not showing up. I want to give those reasons to our viewers. What's the big deal?

KWEISI MFUME, PRES., NAACP: Well, I don't know. Maybe we need Pat Robertson to pray for them also.

The big deal is this, Blitz. The Democratic Party for the last 50 years has gotten about 92 percent of its vote election after election from primarily African-American voters. That's their base. Nobody disputes that. It's because they've done over the years a number of things that resonate with African-American voters and others.

But to assume that you can ignore the one chance you get at a convention like this where you have got 25,000 leaders who have come from different parts of the country and expect us to know what your ideas are for leading the nation is kind of foolish. It's like being a political mistress, being held by the party and kissed by the party and wined and dined in darkness, and then in the light of day you don't want to be seen with this group.

That's insulting. Black people have a dignity like everyone else. We just simply want to hear what's going on. And so it is, for me, as somebody who served with these guys, it's not personal. I know them. And I don't think that they dislike the organization, but I think it is certainly dumb politically to stay away and expect that somehow or another we're not going to say anything about it.

BLITZER: Lieberman's campaign put out this statement to us: "We let the NAACP know more than a week ago that we would not be able to attend today's forum. In this case, prior commitments in New York prevented him from attending this forum." Gephardt's campaign told us: "Mr. Gephardt had a prior family engagement that had been planned and he was disappointed he would not be able to attend the event." Kucinich's campaign said: "Congressman Kucinich strongly believes that it was wrong to campaign across the country on the issue of expanding health care coverage and then miss one of the most important health care votes in years."

They all have excuses.

MFUME: Well, they do. And I don't think they are playing, they're not resonating and they are not catching on in communities around this country.

People want to know what they stand for. Here's an opportunity to say that to your base and you choose not to do so. Let's -- we gave these invitations four months ago. They all accepted. President Bush, you know, to his credit, said he wouldn't be here, but we didn't expect him. But we expected everybody else.

And yet we get here and four days before the candidates' forum, we start getting excuses about why they can't get here.

The reason it was a forum and not a debate was because they said they didn't want a debate. So we said, OK, we'll have a forum. And that clearly was not enough also.

There is this mentality within the party amongst some that still believes that we're going to be there. You don't have to worry. They don't have anywhere to go.

Interestingly, from the end of slavery up until the 1950s, black people in this country registered nine to one Republican. My grandmother thought it was blasphemy when I as a young man decided to register Democrat. She said, how could you abandon the party of Lincoln. The party of Lincoln abandoned black people. And so Democrats were able to sweep in and now, many years later, it's nine to one Democratic registration that you see.

But I think what's happening is the history is playing itself out, and they are taking too many people in this nation for granted and their votes as well.

BLITZER: Kweisi Mfume, let's continue this conversation. Unfortunately, we're all out of time right now. Thanks for joining us.

MFUME: Hey, thank you, Blitz, I appreciate it.

BLITZER: And should the United States launch a preemptive strike against North Korea? That's our Web question of the day. You can still vote. CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're all out of time. Here are the results of our non-scientific poll. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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Aired July 15, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: New pictures from Texas battered by a hurricane and we've got new information on the storm.
Also, a red ink record, war and a weak economy bust the budget, is our nation's financial health in danger? Will you and your children wind up paying the price?

WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Claudette lashes the Lone Star state.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see the rain and the wind now blowing near Port O'Connor, some damage now.

BLITZER: We're live on the Texas coast.

LAVANDERA: And most intense rain.

BLITZER: The president's handling of Iraq, Senator Kennedy takes the gloves off.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: All the evidence points to the conclusion that they put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth.

BLITZER: North Korea says it's ready to make nuclear bombs. Is the U.S. headed toward another war?

Rhode Island rage, the governor takes on a tribe and now the tribe is fighting back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.

BLITZER: It's Tuesday, July 15, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.

With howling winds and blinding rain, Claudette just downgraded to a tropical storm but it's still lashing the state of Texas at this hour. The storm slammed ashore this morning along the central Texas Gulf coast as the season's first hurricane. Its fury we can see in these pictures from Galveston.

And, from the air these scenes show the heavy surf as it battered beaches and property up and down the coast and here we see how strong the winds can be in just a minimal hurricane. They were powerful enough to rip through buildings and send trees flying through the air.

And, on the high seas a dramatic rescue as Claudette threatened the lives of two shrimpers. A Gulf Coast helicopter plucked the two men from the churning waters of the gulf after their boat fell victim to the storm.

The storm slammed ashore this morning after moving across the Gulf of Mexico for almost a week. Here are some of the scenes of the fury felt by coastal communities as Claudette swept in from the sea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: The situation is going from bad to worse. The rain has ended by the wind is getting even stronger. You can see right here (unintelligible) even worse right now. We'll continue to bring you updates off and on all evening.

Power is out in the city of Port Lavaca right now. Authorities are urging everyone to stay indoors if they have not evacuated as of now.

You can see the rain and the wind now blowing here at Port O'Connor, some damage now to the homes. The rain really hurts so excuse me if I don't look at you while I talk.

You can see some of the damage now on some of the roofs of the houses right along Matagorda Bay. You can see the bay itself. We're shooting with a home video camera. We already damaged our truck trying to open the door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the causeway in Surf Side and residents are trapped. There's a population of beach front property about 600 people. There's a woman right here that has a husband trapped inside. Ma'am, what is your name?

ANN JOHNSON: Ann Johnson and my husband is Doug Johnson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is he trapped?

JOHNSON: We live right under Surf Side Bridge on Shark Lane. The water is in our bottom stairs up two foot in the house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, he can't get out?

JOHNSON: He's walking out right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: And, at last resort several homes have been damaged or destroyed in this hurricane. CNN's Ed Lavandera felt the storm's fury as it swept through Port Lavaca. He's with us now from that small town on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Ed, it's calm now but how bad was it?

LAVANDERA: Well, Wolf, we experienced several intense hours here in Port Lavaca, just one of the more intense moments. This piece of tar from the roof across the street there of the antique building across the street, this roof came flying off at one point all in one big piece.

You can kind of get a sense of just how big that piece is. The rest of the roof is pretty much still laying across the street. All of that came flying up at one point and was standing straight up from the building and then came flying across the street back over to our location over here as well.

This is the kind of damage we've been seeing here in Port Lavaca. Several of our CNN crews that had been patrolling the area throughout the storm saw several roofs blowing off of structures here in this area and also the concern was rain in this area.

It did bring heavy rain and southwest of here, toward Corpus Christi, in the town of Surf Side, aerial footage from that area showing the low-lying areas how easily they could become flooded here along the Texas Gulf Coast and all along that's what emergency officials were warning people and urging people to evacuate those low- lying areas.

But the good news is so far we haven't heard any reports of injuries in this situation. I talked to some of the officials here in Port Lavaca who say that for the most part this town has made it out quite nicely through the brunt of Hurricane Claudette -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Ed Lavandera. Fortunately he's OK and it looks like everybody else seems to be OK as well. Thanks, Ed, very much.

Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is keeping an eye on Claudette as it moves now inland in Texas. She's with us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with the latest moves. Jacqui, tell us what the latest is.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest is that it's now a tropical storm, Wolf, but still a very strong tropical storm, packing winds of 70 miles per hour so that's only four miles an hour away from hurricane status, so this is still a very serious situation.

The center of it now is right near Beeville (ph) which is also about 40 miles away from Victoria, Texas. The eye, well you can see still producing quite a punch. We're still getting wind reports very common around 50 miles per hour in Victoria and the reports of damage continue to come in now.

I want to go ahead and show you some of the wind gusts reported from Claudette and there you can see some video. This is from Port Lavaca right where Ed Lavandera is and you can see that tree snapped in half. We did have a report of a tornado there as well, which caused some damage to homes.

And, let's look at some of those wind gusts now because they are quite impressive, well over 100 miles per hour, 111 at Sea Drift. There's Port Lavaca about 100 mile an hour gusts there, Long Mott about 95 miles per hour and 75 miles per hour there in Port O'Connor.

Now, the rainfall amounts have been rather heavy, about one to four inches on average. This dark gold area this is near Surf Side where we saw about three to six inches of rainfall.

Also, storm surge has been a problem with about four to six feet above average tide. That is going to start to reduce now and we're probably going to start to see Claudette weaken even further and probably turn into a tropical depression overnight tonight and into tomorrow.

It will be heading over towards the Rio Valley and we'll watch for additional rainfall amounts, about one to three where you've already seen it. We'll see maybe up to five into the Rio Valley for tomorrow -- Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: It was bad but it clearly, Jacqui, could have been worse. Jacqui Jeras thanks very much.

Stormy weather also made, by the way, for some frightening moments in Minnesota, tornadoes hop-scotched across parts of southern Minnesota late yesterday leaving behind a trail of damage. The winds destroyed at least three homes and damaged many other buildings. No injuries have been reported.

Near Mancado (ph), there were reports of soybeans falling from the sky as the tornado swept across farm fields.

As parts of the desert southwest cope with record heat a big wildfire has hundreds of people on the run. The blaze sparked by lightning has scorched almost 6,000 acres on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. As many as 5,000 people had to leave their homes yesterday as the flames spread.

And, hot weather is not, repeat not, helping conditions. The thermometer hit 123 degrees yesterday in Bullhead City, Arizona, and 119, 199 degrees in Palm Springs, California.

Things are also heating up again on a different front as far as North Korea is concerned following an ominous message from Pyongyang about nuclear weapons. Let's go live to our CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. She's following this incredibly important story -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf the Bush administration faces yet another challenge, this time not from a country that denies it has a nuclear weapons program but rather a country that claims it does.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): For a week President Bush has had to answer charges that the White House exaggerated intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs to justify the war but now his administration is facing criticism about its handling of another so-called member of the axis of evil, North Korea.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECY.: Reprocessing is a serious concern and it's something that we will work to address.

MALVEAUX: North Korean officials told the State Department last week the regime has produced enough plutonium to make a half dozen nuclear bombs moving it one step closer to becoming a nuclear power and threat. The administration is working to confirm if Pyongyang's claims are true, at the same time defending its policy of using international diplomacy to keep North Korea in line.

MCCLELLAN: We seek a diplomatic solution but as we move forward we will remain in close contact with South Korea, Japan, China, and others to address this and find a solution.

MALVEAUX: But some national security experts believe the diplomatic solution is a failure. Former Defense Secretary William Perry in an interview in the "Washington Post" published Tuesday said: "I have thought for some months that if the North Koreans moved toward processing spent fuel rods that we are on a path toward war."

BUSH: I believe this is not a military showdown. This is a diplomatic showdown and it can -- we can resolve this peacefully.

MALVEAUX: But, if North Korea's King Jong-Il is not bluffing about going nuclear, the Bush administration may be forced to reconsider its strategy.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: North Korea continues to build its weapons of mass destruction virtually unabated.

MALVEAUX: Since the standoff began last October, the Bush administration has refused to offer Kim Jong-Il any concessions for giving up his weapons a move it considers nuclear blackmail. Mr. Bush has also refused to meet with the North Korean leader one-on-one for negotiations.

BALBINA HWANG, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Undoubtedly, North Korea thinks it will able to reach a very specific deal with the United States and then force all the other countries to come along and we have to send the message that that can simply not occur.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now, one way the Bush administration is sending that message is by setting up an international embargo to block illegal drugs as well as weapons being exported from North Korea to further isolate it from the rest of the international community and to damage it economically -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thanks Suzanne very much.

For a different view of the North Korea showdown we turn to this satellite imagery. We're taking you to a nuclear power complex called Pyongyang. We're going to move closer in. You can see a facility near the smokestack. It houses spent nuclear fuel rods.

U.S. officials believe North Korea is processing old fuel rods to make weapons grade plutonium that's used in nuclear bombs. What's more the U.S. says air samples from this site show the presence of Krypton-85 which is a gas byproduct of producing plutonium. The United States believes North Korea has at least one nuclear bomb already and as many perhaps as three.

Could the United States be headed for war with North Korea? Is there a way to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle? Joining me now to discuss this is a leading nuclear expert Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Joe, thanks very much for joining us.

William Perry, the former defense secretary, a very thoughtful, respected person, says the U.S. may be on the verge of a war with North Korea. How worried should we be?

JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, William Perry is like E.F. Hutton. When he speaks people listen. He's not prone to exaggeration, not given to hyperbole, well respected on both sides of the aisle, and I can't think of an official who knows more about the situation than he does.

So, when he tells us that he believes that the administration's policy is failing that their diplomatic efforts have gone nowhere then you've got to pay attention. You have to take that warning very, very seriously.

BLITZER: Well, the North Koreans, a very unstable regime, they're moving very quickly. Why not, and some are raising this question, why not simply launch a preemptive strike along the lines of what the Israelis did in 1981 against the Iraqi nuclear reactor and take out those North Korean nuclear facilities before they can do any damage?

CIRINCIONE: This is exactly what Dr. Perry is worried about that because the administration has not been serious about its diplomatic efforts, because they haven't offered to actually negotiate a deal with the North Koreans that those in the Pentagon and those in the White House who are pushing a military solution might get the upper hand, that something will happen. A misstep will happen. North Korea will do something more provocative that will be responded to by the United States.

Here's the problem with that. Number one, we don't know where all their nuclear materials are so any strike would not eliminate the program, although it might delay it.

Number two, North Korea has said, and we have to take this seriously, that it would respond by launching an all-out war against South Korea. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans would die almost immediately. That is a recipe for disaster. That is why military solutions are the last resort.

BLITZER: There are nearly 40,000 U.S. troops along the DMZ and in South Korea as well, although the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been saying let's move those troops further south or move them out of Korea.

CIRINCIONE: There's a very interesting op plan that has recently circulated.

BLITZER: That's an operations plan?

CIRINCIONE: An operations plan that has recently circulated that actually calls for the U.S. taking various provocative measures towards North Korea, sending airplanes into, perhaps crossing the border, doing interdiction efforts, bringing patrol boats up near North Korea, perhaps crossing the border.

There is some fear that some in the administration actually do want to provoke a North Korean response. This also is part of what has Secretary Perry worried. Hot heads on both sides might get us into a war that cooler heads would rather avoid.

BLITZER: North Korea being one of President Bush's axis of evil, the three countries of the axis of evil, Iraq, Iran, North Korea. So, how does the United States and North Korea how do these two countries step back now, resolve this matter so North Korea is not rewarded and perhaps walks backward from its nuclear program?

CIRINCIONE: Well, actually China may be helping us out. There is news today that the deputy foreign minister of China has just returned from a visit to North Korea where he met with Kim Jong-Il, the president of North Korea, gave him a personal letter from Hu Jintao urging him, the president, to meet in China.

BLITZER: But Kim Jong-Il and the North Koreans say they don't want China. They don't want Japan. They don't want Russia. They want direct bilateral talks with President Bush.

CIRINCIONE: Right, so let me cut to the chase. What we need is a face-saving way to give the North Koreans the direct negotiations they want with the United States and give the United States the multilateral setting that they want. China could provide that but here's the rub.

BLITZER: Well, let me...

CIRINCIONE: The U.S. has to be able to -- willing to negotiate something. They have to be willing to give North Korea something.

BLITZER: Bill Clinton did this in '93, '94 with the North Koreans, then made a deal. We promised them all sorts of economic assistance but they cheated. They lied. They went ahead with their nuclear program nevertheless. How can you trust North Korea? CIRINCIONE: Well, the deal worked in the whole. It stopped and froze the plutonium program. They did not build bombs. If that deal had not happened they might have 50 weapons by now.

The problem is you can't trust them so you have to be able to negotiate a deal that's iron clad that removes their reactor fuel, that removes their nuclear facilities. Ironically, a Republican president is in a much better position to negotiate just that kind of deal.

BLITZER: One final question very quickly could, God forbid, could there be a war between the United States and North Korea this year as feared by Bill Perry?

CIRINCIONE: Absolutely. There's no question about it, miscalculation or the logical chain of events, we're trying to ignore North Korea. North Korea doesn't want to be ignored. They're going to do something provocative. They may succeed in provoking us and then all bets are off.

BLITZER: Let's hope it doesn't happen. Joseph Cirincione, let's hope that cooler heads will prevail somehow, appreciate it very much.

CIRINCIONE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Here's your turn to weigh in on the story.

Our web question of the day is this: "Should the United States launch a preemptive strike against North Korea?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast. You can vote at cnn.com/wolf.

And, while you're there, I'd like to hear directly from your, our viewers. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

It doesn't get more important than this. A federal raid turns violent. The fight over tax-free tobacco, did police cross the line by going onto tribal land?

Plus, serial arsonist on the loose, burning down people in their own homes. Police ask for your help to find a killer.

And, the federal deficit hitting record levels, the impact on your pocketbook and the political future of President Bush. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A Rhode Island Indian tribe is suing the state over a dramatic raid on a tribal store. It played out yesterday in front of news cameras.

CNN's Sean Callebs is at the CNN Center with the pictures and he has much more on this conflict -- Sean. SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, state officials in Rhode Island are unrepentant over the raid. Members of a Narragansett Tribe are refusing to back down and this is a long way from being resolved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS (voice-over): The Narrangansett Tribe says it's like using a howitzer to kill a fly. Two dozen members of the Rhode Island State Police raiding a small trailer where tribal members were selling 300 cartons of tax-free cigarettes, the raid reported by local TV stations.

Eight people were arrested. The Sachem Matt Thomas is heard demanding to see the federal warrants authorizing the raid.

SACHEM MATTHEW THOMAS, NARRAGANSETT CHIEF: We have these people coming down here with dogs. It looks like something out of Mississippi in the damn '60s.

CALLEBS: Rhode Island state officials say the raid was carried out legally, even though it occurred on tribal property which is federal land. The governor says the tribe was defiant and cheating the state out of tax money.

GOV. DON CARCIERI (R), RHODE ISLAND: The Narragansetts have refused to cooperate and have chosen instead to flout state law. They have knowingly violated our law and have done so with impunity.

CALLEBS: Members of the tribe are seeking help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and say they are considering filing a federal suit alleging a violation of their civil rights. A spokesman for the tribe says it's filed a motion in federal court demanding the cigarettes be returned, an acknowledgement the raid took place on tribal land.

THOMAS: Well, get off our land.

CALLEBS: There's been growing tension between the tribe and the state. The tribe has wanted to build a casino near here for nearly a decade which the governor adamantly opposes.

CARCIERI: My opposition to a casino has nothing to do with the Narragansett Indians. I have been opposed to a casino sponsored by anyone period.

CALLEBS: The Narragansetts had agreed to shut down the smoke shop if the governor changes his position on the casino. Now, it's likely the whole matter will have to be resolved in court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Tribal members are calling what they view as heavy handed treatment by state troopers surreal. The governor believes it was a well orchestrated media event by the chief to make the state look bad. The governor points out local media were given plenty of notice there would be an altercation. Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island has weighed in. He says he is saddened and wishes the two sides could sit down and work things out but admits the courts will probably have to decide this one.

One other note, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri is scheduled to speak on this case in about 15 minutes and we will bring you those comments if warranted -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much Sean Callebs for that report.

And topping our Justice File, fresh fallout from another government raid, the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff and fire near Waco, Texas, survivors have been trying for years to sue the federal government for wrongful death but an appeals court is blocking the latest effort. It says a lower court judge who found cult members set the deadly fire themselves was not biased.

The first guilty plea in that infamous high school hazing incident in suburban Chicago in May, an 18-year-old got two years probation for alcohol-related charges. Three others are facing similar charges while 15 are charged with misdemeanor battery.

And, in Syracuse, New York, a sentence of 18 years to life for a retired handyman who kidnapped women and kept them as sex slaves, John Jamelske apologized for what he did to his five victims. The women range in age from 13 to 53 and were housed in a basement for as long as three years.

A serial arsonist who preys on people asleep in their bed, police are asking for your help to track down a killer before he strikes again.

Also, the Clintons and Whitewater a decision, who will pay the legal bill. Who will pay the legal bill for all the trouble?

And, praying for political deliverance, Pat Robertson turns his lot on the United States Supreme Court. Find out his new mission.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's a red ink record, the Bush administration conceding today that war and terrorism, among other issues, will likely push the federal deficit past $450 billion this year.

CNN's Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider measures the impact on the average American.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: A $450 billion deficit, what does that mean for me taxpayers want to know. Is somebody going to send me a bill? Actually, many taxpayers are going to see their federal tax bill cut. That's one reason why the deficit is getting bigger, along with Iraq which is costing the U.S. $1 billion a week. The Bush administration expects lower taxes will lead to more spending and more investment.

BUSH: The tax bill we passed is really good for the American economy and will make it more likely somebody is going to find a job.

SCHNEIDER: More jobs and better pay will lead to higher revenue from taxes which will bring the deficit down eventually. As they say in Australia, no worries.

Well, actually some. A $450 billion deficit means the federal government will be competing with private businesses to borrow money to pay the bills. The result...

ALAN GREENSPAN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Interest rates would rise and very likely ameliorate if not considerably diminish fully any growth that might be achieved.

SCHNEIDER: A bigger deficit puts pressure on the federal government to hold down spending and pressure on state and local governments to spend more if they don't want to cut more programs.

But unlike the federal government, most states have to balance their budgets. The result higher state and local taxes, in many places enough to offset the federal tax cuts. What the Feds giveth the states taketh away.

Most Americans believe deficits are deplorable but the issue rarely has much political impact. The candidate who really put the deficit issue on the political agenda was Ross Perot in 1992.

So, when Bill Clinton got elected he embraced the cause of deficit reduction and raised taxes. Did he earn the thanks of a grateful nation? No. The Democrats got creamed in 1994. Eventually the economy did turn around. The deficit vanished. Clinton got reelected and the Democrats became the party of fiscal responsibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe in a balanced budget. No Republican has balanced the budget in 34 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: But will the deficit help the Democrats next year? Voters think deficits are terrible but they think other things are worse like cutting spending or raising taxes in order to reduce the deficit -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Bill Schneider explaining a complicated situation for our viewers, a very important subject, though. Thanks very much Bill Schneider for that.

Washington, D.C., the greater D.C. area in fact is being terrorized once again, an ominous update about an arsonist who's on the loose right now. We'll speak live to the man leading the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: It's a disgrace that the case for war seems to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Also -- hammered over uranium, among other issues. The fallout intensifies over the war in Iraq.

And another reason to cut out the red meat, at least potentially. Find out the latest link to cancer. There's new information being released right now that you need to know.

First, today's news quiz. What's the health benefit of a vegetarian diet? Lower risk for cancer? Lower risk for obesity? Lower risk for heart attacks? All of the above? The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. We're following several major developments. First, though, the latest headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: As the violence in Iraq drags on, Democrats are starting to pile on, and another well known figure leaped into the fray just today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy had been a fierce opponent of going to war against Iraq, but once the fighting started and during the weeks that followed, he held back. But now, the gloves are off.

KENNEDY: It's a disgrace that the case for war seemed to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence. All the evidence points to a conclusion that they put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth.

BLITZER: He's part of an expanding coalition of critics, mostly Democrats, emboldened by several developments. Saddam Hussein remains at large. Attacks against U.S. forces continue, and, according to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, may intensify. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. And the White House itself now acknowledges that shaky intelligence on Iraq's alleged nuclear ambitions made it into President Bush's State of the Union address in January.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The bottom line is that we should not have put that line in the speech. And we've made that clear.

KENNEDY: They have undermined America's prestige and credibility in the world and undermined the trust that Americans should and must have in what their nation tells them. How many will doubt a future claim of danger, even if it's real?

BLITZER: Kennedy is by no means alone. Senator Carl Levin is the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He wants a formal inquiry.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: There is a significant amount of troubling evidence that it was part of a pattern of exaggeration and misleading statements, and that is what a thorough and open and bipartisan investigation should examine.

BLITZER: The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee have just returned from a visit to Iraq.

REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Thus far, the emerging evidence in Iraq does point to WMD programs, but does not point to the existence of large stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.

BLITZER: Despite all the current criticism, the Republican chairman is encouraged by what he saw.

REP. PORTER GOSS (R-FL), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Things are going a lot better than the press has been reporting on virtually all fronts. We are going to be there for a while. It is dangerous. It is dirty. It is hot. It is not pleasant, but it is moving forward, and the strategic doubt does not exist.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In Iraq, the new governing council is taking steps to deal with Saddam Hussein and his inner circle. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad. He's joining me now with the latest -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the governing council in their third session today said that they were going to propose a new court with special powers that could try Saddam Hussein for war crimes. They said that the court would also very likely want to try those 55 most wanted senior Iraqi Baath Party officials, senior people in the Iraqi government, as well as Saddam Hussein's two sons.

The governing council also said that this court would be open for criminal charges and anyone else they considered of acts of genocide, people who could be tried for war crimes, would also be tried in the court as well. The governing council saying that it would also begin to reappropriate property stolen by Saddam Hussein and his regime from people around Iraq, finding consensus relatively quickly on those issues. On the issue of appointing new government ministers to the new interim cabinet, the governing council saying probably it will get to that issues next week. Many different opinions, 25 different people in that council, many different opinions to be weighed in this decision making process, Wolf.

BLITZER: Tense moments continuing, obviously, in Iraq. Thanks very much, Nic Robertson, for that. Back here in the United States, more fires are being blamed on a serial arsonist terrorizing the greater Washington, D.C. area. Now six, six fires are conclusively linked, but the actual number could be as high as 24. CNN's Patty Davis is following the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four people were in this house in Chapel Oaks, Maryland, when officials say it was set on fire last month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't imagine who would want to do something like this, you know.

DAVIS: Luckily, all got out in time. Authorities now believe a serial arsonist is responsible for this and five other fires in the Washington area. With few solid leads, they are asking for the public's help.

CHIEF RONALD BLACKWELL, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT: There is no way that we could say today that the person we are looking for is male or female, is old or young. None of that information is available to us.

DAVIS: Eighteen other fires are considered suspicious or similar in nature, including the fire at this home that killed 86-year-old Lou Edna Jones. Her front door had been doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire, which fits the arsonist's M.O. All of the fires have been set in the middle of the night in occupied homes, fueled, according to one source, with gasoline.

At a town hall meeting Monday night, Jones' daughters complained officials should be doing more to prevent the fires.

GLORIA JAMES, ARSON VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: What I'm hearing today doesn't even put a Band-Aid on the murder of my mother. It is way too little, way too late.

DAVIS: Officials have upped the reward to $20,000 in hopes of tracking the serial arsonist down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: Investigators say they are making progress. They are convinced that someone somewhere has important information that could help them break this case -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Patty Davis, thanks very much for that.

Let's move on and get some analysis now. What exactly is going on with this arsonist who's on the loose?

Ronald Blackwell is the fire chief of Prince George's County, just outside of Washington. He's in Largo, Maryland.

Chief, thanks so much for joining us. Are you any closer to finding this arsonist today than you were a week, two weeks, three weeks ago?

BLACKWELL: Actually, Wolf, we think we are. I met with investigators this morning. We've been meeting twice daily, sometimes more often than that.

Our group is energized. We believe we're on the right track, but we do have some gaps as it relates to information. We believe the public or someone has information that can help us get these crimes resolved.

BLITZER: Well, do you have a specific suspect in mind?

BLACKWELL: At this point, we don't, which is why we continue to appeal to the public for information. What we do have is some very good physical evidence that we have used to link some of the fires together. But there is still that information piece and there is someone out there in our community or somewhere in this region who perhaps heard something that they didn't think was important at that time, but maybe what we need to get the case cracked wide open.

BLITZER: This is an area, as you well know, Chief, that suffered through the sniper investigation, through the sniper ordeal not that long ago. Is there a motive that might be out there, given the nature of the victims who have suffered at the hands of this arsonist?

BLACKWELL: Well, to this point, motive is going to be difficult to determine. And it's one of those things that we probably won't have until we make an apprehension or are able to get with some people, sit down in a room, talk to them and figure out what this may have been all about.

BLITZER: Have the victims been mostly of one specific race? Because there could be a racial motive here involved, at least that's some of the speculation that's out there.

BLACKWELL: Well, race is certainly something that's been speculated to, and I'd certainly want to avoid that.

We really don't know. And until we've had an opportunity to speak with the person or persons responsible, it would be a bit irresponsible for me to speculate on that.

BLITZER: Well, let me rephrase the question. Have most of the victims so far, in the six cases you've concluded, are involved with this arsonist? Have they been black?

BLACKWELL: Yes, they have.

BLITZER: So does that mean anything necessarily? I don't want to go too far on this, chief.

BLACKWELL: Well, and that's the thing we need to caution ourselves against is going too far, or drawing conclusions that are not indeed based on fact. True, the victims have primarily been African-American, but we don't know that that means anything at this point. BLITZER: So what exactly should our viewers who may be watching, who may have some information, what is the best thing they can do right now?

BLACKWELL: Well, we've heard from a number of people throughout the community about their fears. But we think, rather than them be scared, people should be prepared. There are some things that they can do like ensuring that they have a working smoke alarms in their homes. We've recommended exterior lighting. We've talked to people about doing things that would reduce the number of combustibles or things around the house or outside the house that might make an attractive target.

BLITZER: Ronald Blackwell is the fire chief in Prince George's County, just outside of Washington, in Maryland. Good luck to you, Chief, and good luck to all of the men and women who are working with you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

BLITZER: The message: limit your fat. Coming up, we'll tell you about a new study that's just out right now about younger women and the risk of a deadly disease.

Plus, the Reverend Pat Robertson is hoping some divine intervention will change the makeup of the United States Supreme Court. We'll tell you why.

First, let's take a look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A nightly nightmare in northern Uganda. Aid agencies estimate 13,000 children flood into this city each night to avoid being kidnapped by rebels in search of fresh fighters and slaves. At dawn, the children return to their homes, miles away in the countryside.

In southwest China, at least a dozen people are dead in a landslide brought on by flash flooding. Several people are still missing, and rescue efforts continue.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in London, urging British officials to pressure Palestinians to dismantle militant groups. He also asked them to cut ties with Yasser Arafat, a request that was politely refused.

A European heatwave is bringing record temperatures to some cities. Paris hit 96 yesterday, and across the continent, people are flocking to fountains and parks to keep cool.

In New Zealand, a nasty fight over the so-called flatulence tax. Farmers are mailing manure to lawmakers to protest a proposed tax on greenhouse gas emissions from their flocks and herds. And street protests interfered with today's 10th stage of the Tour de France, slowing American Lance Armstrong and his main rival. The four-tome champ finished 45th, but remains in first place overall.

And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: How you eat and what you eat may increase your risk of one kind of cancer. There's new information, a new study that's being released right now. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is about to join us. He'll fill us in on the latest developments.

Also, Pat Robertson playing for a surprising reason. You'll hear all about it. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked: "What's the health benefit of a vegetarian diet?" The answer: all of the above. That's because, according to the American Dietic Association, vegetarian diets are typically lower in fat and cholesterol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A new health warning today for younger women. Let's check in now with our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's joining us live from New York. Sanjay, tell us about this new information.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's sort of interesting study, Wolf.

There's been a long standing belief in the medical community that there might be a link between the food you eat and certain types of cancer. And now one of the largest studies out there may provide a little bit more fodder for that particular thing. We're specifically talking about younger women, women between 26 and 46, and their likelihood of developing breast cancer.

What this study found, a very large study, looking at over 90,000 women, was that women who had a higher intake of animal fat -- animal fat specifically -- and animal byproducts, such as dairy products, had a higher incidence of breast cancer, about a 33 percent increase risk of breast cancer in those particular women.

Now, again, specifically talking about animal fat. Interestingly, Wolf, they did not find a correlation between overall fat intake and breast cancer. Again, a longstanding belief in the medical community that higher intakes of certain types of fats might lead to certain types of cancer. This is perhaps some of the most direct interplay. Really important information, although some of the evidence is still a little bit inconclusive. Still, the author of the study came out and had this to say, some good news possibly coming out of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EUNYOUNG CHO, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: I think this is the good news given that woman don't have many choices to modify their risk of breast cancer. So by reducing their intake of red meat and high-fat dairy product, they can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and breast cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Dr. Cho pointing out reducing the risk of animal fat. Again, no one is saying eliminate these fats altogether, but certainly possibly by reducing animal fats as a percentage of your overall diet, you may reduce the risk of breast cancer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: But what's the downside, Sanjay, about eliminating meat and dairy products from your diet, because I don't want people to run out and just simply conclude, You know, I'm going to become a vegetarian on the basis of this study.

GUPTA: That's right. A very important point, because a lot of these animal fats and dairy foods do provide some very important nutritional content for the body. They help your nerves conduct more thoroughly. They help cells rebuild themselves. All sorts of things.

While there are advantages to a vegetarian diet, no one is saying on the basis of this study that you should eliminate all animal fat.

Basically, if the animal fat is a very high percentage of your diet, and they said almost a quarter of your diet is made up of animal fat, then those are the women who had the highest intake of animal fat and had a subsequently higher risk of breast cancer. So it's a little bit -- it's a little bit of give and take there, no question. But I think that the evidence is pretty clear, based on, again, the study of over 90,000 women that if your animal fat content as an overall percentage of your diet is approaching 25 percent, that's probably too high. And then in addition to causing all the problems associated with obesity, heart disease, stroke, it may also be causing breast cancer.

BLITZER: Right. So the bottom line is cut down, but don't necessarily eliminate.

GUPTA: Exactly, Wolf.

BLITZER: Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much. Always giving us very important medical advice.

AWOL from the NAACP. Just ahead, who showed up and who is now in hot water.

And he wants his national audience to pray for the removal of Supreme Court justices. We'll tell you what's going on. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The religious broadcaster Pat Robertson wants his nationwide audience to pray. The televangelist isn't happy about last month's Supreme Court ruling which decriminalized sodomy. He wants divine intervention to remove three Supreme Court justices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: Before it's too late, Lord, please hear our prayers. Answer, Lord, we pray. We cry out to you, and we ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court. Lord, let there be a dramatic change, we pray, in the name of Jesus, show your mighty arm!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Robertson has launched what he calls a 21-day prayer offensive to achieve his aims.

One of the first rules of politics is this: Don't ignore your base, but three, three Democratic presidential candidates seemingly ignored a key constituency when they passed up this week's convention of the NAACP. Now they are in very hot water with the organization's president, Kweisi Mfume. He's joining us now live from Miami. Mr. Mfume, thanks very much for joining us.

They were busy. They had various reasons for not showing up. I want to give those reasons to our viewers. What's the big deal?

KWEISI MFUME, PRES., NAACP: Well, I don't know. Maybe we need Pat Robertson to pray for them also.

The big deal is this, Blitz. The Democratic Party for the last 50 years has gotten about 92 percent of its vote election after election from primarily African-American voters. That's their base. Nobody disputes that. It's because they've done over the years a number of things that resonate with African-American voters and others.

But to assume that you can ignore the one chance you get at a convention like this where you have got 25,000 leaders who have come from different parts of the country and expect us to know what your ideas are for leading the nation is kind of foolish. It's like being a political mistress, being held by the party and kissed by the party and wined and dined in darkness, and then in the light of day you don't want to be seen with this group.

That's insulting. Black people have a dignity like everyone else. We just simply want to hear what's going on. And so it is, for me, as somebody who served with these guys, it's not personal. I know them. And I don't think that they dislike the organization, but I think it is certainly dumb politically to stay away and expect that somehow or another we're not going to say anything about it.

BLITZER: Lieberman's campaign put out this statement to us: "We let the NAACP know more than a week ago that we would not be able to attend today's forum. In this case, prior commitments in New York prevented him from attending this forum." Gephardt's campaign told us: "Mr. Gephardt had a prior family engagement that had been planned and he was disappointed he would not be able to attend the event." Kucinich's campaign said: "Congressman Kucinich strongly believes that it was wrong to campaign across the country on the issue of expanding health care coverage and then miss one of the most important health care votes in years."

They all have excuses.

MFUME: Well, they do. And I don't think they are playing, they're not resonating and they are not catching on in communities around this country.

People want to know what they stand for. Here's an opportunity to say that to your base and you choose not to do so. Let's -- we gave these invitations four months ago. They all accepted. President Bush, you know, to his credit, said he wouldn't be here, but we didn't expect him. But we expected everybody else.

And yet we get here and four days before the candidates' forum, we start getting excuses about why they can't get here.

The reason it was a forum and not a debate was because they said they didn't want a debate. So we said, OK, we'll have a forum. And that clearly was not enough also.

There is this mentality within the party amongst some that still believes that we're going to be there. You don't have to worry. They don't have anywhere to go.

Interestingly, from the end of slavery up until the 1950s, black people in this country registered nine to one Republican. My grandmother thought it was blasphemy when I as a young man decided to register Democrat. She said, how could you abandon the party of Lincoln. The party of Lincoln abandoned black people. And so Democrats were able to sweep in and now, many years later, it's nine to one Democratic registration that you see.

But I think what's happening is the history is playing itself out, and they are taking too many people in this nation for granted and their votes as well.

BLITZER: Kweisi Mfume, let's continue this conversation. Unfortunately, we're all out of time right now. Thanks for joining us.

MFUME: Hey, thank you, Blitz, I appreciate it.

BLITZER: And should the United States launch a preemptive strike against North Korea? That's our Web question of the day. You can still vote. CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're all out of time. Here are the results of our non-scientific poll. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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