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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Israel Hits Hamas Target; Highly Enriched Uranium Found in Iran; Columbia Probe Cites Flawed NASA Culture

Aired August 26, 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.


(VIDEO GAP)
HOLMES: ... Mahmoud Abbas to anything he had to offer. However, we spoke to another Hamas spokesman, Abdul Aziz Rantissi, who said that while Hamas would meet, it would not discuss a cease-fire.

Now the Fatah leadership was to meet this evening with Abu Mazen, the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and discuss this latest attack, and also discuss the possibility of a cease-fire being reinstated. However, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, legislator Saeb Erekat, put out a hard-line statement that said that the Israeli missile strike was aimed at undermining the Palestinian Authority, though, he said, any security measures adopted by the authority would be viewed on the street level as collaboration with the occupier.

He then called on Israel to condemn the killing of Palestinian civilians in the same way he said the Palestinian Authority condemned the killing of Israeli civilians. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) part is always very clearly stated. It believes the Palestinian Authority has not moved quickly enough nor nearly effectively enough against the militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and has said very clearly, in the words of one army commander, that Israel would liquidate any militant at any time.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to new concerns over nukes. First a troubling find in Iran. For more on all this we turn to our CNN State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel.

Hello, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Since last February, U.N. weapons inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency have made about a half dozen trips to Iran to try to determine if its weapons -- if its nuclear program was really to produce electricity, as Iran claims, or to produce nuclear weapons. Well, next month, in a newly completed report, the IAEA's board of directors will get to see for themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KOPPEL (voice-over): U.N. inspectors who visited Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, seen here in this satellite photo, say they found traces of highly-enriched uranium. Still, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which produced this new report, says it's too soon to say if this proves Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a number of scenarios where -- which would explain why highly-enriched uranium might be found in Iran. And we need to investigate every one of those scenarios.

KOPPEL: Iran does not dispute the IAEA's findings, but insists its equipment, centrifuge components used to separate nuclear material, was already contaminated when Tehran purchased them years ago from a third country. Experts say that further deepens the mystery.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FMR. U.N. INSPECTOR: Not only because of what happens in Iran and is Iran telling the truth, but also could this kind of information and these kind of components have ended up elsewhere and in other countries' nuclear weapons programs?

KOPPEL: Since the head of the IAEA, Mohammed Elbaradei, toured Iran's nuclear facilities last February, the report points out Iran has demonstrated an increased degree of cooperation. But it also notes that there remain a number of important outstanding issues. The Bush administration, for its part, remains skeptical and called on Iran to agree to more intrusive inspection by the IAEA.

PHILIP REEKER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: They have clearly not been forthcoming in the past with the actual facts and details about their secret nuclear programs. And that's what's been of great concern to us and obviously to the international community as a whole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The next day to watch is September 8, when the IAEA's board of governors meet. A Western diplomat tells CNN, while it will likely stop short of finding Iran in noncompliance, it will also be presented as a last opportunity for Iran to fully comply, Miles, or face the possibility of U.N. sanctions -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Thank you very much.

North Korea is believed to already have nuclear weapons and has been threatening to make more. That critical mass is the subject of critical six-nation talks in Beijing.

CNN's Mike Chinoy is there, and he has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surrender means death. That was the defiant proclamation from North Korea as its negotiating team arrived in Beijing for talks where the stakes couldn't be any higher.

JON WOLFSTHAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: If North Korea is left to its own devices, it will develop a large nuclear arsenal that could not only fuel nuclear proliferation in the region, but globally, because they are prepared to sell nuclear weapons to others.

CHINOY: But as the delegates assembled for the talks, the U.S. side led by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, it's clear that resolving the crisis won't be easy.

JIA QINGGUO, CHINESE POLITICAL ANALYST: There is so much distrust and suspicion on the part of both sides.

CHINOY: The North Koreans have been rattled by a Bush administration that lump the regime of Kim Jong Il with that of Saddam Hussein in the axis of evil. They have demanded Washington agree to a non-aggression treaty before considering any nuclear concessions. The U.S., however, has consistently demanded Pyongyang make the first move. The Bush administration refusing to reward what it sees as North Korean nuclear blackmail.

On a peninsula where North Korea's million-strong army confronts a South Korean military backed by 37,000 U.S. troops, the standoff has sparked fears of war and it led North Korea's neighbor and long-time ally China to mount a diplomatic offensive in recent months to bring the parties together. These talks are the result.

(on camera): But if the diplomacy here in Beijing goes nowhere, the Bush administration is making clear it has other options. The U.S. military is planning a joint naval training exercise next month in the Coral Sea off Australia. The goal, to practice interdicting shipping from nations exporting weapons of mass destruction.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We are tracking a couple of breaking news stories at this hour. In Brookwood (ph), Long Island, 14 people injured after a school bus crash. But also a plane crash to tell you about in Hyannis Harbor off the coast of Cape Cod.

Two crewmembers on board a Beechcraft 1900 aircraft. We're watching that story. And then, Brookwood (ph), Long Island, 14 people injured, primarily students, after a school bus rollover. Affiliate pictures there from WABC. We're working on getting more details on both those stories for you, so stay tuned for that.

And then there's also this: no margin for error. A new report pins down the cause of the disaster that destroyed the space shuttle Columbia. Details are ahead.

And was there a bounty on John Geoghan's head? And did the guards get tipped off? We're live with the latest on the prison death of a defrocked priest. Plus, up close and personal. For those who like looking at heavenly bodies -- and who doesn't -- we'll tell you about a once in a lifetime close encounter. But first, today's news quiz.

Which planet has the largest volcano in the solar system? Mars, Earth, Jupiter or Neptune? The answer is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: As we have noted, two more American soldiers have died in Iraq, bringing the Pentagon's official death toll to 139 since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1. That's more than the 138 who died from all causes during the first phase of warfare.

Despite the mounting (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Mr. Bush today declared the war on terrorism will continue. He spoke to veterans at the American Leagues Convention in St. Louis.

(VIDEO GAP)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: ... what the charges are and who they will be filed against.

That's what we (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Miles. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right. So you have any idea on the timetable and how things are going to unfold from here, Jeff?

FLOCK: Well, if in fact the charges are filed against Mr. Hemphill, he's already in custody. But, as I said, we expect to the details on this in the next half hour. We were also told, we should point out because it's a big question on a lot of people's minds, what about the mother, who was present for this ceremony? We were told by Milwaukee Police yesterday that they did not expect charges would be filed against the mother.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right. CNN's Jeff Flock in Milwaukee (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

We're watching a couple of other stories as well. A couple things that we are looking very closely at, as a matter of fact.

These are live pictures now from our affiliate WHDH. This is Hyannis Harbor. Kind of a rough shot right there right now, but essentially what it shows you is the wreckage of a Beechcraft 1900 operated by Colgan Air, affiliated with US Air. Two aboard, the pilot and copilot. No passengers.

They were ferrying the aircraft from Hyannis to Albany. Shortly after departure from the field there they radioed back to the tower indicating they were having an emergency and were turning back. As they turned back, they plunged very sharply into the water. It appears just from looking at the pictures here that the wreckage field is very condense, meaning they probably went in at a very steep angle of descent. Meanwhile, Brookville, Long Island, this is the scene there. There's a good picture of it from WABC, our affiliate there. A school bus rolled over after a collision. Fourteen were injured; three seriously. Many of them are children.

Ten ambulances on the scene. Two helicopters dispatched. It is a situation we are watching closely as well, as those injured people, children many of them, are taken to area hospitals.

Well, sure, it was the foam. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The team investigating the Columbia disaster weighs in with the harsh conclusion NASA did not take safety seriously enough. And that was a bitter pill to swallow for the families of the Columbia crew, of course. We'll speak with one grieving husband who wonders how some people at NASA will be able to live with their decisions.

And then a person of interest. Steven Hateful says he has nothing to do with anthrax and sues the attorney general to try to get the government off his back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The final report is out on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts in February, and it takes direct aim at NASA, blaming its organizational culture in part for the catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The technical answer to the Columbia disaster, simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In four simple words, the foam did it.

O'BRIEN: For nearly two months, the shattering conclusion has held up. A piece of foam broke off the shuttle's external tank during launch, struck the orbiter's wing and breached the protective tiles. Sixteen days later, the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven astronauts. The alarm sounded in today's final report: a long-standing culture at NASA with the wrong priorities.

SCOTT HUBBARD, COLUMBIA INVESTIGATION BOARD MEMBER: NASA had conflicting goals of cost, schedule and safety, and unfortunately safety lost out.

O'BRIEN: Stinging criticism from the Columbia accident investigation board of a gradual relaxation of safety standards at NASA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The machine was talking, but why was nobody hearing? How were the signals missed?

O'BRIEN: And the failure of Congress and the White House to give the agency funding and other support needed to maintain those standards. From the document -- quoting now -- "NASA is an organization straining to do too much with too little." "Paramount," says the board. NASA must prevent what it called the "return of bad habits over time" and instead return to a more aggressive emphasis on safety prominent in NASA's early years, a responsibility that begins at the top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The leadership -- not just the administrator -- all levels of leadership are going to have to actively drive the bad cultural traits out of the organization. And it's something they are going to have to buy into personally.

O'BRIEN: To ensure mission safety, the report calls for the creation of a new safety team, a so-called technical engineering authority within NASA but independent of the shuttle program. The board did not say the shuttle fleet should be grounded, but it did recommend the development of a temporary vehicle to replace the shuttle, a so-called orbital space plane to be used as a ferry to the international space station over the next decade until the next generation of shuttles is developed.

From the report, "Previous attempts to develop a replacement vehicle for the aging shuttle represent a failure of national leadership." Still, Admiral Hal Gehman stressed the current shuttle model is not inherently unsafe, and had this to say about the flight engineers and mission control staff.

HAL GEHMAN: This board comes away from this experience convinced that NASA is an outstanding organization. It's full of wonderful people who are trying very, very hard to do very unique and very special things, things that are not done any other place in the world and, for the most part, have never been done by mankind before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Joining me now from Irvine, California to talk about the report, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. He's chairman of the House, Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.

Congressman, good to have you with us.

REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: Good to be with you. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: If you had to grade the Gehman board report, what would you give it?

ROHRABACHER: I'd give it an "A," no doubt.

O'BRIEN: Really?

ROHRABACHER: Admiral Gehman is -- you know I've worked with a lot of people. I was a speechwriter during Ronald Reagan's administration. So I worked at the White House and I've been in Congress for almost 18 years. And I have met very few people with -- for whom I have more respect than Admiral Gehman.

O'BRIEN: You've had a chance to see this report and you're thoroughly familiar with the details of it. What troubles you the most?

ROHRABACHER: Well, what troubles me the most is that we held NASA on a much higher plane than most government employees. And, you know, people understand how bureaucracy sort of settles into inertia after a number of years. You create a pool of government employees to accomplish a job and then pretty soon after a number of years it becomes an impediment to progress, rather than an instrument for progress. Well, that same sort of degeneration obviously took place in NASA, and we thought that that was not what the case was.

O'BRIEN: Is that something that can be taken care of by a report like this, by changes on the flow chart, by changes in leadership? What you are talking about is the way large organizations tend to work.

ROHRABACHER: Well, you know, I can remember when we had trouble with the Hubbell telescope about 12 years ago. And I remember trying to push to find out, was anybody held accountable for this mistake that cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. You know we sent up a telescope that had not been adjusted right, when it could have been adjusted on the ground.

And -- well, no one was held accountable for that. I remember saying to myself, you know, boy, if they handle it that way, a lot of people are going to get lax in this organizational structure. And certainly that's what's happened. And in order to correct that, you have got to start, number one, holding people individually accountable. And number two, you've got to be darn tough on these people and just say, look, we expect you to be proactive.

What happened, apparently, as Admiral Gehman has outlined, is the safety people became reactive rather than proactive. If something was wrong, they'd look at it and, instead of being proactive, try to stop some problem before it happened.

O'BRIEN: Now there's no price tag associated with this report. But if you start looking at it closely, you realize implicit in all of this are some dollar signs. Is Congress ready to spend more money on NASA, and is that the solution?

ROHRABACHER: Well, let me suggest just the opposite appears to me. By focusing on the fact that there is an attitude problem and making that the major stress of the report, Admiral Gehman and the commissioner are telling us, no, just spending billions of dollars will not do the job. It may or may not be necessary for us to, for example, have an alternative to the shuttle to spend that kind of money. But in order to correct the central problem, we just have to have discipline, the type of discipline that an admiral of the Navy knows about.

O'BRIEN: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

The families of the seven astronauts were shown the report -- or actually briefed on the report before its release. Earlier, I spoke with Jon Clark, whose wife was astronaut Laurel Clark. He says he feels many emotions, but anger is not among them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON CLARK, WIDOWER OF COLUMBIA ASTRONAUT: I look at anger as perhaps a wasted emotion. Anger is something you direct towards somebody who deliberately did something evil, like the terrorists in the World Trade Center, for example.

I know for a fact, because I know most of the people that were involved in these launch decisions, and every one of them is deeply suffering from this. So this is not a factor where somebody intentionally did the wrong thing or tried to cover up something. It was an inadvertent systematic process failure across the organization. And all of us, every single one of us, from the top of the organization on down, I think, truly wants to change and make NASA a better organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You can hear more from Jon Clark when he joins Paula Zahn tonight on "LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" 8:00 Eastern Time. And then we'll have more tomorrow on the Columbia disaster report. I'll be joined by NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe 5:00 Eastern right here on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. That's 2:00 Pacific.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day: Do you have confidence NASA will improve its safety measures? We'll have the results a little later in the broadcast. We invite you to vote now at cnn.com/wolf.

The bioterrorism expert under scrutiny in the anthrax attacks in 2001 is suing Attorney General John Ashcroft and some other government officials. Steven Hatfill says his reputation was destroyed when Ashcroft described him as a person of interest in the case.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Washington with more on this very interesting story -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, bioweapons expert Steven Hatfill has never been charged in the anthrax investigation, but he's never been cleared either. In his lawsuit, Hatfill claims that living under this cloud of suspicion has ruined his life and that comments and actions by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the FBI and Justice Department have violated the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Hatfill had nothing to do with the anthrax attacks. No evidence links him to the crime, yet the attorney general and a number of his subordinates have sought to make him a scapegoat. In the process, they have trampled Dr. Hatfill's constitutional rights, and they have destroyed his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: In his suit, Hatfill claims the FBI tipped off the media to search his apartment and violated his privacy by keeping him under surveillance 24 hours a day and tapping his phone. The FBI did fire off an e-mail -- excuse me, the Justice Department fired off an e-mail to Louisiana State University, which resulted in Hatfill's firing.

Hatfill says it's been impossible for him to find another job because of anonymous leaks, widespread media attention and public comments from the attorney general characterizing Hatfill as a person of interest in the investigation. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility found Ashcroft did not violate any law, regulation or policy with those remarks, but no comment on the lawsuit from Justice, Ashcroft or the FBI.

What does Hatfill want? An admission that his rights were violated, an injunction against their being violated again, and unspecified monetary damages. His lawyer says he also wants his life back -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne, does he have a theory as to why the government would single him out?

MESERVE: He does put one forward in his filing. He says it is to promote their own personal and political interest. Specifically, he's saying they had an investigation that was going nowhere. They needed to divert attention from that, so they put his name out there, hoping to deflect media attention from what he characterizes as a slandering case.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve following that story for us. Thank you very much.

Jake Labor dives in to the total recall and cruises past the running man. We're live on the left coast (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

And is it getting a little crowded lately? Well, Mars is stepping all over our celestial turf and it's making for an amazing nighttime show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In Milwaukee, charges being filed now in the death of an 8-year-old boy, an autistic boy who was in the midst of an exorcism. Members of a congregation trying to drive evil spirits out of him. For more on this, we turn now to CNN's Jeff flock, who has details on those charges -- Jeff.

FLOCK: Indeed. We're just looking them over now, Miles. In some sense, it's not as serious as perhaps it could have been. We thought maybe involuntary manslaughter.

In fact, it is one count. And again, the person charged is the man who we have been talking about, the man who has been held in custody, the man who officiated this ceremony in which the 8-year-old boy died.

His name is Ray Hemphill. One count is what he is being charged with of physical abuse of a child. Reckless causation of great bodily harm. That in Wisconsin is a Class D felony, punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and imprisonment of not more than 10 years or both.

As we said, that is not as serious a charge as could have been leveled. Some people thought about perhaps manslaughter. But, anyway, it's one count, physical abuse of a child. Details emerging now about what happened.

Apparently, this pastor had his knee at one point in the boy's chest and, of course, the boy was determined by the autopsy killed by suffocation. Again, the church member saying that that was not done intentionally. They were simply trying to hold him down. But, there you go, physical abuse of a child is the charge. And we'll see where it goes from here.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jeff Flock in Milwaukee. Thank you very much.

A major California labor group is weighing in on the recall election in California, giving a boost to Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, while opposing the recall itself.

CNN's Dan Lothian is following developments in Manhattan Beach in the Los Angeles area. Hello, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, this certainly was an important day for Governor Gray Davis who, has always enjoyed the support of the unions and certainly of the AFL-CIO here in the state of California. They did show up to make that crucial vote this afternoon. And as they walked into the convention here they seemed to be energized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No recall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No recall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No recall.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

You hear them chanting "No recall." That is what the union has been pushing ever since this recall campaign got under way. They have been very outspoken urging voters and urging membership to vote against a recall. And they tried to keep Democrats off the ballots.

Well, now a shift in strategy, it seems. Today in a unanimous vote, some 600 delegates or so voted for no on the recall, but yes for Bustamante. At a press conference, union leadership, along with Governor Gray Davis, side by side, said that in no way was this a negative vote for Governor Gray Davis, but it was simply responding to some guidance for their membership.

Governor Gray Davis, of course, fighting to keep his job. He says that he is confident that he will be re-elected. He says he will be the only governor to be elected three times to two terms.

Now, as this union and Davis issue continues to grow here in California, there is the other issue on the Republican side of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who earlier on in this campaign had said that this would be a very positive campaign. Well, now he is taking some swipes at Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, who has been leading in the polls some 35 percent to Arnold Schwarzenegger's 22 percent.

He has been on talk radio and trying to let the public know that he is a conservative. Here's what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I think that people just have to understand that when you vote -- when you think about Gray Davis, you have to also think at the same time Bustamante, because it's one team. I mean, they both are -- you know it's -- one cannot say, well, listen, I had nothing to do with that mess, because they both are together. And, as one newspaper pointed out, that it's just Bustamante is Gray Davis with a receding hairline and with a mustache.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Once again, union leadership says they still are pushing for "no" on the recall, but just in case, "yes" on Bustamante. Back to you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Dan Lothian in Manhattan Beach, California. Thank you very much.

You know it's dangerous out there on the highways. But safety experts say one relatively new option can quickly inflate your chances of surviving a wreck. Does your car have it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Here's a story that could save your life. CNN's Julie Vallese reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anti-lock brakes, stronger passenger compartments, and air bags all technological advances making cars safer than ever before. And now the first study of real world side impact crashes, showing side impact airbags are saving lives on the road.

SUSAN FERGUSON, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: We found a pretty dramatic reduction in driver deaths in these crashes. About a 45 percent reduction in driver deaths with vehicles that have side impact airbags to protect the head.

VALLESE: Even airbags that protect just the torso provide about 10 percent reduction in accident deaths, according to researchers. The driver of this 1993 Pontiac, built before side impacts were available, died when a pickup truck struck the vehicle. But the driver of this 2001 Dodge with head protecting airbags survived.

FERGUSON: When you're hit on the side with a high-riding vehicle, such as a pickup truck or an SUV, your chances of dying in a side impact crash are much higher.

VALLESE (on camera): In the mid '90s, Volvo was first to market with side impact torso protecting airbags. But as the technology advanced, so did Volvo, adding side impact head protecting airbags to all of its vehicles.

DAN JOHNSTON, VOLVO OF NORTH AMERICA: We take a very aggressive position about -- including safety in the vehicle. And so as technology matures and becomes available to us, then we put it in the cars.

VALLESE (voice-over): Today, about 40 percent of all vehicles offer head-protecting side airbags, leading researchers to believe the number of deaths in side impact collisions will soon some down from its present level of about 9,000 per year.

In Washington, I'm Julie Vallese.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Here are the results of the Web question of the day. Definitely not rocket science, but read it anyway. Here is a side note for you: Tonight's prime viewing for the planet Mars because of its close proximity to Earth. Look in the southeastern sky after sunset. If you're curious, Mars has the largest volcano in the Solar System. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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






Iran; Columbia Probe Cites Flawed NASA Culture>


Aired August 26, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(VIDEO GAP)
HOLMES: ... Mahmoud Abbas to anything he had to offer. However, we spoke to another Hamas spokesman, Abdul Aziz Rantissi, who said that while Hamas would meet, it would not discuss a cease-fire.

Now the Fatah leadership was to meet this evening with Abu Mazen, the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and discuss this latest attack, and also discuss the possibility of a cease-fire being reinstated. However, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, legislator Saeb Erekat, put out a hard-line statement that said that the Israeli missile strike was aimed at undermining the Palestinian Authority, though, he said, any security measures adopted by the authority would be viewed on the street level as collaboration with the occupier.

He then called on Israel to condemn the killing of Palestinian civilians in the same way he said the Palestinian Authority condemned the killing of Israeli civilians. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) part is always very clearly stated. It believes the Palestinian Authority has not moved quickly enough nor nearly effectively enough against the militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and has said very clearly, in the words of one army commander, that Israel would liquidate any militant at any time.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to new concerns over nukes. First a troubling find in Iran. For more on all this we turn to our CNN State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel.

Hello, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Since last February, U.N. weapons inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency have made about a half dozen trips to Iran to try to determine if its weapons -- if its nuclear program was really to produce electricity, as Iran claims, or to produce nuclear weapons. Well, next month, in a newly completed report, the IAEA's board of directors will get to see for themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KOPPEL (voice-over): U.N. inspectors who visited Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, seen here in this satellite photo, say they found traces of highly-enriched uranium. Still, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which produced this new report, says it's too soon to say if this proves Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a number of scenarios where -- which would explain why highly-enriched uranium might be found in Iran. And we need to investigate every one of those scenarios.

KOPPEL: Iran does not dispute the IAEA's findings, but insists its equipment, centrifuge components used to separate nuclear material, was already contaminated when Tehran purchased them years ago from a third country. Experts say that further deepens the mystery.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FMR. U.N. INSPECTOR: Not only because of what happens in Iran and is Iran telling the truth, but also could this kind of information and these kind of components have ended up elsewhere and in other countries' nuclear weapons programs?

KOPPEL: Since the head of the IAEA, Mohammed Elbaradei, toured Iran's nuclear facilities last February, the report points out Iran has demonstrated an increased degree of cooperation. But it also notes that there remain a number of important outstanding issues. The Bush administration, for its part, remains skeptical and called on Iran to agree to more intrusive inspection by the IAEA.

PHILIP REEKER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: They have clearly not been forthcoming in the past with the actual facts and details about their secret nuclear programs. And that's what's been of great concern to us and obviously to the international community as a whole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The next day to watch is September 8, when the IAEA's board of governors meet. A Western diplomat tells CNN, while it will likely stop short of finding Iran in noncompliance, it will also be presented as a last opportunity for Iran to fully comply, Miles, or face the possibility of U.N. sanctions -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Thank you very much.

North Korea is believed to already have nuclear weapons and has been threatening to make more. That critical mass is the subject of critical six-nation talks in Beijing.

CNN's Mike Chinoy is there, and he has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surrender means death. That was the defiant proclamation from North Korea as its negotiating team arrived in Beijing for talks where the stakes couldn't be any higher.

JON WOLFSTHAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: If North Korea is left to its own devices, it will develop a large nuclear arsenal that could not only fuel nuclear proliferation in the region, but globally, because they are prepared to sell nuclear weapons to others.

CHINOY: But as the delegates assembled for the talks, the U.S. side led by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, it's clear that resolving the crisis won't be easy.

JIA QINGGUO, CHINESE POLITICAL ANALYST: There is so much distrust and suspicion on the part of both sides.

CHINOY: The North Koreans have been rattled by a Bush administration that lump the regime of Kim Jong Il with that of Saddam Hussein in the axis of evil. They have demanded Washington agree to a non-aggression treaty before considering any nuclear concessions. The U.S., however, has consistently demanded Pyongyang make the first move. The Bush administration refusing to reward what it sees as North Korean nuclear blackmail.

On a peninsula where North Korea's million-strong army confronts a South Korean military backed by 37,000 U.S. troops, the standoff has sparked fears of war and it led North Korea's neighbor and long-time ally China to mount a diplomatic offensive in recent months to bring the parties together. These talks are the result.

(on camera): But if the diplomacy here in Beijing goes nowhere, the Bush administration is making clear it has other options. The U.S. military is planning a joint naval training exercise next month in the Coral Sea off Australia. The goal, to practice interdicting shipping from nations exporting weapons of mass destruction.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We are tracking a couple of breaking news stories at this hour. In Brookwood (ph), Long Island, 14 people injured after a school bus crash. But also a plane crash to tell you about in Hyannis Harbor off the coast of Cape Cod.

Two crewmembers on board a Beechcraft 1900 aircraft. We're watching that story. And then, Brookwood (ph), Long Island, 14 people injured, primarily students, after a school bus rollover. Affiliate pictures there from WABC. We're working on getting more details on both those stories for you, so stay tuned for that.

And then there's also this: no margin for error. A new report pins down the cause of the disaster that destroyed the space shuttle Columbia. Details are ahead.

And was there a bounty on John Geoghan's head? And did the guards get tipped off? We're live with the latest on the prison death of a defrocked priest. Plus, up close and personal. For those who like looking at heavenly bodies -- and who doesn't -- we'll tell you about a once in a lifetime close encounter. But first, today's news quiz.

Which planet has the largest volcano in the solar system? Mars, Earth, Jupiter or Neptune? The answer is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: As we have noted, two more American soldiers have died in Iraq, bringing the Pentagon's official death toll to 139 since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1. That's more than the 138 who died from all causes during the first phase of warfare.

Despite the mounting (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Mr. Bush today declared the war on terrorism will continue. He spoke to veterans at the American Leagues Convention in St. Louis.

(VIDEO GAP)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: ... what the charges are and who they will be filed against.

That's what we (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Miles. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right. So you have any idea on the timetable and how things are going to unfold from here, Jeff?

FLOCK: Well, if in fact the charges are filed against Mr. Hemphill, he's already in custody. But, as I said, we expect to the details on this in the next half hour. We were also told, we should point out because it's a big question on a lot of people's minds, what about the mother, who was present for this ceremony? We were told by Milwaukee Police yesterday that they did not expect charges would be filed against the mother.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right. CNN's Jeff Flock in Milwaukee (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

We're watching a couple of other stories as well. A couple things that we are looking very closely at, as a matter of fact.

These are live pictures now from our affiliate WHDH. This is Hyannis Harbor. Kind of a rough shot right there right now, but essentially what it shows you is the wreckage of a Beechcraft 1900 operated by Colgan Air, affiliated with US Air. Two aboard, the pilot and copilot. No passengers.

They were ferrying the aircraft from Hyannis to Albany. Shortly after departure from the field there they radioed back to the tower indicating they were having an emergency and were turning back. As they turned back, they plunged very sharply into the water. It appears just from looking at the pictures here that the wreckage field is very condense, meaning they probably went in at a very steep angle of descent. Meanwhile, Brookville, Long Island, this is the scene there. There's a good picture of it from WABC, our affiliate there. A school bus rolled over after a collision. Fourteen were injured; three seriously. Many of them are children.

Ten ambulances on the scene. Two helicopters dispatched. It is a situation we are watching closely as well, as those injured people, children many of them, are taken to area hospitals.

Well, sure, it was the foam. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The team investigating the Columbia disaster weighs in with the harsh conclusion NASA did not take safety seriously enough. And that was a bitter pill to swallow for the families of the Columbia crew, of course. We'll speak with one grieving husband who wonders how some people at NASA will be able to live with their decisions.

And then a person of interest. Steven Hateful says he has nothing to do with anthrax and sues the attorney general to try to get the government off his back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The final report is out on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts in February, and it takes direct aim at NASA, blaming its organizational culture in part for the catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The technical answer to the Columbia disaster, simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In four simple words, the foam did it.

O'BRIEN: For nearly two months, the shattering conclusion has held up. A piece of foam broke off the shuttle's external tank during launch, struck the orbiter's wing and breached the protective tiles. Sixteen days later, the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven astronauts. The alarm sounded in today's final report: a long-standing culture at NASA with the wrong priorities.

SCOTT HUBBARD, COLUMBIA INVESTIGATION BOARD MEMBER: NASA had conflicting goals of cost, schedule and safety, and unfortunately safety lost out.

O'BRIEN: Stinging criticism from the Columbia accident investigation board of a gradual relaxation of safety standards at NASA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The machine was talking, but why was nobody hearing? How were the signals missed?

O'BRIEN: And the failure of Congress and the White House to give the agency funding and other support needed to maintain those standards. From the document -- quoting now -- "NASA is an organization straining to do too much with too little." "Paramount," says the board. NASA must prevent what it called the "return of bad habits over time" and instead return to a more aggressive emphasis on safety prominent in NASA's early years, a responsibility that begins at the top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The leadership -- not just the administrator -- all levels of leadership are going to have to actively drive the bad cultural traits out of the organization. And it's something they are going to have to buy into personally.

O'BRIEN: To ensure mission safety, the report calls for the creation of a new safety team, a so-called technical engineering authority within NASA but independent of the shuttle program. The board did not say the shuttle fleet should be grounded, but it did recommend the development of a temporary vehicle to replace the shuttle, a so-called orbital space plane to be used as a ferry to the international space station over the next decade until the next generation of shuttles is developed.

From the report, "Previous attempts to develop a replacement vehicle for the aging shuttle represent a failure of national leadership." Still, Admiral Hal Gehman stressed the current shuttle model is not inherently unsafe, and had this to say about the flight engineers and mission control staff.

HAL GEHMAN: This board comes away from this experience convinced that NASA is an outstanding organization. It's full of wonderful people who are trying very, very hard to do very unique and very special things, things that are not done any other place in the world and, for the most part, have never been done by mankind before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Joining me now from Irvine, California to talk about the report, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. He's chairman of the House, Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.

Congressman, good to have you with us.

REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: Good to be with you. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: If you had to grade the Gehman board report, what would you give it?

ROHRABACHER: I'd give it an "A," no doubt.

O'BRIEN: Really?

ROHRABACHER: Admiral Gehman is -- you know I've worked with a lot of people. I was a speechwriter during Ronald Reagan's administration. So I worked at the White House and I've been in Congress for almost 18 years. And I have met very few people with -- for whom I have more respect than Admiral Gehman.

O'BRIEN: You've had a chance to see this report and you're thoroughly familiar with the details of it. What troubles you the most?

ROHRABACHER: Well, what troubles me the most is that we held NASA on a much higher plane than most government employees. And, you know, people understand how bureaucracy sort of settles into inertia after a number of years. You create a pool of government employees to accomplish a job and then pretty soon after a number of years it becomes an impediment to progress, rather than an instrument for progress. Well, that same sort of degeneration obviously took place in NASA, and we thought that that was not what the case was.

O'BRIEN: Is that something that can be taken care of by a report like this, by changes on the flow chart, by changes in leadership? What you are talking about is the way large organizations tend to work.

ROHRABACHER: Well, you know, I can remember when we had trouble with the Hubbell telescope about 12 years ago. And I remember trying to push to find out, was anybody held accountable for this mistake that cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. You know we sent up a telescope that had not been adjusted right, when it could have been adjusted on the ground.

And -- well, no one was held accountable for that. I remember saying to myself, you know, boy, if they handle it that way, a lot of people are going to get lax in this organizational structure. And certainly that's what's happened. And in order to correct that, you have got to start, number one, holding people individually accountable. And number two, you've got to be darn tough on these people and just say, look, we expect you to be proactive.

What happened, apparently, as Admiral Gehman has outlined, is the safety people became reactive rather than proactive. If something was wrong, they'd look at it and, instead of being proactive, try to stop some problem before it happened.

O'BRIEN: Now there's no price tag associated with this report. But if you start looking at it closely, you realize implicit in all of this are some dollar signs. Is Congress ready to spend more money on NASA, and is that the solution?

ROHRABACHER: Well, let me suggest just the opposite appears to me. By focusing on the fact that there is an attitude problem and making that the major stress of the report, Admiral Gehman and the commissioner are telling us, no, just spending billions of dollars will not do the job. It may or may not be necessary for us to, for example, have an alternative to the shuttle to spend that kind of money. But in order to correct the central problem, we just have to have discipline, the type of discipline that an admiral of the Navy knows about.

O'BRIEN: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

The families of the seven astronauts were shown the report -- or actually briefed on the report before its release. Earlier, I spoke with Jon Clark, whose wife was astronaut Laurel Clark. He says he feels many emotions, but anger is not among them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON CLARK, WIDOWER OF COLUMBIA ASTRONAUT: I look at anger as perhaps a wasted emotion. Anger is something you direct towards somebody who deliberately did something evil, like the terrorists in the World Trade Center, for example.

I know for a fact, because I know most of the people that were involved in these launch decisions, and every one of them is deeply suffering from this. So this is not a factor where somebody intentionally did the wrong thing or tried to cover up something. It was an inadvertent systematic process failure across the organization. And all of us, every single one of us, from the top of the organization on down, I think, truly wants to change and make NASA a better organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You can hear more from Jon Clark when he joins Paula Zahn tonight on "LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" 8:00 Eastern Time. And then we'll have more tomorrow on the Columbia disaster report. I'll be joined by NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe 5:00 Eastern right here on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. That's 2:00 Pacific.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day: Do you have confidence NASA will improve its safety measures? We'll have the results a little later in the broadcast. We invite you to vote now at cnn.com/wolf.

The bioterrorism expert under scrutiny in the anthrax attacks in 2001 is suing Attorney General John Ashcroft and some other government officials. Steven Hatfill says his reputation was destroyed when Ashcroft described him as a person of interest in the case.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Washington with more on this very interesting story -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, bioweapons expert Steven Hatfill has never been charged in the anthrax investigation, but he's never been cleared either. In his lawsuit, Hatfill claims that living under this cloud of suspicion has ruined his life and that comments and actions by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the FBI and Justice Department have violated the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Hatfill had nothing to do with the anthrax attacks. No evidence links him to the crime, yet the attorney general and a number of his subordinates have sought to make him a scapegoat. In the process, they have trampled Dr. Hatfill's constitutional rights, and they have destroyed his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: In his suit, Hatfill claims the FBI tipped off the media to search his apartment and violated his privacy by keeping him under surveillance 24 hours a day and tapping his phone. The FBI did fire off an e-mail -- excuse me, the Justice Department fired off an e-mail to Louisiana State University, which resulted in Hatfill's firing.

Hatfill says it's been impossible for him to find another job because of anonymous leaks, widespread media attention and public comments from the attorney general characterizing Hatfill as a person of interest in the investigation. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility found Ashcroft did not violate any law, regulation or policy with those remarks, but no comment on the lawsuit from Justice, Ashcroft or the FBI.

What does Hatfill want? An admission that his rights were violated, an injunction against their being violated again, and unspecified monetary damages. His lawyer says he also wants his life back -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne, does he have a theory as to why the government would single him out?

MESERVE: He does put one forward in his filing. He says it is to promote their own personal and political interest. Specifically, he's saying they had an investigation that was going nowhere. They needed to divert attention from that, so they put his name out there, hoping to deflect media attention from what he characterizes as a slandering case.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve following that story for us. Thank you very much.

Jake Labor dives in to the total recall and cruises past the running man. We're live on the left coast (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

And is it getting a little crowded lately? Well, Mars is stepping all over our celestial turf and it's making for an amazing nighttime show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In Milwaukee, charges being filed now in the death of an 8-year-old boy, an autistic boy who was in the midst of an exorcism. Members of a congregation trying to drive evil spirits out of him. For more on this, we turn now to CNN's Jeff flock, who has details on those charges -- Jeff.

FLOCK: Indeed. We're just looking them over now, Miles. In some sense, it's not as serious as perhaps it could have been. We thought maybe involuntary manslaughter.

In fact, it is one count. And again, the person charged is the man who we have been talking about, the man who has been held in custody, the man who officiated this ceremony in which the 8-year-old boy died.

His name is Ray Hemphill. One count is what he is being charged with of physical abuse of a child. Reckless causation of great bodily harm. That in Wisconsin is a Class D felony, punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and imprisonment of not more than 10 years or both.

As we said, that is not as serious a charge as could have been leveled. Some people thought about perhaps manslaughter. But, anyway, it's one count, physical abuse of a child. Details emerging now about what happened.

Apparently, this pastor had his knee at one point in the boy's chest and, of course, the boy was determined by the autopsy killed by suffocation. Again, the church member saying that that was not done intentionally. They were simply trying to hold him down. But, there you go, physical abuse of a child is the charge. And we'll see where it goes from here.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jeff Flock in Milwaukee. Thank you very much.

A major California labor group is weighing in on the recall election in California, giving a boost to Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, while opposing the recall itself.

CNN's Dan Lothian is following developments in Manhattan Beach in the Los Angeles area. Hello, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, this certainly was an important day for Governor Gray Davis who, has always enjoyed the support of the unions and certainly of the AFL-CIO here in the state of California. They did show up to make that crucial vote this afternoon. And as they walked into the convention here they seemed to be energized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No recall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No recall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No recall.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

You hear them chanting "No recall." That is what the union has been pushing ever since this recall campaign got under way. They have been very outspoken urging voters and urging membership to vote against a recall. And they tried to keep Democrats off the ballots.

Well, now a shift in strategy, it seems. Today in a unanimous vote, some 600 delegates or so voted for no on the recall, but yes for Bustamante. At a press conference, union leadership, along with Governor Gray Davis, side by side, said that in no way was this a negative vote for Governor Gray Davis, but it was simply responding to some guidance for their membership.

Governor Gray Davis, of course, fighting to keep his job. He says that he is confident that he will be re-elected. He says he will be the only governor to be elected three times to two terms.

Now, as this union and Davis issue continues to grow here in California, there is the other issue on the Republican side of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who earlier on in this campaign had said that this would be a very positive campaign. Well, now he is taking some swipes at Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, who has been leading in the polls some 35 percent to Arnold Schwarzenegger's 22 percent.

He has been on talk radio and trying to let the public know that he is a conservative. Here's what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I think that people just have to understand that when you vote -- when you think about Gray Davis, you have to also think at the same time Bustamante, because it's one team. I mean, they both are -- you know it's -- one cannot say, well, listen, I had nothing to do with that mess, because they both are together. And, as one newspaper pointed out, that it's just Bustamante is Gray Davis with a receding hairline and with a mustache.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Once again, union leadership says they still are pushing for "no" on the recall, but just in case, "yes" on Bustamante. Back to you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Dan Lothian in Manhattan Beach, California. Thank you very much.

You know it's dangerous out there on the highways. But safety experts say one relatively new option can quickly inflate your chances of surviving a wreck. Does your car have it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Here's a story that could save your life. CNN's Julie Vallese reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anti-lock brakes, stronger passenger compartments, and air bags all technological advances making cars safer than ever before. And now the first study of real world side impact crashes, showing side impact airbags are saving lives on the road.

SUSAN FERGUSON, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: We found a pretty dramatic reduction in driver deaths in these crashes. About a 45 percent reduction in driver deaths with vehicles that have side impact airbags to protect the head.

VALLESE: Even airbags that protect just the torso provide about 10 percent reduction in accident deaths, according to researchers. The driver of this 1993 Pontiac, built before side impacts were available, died when a pickup truck struck the vehicle. But the driver of this 2001 Dodge with head protecting airbags survived.

FERGUSON: When you're hit on the side with a high-riding vehicle, such as a pickup truck or an SUV, your chances of dying in a side impact crash are much higher.

VALLESE (on camera): In the mid '90s, Volvo was first to market with side impact torso protecting airbags. But as the technology advanced, so did Volvo, adding side impact head protecting airbags to all of its vehicles.

DAN JOHNSTON, VOLVO OF NORTH AMERICA: We take a very aggressive position about -- including safety in the vehicle. And so as technology matures and becomes available to us, then we put it in the cars.

VALLESE (voice-over): Today, about 40 percent of all vehicles offer head-protecting side airbags, leading researchers to believe the number of deaths in side impact collisions will soon some down from its present level of about 9,000 per year.

In Washington, I'm Julie Vallese.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Here are the results of the Web question of the day. Definitely not rocket science, but read it anyway. Here is a side note for you: Tonight's prime viewing for the planet Mars because of its close proximity to Earth. Look in the southeastern sky after sunset. If you're curious, Mars has the largest volcano in the Solar System. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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






Iran; Columbia Probe Cites Flawed NASA Culture>