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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Recall Candidates Enter Last Days of Campaign; White House Given Deadline on CIA Leak

Aired October 03, 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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, October 03, 2003. Hello from CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Wolf Blitzer has the day off.
Campaign frenzy around California, the recall election just four days away and groups for and against ousting Governor Gray Davis are making their final appeals to voters, along with the candidates who want to replace him but much of the attention today is focused on actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as it has been all along and a flurry of last minute allegations and admissions.

CNN's National Correspondent Bob Franken on the story as he has been since the beginning in Los Angeles. Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

And notably today certainly there has not been a third round of any allegations but Schwarzenegger is still dealing with the first two rounds, of course a very big one, big impact with the news last night on ABC and then in the "New York Times" this morning reporting the contention by a produce of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the producer of the movie "Pumping Iron," George Butler, in which he quoted Schwarzenegger in a book proposal that he made many, many years ago.

Schwarzenegger speaking about Hitler and here's what he had to say according to Butler: "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power and I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

So, Schwarzenegger, who had hoped to spend the next few days on message, on what he hoped to be a march to victory, instead had to stop and answer the allegations about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: I cannot imagine because from the time I was a kid on I always disliked everything that this regime stood for and when I came to America it was the same thing. You know, I think that Hitler was a disgusting villain, dictator, and he has caused so much harm in the world and we have to make sure that it never happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: And that's how he dealt with that. Of course, we know that he said that if he had unintentionally done something to offend some people then he was sorry, that reaction to the "Los Angeles Times" article which quoted six women who said over decades going back to the '70s up until the year 2000 he had groped them.

Well, various women's groups who have been opponents of Schwarzenegger all along are trying to keep that story alive and the group Code Pink introduced Arianna Huffington today, who is now an ardent Schwarzenegger opponent and she in turn introduced one of the women who claimed she was molested, Elaine Stockton, who says that she encountered Schwarzenegger back in 1975 in a gym nearby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELAINE STOCKTON, SCHWARZENEGGER ACCUSER: In 1975, I was 19 years old. I was a newlywed bodybuilder Robbie Robinson and he was training in Gold's Gym in Venice, California on Pacific Avenue. I was just there watching him work out. They gym was rather full and Arnold passed me by and he groped my breast.

It completely caught me off guard. I was just shocked and it took me a while to come to my senses and after doing so I got up, interrupted Robbie's workout and told him that Arnold had groped my breast and from that moment on Robbie did not allow me back into Gold's Gym.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, as I mentioned, Schwarzenegger is on the campaign trail today trying to move forward instead of always having to move back. Today he is expected to campaign with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. One teeny, weeny little problem, back in August Giuliani did an interview during a ballgame on WCBS-TV in New York in which he disparaged the whole idea of the recall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: It doesn't seem like it's good for government. No, I think the provision is a provision that probably nobody ever thought would be used this way. It shouldn't be there. The idea of just a very small number of people being able to recall a governor is a very big mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well now, how could he be out campaigning for Schwarzenegger, the recall candidate? According to an aide for Giuliani he was only speaking in concepts then and now that the recall is a reality he believes that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a good man.

That's how he's crossed that bridge and now we'll see if the rest of the day produces any more allegations or if the rest of the election does only a few days away - Miles.

O'BRIEN: Oh, there's plenty of time for that. Thank you very much, CNN's Bob Franken.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. "Do the allegations that surfaced this week about Arnold Schwarzenegger change your opinion of him"?

You can vote right now at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Now, while you're there we'd like to hear directly from you, of course. Send us your comments. We might read some of them at the end of the program time permitting.

Turning now to the case of the outed operative, the Justice Department has now asked the White House to turn over all records that may shed light on who leaked the name of a CIA officer and the FBI is ready to start questioning senior officials.

Live now to the White House, correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with more on all of that, hello Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

This investigation is moving rather quickly. White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez sent out two memos to all White House staffers today really about the requirements from the Justice Department, more details.

From the first memo it says that: "All documents that relate in any way to former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, his trip to Niger in February, 2002, or his wife's purported relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency are required." Also, "all documents that relate to a contact with the news media and all documents that relate to a contact with reporters regarding those elements."

I should also let you know as well a certification document was sent out, which required every employee to check that they have "produced all documents in my possession required by the counsel's office" and that they had to sign that they understand intentional false statements may result in criminal penalties. The documents, the due date set to be hand-delivered no later than five o'clock October 7.

And, Miles, as you had mentioned before the next stage of this are interviews of senior White House officials. We're trying to get details on that now - Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thanks much.

The CIA's chief weapons hunter was on Capitol Hill again today telling Congress while there's plenty of evidence that Iraq sought the means for mass destruction no actual weapons have been found. That's provided plenty of ammunition, if you will, for lawmakers.

Let's go live now to CNN Congressional Correspondent Jonathan Karl who has more on all this. Hello, Jonathan.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, clearly the headline out of Dr. Kay's preliminary report here is that his team, 1,200 people scouring Iraq for three months have come up with no weapons of mass destruction, as you mentioned, but he tried to put the best spin on it today meeting with members of Congress saying that they have not come up completely empty-handed. They have found evidence that Iraq wanted to compile and to obtain weapons of mass destruction even if, at this point, they haven't found any actual weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSP.: We have found a lot of evidence of the Iraqi regime's intent to continue to acquire weapons of mass destruction. We have found significant evidence of continuing and prohibited activities that were hidden from U.N. inspectors, particularly in the biological and missile area, a lot of examples of foreign procurement that went well beyond anything that was known before the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: The Democrats up here are saying that the United States did not go to war to topple Saddam Hussein because Hussein wanted to get weapons of mass destruction. The war was fought because it was believed he faced - the United States faced an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. The Democrats were very vocal on this point today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: And the weapon program is an aspiration if you want to get a weapon. It's a big difference between that and actually achieving one and I think what we're seeing in Iraq is a big difference between the aspirations and the capability to achieve that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: Now, David Kay wants three more things: He wants more time, he says between six and nine months to complete his work; more money, the administration has requested another $600 million for this search; and finally, more people. He thinks he may need more than the 1,200 people he now has on his Iraq survey group - Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

And we're hearing some details now about how difficult that weapons has been, David Kay telling reporters today that two Iraqi scientists were shot, one assassinated with a bullet in the back of the head after helping the U.S. search teams. Kay says security is better now and stresses that he still believes weapons may be found.

The man who recently oversaw efforts to build an Iraqi police force said today that Iraq had at least one weapon of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein. Bernard Kerik, who rose from cop to police commissioner of New York today gave a progress report to President Bush at the White House. He spoke with me a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much for being with us Mr. Kerik. You had a chance to brief the president today and I'm sure you don't want to share necessarily private conversations with the president but I'm curious at least the tone and tenor of your briefing, what you told him about your experience on the ground there in Iraq.

BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: Basically, I told him what I found when I got there that was a closed down country, a country that was obviously in disarray, no market, stores, shops open, gas lines for two miles long five cars deep, and I told him what it was like when I left and how much it had changed, how much more electricity there was, how much more water there was.

The markets were open. The shops are open. The stores are open. The gas lines are down. The Iraqi people buying things in the streets like they've never done before or never had the opportunity or were allowed, like satellite dishes. Under Saddam's regime they weren't allowed to watch any type of television other than what he produced for them and it's definitely a free Iraq today.

O'BRIEN: It certainly must have put the challenges of policing New York City into some perspective having dealt with that over there.

KERIK: Well, in New York City you have - I had 55,000 men and women. I had every resource you could possibly imagine under the sun and, in Iraq, you had zero. You had no buildings. You had no cars. You had nothing available, nothing at all, and you know you had to start from scratch.

O'BRIEN: And it's not easy. You made some comments today on the South Lawn about how difficult it is just to do the job of police commissioner in New York, how difficult it is to get a precinct open.

KERIK: Well...

O'BRIEN: And it's not easy to do what you did starting literally from ground zero.

KERIK: Well, when I hear people talk about frustrations and, you know, that it's taking us too long to move ahead in Iraq, I find it somewhat humorous because in four months we brought back 35 police stations in Baghdad, for example, built them, painted them, remodeled them, put in communications, put in everything you could imagine and we did it in four months. You couldn't do that in New York City in ten years, so it's a completely, you know, I think we're moving a lot faster than people anticipated.

O'BRIEN: All right, but why did you leave though? There were some who looked at that departure and thought it was maybe declare a victory and then a hasty retreat. KERIK: I anticipated going and reconstituting the ministry of interior and the ministry overseas the police, customs, borders, immigration and that was done. We placed the new deputies, the senior deputy minister of interior.

We brought back 37,000 police. We brought back about 15,000 customs and border personnel and two days before I left the actual minister of interior was appointed by the governing council, so there wasn't much more I could do other than stay and oversee the operation and I never intended to do that.

I wanted to get back to the states, get back to my business, get back to my kids. I have a three and a half year old daughter. I think she had enough of Iraq at that point and it was nice to come home.

O'BRIEN: So you weren't run out of Iraq?

KERIK: No, no, no, no (unintelligible).

O'BRIEN: All right. Final thought here. On the South Lawn today you made a direct connection between the events of 9/11, which you endured on a very personal basis having lost a couple of dozen of your own people.

KERIK: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And Saddam Hussein in Iraq. There really isn't any evidence of a connection though, is there?

KERIK: Well, people would say, and the president has mentioned, that there isn't a fingerprint. Saddam's fingerprints is not on the attack of September 11 and that may be true but there is one very definite connection and that is a radical Islam.

That is a country, like Iraq, and a dictator like Saddam that was funding terrorism, promoting terrorism, condoning terrorism and those terrorists there is no difference in my mind, in everybody's mind, the 19 men that ran the planes into the buildings in New York City and the Pentagon and the guy that drove the truck up to the U.N. and bombed it and killed Sergio Vieira de Mello.

There's no difference in the mindset, the culture, and why they're doing what they're doing. There is a definite link, their fingerprints, no, but there's a definite link.

O'BRIEN: Bernard Kerik thanks very much.

KERIK: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Kerik now returns to his job at a consulting firm, his partner one, Rudy Giuliani.

Rush to judgment, Limbaugh speaks out about being linked to an alleged black market drug ring. Black Hawk down, a fierce and deadly battle remembered ten years later. We'll hear from some of the U.S. Rangers who lived through that real life drama.

And this, from cammies (ph) to formal wear, one U.S. soldier making the most of his time away from war, but first the news quiz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Prior to the current war in Iraq, when was the last time U.S. troops received a vacation during their wartime service, the Afghanistan war, the Balkans war, Gulf War I, or the Vietnam War," the answer coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: In Washington tonight, some survivors of a painful chapter in U.S. military history will gather to remember the tragic events that brought them together under fire ten years ago today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): U.S. troops in a hostile urban setting under relentless fire, attack and counterattack, chaos, death all around, not Baghdad 2003 but Mogadishu ten years earlier.

The fall of 1993, the U.S. military mission in Somalia has evolved. Critics called it mission creep. Humanitarian at the start it's deteriorated into a gangland police drama. U.S. Army Rangers and U.N. forces in a daily hunt for the man who would come to define the term warlord, Mohammed Farah Aideed. Critics say not what the military set out to do.

MARK BOWDEN, AUTHOR "BLACK HAWK DOWN": There were decisions made when Task Force Ranger went to Somalia that were made for political reasons, not what was in the best interest of the men trying to complete the mission.

O'BRIEN: October 3, the Americans think they've got Aidid's top lieutenants and possibly the man himself isolated. More than a dozen helicopters converge on a downtown building. Rangers and Special Forces repel down and immediately take fire. They still manage to assault the complex and take prisoners, including Aidid's top lieutenants but Aidid is not there.

Then things start spiraling when a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter is hit with a rocket-propelled grenade and crashes. American troops form a perimeter around the downed chopper but are pinned down by fire. A second Black Hawk is then shot down. Two Special Operations men are killed trying to protect the surviving co-pilot Michael Durant. He is captured.

MICHAEL DURANT, FORMER BLACK HAWK PILOT: I do remember everything pretty clearly but it does seem like a lifetime away. You know the situation that I live every day today is so different from what was going on at the time. It sometimes seems like a dream. O'BRIEN: Dozens of Americans surrounded by hundreds of Somalis, machine gun and RPG rounds coming from every direction. The Americans have no heavy weaponry. Some say the protection was almost laughable.

BOWDEN: Some of the Delta Force operators were wearing little plastic hockey helmets which proved to be, you know, a bad idea.

O'BRIEN: One U.S. rescue convoy is sent in but it takes such intense fire as it nears the area it pulls back. Hours later a more fortified convoy bolls its way in, picks up the dead and wounded, but does not have enough room for everyone. Some Rangers have to walk and run alongside the convoy dodging bullets, firing back with each step.

They grind their way out of the city back to their garrison. The battle lasted more than 13 hours. Eighteen Americans, more than 300 Somalis are dead, dozens wounded.

Back home, the images of U.S. servicemen dragged through the streets, Somalis dancing on a felled Black Hawk are too much to bear. U.S. forces would soon leave Somalia demoralized. This battle would become a metaphor for everything the American military wanted to avoid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So, has the military learned its lesson or is the situation in Iraq proof to the contrary, just one of the questions we will pose to some of the Rangers who were there on that fateful raid ten years ago.

From Washington we're joined by former Army Rangers Keni Thomas, Mike Kurth, and Doug Boren, gentlemen, good to have you with us.

(Unintelligible)

O'BRIEN: Keni, the troops on the ground there in Baghdad right now, it's a different mission. It's an occupation mission different than the role that the Rangers had in Mogadishu. Nevertheless, there are probably some parallels we can talk about here. How is their mission different or similar to what you were doing?

KENI THOMAS, FORMER ARMY RANGER: Well, obviously it's different because it's an occupation but what's it's similar in is the long periods of boredom that those guys have to fight because and then all of a sudden they find themselves in the thick of it and they've got to be ready and, you know, you do that I guess by training constantly but they are there - they're there a long time and it's got to be difficult fighting that.

O'BRIEN: Do you have the sense that the U.S. military learned the lesson of Mogadishu and employs those lessons every day?

THOMAS: Yes. I can promise you that they've learned lessons and that the training that these guys have ten years later has stepped up immensely. And we were the best trained in the world and they've got it ten times better than we had and I know that they've learned lessons.

And I've been to some of the ranger training and those boys are out there. They do it every day. They're experts at it and they have come up with contingency plans. What if a helicopter goes down? What if a Black Hawk goes down, what are you going to do?

But they have learned a lot from urban, from what we learned in our urban combat setting and those guys that are over there right now are very, very well prepared for it.

O'BRIEN: Mike, as you look back on those events ten years ago today and how they unfolded, I'm curious what comes to mind right away and what your thoughts are ten years out.

MIKE KURTH, FORMER ARMY RANGER: I look back on it a couple of different ways, Miles, one how it changed the political aspect of things, political policies have changed a little bit. We approach situations a lot differently and I think we think a lot before we start deploying troops. Personally...

O'BRIEN: That's a good point and, of course, and to remind people the rap on Mogadishu was the administration didn't back up the request that the military needed in order to properly do the mission there in Mogadishu.

KURTH: Yes, I think one thing we do now is we make sure we exhaust everything politically before we decide to put our troops in harm's way, which is a very good thing. I think we exhaust every means possible before we decide to send troops over, which is a big help.

O'BRIEN: And you were going to talk about some personal memories.

KURTH: Just being part of something that actually affected political policy is kind of surreal being, you know, you see policies change and affect the way government works and know that I was part of an event that kind of started that rolling along.

And, like Keni said earlier about training, we would start doing that when we got back at platoon level but now it's at the regimental level and much higher levels, which is very good to know and good to see the boys getting the equipment they need and the training they deserve before they go off to battle.

O'BRIEN: Doug, this is an unusual military event in the sense that it has become so much a part of popular culture because of the book and the movie obviously. You must get a lot of reaction about it, about having been there as you go through daily life. What do people say to you about what it was like to be in Mogadishu ten years ago?

DOUG BOREN, FORMER ARMY RANGER: I think that it's kind of hard to talk about. You know I kind of, you know, shy away from saying things to people about it and they don't really know. You know I try to call it like the quiet professional and I don't really make a big deal out of it and, you know, some of the people, you know, they just don't know and I go through my daily life and, you know, they really have no idea that any of this happened until somebody else brings it up and then I might say something about it but it's not, you know, it's not something I bring up all the time anyway.

O'BRIEN: It has to be hard to really explain it. As a matter of fact, you might find it, I suppose, impossible to explain it to somebody who wasn't there.

BOREN: Right. I think that is the hardest part and that's, you know, this weekend is a good weekend for us because, you know, I can come back and, you know, see my friends I haven't seen in a while.

And, you know, it's really great and, you know, they can understand the things that I'm feeling and the things that I'm going through and I know that they're doing the same thing and, you know, there's just nothing like it and, you know, I'll have these friends forever.

O'BRIEN: Keni, to have a reunion ten years later it has to be wonderful to see these guys again but it also has to be a little bit painful. Is it important you guys get back together?

THOMAS: Yes, very important that people get back together. You got, not only just us but, you know, the boys that will be coming back now in ten years they're going to want to get together because it's like Doug said, the reason Doug's here is because I dragged him along and I know he doesn't like to talk about it.

But it's very important for us to get together and talk about it with each other because some of the guys don't have the benefit of getting to be on CNN with Miles all the time and a lot of guys have sat there for ten years and never had anybody to talk to about it and so now you get the chance.

You get to, you know, you get to share your stories with your buddies and drink some beers and talk about the old times that really for most of us seem like kind of a surreal movie because it was so long ago and it's so far removed from the reality of your day-to-day life now that it's good to be reminded that, yes, we were there and we were part of it and Task Force Ranger was real and it's great guys and to see how they've all gone on with their lives it makes you very proud.

O'BRIEN: And I suppose there will be a few moments to stop and pause and remember those that aren't with you.

THOMAS: Absolutely. I mean, you know, we'll all talk about them but the way - we're allowed to talk about those guys a little different. We can make fun of them because, you know, we knew them real well but we - the one thing we do know is for anyone who has ever lost a buddy in a military unit the reason I'm here and sitting here and that Mike is here and that Doug is here is because of the person that was on our left and to our right that is it and by the grace of God.

But without those boys I don't know where we would be as a nation if you didn't have, you know, Dominic Pilla's (ph) and Casey Joyce's (ph) and Lorenzo Ruiz (ph) and Cavacco (ph) and Kaliruski (ph) and Schugart (ph) and Gordon (ph) and Grizmartins (ph). Where would you be as a nation if you didn't have those guys and we're all, we're just very proud to have been associated with them and it's because of them that we are still here today to talk to you.

O'BRIEN: We're proud of all of you as well.

THOMAS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Keni Thomas, Mike Kurth, Doug Boren, we wish you well in your future endeavors and have a good reunion this weekend.

THOMAS: Thanks, Miles.

KURTH: Thanks, Miles.

BOREN: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: An island mystery...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's probably the biggest thing in terms of crime in this country that we've seen probably in the last 30 years.

O'BRIEN: Several young boys missing in the Bahamas. Authorities find one common link. We'll tell you about it.

Speaking out, we'll hear from Rush Limbaugh about being linked to an alleged black market sale of prescription drugs.

And, some new pictures from the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, it's a CNN exclusive. See them here first on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: New pictures from the night former Private Jessica Lynch was rescued by U.S. forces. It's a CNN exclusive.

But first, a check of the headlines for you.

(NEWSBREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, as anyone who has visited the Bahamas knows, it's an island paradise. But tonight, there's a pall of fear that hangs over those islands. Five young boys recently vanished without a trace there, a frightening mystery which hearkens back to a similar situation decades ago.

Joining us on the phone from Nassau to talk about the case, Jimenita Swain of "The Nassau Guardian" newspaper.

What's the latest from there, Jimenita? JIMENITA SWAIN, "THE NASSAU GUARDIAN": Well, the latest from the Bahamas is that there is one person in custody being questioned by police. No arrests have been made at this point. But the investigations are still continues into the matter.

O'BRIEN: Is this person being characterized as a suspect?

SWAIN: Not at this point. He's just being questioned by the police.

O'BRIEN: All right. And can you tell us a little about the circumstances on how these boys disappeared?

SWAIN: Seemingly without a trace, Miles. It seems that all of them -- similar links in the case, not all of them -- were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) boys at a local Winn-Dixie food in downtown Freeport. And all were from single parent family homes, were of similar ages and of intellectual capacity. But not much is known about where - what happened when they disappeared.

O'BRIEN: How did it become known that they were missing?

SWAIN: Well, when they didn't show up home, the reports were made by the parents to the police station that they were missing and, therefore the search started from there.

O'BRIEN: All right. Is there a search under way right now? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SWAIN: The search is ongoing in the sense that more persons are being asked from the community to come forward and report any information that they have on the case and, therefore, if anything that's possible to help the police in any way. And some arrests would be made or more questioning may continue in terms of the process.

O'BRIEN: And finally, there was a similar instance some 20 years ago at that same market, is that correct?

SWAIN: No. It wasn't at that same market. It was similar in the sense that we had three other young boys that went missing in May 1981. That still remains unsolved.

O'BRIEN: Still unsolved. All right. Jimenita Swain...

SWAIN: But the physical character...

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. Finish up. Go ahead.

SWAIN: I was saying that the physical characteristics from the boys in 1981 and those of this year are quite similar.

O'BRIEN: OK. Jimenita Swain, keep us posted. She's with "The Nassau Guardian" newspaper, joining us from the Bahamas. Thank you very much.

A dramatic rescue. New pictures tonight on the Private Lynch rescue, how she was saved from her Iraqi captors. We'll have a CNN exclusive for you.

A little R&R, a lot of love. How one U.S. soldier is spending his short time away from war, not wasting any time.

And the all-American diet buster goes international. Will tea time in Britain ever be the same?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Rush Limbaugh on the defensive Hear what the radio host told his audience about allegations he's part of an investigation into the illegal purchase of painkillers.

That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: She became an icon for hope in the midst of so much uncertainty. And now, there's more to tell in the story of the former POW and now former Private Jessica Lynch. And you will see it here on CNN, thanks to our Barbara Starr, joining us live now from the Pentagon.

Hello, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.

Well, you know, you'll remember that many people were riveted by the few pictures we saw of the rescue of Private First-Class Jessica Lynch back in April from a hospital in Iraq.

But now, tonight, we want to show you not just these pictures, which you have seen before, but some very new special pictures, the conversation between Jessica Lynch and her commando team of rescuers as they are flying her out of Iraq to freedom.

Let's look and listen to this piece of videotape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you smile? Can you smile for -- for the family? There you go. You're doing great, Jessica. You're doing wonderful, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome back!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like I told you, OK? We're on a plane now. And we're going to Kuwait, OK? It's about an hour and 15 minute flight time, OK? All these doctors are going to be here the whole time and I'm not leaving. OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: So you see there a very terrified young woman. What's difficult to hear at the end of the very tape is Jessica Lynch is in terrible pain, apparently. They tell her that they're going to cut the bandages off of her legs. They try and move her and she moans in pain about the pain she's experiencing in her arm at that point.

So a young woman who's going through a difficult circumstance. All the while the while, the military essentially putting a video camera in her face, recording this moment for history so they can show her family that she is in one piece and on her way home last April -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Rush Limbaugh under fire and on the air. What did he say about allegations of prescription drug abuse?

Plus, more on the powerful painkiller in question. Just how addictive is OxyContin?

We'll catch up with a U.S. soldier who is on R&R from Iraq and why this was one vacation he'll never forget.

But first, a quick look at some of the other news making headlines all "Around the World. "

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The pope's health. Pope John Paul II meets with the Lebanese foreign minister at the Vatican amid growing concerns about the pontiff's health. John Paul, who is 83, suffers from Parkinson's disease and has appeared weak in recent public appearances.

Missile task. Pakistan launched a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The missile has a range of 180 miles. Pakistan's nuclear rival, India, was notified before the launch.

Terror in Liberia. Just days after the last American troops pulled out of the West African nation, terrorized civilians are demanding protection from raids and looting. A U.N. mission took over peacekeeping duties Wednesday from a 3,500 strong West African peacekeeping force.

Ship of death. That's what a Kuwaiti newspaper calls a ship carrying more than 50,000 Australian sheep that's now in a Kuwaiti port. The animals have been at sea eight weeks since the ship was turned away by Saudi Arabia. Australia says it will try one last time to find a country that will take in the sheep. Otherwise, they will be brought back and slaughtered.

Hooky crackdown. Students playing hooky in Britain will be slapped with a fine of up to $166. Britain's education minister says 50,000 kids skip school every day and the parents of half of them know about it and go along with it.

Sweet tooth invasion. Get them while they're hot. American Krispy Kreme Doughnuts now on sale in London's Harrod's department store. Says a spokesman, "We eat doughnuts but we've never had a Krispy Kreme doughnut." And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, as he always does, Rush Limbaugh talked a lot on his syndicated radio show today, but he didn't say much about the latest controversy that swirls around him. His name linked to the illegal sale of prescription painkillers, including OxyContin.

While he did not offer details considering drugs, he did not deny the link, however.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I don't know yet know what I'm dealing with here, folks. I really don't know the full scope of what I'm dealing with. When I get all the facts, and when I get all the details of this, rest assured that I will discuss this with you and tell you how it is, tell you everything there is, maybe more than you want to know, about this. You can believe me and trust me on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Now, as you probably recall, this drug story broke on the heels of Limbaugh's controversial remarks about Donovan McNabb, the African American quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now when OxyContin hit the U.S. market in 1995, doctors embraced it with enthusiasm. Here was a painkiller that was effective and time-released, able to help patients for as long as 12 hours. But it wasn't long before people discovered a way to use this heroin cousin to get high. And so began some tragic, unintended consequences.

"New York Times" reporter Barry Meier first told that story. He is the author of the book, "Pain Killer: The True Story of a Prescription Drug Disaster."

Mr. Meier, good to have you with us.

BARRY MEIER, AUTHOR, "PAIN KILLER": Thanks do much for having me here.

O'BRIEN: How big a disaster is it, in your view?

MEIER: Well, the -- this is a very important medicine. We need to get that out first. But in certain parts of the country, the abuse and misuse of OxyContin has been rampant. It's torn apart communities. It's destroyed people's lives. It's altered their lives in immeasurable ways.

O'BRIEN: It -- the street name is hillbilly heroin, for lack of a better term. Just repeating the street name here. Why is it called that and why are these particular regions beset with it? MEIER: Well, it got the name hillbilly heroin because a lot of the abuse was in the Appalachian region and other rural regions. The abuse seemed to star there and seemed to explode there, but it's popped up in a lot of places. You'll find it in Florida. You'll find it in Hollywood. And I guess if the stories about Mr. Limbaugh are true, you'll find it in Washington D.C. and suburban Virginia.

O'BRIEN: How addictive is it? Is it too dangerous perhaps to be prescribed to anyone?

MEIER: No, not at all. I believe that, you know, in the right medical hands, this is a wonderful drug. This is a useful drug. But it has to be used very carefully, even by doctors. Once it gets out of the medical system and jumps on to the street, all bets are off.

O'BRIEN: Now the way this is used illicitly, somebody kind of crushes it, chews on it, snorts it or inject it is, and basically circumvents the time release nature of it. The company that makes it is has said it is trying to come up with a way to kind of circumvent that way of circumventing the legal use for it. Hasn't happened yet, has it?

MEIER: Not at this point in time. And I know they're working very hard to do so. It's a challenging pharmacological problem and one hopes they solve it in relatively short order.

O'BRIEN: Well, do you fault the company in the way this particular drug has been marketed? Is -- I mean, is there some blame, or is this just something that is inevitable, something that has good uses, people will find bad uses for it?

MEIER: These powerful narcotics have two sides to them. And in this case, there's plenty of blame to go along -- around, excuse me.

There was the company -- you have regulators who didn't do their jobs. You have doctors who didn't know how to properly prescribe or monitor their patients. You have doctor who were selling these prescriptions to make money. There's plenty of blame to go around in this situation. And I guess -- I wrote this book because I -- we don't want this type of situation to happen again.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's...

MEIER: We want to put the safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again.

O'BRIEN: I want to ask you a little more about the safeguards. But we would be remiss if we didn't by now read the statement from the company, Purdue Pharama, which declined to do on camera interview. Offered us this statement, which says, "Our country faces two serious public health issues: the epidemic of pain that is undertreated or not treated at all and the growing problem of prescription drug abuse. Mr. Meier's book does nothing to advance the public's understanding of these issue of to aid in their resolution. He demonstrates an insensitivity to the medical needs of people who are suffering, sensationalizes the misconduct of prescription drug abusers and attempts to reduce these complex issues into an attack on a single company. In contrast, as the facts clearly demonstrate, Purdue Pharma has taken a leadership role, both in developing important medications to treat patients' pain and in combating prescription drug abuse."

Do you have a response to that?

MEIER: I do.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and Purdue, certainly, is, too. People who read the back can make up their own minds.

O'BRIEN: All right. Tell me about the solutions. What needs to be done to try to stem this burgeoning problem?

MEIER: I think doctors need to know more about pain treatment and substance abuse. They need to monitor their patients, they talk to their patients. Regulators need to track the prescribing of these drugs.

I think that there's a whole host of changes that need to be made, some of which are being made now, others that really do need to be made to prevent a similar drug from being involved in a similar situation.

O'BRIEN: Barry Meier is the reporter who first brought this whole situation to the attention of all of us. He wrote the book "Painkiller: The True Story of a Prescription Drug Disaster." We thank you very much for being with us on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

MEIER: Thanks for your having me. I really appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: Home from Iraq and into the tuxedo shop? Find out how this soldier is spending his two weeks of R&R. A very worthwhile use of time.

And Wolf Blitzer, even when he's off, he is part of the show. Behind the wheel this time. Here's a hint. Would you like to buy a vowel? We'll take a spin when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked, "prior to the current war in Iraq, when was the last time U.S. troops received a vacation during their wartime service?" The answer, the Vietnam War. The last Americans evacuated when the South Vietnamese surrendered to the Communists on April 30, 1975.

Last week, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS introduced you to one of about 200 American soldiers back from Iraq for a few weeks of well earned R&R. We caught up with Specialist Adrian Dupree this week trading his combat boots for patent leather.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Home at last, for now. One week ago, Adrian Dupree set foot on U.S. soil for the first time in seven months.

SPEC. ADRIAN DUPREE, U.S. ARMY: It felt great just to get out of the whole environment over there. It is dangerous. It is good to be back.

O'BRIEN: Dupree is an army human resource specialist helping soldiers feel as comfortable and stable as possible in an environment that is often anything but.

DUPREE: Baghdad has an electricity problem and everything. So, we went through everything they were going through being in the same town, the same country. So we went -- everything they didn't have, we didn't have. Us military folks didn't have it no better.

O'BRIEN: Now that he's home one more week in Baltimore, Dupree is focused on a different kind of mission: operation wedding preps, first stop, the tuxedo shop with his father. And a proud one at that, who understands why his son's stay has to be so short.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a job to do. When he finishes his obligations he can come home and we can put the house back together once again.

O'BRIEN: A house that tonight gains another member.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Well, right about now Specialist Dupree is walking down the aisle. Join us Monday for wedding highlights. We'll see how the newlyweds plan to spend the remainder of the Dupree's R&R.

Still to come, time to weigh in on our question of the day. Do the allegation that is surfaced this week about Arnold Schwarzenegger change your opinion of him? Vote now at CNN.com/wolf. Just a little bit of time left. The results for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. Web question time. The question we posed, "do the allegations that surfaced this week about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past change your opinion of him in any way?" Here are the percentages for you, 27 percent of you say yes, 73 percent say no. Didn't change your mind a bit.

Well he's not here today, but our own Wolf Blitzer popping up in some unusual places, as he always is. Here's your case in point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT SAJAK, HOST, "WHEEL OF FORTUNE": Yes, there is a C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Y?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: M?

SAJAK: No. Susanne?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to solve.

SAJAK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: All right. She got it. She got it, congratulations.

Obviously that's "Wheel of Fortune," check your local listings.

Thanks for joining us, I'm Miles O'Brien.

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





Given Deadline on CIA Leak>


Aired October 3, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, October 03, 2003. Hello from CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Wolf Blitzer has the day off.
Campaign frenzy around California, the recall election just four days away and groups for and against ousting Governor Gray Davis are making their final appeals to voters, along with the candidates who want to replace him but much of the attention today is focused on actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as it has been all along and a flurry of last minute allegations and admissions.

CNN's National Correspondent Bob Franken on the story as he has been since the beginning in Los Angeles. Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

And notably today certainly there has not been a third round of any allegations but Schwarzenegger is still dealing with the first two rounds, of course a very big one, big impact with the news last night on ABC and then in the "New York Times" this morning reporting the contention by a produce of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the producer of the movie "Pumping Iron," George Butler, in which he quoted Schwarzenegger in a book proposal that he made many, many years ago.

Schwarzenegger speaking about Hitler and here's what he had to say according to Butler: "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power and I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

So, Schwarzenegger, who had hoped to spend the next few days on message, on what he hoped to be a march to victory, instead had to stop and answer the allegations about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: I cannot imagine because from the time I was a kid on I always disliked everything that this regime stood for and when I came to America it was the same thing. You know, I think that Hitler was a disgusting villain, dictator, and he has caused so much harm in the world and we have to make sure that it never happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: And that's how he dealt with that. Of course, we know that he said that if he had unintentionally done something to offend some people then he was sorry, that reaction to the "Los Angeles Times" article which quoted six women who said over decades going back to the '70s up until the year 2000 he had groped them.

Well, various women's groups who have been opponents of Schwarzenegger all along are trying to keep that story alive and the group Code Pink introduced Arianna Huffington today, who is now an ardent Schwarzenegger opponent and she in turn introduced one of the women who claimed she was molested, Elaine Stockton, who says that she encountered Schwarzenegger back in 1975 in a gym nearby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELAINE STOCKTON, SCHWARZENEGGER ACCUSER: In 1975, I was 19 years old. I was a newlywed bodybuilder Robbie Robinson and he was training in Gold's Gym in Venice, California on Pacific Avenue. I was just there watching him work out. They gym was rather full and Arnold passed me by and he groped my breast.

It completely caught me off guard. I was just shocked and it took me a while to come to my senses and after doing so I got up, interrupted Robbie's workout and told him that Arnold had groped my breast and from that moment on Robbie did not allow me back into Gold's Gym.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, as I mentioned, Schwarzenegger is on the campaign trail today trying to move forward instead of always having to move back. Today he is expected to campaign with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. One teeny, weeny little problem, back in August Giuliani did an interview during a ballgame on WCBS-TV in New York in which he disparaged the whole idea of the recall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: It doesn't seem like it's good for government. No, I think the provision is a provision that probably nobody ever thought would be used this way. It shouldn't be there. The idea of just a very small number of people being able to recall a governor is a very big mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well now, how could he be out campaigning for Schwarzenegger, the recall candidate? According to an aide for Giuliani he was only speaking in concepts then and now that the recall is a reality he believes that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a good man.

That's how he's crossed that bridge and now we'll see if the rest of the day produces any more allegations or if the rest of the election does only a few days away - Miles.

O'BRIEN: Oh, there's plenty of time for that. Thank you very much, CNN's Bob Franken.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. "Do the allegations that surfaced this week about Arnold Schwarzenegger change your opinion of him"?

You can vote right now at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Now, while you're there we'd like to hear directly from you, of course. Send us your comments. We might read some of them at the end of the program time permitting.

Turning now to the case of the outed operative, the Justice Department has now asked the White House to turn over all records that may shed light on who leaked the name of a CIA officer and the FBI is ready to start questioning senior officials.

Live now to the White House, correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with more on all of that, hello Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

This investigation is moving rather quickly. White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez sent out two memos to all White House staffers today really about the requirements from the Justice Department, more details.

From the first memo it says that: "All documents that relate in any way to former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, his trip to Niger in February, 2002, or his wife's purported relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency are required." Also, "all documents that relate to a contact with the news media and all documents that relate to a contact with reporters regarding those elements."

I should also let you know as well a certification document was sent out, which required every employee to check that they have "produced all documents in my possession required by the counsel's office" and that they had to sign that they understand intentional false statements may result in criminal penalties. The documents, the due date set to be hand-delivered no later than five o'clock October 7.

And, Miles, as you had mentioned before the next stage of this are interviews of senior White House officials. We're trying to get details on that now - Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thanks much.

The CIA's chief weapons hunter was on Capitol Hill again today telling Congress while there's plenty of evidence that Iraq sought the means for mass destruction no actual weapons have been found. That's provided plenty of ammunition, if you will, for lawmakers.

Let's go live now to CNN Congressional Correspondent Jonathan Karl who has more on all this. Hello, Jonathan.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, clearly the headline out of Dr. Kay's preliminary report here is that his team, 1,200 people scouring Iraq for three months have come up with no weapons of mass destruction, as you mentioned, but he tried to put the best spin on it today meeting with members of Congress saying that they have not come up completely empty-handed. They have found evidence that Iraq wanted to compile and to obtain weapons of mass destruction even if, at this point, they haven't found any actual weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSP.: We have found a lot of evidence of the Iraqi regime's intent to continue to acquire weapons of mass destruction. We have found significant evidence of continuing and prohibited activities that were hidden from U.N. inspectors, particularly in the biological and missile area, a lot of examples of foreign procurement that went well beyond anything that was known before the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: The Democrats up here are saying that the United States did not go to war to topple Saddam Hussein because Hussein wanted to get weapons of mass destruction. The war was fought because it was believed he faced - the United States faced an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. The Democrats were very vocal on this point today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: And the weapon program is an aspiration if you want to get a weapon. It's a big difference between that and actually achieving one and I think what we're seeing in Iraq is a big difference between the aspirations and the capability to achieve that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: Now, David Kay wants three more things: He wants more time, he says between six and nine months to complete his work; more money, the administration has requested another $600 million for this search; and finally, more people. He thinks he may need more than the 1,200 people he now has on his Iraq survey group - Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

And we're hearing some details now about how difficult that weapons has been, David Kay telling reporters today that two Iraqi scientists were shot, one assassinated with a bullet in the back of the head after helping the U.S. search teams. Kay says security is better now and stresses that he still believes weapons may be found.

The man who recently oversaw efforts to build an Iraqi police force said today that Iraq had at least one weapon of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein. Bernard Kerik, who rose from cop to police commissioner of New York today gave a progress report to President Bush at the White House. He spoke with me a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much for being with us Mr. Kerik. You had a chance to brief the president today and I'm sure you don't want to share necessarily private conversations with the president but I'm curious at least the tone and tenor of your briefing, what you told him about your experience on the ground there in Iraq.

BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: Basically, I told him what I found when I got there that was a closed down country, a country that was obviously in disarray, no market, stores, shops open, gas lines for two miles long five cars deep, and I told him what it was like when I left and how much it had changed, how much more electricity there was, how much more water there was.

The markets were open. The shops are open. The stores are open. The gas lines are down. The Iraqi people buying things in the streets like they've never done before or never had the opportunity or were allowed, like satellite dishes. Under Saddam's regime they weren't allowed to watch any type of television other than what he produced for them and it's definitely a free Iraq today.

O'BRIEN: It certainly must have put the challenges of policing New York City into some perspective having dealt with that over there.

KERIK: Well, in New York City you have - I had 55,000 men and women. I had every resource you could possibly imagine under the sun and, in Iraq, you had zero. You had no buildings. You had no cars. You had nothing available, nothing at all, and you know you had to start from scratch.

O'BRIEN: And it's not easy. You made some comments today on the South Lawn about how difficult it is just to do the job of police commissioner in New York, how difficult it is to get a precinct open.

KERIK: Well...

O'BRIEN: And it's not easy to do what you did starting literally from ground zero.

KERIK: Well, when I hear people talk about frustrations and, you know, that it's taking us too long to move ahead in Iraq, I find it somewhat humorous because in four months we brought back 35 police stations in Baghdad, for example, built them, painted them, remodeled them, put in communications, put in everything you could imagine and we did it in four months. You couldn't do that in New York City in ten years, so it's a completely, you know, I think we're moving a lot faster than people anticipated.

O'BRIEN: All right, but why did you leave though? There were some who looked at that departure and thought it was maybe declare a victory and then a hasty retreat. KERIK: I anticipated going and reconstituting the ministry of interior and the ministry overseas the police, customs, borders, immigration and that was done. We placed the new deputies, the senior deputy minister of interior.

We brought back 37,000 police. We brought back about 15,000 customs and border personnel and two days before I left the actual minister of interior was appointed by the governing council, so there wasn't much more I could do other than stay and oversee the operation and I never intended to do that.

I wanted to get back to the states, get back to my business, get back to my kids. I have a three and a half year old daughter. I think she had enough of Iraq at that point and it was nice to come home.

O'BRIEN: So you weren't run out of Iraq?

KERIK: No, no, no, no (unintelligible).

O'BRIEN: All right. Final thought here. On the South Lawn today you made a direct connection between the events of 9/11, which you endured on a very personal basis having lost a couple of dozen of your own people.

KERIK: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And Saddam Hussein in Iraq. There really isn't any evidence of a connection though, is there?

KERIK: Well, people would say, and the president has mentioned, that there isn't a fingerprint. Saddam's fingerprints is not on the attack of September 11 and that may be true but there is one very definite connection and that is a radical Islam.

That is a country, like Iraq, and a dictator like Saddam that was funding terrorism, promoting terrorism, condoning terrorism and those terrorists there is no difference in my mind, in everybody's mind, the 19 men that ran the planes into the buildings in New York City and the Pentagon and the guy that drove the truck up to the U.N. and bombed it and killed Sergio Vieira de Mello.

There's no difference in the mindset, the culture, and why they're doing what they're doing. There is a definite link, their fingerprints, no, but there's a definite link.

O'BRIEN: Bernard Kerik thanks very much.

KERIK: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Kerik now returns to his job at a consulting firm, his partner one, Rudy Giuliani.

Rush to judgment, Limbaugh speaks out about being linked to an alleged black market drug ring. Black Hawk down, a fierce and deadly battle remembered ten years later. We'll hear from some of the U.S. Rangers who lived through that real life drama.

And this, from cammies (ph) to formal wear, one U.S. soldier making the most of his time away from war, but first the news quiz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Prior to the current war in Iraq, when was the last time U.S. troops received a vacation during their wartime service, the Afghanistan war, the Balkans war, Gulf War I, or the Vietnam War," the answer coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: In Washington tonight, some survivors of a painful chapter in U.S. military history will gather to remember the tragic events that brought them together under fire ten years ago today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): U.S. troops in a hostile urban setting under relentless fire, attack and counterattack, chaos, death all around, not Baghdad 2003 but Mogadishu ten years earlier.

The fall of 1993, the U.S. military mission in Somalia has evolved. Critics called it mission creep. Humanitarian at the start it's deteriorated into a gangland police drama. U.S. Army Rangers and U.N. forces in a daily hunt for the man who would come to define the term warlord, Mohammed Farah Aideed. Critics say not what the military set out to do.

MARK BOWDEN, AUTHOR "BLACK HAWK DOWN": There were decisions made when Task Force Ranger went to Somalia that were made for political reasons, not what was in the best interest of the men trying to complete the mission.

O'BRIEN: October 3, the Americans think they've got Aidid's top lieutenants and possibly the man himself isolated. More than a dozen helicopters converge on a downtown building. Rangers and Special Forces repel down and immediately take fire. They still manage to assault the complex and take prisoners, including Aidid's top lieutenants but Aidid is not there.

Then things start spiraling when a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter is hit with a rocket-propelled grenade and crashes. American troops form a perimeter around the downed chopper but are pinned down by fire. A second Black Hawk is then shot down. Two Special Operations men are killed trying to protect the surviving co-pilot Michael Durant. He is captured.

MICHAEL DURANT, FORMER BLACK HAWK PILOT: I do remember everything pretty clearly but it does seem like a lifetime away. You know the situation that I live every day today is so different from what was going on at the time. It sometimes seems like a dream. O'BRIEN: Dozens of Americans surrounded by hundreds of Somalis, machine gun and RPG rounds coming from every direction. The Americans have no heavy weaponry. Some say the protection was almost laughable.

BOWDEN: Some of the Delta Force operators were wearing little plastic hockey helmets which proved to be, you know, a bad idea.

O'BRIEN: One U.S. rescue convoy is sent in but it takes such intense fire as it nears the area it pulls back. Hours later a more fortified convoy bolls its way in, picks up the dead and wounded, but does not have enough room for everyone. Some Rangers have to walk and run alongside the convoy dodging bullets, firing back with each step.

They grind their way out of the city back to their garrison. The battle lasted more than 13 hours. Eighteen Americans, more than 300 Somalis are dead, dozens wounded.

Back home, the images of U.S. servicemen dragged through the streets, Somalis dancing on a felled Black Hawk are too much to bear. U.S. forces would soon leave Somalia demoralized. This battle would become a metaphor for everything the American military wanted to avoid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So, has the military learned its lesson or is the situation in Iraq proof to the contrary, just one of the questions we will pose to some of the Rangers who were there on that fateful raid ten years ago.

From Washington we're joined by former Army Rangers Keni Thomas, Mike Kurth, and Doug Boren, gentlemen, good to have you with us.

(Unintelligible)

O'BRIEN: Keni, the troops on the ground there in Baghdad right now, it's a different mission. It's an occupation mission different than the role that the Rangers had in Mogadishu. Nevertheless, there are probably some parallels we can talk about here. How is their mission different or similar to what you were doing?

KENI THOMAS, FORMER ARMY RANGER: Well, obviously it's different because it's an occupation but what's it's similar in is the long periods of boredom that those guys have to fight because and then all of a sudden they find themselves in the thick of it and they've got to be ready and, you know, you do that I guess by training constantly but they are there - they're there a long time and it's got to be difficult fighting that.

O'BRIEN: Do you have the sense that the U.S. military learned the lesson of Mogadishu and employs those lessons every day?

THOMAS: Yes. I can promise you that they've learned lessons and that the training that these guys have ten years later has stepped up immensely. And we were the best trained in the world and they've got it ten times better than we had and I know that they've learned lessons.

And I've been to some of the ranger training and those boys are out there. They do it every day. They're experts at it and they have come up with contingency plans. What if a helicopter goes down? What if a Black Hawk goes down, what are you going to do?

But they have learned a lot from urban, from what we learned in our urban combat setting and those guys that are over there right now are very, very well prepared for it.

O'BRIEN: Mike, as you look back on those events ten years ago today and how they unfolded, I'm curious what comes to mind right away and what your thoughts are ten years out.

MIKE KURTH, FORMER ARMY RANGER: I look back on it a couple of different ways, Miles, one how it changed the political aspect of things, political policies have changed a little bit. We approach situations a lot differently and I think we think a lot before we start deploying troops. Personally...

O'BRIEN: That's a good point and, of course, and to remind people the rap on Mogadishu was the administration didn't back up the request that the military needed in order to properly do the mission there in Mogadishu.

KURTH: Yes, I think one thing we do now is we make sure we exhaust everything politically before we decide to put our troops in harm's way, which is a very good thing. I think we exhaust every means possible before we decide to send troops over, which is a big help.

O'BRIEN: And you were going to talk about some personal memories.

KURTH: Just being part of something that actually affected political policy is kind of surreal being, you know, you see policies change and affect the way government works and know that I was part of an event that kind of started that rolling along.

And, like Keni said earlier about training, we would start doing that when we got back at platoon level but now it's at the regimental level and much higher levels, which is very good to know and good to see the boys getting the equipment they need and the training they deserve before they go off to battle.

O'BRIEN: Doug, this is an unusual military event in the sense that it has become so much a part of popular culture because of the book and the movie obviously. You must get a lot of reaction about it, about having been there as you go through daily life. What do people say to you about what it was like to be in Mogadishu ten years ago?

DOUG BOREN, FORMER ARMY RANGER: I think that it's kind of hard to talk about. You know I kind of, you know, shy away from saying things to people about it and they don't really know. You know I try to call it like the quiet professional and I don't really make a big deal out of it and, you know, some of the people, you know, they just don't know and I go through my daily life and, you know, they really have no idea that any of this happened until somebody else brings it up and then I might say something about it but it's not, you know, it's not something I bring up all the time anyway.

O'BRIEN: It has to be hard to really explain it. As a matter of fact, you might find it, I suppose, impossible to explain it to somebody who wasn't there.

BOREN: Right. I think that is the hardest part and that's, you know, this weekend is a good weekend for us because, you know, I can come back and, you know, see my friends I haven't seen in a while.

And, you know, it's really great and, you know, they can understand the things that I'm feeling and the things that I'm going through and I know that they're doing the same thing and, you know, there's just nothing like it and, you know, I'll have these friends forever.

O'BRIEN: Keni, to have a reunion ten years later it has to be wonderful to see these guys again but it also has to be a little bit painful. Is it important you guys get back together?

THOMAS: Yes, very important that people get back together. You got, not only just us but, you know, the boys that will be coming back now in ten years they're going to want to get together because it's like Doug said, the reason Doug's here is because I dragged him along and I know he doesn't like to talk about it.

But it's very important for us to get together and talk about it with each other because some of the guys don't have the benefit of getting to be on CNN with Miles all the time and a lot of guys have sat there for ten years and never had anybody to talk to about it and so now you get the chance.

You get to, you know, you get to share your stories with your buddies and drink some beers and talk about the old times that really for most of us seem like kind of a surreal movie because it was so long ago and it's so far removed from the reality of your day-to-day life now that it's good to be reminded that, yes, we were there and we were part of it and Task Force Ranger was real and it's great guys and to see how they've all gone on with their lives it makes you very proud.

O'BRIEN: And I suppose there will be a few moments to stop and pause and remember those that aren't with you.

THOMAS: Absolutely. I mean, you know, we'll all talk about them but the way - we're allowed to talk about those guys a little different. We can make fun of them because, you know, we knew them real well but we - the one thing we do know is for anyone who has ever lost a buddy in a military unit the reason I'm here and sitting here and that Mike is here and that Doug is here is because of the person that was on our left and to our right that is it and by the grace of God.

But without those boys I don't know where we would be as a nation if you didn't have, you know, Dominic Pilla's (ph) and Casey Joyce's (ph) and Lorenzo Ruiz (ph) and Cavacco (ph) and Kaliruski (ph) and Schugart (ph) and Gordon (ph) and Grizmartins (ph). Where would you be as a nation if you didn't have those guys and we're all, we're just very proud to have been associated with them and it's because of them that we are still here today to talk to you.

O'BRIEN: We're proud of all of you as well.

THOMAS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Keni Thomas, Mike Kurth, Doug Boren, we wish you well in your future endeavors and have a good reunion this weekend.

THOMAS: Thanks, Miles.

KURTH: Thanks, Miles.

BOREN: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: An island mystery...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's probably the biggest thing in terms of crime in this country that we've seen probably in the last 30 years.

O'BRIEN: Several young boys missing in the Bahamas. Authorities find one common link. We'll tell you about it.

Speaking out, we'll hear from Rush Limbaugh about being linked to an alleged black market sale of prescription drugs.

And, some new pictures from the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, it's a CNN exclusive. See them here first on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: New pictures from the night former Private Jessica Lynch was rescued by U.S. forces. It's a CNN exclusive.

But first, a check of the headlines for you.

(NEWSBREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, as anyone who has visited the Bahamas knows, it's an island paradise. But tonight, there's a pall of fear that hangs over those islands. Five young boys recently vanished without a trace there, a frightening mystery which hearkens back to a similar situation decades ago.

Joining us on the phone from Nassau to talk about the case, Jimenita Swain of "The Nassau Guardian" newspaper.

What's the latest from there, Jimenita? JIMENITA SWAIN, "THE NASSAU GUARDIAN": Well, the latest from the Bahamas is that there is one person in custody being questioned by police. No arrests have been made at this point. But the investigations are still continues into the matter.

O'BRIEN: Is this person being characterized as a suspect?

SWAIN: Not at this point. He's just being questioned by the police.

O'BRIEN: All right. And can you tell us a little about the circumstances on how these boys disappeared?

SWAIN: Seemingly without a trace, Miles. It seems that all of them -- similar links in the case, not all of them -- were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) boys at a local Winn-Dixie food in downtown Freeport. And all were from single parent family homes, were of similar ages and of intellectual capacity. But not much is known about where - what happened when they disappeared.

O'BRIEN: How did it become known that they were missing?

SWAIN: Well, when they didn't show up home, the reports were made by the parents to the police station that they were missing and, therefore the search started from there.

O'BRIEN: All right. Is there a search under way right now? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SWAIN: The search is ongoing in the sense that more persons are being asked from the community to come forward and report any information that they have on the case and, therefore, if anything that's possible to help the police in any way. And some arrests would be made or more questioning may continue in terms of the process.

O'BRIEN: And finally, there was a similar instance some 20 years ago at that same market, is that correct?

SWAIN: No. It wasn't at that same market. It was similar in the sense that we had three other young boys that went missing in May 1981. That still remains unsolved.

O'BRIEN: Still unsolved. All right. Jimenita Swain...

SWAIN: But the physical character...

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. Finish up. Go ahead.

SWAIN: I was saying that the physical characteristics from the boys in 1981 and those of this year are quite similar.

O'BRIEN: OK. Jimenita Swain, keep us posted. She's with "The Nassau Guardian" newspaper, joining us from the Bahamas. Thank you very much.

A dramatic rescue. New pictures tonight on the Private Lynch rescue, how she was saved from her Iraqi captors. We'll have a CNN exclusive for you.

A little R&R, a lot of love. How one U.S. soldier is spending his short time away from war, not wasting any time.

And the all-American diet buster goes international. Will tea time in Britain ever be the same?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Rush Limbaugh on the defensive Hear what the radio host told his audience about allegations he's part of an investigation into the illegal purchase of painkillers.

That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: She became an icon for hope in the midst of so much uncertainty. And now, there's more to tell in the story of the former POW and now former Private Jessica Lynch. And you will see it here on CNN, thanks to our Barbara Starr, joining us live now from the Pentagon.

Hello, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.

Well, you know, you'll remember that many people were riveted by the few pictures we saw of the rescue of Private First-Class Jessica Lynch back in April from a hospital in Iraq.

But now, tonight, we want to show you not just these pictures, which you have seen before, but some very new special pictures, the conversation between Jessica Lynch and her commando team of rescuers as they are flying her out of Iraq to freedom.

Let's look and listen to this piece of videotape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you smile? Can you smile for -- for the family? There you go. You're doing great, Jessica. You're doing wonderful, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome back!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like I told you, OK? We're on a plane now. And we're going to Kuwait, OK? It's about an hour and 15 minute flight time, OK? All these doctors are going to be here the whole time and I'm not leaving. OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: So you see there a very terrified young woman. What's difficult to hear at the end of the very tape is Jessica Lynch is in terrible pain, apparently. They tell her that they're going to cut the bandages off of her legs. They try and move her and she moans in pain about the pain she's experiencing in her arm at that point.

So a young woman who's going through a difficult circumstance. All the while the while, the military essentially putting a video camera in her face, recording this moment for history so they can show her family that she is in one piece and on her way home last April -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Rush Limbaugh under fire and on the air. What did he say about allegations of prescription drug abuse?

Plus, more on the powerful painkiller in question. Just how addictive is OxyContin?

We'll catch up with a U.S. soldier who is on R&R from Iraq and why this was one vacation he'll never forget.

But first, a quick look at some of the other news making headlines all "Around the World. "

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The pope's health. Pope John Paul II meets with the Lebanese foreign minister at the Vatican amid growing concerns about the pontiff's health. John Paul, who is 83, suffers from Parkinson's disease and has appeared weak in recent public appearances.

Missile task. Pakistan launched a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The missile has a range of 180 miles. Pakistan's nuclear rival, India, was notified before the launch.

Terror in Liberia. Just days after the last American troops pulled out of the West African nation, terrorized civilians are demanding protection from raids and looting. A U.N. mission took over peacekeeping duties Wednesday from a 3,500 strong West African peacekeeping force.

Ship of death. That's what a Kuwaiti newspaper calls a ship carrying more than 50,000 Australian sheep that's now in a Kuwaiti port. The animals have been at sea eight weeks since the ship was turned away by Saudi Arabia. Australia says it will try one last time to find a country that will take in the sheep. Otherwise, they will be brought back and slaughtered.

Hooky crackdown. Students playing hooky in Britain will be slapped with a fine of up to $166. Britain's education minister says 50,000 kids skip school every day and the parents of half of them know about it and go along with it.

Sweet tooth invasion. Get them while they're hot. American Krispy Kreme Doughnuts now on sale in London's Harrod's department store. Says a spokesman, "We eat doughnuts but we've never had a Krispy Kreme doughnut." And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, as he always does, Rush Limbaugh talked a lot on his syndicated radio show today, but he didn't say much about the latest controversy that swirls around him. His name linked to the illegal sale of prescription painkillers, including OxyContin.

While he did not offer details considering drugs, he did not deny the link, however.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I don't know yet know what I'm dealing with here, folks. I really don't know the full scope of what I'm dealing with. When I get all the facts, and when I get all the details of this, rest assured that I will discuss this with you and tell you how it is, tell you everything there is, maybe more than you want to know, about this. You can believe me and trust me on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Now, as you probably recall, this drug story broke on the heels of Limbaugh's controversial remarks about Donovan McNabb, the African American quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now when OxyContin hit the U.S. market in 1995, doctors embraced it with enthusiasm. Here was a painkiller that was effective and time-released, able to help patients for as long as 12 hours. But it wasn't long before people discovered a way to use this heroin cousin to get high. And so began some tragic, unintended consequences.

"New York Times" reporter Barry Meier first told that story. He is the author of the book, "Pain Killer: The True Story of a Prescription Drug Disaster."

Mr. Meier, good to have you with us.

BARRY MEIER, AUTHOR, "PAIN KILLER": Thanks do much for having me here.

O'BRIEN: How big a disaster is it, in your view?

MEIER: Well, the -- this is a very important medicine. We need to get that out first. But in certain parts of the country, the abuse and misuse of OxyContin has been rampant. It's torn apart communities. It's destroyed people's lives. It's altered their lives in immeasurable ways.

O'BRIEN: It -- the street name is hillbilly heroin, for lack of a better term. Just repeating the street name here. Why is it called that and why are these particular regions beset with it? MEIER: Well, it got the name hillbilly heroin because a lot of the abuse was in the Appalachian region and other rural regions. The abuse seemed to star there and seemed to explode there, but it's popped up in a lot of places. You'll find it in Florida. You'll find it in Hollywood. And I guess if the stories about Mr. Limbaugh are true, you'll find it in Washington D.C. and suburban Virginia.

O'BRIEN: How addictive is it? Is it too dangerous perhaps to be prescribed to anyone?

MEIER: No, not at all. I believe that, you know, in the right medical hands, this is a wonderful drug. This is a useful drug. But it has to be used very carefully, even by doctors. Once it gets out of the medical system and jumps on to the street, all bets are off.

O'BRIEN: Now the way this is used illicitly, somebody kind of crushes it, chews on it, snorts it or inject it is, and basically circumvents the time release nature of it. The company that makes it is has said it is trying to come up with a way to kind of circumvent that way of circumventing the legal use for it. Hasn't happened yet, has it?

MEIER: Not at this point in time. And I know they're working very hard to do so. It's a challenging pharmacological problem and one hopes they solve it in relatively short order.

O'BRIEN: Well, do you fault the company in the way this particular drug has been marketed? Is -- I mean, is there some blame, or is this just something that is inevitable, something that has good uses, people will find bad uses for it?

MEIER: These powerful narcotics have two sides to them. And in this case, there's plenty of blame to go along -- around, excuse me.

There was the company -- you have regulators who didn't do their jobs. You have doctors who didn't know how to properly prescribe or monitor their patients. You have doctor who were selling these prescriptions to make money. There's plenty of blame to go around in this situation. And I guess -- I wrote this book because I -- we don't want this type of situation to happen again.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's...

MEIER: We want to put the safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again.

O'BRIEN: I want to ask you a little more about the safeguards. But we would be remiss if we didn't by now read the statement from the company, Purdue Pharama, which declined to do on camera interview. Offered us this statement, which says, "Our country faces two serious public health issues: the epidemic of pain that is undertreated or not treated at all and the growing problem of prescription drug abuse. Mr. Meier's book does nothing to advance the public's understanding of these issue of to aid in their resolution. He demonstrates an insensitivity to the medical needs of people who are suffering, sensationalizes the misconduct of prescription drug abusers and attempts to reduce these complex issues into an attack on a single company. In contrast, as the facts clearly demonstrate, Purdue Pharma has taken a leadership role, both in developing important medications to treat patients' pain and in combating prescription drug abuse."

Do you have a response to that?

MEIER: I do.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and Purdue, certainly, is, too. People who read the back can make up their own minds.

O'BRIEN: All right. Tell me about the solutions. What needs to be done to try to stem this burgeoning problem?

MEIER: I think doctors need to know more about pain treatment and substance abuse. They need to monitor their patients, they talk to their patients. Regulators need to track the prescribing of these drugs.

I think that there's a whole host of changes that need to be made, some of which are being made now, others that really do need to be made to prevent a similar drug from being involved in a similar situation.

O'BRIEN: Barry Meier is the reporter who first brought this whole situation to the attention of all of us. He wrote the book "Painkiller: The True Story of a Prescription Drug Disaster." We thank you very much for being with us on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

MEIER: Thanks for your having me. I really appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: Home from Iraq and into the tuxedo shop? Find out how this soldier is spending his two weeks of R&R. A very worthwhile use of time.

And Wolf Blitzer, even when he's off, he is part of the show. Behind the wheel this time. Here's a hint. Would you like to buy a vowel? We'll take a spin when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked, "prior to the current war in Iraq, when was the last time U.S. troops received a vacation during their wartime service?" The answer, the Vietnam War. The last Americans evacuated when the South Vietnamese surrendered to the Communists on April 30, 1975.

Last week, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS introduced you to one of about 200 American soldiers back from Iraq for a few weeks of well earned R&R. We caught up with Specialist Adrian Dupree this week trading his combat boots for patent leather.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Home at last, for now. One week ago, Adrian Dupree set foot on U.S. soil for the first time in seven months.

SPEC. ADRIAN DUPREE, U.S. ARMY: It felt great just to get out of the whole environment over there. It is dangerous. It is good to be back.

O'BRIEN: Dupree is an army human resource specialist helping soldiers feel as comfortable and stable as possible in an environment that is often anything but.

DUPREE: Baghdad has an electricity problem and everything. So, we went through everything they were going through being in the same town, the same country. So we went -- everything they didn't have, we didn't have. Us military folks didn't have it no better.

O'BRIEN: Now that he's home one more week in Baltimore, Dupree is focused on a different kind of mission: operation wedding preps, first stop, the tuxedo shop with his father. And a proud one at that, who understands why his son's stay has to be so short.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a job to do. When he finishes his obligations he can come home and we can put the house back together once again.

O'BRIEN: A house that tonight gains another member.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Well, right about now Specialist Dupree is walking down the aisle. Join us Monday for wedding highlights. We'll see how the newlyweds plan to spend the remainder of the Dupree's R&R.

Still to come, time to weigh in on our question of the day. Do the allegation that is surfaced this week about Arnold Schwarzenegger change your opinion of him? Vote now at CNN.com/wolf. Just a little bit of time left. The results for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. Web question time. The question we posed, "do the allegations that surfaced this week about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past change your opinion of him in any way?" Here are the percentages for you, 27 percent of you say yes, 73 percent say no. Didn't change your mind a bit.

Well he's not here today, but our own Wolf Blitzer popping up in some unusual places, as he always is. Here's your case in point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT SAJAK, HOST, "WHEEL OF FORTUNE": Yes, there is a C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Y?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: M?

SAJAK: No. Susanne?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to solve.

SAJAK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: All right. She got it. She got it, congratulations.

Obviously that's "Wheel of Fortune," check your local listings.

Thanks for joining us, I'm Miles O'Brien.

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