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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Over 1,000 Firefighters Battling Blaze in California; Interview With Jay Rockefeller

Aired October 24, 2003 - 17:00   ET

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

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's happening right now, smoke stretching into the sky. Take a look at this. You're looking live at the inferno, more than 1,000, yes more than 1,000 firefighters are battling a real danger in Southern California, expanding fires, ominous smoke, look at this creeping close to residential areas.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Wildfire, a raging blaze closes in on hundreds of homes in California.

The case for war, a scathing report on sloppy intelligence, I'll speak with Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller.

Grenada plus 20, a daring raid becomes a desperate battle, a Delta Force commando looks back.

Race against time, coal miners are trapped half a mile underground and the water is rising.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's Friday, October 24, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.

Wildfire burning out of control right now with flames licking literally at the doorsteps of a Southern California suburb, this is the scene in Rancho Cucamonga where hundreds of homes are threatened. You're looking at live pictures from a helicopter over this area.

Residents have been ordered out while more than 1,000 firefighters are trying to get a handle on this dangerous blaze, also threatened power lines that supply one quarter of the electricity to Los Angeles County. It's a dangerous situation that has the potential to become a full fledged disaster as one news crew found out firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys the fire has just jumped. It's pretty close to the van there on the left-hand side so we might want to have to think about moving pretty soon here. All right, we're going to -- we think we're going to move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Fortunately that truck and that reporter, the crew, they managed to get out OK.

Let's go live now to the fire line. CNN's Miguel Marquez, he's on the front lines. He's in Rancho Cucamonga about 40 miles east of downtown L.A. Miguel, tell us what's happening.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's happening is there's a lot of fire out here, Wolf. Over 1,000 residents overnight were evacuated and another 1,000 residents or so today were evacuated by three other communities here.

It's a brand new community out here in Rancho Cucamonga with lots of tract homes. People from here pretty much go to L.A. to work. I'm hearing reports that some of the smoke and the debris that's coming down from this fire is now landing in Hollywood which is, as you said, probably 30 or 40 miles away. Power lines are threatened. Hundreds of homes are threatened and the numbers of firefighters are starting to build in this area.

Can we talk? I want to bring somebody in here if it's possible, although he seems to be a little busy. Go ahead take care of your stuff. I can tell you the power lines in the distance here that are threatening right now are supplying about 25 percent of the power to Los Angeles County.

Helicopters have been working this all day. Part of the problem of four firefighters today is that the Santa Ana winds, these north northeast winds that are blowing toward Rancho Cucamonga are really driving this fire.

Tim Ferjeran you're a busy guy today I understand.

TIM FERJERAN, FIRE INVESTIGATOR: Yes, sir.

MARQUEZ: You are the operations manager or the staging manager.

FERJERAN: Staging area manager.

MARQUEZ: What does that mean exactly?

FERJERAN: Basically I'm in charge of checking equipment in making sure equipment gets deployed out where it's needed. I work directly with what we call our structure branch manager when they need particular engines or if they need a strike team of engines.

MARQUEZ: And they need those engines because?

FERJERAN: For the threat to the structures and the community.

MARQUEZ: How many areas are you guys working right now?

FERJERAN: Right now I'm assigned to the Rancho Cucamonga structure branch and we've got in that what we call different groups. We've got approximately four groups set up in the eastern half of the city and each group has straight teams deployed to it.

MARQUEZ: I take it this is a big fire?

FERJERAN: Yes, sir it is.

MARQUEZ: And how much is this stretching your resources?

FERJERAN: It's stretching resources real thin locally and, as you can tell by looking down at our structure area, excuse me our staging area, we've got units from all over Southern California and there have been units ordered down from Northern California so it's stretching the resources thin over a wide area.

MARQUEZ: OK, Time Ferjeran, thank you very much. We'll hopefully talk to you a little bit later.

Wolf, this fire, firefighters say they expect to be battling it for at least three more days before they can get a hold of it because of those stiff winds coming out of the north northeast -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And actually until now have any homes been destroyed, how many if that's the case? Do we have an estimate? How close is this fire to residential areas?

MARQUEZ: I talked to another firefighter out here this morning, an operations manager. He said that they had protected 125 homes. That means that the fire was threatening 125 homes.

On the top of the San Gabriel Mountains, which you can't see right now there are repeaters and antennas and structures of all sorts and there probably have been homes destroyed in the Lytle Canyon area.

The problem is firefighters and individuals can't get in there right now to assess what has been damaged but pretty much we're expecting a lot of damage before this thing is over -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And you're saying, Miguel, this is only 30 or 40 miles from L.A., not that far from Hollywood. Did you report, did I accurately hear you say that people in Hollywood and that part of Los Angeles are beginning to see the smoke and smell some of this?

MARQUEZ: When I left from Hollywood this morning you could see the smoke already blocking out the sun. That was the easy part but now a lot of the debris that you'll see falling around here has started to apparently land in parts of Los Angeles itself.

BLITZER: Miguel Marquez, stand by. We're going to be getting back to you. We're going to continue to cover this fire throughout this hour, indeed throughout the evening here on CNN. I want our viewers to stay with us on that.

But in the meantime there's another very important story we're covering today. Did U.S. intelligence grossly, yes grossly overestimate the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein and Iraq? A Senate committee is preparing a report which sources say will be scathing in its criticism but one of the targets of the criticism is standing his ground.

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor is joining us now. He's got a rare look at inside what's going on right now -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. In an exclusive interview with CNN at CIA headquarters the man in charge of writing the document the furor is about, the national intelligence estimate on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that was done before the war strongly defended its conclusions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): Stuart Cohen, Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA said he fears the political charges and counter charges may hurt the ability of U.S. intelligence to tell it like it really is to the president.

STUART COHEN, CIA OFFICIAL: I'm afraid. I worry constantly about their willingness to make the hard calls when we're being second guessed, second guessed in a process that is much too early.

David Kay needs to be allowed to do his work and when the time is right and when it is appropriate to reach conclusions we will reach them and they will be shared with the public. U.S. intelligence has done its job and done it well.

ENSOR: Cohen rejected arguments by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts that the intelligence on Iraqi WMD was "sloppy" and did not serve the president well.

Senate sources also say their review of what supported the case made in the NIE document and their interviews with over 100 intelligence professionals suggest the CIA relied on too much single source information and circumstantial evidence.

All of this is putting pressure on George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence. Republicans would rather see George Tenet take the blame for no weapons being found rather than George Bush.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Democrats want to expand the Senate committee's inquiry into whether some Bush administration officials from the vice president down may have skewed the intelligence on Iraq by badgering CIA analysts to support their views.

Cohen and other senior intelligence officials sharply disagree with that suggestion. As for Tenet, is he worried that he could take the fall for the failure to find Iraqi weapons? A senior intelligence official said Tenet serves at the president's pleasure and he is not worried that he has lost the president's confidence at this point, far from it -- Wolf. BLITZER: In fact most experts do agree that the president deeply relies and trusts George Tenet over at the CIA. But we're getting a new statement. You just received a new statement. Senator Pat Roberts, the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee based on this article that was a banner on the front page of the "Washington Post" this morning, what's he saying?

ENSOR: Well, he is saying that he thinks the article went too far that it mischaracterizes some of the things he said and uses them to support assertions and implications that are not accurate.

He says the article gives the impression that the committee has completed its review of the pre-war intelligence on Iraq and that isn't true. It implies that there is a completed committee report and that isn't true either.

So, Senator Pat Roberts here obviously a little concerned about suggestions that he's criticizing the CIA strongly before the report is finished, before the CIA has had a chance to defend itself before the committee.

BLITZER: All right, David Ensor thanks very much.

We're standing by to speak with Senator Jay Rockefeller. He's the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We're going to get to him very, very shortly.

But right now I want to go to Derek Bell. He's a helicopter pilot. He's flying over that area in Southern California that's been the scene of devastation, this horrible wildfire that seems to be escalating. If you can hear me, Derek, tell us what you're seeing. Let's see what you have.

DEREK BELL, KCAL REPORTER: We're showing you one of the hotspots now that has burned all the way through the San Bernardino National Forest from Fontana yesterday. It went into Rancho Cucamonga.

The latest word is 3,500 acres have burned. We have been watching that since that has been brought out. Many more at this time are afire. We're seeing a huge (unintelligible) of smoke that is going all the way from the England Empire (ph) here in Southern California over to the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley.

We understand that four firefighters have been injured. One building has been destroyed. The firefighters are using an aerial attack mainly on this fire. They're using the water-dropping helicopters down low and those aerial tankers up high but from our vantage point here in Sky 9 it appears they do not have the upper hand on this fire. It is still continuing to burn out of control.

This is Derek Bell live at Sky 9, back to you Wolf Blitzer in the studio.

BLITZER: Thanks very much Derek and we're going to be checking back with you and our other reporters covering this devastation, this wildfire that seems to be growing in Southern California throughout this hour.

But let's move back to this other very important story we've been covering. Did the Bush administration exaggerate the intelligence that the CIA had collected in order to justify going to war, just what conclusions are lawmakers drawing right now about the work of the U.S. intelligence community and the way that information was used by the Bush administration?

Joining us now from Capitol Hill the Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, he's the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Senator Rockefeller thanks very much for joining us.

We've heard now from Senator Roberts your chairman of this committee saying the article in the "Washington Post" was exaggerated. Give us some context. Tell us where you stand now in this investigation.

Senator Rockefeller can you hear me? Senator Rockefeller unfortunately can't hear me. We're going to fix that. Senator Rockefeller -- can you hear me now Senator Rockefeller? He can't hear me. We're going to fix that audio problem with Senator Rockefeller. We'll get back to him in a minute.

In the meantime let's move on and check what's happening at that donor's conference in Spain. They passed the hat for Iraq. Once again it seems to be coming back half empty in Madrid. That leaves U.S. taxpayers still picking up most of the tab for rebuilding Iraq.

Let's go live to Madrid and our Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar. Sheila, tell us what happened.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

Well today as you say a sort of a rolling high stakes telethon if you will with nations one by one stepping up to the microphone to announce just how much they were prepared to pledge to Iraq's reconstruction.

Let's take a look at some of the numbers, $1.5 billion in grants from Japan, $3.5 billion more in loans, $1 billion from Saudi Arabia, and smaller nations, nations that are themselves impoverished, nations like Nicaragua pledging to send a small contingent of doctors to help with Iraq's health care system.

All of this adds up to a number of about $33 billion they say. That includes the $20 billion already promised by the Bush administration not yet approved by Congress and that is a number that has made them very happy. They call this an enormous success, said that that was enough money to get Iraq's reconstruction moving.

One of the key issues going forward out of here, of course, is the question of how much would be given in grant, in other words just money given to Iraq, no expectation of it being repaid and how much of it is in loan. Iraq already carries a Saddam-era debt that is described as unsustainable and the question of loans today was very much on Secretary of State Colin Powell's mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're going to be very sensitive to the debt burden that is being placed on the Iraqi people. We have to restructure the old debt and be careful about the new debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: Now there's an additional issue here, of course, and that's how quickly this money will be made available to Iraq. We know from the experience coming out of the Afghanistan donor's conference following the war there that pledges were made. Some of those pledges were not kept. Sometimes that money arrives very late.

There was a warning today that Iraq needs the funds and needs the funds now in order to move forward. For the next year, 2004, Iraq will be heavily dependent on international assistance and, as you said, much of it coming from the United States -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sheila MacVicar in Madrid with that important story. Thanks Sheila very much.

Let's go back to Capitol Hill right now, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Rockefeller I hope you can hear me right now, can you?

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I can very well, thank you.

BLITZER: Excellent. Thanks very much, Senator Rockefeller. Give us some perspective. How big of a split is there in your committee, first of all, on whether or not the Bush administration exaggerated the intelligence that was available going into the war?

ROCKEFELLER: I don't want to really talk, think about a split in our committee. I want to think about what it is we can do together to make it work. We've got basically two pieces we have to do, Wolf.

One is that we have to analyze the intelligence that led up to the decision to go to war, just the intelligence itself and then apart from that we have to look at the use of that intelligence, whether it was shaped or manipulated or whatever or whether it was abused or misused by policymakers in leading to the decision for America to cast so much of its young people and treasure into a battle in Iraq.

BLITZER: Senator Rockefeller, your committee, the Intelligence Committee has a history of trying to avoid partisan splits, politics, intelligence gathering too important an issue for politics, at least that's the history.

But right now it looks like the Democrats seem to be blaming the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense and the Republicans seem to be blaming George Tenet and the bureaucrats, the intelligence analysts and others at the CIA. Is that a fair assessment?

ROCKEFELLER: No, I don't think it is and I don't want it to be. I don't want people to think that it is. This is not about blame. This is about accountability. This is about truth. This is about fact-finding and it's got to be on both sides of the issue.

There's enough blame to go around for everybody on this, Wolf, I'm sure including the Congress but we have to look at the intelligence. That report is being written. It is not yet finished. There are a number of documents that still have to be received in order to complete that report, in order for us to look at that report just about weapons of mass destruction and the intelligence associated with that.

And then there's the further problem and matter, which is in the committee's jurisdiction under the rules of the Senate, the use of that intelligence. How is that intelligence used? Was it shaded? Was it manipulated? Was it used to cause people to be able to say things that they wanted to say in the first place and somehow the intelligence community is a part of that or perhaps was not.

We don't know that but looking at both the intelligence and the use of the intelligence is the honorable and honest duty of our committee; otherwise, I don't know who is going to do it and I don't know how we're going to get to the truth. This is not about blame. This is about facts and accountability.

BLITZER: Very briefly though, Senator, is there a bottom line conclusion based on the preliminary information you've concluded with right now that the intelligence going into the war was at a minimal sloppy?

ROCKEFELLER: I don't want to use that word, Wolf, and the reason I don't want to use it is because we have not even seen the report. The report is now being done by staff. It's going from junior staff to senior staff. It will then come to us. This is just the weapons of mass destruction intelligence report and then it will come to us.

We've both, Pat Roberts and I, have said that George Tenet could come before the committee or his representative and to give the CIA counterpoint to what it is we have to say, which is a fair thing to do and which is normally done.

So, I'm not going to draw conclusions. I think there were gaps in the intelligence and I think there were mistakes in the intelligence. I don't think any watchful person would ignore that but that's not to condemn totally nor is it to talk about use to condemn the White House. It's simply to be able to ask questions, to learn things that we do not yet know and which are held.

Look there are only a very few people that deal in intelligence in this country and yet we went to war. Our people are committed to it. Our young people are dying from it. Enormous amounts of money are going to it. We have to get this right. Intelligence has changed since 9/11 and we have to do it right and we better start now.

BLITZER: And if you don't learn from the mistakes that were made you are bound to repeat them. Senator Rockefeller thanks very much for joining us.

ROCKEFELLER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And just to reiterate, the chairman of the committee, Senator Pat Roberts did say the committee is working diligently to complete its work but our goal, he says, is completeness and accuracy not speed.

More deadly attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq today, Central Command saying a soldier with the 101st Airborne was killed in a small arms fire attack in the northern city of Mosul.

The 4th Infantry Division says two of its soldiers were killed and four wounded when mortar rounds were fired into a base near Samarra. Earlier, 13 U.S. soldiers were wounded in a mortar attack near Baquba (ph).

Jessica Lynch was badly injured in the line of duty but a new report about how the government is compensating her is raising some eyebrows. We'll tell you why. That's coming up next.

Also ahead, kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart finally tells her story. She's telling it right now on camera.

And find out who upset Princess Diana's two sons so much they're publicly accusing him of a cold and overt betrayal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER (voice-over): Where did the Concorde land on its first commercial trans-Atlantic flight, Atlanta, New York, Washington, Chicago," the answer coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

They're both former POWs. They both were wounded and they've both been granted disability payments but the "Washington Post" reports Jessica Lynch may receive more than twice as much money as fellow soldier Shoshana Johnson. Lynch is White. Johnson is Black. Johnson's family has called in civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON: Shoshana Johnson was actually shot and in captivity 22 days and still physically injured and emotionally going through highs and lows and she has been discharged with a $600 a month 30 percent disability and it does not correspond to the nature of her injury physically or emotionally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go live to CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr to see what the U.S. Army is saying about all of this -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the Army will not discuss the specific monetary disability compensation payments for either of these women citing privacy concerns but what they will talk about are the very different circumstances each of these women currently find themselves in.

Let's talk about Jessica Lynch first, all of this according to Army officials. Now officially Jessica Lynch is not actually retired from the U.S. Army. She is on what is called the temporary disability retired list. She could be in this status for five years.

She will undergo periodic medical review, medical evaluation to determine if her disabilities have essentially stabilized. Is she in the best condition she possibly will be in and then at that time there will be a permanent decision about what type, how much disability compensation she will receive. Nothing, the Army tells us, has been decided for Jessica Lynch on a permanent basis.

Now, Shoshana Johnson, she is in a different situation. She, according to the Army, has gone before a medical review board for a permanent medical disability retirement. Again, the Army will not say exactly how much but hers is a permanent determination. She is already past the temporary status that Jessica Lynch finds herself in.

However, if Shoshana Johnson's physical condition were to deteriorate over the coming years she, like any Army veteran, would have the right to go back before an appeals board. Say that she finds herself in a different medical condition, an appeal perhaps for additional compensation payment. So, the Army says each of these women find themselves in a very different situation.

In a statement from the Army today, officials are reiterating that all of these decisions are made solely on the basis of a medical evaluation. What the Army says is "there are other soldiers who are going through the same process and the Army treats them with the same respect regardless of race, gender, or religious preference, the Army making it very clear that in their view all of these situations are based solely on a medical evaluation -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon thanks very much.

A Utah teenager is talking publicly about her abduction by a man who allegedly held her for nine months as his second wife. Elizabeth Smart was snatched from her Salt Lake City bedroom 16 months ago in March. Police found her with her suspected kidnapper. Did the ordeal change her?

Smart told NBC's "The Today Show": "No, I mean I think there are some things different about me but I think I'm pretty much the same person." Her mother, Lois Smart, says of Elizabeth being tethered with a cable by her captor.

"One time he didn't put the cable back on her and so Elizabeth tried to slip away and, of course, he came running after her and threatened her. Where are you going? And always telling her that, you know, I can kill you. I can kill your family, don't do it. Don't leave."

Another delay in the murder trial of Scott Peterson that story tops today's Justice Report. His preliminary hearing is being postponed for the fourth time once again because his attorney has a trial conflict but this time it's only a one day delay. The hearing is now scheduled for next Wednesday. Peterson is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn child.

And a rousing, yes a rousing show of support by Lakers fans for Kobe Bryant facing trial on a sexual assault charge. The sellout crowd at last night's home game repeatedly cheered for Bryant and chanted his name. Some fans waved homemade signs showing support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOBE BRYANT: Crowd support, you know, means a lot the fact that they're supporting me, standing behind my family. That's a lot and it's so good to be back out there playing and competing, playing the game. So, I mean it was enjoyable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bryant's trial is expected to start sometime next spring.

Royal righteous indignation, the sons of Princess Diana lash back in their mother's name.

And in the line of fire, literally, still to come Southern California in flames again. We'll go there live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

A royal backlash in Britain. Prince William -- Princes William and Harry, that is, have some harsh words for a former butler after a week of controversial revelations from his new book about the late Princess Diana. Paul Burrell claims Diana feared a plot to kill her in a car crash; that Prince Phillip said he never thought Prince Charles would leave her for Camilla Parker Bowles. And in an excerpt published today, Burrell alleges Diana was less than certain about a relationship with Dodi Fayed, who died along with Diana. Those revelations prompted an unprecedented response today from Diana's sons.

Speaking for both in a statement, Prince William said this, "We cannot believe that Paul, who was entrusted with so much, could abuse his positions in such a cold and overt betrayal. It is not only deeply painful for the two of us, but also for everyone else affected and it would mortify our mother if she were alive today."

Joining us now from Madrid with more on Diana and the probe into her death, Christopher Dickey. He's the Paris bureau chief for "Newsweek" magazine. He covered death of Princess Diana when it happened -- so four years ago.

Chris, thanks very much for joining us.

Isn't it at all possible -- and you've looked at this investigation about as closely as any reporter has -- that there could have been some conspiracy, some plot to kill Princess Diana?

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, PARIS BUREAU CHIEF, NEWSWEEK: No, that's very unlikely indeed.

I think that Princess Diana, in 1996, when she wrote that letter, felt an awful lot of pressure. She was worried; she had just gotten divorce, she was in a series of difficult relationships. And she felt that she was getting some of her strength back as a person, but somehow it was all going to be taken away from her. And I think basically you would have to look at that letter that was published on Monday as kind of a paranoid letter. And I think that's probably the way it was regarded even by Burrell when he received it.

BLITZER: Because, as you know, there are a lot of people out there who think it's an uncanny coincidence that she was basically foreseeing what would happen to her. And some people are suggesting that the coincidence may be too far-fetched, especially since Mohammed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, has been saying for years that there was a plot against Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

DICKEY: Well, Wolf, as a matter of fact I called up Mohammed Al Fayed after that was published and I talked to him about this. And yes, of course, he thinks that it's a great indication that there was a plot. But his own version of the plot is one that's based on the idea that there was this racist hatred in the royal family for his son, Dodi Al Fayed, because he was a Muslim and an Egyptian, and that in order to stop Diana from marrying Dodi, the royal family, or people in the royal family, would have killed Diana and Dodi and did.

That's, of course, his version of events. There's very, very little to substantiate that. Every bit of forensic evidence that's been looked at closely has failed to support that contention. But Mohammed Al Fayed just doesn't want to let it go and he pays a lot of money to a lot of private investigators to pull in every possible rumor, every possible idea that will keep that story alive.

BLITZER: With the exception of what he's doing, the investigation that Mohammed Al Fayed is underwriting, if you will, are there investigations under way by the French government, the British government? Any serious investigations, as far as you know?

DICKEY: Well, I think one problem is that the British inquest into the event has been held up for so long. In fact, it's been six years since Diana died. And you're looking at a situation where people are saying, Why don't the British go ahead with the inquest? They give various reasons, but most people are not convinced by them. They're bureaucratic explanations. And that -- that lends credence to the idea that there's some sort of cover-up.

But the French investigators, for their part, looked very thoroughly at all the details, and they concluded it was basically a case of -- the head of Ritz security, the man who was driving the car, wanting to ingratiate himself with Dodi and with Diana, and also drinking too much and driving too fast, got into a situation he couldn't control and got them all killed.

BLITZER: We all remember those initial reports, when you were on the phone. Christopher Dickey, the Paris chief of "Newsweek" magazine. He's been covering this story, literally, from the first moments that it exploded, some four years ago. Thanks very much for spending a few moments with us.

Blazing California. Flames just feet away from hundreds of homes. More than 1,000 firefighters are fighting this blaze. Families are forced to evacuate. We'll go there live.

And inside an invasion. A daring raid 20 years ago today, a Delta Force commander takes us there.

And the final flight of a modern marvel. We'll take you inside the Concorde on its last flight.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARION ASNES, MONEY MAGAZINE, SENIOR EDITOR: Palm Springs is once more a happening place as a vacation destination. We tend to think of it as a place for golfers and certainly it has an incredible assortment of golf courses. You have the Joshua Tree National Park right nearby. You can enjoy many of the fantastic spas that have opened up in the Palm Springs area.

But it is also now, because of its new historic district, the home of some really happening mid-century modern architecture. And in these mid-century hotels, you can get some great deals on accommodations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More now on our top story, the Southern California wildfire, where a wall of flame has scorched several thousand acres and driven thousands of people from their homes in suburban L.A. More than 1,400, yes, more than 1,400 firefighters are battling the wind- driven fire.

Joining us now by phone with a progress report, Don Garwood, he's the deputy incident command of the Southern California Interagency Incident Management Team. Thanks very much, Mr. Garwood, for joining us. What's the latest? What's happening right now? DON GARWOOD, SO. CAL. INCIDENT DEP. COMMANDER: Well, as you may be able to see, we have numerous strike teams of engines from all over this state who have come together to work on this fire in Southern California. For the most part, we are doing structure protection, and secondarily, we're doing some perimeter control, as the weather is allowing us.

BLITZER: How close is this fire to actual homes, and how many homes, if any, have already burned down?

GARWOOD: I do not have the exact number of homes that have burned down, but the fire has proceeded into neighborhoods.

BLITZER: Have there been any -- have there been any injuries yet?

GARWOOD: To my knowledge, we've had no injuries of firefighters. We are collecting information and -- I don't currently have any information on how many people have been injured, if there have been any.

BLITZER: Does it seem -- does it seem to be the case that the 1,400 firefighters are making progress, or is this fire escalating, growing?

GARWOOD: We're prepared for another two days of Santa Ana winds here. And we -- we are so far making good progress. But the weather determines a lot of how things work out.

BLITZER: Well, good luck, Mr. Garwood. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the firefighters fighting this blaze in Southern California. Good luck to all the people in the suburbs of L.A. as well.

Inside an invasion, what happened 20 years ago today, as U.S. Special Forces were approaching a new enemy. I'll speak live with the Delta Force commander who was there.

And inside the Concorde on its final flight. What happened and who was on the trip, as the supersonic jet took to the skies for the very last time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Twenty years ago tomorrow, as the United States was reeling from a terror attack in Lebanon, the U.S. military launched a combined forces invasion of Grenade. For some of America's most elite troops, that confrontation in the Caribbean led to some desperate hours.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER (voice-over): October 25, 1983, a small island north of Venezuela becomes a major battlefield in the Cold War. Just two days earlier, hundreds of U.S. Marines had been killed by a suicide bomber in Beirut. President Ronald Reagan and his advisers, in no mood to back down from confrontation.

In Grenada, they get it. A Marxist regime on the island has been overthrown by an even more menacing group of military officers. The new leadership, allied with communist Cuba, is a serious threat in the eyes of American policy makers.

The military objective, prevent that regime from gaining a foothold and rescue hundreds of American medical students on Grenada.

One mission, captured on grainy amateur home video from a resident's back deck, goes poorly. Delta Force troops, in a small cordon of helicopters, approach a forested ridge to assault a prison and free some political detainees. Cuban and Grenadan troops see them coming, blast away and hit a Blackhawk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

BLITZER: We can barely make out the Blackhawk going down, the fuselage hitting the water. The pilot is killed. More than a dozen men are wounded. The other American helicopters scatter. Later, the Americans left behind get help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We already checked. I don't know what he's doing back there. You know they got a rocket launcher on that hill.

BLITZER: Their comrades, who dispersed, return. You can't see them dropping from their chopper with no ropes, but you hear a narration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Men are going down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're dropping men.

BLITZER: Reinforced, Delta commandos hold off the Cubans and Grenadans, secure the beach and get their wounded out.

Offshore, aboard the USS Guam, the Delta Force assault troop commander, Captain Jeffrey Beatty, has head and knee injuries, but lives to tell the tale.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: He survived that desperate battle, and today Jeffrey Beatty is joining us live from Tucson, Arizona. The Delta Force assault troop commander went on to work with the FBI and the CIA, and he now heads Totalsecurity.us, a firm active in anti-terrorism consulting. Jeffrey Beatty, take us back inside that Delta Force mission. Tell us about what happened behind enemy lines?

JEFFREY BEATTY, FORMER DELTA FORCE COMMANDER: Well, it was interesting, Wolf. And very few people are aware of the fact that this was actually the first Blackhawk down. And as your piece accurately captured, it was an awful bad morning. And when that first helicopter went down, the people that videoed it, they all had the impression that no one could have survived that. The other helicopter departed the area because it too had wounded on board. It was pretty badly shot up. And they left regretfully, thinking that 16 of their comrades had perished in that crash.

As we found out, as we were able to make communication with them later, I've got to tell you, I was absolutely moved at how that remainder of the Delta contingent responded to come back in and get us out.

BLITZER: A lot of people go back to Grenada. I remember covering it, that suggest the planning going into the assault was not very good.

BEATTY: Well, I got to tell you, Wolf, you know, we did that whole plan over a weekend. And it was all about rescuing the American medical students. You have to remember that the times, as I'm sure you do. President Reagan was certainly not going to put himself in a position that President Carter had been in involving American hostages. And these 1,000 American medical students were being held on a shoot-on-site curfew. You know, nobody could leave the campus. We tried to get them out peacefully. We even told the Grenadians we were coming and didn't intend to fire upon them if they would just let us get our people out.

So as you said, even in the wake of Beirut, the president was not going to stand by and let 1,000 Americans be held against their will, and so in we went.

BLITZER: Did you think you'd survive that battle?

BEATTY: At the beginning, I didn't think that things looked all that well. The crash was pretty severe. We had 16 wounded. I've got to comment on the heroism of the folks over in that aircraft. We had about two able-bodied people who established a blocking force. The rest of the group helped each other tend to their wounds.

And then finally, as you can hear on the narration, we established with a survival radio contact with the remnants of Delta, who came back in and literally, Wolf, stepped out into thin air and fell 30 to 40 feet, allowing the trees to break their fall, no ropes, no rappelling ropes, no nothing. Picked themselves up, helped us evacuate the wounded, put in a good blocking position, and that was the start of our day.

BLITZER: You were a young U.S. Army captain. There was a young major there with you as well who's very much in the news today. A lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, Lieutenant General Boykin, who's has made some controversial comments about Muslims. What do you remember about his role 20 years ago today?

BEATTY: Twenty years ago, Jerry Boykin was a tireless planner. He was an excellent operations officer for delta. What I hope Americans understand is Boykin rode in on that mission and to help come to the aid of his countrymen and for his troubles that day he took a 51 caliber Russian anti-aircraft round through this shoulder fired by Cuban or Grenadian gunners. That's Jerry Boykin.

BLITZER: All right, Jeffrey Beatty, good to spend some time with you. Always good to get your insight. Thanks for reflecting 20 years ago. A lot of people have forgotten about Grenade, you obviously have not.

A supersonic farewell to a technological marvel. The delta wing Concorde flies into the history books, bringing an era of travel faster than the speed of sound to a thunderous halt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier, we asked "where did the Concorde land on its first commercial Trans-Atlantic flight?" The answer Washington D.C.. The flight landed on May 24, 1976, at Washington's Dulles airport.

It was once the thing that aviation dreams are made of. Now, the Concorde is a museum piece. The supersonic passenger jet made its final Trans-Atlantic flight today, New York to London, compliments of British Airways. Richard Quest was aboard for the star-studded ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In aviation world, today was tinged with sadness and celebration. On the plus side, the celebration of three decades of supersonic travel across the Atlantic. Concorde, being the only vehicle to get from New York to London in just three one-half hours has been retired because it no longer made economic sense.

The sadness, of course, there's nothing to replace it. So on board the flight from New York the celebrities, including the actress Joan Collins, the model Christi Brinkley. Television interviewer, Sir David Frost all rubbed shoulder to shoulder quite literally in the cramped quarters of Speed Bird 002 with the journalists like myself to record the event.

The captains of industry, those like Lord Marshall, the chairman of British Airways, rubbing shoulders to shoulders in the cramped quarters of Speed Bird 002. And then enjoying the steak, the lobster and of course, the omelets with truffles.

And then there were thousands of people who came to Heathrow Airport in London, to see the three Concordes arrive, one from Scotland, one from a trip over the Bay of Biscayne and finally the one from New York. The end of an era. Richard Quest, CNN, Heathrow Airport, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And more now about the Concorde. It travels at twice the speed of sound. It made its first supersonic flight in 1969, flying at 60,000 feet. It was first used for commercial service in 1976. The Concorde fleet has made just under 50,000 flights.

A frantic attempt to save several miners trapped by freezing waters. The rescue efforts happening right now. We'll have a report. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: It's a race against time in Russia. Forty-six men are trapped in a rapidly flooding coal mine and a desperate effort is going on right now to reach them. The drama started more than 24 hours ago about 600 miles south of Moscow when water broke through a neighboring abandoned shaft. 25 miners managed to escape.

Now rescuers are scrambling to reach the trapped men. Good luck to them.

A reminder, we're on weekdays, Monday through Friday 5:00 pm Eastern, also noon Eastern. I'll see you Sunday on "LATE EDITION" the last word in Sunday talk. Among my guests this Sunday, the Secretary of State Colin Powell. Noon Eastern. "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





Interview With Jay Rockefeller>


Aired October 24, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's happening right now, smoke stretching into the sky. Take a look at this. You're looking live at the inferno, more than 1,000, yes more than 1,000 firefighters are battling a real danger in Southern California, expanding fires, ominous smoke, look at this creeping close to residential areas.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Wildfire, a raging blaze closes in on hundreds of homes in California.

The case for war, a scathing report on sloppy intelligence, I'll speak with Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller.

Grenada plus 20, a daring raid becomes a desperate battle, a Delta Force commando looks back.

Race against time, coal miners are trapped half a mile underground and the water is rising.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's Friday, October 24, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.

Wildfire burning out of control right now with flames licking literally at the doorsteps of a Southern California suburb, this is the scene in Rancho Cucamonga where hundreds of homes are threatened. You're looking at live pictures from a helicopter over this area.

Residents have been ordered out while more than 1,000 firefighters are trying to get a handle on this dangerous blaze, also threatened power lines that supply one quarter of the electricity to Los Angeles County. It's a dangerous situation that has the potential to become a full fledged disaster as one news crew found out firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys the fire has just jumped. It's pretty close to the van there on the left-hand side so we might want to have to think about moving pretty soon here. All right, we're going to -- we think we're going to move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Fortunately that truck and that reporter, the crew, they managed to get out OK.

Let's go live now to the fire line. CNN's Miguel Marquez, he's on the front lines. He's in Rancho Cucamonga about 40 miles east of downtown L.A. Miguel, tell us what's happening.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's happening is there's a lot of fire out here, Wolf. Over 1,000 residents overnight were evacuated and another 1,000 residents or so today were evacuated by three other communities here.

It's a brand new community out here in Rancho Cucamonga with lots of tract homes. People from here pretty much go to L.A. to work. I'm hearing reports that some of the smoke and the debris that's coming down from this fire is now landing in Hollywood which is, as you said, probably 30 or 40 miles away. Power lines are threatened. Hundreds of homes are threatened and the numbers of firefighters are starting to build in this area.

Can we talk? I want to bring somebody in here if it's possible, although he seems to be a little busy. Go ahead take care of your stuff. I can tell you the power lines in the distance here that are threatening right now are supplying about 25 percent of the power to Los Angeles County.

Helicopters have been working this all day. Part of the problem of four firefighters today is that the Santa Ana winds, these north northeast winds that are blowing toward Rancho Cucamonga are really driving this fire.

Tim Ferjeran you're a busy guy today I understand.

TIM FERJERAN, FIRE INVESTIGATOR: Yes, sir.

MARQUEZ: You are the operations manager or the staging manager.

FERJERAN: Staging area manager.

MARQUEZ: What does that mean exactly?

FERJERAN: Basically I'm in charge of checking equipment in making sure equipment gets deployed out where it's needed. I work directly with what we call our structure branch manager when they need particular engines or if they need a strike team of engines.

MARQUEZ: And they need those engines because?

FERJERAN: For the threat to the structures and the community.

MARQUEZ: How many areas are you guys working right now?

FERJERAN: Right now I'm assigned to the Rancho Cucamonga structure branch and we've got in that what we call different groups. We've got approximately four groups set up in the eastern half of the city and each group has straight teams deployed to it.

MARQUEZ: I take it this is a big fire?

FERJERAN: Yes, sir it is.

MARQUEZ: And how much is this stretching your resources?

FERJERAN: It's stretching resources real thin locally and, as you can tell by looking down at our structure area, excuse me our staging area, we've got units from all over Southern California and there have been units ordered down from Northern California so it's stretching the resources thin over a wide area.

MARQUEZ: OK, Time Ferjeran, thank you very much. We'll hopefully talk to you a little bit later.

Wolf, this fire, firefighters say they expect to be battling it for at least three more days before they can get a hold of it because of those stiff winds coming out of the north northeast -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And actually until now have any homes been destroyed, how many if that's the case? Do we have an estimate? How close is this fire to residential areas?

MARQUEZ: I talked to another firefighter out here this morning, an operations manager. He said that they had protected 125 homes. That means that the fire was threatening 125 homes.

On the top of the San Gabriel Mountains, which you can't see right now there are repeaters and antennas and structures of all sorts and there probably have been homes destroyed in the Lytle Canyon area.

The problem is firefighters and individuals can't get in there right now to assess what has been damaged but pretty much we're expecting a lot of damage before this thing is over -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And you're saying, Miguel, this is only 30 or 40 miles from L.A., not that far from Hollywood. Did you report, did I accurately hear you say that people in Hollywood and that part of Los Angeles are beginning to see the smoke and smell some of this?

MARQUEZ: When I left from Hollywood this morning you could see the smoke already blocking out the sun. That was the easy part but now a lot of the debris that you'll see falling around here has started to apparently land in parts of Los Angeles itself.

BLITZER: Miguel Marquez, stand by. We're going to be getting back to you. We're going to continue to cover this fire throughout this hour, indeed throughout the evening here on CNN. I want our viewers to stay with us on that.

But in the meantime there's another very important story we're covering today. Did U.S. intelligence grossly, yes grossly overestimate the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein and Iraq? A Senate committee is preparing a report which sources say will be scathing in its criticism but one of the targets of the criticism is standing his ground.

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor is joining us now. He's got a rare look at inside what's going on right now -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. In an exclusive interview with CNN at CIA headquarters the man in charge of writing the document the furor is about, the national intelligence estimate on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that was done before the war strongly defended its conclusions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): Stuart Cohen, Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA said he fears the political charges and counter charges may hurt the ability of U.S. intelligence to tell it like it really is to the president.

STUART COHEN, CIA OFFICIAL: I'm afraid. I worry constantly about their willingness to make the hard calls when we're being second guessed, second guessed in a process that is much too early.

David Kay needs to be allowed to do his work and when the time is right and when it is appropriate to reach conclusions we will reach them and they will be shared with the public. U.S. intelligence has done its job and done it well.

ENSOR: Cohen rejected arguments by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts that the intelligence on Iraqi WMD was "sloppy" and did not serve the president well.

Senate sources also say their review of what supported the case made in the NIE document and their interviews with over 100 intelligence professionals suggest the CIA relied on too much single source information and circumstantial evidence.

All of this is putting pressure on George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence. Republicans would rather see George Tenet take the blame for no weapons being found rather than George Bush.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Democrats want to expand the Senate committee's inquiry into whether some Bush administration officials from the vice president down may have skewed the intelligence on Iraq by badgering CIA analysts to support their views.

Cohen and other senior intelligence officials sharply disagree with that suggestion. As for Tenet, is he worried that he could take the fall for the failure to find Iraqi weapons? A senior intelligence official said Tenet serves at the president's pleasure and he is not worried that he has lost the president's confidence at this point, far from it -- Wolf. BLITZER: In fact most experts do agree that the president deeply relies and trusts George Tenet over at the CIA. But we're getting a new statement. You just received a new statement. Senator Pat Roberts, the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee based on this article that was a banner on the front page of the "Washington Post" this morning, what's he saying?

ENSOR: Well, he is saying that he thinks the article went too far that it mischaracterizes some of the things he said and uses them to support assertions and implications that are not accurate.

He says the article gives the impression that the committee has completed its review of the pre-war intelligence on Iraq and that isn't true. It implies that there is a completed committee report and that isn't true either.

So, Senator Pat Roberts here obviously a little concerned about suggestions that he's criticizing the CIA strongly before the report is finished, before the CIA has had a chance to defend itself before the committee.

BLITZER: All right, David Ensor thanks very much.

We're standing by to speak with Senator Jay Rockefeller. He's the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We're going to get to him very, very shortly.

But right now I want to go to Derek Bell. He's a helicopter pilot. He's flying over that area in Southern California that's been the scene of devastation, this horrible wildfire that seems to be escalating. If you can hear me, Derek, tell us what you're seeing. Let's see what you have.

DEREK BELL, KCAL REPORTER: We're showing you one of the hotspots now that has burned all the way through the San Bernardino National Forest from Fontana yesterday. It went into Rancho Cucamonga.

The latest word is 3,500 acres have burned. We have been watching that since that has been brought out. Many more at this time are afire. We're seeing a huge (unintelligible) of smoke that is going all the way from the England Empire (ph) here in Southern California over to the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley.

We understand that four firefighters have been injured. One building has been destroyed. The firefighters are using an aerial attack mainly on this fire. They're using the water-dropping helicopters down low and those aerial tankers up high but from our vantage point here in Sky 9 it appears they do not have the upper hand on this fire. It is still continuing to burn out of control.

This is Derek Bell live at Sky 9, back to you Wolf Blitzer in the studio.

BLITZER: Thanks very much Derek and we're going to be checking back with you and our other reporters covering this devastation, this wildfire that seems to be growing in Southern California throughout this hour.

But let's move back to this other very important story we've been covering. Did the Bush administration exaggerate the intelligence that the CIA had collected in order to justify going to war, just what conclusions are lawmakers drawing right now about the work of the U.S. intelligence community and the way that information was used by the Bush administration?

Joining us now from Capitol Hill the Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, he's the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Senator Rockefeller thanks very much for joining us.

We've heard now from Senator Roberts your chairman of this committee saying the article in the "Washington Post" was exaggerated. Give us some context. Tell us where you stand now in this investigation.

Senator Rockefeller can you hear me? Senator Rockefeller unfortunately can't hear me. We're going to fix that. Senator Rockefeller -- can you hear me now Senator Rockefeller? He can't hear me. We're going to fix that audio problem with Senator Rockefeller. We'll get back to him in a minute.

In the meantime let's move on and check what's happening at that donor's conference in Spain. They passed the hat for Iraq. Once again it seems to be coming back half empty in Madrid. That leaves U.S. taxpayers still picking up most of the tab for rebuilding Iraq.

Let's go live to Madrid and our Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar. Sheila, tell us what happened.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

Well today as you say a sort of a rolling high stakes telethon if you will with nations one by one stepping up to the microphone to announce just how much they were prepared to pledge to Iraq's reconstruction.

Let's take a look at some of the numbers, $1.5 billion in grants from Japan, $3.5 billion more in loans, $1 billion from Saudi Arabia, and smaller nations, nations that are themselves impoverished, nations like Nicaragua pledging to send a small contingent of doctors to help with Iraq's health care system.

All of this adds up to a number of about $33 billion they say. That includes the $20 billion already promised by the Bush administration not yet approved by Congress and that is a number that has made them very happy. They call this an enormous success, said that that was enough money to get Iraq's reconstruction moving.

One of the key issues going forward out of here, of course, is the question of how much would be given in grant, in other words just money given to Iraq, no expectation of it being repaid and how much of it is in loan. Iraq already carries a Saddam-era debt that is described as unsustainable and the question of loans today was very much on Secretary of State Colin Powell's mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're going to be very sensitive to the debt burden that is being placed on the Iraqi people. We have to restructure the old debt and be careful about the new debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: Now there's an additional issue here, of course, and that's how quickly this money will be made available to Iraq. We know from the experience coming out of the Afghanistan donor's conference following the war there that pledges were made. Some of those pledges were not kept. Sometimes that money arrives very late.

There was a warning today that Iraq needs the funds and needs the funds now in order to move forward. For the next year, 2004, Iraq will be heavily dependent on international assistance and, as you said, much of it coming from the United States -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sheila MacVicar in Madrid with that important story. Thanks Sheila very much.

Let's go back to Capitol Hill right now, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Rockefeller I hope you can hear me right now, can you?

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I can very well, thank you.

BLITZER: Excellent. Thanks very much, Senator Rockefeller. Give us some perspective. How big of a split is there in your committee, first of all, on whether or not the Bush administration exaggerated the intelligence that was available going into the war?

ROCKEFELLER: I don't want to really talk, think about a split in our committee. I want to think about what it is we can do together to make it work. We've got basically two pieces we have to do, Wolf.

One is that we have to analyze the intelligence that led up to the decision to go to war, just the intelligence itself and then apart from that we have to look at the use of that intelligence, whether it was shaped or manipulated or whatever or whether it was abused or misused by policymakers in leading to the decision for America to cast so much of its young people and treasure into a battle in Iraq.

BLITZER: Senator Rockefeller, your committee, the Intelligence Committee has a history of trying to avoid partisan splits, politics, intelligence gathering too important an issue for politics, at least that's the history.

But right now it looks like the Democrats seem to be blaming the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense and the Republicans seem to be blaming George Tenet and the bureaucrats, the intelligence analysts and others at the CIA. Is that a fair assessment?

ROCKEFELLER: No, I don't think it is and I don't want it to be. I don't want people to think that it is. This is not about blame. This is about accountability. This is about truth. This is about fact-finding and it's got to be on both sides of the issue.

There's enough blame to go around for everybody on this, Wolf, I'm sure including the Congress but we have to look at the intelligence. That report is being written. It is not yet finished. There are a number of documents that still have to be received in order to complete that report, in order for us to look at that report just about weapons of mass destruction and the intelligence associated with that.

And then there's the further problem and matter, which is in the committee's jurisdiction under the rules of the Senate, the use of that intelligence. How is that intelligence used? Was it shaded? Was it manipulated? Was it used to cause people to be able to say things that they wanted to say in the first place and somehow the intelligence community is a part of that or perhaps was not.

We don't know that but looking at both the intelligence and the use of the intelligence is the honorable and honest duty of our committee; otherwise, I don't know who is going to do it and I don't know how we're going to get to the truth. This is not about blame. This is about facts and accountability.

BLITZER: Very briefly though, Senator, is there a bottom line conclusion based on the preliminary information you've concluded with right now that the intelligence going into the war was at a minimal sloppy?

ROCKEFELLER: I don't want to use that word, Wolf, and the reason I don't want to use it is because we have not even seen the report. The report is now being done by staff. It's going from junior staff to senior staff. It will then come to us. This is just the weapons of mass destruction intelligence report and then it will come to us.

We've both, Pat Roberts and I, have said that George Tenet could come before the committee or his representative and to give the CIA counterpoint to what it is we have to say, which is a fair thing to do and which is normally done.

So, I'm not going to draw conclusions. I think there were gaps in the intelligence and I think there were mistakes in the intelligence. I don't think any watchful person would ignore that but that's not to condemn totally nor is it to talk about use to condemn the White House. It's simply to be able to ask questions, to learn things that we do not yet know and which are held.

Look there are only a very few people that deal in intelligence in this country and yet we went to war. Our people are committed to it. Our young people are dying from it. Enormous amounts of money are going to it. We have to get this right. Intelligence has changed since 9/11 and we have to do it right and we better start now.

BLITZER: And if you don't learn from the mistakes that were made you are bound to repeat them. Senator Rockefeller thanks very much for joining us.

ROCKEFELLER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And just to reiterate, the chairman of the committee, Senator Pat Roberts did say the committee is working diligently to complete its work but our goal, he says, is completeness and accuracy not speed.

More deadly attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq today, Central Command saying a soldier with the 101st Airborne was killed in a small arms fire attack in the northern city of Mosul.

The 4th Infantry Division says two of its soldiers were killed and four wounded when mortar rounds were fired into a base near Samarra. Earlier, 13 U.S. soldiers were wounded in a mortar attack near Baquba (ph).

Jessica Lynch was badly injured in the line of duty but a new report about how the government is compensating her is raising some eyebrows. We'll tell you why. That's coming up next.

Also ahead, kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart finally tells her story. She's telling it right now on camera.

And find out who upset Princess Diana's two sons so much they're publicly accusing him of a cold and overt betrayal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER (voice-over): Where did the Concorde land on its first commercial trans-Atlantic flight, Atlanta, New York, Washington, Chicago," the answer coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

They're both former POWs. They both were wounded and they've both been granted disability payments but the "Washington Post" reports Jessica Lynch may receive more than twice as much money as fellow soldier Shoshana Johnson. Lynch is White. Johnson is Black. Johnson's family has called in civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON: Shoshana Johnson was actually shot and in captivity 22 days and still physically injured and emotionally going through highs and lows and she has been discharged with a $600 a month 30 percent disability and it does not correspond to the nature of her injury physically or emotionally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go live to CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr to see what the U.S. Army is saying about all of this -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the Army will not discuss the specific monetary disability compensation payments for either of these women citing privacy concerns but what they will talk about are the very different circumstances each of these women currently find themselves in.

Let's talk about Jessica Lynch first, all of this according to Army officials. Now officially Jessica Lynch is not actually retired from the U.S. Army. She is on what is called the temporary disability retired list. She could be in this status for five years.

She will undergo periodic medical review, medical evaluation to determine if her disabilities have essentially stabilized. Is she in the best condition she possibly will be in and then at that time there will be a permanent decision about what type, how much disability compensation she will receive. Nothing, the Army tells us, has been decided for Jessica Lynch on a permanent basis.

Now, Shoshana Johnson, she is in a different situation. She, according to the Army, has gone before a medical review board for a permanent medical disability retirement. Again, the Army will not say exactly how much but hers is a permanent determination. She is already past the temporary status that Jessica Lynch finds herself in.

However, if Shoshana Johnson's physical condition were to deteriorate over the coming years she, like any Army veteran, would have the right to go back before an appeals board. Say that she finds herself in a different medical condition, an appeal perhaps for additional compensation payment. So, the Army says each of these women find themselves in a very different situation.

In a statement from the Army today, officials are reiterating that all of these decisions are made solely on the basis of a medical evaluation. What the Army says is "there are other soldiers who are going through the same process and the Army treats them with the same respect regardless of race, gender, or religious preference, the Army making it very clear that in their view all of these situations are based solely on a medical evaluation -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon thanks very much.

A Utah teenager is talking publicly about her abduction by a man who allegedly held her for nine months as his second wife. Elizabeth Smart was snatched from her Salt Lake City bedroom 16 months ago in March. Police found her with her suspected kidnapper. Did the ordeal change her?

Smart told NBC's "The Today Show": "No, I mean I think there are some things different about me but I think I'm pretty much the same person." Her mother, Lois Smart, says of Elizabeth being tethered with a cable by her captor.

"One time he didn't put the cable back on her and so Elizabeth tried to slip away and, of course, he came running after her and threatened her. Where are you going? And always telling her that, you know, I can kill you. I can kill your family, don't do it. Don't leave."

Another delay in the murder trial of Scott Peterson that story tops today's Justice Report. His preliminary hearing is being postponed for the fourth time once again because his attorney has a trial conflict but this time it's only a one day delay. The hearing is now scheduled for next Wednesday. Peterson is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn child.

And a rousing, yes a rousing show of support by Lakers fans for Kobe Bryant facing trial on a sexual assault charge. The sellout crowd at last night's home game repeatedly cheered for Bryant and chanted his name. Some fans waved homemade signs showing support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOBE BRYANT: Crowd support, you know, means a lot the fact that they're supporting me, standing behind my family. That's a lot and it's so good to be back out there playing and competing, playing the game. So, I mean it was enjoyable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bryant's trial is expected to start sometime next spring.

Royal righteous indignation, the sons of Princess Diana lash back in their mother's name.

And in the line of fire, literally, still to come Southern California in flames again. We'll go there live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

A royal backlash in Britain. Prince William -- Princes William and Harry, that is, have some harsh words for a former butler after a week of controversial revelations from his new book about the late Princess Diana. Paul Burrell claims Diana feared a plot to kill her in a car crash; that Prince Phillip said he never thought Prince Charles would leave her for Camilla Parker Bowles. And in an excerpt published today, Burrell alleges Diana was less than certain about a relationship with Dodi Fayed, who died along with Diana. Those revelations prompted an unprecedented response today from Diana's sons.

Speaking for both in a statement, Prince William said this, "We cannot believe that Paul, who was entrusted with so much, could abuse his positions in such a cold and overt betrayal. It is not only deeply painful for the two of us, but also for everyone else affected and it would mortify our mother if she were alive today."

Joining us now from Madrid with more on Diana and the probe into her death, Christopher Dickey. He's the Paris bureau chief for "Newsweek" magazine. He covered death of Princess Diana when it happened -- so four years ago.

Chris, thanks very much for joining us.

Isn't it at all possible -- and you've looked at this investigation about as closely as any reporter has -- that there could have been some conspiracy, some plot to kill Princess Diana?

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, PARIS BUREAU CHIEF, NEWSWEEK: No, that's very unlikely indeed.

I think that Princess Diana, in 1996, when she wrote that letter, felt an awful lot of pressure. She was worried; she had just gotten divorce, she was in a series of difficult relationships. And she felt that she was getting some of her strength back as a person, but somehow it was all going to be taken away from her. And I think basically you would have to look at that letter that was published on Monday as kind of a paranoid letter. And I think that's probably the way it was regarded even by Burrell when he received it.

BLITZER: Because, as you know, there are a lot of people out there who think it's an uncanny coincidence that she was basically foreseeing what would happen to her. And some people are suggesting that the coincidence may be too far-fetched, especially since Mohammed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, has been saying for years that there was a plot against Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

DICKEY: Well, Wolf, as a matter of fact I called up Mohammed Al Fayed after that was published and I talked to him about this. And yes, of course, he thinks that it's a great indication that there was a plot. But his own version of the plot is one that's based on the idea that there was this racist hatred in the royal family for his son, Dodi Al Fayed, because he was a Muslim and an Egyptian, and that in order to stop Diana from marrying Dodi, the royal family, or people in the royal family, would have killed Diana and Dodi and did.

That's, of course, his version of events. There's very, very little to substantiate that. Every bit of forensic evidence that's been looked at closely has failed to support that contention. But Mohammed Al Fayed just doesn't want to let it go and he pays a lot of money to a lot of private investigators to pull in every possible rumor, every possible idea that will keep that story alive.

BLITZER: With the exception of what he's doing, the investigation that Mohammed Al Fayed is underwriting, if you will, are there investigations under way by the French government, the British government? Any serious investigations, as far as you know?

DICKEY: Well, I think one problem is that the British inquest into the event has been held up for so long. In fact, it's been six years since Diana died. And you're looking at a situation where people are saying, Why don't the British go ahead with the inquest? They give various reasons, but most people are not convinced by them. They're bureaucratic explanations. And that -- that lends credence to the idea that there's some sort of cover-up.

But the French investigators, for their part, looked very thoroughly at all the details, and they concluded it was basically a case of -- the head of Ritz security, the man who was driving the car, wanting to ingratiate himself with Dodi and with Diana, and also drinking too much and driving too fast, got into a situation he couldn't control and got them all killed.

BLITZER: We all remember those initial reports, when you were on the phone. Christopher Dickey, the Paris chief of "Newsweek" magazine. He's been covering this story, literally, from the first moments that it exploded, some four years ago. Thanks very much for spending a few moments with us.

Blazing California. Flames just feet away from hundreds of homes. More than 1,000 firefighters are fighting this blaze. Families are forced to evacuate. We'll go there live.

And inside an invasion. A daring raid 20 years ago today, a Delta Force commander takes us there.

And the final flight of a modern marvel. We'll take you inside the Concorde on its last flight.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARION ASNES, MONEY MAGAZINE, SENIOR EDITOR: Palm Springs is once more a happening place as a vacation destination. We tend to think of it as a place for golfers and certainly it has an incredible assortment of golf courses. You have the Joshua Tree National Park right nearby. You can enjoy many of the fantastic spas that have opened up in the Palm Springs area.

But it is also now, because of its new historic district, the home of some really happening mid-century modern architecture. And in these mid-century hotels, you can get some great deals on accommodations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More now on our top story, the Southern California wildfire, where a wall of flame has scorched several thousand acres and driven thousands of people from their homes in suburban L.A. More than 1,400, yes, more than 1,400 firefighters are battling the wind- driven fire.

Joining us now by phone with a progress report, Don Garwood, he's the deputy incident command of the Southern California Interagency Incident Management Team. Thanks very much, Mr. Garwood, for joining us. What's the latest? What's happening right now? DON GARWOOD, SO. CAL. INCIDENT DEP. COMMANDER: Well, as you may be able to see, we have numerous strike teams of engines from all over this state who have come together to work on this fire in Southern California. For the most part, we are doing structure protection, and secondarily, we're doing some perimeter control, as the weather is allowing us.

BLITZER: How close is this fire to actual homes, and how many homes, if any, have already burned down?

GARWOOD: I do not have the exact number of homes that have burned down, but the fire has proceeded into neighborhoods.

BLITZER: Have there been any -- have there been any injuries yet?

GARWOOD: To my knowledge, we've had no injuries of firefighters. We are collecting information and -- I don't currently have any information on how many people have been injured, if there have been any.

BLITZER: Does it seem -- does it seem to be the case that the 1,400 firefighters are making progress, or is this fire escalating, growing?

GARWOOD: We're prepared for another two days of Santa Ana winds here. And we -- we are so far making good progress. But the weather determines a lot of how things work out.

BLITZER: Well, good luck, Mr. Garwood. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the firefighters fighting this blaze in Southern California. Good luck to all the people in the suburbs of L.A. as well.

Inside an invasion, what happened 20 years ago today, as U.S. Special Forces were approaching a new enemy. I'll speak live with the Delta Force commander who was there.

And inside the Concorde on its final flight. What happened and who was on the trip, as the supersonic jet took to the skies for the very last time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Twenty years ago tomorrow, as the United States was reeling from a terror attack in Lebanon, the U.S. military launched a combined forces invasion of Grenade. For some of America's most elite troops, that confrontation in the Caribbean led to some desperate hours.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER (voice-over): October 25, 1983, a small island north of Venezuela becomes a major battlefield in the Cold War. Just two days earlier, hundreds of U.S. Marines had been killed by a suicide bomber in Beirut. President Ronald Reagan and his advisers, in no mood to back down from confrontation.

In Grenada, they get it. A Marxist regime on the island has been overthrown by an even more menacing group of military officers. The new leadership, allied with communist Cuba, is a serious threat in the eyes of American policy makers.

The military objective, prevent that regime from gaining a foothold and rescue hundreds of American medical students on Grenada.

One mission, captured on grainy amateur home video from a resident's back deck, goes poorly. Delta Force troops, in a small cordon of helicopters, approach a forested ridge to assault a prison and free some political detainees. Cuban and Grenadan troops see them coming, blast away and hit a Blackhawk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

BLITZER: We can barely make out the Blackhawk going down, the fuselage hitting the water. The pilot is killed. More than a dozen men are wounded. The other American helicopters scatter. Later, the Americans left behind get help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We already checked. I don't know what he's doing back there. You know they got a rocket launcher on that hill.

BLITZER: Their comrades, who dispersed, return. You can't see them dropping from their chopper with no ropes, but you hear a narration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Men are going down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're dropping men.

BLITZER: Reinforced, Delta commandos hold off the Cubans and Grenadans, secure the beach and get their wounded out.

Offshore, aboard the USS Guam, the Delta Force assault troop commander, Captain Jeffrey Beatty, has head and knee injuries, but lives to tell the tale.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: He survived that desperate battle, and today Jeffrey Beatty is joining us live from Tucson, Arizona. The Delta Force assault troop commander went on to work with the FBI and the CIA, and he now heads Totalsecurity.us, a firm active in anti-terrorism consulting. Jeffrey Beatty, take us back inside that Delta Force mission. Tell us about what happened behind enemy lines?

JEFFREY BEATTY, FORMER DELTA FORCE COMMANDER: Well, it was interesting, Wolf. And very few people are aware of the fact that this was actually the first Blackhawk down. And as your piece accurately captured, it was an awful bad morning. And when that first helicopter went down, the people that videoed it, they all had the impression that no one could have survived that. The other helicopter departed the area because it too had wounded on board. It was pretty badly shot up. And they left regretfully, thinking that 16 of their comrades had perished in that crash.

As we found out, as we were able to make communication with them later, I've got to tell you, I was absolutely moved at how that remainder of the Delta contingent responded to come back in and get us out.

BLITZER: A lot of people go back to Grenada. I remember covering it, that suggest the planning going into the assault was not very good.

BEATTY: Well, I got to tell you, Wolf, you know, we did that whole plan over a weekend. And it was all about rescuing the American medical students. You have to remember that the times, as I'm sure you do. President Reagan was certainly not going to put himself in a position that President Carter had been in involving American hostages. And these 1,000 American medical students were being held on a shoot-on-site curfew. You know, nobody could leave the campus. We tried to get them out peacefully. We even told the Grenadians we were coming and didn't intend to fire upon them if they would just let us get our people out.

So as you said, even in the wake of Beirut, the president was not going to stand by and let 1,000 Americans be held against their will, and so in we went.

BLITZER: Did you think you'd survive that battle?

BEATTY: At the beginning, I didn't think that things looked all that well. The crash was pretty severe. We had 16 wounded. I've got to comment on the heroism of the folks over in that aircraft. We had about two able-bodied people who established a blocking force. The rest of the group helped each other tend to their wounds.

And then finally, as you can hear on the narration, we established with a survival radio contact with the remnants of Delta, who came back in and literally, Wolf, stepped out into thin air and fell 30 to 40 feet, allowing the trees to break their fall, no ropes, no rappelling ropes, no nothing. Picked themselves up, helped us evacuate the wounded, put in a good blocking position, and that was the start of our day.

BLITZER: You were a young U.S. Army captain. There was a young major there with you as well who's very much in the news today. A lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, Lieutenant General Boykin, who's has made some controversial comments about Muslims. What do you remember about his role 20 years ago today?

BEATTY: Twenty years ago, Jerry Boykin was a tireless planner. He was an excellent operations officer for delta. What I hope Americans understand is Boykin rode in on that mission and to help come to the aid of his countrymen and for his troubles that day he took a 51 caliber Russian anti-aircraft round through this shoulder fired by Cuban or Grenadian gunners. That's Jerry Boykin.

BLITZER: All right, Jeffrey Beatty, good to spend some time with you. Always good to get your insight. Thanks for reflecting 20 years ago. A lot of people have forgotten about Grenade, you obviously have not.

A supersonic farewell to a technological marvel. The delta wing Concorde flies into the history books, bringing an era of travel faster than the speed of sound to a thunderous halt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier, we asked "where did the Concorde land on its first commercial Trans-Atlantic flight?" The answer Washington D.C.. The flight landed on May 24, 1976, at Washington's Dulles airport.

It was once the thing that aviation dreams are made of. Now, the Concorde is a museum piece. The supersonic passenger jet made its final Trans-Atlantic flight today, New York to London, compliments of British Airways. Richard Quest was aboard for the star-studded ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In aviation world, today was tinged with sadness and celebration. On the plus side, the celebration of three decades of supersonic travel across the Atlantic. Concorde, being the only vehicle to get from New York to London in just three one-half hours has been retired because it no longer made economic sense.

The sadness, of course, there's nothing to replace it. So on board the flight from New York the celebrities, including the actress Joan Collins, the model Christi Brinkley. Television interviewer, Sir David Frost all rubbed shoulder to shoulder quite literally in the cramped quarters of Speed Bird 002 with the journalists like myself to record the event.

The captains of industry, those like Lord Marshall, the chairman of British Airways, rubbing shoulders to shoulders in the cramped quarters of Speed Bird 002. And then enjoying the steak, the lobster and of course, the omelets with truffles.

And then there were thousands of people who came to Heathrow Airport in London, to see the three Concordes arrive, one from Scotland, one from a trip over the Bay of Biscayne and finally the one from New York. The end of an era. Richard Quest, CNN, Heathrow Airport, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And more now about the Concorde. It travels at twice the speed of sound. It made its first supersonic flight in 1969, flying at 60,000 feet. It was first used for commercial service in 1976. The Concorde fleet has made just under 50,000 flights.

A frantic attempt to save several miners trapped by freezing waters. The rescue efforts happening right now. We'll have a report. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: It's a race against time in Russia. Forty-six men are trapped in a rapidly flooding coal mine and a desperate effort is going on right now to reach them. The drama started more than 24 hours ago about 600 miles south of Moscow when water broke through a neighboring abandoned shaft. 25 miners managed to escape.

Now rescuers are scrambling to reach the trapped men. Good luck to them.

A reminder, we're on weekdays, Monday through Friday 5:00 pm Eastern, also noon Eastern. I'll see you Sunday on "LATE EDITION" the last word in Sunday talk. Among my guests this Sunday, the Secretary of State Colin Powell. Noon Eastern. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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