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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

String of Shootings Has Residents of Buckeye State Worried; Bush Back From Baghdad; Interview With Robert Plant

Aired November 28, 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: Happening now. Fear in the Buckeye State. A string of shootings on a busy interstate. Police wonder if they have a serial sniper on their hands. Stand by for news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The questions begin. Back from Baghdad, but will the president's mission make a difference? I'll ask a man who used to head the CIA.

Truck stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These tankers carry around approximately 9,000 gallons of gasoline at a time. They could be used as a rolling bomb.

O'BRIEN: High tech security for the highway.

Until they drop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After Thanksgiving dinner, we sat down with all the brochures and we looked through everything and we planned a strategy.

O'BRIEN: Solo. Before and after Led Zeppelin, a rock legend on his own. We'll speak with Robert Plant.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, November 28, 2003.

O'BRIEN: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta in for Wolf Blitzer today. The president is back at the ranch and a day after his stunning visit, Iraq is back to normal. A U.S. soldier was killed when mortar fined rained down on the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division in the northern town of Mosul. Elsewhere, the military reports troops seized weapons and arrested a cleric accused of anti-coalition activity.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York continued her own visit with the troops, saying she's encouraged by the progress made in Iraq, but added, and this is a quote, "there's still a very big hill to climb," end of quote. That whirlwind trip by President Bush was actually weeks in the making. Now that he's back from Baghdad, officials are telling us how they pulled it off. But will the trip pay off? Let's go live to the White House, our White House correspondent in Crawford, Texas, Dana Bash. Hello, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. And you're right, it was weeks in the making, almost two months in the making. It was in October while the president was traveling in Asia that his chief of staff, Andy Card, approached him and said, well, how about going to Baghdad for Thanksgiving? And it is with that they got the ball rolling, they got bought his deputy, Joe Hagen (ph), to start the planning. And it was, obviously, very covert planning, only a handful of people knew. Obviously, we didn't know. And very, very few people even in the Secret Service and the military knew that this was in the works.

And the actual final decision to go to Baghdad was made just hours before the president left. It was Wednesday morning. Mr. Bush was here in Crawford at his ranch. He had a secure video conference with the vice president, with the national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice, and a few other top officials, where he said he went around and asked everyone if they thought that this was a good idea, if everybody was comfortable with all of the plans for this two and a half hour trip to Baghdad. Everybody agreed that they were fine with it, and that was when the president decided, finally, that he would go.

Now, Condoleeza Rice, the president's national security adviser, says security was such a heightened concern that through the weeks of planning, they took every major event into Baghdad under consideration, every attack, every bit of violence, and they looked at whether or not this was still an appropriate mission to take. She said that includes an attack on a DHL cargo plane that happened just last weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: People took a second look at that point, obviously. It was not the first time that there had been concerns about aircraft coming in and out of Baghdad International Airport. So, yes, it was looked at again. But it was decided that the plane was well defended and that the president could do this as long as the operational security was maintained, as long as there wasn't advanced notice that he was coming in. And that was the reason for the extraordinary secrecy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, of course, the president's political advisers say that it wasn't politics at all. They say that it was about policy, about a commander in chief simply going to Iraq to visit his troops.

As far as the Democrats are concerned, Miles, their reaction has been somewhat muted today, saying essentially that they think that going to visit the troops by a president is a good idea. But many are trying to point out the fact that the situation on the ground still remains the same. As you mentioned, one other American soldier died today, and they are still questioning the president's policy on Iraq -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Dana Bash with the president, we think.

While the drop-in visit may have propped up morale among American troops, how do Iraqis feel about the president's mission to Baghdad? Jalal Talabani is the president of the U.S.-backed Iraq Governing Council.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALAL TALABANI, PRES., IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL: Every Iraqi is admiring his braveness, and they -- anyone whom I met, they were surprised that the president of the biggest superpower in the world coming in this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Other Iraqis beg to differ, as CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson found in the streets of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of Baghdad, business as usual the morning after President Bush's brief visit. Faiz Hamid (ph) opens his toy store, happy trade has been picking up over the last few weeks, confused about Mr. Bush's visit.

"I hope that his visit is to improve the situation," he says, "not to make it worse."

On the streets outside...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are welcome here in Baghdad to him. Because he give us our liberty here.

ROBERTSON: Others questioning why the U.S. president never left the security of Baghdad Airport.

"Let him come and see democracy," this man says. "Can he come among people without security as his friends? He can't. He was only here for two hours."

Across town in a poorer neighborhood, anger over Mr. Bush's visit.

"What have been the benefits," he says? "There's no progress or development."

"If Bush is a real man," he says, "let him announce his visit, and we'll let him know what we think. He is responsible for the destruction in Iraq." The night before, around a well-to-do dinner table, just as Mr. Bush was addressing troops, the Mohammed (ph) family was entertaining friends, celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just before the holiday, four of them were kidnapped.

ROBERTSON: The current lack of security, a staple of the conversation. Thoughts about the U.S. president's visit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doesn't mean anything to me, because he didn't come to see the Iraqis.

ROBERTSON: A sense the trip never intended to enlighten Mr. Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He must not see only the Army. He must see the people. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) also. He has to go in Baghdad and to see the situation of Iraqis.

ROBERTSON: The unspoken word on the streets here in Arabic culture, almost an insult to visit unannounced. The feeling compounded, to have left without staying for the customary hospitality.

(on camera): Most people who had something positive to say about President Bush's visit seemed to count themselves better off since the U.S.-led invasion. From the people we talked to, however, they still seem to be in the minority.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: Should President Bush have met with ordinary Iraqis, too? You can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf is the place. We'll have the results a little later in the broadcast.

A quiet country town is a hotbed of counterterror activity, a day after seizing a suspect and explosives. British authorities are still on the hunt. CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Gloucester, England.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): British security officials say this could be a major breakthrough in their counterterrorism efforts. Already a small but significant quantity of high explosives has been seized, enough, say police, for a suicide bomber. Security forces and forensic teams have raided other properties in the search for more.

DAVID BLUNKETT, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: The ongoing investigation will reveal the extent of the nature of the activity of the individual and individuals that have been picked up now. But obviously, the use of the Terrorism Act 2000 indicates the extent of the concern of the security and counterterrorism branch of the Metropolitan Police.

CHANCE: The 24-year-old terrorism suspect arrested at his family home is said to be British of Asian origin. Neighbors describe him as an intelligent man who takes his religion seriously. He is believed to have trained in Pakistan as a Muslim cleric.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've known him for quite a long time and got on really well with him. They are lovely people.

CHANCE: Britain has proved a haven for a number of militants in the past. Most notoriously, Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, sentenced to three life sentences earlier this year for trying to blow up a U.S. airliner. Police say links between suspected British terrorists are under constant scrutiny. But not every terrorist plot can be foiled.

JASON BURKE, TERRORISM EXPERT: There is a limit to the amount the security service can do. We're an open society. We are vulnerable to threats. That threat is likely to come not from an organized overseas group such as al Qaeda, but to come from some low core individual or small group of people who have the will and find the means to effect some kind of probably an amateurish attack.

CHANCE: Security officials confirm the threat of an al Qaeda attack on British soil remains real.

(on camera): The bombing of the British consulate and the London based bank in Istanbul earlier this month has heightened fears that Britain itself may be an imminent al Qaeda target. Even police here in Gloucester say their operations have not ended. Nationwide there could be more raids and arrests in the days ahead. Matthew Chance, CNN, Gloucester in western England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Police in Italy and Germany have arrested three north African man suspected for recruiting suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq. Another man was arrested several days ago. Officials say 2 suspects remain at large. The arrests, ordered by a Milan prosecutor who is investigating alleged terror cells suspected of ties to al Qaeda. 19 Italians were killed this month in a suicide bombing in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

The president gave the troops a short-term boost and didn't hurt his own image in the process. But as the conflict in Iraq wears on, along with the war against terrorism, will the Baghdad trip make a difference? Joining me from our Washington bureau is former CIA director James Woolsey to weigh in on this. Mr. Woolsey, good to have you back with us.

JAMES WOOLSEY, FRM. CIA DIR.: Good to be with you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: About 24 hours ago as this was first breaking, we were talking about this and you were rather effusive in your praise of the move. Still so?

WOOLSEY: Still so. This is a long tradition of American presidents visiting war theaters on holidays. Eisenhower did it, Johnson did it, Nixon did it, President Clinton did it in Kosovo. So, I think it is a fine tradition, the commander-in-chief. This one was more dramatic, because of the secrecy and risk involved into flying into the Baghdad airport, but I think it's a big plus.

O'BRIEN: But for you it is clear where the risk benefit analysis ends up?

WOOLSEY: Yes, I think so. They had one of the best aircraft in the world in terms of having counter measures against things like shoulder fired, man portable surface-to-air missiles. And they came at night with no lights. There was some risk, I think, but Air Force One is just about the best trained crew in the world for flying that kind of aircraft. So, I think it was certainly an acceptable risk, and I think the president was wise to do it.

O'BRIEN: And you have to admire their ability to keep a secret on this one.

WOOLSEY: You do.

O'BRIEN: Given what their line work is.

WOOLSEY: You do. My line of work once was that. I am all admiration for a major undertaking by a head of state like this that can be kept secret for that amount of time. Bravo!

O'BRIEN: And would you have suggested it would have been a good idea had this been brought to you in advance?

WOOLSEY: Certainly. I think any of us who have been involved, even as minor advisers occasionally, which would be the maximum role I've had, and, really, want to see success here. Particularly, anyone who has admiration, as I think most Americans do, for the way our military has performed over there, would think this was exactly appropriate. This was a good thing for the president to do.

O'BRIEN: Let's shift gears for a little bit. I'd like to get your assessment on how things are going on the ground in Iraq. One of the things that comes up time and again, is the lack of ongoing actionable, is the term, intelligence that is usable by the troops on the ground. Do you get the sense that that is improving at all?

WOOLSEY: I think it's beginning to improve a bit. We should have gone in with hundreds, maybe thousands of Iraqis who had been trained ahead of time going in with us to work with us, whether as spies or guards or as infantry alongside us. We didn't, even though Congress appropriated nearly $100 million for training them back in 1998 because the State Department and CIA were very much opposed to that. They made some other preparations, but not nearly what would have been possible if they had proceeded with training.

So I think it's getting better. We're training people on the ground there now. My friend Walt Slocum has been involved in help train the new Iraqi army. Another group is training Kurds as

(AUDIO GAP)

O'BRIEN: ...significant intelligence activity that have led to some arrests and uncovering some plots by, apparently, al Qaeda. Do you have the sense, as far as intelligence goes, focusing in on al Qaeda, that is improving and authorities all around the world are focusing properly on it?

WOOLSEY: Well, yes. Arrests in Britain, arrests in Italy and elsewhere shows that the law enforcement and intelligence people are doing their job, but al Qaeda now may be rather thin in terms of management, because we've arrested or killed a fair number of their senior people.

Some of these may be local groups that are similarly inspired and have some kind of tie with the remainder of al Qaeda. Some of this may be state-sponsored. I remain very suspicious of the Iranian government in these matters. They don't have hesitancy about working with secular groups or Sunni groups, even though they are Shiite. The Mullahs, who control the instruments of power in Iran are a big threat.

We don't know in any one case whether it is remnants of al Qaeda or the Iranian intelligence service or some freelance Islamists off on their own. Each of these will get clearer in the fullness of time. Those three groups, generally, are all going to be problems for us for some years.

O'BRIEN: James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

WOOLSEY: Good to be with you.

O'BRIEN: Deadly highway shootings to tell you about. Investigators are confirming a link and releasing information pointing to the possibility of a serial sniper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A good, alert, well-trained driver is the best weapon we have on the highways.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Targets trucks. Could big rigs be the next weapon of choice for terrorists? Some think it's possible. Find out what's being done to keep the roadways safe.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A trip down memory lane for some. A legendary rocker out of the shadow of the band that made him famous. Hear from Led Zeppelin singer, Robert Plant.

First, today's news quiz.

"Which famous rock and roll drummer gave Led Zeppelin its name? Eric Carr, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Neil Peart. The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Investigators looking into Tuesday's deadly highway shooting near Columbus, Ohio say it was no accident. They also say there's evidence linking it to at least one of nine similar incidents reported along the same stretch of road since last May. CNN's Brian Cabell reports on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Law enforcement authorities refuse to say a serial sniper or snipers is on the loose along a Columbus interstate highway. But they are investigating that possibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got somebody out here shooting people, or shooting at people. And I think it's just really bad.

CABELL: Ten shooting incidents since May on and around the southern section of I-270, Columbus's Beltway, have raised concerns. Only one of the shots actually hit anybody, a passenger. But it was lethal. The car's driver called 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, somebody just shot them in the car, and my girlfriend's been shot. We're on 270, right at the High Street exit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABELL: 62-year-old Gale Nisley (ph) was killed Tuesday when a bullet pierced the door of the car in which she was riding and hit her. Now, officials say ballistics tests tie that bullet to at least one of the other shootings.

CHIEF DEP. STEVE MARTIN, FRANKLIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Because of these findings, it is clear that the shooting incident which has resulted in the death of Ms. Nisley (ph), was not a single or accidental act of violence.

CABELL: Although all of the shootings took place along the same general stretch of highway, the reports were filed by different agencies and weren't coordinated until Tuesday.

Columbus drivers now have something besides traffic congestion and accidents to worry about. DONNA PRANIL, DRIVER: Who would ever think someone would just be out there as a sniper? And it's happening here, you know, in Ohio. It is very scary.

CABELL: Authorities say they have received more than 100 leads on the shootings in the last few days, but don't believe an arrest is imminent.

Brian Cabell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: In our justice report, it was a strange Thanksgiving at the Maryland home of retired baseball star Cal Ripken. A naked, bleeding man showed up at Ripken's house north of Baltimore last night, pleading for help. And the former Oriole shortstop summoned authorities. The man, identified as 20-year-old Brian Robbins (ph), said he had been kidnapped in downtown Baltimore, was driven to a rural area, forced to strip and he was shot as he fled before eventually stumbling into Ripken's house. Robbins (ph) was taken to a hospital, treated and released. Ripken says the situation was unsettling, but he and his family are all right.

Still ahead, under construction. A guide to the changing face of our nation's capital. Plus, more than three decades later, fans still have a whole lotta love for Robert Plant. And he had a whole lot to talk about with Wolf Blitzer. The interview is coming up.

But first, we'll try to hang with the holiday pros, those power shoppers who brave the Black Friday bargains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Looks like fun, doesn't it? Some of you out there, of course, started your holiday shopping weeks ago. Well, good for you. But the day after Thanksgiving marks the traditional beginning of the shopping season. CNN's Kris Osborn has been braving the crowds along Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Chris, what are you wearing there?

KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a teddy bear hat, Miles, that I bought about 10 minutes ago on the street, because it was getting pretty cold. And like a lot of people out here, things have been getting really, really busy. A lot of talk about these more encouraging economic numbers, about consumer confidence rising a bit.

A key question, though, will this translate into dollars and cents at the cash register for retailers? We can give you a couple of different live pictures, one of them showing this mile-long area of shops, which now as we move into the evening is getting more and more mobbed by the minute.

Also on hand, very busy today, as you might expect, Santa Claus himself has been meeting with various kids and getting a sense of what they want, because they certainly would have the best sense of what might sell and what might not sell. Now, speaking of consumers, consumer sentiment, I'm joined by Kristen Rowlands. Thanks for so much for your time, braving the elements, spending a little time with us here. I see you got a bunch of bags. As a holiday shopper, how did it go for you today?

KRISTEN ROWLANDS, HOLIDAY SHOPPER: Really good. I had a great time. And there was a lot of things that my kids wanted. And Chicago is a great place to shop.

OSBORN: So you don't want to give away any secrets, but did you get what you were looking for?

ROWLANDS: Absolutely.

OSBORN: Did you spend more this year than you did last year?

ROWLANDS: I would say so, yes.

OSBORN: So confidence is high. You feel like you got a little extra money to spend on gifts?

ROWLANDS: Sure. Yes. I think so.

OSBORN: What did you buy?

ROWLANDS: A lot of things for the kids this year.

OSBORN: All right. So there will be some happy children come the holiday season. Thank you so much. Kristen Rowlands.

So, Miles, there, for this mom who has spent a busy day shopping, along with many others, seemed to have found what she was looking for. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Kris Osborn, that's one to save for the resume reel there, with that outfit. Nice job out there.

Recent signs of a national economic turnaround have many retailers hoping for a banner year. CNN financial correspondent Allan Chernoff joining us from a shopping mall in Short Hills, New Jersey, much more reasonably dressed. Hello, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, it certainly does look like things are picking up for the retailers. The managers here are saying that traffic is up 10 percent today, compared to the day after Thanksgiving last year.

And certainly, we're seeing many people in the mall, but what about the all-important shopping bag indicator index? Well, this morning I didn't see that many shopping bags. And I asked many shoppers about that. They said that they have quickly moved their purchases over to the car, come back to do more shopping, then back to the car. So maybe that shopping bag indicator isn't the best statistic to measure how retailers are doing, but certainly the traffic here very strong, and we can also tell you that the discounts are not that widespread, so that will be a good thing for the retail profit margins, as long as consumers keep on buying and don't wait too long until Christmas time, when of course the retailers do bring their prices down -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Allan Chernoff in Short Hills. Thank you very much.

Tracking trucks being used as tools for terror. A new high-tech system designed to put the brakes on would-be attacks. We'll explain.

Plus, they can tackle in the tough terrain. But can they bear the bumps and bruises? What new crash tests reveal about SUVs. You'll be surprised.

And proof positive. Tests of a different kind and what they reveal about aviator Charles Lindbergh. Another surprise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

Stopping trucks from becoming the next weapon of choice for terrorists. An inside look at new security measures.

But first, a quick check of the latest headlines for you.

Authorities in North Dakota searching for a missing college student are seeking any photos that may have been taken at a Grand Forks mall the day Dru Sjodin disappeared. Police say the 22-year-old University of North Dakota student may have been abducted last weekend from the parking lot of the Columbia Mall, where she worked.

The first so-called heart attack gene has been isolated from an extended Iowa family that's been plagued for generations with Coronary Artery Disease. The head of the research team that discovered the mutation says everyone who has it is destined to have heart disease. The study is in the latest edition of the journal "Science."

Mid-sized sport utility vehicles fare poorly in the latest bumper crash test by the insurance industry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rated nine SUVs. All needed repairs, ranging from an average of $404 to $1,600 for each of four tests. None got the highest rating, but the 2003 Honda Pilot received the second highest rating.

Drive on any highway in this country, and you can't miss them, huge tanker trucks loaded with gasoline. To a terrorist, they would be a perfect bomb on wheels. Now there is a new high-tech weapon that can stop the big trucks dead in their tracks.

CNN's Patty Davis has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything works except acceleration. I lost complete acceleration of the truck. It's coming to a stop. PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Howard's tanker truck has just been shut down, not by him, but remotely by satellite. It is a feature California's Interstate Oil Company is hoping to put on all of its trucks.

BRENT ANDREWS, INTERSTATE OIL COMPANY: These tankers carry around approximately 9,000 gallons of gasoline at a time. They could be used as a rolling bomb potentially.

DAVIS: Since the September 11 terror attacks, trucking companies are increasingly focused on how to stop their trucks from becoming the next weapon of choice for terrorists. Eight hundred thousand shipments of petroleum products and hazardous chemicals make their way across U.S. roads every day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is equivalent of the two-way paging network.

DAVIS: Satellite security systems, $500 per truck disabling technology, isn't the only one on the market. Delphi and QUALCOMM's systems are already on thousands of trucks around the world and can also stop trucks that veer off their designated route. It's called geofencing.

(on camera): While remote truck disabling technology may be helpful, the American Trucking Association believes prevention is even more important.

MIKE RUSSELL, AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATION: We need a good, alert, well-trained driver. That's the best weapon we have on the highways.

DAVIS (voice-over): It's training millions of drivers to watch for and report suspicious behavior on the highways. And to rely on remote engine shutdowns and other high-tech tools only as a last resort.

Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Cranes high in the Washington sky. And we're not talking about the birds. Up next, we'll measure the modern-day metamorphosis of our nation's capital.

And then we'll take you to 11, taking rock to new levels, then and now. Later this hour, Wolf's interview with the legendary rocker Robert Plant.

And Santa leaves the reindeer at home and drops in on some busy shoppers. Kind of a hard landing, though. We'll show you that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Princess Di photos. A French court rules that three photographers did not violate the privacy of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, when they took pictures of the couple's bodies at the site of their car accident in 1997. The couple was killed when their car crashed in a Paris tunnel following a high-speed chase by paparazzi.

Mixed signals. Media reports in Israel say the Israeli government may dismantle some Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while also granting legal status to other outposts. The reported move is seen to be in response to growing U.S. pressure to comply with the U.S.-backed road map for peace.

Mandela's appeal. Former South African president, Nelson Mandela, is calling on the world to do more in the war against AIDS. Speaking from the island where he spent 18 years in prison, Mandela compared the fight against AIDS to the long battle against apartheid, which ended in South Africa in 1994. Appearing with Mandela were rock star Bono and other singers who will perform in an AIDS concert tomorrow in Cape Town.

Lindbergh's children. Three Germans say DNA tests prove they are the children of Charles Lindbergh, the American pilot who became a world superstar when he became the first person to fly solo from New York to Paris in 1927. The Germans first made the claim in August, two years after their mother's death. Lindbergh had six children with his wife, the author Anne Morrow, who died in 2001.

New Coke drink. Coca-Cola is out with a new soda in a bid to cash in on the national drink of Argentina, mate (ph) tea. Reaction has been mixed.

And that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It may be the start of the season to be jolly, but in one town it is the season of change. Here's CNN's national correspondent Bruce Morton with the changing face of the nation's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lots of changes in Washington these days. Some of it is security after the 9/11 attacks. You used to be able just to walk up to the Washington Monument, but those days are gone. All kinds of barricades now.

Some of this is supposed to come down eventually, but those ugly concrete blocks, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) barriers they're called, are expected to stay. Over at the Capitol, they are digging an underground visitor's center for tourists that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The estimates keep going up. But it will allow tighter screening of tourists.

Only guided tours are allowed even now. And, of course, it will be an underground shelter for Congress in case there's an air raid.

But there's lots of really new stuff, too. You remember the old view down the Mall of the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln? That's changing because just between Washington and Lincoln the World War II Memorial is going up. People argued a lot about, would it block the view, was this the right place? But it's happening now.

And the Lincoln has changed a little. They've marked the spot where Martin Luther King stood to give his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.

People argue that the Mall is getting too crowded, and they wonder where will the added memorial go, the memorial for the war in Iraq? The Mall is filling up, but there's lots of new stuff off the Mall, too.

This is the Museum of the American Indian. Stone, of course, but they've given it kind of an adobe look. And it is pretty far along.

The Newseum -- yes, a museum about the news business -- is moving to D.C. from its old site across the river in Virginia. But the new site is still just a parking lot. The Newseum folks put up front pages every day to remind us of what's coming.

The enormous new convention is open. It's so big you could probably stage a pro football game in it. But the way the Washington team is playing this year, maybe nobody would come to watch. And there is a new museum about the city, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It used to be that you only came to Washington to see the federal government. Washington right now is also a magnet for lots of other kinds of cultural visitation.

MORTON: There is construction everywhere. America's national bird is the eagle, of course. Washington's these days is the crane.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: He was the front man for one of the biggest rock bands of the '70s, but what does the future hold for the lead singer of Led Zeppelin?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT PLANT, SINGER: Three guys in their 50s in a room together would need a real good kick up the butt to get something brand new and contemporary and exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Robert Plant shares his wisdom on such matters in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked which famous rock and roll drummer gave Led Zeppelin its name. The answer, The Who's Keith Moon. After seeing the band perform in 1968, Moon told them they would go over like a lead balloon. The "A" was dropped out of Led so Americans wouldn't mispronounce the name, and balloon was changed to Zeppelin.

Suffice it to say, Keith Moon was wrong on that account. If you think of Led Zeppelin when you think of Robert Plant, you would be right. You'd also be and living in the past. The legendary rocker is keeping busy with a successful solo career. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, the host of this program, brings us up to date.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" (voice-over): The enduring image of Robert Plant. As the swirling lead vocalist for Led Zeppelin, Plant took blues rock to new levels. The group took pop music by the throat in the '70s and were one of the dominant bands of the decade.

On their way to becoming one of the biggest selling groups of all time, they fronted for a generation carving its own identity. Severing a connection to the '60s, but still a need of some kind of rebellion. Led Zeppelin gave it to them and virtually invented the phrase, "sex, drugs, and rock and roll," on stage and off.

But if this is your image of Robert Plant, allow for one more, as a successful performer in is own right before and especially after Led Zeppelin. The death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 brought the band's dissolution. Led Zeppelin never reunited.

But Plant took off as a soloist, playing to a different generation, still in the market for edgy rock, but with some polish. The late '80s and '90s brought multi platinum sales and acclaim for Plant. Now, a new double CD presents some of his best known work and some that's virtually unknown: the first-ever compilation of Plant's solo recordings spanning nearly 40 years.

"66 to Timbuktu" features the familiar mainstream rock. But as a celebration of a life's work, the most tantalizing material could be the pre-Zeppelin releases from the '60s, when this raw, ambitious teenager kicked around with a group called the Band of Joy and turned out cover songs and other singles on his own.

The release comes on the heels of a highly successful CD-DVD set out this past spring featuring Led Zeppelin's legendary concerts. But this set is a statement from Robert Plant, as if to make clear he's long since been out of the Zeppelin's shadow, and is, by no means, done in his mid 50s. In the pulsating blues number, "Win My Train Fare Home," recorded live in Timbuktu in the heart of Africa earlier this year, age seems to win no concession.

(on camera): Robert Plant, thanks very much for joining us. I have here in my hand this new CD, "66 to Timbuktu." What made you decide to put this together right now?

PLANT: Well, Wolf, I had spent countless weeks going through files and cabinets full of old tapes and film and solo stuff and Led Zeppelin stuff. And in the end, I found that I was amassing a pile of music, a lot of which had never been heard before from my solo times. I discussed some of the implications of this with my manager, and I decided that it might be quite nice and light and quite charming to put a collection of songs together which are not so much greatest hits as, to me, great moments in a fantastic career.

BLITZER: The secret of Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant, why in the '60s; '70s, '80s, '90s, now, what is the secret that has made you guys so powerful?

PLANT: Well, I think sincerity and absolute commitment to what we do and what we have done and, subsequently, what I've been doing on my own more recently. And in fact, before Zeppelin.

I was in bands with John Bonham back in the mid '60s, where we were absolutely and totally relentless. The music came first. The creation of music was really important.

It wasn't about chasing success. It was about getting it right, believing in it, and doing the best you possibly can. And I think that that motive and that moral has followed me right the way through my time.

And, you know, it is a principle that stands in high stead for me. Because I'm not looking for the charts. I'm looking for expression and a little bit more art.

BLITZER: When I interviewed Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin a few weeks ago, I asked him, "What are the prospects of Led Zeppelin getting back together one more time?" What do you think about that?

PLANT: I think that it is an age-old question. It's kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE). My idea would be it would be nice to sit down with John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page one day and see what's new. Not an oldies act, but what can we do that is contemporary, challenging and interesting?

Who knows. As far as Led Zeppelin, I don't remember us having a drummer.

BLITZER: Well, that's true. But there are three of you that still could put together the core of what could be Led Zeppelin.

PLANT: Yes. But, you know, it was a band full of wild kids who did great, wild, impetuous, superb music. And we need that sort of impetus.

And you know, I'm talking to you today because I'm talking about the very principle that fired Led Zeppelin in the first place. And that is ingenuity, power and, you know, zest, I suppose. And three guys in their 50s in a room together would need a real good kick up the butt to get something brand new and contemporary and exciting.

BLITZER: As we speak, you are getting ready to go to Oslo to perform when they deliver the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Did you ever in your wildest imagination looking back think that you would be invited, Robert Plant, to perform at an occasion like this?

PLANT: Well, it's a highly auspicious occasion, and it's a very, very meritus (ph) award chosen by great dignitaries and great people of peace. So I'm absolutely flattered.

And, of course, I would never have imagined that. Because it was not that long ago that we were considered to be social deviants. And, in fact, once upon a time, I recall we were given the keys to the city in Memphis or Nashville, Tennessee by the mayor, and two hours later we were under house arrest for inciting a riot.

So something's happened in the wash somewhere along the line. I don't know what it is. But it's not that bad. It is a great privilege for me, and I'm very proud on behalf of myself and my band -- a strange sensation -- to be able to do that.

BLITZER: Robert Plant, congratulations not only on the new CD entitled "66 to Timbuktu," but on all the decades of enjoyment you have given so many of us around the world. Appreciate it. Good luck to you.

PLANT: You are very kind. Thank you. And good luck to you, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: First comes the turkey, then comes Santa. And sometimes he doesn't arrive by sleigh, as you'll see here. The most famous elf goes airborne.

Plus, our hot Web Question of the Day: Should President Bush have met with ordinary Iraqis, too? You can right vote now at cnn.com/Wolf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Read the results of our Web Question of the Day. As always, we tell you, this is not a scientific poll.

And now proof positive that Santa doesn't need a sleigh to get around. The jolly old elf arrived at a shopping mall in suburban Houston via parachute today. If the past is any guide, we can get ready for -- ooh, ouch, poor Santa there. Yikes. Kids screaming there or something -- who knows.

Actually, he's OK, though. Don't worry, folks.

Santa will be sky diving, water skiing and doing all kinds of things over the next few weeks. And we'll show them to you all. Confirmation the season is really upon us.

That's all the time we have for WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

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




Worried; Bush Back From Baghdad; Interview With Robert Plant>


Aired November 28, 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: Happening now. Fear in the Buckeye State. A string of shootings on a busy interstate. Police wonder if they have a serial sniper on their hands. Stand by for news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The questions begin. Back from Baghdad, but will the president's mission make a difference? I'll ask a man who used to head the CIA.

Truck stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These tankers carry around approximately 9,000 gallons of gasoline at a time. They could be used as a rolling bomb.

O'BRIEN: High tech security for the highway.

Until they drop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After Thanksgiving dinner, we sat down with all the brochures and we looked through everything and we planned a strategy.

O'BRIEN: Solo. Before and after Led Zeppelin, a rock legend on his own. We'll speak with Robert Plant.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, November 28, 2003.

O'BRIEN: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta in for Wolf Blitzer today. The president is back at the ranch and a day after his stunning visit, Iraq is back to normal. A U.S. soldier was killed when mortar fined rained down on the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division in the northern town of Mosul. Elsewhere, the military reports troops seized weapons and arrested a cleric accused of anti-coalition activity.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York continued her own visit with the troops, saying she's encouraged by the progress made in Iraq, but added, and this is a quote, "there's still a very big hill to climb," end of quote. That whirlwind trip by President Bush was actually weeks in the making. Now that he's back from Baghdad, officials are telling us how they pulled it off. But will the trip pay off? Let's go live to the White House, our White House correspondent in Crawford, Texas, Dana Bash. Hello, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. And you're right, it was weeks in the making, almost two months in the making. It was in October while the president was traveling in Asia that his chief of staff, Andy Card, approached him and said, well, how about going to Baghdad for Thanksgiving? And it is with that they got the ball rolling, they got bought his deputy, Joe Hagen (ph), to start the planning. And it was, obviously, very covert planning, only a handful of people knew. Obviously, we didn't know. And very, very few people even in the Secret Service and the military knew that this was in the works.

And the actual final decision to go to Baghdad was made just hours before the president left. It was Wednesday morning. Mr. Bush was here in Crawford at his ranch. He had a secure video conference with the vice president, with the national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice, and a few other top officials, where he said he went around and asked everyone if they thought that this was a good idea, if everybody was comfortable with all of the plans for this two and a half hour trip to Baghdad. Everybody agreed that they were fine with it, and that was when the president decided, finally, that he would go.

Now, Condoleeza Rice, the president's national security adviser, says security was such a heightened concern that through the weeks of planning, they took every major event into Baghdad under consideration, every attack, every bit of violence, and they looked at whether or not this was still an appropriate mission to take. She said that includes an attack on a DHL cargo plane that happened just last weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: People took a second look at that point, obviously. It was not the first time that there had been concerns about aircraft coming in and out of Baghdad International Airport. So, yes, it was looked at again. But it was decided that the plane was well defended and that the president could do this as long as the operational security was maintained, as long as there wasn't advanced notice that he was coming in. And that was the reason for the extraordinary secrecy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, of course, the president's political advisers say that it wasn't politics at all. They say that it was about policy, about a commander in chief simply going to Iraq to visit his troops.

As far as the Democrats are concerned, Miles, their reaction has been somewhat muted today, saying essentially that they think that going to visit the troops by a president is a good idea. But many are trying to point out the fact that the situation on the ground still remains the same. As you mentioned, one other American soldier died today, and they are still questioning the president's policy on Iraq -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Dana Bash with the president, we think.

While the drop-in visit may have propped up morale among American troops, how do Iraqis feel about the president's mission to Baghdad? Jalal Talabani is the president of the U.S.-backed Iraq Governing Council.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALAL TALABANI, PRES., IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL: Every Iraqi is admiring his braveness, and they -- anyone whom I met, they were surprised that the president of the biggest superpower in the world coming in this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Other Iraqis beg to differ, as CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson found in the streets of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of Baghdad, business as usual the morning after President Bush's brief visit. Faiz Hamid (ph) opens his toy store, happy trade has been picking up over the last few weeks, confused about Mr. Bush's visit.

"I hope that his visit is to improve the situation," he says, "not to make it worse."

On the streets outside...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are welcome here in Baghdad to him. Because he give us our liberty here.

ROBERTSON: Others questioning why the U.S. president never left the security of Baghdad Airport.

"Let him come and see democracy," this man says. "Can he come among people without security as his friends? He can't. He was only here for two hours."

Across town in a poorer neighborhood, anger over Mr. Bush's visit.

"What have been the benefits," he says? "There's no progress or development."

"If Bush is a real man," he says, "let him announce his visit, and we'll let him know what we think. He is responsible for the destruction in Iraq." The night before, around a well-to-do dinner table, just as Mr. Bush was addressing troops, the Mohammed (ph) family was entertaining friends, celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just before the holiday, four of them were kidnapped.

ROBERTSON: The current lack of security, a staple of the conversation. Thoughts about the U.S. president's visit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doesn't mean anything to me, because he didn't come to see the Iraqis.

ROBERTSON: A sense the trip never intended to enlighten Mr. Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He must not see only the Army. He must see the people. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) also. He has to go in Baghdad and to see the situation of Iraqis.

ROBERTSON: The unspoken word on the streets here in Arabic culture, almost an insult to visit unannounced. The feeling compounded, to have left without staying for the customary hospitality.

(on camera): Most people who had something positive to say about President Bush's visit seemed to count themselves better off since the U.S.-led invasion. From the people we talked to, however, they still seem to be in the minority.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: Should President Bush have met with ordinary Iraqis, too? You can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf is the place. We'll have the results a little later in the broadcast.

A quiet country town is a hotbed of counterterror activity, a day after seizing a suspect and explosives. British authorities are still on the hunt. CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Gloucester, England.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): British security officials say this could be a major breakthrough in their counterterrorism efforts. Already a small but significant quantity of high explosives has been seized, enough, say police, for a suicide bomber. Security forces and forensic teams have raided other properties in the search for more.

DAVID BLUNKETT, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: The ongoing investigation will reveal the extent of the nature of the activity of the individual and individuals that have been picked up now. But obviously, the use of the Terrorism Act 2000 indicates the extent of the concern of the security and counterterrorism branch of the Metropolitan Police.

CHANCE: The 24-year-old terrorism suspect arrested at his family home is said to be British of Asian origin. Neighbors describe him as an intelligent man who takes his religion seriously. He is believed to have trained in Pakistan as a Muslim cleric.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've known him for quite a long time and got on really well with him. They are lovely people.

CHANCE: Britain has proved a haven for a number of militants in the past. Most notoriously, Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, sentenced to three life sentences earlier this year for trying to blow up a U.S. airliner. Police say links between suspected British terrorists are under constant scrutiny. But not every terrorist plot can be foiled.

JASON BURKE, TERRORISM EXPERT: There is a limit to the amount the security service can do. We're an open society. We are vulnerable to threats. That threat is likely to come not from an organized overseas group such as al Qaeda, but to come from some low core individual or small group of people who have the will and find the means to effect some kind of probably an amateurish attack.

CHANCE: Security officials confirm the threat of an al Qaeda attack on British soil remains real.

(on camera): The bombing of the British consulate and the London based bank in Istanbul earlier this month has heightened fears that Britain itself may be an imminent al Qaeda target. Even police here in Gloucester say their operations have not ended. Nationwide there could be more raids and arrests in the days ahead. Matthew Chance, CNN, Gloucester in western England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Police in Italy and Germany have arrested three north African man suspected for recruiting suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq. Another man was arrested several days ago. Officials say 2 suspects remain at large. The arrests, ordered by a Milan prosecutor who is investigating alleged terror cells suspected of ties to al Qaeda. 19 Italians were killed this month in a suicide bombing in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

The president gave the troops a short-term boost and didn't hurt his own image in the process. But as the conflict in Iraq wears on, along with the war against terrorism, will the Baghdad trip make a difference? Joining me from our Washington bureau is former CIA director James Woolsey to weigh in on this. Mr. Woolsey, good to have you back with us.

JAMES WOOLSEY, FRM. CIA DIR.: Good to be with you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: About 24 hours ago as this was first breaking, we were talking about this and you were rather effusive in your praise of the move. Still so?

WOOLSEY: Still so. This is a long tradition of American presidents visiting war theaters on holidays. Eisenhower did it, Johnson did it, Nixon did it, President Clinton did it in Kosovo. So, I think it is a fine tradition, the commander-in-chief. This one was more dramatic, because of the secrecy and risk involved into flying into the Baghdad airport, but I think it's a big plus.

O'BRIEN: But for you it is clear where the risk benefit analysis ends up?

WOOLSEY: Yes, I think so. They had one of the best aircraft in the world in terms of having counter measures against things like shoulder fired, man portable surface-to-air missiles. And they came at night with no lights. There was some risk, I think, but Air Force One is just about the best trained crew in the world for flying that kind of aircraft. So, I think it was certainly an acceptable risk, and I think the president was wise to do it.

O'BRIEN: And you have to admire their ability to keep a secret on this one.

WOOLSEY: You do.

O'BRIEN: Given what their line work is.

WOOLSEY: You do. My line of work once was that. I am all admiration for a major undertaking by a head of state like this that can be kept secret for that amount of time. Bravo!

O'BRIEN: And would you have suggested it would have been a good idea had this been brought to you in advance?

WOOLSEY: Certainly. I think any of us who have been involved, even as minor advisers occasionally, which would be the maximum role I've had, and, really, want to see success here. Particularly, anyone who has admiration, as I think most Americans do, for the way our military has performed over there, would think this was exactly appropriate. This was a good thing for the president to do.

O'BRIEN: Let's shift gears for a little bit. I'd like to get your assessment on how things are going on the ground in Iraq. One of the things that comes up time and again, is the lack of ongoing actionable, is the term, intelligence that is usable by the troops on the ground. Do you get the sense that that is improving at all?

WOOLSEY: I think it's beginning to improve a bit. We should have gone in with hundreds, maybe thousands of Iraqis who had been trained ahead of time going in with us to work with us, whether as spies or guards or as infantry alongside us. We didn't, even though Congress appropriated nearly $100 million for training them back in 1998 because the State Department and CIA were very much opposed to that. They made some other preparations, but not nearly what would have been possible if they had proceeded with training.

So I think it's getting better. We're training people on the ground there now. My friend Walt Slocum has been involved in help train the new Iraqi army. Another group is training Kurds as

(AUDIO GAP)

O'BRIEN: ...significant intelligence activity that have led to some arrests and uncovering some plots by, apparently, al Qaeda. Do you have the sense, as far as intelligence goes, focusing in on al Qaeda, that is improving and authorities all around the world are focusing properly on it?

WOOLSEY: Well, yes. Arrests in Britain, arrests in Italy and elsewhere shows that the law enforcement and intelligence people are doing their job, but al Qaeda now may be rather thin in terms of management, because we've arrested or killed a fair number of their senior people.

Some of these may be local groups that are similarly inspired and have some kind of tie with the remainder of al Qaeda. Some of this may be state-sponsored. I remain very suspicious of the Iranian government in these matters. They don't have hesitancy about working with secular groups or Sunni groups, even though they are Shiite. The Mullahs, who control the instruments of power in Iran are a big threat.

We don't know in any one case whether it is remnants of al Qaeda or the Iranian intelligence service or some freelance Islamists off on their own. Each of these will get clearer in the fullness of time. Those three groups, generally, are all going to be problems for us for some years.

O'BRIEN: James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

WOOLSEY: Good to be with you.

O'BRIEN: Deadly highway shootings to tell you about. Investigators are confirming a link and releasing information pointing to the possibility of a serial sniper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A good, alert, well-trained driver is the best weapon we have on the highways.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Targets trucks. Could big rigs be the next weapon of choice for terrorists? Some think it's possible. Find out what's being done to keep the roadways safe.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A trip down memory lane for some. A legendary rocker out of the shadow of the band that made him famous. Hear from Led Zeppelin singer, Robert Plant.

First, today's news quiz.

"Which famous rock and roll drummer gave Led Zeppelin its name? Eric Carr, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Neil Peart. The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Investigators looking into Tuesday's deadly highway shooting near Columbus, Ohio say it was no accident. They also say there's evidence linking it to at least one of nine similar incidents reported along the same stretch of road since last May. CNN's Brian Cabell reports on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Law enforcement authorities refuse to say a serial sniper or snipers is on the loose along a Columbus interstate highway. But they are investigating that possibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got somebody out here shooting people, or shooting at people. And I think it's just really bad.

CABELL: Ten shooting incidents since May on and around the southern section of I-270, Columbus's Beltway, have raised concerns. Only one of the shots actually hit anybody, a passenger. But it was lethal. The car's driver called 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, somebody just shot them in the car, and my girlfriend's been shot. We're on 270, right at the High Street exit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABELL: 62-year-old Gale Nisley (ph) was killed Tuesday when a bullet pierced the door of the car in which she was riding and hit her. Now, officials say ballistics tests tie that bullet to at least one of the other shootings.

CHIEF DEP. STEVE MARTIN, FRANKLIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Because of these findings, it is clear that the shooting incident which has resulted in the death of Ms. Nisley (ph), was not a single or accidental act of violence.

CABELL: Although all of the shootings took place along the same general stretch of highway, the reports were filed by different agencies and weren't coordinated until Tuesday.

Columbus drivers now have something besides traffic congestion and accidents to worry about. DONNA PRANIL, DRIVER: Who would ever think someone would just be out there as a sniper? And it's happening here, you know, in Ohio. It is very scary.

CABELL: Authorities say they have received more than 100 leads on the shootings in the last few days, but don't believe an arrest is imminent.

Brian Cabell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: In our justice report, it was a strange Thanksgiving at the Maryland home of retired baseball star Cal Ripken. A naked, bleeding man showed up at Ripken's house north of Baltimore last night, pleading for help. And the former Oriole shortstop summoned authorities. The man, identified as 20-year-old Brian Robbins (ph), said he had been kidnapped in downtown Baltimore, was driven to a rural area, forced to strip and he was shot as he fled before eventually stumbling into Ripken's house. Robbins (ph) was taken to a hospital, treated and released. Ripken says the situation was unsettling, but he and his family are all right.

Still ahead, under construction. A guide to the changing face of our nation's capital. Plus, more than three decades later, fans still have a whole lotta love for Robert Plant. And he had a whole lot to talk about with Wolf Blitzer. The interview is coming up.

But first, we'll try to hang with the holiday pros, those power shoppers who brave the Black Friday bargains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Looks like fun, doesn't it? Some of you out there, of course, started your holiday shopping weeks ago. Well, good for you. But the day after Thanksgiving marks the traditional beginning of the shopping season. CNN's Kris Osborn has been braving the crowds along Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Chris, what are you wearing there?

KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a teddy bear hat, Miles, that I bought about 10 minutes ago on the street, because it was getting pretty cold. And like a lot of people out here, things have been getting really, really busy. A lot of talk about these more encouraging economic numbers, about consumer confidence rising a bit.

A key question, though, will this translate into dollars and cents at the cash register for retailers? We can give you a couple of different live pictures, one of them showing this mile-long area of shops, which now as we move into the evening is getting more and more mobbed by the minute.

Also on hand, very busy today, as you might expect, Santa Claus himself has been meeting with various kids and getting a sense of what they want, because they certainly would have the best sense of what might sell and what might not sell. Now, speaking of consumers, consumer sentiment, I'm joined by Kristen Rowlands. Thanks for so much for your time, braving the elements, spending a little time with us here. I see you got a bunch of bags. As a holiday shopper, how did it go for you today?

KRISTEN ROWLANDS, HOLIDAY SHOPPER: Really good. I had a great time. And there was a lot of things that my kids wanted. And Chicago is a great place to shop.

OSBORN: So you don't want to give away any secrets, but did you get what you were looking for?

ROWLANDS: Absolutely.

OSBORN: Did you spend more this year than you did last year?

ROWLANDS: I would say so, yes.

OSBORN: So confidence is high. You feel like you got a little extra money to spend on gifts?

ROWLANDS: Sure. Yes. I think so.

OSBORN: What did you buy?

ROWLANDS: A lot of things for the kids this year.

OSBORN: All right. So there will be some happy children come the holiday season. Thank you so much. Kristen Rowlands.

So, Miles, there, for this mom who has spent a busy day shopping, along with many others, seemed to have found what she was looking for. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Kris Osborn, that's one to save for the resume reel there, with that outfit. Nice job out there.

Recent signs of a national economic turnaround have many retailers hoping for a banner year. CNN financial correspondent Allan Chernoff joining us from a shopping mall in Short Hills, New Jersey, much more reasonably dressed. Hello, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, it certainly does look like things are picking up for the retailers. The managers here are saying that traffic is up 10 percent today, compared to the day after Thanksgiving last year.

And certainly, we're seeing many people in the mall, but what about the all-important shopping bag indicator index? Well, this morning I didn't see that many shopping bags. And I asked many shoppers about that. They said that they have quickly moved their purchases over to the car, come back to do more shopping, then back to the car. So maybe that shopping bag indicator isn't the best statistic to measure how retailers are doing, but certainly the traffic here very strong, and we can also tell you that the discounts are not that widespread, so that will be a good thing for the retail profit margins, as long as consumers keep on buying and don't wait too long until Christmas time, when of course the retailers do bring their prices down -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Allan Chernoff in Short Hills. Thank you very much.

Tracking trucks being used as tools for terror. A new high-tech system designed to put the brakes on would-be attacks. We'll explain.

Plus, they can tackle in the tough terrain. But can they bear the bumps and bruises? What new crash tests reveal about SUVs. You'll be surprised.

And proof positive. Tests of a different kind and what they reveal about aviator Charles Lindbergh. Another surprise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

Stopping trucks from becoming the next weapon of choice for terrorists. An inside look at new security measures.

But first, a quick check of the latest headlines for you.

Authorities in North Dakota searching for a missing college student are seeking any photos that may have been taken at a Grand Forks mall the day Dru Sjodin disappeared. Police say the 22-year-old University of North Dakota student may have been abducted last weekend from the parking lot of the Columbia Mall, where she worked.

The first so-called heart attack gene has been isolated from an extended Iowa family that's been plagued for generations with Coronary Artery Disease. The head of the research team that discovered the mutation says everyone who has it is destined to have heart disease. The study is in the latest edition of the journal "Science."

Mid-sized sport utility vehicles fare poorly in the latest bumper crash test by the insurance industry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rated nine SUVs. All needed repairs, ranging from an average of $404 to $1,600 for each of four tests. None got the highest rating, but the 2003 Honda Pilot received the second highest rating.

Drive on any highway in this country, and you can't miss them, huge tanker trucks loaded with gasoline. To a terrorist, they would be a perfect bomb on wheels. Now there is a new high-tech weapon that can stop the big trucks dead in their tracks.

CNN's Patty Davis has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything works except acceleration. I lost complete acceleration of the truck. It's coming to a stop. PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Howard's tanker truck has just been shut down, not by him, but remotely by satellite. It is a feature California's Interstate Oil Company is hoping to put on all of its trucks.

BRENT ANDREWS, INTERSTATE OIL COMPANY: These tankers carry around approximately 9,000 gallons of gasoline at a time. They could be used as a rolling bomb potentially.

DAVIS: Since the September 11 terror attacks, trucking companies are increasingly focused on how to stop their trucks from becoming the next weapon of choice for terrorists. Eight hundred thousand shipments of petroleum products and hazardous chemicals make their way across U.S. roads every day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is equivalent of the two-way paging network.

DAVIS: Satellite security systems, $500 per truck disabling technology, isn't the only one on the market. Delphi and QUALCOMM's systems are already on thousands of trucks around the world and can also stop trucks that veer off their designated route. It's called geofencing.

(on camera): While remote truck disabling technology may be helpful, the American Trucking Association believes prevention is even more important.

MIKE RUSSELL, AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATION: We need a good, alert, well-trained driver. That's the best weapon we have on the highways.

DAVIS (voice-over): It's training millions of drivers to watch for and report suspicious behavior on the highways. And to rely on remote engine shutdowns and other high-tech tools only as a last resort.

Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Cranes high in the Washington sky. And we're not talking about the birds. Up next, we'll measure the modern-day metamorphosis of our nation's capital.

And then we'll take you to 11, taking rock to new levels, then and now. Later this hour, Wolf's interview with the legendary rocker Robert Plant.

And Santa leaves the reindeer at home and drops in on some busy shoppers. Kind of a hard landing, though. We'll show you that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Princess Di photos. A French court rules that three photographers did not violate the privacy of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, when they took pictures of the couple's bodies at the site of their car accident in 1997. The couple was killed when their car crashed in a Paris tunnel following a high-speed chase by paparazzi.

Mixed signals. Media reports in Israel say the Israeli government may dismantle some Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while also granting legal status to other outposts. The reported move is seen to be in response to growing U.S. pressure to comply with the U.S.-backed road map for peace.

Mandela's appeal. Former South African president, Nelson Mandela, is calling on the world to do more in the war against AIDS. Speaking from the island where he spent 18 years in prison, Mandela compared the fight against AIDS to the long battle against apartheid, which ended in South Africa in 1994. Appearing with Mandela were rock star Bono and other singers who will perform in an AIDS concert tomorrow in Cape Town.

Lindbergh's children. Three Germans say DNA tests prove they are the children of Charles Lindbergh, the American pilot who became a world superstar when he became the first person to fly solo from New York to Paris in 1927. The Germans first made the claim in August, two years after their mother's death. Lindbergh had six children with his wife, the author Anne Morrow, who died in 2001.

New Coke drink. Coca-Cola is out with a new soda in a bid to cash in on the national drink of Argentina, mate (ph) tea. Reaction has been mixed.

And that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It may be the start of the season to be jolly, but in one town it is the season of change. Here's CNN's national correspondent Bruce Morton with the changing face of the nation's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lots of changes in Washington these days. Some of it is security after the 9/11 attacks. You used to be able just to walk up to the Washington Monument, but those days are gone. All kinds of barricades now.

Some of this is supposed to come down eventually, but those ugly concrete blocks, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) barriers they're called, are expected to stay. Over at the Capitol, they are digging an underground visitor's center for tourists that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The estimates keep going up. But it will allow tighter screening of tourists.

Only guided tours are allowed even now. And, of course, it will be an underground shelter for Congress in case there's an air raid.

But there's lots of really new stuff, too. You remember the old view down the Mall of the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln? That's changing because just between Washington and Lincoln the World War II Memorial is going up. People argued a lot about, would it block the view, was this the right place? But it's happening now.

And the Lincoln has changed a little. They've marked the spot where Martin Luther King stood to give his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.

People argue that the Mall is getting too crowded, and they wonder where will the added memorial go, the memorial for the war in Iraq? The Mall is filling up, but there's lots of new stuff off the Mall, too.

This is the Museum of the American Indian. Stone, of course, but they've given it kind of an adobe look. And it is pretty far along.

The Newseum -- yes, a museum about the news business -- is moving to D.C. from its old site across the river in Virginia. But the new site is still just a parking lot. The Newseum folks put up front pages every day to remind us of what's coming.

The enormous new convention is open. It's so big you could probably stage a pro football game in it. But the way the Washington team is playing this year, maybe nobody would come to watch. And there is a new museum about the city, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It used to be that you only came to Washington to see the federal government. Washington right now is also a magnet for lots of other kinds of cultural visitation.

MORTON: There is construction everywhere. America's national bird is the eagle, of course. Washington's these days is the crane.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: He was the front man for one of the biggest rock bands of the '70s, but what does the future hold for the lead singer of Led Zeppelin?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT PLANT, SINGER: Three guys in their 50s in a room together would need a real good kick up the butt to get something brand new and contemporary and exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Robert Plant shares his wisdom on such matters in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked which famous rock and roll drummer gave Led Zeppelin its name. The answer, The Who's Keith Moon. After seeing the band perform in 1968, Moon told them they would go over like a lead balloon. The "A" was dropped out of Led so Americans wouldn't mispronounce the name, and balloon was changed to Zeppelin.

Suffice it to say, Keith Moon was wrong on that account. If you think of Led Zeppelin when you think of Robert Plant, you would be right. You'd also be and living in the past. The legendary rocker is keeping busy with a successful solo career. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, the host of this program, brings us up to date.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" (voice-over): The enduring image of Robert Plant. As the swirling lead vocalist for Led Zeppelin, Plant took blues rock to new levels. The group took pop music by the throat in the '70s and were one of the dominant bands of the decade.

On their way to becoming one of the biggest selling groups of all time, they fronted for a generation carving its own identity. Severing a connection to the '60s, but still a need of some kind of rebellion. Led Zeppelin gave it to them and virtually invented the phrase, "sex, drugs, and rock and roll," on stage and off.

But if this is your image of Robert Plant, allow for one more, as a successful performer in is own right before and especially after Led Zeppelin. The death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 brought the band's dissolution. Led Zeppelin never reunited.

But Plant took off as a soloist, playing to a different generation, still in the market for edgy rock, but with some polish. The late '80s and '90s brought multi platinum sales and acclaim for Plant. Now, a new double CD presents some of his best known work and some that's virtually unknown: the first-ever compilation of Plant's solo recordings spanning nearly 40 years.

"66 to Timbuktu" features the familiar mainstream rock. But as a celebration of a life's work, the most tantalizing material could be the pre-Zeppelin releases from the '60s, when this raw, ambitious teenager kicked around with a group called the Band of Joy and turned out cover songs and other singles on his own.

The release comes on the heels of a highly successful CD-DVD set out this past spring featuring Led Zeppelin's legendary concerts. But this set is a statement from Robert Plant, as if to make clear he's long since been out of the Zeppelin's shadow, and is, by no means, done in his mid 50s. In the pulsating blues number, "Win My Train Fare Home," recorded live in Timbuktu in the heart of Africa earlier this year, age seems to win no concession.

(on camera): Robert Plant, thanks very much for joining us. I have here in my hand this new CD, "66 to Timbuktu." What made you decide to put this together right now?

PLANT: Well, Wolf, I had spent countless weeks going through files and cabinets full of old tapes and film and solo stuff and Led Zeppelin stuff. And in the end, I found that I was amassing a pile of music, a lot of which had never been heard before from my solo times. I discussed some of the implications of this with my manager, and I decided that it might be quite nice and light and quite charming to put a collection of songs together which are not so much greatest hits as, to me, great moments in a fantastic career.

BLITZER: The secret of Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant, why in the '60s; '70s, '80s, '90s, now, what is the secret that has made you guys so powerful?

PLANT: Well, I think sincerity and absolute commitment to what we do and what we have done and, subsequently, what I've been doing on my own more recently. And in fact, before Zeppelin.

I was in bands with John Bonham back in the mid '60s, where we were absolutely and totally relentless. The music came first. The creation of music was really important.

It wasn't about chasing success. It was about getting it right, believing in it, and doing the best you possibly can. And I think that that motive and that moral has followed me right the way through my time.

And, you know, it is a principle that stands in high stead for me. Because I'm not looking for the charts. I'm looking for expression and a little bit more art.

BLITZER: When I interviewed Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin a few weeks ago, I asked him, "What are the prospects of Led Zeppelin getting back together one more time?" What do you think about that?

PLANT: I think that it is an age-old question. It's kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE). My idea would be it would be nice to sit down with John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page one day and see what's new. Not an oldies act, but what can we do that is contemporary, challenging and interesting?

Who knows. As far as Led Zeppelin, I don't remember us having a drummer.

BLITZER: Well, that's true. But there are three of you that still could put together the core of what could be Led Zeppelin.

PLANT: Yes. But, you know, it was a band full of wild kids who did great, wild, impetuous, superb music. And we need that sort of impetus.

And you know, I'm talking to you today because I'm talking about the very principle that fired Led Zeppelin in the first place. And that is ingenuity, power and, you know, zest, I suppose. And three guys in their 50s in a room together would need a real good kick up the butt to get something brand new and contemporary and exciting.

BLITZER: As we speak, you are getting ready to go to Oslo to perform when they deliver the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Did you ever in your wildest imagination looking back think that you would be invited, Robert Plant, to perform at an occasion like this?

PLANT: Well, it's a highly auspicious occasion, and it's a very, very meritus (ph) award chosen by great dignitaries and great people of peace. So I'm absolutely flattered.

And, of course, I would never have imagined that. Because it was not that long ago that we were considered to be social deviants. And, in fact, once upon a time, I recall we were given the keys to the city in Memphis or Nashville, Tennessee by the mayor, and two hours later we were under house arrest for inciting a riot.

So something's happened in the wash somewhere along the line. I don't know what it is. But it's not that bad. It is a great privilege for me, and I'm very proud on behalf of myself and my band -- a strange sensation -- to be able to do that.

BLITZER: Robert Plant, congratulations not only on the new CD entitled "66 to Timbuktu," but on all the decades of enjoyment you have given so many of us around the world. Appreciate it. Good luck to you.

PLANT: You are very kind. Thank you. And good luck to you, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: First comes the turkey, then comes Santa. And sometimes he doesn't arrive by sleigh, as you'll see here. The most famous elf goes airborne.

Plus, our hot Web Question of the Day: Should President Bush have met with ordinary Iraqis, too? You can right vote now at cnn.com/Wolf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Read the results of our Web Question of the Day. As always, we tell you, this is not a scientific poll.

And now proof positive that Santa doesn't need a sleigh to get around. The jolly old elf arrived at a shopping mall in suburban Houston via parachute today. If the past is any guide, we can get ready for -- ooh, ouch, poor Santa there. Yikes. Kids screaming there or something -- who knows.

Actually, he's OK, though. Don't worry, folks.

Santa will be sky diving, water skiing and doing all kinds of things over the next few weeks. And we'll show them to you all. Confirmation the season is really upon us.

That's all the time we have for WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

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




Worried; Bush Back From Baghdad; Interview With Robert Plant>