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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Hostage's Family Begs for His Release; 9/11 Report Details Other Plans, Says No Connection with Iraq; Army Officer Charged with Iraqi's Murder; Terrorists Disrupt Iraqi Oil Production; Only 12 Remain at Large from Iraq's Most Wanted List; Migrants Capsize on Way to Puerto Rico, 3 Dead
Aired June 16, 2004 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. Dramatic new details revealed today of other September 11 plots.
And dramatic pictures of refugees seeking a better life but instead encountering a horrifying moment at sea.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): A CNN exclusive...
PAUL JOHNSON III, SON OF HOSTAGE: Just please let him come home and be a grandfather.
BLITZER: A family's dramatic plea for an American held hostage in Saudi Arabia.
Target America. 9/11 investigators find no Iraqi link, but they warn of new al Qaeda plots. Could the next attack involve anthrax?
Target oil. Pipeline attacks cut off Iraqi exports. We're on the scene.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Several feet deep at least. A lake of crude oil that burst from this underground piping.
BLITZER: Lottery of life. One did the right thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I always wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what.
BLITZER: One didn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the biggest jerk in this park.
BLITZER: Which one is the winner?
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, June 16, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: His captors say he has only two days to live unless Saudi Arabia begins releasing al Qaeda prisoners. Now the family of an American kidnapped in Saudi Arabia is going public with a desperate plea for his life.
Responding to the death threat by Paul Johnson's captors, Johnson's son and sister literally begged for his release during an exclusive, tearful interview with CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's joining us now live from Little Egg Harbor in New Jersey -- Deborah.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can tell you, Wolf, that his family is still reeling from his abduction. They have reached out to senators, anybody who could help, and at this hour New Jersey senators are meeting with the top Saudi adviser to see what can be done to bring Paul Johnson home alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): For Paul Johnson's family, the wait is excruciating.
JOHNSON: I just want him brought home safely.
FEYERICK: Johnson's son and sister hoping the captors might be watching.
DONNA MAYEUX, SISTER OF PAUL JOHNSON JR.: Killing him is not going to solve anything.
FEYERICK: Hoping that maybe they could appeal to what they called the kidnapper's sense of dignity.
JOHNSON: I know that the group of men that got my father, you guys are probably fathers. And just please let him come home and be a grandfather. And this is Paul Marshall Johnson IV.
FEYERICK: Johnson, an engineer with Lockheed Martin, was abducted Saturday. He has worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade and had plans to meet his 3-year-old grandson this Christmas.
JOHNSON: The last conversation I had with him, we were all supposed to be reunited later this year in Thailand, because he's building a house over there. And we were just all going to get together for the holidays and all be together as a family. And that's the last I've heard from my father.
FEYERICK: In a videotape they released Tuesday, the kidnappers say they will kill Johnson Friday unless their demands are met and the Saudi government releases all al Qaeda prisoners.
JOHNSON: I plead with the Saudi government and the group of men that are holding my father to please let him return home safely.
MAYEUX: We just -- we just ask that they treat him with the dignity and respect that he's often talked about, that they have in their culture. Just please, please don't murder them -- murder him. FEYERICK: A plea to the government which says it does not negotiate with terrorists and a plea to the terrorists themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now the family, despite the threats, despite the 72- hour deadline, say they remain optimistic -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Deborah Feyerick in New Jersey. Deborah, thank you very much for that excellent report. And we'll have much more from Deborah's exclusive interview with Paul Johnson's family. That's coming up later this hour.
In what some see as a blunt rebuff to the Bush administration, the bipartisan 9/11 commission says it has found no credible evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.
It did find that al Qaeda's original plans were far more ambitious, and it warns that future attacks could involve anthrax or chemical weapons.
For more, let's turn to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're learning now that al Qaeda's original plans were more ambitious. They covered a lot of different possibilities before they settled in on four aircraft attacking buildings here in this country.
And I think when the history is written of 9/11, today's hearings will be quoted extensively.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): With chilling, new detail the 9/11 commission staff laid out what it called a highly competent, flexible plot to attack the United States.
Commissioners were dismayed.
JAMES THOMPSON, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: How in the world do we ever expect to win this war? And if the war is not winnable in the traditional sense, how do we contain or checkmate this enemy?
ENSOR: Among the revelations, that mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed originally proposed hijacking ten planes in the U.S. to hit targets on the West Coast too, and that he would personally land the tenth after just the men on board had been killed, in order to address the world's media.
That the plotters argued about whether Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania should target the U.S. Capitol or the White House. Osama bin Laden wanted to hit the White House. The pilots thought the Capitol would be an easier target.
That one of the plotters says Zacarias Moussaoui was to have been the fourth pilot if Ziad Jarrah dropped out, as he was threatening to do.
That original plans called for attacks in Asia and the U.S. simultaneously.
That bin Laden wanted to attack back in 2000, but was told the hijackers weren't yet ready.
That all 19 of the hijackers attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
DOUGLAS MACEACHIN, 9/11 COMMISSION STAFF: The camps created a climate in which trainees and personnel were free to think creatively about ways to commit mass murder.
ENSOR: The commission made public photos of Mohammed Atta withdrawing money in Virginia April 4 and spoke of him using his cell phone in Florida April 6 through 11, so he couldn't have been in Prague, meeting an Iraqi intelligence officer April 9, as administration officials have suggested.
And in fact, the commission said Iraq was not involved in 9/11.
MACEACHIN: We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: The commission also says there's intelligence suggesting al Qaeda played a role in the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 that killed 19 U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia, apparently cooperating with Hezbollah and with Iran -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David, I understand you're getting a little information. What can we expect tomorrow involving aviation on 9/11?
ENSOR: That is the subject tomorrow, Wolf. It's the -- what was going on in the skies on 9/11. They'll have the military, and they'll have the FAA and aviation experts out there.
I'm told that, you know, we -- most of us think that on the day the White House authorized the orders that went out to the military to shoot down civilian aircraft, that they would have done so if it had come to that, but it didn't.
I'm told by one commissioner that that just simply isn't true, that there's a lot of misinformation out there, that there's some other urban myths, as well, that will be punctured or corrected tomorrow -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's David Ensor will, of course, have extensive coverage tomorrow, of day two of these hearings by the 9/11 commission.
Earlier today, I spoke with the White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who reacted to the panel's conclusions of today. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Because Al Qaeda and Iraq may not have collaborated in a specific attack of 9/11 does not mean that there's not a relationship or a past relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.
The fact that al Zarqawi was in Baghdad before the invasion demonstrates that he was giving safe haven to al Qaeda affiliates. People have testified to this issue.
Make no mistake about it, Saddam Hussein had ties to terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, says the Bush administration has misled the American people.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That seems to be what we've learned in the indications from the intelligence community in the last months. The administration misled America. The administration reached too far. They did not tell the truth to Americans about what was happening or their own intentions.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BLITZER: Do the 9/11 investigators have it right? Joining us now, one of the investigators, one of the commissioners, the Democrat, Richard Ben-Veniste. He's one of the ten commissioners on the 9/11 panel.
Thanks very much, Mr. Ben-Veniste, for joining us.
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Good to see you.
BLITZER: Let's get to what David said right at the end of his report, that there really was no order that was given on 9/11 to shoot down planes, that this is a myth that has just been floating out there?
BEN-VENISTE: Well, we're going to deal with that tomorrow, Wolf. I'm not going to preview the information in any detail except to say that a lot of the information that has been released previously, indeed some sworn to, will have to be corrected.
BLITZER: Now in fairness to the administration, as far as I know, the president never has flatly said that Saddam Hussein did have a connection to 9/11, did he?
BEN-VENISTE: I thought he said that it didn't, as far as he knew.
BLITZER: Right.
BEN-VENISTE: So this argument continues on somehow outside the White House.
But let me say that this is a bipartisan commission. The facts which were developed by our staff and overseen by the members of the commission simply are what they are.
There is no credible information to suggest that Iraq or Saddam Hussein was in any way responsible for the planning of 9/11. We know a great deal about what happened and why it happened, and it didn't involve Iraq.
BLITZER: But there were some contacts. In the report, for example, it says in 1994 in Sudan a senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly had three visits to Sudan, meeting with bin Laden in '94. So there were contacts.
BEN-VENISTE: Sure, there would have been contacts. The Iraqis would have wanted to know what bin Laden was up to. But I think it's quite clear that they were in opposition, that the Jihadist movement was certainly no friend of a secular movement in Iraq. And I don't think we ought to spend a heck of a lot of time on it.
BLITZER: What emerged from today's conclusions, today's findings, that really jumped out at you as new information?
BEN-VENISTE: Well, I continue to be startled by the amount of information that we had within the intelligence community about the planning of the attack.
Some of the things that jumped out at me were the fact that we knew -- our intelligence knew, in June of 2001, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed or KSM, as he's known, was in fact sending operatives to the United States for the purpose of doing us harm. That information was only discovered by our investigative staff two or three weeks ago. But it was known in June of 2001.
BLITZER: What happened? Why didn't the appropriate actions begin to take place after that information was known in June?
BEN-VENISTE: That's a good question. We still don't know the answer to that.
Similarly, we received information from interviewing the detainees and corroborated through a number of different methods, that the information about the attack was not as closely held as we had been led to believe.
So that again, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed discussed this with a number of people, that it was widely known in al Qaeda that such a spectacular attack was coming in the United States, that Osama bin Laden himself addressed a group of trainees at a camp in Afghanistan and told them to pray for the 20 martyrs, and that occurred, obviously, in advance of the attacks.
So a lot of the information that our intelligence community was hearing, who overhears in various methods, was in fact information which was being shared between and among members of al Qaeda about an upcoming, spectacular attack, which turned out to be the catastrophe of 9/11.
BLITZER: Very briefly, was there any human intelligence, any human spies, inside al Qaeda giving the U.S. information?
BEN-VENISTE: We had some al Qaeda information. None of it was as specific as we would have liked. And that goes to the question of why, following the breakup of the Jihadist movement in Afghanistan which we supported, did we not penetrate these individuals who we knew would do harm to those with whom they disagreed?
BLITZER: We'll be watching tomorrow, day two of these hearings. Richard Ben-Veniste, thanks for spending a few moments with us.
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
BLITZER: Tomorrow, we'll speak with another commissioner, Republican Slade Gorton. He'll join us at this time tomorrow.
In a moment, a developing story we're following. Murder charges expected to be filed against a U.S. soldier in Iraq. New information we're getting right now.
Iraq's most wanted. Where is this terrorist hiding? There's new information on the man believed to have beheaded American Nicholas Berg.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: This is now the front line of Iraq's war on oil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A CNN exclusive: target, oil fields. How insurgents shut down southern Iraq's oil operation.
And horror on the open seas. A voyage of escape backfires. And the U.S. Coast Guard is there to capture it all on camera. We'll have details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Iraq, there are just 14 days to go until a handover of sovereignty, and the insurgents are stepping up attacks with devastating effect.
Six Iraqis, including a police officer, were killed in an ambush in Ramadi. Six members of Iraq's Civil Defense Corps have been detained in connection with a roadside bombing.
Coalition officials say two U.S. soldiers were killed when a rocket slammed into their logistics base near Balad (ph), north of Baghdad. Up to two dozen other people wounded.
And in this late-breaking development, murder charges are expected against a United States Army officer stemming from an incident last month.
Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, some Pentagon officials are describing it as a possible mercy killing, but nevertheless, it will result in murder charges against a U.S. Army captain, the result of an incident that happened in May 21 in Kufa.
The U.S. military following a high-speed motorcade had a shoot- out. One person was badly injured. The other one was more seriously injured. The driver, he was shot at close range by the U.S. Army campaign.
It may well be that he was trying to put the badly injured Iraqi out of his suffering, but even if that was the motive it would still be murder under the U.S. military justice system -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre with that development at the Pentagon. Jamie, thanks very much.
Iraq's insurgents have also managed to cripple, at least temporarily, the most vital sector of the country's economy, namely, the latest attacks have halted Iraq's oil exports, by and large.
Our senior international correspondent Brent Sadler has our exclusive on the scene report from Basra.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER: This is now the front line of Iraq's war on oil.
Overnight insurgents were able to destroy part of a strategic pipeline carrying crude oil from Basra to offshore terminals at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.
If we walk around here, it stinks because of the heavy odors of crude oil that's created a large sea around here. If we pan off my location, you'll see half a meter deep, several feet deep, at least, a lake of crude oil that's burst from this underground piping.
This is the crude oil that should now have been sent to ships waiting to take on oil on those offshore terminals. Iraq's oil exports from the south now completely at a standstill.
Now this is actually the place where the explosion went off. If we walk around this pumping machinery, they're trying to push back the oil that was in the pipeline that burst out in this area so that they can effect repairs.
But before they can do that, they have to put sand, piles and piles of sand, tons of it, around the actual leak which you can see down here, and that's oozing from the burst pipe. If you can see those bubbles.
They first of all have to isolate that area with an earthen berm, and then get engineers to repair it. That's going to take several days.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Basra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Brent. What a disaster, with enormous ramifications for all concerned.
Remember the coalition's deck of cards? CNN's Brian Todd has been looking into what's become of Iraq's most wanted. Brian joins us now live.
What has become of them, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESONDENT: Well, Wolf, for a while it seemed that the most -- that the most wanted list was a real barometer for the coalition to gauge post-combat success in Iraq.
We've checked on the status of that list and who's still out there. And what we found is surprising.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): By simple count it appears to be a success. Of the coalition's 55 most wanted, the so-called deck of cards in Iraq, 43 have been killed, captured or surrendered, including Saddam Hussein and his sons.
But that, of course, means 12 remain at large, and these are dangerous people.
DAN SENOR, COALITION SPOKESMAN: They're Baathist die-hards that are looking to wreak havoc in this country.
TODD: But intelligence analysts we spoke to say the deck of cards has become almost irrelevant. With most of them out of the picture, it hasn't made a dent in the resistance. And in fact, the insurgency has grown.
No one from the list has been captured since February, and analysts say, with the handover approaching, U.S. forces don't want to engage in major battles and may not be trying very hard to get these men.
KEN POLLACK, SABAN CENTER: They are not the highest priority. And as a result, the real resources that are available in Iraq need to be focused on things like getting this new Iraqi government established, dealing with security, and providing basic services to Iraqis.
TODD: Contacted by CNN, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command says it's ludicrous to think the coalition is not actively pursuing those wanted men, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, leader of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council, indicted for war crimes, who's believed to have coordinated attacks against coalition forces in northern Iraq. And Hani Abd al-Latif al-Tilfah, a relative of Saddam's who directed his special security organizations. One intelligence analyst tells us, he's like someone from the S.S., Gestapo and Murder Incorporated all rolled into one.
The elephant in the room not on the list because he's not from Saddam's regime, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant with alleged ties to al Qaeda, suspected of masterminding several major terrorist attacks, now believed to be hiding in Fallujah.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Arguably, Zarqawi's not only the most dangerous person in Iraq, he's arguably the most dangerous terrorist in the world today in terms of actual operations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: One set of lists that Zarqawi likely is on is very secretive. Two intelligence analysts tell us of so-called black, white and gray lists. Maintained by the intelligence community, they give the real priorities on the ground, the most dangerous people from all factions and their associates -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much for that report.
Falling into raging waters. A tragedy at sea caught on camera. What went wrong? CNN's Susan Candiotti standing by with details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: I just want him brought home safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A plea for mercy. A family of an American held hostage speaks out to CNN. You'll hear more of our exclusive interview.
And athletes on the offensive. An unusual appeal to the public from Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Officials have just released dramatic videotape taken off the coast of Puerto Rico this past weekend when a small boat loaded with illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic began to sink.
CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti is joining us now live from Miami with details -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.
It is a remarkable rescue, but not everyone made it out alive. Tragically, this happens with chilling regularity.
A Coast Guard camera captured the images Saturday night. A 40- foot boat, they're commonly yolas, massively overcrowded with 94 Dominican migrants. It was the dead of night, three to four-foot seas, winds of up to 15 miles an hour, severe conditions for that sized boat and the number of people aboard.
Now, 24-hour patrols spotted the yola. Coast Guard customs, border patrol, Navy. The Coast Guard approaches the yola as it is listing to the left, a passenger trying to bail out water.
The Coast Guard throwing life jackets to those aboard. Then the boat capsizes. Ninety-four people dumped into the water, just 25 miles south of Puerto Rico, apparently where the migrants were headed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY RUSSELL, U.S. COAST GUARD: When you get on one of those boats you're literally inches away from death. You've got inches of free board above the water. So all it takes is a significant wave, significant gust of wind, a slight shift in weight. Tons of things could happen that would turn that front into an instant tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Reporter: Remarkably, only three of the 94 aboard died. The three were found trapped underneath the yola the following morning. The survivors were repatriated to the Dominican Republic.
And the Coast Guard says it's very hard to prosecute the suspected smugglers, because often they intermingle among the passengers and the migrants afraid to give them up.
We can say that it's highly likely, if not probable, that all of them will probably try to make the trip again -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Susan Candiotti in Miami. What dramatic video that is. Thanks, Susan, very, very much.
Bag checkers, security guards and metal detectors, all necessities at Jerusalem's biggest mall. Up next, the extreme precautions Israelis must take just for a day of shopping.
Also ahead: liposuction. It's a popular way to lose the fat. But a new study suggests there's critical information you need to know if you're thinking about it.
And later, life and luck. When the reward for kindness really pays off.
BLITZER: Welcome back. With the clock ticking on a deadline set by terrorists, the family of an American held hostage in Saudi Arabia makes a desperate plea for his life. We'll hear from in just moment in a CNN exclusive.
First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.
Law enforcement sources tell CNN the FBI is holding an American citizen born in Pakistan. Sources say the man arrested in April is suspected of funneling money to Pakistani terrorists, allegedly plotting attacks overseas. The suspect is said to be cooperating. A plea bargain could be announced this week.
President Bush was rallying the troops today with a speech at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida that was beamed to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president praised the troops for their sacrifices, but warned of more violence in Iraq as the transfer of sovereignty approaches at the end of this month.
At the top of the program, CNN's Deborah Feyerick told us about her exclusive interview with the family of Paul Johnson, the American kidnapped in Saudi Arabia last Saturday. In the interview, Johnson's son and sister pleaded with his captors to spare his life. Here's more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONNA MAYEUX, BROTHER HELD HOSTAGE: It's disbelief. It's -- I guess it's something that you never think is going to hit home, to your own family. We kind of feel numb.
FEYERICK: The U.S. government, the Saudi government, says that their policy is not to negotiate with terrorists. What do you say to the governments?
PAUL JOHNSON III, FATHER HELD HOSTAGE: The governments, you know, we know what they want, and my father, I know he's an innocent victim in this whole matter. And I plead with the Saudi government and the group of men that are holding my father, to please let him return home safely.
He will leave your country. You will never see him again. I just plead with them to -- to get him home safely.
My father is a loving father. He's a grandfather. He would give his shirt off the back to them if he knew them. And he respected -- he respected the Saudis.
MAYEUX: He's an innocent man. Killing him is not going to solve anything. We would just like his safe return. My mother, his wife, my niece, and my three girls, we would just like his safe return.
FEYERICK: Now, Paul, we know that you've brought your son here. He's 3 years old. He's never seen his grandfather. I guess Christmas was going to be when he saw him.
What is the message that you have for your dad right now?
JOHNSON: I just want him to be brought home safely.
MAYEUX: We're doing everything we can to bring him home. Everybody's trying to help. We appreciate that.
JOHNSON: I just plead with the Saudis to please do whatever you take -- if you got to -- I'm -- we're all human. Just, please. He's done a lot for your country. I respect your country. I respect -- I respect everything that everybody's done. And I just want to see my father brought home safely.
And the Saudis -- you can make it happen. And I'm just asking you, please make this happen. He's -- he does not deserve this. And he was just doing his job, and let's please just bring him home. And the group of people holding him, just please -- he don't deserve this.
MAYEUX: We just -- we just ask that he treat him with the dignity and respect that he's often talked about, that they have in their culture, just please, please don't murder them -- murder him.
JOHNSON: I want to say I know the group of men that got my father, you guys are probably fathers. And just please let him come home and be a grandfather.
And this is Paul Marshall Johnson IV. I -- my father gave me his name. And I honored my father so much I gave him, my son, his name. And I just want to -- a safe return. And I'm optimistic with -- the Saudis can get him home safely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That was Paul Johnson's son and his sister in an exclusive interview this morning with CNN's Deborah Feyerick. Very, very sad.
A Somali man who allegedly plotted with al Qaeda supporters to blow up an Ohio shopping mall was today ordered to a psychiatric facility for mental competency tests. Charges against Nuradin Abdi were announced Monday, but the evidence remains sealed.
While Americans now face the chilling prospect of attacks on what are called soft targets, Israelis have been dealing with that threat and the grim reality for many years. CNN's John Vause reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A trip to Jerusalem's biggest shopping mall is an exercise in patience. Long lines of cars waiting to park as security guards check the glove box, backseats and the trunk. There are metal detectors and bags searched on a busy day. It can all take up to 20 minutes.
SUPT. GIL KLEIMAN, ISRAELI POLICE: So our society has grown accustomed. We're used to living with what we call the routine of terror.
VAUSE: A heavily-armed private security guard roams outside. His job, shoot to kill any would-be suicide bombers. No one is above suspicion.
Inside security guards in plain clothes and constant video surveillance. Tammy van Doren and Lisa Ribibi (ph) shop here every two weeks. Like most Israelis they feel the mall is one of the safest places in Israel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything's checked, the cars are checked, bags are checked. So why should I fell -- I'm safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very sad, but it's a state that we -- this is how we live in this country unfortunately.
VAUSE (on camera): There are more than 120 shopping mall as cross Israel. They all need the usual permits from the health department or the fire department, for example. But under Israeli law, they must meet a minimum security standard as well.
(voice-over): Every entrance at every mall must have a bag checker, armed security guard, metal detectors and barricades.
KLEIMAN: If they don't meet requirements they don't get a license. And if they stop meeting requirements after they get the license we go to court and close their business down.
VAUSE: Suicide bombers regularly try and target shopping malls. But so far, none have made it past the security checks.
Two years ago, Israeli intelligence uncovered a plot to blow up the Jerusalem mall and officials here believe a mega attack on any mall is always a real possibility. Under these extraordinary circumstances, for Israelis, a trip to the mall is still part of an ordinary day. John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: In a moment, surprising information on the most popular plastic surgery in America.
Plus, she could be left out of the Olympic Games on charges she used performance-enhancing drugs. Now Marion Jones goes public with a very different story. And she's not the only athlete being accused. Lance Armstrong, now facing the same charges.
And later. Kindness and karma. A story perhaps proof that if you do good things for others, you, too, will be rewarded. This amazing story, we'll get to that.
First though, some news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): A Palestinian militant was killed in a gunfight with an undercover Israeli military unit in the West Bank city of Jenin. Israel says four other Palestinians were arrested.
India, train wreck. A passenger train derailment in western India killed more than a dozen people after apparently hitting a boulder on the tracks. The engine and three cars plunged off a 65- foot high bridge.
Controversial request. Scientists at a British university have requested government permission to clone human embryos so they can harvest stem cells for research. They eventually hope to create insulin-producing cells that could be transplanted into diabetic patients.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And that's our look around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's the single most popular form of cosmetic surgery. But while liposuction can make you thinner, it doesn't make you healthier. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the results of a brand new study being released this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About a year and a half ago, Cheryl Strahm had 20 pounds of fat sucked out of her stomach. She did it to look better and...
CHERYL STRAHM, STUDY PARTICIPANT: To lower my blood sugar, lower my cholesterol and lower my blood pressure. That's what I was hoping for.
COHEN: But it didn't turn out that way. Strahm's part of a new study that found having liposuction, even having lots of fat removed like she did, does not help lower blood sugar, lower cholesterol or lower blood pressure. Strahm says she was surprised. She thought losing all that weight would help those health problems. So why didn't it?
DR. SAMUEL KLEIN, WASH. UNIV. IN ST. LOUIS: It's not how much fat but how you lose the fat that's important.
COHEN: Dr. Klein says only diet and exercise actually reduce the fat in the liver and in the muscles which are important for health benefits. Liposuction doesn't touch that kind of fat. Strahm says she is still glad she got the quick weight loss with lipo, now she can move more easily, take walks every day.
STRAHM: When you feel better about yourself, dieting's easier.
COHEN: Now she's not looking for that quick fix but for a slow and steady weight loss that will make her slimmer and healthier. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, she's facing charges that could keep her out of this year's Summer Olympic games. But Olympic Champion Marion Jones denies using performance-enhancing drugs and she says she wants the case against her made public. At a news conference today in San Francisco, the track and field star lashed out at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and its investigation of her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARION JONES, OLYMPIC CHAMPION: I am more than happy to answer every question. But I'm not going to engage in USADA's secret kangaroo court. I will answer USADA's questions in a public forum that will be open for the entire world to see, hear, and evaluate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: USADA, the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Jones, by the way, won a record five track and field medals at the 2000 Olympics, all the results she says, of hard work and God-given talent. Another champion, cycling's Lance Armstrong, also vehemently denying doping allegations and he may be taking his accuser to court. CNN's Josie Burke is following story. She's joining us live in New York -- Josie.
JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in just a couple of weeks, Lance Armstrong is going to defend his five consecutive Tour de France titles. But this week, he was already on the defensive, trying to protect his reputation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURKE (voice-over): Over the last five years, Lance Armstrong has beaten every rival who has challenged him during the grueling Tour de France. What Armstrong hasn't been able to eliminate permanently are the allegations that his climb to the top of the cycling world has been aided by banned performance-enhancing drugs.
LANCE ARMSTRONG, FIVE-TIME TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: I heard it in 1999, I heard it in 2001. Again in 2003. It happens all the time. And every time we have chose to just sit back and let it pass.
BURKE: Not this time. Armstrong is filing a libel suit over a new book just published in France. It alleges he used the banned endurance boosting drug EPO during a Tour de France winning streak that stands at five and counting. Some of the allegations come from a one-time employee of Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service (ph) cycling team.
ARMSTRONG: We're sick and tired of these allegations and we're going to do everything we can to fight them. They're absolutely untrue.
BURKE: Two years ago a French investigation into Armstrong's team was closed after no evidence of illegal drug use was found. But doping questions remained and acknowledged Armstrong associate Dr. Michele Ferrari is on trial in Italy for allegedly supplying cyclists with banned substances. And this year, two European riders detailed how drugs are administered on a team-wide basis, and alleged cheating is rampant throughout the sport. Armstrong says there is only one explanation for the success of his team.
ARMSTRONG: I think that the people that know cycling know that we're the most passionate, fanatical, crazy team out there when it comes to preparation in the right way. We spend more time on equipment and training and legal methods than anybody else. And I stand by that statement. And over time, we'll see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARMSTRONG: ...time on equipment and training and legal methods than anybody else. And I stand by that statement. And over time we'll see.
BURKE: Armstrong said that it was frustrating that these allegations would surface now and that they are a distraction as he gets ready for the Tour de France. The race starts July 3. And, Wolf, he's trying to become the first cyclist to ever win that race six times -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And Josie, as I'm sure viewers remember, this is a champion that not only has won the Tour de France, but beat cancer. He had serious cancer only a few years ago and he made this dramatic comeback.
BURKE: And that's absolutely right. And that's why a lot of people kind of raised their eyebrows, Wolf, when they hear he might have taken performance enhancing drugs considering that he's already cheated death once.
BLITZER: CNN's Josie Burke with this story. Josie, thank you very much.
Getting what they deserve: we'll break down the amazing stories of two people making headlines this week, but for very different reasons.
And our picture of the day: a new fashion statement for the men and women fighting around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: By the end of this next story, you're probably going to say, one of the two people featured deserves to win the Lottery, the other doesn't. Guess which one won? Here's CNN's Michael Shoulder.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL SHOULDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Making news this week on the left is Mitzy Nichols and that's her scar which she willingly received for the good of a fellow human being. On the right is a guy who's probably gotten enough grief for what he did in the stands of a major league baseball game. We'll get back to Mitzy in a minute, first, watch and listen carefully to what begins as a routine foul ball at the Texas Rangers game over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Matthews fouls one back.
SHOULDER: The ball practically drops in the lap of 4 year-old Nick O'Brien, what a great souvenir it would be. But, wait a grown man leaps over his seat, knocks into Nick and grabs the ball before the little boy can get it. Despite a swat from nick's mother and jeers from the crowd, the man won't give up the ball. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the biggest jerk in this park. Yep, you, big guy.
SHOULDER: Now, to Mitzy Nichols of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Three years ago, after working at a kidney dialysis center, she decided to give up one of her kidneys for a total stranger. His name is Calvin Sanders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I always wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what.
SHOULDER: Now that you're feeling good about mankind, let's go back to the ballpark. In case you were giving the big guy the benefit of the doubt that he was, perhaps, looking to protect little Nick from the dangerous round projectile, consider this: he had a chance to give the ball back and he didn't. But before you lose faith in the karma of humanity, let's find out who won a Lottery this week worth $500,000. The winner is Mitzy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to have a house, I want to buy a car for my daughter, she wants to get student loans paid off so she can go back to nursing school.
SHOULDER: As for the boy who came so close to getting his first baseball, the players made sure he didn't walk away empty handed. Justice prevails. Michael Shoulder, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Good for Mitzy. Thanks very much for that, Michael Shoulder.
When we come back, our picture of the day: a fashion statement for the men and women in fatigues. We'll check out the new military digs up next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Our picture of the day is a fashion show, not from Paris, but from the Pentagon. The Army has done a major makeover of its combat uniform for the first time in a quarter century. There's no more green outfit for foliage, no more tan outfit for the desert, the new digitized camouflage pattern blends in with all types of terrain.
I'll see you tomorrow 5:00 pm Eastern. Among my guests tomorrow, Angelina Jolie, she's just back from Africa. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 16, 2004 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. Dramatic new details revealed today of other September 11 plots.
And dramatic pictures of refugees seeking a better life but instead encountering a horrifying moment at sea.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): A CNN exclusive...
PAUL JOHNSON III, SON OF HOSTAGE: Just please let him come home and be a grandfather.
BLITZER: A family's dramatic plea for an American held hostage in Saudi Arabia.
Target America. 9/11 investigators find no Iraqi link, but they warn of new al Qaeda plots. Could the next attack involve anthrax?
Target oil. Pipeline attacks cut off Iraqi exports. We're on the scene.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Several feet deep at least. A lake of crude oil that burst from this underground piping.
BLITZER: Lottery of life. One did the right thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I always wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what.
BLITZER: One didn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the biggest jerk in this park.
BLITZER: Which one is the winner?
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, June 16, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: His captors say he has only two days to live unless Saudi Arabia begins releasing al Qaeda prisoners. Now the family of an American kidnapped in Saudi Arabia is going public with a desperate plea for his life.
Responding to the death threat by Paul Johnson's captors, Johnson's son and sister literally begged for his release during an exclusive, tearful interview with CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's joining us now live from Little Egg Harbor in New Jersey -- Deborah.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can tell you, Wolf, that his family is still reeling from his abduction. They have reached out to senators, anybody who could help, and at this hour New Jersey senators are meeting with the top Saudi adviser to see what can be done to bring Paul Johnson home alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): For Paul Johnson's family, the wait is excruciating.
JOHNSON: I just want him brought home safely.
FEYERICK: Johnson's son and sister hoping the captors might be watching.
DONNA MAYEUX, SISTER OF PAUL JOHNSON JR.: Killing him is not going to solve anything.
FEYERICK: Hoping that maybe they could appeal to what they called the kidnapper's sense of dignity.
JOHNSON: I know that the group of men that got my father, you guys are probably fathers. And just please let him come home and be a grandfather. And this is Paul Marshall Johnson IV.
FEYERICK: Johnson, an engineer with Lockheed Martin, was abducted Saturday. He has worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade and had plans to meet his 3-year-old grandson this Christmas.
JOHNSON: The last conversation I had with him, we were all supposed to be reunited later this year in Thailand, because he's building a house over there. And we were just all going to get together for the holidays and all be together as a family. And that's the last I've heard from my father.
FEYERICK: In a videotape they released Tuesday, the kidnappers say they will kill Johnson Friday unless their demands are met and the Saudi government releases all al Qaeda prisoners.
JOHNSON: I plead with the Saudi government and the group of men that are holding my father to please let him return home safely.
MAYEUX: We just -- we just ask that they treat him with the dignity and respect that he's often talked about, that they have in their culture. Just please, please don't murder them -- murder him. FEYERICK: A plea to the government which says it does not negotiate with terrorists and a plea to the terrorists themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now the family, despite the threats, despite the 72- hour deadline, say they remain optimistic -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Deborah Feyerick in New Jersey. Deborah, thank you very much for that excellent report. And we'll have much more from Deborah's exclusive interview with Paul Johnson's family. That's coming up later this hour.
In what some see as a blunt rebuff to the Bush administration, the bipartisan 9/11 commission says it has found no credible evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.
It did find that al Qaeda's original plans were far more ambitious, and it warns that future attacks could involve anthrax or chemical weapons.
For more, let's turn to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're learning now that al Qaeda's original plans were more ambitious. They covered a lot of different possibilities before they settled in on four aircraft attacking buildings here in this country.
And I think when the history is written of 9/11, today's hearings will be quoted extensively.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): With chilling, new detail the 9/11 commission staff laid out what it called a highly competent, flexible plot to attack the United States.
Commissioners were dismayed.
JAMES THOMPSON, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: How in the world do we ever expect to win this war? And if the war is not winnable in the traditional sense, how do we contain or checkmate this enemy?
ENSOR: Among the revelations, that mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed originally proposed hijacking ten planes in the U.S. to hit targets on the West Coast too, and that he would personally land the tenth after just the men on board had been killed, in order to address the world's media.
That the plotters argued about whether Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania should target the U.S. Capitol or the White House. Osama bin Laden wanted to hit the White House. The pilots thought the Capitol would be an easier target.
That one of the plotters says Zacarias Moussaoui was to have been the fourth pilot if Ziad Jarrah dropped out, as he was threatening to do.
That original plans called for attacks in Asia and the U.S. simultaneously.
That bin Laden wanted to attack back in 2000, but was told the hijackers weren't yet ready.
That all 19 of the hijackers attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
DOUGLAS MACEACHIN, 9/11 COMMISSION STAFF: The camps created a climate in which trainees and personnel were free to think creatively about ways to commit mass murder.
ENSOR: The commission made public photos of Mohammed Atta withdrawing money in Virginia April 4 and spoke of him using his cell phone in Florida April 6 through 11, so he couldn't have been in Prague, meeting an Iraqi intelligence officer April 9, as administration officials have suggested.
And in fact, the commission said Iraq was not involved in 9/11.
MACEACHIN: We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: The commission also says there's intelligence suggesting al Qaeda played a role in the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 that killed 19 U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia, apparently cooperating with Hezbollah and with Iran -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David, I understand you're getting a little information. What can we expect tomorrow involving aviation on 9/11?
ENSOR: That is the subject tomorrow, Wolf. It's the -- what was going on in the skies on 9/11. They'll have the military, and they'll have the FAA and aviation experts out there.
I'm told that, you know, we -- most of us think that on the day the White House authorized the orders that went out to the military to shoot down civilian aircraft, that they would have done so if it had come to that, but it didn't.
I'm told by one commissioner that that just simply isn't true, that there's a lot of misinformation out there, that there's some other urban myths, as well, that will be punctured or corrected tomorrow -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's David Ensor will, of course, have extensive coverage tomorrow, of day two of these hearings by the 9/11 commission.
Earlier today, I spoke with the White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who reacted to the panel's conclusions of today. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Because Al Qaeda and Iraq may not have collaborated in a specific attack of 9/11 does not mean that there's not a relationship or a past relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.
The fact that al Zarqawi was in Baghdad before the invasion demonstrates that he was giving safe haven to al Qaeda affiliates. People have testified to this issue.
Make no mistake about it, Saddam Hussein had ties to terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, says the Bush administration has misled the American people.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That seems to be what we've learned in the indications from the intelligence community in the last months. The administration misled America. The administration reached too far. They did not tell the truth to Americans about what was happening or their own intentions.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BLITZER: Do the 9/11 investigators have it right? Joining us now, one of the investigators, one of the commissioners, the Democrat, Richard Ben-Veniste. He's one of the ten commissioners on the 9/11 panel.
Thanks very much, Mr. Ben-Veniste, for joining us.
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Good to see you.
BLITZER: Let's get to what David said right at the end of his report, that there really was no order that was given on 9/11 to shoot down planes, that this is a myth that has just been floating out there?
BEN-VENISTE: Well, we're going to deal with that tomorrow, Wolf. I'm not going to preview the information in any detail except to say that a lot of the information that has been released previously, indeed some sworn to, will have to be corrected.
BLITZER: Now in fairness to the administration, as far as I know, the president never has flatly said that Saddam Hussein did have a connection to 9/11, did he?
BEN-VENISTE: I thought he said that it didn't, as far as he knew.
BLITZER: Right.
BEN-VENISTE: So this argument continues on somehow outside the White House.
But let me say that this is a bipartisan commission. The facts which were developed by our staff and overseen by the members of the commission simply are what they are.
There is no credible information to suggest that Iraq or Saddam Hussein was in any way responsible for the planning of 9/11. We know a great deal about what happened and why it happened, and it didn't involve Iraq.
BLITZER: But there were some contacts. In the report, for example, it says in 1994 in Sudan a senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly had three visits to Sudan, meeting with bin Laden in '94. So there were contacts.
BEN-VENISTE: Sure, there would have been contacts. The Iraqis would have wanted to know what bin Laden was up to. But I think it's quite clear that they were in opposition, that the Jihadist movement was certainly no friend of a secular movement in Iraq. And I don't think we ought to spend a heck of a lot of time on it.
BLITZER: What emerged from today's conclusions, today's findings, that really jumped out at you as new information?
BEN-VENISTE: Well, I continue to be startled by the amount of information that we had within the intelligence community about the planning of the attack.
Some of the things that jumped out at me were the fact that we knew -- our intelligence knew, in June of 2001, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed or KSM, as he's known, was in fact sending operatives to the United States for the purpose of doing us harm. That information was only discovered by our investigative staff two or three weeks ago. But it was known in June of 2001.
BLITZER: What happened? Why didn't the appropriate actions begin to take place after that information was known in June?
BEN-VENISTE: That's a good question. We still don't know the answer to that.
Similarly, we received information from interviewing the detainees and corroborated through a number of different methods, that the information about the attack was not as closely held as we had been led to believe.
So that again, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed discussed this with a number of people, that it was widely known in al Qaeda that such a spectacular attack was coming in the United States, that Osama bin Laden himself addressed a group of trainees at a camp in Afghanistan and told them to pray for the 20 martyrs, and that occurred, obviously, in advance of the attacks.
So a lot of the information that our intelligence community was hearing, who overhears in various methods, was in fact information which was being shared between and among members of al Qaeda about an upcoming, spectacular attack, which turned out to be the catastrophe of 9/11.
BLITZER: Very briefly, was there any human intelligence, any human spies, inside al Qaeda giving the U.S. information?
BEN-VENISTE: We had some al Qaeda information. None of it was as specific as we would have liked. And that goes to the question of why, following the breakup of the Jihadist movement in Afghanistan which we supported, did we not penetrate these individuals who we knew would do harm to those with whom they disagreed?
BLITZER: We'll be watching tomorrow, day two of these hearings. Richard Ben-Veniste, thanks for spending a few moments with us.
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
BLITZER: Tomorrow, we'll speak with another commissioner, Republican Slade Gorton. He'll join us at this time tomorrow.
In a moment, a developing story we're following. Murder charges expected to be filed against a U.S. soldier in Iraq. New information we're getting right now.
Iraq's most wanted. Where is this terrorist hiding? There's new information on the man believed to have beheaded American Nicholas Berg.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: This is now the front line of Iraq's war on oil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A CNN exclusive: target, oil fields. How insurgents shut down southern Iraq's oil operation.
And horror on the open seas. A voyage of escape backfires. And the U.S. Coast Guard is there to capture it all on camera. We'll have details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Iraq, there are just 14 days to go until a handover of sovereignty, and the insurgents are stepping up attacks with devastating effect.
Six Iraqis, including a police officer, were killed in an ambush in Ramadi. Six members of Iraq's Civil Defense Corps have been detained in connection with a roadside bombing.
Coalition officials say two U.S. soldiers were killed when a rocket slammed into their logistics base near Balad (ph), north of Baghdad. Up to two dozen other people wounded.
And in this late-breaking development, murder charges are expected against a United States Army officer stemming from an incident last month.
Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, some Pentagon officials are describing it as a possible mercy killing, but nevertheless, it will result in murder charges against a U.S. Army captain, the result of an incident that happened in May 21 in Kufa.
The U.S. military following a high-speed motorcade had a shoot- out. One person was badly injured. The other one was more seriously injured. The driver, he was shot at close range by the U.S. Army campaign.
It may well be that he was trying to put the badly injured Iraqi out of his suffering, but even if that was the motive it would still be murder under the U.S. military justice system -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre with that development at the Pentagon. Jamie, thanks very much.
Iraq's insurgents have also managed to cripple, at least temporarily, the most vital sector of the country's economy, namely, the latest attacks have halted Iraq's oil exports, by and large.
Our senior international correspondent Brent Sadler has our exclusive on the scene report from Basra.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER: This is now the front line of Iraq's war on oil.
Overnight insurgents were able to destroy part of a strategic pipeline carrying crude oil from Basra to offshore terminals at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.
If we walk around here, it stinks because of the heavy odors of crude oil that's created a large sea around here. If we pan off my location, you'll see half a meter deep, several feet deep, at least, a lake of crude oil that's burst from this underground piping.
This is the crude oil that should now have been sent to ships waiting to take on oil on those offshore terminals. Iraq's oil exports from the south now completely at a standstill.
Now this is actually the place where the explosion went off. If we walk around this pumping machinery, they're trying to push back the oil that was in the pipeline that burst out in this area so that they can effect repairs.
But before they can do that, they have to put sand, piles and piles of sand, tons of it, around the actual leak which you can see down here, and that's oozing from the burst pipe. If you can see those bubbles.
They first of all have to isolate that area with an earthen berm, and then get engineers to repair it. That's going to take several days.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Basra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Brent. What a disaster, with enormous ramifications for all concerned.
Remember the coalition's deck of cards? CNN's Brian Todd has been looking into what's become of Iraq's most wanted. Brian joins us now live.
What has become of them, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESONDENT: Well, Wolf, for a while it seemed that the most -- that the most wanted list was a real barometer for the coalition to gauge post-combat success in Iraq.
We've checked on the status of that list and who's still out there. And what we found is surprising.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): By simple count it appears to be a success. Of the coalition's 55 most wanted, the so-called deck of cards in Iraq, 43 have been killed, captured or surrendered, including Saddam Hussein and his sons.
But that, of course, means 12 remain at large, and these are dangerous people.
DAN SENOR, COALITION SPOKESMAN: They're Baathist die-hards that are looking to wreak havoc in this country.
TODD: But intelligence analysts we spoke to say the deck of cards has become almost irrelevant. With most of them out of the picture, it hasn't made a dent in the resistance. And in fact, the insurgency has grown.
No one from the list has been captured since February, and analysts say, with the handover approaching, U.S. forces don't want to engage in major battles and may not be trying very hard to get these men.
KEN POLLACK, SABAN CENTER: They are not the highest priority. And as a result, the real resources that are available in Iraq need to be focused on things like getting this new Iraqi government established, dealing with security, and providing basic services to Iraqis.
TODD: Contacted by CNN, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command says it's ludicrous to think the coalition is not actively pursuing those wanted men, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, leader of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council, indicted for war crimes, who's believed to have coordinated attacks against coalition forces in northern Iraq. And Hani Abd al-Latif al-Tilfah, a relative of Saddam's who directed his special security organizations. One intelligence analyst tells us, he's like someone from the S.S., Gestapo and Murder Incorporated all rolled into one.
The elephant in the room not on the list because he's not from Saddam's regime, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant with alleged ties to al Qaeda, suspected of masterminding several major terrorist attacks, now believed to be hiding in Fallujah.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Arguably, Zarqawi's not only the most dangerous person in Iraq, he's arguably the most dangerous terrorist in the world today in terms of actual operations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: One set of lists that Zarqawi likely is on is very secretive. Two intelligence analysts tell us of so-called black, white and gray lists. Maintained by the intelligence community, they give the real priorities on the ground, the most dangerous people from all factions and their associates -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much for that report.
Falling into raging waters. A tragedy at sea caught on camera. What went wrong? CNN's Susan Candiotti standing by with details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: I just want him brought home safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A plea for mercy. A family of an American held hostage speaks out to CNN. You'll hear more of our exclusive interview.
And athletes on the offensive. An unusual appeal to the public from Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Officials have just released dramatic videotape taken off the coast of Puerto Rico this past weekend when a small boat loaded with illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic began to sink.
CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti is joining us now live from Miami with details -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.
It is a remarkable rescue, but not everyone made it out alive. Tragically, this happens with chilling regularity.
A Coast Guard camera captured the images Saturday night. A 40- foot boat, they're commonly yolas, massively overcrowded with 94 Dominican migrants. It was the dead of night, three to four-foot seas, winds of up to 15 miles an hour, severe conditions for that sized boat and the number of people aboard.
Now, 24-hour patrols spotted the yola. Coast Guard customs, border patrol, Navy. The Coast Guard approaches the yola as it is listing to the left, a passenger trying to bail out water.
The Coast Guard throwing life jackets to those aboard. Then the boat capsizes. Ninety-four people dumped into the water, just 25 miles south of Puerto Rico, apparently where the migrants were headed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY RUSSELL, U.S. COAST GUARD: When you get on one of those boats you're literally inches away from death. You've got inches of free board above the water. So all it takes is a significant wave, significant gust of wind, a slight shift in weight. Tons of things could happen that would turn that front into an instant tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Reporter: Remarkably, only three of the 94 aboard died. The three were found trapped underneath the yola the following morning. The survivors were repatriated to the Dominican Republic.
And the Coast Guard says it's very hard to prosecute the suspected smugglers, because often they intermingle among the passengers and the migrants afraid to give them up.
We can say that it's highly likely, if not probable, that all of them will probably try to make the trip again -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Susan Candiotti in Miami. What dramatic video that is. Thanks, Susan, very, very much.
Bag checkers, security guards and metal detectors, all necessities at Jerusalem's biggest mall. Up next, the extreme precautions Israelis must take just for a day of shopping.
Also ahead: liposuction. It's a popular way to lose the fat. But a new study suggests there's critical information you need to know if you're thinking about it.
And later, life and luck. When the reward for kindness really pays off.
BLITZER: Welcome back. With the clock ticking on a deadline set by terrorists, the family of an American held hostage in Saudi Arabia makes a desperate plea for his life. We'll hear from in just moment in a CNN exclusive.
First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.
Law enforcement sources tell CNN the FBI is holding an American citizen born in Pakistan. Sources say the man arrested in April is suspected of funneling money to Pakistani terrorists, allegedly plotting attacks overseas. The suspect is said to be cooperating. A plea bargain could be announced this week.
President Bush was rallying the troops today with a speech at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida that was beamed to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president praised the troops for their sacrifices, but warned of more violence in Iraq as the transfer of sovereignty approaches at the end of this month.
At the top of the program, CNN's Deborah Feyerick told us about her exclusive interview with the family of Paul Johnson, the American kidnapped in Saudi Arabia last Saturday. In the interview, Johnson's son and sister pleaded with his captors to spare his life. Here's more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONNA MAYEUX, BROTHER HELD HOSTAGE: It's disbelief. It's -- I guess it's something that you never think is going to hit home, to your own family. We kind of feel numb.
FEYERICK: The U.S. government, the Saudi government, says that their policy is not to negotiate with terrorists. What do you say to the governments?
PAUL JOHNSON III, FATHER HELD HOSTAGE: The governments, you know, we know what they want, and my father, I know he's an innocent victim in this whole matter. And I plead with the Saudi government and the group of men that are holding my father, to please let him return home safely.
He will leave your country. You will never see him again. I just plead with them to -- to get him home safely.
My father is a loving father. He's a grandfather. He would give his shirt off the back to them if he knew them. And he respected -- he respected the Saudis.
MAYEUX: He's an innocent man. Killing him is not going to solve anything. We would just like his safe return. My mother, his wife, my niece, and my three girls, we would just like his safe return.
FEYERICK: Now, Paul, we know that you've brought your son here. He's 3 years old. He's never seen his grandfather. I guess Christmas was going to be when he saw him.
What is the message that you have for your dad right now?
JOHNSON: I just want him to be brought home safely.
MAYEUX: We're doing everything we can to bring him home. Everybody's trying to help. We appreciate that.
JOHNSON: I just plead with the Saudis to please do whatever you take -- if you got to -- I'm -- we're all human. Just, please. He's done a lot for your country. I respect your country. I respect -- I respect everything that everybody's done. And I just want to see my father brought home safely.
And the Saudis -- you can make it happen. And I'm just asking you, please make this happen. He's -- he does not deserve this. And he was just doing his job, and let's please just bring him home. And the group of people holding him, just please -- he don't deserve this.
MAYEUX: We just -- we just ask that he treat him with the dignity and respect that he's often talked about, that they have in their culture, just please, please don't murder them -- murder him.
JOHNSON: I want to say I know the group of men that got my father, you guys are probably fathers. And just please let him come home and be a grandfather.
And this is Paul Marshall Johnson IV. I -- my father gave me his name. And I honored my father so much I gave him, my son, his name. And I just want to -- a safe return. And I'm optimistic with -- the Saudis can get him home safely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That was Paul Johnson's son and his sister in an exclusive interview this morning with CNN's Deborah Feyerick. Very, very sad.
A Somali man who allegedly plotted with al Qaeda supporters to blow up an Ohio shopping mall was today ordered to a psychiatric facility for mental competency tests. Charges against Nuradin Abdi were announced Monday, but the evidence remains sealed.
While Americans now face the chilling prospect of attacks on what are called soft targets, Israelis have been dealing with that threat and the grim reality for many years. CNN's John Vause reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A trip to Jerusalem's biggest shopping mall is an exercise in patience. Long lines of cars waiting to park as security guards check the glove box, backseats and the trunk. There are metal detectors and bags searched on a busy day. It can all take up to 20 minutes.
SUPT. GIL KLEIMAN, ISRAELI POLICE: So our society has grown accustomed. We're used to living with what we call the routine of terror.
VAUSE: A heavily-armed private security guard roams outside. His job, shoot to kill any would-be suicide bombers. No one is above suspicion.
Inside security guards in plain clothes and constant video surveillance. Tammy van Doren and Lisa Ribibi (ph) shop here every two weeks. Like most Israelis they feel the mall is one of the safest places in Israel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything's checked, the cars are checked, bags are checked. So why should I fell -- I'm safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very sad, but it's a state that we -- this is how we live in this country unfortunately.
VAUSE (on camera): There are more than 120 shopping mall as cross Israel. They all need the usual permits from the health department or the fire department, for example. But under Israeli law, they must meet a minimum security standard as well.
(voice-over): Every entrance at every mall must have a bag checker, armed security guard, metal detectors and barricades.
KLEIMAN: If they don't meet requirements they don't get a license. And if they stop meeting requirements after they get the license we go to court and close their business down.
VAUSE: Suicide bombers regularly try and target shopping malls. But so far, none have made it past the security checks.
Two years ago, Israeli intelligence uncovered a plot to blow up the Jerusalem mall and officials here believe a mega attack on any mall is always a real possibility. Under these extraordinary circumstances, for Israelis, a trip to the mall is still part of an ordinary day. John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: In a moment, surprising information on the most popular plastic surgery in America.
Plus, she could be left out of the Olympic Games on charges she used performance-enhancing drugs. Now Marion Jones goes public with a very different story. And she's not the only athlete being accused. Lance Armstrong, now facing the same charges.
And later. Kindness and karma. A story perhaps proof that if you do good things for others, you, too, will be rewarded. This amazing story, we'll get to that.
First though, some news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): A Palestinian militant was killed in a gunfight with an undercover Israeli military unit in the West Bank city of Jenin. Israel says four other Palestinians were arrested.
India, train wreck. A passenger train derailment in western India killed more than a dozen people after apparently hitting a boulder on the tracks. The engine and three cars plunged off a 65- foot high bridge.
Controversial request. Scientists at a British university have requested government permission to clone human embryos so they can harvest stem cells for research. They eventually hope to create insulin-producing cells that could be transplanted into diabetic patients.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And that's our look around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's the single most popular form of cosmetic surgery. But while liposuction can make you thinner, it doesn't make you healthier. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the results of a brand new study being released this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About a year and a half ago, Cheryl Strahm had 20 pounds of fat sucked out of her stomach. She did it to look better and...
CHERYL STRAHM, STUDY PARTICIPANT: To lower my blood sugar, lower my cholesterol and lower my blood pressure. That's what I was hoping for.
COHEN: But it didn't turn out that way. Strahm's part of a new study that found having liposuction, even having lots of fat removed like she did, does not help lower blood sugar, lower cholesterol or lower blood pressure. Strahm says she was surprised. She thought losing all that weight would help those health problems. So why didn't it?
DR. SAMUEL KLEIN, WASH. UNIV. IN ST. LOUIS: It's not how much fat but how you lose the fat that's important.
COHEN: Dr. Klein says only diet and exercise actually reduce the fat in the liver and in the muscles which are important for health benefits. Liposuction doesn't touch that kind of fat. Strahm says she is still glad she got the quick weight loss with lipo, now she can move more easily, take walks every day.
STRAHM: When you feel better about yourself, dieting's easier.
COHEN: Now she's not looking for that quick fix but for a slow and steady weight loss that will make her slimmer and healthier. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, she's facing charges that could keep her out of this year's Summer Olympic games. But Olympic Champion Marion Jones denies using performance-enhancing drugs and she says she wants the case against her made public. At a news conference today in San Francisco, the track and field star lashed out at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and its investigation of her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARION JONES, OLYMPIC CHAMPION: I am more than happy to answer every question. But I'm not going to engage in USADA's secret kangaroo court. I will answer USADA's questions in a public forum that will be open for the entire world to see, hear, and evaluate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: USADA, the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Jones, by the way, won a record five track and field medals at the 2000 Olympics, all the results she says, of hard work and God-given talent. Another champion, cycling's Lance Armstrong, also vehemently denying doping allegations and he may be taking his accuser to court. CNN's Josie Burke is following story. She's joining us live in New York -- Josie.
JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in just a couple of weeks, Lance Armstrong is going to defend his five consecutive Tour de France titles. But this week, he was already on the defensive, trying to protect his reputation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURKE (voice-over): Over the last five years, Lance Armstrong has beaten every rival who has challenged him during the grueling Tour de France. What Armstrong hasn't been able to eliminate permanently are the allegations that his climb to the top of the cycling world has been aided by banned performance-enhancing drugs.
LANCE ARMSTRONG, FIVE-TIME TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: I heard it in 1999, I heard it in 2001. Again in 2003. It happens all the time. And every time we have chose to just sit back and let it pass.
BURKE: Not this time. Armstrong is filing a libel suit over a new book just published in France. It alleges he used the banned endurance boosting drug EPO during a Tour de France winning streak that stands at five and counting. Some of the allegations come from a one-time employee of Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service (ph) cycling team.
ARMSTRONG: We're sick and tired of these allegations and we're going to do everything we can to fight them. They're absolutely untrue.
BURKE: Two years ago a French investigation into Armstrong's team was closed after no evidence of illegal drug use was found. But doping questions remained and acknowledged Armstrong associate Dr. Michele Ferrari is on trial in Italy for allegedly supplying cyclists with banned substances. And this year, two European riders detailed how drugs are administered on a team-wide basis, and alleged cheating is rampant throughout the sport. Armstrong says there is only one explanation for the success of his team.
ARMSTRONG: I think that the people that know cycling know that we're the most passionate, fanatical, crazy team out there when it comes to preparation in the right way. We spend more time on equipment and training and legal methods than anybody else. And I stand by that statement. And over time, we'll see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARMSTRONG: ...time on equipment and training and legal methods than anybody else. And I stand by that statement. And over time we'll see.
BURKE: Armstrong said that it was frustrating that these allegations would surface now and that they are a distraction as he gets ready for the Tour de France. The race starts July 3. And, Wolf, he's trying to become the first cyclist to ever win that race six times -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And Josie, as I'm sure viewers remember, this is a champion that not only has won the Tour de France, but beat cancer. He had serious cancer only a few years ago and he made this dramatic comeback.
BURKE: And that's absolutely right. And that's why a lot of people kind of raised their eyebrows, Wolf, when they hear he might have taken performance enhancing drugs considering that he's already cheated death once.
BLITZER: CNN's Josie Burke with this story. Josie, thank you very much.
Getting what they deserve: we'll break down the amazing stories of two people making headlines this week, but for very different reasons.
And our picture of the day: a new fashion statement for the men and women fighting around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: By the end of this next story, you're probably going to say, one of the two people featured deserves to win the Lottery, the other doesn't. Guess which one won? Here's CNN's Michael Shoulder.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL SHOULDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Making news this week on the left is Mitzy Nichols and that's her scar which she willingly received for the good of a fellow human being. On the right is a guy who's probably gotten enough grief for what he did in the stands of a major league baseball game. We'll get back to Mitzy in a minute, first, watch and listen carefully to what begins as a routine foul ball at the Texas Rangers game over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Matthews fouls one back.
SHOULDER: The ball practically drops in the lap of 4 year-old Nick O'Brien, what a great souvenir it would be. But, wait a grown man leaps over his seat, knocks into Nick and grabs the ball before the little boy can get it. Despite a swat from nick's mother and jeers from the crowd, the man won't give up the ball. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the biggest jerk in this park. Yep, you, big guy.
SHOULDER: Now, to Mitzy Nichols of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Three years ago, after working at a kidney dialysis center, she decided to give up one of her kidneys for a total stranger. His name is Calvin Sanders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I always wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what.
SHOULDER: Now that you're feeling good about mankind, let's go back to the ballpark. In case you were giving the big guy the benefit of the doubt that he was, perhaps, looking to protect little Nick from the dangerous round projectile, consider this: he had a chance to give the ball back and he didn't. But before you lose faith in the karma of humanity, let's find out who won a Lottery this week worth $500,000. The winner is Mitzy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to have a house, I want to buy a car for my daughter, she wants to get student loans paid off so she can go back to nursing school.
SHOULDER: As for the boy who came so close to getting his first baseball, the players made sure he didn't walk away empty handed. Justice prevails. Michael Shoulder, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Good for Mitzy. Thanks very much for that, Michael Shoulder.
When we come back, our picture of the day: a fashion statement for the men and women in fatigues. We'll check out the new military digs up next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Our picture of the day is a fashion show, not from Paris, but from the Pentagon. The Army has done a major makeover of its combat uniform for the first time in a quarter century. There's no more green outfit for foliage, no more tan outfit for the desert, the new digitized camouflage pattern blends in with all types of terrain.
I'll see you tomorrow 5:00 pm Eastern. Among my guests tomorrow, Angelina Jolie, she's just back from Africa. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.
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