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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Insurgents Launch Wave of Attacks on Five Major Cities Including Baghdad

Aired June 24, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Slaughter in Iraq: Dozens are dead in coordinated strikes across the country. The insurgents show their strength. Can they torpedo the transition? I'll ask Senator Joe Biden.

Terror in Turkey: Bloody bombings, the head of the NATO summit, and a visit by President Bush.

Looking for the leaker: Who outed a CIA officer? It's President Bush's turn to be questioned by a special prosecutor.

This hour, a dangerous spacewalk, made more risky by faulty equipment. Does NASA need a drastic makeover? I'll ask the man in charge.

ANNOUNCER: This is "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" for Thursday, June 24th, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: They launched ambushes, assaults and suicide attacks with machine guns, grenades, and human bombs. They struck targets across Iraq at nearly the same time. Some 100 people were killed; hundreds more were wounded.

CNN's Brent Sadler reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Insurgents launched a wave of attacks on five major cities, including Baghdad. The onslaught targeted police stations in Mosul, to the north of the capital, as well as Ba'qubah, to the northeast, and Ramadi in the west. at the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle, a persistent hotbed of anticoalition violence.

Mosul was hit by a series of large explosions, claiming the lives of dozens of Iraqi victims. One U.S. soldier also died in the Mosul blasts. In Ba'qubah, scene of some of the heaviest clashes with the U.S. forces, assailants launched attacks on police and government buildings, inflicting more loss of life, including two American soldiers from the 1st Infantry division. Gunfire rattled across the city as the authorities warned people to stay indoors, imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Gunmen, claiming loyalty to wanted Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appeared on the streets of Ba'qubah for what appears to be the first time in street combat. In Ramadi, the tactics were similar: insurgents directing volleys of rocket-propelled grenades and machine gunfire at more police targets.

U.S. military officials say the series of attacks demonstrated a level of coordination, but they were at pains to play down the extent of damage done, claiming the attacks soon ran out of steam.

In further hostilities, U.S. forces around Fallujah ordered airstrikes against insurgent positions after more clashes with U.S. Marines. A U.S. Cobra helicopter gunship was forced down by small- arms fire during battles, but the crew reportedly escaped unhurt.

Iraqis suffered the most casualties, just days before the handover of sovereignty to an interim government. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi denounced the attacks as the work of desperate criminals who've lost the battle to prevent a transfer of power, but he predicted there may be worse to come.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The U.S.-led collision and the new Iraqi government had both expected trouble during this so-called transition period, but is the massive scales of today's attacks setback for next week's scheduled handover?

CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting once again from Baghdad for us. Anderson, this is a huge number: about 100 people dead. I spoke to an official earlier today who suggested it's going to get worse before it gets worse. What's the mood there? What do you sense based on your travels and your reporting?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's absolutely true, Wolf. I mean, I don't think anyone was particularly surprised by what happened today. Horrified? Yes. Sickened? Yes. But not really surprised.

I mean, for months now, both coalition officials and also Iraqi officials have been saying, look, as the pace of the handover quickens, as we approach it in the next few days, we're going to see more and more attacks, larger-scale attacks. And with so much of the world's media and the world's focus now on Iraq in these next few days, we all have learned in these last couple of months that the terrorists and insurgents here in Iraq -- and I make a distinction, perhaps, between the two -- that they are very media savvy and they are very well aware of how to use the media and when the world is watching.

You know, the old cliche that terrorism is theater -- well, right now Baghdad and Iraq is their stage. BLITZER: Widely assumed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is behind these coordinated attacks today?

COOPER: It's interesting, coalition sources will tell you, yes -- I mean, they believe Musab al-Zarqawi is the number one terrorist responsible for many of these ongoing attacks.

We heard, though, from the prime minister of Iraq today, Allawi, who said he didn't think the attacks were coordinated in the sense of being highly sophisticated. One coalition source actually said, look, these attacks could have been sort of, you know, planned just with a quick phone call. It wasn't as if they were timed specifically.

And Allawi said that he felt different groups were responsible. In Mosul, he said it was more a group affiliated with Ansar al-Islam here in Baghdad with more (UNINTELLIGIBLE) elements. So, some difference, perhaps, of opinion, though clearly both are using similar tactics to achieve their goals.

BLITZER: CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting for us once again in Baghdad. Anderson, thanks very much.

This programming note to our viewers, Anderson will, of course, anchor "ANDERSON COOPER 360" live from Baghdad tonight. That airs 7:00 p.m. Eastern -- coming up in about two hours or so from now.

In Turkey, meanwhile, there were two bloody bombings in two cities just days ahead of a NATO summit and a visit by President Bush. The first exploded on a bus in Istanbul, killing four people and injuring at least 14 more. Authorities say the bomb was carried by a 20-year-old woman who was among the dead.

Earlier, three people were wounded when a bomb exploded in the front of the Hilton Hotel in Ankara. President Bush is scheduled to stay at that hotel before leaving Istanbul to attend the NATO summit along with some 45 world leaders. The White House says the explosions will not result in any change in the president's schedule.

For the first time since the war in Iraq began, a majority of Americans now think it was a mistake to send troops. In a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll taken this week, 54 percent say it was a mistake, compared with 41 percent who expressed that sentiment in early June. Asked if the war with Iraq has made the U.S. safer from terrorism, 37 answered yes this week, while 55 percent said no. In December, those number were effectively reversed.

Asked their choice for president, though, 49 percent of likely voters picked President Bush, 48 percent picked John Kerry; effectively, that's a dead heat, suggesting Kerry has made little headway on the Iraq issue.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Senator Joe Biden, he's the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Biden, are you surprised by these numbers?

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I don't know, Wolf. I've not followed them at all. I'm not surprised the American people in a generic sense have lost faith in the rationale for going to war. I think a significant number believe they were lied to or misled. And so, I think, you know, they get a bad taste in their mouth. So, it doesn't surprise me.

BLITZER: Were you among those that believed that you were lied or misled?

BIDEN: I believe -- I know we were misled, but I have to tell you, I quite frankly thought we were being -- that the facts that the threat was being exaggerated and said so at the time. So, I can't claim what others legitimately can claim that they really believed Cheney when they said that nuclear weapons had been reconstituted and the like. I was on your program at the time saying I didn't believe that.

But what I was dumbfounded by is the incredible lack of preparation and fundamental mistakes we made going in. I mean, some of it was -- well, was close to incompetent, some of it. And that I didn't anticipate, nor do I suspect -- I can't speak for them, but Republican senators, who you know well, didn't anticipate, either.

BLITZER: You were just in Baghdad, you were just in Iraq less than a week or so ago, and I'll remind you, as you well know, the State Department did have a very detailed plan to deal with post-war reconstruction, political efforts in Iraq, but that plan was basically thrown aside and ignored.

BIDEN: Exactly right. And you remember, Wolf, you covered my hearings extensively. We laid out a detailed plan. We had the State Department plan. So, it was -- in the sense that I was misled or we were misled, we assumed that somebody -- the president was listening to the people with these plans. You also remember the National Security Council laid out an estimate for the president that, in fact, we were going to need 500,000 troops after we took down Saddam. Shinseki was telling us privately that we knew we needed more than 700,000 troops.

So we assumed, wrongly, that reason would prevail, the president would understand that he would in fact move more -- less precipitously and more with gaining a consensus and isolating the French and Germans. And obviously Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney and Wolfowitz prevailed. They told him, and I guess convinced him, that we would be greeted with open arms.

For example, I was talking about the police training and lack thereof. You remember, we did a report, also the administration did a report saying you'd need between 5,500 and 6,000 European and American officers, police officers going in with the military to establish order right away and begin training. They didn't bring any of those guys in.

BLITZER: Senator, you were just there in Iraq, and since you came back you sound -- in other interviews you've sounded a little bit more upbeat seeing some light at the end of the tunnel...

BIDEN: I am.

BLITZER: ...but today about 100 people were killed in the simultaneous, clearly coordinated, attacks. Are you still upbeat that this is going to perhaps work?

BIDEN: Yes. Let me explain why. As you pointed out -- and I know you know this well -- you're not surprised by those attacks any more than I was surprised by them. They are not the last gasp, but the biggest gasp on the part of all those who do not want to see this transfer take place and do not want to see us to lay down a definitive marker that we're staying with 140,000 forces through the election in 2005. That the international community is going to come and be invested and bring in another brigade to protect the U.N. That we're going to actually spend the time and the money to train the police and army.

This is all designed to make sure that we don't do that. And the president has to lead now. He has to respond and level with the American people and say, look, folks, this is going to be a really rough run. And let me tell you what it means. It means we're staying there with 140,000 folks, it means we're getting more involved in training them. It means we've got more resources going in, and it means if we do that, we can begin to put the Iraqis in a position where they can have the competent to begin to govern.

But if he just says we're in the for the long haul and implies that we're not going to have to be the main thrust of all this for the next year and a half or so, then in fact we're going to lose more support from the American people.

BLITZER: Senator Biden, we have to leave it right there, unfortunately. Thanks very much for joining us.

BIDEN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Glad you're back safe and sown from Iraq.

BIDEN: OK. Thanks.

BLITZER: And this, an apology to journalists covering Iraq. What made the deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz make this rare move? We'll explain.

Also, investigating the outing of a CIA operative. Today President Bush questioned by a special prosecutor inside the Oval Office.

Public beheadings, what many call a barbaric punishment still used in Saudi Arabia, how these acts, condoned by the Saudi Kingdom, perhaps influenced terrorists.

Heated words, a profane exchange on Capitol Hill between the vice president Dick Cheney and a key Democratic senator. We'll explain that as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Rather extraordinary development at the White House today. Government prosecutors questioned President Bush as part of the investigation into how the name of an undercover CIA agent got leaked to the news media. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash standing by with the story -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, the president sat down with Patrick Fitzgerald, that special prosecutor who is involved in leading the criminal probe. He sat with him for an hour and ten minutes in the Oval Office this morning. He was not under oath and he only had his newly hired private attorney by his side, but the White House says that the president did so, because he's instructed all members of the White House staff to be as cooperative as possible, and he was essentially taking his own advice.

Now at issue here of course is a column written by Robert Novak, who of course is of CNN, also who revealed the ambassador -- the name of the wife of the ambassador Joe Wilson. She was a covert CIA agent. Wilson said that the president -- excuse me, the White House -- he believes somebody at the White House did that in order to retaliate against him, because he had gone public, saying that some of what the president said in the State of the Union Address about Iraq was actually false.

The White House does deny that. But again the White House is saying that they are going to try to get to the bottom of this, help the prosecutors do so.

And Wolf, this session with the president comes just about a month after a very similar one with the vice president, and also comes after several senior White House aides have actually gone under oath before the grand jury to answer questions about this probe.

BLITZER: And clearly suggesting, although we don't know for sure, that the prosecutor may be wrapping up his investigation. CNN's Dana Bash over at the White House. Dana, thanks very much.

The deputy secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, is apologizing for an unflattering set the comments he made this week about journalists covering the war in Iraq. They came during Tuesday's congressional testimony and left international correspondents bristling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: Because frankly, part of our problem is a lot of the press are afraid to travel very much, so they sit in Baghdad and publish rumors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Those comments drew criticism from many journalists, including our own Christiane Amanpour who's been in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure that I speak on behalf of most of my colleagues here, in fact all of them, that we would strongly reject that. Strongly reject the notion that we're, A, too afraid to travel, or B, would simply published rumors. I know that's not the case for CNN journalists. And we have been traveling. And I might add, at great personal risk. Now I'm not going to get into any public character assassination as apparently Secretary Wolfowitz has against us, and I don't know what kind of stress he must be under to make that allegation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Christiane's comments here on CNN earlier today clearly caused the buzz this afternoon. Wolfowitz issued a rare written response and he said this, "I extend a heart felt apology and hope you will accept it. I understand well, the enormous dangers that you face and want to restate my admiration for your professionalism, dedication, and yes, courage. I pray that you all may return safely."

A live interview with a former CIA director Jim Woolsey. That still to come here this hour.

Also, westerners have been repulsed by beheadings in the Middle East, but as it turns out, it's not just terrorists who are doing it.

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON REAGAN, SON OF LATE PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I couldn't join a party that, frankly, tolerates members who are bigots, for one thing: homophobes, racists, you know, there's no way I could be a part of a party like that. Just no way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He's no chip off the old block. Wait until you hear what President Reagan's son, Ron Reagan has to say now.

And this: an unusually risky spacewalk going on right now at the International Space Station. We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: When Iraqi kidnappers killed a South Korean hostage this week they used a method of execution exceptionally shocking to most westerners: he was beheaded. This is a practice that has received lots of attention in recent weeks. Our Brian Todd has an angle on this not often mentioned. Brian is joining us now live -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, now with two hostages beheaded in Iraq, one in Saudi Arabia over the past 2 months. On this program we've already looked into the pattern itself and what reaction the terrorists may be after. Today, we look at where the practice of beheading is allegedly government-sanctioned. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): When we see the homemade video, and later hear what befell these hostages, we are shocked. But should we be surprised when an ally of the United States is accused of carrying out beheadings as a matter of legal punishment.

ALI AL-AHMED, SAUDI INSTITUTE: The terrorists who beheaded those hostages are just carrying out the tradition that the Saudi state has established for 70 years. Every weekend, it happens every weekend.

TODD: Ali al-Ahmed leads a Saudi opposition group in Washington called the Saudi Institute. He provided CNN with this picture, which he says shows the aftermath of a public beheading in Saudi Arabia. He says this is from the late 1980s.

In its 2004 annual report, Amnesty International says last year there were at least 50 public executions in Saudi Arabia carried out on the orders of the Saudi government. Amnesty says the vast majority were beheadings, a contention supported by the Saudi Institute. Of the execution Amnesty knows about, 26 were for drug-related convictions, 24 were for murder.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: This is a way of punishment, so people grow up with this notion that this is how you punish people.

TODD: We tried repeatedly to get the Saudi government to respond to these allegations. We tried to get the government to at least acknowledge the practice of public execution under Islamic law. The Saudi government's representatives in Washington would not comment.

CNN intelligence analyst Ken Robinson makes the point that recent beheadings of hostages were done crudely, slowly, with smaller blades. By contrast, he says the beheadings allegedly carried out at the behest of the Saudi government are performed swiftly, usually by a man wielding a very sharp blade, a method some argue is fast and minimizes pain.

AL-AHMED: It is in many ways very fast and painless, but it's barbaric and it sends the wrong message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Again, emphasizing we could not get the Saudis to response. One other point, the State Department's annual human rights report issued this year does not make specific reference to beheading in Saudi Arabia, but it does say, quote, "the government executed persons for criminal offenses after closed trials, making it impossible to assess whether legal protections were applied. In cases involving stoning, amputation or death, sentences must be reviewed by the country's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Council, and can only be enforced pursuant to a royal decree issued by the king."

So Wolf, no specific reference on the State Department report to the word beheading, or that actual practice. BLITZER: CNN's Brian Todd updating us on that. Thanks, Brian, very much.

He's gone public with serious charges against the agency he works for. So, why is the CIA allowing so-called anonymous to speak out? Up next, I'll speak with the former director James Woolsey.

Plus, he shares the same last name, but Ron Reagan doesn't share his late father's political ideology.

And the vice president is accused of using profanity in a bitter exchange with a key Democratic senator. We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Investigating a leak: President Bush interviewed in the oval office by government prosecutors. We'll have details coming up. More details coming out. First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.

(voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel next Tuesday to Sudan. Observers say government sanctioned ethnic cleansing is going on in the country's embattled Darfur region. Powell wants access to humanitarian groups working there, in the hope of stopping the violence and getting food and supplies to people who need them.

Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force may keep its internal files credit, at least for the time being. A lawsuit charges, Cheney made improper contacts with the energy industry when making government policy. It's demanding the files be made public, but the U.S. Supreme Court says the case should go through lower courts first -- a temporary win, at least, for Dick Cheney.

Justice Department sources say Solicitor-General Ted Olson has submitted his resignation. Two officials say Olson will leave his post in July. Olson led the Bush administration's arguments regarding its energy task force before the Supreme Court. The official announcement expected later today.

A grim warning from the general picked to be the next commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. General George Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that violence like the kind that killed about 100 people today can be expected to continue through elections scheduled for next January.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has learned that could mean deploying more U.S. troops to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned that, if the violence grows worse, U.S. military planners are preparing for the possibility of sending in as many as 15,000 additional ground troops, three brigades, on an emergency basis. Separately, at his Senate confirmation hearing, General George Casey, who will soon take over as head of coalition forces, confirmed only that a plan is in the works because of concerns the insurgency may gain strength.

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: CENTCOM is doing some contingency planning for increased levels of violence.

STARR: Officials now readily acknowledge the security situation is likely to be very bad for some time. Attacks are expected well past the June 30 date for returning sovereignty to Iraqis and perhaps into next year, when elections will be scheduled.

The continuing high levels of violence now a major concern for Congress and the military in dealing with Iraq.

CASEY: It is not how I envisioned it to be, Senator.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: What do you think has gone wrong?

CASEY: I think the insurgency is much stronger than I certainly would have anticipated.

STARR: As the next commander, Casey says his priorities are protecting a U.N. mission that will help with elections, providing security in the violent Sunni Triangle, getting better intelligence from Iraqis to fight the insurgency.

But getting Iraqis to provide for their own security still remains a challenge. General Casey says, so far, Iraqi forces are not capable of protecting their own country, opening the door to the continuing possibility U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for months to come.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Now a follow-up to a story we reported yesterday. You'll recall we heard rare criticism from an unnamed CIA official who once headed the hunt for Osama bin Laden. His new book claims the U.S. is losing the war against terrorism.

Our national security correspondence David Ensor is back with more of his interview with Anonymous.

But, David, I understand you have some breaking news to report.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you will recall a couple of weeks ago, when George Tenet announced he was resigning from his job as director of central intelligence, the word at the time from Bush administration officials was that they would not be appointing a director, that John McLaughlin, the deputy director, would be acting director, at least through the November elections. Since then, we have now been hearing that the president is seriously consider appointing a new director, someone probably from Capitol Hill, probably a Republican. We are now hearing that that is quite likely to happen and soon. And the front-runner, we are told, is Congressman Porter Goss, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

So we may hear an announcement on that soon, although this is the kind of thing that official Washington does not readily leak, shall we say. This is not an administration that wants things out ahead of the president's announcement. So we are going to have to wait and see. But that's the word we're starting to get, that the president is seriously considering appointing a new director of central intelligence to take over when Mr. Tenet leaves and that the front- runner is Porter Goss, who of course is the longtime chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

He is a former CIA officer himself. He certainly knows the intelligence community well. So, in some ways, he would be a logical choice. But he would have to go through confirmation hearings before the Senate. And anybody who's going to be nominated for this job is going to face fairly difficult going in Senate hearings. There are a lot of questions a lot of Democrats are going to want to ask -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David, let's follow up now on your interview with the man called Anonymous, the CIA official, the counterterrorism official who has made some rather startling accusations.

ENSOR: Well, he thinks we're losing the war on terrorism. I asked Anonymous if he expects more attacks here in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

"ANONYMOUS," CIA OFFICIAL: I do, sir. I think al Qaeda is -- I think the American clandestine service has done a spectacular job in attacking al Qaeda.

Any other group that we would call a terrorist group would have been destroyed as the result of the efforts of those men and women, but al Qaeda is not a terrorist organization. It's not a mafia. It's not a gang. The closest analogy you can come up with is an insurgent organization. It's an amazingly durable, flexible, large organization which we have not -- we don't even have an order of battle for al Qaeda, which it's very hard to measure progress against a target if you don't know what the target looks like.

ENSOR: Do you admire Osama bin Laden?

ANONYMOUS: I admire Osama bin Laden. How would you say that? I admire his clarity. One has to admire a man who I think says what he means and then follows up with actions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Now, Wolf, Anonymous says it was his employers who insisted that the interviews be done in silhouette and that he remain Anonymous.

He said his superiors disagree with his pessimistic view and don't want to be associated with it. Now, he and they won't say where he works, but Anonymous, I can tell you, is a senior analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and he was the man in charge of the bin Laden station there -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor reporting for us -- David, thanks for all that good work.

He may be Anonymous, but he's going public with very serious charges. Why would the CIA allow one of its senior officials to speak out like this right now? Joining us now is the former CIA Director James Woolsey. He's now a vice president with Booz Allen here in Washington, Booz Allen Hamilton, that is.

Thanks very much, Director, for joining us.

Lots to talk about. First of all, Porter Goss, good idea for the president to be thinking about naming him the next director?

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Porter would be a superb director of central intelligence.

If anybody can get through a relatively quick confirmation hearing, I think it would be him, although it's likely to be drawn out, given how close it is to the election. John McLaughlin is excellent, too, who is out there as acting, the career man, who's an analyst. Either one of those would do a superb job heading the agency in the near term or over the long term.

BLITZER: When you were at the CIA, the director of the CIA, during the Clinton administration, did you know this Anonymous?

WOOLSEY: No, and I still don't. I had an e-mail exchange with Anonymous nearly three years ago because he sent me his first book to do a publisher blurb on it. Although there was much in it that was fascinating and I liked, he said the same thing that he said here on camera, which was that he admired people like Osama bin Laden because they were dedicated.

He even compared them to the American founding fathers and said the American founding fathers were dedicated. So is Osama bin Laden, and that sort of shows something. I find that truly bizarre. That's sort of like saying pigs have pointed ears. Socrates has pointed ears. Socrates is a pig. This man may know a good deal. His opinions may be right or wrong, but this admiration for Osama bin Laden that he expressed I find really strange.

BLITZER: And I think you probably strongly disagree with his suggestion that the war in Iraq was doing exactly what Osama bin Laden wanted, playing into his hands, undermining what he regarded as the major threat, the war on terror.

WOOLSEY: Yes, I disagree with that, but I must say, I think that's a reasonable argument that reasonable people can have. I think that this is an important and major issue. I think what we have to do now is do our very best to bring security there. And I think, Wolf, one way to do that is to set aside this United Nations recommendation that they have elections only when security's been completely established and that they do it with party slates and have proportional representation.

Proportional representation, unlike what we do here and the British do, having a single-member constituencies, which encourages two moderate parties, proportional representation with party slates would be a terrible way to go. And they have to establish security in the whole country, really, in order to do that. If they would go ahead and hold elections in large parts of Iraq now...

BLITZER: Regional elections.

WOOLSEY: Regional -- well, election for a parliament, but elections where things are peaceful, which is a substantial share of the country, in the south and in the Kurdish areas, largely in the Shiite areas and in the Kurdish areas. And then if the Sunnis in Fallujah can't keep themselves in order, they don't get to hold an election yet.

BLITZER: Can they hold elections when 100 people a day are being killed? At least today, 100 people were killed.

WOOLSEY: I think they can hold them in large shares of the country. And I think the sooner the better. I don't see any reason for them to wait six months for much of the Shiite south and Kurdish north. It's in the Sunni Triangle where they would have to delay until they get security.

But that gives the people in those regions an incentive to hurry up and get calmed down and turn in Zarqawi, for example.

BLITZER: You heard General George Casey, who is going to be replacing General Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. commander on the ground in Iraq, saying that the U.S. has probably underestimated the extent of the insurgency, the opposition.

WOOLSEY: I think that's right, but I think the basic mistake that was made, was made back when they first went in, actually in the late '90s.

Congress in '98 appropriated $97 million to help train the Iraqi resistance. And we had years to do it. We could have gone in with thousands, mainly Kurds and Shia, yes, not Sunni, but we could have gone in with thousands of Iraqi troops along with us. And instead, we went in with a few dozen. And it's sort of like in an old Western the cavalry going into Apache country with almost no Apache scouts.

It was a bad decision. We should have had people go in along with us. We could have then told, you know, who were the Badr Brigades and who was in from Iran and so forth. It would have been a lot easier, but the way they did it, they needed a lot more troops because they didn't have the Iraqi troops (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Having said all that, I'm sure you believe it was all worthwhile, despite the large number of casualties, the unexpected violence that has occurred. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

WOOLSEY: It's worthwhile if we win. If we back out, if we cut and run, it would be better that we never had tried, because it will radically encourage terrorism against the United States and Western Europe, here, in Europe, and all sorts of places. It makes us look weak.

And there's nothing more provocative with people like these Baathists or al Qaeda or people like Zarqawi than looking weak. So we have to prevail. If we prevail, I think it will have a positive effect in Iran. An Iraqi country moving toward a democracy and the rule of law, even if slowly, will have a positive effect in Iran. I think it will have a positive effect in Syria. But we have to get the job down. We can't back out now.

BLITZER: And that's by no means a done deal yet.

WOOLSEY: Right.

BLITZER: James Woolsey, thanks very much.

WOOLSEY: Good to be with us.

BLITZER: It's no secret Ron Reagan doesn't share the same political beliefs of his late father, but will his vocal criticisms of President Bush factor into this year's election? That's coming up.

Plus, NASA overhaul, the space agency set for drastic makeover. I'll speak live with its director, Sean O'Keefe. That's coming up as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's no secret that Ron, Reagan, son of the late president, did not share his father's conservative political views, but in the days since the state funeral that captivated the country, Ron Reagan has gotten more vocal and more specific in his criticism of the president, who some portray as heir to Ronald Reagan's legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): It started with this remark during the eulogy Ron Reagan gave at his father's funeral.

RON REAGAN, SON OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians, wearing his faith on his sleeve.

BLITZER: Many observers took that to be a swipe at President Bush, who often publicly speaks of his religious belief. Reagan tells CNN's Larry King he wasn't referring to the current president, at least consciously.

REAGAN: Then, I thought, ha, funny, you then everybody thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I heard -- everybody thought I was talking about George -- but people connected with George W. Bush thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I began to think, maybe I was, I just didn't know it.

BLITZER: Reagan also said his was concerned about what he characterized about Mr. Bush's mingling of war and religion.

REAGAN: Well, you know, there was that answer he gave to the question about, did you talk to your father about going into Iraq? No, I talked to a higher father, you know, the almighty. When you hear somebody justifying a war by citing the almighty, God, I get a little worried, frankly. The other guys do that a lot. Osama bin Laden's always talking about Allah, what Allah wants, that he's on his side.

BLITZER: Reagan flat-out accuses the administration for lying its way into Iraq, which he calls a terrible mistake.

REAGAN: We didn't have to do it. It was optional. And we were lied to. The American public was lied to about WMD, the connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam, which is virtually nonexistent except for fleeting contacts. But they're still trying to pull that one off now.

BLITZER: So, no surprise, Reagan won't be voting for George W. Bush. He told CNN's Judy Woodruff he considers himself fully independent.

REAGAN: I'll vote for the viable candidate who's capable of unseating President Bush.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: And, presumably, that's John Kerry.

REAGAN: That's how it looks right now, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Ron Reagan also told Judy that he has no personal animus toward President Bush, and when it comes to comparing the two leaders, he says his father and Mr. Bush are two very different people.

In marked contrast to Ron Reagan, President Reagan's other son, Michael Reagan, is a strong supporter of this president. Michael Reagan, a conservative radio talk show host, says he totally supports this administration's policy on a wide range of issues, clearly disagrees with his brother, Ron Reagan. Two brothers, two very, very different political views.

Political discourse of a different kind up on Capitol Hill, where Vice President Cheney allegedly tossed an expletive at a senior Democratic senator.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry joining us now live with that story -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

This is the latest sign that this presidential campaign has gotten dirty. It's gotten nasty. It's even spilled over to the Senate floor, which is supposed to be known for decorum. Obviously, Mr. Cheney is the president of the Senate as vice president of the United States. This happened Tuesday, when all 100 senators were posing for the official Senate photo.

There's not supposed to be any profanity on the Senate floor. That's written into the rules. What happened is, Vice President Cheney confronted Senator Patrick Leahy, who's been leading the assault on Mr. Cheney over his ties to Halliburton. What CNN has confirmed is that Mr. Cheney confronted Leahy about all of those allegations, all of the attacks, and Mr. Leahy shot back that he thinks that Mr. Cheney should have done more to get Bush administration allies to stop attacking Leahy and other Catholic senators last year, when the Democrats blocked the nomination of William Pryor, a Catholic, to be a nominee -- he was a nominee to be a federal judge, appointed by President Bush.

At that point Mr. Cheney shot back and used an expletive, use the F-word back at Mr. Leahy. There was a tense confrontation. There's been a lot of chatter about this in the cloakrooms around the Senate floor. The bottom line here is that Mr. Leahy told CNN producer Steve Turnham that he was surprised that this language was used on the Senate floor and he thought Mr. Cheney was having a bad day.

And, finally, the vice president's office has given us a statement. They told CNN -- quote -- "That doesn't sound like the kind of language that the vice president would use, but I can confirm that there was a frank exchange of views." That comes from Kevin Kellems, spokesman for Vice President Cheney -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry with that story -- Ed, thanks very much.

A risky walk high above the Earth. Two astronauts face what could be the most daunting space walk ever. We'll have live pictures.

Plus, the NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe, he's joining me live to discuss that and the future of the space program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Happening right now, the two men aboard the International Space Station are preparing for what's being called one of the riskier, perhaps the riskiest space walk ever. While the pair steps outside to make repairs to the station's exterior, NASA is working on an earthly overhaul on its own.

Joining us now to talk about the challenges facing NASA, the administrator, Sean O'Keefe.

Thanks very much, Mr. O'Keefe, for joining us. SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Great to see you, Wolf.

BLITZER: First of all, this space walk right now, how risky is this?

O'KEEFE: Every one of them is risky. There's always a set of challenges that have to be overcome and dealt with.

This is a particularly unusual circumstance, because the shuttle has not been flying for the last 16 months, so, as a result, all the necessary kind of support activities that we'd like to have sometimes have to be worked with in a different way. So, this is going to be a challenging time, but every one of them is, and it's always adventurous. There's no doubt about that.

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers some live pictures of what's going on, on this space walk right now. And give us a little bit more perspective on what we're seeing.

O'KEEFE: Well, what they're preparing to do is exit the International Space Station and replace a couple of components that requires them to do an external maneuver.

BLITZER: And, obviously, this is essential. Otherwise, they wouldn't be taking this enormous risk right now.

O'KEEFE: Well, they've done it before.

Both Mike Foale and Sasha Kaleri, the last crew members of Expedition 8, they had an EVA space walk that they did a few months ago. So this is not unprecedented, by any means. But, at the same time, it is something that has a set of corrections and fixes that are really desirable.

So, as a consequence, this is something that they are prepared to do that and do it professionally, we have no doubt.

BLITZER: In layman's terms that our viewers can easily understand, why are you overhauling, reforming NASA right now?

O'KEEFE: Well, it's -- a lot of what the president's commission suggested a week ago is that we need to transform in order to reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit, the innovation, the technology development opportunities that this agency has always been known for in order to pursue the strategy that the president gave us. That's what we're doing.

BLITZER: Does that include a manned flight to Mars, too?

O'KEEFE: Indeed.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Is that still on your agenda?

O'KEEFE: Absolutely. That's part of the president's direction. And we're going to develop the capability and develop that journey over time to develop the capability to accomplish that goal.

BLITZER: People are still amazed by space. This SpaceShipOne, this private enterprise now that we saw earlier in the week, you saw those live pictures that we showed you. Is this a good idea?

O'KEEFE: Fantastic. I think it's a tremendous achievement. It is the entrepreneurial spirit in action right there. It's the very things that we would like to see occur because of American ingenuity and technology advance.

And what we need to do and part of what the president's commission a week ago suggested is, we need to be more promotive and create an atmosphere and a climate for more of that to occur.

BLITZER: And it presumably will occur and at some point people will pay a few thousand dollars or a few hundred thousand dollars or a few million dollars to get a free ride?

O'KEEFE: Well, that's commercial space tourism and so forth, but it also opens up space to all of us potentially down the road. And it creates, again, entrepreneurial instincts that are being exhibited right now by these folks to have an access to space that is not something that requires a big program. It's a real accessible commercial effort.

BLITZER: I shouldn't say it was a free ride. It would be a very expensive ride.

O'KEEFE: Indeed.

BLITZER: Sean O'Keefe, thanks as usual, for joining us. Good luck to you and to NASA.

O'KEEFE: Wolf, thanks a lot. Good to be with you.

BLITZER: We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: This man is described as a holy man in India and he's on a roll. The Hindu known as the Rolling Seer is on a peace mission. He plans to roll 1,500 miles.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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


Aired June 24, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Slaughter in Iraq: Dozens are dead in coordinated strikes across the country. The insurgents show their strength. Can they torpedo the transition? I'll ask Senator Joe Biden.

Terror in Turkey: Bloody bombings, the head of the NATO summit, and a visit by President Bush.

Looking for the leaker: Who outed a CIA officer? It's President Bush's turn to be questioned by a special prosecutor.

This hour, a dangerous spacewalk, made more risky by faulty equipment. Does NASA need a drastic makeover? I'll ask the man in charge.

ANNOUNCER: This is "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" for Thursday, June 24th, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: They launched ambushes, assaults and suicide attacks with machine guns, grenades, and human bombs. They struck targets across Iraq at nearly the same time. Some 100 people were killed; hundreds more were wounded.

CNN's Brent Sadler reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Insurgents launched a wave of attacks on five major cities, including Baghdad. The onslaught targeted police stations in Mosul, to the north of the capital, as well as Ba'qubah, to the northeast, and Ramadi in the west. at the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle, a persistent hotbed of anticoalition violence.

Mosul was hit by a series of large explosions, claiming the lives of dozens of Iraqi victims. One U.S. soldier also died in the Mosul blasts. In Ba'qubah, scene of some of the heaviest clashes with the U.S. forces, assailants launched attacks on police and government buildings, inflicting more loss of life, including two American soldiers from the 1st Infantry division. Gunfire rattled across the city as the authorities warned people to stay indoors, imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Gunmen, claiming loyalty to wanted Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appeared on the streets of Ba'qubah for what appears to be the first time in street combat. In Ramadi, the tactics were similar: insurgents directing volleys of rocket-propelled grenades and machine gunfire at more police targets.

U.S. military officials say the series of attacks demonstrated a level of coordination, but they were at pains to play down the extent of damage done, claiming the attacks soon ran out of steam.

In further hostilities, U.S. forces around Fallujah ordered airstrikes against insurgent positions after more clashes with U.S. Marines. A U.S. Cobra helicopter gunship was forced down by small- arms fire during battles, but the crew reportedly escaped unhurt.

Iraqis suffered the most casualties, just days before the handover of sovereignty to an interim government. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi denounced the attacks as the work of desperate criminals who've lost the battle to prevent a transfer of power, but he predicted there may be worse to come.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The U.S.-led collision and the new Iraqi government had both expected trouble during this so-called transition period, but is the massive scales of today's attacks setback for next week's scheduled handover?

CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting once again from Baghdad for us. Anderson, this is a huge number: about 100 people dead. I spoke to an official earlier today who suggested it's going to get worse before it gets worse. What's the mood there? What do you sense based on your travels and your reporting?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's absolutely true, Wolf. I mean, I don't think anyone was particularly surprised by what happened today. Horrified? Yes. Sickened? Yes. But not really surprised.

I mean, for months now, both coalition officials and also Iraqi officials have been saying, look, as the pace of the handover quickens, as we approach it in the next few days, we're going to see more and more attacks, larger-scale attacks. And with so much of the world's media and the world's focus now on Iraq in these next few days, we all have learned in these last couple of months that the terrorists and insurgents here in Iraq -- and I make a distinction, perhaps, between the two -- that they are very media savvy and they are very well aware of how to use the media and when the world is watching.

You know, the old cliche that terrorism is theater -- well, right now Baghdad and Iraq is their stage. BLITZER: Widely assumed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is behind these coordinated attacks today?

COOPER: It's interesting, coalition sources will tell you, yes -- I mean, they believe Musab al-Zarqawi is the number one terrorist responsible for many of these ongoing attacks.

We heard, though, from the prime minister of Iraq today, Allawi, who said he didn't think the attacks were coordinated in the sense of being highly sophisticated. One coalition source actually said, look, these attacks could have been sort of, you know, planned just with a quick phone call. It wasn't as if they were timed specifically.

And Allawi said that he felt different groups were responsible. In Mosul, he said it was more a group affiliated with Ansar al-Islam here in Baghdad with more (UNINTELLIGIBLE) elements. So, some difference, perhaps, of opinion, though clearly both are using similar tactics to achieve their goals.

BLITZER: CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting for us once again in Baghdad. Anderson, thanks very much.

This programming note to our viewers, Anderson will, of course, anchor "ANDERSON COOPER 360" live from Baghdad tonight. That airs 7:00 p.m. Eastern -- coming up in about two hours or so from now.

In Turkey, meanwhile, there were two bloody bombings in two cities just days ahead of a NATO summit and a visit by President Bush. The first exploded on a bus in Istanbul, killing four people and injuring at least 14 more. Authorities say the bomb was carried by a 20-year-old woman who was among the dead.

Earlier, three people were wounded when a bomb exploded in the front of the Hilton Hotel in Ankara. President Bush is scheduled to stay at that hotel before leaving Istanbul to attend the NATO summit along with some 45 world leaders. The White House says the explosions will not result in any change in the president's schedule.

For the first time since the war in Iraq began, a majority of Americans now think it was a mistake to send troops. In a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll taken this week, 54 percent say it was a mistake, compared with 41 percent who expressed that sentiment in early June. Asked if the war with Iraq has made the U.S. safer from terrorism, 37 answered yes this week, while 55 percent said no. In December, those number were effectively reversed.

Asked their choice for president, though, 49 percent of likely voters picked President Bush, 48 percent picked John Kerry; effectively, that's a dead heat, suggesting Kerry has made little headway on the Iraq issue.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Senator Joe Biden, he's the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Biden, are you surprised by these numbers?

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I don't know, Wolf. I've not followed them at all. I'm not surprised the American people in a generic sense have lost faith in the rationale for going to war. I think a significant number believe they were lied to or misled. And so, I think, you know, they get a bad taste in their mouth. So, it doesn't surprise me.

BLITZER: Were you among those that believed that you were lied or misled?

BIDEN: I believe -- I know we were misled, but I have to tell you, I quite frankly thought we were being -- that the facts that the threat was being exaggerated and said so at the time. So, I can't claim what others legitimately can claim that they really believed Cheney when they said that nuclear weapons had been reconstituted and the like. I was on your program at the time saying I didn't believe that.

But what I was dumbfounded by is the incredible lack of preparation and fundamental mistakes we made going in. I mean, some of it was -- well, was close to incompetent, some of it. And that I didn't anticipate, nor do I suspect -- I can't speak for them, but Republican senators, who you know well, didn't anticipate, either.

BLITZER: You were just in Baghdad, you were just in Iraq less than a week or so ago, and I'll remind you, as you well know, the State Department did have a very detailed plan to deal with post-war reconstruction, political efforts in Iraq, but that plan was basically thrown aside and ignored.

BIDEN: Exactly right. And you remember, Wolf, you covered my hearings extensively. We laid out a detailed plan. We had the State Department plan. So, it was -- in the sense that I was misled or we were misled, we assumed that somebody -- the president was listening to the people with these plans. You also remember the National Security Council laid out an estimate for the president that, in fact, we were going to need 500,000 troops after we took down Saddam. Shinseki was telling us privately that we knew we needed more than 700,000 troops.

So we assumed, wrongly, that reason would prevail, the president would understand that he would in fact move more -- less precipitously and more with gaining a consensus and isolating the French and Germans. And obviously Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney and Wolfowitz prevailed. They told him, and I guess convinced him, that we would be greeted with open arms.

For example, I was talking about the police training and lack thereof. You remember, we did a report, also the administration did a report saying you'd need between 5,500 and 6,000 European and American officers, police officers going in with the military to establish order right away and begin training. They didn't bring any of those guys in.

BLITZER: Senator, you were just there in Iraq, and since you came back you sound -- in other interviews you've sounded a little bit more upbeat seeing some light at the end of the tunnel...

BIDEN: I am.

BLITZER: ...but today about 100 people were killed in the simultaneous, clearly coordinated, attacks. Are you still upbeat that this is going to perhaps work?

BIDEN: Yes. Let me explain why. As you pointed out -- and I know you know this well -- you're not surprised by those attacks any more than I was surprised by them. They are not the last gasp, but the biggest gasp on the part of all those who do not want to see this transfer take place and do not want to see us to lay down a definitive marker that we're staying with 140,000 forces through the election in 2005. That the international community is going to come and be invested and bring in another brigade to protect the U.N. That we're going to actually spend the time and the money to train the police and army.

This is all designed to make sure that we don't do that. And the president has to lead now. He has to respond and level with the American people and say, look, folks, this is going to be a really rough run. And let me tell you what it means. It means we're staying there with 140,000 folks, it means we're getting more involved in training them. It means we've got more resources going in, and it means if we do that, we can begin to put the Iraqis in a position where they can have the competent to begin to govern.

But if he just says we're in the for the long haul and implies that we're not going to have to be the main thrust of all this for the next year and a half or so, then in fact we're going to lose more support from the American people.

BLITZER: Senator Biden, we have to leave it right there, unfortunately. Thanks very much for joining us.

BIDEN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Glad you're back safe and sown from Iraq.

BIDEN: OK. Thanks.

BLITZER: And this, an apology to journalists covering Iraq. What made the deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz make this rare move? We'll explain.

Also, investigating the outing of a CIA operative. Today President Bush questioned by a special prosecutor inside the Oval Office.

Public beheadings, what many call a barbaric punishment still used in Saudi Arabia, how these acts, condoned by the Saudi Kingdom, perhaps influenced terrorists.

Heated words, a profane exchange on Capitol Hill between the vice president Dick Cheney and a key Democratic senator. We'll explain that as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Rather extraordinary development at the White House today. Government prosecutors questioned President Bush as part of the investigation into how the name of an undercover CIA agent got leaked to the news media. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash standing by with the story -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, the president sat down with Patrick Fitzgerald, that special prosecutor who is involved in leading the criminal probe. He sat with him for an hour and ten minutes in the Oval Office this morning. He was not under oath and he only had his newly hired private attorney by his side, but the White House says that the president did so, because he's instructed all members of the White House staff to be as cooperative as possible, and he was essentially taking his own advice.

Now at issue here of course is a column written by Robert Novak, who of course is of CNN, also who revealed the ambassador -- the name of the wife of the ambassador Joe Wilson. She was a covert CIA agent. Wilson said that the president -- excuse me, the White House -- he believes somebody at the White House did that in order to retaliate against him, because he had gone public, saying that some of what the president said in the State of the Union Address about Iraq was actually false.

The White House does deny that. But again the White House is saying that they are going to try to get to the bottom of this, help the prosecutors do so.

And Wolf, this session with the president comes just about a month after a very similar one with the vice president, and also comes after several senior White House aides have actually gone under oath before the grand jury to answer questions about this probe.

BLITZER: And clearly suggesting, although we don't know for sure, that the prosecutor may be wrapping up his investigation. CNN's Dana Bash over at the White House. Dana, thanks very much.

The deputy secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, is apologizing for an unflattering set the comments he made this week about journalists covering the war in Iraq. They came during Tuesday's congressional testimony and left international correspondents bristling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: Because frankly, part of our problem is a lot of the press are afraid to travel very much, so they sit in Baghdad and publish rumors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Those comments drew criticism from many journalists, including our own Christiane Amanpour who's been in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure that I speak on behalf of most of my colleagues here, in fact all of them, that we would strongly reject that. Strongly reject the notion that we're, A, too afraid to travel, or B, would simply published rumors. I know that's not the case for CNN journalists. And we have been traveling. And I might add, at great personal risk. Now I'm not going to get into any public character assassination as apparently Secretary Wolfowitz has against us, and I don't know what kind of stress he must be under to make that allegation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Christiane's comments here on CNN earlier today clearly caused the buzz this afternoon. Wolfowitz issued a rare written response and he said this, "I extend a heart felt apology and hope you will accept it. I understand well, the enormous dangers that you face and want to restate my admiration for your professionalism, dedication, and yes, courage. I pray that you all may return safely."

A live interview with a former CIA director Jim Woolsey. That still to come here this hour.

Also, westerners have been repulsed by beheadings in the Middle East, but as it turns out, it's not just terrorists who are doing it.

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON REAGAN, SON OF LATE PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I couldn't join a party that, frankly, tolerates members who are bigots, for one thing: homophobes, racists, you know, there's no way I could be a part of a party like that. Just no way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He's no chip off the old block. Wait until you hear what President Reagan's son, Ron Reagan has to say now.

And this: an unusually risky spacewalk going on right now at the International Space Station. We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: When Iraqi kidnappers killed a South Korean hostage this week they used a method of execution exceptionally shocking to most westerners: he was beheaded. This is a practice that has received lots of attention in recent weeks. Our Brian Todd has an angle on this not often mentioned. Brian is joining us now live -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, now with two hostages beheaded in Iraq, one in Saudi Arabia over the past 2 months. On this program we've already looked into the pattern itself and what reaction the terrorists may be after. Today, we look at where the practice of beheading is allegedly government-sanctioned. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): When we see the homemade video, and later hear what befell these hostages, we are shocked. But should we be surprised when an ally of the United States is accused of carrying out beheadings as a matter of legal punishment.

ALI AL-AHMED, SAUDI INSTITUTE: The terrorists who beheaded those hostages are just carrying out the tradition that the Saudi state has established for 70 years. Every weekend, it happens every weekend.

TODD: Ali al-Ahmed leads a Saudi opposition group in Washington called the Saudi Institute. He provided CNN with this picture, which he says shows the aftermath of a public beheading in Saudi Arabia. He says this is from the late 1980s.

In its 2004 annual report, Amnesty International says last year there were at least 50 public executions in Saudi Arabia carried out on the orders of the Saudi government. Amnesty says the vast majority were beheadings, a contention supported by the Saudi Institute. Of the execution Amnesty knows about, 26 were for drug-related convictions, 24 were for murder.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: This is a way of punishment, so people grow up with this notion that this is how you punish people.

TODD: We tried repeatedly to get the Saudi government to respond to these allegations. We tried to get the government to at least acknowledge the practice of public execution under Islamic law. The Saudi government's representatives in Washington would not comment.

CNN intelligence analyst Ken Robinson makes the point that recent beheadings of hostages were done crudely, slowly, with smaller blades. By contrast, he says the beheadings allegedly carried out at the behest of the Saudi government are performed swiftly, usually by a man wielding a very sharp blade, a method some argue is fast and minimizes pain.

AL-AHMED: It is in many ways very fast and painless, but it's barbaric and it sends the wrong message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Again, emphasizing we could not get the Saudis to response. One other point, the State Department's annual human rights report issued this year does not make specific reference to beheading in Saudi Arabia, but it does say, quote, "the government executed persons for criminal offenses after closed trials, making it impossible to assess whether legal protections were applied. In cases involving stoning, amputation or death, sentences must be reviewed by the country's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Council, and can only be enforced pursuant to a royal decree issued by the king."

So Wolf, no specific reference on the State Department report to the word beheading, or that actual practice. BLITZER: CNN's Brian Todd updating us on that. Thanks, Brian, very much.

He's gone public with serious charges against the agency he works for. So, why is the CIA allowing so-called anonymous to speak out? Up next, I'll speak with the former director James Woolsey.

Plus, he shares the same last name, but Ron Reagan doesn't share his late father's political ideology.

And the vice president is accused of using profanity in a bitter exchange with a key Democratic senator. We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Investigating a leak: President Bush interviewed in the oval office by government prosecutors. We'll have details coming up. More details coming out. First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.

(voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel next Tuesday to Sudan. Observers say government sanctioned ethnic cleansing is going on in the country's embattled Darfur region. Powell wants access to humanitarian groups working there, in the hope of stopping the violence and getting food and supplies to people who need them.

Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force may keep its internal files credit, at least for the time being. A lawsuit charges, Cheney made improper contacts with the energy industry when making government policy. It's demanding the files be made public, but the U.S. Supreme Court says the case should go through lower courts first -- a temporary win, at least, for Dick Cheney.

Justice Department sources say Solicitor-General Ted Olson has submitted his resignation. Two officials say Olson will leave his post in July. Olson led the Bush administration's arguments regarding its energy task force before the Supreme Court. The official announcement expected later today.

A grim warning from the general picked to be the next commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. General George Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that violence like the kind that killed about 100 people today can be expected to continue through elections scheduled for next January.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has learned that could mean deploying more U.S. troops to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned that, if the violence grows worse, U.S. military planners are preparing for the possibility of sending in as many as 15,000 additional ground troops, three brigades, on an emergency basis. Separately, at his Senate confirmation hearing, General George Casey, who will soon take over as head of coalition forces, confirmed only that a plan is in the works because of concerns the insurgency may gain strength.

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: CENTCOM is doing some contingency planning for increased levels of violence.

STARR: Officials now readily acknowledge the security situation is likely to be very bad for some time. Attacks are expected well past the June 30 date for returning sovereignty to Iraqis and perhaps into next year, when elections will be scheduled.

The continuing high levels of violence now a major concern for Congress and the military in dealing with Iraq.

CASEY: It is not how I envisioned it to be, Senator.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: What do you think has gone wrong?

CASEY: I think the insurgency is much stronger than I certainly would have anticipated.

STARR: As the next commander, Casey says his priorities are protecting a U.N. mission that will help with elections, providing security in the violent Sunni Triangle, getting better intelligence from Iraqis to fight the insurgency.

But getting Iraqis to provide for their own security still remains a challenge. General Casey says, so far, Iraqi forces are not capable of protecting their own country, opening the door to the continuing possibility U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for months to come.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Now a follow-up to a story we reported yesterday. You'll recall we heard rare criticism from an unnamed CIA official who once headed the hunt for Osama bin Laden. His new book claims the U.S. is losing the war against terrorism.

Our national security correspondence David Ensor is back with more of his interview with Anonymous.

But, David, I understand you have some breaking news to report.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you will recall a couple of weeks ago, when George Tenet announced he was resigning from his job as director of central intelligence, the word at the time from Bush administration officials was that they would not be appointing a director, that John McLaughlin, the deputy director, would be acting director, at least through the November elections. Since then, we have now been hearing that the president is seriously consider appointing a new director, someone probably from Capitol Hill, probably a Republican. We are now hearing that that is quite likely to happen and soon. And the front-runner, we are told, is Congressman Porter Goss, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

So we may hear an announcement on that soon, although this is the kind of thing that official Washington does not readily leak, shall we say. This is not an administration that wants things out ahead of the president's announcement. So we are going to have to wait and see. But that's the word we're starting to get, that the president is seriously considering appointing a new director of central intelligence to take over when Mr. Tenet leaves and that the front- runner is Porter Goss, who of course is the longtime chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

He is a former CIA officer himself. He certainly knows the intelligence community well. So, in some ways, he would be a logical choice. But he would have to go through confirmation hearings before the Senate. And anybody who's going to be nominated for this job is going to face fairly difficult going in Senate hearings. There are a lot of questions a lot of Democrats are going to want to ask -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David, let's follow up now on your interview with the man called Anonymous, the CIA official, the counterterrorism official who has made some rather startling accusations.

ENSOR: Well, he thinks we're losing the war on terrorism. I asked Anonymous if he expects more attacks here in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

"ANONYMOUS," CIA OFFICIAL: I do, sir. I think al Qaeda is -- I think the American clandestine service has done a spectacular job in attacking al Qaeda.

Any other group that we would call a terrorist group would have been destroyed as the result of the efforts of those men and women, but al Qaeda is not a terrorist organization. It's not a mafia. It's not a gang. The closest analogy you can come up with is an insurgent organization. It's an amazingly durable, flexible, large organization which we have not -- we don't even have an order of battle for al Qaeda, which it's very hard to measure progress against a target if you don't know what the target looks like.

ENSOR: Do you admire Osama bin Laden?

ANONYMOUS: I admire Osama bin Laden. How would you say that? I admire his clarity. One has to admire a man who I think says what he means and then follows up with actions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Now, Wolf, Anonymous says it was his employers who insisted that the interviews be done in silhouette and that he remain Anonymous.

He said his superiors disagree with his pessimistic view and don't want to be associated with it. Now, he and they won't say where he works, but Anonymous, I can tell you, is a senior analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and he was the man in charge of the bin Laden station there -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor reporting for us -- David, thanks for all that good work.

He may be Anonymous, but he's going public with very serious charges. Why would the CIA allow one of its senior officials to speak out like this right now? Joining us now is the former CIA Director James Woolsey. He's now a vice president with Booz Allen here in Washington, Booz Allen Hamilton, that is.

Thanks very much, Director, for joining us.

Lots to talk about. First of all, Porter Goss, good idea for the president to be thinking about naming him the next director?

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Porter would be a superb director of central intelligence.

If anybody can get through a relatively quick confirmation hearing, I think it would be him, although it's likely to be drawn out, given how close it is to the election. John McLaughlin is excellent, too, who is out there as acting, the career man, who's an analyst. Either one of those would do a superb job heading the agency in the near term or over the long term.

BLITZER: When you were at the CIA, the director of the CIA, during the Clinton administration, did you know this Anonymous?

WOOLSEY: No, and I still don't. I had an e-mail exchange with Anonymous nearly three years ago because he sent me his first book to do a publisher blurb on it. Although there was much in it that was fascinating and I liked, he said the same thing that he said here on camera, which was that he admired people like Osama bin Laden because they were dedicated.

He even compared them to the American founding fathers and said the American founding fathers were dedicated. So is Osama bin Laden, and that sort of shows something. I find that truly bizarre. That's sort of like saying pigs have pointed ears. Socrates has pointed ears. Socrates is a pig. This man may know a good deal. His opinions may be right or wrong, but this admiration for Osama bin Laden that he expressed I find really strange.

BLITZER: And I think you probably strongly disagree with his suggestion that the war in Iraq was doing exactly what Osama bin Laden wanted, playing into his hands, undermining what he regarded as the major threat, the war on terror.

WOOLSEY: Yes, I disagree with that, but I must say, I think that's a reasonable argument that reasonable people can have. I think that this is an important and major issue. I think what we have to do now is do our very best to bring security there. And I think, Wolf, one way to do that is to set aside this United Nations recommendation that they have elections only when security's been completely established and that they do it with party slates and have proportional representation.

Proportional representation, unlike what we do here and the British do, having a single-member constituencies, which encourages two moderate parties, proportional representation with party slates would be a terrible way to go. And they have to establish security in the whole country, really, in order to do that. If they would go ahead and hold elections in large parts of Iraq now...

BLITZER: Regional elections.

WOOLSEY: Regional -- well, election for a parliament, but elections where things are peaceful, which is a substantial share of the country, in the south and in the Kurdish areas, largely in the Shiite areas and in the Kurdish areas. And then if the Sunnis in Fallujah can't keep themselves in order, they don't get to hold an election yet.

BLITZER: Can they hold elections when 100 people a day are being killed? At least today, 100 people were killed.

WOOLSEY: I think they can hold them in large shares of the country. And I think the sooner the better. I don't see any reason for them to wait six months for much of the Shiite south and Kurdish north. It's in the Sunni Triangle where they would have to delay until they get security.

But that gives the people in those regions an incentive to hurry up and get calmed down and turn in Zarqawi, for example.

BLITZER: You heard General George Casey, who is going to be replacing General Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. commander on the ground in Iraq, saying that the U.S. has probably underestimated the extent of the insurgency, the opposition.

WOOLSEY: I think that's right, but I think the basic mistake that was made, was made back when they first went in, actually in the late '90s.

Congress in '98 appropriated $97 million to help train the Iraqi resistance. And we had years to do it. We could have gone in with thousands, mainly Kurds and Shia, yes, not Sunni, but we could have gone in with thousands of Iraqi troops along with us. And instead, we went in with a few dozen. And it's sort of like in an old Western the cavalry going into Apache country with almost no Apache scouts.

It was a bad decision. We should have had people go in along with us. We could have then told, you know, who were the Badr Brigades and who was in from Iran and so forth. It would have been a lot easier, but the way they did it, they needed a lot more troops because they didn't have the Iraqi troops (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Having said all that, I'm sure you believe it was all worthwhile, despite the large number of casualties, the unexpected violence that has occurred. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

WOOLSEY: It's worthwhile if we win. If we back out, if we cut and run, it would be better that we never had tried, because it will radically encourage terrorism against the United States and Western Europe, here, in Europe, and all sorts of places. It makes us look weak.

And there's nothing more provocative with people like these Baathists or al Qaeda or people like Zarqawi than looking weak. So we have to prevail. If we prevail, I think it will have a positive effect in Iran. An Iraqi country moving toward a democracy and the rule of law, even if slowly, will have a positive effect in Iran. I think it will have a positive effect in Syria. But we have to get the job down. We can't back out now.

BLITZER: And that's by no means a done deal yet.

WOOLSEY: Right.

BLITZER: James Woolsey, thanks very much.

WOOLSEY: Good to be with us.

BLITZER: It's no secret Ron Reagan doesn't share the same political beliefs of his late father, but will his vocal criticisms of President Bush factor into this year's election? That's coming up.

Plus, NASA overhaul, the space agency set for drastic makeover. I'll speak live with its director, Sean O'Keefe. That's coming up as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's no secret that Ron, Reagan, son of the late president, did not share his father's conservative political views, but in the days since the state funeral that captivated the country, Ron Reagan has gotten more vocal and more specific in his criticism of the president, who some portray as heir to Ronald Reagan's legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): It started with this remark during the eulogy Ron Reagan gave at his father's funeral.

RON REAGAN, SON OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians, wearing his faith on his sleeve.

BLITZER: Many observers took that to be a swipe at President Bush, who often publicly speaks of his religious belief. Reagan tells CNN's Larry King he wasn't referring to the current president, at least consciously.

REAGAN: Then, I thought, ha, funny, you then everybody thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I heard -- everybody thought I was talking about George -- but people connected with George W. Bush thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I began to think, maybe I was, I just didn't know it.

BLITZER: Reagan also said his was concerned about what he characterized about Mr. Bush's mingling of war and religion.

REAGAN: Well, you know, there was that answer he gave to the question about, did you talk to your father about going into Iraq? No, I talked to a higher father, you know, the almighty. When you hear somebody justifying a war by citing the almighty, God, I get a little worried, frankly. The other guys do that a lot. Osama bin Laden's always talking about Allah, what Allah wants, that he's on his side.

BLITZER: Reagan flat-out accuses the administration for lying its way into Iraq, which he calls a terrible mistake.

REAGAN: We didn't have to do it. It was optional. And we were lied to. The American public was lied to about WMD, the connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam, which is virtually nonexistent except for fleeting contacts. But they're still trying to pull that one off now.

BLITZER: So, no surprise, Reagan won't be voting for George W. Bush. He told CNN's Judy Woodruff he considers himself fully independent.

REAGAN: I'll vote for the viable candidate who's capable of unseating President Bush.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: And, presumably, that's John Kerry.

REAGAN: That's how it looks right now, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Ron Reagan also told Judy that he has no personal animus toward President Bush, and when it comes to comparing the two leaders, he says his father and Mr. Bush are two very different people.

In marked contrast to Ron Reagan, President Reagan's other son, Michael Reagan, is a strong supporter of this president. Michael Reagan, a conservative radio talk show host, says he totally supports this administration's policy on a wide range of issues, clearly disagrees with his brother, Ron Reagan. Two brothers, two very, very different political views.

Political discourse of a different kind up on Capitol Hill, where Vice President Cheney allegedly tossed an expletive at a senior Democratic senator.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry joining us now live with that story -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

This is the latest sign that this presidential campaign has gotten dirty. It's gotten nasty. It's even spilled over to the Senate floor, which is supposed to be known for decorum. Obviously, Mr. Cheney is the president of the Senate as vice president of the United States. This happened Tuesday, when all 100 senators were posing for the official Senate photo.

There's not supposed to be any profanity on the Senate floor. That's written into the rules. What happened is, Vice President Cheney confronted Senator Patrick Leahy, who's been leading the assault on Mr. Cheney over his ties to Halliburton. What CNN has confirmed is that Mr. Cheney confronted Leahy about all of those allegations, all of the attacks, and Mr. Leahy shot back that he thinks that Mr. Cheney should have done more to get Bush administration allies to stop attacking Leahy and other Catholic senators last year, when the Democrats blocked the nomination of William Pryor, a Catholic, to be a nominee -- he was a nominee to be a federal judge, appointed by President Bush.

At that point Mr. Cheney shot back and used an expletive, use the F-word back at Mr. Leahy. There was a tense confrontation. There's been a lot of chatter about this in the cloakrooms around the Senate floor. The bottom line here is that Mr. Leahy told CNN producer Steve Turnham that he was surprised that this language was used on the Senate floor and he thought Mr. Cheney was having a bad day.

And, finally, the vice president's office has given us a statement. They told CNN -- quote -- "That doesn't sound like the kind of language that the vice president would use, but I can confirm that there was a frank exchange of views." That comes from Kevin Kellems, spokesman for Vice President Cheney -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry with that story -- Ed, thanks very much.

A risky walk high above the Earth. Two astronauts face what could be the most daunting space walk ever. We'll have live pictures.

Plus, the NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe, he's joining me live to discuss that and the future of the space program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Happening right now, the two men aboard the International Space Station are preparing for what's being called one of the riskier, perhaps the riskiest space walk ever. While the pair steps outside to make repairs to the station's exterior, NASA is working on an earthly overhaul on its own.

Joining us now to talk about the challenges facing NASA, the administrator, Sean O'Keefe.

Thanks very much, Mr. O'Keefe, for joining us. SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Great to see you, Wolf.

BLITZER: First of all, this space walk right now, how risky is this?

O'KEEFE: Every one of them is risky. There's always a set of challenges that have to be overcome and dealt with.

This is a particularly unusual circumstance, because the shuttle has not been flying for the last 16 months, so, as a result, all the necessary kind of support activities that we'd like to have sometimes have to be worked with in a different way. So, this is going to be a challenging time, but every one of them is, and it's always adventurous. There's no doubt about that.

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers some live pictures of what's going on, on this space walk right now. And give us a little bit more perspective on what we're seeing.

O'KEEFE: Well, what they're preparing to do is exit the International Space Station and replace a couple of components that requires them to do an external maneuver.

BLITZER: And, obviously, this is essential. Otherwise, they wouldn't be taking this enormous risk right now.

O'KEEFE: Well, they've done it before.

Both Mike Foale and Sasha Kaleri, the last crew members of Expedition 8, they had an EVA space walk that they did a few months ago. So this is not unprecedented, by any means. But, at the same time, it is something that has a set of corrections and fixes that are really desirable.

So, as a consequence, this is something that they are prepared to do that and do it professionally, we have no doubt.

BLITZER: In layman's terms that our viewers can easily understand, why are you overhauling, reforming NASA right now?

O'KEEFE: Well, it's -- a lot of what the president's commission suggested a week ago is that we need to transform in order to reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit, the innovation, the technology development opportunities that this agency has always been known for in order to pursue the strategy that the president gave us. That's what we're doing.

BLITZER: Does that include a manned flight to Mars, too?

O'KEEFE: Indeed.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Is that still on your agenda?

O'KEEFE: Absolutely. That's part of the president's direction. And we're going to develop the capability and develop that journey over time to develop the capability to accomplish that goal.

BLITZER: People are still amazed by space. This SpaceShipOne, this private enterprise now that we saw earlier in the week, you saw those live pictures that we showed you. Is this a good idea?

O'KEEFE: Fantastic. I think it's a tremendous achievement. It is the entrepreneurial spirit in action right there. It's the very things that we would like to see occur because of American ingenuity and technology advance.

And what we need to do and part of what the president's commission a week ago suggested is, we need to be more promotive and create an atmosphere and a climate for more of that to occur.

BLITZER: And it presumably will occur and at some point people will pay a few thousand dollars or a few hundred thousand dollars or a few million dollars to get a free ride?

O'KEEFE: Well, that's commercial space tourism and so forth, but it also opens up space to all of us potentially down the road. And it creates, again, entrepreneurial instincts that are being exhibited right now by these folks to have an access to space that is not something that requires a big program. It's a real accessible commercial effort.

BLITZER: I shouldn't say it was a free ride. It would be a very expensive ride.

O'KEEFE: Indeed.

BLITZER: Sean O'Keefe, thanks as usual, for joining us. Good luck to you and to NASA.

O'KEEFE: Wolf, thanks a lot. Good to be with you.

BLITZER: We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: This man is described as a holy man in India and he's on a roll. The Hindu known as the Rolling Seer is on a peace mission. He plans to roll 1,500 miles.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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