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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Bush Nominates Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State; U.S. Marines Target New Spots in Iraq; Insurgents Kill Hostage Margaret Hassan; Vibe Music Awards Turns to Boxing Match

Aired November 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, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in Iraq, another terrorist outrage. An aid worker's husband speaks out, after hearing the worst possible news. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): America's new face.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dr. Rice will receive the strength, the grace and the decency of our country.

BLITZER: And a new harder line?

Hostage horror. She spent 30 years in Iraq, helping the Iraqi people. Apparently, it wasn't enough to save her.

Moving on to Mosul, as U.S. troops target a new hot spot, the fight is not finished in Falluja. Did one Marine take that fight too far?

Bad vibe. A lifetime achievement award upstaged by an off stage brawl.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, November 16, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: She speaks four languages, was a competitive figure skater and as a pianist, has performed a sonata with Yo-Yo Ma. But she has been know to work out to the heavy metal music of Led Zeppelin, would love someday to be commissioner of the NFL and she may be as tough as iron, which is why President Bush picked her as the new face of American foreign policy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): President Bush walked into the White House Roosevelt Room joined by his national security adviser.

BUSH: I'm pleased to announce my nomination of Dr. Condoleezza Rice to be America's secretary of state. BLITZER: It was no surprise. The president had turned to his trusted aid to succeed Colin Powell, who announced his resignation on Monday. Powell was both warmly praised by both the president and Rice, though he was not present at the announcement.

BUSH: The secretary of state's is America's face to the world. And in Dr. Rice, the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country.

BLITZER: Rice is 50 years old, single, an accomplished concert pianist and a former provost at Stanford University. She was Mr. Bush's principal foreign policy tutor when he was still governor of Texas and running for his party's presidential nomination. Since taking office, she has almost always been at his side.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I look forward, with the consent of the Senate, to pursuing your hopeful and ambitious agenda as secretary of state.

BLITZER: She is widely expected to be confirmed.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: She will face some very significant questioning, I believe, in the hearings, but she certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt.

BLITZER: But even some Republicans say they will press her on the direction of U.S. foreign policy over the next four years.

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: There are a growing number of conservatives and Republicans who, while they support the president and support the war in Iraq, wonder how many of these nation-building wars we are going to engage in and what the parameters are.

BLITZER: Like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but unlike Powell, she is seen as a hard-liner, but she is also seen as pragmatic, someone ready to adjust to circumstances. The president named her longtime deputy, Stephen Hadley, to replace her as his national security adviser.

Once confirmed, Rice will become the first African-American woman to head the State Department. She has a compelling personal story, growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.

BUSH: As a girl in the segregated South, Dr. Rice saw the promise of America violated by racial discrimination and by the violence that comes from hate. But she was taught by her mother Angelina, and her father, the Reverend John Rice, that human dignity is the gift of God and that the ideals of America would overcome oppression.

BLITZER: It was an emotional moment and Rice could be seen choking back some tears.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: At times, the current secretary of state may have found himself locked out of the president's tight inner circle. That won't be the problem for the nominee. But is that necessarily a good thing? Let's go live our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as national security adviser saw her role as to present the president with a wide range of views expressed by members of his cabinet. But now some say the question is whether a Secretary of State Rice will find her own voice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: I urge the Senate to promptly confirm Condoleezza Rice as America's 66th secretary of state.

KOPPEL (voice-over): Unlike Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice enjoys a close, personal relationship with the president, which observers predict will give her a big advantage as secretary of state.

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: When she goes to foreign capitals, people will talk to her, knowing that she represents the president, that there is great confidence in her word that is exactly what the president wants said.

KOPPEL: No significant policy changes are expected under Rice on the big issues, Iraq, the Middle East, North Korea and Iran. But once Powell departs, his voice of dissent will be replaced by a trusted confidant with a harder line world view.

KIRON SKINNER, HOOVER INSTITUTION: I think that there is kind of an intellectual synergy between them that will make her post at the State Department very effective.

KOPPEL: One former secretary of state, though, told CNN a president is better served with tensions in his cabinet.

LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I do not believe that you should have in the secretary of state someone who has spent their last four years in the White House next to the president.

KOPPEL: As national security adviser, Rice has received mixed reviews, respected for her exceptional access to the president, but criticized for her managerial skills.

DAVID ROTHKOPF, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: Her grades as national security adviser are just past passing at best. Good support for the president, not very good administrator of the National Security Council and not a very good mediator in terms of the conflicts within the National Security Council structure.

KOPPEL: At the White House, Rice heads up a staff of just over 200. At the State Department, she will be leading a staff of thousands in Washington and at embassies around the world. Rice reached out to a foreign and civil service sorry to see Powell go.

RICE: One of my highest priorities as secretary will be to ensure that they have all the tools necessary to carry American diplomacy forward in the 21st Century.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: But Rice is still expected to shake things up when she arrives here at State, replacing those senior staffers considered moderate with conservatives more in line with the White House -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Andrea, thanks very much. So who will become the next national security adviser to the president? He spent the past four years as the top assistant to Condoleezza Rice, but if Americans know Stephen Hadley, it may be as the man who took responsibility, blame, if you will, for the president's pre-war State of the Union claim that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa.

Hadley was a senior adviser during the first Bush presidential campaign. Before that served under the president's father as an assistant secretary of defense, the secretary back then, Dick Cheney. During the Reagan administration Hadley was counsel to the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra scandal. He worked at the National Security Council under President Ford and over at the Pentagon during the Nixon administration as well. Stephen Hadley may be the next national security adviser.

To our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Will the Bush cabinet resignations have a positive or negative impact on U.S. policy? You can vote right now. Go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results coming up later in this broadcast.

BLITZER: A woman who dedicated her entire life to helping the Iraqi people has apparently been murdered by Iraqi insurgents. Margaret Hassan was kidnapped last month. Paul Davies reports that a grim videotape has now surfaced.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For four agonizingly long weeks, the family and many friends of Margaret Hassan has been dreading this moment. They have had to endure those appalling images of the aid worker bound and pleading for her life.

Now, her Iraqi husband says there's evidence that life has been cruelly taken away.

TAHSEEN ALI HASSAN, HUSBAND: I have been told that there is a video of Margaret which appears to show her murder. The video may be genuine, but I do not know. I beg those people who took Margaret to tell me what they have done with her.

DAVIES: The Al-Jazeera television channel has confirmed it has received a video which shows a gunman killing a woman understood to be Mrs. Hassan. Margaret Hassan was the Baghdad director of the charity CARE International. She was abducted by gunman as she went about the work to which she had dedicated her life, caring for the poor and needy in Iraq. Indeed, many of the Iraqis she helped joined the worldwide protest against her kidnapping. There were pleas for Margaret Hassan's release from the Irish government. Her family comes from Ireland. And from Dublin, her sisters, realizing time was running out, appealed directly to the hostage takers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our sister is a friend of Iraq and we beg you to please let her go back to her husband, who loves her. Please don't hurt her.

DAVIES: Despite all this, it seems Margaret Hassan's life has been taken. Her charity tonight issued this statement. "We are shocked and appalled that this has been the apparent outcome of her abduction. We want to express our deepest sympathy to Mrs. Hassan's husband, Tahseen and to her family. Mrs. Hassan was an extraordinary woman who dedicated her life to the poor and disadvantaged in Iraq, particularly the children."

Margaret Hassan refused to leave Iraq, even when warned she was in danger. That bravery and dedication may have cost her her life. Paul Davies, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Now that the fighting in Falluja has subsided, U.S. and Iraqi forces are stepping up operations in Mosul. Insurgents had taken control of several police stations. U.S. and Iraqi commanders say they have regained control of most of those stations and are targeting what they call pockets of insurgent fighters.

A desperate man makes a desperate move, setting himself on fire outside the White House right here in Washington. What drove this man to this dramatic act? We'll have a report.

Also, this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a high degree of comfort with Condoleezza Rice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Middle East reaction to the president's pick for the next secretary of state. Can Condoleezza Rice make a difference in a troubled region?

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to say that when things get difficult and this can be an incredibly frustrating job, it's the thought of the victims that gives us the motivation to continue doing what we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: A Nazi hunter working against the clock toward a last chance for justice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The United States military is investigating the shooting death of a wounded apparently unarmed Iraqi insurgent by an American marine during the battle of Falluja. It happened in a mosque and was videotaped by a network (UNINTELLIGIBLE) reporter. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joining us live with more at the Pentagon --Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that videotape has drawn some sharp criticism by human rights groups. But the Pentagon says it holds the U.S. military to high standards and that if there was wrongdoing, it will be prosecuted and punished.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The video, taken by an American television reporter, indicates as many as four wounded people may have been shot to death in the mosque on Saturday. The reporter hears gunshots as he approaches the mosque.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot them? Did they have any weapons on them?

MCINTYRE: As the reporter follows the marines inside, he sees men he recognizes as insurgent fighters who were wounded and disarmed the day before dying of what appear to be fresh wounds. Then he witnesses another shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's faking he's dead.

MCINTYRE: Human rights groups that have reviewed the tape think it's a clear war crime.

STEVE CRAWSHAW, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: What we're seeing here, we can see it in the body language of the soldiers is they do not feel under threat and, really, every single soldier and every single commander, every soldier on the ground knows it's an absolute basic of warfare, that when you have a wounded person who is not a threat to them, it is absolutely prohibited to further injure or to kill that person. It's a real basic of international law.

MCINTYRE: The investigation will look into all four deaths and the actions of all the marines involved.

LT. GEN. JOHN SATTLER, U.S. MARINES: Let me make it perfectly clear. We follow the law of armed conflict and we hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability.

MCINTYRE: The video does not answer all the key questions. The wounded had been left behind by other marines. Could they have gotten weapons or set booby traps? Did the marine know that?

EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW ATTORNEY: Was there a reasonable apprehension of serious bodily injury or death on the part of the person who pulled the trigger here? And that would trump, in my opinion, any speculation of whether the deceased was a prisoner, was wounded or anything.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): A buddy the day before had been killed in a very similar incident where an insurgent who was playing dead had, in fact, been booby trapped and a number of marines had been injured and wounded and one marine was killed. So you keep all of that in context.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon insists if the evidence shows that there was a wrongful killing, it will be prosecuted. And they say it's not just because it was captured on videotape. Just this week, for instance, Wolf, a second lieutenant in the army was charged with premeditated murder for killing an Iraqi in Sadr City.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Jamie, thank you very much. Many Iraqis are outraged over the killing of a wounded unarmed insurgent. To them, the fact that it happened in a mosque merely intensifies their anger. But as CNN's Karl Penhaul reports some Iraqi officials don't put all the blame on the marines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The shot rings out. Shock sets in. In a Baghdad tea shop, Iraqis watch TV images of the point-blank killing of an unarmed wounded prisoner by a U.S. marine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Frankly, we were stunned. What we have seen in Falluja is man-to-man fighting. Fighting with insurgents or the people of Falluja who carry arms, we have no problem with that, but the killing of an unarmed man in a place of worship is unacceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely, it is an act of cowardice and we denounce it. It reflects the weakness of the U.S. army, because only the weak act like this.

PENHAUL: At a Baghdad newspaper office, Ismael Zayer, editor of the independent "(UNINTELLIGIBLE) Daily" is preparing his report.

ISMAEL ZAYER, NEWSPAPER EDITOR: This moment was one of the embarrassing moments, so to speak. It's like what we witnessed in Abu Ghraib.

PENHAUL: He doesn't believe the killing will generate as much outrage as the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal but he believes it is another smear on the U.S. military who claim to be liberators not occupiers.

Iraqi officials say insurgent fighters share the blame. .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These battles shouldn't be fought in mosques. They shouldn't use these places as a cover. The killing of a wounded by a soldier is something unlawful, and I think that the multinational forces will investigate.

PENHAUL: If proven, this incident would not only violate the military's rules of engagement, but also the international laws of war, the Geneva Conventions. Political scientist Wameed Nadmi fears it could stoke the insurgent cause.

PROF. WAMEED NADMI, BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY: Unnecessary mortality would bring moral revenge, moral hatred and, if I may say, once you accept the rules of the jungle, then you should be aware that there are always, in the jungle, beasts which you cannot predict.

PENHAUL: And even as the battle for Falluja winds down, the tempo of fighting intensified in some of Iraq's other urban jungles. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A gruesome attempt by an FBI informant right in front of the White House. New details about what may have motivated him? Our Kelli Arena standing by with those.

What will Condoleezza Rice face from Senate Democrats at her confirmation hearings? We'll get some clues from Senator Jon Corzine. He's a member of the foreign relations committee.

Also, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUINCY JONES, PRODUCER: You all are messing up my rap man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bad vibes at the Vibe Awards. The hip-hop melee that interrupted Quincy Jones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's new information coming in on the FBI informant who set himself on fire in front of the White House. Our justice correspondent Kelli Arena is here. She has got more information -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a story that does shed some light on the very delicate and complicated relationship between FBI agents and informants.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Mohammed Allanzi (ph) remains in serious condition after setting himself on fire outside the White House Monday.

Before attempting suicide, he had sent a letter to the "Washington Post" saying he was going to burn his body in an unexpected place. Allanzi had recently talked to the newspaper about his work as a federal informant after his name was leaked to the press. In his letter he claims the FBI ignored his requests to see his family before testifying in a terror trial against fellow Yemeni Mohammed Al-Moyad (ph) in New York. The FBI would not comment. But government officials tell CNN they believe Allanzi was treated honorably.

GEORGE BAURIES, FMR. FBI AGENT: The claims can be made by the individual and, obviously, the truth is somewhere in the middle but there are extremely detailed and close scrutiny of all agents that run informants.

ARENA: Government sources say Allanzi's claim that the FBI paid him $100,000 last year is, quote, "about right." And they say his request to see his family were not ignored, that several options were proposed, one included having him meet with his family not in Yemen but in a country near there. Officials say Allanzi rejected the offer. At a time when the FBI and other government agencies are in need of reliable informants, this episode doesn't help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Potential informants out there around the world, whether it's in the United States or anywhere else, they see the media on this, they see the representation and they're going to be hesitant.

ARENA: Allanzi was, by most accounts, very useful to the FBI. A government affidavit described him as someone who provided reliable information and had, quote, "contributed in part to the arrests of 20 individuals and the seizure of over $1 million."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Now, it's not clear what impact his suicide attempt will have on the trial that he was supposed to testify in or any other ongoing investigations -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It's painful to watch him scream like that.

ARENA: It's very painful, yes.

BLITZER: All right. Kelli Arena, thank you very much.

Changing of the guard over at the State Department. Up next, the possible impact of Colin Powell's departure and the arrival of his expected successor. The impact on the Middle East peace process. We'll have details.

A 16-year-old enters a plea in the Madrid train bombing trial. We'll tell you what it was.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the people who planned it. It's not the people who initiated it. It's the people out there day in and day out carrying out the bloody work of the mass destruction of European (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: 60 years after World War II, the extraordinary story of a Nazi hunter's race against time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Colin Powell will be packing his bags for a Middle East trip next week, but he will also be packing up his office soon as he makes way for a new secretary of state. Will Condoleezza Rice make a difference in that critically important region? CNN's Guy Raz reports from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last diplomatic gasp of a diplomat on the way out, a meeting with Israel's foreign minister, mutual platitudes.

Palestinian and Israeli officials agree Colin Powell leaves little mark on the peace process. Some analysts in the region believe it was this woman who was calling the shots all along. Condoleezza Rice long ago forged intimate ties with Israeli officials.

ERAN LERMAN, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: There is a high degree of comfort with Condoleezza Rice, with her background, with her attitude towards Israel, even her moral and religious attitude towards this country and what this country means, and certainly her very profound knowledge of what has been happening here over the last four years.

RAZ: Four years in which she got to know Dov Weisglass, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior adviser. Dov Weisglass once told an Israeli reporter that he affectionately calls her Condi and she calls him Duby (ph).

But between Condi and Duby is Yasser, or, rather, his legacy. Among her first and most pressing foreign policy challenges will be the revival of the peace process in the wake of Arafat's death.

SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: I hope that Dr. Rice will make it her priority to push President Bush's vision of a two- state solution into a realistic political track. There has been American disengagement in the last two years. I hope there will be a reengagement, a true leadership, and realizing President Bush's two- state solution by reviving the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

RAZ (on camera): Dr. Rice inherits a portfolio bursting with plans, but at the moment, collecting dust. For the past two years, the Bush administration has taken a hands-off approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For very different reasons, neither Palestinians, nor Israelis believe Dr. Rice's tenure will mean major change.

Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The next step for Condoleezza Rice, the Senate confirmation hearings.

For more on that, we're joined by Senator Jon Corzine. He's a New Jersey Democrat. He's also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. JON CORZINE (D), NEW JERSEY: Good evening, Wolf.

BLITZER: Will you vote to confirm Dr. Rice?

CORZINE: Well, unless there's some shocking news that comes out that I don't already know, I am virtually certain I will vote for her confirmation.

I will do that with some hesitation, not because of Dr. Rice, who I think is an honorable, intelligent, effective public servant. But I have trouble with the failures in policy that have occurred over the last four years, which she has been a central piece to. Our Iraqi policy has, I think, cost us in treasure and lives in ways that are not a positive for the American people. I think the failure to pursue the road map, which was a plan laid out, is also somewhat a failure of the administration to work thoroughly to accomplish their ends.

BLITZER: In your statement that you released earlier, you said that there was a tradition, a bipartisan foreign policy tradition for 50 years.

CORZINE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: You accuse the Bush administration, in your words, of replacing it with an ideologically driven, go-it-alone approach. If you're that concerned, why are you going to go along with Dr. Rice?

CORZINE: Well, I think, first of all, it is really the president's choice, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

I think whoever the president proposes is likely to represent those views. She actually is very loyal and close to the president. So, I think the votes are there for her to be confirmed. And, as I said, I think that both at an intellectual and conceptual level, she's quite strong. So it's not that I agree with the policies. I think we have to challenge those. But I think it would be a bit of a futile push.

BLITZER: The departure of Colin Powell at the State Department, the arrival of Condoleezza Rice, is this a net loss for U.S. foreign policy, as far as you're concerned?

CORZINE: In my view, as you noted, we had 50 years of bipartisan, multilateralism in our approaches. Today, I hear the Hungarians are pulling out of the so-called coalition of the willing. We need to be building that coalition, not pushing away or having it fall away from us.

We have got some incredible issues in the foreign policy area where we need to have global support, whether it's the development or proliferation potentially in Iran and Korea, obviously, the Middle East. There are so many needs, a Darfur, where the administration has said the right things about genocide, but has yet to put deed with words. It is very troubling to me.

And so, I hope they will get back to that bipartisan effort. I hope they will get back to working with the world and we can deal with some of these problems on a global basis.

BLITZER: One other question, Senator Corzine. Without naming names, because I know you won't, have you heard of any of your Democratic colleagues that will vote against her confirmation?

CORZINE: I have not. I think most of my colleagues probably feel the way I do. She's been engaged with us. She's been willing to speak with us. I respect that, even when I differ with her. And I think that is what many of my colleagues will come to the conclusion on, as well as the other comments about, she has served with grace and honor and is a smart person.

BLITZER: Senator Corzine of New Jersey, thanks very much for joining us.

CORZINE: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, a race against time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EFRAIM ZUROFF, OPERATION LAST CHANCE: We won't be able to do it in 10 years, or seven years or maybe even in five years, because they'll all be gone.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They'll all be dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: One man's battle to track down Nazi war criminals before it's too late.

Also ahead, why an awards ceremony turned literally into a boxing match.

And meet some new friends of Bill -- that would be Bill Clinton -- in our picture of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: It's a mission born of the nightmare years of World War II. For good reason, it's called Operation Last Chance. The spearhead is a man who knows full well that time is against him.

CNN's John Vause has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZUROFF: What do I have here? His exact date of immigration, February 7, 1950, went to Australia on the SS Fasey (ph).

VAUSE (voice-over): Efraim Zuroff is hunting the Nazis; 60 years after the end of World War II, he says literally thousands are yet to be brought to justice to answer for their crimes. One of his main sources for information and motivation is Yad-Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

ZUROFF: I have to say that, when things get difficult, and this can be an incredibly frustrating job, it's the thought of the victims that gives us the motivation to continue doing what we do.

VAUSE: The archives here are rich with documents, not only about Holocaust victims and survivors, but also those who were only following orders, or, worse, the willing volunteers. The Germans kept very good records.

ZUROFF: It's not the people who planned it. It's not the people who initiated it. It's the people who were out there day in and day out carrying out the bloody work of the mass destruction of European Jewry. And it never would have happened if not for the willingness and readiness of these people to carry out these operations.

VAUSE (on camera): Like this guy with the gun behind us.

ZUROFF: Precisely.

VAUSE (voice-over): Since the days of the Nuremberg trials, there have been a number of high-profile cases, like Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the final solution. Snatched from Argentina in 1960 by undercover Israeli agents, he stood trial a year later and was executed.

Klaus Barbie, the butcher of Lyon, tried in France in 1988. But now, from his small office in Jerusalem, Dr. Zuroff is tracking down the volunteers across Europe who helped the Nazis carry out the crimes of the Holocaust. Time, he says, is running out.

ZUROFF: We won't be able to do it in 10 years, or seven years or maybe even in five years, because they'll all be gone.

VAUSE: They'll all be dead.

ZUROFF: Right. It will be the biological solution to the problem of Nazi perpetrators.

VAUSE (on camera): What's over here? ZUROFF: These are scenes from...

VAUSE (voice-over): Dr. Zuroff is the chief Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He's behind Operation Last Chance, the last chance, he says, for justice. It's mostly a publicity campaign running for two years now in seven countries, offering $10,000 for information leading to a conviction. This television commercial was aired in Rumania. There have also been billboards and newspaper ads. One in Lithuania, for example, featured a place called Leotoka's garage (ph).

ZUROFF: In that incident, over 50 Jews were murdered either by crowbar or having a fire hose shoved down their mouths and the water turned on until their stomachs exploded. And the murders were carried out by a band of Lithuanian vigilantes and were viewed by a large crowd of men, women and children who applauded as each Jew was murdered.

VAUSE (on camera): So what do we have here?

DOV LEVINE, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: That is the name of the city.

VAUSE: Is this is where you're from?

LEVINE: Yes. And now you understand.

VAUSE (voice-over): Dov Levine is a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania. He lives in Israel now. And a trip to the Valley of the Communities, a memorial for all the Jewish communities destroyed by the Nazis, bring a rush of painful emotion.

LEVINE: What memories. It's horrible, horrible.

VAUSE: He is a retired professor, 79 years old, but still remembers his grandfather being tortured and murdered, his mother sent to a concentration camp, his friends beaten and killed.

LEVINE: And that it was a -- is a tragedy and anger, because the people who did it, they were neighbors.

VAUSE: His memories, as horrific as they are, have helped Dr. Zuroff in his hunt for war criminals. So far, 300 suspects have been investigated. To date, no one has been brought to trial. But the publicity alone, he says, has been priceless.

ZUROFF: Even if we don't lead -- or produce a single conviction, there's no question that we have placed this topic squarely on the local agenda.

VAUSE (on camera): There's more to Operation Last Chance than just finding the guilty. This is an opportunity for many countries across Europe to acknowledge that they played a part in the Holocaust. It wasn't only Germany which sent the Jews to their deaths. In the countries which were occupied by the Nazis, there was a significant number within the local population only too willing and eager to help. (voice-over): And for Eastern Europe emerging from years of Soviet oppression, only now the history books being rewritten. And for Holocaust survivors like Dov Levine, now is the time for the truth to be told.

LEVIN: But the question, what will be afterwards after they caught? If the teachers will teach about this or they will -- like the people who want shutting their eyes, their ears, and their mouth, that's not enough.

VAUSE: But, for many countries, it hasn't been easy facing up to history.

ZUROFF: Our offer was for information that would lead to the prosecution.

VAUSE: Many of the comments on the tip lines have been anti- Semitic, angry the past is being dug up.

ZUROFF: If you heard there are thousands or tens of thousands of people from your country who were actually involved in the murder of innocent men, women and children, it's not an easy subject to deal with. And these countries are reluctant to deal with it.

VAUSE: In the next 10 years, Dr. Zuroff will be out of a job. The Nazi criminals will be dead. So now he is turning his focus to fighting anti-Semitism, traveling the world, delivering lectures like this one in Los Angeles.

ZUROFF: After all, how could anyone but the most peripheral extremist, crazy element in society even consider being anti-Semitic?

VAUSE: Fighting anti-Semitism, he says, is crucial to preventing another Holocaust, ensuring there will never be a need for another Nazi hunter for the generations to come.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And our thanks to John Vause for bringing us that excellent report.

Now here is a look at some other stories making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Train bombing trial. The first case stemming from the March 11 attacks in Madrid ended with a guilty plea. The 16-year-old defendant was accused of being a runner, bringing explosives from northern Spain. He was sentenced to six years in juvenile detention.

Dangerous derailment. A high-speed passenger train jumped the tracks in Queensland, Australia, injuring 100 people, five of them seriously. It took rescue crews four hours to free those who were trapped. No word yet on the cause.

Mission to the moon. The European Space Agency's first lunar probe is in orbit. Scientists will use it to conduct an unprecedented study of the moon's chemical makeup.

British ban. The government is announcing a sweeping new plan to outlaw spoke smoking in most public places, including restaurants and many pubs. The ban would be phased in over four years if it's approved by Parliament.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: An ABC apology. See what angered so many viewers during last night's introduction to "Monday Night Football."

And negative vibes were flowing at this year's Vibe Awards ceremony. Find out what ignited this brawl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: ABC is apologizing for a skit leading to "Monday Night Football" last night.

CNN's Brian Todd is here with more on what some people say was a totally inappropriate introduction -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, millions of viewers saw it. Enough of them were mortified that we now have a full-fledged controversy and an FCC investigation on our hands.

Now, this opening skit, which we have to make clear is a spoof, shows actress Nicolette Sheridan of ABC's hit show "Desperate Housewives," provocatively approaching Philadelphia Eagles star receiver Terrell Owens in an empty locker room and imploring him to skip the upcoming game for her. Moments later, she drops her towel, for a split second revealing a bare back and jumps into Owens' arms.

Now, CNN is told both ABC and the Federal Communications Commission have received numerous complaints from viewers about the skit. Here is ABC's statement -- quote -- "We have heard from many of our viewers about last night's 'Monday Night Football' opening segment and we agree that the placement was inappropriate. We apologize."

Late this afternoon, I spoke to an official at the NFL office. When I asked him about the reaction there when they saw the skit, he said they were -- quote -- "displeased" and they have had conversations with officials at ABC. He said the NFL had no advanced knowledge of the spot.

Here is NFL's response -- quote -- "ABC's opening was inappropriate and unsuitable for our 'Monday Night Football' audience. While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other shows, the NFL and its fans lost." Also, late this afternoon, I spoke with an official from the FCC's Enforcement Bureau. That official told me the commission is investigating complaints it has received and is determining whether ABC may have violated its decency rules. If the commission determines those rules have been broken, ABC could be fined, Wolf. We don't know how much. It's still ongoing, the investigation.

BLITZER: Another spat involving a television network.

TODD: That's right.

BLITZER: Thanks very much. Good story, though.

There were some very bad vibes at last night's Vibe Awards show, which honors the best in urban entertainment. A fight broke out as Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg were about to present an award and one person was actually stabbed.

CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas is in our L.A. Bureau. She has got the story -- Sibila.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the event was supposed to be a celebration of musical achievement. But, toward the end of the night, the Vibe Awards deteriorated into chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS (voice-over): The fracas broke out as Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg were about to present rapper Dr. Dre with a lifetime achievement award. A camera captured the free-for-all as chairs were hurled and punches were thrown.

Jones and Snoop Dogg watched as the melee unfolded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are going to mess with my rap, man.

VARGAS: Jones was escorted from the stage as security officers tried to stop the fighting. One guard sprayed mace at the crowd.

KEVIN WASHINGTON, WITNESS: I peeped over. It was a big fight on stage.

QUESTION: How many guys were running around?

WASHINGTON: It had to be at least 20, 30. It was a lot of guys.

(CROSSTALK)

VARGAS: According to "The Los Angeles Times," the incident began when someone punched Dr. Dre in the head. Authorities say one person was stabbed during the skirmish.

While that was going on inside, some guests scrambled from the building. Later, the president of "Vibe" magazine, which hosts the awards, downplayed the incident. KENARD GIBBS, PRESIDENT, "VIBE': What happened is that there was a disturbance within the venue, nothing major, but, you know, it very quickly erupted into various people moving, OK.

VARGAS: When order was restored, the taping resumed. Snoop issued an ominous invitation from the podium.

SNOOP DOGG, MUSICIAN: If you all want problems, me and my crew, we want problems, too. So, leave Dre alone and come see us.

VARGAS: A defiant Dr. Dre eventually accepted his award.

DR. DRE, MUSICIAN: We going to keep it moving. We going to keep it cracking. And ain't nothing going to stop me, man. Believe it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: Santa Monica Police are holding a news conference in about an hour, where we may learn what happened and the condition of the man who was stabbed. For its part, UPN plans to air the Vibe Awards tonight as scheduled, but it will edit out the video of the disturbance -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Sibila Vargas reporting for us -- thank you very much, Sibila.

And we'll have the results of our Web question of the day. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's our Web question of the day. Remember, though, it's not a scientific poll.

Our picture of the day, the former President Bill Clinton swearing in 40 new community service volunteers in Little Rock, Arkansas.

"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 November 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, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in Iraq, another terrorist outrage. An aid worker's husband speaks out, after hearing the worst possible news. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): America's new face.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dr. Rice will receive the strength, the grace and the decency of our country.

BLITZER: And a new harder line?

Hostage horror. She spent 30 years in Iraq, helping the Iraqi people. Apparently, it wasn't enough to save her.

Moving on to Mosul, as U.S. troops target a new hot spot, the fight is not finished in Falluja. Did one Marine take that fight too far?

Bad vibe. A lifetime achievement award upstaged by an off stage brawl.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, November 16, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: She speaks four languages, was a competitive figure skater and as a pianist, has performed a sonata with Yo-Yo Ma. But she has been know to work out to the heavy metal music of Led Zeppelin, would love someday to be commissioner of the NFL and she may be as tough as iron, which is why President Bush picked her as the new face of American foreign policy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): President Bush walked into the White House Roosevelt Room joined by his national security adviser.

BUSH: I'm pleased to announce my nomination of Dr. Condoleezza Rice to be America's secretary of state. BLITZER: It was no surprise. The president had turned to his trusted aid to succeed Colin Powell, who announced his resignation on Monday. Powell was both warmly praised by both the president and Rice, though he was not present at the announcement.

BUSH: The secretary of state's is America's face to the world. And in Dr. Rice, the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country.

BLITZER: Rice is 50 years old, single, an accomplished concert pianist and a former provost at Stanford University. She was Mr. Bush's principal foreign policy tutor when he was still governor of Texas and running for his party's presidential nomination. Since taking office, she has almost always been at his side.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I look forward, with the consent of the Senate, to pursuing your hopeful and ambitious agenda as secretary of state.

BLITZER: She is widely expected to be confirmed.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: She will face some very significant questioning, I believe, in the hearings, but she certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt.

BLITZER: But even some Republicans say they will press her on the direction of U.S. foreign policy over the next four years.

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: There are a growing number of conservatives and Republicans who, while they support the president and support the war in Iraq, wonder how many of these nation-building wars we are going to engage in and what the parameters are.

BLITZER: Like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but unlike Powell, she is seen as a hard-liner, but she is also seen as pragmatic, someone ready to adjust to circumstances. The president named her longtime deputy, Stephen Hadley, to replace her as his national security adviser.

Once confirmed, Rice will become the first African-American woman to head the State Department. She has a compelling personal story, growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.

BUSH: As a girl in the segregated South, Dr. Rice saw the promise of America violated by racial discrimination and by the violence that comes from hate. But she was taught by her mother Angelina, and her father, the Reverend John Rice, that human dignity is the gift of God and that the ideals of America would overcome oppression.

BLITZER: It was an emotional moment and Rice could be seen choking back some tears.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: At times, the current secretary of state may have found himself locked out of the president's tight inner circle. That won't be the problem for the nominee. But is that necessarily a good thing? Let's go live our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as national security adviser saw her role as to present the president with a wide range of views expressed by members of his cabinet. But now some say the question is whether a Secretary of State Rice will find her own voice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: I urge the Senate to promptly confirm Condoleezza Rice as America's 66th secretary of state.

KOPPEL (voice-over): Unlike Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice enjoys a close, personal relationship with the president, which observers predict will give her a big advantage as secretary of state.

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: When she goes to foreign capitals, people will talk to her, knowing that she represents the president, that there is great confidence in her word that is exactly what the president wants said.

KOPPEL: No significant policy changes are expected under Rice on the big issues, Iraq, the Middle East, North Korea and Iran. But once Powell departs, his voice of dissent will be replaced by a trusted confidant with a harder line world view.

KIRON SKINNER, HOOVER INSTITUTION: I think that there is kind of an intellectual synergy between them that will make her post at the State Department very effective.

KOPPEL: One former secretary of state, though, told CNN a president is better served with tensions in his cabinet.

LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I do not believe that you should have in the secretary of state someone who has spent their last four years in the White House next to the president.

KOPPEL: As national security adviser, Rice has received mixed reviews, respected for her exceptional access to the president, but criticized for her managerial skills.

DAVID ROTHKOPF, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: Her grades as national security adviser are just past passing at best. Good support for the president, not very good administrator of the National Security Council and not a very good mediator in terms of the conflicts within the National Security Council structure.

KOPPEL: At the White House, Rice heads up a staff of just over 200. At the State Department, she will be leading a staff of thousands in Washington and at embassies around the world. Rice reached out to a foreign and civil service sorry to see Powell go.

RICE: One of my highest priorities as secretary will be to ensure that they have all the tools necessary to carry American diplomacy forward in the 21st Century.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: But Rice is still expected to shake things up when she arrives here at State, replacing those senior staffers considered moderate with conservatives more in line with the White House -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Andrea, thanks very much. So who will become the next national security adviser to the president? He spent the past four years as the top assistant to Condoleezza Rice, but if Americans know Stephen Hadley, it may be as the man who took responsibility, blame, if you will, for the president's pre-war State of the Union claim that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa.

Hadley was a senior adviser during the first Bush presidential campaign. Before that served under the president's father as an assistant secretary of defense, the secretary back then, Dick Cheney. During the Reagan administration Hadley was counsel to the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra scandal. He worked at the National Security Council under President Ford and over at the Pentagon during the Nixon administration as well. Stephen Hadley may be the next national security adviser.

To our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Will the Bush cabinet resignations have a positive or negative impact on U.S. policy? You can vote right now. Go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results coming up later in this broadcast.

BLITZER: A woman who dedicated her entire life to helping the Iraqi people has apparently been murdered by Iraqi insurgents. Margaret Hassan was kidnapped last month. Paul Davies reports that a grim videotape has now surfaced.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For four agonizingly long weeks, the family and many friends of Margaret Hassan has been dreading this moment. They have had to endure those appalling images of the aid worker bound and pleading for her life.

Now, her Iraqi husband says there's evidence that life has been cruelly taken away.

TAHSEEN ALI HASSAN, HUSBAND: I have been told that there is a video of Margaret which appears to show her murder. The video may be genuine, but I do not know. I beg those people who took Margaret to tell me what they have done with her.

DAVIES: The Al-Jazeera television channel has confirmed it has received a video which shows a gunman killing a woman understood to be Mrs. Hassan. Margaret Hassan was the Baghdad director of the charity CARE International. She was abducted by gunman as she went about the work to which she had dedicated her life, caring for the poor and needy in Iraq. Indeed, many of the Iraqis she helped joined the worldwide protest against her kidnapping. There were pleas for Margaret Hassan's release from the Irish government. Her family comes from Ireland. And from Dublin, her sisters, realizing time was running out, appealed directly to the hostage takers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our sister is a friend of Iraq and we beg you to please let her go back to her husband, who loves her. Please don't hurt her.

DAVIES: Despite all this, it seems Margaret Hassan's life has been taken. Her charity tonight issued this statement. "We are shocked and appalled that this has been the apparent outcome of her abduction. We want to express our deepest sympathy to Mrs. Hassan's husband, Tahseen and to her family. Mrs. Hassan was an extraordinary woman who dedicated her life to the poor and disadvantaged in Iraq, particularly the children."

Margaret Hassan refused to leave Iraq, even when warned she was in danger. That bravery and dedication may have cost her her life. Paul Davies, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Now that the fighting in Falluja has subsided, U.S. and Iraqi forces are stepping up operations in Mosul. Insurgents had taken control of several police stations. U.S. and Iraqi commanders say they have regained control of most of those stations and are targeting what they call pockets of insurgent fighters.

A desperate man makes a desperate move, setting himself on fire outside the White House right here in Washington. What drove this man to this dramatic act? We'll have a report.

Also, this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a high degree of comfort with Condoleezza Rice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Middle East reaction to the president's pick for the next secretary of state. Can Condoleezza Rice make a difference in a troubled region?

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to say that when things get difficult and this can be an incredibly frustrating job, it's the thought of the victims that gives us the motivation to continue doing what we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: A Nazi hunter working against the clock toward a last chance for justice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The United States military is investigating the shooting death of a wounded apparently unarmed Iraqi insurgent by an American marine during the battle of Falluja. It happened in a mosque and was videotaped by a network (UNINTELLIGIBLE) reporter. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joining us live with more at the Pentagon --Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that videotape has drawn some sharp criticism by human rights groups. But the Pentagon says it holds the U.S. military to high standards and that if there was wrongdoing, it will be prosecuted and punished.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The video, taken by an American television reporter, indicates as many as four wounded people may have been shot to death in the mosque on Saturday. The reporter hears gunshots as he approaches the mosque.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot them? Did they have any weapons on them?

MCINTYRE: As the reporter follows the marines inside, he sees men he recognizes as insurgent fighters who were wounded and disarmed the day before dying of what appear to be fresh wounds. Then he witnesses another shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's faking he's dead.

MCINTYRE: Human rights groups that have reviewed the tape think it's a clear war crime.

STEVE CRAWSHAW, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: What we're seeing here, we can see it in the body language of the soldiers is they do not feel under threat and, really, every single soldier and every single commander, every soldier on the ground knows it's an absolute basic of warfare, that when you have a wounded person who is not a threat to them, it is absolutely prohibited to further injure or to kill that person. It's a real basic of international law.

MCINTYRE: The investigation will look into all four deaths and the actions of all the marines involved.

LT. GEN. JOHN SATTLER, U.S. MARINES: Let me make it perfectly clear. We follow the law of armed conflict and we hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability.

MCINTYRE: The video does not answer all the key questions. The wounded had been left behind by other marines. Could they have gotten weapons or set booby traps? Did the marine know that?

EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW ATTORNEY: Was there a reasonable apprehension of serious bodily injury or death on the part of the person who pulled the trigger here? And that would trump, in my opinion, any speculation of whether the deceased was a prisoner, was wounded or anything.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): A buddy the day before had been killed in a very similar incident where an insurgent who was playing dead had, in fact, been booby trapped and a number of marines had been injured and wounded and one marine was killed. So you keep all of that in context.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon insists if the evidence shows that there was a wrongful killing, it will be prosecuted. And they say it's not just because it was captured on videotape. Just this week, for instance, Wolf, a second lieutenant in the army was charged with premeditated murder for killing an Iraqi in Sadr City.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Jamie, thank you very much. Many Iraqis are outraged over the killing of a wounded unarmed insurgent. To them, the fact that it happened in a mosque merely intensifies their anger. But as CNN's Karl Penhaul reports some Iraqi officials don't put all the blame on the marines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The shot rings out. Shock sets in. In a Baghdad tea shop, Iraqis watch TV images of the point-blank killing of an unarmed wounded prisoner by a U.S. marine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Frankly, we were stunned. What we have seen in Falluja is man-to-man fighting. Fighting with insurgents or the people of Falluja who carry arms, we have no problem with that, but the killing of an unarmed man in a place of worship is unacceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely, it is an act of cowardice and we denounce it. It reflects the weakness of the U.S. army, because only the weak act like this.

PENHAUL: At a Baghdad newspaper office, Ismael Zayer, editor of the independent "(UNINTELLIGIBLE) Daily" is preparing his report.

ISMAEL ZAYER, NEWSPAPER EDITOR: This moment was one of the embarrassing moments, so to speak. It's like what we witnessed in Abu Ghraib.

PENHAUL: He doesn't believe the killing will generate as much outrage as the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal but he believes it is another smear on the U.S. military who claim to be liberators not occupiers.

Iraqi officials say insurgent fighters share the blame. .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These battles shouldn't be fought in mosques. They shouldn't use these places as a cover. The killing of a wounded by a soldier is something unlawful, and I think that the multinational forces will investigate.

PENHAUL: If proven, this incident would not only violate the military's rules of engagement, but also the international laws of war, the Geneva Conventions. Political scientist Wameed Nadmi fears it could stoke the insurgent cause.

PROF. WAMEED NADMI, BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY: Unnecessary mortality would bring moral revenge, moral hatred and, if I may say, once you accept the rules of the jungle, then you should be aware that there are always, in the jungle, beasts which you cannot predict.

PENHAUL: And even as the battle for Falluja winds down, the tempo of fighting intensified in some of Iraq's other urban jungles. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A gruesome attempt by an FBI informant right in front of the White House. New details about what may have motivated him? Our Kelli Arena standing by with those.

What will Condoleezza Rice face from Senate Democrats at her confirmation hearings? We'll get some clues from Senator Jon Corzine. He's a member of the foreign relations committee.

Also, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUINCY JONES, PRODUCER: You all are messing up my rap man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bad vibes at the Vibe Awards. The hip-hop melee that interrupted Quincy Jones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's new information coming in on the FBI informant who set himself on fire in front of the White House. Our justice correspondent Kelli Arena is here. She has got more information -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a story that does shed some light on the very delicate and complicated relationship between FBI agents and informants.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Mohammed Allanzi (ph) remains in serious condition after setting himself on fire outside the White House Monday.

Before attempting suicide, he had sent a letter to the "Washington Post" saying he was going to burn his body in an unexpected place. Allanzi had recently talked to the newspaper about his work as a federal informant after his name was leaked to the press. In his letter he claims the FBI ignored his requests to see his family before testifying in a terror trial against fellow Yemeni Mohammed Al-Moyad (ph) in New York. The FBI would not comment. But government officials tell CNN they believe Allanzi was treated honorably.

GEORGE BAURIES, FMR. FBI AGENT: The claims can be made by the individual and, obviously, the truth is somewhere in the middle but there are extremely detailed and close scrutiny of all agents that run informants.

ARENA: Government sources say Allanzi's claim that the FBI paid him $100,000 last year is, quote, "about right." And they say his request to see his family were not ignored, that several options were proposed, one included having him meet with his family not in Yemen but in a country near there. Officials say Allanzi rejected the offer. At a time when the FBI and other government agencies are in need of reliable informants, this episode doesn't help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Potential informants out there around the world, whether it's in the United States or anywhere else, they see the media on this, they see the representation and they're going to be hesitant.

ARENA: Allanzi was, by most accounts, very useful to the FBI. A government affidavit described him as someone who provided reliable information and had, quote, "contributed in part to the arrests of 20 individuals and the seizure of over $1 million."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Now, it's not clear what impact his suicide attempt will have on the trial that he was supposed to testify in or any other ongoing investigations -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It's painful to watch him scream like that.

ARENA: It's very painful, yes.

BLITZER: All right. Kelli Arena, thank you very much.

Changing of the guard over at the State Department. Up next, the possible impact of Colin Powell's departure and the arrival of his expected successor. The impact on the Middle East peace process. We'll have details.

A 16-year-old enters a plea in the Madrid train bombing trial. We'll tell you what it was.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the people who planned it. It's not the people who initiated it. It's the people out there day in and day out carrying out the bloody work of the mass destruction of European (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: 60 years after World War II, the extraordinary story of a Nazi hunter's race against time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Colin Powell will be packing his bags for a Middle East trip next week, but he will also be packing up his office soon as he makes way for a new secretary of state. Will Condoleezza Rice make a difference in that critically important region? CNN's Guy Raz reports from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last diplomatic gasp of a diplomat on the way out, a meeting with Israel's foreign minister, mutual platitudes.

Palestinian and Israeli officials agree Colin Powell leaves little mark on the peace process. Some analysts in the region believe it was this woman who was calling the shots all along. Condoleezza Rice long ago forged intimate ties with Israeli officials.

ERAN LERMAN, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: There is a high degree of comfort with Condoleezza Rice, with her background, with her attitude towards Israel, even her moral and religious attitude towards this country and what this country means, and certainly her very profound knowledge of what has been happening here over the last four years.

RAZ: Four years in which she got to know Dov Weisglass, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior adviser. Dov Weisglass once told an Israeli reporter that he affectionately calls her Condi and she calls him Duby (ph).

But between Condi and Duby is Yasser, or, rather, his legacy. Among her first and most pressing foreign policy challenges will be the revival of the peace process in the wake of Arafat's death.

SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: I hope that Dr. Rice will make it her priority to push President Bush's vision of a two- state solution into a realistic political track. There has been American disengagement in the last two years. I hope there will be a reengagement, a true leadership, and realizing President Bush's two- state solution by reviving the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

RAZ (on camera): Dr. Rice inherits a portfolio bursting with plans, but at the moment, collecting dust. For the past two years, the Bush administration has taken a hands-off approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For very different reasons, neither Palestinians, nor Israelis believe Dr. Rice's tenure will mean major change.

Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The next step for Condoleezza Rice, the Senate confirmation hearings.

For more on that, we're joined by Senator Jon Corzine. He's a New Jersey Democrat. He's also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. JON CORZINE (D), NEW JERSEY: Good evening, Wolf.

BLITZER: Will you vote to confirm Dr. Rice?

CORZINE: Well, unless there's some shocking news that comes out that I don't already know, I am virtually certain I will vote for her confirmation.

I will do that with some hesitation, not because of Dr. Rice, who I think is an honorable, intelligent, effective public servant. But I have trouble with the failures in policy that have occurred over the last four years, which she has been a central piece to. Our Iraqi policy has, I think, cost us in treasure and lives in ways that are not a positive for the American people. I think the failure to pursue the road map, which was a plan laid out, is also somewhat a failure of the administration to work thoroughly to accomplish their ends.

BLITZER: In your statement that you released earlier, you said that there was a tradition, a bipartisan foreign policy tradition for 50 years.

CORZINE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: You accuse the Bush administration, in your words, of replacing it with an ideologically driven, go-it-alone approach. If you're that concerned, why are you going to go along with Dr. Rice?

CORZINE: Well, I think, first of all, it is really the president's choice, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

I think whoever the president proposes is likely to represent those views. She actually is very loyal and close to the president. So, I think the votes are there for her to be confirmed. And, as I said, I think that both at an intellectual and conceptual level, she's quite strong. So it's not that I agree with the policies. I think we have to challenge those. But I think it would be a bit of a futile push.

BLITZER: The departure of Colin Powell at the State Department, the arrival of Condoleezza Rice, is this a net loss for U.S. foreign policy, as far as you're concerned?

CORZINE: In my view, as you noted, we had 50 years of bipartisan, multilateralism in our approaches. Today, I hear the Hungarians are pulling out of the so-called coalition of the willing. We need to be building that coalition, not pushing away or having it fall away from us.

We have got some incredible issues in the foreign policy area where we need to have global support, whether it's the development or proliferation potentially in Iran and Korea, obviously, the Middle East. There are so many needs, a Darfur, where the administration has said the right things about genocide, but has yet to put deed with words. It is very troubling to me.

And so, I hope they will get back to that bipartisan effort. I hope they will get back to working with the world and we can deal with some of these problems on a global basis.

BLITZER: One other question, Senator Corzine. Without naming names, because I know you won't, have you heard of any of your Democratic colleagues that will vote against her confirmation?

CORZINE: I have not. I think most of my colleagues probably feel the way I do. She's been engaged with us. She's been willing to speak with us. I respect that, even when I differ with her. And I think that is what many of my colleagues will come to the conclusion on, as well as the other comments about, she has served with grace and honor and is a smart person.

BLITZER: Senator Corzine of New Jersey, thanks very much for joining us.

CORZINE: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, a race against time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EFRAIM ZUROFF, OPERATION LAST CHANCE: We won't be able to do it in 10 years, or seven years or maybe even in five years, because they'll all be gone.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They'll all be dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: One man's battle to track down Nazi war criminals before it's too late.

Also ahead, why an awards ceremony turned literally into a boxing match.

And meet some new friends of Bill -- that would be Bill Clinton -- in our picture of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: It's a mission born of the nightmare years of World War II. For good reason, it's called Operation Last Chance. The spearhead is a man who knows full well that time is against him.

CNN's John Vause has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZUROFF: What do I have here? His exact date of immigration, February 7, 1950, went to Australia on the SS Fasey (ph).

VAUSE (voice-over): Efraim Zuroff is hunting the Nazis; 60 years after the end of World War II, he says literally thousands are yet to be brought to justice to answer for their crimes. One of his main sources for information and motivation is Yad-Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

ZUROFF: I have to say that, when things get difficult, and this can be an incredibly frustrating job, it's the thought of the victims that gives us the motivation to continue doing what we do.

VAUSE: The archives here are rich with documents, not only about Holocaust victims and survivors, but also those who were only following orders, or, worse, the willing volunteers. The Germans kept very good records.

ZUROFF: It's not the people who planned it. It's not the people who initiated it. It's the people who were out there day in and day out carrying out the bloody work of the mass destruction of European Jewry. And it never would have happened if not for the willingness and readiness of these people to carry out these operations.

VAUSE (on camera): Like this guy with the gun behind us.

ZUROFF: Precisely.

VAUSE (voice-over): Since the days of the Nuremberg trials, there have been a number of high-profile cases, like Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the final solution. Snatched from Argentina in 1960 by undercover Israeli agents, he stood trial a year later and was executed.

Klaus Barbie, the butcher of Lyon, tried in France in 1988. But now, from his small office in Jerusalem, Dr. Zuroff is tracking down the volunteers across Europe who helped the Nazis carry out the crimes of the Holocaust. Time, he says, is running out.

ZUROFF: We won't be able to do it in 10 years, or seven years or maybe even in five years, because they'll all be gone.

VAUSE: They'll all be dead.

ZUROFF: Right. It will be the biological solution to the problem of Nazi perpetrators.

VAUSE (on camera): What's over here? ZUROFF: These are scenes from...

VAUSE (voice-over): Dr. Zuroff is the chief Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He's behind Operation Last Chance, the last chance, he says, for justice. It's mostly a publicity campaign running for two years now in seven countries, offering $10,000 for information leading to a conviction. This television commercial was aired in Rumania. There have also been billboards and newspaper ads. One in Lithuania, for example, featured a place called Leotoka's garage (ph).

ZUROFF: In that incident, over 50 Jews were murdered either by crowbar or having a fire hose shoved down their mouths and the water turned on until their stomachs exploded. And the murders were carried out by a band of Lithuanian vigilantes and were viewed by a large crowd of men, women and children who applauded as each Jew was murdered.

VAUSE (on camera): So what do we have here?

DOV LEVINE, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: That is the name of the city.

VAUSE: Is this is where you're from?

LEVINE: Yes. And now you understand.

VAUSE (voice-over): Dov Levine is a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania. He lives in Israel now. And a trip to the Valley of the Communities, a memorial for all the Jewish communities destroyed by the Nazis, bring a rush of painful emotion.

LEVINE: What memories. It's horrible, horrible.

VAUSE: He is a retired professor, 79 years old, but still remembers his grandfather being tortured and murdered, his mother sent to a concentration camp, his friends beaten and killed.

LEVINE: And that it was a -- is a tragedy and anger, because the people who did it, they were neighbors.

VAUSE: His memories, as horrific as they are, have helped Dr. Zuroff in his hunt for war criminals. So far, 300 suspects have been investigated. To date, no one has been brought to trial. But the publicity alone, he says, has been priceless.

ZUROFF: Even if we don't lead -- or produce a single conviction, there's no question that we have placed this topic squarely on the local agenda.

VAUSE (on camera): There's more to Operation Last Chance than just finding the guilty. This is an opportunity for many countries across Europe to acknowledge that they played a part in the Holocaust. It wasn't only Germany which sent the Jews to their deaths. In the countries which were occupied by the Nazis, there was a significant number within the local population only too willing and eager to help. (voice-over): And for Eastern Europe emerging from years of Soviet oppression, only now the history books being rewritten. And for Holocaust survivors like Dov Levine, now is the time for the truth to be told.

LEVIN: But the question, what will be afterwards after they caught? If the teachers will teach about this or they will -- like the people who want shutting their eyes, their ears, and their mouth, that's not enough.

VAUSE: But, for many countries, it hasn't been easy facing up to history.

ZUROFF: Our offer was for information that would lead to the prosecution.

VAUSE: Many of the comments on the tip lines have been anti- Semitic, angry the past is being dug up.

ZUROFF: If you heard there are thousands or tens of thousands of people from your country who were actually involved in the murder of innocent men, women and children, it's not an easy subject to deal with. And these countries are reluctant to deal with it.

VAUSE: In the next 10 years, Dr. Zuroff will be out of a job. The Nazi criminals will be dead. So now he is turning his focus to fighting anti-Semitism, traveling the world, delivering lectures like this one in Los Angeles.

ZUROFF: After all, how could anyone but the most peripheral extremist, crazy element in society even consider being anti-Semitic?

VAUSE: Fighting anti-Semitism, he says, is crucial to preventing another Holocaust, ensuring there will never be a need for another Nazi hunter for the generations to come.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And our thanks to John Vause for bringing us that excellent report.

Now here is a look at some other stories making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Train bombing trial. The first case stemming from the March 11 attacks in Madrid ended with a guilty plea. The 16-year-old defendant was accused of being a runner, bringing explosives from northern Spain. He was sentenced to six years in juvenile detention.

Dangerous derailment. A high-speed passenger train jumped the tracks in Queensland, Australia, injuring 100 people, five of them seriously. It took rescue crews four hours to free those who were trapped. No word yet on the cause.

Mission to the moon. The European Space Agency's first lunar probe is in orbit. Scientists will use it to conduct an unprecedented study of the moon's chemical makeup.

British ban. The government is announcing a sweeping new plan to outlaw spoke smoking in most public places, including restaurants and many pubs. The ban would be phased in over four years if it's approved by Parliament.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: An ABC apology. See what angered so many viewers during last night's introduction to "Monday Night Football."

And negative vibes were flowing at this year's Vibe Awards ceremony. Find out what ignited this brawl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: ABC is apologizing for a skit leading to "Monday Night Football" last night.

CNN's Brian Todd is here with more on what some people say was a totally inappropriate introduction -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, millions of viewers saw it. Enough of them were mortified that we now have a full-fledged controversy and an FCC investigation on our hands.

Now, this opening skit, which we have to make clear is a spoof, shows actress Nicolette Sheridan of ABC's hit show "Desperate Housewives," provocatively approaching Philadelphia Eagles star receiver Terrell Owens in an empty locker room and imploring him to skip the upcoming game for her. Moments later, she drops her towel, for a split second revealing a bare back and jumps into Owens' arms.

Now, CNN is told both ABC and the Federal Communications Commission have received numerous complaints from viewers about the skit. Here is ABC's statement -- quote -- "We have heard from many of our viewers about last night's 'Monday Night Football' opening segment and we agree that the placement was inappropriate. We apologize."

Late this afternoon, I spoke to an official at the NFL office. When I asked him about the reaction there when they saw the skit, he said they were -- quote -- "displeased" and they have had conversations with officials at ABC. He said the NFL had no advanced knowledge of the spot.

Here is NFL's response -- quote -- "ABC's opening was inappropriate and unsuitable for our 'Monday Night Football' audience. While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other shows, the NFL and its fans lost." Also, late this afternoon, I spoke with an official from the FCC's Enforcement Bureau. That official told me the commission is investigating complaints it has received and is determining whether ABC may have violated its decency rules. If the commission determines those rules have been broken, ABC could be fined, Wolf. We don't know how much. It's still ongoing, the investigation.

BLITZER: Another spat involving a television network.

TODD: That's right.

BLITZER: Thanks very much. Good story, though.

There were some very bad vibes at last night's Vibe Awards show, which honors the best in urban entertainment. A fight broke out as Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg were about to present an award and one person was actually stabbed.

CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas is in our L.A. Bureau. She has got the story -- Sibila.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the event was supposed to be a celebration of musical achievement. But, toward the end of the night, the Vibe Awards deteriorated into chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS (voice-over): The fracas broke out as Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg were about to present rapper Dr. Dre with a lifetime achievement award. A camera captured the free-for-all as chairs were hurled and punches were thrown.

Jones and Snoop Dogg watched as the melee unfolded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are going to mess with my rap, man.

VARGAS: Jones was escorted from the stage as security officers tried to stop the fighting. One guard sprayed mace at the crowd.

KEVIN WASHINGTON, WITNESS: I peeped over. It was a big fight on stage.

QUESTION: How many guys were running around?

WASHINGTON: It had to be at least 20, 30. It was a lot of guys.

(CROSSTALK)

VARGAS: According to "The Los Angeles Times," the incident began when someone punched Dr. Dre in the head. Authorities say one person was stabbed during the skirmish.

While that was going on inside, some guests scrambled from the building. Later, the president of "Vibe" magazine, which hosts the awards, downplayed the incident. KENARD GIBBS, PRESIDENT, "VIBE': What happened is that there was a disturbance within the venue, nothing major, but, you know, it very quickly erupted into various people moving, OK.

VARGAS: When order was restored, the taping resumed. Snoop issued an ominous invitation from the podium.

SNOOP DOGG, MUSICIAN: If you all want problems, me and my crew, we want problems, too. So, leave Dre alone and come see us.

VARGAS: A defiant Dr. Dre eventually accepted his award.

DR. DRE, MUSICIAN: We going to keep it moving. We going to keep it cracking. And ain't nothing going to stop me, man. Believe it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: Santa Monica Police are holding a news conference in about an hour, where we may learn what happened and the condition of the man who was stabbed. For its part, UPN plans to air the Vibe Awards tonight as scheduled, but it will edit out the video of the disturbance -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Sibila Vargas reporting for us -- thank you very much, Sibila.

And we'll have the results of our Web question of the day. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's our Web question of the day. Remember, though, it's not a scientific poll.

Our picture of the day, the former President Bill Clinton swearing in 40 new community service volunteers in Little Rock, Arkansas.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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