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CNN Saturday Morning News
Legal Analysis with Nelda Blair, Lida Rodriguez-Tassef; Interview with Cal Ripken Jr.
Aired November 20, 2004 - 08:00 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.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is November 20th. It's 8:00 a.m. right here at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, 5:00 a.m. early morning on the West Coast. Good morning, everyone, I'm Tony Harris.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rudi Bakhtiar in today for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for joining us. In the news now, President Bush is in the capital of Chile this morning holding private talks with other world leaders. The primary concern is North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The Asia-Pacific Economic Conference takes place against a backdrop of massive street protests there.
And Condoleezza Rice did not make the trip to Chile with President Bush. Instead, the national security adviser stayed in Washington to recuperate from some minor surgery. She's expected to be released from Georgetown University Hospital this morning. Yesterday she underwent a 90-minute procedure to shrink non-cancerous growths in her uterus.
And all across the country, a very big day for thousands of children in foster care. Family courts will be finalizing their adoptions today to mark National Adoption Day. Advocates say the need is still great, especially in finding permanent homes for older and minority foster children.
HARRIS: Coming up in the minutes ahead, explosions and gunfire in Baghdad this morning as U.S. and Iraqi forces go after the insurgents. The insurgents fighting back.
And later you've seen him run the bases. Now Cal Ripken puts on his walking shoes.
But first the punches were flying at a Detroit Pistons game and that leaves a black eye on the NBA. Take a look at these. More of these pictures a little later.
BAKHTIAR: To our top story right now. This hour is the APEC summit in Santiago, Chile. President Bush is one of the 21 leaders meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference there amid extraordinary security. Riot police and protesters have been clashing since before the VIPs began arriving. Global economic policies and the war in Iraq are among the hot-button issues with demonstrators there. And for President Bush, North Korea is dominating many of his private discussions this morning. Talks with China, South Korea, Russia, and Japan, all aimed at addressing North Korea's nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told the president that I look forward to working with him over the next four years to continue our close work on keeping peace, peace in the Korean peninsula, and to spread peace throughout the world, and I'm looking forward to working with him on these matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKHTIAR: Meanwhile, back in Washington, an overnight deal should keep the federal government going. Congress and the White House reaching an agreement for a $388 billion spending bill to fund 13 federal agencies. A provision in the House version of the bill offering protection to health care providers who are refusing to provide or even counsel on abortion.
House and Senate leaders are hoping to resolve the two versions and get a final bill to the president by today.
HARRIS: You know, Congress may not be able to finish everything on its plate. Negotiators plan to work until the last minute to reach a deal on 9/11 reforms, but time is running out with lawmakers planning to leave for the year, as early as today. The House and Senate are deadlocked on certain issues including how much power to give a proposed national intelligence chief. Families of 9/11 victims had pushed Congress to approve the legislation quickly.
And in the Senate there are calls for more regulation of prescription drugs. This comes in the wake of the arthritis bill Vioxx being pulled from the market because much heart risks. The Senator Charles Grassley says an independent board might be need to ensure drug safety. Grassley accuses the government of being too cozy with drug companies. We want to know what you think. Our e-mail question of the morning is, whose job is it to make sure prescription drugs are safe? Drop us a line at WAM@CNN.com.
An emotional farewell for Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle. He's leaving Capitol Hill after more than 25 years in Congress, the last ten as Senate Democratic leader. Daschle was defeated by Republican Tom Thune who painted Daschle as an obstructionist.
BAKHTIAR: The latest in the Iraq situation. Report now, U.S. patrols found four decapitated bodies in Mosul this week. A military spokesman says they don't appear to be Westerners. U.S. and Iraqi troops have stepped up operations against insurgents in Mosul.
Heavy fighting has broken out in the western part of Baghdad. Insurgents apparently are striking back after losing Falluja to U.S. forces there. One U.S. soldier was killed. Nine others wounded when insurgents attacked a patrol in the central part of Baghdad.
It could be an extra two months in Iraq for several thousand U.S. troops. The U.S. Central Command says seasoned troops are needed to ensure a smooth run-up to the election in January. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. LANCE L. SMITH, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We will expect by using extensions of some troops that we're only planning on being over there for ten months, that extending them another two months so that they still would be on the ground, you know, about a year. And using that to add additional forces over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKHTIAR: Photographs can sometimes be more powerful than images. Some images from Iraq this week. U.S. troops taking cover after a car bomber rams a civilian convoy there. And a body lies covered after a car bomb near a U.S. military convoy explodes. Very powerful stuff there.
Keep abreast with all of the developments in Iraq. Click on our Web site at CNN.com.
HARRIS: You know, maybe NBA should stand for "no brawls allowed."
OK, last night in Michigan, the fists were flying fast and furious at the Pistons/Indiana Pacers game. It started when Indiana's Ron Artest and Detroit's Ben Wallace got into it, Atest then stormed the -- look at this! -- stormed the stands after being hit by a cup. The game was called with 45.9 seconds, and then the throwing and the heaving and the shoving and the pushing. Look at this. And they're still upset in the tunnel.
Next hour we'll talk with a sports reporter who was at that game last night.
And we have a very special guest joining us this morning, baseball's Iron Man, Cal Ripken joins us from Washington to explain why he's walking for the homeless.
BAKHTIAR: And more and more families are bringing home bundles of babies like twins, triplets, and even more. Today on "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a look in a crowded house.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAKHTIAR: When the snow smoke clears from the war in Afghanistan, beneath all that rubble, you could find remnants of schools and books meant for the children of the battle-scarred country. That image inspired three young women to set out on a mission to rebuild the school system one brick at a time. The founders of rebuilding Afghanistan, live next hour on CNN SATURDAY MORNING at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You wouldn't buy the first house you see, so don't accept the first mortgage offer. Look for the right lender. DOUG DUNCAN, MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: If you don't talk to more than one, you aren't forcing them to compete, so you are not going to get the best deal.
WILLIS: And look for the right kind of loan.
DUNCAN: There are probably 150 different kinds of mortgages out there today. And some will be better for your household financial efficiency than others.
WILLIS: Shop around. I'm Gerri Willis, and that's your tip of the day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAKHTIAR: Good morning, Washington, D.C.. Look at the White House. Beautiful shot there. Beautiful early morning there.
HARRIS: And Rob, what are we looking at there, a little overcast? A little breezy. We can see the American --- Old Glory blowing there in the background.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHERMAN: Yeah, a little of that.
HARRIS: A little overcast?
BAKHTIAR: Foggy.
MARCIANO: A little overcast, a little fog. Not too bad, though.
HARRIS: OK. Not bad at all.
MARCIANO: How are you guys doing this morning?
HARRIS: Good to see you.
BAKHTIAR: Very good.
MARCIANO: Nice to see you as well. Now we'll talk weather, no major storms to speak with the exception of some snow in Denver, Colorado. Skiers are loving that. Most of the snow will be in the city in some of the western suburbs. Here's that storm, and white flakes flying there.
And then some warm air, and that's into D.C. as well. And their temperatures will get up to about 60.
This blue air is really some scattered showers. Here's that warm front that will be pushing off to the north and east, and will bring warm air with it and some of that should be here. Behind that cool front, it is cooler, definitely cold in Denver. 28 degrees. Five to ten inches of snow expected there this afternoon. Pretty nice weather out on the West Coast. Houston, Texas, much of southeast Texas under flash flood watches, and some of the darker green indicate warnings. Here's your radar. Look how it is lighting up, especially across the I-10 corridor and to the east. We zoom into Houston, bright colors south of Houston towards the Galveston Bay, all towards the Golden Triangle and eventually into southwest Louisiana as well. Going to be a wet day there.
And here's some of the lighter showers heading over to the east, and we showed that picture of D.C. Right now, not too bad right now. Just a little bit of a hole in the radar scope right there. So Northeast residents, Tony and Rudi, just looking at a couple of light showers. There's Boston. Good morning, Beantown, Faneuil Hall. They do a little Christmas music today around Faneuil Hall.
HARRIS: There you go.
MARCIANO: Could never be too early. You know, when they're doing remakes of Wham!, that's when you really got to start to wonder.
BAKHTIAR: Have you seen them? Have you seen them doing their remakes?
HARRIS: Oh, my. Everyone is going to ...
MARCIANO: Actually sounds pretty good. Pretty nice.
HARRIS: Good to see you, Rob. Take care, man.
BAKHTIAR: Thanks, Rob.
Let's get a check of our top stories this Saturday morning. President Bush is on his first trip outside the U.S. since winning a second term. He's in Chile for the summit of Asia-Pacific leaders today. A source says that the president is meeting with China's president to discuss ways to ease nuclear tensions over North Korea. And an Afghan court deals out the harshest penalty this morning. The court has sentenced a man to death in the death of three journalists and the Afghan colleague in 2001.
Also police in Michigan are reviewing the tape and talking to witnesses. They're looking into a brawl -- Look at that! -- that broke out at a Detroit Pistons game between players and fans. It looks more like hockey, doesn't it?
HARRIS: Oh, yeah.
A confessed serial killer who said he would kill again could be out on the streets by 2006. That is, unless he's convicted in a separate murder case. That story ahead in our legal briefs.
BAKHTIAR: And also, a big treat here for us, baseball legend Cal Ripken joining us a little later as well. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, he confessed to at least 13 murders and made a deal for immunity, sending him to prison only for burglary. Then a 60-year sentence was cut to 20 years for good behavior. Coral Watts could have walked out of prison in April of 2006 if it weren't for the outrage from victims' relatives. Watts was convicted this week of another murder, not one included in the immunity deal. Is that fair? Also, lawyers for Scott Peterson say the jury that convicted him can no way be fair in the sentencing phase. Questions of life or death on the docket this morning. And we toss these legal hot potatoes into the hopper for our regular weekend guest, former prosecutor Nelda Blair is live in Houston. Good morning Nelda.
NELDA BLAIR, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
HARRIS: And civil liberties attorney Lida Rodriguez-Taseff joins us from Miami this morning. Good morning, Lida.
LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF, CIVIL LIBERTIES ATTORNEY: Good morning.
HARRIS: OK, let me start with you, Lida. Is this fair, Watts was convicted of another murder, not one included in the immunity deal. I don't want you to defend him, but the process, the system, is this fair?
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: No, the system failed us all. This is a tragedy. You see, what happened here is these prosecutors tried to do this on the cheap and the quick, and they cut an immunity deal for immunity in 12 cases. Can you imagine giving immunity to a serial killer? And then they had an eyewitness from the very beginning, from 1979 for this murder for which he was finally convicted this week. They never bothered to prosecute him, even after an appellate court had overturned the sentence in the burglary case that reduced his time in prison. So what you have here is Michigan authorities actually being embarrassed by the fact that this guy's about to get out. So what did they do? They had to finally prosecute him. It's an outrage.
HARRIS: Nelda, it's an outrage.
BLAIR: It's not an outrage, and, no, it's not unfair to the serial killer to convict him of a murder for which he is guilty. But let me defend Texas prosecutors just a little bit here. They did give immunity ...
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: Go ahead, try it, Nell.
BLAIR: I'm doing it. To 11 cases in Texas, that the only way they could connect this guy was by his confession. He led them to three bodies, he solved 11 cases and put 11 families to rest of people who had been murdered. And the reason that he was put away for a different -- for burglary, basically, because he pled to burglary, was because they put him away for 60 years. We have good sentencing in Texas. He should still be in prison. The problem is higher courts with mandatory release laws got him out early. That is the problem.
HARRIS: All right, Lida, take one more shot at that. Take one more shot.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: No that -- Thank you, Tony. That doesn't explain why it took them all these years to prosecute him for a murder.
BLAIR: In Michigan.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: In Michigan.
BLAIR: They thought he was going to be in jail, they thought he was going to be away in Texas.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: You know they knew even after he wasn't going to be in jail. They still weren't prosecuting him. The only reason they finally did was because the eyewitness kept knocking on their doors saying, guys, I have this evidence. I gave a statement. I sat down with a sketch artist from the beginning. Give me a break, Nell, the system failed here. They should have prosecuted him for that a long time ago.
HARRIS: All right. Let's move on here. Mark Geragos says he wants a new jury to hear the penalty phase of the Peterson case. Nelda, that sounds fair, right, the jury was tainted and you throw two jurors off while they're in the middle of deliberations, the jury's tainted, let's get a new one in here to hear the penalty phase. No?
BLAIR: No, no, no, no, you aren't going to get me to say that's fair. No way. Sure, Geragos wants another jury. He wants any jury but the one that just convicted his client. There's no question about that. But that's not the way the justice system works. A jury convicts, a jury sets the penalty, in this case maybe the death penalty. But this jury is the one that's going to do that. The judge has already told him no once when he asked for a separate jury, and no means no. He's going to tell him no again.
HARRIS: Lida, we can't trust this jury. My goodness. They had two members thrown off, and one apparently -- and they may have been defense, they may have been acquittal jurors. We can't trust this jury. We've got to get a new one in here.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: Absolutely right. You can't trust this jury. Geragos said it before. But look, this jury didn't listen to reason. This jury had a foreman, a lawyer/doctor who tried to get them to listen to the evidence and to deliberate. They kicked him off. They got so sick of listening to facts and reason that they got rid of him and instead put in a guy that took not a single note during the deliberations, during the trial. And of course, convicted within seven hours of sitting down. Give me a break. This jury needs to go. If you're going to sentence a man to death, you might as well give him a fair shot. Yeah, Geragos is saying, "I told you so," because he asked for a new jury before. He said, you can't have a fair process here. And when you have 1,000 people cheering a verdict in a community that has been gripped by this murder for months on end, you can't possibly expect a jury ...
HARRIS: Nelda, don't sit there and let her filibuster. Go ahead.
BLAIR: This case has been moved once, almost 100 miles away from where it happened. RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: 90.
BLAIR: They gave him that in the first place. But let me tell you what, this is sour grapes, and that is all it is. Sure he wants a new jury. And Lida, you know that any defense lawyer whose clients gets convicted would love to have a brand new jury set the penalty. But Geragos helped pick this jury in the first place. Let's don't forget that.
HARRIS: All right. We're going to leave it there. Ladies, that's good this week. Good in the spirit of debate.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: You sided with her too much, Tony.
BLAIR: Whining, Lida.
HARRIS: I'm a fair arbiter here.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: It's an outrage.
HARRIS: Good to see you both. Have a great weekend.
BLAIR: You, too.
HARRIS: All right, Rudi?
BAKHTIAR: And we have this and breaking news to tell you about. A Polish woman who was captured over three weeks ago in Iraq taken hostage has been freed. This according to Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka who says that the woman kidnapped in Iraq has been freed and is safe and sound now. Teresa Borcz Khalifa was married to an Iraqi man, she also held an Iraqi citizenship. She was kidnapped on October 27, of course, by a group that was very little known, and that were demanding that Poland withdraw its troops. Of course, Poland flatly rejected that. Again, a woman, Polish woman who was abducted over three weeks ago in Iraq has been released. Good news there. Tony?
HARRIS: Rudi, all right. In the nation's capital next hour, baseball legend, Cal Ripken, Jr., kicks offer the 17th annual Help the Homeless Walk-a-thon. But before Cal laces up those walking shoes, we have got him in our Washington bureau to tell all about the efforts to end homelessness. Cal, we both grew up in Baltimore. I watched your entire career. I got to get to CNN to get an opportunity to talk to you. Good to see you, sir.
CAL RIPKEN JR., FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: It's great to be here. Thank you.
HARRIS: Good to see you. All right, you know, I don't know if anyone has informed you of this, but you're way too busy to do this. You have you a baseball empire to run there in Aberdeen. How the heck do you have time to help out a cause like homelessness?
RIPKEN: Well, I think one of the great things a baseball player has that has a little attention is the ability to play a role and raise awareness and attention to things that are good. The Fanny Mae Foundation does extremely good work. And for me personally, I can't imagine someone not having a home. The importance of a home in one's life is critical to your self-confidence and who you are in life. There's a lot of reasons why people are pushed out of their home or homeless, and to me, it's just -- I played a role here to raise awareness. When the alarm clock went off at 4:50 this morning, I was thinking, what am I doing? But when I come out here and see all the excitement, the attention, you can't help but be uplifted by this whole experience.
HARRIS: Well, I'm joking in the way I ask that question because I know for sure just how committed you are to a number of issues, not only in baseball, but just helping folks in the Baltimore-Washington area, wherever you can. But how did you -- Who made the call? Is this someone where someone called you or you found this yourself and decided to take it on?
RIPKEN: Well, I think as you grow, and I'm in the business world now, you start to spread out and play different roles in different communities. I'm on the board of America's Promise. America's Promise work very closely with Fanny Mae Foundation. So when you're looking to create attention, and they've had a great deal of success here. And again, maybe my role here, to do a few PSAs, create some attention for it, maybe create a little excitement for it. But it's really the corporate sponsors and the volunteers and the excitement that's built here. So I end up getting a lot of credit but really I just play a small role.
HARRIS: I've got to ask you. You've had a wonderful baseball career, everybody knows that. It's well documented. You made a lot of money in your career. Can you understand homelessness in the United States of America, the richest nation on the planet? Have you been able to figure it out?
RIPKEN: No, but, I mean, just the concept of saying, OK, when someone doesn't have a home, what do they do next? There's no place to go back to, no form of stability, no feeling good about one's self to actually exist in society. So to me I don't know all the explanations or all the problems, but I know that it is a problem, and it's a major problem, and Fanny Mae Foundation is meeting it head on. And good thing for them because a lot of people can get back on their feet. They lose their home for a variety of reasons and now we can get back and have them be productive citizens in society.
HARRIS: Enjoy the walk today. It's good to see you and talk to you, Cal.
RIPKEN: Well, thanks. Thanks for having me on this morning.
HARRIS: And give my best to Kelly and the kids, all right? Be well.
RIPKEN: I certainly will, thanks.
HARRIS: Cal Ripken, Jr., one of my heroes growing up.
BAKHTIAR: We love having him here. HARRIS: It's a good day. We want to get to our e-mail question quickly. We've been asking you this morning, "Who do you believe is responsible, whose job is it to make sure prescription drugs are safe?" We've got an e-mail to share with you.
BAKHTIAR: All right. And here it is. "We have in place an agency that's supposed to assure Americans that drugs and food additives are safe for consumption. It's called the FDA. Unfortunately, it doesn't do the job it was intended to do. Instead, it works for the big pharmaceuticals and chemical companies who produce the products. It's, as usual, all about greed and money and not about the public's health. We're being duped." And this by Karina(PH).
HARRIS: OK. And we'll encourage you to sends the e-mails to us. Here's the address. WAM@CNN.com and we'll read the e-mails response throughout the morning.
BAKHTIAR: Coming up, life with multiples. Straight ahead on "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, crowded house. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired November 20, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is November 20th. It's 8:00 a.m. right here at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, 5:00 a.m. early morning on the West Coast. Good morning, everyone, I'm Tony Harris.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rudi Bakhtiar in today for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for joining us. In the news now, President Bush is in the capital of Chile this morning holding private talks with other world leaders. The primary concern is North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The Asia-Pacific Economic Conference takes place against a backdrop of massive street protests there.
And Condoleezza Rice did not make the trip to Chile with President Bush. Instead, the national security adviser stayed in Washington to recuperate from some minor surgery. She's expected to be released from Georgetown University Hospital this morning. Yesterday she underwent a 90-minute procedure to shrink non-cancerous growths in her uterus.
And all across the country, a very big day for thousands of children in foster care. Family courts will be finalizing their adoptions today to mark National Adoption Day. Advocates say the need is still great, especially in finding permanent homes for older and minority foster children.
HARRIS: Coming up in the minutes ahead, explosions and gunfire in Baghdad this morning as U.S. and Iraqi forces go after the insurgents. The insurgents fighting back.
And later you've seen him run the bases. Now Cal Ripken puts on his walking shoes.
But first the punches were flying at a Detroit Pistons game and that leaves a black eye on the NBA. Take a look at these. More of these pictures a little later.
BAKHTIAR: To our top story right now. This hour is the APEC summit in Santiago, Chile. President Bush is one of the 21 leaders meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference there amid extraordinary security. Riot police and protesters have been clashing since before the VIPs began arriving. Global economic policies and the war in Iraq are among the hot-button issues with demonstrators there. And for President Bush, North Korea is dominating many of his private discussions this morning. Talks with China, South Korea, Russia, and Japan, all aimed at addressing North Korea's nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told the president that I look forward to working with him over the next four years to continue our close work on keeping peace, peace in the Korean peninsula, and to spread peace throughout the world, and I'm looking forward to working with him on these matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKHTIAR: Meanwhile, back in Washington, an overnight deal should keep the federal government going. Congress and the White House reaching an agreement for a $388 billion spending bill to fund 13 federal agencies. A provision in the House version of the bill offering protection to health care providers who are refusing to provide or even counsel on abortion.
House and Senate leaders are hoping to resolve the two versions and get a final bill to the president by today.
HARRIS: You know, Congress may not be able to finish everything on its plate. Negotiators plan to work until the last minute to reach a deal on 9/11 reforms, but time is running out with lawmakers planning to leave for the year, as early as today. The House and Senate are deadlocked on certain issues including how much power to give a proposed national intelligence chief. Families of 9/11 victims had pushed Congress to approve the legislation quickly.
And in the Senate there are calls for more regulation of prescription drugs. This comes in the wake of the arthritis bill Vioxx being pulled from the market because much heart risks. The Senator Charles Grassley says an independent board might be need to ensure drug safety. Grassley accuses the government of being too cozy with drug companies. We want to know what you think. Our e-mail question of the morning is, whose job is it to make sure prescription drugs are safe? Drop us a line at WAM@CNN.com.
An emotional farewell for Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle. He's leaving Capitol Hill after more than 25 years in Congress, the last ten as Senate Democratic leader. Daschle was defeated by Republican Tom Thune who painted Daschle as an obstructionist.
BAKHTIAR: The latest in the Iraq situation. Report now, U.S. patrols found four decapitated bodies in Mosul this week. A military spokesman says they don't appear to be Westerners. U.S. and Iraqi troops have stepped up operations against insurgents in Mosul.
Heavy fighting has broken out in the western part of Baghdad. Insurgents apparently are striking back after losing Falluja to U.S. forces there. One U.S. soldier was killed. Nine others wounded when insurgents attacked a patrol in the central part of Baghdad.
It could be an extra two months in Iraq for several thousand U.S. troops. The U.S. Central Command says seasoned troops are needed to ensure a smooth run-up to the election in January. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. LANCE L. SMITH, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We will expect by using extensions of some troops that we're only planning on being over there for ten months, that extending them another two months so that they still would be on the ground, you know, about a year. And using that to add additional forces over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKHTIAR: Photographs can sometimes be more powerful than images. Some images from Iraq this week. U.S. troops taking cover after a car bomber rams a civilian convoy there. And a body lies covered after a car bomb near a U.S. military convoy explodes. Very powerful stuff there.
Keep abreast with all of the developments in Iraq. Click on our Web site at CNN.com.
HARRIS: You know, maybe NBA should stand for "no brawls allowed."
OK, last night in Michigan, the fists were flying fast and furious at the Pistons/Indiana Pacers game. It started when Indiana's Ron Artest and Detroit's Ben Wallace got into it, Atest then stormed the -- look at this! -- stormed the stands after being hit by a cup. The game was called with 45.9 seconds, and then the throwing and the heaving and the shoving and the pushing. Look at this. And they're still upset in the tunnel.
Next hour we'll talk with a sports reporter who was at that game last night.
And we have a very special guest joining us this morning, baseball's Iron Man, Cal Ripken joins us from Washington to explain why he's walking for the homeless.
BAKHTIAR: And more and more families are bringing home bundles of babies like twins, triplets, and even more. Today on "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a look in a crowded house.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAKHTIAR: When the snow smoke clears from the war in Afghanistan, beneath all that rubble, you could find remnants of schools and books meant for the children of the battle-scarred country. That image inspired three young women to set out on a mission to rebuild the school system one brick at a time. The founders of rebuilding Afghanistan, live next hour on CNN SATURDAY MORNING at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You wouldn't buy the first house you see, so don't accept the first mortgage offer. Look for the right lender. DOUG DUNCAN, MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: If you don't talk to more than one, you aren't forcing them to compete, so you are not going to get the best deal.
WILLIS: And look for the right kind of loan.
DUNCAN: There are probably 150 different kinds of mortgages out there today. And some will be better for your household financial efficiency than others.
WILLIS: Shop around. I'm Gerri Willis, and that's your tip of the day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAKHTIAR: Good morning, Washington, D.C.. Look at the White House. Beautiful shot there. Beautiful early morning there.
HARRIS: And Rob, what are we looking at there, a little overcast? A little breezy. We can see the American --- Old Glory blowing there in the background.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHERMAN: Yeah, a little of that.
HARRIS: A little overcast?
BAKHTIAR: Foggy.
MARCIANO: A little overcast, a little fog. Not too bad, though.
HARRIS: OK. Not bad at all.
MARCIANO: How are you guys doing this morning?
HARRIS: Good to see you.
BAKHTIAR: Very good.
MARCIANO: Nice to see you as well. Now we'll talk weather, no major storms to speak with the exception of some snow in Denver, Colorado. Skiers are loving that. Most of the snow will be in the city in some of the western suburbs. Here's that storm, and white flakes flying there.
And then some warm air, and that's into D.C. as well. And their temperatures will get up to about 60.
This blue air is really some scattered showers. Here's that warm front that will be pushing off to the north and east, and will bring warm air with it and some of that should be here. Behind that cool front, it is cooler, definitely cold in Denver. 28 degrees. Five to ten inches of snow expected there this afternoon. Pretty nice weather out on the West Coast. Houston, Texas, much of southeast Texas under flash flood watches, and some of the darker green indicate warnings. Here's your radar. Look how it is lighting up, especially across the I-10 corridor and to the east. We zoom into Houston, bright colors south of Houston towards the Galveston Bay, all towards the Golden Triangle and eventually into southwest Louisiana as well. Going to be a wet day there.
And here's some of the lighter showers heading over to the east, and we showed that picture of D.C. Right now, not too bad right now. Just a little bit of a hole in the radar scope right there. So Northeast residents, Tony and Rudi, just looking at a couple of light showers. There's Boston. Good morning, Beantown, Faneuil Hall. They do a little Christmas music today around Faneuil Hall.
HARRIS: There you go.
MARCIANO: Could never be too early. You know, when they're doing remakes of Wham!, that's when you really got to start to wonder.
BAKHTIAR: Have you seen them? Have you seen them doing their remakes?
HARRIS: Oh, my. Everyone is going to ...
MARCIANO: Actually sounds pretty good. Pretty nice.
HARRIS: Good to see you, Rob. Take care, man.
BAKHTIAR: Thanks, Rob.
Let's get a check of our top stories this Saturday morning. President Bush is on his first trip outside the U.S. since winning a second term. He's in Chile for the summit of Asia-Pacific leaders today. A source says that the president is meeting with China's president to discuss ways to ease nuclear tensions over North Korea. And an Afghan court deals out the harshest penalty this morning. The court has sentenced a man to death in the death of three journalists and the Afghan colleague in 2001.
Also police in Michigan are reviewing the tape and talking to witnesses. They're looking into a brawl -- Look at that! -- that broke out at a Detroit Pistons game between players and fans. It looks more like hockey, doesn't it?
HARRIS: Oh, yeah.
A confessed serial killer who said he would kill again could be out on the streets by 2006. That is, unless he's convicted in a separate murder case. That story ahead in our legal briefs.
BAKHTIAR: And also, a big treat here for us, baseball legend Cal Ripken joining us a little later as well. Stay with us.
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HARRIS: Well, he confessed to at least 13 murders and made a deal for immunity, sending him to prison only for burglary. Then a 60-year sentence was cut to 20 years for good behavior. Coral Watts could have walked out of prison in April of 2006 if it weren't for the outrage from victims' relatives. Watts was convicted this week of another murder, not one included in the immunity deal. Is that fair? Also, lawyers for Scott Peterson say the jury that convicted him can no way be fair in the sentencing phase. Questions of life or death on the docket this morning. And we toss these legal hot potatoes into the hopper for our regular weekend guest, former prosecutor Nelda Blair is live in Houston. Good morning Nelda.
NELDA BLAIR, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
HARRIS: And civil liberties attorney Lida Rodriguez-Taseff joins us from Miami this morning. Good morning, Lida.
LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF, CIVIL LIBERTIES ATTORNEY: Good morning.
HARRIS: OK, let me start with you, Lida. Is this fair, Watts was convicted of another murder, not one included in the immunity deal. I don't want you to defend him, but the process, the system, is this fair?
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: No, the system failed us all. This is a tragedy. You see, what happened here is these prosecutors tried to do this on the cheap and the quick, and they cut an immunity deal for immunity in 12 cases. Can you imagine giving immunity to a serial killer? And then they had an eyewitness from the very beginning, from 1979 for this murder for which he was finally convicted this week. They never bothered to prosecute him, even after an appellate court had overturned the sentence in the burglary case that reduced his time in prison. So what you have here is Michigan authorities actually being embarrassed by the fact that this guy's about to get out. So what did they do? They had to finally prosecute him. It's an outrage.
HARRIS: Nelda, it's an outrage.
BLAIR: It's not an outrage, and, no, it's not unfair to the serial killer to convict him of a murder for which he is guilty. But let me defend Texas prosecutors just a little bit here. They did give immunity ...
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: Go ahead, try it, Nell.
BLAIR: I'm doing it. To 11 cases in Texas, that the only way they could connect this guy was by his confession. He led them to three bodies, he solved 11 cases and put 11 families to rest of people who had been murdered. And the reason that he was put away for a different -- for burglary, basically, because he pled to burglary, was because they put him away for 60 years. We have good sentencing in Texas. He should still be in prison. The problem is higher courts with mandatory release laws got him out early. That is the problem.
HARRIS: All right, Lida, take one more shot at that. Take one more shot.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: No that -- Thank you, Tony. That doesn't explain why it took them all these years to prosecute him for a murder.
BLAIR: In Michigan.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: In Michigan.
BLAIR: They thought he was going to be in jail, they thought he was going to be away in Texas.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: You know they knew even after he wasn't going to be in jail. They still weren't prosecuting him. The only reason they finally did was because the eyewitness kept knocking on their doors saying, guys, I have this evidence. I gave a statement. I sat down with a sketch artist from the beginning. Give me a break, Nell, the system failed here. They should have prosecuted him for that a long time ago.
HARRIS: All right. Let's move on here. Mark Geragos says he wants a new jury to hear the penalty phase of the Peterson case. Nelda, that sounds fair, right, the jury was tainted and you throw two jurors off while they're in the middle of deliberations, the jury's tainted, let's get a new one in here to hear the penalty phase. No?
BLAIR: No, no, no, no, you aren't going to get me to say that's fair. No way. Sure, Geragos wants another jury. He wants any jury but the one that just convicted his client. There's no question about that. But that's not the way the justice system works. A jury convicts, a jury sets the penalty, in this case maybe the death penalty. But this jury is the one that's going to do that. The judge has already told him no once when he asked for a separate jury, and no means no. He's going to tell him no again.
HARRIS: Lida, we can't trust this jury. My goodness. They had two members thrown off, and one apparently -- and they may have been defense, they may have been acquittal jurors. We can't trust this jury. We've got to get a new one in here.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: Absolutely right. You can't trust this jury. Geragos said it before. But look, this jury didn't listen to reason. This jury had a foreman, a lawyer/doctor who tried to get them to listen to the evidence and to deliberate. They kicked him off. They got so sick of listening to facts and reason that they got rid of him and instead put in a guy that took not a single note during the deliberations, during the trial. And of course, convicted within seven hours of sitting down. Give me a break. This jury needs to go. If you're going to sentence a man to death, you might as well give him a fair shot. Yeah, Geragos is saying, "I told you so," because he asked for a new jury before. He said, you can't have a fair process here. And when you have 1,000 people cheering a verdict in a community that has been gripped by this murder for months on end, you can't possibly expect a jury ...
HARRIS: Nelda, don't sit there and let her filibuster. Go ahead.
BLAIR: This case has been moved once, almost 100 miles away from where it happened. RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: 90.
BLAIR: They gave him that in the first place. But let me tell you what, this is sour grapes, and that is all it is. Sure he wants a new jury. And Lida, you know that any defense lawyer whose clients gets convicted would love to have a brand new jury set the penalty. But Geragos helped pick this jury in the first place. Let's don't forget that.
HARRIS: All right. We're going to leave it there. Ladies, that's good this week. Good in the spirit of debate.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: You sided with her too much, Tony.
BLAIR: Whining, Lida.
HARRIS: I'm a fair arbiter here.
RODRIGUEZ TASEFF: It's an outrage.
HARRIS: Good to see you both. Have a great weekend.
BLAIR: You, too.
HARRIS: All right, Rudi?
BAKHTIAR: And we have this and breaking news to tell you about. A Polish woman who was captured over three weeks ago in Iraq taken hostage has been freed. This according to Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka who says that the woman kidnapped in Iraq has been freed and is safe and sound now. Teresa Borcz Khalifa was married to an Iraqi man, she also held an Iraqi citizenship. She was kidnapped on October 27, of course, by a group that was very little known, and that were demanding that Poland withdraw its troops. Of course, Poland flatly rejected that. Again, a woman, Polish woman who was abducted over three weeks ago in Iraq has been released. Good news there. Tony?
HARRIS: Rudi, all right. In the nation's capital next hour, baseball legend, Cal Ripken, Jr., kicks offer the 17th annual Help the Homeless Walk-a-thon. But before Cal laces up those walking shoes, we have got him in our Washington bureau to tell all about the efforts to end homelessness. Cal, we both grew up in Baltimore. I watched your entire career. I got to get to CNN to get an opportunity to talk to you. Good to see you, sir.
CAL RIPKEN JR., FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: It's great to be here. Thank you.
HARRIS: Good to see you. All right, you know, I don't know if anyone has informed you of this, but you're way too busy to do this. You have you a baseball empire to run there in Aberdeen. How the heck do you have time to help out a cause like homelessness?
RIPKEN: Well, I think one of the great things a baseball player has that has a little attention is the ability to play a role and raise awareness and attention to things that are good. The Fanny Mae Foundation does extremely good work. And for me personally, I can't imagine someone not having a home. The importance of a home in one's life is critical to your self-confidence and who you are in life. There's a lot of reasons why people are pushed out of their home or homeless, and to me, it's just -- I played a role here to raise awareness. When the alarm clock went off at 4:50 this morning, I was thinking, what am I doing? But when I come out here and see all the excitement, the attention, you can't help but be uplifted by this whole experience.
HARRIS: Well, I'm joking in the way I ask that question because I know for sure just how committed you are to a number of issues, not only in baseball, but just helping folks in the Baltimore-Washington area, wherever you can. But how did you -- Who made the call? Is this someone where someone called you or you found this yourself and decided to take it on?
RIPKEN: Well, I think as you grow, and I'm in the business world now, you start to spread out and play different roles in different communities. I'm on the board of America's Promise. America's Promise work very closely with Fanny Mae Foundation. So when you're looking to create attention, and they've had a great deal of success here. And again, maybe my role here, to do a few PSAs, create some attention for it, maybe create a little excitement for it. But it's really the corporate sponsors and the volunteers and the excitement that's built here. So I end up getting a lot of credit but really I just play a small role.
HARRIS: I've got to ask you. You've had a wonderful baseball career, everybody knows that. It's well documented. You made a lot of money in your career. Can you understand homelessness in the United States of America, the richest nation on the planet? Have you been able to figure it out?
RIPKEN: No, but, I mean, just the concept of saying, OK, when someone doesn't have a home, what do they do next? There's no place to go back to, no form of stability, no feeling good about one's self to actually exist in society. So to me I don't know all the explanations or all the problems, but I know that it is a problem, and it's a major problem, and Fanny Mae Foundation is meeting it head on. And good thing for them because a lot of people can get back on their feet. They lose their home for a variety of reasons and now we can get back and have them be productive citizens in society.
HARRIS: Enjoy the walk today. It's good to see you and talk to you, Cal.
RIPKEN: Well, thanks. Thanks for having me on this morning.
HARRIS: And give my best to Kelly and the kids, all right? Be well.
RIPKEN: I certainly will, thanks.
HARRIS: Cal Ripken, Jr., one of my heroes growing up.
BAKHTIAR: We love having him here. HARRIS: It's a good day. We want to get to our e-mail question quickly. We've been asking you this morning, "Who do you believe is responsible, whose job is it to make sure prescription drugs are safe?" We've got an e-mail to share with you.
BAKHTIAR: All right. And here it is. "We have in place an agency that's supposed to assure Americans that drugs and food additives are safe for consumption. It's called the FDA. Unfortunately, it doesn't do the job it was intended to do. Instead, it works for the big pharmaceuticals and chemical companies who produce the products. It's, as usual, all about greed and money and not about the public's health. We're being duped." And this by Karina(PH).
HARRIS: OK. And we'll encourage you to sends the e-mails to us. Here's the address. WAM@CNN.com and we'll read the e-mails response throughout the morning.
BAKHTIAR: Coming up, life with multiples. Straight ahead on "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, crowded house. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming up.
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