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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Is Osama bin Laden in Iran?
Aired December 01, 2004 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. Some military families right here in the United States will shortly after bid farewell to loved ones heading towards Iraq. Others will have to wait longer for homecoming reunions.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
More troops. They'll soon be on the way to Iraq but will they make a difference?
Brink of collapse. As Israel's prime minister pulls the plug on his own government, a popular leader decides to run for the Palestinian presidency while serving five life terms.
9/11 allies. Three years after Canada sheltered thousands of Americans President Bush gives thanks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You opened your homes and your churches to strangers.
9/11 hero. A firefighter who raised the flag over the fallen towers gives his life in Iraq.
He is Charlotte Simmons. I'll speak with 70-something author Tom Wolfe who steps inside the shoes of a college student in his controversial bestseller.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, December 1, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: More U.S. troops going to Iraq and others will be staying in Iraq for longer tours. It's part of an effort to secure the scheduled Iraqi elections, now less than two months away while the insurgency rages on. We begin our coverage with our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it was something the Pentagon hoped it wouldn't have to do, extend the tours of troops, send fresh troops. They were hoping they'd have enough Iraqi forces trained, equipped, ready to go by January. But the decision now has been made that they need an infusion of American forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): With Iraq's fledgling security forces still a question mark, and thousands of U.S. forces still tied down in Falluja, the Pentagon is moving to boost overall American troop levels in Iraq by roughly 12,000 to beef up security for Iraqi elections now set for January 30.
1,500 fresh soldiers from the army's 82nd Airborne, known as the 911 division, have gotten the word they'll be in Iraq by mid month. And in addition to the new soldiers, more than 10,000 other troops already in Iraq have been informed they'll be going home in March of next year instead of January. Among the troops extended for two more months on the ground, 4,400 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division. 3,500 from the 1st Cavalry Division. 2,300 marines from the 31st MEU. And 160 soldiers from the 116th Transportation Company.
Currently there are 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. With the extensions and new deployments, that number will swell to 150,000 by mid-January an all-time high, eclipsing the peak of 148,000 American troops in Iraq in May of last year right after the invasion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): Wolf, for some troops, this is their second extension. First from ten months to 12 months, now from 12 months to 14 months. But the Pentagon says they will try to make that up to them by giving them extra time, a couple of months extra, at home before they might have to go back to Iraq. And despite the obvious strain that this is putting on the U.S. military, the Pentagon continues to argue that the military is not too small, nor is it suffering any shortage of new recruits.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
Meanwhile gunshots rang out today while Secretary of State Colin Powell was visiting the presidential palace in Haiti. Let's go live to our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is unclear whether Secretary Powell was targeted by those gunmen in Haiti's capital. And Powell and no one in his party was injured. In fact, State Department officials say that Powell continued with his scheduled meetings with Haiti's interim leaders only changing rooms after the shooting started.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Gunfire erupts moments after Secretary of State Powell arrives at the national palace. United Nations peacekeeping troops fire back. And U.N. armored vehicles are brought in to beef up security. Powell was not hurt. And a State Department spokesman in Washington downplayed the incident.
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: That was the totality of the incident. One burst of gunfire from the perpetrators and then another response from the U.N. and that was it. KOPPEL: But later, cameras captured video of a young child who appeared to have been caught in the crossfire. The State Department said the violence was likely instigated by supporters of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. And one U.S. officials told CNN the gunmen were probably trying to provoke Powell and embarrass Haiti's interim government. The democratically elected Aristide claims he was forced from power by the U.S. last February. The U.S. says Aristide left of his own free will. The main purpose of Powell's trip, to encourage democratic elections, scheduled for next November.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: And we will not accept any outcome that is fraudulent or any outcome that rests on the use of force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: And Powell added that security should improve in the months to come as more U.N. peacekeepers arrive. It should be noted that the U.S. withdrew its troops from Haiti last June when Brazil took over the U.N. peacekeeping force. Currently there are 4,800 U.N. troops and over 1,200 U.N. civilian police there. We should also add a footnote, Powell had originally been scheduled to travel to Haiti in October. But he canceled that trip over security concerns.
BLITZER: Andrea Koppel, thanks very much, reporting from the State Department.
Israel is gripped by a political crisis. Just hours ago, the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ousted a key partner in his ruling coalition. Now his government is on the brink of collapse, along with his plan to remove settlements from Gaza. Guy Raz reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ariel Sharon alone. Nearly half of his own right wing Likud backbenchers are in open revolt. He's barely survived a series of no-confidence motions. Now the centrist Shinua (ph) party is out of his ruling coalition, voting against Sharon's budget proposal. Their departure leaves behind a weaker minority government with Sharon hanging on to his political life and possibly early elections.
ARI SHAVIT, "HA'ARETZ NEWSPAPER": Ariel Sharon doesn't want elections. If the system was different, had he been able to go out to the public on his own, with his own party, he would have won. He would have won big. But he has the problem within his own party.
RAZ: An irony for the man who's the international face of the hardline Likud party. An irony as well for Israel's leftists who now find themselves backing Sharon.
SHAVIT: Many Israelis who grew up detesting Ariel Sharon find themselves now supporting him. Not with enthusiasm. Not that they've fallen in love with him. But they see him maturing and they see him really serving their own cause. RAZ: That cause is what Israel calls its disengagement plan. A move that if implemented will bring about the uprooting of all Jewish settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip. Virtually all central-left parties in Israel back the plan hoping it will lead to further withdrawals from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister and now leader of the left wing Yahad party, describes Ariel Sharon as...
YOSSI BEILIN, YAHAD PARTY LEADER: He's one of the worst prime ministers we ever had.
RAZ: Yet Beilin's party has backed Sharon on nearly every major piece of legislation this year. At one point this week saving Sharon's political life by abstaining from a no-confidence motion.
BEILIN: I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. And what I'm saying is that, let us use his readiness for whatever motivation he is withdrawing, in order to help him implementing his plan. And then we will see.
RAZ: Polls show a majority of Israelis back Mr. Sharon's move to withdraw from Gaza. In the coming days, the prime minister plans to forge a coalition with the center left labor party, a chance he hopes to guarantee his plan is carried out. Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: While Ariel Sharon tries to pull one out of his hat, a popular Palestinian leader is throwing his hat into the ring. Marwan Barghouti who earlier said he would not run, today became a candidate to succeed Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority. There's one hitch. Barghouti is serving five life terms in prison, convicted by Israel of planning and carrying out terror attacks. His candidacy is a blow to the former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, who is the presidential candidate of Arafat's Fatah movement. Meanwhile the radical Hamas group said today it will not participate at all in this upcoming election scheduled for January 9.
The uproar continues after Ukraine's disputed election, as parliament today narrowly passed a vote of no confidence in the government. But a solution may be in sight. The government and the opposition today agreed to wait for a supreme court ruling on the dispute. Observers say a likely outcome would be new elections, which may require a change in the election law. While it's all sorted out, both sides have pledged to avoid violence and opposition protesters have agreed to lift their blockades of government buildings.
Controversy in Canada. Where protesters greet President Bush for a second day in a row. A look at what he hopes to achieve also.
He was a hero long before he went to Iraq. But his greatest sacrifice was also his last.
Plus, my interview with the author Tom Wolfe. Why his best- selling new novel is raising so many eyebrows.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: President Bush has wrapped up a closely watched and at times controversial two-day trip to Canada. Our senior White House correspondent John King has been traveling with the president throughout this visit, including today's final stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia. John is joining us now live.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Wolf, as the president prepares for his second inauguration, he's also trying to repair relations frayed by the bitter debate over Iraq. And Mr. Bush deciding to begin that effort close to home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): It was a stop with two goals. Say thank you for Canada's help on the defining day of his first term, and sound a conciliatory note looking ahead to the next four years.
BUSH: A new term in office is an important opportunity to reach out to our friends.
KING: A more diplomatic tone but not necessarily a new course, to Canada and other Iraq war critics, this message from the president, if they want him to give the United Nations and other organizations more say, then they must demand that multilateral diplomacy means results, not just meetings.
BUSH: The objective of the U.N. and other institutions must be collective security, not endless debate.
CROWD: Go home Bush!
KING: More demonstrations underscored Mr. Bush's delicate challenge. He wants to put the bitterness of Iraq and other debates in the past while firmly defending his decisions. Better personal relations are key, and Mr. Bush has taken a liking to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
BUSH: Paul and I share a great vision for the future, two prosperous, independent nations joined together by the return of NHL hockey.
KING: Mr. Martin was quick to echo Mr. Bush's friendly tone.
PAUL MARTIN, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We're in a war against terrorism. We are in it together, Americans and Canadians.
KING: Key European first-term Bush critics welcomed the president's talk of a fresh start.
JEAN DAVID LEVITTE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: I can tell you that that's exactly the mood in Europe. So let's shake hands and let's work together to build a better future for our people.
KING: Iraq aside, many Canadians feel slighted by Mr. Bush. He ditched tradition and went to Mexico on his first international trip, repeatedly sparred with former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and waited four years to make his first official visit. In trying to make amends, Mr. Bush praised Canadian military help in Afghanistan, reconstruction aid in Iraq, and the remarkable outpouring of kindness to some 33,000 Americans stranded here when U.S. airspace closed after the 9/11 attacks.
BUSH: Beyond the words of politicians and the natural disagreements that nations will have, our two peoples are one family and always will be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Conciliatory talk is one thing, better relations actually much more difficult to come by. The true test, Wolf, will come in the weeks and months ahead in the continuing debates over Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and other global challenges -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John King in Halifax for us, John, thanks very much. We look forward to seeing you back here in Washington.
In the meantime, we've been inundated with e-mail from our viewers about yesterday's debate on U.S./Canadian relations. CNN "CROSSFIRE" co-host Tucker Carlson squared off with outspoken Canadian member of parliament, Carolyn Parrish, and the sparks flew.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Canada needs the United States for trade, for a lot of the reasons. Without the U.S., Canada is essentially Honduras, but colder and much less interesting. And I think that that makes Canadians -- the dependence that Canada has on the United States makes Canadians understandably resentful.
BLITZER: Carolyn Parrish, those are fighting words.
CAROLYN PARRISH, CANADIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Oh Tucker, you're way out to lunch on this one, my friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): A lot of our Canadian viewers agreed. John from Wasaga Beach, Ontario, wrote: "The USA doesn't need Canada? Tell that to the many Americans who buy prescription drugs here. Wait until you need cheap, clean, fresh water. But like oil, I suppose Tucker would just march the army in to take it."
Adrienne from Toronto wrote: "It is the egocentric attitude displayed by Tucker that only serves to further anti-American sentiment not only in Canada but all over the world."
Aaron from Ottawa observed: "Mr. Carlson unfortunately personified the stereotype Canadians have of Americans by being self- important and arrogant."
Speaking of stereotypes, this one struck a nerve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: I do think there's a lot of dogsledding in Canada. Yes, I do think that's true.
PARRISH: Very little, my friend.
CARLSON: You know that's true, Carolyn, there's curling, too. But there's a lot of dogsledding.
PARRISH: No, there's not a lot of dogsledding. There's a lot of dog-walking, my friend, not a lot of dogsledding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: S.C. from Moncton, New Brunswick, noted: "I've lived here all my life and never seen a dogsled. Shows how limited his knowledge is of life outside U.S."
The face-off was also a hot topic for Canadian newspapers with articles in "The National Post" and "The Toronto Sun," among others. "The Sun" paper noting Parrish's previously outspoken anti-Bush sentiments and a reputation for shooting from the lip, ran this headline: "Lip glosses over insults -- Parrish a pussycat on CNN creampuff fest."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And finally this note, Tucker Carlson is not without his Canadian supporters. At least one person in Canada supports him. That would be Jan Brandejs of Toronto who wrote us with this comment: "We wish to congratulate Tucker Carlson for his correct reaction and position facing Ms. Parrish. Yes, without the U.S. (trade, innovation, markets, et cetera), Canada would have been like Siberia."
To our viewers, here's your chance to continue to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Do you think U.S.- Canadian relations are strained? You can vote, go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results coming up a little bit later in this broadcast.
From ground zero to Iraq, one firefighter's wrenching story of heroism and sacrifice.
Also, where's Osama bin Laden hiding? Why the answers could be, maybe at least one expert suggests, in his clothes.
Plus the end of an era. Tonight, what Tom Brokaw's retirement means for TV news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A New York City firefighter is among the latest Americans to die in Iraq. What makes his death so notable is that his service in this war was not his first act of hero heroism.
CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL ALLEN, NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT: I tell you, if you were allowed to pick your family, Chris would be my brother. He's my brother here as a fireman. But Chris is that kind of guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was in the background as a spectator, he wasn't happy. He had to help, he had to do something.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At Ladder Company 61 in the Bronx, a memorial for the first New York City firefighter to die in Iraq. Chris Engeldrum, Drum to his friends. He was killed in Baghdad on Monday when his Humvee rolled over an explosive. He was 39. It's painful to sum up someone's life, especially when that person made so much of his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. We can't replace him. We can't. We can't be a father. We can't be a wife. But we can fill in the gaps.
CARROLL: He served with honors in the Gulf War, then became a New York City police officer. He found his true join after joining the fire department in 1999. On 9/11, his company arrived as the first tower fell. Engeldrum rescued as many people as he could and helped raise the first flag at ground zero. Still, he wanted to do more. For him, that meant serving in Iraq in the army national guard.
ALLEN: This guy wasn't a couch potato patriot. This guy lived it. He walked the walk and he talked the talked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He thought it cowardly if he would stay here and let the rest of his unit go. If his unit was going, just like at a fire, we were going. He was going. He wasn't going to play it safe.
CARROLL: His wife called him the ultimate patriot. Engeldrum leaves behind two teenage sons. The grief is shared by his former colleagues at the firehouse where they hang reminders of Engeldrum. And every time they head out on a call...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, behind the rubber band.
CARROLL: He's there too. A toy soldier stashed in every helmet. A tribute to a man who was a firefighter and a soldier at heart.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And our deepest condolences to the Engeldrum family and his friends, relatives out there, a sad story indeed.
The search for Osama bin Laden. Are there clues as to his whereabouts in this videotape? Take a look. The veteran -- veteran investigative journalist Richard Miniter thinks there may be clues in the pictures you're seen. He'll weigh in. He's joining us live, that's coming up next.
Plus, Scott Peterson in the fight for his life. How his defense lawyers are trying to convince jurors that their client's life is worth sparing.
And with millions of people infected, how others around the world are marking World AIDS Day. That's coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From his studios in Washington, once again Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back, he's the world's most wanted terrorist. But is Osama bin Laden still alive? And if he is, where is he hiding? I'll ask a writer who thinks he may have some answers.
But first though, a quick check of other stories now in the news.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has temporarily stopped the execution of a female death row inmate, Frances Newton. Perry agreed with a recommendation from the state parole board that the execution be delayed 120 days. Newton was sentence the for killing her husband and two children. Her lawyers say she may be innocent and they want more testing done on the murder weapon and other items connected to the case.
In Redwood City, California, witnesses hoping to save Scott Peterson's life are on the stand today in the penalty phase of Peterson's double murder trial. Peterson could face the death penalty after being convicted of killing his wife Laci and their unborn son. One of the defense lawyers told jurors today, Peterson's life is a life worth saving.
BLITZER: It's been more than three years since the 9/11 terror attacks and President Bush vow to get Osama bin Laden dead or alive. But bin Laden apparently is anything but dead. The latest indication, bin Laden's video taped message to the American people which surfaced just days before the president's reelection.
Now the author Richard Miniter suggests bin Laden is in Iran. Miniter's latest book is "Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror." It's been a best-seller on "The New York Times" best-sellers list.
And Richard Miniter is joining us now live.
Richard, thanks very much for joining us.
RICHARD MINITER, AUTHOR, "SHADOW WAR": Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: What makes you think -- what hard evidence is there in your mind that he may be in Iran right now?
MINITER: Well, the hard evidence is my two sources who are Iranian intelligence agents, who say that they saw bin Laden eyeball to eyeball inside Iran in a place called Najmabad on October 23, 2003.
These sources have proved reliable in the past to American and to British intelligence. The other things they've said have checked out. And so I think it's suggestive. It's at least opening the door. I make the case in chapter one of "Shadow War." But it's a case with a lot of caveats, as a lot of intelligence cases are.
BLITZER: Besides these two sources that you have, are there any others who would tend to believe that he might be in Iran right now that you've come upon or is it just these two sources?
MINITER: Well, for me, it's these two sources.
But let's look at what the Iranian government has said in their state-run broadcasts. They've admitted to more than 500 al Qaeda fighters being resident in their country. They've refused to let the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, or any Arab country interrogate them or even visit them. They've said also said that Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's oldest son, is in their country. These are public statements by Iranian governmental officials.
BLITZER: There's another element that you've spoken about. And I want to show our viewers the videotape once again of what Osama bin Laden was wearing on that videotape that surfaced just before the U.S. presidential election.
Take a look at the robes he's wearing. What does it say to you? What have you heard based on this videotape?
MINITER: There are intelligence analysts who work for our government who specialize in identifying clothing and other particular markers. These videotapes are highly scrutinized.
And one of the things these analysts have told me is, those robes are very similar to, if not identical to, those worn by Shia clerics, that is to say, not the Sunni version of Islam followed by bin Laden, but the majority version of Islam followed in Iran, Shia cleric from the Mashhad region. That's in northeastern Iran.
BLITZER: Has there been any other videotape or photograph of Osama bin Laden that you know of wearing a similar kind of robe?
MINITER: I don't know of any similar ones.
BLITZER: Because, in the past, we've seen other outfits that he's wearing, but nothing like these gold robes. And what you're saying is, this is a robe that's typical of a certain part of northeastern Iran on the border with Afghanistan?
MINITER: And for people in a very particular role, the role of a cleric, a respected scholar of Islam, which bin Laden is in reality not. He's not a Shia, and he's not a scholar, but he's wearing the robes as if he is a scholar of that version of Islam.
BLITZER: And you've gotten this from U.S. intelligence or Iranian intelligence? MINITER: U.S. intelligence, Wolf.
BLITZER: Who have spent the last month studying this videotape?
MINITER: That's right.
BLITZER: Because we've been checking ourselves and we can't come across anyone, at least the sources that we've had so far, that seems to suggest, A, that he might be in Iran or, B, that the robe might be a signature item that could detect where this videotape was taken.
MINITER: Well, perhaps the robe is an attempt to send a signal that there is an emerging alliance between Iran and al Qaeda. Or maybe it's a false signal. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe the analysts are wrong. Look, this is a game of grays and shadows.
BLITZER: But your bottom line is, if you had to bet right now, you would think he's in Iran, not along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
MINITER: Well, if I had a bet right now, I would say he most likely is in Iran, based on what the sources have told me and other indications that I've talked about with you now.
BLITZER: I spoke with Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday. And he should know if the U.S. government knows. And he says he doesn't have a clue where Osama bin Laden is right now.
MINITER: Well, I don't think day to day anybody does. And, remember, this sighting is more than a year old. If I knew exactly where he was, I'd be racing out your studio door to collect $25 million.
BLITZER: And I assume that other people would know as well.
Richard Miniter is the author of "Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror."
Thanks very much.
MINITER: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: A broadcast news anchor signing off tonight. Very, very soon, after more than 20 years in the anchor chair, NBC's Tom Brokaw saying goodbye. We'll take a closer look at his career. That's coming up next.
And is 74 -- yes, 74 -- too old to go back to college? Tom Wolfe returned for a controversial new novel. My interview with the best- selling author, something you will want to see, that's coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: After more than 20 years at the anchor desk, Tom Brokaw is set to sign off "Nbc Nightly News" for the last time tonight.
CNN's Brian Todd is here with a closer look back at Brokaw's career and the impact of his departure on network news -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Tom Brokaw might never have imagined this kind of a send-off back in 1962 when he was rejected for a job that he'd applied for right out of college. That was at Miami station WTVJ, where an executive turned Brokaw down because he could not operate a typewriter. He'd never covered a news story, couldn't shoot film, and, as the executive recently said -- quote -- "did only a passable job on the air."
Now, 42 years later and several awards later, Tom Brokaw leaves a very different and still changing news landscape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): A send-off worthy of a star.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW")
MATT LAUER, CO-HOST: It's from a song, but nobody does it better and no one ever has, Tom.
TOM BROKAW, NBC ANCHOR: Well, it's very sweet. I -- it's been a great, great privilege. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: A "Today Show' toast to Tom Brokaw on his last day as anchor of "The NBC Nightly News" marks a major passage at the peacock network and the end of a long news odyssey, from his start at NBC in 1966, to a correspondent covering the demise of a president.
BROKAW: It seemed confirmation that he had reached the decision that was breaking out all over Congress, that he had decided to resign.
TODD: Through five years as co-host of "The Today Show" and 21 years as the sole anchor of "Nightly News," Tom Brokaw has delivered the world's momentous events to millions of American living rooms.
BROKAW: We've never been witness to anything quite like this in the United States within the continental borders.
TODD: But, as Brokaw's "Nightly News" torch passes to Brian Williams, many observers believe there is a much broader transition afoot than the end of one man's era. Two prominent news analysts told us Brokaw doesn't leave as strong a journalist legacy as his CBS counterpart, Dan Rather, and that Rather, perhaps unwittingly, stole Brokaw's thunder when he announced his retirement last week.
The successor issue is significant. NBC executives have gone on record as saying they expect ratings to dip, at least temporarily, as Williams gets his footing. But NBC at least prepared for this day, unlike its main competitors. HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": It's no surprise. People are expecting to see Brian Williams filling that chair. Not so easy to say who will take over at CBS and eventually at ABC, when Peter Jennings moves on.
TODD: Others say it almost doesn't matter who succeeds whom, that we're entering an era when network news anchors are no longer household names and may even have to compete for star wattage with other big names at their own networks, like a Katie Couric at NBC. Brokaw himself had this advice for Brian Williams.
BROKAW: At the very beginning, he's going to have to sit here and remind people that he's on the air every night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Now, most analysts caution not to make this another death knell for the half-hour network newscast. But they do say the product is too diluted and the trend is irreversible.
With cable newscasts eating away at the audience and the transition at the anchor desks, network news ratings will continue to decline -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much.
And we want to thank Tom Brokaw for all of his excellent reporting over these years and wish him lots of good luck. Good luck to Brian Williams as well.
And speaking of succession in the news business, on Monday, we asked our viewers who they think should succeed William Safire, who's retiring his "New York Times" op-ed page column next month. As you can see, take a look at this, we were literally swamped. Hundreds, hundreds of people wrote in with suggestions, some serious suggestions, others not so serious. Among the top choices that we got, Rush Limbaugh, George Will, David Brooks, Ann Coulter. Those were some of the serious -- I guess serious suggestions. I don't know if "The New York Times" is going to go for that. David Brooks already writes for "The New York Times."
But we're going to deliver all of these hundreds of e-mails to "The Times" publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., for his reading pleasure.
Good luck, Arthur Sulzberger, in the search. I know this reader, for one, is going to miss William Safire. I looked forward to his column for 30 years and almost always learned something by reading it. Thanks, Bill Safire. Thanks to "The New York Times." Good luck to all of you as well.
He is "Charlotte Simmons." My interview with best-selling author Tom Wolfe about his controversial new novel.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: For more than 40 years, Tom Wolfe has been casting a keen eye on American culture, first as a journalist, and, since the 1980s, as a best-selling novelist. His latest book continues that tradition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): His trademarked look is unmistakable, white suit complete with spats. And so is Tom Wolfe's writing. It's a cultural reporting often called new journalism, that, beyond the names, dates, facts and figures, manages to capture the essence of a particular time and place.
Wolfe started in the '60s with "The Pump House Gang" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid," taking readers along on a drug-fueled adventure through the hippie world. In the '70s, he outraged the art world with "The Painted Word" and introduced us to the pioneers of space in "The Right Stuff," later made into a highly successful film.
He switched to fiction in the '80s with the best-selling novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities," which also wound up on the big screen. In the '90s, "A Man in Full," another best-seller, this one following two men on opposite coasts as they descend into crisis.
Along the way, Wolfe popularized, if not coined phrases, that are now part of the American vernacular, like the right stuff, radical chic, and the me decade. His first novel of the new millennium is called "I Am Charlotte Simmons." And for most of the book's almost 700 pages, Wolfe is Charlotte Simmons, a naive country girl thrust into the drunken, vulgar, sex-obsessed, sometimes cruel world of the fictional Dupont University.
The 74-year-old author researched the novel by spending time at real-life universities across the country, including Stanford and Yale. And while "The Seattle Times" reviewer calls "I Am Charlotte Simmons" "a wild ride, one that will entertain, appall and illuminate readers along the way," many other major critics say, this time, Wolfe missed the mark.
"The New York Times" reviewer calls "I Am Charlotte Simmons" "by far the weakest of his novels," saying, "it lacks the cruel humor, the devastating observations, and the infectious coinages for which he is famous." And with its lengthy, detailed chronicling of drunken fraternity parties, sexcapades and the collegiate caste system, "USA Today"'s critic simply says the novel belabors the obvious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: I spoke with Tom Wolfe about the book and asked how a man in his 70s can write about life on a modern college campus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM WOLFE, AUTHOR, "I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS": I started hearing -- this was back in the '90s. I was working on something else entirely. And I kept hearing stories about colleges, first of all, sex, coed dorms. Then binge drinking, it began to be called, then political correctness and one thing and another.
I couldn't believe nobody had written about it. So, as soon as I finished that particular book, I turned to do something about colleges. I started going to colleges all over the country, literally.
BLITZER: Now, was there like a personal interest, kids in colleges? Is that something that motivated you?
WOLFE: Not really. I dedicated the book to my daughter, who's 24, finished college at Duke two years ago, and my son Tommy, who is now at Trinity College. But I had the idea before my children ever went to college.
BLITZER: And you wrote this book in the first person as Charlotte Simmons, as if she's telling this story. That's pretty remarkable.
WOLFE: I took it as -- first, I said, this is a daunting challenge. And, one thing, I'm 50 years older than anybody I'll be writing about.
But then I said, well, I've covered other things that had nothing to do with me whatsoever, like the hippies. I did a whole book about that. We couldn't have been on more different wavelengths. Stock car racers, New Jersey teenagers.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: So how do you capture the language, though, of young women in college and young men in college, because it's all about them? What did you do to in the form of research?
WOLFE: I just started -- well, what I literally did was go to the campuses. And, at first, I was -- I would get permission from the university. And they never denied it. They said, you can go anywhere.
And I would meet -- I never -- I didn't arrive and say, hey, I'm Tom Wolfe and let's get it on. I never did that. I would meet one person. And if I could get along with that person, they would introduce me to another.
BLITZER: But so much of this book, you have to admit, is about sex, sex on college campuses.
WOLFE: Yes.
BLITZER: How do you go about researching the sex? I can't even read passages of this on a family show like this one, because it's pretty raunchy.
WOLFE: Well, it's much easier than you would think. I found that these young people were dying to talk to some adult ears, totally impartial. It had nothing to do with them personally. Particularly in novel form. I wasn't going to identify. I wasn't going to use their names. I wouldn't identify them in any fashion, because they know they're living a different kind of life.
BLITZER: But is this an accurate portrayal or an exaggeration of the sex, the drinking, the drugs, the craziness that's going on, on college campuses? Is it what's really happening or is it just your imagination going loose?
WOLFE: I swear -- I have my hand up -- I swear that this is not even an extreme. I avoided some of the extremes.
BLITZER: You're saying this is tamed down?
WOLFE: This is tamed down, compared to all the things that go on, because some of them I think people just wouldn't believe.
They'd think I was -- and I -- when I see this called satire, I wince, because, in my mind, satire is taking the truth and pushing it over a cliff.
BLITZER: You went and did research at some of the elite universities in the country.
WOLFE: Yes, I did.
BLITZER: You went to Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, Yale. Are you saying that is what's happening in this book, "I Am Charlotte Simmons," is happening at these elite universities around the country?
WOLFE: Well, as far as the behavior of the students, yes. It does not vary anywhere. Well, there may be some -- I don't know about Brigham Young. Maybe things are different there, but I don't know.
This is what happens everywhere. Some of the conditions are different. I mean, some schools, you're going to have probably brighter students than others.
BLITZER: The whole issue -- I know there are coed dorms all over the country. I have a daughter who graduated recently from college. I know there were coed dorms, but coed bathrooms, you say that's pretty common.
WOLFE: Oh, it's very common. And nobody knows why. There was never a debate over coed dorms, for a start. And there was never a debate over coed bathrooms. These things just happened.
BLITZER: Because some of those scenes where you have Charlotte going into a bathroom where there are men in there and urinals, it gets pretty disgusting in there, the way you depict it.
WOLFE: I maintain that this is the first vivid scene of egestion, let's call it, in literature since James Joyce's "Ulysses," where there's a long chapter about egestion. And I just wanted to show just how disgusting it would be to somebody who grew up at the time I grew up. And it is disgusting now to a lot of these young women.
BLITZER: "The New York Times" reviewer said this -- not very flattering. He said, normally praising you, "This time, instead of boldly going where few writers have gone before, he gives us some tiresomely generic, if hyperbolic glimpses of student life."
WOLFE: I would love, actually -- if it's so common, where is the other book or books? They don't exist.
This is the only picture that anybody is going to get, so far, of the actual life of the student. Yes, there have been statistics about increase in sexual activity. There have been stories about increase in drinking, which isn't true. Drinking has always been at an extremely high level in colleges in this country. And there's all these stories about political correctness, which they always get wrong, because it's just the faculty that's absorbed in political correctness.
BLITZER: What does Tom Wolfe do next for an encore?
WOLFE: I have the radar dish on waiting for a good idea. Right now, I'm tempted to do something about religion, because I wrote an essay, oh, back in the '70s called "The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening." That part, the third great awakening, referred to new religious manifestations in the U.S.
BLITZER: Is this book going to be a motion picture?
WOLFE: I don't know. Nobody has come, offered me a lot of money, or any money for it.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: If it were a motion picture, who would you want to play Charlotte Simmons?
WOLFE: There's nobody really lovely enough that I can think of, because she's supposed to be like a fairy tale princess.
BLITZER: Eighteen, 19 years old.
WOLFE: You know, the princess who's asleep waiting for her true love to kiss her, that's what she's supposed to look like. That's why I would never let anybody put her picture on the cover of a book. I'm not sure that I can find that. You know, they get corrupted so easily in Hollywood. They lose that innocence. I don't know why, but they do.
BLITZER: I suspect they'll find someone.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Tom Wolfe, congratulations on the book, "I Am Charlotte Simmons."
WOLFE: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate this.
BLITZER: Appreciate it.
Wolf on Wolfe.
WOLFE: Wolfe and Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: All right, in a moment, how the world commemorates World AIDS Day.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here is how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Remember, though, this is not a scientific poll.
In our picture of the day, a look at nations observing World AIDS Day around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): This is World AIDS Day. And the focus is on women and girls.
As activists, patients and health workers took to the streets in India, officials say that women make up half of the 45 million people worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. India's five million HIV cases are second only to South Africa, where the disease kills an estimated 600 people each day.
In Moscow, hundreds took to the streets demanding free AIDS treatment; 280,000 Russians are officially registered as HIV positive. But the United Nations says there are about three times that many.
In Thailand, the day was marked with a parade in the capital, Bangkok; 600,000 Thais have died from AIDS and almost that many are HIV positive. In China, World AIDS Day is being observed with dances and other events. The U.N. warns, China could have as many as 10 million people infected with HIV by 2010 if it doesn't take urgent action. In response, the government says it is ordering thousands of local leaders to learn about AIDS.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And a reminder, we're on the air weekdays 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
Tomorrow, it's Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer. It's also one of Africa's most troubled democracies. I'll have a rare interview tomorrow on this program with Nigerian President Obasanjo.
Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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Aired December 1, 2004 - 17:00 ET
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WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. Some military families right here in the United States will shortly after bid farewell to loved ones heading towards Iraq. Others will have to wait longer for homecoming reunions.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
More troops. They'll soon be on the way to Iraq but will they make a difference?
Brink of collapse. As Israel's prime minister pulls the plug on his own government, a popular leader decides to run for the Palestinian presidency while serving five life terms.
9/11 allies. Three years after Canada sheltered thousands of Americans President Bush gives thanks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You opened your homes and your churches to strangers.
9/11 hero. A firefighter who raised the flag over the fallen towers gives his life in Iraq.
He is Charlotte Simmons. I'll speak with 70-something author Tom Wolfe who steps inside the shoes of a college student in his controversial bestseller.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, December 1, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: More U.S. troops going to Iraq and others will be staying in Iraq for longer tours. It's part of an effort to secure the scheduled Iraqi elections, now less than two months away while the insurgency rages on. We begin our coverage with our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it was something the Pentagon hoped it wouldn't have to do, extend the tours of troops, send fresh troops. They were hoping they'd have enough Iraqi forces trained, equipped, ready to go by January. But the decision now has been made that they need an infusion of American forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): With Iraq's fledgling security forces still a question mark, and thousands of U.S. forces still tied down in Falluja, the Pentagon is moving to boost overall American troop levels in Iraq by roughly 12,000 to beef up security for Iraqi elections now set for January 30.
1,500 fresh soldiers from the army's 82nd Airborne, known as the 911 division, have gotten the word they'll be in Iraq by mid month. And in addition to the new soldiers, more than 10,000 other troops already in Iraq have been informed they'll be going home in March of next year instead of January. Among the troops extended for two more months on the ground, 4,400 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division. 3,500 from the 1st Cavalry Division. 2,300 marines from the 31st MEU. And 160 soldiers from the 116th Transportation Company.
Currently there are 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. With the extensions and new deployments, that number will swell to 150,000 by mid-January an all-time high, eclipsing the peak of 148,000 American troops in Iraq in May of last year right after the invasion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): Wolf, for some troops, this is their second extension. First from ten months to 12 months, now from 12 months to 14 months. But the Pentagon says they will try to make that up to them by giving them extra time, a couple of months extra, at home before they might have to go back to Iraq. And despite the obvious strain that this is putting on the U.S. military, the Pentagon continues to argue that the military is not too small, nor is it suffering any shortage of new recruits.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
Meanwhile gunshots rang out today while Secretary of State Colin Powell was visiting the presidential palace in Haiti. Let's go live to our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is unclear whether Secretary Powell was targeted by those gunmen in Haiti's capital. And Powell and no one in his party was injured. In fact, State Department officials say that Powell continued with his scheduled meetings with Haiti's interim leaders only changing rooms after the shooting started.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Gunfire erupts moments after Secretary of State Powell arrives at the national palace. United Nations peacekeeping troops fire back. And U.N. armored vehicles are brought in to beef up security. Powell was not hurt. And a State Department spokesman in Washington downplayed the incident.
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: That was the totality of the incident. One burst of gunfire from the perpetrators and then another response from the U.N. and that was it. KOPPEL: But later, cameras captured video of a young child who appeared to have been caught in the crossfire. The State Department said the violence was likely instigated by supporters of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. And one U.S. officials told CNN the gunmen were probably trying to provoke Powell and embarrass Haiti's interim government. The democratically elected Aristide claims he was forced from power by the U.S. last February. The U.S. says Aristide left of his own free will. The main purpose of Powell's trip, to encourage democratic elections, scheduled for next November.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: And we will not accept any outcome that is fraudulent or any outcome that rests on the use of force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: And Powell added that security should improve in the months to come as more U.N. peacekeepers arrive. It should be noted that the U.S. withdrew its troops from Haiti last June when Brazil took over the U.N. peacekeeping force. Currently there are 4,800 U.N. troops and over 1,200 U.N. civilian police there. We should also add a footnote, Powell had originally been scheduled to travel to Haiti in October. But he canceled that trip over security concerns.
BLITZER: Andrea Koppel, thanks very much, reporting from the State Department.
Israel is gripped by a political crisis. Just hours ago, the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ousted a key partner in his ruling coalition. Now his government is on the brink of collapse, along with his plan to remove settlements from Gaza. Guy Raz reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ariel Sharon alone. Nearly half of his own right wing Likud backbenchers are in open revolt. He's barely survived a series of no-confidence motions. Now the centrist Shinua (ph) party is out of his ruling coalition, voting against Sharon's budget proposal. Their departure leaves behind a weaker minority government with Sharon hanging on to his political life and possibly early elections.
ARI SHAVIT, "HA'ARETZ NEWSPAPER": Ariel Sharon doesn't want elections. If the system was different, had he been able to go out to the public on his own, with his own party, he would have won. He would have won big. But he has the problem within his own party.
RAZ: An irony for the man who's the international face of the hardline Likud party. An irony as well for Israel's leftists who now find themselves backing Sharon.
SHAVIT: Many Israelis who grew up detesting Ariel Sharon find themselves now supporting him. Not with enthusiasm. Not that they've fallen in love with him. But they see him maturing and they see him really serving their own cause. RAZ: That cause is what Israel calls its disengagement plan. A move that if implemented will bring about the uprooting of all Jewish settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip. Virtually all central-left parties in Israel back the plan hoping it will lead to further withdrawals from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister and now leader of the left wing Yahad party, describes Ariel Sharon as...
YOSSI BEILIN, YAHAD PARTY LEADER: He's one of the worst prime ministers we ever had.
RAZ: Yet Beilin's party has backed Sharon on nearly every major piece of legislation this year. At one point this week saving Sharon's political life by abstaining from a no-confidence motion.
BEILIN: I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. And what I'm saying is that, let us use his readiness for whatever motivation he is withdrawing, in order to help him implementing his plan. And then we will see.
RAZ: Polls show a majority of Israelis back Mr. Sharon's move to withdraw from Gaza. In the coming days, the prime minister plans to forge a coalition with the center left labor party, a chance he hopes to guarantee his plan is carried out. Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: While Ariel Sharon tries to pull one out of his hat, a popular Palestinian leader is throwing his hat into the ring. Marwan Barghouti who earlier said he would not run, today became a candidate to succeed Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority. There's one hitch. Barghouti is serving five life terms in prison, convicted by Israel of planning and carrying out terror attacks. His candidacy is a blow to the former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, who is the presidential candidate of Arafat's Fatah movement. Meanwhile the radical Hamas group said today it will not participate at all in this upcoming election scheduled for January 9.
The uproar continues after Ukraine's disputed election, as parliament today narrowly passed a vote of no confidence in the government. But a solution may be in sight. The government and the opposition today agreed to wait for a supreme court ruling on the dispute. Observers say a likely outcome would be new elections, which may require a change in the election law. While it's all sorted out, both sides have pledged to avoid violence and opposition protesters have agreed to lift their blockades of government buildings.
Controversy in Canada. Where protesters greet President Bush for a second day in a row. A look at what he hopes to achieve also.
He was a hero long before he went to Iraq. But his greatest sacrifice was also his last.
Plus, my interview with the author Tom Wolfe. Why his best- selling new novel is raising so many eyebrows.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: President Bush has wrapped up a closely watched and at times controversial two-day trip to Canada. Our senior White House correspondent John King has been traveling with the president throughout this visit, including today's final stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia. John is joining us now live.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Wolf, as the president prepares for his second inauguration, he's also trying to repair relations frayed by the bitter debate over Iraq. And Mr. Bush deciding to begin that effort close to home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): It was a stop with two goals. Say thank you for Canada's help on the defining day of his first term, and sound a conciliatory note looking ahead to the next four years.
BUSH: A new term in office is an important opportunity to reach out to our friends.
KING: A more diplomatic tone but not necessarily a new course, to Canada and other Iraq war critics, this message from the president, if they want him to give the United Nations and other organizations more say, then they must demand that multilateral diplomacy means results, not just meetings.
BUSH: The objective of the U.N. and other institutions must be collective security, not endless debate.
CROWD: Go home Bush!
KING: More demonstrations underscored Mr. Bush's delicate challenge. He wants to put the bitterness of Iraq and other debates in the past while firmly defending his decisions. Better personal relations are key, and Mr. Bush has taken a liking to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
BUSH: Paul and I share a great vision for the future, two prosperous, independent nations joined together by the return of NHL hockey.
KING: Mr. Martin was quick to echo Mr. Bush's friendly tone.
PAUL MARTIN, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We're in a war against terrorism. We are in it together, Americans and Canadians.
KING: Key European first-term Bush critics welcomed the president's talk of a fresh start.
JEAN DAVID LEVITTE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: I can tell you that that's exactly the mood in Europe. So let's shake hands and let's work together to build a better future for our people.
KING: Iraq aside, many Canadians feel slighted by Mr. Bush. He ditched tradition and went to Mexico on his first international trip, repeatedly sparred with former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and waited four years to make his first official visit. In trying to make amends, Mr. Bush praised Canadian military help in Afghanistan, reconstruction aid in Iraq, and the remarkable outpouring of kindness to some 33,000 Americans stranded here when U.S. airspace closed after the 9/11 attacks.
BUSH: Beyond the words of politicians and the natural disagreements that nations will have, our two peoples are one family and always will be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Conciliatory talk is one thing, better relations actually much more difficult to come by. The true test, Wolf, will come in the weeks and months ahead in the continuing debates over Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and other global challenges -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John King in Halifax for us, John, thanks very much. We look forward to seeing you back here in Washington.
In the meantime, we've been inundated with e-mail from our viewers about yesterday's debate on U.S./Canadian relations. CNN "CROSSFIRE" co-host Tucker Carlson squared off with outspoken Canadian member of parliament, Carolyn Parrish, and the sparks flew.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Canada needs the United States for trade, for a lot of the reasons. Without the U.S., Canada is essentially Honduras, but colder and much less interesting. And I think that that makes Canadians -- the dependence that Canada has on the United States makes Canadians understandably resentful.
BLITZER: Carolyn Parrish, those are fighting words.
CAROLYN PARRISH, CANADIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Oh Tucker, you're way out to lunch on this one, my friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): A lot of our Canadian viewers agreed. John from Wasaga Beach, Ontario, wrote: "The USA doesn't need Canada? Tell that to the many Americans who buy prescription drugs here. Wait until you need cheap, clean, fresh water. But like oil, I suppose Tucker would just march the army in to take it."
Adrienne from Toronto wrote: "It is the egocentric attitude displayed by Tucker that only serves to further anti-American sentiment not only in Canada but all over the world."
Aaron from Ottawa observed: "Mr. Carlson unfortunately personified the stereotype Canadians have of Americans by being self- important and arrogant."
Speaking of stereotypes, this one struck a nerve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: I do think there's a lot of dogsledding in Canada. Yes, I do think that's true.
PARRISH: Very little, my friend.
CARLSON: You know that's true, Carolyn, there's curling, too. But there's a lot of dogsledding.
PARRISH: No, there's not a lot of dogsledding. There's a lot of dog-walking, my friend, not a lot of dogsledding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: S.C. from Moncton, New Brunswick, noted: "I've lived here all my life and never seen a dogsled. Shows how limited his knowledge is of life outside U.S."
The face-off was also a hot topic for Canadian newspapers with articles in "The National Post" and "The Toronto Sun," among others. "The Sun" paper noting Parrish's previously outspoken anti-Bush sentiments and a reputation for shooting from the lip, ran this headline: "Lip glosses over insults -- Parrish a pussycat on CNN creampuff fest."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And finally this note, Tucker Carlson is not without his Canadian supporters. At least one person in Canada supports him. That would be Jan Brandejs of Toronto who wrote us with this comment: "We wish to congratulate Tucker Carlson for his correct reaction and position facing Ms. Parrish. Yes, without the U.S. (trade, innovation, markets, et cetera), Canada would have been like Siberia."
To our viewers, here's your chance to continue to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Do you think U.S.- Canadian relations are strained? You can vote, go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results coming up a little bit later in this broadcast.
From ground zero to Iraq, one firefighter's wrenching story of heroism and sacrifice.
Also, where's Osama bin Laden hiding? Why the answers could be, maybe at least one expert suggests, in his clothes.
Plus the end of an era. Tonight, what Tom Brokaw's retirement means for TV news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A New York City firefighter is among the latest Americans to die in Iraq. What makes his death so notable is that his service in this war was not his first act of hero heroism.
CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL ALLEN, NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT: I tell you, if you were allowed to pick your family, Chris would be my brother. He's my brother here as a fireman. But Chris is that kind of guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was in the background as a spectator, he wasn't happy. He had to help, he had to do something.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At Ladder Company 61 in the Bronx, a memorial for the first New York City firefighter to die in Iraq. Chris Engeldrum, Drum to his friends. He was killed in Baghdad on Monday when his Humvee rolled over an explosive. He was 39. It's painful to sum up someone's life, especially when that person made so much of his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. We can't replace him. We can't. We can't be a father. We can't be a wife. But we can fill in the gaps.
CARROLL: He served with honors in the Gulf War, then became a New York City police officer. He found his true join after joining the fire department in 1999. On 9/11, his company arrived as the first tower fell. Engeldrum rescued as many people as he could and helped raise the first flag at ground zero. Still, he wanted to do more. For him, that meant serving in Iraq in the army national guard.
ALLEN: This guy wasn't a couch potato patriot. This guy lived it. He walked the walk and he talked the talked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He thought it cowardly if he would stay here and let the rest of his unit go. If his unit was going, just like at a fire, we were going. He was going. He wasn't going to play it safe.
CARROLL: His wife called him the ultimate patriot. Engeldrum leaves behind two teenage sons. The grief is shared by his former colleagues at the firehouse where they hang reminders of Engeldrum. And every time they head out on a call...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, behind the rubber band.
CARROLL: He's there too. A toy soldier stashed in every helmet. A tribute to a man who was a firefighter and a soldier at heart.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And our deepest condolences to the Engeldrum family and his friends, relatives out there, a sad story indeed.
The search for Osama bin Laden. Are there clues as to his whereabouts in this videotape? Take a look. The veteran -- veteran investigative journalist Richard Miniter thinks there may be clues in the pictures you're seen. He'll weigh in. He's joining us live, that's coming up next.
Plus, Scott Peterson in the fight for his life. How his defense lawyers are trying to convince jurors that their client's life is worth sparing.
And with millions of people infected, how others around the world are marking World AIDS Day. That's coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From his studios in Washington, once again Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back, he's the world's most wanted terrorist. But is Osama bin Laden still alive? And if he is, where is he hiding? I'll ask a writer who thinks he may have some answers.
But first though, a quick check of other stories now in the news.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has temporarily stopped the execution of a female death row inmate, Frances Newton. Perry agreed with a recommendation from the state parole board that the execution be delayed 120 days. Newton was sentence the for killing her husband and two children. Her lawyers say she may be innocent and they want more testing done on the murder weapon and other items connected to the case.
In Redwood City, California, witnesses hoping to save Scott Peterson's life are on the stand today in the penalty phase of Peterson's double murder trial. Peterson could face the death penalty after being convicted of killing his wife Laci and their unborn son. One of the defense lawyers told jurors today, Peterson's life is a life worth saving.
BLITZER: It's been more than three years since the 9/11 terror attacks and President Bush vow to get Osama bin Laden dead or alive. But bin Laden apparently is anything but dead. The latest indication, bin Laden's video taped message to the American people which surfaced just days before the president's reelection.
Now the author Richard Miniter suggests bin Laden is in Iran. Miniter's latest book is "Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror." It's been a best-seller on "The New York Times" best-sellers list.
And Richard Miniter is joining us now live.
Richard, thanks very much for joining us.
RICHARD MINITER, AUTHOR, "SHADOW WAR": Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: What makes you think -- what hard evidence is there in your mind that he may be in Iran right now?
MINITER: Well, the hard evidence is my two sources who are Iranian intelligence agents, who say that they saw bin Laden eyeball to eyeball inside Iran in a place called Najmabad on October 23, 2003.
These sources have proved reliable in the past to American and to British intelligence. The other things they've said have checked out. And so I think it's suggestive. It's at least opening the door. I make the case in chapter one of "Shadow War." But it's a case with a lot of caveats, as a lot of intelligence cases are.
BLITZER: Besides these two sources that you have, are there any others who would tend to believe that he might be in Iran right now that you've come upon or is it just these two sources?
MINITER: Well, for me, it's these two sources.
But let's look at what the Iranian government has said in their state-run broadcasts. They've admitted to more than 500 al Qaeda fighters being resident in their country. They've refused to let the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, or any Arab country interrogate them or even visit them. They've said also said that Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's oldest son, is in their country. These are public statements by Iranian governmental officials.
BLITZER: There's another element that you've spoken about. And I want to show our viewers the videotape once again of what Osama bin Laden was wearing on that videotape that surfaced just before the U.S. presidential election.
Take a look at the robes he's wearing. What does it say to you? What have you heard based on this videotape?
MINITER: There are intelligence analysts who work for our government who specialize in identifying clothing and other particular markers. These videotapes are highly scrutinized.
And one of the things these analysts have told me is, those robes are very similar to, if not identical to, those worn by Shia clerics, that is to say, not the Sunni version of Islam followed by bin Laden, but the majority version of Islam followed in Iran, Shia cleric from the Mashhad region. That's in northeastern Iran.
BLITZER: Has there been any other videotape or photograph of Osama bin Laden that you know of wearing a similar kind of robe?
MINITER: I don't know of any similar ones.
BLITZER: Because, in the past, we've seen other outfits that he's wearing, but nothing like these gold robes. And what you're saying is, this is a robe that's typical of a certain part of northeastern Iran on the border with Afghanistan?
MINITER: And for people in a very particular role, the role of a cleric, a respected scholar of Islam, which bin Laden is in reality not. He's not a Shia, and he's not a scholar, but he's wearing the robes as if he is a scholar of that version of Islam.
BLITZER: And you've gotten this from U.S. intelligence or Iranian intelligence? MINITER: U.S. intelligence, Wolf.
BLITZER: Who have spent the last month studying this videotape?
MINITER: That's right.
BLITZER: Because we've been checking ourselves and we can't come across anyone, at least the sources that we've had so far, that seems to suggest, A, that he might be in Iran or, B, that the robe might be a signature item that could detect where this videotape was taken.
MINITER: Well, perhaps the robe is an attempt to send a signal that there is an emerging alliance between Iran and al Qaeda. Or maybe it's a false signal. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe the analysts are wrong. Look, this is a game of grays and shadows.
BLITZER: But your bottom line is, if you had to bet right now, you would think he's in Iran, not along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
MINITER: Well, if I had a bet right now, I would say he most likely is in Iran, based on what the sources have told me and other indications that I've talked about with you now.
BLITZER: I spoke with Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday. And he should know if the U.S. government knows. And he says he doesn't have a clue where Osama bin Laden is right now.
MINITER: Well, I don't think day to day anybody does. And, remember, this sighting is more than a year old. If I knew exactly where he was, I'd be racing out your studio door to collect $25 million.
BLITZER: And I assume that other people would know as well.
Richard Miniter is the author of "Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror."
Thanks very much.
MINITER: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: A broadcast news anchor signing off tonight. Very, very soon, after more than 20 years in the anchor chair, NBC's Tom Brokaw saying goodbye. We'll take a closer look at his career. That's coming up next.
And is 74 -- yes, 74 -- too old to go back to college? Tom Wolfe returned for a controversial new novel. My interview with the best- selling author, something you will want to see, that's coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: After more than 20 years at the anchor desk, Tom Brokaw is set to sign off "Nbc Nightly News" for the last time tonight.
CNN's Brian Todd is here with a closer look back at Brokaw's career and the impact of his departure on network news -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Tom Brokaw might never have imagined this kind of a send-off back in 1962 when he was rejected for a job that he'd applied for right out of college. That was at Miami station WTVJ, where an executive turned Brokaw down because he could not operate a typewriter. He'd never covered a news story, couldn't shoot film, and, as the executive recently said -- quote -- "did only a passable job on the air."
Now, 42 years later and several awards later, Tom Brokaw leaves a very different and still changing news landscape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): A send-off worthy of a star.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW")
MATT LAUER, CO-HOST: It's from a song, but nobody does it better and no one ever has, Tom.
TOM BROKAW, NBC ANCHOR: Well, it's very sweet. I -- it's been a great, great privilege. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: A "Today Show' toast to Tom Brokaw on his last day as anchor of "The NBC Nightly News" marks a major passage at the peacock network and the end of a long news odyssey, from his start at NBC in 1966, to a correspondent covering the demise of a president.
BROKAW: It seemed confirmation that he had reached the decision that was breaking out all over Congress, that he had decided to resign.
TODD: Through five years as co-host of "The Today Show" and 21 years as the sole anchor of "Nightly News," Tom Brokaw has delivered the world's momentous events to millions of American living rooms.
BROKAW: We've never been witness to anything quite like this in the United States within the continental borders.
TODD: But, as Brokaw's "Nightly News" torch passes to Brian Williams, many observers believe there is a much broader transition afoot than the end of one man's era. Two prominent news analysts told us Brokaw doesn't leave as strong a journalist legacy as his CBS counterpart, Dan Rather, and that Rather, perhaps unwittingly, stole Brokaw's thunder when he announced his retirement last week.
The successor issue is significant. NBC executives have gone on record as saying they expect ratings to dip, at least temporarily, as Williams gets his footing. But NBC at least prepared for this day, unlike its main competitors. HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": It's no surprise. People are expecting to see Brian Williams filling that chair. Not so easy to say who will take over at CBS and eventually at ABC, when Peter Jennings moves on.
TODD: Others say it almost doesn't matter who succeeds whom, that we're entering an era when network news anchors are no longer household names and may even have to compete for star wattage with other big names at their own networks, like a Katie Couric at NBC. Brokaw himself had this advice for Brian Williams.
BROKAW: At the very beginning, he's going to have to sit here and remind people that he's on the air every night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Now, most analysts caution not to make this another death knell for the half-hour network newscast. But they do say the product is too diluted and the trend is irreversible.
With cable newscasts eating away at the audience and the transition at the anchor desks, network news ratings will continue to decline -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much.
And we want to thank Tom Brokaw for all of his excellent reporting over these years and wish him lots of good luck. Good luck to Brian Williams as well.
And speaking of succession in the news business, on Monday, we asked our viewers who they think should succeed William Safire, who's retiring his "New York Times" op-ed page column next month. As you can see, take a look at this, we were literally swamped. Hundreds, hundreds of people wrote in with suggestions, some serious suggestions, others not so serious. Among the top choices that we got, Rush Limbaugh, George Will, David Brooks, Ann Coulter. Those were some of the serious -- I guess serious suggestions. I don't know if "The New York Times" is going to go for that. David Brooks already writes for "The New York Times."
But we're going to deliver all of these hundreds of e-mails to "The Times" publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., for his reading pleasure.
Good luck, Arthur Sulzberger, in the search. I know this reader, for one, is going to miss William Safire. I looked forward to his column for 30 years and almost always learned something by reading it. Thanks, Bill Safire. Thanks to "The New York Times." Good luck to all of you as well.
He is "Charlotte Simmons." My interview with best-selling author Tom Wolfe about his controversial new novel.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: For more than 40 years, Tom Wolfe has been casting a keen eye on American culture, first as a journalist, and, since the 1980s, as a best-selling novelist. His latest book continues that tradition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): His trademarked look is unmistakable, white suit complete with spats. And so is Tom Wolfe's writing. It's a cultural reporting often called new journalism, that, beyond the names, dates, facts and figures, manages to capture the essence of a particular time and place.
Wolfe started in the '60s with "The Pump House Gang" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid," taking readers along on a drug-fueled adventure through the hippie world. In the '70s, he outraged the art world with "The Painted Word" and introduced us to the pioneers of space in "The Right Stuff," later made into a highly successful film.
He switched to fiction in the '80s with the best-selling novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities," which also wound up on the big screen. In the '90s, "A Man in Full," another best-seller, this one following two men on opposite coasts as they descend into crisis.
Along the way, Wolfe popularized, if not coined phrases, that are now part of the American vernacular, like the right stuff, radical chic, and the me decade. His first novel of the new millennium is called "I Am Charlotte Simmons." And for most of the book's almost 700 pages, Wolfe is Charlotte Simmons, a naive country girl thrust into the drunken, vulgar, sex-obsessed, sometimes cruel world of the fictional Dupont University.
The 74-year-old author researched the novel by spending time at real-life universities across the country, including Stanford and Yale. And while "The Seattle Times" reviewer calls "I Am Charlotte Simmons" "a wild ride, one that will entertain, appall and illuminate readers along the way," many other major critics say, this time, Wolfe missed the mark.
"The New York Times" reviewer calls "I Am Charlotte Simmons" "by far the weakest of his novels," saying, "it lacks the cruel humor, the devastating observations, and the infectious coinages for which he is famous." And with its lengthy, detailed chronicling of drunken fraternity parties, sexcapades and the collegiate caste system, "USA Today"'s critic simply says the novel belabors the obvious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: I spoke with Tom Wolfe about the book and asked how a man in his 70s can write about life on a modern college campus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM WOLFE, AUTHOR, "I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS": I started hearing -- this was back in the '90s. I was working on something else entirely. And I kept hearing stories about colleges, first of all, sex, coed dorms. Then binge drinking, it began to be called, then political correctness and one thing and another.
I couldn't believe nobody had written about it. So, as soon as I finished that particular book, I turned to do something about colleges. I started going to colleges all over the country, literally.
BLITZER: Now, was there like a personal interest, kids in colleges? Is that something that motivated you?
WOLFE: Not really. I dedicated the book to my daughter, who's 24, finished college at Duke two years ago, and my son Tommy, who is now at Trinity College. But I had the idea before my children ever went to college.
BLITZER: And you wrote this book in the first person as Charlotte Simmons, as if she's telling this story. That's pretty remarkable.
WOLFE: I took it as -- first, I said, this is a daunting challenge. And, one thing, I'm 50 years older than anybody I'll be writing about.
But then I said, well, I've covered other things that had nothing to do with me whatsoever, like the hippies. I did a whole book about that. We couldn't have been on more different wavelengths. Stock car racers, New Jersey teenagers.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: So how do you capture the language, though, of young women in college and young men in college, because it's all about them? What did you do to in the form of research?
WOLFE: I just started -- well, what I literally did was go to the campuses. And, at first, I was -- I would get permission from the university. And they never denied it. They said, you can go anywhere.
And I would meet -- I never -- I didn't arrive and say, hey, I'm Tom Wolfe and let's get it on. I never did that. I would meet one person. And if I could get along with that person, they would introduce me to another.
BLITZER: But so much of this book, you have to admit, is about sex, sex on college campuses.
WOLFE: Yes.
BLITZER: How do you go about researching the sex? I can't even read passages of this on a family show like this one, because it's pretty raunchy.
WOLFE: Well, it's much easier than you would think. I found that these young people were dying to talk to some adult ears, totally impartial. It had nothing to do with them personally. Particularly in novel form. I wasn't going to identify. I wasn't going to use their names. I wouldn't identify them in any fashion, because they know they're living a different kind of life.
BLITZER: But is this an accurate portrayal or an exaggeration of the sex, the drinking, the drugs, the craziness that's going on, on college campuses? Is it what's really happening or is it just your imagination going loose?
WOLFE: I swear -- I have my hand up -- I swear that this is not even an extreme. I avoided some of the extremes.
BLITZER: You're saying this is tamed down?
WOLFE: This is tamed down, compared to all the things that go on, because some of them I think people just wouldn't believe.
They'd think I was -- and I -- when I see this called satire, I wince, because, in my mind, satire is taking the truth and pushing it over a cliff.
BLITZER: You went and did research at some of the elite universities in the country.
WOLFE: Yes, I did.
BLITZER: You went to Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, Yale. Are you saying that is what's happening in this book, "I Am Charlotte Simmons," is happening at these elite universities around the country?
WOLFE: Well, as far as the behavior of the students, yes. It does not vary anywhere. Well, there may be some -- I don't know about Brigham Young. Maybe things are different there, but I don't know.
This is what happens everywhere. Some of the conditions are different. I mean, some schools, you're going to have probably brighter students than others.
BLITZER: The whole issue -- I know there are coed dorms all over the country. I have a daughter who graduated recently from college. I know there were coed dorms, but coed bathrooms, you say that's pretty common.
WOLFE: Oh, it's very common. And nobody knows why. There was never a debate over coed dorms, for a start. And there was never a debate over coed bathrooms. These things just happened.
BLITZER: Because some of those scenes where you have Charlotte going into a bathroom where there are men in there and urinals, it gets pretty disgusting in there, the way you depict it.
WOLFE: I maintain that this is the first vivid scene of egestion, let's call it, in literature since James Joyce's "Ulysses," where there's a long chapter about egestion. And I just wanted to show just how disgusting it would be to somebody who grew up at the time I grew up. And it is disgusting now to a lot of these young women.
BLITZER: "The New York Times" reviewer said this -- not very flattering. He said, normally praising you, "This time, instead of boldly going where few writers have gone before, he gives us some tiresomely generic, if hyperbolic glimpses of student life."
WOLFE: I would love, actually -- if it's so common, where is the other book or books? They don't exist.
This is the only picture that anybody is going to get, so far, of the actual life of the student. Yes, there have been statistics about increase in sexual activity. There have been stories about increase in drinking, which isn't true. Drinking has always been at an extremely high level in colleges in this country. And there's all these stories about political correctness, which they always get wrong, because it's just the faculty that's absorbed in political correctness.
BLITZER: What does Tom Wolfe do next for an encore?
WOLFE: I have the radar dish on waiting for a good idea. Right now, I'm tempted to do something about religion, because I wrote an essay, oh, back in the '70s called "The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening." That part, the third great awakening, referred to new religious manifestations in the U.S.
BLITZER: Is this book going to be a motion picture?
WOLFE: I don't know. Nobody has come, offered me a lot of money, or any money for it.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: If it were a motion picture, who would you want to play Charlotte Simmons?
WOLFE: There's nobody really lovely enough that I can think of, because she's supposed to be like a fairy tale princess.
BLITZER: Eighteen, 19 years old.
WOLFE: You know, the princess who's asleep waiting for her true love to kiss her, that's what she's supposed to look like. That's why I would never let anybody put her picture on the cover of a book. I'm not sure that I can find that. You know, they get corrupted so easily in Hollywood. They lose that innocence. I don't know why, but they do.
BLITZER: I suspect they'll find someone.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Tom Wolfe, congratulations on the book, "I Am Charlotte Simmons."
WOLFE: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate this.
BLITZER: Appreciate it.
Wolf on Wolfe.
WOLFE: Wolfe and Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: All right, in a moment, how the world commemorates World AIDS Day.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here is how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Remember, though, this is not a scientific poll.
In our picture of the day, a look at nations observing World AIDS Day around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): This is World AIDS Day. And the focus is on women and girls.
As activists, patients and health workers took to the streets in India, officials say that women make up half of the 45 million people worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. India's five million HIV cases are second only to South Africa, where the disease kills an estimated 600 people each day.
In Moscow, hundreds took to the streets demanding free AIDS treatment; 280,000 Russians are officially registered as HIV positive. But the United Nations says there are about three times that many.
In Thailand, the day was marked with a parade in the capital, Bangkok; 600,000 Thais have died from AIDS and almost that many are HIV positive. In China, World AIDS Day is being observed with dances and other events. The U.N. warns, China could have as many as 10 million people infected with HIV by 2010 if it doesn't take urgent action. In response, the government says it is ordering thousands of local leaders to learn about AIDS.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And a reminder, we're on the air weekdays 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
Tomorrow, it's Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer. It's also one of Africa's most troubled democracies. I'll have a rare interview tomorrow on this program with Nigerian President Obasanjo.
Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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