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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Israeli Withdrawal Nears; More Violence in Iraq
Aired April 21, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now -- they may be dragged out kicking and screaming. A major eviction of thousands of Israeli settlers from Gaza is fast approaching. And the Israeli government is getting ready in case it turns violent. We'll take you behind the scenes.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Chopper down: six Americans among the dead. Are civilian aircraft easy targets for Iraq's insurgents?
Nomination confrontation: President Bush joins the battle over his choice for U.N. ambassador.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is the right man at the right time for this important assignment.
BLITZER: Can he sway those who worry about the wrong man in the wrong place?
Generation Rx: teenagers raiding the family medicine cabinet to get high, shocking new statistics.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, April 21, 2005.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks for joining us.
We begin with a sharp upsurge in deadly violence by Iraq's insurgents, who by all accounts found a new target today. A civilian helicopter with a Bulgarian crew went down while carrying passengers from Baghdad to Tikrit. Among the dead, half a dozen Americans, employees of the security firm Blackwater USA.
The Bulgarian Defense Ministry and U.S. military sources believe the chopper was downed by missile fire. We must caution you that our report contains some graphic images.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The charred remains of a commercial helicopter downed Thursday morning, killing all 11 on board, six American contractors, the crew of three Bulgarian civilians, and two Fijian bodyguards.
Yet another car bomb on Baghdad's perilous road to the airport, killing at least two.
An assassination attempt on Iraq's interim prime minister. He got away, but several of his Iraqi guards didn't.
Iraq is awash in a new wave of violence, leaving in its wake all hope that the chaos that has enveloped this country for the last two years was on the decline.
Particularly gruesome news from just south of Baghdad where the bodies of 50 men, women and children have been pulled from the Tigris River over the last two weeks. Iraqis police tell CNN they have been recovering corpses from a dam, where they have been getting stuck at the rate of three to four a day.
Suhwa Hassan (ph) blames sectarian violence for the death of her loved one. Six buses laden with gunmen, she says, took my two brothers-in-laws. They surrounded the area and alerted the Shiite residents to leave, after they tore up religious pictures and banners.
Twenty more bodies, this time those of Iraqi soldiers in the northwest of the country. They were on leave when they were abducted by insurgents on a highway and brought to a soccer stadium to be executed.
The Iraqi president was hoping the composition of a new government could be announced today. That didn't happen. It's delayed until Sunday at the earliest.
(on camera): The president says he wants to see Sunni Arabs, who were blamed for making up the bulk of the insurgents' numbers, included in that government in meaningful numbers.
Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: This would be the first commercial helicopter downed by insurgents since the war began more than two years ago. Are these aircraft more vulnerable than military choppers? Joining us now, retired U.S. Air Force Major General Don Shepperd, a former combat pilot, former head of the Air National Guard. And he spent four decades in the U.S. Air Force.
They're pretty vulnerable, especially these civilian or commercial helicopters. They don't have the equipment that the military helicopters have, do they?
MAJ GENERAL DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET): Well it depends, Wolf. Helicopters are vulnerable because they fly low to the ground and are not as maneuverable as tactical aircraft such as fighters. You don't know for sure what equipment this airplane had on it. All of the airplanes over there, if possible, should have infrared countermeasures and flares to protect themselves against shoulder fired missiles, which are the biggest threat to low flying helicopters. We don't know for sure if this one had it or not, even if it did, it could have malfunctioned.
BLITZER: What about anti-aircraft fire, triple-A as they call it? That's pretty dangerous to these low-flying helicopters as well.
SHEPPERD: Any time you're close to the ground, you're vulnerable to AAA, small arms fire. But the small arms fire over there is constant. And even if you get a lucky hit, it's not likely that you would bring down a helicopter. This is most likely a shoulder shoulder-fired missile, and the nation is awash in them.
BLITZER: When you say the nation is awash in these shoulder- fired surface-to-air missiles, how many are you talking about? Are they in the tens, the hundreds, the thousands?
SHEPPERD: Well certainly, the many, many thousands spread all over the country. The country is -- was an arms depot, the entire country was. And it's simple to say, why don't you just clean up and blow this stuff up? There are miles and miles and miles of bunkers that would take months and months and months in a perfect security situation to go find this stuff and destroy it. They'll never run out of arms. They'll never run out of shoulder-fired missiles. And when they do, as long as they've got money, they'll be able to buy them on the arms market.
BLITZER: When I was in Iraq only a few weeks ago, I was repeatedly told by U.S. military intelligence officers this is a high priority for the insurgents to shoot down aircraft, whether fixed wing or helicopters, and they're doing their best to do so. Yet the helicopters -- and I flew all over Iraq -- they fly pretty low to the ground. It would seem to be a relatively easy target, even though they have those -- they have the machine guns on both sides with the doors wide open.
SHEPPERD: OK. The machine guns don't keep you from getting shot down. They enable you to shoot at the people that might be shooting at you. But the way you protect the helicopters is with flares and with infrared countermeasure systems.
These are sophisticated systems that confuse the missile guidance. Once an infrared shoulder-fired missile is fired at you, you can confuse it and divert either with flares or with sophisticated maneuvers. And then you've also got tactics where you break into the missile, break away from it. And finally, you take care of where you fly, what altitudes and what routes you fly. All those protect you.
BLITZER: Even the big planes, forget about the helicopters, they have to fly at very high altitudes. And when they do land, as you know, they have to do a very, very quick landing so they're not vulnerable for too long. SHEPPERD: Yeah. You spiral down over the airport to stay away from the low altitude in vicinity of the airport. The airports are pretty well patrolled over there.
But Iraq is a dangerous place. And any time you're in a helicopter, any time you're low to the ground, you are vulnerable. Even if you have sophisticated infrared countermeasure systems and flares, those things can either malfunction, or they can get a lucky shot in which the systems don't have time to react. There's no magic bullet.
BLITZER: We're getting this report -- and let me tell it -- share it with you as I share it with our viewers. The so-called Islamic Army in Iraq is claiming responsibility for the shooting down of this helicopter that killed 11 people. And they're releasing video of what they claim was the helicopter's wreckage.
The militant group has carried out multiple attacks in Iraq, taken several hostages in the past, including an Italian journalist who was beheaded in another high profile case. The group took two French journalists hostage, but eventually released them a few months later.
We're getting that information even as we speak right now.
One final question. If you can't fly relatively safely, and you can't drive around Iraq because it's dangerous to get on those roads, what are the 140,000 U.S. troops and the civilian contractors and the millions of Iraqi people supposed to do?
SHEPPERD: Well, they fly and they drive, and you take your chances. As you slowly improve the training of the Iraqi forces and try to get them to spread security over the nation, it's going to be a long-time process, and there is no way that you're going to be able to keep people from getting shot, either in airplanes or on the ground totally.
It's going to be a dangerous place as long as we live. And as long as Americans are there, it's going to be dangerous for Americans.
BLITZER: Major General Don Shepperd, as usual, thanks very much.
SHEPPERD: Pleasure.
BLITZER: President Bush today was forced to come to the defense of his embattled nominee for the U.N. ambassador's position. But even some Republicans are getting cold feet over the reports of John Bolton's hot temper.
Let's go live to our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, despite all these questions, of course, a senior administration official telling CNN earlier today that they say the White House is full speed ahead on this nomination. They also say that they are determined to get out the message that Bolton is their guy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: I urge the Senate to put aside politics and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush trying to save his embattled nominee briefly put aside his prepared Social Security speech to fight for his man.
BUSH: He is the right man at the right time for this important assignment.
MALVEAUX: The president's comments come amid growing signs Bolton's nomination may be in trouble. Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee decided to delay voting on Bolton's nomination to investigate a growing number of allegations from subordinates who say Bolton mistreated them.
And now former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Thomas Hubbard tells CNN he's come forward to set the record straight about Bolton's combative statements at peace talks with North Korea, saying he was counterproductive.
But White House officials dismiss all complaints as unfounded.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: John Bolton is someone who has a long record of getting things done. And sometimes that's going to make people mad, when you are someone who gets things done.
MALVEAUX: On the Hill, both sides are using the hearing's delay to ratchet up their case.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD, (D-CT) FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: I think John Bolton is damaged goods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president believes that we need to reform the U.N. Yes, we need to reform the U.N. And John Bolton has the ability to do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now Wolf, it was just 48 hours ago that White House officials say that the level of discussions that were taking place with those Senate Republican on the committee were low level discussions, staff level discussions. Obviously, there is a greatened sense of concern. Those discussions, we are told, are taking place at much higher levels, not the presidential level, but at much higher levels than staff -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thanks, Suzanne, very much.
Another presidential nominee has fared much better. In fact, within the past hour, John Negroponte won confirmation from the U.S. Senate as the nation's first-ever Director of National Intelligence. The vote, 98-2, with Democrats Ron Wyden and Tom Harkin casting the dissenting votes. Negroponte, most recently ambassador to Iraq, will oversee 15 intelligence agencies. The post was created as part of the most significant U.S. intelligence overhaul in more than half a century.
Wall Street bounced back from yesterday's gloomy performance with a major rally today. The Dow Jones Industrial average posted its biggest one-day gain in almost two years, up 206 points -- that's more than 2 percent -- closing above 10,218. The NASDAQ was up more than 48 points to 1,962, a gain of more than 2-and-a-half percent. And the S&P 500 rose 22 points to close at 1,159, up almost 2 percent.
CNN's Mary Snow is live in our New York bureau with more on today's Wall Street rally. Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the bulls took a run on Wall Street and put the brakes on recent selling that's been stoked by fears of inflation. Just a few days ago, stocks posted their biggest decline of the year. The question is, why the turnaround? Market observers say today's surge was fueled by a combination of positive news on the economy and corporate profits. Analysts say worries about inflation fears was soothed a bit by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in Washington today. Investors also cheered a drop in the number of Americans filing for weekly jobless claims and a report on manufacturing.
Now, on the corporate front, there were a number of companies reporting strong profits, including some big tech names like Motorola. That helped boost confidence. The big question is, where do we go from here? Some believe the worst is over in terms of decline. Others expect the market to be choppy for several months. Wolf?
BLITZER: We'll watch, together, with you, Mary. Thank you very much.
Teens and drugs: surprising new information on where kids are getting them. It's a problem that literally hits home for many families.
Also -- the country's foster care system in crisis. Now, one state's landmark effort to ban some from becoming foster parents. We'll explain, tell you what's going on.
Also this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SMITH, VIETNAM VETERANS: I had an opportunity to do something that a lot of Vietnam vets want to do. I did it for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: We'll show you what this Vietnam vet did to the actress Jane Fonda.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Where do American teenagers get their hands on so-called controlled or legal drugs when they want to get high? How about the medicine cabinets in their own homes? A new study by the Partnership for a Drug Free America finds that one out of every five teenagers in the United States used a prescription pain killer to get high last year. That's bigger than the percentage of teenagers who abused illegal drugs. The survey says the prescription drugs most frequently abused by teenagers were Vicodin, Oxycontin, and attention deficit disorder drugs like Ritalin.
Joining us now to discuss this study is Scott Burns, the deputy director of White House Office for National Drug Control Policy. Scott, thanks very much for joining us.
I don't know, maybe I'm totally out of touch, but this seems like a shocking number to me. I don't know if it was surprising to you.
SCOTT BURNS, DEP. W.H. DRUG CONTROL DIRECTOR: It's a tricky issue. As we know, the vast majority of prescription drugs benefit millions of Americans. But it is an emerging threat. I mean, one in five young people using prescription drugs inappropriately is shocking. The good news is, drug use among teens over the last three years is down 18 percent.
BLITZER: Illegal drug use?
BURNS: Illegal drug use.
BLITZER: You mean like marijuana?
BURNS: Marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine. We've seen serious drops in the last three years.
BLITZER: That's good news, but it's still way too high.
BURNS: Certainly. We can do better.
BLITZER: Let's talk about these legal drugs that kids are apparently finding in their parents' -- in their medicine cabinets. What is the country supposed to do about this? What, if anything, can parents do about it, other than have a safe, and lock up their prescription drugs?
BURNS: Well, what America can do about it, and what the White House is doing, is implementing prescription monitoring programs in the states; about half of them have them now. We're having a serious discussion with physicians in this country about prescribing practices, and we're also going after the rogue internet providers or purveyors that pop up and try to get children to double click and have Vicodin delivered in three days.
What parents can do is, have discussions with your children and keep an eye on your medicine cabinet. You should know what's there. You should know how many pills you have, and if there's any possibility your children are going to take them, you should move them somewhere else, secure them.
BLITZER: Are parents, are local school boards, the federal governments, states -- are they doing enough to educate these kids and tell them how dangerous this is to their health?
BURNS: Well, we can always do better, but, through our media campaign and through the work of the drug czar and others, we have made it clear that there's been a 100 percent increase in prescription abuse in the last five years, about six million of the 19.5 million illegal-use drugs in this country, and now, illegally-used prescription drugs. That's twice as much as cocaine.
BLITZER: And basically, they take these pills. I mean, they get high, but they could also get very, very sick.
BURNS: You can die. We're seeing an alarming increase in young people who order these drugs over the Internet...
BLITZER: And they take an overdose, and that's it?
BURNS: Absolutely.
BLITZER: I saw in the same study a statistic on marijuana use, pot use, in the United States. It went down over the last six years among teenagers from 42 percent who say they've tried it, to 37 percent who say they've tried it. Thirty-seven percent, that's one out of three who still have tried marijuana, which is still an illegal drug.
BURNS: Yes, and that's a serious problem because, as I said, 19.5 million, 75 percent, singularly or co-use marijuana, and it ain't the marijuana of the '60s.
BLITZER: What does that mean, "it ain't the marijuana of the '60s?"
BURNS: Used to be 1 and 2 percent THC level, the potency; it now averages between 8 and 15 percent. BC bud coming over the border from Canada is as high as 30 percent. We also know that kids initiate younger -- 12, 11, and 10-year-olds -- as opposed to the '60s and 70s when it was 18 and 19-year-olds.
BLITZER: So, bottom line is, the country's making some progress, but still not enough, and this is still a huge crisis in the United States.
BURNS: Well, as I said, reduction among teens, 18 percent in three years. We can always do better, and it's an issue that you're going to hear about.
BLITZER: Scott Burns, thanks very much. Important subject; I'm glad we alerting parents out there to make sure they watch their medicine cabinets -- grandparents, as well. This is potentially a very, very deadly situation. BURNS: Absolutely.
BLITZER: When we come back, badge debate: Why the U.S. Army plans to change the rules on close combat badges. And it's causing a little bit of a controversy, perhaps much of a controversy. We'll explain.
Anger and defiance in Gaza: A delay in the Israeli pullout only postponing the inevitable. We'll take you behind the scenes, show you how the Israeli military is getting ready.
Plus, a glorious past and a hopeful future literally drained away by Saddam Hussein. The plight of Iraq's marsh Arabs in the south. This is a story you'll want to see. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More than 1,500 members of the U.S. Armed Services have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion more than two years ago. The Pentagon and the U.S. Military Central Command put the total at 1,563 -- 1,191 as a result of so-called hostile action, 372 of other causes.
While many of those on the front lines are eligible for combat decorations, some are not. The U.S. Army is taking steps to change that, but some critics don't think those steps go far enough.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is looking into the story. He's joining us live -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, as you know in Iraq, there are no real front lines. And that means that some soldiers are in combat, but they're not eligible for the current combat awards.
In response, the Army has made a new award, but not everybody's eligible for that either. And that means not all the soldiers are happy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): March 20, west of Baghdad this insurgent video captured by U.S. soldiers shows a fierce fire fight as U.S. military police protect a truck convoy against a ferocious assault.
SGT. LEIGH ANN HESTER, U.S. ARMY: Immediately, we went to the right side of the convoy and began taking fire, and we laid down suppressive fire and pushed up in flanks, flanked the insurgents and overcame that day.
MCINTYRE Together, the six MPs and one medic killed 26 heavily armed insurgents, wounded four and captured one. Three of the MPs were wounded, but no U.S. forces were killed.
An Army after-action report lauded the heroics of Sergeant Hester and her unit. "She and her squad leader deserve every bit of recognition they will get and more," it said. But one recognition currently denied MPs and other non-combat specialties is the Army's new Close Combat Badge, that was was supposed to go to soldiers who in the old days weren't on the front lines.
It's a sore subject that one female soldier raised with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week in Afghanistan.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: You're wondering, what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why MPs aren't considered for the close combat patch?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Army's new badge. It's like the combat...
RUMSFELD: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the answer?
LT. GEN. DAVID BARNO, JOINT FORCES COMMAND: The Army leadership's decisions was that the Close Combat Badge would only be for those units that were designated to fight as infantry.
RUMSFELD: But General Barno, she didn't ask what the decision was. She asked why that was the decision.
CROWD: Huah!
MCINTYRE: The soldier didn't get an answer that day, but the Army gets the point. CNN has learned that new rules are being drawn up that would extend eligibility to all soldiers who are in close combat regardless of their job description.
BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. ARMY SPOKESMAN: And we're working the exact criteria and the implementing instructions. We hope to have them out by the end of this month.
MCINTYRE: The Close Combat Badge is similar to the Combat Infantry Badge, which is reserved for infantry or special forces soldiers, except the new badge will feature a bayonnette instead of a rifle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And Wolf, the Army is yet to award these new badges, which will be eligible to anyone who's seen combat since September 11 of 2001. And one Army officer said that once these come out, they should be a huge morale boost because they're seen by the troops as a true badge of honor.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre reporting for us. Thanks, Jamie, very much.
A U.S. Army sergeant was convicted today in connection with a deadly attack on his comrades during the opening days of the Iraq War. A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, found Sergeant Hasan Akbar guilty of premeditated murder and attempted murder. The grenade and rifle attack at Camp Pennsylvania in Northern Kuwait killed two captains and wounded 14 other officers. Akbar could face the death penalty.
Some say they will not go peacefully: As the Israeli government prepares to evict thousands of its citizens, many families debate what to do and even where to go.
Plus, they've been foster parents for dozens of children. Find out why one Texas law maker wants to make it illegal for them to become foster parents again.
And next, how Jessica Lunsford, a girl abducted and slain in Florida last month, may be influencing national legislation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back -- 1,500 families forced to leave their homes once Israel's occupation of Gaza ends. What will happen to those who refuse to go peacefully? We'll take a closer look.
First, though, a quick check of other stories, "Now in the News."
Legislators have introduced a bill that would require states to keep a closer eye on convicted sex offenders after they've been released from prison. The bill is named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, whose body was found last month near her home in Homosassa, Florida. A convicted sex offender is charged with her murder. The girl's father attended a news conference, announcing the bill, in Washington earlier today.
Arraignment today for two former New York City Police detectives accused of working for the Mafia. They're accused of working as hitmen, as well as passing confidential information, drug distribution, and money laundering. Both men pleaded not guilty.
Israel's defense minister today endorsed a proposal to delay the pull-out from Gaza by three weeks until mid-August. Officials say the goal is to avoid uprooting thousands of mostly Orthodox Jewish settlers during a religious mourning period. But there is already mourning among the Gaza settlers, along with anger and defiance. With or without the delay, their eviction is just a matter of time.
CNN's John Vause reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's not long to go now, not long before Israel ends almost 38 years of occupation over the Gaza Strip, the so-called "disengagement." Not long before 9,000 Jewish settlers, the 1,500 families who live here, will have to leave. Some will go peacefully. Many others say they'll be carried from their homes, like the Genish family from the Alei Sinai settlement in the northern part of Gaza.
MALI GENISH, ALEI SINAI SETTLER: We're going to be here, in our house, like you see it now.
VAUSE: So you're not going to pack?
GENISH: We are not going to pack. We are going to be here and talk quietly to the policemen or soldiers. I don't know who will come into my house, yes? I don't fight because every soldier can be my son.
VAUSE: Mali and her husband, Suri, have made no plans for the day after disengagement. They haven't contacted the government, haven't applied for compensation, won't even think about where to move. And the government, they say, hasn't told them a thing.
GENISH: We heard everything by the press. No one called us. No one sent a letter to make a proposition, to deal the details, no one.
VAUSE: Ehud Olmert is second only to the Israeli prime minister, and it was Mr. Olmert who first floated the idea of disengagement, months before it became official government policy.
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI VICE PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not sure that one has to accept these complaints at face value. The settlers can know everything that they want to know, and certainly, the government is trying to reach out for every one of them and share with them all the information. Sometimes, they prefer not to hear so that they could complain.
VAUSE: The Israeli government has plans to build 1,000 temporary homes, but construction is yet to begin. Sources within the disengagement authority say that's because, so far, the number of families filing for compensation are numbered in the dozens. So, it's still unclear where the temporary homes should be located.
(on camera): The government says a big part of the problem has been the settlers themselves. For more than a year, they fought disengagement, every step of the way, most refusing to contemplate ever leaving their homes. And now with three months to go, many are still hoping they'll be able to stay.
Those like Mali and Suri Genish, who plan to be carried out, will be sent to nearby hotels for a few days while they decide where they want to move to, and those who fight to the very end, will be put in purpose-built cells at the Masiau (ph) prison. Construction there has been underway for months.
OLMERT: It's heart-breaking, a very painful process, but we are not up there for a war. We are not up there for confrontation. We want to hug them, and to very delicately and sensitively, with love and with respect, convince them that they need to move.
VAUSE: And if the hugs and love don't work, the government is planning for a fight, training police and soldiers how to deal with an expected small group of hard-core opponents.
During the Six-Day War, Israel captured Gaza and the Sinai Desert from Egypt with three divisions, and now there are plans to use three divisions during the evacuation: 10,000 soldiers who will be unarmed are being specially trained to remove the settlers from their homes.
Getting out will not be easy. Synagogues, for example, will not be left behind. They'll be taken apart and relocated. And then, there's the dead: 47 graves will be exhumed. Nir Rivlin buried his father Gideon three months ago. He was killed during this attack by Palestinian militants belonging to Islamic Jihad. Even though his family knew disengagement was coming, they still decided he should be buried in Gaza.
NIR RIVLIN, GUSH KATIF SETTLER: This is our strength. We live here, and we die here, and we bury here. This is us. This is our life. This is what my father wanted to do, that we'll do for him, and -- I don't know. This is probably his last wish.
VAUSE: For those whose relatives are buried here, it will bring more pain and anguish at a time when they're being forced from their homes.
RABBI BEREL WEIN: It's really a second funeral for them, so the day of the exhumation, they have to sit in mourning. It -- they observe the customs of mourning. They sit on the floor. It's a -- it is a -- you know, death is something that all of us have to face, but there are moments of closure. It's over. And here you open the wound again.
VAUSE: For many of the families, simply leaving the graves here is not an option either. After disengagement, they fear the cemetery could well be desecrated, and then there's the issue of security. They believe it just wouldn't be safe to come here.
And after much debate and even more angst, the Israeli government has decided not to destroy the settlers' homes, a goodwill gesture for the Palestinians, but not for Nir Rivlin. His father built this house 27 years ago.
RIVLIN: It's my house, and I can't imagine the moment that, I don't know, CNN will come here after the evacuation and interview a Palestinian sitting here in my house -- in the background, and I'll see the TV from, I don't know where.
OLMERT: It will be very difficult, not just for the families, for all of us. I know the manners of our adversaries -- they are not always restrained, and they are not always respectful, and there is a good chance that they will take over the houses within hours, and will desecrate some places and will make it as a demonstration, to show that they defeated us and that they forced us out and so on and so forth. And we'll have to absorb it with all the pains and with all the unpleasantness which is involved.
VAUSE: There will be much pain and unpleasantness in the weeks and months ahead. Those opposed to the disengagement say they'll make the evacuation as difficult as possible, with protests around the country. The sun may now be setting on the Israeli occupation of Gaza. The settlers have all but lost. Even so, they say, their battle to stay is far from over.
John Vause, CNN, in the Gaza settlements.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And when we come back, a Texas lawmaker pushes to keep gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT TALTON, TEXAS STATE HOUSE: I believe that homosexuals and bisexuals shouldn't be raising our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Will the Lone Star State become the first state in the nation to enact such a law? We'll take a closer look. That's coming up.
Plus -- once persecuted by Saddam Hussein and now feeling ignored by the current Iraqi government. We'll take you to these so-called Glory River region, where locals say they'd gladly give up their past for a brighter future.
And later -- raw emotions. It's been decades since the Vietnam War. So why is one veteran still so upset with Jane Fonda?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Should gays and lesbians be allowed to become foster parents in the United States? Some Texas lawmakers say no. Allie Rasmus of our affiliate News 8 in Austin has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLIE RASMUS, NEWS 8 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over the past four years, Eva Thibaudeau has been a foster parent to dozens of children. She adopted four of them.
EVA THIBAUDEAU, FOSTER PARENT: It ended up that these four children needed a permanent home and they were not able to find one. And so we stepped in.
RASMUS: But new legislation that just passed the House floor would prevent Thibaudeau and her partner, Christina (ph), from ever becoming foster parents again. Representative Robert Talton of Pasadena added a last-minute amendment to the Child Protective Services bill that passed Tuesday night. It prohibits gays and lesbians from being foster parents.
TALTON: We do not believe that homosexuals or bisexuals should be raising our children.
RASMUS: Representative Talton said his rationale for the amendment is based on his belief that homosexuality could be passed on from parent to child.
TALTON: Some of us believe that they would be better off in orphanages than to be raised by a homosexual or bisexual, because that's a learned behavior.
THIBAUDEAU: He clearly doesn't know anything about attachment theory and how important it is for children to be able to attach to a loving primary parent or caregiver.
RASMUS (on camera): While Representative Talton wrote the amendment, more than half of House lawmakers voted to approve it, including 10 Democrats.
HEATH RIDDLE, GAY/LESBIAN LOBBY OF TEXAS: We're disappointed. You know, we had hopes that the vote would have turned out better, and that more people would have voted with courage and voted more according to their principles.
RASMUS (voice-over): Rebecca Bigler has researched child psychology at the University of Texas for 15 years.
PROF. REBECCA BIGLER, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: There's just no evidence whatsoever that being raised by gay and lesbians is harmful to children or puts children at risk.
RASMUS: She says what is harmful is having a child removed from a permanent home. If it becomes law, Talton's amendment would also require current gay and lesbian parents to turn their foster children back over to the state.
BIGLER: It is terribly disrupting for a child's life to be pulled out of their home and out of their family.
RASMUS: The amendment still has a few more steps to go before becoming law. A joint Senate and House committee will work out the final details of the CPS bill in the coming month. Thibaudeau says, in the meantime, she's not giving up hope.
THIBAUDEAU: Our voices are going to be heard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That report from Allie Rasmus of our affiliate News 8 in Austin, Texas. If that bill does become law, Texas would be the first state in the United States to prohibit gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Kitty Pilgrim, once again, filling in for Lou tonight. She's joining us live with a preview -- Kitty.
KITTY PILGRIM, GUEST HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Thanks, Wolf. Well, tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, is the Bush White House losing momentum only four months into the president's second term? We'll be reporting on the rising opposition to key elements of President Bush's second-term agenda.
Also tonight, "Broken Borders." Hundreds of violent illegal aliens are being released onto our streets simply because of legal loopholes. And the president's energy bill wins the support of the House, faces a tough battle in the Senate. Two leading members of Congress with opposing views, my guests. All that and more at the top of the hour.
But for now, back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Kitty, very much. We'll be watching at the top of the hour.
Their way of life stayed the same for thousands of years until Saddam Hussein literally drained the marshes, destroying their ancient world. Now they want a new life. We'll tell you what's going on.
Jane Fonda is back with a new book about her controversial past. But one Vietnam vet can't forgive that past. The result -- a very ugly incident. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: One area in southern Iraq couldn't be further away from modern technology. Its proud past and hopeful future drained away when Saddam Hussein ordered the construction of what he called the so- called Glory River.
CNN's Jane Arraf has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along Iraq's Glory Canal, ice is a luxury carried from the nearest town. This is Iraq's most romanticized and poorest region, the southern marshes, where people still live off of fishing as they have for thousands of years and still make their own houses from mud and reeds.
But since Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in the early 1990s to fight Shi'a insurgents hiding there, many have been squeezed into a small area along 13 miles of these banks.
Saddam called it the Glory River. Its really a canal draining the marshes and displacing the marsh Arabs near the border with Iran.
"Saddam dried this place," says Ali Tayyem (ph). "It was dry sand from here to Iran, and they would shoot at us with their guns from all sides."
Although the marshes have a glorious past reaching back to the dawn of recorded history 5,000 years ago, it's a hard life. People here would prefer to join the 21st Century.
(on camera): This is one of the poorest villages in the poorest area in Iraq. Life hasn't really changed much here in hundreds of years, except now they know what they're missing.
(voice-over): Nashal Rales (ph) is 14. She's curious about life outside the village, but has little prospect of ever leaving it. Unlike her mother's generation, where even girls were encouraged to go to school, she can't read or write.
"Nobody put me in school," she says.
She spends her days in the fields. In a year or two, she'll be married.
Here the women look after the animals, cook and clean.
There's no electricity. The men fish. Barhan Fahed (ph) says they get about 1,000 dinars a day, less than a dollar, for their fish, just enough to buy a kilo of sugar.
When it rains, they get wet. At night, crammed as many as 14 to a room, they say the mosquitoes eat them alive. And when they get sick, they have to find their way to the nearest town, or in this case, hope that British forces are passing by.
In the nearby village of Abu Hassef (ph), the head of the village Hassam Musam Muhammed (ph) says what his people want most are real houses.
His mavif (ph) where the village sheik receives guests is beautifully crafted from reeds, but it has to be rebuilt every year or two, and it's prone to catching fire.
His sister Umsad (ph) says the villagers need jobs. She's 25 and has seven children. But she can sew, she says, and read and write.
UMSAD, SISTER OF VILLAGE LEADER (through translator): Do we need the marshes for every river to be stuck to us? We want to be educated and modernized. We want electricity. We want schools to be established. We want salaries.
ARRAF: The men here used to serve in the army, but this far from a major city, the army isn't hiring nor is the police. The only money available is through smuggling and banditry.
It's not just me, all the guys want to work as police or anything, says Hadam Jassem Hussein (ph). He says they don't even have proper clothes to wear.
Back along the canal, one of their main links to the outside world is the radio. This one tuned to a religious program from Iran.
Persecuted by Saddam, these villagers say they've been neglected by current Iraqi leaders. They'd gladly give up the marshes illustrious past for the promise of a future.
Jane Arraf, CNN, along the Glory Canal in southern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we'll have more reports from Jane coming up in the coming days.
Actress Jane Fonda spit on by a Vietnam veteran. We'll hear from the man who says he acted on his anger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This week in history, a 51-day standoff between a religious cult and law enforcement ends in flames on April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidian Compound near Waco, Texas, burned to the ground, claiming the lives of some 80 cult members.
In 1995, a truck containing a bomb exploded at Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. 168 people were killed, including 19 children.
And in Littleton, Colorado, two teenagers went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. The gunmen, wearing black trench coats, shot and killed 13 people before turning the guns on themselves. And that is this week in history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Jane Fonda's on a national tour promoting her new memoir, but some aspects of her life still provoke bitter feelings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: I had an opportunity to do something that a lot of Vietnam vets want to do. I did it for them.
BLITZER (voice-over): Vietnam veteran Michael Smith makes no apologies for what he did to Jane Fonda. At a book signing in Kansas City Missouri, Tuesday night, he waited in line to have the actress sign a copy of her new memoir, "My Life So Far," number one this week on the "New York Times" best seller list.
But it wasn't an autograph Smith was after, it was revenge for this infamous photo op, a young Jane Fonda visiting North Vietnam at the height of the war, sitting on a communist anti-aircraft gun.
When Smith's turn at the book signing came, he approached the table and spit tobacco juice on Fonda. Witnesses say the actress took it in stride.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just started allowing people to pat her down. She said to everyone around her. It's fine. It's fine.
BLITZER: In her book, Fonda talks about her trip to North Vietnam, the notorious photo, and the bitterness it provoked.
She apologized for it again recently on CNN's LARRY KING LIVE.
JANE FONDA, ACTRESS: I think it hurt a lot of people. And I'm very, very sorry. And I will go to my grave regretting that lapse of judgment. It was terrible.
BLITZER: But that's not enough for Michael Smith, who says he considers Fonda a traitor. And he expressed no regret for his action.
SMITH: We did what we had to do for our buddies. And I knew this was something that I was going to do for my buddies.
I can't say that I feel better, but I feel like I've struck a blow back for all of us.
BLITZER: Fonda chose not to file charges against Smith and said in a statement, "in spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful. And I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Smith confirmed his service in Vietnam to the "Kansas City Star" with what the paper described as a document transferring him to Marine reserve status back in 1972.
Although Fonda isn't pressing charges, Kansas City Police are accusing Smith of disorderly conduct. Smith was arrested, released on bond and is due in court next month.
That's it for me. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now. Kitty Pilgrim standing by -- Kitty.
END
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Aired April 21, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now -- they may be dragged out kicking and screaming. A major eviction of thousands of Israeli settlers from Gaza is fast approaching. And the Israeli government is getting ready in case it turns violent. We'll take you behind the scenes.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Chopper down: six Americans among the dead. Are civilian aircraft easy targets for Iraq's insurgents?
Nomination confrontation: President Bush joins the battle over his choice for U.N. ambassador.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is the right man at the right time for this important assignment.
BLITZER: Can he sway those who worry about the wrong man in the wrong place?
Generation Rx: teenagers raiding the family medicine cabinet to get high, shocking new statistics.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, April 21, 2005.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks for joining us.
We begin with a sharp upsurge in deadly violence by Iraq's insurgents, who by all accounts found a new target today. A civilian helicopter with a Bulgarian crew went down while carrying passengers from Baghdad to Tikrit. Among the dead, half a dozen Americans, employees of the security firm Blackwater USA.
The Bulgarian Defense Ministry and U.S. military sources believe the chopper was downed by missile fire. We must caution you that our report contains some graphic images.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The charred remains of a commercial helicopter downed Thursday morning, killing all 11 on board, six American contractors, the crew of three Bulgarian civilians, and two Fijian bodyguards.
Yet another car bomb on Baghdad's perilous road to the airport, killing at least two.
An assassination attempt on Iraq's interim prime minister. He got away, but several of his Iraqi guards didn't.
Iraq is awash in a new wave of violence, leaving in its wake all hope that the chaos that has enveloped this country for the last two years was on the decline.
Particularly gruesome news from just south of Baghdad where the bodies of 50 men, women and children have been pulled from the Tigris River over the last two weeks. Iraqis police tell CNN they have been recovering corpses from a dam, where they have been getting stuck at the rate of three to four a day.
Suhwa Hassan (ph) blames sectarian violence for the death of her loved one. Six buses laden with gunmen, she says, took my two brothers-in-laws. They surrounded the area and alerted the Shiite residents to leave, after they tore up religious pictures and banners.
Twenty more bodies, this time those of Iraqi soldiers in the northwest of the country. They were on leave when they were abducted by insurgents on a highway and brought to a soccer stadium to be executed.
The Iraqi president was hoping the composition of a new government could be announced today. That didn't happen. It's delayed until Sunday at the earliest.
(on camera): The president says he wants to see Sunni Arabs, who were blamed for making up the bulk of the insurgents' numbers, included in that government in meaningful numbers.
Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: This would be the first commercial helicopter downed by insurgents since the war began more than two years ago. Are these aircraft more vulnerable than military choppers? Joining us now, retired U.S. Air Force Major General Don Shepperd, a former combat pilot, former head of the Air National Guard. And he spent four decades in the U.S. Air Force.
They're pretty vulnerable, especially these civilian or commercial helicopters. They don't have the equipment that the military helicopters have, do they?
MAJ GENERAL DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET): Well it depends, Wolf. Helicopters are vulnerable because they fly low to the ground and are not as maneuverable as tactical aircraft such as fighters. You don't know for sure what equipment this airplane had on it. All of the airplanes over there, if possible, should have infrared countermeasures and flares to protect themselves against shoulder fired missiles, which are the biggest threat to low flying helicopters. We don't know for sure if this one had it or not, even if it did, it could have malfunctioned.
BLITZER: What about anti-aircraft fire, triple-A as they call it? That's pretty dangerous to these low-flying helicopters as well.
SHEPPERD: Any time you're close to the ground, you're vulnerable to AAA, small arms fire. But the small arms fire over there is constant. And even if you get a lucky hit, it's not likely that you would bring down a helicopter. This is most likely a shoulder shoulder-fired missile, and the nation is awash in them.
BLITZER: When you say the nation is awash in these shoulder- fired surface-to-air missiles, how many are you talking about? Are they in the tens, the hundreds, the thousands?
SHEPPERD: Well certainly, the many, many thousands spread all over the country. The country is -- was an arms depot, the entire country was. And it's simple to say, why don't you just clean up and blow this stuff up? There are miles and miles and miles of bunkers that would take months and months and months in a perfect security situation to go find this stuff and destroy it. They'll never run out of arms. They'll never run out of shoulder-fired missiles. And when they do, as long as they've got money, they'll be able to buy them on the arms market.
BLITZER: When I was in Iraq only a few weeks ago, I was repeatedly told by U.S. military intelligence officers this is a high priority for the insurgents to shoot down aircraft, whether fixed wing or helicopters, and they're doing their best to do so. Yet the helicopters -- and I flew all over Iraq -- they fly pretty low to the ground. It would seem to be a relatively easy target, even though they have those -- they have the machine guns on both sides with the doors wide open.
SHEPPERD: OK. The machine guns don't keep you from getting shot down. They enable you to shoot at the people that might be shooting at you. But the way you protect the helicopters is with flares and with infrared countermeasure systems.
These are sophisticated systems that confuse the missile guidance. Once an infrared shoulder-fired missile is fired at you, you can confuse it and divert either with flares or with sophisticated maneuvers. And then you've also got tactics where you break into the missile, break away from it. And finally, you take care of where you fly, what altitudes and what routes you fly. All those protect you.
BLITZER: Even the big planes, forget about the helicopters, they have to fly at very high altitudes. And when they do land, as you know, they have to do a very, very quick landing so they're not vulnerable for too long. SHEPPERD: Yeah. You spiral down over the airport to stay away from the low altitude in vicinity of the airport. The airports are pretty well patrolled over there.
But Iraq is a dangerous place. And any time you're in a helicopter, any time you're low to the ground, you are vulnerable. Even if you have sophisticated infrared countermeasure systems and flares, those things can either malfunction, or they can get a lucky shot in which the systems don't have time to react. There's no magic bullet.
BLITZER: We're getting this report -- and let me tell it -- share it with you as I share it with our viewers. The so-called Islamic Army in Iraq is claiming responsibility for the shooting down of this helicopter that killed 11 people. And they're releasing video of what they claim was the helicopter's wreckage.
The militant group has carried out multiple attacks in Iraq, taken several hostages in the past, including an Italian journalist who was beheaded in another high profile case. The group took two French journalists hostage, but eventually released them a few months later.
We're getting that information even as we speak right now.
One final question. If you can't fly relatively safely, and you can't drive around Iraq because it's dangerous to get on those roads, what are the 140,000 U.S. troops and the civilian contractors and the millions of Iraqi people supposed to do?
SHEPPERD: Well, they fly and they drive, and you take your chances. As you slowly improve the training of the Iraqi forces and try to get them to spread security over the nation, it's going to be a long-time process, and there is no way that you're going to be able to keep people from getting shot, either in airplanes or on the ground totally.
It's going to be a dangerous place as long as we live. And as long as Americans are there, it's going to be dangerous for Americans.
BLITZER: Major General Don Shepperd, as usual, thanks very much.
SHEPPERD: Pleasure.
BLITZER: President Bush today was forced to come to the defense of his embattled nominee for the U.N. ambassador's position. But even some Republicans are getting cold feet over the reports of John Bolton's hot temper.
Let's go live to our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, despite all these questions, of course, a senior administration official telling CNN earlier today that they say the White House is full speed ahead on this nomination. They also say that they are determined to get out the message that Bolton is their guy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: I urge the Senate to put aside politics and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush trying to save his embattled nominee briefly put aside his prepared Social Security speech to fight for his man.
BUSH: He is the right man at the right time for this important assignment.
MALVEAUX: The president's comments come amid growing signs Bolton's nomination may be in trouble. Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee decided to delay voting on Bolton's nomination to investigate a growing number of allegations from subordinates who say Bolton mistreated them.
And now former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Thomas Hubbard tells CNN he's come forward to set the record straight about Bolton's combative statements at peace talks with North Korea, saying he was counterproductive.
But White House officials dismiss all complaints as unfounded.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: John Bolton is someone who has a long record of getting things done. And sometimes that's going to make people mad, when you are someone who gets things done.
MALVEAUX: On the Hill, both sides are using the hearing's delay to ratchet up their case.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD, (D-CT) FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: I think John Bolton is damaged goods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president believes that we need to reform the U.N. Yes, we need to reform the U.N. And John Bolton has the ability to do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now Wolf, it was just 48 hours ago that White House officials say that the level of discussions that were taking place with those Senate Republican on the committee were low level discussions, staff level discussions. Obviously, there is a greatened sense of concern. Those discussions, we are told, are taking place at much higher levels, not the presidential level, but at much higher levels than staff -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thanks, Suzanne, very much.
Another presidential nominee has fared much better. In fact, within the past hour, John Negroponte won confirmation from the U.S. Senate as the nation's first-ever Director of National Intelligence. The vote, 98-2, with Democrats Ron Wyden and Tom Harkin casting the dissenting votes. Negroponte, most recently ambassador to Iraq, will oversee 15 intelligence agencies. The post was created as part of the most significant U.S. intelligence overhaul in more than half a century.
Wall Street bounced back from yesterday's gloomy performance with a major rally today. The Dow Jones Industrial average posted its biggest one-day gain in almost two years, up 206 points -- that's more than 2 percent -- closing above 10,218. The NASDAQ was up more than 48 points to 1,962, a gain of more than 2-and-a-half percent. And the S&P 500 rose 22 points to close at 1,159, up almost 2 percent.
CNN's Mary Snow is live in our New York bureau with more on today's Wall Street rally. Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the bulls took a run on Wall Street and put the brakes on recent selling that's been stoked by fears of inflation. Just a few days ago, stocks posted their biggest decline of the year. The question is, why the turnaround? Market observers say today's surge was fueled by a combination of positive news on the economy and corporate profits. Analysts say worries about inflation fears was soothed a bit by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in Washington today. Investors also cheered a drop in the number of Americans filing for weekly jobless claims and a report on manufacturing.
Now, on the corporate front, there were a number of companies reporting strong profits, including some big tech names like Motorola. That helped boost confidence. The big question is, where do we go from here? Some believe the worst is over in terms of decline. Others expect the market to be choppy for several months. Wolf?
BLITZER: We'll watch, together, with you, Mary. Thank you very much.
Teens and drugs: surprising new information on where kids are getting them. It's a problem that literally hits home for many families.
Also -- the country's foster care system in crisis. Now, one state's landmark effort to ban some from becoming foster parents. We'll explain, tell you what's going on.
Also this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SMITH, VIETNAM VETERANS: I had an opportunity to do something that a lot of Vietnam vets want to do. I did it for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: We'll show you what this Vietnam vet did to the actress Jane Fonda.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Where do American teenagers get their hands on so-called controlled or legal drugs when they want to get high? How about the medicine cabinets in their own homes? A new study by the Partnership for a Drug Free America finds that one out of every five teenagers in the United States used a prescription pain killer to get high last year. That's bigger than the percentage of teenagers who abused illegal drugs. The survey says the prescription drugs most frequently abused by teenagers were Vicodin, Oxycontin, and attention deficit disorder drugs like Ritalin.
Joining us now to discuss this study is Scott Burns, the deputy director of White House Office for National Drug Control Policy. Scott, thanks very much for joining us.
I don't know, maybe I'm totally out of touch, but this seems like a shocking number to me. I don't know if it was surprising to you.
SCOTT BURNS, DEP. W.H. DRUG CONTROL DIRECTOR: It's a tricky issue. As we know, the vast majority of prescription drugs benefit millions of Americans. But it is an emerging threat. I mean, one in five young people using prescription drugs inappropriately is shocking. The good news is, drug use among teens over the last three years is down 18 percent.
BLITZER: Illegal drug use?
BURNS: Illegal drug use.
BLITZER: You mean like marijuana?
BURNS: Marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine. We've seen serious drops in the last three years.
BLITZER: That's good news, but it's still way too high.
BURNS: Certainly. We can do better.
BLITZER: Let's talk about these legal drugs that kids are apparently finding in their parents' -- in their medicine cabinets. What is the country supposed to do about this? What, if anything, can parents do about it, other than have a safe, and lock up their prescription drugs?
BURNS: Well, what America can do about it, and what the White House is doing, is implementing prescription monitoring programs in the states; about half of them have them now. We're having a serious discussion with physicians in this country about prescribing practices, and we're also going after the rogue internet providers or purveyors that pop up and try to get children to double click and have Vicodin delivered in three days.
What parents can do is, have discussions with your children and keep an eye on your medicine cabinet. You should know what's there. You should know how many pills you have, and if there's any possibility your children are going to take them, you should move them somewhere else, secure them.
BLITZER: Are parents, are local school boards, the federal governments, states -- are they doing enough to educate these kids and tell them how dangerous this is to their health?
BURNS: Well, we can always do better, but, through our media campaign and through the work of the drug czar and others, we have made it clear that there's been a 100 percent increase in prescription abuse in the last five years, about six million of the 19.5 million illegal-use drugs in this country, and now, illegally-used prescription drugs. That's twice as much as cocaine.
BLITZER: And basically, they take these pills. I mean, they get high, but they could also get very, very sick.
BURNS: You can die. We're seeing an alarming increase in young people who order these drugs over the Internet...
BLITZER: And they take an overdose, and that's it?
BURNS: Absolutely.
BLITZER: I saw in the same study a statistic on marijuana use, pot use, in the United States. It went down over the last six years among teenagers from 42 percent who say they've tried it, to 37 percent who say they've tried it. Thirty-seven percent, that's one out of three who still have tried marijuana, which is still an illegal drug.
BURNS: Yes, and that's a serious problem because, as I said, 19.5 million, 75 percent, singularly or co-use marijuana, and it ain't the marijuana of the '60s.
BLITZER: What does that mean, "it ain't the marijuana of the '60s?"
BURNS: Used to be 1 and 2 percent THC level, the potency; it now averages between 8 and 15 percent. BC bud coming over the border from Canada is as high as 30 percent. We also know that kids initiate younger -- 12, 11, and 10-year-olds -- as opposed to the '60s and 70s when it was 18 and 19-year-olds.
BLITZER: So, bottom line is, the country's making some progress, but still not enough, and this is still a huge crisis in the United States.
BURNS: Well, as I said, reduction among teens, 18 percent in three years. We can always do better, and it's an issue that you're going to hear about.
BLITZER: Scott Burns, thanks very much. Important subject; I'm glad we alerting parents out there to make sure they watch their medicine cabinets -- grandparents, as well. This is potentially a very, very deadly situation. BURNS: Absolutely.
BLITZER: When we come back, badge debate: Why the U.S. Army plans to change the rules on close combat badges. And it's causing a little bit of a controversy, perhaps much of a controversy. We'll explain.
Anger and defiance in Gaza: A delay in the Israeli pullout only postponing the inevitable. We'll take you behind the scenes, show you how the Israeli military is getting ready.
Plus, a glorious past and a hopeful future literally drained away by Saddam Hussein. The plight of Iraq's marsh Arabs in the south. This is a story you'll want to see. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More than 1,500 members of the U.S. Armed Services have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion more than two years ago. The Pentagon and the U.S. Military Central Command put the total at 1,563 -- 1,191 as a result of so-called hostile action, 372 of other causes.
While many of those on the front lines are eligible for combat decorations, some are not. The U.S. Army is taking steps to change that, but some critics don't think those steps go far enough.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is looking into the story. He's joining us live -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, as you know in Iraq, there are no real front lines. And that means that some soldiers are in combat, but they're not eligible for the current combat awards.
In response, the Army has made a new award, but not everybody's eligible for that either. And that means not all the soldiers are happy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): March 20, west of Baghdad this insurgent video captured by U.S. soldiers shows a fierce fire fight as U.S. military police protect a truck convoy against a ferocious assault.
SGT. LEIGH ANN HESTER, U.S. ARMY: Immediately, we went to the right side of the convoy and began taking fire, and we laid down suppressive fire and pushed up in flanks, flanked the insurgents and overcame that day.
MCINTYRE Together, the six MPs and one medic killed 26 heavily armed insurgents, wounded four and captured one. Three of the MPs were wounded, but no U.S. forces were killed.
An Army after-action report lauded the heroics of Sergeant Hester and her unit. "She and her squad leader deserve every bit of recognition they will get and more," it said. But one recognition currently denied MPs and other non-combat specialties is the Army's new Close Combat Badge, that was was supposed to go to soldiers who in the old days weren't on the front lines.
It's a sore subject that one female soldier raised with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week in Afghanistan.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: You're wondering, what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why MPs aren't considered for the close combat patch?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Army's new badge. It's like the combat...
RUMSFELD: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the answer?
LT. GEN. DAVID BARNO, JOINT FORCES COMMAND: The Army leadership's decisions was that the Close Combat Badge would only be for those units that were designated to fight as infantry.
RUMSFELD: But General Barno, she didn't ask what the decision was. She asked why that was the decision.
CROWD: Huah!
MCINTYRE: The soldier didn't get an answer that day, but the Army gets the point. CNN has learned that new rules are being drawn up that would extend eligibility to all soldiers who are in close combat regardless of their job description.
BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. ARMY SPOKESMAN: And we're working the exact criteria and the implementing instructions. We hope to have them out by the end of this month.
MCINTYRE: The Close Combat Badge is similar to the Combat Infantry Badge, which is reserved for infantry or special forces soldiers, except the new badge will feature a bayonnette instead of a rifle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And Wolf, the Army is yet to award these new badges, which will be eligible to anyone who's seen combat since September 11 of 2001. And one Army officer said that once these come out, they should be a huge morale boost because they're seen by the troops as a true badge of honor.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre reporting for us. Thanks, Jamie, very much.
A U.S. Army sergeant was convicted today in connection with a deadly attack on his comrades during the opening days of the Iraq War. A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, found Sergeant Hasan Akbar guilty of premeditated murder and attempted murder. The grenade and rifle attack at Camp Pennsylvania in Northern Kuwait killed two captains and wounded 14 other officers. Akbar could face the death penalty.
Some say they will not go peacefully: As the Israeli government prepares to evict thousands of its citizens, many families debate what to do and even where to go.
Plus, they've been foster parents for dozens of children. Find out why one Texas law maker wants to make it illegal for them to become foster parents again.
And next, how Jessica Lunsford, a girl abducted and slain in Florida last month, may be influencing national legislation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back -- 1,500 families forced to leave their homes once Israel's occupation of Gaza ends. What will happen to those who refuse to go peacefully? We'll take a closer look.
First, though, a quick check of other stories, "Now in the News."
Legislators have introduced a bill that would require states to keep a closer eye on convicted sex offenders after they've been released from prison. The bill is named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, whose body was found last month near her home in Homosassa, Florida. A convicted sex offender is charged with her murder. The girl's father attended a news conference, announcing the bill, in Washington earlier today.
Arraignment today for two former New York City Police detectives accused of working for the Mafia. They're accused of working as hitmen, as well as passing confidential information, drug distribution, and money laundering. Both men pleaded not guilty.
Israel's defense minister today endorsed a proposal to delay the pull-out from Gaza by three weeks until mid-August. Officials say the goal is to avoid uprooting thousands of mostly Orthodox Jewish settlers during a religious mourning period. But there is already mourning among the Gaza settlers, along with anger and defiance. With or without the delay, their eviction is just a matter of time.
CNN's John Vause reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's not long to go now, not long before Israel ends almost 38 years of occupation over the Gaza Strip, the so-called "disengagement." Not long before 9,000 Jewish settlers, the 1,500 families who live here, will have to leave. Some will go peacefully. Many others say they'll be carried from their homes, like the Genish family from the Alei Sinai settlement in the northern part of Gaza.
MALI GENISH, ALEI SINAI SETTLER: We're going to be here, in our house, like you see it now.
VAUSE: So you're not going to pack?
GENISH: We are not going to pack. We are going to be here and talk quietly to the policemen or soldiers. I don't know who will come into my house, yes? I don't fight because every soldier can be my son.
VAUSE: Mali and her husband, Suri, have made no plans for the day after disengagement. They haven't contacted the government, haven't applied for compensation, won't even think about where to move. And the government, they say, hasn't told them a thing.
GENISH: We heard everything by the press. No one called us. No one sent a letter to make a proposition, to deal the details, no one.
VAUSE: Ehud Olmert is second only to the Israeli prime minister, and it was Mr. Olmert who first floated the idea of disengagement, months before it became official government policy.
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI VICE PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not sure that one has to accept these complaints at face value. The settlers can know everything that they want to know, and certainly, the government is trying to reach out for every one of them and share with them all the information. Sometimes, they prefer not to hear so that they could complain.
VAUSE: The Israeli government has plans to build 1,000 temporary homes, but construction is yet to begin. Sources within the disengagement authority say that's because, so far, the number of families filing for compensation are numbered in the dozens. So, it's still unclear where the temporary homes should be located.
(on camera): The government says a big part of the problem has been the settlers themselves. For more than a year, they fought disengagement, every step of the way, most refusing to contemplate ever leaving their homes. And now with three months to go, many are still hoping they'll be able to stay.
Those like Mali and Suri Genish, who plan to be carried out, will be sent to nearby hotels for a few days while they decide where they want to move to, and those who fight to the very end, will be put in purpose-built cells at the Masiau (ph) prison. Construction there has been underway for months.
OLMERT: It's heart-breaking, a very painful process, but we are not up there for a war. We are not up there for confrontation. We want to hug them, and to very delicately and sensitively, with love and with respect, convince them that they need to move.
VAUSE: And if the hugs and love don't work, the government is planning for a fight, training police and soldiers how to deal with an expected small group of hard-core opponents.
During the Six-Day War, Israel captured Gaza and the Sinai Desert from Egypt with three divisions, and now there are plans to use three divisions during the evacuation: 10,000 soldiers who will be unarmed are being specially trained to remove the settlers from their homes.
Getting out will not be easy. Synagogues, for example, will not be left behind. They'll be taken apart and relocated. And then, there's the dead: 47 graves will be exhumed. Nir Rivlin buried his father Gideon three months ago. He was killed during this attack by Palestinian militants belonging to Islamic Jihad. Even though his family knew disengagement was coming, they still decided he should be buried in Gaza.
NIR RIVLIN, GUSH KATIF SETTLER: This is our strength. We live here, and we die here, and we bury here. This is us. This is our life. This is what my father wanted to do, that we'll do for him, and -- I don't know. This is probably his last wish.
VAUSE: For those whose relatives are buried here, it will bring more pain and anguish at a time when they're being forced from their homes.
RABBI BEREL WEIN: It's really a second funeral for them, so the day of the exhumation, they have to sit in mourning. It -- they observe the customs of mourning. They sit on the floor. It's a -- it is a -- you know, death is something that all of us have to face, but there are moments of closure. It's over. And here you open the wound again.
VAUSE: For many of the families, simply leaving the graves here is not an option either. After disengagement, they fear the cemetery could well be desecrated, and then there's the issue of security. They believe it just wouldn't be safe to come here.
And after much debate and even more angst, the Israeli government has decided not to destroy the settlers' homes, a goodwill gesture for the Palestinians, but not for Nir Rivlin. His father built this house 27 years ago.
RIVLIN: It's my house, and I can't imagine the moment that, I don't know, CNN will come here after the evacuation and interview a Palestinian sitting here in my house -- in the background, and I'll see the TV from, I don't know where.
OLMERT: It will be very difficult, not just for the families, for all of us. I know the manners of our adversaries -- they are not always restrained, and they are not always respectful, and there is a good chance that they will take over the houses within hours, and will desecrate some places and will make it as a demonstration, to show that they defeated us and that they forced us out and so on and so forth. And we'll have to absorb it with all the pains and with all the unpleasantness which is involved.
VAUSE: There will be much pain and unpleasantness in the weeks and months ahead. Those opposed to the disengagement say they'll make the evacuation as difficult as possible, with protests around the country. The sun may now be setting on the Israeli occupation of Gaza. The settlers have all but lost. Even so, they say, their battle to stay is far from over.
John Vause, CNN, in the Gaza settlements.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And when we come back, a Texas lawmaker pushes to keep gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT TALTON, TEXAS STATE HOUSE: I believe that homosexuals and bisexuals shouldn't be raising our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Will the Lone Star State become the first state in the nation to enact such a law? We'll take a closer look. That's coming up.
Plus -- once persecuted by Saddam Hussein and now feeling ignored by the current Iraqi government. We'll take you to these so-called Glory River region, where locals say they'd gladly give up their past for a brighter future.
And later -- raw emotions. It's been decades since the Vietnam War. So why is one veteran still so upset with Jane Fonda?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Should gays and lesbians be allowed to become foster parents in the United States? Some Texas lawmakers say no. Allie Rasmus of our affiliate News 8 in Austin has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLIE RASMUS, NEWS 8 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over the past four years, Eva Thibaudeau has been a foster parent to dozens of children. She adopted four of them.
EVA THIBAUDEAU, FOSTER PARENT: It ended up that these four children needed a permanent home and they were not able to find one. And so we stepped in.
RASMUS: But new legislation that just passed the House floor would prevent Thibaudeau and her partner, Christina (ph), from ever becoming foster parents again. Representative Robert Talton of Pasadena added a last-minute amendment to the Child Protective Services bill that passed Tuesday night. It prohibits gays and lesbians from being foster parents.
TALTON: We do not believe that homosexuals or bisexuals should be raising our children.
RASMUS: Representative Talton said his rationale for the amendment is based on his belief that homosexuality could be passed on from parent to child.
TALTON: Some of us believe that they would be better off in orphanages than to be raised by a homosexual or bisexual, because that's a learned behavior.
THIBAUDEAU: He clearly doesn't know anything about attachment theory and how important it is for children to be able to attach to a loving primary parent or caregiver.
RASMUS (on camera): While Representative Talton wrote the amendment, more than half of House lawmakers voted to approve it, including 10 Democrats.
HEATH RIDDLE, GAY/LESBIAN LOBBY OF TEXAS: We're disappointed. You know, we had hopes that the vote would have turned out better, and that more people would have voted with courage and voted more according to their principles.
RASMUS (voice-over): Rebecca Bigler has researched child psychology at the University of Texas for 15 years.
PROF. REBECCA BIGLER, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: There's just no evidence whatsoever that being raised by gay and lesbians is harmful to children or puts children at risk.
RASMUS: She says what is harmful is having a child removed from a permanent home. If it becomes law, Talton's amendment would also require current gay and lesbian parents to turn their foster children back over to the state.
BIGLER: It is terribly disrupting for a child's life to be pulled out of their home and out of their family.
RASMUS: The amendment still has a few more steps to go before becoming law. A joint Senate and House committee will work out the final details of the CPS bill in the coming month. Thibaudeau says, in the meantime, she's not giving up hope.
THIBAUDEAU: Our voices are going to be heard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That report from Allie Rasmus of our affiliate News 8 in Austin, Texas. If that bill does become law, Texas would be the first state in the United States to prohibit gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Kitty Pilgrim, once again, filling in for Lou tonight. She's joining us live with a preview -- Kitty.
KITTY PILGRIM, GUEST HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Thanks, Wolf. Well, tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, is the Bush White House losing momentum only four months into the president's second term? We'll be reporting on the rising opposition to key elements of President Bush's second-term agenda.
Also tonight, "Broken Borders." Hundreds of violent illegal aliens are being released onto our streets simply because of legal loopholes. And the president's energy bill wins the support of the House, faces a tough battle in the Senate. Two leading members of Congress with opposing views, my guests. All that and more at the top of the hour.
But for now, back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Kitty, very much. We'll be watching at the top of the hour.
Their way of life stayed the same for thousands of years until Saddam Hussein literally drained the marshes, destroying their ancient world. Now they want a new life. We'll tell you what's going on.
Jane Fonda is back with a new book about her controversial past. But one Vietnam vet can't forgive that past. The result -- a very ugly incident. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: One area in southern Iraq couldn't be further away from modern technology. Its proud past and hopeful future drained away when Saddam Hussein ordered the construction of what he called the so- called Glory River.
CNN's Jane Arraf has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along Iraq's Glory Canal, ice is a luxury carried from the nearest town. This is Iraq's most romanticized and poorest region, the southern marshes, where people still live off of fishing as they have for thousands of years and still make their own houses from mud and reeds.
But since Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in the early 1990s to fight Shi'a insurgents hiding there, many have been squeezed into a small area along 13 miles of these banks.
Saddam called it the Glory River. Its really a canal draining the marshes and displacing the marsh Arabs near the border with Iran.
"Saddam dried this place," says Ali Tayyem (ph). "It was dry sand from here to Iran, and they would shoot at us with their guns from all sides."
Although the marshes have a glorious past reaching back to the dawn of recorded history 5,000 years ago, it's a hard life. People here would prefer to join the 21st Century.
(on camera): This is one of the poorest villages in the poorest area in Iraq. Life hasn't really changed much here in hundreds of years, except now they know what they're missing.
(voice-over): Nashal Rales (ph) is 14. She's curious about life outside the village, but has little prospect of ever leaving it. Unlike her mother's generation, where even girls were encouraged to go to school, she can't read or write.
"Nobody put me in school," she says.
She spends her days in the fields. In a year or two, she'll be married.
Here the women look after the animals, cook and clean.
There's no electricity. The men fish. Barhan Fahed (ph) says they get about 1,000 dinars a day, less than a dollar, for their fish, just enough to buy a kilo of sugar.
When it rains, they get wet. At night, crammed as many as 14 to a room, they say the mosquitoes eat them alive. And when they get sick, they have to find their way to the nearest town, or in this case, hope that British forces are passing by.
In the nearby village of Abu Hassef (ph), the head of the village Hassam Musam Muhammed (ph) says what his people want most are real houses.
His mavif (ph) where the village sheik receives guests is beautifully crafted from reeds, but it has to be rebuilt every year or two, and it's prone to catching fire.
His sister Umsad (ph) says the villagers need jobs. She's 25 and has seven children. But she can sew, she says, and read and write.
UMSAD, SISTER OF VILLAGE LEADER (through translator): Do we need the marshes for every river to be stuck to us? We want to be educated and modernized. We want electricity. We want schools to be established. We want salaries.
ARRAF: The men here used to serve in the army, but this far from a major city, the army isn't hiring nor is the police. The only money available is through smuggling and banditry.
It's not just me, all the guys want to work as police or anything, says Hadam Jassem Hussein (ph). He says they don't even have proper clothes to wear.
Back along the canal, one of their main links to the outside world is the radio. This one tuned to a religious program from Iran.
Persecuted by Saddam, these villagers say they've been neglected by current Iraqi leaders. They'd gladly give up the marshes illustrious past for the promise of a future.
Jane Arraf, CNN, along the Glory Canal in southern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we'll have more reports from Jane coming up in the coming days.
Actress Jane Fonda spit on by a Vietnam veteran. We'll hear from the man who says he acted on his anger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This week in history, a 51-day standoff between a religious cult and law enforcement ends in flames on April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidian Compound near Waco, Texas, burned to the ground, claiming the lives of some 80 cult members.
In 1995, a truck containing a bomb exploded at Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. 168 people were killed, including 19 children.
And in Littleton, Colorado, two teenagers went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. The gunmen, wearing black trench coats, shot and killed 13 people before turning the guns on themselves. And that is this week in history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Jane Fonda's on a national tour promoting her new memoir, but some aspects of her life still provoke bitter feelings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: I had an opportunity to do something that a lot of Vietnam vets want to do. I did it for them.
BLITZER (voice-over): Vietnam veteran Michael Smith makes no apologies for what he did to Jane Fonda. At a book signing in Kansas City Missouri, Tuesday night, he waited in line to have the actress sign a copy of her new memoir, "My Life So Far," number one this week on the "New York Times" best seller list.
But it wasn't an autograph Smith was after, it was revenge for this infamous photo op, a young Jane Fonda visiting North Vietnam at the height of the war, sitting on a communist anti-aircraft gun.
When Smith's turn at the book signing came, he approached the table and spit tobacco juice on Fonda. Witnesses say the actress took it in stride.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just started allowing people to pat her down. She said to everyone around her. It's fine. It's fine.
BLITZER: In her book, Fonda talks about her trip to North Vietnam, the notorious photo, and the bitterness it provoked.
She apologized for it again recently on CNN's LARRY KING LIVE.
JANE FONDA, ACTRESS: I think it hurt a lot of people. And I'm very, very sorry. And I will go to my grave regretting that lapse of judgment. It was terrible.
BLITZER: But that's not enough for Michael Smith, who says he considers Fonda a traitor. And he expressed no regret for his action.
SMITH: We did what we had to do for our buddies. And I knew this was something that I was going to do for my buddies.
I can't say that I feel better, but I feel like I've struck a blow back for all of us.
BLITZER: Fonda chose not to file charges against Smith and said in a statement, "in spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful. And I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Smith confirmed his service in Vietnam to the "Kansas City Star" with what the paper described as a document transferring him to Marine reserve status back in 1972.
Although Fonda isn't pressing charges, Kansas City Police are accusing Smith of disorderly conduct. Smith was arrested, released on bond and is due in court next month.
That's it for me. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now. Kitty Pilgrim standing by -- Kitty.
END
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