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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Zimbabwe on UN Human Rights Commission; President Bush Continues to Push Social Security Reform; Senators Biden and Coleman Debate Judicial Nominations

Aired April 28, 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: Happening now, you're looking live at the White House. We'll tell you why President Bush is about to take a very unusual step tonight.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Primetime president Q&A just hours away. Can he sell his Social Security plan to an increasingly skeptical public?

Big day in Baghdad: Iraq gets its first democratic government in half a century, but the insurgents aren't impressed.

Woodpecker wonder: It's like finding a dodo. This bird is not extinct. And the experts are amazed.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, April 28, 2005.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks for joining us. He's wrapping up a cross country marathon to educate Americans about his Social Security reforms. And he's been expending a lot of energy promoting his energy ideas. In just three hours, President Bush holds a news conference to make one more pitch for his policies. But it's been a tough sell so far, especially when it comes to Social Security.

Standing by in New York to tell us why, Mary Snow. She'll have a closer look at Social Security.

Chris Huntington -- he'll look at the energy debate.

But we begin with our Suzanne Malveaux. She's over at the White House with a preview of the president's primetime appeal -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well Wolf, very interesting. Just moments ago we learned that that press conference was moved from 8:30 to 8:00 due to complications of network programming. Obviously, the White House wants as many people as possible to watch and hear what the president has to say. It is a very rare incident that you have a press conference in primetime in the East Room. This is only the fourth time this has happened. It really underscores the importance of President Bush's message. The two things he's going to focus on: Social Security reform as well as his energy plan. As you had mentioned, of course before, the president wraps up a 60-day, 60-stop tour trying to sell his Social Security reform plan across the country to actually create some of those private accounts for younger retirees.

Now, this is supposed to really mark the end of the first phase going to the second phase, talking more about solutions, possible solutions to that. But it has been a very tough sell, Wolf, for this president.

Not only polls showing that there's not much approval to that, but also his overall job approval rating, the latest polls showing from the Washington Post/ABC poll that overall job approval sinking -- 47 percent approving of the job he's doing, 50 percent now disapproving.

Now of course, the other top issue that he's going to focus on is the energy policy policy. The president basically wants to show the American people that, yes, he cares about these soaring gas prices even if there is very little that he can do about it.

The president's plan, his energy plan has languished over the last four years in Congress. It was just yesterday he announced a new initiative to try to actually create oil refineries in some of these closed military bases. And then it was just Monday when he asked the Saudi crown prince if he would boost his oil production. The crown prince saying, in a long term plan, yes, he would, over the next ten years. But not a short term solution.

President Bush addressing both of those issues tonight hoping that he will convince the American people that he is on the right track when it comes to his domestic agenda -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux. 8:00 p.m. start time for the president's news conference -- 8:00 pm Eastern. Suzanne, thank you very much.

By emphasizing Social Security tonight, the president hopes to build momentum for his overall plan. So far, though, it's been slow going.

CNN's Mary Snow joining us live from New York with more -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Wolf, mixing politics and money is never an easy sell. Add in a skeptical public, protests and a lackluster market, and the sales pitch became even harder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): Fargo, North Dakota. President Bush hit the road in a 60-day campaign selling his plan to revamp Social Security to include private accounts.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's your money. It's money that you can decide to leave to whomever you want.

SNOW: At that time, a poll showed that 43 percent of Americans approved of the president's approach to Social Security, 48 percent disapproved. The president pointed out that returns on investments would be higher.

Market analysts point out that an historic return for an investment over 35 to 40 years is close to 8 percent compared to a 5 percent return on money invested in bonds like Social Security. But polls conducted two months later showed the sales pitch wasn't working. The approval rating dropped to 35 percent with 57 percent disapproving.

In Galveston, Texas, on Tuesday...

BUSH: In 2027 the system is going to be $200 billion a year in the hole.

SNOW: In a different poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News earlier this week, 31 percent said they approved of the president's handling of Social Security while 64 percent disapproved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When George Bush first hit the road, all the talk was about personal accounts. Now George Bush is talking about solvency. Solvency and Social Security is a completely different issue. Solvency does not involve personal accounts.

SNOW: While the president visited 24 sites to push his plan, there was a campaign of another kind being waged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP OF AARP COMMERCIAL)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you had a problem with the kitchen sink, you wouldn't tear down the entire house.

(END VIDEO CLIP OF AARP COMMERCIAL)

SNOW: The American Association of Retired People estimates it spent at least $5 million in its campaign opposing the president's privatization plan. Organized labor also turned up the pressure on financial companies like Charles Schwab. Union protests target the company's founder, claiming he's a supporter of the president's plan. And there have been women's groups voicing dissent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are nearly 14 million women who get benefits as spouses and widows. Only 2 percent of the people who get benefits as a spouse or as a surviving spouse are men. So this is overwhelmingly an issue that affects women.

SNOW: One group that stands to benefit is the financial community. Observers say it has not been so vocal.

NORM ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: For the financial community, there is not really a belief that this would be some great windfall. SNOW: And Norm Ornstein points out that the market didn't help the president's cause. Since February, the Dow has dropped nearly 4 percent. Ornstein said, had the market been soaring, the president's sales pitch might have been easier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And strategists point out that even if the president takes a more conciliatory approach, it's still going to be a tough sell -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting from New York. Mary, thanks very much.

U.S. financial markets, by the way, plunged sharply again today as reports show the economy growing at its slowest pace in some two years. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 128 points, or 1.25 percent. The technology-laden NASDAQ sank more than 26 points, down 1.36 percent. And the broad S&P 500 Index was down 13 points, also more than a percent.

Despite the grim scene today on the stock market, some industries are doing rather well. Profits are up for the oil companies, for example. CNN's Chris Huntington is looking into that part of the story -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is no coincidence that at a time of record high crude oil and gasoline prices, the big oil companies, many of them are turning in record profits. The problem for motorists, it's just more fuel to make them angry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON (voice-over): While American motorists grit their teeth at the numbers they see at the pumps, oil company executives and investors are grinning ear to ear. In the first quarter, Exxon Mobil made $7.8 billion, up 44 percent from a year ago. Its stock is up nearly as much in the past 12 months. BP, which owns Amoco and Arco, earned a record $6.6 billion in the first quarter, up 35 percent. Royal Dutch Shell pulled in $5.5 billion, up 28 percent.

No surprise, it's as simple as supply and demand. The big oil producers are profiting from the big jump in crude prices, up nearly 30 percent in the past year due to sharply higher global demand, led by the United States, China and India. But the oil companies are making even more money on what they do to that oil.

JOHN KILLDUFF, FIMAT: The secret to a lot of the profits going on right now, though, is their refining business. Turning crude oil into gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, and everything else, for the first time really in years for the most part, has done extraordinarily well.

HUNTINGTON: For decades, refining was a low margin business, a big reason why no new refineries have been built in the United States in nearly 30 years. But with gasoline demand rising and refining capacity virtually maxed out, the margins have shot up in the past two years, particularly for Valero. The nation's biggest independent refiner specializes in refining the cheapest, lowest grade crude making for bigger profit margins.

Valero's earnings more than doubled in the first quarter. It's stock has done the same in the past year. In 2004, Valero CEO William Greehey took home more than $44 million in salary and stock options.

Analysts say the oil industry's big profits and big paychecks simply come from being in the right business at the right time.

BARBARA SHOOK, ENERGY INTELLIGENCE: They just happen to make their money by producing oil and natural gas and refining it or otherwise turning it into products that consumers can use, gasoline being, probably, the primary product. They are in business to make money. They're not public servants.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Wolf, no surprise that claims of gouging run high in this kind of environment. Congress has looked into this issue many, many times. Most recently in 2002, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations did an exhaustive study on gasoline pricing and found there was no predatory pricing, simply just the companies taking advantage of market conditions -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Christ Huntington reporting from New York. Thanks, Chris, very much.

And we'll have more on what to expect from President Bush tonight during his primetime news conference. Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic Senator Joe Biden. They're standing by to join us live this hour.

Also ahead: Iraq forms its first democratically-elected government in some 50 years, on the same day as Saddam Hussein celebrates -- if we can say that -- his birthday in prison.

Pictures of the fallen: in a rare move, the Pentagon releases hundreds of photos showing the coffins of troops killed in action. We'll have details, plus this.

CHIEF RANDY BELCHER, DULUTH, GEORGIA, POLICE: We do have some bloodhounds coming in, and we will be using dogs to attempt to pick up her trail.

BLITZER: A missing bride-to-be: she went out for a run and vanished days before her wedding. Now police are widening the search.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Saddam Hussein's birthday used to be a big day in Iraq, bringing, literally, millions of people into the streets. Today Saddam spent his birthday alone in a jail cell. But it was a big day in Baghdad and around the country as Iraqis got their first freely chosen government in some 50 years.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three months after national elections, members of Iraq's National Assembly finally raised their hands and approved a government, but it's only a partial cabinet. The country's Prime Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari was expected to announce the names of all of his cabinet ministers, but moments before the vote, said he was unable to decide on seven of the 36 posts. He says he hopes to fill those jobs soon. Until then, he and his deputies will occupy them. Among the vacancies, the top jobs in the all- important Defense and Oil Ministries.

Navigating Iraq's numerous ethnic and religious shoals, the prime minister included Shiites from his own constituency, Kurds, Christians, Turkmen, and, importantly, Sunni Arabs. Sunni Arabs enjoyed most of the power under Saddam, but by and large stayed away from the polls after Saddam's fall. Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president said the prime minister should have been more inclusive in forming the government.

GHAZI AL-YAWAR, IRAQI VP, VIA TRANSLATOR: This was supposed to be a government of national unity, but the number and count of ministries Sunni Arabs have received was less than what was expected.

CHILCOTE: In a sign of the challenges ahead of this government, moments before the vote, a tribute to a member of the National Assembly assassinated Wednesday. Iraqis expect the new government to reign that violence in, but the government is already warning it can't deliver miracles.

AHMED CHALABI, IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This government cannot open heaven's gates.

CHILCOTE: Many Iraqis would settle for some earthly peace.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Even as the new government was announced, peace was hard to find inside Iraq. Police say an Interior Ministry official was gunned down in Baghdad. In Tikrit, a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint. The U.S. military says three American soldiers were among the wounded. South of Baghdad, officials say insurgent mortars hit a bus station, killing four Iraqis.

A very unusual move by the Pentagon, which has released hundreds of pictures showing the handling of the remains of U.S. troops killed in action.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is standing by with details. Jamie? JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, Wolf, it took a lawsuit to pry the photographs out of the Pentagon, but officials here say that does not mean they're changing the overall policy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The photographs were released in two batches. First, 92 images that had already been released on various military web sites, including this one showing the casket of a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan in 2002 being strapped to the floor of a C-17. Here, flag-draped coffins carrying the remains of Americans missing from the Vietnam War are shown when they arrive on U.S. soil in Guam in 2002. And there's this poignant image of a rarely seen burial at sea ceremony, conducted aboard the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Enterprise in May of last year.

But another series of 268 pictures were released without any identifying information. No dates, no locations, and with the faces of service members in combat zones blacked out, for reasons of privacy, the Pentagon insists. The mountains in this image suggest it is in Afghanistan. This one shows a blue body bag being gently lowered into a metal casket, but, again, the Pentagon withheld any details.

The release comes in response to a lawsuit filed by former CNN correspondent and University of Delaware journalism professor Ralph Begleiter, along with the National Security Archive.

RALPH BEGLEITER, UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: I think it's important for the American people to be able to assess the cost of war and to pay respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon counters that its concern is protecting the privacy of the fallen and their families and argues that it announces all casualties and that coverage of individual funerals is up to the families. But many believe the true genesis of the ban was an incident in December of 1989, when President Bush was shown by network television in a split screen, joking with White House reporters, juxtaposed against the first images of U.S. war dead being returned from Panama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Wolf, the Pentagon insists there will be no change in its policy banning access to the return of American military remains from overseas, and what happens with this lawsuit is uncertain as well. The people who filed it are going to have to decide whether they think the Pentagon's response is adequate or whether they should go back to the judge and ask for the Pentagon to release more imagery. Wolf?

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre, thanks very much.

Historic visit -- once bitter Cold War enemies, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, becomes the first Kremlin leader to visit Israel.

Controversial choice -- nations often criticized for poor human rights records are elected to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. We'll have details.

And to extinction and back -- this woodpecker species, thought to be long gone, is now found alive and well in Arkansas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

They were divided for decades by the Iron Curtain and the Middle East conflict. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a ground-breaking visit to Israel, but they're still trying to iron out some serious differences.

CNN's John Vause has the story from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the surface, the state visit by Vladimir Putin is all about strengthening ties, promoting good will, but beyond the smiles and handshakes, relations are strained. Israel is trying to stop the sale of Russian weapons to Syria -- in particular, an anti-aircraft system -- even though it's a done deal. Mr. Putin says there's nothing to fear because the short-range missiles can't reach Israel. And besides, he says, it could have been worse.

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA, (through translator): Our military personnel wanted to supply the region and Syria with more modern systems that have a longer range, called Esgander (ph). I personally vetoed this deal.

VAUSE: And then there's Iran's nuclear program. The fuel and some technology are coming from Russia. Israel fears the Iranians are building a nuclear bomb. Mr. Putin says it's in Iran's best interests to prove that it's not.

PUTIN (through translator): And not hinder placing all of its nuclear program under international control.

VAUSE: Still, this was a trip of firsts: the first Kremlin leader to visit the Western Wall, the most sacred site in Judaism; the first to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Christ was crucified. The Russian leader also paid his respects to the victims of the Holocaust at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Memorial. Earlier, Mr. Putin said there was a special bond between these two countries because their people had suffered more than most.

And, speaking in Russian, the Israeli prime minister told Mr. Putin that, today, he is among friends.

VAUSE: Vladimir Putin will meet with the president of the Palestinian Authority Friday. He's hoping to sell the Palestinians arms and troop carriers. On this issue, the Israelis say they have no objections, providing it's coordinated by them.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All eyes on both sides of the aisle looking for President Bush's news conference tonight. Senators Norm Coleman and Joe Biden, they're standing by to talk about it.

Also ahead -- she disappeared just days before her wedding. Now, the search becomes a full-blown criminal investigation.

Plus -- Michael Jackson's former wife on the stand for the prosecution: why her testimony is helping the defense. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back. Social Security and high gas prices expected to dominate the president's primetime news conference. That's coming up later tonight: start time, 8:00 p.m. eastern. Coming up, I'll speak with Senators Joe Biden and Norm Coleman. They'll tell us what they want to hear.

First, though, let's get a quick check of other stories "Now in the News."

Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist has offered a compromise in the battle over judicial nominations. As an alternative to changing Senate rules to end judicial filibusters all together, Frist offered to accept a 100-hour cap on debates. While Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he'd review the offers, he called it -- and I'm quoting now -- "a big wet kiss to the far right."

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has lost a court battle. The Florida Supreme Court says it will not review a lower court ruling allowing prosecutors to seize Limbaugh's medical records. Investigators are trying to determine whether Limbaugh purchased pain killers illegally.

Police in suburban Chicago have been questioning the parents of two children, a nine-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, found stabbed to death in their home. Late today, they said one person has been arrested, but they didn't say who. Authorities say they believe several knives found inside the house were the weapons.

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse -- there's outrage in diplomatic circles today after nations criticized for their poor human rights records once again wind up on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Let's go live to our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth. Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's turning into an annual rite of spring: countries with horrible human rights records getting elected to the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (voice-over): There has been a growing feeling that the U.N.'s own Human Rights Commission is a crime in its own right. In recent years, countries such as Libya and Sudan have gotten seats on the commission, despite being criticized for their human rights record by the U.N.'s own Security Council.

On Wednesday, more outrage, after the African country of Zimbabwe was approved. Led by hard-liner Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is accused by governments of repressing its own people, shutting down the media, and rigging elections.

ANNE PATTERSON, ACTING U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We were perplexed and dismayed that Zimbabwe was elected. We think that's totally inappropriate for the Human Rights Commission, which, after all, is supposed to maintain the highest standards of human rights compliance in the world.

ROTH: But Zimbabwe fired back, charging the U.S. invasion of Iraq and treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay are human rights abuses.

BONIFACE CHIDYAUSIKU, ZIMBABWEAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: One cannot claim to be a champion of human rights when you have such practices in your backyard.

ROTH: Also reelected to the commission, China, a big power with human rights issues.

WANG GUANGYUA, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Of course, certainly members have some different views about the work of the Human Rights Commission.

ROTH: Winning a seat on the Geneva-based commission gives violators a chance to block any condemnation.

JOANNA WESCHLER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: It became a U.N. problem. It's a liability for the entire U.N. It's not just limited to human rights. It's now something that the U.N. as an institution needs to deal with if it wants to restore its reputation and credibility.

ROTH: So the U.N.'s leader, Kofi Annan, himself under some heat, has told U.N. countries he wants to abolish the commission.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It's no secret that the Human Rights Commission can be much more effective.

ROTH: The U.N. boss wants a slimmed-down commission, elected directly by the entire General Assembly, removing pre-cooked deals on candidates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Backers of change hope that countries would have to meet certain U.N. human rights criteria in order to be elected in the future to a new panel -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thanks, Richard, very much.

And we're gearing up to hear from President Bush tonight, his fourth prime-time news conference since taking office. We'll hear first, though, from Senator Norm Coleman and Senator Joe Biden. We'll get their take on the president's priorities for the country.

Also, we'll have the latest on that missing bride and a possible new lead in the case.

Plus, extinct no more. The sightings that have scientists singing. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More now on our top story. President Bush's news conference scheduled to begin less than three hours from now, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. That's when it will begin exactly.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill to talk about what we can expect, Senator Norm Coleman. He's a Republican of Minnesota. Senator Joe Biden; he's a Democrat of Delaware. They're both key members of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Let's talk about Social Security, first of all. Senator Biden, is there any wiggle room, as far as you're concerned, as far as the president's private accounts, retirement accounts, are concerned? Will you be willing to have an open mind and hear what the president has to say tonight?

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Oh, I always listen to the president. I can't imagine how the private accounts can deal with the solvency of the Social Security system, which I think is the urgent need he talks about. But, look, I always listen to the president.

BLITZER: What about you, Senator Coleman? What about the issue of private accounts? It doesn't seem like the American public is all that enthusiastic about it, given the public opinion polls.

SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: Actually, Joe -- actually, I think, Wolf, what you'll see is that the president could cite, if he wanted to, public opinion showing that the public is, I think, warming to the idea of individuals having personal accounts and being able to have a nest egg. I think the president has done a good job of letting the public know Social Security has problems. There's no question about it. My friends on the other side of the aisle haven't offered anything, haven't put anything on the table. I hope the president stays with personal accounts, and then dispels some of the myths, by the way, the myths that somehow those who receive disability payments through Social Security will be harmed by whatever the president does. That's simply not true.

BLITZER: Well, let me interrupt for a second, Senator Coleman. What do you say to Senator Biden and a lot of other Democrats, and some Republicans, who say the private account debate doesn't even get close to resolving the key issue, which is solvency, because that's going to cost a lot of money, at least in the short term.

COLEMAN: I think two things, Joe. One, private accounts are a piece -- they're certainly not the solution -- but they're an important piece, an important piece for young folks who are putting into a system that they don't even believe they're going to get anything out of. And then I agree with my friend, Senator Biden, that we have to go beyond that. We have to look at how do we calculate rate increases? One of the things we can do is to go beyond that. But don't discount personal accounts as a piece of the puzzle, people getting more back on their return, and therefore withdrawing less from Social Security.

BLITZER: All right, Senator Biden, you want to respond to that?

BIDEN: Yeah, discount personal accounts. I am going to be no party to, nor will the Senate be in my view, of making the American elderly poor again. And the fact of the matter is, the fact is, that if you're going to go with private accounts, as the president is talking about, it's going to cost at least $1 trillion, $2 trillion over 10 years. The money's got to come from somewhere, and it's going to do nothing, nothing, nothing to positively affect solvency.

If you want to help private savings for young people, let's talk about private accounts on top of Social Security, instead of in place of Social Security or in place of part of Social Security.

But I'll be no party to anything that moves American seniors back into poverty, and that's what would happen.

BLITZER: Senator Coleman, what about that? A lot of Democrats, Senator Kennedy, now Senator Biden, many Democrats have said, you want to talk about private accounts, do it but outside the framework of Social Security.

COLEMAN: Joe, many of us have those options already. We have 401(k)s. Everybody who is a federal employee has (INAUDIBLE). We got a lot of that. But the bottom line, each and every American deserves to have a nest egg. They don't deserve, if you're 20 something years old, to be investing in something that's taking 12 percent of your salary and generating a 1.5 percent return.

There's nothing the president is putting on the table that's going to put America's poor in poverty, just the contrary. We have a $15 -- $10 to $15 trillion unfunded liability from Social Security, and when Baby Boomers like me and the good senator from Delaware start hitting the market a couple of years from now, we're going to start taking out more than we've put in. And so we have to act now. We can't wait forever to deal with this.

BLITZER: All right, Senator Biden, you're shaking your head. Go ahead.

BIDEN: Are you going to trust the government less than -- are you going to trust Wall Street more than you trust the government? Look, there are notes that are out there. Everybody says they don't mean anything. The federal government has never once reneged on an obligation in our entire history. If we reneged on the commitment, those notes that are being held that everybody says don't mean anything, that make the system solvent for a long time to come, if we renege on them, our entire credit worldwide would plummet. They're the same kinds of Treasury bills that are owned by -- Japan owns almost $1 trillion worth, 600 and some billion. China owns 138 billion. Europeans own tens of billions. This is -- this is appealing to the cynicism of the American people.

BLITZER: All right, Senator. Senator Coleman, I'll let you respond to that and then we'll move on.

COLEMAN: Senator Biden is appealing to the fear of American people. The bottom line is, as we pay off these notes, we're going to have to be putting into tens of hundreds of millions -- ultimately, billions by the way -- tens of billions of dollars to pay off these notes into the general fund. The reality is more of us are growing old, the Baby Boomers are hitting the point where we're pulling more out than we put on.

And my friends on the other side have offered nothing, nothing but fear. And in the end, the president's shown the courage to move forward. I think Americans understand that. And we've got to solve this, not just talk about the fears and what will happen, what are the negatives that will occur?

BIDEN: Let's solve Medicare that's a crisis now, not Social Security that's a crisis in 2050.

BLITZER: Senator Biden, what about this proposal from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, let 100 hours of debate on judicial nominees take place on the Senate floor and forget about the filibuster. Is 100 hour enough for you?

BIDEN: Look, it's not about 100 hours, it's about whether or not we're going to rewrite the Constitution, make the Congress -- make the Senate the House, turn the president into a prime minister and us a parliament.

The fact of the matter is, imagine what this rule would have meant when Roosevelt was trying to pack the courts back in the '30s. Do you think there's any possibility it would have been stopped? Does anybody believe that? Does anybody -- when are we going to start to read history?

Up until the year 1947, there wasn't even a three-fifths ability to cut off debate in the Senate, you needed unanimous consent. 1917, we came around and said, look, with legislation, you should be able to cut off debate if you get a three-fifths vote. They said, how about doing that for the courts? And the United States Senate and constitutional scholars said no, bad idea.

BLITZER: Senator Coleman, go ahead.

COLEMAN: In 1997, it was Joe Biden who said that everyone ought to have a vote. They ought to have a vote in committee and they ought to have a vote on the floor. BIDEN: That's not true.

COLEMAN: That's absolutely true. That's a quote from Joe Biden in 1997. And the fact is before last year we didn't filibuster judges in the United States Senate. We didn't filibuster Circuit Court judges. In 1995, the last time there was an opportunity to vote on the filibuster, it was 19 Democrats to who voted to end the filibuster. And so the reality is history was changed this year, Wolf. That's a reality.

BIDEN: May I respond to that?

COLEMAN: History was changed last year. And we cannot let that change continue.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Senator Biden.

BIDEN; May I respond to that?

The vote he's talking about with regard to me was, we -- with a colleague, a nominee passed out 14-2. There were well over 60 senators in the United States Senate ready to vote for that nominee, ultimately over 80 did vote for the nominee. And because one man didn't want it to even get to the floor of the Senate -- I said they're entitled to get out of the committee and have a vote, the vote being a vote on a filibuster. That was the vote I was referring to. That's the fact.

Number two, in 1968, remember Abe Fortas was stopped by a filibuster, by a leading Republican friend of mine, Bob Griffin, who happened to be the senator from the state of Michigan. There are a total of 24 Supreme Court justices in the United States of America who were denied their chance in the court, 14 of them never got a vote in the United States Senate. I respectfully suggest my friend read a little history.

COLEMAN: And the history is they were never denied a vote after they got through a committee. And the history is...

BIDEN: That's not true.

COLEMAN: Abe Fortas had a majority of votes who would have voted against, because Bob Griffin said so. That was not a partisan filibuster, Joe, that was a bipartisan effort to block that judge. But ever judge...

BIDEN: Filibuster. You used the word, filibuster.

COLEMAN: ...but every judge that had the majority in the United State Senate, when they got through committee had a vote until you changed it last year.

BIDEN: That's not true.

BLITZER: All right. We only have a few seconds left. And I want both of you to respond to this basic question, Senator Biden. First to you. What's the most important thing you'd like to hear from the president tonight?

BIDEN: Oh, I never presume to suggest what I want to hear from this president.

BLITZER: All right. What about you, Senator Coleman?

COLEMAN: Two things. One, I hope he talks about an energy bill because we have to get that through. And then I hope he talks about he's committed to moving Social Security forward, to fixing the problem that's going to hit all of us in the not too distant future.

BLITZER: One thing I think you both will agree on, I'm sure you're not happy about some of the new members of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, including Zimbabwe. What's going on at the U.N., Senator Biden?

BIDEN: Same thing that always has.

BLITZER: All right. I'll leave it at that.

COLEMAN: And let me respond. The Zimbabwe vote is a strong statement, affirmation of why John Bolton should be affirmed -- confirmed as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. We need someone who's blunt, who understands the need for reform. The U.N. is in desperate need of reform. What happened yesterday just further demonstrates it.

BLITZER: Will he be confirmed, Senator Biden?

BIDEN: I don't know. But we need someone who can be trusted at the U.N. that he, in fact, when he speaks, the world thinks that he is speaking from facts. This next U.N. ambassador is going to almost probably in this next term have to make a case before the United Nations with regard to North Korea and with regard to Iran and with regard to their efforts to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

To send a man who has pushed the envelope on the facts on that -- and has, in fact, when analysts from the agencies who disagree with him, sought to have their portfolio changed -- that's a code word for saying, have them taken off the case -- is not the man we should be sending to the U.N.

BLITZER: Unfortunately, we have to leave it there. Senator Biden, always good to speak with you. Senator Coleman, same as well. Appreciate you both joining us.

BIDEN: Thank you very much.

COLEMAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up at the top of the hour, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. Lou is standing by in New York with a preview -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, Thank you very much.

6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight here on CNN, we'll be previewing the president's primetime news conference. Has the president already lost the battle to sell his so-called Social Security reforms? We'll be taking a hard look at the latest poll numbers as well.

Also tonight, a huge scam to sell drivers' licenses to illegal aliens and potentially terrorists. And charges of corruption in state government, state license agency -- those people also implicated in that scam.

And God and politics: has the Christian right taken over the Republican party? Well, my guest tonight says yes. He's a former Republican senator and he's an Episcopal minister. All of that and more at the top of the hour.

Now back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. We'll be watching.

When we come back, the search for a missing bride-to-be has expanded, and a criminal investigation declared just two days before her wedding.

Plus, Michael Jackson's former wife takes the stand for the prosecution in the pop star's child molestation trial. But which side does she really help? Our Ted Rowlands standing by at the courthouse with all the latest. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The search for a missing Georgia woman whose wedding was planned for this Saturday is now classified as a criminal investigation. For more, let's turn to CNN's Sara Dorsey. She's in Duluth. That's just outside Atlanta -- Sara.

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, we can tell you there is still no sign of Jennifer Wilbanks. However, her fiance John Mason has been asked by Duluth Police to take a polygraph test. They told us earlier today he had volunteered to do that. And we should know by tomorrow if indeed he will be taking that test.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY (voice-over): Jennifer Wilbanks, a soon to be bride, appears to have vanished while jogging in an Atlanta suburb on Tuesday. What was once classified a missing persons case has now been stepped up a notch.

CHIEF RANDY BELCHER, DULUTH, GEORGIA POLICE: At this point, we still have no indication that a crime has been committed. But we are treating it as a criminal investigation.

DORSEY: Police have confirmed to CNN that a clump of hair was found during the search Wednesday. However, they say, the hair has not been linked to Wilbanks and could belong to anyone. It was taken into evidence.

Friends and family members say the young woman would never have left on her own and was excited about the upcoming ceremony. Her mother broke down as she discussed the last conversation she had with her daughter.

VICKI, MOTHER OF JENNIFER WILBANKS: She was telling me to come by her office today. She had a list of all the vendors. She said, Mommy, you're going to be with me all day.

DORSEY: About 150 law enforcement agents have expanded the search for the 32-year-old woman in hopes of getting some solid leads.

BELCHER: We do have some bloodhounds coming in, and we will be using dogs to attempt to pick up her trail and see where that may lead us.

DORSEY: Police say there's no new evidence, no suspects, and no signs of a crime, simply a bizarre disappearance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY: And, Wolf, police reiterated that this extended search that they were doing today really turned up nothing beneficial. However, they say they will bring in more dogs and more law enforcement in the days to come to continue with the effort. Wolf?

BLITZER: Sara Dorsey reporting. Thanks, Sara, very much.

Michael Jackson's former wife is testifying for a second day in his child molestation trial, but Debbie Rowe's testimony for the prosecution may be helping Jackson's defense team even more.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is outside the courthouse in Santa Maria, California. He's joining us live. Ted?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Debbie Rowe was to come up on the stand and tie Michael Jackson to the co-conspirators in this case, and she appears to have done just the opposite. She said on the stand today under oath that, in her mind, she thought that the people around Jackson were, quote, "vultures," saying she thought they were keeping things from him and trying to make money at his expense. She also painted Michael Jackson has a wonderful man and a wonderful father.

This is an ex-wife in the middle of a custody battle who one would think would have an axe to grind against Michael Jackson, and she did the opposite. She looked at Jackson and broke down crying on the stand, saying that he is kind, generous to a fault, a great father, and a great person around children. There's my Michael, and then there is everyone else's Michael, the one that they see, the entertainer. Michael Jackson, she says, was not informed of things around him.

This, clearly, according to most folks that were in the courtroom, was not a prosecution witness but more of a defense witness. In fact, to illustrate that, there was a motion on the table to exclude her testimony from the defense. At the end of her testimony, Jackson's attorney go up and said, Your Honor, we'd like to pull that motion off the table, and he smiled. Wolf?

BLITZER: Ted Rowlands reporting with the latest. Thanks, Ted, very much.

When we come back, an exciting discovery for scientists and bird watchers: a woodpecker thought to be extinct is found alive in Arkansas. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: "This Week in History," the collapse of the South Vietnamese Army following the pullout of the American military. On April 30th, 1975, North Vietnamese troops smashed through the Presidential Palace gates in South Vietnam's capital city, claiming victory in the Vietnam War.

In Ukraine, one of the worst nuclear disasters occurred. On April 26, 1986, a flawed Soviet reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, leaking toxic radiation.

And, on April 29, 1992, four white police officers, charged in the beating of an African-American motorist, Rodney King, were acquitted. The verdict sparked violent riots in Los Angeles, lasting three days, and that is "This Week in History."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As one blogger put it, imagine spotting Elvis in a convenience store and capturing it on tape. That's the kind of excitement some scientists are feeling over sightings of a type of woodpecker thought to be extinct.

CNN's Tom Foreman is joining us. He's got the story.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this isn't quite Elvis, but I'm telling you, this is enormous. More than just the story of a bird, this is a story of triumph by people who have been searching hopelessly for decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): In the deep swamps of Arkansas, a phantom has been captured on video. That's history winging through the woods. This is the first photographic image of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in 60 years, and amateur naturalist Gene Sparling, who found the bird, almost did not report it.

GENE SPARLING, NATURALIST: With that as background, it was just too difficult for me to accept that I had actually seen one.

FOREMAN: At 20 inches long, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was America's largest when this rare film was made in 1935. Back then, researchers knew the bird was suffering from hunting and habitat loss. By the 1940s, it was presumed extinct. Rumors of Ivory-billed sightings have persisted ever since, but a year ago, while kayaking, Sparling suddenly saw one land right next to him. SPARLING: The bird quickly jumped to the back side of the tree, and began to do a typical woodpecker peek-a-boo.

FOREMAN: Moments later, it flew, leaving Sparling fearful he had seen only a large version of the Common Piliated Woodpecker.

SPARLING: And I'm -- was also quite aware of the Sasquatch- alien-abduction connotation of having seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

FOREMAN: But when bird researchers Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison saw a description of Sparling's bird online...

BOBBY HARRISON, OAKWOOD COLLEGE: I knew it was an Ivory-billed. I'm not sure he was convinced at the moment, but I was.

FOREMAN: Within days, Sparling led them to the spot, and it happened again.

TIM GALLAGHER, RESEARCHER: It was just the most unbelievable moment of my life.

FOREMAN: Like seeing a ghost?

GALLAGHER: Exactly.

FOREMAN: The discovery has now been confirmed by 15 sightings. The Interior and Agriculture Departments want $10 million to protect the bird.

GALE NORTIN, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SECRETARY: Second chances to save wildlife thought to be extinct are extremely rare.

FOREMAN: Scientists have no idea how many of these woodpeckers are out there or how far they range, but major tracking efforts are now under way to ensure this once-lost and spectacular bird stays found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: (on camera): For all of us who have been following the rumors of this bird for years and years and years, this is so exciting we just can't wait to see it. That's why they're protecting where the exact location is until they can stabilize it. Wolf?

BLITZER: This is very exciting. Thanks very much, Tom Foreman. Excellent report.

I'll be back later tonight, together with Paula Zahn, for our special live coverage of the president's primetime news conference. Our coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

END

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


Aired April 28, 2005 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER: Happening now, you're looking live at the White House. We'll tell you why President Bush is about to take a very unusual step tonight.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Primetime president Q&A just hours away. Can he sell his Social Security plan to an increasingly skeptical public?

Big day in Baghdad: Iraq gets its first democratic government in half a century, but the insurgents aren't impressed.

Woodpecker wonder: It's like finding a dodo. This bird is not extinct. And the experts are amazed.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, April 28, 2005.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks for joining us. He's wrapping up a cross country marathon to educate Americans about his Social Security reforms. And he's been expending a lot of energy promoting his energy ideas. In just three hours, President Bush holds a news conference to make one more pitch for his policies. But it's been a tough sell so far, especially when it comes to Social Security.

Standing by in New York to tell us why, Mary Snow. She'll have a closer look at Social Security.

Chris Huntington -- he'll look at the energy debate.

But we begin with our Suzanne Malveaux. She's over at the White House with a preview of the president's primetime appeal -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well Wolf, very interesting. Just moments ago we learned that that press conference was moved from 8:30 to 8:00 due to complications of network programming. Obviously, the White House wants as many people as possible to watch and hear what the president has to say. It is a very rare incident that you have a press conference in primetime in the East Room. This is only the fourth time this has happened. It really underscores the importance of President Bush's message. The two things he's going to focus on: Social Security reform as well as his energy plan. As you had mentioned, of course before, the president wraps up a 60-day, 60-stop tour trying to sell his Social Security reform plan across the country to actually create some of those private accounts for younger retirees.

Now, this is supposed to really mark the end of the first phase going to the second phase, talking more about solutions, possible solutions to that. But it has been a very tough sell, Wolf, for this president.

Not only polls showing that there's not much approval to that, but also his overall job approval rating, the latest polls showing from the Washington Post/ABC poll that overall job approval sinking -- 47 percent approving of the job he's doing, 50 percent now disapproving.

Now of course, the other top issue that he's going to focus on is the energy policy policy. The president basically wants to show the American people that, yes, he cares about these soaring gas prices even if there is very little that he can do about it.

The president's plan, his energy plan has languished over the last four years in Congress. It was just yesterday he announced a new initiative to try to actually create oil refineries in some of these closed military bases. And then it was just Monday when he asked the Saudi crown prince if he would boost his oil production. The crown prince saying, in a long term plan, yes, he would, over the next ten years. But not a short term solution.

President Bush addressing both of those issues tonight hoping that he will convince the American people that he is on the right track when it comes to his domestic agenda -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux. 8:00 p.m. start time for the president's news conference -- 8:00 pm Eastern. Suzanne, thank you very much.

By emphasizing Social Security tonight, the president hopes to build momentum for his overall plan. So far, though, it's been slow going.

CNN's Mary Snow joining us live from New York with more -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Wolf, mixing politics and money is never an easy sell. Add in a skeptical public, protests and a lackluster market, and the sales pitch became even harder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): Fargo, North Dakota. President Bush hit the road in a 60-day campaign selling his plan to revamp Social Security to include private accounts.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's your money. It's money that you can decide to leave to whomever you want.

SNOW: At that time, a poll showed that 43 percent of Americans approved of the president's approach to Social Security, 48 percent disapproved. The president pointed out that returns on investments would be higher.

Market analysts point out that an historic return for an investment over 35 to 40 years is close to 8 percent compared to a 5 percent return on money invested in bonds like Social Security. But polls conducted two months later showed the sales pitch wasn't working. The approval rating dropped to 35 percent with 57 percent disapproving.

In Galveston, Texas, on Tuesday...

BUSH: In 2027 the system is going to be $200 billion a year in the hole.

SNOW: In a different poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News earlier this week, 31 percent said they approved of the president's handling of Social Security while 64 percent disapproved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When George Bush first hit the road, all the talk was about personal accounts. Now George Bush is talking about solvency. Solvency and Social Security is a completely different issue. Solvency does not involve personal accounts.

SNOW: While the president visited 24 sites to push his plan, there was a campaign of another kind being waged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP OF AARP COMMERCIAL)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you had a problem with the kitchen sink, you wouldn't tear down the entire house.

(END VIDEO CLIP OF AARP COMMERCIAL)

SNOW: The American Association of Retired People estimates it spent at least $5 million in its campaign opposing the president's privatization plan. Organized labor also turned up the pressure on financial companies like Charles Schwab. Union protests target the company's founder, claiming he's a supporter of the president's plan. And there have been women's groups voicing dissent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are nearly 14 million women who get benefits as spouses and widows. Only 2 percent of the people who get benefits as a spouse or as a surviving spouse are men. So this is overwhelmingly an issue that affects women.

SNOW: One group that stands to benefit is the financial community. Observers say it has not been so vocal.

NORM ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: For the financial community, there is not really a belief that this would be some great windfall. SNOW: And Norm Ornstein points out that the market didn't help the president's cause. Since February, the Dow has dropped nearly 4 percent. Ornstein said, had the market been soaring, the president's sales pitch might have been easier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And strategists point out that even if the president takes a more conciliatory approach, it's still going to be a tough sell -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting from New York. Mary, thanks very much.

U.S. financial markets, by the way, plunged sharply again today as reports show the economy growing at its slowest pace in some two years. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 128 points, or 1.25 percent. The technology-laden NASDAQ sank more than 26 points, down 1.36 percent. And the broad S&P 500 Index was down 13 points, also more than a percent.

Despite the grim scene today on the stock market, some industries are doing rather well. Profits are up for the oil companies, for example. CNN's Chris Huntington is looking into that part of the story -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is no coincidence that at a time of record high crude oil and gasoline prices, the big oil companies, many of them are turning in record profits. The problem for motorists, it's just more fuel to make them angry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON (voice-over): While American motorists grit their teeth at the numbers they see at the pumps, oil company executives and investors are grinning ear to ear. In the first quarter, Exxon Mobil made $7.8 billion, up 44 percent from a year ago. Its stock is up nearly as much in the past 12 months. BP, which owns Amoco and Arco, earned a record $6.6 billion in the first quarter, up 35 percent. Royal Dutch Shell pulled in $5.5 billion, up 28 percent.

No surprise, it's as simple as supply and demand. The big oil producers are profiting from the big jump in crude prices, up nearly 30 percent in the past year due to sharply higher global demand, led by the United States, China and India. But the oil companies are making even more money on what they do to that oil.

JOHN KILLDUFF, FIMAT: The secret to a lot of the profits going on right now, though, is their refining business. Turning crude oil into gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, and everything else, for the first time really in years for the most part, has done extraordinarily well.

HUNTINGTON: For decades, refining was a low margin business, a big reason why no new refineries have been built in the United States in nearly 30 years. But with gasoline demand rising and refining capacity virtually maxed out, the margins have shot up in the past two years, particularly for Valero. The nation's biggest independent refiner specializes in refining the cheapest, lowest grade crude making for bigger profit margins.

Valero's earnings more than doubled in the first quarter. It's stock has done the same in the past year. In 2004, Valero CEO William Greehey took home more than $44 million in salary and stock options.

Analysts say the oil industry's big profits and big paychecks simply come from being in the right business at the right time.

BARBARA SHOOK, ENERGY INTELLIGENCE: They just happen to make their money by producing oil and natural gas and refining it or otherwise turning it into products that consumers can use, gasoline being, probably, the primary product. They are in business to make money. They're not public servants.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Wolf, no surprise that claims of gouging run high in this kind of environment. Congress has looked into this issue many, many times. Most recently in 2002, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations did an exhaustive study on gasoline pricing and found there was no predatory pricing, simply just the companies taking advantage of market conditions -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Christ Huntington reporting from New York. Thanks, Chris, very much.

And we'll have more on what to expect from President Bush tonight during his primetime news conference. Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic Senator Joe Biden. They're standing by to join us live this hour.

Also ahead: Iraq forms its first democratically-elected government in some 50 years, on the same day as Saddam Hussein celebrates -- if we can say that -- his birthday in prison.

Pictures of the fallen: in a rare move, the Pentagon releases hundreds of photos showing the coffins of troops killed in action. We'll have details, plus this.

CHIEF RANDY BELCHER, DULUTH, GEORGIA, POLICE: We do have some bloodhounds coming in, and we will be using dogs to attempt to pick up her trail.

BLITZER: A missing bride-to-be: she went out for a run and vanished days before her wedding. Now police are widening the search.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Saddam Hussein's birthday used to be a big day in Iraq, bringing, literally, millions of people into the streets. Today Saddam spent his birthday alone in a jail cell. But it was a big day in Baghdad and around the country as Iraqis got their first freely chosen government in some 50 years.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three months after national elections, members of Iraq's National Assembly finally raised their hands and approved a government, but it's only a partial cabinet. The country's Prime Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari was expected to announce the names of all of his cabinet ministers, but moments before the vote, said he was unable to decide on seven of the 36 posts. He says he hopes to fill those jobs soon. Until then, he and his deputies will occupy them. Among the vacancies, the top jobs in the all- important Defense and Oil Ministries.

Navigating Iraq's numerous ethnic and religious shoals, the prime minister included Shiites from his own constituency, Kurds, Christians, Turkmen, and, importantly, Sunni Arabs. Sunni Arabs enjoyed most of the power under Saddam, but by and large stayed away from the polls after Saddam's fall. Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president said the prime minister should have been more inclusive in forming the government.

GHAZI AL-YAWAR, IRAQI VP, VIA TRANSLATOR: This was supposed to be a government of national unity, but the number and count of ministries Sunni Arabs have received was less than what was expected.

CHILCOTE: In a sign of the challenges ahead of this government, moments before the vote, a tribute to a member of the National Assembly assassinated Wednesday. Iraqis expect the new government to reign that violence in, but the government is already warning it can't deliver miracles.

AHMED CHALABI, IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This government cannot open heaven's gates.

CHILCOTE: Many Iraqis would settle for some earthly peace.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Even as the new government was announced, peace was hard to find inside Iraq. Police say an Interior Ministry official was gunned down in Baghdad. In Tikrit, a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint. The U.S. military says three American soldiers were among the wounded. South of Baghdad, officials say insurgent mortars hit a bus station, killing four Iraqis.

A very unusual move by the Pentagon, which has released hundreds of pictures showing the handling of the remains of U.S. troops killed in action.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is standing by with details. Jamie? JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, Wolf, it took a lawsuit to pry the photographs out of the Pentagon, but officials here say that does not mean they're changing the overall policy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The photographs were released in two batches. First, 92 images that had already been released on various military web sites, including this one showing the casket of a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan in 2002 being strapped to the floor of a C-17. Here, flag-draped coffins carrying the remains of Americans missing from the Vietnam War are shown when they arrive on U.S. soil in Guam in 2002. And there's this poignant image of a rarely seen burial at sea ceremony, conducted aboard the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Enterprise in May of last year.

But another series of 268 pictures were released without any identifying information. No dates, no locations, and with the faces of service members in combat zones blacked out, for reasons of privacy, the Pentagon insists. The mountains in this image suggest it is in Afghanistan. This one shows a blue body bag being gently lowered into a metal casket, but, again, the Pentagon withheld any details.

The release comes in response to a lawsuit filed by former CNN correspondent and University of Delaware journalism professor Ralph Begleiter, along with the National Security Archive.

RALPH BEGLEITER, UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: I think it's important for the American people to be able to assess the cost of war and to pay respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon counters that its concern is protecting the privacy of the fallen and their families and argues that it announces all casualties and that coverage of individual funerals is up to the families. But many believe the true genesis of the ban was an incident in December of 1989, when President Bush was shown by network television in a split screen, joking with White House reporters, juxtaposed against the first images of U.S. war dead being returned from Panama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Wolf, the Pentagon insists there will be no change in its policy banning access to the return of American military remains from overseas, and what happens with this lawsuit is uncertain as well. The people who filed it are going to have to decide whether they think the Pentagon's response is adequate or whether they should go back to the judge and ask for the Pentagon to release more imagery. Wolf?

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre, thanks very much.

Historic visit -- once bitter Cold War enemies, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, becomes the first Kremlin leader to visit Israel.

Controversial choice -- nations often criticized for poor human rights records are elected to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. We'll have details.

And to extinction and back -- this woodpecker species, thought to be long gone, is now found alive and well in Arkansas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

They were divided for decades by the Iron Curtain and the Middle East conflict. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a ground-breaking visit to Israel, but they're still trying to iron out some serious differences.

CNN's John Vause has the story from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the surface, the state visit by Vladimir Putin is all about strengthening ties, promoting good will, but beyond the smiles and handshakes, relations are strained. Israel is trying to stop the sale of Russian weapons to Syria -- in particular, an anti-aircraft system -- even though it's a done deal. Mr. Putin says there's nothing to fear because the short-range missiles can't reach Israel. And besides, he says, it could have been worse.

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA, (through translator): Our military personnel wanted to supply the region and Syria with more modern systems that have a longer range, called Esgander (ph). I personally vetoed this deal.

VAUSE: And then there's Iran's nuclear program. The fuel and some technology are coming from Russia. Israel fears the Iranians are building a nuclear bomb. Mr. Putin says it's in Iran's best interests to prove that it's not.

PUTIN (through translator): And not hinder placing all of its nuclear program under international control.

VAUSE: Still, this was a trip of firsts: the first Kremlin leader to visit the Western Wall, the most sacred site in Judaism; the first to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Christ was crucified. The Russian leader also paid his respects to the victims of the Holocaust at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Memorial. Earlier, Mr. Putin said there was a special bond between these two countries because their people had suffered more than most.

And, speaking in Russian, the Israeli prime minister told Mr. Putin that, today, he is among friends.

VAUSE: Vladimir Putin will meet with the president of the Palestinian Authority Friday. He's hoping to sell the Palestinians arms and troop carriers. On this issue, the Israelis say they have no objections, providing it's coordinated by them.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All eyes on both sides of the aisle looking for President Bush's news conference tonight. Senators Norm Coleman and Joe Biden, they're standing by to talk about it.

Also ahead -- she disappeared just days before her wedding. Now, the search becomes a full-blown criminal investigation.

Plus -- Michael Jackson's former wife on the stand for the prosecution: why her testimony is helping the defense. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back. Social Security and high gas prices expected to dominate the president's primetime news conference. That's coming up later tonight: start time, 8:00 p.m. eastern. Coming up, I'll speak with Senators Joe Biden and Norm Coleman. They'll tell us what they want to hear.

First, though, let's get a quick check of other stories "Now in the News."

Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist has offered a compromise in the battle over judicial nominations. As an alternative to changing Senate rules to end judicial filibusters all together, Frist offered to accept a 100-hour cap on debates. While Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he'd review the offers, he called it -- and I'm quoting now -- "a big wet kiss to the far right."

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has lost a court battle. The Florida Supreme Court says it will not review a lower court ruling allowing prosecutors to seize Limbaugh's medical records. Investigators are trying to determine whether Limbaugh purchased pain killers illegally.

Police in suburban Chicago have been questioning the parents of two children, a nine-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, found stabbed to death in their home. Late today, they said one person has been arrested, but they didn't say who. Authorities say they believe several knives found inside the house were the weapons.

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse -- there's outrage in diplomatic circles today after nations criticized for their poor human rights records once again wind up on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Let's go live to our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth. Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's turning into an annual rite of spring: countries with horrible human rights records getting elected to the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (voice-over): There has been a growing feeling that the U.N.'s own Human Rights Commission is a crime in its own right. In recent years, countries such as Libya and Sudan have gotten seats on the commission, despite being criticized for their human rights record by the U.N.'s own Security Council.

On Wednesday, more outrage, after the African country of Zimbabwe was approved. Led by hard-liner Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is accused by governments of repressing its own people, shutting down the media, and rigging elections.

ANNE PATTERSON, ACTING U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We were perplexed and dismayed that Zimbabwe was elected. We think that's totally inappropriate for the Human Rights Commission, which, after all, is supposed to maintain the highest standards of human rights compliance in the world.

ROTH: But Zimbabwe fired back, charging the U.S. invasion of Iraq and treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay are human rights abuses.

BONIFACE CHIDYAUSIKU, ZIMBABWEAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: One cannot claim to be a champion of human rights when you have such practices in your backyard.

ROTH: Also reelected to the commission, China, a big power with human rights issues.

WANG GUANGYUA, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Of course, certainly members have some different views about the work of the Human Rights Commission.

ROTH: Winning a seat on the Geneva-based commission gives violators a chance to block any condemnation.

JOANNA WESCHLER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: It became a U.N. problem. It's a liability for the entire U.N. It's not just limited to human rights. It's now something that the U.N. as an institution needs to deal with if it wants to restore its reputation and credibility.

ROTH: So the U.N.'s leader, Kofi Annan, himself under some heat, has told U.N. countries he wants to abolish the commission.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It's no secret that the Human Rights Commission can be much more effective.

ROTH: The U.N. boss wants a slimmed-down commission, elected directly by the entire General Assembly, removing pre-cooked deals on candidates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Backers of change hope that countries would have to meet certain U.N. human rights criteria in order to be elected in the future to a new panel -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thanks, Richard, very much.

And we're gearing up to hear from President Bush tonight, his fourth prime-time news conference since taking office. We'll hear first, though, from Senator Norm Coleman and Senator Joe Biden. We'll get their take on the president's priorities for the country.

Also, we'll have the latest on that missing bride and a possible new lead in the case.

Plus, extinct no more. The sightings that have scientists singing. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More now on our top story. President Bush's news conference scheduled to begin less than three hours from now, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. That's when it will begin exactly.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill to talk about what we can expect, Senator Norm Coleman. He's a Republican of Minnesota. Senator Joe Biden; he's a Democrat of Delaware. They're both key members of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Let's talk about Social Security, first of all. Senator Biden, is there any wiggle room, as far as you're concerned, as far as the president's private accounts, retirement accounts, are concerned? Will you be willing to have an open mind and hear what the president has to say tonight?

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Oh, I always listen to the president. I can't imagine how the private accounts can deal with the solvency of the Social Security system, which I think is the urgent need he talks about. But, look, I always listen to the president.

BLITZER: What about you, Senator Coleman? What about the issue of private accounts? It doesn't seem like the American public is all that enthusiastic about it, given the public opinion polls.

SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: Actually, Joe -- actually, I think, Wolf, what you'll see is that the president could cite, if he wanted to, public opinion showing that the public is, I think, warming to the idea of individuals having personal accounts and being able to have a nest egg. I think the president has done a good job of letting the public know Social Security has problems. There's no question about it. My friends on the other side of the aisle haven't offered anything, haven't put anything on the table. I hope the president stays with personal accounts, and then dispels some of the myths, by the way, the myths that somehow those who receive disability payments through Social Security will be harmed by whatever the president does. That's simply not true.

BLITZER: Well, let me interrupt for a second, Senator Coleman. What do you say to Senator Biden and a lot of other Democrats, and some Republicans, who say the private account debate doesn't even get close to resolving the key issue, which is solvency, because that's going to cost a lot of money, at least in the short term.

COLEMAN: I think two things, Joe. One, private accounts are a piece -- they're certainly not the solution -- but they're an important piece, an important piece for young folks who are putting into a system that they don't even believe they're going to get anything out of. And then I agree with my friend, Senator Biden, that we have to go beyond that. We have to look at how do we calculate rate increases? One of the things we can do is to go beyond that. But don't discount personal accounts as a piece of the puzzle, people getting more back on their return, and therefore withdrawing less from Social Security.

BLITZER: All right, Senator Biden, you want to respond to that?

BIDEN: Yeah, discount personal accounts. I am going to be no party to, nor will the Senate be in my view, of making the American elderly poor again. And the fact of the matter is, the fact is, that if you're going to go with private accounts, as the president is talking about, it's going to cost at least $1 trillion, $2 trillion over 10 years. The money's got to come from somewhere, and it's going to do nothing, nothing, nothing to positively affect solvency.

If you want to help private savings for young people, let's talk about private accounts on top of Social Security, instead of in place of Social Security or in place of part of Social Security.

But I'll be no party to anything that moves American seniors back into poverty, and that's what would happen.

BLITZER: Senator Coleman, what about that? A lot of Democrats, Senator Kennedy, now Senator Biden, many Democrats have said, you want to talk about private accounts, do it but outside the framework of Social Security.

COLEMAN: Joe, many of us have those options already. We have 401(k)s. Everybody who is a federal employee has (INAUDIBLE). We got a lot of that. But the bottom line, each and every American deserves to have a nest egg. They don't deserve, if you're 20 something years old, to be investing in something that's taking 12 percent of your salary and generating a 1.5 percent return.

There's nothing the president is putting on the table that's going to put America's poor in poverty, just the contrary. We have a $15 -- $10 to $15 trillion unfunded liability from Social Security, and when Baby Boomers like me and the good senator from Delaware start hitting the market a couple of years from now, we're going to start taking out more than we've put in. And so we have to act now. We can't wait forever to deal with this.

BLITZER: All right, Senator Biden, you're shaking your head. Go ahead.

BIDEN: Are you going to trust the government less than -- are you going to trust Wall Street more than you trust the government? Look, there are notes that are out there. Everybody says they don't mean anything. The federal government has never once reneged on an obligation in our entire history. If we reneged on the commitment, those notes that are being held that everybody says don't mean anything, that make the system solvent for a long time to come, if we renege on them, our entire credit worldwide would plummet. They're the same kinds of Treasury bills that are owned by -- Japan owns almost $1 trillion worth, 600 and some billion. China owns 138 billion. Europeans own tens of billions. This is -- this is appealing to the cynicism of the American people.

BLITZER: All right, Senator. Senator Coleman, I'll let you respond to that and then we'll move on.

COLEMAN: Senator Biden is appealing to the fear of American people. The bottom line is, as we pay off these notes, we're going to have to be putting into tens of hundreds of millions -- ultimately, billions by the way -- tens of billions of dollars to pay off these notes into the general fund. The reality is more of us are growing old, the Baby Boomers are hitting the point where we're pulling more out than we put on.

And my friends on the other side have offered nothing, nothing but fear. And in the end, the president's shown the courage to move forward. I think Americans understand that. And we've got to solve this, not just talk about the fears and what will happen, what are the negatives that will occur?

BIDEN: Let's solve Medicare that's a crisis now, not Social Security that's a crisis in 2050.

BLITZER: Senator Biden, what about this proposal from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, let 100 hours of debate on judicial nominees take place on the Senate floor and forget about the filibuster. Is 100 hour enough for you?

BIDEN: Look, it's not about 100 hours, it's about whether or not we're going to rewrite the Constitution, make the Congress -- make the Senate the House, turn the president into a prime minister and us a parliament.

The fact of the matter is, imagine what this rule would have meant when Roosevelt was trying to pack the courts back in the '30s. Do you think there's any possibility it would have been stopped? Does anybody believe that? Does anybody -- when are we going to start to read history?

Up until the year 1947, there wasn't even a three-fifths ability to cut off debate in the Senate, you needed unanimous consent. 1917, we came around and said, look, with legislation, you should be able to cut off debate if you get a three-fifths vote. They said, how about doing that for the courts? And the United States Senate and constitutional scholars said no, bad idea.

BLITZER: Senator Coleman, go ahead.

COLEMAN: In 1997, it was Joe Biden who said that everyone ought to have a vote. They ought to have a vote in committee and they ought to have a vote on the floor. BIDEN: That's not true.

COLEMAN: That's absolutely true. That's a quote from Joe Biden in 1997. And the fact is before last year we didn't filibuster judges in the United States Senate. We didn't filibuster Circuit Court judges. In 1995, the last time there was an opportunity to vote on the filibuster, it was 19 Democrats to who voted to end the filibuster. And so the reality is history was changed this year, Wolf. That's a reality.

BIDEN: May I respond to that?

COLEMAN: History was changed last year. And we cannot let that change continue.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Senator Biden.

BIDEN; May I respond to that?

The vote he's talking about with regard to me was, we -- with a colleague, a nominee passed out 14-2. There were well over 60 senators in the United States Senate ready to vote for that nominee, ultimately over 80 did vote for the nominee. And because one man didn't want it to even get to the floor of the Senate -- I said they're entitled to get out of the committee and have a vote, the vote being a vote on a filibuster. That was the vote I was referring to. That's the fact.

Number two, in 1968, remember Abe Fortas was stopped by a filibuster, by a leading Republican friend of mine, Bob Griffin, who happened to be the senator from the state of Michigan. There are a total of 24 Supreme Court justices in the United States of America who were denied their chance in the court, 14 of them never got a vote in the United States Senate. I respectfully suggest my friend read a little history.

COLEMAN: And the history is they were never denied a vote after they got through a committee. And the history is...

BIDEN: That's not true.

COLEMAN: Abe Fortas had a majority of votes who would have voted against, because Bob Griffin said so. That was not a partisan filibuster, Joe, that was a bipartisan effort to block that judge. But ever judge...

BIDEN: Filibuster. You used the word, filibuster.

COLEMAN: ...but every judge that had the majority in the United State Senate, when they got through committee had a vote until you changed it last year.

BIDEN: That's not true.

BLITZER: All right. We only have a few seconds left. And I want both of you to respond to this basic question, Senator Biden. First to you. What's the most important thing you'd like to hear from the president tonight?

BIDEN: Oh, I never presume to suggest what I want to hear from this president.

BLITZER: All right. What about you, Senator Coleman?

COLEMAN: Two things. One, I hope he talks about an energy bill because we have to get that through. And then I hope he talks about he's committed to moving Social Security forward, to fixing the problem that's going to hit all of us in the not too distant future.

BLITZER: One thing I think you both will agree on, I'm sure you're not happy about some of the new members of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, including Zimbabwe. What's going on at the U.N., Senator Biden?

BIDEN: Same thing that always has.

BLITZER: All right. I'll leave it at that.

COLEMAN: And let me respond. The Zimbabwe vote is a strong statement, affirmation of why John Bolton should be affirmed -- confirmed as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. We need someone who's blunt, who understands the need for reform. The U.N. is in desperate need of reform. What happened yesterday just further demonstrates it.

BLITZER: Will he be confirmed, Senator Biden?

BIDEN: I don't know. But we need someone who can be trusted at the U.N. that he, in fact, when he speaks, the world thinks that he is speaking from facts. This next U.N. ambassador is going to almost probably in this next term have to make a case before the United Nations with regard to North Korea and with regard to Iran and with regard to their efforts to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

To send a man who has pushed the envelope on the facts on that -- and has, in fact, when analysts from the agencies who disagree with him, sought to have their portfolio changed -- that's a code word for saying, have them taken off the case -- is not the man we should be sending to the U.N.

BLITZER: Unfortunately, we have to leave it there. Senator Biden, always good to speak with you. Senator Coleman, same as well. Appreciate you both joining us.

BIDEN: Thank you very much.

COLEMAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up at the top of the hour, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. Lou is standing by in New York with a preview -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, Thank you very much.

6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight here on CNN, we'll be previewing the president's primetime news conference. Has the president already lost the battle to sell his so-called Social Security reforms? We'll be taking a hard look at the latest poll numbers as well.

Also tonight, a huge scam to sell drivers' licenses to illegal aliens and potentially terrorists. And charges of corruption in state government, state license agency -- those people also implicated in that scam.

And God and politics: has the Christian right taken over the Republican party? Well, my guest tonight says yes. He's a former Republican senator and he's an Episcopal minister. All of that and more at the top of the hour.

Now back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. We'll be watching.

When we come back, the search for a missing bride-to-be has expanded, and a criminal investigation declared just two days before her wedding.

Plus, Michael Jackson's former wife takes the stand for the prosecution in the pop star's child molestation trial. But which side does she really help? Our Ted Rowlands standing by at the courthouse with all the latest. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The search for a missing Georgia woman whose wedding was planned for this Saturday is now classified as a criminal investigation. For more, let's turn to CNN's Sara Dorsey. She's in Duluth. That's just outside Atlanta -- Sara.

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, we can tell you there is still no sign of Jennifer Wilbanks. However, her fiance John Mason has been asked by Duluth Police to take a polygraph test. They told us earlier today he had volunteered to do that. And we should know by tomorrow if indeed he will be taking that test.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY (voice-over): Jennifer Wilbanks, a soon to be bride, appears to have vanished while jogging in an Atlanta suburb on Tuesday. What was once classified a missing persons case has now been stepped up a notch.

CHIEF RANDY BELCHER, DULUTH, GEORGIA POLICE: At this point, we still have no indication that a crime has been committed. But we are treating it as a criminal investigation.

DORSEY: Police have confirmed to CNN that a clump of hair was found during the search Wednesday. However, they say, the hair has not been linked to Wilbanks and could belong to anyone. It was taken into evidence.

Friends and family members say the young woman would never have left on her own and was excited about the upcoming ceremony. Her mother broke down as she discussed the last conversation she had with her daughter.

VICKI, MOTHER OF JENNIFER WILBANKS: She was telling me to come by her office today. She had a list of all the vendors. She said, Mommy, you're going to be with me all day.

DORSEY: About 150 law enforcement agents have expanded the search for the 32-year-old woman in hopes of getting some solid leads.

BELCHER: We do have some bloodhounds coming in, and we will be using dogs to attempt to pick up her trail and see where that may lead us.

DORSEY: Police say there's no new evidence, no suspects, and no signs of a crime, simply a bizarre disappearance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY: And, Wolf, police reiterated that this extended search that they were doing today really turned up nothing beneficial. However, they say they will bring in more dogs and more law enforcement in the days to come to continue with the effort. Wolf?

BLITZER: Sara Dorsey reporting. Thanks, Sara, very much.

Michael Jackson's former wife is testifying for a second day in his child molestation trial, but Debbie Rowe's testimony for the prosecution may be helping Jackson's defense team even more.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is outside the courthouse in Santa Maria, California. He's joining us live. Ted?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Debbie Rowe was to come up on the stand and tie Michael Jackson to the co-conspirators in this case, and she appears to have done just the opposite. She said on the stand today under oath that, in her mind, she thought that the people around Jackson were, quote, "vultures," saying she thought they were keeping things from him and trying to make money at his expense. She also painted Michael Jackson has a wonderful man and a wonderful father.

This is an ex-wife in the middle of a custody battle who one would think would have an axe to grind against Michael Jackson, and she did the opposite. She looked at Jackson and broke down crying on the stand, saying that he is kind, generous to a fault, a great father, and a great person around children. There's my Michael, and then there is everyone else's Michael, the one that they see, the entertainer. Michael Jackson, she says, was not informed of things around him.

This, clearly, according to most folks that were in the courtroom, was not a prosecution witness but more of a defense witness. In fact, to illustrate that, there was a motion on the table to exclude her testimony from the defense. At the end of her testimony, Jackson's attorney go up and said, Your Honor, we'd like to pull that motion off the table, and he smiled. Wolf?

BLITZER: Ted Rowlands reporting with the latest. Thanks, Ted, very much.

When we come back, an exciting discovery for scientists and bird watchers: a woodpecker thought to be extinct is found alive in Arkansas. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: "This Week in History," the collapse of the South Vietnamese Army following the pullout of the American military. On April 30th, 1975, North Vietnamese troops smashed through the Presidential Palace gates in South Vietnam's capital city, claiming victory in the Vietnam War.

In Ukraine, one of the worst nuclear disasters occurred. On April 26, 1986, a flawed Soviet reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, leaking toxic radiation.

And, on April 29, 1992, four white police officers, charged in the beating of an African-American motorist, Rodney King, were acquitted. The verdict sparked violent riots in Los Angeles, lasting three days, and that is "This Week in History."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As one blogger put it, imagine spotting Elvis in a convenience store and capturing it on tape. That's the kind of excitement some scientists are feeling over sightings of a type of woodpecker thought to be extinct.

CNN's Tom Foreman is joining us. He's got the story.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this isn't quite Elvis, but I'm telling you, this is enormous. More than just the story of a bird, this is a story of triumph by people who have been searching hopelessly for decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): In the deep swamps of Arkansas, a phantom has been captured on video. That's history winging through the woods. This is the first photographic image of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in 60 years, and amateur naturalist Gene Sparling, who found the bird, almost did not report it.

GENE SPARLING, NATURALIST: With that as background, it was just too difficult for me to accept that I had actually seen one.

FOREMAN: At 20 inches long, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was America's largest when this rare film was made in 1935. Back then, researchers knew the bird was suffering from hunting and habitat loss. By the 1940s, it was presumed extinct. Rumors of Ivory-billed sightings have persisted ever since, but a year ago, while kayaking, Sparling suddenly saw one land right next to him. SPARLING: The bird quickly jumped to the back side of the tree, and began to do a typical woodpecker peek-a-boo.

FOREMAN: Moments later, it flew, leaving Sparling fearful he had seen only a large version of the Common Piliated Woodpecker.

SPARLING: And I'm -- was also quite aware of the Sasquatch- alien-abduction connotation of having seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

FOREMAN: But when bird researchers Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison saw a description of Sparling's bird online...

BOBBY HARRISON, OAKWOOD COLLEGE: I knew it was an Ivory-billed. I'm not sure he was convinced at the moment, but I was.

FOREMAN: Within days, Sparling led them to the spot, and it happened again.

TIM GALLAGHER, RESEARCHER: It was just the most unbelievable moment of my life.

FOREMAN: Like seeing a ghost?

GALLAGHER: Exactly.

FOREMAN: The discovery has now been confirmed by 15 sightings. The Interior and Agriculture Departments want $10 million to protect the bird.

GALE NORTIN, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SECRETARY: Second chances to save wildlife thought to be extinct are extremely rare.

FOREMAN: Scientists have no idea how many of these woodpeckers are out there or how far they range, but major tracking efforts are now under way to ensure this once-lost and spectacular bird stays found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: (on camera): For all of us who have been following the rumors of this bird for years and years and years, this is so exciting we just can't wait to see it. That's why they're protecting where the exact location is until they can stabilize it. Wolf?

BLITZER: This is very exciting. Thanks very much, Tom Foreman. Excellent report.

I'll be back later tonight, together with Paula Zahn, for our special live coverage of the president's primetime news conference. Our coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

END

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