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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Iran's Foreign Minister Claims Nuke Program is for Energy; Army Missing Recruiting Goals; Atlanta Runaway Bride to Face Charges?; Ugandan Rebels Blamed for Recent Attacks

Aired May 03, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" (voice-over): Happening now, Iran comes out swinging at the United Nations. Despite enormous international pressure, it says it's going forward with its nuclear program. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

Nightmare scenario: is America ready for a nuclear terror attack?

Eyeing your ID: a national standard for driver's licenses. A closer watch on national security or a closer watch on you?

A firefighter fights back: badly brain-damaged during a roof collapse a decade ago, he suddenly starts speaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005.

BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us.

As the world's diplomats gather to fight the spread of nuclear weapons, Iran stood defiant at the United Nations today and said it will move ahead with its nuclear program, including technology that can potentially be used to build a bomb.

We begin our CNN security watch. Let's go live to our senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth. Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, no sign of a backdown from Iran, despite pressure from the United States. This diplomatic nuclear standoff goes on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Iran launched a diplomatic missile, ignoring U.S. accusations, and holding to form on desires to resume a nuclear program whose objective is in doubt. Tehran says it wants to develop a nuclear program for energy, permitted in their view under the NPT Treaty. But its secrets and tough pronouncements have aroused big- power suspicions. The United States demanded Monday at the U.N. nuclear conference that all of Iran's nuclear activities be shut down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We dare not look the other way.

ROTH: But Iran told the NPT review meeting Tuesday, watch us. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi blasted what he called an exclusive club of powers that want to limit technology development under the pretext of curbing the spread of non-proliferation. He minced no words on Iran's plans.

KAMAL KHARRAZI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Iran, for its part, is determined to pursue all legal areas of nuclear technology, including enrichment, exclusively for peaceful purposes.

ROTH: But enrichment of uranium could also lead to the manufacture of nuclear bombs.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: There's no reason for them to have an enrichment, reprocessing, program. It's -- we know how it's been used in the past, and the only way to really satisfy and reassure the world that they're not going to be a nuclear threat is to eliminate those programs.

ROTH: Iran didn't give a timetable for resuming nuclear work, currently suspended while Tehran negotiates over incentives offered to stop production with three European countries including Germany.

JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER: It's not a question of threats or bluffing or anything like that. I think both sides know the facts perfectly well.

ROTH: Iran's desire to resume its nuclear ambitions will not ease fears of those who think the issue should be directed to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions.

PAUL LEVENTHAL, NUCLEAR CONTROL INSTITUTE: Time is on Iran's side. The longer this negotiation is stretched out, the more likely they are able to develop the enrichment capacity and capability necessary to produce high enriched uranium.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Iran offered a parting shot to nuclear watchdogs, saying that forcing a country to stop a legal activity will only cause a so- called breakout, Wolf, prompting an NPT member to continue work, clandestine or otherwise. Wolf?

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

During last year's presidential campaign, President Bush and his challenger, Senator John Kerry, both said the greatest threat to the United States is nuclear terrorism. The "Washington Post" today reported that two confidential government studies described the devastating consequences of such a strike on the nation's capital.

So, is America prepared? For more, let's turn to CNN's Kimberly Osias. Kimberly?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is one of those nightmare scenarios that no first responder ever wants to see played out. Just how on earth to ever get in and get a mass of people out of harm's way?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): We've all seen it on the silver screen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Ryan. The bomb is in play.

OSIAS: People screaming, scrambling for safety, in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. But that's Hollywood's rendition in "The Sum of all Fears." This could be reality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your family and 25 million other families will be dead.

Reporter: Just what would happen if a nuclear bomb went off near your hometown? Even though the chance of an attack is considered slim, is the government doing enough?

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This is the most dangerous weapon ever invented, and there is no good consequence- management strategy for it. There are only bad ones that we will try to do as well as we can, but the government is not going to do them particularly well, given how hard a task this is.

OSIAS: One thing the government has done is put information out on Ready.gov, the internet site designed by the Department of Homeland Security. The site claims, in the event of a detonation, you should take shelter, gain distance, and minimize your exposure time.

But some nuclear physicists say that advice is archaic and wrong. For example, they say you don't want to take shelter at all. You just want to get out of the way. The question is, how to do that. According to the site, it's a bit unclear how to travel, and it mentions nothing about wind direction. Scientists say a nuclear cloud is shaped much like a cigar, longer than it is wide, and that you want to run perpendicular or to the left or right of the cloud. As far as physical effects, there's heat, pressure, and radiation. Experts say, with the first two, there's nothing you can do.

FALKENRATH: If you're in the vicinity of the attack, you're simply going to die. The radiation, there is something to do, because it will go up in the atmosphere and then drift downwind and spread this radioactive plume.

OSIAS: Although terrorists may want to tap into nuclear weapons, the likelihood is slim. Obtaining enriched uranium or plutonium is difficult, and terrorists are likely to go for what's easy and what they know.

AMY SMITHSON, WEAPON EXPERT, CSIS: You find out that it's not like shake-n-bake cooking. This isn't the type of thing that you can go into your basement and whip up without a considerable amount of risk to yourself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS (on camera): The Department of Homeland Security says Ready.gov was never meant to be a comprehensive site, rather, a way for the public to begin a dialogue. They admit that wind was omitted and say that's because gauging wind direction is tough: what you feel down at ground level could be vastly different from what is happening higher up in the atmosphere. They also said the web site has been up for only two years and they are of course in the process of morphing and changing. Wolf?

BLITZER: Kimberly Osias reporting for us. Kimberly, thanks very much.

Also in our CNN security watch, a crackdown on driver's licenses. Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that would tie your driver's license to your immigration status.

CNN's Brian Todd's been covering this story. He's joining us now live with more -- Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this will affect millions of people in this country in a very direct way when they go to apply for or renew their driver's license, and it all stems from a discovery made in the wake of America's worst terrorist attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Among the aftershocks of September 11, the discovery that the hijackers had been able to move so freely within the United States -- some with expired visas, some using American driver's licenses -- has often nagged at lawmakers.

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), JUDICIARY CHMN: Those murderers chose our driver's licenses and state I.D.s as a form of identification because these documents allowed them to blend in and not raise suspicion or concern.

TODD: Congressman James Sensenbrenner, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is backing legislation that he says will impede terrorists' travel in the U.S. It would make all 50 states verify that anyone applying for or renewing a driver's license is a legal U.S. resident, and the licenses of legal temporary residents would expire when their visas do.

Supporters of such a law point to Mohammed Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, who had a six-month visa to stay in the U.S., but also a Florida driver's license good for six years.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This is going to help improve the quality of our identification, which we use at every checkpoint in the country.

TODD: Checkpoints like airports, gun shops, and government buildings. Driver's licenses are often used as I.D.s at those places, but undocumented immigrants couldn't do that under the proposal. Right now, 11 states allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The changed law would still let them get a license, but it would be coded differently. Opponents are worried about the "Big Brother" syndrome.

TIM SPARAPANI, ACLU: This proposal's going to create a national identification card for the first time. It literally sets up the backbone for a system to track all Americans throughout their lives, their movements, where they're going to, where they're coming from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Opponents also believe putting all this new information into one database, to be shared by motor vehicle divisions across the country, is a recipe for identity theft. Still, security concerns will likely win out. Every indication is that this proposal will pass both houses of Congress soon and the president is likely to sign it. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting for us. Brian, thank you.

And to our viewers, please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

When we come back, limiting the United States's military options: a report by a top military warns, meeting new world challenges could be difficult.

Waiting for an apology, and possibly a payment: will the city of Duluth, Georgia, sue its runaway bride?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did initiate a question, "How long have I been away?H And his -- we told him almost 10 years. And his response to that was that he thought it was only three months.

BLITZER: Battling back. A firefighter brain-damaged in a roof collapse speaks his first words in almost a decade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Already engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and fighting terror around the world, is the U.S. military stretched too thin?

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers is raising some eyebrows in a report to Congress.

Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that report to Congress is a routine report meant to give general Myers' opinion on how capable the U.S. military is of carrying out the national military strategy. He meant it as a reality check, he says, not necessarily to raise alarm bells. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The report is classified, but its conclusions are simply common sense, say Pentagon officials, who argue it's self- evident that with nearly 160,000 U.S. troops tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan, another war would be harder to fight.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMEN: The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources. But it doesn't matter because we're going to be successful in the end.

MCINTYRE: In is required annual risk assessment reporter to Congress, Myers warned the U.s. Military could not respond with as much speed and precision to a major new threat. That another war would have significantly extended timelines and run the risk of higher casualties and collateral damage. That sounds different from what Myers has told President Bush, namely, that the war in Iraq is not hamstringing the U.S. military.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the answer is no, it doesn't feel we're limited. Feels like we've got plenty of capacity.

MCINTYRE: Myers argues it's not inconsistent to say while winning a future war may take longer victory is still certain, even in a major conflict with, say, Korea or Iran.

MYERS: We will be successful, we'll prevail. There should be no doubt about it. That's the bottom line.

MCINTYRE: But critics in Congress are already citing Myers' report as one more sign the U.S. military is too small.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: We need to increase the size of our armed forces by probably 15,000 to 25,000 a year for the next several years to make sure that our state of readiness is what it should be to protect the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: But increasing the size of the U.S. military as casualties mount in Iraq is getting harder day by day. For three months in a row now the army and to a lesser extent the Marines have missed their recruiting goals. And the trend for this month is down as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

Search teams today found the body of a U.S. Marine pilot whose jet crashed in Iraq. But the military says the fate of a second pilot and his aircraft is still unknown. The two FA -- F and A-18 jets are thought to have collided during a night mission yesterday after taking off from the carrier "USS Carl Vincent." A Pentagon official says the search was temporarily suspended because of a sand storm.

One at a time, members of Iraq's new government were sworn in today, pledging to defend their nation and its people. With an insurgency still raging, Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari (ph), said his message to Iraq's widows and orphans is that their sacrifices are not in vain. Al Jaafari still has not fought -- filled some of the top jobs in his cabinet, as he tries to balance the demands of rival religious factions.

When we come back, waiting to hear from a runaway bride. The people involved in her search want an apology and possibly a payback of some $60,000 spent on her case. We'll have details.

Also, a bold jewelry heist caught on tape. Robbers drove their truck into a store and simply helped themselves.

And breaking the silence -- a brain-damaged firefighter injured on the job speaks for the first time in almost 10 years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Everyone is calling her the runaway bride, and now for the first time since she resurfaced, her fiance is speaking out, and some are calling for her to pay. Charles Molineaux is live in Duluth, Georgia -- that's outside Atlanta -- he has details. Charles?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, at this point the runaway bride is really getting ready to play some legal defense. She has lined up a defense team for any possible criminal charges against her for all of what happened. She has lined up a former district attorney from Hall County, next door, and her hometown of Gainesville. Meanwhile, city leaders here in Duluth, Georgia, have been talking with the city's lawyers about possible legal action to recoup some of the money which was spent on what ultimately turned out to be a very expensive adventure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR SHIRLEY LASSETER, DULUTH, GEORGIA: We were going to welcome her with open arms, so, to some extent, it's a little betrayal.

MOLINEAUX: Mayor Shirley Lasseter says she and the people of Duluth still haven't heard from Jennifer Wilbanks and they're waiting for her to acknowledge what she put the city through. Hundreds of police and volunteers searched for Jennifer when she disappeared one week ago. Then came the news she had had second thoughts about her upcoming wedding, jumped on a cross-country bus, and turned up in Albuquerque with a phony story about being kidnapped.

LASSETER: I was absolutely devastated.

MOLINEAUX: Now, the city and its lawyers are considering a lawsuit to recover the estimated $60,000 that search cost, a bill that exceeds, for example, Duluth's entire annual budget for street resurfacing.

LASSETER: We will survive this. I think it's the principle of the matter that I'm hearing from everyone else, that they would like to see that the money is repaid.

MOLINEAUX: Jennifer's fiance, John Mason, who says he still wants to marry her, said in a TV interview last night, "she is having to, in her mind, wonder what people are saying about her. And I can't imagine that's real good or real easy to deal with. That's got to be consequence enough to me." John's father, who used to be Duluth's mayor himself, says all that expense could buy a silver lining.

CLAUDE MASON, FIANCE'S FATHER: It cost the city some money. It also has helped train their police department for -- in the event this situation -- hopefully, it doesn't happen again, but in the event it does, they got some very valuable training out of it.

MOLINEAUX: But, he's also open to the idea of Jennifer paying back, at least in part, with community service, a notion the current mayor says she'd consider.

LASSETER: They want her to be accountable for her actions and what she did. They'd like to see her do community service within the area. They'd like for her to man a hotline for a crisis center.

MOLINEAUX: And both agree it's time to say, sorry.

MASON: John says he's gotten an apology. I would like to hear from Jennifer, yes, and talk with her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (on camera): Well, the mayor says she and the city's attorneys have been in conversations today, talking about (AUDIO GAP) they're going to come up with one over the next couple of weeks, although she is still hoping to hear from Jennifer Wilbanks and maybe her lawyers, and she's certainly hoping for some kind of word on an apology, a nice public one, that expresses some regret over what happened. She says she'd rather not have to sue anybody. Wolf?

BLITZER: Charles Molineaux, reporting for us from the scene. Thanks, Charles, very much.

Other news we're following, an accused serial killer pleads not guilty. That story tops our justice report. Dennis Raider was in Wichita, Kansas, in a courtroom for all of about five minutes. Prosecutors say he's the notorious BTK serial killer who claimed 10 victims over almost 20 years. Trial was set for June, but it's expected to be delayed.

Smash and grab: police in Durham, North Carolina, are looking for two men who pulled off a bold robbery. They backed a stolen pickup truck through the doors of a Costco store up to the jewelry counter. The passenger hopped out, smashed the case with a hammer, grabbed a handful of merchandise, before the pair sped off.

When we come back, the awakening: a decade of silence ends for a brain-damaged firefighter. He's regained his ability to speak.

A risky friendship: did this Iraqi's association with Americans cost him his life?

Plus, forgotten children: thousands of them victims of a long simmering revolt. Our Zain Verjee has the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

BLITZER: Welcome back.

From Buffalo, New York, feelings of shock and joy for the family of a brain-damaged firefighter. Almost a decade of silence has now passed, but Donald Herbert has spoken once again. For more on this truly amazing story, let's turn to CNN's Mary Snow. She's joining us in New York. Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, "amazing" is the word being used over and over again. Donald Herbert's family says, on Saturday afternoon Herbert was sitting at his nursing home where he's been for the last seven years, looking out the window, and suddenly asked, where's my wife?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON MANKA, FIREFIGHTER'S UNCLE: It's amazing. It was amazing when he started recognizing people after nine-and-a-half years. You can only imagine.

SNOW: But it's hard to imagine that firefighter Donald Herbert broke his silence nearly a decade after suffering brain damage while fighting a fire. His family says that is just what happened Saturday, when he spontaneously began speaking, and with so much to catch up on, he spoke to them for 14 hours. Simon Manka is Herbert's uncle.

MANKA: The conversations and the memories were basically talking to the family, wondering how his boys were, how they were doing, where they were at, things of that nature.

SNOW: And his four sons were at a very different place from when he last remembered them. His youngest boy, Nicholas, was only three when Herbert was injured in December of 1995.

That injury came while fighting a fire in Buffalo. A roof collapsed. He was trapped and deprived of oxygen for several minutes. His family says he was in a coma for nearly three months, awoke from it, but was left brain damaged.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miracles occur every day.

SNOW: That was back in 1996, when Linda Herbert publicly hoped for her husband's recovery. Fund-raisers were held, with fellow firefighters rallying to the family's side. Years later some of those same firemen were by his side, visiting him, over the past few days.

LT. ANTHONY LIBERATORE, BUFFALO FIRE DEPARTMENT: He recognized, when I walked in the room and told him who I was. He stayed up til early morning talking to his boys and catching up on what they've been doing all the last several years.

SNOW: But family and friends are stopping short of calling this a miracle. Rather, they're waiting to hear what doctors have to say. One thing they will say is that this case is unusual.

DR. JOSEPH FIN, N.Y. PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Some patients do lapse back into unconsciousness. Other patients continue to improve. But there's a very small number of patients from which to talk about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Herbert's family says he is resting and is being evaluated by doctors. In the meantime, they are asking for prayers and privacy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting for us. Mary, thank you very much.

Neil Keane is a former Buffalo fire commissioner and he vividly remembers the fire nine and half years ago. Just a short time ago he shared his memories with me. We talked about Herbert's amazing recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Commissioner Keane, thanks very much for joining us. When you heard that Donald Herbert had started talking, what immediately went through your mind?

NEIL KEANE, FMR. BUFFALO FIRE COMMISSIONER: Well, I received a phone call from a dear friend back in Buffalo whose son is a firefighter, and who worked with Don Herbert and was there the night that he was severely injured. And I was absolutely disbelieving of the information I received. It was a bolt out of the blue. It was a very joyous feeling. My wife and I broke down and cried. And overjoyed, I think, at thinking of his family, his mom and his wife, Linda, and their four sons. And the absolute joy that they must be experiencing being able to communicate with him after he was so severely injured and unable to communicate with people for 9 and half years now.

BLITZER: Were you commissioner the night that he was so severely injured?

KEANE: Yes. I was the commissioner, chief of the department. I was at home, I received a phone call from our dispatching unit. And I raced to the scene when I found out that three firefighters had been believed to be seriously injured in a roof collapse. I went to the scene of the fire and gathered as much information as I could from the firefighters still on the scene. Found out they had been transported to a hospital, and I immediately went there. Found dozens of firefighters there, both on and off-duty firefighters. And met with the family there, family members. And one firefighter was hardly scratched. He had some burns because he had been trapped under the roof, which was still -- the building was still on fire. Another firefighter, who had had a severe neck injury, and then Don Herbert, who at that time was in a comatose state.

BLITZER: And he had been for some time in the early months after that severe injury. A lot of people are calling this a miracle.

Do you see this as a miracle, commissioner?

KEANE: I can't think of a better word than miracle. It is astounding. Absolutely astounding. I never thought that -- although I prayed, like many of my fellow firefighters did, and I'm sure family members for his recovery. I never thought for a moment that he would ever come out of it. It was so devastating an injury that -- and I think -- I've been watching television, and I've seen commentators on television, saying they're bewildered that he came out of this state. That it is such a rare thing with the brain injury that he incurred.

BLITZER: Commissioner, when you go to Buffalo and you see Don Herbert, what's the first thing you're going to say to him?

KEANE: Oh, it would have to be welcome back, Donny. Welcome back. No question about it.

BLITZER: All right. Well, welcome back indeed.

KEANE: You know, he had asked -- Wolf. He had asked -- one of the first things he asked one of the firefighters who came to visit him, was do I still have a job? And that's the kind of guy that he was. He was Mr. Steady Eddie. He was the guy that showed up at the fire, and was the first at pitching in. No matter how dirty the job, no matter how lousy the job, Donny was there to do it.

BLITZER: Well, we're thrilled that he's now talking and making a comeback. And I know you are and all your fellow firefighters from your hometown and my hometown, Buffalo, New York.

Commissioner, thanks very much for spending a few moments with us.

KEANE: Thank you, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The former Buffalo fire commissioner, Neil Keane, speaking with me just a little while ago from Naples, Florida.

This amazing, truly amazing story, raising a lot of questions on the medical front. What might have caused this brain-damaged firefighter to start speaking again after almost a decade of silence?

Joining us now from Atlanta, CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, thanks very much. So medically, what is going on here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's pretty remarkable medically. And I think, most of all, first and foremost, it really highlights how much we don't know about the brain still. I talked to a lot of my colleagues about this, as you know, Wolf, I'm a neurosurgeon. Talking about the fact that most people, if they're going to have some improvement after a significant head injury, most of those improvements occur within the first 18 months or so. To have significant improvements like what's being reported here nine and half years later, really quite remarkable.

Now, what's going on here, there must have been something that happened in his brain, a particular area of the brain that is responsible for speech. We do know where that area of the brain is, somehow started activating again. And I think it's sort of, again, speaks to the fact that the brain is really -- think of it like plastic. It can be molded, even at that age, Wolf.

BLITZER: So what's the prognosis, as that one physician in Mary Snow's piece said? There simply are not a whole lot of cases like this. As a result the scientific evidence is probably not that good. But based on what you know, and you're a neurosurgeon, what lies ahead for this man?

GUPTA: Well, what we do know now, is that he was speaking for almost 14 hours, at least reportedly speaking for 14 hours, and then sort of slept quite a bit. Then went to one-word answers and a lot of hand gestures. I think what we can say, and you're right, there's not a lot of scientific data on this. But what we can say is that he is given the fact he was able to speak now nine and half years after his injury, that bodes very well for his ability to maybe speak again in the future. Can't say for sure that that's going to happen. But if he's done it once, his brain has demonstrated that that it's capable of speaking after this particular injury. It bodes well for him.

BLITZER: If you were his physician right now, giving the family and Mr. Herbert advice, what would you be telling them?

GUPTA: Well, you know, a couple things I would tell them. I think this sort of goes back to the time of his injury as well. Is that, you know, sometimes I think the picture is painted as unnecessarily grim. And it's not to give false hope to people who have significant head injuries, but to say, look, there is a lot of things about the brain that we don't know. We can't say for sure that someone's not going to recover from this. For him now at this point almost 10 years later, I would say, look, rehabilitation is still the name of the game. I'd probably start intensive speech therapy and cognitive therapy to help both his speech and his memory. And I'd start those things right away while his brain is still making these advances and these gains.

BLITZER: Good advice as usual from Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, thanks very much for sharing it with our viewers.

Let's take a quick look at some other stories making headlines "Around the World.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Rescue workers in Eastern Pakistan are combing through the rubble of an apartment complex that collapsed earlier today. The collapse, triggered by a gas explosion, killed more than two dozen people. Survivors say gas cylinders had been stored in the basement.

Taiwan's opposition leader is back home after his groundbreaking and controversial visit to China. Lien Chan, head of the Nationalist Party, says his trip to Beijing was a journey of peace. China considers Taiwan a renegade province, and has threatened to use military force if Taiwan makes a formal move toward independence. Critics of the visit accuse Lien of selling out the island's interest.

In Egypt an incredible discovery. Archaeologists have uncovered what could be the most finely decorated mummy ever found in Egypt. The mummy is from Egypt's 30th dynasty and is more than 2300-years- old.

And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And when we come back, a friend to Americans working in Iraq, and ultimately the target of insurgents. Friends and family remember -- family, remember a man who sacrificed his life for a better Iraq.

Nic Robertson has that story.

And young victims of war, children kidnapped and forced to kill members of their own family. Our Zain Verjee is standing by with stories of the forgotten.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Iraqis who are helping their country make the tough transition to democracy often risk their lives doing their jobs. And the biggest danger of all may be their association with Americans. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has this story of a close friendship between an American and an Iraqi that came to a tragic end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN THOMAS, CHIEF CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT: This is a picture of Riyadh, who's actually doing interpreting.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Dan Thomas came home from Baghdad, where he'd been helping rebuild Iraq's judicial system a year and a half ago. Back to his job as chief clerk at the federal court in Atlanta. But ever since his return he'd stayed in touch with his translator. Until he got this news from a friend in Baghdad last month.

THOMAS: He sent me an e-mail that basically said, I think to this effect -- Dear Dan, I have bad news. Our great friend Riyadh was murdered in his neighborhood area by the terrorists. God bless his soul.

ROBERTSON: They'd formed a close bond. The Iraqi keeping his American buddy out of trouble as they worked in and around the Iraqi capital.

THOMAS: Riyadh always was able to sense that sort of thing and would quietly whisper in my ear in his very pronounced British accent, "Dan, it's time to go."

ROBERTSON: Riyadh was so good, when Dan left the U.S. Embassy snapped him up, assigning him their most sensitive legal work, including the trial of Saddam Hussein.

THOMAS: I guess Riyadh knew something that I didn't. When we had that July the 2nd, I guess it was, 2nd or 3rd, when he said to me, "Dan, I'll probably never, ever see you again." I didn't think that at the time.

ROBERTSON In Baghdad Riyadh's eldest daughter cradles a photo of her father taken 10 days before he was killed. He's smiling, celebrating her sister's seventh birthday. Now she too is afraid of being killed, so much so she asked us not to show her face or mention her name.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I only wish I could look into the face of whoever did this. I don't want revenge or anything. I just want to tell him that he has destroyed an entire family.

ROBERTSON: She is 23, a teacher, and struggling now to care for her mother, four sisters, and a brother. In all her photographs her father is smiling, smiling with is his American friends. If he feared he would be gunned down, it didn't show.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I'm angry and disappointed. I feel a great deal of rage inside me. I wish I could know who did it and why. My father didn't hurt anyone. Was this just because he was making the connection between the Americans and the Iraqis? Is this his payback?

ROBERTSON: His killing went largely unreported, buried amid a welter of other attacks. It was January 10th, 2005. Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son were assassinated. And in Zafriniya (ph), Riyadh's Baghdad neighborhood, a suicide bomber attacked the police station, killing four policemen. That was the day Riyadh died, 7:15 a.m. Shot dead yards from his house on the way to work. A vase of flowers his wife had just given him still in his hand.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER: (through translator): My father's death was with courage because he was trying to provide us with a living standard that suits us. He loved his job, and I know for sure that if he had another job offer, he wouldn't leave because he was committed to the people that he worked with.

ROBERTSON: He'd had close calls before. One vehicle away from death or injury as a massive car bomb had blasted the gate to the Green Zone housing the U.S. Embassy last year. The biggest risk of all may have been just working with the Americans.

GREG KEHOE, U.S. EMBASSY, BAGHDAD: Our interpreters and translators get threats on a regular basis. So it's constantly on their mind. Which makes what they do for us all the more remarkable.

ROBERTSON: Riyadh, seen here on a translating assignment in London, had been offered a job at a Baghdad University. But better pay and a hand in rebuilding his country kept him with his American friends. In the months before his death he'd been busy working on Iraq's special tribunal, the trial of Saddam Hussein and others potentially making him a prized target for insurgents.

THOMAS: I do believe he died for Iraq. He believed in what was going on here. He believed in democracy. And I think he believed in a better world for his children.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I was told that everyone at the embassy cried when they heard about him. I wouldn't even be surprised if they told me that all America grieved for him. Because I know exactly who my father is.

THOMAS: Just made me sick. Just hit me in the pit of my -- in the pit of stomach. And I just -- you know, my worst fears had come to fruition. Tamara (ph). Dan Thomas. What you doing?

ROBERTSON: In Atlanta Dan is not about to forget, either.

THOMAS: I've got some more details, and I want to talk with you about trying to do some things about raising some funds for his family.

ROBERTSON: Money he hopes will help the family of the man who gave so much to him that summer in Iraq.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Nic, for that report. The sad thing is that every Iraqi who works with Americans in Iraq immediately becomes a target for the insurgents.

Coming up at the top of the hour, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Lou is standing by in New York and has a preview -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, HOST, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: Wolf, thank you.

At 6:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, our military under stress. A candid admission by the Pentagon's top general. Can the United States defeat new aggressors at the same time as winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Also tonight, nightmare scenario. How the federal government has failed to prepare emergency workers and the public for a possible nuclear terrorist attack.

And is the United Nations investigation into the Oil-For-Food scandal simply a cover-up? My guest tonight, a leading U.S. senator who is now demanding full and open disclosure from the United Nations. All of that and more coming up at the top of the hour. Please join us.

Now back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will be joining you, Lou. Thanks very much. Lou, always has a hard-hitting program right at the top of the hour.

When we come back, tales of the forgotten. Children avoiding abduction and acts of brutality. Zain Verjee standing by. She'll show us images rarely seen on American television. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: When it comes to Africa, much of the world's attention has recently been focused on what's often called genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. But in neighboring Uganda, a decades-old rebellion continues to boil, with devastating consequences, especially for children.

CNN's Zain Verjee is at the CNN Center. She's been covering this story. She's joining us live. Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, when a child goes missing in the U.S., an amber alert is issued and a massive search is launched. When a child is kidnapped in northern Uganda, there's no organized search effort. Those children are victims of a vicious war that's been largely forgotten.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (voice-over): Dusk in northern Uganda can be haunting. Thousands of children from the countryside stream into the city at night, terrified that if they don't, they'll be kidnapped. Girls often forced into sex slavery, boys turned into killing machines, often ordered to murder their parents to stay alive.

John Prendergast is with the International Crisis Group. He was recently in northern Uganda and says...

JOHN PRENDERGAST, INT'L CRISIS GROUP: It's a tactic that unfortunately is chillingly effective.

VERJEE: Experts say the man behind the brutality is Joseph Kony (ph), a self-styled messiah and leader of a Ugandan rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army, or the LRA. The LRA says it wants to overthrow the Ugandan government and wants revenge for past atrocities.

Rights groups also say that Kony has ruthlessly turned on his own people, many of whom have rejected his message of revolution against the country's government.

PRENDERGAST: It's a revolution that's lost its way. There really is no political or economic ideology that one can really understand. VERJEE: But Kony and the LRA have been devastatingly successful. In almost two decades of war, an estimated 20,000 children have been kidnapped, and more than a million Ugandans have fled to squalid camps all over the country's north.

PRENDERGAST: We just walk into a camp. Within the first three people we meet, two of them have been abducted. Just randomly. It means everybody's been touched somehow.

VERJEE: Like this woman. She says she was kidnapped, but managed to escape after three days. She says her two children were also abducted, but they too fled to safety.

Some of the rescued children are encouraged to express their experiences and their fears through art: a rebel attack on a village, looting, shooting, burning, captured and tied up, children walking barefoot on the thorny bush, caught in crossfire between government and rebel forces. Though previous peace efforts have failed, the Ugandan government says it's still committed to ending the horror.

EDIT SSEMPALA, UGANDAN AMB. TO U.S.: We are open to any opportunity to have a peaceful resolution.

VERJEE: New peace efforts are now under way. The key mediator says she expects to meet with Kony soon to discuss a cease-fire draft.

Meantime, government forces have intensified their attacks on the LRA in a strategy designed to jumpstart the talks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of their forces are along that stretch.

VERJEE: The U.S. says it supports this dual-track approach. The U.S. also says it provides military assistance to the Ugandan forces. But Africa watchers like John Prendergast say, Washington could do more to encourage both sides to end the violence.

PENDERGRAST: ...either through a series of statements or actually the sending of a senior envoy.

VERJEE: In response, senior State Department officials have told CNN that direct U.S. intervention in Uganda is "neither appropriate nor necessary" at this time, and that what's at play is "an internal process."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (on camera): But in northern Uganda tonight, the fear and the killing continues, and an end to the country's brutal chaos seems distant at best. Wolf?

BLITZER: Amazing what's going on in this world. Zain Verjee reporting for us. Zain's going to continue with these forgotten stories in the days and weeks to come. Zain, thanks very much.

And, when we return, a super catch. Take a look at this. Our "Picture of the Day." If you don't see it now, stand by. You will. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Watch this spectacular catch by Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners. He saved a woulda-been a homerun. Check this out right now. Look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the top of the fence, and he brings it back!

BLITZER: Good work. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now. Lou's standing by in New York. Lou?

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 May 3, 2005 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" (voice-over): Happening now, Iran comes out swinging at the United Nations. Despite enormous international pressure, it says it's going forward with its nuclear program. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

Nightmare scenario: is America ready for a nuclear terror attack?

Eyeing your ID: a national standard for driver's licenses. A closer watch on national security or a closer watch on you?

A firefighter fights back: badly brain-damaged during a roof collapse a decade ago, he suddenly starts speaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005.

BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us.

As the world's diplomats gather to fight the spread of nuclear weapons, Iran stood defiant at the United Nations today and said it will move ahead with its nuclear program, including technology that can potentially be used to build a bomb.

We begin our CNN security watch. Let's go live to our senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth. Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, no sign of a backdown from Iran, despite pressure from the United States. This diplomatic nuclear standoff goes on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Iran launched a diplomatic missile, ignoring U.S. accusations, and holding to form on desires to resume a nuclear program whose objective is in doubt. Tehran says it wants to develop a nuclear program for energy, permitted in their view under the NPT Treaty. But its secrets and tough pronouncements have aroused big- power suspicions. The United States demanded Monday at the U.N. nuclear conference that all of Iran's nuclear activities be shut down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We dare not look the other way.

ROTH: But Iran told the NPT review meeting Tuesday, watch us. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi blasted what he called an exclusive club of powers that want to limit technology development under the pretext of curbing the spread of non-proliferation. He minced no words on Iran's plans.

KAMAL KHARRAZI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Iran, for its part, is determined to pursue all legal areas of nuclear technology, including enrichment, exclusively for peaceful purposes.

ROTH: But enrichment of uranium could also lead to the manufacture of nuclear bombs.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: There's no reason for them to have an enrichment, reprocessing, program. It's -- we know how it's been used in the past, and the only way to really satisfy and reassure the world that they're not going to be a nuclear threat is to eliminate those programs.

ROTH: Iran didn't give a timetable for resuming nuclear work, currently suspended while Tehran negotiates over incentives offered to stop production with three European countries including Germany.

JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER: It's not a question of threats or bluffing or anything like that. I think both sides know the facts perfectly well.

ROTH: Iran's desire to resume its nuclear ambitions will not ease fears of those who think the issue should be directed to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions.

PAUL LEVENTHAL, NUCLEAR CONTROL INSTITUTE: Time is on Iran's side. The longer this negotiation is stretched out, the more likely they are able to develop the enrichment capacity and capability necessary to produce high enriched uranium.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Iran offered a parting shot to nuclear watchdogs, saying that forcing a country to stop a legal activity will only cause a so- called breakout, Wolf, prompting an NPT member to continue work, clandestine or otherwise. Wolf?

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

During last year's presidential campaign, President Bush and his challenger, Senator John Kerry, both said the greatest threat to the United States is nuclear terrorism. The "Washington Post" today reported that two confidential government studies described the devastating consequences of such a strike on the nation's capital.

So, is America prepared? For more, let's turn to CNN's Kimberly Osias. Kimberly?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is one of those nightmare scenarios that no first responder ever wants to see played out. Just how on earth to ever get in and get a mass of people out of harm's way?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): We've all seen it on the silver screen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Ryan. The bomb is in play.

OSIAS: People screaming, scrambling for safety, in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. But that's Hollywood's rendition in "The Sum of all Fears." This could be reality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your family and 25 million other families will be dead.

Reporter: Just what would happen if a nuclear bomb went off near your hometown? Even though the chance of an attack is considered slim, is the government doing enough?

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This is the most dangerous weapon ever invented, and there is no good consequence- management strategy for it. There are only bad ones that we will try to do as well as we can, but the government is not going to do them particularly well, given how hard a task this is.

OSIAS: One thing the government has done is put information out on Ready.gov, the internet site designed by the Department of Homeland Security. The site claims, in the event of a detonation, you should take shelter, gain distance, and minimize your exposure time.

But some nuclear physicists say that advice is archaic and wrong. For example, they say you don't want to take shelter at all. You just want to get out of the way. The question is, how to do that. According to the site, it's a bit unclear how to travel, and it mentions nothing about wind direction. Scientists say a nuclear cloud is shaped much like a cigar, longer than it is wide, and that you want to run perpendicular or to the left or right of the cloud. As far as physical effects, there's heat, pressure, and radiation. Experts say, with the first two, there's nothing you can do.

FALKENRATH: If you're in the vicinity of the attack, you're simply going to die. The radiation, there is something to do, because it will go up in the atmosphere and then drift downwind and spread this radioactive plume.

OSIAS: Although terrorists may want to tap into nuclear weapons, the likelihood is slim. Obtaining enriched uranium or plutonium is difficult, and terrorists are likely to go for what's easy and what they know.

AMY SMITHSON, WEAPON EXPERT, CSIS: You find out that it's not like shake-n-bake cooking. This isn't the type of thing that you can go into your basement and whip up without a considerable amount of risk to yourself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS (on camera): The Department of Homeland Security says Ready.gov was never meant to be a comprehensive site, rather, a way for the public to begin a dialogue. They admit that wind was omitted and say that's because gauging wind direction is tough: what you feel down at ground level could be vastly different from what is happening higher up in the atmosphere. They also said the web site has been up for only two years and they are of course in the process of morphing and changing. Wolf?

BLITZER: Kimberly Osias reporting for us. Kimberly, thanks very much.

Also in our CNN security watch, a crackdown on driver's licenses. Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that would tie your driver's license to your immigration status.

CNN's Brian Todd's been covering this story. He's joining us now live with more -- Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this will affect millions of people in this country in a very direct way when they go to apply for or renew their driver's license, and it all stems from a discovery made in the wake of America's worst terrorist attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Among the aftershocks of September 11, the discovery that the hijackers had been able to move so freely within the United States -- some with expired visas, some using American driver's licenses -- has often nagged at lawmakers.

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), JUDICIARY CHMN: Those murderers chose our driver's licenses and state I.D.s as a form of identification because these documents allowed them to blend in and not raise suspicion or concern.

TODD: Congressman James Sensenbrenner, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is backing legislation that he says will impede terrorists' travel in the U.S. It would make all 50 states verify that anyone applying for or renewing a driver's license is a legal U.S. resident, and the licenses of legal temporary residents would expire when their visas do.

Supporters of such a law point to Mohammed Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, who had a six-month visa to stay in the U.S., but also a Florida driver's license good for six years.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This is going to help improve the quality of our identification, which we use at every checkpoint in the country.

TODD: Checkpoints like airports, gun shops, and government buildings. Driver's licenses are often used as I.D.s at those places, but undocumented immigrants couldn't do that under the proposal. Right now, 11 states allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The changed law would still let them get a license, but it would be coded differently. Opponents are worried about the "Big Brother" syndrome.

TIM SPARAPANI, ACLU: This proposal's going to create a national identification card for the first time. It literally sets up the backbone for a system to track all Americans throughout their lives, their movements, where they're going to, where they're coming from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Opponents also believe putting all this new information into one database, to be shared by motor vehicle divisions across the country, is a recipe for identity theft. Still, security concerns will likely win out. Every indication is that this proposal will pass both houses of Congress soon and the president is likely to sign it. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting for us. Brian, thank you.

And to our viewers, please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

When we come back, limiting the United States's military options: a report by a top military warns, meeting new world challenges could be difficult.

Waiting for an apology, and possibly a payment: will the city of Duluth, Georgia, sue its runaway bride?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did initiate a question, "How long have I been away?H And his -- we told him almost 10 years. And his response to that was that he thought it was only three months.

BLITZER: Battling back. A firefighter brain-damaged in a roof collapse speaks his first words in almost a decade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Already engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and fighting terror around the world, is the U.S. military stretched too thin?

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers is raising some eyebrows in a report to Congress.

Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that report to Congress is a routine report meant to give general Myers' opinion on how capable the U.S. military is of carrying out the national military strategy. He meant it as a reality check, he says, not necessarily to raise alarm bells. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The report is classified, but its conclusions are simply common sense, say Pentagon officials, who argue it's self- evident that with nearly 160,000 U.S. troops tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan, another war would be harder to fight.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMEN: The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources. But it doesn't matter because we're going to be successful in the end.

MCINTYRE: In is required annual risk assessment reporter to Congress, Myers warned the U.s. Military could not respond with as much speed and precision to a major new threat. That another war would have significantly extended timelines and run the risk of higher casualties and collateral damage. That sounds different from what Myers has told President Bush, namely, that the war in Iraq is not hamstringing the U.S. military.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the answer is no, it doesn't feel we're limited. Feels like we've got plenty of capacity.

MCINTYRE: Myers argues it's not inconsistent to say while winning a future war may take longer victory is still certain, even in a major conflict with, say, Korea or Iran.

MYERS: We will be successful, we'll prevail. There should be no doubt about it. That's the bottom line.

MCINTYRE: But critics in Congress are already citing Myers' report as one more sign the U.S. military is too small.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: We need to increase the size of our armed forces by probably 15,000 to 25,000 a year for the next several years to make sure that our state of readiness is what it should be to protect the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: But increasing the size of the U.S. military as casualties mount in Iraq is getting harder day by day. For three months in a row now the army and to a lesser extent the Marines have missed their recruiting goals. And the trend for this month is down as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

Search teams today found the body of a U.S. Marine pilot whose jet crashed in Iraq. But the military says the fate of a second pilot and his aircraft is still unknown. The two FA -- F and A-18 jets are thought to have collided during a night mission yesterday after taking off from the carrier "USS Carl Vincent." A Pentagon official says the search was temporarily suspended because of a sand storm.

One at a time, members of Iraq's new government were sworn in today, pledging to defend their nation and its people. With an insurgency still raging, Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari (ph), said his message to Iraq's widows and orphans is that their sacrifices are not in vain. Al Jaafari still has not fought -- filled some of the top jobs in his cabinet, as he tries to balance the demands of rival religious factions.

When we come back, waiting to hear from a runaway bride. The people involved in her search want an apology and possibly a payback of some $60,000 spent on her case. We'll have details.

Also, a bold jewelry heist caught on tape. Robbers drove their truck into a store and simply helped themselves.

And breaking the silence -- a brain-damaged firefighter injured on the job speaks for the first time in almost 10 years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Everyone is calling her the runaway bride, and now for the first time since she resurfaced, her fiance is speaking out, and some are calling for her to pay. Charles Molineaux is live in Duluth, Georgia -- that's outside Atlanta -- he has details. Charles?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, at this point the runaway bride is really getting ready to play some legal defense. She has lined up a defense team for any possible criminal charges against her for all of what happened. She has lined up a former district attorney from Hall County, next door, and her hometown of Gainesville. Meanwhile, city leaders here in Duluth, Georgia, have been talking with the city's lawyers about possible legal action to recoup some of the money which was spent on what ultimately turned out to be a very expensive adventure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR SHIRLEY LASSETER, DULUTH, GEORGIA: We were going to welcome her with open arms, so, to some extent, it's a little betrayal.

MOLINEAUX: Mayor Shirley Lasseter says she and the people of Duluth still haven't heard from Jennifer Wilbanks and they're waiting for her to acknowledge what she put the city through. Hundreds of police and volunteers searched for Jennifer when she disappeared one week ago. Then came the news she had had second thoughts about her upcoming wedding, jumped on a cross-country bus, and turned up in Albuquerque with a phony story about being kidnapped.

LASSETER: I was absolutely devastated.

MOLINEAUX: Now, the city and its lawyers are considering a lawsuit to recover the estimated $60,000 that search cost, a bill that exceeds, for example, Duluth's entire annual budget for street resurfacing.

LASSETER: We will survive this. I think it's the principle of the matter that I'm hearing from everyone else, that they would like to see that the money is repaid.

MOLINEAUX: Jennifer's fiance, John Mason, who says he still wants to marry her, said in a TV interview last night, "she is having to, in her mind, wonder what people are saying about her. And I can't imagine that's real good or real easy to deal with. That's got to be consequence enough to me." John's father, who used to be Duluth's mayor himself, says all that expense could buy a silver lining.

CLAUDE MASON, FIANCE'S FATHER: It cost the city some money. It also has helped train their police department for -- in the event this situation -- hopefully, it doesn't happen again, but in the event it does, they got some very valuable training out of it.

MOLINEAUX: But, he's also open to the idea of Jennifer paying back, at least in part, with community service, a notion the current mayor says she'd consider.

LASSETER: They want her to be accountable for her actions and what she did. They'd like to see her do community service within the area. They'd like for her to man a hotline for a crisis center.

MOLINEAUX: And both agree it's time to say, sorry.

MASON: John says he's gotten an apology. I would like to hear from Jennifer, yes, and talk with her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (on camera): Well, the mayor says she and the city's attorneys have been in conversations today, talking about (AUDIO GAP) they're going to come up with one over the next couple of weeks, although she is still hoping to hear from Jennifer Wilbanks and maybe her lawyers, and she's certainly hoping for some kind of word on an apology, a nice public one, that expresses some regret over what happened. She says she'd rather not have to sue anybody. Wolf?

BLITZER: Charles Molineaux, reporting for us from the scene. Thanks, Charles, very much.

Other news we're following, an accused serial killer pleads not guilty. That story tops our justice report. Dennis Raider was in Wichita, Kansas, in a courtroom for all of about five minutes. Prosecutors say he's the notorious BTK serial killer who claimed 10 victims over almost 20 years. Trial was set for June, but it's expected to be delayed.

Smash and grab: police in Durham, North Carolina, are looking for two men who pulled off a bold robbery. They backed a stolen pickup truck through the doors of a Costco store up to the jewelry counter. The passenger hopped out, smashed the case with a hammer, grabbed a handful of merchandise, before the pair sped off.

When we come back, the awakening: a decade of silence ends for a brain-damaged firefighter. He's regained his ability to speak.

A risky friendship: did this Iraqi's association with Americans cost him his life?

Plus, forgotten children: thousands of them victims of a long simmering revolt. Our Zain Verjee has the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

BLITZER: Welcome back.

From Buffalo, New York, feelings of shock and joy for the family of a brain-damaged firefighter. Almost a decade of silence has now passed, but Donald Herbert has spoken once again. For more on this truly amazing story, let's turn to CNN's Mary Snow. She's joining us in New York. Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, "amazing" is the word being used over and over again. Donald Herbert's family says, on Saturday afternoon Herbert was sitting at his nursing home where he's been for the last seven years, looking out the window, and suddenly asked, where's my wife?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON MANKA, FIREFIGHTER'S UNCLE: It's amazing. It was amazing when he started recognizing people after nine-and-a-half years. You can only imagine.

SNOW: But it's hard to imagine that firefighter Donald Herbert broke his silence nearly a decade after suffering brain damage while fighting a fire. His family says that is just what happened Saturday, when he spontaneously began speaking, and with so much to catch up on, he spoke to them for 14 hours. Simon Manka is Herbert's uncle.

MANKA: The conversations and the memories were basically talking to the family, wondering how his boys were, how they were doing, where they were at, things of that nature.

SNOW: And his four sons were at a very different place from when he last remembered them. His youngest boy, Nicholas, was only three when Herbert was injured in December of 1995.

That injury came while fighting a fire in Buffalo. A roof collapsed. He was trapped and deprived of oxygen for several minutes. His family says he was in a coma for nearly three months, awoke from it, but was left brain damaged.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miracles occur every day.

SNOW: That was back in 1996, when Linda Herbert publicly hoped for her husband's recovery. Fund-raisers were held, with fellow firefighters rallying to the family's side. Years later some of those same firemen were by his side, visiting him, over the past few days.

LT. ANTHONY LIBERATORE, BUFFALO FIRE DEPARTMENT: He recognized, when I walked in the room and told him who I was. He stayed up til early morning talking to his boys and catching up on what they've been doing all the last several years.

SNOW: But family and friends are stopping short of calling this a miracle. Rather, they're waiting to hear what doctors have to say. One thing they will say is that this case is unusual.

DR. JOSEPH FIN, N.Y. PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Some patients do lapse back into unconsciousness. Other patients continue to improve. But there's a very small number of patients from which to talk about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Herbert's family says he is resting and is being evaluated by doctors. In the meantime, they are asking for prayers and privacy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting for us. Mary, thank you very much.

Neil Keane is a former Buffalo fire commissioner and he vividly remembers the fire nine and half years ago. Just a short time ago he shared his memories with me. We talked about Herbert's amazing recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Commissioner Keane, thanks very much for joining us. When you heard that Donald Herbert had started talking, what immediately went through your mind?

NEIL KEANE, FMR. BUFFALO FIRE COMMISSIONER: Well, I received a phone call from a dear friend back in Buffalo whose son is a firefighter, and who worked with Don Herbert and was there the night that he was severely injured. And I was absolutely disbelieving of the information I received. It was a bolt out of the blue. It was a very joyous feeling. My wife and I broke down and cried. And overjoyed, I think, at thinking of his family, his mom and his wife, Linda, and their four sons. And the absolute joy that they must be experiencing being able to communicate with him after he was so severely injured and unable to communicate with people for 9 and half years now.

BLITZER: Were you commissioner the night that he was so severely injured?

KEANE: Yes. I was the commissioner, chief of the department. I was at home, I received a phone call from our dispatching unit. And I raced to the scene when I found out that three firefighters had been believed to be seriously injured in a roof collapse. I went to the scene of the fire and gathered as much information as I could from the firefighters still on the scene. Found out they had been transported to a hospital, and I immediately went there. Found dozens of firefighters there, both on and off-duty firefighters. And met with the family there, family members. And one firefighter was hardly scratched. He had some burns because he had been trapped under the roof, which was still -- the building was still on fire. Another firefighter, who had had a severe neck injury, and then Don Herbert, who at that time was in a comatose state.

BLITZER: And he had been for some time in the early months after that severe injury. A lot of people are calling this a miracle.

Do you see this as a miracle, commissioner?

KEANE: I can't think of a better word than miracle. It is astounding. Absolutely astounding. I never thought that -- although I prayed, like many of my fellow firefighters did, and I'm sure family members for his recovery. I never thought for a moment that he would ever come out of it. It was so devastating an injury that -- and I think -- I've been watching television, and I've seen commentators on television, saying they're bewildered that he came out of this state. That it is such a rare thing with the brain injury that he incurred.

BLITZER: Commissioner, when you go to Buffalo and you see Don Herbert, what's the first thing you're going to say to him?

KEANE: Oh, it would have to be welcome back, Donny. Welcome back. No question about it.

BLITZER: All right. Well, welcome back indeed.

KEANE: You know, he had asked -- Wolf. He had asked -- one of the first things he asked one of the firefighters who came to visit him, was do I still have a job? And that's the kind of guy that he was. He was Mr. Steady Eddie. He was the guy that showed up at the fire, and was the first at pitching in. No matter how dirty the job, no matter how lousy the job, Donny was there to do it.

BLITZER: Well, we're thrilled that he's now talking and making a comeback. And I know you are and all your fellow firefighters from your hometown and my hometown, Buffalo, New York.

Commissioner, thanks very much for spending a few moments with us.

KEANE: Thank you, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The former Buffalo fire commissioner, Neil Keane, speaking with me just a little while ago from Naples, Florida.

This amazing, truly amazing story, raising a lot of questions on the medical front. What might have caused this brain-damaged firefighter to start speaking again after almost a decade of silence?

Joining us now from Atlanta, CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, thanks very much. So medically, what is going on here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's pretty remarkable medically. And I think, most of all, first and foremost, it really highlights how much we don't know about the brain still. I talked to a lot of my colleagues about this, as you know, Wolf, I'm a neurosurgeon. Talking about the fact that most people, if they're going to have some improvement after a significant head injury, most of those improvements occur within the first 18 months or so. To have significant improvements like what's being reported here nine and half years later, really quite remarkable.

Now, what's going on here, there must have been something that happened in his brain, a particular area of the brain that is responsible for speech. We do know where that area of the brain is, somehow started activating again. And I think it's sort of, again, speaks to the fact that the brain is really -- think of it like plastic. It can be molded, even at that age, Wolf.

BLITZER: So what's the prognosis, as that one physician in Mary Snow's piece said? There simply are not a whole lot of cases like this. As a result the scientific evidence is probably not that good. But based on what you know, and you're a neurosurgeon, what lies ahead for this man?

GUPTA: Well, what we do know now, is that he was speaking for almost 14 hours, at least reportedly speaking for 14 hours, and then sort of slept quite a bit. Then went to one-word answers and a lot of hand gestures. I think what we can say, and you're right, there's not a lot of scientific data on this. But what we can say is that he is given the fact he was able to speak now nine and half years after his injury, that bodes very well for his ability to maybe speak again in the future. Can't say for sure that that's going to happen. But if he's done it once, his brain has demonstrated that that it's capable of speaking after this particular injury. It bodes well for him.

BLITZER: If you were his physician right now, giving the family and Mr. Herbert advice, what would you be telling them?

GUPTA: Well, you know, a couple things I would tell them. I think this sort of goes back to the time of his injury as well. Is that, you know, sometimes I think the picture is painted as unnecessarily grim. And it's not to give false hope to people who have significant head injuries, but to say, look, there is a lot of things about the brain that we don't know. We can't say for sure that someone's not going to recover from this. For him now at this point almost 10 years later, I would say, look, rehabilitation is still the name of the game. I'd probably start intensive speech therapy and cognitive therapy to help both his speech and his memory. And I'd start those things right away while his brain is still making these advances and these gains.

BLITZER: Good advice as usual from Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, thanks very much for sharing it with our viewers.

Let's take a quick look at some other stories making headlines "Around the World.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Rescue workers in Eastern Pakistan are combing through the rubble of an apartment complex that collapsed earlier today. The collapse, triggered by a gas explosion, killed more than two dozen people. Survivors say gas cylinders had been stored in the basement.

Taiwan's opposition leader is back home after his groundbreaking and controversial visit to China. Lien Chan, head of the Nationalist Party, says his trip to Beijing was a journey of peace. China considers Taiwan a renegade province, and has threatened to use military force if Taiwan makes a formal move toward independence. Critics of the visit accuse Lien of selling out the island's interest.

In Egypt an incredible discovery. Archaeologists have uncovered what could be the most finely decorated mummy ever found in Egypt. The mummy is from Egypt's 30th dynasty and is more than 2300-years- old.

And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And when we come back, a friend to Americans working in Iraq, and ultimately the target of insurgents. Friends and family remember -- family, remember a man who sacrificed his life for a better Iraq.

Nic Robertson has that story.

And young victims of war, children kidnapped and forced to kill members of their own family. Our Zain Verjee is standing by with stories of the forgotten.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Iraqis who are helping their country make the tough transition to democracy often risk their lives doing their jobs. And the biggest danger of all may be their association with Americans. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has this story of a close friendship between an American and an Iraqi that came to a tragic end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN THOMAS, CHIEF CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT: This is a picture of Riyadh, who's actually doing interpreting.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Dan Thomas came home from Baghdad, where he'd been helping rebuild Iraq's judicial system a year and a half ago. Back to his job as chief clerk at the federal court in Atlanta. But ever since his return he'd stayed in touch with his translator. Until he got this news from a friend in Baghdad last month.

THOMAS: He sent me an e-mail that basically said, I think to this effect -- Dear Dan, I have bad news. Our great friend Riyadh was murdered in his neighborhood area by the terrorists. God bless his soul.

ROBERTSON: They'd formed a close bond. The Iraqi keeping his American buddy out of trouble as they worked in and around the Iraqi capital.

THOMAS: Riyadh always was able to sense that sort of thing and would quietly whisper in my ear in his very pronounced British accent, "Dan, it's time to go."

ROBERTSON: Riyadh was so good, when Dan left the U.S. Embassy snapped him up, assigning him their most sensitive legal work, including the trial of Saddam Hussein.

THOMAS: I guess Riyadh knew something that I didn't. When we had that July the 2nd, I guess it was, 2nd or 3rd, when he said to me, "Dan, I'll probably never, ever see you again." I didn't think that at the time.

ROBERTSON In Baghdad Riyadh's eldest daughter cradles a photo of her father taken 10 days before he was killed. He's smiling, celebrating her sister's seventh birthday. Now she too is afraid of being killed, so much so she asked us not to show her face or mention her name.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I only wish I could look into the face of whoever did this. I don't want revenge or anything. I just want to tell him that he has destroyed an entire family.

ROBERTSON: She is 23, a teacher, and struggling now to care for her mother, four sisters, and a brother. In all her photographs her father is smiling, smiling with is his American friends. If he feared he would be gunned down, it didn't show.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I'm angry and disappointed. I feel a great deal of rage inside me. I wish I could know who did it and why. My father didn't hurt anyone. Was this just because he was making the connection between the Americans and the Iraqis? Is this his payback?

ROBERTSON: His killing went largely unreported, buried amid a welter of other attacks. It was January 10th, 2005. Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son were assassinated. And in Zafriniya (ph), Riyadh's Baghdad neighborhood, a suicide bomber attacked the police station, killing four policemen. That was the day Riyadh died, 7:15 a.m. Shot dead yards from his house on the way to work. A vase of flowers his wife had just given him still in his hand.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER: (through translator): My father's death was with courage because he was trying to provide us with a living standard that suits us. He loved his job, and I know for sure that if he had another job offer, he wouldn't leave because he was committed to the people that he worked with.

ROBERTSON: He'd had close calls before. One vehicle away from death or injury as a massive car bomb had blasted the gate to the Green Zone housing the U.S. Embassy last year. The biggest risk of all may have been just working with the Americans.

GREG KEHOE, U.S. EMBASSY, BAGHDAD: Our interpreters and translators get threats on a regular basis. So it's constantly on their mind. Which makes what they do for us all the more remarkable.

ROBERTSON: Riyadh, seen here on a translating assignment in London, had been offered a job at a Baghdad University. But better pay and a hand in rebuilding his country kept him with his American friends. In the months before his death he'd been busy working on Iraq's special tribunal, the trial of Saddam Hussein and others potentially making him a prized target for insurgents.

THOMAS: I do believe he died for Iraq. He believed in what was going on here. He believed in democracy. And I think he believed in a better world for his children.

RIYADH'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I was told that everyone at the embassy cried when they heard about him. I wouldn't even be surprised if they told me that all America grieved for him. Because I know exactly who my father is.

THOMAS: Just made me sick. Just hit me in the pit of my -- in the pit of stomach. And I just -- you know, my worst fears had come to fruition. Tamara (ph). Dan Thomas. What you doing?

ROBERTSON: In Atlanta Dan is not about to forget, either.

THOMAS: I've got some more details, and I want to talk with you about trying to do some things about raising some funds for his family.

ROBERTSON: Money he hopes will help the family of the man who gave so much to him that summer in Iraq.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Nic, for that report. The sad thing is that every Iraqi who works with Americans in Iraq immediately becomes a target for the insurgents.

Coming up at the top of the hour, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Lou is standing by in New York and has a preview -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, HOST, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: Wolf, thank you.

At 6:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, our military under stress. A candid admission by the Pentagon's top general. Can the United States defeat new aggressors at the same time as winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Also tonight, nightmare scenario. How the federal government has failed to prepare emergency workers and the public for a possible nuclear terrorist attack.

And is the United Nations investigation into the Oil-For-Food scandal simply a cover-up? My guest tonight, a leading U.S. senator who is now demanding full and open disclosure from the United Nations. All of that and more coming up at the top of the hour. Please join us.

Now back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will be joining you, Lou. Thanks very much. Lou, always has a hard-hitting program right at the top of the hour.

When we come back, tales of the forgotten. Children avoiding abduction and acts of brutality. Zain Verjee standing by. She'll show us images rarely seen on American television. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: When it comes to Africa, much of the world's attention has recently been focused on what's often called genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. But in neighboring Uganda, a decades-old rebellion continues to boil, with devastating consequences, especially for children.

CNN's Zain Verjee is at the CNN Center. She's been covering this story. She's joining us live. Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, when a child goes missing in the U.S., an amber alert is issued and a massive search is launched. When a child is kidnapped in northern Uganda, there's no organized search effort. Those children are victims of a vicious war that's been largely forgotten.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (voice-over): Dusk in northern Uganda can be haunting. Thousands of children from the countryside stream into the city at night, terrified that if they don't, they'll be kidnapped. Girls often forced into sex slavery, boys turned into killing machines, often ordered to murder their parents to stay alive.

John Prendergast is with the International Crisis Group. He was recently in northern Uganda and says...

JOHN PRENDERGAST, INT'L CRISIS GROUP: It's a tactic that unfortunately is chillingly effective.

VERJEE: Experts say the man behind the brutality is Joseph Kony (ph), a self-styled messiah and leader of a Ugandan rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army, or the LRA. The LRA says it wants to overthrow the Ugandan government and wants revenge for past atrocities.

Rights groups also say that Kony has ruthlessly turned on his own people, many of whom have rejected his message of revolution against the country's government.

PRENDERGAST: It's a revolution that's lost its way. There really is no political or economic ideology that one can really understand. VERJEE: But Kony and the LRA have been devastatingly successful. In almost two decades of war, an estimated 20,000 children have been kidnapped, and more than a million Ugandans have fled to squalid camps all over the country's north.

PRENDERGAST: We just walk into a camp. Within the first three people we meet, two of them have been abducted. Just randomly. It means everybody's been touched somehow.

VERJEE: Like this woman. She says she was kidnapped, but managed to escape after three days. She says her two children were also abducted, but they too fled to safety.

Some of the rescued children are encouraged to express their experiences and their fears through art: a rebel attack on a village, looting, shooting, burning, captured and tied up, children walking barefoot on the thorny bush, caught in crossfire between government and rebel forces. Though previous peace efforts have failed, the Ugandan government says it's still committed to ending the horror.

EDIT SSEMPALA, UGANDAN AMB. TO U.S.: We are open to any opportunity to have a peaceful resolution.

VERJEE: New peace efforts are now under way. The key mediator says she expects to meet with Kony soon to discuss a cease-fire draft.

Meantime, government forces have intensified their attacks on the LRA in a strategy designed to jumpstart the talks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of their forces are along that stretch.

VERJEE: The U.S. says it supports this dual-track approach. The U.S. also says it provides military assistance to the Ugandan forces. But Africa watchers like John Prendergast say, Washington could do more to encourage both sides to end the violence.

PENDERGRAST: ...either through a series of statements or actually the sending of a senior envoy.

VERJEE: In response, senior State Department officials have told CNN that direct U.S. intervention in Uganda is "neither appropriate nor necessary" at this time, and that what's at play is "an internal process."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (on camera): But in northern Uganda tonight, the fear and the killing continues, and an end to the country's brutal chaos seems distant at best. Wolf?

BLITZER: Amazing what's going on in this world. Zain Verjee reporting for us. Zain's going to continue with these forgotten stories in the days and weeks to come. Zain, thanks very much.

And, when we return, a super catch. Take a look at this. Our "Picture of the Day." If you don't see it now, stand by. You will. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Watch this spectacular catch by Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners. He saved a woulda-been a homerun. Check this out right now. Look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the top of the fence, and he brings it back!

BLITZER: Good work. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now. Lou's standing by in New York. Lou?

END

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