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American Morning
Suicide Bomber Sneaks into Iraqi Police Compound, Blows Himself Up; Learning More About Accused Child Molester's Reign of Terror
Aired June 20, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A suicide bomber sneaks into an Iraqi police compound, blows himself up. At least 12 officers killed, more injured. The attacks intensifying. We're live in Iraq with the latest.
Learning more about an accused child molester's reign of terror. His rap sheet dates back 30 years and may include tens of thousands of victims.
And as many as 40 million credit card numbers may be in the hands of hackers now. Is identity theft insurance a safe bet? A closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
And welcome to Miles O'Brien, who joins us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
Nice to have you.
M. O'BRIEN: It is great to be here. Breakfast with the O'Briens, whatever you want to call it.
S. O'BRIEN: Please don't. Just --
M. O'BRIEN: No, let's not do that.
S. O'BRIEN: ... AMERICAN MORNING is just fine.
M. O'BRIEN: Not THE O'BRIEN FACTOR, either.
S. O'BRIEN: No.
M. O'BRIEN: We aren't doing that.
S. O'BRIEN: No.
M. O'BRIEN: No.
S. O'BRIEN: No. Ahead this morning, with hundreds of accidents at amusement parks each year and many parks self-regulating, one court has sided on the side of safety. We're going to talk about that ahead this morning.
First, though, a look at the headlines with Carol Costello.
More news out of Iraq, as well -- good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, as least 17 killed in new violence in Iraq this morning. Iraqi security forces targeted when a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station. At least five killed in that attack. And a suicide car bombing in the northern city of Erbil. The blast going off inside a compound of an Iraqi police building. At least a dozen were killed there, more than 100 others injured.
President Bush is hosting European Union leaders at the White House this morning. A number of issues on the agenda, including trade, Mideast peace efforts and the upcoming G8 summit. Today's meeting set to get underway in the Oval Office in just about two-and- a-half hours.
The battle over John Bolton's bid for the United Nations could be coming to a close. Senate Republicans are expected to call for another vote later today, but some Democrats say they won't budge and want the debate to continue.
In health news, brain scans and simple blood tests may be able to detect Alzheimer's Disease nine years before symptoms develop. Researchers hope this could lead to possible prevention of the disease. Preliminary reports were presented at an international Alzheimer's conference in Washington over the weekend.
And an apparent prank not getting any laughs from Tom Cruise. You've seen the video by now of the actor getting a soggy reception at the London premier of his movie "War of the Worlds." And I know this is cheap, but you can see it again on our Web site starting today. Just visit cnn.com, click on "watched" to see free video of all of our top stories.
And that's the number one most popular hit on cnn.com this morning, is Tom...
M. O'BRIEN: Are we at all surprised that it is number one? Get the slo-mo of the squirt gun thing.
S. O'BRIEN: I thought it was kind of interesting to see it.
M. O'BRIEN: You feel bad for him?
S. O'BRIEN: I mean you don't get to see them...
M. O'BRIEN: You feel bad for him? S. O'BRIEN: I do feel a little -- I mean who wants to be squirted in the face, he thinks he's doing an interview?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: I know. And the guy had a fake microphone which was a squirt gun.
S. O'BRIEN: He showed incredible self-restraint. He really did.
COSTELLO: He did. He did.
S. O'BRIEN: He could have slugged the guy.
COSTELLO: I would have.
M. O'BRIEN: So what...
S. O'BRIEN: Carol would have slugged the guy.
COSTELLO: I would have.
S. O'BRIEN: Tom didn't.
M. O'BRIEN: I bet Tom isn't going to be watching it ad nauseum today, but you may.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. But his attorneys might.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's right. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, a fourth suspect in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager expected to appear before a judge in Aruba today. Today, in fact, marks three weeks since Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba. Over the weekend, police questioned the father of a Dutch teenager who is being held in the case. There he is, the father, that is, running from reporters on Saturday.
Holloway's aunt and stepmother believe that he has some information that might be able to find the girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA ALLISON, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S AUNT: Obviously over the last week, the communication has gotten better. The FBI is coming in at least once, if not twice a day, to provide updates to the family. So we're moving along. We feel very good about this attorney that's training to be a judge, which is the father of the suspect. With him coming in for questioning, obviously, as a parent, with a son being out until two or three o'clock in the morning, you would expect him to have some information as to where he had -- where he was that evening that's in question and maybe approximately what time he came in. (END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Sources close to the investigation say the father was being interviewed as a witness, not a suspect. On Friday, a judge ruled that the father may not visit his son in jail, but that the boy's mother can -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Searchers will be out looking for a missing Boy Scout this next hour. The 11-year-old disappeared in the Unita Mountains of Utah on Friday night. Brennan Hawkins was camping with a friend's family. More than 1,400 volunteers joined the Utah search and rescue squad to look for the boy over the weekend. Last August, 12-year-old Garrett Bardsley was lost and never found, the same spot. His father is one of those out searching for Hawkins.
Now, police have opened a criminal investigation, but they say at this point that's just routine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF DAVE EDMUNDS, SUMMIT COUNTY, UTAH: It's not unusual in a missing person case to go ahead and run dual investigations like this. It's very common to do so. But, again, we don't have any reason to believe that it is criminal at this point. We believe right now that we have a missing child and -- up here in the woods. And if you come up here and you see the area that we're looking for and you spend any time in the Unita Mountains, it's really not that hard to believe that a young boy could go missing up here. It's much like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Searchers are encouraged that the weather in the mountains this weekend was not extremely cold -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, the head of the CIA says he has "an excellent idea where Osama bin Laden is hiding," but that the U.S. can't just go and get him. Porter Goss tells "Time" magazine the U.S. has to respect the sovereignty of other nations and find a way to work with those nations. Goss did not reveal where he thinks bin Laden is or which countries he thinks might be giving him asylum. It is thought, though, that bin Laden is hiding in the mountains on the Afghanistan- Pakistan border.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Middle East today, making a pitch for democracy throughout the region. In a speech in Cairo, Rice made it clear the U.S. has no intention of imposing democracy on countries that reject the concept.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There are those who say that democracy is being imposed. In fact, the opposite is true. Democracy is never imposed. It is tyranny that must be imposed. People choose democracy freely and successful reform is always homegrown. (END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Rice already has made stops in Israel, in the Palestinian Territories and in Jordan. She next heads to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and then she concludes her week-long tour with stops in Brussels and in London -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's check the weather once again.
Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the forecast -- good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: There are the showers across the Southeast and then the heaviest, heaviest rain in this darker band, yes, right through Miami and the Keys -- back to you guys.
M. O'BRIEN: Ever so appropriate on this Lightning Awareness Day.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's right.
M. O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact, I meant to send you a card.
MYERS: Ah, well.
M. O'BRIEN: Next year.
S. O'BRIEN: I got mine. You didn't get yours?
MYERS: No.
M. O'BRIEN: Next year.
S. O'BRIEN: Happy Lightning Awareness Day.
MYERS: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Love, Miles.
Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a CNN exclusive, the brother of freed Australian hostage Douglas Wood joins us live. He's going to talk about his brother's harrowing ordeal ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, another, yes, another massive security breach involving personal financial data. Should you consider I.D. theft insurance as another way to protect yourself?
S. O'BRIEN: And thrill rides could lose some of their thrill. Jeffrey Toobin takes a look at a state court ruling that raises the bar on ride safety.
Those stories ahead as we continue, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
Now to the stunning case of a serial child molester whose rap sheet dates back 30 years and might include thousands of victims. He's back behind bars in California. Police now learning more, though, about his trail of terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. SCOTT CORNFIELD, SAN JOSE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, on the surface, this appears to be monumental.
S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller may be the most notorious child molester police have ever seen. Investigators say seven notebooks found during a search of his home list more than 36,000 names, apparently a log of victims with codes that may indicate how he abused them.
CORNFIELD: Because these binders contain thousands, literally, thousands of names of children that we believe Mr. Schwartzmiller may have molested.
S. O'BRIEN: The 63-year-old Schwartzmiller was arrested last month in Washington State, extradited to California on felony charges involving two boys in San Jose. Police say he has a 35-year long record of sexual offenses but never registered as a sex offender.
Schwartzmiller's own record suggests the trail of victims is staggering.
CORNFIELD: If one tenth of these numbers are accurate, we're looking at hundreds of potential victims over probably a 30-year period that the suspect has been involved in child molestation in what we believe to be a number of states.
S. O'BRIEN: Police say Schwartzmiller has molested children in Brazil and Mexico, too.
In the San Jose community where he lived with another convicted sex offender, neighbors had their suspicions.
LISA THORNBURG, SUSPECT'S NEIGHBOR: He was out in the front yard talking to my kids and both them ice cream from the ice cream man. And when they came home and told me that the man who lived there by himself with another man bought them ice cream, I just immediately said no, there is just something not right here. You need to stay away.
S. O'BRIEN: Police say Schwartzmiller is very intelligent, often represented himself in court and even got two earlier convictions overturned. They say he sometimes lured his alleged victims by promising gifts like skateboards and video games, and damaged them for a lifetime.
CORNFIELD: People who are victims of child molestation are victims forever.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Marc Klaas is the founder of Beyondmissing.com and the Klaas Kids Foundation.
He is in San Francisco this morning.
Marc, nice to see you, as always.
Thanks for talking with us.
This is a guy, I mean this is a perplexing story in a lot of ways, a guy who has been arrested nine times, apparently he'd been molesting kids over a period of 35 years.
How is it possible that he's never registered as a sex offender?
MARC KLAAS, BEYONDMISSING.COM: Well, you have to remember, Soledad, that in the mid-'90s when we were putting together the Megan's Law, there were some very loud voices against even implementing this policy. People from the ACLU, certain treatment providers and the defense bar all were very much against things like retroactive application, which would have applied to a guy like Schwartzmiller given the fact that his criminal history goes back 35 years. They also put a 10-year cap on registration for a lot of individuals.
So what should have been and could have been a very strong law, we now realize has been weakened almost irreparably, particularly for the victims, and I think now is the time to strengthen it so that what happened with this guy doesn't happen again.
S. O'BRIEN: Police showed the notebooks, some seven notebooks. And I think it's 36,700 names of what they believe are his victims.
How unusual, or is it typical for child molesters to track and keep logs of the kids they're molesting?
KLAAS: Well, it's even worse than that. I mean he's keeping that. He's probably sharing those files with other pedophiles. Certainly, we know that just by the fact that he's got another pedophile living with him, they're probably networking. They found all kinds of computers and servers in his home, so he's probably sharing this information with a wide variety of individuals around the country. They share fantasies, they share files and sometimes while they certainly share pornography and sometimes they even share their victims.
S. O'BRIEN: For five years, I believe, the two of them lived in this San Jose neighborhood. They had no children, so they -- but they had a game room, they had toys. We heard from the neighbor they were buying the kids in the neighborhood ice cream. It's almost like a cliche of what people now seem to know about sexual predators and pedophiles.
How come there were no -- or not even red flags raised?
KLAAS: Well, I think there were red flags. I mean we heard that mom in the neighborhood who got it almost immediately that these so- called bachelors living together that don't have wives, that don't -- they don't have children, they spend far too much time around children, they lure children into their homes. I mean they got it. The Idaho Supreme Court got it in the '80s when they said he was a repeat offender. In Oregon in the '90s, they said he was a serial pedophile. Now they're calling him a serial child sexual predator.
Everybody gets it. Everybody knows who he is. Everybody knows what he is. But they continued to put him back on the street. Thank god for smart moms.
S. O'BRIEN: But, you know, you're pushing, I know, for this online registry of sex offenders.
But in the cases of transients like Schwartzmiller, I mean wouldn't he still fly under the radar?
KLAAS: Well, absolutely, unless we have a national sex offender registry. Here's the problem. They don't even have an online registry in the State of Oregon. If you go to South Dakota, all you get is red dots. If you go to Colorado, they've only got six sexual predators on their registry and they've only got 11 in the State of Rhode Island.
What we need is a national registry that deals with all of these not only recidivists, but these transient individuals so that people can search it using a wide variety of criteria -- where the crime occurred, what the crime is, physical characteristics, ethnicity, when the crime occurred, all, you know, a wide variety of criteria so that citizens all over this country can look at these characters and have a better idea of who they are and perhaps what they do and maybe even where they are.
S. O'BRIEN: What a terrible story.
Marc Klaas joining us this morning, the founder of Beyondmissing.com and the Klaas Kids Foundation.
Marc, thanks for joining us this morning.
KLAAS: Thank you, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Up next, a CNN exclusive. We'll talk live to the brother of freed Australian hostage Douglas Wood. How is he doing after this ordeal at the hands of Iraqi insurgents? Stay with us for that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A hostage rescued in Iraq last week is back home in Australia. Douglas Wood was held for seven weeks. He apologized Sunday for things he said while he was held hostage at gunpoint, as you see there.
Now, only on CNN now, Douglas Wood's brother Vernon joins us from Melbourne, Australia.
Mr. Wood, good to have you with us.
VERNON WOOD, DOUGLAS WOOD'S BROTHER: Thank you.
Good morning.
M. O'BRIEN: First of all, how is your brother doing?
WOOD: Well, he's resting, actually. He's the only one of the family that has rested. We brought him home from the airport and said why don't you go and have a lie down, Doug? And he did and he fell asleep for three hours and that's some time ago now.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, he certainly deserves it. He was quoted as saying he had a few ailments, deprived of a few meds, but otherwise is he physically OK?
WOOD: Doug's not a well man. He's got a few things that -- we've actually had a couple of specialists look at him today and we'll get him there. But he's got a fair way to go.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, he had some interesting things to say yesterday.
Let's listen for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS WOOD, FORMER HOSTAGE: Frankly, I'd like to apologize to both President Bush and to Prime Minister Howard for the things I said under duress. I actually believe that I am proof positive that the current policy of training the Iraqi Army, of recruiting, training and bloodying them worked, because it was the Iraqis that helped me out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: All right, well, he certainly didn't need to make that apology, in my opinion.
But let's talk for just a moment about the circumstances of how he was freed. At first the report was that, you know, Iraqi troops kind of just stumbled on this location. Now there are some reports out there that there was some sort of tip that might have come from an Australian Muslim cleric.
Do you know anything about this at this point? WOOD: Miles, it's a fairly involved and complicated story, and perhaps the truth will never come out. But the reality of it is that -- and I've heard this from John Howard, our prime minister, and Alexander Downer, that -- and from Nick Warner, who is the operative on the ground in Baghdad -- that everyone played a part. The mufti, as he's called, the head of the Muslim community in Australia, endangered -- put himself in a lot of danger by going over there. He certainly played a very, very valuable role in the process and we don't discount him in any way for his contribution to the cause.
Our own Nick Warner and the team that laid out what we call our DFAT team, which is the Department of Foreign Affairs, did a wonderful job coordinating the various roles of people. And when it started, everyone comes from a different point of view, but they all came together in the latter weeks. And it was so much a joint effort and we're just so happy that the end result, when it's -- it was, as Doug said, the Iraqi forces that finally did the release.
It's just a wonderful, wonderful way to finish it for everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: And, but many more facets than was initially at first reported, I think it's safe to say.
Now, onto that apology for a moment.
I don't think he has to apologize. Everybody can understand in a situation like that, with the AK-47s at your head, you might say things like that.
The fact that he apologized, I assume that says a little bit about your brother.
What specifically, though, did he have on his mind when he was apologizing? What statements?
WOOD: Doug is just -- he's so up front, as you've probably gathered that we went to a press conference and you try and brief Doug and say look, these things are sensitive or not sensitive and be careful. But you can't contain Doug. He says things as they are to him. And it comes out and it's this -- there's no pretension with Doug. You've probably gathered that.
But he just wanted to set the record straight. And he just didn't want to think that he would have said those things about any government. It's just not the way Doug is and he just had to say it.
M. O'BRIEN: Just a few seconds left.
Your brother is reported as saying he might want to go back to Iraq? Is that true? And how would you feel about that?
WOOD: Well, we, as a family, have absolutely gone on the record to say we will do our utmost to stop Doug going back to Iraq. It was unfortunate in the press conference this morning, he said, yes, I might go back to Iraq. But down the track in the same report he said well, I'll listen to my brothers and I guess absolutely not, I won't go back.
It was just unfortunate the press has manipulated it and run with the story that really isn't the whole story. But...
M. O'BRIEN: All right, well, good, thank you for setting the record straight on that.
I appreciate that.
WOOD: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: And we wish you and your family and in particular your brother, well in the future.
Thanks for being with us.
WOOD: Thank you, Miles.
I'll pass that on to him.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, please do -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, 40 million credit cards may have been compromised by another security breach. Experts say you should think about getting theft insurance to protect yourself. What exactly is involved, how it really works, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, the race for the White House. Senator Joe Biden says he's running for the White House already, while Senator John McCain says in it'll be years before he decides. Is one tactic better than the other? We'll get into that one.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, it's only 150 some odd days into President Bush's second term. I mean kind of early on, don't you think?
M. O'BRIEN: Well, but, you know, these guys are so coy normally, it's kind of nice to have a little candor, maybe. I don't know.
S. O'BRIEN: We'll see. It could be...
M. O'BRIEN: Couldn't we...
S. O'BRIEN: That's candor? It could be years before I decide? That's true, because the last time he just said no, N-O. Is there something you don't understand about that, Soledad?
So maybe he is being a little more candid.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe so.
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