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Lou Dobbs Tonight

Search for Dylan Groene Continues; The American Spirit; Blasted Brothers; Oceans Under Pressure; Iraqi Students Study Democracy

Aired July 04, 2005 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Kelly Wallace in New York. In a moment, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT.
First, though, some late developments in the search for 9-year- old Dylan Groene. The word at the moment not encouraging.

CNN's Sean Callebs is working the story and joins us now from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, with the latest.

Sean, what do you have?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kelly, really for the past several days, authorities here have said that they believe 9- year-old Dylan Groene is indeed dead. Of course Dylan and his 8-year- old sister had been missing for six weeks after a brutal triple killing at their mother's home back on May 16.

Well, a short while ago, the Kootenai County sheriff announced that they had found what appeared to be human remains in the western portion of Montana. Those remains are now being taken to Quantico in Virginia for identification and DNA testing.

Authorities had been looking at northern Idaho and the western part of Montana for Dylan over the past couple of days. They're not saying what leads led them to believe that Dylan could be in that area.

Meanwhile, the 42-year-old man accused of kidnapping Shasta Groene remains in custody. He is a convicted child molester. Right now he's facing kidnapping charges, as well as jumping his parole. He is expected, Kelly, to make his first appearance in court tomorrow afternoon.

WALLACE: And Sean, we saw some pictures of Shasta earlier today. Any word on how she is doing right now?

CALLEBS: Well, authorities are being pretty tight-lipped. They said she has been through a horrific ordeal over the past several weeks. Really, her mental and physical condition are apparently pretty good considering everything she has been with.

Her father Steve Groene has been beside her almost nonstop since she was discovered in a local Denny's at 2:00 in the morning by sharp- eyed patrons, as well as customers who were in that restaurant at that time -- Kelly.

WALLACE: All right, Sean. We'll be checking in with you throughout the evening. Sean Callebs reporting from Idaho.

We are back in half an hour. Now LOU DOBBS TONIGHT.

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, living dangerously. Global warming, polluted ocean waters, the devastating impact on our environment. We'll have a special report.

Also tonight, America's bright future. Some of the brightest and most talented scientists in the country are still teenagers.

And spreading democracy from demonstrations in Cuba to universities in Iraq. Democratic ideals are taking hold. We'll have those stories and more.

ANNOUNCER: This is a special holiday edition of LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs is Kitty Pilgrim.

PILGRIM: Good evening.

Tonight, as we celebrate America's independence, we want to pay special tribute to the troops that are serving in this country's armed forces. National Guardsman Al Bloemendaal is perhaps the classic example of a citizen soldier. This Iowa farmer, a 57-year-old Vietnam veteran, is soon to deploy for more than a year's service in Afghanistan. And in the true American spirit, his hometown is working hard to ensure his family's farm will not suffer because of his absence.

Philippa Holland has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILIPPA HOLLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This will be Lieutenant Colonel Al Bloemendaal's second tour of duty. The first was in Vietnam in 1969. But after 32 years of National Guard service, he volunteered to go to Afghanistan.

The call came quickly, and he had to report for duty in just three days. He's assigned to the 53rd Brigade to train the new Afghan Army.

LYNNE BLOEMENDAAL, LT. COL. BLOEMENDAAL'S WIFE: It's an exciting opportunity for him. He hoped to be able to serve in some way.

HOLLAND: But April was a bad time to leave Sioux Center, Iowa. One hundred and twenty acres of crops were not yet planted. The cattle and pigs needed to be cared for.

BLOEMENDAAL: There are a lot of women who could do a really fine job of running a farm in their husband's absence, but I'm not one of them.

HOLLAND: Lynne need not have worried. Her family dropped everything to help, and word traveled fast in Sioux Center.

JOEL SCHUITEMAN, FARMER: We go out for lunch with a bunch of friends every Monday in the peach ranch here in Sioux Center. And I happened to run into Lynne's brother and I says, "Hey, I hear you had a goal." And I says, "I'm offering to do all the field work and everything for you for as long as it takes for him to get back."

HOLLAND: Doug Taylor said he would help with the livestock.

DOUG TAYLOR, FARMER: Oh, just the normal routine chores. Walk the -- walk the hog barns and make sure the water's all working, and get the feed ordered. Get up a little earlier in the morning and get it done.

HOLLAND: Everyone has the same goal.

SCHUITEMAN: I hope it's as pretty as it's looking right now, green and lush. And when he comes back, I hope there's a big yield out there for him.

HOLLAND: Lynn says she's proud of her husband.

BLOEMENDAAL: There's so many young men with young families being deployed. And it's so much harder for little kids to be separated. I think we can probably handle it better than some of the young families.

All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. And I think after September 11, we found out that there are a lot of good people in the United States that are willing to step up.

HOLLAND: Good people in the military, and on the home front.

Philippa Holland, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Lieutenant Colonel Bloemendaal was given a surprise week's leave before his deployment to Afghanistan. And he and his wife Lynne are watching the show together in Mississippi tonight. We wish them the very best.

Well, every service member on duty overseas looks forward to the day they'll return home. But for some, the challenges can be just as great as those faced in combat.

In Oregon, some wounded members of the National Guard have made it their mission to make sure their fellow soldiers get the welcome that they deserve. They call themselves the Blasted Brothers, and Bill Bucker has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SFC VINCE JACQUES, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: It was later in the evening, and we decided to stop by one of our favorite watering holes, the Oregon Trader.

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sergeant 1st Class Vince Jacques describes the birth of the Blasted Brothers, a group of soldiers out of Corvallis, Oregon, nursing wounds that had brought them home from the war in Iraq, but wishing they could go back.

SGT. ANDY HELLMAN, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: I don't remember when, but I remember Vince saying, "Hey, we should do something for these guys when they get home."

JACQUES: We went and met with the mayor of Corvallis, and she pointed us in the direction of Patty Mulder. And she knows everybody.

So we could go say, if the guys needed houses to rent, we could find people that were readily willing to rent out a house to a guy, excluding the first and last month's payments. So the guys could roll right in.

PATRICIA MULDER, PRESIDENT, CORVALLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: My first thought was, "Why didn't I think of that myself?" It was such a spectacular idea.

And those young men were just awesome in their determination to really do something fine for their brothers who were coming home. They were all in physical therapy at the time, and we were just busy running around town trying to find something wonderful to do for these guys.

JACQUES: After meeting with the chamber of commerce, we met with Penny York, and she's the director of the Benton Center, Linn-Benton Community College, right here in this fine building. And we just talked to her about some things that they could possibly, you know -- well, actually, it was more of her asking us what would be good for the guys coming back, and we had some ideas.

Making the process easier to go back to school was one of the big ones. She ran with this. She created a program where the guys get 12 free credits after, you know, just coming back from the Gulf.

TUCKER: The Blasted Brothers did the rounds, getting help with healthcare at the local hospital.

LARRY MULLINS, SAMARITAN HEALTH SERVICES: It's being talked about at some other sites and locations, too. So I'm hopeful that some other -- other sites and other hospital systems might look at similar type of offerings for their communities, too.

TUCKER: They helped 21-year-old medic Josh Smith find a job and a house.

SPC. JOSH SMITH, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: Everything was laid out in front of us when we got back. It made it a lot easier. You look at previous wars, and it's really unreal how well we've been taken care of and the opportunities that we've had.

HELEN BERG, MAYOR, CORVALLIS, OREGON: We're just so proud of them. And they're going to add so much to our community now that they're back.

TUCKER: What was a passion for Jacques has now turned into a full-time job. The Oregon National Guard has formalized the work of the Blasted Brothers into an official post-deployment assistance team.

Bill Tucker, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: The services provided by the Blasted Brothers are now available to any American service member. For more information, you can visit their Web site at www.blastedbrothers.org.

The U.S. military, as always, is actively recruiting new members. But a controversial policy has recently come to light. A little-known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act requires public schools to provide the military with the names, addresses and phone numbers of its students. Now the Pentagon has compiled a database of personal information on some 30 million high school students across the country.

Joining me now for more on this practice is our own CNN military analyst, General David Grange.

And thanks for being with us, sir.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you.

PILGRIM: How unusual is this? Why is this just coming to light now?

GRANGE: Well, it's not very unusual. It's been a practice that's been in place for some time. It's just, I think, highlighted more now because of the war in Iraq. But recruiters have been -- have access to high schools, and sometimes they're turned down, depending on the leadership of that particular school.

PILGRIM: General Grange, can the schools legally bar military recruiters from their premises?

GRANGE: Legally they cannot, according to Title 10 U.S. Code, and also the No Child Left Behind Act. But many of them get away with it, and it's rarely enforced.

PILGRIM: You know, there are many different kinds of recruiters that come to school. And sometimes the military is asked not to be there. Do you think there's a bias against the military in some of our public schools in this country?

GRANGE: I think in some of the schools there is a bias. I mean, it should be no different for a recruiter of the armed forces coming to a school if sports recruiters or business recruiters come to a school, especially if the reason for not allowing military recruiters to come in is because of privacy issues. I mean, it should apply across the board if that's the case.

PILGRIM: You make a really great point. There's the assumption that children would like to be recruited by sports recruiters, but potentially not military, and that maybe isn't the case, is it? GRANGE: That's correct. And of course there are some people who just do not like the military. And when you're at war, like we have right now ongoing in Iraq, people get very personal about this, and they let their own opinions dominate what the -- what the procedures are backed up by the U.S. government. And that's what you have right now, I believe.

PILGRIM: Let's talk aggregate numbers for a second. If the Army and the Marines can't make their quotas, where will that leave us on the war in Iraq?

GRANGE: Well, it looks like there's going to be -- the insurgency will continue in Iraq for some time to come. The U.S. may not be involved, let's say beyond 2006, except for an advisory status. But the insurgency will continue for at least another decade.

And so there is going to be some issues over there, and it's going to be issues for the United States military, at least for another couple years. And if the recruiting goes as it is now, it will put a tremendous stress on the military. And those that are already wearing the uniform will just be worked harder than ever before. And that will cause some severe retention problems.

PILGRIM: All right. Thank you very much for your insight on this very important issue, General David Grange. And happy Fourth of July, sir.

GRANGE: Same to you. Thank you.

PILGRIM: Coming next on this special Fourth of July edition of LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, back in action. One of the first amputees to return to duty in Iraq. Lou Dobbs interviewed Captain Dave Rozelle. That's next.

And living dangerously. Dire predictions about the future of life on this planet if global temperatures keep rising. We'll have a special report. And two experts will debate what we should do about global warming.

And as we take a break, some thoughts from the men and women fighting to defend freedom far from home on this Fourth of July.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Tonight, one of the most inspiring stories that we know of to come out of the war in Iraq. Lou Dobbs recently talked with the man behind the story, Captain Dave Rozelle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Captain David Rozelle was wounded during his first duty in Iraq. He became the first amputee from Operation Iraqi Freedom to return to active duty and the same battlefield. In fact, as far as we can determine, he is the first amputee to return to combat. He is now home safely after his second tour of duty, we are pleased to tell you. And Captain Rozelle joins us tonight from Denver, Colorado.

Captain, welcome home. Good to talk with you. (REPEAT)

DOBBS: Captain Dave Rozelle's book is "Back in Action: An American Soldier's Story of Courage, Faith and Fortitude." We can't recommend it too highly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: And we of course wish Captain Rozelle and his family all the best.

Still ahead, why you should be concerned about global warning. We'll have a special report, and we'll hear from two leading experts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Tonight the debate over global warming. A recent government report finds some coastal regions in the southern United States sinking into the Gulf of Mexico much faster than geologists thought. Are rising temperatures melting ice caps? Well, we know global climate change is happening. What we don't know is why.

Christine Romans reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The worst scenarios of global warming: floods, dangerous thunderstorms and hurricanes, heat waves, and a deadly rise in sea level.

DAN LASHOF, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: The pace of global warming that we expect over the next century, if we don't curb the pollution that's responsible, is faster than anything humans have experienced in recorded civilization, quite literally.

ROMANS: The polar ice caps are retracting at a rate of 9 percent each decade. Glaciers and land-based ice sheets are melting into the sea. And as a result, the consensus has sea levels rising up to three feet by the end of this century.

That would swamp America's low-lying coastal areas, push saltwater deep into fresh water river valleys, and according to the Environmental Protection Agency, flood 22,000 square miles along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, drenching Louisiana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina. As the sea rises by one to three feet, temperatures will climb by five to 10 degrees.

PROF. JAMES MCCARTHY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: People living anywhere in the world will likely experience more extremes in temperature.

ROMANS: He calls Europe's 2003 heat wave that killed 20,000 people a foreshadowing of how unprepared we are for global warming. Yet, other scientists call these forecasts alarmists and say rise in temperatures are normal because we are in an interglacial period.

MYRON EBELL, COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: We're probably towards the end of it. And the sea levels will keep rising until the next ice age begins. So it is something we have to adapt to, but it happens very slowly. And it's not anything that human beings haven't had to deal with in the past.

ROMANS: And recent mapping shows most of the Antarctic continent may actually be cooling down.

PROF. JOHN CHRISTY, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE: This is one thing everyone should understand. The climate is always changing. No one has a legal right to a static climate.

ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: For more now on the issue of global climate change, Lou Dobbs recently spoke with two leading experts with very different views. Gavin Schmidt is the scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Patrick Michaels is professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Let me begin, if I may, with you, Gavin.

GAVIN SCHMIDT, SCIENTIST, NASA GODDARD INSTITUTE: Certainly.

DOBBS: Is there any reason that, with the best minds in the world focused on this issue, that we can't say with conviction and absolute scientific study based on fact, that the ice caps are either melting or that they're growing?

SCHMIDT: The ice caps are melting or growing depending on where you look. The most important things, though, are to focus on what we do know. Where are both me and Patrick Michaels in agreement?

We're in agreement that the amount of carbon dioxide has increased by 30 percent over pre-industrial levels over the last hundred years. We're in agreement that the world has warmed by about .7 degrees over the last 100 years. We're in agreement that that is, to a large extent, due to man-made factors, in particular carbon dioxide and methane.

DOBBS: Let me turn to you, Patrick. These are alarming statistics. But let me begin precisely as I did with Gavin.

Why can't the best scientific minds in the world come to conclusions about the totality of impact? Let's start with the idea of -- well, let me finish -- the snow pack and the size diminishing, or otherwise, of glaciers in Antarctica and the Antarctic. PATRICK MICHAELS, PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: Well, southern Greenland is losing ice, but the temperature is going down where it's losing ice. Antarctic is gaining ice. The temperature is going down in Antarctica.

And by the way, Gavin and I are in great agreement about one other thing he didn't mention, which is it's not going to warm all that much in the policy foreseeable future. His boss, James Hanson (ph), says if we stay on the current policy trajectories that we're on, we'll get about three-quarters of a degree of warming in the next 50 years, which is certainly a modest amount. If you take our climate models -- they all predict warmings of different slopes -- and adjust them with reality, what you get is the same number, three-quarters of a degree.

SCHMIDT: I'm going to have to...

MICHAELS: What that means -- what that means, very importantly, is that this issue is not and should not be presented in the stark and dire terms. There's a lot of time for investment in future technologies.

DOBBS: Right. Let me stop you there.

Let's assume that there is a problem, that whether it is man-made or natural, that these degrees of temperature are going to rise into the next century, that sea level is going to rise, that we have a pollutant issue that is affecting not only the ozone layer but the quality of our atmosphere. Can we do anything about it?

MICHAELS: Sure.

SCHMIDT: Yes, we can. There are forward-looking companies -- for instance, British Petroleum -- who have reduced their emissions, not only of carbon dioxide, but also of methane, with extremely cost- effective strategies. And those kinds of things can be adopted by many companies. Dupont, for instance, IBM, and national economics.

MICHAELS: Let me answer that.

DOBBS: Patrick, you get the last word.

MICHAELS: OK. One of the problems on this issue is that the future requires investment in technology. And there are a lot of people out there -- I'm not saying Gavin -- who say we should raise energy prices because of global warming so much that people will be unable to afford energy.

What will happen then is people will not have the money that is required for investment in the technologies of the future. It would have exactly the wrong effect.

I will tell you, I own a lot of stock in Honda and Toyota. There's a reason for that. Because they are very forward looking. Now, if the government had taken my money away from me, I would not have been able to invest it, would I? DOBBS: Well, we're delighted that you have your money and you've invested it of your own free will.

I have to say, you get the last word, but it's 15 seconds' worth.

SCHMIDT: Climate change is here. Carbon dioxide will be regulated at some point in the future. Forward-looking companies, forward-looking countries are going to have to do something about that if they want to keep up with what's going to happen.

DOBBS: Gavin Schmidt, Patrick Michaels, thank you both for being here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: More of our special report, "Living Dangerously," coming up.

Next, the failing health of our beaches and oceans and the threat it poses to our health.

And some of the most beautiful places to live are also the most dangerous.

Also ahead, America's bright future. Four of this country's most promising young scientists will join us to share their remarkable achievements.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar in New York with the headlines. Grim news in the search for 9-year-old Dylan Groene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCKY WATSON, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF: During the search of one of the possible locations in western Montana, investigators have located what they believe to be human remains. The remains are being collected and sent to the FBI lab in Quantico for DNA analysis to confirm the identity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAKHTIAR: Dylan and his sister, Shasta, disappeared nearly two months ago after their mother, brother and the mother's boyfriend were murdered at their home in Coeur d'Alene. Shasta was recovered over the weekend in the company of a sex offender. His name, Joseph Duncan. He is charged with the kidnapping.

Aruba now. A judge today ordering the release of two brothers held in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. No word yet on why they've been held since the ninth of June, along with Joran Van Der Sloot, who will stay in custody. Mrs. Holloway, you may remember, was last seen leaving a nightclub with the three young men on the 30th of May. Also a sad day for a pro football. Coach Hank Stram has passed away. He led the Kansas City Chiefs to the glory in the '60s and '70s, beating the Minnesota Vikings in the 1970 Super Bowl. Stram invented many of the plays still used today. Hank Stram was 82 years old.

Now to Afghanistan. An official there said today that an American air strike on Friday killed 17 civilians, including women and children. The U.S. military confirmed that civilians were killed, but said it was unclear just how many. The air strike was in the same area where a U.S. military helicopter was shot down last week while trying to rescue a team of Navy SEALs, one of whom was found alive this weekend. Today an Afghan governor said a second SEAL has been located, a report denied by a senior U.S. Defense Department official.

And the Italian government is denying allegations that it was informed before the alleged kidnapping of a radical Egyptian cleric in 2003. A Rome newspaper today quoted the former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit as saying that Italy's secret service authorized the operation. The Italian prosecutors have accused 13 purported CIA officials of kidnapping the cleric, known as Abu Omar (ph), on a Milan street and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured.

And today in Atlanta, leaders of the United Church of Christ approved a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage. It is not, however, binding on member churches. A little more than a million people belong to the denomination, which has a long tradition of tolerance when it comes to gay and lesbian issues.

And in Singapore, one last push for the Olympics in 2012. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, arriving today in advance of the IOC vote on Wednesday. Tony Blair dropped in, as well. So did bigwigs from Paris and Spain, all for a final round of arm-twisting, which ought to be an Olympic event in its own by now.

And early this morning, on this Fourth of July, a fireworks display some 83 million miles from earth. How cool is that? A NASA spacecraft smashed into a comet at 23,000 miles per hour, completing its six-month mission. Scientists called the collision spectacular. NASA believes it could unlock the inner workings of comets and help explain the birth of the solar system.

More news in about half an hour. Now back to LOU DOBBS TONIGHT.

PILGRIM: Massive population growth along our coastlines is putting enormous pressure on our oceans, oceans that are now more polluted than ever. The New England coast in particular has been plagued by one of the worst outbreaks of red sea algae in more than three decades.

Bill Tucker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER (voice-over): Coastal living. Nature puts no value on wide stretches of sand and beaches. We do. More than half of the population of the United States now lives along the coast. And we are building more and more houses on sand.

ROB EVANS, SHORELINE SPECIALIST: The Heinz Center predicted that over the next 60 years, one house out of every four within 500 feet of the ocean is probably going to be lost. So, at some point we have to deal with the fact that, you know, we are not going to be able to stop the march of those beaches.

TUCKER: While the oceans threaten our homes, we are threatening the oceans by what we put in the air with our emissions, the fertilizers we put in the ground, and the septic systems we put in the ground.

ANN MULLIGAN, GROUND WATER HYDROLOGIST: Runoff is going to occur when it rains. So it's sort of a quick, short burst of runoff. Conversely, ground water is long-term, slow discharge, and it occurs all over the place.

TUCKER: The worst coastal conditions are off the Northeast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the damage we're inflicting comes from surprising sources. Oil spills get the headlines, but more oil runs off into the ocean every year from our cars, leaking onto the streets, than from tanker spills.

CHRISTOPHER REDDY, ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMIST: It's very easy to see an oil spill and see a dead bird who has oil on its feathers. It's much, much harder to figure out whether or not some contaminant load has changed the ecosystem so subtly that it may affect the next couple generations, but we can't see it right now.

TUCKER (on camera): The science behind our oceans is complex, but what it does come down to are a couple of very basic facts -- food and money in the form of commerce and recreation.

(voice-over): We spend $44 billion in recreation at the beach. $3 trillion are committed to new coastal development on just the East Coast. There's also the question of our health. There's a recent outbreak of toxic algae bloom, or red tide as it's called, in New England's waters to remind us. Globally it's estimated that marine contamination costs $13 billion a year.

DENNIS MCGILLICUDDY, OCEANS AND HUMAN HEALTH: A healthy ocean, in my view, is fundamental to the survival of our species.

TUCKER: Bill Tucker, CNN, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Some of the fastest growing communities in the United States also happen to be some of the most dangerous places to live. Christine Romans reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice-over): These are some of the most beautiful places to live, but living here is living dangerously. From California, to north Carolina, and Florida, which was hit by four hurricanes, and one tropical storm, just last year, killing 31 people.

MARK MONMONIER, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, MAXWELL SCHOOL: People tend to emphasize the attractions of an area. They tend to not want to think about some of the hazards, all that much. Areas that are high, tend to be prone to landslides. Areas that are rugged, also are rugged, at least in part, because of past seismic activity.

ROMANS: And in the middle of the country, flat open plains breed tornadoes like this won which tore through Kansas just this week.

Last year saw a record 1,800 tornadoes, in this country. Disasters like these are deadly and expensive. According to FEMA, California's north ridge earthquake is one of the costliest natural disasters on record: almost $7 billion.

While hurricanes cost less, they tend to occur more frequently. Yet people continue to move in and rebuild.

MONMONIER: Something has to be done, I think, about our National Flood Insurance Program, which in some ways, is part of the problem of these hazards also being manufactured hazards.

ROMANS: As the 2005 hurricane season begins, it's a yearly reminder of the true cost of living in the most desirable locations.

RICK KNABB, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: What we have done is, issue a seasonal forecast for the Atlantic basin that indicates a fairly high confidence that we are going to have an above-average number of hurricanes and tropical storms forming during 2005 hurricane season.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Still to come, some of the young children who could help solve the problems facing our environment and our nation. We'll hear from four of the brightest young scientists in the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Tonight, a look at four extraordinary high school students who are surely part of America's bright future. They competed in this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Lou Dobbs recently spoke with them. They are Marc Ingram, Courtney Anne Rafes and brothers Dylan and Taylor Ducote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Let's start with you, Dylan. Tell us a little bit about -- is this correct -- a "Bat Hat?"

DYLAN DUCOTE, INTEL SCIENCE FAIR FINALIST: Yes, sir.

We call it the "Bat Hat" because it uses sonar like bats use. What it does it will send out a high-frequency sonar wave. And then this wave will bounce off an object in front of it and then whenever the object -- whenever it senses the object it will be able to tell the distance by the echo and how long it takes to get to it. Then it will run the signal through the circuit inside the hat, and then it will output tones to ear phones to the wearer.

DOBBS: The fact of the matter is that for blind people this is just an extraordinary idea. How did the idea come to you?

TAYLOR DUCOTE, INTEL SCIENCE FAIR FINALIST: Well, last year at our state science fair there was this thing called a "DARPA Grand Challenge." And DARPA is a defense agency for the government.

They had a challenge to see what organization can build a robot to meet the challenge, maneuver it through a desert and things like that. We were talking as a group. We thought, well, robots are essentially blind so how can they see? So then...

DOBBS: That was the first question that would have occurred to me, Taylor.

(LAUGHTER)

This is remarkable. How is it as brothers, 15 and 17, freshman and junior working together?

T. DUCOTE: It's all right. But, you know, we're brothers so you can expect what you will.

(LAUGHTER)

DOBBS: We all expect nothing but the best. That's what you delivered here.

Congratulations to you both.

Courtney, tell us about your project.

COURTNEY ANNE RAFES, INTEL SCIENCE FAIR FINALIST: I made an ultrasonic train-wreck avoidance system. Ultrasonic sound is above human hearing so you can't actually hear it. It can actually detect if there's a break in the track or two trains are going to collide.

DOBBS: How do you do that?

RAFES: I have ultrasonic senders and receivers. You make them alternating down the track. If the receiver is not getting what the sender is sending -- it's all ultrasonic sound; this is actually a digital oscilloscope -- it will have wavelengths on it, and if it flatlines it means the track is broken. And if the line doubles, it means another train is coming.

DOBBS: That information would be transmitted to the engineer in the locomotive?

RAFES: Right. This digital oscilloscope will actually be with the train engineer. He will actually be able to look at it and tell. The alarm will sound if there's a broken track or something.

DOBBS: Your idea came from what?

RAFES: A bunch of stuff. My neighbor used to go to train scenes and assess the damage costs. And he'd always say, "Courtney, something needs to be done. This is really expensive." Train wrecks are really costly because they are so heavy and they make a lot of damage. So I just kind of combined a few thoughts.

DOBBS: So he turned to you to come up with this solution. Your reputation preceded you. That's wonderful. You delivered, that's great.

Marc, tell us about your project.

MARC INGRAM, INTEL SCIENCE FAIR FINALIST: Yes, I invented a device that allows a person to use their ordinary cell phone, pay phone or their regular house phone to start their car in the morning. They can also unlock their car, turn on their heater or air conditioner from anywhere in the world as long as they have a cell phone connection.

DOBBS: It goes into the house number or is this a separate number that has a computer attached to it? How does it work?

INGRAM: Yes, sir. There's a cell phone actually built inside of there that would actually go inside your car.

DOBBS: You can show us a bit how this would work.

INGRAM: Yes. What I do, as a matter of fact, I take a regular cell phone and connect to it. It would say something like "Press one to start your car," "Press two to turn on the heater."

When I press one like this, it starts the car. And I would just press two to turn it off.

DOBBS: That may have sounded to folks watching you at home like the starter was just turning over but it actually engaged and the wheels were turning. That's what was making the noise.

INGRAM: Yes, sir.

DOBBS: What other applications are there? You start it, what else?

INGRAM: Other than that you can use it in the house to turn on things inside the house, as well. But there's a GPS device built inside there. You can locate your car during a 911 emergency or if you just simply need to find it in a pretty large parking lot.

DOBBS: That's extraordinary.

Well, congratulations to all of you. We appreciate you taking time to share your thinking and your time with us, and wish you all nothing but the very best. You're great. Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Coming up next, spreading democracy. From demonstrations in Cuba to universities in Iraq, the ideals of democracy are taking hold. Those stories and more, still ahead.

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PILGRIM: In Iraq, university students are studying democracy with a new outlook. Iraq now has its first democratically-elected government in half a century. The Iraqi students, the potential leaders of tomorrow, now have a personal stake in understanding the ideals of democracy.

Aneesh Raman reports from Baghdad.

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ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rising from the theory of textbooks, democratic details are fueling Iraqi debate. In a classroom unchanged for decades, Dr. Amir al-Fayad's political science lecture is radically different from what students heard here in the past. On this day, it is dominated by the current events of a transformed country.

DR. AMIR AL-FAYAD, BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY (through translator): Before we always studied politics in an academic method, far away from Iraq's political reality. After the fall, I believe there is a desire to compare the textbooks and reality politics.

RAMAN: Iraq's new government is largely run by former exiles. Indigenous politicians here are scarce, and these students at Baghdad University are being schooled to fill the void. Children under Saddam, they are today educated, opinionated, and like 22-year-old Sargon, quick to warn the world that this is unique soil for democracy.

SARGON SALON, POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT: The democracy patron and the ways cannot be applicated to here in the Iraqi society, because the nature of the Iraqi society is different from the nature of the Western people.

RAMAN: Those differences, part of the daily back and forth. Topics range from the role of religion to the National Assembly negotiations. And from 22-year-old Jinan, a warning that any reform will be futile without securities.

JINAN AL-HAMDAN, POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT: We see more terrorists in Iraq, more accidents in Iraq. And we can't say we can solve any situation.

RAMAN: In the coming years, students like these will be the caretakers of whatever form of democracy Iraqis choose to establish. And the potential impact is not lost on any of them.

SALON: Iraq will be the first Democratic country in the region. But if we build a real democracy, if we a build a real democracy, if we build a democracy up on it, real conceptions.

RAMAN (on camera): Political discourse in Iraq is not just taking place here, it's happening all over the country. And as the transitional government forms, its every move will undoubtedly be scrutinized and endlessly debated.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: In Cuba, political discourse of a different kind. A peaceful demonstration was held recently in Havana. The cause? Democracy. Demonstrators gathered in Castro's communist Cuba and called for freedom.

Lucia Newman reports from Havana.

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LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the backyard of a working-class Havana neighborhood, an event few believed Cuba's communist government would tolerate, got under way -- the assembly to promote a civil society in Cuba.

MARTA BEATRIZ ROQUE, DISSIDENT ORGANIZER (through translator): We are more convinced than ever that our country belongs to all of us and that we are here to open the door.

NEWMAN: Delegates responded chanting "freedom, freedom." Opponents of Cuba's communist government were euphoric.

VLADIMIRO ROCA, DISSIDENT (through translator): Because we are exercising our right that our people have been denied for 46 years, the right to gather peacefully, to discuss our country's problems and to seek solutions.

NEWMAN: Among a handful of foreign diplomats was Washington's man in Havana.

JAMES CASON, CHIEF U.S. EXECUTIVE OFFICER: For us, this is a unique example of grassroots democracy. In spite of all the obstacles, I see that there must be at least 120, 150 people here, so.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, many future leaders of a free Cuba...

NEWMAN: After playing a taped message of encouragement from President George Bush, the two-day assembly began discussing ways to transition Cuba towards democracy.

(on camera): Dozens of would-be foreign observers were refused visas to come to Cuba, while, on the eve of the assembly, authorities expelled or refused entry at the airport to at least four European deputies and an unknown number of others who wanted to attend.

(voice-over): But there were many other empty seats, underscoring the deep and bitter divisions in Cuba's outlawed dissident movement.

Prominent opposition leader Oswaldo Paya was among those who refused to attend, calling the meeting a fraud.

OSWALDO PAYA, OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): We have no confidence in its leaders, who've manipulated and maneuvered against our civic initiate for years.

NEWMAN: The Castro government calls them all mercenaries in the pay of the USA. Others dismiss them as hard-liners. But what few dispute is that this opposition gathering is unprecedented.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Next, wounded veterans come together to do what would be impossible for many healthy adults. We'll have that story.

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PILGRIM: And finally tonight, a group of remarkable veterans did what many would have thought impossible.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd like to thank all the brave servicemen and women from Iraq, from Afghanistan, to come here.

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PILGRIM: About 75 servicemen and women, all wounded while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, completed a five-mile road race in New York's Central Park. Many of many of them did so less than a year after suffering severe trauma on the battlefield. And many of them said they wouldn't hesitate to go back into battle if they could.

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SGT. 1ST CLASS DENNIS VIAU, U.S. ARMY: I think it was a big part of mental -- being mentally fit. I mean, how you see life, after something -- after a traumatic injury. Like, whether it was a car accident, or going to combat or whatever. It kind of lets you know that, you know, you still can do things.

PFC RAMON GUITARD, U.S. ARMY: I was supposed to be dead. It's crazy to say it like that, but my heart stopped twice. I had a collapsed lung. I had pneumonia in the ICE, I was in an induced coma for about a month or so, over a month. And two blood clots, one in my brain, one in my lung. Partially paralyzed on the left side of my body, I was. Now, I mean, I'm just here, you know. I'm here, alive, and well.

SGT. HAYENGA, U.S. MARINE CORPS: The doctors think I should be able to run again. They've done a lot of surgeries, 22 of them. Replaced -- took muscle out of my stomach, put it in my leg, took bone out of my hip, put it in my leg, and just doing all they can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PILGRIM: Incredible strength and spirit. Our congratulations and our thanks to all the veterans who serve this country.

Well, that's our show for tonight. We thank you for joining us for this special edition of LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. For all of us here, have a safe and happy Fourth of July. Goodnight from New York.

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