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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
London Terror Investigation; Bombing Holy Sites; Bogus Medals; Expansion at Arlington Cemetery; Supreme Court Nominees
Aired July 22, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, new developments in the London terror attacks. Where's the investigation heading?
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Caught on camera.
ANDY HAYMAN, METROPOLITAN POLICE: The image we're now showing shows a man running away from the northern line at the Oval Underground Station.
BLITZER: London police release photos of four suspects and a homemade backpack bomb, as a hot pursuit ends in death underground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were boarding the train, but then we heard shootings. And everybody started to scream and to run.
BLITZER: Subway searches. Will they lead to protection or racial profiling?
And one congressman offers his own brand of deterrence. If Islamic terrorists launch a massive attack against the United States, should the U.S. retaliate against Muslim holy sites?
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: Sometimes we need to say things that need to be said.
JAMES ZOGBY, ARAB-AMERICAN INSTITUTE: Like bombing Mecca?
TANCREDO: I didn't say to bomb Mecca. You know, you're the problem. You actually create the problem when you say it that way. I didn't say to do it. I said that we may use that as a threat.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, July 22, 2005.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Thanks very much for joining us.
We begin in London where police say their investigation is proceeding very quickly. It's been a day of fast-moving developments. Among some of the more important, there was a frantic chase and a fatal police shooting in the Stockwell Underground Station. Scotland Yard says it began when a man emerged from a house under surveillance. His clothing and his behavior, when he got to the station, fueled police suspicions. Witnesses say he was running toward a subway when he was shot.
Police have less to say about an arrest today which took place in the area of the shooting.
And there was a dramatic appeal for help in tracking down suspects photographed near the scenes of yesterday's bombings.
We get the story now from CNN's Matthew Chance in London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are days of unprecedented drama on the streets of the British capital. As a manhunt continues for the bombers who attempted to attack London's transport system on Thursday, police have released images of the men they're urgently looking for.
The first is of a man running at the Oval subway station in south London. He's wearing a dark sweatshirt with "New York" written on the front.
The second image is of the man police believe left the device on a London bus. Like the others, his only partially exploded.
The suspected Warren Street bomber in central London is pictured next.
Then the man police believe left his device in Shepherd's Bush to the city's west.
HAYMAN: Do you recognize any of these men? Did you see them at the three Underground stations or on the bus? Did you see them at a different location? Did you see these men together before or after the incident? Did you see them with anyone else?
CHANCE: And in London's latest war on terror, the first shots have now been fired, as well. Detectives gunning down a man directly linked, they say, with their investigations. Terrified commuters could only look on.
MARK WHITBY, WITNESS: Yes, I was sitting on the Tube train. It hadn't pulled out of the station at this time. The doors were still open.
I heard a lot of shouting, "Get down, get out." I looked to my right. I saw a chap run onto the train, an Asian guy. He run onto the train.
He was running so fast, he half sort of tripped. But he was being pursued by three guys. One had a black handgun in his hand, left hand. As he sort of went down, some of them sort of dropped on to him to hold him down, and the other one fired. I heard five shots.
QUESTION: Is that in front of you on the train?
WHITBY: I was about maybe four or five yards along from where this actually happened. I watched it. I actually saw it.
CHANCE: Another passenger described the panic that followed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, people were panicking. And everybody was running, you know. I panicked in there, I have to say. It's very terrifying, because, you know, just thinking about the bombings yesterday, you know, you don't know what's going to happen next, right?
So when you heard something, everybody was running. You just follow the stream, and you start running.
CHANCE: London is a city on edge, still shocked from the carnage earlier this month when 56 people were killed in bomb attacks across the city.
This photograph of a backpack filled with explosives has been released. It was left on the bus but failed to go off. Forensic experts now examining the unexploded bombs for evidence.
(on-screen): These could prove potentially major leads for the police in their ongoing anti-terrorism investigation. Unexploded bombs at the scene, people left alive to give interviews who witnessed what happened, and security video to examine closely -- all potentially rich sources for clues, not just about who these bombers are, but where they are and who was behind them.
(voice-over): And as the British capital edges nervously forward, police say they've made one arrest in connection with the bombings, in Stockwell where the shooting took place. Details are sketchy, but this investigation does appear to be gathering pace.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: In our CNN "Security Watch", police started searching bags today in the New York City transit system. Some riders applaud the move; others worry about racial profiling.
CNN's Mary Snow is live in New York's Union Square subway stop. She's joining us now live with more -- Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we are hitting the peak of rush hour. Crowds are gathering in the subways. So far New Yorkers taking these searches in stride. Others yet are worried about the long-term implications.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, sir. How's it going? Can you open that up, please?
SNOW (voice-over): As police began random searches of New York City subways, many New Yorkers welcomed the stepped-up security.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No problem at all. I've got nothing to hide. It's for our own safety, anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm also for protecting the public.
SNOW: But some question the cost to civil liberties.
BILL GOODMAN, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: It can't work. So all it's going to mean is more intrusion into people's personal lives, and personal bodies, and personal spaces by police officers. And it's going to make for trouble, and it also, in the end, will diminish the rights of all of us.
SNOW: The New York Civil Liberties Union calls the move unconstitutional, saying one of the dangerous of random searches is that they can invite the possibility of racial, ethnic or religious profiling. But New York's police commissioner says the searches are based on numbers, not nationalities.
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: We're using a numerical criteria. The supervisors will go and make a determination, we're going to stop one in 10 individuals, one in five. A lot of it will depend on the traffic flow.
SNOW: Harry Singh suspects the searches are not just based on numbers.
HARRY SINGH, NEW YORK RESIDENT: If you ask me if it's racial profiling, I think, in a sense, it is. I think it will happen, and I expect it to happen. I think it's a natural response to what happened, what's happened in the past.
SNOW: He thinks it has the potential for trouble. Others say racial profiling can be useful, that random searches are inefficient.
ROGER PILON, CATO INSTITUTE: It seems to me that what you've got to do is have a more fine-grained approach. That means profiling.
SNOW: Among some Arab men, that raises questions.
MOHAMMED KHALIL, NEW YORK RESIDENT: People look at you like as a suspect pretty much all the time.
SNOW: Mohammed Khalil says life has changed dramatically since September 11th and worries what will happen if there is another terrorist attack.
KHALIL: My biggest fear, like, one day, you look at Arabs, and they're in concentration camps like Japanese during the Second World War, you know? That's one of the things, like, a lot of people think about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Now, police say passengers can refuse searches. But if they do so, they can't enter the subway system. These searches are also going on, on buses, ferries, and also commuter suburban lines -- Wolf?
BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting for us from New York. Thank you, Mary.
So is racial profiling discrimination or is it an important tool in the war on terror? I had a discussion earlier today with two people on opposite sides of those questions. They are James Zogby, the president of the Arab-American Institute here in Washington, and U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican from Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And joining us now, Congressman Tancredo and Jim Zogby.
Congressman Tancredo, when is racial, or ethnic, or religious profiling, in your opinion, approved? When should it be approved?
TANCREDO: The profiling that I think should be approved is terrorist profiling. I do not believe that we do a -- I don't believe any good is done by the random search method of trying to stop somebody from doing something bad.
I think we should be profiling people who have characteristics that the security apparatus has already learned, and they know about, and they'll say, here is one, two, and three. And that's the person we should be looking at. And if it includes someone, you know, of Middle Eastern descent, if that's part of the profile they're looking for, so be it.
BLITZER: What about that, Jim Zogby?
ZOGBY: Well, just thank God that the Department of Homeland Security and the New York Police Department are smarter than that. They understand that you cannot do that, simply because -- it's not a question of ethical or moral right or wrong. It's a question of, does it work?
You're looking for a needle in a haystack. You don't want to be adding more hay to the stack. There are behavioral characteristics, not ethnic or racial. If it were ethnic or racial, it wouldn't just be Middle Eastern but, frankly, speaking, Wolf, Middle Eastern, that would include Tom Tancredo, also anyone who looks Mediterranean.
It also would include anybody like Jose Padilla -- that is, let's throw in the Hispanic community. Well, Germaine, the guy in London who just was involved in the suicide attack there, is of African descent. We'd throw in the whole African-American community.
By the time you're done, you don't have a profile based on race or ethnicity, but you do on behavior. And what the New York Police Department are doing right now is taking a long, hard look at the kinds of bags that are coming through. And it's not random, but it's based on what they suspect may be a bomb device of some sort. And that's what they're looking at. That's the smart way to go about it.
BLITZER: All right. I want to move on, but go ahead, Congressman. Why don't you respond to that?
TANCREDO: Well, you know, I think we may be saying the same thing. It's just that Mr. Zogby tries to do it a little more bombastically. But the fact is, that you are looking at things other than a simple process of random selection.
I was told that that's what we were doing, and I was asked whether or not that was appropriate. That's what I was told before I came on here. And I'm telling you no, random selection is not appropriate.
BLITZER: Well...
TANCREDO: Just a minute. You need other factors.
And in some of those, I totally leave it up to Homeland Security -- smart as they are -- I totally leave it up to them for the purpose of determining what those factors are. But if they include something that goes to racial-type profiling, so be it.
BLITZER: Well, let me read specifically what Ray Kelly, the commissioner of police in New York City, says. And I'll put it up on the screen.
"Every certain number of people will be checked. We'll give some very specific and detailed instructions to our officers as to how to do this in accordance with the law and the Constitution."
In other words, he says every five or every 10 people walking into a subway station in New York are randomly going to be checked. And he insists this is not racial profiling. Is that appropriate, in your opinion, Congressman?
TANCREDO: Yes, I would actually have to say that that's OK. It just can't be the only thing. In fact, random check is probably necessary, because you don't want people handing stuff off to somebody because they know they won't be checked.
So random check is OK. It just can't be the only thing you use to determine somebody's going to get frisked, somebody's going to get pulled over, somebody's going to get questioned. That can't be the only thing.
BLITZER: All right, so the other thing -- what you're saying specifically, Congressman, is what, that if somebody is of Middle Eastern background, that should be a red flag?
TANCREDO: No, not that, no, not alone, certainly not. I'm sure that Homeland Security, working with the police in New York and anywhere else, are going to come up with a list of criteria that establish whether or not this person should be pulled over.
That's called profiling. It doesn't have to be race. But race could be part of it, under certain circumstances.
BLITZER: All right. Go ahead, Jim Zogby. ZOGBY: Well, the congressman is now saying something better than what he said originally. And I thank him for backing away on that. The fact is, is that...
TANCREDO: You weren't listening, Jim.
ZOGBY: ... race can be a characteristic, but it cannot be the determinate. There has to be behavior. And behavior is what is important here.
A large backpack is obviously going to be a signal. But it can't be a large backpack and of Middle Eastern descent only. A large backpack and a white guy could be the character like Mr. Reid, who came over on the plane and tried to light his shoe, or it could be an Hispanic, or it could be -- so the issue is the behavior is the determinate issue.
We're looking for large packages. That's what the New York Police Department said. They're looking for suitcases. They're looking for large bags. They're looking for bulky coats. They're looking for wires protruding, et cetera.
That's smart. And I think that, as long as we focus on smart issues here, we're going to be doing the right thing. Clearly, we have to be more vigilant than we've been. These terrorists have made our lives miserable.
I don't like being searched. I don't think anybody does. But, you know, at this point in time, I think the American people are asking us to be smart, to be secure. They want our rights protected, but they also want us to be smart and secure. And I think that's the right thing to do.
BLITZER: Congressman Tancredo, I just want to point out what a lot of our viewers have pointed out in e-mail to us and what a lot of critics say. The random searches represent a waste of time, that there's a certain number of man hours in a day, and when you're at airports or at subway stations, and you're randomly searching people, whether 88-year-old grandmothers or 3-year-old little kids, what you're doing is you're wasting a lot of time.
You should be narrowing that pool of potential suspects into a much more manageable number. What do you say to those critics who say these random searches just needlessly go ahead and search people who don't have to be searched?
TANCREDO: Yes. Well, first of all, let me say I'm glad that Jim is actually listening to what I say for a change and has actually picked up on the meat of it.
The fact is that random searches are -- no matter how annoying it is -- and believe me, I go through an airport twice a week. It is annoying as heck, and I understand everybody's frustration. I experience it.
But I also know that the randomness is important, because, of course, if you didn't have that, then the folks who are trying to do something very ugly to us would simply make sure that something is handed off, somebody -- they will identify somebody who doesn't fit any profile, right, and send them through with it.
That's why it has to be random. But I've got to tell you, that one of the problems I think with this slavish adherence to some sort of politically correct analysis of this -- and such a great fear of saying that part of this might be some sort of a profiling that could be identified as racial -- that's just as dangerous.
You don't want that ethos in the police department or in Homeland Security. You don't want them afraid to do it because the person that they're looking at, who, by the way, has a backpack, or has a coat and it's 90 degrees, and he's got wires sticking out, but he happens to be Middle Eastern and a young male, I don't want that to stop them from actually going after that person.
BLITZER: All right. Go ahead, Jim Zogby.
ZOGBY: Well, the congressman's now saying pretty much what Homeland Security is saying, and we're on the same page on this issue.
TANCREDO: All right.
ZOGBY: The determinant is behavior. And other factors come into play, but the determinate factor is behavior. And in this case, they've identified large packages, coats, bulky sweatshirts, et cetera.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we'll have more with Congressman Tancredo and Jim Zogby. That's coming up next. Among other things, I'll ask Representative Tancredo about his idea for retaliating against terror attacks. Is he serious about threatening to target Muslim holy sites?
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARYAM MCLEOD, MOTHER OF GERMAINE LINDSEY: I am still in shock and know not how to grieve for my son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The mother of one of the men accused in the deadly terror attacks in London speaking out. We'll hear how she describes her son.
And stolen valor. Congress takes up the battle to keep Medals of Honor in the right hands.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Before the break, we were discussing the war on terror with Arab-American Institute President James Zogby and U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo. Representative Tancredo found himself at the center of a related controversy in recent days resulting from some explosive comments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZOGBY: I can't let this discussion go, Wolf, without commenting on the fact that the congressman refers to bombastic or not listening. But I have listened to him. And I cannot let this conversation go without noting his comments about bombing Mecca that were so irresponsible, so damaging, are playing all over the world.
I mean, Republicans jumped all over Senator Durbin for comments that weren't even being reported in the Arab world. They were on an English-language web site here in America. But congressman's comments are all over the Arab world, and I would like to ask him if he'd just take this opportunity to apologize for having made those comments, because they were so damaging to the American people and to our values.
BLITZER: Well, for our viewers -- hold on, hold on, Congressman...
(CROSSTALK)
TANCREDO: That is absolutely untrue. That is your opinion.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Hold on one second, Congressman. For our viewers who don't know what Jim Zogby is referring to, tell them what you said and what you meant.
TANCREDO: I was asked during the course of a radio interview -- I was asked what we would do if one or more of -- if one or more nuclear devices were detonated in the United States killing millions of people and that the perpetrators were determined to be fundamentalist Islamic terrorists.
And I said one of the things we should of course think about first is how to prevent it. And that might be a threat, and that threat might include, in fact, bombing holy sites, if they were to do that.
Now, I put it out there as just as I have said here. Now, I never said we should go and bomb holy sites. That's the way, of course, it's been reported around the world. But as a threat, who knows whether or not that would actually do what we hope it would do and deter somebody and actually get the Muslim world, the rational, true Muslim world, to do something to corral the people who are as much a threat to them as they are to us?
I certainly do not apologize for that. And just because Mr. Zogby takes issue with it, I will tell you that a great number of people throughout the world from which we have heard do not take issue with it, and in fact, have sent us kudos.
ZOGBY: Well, the State Department's taken issues...
TANCREDO: Oh, my God, the State Department didn't like it? Oh, then I'd better reconsider.
(CROSSTALK)
ZOGBY: And several governments that are very close to the United States have taken issue with it. And I think that several of your colleagues, who I've spoken with, are also scratching their heads wondering what was going on.
TANCREDO: Several of my colleagues have come to my defense, including the Democratic senator from my state. So don't try to portray this as just a one-way thing that I said something that the world is reacting negatively to.
Now, certainly some people are, but a lot of people aren't. And you know what? Sometimes we need to say things that need to be said.
ZOGBY: Like bombing Mecca?
TANCREDO: I didn't say to bomb Mecca. You know, you're the problem. You actually create the problem when you say it that way.
I didn't say to do it. I said that we may use that as a threat. That is a threat. It is not the reality.
BLITZER: Here's the way it was...
TANCREDO: We're not supposed to do it.
BLITZER: We're almost out of time, Congressman. I'll just read to you the way it was reported. You made a statement that went like this.
"If this happens in the United States," -- referring to a major terror attack along the lines that you described -- "and we determine that it is the result of extremist fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites." And then the interviewer said, "You're talking about bombing Mecca?" And you said, "Yes."
TANCREDO: That is correct. But you have to preface it with, of course, my comments before we ever got there. When he asked me about it originally, and right before what you just read, I said, "Well, you have to think of, what would be a deterrent, a deterrent?" So not as something that you would do.
ZOGBY: Congressman, there's no proportionality to bombing the holiest site to a billion-and-a-half people. There's no...
TANCREDO: OK, you're talking about a threat -- I was responding to a threat of killing millions of Americans, a threat that was voiced by a representative of al Qaeda who says the next device -- I mean, the next attack on America, he said they want to take out 4 million Americans, 2 million children.
Let me tell you, I get upset by that. I get insulted by it. And so don't give me this proportionality. You try to kill me and my family and the rest of -- and take out most of America, I'm going to be upset.
(CROSSTALK)
ZOGBY: I grew up with that mind-set in my neighborhood, but I grew up. And the fact is, is that...
TANCREDO: Well, no, you haven't, Jim. No, you haven't, not yet. But there is hope for you.
(CROSSTALK)
ZOGBY: The fact is, sir, that you are a congressman. And when you speak, you speak with authority. And people listen to you.
TANCREDO: Jim, there is hope that you will grow up.
ZOGBY: And my fear is, is that your words have consequences. And they're incitement.
TANCREDO: I hope so.
ZOGBY: They're incitements. And they play badly around the world.
TANCREDO: I hope they have consequences. I hope people will talk about it. It's fine.
ZOGBY: And they fed bigotry here at home.
TANCREDO: So what if it plays badly? I am not here to make sure that the spin on what I say works out well, whether it's in my own district or around the world. I'm here to say what I believe is true and what I think we should do to protect this nation.
And I am -- yes, I was called a fanatic. Well, you know what, about the security of this nation, I am.
ZOGBY: I think you've put our nation at risk is the point, sir.
TANCREDO: Well, I think I have made it a safer place. So there you are.
BLITZER: I think we're all out of time. But a very quick question for you, Congressman Tancredo. There's a lot of speculation you're thinking of running for president in 2008. How close are you to making that decision?
TANCREDO: A long way, a long way. As I've said a million times, the issue that has put me into the primary states recently is immigration reform. If I can -- if there is a candidate that will take up that mantle, and that banner, and speak to the issue both with heart and, as well as with their lips, I don't have to do it. If no one does it, yes, I will.
BLITZER: All right, Congressman Tancredo. TANCREDO: I look to Jim to do my P.R.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: We'll look for you both to keep joining us on our program to have these discussions.
ZOGBY: Oh, Lord.
BLITZER: Jim Zogby, you wanted to say one quick thing.
ZOGBY: Well, actually I do. I mean, he'll feed into the kind of hate. What I've seen the response that he's gotten from his comments has been hate comments. And I guess there is a constituency out there that wants that. But I fear that it does not represent the best of the American people.
TANCREDO: Well, we have a difference of opinion. And that's the way it's got to be. Because this is, after all, America, and we're going to try to keep it that way.
BLITZER: All right. Gentlemen, a good, serious debate. We'll continue down the road. Thanks to both of you, Congressman Tancredo, Jim Zogby, as usual, thanks to you.
ZOGBY: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And after we taped that discussion, we received a statement from the office of Democratic Senator Ken Salazar responding to Representative Tancredo's claim he has Salazar's support. Salazar's Press Secretary Cody Wertz, says Salazar believes, as most Americans, that -- quote -- "If we are attacked on our soil, we should respond. The world needs to know that," unquote.
But Wertz added this -- and I'm quoting again -- "Congressman Tancredo went too far in saying our response should include religious holy sites," Tancredo saying that should be threatened, but not necessarily done.
Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
We're following a developing story out of Lebanon right now. An explosion in a popular entertainment district of Beirut just hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to the country. That's coming up next.
Defending her son. The mother of one of the London bombers talks about how she remembers her son.
And hallowed ground. As veterans pass on and new wars take a toll, Arlington National Cemetery making room for the future.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back.
We have a developing story from Beirut we're following. An explosion has rocked a Christian area, just hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the Lebanese capital.
The blast occurred in a parking lot of a busy entertainment district. Lebanese media reporting one person killed, several wounded. In recent months, Lebanon has seen a string of bombings, most targeting anti-Syrian politicians.
We'll watch this story, get some more information as it becomes available.
Recent violence in Lebanon was very much on Secretary Rice's mind during her surprise side-trip to Beirut earlier today. Right now, she's back in Jerusalem. That's where we find our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel, who's traveling with her -- Andrea?
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, U.S. officials tell reporters traveling with Secretary Rice that the reason that she only made the decision really in the wee hours of the morning to go to Beirut, is that after weeks of horse trading, Lebanon's new government was finally formed this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL (voice over): From the moment she arrived in Beirut, Secretary of State Rice's surprise visit was heavy on symbolism. A solemn moment at the tomb of Lebanon's recently-assassinated Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A meeting at Hariri's palatial estate with his 35-year-old son, Saad, widely considered -- as his father once was -- among the country's most influential political players, timed to coincide with this week's announcement of Lebanon's new government, the purpose of Rice's visit, to offer U.S. support during a time of dramatic developments.
(on camera): Since Hariri's death in February, there have been unimaginable changes here in Lebanon. The withdrawal of 14,000 Syrian troops, and now the election of a predominantly anti-Syrian government, all brought about, in large measure, due to massive anti- Syrian demonstrations by the Lebanese people right here in Martyr's Square.
(voice over): Another big change, a member of Hezbollah has, for the first time, been tapped to join the prime minister's cabinet.
The United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist group. The challenge for Rice, to push Lebanon's new government to disarm Hezbollah without burning bridges.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Our views of Hezbollah have not changed and our policy toward Hezbollah has not changed. But we have very good cooperation with the Lebanese government.
KOPPEL: The same could not be said about Lebanon's relationship with neighboring Syria. In recent weeks, Damascus has blocked hundreds of Lebanese trucks loaded with goods, an important source of revenue, from crossing into Syria to do business. Standing side by side with Lebanon's prime minister, Rice called on Syria to lift this apparent blockade.
RICE: Good neighbors don't close their borders to their neighbors. And it is a very serious situation on the Lebanese border where Lebanese trade is being strangled.
KOPPEL: But the strongest signal of U.S. displeasure with Syria was unspoken. Unlike her predecessors, Rice has never visited Damascus, and deliberately skipped it this trip.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL (on camera): Another factor which surely influenced Secretary Rice's decision to skip Damascus was the fact that, after over almost 30 years, the Syrian military no longer occupies Lebanon. They only withdrew, as you know, Wolf, two months ago -- Wolf?
BLITZER: Andrea Koppel reporting for us from Jerusalem. Andrea, you have a safe trip back to the United States. Thank you very much.
This footnote, Saad Hariri will be among my guests this Sunday on LATE EDITION. That airs Sunday noon, Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific.
Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. intelligence analyst convicted of spying for Israel, has lost his latest bid to reduce his life sentence. A federal appeals court ruled today that Pollard waited too long to contest his 1987 sentence, and failed to make the case that he got poor legal help. That sentence was imposed despite a plea deal in which the government had agreed not to seek a life term. Pollard was a civilian analyst for the U.S. Navy. He was later granted citizenship by Israel. He's serving that life sentence right now in North Carolina.
When we come back, London terror attacks. The mother of one of the original bombers speaking out. Plus, the latest on the investigation.
Also, dozens of changes recommended here in the wake of 9/11. Why have so few actually been implemented? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Let's get back to out top story, the terror investigation in London. British police have released surveillance photos of four men sought for questioning in connection with yesterday's attempted transit bombings. Police also announced the arrest of a man in the Stockwell section of London, but it's not clear whether he's one of the men seen in the photos.
Also today, police shot and killed a man inside the Stockwell Subway Station. Police say they'd been following him since he emerged from a house in Stockwell that had been under observation. There's still no word on whether yesterday's London bombing attempts were directly related to the deadly July 7th bombings. Police say the men who carried out those attacks were killed in the blasts. The mother of one of those men has now spoken to reporters.
Juliet Bremner of International Television News has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIET BREMNER, ITV NEWS: The last image of Germaine or Jamal Lindsey as he entered Luton Station, explosives strapped to his back. But it's not one his mother can accept.
MARYAM MCLEOD, MOTHER OF GERMAINE LINDSEY: The picture that you see on the television, those are stolen pictures, I haven't seen a picture to clarify that's my son. I do not even know that's my son.
BREMNER: But there seems little doubt that the teenager she last saw in August of 2000 is the King's Cross bomber.
MCLEOD: I respected and admired him so very much.
BREMNER: Speaking from her home in Grenada, Maryam McLeod struggles to accept the transformation from devoted son to terrorist.
MCLEOD: He was so mature. And he was so sincere, and so loving.
BREMNER: She described her son, who was following her example when he converted to Islam, as a loving brother, husband and father.
MCLEOD: I am still in shock and know not now to grieve for my son. Therefore, I grieve first for the victims, ones who are dead and ones who are alive. I grieve for the mothers, and fathers. For individuals who are now possibly traumatized by the visions of death and horror.
BREMNER: Condemning the events of July the 7th, she says she's now praying that her son might be forgiven. Juliet Bremner, ITV News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And when we come back, stolen honor. From Purple Hearts to the Medal of Honor, a new phenomenon that has many vets up in arms. Our Brian Todd is on the story.
And later, hallowed ground. With 25 funerals a day for veterans of America's modern wars, Arlington National Cemetery is running out of room. The plan for expansion. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Coming up at the top of the hour, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. Lou is standing by in New York with a preview -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Wolf. Coming up in just about 17 minutes, tonight deadly force, British police kill a radical Islamist terror suspect. I'll be talking with former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik about protecting our cities from terrorism.
And we'll also have the latest for you on the CIA, White House leak.
"Red Star Rising," China bragging about having some of the latest technology in its warships. Did the Chinese steal it? Or are they lying? We'll have the latest for you.
And we'll have a special report from Mexico on whether their labor is being exploited, and on the economic sham that some are calling free trade. All of that and a lot more coming up at the top of the hour. Please join us.
Now back to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. We'll be watching at the top of the hour.
The Purple Heart, the Silver Star, the Medal of Honor: those and other military awards speak of valor and sacrifice by America's servicemen and women. But there are a growing number of people who have stolen those honors rather than earn them.
CNN's Brian Todd is here with this. He's got more on this incredible story -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, with advances in technology and information, experts say it's easier than ever to obtain a fake medal or to get a real one illegally. The men and women who have really won those have had enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): It's been nearly 30 years since Mike Duggan won his Purple Heart, wounded in a Viet Cong ambush in the central highlands of Vietnam. But he still wears his Purple Heart pin nearly every day. And he says nothing gets him madder than someone who fakes a medal.
COL. MIKE DUGGAN, U.S. ARMY (RET): It cheapens the award as well as -- it kind of is a stolen identity as far as I'm concerned.
TODD: Duggan and other vets we spoke to say it doesn't help that the practice is humorously depicted in the new hit movie "Wedding Crashers," where the two lead characters pretend to be Purple Heart winners to impress women.
VINCE VAUGHN, ACTOR: We lost a lot of really good men out there.
OWEN WILSON, ACTOR: We lost so many good men out there.
DUGGAN: They're encouraging people to demean the medal.
TODD: The producers of the film New Line Cinema, which like CNN is a Time Warner company, had no comment about the criticism.
We spoke to an FBI agent and two journalists who have investigated these types of cases. They say it's impossible to give numbers on how widespread this is. But they say there are many more phonies out there who claim to have won the Congressional Medal of Honor than there are actual medal recipients. About 120 are still living today.
And they say more and more people in recent years have fraudulently purchased, displayed and trafficked in military awards of valor: real and phony medals.
B.G. BURKETT, AUTHOR: If you look at the tangible price of these medals, you can probably manufacture any one of them for less than a dollar.
TODD: Another expert says you can download a citation from the Internet, fill it out, and make it look authentic. One judge from Illinois had to resign for displaying two Medals of Honor in his court that he hasn't earned. But because that judge wasn't actually wearing the medals, he couldn't be prosecuted. He has since passed away.
The lack of prosecution is something Congressman John Salazar wants to change.
REP. JOHN SALAZAR, (D) COLORADO: These symbols are symbols that mean a lot to all of us who have served this country. And so it's important for us to value and honor the sacrifices the veterans have made.
TODD: Right now, federal law calls for up to a year in jail for anyone caught fraudulently wearing a Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart or other medal of valor. With his new proposed legislation called the Stolen Valor Act, Salazar wants to extend those penalties to anyone caught claiming to have won those medals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Experts say this is not a victimless crime. Aside from demeaning the medals, they say, perpetrators have used these claims to try to win business deals, con people out of money and even obtain veterans benefits -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Shocking stuff. Thanks very much, Brian Todd, for that report. Good work.
President Bush announced his Supreme Court nomination this week. Will John Roberts be confirmed? Our Carlos Watson standing by with the "Inside Edge," that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Sometimes midsummer is considered a slow news period. But this week has been anything but. Our political analyst Carlos Watson is joining us today from Green Bay, Wisconsin, with the "Inside Edge." Carlos, is this nomination of John Roberts to be in the U.S. Supreme Court now virtually a done deal?
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It looks good, Wolf. But it's early. And we've seen this before.
If you remember, three or four days after Clarence Thomas was nominated, things looked like they were going to sail well there. In fact, as much as a month went by in which he seemed likely to get nominated without much controversy.
But, I think, as you look at the Roberts case, I think three things are worth noting. One, to the extent he does ultimately not get confirmed, it's unlikely to be over policy issues. Although, that will be the public fight. Instead, if he goes down, I think it will similar to what happened to Douglas Ginsburg who withdrew his nomination because of a personal peccadillo. In that case, admitted to having smoked marijuana on several occasions.
I think, number two, one of the things that hasn't been talked much about is the fact that if he's confirmed, Justice Roberts will be the only Supreme Court justice with young kids. And we've seen frequently in public life, that whether it's Vice President Cheney with his daughter Mary or whether it's Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara during the Vietnam War with his own kids and their friends, often public officials change their minds on big issues, not only because of their own experiences, but instead because of the experiences and the outlooks of their kids. And so I think the fact that he has young kids is something worth noting.
The last thing I would add, and I think when we think about a Supreme Court justice, we think about someone who may serve for 10, 20, or even 24 years. But given that people are living longer, especially those who are affluent, and Justice Roberts would be a multimillionaire, some $3.8 million in net worth, we may see the first 50-year justice here. This is someone who could live to be 100, barring accidents and other things. And it may change our notions of lifetime tenures for judges.
So, lots of interesting things that go above and beyond whether or not he'll get confirmed.
BLITZER: All right. Very interesting.
Carlos, let's switch gears for a moment, talk about the political fallout, if any, here in the United States and what's been going on with those terror attacks in London.
WATSON: Well, in some ways it's split, Wolf. I mean, if you look at our most recent poll, 61 percent of people -- unchanged -- say that they feel either moderately comfortable or very comfortable with the job that the Bush administration is doing in terms of protecting the homeland.
But by the very same token, there's no doubt about it that a year to the day after the 9/11 Commission submitted its report and some 41 recommendations, there's got to be concern that maybe at best, maybe a half dozen of those have actually been adopted. And ultimately, Wolf, I wouldn't be surprised over the next couple months to hear at least some question whether or not, not only are we still vulnerable, but do we need more mechanisms to keep us safe -- namely, the 9/11 Commission version 2.0.
You know, many cities around the country will often see an independent police commission get set up to look at a problem. And then they'll see it maintained over a longer period of time. May be something to watch.
BLITZER: You think they're going to go further, Carlos, and implement more of those 9/11 Commission recommendations in the aftermath of London?
WATSON: Wolf, they don't -- I certainly think they will, particularly as it relates to mass transit, maybe containers. But if they don't, I think it could become a big issue for Democrats in 2006. Watch the special election in Cincinnati later this year. The issue may at least get raised in a way that other people hear about.
BLITZER: Carlos Watson with the "Inside Edge." He's got more on CNN.com on his column. Thanks very much, Carlos, for that.
WATSON: Good to see you. Have a great weekend.
BLITZER: Thank you.
It's been the burial ground for U.S. war veterans for nearly 150 years. But now Arlington National Cemetery here in nation's capital is running out of room.
Our Barbara Starr takes a closer look at the solution to burying America's war dead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's the final home to a quarter million veterans and a focal point for the nation's sense of grief and honor. Now, Arlington National Cemetery is expanding. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr shows us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: For the last 140 years, Arlington National Cemetery has buried the nation's war dead, 25 funerals a day now. Veterans of World War II and Korea, young troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With a quarter of a million graves, Arlington is running out of room. So for the first time in a decade, the cemetery is expanding. These 40 acres will hold 26,000 new graves.
Superintendent John Metzler already considers this hallowed ground. JOHN METZLER, SUPERINTENDENT: And right where we're standing right now, we don't know who will be buried here, and what contributions to history they make.
STARR: The expansion will keep Arlington open until at least the year 2030.
METZLER: A lot of soldiers who had served during the Vietnam era will be buried on this 40 acres of land.
STARR: Metzler's father was also superintendent, so he grew up here.
A Vietnam Veteran, he honors passing comrades.
(on camera): This is the area of Arlington Cemetery that is so deeply emotional. Section 60, the final resting place of those recently killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(voice-over): Of the nearly 2,000 men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, 184 are buried here. Even Metzler is overcome.
METZLER: Section 60 now has become an area that tender loving care is given. The...
STARR: We are given a window into the private moments.
METZLER: After the funeral has concluded, a lot of times, service members who served with the deceased will quietly will come up and take off a set of wings or a coin from their pocket and place it on top of the casket.
STARR: When this dirt becomes a rolling green hill, Metzler hopes for a different future.
METZLER: I would hope that in the future we don't have this large collection of soldiers buried in one location. That it is the older veterans who have lived a full life and have gone on after that.
STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, Arlington National Cemetery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And Sunday on LATE EDITION, the Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez among my guests. Don't forget THE SITUATION ROOM starts August 8.
I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. LOU DOBBS TONIGHT starting right now. Lou is standing by in New York -- Lou.
END
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