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CNN Live Sunday
Office Tower Imploded in North Dallas; Insight on Woodruff's Condition; Jack Wiley Denies Wrongdoing; Damaged Cars Discovered in California
Aired January 29, 2006 - 18:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A television network anchor and his photographer are seriously injured on the frontlines in Iraq. We have the very latest. And a volatile day in the Saddam Hussein trial. We're going to show you what happened.
And we've got exclusive coverage of a disturbing criminal case out of Alabama. You are going to hear from sex abuse subject Jack Wiley. It is January 29th and you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. To our top story in just a moment, but first the stories making news right now.
An Arkansas woman is under arrest after a grim discovery. Police found the bodies of her six-year-old twin boys and eight-year-old daughter yesterday. The woman's husband is a construction worker in New York. He called Arkansas police after his wife allegedly confessed to smothering them.
Rescuers have given up hope of finding any more survivors in the freezing, mangled wreckage of a building in Poland. Yesterday, the roof of the exhibition center collapsed, killing at least 66 people. More than 160 others were injured.
The Dallas skyline is changing. It took less than 100 pounds of dynamite and 30 seconds to bring down a ten-story office tower in North Dallas today.
Those are the headlines. But first, we want to go now to Iraq, where ABC News anchor, Bob Woodruff, and his photographer, Doug Vogt, are reported to be in stable condition. Now that is encouraging news after the two were seriously wounded in a roadside bombing near Baghdad today. The incident clearly highlights the looming dangers that exist for journalists in Iraq, including Jill Carroll, kidnapped earlier this month.
Here's CNN's Gary Nurenberg.
ANNOUNCER (voice-over): This is "World News Tonight."
GARY NURENBERG, CNN REPORTER: ABC News reported Sunday evening an attack on two of its own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH VARGAS, ABC "WORLD NEWS TONIGHT" CO-ANCHOR: My co- anchor, Bob Woodruff and cameraman, Doug Vogt, were on assignment in Iraq with a military convoy near the city of Taji, north of Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded. Bob and Doug were hit by shrapnel and both men sustained head injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NURENBERG (voice-over): The network said the men were traveling with an Iraqi army unit in one of its mechanized vehicles. ABC reports that the two men were wearing body army but received severe injuries in the attack, but the U.S. Military says also wounded an Iraqi national.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARENCE PAGE, CMTE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: Iraq now leads the planet for most journalists killed in the 24 years that our organization's been around.
NURENBERG (voice-over): Calm's Clarence Paige is on the board of the committee to protect journalists and has just returned from the Middle East, and he says Iraq poses particular hazards for reporters.
PAGE: Journalists are being targeted in a ways that they were never targeted before.
NURENBERG (voice-over): American journalist Jill Carroll was kidnapped earlier this month and remains missing.
PAGE: If you kidnap a journalist naturally you get a lot more attention.
NURENBERG (voice-over): The host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Howard Kurtz, wrote about Woodruff in Sunday's "Washington Post" and interviewed him just before he left the United States last week.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR: He was excited. He saw it as part of his job to go places, to get on a plane and go to places like Israel and Iraq and Pakistan and be a foreign correspondent in the Peter Jennings mold, and he wasn't worried much the danger.
NURENBERG (voice-over): He talked about that recently on CNN "Headline Prime's Showbiz Tonight."
BOB WOODRUFF, ABC "WORLD NEWS TONIGHT" CO-ANCHOR: Something that Peter said to me many times over the years is be careful about wanting to go into a position like this of anchoring, because it's going to take away from what is really the greatest things, which is reporting out in the field. And it was his favorite thing to do, and I think it was always a regret that he was not able to get out more as well.
NURENBERG (voice-over): Woodruff is known as an active reporter, likely not content to stay in the relative safe environs of Baghdad's protected Green Zone.
PAGE: If you don't get outside the Green Zone, you are missing over 99 percent of that country, and how can we as journalists honestly say we're covering the war, covering what's happening in Iraq if we don't get out and see Iraq?
NURENBERG (voice-over): That is what Woodruff and Vogt were doing Sunday. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Now, Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt both underwent surgery for head injuries. If their conditions permit, they could be transferred late tonight to Germany.
Joining me on the telephone is CNN's medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta; he specializes in head injuries and can talk more about the treatment that these two are receiving.
Sanjay, I just got a message from a friend who is close with Bob Woodruff's family. The word is that they don't think that there is any shrapnel in the brain, but it's primarily shrapnel injuries. What can you tell us about what these two men are dealing with now, with these injuries?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes, that's certainly helpful information, what you just said, Carol. When you talk about an explosion like this, an improvised explosive device, depending how close they were, how big an explosive device this was, obviously dictates the type of injury that you get.
Shrapnel is sort of the primary way, you know, just debris and metal from the device itself could injure somebody. I understand, I heard earlier that they were wearing helmets, which is certainly very helpful, to protect against that sort of injury.
The second thing is more of a concussive injury, sort of actually sort of rattling the brain within the skull.
And the third injury is when the body itself is moving. So, if he had shrapnel injuries and that's what they operated on him for but he did not have any shrapnel in the brain, that's a good sign for sure. Of course, you know, I obviously can't confirm that. But the thing I would worry about is whether he had any blood actually in the brain or on top of the brain causing pressure. That would certainly be a reason to operate right away.
LIN: So what does it tell you that doctors are hoping that he can actually be flown to Germany, then, as soon as tonight?
SANJAY: I think that's a very good sign. You know, I've been in these hospitals, as you know, Carol, and they are very well equipped, some of these desert hospitals. Obviously they can perform surgery, but they usually have some intensive care unit capability as well.
So he could have potentially stayed there if he was unstable. But the fact that they are saying, you know, that he's potentially stable enough to travel, that's a good sign in terms of his blood pressure and his heart rate and things like that.
Cognitively, neural function-wise, it's harder to say, still. LIN: Sanjay, how soon will doctors be able to know more about Woodruff and Vogt's cognitive abilities?
SANJAY: You know, I would guess that they would know quite a bit in the next couple of days. You don't want to rush these things, because you just -- people can recover remarkably well after a trauma depending on how quickly the trauma was cared for.
But, you know, Carol, I just don't know how significant the injury was. And without that piece of information, it's just hard to guess at how long before you have a more definitive idea -- a more definitive prognosis.
LIN: Well, a vote of confidence for the family, who may be watching that he is being well cared for, both of these men, after being injured in this battle zone.
Sanjay, thank you.
SANJAY: Thank you.
LIN: Straight ahead, I'm going to be talking with CNN's Nic Robertson about the dangerous job of reporting from the front line. Nic knows firsthand what it's like to report from Iraq, since the war broke out, and he has a really interesting insight.
You're going to learn a lot about journalists from Nick.
LIN: And a quick program change to tell you about. Because of today's news events in Iraq, "CNN Presents" is changing its focus tonight to Iraq.
The scheduled program "Christa McAuliffe: Reach For the Stars" will not be seen. Instead, "CNN Presents" will focus on the memorable stories that have happened in Iraq, as told by CNN correspondents who witness them firsthand.
We are going to take you to the front lines through the eyes of soldiers and journalists. To the overflowing hospitals. To the chaotic trial of Saddam Hussein.
"CNN Presents" "Under Fire: Stories From the New Iraq." It starts tonight at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific right here on CNN.
And it was a wild scene at Saddam Hussein's war crimes trial. The proceedings resumed today after a month-long delay, with a new judge at the helm. His new rules did not sit well with Hussein or his co-defendants when Hussein's half brother called the court, quote, "the daughter of a whore," the judge promptly ejected him.
A defense attorney was also thrown out for yelling at the judge. That's when the entire defense team walked out in protest. Within minutes, new court-appointed defense attorneys were brought in.
Hussein objected, calling them evil. And he accused the judge of trying to force him to leave his own trial. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): Do not force me. Do not force me.
RAOUF RASHEED ABEL-RAHMAN, NEW CHIEF JUDGE (through translator): I'm not forcing you to do anything.
HUSSEIN (through translator): I led you for 35 years. How can you tell them to get me out? Shame on you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, Hussein eventually walked out on his own, along with two co-defendants. The trial is scheduled to resume later this week. We'll see what happens then.
Hamas is making demands on Israel already, just days after scoring a landslide victory in the Palestinian elections. The top Hamas official in Gaza appeared on CNN's "Late Edition" today and said a long-term truce with Israel is possible if certain conditions are met.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOP HAMAS OFFICIAL: Ask Israel if they are ready to stop their killing, stop their detention, to allow the Palestinian people who are living in the refugee camps to come back to live there in their homelands, the lands of their father and grandfather who are living here since many thousands of years. Unless that happen, I think, no, of the Palestinian people will accept the argument of Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: The Hamas leader also called on Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders, release Palestinian prisoners, and create a geographic link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
But Israel insists it's Hamas that must make changes. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on the international community to unite against a Palestinian government that calls for Israel's destruction. Olmert discussed that position today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who's making her first official visit to the Jewish state.
EHUD OLMERT, ACTING PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Germany and Israel believe you cannot agree with terror or negotiate with terror groups and governments which consist of organizations that deal with terror and will not recognize the state of Israel.
LIN: The acting prime minister says Israel will not deal with Hamas unless the militant group renounces terror, recognizes Israel's right to exist, and honors previous peace agreements.
Now back in this country, it was the corporate scandal that rocked America.
Tomorrow, two key figures from Enron will go on trial. Founder Ken Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.
Our Chris Huntington is in Houston with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Angie Chapel lost her job and her life savings when Enron imploded five years ago.
ANGIE CHAPPELL, FORMER ENRON EMPLOYEE: It was my retirement. It was my kids' college fund, you know. I put a lot of money in my 401(k). It made a big impact on all of us. I mean, we lived a very comfortable life, and then we didn't.
HUNTINGTON (voice-over): Chappell and her family are still trying to work their way out of that financial hole, and she blames the two Enron executives about to go on trial for running her family's future into the ground.
CHAPPELL: Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay have so much more than the rest of the Enron employees. While they were telling us to buy stock, they were selling theirs.
HUNTINGTON (voice-over): Ken Lay insists he is innocent.
KEN LAY, FORMER ENRON CHAIRMAN: We're going to have a long trial and a tough trial, but we're going to be fine.
HUNTINGTON (voice-over): Last month, Lay told a group in Houston that the government had falsely charged him with misleading investors and regulators about Enron's financial problems.
LAY: Most of what was and is still being said, heard or read was and still is, either grossly exaggerated, distorted or just flat false.
HUNTINGTON (voice-over): Lay's main defense will be that he was out of the loop when Chief Executive Jeff Skilling and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow created improper off-the-book deals to hide Enron's debt and pump up its appearance of profitability. Fastow has pleaded guilty to two counts and expected to be the government's key witness against Lay and Skilling, who also insists he is innocent.
JEFFREY SKILLING, FORMER ENRON CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: And I have no knowledge of any -- and had no knowledge of any wrongdoing.
HUNTINGTON (voice-over): Whistleblower Sharon Watkins, the former Enron vice president, who correctly warned that the company would, quote, "implode in a wave of accounting scandals," is also likely to testify.
SHARON WATKINS, FORM ENRON VICE PRESIDENT: I certainly would like to see Jeff Skilling charged, because I think he's the one that drove us over the cliff. Ken Lay, you know, idiot or criminal, those are his two choices and neither one is very positive.
HUNTINGTON (voice-over): Another former Enron employee agrees.
CHAPPELL: Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay, if they're guilty of anything, it's not knowing what their company was up to, but they're responsible for it. They're responsible for whatever goes on, and they should pay the price.
HUNTINGTON: Now, the judge overseeing this trial, District Judge Sim Lake wants to move things along quickly. He hopes to have a jury picked by Tuesday afternoon so that opening arguments can also begin on that day. In fact, he's denied several requests by the defense teams for delays. Also, even a change of venue.
There's a lot at stake here if Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay are convicted on all charges. They could spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
Carol?
LIN: Chris Huntington in Houston, thank you.
Well, it's been a story that CNN has been following all week. A Georgia woman raises the alarm about a 3-year-old girl she fears are in trouble, and the man and the woman the girl was with are facing sexual abuse charges.
Tonight, you are going to hear from the suspect, Jack Wiley. It is story you will only see on CNN.
That's at the bottom of the hour.
But up next, the danger of reporting from the front lines.
I'm going to talk with CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson about his experiences in the field.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt are in stable condition after being seriously wounded in a roadside bombing today in Iraq. The two could be transferred to a U.S. Military hospital in Germany as early as tonight.
Now, both Woodruff and Vogt suffered head injuries and shrapnel wounds in the attack. They certainly aren't the first journalists to come under attack in that country.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 61 journalists have been killed since the Iraq invasion. Two were American. The majority, though, 42, were Iraqi.
Now, journalists put themselves in extreme danger to tell the story of the war in Iraq. CNN's Nic Robertson has been in and out of Iraq since the war first broke out. Nic, we're lucky enough to have you on set here in Atlanta to talk about this.
When you first heard about Doug and Bob and their injuries, what went through your mind?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I thought how did it happen, what were the sequence of events that led up to it? Did they have their body armor on? Did they have the flak vests? Did they have their helmets on? ABC has said they did.
And that would certainly mitigate some of the injuries that they might have received. So really I was thinking of what was it? How big was the explosion? What vehicle were they in and how quickly did they get medical treatment, which we now know is very quickly, which is critical.
LIN: How likely is it that the insurgents knew that there was a high-profile American journalist on board that vehicle?
ROBERTSON: It's a very interesting question.
ABC says they were leaning out the top of the vehicle, filming part of their report. I've talked to people who live close to the insurgents who've showed me video the insurgents recorded and said, look, the bomb is placed in this vehicle. Watch what happens.
First one American vehicle goes by, then a second one with troops in it, and he said, look, that third vehicle, that's the one that's got the most troops in and that's when the explosives were set off.
It is quite plausible to believe that the insurgents will sit there and watch the vehicles, the army vehicles, Iraqi army vehicles that go by and choose the one where they want to detonate the explosives.
LIN: Because they are smart to enough how it is going to play in the United States.
ROBERTSON: They are smart enough to know that. They know that it's perhaps different, definitely that it will add to their cause.
And the insurgents, and this is what we here from the EOD, the bomb disposal experts, they are becoming very, very creative on how they trigger the bombs, on how they build the bombs, building them with fuel to set a fire as well, putting air triggers so that perhaps a pipe in the road will send an air pressure that will trigger the blast as well as remote controlling.
LIN: Nic, you go to places like Iraq. Willingly. And in fact, with a passion.
When something like this happens, how does this affect how you operate and what are your concerns there?
ROBERTSON: I think this reinforces all the fears that we have that we can all be caught up and that we could all be injured. I think all the journalists in Iraq know that there's a real potential for this. When you're in a particularly dangerous area, perhaps Taji, where they were or Ramadi, where I was recently, when you go off the base in a vehicle, in an armored vehicle, you think about it. You know that there's a potential for this to happen. So, it just reinforces the knowledge that you have to take all the precautions...
LIN: Yes.
ROBERTSON: I joked with my colleagues, we have to wear so much protection these days. Just recently somebody said, no, you need to wear earplugs as well. Why? Because a lot of these roadside bombs, the soldiers, the injuries they're coming back with might survive the blast but is damaging their ears from the blast.
So the precautions you have to take, the protective eyeglasses as well, there's a lot you have to do to mitigate what could happen.
LIN: But anybody that knows you and the journalist and the crews that you work with know that you go in willingly, and you know that that story has to be told.
ROBERTSON: We know it has to be told and we go in willingly, because we believe that we can still do it, that it is still possible, that statistically, the incidents like this, fortunately for all the journalists that are there, are not that common. Still a very big shock, and obviously our sympathies go out to both men's families at this time.
LIN: Absolutely. Thank you. Stay safe, O.K.?
All right, in the meantime, tonight "CNN Presents" will bring us the memorable stories that have happened in Iraq as told by CNN correspondents who witnessed them firsthand. "CNN Presents" "Under Fire: Stories From the New Iraq" begins at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
LIN: Now the uproar over claims of a possible Mexican military incursion into the United States. We are going to tell you what some American officials want to do about it and what Mexico is saying about it.
Plus, hear from the man at the center of an alleged sexual abuse case in Alabama. It is a story you will only see on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Illegal immigration, it is a hot-button issue that has many Americans calling on the federal government to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.
And now some lawmakers are saying it is also time to stop Mexican military incursions into the United States.
New photos show what appear to be Mexican soldiers helping drug traffickers.
Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Could these be the pictures that finally push the U.S. federal government to secure our nation's borders?
Drug smugglers, caught red-handed inside the United States, accompanied by what appear to be machine gun-toting members of the Mexican military. It happened Monday in Hudspeth County, Texas, where U.S. law enforcement officers engaged in a real life Mexican standoff.
RICK GLANCEY, TEXAS BORDER SHERIFF'S COALITION: There are some in Mexico that may pretend to be members of the military, may try to engage by trickery, if you will, by the style of clothing they wear. The bottom line is, is this still occurred? There are pictures to prove it occurred, and this is something that should, you know, open the eyes of Washington, D.C. and Mexico City.
WIAN (voice-over): These pictures show a military Humvee trying to free an SUV stuck in the Rio Grande and standing by as several people unload its cargo of drugs.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: This is an incident that is under investigation. The Department of Homeland Securities, Customs, and Border Protection. We've also been in contact with the governor of Mexico and asked for a thorough investigation and response from Mexico.
WIAN (voice-over): Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff just last week said Mexican military incursions are not a serious problem, however his department's own documents show they have happened more than 200 times over the past decade.
Now a growing number of officials are demanding answers and more action, including Texas Governor Rick Perry, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, and the State Department.
SEAN MCCORMACK, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Every government around the world should expect the United States is going to take whatever steps it deems necessary to protect its own borders.
WIAN (voice-over): Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo called for the immediate deployment of U.S. troops to the border.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government continues to deny the incursions involve Mexican soldiers.
CARLOS DEICAZA, MEXICAN AMBASSADOR: We don't have any information or any evidence that can substantiate the fact that they are Mexican military personnel.
We reject the notion that they were Mexican military personnel.
WIAN: The Mexican government says it is cooperating with the U.S. requests for an investigation. What U.S. officials really want is more cooperation from Mexico in stopping these incidents from taking place. No matter who the soldiers are working for, the Mexican government, Mexican drug cartels or both, they are usually better armed than the U.S. Border Patrol.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: So let's get more on what's happening along the U.S./Mexican border.
We're joined on the telephone by the Hudspeth County, Texas sheriff, Arvin West. He's in El Paso.
Sheriff West, the Mexican government denies that their military is helping drug traffickers. What do you believe?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIFF ARVIN WEST, EL PASO, TEXAS (voice-over): There's no doubt in my mind it was Mexico military. I've seen them up and down that border for the last 40 years, and there's no doubt it is them.
LIN: Well, FBI officials apparently in El Paso say they have gathered evidence connected to the incident last Monday and handed it over to the Mexican attorney general's office.
Have you heard the status on that investigation, or if there's going to be an investigation?
WEST: Ma'am, I have not talked to anybody with the FBI office since this occurred. As a matter of fact, the only person I've talked to is Chief of the Border Patrol, David Garzas, since this thing took place.
LIN: Because apparently a wire report here is that a criminal investigation has not been opened, apparently the Mexican government saying because of federal agent wasn't assaulted. So does this sound like a runaround to you?
WEST (voice-over): Absolutely. And prior to this, I mean, we made outcries to the Federal government. We've showed some of the Congressmen what we're up against, and the Congressmen have worked diligently to try to help us on this. But even the photos that I instructed the officer to take, if they ever encountered anything like this, this is apparently going to be swept under the carpet.
LIN: So do you think it's going to take U.S. troops along the boarder to stop these incursions?
WEST (voice-over): Initially, probably yes. What would work better than anything is what myself and my 15 other cohort sheriffs along the Texas border have initiated as far as Operation Linebacker and as well as more border patrol agents.
LIN: That may not happen anytime soon, will it, sheriff?
WEST (voice-over): No, and what really scares me, you know, is how many lives is it going to take to put a stop to this? I definitely don't want to go to any one of these officers', that I know personally, funeral.
LIN: I know you don't.
Arvin West, thank you very much. Sheriff with the Hudspeth County sheriff's office in Texas.
All right, U.S. officials say they have discovered the largest and most sophisticated cross-border tunnel ever found between the United States and Mexico. The tunnel, discovered last week, contained two tons of marijuana. Authorities say it started under a warehouse about 150 yards south of the boarder in Tijuana. It surfaced a half- mile north of the border in a warehouse in California.
Tomorrow night, CNN's Anderson Cooper takes us on an exclusive tour of the tunnel. Watch "Anderson Cooper 360" Monday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Coming up on the bottom of the hour, here is a quick look at what's happening, right now in the news.
ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and his photographer are in stable condition at a military hospital in Iraq. Woodruff and Doug Vogt were wounded today in an attack north of Baghdad. The journalists were with U.S. and Iraqi troops when an explosion rocked the vehicle they were traveling in.
The new chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial took a hard line in court today. The judge tossed out several people he considered unruly, including Hussein's half brother. Hussein himself walked out, after peppering the judge with some colorful language. The trial resumes later this week.
Las Vegas police arrested at least 14 people following a street brawl involving partygoers last night. Officials say several people, including police officers, had minor injuries. The incident started with about 20 people. Dozens of police officers were called in to break up the fight.
And now, a disturbing discovery in a small Arkansas town. Police in De Queen, Arkansas, found three young children inside a home, all of them dead. Police say they went to the house yesterday after receiving a phone call from the children's father whose working in New York. When officers arrived, police say the children's mother was inside and they say she confessed to smothering her kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM COOPER, PROSECUTOR: It appears that her statements that she suffocated her three children. The reasons at this time are not determined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Officials say notes found inside the home could help police determine a motive.
Well, new developments in a horrific case as well. Two adults are in custody, charged with abusing two children. One of them a three-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped. The two were arrested only after an Atlanta woman saw the couple with the little girl, and sensed something was wrong. And called police. CNN's David Mattingly joins me now with an exclusive interview on this story. David?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the questions just keep on coming in this strange case, and tonight, one of the suspects tells us that investigators have got it all wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Separated from other inmates for his own protection, the man calling himself Jack Wiley visits the yard of the Conecuh County Jail under constant guard. He is charged with two counts of rape and one count of sodomy, involving a three-year-old child he has at times called his daughter or granddaughter. As well as a 17-year-old boy he's described as his son. When approached by CNN producer Mike Phelan (ph) for comment, an emotional Wiley denied wrongdoing.
JACK WILEY, SUSPECT: I'm worse than Charles Manson right now, as far as the country is concerned, but if I could get two doctors that would -- and a good attorney, not some backwoods high school dropout public defender, I believe I can win my story. Now, if they want to send me to prison for, you know, killing the president or something, I don't care, but they are not going to do it this way.
MATTINGLY: Wiley is being held along with his female companion Glenna Faye Marshall who is charged with child abuse. She previously told others that she was Wiley's daughter, leading to confusion in a case where authorities in Alabama aren't sure anyone is who they claim to be.
SHERIFF TRACY HAWSEY, CONECUH COUNTY, ALABAMA: He's held by his alias that he has used in the past, and he's used, at least up to eight, that we know of now, in changing Social Security numbers up.
MATTINGLY: Investigators are more certain of where the couple has been. They were driving a beat-up old Chevy Suburban with a Washington State tag, recently registered to a man in Olympia. According to the Sheriff Tracy Hawsey, Marshall admitted the couple once had sexual contact with a 12-year-old in Kentucky.
HAWSEY: There was a 12-year-old boy, who they had sexual contact with.
MATTINGLY: Both the man and the woman.
HAWSEY: That's correct. That's by her admission. Now, the city or the county, that this took place, she cannot remember or that's what she tells us.
MATTINGLY: These photographs taken into evidence also place Wiley and Marshall along the Gulf Coast, apparently after Hurricane Katrina. Conecuh County resident Bill Fryant gave the couple and the two children a place to live, when they twice claimed to be homeless and almost penniless after major hurricanes.
BILL FRYANT, CONECUH COUNTY RESIDENT: They were gone for a year, and then they came back. I never thought I'd see them after they left the first time, and then they came back, well, we need a place to stay for a little while. Do you mind if we stay here? And I said, I guess so. I just didn't want to -- I mean, I was just too nice to say no.
MATTINGLY: At the time of their arrest, Fryant says they were on the verge of leaving for an annual tour of the NASCAR circuit where authorities say the couple made and sold these beaded key chains as they traveled from race to race. Investigators hope these photos will produce new leads. Dozens of pictures showing Wiley smiling next to the girl he's accused of harming. Apparently at several different racetracks.
Wiley, however, says those pictures showed times of happiness and a child who would still want to be with him.
WILEY: If you look at all my NASCAR pictures, been to 58 races, all you see is us together, and if she was here right you know, she would dive into my arms.
MATTINGLY: Wiley claims medical evidence that authorities say indicate rape is actually the result of spider bites and boils the children have recently had. Both the three-year-old girl and the 17- year-old boy are in state custody. DNA testing is under way to determine their true relationship to Wiley and Marshall.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (on camera): And so far, the Conecuh County sheriff says they've been able to confirm only one previous crime. They say that they have linked Wiley to a case of attempted arson in San Diego, dating back, Carol, to 1975.
LIN: Oh, my goodness. David, where is the story going to go next? Thanks for working it for us.
MATTINGLY: Well, that's the main question. How -- where is this case going to go next, with so many aliases involved, they have no idea where it might go next. So the more people watch this story and see his face and call the authorities here, then maybe they'll get a clear idea of who they are working with.
LIN: We're getting it out there. David Mattingly, thank you.
So are Katrina-ravaged vehicles ending up on a used car lot near you? Still to come, how you can make sure your future purchase hasn't suffered through a natural disaster. SHANON COOK, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Shanon Cook, when we go global, a nation comes to terms with its worst disaster in almost two decades. I'll have the latest on Poland's tragic roof collapse. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Let's check today's top international stories. Poland is in a state of mourning, and the death toll from a roof collapse is expected to rise. Shanon Cook has more. Shanon?
COOK: Hey, Carol, it sounds like authorities now say there is little hope for finding any more survivors in the rubble, at least 66 people were killed when the roof of an exhibition hall came crashing down near Katowice in southern Poland. About 500 people were believed to have been inside at the time. They were there for a pigeon racing show, we're told. Ninety-one of those injured remain in the hospital. And dozens are still missing.
To Georgia now. Russia says it is once again pumping natural gas to the former Soviet republic after finishing repairs to a major pipeline. The pipeline was damaged a week ago by some unexplained blasts. It left Georgians, who are already enduring a record winter, scrounging for other heating options like kerosene and firewood.
And in eastern Pakistan, a passenger train derailed, killing two. Authorities say 30 people were injured. Six train cars ran off the tracks and fell into a ravine, we're told. More than 400 passengers were aboard those cars. Darkness has hindered rescue efforts. The train was traveling between Raulpindi (ph) and Lahore.
And further south in Pakistan and on a brighter note, rocking for relief. Canadian singer Bryan Adams performed in the country's biggest city, Karachi, to raise money for the victims of last October's earthquake. He's the first western musician to perform in Pakistan since the September 11th terrorists attacks, and Carol, of course, Adams charmed the audience with his biggest hit of all time, "Summer of '69."
LIN: Does he have any idea where he really wants the money to go towards?
COOK: Yeah. He really wants the proceeds from this concert to go towards rebuilding schools that were devastated by the quake. About 17,000 of the 73,000 people killed when the earthquake struck were actually children inside schools that were destroyed. So they are hoping to raise about $35,000 to help rebuild them.
LIN: Wow, all right, thanks Shannon.
COOK: Thank you.
LIN: Former President Bush is pitching in to help Pakistan quake victims as well. He explains his role to CNN's Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: My role, I'm the special envoy for Kofi Annan. He called me out of the clear blue sky, and he said, "I'd like you to come to New York and talk to you about something. He sent somebody down to talk to me about it here in Texas, and my role is really narrowly defined. It is to help Pakistan collect on the pledges of $6.2 billion already made to them. Now, some of them are loans and some are in-kind donations. But the role is really to help get -- help bring relief, but do it mainly through collecting the pledges that have already been made. I'm also trying to support the CEOs. There are five USA CEOs who are raising another $100 million. So the final analysis, it's going to be helping Pakistan collect the money that they have coming.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Why do you have to go there if the goal is to make sure the collections come in here?
Well, it's a good question, and the answer is -- I wanted to see for myself the devastation. When you see something and kind of kick the tires, why, you can be a better advocate for getting that money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: You can see Larry King's entire interview tonight at 9:00 Eastern.
Well, the start of school usually isn't something most students celebrate. Up next, why that won't be the case in one Katrina-ravaged city this week.
Plus, protecting yourself from unscrupulous car dealers looking to cash on hurricane castoffs. We're going to explain what you need to do if you are in the market for a used car.
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LIN: Another sign of progress for recovery efforts in hurricane- ravage ravaged New Orleans. One school is reopening its doors tomorrow, and two more public schools are expected to be open next month. That's going to bring a total to 19. Evacuees have been calling New Orleans school officials from out of state to register their children for classes.
Now, they should have been scrapped after Hurricane Katrina, but cars damaged by floodwaters are being sold to unsuspecting buyers across the country. So how can you spot a Katrina lemon? Lauren Fix with Talk-2-DIY Automotive has tips in Los Angeles. Lauren, good to see you.
LAUREN FIX, TALK-2-DIY AUTOMOTIVE: Nice to see you, too, Carol.
LIN: What's so bad about a Katrina that may have been refurbished after being flood.
FIX: Well, I think a lot of the problem is people think they can get a great deal on car, what they don't know is that the active and passive safety features may not function, for example, the big things, anti-lock brakes and air bags and seat belts, and sometimes you don't know if they won't work until you're in an accident, and of course, that leads to a lot of other things beside injury to the passengers which is not good, but could also lead to a lot of other expenses and none of this is covered under warranty, if you have got a flood- damaged car and you purchase it, even if it's a '04 or '05. There's no warranty covered by the manufacturers. And I tell you what, the people that are scam artists know that and they know how to make them good enough so that you might not know better.
LIN: So what do you look for?
FIX: First thing you want to do is pretty simple. Anybody can do this, the safest way to do is get an ASE certified master technician to look at it, the ones that have the gear on the sleeve. The first thing you do is open the door and look at the door hinges and the seat belts, if you see rust on waterlines on the seat belt material, seat belts are expensive to replace. If you see a waterline, that tells you right there, this car has been sitting in one of the floods you are showing.
LIN: Uh-huh.
FIX: The other they thing you can do is turn on the air- conditioning for the car, and just put your nose right to the vent, and if you smell something that doesn't smell right, it smells moldy or it could be e coli, it could be mold, or if you smell way too much perfume, you know someone sprayed something down there.
LIN: They are trying to cover it up.
FIX: Right.
LIN: Have you heard of people buying these lemons? If so, where is it happening right now?
FIX: They are happening all over the country. We've heard about them in Pennsylvania, in New York, Washington, California now has an alert out because so many of them are going to California. What they do is the scammers wash the titles. They take them and they move them from state to state. And then from there, they can take that totaled or trashed or flood-damaged markings off that title. And the problem is, that when this happens, that you don't know any better. So when you go look the vehicles, ask, can I see the title? If they say, well, I don't have it, and I don't know if it's been in a flood, these are tips to walk away.
LIN: Right. Are the price tags tempting? I mean, are the cars in the hundreds or maybe just a thousand or 2,000, so much more cheaper than buying new?
FIX: Sometimes they are exactly the same price. So you won't know any different. So that's why you want to want to have a certified technician check it out. If you know a little bit about cars, pop the hood and take the air filter out. If the air filter has water stains on the paper portion of the filter that's corrects a real quick tip that there are problems. But I wouldn't use that as your only sign. Again, a certified technician. If the car is even flooded up to the wheels, that's still a car you don't want to own, because the e. coli is in there, so you have health risks, especially for children that have health problems and mold and mildew.
I think the big problem if you come across one of these cars, there's no one to report it to. You can't call the police department, you can't call the Department of Motor Vehicles. You need to call someone from Congress, we need to have a national law, which is what I've been saying since this happened, any time there's a hurricane flood, these cars are out there.
LIN: They are already out there, so Lauren, good information. Thank you.
FIX: Thank you.
LIN: Now, in case you missed it, let's check the highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows. Appearing on CNN's LATE EDITION, Pakistan's exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, she talked about Pakistan's effort to crack down on al Qaeda fighters along the border of Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENAZIR BHUTTO, FORMER PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: A lot of Pakistani military officials and innocent civilians have lost their lives during the operations in the tribal areas, but I would defer with the prime minister. I believe that these operations have been unsuccessful, and I am deeply concerned that areas in the sensitive travel region are now governed and run by pro-Taliban elements who are ruthlessly killing anybody who stands in their way. And when I see the collapse of writ of government in the tribal areas and I see the Taliban running the show, I get worried about what's going to happen to Pakistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Also on CNN's LATE EDITION Democratic Senator Joseph Biden who had this to say about U.S. forces in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN, (D) DE: They are overstretched. They've been overstretched from the time they walked in. I know -- I don't want to get into an argument with my buddy, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, but you know, Wolf, I've been there six times, it doesn't make me an expert, but every time I was there from the first time I was there the military on the ground thought they didn't have enough forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist addressed the same issue on NBC's "Meet the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BILL FRIST, (R) TN: In hindsight, 20-20 today, I would have probably put more troops in, if the decision had been up to me. At the point in time I said let's leave it to the commanders on the ground, and the decision they made, reflected through the Pentagon, reflected through the secretary was that we had adequate troops. In hindsight, looking back today, I would ask that question, if we had more troops, would it be a little different today?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Another hot topic, the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program, which drew this reaction on ABC's "This Week."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) IL: We have given the extraordinary power of the president to engage in surveillance of potential enemies of the United States. But what we expect is that there's enough of a system of checks and balances that we know what the executive branch is doing, that somebody, a judge, Congress, the American people have some mechanism to ensure that the president isn't overstepping his bounds.
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NE: You can't take an issue like national security and make it a political issue. Because that just fractures who we are as a nation.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: Boy, that sure seems to be the president and Karl Rove's strategy for the 2006 election, sir.
HAGEL: Well, you'll have to ask them about it. All I can do is answer for Senator Hagel. I said I don't like it, I think it's wrong for this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Remember, every Sunday at 7:00 Eastern, CNN is going to bring you the best headlines from the Sunday talk show circuit.
Now, as an ABC anchor and his photographer recover from injuries sustained in Iraq today, and the world waits for word on kidnapped journalist Jill Carol, we want to take a special look at the dangers facing the journalists and soldiers on the ground in Iraq. Coming up at the top of the hour CNN PRESENTS, "Under Fire: Stories from the New Iraq."
CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues right after this.
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LIN: In today's CNN "Water Cooler," the coolest slang word of all-time is -- "cool." every generation tries to come up with something better such as "groovy" and "fat" and "far out," but academics that study language say that "cool" is the only one that never goes out of style. Just for the record, "cool" has been cool since at least the 1940s. The film "Brokeback Mountain" is helping put Wyoming on the map. State tourism officials say there has been a dramatic spike in interest since the movie came out, unlike anything they've seen before. Never mind that the controversial film about forbidden love between two Wyoming cowboys was actually shot in Canada.
There's much more ahead on CNN. Due to the news events in Iraq today, CNN PRESENTS is changing its focus. The scheduled program "Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars" will not be seen. Instead the next hour will focus on the memorable stories that have happened in Iraq, as told by the CNN correspondents that witnessed them first hand. CNN PRESENTS: "Under Fire, Stories from the New Iraq" is straight ahead, after a check of today's headlines.
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