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Violence in Iraq; On The Front Lines; Wildfires Rage in California; America Votes 2006

Aired September 13, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's it. We're out of time. CNN NEWSROOM is coming up next -- Tony Harris and Heidi Collins -- begins right now.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM where you see the news unfold live. It is Wednesday, September 13th. I'm Heidi Collins.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Dozens of bodies bound for the morgue. Torture and execution surging in Iraq today. We go live to Baghdad.

COLLINS: Al Qaeda's production company. How their slick video messages get from their hideouts to your TV.

HARRIS: And butterfingers for team Atlantis. The space shuttle construction crew loses another bolt. You're in the NEWSROOM.

Charred wreckage. Dozens of bodies dumped across Baghdad. It has been yet another day of gruesome violence in Iraq. The latest from the capital and CNN's Cal Perry is there.

And, Cal, this seems the same story, just a different day.

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is exactly that. The target of the day today for insurgents, Iraqi police. It all started at about 8:30 this morning and improvised explosive device, that is a roadside bomb, in central Baghdad killing 14, wounding some 67 others. The target, Iraqi police.

And shortly before noon, a car bomb, again targeting Iraqi police. Eight dead there. Another 14 wounded.

And later in the day, two mortar rounds striking an Al Muthana (ph) airfield. An interesting target. It houses within the airfield an Iraqi army recruitment center. This target, the recruitment center, was hit just three days previously. Thirteen people dead in that attack. Again, as Operation Together Forward continues to secure the capital, it's these security officers that are paying the price for insurgent violence.

Tony.

HARRIS: OK. And, Cal, parse this out now for us. How much of this violence, or maybe just another round of violence you can tell us about, is tied to sectarian violence?

PERRY: Well, a lot of it is. And, in fact, we heard from Iraqi police today that over the past 24 hours, in Baghdad alone, 64 bodies were found. Police telling us that they all showed signs of sectarian violence. That is, many showed signs of torture. Others were executed. We know that last month was an exceptionally bloody month for sectarian violence. Fifteen hundred bodies were found strewn across the capital last month. That compromised about half of all Iraqis killed in Baghdad. The other half, of course, from insurgent attacks just like the ones we're talking about this morning.

Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Cal Perry for us in Baghdad.

Cal, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Afghan insurgents taking a queue from their brethren in Iraq. Suicide bombings on the rise in Afghanistan. NATO reports the attacks have killed 173 people this year. One hundred fifty-one Afghan civilians. Many of them children. The rest, NATO troops, members of the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan officials. The U.S. military says a suicide bombing cell in Kabul is now plotting more attacks on foreign forces.

At the border and on Taliban turf, U.S. soldiers battling a resurging enemy. CNN's Anderson Cooper now from Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Captain Jason Dye has served in Iraq but says his mission in Afghanistan is far more dangerous.

CAPTAIN JASON DYE, U.S. ARMY: Even before I came here, I was like, thank God I'm going to Afghanistan. It's going to be safer than Iraq. And now that I've gotten here I can say for sure it is exactly the opposite of what I thought. It is dangerous here. There's a lot of stuff going on.

COOPER: Dye commands Bravo Company Third Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division. He's base is dangerously close to the Pakistan border.

DYE: This is one of the main infiltration routes for the enemy. But they've begun to do a lot more rocket attacks. We used to get a rocket attack maybe once a week. Now it's every other day, every couple of days, every day. And they've resorted to that and IEDs and mines.

COOPER: Captain Dye doesn't know for sure, but he believes Taliban militants are learning how to make IEDs from foreign fighters trained in Iraq.

DYE: There's a trainer coming out here, telling them how to do stuff. That's what my intelligence tells me. COOPER: To stop Jihadists and the Taliban from crossing into Afghanistan, Captain Dye and his men routinely patrol the rugged mountains along the border.

The problem for the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division who patrol this area is that this border's really a border in name only. It's incredibly porous. People can move back and forth. Intelligence sources we've talked to are concerned that now that the Pakistan government has signed a cease-fire deal with Taliban militants, that those cross-border incursions are only going to increase.

The soldiers fire mortars to clear areas they've been attacked from in the past.

DYE: Before they maybe had 30 guys in this whole area. Now I'm estimating they've probably got about 250.

COOPER: The terrain is extremely difficult. The slopes steep. The environment treacherous.

What's so strange when you're on patrol is, even if the soldiers don't make contact with the enemy, even if you don't see any enemy fighters, you know that they were here. On a lot of the trees you find these -- these cross marks or horizontal slashes. They're reference points helping enemy fighters figure out where to fire rockets that will hit the forward operating base.

The markings are everywhere. Further up the mountain, the unit checks out a destroyed bunker position.

About two weeks ago, U.S. helicopters passing over this mountain noticed this bunker. There were fighters inside. They fired rockets. Later called in an air strike. It's been destroyed now. But what remains, you can see, is pretty well built. These large stones were used to create like a supporting wall. Over here there's some heavy timbers which were probably used to build the roof of the bunker. Soldiers say as many as 10 or 15 fighters could have used this bunker at any one time.

From the bunker's firing position, there is a direct line of sight to Captain Dye's base. But there's no sign enemy fighters have been here recently. On the way back down, however, the soldiers get some troubling news.

The unit has just received some intelligence, and we can't tell you how they received it, but it indicates that there may be fighters in this area. It could mean an ambush. It could be just talk. It could be nothing at all. It just means that the soldiers have to be extra vigilant as they head back down the mountain.

What do you look for?

DYE: Movement. Personnel. Anybody gathered in a spot that looks odd. People trying to hide in the tree line. That sort of thing. Spotters. Usually the locals don't go up into these hills. If you see someone sitting on them, that's a spotter. COOPER: On this patrol, however, there are no spotters, no ambush after all. Captain Dye and his men head safely back to base. One mission down, countless more to go.

DYE: Yes, and I have a family. All these guys have families. We're out here fighting so that we don't have to do this at home, so that our families can stay safe. And that makes you feel good. Makes you feel like you're doing something.

COOPER: Anderson Cooper, CNN, near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Join Anderson Cooper tonight as he continues his exclusive on the scene reporting from Afghanistan. "AC 360" tonight at 10:00 Eastern only on CNN.

HARRIS: You know, it's not something you're used to hearing, Heidi, a thank you to Syria from the White House. The Bush administration thanks Syria for foiling that attack on the U.S. embassy in Damascus. But a presidential spokesman was quick to add that doesn't mean Syria is an ally. Sources in Syria now say the four men who tried to storm the compound were Syrian. Authorities say three of the men were killed by Syrian forces guarding the embassy. The fourth died later at a hospital.

COLLINS: A big worry this hour. Some live pictures coming in to us from California. KTLA, the affiliate. Firefighters there battling this huge blaze north of Los Angeles and it is still spreading, too. Always a concern. Threatening to shut down one of the state's busiest freeways. You've probably heard of it even if you don't live there, I-5.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. And now the fire, we understand . . .

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Todd (ph), I guess we leave now (INAUDIBLE).

HARRIS: OK. Are we listening to a bit of affiliate coverage or was that just a blast for us? OK.

The fire has scorched about 2,500 acres in two national forests. Los Padres National Forest and the adjoining Angeles National Forest. About a quarter contained at this point. The blaze broke out on Labor Day, thus the name Day Fire (ph). Officials say someone burning debris actually started the fire.

COLLINS: Boy, you hate to hear that. But we do actually have a little bit of sound coming in to us now. I believe this is the helicopter pilot work with KTLA flying over this scene telling us what he's seeing. Let's take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. We're flying over Los Padres National Forest over the Day Fire. This is a really good size flair- up we're showing you. It's a line of fire that's to the east of the fire, closer to the 5 freeway there. Trying to give you an idea of the direction it is. Also we're on kind of the -- I would say the northern edge of it, too, because it's about to, well, we don't know, but move over the edge of a ridge right now.

It is on the very eastern edge and also the northern edge. Could move down a hill. Lots of pine trees in the area as well. But the winds are calm, which is a good thing. Although when you're close in on that, it looks like it's whipping around in all directions. But flying, anyway, we are seeing that the smoke is pretty much rising up and not too windy, which is a good thing for these fires.

Also, if you are driving through the area, it is a sigalert (ph) for the 5 freeway. Just because firefighters are using some of those lanes to park their trucks and if you're taking the 5 southbound from Vista Delago (ph) to Templen (ph) Highway, those three and four lanes are closed. Also northbound from Templen to Whiticur (ph), the three and four lanes are closed in that direction as well.

COLLINS: We thought it was going to be a guy, but it wasn't a guy. It was a gal.

HARRIS: No.

COLLINS: Chad, she had mentioned also, you know you always think about wind conditions and how quickly that thing could spread. She said pretty calm.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: A frequent opponent of the president wins his election. So why is the White House celebrating his victory? It's a little complicated, but very interesting. That race and what it means for Republicans on the road to the November elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop that (BLEEP) camera (BLEEP) right now. Oh, yes, I will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Hey, you remember all this? A little water. Then a bit of a beat down. A TV reporter attacked. Cameras rolling. Well, now the woman and her husband accused get their day in court.

You're in the NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, that's just not - that's not civilized. Really, you remember this knockdown drag-out we showed you last week. This beat down. A San Diego TV reporter -- and then the body slam there -- beaten down while investigating a suspected real estate scam.

COLLINS: He bit him.

HARRIS: Yes, there was all that going on there.

COLLINS: I missed the bite.

HARRIS: It was a scrum (ph). It was a full-on scrum.

COLLINS: Sorry.

HARRIS: All of this caught, as you can see, right there on tape. And there's the wife on the phone. Well, the husband and wife accused in the case have now pleaded not guilty. They're charged with assault and battery. The wife remains free on bail. The husband is being held until he comes up with the $200,000 bail. He could get 10 years if convicted. She could get five. The reporter had cracked ribs, Heidi, bite wounds, cuts to his face, and we suspect big-time ratings. Sorry, sorry. I had to add that. Sorry about that.

COLLINS: Ouch.

HARRIS: Politics now. Let's make that turn if we can. And the battle for control of Congress.

Results are in this morning from several high-profile races on the road to the November elections. In New York, Senator Hillary Clinton challenged her Democratic challenger. Clinton won 80 percent of the vote. She will now face Yonkers Mayor John Spencer in November.

In Maryland, the Democratic race for an open Senate seat is still open. Congressman Ben Cardin leads the pack. As of this morning, he topped a former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume but 8 percentage points, but absentee and provisional ballots are still being counted. The winner will face Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele who took the Republican primary.

COLLINS: Well, he's a frequent foe of President Bush, but the White House and the GOP are celebrating Senator Lincoln Chafee's primary win in Rhode Island. Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash now explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. LINCOLN CHAFEE, (R) RHODE ISLAND: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The Senate's most liberal Republican survived a stiff challenge from the right and declared his a victory for to often ignored moderates in a time of partisan polarization.

CHAFEE: Yes to thoughtfulness. Yes to honesty. And yes to independence.

BASH: At a ballroom across town, Stephen Laffey, who hoped to ride the anti-incumbent fed up with Washington wave, conceded defeat and vowed to help Chafee win in November.

MAYOR STEVE LAFFEY, CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND: Without taking any risk, there's really no reward. And we took a lot of risk.

BASH: After polls showed a dead heat, Chafee pulled off a decisive win with the help of the most unlikely of alliances -- independent voters and a Republican White House he takes pride in bucking.

CHAFEE: I promised you that I would always be honest, that I would always have the guts to take the hard votes.

BASH: But the National Republican Party poured well over a million dollars into this race to help Chafee for one reason. His survival here is tied to the GOP hold on power in the Senate. Republicans flocked to help Chafee turn out the vote in record numbers because they know his maverick style is an asset in Rhode Island and their best shot at beating the Democrat in a state where just 10 percent of voters are Republican.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Dana Bash joining us now live from Providence, Rhode Island, with more on this race.

Dana, this is a pretty fascinating one. Tell us the reaction in Washington to the win here by Chafee.

BASH: You know, Heidi, it's like another day in political bizzaro world back in Washington and frankly here in Rhode Island because at the White House, at Republican headquarters, they're still celebrating the victory of this man who has bucked them many more times than he's actually voted with the president, with the party. And senior party leaders like, for example, Senator Elizabeth Dole, who heads the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, she got a lot of grief when she decided about a year ago, a little bit more, to throw her weight behind Senator Chafee and work very hard, and sometimes sort of a negative way, against one of their own, the Republican challenger here, Steven Laffey. Today they are feeling a bit vindicated because, of course, Senator Chafee did win.

But, Heidi, Senator Chafee is by no means out of the woods yet. He's got another very tough race against the Democrat here, Sheldon Whitehouse. They're neck and neck in the polls. Both are going to be out already today campaigning.

COLLINS: Well, yes, it is going to be a really interesting one to watch. And as you look at the bigger picture, every single seat seems like, you know, really a battle because it's going to count a little bit later on. Both national parties are pouring money in as the Democrats and Republicans fight for the seat in particular. BASH: That's right. There's no question about it. The fact that Republicans are going to have to really run hard again in this race means that they're going to have to spend their resources here and in many other seats that are highly competitive for them. They have to make sure that Democrats, at least in the Senate, don't pick up six seats. It's a stretch for Democrats, but in a time when Republicans are really not doing well in terms of the polls, at a time when the anti-incumbent, anti-Washington fervor is really running high, Republicans certainly are quite nervous.

But what they're talking about in Washington today, in terms of the Republican Party, is they hope that this win here gives them some sense of momentum, especially when it comes to their ability to get out the vote because they really worked hard at a national level to help Senator Chafee here work the local precincts and get the vote out. And that is something that they hope that they can emulate around the country when it comes to November.

Heidi.

COLLINS: So Democrats looking at six seats in the Senate and 15 in the House and Republicans fighting them every step of the way, as you would imagine.

Dana Bash, thanks so much.

HARRIS: OK all you smart people out there. Welcome to the program. Good to see you this morning. We're talking about what makes a genius. If you're ready, we're going to test your brain power.

COLLINS: Pop quiz time. The question from those brainiacs at (INAUDIBLE), what is the number that is 2 more than one-tenth of one- fifth of one-tenth of 1,000? Got it? Well, we have your answer and Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up here in the newsroom.

HARRIS: You going to take a stab at it or do you know already?

COLLINS: I did.

HARRIS: Oh.

COLLINS: Later. Later.

HARRIS: Gerri can take a stab at it.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You come to me after the genius question? Are you kidding?

HARRIS: Yes, because that's what you are.

COLLINS: Genius Gerri.

HARRIS: That's your neighborhood.

Gerri Willis here, by the way, with a preview of today's "Top Tips."

Good to see you, Gerri.

WILLIS: Good to see you guys.

Hey, are your phone records at risk? We'll tell you how to protect yourself from the latest wave of I.D. theft. That's coming up next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Ready to check in and see how you did on your genius quiz? Before the break we asked you this. What is the number that is two more than one-tenth of one-fifth of one-tenth of 1,000. Tony's got it.

HARRIS: Well, you know, I'm managing a program here, along with you, Heidi. I don't have time to do this thing. I mean there's a lot of things happening in the world right -- OK, I've got the answer. The answer is 4. You know who knew that in an instant? Chad Myers. OK. We will talk more about the nature of genius with Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- maybe we should just bring Chad in -- a little later this hour.

Let's check out the early trading day. Wall Street.

COLLINS: Oh, no, more numbers.

HARRIS: Yes, more numbers for us. Just about an hour into the trading day. The Dow, nothing much going on. Just . . .

COLLINS: It's early, though.

HARRIS: Just up almost 2 points. And the Nasdaq up almost 3 in early trading. We'll keep an eye on it.

COLLINS: All right. We want to go back to the wildfires that we brought you a little bit earlier this morning. You can see this is certainly a developing story we're looking at. Seeing all that smoke and some concerns about this fire spreading. Last we heard those flames were getting to the top of that ridge that you can see there. Very much concerned about them going down the back side. We want to go ahead and listen in to one of our affiliates, KABC, live out in Los Angeles.

Pardon me, KTAL is the sound we'll be hearing. Let's listen in.

ERIC SPILLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. There you go. Absolutely.

Good morning to you, Heidi.

This fire burning in northern Los Angeles county. It's called the Day fire because it started on Labor Day. You can see a little bit of smoke popping up over that ridge there. That's one of maybe three or four different spots that it's burning. And you take a look over here you'll see some firefighters on the ground here kind of keeping an eye on things.

This started with a small debris fire in the national forest here on Labor Day. That's why they're calling it the Day Fire. It's been going ever since. It's now consumed something like 25,000 acres of brush. Most of it is the national forest. No homes have been damaged.

But it is burning close to Interstate 5 here north of Castaic, California. And for a time yesterday they actually had to close the freeway down. That was the second straight day they had to close it down because of smoke and the fire just getting right up to the edge of the freeway. So the main route in and out of the L.A. basin to the north was blocked for several hours both yesterday and the day before. Also so that firefighters could get access to the flames to bring their trucks in closer. They used the freeway as kind of a staging area.

And they've been very aggressive about lighting backfires. Fighting fire with fire, as they say. And hopefully today they'll make some progress on this thing. The weather is supposed to cool down. So for firefighters, weather always a very important thing. Looks like today it will be going in their favor.

Reporting live from Castaic, California, I'm Eric Spillman.

COLLINS: Eric, forgive us, I thought we were going to be listening in a little bit more to helicopter pilots who were flying overhead, which is a good sign as you stand there. Give us an idea of the scene. You say that the weather is a little bit clearer. So will there be any slurry that's dropped? I mean, what is the next step for these guys as they try to knock it down?

SPILLMAN: Well, they're very aggressive about setting these backfires. What they do is they light off sections of brush between the freeway and sort of the back country here and they kind of give the fire no place to go. It burns in on itself. That's the strategy at least.

And then they're also attacking it from the air very, very aggressively as well. They're using these big tankers that come in and drop loads of orange flame retardant on to the flames. That's been very effective. They've also got about 10 helicopters that are dropping water on it as well.

And there's maybe 1,500 firefighters. These people are working nonstop. They don't even sleep. They keep on going through the night. And they're hoping today they can make some progress.

COLLINS: Hot shot teams. I guess that's why they call them that.

Eric, thank you so much for bringing that to us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: A postscript now on a pretexting scandal. The chairwoman of the high-tech giant Hewlett-Packard is losing her job. It all centers around a board room leak investigation. It's raising questions and could lead to criminal charges. At issue, a technique called pretexting. Have you heard of this? That's when someone poses as someone else in order to get access to private information.

CNN's Ali Velshi explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under every H.P. logo, you'll see the word "invent." H.P.'s latest invention? A scandal.

Back in January, this news report surfaced on the Internet, loaded with confidential information leaked by someone on H.P.'s board. The company's chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, authorized H.P.'s lawyers to hire a security firm to spy on its own directors. That security firm hired a private investigator, who decided the best way to nab the source of the leak was to pretext -- to impersonate the board members in order to obtain their personal phone records.

Inventive, some might say. New York private investigator Diana Moneta says pretexting is dirty business.

DIANA MONETA, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: The client will say well, you got that information. By the way, how did you get it?

We always are able to attribute how we get our information and one thing we don't want to do is say we got it through acting like so and so.

VELSHI: H.P.'s private investigators did find their leaker. It was H.P.'s longest serving board member. But they didn't stop there. They impersonated nine journalists who cover H.P. including reporters from the "New York Times" and the "Wall Street Journal," to obtain their telephone records, too.

In a written statement, H.P.'s chair, Patricia Dunn, acknowledges it was wrong: "Unfortunately, the investigation which was conducted with third parties included certain inappropriate techniques. These went beyond what we understood them to be and I apologize that they were employed."

H.P.'s lawyers say that pretexting is a common investigative technique.

New York lawyer and private investigator Stanley Arkin says it's largely been the domain of debt collectors or suspicious partners and divorce lawyers.

STANLEY ARKIN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: In matrimonial cases, it became very popular, for example, to find out who your spouse or your -- whoever it might be -- was calling.

VELSHI: Because there's no legal way to get someone's phone records without their knowledge or permission, unless you have a subpoena, pretexting is an option that many turn to. One bright spot about pretexting -- this time, the cell phone companies are on your side. In the past year, all of the major cell phone companies have gone to court against pretexters.

(on camera): And back at H.P. while the company found its leaker, it cost Patricia Dunn her job. She'll be stepping down as chair in January. Maybe next time H.P. won't be so inventive.

Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Look, you don't have to be a Silicon Valley giant to fall victim to pretexting. So today's "Top Tips" will tell you how to protect yourself. Here to help us out, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

OK, Gerri, help us out here. Explain to us again what this pretexting is all about, and why we should all be concerned.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: All right. Well, so, Tony, this is the cutting edge of identity theft right now.

HARRIS: OK.

WILLIS: Simply put, pretexting is what thieves do when they masquerade as a customer or a company employee so that they can get access to personal information that is not their own. Now, while pretexting may be legal in some instances, it is illegal to get information on someone's phone records, financial records or medical records. In some cases, all the pretexters need to get access to phone records is the last four digits of your Social Security number and a zip code. And, you know, that's everywhere these days.

HARRIS: OK, so what do we do? What's the first step to take here?

WILLIS: Well, one good thing to do is to get a password. Pretexting is a big problem for the phone companies. You'll want to protect your phone records by putting a password on your account. And you can do this by just calling your phone company or your wireless provider, make sure you choose a difficult password, make sure it's difficult to know and understand and remember, and then change it every few months.

HARRIS: OK, so I'm AT&T or I'm one of these other big companies. I don't want to bother with that. I don't want to -- you really don't want to bother with that, do you really? You don't want to remember another password.

WILLIS: Yes, I'm telling you, Tony.

HARRIS: But you're telling us to play hardball here?

WILLIS: That's right. You have the right to ask companies to use something other than your Social Security number to identify you. Have the companies ask you a difficult identification question. You know, when you're online, they're always asking you, well, OK, what's your mother's maiden name? Have them ask you, hey, who was your first boyfriend or girlfriend? Like how many people are going to know that about you, Tony? Not too many people, right?

HARRIS: I hope. I hope. The other option here, I understand that part of what's going on here is that the folks are using your account information and they're setting up -- they're basically squatting to set up Web sites and carry out all kinds of online activity?

WILLIS: Nefarious. OK, so what they do, in some instances, pretexters opened up online accounts to access bills. So you should open an online account with your phone company so they can't do it first. That's the idea. Because basically what they're doing is putting together all the clues from your life to learn all about you, and then steal your information, steal your money.

HARRIS: Hey, Gerri, is the easiest way to approach this whole thing just to not say much? Don't give out much information at all, keep your lips sealed?

WILLIS: Tony, I'm telling you, you got to keep your lips sealed. Don't give out personal information on the phone. And I know this is so easy to forget. Through the mail, over the Internet, don't do it unless you initiate the contact. Pretexters pretend to work for banks, insurance companies. Even Uncle Sam -- the federal government's getting you to reveal your information. Don't be intimidated when you get a call like that or some kind of solicitation. You do not have to answer. It's when you call them, that's when you can give out personal information.

HARRIS: This is a crazy new world. You have to got to be concerned about so much now.

WILLIS: That's right.

HARRIS: You've got to have -- how many passwords do you have to have in your head? All right, I'm ranting.

WILLIS: You're ranting. But you know what? You'll be protected at the end of the day. And that's what you really want.

HARRIS: OK, Gerri, good to see you.

WILLIS: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Thank you, lady.

COLLINS: Lights, camera, terror. How al Qaeda gets its message out. Savvy, too, aren't they? That's the story coming up in the "NEWSROOM."

Meanwhile, space walking subcontractors. Just another day on the job, right?

HARRIS: Yes, a live report on the high-flying construction team. Stay with us. You're in the NEWSROOM. We're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TREVOR: When you heard about IEDs, fellow troops getting blown up, you're actually glad to put on the gear because you know it's going to help protect you.

We went to Iraq in 2003. The gear we wore consisted of Kevlar helmets, protective vests, communications gear, full uniforms, as well as our normal weaponry.

There was a point where it got to a little over 150 degrees. It was pretty rough.

The armor definitely does save lives.

If there's something they can do that would make me more comfortable, I'm all for it.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): But in a war zone, comfort and safety don't usually go hand in hand. In fact, when the war on terror began, troops were carrying upwards of 120 pounds in equipment and armor.

But soon, we may see a lighter, more nimble soldier emerge from the trenches.

(voice-over): Dutch DeGay (ph) of the U.S. Army Natick Soldiers Center is working to completely redesign combat uniforms, from helmet to boot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're trying to do is evolve our body armor. This actually doesn't touch the body. This next generation piece of body armor actually stands off the body in order to absorb the impact of the round without the individual soldier feeling that impact.

O'BRIEN: Improvements also include sensors that monitor vital signs and a lighter state-of-the-art helmet that provides infrared and thermal vision capabilities, as well as a futuristic eye monitor connecting soldiers to a battlefield network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The individual soldier has the on board computer plugged into the network. So they now become network-centric and can see everything inside the battle space, even though it's not directly in front of them.

O'BRIEN: DeGay expects the new gear to be available in two to three years. The whole system could be in the trenches by 2010.

So what's next after that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A set of camouflage that actually acts as a mirror to the outside environment. And I literally disappear inside the battle space.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Still to come, lights, camera, terror. How al Qaeda gets its message out. That story, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Authorities on the hunt, al Qaeda on the move. Our Nic Robertson takes us on the trail to al Qaeda central. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Quick-thinking passengers to the rescue.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It happened so quickly. There was a passenger about six feet tall, he, like, just jumped on top of him.

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COLLINS: Whoa. Just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, details of a frightening cross-country trip.

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