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French Reporter on Bin Laden Story Speaks Out; New Orleans Superdome Back in Business; Horrifying Discovery of Children in Illinois

Aired September 24, 2006 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM this weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You've heard the reports that claim Osama bin Laden is dead. Now, hear from the reporter who broke the story and find out what he thinks. Plus, some interesting campaign tactics, as politicians vie for your votes.
And then a sign of progress in New Orleans. The Superdome back in business and the saints are ready to march right in. That's all coming up in the NEWSROOM.

First these top stories. U.S. intelligence agencies call the war in Iraq an incubator for terrorism and they say it's worsened the threat to the U.S. We'll go live to the White House for details on the classified report in a moment.

A battle with insurgents left two U.S. marines dead in Iraq's Al Anbar Province and at least 20 Iraqis were killed in scattered violence across the country. The bloodshed comes as Muslims mark the first weekend of the holy month of Ramadan.

Now it's Venezuela's foreign minister bad-mouthing the U.S. Nicolas Maduro says he was harassed and detained at JFK Airport yesterday as he was heading home. A U.N. source says Maduro showed up 30 minutes before his flight and at first didn't indicate he was a diplomat. The State Department apologized for the incident but Maduro says those responsible should be punished.

In southern California, winds have died down a bit, helping crews battle a three-week-old wildfire. Yesterday authorities called for the voluntary evacuation of a nearby college and 300 homes. The fire started on Labor Day and has burned about 200 square miles of brushland.

First this hour, Iraq and the classified report saying the controversial war has helped boost recruitment of violent extremists. The report represents the official view of the United States intelligence. Completed in April, its conclusions now have been leaked. CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House with more on this -- Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Fredricka. Well it cannot be emphasized enough the timing of these leaks. We are now just about six weeks away from those important congressional midterm elections and of course what is at stake here, whether or not Republicans or Democrats will be in control of Congress, a pivotal issue continues to be the Iraq war.

So against that back drop are these front-page stories about a national intelligence estimate from five months ago. These NIES, as they're called, represent the consensus view of more than a dozen intelligence agencies. Some of the conclusions have been laid out in articles in today's "New York Times" and "Washington Post" pointing to the Iraq war as fueling the terrorism threat around the world.

But intelligence experts and sources say the information really is not new. The report does not focus solely on Iraq. In fact, the title of the NIE is trends in global terrorism, implications for the United States.

Nevertheless, Democrats have pounced on this report, including House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. She issued a statement today saying the news reports on the NIE were further proof, in her words, that the war in Iraq is making it harder for America to fight and win the war on terror. Other Democrats issuing similar statements.

And an unusual move with this political debate going on, we heard from the director of national intelligence today, John Negroponte, his office issuing a statement just a short time ago, saying that this estimate highlights the importance of the outcome in Iraq on the future of global jihadism, judging that should the Iraqi people prevail in establishing a stable political environment and security environment, the jihadists will be perceived to have failed and fewer jihadists will be leave Iraq, determined to carry on the fight elsewhere.

Now from the White House's perspective, interesting to note Fredricka -- they say that they don't comment on classified documents. Yet we've seen in addition to the comments from John Negroponte, also the administration going on to say while they don't comment, that the characterization they said of the NIE in the "New York Times" story specifically is not representative of the complete classified document.

Officials also saying that they're continuing on the offensive in the war on terrorism. But the bottom line, Fredricka, what you have here are some conclusions selectively leaked at a very critical time in the political process, just six weeks away from these congressional midterm elections.

And again, as I said, the stakes are very high. We know that the Republicans have wanted to make national security an issue. We've seen a fragmented GOP recently over the detainee legislation. Now, Republicans certainly want to come back together, but Democrats are continuing with their strategy. They want to remind Americans about the Iraq war, and so seizing on these reports, that are the result of these leaks. Again, just weeks away from congressional midterms -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Elaine Quijano at the White House. We'll see if that report in any ways impacts the polls come November.

Well that report about Osama bin Laden's death is prompting new official denial. Today the French foreign minister said, as far as he knows, bin Laden is still alive. Saudi Arabia says the same, as do officials in the U.S. and in Britain. But one day after the story came out, the French reporter is now standing by it. Here's CNN's Jim Bitterman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a town square in rural France, the reporter whose article set off speculation about bin Laden's death is convinced the intelligence memorandum he published is accurate. Laid Sammari, a national reporter for the regional paper "East Republican," frequently writes about intelligence matters, but rarely has he seen a leak of this sort involving classified information from France's Foreign Intelligence Agency, a memo stating that a reliable source had given Saudi intelligence officials exact details of bin Laden's death.

LAID SAMMARI, "EAST REPUBLICAN" JOURNALIST (through translator): That is to say that on the 23rd of August in Pakistan, after coming down with typhoid, and the memorandum adds that he could not be treated because of the absence of medical assistance.

BITTERMANN: French and American intelligence sources could not confirm the contents of the memo and said there was no new information on bin Laden's health. But there was tacit confirmation that the memo is authentic from French president Jacques Chirac, who said Saturday that he had ordered an investigation into how the memo found its way into print.

Sammari says he cannot reveal who gave him the memo but that it circulated three days ago through the president and the prime minister's offices, as well as the offices of the interior and defense ministers, passing through the hands of perhaps 50 people, in addition to those in the Foreign Intelligence Service. The reporter believes the memo will turn out to be true.

SAMMARI (through translator): The note ends with information according to which the Saudis are waiting to localize the burial place of the body before making an official announcement of bin Laden's death.

BITTERMANN (on camera): Sammari says it's up to someone else to prove whether bin Laden is still alive. All he is sure of is that Saudi intelligence has a source that claims the leader of al Qaeda is dead.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Nancy, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Former President Bill Clinton delivers a fiery blast at critics who portrayed his administration as weak on terror. Clinton spoke to FOX News. He says he regrets not killing Osama bin Laden but insists he tried.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized the finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since.

And if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him. Now, I've never criticized President Bush, and I don't think this is useful. But you know we do have a government that thinks Afghanistan is only one-seventh as important as Iraq.

And you ask me about terror and al Qaeda, with that sort of, sort of dismissive thing, when all you have to do is read Richard Clarke's book to look at what we did in a comprehensive, systematic way to try to protect the country against terror. And you got that little smirk on your face, you think you're so clever, but I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Clinton accused FOX's Chris Wallace of a conservative hit job and Mr. Clinton asked whether Wallace had challenged the Bush administration on its handling of the war on terror.

Now to the killer storms that devastated parts of the Midwest and the South. Heavy rain, high winds, tornadoes, all of it have hit the region for two straight days. At least nine people have been killed. Most of them in Kentucky, where floodwaters engulfed entire communities. Look at those pictures. Well several people died while trying to cross flooded roads. Missouri was threatened by more than just rain. About 10 tornadoes hit the state. Nearly 400 buildings were damaged or destroyed and some states are getting another round of severe weather today.

Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras, who is watching all of it, and boy, it seems like it's just going on and on and on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Rain or shine, there's no place like Dome, if you're a New Orleans Saints fan that is. And it was no ordinary repair job to get the Superdome back in order. We'll meet two men who spent a better part of a year picking up the pieces.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When I went on the air and said things that were critical of the Chavez administration or that others said in my reports, I always feared, well I wonder if tomorrow they're going to knock on my door and they're going to announce for me to leave, put me in a car or get me out of here or worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: CNN's Rick Sanchez in the NEWSROOM, after reporting from Venezuela last week.

And later, we've come a long way from hanging chads but even electronic voting still has a lot of glitches to work through. Keep it right here, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. It was a shattering image of post-Katrina New Orleans. The Superdome battered by the storm, filled with desperate survivors looking for some way out of the city. Well now the Superdome is cleaned up and the Saints are ready to march right back in for their first home game in their recovering hometown. Roy Mouledous and David Gallo worked for nearly a year to get the Saints house back in order. They join us now from New Orleans. Good to see both of you.

I bet you can't believe this day finally has come now that the Superdome is now back in action. Roy?

ROY MOULEDOUS, CONTRACTOR: Yes, it's been a long labor of work to get it back to where it is today and it's an exciting time here in New Orleans.

WHITFIELD: So Roy, when you first learned that it was a done deal, that you were going to be part of this project to try and get it whipped back into shape, were you excited initially, anxious, what?

MOULEDOUS: Very excited that we won the project, something that our company talked about, and we wanted to be part of the rebirth and the rebuilding of the Superdome because it's such an important part of the city.

WHITFIELD: And you're a New Orleanian, so it really meant something special, near and dear to you, particularly, right?

MOULEDOS: Correct. I've been in the construction business for 35 -- 32 years and never worked in the Superdome itself, but was able to witness its construction, while I was in high school and basically, you know, feel it's an honor to work on it, during this important time in history.

WHITFIELD: David, while you were working on the dome, could you help but escape the images of post-Katrina, remembering the images of people crammed inside, people waving to the helicopters outside, trying to get help? Were all of those things swimming in your mind while you were working on it?

DAVID GALLO, CONTRACTOR: Yes. You think about what happened during the hurricane, But every day, as I would come to the Superdome and see the improvements, it just started motivating us and I could tell by the people working how excited they were every day, by getting the improvements so the improvements I think made us forget about some of the bad memories we've had here. WHITFIELD: So let's talk about the improvements. When folks walk into that Superdome for this game or perhaps when they're watching Monday night football, the curtain is raised, what are they going to see?

MOULEDOS: Well, when you walk inside of the dome, you're going to see a much brighter, fresher look. It's a totally new paint scheme. But the real objects that you're going to be seeing are the video boards. There's a 48-foot video screen on the north end and the south end of the dome. There's new score boards on each corner, new ribbon boards at the lower level that will go with the music. The audio system is now a Bose system, which is state-of-the-art.

We were able to keep the old system as a backup, but a brand new Bose system for inside the bowl and throughout the stadium. The concession stands were one of the areas that we were able to upgrade. They were completely gutted down to the bare studs and ceilings were removed, all new soda lines, new beer lines, new clean, fresh look, a much improved experience for the customers coming to the concessions.

WHITFIELD: Concession stand all very, very, very important when going to the games there.

MOULEDOS: Absolutely. Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: And so -- go ahead, Roy.

MOULEDOS: I was just going to say that the suites were another area that we enhanced, the suites on the 300, 400 level, new seating, all new sheetrock. The only thing that's not going to be complete is going to be the carpet on the floor and mill work. So we were able to really exceed the expectations of the state, and the NFL, as far as the level of finishes that you'll see when you go in the dome.

WHITFIELD: That's so great. And Roy and David, we really appreciate your time. And David, really quick, quick before I let you guys go, do you feel like when folks walk into the dome that it will erase the images of post-Katrina, they will have forgotten about it?

GALLO: I don't think we'll ever forget about it, but I can tell you, they're going to have a positive image and they're going to enjoy watching the Saints beat the Falcons.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK now. I'm sure the Falcons fans will dispute that. But that's OK, you have home field advantage so you're supposed to talk like that.

GALLO: That's correct.

WHITFIELD: David Gallo and Roy Mouledos, thanks so much and congratulations on getting the Superdome back in check and helping to renew New Orleans.

MOULEDOS: Thanks for having us on.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. GALLO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Weight loss, M&M's banned, lives changed? What's that all about? CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is ahead with a "New You" resolution checkup. Keep it right here. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Five more e. Coli cases and two new recalls in the nationwide spinach scare. At least 171 people in 25 states have now been sickened by fresh spinach -- spinach that all seems to have come from California's Salinas Valley. Two more produce firms that got spinach from the area have voluntarily recalled their product: S.T. produce of Seattle, Washington and Pacific Coast Fruit Company of Portland, Oregon. Though officials say spinach grown outside Salinas Valley is safe, it's hard for consumers to know where any spinach comes from. The Food and Drug Administration says it will push the industry to figure that out.

Still on the health beat, here is an update on a story we've been following all year. You may remember the "New You" resolution. We followed the progress of several individuals making a determined effort to lose weight. Well, nine months later, we decided to check on how they're doing today. Here's CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he said after I met Dr. Gupta, it was all over for me.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a sense of humor, nutritious meals, lots of exercise, and a dash of healthy competition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been doing a lot more exercise, upper body work, than I have. So he actually looks pretty good. Still I think his cholesterol is higher than mine and still I think his weight loss isn't as dramatic as mine.

GUPTA: Our three couples agree they have accomplished a lot. After a few setbacks, they're confident they'll be healthier from now on. Nine months after starting their "New You" resolution, our participants now have some of their own useful tips.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: M&M's are what, 11 calories each.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you make a plan to have a good diet during the course of the day, if you make a plan to ensure you get your exercise in, if you make a plan that when you're going on the road, you bring your exercise clothes, good things can happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people have treadmills, they make wonderful stands for your clothes. Unless you're using it, it's not doing any good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paying attention to what you are eating. You are what you eat.

GUPTA: Sandra Garth is a "New You" veteran. She graduated in 2005.

SANDRA GARTH, NEW YOU VETERAN: It's been a year since my last "New You" resolution check up and I am happy to say everything is going great.

GUPTA: Sandra lost 60 pounds in last year's challenge. The weight stayed off because she continued to eat healthy and exercise. To encourage her "New You" successors, Sandra sent a videotaped message. Her advice? Work out, consistently.

GARTH: No excuses, we've all got time. It may seem like you don't have enough time, but somewhere within the 1,440 minutes that we all get every day, squeeze in 30 minutes of workout time.

GUPTA: Good advice from a successful "New You" veteran. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, for the "New You" resolution.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And of course, you can keep track of our "New You" resolution folks there on "AMERICAN MORNING," weekdays starting at 6:00 Eastern.

E-voting was supposed to solve voting problems, right? Well not create new ones. Coming up next, we'll take a closer look at the latest issues at the electronic ballot box.

Also, did Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's verbal fireworks at the U.N. hurt or help President Bush at home? Keep it here. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening right now in the news. The White House won't comment on a U.S. intelligence report which suggests the war in Iraq is compromising the war on terror. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy says the report is quote, "the nail in the coffin for the president's call to war in Iraq."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells CNN's "LATE EDITION" incidents of terrorism in his country have increased. He says he doubts a pact signed by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharaf and tribal leaders in Pakistan will reduce the violence. President Bush will meet with both leaders at the White House on Wednesday to discuss better ways of defeating terrorism.

Former President Bill Clinton gets angry and defensive about his handling of Osama Bin Laden during an interview on Fox news Sunday earlier. Mr. Clinton called the segment a "Conservative hit job."

A day after a French newspaper reports on Osama Bin Laden's reported death, France's foreign minister says he has seen no evidence to validate the story. The paper cited a leaked intelligence report that claimed Osama Bin Laden died last month from typhoid poisoning.

Veteran Hawaiian Senator Daniel Akaka will keep campaigning. Akaka won Hawaii's Democratic primary overnight, defeating challenger Congressman Ed Case. The 82-year-old Senator took 56 percent of the vote. He'll face an unnamed Republican challenger in November.

The voting problems of the 2000 election made the term "hanging Chad" infamous. So voting officials nationwide leery of an embarrassing repeat of that fiasco embraced new technology. Now one out of three voters uses something new. But nothing is glitch-free. Here is our Gary Nurenberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Students of American voting are worried about the November election.

SHELLEY FUDGE, SAVE OUR VOTES: There is no proof that the votes are going to be counted the way the voters intended.

NURENBERG: The 2000 presidential election and those famous hanging chads from punch card ballots help prompted a nationwide rush to new voting machines. This year --

DEBRA MARKOWITZ, VERMONT SECRETARY OF STATE: One out of every three voters are voting on new technology.

NURENBERG: Debra Markowitz is Vermont's secretary of state.

MARKOWITZ: Whenever you're deploying new technology there's going to be failures.

NURENBERG: Ask poll watchers about technology used in Ohio's primary election in May. It drove candidates nuts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not communist China here. This is America. And this has got to stop.

NURENBERG: Illinois had machine troubles in its primary in March. In Maryland's primary, earlier this month --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a very bad screw up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for your patience.

NURENBERG: Numerous problems, included one county's failure to distribute the electronic cards that unlock voting machines, causing thousands of voters to wait or walk away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to address the chaos, the confusion, the fiasco, and the debacle that characterized the election.

NURENBERG: This weekend nearly two weeks after the Maryland primary, votes were still being counted.

DONNA EDWARDS, MARYLAND CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Some machines didn't record votes. We don't know the reasons for these things.

NURENBERG: Donna Edwards is a congressional candidate who had to wait nearly two weeks to learn she lost.

EDWARDS: You don't do the testing while you're trying to put the shuttle up in the air. You do it beforehand and we haven't done that with this system.

NURENBERG: A group called save our votes has a plan.

FUDGE: There is no way to make a perfect, flawless electronic voting system. Therefore, we must have paper ballots as a backup so that we can do audits and recounts.

NURENBERG: With control of Congress at stake no, one wants a repeat of the troubles that plagued the 2000 election but as the country has rushed to find alternative ways to vote, there is no guarantee as yet that they will be problem-free either.

Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In six weeks, voters will weigh in on a number of hot issues and potentially influencing some voters, President Bush's speech at the U.N., did it improve his appeal or his party's appeal? And what about the Venezuelan president's critical remarks, how did that impact American politics? John Mercurio is an editor with National Journals "The Hotline" in Washington. Good to see you.

JOHN MERCURIO, EDITOR, "NATIONAL JOURNALS "THE HOTLINE:" Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: First, let's begin with the president at the U.N. did he score any points abroad or here at home?

MERCURIO: Right, I mean any time that anybody is speaking at the U.N., there are several audiences they're playing to, domestic or international, but yes, I think that the president's address sort of conciliatory tone that he was trying to offer the Iranian people and a lot of other groups in the Middle East I think they work well. Unfortunately for the president on the domestic level they were overshadowed by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and of course even later than that, by the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But I mean on a broader level, if you look at what the president was talking about last week, he was talking to the Iranian people, he was talking about the treatment of detainees in the agreement that he'd come up with, with other Republicans, and he wasn't talking about the war in Iraq, and I think that's a net plus, just six weeks from the election.

WHITFIELD: You talk about being overshadowed by for example, Chavez, at the same time, because of the language, the dialogue that Hugo Chavez used at the U.N., the Democrats and a lot of other folks came out supporting the president, so you have to wonder if President Bush kind of gained some points in his approval ratings or votes in his favor.

MERCURIO: Absolutely. Hugo Chavez was able to do something that no Republican or Democrat in this country has been able to do for years, and that was to unite both parties behind President Bush. Two liberal Democrats from San Francisco in Harlem come out and support President Bush against Hugo Chavez. I think that was a huge plus for the administration for President Bush personally, and I think Hugo Chavez frankly lost a key opportunity to make some more substantial points by unfortunately just deciding to score some sort of cheap shots.

WHITFIELD: And quickly the other point you made about being overshadowed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president but because the president did meet with the Iranian president what does that say about being diplomatic?

MERCURIO: Right, I mean I think there's an international perception that this Bush administration refuses to open up dialogue with people that they disagree with, with dissenting opinions in foreign countries. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the Democratically elected president of Iran, I think they're a lot of people pushing him to meet, and pushing Bush to meet with Ahmadinejad but for the president's sake or own part he received support from President Clinton earlier last week who said he probably at this point doesn't think it would be a good idea for the two heads of state to meet.

Some lower level meetings, Condoleezza Rice could meet with her counterpart in Iran but at this point, you're not going to see the president make any sort of gestures towards that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Interesting weekend of politics and interesting another six weeks at least. John Mercurio thanks so much.

MERCURIO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well CNN is your election 2006 campaign headquarters with the best political team in television. Beginning tomorrow, click on to CNN.com for the best political coverage online. The political ticker will track the latest political developments, stories and polls that you will want to know about it. The address is CNN.com/ticker.

We talked about how the Venezuelan's visit to the U.N. sent ripples across this country. But how about in his own? What was it like for one of our reporters on assignment in Caracas last week?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were occasions they came, took down my number, recorded me and wanted to look at our video. As a journalist you don't want them looking over your shoulder. I have a right to report what I see fit. That's true freedom of expression and freedom of speech.

WHITFIELD: CNN's Rick Sanchez in the newsroom to fill us in.

Next hour, tainted spinach is making headlines. The food contamination is a lot more common than you may think. Keep it right here. You're in the newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ben Franklin once said nothing is certain but death and taxes. When it comes to property tax, don't be so certain. From 2002 through 2006, property tax collections were up 35 percent, which is double the growth of people's income. But don't take the rise in your property tax at face value, because you can fight city hall. Here's how. Review your assessment for mistakes. More than 60 percent of homes are assessed too high. That's according to the American Homeowners Association. Go over your assessment to make sure the details are correct. Things like the number of bedrooms and baths or lot size. Also, check up on your neighbors. Compare your tax burden with what your neighbors pay. Property taxes are public record so do some research and make sure what you're paying is in line with your neighborhood. You can find them at the assessors or county clerk's office. Then it's time to challenge the taxman.

Normally you have between 60 and 90 days after getting your bill to contest it. Bring along as much evidence as possible to help prove your case. The odds are in your favor. More than 70 percent of those who find an error and contest it end up with a lower tax bill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Let's look at what's making news across America. We begin here Ohi, California, where crews are trying to gain ground against the giant day wildfire. The hot Santa Ana winds have slowed a bit helping some of the efforts there.

Police in St. Louis, Illinois, make a grisly discovery, the bodies of three missing children they had been hidden in their own apartment and were found just hours after police charged a woman with murdering the kids' pregnant mother. The crime has shaken the entire community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT CRAIG KOEHLER, ILLINOIS STATE POLICE: I have children of my own, all of these investigators have children of our own so it's a very emotional time for all of our departments, and the families involved in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Autopsies were planned for today. We'll have more details on this disturbing story in the next hour.

Police in central Florida have released a suicide note written by the mother of a missing 2-year-old boy. Melinda Duckett addressed the note to the public and accuses the media of twisting her words. The 21- year-old killed herself a day after a tense interview with CNN's Nancy Grace. Police say Duckett was their prime suspect in little Trenton's disappearance.

Authorities have widened the search for a North Carolina man, accused of gunning down his wife at a domestic violence shelter. Police say John "Woody" Woodring may be heading to the northeast where he has family believed to be driving a stolen Honda Civic and is considered armed and dangerous.

More now on Bill Clinton and his attack on critics who say he was weak on terrorism. Clinton spoke today to Fox News; he said he was far ahead of the rest of the field in pursuing Osama Bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized the findings for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since and if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Clinton interview was the subject of much discussion today on CNN's "Reliable Sources." here's some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH SAUNDERS, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: I'm sympathetic to Bill Clinton on the point that he was making, which is people did not see Osama Bin Laden coming, and it is wrong to blame him for 9/11, which is the point he made. But the way he handled that, everybody knows that when you're on television, your asked a question, an area you don't want to talk about or get into, you give a quick answer and move on. Instead Clinton just unloads on Chris Wallace as if it's an act of less magistate for him to ask and then he keeps mentioning Rupert Murdock who had just been to the Clinton global initiative, like your boss isn't going to like this? He keeps bringing up Rupert Murdock that was a great example of how not to do an interview. I'm shocked at how poorly he handled it.

JOHN ARAVOSIS, AMERICABLOG.COM: It's refreshing to see a president that actually knows the facts and gives more than a two-second sound byte. Deborah, maybe you should, the point is that Bill Clinton took a serious --

SAUNDERS: That's an answer?

ARAVOSIS: Bill Clinton took a serious issue of 9/11, who is to blame and where we ought to be, he gave a long answer about a lot of details that frankly Americans do want to know. There's been a lot of talk that Bill Clinton's to blame and Bill Clinton knocked it out of the ballpark saying I'm not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're doing fox's bidding; this is a conservative hit job.

ARAVOSIS: Of course it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

ARAVOSIS: There's two points. One, this is Fox News. Let's not pretend that Fox News is the Howie Kurtz "Reliable Sources" show. You may have to say that, but for the rest of us, we know Fox is the Republican network. You're the independent network. Bill Clinton went on Fox News because they said they wanted to talk about his global initiative.

SAUNDERS: Every time Chris Wallace brought it up, Bill Clinton went back to the subject he said he didn't want to talk about. Rupert Murdock by the way has been at the Clinton global initiative. Rupert Murdock has been at Hillary Clinton events to act as though Rupert Murdock is the Republican guy who is always against him and I really felt that he was trying to say to Chris Wallace your boss wouldn't like this.

ARAVOSIS: The point is that once somebody on the right attacks you, too many Democrats have learned to sit back and go oh, don't attack me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That discussion from today's edition of "CNN's Reliable Sources."

And now we want to hear from you. Who do you think is to blame for not finding Osama Bin Laden? Email us at WEEKENDS@CNN.com and we'll read some of your responses in the next hour.

But first CNN's Daniel Seiberg has some news you can use right now if you're looking to upgrade your DVD system.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know you may have heard of a brewing war in the high-tech world between the next generation of DVD players. Joining us now to talk about them is Brian Cooley editor at large with CNET. So Brian identifies the two players for us.

BRIAN COOLEY, EDITOR AT LARGE CNET: The first high definition disc players in the world, over here we have in the HD DVD format the Toshiba HD-A1 and over here the blue ray format the Samsung BDP 1000. But they both do the same thing; they give you a high-resolution movie on the screen.

SIEBERG: So you obviously have to have an HD TV in order to see this format.

COOLEY: Absolutely.

SIEBERG: Now what about the price? One is more expensive than the other.

COOLEY: Big difference $500 for the initial HD player, $1,000 for this blue rate player. The blue rate player is more sophisticated; they have chosen to go to a more video file rich product. This one is more basic in its abilities. We're not talking about core function so they both get the job done. One difference is this format, HD DVD may not give you the extra features in high definition, just the main movie whereas blue ray has sufficient capacity to give you everything in high definition on the disc.

SIEBERG: All right. Now what about in terms of the selection of movies. You can't get every movie on both players.

COOLEY: You can barely get anything on either player. A few dozen titles for each, all we've got in the near future. We need to see thousands of titles come out before we can decide if this is for real and we need to see one of the formats win. I would hold off until early '07, maybe some clarity as to which of these formats is going to win.

SIEBERG: All right. We have to keep our eye on it. Brian Cooley, editor at large with CNET. Thanks so much.

COOLEY: You're welcome.

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WHITFIELD: News across the globe right now, Pope Benedict XVI is praising the nun killed by gunman in Somalia. She pardoned her killers before she died. It's believed the attack may have been linked to the pope's controversial remarks on Islam. The pope says her act of forgiveness is proof love can conquer hate.

Anti-Hezbollah sentiments on parade in the streets of Lebanon. A former Christian militia leader spoke at a huge rally today dismissing Hezbollah's recent claims of victory over Israel. Sami Jaja (ph) told thousands of supporters that Hezbollah has brought nothing but catastrophe to Lebanon and he said a strong Lebanese government can't exist until the militant group is disarmed.

Venezuela's foreign minister says his treatment at a New York airport is a violation of international law. Nicholas Maduro says he was illegally detained by JFK security, and then threatened after refusing a strip search. U.S. officials say Maduro got extra screening because he showed up late without a ticket. They called the incident regrettable and they've apologized.

U.S. ties with Venezuela have been in the headlines all week, since Hugo Chavez stunned the U.N. general assembly by calling George W. Bush the devil. Late last week CNN's Rick Sanchez traveled to Venezuela to learn more about Venezuela's feeling toward America. More from Rick in the newsroom.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was looking over my shoulders perhaps more than I would in Latin America countries because I knew that I was on the air saying things that the government wasn't going to like. No government ever likes anything you say about them. They'll only pick the negative stuff to criticize you so when I went on the air and said things that were critical of the Chavez administration or others said in my report I wonder if tomorrow they're going to knock on the door, ask me to leave, put me in a car and get me out of here or worse. It was a thought that crossed my mind. That's all it was. I never had any incidents other than the fact I felt that I was being watched and on two occasions they came, took down my number, accorded me, wanted to look at my video.

As a journalist you don't want somebody looking over your shoulder. I have a right to report what I see fit. This is the best government you think they've had here. [ speaking in foreign language ] I call it simultaneous translation. What it means is I'm able to go into an area where people speak Spanish because I am bilingual and I'm bicultural. I figure to capture the essence of what the people are thinking and saying at that time, and really compress into that moment talk to them in their language and then do the simultaneous translation so then you share it with your audience in English. [ speaking in foreign language ] pro-Chavez or anti-Chavez? You're pro Chavez.

I'm the go-between that takes you into that moment and brings you that situation as it's happening, and I think it's worked pretty well so far. It's a way of just being -- it's a way of sharing the moment with the viewer. Sharing an honest moment, an honest communication with people without having to go through the whole translation process, which oftentimes is a bit complex for the viewer, and they tend to figure it's another filter, and every time you add a filter in our business, I think you lose a level of trust as far as the viewer is concerned. Whenever you can bring it down, you are doing yourself and the communication and doing the viewer a favor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday the devil came here.

SANCHEZ: When I asked some of the poor people, 80 percent that I was talking about, should he have said that the U.S. president is the devil in his own back yard? I expected they'd say well, just as a matter of decency, no, that's not something he should have said. Quite the opposite. They said he should have said it because we think that Bush is Satan. Those are their words.

WHITFIELD: For the latest lets go straight to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras for some weather conditions now.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can you hear it?

WHITFIELD: Thunder, is that what we're hearing? I thought someone was moving a desk.

JERAS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: That's some serious thunder.

JERAS: A lot of thunder and lightning going on in the Atlanta area right now. You can see a strong line pushing on through, not severe but a lot of lightning so dangerous, you don't want to be outdoors. We have a ground stop in Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport unfortunately. We also have showers and thunderstorms up and down the east coast, also very strong around the Philadelphia area, and then we also have some stronger storms up into the northeast, getting some wet weather in Boston.

A quick check of the tropic, not a lot going on here. We've got a little wave that we're watching for possible development and wanted to mention the tropics because this is the anniversary of hurricane Rita, if you remember, Rita made landfall in the Texas-Louisiana state line, a category three storm. One of the largest U.S. evacuations ever to take place. Seven people died directly from the storm, but if you remember, a lot more died indirectly from some of those evacuations, car accidents and heat-related deaths, too.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

Much more ahead in the news room, as we've been reporting, Former President Bill Clinton, defending his efforts to capture and kill Osama Bin Laden, after being accused of not doing enough. Who do you think is to blame for not finding Osama Bin Laden? Tell us what you think. E-mail us at WEEKENDS@CNN.com. We'll get to some of your responses in the next hour.

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