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Americans, Austrian Kidnapped By Insurgents; President Bush Goes to Vietnam

Aired November 18, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: You have got to see the story. This is the CNN NEWSROOM AND I'm Carol Lin. Let's first catch you up on the headlines. Still missing in Iraq, this former Minnesota police officer Paul Reuben, three other Americans and an Austrian were working for a private security company in southern Iraq when they were kidnapped Thursday. Coalition forces are still searching the area. You're going to hear from Reuben's family in just 60 seconds.
And a sweeping raid of a Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. helicopters moved into Sadr City searching for dozens of abducted Iraqis and their kidnappers. When asked if hostages were rescued, the U.S. military would only say and I'm quoting here, "No one was killed, injured or detained."

President Bush is in Vietnam trying to convince world leaders to maintain a unified position on North Korea's nuclear program. He was partially successful. We're going show you what the president wanted from South Korea but didn't get. A report from Hanoi just ahead.

And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took a moment to discuss the issue of Iraq at the Asia summit. She says the Iraqi people must realize that they have only one future. Not one of warring factions, but of a single nation.

In Aurora, Illinois, a deadly end to a standoff between police and a gunman at a hospital. A patient holed up for four hours in a hospital room has died. Police say SWAT officers heard a gunshot and returned fire. They say the suspect apparently died from a single gunshot from his own weapon.

Up first this hour, a mom in Minnesota issues a plea for the life of her son. Former policeman Paul Reuben is one of four American contractors kidnapped in southern Iraq. The names of the other three Americans are still not known. Now their health and whereabouts, though, also unclear. Reuben's family says he loved his dangerous work in Iraq until very recently. Here is CNN's Ed Lavandera in Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNNIE REUBEN, KIDNAPPED AMERICAN'S MOTHER: I came home from work, I was really tired and I found this note on my door.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This little scrap of paper has never meant so much to Johnnie Reuben, left by her son when he was just a high school senior. REUBEN: It said, important, please open immediately. I love you very much. Love, Paul, 1985. And he was always like that.

LAVANDERA: Twenty one years later, Paul Reuben is an American contractor held hostage in Iraq. This simple note is one of the few things that brought a smile to her face. As we talked with her and his sister in their Minneapolis home.

REUBEN: I thought about him so much last night. I wondered if he's cold, if he's hungry, if he's injured or if he's here.

LAVANDERA: Before heading to Iraq, Paul Reuben spent eight years working as a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb. Three years ago, he was lured by high paying security contractors to work in Iraq. His family says the longer he stayed, the more he loved the work. But a week ago, Paul called to say he was done and that he'd be home in a few days. The job was becoming too dangerous, too violent. Paul's family could sense something had changed.

REUBEN: I always saw his strength every time when it meant that part of that fear that was a reality fear, but not let it overtake him.

LAVANDERA: Paul Reuben's family says they're receiving updates from the U.S. State Department but there's little information, leaving them fearful and upset.

SUZANNE REUBEN, KIDNAPPED AMERICAN'S SISTER: I cry in spurts. And I just hope that my brother, whom I love very much, comes home safe and sound.

LAVANDERA: To those holding Paul Reuben hostage, his mother pleads for mercy.

J. REUBEN: If there is any goodness or kindness left or anything that you can show a fellow man, show it. Because that kindness will come back to you too.

LAVANDERA: Johnnie and Susan Reuben say they're holding on to shreds of hope that Paul will soon be home, alive to celebrate his 40th birthday with a twin brother. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: President Bush is focusing on Asia right now and he looks ahead to Sunday in Vietnam. Mr. Bush has one on one talks scheduled with several leaders at the summit of Pacific Rim nations. There are 21 members of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. North Korea's nuclear program tops Saturday's agenda. CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is with the president in Hanoi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Trade was not the main focus here in Hanoi, Vietnam, host city to this year's annual Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Instead, one security issue dominated the discussions President Bush had today with his Asian counterparts, what to do about North Korea and its nuclear weapons program.

(voice-over): Now the president's day was capped off by a gala dinner here in Hanoi with the 20 other leaders of Pacific Rim countries that are APEC members. Earlier though, Mr. Bush sat down with the president of South Korea, President (INAUDIBLE). And though he tried, Mr. Bush was not able to persuade the Korean leader to support intercepting ships suspected of carrying nuclear weapon supplies headed to North Korea. Instead, Mr. Bush emphasized after the meeting that the two leaders do agree on the overarching goal.

BUSH: Our desire is to solve the North Korean issue peacefully. And as I've made clear in a speech as recently as two days ago in Singapore, that we want the North Korean leaders to adhere (INAUDIBLE) -- and nuclear weapons ambitions that we would be willing to enter into security arrangements with the North Koreans as well as move forward with new economic incentives for the North Korean people.

QUIJANO (on camera): On Sunday North Korea will once again be the focus when President Bush sits down with China's president, President Hu Jintao, as well as Russian president Vladimir Putin. Also expected on Sunday, a statement from all 21 member nations of APEC, expressing concern about North Korea's nuclear activities. The White House has endorsed that statement. Elaine Quijano, CNN, with the president in Hanoi.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Environmentalists in California are squaring off over a peace of string. Plus some Democrats are calling for troops to get out of Iraq. Others say more are needed. Can there be an agreement? A former U.S. ambassador to NATO weighs in.

And inmates conducting business behind bars, it is happening at the prison that holds some of America's worst criminals. How staffing might be to blame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Checking some of the most popular stories on CNN.com. Investigators in Nebraska are trying to find out what caused a deadly frat house fire. The blaze killed one student at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln and three others were critically injured.

Some police are changing their lingo. 10-4 and those other codes we grew up hearing on TV cop shows are starting to be phased out. The radio speak is being shelved by several departments across the country in favor of plain English.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are now husband and wife. If you didn't know that already. They wed at the fairy tale Italian castle and the guest list read like a Hollywood who's who. And you can bet there is going to be some big time wedding gifts. Read more about these stories and a whole lot more at CNN.com. Wednesday was America recycles day. And there is good news this year. Nationwide a lot less junk is heading to landfills. Our Gary Neurenberg takes an inventory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From an electronics recycling drive in Forest Hills, Maryland --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throwing away used electronics is not good for the environment.

NURENBERG: To the community shredding of sensitive documents in Georgia --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our local celebration of America recycles day.

NURENBERG: Recycling is becoming more common. For example, 65 cities are reducing the number of old tires dumped in land fills, companies shred them, bake the fine particles, and use the new material to build rubber sidewalks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the only way that a city can stop wasting the enormous amount of money they waste on this huge urban problem.

NURENBERG: That problem is tree roots pushing through traditional concrete or brick sidewalks causing a tripping hazard that gets cities sued with some frequency. Repair is expensive, jack hammers, work crews and new concrete.

(on camera): The alternative is to cut down trees, which city residents hate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hoping to save our trees by putting rubber sidewalks there.

NURENBERG: At three times the cost of concrete sidewalks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's less expensive when you consider through the long run when you replace the existing sidewalk, you don't have to put the concrete back.

NURENBERG: The rubber sidewalks are interlocking panels, cracks between them allow water and air to reach tree roots delaying their upward push. When the roots do rise, the panels don't break, repair is easier. Rubber sidewalks aren't the only materials that come from recycling. That shredded paper in Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which is then sold and made into sheet rock.

NURENBERG: The overriding philosophy --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are alternatives to throwing everything away in the landfill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Much better, awesome.

NURENBERG: Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's a serious study that began with laughter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was a very serious physician practicing medicine in India. I never laughed too much because I don't have a great sense of humor.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well now this doctor's discovery has people laughing around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you!

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: He's put smiles on people's faces by giving away over $1 million. Yes, giving away. The so-called secret Santa revealed.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Also tonight Jacqui, at 8:00, "CNN PRESENTS THE TOWN THAT FOUGHT BACK." CNN's Kathleen Koch returns to her hometown of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to investigate the town's progress since hurricane Katrina. That's tonight at 8:00 eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: New government documents show that America's toughest prison, the so-called Supermax prison in Colorado is so understaffed that terrorists inside could literally be plotting their next move and the feds would never know. CNN's Drew Griffin has the story from Florence, Colorado, it is a story you will only see on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in the shadows of the Colorado Rockies are many of our worst known terrorists. Ramsey Youseff, the first World Trade Center bomber, 9/11 wannabe, Zacarias Moussaoui, the shoe bomber Richard Reid, the Olympic bomber, Eric Rudolph, the Unabomber, one of the Oklahoma City bombers, all locked up for life in the nation's toughest prison, Supermax. Almost every hour is spent in these cells. Eat here, shower here. Solid doors and narrow windows make it hard to even see another inmate. Yet official documents show the prison is understaffed. Phone calls are not always monitored. Neither is the mail. Supermax is in danger of becoming super lax.

(on camera): If those terrorists being held inside Supermax are plotting and planning their next attack right now, chances are the federal government wouldn't even know it.

(voice-over): Who says so? The Justice Department itself. Last month the inspector general said the Bureau of Prisons "is unable to effectively monitor the mail of terrorists and other high risk inmates in order to detect and prevent terrorism and criminal activities." One criminal case in point, the 18th Street Gang marks its turf and runs drug sales near downtown Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened is that every street corner now has a gang.

GRIFFIN: The gangs extort kickbacks. They call it taxes or rent from the street dealers.

CHARLES SOSA, RETIRED LAPD POLICEMAN: They say you better pay your taxes, pal, or else you're going to get killed or you're not going to deal dope in my town.

GRIFFIN: The man running the drug gang, the FBI says, is Ruben Castro from his cell at Supermax. And even though he's behind bars, and away for life, he still holds that power?

SOSA: Most definitely.

GRIFFIN: Prosecutors charge for the past three years Castro has been able to give orders in telephone calls and coded letters from Supermax. Inmates are allowed only a handful of calls a month but the Justice Department report says half those phone calls were not monitored in the last year that it checked. The Madrid train bombings in 2004 triggered the recent Justice Department report. After those attacks, investigators discovered an al Qaeda follower had been writing to terrorist suspects in Spain from his cell at Supermax. Yet the staffing levels have continued to drop. The report says personnel assigned to check the mail and phone calls often are sent to cell blocks instead as substitute guards.

MIKE SCHNOBRICH, PRISON GUARDS UNION: I think they're pulled from those positions on occasion more often than they should be to work in other parts of the prison to make sure that we're maintaining security there.

GRIFFIN: We did try to get answers from the warden here at Supermax. He declined to be interviewed on camera. So did the top prison officials in Washington. Drew Griffin, CNN, Florence, Colorado.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: We'll be watching this one.

Now you can catch more of Drew Griffin's reports on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" weeknights at 8:00 eastern, 5:00 pacific. A day after the Pentagon announced a fresh troop rotation into Iraq, residents around Fort Benning, Georgia, are showing soldiers their appreciation in a massive rally. Our John Zarrella is live in Columbus, Georgia, right now. John, what's it like to be there?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, you can hear the band is play and it's been going like this all day. They call this God bless Fort Benning Day and it's an opportunity for the people here to give thanks to all the troops. Not just the ones here, but around the world who are serving in the armed forces. Of course they have bands playing and food and crafts and booze all throughout the day here. And not only that, CNN brought Warrior One down, you can see that here. Been giving out hats and t-shirts to people. Warrior One didn't look like this back when it was in Iraq for CNN. Many of the CNN crews that used this in Iraq. But it has since come back home and it has been overhauled and -- by "Overhaul" at TLC. It is going to be auctioned off in January, January 20th, a Barrett Jackson collection car event.

If you want to see the show, how they overhauled this, November 21st and December 21st, you can see the overhauling process that went on. Hope to get several hundred thousand dollars for it. Now a little while ago, right out here, there were about 7,000 troops that were here for this event as well from the base. And they had an opportunity to sit out here in front of the vehicle.

They had a good time here. They got their pictures taken. Some of the CNN PR folks taking pictures for all the troops so they could have a little souvenir, a memory of this. Now while this has been going on all day here, over at the entrance to the base, there were protesters there, several thousand as well over there, a couple of arrests were reported. They are of course protesting U.S. policy and also the war in Iraq. Carol?

LIN: Well it looks like a good time for all. John, thanks so much. I'm sure it means a lot to the folks there.

Now as you just saw, CNN's overhauled hummer, Warrior One, is making the rounds to military bases and special events. You can check it out at CNN.com/warriorone. See before and after pictures and learn where it's headed next.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: We have more on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Now that Democrats will be sharing power, they'll also have to share ideas on how to capture the world's most wanted man. That story coming up.

Plus, a seaside synagogue is ruffling feathers on the west coast. Why some say it's harmful to wildlife. Ahead, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But first, it started in India. Just a few people caught it and now it spread around the world with thousands succumbing to the epidemic. What is it? Laughter. And it is no joke. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look, as part of his week long series on happiness. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, big breath in.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every morning on Laguna Beach, California, you'll find a group gathered on the sand laughing. There are no jokes. No punch lines. They're laughing for no reason at all. Before you write this off as just another off the wall California fad, you should know laughter yoga was the brain child of Indian Dr. Madan Kataria. He was doing research for an article called laughter, the best medicine when he got the idea.

DR. MADAN KATARIA, LAUGHTER CLUB CREATOR: I was a very serious physician practicing medicine in India. I never laughed too much because I don't have a great sense of humor. It just came from up. And suddenly 4:00 in the morning, I got this idea, why not start a laughter club.

GUPTA: What began with five people in a Mumbai park in 1995 has spread to more than 5,000 laughter clubs in 50 countries.

KATARIA: You don't need any sense of humor to laugh. You don't need to be happy in order to laugh. In fact, when you laugh, you develop your sense of humor, you develop joy within yourself.

GUPTA: More than that, Kataria says the breathing and laughing of laughter yoga will improve your health. Even if you have to fake the laughter. It's a claim backed up by Lee Berk at Lomolinde University. Berk has found laughter decreases stress hormones, improves our immune system and boosts endorphins, those are the brain chemicals associated with the runner's high. Dr. Kataria who began the laughter club movement says people who laugh are like the Dali Lama living in the moment.

KATARIA: Joyfulness, makes you feel good immediately, now. And that's all children do and I want all -- everybody in this world to be like a child. Now, just now.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Tomorrow night, Dr. Sanjay Gupta continues his investigation into how to be happy. Find out some surprising connections between happiness and your health. Sunday night at 10:00 eastern.

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