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Vice President Cheney Heading Home After One-Day Visit To Saudi Arabia; Shiite and Sunnis Step Up Slaughter Despite Strict Curfew; How Polonium-210 Works; Polygamist Sect Leader Warren Jeffs In Custody And In Court This Week; Controversial $250 Scholarship For Whites Only

Aired November 25, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," controversy over a police shooting in New York. The Associated Press reporting that officers shot three men leaving a bachelor party at a strip club, fatally wounding the would-be bridegroom. Some critics claim the shootings were unprovoked, but police have not yet commented.
Baghdad's curfew extended until Monday. It was imposed after Thursday's massacre in Sadr City, but sporadic violence continues. Mortar rounds killed one person and police found 17 bullet-riddled bodies.

Vice President Cheney is heading home after a one-day visit to Saudi Arabia. Cheney discussed Iraq and other Middle East hotspots with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.

In northern Minnesota, the mother of two missing boys says she is prepared for the worst, but she's still hoping for good news. Four- year-old Tristan and 2-year-old Avery were last seen playing outside three days ago.

Echoes of the Cold War as British police probe the London poisoning death of a former Russian spy. Before he died he implicated the Russian government and President Putin. Mr. Putin calls that charge a political provocation.

When does sectarian violence deserve the title "civil war"? That time could be drawing near in Iraq.

A former Russian spy is poisoned with radiation, but who killed him and why? Scotland Yard on the case.

And ethnic-based scholarships are nothing new for minorities, but what happens when the scholarship is marked "whites only"?

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Carol Costello.

Thank you for joining us.

We begin with a story that's just in to CNN. Vice President's Cheney's Mideast meeting is over. He's on his way home to the United States after a now you see him, now you don't visit to Saudi Arabia.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson standing by live to tell us more. Hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

And that's exactly how it was after Vice President Cheney finished his meet with King Abdullah. He went straight to the airport and boarded his aircraft. He had been on the ground in the country here barely eight hours. His meeting with the king lasted several hours, we are told.

That is all we've been told officially. Details of this meeting have been a closely-held secret.

We do know that both men were talking about issues that concern both countries, developments in the Middle East. We do know from a Saudi adviser that this was due to include Iraq, due to include Saudi Arabia's concerns about Iran's gray influence -- Iran's gray influence not only in Iraq, but also in Lebanon. And the Saudi adviser said that they believe Iran, through Syria, is helping rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon and that is undermining the western-backed government there.

So, clearly, issues of mutual interest for the United States and for Saudi Arabia, but the very fact that this meeting was so short, the very fact that the vice president came all the way here for this meeting to meet with Saudi Arabia's king is an indication of how important it was. What was achieved we don't know. Perhaps we'll get a better idea next week when President Bush goes to Amman, Jordan, to meet with some of Iraq's leaders.

But at the moment, everyone is left guessing, and it has been very secret, as you say, now you see him, now you don't visit -- Carol.

COSTELLO: But Nic, again, why? It isn't every day that the vice president of the United States hops on a plane, spends, what, eight hours in Saudi Arabia, and then immediately comes back. I mean, what could it mean? Is there a plan on the table?

ROBERTSON: Well, a Saudi adviser told me that he was closer to the setting up of two to three months of work that went into this meeting, which is, he said, the culmination of not only Saudis, but also the U.S. National Security Council on a broad, new initiative that will involve limiting Iran's involvement in Iraq and in Lebanon, that will isolate Syria, in the words of this Saudi adviser, and also try and limit the militancy of Hamas as well.

So, broad-ranging, but behind all of this there is a huge concern in Saudi Arabia right now. It is -- it is very worrying for them that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated so far, and even more worrying when they hear the possibility that U.S. Troops might be pulled out or scaled down, because they feel the war could spill over into Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries, and they think Iran may take advantage of that situation.

And of course, for Vice President Cheney, Saudi Arabia is a big, important, influential ally in this area. And if they can -- if the vice president was able to encourage King Abdullah to exercise more influence in trying to bring an end to the war in Iraq, then no doubt, that would have been one of his goals. But, of course, they've been asking Saudi Arabia to take this more aggressive position in Iraq for some time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson, live in Saudi Arabia.

Thanks.

Baghdad on edge. Families living in fear behind closed doors. Shiite and Sunnis step up the slaughter despite a strict curfew extended now until Monday. It is so bad, the city's airport remains closed and Iraq's president has postponed his trip to Iran.

Let's get more now from Arwa Damon. She's in Baghdad today.

Hello, Arwa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you ask U.S. and Iraqi officials, they will not say that this situation here is spiraling out of control, nor will they call it a civil war. But if you speak to most Iraqis that are living with the violence here every day, they will just tell you that the civil war here started long ago.

If we just look at the period of the last few days, a deadly attack in a Shia neighborhood, Sadr City, where five car bombs killed at least 200 Iraqis. That is followed by a series of attacks, mainly against Baghdad's Sunni population. Mortar rounds, as well as targeted killings, wounding a number of Iraqis, at least two dozen Iraqis, killing a number more.

A gruesome report coming out of one Baghdad neighborhood, according to an official with the Sunni deputy prime minister's office. He said that at least seven Sunni worshippers were torched by Shia militiamen.

The U.S. military put out a press statement saying that they had dispatched an Iraqi army unit to investigate these reports. They have not been able to confirm the torching, nor has the Iraqi police. But this is increasingly an environment where rumors have more credibility than any military statement or any government official's statement. Just the rumor that such a horrific act could have taken place is enough to keep more people at home and increase the level of fear with which they are living.

Iraqis look at this violence. They look at the number, the body count at the Baghdad morgue increasing. They look at the ethnic cleansing that is happening around them, and they say civil war here started a long time ago.

The Iraqi government, what has it done for the population? Well, it slapped down this curfew that began at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, but largely, in terms of trying to control the sectarian violence, that has still continued.

Many Iraqis, especially in the capital, Baghdad, are turning towards their government, turning toward their security forces, and increasingly saying that this is a government with an army and a police force that is dominated by the militias.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And earlier today I talked with CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd about the sectarian rage in Iraq and the role of the U.S. military. Later this hour, what he had to say about sending in more U.S. troops.

Let's head to the weather center now to check in with Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Carol. Great to see you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Keep it tuned here for -- tomorrow, actually, for continuous travel updates. We'll give you the latest flight and weather information.

And a former Russian spy, a suspicious death. Who poisoned this man with a rare, radioactive substance, and how? British investigators are looking for answers.

Plus, the case against a polygamist leader accused of forcing young girls to marry older men. Our legal experts weigh in.

That's just ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We now know what killed former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, but the who, why and how still a mystery. British anti- terrorism forces have joined other agencies to investigate.

Litvinenko died of Polonium poisoning on Thursday in London. That radioactive killer has caused British health officials to close several buildings where Litvinenko went before his death.

His killer also a mystery. Litvinenko's friends and family say Russian president Vladimir Putin is at the top of the suspect list, thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK TREVELYAN, REUTERS SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Many people would say, and certainly the dead man's friends, that pointing the finger at Moscow, directly at Putin, that they're blaming him for this -- for this poisoning. On the other hand, there are people who say, well, actually, maybe things have been set up precisely to look like that in order to frame the Russian security services, in order to discredit Putin and his government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And as a result, British investigators are looking at who might gain the most by discrediting Mr. Putin. He denies any involvement in Litvinenko's death.

Traces of Polonium -- that's Polonium-210 -- have been found in Litvinenko's home, a London restaurant, and a hotel. Could anyone else be at risk?

Lawrence McGinty explains how this radioactive killer works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE MCGINTY, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): Suddenly, the familiar streets of London are not quite so ordinary. A sushi bar where Mr. Litvinenko had lunch now closed after scientists found traces of the radioactive toxin discovered in his body.

A hotel where he had a meeting, they discovered similar contamination there. And in his home they found the same radioactive Polonium 210.

All this is uncharted territory. A poisoning like this has simply never happened before.

Polonium 210 is a highly radioactive isotope. It's very toxic. Even the tiniest amount, a trillionth of a gram, can harm you. But only if you eat, drink or inhale it. It spreads rampantly through your body and within hours will interfere with the major organs: the liver, bone marrow and heart.

Although radiation from Polonium 210 is very destructive, it only travels a short distance. It won't penetrate even a piece of paper.

So you could stand next to someone who had been poisoned with no risk. You could only be contaminated by touching their feces, urine or sweat, and not washing your hands before eating.

HENRY: Polonium is an incredibly potent poison. It is 100,000 million times more toxic than cyanide, for example.

You know, the amount you need to be lethal, if it's swallowed, would be -- we're not talking about something you can put on the head of a pin. We're talking about something you can put on the point of a pin and lose there.

MCGINTY: Polonium is one of the nastier poisons found in nuclear waste, one indication that it can't be brewed up in a back bedroom. You need a lot of technology to make it, state-sophisticated technology. That's what agents like Mr. Litvinenko would have called it.

Lawrence McGinty, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: A polygamist leader goes on trial in Utah as an accomplice to rape. How strong is the case against him, though?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see no other way in order to redress problems that were caused by racial discrimination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's what supporters say about scholarships for ethnic minorities, but what about scholarships for whites only?

We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Experts can debate whether Iraq has plunged into a full-scale civil war, but as CNN's Arwa Damon reports, it's impossible to deny that conditions are getting worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): Like Iraq's immeasurable grief, the funeral procession seemed endless. Hundreds of mourners packed the streets of Sadr City, escorting over 200 coffins. Victims of the bloodiest attacks since the war started in 2003.

The dead were casualties of at least five car bombs that exploded on Thursday in the Shia slum of Sadr City, a Mahdi militia stronghold loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Addressing crowds in Sadr City after Friday prayers, a deputy of al-Sadr addressed both the political and military stakes ahead of a scheduled meeting between the U.S. president and Iraqi prime minister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If the prime minister goes ahead and meets with the criminal Bush in Amman, we will suspend our membership in the Iraq government. All the people know we have enough power to react and to respond, but for the sake of Iraqi unity and for the interests of the Iraqi people, we will follow our leaders.

DAMON: Now the prime minister finds himself in a precarious situation. Nouri al-Maliki largely owes his job to the support of Sadr's bloc, but he cannot afford to alienate the United States.

The political turmoil and violence comes at the end of a week with increasingly brazen attacks against government institutions and a surge in sectarian bloodshed. On the empty streets of Baghdad, a city under lockdown in an effort to control the violence, one resident summed up the chaos.

"At the end of the day we are all losers," Hassan said. "This is our home, our country." Most U.S. and Iraqi officials will not say Iraq is in a civil war. But many Iraqis look at the growing numbers of bodies filling morgues, the ethnic cleansing in neighborhoods, and the escalating violence, and say the civil war started long ago.

(on camera): The Iraqi prime minister's next move, whether he bows to radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's request, or goes ahead with his meeting with U.S. President Bush, will highlight who the real powerbrokers are.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Earlier today I talked with CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd about the sectarian rage in Iraq and the role of the U.S. military. Later this hour, what he had to say about sending in more U.S. troops.

The leader of a polygamist sect accused of marrying off young girls to older men, Warren Jeffs, in custody and in court this week for a crucial hearing.

Our legal experts will join us in a minute to discuss this case, but first, CNN's Gary Tuchman looks at the testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs sat quietly in a Utah courtroom, waiting to hear from the star witness. The court-operated video camera won't show her, because she was a minor, only 14 when she says Jeffs told her she had to marry her first cousin. But we can let you hear from the woman we'll call Jane Doe.

VOICE OF "JANE DOE": I was shocked. I was like, "No way. There is no way I am going to marry that man."

TUCHMAN: As the prophet, Jeffs is alleged to have ordered and presided over many weddings of girls under 18. But prosecutors hope Jane Doe proves to be Jeffs' undoing.

She testified her salvation was in jeopardy if she didn't follow Jeffs' orders. She said she pleaded with Jeffs to cancel the wedding, but he said that it was God's will. So in April 2001, Jeffs married them.

VOICE OF "JANE DOE": This entire time that I was there, I was crying and I just -- I honestly just wanted to die because I was so scared.

TUCHMAN: Jeffs, behind bars without bond, is still the leader of the plural marriage FLDS church. Prosecutors say by marrying off Jane Doe to a man who had sex with her, Jeffs is an accomplice to rape.

Jane Doe says the first time she had sex with the husband, she didn't know that's how babies were made.

VOICE OF "JANE DOE": He said I've always wanted to see a woman naked. I was so embarrassed, was so embarrassed.

TUCHMAN: Jane Doe is now married, pregnant with a new husband's baby and is no longer in the church. Her ex-husband has not been charged in the case. Prosecutors reserve the right to charge him at a later date. Jeffs' attorneys pressed the now 20-year-old alleged victim if she ever told Warren Jeffs she was having sex against her will.

VOICE OF "JANE DOE": He told me to go and submit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he ever tell you to go have intercourse...

VOICE OF "JANE DOE": He never said intercourse, no.

TUCHMAN: Jeffs had at least 10 supporters watching in the court. Jeffs wore a slight smile at times. He did not speak during the hearing. His attorneys claim he's being persecuted because of his religion.

So do you think she wanted to be married, that's all?

WALTER BUGDEN, JEFFS' ATTORNEY: Mr. Jeffs is not charged with arranging a marriage. That's not the charge. He is charged with rape, with all of the emotional connotations of the charge of unconsented sexual intercourse, being an accomplice to that conduct, and he is not guilty of that charge.

TUCHMAN: But one of Jane Doe's sisters disagrees. Rebecca, who we also can't show, is also out of a church. At age 19, she married Warren Jeffs' father. He was 82, which means the then teenage Rebecca was, according to church tradition, one of the mothers of then 39- year-old Warren Jeffs.

REBECCA, SISTER OF "JANE DOE": And he would say, your joy is knowing that you love your husband, not so much that your husband loves you.

TUCHMAN: Warren Jeffs was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, and on the run for months. Now, he waits to find out if testimony in this courtroom will convince the judge to order that this case go to trial. The judge will decide in December.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, St. George, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The Warren Jeffs hearing will start up again on December 14th. Let's see what our legal experts see how this case is going.

Avery Friedman is a civil rights attorney and law professor.

Richard Herman is a New York criminal defense attorney.

Welcome to you both.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Carol. Nice to see you.

COSTELLO: Hi.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: This case gives you the creeps, doesn't it?

FRIEDMAN: It sure does.

COSTELLO: I mean, on the stand, the alleged victim, her testimony seemed to be pretty damaging to me. So will this case go to trial?

Let's start with you, Richard.

HERMAN: Well, this case is absolutely going go to trial, Carol. This is just a preliminary hearing, and the burden of proof is very minimal here, probable cause.

There's no jury. It's just whether or not this judge makes a determination that there is probable cause, the slightest, leaning towards the government, the prosecution's case to allow this to go to trial. That's what's going to happen.

COSTELLO: Well...

HERMAN: 99.9 percent of these cases in preliminary hearings go to trial, but it gives the defense an opportunity to see what the prosecution's case looks like.

COSTELLO: Well, there was that one thing that that one attorney was trying to get across. I mean, Mr. Jeffs is -- he's accused of rape, not accused of arranging a marriage. And by the victim's own testimony, the alleged victim's own testimony, she said he never told her to have intercourse with her new husband.

Does this make a difference, Avery?

FRIEDMAN: Well, it makes a huge difference on one level, but when it -- when it really gets down to it, Carol, the question is, Warren Jeffs controlled in the minds of this ninth grader who he forced to marry at the Hot Springs Motel in Caliente, the city of Caliente, he required her in order to achieve or get to salvation to marry and be subservient and obedient to this 19-year-old. So, whether there was a direct order, Carol, from the standpoint of rape, as being an accomplice to a rape, I think has very little to do with it.

If I'm the defense lawyer I'm going make the argument. Frankly, I think it's a terrible one because this is an underage child, again, being hooked up by Warren Jeffs to older men. COSTELLO: Yes, but...

HERMAN: Hey, Carol...

COSTELLO: ... why isn't -- why is isn't her ex-husband being charged?

FRIEDMAN: Well, he may very well be charged. The prosecutor is holding that in advance, because I think the focus of the state is to get this guy.

You've got to understand, Carol, that this is the individual victim. There is much, much more evidence to go, and that evidence is going to be that Warren Jeffs essentially hooked up these underage girls to young men. This is essentially, as the prosecutor put it, pimping for god.

So this is -- we've got a long way to go in this case.

COSTELLO: Richard?

HERMAN: And Carol -- Carol, yes, rape is a specific intent crime. You have to have that mental element in order to get a conviction here. And the key words that were used, that Jeffs told this alleged victim they would be "submissive and be obedient."

FRIEDMAN: Right.

HERMAN: That's the testimony we didn't hear in that clip. He directed her to be submissive and obedient.

So if in that society the logical explanation for those words are have sex, and it's reasonable to assume that that's what Jeffs thought, he's going go down on this one. I mean, there's no way he's going to get acquitted on this one.

COSTELLO: We soon shall see.

Richard and Avery, thank you. But you're going to stick around.

FRIEDMAN: We sure will.

COSTELLO: You're going to join us a little bit later to talk about more interesting topics.

FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: We'll get back to you in just a bit.

Half past the hour, here's what's happening "Now in the News."

A curfew in Baghdad has been extended until Monday. The clampdown has not stopped sectarian attacks there. Seventeen bullet- riddled bodies were found around the city today, and one person was killed in a mortar attack. A controversial police shooting in New York. The Associated Press reporting that officers opened fire on three men leaving a bachelor party, killing the would-be groom. Some witnesses say the shootings were unprovoked. No comment yet from the NYPD.

The search widens for two young brothers missing from an Indian reservation in Minnesota. 2-year-old Avery and 4-year-old Tristan disappeared three days ago. The FBI says it's looking into whether the boys wandered off or if foul play was involved.

Volvo is recalling more than 170,000 passenger cars, station wagons and sport utility vehicles built between 1999 and 2002. A malfunctioning throttle could limit speed to below 30 miles per hour.

Reality check, Iraq. Major General Don Shepperd takes a critical look into sending more troops into the middle of that country's sectarian violence.

Also, only whites need apply. Some Boston University students test racial boundaries and offer a whites-only scholarship. More details ahead for you in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In a few weeks, "Time" magazine will name its 2006 person of the year. The issue highlights a person or people who've made a dramatic change in the world, for better or for worse. Here's one possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The atom blast heard round the world. North Korea stunned the international community by testing it's first nuclear device. North Korea's Kim Jong-Il is a candidate for "Time" magazine's Person of the Year.

ROMESH RATNESAR, WORLD EDITOR, "TIME": The testing of a nuclear weapon by North Korea, in some ways was the single biggest news even if you could point to just one event, because not only is that a major disruption in the balance of power in Asia, but it also, I think, has kind of crystallized this larger danger that the world faces from nuclear proliferation.

The real concern with Kim Jong-Il is not so much that he would ever use a nuclear weapon, but that as the head of a really desperate, poor, starving country, he'd be tempted to sell some of the technology needed to develop a weapon to other states that are interested, or even to terrorist groups.

ADI IGNATIUS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "TIME": He has continually tied pretty much every other nation in the world in knots, as countries from the U.S. to China to Japan to South Korea, try to figure out how to contain the North Korean threat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Baghdad, a city on the edge. Mortar rounds echo in deserted streets. Revenge killings continue despite a strict curfew. Add to that powerful Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr threatening to boycott the Iraqi government if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki goes ahead with a planned meeting with President Bush next week and that move could cause the Iraqi government to crumble.

Well, Iraq's sectarian slaughter combined with a political power play. I spoke a short time ago with CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd about what this would mean for the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Let's say the worst happened, where would that leave the U.S. military if the Iraqi government just dissolved?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): It'd be one more tragic step in a very tragic war, Carol. It would leave the United States in a country without a government to support, in other words, responsible for everything that's gone on there, instead of just some of the things that are going on. This is as desperate a situation as it gets.

And there's two phrases that the U.S. and the U.S. military do not want to hear, "spinning out of control," which clearly things are doing in Baghdad, and "civil war," which has become a symbol of failure if it devolves into a civil war. Clearly there is some sort of civil war going on. So, it's as desperate and depressing as it gets right now.

COSTELLO: So we can say definitively now there is a civil war going on in Iraq.

SHEPPERD: No, you can't say there's a definitive civil war as we know civil wars, but definitely this sectarian violence is some type of civil war, and it seems to be escalating, not getting less, so it's a very, very tough situation.

COSTELLO: OK, so if Muqtada al-Sadr is making life miserable for the U.S. military, why not take him out?

SHEPPERD: Well, it's easier said than done. He is visible, but he's not -- we don't know where he is all the time. And also, you are there to support Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of the sitting government.

If he does not want Muqtada al-Sadr taken out and, of course, Muqtada al-Sadr is part of his -- one of the major parts of his support, if that would cause him more problems, then you produce more problems for the government you want to support. So it's a circle of -- it's a very difficult circle to tread.

COSTELLO: So should President Bush meet with the prime minister in Jordan or shouldn't he? SHEPPERD: Well, he's going to have to meet with the leaders in the area and if he doesn't meet with the leaders, it looks like Muqtada al-Sadr is calling the shots, which, of course, President Bush and Nouri al-Maliki do not want to have happen.

So there are lots of threats that get thrown become and forth in this area, so this is just one more threat. I suspect the meeting will take place somehow and Nouri al-Maliki will also attend.

COSTELLO: OK, let's talk about Iran because the president of Iraq, Talabani, was supposed to go to Iran to meet with leaders there. He's probably going to go on Sunday when the Baghdad airport reopens, hopefully -- I mean, hopefully the airport will be open because that means the violence will have quelled somewhat. But if Iran gets involved, what does that mean for the U.S. military?

SHEPPERD: Yes, the Iraqi president, going over there, is a necessary step because Syria and Iran are mixing -- are in the mix on the bad things that are happening in Iraq right now.

If Iran enters the war, of course, that would be a huge, major step, and then on the horizon, Carol, we have the Iranian nuclear program looming there with Israel -- you know, Israel basically the target of the remarks of President Ahmadinejad of Iran. So Iran is a very serious problem, both within Iraq and then looming on the horizon with its nuclear program.

COSTELLO: So, if you're a general on the ground and U.S. troops seem to be in the middle of a whole lot of things, what do you tell your troops?

SHEPPERD: Yes, first of all, there is no quick solution. People are looking for a quick solution, the Iraqi Study Group is going to issue its report, we will do something, but if there was a change in tactics that the U.S. thought could make things better, they would be in the middle of it or already have done it.

There isn't any real quick change that's going to produce quick results. But I would do, is I would embed more U.S. forces with more Iraqi military, perhaps as much as a platoon with every battalion, giving them backbone, helping them come up to speed quicker.

That's the thing that I would do and then I would move against the militias. The militias are the key in Baghdad, they must be taken on, they must be disarmed for Baghdad to work.

COSTELLO: General Shepperd, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Major General Don Shepperd.

Politically incorrect? A scholarship for whites only. Just what kind of lesson are they trying to teach? We'll find out just ahead.

Also...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED: These items that have been confiscated at the checkpoint are not OK in carry-on bags because they don't meet the requirements, but these would have been OK to be placed in checked baggage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

If you're flying today, or tomorrow or even next month, stay tuned for advice you will not want to miss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Some call it insensitive and offensive, a $250 scholarship for whites only. College Republicans at Boston University are behind it, saying they're just trying to make a point.

We'll see what our legal experts have to say about this, but first CNN's Mary Snow gives us the background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The idea was to provoke controversy at Boston University, and that goal has been met. B.U.'s College Republicans are sponsoring a scholarship for white students only. The aid is $250, a sum the college GOP will pay out themselves to make a point.

JOSEPH MROSZCZYK, PRESIDENT, B.U. COLLEGE REPUBLICAN: We're really just trying to point out the absurdity of the whole notion of race-based scholarships, and we hope people will consider that and not write us off as racists or white supremacists or anything of that sort.

SNOW: But the way the group brought attention to the issue is under fire.

RONALD RICHARDSON, B.U. AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES DIR.: It is silly and it has created divisiveness among some of the students who were annoyed at this. All the more reason for us to sit down and talk.

SNOW: The dean criticized the student group, saying their scholarship goes against the goal of increasing diversity at the school, where over 50 percent of the students are white. The Massachusetts GOP criticized its charter college group, calling their move "offensive," but the head of the College Republicans says he had to use what he calls guerrilla tactics.

MROSZCZYK: The best way to get College Republicans out there and start a discussion is to do something controversial, to use satire and college Republicans use this across the country to break through the liberalism that's on campus, especially Boston University.

SNOW: But others say scholarships are not a political issue and there is a reason for affirmative action.

RICHARDSON: I think that I can understand their feelings, but I see no other way in order to redress problems that were caused by racial discrimination, the decades and decades of racial discrimination that followed upon centuries of slavery.

SNOW (on camera): One thing this whites-only scholarship idea has accomplished is dialogue. Professor Richardson of the African- American Studies Department is inviting College Republicans to come in and talk.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We'll get our legal experts to talk about that scholarship and also about a proposal for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. They want a law requiring convicted drunk drivers to install a breath test lock on their cars, making it impossible to drive if they're drunk. Once again, Avery Friedman and Richard Herman.

Let's start with the scholarship and let's start with you, Avery. Race-based scholarships, are they constitutional?

FRIEDMAN: Absolutely constitutional. At university, it's a crucible for ideas, however, the big mistake here, and I think what is so outrageous about what they're doing, is they're not at all concerned about the scholarships for underachieving white people which has existed for 200 years.

We call that legacies. One of the famous statements in America is don't despair if you're a C student. You can be president of the United States. That came from George W. Bush, a legacy, an underachieving white who got into Yale because of his dad.

COSTELLO: I knew someone would bring that up.

Richard, is there anything inherently illegal about this?

HERMAN: Carol, Avery is absolutely right. It's not illegal, it's not unconstitutional, but the only point that's being made here is that their mommies probably didn't hug them tight enough because this is ignorance, this is elitist, this is racism and for such a fine university as Boston University to countenance this, it is beyond belief.

COSTELLO: Now, wait, I'm going stop you right there because in Michigan, just this past election, the voters overwhelmingly voted to ban affirmative action. Overwhelming -- they joined in California and Washington and really that's what these college Republicans are trying to do. They're trying to get rid of affirmative action. Why is that so wrong?

HERMAN: Well, they're not doing that because race is only one qualifier in these scholarships. Academic achievement -- there's a whole host of qualifiers, race only being one. There's athletic scholarships, there's different types of scholarships for different heritages. This is really -- $250. Come on, this is really outrageous what's going on.

FRIEDMAN: In Boston, you have got to be 25 percent of the Caucasian persuasion. I wonder how these young conservatives are measuring that. I don't know.

COSTELLO: OK.

HERMAN: Howard Stern graduated Boston University. Come on, this must be a joke.

COSTELLO: OK, let's move along on our next topic. Mothers Against Drunk Driving think this might be the thing to cure people of driving drunk because nothing else seems to have worked. They want to put, like, a breath test lock on people's cars. So even after you're convicted one time of drunk driving, you this thing installed on this car and you can't drive if you've even had a drink.

Avery? Good idea? I mean, it seems legal.

FRIEDMAN: Well, Carol, 13,000 Americans are killed by a drunk every year and the argument they make is in New Mexico which has the law, since they put that in effect, there's been a 12 percent drop in fatalities.

Most Americans, however, get very anxious about having that kind of device in their car just like they had seatbelts 20 or so years ago. Legally, yes they can do it. Whether or not it it's going to be popular enough remains to be seen.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, Richard, the thing is, is like -- let's say you are convicted on a drunk driving charge, you know, you're convicted, you do your time, you've done your penance. It's done. Why should you be penalized to that extent after one time?

HERMAN: Carol, you have some legal training because that's absolutely the opposition argument here. They're saying just because you have one conviction does not mean you the propensity to drive drunk again and again and again. They just -- the American Beverage Association is the biggest opponent to this and they represent, obviously, restaurants and bars and clubs.

FRIEDMAN: Liquor laws.

HERMAN: And they're saying the goal here is not to take away drunk drivers. It's even to punish moderate and responsible drinkers. So whether it's overreaching -- it might be. Is it legal? Yes, it is legal. Will the citizens go for it? I don't know. It saves a lot of lives though.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Avery and Richard, thanks for joining us on this holiday weekend. We appreciate it.

FRIEDMAN: Nice to see you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Happy belated turkey day.

FRIEDMAN: Likewise.

HERMAN: Take care. Happy Thanksgiving.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

Traveling by air this holiday weekend? We have some tips to help you breeze through security.

And coming up this afternoon at 3:00 Eastern, global oil crisis, a worst-case scenario. "CNN PRESENTS" looks what the would happen if the planet's oilfields suddenly went up in smoke. "WE WERE WARNED" next at 3:00 Eastern on CNN. You're in the NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: On this busy travel weekend and during next month's holidays you can't do anything about the crowds, but CNN's Jonathan Freed does have some tips that might make your trip to the airport a bit easier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Passenger Training 101.

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On an average day at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liquids, gels, lotions, potions, creams and aerosols must be 3.4 ounces or less.

FREED: Transportation security officers like Tim Wachowiak (ph) are confiscating 4,000 prohibited items per shift as people pass through checkpoints.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All your toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, moustache wax, hair gel.

FREED: Well, holidays are anything but average traffic days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mascara, nail polish and lip glosses.

FREED: So TSA Tim is on high alert for people traveling for the first time since new rules recently went into effect limiting the amount of liquids and the like you can carry on board a plane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These items that have been confiscated at the checkpoints are not OK in carry-on bags because they don't meet the requirements, but these would have been OK to be placed in checked baggage.

FREED: The trick to avoid having your stuff chucked, remember the 311 rule.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's three-ounce containers or less, travel sized containers; one quart clear plastic zip top bag; and then one per passenger. And this must be taken out of your carry-on bag and placed into the security bin.

FREED: Close to 25 million people are expected to travel by air this Thanksgiving, and airlines say new technology lets passengers take more control of their trip even before getting to the airport.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Check in at home. Use your computer. Print your boarding pass. Check on the status of your flight. Go to your airline's Web site and see what other information you can get.

FREED: As for inevitable in-flight delays, the folks giving up their turkey to staff radar screens controlling the skies urge that you not take it personally if you end up late for your holiday plate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a very important reason for that holding pattern or for being placed in that holding pattern, and that's to guarantee their safety and their safe arrival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And where do we place our one-quart bag of 3.4 ounce liquids?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the tray.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the tray. Very good. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Of course, the weather could put you in a holding pattern, but hopefully there won't be many today, Jacqui.

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COSTELLO: "AUTISM IS A WORLD," a rare look at autism from a young woman who lives with this disorder. Her story coming up on "CNN PRESENTS" starting tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

Straight ahead, in the NEWSROOM, a baby boy not for sale, but free. Is the Web site offering a hoax? We'll bring you the latest on this incredible story from California.

And later, lining up for a college scholarship. Not for minority students, but whites only. The controversy has many people in Boston and the rest of the country stirred up. A check of the day's headlines is next and then "CNN PRESENTS: WE WERE WARNED."

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