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Dead Hiker Identified; Bob Gates Sworn in as Defense Secretary; Aid Workers Kidnapped in Iraq; Shuttle Crew Does Historic Space Walk; Iran President's Party Takes Hit at Polls; Crime on the Rise in U.S.

Aired December 18, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Don Lemon.

In Oregon, the family of Kelly James mourns.

PHILLIPS: While the search goes on for the two climbers who are still missing on Mt. Hood, but there are ominous signs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because our investigation down below hasn't revealed that they've walked that, we're still thinking that. But we're narrowing -- narrowing the likelihood that there may have been an accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We'll have that plus California Congresswoman Jane Harman just back from Havana with nine other U.S. lawmakers. She'll tell us what the Cuban government is saying about the health of Fidel Castro.

You are in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: One family in mourning, two others clinging to hope. Oregon's Mt. Hood yields a body and a life or death mystery. One climber is dead. Now rescuers are battling the elements and the clock in search for two others.

Our Chris Lawrence is in Hood River, Oregon -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, the families and the rescue teams have one thing in common. They are both still hoping to find those two climbers alive and bring them down from the mountain.

Frank James said earlier that his brother, Kelly, felt closest to God on the mountain. And he talked about the evidence that finally proved to him that it was his brother's dead body that was found in the snow cave yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FRANK JAMES, BROTHER OF KELLY JAMES: They identified a ring with my brother's initials on it, which has led me and our family to conclude that the climber found in the cave yesterday was my brother. My brother, Kelly.

MICHAELA COOKE, WIFE OF JERRY "NIKKO" COOKE: Kelly, Brian and Nikko shared a passion and reverence for climbing, and the bond forged between them will last throughout eternity. We hold out hope today for Brian and Nikko's safe return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: That is a hope that is shared by the rescue teams that have gone up on the mountain. But this search is definitely narrowing today. The sheriff telling us that they are now narrowing the search to the area around those two snow caves that they discovered on Sunday. And an area directly beneath that.

He called it the gully. He said it is about a 2,500-foot drop at about a 60 percent grade. Very treacherous. And he said there's been so much avalanche activity in that area that it's just not safe enough to put ground crews in that area. They will be trying to look at that area from the helicopters.

Again, a much more focused search now as they narrow down the options for these other two hikers that have been lost for more than a week now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Any idea how long they'll be airborne, Chris?

LAWRENCE: Well, they'll continue, as usual, until night comes. And you know, they'll be bringing their -- their other goal, of course, is a recovery effort, trying to bring down the body of Kelly James. We saw some of the climbers here earlier load up in a Chinook to be airlifted to that spot and, hopefully, will be bringing down his body at some point later today.

PHILLIPS: All right. Chris Lawrence, thanks.

HOLMES: We turn now to the weather, which has certainly been playing a role in some of this search and rescue. And right now there has been at least a break, and the weather is cooperating.

Rob Marciano keeping an eye on that for us in the weather center.

Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, T.J.

You can see where Chris Lawrence is. It's still cloudy, still foggy, actually ice fog in the Hood River area. But you go above about 2,000 feet, and the weather balloons that they launched this morning indicate that the skies do begin to clear out, and it's fairly typical for this weather pattern in that area this time of year.

You can see behind me the satellite picture indicates that most of the heavier weather is well offshore. So there's another window of a day and a half before the next storm rolls in.

And good news with the next storm: it does not look to be nearly as severe as any of the storms that we saw last week.

Here's a look at the mountain. And we'll go through where they found the climbers and where -- the route in which they thought they took. This is the southern flank of the mountain that we're looking at where they would have come down, if things all went well.

We're looking now at the Cloud Cap area, which is where they started their climb, up the Elliot Glacier. And they said in their note that if things ran into trouble, they would come down what's called the Cooper Spur route, which is this kind of ridge or spur off the mountain, off the western part of the -- eastern part of the Elliot Glacier.

Elliot Glacier is full of ice, as you would imagine a glacier would. But with steep drop-offs of 50-, 60-, 65-degree pitches. Some of these things are just ice walls, ice towers, things that ice climbers just love to go up and play on. And these guys were experts at this. So it's probably one of the reasons they took this route. And it's the preferred routes for ice climbers during the wintertime.

The problem with going down the Cooper Spur route, it is a dangerous way to come down. You see how steeply it drops off. There have been climbers as recently as 1999 that perished on that route.

What the sheriff told us this morning, which is interesting, is the snow caves are actually east of there, right around here. So for some reason they decided to come down the eastern flank off the Coleman, Newton and Clark glaciers. And that's part of where they're searching right now, along with the Elliot Glacier, in through the gullies and the Cooper Spur routes.

So that's a look at the mountain, a treacherous mountain, no doubt, anytime of year, especially this time of year.

As far as avalanche is concerned, there is still what they call considerable avalanche danger. The highest risk of avalanche would be high danger. They have downgraded that to a considerable risk above 6,000 feet.

As we go through tomorrow and the snow levels are or freezing levels rise, meaning the air begins to warm up in advance of this next system, that will help consolidate the snow pack and make it a little bit more stable. So they think that the avalanche danger as we go through the next 48 hours will get a little bit less. Or it will become more favorable for them to get to the places they need to get to.

But come Wednesday, T.J., that's when our next storm comes in. Doesn't look to be that strong. But any storm on the mountain, especially at 10,000, 11,000 feet, can certainly whip up some high winds and low visibility. So the clock is certainly ticking.

HOLMES: All right, Rob. Thank you so much. MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Now the changing of the guard at the Pentagon. The tumultuous reign of Donald Rumsfeld is over. Successor Robert Gates greeted in the last hour by the Pentagon brass, which is awaiting new orders for that difficult war in Iraq.

CNN's Barbara Starr joins us now with more on Gates' ceremonial swearing in.

Hi, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra.

Well, Bob Gates is now the 22nd secretary of defense in charge of the Pentagon and looking for the solutions to the problems that Don Rumsfeld was facing, mainly Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. He says that that will be his top priority.

And in very brief remarks after this swearing-in ceremony, here in the Pentagon, Mr. Gates spoke about what's next for him on the Iraq question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I intend to travel quite soon to Iraq and meet with our military leaders and other personnel there. I look forward to hearing their honest assessments of the situation on the ground and to having the benefit of their advice, unvarnished and straight from the shoulder, on how to proceed in the weeks and months ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Well, Kyra, one of the options, of course, being considered by the administration is sending more troops to Iraq, letting troop levels inside Iraq rise by about 30,000 combat forces.

That is something that is being looked at, that the military is assessing, but many military commanders say they're not ready yet to actually recommend that to the president, because they need to have a reason to send those troops. Just putting more boots on the ground, they say, may cause only -- there to be more U.S. military targets for insurgents and sectarian violence.

So there's something they're very cautious about. That is one of the options under consideration. It is something Mr. Gates is going to talk to commanders about when he goes to Iraq. But whether the commanders want to see more troops there at this point is still very much an open question -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, how soon could he go to Iraq? Do we know?

STARR: Well, for security reasons, of course, as with all top government officials, we do not discuss their travel schedule to Iraq. We've never done that, and we won't in this case. But when Mr. Gates says he will be traveling to Iraq, very soon, take his word for it, there is very likely to be a trip in the very near future, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon.

STARR: Thank you.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, more deadly bombings in Baghdad and a search for more than a dozen aid workers kidnapped by gunmen dressed as commandos.

With the latest live now from Baghdad, CNN's Ryan Chilcote.

Hello, Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was a mad -- a mass kidnapping that took place over the weekend. That is what suspended (sic) the Iraqi Red Crescent group to suspend their operations here.

Again, that operation, that mass kidnapping, took place on Sunday. That's when a group of gunmen moved into the Red Crescent's office and were able to grab about 30 members of the Iraqi Red Crescent staff.

Now, the Red Crescent says that since then, about 14 -- 14 of their members have been released, but they think that 16 are still in captivity. And they say that they are not going to resume their operations here in the Iraqi capital until they've been released.

Now, the Red Crescent is effectively the Red Cross of the Islamic world. It is also one of the largest humanitarian aid organizations operating in Iraq, really the only one that is able to -- to operate throughout the country.

They say that they regret suspending their work here in the Iraqi capital, but they feel that it is one of the only tools available to them to try to pressure the group that abducted their people to release them -- T.J.

HOLMES: And we're talking about 30 people kidnapped here. I assume the Red Crescent isn't -- don't have a lot of armed people standing around there. It's an aid group.

But this seems -- I don't know -- it's kind of some ease with which this kidnapping took place. Anything we should make out of that?

CHILCOTE: Yes, T.J. There's no doubt that this was an audacious attack. It was a large group of gunmen. They were using a large number of cars, depending on who you listen to, between eight and 20. And perhaps most remarkably, they were able to kidnap these 30 individuals without firing a single shot. Things like this have happened before.

Now, how is this possible? There are two theories. First of all, the -- both the Red Crescent officials and the police are saying that the gunmen that carried out this operation were wearing police uniforms. The police say they had nothing to do with it. They deny any involvement. But that is certainly a possibility. The police have been accused of doing things like this before, targeting their own citizens.

The other option is that these uniforms that were being used in this attack were somehow counterfeited or taken from the police and used by militant group to do that.

In any case, obviously, the Iraqi security forces in this case failed to provide security for their own people. And that raises questions here in the Iraqi capital, particularly when there are conversations back in the United States about the Iraqi security forces taking over security from the Americans here in the Iraqi capital -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Ryan Chilcote for us from Baghdad. Thank you so much, Ryan.

PHILLIPS: Spacewalk number four under way. Astronaut Robert Curbeam just stepped out of the hatch and into outer space and into history.

Of course, our space guru, Miles O'Brien, is right on top of this historic space walk.

Hey, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kyra.

Beamer, as they call him, is a weight lifter. He could probably crush me like a bug, he's so strong. But he was out there just the other day, trying to get this bulky solar ray back in its case, to no avail.

So today they're getting serious. They're bringing some tools with them. There you see some pictures, live pictures now as they make their way out of the Quest airlock.

See all this stuff? This is some of the oxygen and various gases that they use in that airlock when they're coming in and out.

How can you tell it's Curbeam? If you're playing along at home, you don't need a scorecard, just look for the stripes. Red stripes, that's Beamer. Pure white suit? Christer Fuglesang, the first Swede in space.

Beamer making history just this moment by stepping out for the fourth time, first spacewalker ever to do four spacewalks on one shuttle mission.

Let's talk a little bit about what lies ahead for them. We've talked -- we've talked about it a lot, Kyra. This -- what do you want to call it -- a map, origami or whatever.

PHILLIPS: Lamp shade. O'BRIEN: Yes, lamp. Whatever you want to call it. In any case, they've been trying to retract this darn thing, this huge solar array, all the way inside. Because the goal is in September to move this whole thing over there, and so both sides have to be in their little blanket boxes.

Got to about this point, and that's when all heck broke loose. And so they have been -- basically what's happening is some guide wires that pull it back are getting stuck in the grommets. Some of the pieces are folding in the wrong direction.

It's just like -- it's like a map in your car when you're having an argument with your spouse over where to go.

PHILLIPS: That never happens.

O'BRIEN: No, never happens.

PHILLIPS: Men never want to look at a map. So...

O'BRIEN: That's true. That's true. So you're over there with the map, and me, I'm getting further lost.

All right. So you know what I like about this is this gives you a great sense of scale. Look at the astronauts here. You know, because we've been seeing these pictures. And you really don't know how big it is. Now you know, right?

So this is over the weekend Saturday. They went over there. This is -- it's Beamer there. That was his spacewalking compadre for that night, Sonny Williams. And they each alternated trying to jiggle the mast, there. The boom, I guess, would be more accurate in this case.

And the problem areas are right in this spot right here. You see some problems up there, too, where things have just not been retracting properly.

Take a look at a close-up as Beamer gave it his oomph. I mean, this guy is -- he's a tough guy. Watch what happens. OK. You're shaking, Beamer. There he goes. Give it a go. And you know, look, he got some...

PHILLIPS: It's trying.

O'BRIEN: He got it to move. And you see how big it is. He's a pretty beefy guy. All to no avail.

So today what are they going to do? They're going to bring tools. It's tool time in space. Take a look at some of the tools they're bringing with them. It's a very high-tech thing called a scraper. All right?

PHILLIPS: We used to use that in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It's the same one. O'BRIEN: It's exactly like that. If there's any snow on the solar arrays, they're set. And as a matter of fact, if there's snow up there, that's some news, but that's another story.

But you can see, here's the best place to look. You can see where the wire goes through the little hole there, the grommet. And so what they're going to do, is they're going to just sort of ease the whole thing together. It sort of makes sense.

And then if they get in real trouble with the way things are folding, they have this other tool. Take a look at Tricia Mac, who is the EVA officer, with that thing.

Notice how it's all covered up in that kind of burnt orange tape? That's kapton tape. It is insulating tape.

There is some juice flowing through the solar arrays, 200 volts. And so they don't want to -- you know, their suits are insulated. But they want to make sure.

So this thing is a cheater bar that is used for -- normally for a socket wrench, but it just gives them a long poker so they can push at the portions of the solar array as they try to fold in and, hopefully, make them fold well.

Now, I've got to tell you one more thing before we get away, Kyra. You know we've been talking about how difficult it is to keep track of your stuff when you're in space? Over the weekend, Sonny Williams was out there with her fancy Nikon SLR digital camera.

PHILLIPS: Oh, no.

O'BRIEN: She's not there as a tourist. She's there -- she needs that to take pictures. We don't have it? We don't have the shot. Oh, well, imagine, if you will, a camera floating away. We're calling that satellite now Nikon One.

PHILLIPS: That was -- oh, Nikon One.

O'BRIEN: Nikon One.

PHILLIPS: And there was the tool that was lost last week as well, right?

O'BRIEN: There was that big extension to the -- you've been paying attention. I appreciate that.

PHILLIPS: I've been trying.

O'BRIEN: The cordless drill extension.

PHILLIPS: That's right.

O'BRIEN: That one, Christer Fuglesang did that. It's hard to keep track of your stuff. Of course, you drop things here on Earth, you pick it up, and you move on. In this case, they become satellites.

PHILLIPS: Bottom line, all this fancy shmancy stuff and all this technical talk, this hopefully will produce solar energy?

O'BRIEN: All this fancy shmancy stuff, it comes down to a scraper, all right?

PHILLIPS: Comes back down to the Green Bay, Wisconsin, snow scraper.

O'BRIEN: Keep it nominal and go for the scraper. Yes, it's, I think, by the end of the day, you're going to see that one side of the solar array parked where it needs to be.

The next mission they're going to have to do the other side, and then they'll move it in September. So sounds like every time they deal with these, we're going to have a little ordeal in space.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Well, we now know one climber did not make it. The question now, where are the other two? Rescue teams renew their attack on Mt. Hood by foot, by air in a furious effort to save the missing climbers.

PHILLIPS: The year in crime. The FBI has some numbers that might make you a little nervous. The stats are coming up from the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: And is the tide turning in Iran? Election results from Tehran and what they might mean for controversial president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even though he wasn't even on the ballot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In Iran today, a possible chink in the armor of the blustery, hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With the story from Tehran, here's CNN's Aneesh Raman.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Good afternoon.

We're getting early results from Friday's vote. They snow perhaps a significant setback for hard-line conservative supporters of Iran's president. We're seeing, as well, gains for reformists and traditional conservatives.

And while Iran's president wasn't on the ballot, when we went to the polls, most voters told us this was a referendum on his controversial policies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN (voice-over): A year and a half ago, few in the world knew who this man was, which is why few took notice when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mayor of Tehran, decided to run for president. He wasn't at all expected to win, but then he did, in large part because Ahmadinejad promised dramatic economic reform to a people desperate for it.

A year and a half later, a presidency born of populism has grown into a regime focused on regional dominance.

By the day, Ahmadinejad has grown more defiant, eager to dethrone American influence in the Middle East and replace it with Iran's.

(on camera) But now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces his first real political test at home in these, the first elections to take place since he took office.

At polling centers across Iran, people went to cast their ballots. At every polling station they were separated by gender, the men voting on one side, the women voting on another.

(voice-over) Turnout was reported to be high with voting extended in some parts of Tehran. And while Ahmadinejad isn't on the ballot, his supporters are.

A few voters, like this Giovani (ph), said Ahmadinejad has nothing to do with these elections. Most disagree.

"This definitely is a referendum on the president," Balalai (ph) told me. "Each of these candidates represent a school of thought, and we know those who support Ahmadinejad."

Voters we spoke with were eager to see their president put more focus on fixing things at home, like unemployment and inflation, a sentiment that could produce a drop in popularity for Ahmadinejad's hard-line supporters. But such an outcome, analysts suggest, would produce only gradual change and probably not influence the president's foreign policy.

And then there's the other possibility: that when results are announced, Ahmadinejad's allies win big, meaning Iran's president could grow more confident and more defiant.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And Kyra, that possibility is looking now less likely. These elections were for city councils across the country but also for an important clerical body. And that's where we find another bit of election news.

The man who lost the presidential runoff to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, relatively more moderate, has won the most seats on that clerical body. That is seen as another significant setback to the Iranian president -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Does this look like a possible -- I don't know, a tremendous change that could take place in this country? I mean, we've been talking about sort of this underground movement, the younger generation speaking out, becoming more bold, challenging the president?

RAMAN: Yes, we saw protests just a few days ago, the first time we've seen them since Ahmadinejad came to office.

Iran isn't at a fork in the road just yet. Iran's policy will unlikely change when it comes to the U.S. Foreign policy as a whole unlikely to change.

But what this does do is set the stage for a much more contentious political battle in parliamentary and presidential elections to come. The reformists, who could have gone completely into oblivion, have made a comeback. The traditional conservatives, as well.

So we'll see gradual change here in Iran, but in terms of dramatic change, that could come down the line. But for reformists, this is a big win. It sets the stage, at least, for a comeback -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Aneesh Raman, live in Tehran. Thanks, Aneesh.

HOLMES: Crime in the cities on the rebound. Especially robberies. That's just what police and probably you do not want to hear over the holidays.

CNN's Brianna Keilar has the figures for us now from Washington.

Hello, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, T.J.

The FBI released alarming numbers about violent crime for the first half of this year. And they're alarming, because they come on the heels of numbers for last year that also showed an uptick.

Now, before that, the U.S. had experienced declines for 15 years. So let's take a look now at these new numbers.

Compared to the same time period in 2005, violent crime overall jumped almost 4 percent. Robbery up almost 10 percent. Murder up about 1.5 percent. Rape about the same as in 2005.

And it's cities with a half million to about 1 million people that had the largest jump in murder rate, up 8.4 percent. Now, these are cities that are roughly the size of Denver to roughly the size of San Jose, California, just to give you a sense there.

But it's the smaller cities, those with populations less than 25,000, that saw the largest jump for robberies. They were up about 12.8 percent -- T.J.

HOLMES: Well, you're not making us all feel too good, showing us those numbers. There's got to be good news in there somewhere, right?

KEILAR: No, that's right, there is one bright spot, and that is property crime. Overall, a dip by a few percentage points here. Theft and also car theft down, but still burglaries actually up slightly from last year, T.J.

HOLMES: Oh, well, a bit of good news in there. Thank you for that, at least. Brianna, thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: Up next, a road trip to Memphis, but it's got nothing to do with Elvis.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ali Velshi, live at FedEx's largest sorting facility just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Today is FedEx's biggest shipping day.

But have you ever wondered what goes into shipping a package and getting it on the other side on time? Well, I'm going to take a look at that, right ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: But first, this week CNN is wrapping up its year-long look into the future, your future. And today we're talking tech.

It changes at the speed of light. Blink and you'll miss it. And with technology changing so rapidly, it's hard to imagine what will be commonplace a decade from now.

We asked a group of forward thinkers to give us their technology forecast in today's "Welcome to the Future".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEY REIMAN, THINKER & CEO, BRIGHTHOUSE: I have one word for the future of technology, invisibility. Everything will be invisible. Wireless will actually be wireless. You won't see any wires.

And for that matter, you won't see computers, PDAs, BlackBerries, you won't see any of this, because it's all invisible.

Nanotechnology is just making things smaller to the point where we can't see them anymore. It's going to be a fairly wild place.

DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, MEDIA THEORIST: Instead of carrying credit cards or money, we will probably be implanted with chips that serve as our credit card and debit card. And that, you know, when we check out at the grocery store, we'll be swiping our own arm over the scanner, and that will be something we feel we can't live without.

RAY KURZWEIL, CEO, KURZWEIL TECHNOLOGIES: Typically people will be online all the time. The electronics, I guess, will be woven into our clothing. We'll have high bandwidth connection at all times. Images will be written directly on our retina, so we'll live in augmented real reality. When you look at someone, there will be pop- ups in your visual field of view that remind you of what their name is.

DR. JAMES CANTON, AUTHOR, "THE EXTREME FUTURE": The future for robots is coming. Robots will be in the home. Robots will be in the streets. They'll certainly be in the hospital. They'll probably be in the police department.

Maybe they'll solve some of the problems that us humans have not been able to solve about better planetary management, conflict, wars and maybe even be able to negotiate to help us deal with some of the problems after a millennia we have not been able to resolve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. She's just back from a fact- finding trip to Cuba, but how many facts did the U.S. delegation actually turn up? Just ahead, Representative Jane Harman joins us in the NEWSROOM with details.

PHILLIPS: A mountain turns into a tomb. Three families turn to one another for comfort. An urgent search goes on today for two missing climbers on Oregon's Mt. Hood after one is found dead.

His family says a ring on his finger confirms the dead climber is Kelly James. That's him on the left. Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke are still missing. James's brother talked to reporters just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK JAMES, BROTHER OF KELLY JAMES: We're persuaded that Kelly has been found. But I feel that I have two other brothers still on the mountain. And the James family is deeply, deeply grateful for the rescue efforts to date. And we wish -- we wish the rescue workers Godspeed in their ongoing efforts to bring Brian and Jerry down that mountain safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We also heard from the local sheriff who says the three climbers found their way to the top, but lost their way back down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERIFF JOE WAMPLER, HOOD RIVER CO., OREGON: This is what we surmised what happened on top of Mt. Hood. We think that the three climbers left Hilly Jane and climbed as far as we can tell, because of their conversations with people on the mountain, that they climbed what would be the right gully to the summit of Mt. Hood and that they actually summitted.

When they got to the summit of Mt. Hood, it looks like they -- and this is where we're guessing now because of footprints. It looks like they went south along the summit ridge of Mt. Hood, maybe looking for the entrance to the pearly gates, which is the route back down that they had planned on doing. Somehow because of weather probably and visibility, they didn't get down that. They were right there at the top of it. But instead they broke off the east side of the mountain, all three together, dropped down about 300 feet, straight above the Newton Clark glacier, about 300 feet below the summit, dug a cave that probably housed all three of them on the Friday night.

From there and probably Saturday morning, it looks like two of those climbers left that cave, went back to the north just below the summit ridge, to back to -- now, their intention was, in case something went wrong, that they were going to descend the Cooper Spur route, which virtually right next to the place where they had climbed up.

But now the weather's getting bad. And it's pretty obvious, because they were having to dig in and do those things. So now we've got two climbers working our way back to where they came from. And now you're talking a point that -- on top of a mountain that can go anywhere. Well, virtually ...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, pretty fascinating to sit there and listen to how they've been able to detail where the climbers were. They started up December 8th. Blizzard conditions hampered that search, but the weather has now cleared. And as you know, the Blackhawks are up in the air.

HOLMES: Disorder on the court. Big fines and suspensions from the NBA. A hard foul, you may have seen this by now, turned into a pushing and shoving match and at least one hard -- might even say sucker punch thrown right there by Carmelo Anthony.

This was Saturday night game between the New York Knicks and the Denver nuggets. Today Anthony, who is the league's top scorer, was suspended 15 games. Six other players involved in this got shorter suspensions. At least two players got ten games.

The teams also were fined half a million dollars. The league saying that the organization should be responsible for their employees' actions. Ten players in all were ejected after the fight. It started with a little over a minute left in the game. Denver went on to win it, 123-100.

(MARKET REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, Castro doesn't have cancer. He's expected to recover. At least that's what U.S. lawmakers were told on their trip to Cuba. Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, Congresswoman Jane Harman joins us with her take on Castro's health.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Out of sight, but not out of the minds of millions of his countrymen and critics. Fidel Castro, 80-years-old, either gravely ill, or temporary laid up, depending on who you ask. Today new information on Castro's condition from a delegation of U.S. lawmakers who traveled to Cuba. Morgan Neill is our guy in Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. lawmakers say they weren't told much about Fidel Castro's health. They were told what he's not suffering from.

SEN. JANE HARMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: They deny that Fidel isn't coming back. They say he doesn't have cancer. He'll be back. But I think many Cuban people, and certainly many of us, wonder if the transition isn't already started.

NEILL: Just two weeks ago acting President Raul Castro said Cuba was willing to begin a dialogue with Washington, as long as the United States respected the island's independence. And the bipartisan group feels that may present an opportunity to change Washington's relations with Cuba.

REP. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: The time has long passed to enter a new chapter in relations, but this certainly does seem to be a good time to move ahead, and I think there's more momentum now to move ahead than we have had in a while.

NEILL: The delegation was disappointed not to meet the acting president. He's been running Cuba for nearly five months since his brother's surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to deal with each other.

NEIL: And say they didn't hear any hints that Cuban policies were likely to change. All the same, they felt the mood back home was changing.

REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think there's a majority in the United States Congress, and I think there's a majority in the United States of America that want a better relationship with Cuba. I think those of us who are advocating normalizing relations are in the mainstream. I think those who are, you know, saying that we need to maintain the sanctions and have travel restrictions, that's a relic from the Cold War.

NEIL: The group met with business and government officials, including the president of the national assembly and the country's foreign minister.

They also spoke with ordinary Cubans, if not dissidents, and heard an impromptu concert from musician Carlos Barerra (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEILL: Now the group says they haven't had any indication that Cuba is changing its policies in the leadership of Raul Castro, but they also say that Raul Castro has already made it clear he's ready to talk. As for the health of President Fidel Castro, Cuban officials told the delegation that he does not have cancer, he is not dying of any terminal illness, and they insist he's recovering. T.J.? HOLMES: All right, Morgan Neill for us in Havana. Thank you so much, Morgan.

PHILLIPS: Well Congresswoman Harman is back in Washington now. She joins us with more on her trip. Congresswoman, we saw a little bit of you there in Morgan Neill's piece. And I'm just curious. You said that you were told that Fidel Castro was going to be back in the game, that he's fine. But I guess a lot of critics here in the United States want to say, did you call their bluff? Did you say, well, why can't we meet with him? Why can't we talk to him? Why can't we have this conversation with him?

HARMAN: Well, it was obvious that we couldn't meet with him. We were disappointed that we were not able to meet with Raul Castro either. What we assume is they're not ready to roll out the next generation of leadership because their story is -- and they're sticking to it -- that Fidel is coming back.

I'm not a medical doctor and I'm not a psychic. Seems to me, however, the pictures and the absence of Castro in any meaningful way demonstrates that he's probably not coming back, and we should assume, as I said in that clip you just showed, that the transition has begun.

PHILLIPS: So why make the trip if you can't meet with the two main players, Fidel Castro -- well, is he a main player or not is still up in the air -- but his brother, Raul?

HARMAN: Well, we made the trip for several reasons. First of all, we weren't told we would meet with Raul Castro, but we were not confident we would not. Apparently the way this always works is at the last minute, the meetings come off. And the delegation had a lot of members on it who have met regularly with Fidel Castro on visits. This was my first visit. So I didn't have that experience.

But the other reason to come is because it is time to change our Cuba policy. The United States should change our Cuba policy. Most of us who were on that delegation have voted for years to change our policy. It's an an anachronism. It was developed during the Cold War. Maybe we had reason to fear Cuba when it was a Soviet satellite. But now 11 million people 90 miles off the Florida coast are surely not going to threaten a nation of 300 million people. We have 1.4 million Cubans living in America. And but for some very active folks in Florida, I think the majority of the Congress -- of the country wants to change our policy.

PHILLIPS: Now, State Department Spokesperson Sean McCormack said that your trip would have no effect on U.S. policy toward Cuba.

HARMAN: Well, it seems to be having no effect on President Bush's policy toward Cuba. We did meet with the Cuban intersection in Cuba, and they support the policy.

But our delegation was the largest since before the Castro revolution, the largest since 1959. Ten of us, four Republicans and six Democrats. And we, on a bipartisan basis, in Congress, are going to work to change the policy. So new laws could be passed. PHILLIPS: Do you really think that can happen, though, especially dealing with human rights and economic freedom when the Castros are still running that country?

HARMAN: Well, there are legitimate issues with that government. I'm not supporting the government. But what I'm saying is that U.S. policy that embargoes Cuba, that keeps Cubans from reuniting with their families, that prevents remittances, those are small paychecks to be sent back to Cuba, it doesn't make any sense anymore.

We don't have a huge threat just 90 miles off the Florida border. And by moving on some of these issues, even if it's not a full-scale embracing of that country, we do something that is more rational. Let's understand that we have normal relationships with many countries in the world who have terrible governments.

We have a normal relationship with Vietnam, which has a communist government. We have a normal relationship with many countries in the Middle East and south Asia, which have governments that are pretty tough to digest. And why do we do this? We do this because it's in our national security interest. I would say it's in our national security interest to have Cuba as a good neighbor.

PHILLIPS: I've got to ask you real quickly, it's a totally different subject, if you don't mind, I'm curious to know how your relationship with Nancy Pelosi is going, and are you disappointed that you were passed over to chair the house permanent select committee on intelligence?

HARMAN: Sure, I'm disappointed, but I'm moved on, and I support the Democratic leadership and the Democratic majority of which I'm a part. I'm going to continue to focus on security issues. You can see that I just went to Cuba, and I have some very good committee spots in the Congress and I'm very excited about January 4th when the Democrats take over.

PHILLIPS: All right. One more follow-up. That was a kind answer. Jeff Stein with "Congressional Quarterly," you'll remember, made a number of calls to leaders on the Hill. He called Congressman Silvestre Reyes, who is now the chair of that intelligence committee.

You may remember the article, I'm not sure, but Jeff Stein discovered that he didn't even know if al Qaeda was Sunni or Shiite, nor did he know Hezbollah's makeup. It astounded a lot of people. It definitely shocked us. Jeff Stein came on and talked about this. Does that concern you that the man heading up this intelligence committee can't answer those questions about national security?

HARMAN: Well, it concerns me that the intelligence committees in Congress have not played the role they should have in the last six years, doing real oversight over the administration's policies. Silvestre Reyes is my friend. He served on the committee for six years. He has my strong support and I will do whatever I can to help him be a successful chairman of the committee.

PHILLIPS: Congresswoman Jane Harman, thanks for your time. HARMAN: Thank you.

HOLMES: We know one climber did not make it, but where still are the other two? A live look here as rescue teams get ready, once again, to renew that attack on Mt. Hood. They're doing it by air. They're doing it by foot.

Some of those Chinook helicopters going to be used in that rescue effort -- furious rescue effort really to save those climbers.

A picturesque sight here of Mt. Hood.

More about the rescue, here in the NEWSROOM.

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HOLMES: Take you back here to live pictures of a few helicopters. Rescue teams getting ready again to head back up Mt. Hood, looking for two climbers still missing, two of the three, whereabouts still unknown after one Kelly James of Dallas, Texas, has been found dead. It has been confirmed.

But the search goes on for his two climber buddies. Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke. We'll keep an eye on the rescue efforts and, of course, keep bringing you the latest.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, British police make an arrest. But have they collared a killer? Detectives say that this man is a suspect in the deaths of five young prostitutes. Details on the investigation just ahead.

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HOLMES: NASA practiced for three spacewalks. Today, they got number four. They're doing this one on the fly. It was added to the mission of the space shuttle Discovery after a solar wing on the International Space Station got jammed.

One of the astronauts trying to fix it is Robert Curbeam. And just by stepping into space today, he set a record for the most spacewalks by a single crew member on a single mission.

We'll check in with our own resident space expert, Miles O'Brien, coming up.

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