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Race Against Time on Mount Hood; FDA Proposes New Labels For Over-the-Counter Painkillers; Government Warns of Social Security E- mail Scam; Small-Car Safety Reports; Two Suspects Arrested in Ipswich Murders; Dick Cheney Called To Be Defense Witness In CIA Leak Trial

Aired December 19, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone.
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.

The window is closing again on Mount Hood. Rescuers race against time and weather in the search for two missing climbers.

Got a headache? Well, don't take two of anything until you check out the FDA's latest word on warning labels for common pain relievers.

HOLMES: Also, this hour, Paula Zahn joins us to talk about racism in America and tonight's town-hall meeting in Texas -- all that and more ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: First, just developing, this out of Washington right now -- we're getting word that the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney, has been called in as a defense witness in the CIA leak trial.

You may remember, we're talking about Scooter Libby, the president's number-one man, who is charged with perjury and obstruction. Libby is accused of lying to investigators about what he told regarding -- regarding former CIA operative Valerie Plame. Plame's identity was leaked to reporters around the time that her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly criticized the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.

We have been following the various hearings since then. Now we're being told, Dick Cheney, vice president of the United States, called to be the defense witness in the CIA leak trial. We will have more, of course, coming up in the hour.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, the weather forecast and some newfound photos, two big causes for concern, as a scaled-back search presses on for two men still lost on Mount Hood.

CNN's Rob Marciano is on this story for us today.

Hello again, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, T.J. As you mentioned, scaled-back rescue effort today. The Oregon National Guard, the choppers that have been used to search the mountain and also to airlift rescue teams high up into the upper elevations of the mountain in the past three days have been sent home to their home base to regroup and to remain on standby, if needed.

But the sheriff himself is flying family members around, as I speak, around the mountain, especially up the Eliot Glacier, where they think the two climbers may very well be right now.

Earlier this morning, the sheriff himself was on the ground and gave a press conference. Here's what had to stay about the plan of attack today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE WAMPLER, HOOD RIVER COUNTY, OREGON, SHERIFF: We're still looking for those little clues, so that we can move ground teams, so we can make plans to move ground teams into certain areas, if we need to, and, then, you know, also maintain the opportunity for Brian and Nikko to stick their head up out of that hole up there someplace, and self-rescue themselves. And we want to be there to see that, if that happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Of course, every day that goes by without any more clues, hope begins to diminish, and the questions rise. You know, when do you stop the search-and-rescue effort?

Well, the sheriff says: When the risks outweigh the results, we will make that decision.

And he's had that conversation with family members, still holding out hope that they will find the other two climbers that are up there.

Here is what Angela Hall, sister to Brian Hall, had to say this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA HALL, SISTER OF BRIAN HALL: Our faith in the strength of the minds, bodies, and spirits of Nikko and Brian remain steadfast.

We continue to be hopeful, as we pray for their safe return. And we ask the thousands of friends, family members, and strangers around the world who have been touched by this story to continue to pray for the family of Kelly James, for their continued strength, and to find support in one another, and the now extended family that they have in the immediate families of Nikko and Brian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: And the body of Kelly James was lifted off the mountain yesterday -- with it, some clues, an arm injury, specifically, a dislocated shoulder, and also a camera. Now, those pictures are being looked at now.

They do reveal the route that they thought -- that they had said they were going to take, which was up that Eliot Glacier, and then up the dangerous gullies, to summit. And, then, after that, problems arose, seemingly going to get help for Kelly James, and then ice axes found and tied-off ropes found at a very steep and treacherous part of those gullies.

And searchers fear that's where an accident may have occurred. Also on those pictures, not only the route, but the equipment that these guys were carrying along. And, as suspected, a fast and light climb was anticipated. So, they didn't pack probably a lot of fuel to melt water, nor a lot of food to hold themselves out there for more than -- well, more than seven to 10 days.

So, those are the problems we're dealing with today.

But the good news is, today is another day of good visibility. Especially above 2,000 feet, you get into decent visibility and light winds today. There is another storm system coming in tomorrow, which will bring with it some rain, some freezing rain, some snow, and eventually some wind.

So, the next two days don't look nearly as good, T.J., at the last two, as far as searching and potentially rescuing the last two climbers that are up on the hill -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Rob, thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: Over-the-counter, but under the FDA microscope again. Non-prescription pain relievers, stuff that is in your medicine cabinet right now, may be in for tough new warning labels.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with the details on all of that.

Start with acetaminophen?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Acetaminophen, which many people know as Tylenol. The FDA is proposing new labels.

Happening right now, at this hour, the FDA is holding a press conference. And what the FDA is proposing to do is to put a label on acetaminophen that says there could be possibly problems with liver toxicity, especially when you take acetaminophen at high doses, especially when you drink moderate amounts of alcohol while taking acetaminophen, and especially if you're taking more than one product that contains acetaminophen.

A lot of people don't realize. They will take a Tylenol, and then also some cough medicine. And they don't realize there is acetaminophen in the cough medicine, so they are actually getting a double dose.

Now, some manufacturers of some of these products have put these on the labels already. The FDA is proposing it for makers of Tylenol, and proposing it for all kinds of acetaminophen.

PHILLIPS: Now, what about aspirin and ibuprofen?

COHEN: Right, aspirin and ibuprofen, also, the FDA say that -- that those need new labels, too. They are proposing possible new labels for aspirin, for ibuprofen, which many people know as Advil and other brand names.

What they are saying there is that those products contain -- can cause stomach problems, and that people need to be aware of that, particularly if they are over age 60, particularly if they have certain kinds of medical conditions, stomach bleeding.

PHILLIPS: All right, we will keep tracking it. Thanks.

COHEN: OK. Thanks.

HOLMES: Amid the daily carnage and chaos in Iraq, at least one common thread has emerged, the clothes worn by many of the criminals.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They read like a police blotter, million-dollar bank heist, a mass kidnapping of 30 humanitarian aid workers, another mass kidnapping of at least 100 education workers.

What do they have in common? They all happened within the last month, and all went down without a hitch.

(on camera): In each one of them, the perpetrators were wearing the uniforms of Iraq security forces, meaning the crimes were either carried out by people charged with preventing them or by people pretending to be them.

(voice-over): That's what Iraq security forces say. In fact, Iraq security forces maintain the impostors look so genuine, they themselves are sometimes duped, and inadvertently provide criminals with safe passage to and from the crime scene.

There is some circumstantial evidence to that. Insurgents have been caught red-handed donning Iraqi uniforms, and tailors at Baghdad's infamous Thieves Market can make one custom-fit for anyone willing to pay.

To combat the freelancers, the government came out with new uniforms that they said couldn't be counterfeited. Those, too, though, are now reportedly being used by impostors.

But many Sunnis say the Shiite-dominated police are the perpetrators, accusing them of using uniformed death squads to target Sunnis.

This week, the United States added its voice to the debate in a new report, claiming Iraq's police are, at a minimum, guilty of complicity in some crimes. "Shia death squads leveraged support from some elements of the Iraqi police," the report reads, "facilitated freedom of movement, and provided advance warning of upcoming operations."

Whether the uniform criminals are behind the kidnappings or bank heists, one thing is clear, they have stolen the public's confidence in their government's ability to provide security.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Dead children lying in a field, terrified villagers running for their lives ahead of smoke clouds, all this seen in chilling detail at today's session of the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein.

The former Iraqi leader is charged with using chemical weapons against the Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s. Prosecutors estimate 180,000 people died. Defense lawyers argue, Hussein was fighting Kurdish insurgents. He and six co-defendants have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, all could be sentenced to death. However, Hussein is already sentenced to death for killing almost 150 villages in the Iraqi town of Dujail in 1982.

PHILLIPS: You may have heard that what doesn't kill you make you stronger. Except, sometimes, it doesn't. An Army survey finds an alarming rate of suicide among U.S. troops in Iraq.

CNN's Barbara Starr joins us now from the Pentagon -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this is a new report from the U.S. Army, the third in a series on the mental health status of the troops serving in Iraq.

Now, what officials say is, the overall numbers are still relatively low. And that's good news. But any suicide, of course, is a tragedy for the U.S. military, and it's something that they are always concerned about.

Let's look at some of the statistics that the Army released just a short time ago in this study. On the question of suicide in the military, the Army said that, in Iraq, the suicide rate is now 19 -- nearly 20 per 100,000. And the reason they do have some concern about that, even though the numbers are relatively small, is, it is higher, of course, than the overall Army rate.

But they find, they say, that it is really the same reason, tragically: young people with ready access to firearms in Iraq suffering from problems involving stress, money, family, financial problems, that sort of thing. So, it's something that they continue to look at very carefully.

On the overall issue of stress levels, now that soldiers are serving more than one rotation in Iraq, another very interesting statistic: 18 percent, if you will, for troops with more than one deployment in Iraq reporting overall acute stress, compared to about 12.5 percent for those that are on their first deployment to Iraq -- so, some evidence that stress does continue to mount each time a soldier goes into the combat zone -- not a surprise.

But, on the overall issue of combat stress in general, the number of troops just basically reporting the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, 17 percent -- that also, again, up from 13 percent reported previously.

The Army and the U.S. military say they are going to continue all of their efforts to monitor the mental health of the troops in the combat zone in Iraq, in Afghanistan, so they can make sure they are -- they have got an early finger on any problem that's emerging.

But one of the good-news things, they say, out of this report is, they do see more evidence that more young soldiers are reporting when they feel these symptoms of stress and anxiety. And what the military is hoping is, the stigma of reporting mental health problems is dropping in the military, so, when a young person has those problems, they get help for them -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Barbara, just thinking about these men and women that go back two, three, some of them even four times...

STARR: Well, that's right.

And what we asked the question, look, you know, is there only so much combat that one human being can stand? We're now, for the first time, seeing soldiers rotating in these multiple deployments, as you say, three times for some of them now, and no end in sight.

So, how many tours in a combat zone can one person really tolerate? Well, the top general in charge of all this says it's a question they're asked that they really don't have an answer to yet.

What they have noticed so far is, people seem to recover, if you will, when they come back home. They see their family. They decompress. They do seem to experience lower periods of stress. But, then, it goes up again once, of course, they return to the combat zone. So, this may be the long-term question that the military still has to answer: How much can one young soldier really take? -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And the words we also hear right, compartmentalize and decompress.

Thanks, Barbara.

STARR: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, so, is the Army ready for a big surge of troops into Iraq or getting ready to scale back? We're going to talk with the man who has to get the troops ready for anything. General Richard Cody, U.S. Army vice chief of staff, joins us in the NEWSROOM tomorrow, 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Pacific. HOLMES: Another day, another arrest in Britain's most sensational murder case. And detectives are calling this one significant. We are looking at the evidence in the so-called Suffolk strangler case. That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Missing a friend who is missing on Mount Hood -- up next, we're going to talk with a man who thinks of Brian Hall as a brother. Fred Stephenson says he just had to come to Mount Hood to wait for his friend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Here now is what we know in the ever-more desperate search for two missing climbers on Mount Hood. The county sheriff says the big search is probably over.

It's still considered a rescue effort, not a recovery effort, though it's been greatly scaled back. And more bad weather is on the way. We also know, Kelly James, the climber found dead on Sunday, had apparently a dislocated shoulder. Rescuers are poring over photos he took, photos indicating he and his companions were traveling light.

That only adds to the fears about how long the other men could last.

PHILLIPS: One the missing climbers is a personal trainer and former pro soccer player. Brian Hall's friends say climbing Mount Hood was a practice run for a bigger dream, conquering Mount Everest.

Fred Stephenson has known Hall for six years. He joins me now from Hood River, Oregon.

And, Fred, you're not even a climber, but you wanted to be there. Tell me why.

FRED STEPHENSON, FRIEND & CO-WORKER OF BRIAN HALL: You know, I feel in my heart that, if I was in his position, that Brian would do the exact same thing for me. He's a really great guy. And we love him to death.

PHILLIPS: He's a great friend of yours.

STEPHENSON: And we love...

PHILLIPS: Oh.

STEPHENSON: Yes, ma'am, he's a really great friend.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And you work for him as well.

Kind of set the scene for me. Where do you two do together? Where do you work? Talk to me about his influence on all of you in the workplace.

STEPHENSON: Right. Right. We work back home in Dallas at performance playground, which is a training facility. And we spend about, I would say, 10 to 14 hours a day with each other every day. And he's kind of the heart and soul of the facility. He's a guy that brings sunshine into the gym every morning. And, when he leaves, it -- I mean, he -- it's still there.

So, he is a great asset and a great friend to everyone.

PHILLIPS: And you know, as well as Brian knows, it's not just the physical aspect of whether it's in the gym or climbing the mountain, but the mental aspect. Talk to me about...

STEPHENSON: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... his mental strength, because I know you know a lot about that.

STEPHENSON: He is one of the toughest guys I know.

He is strong-willed, very intelligent. And there is nothing that would ever keep Brian down. I -- I think that's just a part of his nature. That's a part of his spirit, that nothing would ever get Brian down. He would never mentally fall apart.

PHILLIPS: You know, we have been hearing not such -- well, not a lot of good news coming out of -- of that area, with regard to eight or nine feet of snow fallen since they had gone missing, that they're concerned that they might be somewhere in a crevasse, possibly.

Tell me what is helping you hold on to hope right now, when you're not really hearing great news at the moment.

STEPHENSON: Well, just given the fact that I have known Brian for six years, and I kind of know his personality and how he would think. I know that he is doing everything possible to stay alive and to survive, you know?

When you work with someone those -- that many hours per day, you just kind of get to know those things about him.

PHILLIPS: And he got stuck for four days on Mount McKinley, right?

STEPHENSON: Right.

It's not the first time he's ever been stuck. And, you know, it's basically one of those things where I think a true climber -- I'm not a climber, but a true climber is tested from time to time. And I just think this is one of those times where he is being tested.

PHILLIPS: Do you remember what he said to you about Mount McKinley, how he just kept his -- his cool, and how he got out of there after he got stuck?

STEPHENSON: You know, when he talks about it, it's like...

PHILLIPS: It's like no big deal.

STEPHENSON: ... not a big deal. It's like...

(LAUGHTER)

STEPHENSON: Yes. This is how it is.

So, that -- I mean, that's very comforting, knowing that he did that. And, you know, the situation is pretty much kind of the same.

PHILLIPS: How is the family? Are you spending time with the family? How are you encouraging the family? How are they holding up? What are they telling you?

STEPHENSON: You know what? The family is incredible.

You know, under these circumstances, they are -- their core values are something that is unmatched by anything that I know. They are really holding up. And they're doing great. And, you know, they're being strong for us. So, at the same time, we're trying to be strong for them, but I think they're more supportive of us, just being here with them.

PHILLIPS: And we have been talking a lot about the James family and their faith, how strong of a faith Kelly had.

Do you think that that influenced the three of these men and the time they spent together and when they would go on the mountain and climb?

STEPHENSON: Yes, ma'am.

you know, I know, for Brian, it was a very kind of a spiritual event for him. You know, people have their different outlets. And, for him, this was his way of, you know, getting up there, saying thank you, and thanks to everything that he had, and all the people that were around him. So, I know, you know, it was a very spiritual thing for him and those guys to do.

PHILLIPS: Fred Stephenson, he will want to see your face when he comes off that mountain. Appreciate you spending time with us.

STEPHENSON: Oh, I will want to -- thank you.

HOLMES: Minicars, maxi-crashes -- which models drive away, and which ones are bound for the scrap heap? A crash course on pint-sized safety just ahead. Fasten your seat belts. We are taking you for a ride here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the last cease-fire didn't last too long -- now word of another cease-fire agreement in Gaza.

We want to head to our Ben Wedeman, who is joining us live on the phone now in Gaza. Ben, what can you tell us about this latest one?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, T.J., I can tell you that, just a few minutes ago, the Palestinian president announced that a deal has been reached with the Hamas to stop fighting in Gaza. That deal, that cease-fire, will go into effect at 11:00 local time. That's 36 minutes from now, according to my watch.

This was a deal that was brokered by the Egyptians, we understand, who held intensive talks at the embassy, the Egyptian Embassy, here in Gaza this evening to bring an end to this fighting, which, over the last few days, has left at least 14 people dead and several dozen wounded.

We shall see, however, if they actually can carry out the agreement. After all, it was Sunday midnight, local time, when the last cease-fire went into effect. It lasted probably about 24 hours before it really started to fray. And, today, it collapsed altogether.

HOLMES: Our Ben Wedeman keeping an eye on it for us in Gaza.

And you said it, Ben. We shall see if this one does hold up. Thank you so much, our Ben Wedeman.

PHILLIPS: Social Security recipients, beware. There is a new Internet scam out there targeting your money.

Susan Lisovicz live at the New York Stock Exchange with the details.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

The government says scam artists are going after those who receive Social Security. And there millions of folks who receive Social Security checks.

In October, the Social Security Administration told nearly 49 million Americans they will get a cost-of-living increase of more than 3 percent. Now some of those same people are getting e-mails that mention the cost-of-living increase and appear to come from the government. But they don't.

The e-mails come from crooks who are looking to obtain Social Security and bank account numbers, as well as credit card information. The e-mail instructs the recipient to enter personal information on a Web site or risk losing their Social Security account. That is not true. And the Web site is phony -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, any sense of how widespread the scam is?

LISOVICZ: The Social Security Administration, Kyra, says the e- mails were sent out nationwide. And the agency is investigating. It says it does not e-mail beneficiaries. The agency uses regular e-mail -- regular mail, I should say.

And, of course, as always, be very careful when you're sending out any personal information over e-mail. Make sure you know who is getting it. That's just a general good rule of thumb.

On Wall Street, well, we have had something of a comeback here. A report released one hour before the opening bell showed that last month's inflation on wholesale jumped by the largest monthly amount in more than 30 years -- the main reason, sharply higher energy prices. And, if prices are passed on to consumers, spending could be reined in, and corporate profits could take a hit.

But the Dow industrials have bounced back nicely from early selling -- now not only up 39 points, or a third-of-a-percent, actually hit a new intraday high again for the blue chips -- the NASDAQ composite still under a bit of pressure, down about three points, but certainly off the lows, NASDAQ weighed down by a 4 percent drop in Oracle -- the software giant reporting earnings that met expectations, but gave a tepid forecast.

And that is the latest from Wall Street. I will be back in 30 minutes for the closing bell.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Do small cars equal big trouble in accidents? Don't be a dummy, check out our crash test report. That's just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Five dead women in 10 days, now two arrests in 24 hours. CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh is following the hunt for what may be a serial killer or killers in the English port city of Ipswich.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two suspects are in custody. The houses of both are being meticulously searched by forensic teams. Police believe they are rapidly moving in on the killer or killers of five Ipswich area women known as prostitutes in one of the worst serial killings in recent British memory.

STEWART GULL, DETECTIVE CHIEF SUPT.: The 48-year-old man was arrested at his home address in Ipswich at approximately 5:00 a.m. this morning. He has been arrested on suspicion of murdering all five women.

VAN MARSH: The second suspect is thought to live in a home near the red-light district where all five women worked. A blue Ford Modeo car outside the house was taken away earlier Tuesday by police.

But police will not confirm or deny the identity of either suspect. The man arrested at his home on Monday is believed to be 37- year-old local supermarket worker Tom Stephens, shown here in the pictures of himself he posted at MySpace.com. Stephens has courted the British media over the past few days, claiming he was a friend and protector of the girls, as well as a client. One prostitute still working on the streets of Ipswich does not believe he is the killer, but she's scared.

LOU, PROSTITUTE: I could have slept with a serial killer. I mean, business with this man. So that has shocked me, do you know what I mean? I could have been in the house.

VAN MARSH: The bodies of the five prostitutes were found within 11 days of each other. Hundreds of police have been drafted into the area to help with the investigation.

JOHN O'CONNOR, FORMER SCOTLAND YARD OFFICER: What they've got to do as a matter of urgency is to find exactly where the girls were killed and the second thing they haven't got yet is how they were killed. That's not yet known and they are clearly waiting for the toxicology reports to see if in some way they've been overdosed or administered some form of drug.

VAN MARSH: Both locations are still cordoned off and are being investigated by forensic teams. Police hoping that the evidence collected at these scenes will help them solve the case. Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Ipswich, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: An unscheduled stop for an El train in Chicago. The orange line train was bound for Midway Airport to the loop when the last car derailed. The reason? Still don't know. It ended up crossways in the track, but not in any danger of toppling over. Because the track is elevated, rescue workers had to use cherry pickers and ladders to reach the two dozen local passengers.

No word on serious injuries. You're looking at a live picture of how that thing is still going, trying to rescue the car, more so than rescue people at this point. But there is a live look at it. No word still on when the track will be cleared.

PHILLIPS: It's the subcompact compact. What you gain in gas mileage, you give up in leg room and cargo space. Fair enough? But do tiny car owners and passengers also sacrifice safety? Our Brianna Keilar checks the results of some crash tests.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Small cars can save you big money at the pump. But they could cost you dearly in a crash. Driver death rates in so-called mini cars are more than double that of midsize and large cars.

ADRIAN LUND, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: If you're in a small light-weight vehicle like those mini cars and you get hit from behind, almost everything that hits you is larger and heavier, which means, on average, your crashes are more severe than what the other people are seeing.

So it's more important that you have good safety equipment to protect you.

KEILAR: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety measures vehicle safety on a four part scale, from good to poor.

Overall, the Hyundai Accent and the Kia Rio fared the worst, with an acceptable rating for front crash tests but the worst possible rating for side and rear impacts.

(on camera): The popular Mini Cooper gets average scores overall. A top-rating for front crashes and acceptable for side impacts and the lower, marginal score for rear crashes.

(voice-over): The Scion SB earned a good score for front impacts but a poor for side crashes. The barrier used in the test penetrated far enough into the Scion to hit the dummy driver's head. The Scion also earned a marginal for the rear crash test.

The Nissan Versa earned the best score of all. It was the only car to get top ratings in all three crash tests. But there's a catch. Technically, it's not a mini car. It's a small car that's marketed with the minis.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It was something no child should have to witness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was terrible, real terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Look at that, what in the world?

PHILLIPS: Psycho on a snowman.

HOLMES: How can you do this to a snowman?

PHILLIPS: That's just jacked up.

HOLMES: A homeowner is frosted after his yard display is repeatedly attacked. We'll tell you how he nabbed the perps. You know, we in the NEWSROOM, we just hate those humbugs and we're going after them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Jacqui Jeras, so many of us enjoying the warm places when it's supposed to be cold, well, we're going to lose it.

(WEATHER REPORT) PHILLIPS: Within the past hour, we reported the developing news out of the Washington. The vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney, called in to be a defense witness in the CIA leak trial. John King following it for us. What do we know, John?

JOHN KING, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Kyra, we know now that the defense, Scooter Libby's lawyers made it clear today that they do plan to call Vice President Dick Cheney as a witness. That guarantees some potential high-stakes legal drama early in the new year.

Mr. Libby's trial scheduled to begin on January 16th. He is charged not with being the original source of the leak in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case, but he is charged with lying to investigators trying to find out if somebody high in the Bush Administration did disclose that Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative.

That investigation at the time trying to find out if it was disclosed because her husband, then former ambassador Joe Wilson, was a critic of the Administration going into Iraq.

The charges are a bit confusing but in court today after the prosecution said it did not plan to call the vice president, the defense attorney Ted Wells said it did. Scooter Libby's lawyers saying it does plan now to call the vice president as a witness when the trial gets under way in January.

Very rare. We can't find a reference in history to a vice president testifying at an ongoing criminal trial while still in office. This is something thought that has been hinted at in court proceedings over the past several months and something I asked the vice president about back six months ago in an interview at his residence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: John, I'm not going to comment on the case. I might be called as a witness. Scooter Libby obviously, one of the finest men I've ever known. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence and I have not made any comments on the case up till now and I won't.

KING: Let me ask you one question -- one more question about that. You say you may be called as a witness. The president urged everyone very early on to cooperate in this investigation. Does that mean if you are called as a witness, that the administration would under no circumstances cite any privileges either to shield you from testifying about certain issues or protect certain documents or anything like that?

CHENEY: You're getting into a hypothetical now and I'm not able to answer that. We have cooperated fully with the investigation from day one.

KING: Let me ask you another question ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A statement also this afternoon from Lee Ann McBride, she is the vice president's spokeswoman. They are aware of this development in court today. Lee Ann telling this to CNN: "We have cooperated fully in this matter and will continue to do so. In fairness to the parties involved and as we have stated previously, we are not going to comment further on a legal proceeding."

So, again, Kyra, the vice president, now we are told, officially on the Libby defense witness list. The trial scheduled to begin January 16th. It adds up to some legal and political drama. The vice president testifying presumably in support of his former chief of staff. Though again his charge was lying to investigators in the CIA leak case.

One of Scooter Libby's constant defense themes has been that if he said things that were wrong. If he said things that were inaccurate it was not because he was deliberately lying it was because he was so overwhelmed and so busy at the time.

So, look for them to call the vice president to support that argument that Scooter Libby was a key member of the Bush national security team. That they were heading into the deliberations about war in Iraq and otherwise and if he said things that were wrong, he simply made a mistake. He was not trying to deliberately trying to lie to prosecutors.

But again quite a rare site it will be -- the vice president of the United States, unless things change, walking into court next month -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll follow it. John King, thanks.

HOLMES: Racism, past and present. CNN's Keith Oppenheim goes back to Vidor, Texas. That's that small town featured this month on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" and the town is not too thrilled with all of the attention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought this would be a good opportunity to be able to show the country that areas can change.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Hopkins, Mayor of Vidor, Texas, told us he wanted to defend his city's reputation. My original story reported that Vidor's present was haunted by its past. That, to this day, many blacks who live outside Vidor still associate it with the Ku Klux Klan, still think of it as the place where blacks were once warned not to be caught after dark.

BEAMON MINTON, ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONER: We were trying to live down something from 40 to 50 years ago and once convicted, you're a convicted felon, you know? You can never put that aside.

OPPENHEIM: City officials argued the perceptions were outdated and even though they have you African-Americans currently live in Vidor, the city has made great strides, that attitudes have largely changed and they were angered by the story's inclusion of this area resident who said she wanted separation from blacks.

PEGGY FRUGE, VIDOR, TEXAS: But as far as mingling and eating with them and all that kind of stuff, I mean, that's where I draw the line.

OPPENHEIM: Despite his unhappiness with the story, Mayor Hopkins was in favor of taking part in a live town meeting in Vidor moderated by CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are new developments tonight regarding the national attention that's being given to Vidor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The city is calling off the town hall meeting.

OPPENHEIM: But by Saturday morning, it was front page news, city officials changed their minds. Mayor Hopkins told us he was under the impression the audience would be made up of Vidor residents only.

JOE HOPKINS, MAYOR, VIDOR, TEXAS: I thought it was going to focus on Vidor and what strides Vidor has made.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): But in fairness, how can one talk about racism if one doesn't include communities from outside the city, especially given that Vidor is mostly white?

HOPKINS: I don't understand how people who don't live in Vidor are qualified to speak about what happens in Vidor.

OPPENHEIM: Vidor officials say they were also concerned about security and the number of seats the city would be given for their own invited guests.

HOPKINS: Seeing how the original report ended up being presented over the air, no, I didn't feel like we were going to be given a fair shake by CNN at any point during this process.

OPPENHEIM: Some residents were clearly backing the city's decision. Others wondered if Vidor was missing an opportunity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the town of Vidor needs to come together and show everyone, especially with it being CNN, nationwide. That's not us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And here to tell us more about that town hall meeting that will go ahead tonight, CNN's Paula Zahn, she's in Beaumont, Texas. Paula, what do you think? What kind of turnout will it be? Will the mayor be there?

PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: Well, we have just gotten word from the mayor's office and he definitely won't be coming. And as you heard in Keith's piece, that was a decision by not only the mayor, but other representatives of the city government.

But what we will have tonight is over a hundred people on this stage that you see behind me tonight, folks from Vidor, in addition to some of the surrounding communities, including Beaumont, where we are tonight.

We will also have officials from those communities representing all points of views. And in addition to that, some nationally known leaders, including Reverend Al Sharpton who are so familiar with issues of race. So it should be a very lively discussion.

I'm sure, at some points, it will be raw. I just had a very interesting cab ride here, which I think gives us a sense of what to expect tonight. A black man who moved here from Michigan and he said while he has encountered some very minor things in Vidor, he does think the town may have, in just a few people, vestiges of its sundown law passed, but for the most part, he says he has always been treated with respect. So I think you're going to hear a little bit of everything tonight.

PHILLIPS: Well, you hit a hot topic, obviously because when you first did this program, this discussion, so many people tuned in and you kind of stayed on this momentum because people were demanding it.

It really sends out a message that what you're doing is something that people, not only in Vidor, but all across the country are talking about constantly.

ZAHN: Yes, and this was all set off by Michael Richards' horrible comments when he went on that rant at that comedy club and it got us all thinking on our staff just how common is this in America, how much under the surface does this kind of hate go?

And, tonight, you'll see us take a look at some of the other sundown towns in America. And these were towns, of course, where blacks and, in some cases, Jews were told never to show their faces after dark.

These laws or any sort of enforcement of them are long gone, but, clearly, there have been major scars caused by that and not just in Vidor, Texas but other towns in America and we'll see that tonight.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll be watching. Paula Zahn, thanks so much.

ZAHN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And to let you all know, "OUT IN THE OPEN: RACISM IN AMERICA," Paula Zahn continues to tackle this issue tonight at 8:00 p.m., town hall meeting, you won't want to miss it.

HOLMES: All right. We want to head over to our Jacqui Jeras who is keeping an eye on Washington state and Mount St. Helens is getting our attention again.

What's she saying, Jacqui?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: All right, Jacqui, thank you so much. Always interesting to see fun pictures to see that mountain do its thing sometimes.

PHILLIPS: We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We take you back to a live picture in Washington state. Mount St. Helens is what you're looking at. You see that smoke coming from the top there because it's setting off a little eruption here.

It's being described as a small eruption still, but a gorgeous picture nonetheless, always at least to get to look at this. And it's been -- you know, it gets our attention every now and then but this one is being described as a small eruption. Keeping an eye on it. We'll see what else comes of it, but nice to look at nonetheless.

PHILLIPS: We're also keeping an eye on Wolf Blitzer.

HOLMES: Yes, I thought you were going to say he was nice to look at. I'm not going to throw that line in there.

PHILLIPS: Actually, Wolf knows he is a handsome -- oh, hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, guys. Thanks very much for that.

Coming up at the top of the hour, the clash over Iraq. Are the White House and the nation's top military brass at odds over sending more U.S. troops to Iraq?

And are Democrats actually divided over adding more troops? I will be speaking live with Congressman John Murtha, the outspoken representative from Pennsylvania.

Plus, call it a turf battle. Is John McCain trying to one-up Rudy Giuliani in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination?

And from the White House to the courtroom, Vice President Cheney will be called as a defense witness in the CIA leak trial of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Details on these stories and a lot more coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

In the meantime, back to you guys

PHILLIPS: Wolf, are you blushing beneath that beard?

BLITZER: I was.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Caught on tape, the brutal stabbing of Frosty the Snowman.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was terrible. Real terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes, this is terrible. Who does that? Who -- they got some issues. These are two 18-year-olds now under arrest in Ohio. Police say a hidden camera caught them, as you can see there, taking screwdrivers to an inflated display in Matt Willyket's (ph) front yard.

Sunday's stabbing was actually the third offense. Instead of just patching up Frosty one more time, Matt stashed a camera in a nearby tree and this is what he caught. Willyket will patch up Frosty and reinflate him once again, but sooner or later, Frosty is going to succumb to his wounds, I think.

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