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Anti-War Protests in the Nation's Capital; New War Plan Derided
Aired January 27, 2007 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rick Sanchez.
You are now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's first catch you up on some of the headlines.
Now in the news, a police chief and at least a dozen others killed in a suicide bombing near a Pakistani mosque. Another 60 people were wounded. Several thousand Shiite Muslims were in or near the mosque at the time.
Also, high level talks about the situation in Iraq. President Bush is speaking with Iraq's prime minister by phone today. A statement from Nouri Al-Maliki's office said that the discussion focused on political and security developments.
Also, thousands of people filled the Nation Mall today for a protest against the Iraq War. Speakers included actresses Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Protesters want Congress to cut funding for the war.
The Pentagon tested its missile defense shield over the Pacific Ocean. They fired a dummy warhead from an ocean platform and then sent out an interceptor missile to try and destroy it like that. Remember, it's missile against missile in that. We'll be talking more about it.
Also, a federal judge rejects a proposed insurance settlement for some Gulf Coast residents. State Farm had agreed to pay millions to Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi. The judge says he doesn't have enough information to determine whether the settlement was fair enough.
We begin with this this hour -- it's the sound of dissent. In the streets of Washington a cold wind roared and rocked. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched from the U.S. Capitol, where Congress looks poised to challenge President Bush on his plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Live from Washington now, here's CNN's Gary Nurenberg.
He's been following these developments throughout the day.
Who's there -- Gary?
Who are these protesters, if you could somehow try and characterize them for us?
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I talked to a grandmother from Maine who came down just for the event today. I talked to some schoolchildren from Connecticut. I talked to a man who left New England years ago and now lives in Colorado. All of them united in their opposition to the war.
With Congress slated to take under consideration anti-war legislation resolutions within the next several days, demonstrators wanted to make a point. And as this day of protest ends, they're saying on that point, mission accomplished.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: Here's the way that George explains our mission in Iraq, they tried to kill my daddy so I had to hit them back.
NURENBERG (voice-over): Those singers call themselves "The Raging Grannies." They were among tens of thousands of demonstrators who rallied on the Nation Mall, demanding an end to the war and protesting President Bush's plan to send additional American troops to Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, Uncle Sam!
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Hey, hey, Uncle Sam!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We remember Vietnam!
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: We remember Vietnam!
NURENBERG: The comparison to peace rallies to end another war 40 years ago were a constant theme among demonstrators who want to end the war in Iraq.
REP. JOHN CONYERS (D), MICHIGAN: We stopped the war in Vietnam, didn't we?
NURENBERG: One notable opponent of the Vietnam War said her appearance today was the first at an anti-war rally in 34 years.
JANE FONDA, ACTRESS: I'm so sad that we still have to do this, that we did not learn the lessons from the Vietnam War.
NURENBERG: Fonda's presence brought a couple of dozen counter- demonstrators to an event at the Navy Memorial.
Supporters of the president's policies see the demonstration as counter-productive.
CLIFFORD MAY, FEDERATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: There's something they don't understand. Ho Chi Minh, at his worst, never thought he was going to send suicide bombers to America to kill American children. The people we're fighting in Iraq, they intend to do that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we want?
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Democracy!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do we want it?
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Now!
NURENBERG: The March on the Capitol is just the first stop for many of the demonstrators, who plan to stay in town to lobby Congressional representatives Monday before what could be the first test vote on an anti-war resolution. The White House issued a statement saying of President Bush, he understands that Americans want to see a conclusion to the war in Iraq and the new strategy is designed to do just that.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NURENBERG: Rick asked a moment ago, who are these people?
Thirty-two hundred families representing military families were here today and they received some of the biggest applause as they voiced their opposition to the war, some of them with the approval of their loved ones serving in Iraq, some of them without that approval.
But nonetheless, they were the speakers, Rick, in my view, anyway, that received the loudest applause when they spoke today.
SANCHEZ: All right. And a lot of it is the same world, I mean the same people that we've seen as activists in these wars in the past. But there was a little bit of something different this time, at least as it was sold, and that was that there would be active duty military members at this protest.
Was that true? Did you see any?
NURENBERG: Yes, the wire services report that they talked to some active duty military members. We did not. We looked around for them. There were not in great evidence and we didn't see them from the stage where many of the speeches were given today.
SANCHEZ: Right.
NURENBERG: So there were reports that there were some here, only a handful, we're told, but we personally didn't run into any.
SANCHEZ: All right, thanks so much.
Gary Nurenberg bringing you the very latest there from Washington, from the bureau, as you can see.
Thanks, Gary.
Well, there's another path of dissent the president is going to be dealing with this week. It's not going to come from protesters. It's going to come from Capitol Hill, politicians like himself. This coming week, Mr. Bush is likely to face the most serious show of Congressional unease since we launched the war nearly four years ago.
For more on the White House reaction to what they expect to hear and see, here's CNN's Kathleen Koch following this one for us -- Kathleen, what you got?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, there certainly is frustration here at the White House because Congress did not for one second heed President Bush's State of the Union call to give his new Iraq plan a chance. Almost immediately, senators began debating these non-binding resolutions -- there are several of them out there -- that would basically condemn the troop increase. A test vote one of those could come as soon as Tuesday.
But President Bush is pushing forward. Speaking this morning to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about conditions in Baghdad, efforts to secure the city, according to National Security Council Spokesman Gordon Johndroe, the two men "reaffirmed their mutual commitment to move forward."
President Bush insisted in a speech Friday in nearby Maryland that winning the war in Iraq is critical to keeping Americans safe here at home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I also appreciate you understanding that we're still a nation at war. You know, when I talked to the country the other night, I wish I could have reported differently. But it's not the truth and it's not the reality.
There's an enemy out there that would still like to strike us. And as I said, and I know most of you believe, the best way to defend this country is to stay on the offense and bring the enemy to justice before they hurt us again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is just back in the U.S. from a trip to Baghdad, leading a Congressional delegation there, has put out a press release calling for U.S. forces to switch from their current role in Iraq to instead focus on training force protection and board control.
Pelosi says there must be a political, not a military solution to the war in Iraq. And she's a long time critic of the war, but she does not support any resolutions that would try to block the president's troop increase by cutting off funding for U.S. forces, Rick. She draws the line there.
SANCHEZ: All right, and, to a certain extent, we're going to be hearing, really, from a Congress with two choices, because there's really a -- in terms of what I heard this week -- a Republican proposal and a Democrat proposal, as well, right?
They're both going to be critical to the president but coming from two different directions.
KOCH: Well, there are numerous proposals and, again, we had heard that there could be a test vote as soon as Tuesday. We're hearing now that it could be pushed to Thursday or even to the following week because Congress is still very much tied up debating the controversial minimum wage increase. Many say that's long overdue. But, again, others contend that it will hurt small businesses.
SANCHEZ: Something the Democrats have been pushing for.
KOCH: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: We thank you so much, Kathleen Koch.
KOCH: You bet.
SANCHEZ: And we follow the troops on their way to war, we follow them in Iraq, we follow them in Afghanistan. Now we're following them after they come home. Monday on CNN, a special "A.C. 360" live from San Antonio.
Anderson is going to take us inside the amazing place that rebuilds troops' spirits and bodies. CNN Monday night at 10:00 Eastern.
We want to talk now about the Iraq War's climbing death toll. Today, three more U.S. soldiers were killed north of Baghdad. The military says the soldiers were on a security escort mission when a bomb detonated near their vehicle.
In the Iraqi capital, a brutal attack on a crowded market. And several grim discoveries, as well.
CNN's Arwa Damon is following the story.
she's got the latest now from Baghdad.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The violence here just serving to underscore how dangerous even the simplest attacks can be. Twin explosions at a busy marketplace killed at least 15 Iraqis and wounded another 55; the first a suicide car bomber; the second coming minutes later, a vehicle packed with explosives.
And Iraqi police found 40 unidentified bodies strewn throughout the capital, believed to be the latest victims of sectarian violence.
Iraq's heavily fortified green zone was hit by two rockets, wounding at least two people just days after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, from the very same location, urged lawmakers to support what he is saying is going to be in his plan to together all militias and insurgent groups. But one of the cornerstones for the Iraqi government to be able to implement this plan is going to be the reestablishment of trust, trust between the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people, between the Iraqi people and their own security forces.
That's why the Iraqi government has got to start trusting its own members, which seems to be proving very challenging.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
SANCHEZ: Tonight, I'm going to take a look at a bloody battle going on in Iraq. It's "The Battle for Haifa Street." We're going to take you inside and actually show you what the soldiers are doing, thinking, saying as they're fighting this war. And then on Sunday at 7:30 Eastern. You'll see it only right here on CNN.
Justice delayed, but finally not denied. Ahead in THE NEWSROOM, an innocent man freed after more than 22 years in prison. Hillary on the campaign trail a year before the caucuses. Another Clinton tries a run for the White House, and it's through Iowa.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each one of these individuals knew that they were part of something much bigger than themselves.
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SANCHEZ: It's a tragic loss that nearly derailed America's space program. Finding the need to explore the final frontier.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL PARSONS, SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: We remember not only our lost crew members of Apollo, but the men and women of Challenger and Columbia and all of those who lost their lives in the quest to explore. They were our family, our friends and our colleagues and it's necessary that we remember and honor their sacrifice not just every year, but every day, as we go about the critical work to fund to send heroes to explore our universe.
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SANCHEZ: That is Bill Parsons, the director of the Kennedy Space Center, remembering guys like Virgil "Gus" Grisson, Ed White, Roger Chaffee, the crew of Apollo One. That's right Apollo. It's the time, for those of us a little bit old enough to remember the space program, where things were not so exact, where every time we watched a rocket burn up, we wondered whether it would come back. Forty years ago, fire broke out in the command module during a routine launch pad test. The fire spread quickly and the pure oxygen used in the module quickly killed all the three men.
It's a solemn week for NASA. Sunday is the 21st anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Thursday marks four years since the Columbia accident, as well.
Well, since its earliest days, the space program has exacted a high price from our explorers.
Our John Zarrella joins us from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Here's the report he filed for us moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lowell Grissom came to honor his brother and the crew of Apollo One.
LOWELL GRISSOM, BROTHER OF ASTRONAUT: They were all outstanding people.
ZARRELLA: After 40 years, Martha Chaffee was just glad her husband was still being remembered.
MARTHA CHAFFEE, WIFE OF ASTRONAUT ROGER CHAFFEE: I think Roger gave his life for something he believed in and I guess my only other regret is that he didn't get to fly. You know, that was his -- his dream and he really didn't get to perform his dream. But he led others to go there, so.
ZARRELLA: Going to the moon was a dream Give us Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee never fulfilled. At the Kennedy Space Center, family and friends came to honor their memories.
They died on January 27th, 1967 when a fire raced through their Apollo One spacecraft as they prepared for a simulated launch countdown. They were the first astronauts to die in a spacecraft accident.
GRISSOM: Gus was a pioneer and, you know, anything that stretches the imagination, technology, I think you'd say it's worth it and we've got to keep doing those things.
ZARRELLA: Now, four decades after Grissom, White and Chaffee gave their lives in the pursuit of landing a man on the moon, there are plans to go back. It's about time, says John Young.
JOHN YOUNG, ASTRONAUT: I wish we were still on the moon, for example, you know? I'm not proud of it. I'm not glad that we're not.
ZARRELLA: Young, who walked on the moon and drove the Lunar Rover, believes humans must move outward no matter the risks. YOUNG: Some of the primate species don't last. That's, you know, that's what the historical geological record is. We've got to get people off this planet and get them to live and to work in outer space and we've got to find the technology to do that to save the people on this planet here their own home.
ZARRELLA: And the next time humans go to the moon, it won't be a few short trips.
PARSONS: We're going to go back to the moon and we're going to build an outpost. We're going to learn how to -- how to live on the moon so that we can go further out and explore.
ZARRELLA: To explore -- it is the reason three astronauts took the risk and gave their lives 40 years ago.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, in just about one hour from now, in a private ceremony out at Launch Pad 34, which is where the accident took place 40 years ago, there will be a private ceremony for a families only to mark that event, that tragic event some 40 years ago -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: How important, John, was this program in getting to the moon?
In other words, if it were not for this incident, would we have gotten there?
ZARRELLA: Probably not. Certainly not in the 1960s. Everyone that we've ever talked to, from launch directors to astronauts, will tell you that the Apollo One fire and the hiatus that followed the fire forced NASA to re-evaluate the spacecraft.
You mentioned the pure oxygen. After the accident, they switched over from a pure oxygen mixture to a 60-40 oxygen/nitrogen. They
redid the hatch, which the astronauts unfortunately couldn't open to escape the fire. After the accident, it was made so that the hatch would open in 10 seconds.
Rewiring of the entire Apollo space capsule and encasing them in fire resistant materials.
So much was done to change the entire Apollo program, and, in fact, Rick, many would tell you, including the astronauts on Apollo 13, that had it not been for the changes made after Apollo One, the end of the Apollo 13 mission might not have been a happy one -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting, my mother always told me -- not far from where you live there in Florida -- she always said sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward.
That's the kind of the case here, isn't it?
ZARRELLA: Yes. That's exactly what happened, taking a step backward to take a step forward. And, again, had it not been for those steps backward, certainly would not have made it to the moon in 1969, just less than -- or a little more than two years after the accident.
SANCHEZ: Interesting analysis, as usual.
John Zarrella, thanks so much for bringing that to us.
ZARRELLA: My pleasure.
SANCHEZ: A stunning accident in Michigan. Look at these pictures. It's like the vehicle is still bobbing in the water. Two men were in this car when it crashed through the ice right into the Detroit River. They weren't hurt, but neither spoke English -- by the way, neither one of them had a driver's license. There's a strange predicament to be in.
They were turned over to the Border Patrol.
Reynolds Wolf is here with the details, perhaps not on that accident, but he can explain to us the conditions that cause something like that.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, icy conditions up there in Detroit.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Internet games are not just about entertainment anymore. Some are trying to change your kids' eating habits.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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SANCHEZ: Power brokers at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland are focusing now on aid to Africa. Governments from some of the richest countries are promising to help the beleaguered continent fight poverty and disease somehow.
Becky Anderson has more now on the conference from Davos.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It seems the perfect opportunity to shed light on some of Africa's trouble spots. In fact, few other events generate a lineup like this -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair cozying up to rock star Bono; Hollywood's golden couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, listening in.
It was in 1970 that founder Klaus Schwab had the idea to pull together the world's movers and shakers for an annual schmooze fest.
But what does this slippery Swiss mountain resort really have to offer Africa? KLAUS SCHWAB, FOUNDER, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: Here is the place where once a year, in a multi-state country platform, we come together and you reflect on the state of the world and hopefully you are able to improve the state of the world.
ANDERSON: Three African heads of state were on the guest list this year.
But, at Davos, news is more often made about Africa than by Africans. It was here in 2002 that Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced a $50 million contribution to the fight against AIDS on the continent. And it was at Davos last year that Irish rock star Bono told the world Africa was not a cause, but an emergency.
Bono was joined by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the British prime minister, Tony Blair, who announced Britain would contribute some $85 million to buy malaria nets in Africa.
High level meetings like these have set the bar for just what delegates at Davos can hope to achieve.
GED DAVIS, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: It's an opportunity for us to bring you a side of that continent that I think doesn't get a showing. The opportunities on that continent are immense. The challenge now is to find that course.
ANDERSON: Since the turn of the millennium, the focus has shifted toward globalization and how business can help improve the state of the world. There may be a lot of money pledged to good causes, but this is a meeting that is synonymous with corporate might. It takes 5,000 troops and $5.5 million to protect the Davos elite.
The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) critics of this is very firmly an invitation only jamboree. Anyone with a sniff of anti-globalization to them will be turned away the at the door.
Becky Anderson, CNN, Davos.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
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SANCHEZ: As we told you right here first when she made her announcement a couple of weeks ago, she's in to win. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking her message to a crucial group of voters today -- Iowans.
Our Candy Crowley is on the campaign trail.
She's joining us now from Des Moines.
This is a very big hurdle, is it not -- Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. I mean it's hard to overstate the importance of Iowa to a candidate and this is Hillary Clinton's first trip here. Now, she likes to say listen, we want the best qualified person to become the president. But it was obvious from the questions she got here from the audience today that many were interested in her views as a female candidate.
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CROWLEY (voice-over): Anybody looking for a different kind of campaign from a woman should have been at Democratic Party headquarters in Des Moines.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: But I also believe that when you are attacked, you have to deck your opponent.
CROWLEY: Senator Hillary Clinton may be the last of the big name pillars to show up in Iowa, but when she finally got here, it was, at ever level, a tour de force.
(VIDEO CLIP FROM CAMPAIGN APPEARANCE)
CROWLEY: This was not your standard have a cup of coffee with a dozen people in the living room kind of campaigning one generally sees in Iowa. Rarely, if ever, have so many shown up so early with so much enthusiasm.
CLINTON: I stopped at the overflow room and another gymnasium and the principal told me there were a thousand people there. And I was so sorry that they couldn't get in here, but we would have had to layer people on top of you. I didn't think that was a good idea.
CROWLEY: She packed them into a high school gym to converse on subjects ranging from foster care -- she favors nationalized regulations -- to health care. She wants universal coverage. She talked about being a woman.
CLINTON: I don't think I'm the only woman here who feels that sometimes you have to work even harder.
CROWLEY: She talked about whether the country is ready for a woman president.
CLINTON: I don't think we'll know until we try.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was very impressed with her presentation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was impressed with how she handled the questions and her -- the topic.
CROWLEY: Her celebrity status serves her well, drawing in the crowds, pumping up the volume. But the polls show she has work to do outside this room of the entranced. Several Iowa state polls in past months have shown Clinton running behind John Edwards. Clinton aides attribute that to the fact that she has not been in the state and Edwards has been here many times.
(END VIDEO TAPE) CROWLEY: There is, of course, plenty of time for her to make up that gap. It is just about, Rick, one year until the Iowa caucuses.
SANCHEZ: I almost think, Candy, she'd have like the Super Bowl effect.
You know all those people who never watch a football game during the entire season, but then they sit down to watch the Super Bowl at the end of the season?
CROWLEY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: People who are maybe not in for politics, but, boy, if she's in town, you know Hillary Clinton is going to gather a crowd.
I guess the question then would be because they show up and she'll always gather a big crowd, will that translate into big votes?
CROWLEY: No, absolutely not. And you're right. And, in fact, it is -- a lot of the people that I talked to said we're here to listen. We haven't made up our minds. You heard the two people in the piece saying that I was really impressed, but they're not necessarily ready to vote for her.
There are plenty of people here that come through here, presidential candidates. And Iowa, like New Hampshire, is one of those places that likes to talk to their candidates several times before they make up their minds.
You're right, it's the celebrity that drives them in. But it's going to be who she is and what she proposes that gets their votes.
SANCHEZ: Candy Crowley, the best in the business.
Thanks so much for sharing that with us.
CROWLEY: Thanks, Rick.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're talking about something that would destroy huge chunks of a large city, that would kill tens of thousands and perhaps millions of people.
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SANCHEZ: What is she talking about?
Nuclear material on the black market. A sting operation led to a potentially lethal weapon. Details on who was selling it; also, how they caught him. That's coming up in just a bit.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Roadside bombs taking another deadly toll in Iraq. The military reported today that seven more U.S. troops have been killed by the homemade devices since Thursday. Those deaths happened in Baghdad, also in Diyala. That's the province there.
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TIM ROBBINS, ACTOR, PROTESTOR: Over 3,000 dead, over 50,000 wounded. Thou shalt not kill or needlessly risk the lives of Iraqi civilians.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's actor Tim Robbins there, he's one of the many voices protesting the war in Iraq today. Tens of thousands gathered on the National Mall, calling for an end to the bloodshed. Meanwhile the White House is reacting to those protests. The National Security Council spokesperson Gordon Johndroe says and we quote here, "The president believes that the right to free speech is one of the greatest freedoms in our country. He understands that Americans want to see a conclusion to the war in Iraq and the new strategy is designed to do just that."
Arizona police are requesting a registered sex offender in the abduction and assault of a 6-year-old girl. George Richard Horner was arrested earlier today. Police say the girl was taken from her home earlier yesterday and was later found walking on a rural road.
On a day when peace advocates are holding a huge rally in Washington, there's been more deadly violence in Iraq. Two car bombs exploded minutes apart. It was a busy market in Baghdad, it killed 15 people, injured 55 more. Gunmen dressed as Iraqi police abducted seven people from a Baghdad computer store and south of Baqubah a coalition air strike killed 14 suspected terrorists. Two more were arrested in a morning raid.
We're learning more now about that attack that killed five Americans in Karbala just a week ago. Here now CNN's Tom Foreman.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details suggest the attack in Karbala was precise, well rehearsed and very different from the assault the Pentagon first described. 5:00 in the afternoon, a dozen American troops are reviewing security plans for an upcoming Shia pilgrimage to two important shrines. And a dozen gunmen wearing uniforms much like the Americans are heading straight toward them. They travel in a convoy of at least five American-made SUVs, such as those used by high level military brass. Three times, the gunmen stop at Iraqi checkpoints, three times, they apparently pass themselves off as Americans and are waved through. When they reach the compound where U.S. troops are working, they unleash gunfire and explosives.
Five U.S. soldiers were killed, the governor of the town first reports, but the Defense Department now says only one American soldier is killed on the spot. Four others are abducted. The convoy speeds away, outside town the kidnappers hit another checkpoint. Iraqi police let them through again, but suspicious, start following them. The convoy heads east, then north, and finally, the insurgents abandon their vehicles. The Pentagon says two American soldiers are found handcuffed together dead in the back of one SUV. Each shot through the head. A third is dead on the ground nearby and a fourth found alive dies on the way to a hospital. It is a much more complex story than the first version from the military.
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I've just been made aware of the discrepancy in the account and I've asked for the specifics about it.
FOREMAN: This tactic of enemies posing as friends is not new. Two years ago, a suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi soldier struck a mess tent. In Saudi Arabia when terrorists hit a U.S. compound, they even made a training tape showing how they painted an SUV to look like a police car. Military analysts say this attack was exceedingly well planned. Pat Lang is retired from military intelligence.
COL. PAT LANG, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Whoever was involved in this is a professional who really knew how to do this.
FOREMAN: But investigators still want to know if the kidnappers had help from someone the Americans trusted, someone on the inside. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We're going to link you up globally now. Scotland Yard is where we begin keeping mum on the British media reports about the poisoning of a former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. The British media says that investigators have identified a suspect as well as a poison teapot, get this that may have been used in the killing and has been used since.
In Kenya the fatal carjacking of two women riding in a U.S. embassy car. It happened earlier today just outside the capital of Nairobi. The "Associated Press" is quoting Kenyan officials as saying two of the suspects were later shot and killed by police.
North Korea is angrily denying reports it's sharing nuclear secrets with Iran. A British newspaper said Young Pang is actually helping Tehran prepare for a nuclear test. North Korean officials dismiss the report calling it a bid to mislead public opinion.
A uranium sting, officials in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia announced just this week that they have arrested a Russian man who is trying to sell weapons grade uranium to an undercover agent. This news comes as the U.S. is spending millions to try and make sure that Russian-made uranium stays out of the hands of terrorists, even pumping money into places like parts of the old Soviet Republic to make sure that it's secure. Well maybe it hasn't worked. Here is CNN's Kelli Arena.
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KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eastern Germany, in the dead of night, unmarked cargo is loaded on to a truck to be air shipped to Russia. Nearly 600 pounds of one of the most lethal materials on earth, highly enriched uranium, enough to make up to 10 nuclear bombs.
LINTON BROOKS, FMR. NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMIN.: Particularly suited for the crudest and simplest types of weapons. It's a particular attraction to the terrorists.
ARENA: The operation between Germany, Russia and the United States was top secret.
THOMAS HERBST, DRESDEN POLICE: The exact time of the transport, the exact hour was kept secret to the last minute. This is important simply because of security measures.
ARENA: The transfer is a high point for the U.S. program to secure the world's nuclear materials, which has been harshly criticized by some for not moving fast enough.
LAURA HOLGATE, NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE: We don't have enough partners. There are roles to play for a number of other countries whose have nuclear capabilities or who have resources.
ARENA: This latest haul was taken from a research facility that used to be East Germany to secure storage in Russia upgraded with tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. It's a worthwhile investment say officials if it helps prevent terrorists or rogue states from getting a nightmare weapon.
HOLGATE: We're talking about something that would destroy huge chunks of a large city that would kill tens of thousands and perhaps millions of people.
ARENA: The plan now is to mix the uranium with other materials so that it's no longer weapons grade. To date more than a thousand pounds of weapons grade uranium has been returned to Russia but there is still much more out there.
HOLGATE: The scope of this problem is huge. The U.S. and the Soviets in the '60s and '70s put out something like 50 metric tons of highly enriched uranium.
ARENA: Uranium the countries have to be willing to give up and not all of them are.
BROOKS: We are primarily limited by the fact that these are all cooperative. That is you have to go convince people that they want to reduce the risk and different countries have different senses of the terrorist risk.
ARENA: Then there's small amounts of enriched uranium that have been stolen. No intelligence suggests it's enough to make a weapon, but as one official put it, you don't know what you don't know. What we do know is that another 600 pounds of it is now out of circulation. One step in the battle to secure the world's nuclear material. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the very latest information day and night.
He spent two decades behind bars wrongly convicted of rape. Now exonerated by DNA evidence, Pete Williams adjusts to life on the outside in a world that has changed, well imagine for him immensely.
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PETE WILLIAMS: I haven't gotten used to everybody with phones. Everywhere I look its phones, phones. You know. Unfortunately I don't have one but -- I'll get one.
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SANCHEZ: We're going to talk with the Georgia Innocence Project which has found more innocent men who are unjustly serving time. And then later protecting yourself against criminals who steal your good name and then rob banks blind with it. Identity theft, that's coming up in the NEWSROOM.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Go undercover with Chester Cheetah, swing syrup for points or take a ride on the pop tart (INAUDIBLE). These are the newest internet games young kids are playing. Hours of free entertainment. But these are more than just games. The Kaiser Family Foundation calls them adver games because of the ads and characters pushing food products as kids play.
VICKY RIDEOUT, KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION: As we look at the problems with childhood obesity and as we look at the possible role of food marketing and perhaps helping to address the problem of childhood obesity, we need to be sure we're looking at online food marketing to kids.
GUPTA: A report by the foundation says eight out of the 10 brands that advertise to children on TV, some healthier than others, are now trying to reach kids on the internet. They found 77 unique websites which received 12 million visits from children under the age of 12 in just three months. Three quarters of them feature adver- games. Some critics point to food marketing as one of several reasons American kids are becoming more overweight. The latest government figures show the number of overweight and obese children has risen to 17 percent. That's a steady increase over the last 30 years.
RIDEOUT: The internet is potentially way more powerful than television advertising ever dreamed of being. But it's also way more challenging in terms of any kind of oversight.
GUPTA: Where television ads are regulated in length, internet ads for now are only regulated voluntarily. But advertisers point out that the internet can be used to market healthy food as well as junk food.
DANIEL JAFFE, ASSN. OF NATIONAL ADVERTISERS: I believe that if you really did look at these sites you would find quite a number of foods that are healthy.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you think you were going to be this popular when you got out?
PETE WILLIAMS, CLEARED BY DNA EVIDENCE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think about it?
WILLIAMS: You know what, anything is better compared to where I come from. So, you know, its ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- is there any ill will that you feel about the whole process?
WILLIAMS: Not really because anybody can screw up. You know what I mean? We're all human.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There he is, once a high school super football then this Georgia teen in prison. Superhuman level of understanding from a man behind bars for more than 20 years convicted for a rape that he didn't commit. But thanks in part to an inquiring law student and a Georgia Innocence Project, other men wrongly convicted like Pete Williams who you just saw there are now free men. Let's talk about this. Georgia Innocence Project, executive director Amy Maxwell is good enough to join us and also Georgia State University's Cliff Williams. They are joining us here in our Atlanta headquarters. Thanks, guys for coming in. Unsettling case but the thing that makes you think about this is are there others like him out there, Amy?
AMY MAXWELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT: Probably.
SANCHEZ: You got to figure there's got to be at least one or two. But I mean, are there enough for us to be concerned that there are really good people like you out there that need to be out there looking for them.
MAXWELL: Well in the past probably 15 years 194 people in -- across the country have been exonerated using DNA, six people here in Georgia. Pete makes the sixth person in Georgia exonerated.
SANCHEZ: You almost said Cliff Williams. MAXWELL: I did, Cliff Williams.
SANCHEZ: Pete Williams, you worked for him. Know his case very well, right?
CLIFF WILLIAMS, GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT VOLUNTEER: Correct.
SANCHEZ: Why him? How did you find him?
C. WILLIAMS: Well he wrote to us back in June 2005 and we had a number of letters back and forth between us and him.
SANCHEZ: Let me just stop you there, because I've been a news reporter for an awful long time and if I can tell you right now I probably have 100,000 letters from people who are behind bars and every single one of them has told me that they are innocent.
C. WILLIAMS: Right.
SANCHEZ: So you got a letter from a guy who says he's innocent, so what?
C. WILLIAMS: When we started looking into the case it became apparent that this was a stranger on stranger attack. The conviction -- the evidence presented at the trial was mainly eyewitness identification.
SANCHEZ: Bottom line they say he raped somebody.
C. WILLIAMS: Right.
SANCHEZ: He didn't rape somebody.
C. WILLIAMS: Correct.
SANCHEZ: And the DNA proves that.
C. WILLIAMS: Correct.
SANCHEZ: Big part of all this is DNA, right Amy?
MAXWELL: Absolutely. It's changed law enforcement. You know, in early '90s they decided, hey, you know this blood test isn't good enough so we want to use DNA. And they're making extremely good arrests and convictions now thanks to DNA. So it's our job now to go back, those cases where they didn't have the benefit of DNA.
SANCHEZ: Is there any characteristic that you find among all these really bad cases that were made against innocent people? Sloppy police work. Any one thing that you see that's a common thread?
MAXWELL: Well, about 80 percent of these cases, 75 to 80 percent involve eyewitness identification. I think it clearly brings up the point that there's a problem with eyewitness identification, it's fallible. SANCHEZ: You mean somebody can stand in a line-up and say that was a person. And if you have enough people around him that look like him they don't really know what the guy looked like, right?
MAXWELL: Well, yeah, I mean human memory is fallible. The way that police officers collect that evidence, you know, they can do it better. And there are scientific ways of doing it now that I think will improve police work.
SANCHEZ: How long in most cases does it take from the moment you made a realization that hey, this guy may be innocent? We have to see if we can get him out, to the point where you actually get him out? How long was it in Pete's case for example?
C. WILLIAMS: In Pete's case I believe it was around -- we found the evidence in July of last year and we got the results back last week.
MAXWELL: About a year and a half.
C. WILLIAMS: Right.
SANCHEZ: Do the prosecutors fight you? I mean you're going back to them and you say I know you prosecuted this case, but you know what, here it is. It wasn't him. That's not his blood, that's not his saliva, that's not his -- do they say, no, sorry, I prosecuted that guy, he stays behind bars. Or do they say you know what, I'm going to work with you.
MAXWELL: Well once they get that test back they are pretty quick to come on board. We do a very, very good job investigating these cases. At least I think we do.
SANCHEZ: Right.
MAXWELL: And when we are able to prove this was not him, they come on board pretty quickly.
SANCHEZ: Because you'd think that they have a sense of ownership over it. After all it's kind of their reputation, their case. But you're saying they don't, they fail.
MAXWELL: Well these particular prosecutors weren't there 21 years ago. So they don't have their own personal stake in that. And they're all very professional, they understand.
SANCHEZ: That's good, that's good to hear. Because you know we have that relationship between prosecutor and defense attorney that sometimes gets in the way. What was it like when you first met him and you were sitting behind bars with him, I imagine, you probably did a jail house interview with him.
C. WILLIAMS: Correct.
SANCHEZ: And when you were talking to him, he was really telling you, I really didn't do this. When you finally came back to him and said you know I think you're right. We have evidence that says you didn't do this. What was the whole dynamic like?
C. WILLIAMS: It was great. He has rather calm because he's obviously known for the last almost 22 years that he was innocent. You know he said his happiest moment was when he knew we had the evidence not when we actually got the results back because he knew at that point that that evidence would be able to clear him.
SANCHEZ: Can you imagine being in prison for that long knowing that you're perfectly guilty and yet everyone saying you're a rapist. It must be very difficult. You guys do some great work for these people, congratulations.
MAXWELL: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: The Georgia Innocence Project. Keep up the good work.
MAXWELL: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern he was once a high school football star. But now this Georgia teen is sitting in prison for 10 years. All because of a law that by the way is no longer on the books, they got rid of it after his case. A closer look in this case and this debate around it tonight at 10:00 p.m. I went behind bars to talk to Genarlow Wilson. We'll bring you his story it may be outrageous justice from the CNN NEWSROOM.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was told that I was under restriction at the time.
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SANCHEZ: Also she couldn't get a credit card but somebody else did by using her name. Could it happen to you? We're going to bring you that story.
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SANCHEZ: How to rob a bank. We're not talking about the old stick them up thing and we're certainly not condoning anything here at CNN. The CNN Special Investigations Unit has been looking into how thieves steal your good name. Our Drew Griffin has one story from an award winning documentary.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David George was a modern day Alchemist, he could turn junk mail into cold cash. Postal inspector Matthew Boyden and Harris County investigator Mike Kelly finally stopped him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably the most prolific criminal I have ever arrested. GRIFFIN: When they searched David George's suburban home, bundles of stolen mail were everywhere, in the drawers, the closets and attic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it had to do with identity theft and credit card fraud we found it at that house.
GRIFFIN: There were credit card applications in the bathroom, and 115 credit cards in every name but David George. Among them, Jessica Durow, 22 years old, a student with a poor credit record.
JESSICA DUROW: I wanted a credit card but I was told that I was under restriction at the time. That I could not apply for any or get any until I had some hospital debts cleared up.
GRIFFIN: But if Jessica couldn't get a card in her name, David George would do it for her. It took a combination of junk mail, a stolen identity, and a phony address. Days later he had a credit card in Jessica's name.
DUROW: Gold, like money.
GRIFFIN: Gold like money for Bank of America. It would charge as much as 64.58 percent in finance charges and interest.
DUROW: That's just ridiculously high. They figure they got a sucker. They should make a ton of money off of that.
GRIFFIN: But in fact it was the other way around.
What would you like to do?
GRIFFIN: David George used the credit card for cash advances, essentially loans, totaling $2,100.
Don't forget to take your cash.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Imagine, somebody doing that with your account, taking your money, getting rich. Don't miss this Emmy award winning documentary, it's called "How to Rob a Bank" from the all new series CNN Special Investigations Unit. It's tonight at 8:00 eastern.
By the way, the latest check of the headlines is coming up in just three minutes.
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