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British Terror Arrests; Options On Iran; Bungled Case; Pilgrims Mark Ashura; Gerri's Top Tips

Aired January 31, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Spend a second hour in the NEWSROOM this morning and stay informed. Here's what's on the rundown.

Police outlining an alleged terror plot. This hour, eight suspects in custody, all accused in a chilling kidnap and torture plot.

COLLINS: Men in white stained with blood on the streets during Ashura. A rare look at the holy festival in Iraq through a security lense (ph).

HARRIS: Get in line and wait. Lots of tourists saying why bother with U.S. airport security hassles. They're going elsewhere and taking billions of dollars with them. It is Wednesday, January 31st. You are in the NEWSROOM.

At the top this hour, terror at a chilling new level. British police arresting eight suspects in what's called a major counter terrorism operation. Those arrests in early morning raids in central England. Grizzly details in the alleged plot are still emerging. CNN's Paula Hancocks with us now from London.

Paula, good morning to you.

First of all, fill us in on some of these gruesome details as we know them.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, what we know so far is basically from security sources telling CNN, widely reported in the British press, that what these alleged perpetrators were planning to do was a kidnapping. An Iraq-style kidnapping. Basically meaning they were going to kidnap a British Muslim soldier serving in Afghanistan. They were going to take him into captivity, torture and behead him and then possibly play this material on the Internet later on.

Now this hasn't been confirmed by officials at this point. We're hoping at some point throughout this hour we will be getting some indication from officials who actually carried out those raids, exactly what they were looking for. But clearly a very significant anti-terrorist operation. And if it does turn out to be this case, that this is a very sinister change in tactic of the kind of terrorist threats that Britain has faced in the past.

Now we know this all happened at about 4:00 this morning, at the crack of dawn. Some houses, some residential areas, also a book shop we're being told from the teams on the ground, and also a mobile phone shop is still being searched. So police still on going with this investigation. And as you say, we know eight people are in custody under those terrorism laws.

Tony.

HARRIS: Paula, just another quick question. Do we have any idea yet where the leads came from that led to this operation? Are we talking tips, undercover operations, maybe monitoring Internet chat rooms?

HANCOCKS: Well, anything I could say would only be assumption I'm afraid. We do understand that the police have been working on this for about six months. And they've got to the point of no return when they realize this plan was so advanced that they had to step in now otherwise it would be carried out.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Paula Hancocks for us in London.

Paula, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Want to get you to some new pictures coming to us live now out of Boston. We've been telling you about this all morning. Northbound lanes of Route 93 -- again that's just north of Boston -- are shut down because of a suspicious package that has been found there. You just saw it moments ago and now we're panning out to the side of it.

But we do know now that the bomb squad is on the scene and they are trying to evaluate the contents of whatever is inside that package. So we want to go ahead and get a look and see what they will do next. Several weeks ago we had a similar situation, if you remember, outside of a school. We were able to watch them detonate the package, which ended up being benign in that case.

But that's what we are looking at here. You see the gentleman with all of his gear on, again, with the bomb squad, trying to evaluate that. Not quite sure what their plan is, but did just want to show you this new video coming in to us here at CNN. Once again, highway 93, or northbound lanes of it north of Boston are closed at the time because of a suspicious package that they are trying to determine the contents of. We'll keep watching it for you.

New questions about Iran's possibly involvement in Iraq and weather Tehran had a role in an attack on U.S. troops. A U.S. official says military investigators are looking into whether Iranians were involved in a daring ambush in Karbala. Five U.S. soldier were killed. An official from another government agency says possible Iranian involvement is a leading theory in the investigation. But both officials stress this is a preliminary view. There has been no final conclusion as of yet. Concerns about possible Iranian involvement stem from the level of sophistication and coordination behind the attack.

HARRIS: Stern warnings aimed at Iran, but what can the Bush administration do to put some bite behind its tough words? CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The U.S. has recently deployed more firepower to the Gulf, including a second aircraft carrier. But finding the right targets in Iran, where aid to Iraqi militants could be coming from, might be a challenge. One alternative, according to war game expert Colonel Sam Gardiner, target Iran's nuclear facilities instead.

COL. SAM GARDINER, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): If the United States were to do that, that would probably be about a three-day air campaign with aircraft like the B-2, cruise missiles fired from ships and aircraft. And we would go after the facilities we know about.

TODD: Gardiner says attacking nuclear sites would a two-fer, punishing Iran for metaling in Iraq and setting back their nuclear program for a few years. But Gardiner and other military analysts we spoke to believe a full-scale, conventional attack using U.S. ground forces is unlikely given the U.S. commitments elsewhere.

But would Iran retaliate? Gardiner and other experts say Iran could step up their aide to militants attacking American forces in Iraq or even respond militarily themselves.

GARDINER: Iran has a relatively sophisticated chemical and biological warfare program and they really do have the missiles to deliver them. Chemical weapons could go down on American forces in Iraq.

TODD: And there's another option.

GARDINER: They could use military force to restrict the flow of oil inside and outside the Gulf. That's a big deal.

TODD: How big a deal? Analysts say by disrupting the global supply of oil, Iran could drive the price up to about $100 a barrel or more. A potentially devastating economic blow.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: President Bush takes his economic message to Wall Street this morning. He's giving what's being called the state of the economy speech. He'll be at New York's Federal Hall. The same building where the president spoke after the 9/11 attacks. He promised business leaders the economy would bounce back. Today he'll tell them that it has but he'll say there is more to be done. Stay with CNN for live coverage of the president's speech. It begins at 11:05 a.m. Eastern Time. Americans may say the state of the economy as good, but most folks aren't giving President Bush credit for it. CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Polls this month show 63 percent, almost two- thirds of Americans, say economic conditions are good, but only 43 percent, fewer than half, approve of how President Bush is handling the economy.

COLLINS: Chad Myers joining us now with an update on all of that mess behind him on those maps there. And, boy, it's going to get pretty nasty.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: She told Tampa police she had been raped, but they took her to jail. And there's more. The woman says she was denied a prescribed morning after birth control pill. Joshua Rojas of CNN affiliate Bay News 9, details of a bungled case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSHUA ROJAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The rape victim walked out of jail hiding her face with a paper bag. Her attorney says she's also a victim of the system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, VICTIM'S ATTORNEY: She was raped and then she was raped again.

ROJAS: The 21-year-old says that she was walking to her car near downtown Tampa from the Gasparilla Parade on Saturday afternoon. A man raped her. She called police for help. and they arrested her on an outstanding theft warrant from four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, VICTIM'S MOTHER: The arresting officer called me and she says, oh, you know, I need to let you know what's going on. Your daughter was raped at 2:00 this afternoon, but I've arrested her now and I have to take her down to county jail.

LAURA MCELROY, TAMPA POLICE: The officers involved in this case did not violate any departmental policy, but just the fact that we had a policy in place that allowed a rape victim to go to jail brought it to our chief's attention that our policy is flawed.

ROJAS: Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio says she was distressed by what happened to the victim and played a role in getting the police department's policy changed quickly.

MAYOR PAM IORIO, TAMPA, FLORIDA: I talked to staff this morning about the need to not talk about how we're going to change the policy or thinking about changing the policy, but rather that we're going to just go ahead and do it and get it done.

MCELROY: We, obviously, don't want this to happen again and so we have come up with this new policy that we believe will allow the shift commander to have enough discretion to make a decision that's in the best interest of the victim and the department. ROJAS: The victim's attorney says she may be pregnant now because of a jail nurse that would not let her take the second dose of the morning-after pill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, VICTIM'S MOTHER: The supervisor said that the morning-after pill was against her, the supervisor's, religion and refused to dispense it.

ROJAS: The college student was prescribed the morning-after pill at a clinic Tampa police took her to for a rape examination before arresting her. That nurse's attorney contacted Bay News 9, disputing her role saying, "the morning-after pill was placed into her personal property and not listed on any medical chart, which could have enabled the nurse to administer the medication. These reports are simply false." But despite that, the victim and her family stand by their earlier statements.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Knowing she's a rape victim, it was against her religion and my daughter was helpless being incarcerated in the jail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Want to get you back to this story here and sort of bring a final wrap to it. You see that package that state police have said they had found on Highway 93 in Boston, detonated there. What they are telling us now is that the highway should soon be reopened. As we said, they have detonated the package. Apparently it was hanging from one of the support beams, having some wires and tubes in it. So we'll show you one more time as they -- well, now actually this is a live picture. So you see that traffic's starting to slowly, slowly move. Quite a bit of it did back up, as you would imagine.

But, once again, they are going to be taking what they found in that explosion, as you saw there just a few moments ago, to a lab to analyze exactly what the contents were. So this situation there has been resolved and slowly moving traffic once again.

HARRIS: And still to come this morning, raid in Birmingham, England. Live pictures here now from Birmingham. Scotland Yard says terrorists targeted a British soldier. The torture plot and live police briefing any minute now in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Billions spent on rebuilding Iraq. Were millions of those dollars wasted? We'll tell you what a new audit report found ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And making the most of melting ice. The state's loss may be a park's gain and a money saver for taxpayers. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly want to show you this scene here because we are waiting on a news conference out of Britain. This is coming to us directly from Birmingham. We've been telling you about this story for a couple of days now because of its possibility of significance here and possible new terrorism tactics.

There were eight people arrested in central England overnight. This is under the new terrorism act in Britain. So we are trying to listen in to what new information they may have after possibly conducting some interviews with those terror suspects.

Again, eight people have been arrested. The reports indicate that there was a plot to kidnap a particular individual and behead that person on video "Iraq-style." So this would, of course, be a new terrorism tactic that Britts are very, very concerned about. We're going to be learning more possibly from Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw there among the speakers. So we'll bring it to you just as soon as it happens.

HARRIS: And in Iraq, violence once again proves nothing is sacred. Insurgents targeted Shiite pilgrims yesterday as they celebrated a holy day. Dozen were killed. Bit amid the religious celebrations, a sense of unity and faith that's almost overwhelming. CNN's Michael Holmes offers this rare peek inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Up close at the religious ritual of Ashura in Baghdad's Kadamia (ph) district. Men, young and old, beating their heads with swords and knives, sharing the pain of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, the Imam Hussein, killed in a battle 1,400 years ago. A battle that divided Muslims and created the Shia sect of Islam.

"For Hussein, for Hussein," the man yells at us.

To walk these streets is to feel the fervor of Shiites at the third most important shrine in Shia Islam.

This was, for us, both a rare opportunity and a statement on security in Baghdad. It's been a long time since we've been able to walk freely on a Baghdad street just five U.S. soldiers with us and, more importantly, the protection of a respected local sheikh. Usually video like this is shot by Iraqis, not westerners. But this day we walked within a quarter mile of the revered shrine, in an area controlled by Shiite militia men. Children approach us. Adults look on and the observance continue.

There were some rockets and mortars fired earlier today. None of them landing here in Kadamia (ph). No injuries. And the celebrations here have been going off largely without a hitch, amid very tight security.

An hour or so later, however, a mortar did land in this area, likely fired by Sunni militants and wounding nine pilgrims. But security efforts were considered successful here. Multiple checkpoints keeping vehicles out. Even children patted down before proceeding.

There was devotion, not tension on these streets. Huge vats of rice and meat cooked and handed out to hungry pilgrims who traveled from far and wide, mushrooming the local population from 100,000 to more than a million. U.S. troops based here say walk-abouts like this are the way forward, where possible.

LT. COL. STEVE MISKA, U.S. ARMY: You've got to engage with the people. That's the only way you can find out what their issues are.

HOLMES: And yet a couple of mile across the river, if you walked down the street like this?

MISKA: You would use different techniques.

HOLMES: The respect afforded Sheikh Mohammed Bacca (ph) certainly helped with our security this day. He's a man who speaks of moderation, favors dialogue with Sunnis and says extremists on both sides are the problem. He also supports the U.S. presence.

"If the Americans weren't here," he says, "the Shia will win the war in four hours."

But, in a place where religion so often sparks violence, it was religion alone that ruled the day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Michael Holmes joins us from Baghdad.

Michael, as always, great to see you.

A couple of questions. Let's play a little what if game here. What if you walk down that same street with your crew in say a week from now without that sheikh there or any U.S. troops?

HOLMES: Probably a different result, I think it's fair to say, Tony. It's important to understand that there are varying -- this is an area that is largely under the control of the Mehdi militia, Muqtada al-Sadr's group. But there are shades of gray with the Mehdi militia. In Sadr City, very hard line. In Kadamia, not so much. They are hard lined, but not as hard lined as the others. So -- but I still think that without the sheikh there, we wouldn't have got very far down that street without, at the very least, being told to leave. It also highlights the importance of tribal power in this country, which it's been said for a long time the U.S. hasn't fully understand, that sheikh rules in that area.

Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Michael, you mentioned to the colonel in your story that things were different a couple of mile away, across the river. Explain that one for us.

HOLMES: Well, it was interesting. I raised that because just two days -- the day before, in fact, for two days we had been in an area called Amamia (ph), which is a Sunni stronghold, probably the most dangerous suburb in all of Baghdad, hanging out with Charlie Company at a place called Father Patchy, which is literally a house in the middle of the suburb. The soldiers call it the Alamo. They have daily attacks there. Grenade attacks. Rocket launch (ph). So and that's literally just across the river. And if you walked over there, you would last about five minutes. So a great difference by comparison just crossing the river. It was amazing.

HARRIS: Brother. Michael Holmes for us in Baghdad.

Michael, great to see you. Thank you.

COLLINS: Tens of millions of your tax dollars wasted. That's according to a quarterly audit of Iraq reconstruction aid. It's being released today. Some examples from the report now. $43 million spent on a residential camp for police training. It has stood empty for months. About $4 million of that money said to be improperly spent on VIP trailers and an Olympic-size swimming pool. According to the report, those were ordered but Iraqi officials but never authorized by the U.S. And the report says more than $36 million was spent for weapons, like armored vehicles and body armor that cannot be accounted for.

HARRIS: And still to come, a warning about global warming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's as if we're standing in a swimming pool with the water up to our chest. When the temperature rises, now the water is up to our chin or our nose and every little wave is going to mean that it's over our heads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: More on this, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Gerri Willis joining us today. Going to be talking about saving some money on your insurance.

Gerri, hi.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Hi, Heidi. Good to see you.

You know Monday we told you how to cut your fees. Now we'll tell you how to pad your pockets by saving money on insurance, next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: What do you say, Heidi, quick check of the big board? The New York Stock Exchange. The Dow, as you can see, up just about 17 points. The Nasdaq, not so good. Down four. We will be gaging how the market responds to the president's state of the economy speech scheduled to be delivered at 11:05 a.m. this morning in the NEWSROOM. We'll check out the markets's response with Susan Lisovicz throughout the day here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Well, as you know, you can insure your health, your home, your car. Now we're going to insure you don't spend too much doing that. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis joining us now with her tips on cutting insurance costs. She's joining us from New York.

And, Gerri, boy, this is certainly something that I'm sure everybody wants to do.

WILLIS: Well, it's a tough topic, you know. You think you should buy all the insurance you can, but some of it you probably don't need. Like, number one here, skip the cancer insurance. This kind of insurance is meant to supplement health insurance for cancer care costs, but you're really better off putting your money toward comprehensive health policies. Cancer insurance premiums range from $200 to $3,000 a year. Some policies have waiting periods of a month. And if you're diagnosed with cancer within that time you may not be covered.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, and then what about mortgage life insurance? It seems like something that everybody needs.

WILLIS: Not so much. I've got to tell you, Heidi, look, this kind of insurance policy will repay your mortgage in the event of your death or disability or disease. Sounds good but the cost of this policy can be three to five times as much as comparable term life insurance. Plus, the value of this insurance actually declines as you pay down your mortgage. If you're worried about burdening your heirs with mortgage payments, you're much better off buying straight life insurance. This is something you don't need.

COLLINS: All right. How many people end up buying something like that, though? I mean are they just talked into it?

WILLIS: You know, exactly. They're sold really hard by insurance agents who make money by selling it. You know, that's the way that works.

COLLINS: Yes. Well, what about ID theft insurance? We have done so many stories about people and having their identities stolen and then the almost lifelong result of that, trying to get their credit better and so forth.

WILLIS: Well, my heart goes out to them, but this is not the right answer. Look, this kind of insurance is sold by banks, credit card issuers, specialty insurers, but it covers the cost of repairing your credit and sometimes attorneys fees. Now, look, these policies can cost between $25 and $50 for up to $25,000 in coverage. But remember, getting this insurance isn't going to fix your credit and it's not going to give you back the thousands of dollars stripped from your bank accounts.

Look, you already have some consumer protections in place. You're only liable for $50 for unauthorized credit card purchases. So there is some protection. This isn't the right answer to the problem.

COLLINS: OK. Good. Annuity fees. How about those?

WILLIS: Well, annuities are tricky. It's OK to buy an annuity, but you've got to understand the fee structure. It may seem like the best thing next to mom's apple pie. After all, you're putting away as much tax-deferred money as you can and you get a monthly check for life, but you will really want to keep an eye on those fees and withdrawal penalties. On average, you'll pay about 2 percent to 2.35 percent in basic fees for a variable annuity. Compare that with a mutual fund, 1.4 percent in fees. And remember, annuities are not guaranteed by the government. Make sure you check out the credit worthiness of any insurance company you do business with because you'll be doing business with them for a long time if you buy an annuity.

And, as always, if you have a question for us, send us an e-mail to toptips@cnn.com. We love, love, love hearing from you.

COLLINS: Yes, we do. And the top tip today, you can be over- insured. So be careful.

WILLIS: You can be over-insured you've got to be careful. Buy the tough you need and not the things that are extra.

COLLINS: Right, or sold to you, so very hard. All right, Gerri Willis, thanks for that.

WILLIS: Thank you, Heidi.

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris and Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

Boy, I've got to tell you about this story, give you the latest information of a terrifying potential crime busted up in a counter terrorism raid today. That's how British police are characterizing the arrest of eight suspects captured in raids this morning in Birmingham, England. A security source tells CNN the plot, if carried out, would involve a chilling new tactic. The source says the suspect's plan to kidnap a British Muslim soldier serving in Afghanistan. He was to be tortured and beheaded with the grizzly scene playing out on the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN O'CONNOR, FMR. SCOTLAND YARD CMDR.: One of the major problems that they've got in their hearts and minds campaign are the Muslims who exercise their freedom of choice to join the British army, or the security services or the police, and if they can try and make an example of people like that, by doing a public execution, that is a dreadful form of terrorism that impacts on an individual's right to make freedom of choice. And of course these extremes don't want freedom of choice. I mean, really, they just want an utter control over the hearts and minds. And really it's a manifestation of that extremism that we're seeing now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Once again, we are expecting to get an update on the investigation from David Shaw, the assistant chief constable this hour. We are waiting that news conference from Birmingham.

COLLINS: Big questions about a shootout at a sheriff's house in a small north Florida town of Marianna. Why would someone kill the sheriff's wife? A sheriff's deputy killed last night after arriving at the scene. The shootout followed with authorities killing the two gunmen. Investigators say Sheriff John McDaniels home had apparently been targeted. They do not know why. We expect more information from a news conference coming up a little bit later today.

And by the way, Sheriff McDaniel, no stranger to violence -- his father was shot to death by a confessed serial killer in 1980.

HARRIS: Making the most of melting ice...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to say, we could stand here and watch the ice melt, but that's going to take a while, isn't it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much time do you have?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A state's loss may be a park's gain and a money saver for taxpayers. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: The power of money, is it enough to stop a war? One lawmaker says yes. He explains, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Right now we want to take you to Birmingham, England to hear from David Shaw, the assistant chief constable.

DAVID SHAW, ASST. CHIEF CONSTABLE: There has been a development which I think will interest you, but that does explain some of the reason for that delay.

What I want to do is explain to you the action that has taken place today, the reasons behind those actions and how we intend to progress the investigation and the operation. Officers from the Midland's counterterrorism unit together with officers from West Midland's police and the Metropolitan Police conducted a series of dorm raids at addresses across the Birmingham area. At that time a total of eight men were arrested at eight residential premises. Those men are all currently detained at a police station within West Midlands. A further four commercial premises have also been secured and are currently being searched.

I mentioned at the start that there would be a reason as to why there's been a slight delay, and I can confirm that just in the very last few minutes we have arrested a ninth suspect on the motorway in the Birmingham area. I think that illustrates to you that this remains a dynamic, fluid operation, and this is by no means finished. I think it's important for you to understand the context in which we're operating. The search operation of all the premises continues, and will take in some cases several days to complete.

Can I just say that we understand this does cause some disruption of people living in the area. And can I just we do understand that and we will do everything to minimize it. But we tend to find the public do understand why we have that disruption, I'd ask you to bear with us.

I'm very conscious that there has been considerable speculation about this operation, and I fully understand that. In every sense, this is a big story for you. It is a very big operation for West Midland's police. But I have to say as the officer in overall charge of the operation that some of that speculation and some of that reporting is bordering on the unhelpful and is potentially damaging to the investigation and any potential prosecution. And I would also remind you of the statements issued by the home office and attorney general to that effect. So I really understand your role and I understand the public's desire to learn more about this operation, but I would ask you to balance that need.

I'm extremely conscious that I have to be sure that I'm not only going to protect the investigation, but give you information when I can, and I will do everything that I can, but I must reiterate my first requirement is to look after the needs of the investigation and thereby protect the public. And I believe that's something the public fully understands.

I'd now like to give you a bit of background to the operation. A number of people have asked about the establishment of the Midlands counterterrorism unit. This is a unit that has been growing in Birmingham over the last few months and is one of three regional hubs that now operate across the country. It is a fact, a sad fact, I acknowledge, that the threat from terrorism has been growing over recent years, and is right and proper that the ability for this country to respond to terrorist threat is spread across the country so we can respond properly. This unit has been in operation for some months now, albeit this is the first major significant operation which has entirely led on in this area.

Today's operation is a combination of many months of activities and the work of many officers and people from other agencies. But that meticulous planning, which I think we have seen today, has given us the confidence to ensure that we're taking the right action. This confidence has included very thorough briefing of all of our officers to ensure that we fully recognize the sensitivities of what we're trying to do across all our communities, and that includes the suspects and their families. This is not easy work, but we take great pride in the way we do it, and I'm extremely proud of the way all my officers have done their jobs today.

I cannot stress that we are literally right at the foothills of what is a very, very major investigation for us. And we are proceeding very slowly, understandably, but very carefully to ensure we build the best possible case...

HARRIS; A 70-year-old hiker attacked by a mountain lion undergoes surgery in a San Francisco hospital today. Doctors plan to take muscle tissue from Jim Ham's back to cover exposed bone on his skull. Ham was attacked while he and his wife were hiking last week. At a news conference yesterday, Nell Ham told of her repeated attempts to force the lion to loosen its jaws around her husband's head.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELL HAM, ATTACK VICTIM'S WIFE: I picked up my big tub again and started hitting it, which was getting nowhere. And I thought the risk of hitting Jim in the head had to be put aside. And I thought if I went this way right into the head of the lion that maybe, just maybe it might work. And I did, and the next thing I know, she was about as close as this gentleman is to me, but she was in an attack position. And I'm sure most of you have had or have kitties at home. And that's just how she looked, only all of a sudden her face was full of Jim's blood and her ears folded in an attack position.

And I just knew, I said to Jim, I said, she's got me. I said, she's going to get me, Jim. But that old thing from the ranger, I got that club and raised it up and just started screaming with everything I had, as loud as I could. It was like a miracle. She just -- you could see the muscles just, instead of in that attack mode, she just looked and went off into the ferns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Nell Ham says she then yelled at her husband to get up and walk. They struggled several hundred yards to a roadway where they were picked up and taken to safety.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: From Main Street to Wall Street now. President Bush heads from the Heartland to the heart of corporate America. A live shot there for you of Federal Hall. President Bush will be there talking jobs, taxes and money, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

In the spotlight, new pictures of Fidel Castro, the first we've seen in months. The Cuban leader's health ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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