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Accused Astronaut Arrives Back in Houston; U.S. Helicopter Down in Iraq; UFO Mysteries

Aired February 07, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming in to this NEWSROOM on this Wednesday, February 7th.

Here now is what's on the rundown.

An accused astronaut home in Houston now, an alleged love triangle leading to an attempted murder charge. Our guests talk about stress and pressure while working at NASA.

HARRIS: An American helicopter burning in Iraq, the fifth chopper down since late January. Late details live from the Pentagon.

COLLINS: Is anybody out there? Mysterious sightings raise the prospect we are not alone. Sky lights, in the NEWSROOM.

2007, a space odyssey. Astronaut Lisa Nowak is back at home in Houston this hour, but the legal problems from her long, strange trip and an alleged love triangle are just beginning now.

National Correspondent Susan Candiotti is joining us live from Orlando, where Nowak was arrested.

Susan, what's the very latest in all of this? New court dates for Nowak?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. No court dates yet on those attempted murder and kidnapping charges, although there is a February 20th hearing set on a restraining order that Colleen Shipman is attempting to get. This is the woman who is allegedly Nowak's rival for the affections of shuttle astronaut Phil Oefelein.

Now, you'll remember that Nowak left here, Orlando, before dawn this morning. She was accompanied by her shuttle commander, Steve Lindsey.

Remember, she is wearing an ankle bracelet, a GPS monitor, and she's been told by the court that she cannot come anywhere near Florida again until and unless she faces more court dates. She was released, as you indicated, on a $25,000 bond by that judge.

COLLINS: What about Colleen Shipman, the woman that she allegedly, you know, was going after? Where is she?

CANDIOTTI: Well, she works at Patrick Air Force Base, which, of course, is near the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral. She is employed there. She may also have something to do with a helicopter company nearby there, because that was listed on some of the police documents yesterday and also in the restraining order petition that she is asking for that she didn't want Nowak to come anywhere near there.

We believe she might be back at work today, but we don't know for sure whether she is taking some time off for herself for the time being.

COLLINS: And Navy Commander Bill Oefelein, also a NASA astronaut. What happens with him?

CANDIOTTI: Well, like Nowak, he has been put on leave as well. It's our understanding that he is currently at the Kennedy Space Center.

He was said yesterday to be helping out authorities with information and, of course, it's unclear now whether he might be facing any disciplinary action. It is possible in the military he could be facing some charges, as well, perhaps, fraternization or adultery. We don't know yet.

Remember, Nowak has said that she did not have a romantic relationship with him. It is possible he may have had one with Shipman. So we're still waiting word on that.

COLLINS: Yes. That is something that she has said all along, they were just friends. It's interesting. We will continue to follow it, and I know you will, too.

Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.

HARRIS: You know, they go through rigorous training and mental evaluations. Well, that sort of makes the charges against astronaut Lisa Nowak even more surprising.

Homer Hickam is the best-selling author of "Rocket Boys," the inspiration behind the movie "October Sky." Hickam worked as an astronaut training manager for the space lab, Hubble Space Telescope, and space station programs. He joins us from Huntsville, Alabama, this morning.

Homer, thanks for your time.

HOMER HICKAM, FMR. NASA TRAINER: Well, you bet, Tony. I want to say one thing up front.

HARRIS: Sure. HICKAM: I don't enter into this discussion lightly. Some of the astronauts are astronauts because they read my books. Some of them watch "October Sky" before they fly off into orbit. They've even called me from space. So individually I think they're great.

HARRIS: Well, I think you'll appreciate this first question, then.

Are we placing a little too much emphasis on the fact that these astronauts are so smart, obviously brilliant, and not enough emphasis on the fact that, pardon the expression, astronauts are people, too, who can and do make mistakes?

HICKAM: Well, astronauts are definitely human beings, just like anybody else. And the problem with -- I think, with the astronauts -- and there is a problem. It's not them individually. They are very, very bright.

It's their -- it's the organization that they work for. I've thought for a long, long time, and I've proselytized within NASA, that the Astronaut Office down in Houston is a dysfunctional organization.

There is -- the competition within that organization is extreme. The way they choose the astronauts is just about without peer review.

There is -- within the office, they never let the astronauts know how and why that they're chosen to be on a flight. They're always on a slippery slope. If they're not crazy when they enter that office, well, you know, reach your own conclusions.

HARRIS: And -- well, that's interesting. So, they go through this intense program and what do you see as the potential impact on -- on these candidates who are in this program psychologically?

HICKAM: Well, I think what happens is that after a while, about the only people that they can relate to is each other. They go home to their husbands and wives and try to discuss what they're going through, and they just can't.

So, they start talking to each other or to the training people within their midst, and pretty soon -- you know, naturally when you've got healthy, young, bright people together in a pressure cooker, these romantic liaisons start to occur. Now, you know, in Lisa's case, with her situation -- the astronauts, when they fly and when they go out in the outside world, everything that they say is taken as gospel and they can do no wrong. But once they're back at that office, a lot of times they can't do anything right.

Any small, tiny error she made while she was in orbit she knows is held against her. And so, she's thrown right back into that pool.

There's way too many astronauts. There's about 100 of them. They've only got a few seats to fill. She knew probably she wasn't going to get to fly again, at least not for a very long time, if ever, and so I'm sure she was in a complete, total black hole after that flight. HARRIS: And Homer, you describe this pressure cooker, but I would imagine there are people lined up who want to become astronauts. Are they aware as they go through the process, the steps to becoming an astronaut in the program, that this is the pressure cooker they're entering?

HICKAM: Well, the Astronaut Office itself weeds out folks like, say, Burt Rutan, who designed SpaceShipOne and flew the first aircraft nonstop around the world. He just wouldn't fit in an organization like that. Too powerful a personality.

So they're looking for folks that can fit in and also will put up with the type of psychological pressures that the office puts on them. And you know, there's just no reason for that.

HARRIS: Yes.

HICKAM: In the first place, I think that maybe this is going to be a breath of fresh air into the Astronaut Office. I believe we've got way too many astronauts. We only need a few professional pilots and maybe some spacewalk-type of experts. And I think that we should open up space flight in this country to the truly best and brightest and the most brilliant scientists and engineers who don't go into this to be federal employees, mission specialists.

What they do is they work in their discipline. And we need to fly those folks and bring them in, train them. It doesn't take that long.

HARRIS: Yes.

HICKAM: Right now I'm trying to write -- help write the memoir of Anousheh Ansari. If you remember, the Iranian-American woman who flew into space.

HARRIS: Sure.

HICKAM: But she had to pay the Russians $20 million to let her fly into space. She's one of the best people that we've got in this country and NASA would not even consider letting her go into space. And there are a lot of scientists and engineers who really design these experiments and should be flown, and they're not going to get the chance because they're behind this block of 100 astronauts down there in Houston that are in their way.

HARRIS: Homer Hickam, thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it. Thanks for your perspective.

COLLINS: Another U.S. helicopter down in Iraq. A militant group claims responsibility.

Live now to CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, what's the latest on that?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, let's be very clear off the top, there is no confirmation by the U.S. military as to whether this helicopter was brought down by enemy fire or mechanical failure. It's in the very early hours. The military is looking at all possibilities.

They cannot say at this point -- and you see some of the video here from the crash site -- they cannot say that it was brought down by hostile fire. Nonetheless, the situation with helicopters is a matter of some concern to the military. Four helicopters down in a two-week period prior to this incident.

The military saying all of those were brought down by hostile fire. This one, northwest of Baghdad, there is a recovery operation going on.

Military officials saying on this Marine Corps Sea Knight helicopter, they believe there was something less than 10 personnel on board. An investigation is under way. The military already looking at its tactics and techniques and procedures for flying over the war zone.

But again, as you see this very distressing video, the military cannot yet say whether this latest incident was due, in fact, to hostile fire -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Right. And Barbara, with those response teams on site, any idea when we may hear about the fate of the crew?

STARR: No. To be -- to be clear, they will look, of course, for the fate of the crew, for any other personnel that were on board. But it will be the same as it always is with the military, Heidi. If there are fatalities, the families, of course, will be notified first.

COLLINS: Good. All right. Of course.

And Defense Secretary Gates and Joint Chiefs chairman Peter Pace back on Capitol Hill, defending the Iraq policy now. What is the latest out of these hearings?

STARR: Well, Secretary Gates has been asked, of course, about this latest security crackdown in Baghdad which is now essentially under way, unfolding. Thousands of troops will pour into Baghdad over the next several weeks to try and get a handle on the security situation.

As you see, the hearing ongoing here.

Secretary Gates was asked just a little while ago, what if the security operation doesn't work? Then what does he do? Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It would be irresponsible of me not to be looking at alternatives should these expectations and hopes not prove to be fulfilled. And so, without getting into any details, I will simply say to you that -- that I have asked that we begin to look at other contingencies and other alternatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But Secretary Gates making it clear that his expectation and hope at the moment, Heidi, of course, is that the security crackdown will work -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon today.

Barbara, thank you.

Bullets, bombs and bodies, another day of grisly violence erupting across Iraq. A mortar attack on a village outside Baghdad has left three children dead and a dozen people wounded. They are among a series of attacks targeting civilians, government employees and Iraqi security forces. Last night in northern Iraq, Mosul police said they found two bodies that had been dumped, both victims apparently shot to death.

HARRIS: Blinding snow, brutal cold, parts of the country still dealing with a blast of frigid air. The latest on the winter weather in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Look up in the sky. It might be a bird, it might be a plane, but for now, it's just a UFO.

Out of this world story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A massive fire in Knoxville, Tennessee, this morning. Take a look at these pictures now.

The blaze destroyed a pair of 100-year-old buildings. One fire captain said it was an unbelievable scene.

Nearby apartments were evacuated when the blaze began, but those people have been allowed back into their homes now. No major injuries, but one wall collapsed on top of a fire truck. The fire is now under control.

HARRIS: So the big chill loosening its grip on parts of the northern plains and Northeast, but in places it is still brutally cold.

This snowy scene near Buffalo, New York. The wave of arctic air picked up moisture as it swept across the Great Lakes, creating lake- effect squalls. They've dumped three to four feet of snow this week on parts of New York State.

Right now the brutal cold has swept into the Mid-Atlantic states. West Virginia shivering through some of its coldest temperatures in a decade. Nearly a dozen deaths in the plains and Northeast are blamed on the frigid weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Look up in the sky. No, really, look up in the sky. OK.

Simon says it might be a bird. It might be a plane. But for now it's just a UFO. Out of this world story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: A bizarre grave in a place linked to a tragic love story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Some information just in to us here now at CNN.

According to The Associated Press, this helicopter crash we've been telling you about northwest of Baghdad, we are learning once again from The Associated Press that the Pentagon believes seven people were killed in this crash.

You are looking at a CH-46, a Sea Knight that typically carries quite a bit of people. We had learned earlier from our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, that they expected less than 10 people to be on board that aircraft.

So, once again, learning from The Associated Press the Pentagon believes seven people are dead in that latest crash. It is the fifth helicopter loss in Iraq in just over two weeks' time.

We'll continue to watch this one for you.

HARRIS: In the meantime, watching the skies, or are we -- are we being watched?

CNN National Correspondent Gary Tuchman takes a closer look at some recent reports of UFO sightings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a partly cloudy late January night near Charlotte, North Carolina.

CHARLES MILLER, UFO WITNESS: I saw a greenish blue glare coming in from the southeast. I tried to catch a picture of it as it passed over the house.

TUCHMAN: The world is full of people who see strange things in the sky and for whatever reason, don't take a picture.

(on camera): So this is the camera you used?

MILLER: That's it.

TUCHMAN: And you were afraid it wasn't going to work?

MILLER: Well, it's about five years obsolete. TUCHMAN (voice-over): But it did work and this is what Charles Miller, who doesn't want his face shown on camera, says he saw in the sky.

MILLER: From the first time I saw it until I lost it was perhaps 45 seconds, and that crossed the entire sky.

TUCHMAN: As it turns out, Miller was not the only person who saw it.

OPERATOR: 911 what is your emergency?

CALLER: Yeah, I just saw something explode in the sky and it was traveling eastbound.

TUCHMAN: 911 operators were busy that night.

CALLER: It exploded in the sky, and it kept trailing a ball of flame that was going east.

CALLER: I just, looked like I saw an airplane was in trouble just north of Mooresville, looked like it was taking a nose dive, like something was on fire.

TUCHMAN: Meanwhile, two days later on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, another unusual object, this one actually shot by a TV station's camera.

PETER HOLLINGWORTH, UFO WITNESS: At first it was coming in, then it turned, and then it went out.

TUCHMAN: Peter Hollingworth was surfing with his 12-year-old son when they saw the fireball like object.

HOLLINGWORTH: Well, I was a little concerned. I told him, come over here and sit with me. This might be the last surf session we ever have together, because this thing's coming straight for Honolulu.

TUCHMAN: The National Weather Service saw nothing out of the ordinary on its radar. So there are those who think these episodes are literally from out of this world.

The North Carolina incident occurred near a nuclear power plant.

GEORGE LUND, MUTUAL UFO NETWORK: They think that they're coming in that area maybe to feed off some of the energy that that plant is producing.

TUCHMAN: But in the North Carolina mountains at the Appalachian State University Observatory, the feeling is it's all a lot more mundane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've concluded it was just a very bright meteor or fireball, boli (ph), perhaps.

TUCHMAN: A boli (ph), is a fireball like meteor, ranging in size from a pebble to several kilometers in diameter. They frequently enter the earth's atmosphere, but are hardly ever seen by the average person looking at the sky. Which doesn't seem to explain episodes like this past November at Chicago's O'Hare airport, when a gray object was viewed by many hovering over the terminals. Nevertheless, as far as the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors goes...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until it sits down on the White House lawn and CNN is there, I won't believe it.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Perhaps there will come a day when one of us from CNN will interview a visitor from another world and we'll put him, her or it on television and that will settle everything.

But for now, while these stories are interesting, they settle nothing.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Wilkes County, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The emotional highs of a space flight, the lows of life on Earth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've been on this tremendous high, and then there's this tremendous low that follows, this vacuum that follows, and that's a period I think they're very vulnerable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's Miles O'Brien looks at the stress of space travel straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Plus, reaching recruiting goals. Is the military bending the rules, letting dangerous criminals into the military?

That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Back on the ground in Houston, grounded by NASA. The astronaut charged with attempted murder in an alleged love triangle returned home this morning. Lisa Nowak -- you see her head covered there -- is out on bond and must wear a satellite tracking device now. Nowak is accused of trying to kill Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman. Police say she viewed Shipman as a romantic rival for the affection of astronaut Bill Oefelein. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin says the case adds to the challenges NASA already faces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUZZ ALDRIN, FMR. ASTRONAUT: I don't think anybody missed a single one to make it really look bad for that lady. Now that's a shame. You know NASA has their own problems right now with the budget, trying to transition from the shuttle and retire it in a couple of years, and then start with a new program of exploration. So I really kind of feel sorry for Mike Griffin, the administrator in NASA, having to deal with this. Outstanding engineer, you know, and now as a manager he has to deal with problems like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: A NASA spokesman says the agency was stunned by Nowak's arrest.

HARRIS: America was raised on John Glenn, Neill Armstrong, Sally Ride (ph), have the life magazine version of an astronauts life, but what's the reality behind the image?

CNN's Miles O'Brien takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jon Clark is no longer with NASA, but he's still part of the family, and that family is in shock.

JON CLARK, FMR. NASA FLIGHT SURGEON: It was very apparent that she's under a huge amount of stress, and obviously she was not thinking right.

M. O'BRIEN: Lisa Nowak was there for Clark and his son Ian on some very dark days. Clark's wife Laurel perished on the space shuttle Columbia four years ago. The two had much in common -- both naval officers, astronaut classmates, working moms.

CLARK: She loved kids, they loved their family life, they loved gardening and flowers. And, you know, she was very close to Lisa, and that's the part of it -- I sit there and I think, you know, if somebody's under enough emotional stress, who knows what could happen?

M. O'BRIEN: As a former NASA flight surgeon, Clark has seen the stress through a doctor's eyes as well. He says many astronauts do not have happy landings after the emotional high of space flight.

CLARK: They've been on this tremendous high, and then there is this tremendous low that follows, this vacuum that follows. And that's a period, I think, that they're very vulnerable, and I think that might be the case, you know, here, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Lisa Nowak flew to space for the first time in July. If she needed psychological help post-mission, it would be no surprise that she did not seek it.

MIKE MULLANE, FMR. ASTRONAUT: You've got to understand, for astronauts, it is a life quest. This isn't a job. This is a dream for us.

And we have worked our entire lives to achieve this dream. And we don't want to get anything -- have anything get in the way of having it realized on a mission into space. M. O'BRIEN: Former astronaut Mike Mullane flew on the shuttle three times starting in the late '80s. He reluctantly sought out a NASA psychiatrist because of problems he had with a boss.

MULLANE: They don't just lock us in a tube and say deal with it, like I'm getting the impression some people think.

M. O'BRIEN: But it is an elite club, a type A-plus fraternity, the ranks always closed, allowing problems to fester. The divorce rate is high, and astronauts say extramarital affairs are not uncommon, seldom discussed outside the family.

HOMER HICKAM, FMR. NASA ENGINEER: For years, we have left it up to the astronauts to essentially pick their own membership. And so, they're brought in, they are beholden to the people who have brought them in. They become part of this -- this little fraternity. They become isolated down in Houston, to a great extent.

M. O'BRIEN: Former NASA engineer Homer Hickam is author of the book that inspired the movie "October Sky." He says there are too many astronauts chasing too few seats to space. The competition almost inhumane.

HICKAM: The astronaut office, in my opinion, really needs to be broken up. It needs to be spread around all of the NASA centers. It needs to get out. The people in the astronaut office need to get out into the real world a little bit, breathe a little fresh air, and understand what's really going on in the world.

O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And new developments in this morning's crash of a military helicopter in Iraq. The Associated Press reporting that all seven people aboard the twin rotor sea knight are believed dead. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. But the military does not believe, does not believe, it was shot down. Now that contradicts a claim by an insurgent group boasting that it brought down the aircraft. This is the fifth helicopter lost in Iraq in just over two weeks.

American troops needed. Is the U.S. military breaking with its own policy by sending convicted felons into combat?

CNN's Randi Kaye takes a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What these troops may not know is the person fighting next to them, watching their back, could have a criminal past.

MAJ. GEN. PAUL MONROE (RET.), FORMER HEAD, CALIFORNIA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: We need as strong a force as we can muster. And not one that has felons. You run into serious problems for undisciplined people. We can't have felons in the military -- it's not only a threat to civilians, it's a threat to the military.

KAYE: And yet the military acknowledges that it is knowingly allowing men and women with criminal backgrounds to fight alongside soldiers with clean records.

(On camera): So your husband was convicted of arson?

ROSE GIDDING, BOB GIDDING'S WIFE: Um-hum.

KAYE: Which is a felony.

GIDDING: Right.

KAYE: But instead of going to prison, he went to serve in Iraq?

GIDDING: Right.

KAYE (voice-over): How did Rose Giddings' husband end up in Iraq? Former Assistant Defense Secretary Lawrence Korb.

LAWRENCE KORB, FORMER ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY: What it is, is the Army's under tremendous pressure to meet their recruiting goals. They've quadrupled the number of non-high school graduates they're taking in. They've quadrupled the number of people who score -- did not score above average on their aptitude test. And even with that, one out of every five people last year were taken into the military with moral and criminal problems.

KAYE (on camera): In fact, a longtime Pentagon consultant tells us last year alone the Army enlisted close to 1,000 people with felony records. He told the Pentagon that service members convicted of multiple crimes have continued to serve and been repeatedly promoted.

Citing evidence from 1975, the last time the Pentagon matched criminal records with personnel records, the consultant reported soldiers with convictions were given clearance to work with classified and top secret information and with a nuclear missile team. None of these soldiers had their clearance revoked until years later.

(Voice-over): Last year alone, all military branches combined granted 35,000 new recruits what are called moral waivers for offense ranging from minor traffic violations to drug crimes, up 11 percent in just three years. The Army is up a whopping 65 percent.

MONROE: Well, it's pretty hard to get a waiver if you're a felon. If you have a misdemeanor, you need a waiver. But, I mean, if you're a felon, you know, it takes a letter from God usually.

KAYE: Retired Major General Paul Monroe, who headed the Army National Guard in California, says upholding moral standards is crucial to military effectiveness.

MONROE: You're supposed to take an annual physical, so we did it every other year. But still it was a requirement for physicals. It should be a requirement that they're still good people. KAYE: Military discipline has long been credited with turning around troubled youngsters. But the military insists it is not a substitute for rehabilitation by the criminal justice system.

Still, the Army says, soldiers who commit a felony after they've enlisted can continue to serve if a military adjudicator lets them stay.

Court documents indicate that's what happened with Army Reservist Bob Gidding. Gidding and his wife, Rose, had been high school sweethearts. But it wasn't long after he returned from boot camp that Rose says she saw another side of her husband.

GIDDING: He got so insecure and so just possessive, like I was his property.

KAYE: While she was still pregnant, Rose says her husband accused her of having an affair. In court, he admitted he then drove to the home of the suspected other man, doused his car with gasoline and set it on fire.

GIDDING: I'm sitting there, like kind of in shock. I was crying. I was like, you know, freaking out pretty much.

KAYE: Gidding pleaded no contest to a charge of felony arson. He was sentenced to five months in prison and three years probation and was barred from owning or possessing a gun. But the judge allowed Gidding to ship out for active duty before serving his time in prison.

And the Army reserve went along with it. As this affidavit shows, he told his commanding officer he had been convicted of a felony.

MONROE: But as soon as they discovered this guy's a felon, even if he's already in Iraq, they should have arrested him, packed his bags and sent him back.

KAYE: But they didn't. What the Army reserve did do, as this court document shows, is ask California courts for proof of Gidding's felony conviction so that, quote, "we may proceed with discharging this soldier."

But that was two years ago. And Gidding was never discharged. Instead, Gidding was deployed for a second tour of duty in Iraq and made a military police officer, even though it's not clear whether the judge waived his ban on Gidding possessing a gun.

(On camera): So here you have a felon who is charged with upholding the law and given a gun to do so.

GIDDING: Right.

KAYE: Did it concern you?

GIDDING: It concerned me a lot because he would tell me over the phone, you know, things about how he didn't like this person and he could shoot him there because they were in Kuwait and it was just desert and no one would know. You know, he could make up a story.

KAYE (voice-over): His attorney denied Gidding ever said anything like that. He did, however, confirm the facts in Gidding's legal case.

The Army reserve declined comment on why Gidding was allowed to continue to serve, saying to do so would be illegal.

(On camera): So how many Army reservists are serving with felony records? We wish we could tell you, but the reserve says it doesn't know. You see, the reserve says it doesn't conduct background checks after recruitment unless a soldier is promoted. So unless a reservist who has been convicted of a felony fesses up, his or her military superiors would not in most cases know about the crime.

As a result the reserve says it's unable to speculate how many convicted felons may be in its ranks because it doesn't gather the data.

(Voice-over): As the case of Stephen Green shows, all this carries big risks, not just for the Army, but for America's reputation around the world.

Stephen green was a high school dropout with three misdemeanor convictions when he joined the Army. He got a waiver to serve in Iraq, but is now in jail awaiting trial as a civilian on charges that he and four other soldiers raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her family. Two of the men have pleaded guilty. Two more are awaiting courts-martial.

Green, who was discharged as a private, maintains he is innocent.

KORB: You take people like that in, the chances are they're going to behave badly, they're going to do things under pressure in the battlefield that other people might not.

KAYE: Korb says waivers help the military grow its ranks while fighting an unpopular war.

KORB: The quality of your military and its effectiveness is going to decline, and you're going to end up with a force like we did in the latter days of Vietnam that's not up to the job that the nation is asking it to do.

KAYE: Pentagon Consultant Eli Flyer (ph) says he first recommended routine background checks 20 years ago. But, he says, the military still doesn't do them, except when reviewing security clearances or promotion.

Rose Gidding has moved with her son to a new home where her soon- to-be ex-husband can't find her. She says he's too dangerous to be near their son, and has obtained a restraining order against him.

And yet, we checked and Bob Gidding is still an Army reservist living in California and available for deployment.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Monterey, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: A possible worry for women. Is your birth-control pill doing more harm than good? We'll have details on that coming up in the NEWSROOM.

Showdown in the mall. Dramatic new video you won't want to miss.

Stay tuned, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Women may want to take note of this next story. There is a call to ban some birth control pills. The consumer group Public Citizen says newer low-dose pills can double the risk of blood clots. This is not the first time we've heard these concerns. Earlier I talked about them with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The first generation of birth control pills was in the '60s. They had another formulation which had lower doses of hormones. That was second generation. Now the third generation contains, among other substances a substances, a substance known as dezogestrol (ph) and that's what Public Citizen has its eye on, specifically stating that it doubles the likelihood of someone developing a blood clot. There are about nine pills out there right now that actually have this substance. You can see the list there. There's three manufacturers that make it, as well.

You're absolutely right, Heidi -- there has been a study since 1995, as we investigated this a bit, talking about the specifically increased risk of blood clots. And the FDA says they actually had a public message and warnings on all birth-control pills, talking about this increased risk of blood clots. We talked to two of the three manufacturers yesterday, specifically about what they thought about this new petition by Public Citizen.

This is what they said, "The labeling that accompanies the company's oral contraceptive products provides all the necessary warnings and precautions for the appropriate use of the products." That's from Barr Pharmaceuticals.

And also from Ortho Women's Health & Urology, "When used as labeled, ORTHO-CEPT is a safe and effective birth control choice."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The FDA says it is reviewing Public Citizen's petition.

And to get your daily dose of health news online, just log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health. HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" coming up at the top of the hour in about 12 minutes. Hala Gorani is standing by with a preview.

Good morning, Hala.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. Good morning, Tony and Hala.

At the top of the hour on "YOUR WORLD TODAY," we'll have the latest on Iraq, of course.

And we'll also bring you this story, Austria has smashed a child pornography ring of shocking proportions. It involved more than 2,000 suspects that paid to see kids subjected to, quote, "the worst kind of sexual abuse" online. Six hundred and seven of those suspects, we're told, from the United States. We'll bring you that story with a live report from Austria.

Also, we're going to be going to Gaza and two brothers on either side of a bloody fight in that Palestinian territory, one loyal to Hamas, the other to the Palestinian president's party. It seems like they've kissed and made up. We'll bring you that.

Also football in Italy. After deadly riots in that country that left a police officer killed outside a soccer stadium, Italy says no more. It's adopting tough, anti-hooligan measures to quell the violence.

Go around the world with us at the top of the hour.

Back to you guys.

COLLINS: Thanks, Hala.

HARRIS: Yes, we'll be there. Thanks, Hala.

A bizarre grave at a place linked to a tragic love story, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Many Americans turn to flexible spending accounts to help manage their hefty healthcare costs, but because there is a use it or lose it rule, there is an important deadline approaching. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on this. Boy, you better use it or you do lose it.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: New video you must see and hear. How about this? Cell phone video at a mall in Halifax, Nova Scotia: a tense police standoff against a man brandishing a sword. Police finally laid the guy out with a couple of hits from a stun gun. The court has ordered a psychiatric evaluation for that guy right there.

COLLINS: So, stun gun beats sword.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Glad no one was hurt. That's usually how Heidi walks into the newsroom in the morning.

HARRIS: Hey, now.

LEMON: I'm here.

COLLINS: Hi, Don. Coming up at 1:00 today.

LEMON: Coming up at 1:00, we do have a lot of serious stuff, a lot of news happening today.

This one is a very disturbing story. Paying to watch children being sexually abused. Austrian officials say they have IDed thousands of suspects in dozens of countries in a major child porn sting. Now some those alleged offenders are right here in the U.S. We're following up to find out how the feds are tracking them down.

And we'll also have more on this strange saga everyone's talking about it, astronaut Lisa Nowak. Police have charged her with attempted murder, as you know, and her alleged victim says Nowak had been stalking her for two months. Nowak's family says it's all completely out of character. We'll have the latest on all the day's top stories, including that story, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM coming at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Don't bring your sword. You can watch without your sword.

HARRIS: En garde.

COLLINS: Just a fake one. All right, Don Lemon, thank you.

LEMON: Thank you guys, good to see both of you.

COLLINS: Now look at this. Amazing finds in Italy. Two skeletons locked in an eternal embrace. The young couple has been this way at least 5,000 years. Now, that's a hug. Even more remarkable, this is the same town in Italy that played a role in Shakespeare's timeless classic "Romeo and Juliet."

HARRIS: Beautiful.

COLLINS: It is beautiful. CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. See you tomorrow, everybody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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