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Gonzales Under Fire; Tanker Ship Deaths; True Confessions From Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?; Greenwich Village Shooting; Iran's Prosperity; Global Warming and the Religious Right; Pakistan and Extreme Islamists; Foreign Versus Domestic Adoption; Furious Girl Scouts

Aired March 15, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry, in for Kyra Phillips.

And all eyes on New York today, whether or not a grand jury will decide to hand up charges against New York police in the fatal shooting of a groom on his wedding day. An announcement could come at any time.

LEMON: And Alberto Gonzales under fire. A Senate committee turns up the heat and says subpoenas may be next. But any plans to call top White House officials are TBD, to be determined.

Straight ahead, all of it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It is the top of the hour, and one day after President Bush expressed displeasure with the Justice Department, the White House is standing by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. White House adviser Karl Rove jumped into attack mode, saying opponents are playing politics over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys which sparked calls for Gonzales to quit.

With the latest from the White House, CNN's Kathleen Koch -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, yes. And those comments came in a question-and-answer session following a speech that Karl Rove had made at Troy State University in Alabama. But first of all, let's look at the White House strategy in this.

The White House is promising to really do what it can to work with Congress, to give it the information it needs, clarify exactly what happened in the firing of these eight U.S. attorneys. The Senate itself has today decided to put off until next week a vote on whether or not to subpoena these high-level White House officials like Karl Rove, like former counsel Harriet Miers. But as you pointed out, Rove himself today says critics in this case are playing politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL ROVE, SR. WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Look, every president's entitled to do it. President Clinton was entitled to come in and, if he wanted to, as he did, ask for the immediate resignation or removal from office of all 93 U.S. attorneys. We didn't do it that way. We came in, and even if we were going to replace the individual, we'd say we'd like some time to identify a potential successor and we'd like you to stay on the job.

So this, to my mind, is a lot of politics. And I understand that's what Congress has a right to play around with, and they are going to do it. And I just ask the American people and ask Congress to look fairly and carefully at what's being said and done now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, White House spokesman Tony Snow says that President Bush does feel confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is going to be sent very soon to Capitol Hill to try to explain some of these mistakes that were made in these dismissals. Also, White House counsel Fred Fielding has been on Capitol Hill, as Snow said, making sure that Congress gets the information that it needs consistent with presidential prerogative.

And what many are reading that to mean, and what certainly White House and administration officials are telling us, is that it is, indeed, not likely that the president will OK letting Miers or Rove or any White House officials testify before Congress.

Back to you.

LEMON: All right. Kathleen Koch, thank you so much for that.

KOCH: You bet.

CHETRY: And right now we're going to head over to Fredricka Whitfield, who is following the latest details on a Florida ship.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, still a mystery, Kiran, as to why two people on board a refrigerated tanker ship died. The ship is called the Sol de Brazil (ph), and it pulled into Port Manatee there in Florida, as it has done many times before. And this is the second time this year for this particular ship.

Well, now, Steve Tyndall, who is a spokesperson for Port Manatee, says they think they are getting closer to figuring out exactly what happened, why two people died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE TYNDALL, PORT MANATEE, FLORIDA, SPOKESMAN: We know for a fact that there is -- there was inadequate oxygen. As to whether that was being taken over by the nitrogen or another substance, we're not sure. It's a high probability that it's nitrogen, but it's not been confirmed.

The victims were very cold when we got to them, and obviously the hull of the ship is going to be much cooler than the top of the ship. And obviously nitrogen is cold as well. But that's yet to be determined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Again, this is a refrigerated tanker ship, and this ship was in the process of discharging or unloading its cargo of orange juice concentrate when apparently this incident occurred.

When we get more information, Kiran, we'll be able to bring that to you.

CHETRY: All right, Fredricka. Thanks so much.

A top terror suspect confesses to dozens of evil acts, but consider the source. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed paints himself as a globe trotting super revolutionary with plenty of blood on his hands. But is anybody buying it?

Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has some thoughts. He's in Kabul, Afghanistan, with more.

He confessed to everything from 9/11, to Nick Berg's beheading, to plots to blow up the Empire State Building

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, plots and plans and attacks over a decade. And the 9/11 Commission said that they thought perhaps there's an element of grandstanding in all of this, sort of playing himself up to be a hero.

If it's correct, what he says, it gives a pretty good insight into how al Qaeda worked. 1994, a planned assassination of President Clinton while he was in the Philippines. That was before al Qaeda really had a big base here in Afghanistan, when Osama bin Laden moved here from Sudan in 1996. After that, the plans and plots got bigger, leading up to the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11.

That gives an indication that with extra space, with a feeling of security, al Qaeda was able to do more. And the concern in Afghanistan right now is that along the Afghan-Pakistan border, al Qaeda is getting stronger, is finding that space to perhaps plan and plot bigger attacks.

Another interesting detail that was perhaps either redacted from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's statement, or he didn't confess to it, was his involvement or connection to an attack on a synagogue in Tunisia in 2002. That -- the plotters and attackers in that case calling Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (INAUDIBLE) not long after that particular attack, yet he doesn't seem to appear to confess that -- confess to that.

So that does also put in doubt some of the -- some of the things that he's owned up to -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, with some like Daniel Pearl's beheading, which took place in Pakistan, were they able to place Khalid Sheikh Mohammed there at the time? ROBERTSON: It doesn't appear so, and this is something that President Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, has alluded to before. But there doesn't seem to be concrete evidence that's been presented publicly, at least that would put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the frame for that. Indeed, the Pakistanis have tried and convicted other people for being responsible directly for Daniel Pearl's death.

CHETRY: And what about some of the suspicions that he was coerced or possibly pressured into making some of these confessions?

ROBERTSON: Well, the very fact that a number, 14, of these enemy combatants, suspected enemy combatants, or accused enemy combatants, were being held not on U.S. soil and then were -- they were brought to Guantanamo Bay last year, has lended credibility to their claims and that of human rights organizations that while they were being held off U.S. soil, that they were subject to severe interrogations that may have led, as has been seen, these human rights organizations have said, as have been seen with other people who have been put through harsh treatment, even torture, to get confessions. And often the confessions aren't actually true.

And in other courts where other terrorists have confessed to -- have confessed to crimes that even implicated other people in crimes courts, they've eventually thrown those testimonies and those trials out because they have been proven to be perhaps less -- less credible, because the information has been given under duress. And that's what some people are perhaps suggesting has happened with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But in the statement so far, that's perhaps -- perhaps not clear, but certainly some human rights organizations suspect that could be the case -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Hopefully we'll find out more soon.

Nic Robertson in Kabul.

Thank you.

LEMON: And you know what that brings us to? Our "Quick Vote" on CNN.com. We asked the question -- real quick, I just noticed this story is number four on CNN.com. So it's one of our most popular here.

Our "QUICKVOTE" asks: Do you believe all the claims allegedly made by suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

Well, right now, only 26 percent of you say yes, 74 percent say no.

Make sure you log on to CNN.com to cast your "QUICKVOTE".

CHETRY: A Marine feeling the heat of battle and the anguish of loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was big. He was strong. He was brave. But his whole experience over there almost left him trembling like a little kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Broken and in desperate need of help, but left out in the Minnesota cold.

Ahead in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And a major slip-up for the Chiquita banana company. Now they are peeling off $25 million to make amends.

Details straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

LEMON: Jonathan Schulze fought for his country, winning two Purple Hearts in Iraq. But when the Marine asked his country to fight for him, he was put on hold, told to wait.

CNN's Randi Kaye has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the story of Marine Jonathon Schulze, No. 26 on a list, a list no one wants to be on.

(on camera): So you're telling me Jonathon told this hospital twice now that he was feeling suicidal, and they told him...

MARIANNE SCHULZE, JONATHON'S STEPMOTHER: He was No. 26. They didn't have room. It would take two weeks.

KAYE: Before he could be admitted?

M. SCHULZE: Right.

KAYE: Twenty-sixth on a waiting list?

M. SCHULZE: Right. And to check back in a few days to see what number he was on the list.

KAYE: Did you think that Jonathon had a few days at that point to wait?

M. SCHULZE: No. No.

KAYE (voice-over): Months of intense fighting in Iraq. That's all it took for this fun-loving teddy bear of a guy, with a smile as wide as the Minnesota farm he grew up on, to unravel. Twenty-five- year-old Schulze returned home in March 2005 a tortured soul.

M. SCHULZE: I remember a broken man. Somebody who had no expression on his face, who would cry very easily, who at night you'd hear him screaming, moaning, groaning.

KAYE: Jonathon's step mom says he was sleeping just two hours a night, drinking heavily, having panic attacks. There was guilt over the loss of 16 men from his squad, including his two best friends.

JIM SCHULZE, JONATHON'S DAD: He was big. He was strong. He was brave, but his whole experience over there almost left him trembling like a little kid.

KAYE: Jonathon's drinking and violence led the Marines to give him a general discharge. Jim Schulze says his son became withdrawn, edging dangerously close to ending his life. Jim says Jonathon talked openly about suicide.

The family doctor had diagnosed Jonathon with post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and prescribed Valium, Ambien and Paxil. None of it seemed to quiet this Marine's mind.

Desperate for help, Jonathon turned to the VA hospital in Minneapolis. He couldn't hold a job, and without medical insurance, the VA was the only place he could afford.

(on camera): When he asked to be accepted into an in-patient program at the Minneapolis VA, what did that hospital tell him?

M. SCHULZE: They told him he couldn't get into that program at that time. It was full.

KAYE: And he had to wait how long for the next one?

M. SCHULZE: Six months.

KAYE (voice-over): Jonathon was sinking fast. In January this year the Schulzes tried another VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, about an hour outside Minneapolis.

(on camera): Jim and Marianne Schulze both insist they heard Jonathon tell the intake nurse he was feeling suicidal. They recall being told the social worker who screens PTSD patients was too busy to see their son that day, even though, they say, he'd been made aware of Jonathon's suicidal tendencies.

Jonathon was sent home and told to call back the next day. And when he did, his step mom was listening.

M. SCHULZE: And Jonathon said, "Yes, I feel suicidal."

KAYE: The next die when he called the hospital, you heard him tell them a second time?

M. SCHULZE: Yes, a second time. A second time. He eventually was told that right at that point it would be about a two-week wait. He at this point was No. 26 on the list and to check in periodically.

KAYE: Four days later with a picture of his daughter at his side, Jonathon wrapped an extension cord around his neck, tied it to a beam in the basement of this home he'd been renting from a friend, and hanged himself. Unanswered cries for help silenced.

M. SCHULZE: If our men are going to serve for our country and serve in a war or a conflict, when they come home, they should be taken care of.

They were promised when they went in. They were promised when they signed on that piece of paper. And they come home, and they have a problem, and what are they told? You're No. 26.

KAYE: In Jonathon's massive medical file an alarming absence. The social worker Jonathon spoke to by phone did not record the Marine's suicidal thoughts.

(on camera): How do you explain that in that 400-page medical file of his there isn't a single note mentioning that he said he felt suicidal?

J. SCHULZE: Very plain and simple. St. Cloud VA altered those records, or else the individual he talked to did not put it in there when Jon did mention that.

KAYE (voice-over): If so, why wasn't he admitted immediately? The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating and would not comment.

J. SCHULZE: When a vet cries out that he's suicidal, even if they'd have to set a bed up in a kitchen, you don't turn them away, you don't put them on a waiting list.

KAYE: Keeping them honest, we've learned the St. Cloud VA hospital has just 12 beds for PTSD patients. The Schulzes say those beds were full. We've also confirmed the number of beds has remained unchanged for a decade, even though the U.S. has spent the last five years fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs tells us it expects one in five returning veterans to need treatment for PTSD.

While the Schulzes struggle to heal, they find themselves at the center of a debate over the seemingly ill-prepared and overwhelmed VA system. Jonathon in death has breathed new life into the issue.

M. SCHULZE: Jonathon didn't come home to die.

KAYE: Nor did he come off the battlefield expecting he'd have to fight to get medical help at home.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Stewart, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And you can catch Randi Kaye's reports on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" each weeknight at 10:00 right here on CNN.

CHETRY: Killed just hours before his wedding. Now New York waits to exhale as a grand jury decides whether to indict police in the fatal shooting. The latest ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, investors have certainly spoken about the meltdown in the mortgage market, and now some lawmakers are threatening to take action, too.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details for us now.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello. I'm Don Lemon, live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry, in for Kyra Phillips.

If they are accurate, his claims are chilling. But is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed telling the truth about his role in so many acts of terror?

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: We're at the bottom of the hour, and we start with this. New York City on edge as a grand jury decides whether to indict five police officers involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man.

Sean Bell died in a barrage of police bullets on his wedding day, but a last-minute witness testified before the grand jury just a short time ago, claiming he saw a man firing one or two shots at police and then flee into a nearby building.

Reverend Al Sharpton, who acts as a spokesperson for the family, says the late witness is suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: With the coming forward in an unusual, extraordinary, suspicious manner of this witness that has reappeared, we are collectively calling on the governor and the attorney general of this state to begin looking seriously at bringing a special prosecutor in this matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Bell's shooting sparked outrage around New York and city officials are facing more of the same if the officers don't face charges. Extra police are now on standby.

CHETRY: Typically it's just a trendy area of Manhattan, today, though, several blocks of Greenwich Village are actually a grisly crime scene. Four people are dead, including two auxiliary police officers and many people are asking the question, why? Did a lone gunman walk into a pizzeria last night and without warning shot a waiter, 15 times in the back, then run off. Two unarmed volunteer police officers were waiting just down the street. The gunman shot and killed them. And then met his own death moments later when he exchanged gunfire with other police officers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: Two handguns were found on the scene, along with approximately 100 rounds of unspent ammunition. What this indicates is that this tragedy, as horrific as it was, could have been a lot worse, and without the actions of our brave officers, most likely, would have been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Details on that story throughout the day here on CNN.

And checking the itinerary for some of the White House hopefuls. Republican John McCain is on the road today in Iowa. His bus, the straight-talk express, as he likes to call it, is making three stops across the state. Democratic Hillary Clinton is in Washington. Her agenda includes remarks of the sudden crunch facing some people with subprime mortgages. And Clinton's party rival, John Edwards, is in New Hampshire making a play for the student vote at a campus in Manchester.

CHETRY: Gay marriage, abortion, all major issues for the religious right, but global warming? Well, it's a hot topic, too, and it's at the heart of a religious rift.

CNN's Mary Snow explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Is a dispute over global warming just a sign of a broader split between evangelicals and the Christian right? At the heart of the dispute, Reverend Richard Cizik. He's policy director of the National Association of Evangelicals, or NAE. He's outspoken on global warming, evident in this recent documentary.

REV. RICHARD CIZIK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS: To harm this world by environmental degradation is an offense against God.

SNOW: The Christian right wrote to the evangelical group NAE trying to silence and possibly dismiss Cizik. The NAE took no action.

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, was among the Christian right leaders telling the NAE that global warming is being used to shift the emphasis away from issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. He says global warming is part of the leftist agenda.

TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: We're not going to allow third parties, those that have ulterior motives, to divide evangelicals. And I think that in part is what is happening with the global warming issue.

SNOW: NAE board member, Reverend Paul De Vries, disagrees.

REV. PAUL DE VRIES, NEW YORK DIVINITY SCHOOL: It ought to be God's agenda, not the Republican Party's agenda that drives us.

SNOW: That agenda was laid out in a meeting of the NAE, the first since Ted Haggard stepped down as president following a gay sex scandal. During the meeting, members drafted a declaration denouncing human rights abuses and criticizing the U.S. government in its fight against terrorism.

JEFFERY SHELER, AUTHOR, "BELIEVERS": It's certainly going to raise some hackles probably among the same people who don't like them talking about global warming.

SNOW: Evangelicals say they are sending a message to the religious right.

DE VRIES: We're actually tired of being represented by people with a very narrow focus, and we want to have a focus as big as God's focus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: While Iran's leaders continue to pursue their nuclear ambitions, many Iranians seem to have more modest concerns.

CNN Middle East correspondent Aneesh Raman reports from Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is no easy stroll into Tehran's main market, just days remain until Nerosh (ph) Iran's new year, and everyone, it seems, is here buying gifts at once. But this year, the traditional New Year's optimism is tempered by everyday reality.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people can't buy anything they want to.

RAMAN (on camera): Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because the payment is very low. And I'm teaching in English, but my payments were very low, and I can't buy everything that I need.

RAMAN (voice over): Inflation here is up. Salaries are stagnant, and a new round of U.N. Sanctions loom, triggered by the West's anxiety over Iran's nuclear program.

(on camera): The market right now is teaming with people, and while they have got other things on their minds, Iranians only have to look as far as their wallet to be reminded of the country's nuclear ambition. This is a new currency note. It went out just a few days ago, it's worth about $5.50 dollars, and on the back, over a map of Iran, is an atomic symbol, below it, a message about the importance of scientific achievement.

(voice over): Nadir (ph) has been selling Persian carpets for 17 years, this year business is down, but spirits, he says, are up, and there's less concern that Iran's nuclear push will propel the country into war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The worry among people has subsided. There was much more concern at the end of last year, because the United States was moving its military into the Persian Gulf.

RAMAN: By day and by night, among all Iranians we met, fear has given way to hope -- that a new year will bring a new dynamic between Iran and the world. Especially after the U.S. and Iran met face to face last week at a regional conference in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a good start. They sit together, America and Iranian, they sit together to discuss and hopefully in the next meeting, in Turkey, maybe they have another meeting.

RAMAN: But there's no doubt who should take the first step. Just ask Chopra's (ph) friend, Faheed (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Discussion and cooperation together, also they have to understand each other. Unfortunately, American government doesn't understand the Iranian people. What nature they are.

RAMAN: Among the people, support for nuclear energy still seems universal. But so does the desire for their own government to do whatever it takes to restore prosperity. So that in the new year, people can buy whatever they want.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I'm joined just now via broadband from Iran.

Aneesh, I have a question for you, the U.N. Security council once again discussed sanctions towards Iran. It hasn't worked before. Will it now?

RAMAN: Yes, that is the big question. We saw incremental sanctions, the first of them at the end of last year and Iran continued its nuclear program. We seem set to see another round of sanctions. These won't be as harsh as perhaps some in the West would like and because of that it's likely that Iran will continue its nuclear defiance, but it's important to keep in mind at the core of this nuclear defiance is Iran's government and by and large its people, their sentiment that Iran has the right to peaceful, civilian, nuclear technology.

A member of the NPC, that Iran has stalled its nuclear program for negotiations before, and it's unlikely at all in the coming future to see Iran suspend its program. Now, when it comes to talks, you're at an impasse. The U.S. specifically won't talk to Iran until it suspends its nuclear program and Iran will talk about suspension, but won't suspend as a precondition, so no huge change likely in the days ahead, Don. LEMON: OK, and Aneesh, what about Iranians, everyday people, what do they think about their country talking to the U.S.?

RAMAN: Yes, it's funny, I was here last, at the end of last year, and there was incredible fear that a military action was looming against Iran, that it was imminent, in fact, and now a lot of people have grasped for hope on the recent Iraq conference. You heard one man mention it there, the fact that Iran and the U.S., while not in bilateral talks are at least at the same table, and hopefully they can build on that to come. A lot of Iranians feel it's a natural relationship, even some within the government, between Iran and U.S., they have a shared history, that happened during the shah, before the Iranian revolution, and despite the freezing of the diplomatic ties, many feel that it's a logical thing to take place, they are hopeful for it because if that happens the economy, at least here, will only improve.

Don?

LEMON: CNN's Aneesh Raman in Tehran. Thank you so much for that.

CHETRY: Deadly suicide bombings half a world away, will the U.S. feel the impact? We'll explain that story, ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: It is getting hot in the kitchen for these girl scouts. A convenience store owner buys their cookies, then flips them for dough!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It says right here, it's very clear, any resale or redistribution is unauthorized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any resale, my goodness, I'm a little embarrassed. I never read that before.

LEMON: Well, we're calling it the cookie monster, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: The tribal areas of Pakistan a world away, but much closer than you may think. And what happens there could have a big impact here at home.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-four Pakistani army cadets dead, killed by a Jihadi suicide bomber as they paraded on their base last November. It's the war Pakistan has been fearing, what's been called Talibanization, homegrown radical Islamists turning on their own government, taking their fight from the tribal border region near Afghanistan, to deep inside Pakistan. Attacking a western hotel in the heart of the capital and a prominent judge in terrorism cases. GOV. ALI JAN ORAKZAI, NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE: Initially it was in south Waziristan, and then it spread to north Waziristan, and then it started spreading to the settled areas.

ROBERTSON: That spread of radicalism sparked when Pakistani troops began unprecedented deployment in the fiercely independent border region to help the U.S. in the war on terror.

But as the soldiers began getting killed, the government had to rethink.

ORAKZAI: If we continue with this strategy, probably the situation is going to get worse rather than improvement.

ROBERTSON: So on the instructions of Pakistan's president, the regional governor, struck a deal. The troops would be pulled back and Pakistan's Taliban and tribes would be allowed to police themselves, in exchange for their promise not to cross into Afghanistan and attack Americans. The deal failed immediately. Attacks on U.S. troops went up threefold. Now, the deal is back firing on Pakistan, too.

MAJ. GEN. AZHAR ALI SHAH. PAKISTANI ARMY: They also started to, resorting to, which is a new phenomenon in this area to do suicide killings.

ROBERTSON: In the past few months, six suicide bombings in northern Pakistan have killed 35 people. Sources familiar with the tribal border area report an increasing radicalization among a wider population now, driven by a volatile cocktail of Taliban, al Qaeda, and other Islamic extremists where barbers are told, if they cut beards they'll be beheaded.

(on camera): From here inside Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan officials have angrily criticized Pakistan for not tackling terrorists and its tribal belt, but the question now is will Pakistan get tough or cut a new deal with extremists and undermine the war on terror?

Nic Robertson, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, they work hard for the money, but these girl scouts say the wrong people are making money off of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIRL SCOUT: We use our money for our troop, and we have to support other stuff, and he just gets it for himself to spend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Oh, that is mean, mean cookie monster. Straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

CHETRY: I'll sully those thin mints -- throw them in the freezer for a little while, they are incredible. Straight ahead, Entertainment News with A.J. Hammer. A.J. has a look at what's on tap.

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you won't find the thin mints down in New Orleans but there is a new Creole creation from Disney that has the studio doing something they've never done before, and Angelina Jolie is well on her way home with the family's new addition. I've got all the details, when the NEWSROOM continues. Just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it's a Disney first as a new beauty gets set to take her place alongside of Disney royalty. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer joins us with more on this one.

Hi A.J.

HAMMER: Hi Kiran. Yes, it's one of those about time things. The Walt Disney Company is working on a new animated fairy tale, it's called "The Frog Princess." The story is set in New Orleans but the great thing about it is it will feature the studio's very first black princess. She is a beauty.

The musical's going to be created also in the classic hand drawn process, which is kind of nice, as opposed to using computer animation that has really the industry's standard these days.

Composer Randy Newman is scoring this particular film. It will be yet another collaboration between Newman and Disney. Now in the past, he's created the music for animated Disney films like "Toy Story" and he did "A Bug's Life," also "Monster's Inc. And it was his song "I Didn't Have You" from "Monster's Inc" that ended his record- long losing streak at the Oscars.

We're just going to have to wait and see what "The Frog Princess" will be singing when she hits theaters in 2009. I'm sure when that happens, Kiran, it will be making a lot of news.

CHETRY: How cute. She is adorable. OK, so give us the scoop on the new addition to the Brad and Angelina crew.

HAMMER: Yes, we have to congratulate Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Angelina though, the one with custody of the boy that she's been working so hard to adopt for the last couple of weeks.

The little guy with his new mom left the Vietnamese orphanage in Ho Chi Min City, in a waiting SUV. She renamed the three-and-a-half- year-old, Pax Tien Jolie (ph). The next stop is Hanoi, and there they're going to pick up all the travel paperwork they need from the U.S. Embassy so they can get home to see Brad and the rest of the family.

The actress made this adoption by herself, as she did with her other children, and later her partner Brad Pitt adopted them. The Jolie-Pitt family already includes three other children, five-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia, two-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia, and another daughter Shiloh, who was born to the couple back in May. The new addition was abandoned at birth at a local hospital, and has been at that orphanage since 2003.

And of course we're going to have much more on this story tonight as "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" is right there as the newest member of the Jolie/Pitt family is joining in.

But not everybody is celebrating. Which I find hard to believe, but "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" will be investigating the controversy that is surrounding Angelina's adoption. That's tonight on TV's most provocative entertainment news program, at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on "Headline Prime."

And it's just remarkable to me that anybody would see anything wrong with this, but there are those who say maybe it should have been done closer to home. There are those who say there are too many in the family. I say if they can do it and they're providing a loving family, why the heck not?

CHETRY: Do you think you're ever going to be covering a Brad and Angelina wedding?

HAMMER: You know, that still remains to be seen, there was a quote that Brad Pitt had given to a magazine last year in which he said, until everybody in this country who is in love and wants to get married can legally get married, they are not going to do it.

Now that was last year, and I asked Angelina about that and she thought that was a good idea, but we'll wait and see what's actually ends up happening here.

CHETRY: All right, we'll check it all out tonight at 11:00. Thanks, A.J.

HAMMER: You got it Kiran.

LEMON: All right, a Brad and Angelina block here, because almost everyone has seen those photos of Angelina Jolie and her adopted children and we know they come from distant places like Cambodia, Ethiopia and now Vietnam, but you don't have to go great distances to bring home a bundle of joy.

Here's CNN's Alina Cho.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Madonna found her son in Malawi, Meg Ryan went to China, and Angelina Jolie, she's in Vietnam, picking up her third adopted child. The stars make it seem easy. Even glamorous. So many mistakenly believe they have to go overseas to adopt. Not true.

CYNTHIA DIMICELI, ADOPTIVE PARENT: People just don't realize that how can there be children available for adoption here in the United States?

CHO: Cynthia and Dominic Dimiceli wanted their biological son Joseph to have a sibling. They had trouble conceiving again, so they turned to adoption. They didn't have to go far.

(on camera): Are you guys taking a walk?

(voice-over): They found their son, 4-year-old Michael in Michigan, adopted him when he was two days old.

DIMICELI: It's our country. It's our people. Let's -- let's help our, you know, families here.

CHO: Cynthia, now an adoption consultant, says there are many myths about domestic adoptions. Mostly that it cost too much and that children aren't available. The truth is, each year, American families adopt more than 50,000 children domestically. Only 20,000 from overseas.

AARON BRITVAN, ADOPTION ATTORNEY: If you want to go there for philanthropic purposes, to help these children and say God bless, they need you. But if you're going over there thinking that there are no children domestically or what have you, then you're misinformed.

CHO: Aaron Britvan is an long-time adoption attorney and an adoptive father himself. He says it's actually safer to adopt domestically, because the child's medical records are readily available. There's also the issue of shady practices overseas.

The State Department recently issued a warning about Guatemalan adoptions. Domestic adoptions are often less expensive than adoptions from overseas, and who can put a price tag on love?

DIMICELI: Michael knew nothing of me, but looked at me when I held him, and I looked at him, that was it. I was his mother and he was my child, and I was going to protect him -- the rest of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ALINA CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, if his claims are true, it's an astonishing appetite for destruction. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, details on the alleged confession of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

CHETRY: First though, it is getting a little bit hot in the kitchen for these girl scouts. A convenience store owner buys their cookies and then flips them for more dough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE DONAHUE, GIRL SCOUTS OF LAKE ERIE: It says right here, it's very clear. Any resale or redistribution is unauthorized.

MATT SHULL, VALERO GAS STATION: Any resale, my goodness, I'm a little embarrassed, I never read that before.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: That is so sincere. Well, the cookie monster, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's talk about girl scout outrage. An Ohio troop says one merchant is a real cookie monster. That's because he's rolling in the cookie dough. Dawn Kendrick of affiliate WOIO reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIRL SCOUTS: On my honor I will try --

DAWN KENDRICK, WOIO REPORTER (voice-over): It's hard to find the honor in what's happening at the Valero gas station in Parma Heights. The family that owns it, making a quick buck literally, on every box of girl scout cookies they bought by flipping them for $4 instead of $3.

(on camera): How come they're $4, do you know? Girl scouts are selling them for $3.

(voice-over): Matt Shull told us he's saving the girls from going door-to-door, which could be dangerous.

SHULL: So I'm really, in the end, I'm helping them in more ways than one. And if I'm making a small profit off of it, I don't see why I'm not entitled to.

KATE DONAHUE, GIRL SCOUTS OF LAKE ERIE: I think he should be ashamed of himself. He's dishonorable, it's dishonest.

LYDIA STILLA, GIRL SCOUT: We use our money for our troop and we have to support other stuff and he just gets it for himself to spend.

DONAHUE: It says right here, it's very clear. Any resale or redistribution is unauthorized.

SHULL: Any resale? My goodness. I'm a little embarrassed. I never read that before.

RENEE ELLIS, TROOP LEADER: I think he was lying. I think he knew flat out what he was doing. And he got busted.

DONAHUE: He's not this high and he's not wearing a girl scout uniform.

KENDRICK (on camera): No, he certainly is no girl scout. But there were 12,000 of the real deal scouts pounding the pavement in Lake, Geauga, and Cuyahoga counties for weeks now, selling their cookies the honest way. And while this guy may not get honesty and honor, let me tell you, he certainly gets sarcasm.

SHULL: Thank you for taking the time and bringing everybody out here to bring it to my attention. That is wonderful -- I am glad you are here to protect the girl scouts. KENDRICK: Are you being sarcastic, Matt?

SHULL: Not at all. You would be able to detect that.

KENDRICK (voice-over): I'm Dawn Kendrick in Parma Heights, 19 Action News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Hold on, though. If you're a parent and you have to take your kid door to door trying to sell -- or bring them to work, you know you have people that hit you up at work for the girl scouts, you'd be happy to dump them off at the gas station guy, right?

LEMON: Especially if he makes a little profit. Poor girl scouts. The undercover video. That was the hilarious part. There was an undercover investigation.

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