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Charsada Suicide Bombing; Karbala Car Bombing; Blogs From Baghdad; Sunni Family Moves Back into a Shiite Neighborhood; Injured Skater Back on Ice; Don't Text and Drive; Saudi Claim Prevented Attacks; Crisis in Generalship
Aired April 28, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well straight ahead, this is a very busy hour. Getting together with friends, making it to class on time, typical worries for students in this country and in Iraq. But in Baghdad, the routine is far more dangerous. A unique blog gives us a rare glimpse into the lives of young Iraqis.
Also, you've seen it before, drivers talking on the phone, eating, even putting on makeup, well all those things are pretty distracting enough, but how about testing while behind the wheel? It's a new big problem.
Plus an escape that nearly ended her career. Now her comeback on the ice. It is Saturday April 28, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and you are in the NEWSROOM.
We begin with a breaking story taking place out of Pakistan and a powerful explosion. Right now, the interior minister and his son and being treated for minor injuries. At least 20 people are dead and 44 injured. Police say a suicide bomber detonated himself as the minister was addressing a crowd in his hometown of Charsada.
A ministry official said the bomber is believed to be an Afghan national. We'll bring you more information as we get it on that story.
Now turning to the war in Iraq, a car bomb attack near a Shiite shrine in the holy city of Karbala. There are conflicting reports on the number of dead. "A.P." says 30, "Reuters, 10." It happened as the faithful were going to evening prayers. And it's the second attack there this month.
Another aspect of the war, one that may be the most dangerous mission for American soldiers in the battle zone, and that is the foot patrol. CNN's Hugh Riminton joined up with one foot patrol in Baghdad an here's his report on what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we're not taking a vehicle because we don't have a vehicle. But that's all right. All right? We have enough personnel here to bring the casualties back if we have any casualties.
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): To defend their Baghdad patrol base, 10 soldiers and their interpreter are about to go out on foot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to take that long, but guess what? Black Hawk down, right? We don't know what to expect, we don't know what's going to happen.
RIMINTON: It is the most exposed an American soldier can be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The main thing is, you want to separate, get a distance between us. All right? In case something does happen that'll take us all out. Which we should we spread out, all right? Anybody have any questions? No? All right. Let's do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismounts are out of the compound. They're heading toward east.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll copy, over.
RIMINTON: They call this work, checking the atmospherics, trying to get a feel for the surrounding neighborhood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a little quiet today, huh? Not too much traffic.
RIMINTON: They're looking for any hint that insurgents have infiltrated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He waiting his daughter. She's in school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. That's fine. All right, thank you.
RIMINTON: Here, nothing and no one seems entirely innocent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've been following us around.
RIMINTON: He says he's just trying to get home. Part of the tactic is to buy loyalty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've already been to all of these houses here, passed out generators, passed out some clothes, food. About once a month we do that again.
RIMINTON: The signs today are good. There are even games in the schoolyard as the U.S. troops link up with a Kurdish units at a small base of their own. It's a warm welcome, but the atmospherics are changing.
(on camera) Just in the few minutes these troops were in the patrol base, they've come out to discover that all the people have abandoned the streets. The kids who were playing football just over this fence have disappeared and gone off somewhere else, and that's what soldiers call a combat indicator. It's the kind of thing that puts them on their guard.
(voice over) Why this sudden silence? What do the locals know? Is there a sniper or perhaps some other attack brewing? Slowly, though, life returns to the street, and the troops relax a little.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Bethel, we're good? You're sure?
RIMINTON: Walking allows contact impossible from an armored patrol. But it multiplies the vulnerability in a land where death can come in an instant from anywhere.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Hugh Riminton joins us now, live.
So Hugh, especially in those moments of silence, give me an idea of just how nerve wracking it was to be on that walk.
RIMINTON: Well, this is the whole thing. You never know what might happen at any time. You know, there's a kind of an assumption by people who never done these sort of thing, that somehow there's a warning, someone appear, there night be a shout or something. That's just not the environment, the first thing you might know is a bullet comes at you or there's a massive explosion. So, when you see these so-called combat indicators when the people in the streets empty of local people, that is an extremely nerve wracking time -- Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Hugh Riminton, thank you so much for that very courageous report.
Well, among the successes, there are lots of failures too and lots of blame to go around. One Army officer blames failures in Iraq on what he calls "a crisis in generalship." CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a damning indictment of the U.S. generals running the Iraq war from an officer currently serving who has done two tours of duty there. In the latest issue of "Armed Forces Journal," a privately owned magazine, Army Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling writes, "America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq." He calls it "a crisis in American generalship."
Yingling says, like the Vietnam years, America's generals throughout the 1990s failed to anticipate the need to train their forces for the type of unconventional war that has emerged in Iraq.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CMDR. MULTINATIONAL FORCES IN IRAQ: And I don't think anyone would say that there were not mistakes, or that there were not a variety of areas in which we could and should have done better.
STARR: Lieutenant Colonel Yingling, now a deputy commander at the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Ft. Hood, Texas, says there have never been enough troops and the generals did not provide Congress and the public with an accurate assessment of the conflict in Iraq. Again, something many say occurred in the Vietnam War. It's rare for an active-duty officer to go public. Retired officers have, however, been speaking out for months. Some say General David Petraeus, the new top commander in Iraq, just won't be able to make a difference.
COL. DOUG MACGREGOR, (RET.) U.S. ARMY: The notion that he is going to have any profound impact on this thing, tactically or otherwise, is open to very serious debate.
STARR (on camera): Lieutenant Colonel Yingling doesn't name any generals. In fact, he says it's not a problem with individual generals, but rather, a crisis in the military institution.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well it's not all up to the U.S. military, say some. Success in the end will depend on Iraqi actions, those words from the commander of multi national forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus. His mission in Washington this week has been to help sell the president's troop surge plan. Petraeus spoke about that with our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): General David Petraeus knows he's not the miracle worker some have made him out to be.
GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. COMMANDER IN IRAQ: This is not about one person, it's not even about just Americans, it's about the entire coalition and it's very much about our Iraqi partners.
MCINTYRE (on camera): A lot of people I talk to feel you may have been dealt a losing hand here. Do you feel that way?
PETRAEUS: Well, I certainly am doing everything that I can.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The looming deadline is September, when general Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, will pass judgment on whether the surge is working. But is there a realistic prospect of U.S. troops coming home in some number after this assessment in September?
PETRAEUS: Jamie, that really is not something that I even want to hint at. Again, we've had, frankly, disappointments in the past where we've tried to project into the future.
MCINTYRE (on camera): If in September you think the surge strategy is not working are you going to be able to tell that to the president and presumably the Congress?
PETRAEUS: Not only will I be able to, Ambassador Crocker and I will do that. We have an obligation to the young men and women who are out there giving their all to do just that. MCINTYRE (voice-over): Petraeus admits the situation in Iraq today is worse because of past blunders, but insists the cause is not lost.
PETRAEUS: Now, I don't think anyone would say that there were not mistakes and there were not a variety of areas in which we could and should have done better. And in my submission to the Senate Armed Services Committee offered several pages...
MCINTYRE: I guess what Americans want to know is, is the U.S. making a mistake now with its strategy?
PETRAEUS: Well, I think that we are applying what we've learned.
MCINTYRE (on camera): It was just six months ago that one U.S. military intelligence officer said Anbar Province was lost. But General Petraeus says the situation there has turned around dramatically since tribal leaders have banded together to fight al Qaeda. It's an example, he'd like to see followed in Baghdad.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Saudi Arabia shuts its door to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. A senior Saudi intelligence source says Saudi King Abdullah rejected the Iraqi leader's request to make a state visit. The source says the king believes al Maliki is not doing enough to protect Sunnis from attacks by Shiites. Saudi Arabia is a predominantly Sunni nation.
Attacks on the scale of 9/11, that's what Saudi officials say they've prevented with the arrests of more that 100 Islamic extremists. Numerous weapons, also were seized in what's described as one of the largest terror sweeps to date in the kingdom. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Wrapped in plastic, buried deep below the Saudi desert, these guns al Qaeda guns were never meant to be captured. Saudi intelligence officials say al Qaeda planned to use them to bring down the Saudi royal family and kill American solars in Iraq.
In an unprecedented nine month operation netting more that 170 al Qaeda suspects, and more than $5 million, Saudi intelligence officials say they thwarted plans to fly aircraft into oil facilities, attack security installations, kill senior officials and send money to al Qaeda in Iraq.
GEN. MANSOUR AL-TURKI, SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY SPKSMN: The activities that we have dealt with trying to recruit young Saudis to be involved in the terrorist activities outside the Kingdom.
ROBERTSON: But the raids reveal a far more worrying trend for the Saudi, the war in Iraq is spilling over into Saudi Arabia. Saudi al Qaeda fighters train in Iraq and come back to Saudi to fight.
AL-TURKI: They are taking advantage of the terrorism action outside the Kingdom in order to recruit, in order to train...
ROBERTSON (on camera): Some of the new blood that's been recruited into the organization partly because of the Iraq war has really had to go across into Iraq to fight the fight. But, now it seems they're reorganizing in Iraq and starting to launch plans and plots across the border.
(voice-over): In the past year, since this botched the al Qaeda attack revealed their new tactics to target oil facilities and kill the economy, rather than kill Westerner, al Qaeda has largely dropped off the radar. Intelligence gleaned in the botched attack led to many of the recent arrests, but in their success, the Saudis show how tough the coming battle is.
The money alone shows just how dangerous al Qaeda may be. The $5 million recovered is 10 times what it costs al Qaeda to execute the 9/11 attacks.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: In Pakistan, they're dealing with what looks to be a terror attack. The Pakistan interior minister and his son are among 44 people who have been injured after a suicide bomb attack. The attack took place while the interior minister was addressing a gathering of about 200 people.
CNN producer Mohsin Naqvi is in Lahore, Pakistan and joins us now on the telephone.
So, Mohsin, what do you know about exactly what was taking place in terms of this gathering when this explosion went off?
MOHSIN NAQVI, CNN PRODUCER: Fredricka, Pakistani (INAUDIBLE) was addressing a gathering of more than 200 people when a suicide bomber entering that compound in which -- at least 22 people were killed and 42 were injured in that. In that 22 people, three of them are policemen who were trying to protect the Pakistani minister. That suicider bomber tried to go near the interior minister when the policeman tried to stop him. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has condemned this attack and said it's an act of terrorism -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so, real quickly Moshin, before I let you go, it is indeed the thinking that the interior minister was the direct target?
NAQVI: Yes. According to police chief he was actually the source of the bomber target (INAUDIBLE) Pakistani interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, according to interior ministry, he was told two days back there will be a possible attack on him by -- from al Qaeda. That's what they told CNN that they have -- they told Pakistani interior minister a few days back and al Qaeda -- he was on hit list of al Qaeda here in Pakistan and that's why he was having a high security, tight security near and around him -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, CNN producer, Mohsin Naqvi, thanks so much for join us from Lahore.
While there is a suicide bombing taking place there in Pakistan, the same was taking place in Karbala, Iraq. Let's take you there with these new images that are just now coming in, you see the extent of the explosion and there, just as deadly, if not more so 30 people reportedly killed in this attack, 50 people wounded. Karbala is just south of Baghdad in Iraq's Shiite heartland. And it is one of the world's holiest Shiite cities.
Karbala has not been a place that has been dealt the kind of violence that Baghdad has been witnessing as of late. But again, 30 people have been killed in what is believed to have been a car bomb attack there, in Karbala, and 50 wounded. More information as we get it.
Meantime in this country, the U.S. immigration debate comes front and center. We will hear from the president on his latest attack and what immigrants think may likely change.
And charges the Israeli military is using Palestinian civilians as human shields as they combat militants, compelling video evidence. Is there an explanation?
And day-to-day life in Baghdad as told by the city's young residents in an innovative blog project. It's called "Hometown Baghdad" and that's coming up in 20 minutes. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, just moments ago, President Bush arriving in Miami, Florida. He is going to be delivering the commencement address at the Miami Dade College. Meantime, one of the topics that's front and center on his mind these days, immigration -- calling it a very critical challenge to the nation right now. He is making this a rather urgent and pressing issue. And he is pressing Congress to take action on that highly volatile issue.
His message timed as illegal immigrants and their supporters prepare pair for next week's May Day demonstrations. And now you're looking at live pictures of him in his arrival there, conversing with a few folks as before he gets into the limo and heads to the Miami Dade College.
Our Kathleen Koch is joining us from Miami as well, traveling with the president, so while his message on immigration has some significance for the upcoming week, is that something that he is going to throw into his commencement address in any capacity today?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, he certainly will be, Fredricka. And actually before he comes to the university, actually this evening, this afternoon, right now, he's making a bit of a detour heading to Key Biscayne, Florida, where he'll be making, appearing at a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee at a private residences of hoping to raise roughly a million dollars for Republican campaign coffers, but as you mention, yes, he will tonight be focusing. In his commencement address, at 5:30, on immigration reform. That was also the focus of his radio address this morning. An issue that's very important to the president, also obviously to many residents of this state, but it's also subject where he's had very little success with Congress.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our current immigration system is in need of reform. We need a system where laws are respected. We need a system that meets the legitimate needs of our economy and we need a system that treats people with dignity and helps newcomers assimilate into our society. We must address all elements of this problem together or none of them will be solved at all.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KOCH: Now critics, many of them conservatives, in the past, have criticized the president's immigration reform plan for being too lax, saying it basically is tantamount to amnesty, they say it didn't do enough on border security. So, the White House, about three weeks ago, floated a new tougher plan, beefing up border security but also making it tougher on immigrants. For example, current illegal immigrants, if they wanted to get a renewable work visa, it will cost them $3,500.
Then if they actually wanted permanent residency and a green card, they'd have to leave the United States, go back to their home country, pay a $10,000 fine and then apply to enter the U.S. legally. So, many immigration -- many supporters of immigration rights they say that is simply more than low-income workers can afford. So, s far this plan has not gone far at all in Congress. Back to you -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right, Kathleen Koch joining us, thanks so much.
KOCH: You bet.
WHITFIELD: Well, overseas in the Middle East, the Israeli military forbids it, but apparently it's happening anyway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli soldiers walk behind Sameh Amira in a house to house search in the West bank city of Nablus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: What this Palestinian civilian used as a human shield. The evidence is coming up next.
The new Baghdad security plan -- is it bringing people back to their neighborhoods?
And later, a horrific injury. And it's been a grueling recovery, but a recovery nonetheless. And now it's an inspiring comeback story. That is straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A terrifying experience, acting as a human shield with a gun pointed at your back. That's what some Palestinians say Israeli troops forced them to do. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports from the West Bank.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN: Israeli soldiers walk behind Sameh Amira in a house to house search in the West Bank city of Nablus. This video, shot in February by the "Associated Press" during a major Israeli incursion, strongly suggests soldiers were using the 24-year-old Palestinian as a human shield. Retracing his steps, he recalls being gripped by fear.
"I felt anything could happen," he says, "that they would shoot and kill me."
"I was screaming and crying, god help me" recalls his mother Hannan, "I didn't know what was happening. I was terrified."
The Israeli army declined to grant CNN an interview, but in a written statement said it has ordered an official investigation into the incident.
In 2005 the Israeli supreme court explicitly banned the use of human shields following multiple complaints from Palestinians in the occupying West Bank, but the practice still occurs often enough to raise serious concerns among Israeli human rights groups.
JESSICA MONTELL, B'TSELEM, HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP: There is some miscommunication between the level of the army that sets policy and the level of the soldier who is actually carrying out orders. Somewhere along the way, the message gets lost that these procedures are prohibited both by Israeli law and by international law.
WEDEMAN: Also under investigation is the case of the 11-year-old Gehan Dagosh (ph) who, during the same Israeli operation says she was forced to walk in front of soldiers through the dark alleys of Nablus's old city.
"They shouted at me and were pointing their guns at me," she recalls. "I was really scared."
And recently, a peace activist shot this video, south of Nablus, in which it appears soldiers made two young men stand in front of their vehicle to prevent it from being stoned.
(on camera): The officer of the unit involved in this incident has been relieved of his command. And an investigation is now under way, but all these cases indicate a simple fact, that laws and rules made in courtrooms and army offices may be bent or broken in the field.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, on the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: We hear about life in Iraq from reporters everyday, but what do Iraq's have to say? Baghdad blogs, a peek into the lives of young Iraqis taking risks to go to school, to the store, or just visit a friend. That's next in the NEWSROOM.
And later, on the ice again. Just two months after a serious injury threatened her career, the comeback. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Happening right now, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Pakistan's northwest frontier province, killing at least 22 people and wounding 44. Among the wounded, Pakistan's interior minister and his son.
And in Iraq, a car bomb attack near a Shiite shrine in the holy city of Karbala. There are conflicting reports on the number of dead. Police tell CNN at least 30 people were killed. Iraqi health officials put the death toll at 55. It happened as the faithful were going to evening prayers. And this is the second attack there this month.
Welcome back to the NEWSROOM, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center.
Blogging from Baghdad, three Iraqi students air their documentaries on YouTube about life in the war zone. Reporter Paul Davis takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL DAVIS, REPORTER (voice-over): The group of intelligent young Iraqis with access to digital cameras and the Internet have given us an insight into their world. They call it hometown Baghdad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to meet my friend and colleague to prepare for the exams, but I couldn't get out today and I think the reason is -- well, why don't you just see for yourself.
DAVIS: Hours later, Adel (ph) was still trapped in his room.
ADEL (ph): I'm just going lay down, and listen to the symphony of bullets.
DAVIS: This student took his camera to Baghdad's engineering college, one of many places of education to be attacked by extremists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dean was fascinated and my friend lost his knee, another one lost a leg. This one is a graduation certificate for a deceased student. DAVIS: On his Web site, Adel describes being woken up by his little brother and cousin's nightmares and discovering the boys had witnessed murders.
ADEL (ph): (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
DAVIS: In their blogs, the young Iraqis show us an existence where the electricity is off more often than it's on. Where the simplest journey means risking your life, anyone who can is leaving the country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to leave all my friends, all my family to go to a safe place where I can live safely without these dangerous things.
DAVIS: For those left behind, the nightly gun battles.
ADEL (ph): We hear bullets all night long.
DAVIS: Armed men outside, our blogger ready just in case they've come for his family tonight.
ADEL (ph): I'm ready for anything. I got this gun actually, this pistol and I'm hoping to defend, you know, my family and myself.
DAVIS: Desperate measures in a desperate city where even these young Internet broadcasters know a camera must sometimes take second place to a gun.
Paul Davis, ITV news.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well it sounds like a death wish, a Sunni family returning to a mostly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad. We met a family that has done just that, in the belief that their safety is now guaranteed.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mustafa Mohammed finally has something to smile about, he's back in his neighborhood, juice shop open once again for business. He fled with his family Sunnis fearing for their lives in the predominantly Shia neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad they called home for 17 years.
MUSTAFA MOHAMMED, RETURNED TO BAGHDAD HOME (through translator): We suffered. It was difficult to make a living. It was hard to leave our district, our friends and neighbors.
DAMON: His neighbor, Abuhussam (ph) comes to visit, telling Mustafa he and his family have been missed. ABU HUSSAM, NEIGHBOR (through translator): We phoned them many times, trying to convince them to come back.
DAMON: But in the end, it wasn't the neighbors' pleas or faith in the Baghdad security plan that brought this family back home, it was a promise from the Office of Radical Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose Ma'da (ph) militia strikes fear in the hearts of most Sunnis.
HUSSEIN MOHAMMED, RETURNED TO BAGHDAD HOME (through translator): Muqtada al-Sadr called for all displaced families to return. When we came back to the area, Sadr's local office promised nothing can harm us.
DAMON: Taking a Shia cleric at his word is a risk for this Sunni mother and her boys. They had fled for fear her sons would end up slaughtered by Shia militias, despite the reputation her family had in the area.
FAIZA ABDULKARIM, RETURNED TO BAGHDAD HOME (through translator: The Shias were all very sad, they were crying and said you have never harmed anyone, why are you leaving? But I was afraid for my sons that they would be abducted.
DAMON: So the neighbors kept their home safe.
ABDULKARIM (through translator): It was so hard to move away, this is our house. When we left, it was like we had moved to another country. Then we came back home and everyone welcomed us, safe and sound.
DAMON: But just in case the wrong people knock on her door, she put a poster of a Shia religious figure in her kitchen. For now, her youngest, 11-year-old Abdulla (ph) is reunited with his friends, but in the back of everyone's mind, the reality that this may be just another fleeting moment.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The image is painful to watch. Not this image, this is the happy news ending portion of it. Slashed across her face by her partner's skate, well now she's back as you can see. And that's next in the NEWSROOM.
And Miss America gets down and dirty, but this time it's for a good cause. She's helping uncover Internet predators targeting children. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: You don't need me to tell you this, but gas prices are already up over $3 a gallon in most states and it could keep soaring as demand rises with the busy summer travel season. In this week's On the Go segment, we offer some helpful hints for those of you who are planning that summer road trip. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NILOU MOTAMED, TRAVEL + LEISURE MAGAZINE: If you're thinking about your summer vacation plans, the time to book is right now. The most important thing is to look at as many resources as possible, online, travel agent, magazines. There are great resources on the Web, for example farecast.com actually tells you when to book your ticket to get the best rate.
If you're able to be flexible, consider flying on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of Fridays or Sundays. The flights are more expensive, also hotels are more expensive on the weekend then they are during the week.
The Caribbean is a great alternative for the summer. After April 15th, most of the hotels have their low season which means that you're going to get great deals. Also air fares go down at that point.
Consider June or September. People often don't think of September as a great time for summer travel, but the weather is still terrific and the crowds are gone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So it's one of those scary scenes in sports, a competitor comes crashing down, spectators fearing not just for a career but for a life. Well, this story has a happy ending.
Here to tell it, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If there's anything Canadian pairs skater, 19-year-old Jessica Dube and 21-year-old Bryce Davison understand, it's how to captivate an audience -- in chemistry.
BRYCE DAVISON, SKATE SLASHED PARTNER'S FACE: All it took was a glance at each other's eyes and we knew what was going on.
GUPTA: Today in Montreal, they practice a camel spin, now that's a move judged on its speed, and also on how frighteningly close they get. It's the same camel spin that nearly ended their career at a skating competition in Colorado Springs just two months ago. The world watching as Davison's skate hit Dube's face and she collapsed on the ice, sobbing.
DAVISON: Half revolution before my skate hit her face. I knew we were too close and reaction time just wasn't quick enough to get my leg down, and my skate hit her face.
GUPTA: Davison's skate was calculated to be moving 40 miles per hour when it hit, delivering a gash at near surgical precision across her nose and her cheek.
JESSICA DUBE, SKATER SLASHED: I just thought he broke my nose because I had a lot of pain, but then I saw like the blood and everything.
GUPTA: Pumped up on morphine, Dube doesn't remember being rushed to the ER, where she was met by a facial trauma surgeon. She had already lost lots of blood by from the gash which was nearly four inches long and several centimeters deep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were bony particles in there that had been crushed, fortunately did not break all the way through into her sinus underneath her maxillary sinus.
GUPTA (on camera): Dr. Pruitt (ph) spent about three hours closing Dube's wound. It took more than 80 stitches and he had to close it in layers. The good news is there was no underlaying fracture or head injury. In fact, within ten days, she was back on the ice.
(voice-over): The physical healing proved the easy part, but what they needed was post-traumatic stress counseling for several months. Her injury, his guilt.
DAVISON: Sorry.
The man is supposed to be the protector and protect his partner. It wasn't anything where we fell on a lift or anything like that. Actually, I hit her.
GUPTA: The pair has wrapped up therapy, but there's still one question they can't or won't answer. Who got too close that day?
DUBE: I don't know. I really wanted him to know that I didn't think it was his fault at all.
GUPTA: Dube and Davison are back. They recently placed seventh in the World Championships, the same position as last year. To move up, they cannot hold back.
DUBE: I think we can say that it made us stronger person.
DAVISON: Oh I think Jess said it pretty well, the harder things get, the more you have to fight and for us, what it's been is the more we have to fight, the better we get from it.
GUPTA: Still, they know they lost something -- perhaps youthful invincibility.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: That's an incredible comeback story.
An appalling attack, all of it caught on tape. Now, the suspect is caught as well. This was pretty appalling as well. You may remember this surveillance tape. It shows 101-year-old Rose Morat being brutally mugged. She was hit in the face several times, suffering a fractured cheekbone, all for just $33. The same person is blamed for a similar attack the same day on an 85-year-old woman.
Well now, police have arrested this man, Jack Rhodes, on charges of robbery and assault among other things. Police began questioning Rhodes after noticing he matched a photo of a person wanted for questioning in robberies of women in Queens.
Miss America as a crime fighter? The reigning champ helping lure bad guys into the waiting arms of the law.
More now from CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The new Miss America is Miss Oklahoma!
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There she is, Miss America, strutting her stuff in a swimsuit.
LAUREN NELSON, MISS AMERICA: Here, come on in. My phone's ringing. I got to get to my phone.
TUCHMAN: And there there she is again, luring a suspected sexual predator into the lair of America's "Most Wanted" host John Walsh. The two of them teamed up, setting up an elaborate sting to help bring child molesters to justice, with Miss America acting as the bait.
NELSON: I actually chatted online with these predators, I talked on the phone with these predators and then, eventually I was the 14- year-old decoy in the sting house.
TUCHMAN: They work with a computer crimes unit from New York Suffolk County Police Department. They posted a photo of Nelson online, the photo taken when she was 14-years-old. The former Miss Oklahoma pretended to still be 14, chatting with potential predators, luring them into a trap.
JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Really, it's the fact that they are so compulsive and so driven, that they'll be talking online to who they think is a 14-year-old girl, and they will risk everything to come here to get inside this house and have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
TUCHMAN: They say the sting was a big success, capturing four suspected predators, including this one, 21-year-old man Suffolk County police called the phantom. Cops have been trying to catch him for two years.
WALSH: Can you admit you came here to have sex with a 14-year- old girl?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not to have sex, to hang out.
WALSH: To hang out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To hang out.
WALSH: That's not what you said on the Internet. You were pretty explicit. You said you wanted to do certain things to this 14- year-old girl. It's a bad day for you, buddy.
TUCHMAN: But a good day for Miss America, who's pageant winning platform was Internet safety for children.
NELSON: We get a lot of great things from the Internet, but there's a negative side, too, and something that people don't always know about or think about.
TUCHMAN: John Walsh says he's proud of his partner in crime fighting.
WALSH: It takes a lot to stand out there and look at a man that might be 45-years-old that you know is intent upon either hurting you or molesting you or having sex with you, get him in the house.
TUCHMAN: Lauren Nelson wore a crown on her head, now she wears courage on her sleeve.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well how about this? I know you've witnessed it on the roadways, witnessed just about everything. How about folks who eat while they're driving? Maybe even put on mascara? Well, how about texting while driving? The latest distraction on our streets and some states want it to end. A little bit later.
And the man's got rhythm, the president has moves. Well, he sort of has moves. No, he's got some moves. You got to give him some props on that. More on the presidential chakala.
REYNOLDS WOLF, METEOROLOGIST: Hi, folks, I'm Reynolds Wolf with a look at today's allergy report. And things are looking just fine in portions of the northern plains as well as the central plains, but when you get into parts of the southeast, the northeast, out west as well as the Great Basin, we have high levels of pollen and ragweed. That's a look at today's allergy report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A new high-tech way to cheat. Some students are using their iPods and their MP3s. They download the answers, then they play them back in class while pretending to listen to music. Many schools across the country are banning the devices from the classrooms. This high-tech form of cheating is also reported in schools from Canada to Australia.
And do you text message and drive at the same time? Well, you shouldn't. Police suspect that might have contributed to an accident that sent New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to the hospital. Now, several states are considering laws to try to stop drivers who text. Our Alina Cho reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators say it's possible the driver of the SUV carrying New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was text messaging at the time of the crash, in addition to speeding.
ROBERT SINCLAIR JR., AAA: Imagine what you have to do when you're texting. You need two hands to operate the device, so automatically one hand is not going to be on the steering wheel.
CHO: AAA's Robert Sinclair Jr. says drivers only can be distracted safely for two seconds, just two seconds. We've seen drivers doing all sorts of crazy things at the wheel: applying makeup, eating, reading, writing, now drivers are reading and writing at the same time. A relatively new problem, but potentially a deadly one.
SINCLAIR: If you're on the highway doing 60 miles an hour, you're traveling at 88 feet per second. So if three seconds go by, you've travelled the distance of nearly a football field. So anything that takes your attention away for even a second or two can lead to disaster.
CHO: Like in Washington state, where a man caused a five car pileup after he was distracted by an e-mail on his Blackberry. That was December. As early as next month, Washington state will become the first in the nation to make it a crime to text while driving. Arizona and Oregon are considering similar measures. Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. have de facto bans on driving while texting under broader measures that ban hand-held cell phone use in the car.
Sinclair says drivers should use common sense regardless of the law.
SINCLAIR: My dear old grandfather used to say common sense ain't common. And as more of these devices proliferate, I think we're going to see a lot more trouble.
CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: President Bush like you've never seen him before. We can't stop playing this video because you just can't get enough of the dancer-in-chief. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, you knew this was coming, the video of President Bush getting down at the White House, got the neck moving, he's in the groove.
Well, it's a story only our Jeanne Moos could do. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ditch the presidential seal, lose the podium, make way for the dancer-in-chief. Already seen it you say? Bet you haven't seen everywhere it ended up after you first saw it. Jay Leno didn't even both to make a joke.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": This is your president at work.
MOOS: Jon Stewart ended his show with it.
JOHN STEWART, HOST "THE DAILY SHOW": Well, here it is, your moment of zen.
MOOS: David Letterman slipped it into his great moments in presidential speeches segment.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: That the only thing we have to fear is --
JOHN F. KENNEDY: Ask not --
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": Do you get the feeling that he might be under the impression that he's attending a luau?
MOOS: And after viewing it at "The View," they scored it.
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I'm giving our president a 10, thank you very much.
MOOS: Our president seems to like to shake his thing. Here he was in Brazil joining in the festivities, and here he was in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. He hears music, his head bobs, his hands do that robotic thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He dances like a white guy from Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think he'll ever end up on Soul Train.
MOOS: The guy who could derail Soul Train is Karl Rove. Rove makes President Bush look like Michael Jackson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He comes doing this, and he's standing like this, and yes, he was getting into it.
MOOS (on camera): Maybe the best way to judge the president's moves is by the amount of laughs or applause each move got on the comedy shows.
(voice-over): Drumming, horizontal hand gestures, upraised arms with fingers pointed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had a kind of whoo. You have to give the man credit for getting out there and doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The poor benighted fellow, as a former music student, I cannot endorse this kind of behavior.
MOOS: If you want better presidential boogying, head for the Internet where you determine the moves. There, the president was publicizing malaria awareness day and before he's aware, the West African dance company director won't let him escape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, you're not going like that.
MOOS: At least President Bush didn't go as wild as Russian president Boris Yeltsin, may he rest in peace.
It's fun to watch our leaders let loose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like watching an elephant dance, it's not how good they are, it's not that they can dance.
MOOS: But when a leader gets down, don't expect him to live it down.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Hey, I say A for effort. Go ahead, Mr. President.
All right, a look at the top stories in a moment. "IN THE MONEY" is next, here's a preview.
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