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CNN Saturday Morning News
Accusations Against White House; Bush Official Resigns; New Video From Jessica Lynch Rescue; Beam Me Up Scotty, President Bush Expected To Veto Iraq Bill
Aired April 28, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is April 28th.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, almost May.
HOLMES: Almost May, the year is flying by.
NGUYEN: Can you believe it?
HOLMES: Hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for starting your day with us. In Washington this morning, a resignation with a twist. A member of the Bush administration admits ties to an escort service run by the so-called D.C. madam.
HOLMES: Also, you'll probably remember this story and certainly this individual crow. A 101-year-old woman attacked. Remember this? It was all recorded by a security camera. Total outrage and now an arrest in the case.
NGUYEN: Plus, we have new video from the night American troops rescued private Jessica Lynch. The mission as it unfolded before her eyes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scotty, beam me up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well Trekkies, listen up. Yes, you heard it right, beam me up Scotty. Well those words special meaning this morning. Scotty is heading back to space. We'll tell you about it ahead on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
But we do want to start with accusations against the White House. Former CIA Director George Tenet says he was used to sell the Iraq war to the American people. CNN's Brian Todd explains how Tenet is now lashing out at the Bush administration and in particular Dick Cheney in his new book.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The former CIA director describes palpable tension between himself and Vice President Cheney before and after the Iraq invasion. In his new book, "At The Center of the Storm," George Tenet boasts of helping to kill a speech Cheney planned just before the war, linking al Qaeda and Iraq.
Tenet writes that during the finger-pointing over pre-war intelligence, the president publicly supported him.
But at a meeting he had with then Secretary of State Colin Powell, "Colin let me know that other officials, particularly the vice president, had quite another view."
The quote, excerpted in the "New York Times" and confirmed to CNN by two sources familiar with the book.
Assistants for Cheney and Powell say they won't comment before reading the book.
One former colleague says this account from Vice President Cheney on NBC's "Meet The Press" in September has especially bothered Tenet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS," COURTESY NBC NEWS)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When George Tenet said in the Oval Office and the president of the United States asked him directly, he said, "George, how good is the case against Saddam on weapons of mass destruction?," the director of the CIA said, "It's a slam dunk, Mr. President. It's a slam dunk."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Tenet fires back, in the book and on CBS's "60 Minutes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE TENET, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: The hardest part of all this has just been listening to this for almost three years. Listening to the vice president go on "Meet the Press" on the fifth year of 9/11 and say, well George Tenet said slam dunk, as if he needed me to say slam dunk to go to war with Iraq. As if he needed me to say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Tenet's former deputy, John McLaughlin, now CNN's national security adviser, was at that 2002 meeting where Tenet said slam dunk.
McLaughlin says the phrase has been taken out of context.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What he meant was that it's a slam dunk that we can put more information into the mix to make it clearer why analysts believe there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
(END VIDEO TAPE) TODD: White House officials tell CNN the decision to go to war was based on many other reasons, apart from the slam dunk comment. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
HOLMES: And some other quotes of interest from Tenet's book. This one here, "There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat," end quote.
Now Dan Bartlett, the counselor to the president disputes that saying the president did wrestle with those questions and made the decision very carefully.
NGUYEN: Well, George Tenet will be joining Larry King next week on Monday. He's going to talk about the administration, and its push on Iraq. That is "LARRY KING LIVE" 9:00 Eastern every night right here on CNN.
A brand-new look at the rescue of former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch. Take a look. This new Internet video shows previously unseen events from her rescue. And you can see Lynch is injured, unable to get up on her own. She's still a little bit shaken as one soldier gives her the American flag patch off of his uniform. Now this is the way she described the scene during this week's testimony on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA LYNCH, FORMER POW IN IRAQ: On April 1st, while various units created diversions around Nasiriyah, a group came to the hospital to rescue me. I could hear them speaking in English, but I was still very afraid.
Then a soldier came in to the room. He tore the American flag from his uniform, and he handed it to me in my hand. And he told me, we're American soldiers, and we're here to take you home. And I looked at him and I said, yes, I'm an American soldier, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Also in that testimony, Lynch pointed out that parts of her story were just made up by the military, and, she said, her rescuers and fellow soldiers, they are the real heroes.
HOLMES: Paying for the war in Iraq. President Bush promising to veto the bill passed this week because Democrats included a timetable for troop withdrawal. Now that, pushing Democrats to reach out to Republicans in an effort to craft new veto-proof legislation.
Meanwhile, President Bush has invited both sides to the White House Wednesday to discuss their impasse. The president's veto is expected Tuesday, which just happens to also be the fourth anniversary of his speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln where he said major combat operations were over and of course included that now infamous mission accomplished sign. Now ordinarily the resignation of a deputy secretary of state wouldn't be huge news but this one's got a twist here. Randall Tobias stepped down yesterday. State department officials telling us that Tobias had patronized a local escort service run by Deborah Jean Palfrey, the woman now known as the D.C. madam. Palfrey now facing federal charges, has told ABC News she plans to call Tobias and a number of high profile clients to testify at her trial.
Secretary Tobias, by the way, had once served as the president's AIDS czar during which time he came under criticism for emphasizing marital fidelity and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.
NGUYEN: In other news, an alleged terror plot has been foiled. More than 170 suspects are detained, guns, money, that's been confiscated in Saudi Arabia. On the heels of the terrorist sweep, the Saudi kingdom has refused a visit from Iraq's prime minister. A source says the Saudi king doesn't think Nuri al-Maliki is doing enough to stop sectarian violence. And there are concerns the war in Iraq is spilling over into Saudi soil. Details from senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): Wrapped in plastic, buried deep below the Saudi desert, these al Qaeda guns were never meant to be captured. Saudi intelligence officials say al Qaeda plan to use them to bring down the Saudi royal family and kill Americans soldiers in Iraq. In an unprecedented nine-month operation, netting more than 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 SPOKESMAN: The activities we are seeing al Qaeda are trying to recruit young Saudis to be involved in the terrorist outside the kingdom.
ROBERTSON: But the raids reveal a far more worrying trend for the Saudis. 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 terrorist actions outside the kingdom in order to recruit, in order to train.
PAUL CRUIKSHANK, FELLOW, NYU LAW SCHOOL: 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 that they're reorganizing in Iraq and starting to launch plans and plots across the border.
ROBERTSON: In the past year since this botched al Qaeda attack revealed their new tactics to target oil facilities and kill the economy, rather than kill westerners, 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 their coming battle is.
(on camera): The money alone shows just how dangerous al Qaeda may be. The $5 million recovered is ten times what it cost al Qaeda to execute the 9/11 attacks. Nic Robertson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Saudi officials say militants were close to carrying out their plot to attack oil field and public figures. They say plans were in an advanced state of readiness.
Well joining us now by phone from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is major general Mansour al-Turki. He's the spokesman for the Saudi interior ministry. Sir, thank you for your time. Tell us just how close were these militants to actually launching some of these attacks?
MANSOUR AL-TURKI, SPOKESMAN, SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY (on phone): Well actually, they were very close. You know, as you have seen from the pictures, they have already executed some of their plans, and they were just about to try to initiate the attacks.
HOLMES: Did Saudi officials step in? Were you waiting until it got to a certain stage, until it got really close before you moved in and made these busts and these arrests? Or did you just move in as soon as you had intelligence and you were ready to go?
AL-TURKI: Well, actually, this work has taken several months, and usually there is suspicions and strong investigation, and strong intelligence. You start actually gathering and to mention about the activities, or about their planning, and so on actually you get this information.
HOLMES: And sir, we understand that possibly some public figures in Saudi Arabia were going to be the targets. Do you know exactly who, and specifically who some of the public figures targets were?
AL-TURKI: Well, actually, I have no specific names targeted. But, of course, this will include policemen, you know, high profile people, will include anybody actually that affects the security system or the security situation in the kingdom.
HOLMES: Sir, we just heard from a piece from one of our reporters that fighters are being trained sometimes in Iraq and then coming into Saudi Arabia to launch their attacks. Tell us how much more difficult and dangerous has the Iraq war made it for Saudi Arabia?
AL-TURKI: Well, actually, the Iraq war, or the other activities, actually, going on in other countries involving Saudi Arabia has been actually -- these people actually, to also be able to, you know, to get training and also to be able to recruit people, you know, to join the activities, the activities. So of course, this affects the Saudi national security, but also it also affects every other country because as long as you provide save havens for terrorists to inspire, that is a major problem.
HOLMES: OK, well, sir, we thank you for your time. Major General Mansour al-Turki from the Saudi interior ministry. Sir, thank you for your time.
AL-TURKI: You are very welcome.
NGUYEN: And this just in to CNN, one of two French humanitarian workers held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been released. Now that according to the French foreign ministry. It's not saying, though, which hostage was freed. A man and a woman both were taken hostage, the two French citizens. Now they were kidnapped earlier this month along with three Afghan humanitarian workers. We're going to continue to follow this story and bring you new developments just as we get them.
But in the meantime, it was a shocking attack caught on tape. Take a look at this. Remember when this 101-year-old woman was brutally mugged?
HOLMES: We do have an update. And there's progress, actually, in that investigation. We'll update you on that. Plus, Reynolds Wolf in the Weather Center to update you on what's happening around the country. Good morning, sir.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Thank you, Reynolds. And hitting the streets for risky duty. We're going to take you for a dangerous walk through Baghdad, coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hundreds of firefighters will be back on that fire line in southeast Georgia today, and here's exactly why. They are battling a stubborn wildfire that has burned nearly 100 square miles of swampy pine forest over the past two weeks.
More than 20 homes have been destroyed. The blaze was contained a week ago. But then high winds kicked up the flames once again on Thursday. About 16 miles of highway 1 connecting Waycross, Georgia, to Jacksonville, Florida, remain closed.
National weather service says it was a tornado that caused some damage in Virginia last night.
HOLMES: And the damage in one particular Virginia county, see these multiple trees damaged, damage tornado hit after six last night. Luckily, no injuries reported, but certainly some damage as you see there.
Reynolds Wolf now in the CNN Center with a look at what's hitting, is that the right word, is stuff hitting other parts of the country, Reynolds?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: And Reynolds is actually going to be back in the next half hour. He's got a rare look at tornadoes that he found in Kansas. Now, this is kind of our daredevil around the building. Everybody knows that Reynolds just is kind of nuts like this. But he went storm chasing. He went after the tornado.
NGUYEN: And nobody's surprised.
HOLMES: Yes. And he's going to show us his dramatic video.
NGUYEN: Well, the good news is he lived to tell about it, so he'll be back to talk to you a little bit later.
HOLMES: In the meantime, though. The Virginia Tech shooter was labeled an imminent danger to himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do we force someone, against their will, and say, it's in society's best interest to step in?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now, it has sparked a debate over treating the mentally ill. Could more have been done?
HOLMES: Also, take a peek here. Might look like a man sitting in -- no, that doesn't fool anybody. Come on, wait! That's kind of weird.
NGUYEN: Check out the hair.
HOLMES: Technology is catching up with science fiction.
NGUYEN: No, it's not...
HOLMES: That's a little creepy. CNN SATURDAY MORNING is going to continue to freak you out.
NGUYEN: See the hair gave it away. I knew.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, you could be attacked at any minute from anywhere, and it could be the work of just about anyone you see. And that is the reality for U.S. troops in Baghdad, where being on foot means risking one's own neck. Our Hugh Riminton saw for himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not taking the vehicle because we don't have a vehicle. But that's 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? Blackhawk 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 get a distance between us, all right, that will take us all out. We should spread out, all right? Anybody have any questions? No. All right. Let's do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're heading towards east.
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: OK, he's waiting for his daughter, she's in the school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, that's fine, thank you.
RIMINTON: Here, nothing, and no one seems entirely innocent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're following us around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
RIMINTON: He says he's just trying to get home. Part of the tactic is to bind loyalty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've already been to all that's 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 the Kurdish unit at a small base their own. It is a warm welcome.
But the atmospherics are changing. Just in the few minutes these troops were in their 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 a kind of thing that puts them on their guard. 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: We're good? 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. Hugh Riminton, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And tonight at 7:00 Eastern, "THIS WEEK AT WAR." CNN correspondents discuss the debate over progress in Iraq, and the war of words over funding. Tom Foreman hosts "THIS WEEK AT WAR" tonight at 7:00 Eastern.
HOLMES: A top al Qaeda figure is now in U.S. custody. We'll have a look at that. Plus a dose of reality in Iraq. Josh Levs has that for us. Good morning, sir.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRSEPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you guys. You know what though, I was thinking about dropping that report today so T.J. could teach everybody how to dance like President Bush. What do you think, do the Bush malaria dance?
HOLMES: Are you going to incorporate that into the reality show?
LEVS: Maybe a little bit. We have something slightly more newsworthy.
What could be more newsworthy, you ask? Check this out. This week, the top U.S. general in Iraq came to Congress, told everybody how the war is going. But while everyone was focusing on that, the U.N. came out with its own reports that had some quite different findings about how things are really going in Iraq. We are going to take a look at that coming up in the CNN "Reality Check."
NGUYEN: All right, well if you think that's newsworthy, check this out, OK? What's a Trekkie to do without new "Star Trek" episodes? Now if that's not hard news, I don't know what is. And here's what Trekkies do. They're making their own. And these aren't your ordinary homemade movies. We're going to show you.
HOLMES: Betty, look at that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Oh, you remember this tape, my goodness, 101-year-old woman being mugged and punched in the face. The crime just shocked the Big Apple and really the rest of the country. This morning we do have an update and it is a welcome one. There has been an arrest in the case.
NGUYEN: Well, good. And check this out, our own Reynolds Wolf, in the path of not just one, oh, no, but five tornadoes. Yes, his day as a storm chaser and he lived to tell about it, is straight ahead.
Good morning, everybody. And welcome back. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. We are so glad you could be here with us this morning.
NGUYEN: We do want to start with this. An alleged terror plot foiled. Security forces in Saudi Arabia say they have disrupted a plot to attack oil installations and senior government officials. A huge cache of weapons has been confiscated along with more than $5 million. Officials say 172 militants were detained over a nine-month period, they're suspected of being members of an al Qaeda cell. Saudi authorities call it one of the largest operations since the crackdown on extremists began four years ago.
And CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia. We're going to catch up with him a little bit later this morning before he heads back to the Middle East. That is at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: A major al Qaeda figure is in the custody of the U.S. military. You have probably never heard of him. But don't let that fool you. The U.S. says he is a big deal. And his name is Abd al- Hadi al-Iraqi. The Pentagon says he's a big player in the al Qaeda terrorist network and he is now locked up at Guantanamo Bay.
A U.S. intelligence official says al-Hadi was picked up by the CIA late last year. No one is saying how he was captured or how valuable he has been as an information source.
Revisiting the case for war in Iraq. The White House now says -- or won't say just yet whether it will fight the congressional subpoena issued this week to Condoleezza Rice. Lawmakers want to know more about the pre-war claim that Iraq sought uranium from the African country of Niger. As you may remember, that was a key element in the White House's argument for military action. Rice was President Bush's national security adviser at the time. Two months after the U.S.-led invasion, the administration then backed away from that claim about Niger.
And we'll hear more from Condoleezza Rice this week on "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER." One topic, the battle between Congress and the president over the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. The secretary of state shares her thoughts along with two key congressmen. That is tomorrow morning at 11:00 Eastern.
NGUYEN: Well, there is progress in Iraq. But there has been vastly different views since Baghdad fell. The latest conflicting claims from some of the highest levels: the United Nations, and the U.S. top commander in Iraq. So, where does the reality lie? For a closer look we check in with CNN's Joshua Levs.
Have you been able to get down to the bottom of this?
JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's what we're taking a look at. You know, it is really interesting, because General David Petraeus was basically the star of Washington this week. I mean, he came to Congress, both houses of Congress. He talked, he also did news conferences, talked to reporters and laid out where things stand from his view in Iraq. Won a lot of praise for that.
But it was at the same time that the United Nations came out with a report that was largely drowned out. And that report had an even grimmer message.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice-over): He promised the most realistic picture he could give.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CMDR., MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: I am a soldier, and I'm going to give a forthright assessment.
LEVS: And he won praise from both sides.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When General David Petraeus came to Washington and made a very blunt assessment about the fact that he hasn't received all the reinforcements.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: We must focus on what General Petraeus has told us, that the war cannot be won militarily.
LEVS: Petraeus said U.S. casualties are raising and the Iraqi government is facing struggles. He said that improvements, including sectarian killings, having dropped by two-thirds. But he said huge al Qaeda attacks overshadow the progress.
Amid this, a different update emerged from the United Nations. Its findings, Iraq faces immense security challenges, growing violence, and a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis. And, for the first time ever, the U.N. mission did not report how many Iraqi civilians are dying in the war because the government did not provide the figures.
IVANA VUCO, U.N. ASSISTANCE MISSION IN IRAQ: (INAUDIBLE) in discussions with them, trying to stress our point of view, which is that transparency is the key to establishing stability.
LEVS: The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement calling the report unbalanced and inaccurate. Iraq has complained in the past that U.N. figures are exaggerated. Last year, the U.N. reported about 35,000 civilians killed. The Iraqi interior ministry told CNN it was about 12,000. But the U.N. said it got its figures from the Iraqi health ministry.
Now, U.N. officials won't guess whether things are improving.
SAID ARIKAT, SPOKESMAN, UNAMI: Figures are not to be speculated upon. These are human lives that have been wasted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And the U.N. also brought attention to a fact of war, which is that civilians are not just dying in bombings by al Qaeda and in sectarian attacks but, Betty, that they're also sometimes getting caught in the cross fire when U.S. and Iraqi troops battle insurgents.
NGUYEN: Well, let's look at this. Because didn't the president complain, and he still is, that the Democrats are really kind of dragging this out, this war funding bill. But if you look at the history, didn't the Republican-led Congress take a little bit of a time there for them to come to grips with all this?
LEVS: They did, yes, exactly, last year. I'm glad you said that. Because this is another very "Reality Check-ish" element. It's true, I mean, right now the White House is complaining that Congress has taken now more than 80 days since the president requested the supplemental funding for the war. But, if you look back a year ago, the GOP-led congress took 118 days to finally get a bill that the president would sign.
Now, the White House is saying it's different this year, because last year they knew that ultimately he would get a bill that he would sign. However, the Democrats are saying ultimately the troops will get their funding this year, and that in the meantime, they accuse the White House of exaggerating the threat.
NGUYEN: Yes. It's a bit of a battle. And we'll see, I mean, he's threatening a veto. So we'll see how that plays out.
LEVS: Right it's coming up in a few days.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is. Joshua, thank you for that.
LEVS: Thanks.
HOLMES: Well, an appalling attack caught on tape. Now the suspect caught, as well. You'll remember this surveillance video showing 101-year-old Rose Morat (ph) being brutally mugged. She was hit in the face several times and suffered a fractured cheekbone. Again, she's 101 years old. All of this...
NGUYEN: Look at him searching her right there, just for more -- he's just searching her for more money. And there he -- oh, he hits her again.
HOLMES: And you know what he got, $33.
NGUYEN: That's all?
HOLMES: That was all. After this brutal attack by the same person blamed for a similar attack the same day on an 85-year-old woman. Now, police have arrested this man, get a look at him, Jack Rhodes (ph) charged with robbery and assault, among other things. This is brand-new video of Rose. This is just in to CNN. Again, arrest has been made, police do believe he is the guy right now. So we will continue to follow that case.
Also this morning, lots of questions, maybe some answers now. Authorities at Virginia Tech are sending out a questionnaire to students. They desperately want information on gunman Seung-Hui Cho. Virginia officials are reviewing the state's policy on handling the mentally ill who could be dangerous. That issue now has new urgency.
CNN's Drew Griffin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clearly, Seung-Hui Cho was dangerous. And according to some, it was also easy to see Cho was mentally disturbed.
MARY ZDANOWICZ, TREATMENT ADVOCACY CTR.: The experts seem to think that, yes, he had schizophrenia.
GRIFFIN: Mary Zdanowicz is executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center. Virginia is one of only a handful of states that sets the bar high for involuntarily forcing someone into treatment. Only people who are deemed an imminent danger to themselves or others can be forced to get help.
It was December of 2005 when Cho first came in contact with this system, after a friend told police he might be suicidal. Cho was ordered to temporary detention. The next day a judge ruled him mentally ill, an imminent danger to himself. Facing involuntary commitment, and a record, Cho agreed to be taken to a mental health facility for further evaluation. That is where the case ends. There is no record of any follow-up treatments.
ZDANOWICZ: You don't just let them walk out the door.
GRIFFIN: But Zdanowicz says that's exactly what the State of Virginia did.
JAMES ALAN FOX, CRIMINOLOGIST: When do we force someone against their will and say it's in society's best interest to step in?
GRIFFIN: Virginia has been looking at how best to handle the potentially dangerous mentally ill for the past six months long before the massacre at Virginia Tech. Virginia's leading mental health experts met in Charlottesville to continue to discuss if Virginia should change its law, and make it easier to force the mentally ill into treatment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Petitioner says, I've had enough of this, I'm leaving. Case over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then it's an abuse of power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's what we're talking about.
GRIFFIN: In Cho's case, the decisions were left up to him. We'll never know what may, or may not, have happened if he had been forced into treatment.
ZDANOWICZ: No, it doesn't appear that he had any awareness that he had a mental illness. He believed the delusions. He believed that he had a mission.
GRIFFIN: In essence, Virginia allows people who can't think right to think for themselves.
ZDANOWICZ: So why would he go to a psychiatrist for an evaluation? That's the problem with these illnesses is it affects a person's ability to even recognize there's something wrong with them.
GRIFFIN: Mike Allen is an advocate for the mentally ill. He fears backlash and knee-jerk reactions to the Virginia Tech massacre.
MIKE ALLEN, MENTAL HEALTH RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Would we then go through the records of every Virginian who had ever been to a doctor concerned about anxiety or depression and lock we'll them up? It's simply inconsistent with the American way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And that was CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin reporting there for us.
NGUYEN: When a storm is brewing, most people, they run for cover, right? Oh no, not our Reynolds Wolf. He's trying to be a star here. He runs toward it. Tornado chasing, and we're going to show you what he found.
HOLMES: Also, many would like to, you know, go to the heavens when we die. Well...
NGUYEN: Speaking of stars, yes.
HOLMES: One actor is heading for the stars. We'll explain coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Chasing tornadoes. Nobody wants to do that on purpose, do they? But those who do, they just love it and they get into this stuff.
NGUYEN: Yes. And you know what, they are special people.
HOLMES: They are. And you know, we have one of those on staff. That being Reynolds Wolf. He set out to chase these storms, in fact with a team in Kansas.
And you lived to tell about it. That's the good thing here.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Yes. And I mean, this could be very scary. I'm still hearing this special, special thing. I do feel special.
NGUYEN: You are special.
HOLMES: You very special. WOLF: We are very special, very lucky to actually see these storms because when you go out in the central plains and you go storm chasing, seeing a tornado is never a guarantee.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's nice. There we go. That's what we're looking for.
WOLF (voice-over): We followed tornado chaser Scott Ganson (ph) and Andrew Odaker (ph) nearly 400 miles from Oklahoma City to outside Wichita, Kansas, to meet the storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I love it.
WOLF (on camera): What we're going to do is just get right behind it and look to the northeast and hopefully get a good shot of the funnel. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Well, we've got a confirmed tornado on the ground, even though the condensation funnel hasn't made contact. You can still see the condensation on one side of the debris on the bottom. And that is what is considered a tornado. And tornadoes, it's the debris that is the big killer.
Now we're going into a chaser traffic jam where you have everybody who's been trying to chase this storm all day.
We've got two tornadoes right now. We see two tornadoes right now just the debris. One forming to the left, you'll see another one forming to the right just beyond a tree that you see on the horizon.
We've seen five tornadoes today. It's our fifth one. Our fifth one we've seen. You hit the jackpot, man.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Now these were actually the perfect tornadoes. The reason why I say these were the perfect tornadoes, that there weren't any injuries. We didn't have any fatalities. There's no significant damage. But that certainly isn't always the case. Eagle Pass, Texas, as well as Enterprise, Texas, some recent events where we have had widespread damage and unfortunately some deaths.
We're going to take another look at this coming up tomorrow. We're going to have more in-depth look at what exactly goes in to the chase. The good parts, and of course, the frustrating times. That's all going to be coming up tomorrow morning. Back to you.
NGUYEN: Hey, let me ask you this, Reynolds.
WOLF: Yes, ask anything you like.
NGUYEN: It's kind of hard to tell with the camera there. How close were you to those tornadoes? WOLF: You know, probably within I'd say maybe 500 yards or so. And the thing that's interesting about these tornadoes, these are not the classic "Wizard of Oz" type of wedge tornadoes that you see. Tornadoes can take a variety of different shapes. They can look differently depending on how much water vapor they have inside the funnel. Sometimes they can appear invisible. Sometimes they're just as dark as can be. So it's always different. No two are ever alike.
NGUYEN: All right. We're looking forward to the next report. Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: OK. Talk to you soon.
HOLMES: Thanks, Reynolds. Moving on here to a TV star's ashes headed for the final frontier.
Also, got this.
NGUYEN: All right. It may look like a real sci-fi TV series, but look very closely. It was only a matter of time, you knew this was coming. When "Star Trek" fans -- yes, T.J. was hoping that it wouldn't...
HOLMES: Hoping not, but...
NGUYEN: You know, those fans, they're going to resurrect the series by writing and acting out their own scripts. Be very afraid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM SHATNER, ACTOR: Scotty, beam me up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, who knew, those four words would be so appropriate today? The late actor James Doohan, best known as Scotty on the original "Star Trek" TV show, will head out of this world. Well, at least part of him will. If all goes as planned, a portion of his cremated remains is set to blast off some time today aboard a private rocket in the New Mexico desert. The ashes of about 200 other people will join him on the one-way journey. And among them the late Mercury 7 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper.
HOLMES: One way. Key right there. One way. Well, "Star Trek" fans not ready to give up on what Scotty started just yet. So, with all those "Star Trek" TV spinoffs at an end, one group is making their own new episodes.
NGUYEN: Lovely. And they're doing it in Scotty's backyard. CNN's Jim Bolden has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BOLDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's "Star Trek" but not as we know it. Star-crossed lovers of all things "Star Trek" are spending thousands of their own dollars to make new "Star Trek" episodes.
NICK COOK, PRODUCER, WRITER, ACTOR: I think we went into it with a certain amount of naivete, as you tend to do. None of us had a background in filmmaking, anything like that, obviously.
BOLDEN: Fans in the United States and Europe are saying if franchise choice owner Paramount doesn't make new episodes, then they will don Klingon outfits and Vulcan ears and make videos themselves.
COOK: Just at the end of that bit, past there.
BOLDEN: This group in Dundee, Scotland, started the film "Intrepid" four years ago. They thought it would take only a year or two.
COOK: It was an awful lot more hard work than we really thought it would be. And an awful lot of challenges that came up, really stuff we didn't foresee in the slightest.
BOLDEN: Sure, it's amateur video and no one has paid for their work. But one Web site boasts 30 million downloads for its series. And the reviews are pretty good. Especially for scripts that follow creator Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future.
STEVE HAMMOND, DIRECTOR: The visuals can be a bit below standard, (INAUDIBLE), but the script cannot be below standard. And that's one of the things that we're focused on to begin with.
BOLDEN: These episodes are just one symbol of "Star Trek's" allure. A recent Christie's auction of "Star Trek" props brought in $7 million, more than double what had been expected. You might be asking, what does Paramount television think of all this? It won't say. But it hasn't hassled the Scottish production.
HAMMOND: For the time being Paramount seems happy to keep quiet. When the day comes that they come knocking with a cease and desist letter, we'll have to say fair game and stop. But until that day I think everybody has just kind of enjoyed the ride, really.
BOLDEN: But many Trekkies say Paramount must be pleased it's 40- year-old "Star Trek" franchise is going where none have gone before.
Jim Bolden, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Isn't that the truth? All right, ever dream of having a robot go to the office so that you could play golf? Well, it has actually happened.
HOLMES: I'm hoping they'll make one that looks like me, Betty. This is a life-sized android in Japan, it is an exact replica of its creator. It's called Geminoid and it seen sounds like him and has his real hair. NGUYEN: Oh, that's a bad 'do. All that's left is to program the robot to act interested at boring staff meetings. That's a good idea, though. Yes, we need to get some of those.
HOLMES: That's a wonderful idea. That's the story of the morning, so far I think.
Well, we've got some new hope in treating a life-altering condition.
NGUYEN: For years, the treatment for stuttering has been speech therapy. But now one doctor says he has a better solution. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has that coming up.
HOLMES: Also at 9:00, selling student loans? Some major universities now being investigated on allegations they put students dangerously deep in debt.
NGUYEN: And then at 10:00, the life and death struggle over a terminally ill baby in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're trying to play God by saying who lives and who dies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Should his mother or the hospital have the final say on baby Emilio's fate? A closer look at this controversy on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. We are so glad you could be with us this morning. We have to start by showing you this video again. You probably remember this story, 101-year-old woman getting punched in the face there. Police now have a suspect in custody in this beating. Those details straight ahead.
Also:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALSH, AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, there she is, Miss America working with "America's Most Wanted" to catch online predators.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I heard was the surgeon yell very loudly to call 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Words no one would expect to hear in a hospital. Coming up on weekend "HOUSE CALL," Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at how one man's post-op recovery turned deadly.
But first, an appalling attack caught on tape. Now the suspect caught as well. You may remember the surveillance video which shows a 101-year-old Rose Morat being brutally mugged. She was hit in the face several times, suffering a fractured cheek bone. And remember this woman is 101-years-old. Hard to watch this as he goes through her pockets and you'll see him punch her again here.
But he ended up getting $33. The same person also blamed for a similar attack that same day on an 85-year-old woman and now police have arrested this man, Jack Rhodes, on robbery and assault charges, among other things. Police began questioning Rhodes after noticing he matched a photo of a person wanted in the questioning of robberies of women in Queens.
Meanwhile, fallout from the so-called D.C. madam case. A top State Department official has resigned after an investigation linked him to an alleged prostitution ring. ABC News reports Randall Tobias revealed that he used the alleged DC madam's escort service to get messages, but he told the network there was no sex. Government prosecutors say Deborah Jean Palfrey's escort service was a prostitution ring that operated out of Washington for 13 years. Palfrey however denies her business provided sexual services.
NGUYEN: Former CIA director George Tenet says he is a scapegoat, blamed, defamed and hung out to dry for pushing the war in Iraq. Tenet claims a comment that he made in 2003, the infamous "slam dunk" on Iraq's reported WMDs, well, that's been taken out of context to wreck his career. He tells "60 Minutes" ahead of a book launch that it is the worst thing that ever happened to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE TENET, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I remember picking up the phone and calling Andy Card, who is a terrific human being and somebody I've always trusted, and I said...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president's chief of staff at the time.
TENET: The president's chief of staff. I called Andy, I said you know, we believed -- I believed that he had weapons of mass destruction, and now what's happened here is you've gone out and made me look stupid. It's the most despicable thing I've ever heard in my life. Men of honor don't do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Men of honor don't do this?
TENET: You don't do this, you don't throw people overboard. You don't do this, you don't call somebody in. You work your heart out, you show up every day. You're going to throw somebody overboard just because it's a deflection? Is that honorable? It's not honorable to me. OK, that's how I feel.
How it happened and who orchestrated it and what happened, you know at the end of the day, the only thing you have is trust and honor in this world. That's all you have. All you have is your reputation built on trust and your personal honor why you don't have that anymore, well, you know, trust was broken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between you and the White House?
TENET: You bet, you bet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: White house counselor Dan lett denies Tenet's description of a rush to war without serious debate, saying President Bush "did wrestle with those very serious questions." George Tenet is Larry King's guest Monday night at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
HOLMES: The just-passed Iraq funding bill facing a certain veto next week. President Bush promising to veto any bill with a timetable for troop withdrawals. So is there a backup plan? CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano live in Washington this morning. Good morning to you, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, T.J. Well you know, the president renewed his veto threat this past week. So we fully expect that to happen next week.
Now, yesterday at Camp David during a question-and-answer session with the Japanese prime minister who is visiting, President Bush said point blank, if Congress wants to test his will on the issue of timetables for troop withdrawals, which Democrats, of course, want, but which the president opposes, President Bush said he will not cave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I haven't vetoed the first bill yet, but I'm going to. And the reason why I'm going to is because the members of Congress have made military decisions on behalf of the military. They're telling our generals what to do. They're withdrawing before we've even finished reinforcing our troops in Baghdad. They're sending, in my judgment, a bad message to the Iraqis and to an enemy, and most importantly, to our military folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Democrats are looking to get that war funding bill to the president's desk by Tuesday. Expect them on that day to make some political hay about the fact that that's going to be the fourth anniversary of the president's now infamous "mission accomplished" speech in which he declared that major combat operations were over in Iraq.
The president, though, is going to push right back. He is heading to U.S. central command headquarters in Tampa on Tuesday, and he is, of course, going to argue that the Democrats need to stop playing political games, that he's huddling with his generals to try to ensure success in Iraq. T.J.?
HOLMES: Well, you said, the president pushing back. Oftentimes when the administration pushes back, somebody that pushes back the hardest is Vice President Cheney. He's been out there again talking about Democrats, talking about the war. What is his message?
QUIJANO: Yes, he actually slammed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who earlier this week said that the war in Iraq, he thought, was lost. The vice president was at a fundraiser yesterday in Tulsa, Oklahoma for Senator James Inhofe, and days after that comment by Senator Reid, the vice president called those comments cynical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRSEIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security interests of our country, not the interest of their political party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: And the vice president, as well, echoing what President Bush said about the issue of timetables, believing that that only telegraphs to the enemy when U.S. forces might leave and when they can move in - T.J.?
HOLMES: And Elaine, of course, the administration, another issue, more criticism this time coming from the former CIA director George Tenet. Got the book coming out, he's going to be on "60 Minutes." Are they responding to his criticism that he was essentially made to be the fall guy?
QUIJANO: Yeah. In addition to what you heard from Dan Bartlett, White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe pushing back on this saying, look, the president made this decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power for a variety of reasons. He talked about this saying it was the national intelligence estimate on Iraq, also Saddam Hussein's own actions, and Gordon Johndroe saying that it was only after a thorough and lengthy assessment of all available information, as well as congressional authorization that the decision was made to go to war - T.J.?
HOLMES: Our Elaine Quijano for us at the White House. Always good to see you Elaine, thank you so much.
You can tune in tonight for "THIS WEEK AT WAR." CNN correspondents discuss the debate over the progress in Iraq and the war of words over funding. Tom Foreman hosts "THIS WEEK AT WAR," that is tonight at 7:00 Eastern.
NGUYEN: We want to take a look at this, because extraordinary, new images this morning from a daring mission during the early days of the Iraq war. A Web site has posted dramatic video from the rescue of private Jessica Lynch. You remember the young soldier taken prisoner after her convoy was ambushed. Well, we get more details now from CNN chief national correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA LYNCH, FORMER POW: On April 1st, while various units created diversions around Nasiriyah, a group came to the hospital to rescue me.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is her testimony, and this is the tape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come right, come right. OK.
KING: You are looking at never before seen video of that daring nighttime rescue. It was posted by the Web site liveleak.com.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rotor back.
KING: On the extraordinary tape, armored vehicles and at least one tank drive up to the hospital Lynch was taken to after she was captured by Iraqi forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a threat ...
KING: After U.S. troops enter the building, we see for the first time the young army private turned prisoner of war lying on a bed apparently unguarded. We can only imagine what she is thinking. This week, she recalled that moment.
LYNCH: Then a soldier came into the room. He tore the American flag from his uniform and he handed it to me in my hand and he told me, "We're American soldiers. And we're here to take you home." And I looked at him and I said, "Yes, I'm an American soldier, too."
KING: In that hospital room, Lynch is asked a question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you in any pain? OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just my back and only when you carry me.
KING: The next sequence shows what happened when Lynch heard the sound of gunfire from outside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where do the windows go out to, Aaron (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is OK. It is OK.
KING: Clearly frightened, Lynch, who spent several days in that hospital with multiple injuries is then stabilized on a stretcher, carried down several flights of stairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open up. Coming down.
KING: And then rushed into a military helicopter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three zero.
KING: The first step in the long trip home and an even longer journey for her story to be told. Jessica Lynch says she is not a hero. But it's clear from these images she is a hero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are doing great, Jessica.
KING: John King, CNN, Washington
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That is really interesting video, especially seeing it from that vantage point. When the gunfire ripped through, you could hear her shaking, visibly upset about it.
HOLMES: Totally different perspective. New video after all this time.
Moving on here, Betty, they are rude.
NGUYEN: Yeah?
HOLMES: They are crude.
NGUYEN: OK.
HOLMES: And would you believe, they're also pretty well organized.
NGUYEN: Really?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the other accusers?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There they are. You can't tell sometimes, but yes, they can be well organized. We're going to take a closer look at the growing movement behind professional heckling. We will also take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So my message to the governor is stick up your (BLEEP). That's my message to him, stick it up your (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Whoa! HOLMES: He's pretty rude and crude, too.
NGUYEN: Yeah, I would say. The ugly side of politics in Montana. If that didn't get your attention, we're going to tell you how these verbal fireworks got started.
And later, parents who give their kids anti-psychotic drugs to lose weight. CNN's Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at the controversial treatment on weekend "HOUSE CALL." CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Dramatic pictures out of Oklahoma overnight. My goodness! Fire engulfs two tanks at a refinery, all this sparked by a lightning strike yesterday morning. Explosions could be felt miles away. So far, good news here, no reports of injuries or evacuations in the south-central Oklahoma town. The facility produces fuel, solvents and asphalt. This is the second fire in less than two years there.
NGUYEN: Well hundreds of firefighters are back at work this morning in southeast Georgia, and here is why. They are battling a stubborn wildfire that has burned more than 61,000 acres of swampy pine forest over the past two weeks. More than 20 homes have been destroyed.
The blaze was contained about a week ago, but high winds kicked up those flames once again on Thursday and helped 16 miles of highway 1, which connects Waycross to Jacksonville, Florida, well that remains closed.
HOLMES: Some of the weather has been causing problems, and some of those fires we've been seeing. Reynolds Wolf is keeping an eye on this. I know you're fresh off tornado chasing.
NGUYEN: Storm chasing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well get ready for some major league name-dropping. A plea deal with a former New York Mets employee could expose the alleged steroid use of dozens of current and former major league players. At the center of the plea deal, Kirk Radomski. Yesterday he pleaded guilty yesterday to distributing steroids to players for a decade. He was arrested in December following an FBI sting operation. Part of the plea deal reached yesterday says that he will cooperate with a federal probe.
NGUYEN: All right, so they steal the spotlight while putting politicians on the spot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the other accusers?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Professional hecklers. Yes, it is a profession. And straight ahead we are going to take a closer look at their tactics.
HOLMES: But first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who never gets heckled, has a preview of what's coming up on weekend "HOUSE CALL."
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, guys. We've got a very busy show this morning. News about a new treatment for stuttering. Kids being prescribed amphetamines for weight loss. And the shocking story of a hospital calling 911 to take care of one of its own patients. All that, plus this week's medical headlines, coming up on "HOUSE CALL" at 8:30.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LANGE, MONTANA STATE HOUSE: So my message to the governor is stick it up your (BLEEP). That's my message to him. Stick it up your (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Uh, OK. Your tax dollars at work in Montana. Yep, that foul-mouthed fellow is the majority leader in the state house. Yes, siree. He and his fellow Republicans have been locked in an ugly budget debate with Montana's governor, and last night lawmakers failed to pass a budget by the midnight deadline, so a special session and more bitter arguments, well they are still to come.
HOLMES: What are the kids supposed to do? When I grow up, I want to be a lawmaker.
NGUYEN: So you can talk like that?
HOLMES: I want to be a state rep. Come on, man.
NGUYEN: Well, do you have strong opinions and a loud voice?
HOLMES: What, what?
NGUYEN: I know you do.
HOLMES: Oh, come on.
NGUYEN: Then consider a career in this path, because it will take you places.
HOLMES: Yeah, it will take you there and get you kicked out of those places. It's heckling on the world stage, and CNN's Carol Costello explains it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You killed too many Iraqis already! CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-maker): Hecklers. The effective ones know how to get attention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have no shame!
COSTELLO: Know how to cut to the quick.
RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, shut up.
COSTELLO: It's the kind of exchange hecklers crave. What better way to insert yourself into the national debate? That's why heckling has gotten ruder, cruder and more organized.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think George Washington stood for automatic weapons?
MAX BLUMENTHAL, POLITICAL BLOGGER: Hi. Hi. I'm Max Blumenthal.
COSTELLO: Watch as liberal political blogger Max Blumenthal carries out a well-planned mission. His target? Conservative political blogger Michelle Malkin. His beef? Her book on Japanese internment during World War II.
BLUMENTHAL: So you made a lot of errors in your book?
MICHELLE MALKIN, POLITICAL BLOGGER: I've made a lot of errors. And I absolutely detest your initiative in trying to smear my work.
BLUMENTHAL (SINGING): There she goes.
That went really well.
COSTELLO: Blumenthal believes he won the day, forcing his opinion and Malkin's distress into the public discourse by posting it on YouTube.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now everyone's a critic.
COSTELLO: This new kind of deliberately cruel heckling is fascinating to producers Michael Addis and Jamie Kennedy. They've made a documentary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is this guy?
COSTELLO: It's not that they're against heckling, but wonder if it's gone too far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you make like a Kennedy and die young?
MICHAEL ADDIS, "HECKLER" PRODUCER: They're no longer just wanting to yell out stuff. Now they really want to take people down.
JAMIE KENNEDY, ACTOR: They want your head.
COSTELLO: But the mother of all organized hecklers, CODEPINK, wants to change minds. It's turned antiwar protesting into an organized crusade. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're now going to go...
COSTELLO: With their creative take on demonstrating, they have attracted thousands of members, willing to rabble-rouse.
Ask many politicians...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the...
COSTELLO: ... these women are trained to heckle.
CODEPINK's Dana Balicki has heckled Rumsfeld herself.
DANA BALICKI, CODEPINK: It's empowering once you realize that you have the courage, you have the fire in your belly to stand up and say what you believe.
COSTELLO: Heckling has left many politicians and entertainers struggling to effectively battle this new kind of enemy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I don't have to listen to your stupid (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: But that kind of reverse heckling is tricky from the political stage.
ADDIS: The politician has to have a certain level of dignity. They can't really go after the heckler as badly or as much as a comedian does.
COSTELLO: Just ask George Allen, whose reverse heckling ended in his infamous "Macaca" moment.
GEORGE ALLEN (R), FMR. SENATOR: "Macaca," or whatever his name is.
COSTELLO: Allen lost his Senate bid. The lesson? Leave the heckling to the professionals. Carol Costello, CNN, New York
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, she traded in her tiara to help "America's Most Wanted" catch online predators, and straight ahead, we are going to take you inside this beauty queen sting.
HOLMES: Then coming up at 8:30, weekend "HOUSE CALL," taking a closer look this morning at the brain during menopause.
NGUYEN: And a flight of fancy for astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, that is next hour on CNN SATURDAY MORNING." We continue in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're going to take you to these pictures here. A fire we've been watching. It was overnight at a refinery in Oklahoma. These are some of the newest pictures we are getting in, where two tanks at this refinery on fire. This was sparked by a lightning strike late yesterday.
We saw the pictures from overnight and these are some daytime pictures now, the newest ones just coming into us. Certainly still going strong this morning.
Still no word of injuries, not yet evacuations, either. This is in the town of Winwood, I believe. And what you're seeing there is a local reporter getting ready for his live shot. This is a live picture we're taking here, but we're staying on top of that story. Just want to let you know again, no evacuations just yet, that's a good thing, and no injuries. But keeping an eye on it.
NGUYEN: Yes, that refinery produces solvent and other products and sometimes they let these things burn out, although explosions were felt a few miles away. So we're going to stay on top of this and bring you the latest as soon as it comes in.
But in the meantime, we want to tell you about this. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then NBC's "To Catch a Predator" should be very flattered.
HOLMES: Yes, and tonight on FOX, "America's Most Wanted" copies the NBC hit, but as its own ratings grabber. Miss America is the bait. CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The new Miss America is Miss Oklahoma, Laura Nelson.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There she is. Miss America. Strutting her stuff in a swim suit.
LAURA NELSON, MISS AMERICA, 2007: Here, come on in. My phone's ringing. I have got to go grab my phone.
TUCHMAN: And 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 chatted online with these predators. I talked on the phone with the predators and then eventually I was the 14-year-old decoy in the sting house.
TUCHMAN: They worked with the computer crimes unit from New York's Suffolk County Police Department. They posted a photo of Nelson online, a 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, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Really it's a 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 that the sting was a big success, capturing four suspected predators. Including this one, a 21-year-old man Suffolk County police call "the Phantom." Cops have been trying to catch him for two years.
WALSH: And you admit you came here to have sex with a 14-year- old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not to have sex. To hang out.
WALSH: To hang out? That is not what you said on the Internet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WALSH: 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. Whose pageant winning platform Internet safety for children.
NELSON: We get a lot of great change things from the Internet but there is 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: Takes a lot to stand out there, 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 them in the house.
TUCHMAN: Lauren Nelson wore a crown on the head. Now she wears courage on her sleeve. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, your next check of the headlines coming up at the top of the hour.
NGUYEN: But first, "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts right now.
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