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California Freeway Inferno; Iraq War Criticism; Tribute to Marines; O.J. Legal Troubles; Boot Camp Manslaughter Acquittal; Southeast Drought; 3-D Airport Scanners

Aired October 13, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now in the NEWSROOM, we have 15 trucks caught in a freeway inferno, an amazing interstate shutdown. We'll tell you what caused the big rigs to catch fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Tough words from the former top general in Iraq. Why is he lashing out? Why does he say this is not winnable? We'll get reaction from our own military analysts.

And it could be the future of airport security but do you really want this? We're going to take you inside the new high tech scanner that's supposed to stop terrorists, but might make you nervous when people see your body in 3-D.

Hello. I'm Susan Roesgen filing in for Fredricka Whitfield, and you're in the NEWSROOM.

What a mess. Five big rigs colliding and turning a major California freeway into an inferno and we've more problems with this thing. Interstate 5 a major north-south freeway in northern Los Angeles County is shut down right now near Santa Clarita. Now, at first there were two 18-wheelers that slammed into each other in a tunnel, but no one could see so it caused a chain reaction. In the end, 15 trucks slammed into each other. Five of them burst into flames.

The smoke then forced the drivers out of their cars. Some people were running for safety, We've heard that 10 people are injured, nothing serious. One person may still be missing. We're trying to find out more about that. And as you can imagine, it's nightmare for emergency workers trying to put the fire out. They also don't know what he's in these trucks inside this dark, smoke filled tunnel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely difficult for the crews. There's only been obviously two means of exit of egress and exit attacking this fire and the intense heat and again, not knowing the number of vehicles and types of vehicles inside. Their cargo have all been cause for concern for us. And again not knowing if there's any individuals that are still left inside the tunnel. So until we get in there and get those vehicles pulled out of there, the fire extinguished we won't know what we're dealing with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: And we here at CNN we have gotten as close as we can to that scene. Now, we've got CNN's Peter Viles as close as he can get there in Santa Clarita, California -- Peter.

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Susan.

About half mile, maybe a third of the mile north of the fire, which I don't know if you can see it over my right shoulder, but smoke is still coming out of that tunnel. This fire has now been burning for about 10 hours.

The problem is it's in a tunnel that goes under -- as my photography John Tory (ph) pans to those smoke -- it's in a tunnel that's used by trucks that goes under the I-5. Now, there are a couple problems. The fire is so intense they think it may have damaged the tunnel and the tunnel may not be structurally sound. That creates two problems.

One, the firefighters cannot get in and fight the fire aggressively if they think there's a possibility that tunnel might collapse on them, but two, this very, very busy interstate highway goes over that tunnel, so they've had to close down the interstate highway for fear that the tunnel itself may have been structurally damaged by the fire, but the more immediate concern they can't get in there and fight the fire until they're certain the tunnel is not going to collapse on top of them.

There is a third concern, which is what's in those trucks and how flammable is it. They know that one of them has paint or paint products in there, they could be flammable. Through the night as they have fought this fire from outside and around the tunnel there have been a number of small explosions. They could have been fuel tanks and tires exploding, but they're not 100 percent sure yet. At least 10 injuries Susan, and one driver of one of these trucks still unaccounted for at this hour, now, 10 hours since this fire broke out -- Susan.

ROESGEN: Peter, what do you know about this one person? Are they really sure that there is someone missing? Have they identified him, but they just haven't released the name, yet? Do we know anything about this person?

VILES: No, we don't. I just got off the phone with a fire official from Los Angeles County and they were not even sure how to describe this person as missing, unaccounted for or possible fatality, but they don't have a name or anything beyond that other than they think there's one person they have not been able to locate yet.

ROESGEN: One more thing, Peter, I thought I read somewhere that this tunnel was for trucks only. Does that mean that there is an alternate route for drivers going work on Monday?

VILES: Well, that depends whether the tunnel is structurally sound because the tunnel goes under the portion of the road that is used by cars. The problem is if the tunnel is not sound, you don't want thousands of people driving over something that could collapse at any minute. The haven't said it could collapse. There are engineers looking at this tunnel right now to see how bad the damage was from the fire, but visually they can see that it was damaged. The question is how bad is the damage?

ROESGEN: Boy, what a mess, Peter. I've been looking at maps of that area, and it looks like it's going to be really hard for drivers to get around that.

VILES: The reason they have this tunnel is that this series of interchanges is just so complex, one of our driver's calls is "spaghetti junction." So many roads in so many different directions that you have a tunnel so the big rigs can go under all these interchanges and not have to go through them all. But this tunnel underneath the interchanges is where the fire is and that has sort of brought all of these interchanges to a halt.

ROESGEN: OK Peter, we will check in with you later to see what the latest is on the condition that overpass and the person who may be missing. Thank you.

New today we are hearing blistering criticism of the war in Iraq. You have heard others say it's a losing battle. But this time the criticism comes from a former commander of coalition forces in Iraq. Retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez says politicians lust for power is costing American lives on the battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, (RET) COALITION FORCES, IRAQ: Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory. The best we can do with this approach is stave off defeat. The administration, Congress and the entire interagency, especially the State Department must shoulder the responsibility for this catastrophic failure and the American people must hold them accountable.

There has been a glaring unfortunate display of incompetence strategic leadership within the national leaders. As the Japanese proverb says, "Action without vision is a nightmare." There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Now, there has been no response yet from the White House, but National Security Council Spokeswoman Kate Star says, "We appreciate General Sanchez's service to the country. As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said, there's more work to be done but progress is being made in Iraq and that's what we're focused on now."

So, that is really the only official response we've heard to General Sanchez's comments. We've asked our own military analyst for his thoughts on the comments by Sanchez. Retired Brigadier General David Grange joins us on the phone now from Galena, Illinois.

General Grange, right off the bat, what do you think? I mean, how significant are these comments and do you agree with them?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, (RET) MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they're significant because General Sanchez was the senior ground commander for quite a while on the ground in Iraq when a lot of this was happening. I do agree with him that there's definitely some failure in the State Department but also the Department of Defense.

I don't think during General Sanchez's tour that they had a proper strategy. I don't think it was truly a counterinsurgency strategy, not like there is today which is a much better strategy, I believe. But, on the other hand, I think he was also under resourced. I don't think he was resourced for success. I think we prosecuted the conflict on the cheap, not only in manpower but equipment, especially equipment to train up the Iraqi forces, and the State Department was nowhere near the robustness they needed to be successful.

ROESGEN: Well, General, correct me if I'm wrong, but General Sanchez was on the ground from June of '03 to June of '04 and during that time we captured Saddam Hussein. The insurgency was really only just beginning. It was almost a hay day for our mission in Iraq at that time. How would you say that it's better now -- that our strategy is better now than it was then when we seem to have more of a chance of "winning this thing."

GRANGE: Sure, it's not just about how many terrorists you killed or what enemy leaders you capture or kill. It's also about winning confidence and trust of the people in an operational area that you prosecute war. And one of the biggest violations during that time was not working with the people in detail at the grassroots level that they are now.

In other words, the social anthropologists, getting below the water line of the information that really matters to a tribal system. I don't think we did that very well at that time. Consequently, the resurgency grew and hatred among many of the people of Iraq to us grew. Even though they did kill or capture quite a number of insurgents.

ROESGEN: So, General Sanchez says now we cannot pull out without, in his words, causing global chaos. Can we ever pull out and what is winning the war in Iraq?

GRANGE: Well, I don't think we can pull out for some time. I do believe there will be a change of force structure. Some of the emphasis will shift somewhat from clearing to more of the holding and building phases of the new strategy.

You know, what success looks like is going to be redefined, I believe, than what it was initially. It's not going to be, obviously, a democratic society as we envisioned, by any means. It's going to be quite different than that. And I think we're looking for some kind of a condition that we can leave in an honorable way. But we're going to be there for quite some time if for no other reason because of influence over other countries in the region, the neighbors, so that will have to happen.

ROESGEN: All right. General Grange, we appreciate your comments today. And we will probably hear more on General Sanchez's -- retired General Sanchez's remarks in the days ahead.

In the meantime, it was another war, it was another time seems so long ago, but retired General Peter Pace promised that he would not forget the guys in his Marine Corps platoon. On the day that he retired last week, General Pace paid tribute to four Marines who died under his command in the Vietnam war.

These are photographs of note cards General Pace left along the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington. He hand signed the cards and studded them with his own stars.

General Pace left the cards along the wall on October 1, his last day as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He said he had promised his Vietnam platoon that he would always serve in their honor. The note reads, "These are yours. Your stars, not mine."

Well, the legal troubles for O.J. Simpson may be about to get worse, if they could get any worse. One of his co-defendants in that alleged armed robbery has cut a deal. Charles Cashmore's attorney says his client will plead guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for testifying that two of his co-defendants were armed when they confronted a couple of sports memorabilia collectors. Simpson's attorneys maintain no guns were involve and that the former football star was just trying to get back some personal items.

Could be a big night, but a long one for Idaho Senator Larry Craig. After months of criticism tonight he is going to be honored when he's inducted into his home state's hall of fame. Craig was chosen for the honor months before his now infamous encounter in a Minneapolis airport men's room. Senator Craig joins the Idaho governor, lieutenant governor, and Boise State University's head football coach for the honors tonight.

Eight former boot camp workers acquitted in the death a 14-year- old boy, but there are protests for a verdict and you'll hear from the boy's mother just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Plus, precious water and not enough to go around. A dire situation in parts of the southeast.

And now that he's won the Nobel Peace Prize will al gore really jump into the presidential race? People keep asking that. We're going to ask our own Bill Schneider, part of the best political team on television.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: And we have some new video now continuing to come in to us from the Los Angeles area. This is that big collision, the huge truck fire and collision there on the I-5. The interstate remains completely shut down. We've got our reporter, Peter Viles, in the area gathering information, but we would also like to see some i- Reports on this. So, if you're in this area and you have any pictures or videos of the scene, send them to us. Just log on to cnn.com and send us your i-Report. We'll take it.

A lot of angry people, a lot of emotions running high tonight in Florida.

This is the outrage over the acquittal of seven boot camp guards and a nurse. They were accused of manslaughter in the death of 14- year-old Martin Lee Anderson. He was an African-American boy who died last year on his first day at that boot camp. We have this surveillance tape that shows this teenager repeatedly being punched and kicked by the guards until he doesn't even move. But, an all- white jury took just 90 minutes to return the not guilty verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ANDERSON FAMILY ATTY: You kill a dog, you go to jail. You kill a little black boy, nothing happens.

GINA JONES, BOY'S MOTHER: I don't see my son no more. They see they family members. Mine was 14 years old at least we do know, you can kill a young black male and don't do time for that right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Some strong words there. The Justice Department is now reviewing this case for possible civil rights violations.

Both water and time are running out in parts of the southeast. A long drought has depleted the main source of drinking water for much of Georgia including the city of Atlanta.

CNN's Susan Candiotti shows you just how bad it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELANIE BLUETT (ph), SAVING WATER: And I think this whole thing has made me realize how much water we waste.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Melanie Bluett is so worried about a record drought that she's watering her outdoor plants with bath water. She and her husband collect it kitty litter trays whenever they take a shower.

Going to that extreme might be the norm if water levels continue to sink at Lake Lanier, the main water source for Atlanta and Alabama. The Army Corps of Engineers manages who gets how much water.

BOB HOLLAND, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: The upstream folks think it should be held upstream, and the downstream folks think it should be let go to help them.

CANDIOTTI: there is no relief in sight. HOLLAND: Our projections sew that if these weather conditions persist through the end of the year, the lake will reach a new record low and go beyond that.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Under normal circumstances I could not be doing this, walking across these rocks because this pole would be under water and the water level coming way up over my head to the bottom of that red marker.

(voice-over): If the lake drops another 10 feet, it could severely limit the amount of water released downstream to supply residential and commercial customers. If an emergency is declared, the state is warning water depending companies, like Coca-Cola they may face water restrictions that could force job cuts.

Landscapers and nurseries, who so far escaped water limits. And car washes also may be ordered to cut back.

Could this has been avoided?

CAROL COUCH, GEORGIA DEPT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: We have not grown our way into this drought. We're consumed our way into it as some would believe.

CANDIOTTI: But conservationists argue government's failure to regulate the area's explosive development and enforce conservation is to blame.

SALLY BETHEA, UPPER CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVERKEEPER: You can keep on wasting or keep on growing, but you cannot do both.

CANDIOTTI: If winter is dry as predicted, reservoirs and streams will remain low. And Melanie Bluett will have to keep trapping waste water.

BLUETT: If everybody would do it, it would make a difference.

CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Well, it is raining today in some places, but not there. Reynolds Wolf is in the Weather Center to show us where some people are getting some rain.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROESGEN: Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, have you been to movie lately. We're going to look at some of the new movies about the war in Iraq. Movies that are pretty realistic and pretty controversial. That's still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: And now, more live video coming in to us from Los Angeles County. This is the scene of that massive collision. Traffic backed up along Interstate 5 for miles, a fire involving 15 big rig trucks. The fire is out now but the interstate is still closed.

Ten people hurt, one person believed to be missing. Apparently nobody killed but again, the interstate is completely shut down. You can see the smoke still from the fire in this live shot now. We have a reporter on the scene, and we plan to speak to a spokesman from the fire department in a few minutes.

But once again, if you're in that area, we're interested in your i-Reports if you have pictures or videos you would like to share with us, we'd like to see them, send them our way. Just log onto cnn.com and send us those i-Reports.

Now, if you're carrying something you shouldn't through the airport, a new type of scanner is supposed to uncover it. But some people worry that this new scanner uncovers too much of then.

CNN's Chris Lawrence shows you how much the new machine can see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is you. A 3-D image of your entire body, open to examination by scanners at TSA.

Passengers flying through Phoenix to be scanned by the new millimeter wave portals.

WAYNE LOEB, FREQUENT FLYER: It was quick, unobtrusive, piece of cake.

LAWRENCE: The portal uses electromagnetic waves to produce an image so clear, theoretically, it would be impossible to conceal any weapon including rubber, wire or plastics.

MATTHEW GILLESPIE, FREQUENT FLYER: If it makes it faster and safer, that's fine with me. I mean, I really don't see a problem.

LAWRENCE: Privacy advocates do. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is raising legal questions, envisioning a government system that collects and stores naked pictures of American travelers.

NICO MELENDEZ, TSA SPOKESMAN: We have worked very hard to address privacy concerns.

LAWRENCE: TSA spokesman, Nico Melendez says the officer with the passenger never sees the image. And the one who examines the image sits in a separate room and never sees the passenger. All of the faces are blurred out.

MELENDEZ: And the technology is unable to transmit, print or save any kind of an image. So, once we take the picture and we're done with it, it's gone forever.

LAWRENCE: That's the one thing that spooked passengers. Making sure their picture is not saved.

CATHY LU, FREQUENT FLYER: Just so I know my image is not there, that it's permanently deleted.

LAWRENCE: Radiation is another concern, but the TSA says millimeter waves eliminate less radiation than your cell phone.

(on camera): Technically it's just radio waves bouncing off your body. So, there's no rush of air or really feeling of any kind.

(voice-over): Passengers selected for secondary screening can choose the portal instead of being searched by hand.

LOEB: I would much prefer this to being pat down. Just because it's less personal and less invasive.

LAWRENCE: But more expensive. Each portal costs $150,000. The TSA says the price it pays to stay one step ahead.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Well, will win be the Nobel Peace Prize propels Al Gore into the presidential race? What do you think? Just a head, CNN's Bill Schneider joins us in the NEWSROOM to tell us what he thinks.

And bodies and body parts. It's creepy, but it's also big business, a billion dollar business. We'll take a look at that, still ahead on the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: And we have more now on that big collision and fire in Los Angeles. Inspector Jason Hurd of the L.A. County fire department joins us on the phone there now with the latest. Again, this is a fire that has been extinguished in a tunnel on the I-5 near Santa Clarita.

Inspector Hurd, what's the latest now? This thing really is out, right?

VOICE OF INSPECTOR JASON HURD, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: Oh no, it's -- we still got a little ways before it actually is out. We still got some fires, some explosions, still going off in the middle.

Basically, what we're doing is we're injecting some foam and -- from one end of the tunnel, the northern most, the uphill part and hopefully, in several hours, we'll have the fire extinguished and then we can go actually go in with fire department personnel, with engineers and go in, basically, kind of foot-by-foot, baby steps and take some debris out, have the engineers check the structure and integrity of the tunnel, and take out more debris and continually do that until we get this all removed, which could take some time. You know, we're probably looking at least another day, if not longer.

ROESGEN: Inspector, what are you talking about when you say explosions? What's exploding still under there? HURD: That's an excellent question, and if we knew, that would make our job a lot easier. But due to the -- us not knowing exactly what's in the tunnel, what type of cargoes, what types of vehicles, you know, we're really not sure exactly what is in there exploding. It could be tires, it could be propane tanks, it could be any magnitude of things. Until we get the foam in there, extinguish this mess inside the tunnel, we really don't know what's in there.

ROESGEN: You know, I thought that trucks hauling freight had to register with somebody what's in their trucks, how much of it, their route. Have you not been able to trace what might be in those trucks, which trucks were in there at that time last night around 11:00 when the collision happened?

HURD: You don't know because there -- there is a lot of cargo that's not registered and in fact, what their route is is not regulated or mandatory as far as where they're going to be at a certain time. So, really, what's going on or what those trucks have inside, it really could be anything.

ROESGEN: Boy, that's a scary thought for the entire country then, I would think, if you don't know what's going on in there and you don't know how close you can get yet.

HURD: Absolutely, and like I said, it could be quite some time until we actually get the foam in there and get the fire extinguished and get in there and piece by piece, take that debris out. And as we go through it, we have hazard materials teams here, we have personnel from Caltrans and different other organizations, different agencies all working together hand-in-hand to make this work, but again, it's not something that's going to happen in just a matter of hours.

ROESGEN: What can you tell ...

HURD: It will be quite some time.

ROESGEN: Excuse me, Inspector Hurd, what can you tell us about the people who were hurt? Ten people injured, how seriously?

HURD: Right, we did have originally about 20 people that exited the tunnel. Ten of them were not injured at all, ten of them did suffer some injuries, eight of them minor injuries. Two of them did suffer some moderate injuries, possible burns, first and second degree burns. And these were all transported and treated at local hospitals.

ROESGEN: What about the one person that you think is missing? Do you still think there's somebody missing here and who would have said, look, there's another guy, another rig driver or whatever. How do you assume that someone's missing?

HURD: You know, again, we can only go by initial reports of the people that were inside the tunnel. And initial reports were that one person -- one driver of one of those vehicles inside was reported missing. Obviously, someone knew of someone that was supposed to be there and never turned up, so we are still treating that as someone who has been unaccounted for. Again, no confirmation as far as who was supposed to be in there or who wasn't. And again, we don't know the types of vehicles, the number of vehicles, whether they're all trucks. We do have one passenger car, it looks like on the exterior here that was involved, so that -- it leads us to believe beyond (ph) there, there could very well be other passenger cars involved. So right now, it's really early to say exactly what exactly we're dealing with inside the tunnel.

ROESGEN: OK, well, Inspector Hurd with the Los Angeles County fire department, we'll check back in with you later as you get more information. Appreciate your help today.

HURD: No problem.

ROESGEN: Now, taking a look at what's hot in Hollywood right now. More movies are hot, especially movies that are critical of the war in Iraq. This fall, several anti-war movies are competing for your attention and your popcorn at the big screen.

CNN's Kareen Wynter gives you a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you all thinks going to be the first casualty of this entire conflict? Do you know what it's going to be? Do you know what it's going to be?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes (ph)! What's it going to be?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be the truth.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The truth, according to legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma, will likely spark backlash when "Redacted" hits theaters in November.

Fans looking for American patriotism won't find it in this film. U.S. soldiers play the villains who rape and murder an Iraqi girl. It's said to be based on true events.

BRIAN DE PALMA, DIRECTOR, "REDACTED": Show the pictures. If you show the pictures of what's happening to the innocent civilians, this war will come to an end very quickly.

PHIL DONAHUE, DIRECTOR, "BODY OF WAR": See the pain, don't sanitize the war.

WYNTER: Also bringing the blame home is talk show legend Phil Donahue. His new documentary, "Body of War," chronicles the life of an injured vet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I saw were women and children running away from gunfire before I took a bullet myself.

WYNTER: Thomas Young (ph) will never walk again. He blames President Bush. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a massive foreign policy blunder.

WYNTER: Nick Broomfield's "Battle for Haditha" takes aim at Washington as well, recounting the now infamous murder of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops in reaction to a roadside bombing.

NICK BROOMFIELD, DIRECTOR, "BATTLE FOR HADITHA": By showing these kinds of things, the American public will understand that the situation in Iraq is completely unintennable (ph), it's unwinnable and nothing good is ever going to come of it.

MICHAEL MEDVED, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: My big problem with these films is that there's no balance.

WYNTER: Conservative radio host Michael Medved says these films simply underscore Hollywood's left wing agenda by sliming the military.

MEDVED: Portraying them as losers who are demented and out of control, and rapists and murderers, that's not the way that most Americans see the troops.

WYNTER: These directors argue most Americans have been kept in the dark.

DE PALMA: We are fed up with this war and being lied to by the Bush administration.

WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Well, we reached out to both the White House and the Pentagon, and it appears that from what we've heard, nobody at the White House or the Pentagon had seen those movies or had any comment for us.

Now that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize, some people wonder if he'll be inspired to seek the prize he's never been able to win, the White House.

Here's CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GORE, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER: Thank you all ...

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Al Gore has scored a trifecta: an Oscar, an Emmy, and now, the Nobel Peace Prize.

The "draft Gore" movement is already in high gear. They ran a full-page ad in "The New York Times", they're putting videos up on YouTube.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ...I spent four lonely days in the brown (ph) and the heat and I just want you back by my side.

SCHNEIDER: What impact will the Nobel Prize have?

ELAINE KAMARCK, FMR. GORE ADVISER: Obviously, today's news gives them a shot in the arm, but they still don't have a candidate.

GORE: Thank you all ...

SCHNEIDER: Not yet.

Here are three reasons why many Democrats want Gore to run. Revenge for what they regard as the stolen 2000 election. Gore's outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq before it began.

GORE: I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism.

SCHNEIDER: And the fact that Gore looks imminently electable. He's already been elected, many Democrats believe.

Here are three reasons why Gore probably will not run.

KAMARCK: Well, it's getting late, and the filing deadlines are coming, and you can't win delegates if you're not on the ballot.

SCHNEIDER: A Gore candidacy would start a civil war in the Democratic party.

KAMARCK: Obviously, a lot of the same people, myself included, are fans of Hillary and fans of Al Gore. But that would be a very hard choice for a lot of people in the Democratic party.

SCHNEIDER: After he got news of the Nobel Prize, Gore said in a statement, "The climate crisis is not a political issue. It is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

That would change if Gore ran for president. The climate crisis would instantly become a political issue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: Was the Nobel Committee trying to stick it to President Bush by giving Al Gore the peace prize? Well, a reporter asked the chairman of the Nobel Committee, and his answer, "The Nobel Committee has never given a kick in the leg to anyone" -- Susan.

ROESGEN: I was trying to remember, Bill, didn't Carter win a Nobel Peace Prize, too? Who else -- former presidents have won one, did he win one?

SCHNEIDER: Well actually, three have won, three former presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize since it began in 1901. There was Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Jimmy Carter for his work on behalf of human rights in 2002. And by the way, Gore is not the first but the second former vice president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The first was way back in the 1920s, a gentlemen named Charles Dawes who was Calvin Coolidge's vice president. What did he win it for? The Dawes Plan, which helped rescue Germany from out of control inflation after World War I.

ROESGEN: Boy, that's way back in my high school history books.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

ROESGEN: Hey Bill, you know, we talk about whether Gore is going to be a late entrance in this presidential contest, and most people, I think that you would agree, don't think he's going to jump in. But -- but if he were, how vulnerable is Hillary at this point, since she seems to be the leading Democratic contender? Could he really usurp her lead?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I think it would be, as I described it, a civil war in the Democratic party. There are a lot of people who are very loyal to Al Gore, believe that this would be the ultimate vindication after what they regard as the stolen election of 2000.

I think in the end, Democrats would be conflicted, just as Elaine Kamarck, whom I interviewed for my piece, said, and she had worked for Al Gore. They like Hillary, they like Gore. Look, this is Bill Clinton's vice president and Bill Clinton's wife. That's a very tough choice for a lot of Democrats who want to restore the Clinton administration.

ROESGEN: True, OK.

All right, Bill. Thanks for your insight. As always, appreciate it.

While we're talking about saving the planet, both from global warming and war, don't miss our "Planet in Peril" documentary. It premiers October 23rd and 24th. And you can see clips of "Planet in Peril" before to get a preview. All you got to do is download the "AC 360" podcast. Go to CNN.com/planetinperil to download the clips, and then be sure to watch the full documentary coming up in about a week, October 23rd and 24th.

It's called the body parts business, and it is a business, a gruesome business and a money making business. That's just ahead in the NEWSROOM.

But first, the trip to grandmother's house is right around the corner. Time to start making some holiday travel plans. If you're feeling overwhelmed about how to get started, we've got the scoop on some new travel Web sites that might save you time and money.

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MARK ORWOLL, SR. CONSULTING EDITOR, TRAVEL + LEISURE: When planning a vacation, there are plenty of Web sites to help guide you through the process. You probably know the big ones, like Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz, but there are also lesser known sites that can be equally helpful.

Consider reserving your overseas flights on vayama.com, the first booking site dedicated exclusively to international travel from the U.S. They include many low fare carriers never available online before.

Yapta.com tracks airfares after you book. They'll send you an e- mail if there's a major price drop, and tell you how to use little- known loopholes get a refund. The company's CEO says people save an average of $40 on flights this way.

Homeandabroad.com lets you plan the details of trips to more than 90 destinations, including basics like hotels, restaurants, entertainment ideas and tips on what to read before you go.

If you love to eat when you travel, then head to chowhound.com. That's where international foodies share their new discoveries from around the world.

Now, if you're worried about forgetting something in the midst of your travel preparations, you can create your own pre-departure checklist at a site called dontforgetyourtoothbrush.com.

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ROESGEN: It is the worst kind of stealing from the dead, stripping corpses of body parts to make money. How does it happen?

CNN's Randi Kaye is keeping them honest.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the man accused of being at the heart of an all but unthinkable crime. He's nicknamed Frankenstein. In Philadelphia, Michael Mastromarino, owner of Biomedical Tissue Services, turned himself in on charges of illegally stripping corpses of bone and tissue, to sell it all in the body parts business, a billion dollar industry worldwide.

Authorities say skin and bones were illegally harvested, funeral homes turned into butcher shops.

LYNNE ABRAHAM, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This group of men and others couldn't and wouldn't permit the dead to go to their graves with a shred of dignity.

KAYE: Last week, three Philadelphia funeral directors were also charged. None has pled yet. Investigators say funeral directors supplied the bodies, Mastromarino harvested the tissue, then sold it to tissue banks and hospitals around the world.

WENDY KOGUT, DANETTE KOGUT'S SISTER: I just feel like they raped my sister and they violated her. KAYE: Wendy Kogut's sister was one of more than 1,000 corpses investigators say were harvested, many of them illegally. Even more alarming, her tissue was diseased and could make others sick.

(on camera): Could your sister have been an organ donor or a tissue donor?

KOGUT: No, because she had cancer, and you can't be an organ donor when you have cancer.

KAYE (voice-over): Danette Kogut died of ovarian cancer. Before cremation, Wendy Kogut says somebody stole her sister's leg and pelvic bones, even her skin.

(on camera): Did your client, for any reason, ever illegally harvest any tissue?

MARIO GALLUCCI, MASTROMARINO'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No.

KAYE (voice-over): Attorney Mario Gallucci represents Mastromarino, who's already pled not guilty to similar charges in New York. That's where the scheme was discovered years ago when new owners of this funeral home noticed bones in some bodies had been replaced with plumber's pipes.

Seven funeral directors in New York have pled guilty, and fingered Mastromarino. In Philadelphia, a grand jury indicted Mastromarino after finding he falsified paperwork. In some cases, altering the cause of death or the age of the deceased to make it seem tissues were healthy.

GALLUCCI: You can indict anything, you can indict a ham sandwich. That's what the problem is with the grand jury.

KAYE: Gallucci says his client is the victim of unscrupulous funeral directors, yet prosecutors say Mastromarino knowingly forged donor forms and medical records to conceal the truth.

Danette Kogut's cause of death is listed as blunt trauma, not ovarian cancer, and it's signed by her grandfather, who had been dead for 30 years.

(on camera): Gallucci says his client only inspected the bodies at the funeral homes' requests, and collected tissue to be tested. He insists it was the processors who determined what tissue was viable for sale, and says the funeral directors, not Mastromarino, filled out all the paperwork. Mastromarino denies allowing diseased tissue to be sold and transplanted into to unsuspected patients.

(voice-over): Patients like Robbie Zappa of Georgia.

ROBBIE ZAPPA, WAS GIVEN STOLEN TISSUE: I think they ought to be charged with attempted murder on all of us.

KAYE: After neck surgery, Zappa received this letter, warning bad bone tissue from New York may have been implanted during the operation. Doctors urged him to get tested immediately for hepatitis, syphilis, even HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

ZAPPA: That little thing that looks like a finger, right there in the middle of it, that's the bone tissue.

KAYE: Now, because of the body parts stolen in New York, Zappa must get tested regularly for years.

ZAPPA: They didn't care if they killed anybody. They just wanted the money.

KAYE: Prosecutors say Mastromarino made more than $4.5 million, but only by committing ghastly crimes that may now come back to haunt him.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

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ROESGEN: That is one of the great stories you'll see on "Anderson Cooper 360." You can watch "AC 360," as we call it, weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

School security failed in Cleveland. Now, after a deadly school shooting, what's the new plan to keep kids safe?

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ROESGEN: An estranged wife, two stepchildren and a man with a gun. This seven-hour standoff with the police in Arlington, Texas, does not have a happy ending. The police say Arthur Jackson dropped off his 3-year-old daughter after killing everyone else in his family. The police surrounded the home, but Jackson got away from them and that brought a high-speed chase until this. The police say that Jackson fatally shot himself in the head as he drove his car into a lake.

Well, books in school, that's OK. Guns in school, not OK, and we're hearing a lot about that now. Several new developments on stories that have been in the news lately.

Twenty families now are moving ahead with lawsuits in the Virginia Tech shooting. A student's gun rampage in April left 32 people dead on that campus. Now, lawyers for the families of the students killed or injured have notified the city of Blacksburg, Virginia, that they're going to possibly take legal action. They are expected to claim negligence on the part of the Blacksburg police. Lawsuits against the state of Virginia and the school itself are also likely.

And new claims after this week's high school shooting in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the surveillance video showing the fight outside the school on Monday that led to the suspension of a 14-year- old boy who later went in and shot four people. His uncle says that teachers would not listen to his side of the story on that fight, and that's why he was angry. Asa Coon was the suspended 14-year-old that came back to school. Again, he shot four people, two teachers and two students. They all survived and then, he shot himself.

Also new today, this Pennsylvania mother is out on bail. She is Michelle Cossie (ph) charged with buying three guns for her son. The police say that in this case, a 14-year-old boy was plotting actually a Columbine-style attack on a high school.

More than two dozen weapons found in this boy's bedroom. The police say this arsenal included a handgun, a .22 caliber riffle, and a 9 millimeter semiautomatic rifle with a laser scope. A 14-year-old boy's bedroom is where they found this arsenal. The police say they think the mother was just trying to indulge her unhappy child, she was not trying to help plan an attack. The teenager is being held for a psychiatric evaluation.

Next in the CNN NEWSROOM, it's Bambi on the loose. The effort it took to get wildlife back in the wild.

But first, "Fortune" magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" list is out, and here's your chance to find out who made the cut.

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UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: She sold makeup door to door and has climbed the corporate ladder at Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's. Now, she heads up one of the largest female-run firms in the country. So, who's the woman that transforms beauty into bucks? We'll tell you after the break.

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UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming in ninth on "Fortune" magazine's Most Powerful Women in Business list, Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO of Avon Products. She's given Avon a makeover by targeting teens and launching new products. Stocks are up 15 percent this year, and with Reese Witherspoon as the new face of Avon, Jung plans on bringing more attention to women's issues, such as breast cancer and domestic violence.

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ROESGEN: You've heard of taking a bull by the horns, how about a buck by the horns?

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