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Details Emerge of Bhutto Assassination; Snow Leads to Midwest Airport Delays

Aired December 28, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Benazir Bhutto's final moments. One day after her shocking death, a new surprise. What's Pakistan's government now believe killed her?
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Snow in the Midwest in late December, weather-snarling travel. But get this: the southeast could be hit with spring-like storms. Our Chad Myers has the big picture all afternoon.

Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen in today for Kyra Phillips at CNN world headquarters.

LEMON: And weather not good news for us or anybody in the country.

NGUYEN: Right now, yes.

LEMON: Absolutely.

And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: First up, Benazir Bhutto has been laid to rest. But she leaves a lot of unanswered questions. For starters: how did she really die? The government today released this video, which captures the moment Bhutto was attacked.

The interior ministry says Bhutto died of a fractured skull after hitting her head as she ducked into her SUV, not as was first reported, from a bullet wound or shrapnel from a suicide bomb.

The ministry itself earlier today blamed shrapnel and later, though, through a spokesperson, offered this version of what happened yesterday in Rawalpindi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGADIER GENERAL JAVED IQBAL CHEEMA, PAKISTAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: There was no foreign element in her body, so henceforth, there should be no ambiguity that, you know, she died because of the bullet or she died because of a propellant (ph) or because of a splinter.

So our initial investigation, so far, all indicate that, unfortunately, that this tragedy took place because, you know, that she struck with that force with a lever of her vehicle, which caused -- caused her death. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And as we look at this video, which is believed to be the last moments of her life, earlier doctors -- one of the doctors who treated Bhutto talked about her condition when she got to the hospital, which is less than two miles from the scene of that attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MUSSADIQ KHAN, RAWALPINDI GENERAL HOSPITAL: She was brought to the hospital at about 5:35 p.m., and when she was brought to the emergency room, doctors who saw her noticed that she was not breathing, she did not have a pulse, and her pupil, they were dilated, and they were not responding to light. These are the signs of seize (ph), that a person has had a pulmonary arrest and is not responding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Joining me by phone from Karachi is Majid Saddiqui. He is a producer for Geo TV, has been on our program a number of times.

Majid, can you tell us where the investigation stands now, especially in light of that new video and then of the interior ministry spokesperson saying that she died from a blow to the head, possibly from hitting her head on that sun roof?

MAJID SADDIQUI, PRODUCER, GEO TV: Don, the government of Pakistan has formed a judicial committee today in which intelligence agency people and the law enforcement agency people are included, and -- but unfortunately, the people do not have belief on these committees. They think that it's not going to work, because in the past there were a lot of committees were made by the previous governments of Pakistan, but none of the committee has -- was given results (ph). So people do not have belief in it.

Benazir Bhutto's tragic demise has created a lot of trouble for Pakistan in politics and will see a lot of trouble for Pakistan and some future impact on the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I believe that she was one of the leaders who can lead -- who could lead Pakistan in a very nice way.

But unfortunately, these miscreants (ph) murdered her. And now Pakistan's future (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And I think the government of Pakistan has to form a committee with impartial people who should investigate. And also government of Pakistan has to involve the United Nations kind of organizations to investigate Benazir Bhutto's murder mystery.

LEMON: The question, considering the information that came out today, and they're saying that she was not -- she was not shot or there was no shrapnel and you're saying that the government is putting out this information. People don't believe it.

I'm sure there's a sense from folks there that they may never find out exactly what killed her. There will be no definitive answer. So where does it come? What happens next? Where is it as far as violence there? What's the mood?

SADDIQUI: I think people will not be calm, and today, the People's Party leadership has contacted the people and the voters in Pakistan, Pakistani villages and the cities, and they have advised them to be calm and don't create any problem. But I think people are charged and at this moment people are -- the mobs (ph) are in the Karachi (ph) streets and other parts of the country, and they are looting people and blah, blah, blah (ph). And...

LEMON: So Majid -- Majid, we have to -- we have to move on, but I appreciate you joining us. And obviously, you've been on our air a number of times. And I can tell that you probably have been up for 24 hours and you're a little tired, so get some rest. And thank you again for joining us in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: Well, so far at least U.S. and Pakistani officials appear to agree on who is likely to blame for Bhutto's killing. Both countries are looking hard at a Taliban leader from Afghanistan, a man one U.S. official calls a known bad actor.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now.

What do you know about this person, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the person we're talking about, Betty, is a man named Baitullah Masood.

What we need to emphasize for everyone is there is no definitive conclusion by the U.S. government, by the U.S. intelligence community or the military, about who was responsible for the assassination of Mrs. Bhutto. There is a long list of suspects.

But at least two government agencies here in Washington are saying that Baitullah Masood certainly appears to be floating to the top of the list as a major suspect. He is a Taliban-al Qaeda type operative. He operates in Waziristan along the border with Pakistan, between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has known ties to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 man in al Qaeda, and he was known to be very much an opponent of Mrs. Bhutto.

So, they are looking at him now, in Washington, as one of the prime suspects. Not just because the Pakistani government may be saying it publicly, as they have today, but they want to develop their own confirming information. That's the road they're looking down.

Many officials here in Washington say they're still looking at a long list of suspects, but this is a name that, as of today, is certainly floating to the top of the list, Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Barbara Starr with the latest on that. Thank you, Barbara.

LEMON: Benazir Bhutto's assassination raises troubling questions for the Bush administration and its relationship with Pakistan. So what is next?

CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us now from the White House with the very latest on that.

What is next for the administration, Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, right now the administration is keeping very close tabs on what's happening in Pakistan, urging calm there, very concerned that a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, indeed an ally possessing nuclear weapons, not spiral out of control.

We just heard recently from deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel. He tells us at 9 a.m. Eastern Time had a secure video link with his National Security Council to get an update on what's happening in Pakistan right now. He heard from top members of the intelligence community; also from the U.S. ambassador in Pakistan, Anne Patterson, who right now is in Islamabad.

And Stanzel said that the president told his national security team that the U.S. needs to, quote, support democracy in Pakistan and help Pakistan in its struggle against extremism and terrorism. Certainly, to that end, President Bush is still urging that the democratic process in Pakistan go forward.

Deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel has said whether or not there is any kind of brief delay in those elections, which were due to take place in less -- in less than two weeks, that that's up to the Pakistani people and that the U.S. will support them if that's what they choose.

Back to you, Don.

LEMON: And Kathleen, the question is here Washington was instrumental in getting Bhutto back into Pakistan for those elections. Is that a major blow for U.S. diplomatic efforts in Pakistan? And I think I know the answer to that.

KOCH: Well, it certainly is. And right now the U.S. is desperately struggling to come up with a Plan B. Certainly, while they hadn't endorsed Bhutto -- the U.S. never endorses a candidate in any nation's elections -- they certainly had brokered her return. So they're struggling to find a new way to proceed.

And I'd like to point out right now in Washington top U.S. officials today will be going to the Pakistani embassy, both national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to sign the condolence book.

But the U.S. right now playing this very carefully, not wanting to appear to intrude at all, really, in Pakistan's domestic affairs.

LEMON: Yes, OK. Kathleen Koch at the White House, thank you very much.

KOCH: You bet.

NGUYEN: No doubt Benazir Bhutto's death has left a major void in Pakistan. It's casting doubt on next month's elections and raising new questions about U.S. ties to Pakistan's government.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has covered the region for years, and he joins us now from Verbier, Switzerland.

Nic, elections just 11 days away. What is the impact of Bhutto's assassination?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It raises a very serious question of whether or not those elections can be meaningful. We've already heard from Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister who returned from exile recently, that his party will not stand in the elections, that he has said that, if the government does go ahead with the elections, then that is a path for breaking up the country, that it will lead to further instability.

We haven't heard from Benazir Bhutto's party, if they're going to stand in those elections. They have said that they will elect a new leader, they will do it quickly, but it needs to be somebody who is -- who is as charismatic and as strong as Benazir Bhutto was.

The fact that this attack took place so close to the elections really does seem to call into question whether or not the government can hold them. But at this time the government says it will, and very much it depends in the coming days on the reaction on the streets of Pakistan. Will the government have to declare a state of emergency to control violence? If not, it appears they will push ahead with those elections.

NGUYEN: I have to ask you this. When we heard about the assassination, obviously, a lot of eyes turned to President Pervez Musharraf. How does this impact him, especially with those elections coming up?

ROBERTSON: It's going to impact him, the way the government handles the current situation. And we just heard a few moments ago from a Pakistani journalist, saying that the way that the government is already handling the investigation at the moment, is sort of raising doubt in people's minds that, just hours after Benazir Bhutto was killed, CNN had credible reports from a journalist, a western journalist photographer, who was at the scene, heard shots ring out. An autopsy from the -- from a doctor at the hospital indicated Benazir Bhutto died from bullet wounds to her head.

Yet today, the Pakistani government issues a different description of what happened. And we heard this Pakistani journalist saying this raises questions in people's minds.

It's not uncommon that the Pakistani government changes the details about political assassinations or the deaths of senior politicians in the country. This is not unheard of. And this is what undermines the credibility of President Musharraf's government in the eyes of many people in Pakistan.

So how his government handles the current situation will -- will affect his credibility in the coming days and the authority of his government. We've also heard now that -- that the Pakistani government believes that they know somebody who was responsible for this attack, a Taliban-al Qaeda tie linked operative operating in South Waziristan.

I was there in South Waziristan earlier this year with the Pakistani military, who named this particular individual, Masood, as actually helping the Pakistani government fight al Qaeda and Taliban- related fighters. When the generals who told us that were questioned by Pakistani journalists, who said how can you say this when he -- when this person, Masood, is with the Taliban and al Qaeda, the generals didn't answer that question.

So, by naming this individual as being a suspect in this particular killing of Benazir Bhutto, is going to further put questions in the minds of people in Pakistan. Are they getting the full answers and the full truth from their government?

And this -- this essentially will speak to the credibility of President Musharraf in the coming days of whether or not there is violence on the streets and whether or not he can continue to enjoy the level of support from Pakistani people that he does at the moment.

NGUYEN: And Nic, bottom line, when we talk about this, we don't want to get into conspiracy theories, but who stands to gain the most because of this and who stands to lose the most because of this assassination?

ROBERTSON: I think very much that depends on whose shoes you stand in. President Musharraf is trying to -- is trying to guide Pakistan through a very, very difficult period with a rising Islamist insurgency, al Qaeda operatives who want to try and kill him, al Qaeda operatives who said that they wanted to kill Benazir Bhutto. Now she is dead.

So, it seems that the radical Islamists who Benazir Bhutto said she would try and -- she would try and curtail their activities, you could say it was them.

Benazir Bhutto's supporters are blaming Pakistan's government for not providing adequate security. It really depends on whose shoes you stand in. Benazir Bhutto's supporters would argue -- and there's no indication that there's credibility in this case -- would argue that the army of Pakistan stands to gain, because Benazir Bhutto told me and told others in conversation last summer that she wanted the Pakistan's army to go back to its barracks, to get out of politics.

This was an indication for Pakistan's army, her supporters believe, they would lose power if Benazir Bhutto came to power so they would say that -- that she doesn't come to power. This is the argument put forward by some of Benazir Bhutto's supporters.

None of these claims can be substantiated. As you say, they tend to led to conspiracy theories, but these are the ideas that are floating about in Pakistan at the moment, rightly or wrongly. And they conflicting -- they are conflicting conspiracy -- conspiracies, if you will, conflicting ideas. And that is where, perhaps, the trouble lays in the future, that these are conflicting ideas.

NGUYEN: Well, so much of the information coming out today and yesterday, all of it very conflicting. And what we have been able to learn, and so we're trying to sort it out.

Nic Robertson, thank you for your time today.

LEMON: A teen called a hero, a zoo called into question. The wall that separates tigers from people about four feet shorter -- shorter than it should have been. Was that the difference between life and death at the San Francisco Zoo?

NGUYEN: Plus, the mourning and the outrage: how to handle Benazir Bhutto's death. Hillary Clinton weighs in exclusively to CNN.

LEMON: And a live look at Milwaukee, getting hammered with a December snowstorm, if you can see it. We'll show you how the nation's busiest airports, how they're handling that severe weather in an exclusive report from an O'Hare runway.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: If you look under all that snow and chilly fog you can actually see -- I don't know about that -- Milwaukee. 2007 is going out with a wintry bang in Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest. Chicago is included in that, as well.

And that's where we find our Keith Oppenheim. He's at O'Hare International Airport, where snow, salt and delays have been the rule today.

And it looks like it's going to be the rule for quite some time there, Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don. We have exclusive access to part of the airport here, so we've got a view of really what's going on in terms of snow removal.

This is what's called behind me the north/south snow access road. It's the main artery for all the snow equipment. We've got another camera out here so you can see where all of those machines are staging.

There are -- get this -- 200 major pieces of equipment that are used at O'Hare Airport, and they clear, on a day like this, 51 million square feet of pavement. That's something like vacuuming 17,000 good- sized homes while planes are taking off and landing.

And Wally West is the guy who's the manager of vehicle services at O'Hare.

Wally, you've been telling me that you prepare for a day like today where we're getting something like five inches of snow, you prepare for days like this in the summertime. Why? WALLY WEST, MANAGER OF VEHICLE SERVICE, O'HARE AIRPORT: Yes, we do. The Department of Aviation along with the Department of Fleet Management, we go through our equipment constantly to ensure that it's ready for when we're called upon to go on a runway, that we can remove the snow efficiently and quickly.

OPPENHEIM: All right. So, in other words, you can't make a mistake on a day like today. All the machines have to be working.

WEST: Yes.

OPPENHEIM: And they go in what you call a conga line? What's that?

WEST: Yes. What that is, is we stagger the equipment across the runway so that we make one pass down the runway. We're cleaning the runway wall-to-wall. We're on and off as quickly as we can to ensure the safety of the aircraft.

OPPENHEIM: And how much time do you require for a runway to be cleared so that while one runway is in use, another one is being cleared? How long does that take?

WEST: Approximately 15 minutes.

OPPENHEIM: That's pretty fast for that amount of space. Pretty impressive. Thanks, Wally.

By the way, the delays here at O'Hare are about 45 to 90 minutes. Four hundred flights have been canceled. At Midway, Don, about one- hour delays right now, but there have been no cancellations that I've heard of so far.

Back to you.

LEMON: Are they talking how long it's going to be? Would they even know with the weather to get this backlog cleared up, Keith?

OPPENHEIM: Well, this weather should last until about dinnertime here, but then, of course, the delays continue for a while after that, because it takes a while for air traffic to catch back up in the area. There you see another machine on its way, a front loader.

And then by tomorrow morning, though, what they're telling me is everything should be back to normal. That's good news for me, because I'm flying out tomorrow on vacation.

LEMON: Oh, you think you are, my friend. You think you are. We wish you luck.

NGUYEN: Did you hear that? He was hinting to the producers around here, "Get me out of here."

LEMON: Yes. Well.

NGUYEN: Good luck with that vacation. LEMON: We'll see, Keith, when you call us from the runway at O'Hare -- at Midway tomorrow.

NGUYEN: Hopefully, you won't be stuck.

LEMON: Thank you.

NGUYEN: No snow but lots of rain in and around Atlanta. Look at this. Folks here, we'll take it, though, because after this year's historic drought, boy, do we need it.

The rain has slowed traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson international airport. That's the bad news in all of this. But, Chad Myers has been watching it.

Chad, as you know, very well, as do we, we need this rain.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Yes. Lake Lanier has stopped going down. That's all we can say.

NGUYEN: Finally.

MYERS: It is not that it's going up yet, but it has stopped going down.

NGUYEN: Stopped going down.

MYERS: So we'll take the good with the bad.

NGUYEN: Sure.

MYERS: That's as good as it gets.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Hey, bring on the rain. At least we're not dealing with that kind of snow that they're having in Chicago. You can't see in front of you. All right. Thanks, Chad.

LEMON: Hillary Clinton in her final push across Iowa. She stops to talk Pakistan with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. You'll hear her prescription for staving off chaos in the increasingly troubled nuclear-armed nation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. You get up early, hoping for great deals on Black Friday. Right? But is it worth all the hassle?

Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with that and the latest on the market.

Is it worth all the hassle? Good question.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're going to get to that in a moment, Don. But I did my buying on Black Friday online, so I didn't have hassles.

We've got a hassle here on Wall Street, though, Don. We've had a very nice rally at the open for 30 minutes, and then a report on the housing sector came out and the gains just evaporated.

Basically, Wall Street was expecting a decline in new home sales in November of less than 2 percent. It came in a decline of 9 percent. And there you see the Dow, which had been up 91 points at its high, is down -- now down about 40 points. Also the lowest level in terms of the inventory that we've seen on home sales in 12 years.

So, you know, just a year ago at this time, Don, a lot of very bright people were saying maybe the worst in the housing market is over. And we know that that is not indeed true. Not from the housing numbers that we continue to get -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. We can absolutely attest to that one.

So now that all of the holiday shopping is done, let's look back at Black Friday, Susan. Let's take a look back. I know a lot of people out there want to know if -- you know, if the sacrifice was worth it.

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, a lot of us would say it's not worth it to get up at 4 in the morning to brave the cold, to brave the crowds, that you've got to be crazy. But, you know, there's a lot of people say there are some bargains to be had.

Well, "The Boston Globe" actually did a study. For five weeks, they tracked 52 items. And the answer is, well, no, it really probably isn't worth it.

It said that five items were, indeed, cheaper on Black Friday. That's the day after Thanksgiving. Seven items were cheapest on the day before Christmas. But 20 items stayed the same for the entire five-week period. I mean, they basically fluctuated. So there were some deals to be had.

You know, basically, the cardinal rule is know your merchandise. And you should know whether the brand, the type of product, is a good deal.

The best deal, the big winner of the 52, Don Lemon, of course, it was in the electronics sector. It was a JVC camcorder. It was about $170 cheaper on Black Friday than it was two weeks later.

But again, if you're going to lose that sleep, if you're going to get cold, if you're going to brave those crowds, you know, maybe you should do a little homework first.

LEMON: So it was cheaper on Black Friday than two weeks later or two weeks earlier?

LISOVICZ: Two weeks later, yes. So in fact, it was worth it to buy that camcorder on Black Friday. But it was not true, according to "The Boston Globe" for the bulk of the products that it surveyed. It was not true for most of them.

LEMON: So there is a payoff?

LISOVICZ: I think some people just like the whole circus atmosphere of it all, you know. Just burning off all those calories from Thanksgiving. Maybe that's what it is.

LEMON: I know. Betty's looking awfully skinny here. So she must have done a lot of spending.

NGUYEN: I believe I was at work on Black Friday. So no shopping on my side (ph).

LISOVICZ: I was, too. That's why I bought online.

NGUYEN: Yes. I missed all the deals. Obviously, it wasn't too bad.

LISOVICZ: No.

NGUYEN: Because some of them were actually cheaper a little bit later.

LISOVICZ: Not bad. Hey, guys, in the next hour we're going to be talking about pickup trucks. How's that? We're going to be talking about -- well, it's about environmentally-friendly pickup trucks. They don't normally go together. One company wants to change all that. So we'll talk about that in the next hour.

NGUYEN: You know, it's funny, Susan. You're trying to hide the tease there. We've got a big banner underneath you that says "hybrid pickup."

LEMON: "Hybrid pickup."

NGUYEN: You blew it. Sorry.

LISOVICZ: Don always, you know, spoils it anyway.

LEMON: Oh, well.

NGUYEN: Oh, well. See you soon.

LEMON: Oh, well. We try.

NGUYEN: We do want to talk about this, though. Shock, sadness, outrage. And emotional time for Pakistani-Americans as Benazir Bhutto is laid to rest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: It's 31 past the hour. Here are three of the stories that we are working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The White House says President Bush will veto a defense policy bill Congress passed earlier this month. He is unhappy with the provision that would let Saddam Hussein's victims sue for compensation from the current Iraqi government.

The father of the teen who was mauled to death at a San Francisco zoo says his son was a hero. Carlos Sousa Sr. says his son deliberately distracted the tiger in order to save the lives of his companions.

And we are waiting for a news conference that may reveal more details about the Christmas Eve slayings outside Seattle. A woman and her boyfriend are accused of killing six members of the woman's family.

LEMON: Now back to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. And as it refers to politics, Hillary Clinton is calling for an international probe into the death of Benazir Bhutto. Now, she says Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has lost credibility. Clinton is making her final push across Iowa where polls show her in a virtual dead heat with Barack Obama and John Edwards.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Clinton addressed the volatile situation in Pakistan after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: There are conflicting reports coming in from the Pakistani government right now about the cause of death, who may have been responsible, perhaps al Qaeda, maybe not. The bottom line, do you trust the Pakistani government right now to conduct a fair and full investigation so that all of us around the world will know who killed this woman and how she was killed?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think the Pakistani government at this time under President Musharraf has any credibility at all. They have disbanded an independent judiciary, they have oppressed a free press, therefore I'm calling for a full, independent, international investigation. Perhaps along the lines of what the United Nations has been doing with respect to the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri in Lebanon.

I think it is critically important that we get answers and really, those answers are due first and foremost to the people of Pakistan. Not only those who were supportive of Benazir Bhutto and her party, but every Pakistani because we cannot expect to move toward stability without some reckoning as to who was responsible for this assassination.

And therefore, I call on President Musharraf and the Pakistani government to realize that this is in the interests of Pakistan, to understand whether or not it was al Qaeda or some other off-shoot extremist group that is attempting to further destabilize and even overthrow the Pakistani government, or whether it came from within, either explicitly or implicitly, the security forces or the military, in Pakistan.

You know, the thing I've not been able to understand, Wolf, I have met with President Musharraf, I obviously knew Benazir Bhutto and admired her leadership, is that President Musharraf in every meeting I've had with him, the elites in Pakistan who still wield tremendous power, plus the leadership of the military, act as though they can destabilize Pakistan and retain their positions, their positions of privilege, their positions of authority.

BLITZER: Right.

CLINTON: That is not the way it will work. So, I am really calling on them to recognize that the world deserves the answer, the Bhutto family deserves the answer, but this is in the best interests of the Pakistani people and the state of Pakistan.

BLITZER: So -- so Senator, just to be precise, you want a United Nations international tribunal or commission of inquiry, whatever you want to call it, along the lines of the investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri?

CLINTON: Well, there are other institutions that are international that have credibility, like Interpol and others, so it doesn't have to be the exact model of the Hariri investigation. But it needs to be international, it needs to be independent. It needs to have credibility and nothing that would happen inside of Pakistan would.

I'm reluctant to say it should be an American investigation where we send our law enforcement personnel because I'm not sure that would have credibility for a different reason. So, that's why I'm calling for an independent, international investigation.

BLITZER: This is a damning indictment of President Pervez Musharraf. Some are calling on him to step down. Do you believe he should step down?

CLINTON: What I believe is that he should meet certain conditions and quickly. We should immediately move to free and fair elections. Obviously, it's going to take some time for Benazir Bhutto's party to choose a successor. Nawaz Sharif has said that he won't participate at this time.

I believe, again, some kind of international support for free and fair elections in a timely manner would be incredibly important. If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow. We also want to see a resumption of the move toward an independent judiciary. I think that was a terrible mistake.

You know, this is an odd situation, Wolf. The people in the streets are wearing suits and ties. They are lawyers, they are professionals, they are the middle class of Pakistan, which really offers the very best hope for a stable Democratic country. And that is in America's interest.

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: But more importantly, it's in the interest of the Pakistani people. (END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We'll have more in the situation in Pakistan in a moment. Our Tom Foreman will stop by to talk about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, as well as the country's remote and largely ungoverned region which is home to a potential suspect in Bhutto's death.

NGUYEN: And Tom Foreman is going to be here in the NEWSROOM very shortly with that. And of course, we'll bring that to you. Very interesting information he's going to be providing.

LEMON: Absolutely, all right. We want to get to some developing news that's happening now in Washington. It's happening at the Pakistani Embassy. There is a condolence book there, and there, you can see the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arriving. Stephen Hadley went to sign the same condolence book for Benazir Bhutto just a short time ago.

Let's listen in to the Secretary of State as she goes to sign this book. She is going to make some statements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I want to express personally and also on behalf, of course, of the American people our deep sympathies with the Bhutto family, with her supporters of Benazir Bhutto and of course with the Pakistani people.

This is a day of great tragedy, great mourning. She was a champion for democracy, she was a courageous woman. In my conversations with her, her commitment and her dedication came through very clearly, and most especially her love for her people and for her country.

And I believe that her legacy will be one of being remembered for that dedication, and so the president said yesterday the way to honor her memory is to continue the Democratic process in Pakistan so that democracy that she so hoped for can emerge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, again signing the book of condolences for Benazir Bhutto. And as I stated earlier, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley also signed that book as well as other officials and dignitaries in Washington going by to pay their respects.

And again, we want to tell you this, we'll have more on the situation in Pakistan in just a moment. Our Tom Foreman as we've said, he will stop by, talk about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Our Tom is working on that right now and he'll talk about the country's remote, largely ungoverned region as well, which is home to a potential suspect in Bhutto's death. Tom Foreman joins us in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, if Pakistan is racked by chaos how safe are that country's nuclear weapons? CNN's Tom Foreman joins us now to talk about that troubling issue. What about safety, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a big question as our sources in the Pentagon tell us. Really the Pentagon will officially say they feel like it's okay, but secretly they are concerned with good reason. Let's look at the map and get a sense of what we're talking about here. This is Pakistan where they have about 60 nuclear weapons as far as we know.

The fuel for them was first developed up in this region up here, then there was a test down here back in the late 1990s. That really confirmed that they had them about 60 weapons. They are considered however to be kept around the country in secret locations and we don't know where. We have no idea where they are. But they are also believed to be kept in disassembled form.

The warheads, the ignition systems the things that would make these warheads erupt and the delivery systems, the missiles that they might launch them with, are all allegedly kept in separate locations, and that heightens the security. But here's the big issue about this that people have to be concerned about. That is how secure are they with the military there. That's what everybody is asking right now with the country in turmoil -- Don?

LEMON: Tom, how will Benazir Bhutto's assassination affect the region? There's been much speculation about that. But, how will it -- in your estimation affect the region and also the U.S.?

FOREMAN: That as you know is really up for -- up for grabs right now. Here's the issue, I guess, when you look at it. If you look at Afghanistan and Pakistan, but then you look at the overlay of the Pashtun tribal region. This is important, because we don't think this way in this country so much but this is important to the identity of folks in this area how they see themselves.

Many people will identify more with the boundaries of this Pashtunistan in affect, than they do with Afghanistan or Pakistan. And guess what? This is the area right in here where there has been a lot of free flowing operation of al Qaeda and the Taliban. People who would like to establish an Islamist government.

The important part of this is that it overlaps over here in Afghanistan with about 26,000 American troops who are operating over there. So, when you look at this area, have to ask how much influence do they have right in here, with the government, and all of the forces that might be in here. How many people do they have inside the military?

There's concern that there may be some, the question is are they high enough to get them in contact with these nukes. We do know that based on airplane delivery systems or on missile delivery systems or, for that matter, someone simply smuggling across the border in a vehicle, that all of Afghanistan would potentially be a target if the nukes fell into the wrong hands there. That's really the important thing is keeping it in context.

LEMON: Unsettling, but certainly there's even -- there's a word that describes it better but I can't think of it at this moment.

FOREMAN: I think it's a question of context really, Don. All of our This Week at War experts who we're going to be talking to this week as we look back on the year at war, say really the important aspect here is that if this does not go well, it will not only spill into Afghanistan but beyond that to Iran, beyond that to Iraq, you can have an effect throughout the Middle East.

That's why this is so important to Americans right now. This is not just a Pakistani problem.

LEMON: Tom Foreman, appreciate that. Thank you.

NGUYEN: It's a very important point. Journalist Gail Sheehy actually traveled with Benazir Bhutto as she campaigned. And along the way, she interviewed Bhutto extensively. Gail Sheehy joins us now from New York.

You not only traveled with her, but you spoke with her several times. And as you traveled with her, Gail, let me ask you, what kind of security did she have around her? And in your opinion was it adequate?

GAIL SHEEHY, JOURNALIST: Well, she had no security around her as she was traveling to her home province Sindh in the southwest. She would be coming up through a sun roof, atop a truck as you saw her in the last pictures before her death, she would always have one bodyguard with her. An older woman unarmed. Who would just put her hands on her back.

NGUYEN: That was it?

SHEEHY: That was it. There were people with cameras and -- up above her, around her, climbing up on the sides of the truck, all over the place. As I was in a vehicle before her or behind her, men would come out into the streets and it was only men, this was a stunning sight to an American. There were no women in sight as far as you could see. Only Benazir Bhutto and her bodyguard.

NGUYEN: Well, Gail let me ask you this. As we look at the video, some of the last video of her while she was alive you do see her outside of that sun roof. As people watched that a lot of them are saying what was she thinking. You're a prime target sitting right there. You've seen her do this several times. What did she say about the fear and the danger?

SHEEHY: I saw her do it all day long. And then go into a court house to register to be a candidate. And come out with people crowding around her, right up against her cheek. She -- is the only way -- the Musharraf government would not provide her with security. They were asked over and over again.

When she first returned to the country and had a big return parade through Karachi the lights went out before midnight and her people frantically called the police to try to get them restored, but they weren't. And suicide attack took place right there. So, she believed very strongly that the Musharraf government was complicit in allowing suicide attackers who were probably terrorists who had been targeting her for 20 years. Osama bin Laden himself.

NGUYEN: That being said do you think that she took the risks because she felt if I am killed then there's blood on Musharraf's hands?

SHEEHY: I don't know that she actually consciously thought that through. I think she had a sense as she told me when she had the suicide bomb outside of her container, that she just goes on detachment. She doesn't feel.

She thinks as she's always thought from one trauma to another from the day her father was hanged when she was 25, to repeated arrests and jailing and raised on her home, she thinks about what to do next. What she was doing at this time in her life at 54 was putting everything into the possibility that she could be the person to bring democracy back to Pakistan.

NGUYEN: On that note, in your conversation with her in November she said this, and I want to quote it. I am the terrorists what they fear most, a female political leader fighting to bring modernity to Pakistan. Now they are trying to kill me. We have heard Benazir Bhutto say time and time again I am here to help restore democracy, but I have to ask you this.

Is this also a woman who is hell bent on avenging her father's death and also restoring her reputation after she was charged with corruption?

SHEEHY: Absolutely. Very, very good points. She said, I have to right a wrong. And that was two wrongs, the hanging of her father and what she thought was a wrong which was holding her accountable for massive corruption that did take place during both of her regimes, some of it blamed on her husband who she married to have the mantle of a married woman in a Muslim country, but much of it in accounts that are accountable to her held by her friends or her mother. So, she was a flawed leader.

All right, and then today a lot of people mourning her death.

NGUYEN: Gail Sheehy, a contributing editor, with Parade magazine who traveled extensively with Benazir Bhutto. Also spoke with her several times. We thank you for your insight today.

SHEEHY: My pleasure.

LEMON: Sometimes you should not drink your milk, like when it's contaminated with a deadly bacteria. We'll tell you who is affected.

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LEMON: Mom always said drink your milk. Well, don't drink your milk, that's a warning some near Boston are getting. Health officials in Massachusetts think they've tracked a deadly bacteria to a small dairy. Reporter Michelle Relerford, of CNN affiliate WHDH, has more on the investigation.

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MICHELLE RELERFORD, WHDH REPORTER: The dairy store will remain dark at Whittier Farms, shut down after products from this company are found contaminated with listeria bacteria, causing four customers to get sick, two of them died.

JIM URSO, WHITTIER FARMS CUSTOMER: We've gotten a number of different products from them over there, milk and other dairy products. But have never had any problems. It's a little bit scary to think about.

RELERFORD: The listeria bacteria causes listeriosis, the four cases linked to Whittier Farms were found within the last six months. One pregnant woman became ill, the two victims were elderly men from the Worcester county.

DR. ALFRED DEMARIA, MASS. PUBLIC HEALTH DEPT.: This is a kind of infection that causes significant disease in people with underlying diseases, cancer, chemotherapy, steroid, pregnancy, we want those people not to consume the product.

RELERFORD: Whittier Farms products are also found under the brand names Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook and Maple. Most of their customers live near Worcester and Shrewsbury. Those customers hoping this new information has not come too late.

MARTHA GANNON, WHITTIER FARMS CUSTOMER: Kind of dumped everything out. Have to see what happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We have a little bit more information about listeria, and it's from the CDC. The bacterium lives in soil and water, cooking food and pasteurizing milk kills it. Listeria is a problem mostly for pregnant women, newborns and people with weak immune systems. Fever, muscle aches, diarrhea and nausea are a few symptoms. And pregnant women might notice only mild flu like symptoms, but infection can lead to miscarriage.

NGUYEN: All right, so if you've had lasik surgery to fix your near-sighted eyes, here is some good news. Researchers kept up with more than 100 patients for 10 years after their surgeries, and they found that lasik provided both safe and effective -- in long term. Now, the study is published in the "American Journal of Ophthalmology."

Well, it's time to see what people are clicking on at cnn.com. Among our most viewed stories, details of the death of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani authorities now saying she died of a skull fracture from the suicide attack a day ago. Many more details at cnn.com. You want to go there for that. Also, there is more fallout today from that deadly tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo. Police are calling the teen who was killed a hero. He may have sacrificed his life for that of a friend.

And, the top ten films of 2007, you check our list and compare it against your own. All these stories and so much more at cnn.com.

LEMON: A city of millions strangely quiet. We'll have a first- hand report from an American in Lahore, Pakistan.

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LEMON: New images of Benazir Bhutto's final moment. Take a look at that. The video offers new clues about her violent death, but raises new questions as well

NGUYEN: Also, an outpouring of grief and an explosion of anger. Bhutto supporters vent their rage in the streets of Pakistan's major city.

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