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Iranian Crackdown; Texas Tech Coach Fired

Aired December 30, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ (voice-over): Making news right now. An Iranian security vehicle runs over a protester. Instead of apologizing, Iran is firing off at the West.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Britain does not change its remarks, it will be slapped in the mouth.

SANCHEZ: And the government is calling on the protesters to protest the protesters.

The cheapest way to make sure that explosives are detected. Why aren't there more of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that this individual showed up with a one-way ticket, purchased with cash, with no checked baggage. He should have been pulled aside and at that point if inspected be a dog, literally could have detected it.

SANCHEZ: And CNN confirms another attempted plane bomber was caught in Somalia. Guess where he stashed the explosives?

And why is the Wal-Mart greeter going rogue? Who's the bad guy here? My access becomes your access with tweets from security specialists, Mercury Morris, members of Congress, gearing up for Rick's list.

Your national conversation for Wednesday, December 30, 2009, starts right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Yes, it is. Hello, again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with your national conversation. Not a speech, and your turn to get involved.

First, breaking news, Iran's Islamic-run government is take no chances. It's moving right now to try and crush the growing opposition to its theocratic rule. I have watched this thing developing all day long, and I want to bring you up to date on what is going on. We can now report that Iran is claiming something has happened to two top opponents of the Islamic regime.

Let me read you part of the statement released in the past few hours by state-run Iranian media -- quote -- "The plotters have escaped Tehran. The plotters have escaped Tehran. Two of the main elements in the recent disturbances today have left Tehran for the north of the country. These two known plotters are currently staying in a western province. Reports say that they are very confused and frightened."

Again, those are the words of state-run Iranian media. Why would they say that? Why would they put that report out, ominous words about two of the top opponents of the regime in Tehran?

Exactly which two opponents, that is not 100 percent clear right now, as we go through this information. And, trust me, we have been going through this over the last couple of hours, finishing up most of this report just as we getting ready to go to air, and it could be changing as we speak. But we believe we are close to nailing that part of the story down. And we believe that those names, those two names that this Iranian government is talking about are going to be very familiar to you.

I am going to tell you right now, what we are looking at here, you might say, is a play right out of what many insiders call a tyrant's training manual. These are the plays they call when their rule gets challenged in some way. And that is exactly what is happening right now in Tehran.

I want to show you. This is earlier. This is just like a couple of hours ago, all right, as we have been collecting this video throughout the day, again, straight from that playbook. Get your people out into the streets. That is what they did. Shout down the opposition. That is what they are doing.

I mean, that is exactly what is occurring right now in Iran. These are supporters of the Islamic-run government, 30 years in power now, and being challenged from the streets. Today, the government told its supporters, it is our turn. Turn out, show of force, you and I.

All right. Let's do this. Let's take a listen to some of this. I want you the hear what is going on, on the streets there. He speaks. They chant. They repeat it, almost as if it is orchestrated.

In fact, here, I can read you some of what is being said, because I know sometimes we get curious as we listen to these comments. We had someone here who speaks Farsi go through this.

"This is a war. You should take this war seriously. The enemy should be your main target. From now on, we shouldn't be passive. It is not right that a bunch of useless impure people which are hired by the enemy to commit a crime. We passively just come to the streets. From now on, we should take the initiative."

Again, that is what is being told to those people you are listening to right there on the streets of Iran today. As I told you, mobilize your supporters. And here is another play: the police.

I now want to read you some of the words that the police have been putting out throughout the day. This is -- this is, first of all, a warning that was issued earlier in the day. Here is what it says. It says, "In dealing with previous protests, police showed leniency, but, given that these currents are seeking to topple the ruling system, there will be no mercy" -- again, this from the police in Tehran.

"The era of tolerance is over. Anyone attending such rallies will be crushed" -- paraphrasing, no mercy, no tolerance. The opposition will now be crushed.

All right. As I take you through these events, and as we get them on every source that we possibly could analyze, I want to show you something else, because as we heard in that statement, Iran's chief of police says that he is being lenient. This will show you what apparently or what may pass for leniency in Iran. You may be troubled as you watch this.

I want you to keep your eyes on two police vehicles sent in Sunday to break up an anti-government demonstration. Let's watch this together. All right. We have got a technical glitch. We have apparently transposed two pieces of tape. That is part of the tape that we had shown you earlier.

We are going to try and turn this around for you, because I want you the watch that tape. It is -- look, it is extremely dramatic. And I'm being told -- we got it, Michael? Have we got it? OK. Let's do it. Let's play it now. Go ahead, if we got it, Rog.

All right. That is the guy who is actually hit right there. We want to take you through this one time. You see what happens. There is a man there run over by the Iranian police trucks. There it is. See that?

Again, that is the vehicle that backs in, then backs out, tramples someone on the street. People come to his aid. It is identified as a police vehicle. Well, you see the markings on it as he goes through. Again, that was Sunday in Tehran.

And, as I told you today, the Iranian government has ordered that its supporters go back on to the streets. And these are the pictures that we have been following since this order was made. Is it orchestrated? People who watched this closely would argue that it is.

They are being told that they must vow to crush the opposition, in other words, the protesters who feel the election was stolen from them, this a direct reaction to the threat to the regime posed by the growing street demonstrations there. The government also says two top opposition leaders have fled the capital of Tehran.

That is pretty much the information that we are following on this story. I promise you that throughout the newscast as we get more information on this, as we get more pictures, we will continue to share them with you, as well as getting information from whatever part of social media is allowed to sneak out of the country.

There is another breaking story that we are following now. This is another developing story that we were first reporting for you exclusively yesterday.

Right in the middle of a college football bowl season, Texas Tech has just fired its head coach. Mike Leach has been dumped unceremoniously by the university. He was suspended after allegedly abusing a player, that player right there. That's Adam James.

He says the coach made him sit after receiving a concussion in that shed that you see right next to me right there. That is apparently described as a shed near the stadium. That is exclusive video from our affiliate KCBD. It shows what the shed looks like.

It is important to note that James' father is former NFL star and ESPN analyst Craig James. And he is the one who filed the complaint with the university, with the A.D., with the athletic director.

Coach Leach's attorney, who I spoke with, and you may recall if you watched me yesterday at this time, he has been describing the program. He was on this show yesterday, tried to file a motion to get a temporary restraining order, what is often referred to as a TRO. I have got a copy of it right here.

This is it. This is the TRO that he was going to file today, Mike Leach's motion for temporary restraining order. What he was trying to temporarily restrain or stop was the coach from not being allowed to coach at the Alamo Bowl. So, that would basically lift the suspension on the coach.

Instead, there was a dramatic turn. Something else happened. Then, just this morning, as Leach's attorney, Ted Liggett, was getting ready, walking walk into the courthouse to argue this motion that I have right here in my hand, the university representative shows up and serves him, the lawyer for the coach, with termination papers for Leach, essentially saying your client is now fired.

And here is the thing. We are talking about a head coach at a Division I coach who just signed a $12.7 million contract earlier this year. Under the terms of that contract, Leach was still the head coach. As of December 31, 2009 -- That's tomorrow, right? -- he would get an $800,000 bonus -- $800,000.

Leach's attorney says -- quote -- "The fight has just begun."

All right. I am going to be talking to a Texas Tech insider. That is going to be coming up in just a little bit. In fact, he just sent me this. Look at this. This is from Chris Level. He's going to be my guest in a little bit, among the guests that we're going to have on this. He is a sports blogger, a radio host on the campus of Texas Tech.

He says this. "This is all really sad for Texas Tech University, no other way to put it. No one wins. Mike will fight hard for his money now."

By the way, you would not -- you are going to be surprised when you see the number of professional football players and college football players who are tweeting today about this incident. It seems like the whole sports is focused on this, because, in case you don't follow the game, this is arguably one of the most successful and well known coaches in college football.

So, I will share with you on Rick's List what many relevant players and other coaches are saying about this today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dogs tend to be the cheapest, fastest and most reliable explosive detection capability that we have in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Should bomb-sniffing dogs be used to screen airline passengers? After all, they can in fact detect explosives better than anyone or anything, so say experts, at airports. And they are cheaper. We will give you a demonstration.

Also, these pictures show you the power of PETN. This is aftermath of a failed assassination attempt on a Saudi official. New pictures. Can you imagine the explosive detonating on a plane instead? Mike Brooks is going to join me. We just got the video, so we called Mike. He's going to join me and he's going to take us through this as well.

And don't forget the other way that you can participate in this national conversation. You can call us in the United States. The number is 877-742-5751. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Hey, Rick. This is Doug (ph) from Virginia Beach.

I think that coach should just be removed from the sport, period. It is just a game. If people has got to lose their life on it, it ain't even worth it.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to your national conversation. I'm now keeping a list every day which I will divulge every day of what newsmakers are tweeting and what you are tweeting as well, because what we are doing from now is using social media in such a way so that my access becomes your access.

First, let me show you what the list looks like before we do anything else. Go if you would to this list over here. Watch what I am doing, because you can do this yourself, by the way. See these lists right here that we have compiled? Go in tight right there where I'm moving that. Go right there. See that right there? Look at thing moving. No, go to the right, go to the right, go to the right once again. I want to show you something. All right, here's the list. You see that right there? One list says Trump. The next list is the one that is red right now? That's the list that said athletes golfing. We were following Tiger Woods. This is a list of Army-relevant people and members of Congress. I can go on and on, because there's a lot of different lists here.

But I am going to click this one, all right? That's the one that says athletes who are referring today to this story that we're following out of Texas Tech. And there you could see all the comments that are being made by people we deem as relevant to the story.

OK. Now, go over to the right, if you possibly could, and we have picked out a couple of these from this list that we want to share with you.

First, from CatoJune59, NFL foot player, "He got fired the day before he was due $800,000." This is reporting Texas Tech has fired Mike Leach as the head football coach.

Have we got another, Angie? Here we go. This is from Fabian Washington, again NFL football player. "Texas Tech lost their mind firing Mike Leach. Before Mike Leach, did they even play football at the school?"

Now, these are comments coming from NFL football players, obviously Fabian Washington with the Baltimore Ravens. And the comments are very expressive on this day from these football players. We will continue to collect them for you. And as we do, we will share them with you. We are also getting a lot of tweets on this day from you on what is going on in Iran. We will also share those.

Meanwhile:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In America, it could be considered very intrusive to make you stand still while my dog went to your groin area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: They can detect explosives better than anyone at airports, and they are more reliable, say experts, like the one you just heard, and did I mention that they are a little cheaper? But are you willing to stop at the airport and have a dog sniff you up and down, even in your crotch. We will examine that question.

Also, CNN confirms another incident similar to the Christmas Day one that happened a month ago. Why isn't the government communicating with us and/or maybe more importantly itself? That is next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Boy, there's a lot of stuff going on today. I'm Rick Sanchez. Welcome back. We are keeping tabs in a situation in Iran. And obviously as we get information, I will share it with you. But it is hard to believe what CNN confirmed this morning, that there was another near bombing of an airliner almost identical to the Christmas Day incident that we have been telling you about in Detroit.

The man was carrying chemicals, possibly explosives. It sure looks like it. And that is where he was taken down right there at Mogadishu, Somalia. He was about to get on a plane, we're told. The flight was taking off for another city in Somalia before heading to Dubai. Now, this happened a month ago.

And if you are asking yourself right about now, really, Rick, it happened a month ago, why didn't I know about it, well, it's a good question, also, why the government didn't use this incident, one incident, to try and prepare or plan for the other incident, the one that just happened on Christmas Day? Good question, right?

Here's why I'm asking this question. Eight years ago, I was at a competing network on the air with this guy that you see right here on the screen. Colonel Ken Allard and I were told that -- at the time, we were told this, that agencies would now be coming together to work together to share information, to make sure the things that happened back then never happened again.

Ken and I haven't been on the air together since back then, so I thought of him immediately as I started reading some of these stories.

I saw what you wrote, Ken, on The Daily Beast.

COL. KEN ALLARD (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes.

SANCHEZ: And I could not help but get a sense of frustration. I am sure anybody who reads this is going to be frustrated, because you write that in January of 2007, it was Secretary Michael Chertoff reported that the badge-on-badge rivalry was still epidemic among the nation's first-responders. In other words, they were not working together, that there was a rivalry.

(CROSSTALK)

ALLARD: It sounds exactly like what you and I used to talk about on MSNBC, when we were talking about the fact that there was interagency problems, rivalries. We thought, gee, they will fix it now. They have not.

SANCHEZ: That is the point, though. Wasn't this -- and I am so glad that you are back. Wasn't this supposed to have been -- this was all supposed to have changed after 9/11. Why hasn't it?

ALLARD: What we did when we created the Department of Homeland Security and also the director of national intelligence was to simply take hierarchies and make more hierarchies.

When you are fighting a network, you need to become more like a network. As every business out there knows today, when you are up against a very, very rigorous form of competition, you get more like a network. You form product teams. You create matrix teams. But you don't act more and more like a hierarchy.

In DHS, we I think put two dozen separate agencies into one roof. The same thing more or less happened with DNI. But what happens is bureaucracies formed stove pipes and need taxes. And when it comes to information, they simply take time and then spend.

SANCHEZ: Well, that's brilliant. When you say a hierarchy, a hierarchy looks like a pyramid, does it not?

ALLARD: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So, essentially, you need a point at the top. Let me share something with the viewers that I thought was really interesting. You wrote that in that Daily Beast column.

You write about President Obama's inauguration attended by two million people.

ALLARD: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Five or more police jurisdictions were working together, along with federal security forces. But you explain this: "There was no single communication system that was uniting them. You say, if there had been an attack that day, they likely would have used the same communication system that you and I would: CNN."

ALLARD: You got it.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: What are you trying to say with that? I think I get it, but explain it to our viewers, if you would.

ALLARD: You had the nation's capital. They were inaugurating our first black president. There were two million people in the streets, an event watched by the entire world.

The agencies who were communicating the needs of security at that time had no common system. And they testified that way to Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, who asked them that question. So, if something had gone wrong, because a couple of months before that, we had had a problem in Mumbai -- all of a sudden, they shoot with automatic weapons. They popped out of everywhere.

Had that happened in D.C., the police chiefs there would probably have had to look at CNN to see what was really going on. And that was my point.

SANCHEZ: One final thing. Why -- if the Israelis could do this, create a hierarchical system where everybody talks to each other, if even some of our worst enemies are good at doing this, creating a hierarchical system where everyone talks to each other, what is it about us as Americans that makes us incapable of doing this? ALLARD: Well, part of it is our federal system, which does not give DHS the authority to do domestic security. It gives that responsibility to the states. So, it's a structural issue, first of all.

Number two, what we have done is we have gone top-down from Washington, D.C., not bottom-up. And so my piece here was simply a suggestion, guys, rethink these things. There are a whole bunch of sheriffs in places like Texas that can tell what the problems are. They have not been asked. It needs to be from the bottom up, not top down.

SANCHEZ: Bureaucratic and cultural, you write.

ALLARD: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: That's interesting.

My friend, Colonel Ken Allard, good to see you.

ALLARD: Great to see you. And I think we will have the chance to do these things again.

SANCHEZ: All right. Will do. Thanks. And keep writing the good stuff. We appreciate it.

All right, here we go. You are looking now at the aftermath of PETN. That is the powerful explosive that nearly detonated on the Northwest flight the landed in Detroit on Christmas Day.

And the breaking development in college football that, oh, gosh, a lot of folks are talking about all over the country, certainly in the sports world, and everybody who is getting ready or getting revved up to watch some of these games, Coach Mike Leach, Texas Tech University, fired. His attorney will be with me again in just a few to try and explain this for us. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Hey, Rick, Drema (ph) from West Virginia.

I just wanted to add my two cents in on the coach in Texas. I think he needs to be fired, reprimanded. And I'm a mother, and that's that. Thank you.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A lot going on and a lot that you are talking about. Welcome back to your national conversation. I am keeping a list, as I have told you. I divulge it from time to time throughout the newscast every single day of what relevant newsmakers are tweeting and what you are tweeting as well. This is where my access becomes your access.

First up, somebody who has been tweeting us relentless throughout the day, he is Fabian Washington, a member of the Baltimore Ravens, which, as you know, is probably the most formidable defense in all of football year in and year out.

Here is what he saying, talking about the Texas Tech coach which has been -- who has been fired. "What he did was wrong. I am not taking up for him on that end. They did the right thing by suspending him, but they shouldn't have" -- and then it continues, "They shouldn't have fired him. If colleges want to do the right thing, they should fire the coaches that pressure these kids to play with concussions."

Now, that is an interesting point, considering that the coach had pulled the player off the field who had had a concussion, but it is his father who is complaining and filed a complaint saying that what he did with him after the concussion was incorrect, maybe abusive as well.

Again, that's a big story. We're going to be all over it -- more interviews forthcoming.

Let me show you something else now. Go back to the regular tweets, if you can. This is what you are saying after that segment I did moments ago with Ken Allard. And we talked about a lot of stuff, but one of the things that really got your attention was dogs being used to -- at airports.

"I have had any crotch sniffed by many dogs. No big thing."

All right, look at the next one: "Hey, Rick, why don't they get medical professionals to operate the intrusive detectors? I have had countless nurses see me naked."

Folks are sharing a lot about themselves today.

"I would rather have a dog sniff me than have to go through that machine that sees you through your clothes."

OK. Three interesting comments. Thanks for keeping them coming.

Now this. Take a look at this. It is the aftermath of an assassination attempt on a Saudi government official. It is evidence of the power of a PETN explosive that could have been exploded on a Northwest plane Christmas Day in Detroit.

Guess who is here? Mike Brooks. He is going to join me in just a little bit. And he's going to take us through this.

Stay right there. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. I want to show you something, yesterday remember we looked at this explosive that the Christmas Day suspect supposedly had packed in his underwear? That is just six grams you're looking at right there that is blowing. Now remember, six grams is like nothing, right? The stuff is called PETN, I showed you this video of what a little bit of powder can do.

It doesn't tell us all that much, but now take a look at these pictures. This is what is left of a room after a guy detonated his underwear packed with PETN. What is with the underwear? This was back in August. An assassin tried to kill a Saudi prince in this room. The prince survived, but the bomber was blown to bits, small bits, lots of small bits.

Mike Brooks knows a lot about this, he is a former cop and former FBI task force guy. He knows what this PETN stuff is, what it can do. And he is here joining us...

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Too well.

SANCHEZ: Yes, too well. Joining me once again.

You look at those pictures, I have never seen those pictures before, what do they tell you? We can start there.

BROOKS: No, I didn't see those pictures either. Definitely high explosive by -- just by looking at that, and if we are looking at this underwear -- the PETN in the underwear like we saw with this guy, it was just similar to what we just saw in that room, I'm telling you, you know, that is -- that could do a lot of damage.

Think about it, Rick, that little demonstration that Nic Robertson did...

SANCHEZ: Six grams.

BROOKS: Six grams. We are talking about, what, 80 grams?

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Give me a shot, if you would, Rog (ph). Give me a shot if you would, right? What would you say this is probably -- 80 grams is about 3.5 ounces, 3.5...

BROOKS: Yes, about that.

SANCHEZ: ... ounces. I did this the other day on my computer at home and I did it with my kids. We did like an experiment, 3.5 ounces is about that much.

BROOKS: Yes, about that. And it was sown in...

SANCHEZ: So maybe about half of this cup.

BROOKS: ... and -- you know, and we don't know what kind of fillers there were, because most of the time, Rick, everybody is familiar and heard of the plastic explosives Semtex, used in bombs overseas quite a bit. Now that is made up RDX and PETN. And the amounts of PETN or RDX can vary from place to place and where it is made.

But it is still a military-grade high explosive, and you know, with plastic (INAUDIBLE). So this guy had it in his shorts, but how was he going to initiate it? That is still what remains a mystery right now.

SANCHEZ: So take us -- I'm a person sitting at home and I'm watching Mike Brooks and Rick Sanchez have this discussion.

BROOKS: Sure.

SANCHEZ: You know what I want to know, Mike, how safe is it the next time I that get on a plane? Why was this guy not able to light this? And is it because it is difficult to light, difficult to carry and why it is so hard to detect? That is what I want to know as a viewer.

BROOKS: PETN needs something significant like a blasting cap that we saw there on that demonstration with Nic Robertson.

SANCHEZ: That's good.

BROOKS: Or a booster or something like that to -- as...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: So you've got to mix the liquid with the powder and then light it?

BROOKS: Well, maybe. It depends what you are mixing it with, but it has to be something that will kick off that high explosive. Because PETN, Rick, if I had some right here, I could light it with a lighter and it would melt. I could take it and throw it against this desk and it would do nothing.

SANCHEZ: You've got to introduce it to three things.

BROOKS: It is not susceptible to heat, shock or friction. But you need something powerful, a booster to set that off. Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, he had PETN as his main charge, as we're saying this is too.

SANCHEZ: He failed too.

BROOKS: He failed. It was TATP. Now if he had not had problems with that fuse on that flight, he would have set it off, because that TATP, triacetone triperoxide, that was his initiator. That is what was going to kick off the main charge of PETN. But he had problems with that fuse. And, you know, thank God he had problems with that fuse.

SANCHEZ: That is why they end up having to go to the restroom...

BROOKS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: ... because they need to be in a place where they can do the mix and hopefully...

BROOKS: Well, it depends if they have a hypergolic, but all he had was a fire. What was -- what caused that fire? We're seeing -- we're hearing ethylene glycol. What is that? Basically that is antifreeze. So, was this, as we heard the Dutch say today, the interior minister there say it was amateurish. He got a bomb that was professional, but the whole mission for him was...

SANCHEZ: He didn't know how to carry it out.

BROOKS: ... amateurish. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Thank goodness.

BROOKS: And we will be talking more about this as we hear more from the FBI explosives lab on what that initiator was.

SANCHEZ: Stay on top of it for us...

BROOKS: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: ... and let us know what you learn, because it is a heck of a story.

BROOKS: It really is.

SANCHEZ: All right. The story that is also a heck of a story that many of you have been talking about, this situation developing over just the last couple of hours, Texas Tech has fired its popular coach, Mike Leach, after accusations that he mistreated one of his injured players.

One of the guys who knows the most about this, sports radio host there, Chris Level, is going to join me in just a little bit to take us through the facts of the case.

And then cameras capture a Wal-Mart greeter fighting a customer. Who is the good guy and who is the bad guy here? It's kind of confusing. I will take you through that as well. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. When you think about the fate those passengers narrowly avoided on Flight 253, you tend to shutter. And you think about the possibility that somehow they got lucky, but after the relief comes the anger. Somebody dropped the ball, and others may not be so lucky the next time around.

So what do you do when it seems airport security and the best technology simply aren't enough? Maybe it is time for man's best friend to pick up the slack. I want you to watch this now. This is a report that has been put together by Kara Finnstrom. It is another great reason why sometimes the simplest answers are the best.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is a German shepherd trained to sniff out explosives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's placing the explosives in the springs of this vehicle. So like it is a car bomb.

FINNSTROM: He hones in and signals by sitting.

(on camera): So that was a find.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

FINNSTROM (voice-over): Uncovering a compound similar to what the U.S. government says airport authorities failed to find on the suspected terrorist accused of trying to blow up a flight into Detroit Christmas Day.

PATRICK BELTZ, EXPLOSIVE SNIFFING DOG TRAINER: It's just like silly putty but it's a very high-grade explosive.

FINNSTROM: Patrick Beltz trains bomb-sniffing dogs for agencies like the FBI and Los Angeles Police, and believes any properly-trained dog would have identified the explosives used.

BELTZ: Certainly. It would have been easy.

FINNSTROM: Counterterrorism experts we spoke with agree and they're questioning how and when dogs like Bear should be used.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that this individual showed up with a one-way ticket, purchased with cash, with no checked baggage, he should have been pulled aside and at that point if inspected by a dog, literally could have detected it.

FINNSTROM: But dogs have limitations. They can only work so long without rest and tend to make a mess if stuck inside for long periods. Still...

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Dogs tends to be cheapest, fastest and most reliable explosive detection capability that we have in this country.

FINNSTROM: Bear has been a $60,000 training investment over nine years for the Los Angeles port. He trains monthly in different scenarios. Today it is an old bus used to simulate an airplane.

(on camera): It only took the dog seconds to find those explosives hidden aboard this bus. But Beltz says had those same explosives been hidden in my clothing, the dogs might not have found them at all because they haven't been taught or directed to do so.

BELTZ: That I know of, no one has been given a green light for dogs to smell bodies.

FINNSTROM (voice-over): That's here in the U.S. Beltz does train dogs to sniff search people for countries in the Middle and Far East where he says standards are different.

BELTZ: In America it could be considered very intrusive to make you stand still while my dog went to your groin area and smelled around. WILLIAM YOCHAM, LOS ANGELES PORT POLICE: They can be taught. And I have every confidence that he could do it. But right now the legalities of it are just astronomical.

FINNSTROM: The Transportation Safety Administration says the 700 dogs it's currently using are trained to check baggage, cargo in airport areas, but could be used to check people if necessary.

Terrorism concerns have prompted Auburn University to develop a program they claim trains dogs to sniff out suspects carrying explosives as they casually walk past. Since the Detroit incident, discussions about increasing aviation security have focused mostly on technology. But perhaps one part of the solution is man's best friend.

In Banning, California, Kara Finnstrom for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: All right. I want to share something with you. We just got our hands on this. This is the actual letter that was sent to coach Mike Leach. We have gotten our hands on it and it explains exactly why it is the university thought they had cause to fire him.

Again, we are going to be taking you through this in just a little bit. Stay right there.

Also, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIVIA SATTERFIELD, ADOPTED ORPHAN: I want to see the exact same love I have received when somebody else has shared that love with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A former Romanian orphan gives new meaning to giving back. She has a compelling story, and we will take you through it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Once again, I want you to let you know that we are all over this Iran story and we are expecting more developments and we are going to be sharing them with you as we have been taking you through it all day long.

And also, look, I played college football and I know what happens in college football. This situation at Texas Tech with this coach getting fired, this is the kind of story that I know will reverberate for quite some time. We're getting a lot of reaction on that as well. And I'm going to share that with you.

First, though, I want to share something else. We take a lot of things for granted living here in America. In this country it is unheard of for a child not to get a gift on Christmas, right? But there is a cost to living this privileged existence. We tend to be oblivious at times to the millions of children living out there in a world of hurt. And once in a while, a story comes along that reminds us. I am inviting you now to get your attention to watch this. This one begins with a simple shoe box.

This is some fine work done by my colleague David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She was just a skinny little girl who had given up on happiness. Livia grew up in an overcrowded Romanian orphanage like this one, never knowing what it is like to be held or loved.

(on camera): How did you survive in this place?

L. SATTERFIELD: Believe it or not, this is personal, I never shared it with anyone, but in the orphanage -- excuse me, to deal with the (INAUDIBLE) -- whenever we went to make our -- I would rock back and forth -- sorry.

MATTINGLY: It is all right. It is all right.

L. SATTERFIELD: I would rock back and forth or in bed, because I was not rocked when I was young, I would go back like this in bed to deal with the things I was dealing with.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Disappointment was such a big part of her life, that Livia learned early to give up on dreams. By the age of 12, she believed she was destined only to grow up begging on the streets or becoming a prostitute.

(on camera): But in Christmas of 1999, Livia would receive a tiny gift that would soon change everything. It was a little shoe box that was full of toys and hygiene items from the United States. And it was one of thousands that had been delivered by a group of U.S. missionaries.

(voice-over): When the group arrived, Livia instinctively reached out to one woman, Connie Satterfield, and wouldn't let go.

L. SATTERFIELD: I probably grabbed her like on the arm and like this.

CONNIE SATTERFIELD, ADOPTED LIVIA: Yes, like that.

L. SATTERFIELD: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What were you doing when the other kids were coming up to her?

L. SATTERFIELD: Go away. This is my person. You go find somebody else, because this is mine.

MATTINGTLY (voice-over): For the three-hour visit, the two were inseparable as Livia found a rare moment of joy from the goodies inside her shoe box, Connie soon knew she had found a daughter. C. SATTERFIELD: It was just a God thing. I mean, that is all I can say. Because I mean, I didn't know her, she didn't know me, I was not looking for a child.

MATTINGLY: And two years later, the adoption was final. Livia today is 22, a college student in Georgia studying business. She says she learned what love is the day she opened that little shoe box, and now she wants to give back.

L. SATTERFIELD: Look at this, a dog in a bag.

MATTINGLY: This Christmas, she is packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, the same charity that prepared her fateful package.

L. SATTERFIELD: I want to share the exact same love I have received when somebody else has shared that love with me.

MATTINGLY: These are just part of 8 million boxes now shipping to children in need around the world, many of them looking for happiness and maybe, like one lucky little girl, a life-changing gift.

David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: What a story. All right. There is this video I want to share with you, because, Rog, if you have got that, show that video real quick, we're going to tease you with it just a little bit. This is video of a Wal-Mart and there is an incident involving the Wal-Mart greeter, but it is kind of hard to decide who is doing right and who is doing wrong here. We are going to take you through it. Stay right there, because we will.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Some of you were affected by that story we showed you just a little while ago. Look at this. SupaKat, she says: "I am loving this shoe box story. I'm going to look for this charity locally. Great story!" Signed, SupaKat." You know what, SupaKat? We thought so too. Glad you liked it.

All right. Let's talk about this. A trip to Wal-Mart, driving a tractor and bicycle tricks. Sounds like a typical weekend for the Sanchez family, right? Ask my wife. No, it's time for "Fotos del Dia."

It's like a big grab-bag of random today. Try to keep up. Men behaving badly at a Wal-Mart. This is in Palm Bay, Florida. This isn't pretty. It's a 23-year-old shopper and a 69-year-old store greeter. The Wal-Mart greeter, of all people, getting into it over something. And it gets physical. The video doesn't seem to show the guy doing anything wrong but the greeter certainly thinks he has done something wrong. It's a lot of he said and he said, but reportedly the theft alarm went off, a question about some merchandise, and, man, this just got out of control. The younger man is charged with battery on a senior citizen. He's in court next month. Neither man seriously hurt.

Next, the beautiful Italian countryside. And look closely, that is not pop art, that is crop art, one man, one tractor carved out a portrait of President Obama back in the summer when the president was visiting there. No tracing. He did it freehand, and you can only see it from very high up. Now, that's what you call being outstanding in your field. Get it?

Kids, do not even think about trying this one at home. Danen Caskill (ph) shoots videos of himself defying gravity and defying death all over the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. He actually makes a living doing bike tricks. He has got sponsors. He has got TV gigs. And his "best of" clip on Youtube now has 13.5 million hits on it. That many views. And one to that you can add because you just saw it on "Fotos."

Unbelievable.

Well, there's the football coach in the news on this day, fired. But there's much more to this story than the abuse accusations from a player that apparently he coached. This having to do with a concussion, having to do with an ESPN analyst who was a former NFL player. The rest of the NFL players are now talking about this. They're on Twitter. They're becoming a part of "Rick's List" today. We're sharing what they're saying, and I'm going to do an interview on this when we come back. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

I'm just looking for that. Mike (ph), if you can find that "Johnny-Be-Good (ph)," I want to read that information from the coach and the information about how he was fired.

Let me tell you something else that's going on right now that we're going to share with you tomorrow. Tomorrow at 3:00, should Americans swap their money from these big banks that some people say this administration and the past administration has helped so much to smaller banks? Go to your small community banks. That's what Arianna Huffington is pushing. And she's going to join me here on the show tomorrow to take us through that.

But what I want to do right now is I want to be joined from San Antonio by Chris Level. Thanks, Johnny, we found that piece of paper, by the way, guys. He's the publisher of redraidersports.com. He is the co-host of "The Mike Leach Radio Show." And he is good enough to join us now to take us through what's going on.

This is crazy. I can't believe -- let me read to the viewers what we have gotten once again. Here's the letter. All right? Can you go in on this, guys? Go in on this. "Dear Coach Leach, this letter shall serve as formal notice to you that pursuant" -- how are we doing? Can we see it. Do you want me to turn it a little more? How's that?

"Pursuant to Article V of your employment contract, you are terminated with cause effective immediately for breach of the provisions of Article IV of that contract."

So it says here he's being fired for cause. Take us through what that means.

CHRIS LEVEL, REDRAIDERSPORTS.COM: Yes. I think, Rick -- and thanks for having me on. I would tell you that they -- obviously the university just was not going to allow Mike to coach in this game Saturday night. And think because he pressed it and forced the issue with the university, you know, it was one of those situations where you've hired me to coach, let me coach or fire me.

SANCHEZ: Is this about the $800,000?

LEVEL: Yes, well, the timing is certainly interesting because what I was told, leading up to this suspension, is that the thought process was, we're going to deal with this after the bowl game, after the first of the year, so the money certainly has to factor into this, because if he's the coach at midnight tomorrow night, he would have been paid $800,000 for a completion clause in his contract on February the 1st.

SANCHEZ: What about the characterization of what he did to this athlete? I mean, look, I've heard everything from, it was no big deal, all coaches do it, to, it's one of the most detestable things that we have ever done. What's the truth here? Where's the middle?

LEACH: And that's what people are, I think, having a hard time trying to figure out. Because from what I understand, the chancellor of this university got a different story from the head coach in question, the player in question, and from some of the players that were interviewed. So, you know, obviously the university felt like there was enough there to act on this very quickly. Because again...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Look. I've got to tell you, my coach kicked my butt. I remember. I played college football.

LEVEL: Is that right?

SANCHEZ: I've experienced this. But I also know that there's a place that is called going too far. Have you got a handle on this yet?

LEVEL: Yes. I don't know -- think there's probably more to this as far as why he was fired. I don't think this is -- this is every reason why he was fired and dealing with Adam James, this receiver, and where he put him or where he didn't put him. I think there's more to it. I think that that will start to come out as Mike starts to fight for the money that he feels he is owed because...

SANCHEZ: Wait. But you're saying... LEVEL: ... from what I understand, they fired him with cause, and they intend to pay him nothing going forward.

SANCHEZ: That's tough to do, by the way. But you're saying this is not that much to do with this latest incident. So there was a problem brewing here before. What kind of problem? We're down to 30 seconds.

LEVEL: Well, I would just tell you that there's a lot of history there. There's a lot of layers to this story dealing with the contract extension, and all that, you know, several months ago. There's a lot of bad blood here.

SANCHEZ: But wasn't he a great coach? This guy won tons of games, maybe more so than anybody in the school's history.

LEVEL: He is a tremendous coach. He's the face of this university. It's a very unpopular decision. And people are really taking Mike's side on this deal. But, again, if more information comes out, they may understand where the university stance came from.

SANCHEZ: Wow. What a story. Hey, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. We'll stay on top of it. Here now, "SITUATION ROOM" in Washington.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Rick.