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CNN Live Saturday

Suspected Cop Killer Buck Phillips in Court; Shuttle Atlantis Ready for Liftoff

Aired September 09, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: He's smooth, he's smart and he's sneaky. But today, one of the FBI's most wanted is back behind bars.
Hello, I'm Melissa Long in today for Carol Lin.

We're going to have more on suspected cop killer Buck Phillips's day in court in just a moment.

But first, some of the headlines.

Shuttle Atlantis is rocketing toward the International Space Station. Today's launch came after two weeks of delay. The astronauts will resume construction on the space station.

A strengthening Tropical Storm Florence is churning north through the Atlantic. Florence could become a hurricane later today. It's expected to pass close to Bermuda Monday.

Talking war and peace in Israel -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair sat down with Israeli leader Ehud Olmert today in Jerusalem. On the agenda, the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the lagging Middle East peace process.

Iraq's prime minister is packing his bags for a trip on Monday. Destination -- neighboring Iran. And topping that agenda, security and bilateral relations. It is a trip that may not sit well with the White House which accuses Iran of supporting Iraqi insurgents.

Former Clinton administration officials are urging ABC to scrap a miniseries on the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks. They say "The Path to 9/11" is inaccurate and misleading. And ABC says the movie is being edited to deal with some of the concerns. It is scheduled to air tomorrow and on Monday.

In Colorado a new twist to the search for a missing marine. Sheriff's officials now want to arrest Lance Corporal Lance Herring for a violation of probation and for allegedly staging his own disappearance to avoid duty.

And our top story this hour -- the capture of New York fugitive Ralph "Buck" Phillips. In five months on the run, he allegedly shot three state troopers killing one of them. Phillips was back before a judge today in Buffalo, New York after his surrender last night in a Pennsylvania cornfield. CNN's Allan Chernoff has more on one of the biggest manhunts and take downs in the Empire State's history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ralph "Buck" Phillips, finally in custody after eluding police for more than five months. How did he do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was in his area of comfort. He grew up here. He knows the roads, he knows the woods.

CHERNOFF: In part, police say Phillips used a network of friends and family, seven of whom were arrested for helping to hide him. But as he ran Phillips had to rely on his skills as a criminal. Police believe he committed well over 20 burglaries, from homes, campsites and businesses, like Tom's Sport Shop where he allegedly took 41 guns and rifles. Police say he also stole at least 15 vehicles.

In fact, authorities tell CNN Phillips was backing the car out of a garage in Warren Country, Pennsylvania early Friday morning when the owner called 911. That began the chase which led to Phillips' capture Friday evening in the Pennsylvania hills near New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The game was up and he knew it.

CHERNOFF: Phillips, police say, swiped license plates and put them on the cars he could steal. They say he even painted over some vehicles. And they say he kept on moving.

Authorities say they have evidence that Phillips traveled beyond New York and Pennsylvania into Ohio, Kentucky and even Tennessee. Dan Suitor who didn't want his face on camera expected his old friend Buck to outrun the authorities.

DAN SUITOR, FRIEND OF PHILLIPS: He's just meticulous with what he does. Anything. I don't care what it is. It just does not matter.

CHERNOFF: But Ralph "Buck" Phillips could run for only so long. In the end, a lifelong criminal, which Suitor says had promised suicide by cop, simply gave up when he was trapped. Allan Chernoff, Buffalo, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, three main engines up and burning. Two, one, and liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis. Opening a new chapter in the ...

LONG: At long last, right? Shuttle Atlantis blasted off after two weeks of delays. Despite falling foam that may have hit the shuttle, NASA called the launch flawless. Atlantis is bound for the International Space Station, CNN's Daniel Sieberg has been covering this story from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NASA's administrator called it majestic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Opening a new chapter in the completion of the International Space Station.

SIEBERG: Shuttle Atlantis roared skyward at 11:15 a.m. Eastern on its way to the International Space Station. Solid rocket boosters and fuel tank eventually falling away as planned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SRB separation and staging confirmed.

SIEBERG: You could call it a reversal of fortune after a rough couple of weeks filled with delays, including a lightning strike, Tropical Storm Ernesto and two technical glitches related to the orbiter's electricity and fuel tank sensor. Safe flying has been NASA's focus since the Columbia accident in 2003. But the Atlantis crew says they're ready to get back down to business.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will my guard ever be let down personally? No. But it will be great to get back to space station construction. From that sense, I think we are back.

SIEBERG: Atlantis is bringing into space one of the heaviest loads any shuttle has carried. A massive truss which will become part of the space station's girder-like skeleton and a new set of solar arrays are a key element in the shuttle's payload.

Unfurled, the massive solar panels will be just 40 yards shy of a football field. They'll provide the necessary power for future station additions, science modules from Europe and Japan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a big payload. It's 17.5 tons of hardware. It has fairly tight clearances between the payload itself and the normal attach mechanisms that we have for it in the payload bay. We're going to use the shuttle's robotic arm to do this, this will be Chris Ferguson and myself. We'll do this right after docking.

SIEBERG: Atlantis will hook up with the spats station on day three of the 11-day mission and crews will begin the complex work of installing the truss involving robotic arms and three scheduled space walks. Mission specialist Joe Tanner and Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper will perform spacewalks one and three. The second will be performed by Canadian Steve MacLean and Dave Burbank.

After the Columbia disaster in 2003, falling foam that pierced the shuttle's heat shield became a focal point. During Atlantis' climb into orbit Saturday, a small piece of debris was spotted coming off the fuel tank a little more than four minutes into the flight.

(on camera): But NASA managers say it happened in a point late enough in the flight that it would not do any damage. Daniel Sieberg, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LONG: And perhaps you would like to learn more about the shuttle Atlantis and its mission. Just log on to our Web site, cnn.com. Our interactive guide explains Atlantis' journey to the space station. And you can meet the crew in this gallery here, from the Commander Brent Jett to pilot Chris Ferguson. You can learn about their roles aboard the shuttle. Again, that's all online. Cnn.com/space.

What you're looking at, Tropical Storm Florence. It is a massive system. Expected to become a hurricane soon. Could very well make a direct hit on Bermuda. Let's check in now with CNN's Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist who is keeping an eye on the storm which is now trekking across the open ocean.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello.

Yeah, but it's getting close to Bermuda as we speak. In fact, about 450 miles away form it and Bermuda already feeling the impacts from this storm. And seeing occasional rain bands and overcast gloomy looking conditions, not great for those who are trying to get some of that sun. And unfortunately, it looks like we think Florence will get stronger some time tomorrow and become a hurricane.

It was a very strong tropical storm. We saw some nice intensification this morning. Winds got all the way up to 70 miles an hour so just shy of hurricane status. But now it went through a little bit of weakening. Kind of becoming a little bit elongated right now. So the winds have gone down just a touch, 65 miles per hour. So it's still a very strong tropical storm, something that we're concerned about for the folks in Bermuda.

It's moving up to the northwest at this time. But it is going to move on the back side of our subtropical high and start to turn up to the north, then eventually make its way up to the north and the east. It will be moving very near if not making a direct hit on Bermuda. You have to keep in mind this island only about 33 miles, about a third of the size of Washington, DC so it's really tricky in the forecast that far out. You know if it's going to hit in that 33 mile window here. But if it does, we think that is going to be happening maybe some day midday on your Monday.

Well, it's that time of the year where things really get busy the tropics. We're feeling the effects of this storm tomorrow in the United States, by the way, in both the New England coast and down into the Carolinas. We're going to see high seas here, maybe up to five feet. But after the month of September this is when we see the most frequent number of hurricanes. It is Cape Verde season where we see waves come off the coast of Africa and they have got plenty of time over the open water to become major hurricanes.

Right now it looks like Florence hopefully will stay under the major status, under a Category 3.

I want to show you a graphic over here that will show you just how often tropical storms form throughout the year. This graphic coming in from NOAA. They can see May all the way over to December. There you can see that peak, September 10th is the exact date. So that's tomorrow, our peak hurricane day and then things start to taper off just a little bit. But if you look closely, it's really mid- August through mid-October when we see the most storms in the Atlantic. Melissa?

LONG: And the time that you are the busiest as well.

JERAS: I am. Clear my calendar for nothing but hurricanes.

LONG: Thanks, Jacqui. Some of the other stories we want to share with you today. A "Chicago Tribune" journalist held in Sudan on spy charges is a free man. The "Tribune" says Paul Salopek was released today along with his Chadian driver and interpreter. The three had been jailed in Darfur more than a month. Sudan's president had agreed to pardon them after meeting with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Richard says the president granted the pardon as a humanitarian gesture. Salopek is expected to return to the U.S. tomorrow.

There are new details that are emerging about the U.S. Air Force major who went missing in Kyrgyzstan Tuesday. The Associated Press quotes Jill Metzger's family, saying she was kidnapped and beaten before she was found yesterday. It's unclear if she escaped or was released. U.S. military officials say Metzger is in stable condition and an investigation is under way.

Now to a mysterious missing persons case out of Colorado. Lance Corporal Lance Hering disappeared more than a week ago while hiking. At first the case seemed pretty straight forward and then things changed.

Here's CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At first, police believed the search in the rugged Rockies was a search for a marine who had been hurt. Twenty-one year old Lance Hering, a veteran just home for the summer after a tour of duty in Iraq, when according to his friend Steve Powers, he injured his head while the two of them were rock climbing just over a week ago.

PHIL WEST, BOULDER COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It essentially was an unstinting effort to locate someone that we believed was lost, missing in the mountains.

OPPENHEIM: Commander Phil West of the Boulder County Sheriff's Department explained for five days more than 300 people, including search and rescue crews, marines and family members, combed the hills outside Boulder. The marine's dad made pleas on television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lance, if you're out there, hear it is. Call 911 and you can have a ride home, buddy.

OPPENHEIM: Police found clothes and a spot of blood on a rock, but little else. Search dogs couldn't pick up a scent. Detectives re-interviewed Steve Powers who then said he made up the story to help fake his friend's disappearance.

(on camera): Did Steve Powers explain why he was staging the disappearance of his friend?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they had talked previously and Lance had told him that he wanted to stage his disappearance after he concluded his tour of duty with the marines because I guess he thought it would be fun or cool or an adventure to live under an assumed name in a foreign country.

OPPENHEIM: The problem, police say, is that Powers already lied and they're not sure of what's true and what's not. Powers has been charged with false reporting, a misdemeanor, but both he and Hering may be required to pay thousands of dollars to make up for money that Boulder County shelled out for the massive search. And there's a twist. Both Powers and Hering share a criminal history.

They were arrested for a burglary together in Boulder two years ago and pleaded guilty.

(on camera): Now because Hering is nowhere to be found, the Boulder County Probation Office has issued a felony warrant for his arrest for failing to comply with the terms of his probation agreement.

(voice-over): Whether or not Hering is trying to avoid redeployment to Iraq, he could be in big trouble with the marines. If he doesn't show up for duty at Camp Pendleton on Monday, he'll be listed as AWOL. It is a case that has many people in the Boulder area upset.

STEVE WILSON, ALPINE RESCUE TEAM: We feel like we wasted a lot of our time, that really should have been used in a much better way. And something that these kids just didn't think about.

OPPENHEIM: Police say their best bet could be the Corporal Hering comes to his senses.

WEST: We are hoping that he's going to come forward based upon the pleas of his parents and realize how much hurt he's causing them.

OPPENHEIM: Until he does, the mystery remains. Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Coming up, the film that has some fuming. Will ABC fix what many call pure fiction? The docudrama drama heats up.

Plus the report's in. The word final. No connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. It's another blow for the Bush administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, (R) CA: I apologize to her. If she got offended -- but she had heard me joke about all this many, many times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: And another gaffe for the governor of California. Find out why Arnold's apologizing. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: We're going to take a moment to check out the most popular stories online today. The fifth time was the charm for the six astronauts aboard Atlantis. After several delays the space shuttle launched late this morning. Some debris fell off, but apparently it's no threat to the mission. Atlantis is now carrying a payload of new equipment to the International Space Station.

New research examines the warrior effect in men. A study shows that men have developed a psychology that makes them better suited for war. Research shows they bond well together during adversity and are more likely to lead in militaristic ways than women.

And a 56-year-old New York woman in a wheelchair may have looked like an easy target for a mugger until she pulled out her gun. Read more about it online. Cnn.com. Just click on the most popular tab to find more on that story.

A provocative new docudrama is generating a lot of buzz in the blogosphere. ABC's "The Path to 9/11" is a two-part mini series tracing the events leading up to the terrorist attacks. But critics call it inflammatory and say factually this film is on shaky ground. It has also raised the ire of former President Bill Clinton who is portrayed as too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky affair to be minding the Oval Office store.

Now, Mr. Clinton's cries of outrage are having an impact. ABC is re-editing portions of that film, but that may not satisfy everyone. Even one of the actors who appears in the docudrama is taking issue with the script. Our Brian Todd has more now on the backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Officials at ABC are not tipping their hand on any revisions being made in their controversial mini series "The Path to 9/11."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not safe yet.

TODD: But ABC is certainly not safe from fallout as a former president and his top aides launch a multi pronged attack.

CLINTON: I just want people to tell the truth. You know, and not to pretend it's something it's not.

TODD: One proposed scene that's gotten Bill Clinton and his former aides upset is at the very least being reviewed, according to 9/11 Commission chairman Tom Kean, a consultant on the film, and CNN contributor, Howard Kurtz who spoke to his own sources.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: I am told that ABC is going to change, for example, a very explosive scene involving a former national security advisor Sandy Berger, supposedly putting a red light up when CIA people in Afghanistan were be about to capture Osama bin Laden.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're ready to load the pack a repeat, do we have clearance to load the package?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand by.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our officers are in place sir, they're in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand that, Patricia, but I don't have that authority.

TODD: An incident that never happened according to Berger and the 9/11 Commission. Berger, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Clinton's own office have written letters to Kean and Disney president, Robert Iger calling on them not to broadcast the film.

SAMUEL BERGER, FMR. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: My impression is that this is a misleading film to the core. And it seems to me the only appropriate thing at this point is for ABC to withdraw the series.

TODD: ABC has given no indications that it's considering canceling the $40 million movie, but the network it is also dealing with fallout among the film's cast.

Actor Harvey Keitel says the film should be fixed before it's released.

HARVEY KEITEL, ACTOR, "THE PATH TO 9/11": I had questions about certain events, material I was given in "The Path to 9/11" that I did raise questions about, yes. I have some conflicts there. You can't put these together, compress them, and then distort the reality.

TODD: Contacted by CNN, an ABC official had no immediate response to Keitel's comments an the network is sticking to it previous statement that the film is "a dramatization," "the editing process is not yet complete" and "criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible."

On the political front, ABC is accused of a heavy slant against Democrats. Tom Kean, a Republican and the only 9/11 Commission member consulted for the film was sent a letter from Clinton's office saying, "Your defense of the outright lies in this film is destroying the bipartisan aura of the 9/11 Commission.

Kean's response...

KEAN: A lot of people who are talking now haven't seen it. I haven't even seen the final cut. They're going to find something where they learn more about the hijackers, more about the plot...

TODD (on camera): Media observers say all this criticism and buzz over the movie will very likely generate huge ratings on ABC on Sunday and Monday night, if the network can work around a scheduled address in President Bush in primetime on Monday.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Coming up, the rough side of the news business. A gruesome assault on a television reporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not talking about someone going a few rounds. We're talking about someone ripping, gouging, scratching and biting me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: The assault all caught on tape. More of this story next.

Plus botched blood? Why the Red Cross is now in the crosshairs of the FDA. That's later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: This shocking video the talk of probably every newsroom around the country. It was taken this week in San Diego, California, when a television reporter confronted a local couple about alleged shady real estate dealings. As you can see, their reaction turned nasty and quite vicious. Now it wasn't the first time this reporter confronted this couple. More now on the story behind the story from CNN's John Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call the police.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: This ugly, brutal and bloody attack caught on tape is only part of the picture and the history between the investigative TV reporter left with cracked ribs and bite marks and the businessman he repeatedly confronted as part of a news story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn around. Get on the ground, get on the ground. Get on the ground.

ROBERTS: In the end, one man was led to jail. The other taken to the hospital. They're not strangers to each other. John Mattes of XETV San Diego had been pursuing Assad "Sam" Suleiman for months following accusations by people Mattes interviewed that Suleiman was stealing identities to buy real estate. No criminal charges have ever been filed. Their exchanges were often nasty and usually shown on the daily newscast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many people have you threatened in the last three months?

ASSAD "SAM" SULEIMAN, ALLEGED ATTACKER: I don't care a rats ass what these reports say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they liars?

SULEIMAN: Absolutely they're liars.

ROBERTS: Their conversations also included voice messages believe to have been left by the reporter's target. In one recording, the message says he's sorry for his behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did use the word (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off, for that I apologize. I do have a bit of anger management, anger problem. And I signed up for this class here this week. So I am learning to control it.

ROBERTS: But he was far from apologetic in another voice mail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't forgotten about you. I think about you every (EXPLETIEV DELTED) day. I'm going to wash your career up when I get done with you.

ROBERTS: Then this week, while Mattes was interviewing an alleged victim of Suleiman, Suleiman's wife suddenly shows up.

ROSA BARRAZA, WIFE OF ALLEGED ATTACKER: Stop that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) camera right now. Oh, yes, I will. Why are you doing this you didn't have enough with ...

ROBERTS: The situation quickly escalates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a nice day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have is a nice day my (expletive deleted).

ROBERTS: That's when Suleiman appears. Suleiman and his wife were arrested. He was charged with felony assault. Both were released on bail. Repeated efforts by CNN to reach Suleiman or his attorney have been unsuccessful. John Roberts, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Some news stories across America now, paying tribute to some of our own today. Sixteen-hundred Turner employee, friends, family members, rolled up their sleeves to lend helping hands in five cities including Atlanta today where we painted, mulched a historic cemetery, worked with some animals looking for a good home. A lot of fun. TBS, by the way, is a sister network to CNN, both owned by Time Warner.

They like 'em big in Texas. Today, first lady Laura Bush helped welcome the newest member to the navy's growing arsenal, the USS Texas. The fast attack nuclear submarine is the fourth navy ship to carry the Lone Star State's name.

And a lawyer missing out on a latte can be a legal mess. New York attorney Peter Sullivan wants to bring a class action lawsuit against star bucks. He's suing the company after it canceled a freebie coupon. The offer was e-mailed to employees with instructions to forward. Apparently got out of control. And Starbucks nixed the deal.

Coming up, the war -- rather the words of war, turns out some of it was wrong, again. We get the final word from Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

Plus his cover is finally blown. Remember all the talk of the CIA leaker? There he is. Find out why he stayed quiet so long.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: Ralph "Buck" Phillips, the fugitive who eluded police for five months, has made a court appearance. Last night Phillips surrendered to lawmen who cornered him in a Pennsylvania cornfield.

After nearly two weeks of delays the space shuttle Atlantis lifted off late this morning. The launch wasn't exactly picture perfect. Some debris fell off the spacecraft and there was a problem with the coolant system, but NASA officials say there's no danger.

Bermuda is under the gun from Tropical Storm Florence, which is expected to strengthen to hurricane status. We are tracking that massive storm and we'll bring you the latest developments as they happen.

Alive and in stable condition. That's how the U.S. Air Force is describing 33-year-old Major Jill Metzger. She was found 24 hours ago miles away from a Kyrgyzstan shopping center where she was last seen Tuesday.

A smiling Pope Benedict has a hero's welcome today in his native Germany. The 79-year old pontiff began a six-day pilgrimage to Bavaria where he grew up, studied and ultimately became archbishop.

Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former dictator, quickly became public enemy number one for many Americans soon after the 9/11 terror attacks thanks in large part to President Bush and his insistence of Hussein's complicity with al Qaeda terrorists.

Now nearly five years after the fact, we're finding out those suppositions were wrong. That's according to a new bipartisan Senate report detailing the claims made by the Bush administration prior to the start of the Iraq War. CNN's congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bipartisan Senate report concludes that Iraq's former president, Saddam Hussein, had no relationship with terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi and did not provide al Qaeda with either chemical or biological weapons.

It also says there is no reliable evidence that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta ever met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague. All claims by the Bush administration before the invasion of Iraq. Democrats called it a devastating indictment of the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The administration in its zeal to promote public opinion in the United States for toppling Saddam Hussein pursued a deceptive strategy prior to the war of using intelligence reporting that the community -- intelligence community warned was uncorroborated, unreliable and in critical instances fabricated.

KOPPEL: The report also concludes that Iraqi exiles including the former head of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmed Chalabi deliberately misled the U.S. intelligence community about Saddam Hussein's efforts to develop WMD.

Democrats accused the Bush administration of continuing to mislead the American people, pointing to President Bush's remarks in August.

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: Imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who would had relations with Zarqawi.

SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D) MI: Our intelligence committee report demonstrates that statement made two weeks ago by the president was false.

KOPPEL: But in a written statement, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Pat Roberts, accused Democrats of playing politics saying, "Unfortunately, my colleagues continue to use the committee to try to rewrite history, insisting that they were deliberately duped into supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. That is simply not true. And I believe the American people are smart enough to recognize election year politicking when they see it."

(on camera): But what's still unfinished is this committee's comparison of public comments made by members of the Bush administration about the Iraq threat before the war and the intelligence that was available to them. Potentially the most politically explosive aspect of this committee's year's long investigation. It isn't expected until after the November midterms. Andrea Koppel, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage is now coming clean, admitting he was the source who first revealed the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak back in 2003. Armitage told the "CBS Evening News" he did so inadvertently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what was it that made the light go on.

RICHARD ARMITAGE, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I was reading the newspaper column again of Mr. Novak and he told said he was told by a nonpartisan gunslinger. I immediately called Secretary Powell and said, I'm sure that was me.

I feel terrible every day. I think I let down the president, I let down the secretary of state, the department, my family. And I let down Mr. And Mrs. Wilson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You feel you owe the Wilsons an apology?

ARMITAGE: I think I've just done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Armitage's admission comes after being outed in the book "Hubris, the Intside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War." Joining me now is "Hubris" co-author David Corn. Also joining me, CNN contributor Bay Buchanan, the president of the American Cause.

Thank you so much, Bay, and David for your time.

Why don't we do ladies first. Bay, let's talk about the admission by Richard Armitage considering the scrutiny, intense scrutiny of Scooter Libby and Karl Rove, do you think there should be more of an apology, even to the news media?

BAY BUCHANAN, AMERICAN CAUSE: Absolutely the media should apologize. Look what they did for months if not the better part of a year two, they focused, they accused the president and administration of a mean-spirited conspiracy to undermine, to harm innocent people, Joe Wilson and his wife, to harm them, to get back at them because he had criticized the president.

It never happened. They did not. The leak clearly shows now we know that it didn't come from the administration inside the white house at all. But from somebody who doesn't even get along with Karl Rove.

They went after Karl, the sharks were around the water, they tried to bring him down. They cost him a lot of money in legal fees and they damaged the president of the United States because they had their own agenda.

LONG: OK. David, do you see any reason for an apology?

DAVID CORN, AUTHOR, "HUBRIS": They really need to read chapter 14 and 15 in our book. LONG: A little self-promotion.

CORN: Because it is quite clear. It is quite clear even before our book came out this past week, that Karl Rove, A, was the confirming source for Armitage's information of the Novak column, but independent of all that, independent of all that, he was leaking the same information to Matt Cooper of "Time" magazine. Our book makes clear as the public record already does that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were trying damn hard to undermine Joseph Wilson because he did criticize the administration.

Let me finish. And it goes without -- there were two tracks going on here. It is not that complicated a thought. Karl Rove did what he did regardless of what Armitage did. He did leak it to two reporters, and yet he has yet to apologize the way that Dick Armitage did. And Fitzgerald had a good reason to go after him, because he wouldn't confess what he had told Matt Cooper of "Time Magazine."

LONG: David and Bay, you want to talk about the greater issue of the war in Iraq. David, in your story, in your book, the first few pages really stress the anger that President Bush has for Saddam Hussein. Do you think it is that anger, that hubris that led to the war or the intelligence at the time?

CORN: I think both. I think there were a couple different factors going on that created this war. Our book opens the scene in which Bush. This is May 2002, nearly a year before the invasion of Iraq and six months before Bush asked permission from Congress to go ahead with that in which he's talking of aides. And he starts cursing a blue streak saying he was going to get Saddam Hussein and kick his bleeping backside all across the Mid-East. We have a person on record quoting that conversation.

Then you have the news of the past week, that everything the administration said about this connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda was wrong, but what's important about the report is not that it was an honest mistake, the intelligence before the war showed that it was wrong and that they were making a connection that did not exist. You put that together with the visceral hatred and that led in part to the war.

LONG: OK. Bay, the visceral hatred, the intelligence?

BUCHANAN: First of all, when you talk about a president hating somebody, you don't know what's in his heart. David can prove all that he says he can talk about the president using foul language and saying harsh things about Saddam Hussein. He clearly did not like who Saddam Hussein was, what he'd done to his people, but it's not to say that he hated the person.

Secondly, all that intelligence came to one thing. The president of the United States in his heart truly believed that Saddam Hussein, the person he was, would harm this country if he did have the tools that he believed he had. And that's his job. It doesn't matter that all these other people had their own agendas. When the president made the decision to go to way against Saddam Hussein, he told the American people he believed Saddam Hussein had the ability to harm Americans and that he would because he would, that's his duty to take action and he did it.

CORN: But Bay, he said that Saddam Hussein -- he told the American public that Saddam Hussein was in a league with al Qaeda. That was one reason to go to war yet all the intelligence indicates as we see in this report that that wasn't true. So what do you say about a president who makes a claim to support a case for war that isn't based on intelligence?

BUCHANAN: There was many cases he made. He went on the state of the union, David. I was there, I watched it very carefully on TV that night. He spoke from his heart. There was no question about it. He told the American people, he believed Saddam Hussein was a true threat to the people of this nation and therefore he had to act. He was a threat because he believed he had weapons of mass destruction. He had used them before, he hated America and he believed he would do it again.

LONG: One second. Bay and David, let's talk about Congress now as we're running out of time right now. I want to talk about Congress. Some say that there were members of Congress that doubted the information, yet we went to war anyway just months before the midterm elections. What should the American voters be thinking at this point?

CORN: I think they should look at the leadership in Congress, if they care about the war, see how the leadership got us to the war and what they've done about it. We have a telling story in the book about Dick Armey who used to be the Republican House majority leader who voted for the war against his better instincts. He tells us this on the record. Now he regrets having done so. And I wish that some Republicans who maybe hid their feelings out of partisan loyalty would come forward and engage more in the debate over what's happened in Iraq and how it happened and what we should do now.

BUCHANAN: Listen, David and I would agree on one thing was that the Congress of the United States when they voted on that resolution to give the president the authority to go to war, did not do due diligence. They had an obligation to the people of this country to make sure they asked questions and investigated and made certain that this administration was on the right track. They did not do it. They put their personal interests or their party ahead, their personal ambitions ahead of what's best for the people of this nation. And they voted for it without asking the right questions. That's republicans and democrats across the board.

LONG: And Bay, that's the final word. Bay Buchanan, David Corn. Thank you so much for your time on this Saturday afternoon. We appreciate it.

CORN: Thank you.

BUCHANAN: Sure.

LONG: Coming up, bad blood today between the Food and Drug Administration and the Red Cross. Hear why the feds are fining the organization millions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: It made me cringe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: And warm blood or hot blood in this case. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a passing comment that's now making headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: There are new questions this weekend about the safety of America's blood supply. The government has slapped the American Red Cross with a multimillion dollar fine. The Food and Drug Administration says the Red Cross needs to do more to protect against tainted blood. Here's Gary Nurenberg with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The American Red Cross collects about 45 percent of the American blood supply. The Food and Drug Administration this week fined it more than $4 million for failure to comply with requirements under federal laws and FDA regulations.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY, (R) IA: It tells me that they don't have their act together yet. And I hope that they don't take the attitude that paying a few million dollar worth of fines is just the cost of doing business.

NURENBERG: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee wants the Red Cross to comply with an agreement reached after earlier safety violations. The FDA says it's fined the Red Cross almost $10 million since 2003.

GRASSLEY: After four years of a consent decree, we should see things improving right now. This fine indicates to me that things aren't right.

NURENBERG: The American Red Cross would not provide an on camera response but issued a statement saying it is committed to compliance with the consent decree and says it "remains dedicated to its mission and too the millions of Americans who rely on us to provide lifesaving blood and blood components each year."

PHIL KUCAB, NATIONAL HEMOPHILIA FOUNDATION: I think it is important to remember that lives are at stake here.

NURENBERG: Phil Kucab saw fellow hemophiliacs die from HIV contaminated blood in the '80s.

KUCAB: We're still seeing areas where the blood supply is potentially not safe because policies and procedures aren't being followed by the Red Cross.

NURENBERG: The FDA says the violations include failure to ask appropriate donor screening questions.

(on camera): Donors at this blood drive in Reston, Virginia, said they were surprised by the fine, saying they were questioned closely.

BRUCE OLSON, BLOOD DONOR: The screening is extremely rigorous. It seems to be very thorough, the questions.

NURENBERG: The organizer of the blood drive says the Red Cross is tough.

PHYLLIS CHORAZY, AUSTIN-WESTON CENTER: I've been through the screening part. It's a surprise to me how many people we have sign up that they don't take.

NURENBERG: Despite the fines, the FDA says the blood supply is safer now than ever. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Reston, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Coming up, Arnold's at it again. This time controversial comments caught on tape. That hot topic next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is apologizing for remarks some say are racially insensitive. In a private conversation caught on tape, he describes a California assemblywoman as having a fiery temperament because of her ethnic background.

Now Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia is Puerto Rican and the state legislature's only female Hispanic Republican. She says she isn't offended by the governor's remarks at all. Some disagree, others are just having a field day with all of this. Among them, CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This wasn't just a tempest in a tea cup, this was a tempestuous Latina in a tea cup.

SCHWARZENEGGER: She's been my buddy.

MOOS: No, it's not a sex scandal, it's just that "The L.A. Times" got hold of a taped conversation Arnold was having with hiss staff when his chief of staff admiringly brought up California assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia.

SUSAN KENNEDY, CHIEF OF STAFF: Is she Puerto Rican?

SCHWARZENEGGER: She seems to me like Cuban.

MOOS: And the next thing you know, Arnold unloads.

SCHWARZENEGGGER: She's very Puerto Rican or the same thing as Cuban, I mean they are very hot. Part of the black blood in them and part of the Latina blood in them that together makes it.

MOOS: California's governor said what?

(on camera): He said part black blood and part Latino blood makes them hot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think he was right. Only people don't like to hear things.

MOOS (voice-over): Unless, of course, you think it applies to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're crazy. Both races put together, we're crazy.

MOOS: But Arnold said when he saw his own words in the paper.

SCHWARZENEGGER: It made me cringe.

MOOS: So he came after the media with his fellow Republican.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Bonnie Garcia, I apologized to her. If she got offended, but she had heard me joke about all this many, many times when she says, I'm a hot Latina.

BONNIE GARCIA, (R) CALIF. STATE ASSEMBLY: Governor, there really is no reason to apologize. I'm not mad that he recognizes that I am passionate about the issues.

MOOS: But the word "hot" is a hot potato.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Hot" just seems to describe something that would be a sexual connotation. So therefore, I would not choose those words if I were in his professional position.

MOOS (on camera): So you don't think that part black blood and part Latino blood makes them hot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it makes them hot.

MOOS (voice-over): The thing we didn't get was why the governor is taping himself in his office.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Because I have a certain way of speaking.

JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: California! California! Where is he, from India now?

MOOS: Arnold says he tapes himself so his speechwriter can capture the texture of how he talks.

SCHWARZENEGGER: So I don't sound like any other politician speaking. I always like to sound like Arnold. Like how would Arnold speak?

MOOS: Like a guy who has trouble terminating his tongue. SCHWARZENEGGER: You all having a good time?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Yes!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOOS: A story as Jeanne Moos can only tell it.

There's still much more on CNN, hope you can stay with us. Coming up next hour CNN correspondents discuss whether the U.S. is safer five years after 9/11. John Roberts hosts THIS WEEK AT WAR at a special time tonight 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Then at 7:00 p.m., "In the Footsteps of Bin Laden." Get a look at the man who brought terror to America. You won't want to miss this special already seen by 10 million Americans.

Then at 9:00 Eastern time, Baby Suri. We waited months for her to make her public debut. You will see the complete "Vanity Fair" portfolio of Tom Cruise's and Katie Holmes' baby. That's on LARRY KING LIVE. First, though, THIS WEEK AT WAR starting in two minutes.

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