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Bombings in Iraq; What Happens Next to Lynndie England?; Nuclear Arms Race

Aired May 02, 2005 - 11:59   ET

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

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.
Unfolding this hour on NEWS FROM CNN, another state of car bombings rocks Iraq. The death toll now topping 100 since last week alone. We're live from Baghdad on the mounting violence.

Also, what's next for the so-called runaway bride? It could be, here comes the judge. A suburban Atlanta D.A. is considering criminal charges. We'll take a closer look at that and why some women and men get cold feet.

Also, from the war in Iraq, to a new battle back home. Some American reservists have their work cut out for them keeping their jobs after serving their country.

First, some headlines.

Sex offenders in Florida now face even tougher penalties. Governor Jeb Bush today signed a law named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was abducted and killed allegedly by a convicted sex offender. The new law requires at least a 25-year sentence for people convicted of certain sex crimes against children. And any child sex offender released from prison will be tracked by global positioning satellite.

A huge explosion in Afghanistan; 28 people are dead, more than 70 are injured. It happened 75 miles north of Kabul in Baghlan Province. Afghan officials say a secret weapons cache was exploded under the home of a warlord. He's believed to be among the dead.

Among the most popular stories we're following this hour on CNN.com, the longtime head baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma has resigned. Larry Cochell stepped down two days after reports surfaced that he allegedly made racial remarks about black players. You want to know more? Go to CNN.com.

First to the seemingly never-ending violence in Iraq and the wide range of the latest insurgent targets: Iraqi civilians. Police, soldiers with the multinational forces, all are among the dead. At least 105 people just since Thursday, when the transitional national assembly approved a new government in Baghdad. Today alone, there have been six -- six deadly car bombings.

CNN's Ryan's Chilcote is on duty for us in Baghdad. He's joining us live -- Ryan. Ryan, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, go ahead with your report.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, another beginning to a violent week here in Iraq. So far, four car bombs going off in Baghdad alone today. Three of the four targeting Iraqi security forces.

The one that was not targeting Iraqi security forces going off in southern Baghdad. Not clear who they were trying to target there, but nine Iraqi civilians were killed in that attack. And the U.S. military has just told us of two more attacks. This time, suicide bombers in the northern city of Mosul.

It's been very, very violent, very unstable there for some time now. At least one Iraqi child killed in those attacks, 15 wounded.

All in all, in these six attacks, the Iraqi police are telling us a total of 12 individuals have been killed here, at least another 40 wounded. The U.S. military saying that this is just the insurgents' most recent attempt to try and discredit the new government.

As you know, Wolf, that government is supposed to be sworn in tomorrow, and we just spoke with an aide to the prime minister. He says that the six -- six of the remaining seven jobs that have not been filled in the government are expected to be filled very soon. And they even think that they may come to some consensus by tomorrow on the post of defense minister.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Ryan, what's the latest on that Australian man who's apparently been taken hostage in Iraq?

CHILCOTE: Well, Wolf, his name is Douglas Wood. He is an Australian citizen.

He has resided in California for a little bit more than a decade now. And he was working here as a contractor when he was abducted.

Now, we don't know exactly when he was kidnapped. But yesterday some video surfaced in which he appears, and very similar to insurgent kidnapping videos we've seen before.

He's seen on the ground between two men carrying weapons, pointing their weapons at him, pleading with Australian, U.S. and British troops to pull their -- pull out of Iraq. He says in that video that he does not want to die.

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, however, appeared on national television yesterday in Australia to say that Australia is not going to pull out its troops and that Australia is not going to pay any ransom. They are not going to give into the demands of these hostage-takers. Having said that, the Australian prime minister said he is sending a team to Iraq to try and win Mr. Woods' release -- Wolf. BLITZER: Ryan Chilcote reporting for us from Baghdad. Ryan, thank you very much.

Back here in the United States, the U.S. Army reservist who became the face of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal pleads guilty to most of the charges against her. What happens next to Private 1st Class Lynndie England? It's up to a military jury.

Our Susan Candiotti is following the story. She's joining us now live from Ft. Hood, Texas, with details -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

After working out a deal behind the scenes, Private 1st Class Lynndie England, the Army reservist from rural West Virginia, has now formally entered her guilty plea before a judge here for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. At this hour, the judge is going over a statement of facts with her, asking her questions about it before formally accepting her plea.

England said nothing as she walked into court this day with her attorneys. And she was silent as her military lawyer entered a guilty plea for her.

However, she has now formally accepted responsibility for seven counts, two of conspiracy, four for abusing prisoners, and one for committing an indecent. She was photographed also for mocking a row of naked prisoners as they were made to perform a sex act.

Now, England did tell a judge for herself that she is voluntarily entering this plea. And she now faces a maximum of 11 years in prison. You'll remember some of the more famous photos she was seen in for holding a prisoner by a dog leash, for posing behind a row of naked prisoners, and the other one that I also mentioned.

Now, this means that she has the right and is expected later today to -- or already, rather, has asked a judge for a jury to decide her sentence. That jury will be selected and seated starting tomorrow, and then that's like a mini trial.

There will be witnesses testifying for her and for the prosecution as well. Included on her witness list is her ex- boyfriend, Charles Graner, who is believed to have fathered her child. She gave birth it a baby boy last October.

She herself also has the right to plead before the jury in her own behalf. But it's not known at this time whether she will tell her side of the story -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Susan, what about the argument that a lot of these people charged, these military personnel charged with abusing these Iraqi prisoners, the argument they've made is that they were simply following orders, that higher-ups basically said to them, we have to soften up these prisoners, humiliate them, then they might be willing to share information during interrogations, that this was all carefully orchestrated by higher-ups? What happens to that argument? CANDIOTTI: Well, they're still making the argument, each and every defendant in this case. The six others that pleaded guilty before her as well, and there's still another one yet to come.

Graner, of course, pleaded not guilty, used that as a defense. But a jury didn't believe him when he made that argument. And, in fact, they didn't believe they were presented with any hard evidence that that ever occurred.

But all of these defendants have continued to maintain that they were simply following orders. And as you know, Wolf, there are investigations that are still going on as to who was giving the orders, if anybody, in these cases. Investigations going on for prison abuse both in Iraq and also at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.

BLITZER: One final question, Susan. Who's taking care of the little baby boy?

CANDIOTTI: Well, of course Lynndie England's mother is at this time. And if she goes to prison, that will continue to be the case.

It will be interesting to see whether her ex-boyfriend, Charles Graner, will testify for Lynndie England during the penalty phase. We have learned from his attorneys that he's already married to somebody else. In fact, one of the other convicted participants in this scandal.

BLITZER: All right. Susan Candiotti with the story for us. Thank you, Susan, very much.

The global nuclear arms race and efforts to stop it are front and center at the United Nations this hour. Representatives from around the world are meeting right now to review progress under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

There's continuing concern about Iran and its purported efforts to join the nuclear club, and North Korea's latest maneuvers are also raising eyebrows. The White House says Pyongyang tested a short range missile yesterday in the Sea of Japan.

Our Richard Roth is covering all things U.N. for us. He's joining us now live from New York with the latest -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, differing views of course on the nuclear issue here at the United Nations to be discussed over the next four weeks. And Iran and North Korea are major issues that are certainly going to gather a lot of attention here.

This is a review conference. Normally people might snooze a little bit. But with these nuclear issues and the North Korean missile test the other day, there is going to be a lot more intensity here.

Already, yesterday, there was a large demonstration by activists demanding the end of all nuclear weapons. They marched near the United Nations, they marched to Central Park. Many in the crowd from Japan, including the mayor of Hiroshima, the city that was bombed to end World War II.

At the United Nations today, Kofi Annan urged all non-weapons states such as Iran to pull back from temptation of nuclear weapons, while the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency said there are loopholes in the treaty that must be closed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, IAEA: In five years the world has changed. Our fears of a deadly nuclear detonation, whatever the cause, have been reawakened. In part, these fears are driven by new realities: the rise in terrorism, the discover of clandestine nuclear programs, the emergence of a new black market. But these realities have also heightened our awareness of vulnerabilities in the NPT regime, the acquisition by more and more countries of sensitive nuclear know-how and capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Kofi Annan said the world must work toward a world free of nuclear weapons. Some of the key issues here, the so-called nuclear fuel cycle. Countries are able to work on building up nuclear material for peaceful uses such as energy while they're under this NPT, nonproliferation treaty, but then they can withdraw like North Korea did a couple of years ago and inspectors were kicked out.

The United States wants to focus on issues like that. Other countries, though, want to protest the fact that the U.S. and the four other Security Council nuclear-bearing powers have not lived up to the terms of this treaty, which include those countries, America and the others, getting rid of all of their nuclear weapons.

Still, here, activists say there are many nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert, still pointed at each other five years after the last review conference. It's very open here as to exactly what will or will not be agreed to.

There are meetings, important meetings on the sidelines, Wolf, here. The Iranian foreign minister has met with the German foreign minister. And these could be important as we continue on the long negotiations road towards Iran and its nuclear capability -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I'll be speaking at 5:00 on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" later today, Richard, with the French foreign minister who's here in Washington right now. But the U.S. representative at the United Nations, John Bolton's nomination being held up in the U.S. Senate right now. He has not yet been confirmed. Who's representing the U.S. at these meetings that are going on at the U.N. right now?

ROTH: It's a very mid-level delegation. The U.S., the Bush administration, has not been keen to signify high importance to these international gatherings now preferring either six-party talks when it comes to Korea or one-on-one negotiations. It is a delegation from Washington that is not full of famous names, but they've got a lot of hard work ahead in the hallways here.

BLITZER: Richard Roth reporting for us from the U.N. He's always got hard work ahead of him. Thanks, Richard, very much.

When we come back, will a Georgia woman face a legal fight over her cold feet? Why an Atlanta area prosecutor isn't ruling out criminal charges in the case of the runaway bride.

Plus, the stress of putting on the wedding of many women's dreams. I'll speak live with one psychotherapist about what warning signs Jennifer Wilbanks' family may have missed.

You're watching NEWS FROM CNN, and we're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

As America watched the story of the runaway bride develop over the weekend, it seemed almost everyone was forming an opinion. Right now a district attorney in suburban Atlanta is working on his opinion. Should Jennifer Wilbanks face criminal charges?

CNN's Charles Molineaux is joining us now live from Duluth, Georgia. That's just outside Atlanta.

Any word yet on what the D.A. has decided?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No word yet, Wolf. We are standing by for that. But one thing that may factor into all that is the tremendous expense that this entire ordeal meant for the city of Duluth.

Remember, back before we found out that Jennifer Wilbanks was just fine, hundreds of police and volunteers went off on what turned out to be a wild goose chase of a search trying to find her. Well, now the city clerk of Duluth is looking into just exactly how much that set the city back, and that process is still under way.

But the mayor says her best guesstimate would put the figure at around $100,000. Well, numbers like that are only increasing the chorus of voices calling for Jennifer Wilbanks to, one way or another, pay for what she put this community through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (voice-over): At about the same time Jennifer Wilbanks had been scheduled to walk up the aisle she was hustling through an airport halfway across the country, covered in a blanket instead of a veil. Her disappearance Tuesday triggered a desperate search by police and volunteers in her home town of Duluth, Georgia.

Early Saturday, Wilbanks' family and her anxious fiance, John Mason, cheered at the news she had turned up safe with an incredible story. From this Albuquerque 7-Eleven, she called 911.

JENNIFER WILBANKS: I was kidnapped earlier this week and I'm here now.

MOLINEAUX: Within hours, celebration turned into shock when police announced she made the kidnapping up and had taken off to Las Vegas and then Albuquerque by bus.

CHIEF RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, POLICE: Agents and detectives learned that Ms. Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided that she needed some time alone.

MIKE SATTERFIELD, WILBANKS' UNCLE: It has been determined that Jennifer has some issues the family was not aware of.

MOLINEAUX: Wilbanks' mortified family lapsed into silence. Some neighbors were furious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very angry with her for doing that to her family and to the city of Duluth.

MOLINEAUX: And a source who has been briefed on the investigation tells CNN this may have been planned, that Wilbanks bought her bus ticket several days in advance, prearranged transportation to the bus station, and cut her hair to avoid being recognized. On Sunday, the congregation of the couple's church prayed for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously she was going through a lot of things that none of us knew about. And you -- there's a lot of people around her, and nobody saw that.

CHARLIE HALL, PARISHIONER: I'm happy that she's doing OK and the family can just work out what they need to. And it will be all right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX: Well, the D.A. in Gwinnett County, Danny Porter, has been meeting with police to discuss legal options in this case. The city is promising some kind of an update on what may be coming next within the next few hours.

Meanwhile, Porter says that what he has been hearing is about a 50-50 split as far as people wanting to be understanding with Jennifer Wilbanks and those really thinking that she should have it legally socked to her. But he says he's going to go wherever the law takes him -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I take it, Charles, she comes from a fairly affluent family there in Georgia. Is that right?

MOLINEAUX: That is true, yes. In fact, the two families involved in this wedding are very prominent in this area.

It was going to be a huge affair, 600 guests. And, in fact, when she was missing there was a proposed $100,000 reward for her safe return. So we are talking about someone with a very prominent position in this community, yes. BLITZER: Well, maybe they should just take that $100,000 reward and give it to the community to pay for that overtime and to pay for all those expenses.

MOLINEAUX: I'm sure that thought has occurred to more than a few people. Oh yes.

BLITZER: All right. Charles Molineaux watching this story for us. Thanks very much.

And a note to our viewers. Coming up at the top of the hour, there's a scheduled news conference at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. That's about 40 minutes or so from now. A Duluth news conference with local police. We'll hear what they have to say.

And this programming note. Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" goes beyond the headlines for an in-depth look at this abduction hoax, as well as other shenanigans in the news recently. Watch "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

We've heard about the mega wedding Jennifer Wilbanks skipped out on, 600 guests, more than a dozen bridesmaids. But women with far less elaborate nuptials also get cold feet from time to time.

Here to help us better understand what could cause a blushing bride to bolt, or a groom, for that matter as well, is Gilda Carle. She's a psychotherapist and a relationship expert. Among her books, "Don't Bet on the Prince."

Gilda, thanks very much for joining us. When you heard about this runaway bride, what was the first thing that went through your mind? Because you've studied this phenomenon over the years.

GILDA CARLE, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: You know, it's really a shame that she had all these people around her and nobody to speak to. She was living with this man for four years and she couldn't speak to him.

She called her mother her best friend, and she couldn't confide in her. Who was there for this woman?

That was the tragedy that I saw. And then, when we heard that it was all a hoax, you know, you had to wonder, the fight or flight syndrome took over, and she had to flee because she had nobody who she thought cared enough to hear her. So that is tragic. Yes...

BLITZER: It's not as if she was 18 or 19 or 20 years old. She's a 31-year-old woman.

CARLE: That's exactly right. And yet, seeing her holding on to a teddy bear is probably more in step with her emotional maturity. I mean, she couldn't even deal with the reality, and then had to create a bigger story to try to cover her tracks.

BLITZER: So you're saying, just based on what we know from the public record, the call to the police, the 911 call saying that she'd been abducted by a Hispanic man and a woman and thrown into a car, they cut off her hair, that underscores some sort of deep emotional problem that this woman has been going through?

CARLE: There is no question. The woman has deep emotional problems, and I wonder about the man she was going to marry.

Did he not see the signs? Did her relatives not see the signs?

And this is what I see in my practice. Too many people are concentrating more on the wedding than they are on the actual marriage, the actual "so what do we do next" kind of routine. And that is tragic.

BLITZER: Well, that's an interesting -- that's an interesting point that you make. There's so much attention on the details of a wedding. And the pressure builds so much on getting everything perfect that, in effect, that could destroy this relationship, the process of looking forward to a huge wedding.

CARLE: I will bet that it destroys many relationships. The wedding industry is worth between $40 billion and $70 billion, with a "B," dollars. That's tremendous.

And the average wedding -- the average wedding is worth about $20,000, when usual newlyweds make about $55,000 a year. So somebody's paying a lot of money and somebody is going into debt in order to pay for, what, one night of a fairy tale? Who is believing all this?

BLITZER: We don't have a lot of time left, Gilda. But give us some warning signs that people should be looking for. Couples that are getting married, either the bride or the groom, parents, relatives, friends, what are the warning signs they should be looking for if there is a potential Jennifer Wilbanks out there, another one?

CARLE: That's a very good question. First of all, understand that when you go for a change of life, as in a marriage, there are going to be some jitters.

What you have to determine is, are the jitters legitimate, or are the jitters because these two people should not be marrying? And you have to do a lot of soul-searching.

And if you are a parent, you have to take your child aside and say, "Tell me what you're really feeling." Make that environment safe enough so that if your daughter, or even son, says, "You know, I think I'm making a mistake," they won't be so criticized and so put down that they won't honestly be able to tell you their true feelings.

That's vital. We have to concentrate much more on the people rather than the pomp and circumstance.

BLITZER: Good advice. Gilda Carle, thanks very much for joining us.

CARLE: My pleasure. BLITZER: When we come back, two California teens out for a boating adventure get more than they bargain for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH LONG, LOST AT SEA: We were trying to get to the sand bar, and when we were going out, we got caught in a riptide, and it took us right around it. And as soon as I got in, I knew we were in trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: They wouldn't reach shore for almost a week, so how did they survive? They're amazing story, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

For nine weeks, Michael Jackson has been doing a lot of listening at his child molestation trial. Now there's some speculation he might be doing some talking.

The prosecution is set to wrap up its case perhaps as early as tomorrow. The next question is this: will Jackson testify in his own defense? First, the defense is expected to ask the judge to dismiss the case on insufficient evidence. That's expected to go nowhere.

Police in Los Angeles are trying to figure out whether six shootings that have happened on an L.A. freeways since March are connected. The latest occurred this weekend.

A 19-year-old man told police he was driving on the 405 when a dark vehicle with four or five men inside pulled up beside him. Then, shots were fired.

The man was hit several times but managed to get off the freeway and flag down help. He's in stable condition right now. Four other recent freeway shootings were fatal.

Two South Carolina teenagers are hungry, dehydrated and sun burned, but otherwise OK after an ordeal at sea. Troy Driscoll and Josh Long set off on a fishing trip April 24. Then a rip current dragged their 14-foot boat out to sea. They were found 111 miles from where they started. One of the boys says they survived anyway they could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Really, we didn't eat anything. Troy ate these little jelly balls that we can catch with my hat. We just scooped them up out of the water.

The water, the only thing we could do with the water was gargle salt water and spit it out. And it drizzled one night, and we licked the water off the deck, trying to get something. And that's all we had. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Josh Long said they did a lot of praying. And he added this: "We didn't even get a chance to fish."

Lucky guys.

North Korea apparently launches another missile. What could that mean for a Bush administration determined to fence in the communist regime's nuclear ambitions? We'll go in depth when we come back.

Also, it's Tony Blair's first major political test since the Iraq war. Will British voters punish the prime minister for a war many of them feel they were never supposed to get involved in? We'll take a closer look at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Another British soldier is killed in Iraq, no doubt fueling the anger many Britons feel about their country's involvement in the war from day one. And fueling the opposition just days before the prime minister learns whether he can keep his job.

CNN's Robin Oakley is joining us live from London, last-minute campaigning under way.

The election scheduled for Thursday, Robin. Tell us what the mood is right now. Does it look like Tony Blair is set to be re- elected?

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Almost, certainly, Wolf, yes, because we've got opinion polls showing anything from a 10-point Labor lead to a two to three-point labor lead. And you have to set that against the fact the conservative opposition, if they're going to turn Tony Blair out of Downing Street, deprive him of a majority, they need a six-point lead for themselves. If they're going to be the next government, they've got to have a 10-point lead. The whole system is skewed against the conservative opposition at the moment, because this is an election fought on out-of-date boundaries.

But Tony Blair and his party are not behaving as if they've got this election in the bag. And the reason is the wrong subject keeps cropping up in the headlines. It's Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, day after day, more revelations, leaked memorandums, leaked Downing Street about the government, for example, committing itself to war in Iraq many months before it has previously indicated that it did so. And Tony Blair is worried that in the marginal seats, a lot of traditional labor supporters who didn't like the war will fail to turn out in what may be a low turnout election.

There hasn't been much fire on issues raised by the opposition like immigration, but they're trying to boost their core vote and to keep down the general voting level in the hope that Labor's dissidents will really let down Tony Blair the at the end of the day. But it has to be said, on the arithmetic, it looks as if Tony Blair is heading into Downing Street -- Wolf.

BLITZER: The election's coming up on Thursday. We'll be watching closely together with you, Robin. Thanks very much. Robin Oakley is our man in London.

Meanwhile, there's been another apparent provocative move from North Korea. Over the weekend, the White House says Pyongyang test- fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan, once again raising deep concerns about its nuclear intentions.

Here to shed some light on what's going on -- the stakes are simply enormous -- two guests. Daniel Poneman is a former special assistant to President Clinton, senior director for nonproliferation over at the National Security Council. He's now a principal of the Scowcroft Group, an advisory/consulting group here in Washington. And Joseph Cirincione is a senior associate and director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also here in Washington.

Gentlemen, thanks very much for joining us.

Dan, I'll start with you. What do you make of this short-range missile test? What does it mean?

DANIEL PONEMAN, FMR. SPC. ASST. TO THE PRES.: I think it means the North Koreans are becoming increasingly impatient with what they see as a stalemate. There's been a lot of speculation recently that they might actually test a nuclear device. That, I think, the North Koreans likely judged to be too provocative, could alienate even countries like China. I think is sort of a get-your-attention move, and I think they are trying to put some pressure on the United States and others to come to the table and give them something that they're looking for.

BLITZER: You agree, Joe?

JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR PEACE: I do agree. The North Koreans have a number of other gestures they could make. I expect in the next few weeks we'll see signs of truck activity around the reactor, for example, hints that they're moving the fuel rods to reprocess them, extract more plutonium from nuclear weapons, some more provocative statements from Kim Jong-Il, all aimed at sending a message, we're here, you can't ignore us, you have to deal with us.

BLITZER: Well, the allies -- the countries around North Korea -- South Korea, Japan, China, Russia -- they're working together with the United States to talk to North Korea and to try to calm things down. Is the issue that the North Koreans want to have a bilateral relationship with the United States? They want some respect from Washington? Is that what they're trying to provoke?

PONEMAN: Well, anybody who tries to tell you that they know what the North Koreans are up to, I think should be a little suspicious. I think the evidence suggests that the one thing they want above all is to preserve their regime. And if they can preserve their regime by keeping this nuclear weapon as an ace in the hole, they will do it. In my view, the only way we can move them off of that path is if we force the Kim Jong-Il regime to choose between a safe future without nuclear weapons and a dangerous future in which their regime would be at risk if they persist on their current course. So I think the North Koreans view the six-party talks as a purely derivative issue to this larger objective.

BLITZER: The larger objective meaning they want the U.S. to play a direct role with them?

PONEMAN: The larger objective is they want to stay in power, and if they can use the U.S. as leverage to do that, they will do that. And if they can use the differences between the U.S. and the other five to continue what they're now doing, which is to essentially build their nuclear arsenal, or they're nuclear capability, every day without any penalty, I think they'll do that.

BLITZER: For those nuclear bombs that they presumably have, half a dozen or so, that the intelligence community believes they may already have, that's their insurance policy, Joe. Is that's what they see as their survival, of this communist regime in North Korea?

CIRINCIONE: I think that is certainly one of their options. I honestly think they haven't made a firm decision yet whether they're irrevocably committed to the nuclear weapons option for that insurance or whether they're willing to make a deal. And the problem is that we haven't tested that proposition.

Kim Jong-Il is a petty tyrant, but the operative word here is "petty." We're the big power. We have all the cards. We have to play them. What that means is we have to be willing to actually negotiate a deal with North Korea to test it, whether they're willing to give it up or not. Until they do that, we'll just going to have hesitation on the part of China, Japan, South Korea, who don't believe that we've gone the extra mile.

BLITZER: But if you're Kim Jong-Il and you're whatever you are, you want to survive, and if you give up your nuclear bombs, you become like Saddam Hussein, in effect. You're potentially -- you're vulnerable. As long as you have a nuclear deterrent, you survive. That may be going through his mind?

CIRINCIONE: Not necessarily. You could become like Moammar Gadhafi, who is a dictator who had a nuclear program and we made a deal. We didn't eliminate that regime. We actually guaranteed the continued existence of that regime. We changed the regime's behavior. That's a model that could be applied to North Korea, although it's getting increasingly difficult to do so as time goes on and we don't negotiate, we don't try to make a deal. They may now be hardening their position. We may be at point where it's too late to cut a deal.

BLITZER: You think he could be another Moammar Gadhafi and give up his nuclear program.

PONEMAN: Only under one circumstance, he must conclude that he has to choose between his regime and the nuclear weapons. This is the point I keep coming back to. I agree with Joe, we have not really tested that proposition with the very clear upside if they comply.

BLITZER: But wasn't that tested during the Clinton administration when you did make a deal with him, that he would get all sorts of aid, he'd get all sorts of energy sources, give up the nuclear ambitions and he'd be just fine. And he cheated and he lied and he said nevermind.

PONEMAN: Right. There's cheaters and there's liars, there's no question about it. But remember, when we got that deal, which you covered from the White House, we got eight years of no plutonium. They would have, Wolf, 100 nuclear weapons worth of plutonium now but for that deal.

Do we trust them? Of course not. But what do you do when you have a bad debt? Does the bank forgive your debt? No, they roll that debt into a larger obligation. I believe when we caught them cheating, we should have taken that cheating and said now we have to ask you to do more, take more safeguards, more intrusive inspections and then get a new deal and then hopefully buy some more time.

CIRINCIONE: I think the Clinton administration dropped the ball by never finalizing that deal. We froze the program, but we never moved to actually eliminate it and shut the whole thing down. When the Bush administration came in, they just kicked the ball off the field.

BLITZER: But he started cheating before the Bush administration took office?

CIRINCIONE: Yes, on this side program to try to enrich uranium, but the main program is about plutonium. And we froze that plutonium for them. They don't have a uranium bomb. If they have any bombs at all, it's based on plutonium.

BLITZER: Very quickly. What should the Bush administration be doing right now to ease this tension?

PONEMAN: Well, I don't know that we want to ease the tension. You know what I think, Wolf? I think we need to force the issue. Right now, it seems to me tactically North Korea is pacing this crisis. But they're doing things every day that lessen our security. So I wouldn't ease the tension. I would say we need to talk to the Chinese, the Japanese and South Koreans and bring North Korea to serious negotiations now.

BLITZER: What's your recommendation?

CIRINCIONE: That's right. Get agreement, particularly with South Korea and Japan, on a negotiating strategy. Here's the deal, here's how we would sequence the stacks. We do A, they do B, they do C, they do D. It ends with a complete and verifiable dismantlement of the North Korean program.

BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) Cirincione, Dan Poneman. Two smart guys. Thanks very much.

CIRINCIONE: Thank you.

BLITZER: When I say the stakes are enormous, I think all of us recognize with Kim Jong Il in North Korea having his finger on, potentially, right now six nuclear bombs, the stakes are enormous.

CIRINCIONE: It doesn't get more serious than this.

BLITZER: And with these missiles potentially able to reach not only Japan, but even Alaska and maybe the West Coast of the United States, the impact for the U.S. could be -- it's about as important an issue as we can think of. Thanks very much gentleman.

PONEMAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: When we come back, from serving our nation to standing in the unemployment line. Are some Reservists and National Guard members being punished, yes punished, for the time they spend away for their civilian jobs? We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: They answer the call of duty during wartime, but many reservists not only risk their lives, but they also risk their livelihoods.

Our Kelly Wallace looks at the growing number of reservists who return from war only to fight another battle: to keep their jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Steve Duarte of Littleton, Colorado considers himself the consummate citizen soldier. Twenty-eight years as a Reservist with the Marine Corps and 19 years with Hewlett-Packard and its spin-off company, Agilent Technologies.

But in November, 2003, after his second post-September 11 deployment, the 52-year-old was fired.

LT. COL. STEVE DUARTE, U.S. MARINES CORPS RESERVES: It was primarily an emotional thing for me. It was one of shock. I couldn't understand why they did it. And I think the pride thing kicked in there, too -- what did I do wrong?

WALLACE: Duarte says after his deployment, Agilent assigned him to a special project rather than his previous position in human resources. Court records show Agilent was carrying out a workforce reduction program, terminating Duarte after he scored poorly on a critical skills assessment test. Duarte contacted a Marine Corps lawyer and filed a lawsuit.

DUARTE: This is a battle that shouldn't be fought because you're coming back to your families, you're coming back to the United States, you're coming back for a lot of other good reasons, and to have to do something like that and try to fight that battle, it's -- it just wasn't right. WALLACE: After a trial, a federal judge ruled that Agilent violated federal law in terminating Duarte four months after he returned from Kuwait and Iraq. The judge awarded Duarte nearly $390,000 for loss of back pay and loss of future pay.

DUARTE: It was never about the money. It was always about being able to get the word out to other veterans coming back.

WALLACE: Getting the word out about the federal law. It mandates Reservists are entitled to their previous civilian jobs, as well as the pay, status and seniority they would have had if they hadn't gone away. And employers are barred from firing Reservists for a minimum of six months after deployments, except for cause.

(on camera): Lieutenant Colonel Duarte is not alone. Since September 11, Reservists have seen the biggest call-up since World War II. And with that, the number of complaints from Reservists has gone up.

(voice-over): Gone up from an average of 900 complaints a year to the Labor Department to nearly 1,500 cases in the 2004 fiscal year, a 67 percent increase.

Retired National Guard General Paul Monroe witnessed the problem back in 2002 when his son's job was abolished during his deployment. Monroe then testified before his son's school district to help save his son's job. Since then, he has gotten involved with the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a group which, Monroe says, tries to help not just Reservists, but employers, as well.

GEN. PAUL MONROE (RET.), U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Not only is it hard on soldiers and families, it's hard on their employers, too. There's one employer that went out of his way to hire Reservists because of their training and everything. Now he says that he can't -- he cannot operate because all his Reservists are his supervisors. And we're taking them all away.

WALLACE: Monroe says more predictability, such as knowing how long deployments will last and when they will occur, would help both employers and Reservists.

Duarte, who has set up a Web site, hopes his story helps Reservists and sends a message to companies like his former employer.

DUARTE: If you're an employer and you're thinking about doing this, this is what it might cost you. And if you're a veteran coming back and this is happening to you, let somebody know, because now there is some recourse.

WALLACE: Duarte formally retired from the Marine Reserve Sunday, but won't retire from being a citizen soldier. His mission: making sure Reservists have the information they need to fight back.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: CNN's "LIVE FROM" comes your way at the top of the hour every weekday.

Joining us for a little preview, the one and only Kyra Phillips.

What do you got, Kyra?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From the one and only Wolf Blitzer. Thanks, Wolf.

The runaway bride, of course. I know we're all still talking about her. Are you furious with her? Do you feel sorry for her? Taxpayers dollars spent to find what some feared was an abducted bride. Now we find out she just had cold feet. E-mail us at livefrom@CNN.com and tell us if you think she should be prosecuted and why. We're going to talk about it.

Then rescue at sea. We've got the exclusive interview, Wolf. of the USS Normandy tell us how his sailors rescued 94 people in the Gulf of Aden after their vessel capsized. We've got the video and the emotional tale. Should be good -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, very -- pretty amazing pictures, Kyra. Thanks very much. Kyra Phillips comes our way at the top of the hour on "LIVE FROM."

We'll take a quick break. We'll being right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I'll be back later today, every weekday, 5:00 p.m. Eastern for "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS." Among my guest later today, the foreign minister of France. He's here in Washington. The U.S. and France were bitterly divided over the Iraq war, but what's the status of the relationship right now? What international issues can these two allies agree on? That's coming up, 5:00 p.m. Eastern on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS."

Until then, thanks very much for watching NEWS FROM CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 2, 2005 - 11:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.
Unfolding this hour on NEWS FROM CNN, another state of car bombings rocks Iraq. The death toll now topping 100 since last week alone. We're live from Baghdad on the mounting violence.

Also, what's next for the so-called runaway bride? It could be, here comes the judge. A suburban Atlanta D.A. is considering criminal charges. We'll take a closer look at that and why some women and men get cold feet.

Also, from the war in Iraq, to a new battle back home. Some American reservists have their work cut out for them keeping their jobs after serving their country.

First, some headlines.

Sex offenders in Florida now face even tougher penalties. Governor Jeb Bush today signed a law named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was abducted and killed allegedly by a convicted sex offender. The new law requires at least a 25-year sentence for people convicted of certain sex crimes against children. And any child sex offender released from prison will be tracked by global positioning satellite.

A huge explosion in Afghanistan; 28 people are dead, more than 70 are injured. It happened 75 miles north of Kabul in Baghlan Province. Afghan officials say a secret weapons cache was exploded under the home of a warlord. He's believed to be among the dead.

Among the most popular stories we're following this hour on CNN.com, the longtime head baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma has resigned. Larry Cochell stepped down two days after reports surfaced that he allegedly made racial remarks about black players. You want to know more? Go to CNN.com.

First to the seemingly never-ending violence in Iraq and the wide range of the latest insurgent targets: Iraqi civilians. Police, soldiers with the multinational forces, all are among the dead. At least 105 people just since Thursday, when the transitional national assembly approved a new government in Baghdad. Today alone, there have been six -- six deadly car bombings.

CNN's Ryan's Chilcote is on duty for us in Baghdad. He's joining us live -- Ryan. Ryan, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, go ahead with your report.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, another beginning to a violent week here in Iraq. So far, four car bombs going off in Baghdad alone today. Three of the four targeting Iraqi security forces.

The one that was not targeting Iraqi security forces going off in southern Baghdad. Not clear who they were trying to target there, but nine Iraqi civilians were killed in that attack. And the U.S. military has just told us of two more attacks. This time, suicide bombers in the northern city of Mosul.

It's been very, very violent, very unstable there for some time now. At least one Iraqi child killed in those attacks, 15 wounded.

All in all, in these six attacks, the Iraqi police are telling us a total of 12 individuals have been killed here, at least another 40 wounded. The U.S. military saying that this is just the insurgents' most recent attempt to try and discredit the new government.

As you know, Wolf, that government is supposed to be sworn in tomorrow, and we just spoke with an aide to the prime minister. He says that the six -- six of the remaining seven jobs that have not been filled in the government are expected to be filled very soon. And they even think that they may come to some consensus by tomorrow on the post of defense minister.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Ryan, what's the latest on that Australian man who's apparently been taken hostage in Iraq?

CHILCOTE: Well, Wolf, his name is Douglas Wood. He is an Australian citizen.

He has resided in California for a little bit more than a decade now. And he was working here as a contractor when he was abducted.

Now, we don't know exactly when he was kidnapped. But yesterday some video surfaced in which he appears, and very similar to insurgent kidnapping videos we've seen before.

He's seen on the ground between two men carrying weapons, pointing their weapons at him, pleading with Australian, U.S. and British troops to pull their -- pull out of Iraq. He says in that video that he does not want to die.

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, however, appeared on national television yesterday in Australia to say that Australia is not going to pull out its troops and that Australia is not going to pay any ransom. They are not going to give into the demands of these hostage-takers. Having said that, the Australian prime minister said he is sending a team to Iraq to try and win Mr. Woods' release -- Wolf. BLITZER: Ryan Chilcote reporting for us from Baghdad. Ryan, thank you very much.

Back here in the United States, the U.S. Army reservist who became the face of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal pleads guilty to most of the charges against her. What happens next to Private 1st Class Lynndie England? It's up to a military jury.

Our Susan Candiotti is following the story. She's joining us now live from Ft. Hood, Texas, with details -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

After working out a deal behind the scenes, Private 1st Class Lynndie England, the Army reservist from rural West Virginia, has now formally entered her guilty plea before a judge here for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. At this hour, the judge is going over a statement of facts with her, asking her questions about it before formally accepting her plea.

England said nothing as she walked into court this day with her attorneys. And she was silent as her military lawyer entered a guilty plea for her.

However, she has now formally accepted responsibility for seven counts, two of conspiracy, four for abusing prisoners, and one for committing an indecent. She was photographed also for mocking a row of naked prisoners as they were made to perform a sex act.

Now, England did tell a judge for herself that she is voluntarily entering this plea. And she now faces a maximum of 11 years in prison. You'll remember some of the more famous photos she was seen in for holding a prisoner by a dog leash, for posing behind a row of naked prisoners, and the other one that I also mentioned.

Now, this means that she has the right and is expected later today to -- or already, rather, has asked a judge for a jury to decide her sentence. That jury will be selected and seated starting tomorrow, and then that's like a mini trial.

There will be witnesses testifying for her and for the prosecution as well. Included on her witness list is her ex- boyfriend, Charles Graner, who is believed to have fathered her child. She gave birth it a baby boy last October.

She herself also has the right to plead before the jury in her own behalf. But it's not known at this time whether she will tell her side of the story -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Susan, what about the argument that a lot of these people charged, these military personnel charged with abusing these Iraqi prisoners, the argument they've made is that they were simply following orders, that higher-ups basically said to them, we have to soften up these prisoners, humiliate them, then they might be willing to share information during interrogations, that this was all carefully orchestrated by higher-ups? What happens to that argument? CANDIOTTI: Well, they're still making the argument, each and every defendant in this case. The six others that pleaded guilty before her as well, and there's still another one yet to come.

Graner, of course, pleaded not guilty, used that as a defense. But a jury didn't believe him when he made that argument. And, in fact, they didn't believe they were presented with any hard evidence that that ever occurred.

But all of these defendants have continued to maintain that they were simply following orders. And as you know, Wolf, there are investigations that are still going on as to who was giving the orders, if anybody, in these cases. Investigations going on for prison abuse both in Iraq and also at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.

BLITZER: One final question, Susan. Who's taking care of the little baby boy?

CANDIOTTI: Well, of course Lynndie England's mother is at this time. And if she goes to prison, that will continue to be the case.

It will be interesting to see whether her ex-boyfriend, Charles Graner, will testify for Lynndie England during the penalty phase. We have learned from his attorneys that he's already married to somebody else. In fact, one of the other convicted participants in this scandal.

BLITZER: All right. Susan Candiotti with the story for us. Thank you, Susan, very much.

The global nuclear arms race and efforts to stop it are front and center at the United Nations this hour. Representatives from around the world are meeting right now to review progress under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

There's continuing concern about Iran and its purported efforts to join the nuclear club, and North Korea's latest maneuvers are also raising eyebrows. The White House says Pyongyang tested a short range missile yesterday in the Sea of Japan.

Our Richard Roth is covering all things U.N. for us. He's joining us now live from New York with the latest -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, differing views of course on the nuclear issue here at the United Nations to be discussed over the next four weeks. And Iran and North Korea are major issues that are certainly going to gather a lot of attention here.

This is a review conference. Normally people might snooze a little bit. But with these nuclear issues and the North Korean missile test the other day, there is going to be a lot more intensity here.

Already, yesterday, there was a large demonstration by activists demanding the end of all nuclear weapons. They marched near the United Nations, they marched to Central Park. Many in the crowd from Japan, including the mayor of Hiroshima, the city that was bombed to end World War II.

At the United Nations today, Kofi Annan urged all non-weapons states such as Iran to pull back from temptation of nuclear weapons, while the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency said there are loopholes in the treaty that must be closed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, IAEA: In five years the world has changed. Our fears of a deadly nuclear detonation, whatever the cause, have been reawakened. In part, these fears are driven by new realities: the rise in terrorism, the discover of clandestine nuclear programs, the emergence of a new black market. But these realities have also heightened our awareness of vulnerabilities in the NPT regime, the acquisition by more and more countries of sensitive nuclear know-how and capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Kofi Annan said the world must work toward a world free of nuclear weapons. Some of the key issues here, the so-called nuclear fuel cycle. Countries are able to work on building up nuclear material for peaceful uses such as energy while they're under this NPT, nonproliferation treaty, but then they can withdraw like North Korea did a couple of years ago and inspectors were kicked out.

The United States wants to focus on issues like that. Other countries, though, want to protest the fact that the U.S. and the four other Security Council nuclear-bearing powers have not lived up to the terms of this treaty, which include those countries, America and the others, getting rid of all of their nuclear weapons.

Still, here, activists say there are many nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert, still pointed at each other five years after the last review conference. It's very open here as to exactly what will or will not be agreed to.

There are meetings, important meetings on the sidelines, Wolf, here. The Iranian foreign minister has met with the German foreign minister. And these could be important as we continue on the long negotiations road towards Iran and its nuclear capability -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I'll be speaking at 5:00 on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" later today, Richard, with the French foreign minister who's here in Washington right now. But the U.S. representative at the United Nations, John Bolton's nomination being held up in the U.S. Senate right now. He has not yet been confirmed. Who's representing the U.S. at these meetings that are going on at the U.N. right now?

ROTH: It's a very mid-level delegation. The U.S., the Bush administration, has not been keen to signify high importance to these international gatherings now preferring either six-party talks when it comes to Korea or one-on-one negotiations. It is a delegation from Washington that is not full of famous names, but they've got a lot of hard work ahead in the hallways here.

BLITZER: Richard Roth reporting for us from the U.N. He's always got hard work ahead of him. Thanks, Richard, very much.

When we come back, will a Georgia woman face a legal fight over her cold feet? Why an Atlanta area prosecutor isn't ruling out criminal charges in the case of the runaway bride.

Plus, the stress of putting on the wedding of many women's dreams. I'll speak live with one psychotherapist about what warning signs Jennifer Wilbanks' family may have missed.

You're watching NEWS FROM CNN, and we're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

As America watched the story of the runaway bride develop over the weekend, it seemed almost everyone was forming an opinion. Right now a district attorney in suburban Atlanta is working on his opinion. Should Jennifer Wilbanks face criminal charges?

CNN's Charles Molineaux is joining us now live from Duluth, Georgia. That's just outside Atlanta.

Any word yet on what the D.A. has decided?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No word yet, Wolf. We are standing by for that. But one thing that may factor into all that is the tremendous expense that this entire ordeal meant for the city of Duluth.

Remember, back before we found out that Jennifer Wilbanks was just fine, hundreds of police and volunteers went off on what turned out to be a wild goose chase of a search trying to find her. Well, now the city clerk of Duluth is looking into just exactly how much that set the city back, and that process is still under way.

But the mayor says her best guesstimate would put the figure at around $100,000. Well, numbers like that are only increasing the chorus of voices calling for Jennifer Wilbanks to, one way or another, pay for what she put this community through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (voice-over): At about the same time Jennifer Wilbanks had been scheduled to walk up the aisle she was hustling through an airport halfway across the country, covered in a blanket instead of a veil. Her disappearance Tuesday triggered a desperate search by police and volunteers in her home town of Duluth, Georgia.

Early Saturday, Wilbanks' family and her anxious fiance, John Mason, cheered at the news she had turned up safe with an incredible story. From this Albuquerque 7-Eleven, she called 911.

JENNIFER WILBANKS: I was kidnapped earlier this week and I'm here now.

MOLINEAUX: Within hours, celebration turned into shock when police announced she made the kidnapping up and had taken off to Las Vegas and then Albuquerque by bus.

CHIEF RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, POLICE: Agents and detectives learned that Ms. Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided that she needed some time alone.

MIKE SATTERFIELD, WILBANKS' UNCLE: It has been determined that Jennifer has some issues the family was not aware of.

MOLINEAUX: Wilbanks' mortified family lapsed into silence. Some neighbors were furious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very angry with her for doing that to her family and to the city of Duluth.

MOLINEAUX: And a source who has been briefed on the investigation tells CNN this may have been planned, that Wilbanks bought her bus ticket several days in advance, prearranged transportation to the bus station, and cut her hair to avoid being recognized. On Sunday, the congregation of the couple's church prayed for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously she was going through a lot of things that none of us knew about. And you -- there's a lot of people around her, and nobody saw that.

CHARLIE HALL, PARISHIONER: I'm happy that she's doing OK and the family can just work out what they need to. And it will be all right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX: Well, the D.A. in Gwinnett County, Danny Porter, has been meeting with police to discuss legal options in this case. The city is promising some kind of an update on what may be coming next within the next few hours.

Meanwhile, Porter says that what he has been hearing is about a 50-50 split as far as people wanting to be understanding with Jennifer Wilbanks and those really thinking that she should have it legally socked to her. But he says he's going to go wherever the law takes him -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I take it, Charles, she comes from a fairly affluent family there in Georgia. Is that right?

MOLINEAUX: That is true, yes. In fact, the two families involved in this wedding are very prominent in this area.

It was going to be a huge affair, 600 guests. And, in fact, when she was missing there was a proposed $100,000 reward for her safe return. So we are talking about someone with a very prominent position in this community, yes. BLITZER: Well, maybe they should just take that $100,000 reward and give it to the community to pay for that overtime and to pay for all those expenses.

MOLINEAUX: I'm sure that thought has occurred to more than a few people. Oh yes.

BLITZER: All right. Charles Molineaux watching this story for us. Thanks very much.

And a note to our viewers. Coming up at the top of the hour, there's a scheduled news conference at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. That's about 40 minutes or so from now. A Duluth news conference with local police. We'll hear what they have to say.

And this programming note. Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" goes beyond the headlines for an in-depth look at this abduction hoax, as well as other shenanigans in the news recently. Watch "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

We've heard about the mega wedding Jennifer Wilbanks skipped out on, 600 guests, more than a dozen bridesmaids. But women with far less elaborate nuptials also get cold feet from time to time.

Here to help us better understand what could cause a blushing bride to bolt, or a groom, for that matter as well, is Gilda Carle. She's a psychotherapist and a relationship expert. Among her books, "Don't Bet on the Prince."

Gilda, thanks very much for joining us. When you heard about this runaway bride, what was the first thing that went through your mind? Because you've studied this phenomenon over the years.

GILDA CARLE, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: You know, it's really a shame that she had all these people around her and nobody to speak to. She was living with this man for four years and she couldn't speak to him.

She called her mother her best friend, and she couldn't confide in her. Who was there for this woman?

That was the tragedy that I saw. And then, when we heard that it was all a hoax, you know, you had to wonder, the fight or flight syndrome took over, and she had to flee because she had nobody who she thought cared enough to hear her. So that is tragic. Yes...

BLITZER: It's not as if she was 18 or 19 or 20 years old. She's a 31-year-old woman.

CARLE: That's exactly right. And yet, seeing her holding on to a teddy bear is probably more in step with her emotional maturity. I mean, she couldn't even deal with the reality, and then had to create a bigger story to try to cover her tracks.

BLITZER: So you're saying, just based on what we know from the public record, the call to the police, the 911 call saying that she'd been abducted by a Hispanic man and a woman and thrown into a car, they cut off her hair, that underscores some sort of deep emotional problem that this woman has been going through?

CARLE: There is no question. The woman has deep emotional problems, and I wonder about the man she was going to marry.

Did he not see the signs? Did her relatives not see the signs?

And this is what I see in my practice. Too many people are concentrating more on the wedding than they are on the actual marriage, the actual "so what do we do next" kind of routine. And that is tragic.

BLITZER: Well, that's an interesting -- that's an interesting point that you make. There's so much attention on the details of a wedding. And the pressure builds so much on getting everything perfect that, in effect, that could destroy this relationship, the process of looking forward to a huge wedding.

CARLE: I will bet that it destroys many relationships. The wedding industry is worth between $40 billion and $70 billion, with a "B," dollars. That's tremendous.

And the average wedding -- the average wedding is worth about $20,000, when usual newlyweds make about $55,000 a year. So somebody's paying a lot of money and somebody is going into debt in order to pay for, what, one night of a fairy tale? Who is believing all this?

BLITZER: We don't have a lot of time left, Gilda. But give us some warning signs that people should be looking for. Couples that are getting married, either the bride or the groom, parents, relatives, friends, what are the warning signs they should be looking for if there is a potential Jennifer Wilbanks out there, another one?

CARLE: That's a very good question. First of all, understand that when you go for a change of life, as in a marriage, there are going to be some jitters.

What you have to determine is, are the jitters legitimate, or are the jitters because these two people should not be marrying? And you have to do a lot of soul-searching.

And if you are a parent, you have to take your child aside and say, "Tell me what you're really feeling." Make that environment safe enough so that if your daughter, or even son, says, "You know, I think I'm making a mistake," they won't be so criticized and so put down that they won't honestly be able to tell you their true feelings.

That's vital. We have to concentrate much more on the people rather than the pomp and circumstance.

BLITZER: Good advice. Gilda Carle, thanks very much for joining us.

CARLE: My pleasure. BLITZER: When we come back, two California teens out for a boating adventure get more than they bargain for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH LONG, LOST AT SEA: We were trying to get to the sand bar, and when we were going out, we got caught in a riptide, and it took us right around it. And as soon as I got in, I knew we were in trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: They wouldn't reach shore for almost a week, so how did they survive? They're amazing story, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

For nine weeks, Michael Jackson has been doing a lot of listening at his child molestation trial. Now there's some speculation he might be doing some talking.

The prosecution is set to wrap up its case perhaps as early as tomorrow. The next question is this: will Jackson testify in his own defense? First, the defense is expected to ask the judge to dismiss the case on insufficient evidence. That's expected to go nowhere.

Police in Los Angeles are trying to figure out whether six shootings that have happened on an L.A. freeways since March are connected. The latest occurred this weekend.

A 19-year-old man told police he was driving on the 405 when a dark vehicle with four or five men inside pulled up beside him. Then, shots were fired.

The man was hit several times but managed to get off the freeway and flag down help. He's in stable condition right now. Four other recent freeway shootings were fatal.

Two South Carolina teenagers are hungry, dehydrated and sun burned, but otherwise OK after an ordeal at sea. Troy Driscoll and Josh Long set off on a fishing trip April 24. Then a rip current dragged their 14-foot boat out to sea. They were found 111 miles from where they started. One of the boys says they survived anyway they could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Really, we didn't eat anything. Troy ate these little jelly balls that we can catch with my hat. We just scooped them up out of the water.

The water, the only thing we could do with the water was gargle salt water and spit it out. And it drizzled one night, and we licked the water off the deck, trying to get something. And that's all we had. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Josh Long said they did a lot of praying. And he added this: "We didn't even get a chance to fish."

Lucky guys.

North Korea apparently launches another missile. What could that mean for a Bush administration determined to fence in the communist regime's nuclear ambitions? We'll go in depth when we come back.

Also, it's Tony Blair's first major political test since the Iraq war. Will British voters punish the prime minister for a war many of them feel they were never supposed to get involved in? We'll take a closer look at that.

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BLITZER: Welcome back.

Another British soldier is killed in Iraq, no doubt fueling the anger many Britons feel about their country's involvement in the war from day one. And fueling the opposition just days before the prime minister learns whether he can keep his job.

CNN's Robin Oakley is joining us live from London, last-minute campaigning under way.

The election scheduled for Thursday, Robin. Tell us what the mood is right now. Does it look like Tony Blair is set to be re- elected?

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Almost, certainly, Wolf, yes, because we've got opinion polls showing anything from a 10-point Labor lead to a two to three-point labor lead. And you have to set that against the fact the conservative opposition, if they're going to turn Tony Blair out of Downing Street, deprive him of a majority, they need a six-point lead for themselves. If they're going to be the next government, they've got to have a 10-point lead. The whole system is skewed against the conservative opposition at the moment, because this is an election fought on out-of-date boundaries.

But Tony Blair and his party are not behaving as if they've got this election in the bag. And the reason is the wrong subject keeps cropping up in the headlines. It's Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, day after day, more revelations, leaked memorandums, leaked Downing Street about the government, for example, committing itself to war in Iraq many months before it has previously indicated that it did so. And Tony Blair is worried that in the marginal seats, a lot of traditional labor supporters who didn't like the war will fail to turn out in what may be a low turnout election.

There hasn't been much fire on issues raised by the opposition like immigration, but they're trying to boost their core vote and to keep down the general voting level in the hope that Labor's dissidents will really let down Tony Blair the at the end of the day. But it has to be said, on the arithmetic, it looks as if Tony Blair is heading into Downing Street -- Wolf.

BLITZER: The election's coming up on Thursday. We'll be watching closely together with you, Robin. Thanks very much. Robin Oakley is our man in London.

Meanwhile, there's been another apparent provocative move from North Korea. Over the weekend, the White House says Pyongyang test- fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan, once again raising deep concerns about its nuclear intentions.

Here to shed some light on what's going on -- the stakes are simply enormous -- two guests. Daniel Poneman is a former special assistant to President Clinton, senior director for nonproliferation over at the National Security Council. He's now a principal of the Scowcroft Group, an advisory/consulting group here in Washington. And Joseph Cirincione is a senior associate and director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also here in Washington.

Gentlemen, thanks very much for joining us.

Dan, I'll start with you. What do you make of this short-range missile test? What does it mean?

DANIEL PONEMAN, FMR. SPC. ASST. TO THE PRES.: I think it means the North Koreans are becoming increasingly impatient with what they see as a stalemate. There's been a lot of speculation recently that they might actually test a nuclear device. That, I think, the North Koreans likely judged to be too provocative, could alienate even countries like China. I think is sort of a get-your-attention move, and I think they are trying to put some pressure on the United States and others to come to the table and give them something that they're looking for.

BLITZER: You agree, Joe?

JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR PEACE: I do agree. The North Koreans have a number of other gestures they could make. I expect in the next few weeks we'll see signs of truck activity around the reactor, for example, hints that they're moving the fuel rods to reprocess them, extract more plutonium from nuclear weapons, some more provocative statements from Kim Jong-Il, all aimed at sending a message, we're here, you can't ignore us, you have to deal with us.

BLITZER: Well, the allies -- the countries around North Korea -- South Korea, Japan, China, Russia -- they're working together with the United States to talk to North Korea and to try to calm things down. Is the issue that the North Koreans want to have a bilateral relationship with the United States? They want some respect from Washington? Is that what they're trying to provoke?

PONEMAN: Well, anybody who tries to tell you that they know what the North Koreans are up to, I think should be a little suspicious. I think the evidence suggests that the one thing they want above all is to preserve their regime. And if they can preserve their regime by keeping this nuclear weapon as an ace in the hole, they will do it. In my view, the only way we can move them off of that path is if we force the Kim Jong-Il regime to choose between a safe future without nuclear weapons and a dangerous future in which their regime would be at risk if they persist on their current course. So I think the North Koreans view the six-party talks as a purely derivative issue to this larger objective.

BLITZER: The larger objective meaning they want the U.S. to play a direct role with them?

PONEMAN: The larger objective is they want to stay in power, and if they can use the U.S. as leverage to do that, they will do that. And if they can use the differences between the U.S. and the other five to continue what they're now doing, which is to essentially build their nuclear arsenal, or they're nuclear capability, every day without any penalty, I think they'll do that.

BLITZER: For those nuclear bombs that they presumably have, half a dozen or so, that the intelligence community believes they may already have, that's their insurance policy, Joe. Is that's what they see as their survival, of this communist regime in North Korea?

CIRINCIONE: I think that is certainly one of their options. I honestly think they haven't made a firm decision yet whether they're irrevocably committed to the nuclear weapons option for that insurance or whether they're willing to make a deal. And the problem is that we haven't tested that proposition.

Kim Jong-Il is a petty tyrant, but the operative word here is "petty." We're the big power. We have all the cards. We have to play them. What that means is we have to be willing to actually negotiate a deal with North Korea to test it, whether they're willing to give it up or not. Until they do that, we'll just going to have hesitation on the part of China, Japan, South Korea, who don't believe that we've gone the extra mile.

BLITZER: But if you're Kim Jong-Il and you're whatever you are, you want to survive, and if you give up your nuclear bombs, you become like Saddam Hussein, in effect. You're potentially -- you're vulnerable. As long as you have a nuclear deterrent, you survive. That may be going through his mind?

CIRINCIONE: Not necessarily. You could become like Moammar Gadhafi, who is a dictator who had a nuclear program and we made a deal. We didn't eliminate that regime. We actually guaranteed the continued existence of that regime. We changed the regime's behavior. That's a model that could be applied to North Korea, although it's getting increasingly difficult to do so as time goes on and we don't negotiate, we don't try to make a deal. They may now be hardening their position. We may be at point where it's too late to cut a deal.

BLITZER: You think he could be another Moammar Gadhafi and give up his nuclear program.

PONEMAN: Only under one circumstance, he must conclude that he has to choose between his regime and the nuclear weapons. This is the point I keep coming back to. I agree with Joe, we have not really tested that proposition with the very clear upside if they comply.

BLITZER: But wasn't that tested during the Clinton administration when you did make a deal with him, that he would get all sorts of aid, he'd get all sorts of energy sources, give up the nuclear ambitions and he'd be just fine. And he cheated and he lied and he said nevermind.

PONEMAN: Right. There's cheaters and there's liars, there's no question about it. But remember, when we got that deal, which you covered from the White House, we got eight years of no plutonium. They would have, Wolf, 100 nuclear weapons worth of plutonium now but for that deal.

Do we trust them? Of course not. But what do you do when you have a bad debt? Does the bank forgive your debt? No, they roll that debt into a larger obligation. I believe when we caught them cheating, we should have taken that cheating and said now we have to ask you to do more, take more safeguards, more intrusive inspections and then get a new deal and then hopefully buy some more time.

CIRINCIONE: I think the Clinton administration dropped the ball by never finalizing that deal. We froze the program, but we never moved to actually eliminate it and shut the whole thing down. When the Bush administration came in, they just kicked the ball off the field.

BLITZER: But he started cheating before the Bush administration took office?

CIRINCIONE: Yes, on this side program to try to enrich uranium, but the main program is about plutonium. And we froze that plutonium for them. They don't have a uranium bomb. If they have any bombs at all, it's based on plutonium.

BLITZER: Very quickly. What should the Bush administration be doing right now to ease this tension?

PONEMAN: Well, I don't know that we want to ease the tension. You know what I think, Wolf? I think we need to force the issue. Right now, it seems to me tactically North Korea is pacing this crisis. But they're doing things every day that lessen our security. So I wouldn't ease the tension. I would say we need to talk to the Chinese, the Japanese and South Koreans and bring North Korea to serious negotiations now.

BLITZER: What's your recommendation?

CIRINCIONE: That's right. Get agreement, particularly with South Korea and Japan, on a negotiating strategy. Here's the deal, here's how we would sequence the stacks. We do A, they do B, they do C, they do D. It ends with a complete and verifiable dismantlement of the North Korean program.

BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) Cirincione, Dan Poneman. Two smart guys. Thanks very much.

CIRINCIONE: Thank you.

BLITZER: When I say the stakes are enormous, I think all of us recognize with Kim Jong Il in North Korea having his finger on, potentially, right now six nuclear bombs, the stakes are enormous.

CIRINCIONE: It doesn't get more serious than this.

BLITZER: And with these missiles potentially able to reach not only Japan, but even Alaska and maybe the West Coast of the United States, the impact for the U.S. could be -- it's about as important an issue as we can think of. Thanks very much gentleman.

PONEMAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: When we come back, from serving our nation to standing in the unemployment line. Are some Reservists and National Guard members being punished, yes punished, for the time they spend away for their civilian jobs? We'll take a closer look.

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BLITZER: They answer the call of duty during wartime, but many reservists not only risk their lives, but they also risk their livelihoods.

Our Kelly Wallace looks at the growing number of reservists who return from war only to fight another battle: to keep their jobs.

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WALLACE (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Steve Duarte of Littleton, Colorado considers himself the consummate citizen soldier. Twenty-eight years as a Reservist with the Marine Corps and 19 years with Hewlett-Packard and its spin-off company, Agilent Technologies.

But in November, 2003, after his second post-September 11 deployment, the 52-year-old was fired.

LT. COL. STEVE DUARTE, U.S. MARINES CORPS RESERVES: It was primarily an emotional thing for me. It was one of shock. I couldn't understand why they did it. And I think the pride thing kicked in there, too -- what did I do wrong?

WALLACE: Duarte says after his deployment, Agilent assigned him to a special project rather than his previous position in human resources. Court records show Agilent was carrying out a workforce reduction program, terminating Duarte after he scored poorly on a critical skills assessment test. Duarte contacted a Marine Corps lawyer and filed a lawsuit.

DUARTE: This is a battle that shouldn't be fought because you're coming back to your families, you're coming back to the United States, you're coming back for a lot of other good reasons, and to have to do something like that and try to fight that battle, it's -- it just wasn't right. WALLACE: After a trial, a federal judge ruled that Agilent violated federal law in terminating Duarte four months after he returned from Kuwait and Iraq. The judge awarded Duarte nearly $390,000 for loss of back pay and loss of future pay.

DUARTE: It was never about the money. It was always about being able to get the word out to other veterans coming back.

WALLACE: Getting the word out about the federal law. It mandates Reservists are entitled to their previous civilian jobs, as well as the pay, status and seniority they would have had if they hadn't gone away. And employers are barred from firing Reservists for a minimum of six months after deployments, except for cause.

(on camera): Lieutenant Colonel Duarte is not alone. Since September 11, Reservists have seen the biggest call-up since World War II. And with that, the number of complaints from Reservists has gone up.

(voice-over): Gone up from an average of 900 complaints a year to the Labor Department to nearly 1,500 cases in the 2004 fiscal year, a 67 percent increase.

Retired National Guard General Paul Monroe witnessed the problem back in 2002 when his son's job was abolished during his deployment. Monroe then testified before his son's school district to help save his son's job. Since then, he has gotten involved with the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a group which, Monroe says, tries to help not just Reservists, but employers, as well.

GEN. PAUL MONROE (RET.), U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Not only is it hard on soldiers and families, it's hard on their employers, too. There's one employer that went out of his way to hire Reservists because of their training and everything. Now he says that he can't -- he cannot operate because all his Reservists are his supervisors. And we're taking them all away.

WALLACE: Monroe says more predictability, such as knowing how long deployments will last and when they will occur, would help both employers and Reservists.

Duarte, who has set up a Web site, hopes his story helps Reservists and sends a message to companies like his former employer.

DUARTE: If you're an employer and you're thinking about doing this, this is what it might cost you. And if you're a veteran coming back and this is happening to you, let somebody know, because now there is some recourse.

WALLACE: Duarte formally retired from the Marine Reserve Sunday, but won't retire from being a citizen soldier. His mission: making sure Reservists have the information they need to fight back.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: CNN's "LIVE FROM" comes your way at the top of the hour every weekday.

Joining us for a little preview, the one and only Kyra Phillips.

What do you got, Kyra?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From the one and only Wolf Blitzer. Thanks, Wolf.

The runaway bride, of course. I know we're all still talking about her. Are you furious with her? Do you feel sorry for her? Taxpayers dollars spent to find what some feared was an abducted bride. Now we find out she just had cold feet. E-mail us at livefrom@CNN.com and tell us if you think she should be prosecuted and why. We're going to talk about it.

Then rescue at sea. We've got the exclusive interview, Wolf. of the USS Normandy tell us how his sailors rescued 94 people in the Gulf of Aden after their vessel capsized. We've got the video and the emotional tale. Should be good -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, very -- pretty amazing pictures, Kyra. Thanks very much. Kyra Phillips comes our way at the top of the hour on "LIVE FROM."

We'll take a quick break. We'll being right back.

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BLITZER: I'll be back later today, every weekday, 5:00 p.m. Eastern for "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS." Among my guest later today, the foreign minister of France. He's here in Washington. The U.S. and France were bitterly divided over the Iraq war, but what's the status of the relationship right now? What international issues can these two allies agree on? That's coming up, 5:00 p.m. Eastern on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS."

Until then, thanks very much for watching NEWS FROM CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips, that's coming up next.

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