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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Atlanta Courthouse Employees Return to Work after Shootings; Thousands Protest in Lebanon Against Pro-Syrian Government

Aired March 14, 2005 - 17:00   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, HOST: Happening now, three and a half years after 9/11, a chilling new government report about terror in the sky and the threats America still faces.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): After the shootings, they're back in the courthouse. The alleged killer could soon be back with them.

PAUL HOWARD, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's going to be a very large indictment.

BLITZER: Heroic hostage.

ASHLEY SMITH, HOSTAGE SURVIVOR: Talking about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family.

BLITZER: She gained the trust of a gunman.

SMITH: He told me I was an angel sent from God.

BLITZER: What you can learn from her actions.

Killing sprees. Two bloody rampages in two days, 12 people dead in all. Were there warning signs?

People power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our country to be free.

BLITZER: Is this the dawn of a new Middle East?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, March 14, 2005.

BLITZER: Thanks for joining us.

The man accused of gunning down an Atlanta judge and three other victims is in prison. But the emotional impact of Friday's terrifying shooting spree continues to cast an unsettling shadow both on those who knew the victims and those who just watched events unfold.

CNN's Kimberly Osias is joining us now live from just outside the courthouse where the killings began -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Wolf.

Well, the mood is definitely different here. Hearts are heavy and emotions raw on this, the first day back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS (voice-over): The Fulton County courthouse reopened just 72 hours after the shooting rampage that killed Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Sheriff Sergeant Hoyt Teasley. It was hardly back to work as usual.

REV. HOWARD CREECY, FULTON COUNTY CHAPLAIN: That's a lot of touching, a lot of hugging, a lot of corporate grieving.

OSIAS: The body of the fourth person to die in the rampage, David Wilhelm, arrived in North Carolina. Firefighters lined up alongside the road, paying their respects to the fallen customs and immigration agent.

Wilhelm had just recently moved to Atlanta. Authorities say it appears he was just the random victim of a fugitive on the run.

MICHAEL GARCIA, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS: Special Agent Wilhelm, who was 40 years old, was shot and killed while working on his new home in the Atlanta area.

OSIAS: The accused killer, Brian Nichols, is under lock and key in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He was captured over the weekend hiding in the suburban Atlanta apartment of Ashley Smith.

Police say Smith was a hostage for hours, but after reading to him passages that included some from the Bible, she managed to persuade Nichols to release her. Then she called authorities.

Today, her grandparents called her a hero.

DICK MACHOVEC, ASHLEY SMITH'S GRANDFATHER: Oh, yes, Ashley with the weight of the world for awhile. But when it was needed, she hit a home run for Christ.

OSIAS: Nichols was on trial for rape and false imprisonment charges when witnesses say he overpowered a sheriff's deputy and began his shooting spree. Today a mistrial was declared in that case. Federal firearms charges against Nichols have been dropped, apparently to allow the state of Georgia to file murder charges first.

HOWARD: We plan to charge him with the murders of the four Fulton County residents. We plan to charge him with a number of aggravated assault, carjackings. It's going to be a very large indictment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS: Large indeed. Tuesday is the earliest Brian Nichols could appear in court for his arraignment. Obviously, security is expected to be quite tight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kimberly Osias in Atlanta. Thank you very much, Kimberly.

Atlanta police officers are reviewing their role in the manhunt for Brian Nichols. Specifically, how they overlooked the green Honda they thought he had stolen from a parking garage but which turned out to be parked just one level down.

I spoke about that earlier today with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RICHARD PENNINGTON, ATLANTA POLICE: I'm in a process of looking at what we did right and what we did wrong. And primarily one area that I'm really focused on is that Honda being parked, that Honda being parked in the garage.

I know that there was chaos that day. A lot of things were going on, but -- and information that we received that Brian Nichols actually drove out of that garage. But you know, I think we made a mistake by not thoroughly covering that garage. And I want to find out why it occurred and why it happened. And so we don't make that mistake again.

BLITZER: Surveillance videotape from that garage showing him driving away from the spot where he allegedly commandeered that car, but he apparently just drove it to another level of the garage and left it there for some sort of reason, which we don't really understand at this point, unless you can update us on that.

PENNINGTON: Well, I think that what happened is that, you're right. We went back and looked at that video, too. And all information that we have received was he did drive that out of the garage. And that's why we didn't focus our attention on looking for him in the garage and also looking for that vehicle.

But what we found out is he was able to take that car to another level, and then exit the garage and then board a MARTA train. And then he headed up toward plaza, a shopping center up around the Phipp's Plaza (ph). So we do know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The weekend capture of Brian Nichols has focused a lot of attention on 26-year-old Ashley Smith, the suburban Atlanta woman who was taken hostage but then persuaded Nichols to let her go. CNN's Mary Snow discussed Smith's actions with veteran hostage negotiators.

Mary Snow is joining us now live from New York.

Mary, what did you find out?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Ashley Smith is certainly being praised for the way she handled herself when she was taken hostage. And those in law enforcement say there are lessons to be learned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: He put a gun to my side. And he said, "Don't scream. If you don't scream, I won't hurt you."

SNOW (voice-over): And that was just the start of a horrifying seven-hour hostage ordeal. Law enforcement experts say by keeping a cool head and saying the right things, 33-year-old Ashley Smith got the upper hand that let her escape unharmed and led police to Brian Nichols, suspected of four murderers.

Maki Haberfeld, a former Israeli police lieutenant, says, though, that Smith took a big chance, and she says Smith was extremely lucky.

PROF. MAKI HABERFELD, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: To rely on luck when your life is in danger, I would rather try my chances in terms of, you know, one out of 10 is better than one out of zero. And one out of 10 would be run. If the opportunity is there, run for your life, rather than saying that you can talk your way out of the situation.

SNOW: An "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reporter did run when Nichols allegedly tried to force him in a car on Friday. In that case, running worked. In Smith's case, she engaged Nichols in conversation.

SMITH: I basically just talked to him and tried to gain his trust.

SNOW: And Haberfeld says Smith did the right thing by the way she spoke to Nichols, and it's what she advises police officers to do in hostage negotiations.

HABERFELD: Talking in a way that will minimize any type of antagonism between you and the hostage taker. Try to empathize, try to be as understanding as possible.

SNOW: Smith told Nichols about her husband who was killed, about her daughter. They talked about God, and she read part of a book about the purpose of life. And former hostage negotiators say that part was key.

HOWARD ROBERTSON, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: The goal of the hostage negotiation is to make that person realize there's a tomorrow. If you get past today, there's a tomorrow. And things work out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And one key thing hostage negotiators also say is that she personalized the situation by talking about her family, showing a family photo, that it becomes harder for a hostage taker to hurt someone they know -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Mary Snow reporting for us. Thank you, Mary.

Four more sad chapters to the Atlanta drama will unfold this week as services are held for the four people Brian Nichols is accused of killing. Each of them leaves behind grieving family and friends and a void that cannot be filled.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Friends say Rowland Barnes was more than a good judge; he was a good person. A few words pop up repeatedly in tributes, words like "kind," "warm" and "gentle." They were attributes that helped make jury duty in his court palatable, if not pleasant.

STEPHEN O'LEARY, JUROR IN FIRST NICHOLS TRIAL: Like everybody said, he's just a super nice guy. And he was very compassionate, very professional. He would take time out during the trial to talk to us, the jury, and educate us on what was going on. And he just created a very relaxed and warm environment.

BLITZER: Also contributing to that warm environment, his court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau. An avid baker, friends say she would routinely stay up late making sweet treats to take in the next day for jurors. Like Judge Barnes, her colleagues were also her friends.

EVELYN PARKER, COURT REPORTER: We went to concerts together and just did special things, and I don't have a friend to do that with anymore. I mean, she was, like, the one I could be really myself with. And so I don't have that friend, that kind of friend left.

BLITZER: Sergeant Hoyt Teasley was a 19-year veteran of the Fulton County Sheriff's Department. Described as quiet and good natured, a neighbor says Teasley was the kind of person everyone would like to have living next door.

David Wilhelm was a decorated agent with the Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency. A fellow agent remembers him as a tremendous soldier and calls his death America's loss. For Wilhelm's friends, it's a personal loss.

JACK TAYLOR, FRIEND OF DAVID WILHELM: He was just such a good guy. And he would give you the shirt off your back. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It's such a senseless killing. Why did it have to happen to him? It shouldn't have happened to him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, improvements are reported for Cynthia Hall. She's the deputy sheriff Nichols allegedly attacked to get his weapon in the first place. Hall has been upgraded from critical to stable condition. She suffered a blow to the head and possible fractures.

Overshadowed by the Atlanta killings, a Wisconsin rampage that left eight people dead. What these cases did and didn't have in common.

A massive call for true independence. CNN's Anderson Cooper, he's live in Beirut, scene of the largest rally yet. We'll go there.

Also this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: He brought some masking tape and then an extension cord and a curtain in there. And I kind of thought he was going to strangle me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In her own words. A former hostage tells her gripping story, how she persuaded accused killer Brian Nichols to let her go. We'll hear from her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Residents of Brookfield, Wisconsin, are trying to figure out what went wrong this weekend when a straight-laced churchgoer walked into a service and began shooting. Terry Ratzmann killed seven people and wounded four others Saturday before turning the gun on himself.

One neighbor describes Ratzmann as completely -- a completely average guy. Some who knew him say he suffered from depression. The 44-year-old computer technician is also said to have become angry at a sermon delivered only two weeks ago.

No suicide note has been found, but investigators have seized three computers with encrypted files.

Back-to-back killing sprees, 11 victims shot dead, even as the nation's crime rate drops. Should anyone have seen it coming?

CNN's Brian Todd joining us now live with more -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, criminal profilers said they always look for red flags in these cases, but even when those flags pop up, finding the real trigger for these events can be difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): In Atlanta and Brookfield, Wisconsin, one case leaves traces of an explanation, another case seemingly unexplainable.

Brian Nichols faced a long prison term for alleged rape. He might have seen an opportunity to escape. But no one can fathom why he went out of his way to allegedly kill a judge and a court reporter.

In Wisconsin, an official of the Living Church of God says he couldn't foresee Terry Ratzmann firing on the congregation, killing seven people, then himself.

CHARLES BRYCE, LIVING CHURCH OF GOD: He didn't seem in any way, shape or form troubled. He just seemed to make sure that he got to ask his questions, and they seemed very important to him.

TODD: The statistics don't explain either case. According to the FBI, violent crime in the U.S. went down two percent in the first six months of last year, compared to the same time period in 2003. The FBI says violent crime for that year was down three percent from 2002.

With crime tracking downward in so many categories, can anything explain two rampages in as many days, leaving 12 people dead?

PETER SMERICK, FORMER FBI PROFILER: We look for stressors that are going on in that individual's life which may have caused them to act out in a violent manner.

TODD: Former FBI profiler Peter Smerick says there are five factors that influence spree killers and mass murderers: emotional distress, mental deterioration, anger, the desire for revenge, and personal failure. Smerick says they don't all need to be at play to touch off a mass killing, but in these two cases some applied to suspect Brian Nichols, other applied to Terry Ratzmann, some applied to both.

Of the two, he says, Ratzmann's case would have been harder to predict.

SMERICK: The most difficult cases to analyze is when you have an individual who internalizes all of his feelings, all of his paranoia, all of his hatred, doesn't share those ideas with anyone, and then you have the misfortune of either saying or doing something that triggers a response.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Another indication of how difficult it is to predict or explain these killings, according to Peter Smerick, all of us have three different sides to our personalities: the public, the private and the secret. In the case of a mass murderer, he says that secret side only comes out when they act violently -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And it's almost always tragic. Thanks so much. Brian Todd reporting.

Hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets of Beirut. The largest independence rally yet. CNN's Anderson Cooper is on the scene for us. We'll go live to Beirut.

Also, a new report card on aviation security in the United States. How safe are America's airlines right now? This is an important story for anyone who flies.

Plus, a major ruling on same-sex marriage. What a California judge has just decided. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: One month after the car bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and many of his associates, hundreds of thousands gathered today in Beirut, calling for true independence in the largest anti-Syrian protest yet.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is on the scene for us. He's in Beirut. He's joining us live with the latest.

Anderson, quite a remarkable day where you are.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Yes, it was just an incredible day, one of those days you were just so glad you were here to actually see it for yourself.

Downtown Beirut filled with hundreds and thousands of Lebanese: men, women and children, young and old. It was an extraordinary sight. I was talking to CNN's Brent Sadler, the bureau chief here. He said it's the largest demonstration not only in Lebanon's history but that he's ever seen in the entire Middle East.

If you think that Lebanon has about four million people population, there were hundreds of thousands here, well over 500,000. The organizers said they had at least a million people here. It's impossible to confirm that.

But as far as the eye could see, it was people waving Lebanese flags, a sight which, until recently, we really haven't seen very much. There was a real sense of people trying to get together in this country, in this land, which has been so divided into factions. You saw people coming together today, and it was a truly remarkable sight.

Not only were there speeches, people were demanding the truth. You heard those two words over and over, "the truth." They want the truth about who killed their former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. It was one month ago exactly today. And there still is no public investigation, no results of an investigation. They don't know how he was killed. They want answers, and they want Syria out now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. A dramatic development in Lebanon. CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting on the scene. This important note to our viewers: Anderson will have much more live in Beirut in about 90 minutes, a little bit more than 90 minutes from now on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That airs 7 p.m. Eastern.

Can Syria withstand the surge of people power and international pressure? Can democracy take hold in the broader Middle East?

Joining us now from New York, the former defense secretary, William Cohen, our world affairs analyst. He's also chairman and CEO of the Cohen Group.

Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us. Hundreds of thousands gathered to protest Syria's occupation, if you will, presence in Lebanon. But hundreds of thousands protested the other day, led by Hezbollah in favor of Syria.

The nightmare scenario is that the battle days of the civil war could be coming back. How concerned should we be?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think we have to be concerned. This seems to be a case of anything you can do, I can do better. When the forces that came out and said, get Syria out now, that was responded to by the pro-Syrian group, as you mentioned, of some 500,000. This could be anywhere from 500,000 to 800,000.

So there's a real split, clearly, in Lebanon. And how it's going to play out remains to be seen. But clearly, there is a demand on the part of the Syria out now faction to get answers to the question about who assassinated, murdered Prime Minister Hariri.

BLITZER: Is -- is it likely that the Syrian military withdrawal, all 14,000, 15,000 troops, will in fact be out of Lebanon by May when the Lebanese have scheduled their elections?

COHEN: It's possible they all could be withdrawn. About a third have been pulled out now. The other two-thirds somewhere in the east in the Bekaa Valley. But they could all be out by that time.

But the real question is what about the intelligence units that still have deeply embedded themselves into -- into Lebanese society? And so there are still a lot of issues yet to be resolved. And what will happen, what kind of government actually will be formed. We still have deep divisions within Lebanese society.

But as it stands now, this is a very positive development. People are being free from fear, willing to courageously step out and express their opposition to Syria's presence in their country.

BLITZER: Is there anything else the U.S. government can or should be doing right now to facilitate this Syrian exit from Lebanon?

COHEN: I think what the United States can continue to do is to build international consensus. Having the United Nations, certainly, endorse it, having Saudi Arabia, having Egypt, having other countries come forward and say it's time for Syria to get out, I think that kind of international pressure will bring about the result faster than any kind of alternative.

BLITZER: One final question on Iran, a new U.S. strategy, cooperating with the Europeans, the British, the French, the Germans, to offer some incentives to the Iranians to stop their nuclear program. What do you make of this?

COHEN: Well, it is a shift on the part of the administration, saying we're prepared to support the European initiative with some carrots extended to the Iranian government as such.

But there has to be some consideration of what are the sticks going to be involved. And apparently, there is something of a commitment, at least as I understand it, on the part of the Europeans that say in the event that Iran should breach its agreements or undertake any kind of covert activities, start building nuclear capability, nuclear weapons capability, they would go to the Security Council for a resolution that would impose severe sanctions and perhaps other types of activity.

So to the extent that there are sticks, at least implicitly involved, I believe the United States is shifting its policy and supporting the E.U. at this point.

BLITZER: William Cohen, the former defense secretary, thanks very much.

COHEN: A pleasure.

BLITZER: Billions of your tax dollars spent on beefing up aviation security. And it still may not be enough. A new federal government report detailing how al Qaeda may still be targeting airplanes. We're watching your security. That's coming up next.

Plus on the stand, Michael Jackson's accuser is being questioned once again today. We'll have an update on the boy's testimony.

Also, the story of a heroic hostage. How this woman won the trust of a gunman and got out alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Associated Press is now reporting that the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, has been released from the hospital in New York. He had surgery last Thursday. He is now out, apparently doing relatively fine. Will recuperate for awhile. This is file footage from last week, before he went into the hospital, not his release today. But Bill Clinton out of the hospital in New York, on his way home, presumably to upstate New York in Chappaqua.

Let's take a quick check of some other stories now in the news.

This is file footage from last week, before he went into the hospital, not his release today, but Bill Clinton out of the hospital in New York, on his way home, presumably, to Update New York and Chappaqua.

Let's take a quick check of some other stories now in the news.

The battle over same-sex marriage takes a new turn in California. A San Francisco judge says it's unconstitutional for the state to limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman. The ruling is likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The Michael Jackson trial is now in its third week. And, on the stand today, the teenage boy who accuses the pop star of molesting him. Under questioning by the defense, the boy admitted that he told an administrator at his school that nothing sexual happened between him and Jackson.

American-born terror suspect Ahmed Abu Ali pleaded not guilty today to charges of providing material support to al Qaeda and terror conspiracy. The plea was entered in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Among other things, the Virginia native is accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush.

Karen Hughes, a longtime adviser to President Bush, is heading back to Washington. Provided she's confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Hughes will serve as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Among other things, Hughes will try to improve the U.S. image abroad, especially in the Arab and Muslim world. The Texan left Washington some three years ago to spend more time with her family back home in Texas.

In our CNN "Security Watch," 3 1/2 years after 9/11, a federal security overview says terrorists may still have their eye on U.S. skies.

Let's turn to our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, officials say there is no new intelligence regarding threats to aviation, that this document is a recap, an analysis.

But it is chilling nonetheless. According to government officials, it says, given the devastating effect of the September 11, 2001, attacks, commercial airlines are likely to remain a target and a platform for terrorists. Noting the tightening of security in the commercial aviation sector, it goes on to say, the largely unregulated general aviation sector presents an area of potential concern for exploitation by terrorists.

General aviation includes just about everything but commercial airlines and the military. The Transportation Security Administration says it has tightened security in that realm, checking pilot certificates against no-fly lists, providing security guidelines to airport owners, operators and users. But the secretary of homeland security says there is a need to prioritize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: No one mode of transportation should get attention to the exclusion of everything else. We have to weigh the risks. We have to look at where the vulnerabilities are, what the consequences would be of a terrorist attack in a particular sector. And then we balance all that in a comprehensive approach to addressing our aviation and all transportation security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Government officials acknowledge aviation is not 100 percent secure and say the very point of distributing this overview was to keep all involved vigilant -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, still lots of work to do, no doubt about that. Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much for that report.

And to our viewers, please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

When we come back, a young woman held hostage by the suspected Atlanta courthouse shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: I talked to him about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family. I asked him why he did what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll hear Ashley Smith's amazing story in her own words. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now back to our top story, the aftermath of the Atlanta courthouse shootings.

We've heard a lot about 26-year-old Ashley Smith, the hostage who managed to escape. Now we're going to hear from Smith herself, talking about how events unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: It was about 2:00 in the morning. I left my -- I was leaving my apartment to go to the store. I noticed a blue truck in the parking lot with a man in it pulling up. And he parked in the parking space. And I really didn't think too much about it because I had just moved into that apartment, you know, two days prior.

So I thought maybe he was a neighbor coming home or something. So I left and went to the store. And I came back to my apartment about five minutes later and the truck was still there and he was still in it.

It was in a different parking space. It was actually behind the one where I had left. So I pulled back in there. And I kind of got a little worried then. I thought there's somebody still in that truck.

And so I got my key to my -- to my house ready. And I opened up my car door, and I got out and shut it. And I heard his shut right behind me.

I started walking to my door, and I felt really, really scared. So I put my key in the door, and I unlocked it, and I turned around, and he was right there.

And I started to scream. And he put a gun to my side and he said, Don't scream. If you don't scream, I won't hurt you.

So I said, All right, OK, I won't scream. We went in the house, and he shut and locked the door behind us.

He told me to go into the bathroom. So I went to the bathroom and he followed me into the bathroom, and he said, Do you know who I am? I said, No, because he had a hat on.

And then he took his hat off, and he said, Now do you know who I am? And I said, Yeah, I know who you are. Please don't hurt me. Just please don't hurt me. I have a 5-year-old little girl. Please don't hurt me.

He said, I'm not going to hurt you, if you just do what I say. I said, All right.

So he told me to get in the bathtub. So I got in the bathtub. And he said, I really don't feel comfortable around here. I'm going to walk around your house for a few minutes just so I can get the feel of it. I said, OK.

He said, I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else. So please don't do anything that's going to make me hurt you.

He said, You know, somebody could have heard your scream already. And if they did, the police are on the way, and I'm going to have to hold you hostage, and I'm going to have to kill and probably myself and lots of other people. And I don't want that. And I said, OK, I'll do what you say.

He looked around my house for a few minutes, I heard him opening up drawers and just going through my stuff. And he came back in and said, I want to relax, and I don't feel comfortable with you right now. So I'm going to have to tie you up.

He brought some masking tape and an extension cord and a curtain in there, and I kind of thought he was going to strangle me. I was really kind of scared. But he told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back, and he wrapped my hands in a prayer -- in a praying position, so I did that. And he wrapped masking tape around my hands.

And then he told me to go into my bedroom, and I sat down on the bed, like he asked. And he wrapped my legs with masking tape and an extension cord. He also took a curtain and put it around my -- my stomach. And he asked me if I could get up, and I got up. He said, Can you walk? And I said, No. So he picked me up and he took me to the bathroom. And he put me on a stool that I have in my bathroom.

He said he wanted to take a shower. So I said, OK, you can take a shower. He said, Well, I'm going to put a towel over your head so you don't have to watch me take a shower. So I said, OK. All right.

He got in the shower, took a shower, and then he got out of the shower. And he had the guns laying on the counter. But I guess he really wasn't worried about me grabbing them because I was tied up.

He asked me if I had a T-shirt. I told him where to find one. So he got dressed.

He put on some clothes that I had in my house that were men's clothes. And then he came back in the bathroom. He said, Can you get up? So I got up. He said, Can you walk now? And I said, No, but I can hop. So I hopped to my bedroom and sat on the bed. And he cut the tape off of me, unwrapped the extension cord and the curtain.

I guess at that point, it kind of made me feel like he was comfortable enough with me that he untied me. So we went back in the bathroom. That's where he felt more comfortable, in the bathroom, away from the front of the house I guess. And we just talked.

I asked him if -- I told him that I was supposed to go see my little girl the next morning at 10:00, and I asked him if I could go see her. And he told me no.

My husband died four years ago, and I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy. And she was expecting to see me the next morning. And if he didn't let me go, she would be really upset.

He still told me no. But I could -- I could kind of feel that he started to know who I was, and he said, Maybe, maybe I'll let you go. Just maybe. We'll see how things go.

I went to my room, then I asked him if I could read. He said, What do you want to read? I said, Well, I have a book in my room, so I went and got it. I got our Bible, and I got a book called "The Purpose-Driven Life."

I turned it to the chapter that I was on that day, which was chapter 33, and I started to read the first paragraph of it. After I read it, he said, Stop. Will you read it again? I said, Yes, I'll read it again.

So I read it again to him. It mentioned something about what you thought your purpose in life was, what were you -- what talents were you given, what gifts were you given to use. And I asked him what he thought. And he said, I think it's to talk to people and tell them about you.

I basically just talked to him and tried to gain his trust. I wanted to leave to go see my daughter. That was really important. I didn't want him to hurt anybody else. He came into my apartment telling me that he was a soldier and that people -- that his people needed him for a job to do and he was doing it.

And I didn't want him to hurt anybody else. He didn't want to hurt anybody else. He just told me that he wanted a place to stay, to relax, to sit down, to watch TV, to eat some real food.

I talked to him about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family.

I asked him why he did what he did. And his reason was because he was a soldier. I asked him why he chose me and why he chose Bridgewater Apartments, and he said he didn't know, just randomly.

But after we began to talk, and -- he said he thought that I was an angel sent from God, and that I was his sister, and he was my brother in Christ. And that he was lost and God led him right to me to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people.

And the families, the people, to let him know how they felt, because I had gone through it myself. He told me that he didn't -- he didn't want to hurt the agent that he hurt. He had begged and pleaded with him to -- to do things his way and he didn't, so he had to kill him.

He said that he didn't shoot the deputy, that he hit her, and that he hoped she lived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Terrifying hours for Ashley Smith. And details of her final moments with suspected shooter Brian Nichols, the dramatic ending to her ordeal. We'll hear from her again in her own words when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now the second part of Ashley Smith's story.

A few minutes ago, we heard the former hostage talk about what it was like when she was taken hostage and her efforts to persuade her captor to release her and to surrender. Now we'll hear the rest of her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: He finally agreed to let me go see my daughter and to leave at 9:00, 9:30. And I really believed that he was going to. From the time he walked into my house until we were taking that truck, he was a totally different person to me. I felt very threatened, scared. I felt like he was going to kill me when I first -- when he first put the gun to my side. But when I followed him to take the truck, I felt like he was going to -- he was really going to turn himself in.

So he took the truck. He got in the car. And I said, Are you ready now? And he said, Give me a few days please.

I said, Come on, you've got to turn yourself in now. I didn't feel like he might -- I felt like he might change his mind, that he might not want to turn himself in the next day or a few days after that, and that if he did feel that way, then he would need money. And the only way he could get money was if he hurt somebody and took it from them.

So we went back to my house. And we got in the house, and he was hungry.

So I cooked him breakfast. He was overwhelmed with, Wow! He said, Real butter, pancakes? And I just talked with him a little more. Just about -- about -- we pretty much talked about God, mainly, and what his reason was, why he made it out of there. I said, Do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles, you're here for a reason. You're here in my apartment for some reason.

You got out of that courthouse with police everywhere. And you don't think that's a miracle? You don't think you're supposed to be sitting here right in front of me, listening to me tell you, you know, your reason here?

I said, You know, your miracle could be that you need to be -- you need to be caught for this. You need to go to prison and you need to share the word of God with all the prisoners there.

Well, 9:00 came. He said, What time do you have to leave? I said, I need to be there at 10:00, so I need to leave about 9:30.

So I sat down and talked to him a little bit more. He put the guns under the bed. Like you know, I'm done, I'm not going to mess around with you anymore.

So he gave me some money before I was about to leave. It was kind of like he knew. I said, You might need this money. He said, No, I don't need it. I'm going to be here for the next few days.

I basically said, You keep the money. And he said, No, I don't need it.

He asked me if there was anything I could do or he could do for me before I left, or while I was gone. He says, Is there anything I can do while you're gone? I know he was probably hoping deep down that I was going to come back, but I think he knew that I was going to do what I had to do. And I had to turn him in. And I gave him -- I asked him several times, you know, Come on, just go with me.

He said, I'll go with you in a few days. But when he asked me, Is there anything I can do while you're gone, like hang your curtains or something? I said, Yeah, if you want to.

He just wanted some normalness to his life right then. And I think he realized all this -- all this that I've been through, this is not me. I don't know. That's my opinion of what he -- but I left my house at 9:30.

And I got in the car, and I immediately called 911 and told them that he was there. And she asked me where I was. I said, I'm on my way to see my daughter.

I felt glad to just really be on my way to see my daughter. She said, You've got to turn around and go to the office. So that's what I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Ashley Smith, one remarkable, remarkable young woman.

We'll take another quick break and look ahead to what will happen tomorrow on this program right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A reminder: You can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Among my guests tomorrow, the political comedian Bill Maher.

Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 14, 2005 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, three and a half years after 9/11, a chilling new government report about terror in the sky and the threats America still faces.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): After the shootings, they're back in the courthouse. The alleged killer could soon be back with them.

PAUL HOWARD, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's going to be a very large indictment.

BLITZER: Heroic hostage.

ASHLEY SMITH, HOSTAGE SURVIVOR: Talking about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family.

BLITZER: She gained the trust of a gunman.

SMITH: He told me I was an angel sent from God.

BLITZER: What you can learn from her actions.

Killing sprees. Two bloody rampages in two days, 12 people dead in all. Were there warning signs?

People power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our country to be free.

BLITZER: Is this the dawn of a new Middle East?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, March 14, 2005.

BLITZER: Thanks for joining us.

The man accused of gunning down an Atlanta judge and three other victims is in prison. But the emotional impact of Friday's terrifying shooting spree continues to cast an unsettling shadow both on those who knew the victims and those who just watched events unfold.

CNN's Kimberly Osias is joining us now live from just outside the courthouse where the killings began -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Wolf.

Well, the mood is definitely different here. Hearts are heavy and emotions raw on this, the first day back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS (voice-over): The Fulton County courthouse reopened just 72 hours after the shooting rampage that killed Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Sheriff Sergeant Hoyt Teasley. It was hardly back to work as usual.

REV. HOWARD CREECY, FULTON COUNTY CHAPLAIN: That's a lot of touching, a lot of hugging, a lot of corporate grieving.

OSIAS: The body of the fourth person to die in the rampage, David Wilhelm, arrived in North Carolina. Firefighters lined up alongside the road, paying their respects to the fallen customs and immigration agent.

Wilhelm had just recently moved to Atlanta. Authorities say it appears he was just the random victim of a fugitive on the run.

MICHAEL GARCIA, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS: Special Agent Wilhelm, who was 40 years old, was shot and killed while working on his new home in the Atlanta area.

OSIAS: The accused killer, Brian Nichols, is under lock and key in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He was captured over the weekend hiding in the suburban Atlanta apartment of Ashley Smith.

Police say Smith was a hostage for hours, but after reading to him passages that included some from the Bible, she managed to persuade Nichols to release her. Then she called authorities.

Today, her grandparents called her a hero.

DICK MACHOVEC, ASHLEY SMITH'S GRANDFATHER: Oh, yes, Ashley with the weight of the world for awhile. But when it was needed, she hit a home run for Christ.

OSIAS: Nichols was on trial for rape and false imprisonment charges when witnesses say he overpowered a sheriff's deputy and began his shooting spree. Today a mistrial was declared in that case. Federal firearms charges against Nichols have been dropped, apparently to allow the state of Georgia to file murder charges first.

HOWARD: We plan to charge him with the murders of the four Fulton County residents. We plan to charge him with a number of aggravated assault, carjackings. It's going to be a very large indictment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS: Large indeed. Tuesday is the earliest Brian Nichols could appear in court for his arraignment. Obviously, security is expected to be quite tight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kimberly Osias in Atlanta. Thank you very much, Kimberly.

Atlanta police officers are reviewing their role in the manhunt for Brian Nichols. Specifically, how they overlooked the green Honda they thought he had stolen from a parking garage but which turned out to be parked just one level down.

I spoke about that earlier today with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RICHARD PENNINGTON, ATLANTA POLICE: I'm in a process of looking at what we did right and what we did wrong. And primarily one area that I'm really focused on is that Honda being parked, that Honda being parked in the garage.

I know that there was chaos that day. A lot of things were going on, but -- and information that we received that Brian Nichols actually drove out of that garage. But you know, I think we made a mistake by not thoroughly covering that garage. And I want to find out why it occurred and why it happened. And so we don't make that mistake again.

BLITZER: Surveillance videotape from that garage showing him driving away from the spot where he allegedly commandeered that car, but he apparently just drove it to another level of the garage and left it there for some sort of reason, which we don't really understand at this point, unless you can update us on that.

PENNINGTON: Well, I think that what happened is that, you're right. We went back and looked at that video, too. And all information that we have received was he did drive that out of the garage. And that's why we didn't focus our attention on looking for him in the garage and also looking for that vehicle.

But what we found out is he was able to take that car to another level, and then exit the garage and then board a MARTA train. And then he headed up toward plaza, a shopping center up around the Phipp's Plaza (ph). So we do know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The weekend capture of Brian Nichols has focused a lot of attention on 26-year-old Ashley Smith, the suburban Atlanta woman who was taken hostage but then persuaded Nichols to let her go. CNN's Mary Snow discussed Smith's actions with veteran hostage negotiators.

Mary Snow is joining us now live from New York.

Mary, what did you find out?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Ashley Smith is certainly being praised for the way she handled herself when she was taken hostage. And those in law enforcement say there are lessons to be learned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: He put a gun to my side. And he said, "Don't scream. If you don't scream, I won't hurt you."

SNOW (voice-over): And that was just the start of a horrifying seven-hour hostage ordeal. Law enforcement experts say by keeping a cool head and saying the right things, 33-year-old Ashley Smith got the upper hand that let her escape unharmed and led police to Brian Nichols, suspected of four murderers.

Maki Haberfeld, a former Israeli police lieutenant, says, though, that Smith took a big chance, and she says Smith was extremely lucky.

PROF. MAKI HABERFELD, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: To rely on luck when your life is in danger, I would rather try my chances in terms of, you know, one out of 10 is better than one out of zero. And one out of 10 would be run. If the opportunity is there, run for your life, rather than saying that you can talk your way out of the situation.

SNOW: An "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reporter did run when Nichols allegedly tried to force him in a car on Friday. In that case, running worked. In Smith's case, she engaged Nichols in conversation.

SMITH: I basically just talked to him and tried to gain his trust.

SNOW: And Haberfeld says Smith did the right thing by the way she spoke to Nichols, and it's what she advises police officers to do in hostage negotiations.

HABERFELD: Talking in a way that will minimize any type of antagonism between you and the hostage taker. Try to empathize, try to be as understanding as possible.

SNOW: Smith told Nichols about her husband who was killed, about her daughter. They talked about God, and she read part of a book about the purpose of life. And former hostage negotiators say that part was key.

HOWARD ROBERTSON, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: The goal of the hostage negotiation is to make that person realize there's a tomorrow. If you get past today, there's a tomorrow. And things work out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And one key thing hostage negotiators also say is that she personalized the situation by talking about her family, showing a family photo, that it becomes harder for a hostage taker to hurt someone they know -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Mary Snow reporting for us. Thank you, Mary.

Four more sad chapters to the Atlanta drama will unfold this week as services are held for the four people Brian Nichols is accused of killing. Each of them leaves behind grieving family and friends and a void that cannot be filled.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Friends say Rowland Barnes was more than a good judge; he was a good person. A few words pop up repeatedly in tributes, words like "kind," "warm" and "gentle." They were attributes that helped make jury duty in his court palatable, if not pleasant.

STEPHEN O'LEARY, JUROR IN FIRST NICHOLS TRIAL: Like everybody said, he's just a super nice guy. And he was very compassionate, very professional. He would take time out during the trial to talk to us, the jury, and educate us on what was going on. And he just created a very relaxed and warm environment.

BLITZER: Also contributing to that warm environment, his court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau. An avid baker, friends say she would routinely stay up late making sweet treats to take in the next day for jurors. Like Judge Barnes, her colleagues were also her friends.

EVELYN PARKER, COURT REPORTER: We went to concerts together and just did special things, and I don't have a friend to do that with anymore. I mean, she was, like, the one I could be really myself with. And so I don't have that friend, that kind of friend left.

BLITZER: Sergeant Hoyt Teasley was a 19-year veteran of the Fulton County Sheriff's Department. Described as quiet and good natured, a neighbor says Teasley was the kind of person everyone would like to have living next door.

David Wilhelm was a decorated agent with the Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency. A fellow agent remembers him as a tremendous soldier and calls his death America's loss. For Wilhelm's friends, it's a personal loss.

JACK TAYLOR, FRIEND OF DAVID WILHELM: He was just such a good guy. And he would give you the shirt off your back. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It's such a senseless killing. Why did it have to happen to him? It shouldn't have happened to him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, improvements are reported for Cynthia Hall. She's the deputy sheriff Nichols allegedly attacked to get his weapon in the first place. Hall has been upgraded from critical to stable condition. She suffered a blow to the head and possible fractures.

Overshadowed by the Atlanta killings, a Wisconsin rampage that left eight people dead. What these cases did and didn't have in common.

A massive call for true independence. CNN's Anderson Cooper, he's live in Beirut, scene of the largest rally yet. We'll go there.

Also this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: He brought some masking tape and then an extension cord and a curtain in there. And I kind of thought he was going to strangle me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In her own words. A former hostage tells her gripping story, how she persuaded accused killer Brian Nichols to let her go. We'll hear from her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Residents of Brookfield, Wisconsin, are trying to figure out what went wrong this weekend when a straight-laced churchgoer walked into a service and began shooting. Terry Ratzmann killed seven people and wounded four others Saturday before turning the gun on himself.

One neighbor describes Ratzmann as completely -- a completely average guy. Some who knew him say he suffered from depression. The 44-year-old computer technician is also said to have become angry at a sermon delivered only two weeks ago.

No suicide note has been found, but investigators have seized three computers with encrypted files.

Back-to-back killing sprees, 11 victims shot dead, even as the nation's crime rate drops. Should anyone have seen it coming?

CNN's Brian Todd joining us now live with more -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, criminal profilers said they always look for red flags in these cases, but even when those flags pop up, finding the real trigger for these events can be difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): In Atlanta and Brookfield, Wisconsin, one case leaves traces of an explanation, another case seemingly unexplainable.

Brian Nichols faced a long prison term for alleged rape. He might have seen an opportunity to escape. But no one can fathom why he went out of his way to allegedly kill a judge and a court reporter.

In Wisconsin, an official of the Living Church of God says he couldn't foresee Terry Ratzmann firing on the congregation, killing seven people, then himself.

CHARLES BRYCE, LIVING CHURCH OF GOD: He didn't seem in any way, shape or form troubled. He just seemed to make sure that he got to ask his questions, and they seemed very important to him.

TODD: The statistics don't explain either case. According to the FBI, violent crime in the U.S. went down two percent in the first six months of last year, compared to the same time period in 2003. The FBI says violent crime for that year was down three percent from 2002.

With crime tracking downward in so many categories, can anything explain two rampages in as many days, leaving 12 people dead?

PETER SMERICK, FORMER FBI PROFILER: We look for stressors that are going on in that individual's life which may have caused them to act out in a violent manner.

TODD: Former FBI profiler Peter Smerick says there are five factors that influence spree killers and mass murderers: emotional distress, mental deterioration, anger, the desire for revenge, and personal failure. Smerick says they don't all need to be at play to touch off a mass killing, but in these two cases some applied to suspect Brian Nichols, other applied to Terry Ratzmann, some applied to both.

Of the two, he says, Ratzmann's case would have been harder to predict.

SMERICK: The most difficult cases to analyze is when you have an individual who internalizes all of his feelings, all of his paranoia, all of his hatred, doesn't share those ideas with anyone, and then you have the misfortune of either saying or doing something that triggers a response.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Another indication of how difficult it is to predict or explain these killings, according to Peter Smerick, all of us have three different sides to our personalities: the public, the private and the secret. In the case of a mass murderer, he says that secret side only comes out when they act violently -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And it's almost always tragic. Thanks so much. Brian Todd reporting.

Hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets of Beirut. The largest independence rally yet. CNN's Anderson Cooper is on the scene for us. We'll go live to Beirut.

Also, a new report card on aviation security in the United States. How safe are America's airlines right now? This is an important story for anyone who flies.

Plus, a major ruling on same-sex marriage. What a California judge has just decided. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: One month after the car bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and many of his associates, hundreds of thousands gathered today in Beirut, calling for true independence in the largest anti-Syrian protest yet.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is on the scene for us. He's in Beirut. He's joining us live with the latest.

Anderson, quite a remarkable day where you are.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Yes, it was just an incredible day, one of those days you were just so glad you were here to actually see it for yourself.

Downtown Beirut filled with hundreds and thousands of Lebanese: men, women and children, young and old. It was an extraordinary sight. I was talking to CNN's Brent Sadler, the bureau chief here. He said it's the largest demonstration not only in Lebanon's history but that he's ever seen in the entire Middle East.

If you think that Lebanon has about four million people population, there were hundreds of thousands here, well over 500,000. The organizers said they had at least a million people here. It's impossible to confirm that.

But as far as the eye could see, it was people waving Lebanese flags, a sight which, until recently, we really haven't seen very much. There was a real sense of people trying to get together in this country, in this land, which has been so divided into factions. You saw people coming together today, and it was a truly remarkable sight.

Not only were there speeches, people were demanding the truth. You heard those two words over and over, "the truth." They want the truth about who killed their former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. It was one month ago exactly today. And there still is no public investigation, no results of an investigation. They don't know how he was killed. They want answers, and they want Syria out now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. A dramatic development in Lebanon. CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting on the scene. This important note to our viewers: Anderson will have much more live in Beirut in about 90 minutes, a little bit more than 90 minutes from now on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That airs 7 p.m. Eastern.

Can Syria withstand the surge of people power and international pressure? Can democracy take hold in the broader Middle East?

Joining us now from New York, the former defense secretary, William Cohen, our world affairs analyst. He's also chairman and CEO of the Cohen Group.

Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us. Hundreds of thousands gathered to protest Syria's occupation, if you will, presence in Lebanon. But hundreds of thousands protested the other day, led by Hezbollah in favor of Syria.

The nightmare scenario is that the battle days of the civil war could be coming back. How concerned should we be?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think we have to be concerned. This seems to be a case of anything you can do, I can do better. When the forces that came out and said, get Syria out now, that was responded to by the pro-Syrian group, as you mentioned, of some 500,000. This could be anywhere from 500,000 to 800,000.

So there's a real split, clearly, in Lebanon. And how it's going to play out remains to be seen. But clearly, there is a demand on the part of the Syria out now faction to get answers to the question about who assassinated, murdered Prime Minister Hariri.

BLITZER: Is -- is it likely that the Syrian military withdrawal, all 14,000, 15,000 troops, will in fact be out of Lebanon by May when the Lebanese have scheduled their elections?

COHEN: It's possible they all could be withdrawn. About a third have been pulled out now. The other two-thirds somewhere in the east in the Bekaa Valley. But they could all be out by that time.

But the real question is what about the intelligence units that still have deeply embedded themselves into -- into Lebanese society? And so there are still a lot of issues yet to be resolved. And what will happen, what kind of government actually will be formed. We still have deep divisions within Lebanese society.

But as it stands now, this is a very positive development. People are being free from fear, willing to courageously step out and express their opposition to Syria's presence in their country.

BLITZER: Is there anything else the U.S. government can or should be doing right now to facilitate this Syrian exit from Lebanon?

COHEN: I think what the United States can continue to do is to build international consensus. Having the United Nations, certainly, endorse it, having Saudi Arabia, having Egypt, having other countries come forward and say it's time for Syria to get out, I think that kind of international pressure will bring about the result faster than any kind of alternative.

BLITZER: One final question on Iran, a new U.S. strategy, cooperating with the Europeans, the British, the French, the Germans, to offer some incentives to the Iranians to stop their nuclear program. What do you make of this?

COHEN: Well, it is a shift on the part of the administration, saying we're prepared to support the European initiative with some carrots extended to the Iranian government as such.

But there has to be some consideration of what are the sticks going to be involved. And apparently, there is something of a commitment, at least as I understand it, on the part of the Europeans that say in the event that Iran should breach its agreements or undertake any kind of covert activities, start building nuclear capability, nuclear weapons capability, they would go to the Security Council for a resolution that would impose severe sanctions and perhaps other types of activity.

So to the extent that there are sticks, at least implicitly involved, I believe the United States is shifting its policy and supporting the E.U. at this point.

BLITZER: William Cohen, the former defense secretary, thanks very much.

COHEN: A pleasure.

BLITZER: Billions of your tax dollars spent on beefing up aviation security. And it still may not be enough. A new federal government report detailing how al Qaeda may still be targeting airplanes. We're watching your security. That's coming up next.

Plus on the stand, Michael Jackson's accuser is being questioned once again today. We'll have an update on the boy's testimony.

Also, the story of a heroic hostage. How this woman won the trust of a gunman and got out alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Associated Press is now reporting that the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, has been released from the hospital in New York. He had surgery last Thursday. He is now out, apparently doing relatively fine. Will recuperate for awhile. This is file footage from last week, before he went into the hospital, not his release today. But Bill Clinton out of the hospital in New York, on his way home, presumably to upstate New York in Chappaqua.

Let's take a quick check of some other stories now in the news.

This is file footage from last week, before he went into the hospital, not his release today, but Bill Clinton out of the hospital in New York, on his way home, presumably, to Update New York and Chappaqua.

Let's take a quick check of some other stories now in the news.

The battle over same-sex marriage takes a new turn in California. A San Francisco judge says it's unconstitutional for the state to limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman. The ruling is likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The Michael Jackson trial is now in its third week. And, on the stand today, the teenage boy who accuses the pop star of molesting him. Under questioning by the defense, the boy admitted that he told an administrator at his school that nothing sexual happened between him and Jackson.

American-born terror suspect Ahmed Abu Ali pleaded not guilty today to charges of providing material support to al Qaeda and terror conspiracy. The plea was entered in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Among other things, the Virginia native is accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush.

Karen Hughes, a longtime adviser to President Bush, is heading back to Washington. Provided she's confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Hughes will serve as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Among other things, Hughes will try to improve the U.S. image abroad, especially in the Arab and Muslim world. The Texan left Washington some three years ago to spend more time with her family back home in Texas.

In our CNN "Security Watch," 3 1/2 years after 9/11, a federal security overview says terrorists may still have their eye on U.S. skies.

Let's turn to our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, officials say there is no new intelligence regarding threats to aviation, that this document is a recap, an analysis.

But it is chilling nonetheless. According to government officials, it says, given the devastating effect of the September 11, 2001, attacks, commercial airlines are likely to remain a target and a platform for terrorists. Noting the tightening of security in the commercial aviation sector, it goes on to say, the largely unregulated general aviation sector presents an area of potential concern for exploitation by terrorists.

General aviation includes just about everything but commercial airlines and the military. The Transportation Security Administration says it has tightened security in that realm, checking pilot certificates against no-fly lists, providing security guidelines to airport owners, operators and users. But the secretary of homeland security says there is a need to prioritize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: No one mode of transportation should get attention to the exclusion of everything else. We have to weigh the risks. We have to look at where the vulnerabilities are, what the consequences would be of a terrorist attack in a particular sector. And then we balance all that in a comprehensive approach to addressing our aviation and all transportation security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Government officials acknowledge aviation is not 100 percent secure and say the very point of distributing this overview was to keep all involved vigilant -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, still lots of work to do, no doubt about that. Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much for that report.

And to our viewers, please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

When we come back, a young woman held hostage by the suspected Atlanta courthouse shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: I talked to him about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family. I asked him why he did what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll hear Ashley Smith's amazing story in her own words. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now back to our top story, the aftermath of the Atlanta courthouse shootings.

We've heard a lot about 26-year-old Ashley Smith, the hostage who managed to escape. Now we're going to hear from Smith herself, talking about how events unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: It was about 2:00 in the morning. I left my -- I was leaving my apartment to go to the store. I noticed a blue truck in the parking lot with a man in it pulling up. And he parked in the parking space. And I really didn't think too much about it because I had just moved into that apartment, you know, two days prior.

So I thought maybe he was a neighbor coming home or something. So I left and went to the store. And I came back to my apartment about five minutes later and the truck was still there and he was still in it.

It was in a different parking space. It was actually behind the one where I had left. So I pulled back in there. And I kind of got a little worried then. I thought there's somebody still in that truck.

And so I got my key to my -- to my house ready. And I opened up my car door, and I got out and shut it. And I heard his shut right behind me.

I started walking to my door, and I felt really, really scared. So I put my key in the door, and I unlocked it, and I turned around, and he was right there.

And I started to scream. And he put a gun to my side and he said, Don't scream. If you don't scream, I won't hurt you.

So I said, All right, OK, I won't scream. We went in the house, and he shut and locked the door behind us.

He told me to go into the bathroom. So I went to the bathroom and he followed me into the bathroom, and he said, Do you know who I am? I said, No, because he had a hat on.

And then he took his hat off, and he said, Now do you know who I am? And I said, Yeah, I know who you are. Please don't hurt me. Just please don't hurt me. I have a 5-year-old little girl. Please don't hurt me.

He said, I'm not going to hurt you, if you just do what I say. I said, All right.

So he told me to get in the bathtub. So I got in the bathtub. And he said, I really don't feel comfortable around here. I'm going to walk around your house for a few minutes just so I can get the feel of it. I said, OK.

He said, I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else. So please don't do anything that's going to make me hurt you.

He said, You know, somebody could have heard your scream already. And if they did, the police are on the way, and I'm going to have to hold you hostage, and I'm going to have to kill and probably myself and lots of other people. And I don't want that. And I said, OK, I'll do what you say.

He looked around my house for a few minutes, I heard him opening up drawers and just going through my stuff. And he came back in and said, I want to relax, and I don't feel comfortable with you right now. So I'm going to have to tie you up.

He brought some masking tape and an extension cord and a curtain in there, and I kind of thought he was going to strangle me. I was really kind of scared. But he told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back, and he wrapped my hands in a prayer -- in a praying position, so I did that. And he wrapped masking tape around my hands.

And then he told me to go into my bedroom, and I sat down on the bed, like he asked. And he wrapped my legs with masking tape and an extension cord. He also took a curtain and put it around my -- my stomach. And he asked me if I could get up, and I got up. He said, Can you walk? And I said, No. So he picked me up and he took me to the bathroom. And he put me on a stool that I have in my bathroom.

He said he wanted to take a shower. So I said, OK, you can take a shower. He said, Well, I'm going to put a towel over your head so you don't have to watch me take a shower. So I said, OK. All right.

He got in the shower, took a shower, and then he got out of the shower. And he had the guns laying on the counter. But I guess he really wasn't worried about me grabbing them because I was tied up.

He asked me if I had a T-shirt. I told him where to find one. So he got dressed.

He put on some clothes that I had in my house that were men's clothes. And then he came back in the bathroom. He said, Can you get up? So I got up. He said, Can you walk now? And I said, No, but I can hop. So I hopped to my bedroom and sat on the bed. And he cut the tape off of me, unwrapped the extension cord and the curtain.

I guess at that point, it kind of made me feel like he was comfortable enough with me that he untied me. So we went back in the bathroom. That's where he felt more comfortable, in the bathroom, away from the front of the house I guess. And we just talked.

I asked him if -- I told him that I was supposed to go see my little girl the next morning at 10:00, and I asked him if I could go see her. And he told me no.

My husband died four years ago, and I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy. And she was expecting to see me the next morning. And if he didn't let me go, she would be really upset.

He still told me no. But I could -- I could kind of feel that he started to know who I was, and he said, Maybe, maybe I'll let you go. Just maybe. We'll see how things go.

I went to my room, then I asked him if I could read. He said, What do you want to read? I said, Well, I have a book in my room, so I went and got it. I got our Bible, and I got a book called "The Purpose-Driven Life."

I turned it to the chapter that I was on that day, which was chapter 33, and I started to read the first paragraph of it. After I read it, he said, Stop. Will you read it again? I said, Yes, I'll read it again.

So I read it again to him. It mentioned something about what you thought your purpose in life was, what were you -- what talents were you given, what gifts were you given to use. And I asked him what he thought. And he said, I think it's to talk to people and tell them about you.

I basically just talked to him and tried to gain his trust. I wanted to leave to go see my daughter. That was really important. I didn't want him to hurt anybody else. He came into my apartment telling me that he was a soldier and that people -- that his people needed him for a job to do and he was doing it.

And I didn't want him to hurt anybody else. He didn't want to hurt anybody else. He just told me that he wanted a place to stay, to relax, to sit down, to watch TV, to eat some real food.

I talked to him about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family.

I asked him why he did what he did. And his reason was because he was a soldier. I asked him why he chose me and why he chose Bridgewater Apartments, and he said he didn't know, just randomly.

But after we began to talk, and -- he said he thought that I was an angel sent from God, and that I was his sister, and he was my brother in Christ. And that he was lost and God led him right to me to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people.

And the families, the people, to let him know how they felt, because I had gone through it myself. He told me that he didn't -- he didn't want to hurt the agent that he hurt. He had begged and pleaded with him to -- to do things his way and he didn't, so he had to kill him.

He said that he didn't shoot the deputy, that he hit her, and that he hoped she lived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Terrifying hours for Ashley Smith. And details of her final moments with suspected shooter Brian Nichols, the dramatic ending to her ordeal. We'll hear from her again in her own words when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now the second part of Ashley Smith's story.

A few minutes ago, we heard the former hostage talk about what it was like when she was taken hostage and her efforts to persuade her captor to release her and to surrender. Now we'll hear the rest of her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: He finally agreed to let me go see my daughter and to leave at 9:00, 9:30. And I really believed that he was going to. From the time he walked into my house until we were taking that truck, he was a totally different person to me. I felt very threatened, scared. I felt like he was going to kill me when I first -- when he first put the gun to my side. But when I followed him to take the truck, I felt like he was going to -- he was really going to turn himself in.

So he took the truck. He got in the car. And I said, Are you ready now? And he said, Give me a few days please.

I said, Come on, you've got to turn yourself in now. I didn't feel like he might -- I felt like he might change his mind, that he might not want to turn himself in the next day or a few days after that, and that if he did feel that way, then he would need money. And the only way he could get money was if he hurt somebody and took it from them.

So we went back to my house. And we got in the house, and he was hungry.

So I cooked him breakfast. He was overwhelmed with, Wow! He said, Real butter, pancakes? And I just talked with him a little more. Just about -- about -- we pretty much talked about God, mainly, and what his reason was, why he made it out of there. I said, Do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles, you're here for a reason. You're here in my apartment for some reason.

You got out of that courthouse with police everywhere. And you don't think that's a miracle? You don't think you're supposed to be sitting here right in front of me, listening to me tell you, you know, your reason here?

I said, You know, your miracle could be that you need to be -- you need to be caught for this. You need to go to prison and you need to share the word of God with all the prisoners there.

Well, 9:00 came. He said, What time do you have to leave? I said, I need to be there at 10:00, so I need to leave about 9:30.

So I sat down and talked to him a little bit more. He put the guns under the bed. Like you know, I'm done, I'm not going to mess around with you anymore.

So he gave me some money before I was about to leave. It was kind of like he knew. I said, You might need this money. He said, No, I don't need it. I'm going to be here for the next few days.

I basically said, You keep the money. And he said, No, I don't need it.

He asked me if there was anything I could do or he could do for me before I left, or while I was gone. He says, Is there anything I can do while you're gone? I know he was probably hoping deep down that I was going to come back, but I think he knew that I was going to do what I had to do. And I had to turn him in. And I gave him -- I asked him several times, you know, Come on, just go with me.

He said, I'll go with you in a few days. But when he asked me, Is there anything I can do while you're gone, like hang your curtains or something? I said, Yeah, if you want to.

He just wanted some normalness to his life right then. And I think he realized all this -- all this that I've been through, this is not me. I don't know. That's my opinion of what he -- but I left my house at 9:30.

And I got in the car, and I immediately called 911 and told them that he was there. And she asked me where I was. I said, I'm on my way to see my daughter.

I felt glad to just really be on my way to see my daughter. She said, You've got to turn around and go to the office. So that's what I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Ashley Smith, one remarkable, remarkable young woman.

We'll take another quick break and look ahead to what will happen tomorrow on this program right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A reminder: You can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Among my guests tomorrow, the political comedian Bill Maher.

Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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