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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Former White House Official Alleges Bush War Room Asleep at Wheel Before 9/11; Israelis Assassinate Hamas Leader

Aired March 22, 2004 - 19:00   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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Was Bush's war room asleep at the wheel? Serious allegations have the White House on the defensive.

The Mid East braces for bloody retaliation after Hamas' leader is assassinated.

The FDA issues its strongest caution yet about antidepressants and suicide, what you need to know.

Some lawyers want to get their hands inside your head, the controversial new technique brain fingerprinting.

Would you put your spare tire on a leash? Wait until you hear this wild new approach to weight loss.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: And welcome to 360.

The White House strikes back after some explosive charges are made in a tell-all book by President Bush's former counterterrorism adviser. In the book this man, Richard Clarke, accuses the president of turning a blind eye in effect to terrorism warnings before September 11th.

Covering the story for us tonight CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King and National Security Correspondent David Ensor, we begin with John King. John, the White House response today has been quick and pointed.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It has been, Anderson, and officials say the main reason is in their view that Mr. Clarke's allegations are wrong and reckless but aides here also concede that if they stick they could undermine the president's reelection theme that he has made America safer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): The administration counteroffensive is nothing short of extraordinary, suggesting that before Richard Clarke blames President Bush perhaps he should look in the mirror.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Dick Clarke was the counterterrorism czar in 1998 when the embassies were bombed. He was the counterterrorism czar in 2000 when the Cole was bombed. He was the counterterrorism czar for a period of the '90s when al Qaeda was strengthening and when the plots that ended up in September 11 were being hatched.

KING: The force of the White House rebuttal underscores the enormous political stakes. In this new book, Clarke describes a president and an administration so obsessed with Iraq that from day one they ignored the mounting al Qaeda threat.

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: I think they had a sort of a visceral reaction. Well, if the Clinton people are saying it's important it must not be that important and we're going to focus on other things.

KING: Clarke says Mr. Bush pressured him the day after the 9/11 attacks to find evidence blaming Iraq and that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other senior officials also wanted to blame Saddam Hussein.

White House aides say Mr. Bush and others did initially suspect Iraq but that in the end they followed the evidence.

RICE: He told me Iraq is to the side. We're going after Afghanistan and we're going to eliminate the Taliban and the al Qaeda base in Afghanistan.

KING: Clarke also says the administration ignored the al Qaeda threat when it took office and would not take his warning seriously.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His assertion that there is something we could have done to prevent the September 11 attacks from happening is deeply irresponsible. It's offensive and it's flat out false.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now among the things cited by the administration to rebut Mr. Clarke's claim that this White House did not take the al Qaeda threat seriously, officials say that just three weeks after he was sworn in President Bush wrote President Musharraf of Pakistan complaining about al Qaeda and Islamabad's support of the Taliban.

And they say just two weeks after that on March 7, 2001, Dick Clarke himself was charged, Anderson, with coming up with a new administration strategy not to contain al Qaeda but to eliminate it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, John King at the White House thanks John.

No coincidence Clarke's criticism comes just days before he's going to testify before the 9/11 Commission. That's going to happen on Wednesday. Now with Clarke's charges those hearings are shaping up to be one high profile event, with a preview CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It already looked like a rough week for the Bush administration defending its efforts against al Qaeda before the 9/11 Commission but Richard Clarke's broadside has turned up the heat.

RICHARD CLARKE, FMR. COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: Basically, the president botched the response to 9/11. He should have gone right after Afghanistan, right after bin Laden and then he made the whole war on terrorism so much worse by invading Iraq.

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: People, such as Richard Clarke, were literally running through the halls of the White House with their hair on fire with the seriousness of these threats.

ENSOR: Ben-Veniste and the rest of the commission will hear from the present and former secretaries of state and defense Tuesday, from Clarke and CIA Director George Tenet on Wednesday. Bill Clinton and Al Gore will also meet privately with the commission soon to be asked why did they not do more against al Qaeda?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why was there no retaliation at the end of your administration to the bombing of the USS Cole where we lost 17 sailors?

ENSOR: Still in question how much access the commission will get to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Just the top two members may see them says the White House and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice won't testify publicly citing the confidentiality of the advice she gives to the president.

BEN-VENISTE: They do not make her available and I think that's shameful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: It may be a rough week and clearly there are lessons to be learned but, for what it's worth, several career officials are saying to me they do not think either Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton can really be held responsible for what 19 terrorists were able to do on September 11, 2001 -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, David Ensor thanks very much.

A quick news note for you, the last former administration official to criticize President Bush over the war in Iraq has just been cleared of wrongdoing. Ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, he was investigated after he held up a document marked "secret" during a "60 Minutes" interview about a book in which O'Neill contends President Bush discussed plans for war in Iraq well before 9/11.

Well today the inspector general ruled that O'Neill improperly received government documents but that no laws were broken. We're going to continue covering this story later on, on 360. In the Middle East tonight, grief, outrage and vows of revenge, just hours ago hundreds of thousands of Palestinians filled the streets of Gaza City for the funeral procession of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, killed by an Israeli missile strike.

The targeted killing has set off mass demonstrations in the Arab world, this one in Damascus, Syria. For more on the anger and possible repercussions from Gaza here is CNN's Chris Burns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was buried in a cemetery called Martyr's Graveyard amid outrage that Israel would dare to fire a rocket at Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the quadriplegic spiritual leader of Hamas as he left a mosque in his wheelchair.

A Hamas leaflet said to "shake Israel like an earthquake" the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade's call for war against the "sons of Zion."

ABDELL AZIZ RANTISI, SENIOR HAMAS LEADER: There will be no revenge, no revenge. It's (unintelligible).

BURNS: The Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks.

AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN AUTH. PRIME MINISTER: It's a cowardly, criminal act against a prominent Palestinian leader who devoted all his life to the favor of the independence of his people.

BURNS: But Israeli officials say Yassin has backed suicide attacks that have left hundreds of Israelis dead and he opposed peace talks.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The ideology of this person was firstly murder and the killing of Jews because they are Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel.

BURNS: The dual suicide bombings a week earlier in the southern part of Ashdod killing ten Israelis caused the Israeli cabinet to order a stepping up of so-called targeted killings of militant leaders, as well as raids in the territories along with the hardship and the anger, uncertainty of what the killing of Yassin will bring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: And more indications that the Israelis simply stirred up the hornets' nest, more attacks by Hamas overnight here, more firings of mortars as well as (unintelligible) rockets, the Israelis responding with a pinpoint incursion into the Beit Hanun village here in Gaza going after some of those who fired those rockets. Anderson, it's not over yet.

COOPER: All right, Chris Burns thanks very much live from Gaza.

New moves ruled out today in the war on terror here at home. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says train security is being beefed up with more police, more surveillance after last month's attacks in Madrid.

And, as for port security, the government unveiled new radiation detectors comparing the devices to giant Geiger counters saying they're going to help ensure nuclear or radiological weapons do not get smuggled into the U.S.

Deborah Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 22 million shipping containers enter the U.S. every year. They come by sea or overland by truck and rail. Some are screened. Many are not.

Now a new tool that detects radiation is being hailed by customs officials as a major step in securing America, specifically targeting those trying to smuggle in dangerous materials into U.S. seaports.

ROBERT C. BONNER, DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: This increases our ability to detect enriched uranium weapons, plutonium and even so- called radiation dispersal devices or dirty bombs.

FEYERICK: They're called radiation portals. They look like metal detectors but act like Geiger counters. Every container leaving the port of Newark, New Jersey will be screened from now on with other ports to get the devices by the end of the year. Containers that get positive hits for any type of radiation will be opened or x-rayed.

BONNER: I don't now that any, that terrorist organizations have been successful in smuggling in weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, we're doing everything we possibly can or reasonably can to prevent that from happening.

FEYERICK: The critics say the radiation detectors are flawed. Containers may sit on the docks for days or weeks before they're ever checked.

MIKE MITRE, INTL. LONGSHORE AND WAREHOUSE UNION: What about the workers that unload it or what about the people that live next to the port? These containers are going to sit in the port for that amount of time. Wouldn't it have been more well thought out to do these inspections right when they come off the ship?

FEYERICK: Other critics in Washington say containers should be checked before they ever reach U.S. shores.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Customs officials say that by the end of August they expect 70 percent of all shipping containers to be inspected at their original ports before they ever reach the United States -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, that will be a big change. Deborah thanks very much.

Coming up right now we're checking developing stories cross country. Let's take a look.

Right now New York stocks plunge, major indexes dropped sharply on Wall Street today on news of the missile attack that killed Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The biggest drop hit the tech heavy NASDAQ composite.

Columbus, Ohio shooting suspect Charles McCoy, Jr. stayed in his jail cell today skipping his first court appearance in Ohio. The 28- year-old is suspected of a string of highway shootings, one of them deadly. A preliminary hearing is set for March 30th.

To Los Angeles now, jail for Joey. That's right, Joey Buttafuoco pleaded guilty to auto insurance fraud today and got a year in jail. Buttafuoco's 15 minutes of fame started in 1992 when his teenage girlfriend, the tabloid labeled Long Island Lolita, shot his wife in the face.

Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, global warming risk, they don't know why but scientists say carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere has reached record levels. C02 comes from burning fossil fuels. Some think it raises the risk of global warming.

Chicago now, alcohol and high blood pressure, a new study shows that moderate drinking can help boost the so-called good cholesterol in men with high blood pressure. It goes against the current advice that those folks should avoid alcohol. That's a look at stories cross country for you tonight.

Antidepressants and suicide warnings, the government very serious words of caution for doctors and their patients, a medical alert you don't want to miss.

Plus, could your private thoughts soon be used against you in a court of law? They call it brain fingerprinting and it may be coming to a trial near you.

Also new developments in the Michael Jackson grand jury, will the boy who accused him ten years ago finally take the stand?

Also a new study tonight about truth and fiction, how many times a day do you lie, a surprising survey on honestly.

First, let's take a look inside the box, top stories on tonight's network newscasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, if you or someone you know is taking antidepressants this next story is important to hear. The government is asking the makers of ten popular antidepressants to add or strengthen suicide warnings on their labels and they want doctors to monitor their patients or ominous symptoms.

Christy Feig has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors and family members of patients who take certain antidepressants to watch for signs that suggest they might be at an increased risk of attempting suicide.

DR. DIANNE MURPHY, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: Aggression, hostility, they're acting out. They're just having a worsening of their clinical situation. That's what we want you to pay attention to and to go back and talk to your doctor.

FEIG: There are ten drugs at issue, including some of the most popular, like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. Psychiatrists say the first few weeks on a new antidepressant are the most dangerous.

DR. ADELAIDE ROBB, CHILDREN'S NATL. MEDICAL CTR.: The first week or two on medication somebody is still feeling overwhelmingly sad but their energy level is high enough that they can have the ability to plot and carry out a suicide.

FEIG (on camera): The FDA issued the warning based on testimony last month from parents who told of bad experiences their teenagers had while taking antidepressants.

(voice-over): Terry Williams' 14-year-old son took Prozac.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After four weeks of treatment he's beginning to show signs of agitation, which we were not aware that was a potential side effect and after seven weeks of treatment he hung himself.

FEIG: The FDA says these drugs do work and people shouldn't stop taking them but until studies of potential risk are completed later this year they want those caring for people taking the drugs to watch for problems.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Here's a fast fact for you about diagnosed depression, which is clearly on the rise in the U.S. Between 1987 and 1997 the number of Americans diagnosed with depression rose from 1.7 million to 6.3 million. Last year the number reached 17 million. That is one in ten of the entire U.S. population.

We're tracking a number of developing stories around the globe right now. Let's take a look at the up link.

Northwest Pakistan, the hunt for al Qaeda remember that big attack? Well, the Pakistani military says that suspected al Qaeda fighters killed eight of its troops today in a rocket attack on a convoy.

Meanwhile, hopes are fading for capturing a high level al Qaeda figure at least they believed it was a high level al Qaeda figure. Pakistani troops today discovered a network of tunnels that could have provided escape they say.

Madrid now, bombing suspect, Spanish radio reports the arrest of four more suspects in the deadly March 11 train bombings that may be linked to al Qaeda. That happened today. Five of ten other suspects face arraignment today as well.

Taipei, Taiwan, election upheaval, take a look. This is how Taiwan's capital looked today. Thousands of protesters demanded a recount of Saturday's presidential election results. The incumbent kept his seat with only 50.1 percent of the vote. The unrest over the razor sharp victory margin drove stocks down in Taiwan, as well as other major markets across Asia, and that's a quick look at the up link tonight.

Back here in the U.S. where a controversial new technology today being considered for use in the case of a death row inmate. It's called brain fingerprinting. Lawyers for the man say it proves his innocence. Prosecutors call it junk science.

CNN's Kelli Arena has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jimmy Ray Slaughter's brain waves are about to be measured for how they react to images of a double murder, one he's convicted of by claims he did not commit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where inside the house the infant victim was shot. What was printed on the front of the adult victim's tee shirt?

ARENA: If Slaughter's brain registered positive on the visual details of the brutal murders of his ex-wife and infant daughter, the test creator who recorded this says that would have proved Slaughter was at the crime scene but it did not.

LAWRENCE FARWELL, BRAIN FINGERPRINTING CREATOR: Jimmy Ray Slaughter's brain does not contain a record of some of the most salient features of the crime for which he's been convicted and sentenced to death. This is where the computer --

ARENA: Farwell is promoting brain fingerprinting and was called in by Slaughter's lawyers in a last ditch effort to save his life.

JIMMY RAY SLAUGHTER, CONVICTED OF DOUBLE MURDER: It means that what I've said all along is true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say all along?

SLAUGHTER: That I was innocent. I'm sorry.

ARENA: As his execution nears, Slaughter's lawyers are hoping Oklahoma's Appeals Court will allow a new hearing.

ROBERT JACKSON, SLAUGHTER'S ATTORNEY: I am completely confident that if we are given the opportunity, this technology, brain fingerprinting, will be found to be admissible in the courts in Oklahoma.

ARENA: Brain fingerprinting was admitted in court once before, last year, by a judge in Iowa. State prosecutors refer to it as junk science claiming there was no track record establishing reliability.

(on camera): The FBI says more research needs to be done, yet even critics say the technology shows some promise.

SLAUGHTER: I would just like to put my life back together.

ARENA: As for Jimmy Ray Slaughter, it could be his only hope.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, coming up President Bush on the defensive. The White House comes out swinging after a tell-all book. Was there a plan to invade Iraq all along? We're going to talk with a top White House adviser.

Also tonight, honesty and lying, are you more likely to tell the truth online than face-to-face? You might be surprised by the answer.

And a little bit later on, what was a teacher thinking killing baby rabbits in front of her students? That is just wrong and that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, women lie more than men of course. That's automatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's what that guy thinks. A new study is out though with some surprising findings about lying. I spoke with Cornell University Assistant Professor Jeffrey Hancock who has researched the fib factors and says that people lie an average of one to two times a day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): So, Jeffrey, you just completed a study at Cornell about when people are most likely to lie. Let's put the results on the screen. It's fascinated. Fourteen percent of e-mails contained a lie, 25 percent of face-to-face conversations, and 37 percent of telephone conversations contained a lie. Why are more people likely to lie on the phone than they are in e-mail?

JEFFREY HANCOCK, ASST. PROFESSOR, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Well, there's a whole lot of reasons that the phone makes a good medium for lying. The first is they're hardly ever recorded and that's one bad thing for e-mail. E-mail is a very recordable medium. It's saved on your computer, non your target's computer and several servers between.

COOPER: So, that's sort of the lesson of Martha Stewart I guess that you know (unintelligible).

HANCOCK: Exactly. Exactly, all the people at Enron and Microsoft and a lot of the corporate scandals they've learned that lesson the hard way. You bet.

COOPER: It keeps a record. We're going to watch a clip of some people sort of caught in famous lies. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD M. NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not a crook.

PETE ROSE, FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: I never bet on baseball.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Now are there certain physical giveaways when people are lying? I mean, you know, the famous one is people kind of not looking straight on at you.

HANCOCK: Right. Well there's been a lot of research done on deception detection and these cues and unfortunately deception detection is a pretty tough business. In general there's three ways to catch a liar, verbal which is the way they say things, non-verbal which is how they look and how they sound, and physiological like polygraph tests.

There's only a few cues that have been shown to be reliable over the last couple of decades of research. One is tone of voice where our tone of voice tends to get higher. The pitch becomes higher.

COOPER: If you're lying why does that happen?

HANCOCK: Well, it seems to be that when people are lying they become more -- they're trying to control their emotions more. They're trying to control their behaviors. So when you try to control things you become more rigid so your vocal chords probably tighten up a little bit.

When we are lying we tend to do less illustrators. These are the small hand and foot movements that we do, so you know if I'm fidgeting and going like this, this is normal. When I'm lying it turns out I actually do less of these. I become more rigid and that seems to be this idea of trying to control our behavior a little bit more.

COOPER: And do men and women lie differently?

HANCOCK: They do. They lie about the same amount but some research out of MIT suggests that women tend to lie more to help other people whereas men tend to lie more to benefit themselves.

COOPER: All right, fascinating stuff. Jeffrey Hancock thanks very much.

HANCOCK: My pleasure.

COOPER: What Richard Clarke's allegations mean for the Bush camp and campaign.

New developments in the Michael Jackson case, will his 1993 accuser testify against him?

And a new diet aid that's really going to get under your skin, 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Catching up with tonight's top stories in the Reset. Gaza City, sheikh's funeral three days of mourning for Sheikh Ahmed Yassin begin today after the founder of Hamas is buried in a cemetery known as the Martyr's Graveyard. Yassin and seven others were killed earlier in the day by an Israeli missile strike. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians marched vowing revenge.

Washington now. Pump pain. The government said today the average price of gas inched even closer to a record high, up 1.9 cents to $1.74 a gallon. Tight supplies are going to keep pushing prices higher, another 9 cents a gallon over the next two months.

McAlester, Oklahoma. Opening statements. The state trial of Terry Nichols began today. Prosecutors say Nichols was a willing participant in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols' lawyer called him a fall guy for Timothy McVeigh, the man executed for the deadly blast that killed 168 people.

Los Angeles. Not in person. A judge ruled that Arnold Schwarzenegger won't be required to testify in a libel suit. The suit was filed by a woman who accuses the California governor of sexual assault. Her lawyers can submit written questions for the governor.

Atlanta, Georgia. Out of jail. Singer Bobby Brown was released from jail today. He was in jail for violating his probation on drunk driving charges. Brown was due out on Thursday, but was let out to attend a family court hearing in Virginia.

In Washington, now, government surveillance turns out the federal government was watching John Kerry long before his current Secret Service protection. FBI files show the Nixon White House ordered agents to keep an eye on the current presidential candidate back in the 1960s. Kerry's anti-war activities encouraged the observation, which Kerry called "surreal" in a statement released by his campaign. And that's a quick look at "The Reset."

The other top story tonight, political backstabbing or policy breakdown? In a new tell-all book, former White House counter- terrorism chief Richard Clarke blasts President Bush saying he ignored al Qaeda threats before 9/11. Here is some of what Clarke said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER COUNTER-TERRORISM CHIEF: The president -- we were in the Situation Room complex. The president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, "I want you to find whether Iraq did this." And he never said, "make it up." But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said, Iraq did this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That was on "60 Minutes" last night. Joining us for reaction at the White House, Scott (sic) McCormack, senior director of the National Security Council and special assistant to the president. Scott (sic), thanks for being with us. You just heard that clip that was played from "60 Minutes." Clarke is now the second high-ranking administration official to come out and say that basically the Bush administration was pushing for action in Iraq from the get-go and even right after 9/11. Are they both lying?

SEAN MCCORMACK, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: Well, Anderson, all I can say is an incoming administration has to do more than one thing at once. Terrorism was absolutely top priority for this administration when we came in. We got the briefings from Dick Clarke beforehand. He talked about the seriousness of the threat. And we took him seriously. Dr. Rice met with him in the first week, told him to get started putting together some of the ideas that he had. They'd been kicking around since 1998. So we actually folded those ideas -- we folded those ideas into ultimately what our plan was, and we actually went beyond what Dick was originally proposing. So we took terrorism very seriously.

COOPER: But, Scott (sic), what Richard Clarke is saying is that basically, on 9/12, President Bush dragged him into a room and said, you know, or hinted strongly that he wanted information on Iraq and finding some sort of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, which apparently Richard Clarke and the CIA and a bunch of others were saying there just isn't such a link.

MCCORMACK: Well, Anderson, I think, first of all, Dick has to go back and check his facts. As I understand it, he says that this meeting took place on the evening of September 12 in the Situation Room. We've checked the records. No such meeting took place on the evening of September 12.

Let's put that aside for a second, let's go to the heart of the matter. This is a president, commander in chief, asking his staff to pursue every possible link. He wants to know who was responsible for this. Dick Clarke himself in an interview in March of 2002 talked about how he wanted to keep an open mind about who was possibly responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

COOPER: But I've got to jump in here. Apparently what the president wasn't saying, though, what he wasn't saying, find me information on Iran, find me information on Syria, find me information on Pakistan. He was only saying Iraq.

MCCORMACK: Well, Anderson, you know, Iraq was certainly a threat to us. You have to remember, Saddam Hussein was shooting at us every single day, shooting at our pilots. This was somebody with whom we went to war with twice, in 1991 and in 1998. So Iraq was certainly a threat.

But as it turned out, the president, on September 15, went up at Camp David, unrolled the maps on Afghanistan, and said, Iraq is off the table. They weren't responsible for this. We never asserted that there was...

COOPER: Why do you think Richard Clarke is making these allegations?

MCCORMACK: Anderson, you're going to have to ask him about that. I find the timing of the release of his book very curious, and you're just going to have to ask him about that.

Let me just point out one fact for you. He had lunch with my boss on March 7, 2003. This was shortly after he left the administration as the head of cyber security. He sat down -- he sat down with Dr. Rice, and he made no mention of any of these concerns. Not about Iraq, not about the direction of the war on terrorism. So I just have to question -- what is the real -- who is the real Dick Clarke? The one who sat down with Condi Rice on March 7 or the one we're hearing right now? Why the flip-flop?

COOPER: All right, Sean, we're going to leave it there. Sean McCormack, we appreciate you joining us. I called you Scott earlier for some reason. I don't know what I was thinking. Thanks very much, Sean, I appreciate it.

MCCORMACK: Not at all, Anderson.

COOPER: All right.

MCCORMACK: Right.

COOPER: More criticism aimed at President Bush. This time coming from former President Jimmy Carter. He is quoted in today's British newspaper, "The Independent," as saying -- quote, "There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently. That was a war based on lies and misrepresentations from London and from Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. A decision was made to go to war, their people said, let's find a reason to do so."

All this criticism puts the White House, of course, on the defensive. Will the voters take note? And could this affect President Bush's reelection campaign? I talked about potential consequences with two members of the "CROSSFIRE" gang, Tucker Carlson and James Carville.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: James, I want to start off by playing a soundbite from what something Clarke said on "60 Minutes." Let's play that now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARKE: I think the way he has responded to al Qaeda, both before 9/11, by doing nothing, and by what he's done after 9/11 has made us less safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How damaging is this attack and the other attacks that Clarke has been making going to be to the administration, James?

JAMES CARVILLE, CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: Well, I think so far, it has been quite damaging. I mean, the ratings for the show last night were extraordinarily high. The amount of interest is there. Of course, it's true. He didn't meet on terrorism. It wasn't a priority of this administration's prior to 9/11. They viewed it as being more dangerous since 9/11, a view shared by a lot of people. So I mean, it's a legitimate thing. It's something that has to be debated. I'm sure that Mr. Clarke will be asked about this when he appears before the 9/11 commission in public testimony tomorrow, which I'm sure a lot of people will be watching.

COOPER: Tucker, let's talk about the administration response to Clarke's attack. Let's play a soundbite from Condoleezza Rice in response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He has a different view of how to fight the war on terrorism. It is a narrow view, that it has to do with killing bin Laden and dealing with Afghanistan. The president has a broader view, which is that you have to take the fight to the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How effective do you think the administration response has been thus far? They put a lot of people out on morning talk shows and a lot of the news programs.

TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: Well, the initial response was pretty lame. But I think, you know, look, they can make two points, both of them fairly true. One is that in fact Mr. Clarke had a much higher position in the Clinton administration as the actual anti-terrorism chief. And during his tenure, you had a lot of terrorist attack that weren't responded to with any real vigor. You had the USS Cole, you had the embassy bombings, you had Khobar Towers, in '93 attack on the World Trade Center, and an attempted assassination on a former U.S. president.

The Clinton administration's record, in other words, not so great. Second thing they have going for them is that his attacks, Mr. Clarke's attacks, are so completely over the top and so wildly partisan they kind of undermine his own case. Even Joe Lieberman today said, look, you know, this is too much. You're just a partisan. And I think that hurts him.

COOPER: James, talk about John Kerry. Are you surprised that he has not come out and said anything at this point?

CARVILLE: No. But I suspect that he will. I'm sure that he's probably going to read the book first, and everybody wants to see what Mr. Clarke says tomorrow. I'm absolutely stunned by Dr. Rice's criticism that -- well, why did Bush keep him? He was the only person in the White House that Bush held over. If he was doing such a bad job, why did he keep him? And if he's so partisan, why was he brought to town, appointed first by President Reagan, kept by Bush 41, kept by President Clinton and kept by President Bush. He's worked for three Republican presidents, one Democratic president. He was a registered Republican. And now -- this stuff is absolutely silly and people that make this argument -- the sillification (sic) of this whole thing -- this is a very serious charge that this man has made, it should be taken seriously, and we shouldn't sillify (sic) this whole thing. It's a very grave, serious charge.

CARLSON: It certainly is. And I think a much more interesting question to ask is why after leafing through the book, in which he essentially charges the administration has been negligent, implies that they're evil, essentially, says the president pushed for an Iraq war, literally says this in the book, in order to bolster his chances in the mid-term elections, given the fact that he believes all of that, why was he agitating for a higher level posting in the Bush administration? Why would he want to work for such evil people? I mean, it raises, I think, real questions about his credibility.

COOPER: He has said, though, that he will not accept any sort of position in the Kerry administration, if there ever is one.

CARVILLE: Of course. You know what...

CARLSON: Hold on. In fact, in the book, and apparently he works with now one of Senator Kerry's top foreign policy advisers. Look, read the book. It is so over the top in its partisan tone, in its nastiness, I'm willing to entertain a real serious...

CARVILLE: I think that these are extremely serious observations (ph) that is made by an extremely respected person. I think the public will be glued to these 9/11 hearings tomorrow. I think that we've got to get to the bottom of this, and I think the best way to do it is for Dr. Condoleezza Rice to quit appearing publicly on "Good Morning America" and "The Washington Post" op-ed page, and go publicly and explain exactly what this administration did or didn't do in the events leading up to 9/11 and what they did after it.

COOPER: Well, we're going to leave it there. James Carville, Tucker Carlson, thanks very much.

CARLSON: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The release of Richard Clarke's book is timed for maximum impact, coinciding with his planned testimony on Wednesday before the 9/11 commission. While the charges he makes are stunning, the way he's made those charges has become a tried and true part of "Raw Politics."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): If bookstores don't already have a special section for kiss and tell memoirs by once-trusted advisers, they may soon start. Richard Clarke's book is just the latest example. A couple months ago it was Paul O'Neill's turn. The former treasury secretary accused President Bush of being detached and overly focused on Iraq.

Bill Clinton's adviser George Stephanopoulos wrote a tell-all revealing Clinton's explosive temper. And a book by Ronald Reagan's chief of staff Don Regan, disclosed that Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers.

The books usually make a splash when they first come out but they tend to disappear quick. Don't believe it? Here's a test. Can you name the title of Stephanopoulos' book or Regan's or Paul O'Neill's? We'll give you a couple of seconds. Like everything else in Washington, the publication of kiss and tell has its own codified ritual. Richard Clarke's a good example. On Saturday, advanced word of his book's allegations leaked into the "New York Times." On Sunday, Clarke gave an exclusive interview to CBS' "60 Minutes." On Monday he was on a morning talk show along with administration officials taking him to task.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This retrospective rewriting of the history of the first several months of the administration is not helpful.

COOPER: It is not known how much Clarke got to his book. Don Regan got a $1 million. George Stephanopoulos reportedly got $2.75 million. As for those titles, Stephanopoulos' was "All Too Human." Regan, "For the Record" and O'Neill, "The Price of Loyalty." Paying attention to and then forgetting about political tell-all books, that is raw politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The Michael Jackson case, will his first accuser from a decade ago be called to testify to the grand jury? That is ahead in "Justice Served."

Plus, a grim lesson by a Florida teacher, killing bunnies 101. That is definitely just wrong.

Also a diet aid unlike any other. My pet fat. Find out how it might help you lose some unwanted pounds. Hmmm, fat. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Now for "Justice Served." The grand jury being convened in the child molestation case against Michael Jackson. The panel must decide if there's enough evidence to try to the pop star on seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. Jackson has pleaded innocent to all the charges. 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom is covering the case. Good to see you, Kimberly. There has been a lot of speculation about whether this little boy from 1993, now a grown man or late teens would be called to testify. How damaging could his testimony be if he would?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: This could be the most powerful evidence. It could be the difference between Michael Jackson being found guilty or not guilty on these charges. This is a one on one case. This young accuser's word against Michael Jackson. If the D.A. is to be successful, they have to bring in some other evidence to corroborate the charges, whether through physical evidence, computer files, documents in the house. Best evidence would be through another boy who experienced the same thing and we show a pattern of conduct on behalf of Michael Jackson that shows he has an unhealthy (UNINTELLIGIBLE) interest as relates to children.

COOPER: One person who is on the witness list, Lisa Marie Presley, his former wife, she had been quoted in an Australian paper or TV show in which she said that she'd sort of seen things going on. She then later amended that to say, and we're going to put it on the screen, this is what she said. "I was in no way referring to seeing something inappropriate with children and I have stated before in other interviews I never have." Do you think they will call her to testify?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: They might want to because it is an exploratory process to really see what she knows, if in fact she's covering up for him. This might be a situation where she's backed off because she doesn't want this unwarranted, unwanted media attention and doesn't want any part of it. I think she's trying to put this part of her life behind her. She was in a unique position to see things on an intimate level about what went on at Neverland and what went on with Michael Jackson.

COOPER: Who else can we expect to be called to testify?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: Well, we're going have Dr. Steven Katz testify. I expect that he will come forward and testify in this case...

COOPER: He's the therapist?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: The therapist for the accuser and had apparently seen the 1993 victim as well. We'll also hear from the victim's mother and the younger brother of the victim in this case. They'll come forward with some damaging testimony.

COOPER: So the alleged victim will testify? GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: I think that they can because it is a secret proceeding and he wouldn't be subjected to cross-examination. It is important evidence and they do need to put it forward. No one can cross-examine him. That's the benefit of the grand jury.

COOPER: All right. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom. Thanks.

An agriculture teacher in Florida is under fire today. She picked up a shovel and killed two newborn baby rabbits in front of the students. The teacher now admits it was a bad decision. We say what she did, that's just wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Daddy!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

COOPER: Who doesn't remember the bunny boiler scene in "Fatal Attraction?" But that was fiction, an R-rated movie meant for adults. In a Plant City, Florida classroom, it looks like life imitated art. Agriculture teacher Jane Bender believed two baby rabbits like these, just one day old, were sickly, they'd been rejected by their mother. So what did she do? Call a vet? No. She ordered her students to bury the bunnies alive. When the horrified students refused, she picked up a shovel and beat the bunnies to death.

RYAN HARRELL, PLANT CITY HIGH STUDENT: I was really shocked and appalled. I didn't have any words for it.

COOPER: One student wrote to PETA who called the Animal Services who called the county sheriff who told state prosecutors Ms. Bender was just trying to stop the animals from suffering. The prosecutors told us they wouldn't press charges saying there was no malice or criminal intent on the part of the teacher. We do believe she exercised poor judgment doing it in front of the students.

Poor judgment? An Animal Services investigator filed several animal cruelty charges against Bender saying, "I definitely felt that the teacher needed to be held accountable. Maybe the bunnies were sick or dying. But Jane Bender didn't seem to have the qualifications to be sure of that. And instead of calling someone who did, she killed them in front of a class full of stunned students." If you ask us, that's wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We repeatedly tried to get a hold of Jane Bender. She did not return our calls and she has not yet responded to the civil charges brought against her.

People have had rocks, plants and peeves as pets, but fat? Coming up, find out how a clump of lard at a price is being sold to motivate people to lose weight.

Also tonight. "The Current" takes a look at George Foreman. The former champ is heading back to the ring reality show style.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for pop news in tonight's "Current." Let's look at what's going on. George Foreman is joining the cast of "The Contender" NBC's reality show about the search for the next great American boxer. In his role he will act as an inspirational mentor to the contenders, maybe by showing them the secrets to winning isn't strength, it is endorsements. Many, many, many endorsements.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is in search of alien life. Allen is donating $13.5 million towards looking for extraterrestrial beings. The search will begin in space. If that fails, might we suggest Hawaii.

It took a while, but Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," was bumped from the number one spot in the box office. Taking the top position is zombie flick "Dawn of the Dead." Universal Studios is happy they trumped "The Passion." "the Dawn of the Dead" lives in fear of the mortal soul.

And Janet Jackson was honored at the Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles Saturday night. The singer received a career achievement award for her strength and her endurance and not showing her breast during her acceptance speech.

A new jersey man is getting into the weight loss business by selling what everybody wants to get rid of, fat, pet fat. A jiggly life like companion to get people to think twice before they eat.

Your eating, you might want to put down the fork.

Jeanne Moos has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If fat is what you want to lose, try gaining some.

(on camera): What does this look like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like what's part of my stomach, fat.

MOOS (voice-over): It comes in three sizes.

(on camera): This is five pounds, this one pound and this is an ounce. The idea is to gross you out so you think twice about what you put in your mouth.

(voice-over): It looks just like the real thing, right down to the splotchy blood vessels.

(on camera): Well, this is called My Pet Fat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a cat?

MOOS: No. My Pet Fat.

(voice-over): My Pet Fat is the pet project of a guy who has guide a bit of his own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still working on this side.

MOOS: Jay Jacobs says he's lost 100 pounds since he came across plastic fat from a company that makes nutrition teaching aids, including a body fast vest. Now, Jay has trademarked and selling my Pet Fat on his Web site.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will never look at a piece of food the same way.

MOOS: Even while chewing the fatty chowed down on some. It is weird experiences to sit and look at this, and think this is going to turn into that. Here at the diner, My Pet Fat got pet and handed around by a table of Italians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang it on the refrigerator near the handle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't want it if it with us free.

MOOS: It isn't. It is $100 for the five-pounder, $15 for the one small enough to keep in your pocket as a reminder. Jay sometimes takes My Pet Fat grocery shopping. At least My Pet Fat doesn't insist on a trip down the pet food aisle.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, Clifton, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: My Pet Fat.

Tom Ridge is look for a Hollywood connection. The Department of Homeland Security is hiring, you won't believe what the position is.

Plus tomorrow, sorting out the confusion over carbs. What's good for you and what's bad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, taking specialized employment to the "Nth Degree." We don't generally circulate help wanted notices. But this is an unusual case and perhaps our patriotic duty. The Homeland Security Department is looking for someone to serve as its Hollywood liaison, the job which might pay as much as $136,000 a year plus benefits involves providing strategic counsel to entertainment industry figures. Basicly making sure they get all the details right if they portray the Homeland Security Department in Mission Impossible 10 or the OC. Applicants, need to be U.S. Citizens with security clearances and a minimum of one year of specialized experience.

Specialized experience in what?

Are there other jobs? Does the CIA have a PR rep on Broadway?

Is there a Food and Drug Administration guy in the recording industry seeing to it that lyrics nutritionally copacetic?

Secretary Ridge, we'll help you fill the position. But you've got to tell us what the speciality really is.

I'm Anderson Cooper, thanks for watching. Coming up next "PAULA ZAHN 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





at Wheel Before 9/11; Israelis Assassinate Hamas Leader>


Aired March 22, 2004 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Was Bush's war room asleep at the wheel? Serious allegations have the White House on the defensive.

The Mid East braces for bloody retaliation after Hamas' leader is assassinated.

The FDA issues its strongest caution yet about antidepressants and suicide, what you need to know.

Some lawyers want to get their hands inside your head, the controversial new technique brain fingerprinting.

Would you put your spare tire on a leash? Wait until you hear this wild new approach to weight loss.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: And welcome to 360.

The White House strikes back after some explosive charges are made in a tell-all book by President Bush's former counterterrorism adviser. In the book this man, Richard Clarke, accuses the president of turning a blind eye in effect to terrorism warnings before September 11th.

Covering the story for us tonight CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King and National Security Correspondent David Ensor, we begin with John King. John, the White House response today has been quick and pointed.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It has been, Anderson, and officials say the main reason is in their view that Mr. Clarke's allegations are wrong and reckless but aides here also concede that if they stick they could undermine the president's reelection theme that he has made America safer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): The administration counteroffensive is nothing short of extraordinary, suggesting that before Richard Clarke blames President Bush perhaps he should look in the mirror.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Dick Clarke was the counterterrorism czar in 1998 when the embassies were bombed. He was the counterterrorism czar in 2000 when the Cole was bombed. He was the counterterrorism czar for a period of the '90s when al Qaeda was strengthening and when the plots that ended up in September 11 were being hatched.

KING: The force of the White House rebuttal underscores the enormous political stakes. In this new book, Clarke describes a president and an administration so obsessed with Iraq that from day one they ignored the mounting al Qaeda threat.

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: I think they had a sort of a visceral reaction. Well, if the Clinton people are saying it's important it must not be that important and we're going to focus on other things.

KING: Clarke says Mr. Bush pressured him the day after the 9/11 attacks to find evidence blaming Iraq and that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other senior officials also wanted to blame Saddam Hussein.

White House aides say Mr. Bush and others did initially suspect Iraq but that in the end they followed the evidence.

RICE: He told me Iraq is to the side. We're going after Afghanistan and we're going to eliminate the Taliban and the al Qaeda base in Afghanistan.

KING: Clarke also says the administration ignored the al Qaeda threat when it took office and would not take his warning seriously.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His assertion that there is something we could have done to prevent the September 11 attacks from happening is deeply irresponsible. It's offensive and it's flat out false.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now among the things cited by the administration to rebut Mr. Clarke's claim that this White House did not take the al Qaeda threat seriously, officials say that just three weeks after he was sworn in President Bush wrote President Musharraf of Pakistan complaining about al Qaeda and Islamabad's support of the Taliban.

And they say just two weeks after that on March 7, 2001, Dick Clarke himself was charged, Anderson, with coming up with a new administration strategy not to contain al Qaeda but to eliminate it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, John King at the White House thanks John.

No coincidence Clarke's criticism comes just days before he's going to testify before the 9/11 Commission. That's going to happen on Wednesday. Now with Clarke's charges those hearings are shaping up to be one high profile event, with a preview CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It already looked like a rough week for the Bush administration defending its efforts against al Qaeda before the 9/11 Commission but Richard Clarke's broadside has turned up the heat.

RICHARD CLARKE, FMR. COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: Basically, the president botched the response to 9/11. He should have gone right after Afghanistan, right after bin Laden and then he made the whole war on terrorism so much worse by invading Iraq.

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: People, such as Richard Clarke, were literally running through the halls of the White House with their hair on fire with the seriousness of these threats.

ENSOR: Ben-Veniste and the rest of the commission will hear from the present and former secretaries of state and defense Tuesday, from Clarke and CIA Director George Tenet on Wednesday. Bill Clinton and Al Gore will also meet privately with the commission soon to be asked why did they not do more against al Qaeda?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why was there no retaliation at the end of your administration to the bombing of the USS Cole where we lost 17 sailors?

ENSOR: Still in question how much access the commission will get to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Just the top two members may see them says the White House and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice won't testify publicly citing the confidentiality of the advice she gives to the president.

BEN-VENISTE: They do not make her available and I think that's shameful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: It may be a rough week and clearly there are lessons to be learned but, for what it's worth, several career officials are saying to me they do not think either Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton can really be held responsible for what 19 terrorists were able to do on September 11, 2001 -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, David Ensor thanks very much.

A quick news note for you, the last former administration official to criticize President Bush over the war in Iraq has just been cleared of wrongdoing. Ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, he was investigated after he held up a document marked "secret" during a "60 Minutes" interview about a book in which O'Neill contends President Bush discussed plans for war in Iraq well before 9/11.

Well today the inspector general ruled that O'Neill improperly received government documents but that no laws were broken. We're going to continue covering this story later on, on 360. In the Middle East tonight, grief, outrage and vows of revenge, just hours ago hundreds of thousands of Palestinians filled the streets of Gaza City for the funeral procession of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, killed by an Israeli missile strike.

The targeted killing has set off mass demonstrations in the Arab world, this one in Damascus, Syria. For more on the anger and possible repercussions from Gaza here is CNN's Chris Burns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was buried in a cemetery called Martyr's Graveyard amid outrage that Israel would dare to fire a rocket at Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the quadriplegic spiritual leader of Hamas as he left a mosque in his wheelchair.

A Hamas leaflet said to "shake Israel like an earthquake" the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade's call for war against the "sons of Zion."

ABDELL AZIZ RANTISI, SENIOR HAMAS LEADER: There will be no revenge, no revenge. It's (unintelligible).

BURNS: The Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks.

AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN AUTH. PRIME MINISTER: It's a cowardly, criminal act against a prominent Palestinian leader who devoted all his life to the favor of the independence of his people.

BURNS: But Israeli officials say Yassin has backed suicide attacks that have left hundreds of Israelis dead and he opposed peace talks.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The ideology of this person was firstly murder and the killing of Jews because they are Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel.

BURNS: The dual suicide bombings a week earlier in the southern part of Ashdod killing ten Israelis caused the Israeli cabinet to order a stepping up of so-called targeted killings of militant leaders, as well as raids in the territories along with the hardship and the anger, uncertainty of what the killing of Yassin will bring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: And more indications that the Israelis simply stirred up the hornets' nest, more attacks by Hamas overnight here, more firings of mortars as well as (unintelligible) rockets, the Israelis responding with a pinpoint incursion into the Beit Hanun village here in Gaza going after some of those who fired those rockets. Anderson, it's not over yet.

COOPER: All right, Chris Burns thanks very much live from Gaza.

New moves ruled out today in the war on terror here at home. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says train security is being beefed up with more police, more surveillance after last month's attacks in Madrid.

And, as for port security, the government unveiled new radiation detectors comparing the devices to giant Geiger counters saying they're going to help ensure nuclear or radiological weapons do not get smuggled into the U.S.

Deborah Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 22 million shipping containers enter the U.S. every year. They come by sea or overland by truck and rail. Some are screened. Many are not.

Now a new tool that detects radiation is being hailed by customs officials as a major step in securing America, specifically targeting those trying to smuggle in dangerous materials into U.S. seaports.

ROBERT C. BONNER, DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: This increases our ability to detect enriched uranium weapons, plutonium and even so- called radiation dispersal devices or dirty bombs.

FEYERICK: They're called radiation portals. They look like metal detectors but act like Geiger counters. Every container leaving the port of Newark, New Jersey will be screened from now on with other ports to get the devices by the end of the year. Containers that get positive hits for any type of radiation will be opened or x-rayed.

BONNER: I don't now that any, that terrorist organizations have been successful in smuggling in weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, we're doing everything we possibly can or reasonably can to prevent that from happening.

FEYERICK: The critics say the radiation detectors are flawed. Containers may sit on the docks for days or weeks before they're ever checked.

MIKE MITRE, INTL. LONGSHORE AND WAREHOUSE UNION: What about the workers that unload it or what about the people that live next to the port? These containers are going to sit in the port for that amount of time. Wouldn't it have been more well thought out to do these inspections right when they come off the ship?

FEYERICK: Other critics in Washington say containers should be checked before they ever reach U.S. shores.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Customs officials say that by the end of August they expect 70 percent of all shipping containers to be inspected at their original ports before they ever reach the United States -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, that will be a big change. Deborah thanks very much.

Coming up right now we're checking developing stories cross country. Let's take a look.

Right now New York stocks plunge, major indexes dropped sharply on Wall Street today on news of the missile attack that killed Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The biggest drop hit the tech heavy NASDAQ composite.

Columbus, Ohio shooting suspect Charles McCoy, Jr. stayed in his jail cell today skipping his first court appearance in Ohio. The 28- year-old is suspected of a string of highway shootings, one of them deadly. A preliminary hearing is set for March 30th.

To Los Angeles now, jail for Joey. That's right, Joey Buttafuoco pleaded guilty to auto insurance fraud today and got a year in jail. Buttafuoco's 15 minutes of fame started in 1992 when his teenage girlfriend, the tabloid labeled Long Island Lolita, shot his wife in the face.

Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, global warming risk, they don't know why but scientists say carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere has reached record levels. C02 comes from burning fossil fuels. Some think it raises the risk of global warming.

Chicago now, alcohol and high blood pressure, a new study shows that moderate drinking can help boost the so-called good cholesterol in men with high blood pressure. It goes against the current advice that those folks should avoid alcohol. That's a look at stories cross country for you tonight.

Antidepressants and suicide warnings, the government very serious words of caution for doctors and their patients, a medical alert you don't want to miss.

Plus, could your private thoughts soon be used against you in a court of law? They call it brain fingerprinting and it may be coming to a trial near you.

Also new developments in the Michael Jackson grand jury, will the boy who accused him ten years ago finally take the stand?

Also a new study tonight about truth and fiction, how many times a day do you lie, a surprising survey on honestly.

First, let's take a look inside the box, top stories on tonight's network newscasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, if you or someone you know is taking antidepressants this next story is important to hear. The government is asking the makers of ten popular antidepressants to add or strengthen suicide warnings on their labels and they want doctors to monitor their patients or ominous symptoms.

Christy Feig has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors and family members of patients who take certain antidepressants to watch for signs that suggest they might be at an increased risk of attempting suicide.

DR. DIANNE MURPHY, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: Aggression, hostility, they're acting out. They're just having a worsening of their clinical situation. That's what we want you to pay attention to and to go back and talk to your doctor.

FEIG: There are ten drugs at issue, including some of the most popular, like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. Psychiatrists say the first few weeks on a new antidepressant are the most dangerous.

DR. ADELAIDE ROBB, CHILDREN'S NATL. MEDICAL CTR.: The first week or two on medication somebody is still feeling overwhelmingly sad but their energy level is high enough that they can have the ability to plot and carry out a suicide.

FEIG (on camera): The FDA issued the warning based on testimony last month from parents who told of bad experiences their teenagers had while taking antidepressants.

(voice-over): Terry Williams' 14-year-old son took Prozac.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After four weeks of treatment he's beginning to show signs of agitation, which we were not aware that was a potential side effect and after seven weeks of treatment he hung himself.

FEIG: The FDA says these drugs do work and people shouldn't stop taking them but until studies of potential risk are completed later this year they want those caring for people taking the drugs to watch for problems.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Here's a fast fact for you about diagnosed depression, which is clearly on the rise in the U.S. Between 1987 and 1997 the number of Americans diagnosed with depression rose from 1.7 million to 6.3 million. Last year the number reached 17 million. That is one in ten of the entire U.S. population.

We're tracking a number of developing stories around the globe right now. Let's take a look at the up link.

Northwest Pakistan, the hunt for al Qaeda remember that big attack? Well, the Pakistani military says that suspected al Qaeda fighters killed eight of its troops today in a rocket attack on a convoy.

Meanwhile, hopes are fading for capturing a high level al Qaeda figure at least they believed it was a high level al Qaeda figure. Pakistani troops today discovered a network of tunnels that could have provided escape they say.

Madrid now, bombing suspect, Spanish radio reports the arrest of four more suspects in the deadly March 11 train bombings that may be linked to al Qaeda. That happened today. Five of ten other suspects face arraignment today as well.

Taipei, Taiwan, election upheaval, take a look. This is how Taiwan's capital looked today. Thousands of protesters demanded a recount of Saturday's presidential election results. The incumbent kept his seat with only 50.1 percent of the vote. The unrest over the razor sharp victory margin drove stocks down in Taiwan, as well as other major markets across Asia, and that's a quick look at the up link tonight.

Back here in the U.S. where a controversial new technology today being considered for use in the case of a death row inmate. It's called brain fingerprinting. Lawyers for the man say it proves his innocence. Prosecutors call it junk science.

CNN's Kelli Arena has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jimmy Ray Slaughter's brain waves are about to be measured for how they react to images of a double murder, one he's convicted of by claims he did not commit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where inside the house the infant victim was shot. What was printed on the front of the adult victim's tee shirt?

ARENA: If Slaughter's brain registered positive on the visual details of the brutal murders of his ex-wife and infant daughter, the test creator who recorded this says that would have proved Slaughter was at the crime scene but it did not.

LAWRENCE FARWELL, BRAIN FINGERPRINTING CREATOR: Jimmy Ray Slaughter's brain does not contain a record of some of the most salient features of the crime for which he's been convicted and sentenced to death. This is where the computer --

ARENA: Farwell is promoting brain fingerprinting and was called in by Slaughter's lawyers in a last ditch effort to save his life.

JIMMY RAY SLAUGHTER, CONVICTED OF DOUBLE MURDER: It means that what I've said all along is true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say all along?

SLAUGHTER: That I was innocent. I'm sorry.

ARENA: As his execution nears, Slaughter's lawyers are hoping Oklahoma's Appeals Court will allow a new hearing.

ROBERT JACKSON, SLAUGHTER'S ATTORNEY: I am completely confident that if we are given the opportunity, this technology, brain fingerprinting, will be found to be admissible in the courts in Oklahoma.

ARENA: Brain fingerprinting was admitted in court once before, last year, by a judge in Iowa. State prosecutors refer to it as junk science claiming there was no track record establishing reliability.

(on camera): The FBI says more research needs to be done, yet even critics say the technology shows some promise.

SLAUGHTER: I would just like to put my life back together.

ARENA: As for Jimmy Ray Slaughter, it could be his only hope.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, coming up President Bush on the defensive. The White House comes out swinging after a tell-all book. Was there a plan to invade Iraq all along? We're going to talk with a top White House adviser.

Also tonight, honesty and lying, are you more likely to tell the truth online than face-to-face? You might be surprised by the answer.

And a little bit later on, what was a teacher thinking killing baby rabbits in front of her students? That is just wrong and that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, women lie more than men of course. That's automatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's what that guy thinks. A new study is out though with some surprising findings about lying. I spoke with Cornell University Assistant Professor Jeffrey Hancock who has researched the fib factors and says that people lie an average of one to two times a day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): So, Jeffrey, you just completed a study at Cornell about when people are most likely to lie. Let's put the results on the screen. It's fascinated. Fourteen percent of e-mails contained a lie, 25 percent of face-to-face conversations, and 37 percent of telephone conversations contained a lie. Why are more people likely to lie on the phone than they are in e-mail?

JEFFREY HANCOCK, ASST. PROFESSOR, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Well, there's a whole lot of reasons that the phone makes a good medium for lying. The first is they're hardly ever recorded and that's one bad thing for e-mail. E-mail is a very recordable medium. It's saved on your computer, non your target's computer and several servers between.

COOPER: So, that's sort of the lesson of Martha Stewart I guess that you know (unintelligible).

HANCOCK: Exactly. Exactly, all the people at Enron and Microsoft and a lot of the corporate scandals they've learned that lesson the hard way. You bet.

COOPER: It keeps a record. We're going to watch a clip of some people sort of caught in famous lies. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD M. NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not a crook.

PETE ROSE, FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: I never bet on baseball.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Now are there certain physical giveaways when people are lying? I mean, you know, the famous one is people kind of not looking straight on at you.

HANCOCK: Right. Well there's been a lot of research done on deception detection and these cues and unfortunately deception detection is a pretty tough business. In general there's three ways to catch a liar, verbal which is the way they say things, non-verbal which is how they look and how they sound, and physiological like polygraph tests.

There's only a few cues that have been shown to be reliable over the last couple of decades of research. One is tone of voice where our tone of voice tends to get higher. The pitch becomes higher.

COOPER: If you're lying why does that happen?

HANCOCK: Well, it seems to be that when people are lying they become more -- they're trying to control their emotions more. They're trying to control their behaviors. So when you try to control things you become more rigid so your vocal chords probably tighten up a little bit.

When we are lying we tend to do less illustrators. These are the small hand and foot movements that we do, so you know if I'm fidgeting and going like this, this is normal. When I'm lying it turns out I actually do less of these. I become more rigid and that seems to be this idea of trying to control our behavior a little bit more.

COOPER: And do men and women lie differently?

HANCOCK: They do. They lie about the same amount but some research out of MIT suggests that women tend to lie more to help other people whereas men tend to lie more to benefit themselves.

COOPER: All right, fascinating stuff. Jeffrey Hancock thanks very much.

HANCOCK: My pleasure.

COOPER: What Richard Clarke's allegations mean for the Bush camp and campaign.

New developments in the Michael Jackson case, will his 1993 accuser testify against him?

And a new diet aid that's really going to get under your skin, 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Catching up with tonight's top stories in the Reset. Gaza City, sheikh's funeral three days of mourning for Sheikh Ahmed Yassin begin today after the founder of Hamas is buried in a cemetery known as the Martyr's Graveyard. Yassin and seven others were killed earlier in the day by an Israeli missile strike. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians marched vowing revenge.

Washington now. Pump pain. The government said today the average price of gas inched even closer to a record high, up 1.9 cents to $1.74 a gallon. Tight supplies are going to keep pushing prices higher, another 9 cents a gallon over the next two months.

McAlester, Oklahoma. Opening statements. The state trial of Terry Nichols began today. Prosecutors say Nichols was a willing participant in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols' lawyer called him a fall guy for Timothy McVeigh, the man executed for the deadly blast that killed 168 people.

Los Angeles. Not in person. A judge ruled that Arnold Schwarzenegger won't be required to testify in a libel suit. The suit was filed by a woman who accuses the California governor of sexual assault. Her lawyers can submit written questions for the governor.

Atlanta, Georgia. Out of jail. Singer Bobby Brown was released from jail today. He was in jail for violating his probation on drunk driving charges. Brown was due out on Thursday, but was let out to attend a family court hearing in Virginia.

In Washington, now, government surveillance turns out the federal government was watching John Kerry long before his current Secret Service protection. FBI files show the Nixon White House ordered agents to keep an eye on the current presidential candidate back in the 1960s. Kerry's anti-war activities encouraged the observation, which Kerry called "surreal" in a statement released by his campaign. And that's a quick look at "The Reset."

The other top story tonight, political backstabbing or policy breakdown? In a new tell-all book, former White House counter- terrorism chief Richard Clarke blasts President Bush saying he ignored al Qaeda threats before 9/11. Here is some of what Clarke said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER COUNTER-TERRORISM CHIEF: The president -- we were in the Situation Room complex. The president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, "I want you to find whether Iraq did this." And he never said, "make it up." But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said, Iraq did this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That was on "60 Minutes" last night. Joining us for reaction at the White House, Scott (sic) McCormack, senior director of the National Security Council and special assistant to the president. Scott (sic), thanks for being with us. You just heard that clip that was played from "60 Minutes." Clarke is now the second high-ranking administration official to come out and say that basically the Bush administration was pushing for action in Iraq from the get-go and even right after 9/11. Are they both lying?

SEAN MCCORMACK, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: Well, Anderson, all I can say is an incoming administration has to do more than one thing at once. Terrorism was absolutely top priority for this administration when we came in. We got the briefings from Dick Clarke beforehand. He talked about the seriousness of the threat. And we took him seriously. Dr. Rice met with him in the first week, told him to get started putting together some of the ideas that he had. They'd been kicking around since 1998. So we actually folded those ideas -- we folded those ideas into ultimately what our plan was, and we actually went beyond what Dick was originally proposing. So we took terrorism very seriously.

COOPER: But, Scott (sic), what Richard Clarke is saying is that basically, on 9/12, President Bush dragged him into a room and said, you know, or hinted strongly that he wanted information on Iraq and finding some sort of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, which apparently Richard Clarke and the CIA and a bunch of others were saying there just isn't such a link.

MCCORMACK: Well, Anderson, I think, first of all, Dick has to go back and check his facts. As I understand it, he says that this meeting took place on the evening of September 12 in the Situation Room. We've checked the records. No such meeting took place on the evening of September 12.

Let's put that aside for a second, let's go to the heart of the matter. This is a president, commander in chief, asking his staff to pursue every possible link. He wants to know who was responsible for this. Dick Clarke himself in an interview in March of 2002 talked about how he wanted to keep an open mind about who was possibly responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

COOPER: But I've got to jump in here. Apparently what the president wasn't saying, though, what he wasn't saying, find me information on Iran, find me information on Syria, find me information on Pakistan. He was only saying Iraq.

MCCORMACK: Well, Anderson, you know, Iraq was certainly a threat to us. You have to remember, Saddam Hussein was shooting at us every single day, shooting at our pilots. This was somebody with whom we went to war with twice, in 1991 and in 1998. So Iraq was certainly a threat.

But as it turned out, the president, on September 15, went up at Camp David, unrolled the maps on Afghanistan, and said, Iraq is off the table. They weren't responsible for this. We never asserted that there was...

COOPER: Why do you think Richard Clarke is making these allegations?

MCCORMACK: Anderson, you're going to have to ask him about that. I find the timing of the release of his book very curious, and you're just going to have to ask him about that.

Let me just point out one fact for you. He had lunch with my boss on March 7, 2003. This was shortly after he left the administration as the head of cyber security. He sat down -- he sat down with Dr. Rice, and he made no mention of any of these concerns. Not about Iraq, not about the direction of the war on terrorism. So I just have to question -- what is the real -- who is the real Dick Clarke? The one who sat down with Condi Rice on March 7 or the one we're hearing right now? Why the flip-flop?

COOPER: All right, Sean, we're going to leave it there. Sean McCormack, we appreciate you joining us. I called you Scott earlier for some reason. I don't know what I was thinking. Thanks very much, Sean, I appreciate it.

MCCORMACK: Not at all, Anderson.

COOPER: All right.

MCCORMACK: Right.

COOPER: More criticism aimed at President Bush. This time coming from former President Jimmy Carter. He is quoted in today's British newspaper, "The Independent," as saying -- quote, "There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently. That was a war based on lies and misrepresentations from London and from Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. A decision was made to go to war, their people said, let's find a reason to do so."

All this criticism puts the White House, of course, on the defensive. Will the voters take note? And could this affect President Bush's reelection campaign? I talked about potential consequences with two members of the "CROSSFIRE" gang, Tucker Carlson and James Carville.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: James, I want to start off by playing a soundbite from what something Clarke said on "60 Minutes." Let's play that now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARKE: I think the way he has responded to al Qaeda, both before 9/11, by doing nothing, and by what he's done after 9/11 has made us less safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How damaging is this attack and the other attacks that Clarke has been making going to be to the administration, James?

JAMES CARVILLE, CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: Well, I think so far, it has been quite damaging. I mean, the ratings for the show last night were extraordinarily high. The amount of interest is there. Of course, it's true. He didn't meet on terrorism. It wasn't a priority of this administration's prior to 9/11. They viewed it as being more dangerous since 9/11, a view shared by a lot of people. So I mean, it's a legitimate thing. It's something that has to be debated. I'm sure that Mr. Clarke will be asked about this when he appears before the 9/11 commission in public testimony tomorrow, which I'm sure a lot of people will be watching.

COOPER: Tucker, let's talk about the administration response to Clarke's attack. Let's play a soundbite from Condoleezza Rice in response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He has a different view of how to fight the war on terrorism. It is a narrow view, that it has to do with killing bin Laden and dealing with Afghanistan. The president has a broader view, which is that you have to take the fight to the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How effective do you think the administration response has been thus far? They put a lot of people out on morning talk shows and a lot of the news programs.

TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: Well, the initial response was pretty lame. But I think, you know, look, they can make two points, both of them fairly true. One is that in fact Mr. Clarke had a much higher position in the Clinton administration as the actual anti-terrorism chief. And during his tenure, you had a lot of terrorist attack that weren't responded to with any real vigor. You had the USS Cole, you had the embassy bombings, you had Khobar Towers, in '93 attack on the World Trade Center, and an attempted assassination on a former U.S. president.

The Clinton administration's record, in other words, not so great. Second thing they have going for them is that his attacks, Mr. Clarke's attacks, are so completely over the top and so wildly partisan they kind of undermine his own case. Even Joe Lieberman today said, look, you know, this is too much. You're just a partisan. And I think that hurts him.

COOPER: James, talk about John Kerry. Are you surprised that he has not come out and said anything at this point?

CARVILLE: No. But I suspect that he will. I'm sure that he's probably going to read the book first, and everybody wants to see what Mr. Clarke says tomorrow. I'm absolutely stunned by Dr. Rice's criticism that -- well, why did Bush keep him? He was the only person in the White House that Bush held over. If he was doing such a bad job, why did he keep him? And if he's so partisan, why was he brought to town, appointed first by President Reagan, kept by Bush 41, kept by President Clinton and kept by President Bush. He's worked for three Republican presidents, one Democratic president. He was a registered Republican. And now -- this stuff is absolutely silly and people that make this argument -- the sillification (sic) of this whole thing -- this is a very serious charge that this man has made, it should be taken seriously, and we shouldn't sillify (sic) this whole thing. It's a very grave, serious charge.

CARLSON: It certainly is. And I think a much more interesting question to ask is why after leafing through the book, in which he essentially charges the administration has been negligent, implies that they're evil, essentially, says the president pushed for an Iraq war, literally says this in the book, in order to bolster his chances in the mid-term elections, given the fact that he believes all of that, why was he agitating for a higher level posting in the Bush administration? Why would he want to work for such evil people? I mean, it raises, I think, real questions about his credibility.

COOPER: He has said, though, that he will not accept any sort of position in the Kerry administration, if there ever is one.

CARVILLE: Of course. You know what...

CARLSON: Hold on. In fact, in the book, and apparently he works with now one of Senator Kerry's top foreign policy advisers. Look, read the book. It is so over the top in its partisan tone, in its nastiness, I'm willing to entertain a real serious...

CARVILLE: I think that these are extremely serious observations (ph) that is made by an extremely respected person. I think the public will be glued to these 9/11 hearings tomorrow. I think that we've got to get to the bottom of this, and I think the best way to do it is for Dr. Condoleezza Rice to quit appearing publicly on "Good Morning America" and "The Washington Post" op-ed page, and go publicly and explain exactly what this administration did or didn't do in the events leading up to 9/11 and what they did after it.

COOPER: Well, we're going to leave it there. James Carville, Tucker Carlson, thanks very much.

CARLSON: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The release of Richard Clarke's book is timed for maximum impact, coinciding with his planned testimony on Wednesday before the 9/11 commission. While the charges he makes are stunning, the way he's made those charges has become a tried and true part of "Raw Politics."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): If bookstores don't already have a special section for kiss and tell memoirs by once-trusted advisers, they may soon start. Richard Clarke's book is just the latest example. A couple months ago it was Paul O'Neill's turn. The former treasury secretary accused President Bush of being detached and overly focused on Iraq.

Bill Clinton's adviser George Stephanopoulos wrote a tell-all revealing Clinton's explosive temper. And a book by Ronald Reagan's chief of staff Don Regan, disclosed that Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers.

The books usually make a splash when they first come out but they tend to disappear quick. Don't believe it? Here's a test. Can you name the title of Stephanopoulos' book or Regan's or Paul O'Neill's? We'll give you a couple of seconds. Like everything else in Washington, the publication of kiss and tell has its own codified ritual. Richard Clarke's a good example. On Saturday, advanced word of his book's allegations leaked into the "New York Times." On Sunday, Clarke gave an exclusive interview to CBS' "60 Minutes." On Monday he was on a morning talk show along with administration officials taking him to task.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This retrospective rewriting of the history of the first several months of the administration is not helpful.

COOPER: It is not known how much Clarke got to his book. Don Regan got a $1 million. George Stephanopoulos reportedly got $2.75 million. As for those titles, Stephanopoulos' was "All Too Human." Regan, "For the Record" and O'Neill, "The Price of Loyalty." Paying attention to and then forgetting about political tell-all books, that is raw politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The Michael Jackson case, will his first accuser from a decade ago be called to testify to the grand jury? That is ahead in "Justice Served."

Plus, a grim lesson by a Florida teacher, killing bunnies 101. That is definitely just wrong.

Also a diet aid unlike any other. My pet fat. Find out how it might help you lose some unwanted pounds. Hmmm, fat. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Now for "Justice Served." The grand jury being convened in the child molestation case against Michael Jackson. The panel must decide if there's enough evidence to try to the pop star on seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. Jackson has pleaded innocent to all the charges. 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom is covering the case. Good to see you, Kimberly. There has been a lot of speculation about whether this little boy from 1993, now a grown man or late teens would be called to testify. How damaging could his testimony be if he would?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: This could be the most powerful evidence. It could be the difference between Michael Jackson being found guilty or not guilty on these charges. This is a one on one case. This young accuser's word against Michael Jackson. If the D.A. is to be successful, they have to bring in some other evidence to corroborate the charges, whether through physical evidence, computer files, documents in the house. Best evidence would be through another boy who experienced the same thing and we show a pattern of conduct on behalf of Michael Jackson that shows he has an unhealthy (UNINTELLIGIBLE) interest as relates to children.

COOPER: One person who is on the witness list, Lisa Marie Presley, his former wife, she had been quoted in an Australian paper or TV show in which she said that she'd sort of seen things going on. She then later amended that to say, and we're going to put it on the screen, this is what she said. "I was in no way referring to seeing something inappropriate with children and I have stated before in other interviews I never have." Do you think they will call her to testify?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: They might want to because it is an exploratory process to really see what she knows, if in fact she's covering up for him. This might be a situation where she's backed off because she doesn't want this unwarranted, unwanted media attention and doesn't want any part of it. I think she's trying to put this part of her life behind her. She was in a unique position to see things on an intimate level about what went on at Neverland and what went on with Michael Jackson.

COOPER: Who else can we expect to be called to testify?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: Well, we're going have Dr. Steven Katz testify. I expect that he will come forward and testify in this case...

COOPER: He's the therapist?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: The therapist for the accuser and had apparently seen the 1993 victim as well. We'll also hear from the victim's mother and the younger brother of the victim in this case. They'll come forward with some damaging testimony.

COOPER: So the alleged victim will testify? GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: I think that they can because it is a secret proceeding and he wouldn't be subjected to cross-examination. It is important evidence and they do need to put it forward. No one can cross-examine him. That's the benefit of the grand jury.

COOPER: All right. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom. Thanks.

An agriculture teacher in Florida is under fire today. She picked up a shovel and killed two newborn baby rabbits in front of the students. The teacher now admits it was a bad decision. We say what she did, that's just wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Daddy!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

COOPER: Who doesn't remember the bunny boiler scene in "Fatal Attraction?" But that was fiction, an R-rated movie meant for adults. In a Plant City, Florida classroom, it looks like life imitated art. Agriculture teacher Jane Bender believed two baby rabbits like these, just one day old, were sickly, they'd been rejected by their mother. So what did she do? Call a vet? No. She ordered her students to bury the bunnies alive. When the horrified students refused, she picked up a shovel and beat the bunnies to death.

RYAN HARRELL, PLANT CITY HIGH STUDENT: I was really shocked and appalled. I didn't have any words for it.

COOPER: One student wrote to PETA who called the Animal Services who called the county sheriff who told state prosecutors Ms. Bender was just trying to stop the animals from suffering. The prosecutors told us they wouldn't press charges saying there was no malice or criminal intent on the part of the teacher. We do believe she exercised poor judgment doing it in front of the students.

Poor judgment? An Animal Services investigator filed several animal cruelty charges against Bender saying, "I definitely felt that the teacher needed to be held accountable. Maybe the bunnies were sick or dying. But Jane Bender didn't seem to have the qualifications to be sure of that. And instead of calling someone who did, she killed them in front of a class full of stunned students." If you ask us, that's wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We repeatedly tried to get a hold of Jane Bender. She did not return our calls and she has not yet responded to the civil charges brought against her.

People have had rocks, plants and peeves as pets, but fat? Coming up, find out how a clump of lard at a price is being sold to motivate people to lose weight.

Also tonight. "The Current" takes a look at George Foreman. The former champ is heading back to the ring reality show style.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for pop news in tonight's "Current." Let's look at what's going on. George Foreman is joining the cast of "The Contender" NBC's reality show about the search for the next great American boxer. In his role he will act as an inspirational mentor to the contenders, maybe by showing them the secrets to winning isn't strength, it is endorsements. Many, many, many endorsements.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is in search of alien life. Allen is donating $13.5 million towards looking for extraterrestrial beings. The search will begin in space. If that fails, might we suggest Hawaii.

It took a while, but Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," was bumped from the number one spot in the box office. Taking the top position is zombie flick "Dawn of the Dead." Universal Studios is happy they trumped "The Passion." "the Dawn of the Dead" lives in fear of the mortal soul.

And Janet Jackson was honored at the Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles Saturday night. The singer received a career achievement award for her strength and her endurance and not showing her breast during her acceptance speech.

A new jersey man is getting into the weight loss business by selling what everybody wants to get rid of, fat, pet fat. A jiggly life like companion to get people to think twice before they eat.

Your eating, you might want to put down the fork.

Jeanne Moos has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If fat is what you want to lose, try gaining some.

(on camera): What does this look like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like what's part of my stomach, fat.

MOOS (voice-over): It comes in three sizes.

(on camera): This is five pounds, this one pound and this is an ounce. The idea is to gross you out so you think twice about what you put in your mouth.

(voice-over): It looks just like the real thing, right down to the splotchy blood vessels.

(on camera): Well, this is called My Pet Fat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a cat?

MOOS: No. My Pet Fat.

(voice-over): My Pet Fat is the pet project of a guy who has guide a bit of his own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still working on this side.

MOOS: Jay Jacobs says he's lost 100 pounds since he came across plastic fat from a company that makes nutrition teaching aids, including a body fast vest. Now, Jay has trademarked and selling my Pet Fat on his Web site.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will never look at a piece of food the same way.

MOOS: Even while chewing the fatty chowed down on some. It is weird experiences to sit and look at this, and think this is going to turn into that. Here at the diner, My Pet Fat got pet and handed around by a table of Italians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang it on the refrigerator near the handle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't want it if it with us free.

MOOS: It isn't. It is $100 for the five-pounder, $15 for the one small enough to keep in your pocket as a reminder. Jay sometimes takes My Pet Fat grocery shopping. At least My Pet Fat doesn't insist on a trip down the pet food aisle.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, Clifton, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: My Pet Fat.

Tom Ridge is look for a Hollywood connection. The Department of Homeland Security is hiring, you won't believe what the position is.

Plus tomorrow, sorting out the confusion over carbs. What's good for you and what's bad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, taking specialized employment to the "Nth Degree." We don't generally circulate help wanted notices. But this is an unusual case and perhaps our patriotic duty. The Homeland Security Department is looking for someone to serve as its Hollywood liaison, the job which might pay as much as $136,000 a year plus benefits involves providing strategic counsel to entertainment industry figures. Basicly making sure they get all the details right if they portray the Homeland Security Department in Mission Impossible 10 or the OC. Applicants, need to be U.S. Citizens with security clearances and a minimum of one year of specialized experience.

Specialized experience in what?

Are there other jobs? Does the CIA have a PR rep on Broadway?

Is there a Food and Drug Administration guy in the recording industry seeing to it that lyrics nutritionally copacetic?

Secretary Ridge, we'll help you fill the position. But you've got to tell us what the speciality really is.

I'm Anderson Cooper, thanks for watching. Coming up next "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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