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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Journalist Daniel Pearl was Killed; Interview With Ehud Barak

Aired February 21, 2002 - 22:00   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.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Larry, thank you very much, and good evening again everyone. This, as you can imagine, is a sad and awkward day for us. About 4:30 this afternoon, we heard the Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl had been murdered.

It got very quiet in our corner of the building here in New York. It hadn't been a very good afternoon, even before that. As I was driving in, I heard that 12 Americans had likely died in a helicopter crash in the Philippines.

So even before the Pearl news, I knew this was going to be one of those days. That's why it's sad. It's awkward because we know and we know you know that when a reporter is murdered, we tend to look at it differently.

Danny Pearl, whether we knew him or not, was a part of our professional family. That may not be right, but it is true, and so much of the program is going to be devoted to his death.

A lot of the things we planned to do tonight, things we thought were good and interesting, just didn't feel right. This story is still unfolding. We'll peel back as many layers as we can in the next hour, but it's not enough just to report on his death. We need to give him life. He wasn't just a byline in a great newspaper. He was a friend and a husband and a father-to-be.

A former boss said he was one of those reporters who always had one more call to make, and Daniel Pearl didn't write just the big and important and risky stories. He made somewhat of a name for himself writing those quirky little stories that make the Journal fun to read, as well as important.

There was a piece he did on people in Atlanta who paid to get rid of their southern accent, and there was another about the legal battle of the title Bozo. We are all so sad tonight, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his friends and his colleagues at the Journal and his wife and his family. You are all very much on our minds and in our hearts tonight.

On to the whip, Andrea Koppel did much of the reporting on this story today. She leads it off, Andrea the headline at this hour.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it was the answer that none of us wanted to hear. As you know, over the last four weeks, there have been any number of false starts, rumors, e-mails that claimed that Danny was dead and when I checked with officials, I was told that those stories weren't true.

But today when I asked that question, the dreaded question, I got the dreaded answer. Yes, Danny Pearl was dead.

BROWN: Andrea, back with you shortly. Chris Burns is in Karachi, Pakistan tonight. Chris, the headline from the Pakistani side.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, after nearly a month of captivity for Daniel Pearl, after nearly a month of hopes raised and dashed repeatedly, after a trail gone hot and cold repeatedly, we finally have a videotape showing, without a doubt, that Daniel Pearl is dead.

BROWN: Chris, thank you. Reaction from President Bush tonight, the President is in China. Our Senior White House Correspondent John King is traveling with the President. John, a brief headline please.

JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The President was told in Beijing early this morning, Aaron. He voice condolences for the Pearl family, especially he said, Daniel Pearl's unborn child.

Mr. Bush then turned the page and showed his contempt. He said this only deepens his resolve in the War on Terror. He called the murder of Daniel Pearl a criminal, barbaric act. Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you. And in Salt Lake City tonight, one of those stories that might have been the lead on another day, Rusty Dornin covering that in Salt Lake. Rusty, the headline.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the South Koreans are threatening to pull out before closing ceremonies. The Russians are threatening to pull their athletes out by tomorrow. And the Salt Lake Winter Games may yet become known as the 2002 whining games.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you very much. We'll get to you a little bit later in the program. A couple of other quick things before we move on, we'll also be talking with the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tonight, about the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

And out of the Pentagon, Barbara Starr has the latest on the helicopter crash in the Philippines, 12 on board, Americans, no sign of survivors. That's a quick road map of where we're headed tonight.

We begin, of course, with the Danny Pearl story. It had been so long since we had heard anything indicating that Danny Pearl was still alive, there was a growing sense his kidnapping was going to end badly. Still, it is a shock and it got more shocking when we learned about the details of how he died, the videotape that apparently shows it all.

We begin our coverage now with CNN's Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL (voice over): The proof of Daniel Pearl's death, U.S. and Pakistani officials say, was a videotape, which two Pakistani men handed over Thursday to someone they thought was a journalist, but was in fact, an undercover FBI agent.

The recorded video contained scenes showing Mr. Daniel Pearl in captivity, and scenes of his murder by the kidnappers. The Pakistani Interior Ministry told reporters. U.S. officials say they haven't recovered Pearl's body and don't know when he was killed."

PAUL STEIGER, MANAGING EDITOR, WALL STREET JOURNAL: We're heartbroken at his death. Danny was an outstanding colleague, a great reporter, and a dear friend to many at the Journal.

KOPPEL: From the Wall Street Journal, Pearl's employer the last 12 years, there were expressions of grief as well as anger.

STEIGER: His murder is an act of barbarism. It makes a mockery of everything that Danny's kidnappers claimed to believe in. They claim to be Pakistani nationalists, but their actions must surely bring shame to all true Pakistani patriots.

KOPPEL: In exchange for Pearl's release, his kidnappers had demanded the release of all Pakistani prisoners held by the U.S. in Guantanamo, Cuba, as well as the repatriation of the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, demands the Bush Administration immediately dismissed as unrealistic.

The State Department said Pearl's murder was "an outrage, and we condemn it." It went on to say, the U.S. and Pakistan remained "committed to identifying the kidnappers and bringing them to justice." Small consolation to Pearl's wife, now seven months pregnant with their first child, or to Pearl's family.

GARY FOSTER, PEARL FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Danny's senseless murder lies beyond our comprehension. Danny was a beloved son, a brother, an uncle, a husband, and a father to a child who will never known him, a musician, a writer, a storyteller, and a bridge builder. Danny was a walking sunshine of truth, humor, friendship, and compassion. We grieve with the many who have known him in his life, and we weep for a world that must reckon with his death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL (on camera): Right up until the very end, just about everyone held out hope that Danny Pearl's life would be spared. Pearl was, after all, an American journalist, not a spy like his kidnappers claimed. And so, Aaron, his senseless murder today leaves one very important question unanswered, why -- Aaron.

BROWN: Yes. That's the question, isn't it? Quickly, Andrea, is there any unhappiness there with Pakistan and the way the Pakistani government handled the investigation?

KOPPEL: Absolutely not. U.S. officials tell me from the very beginning, they got full cooperation from Pakistani authorities and they believe that cooperation will continue in the days and weeks to come, as they try to track down the kidnappers.

BROWN: Thank you very much, Andrea Koppel at the State Department tonight. The President is in China. That's where he heard the news of Daniel Pearl's murder. The President had discussed the Pearl case with Pakistan's President Musharraf, just a short few days ago, and while the words in the official White House statement may seem predictable, they remain nevertheless important. Again, our Senior White House Correspondent John King, John.

KING: Aaron, it was in the five o'clock hour here, very early this morning in Beijing, Mr. Bush received word from his National Security Advisor that the United States had come into possession of a horrifying videotape. Condoleezza Rice telling the President the evidence on it was indisputable, that Daniel Pearl had been executed in Pakistan.

A few hours later, Mr. Bush delivered a very brief statement to reporters, but in that brief statement, two very different glimpses of the President. First, Mr. Bush saying he wanted to voice his condolences to the Pearl family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Laura and I and the American people are deeply saddened to learn about the loss of Daniel Pearl's life, and we're really sad for his wife and his parents and his friends and colleagues who have been clinging to hope for weeks that he'd be found alive. We're especially sad for his unborn child, who will now know his father only through the memory of others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: From condolences, Mr. Bush turned the page to contempt. He said those who kidnapped and now murdered Daniel Pearl perhaps thought they would deter the United States from its War against Terrorism. Mr. Bush said they couldn't be more wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH; Those who would threaten Americans, those who would engage in criminal, barbaric acts need to know that these crimes only hurt their cause, and only deepen the resolve of the United States of America to rid the world of these agents of terror. May God bless Daniel Pearl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: U.S. law enforcement officials remain in Pakistan, continue to work with the Pakistani government on the investigation, U.S. officials saying they are receiving and will receive the full cooperation of President Pervez Musharraf, a great sense of frustration but also a commitment from the President that his top aides traveling here in Beijing, that the administration will keep up the pressure on Pakistan to bring those responsible now for a murder to justice -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you, our Senior White House Correspondent John King in Beijing tonight. From beginning to end, the Daniel Pearl kidnapping lasted less than a month. E-mails received, demands made, suspects detained, confusing signals sent. How many times did we hear investigators say we are close. The mastermind is in custody. The hopes were raised and then dashed, all in a month.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice over): Danny Pearl went from byline to headline on the 23rd of January. He had been suckered by his kidnappers. They dangled bait and like the reporter he was, Danny Pearl bit.

RICHARD MURPHY, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: He had gotten a tip that some sources with one of the Islamic militant groups in Kashmir was willing to speak to him.

BROWN: Somewhere in the dark and dangerous streets of Karachi, Danny Pearl was a captive of Islamic extremists. For three days, neither the Wall Street Journal nor his family knew a thing. Danny Pearl had simply vanished.

Then these pictures, e-mailed photos from the kidnappers to the world. Pearl's wife, Marianne, who was also in Pakistan, saw the e- mails and the pictures and a sense of helplessness began to settle in.

Marianne PEARL: Nobody has contacted me. Nobody is trying to, you know, to tell me what I should do. They have to communicate something that I can actually do.

BROWN: More e-mails and more threatening talk. Kidnappers demanding they would kill Daniel Pearl within 24 hours. Subsequent correspondence pushed the deadline back, but the demands never changed.

Freedom for Pakistani prisoners held by the United States at Guantanamo, demands that everyone who knew anything about U.S. policy knew would never be met.

So again, it was his wife, who had learned of her pregnancy just two days before her husband was taken, began to plead.

PEARL: Don't harm an innocent man.

BROWN: February 4th, Pakistani investigators open a search for Daniel Pearl, and Pearl's wife offers to trade places with her husband.

PEARL: You're just going to like, OK, create more and more, you know, one more misery. You know, use Danny as a symbol and all of this is completely wrong.

BROWN: Five days later, a possible break in the case. Pakistani authorities locate the computer that was used to communicate with Pearl. The computer led officials directly to its owner and the man suspected of masterminding the kidnapping, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

On February 12th, he was taken into custody. Jameel Yousef, a Pakistani investigator, was the last friendly person to see Daniel Pearl alive, and he believes it was Sheikh who spun the trap.

JAMEEL YOUSEF, PAKISTANI INVESTIGATOR: A level of friendship with e-mail. They began (UNINTELLIGIBLE) terms, discussing family illnesses and all that, and slowly, slowly baiting him to an appointment as if they were doing him a favor.

BROWN: That afternoon, I sat down with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. He told me he was pleased with the way the investigation was going. He was optimistic.

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: We've closed in on the prime suspects, on the people who have been issuing the e-mails and the photographs. Therefore, we think that the possibility of a success is there.

BROWN: And he denied forcefully that anyone in his own intelligence service was in any way involved.

MUSHARRAF: Absolutely not possible at all, absolutely wrong. There is no possibility whatsoever.

BROWN: The whereabouts of Daniel Pearl still unknown. Saeed Sheikh last week telling officials that the Wall Street Journal reporter was still alive. But then in court, he recanted that.

On Thursday, one of the three suspects in the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl appeared in a Pakistani court. He was the man who had sent the e-mails, the photos, the demands. Danny Pearl was a target because he was Jew working against Muslims, the man said. That's why he was targeted and apparently, that's why he was killed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (on camera): It's a new day in Pakistan now. A new challenge is facing the government there. The kidnapping of Danny Pearl, his murder, is also an attack on the government in Pakistan and its authority. Chris Burns is working the story for us. Chris, good morning to you.

BURNS: Good morning, Aaron. Well, officials are redoubling their efforts. In fact, as they announced last night that they had that videotape, they also added in their statements that the necessary instructions to the investigation teams have been issued to apprehend the remaining culprits.

The government is going to intensify its efforts to go after those, now that they don't have to hold their fire, perhaps even literally, to try to find these suspects. It will be an intense search. It has been an intense search for the past month nationwide in this country of more than 145 million people.

So it has been very intense and they do intend to intensify that. The newspapers are playing this as front page. As you can see, Daniel Pearl is dead was announced on the front page of the International News. That's just one of them, providing also graphic details about how he was killed in that videotape.

Very saddening to many here here, also however, causing the government to intensify its efforts and obviously this kidnapping was in part aimed at embarrassing the Musharraf government, that having happened just before President Musharraf went to the United States on his trip to met President Bush. Aaron.

BROWN: Chris, thank you. Chris Burns who's been working the story and it's been a long night, and now morning, for him in Karachi. Thank you for your reporting today.

Up next, we'll talk to Christiane Amanpour who's with us here in New York, about this case and more. This is NEWSNIGHT on Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Part of the job of being a reporter is putting yourself in dangerous places from time to time, and we live all too often I think with a sense that we are somehow protected, that the bad guys need us. The prisoner in the penitentiary won't harm us. He needs us to tell his story. The soldier in Bosnia won't harm us. He needs us.

It is, in the end, an illusion, a necessary one sometimes, but an illusion. Christiane Amanpour knows that as well as anyone, and Christiane is with us in New York. I wish it were under better circumstances that we finally meet.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed. When something like this happens, you said it, we are a family. We are a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and it really sends an earthquake of shock through this whole profession. And our sympathies are obviously with his wife, his child, his family, his colleagues.

BROWN: Did you have a feeling that it would end this way or did you think it might end better?

AMANPOUR: I hoped that it would end better. I thought it would end better.

BROWN: Yes. It wasn't an irrational hope in a way. I mean when I said we live with this sense that the bad guys, whoever they may be, need us. It's true.

AMANPOUR: I think that what something like this does is, and particularly in this case, as if Islam didn't have enough to do to recoup its image after the terrible crimes that had been committed in the name of Islam.

And now, this crime that has been committed by people professing to be Islamic, it dishonors the religion. It irrevocably, in my view, not just damages, destroyed any political cause these people might have had. But more to the point, I think if its not journalists, then who is it who gives these people a voice? How many journalists like Danny Pearl or CNN journalists, New York Times, all the journalists go out to the Islamic world, and I say Islamic world particularly because there has been so much anger at the Islamic world over the last few years, and many journalists have tried their best to get beyond the stereotype, beyond the cliche to try to tell the real story, to put a human face on many of these stories. And when something like this happens, there's just rage as well as anguish.

BROWN: It just goes to the - I'm sure there's not a question here, but it just goes to the senselessness of it all, because it is true that we are sometimes the only voice that people on the outskirts of social policy have.

AMANPOUR: Well, I think we are the only voice.

BROWN: Yes.

AMANPOUR: I mean there's no doubt about it. Many of these groups are not treated with any respect by their own governments. They wouldn't have any voice apart from journalists who go out and do these stories. And perhaps, they think they had a reason, but clearly nothing can justify this. Nothing.

And it is simply damaging and destructive to their cause, and you know, we've been going through this more and more over the last few years, whether it be in Bosnia or in Afghanistan, as you remember at the beginning of the war.

Some journalists were literally taken from their cars and executed, and it is inexplicable, that kind of behavior.

BROWN: I was with friends the other day and we were talking about this and someone wondered how any of us could put ourselves in the kind of situation he put ourselves in, and I kind of smiled and said, "well I'll tell you the truth. It does happen."

AMANPOUR: Well, I think that what people have to understand, and this is said with no bravado. But I believe that people like Danny Pearl, people who go out into the world to try to do these kind of dangerous missions, believe that they do have a mission and their mission is very simple. It's duty. We're journalists. We must go out and tell the stories.

BROWN: Did you ever get one of those calls though that says, if you go here and you go there.

AMANPOUR: Yes. I mean you know, when I heard about his, I remembered something that happened to me and my team this time last year. We were called by a contact to go to Pakistan, because we would have an interview with Osama bin Laden.

So we went. We met with contact after contact. WE traveled somewhat around Pakistan, different cities, being told to stay in the hotel. Don't go out. Don't talk to anybody. We'll meet you. We'll take you.

And you do it because you think that it's going to come through, that it's the right thing to do, and you're pursuing a story. And the story he was pursuing was one of vital importance in this context that we find ourselves in.

BROWN: Well, we'll all probably think about it a little longer, but we'll probably still make the call and go there anyway. Christiane, thank you for coming in.

AMANPOUR: Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you. Christiane Amanpour. Ron Suskind is a long- time friend of Danny Pearl's. I worked with him at the Journal, and he joins us tonight as well. Ron, thanks for coming in. I want to talk about who Danny was, but if I understand this story right, you were at the White House when you heard about this?

RON SUSKIND, FORMER WSJ STAFFER: Yes. Yes. I was doing a story, I'm doing a story for "Esquire Magazine" about the White House, and I was in the West Wing today meeting with the deputy chief of staff, when the news came over on CNN, and everyone crowded around the set and Josh Bolton is his name, called Andy Card, the Chief of Staff, in Beijing and they talked about what they ought to do and how early they knew. And, it seemed like there was clearly an inkling of this and there was trouble.

BROWN: This is your friend, and you're watching all of this, and that must have been mildly out of body.

SUSKIND: It was out of body, Aaron, is I think an appropriate term. You know, I started to become overcome with emotion and there on the phone talking about U.S. policy of how to spin or handle, how to respond to the death of our buddy. Buddy to a lot of people, and one of the great journalists that any of us had had ever known.

BROWN: I said at the beginning of the program, Ron, that one of the things I wanted to do tonight was to give Daniel Pearl life. That it's not enough to talk about him only as victim. So give him some life. Tell us who he was.

SUSKIND: Well, Danny was instantly when you'd meet him, a kind of beam of light. He came into the Journal. He joined the Journal in 1990, I guess. The dates may be a little fuzzy, but around 1990. He came to Washington from Atlanta around '92, '93.

And as soon as he arrived in that big giant Washington Bureau, Danny was a favorite of everybody. He was loved by women. He was loved by men. He just had a kind of a, he had a kind of a bursting quality, of you know, of openness and sensitivity that everyone responded to.

And what was interesting is there were so many layers to it. He often would seem befuddled and a little goofy but he was anything but. He was just self effacing and was humble in ways, but at the same time extremely directed and focused on what he did. BROWN: Twenty, 30 seconds or so. Was he a cowboy? Was he a guy who would take risks?

SUSKIND: No, definitely not. He was judicious, but he also was committed to the search for truth. You know, he touched people in the bureau. You know, he played the fiddle. You know, he was talented, you know, in a way that a lot of journalists are not. You know, we often don't build skills like that, and he would play music at parties, at Christmas parties or going away parties.

And at the same time he touched people in the bureau, he also touched people he dealt with as a reporter, as subjects, which is why he was so very good at it. They sensed not only what Skuds Turkle (ph) would probably calling feeling tone with Danny.

BROWN: Yes.

SUSKIND: They trusted him for all the right reasons, because he really genuinely cared and really listened. That's why he was able from 1996 when he went to London from Washington and then beyond that, when he went to Bombay and the Arab world, he was able to write such extraordinary stories, where you really could hear the voices and the hearts of people who some of us, some journalists might have trouble connecting with.

BROWN: Ron, thank you very much. It's a good start on filling in some of the pieces of who this guy was. We appreciate it. Thank you.

SUSKIND: Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you. Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, a little more here seeking justice in the Pearl case. What actually can the United States do? NEWSNIGHT continues on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: President Bush in his comments today in China said Danny Pearl's murder would deepen the resolve of the United States to "rid the world of these agents of terror." That was the President's quote. Not much of a hint at what the United States will do or can do to bring the killers to justice.

We'll talk about some of the options. Former deputy national security adviser James Steinberg is with us in Washington, as is our CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor. Good to see both of you.

Jim, when something like this happens, is it totally consuming in the White House, sort of consuming? How much time is spent on a problem of one guy being kidnapped in one place?

JAMES STEINBERG, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I don't think this is just one guy being kidnapped. I think this is an enormously high profile individual. It's a journalist. It's a person who is involved in covering a story that the whole country is deeply involved in it, because it involves terrorism in a part of the world that we've grown very familiar with over the last several months. So I think this is unusual, even though we have hostage taken under a number of set of circumstances, people kidnap, but this is very a different problem.

BROWN: And so, is it something that every day tends to come up in staff meetings and National Security briefings and the like?

STEINBERG: I'm sure it's in the intelligence briefing every day. What's the latest on this? Have we got some new leads? What are the Pakistanis doing? Are we getting the right kind of cooperation? What does the FBI think? What does the CIA think? I think it's been very much on the top of the agenda for the last month.

BROWN: David, I'm going to start looking forward a bit at what American law is here and what American -- what the government can do. There is, in fact, law that covers the murder of an American overseas, correct?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and the Attorney General has vowed to bring to justice those who kill innocent Americans. The similar statements from the State Department, from the president. There's a great deal of anger and sense of purpose. And I gather that I'm told we have sources telling us that a grand jury has, in fact, been convened and is looking at possible charges against, among others, this man Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheik, who is wanted in connection with this killing.

BROWN: And so on the one side, there is this -- an American law enforcement community response in American law to try and bring him back and try him here. Let me go back to Jim Steinberg. On the other side of this, it seems to me the United States probably cannot go in and get these guys, that it has to rely on the Pakistani government to do so, correct?

STEINBERG: Well, I think they'll want to rely on the Pakistani government because after all, in some respects, this is was an attack on President Musharraf as well. He put a tremendous stake on trying to get this resolved successfully before he came to the United States. And he wasn't able to do it.

He's now got to show that he's being effective. And if the Americans were to come and try do this themselves, it would both undercut him and it would send a signal in some respects that the captors had turned this into a fight between them and the United States. We want President Musharraf to take the lead on this.

BROWN: And this is a test for President Musharraf isn't it?

STEINBERG: Absolutely. You know, one of the reasons this probably happened was because he began to crackdown on some of these groups after September 11. Many of these groups are associated with some of the radicals operating in Kashmir.

So this is, in some respects, going to be a fight to the the death between him and the forces that oppose what he's trying to do, this turn that he's brought Pakistan to. And I think he's really got to show now that he's in charge of this, but he'll get good support from the Pakistani people, because I think there's going to be revulsion in Pakistan against what's happened.

BROWN: And David, back to you for one last one. Do we have any idea how many -- I assume these are FBI agents on the ground in Pakistan, do we know how large, what their background is, anything about them and their experience?

ENSOR: It's a sizeable contingent. They're not saying how many though, Aaron. The first group to go were the experts on computer software, trying to track down through the e-mails, who had sent them. They've down that. They found that man. He is in custody.

So there's now, over the last weeks, there's a much larger group of FBI officials and others. So there's a sizeable American contingent, but as Jim said the goal is to have the Pakistanis take this on in a public way and for President Musharraf to be seen to bring the people to justice on this.

BROWN: David Ensor, James Steinberg, thank you both for helping us get through this one tonight. We appreciate it.

And we have much more on NEWSNIGHT. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's morning in the Middle East and about the best you can is the sun is still shining. These have been the bloodiest 24 hours in many weeks and the bloodiest week in more than a year and a half.

48 people have been killed since Mondy. We've seen Palestinians ambush the Israeli soldiers. And today, another day of Israeli counterattacks, missiles hitting targets in Ramallah and in Gaza City for the past second straight day. Israeli troops moving into Gaza for the first time since this latest round of fighting began.

Less than a hour after the raid on Gaza City, Israel's prime minister went on national TV. Ariel Sharon called for buffer zones between the Israelis and Palestinians. No details how that would be accomplished. He did soften, it seemed, his conditions for peace talks, calling for quiet, but not seven days of quiet as he'd been saying until now.

As for Yasser Arafat, he called it a recipe for more of the same. And then, when he was asked by CNN's Walter Rodgers if he could guarantee there would be no more shootings, no more suicide bombings on the Palestinian side, Chairman Arafat changed the subject.

Ehud Barak entered office as prime minister of Israel with enough knowledge of war that his top priority was peace. And he came close, closer than anyone. But in the end, his attempt at peace failed, like so many others have over the years. And now that whole peace process seems like a forgotten dream. Mr. Barak joins us tonight here in New York. It's nice to see you, sir. Do you have any, can you explain at all what this buffer zone proposal means?

EHUD BARAK, FMR. ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Basically, it means that in order to avoid the kind of situation that was created in Bosnia and Belfast where the two communities are living together with so much hatred, can still bleed into each other for generations. It's a time to disengage ourselves.

BROWN: And so what, do you build fortress Israel? I mean, do you build big walls around?

BARAK: No, we can build exactly like we already have around Gaza Strip. We have a pilot. If you want 70 kilometers or 80 kilometers of fences, with sensors and forces. If suicide attack squad plans an attack on an Israeli restaurant or bar mitzvah gathering from Gaza Strip, their main obstacle is go to Israel.

BROWN: Yes.

BARAK: Usually they cannot do it. From the West Bank now, it's very easy. It's 10 times longer. It will need 500 miles maybe, but it's feasible. It's possible. It should be done. It will reduce dramatically suicide attacks, but will not solve the hatred in the Middle East.

BROWN: Eighteen months ago, it seemed like you could almost touch the prospect of peace. Why has the situation deteriorated so much in what is still a relatively short period of time?

BARAK: The basic fact is that it takes two to tango. You cannot impose peace upon someone. You can impose war. For war it's enough to have one side wishing. I tried my best to bring an end to this conflict.

Rabin tried before me. President Clinton tried all along the years. Unfortunately, we couldn't fight on the other side of the divide, a character like a Saddam Hussein that could make decisions, however painful, and put an end to it.

And what we have seen even today it's a kind of camouflage. The guy, Mr. Arafat, is a great performer. You know at certain point, I suggested that Simon Peres will send a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo and ask them to replace Arafat Nobel Peace prize with an Oscar, but he just is lying to the whole world without a muscle moving.

And we know. We read the intelligence material. The CIA reads it. The British and German intelligence reads it. And we know it's all camouflage. The man decided to turn to terror. He should be held accountable to it. And we have no choice but to stand firm to wait for another leadership of more responsible nature.

BROWN: Mr. Barak, it's nice too meet you finally. Thank you. Come back and see us again. Thank you, Ehud Barak former prime minister of Israel.

We have much more when NEWSNIGHT. There was an American helicopter that crashed in the Philippines today. We'll tell you more about that, as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In the Philippines, there's a search underway tonight for a U.S. army helicopter that went down with 12 Americans on board. They were there to help the Philippine army fight off a Muslim insurgency with ties to al Qaeda. The danger expected to come from the jungle, not a routine transit mission like the one this chopper what was on.

Barbara Starr has been working the story from the Pentagon and she joins us now. Barbara, good evening.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.

Well, this U.S. army MH-47 helicopter, indeed, was on a routine flight in the southern Philippines when it went down. Officials tonight are confirming that 10 were on board, a crew of 8, two passengers. At the moment, no signs of survivors, though aerial search remains ongoing.

Also they tell us at this point, there was no sign of hostile fire. This indeed appears to have been a tragic accident. All of this occurred in the southern Philippines, about 150 miles northeast of Zamboanga (ph) City. The helicopter was on a flight from there to nearby Mactan Island when it went down.

This was all part of another U.S. military front in the war on terrorism, of course. There are about 600 U.S. military personnel in the southern Philippines right now, including several dozen special forces. They're on a long-term program with the Philippine military, training the Philippine military in counterterrorism, to help them go after the Abu Sayyaf terrorist gang in that country.

Now tonight, there are reports in the local news media in the Philippines that as a result of this aerial search effort, that they have recovered some bodies and possibly even some survivors. But Aaron, at this hour, Pentagon sources tell CNN they simply have no U.S. confirmation of those local press reports. Aaron

BROWN: Thank you. We'll let information develop on this one. Thank you very much, Barbara Starr.

STARR: You're welcome.

BROWN: At the Pentagon tonight. Try though we might to avoid it, there was news out of Salt Lake City tonight. We'll deal with that. It's unbelievable what's going on. NEWSNIGHT continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: When you're a kid and a tough call goes against you on the playing field, you can always pick up the ball and go home. At the Olympics, it's different. You give formal 24 hour notice. Right.

The Russians are doing just that. Russia is threatening to pull out of the Olympic Games, though they are almost over, unless a number of judging issues are cleared up. On the face of it, this dispute is with the Olympic Committee. And it centers on cross country skiing and ice hockey, but you could just as easily say it's about politics and especially pride. So try as we might to avoid it, we go back to Salt Lake City and CNN's Rusty Dornin.

Rusty, what happened tonight?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, the one Russian official called it the "very last straw." They've, of course, been upset at what they feel like are a number of unfavorable decisions against their athletes. The latest was a disqualification of a cross country skier, Larissa Laritsina (ph), for exceptionally high levels of hemoglobin in her blood in a pre-race test.

Russian officials held a press conference tonight. They said they gave the IOC 24 hours notice. They'll pick up their team and go home if it's not resolved. And that could be before the U.S. Hockey team plays the Russians tomorrow night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEONID TYGACHYOV, RUSSIAN CHIEF OLYMPIAN: Decisions are not made. And if the issues where I've officially raised in front of the president of IOC, if these issues are not resolved, the Russian team will not play hockey, will not run 30 kilometers, and will definitely look very negatively upon the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, they are not the only ones who want to pick up and go home. The South Koreans have filed an official protest too, saying they won't go closing ceremonies. They're angry because their first place winner in the speedskating event was disqualified after one judge claimed that he'd pushed aside or blocked Apollo Onoh, who ended up winning that gold medal.

So there's been a string of federations that have been upset. The IOC just held a presss conference. They said emotions are running high among the individual federations. No kidding. and said that most of them will have to deal with it themselves. And so, there is no resolution in sight. We'll have to see what the Russians say tomorrow.

Aaron?

BROWN: Back to this, it's not really a drug test I guess. This is a case of suspected blood doping. Is that what the Russian test is about? DORNIN: I guess so, and exceptionally high level of hemaglobin, they're saying that it was just -- there was nothing wrong. It was just something that she had been going through physically, that there was no doping. They're insulted. They just feel like this is just one more slam at them for something that they feel is very unfair and is just, you know, being directed at them for no reason.

BROWN: Well, we'll see if they show up for the hockey match. Thank you, Rusty Dornin in Salt Lake City to our Canadian viewers. By the way, congratulations. Your -- the women's hockey team beat the Americans today. It's your year I think. Coming up, "Segment 7, a life remembered." We'l e right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We end tonight, back at the beginning with Danny Pearl. We said we wanted to give him life, give you a sense of who he was. And there's no better way than to use "Segment 7" tonight and to look at the life he lived and the people who were in that life.

His story comes to us from Sharon Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COLLINS, CBS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The respected journalist came from quiet beginnings. Born in Princeton, New Jersey, young Daniel grew up the middle child in an academic family. The pearls moved to Los Angeles, where Daniel went to Birmingham High School. In 1985, he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in communications and started his journalism career at the Berkshire Eagle in Massachussets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way he interviewed people and the way he wrote stories made it clear that he was destined for the big leagues.

COLLINS: Two years after joining "The Eagle," Daniel did hit the big leagues. As a cub reporter for "The Wall Street Journal," Pearl worked in Atlanta and later Washington.

HELENE COOPER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Danny is the kind of reporter who has like made his career on, you know, explaining other cultures to the readers of "The Wall Street Journal." And that's the perfect sort of thing that he could do with these kidnappers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): In '96, he made his move overseas. While working out of the London bureau, Pearl had his first taste of warfare, covering the war in the Balkans. But Daniel Pearl was never the typical war correspondent. Soft spoken, cautious, he played the violin. Colleagues say Pearl did not relish the combat environment, but saw it as a necessary part of his job, seeking out the truth. While working in Paris, Daniel Pearl, a freelance journalist, at a mutual friends' birthday party.

MARIANNE PEARL: When I met him, he was always (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You know, trying to go to places where people like -- there was a lack of understanding so he could write about it.

COLLINS: The couple shared a passion for understanding other cultures.

PEARL: We are two people who met and fell in love because we have the same ideal.

COLLINS: The two got married in '99. Daniel played the violin at his own wedding. A year later, they packed up and moved to Mbai (ph), India. Pearl took the reins of "The Wall Street Journal's" South Asia bureau. As war flared in Afghanistan, the Pearls headed north to cover the angry streets of Pakistan.

PEARL: The reason why like, why we're in Pakistan today is because we wanted to know more about the people and write about their views and keep working on that same idea of how are we going to create dialogue.

COLLINS: Daniel pearl was a believer in that dialogue, but it was that belief that in part, led to his nightmare.

PEARL: If Danny wanted to see these people, without, you know like taking care of his own security and having people -- whatever, you know, he trusted. It's because he's pure in his attitude.

BROWN: His family has set up a foundation. If you want to make a contribution, you may. "Wall Street Journal", you see the address on your screen. And we'll see you tomorrow at 10.

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