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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Bush Issues Seven Pardons; North Korea Says it Will Remove Safety Seals From Nuclear Reactor

Aired December 23, 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.


ANDERSON COOPER, GUEST HOST: Good evening everyone I am Anderson Cooper. Aaron Brown is on assignment, which is fine with because other wise I would basicly be unemployed. Anyway it's rare that we get to report good news on this program. But hey with Christmas, Kwanzaa, if Canadian Boxing Day right around the corner. We though we could offer some holiday cheer.
Now, single word of what follows is true. May not sound like it but it is. Today the White House has announced the first pardon that this administration has granted, seven of them. Seven people who John Walsh doesn't even know about, doesn't even care about.

The pardons went to in particular order. A man in Mississippi who was fined for 500 dollars and placed on probation for tapering with an Odometer. Thanks to the president he basicly had his Odometer wiped clean. A post worker from Indiana sentenced to 12 months in jail 31 years ago for stealing $10.90 from the mail. Hardly a case of someone going postal.

A guy from Tennessee snagged from making untaxed whiskey, which I think is basically moon shine. An Oregonian who swiped grain from his employer in 1966. Another guy who made off with a mess of copper wire, which is a favorite crime of crack addicts, but I don't know if he was. And finally a minister from Wisconsin, who served two years the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for failing to show up for military induction 1957. I say again this all true.

How did the president come one these particular mysteries? I don't think Denise Richard wrote any letters on their behalf. This sounds like the White House must have worked its way up from the bottom of the FBI's least wanted list. No the less, odometer tamperers and copper wire thieves, take heart, there is hope after all.

On to the wipe in North Korea's latest scary news. CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae is following event from Seoul, South Korea, Jie-Ae, a headline, please.

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF: North Korea sent shockwaves around the world when it threaten to then started removing safety seals and cameras from a deactivated nuclear reactor, that many suspected was used to make atomic bombs. Now South Korea and its newly elected president are working with its allies to find a peaceful resolution to the nuclear crisis. Back to you, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, back to that story in a moment. Onto Washington and how the threat is being dealt with there. CNN's David Ensor on that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

David, a headline.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, they're taking a lower keep approach to this North Korean crisis than they have been taking to Iraq. Washington is focused on Iraq, that is true. It's also true that North Korea may already have nukes. Some people think that may be causing Washington pause. It's also true in the last 20 years, Iraq has threatened and then started a couple of wars. North Korea has only threatened to. In any case, lower keep but still concerned.

COOPER: All right, David back with you in a moment.

New leadership for the Republicans in the Senate.

Jason Carroll in Nashville.

Jason, a headline

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Anderson

Senator Bill Frist is the first physician elected to the Senate since 1928. He wants to use his talents as a healer to try to mend fences within the Senate. He'll have a number of challenges to face when the Senate reconvenes in just a few weeks -- Anderson.

COOPER: He certainly will. Back with all of you in a moment.

The rest of the program pretty much defies categorization so we'll make a list of what's coming up instead. Six books you'll want to curl up with this holiday, one book critic who said they're the best reads of the year. One satin doll, the latest to stuff you stockings from Mattel. There she is a lingerie Barbie who we found walking the streets of New York, don't know why. Come home lingerie Barbie, come home. But for god sake put something on will you.

And if that doesn't get you the Christmas spirit, this won't either. The annoying music guy joins us with some real holiday finds.

Yes. All that to come in the hour ahead. We begin with North Korea. By taking surveillance cameras out of a nuclear a reactor capable of making weapons grade plutonium, the North Koreans today, upped the ante in what is a very dangerous game. Life is now that much scarier for their neighbors and that much more complicated for the Bush administration which clearly wants to take on the Axis of evil one country at a time. But If the North Koreans ups the ante they might also be bluffing. We will talk about that possibility to in a moment.

But first, the news of the day and CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae. SOHN (voice-over): Observers say North Korea already has enough materials to make as many as six nuclear weapons and the fear is that more are on the way. Over the weekend the North started removing safety seals and blocked cameras placed by international monitoring agency at facility in Pyongyang.

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: It's a rapidly deteriorating situation, not only that they have taken the cameras and surveillance monitoring equipment from that reactor where they supposedly want to produce electricity, but yesterday and today continued to take all the equipment from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fuel and the processing plant which would enable them, if they restart the program, to make plutonium in pretty few months. And that's pretty determined trend.

SOHN: North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in 1994 in exchange of new reactors and shipments of alternative fuel oil. North Korean officials say they have been forced to restart the program because a U.S.-led enforcement decided to stop the alternative shipments after they Pyongyang disclosed they had another active nuclear weapons program.

But there is also a political component. U.S. Officials say North Korea's Kim Jong-il is trying to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea's new President-elect Roh Moo-hyun. Amid a wave of anti-Americanism, Roh said he would review South Korea's alliance with the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOHN: Now, whereas Washington is talking tough with the North, South Korea and its newly elected president don't want at this time to cut off communication with its Northern neighbor. So know the nuclear crisis may be forcing the new president on making an early choice as to just how independent from Washington he can afford to be.

Back to you, Anderson.

COOPER: Well, I understand the new president won with the platform of reengaging with the North. Is he going to have to rethink that? Is this a major story in South Korea? I mean I assume it is.

SOHN: It is at this point. The newly elected president has not really at this point said anything about changing his position. For the time being he's work his diplomatic channels trying to get a grasp of the situation. It's been less than a week since he's elected so he's still trying to get a grasp of exactly what the implications will be for South Korea and for the time being he hasn't said anything about changing his position on engaging the North -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Sohn Jie-Ae, thanks very much. Nice to have you on the program.

On to Washington now and what's at stake for the administration as it tries to figure out just what the North Koreans are up to.

Here again, CNN's David Ensor.

ENSOR (voice-over): Experts say given that North Korea has already tested a missile which could be made capable of hitting Japan, Alaska, and also and eventually the mainland, U.S., Washington cannot afford to wait long to resolve this nuclear crisis.

JOHN LARGE, NUCLEAR ANALYST: We've got the fuel. All we have to do now is reprocess the fuel. Could be a question of three to six months, six months to a year or a little bit longer before they have an operational weapon.

ENSOR: North Korean assertions that they to restart their nuclear program to make electricity are flatly dismissed in Washington.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They need a nuclear power plant. Their power grid couldn't even absorb that. If you look at a picture from the sky of the Korean peninsula at night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and vitality and a booming economy. North Korea is dark. It is a tragedy what's being done in that country.

ENSOR: U.S. officials say they see this NEVILLE: as very North Korean game of chicken with Pyongyang trying to scare the West into making concessions.

PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: The United States and others in the international community are not going to give into blackmail. North Korea knows what steps it needs to take.

ENSOR: For now administration officials are trying to get the Chinese, the Russians and others to put pressure on Pyongyang to back down. U.S. officials believe and they hope that North Koreans are trying to get attention and perhaps more aid but will not want to risk additional economic sanctions or possible military action -- Anderson.

COOPER: David, is it fair to say the Bush administration is trying to play this down -- down play it -- low key, at this point. I mean, we heard Rumsfeld who sounded quite direct in his criticism of North Korea.

ENSOR: Mr. Rumsfeld is always fairly clear in his language. But at the same time I think you are right, the Bush administration doesn't want to go nuclear, so to speak, no pun intended. They wanted to pursue diplomacy. Colin Powell has been on the phone with all his counterparts. It's worked in the past with North Korea. They still think it may work this time. If it doesn't, down the road a little ways, they'll have to reconsider their options and they are saying that to us too.

COOPER: Well, David as you pointed out in your report, I think the person in the report said six months before they have a viable weapon that could hit the United States. Pretty scary.

Thanks very much David Ensor. We've alluded to we have been here before with North Korea. In a moment we'll talk with a woman at the center of things the last time around, Former ambassador Wendy Sherman. She will join us later on in this program.

Moving on right now, the doctor is in. Senator Bill Frist, today became the new Senate majority leader. The Republican caucus made it official filling the spot that was vacated by Trent Lott. The vote today ended an especially difficult chapter in the party's history and opened a new one. Here's CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Senator Bill Frist arrived at his office in Nashville with his wife and children, ready to take part in a historic vote, which in his words, "would change his life forever."

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER-ELECT: My colleagues just a few minutes ago gave me their confidence, they gave me their support, they gave me their trust and elected me as their leader in the United States Senate.

CARROLL: Frist was elected during a conference call. The first time the vote for a majority leader had taken place in such a way. Republican senators decided not to wait until January 6 to elect a new leader after embattled Senator Trent Lott resigned as majority leader last Friday.

SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R), PENNSYLVANIA: This was not obviously a joyous celebration for Senator Frist or anybody, but was one of doing what was called for and what was responsible in trying to lead the Senate and this country forward.

CARROLL: Frist is a popular senator in his home state of Tennessee, conservative on most issues, but still viewed as moderate enough to have broad appeal. He's a heart lung transplant surgeon with a reputation for having a good bedside manner, not just in the hospital. The new majority leader says he'll use his talents at healing to help mend his own party, still reeling from the fallout of a racially insensitive comment that eventually led to Senator Lott's resignation.

FRIST: We stand united. We speak as one team, and we -- I honestly believe this -- will transform what has occurred in the last few weeks, what has occurred at the moment in history into a catalyst, a catalyst for unity and a catalyst for positive change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Senator Frist did not take any questions after he made his statement. He did sort of outline what would be on his agenda -- health care, of course. Also the economy. He also said he would be reaching out to independents and Democrats. In fact, he said, Anderson, before he came out and made his statement, one of the calls he made was to Democratic Senator Tom Daschle -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jason Carroll in Nashville, thank you very much tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the D.C. area sniper back in the headlines. And after the break, an insider's view of the nuclear nightmare now developing in North Korea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: More now on North Korea. What to make of today's move to pull the plug on international monitors. How to figure out what the North Koreans are really after. This is of course a puzzle for the current Bush administration to solve, but it's been a puzzlement for every president since Harry Truman. With us now, former ambassador, Wendy Sherman, President Clinton's top troubleshooter on North Korea. Welcome to NEWSNIGHT. Thanks for begin with us, Ambassador Sherman.

WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO NORTH KOREA: Glad to be here.

COOPER: How serious do you see these latest developments?

SHERMAN: I think these are very serious developments. I think that we had expected after the North Korea told the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that it wanted them to remove surveillance and monitors and seals that they might take some action regarding the reactor, but I think everybody was a little surprised at how fast North Korea removed the seals from the spent fuel rods, which are really in many ways the red line to producing plutonium, which then produces the material that fuels nuclear weapons. So if they pull those fuel rods out of those cans, we really have gotten to a very, very dangerous place.

COOPER: I don't know if can you answer this question, but you've studied North Korea probably as much as anyone has. What are they up to? What are they thinking?

SHERMAN: You're quite right. It's very hard to read their intentions, but I think they understand that right now the United States is very focused on Iraq. They'd like to be paid attention to. They think that this is a time that they can leverage the United States. And so what they're trying to do here is up the ante, get us to pay attention, although they will talk to South Korea, and Japan, and Russia, and China, the European Union, they really want their regime to survive. And they think they can only have that happen if the United States guarantees their security, so they want our attention.

COOPER: Well, attention to do what? I mean, what exactly do they want? I mean, you know, we've heard all these problems exist in North Korea. They want aid with those problems, with the hunger there? What sort of attention?

SHERMAN: Well, the first thing they want is sort of strange for people to understand, and that is a non-aggression pact. They want us to say that we will not attack them in a political document, that we have no hostile intent against them, that we will give them some kind of a security guarantee. And I'm sure they also hope that we will give them assistance, that we will either restart the fuel oil that we suspended when we found out about their highly enriched uranium program, or that we will help them in other ways.

But what they want more than anything is the credibility and the imprimatur of the United States of America.

COOPER: How much does what is going on in North Korea right now has to do with South Korean politics? We heard just in a previous report, the new president of South Korea really elected on a policy of re-engaging with North Korea. The reporter suggested that the North Koreans want to drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States. True?

SHERMAN: I think that's quite right. I think they pay attention to elections, they're not always on target with the timing. They sent an envoy to the United States during the Clinton administration in October, thinking they had lots of time to negotiate, not understanding that in a democracy, we work a little differently, and that was pretty late in a presidential term. But I think they are looking at South Korea. They want to drive a wedge. I think it's very important for the United States to stand shoulder to shoulder with President-elect Noh, with the South Korean people, and quite frankly, I think it is time for the United States, even if we aren't going to have full-fledged negotiations, because North Korea should pull back from its very dangerous nuclear path first, it is time to talk directly with the North.

COOPER: And that's something the Bush administration has resisted up to now.

SHERMAN: They have resisted it, and I understand why. No one wants to be part of nuclear blackmail. No one wants someone to extort things out of them. That's not a way to do business. At the same time, unless North Korea knows what we want directly from us, they won't believe it from anyone else. And so I do hope that the Bush administration can support the new president-elect of South Korea and find a channel directly, privately or publicly, at even lower levels, to have some direct talks with North Korea, tell them what we want them to do before we can really begin any kind of negotiation.

COOPER: We don't really -- really don't have anymore time, but very briefly, if it came to it, push came to shove, can we take out the nuclear program in North Korea?

SHERMAN: We could probably take it out, but it would probably result in a catastrophic war where tens of thousands if not a million lives would be lost in the process.

COOPER: All right. Ambassador Wendy Sherman, appreciate you joining us, thanks very much.

SHERMAN: Certainly.

COOPER: A deadly plane crash in Iran. Time for our look at stories from around the world this evening. The Ukrainian Airways jet was was carrying 46 people when it crashed in the mountains of central Iran. An Iranian civil aviation spokesman said the passengers were all Ukrainian aerospace experts who were on a test flight of a plane. There were also four crew members aboard.

It is the beginning of Christmas Eve in the holy land, in Israel, and the Palestinians are in talks over a possible Israeli troop pullout from the West Bank city of Bethlehem. A senior Israeli adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN that Israel hoped to reach an agreement with the Palestinians but also did not rule out an army withdrawal even without a deal. Traditionally, thousands of Christians travel to Bethlehem's Manger Square for midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Iraq today managed to shoot down an American Predator surveillance drone over southern Iraq. Pentagon lost contact with it at about 7:30 this morning, after it came under fire from Iraqi aircraft. This is the third Predator shot down in the region. You can see it right there.

And finally, a sad day in the music world. Joe Strummer, the man who asked the immortal question, "Should I Stay or Should I Go," as frontman for The Clash, well, he went yesterday, according to his official Web site. He was 50 years old.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, keeping your kids safe. Does it matter what part of town sex offenders live in? And up next, sniping in the sniper case. Why one prosecutor is outraged.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: There was a rare display of fireworks in the Washington area sniper case. Rare because prosecutors hardly ever utter more than bland generalities about their upcoming cases. Most of the time, they limit their words to "no comment." Well, today, though, Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Robert Horan had a lot to say about an article in Sunday's "New York Times" suggesting young Lee Malvo was the trigger man in all the sniper shootings. The distinction an important one, because it has a bearing on the death penalty case against the older man, John Muhammad. After saying he's reluctant to pick a fight with a company that buys its ink by the barrel, Mr. Horan did just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT HORAN, FAIRFAX COUNTY ATTORNEY: We have got people still working this case. Investigators out at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Centerville, who are working night and day to pull these cases together, and it's unfair to them for people to be releasing false information under the theory that you know something about these cases and you're a reliable source.

Whoever this source was for the "New York Times" was not a reliable source.

I have tried homicide cases in Fairfax County for 36 years, and I can tell you without qualification, without hesitation I have never known a time when one of the Fairfax investigators was releasing information like this pre-trial. They don't do it. It's contrary to the general orders of this department, and they don't do it. I've never known them to do it.

Why they would start doing it now, I just don't believe it. And I particularly don't believe it since whatever this source was releasing is so clearly and absolutely wrong.

It's not the facts. I'm just not going to get in the business of telling you pre-trial what the facts are. I'm not going to do that. But I am going to tell you that whoever put that stuff out is putting out information that is simply untrue, and I want the media to know that, particularly the media that follows like lemmings behind the "New York Times" and says whatever the "New York Times" says as if it's gospel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining us now, former prosecutor himself, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. Thanks for being here.

Pretty long soundbite we played, but pretty remarkable words. What do you make of it?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's peculiar, because I don't see why that story was so terrible for the prosecution. It said at this moment it appears that Malvo was the gunman on all of the shootings, but it did not say that that's going to be the evidence forever, and under Virginia law, it is quite possible or at least seems that way, that Muhammad could get the death penalty even if he wasn't the trigger man.

And I think in fairness to Jason Blair, who wrote that story, Horan never said what was wrong in the story. He just said it was wrong. So it's hard to respond to that kind of criticism.

COOPER: Right. It is significant, though, because I mean, so much was put -- basically this case is being tried first in Virginia as far as we understand because it was believed that it was the best place to get death penalty convictions. If this is true, though, if the evidence all points to Malvo at this point, it does make it a little bit harder.

TOOBIN: It does make it harder. The Supreme Court has never said hat you have to be the triggerman to get the death penalty. For example, if you hire a hitman and the hitman kills someone, you, the purchaser of the hit can get the death penalty.

Here, Muhammad is being prosecuted under a capital murder statute, but also under this law, which is the post-9/11 terrorism law, which also calls for the death penalty. Yes, it's never been tested, but remember, we're talking about Virginia here. This is the state that's executed the second most people after Texas. You know, there's not a great history of convictions being overturned there, or even death sentences being overturned.

So the idea that if Malvo is the triggerman Muhammad gets a walk from the death penalty is simply not true.

COOPER: Well, we'll talk about the 9/11 law in a second, but under Virginia's capital murder law, unless you are the triggerman, you cannot be convicted, you cannot be put to death.

TOOBIN: You cannot be put to death. That is the current state of the law in Virginia, yes.

COOPER: And what this "New York Times" article is saying was that right now, as you say, it doesn't mean in the future, but right now, all the evidence points to Malvo. There was hair evidence, DNA evidence in the trunk of the car where it's believed the shootings took place, DNA evidence on a grape stem near one of the shooting sites. Malvo confessed. Photographic evidence.

TOOBIN: Most interestingly, sort of most vividly, the trunk, where everybody remembers it was sort of hollowed out to create kind of a sniper's gallery, only Malvo apparently could fit in that trunk, which is a particularly vivid piece of evidence.

COOPER: And one of the photos, surveillance photos at the Home Depot, it appears as if John Muhammad was driving the car. He was not the shooter. All right, so even if that is the case and Lee Malvo pulled the trigger on all of these, as he has confessed to, what is this 9/11 law, this terrorist law that has not been tested?

TOOBIN: Well, it's a new law passed in the wake of 9/11, which says sort of broadly in layman's terms that if you are part of a terrorist attack, and terrorist attack is defined very broadly, clearly...

COOPER: If you order a terrorist attack.

TOOBIN: If you order a terrorist attack, if you control it, that you are eligible for the death penalty. Obviously, what's in the mind of the legislature is sort of Osama bin Laden ordering an attack from afar, but this at least based on the evidence so far, would seem to fit what Muhammad -- what Muhammad is accused of doing.

COOPER: "Times" basically said that if he is convicted under this new terrorist law, it makes appeals more easy. True?

TOOBIN: It makes appeals somewhat more easy, but I mean, again, we've got to remember, we're talking about Virginia here. And the courts, particularly the appeals courts, there are not known for overturning a lot of death sentences.

And remember, judges keep their eyes on the facts here we're talking the sniper case. We're talking about a case that created fear and hatred on an unparalleled scale. So, if this were sort of an obscure case that nobody paid much attention to, perhaps there would be a better chance on appeal. I don't give this case a lot of stock on appeal.

COOPER: All right. Jeff Toobin, thanks.

TOOBIN: Can I ask you a question?

COOPER: Yes.

TOOBIN: Can I stay around here and watch the trashy Barbie episode? I want to be real close.

COOPER: I have trashy Barbie right under my desk. You can play with her on the commercial break.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: Thanks.

COOPER: Thanks for coming in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: One of the things people think about this time of year is, of course, forgiveness. That's why the White House announced those seven pardons we talked about at the beginning of the broadcast tonight. Of course, there are some offenses that no matter what time of year seem unforgivable. Commit such a crime, be convicted and punished, be released and, say many people, your past still is not behind you. David Mattingly has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's killing me. I got nowhere to go. I have to live out here, desolate, away from everybody.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As much as he would want to, Junior Manning of Dubuque, Iowa, can't go home. He's a convicted child molester, subject to a sweeping and controversial new state law that bans him from ever living within 2,000 feet of a school or childcare facility.

MATTINGTLY (on camera): You realize that there a lot of people who will find it very hard to offer you any sympathy whatsoever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not asking for sympathy. I'm asking for a chance.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The law is among the toughest in the country affecting not just child molesters but all sex offenders, no matter how minor the offense.

AMY TRANEL, VICTIMS' RIGHTS ADVOCATE: For families who are believing that sex offenders won't be living within 2,000 feet of the daycare centers and schools it provides them the feeling of security that these individuals will not be lurking around by their playgrounds and the schools where their children are attending.

MATTINGTLY: But the effect has been to strictly limit the options for where offenders can live.

Manning lives in a $400 a month hotel room, 40 miles away from his family and his job. Looking at all these restricted areas, there seems to be no city limits almost left to live in. This map prepared for the Dubuque County attorney shows restricted zones covering entire towns, almost all of the city of Dubuque is off limits.

FRED MCCRAW, DUBUQUE COUNTY ATTORNEY: I'm very doubtful that it provides any significant protection to anybody. And I think the main thing that it does is just provides an enormous problem.

MATTINGLY: That problem, for the sheriff's department is enforcement. Sex offenders are responsible for reporting their own whereabouts.

MCCRAW: It's something that sounds good to people that want to be seen as tough on crime and tough on sex offenders, it sounds good, but in practice it is not.

MATTINGLY (on camera): Critics say the holes in this law are almost as big as the areas they attempt to restrict. Sex offenders can't live near schools or daycare centers, but nothing restricts their movements. They're free to move in and out of these areas even work in these areas at any time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wanted to re-offend, I could go park out by a school and snatch a little kid up, or grown kid up, or a teenager up.

MATTINGTLY: Hearing these words from you is going to be scary to a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And you should be afraid of a sex offender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wanted to re-offend, I'd just walk up to a school, you know?

MATTINGLY (voice-over): This is a rare look inside a group therapy session for sex offenders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to live 2,000 feet from a school, but yet you can work in one.

MATTINGLY: Some not willing to show their faces and frustrated with a law that pushes them far from family and support groups, isolation that counselors say could lead to repeat offenses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think that, OK, you can put in this 2,000 foot rule and they'll move away. And then they can just forget about us. That ain't going to happen. They forget about us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to go somewhere.

TRANEL: They have to suffer the consequences. And unfortunately the consequences of sexual assault is not great, but for victims, it's something they will suffer with the rest of their lives and they did not ask for it to happen. MATTINGLY: Changes by the Iowa legislature are doubtful as the law sailed through with little opposition. Court challenges appear more likely, as sex offenders attempt to argue their rights are being violated. Punished, they say, by a law that even law enforcement does little to protect potential victims.

David Mattingly, CNN, Dubuque, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, you just saw how that one town deals with sexual offenders. Now here's what one archdiocese is doing about lawsuits over abusive priests.

Lawyers for the Boston Archdiocese want the suits dropped on First Amendment grounds, saying civil law does not apply to how the religious groups oversee the governing or discipline of church workers. Interim Archdiocese Bishop Richard Lennon says the church must use all of its legal options or risk financial ruin. Needless to say, victims are not happy about this.

And how is this for a stocking stuffer? A $280 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs Christmas Day. The odds of picking the five magic numbers are 1 in 120 million. In case you're wondering, a single winner taking a lump sum would collect $92 million after taxes. That is a lot of money, even for a network jerk like me who allowed a salesgirl to talk him into buy a $4,500 suit. But hey, it was on sale, half price.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, Santa Claus is coming and Barbie is in his bag, but this isn't exactly your mother's Barbie, ahead on NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So a new Barbie has arrived in stores just in time for Christmas. Not since Earring Magic Ken skipped onto the market a couple of years ago has Mattel come up with such a hot product.

In fact, we had to beat back hoards of sweaty children in FAO Schwarz today just to get our greasy little hands on this new Barbie, meet Lingerie Barbie. Meow.

At first we thought she should be called Call Girl Barbie. There she is. But I guess the folks at Mattel decided Lingerie Barbie was more -- European. Mattel says, and I quote, "Her pink peak-a-boo penoir floats over soft pink feminine underpinnings." Translation, she's wearing a pink teddy over pink garters and pink stiletto heels.

Mattel insists Lingerie Barbie intended more for collectors than for kids. Collectors of what? We're just not exactly sure. I can just imagine the leer on an old toothless doll collector's face as he gently lifts Barbie's teddy off her slender pearly white frame to ogle her feminine underpinnings. Oh, what joy she'll bring.

But I think kids will like Lingerie Barbie as well. She's really an educational toy if you think about it. You want to teach your kids about the birds and bees? Lingerie Barbie, not a bad start. I guarantee, give it to your kids Christmas morning and in no time they'll be shouting "ho, ho, ho."

Warning though, this little minx has a mind of her own. We took our eyes off Lingerie Barbie for a few seconds and in no time she was out the office door, walking the mean streets of New York.

Luckily, our cameras caught up with here. CNN is in a pretty rough part of town, but Lingerie Barbie sure seemed to know her way around. Here she is strutting the streets. Street Struttin' Barbie, we like to call her sometimes. Kind of looking for work. Trying to flag down passing cars.

Part of her is kind of like a Bar Room Barbie, as well. There she is. She caused quite a stir as she tried to flag down those cars. I'm sure she can bump back a few brewskis with the best of them.

And there she is doing her Marilyn Monroe impersonation.

We're told Lingerie Barbie is just about sold out. If you can't make it to a store tomorrow, maybe you're incarcerated, a Lingerie Barbie is coming soon. Mattel describes this one as simply sassy. She's sporting a short satin slip with black lace trim.

Who says they don't make wholesome toys anymore? Ah, yes.

You know one of the nicest things about Christmas and New Year's is you actually get some time off and some time to read some books. So we thought we'd bring in an expert, Steve Wasserman, the literary editor of the "Los Angeles Times". He'll talk to us about best books on his Christmas list. He's joining us now from New Haven, Connecticut.

Thanks for being with us.

STEVE WASSERMAN, LITERARY EDITOR, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": A pleasure.

COOPER: So, the six books you have selected, why did they make your list?

WASSERMAN: Well, there is an embarrassment of riches every year. And you can't deem everything worthy that the publishers so diligently sent to us, so what can I say? I'm a promiscuous reader, like many other people. And I compose every year, and did so again this year, a pick hits list, a list of my 10 favorites. They certainly don't exclude others. They're just mine. And they're idiosyncratic, deeply subjective.

COOPER: All right, let's talk about the first one, on the fiction list. Let's start off with "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer, is it?

WASSERMAN: Yes, Jonathan Safran Foer is a 25-year-old young author. This is his debut novel and what an accomplishment it is. It's the story of a fellow -- also named Jonathan Safran Foer -- who goes to the Ukraine in search of the village where his grandfather escaped the Nazis. And he goes in search of the woman who made that possible. And along the way he has a series of improbable adventures. And if a grim subject could be made by turns humorous and engaging, this fellow has managed that.

COOPER: Frankly, I'm not sure I can read a book by a 25-year- old, because if I read anything by someone younger than me it just makes me depressed that I'm a complete failure in life.

WASSERMAN: Well, you know, it's always better to stick with the worthy dead. But every year the living keep telling us stories, so let's concentrate just on the living for now.

COOPER: OK, we only have about a minute and a half left, so let's try to go through them, "Iceland" by Jim Kruseau (ph)?

WASSERMAN: "Iceland" by Jim Kruseau. If you like Kurt Vonnegut, and if you have a feeling for Don Dollilo (ph), by way of Joseph Heller, you'll love this. A very strange story of a man who goes to an institute to replace an unnamed organ, has an intimate sexual encounter, and we're off to the races.

COOPER: "The Truth About Babies", it sounds like a self-help book, it's non-fiction.

WASSERMAN: No, it's not. "The Truth About Babies", by Ian Sanson (ph), is a book that if I had the talent I would have written, I've got four children of my own. I always hungered for a book that would actually be written by an adult that would be about how having children changes your whole relationship to your sense of time, to your sense of mortality, to the future itself. And these are a series of wonderful little aphoristic gems penned by a marvelous writer named Ian Sansom.

COOPER: "Cuba Confidential", why is that on the list?

WASSERMAN: I've got my earpiece falling out of my ear.

COOPER: All right, "Cuba Confidential".

WASSERMAN: "Cuba Confidential" is by Ann Louise Barddect (ph), a marvelous writer for "Vanity Fair" who has really delivered the best book yet written about that strange relationship between Cuba and the United States, which frankly, in her opinion and in my own, is less the matter for a politician analysis than it is for a psychiatrist's couch.

COOPER: You also talk about a book by Mary Pope Osbourne (ph), it's a childrens' book, isn't it?

WASSERMAN: Mary Pope Osbourne who has done a number of best selling childrens' books has turned her attention to the new translation of that age-old story penned by the blind poet, Homer, nearly 3,000 years ago. In a series of books, that Hyperion Books for Children are publishing she retells the story in short declarative sentences that give boundless joy for any child, particularly those aged -- I would say from about five to 11.

COOPER: And the last book on your list, "A Bed For The Night: Humanitarianism In Crisis"?

WASSERMAN: Yes, "A Bed For The Night: Humanitarianism In Crisis", by David Rieff (ph) who has spent probably 10 years going to countries whose names read like bottom lines of eye charts. And he focuses on the strange paradox, both moral and political, that is often caused by those who seek to do good in the world, but end up by complicating an already grievous predicament.

COOPER: All right, Steve Wasserman, thanks very much for joining us.

WASSERMAN: It's a pleasure always.

COOPER: Appreciate it very much.

You can find a list of these books on our web site, that of course, is cnn.com/newsnight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So if you really like good Christmas music, because if you do, you might want to turn down the volume on your TV right about now. Trust me.

The man who is about to join us is in Chicago, he has no interest whatsoever in good music.

Jim Nayder, is his name, he's an old friend of this broadcast, he's a connoisseur of really, really annoying music, the kind you have to surgically remove from your head, once it's in there.

Welcome to you, Jim.

And Jim, as a policy, I don't comment on what our guests are wearing. What are you wearing? It looks like a schizophrenic's worst nightmare.

JIM NAYDER, ANNOYING MUSIC GUY: No, no, I'm a living Christmas tree, Anderson. My brother made this for me. He's been institutionalized for a few years, but I think it does the trick.

COOPER: Well, it's very festive. It is very much in the holiday spirit.

NAYDER: Thank you. Where's...

COOPER: Go ahead.

NAYDER: Where's Mr. B? Is he sick?

COOPER: Mr. B is on assignment.

NAYDER: If he's sick, then you know -- oh, OK. COOPER: I said that with my hands moving. I know you can't see me.

We're talking bad Christmas music. You hear a lot of good Christmas music around this time of the year. Frankly, a lot of people get kind of sick of it. You are going to play us some kind of not-so-good Christmas music. What's the first selection?

NAYDER: This is John "Bowtie" Barstow. Well, let's just listen.

(SINGING)

COOPER: Is he drunk?

NAYDER: No. He's been trying to get a record contract for many years. So far he's only been signed but by the Annoying Music Show records. But we're certainly glad to have him.

COOPER: I'm glad you can highlight his special...

NAYDER: Do you mind if I take off the top of the tree?

COOPER: Please, actually, would I be relieved if you would. Thanks.

NAYDER: Whew!

COOPER: Let's hear another song. Who do you have?

NAYDER: OK, you know, I have an extensive Russian ornament collection. It reminded me that the -- Alexandroff (ph) Red Army of Russia, did a song by the Beach Boys. And I thought, well, it fits.

COOPER: This is the army choir?

NAYDER: The Alexandroff Red Army Choir of Leningrad.

(SINGING)

COOPER: This is good. I've never heard the Red Army choir sing "California Girls" and frankly, I'm glad.

NAYDER: It's perfect for CNN, that's the way I see it.

COOPER: Very appropriate, very international. What else is bad out there?

NAYDER: Well, every year this makes our top 10, of course. It's Kathie Lee and Regis.

COOPER: Oh, come on now!

(SINGING)

NAYDER: Dr. Phil had to come in the second course and restrain Regis. COOPER: I don't know why her singing career hasn't taken off. Frankly, it's a mystery to me listening to this.

NAYDER: I don't know, but our listeners demand it.

COOPER: Let's hear something else. Because a little Reege and a little Kathy Lee goes an awfully long way.

NAYDER: OK, this is a group called "The Klezmenauts".

(WOMAN SINGING)

This is a Klezmer (ph) band doing Christmas carols. It is from their album "Oy, To The World". They're from Chicago.

COOPER: "Oy, To The World"?

NAYDER: "Oy, To The World". How much time do we have?

COOPER: Oh, we have about 45 seconds left, believe it or not.

NAYDER: OK.

COOPER: What really says Yule Tide to you, what really speaks to you this time of the year?

NAYDER: This is it right here. This is from the Walton's Christmas album. There's something about it.

MECHANIZED VOICE: Good night, John Boy.

Good night, Mama.

Good night, Mary Ellen.

Good night, Irin.

Good night, Jason.

Good night, Mary Ellen.

NAYDER: Good night, Anderson Bob.

COOPER: God only knows why that album didn't take off. I'm kind of depressed.

Now, you usually play Piranha Man, I know when you're on. But I know you think it's a little over played, so I appreciate you not playing it this evening.

Thank you so much, Jim Nayder, for being with us as always. It was kind of annoying to hear your songs. I appreciate it.

NAYDER: Is it okay if I say my new CD is available at Amazon.com? Am I allowed to say that?

COOPER: Probably not, but you just did, so there you go.

NAYDER: What about CD Now?

COOPER: All right, thanks a lot, Jim. .

NAYDER: Good night Anderson Bob.

COOPER: Have an annoying Christmas.

NAYDER: Happy holidays.

That's it for NEWSNIGHT tonight. Aaron Brown will be back tomorrow. Thanks very much, everyone. Have a great holiday. And I'll see you on Thursday.

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





Safety Seals From Nuclear Reactor>


Aired December 23, 2002 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, GUEST HOST: Good evening everyone I am Anderson Cooper. Aaron Brown is on assignment, which is fine with because other wise I would basicly be unemployed. Anyway it's rare that we get to report good news on this program. But hey with Christmas, Kwanzaa, if Canadian Boxing Day right around the corner. We though we could offer some holiday cheer.
Now, single word of what follows is true. May not sound like it but it is. Today the White House has announced the first pardon that this administration has granted, seven of them. Seven people who John Walsh doesn't even know about, doesn't even care about.

The pardons went to in particular order. A man in Mississippi who was fined for 500 dollars and placed on probation for tapering with an Odometer. Thanks to the president he basicly had his Odometer wiped clean. A post worker from Indiana sentenced to 12 months in jail 31 years ago for stealing $10.90 from the mail. Hardly a case of someone going postal.

A guy from Tennessee snagged from making untaxed whiskey, which I think is basically moon shine. An Oregonian who swiped grain from his employer in 1966. Another guy who made off with a mess of copper wire, which is a favorite crime of crack addicts, but I don't know if he was. And finally a minister from Wisconsin, who served two years the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for failing to show up for military induction 1957. I say again this all true.

How did the president come one these particular mysteries? I don't think Denise Richard wrote any letters on their behalf. This sounds like the White House must have worked its way up from the bottom of the FBI's least wanted list. No the less, odometer tamperers and copper wire thieves, take heart, there is hope after all.

On to the wipe in North Korea's latest scary news. CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae is following event from Seoul, South Korea, Jie-Ae, a headline, please.

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF: North Korea sent shockwaves around the world when it threaten to then started removing safety seals and cameras from a deactivated nuclear reactor, that many suspected was used to make atomic bombs. Now South Korea and its newly elected president are working with its allies to find a peaceful resolution to the nuclear crisis. Back to you, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, back to that story in a moment. Onto Washington and how the threat is being dealt with there. CNN's David Ensor on that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

David, a headline.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, they're taking a lower keep approach to this North Korean crisis than they have been taking to Iraq. Washington is focused on Iraq, that is true. It's also true that North Korea may already have nukes. Some people think that may be causing Washington pause. It's also true in the last 20 years, Iraq has threatened and then started a couple of wars. North Korea has only threatened to. In any case, lower keep but still concerned.

COOPER: All right, David back with you in a moment.

New leadership for the Republicans in the Senate.

Jason Carroll in Nashville.

Jason, a headline

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Anderson

Senator Bill Frist is the first physician elected to the Senate since 1928. He wants to use his talents as a healer to try to mend fences within the Senate. He'll have a number of challenges to face when the Senate reconvenes in just a few weeks -- Anderson.

COOPER: He certainly will. Back with all of you in a moment.

The rest of the program pretty much defies categorization so we'll make a list of what's coming up instead. Six books you'll want to curl up with this holiday, one book critic who said they're the best reads of the year. One satin doll, the latest to stuff you stockings from Mattel. There she is a lingerie Barbie who we found walking the streets of New York, don't know why. Come home lingerie Barbie, come home. But for god sake put something on will you.

And if that doesn't get you the Christmas spirit, this won't either. The annoying music guy joins us with some real holiday finds.

Yes. All that to come in the hour ahead. We begin with North Korea. By taking surveillance cameras out of a nuclear a reactor capable of making weapons grade plutonium, the North Koreans today, upped the ante in what is a very dangerous game. Life is now that much scarier for their neighbors and that much more complicated for the Bush administration which clearly wants to take on the Axis of evil one country at a time. But If the North Koreans ups the ante they might also be bluffing. We will talk about that possibility to in a moment.

But first, the news of the day and CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae. SOHN (voice-over): Observers say North Korea already has enough materials to make as many as six nuclear weapons and the fear is that more are on the way. Over the weekend the North started removing safety seals and blocked cameras placed by international monitoring agency at facility in Pyongyang.

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: It's a rapidly deteriorating situation, not only that they have taken the cameras and surveillance monitoring equipment from that reactor where they supposedly want to produce electricity, but yesterday and today continued to take all the equipment from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fuel and the processing plant which would enable them, if they restart the program, to make plutonium in pretty few months. And that's pretty determined trend.

SOHN: North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in 1994 in exchange of new reactors and shipments of alternative fuel oil. North Korean officials say they have been forced to restart the program because a U.S.-led enforcement decided to stop the alternative shipments after they Pyongyang disclosed they had another active nuclear weapons program.

But there is also a political component. U.S. Officials say North Korea's Kim Jong-il is trying to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea's new President-elect Roh Moo-hyun. Amid a wave of anti-Americanism, Roh said he would review South Korea's alliance with the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOHN: Now, whereas Washington is talking tough with the North, South Korea and its newly elected president don't want at this time to cut off communication with its Northern neighbor. So know the nuclear crisis may be forcing the new president on making an early choice as to just how independent from Washington he can afford to be.

Back to you, Anderson.

COOPER: Well, I understand the new president won with the platform of reengaging with the North. Is he going to have to rethink that? Is this a major story in South Korea? I mean I assume it is.

SOHN: It is at this point. The newly elected president has not really at this point said anything about changing his position. For the time being he's work his diplomatic channels trying to get a grasp of the situation. It's been less than a week since he's elected so he's still trying to get a grasp of exactly what the implications will be for South Korea and for the time being he hasn't said anything about changing his position on engaging the North -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Sohn Jie-Ae, thanks very much. Nice to have you on the program.

On to Washington now and what's at stake for the administration as it tries to figure out just what the North Koreans are up to.

Here again, CNN's David Ensor.

ENSOR (voice-over): Experts say given that North Korea has already tested a missile which could be made capable of hitting Japan, Alaska, and also and eventually the mainland, U.S., Washington cannot afford to wait long to resolve this nuclear crisis.

JOHN LARGE, NUCLEAR ANALYST: We've got the fuel. All we have to do now is reprocess the fuel. Could be a question of three to six months, six months to a year or a little bit longer before they have an operational weapon.

ENSOR: North Korean assertions that they to restart their nuclear program to make electricity are flatly dismissed in Washington.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They need a nuclear power plant. Their power grid couldn't even absorb that. If you look at a picture from the sky of the Korean peninsula at night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and vitality and a booming economy. North Korea is dark. It is a tragedy what's being done in that country.

ENSOR: U.S. officials say they see this NEVILLE: as very North Korean game of chicken with Pyongyang trying to scare the West into making concessions.

PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: The United States and others in the international community are not going to give into blackmail. North Korea knows what steps it needs to take.

ENSOR: For now administration officials are trying to get the Chinese, the Russians and others to put pressure on Pyongyang to back down. U.S. officials believe and they hope that North Koreans are trying to get attention and perhaps more aid but will not want to risk additional economic sanctions or possible military action -- Anderson.

COOPER: David, is it fair to say the Bush administration is trying to play this down -- down play it -- low key, at this point. I mean, we heard Rumsfeld who sounded quite direct in his criticism of North Korea.

ENSOR: Mr. Rumsfeld is always fairly clear in his language. But at the same time I think you are right, the Bush administration doesn't want to go nuclear, so to speak, no pun intended. They wanted to pursue diplomacy. Colin Powell has been on the phone with all his counterparts. It's worked in the past with North Korea. They still think it may work this time. If it doesn't, down the road a little ways, they'll have to reconsider their options and they are saying that to us too.

COOPER: Well, David as you pointed out in your report, I think the person in the report said six months before they have a viable weapon that could hit the United States. Pretty scary.

Thanks very much David Ensor. We've alluded to we have been here before with North Korea. In a moment we'll talk with a woman at the center of things the last time around, Former ambassador Wendy Sherman. She will join us later on in this program.

Moving on right now, the doctor is in. Senator Bill Frist, today became the new Senate majority leader. The Republican caucus made it official filling the spot that was vacated by Trent Lott. The vote today ended an especially difficult chapter in the party's history and opened a new one. Here's CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Senator Bill Frist arrived at his office in Nashville with his wife and children, ready to take part in a historic vote, which in his words, "would change his life forever."

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER-ELECT: My colleagues just a few minutes ago gave me their confidence, they gave me their support, they gave me their trust and elected me as their leader in the United States Senate.

CARROLL: Frist was elected during a conference call. The first time the vote for a majority leader had taken place in such a way. Republican senators decided not to wait until January 6 to elect a new leader after embattled Senator Trent Lott resigned as majority leader last Friday.

SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R), PENNSYLVANIA: This was not obviously a joyous celebration for Senator Frist or anybody, but was one of doing what was called for and what was responsible in trying to lead the Senate and this country forward.

CARROLL: Frist is a popular senator in his home state of Tennessee, conservative on most issues, but still viewed as moderate enough to have broad appeal. He's a heart lung transplant surgeon with a reputation for having a good bedside manner, not just in the hospital. The new majority leader says he'll use his talents at healing to help mend his own party, still reeling from the fallout of a racially insensitive comment that eventually led to Senator Lott's resignation.

FRIST: We stand united. We speak as one team, and we -- I honestly believe this -- will transform what has occurred in the last few weeks, what has occurred at the moment in history into a catalyst, a catalyst for unity and a catalyst for positive change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Senator Frist did not take any questions after he made his statement. He did sort of outline what would be on his agenda -- health care, of course. Also the economy. He also said he would be reaching out to independents and Democrats. In fact, he said, Anderson, before he came out and made his statement, one of the calls he made was to Democratic Senator Tom Daschle -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jason Carroll in Nashville, thank you very much tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the D.C. area sniper back in the headlines. And after the break, an insider's view of the nuclear nightmare now developing in North Korea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: More now on North Korea. What to make of today's move to pull the plug on international monitors. How to figure out what the North Koreans are really after. This is of course a puzzle for the current Bush administration to solve, but it's been a puzzlement for every president since Harry Truman. With us now, former ambassador, Wendy Sherman, President Clinton's top troubleshooter on North Korea. Welcome to NEWSNIGHT. Thanks for begin with us, Ambassador Sherman.

WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO NORTH KOREA: Glad to be here.

COOPER: How serious do you see these latest developments?

SHERMAN: I think these are very serious developments. I think that we had expected after the North Korea told the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that it wanted them to remove surveillance and monitors and seals that they might take some action regarding the reactor, but I think everybody was a little surprised at how fast North Korea removed the seals from the spent fuel rods, which are really in many ways the red line to producing plutonium, which then produces the material that fuels nuclear weapons. So if they pull those fuel rods out of those cans, we really have gotten to a very, very dangerous place.

COOPER: I don't know if can you answer this question, but you've studied North Korea probably as much as anyone has. What are they up to? What are they thinking?

SHERMAN: You're quite right. It's very hard to read their intentions, but I think they understand that right now the United States is very focused on Iraq. They'd like to be paid attention to. They think that this is a time that they can leverage the United States. And so what they're trying to do here is up the ante, get us to pay attention, although they will talk to South Korea, and Japan, and Russia, and China, the European Union, they really want their regime to survive. And they think they can only have that happen if the United States guarantees their security, so they want our attention.

COOPER: Well, attention to do what? I mean, what exactly do they want? I mean, you know, we've heard all these problems exist in North Korea. They want aid with those problems, with the hunger there? What sort of attention?

SHERMAN: Well, the first thing they want is sort of strange for people to understand, and that is a non-aggression pact. They want us to say that we will not attack them in a political document, that we have no hostile intent against them, that we will give them some kind of a security guarantee. And I'm sure they also hope that we will give them assistance, that we will either restart the fuel oil that we suspended when we found out about their highly enriched uranium program, or that we will help them in other ways.

But what they want more than anything is the credibility and the imprimatur of the United States of America.

COOPER: How much does what is going on in North Korea right now has to do with South Korean politics? We heard just in a previous report, the new president of South Korea really elected on a policy of re-engaging with North Korea. The reporter suggested that the North Koreans want to drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States. True?

SHERMAN: I think that's quite right. I think they pay attention to elections, they're not always on target with the timing. They sent an envoy to the United States during the Clinton administration in October, thinking they had lots of time to negotiate, not understanding that in a democracy, we work a little differently, and that was pretty late in a presidential term. But I think they are looking at South Korea. They want to drive a wedge. I think it's very important for the United States to stand shoulder to shoulder with President-elect Noh, with the South Korean people, and quite frankly, I think it is time for the United States, even if we aren't going to have full-fledged negotiations, because North Korea should pull back from its very dangerous nuclear path first, it is time to talk directly with the North.

COOPER: And that's something the Bush administration has resisted up to now.

SHERMAN: They have resisted it, and I understand why. No one wants to be part of nuclear blackmail. No one wants someone to extort things out of them. That's not a way to do business. At the same time, unless North Korea knows what we want directly from us, they won't believe it from anyone else. And so I do hope that the Bush administration can support the new president-elect of South Korea and find a channel directly, privately or publicly, at even lower levels, to have some direct talks with North Korea, tell them what we want them to do before we can really begin any kind of negotiation.

COOPER: We don't really -- really don't have anymore time, but very briefly, if it came to it, push came to shove, can we take out the nuclear program in North Korea?

SHERMAN: We could probably take it out, but it would probably result in a catastrophic war where tens of thousands if not a million lives would be lost in the process.

COOPER: All right. Ambassador Wendy Sherman, appreciate you joining us, thanks very much.

SHERMAN: Certainly.

COOPER: A deadly plane crash in Iran. Time for our look at stories from around the world this evening. The Ukrainian Airways jet was was carrying 46 people when it crashed in the mountains of central Iran. An Iranian civil aviation spokesman said the passengers were all Ukrainian aerospace experts who were on a test flight of a plane. There were also four crew members aboard.

It is the beginning of Christmas Eve in the holy land, in Israel, and the Palestinians are in talks over a possible Israeli troop pullout from the West Bank city of Bethlehem. A senior Israeli adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN that Israel hoped to reach an agreement with the Palestinians but also did not rule out an army withdrawal even without a deal. Traditionally, thousands of Christians travel to Bethlehem's Manger Square for midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Iraq today managed to shoot down an American Predator surveillance drone over southern Iraq. Pentagon lost contact with it at about 7:30 this morning, after it came under fire from Iraqi aircraft. This is the third Predator shot down in the region. You can see it right there.

And finally, a sad day in the music world. Joe Strummer, the man who asked the immortal question, "Should I Stay or Should I Go," as frontman for The Clash, well, he went yesterday, according to his official Web site. He was 50 years old.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, keeping your kids safe. Does it matter what part of town sex offenders live in? And up next, sniping in the sniper case. Why one prosecutor is outraged.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: There was a rare display of fireworks in the Washington area sniper case. Rare because prosecutors hardly ever utter more than bland generalities about their upcoming cases. Most of the time, they limit their words to "no comment." Well, today, though, Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Robert Horan had a lot to say about an article in Sunday's "New York Times" suggesting young Lee Malvo was the trigger man in all the sniper shootings. The distinction an important one, because it has a bearing on the death penalty case against the older man, John Muhammad. After saying he's reluctant to pick a fight with a company that buys its ink by the barrel, Mr. Horan did just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT HORAN, FAIRFAX COUNTY ATTORNEY: We have got people still working this case. Investigators out at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Centerville, who are working night and day to pull these cases together, and it's unfair to them for people to be releasing false information under the theory that you know something about these cases and you're a reliable source.

Whoever this source was for the "New York Times" was not a reliable source.

I have tried homicide cases in Fairfax County for 36 years, and I can tell you without qualification, without hesitation I have never known a time when one of the Fairfax investigators was releasing information like this pre-trial. They don't do it. It's contrary to the general orders of this department, and they don't do it. I've never known them to do it.

Why they would start doing it now, I just don't believe it. And I particularly don't believe it since whatever this source was releasing is so clearly and absolutely wrong.

It's not the facts. I'm just not going to get in the business of telling you pre-trial what the facts are. I'm not going to do that. But I am going to tell you that whoever put that stuff out is putting out information that is simply untrue, and I want the media to know that, particularly the media that follows like lemmings behind the "New York Times" and says whatever the "New York Times" says as if it's gospel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining us now, former prosecutor himself, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. Thanks for being here.

Pretty long soundbite we played, but pretty remarkable words. What do you make of it?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's peculiar, because I don't see why that story was so terrible for the prosecution. It said at this moment it appears that Malvo was the gunman on all of the shootings, but it did not say that that's going to be the evidence forever, and under Virginia law, it is quite possible or at least seems that way, that Muhammad could get the death penalty even if he wasn't the trigger man.

And I think in fairness to Jason Blair, who wrote that story, Horan never said what was wrong in the story. He just said it was wrong. So it's hard to respond to that kind of criticism.

COOPER: Right. It is significant, though, because I mean, so much was put -- basically this case is being tried first in Virginia as far as we understand because it was believed that it was the best place to get death penalty convictions. If this is true, though, if the evidence all points to Malvo at this point, it does make it a little bit harder.

TOOBIN: It does make it harder. The Supreme Court has never said hat you have to be the triggerman to get the death penalty. For example, if you hire a hitman and the hitman kills someone, you, the purchaser of the hit can get the death penalty.

Here, Muhammad is being prosecuted under a capital murder statute, but also under this law, which is the post-9/11 terrorism law, which also calls for the death penalty. Yes, it's never been tested, but remember, we're talking about Virginia here. This is the state that's executed the second most people after Texas. You know, there's not a great history of convictions being overturned there, or even death sentences being overturned.

So the idea that if Malvo is the triggerman Muhammad gets a walk from the death penalty is simply not true.

COOPER: Well, we'll talk about the 9/11 law in a second, but under Virginia's capital murder law, unless you are the triggerman, you cannot be convicted, you cannot be put to death.

TOOBIN: You cannot be put to death. That is the current state of the law in Virginia, yes.

COOPER: And what this "New York Times" article is saying was that right now, as you say, it doesn't mean in the future, but right now, all the evidence points to Malvo. There was hair evidence, DNA evidence in the trunk of the car where it's believed the shootings took place, DNA evidence on a grape stem near one of the shooting sites. Malvo confessed. Photographic evidence.

TOOBIN: Most interestingly, sort of most vividly, the trunk, where everybody remembers it was sort of hollowed out to create kind of a sniper's gallery, only Malvo apparently could fit in that trunk, which is a particularly vivid piece of evidence.

COOPER: And one of the photos, surveillance photos at the Home Depot, it appears as if John Muhammad was driving the car. He was not the shooter. All right, so even if that is the case and Lee Malvo pulled the trigger on all of these, as he has confessed to, what is this 9/11 law, this terrorist law that has not been tested?

TOOBIN: Well, it's a new law passed in the wake of 9/11, which says sort of broadly in layman's terms that if you are part of a terrorist attack, and terrorist attack is defined very broadly, clearly...

COOPER: If you order a terrorist attack.

TOOBIN: If you order a terrorist attack, if you control it, that you are eligible for the death penalty. Obviously, what's in the mind of the legislature is sort of Osama bin Laden ordering an attack from afar, but this at least based on the evidence so far, would seem to fit what Muhammad -- what Muhammad is accused of doing.

COOPER: "Times" basically said that if he is convicted under this new terrorist law, it makes appeals more easy. True?

TOOBIN: It makes appeals somewhat more easy, but I mean, again, we've got to remember, we're talking about Virginia here. And the courts, particularly the appeals courts, there are not known for overturning a lot of death sentences.

And remember, judges keep their eyes on the facts here we're talking the sniper case. We're talking about a case that created fear and hatred on an unparalleled scale. So, if this were sort of an obscure case that nobody paid much attention to, perhaps there would be a better chance on appeal. I don't give this case a lot of stock on appeal.

COOPER: All right. Jeff Toobin, thanks.

TOOBIN: Can I ask you a question?

COOPER: Yes.

TOOBIN: Can I stay around here and watch the trashy Barbie episode? I want to be real close.

COOPER: I have trashy Barbie right under my desk. You can play with her on the commercial break.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: Thanks.

COOPER: Thanks for coming in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: One of the things people think about this time of year is, of course, forgiveness. That's why the White House announced those seven pardons we talked about at the beginning of the broadcast tonight. Of course, there are some offenses that no matter what time of year seem unforgivable. Commit such a crime, be convicted and punished, be released and, say many people, your past still is not behind you. David Mattingly has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's killing me. I got nowhere to go. I have to live out here, desolate, away from everybody.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As much as he would want to, Junior Manning of Dubuque, Iowa, can't go home. He's a convicted child molester, subject to a sweeping and controversial new state law that bans him from ever living within 2,000 feet of a school or childcare facility.

MATTINGTLY (on camera): You realize that there a lot of people who will find it very hard to offer you any sympathy whatsoever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not asking for sympathy. I'm asking for a chance.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The law is among the toughest in the country affecting not just child molesters but all sex offenders, no matter how minor the offense.

AMY TRANEL, VICTIMS' RIGHTS ADVOCATE: For families who are believing that sex offenders won't be living within 2,000 feet of the daycare centers and schools it provides them the feeling of security that these individuals will not be lurking around by their playgrounds and the schools where their children are attending.

MATTINGTLY: But the effect has been to strictly limit the options for where offenders can live.

Manning lives in a $400 a month hotel room, 40 miles away from his family and his job. Looking at all these restricted areas, there seems to be no city limits almost left to live in. This map prepared for the Dubuque County attorney shows restricted zones covering entire towns, almost all of the city of Dubuque is off limits.

FRED MCCRAW, DUBUQUE COUNTY ATTORNEY: I'm very doubtful that it provides any significant protection to anybody. And I think the main thing that it does is just provides an enormous problem.

MATTINGLY: That problem, for the sheriff's department is enforcement. Sex offenders are responsible for reporting their own whereabouts.

MCCRAW: It's something that sounds good to people that want to be seen as tough on crime and tough on sex offenders, it sounds good, but in practice it is not.

MATTINGLY (on camera): Critics say the holes in this law are almost as big as the areas they attempt to restrict. Sex offenders can't live near schools or daycare centers, but nothing restricts their movements. They're free to move in and out of these areas even work in these areas at any time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wanted to re-offend, I could go park out by a school and snatch a little kid up, or grown kid up, or a teenager up.

MATTINGTLY: Hearing these words from you is going to be scary to a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And you should be afraid of a sex offender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wanted to re-offend, I'd just walk up to a school, you know?

MATTINGLY (voice-over): This is a rare look inside a group therapy session for sex offenders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to live 2,000 feet from a school, but yet you can work in one.

MATTINGLY: Some not willing to show their faces and frustrated with a law that pushes them far from family and support groups, isolation that counselors say could lead to repeat offenses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think that, OK, you can put in this 2,000 foot rule and they'll move away. And then they can just forget about us. That ain't going to happen. They forget about us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to go somewhere.

TRANEL: They have to suffer the consequences. And unfortunately the consequences of sexual assault is not great, but for victims, it's something they will suffer with the rest of their lives and they did not ask for it to happen. MATTINGLY: Changes by the Iowa legislature are doubtful as the law sailed through with little opposition. Court challenges appear more likely, as sex offenders attempt to argue their rights are being violated. Punished, they say, by a law that even law enforcement does little to protect potential victims.

David Mattingly, CNN, Dubuque, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, you just saw how that one town deals with sexual offenders. Now here's what one archdiocese is doing about lawsuits over abusive priests.

Lawyers for the Boston Archdiocese want the suits dropped on First Amendment grounds, saying civil law does not apply to how the religious groups oversee the governing or discipline of church workers. Interim Archdiocese Bishop Richard Lennon says the church must use all of its legal options or risk financial ruin. Needless to say, victims are not happy about this.

And how is this for a stocking stuffer? A $280 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs Christmas Day. The odds of picking the five magic numbers are 1 in 120 million. In case you're wondering, a single winner taking a lump sum would collect $92 million after taxes. That is a lot of money, even for a network jerk like me who allowed a salesgirl to talk him into buy a $4,500 suit. But hey, it was on sale, half price.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, Santa Claus is coming and Barbie is in his bag, but this isn't exactly your mother's Barbie, ahead on NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So a new Barbie has arrived in stores just in time for Christmas. Not since Earring Magic Ken skipped onto the market a couple of years ago has Mattel come up with such a hot product.

In fact, we had to beat back hoards of sweaty children in FAO Schwarz today just to get our greasy little hands on this new Barbie, meet Lingerie Barbie. Meow.

At first we thought she should be called Call Girl Barbie. There she is. But I guess the folks at Mattel decided Lingerie Barbie was more -- European. Mattel says, and I quote, "Her pink peak-a-boo penoir floats over soft pink feminine underpinnings." Translation, she's wearing a pink teddy over pink garters and pink stiletto heels.

Mattel insists Lingerie Barbie intended more for collectors than for kids. Collectors of what? We're just not exactly sure. I can just imagine the leer on an old toothless doll collector's face as he gently lifts Barbie's teddy off her slender pearly white frame to ogle her feminine underpinnings. Oh, what joy she'll bring.

But I think kids will like Lingerie Barbie as well. She's really an educational toy if you think about it. You want to teach your kids about the birds and bees? Lingerie Barbie, not a bad start. I guarantee, give it to your kids Christmas morning and in no time they'll be shouting "ho, ho, ho."

Warning though, this little minx has a mind of her own. We took our eyes off Lingerie Barbie for a few seconds and in no time she was out the office door, walking the mean streets of New York.

Luckily, our cameras caught up with here. CNN is in a pretty rough part of town, but Lingerie Barbie sure seemed to know her way around. Here she is strutting the streets. Street Struttin' Barbie, we like to call her sometimes. Kind of looking for work. Trying to flag down passing cars.

Part of her is kind of like a Bar Room Barbie, as well. There she is. She caused quite a stir as she tried to flag down those cars. I'm sure she can bump back a few brewskis with the best of them.

And there she is doing her Marilyn Monroe impersonation.

We're told Lingerie Barbie is just about sold out. If you can't make it to a store tomorrow, maybe you're incarcerated, a Lingerie Barbie is coming soon. Mattel describes this one as simply sassy. She's sporting a short satin slip with black lace trim.

Who says they don't make wholesome toys anymore? Ah, yes.

You know one of the nicest things about Christmas and New Year's is you actually get some time off and some time to read some books. So we thought we'd bring in an expert, Steve Wasserman, the literary editor of the "Los Angeles Times". He'll talk to us about best books on his Christmas list. He's joining us now from New Haven, Connecticut.

Thanks for being with us.

STEVE WASSERMAN, LITERARY EDITOR, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": A pleasure.

COOPER: So, the six books you have selected, why did they make your list?

WASSERMAN: Well, there is an embarrassment of riches every year. And you can't deem everything worthy that the publishers so diligently sent to us, so what can I say? I'm a promiscuous reader, like many other people. And I compose every year, and did so again this year, a pick hits list, a list of my 10 favorites. They certainly don't exclude others. They're just mine. And they're idiosyncratic, deeply subjective.

COOPER: All right, let's talk about the first one, on the fiction list. Let's start off with "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer, is it?

WASSERMAN: Yes, Jonathan Safran Foer is a 25-year-old young author. This is his debut novel and what an accomplishment it is. It's the story of a fellow -- also named Jonathan Safran Foer -- who goes to the Ukraine in search of the village where his grandfather escaped the Nazis. And he goes in search of the woman who made that possible. And along the way he has a series of improbable adventures. And if a grim subject could be made by turns humorous and engaging, this fellow has managed that.

COOPER: Frankly, I'm not sure I can read a book by a 25-year- old, because if I read anything by someone younger than me it just makes me depressed that I'm a complete failure in life.

WASSERMAN: Well, you know, it's always better to stick with the worthy dead. But every year the living keep telling us stories, so let's concentrate just on the living for now.

COOPER: OK, we only have about a minute and a half left, so let's try to go through them, "Iceland" by Jim Kruseau (ph)?

WASSERMAN: "Iceland" by Jim Kruseau. If you like Kurt Vonnegut, and if you have a feeling for Don Dollilo (ph), by way of Joseph Heller, you'll love this. A very strange story of a man who goes to an institute to replace an unnamed organ, has an intimate sexual encounter, and we're off to the races.

COOPER: "The Truth About Babies", it sounds like a self-help book, it's non-fiction.

WASSERMAN: No, it's not. "The Truth About Babies", by Ian Sanson (ph), is a book that if I had the talent I would have written, I've got four children of my own. I always hungered for a book that would actually be written by an adult that would be about how having children changes your whole relationship to your sense of time, to your sense of mortality, to the future itself. And these are a series of wonderful little aphoristic gems penned by a marvelous writer named Ian Sansom.

COOPER: "Cuba Confidential", why is that on the list?

WASSERMAN: I've got my earpiece falling out of my ear.

COOPER: All right, "Cuba Confidential".

WASSERMAN: "Cuba Confidential" is by Ann Louise Barddect (ph), a marvelous writer for "Vanity Fair" who has really delivered the best book yet written about that strange relationship between Cuba and the United States, which frankly, in her opinion and in my own, is less the matter for a politician analysis than it is for a psychiatrist's couch.

COOPER: You also talk about a book by Mary Pope Osbourne (ph), it's a childrens' book, isn't it?

WASSERMAN: Mary Pope Osbourne who has done a number of best selling childrens' books has turned her attention to the new translation of that age-old story penned by the blind poet, Homer, nearly 3,000 years ago. In a series of books, that Hyperion Books for Children are publishing she retells the story in short declarative sentences that give boundless joy for any child, particularly those aged -- I would say from about five to 11.

COOPER: And the last book on your list, "A Bed For The Night: Humanitarianism In Crisis"?

WASSERMAN: Yes, "A Bed For The Night: Humanitarianism In Crisis", by David Rieff (ph) who has spent probably 10 years going to countries whose names read like bottom lines of eye charts. And he focuses on the strange paradox, both moral and political, that is often caused by those who seek to do good in the world, but end up by complicating an already grievous predicament.

COOPER: All right, Steve Wasserman, thanks very much for joining us.

WASSERMAN: It's a pleasure always.

COOPER: Appreciate it very much.

You can find a list of these books on our web site, that of course, is cnn.com/newsnight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So if you really like good Christmas music, because if you do, you might want to turn down the volume on your TV right about now. Trust me.

The man who is about to join us is in Chicago, he has no interest whatsoever in good music.

Jim Nayder, is his name, he's an old friend of this broadcast, he's a connoisseur of really, really annoying music, the kind you have to surgically remove from your head, once it's in there.

Welcome to you, Jim.

And Jim, as a policy, I don't comment on what our guests are wearing. What are you wearing? It looks like a schizophrenic's worst nightmare.

JIM NAYDER, ANNOYING MUSIC GUY: No, no, I'm a living Christmas tree, Anderson. My brother made this for me. He's been institutionalized for a few years, but I think it does the trick.

COOPER: Well, it's very festive. It is very much in the holiday spirit.

NAYDER: Thank you. Where's...

COOPER: Go ahead.

NAYDER: Where's Mr. B? Is he sick?

COOPER: Mr. B is on assignment.

NAYDER: If he's sick, then you know -- oh, OK. COOPER: I said that with my hands moving. I know you can't see me.

We're talking bad Christmas music. You hear a lot of good Christmas music around this time of the year. Frankly, a lot of people get kind of sick of it. You are going to play us some kind of not-so-good Christmas music. What's the first selection?

NAYDER: This is John "Bowtie" Barstow. Well, let's just listen.

(SINGING)

COOPER: Is he drunk?

NAYDER: No. He's been trying to get a record contract for many years. So far he's only been signed but by the Annoying Music Show records. But we're certainly glad to have him.

COOPER: I'm glad you can highlight his special...

NAYDER: Do you mind if I take off the top of the tree?

COOPER: Please, actually, would I be relieved if you would. Thanks.

NAYDER: Whew!

COOPER: Let's hear another song. Who do you have?

NAYDER: OK, you know, I have an extensive Russian ornament collection. It reminded me that the -- Alexandroff (ph) Red Army of Russia, did a song by the Beach Boys. And I thought, well, it fits.

COOPER: This is the army choir?

NAYDER: The Alexandroff Red Army Choir of Leningrad.

(SINGING)

COOPER: This is good. I've never heard the Red Army choir sing "California Girls" and frankly, I'm glad.

NAYDER: It's perfect for CNN, that's the way I see it.

COOPER: Very appropriate, very international. What else is bad out there?

NAYDER: Well, every year this makes our top 10, of course. It's Kathie Lee and Regis.

COOPER: Oh, come on now!

(SINGING)

NAYDER: Dr. Phil had to come in the second course and restrain Regis. COOPER: I don't know why her singing career hasn't taken off. Frankly, it's a mystery to me listening to this.

NAYDER: I don't know, but our listeners demand it.

COOPER: Let's hear something else. Because a little Reege and a little Kathy Lee goes an awfully long way.

NAYDER: OK, this is a group called "The Klezmenauts".

(WOMAN SINGING)

This is a Klezmer (ph) band doing Christmas carols. It is from their album "Oy, To The World". They're from Chicago.

COOPER: "Oy, To The World"?

NAYDER: "Oy, To The World". How much time do we have?

COOPER: Oh, we have about 45 seconds left, believe it or not.

NAYDER: OK.

COOPER: What really says Yule Tide to you, what really speaks to you this time of the year?

NAYDER: This is it right here. This is from the Walton's Christmas album. There's something about it.

MECHANIZED VOICE: Good night, John Boy.

Good night, Mama.

Good night, Mary Ellen.

Good night, Irin.

Good night, Jason.

Good night, Mary Ellen.

NAYDER: Good night, Anderson Bob.

COOPER: God only knows why that album didn't take off. I'm kind of depressed.

Now, you usually play Piranha Man, I know when you're on. But I know you think it's a little over played, so I appreciate you not playing it this evening.

Thank you so much, Jim Nayder, for being with us as always. It was kind of annoying to hear your songs. I appreciate it.

NAYDER: Is it okay if I say my new CD is available at Amazon.com? Am I allowed to say that?

COOPER: Probably not, but you just did, so there you go.

NAYDER: What about CD Now?

COOPER: All right, thanks a lot, Jim. .

NAYDER: Good night Anderson Bob.

COOPER: Have an annoying Christmas.

NAYDER: Happy holidays.

That's it for NEWSNIGHT tonight. Aaron Brown will be back tomorrow. Thanks very much, everyone. Have a great holiday. And I'll see you on Thursday.

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





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