Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Zarqawi Suspected in Jordanian Embassy Bombing; Candidate Schwarzenegger Hits Morning Talk Shows; 3rd ID Returns Home

Aired August 08, 2003 - 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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of news stories today. We begin with President Bush. He today said that U.S. forces were slowly but surely wiping out the elements attacking American troops in Iraq and there is word that investigators are close to uncovering who is responsible for this week's bombing of the Jordanian Embassy.
Back here in the states, in Georgia, some of the soldiers of Iraqi Freedom have returned to their loved one finally.

And, in California, no big surprises just a day of campaigning and some hints of Governor Schwarzenegger might be like.

These are some of the stories that we have been talking about and working on today and that we will be covering tonight here on NEWSNIGHT.

So, the whip begins with the bombing and a suspect whose name is already a familiar one. Our Mike Boettcher is working that story, Mike you start with the headlines please.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, an investigation into the bombing in Iraq points to a person that indicates that al Qaeda may not be entering the battlefield in that country against U.S. forces and its allies.

KAGAN: All right, we'll be with you in just a moment.

Day one and a different kind of spotlight for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kelly Wallace is there in Los Angeles with the headline -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, now come the questions for the first time candidate. What is his plan for California? Where does he stand on the issues? Observers say Arnold Schwarzenegger will have to get a lot more specific or else his opponent will fill in the blanks for him -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Kelly, thank you, to you in a moment.

Meanwhile, speaking of his opponent, Governor Gray Davis says he can win but how can he possibly do that? Our Bob Franken is looking into that and, Bob, you take the headlines from here.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, as he is flooded with opponents, Governor Gray Davis is struggling to keep his head above the recall water. We'll torture that more in a moment.

KAGAN: Very good. We'll be back with all of you in just a minute.

But a lot more to get to tonight, including new tensions within the Anglican Church that after the American branch of it elevated a gay man to the position of bishop.

Also tonight, new details emerging on the final moments of United Flight 93, they are sparking debate and stirring emotions among the families who lost loved ones on that day.

And especially fitting for the end of a hard week, we are going to have our "On the Rise" segment and the promise of a future. Ladies, much more comfortable shoes are on the way for you. That's all to come.

But first, we begin with the bombing in Baghdad. There are new indications tonight that the car bomb that went off at the Jordanian Embassy yesterday was something quite different from the ambushes and the shooting that American forces have come to know.

The FBI has dispatched a team to Iraq to investigate possible international terrorist connections and, today, CNN uncovered one of the names they might be looking at.

Once again here's our Mike Boettcher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOETTCHER (voice-over): CNN has learned investigators are eying one key suspect, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist U.S. officials say is affiliated with al Qaeda. Zarqawi has a motive for attacking Jordan.

A Jordanian court sentenced him to death in absentia for planning numerous terrorist attacks in the kingdom and Jordan is a key ally in the war against terrorism. It also provided significant help to the U.S. in the Iraq War.

Just last week, Osama bin Laden's top aide, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued an audio tape calling for attacks against the U.S. and its allies like Jordan.

VOICE OF AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): With God's help all those who helped American capture a prisoner or hand him to it or any of its agents will also pay the price.

BOETTCHER: Jordanian authorities are certain Zarqawi was the mastermind behind the assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan last October. Jordanian investigators believe Zarqawi ran the operation from Iraq where he fled after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

Zarqawi also had a close association with the former inhabitants of this alleged terrorist camp in northern Iraq. The Ansar al Islam camp is now under U.S. control. The group's members, who U.S. officials contend like Zarqawi are affiliated with al Qaeda, dispersed after the U.S. invasion.

Even before the Jordan Embassy bombing, the U.S. Civilian Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer raised a specter of that threat.

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: There is clear evidence of an al Qaeda-related terrorist group, the Ansar al Islam, reconstituting its capabilities inside of Iraq.

BOETTCHER: But getting to Zarqawi will be difficult. Coalition intelligence analysts believe he has been given refuge in Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOETTCHER: Now, if suspect number one, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, is determined to be the mastermind of the bombing then it creates a problem for U.S. forces in the region. It changes the whole complexion in Iraq because it includes al Qaeda and affiliated units with al Qaeda in the threat matrix facing the U.S. and its allies in that region -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Mike, I know you touched on this a bit in your piece but if you could explain a little bit more why Jordan as the target there? Certainly, if you were to make a list of countries that have been helpful to the U.S., Jordan wouldn't be at the top of the list.

BOETTCHER: Well, I would disagree, Daryn. I would say Jordan is at the top of the list of countries that have been helpful to the U.S. in the war on terrorism. Jordan has provided an immense amount of intelligence about al Qaeda. Jordan has arrested many suspects from al Qaeda and Jordan has basically saved, as a friend told me in U.S. intelligence, saved the rear of the U.S.

KAGAN: Hum.

BOETTCHER: And they are dead serious about that. So, Jordan is really, really hated by al Qaeda because of that and that makes them number one on that sort of a list and, certainly, Abu Masab al- Zarqawi, who is under sentence of death from Jordan, is a top, top al Qaeda operative associated with it.

He swore a bayat to bin Laden. Even though he has his own agenda, he is really, really close to al Qaeda and it's a very, very dangerous situation for that country being so proactive with the United States in the war against terrorism.

KAGAN: Mike Boettcher at our CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Mike thank you for that.

We have two more items on the subject both from federal court. The first concerns a so-called 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui. The judge in his case today said that Moussaoui and the shoe bomber Richard Reid have been trying to communicate with one another once again. Last month the government revealed the existence of a letter from Mr. Reid to Mr. Moussaoui and what it or other messages dealt with wasn't revealed at the time. The matter came up because Moussaoui objects to the FBI reading his mail.

Well, in New York meanwhile the government charged a Pakistani man with supporting al Qaeda this after holding him for the last four months, that story now from Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Uzair Paracha, college graduate, legal immigrant from Pakistan who came to New York in February, his lawyers say he's a businessman who set up in Manhattan's garment district selling real estate to fellow Pakistanis returning back home.

ANTHONY RICCO, PARACHA'S ATTORNEY: He's a young person who has never been in trouble in his life. He's never belonged to a religious organization or even a political organization when he's been a student. I mean after all he's 23. He has an MBA. He's a very bright but I say very naive young man.

HINOJOSA: The U.S. government says Paracha is anything but naive. He was in federal court Friday charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda. Prosecutors say he helped an al Qaeda operative based in Pakistan obtain travel documents to return to the United States. For what purpose prosecutors didn't say.

Paracha allegedly possessed the operative's driver's license, bank card, and a key to his post office box in Maryland and allegedly pretended to be the operative in phone calls to immigration authorities in order to help him get into this country.

In Pakistan, Paracha's father worked in the southern city of Karachi, shipping clothing made in Pakistan to wholesalers for U.S. companies such as K-Mart. Last month, Pakistani police detained Paracha's father but where he's being held and what, if anything, he's been charged with remains unknown. Paracha's mother, interviewed by CNN in Karachi, said the arrests of her husband and her son were unfair.

FARCHAT PARACHA, DEFENDANT'S MOTHER: My husband is not involved with any terrorist organization. I can tell you that and I'm 100 percent sure of it, neither is my son.

HINOJOSA: The U.S. government, though, says Paracha not only knew he was working for an al Qaeda operative but also expected al Qaeda to invest $200,000 in his business ventures in return for his efforts.

PARACHA: I don't know why this is happening. I think it's the paranoia. I think it's just America is scared so they're just suspecting everybody. HINOJOSA (on camera): Uzair Paracha is expected back in court on Tuesday for a bail hearing. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we take the program back to Iraq now. That is where a half dozen troops were wounded today. It happened during sweeps to the north and the west of Baghdad, members of the Army's 4th ID continuing their search for weapons and continuing to find trouble.

Three soldiers lost their lives as well, two of them apparently by accident, the other due to causes yet unknown and that brings to 171 the number of troops killed in the 100 days since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities. Fifty-six have died as a result of enemy fire.

Today, Mr. Bush marked the 100 days at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He pointed to the progress made, the work yet to be done, and the price already paid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We suffer when we lose life. I mean our country is a country that grieves with those who sacrifice and our heartfelt sympathies and appreciation go to the loved ones of any soldier who is willing to defend the security of the United States and that's what they're doing in Iraq. It's very important for people to understand that this is a part of the war on terror that we're dealing with terrorists today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: There were casualties on the Iraqi side as well today, also bitter controversy. It happened in Saddam Hussein's hometown. We have that story now from CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This wasn't the end of another gunfight; in fact, the U.S. Army says unapologetically there was no fight at all. This man and another were shot dead in Tikrit without warning by Army snipers as they opened up a trunk with weapons for sale.

LT. COL. STEVE RUSSELL, U.S. ARMY: We engaged them and we killed them. They know that these markets are illegal. It has been all over town. They understand that. They know the rules. They disobeyed them. They paid with their lives.

ARRAF: The 4th Infantry soldiers were acting on intelligence from Iraqis. In what is still considered a combat zone the U.S. military makes the rules. RUSSELL: These were enemy combatants. We know so because the main man that we deal with, the supplier, this is a friend of Saddam card. This is -- he's tied to the regime. He definitely is associated at high level with the former regime. That's why he has the special card.

ARRAF: Although few would carry it, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were issued that card, including high school teachers. Near the market where he was shot, the family of the cardholder Rabah Ibrahim Jasim (ph) said he didn't deserve to die his three children, too young to understand they were now fatherless.

"What have we done? Are we not humans just like them" says his mother-in-law? "Don't we want to live? They've orphaned these kids. What have they done to them?"

(on camera): For American soldiers every city in Iraq has its own atmosphere but Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown is a particular challenge. Here the idea and the influence of Saddam seem alive and well.

(voice-over): "Saddam Hussein is everywhere" said this man. "Just because this country is occupied doesn't mean he's not around."

There are likely people in Tikrit who approve of the Americans but even if they were talking they'd be drowned out by the slogan still chanted here the Tikritis pledging their blood and souls for Saddam.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Tikrit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Now, we come back home now for members of the Army's 3rd ID who returned to their families today. This was a promise long in coming, late in keeping, but today for a few lucky soldiers the road that led first to Kuwait and then to Baghdad finally led them back home. There's a lot of catching up for them to do with their families, that story now from CNN's Brian Cabell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're coming home by the hundreds, by the thousands now, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division. They've seen the fiercest combat of the war but now Captain Andy Hilmes sees this, his baby daughter Jocelyn (ph) with his wife Nicki (ph). He can resume a normal life now at Fort Stewart. This is headquarters for his company known as the Wild Bunch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're sufficiently sick of each other right now.

CABELL: Yes, maybe after 11 rugged months together the soldiers have had enough of each other but still they gather with their wives, with the children, how they've grown in 11 months, and with a beer or two but one man is missing, Staff Sergeant Stefan Booker (ph) killed in a raid April 5th, a good tough soldier.

APT. ANDREW HILMES, 3RD INFANTRY DIVISION: If you asked a lot of the young soldiers in the company what kind of guy he was they'll tell you they respected him. I bet you a lot of them would say they didn't like him but after we saw combat for the first time in March, a lot of them knew why he was so tough on them.

CABELL: But enough of this time together, the men and the women want to go home at last. This is home for Andy Hilmes and a soldier returning from war draws a crowd and a series of embraces, old friends, neighbors, admirers.

Even his dog Maggie welcomes him back and there she is again, daughter Jocelyn, slowly getting used to this big, blonde man who's been gone for so long. His wife, Nicki who had worried that he might have changed feels better now.

NICOLE HILMES, WIFE OF RETURNING SOLDIER: We haven't had enough time really I don't think but he seems fine. He's normal. It's just like, you know, when you see each other nothing's changed, no time has passed.

CABELL: But, of course, a year has passed. Andy Hilmes for now feels almost like a stranger in his home.

HILMES: I'll have to get used to the fact that my wife is used to me being gone. She's a single parent. She runs the house by herself. She's paying the bills by herself and she's doing all that stuff without me right now and now I've got to get used to that. I've got to ease my way back in. I've got to -- I've kind of got to find my role in this house again.

CABELL: He's taking it a step at a time.

Brian Cabell CNN, Fort Stewart, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, no step at a time in California. They are jumping right in. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, recall madness as candidate Schwarzenegger works the air waves and Governor Davis looks for a strategy to defeat the recall.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, let's go ahead and talk about that crazy world that is California politics. Another big name Republican got into the California recall race today. He is Peter Uberoff. You might remember the former baseball commissioner and the man who brought the Olympics to Los Angeles back in 1984.

Although a registered Republican, Mr. Uberoff promised to campaign as an independent and if he's elected he says he will serve out Governor Gray Davis' term and he will not run for another one.

Meanwhile, the real name brand Republican today began facing questions just a little bit tougher than will there be "Terminator 4," that story now from Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It is early in the morning. It's like not even five o'clock in the morning.

WALLACE (voice-over): A predawn blitz by the nation's newest political superstar taking his populous message to the morning television shows.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I know I can clean house up there.

WALLACE: But when pressed for specifics the first time candidate is evasive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about gay marriage?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I don't want to get into that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arnold, how are you going to turn it around?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I think the first and most important thing is, is to know that it takes leadership.

WALLACE: Political analysts say Arnold Schwarzenegger won't be able to dodge indefinitely.

RAPHAEL SONENSHEIN, CAL STATE FULLERTON POLITICAL ANALYST: His opponents are very shrewd and effective and they're going to try to make him put some flesh on these positions and if he doesn't they will.

WALLACE: His only political experience so far...

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes, this is a victory for the entire state of California.

WALLACE: Leading a successful ballot initiative last year increasing funding for the state's after school program. While he's a household name, his political views are still a bit of a mystery. He describes himself this way.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I have always that I am fiscally conservative, very conservative.

WALLACE: And moderate on social issues he says. He supports abortion rights, gay rights, and some gun control, positions that put him out of step with conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who said Thursday: "Schwarzenegger's own words prove he's not a conservative."

That could be one problem for the Hollywood superstar turned politician, another what he ultimately says he will do to deal with the state's $38 billion budget deficit, raise taxes or cut spending.

(on camera): Still time may be on Schwarzenegger's side. There is not a lot of time to dissect the candidate's views as this election is just two months away.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, until Arnold Schwarzenegger got into the race, Gray Davis' strategy was twofold. One was run against the recall and the other was run against Darrell Issa, but Darrell is out, Arnold is in, not to mention John and Cruz, so where does that leave the governor and the party that he nominally leads?

Here now CNN's Bob Franken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Perhaps Gray Davis could be considered a unifying figure. The polls show that the vast majority of Californians, more than three-quarters of those asked, were united in their disdain for him. So, what is the ostracized governor to do in his campaign? His advisers say this one apparently will argue that a recall is even worse.

PETER RAGONE, ANTI-RECALL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: We need to help people in this state find solutions. This recall is a circus not a solution.

FRANKEN: Gray Davis is essentially running a "they're worse than I am" campaign. Arnold Schwarzenegger has huge name recognition but the name hasn't been put through the grinder of a Gray Davis rough- and-tumble political campaign.

Bill Simon, the Republican Davis just beat last election, is well aware of the rough-and-tumble style. In fact, he'll be back on the list of replacement prospects in what he would view as a grudge match.

ART TORRES, CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: The real threat here is the conservative far right wing. I mean they are very well organized.

FRANKEN: The Democrats are not as organized. Two of the party's better known figures say they've decided to run as Davis replacements in spite of some leaders' protests that they're playing into their enemies' hands.

ART PULASKI, CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION: We know this is about not just one man but this is about undoing and recalling overtime pay, for example. It's about recalling coastal protections. It's about recalling a woman's right to choose.

FRANKEN: Meanwhile, the Davis supporters and their lawyers are fanning out to every court they can find arguing, so far unsuccessfully, that the process in California is unfair.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: The Gray Davis strategy is still unfolding, evolving as this bizarre recall election campaign changes. Most analysts believe that the Davis strategy may be summed up in one word as he tries, quoting them, "whatever works" -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, how about the strategy involving money? I hear both Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about spending $15 million to $20 million on this campaign.

FRANKEN: Well, money usually works. It's going to be interesting to see if one person's $15 million negates another person's $15 million and meanwhile an awful lot of very happy political consultants will be increasing their bank accounts.

KAGAN: The political cash flowing in California over the next two months. Bob Franken, thank you for that.

Bill Bradley joins us now, not the former Senator, the political writer for the "L.A. Weekly" a great job even when Austrian strongmen aren't trying to terminate the sitting governor.

Reports are that he was the only one to correctly predict Arnold's decision to run. And, with the deadline for filing papers coming up tomorrow, we hear also potentially a candidate. Either way, we are pleased to have him with us here tonight. Bill Bradley thanks for being with us.

WILLIAM BRADLEY, "L.A. WEEKLY": Hi, Daryn, thank you.

KAGAN: You really picked up the papers?

BRADLEY: Oh, oh yes. I did that as a journalistic sidebar job but actually some reporters took it a little seriously until I explained that, you know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to say oh I took out papers.

KAGAN: Oh, OK, got it.

BRADLEY: Yes, I took...

KAGAN: Because you have the opportunity to announce here on the program. I tried to get Dianne Feinstein to do it last night but she wasn't taking it either.

BRADLEY: No, I actually wanted to get a rise out of the governor who I've know for about 20 years. It's a private joke.

KAGAN: He might be a little bit distracted, Bill.

BRADLEY: A bit.

KAGAN: With some other things right now. OK, so it says, you said that you predicted this in your column that Arnold indeed was going to run. How did you know?

BRADLEY: Well, that's overstating it a bit. I didn't say he was going to run. I did say that he really wanted to run and was trying very hard to find a way to do it. I want to be clear, I'm not exactly clairvoyant and he did not disclose that he was actually going to run, although the signs were certainly there.

KAGAN: All right, so don't call Bill for stock tips or anything else that might involve the future that he can see so clearly.

BRADLEY: Right.

KAGAN: But let's talk money for a second, $15 million to $20 million. Arnold Schwarzenegger, can he use all his own money for that?

BRADLEY: Oh, of course. He has a great deal of money as he pointed out when he announced on "The Tonight Show." He really doesn't need to raise money from various interest groups, although I suspect that he will raise a lot of money. I gained an appreciation.

I've encountered him in the past and gained an appreciation for his political abilities last year when I got bored with covering the governor's race after a while and followed the Schwarzenegger campaign for his schools initiative around and really around the state and the reaction he got from so many people shows that if he wants to raise $5 million, $10 million over the course of a campaign he can certainly do that with relative ease in addition to his own fortune.

KAGAN: But on the other side, this is kind of yet another bind for Gray Davis because if he goes and tries to raise that kind of money then he leaves himself exposed as being in debt to public -- to special interests.

BRADLEY: Well, that's exactly right and that's been a serious problem for the governor. To be fair, he has in his life he has found it necessary to focus so heavily on fund-raising because he's never felt himself able to be the popular choice.

He's not a charismatic man. He is intelligent and capable but he's never really excited people or bound a lot of people to him personally, so he has focused almost mono-maniacally on fund-raising and, in fact, he raised and spent $78 million getting reelected and that became a serious issue for him. A lot of people felt that he was auctioning off the governor's office.

KAGAN: But actually in this case it might come down to not the paid advertising but the free air time. Anywhere Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone over the last 24 hours a camera has shown up.

BRADLEY: That's right.

KAGAN: And I just can't see that going away.

BRADLEY: Oh, no, no. This is going to be a spectacular campaign. There's going to be tremendous interest. It's going to be very wild. I think that Schwarzenegger, by the way, is very well versed I found in both education and crime issues. He's a very thoughtful guy. We've been talking on the phone from time to time about how he has his insight.

KAGAN: But what about beyond that? What about beyond that Bill? At what point does he sit down and have a serious interview with a real political reporter, perhaps like yourself?

BRADLEY: Well, I don't know. I think that they have, although his consultants really did not know that he was going to run and, in fact, were convinced that he was not going to run and were asking me when I arrived at the Burbank Studio if I thought he was going to run.

So, really they were not prepared for his announcement but they do have a plan in place and I'm sure, knowing these people, having actually opposed them in the past as a senior adviser to the Democratic Party because they're the old Governor Pete Wilson team, but there is a plan that will be rolled out in various -- in a phased way in which he will be explaining his positions on these issues.

So, I think that -- I think he does have a lot of this thought out but recognizes that this initial burst of attention and enthusiasm is not the time to turn into a policy walk.

KAGAN: And then, finally, tomorrow is the deadline. You've kind of taken yourself out of the running, even though you do have those papers. Any more surprises do you think?

BRADLEY: Well, you know, we're waiting to see if Senator Feinstein really is out. I suspect that she is. We may see another Democrat get in because the governor's strategy of de-legitimizing the recall by having it only be right wing candidates and no Democrats has now been shattered.

So, another Democrat might get in. I'm not entirely sure that both Democrats who are currently in will stay in, although I suspect they will. But we probably have the general shape of the race in front of us unless Dianne Feinstein makes a last minute decision and if she does not, I think that Schwarzenegger is in a strong position going into this campaign.

KAGAN: And it sounds like one thing is for sure. You have two months ahead of you that political reporters dream of.

BRADLEY: Oh, it's going to be great.

KAGAN: All right, well you enjoy and we'll have to have you back.

BRADLEY: Thanks.

KAGAN: Bill Bradley, "The L.A. Weekly" thanks for insights this evening, appreciate it.

We also want our viewers to know be sure to tune into CNN tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern for a special on the California recall election. Kelly Wallace is heading that up from Los Angeles. That's "THE ROAD TO RECALL: THE BATTLE FOR CALIFORNIA" tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

We have a lot more to get to here though tonight on NEWSNIGHT. We're going to check some of the day's other top stories, including new information about the last minutes aboard Flight 93. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: There are new details coming out on exactly what happened aboard United Flight 93.

And that, in fact, sparked some discussion among our NEWSNIGHT staff this afternoon. We were asking ourselves, do specific details matter when it comes to calling someone a hero? Well, some things are not disputed. Hijackers did take control of Flight 93. Passengers did decide to take it back. The plane crashed, killing those on board, but sparing the intended Washington target. No one questions the bravery of the passengers. No one knows exactly what happened in those final seconds. But at least here at NEWSNIGHT, we decided those passengers are still heroes.

Here now, David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the midst of the 9/11 attacks, United Flight 93 crashed mysteriously at the edge of an open feel near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

But now, according to FBI Director Robert Mueller, the cockpit voice recorder reveals clues that the plane could have been crashed deliberately by the hijackers. According to a report released by Congress last month, Mueller told the congressional 9/11 committee that one hijacker, minutes before the plane hit the ground, advised another hijacker, Ziad Jarrah, believed to be at the controls at the time, to crash the plane and end the passengers' attempt to retake the airplane.

Heart-wrenching phone calls from on board told of a passenger revolt in the works. Crashing just minutes from Washington, it's believed their courage prevented the plane from reaching its target.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There was some dispute as to whether it was the White House or the U.S. Capitol. And I don't think we'll ever know.

MATTINGLY: Seven months after the attack, the FBI allowed Flight 93 families to listen to the cockpit voice recordings and the disturbing sounds of what appeared to be a life-and-death struggle.

ALICE HOGLAND, MOTHER OF VICTIM: The cockpit voice recording does, indeed, confirm that our loved ones died heroes.

MATTINGLY: But there continues to be no clear indication that the passengers themselves were able to reach the controls. And this new information that the plane could have been brought down deliberately by hijackers remains just a theory, one of several, of how of Flight 93 crashed.

David Mattingly, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN: And now let's go ahead and take a look at some of the other stories making news around the country, first to Alabama. The on-again/off-again destruction of chemical weapons is now set to start tomorrow. A federal judge refused to stop the government from burning more than 2,000 tons of toxins. The Army says it is perfectly safe and has also laid out evacuation plans and offered 35,000 nearby residents protective hoods and air filters.

To Waco, Texas, the head coach of Baylor's basketball team has quit. Dave Bliss took responsibility for major violations in the school's program, including, players getting paid and improper drug testing. Those problems came to light after the disappearance and death of a player and allegations that he was killed by a teammate.

And in Boston, the new archbishop has made his move. About a week after being installed, archbishop Sean O'Malley has approved the offer of a $55 million settlement in the sex abuse cases. Plaintiffs' lawyers say the church would pay for counseling after the cases are settled. The archdiocese wouldn't comment, other to say that today' mediation session went well.

Our next story: an attempt to keep the Episcopal Church intact. The archbishop of Canterbury is calling a meeting in London in October. It's a response to this week's controversial moves by America's Episcopalians. Conservative factions of the church are threatening to break away over the approval of an openly gay priest for bishop.

Jim Boulden reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has angered both wings of the Anglican Church. He did not rally behind an openly gay canon, Jeffrey John, when he was nominated for a bishop's post in the Church of England. John then withdrew his name.

Equally, Williams has not criticized the appointment of an openly gay priest, the Reverend Gene Robinson, as an American bishop. The conservative or evangelical wing in Britain is telling to archbishop to immediately cut ties with the Episcopal Church in the U.S. because of the appointment.

REV. DAVID PHILLIPS, CHURCH SOCIETY IN BRITAIN: What we would expect him to say, hopefully sooner rather than later, is that they are no longer part of the Anglican communion.

BOULDEN: The Church Society in Britain says the controversy will ultimately force the church leadership to take a stand against gay bishops and that will help bring in more members.

PHILLIPS: If the church becomes clearer about what it believes and so that we have a clear authority that this is the teaching of the Bible and that it's not being compromised by people. If somebody stands up on a pulpit and says, this is what the Bible teaches, and then somebody says, well, I read in the newspaper that the archbishop doesn't believe that, our message is compromised. So what do people believe?

BOULDEN: To try and avoid a formal split, Archbishop Williams has called for the 38 presiding bishops and archbishops from around the world to meet in London in mid-October.

But in the eyes of those who support gay bishops, Williams has already damaged the church by not endorsing Jeffrey John as a bishop in England.

REV. RICHARD KIRKER, LESBIAN AND GAY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT: If people won the day on that occasion by having convinced Rowan Williams that they would cause mayhem, that they would leave in great numbers, then I am afraid that the Anglican communion is going to live through perilous times and Rowan Williams will have to, sooner or later, stand up to people who threaten and bully.

BOULDEN: But Williams has to keep an eye on the fastest growing segment of the Anglican Church, in Africa and in Asia. And many bishops there have already condemned the appointment of Robinson in the U.S.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And still to come on NEWSNIGHT: back to Havana, as a key opponent of Castro goes home to fight for democracy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and take a look now at news from around the world. To Liberia: The U.S. ambassador and the commander of the peacekeepers will meet with rebels tomorrow. They'll ask the rebels to open the ports and let food reach the starving residents of the capital.

In the Middle East, violence on the West Bank ended with the death of three Palestinians and an Israeli soldier, but the five-week- old truce between the two sides is still said to be holding.

KAGAN: In Japan, three people are dead, three more missing, as a typhoon ripped through the country with winds as fast as 136 miles per hour.

Now word from the Bush administration about its plans for Cuba. Sanctions won't get tighter. Instead, the White House intends to increase its support for Cuban dissidents. Three government officials were sent to Miami this week to brainstorm with Cuban-Americans about ways to foster democracy in Cuba. And, in Havana, one dissident says he is really to lead an opposition party, if one is ever formed.

Lucia Newman has the story of the man and of his surprising announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the flight to Miami was announced over the loudspeakers, it was assumed Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo would be boarding with his wife and three sons. Not so. The prominent Cuban exile leader, who had been granted permission to come to Cuba for a short family vacation, had made a stunning decision.

ELOY GUTIERREZ-MENOYO, CUBAN EXILE LEADER (through translator): Today, I'm announcing my decision to remain in Cuban territory. I'm coming to claim a legal space for the opposition, which I know will not be easy.

NEWMAN: Gutierrez-Menoyo insists its his right to reside in his own country, even though he was sent into exile in 1986 after spending 22 years in prison for trying to overthrow president Fidel Castro in the mid-'60s.

Ironically, he had actually fought as a guerrilla commander to bring about the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, a revolution, he says, Castro betrayed.

"In 1959, we proclaimed a revolution that said no to imperialistic exploitation and no to communist terror. It obviously backfired. It's time to recover the original principles of that revolution, social justice and democracy," he says.

The highly controversial Cuban dissident is ambitious, to say the least. He's distrusted by the Cuban government and opposed by much of the Cuban exile leadership in Florida for his opposition to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

GUTIERREZ-MENOYO (through translator): Naive, I don't think so. To give up one's dreams is naive. We need peaceful solutions. We need reconciliation. And it must be understood that the fate of our country is more important than the personal ambition or interests of certain people.

NEWMAN (on camera): Gutierrez-Menoyo plans to live here in this neighborhood where he grew up, while he builds what he calls an independent opposition movement free of U.S. government influence. It's not clear whether that argument will enough to convince Cuban authorities not to deport him or send him to prison yet again.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we will ask you for a moment to forget the very useful information we usually bring you. It is time for some really useless information. It's all contained in a new book. We have the author of "Schott's Original Miscellany."

It's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Well, there are things you know, there are things you don't know, and the things you can't figure out why anyone in the world would still want to know. It's the last category that we are going to focus on tonight. We are talking trivia -- actually, not talking exactly trivia here. We are talking miscellany. Of course, we're not exactly sure what the difference is.

And that's why have Ben Schott's with us. He is the author of "Schott's Original Miscellany," a collection of fact and figures. It defies description by us, so we brought the man himself.

Good evening. Thank you for being with us.

BEN SCHOTT, AUTHOR, "SCHOTT'S ORIGINAL MISCELLANY": Good evening. Thank you for having me.

KAGAN: The difference between trivia and miscellany?

SCHOTT: It's a good question.

KAGAN: Thank you.

SCHOTT: And I am not entirely sure I have the answer.

KAGAN: The answer is not in this book?

SCHOTT: Well, it's sort of -- trivia tends to be a male thing and it tends to be kind of a competitive thing. And it's: I know this. You don't know that.

KAGAN: Well, that's true.

SCHOTT: And miscellany is, no one knows this. It's got everything. It's all the stuff you can't quite to get, how to tie a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), all the different cloud types, all the verses of "The Star-Spangled Banner," that kind of thing, the things that, actually, you sort of think you should know, but you wouldn't know where to look up.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: And isn't there stuff in here that I didn't even know that I should know?

SCHOTT: Oh, no. You should know

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: I should know this.

SCHOTT: Oh, yes.

I don't know it, so don't worry about it.

KAGAN: What is so interesting about is the random nature in which you have stuffed this all in here. SCHOTT: Absolutely.

Well, I just got tired of the textbooks, where it was all organized chronologically, alphabetically.

KAGAN: Organization, how silly.

SCHOTT: Exactly. Haphazard is the new organization, I'm sure.

KAGAN: When you are looking for information. Well, I was just looking on page 48, if you can turn to 48, please, in your book, students.

SCHOTT: Forty-eight in my handbook, yes.

KAGAN: Just the random nature, as I was mentioning. You go from planet and satellite features to birthstones to different types of sushi, Olympic swimming pool specifications. You never know when you might to need to build one in your backyard.

SCHOTT: Well, absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: And it's right here. And then you go on to U.N. secretaries-general, in case you were wondering about that.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. Yes, it's that kind of book. It's a terrifying insight into my mind, basically.

KAGAN: That's what I was thinking. I am thinking, this man, even before I meet you, you must have a lot of time on your hands.

SCHOTT: I do. Well, I did. Now I just have these books to write.

No, but it's really -- it's a sort of fascination, because there's so much wonderful information out there. And it's difficult to know where to look. So I basically go to the library for you, distill it, and make it a much more palatable and enjoyable experience.

KAGAN: How did you pick your topics?

SCHOTT: It was quite a strict regimen. Anything that basically made me laugh in a British library went in the book.

KAGAN: Well, did you get kicked out at any point?

SCHOTT: There's a lot of shushing and nudging and, "Could you please? And, yes. No, laughing in libraries is a great national sport.

KAGAN: And as people can tell, watching you, you are British.

SCHOTT: I am. (CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Make no apologies. That's fine. You're welcome here.

SCHOTT: I wasn't going to apologize.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: But there was a British version first. And then you made one for the U.S.

SCHOTT: Yes. The version on sale in America is an American version.

KAGAN: Right.

SCHOTT: And partly because there's so much great Americana I wanted to put in. So there's things like cattle-branding specifications.

KAGAN: British don't care about cattle-branding.

SCHOTT: British don't know about cattle-branding.

KAGAN: They don't know from cattle-branding.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Where do they think that that steak comes from?

SCHOTT: Well, yes, that's a good question.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: And the hair color of Miss America, for example.

KAGAN: Seventy percent brunette.

SCHOTT: I know.

KAGAN: I was very pleased to learn that.

SCHOTT: Gentlemen may not prefer blondes.

KAGAN: Perhaps not, at least the judges at Miss America.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. And it's all sorts of things like that. So it keeps an English tone. It's not an American book. But it's an English, with a sort of love for America, I think.

KAGAN: Well, were there things that were in the British version that you are thinking, oh, Americans are just not going to get this?

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: There are some things that no one in England got. So it's fair

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: Exactly.

KAGAN: For instance, what came out?

SCHOTT: Well specifications of English coins, including the exact alloy used on like a five-pence piece. And I thought, no one in England cares. No one in America is even going to know what I am talking about.

KAGAN: Yes.

SCHOTT: So it was really, partly, there were certain things I didn't think you would enjoy. But, also, there are certain things I really wanted to put in, like executive clemency and how to impeach the president and that kind of thing.

KAGAN: Well, people have kind of had a lesson in that over the last couple years.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. Absolutely.

KAGAN: Perhaps other books.

Was there was anything when you were going through it that you thought, this is actually too significant to go into this book?

SCHOTT: There was. There was one or two things I thought were...

KAGAN: Too important.

SCHOTT: Too important. Too important. And one or two things that I thought were a little bit serious, which -- but on the whole -- because the book is quite lighthearted. But it does with some serious things. And I have got Churchill, Churchill, speeches and the different tropes that he used, different sort of vocal tricks he used and things. So it's not completely lighthearted, but it's also not completely serious.

KAGAN: And from the sounds of things, you are just getting started.

SCHOTT: It's -- yes. The next one is food and drink. I'm working on

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: ... sport.

KAGAN: Food and drink.

SCHOTT: There's a "Food and Drink Miscellany" coming out in England and then spring I think in America, which is everything from how to sharpen a carving knife to poisonous mushroom to grace before meals to how to fold napkins, all the important things.

KAGAN: Lovely. You will have to come over and do a full tour of U.S. cuisine, a little bit different than what you get over in the U.K.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. Absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Very good. Good luck with the book.

SCHOTT: Thank you very much, indeed.

KAGAN: It's doing well, "Schott's Original Miscellany."

SCHOTT: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Very good. Appreciate it. And I have some more reading to do and some more learning to do, in case that swimming pool, still need one in the backyard.

SCHOTT: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Thank you so much, Ben Schott.

SCHOTT: It's a pleasure.

Well, still ahead on NEWSNIGHT, segment seven takes on the burning issue of finding comfortable shoes -- a story for your feet just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: If you had a chance see "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, they reported that those popular pointed-toed shoes have created an epidemic of sore feet. Well, we figured that made today the perfect time to tell you about an orthopedic surgeon one of our intrepid and underpaid interns recently found. This doctor decided that shoes should -- get this -- be comfortable and fashionable at the same time. Now, that, ladies, is some news.

And where others show you the problem, we at NEWSNIGHT strive to bring you the solution, in this case, a doctor/shoemaker who is "On the Rise."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. TARYN ROSE, SHOE DESIGNER: Are shaped like a woman's foot.

I am Dr. Taryn Rose. I'm an orthopedic surgeon who turned into a shoe designer.

I make shoes for all different aspects of a woman's life. The philosophy behind the company is, I want to be well-dressed with a sense of well-being. And a lot of what that includes is comfort while looking great. A lot of people think comfort's not sexy. But I feel that, when you're able to be yourself, that's when you are at your sexiest.

That's where all of the finishing occurs. All of our manufacturing and design is done in Italy.

That's cute.

I go there three to four times a year to supervise the design part.

Two straps. I can wear this when I tango.

As a young woman who was a resident in orthopedic surgeon, I wanted to look fashionable, but I also had to work on my feet 12 to 14 hours a day. So it was really important for me to look good and feel good at the same time. And when I started shopping for shoes, it was really difficult to find both together. So I decided that I would research the industry. And I ended up starting the business in 1998.

The shoes are technically very difficult to put together, because there's a full arch support in the footwear. There is a lining called Poron, which is a cushioning material that doesn't collapse over time. So all of those factors add to the cost of the shoes. But the consumers are getting more for their money.

This is my New York walking shoe. We have three flagship stores in the U.S.: New York, Beverly Hills, and San Jose, California.

What I found in meeting the customers in our own retail stores and in our accounts, as they try on the shoes, so often, there is that moment where they go, "Oh, my God" or, "Wow." And I call it that the Taryn Rose moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wow. These are wonderful. Oh, those are fabulous.

ROSE: The shoes range from $280 on up to $500 to $800 for a boot.

This is our headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. I'm more familiar with the Beverly Hills flow. When I first started the company, I worked out of my house. And we started with $70,000 of initial sales. And five years later, we're up to $16 million, hopefully $18 million this year.

There's certainly some very difficult moments in an entrepreneur's life. You start to question what you've done. But as you get over each hurdle, you get stronger from it. As we say in surgery, that which doesn't kill you will make you stronger. And it's really true, being an entrepreneur.

In the end, I feared regret more than I feared failure. So I keep moving forward.

NANCY SINATRA, SINGER (singing): These boots are made for walking. And that's just what they'll do. One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that's going to be our cue to kick off our shoes for the week. Aaron Brown will be right back here in this seat on Monday night.

I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you Monday morning on "AMERICAN MORNING."

You have a great weekend.

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





Schwarzenegger Hits Morning Talk Shows; 3rd ID Returns Home>


Aired August 8, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of news stories today. We begin with President Bush. He today said that U.S. forces were slowly but surely wiping out the elements attacking American troops in Iraq and there is word that investigators are close to uncovering who is responsible for this week's bombing of the Jordanian Embassy.
Back here in the states, in Georgia, some of the soldiers of Iraqi Freedom have returned to their loved one finally.

And, in California, no big surprises just a day of campaigning and some hints of Governor Schwarzenegger might be like.

These are some of the stories that we have been talking about and working on today and that we will be covering tonight here on NEWSNIGHT.

So, the whip begins with the bombing and a suspect whose name is already a familiar one. Our Mike Boettcher is working that story, Mike you start with the headlines please.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, an investigation into the bombing in Iraq points to a person that indicates that al Qaeda may not be entering the battlefield in that country against U.S. forces and its allies.

KAGAN: All right, we'll be with you in just a moment.

Day one and a different kind of spotlight for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kelly Wallace is there in Los Angeles with the headline -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, now come the questions for the first time candidate. What is his plan for California? Where does he stand on the issues? Observers say Arnold Schwarzenegger will have to get a lot more specific or else his opponent will fill in the blanks for him -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Kelly, thank you, to you in a moment.

Meanwhile, speaking of his opponent, Governor Gray Davis says he can win but how can he possibly do that? Our Bob Franken is looking into that and, Bob, you take the headlines from here.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, as he is flooded with opponents, Governor Gray Davis is struggling to keep his head above the recall water. We'll torture that more in a moment.

KAGAN: Very good. We'll be back with all of you in just a minute.

But a lot more to get to tonight, including new tensions within the Anglican Church that after the American branch of it elevated a gay man to the position of bishop.

Also tonight, new details emerging on the final moments of United Flight 93, they are sparking debate and stirring emotions among the families who lost loved ones on that day.

And especially fitting for the end of a hard week, we are going to have our "On the Rise" segment and the promise of a future. Ladies, much more comfortable shoes are on the way for you. That's all to come.

But first, we begin with the bombing in Baghdad. There are new indications tonight that the car bomb that went off at the Jordanian Embassy yesterday was something quite different from the ambushes and the shooting that American forces have come to know.

The FBI has dispatched a team to Iraq to investigate possible international terrorist connections and, today, CNN uncovered one of the names they might be looking at.

Once again here's our Mike Boettcher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOETTCHER (voice-over): CNN has learned investigators are eying one key suspect, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist U.S. officials say is affiliated with al Qaeda. Zarqawi has a motive for attacking Jordan.

A Jordanian court sentenced him to death in absentia for planning numerous terrorist attacks in the kingdom and Jordan is a key ally in the war against terrorism. It also provided significant help to the U.S. in the Iraq War.

Just last week, Osama bin Laden's top aide, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued an audio tape calling for attacks against the U.S. and its allies like Jordan.

VOICE OF AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): With God's help all those who helped American capture a prisoner or hand him to it or any of its agents will also pay the price.

BOETTCHER: Jordanian authorities are certain Zarqawi was the mastermind behind the assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan last October. Jordanian investigators believe Zarqawi ran the operation from Iraq where he fled after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

Zarqawi also had a close association with the former inhabitants of this alleged terrorist camp in northern Iraq. The Ansar al Islam camp is now under U.S. control. The group's members, who U.S. officials contend like Zarqawi are affiliated with al Qaeda, dispersed after the U.S. invasion.

Even before the Jordan Embassy bombing, the U.S. Civilian Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer raised a specter of that threat.

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: There is clear evidence of an al Qaeda-related terrorist group, the Ansar al Islam, reconstituting its capabilities inside of Iraq.

BOETTCHER: But getting to Zarqawi will be difficult. Coalition intelligence analysts believe he has been given refuge in Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOETTCHER: Now, if suspect number one, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, is determined to be the mastermind of the bombing then it creates a problem for U.S. forces in the region. It changes the whole complexion in Iraq because it includes al Qaeda and affiliated units with al Qaeda in the threat matrix facing the U.S. and its allies in that region -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Mike, I know you touched on this a bit in your piece but if you could explain a little bit more why Jordan as the target there? Certainly, if you were to make a list of countries that have been helpful to the U.S., Jordan wouldn't be at the top of the list.

BOETTCHER: Well, I would disagree, Daryn. I would say Jordan is at the top of the list of countries that have been helpful to the U.S. in the war on terrorism. Jordan has provided an immense amount of intelligence about al Qaeda. Jordan has arrested many suspects from al Qaeda and Jordan has basically saved, as a friend told me in U.S. intelligence, saved the rear of the U.S.

KAGAN: Hum.

BOETTCHER: And they are dead serious about that. So, Jordan is really, really hated by al Qaeda because of that and that makes them number one on that sort of a list and, certainly, Abu Masab al- Zarqawi, who is under sentence of death from Jordan, is a top, top al Qaeda operative associated with it.

He swore a bayat to bin Laden. Even though he has his own agenda, he is really, really close to al Qaeda and it's a very, very dangerous situation for that country being so proactive with the United States in the war against terrorism.

KAGAN: Mike Boettcher at our CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Mike thank you for that.

We have two more items on the subject both from federal court. The first concerns a so-called 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui. The judge in his case today said that Moussaoui and the shoe bomber Richard Reid have been trying to communicate with one another once again. Last month the government revealed the existence of a letter from Mr. Reid to Mr. Moussaoui and what it or other messages dealt with wasn't revealed at the time. The matter came up because Moussaoui objects to the FBI reading his mail.

Well, in New York meanwhile the government charged a Pakistani man with supporting al Qaeda this after holding him for the last four months, that story now from Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Uzair Paracha, college graduate, legal immigrant from Pakistan who came to New York in February, his lawyers say he's a businessman who set up in Manhattan's garment district selling real estate to fellow Pakistanis returning back home.

ANTHONY RICCO, PARACHA'S ATTORNEY: He's a young person who has never been in trouble in his life. He's never belonged to a religious organization or even a political organization when he's been a student. I mean after all he's 23. He has an MBA. He's a very bright but I say very naive young man.

HINOJOSA: The U.S. government says Paracha is anything but naive. He was in federal court Friday charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda. Prosecutors say he helped an al Qaeda operative based in Pakistan obtain travel documents to return to the United States. For what purpose prosecutors didn't say.

Paracha allegedly possessed the operative's driver's license, bank card, and a key to his post office box in Maryland and allegedly pretended to be the operative in phone calls to immigration authorities in order to help him get into this country.

In Pakistan, Paracha's father worked in the southern city of Karachi, shipping clothing made in Pakistan to wholesalers for U.S. companies such as K-Mart. Last month, Pakistani police detained Paracha's father but where he's being held and what, if anything, he's been charged with remains unknown. Paracha's mother, interviewed by CNN in Karachi, said the arrests of her husband and her son were unfair.

FARCHAT PARACHA, DEFENDANT'S MOTHER: My husband is not involved with any terrorist organization. I can tell you that and I'm 100 percent sure of it, neither is my son.

HINOJOSA: The U.S. government, though, says Paracha not only knew he was working for an al Qaeda operative but also expected al Qaeda to invest $200,000 in his business ventures in return for his efforts.

PARACHA: I don't know why this is happening. I think it's the paranoia. I think it's just America is scared so they're just suspecting everybody. HINOJOSA (on camera): Uzair Paracha is expected back in court on Tuesday for a bail hearing. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we take the program back to Iraq now. That is where a half dozen troops were wounded today. It happened during sweeps to the north and the west of Baghdad, members of the Army's 4th ID continuing their search for weapons and continuing to find trouble.

Three soldiers lost their lives as well, two of them apparently by accident, the other due to causes yet unknown and that brings to 171 the number of troops killed in the 100 days since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities. Fifty-six have died as a result of enemy fire.

Today, Mr. Bush marked the 100 days at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He pointed to the progress made, the work yet to be done, and the price already paid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We suffer when we lose life. I mean our country is a country that grieves with those who sacrifice and our heartfelt sympathies and appreciation go to the loved ones of any soldier who is willing to defend the security of the United States and that's what they're doing in Iraq. It's very important for people to understand that this is a part of the war on terror that we're dealing with terrorists today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: There were casualties on the Iraqi side as well today, also bitter controversy. It happened in Saddam Hussein's hometown. We have that story now from CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This wasn't the end of another gunfight; in fact, the U.S. Army says unapologetically there was no fight at all. This man and another were shot dead in Tikrit without warning by Army snipers as they opened up a trunk with weapons for sale.

LT. COL. STEVE RUSSELL, U.S. ARMY: We engaged them and we killed them. They know that these markets are illegal. It has been all over town. They understand that. They know the rules. They disobeyed them. They paid with their lives.

ARRAF: The 4th Infantry soldiers were acting on intelligence from Iraqis. In what is still considered a combat zone the U.S. military makes the rules. RUSSELL: These were enemy combatants. We know so because the main man that we deal with, the supplier, this is a friend of Saddam card. This is -- he's tied to the regime. He definitely is associated at high level with the former regime. That's why he has the special card.

ARRAF: Although few would carry it, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were issued that card, including high school teachers. Near the market where he was shot, the family of the cardholder Rabah Ibrahim Jasim (ph) said he didn't deserve to die his three children, too young to understand they were now fatherless.

"What have we done? Are we not humans just like them" says his mother-in-law? "Don't we want to live? They've orphaned these kids. What have they done to them?"

(on camera): For American soldiers every city in Iraq has its own atmosphere but Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown is a particular challenge. Here the idea and the influence of Saddam seem alive and well.

(voice-over): "Saddam Hussein is everywhere" said this man. "Just because this country is occupied doesn't mean he's not around."

There are likely people in Tikrit who approve of the Americans but even if they were talking they'd be drowned out by the slogan still chanted here the Tikritis pledging their blood and souls for Saddam.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Tikrit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Now, we come back home now for members of the Army's 3rd ID who returned to their families today. This was a promise long in coming, late in keeping, but today for a few lucky soldiers the road that led first to Kuwait and then to Baghdad finally led them back home. There's a lot of catching up for them to do with their families, that story now from CNN's Brian Cabell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're coming home by the hundreds, by the thousands now, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division. They've seen the fiercest combat of the war but now Captain Andy Hilmes sees this, his baby daughter Jocelyn (ph) with his wife Nicki (ph). He can resume a normal life now at Fort Stewart. This is headquarters for his company known as the Wild Bunch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're sufficiently sick of each other right now.

CABELL: Yes, maybe after 11 rugged months together the soldiers have had enough of each other but still they gather with their wives, with the children, how they've grown in 11 months, and with a beer or two but one man is missing, Staff Sergeant Stefan Booker (ph) killed in a raid April 5th, a good tough soldier.

APT. ANDREW HILMES, 3RD INFANTRY DIVISION: If you asked a lot of the young soldiers in the company what kind of guy he was they'll tell you they respected him. I bet you a lot of them would say they didn't like him but after we saw combat for the first time in March, a lot of them knew why he was so tough on them.

CABELL: But enough of this time together, the men and the women want to go home at last. This is home for Andy Hilmes and a soldier returning from war draws a crowd and a series of embraces, old friends, neighbors, admirers.

Even his dog Maggie welcomes him back and there she is again, daughter Jocelyn, slowly getting used to this big, blonde man who's been gone for so long. His wife, Nicki who had worried that he might have changed feels better now.

NICOLE HILMES, WIFE OF RETURNING SOLDIER: We haven't had enough time really I don't think but he seems fine. He's normal. It's just like, you know, when you see each other nothing's changed, no time has passed.

CABELL: But, of course, a year has passed. Andy Hilmes for now feels almost like a stranger in his home.

HILMES: I'll have to get used to the fact that my wife is used to me being gone. She's a single parent. She runs the house by herself. She's paying the bills by herself and she's doing all that stuff without me right now and now I've got to get used to that. I've got to ease my way back in. I've got to -- I've kind of got to find my role in this house again.

CABELL: He's taking it a step at a time.

Brian Cabell CNN, Fort Stewart, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, no step at a time in California. They are jumping right in. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, recall madness as candidate Schwarzenegger works the air waves and Governor Davis looks for a strategy to defeat the recall.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, let's go ahead and talk about that crazy world that is California politics. Another big name Republican got into the California recall race today. He is Peter Uberoff. You might remember the former baseball commissioner and the man who brought the Olympics to Los Angeles back in 1984.

Although a registered Republican, Mr. Uberoff promised to campaign as an independent and if he's elected he says he will serve out Governor Gray Davis' term and he will not run for another one.

Meanwhile, the real name brand Republican today began facing questions just a little bit tougher than will there be "Terminator 4," that story now from Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It is early in the morning. It's like not even five o'clock in the morning.

WALLACE (voice-over): A predawn blitz by the nation's newest political superstar taking his populous message to the morning television shows.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I know I can clean house up there.

WALLACE: But when pressed for specifics the first time candidate is evasive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about gay marriage?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I don't want to get into that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arnold, how are you going to turn it around?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I think the first and most important thing is, is to know that it takes leadership.

WALLACE: Political analysts say Arnold Schwarzenegger won't be able to dodge indefinitely.

RAPHAEL SONENSHEIN, CAL STATE FULLERTON POLITICAL ANALYST: His opponents are very shrewd and effective and they're going to try to make him put some flesh on these positions and if he doesn't they will.

WALLACE: His only political experience so far...

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes, this is a victory for the entire state of California.

WALLACE: Leading a successful ballot initiative last year increasing funding for the state's after school program. While he's a household name, his political views are still a bit of a mystery. He describes himself this way.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I have always that I am fiscally conservative, very conservative.

WALLACE: And moderate on social issues he says. He supports abortion rights, gay rights, and some gun control, positions that put him out of step with conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who said Thursday: "Schwarzenegger's own words prove he's not a conservative."

That could be one problem for the Hollywood superstar turned politician, another what he ultimately says he will do to deal with the state's $38 billion budget deficit, raise taxes or cut spending.

(on camera): Still time may be on Schwarzenegger's side. There is not a lot of time to dissect the candidate's views as this election is just two months away.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, until Arnold Schwarzenegger got into the race, Gray Davis' strategy was twofold. One was run against the recall and the other was run against Darrell Issa, but Darrell is out, Arnold is in, not to mention John and Cruz, so where does that leave the governor and the party that he nominally leads?

Here now CNN's Bob Franken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Perhaps Gray Davis could be considered a unifying figure. The polls show that the vast majority of Californians, more than three-quarters of those asked, were united in their disdain for him. So, what is the ostracized governor to do in his campaign? His advisers say this one apparently will argue that a recall is even worse.

PETER RAGONE, ANTI-RECALL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: We need to help people in this state find solutions. This recall is a circus not a solution.

FRANKEN: Gray Davis is essentially running a "they're worse than I am" campaign. Arnold Schwarzenegger has huge name recognition but the name hasn't been put through the grinder of a Gray Davis rough- and-tumble political campaign.

Bill Simon, the Republican Davis just beat last election, is well aware of the rough-and-tumble style. In fact, he'll be back on the list of replacement prospects in what he would view as a grudge match.

ART TORRES, CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: The real threat here is the conservative far right wing. I mean they are very well organized.

FRANKEN: The Democrats are not as organized. Two of the party's better known figures say they've decided to run as Davis replacements in spite of some leaders' protests that they're playing into their enemies' hands.

ART PULASKI, CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION: We know this is about not just one man but this is about undoing and recalling overtime pay, for example. It's about recalling coastal protections. It's about recalling a woman's right to choose.

FRANKEN: Meanwhile, the Davis supporters and their lawyers are fanning out to every court they can find arguing, so far unsuccessfully, that the process in California is unfair.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: The Gray Davis strategy is still unfolding, evolving as this bizarre recall election campaign changes. Most analysts believe that the Davis strategy may be summed up in one word as he tries, quoting them, "whatever works" -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, how about the strategy involving money? I hear both Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about spending $15 million to $20 million on this campaign.

FRANKEN: Well, money usually works. It's going to be interesting to see if one person's $15 million negates another person's $15 million and meanwhile an awful lot of very happy political consultants will be increasing their bank accounts.

KAGAN: The political cash flowing in California over the next two months. Bob Franken, thank you for that.

Bill Bradley joins us now, not the former Senator, the political writer for the "L.A. Weekly" a great job even when Austrian strongmen aren't trying to terminate the sitting governor.

Reports are that he was the only one to correctly predict Arnold's decision to run. And, with the deadline for filing papers coming up tomorrow, we hear also potentially a candidate. Either way, we are pleased to have him with us here tonight. Bill Bradley thanks for being with us.

WILLIAM BRADLEY, "L.A. WEEKLY": Hi, Daryn, thank you.

KAGAN: You really picked up the papers?

BRADLEY: Oh, oh yes. I did that as a journalistic sidebar job but actually some reporters took it a little seriously until I explained that, you know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to say oh I took out papers.

KAGAN: Oh, OK, got it.

BRADLEY: Yes, I took...

KAGAN: Because you have the opportunity to announce here on the program. I tried to get Dianne Feinstein to do it last night but she wasn't taking it either.

BRADLEY: No, I actually wanted to get a rise out of the governor who I've know for about 20 years. It's a private joke.

KAGAN: He might be a little bit distracted, Bill.

BRADLEY: A bit.

KAGAN: With some other things right now. OK, so it says, you said that you predicted this in your column that Arnold indeed was going to run. How did you know?

BRADLEY: Well, that's overstating it a bit. I didn't say he was going to run. I did say that he really wanted to run and was trying very hard to find a way to do it. I want to be clear, I'm not exactly clairvoyant and he did not disclose that he was actually going to run, although the signs were certainly there.

KAGAN: All right, so don't call Bill for stock tips or anything else that might involve the future that he can see so clearly.

BRADLEY: Right.

KAGAN: But let's talk money for a second, $15 million to $20 million. Arnold Schwarzenegger, can he use all his own money for that?

BRADLEY: Oh, of course. He has a great deal of money as he pointed out when he announced on "The Tonight Show." He really doesn't need to raise money from various interest groups, although I suspect that he will raise a lot of money. I gained an appreciation.

I've encountered him in the past and gained an appreciation for his political abilities last year when I got bored with covering the governor's race after a while and followed the Schwarzenegger campaign for his schools initiative around and really around the state and the reaction he got from so many people shows that if he wants to raise $5 million, $10 million over the course of a campaign he can certainly do that with relative ease in addition to his own fortune.

KAGAN: But on the other side, this is kind of yet another bind for Gray Davis because if he goes and tries to raise that kind of money then he leaves himself exposed as being in debt to public -- to special interests.

BRADLEY: Well, that's exactly right and that's been a serious problem for the governor. To be fair, he has in his life he has found it necessary to focus so heavily on fund-raising because he's never felt himself able to be the popular choice.

He's not a charismatic man. He is intelligent and capable but he's never really excited people or bound a lot of people to him personally, so he has focused almost mono-maniacally on fund-raising and, in fact, he raised and spent $78 million getting reelected and that became a serious issue for him. A lot of people felt that he was auctioning off the governor's office.

KAGAN: But actually in this case it might come down to not the paid advertising but the free air time. Anywhere Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone over the last 24 hours a camera has shown up.

BRADLEY: That's right.

KAGAN: And I just can't see that going away.

BRADLEY: Oh, no, no. This is going to be a spectacular campaign. There's going to be tremendous interest. It's going to be very wild. I think that Schwarzenegger, by the way, is very well versed I found in both education and crime issues. He's a very thoughtful guy. We've been talking on the phone from time to time about how he has his insight.

KAGAN: But what about beyond that? What about beyond that Bill? At what point does he sit down and have a serious interview with a real political reporter, perhaps like yourself?

BRADLEY: Well, I don't know. I think that they have, although his consultants really did not know that he was going to run and, in fact, were convinced that he was not going to run and were asking me when I arrived at the Burbank Studio if I thought he was going to run.

So, really they were not prepared for his announcement but they do have a plan in place and I'm sure, knowing these people, having actually opposed them in the past as a senior adviser to the Democratic Party because they're the old Governor Pete Wilson team, but there is a plan that will be rolled out in various -- in a phased way in which he will be explaining his positions on these issues.

So, I think that -- I think he does have a lot of this thought out but recognizes that this initial burst of attention and enthusiasm is not the time to turn into a policy walk.

KAGAN: And then, finally, tomorrow is the deadline. You've kind of taken yourself out of the running, even though you do have those papers. Any more surprises do you think?

BRADLEY: Well, you know, we're waiting to see if Senator Feinstein really is out. I suspect that she is. We may see another Democrat get in because the governor's strategy of de-legitimizing the recall by having it only be right wing candidates and no Democrats has now been shattered.

So, another Democrat might get in. I'm not entirely sure that both Democrats who are currently in will stay in, although I suspect they will. But we probably have the general shape of the race in front of us unless Dianne Feinstein makes a last minute decision and if she does not, I think that Schwarzenegger is in a strong position going into this campaign.

KAGAN: And it sounds like one thing is for sure. You have two months ahead of you that political reporters dream of.

BRADLEY: Oh, it's going to be great.

KAGAN: All right, well you enjoy and we'll have to have you back.

BRADLEY: Thanks.

KAGAN: Bill Bradley, "The L.A. Weekly" thanks for insights this evening, appreciate it.

We also want our viewers to know be sure to tune into CNN tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern for a special on the California recall election. Kelly Wallace is heading that up from Los Angeles. That's "THE ROAD TO RECALL: THE BATTLE FOR CALIFORNIA" tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

We have a lot more to get to here though tonight on NEWSNIGHT. We're going to check some of the day's other top stories, including new information about the last minutes aboard Flight 93. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: There are new details coming out on exactly what happened aboard United Flight 93.

And that, in fact, sparked some discussion among our NEWSNIGHT staff this afternoon. We were asking ourselves, do specific details matter when it comes to calling someone a hero? Well, some things are not disputed. Hijackers did take control of Flight 93. Passengers did decide to take it back. The plane crashed, killing those on board, but sparing the intended Washington target. No one questions the bravery of the passengers. No one knows exactly what happened in those final seconds. But at least here at NEWSNIGHT, we decided those passengers are still heroes.

Here now, David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the midst of the 9/11 attacks, United Flight 93 crashed mysteriously at the edge of an open feel near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

But now, according to FBI Director Robert Mueller, the cockpit voice recorder reveals clues that the plane could have been crashed deliberately by the hijackers. According to a report released by Congress last month, Mueller told the congressional 9/11 committee that one hijacker, minutes before the plane hit the ground, advised another hijacker, Ziad Jarrah, believed to be at the controls at the time, to crash the plane and end the passengers' attempt to retake the airplane.

Heart-wrenching phone calls from on board told of a passenger revolt in the works. Crashing just minutes from Washington, it's believed their courage prevented the plane from reaching its target.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There was some dispute as to whether it was the White House or the U.S. Capitol. And I don't think we'll ever know.

MATTINGLY: Seven months after the attack, the FBI allowed Flight 93 families to listen to the cockpit voice recordings and the disturbing sounds of what appeared to be a life-and-death struggle.

ALICE HOGLAND, MOTHER OF VICTIM: The cockpit voice recording does, indeed, confirm that our loved ones died heroes.

MATTINGLY: But there continues to be no clear indication that the passengers themselves were able to reach the controls. And this new information that the plane could have been brought down deliberately by hijackers remains just a theory, one of several, of how of Flight 93 crashed.

David Mattingly, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN: And now let's go ahead and take a look at some of the other stories making news around the country, first to Alabama. The on-again/off-again destruction of chemical weapons is now set to start tomorrow. A federal judge refused to stop the government from burning more than 2,000 tons of toxins. The Army says it is perfectly safe and has also laid out evacuation plans and offered 35,000 nearby residents protective hoods and air filters.

To Waco, Texas, the head coach of Baylor's basketball team has quit. Dave Bliss took responsibility for major violations in the school's program, including, players getting paid and improper drug testing. Those problems came to light after the disappearance and death of a player and allegations that he was killed by a teammate.

And in Boston, the new archbishop has made his move. About a week after being installed, archbishop Sean O'Malley has approved the offer of a $55 million settlement in the sex abuse cases. Plaintiffs' lawyers say the church would pay for counseling after the cases are settled. The archdiocese wouldn't comment, other to say that today' mediation session went well.

Our next story: an attempt to keep the Episcopal Church intact. The archbishop of Canterbury is calling a meeting in London in October. It's a response to this week's controversial moves by America's Episcopalians. Conservative factions of the church are threatening to break away over the approval of an openly gay priest for bishop.

Jim Boulden reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has angered both wings of the Anglican Church. He did not rally behind an openly gay canon, Jeffrey John, when he was nominated for a bishop's post in the Church of England. John then withdrew his name.

Equally, Williams has not criticized the appointment of an openly gay priest, the Reverend Gene Robinson, as an American bishop. The conservative or evangelical wing in Britain is telling to archbishop to immediately cut ties with the Episcopal Church in the U.S. because of the appointment.

REV. DAVID PHILLIPS, CHURCH SOCIETY IN BRITAIN: What we would expect him to say, hopefully sooner rather than later, is that they are no longer part of the Anglican communion.

BOULDEN: The Church Society in Britain says the controversy will ultimately force the church leadership to take a stand against gay bishops and that will help bring in more members.

PHILLIPS: If the church becomes clearer about what it believes and so that we have a clear authority that this is the teaching of the Bible and that it's not being compromised by people. If somebody stands up on a pulpit and says, this is what the Bible teaches, and then somebody says, well, I read in the newspaper that the archbishop doesn't believe that, our message is compromised. So what do people believe?

BOULDEN: To try and avoid a formal split, Archbishop Williams has called for the 38 presiding bishops and archbishops from around the world to meet in London in mid-October.

But in the eyes of those who support gay bishops, Williams has already damaged the church by not endorsing Jeffrey John as a bishop in England.

REV. RICHARD KIRKER, LESBIAN AND GAY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT: If people won the day on that occasion by having convinced Rowan Williams that they would cause mayhem, that they would leave in great numbers, then I am afraid that the Anglican communion is going to live through perilous times and Rowan Williams will have to, sooner or later, stand up to people who threaten and bully.

BOULDEN: But Williams has to keep an eye on the fastest growing segment of the Anglican Church, in Africa and in Asia. And many bishops there have already condemned the appointment of Robinson in the U.S.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And still to come on NEWSNIGHT: back to Havana, as a key opponent of Castro goes home to fight for democracy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and take a look now at news from around the world. To Liberia: The U.S. ambassador and the commander of the peacekeepers will meet with rebels tomorrow. They'll ask the rebels to open the ports and let food reach the starving residents of the capital.

In the Middle East, violence on the West Bank ended with the death of three Palestinians and an Israeli soldier, but the five-week- old truce between the two sides is still said to be holding.

KAGAN: In Japan, three people are dead, three more missing, as a typhoon ripped through the country with winds as fast as 136 miles per hour.

Now word from the Bush administration about its plans for Cuba. Sanctions won't get tighter. Instead, the White House intends to increase its support for Cuban dissidents. Three government officials were sent to Miami this week to brainstorm with Cuban-Americans about ways to foster democracy in Cuba. And, in Havana, one dissident says he is really to lead an opposition party, if one is ever formed.

Lucia Newman has the story of the man and of his surprising announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the flight to Miami was announced over the loudspeakers, it was assumed Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo would be boarding with his wife and three sons. Not so. The prominent Cuban exile leader, who had been granted permission to come to Cuba for a short family vacation, had made a stunning decision.

ELOY GUTIERREZ-MENOYO, CUBAN EXILE LEADER (through translator): Today, I'm announcing my decision to remain in Cuban territory. I'm coming to claim a legal space for the opposition, which I know will not be easy.

NEWMAN: Gutierrez-Menoyo insists its his right to reside in his own country, even though he was sent into exile in 1986 after spending 22 years in prison for trying to overthrow president Fidel Castro in the mid-'60s.

Ironically, he had actually fought as a guerrilla commander to bring about the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, a revolution, he says, Castro betrayed.

"In 1959, we proclaimed a revolution that said no to imperialistic exploitation and no to communist terror. It obviously backfired. It's time to recover the original principles of that revolution, social justice and democracy," he says.

The highly controversial Cuban dissident is ambitious, to say the least. He's distrusted by the Cuban government and opposed by much of the Cuban exile leadership in Florida for his opposition to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

GUTIERREZ-MENOYO (through translator): Naive, I don't think so. To give up one's dreams is naive. We need peaceful solutions. We need reconciliation. And it must be understood that the fate of our country is more important than the personal ambition or interests of certain people.

NEWMAN (on camera): Gutierrez-Menoyo plans to live here in this neighborhood where he grew up, while he builds what he calls an independent opposition movement free of U.S. government influence. It's not clear whether that argument will enough to convince Cuban authorities not to deport him or send him to prison yet again.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we will ask you for a moment to forget the very useful information we usually bring you. It is time for some really useless information. It's all contained in a new book. We have the author of "Schott's Original Miscellany."

It's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Well, there are things you know, there are things you don't know, and the things you can't figure out why anyone in the world would still want to know. It's the last category that we are going to focus on tonight. We are talking trivia -- actually, not talking exactly trivia here. We are talking miscellany. Of course, we're not exactly sure what the difference is.

And that's why have Ben Schott's with us. He is the author of "Schott's Original Miscellany," a collection of fact and figures. It defies description by us, so we brought the man himself.

Good evening. Thank you for being with us.

BEN SCHOTT, AUTHOR, "SCHOTT'S ORIGINAL MISCELLANY": Good evening. Thank you for having me.

KAGAN: The difference between trivia and miscellany?

SCHOTT: It's a good question.

KAGAN: Thank you.

SCHOTT: And I am not entirely sure I have the answer.

KAGAN: The answer is not in this book?

SCHOTT: Well, it's sort of -- trivia tends to be a male thing and it tends to be kind of a competitive thing. And it's: I know this. You don't know that.

KAGAN: Well, that's true.

SCHOTT: And miscellany is, no one knows this. It's got everything. It's all the stuff you can't quite to get, how to tie a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), all the different cloud types, all the verses of "The Star-Spangled Banner," that kind of thing, the things that, actually, you sort of think you should know, but you wouldn't know where to look up.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: And isn't there stuff in here that I didn't even know that I should know?

SCHOTT: Oh, no. You should know

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: I should know this.

SCHOTT: Oh, yes.

I don't know it, so don't worry about it.

KAGAN: What is so interesting about is the random nature in which you have stuffed this all in here. SCHOTT: Absolutely.

Well, I just got tired of the textbooks, where it was all organized chronologically, alphabetically.

KAGAN: Organization, how silly.

SCHOTT: Exactly. Haphazard is the new organization, I'm sure.

KAGAN: When you are looking for information. Well, I was just looking on page 48, if you can turn to 48, please, in your book, students.

SCHOTT: Forty-eight in my handbook, yes.

KAGAN: Just the random nature, as I was mentioning. You go from planet and satellite features to birthstones to different types of sushi, Olympic swimming pool specifications. You never know when you might to need to build one in your backyard.

SCHOTT: Well, absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: And it's right here. And then you go on to U.N. secretaries-general, in case you were wondering about that.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. Yes, it's that kind of book. It's a terrifying insight into my mind, basically.

KAGAN: That's what I was thinking. I am thinking, this man, even before I meet you, you must have a lot of time on your hands.

SCHOTT: I do. Well, I did. Now I just have these books to write.

No, but it's really -- it's a sort of fascination, because there's so much wonderful information out there. And it's difficult to know where to look. So I basically go to the library for you, distill it, and make it a much more palatable and enjoyable experience.

KAGAN: How did you pick your topics?

SCHOTT: It was quite a strict regimen. Anything that basically made me laugh in a British library went in the book.

KAGAN: Well, did you get kicked out at any point?

SCHOTT: There's a lot of shushing and nudging and, "Could you please? And, yes. No, laughing in libraries is a great national sport.

KAGAN: And as people can tell, watching you, you are British.

SCHOTT: I am. (CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Make no apologies. That's fine. You're welcome here.

SCHOTT: I wasn't going to apologize.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: But there was a British version first. And then you made one for the U.S.

SCHOTT: Yes. The version on sale in America is an American version.

KAGAN: Right.

SCHOTT: And partly because there's so much great Americana I wanted to put in. So there's things like cattle-branding specifications.

KAGAN: British don't care about cattle-branding.

SCHOTT: British don't know about cattle-branding.

KAGAN: They don't know from cattle-branding.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Where do they think that that steak comes from?

SCHOTT: Well, yes, that's a good question.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: And the hair color of Miss America, for example.

KAGAN: Seventy percent brunette.

SCHOTT: I know.

KAGAN: I was very pleased to learn that.

SCHOTT: Gentlemen may not prefer blondes.

KAGAN: Perhaps not, at least the judges at Miss America.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. And it's all sorts of things like that. So it keeps an English tone. It's not an American book. But it's an English, with a sort of love for America, I think.

KAGAN: Well, were there things that were in the British version that you are thinking, oh, Americans are just not going to get this?

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: There are some things that no one in England got. So it's fair

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: Exactly.

KAGAN: For instance, what came out?

SCHOTT: Well specifications of English coins, including the exact alloy used on like a five-pence piece. And I thought, no one in England cares. No one in America is even going to know what I am talking about.

KAGAN: Yes.

SCHOTT: So it was really, partly, there were certain things I didn't think you would enjoy. But, also, there are certain things I really wanted to put in, like executive clemency and how to impeach the president and that kind of thing.

KAGAN: Well, people have kind of had a lesson in that over the last couple years.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. Absolutely.

KAGAN: Perhaps other books.

Was there was anything when you were going through it that you thought, this is actually too significant to go into this book?

SCHOTT: There was. There was one or two things I thought were...

KAGAN: Too important.

SCHOTT: Too important. Too important. And one or two things that I thought were a little bit serious, which -- but on the whole -- because the book is quite lighthearted. But it does with some serious things. And I have got Churchill, Churchill, speeches and the different tropes that he used, different sort of vocal tricks he used and things. So it's not completely lighthearted, but it's also not completely serious.

KAGAN: And from the sounds of things, you are just getting started.

SCHOTT: It's -- yes. The next one is food and drink. I'm working on

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOTT: ... sport.

KAGAN: Food and drink.

SCHOTT: There's a "Food and Drink Miscellany" coming out in England and then spring I think in America, which is everything from how to sharpen a carving knife to poisonous mushroom to grace before meals to how to fold napkins, all the important things.

KAGAN: Lovely. You will have to come over and do a full tour of U.S. cuisine, a little bit different than what you get over in the U.K.

SCHOTT: Absolutely. Absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Very good. Good luck with the book.

SCHOTT: Thank you very much, indeed.

KAGAN: It's doing well, "Schott's Original Miscellany."

SCHOTT: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Very good. Appreciate it. And I have some more reading to do and some more learning to do, in case that swimming pool, still need one in the backyard.

SCHOTT: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Thank you so much, Ben Schott.

SCHOTT: It's a pleasure.

Well, still ahead on NEWSNIGHT, segment seven takes on the burning issue of finding comfortable shoes -- a story for your feet just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: If you had a chance see "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, they reported that those popular pointed-toed shoes have created an epidemic of sore feet. Well, we figured that made today the perfect time to tell you about an orthopedic surgeon one of our intrepid and underpaid interns recently found. This doctor decided that shoes should -- get this -- be comfortable and fashionable at the same time. Now, that, ladies, is some news.

And where others show you the problem, we at NEWSNIGHT strive to bring you the solution, in this case, a doctor/shoemaker who is "On the Rise."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. TARYN ROSE, SHOE DESIGNER: Are shaped like a woman's foot.

I am Dr. Taryn Rose. I'm an orthopedic surgeon who turned into a shoe designer.

I make shoes for all different aspects of a woman's life. The philosophy behind the company is, I want to be well-dressed with a sense of well-being. And a lot of what that includes is comfort while looking great. A lot of people think comfort's not sexy. But I feel that, when you're able to be yourself, that's when you are at your sexiest.

That's where all of the finishing occurs. All of our manufacturing and design is done in Italy.

That's cute.

I go there three to four times a year to supervise the design part.

Two straps. I can wear this when I tango.

As a young woman who was a resident in orthopedic surgeon, I wanted to look fashionable, but I also had to work on my feet 12 to 14 hours a day. So it was really important for me to look good and feel good at the same time. And when I started shopping for shoes, it was really difficult to find both together. So I decided that I would research the industry. And I ended up starting the business in 1998.

The shoes are technically very difficult to put together, because there's a full arch support in the footwear. There is a lining called Poron, which is a cushioning material that doesn't collapse over time. So all of those factors add to the cost of the shoes. But the consumers are getting more for their money.

This is my New York walking shoe. We have three flagship stores in the U.S.: New York, Beverly Hills, and San Jose, California.

What I found in meeting the customers in our own retail stores and in our accounts, as they try on the shoes, so often, there is that moment where they go, "Oh, my God" or, "Wow." And I call it that the Taryn Rose moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wow. These are wonderful. Oh, those are fabulous.

ROSE: The shoes range from $280 on up to $500 to $800 for a boot.

This is our headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. I'm more familiar with the Beverly Hills flow. When I first started the company, I worked out of my house. And we started with $70,000 of initial sales. And five years later, we're up to $16 million, hopefully $18 million this year.

There's certainly some very difficult moments in an entrepreneur's life. You start to question what you've done. But as you get over each hurdle, you get stronger from it. As we say in surgery, that which doesn't kill you will make you stronger. And it's really true, being an entrepreneur.

In the end, I feared regret more than I feared failure. So I keep moving forward.

NANCY SINATRA, SINGER (singing): These boots are made for walking. And that's just what they'll do. One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that's going to be our cue to kick off our shoes for the week. Aaron Brown will be right back here in this seat on Monday night.

I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you Monday morning on "AMERICAN MORNING."

You have a great weekend.

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





Schwarzenegger Hits Morning Talk Shows; 3rd ID Returns Home>