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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Florida Governor Signs Bill to Keep Schiavo Alive; Muhammad Cross-Examines One of Alleged Victims; Senators Call on Boykin to Step Down

Aired October 21, 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.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.
We would all prefer stories with happy endings, the successful rescue, the return of the soldier unharmed, the falsely accused set free, the triumph of justice over injustice.

We wish we saw the happy ending, any happy ending, in the sad, sad case of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman in a coma-like state for more than a decade whose husband says she would want to die rather than live this way and whose parents desperately want to keep her alive.

Her case has become a cause. Today the Florida legislature overruled the state's courts. Ms. Schiavo will be kept alive but will hardly be living. Sometimes happy endings are beyond us all. This one seems like one of those times.

It is the story that begins the whip. We start in Florida. John Zarrella is there, John a headline from you.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, the people here say they have never seen the Florida legislature move so quickly. In a single day writing a bill, passing a bill, sending it to the governor and he signed it all to save Terri Schiavo and put her back on life support -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

Now, to Virginia Beach day two of the trial of John Muhammad for the D.C. sniper killings, Jeanne Meserve there again for us tonight, Jeanne a headline.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bizarre encounters in the courtroom today as John Muhammad cross-examines one of his alleged victims and a cop who says he spoke to Muhammad shortly after one of the sniper shootings -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

To the Pentagon next where the trouble is not over for the general who mixed war and religion, Jamie McIntyre is there, Jamie a headline.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CHIEF PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, is it possible that the public statements from Lieutenant General William Boykin expressing his strong religious beliefs could actually be jeopardizing the lives of U.S. troops in Muslim countries? That's the charge tonight from two U.S. Senators as calls grow for Boykin to step down or at least step aside temporarily -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you.

And finally, Lawrence, Iowa, where a teenage boy and a town are fighting over his driving, the driving of his wheelchair, Jeff Flock is there for us, Jeff a headline.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, police in this small, tiny Iowa town say they were just trying to make a 14-year-old boy with Muscular Dystrophy safe. He said he didn't want to be safe. He wanted to be just like everyone else. Tonight he may get his wish.

BROWN: Jeff, thank you. We'll get back to you shortly, the rest as well.

Also tonight, we'll talk with the family of Terri Schiavo.

Then new details in the murder of journalist Danny Pearl, we'll talk with Sara Crichton who co-authored Maryanne Pearl's new book about the search for her husband's killers.

Later, we'll have the story of one victim of alleged priest abuse and why he says he won't settle with the Archdiocese of Boston.

And last, but hardly least, a check of your morning papers with rooster and all, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in Florida at a crossroads, crossroads for the law, for medicine, for a family, for a woman who in 13 years had neither been able to recover from a terrible illness nor manage her life or even consent to ending it. Call it a crossroads or limbo. It is murky and painful and a confusing place we imagine for everyone concerned.

Today after a long legal battle to let Terri Schiavo die, the Florida legislature passed a bill to stop the process and the governor signed it, which did nothing to end the story or settle the issue.

We'll talk with the family in a moment, first the background of the day from CNN's John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Bob and Mary Schiavo embraced and wept openly.

BOB SCHINDLER, FATHER OF TERRI SCHIAVO: We're damned near there.

ZARRELLA: They had just gotten the word, the Florida Senate had followed the State House passing a bill aimed at restoring their daughter Terri to life support. SCHINDLER: If anything it will restore your faith in God because I went the other way and I have to get back with it. Things like this just reinforce my faith.

ZARRELLA: The crowd of supporters gave thanks with prayers and songs, the mood far different from six days ago when the feeding tube that had kept Terri Schiavo alive for 13 years was removed. There had been a decade of legal battles.

These are the latest pictures made public of Terri Schiavo who were taken by the parents in 2001. Her husband, Michael, said his wife never wanted to live like this in what doctors declared was a "persistent vegetative state."

Her parents wanted her kept alive on life support and given rehabilitative therapy. When they lost their final court appeals the Schindler's appealed to Governor Jeb Bush. Bush who has said for weeks that he wanted to help finally did signing the Terri Schiavo bill.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: They responded appropriately. They did the right thing I think.

ZARRELLA: The governor called Schiavo's parents to let them know he had signed the bill.

SCHINDLER: I can't say too much about your integrity.

ZARRELLA: The bill orders Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted and it calls for the appointment of a guardian ad litem who could look out for Schiavo's needs. Late Tuesday, Terri Schiavo was moved by ambulance to an area hospital where the process of re-hydration was scheduled to take place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: The attorney representing Michael Schiavo went to court late this evening in Clearwater. He was seeking to have the governor's order stayed so that that feeding tube would not be reinserted. The court refused to stay the governor's order but told the attorney that he could come back in five days and file for a permanent injunction so it is not over yet -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, there are all sorts of legal issues, separation of powers and the rest. At the core of this, well not at the core of this. At the core of this is this woman's life. On the periphery of this I guess it's become a nasty battle over money, who's trying to benefit from all of this. It's quite unpleasant.

ZARRELLA: That's right. The family had maintained for a long time that the husband just wanted to get their daughter out of the way so that he could move on with his life.

He has said that Terri never wanted to live like this and that she would want -- that they had had conversations and that she would want to die rather than to be living like this. The family says she can be rehabilitated. They insist that she can and they want the opportunity to prove it -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you very much, John Zarrella in Florida tonight.

It's been a long, trying day for everyone involved in this as John Zarrella just reported, a day that has stretched well into the evening and tomorrow and the days after may not be any easier.

So we're especially grateful tonight to be joined by Bob Schindler, the father of Terri Schiavo. We appreciate your time. Obviously you're please with how the events went today. What next?

SCHINDLER: Well, our goal is to get Terry -- naturally now she has to be restored after being without food or water for a week but our ultimate goal and a goal we've had for ten years is to get Terri therapy.

Now, to reinforce our argument that Terri is not in a vegetative state is that 14 doctors on record with the court with affidavits saying she can recover and all she needs is therapy and for ten years we've been begging her husband just please give Terri therapy and he's denied her therapy for ten years.

So, this is a culmination of ten years of battling that and then what he did was there were some other traumatic things that he did to Terri in that ten year period. He decided that he wanted to end her life by starvation. So, for the past three years we've been fighting that to keep her alive.

BROWN: Let me -- a couple of things. If there were a piece of paper in Terri's handwriting where she clearly stated that in a circumstance such as this she would want to be left to die, would your position be any different?

SCHINDLER: In the first place I don't think Terri would ever do that. At the time of the incident she was only in her early 20s and I don't see in any way knowing Terri and everyone that knows Terri we all feel the same way. It's totally out of character. Terri was so much of a reinforcement for us, particularly when my mother died and she was the one that told me to put my mother on the ventilator.

BROWN: Right.

SCHINDLER: Didn't tell me to, I did it but she actually supported that decision, spent so many months taking care of her grandmother who was in a nursing home and was slowly dying and never one time suggested that grandma should be dead. So, just her nature is totally opposite plus she's a good Catholic girl. It's against the Catholic faith.

BROWN: I'm sorry. This is a difficult question. One of the legislators, I think it was the president of the Senate today said I hope to God we're doing the right thing. Do you have any question in your mind, any, that you have done the right thing?

SCHINDLER: Have I done the right thing? BROWN: Yes.

SCHINDLER: We've been fighting for the right thing to give her a chance. She's never had a chance. That's the most despicable part of this. She was literally shelved. She has not been out of this room over here in hospice for three years.

She's in a room that's eight by twelve and she has no way of getting out and she's very capable of visiting us, coming to our home. She's not on any kind of mechanical equipment.

All she is fed is by a tube. She responds and my God she's -- what happened to Terri is she got labeled and inappropriately labeled and that stayed with her. You're calling it (unintelligible). Terri has brain damage. She's a disabled young woman and she deserved a chance to recover and she never had that and that's what we're going to do with her.

BROWN: And just in the minute we have, sir, how will that take place? What sort of therapy do we talk about here?

SCHINDLER: Well, she's going to need physical therapy for sure because she's had no therapy of that sort in ten years so her hands, she's starting to atrophy and the ramifications of this neglect has to be taken care of.

Medically, she hasn't had a gynecological test in ten years. Her teeth were never cleaned in ten years so we have to restore her physically first and then go after her brain damage and it's not as bad as what people are saying that it is.

BROWN: Well, none of us can imagine what this has been like for you and for your family. I know this is an important day and we wish you and your daughter and everyone involved nothing but the best. Thank you, sir.

SCHINDLER: Thank you very much for having me.

BROWN: Thank you, sir, Bob Schindler in Florida tonight.

SCHINDLER: OK.

BROWN: And we'll keep track of where this goes, apparently court again, not over.

Other business of the day, the sniper trial, the second day of John Muhammad acting as his own defense attorney as Bob Tarver said on this program yesterday few judges would try to stop a defendant from defending himself in a court even where a death penalty is involved.

Mr. Muhammad has the right to represent himself and confront his accusers and today that meant confronting someone he may have tried to murder and confronting the police officer who let him go.

Here again, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): A missed clue, a missed opportunity, in the immediate aftermath of the Dean Myers shooting, police officer Stephen Bailey testified he questioned John Muhammad in a parking lot across the street.

Bailey said Muhammad told him police had diverted him there, though at the time police were actually routing traffic away from the area. Bailey acknowledged his missed the inconsistency saying "I didn't catch on. I wish I had." Muhammad went on his way that night. There were four subsequent sniper shootings.

Before the sniper rampage began, prosecutors contend, Paul LaRuffa was a victim of Muhammad and Lee Malvo.

PAUL LARUFFA, SNIPER VICTIM: I saw a shadow and almost immediately saw a flash of light and the window broke and I heard the shots coming in and I was getting hit by bullets.

MESERVE: In front of a jury, LaRuffa had a harder time recounting the details of being shot and robbed of his computer and money, choking up repeatedly. The bloody tee shirt LaRuffa was wearing that night was pointedly displayed to jurors who also heard LaRuffa yell in the background of a 911 tape "I don't want to die right here."

He didn't and Tuesday he had the surreal experience of being questioned by Muhammad who began his cross-examination by telling LaRuffa, "I understand how you feel when your life is on the line." That provoke a protest, he said it to curry favor with the jurors, said prosecutor James Willett.

For a second day, prosecutors contended that Muhammad's former defense team was playing too large a role. Muhammad is now sitting further away and rarely confers with them in court. Muhammad's decision to represent himself surprised almost everyone except apparently Lee Malvo.

MICHAEL ARIF, MALVO DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He was not surprised actually that Muhammad decided to become his own attorney. He said that's the control freak in him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: In some of his cross-examinations Muhammad did manage to raise some questions about some testimony but not a lot. The assessment of Lee Malvo's attorney Michael Arif, he'd be doing great if he were in traffic court -- Aaron, back to you.

BROWN: Where does this go? How long do we expect the trial to go? Where are the next witnesses headed?

MESERVE: Well, what we have been told is that this was going to be a six-week trial. That may have shrunk somewhat because Mr. Muhammad is now representing himself and he obviously doesn't have quite the arsenal of legal preparation that his defense attorneys did. What they're doing now, the prosecution is laying out the shootings one by one. Today we heard about the Dean Myers shooting. We heard about the LaRuffa shooting. It's going to continue from here. They're going to tick through, they said, 16 of them presenting evidence that they say ties John Muhammad to all the crimes.

BROWN: But he is -- this is a question, correct me if I'm wrong, he is in fact on trial for only one of those murders, correct?

MESERVE: The central murder is the Dean Myers murder, that's correct but one of these charges is a capital murder charge. Under Virginia law you have to have killed two people within three years to be convicted of that murder and so what they're trying to do here is to link him to an array of other crimes.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve in Virginia tonight.

This is one of those moments when it's safe to say greater knowledge brings very little in the way of comfort if any at all. Journalist Danny Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by Muslim extremists, brutally murdered, because he was an American and because he was Jewish.

For his friends and colleagues, for his parents and his widow those are the central facts. Knowing one more fact, the name of his murderer can't, we imagine at least, ease any pain or fill a void but it is another page of a story that unfolded today.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Journalist Daniel Pearl was murdered in Pakistan, his throat slit with a knife. There is a videotape of the murder but on it the face of the killer cannot be seen. U.S. officials are now saying it was al Qaeda leader and September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who personally wielded the knife.

MATT LEVITT, FORMER FBI ANALYST: This is a committed terrorist, a senior al Qaeda commander who not only is not afraid to participate in attacks but prefers to play very direct and a hands-on role in his attacks.

ARENA: Authorities had previously discounted reports of Mohammed's role but say there is new evidence he is the culprit. They are not saying what the evidence is but sources indicate it is not a confession from Mohammed himself.

In response to the latest revelation, Pearl's parents issued a statement. It reads in part: "We are thankful to the authorities for pursuing the identification of Danny's murderers and we trust that all those involved in this heinous crime will soon be brought to justice." But officials say it's not likely Mohammed will be charged in any court anytime soon. (on camera): He remains in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location and officials say is still being interrogated.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A little bit later in the program tonight we'll talk with Sara Crichton who, along with Maryanne Pearl, was the co-author of "Mighty Heart" the life and death of Danny Pearl. That's a little bit later.

First the general, the "Washington Post" op-ed page today called Rumsfeld's crusader. General William Boykin who is in hot water for comparing the war on terrorism to a religious battle and now faces a Pentagon investigation, not to mention criticism from some ranking lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, the report from CNN's Chief Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): With U.S. troops facing hostility in Iraq and the Arab press portraying General Boykin as anti-Islamic the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee thinks the general should be reassigned.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R) ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: I think just temporarily without any prejudice whatsoever ask him to take on another assignment until this matter is fully examined.

MCINTYRE: Both John Warner and his Democratic counterpart Carl Levin wrote Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Friday urging a formal investigation into whether Boykin possesses the "sound judgment expected of senior military officials.

"Statements of an inflammatory offensive nature that would denigrate another religion and which could be construed as bigotry" the Senators wrote, "may contribute to an erosion of support within the Arab world and perhaps increased risk for members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving in Muslim nations."

Rumsfeld is ordering the Pentagon inspector general to investigate Boykin's conduct after portraying the probe as something the general himself asked for but he's reserving judgment because a week after the story broke he says he still isn't clear what Boykin said.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I have since seen one of the network tapes and it had a lot of very difficult to understand words with subtitles which I was not able to verify.

MCINTYRE: Critics say in remarks he made while in uniform to church groups Boykin seemed to cast the war against terrorism as a spiritual battle saying that "Satan wants to destroy this nation and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army." And, he appeared to disparage Islam saying he defeated a Muslim Somali warlord because "my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

General Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs says Boykin told him how sad he was his comments caused a furor.

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEF'S VICE CHAIRMAN: He does not see this battle as a battle between religions. He sees it as a battle between good and evil. He sees it as the evil being the acts of individuals not the acts of any kind or any religion or affiliation with religions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: With members of Congress, religious groups and editorial writers all calling for Boykin's head his job is on the line but the question is not whether he had a right to exercise his free speech and state his religious views, he does. The question is did those views undercut the Bush administration's stated policy, that is that Islam is not the enemy -- Aaron.

BROWN: I'm a little confused by the defense secretary today. Is there -- does the general dispute the reporting of his comments?

MCINTYRE: Well, he has said that his comments were taken out of context. For instance in that comment about -- that would seem to imply that Muslims worship an idol not the real God, he insists he was talking about their idol being power and money but a fuller reading of the context of that comment does seem to support that that refers to Allah.

So, one of the things the general counsel is going to do is going to go take a look as best as they can the full record of what he said, where he said it, whether wearing his uniform, all the context and try to render a judgment about whether it was appropriate.

BROWN: Well, it's messy no matter how it turns out, Jamie, thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon again for us tonight.

Ahead on the program, with the president overseas a setback at home as the House is defiant over how to pay for Iraq's reconstruction.

And later tonight, the Iowa town battling the boy in the wheelchair, is Bryce Wiley (ph) one big moving violation, his story and more tonight on NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: President Bush who is asking Congress for $87 billion to spend on Iraq and Afghanistan ran into a patch of trouble today and smack into election year politics as well.

With states and cities starving for money the idea of some of it being sent overseas instead has been a tough sell for many lawmakers, Republicans included so there's pressure to make some Iraq reconstruction money, some of it, a loan or at least go on record favoring that idea, something the White House opposes and said so today in no uncertain terms. Let's write them a veto.

Here's CNN's Jonathan Karl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One Republican Senator who supports the president on the issue called the veto threat stunningly stupid and Republican Susan Collins, who opposes the president on this, told CNN she was shocked by the threat adding: "It seems unnecessary and unwise," unwise Collins said because the president was probably going to prevail anyway.

The Senate voted for loans. The House did not. The difference are being worked out now by Republican leaders. But just a couple of hours after the veto letter was delivered the House dealt the president a symbolic blow.

In a non-binding vote the House overwhelming voted to instruct negotiators to go along with the Senate and turn some of the money into a loan to be repaid by Iraq. Eighty-four Republicans defied the president and voted yes.

REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: Why don't we permit half of this, $10 billion of this, to go in the form of a loan that can be repaid? After all, we are in debt $400 billion a year now. That's our level of deficit spending. We have to borrow that $10 billion to give it to Iraq as a gift. Why don't we let them repay it after 20 years, put it in the form of a loan?

KARL (on camera): Even with the House vote and the controversy surrounding the veto threat, the White House is expected to win but only after the Republican-controlled Senate and the Republican- controlled House have gone on record disagreeing with the president.

Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The president meantime continues his visit to the Asian Pacific, Singapore today, Indonesia tonight, and tomorrow, though the International Dateline makes this all somewhat confusing, so did the confusing group picture at the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit early this morning.

Everyone put on their traditional jackets. It's a one time only event. The president for his part used the summit to stress security issues, North Korea in particular, and late tonight North Korea's official news agency responded to the president's offer of a security pledge in exchange for dismantling the North Korean nuclear program. The statement calling it, and we quote, "laughable."

Better luck on that score with Iran. European diplomats today came away with an agreement from the Iranian government to, among other things, suspend that portion of its nuclear program that can make weapons grade uranium.

Here's CNN's David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faced with unified pressure from Europe, the U.S., and Russia, Iran agreed to put its uranium enrichment program on hold and promised the visiting foreign ministers of France, Britain, and Germany it will sign an international treaty, a protocol that will allow spot inspections anywhere in Iran on almost no notice.

"Iran will suspend uranium nuclear enrichment voluntarily for a short time" said Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hasan Roohani. "In order to express its good will and create a new atmosphere of trust."

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We very much welcome their efforts to obtain this commitment today. Now what is essential is for Iran to fully comply with the IAEA and its nonproliferation obligations.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: The devil's in the details. I mean are they going to really implement the protocol right away? Are we looking at months and years of delay?

ENSOR: The Iranian concessions came as an October 31st deadline, imposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency looms, a deadline for Iran to reveal all the previously hidden nuclear facilities it has.

IAEA inspectors recently found evidence at a facility under construction near Natanz and at a site near Tehran of the presence of bomb grade highly-enriched uranium. Some American and other analysts worry that the concessions and the convivial tone in Tehran may be designed only to make sure the Europeans will never support the U.S. or others in action again Iran's nuclear sites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think broadly speaking Iran would have been seeking reassurances that the Europeans would act as sort of a buffer to prevent any possible military action in the future were things to deteriorate.

ENSOR (on camera): Iran appears for now at least to have warded off the threat of U.N. Security Council action or possible sanctions. Some U.S. officials remain concerned though that Iran may drag its feet on ratifying the protocol and then rush towards a bomb. This one they say bears watching closely.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight the murder of Danny Pearl. We'll talk with the author of a new book written with Mr. Pearl's wife Maryanne.

A break first, around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're going to go back now to the story of the murder of the journalist Daniel Pearl and the possibility that September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was in fact his killer.

Sarah Crichton is the co-author of Mariane Pearl's new book, "A Mighty Heart," which looks at both the search for Mr. Pearl and his killers. And Ms. Crichton joins us here in New York.

It's nice to see you.

Mariane Pearl is a reporter. And, at some level, the facts of this clearly must matter to her. She wants the answer.

SARAH CRICHTON, CO-AUTHOR, "A MIGHTY HEART": Yes, absolutely.

It's interesting. She really -- it made her -- it was almost unbearable in the last -- ever since Danny's death, the idea that she might never know exactly who killed him. And the fact that it really seriously looks as if it was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who personally was his murderer is actually quite comforting to her, while, at the same time, it raises a lot of questions.

BROWN: It is comforting because? Quickly. And then let's get to the questions, I suppose.

CRICHTON: She really wanted to know precisely who that person was.

BROWN: The literal person who wielded the knife.

CRICHTON: The literal person, yes, who is that evil.

BROWN: Yes, and the questions it raises.

CRICHTON: Well, it raises a lot, because the truth is, you had three different groups of terrorists who were involved in the kidnapping of Danny.

You had one cell that was involved in kidnapping and luring him to be kidnapped, another one that held him captive. And the third group was the one with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who came and executed him. And they come from a lot of different terrorist organizations and Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan. But -- or, for the most part, in Pakistan.

But what has always been known -- what has become clear over time is that this was al Qaeda, and that, even though there were people who were recruited from other groups, ultimately, this was an al Qaeda operation. What we -- by having Khalid Shaikh Mohammed be the No. 3 -- he's the director of operations for al Qaeda. He's the mastermind not only behind September 11, but the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole, a tremendous amount of al Qaeda operations.

BROWN: What is the -- something that's been unclear to me today, what exactly is the evidence here that he was the actual killer?

CRICHTON: I don't know. And that hasn't been clear. Your report earlier said that it does not look as if he has confessed.

BROWN: Yes.

CRICHTON: He's been held since at least March 1. And, in fact, there have been indications that maybe he was even being held earlier than that.

But, certainly, there was somebody from the second cell -- we have this in our book -- who early on said, the man you want is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But there hadn't been evidence until recently. And I just don't know exactly what that is.

BROWN: I want to talk about -- there is clearly now -- and I think there has been for a while -- some tension between Ms. Pearl and "The Wall Street Journal," her husband's employers. Does that go back to even before he was kidnapped?

CRICHTON: Yes.

The fact is, Danny Pearl was an extremely cautious man. I mean, the view of most journalists, or at least foreign correspondents, are sort of these dashing-around-the-world people who are taking tremendous risks. And they are taking tremendous risks. But Danny Pearl was a very sensible, cautious reporter.

And at a certain point, years ago, when he was in Kosovo, he wrote to his editors a memo that he called "The Safety Memo," where he said: Look, you're sending us out ill-equipped into these war zones. And you can't do this, especially for people working for a paper like "The Wall Street Journal." I'm not a war correspondent and yet I'm being sent into these situations. And I need better training.

BROWN: He felt undertrained?

CRICHTON: He felt undertrained. And he was very explicit in the memo, which we have in the book, about what kind of training and also what kind of support he needed.

BROWN: And she feels abandoned by "The Journal" since his death?

CRICHTON: She does.

But it's interesting. What she really wanted from "The Journal" was the system -- there were four men originally who were put on trial in Pakistan. And you need to have somebody represent the victim. You need lawyers to be paid. And you also need representatives to sit in court.

And she felt that "The Wall Street Journal" should be playing that kind of role. And they didn't want to. I think they didn't -- I'm not exactly sure, because I haven't been part of those conversations. But there were a number of situations where she also wanted them to pursue and investigate his death more aggressively than they did. And I think that they were wary about losing other reporters.

BROWN: It's unfortunate. I've known about this tension for a while. And I think, on both sides, both sides recognize it's unfortunate.

CRICHTON: Yes.

BROWN: And would like to somehow resolve it.

Thanks for coming in. It's nice to meet you.

CRICHTON: Nice to meet you.

BROWN: And good luck with the book.

CRICHTON: Thank you.

BROWN: Actually, it's a fascinating book. Thank you.

Still ahead on the program tonight: a victim of alleged priest abuse who says he will not settle with the Catholic Church in Boston.

And later, we go to Laurens, Iowa, small-town Iowa, where the town fathers want to crack down on teenagers driving -- well, a teenager driving -- his wheelchair.

A break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And lots more NEWSNIGHT ahead tonight, including morning papers, of course; the priest abuse victim who will not settle with the church; and the story of a teenage boy's driving and the town that wants him off the streets.

A break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In Boston today, arbitration hearings began to determine how precisely to compensate the hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse who have agreed to an $85 million settlement with the archdiocese there. More than 80 percent of the estimated 450 victims have agreed to a settlement, but some will not. And they risk, of course, receiving nothing.

Here's our Boston bureau chief, Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Clark's past is always part of his present, unable, he says, to shake painful memories of abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest.

BILL CLARK, VICTIM: You don't remember it all at once. It comes back in bits and pieces and at odd moments.

LOTHIAN: For most of the 552 victims who sued Boston's Archdiocese, the landmark $85 million church settlement reached last month provides some measure of justice and relief, but not for Clark, who refuses to sign on, motivated by the message, not the money put out by the archdiocese.

CLARK: My desire was to see the church acknowledge that it enabled pedophiles to use children and then covered up that action.

LOTHIAN: The church makes no admission of liability in the settlement, but stands by its public apology.

FATHER CHRISTOPHER COYNE, BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE: We have constantly, over and over and over again, admitted that what we did was wrong, acknowledged it.

LOTHIAN: An apology backed up by money, between $80,000 to $300,000 for each victim, depending on the severity of abuse. But Clark wants his day in court.

(on camera): Is this hard line with the archdiocese a risky gamble? What if, in the end, after more wounds are opened in court, the final decision falls way short of the current settlement?

(voice-over): A likely possibility, lawyers for the victims say, because, while the settlement was not perfect, it was the best option.

JEFFREY NEWMAN, VICTIMS ATTORNEY: This represents a very significant effort to try to accommodate the various needs of both sides. There's a lot of complexity here.

LOTHIAN: Going it alone could mean legal roadblocks, like a cap on damages. But Clark says winning isn't everything.

CLARK: I think it would be more rewarding to go to the court and to set a precedent, so that, in the future, any church has a case on the books that's -- that they can turn to or a plaintiff can turn to and say, here, this is what happened.

LOTHIAN: Clark claims Father John Geoghan, who was recently murdered while in prison, molested him as a young boy. So, he says, telling his story and hearing church testimony would be priceless.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Very full tonight. A few more items before we go to break, however.

The Senate voted to ban the medical procedure known by abortion opponents as partial-birth abortion. This type of abortion is relatively infrequent. Though, like most of the abortion debate, there is little agreement on that as well, we suppose. It is almost always done late in a pregnancy. The measure drawing fire it contains no exception for when the mother's life is in danger. It will certainly end up in court after the president signs it.

New York now. Federal investigators have issued a subpoena for the captain of the ferry that tore into a pier on Staten Island last week. They want to know Michael Gansas' whereabouts on the ferry when the accident happened. The subpoena came after the captain canceled an interviews with the NTSB.

North to Niagara, where a man fell from the falls and lived to tell about how he fell. Kirk Jones of Canton, Michigan, went over the Canadian side yesterday without a barrel and nary a serious injury, just a little pinch from the police. He faces a $10,000 fine.

And Liza Minnelli's estranged husband says life was anything but a cabaret. Try 10 rounds with the champ. In a civil suit filed today, David Gest says the singer threw things at him and beat him up. The filing also calls Ms. Minelli an alcoholic, overweight, and unable to effectively be merchandised. Yikes! That might make a person angry, hey? In any case, Mr. Gest says that the result from the battering, he suffers a variety of ills and now takes 11 different medications each day.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: driving while impaired, not what you might think, the story of a young Iowan and his wheelchair.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Sometimes, as Charles Dickens' Mr. Bumble so gently put it, "The law is an ass." Often, it isn't meant that way. And often, it started out as something sensible which became something inflexible. Such is the case out of small-town Iowa tonight about a young boy, his wheelchair and the law.

Here's CNN's Jeff Flock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: You go over the railroad tracks with this? I guess you have to if you want to go somewhere, right?

(voice-over): Bryce Wiley goes everywhere with his wheelchair. It gives him the mobility a 14-year-old boy, particularly one with muscular dystrophy, craves.

MICHAEL WILEY, FATHER: The wheelchair is an extension of his body. It is his legs.

FLOCK: Legs, his father says, their town of Laurens, Iowa, tried to take away.

ANN BENEKE, ATTORNEY: It clearly says under 16 -- or 16 years of age -- I'm sorry -- is a requirement. And he is not that.

FLOCK: Town attorney Ann Beneke shows me the state law that says you have to be 16 to operate a motorized wheelchair and another that says no one can use one on a street or road in Iowa.

(on camera): How important is this wheelchair you're sitting in right here?

BRYCE WILEY, TEENAGER: I can't go anywhere if I don't have it.

FLOCK (voice-over): So Bryce politely told police, yes, he would keep driving his wheelchair anywhere anyone with legs went. And then his parents got this letter threatening to ticket him every time he went out.

(on camera): Are you being a little too tough here, do you think?

BENEKE: No. I'm just doing my job.

M. WILEY: Ann is way off base.

FLOCK (voice-over): Mr. Wiley wasn't the only one upset.

SYLVIA PIPER, IOWA PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY: We're getting many calls from people who ride their wheelchairs on sidewalks and in streets in small, rural Iowa.

FLOCK (on camera): And they're afraid.

PIPER: They're afraid.

FLOCK (voice-over): After a firestorm descended on this tiny Iowa farm town, from everyone from disabilities activists, to state legislators, to Senator Tom Harkin, who pushed the Americans With Disabilities Act, the town officials relented. If Bryce puts a light on when he goes out at night, they will be reasonable and not enforce the state law. They just want him to be reasonable and safe, too.

B. WILEY: The main concern of law enforcement has been, from the beginning, that of safety of Bryce Wiley.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Given the choice, Aaron, of being 100 percent safe or living life, Bryce Wiley has chosen life. And the folks here have let him. Happy ending.

BROWN: Well, it sounds like a happy ending. Actually, I feel somewhat bad for the city attorney and the others there. They were concerned for the youngster's safety. Was it all the media attention? Was it the media attention that essentially changed their minds?

FLOCK: I think it didn't hurt that the folks here at CNN came into town tonight. Senator Harkin also, I think, put some pressure on and devoted one of his staff persons to try and mediate this. And by the end of the day, I think everyone agreed this was the best course of action.

BROWN: Well, we're glad it worked out for him. And we hope he stays safe out there in Iowa.

Jeff, thank you very much -- Jeff Flock in Laurens, Iowa, tonight.

Morning papers coming up. We'll take a break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: All right, time for morning papers and this troubling development. I seem more disorganized than normal tonight. Something to look forward to over the next two minutes.

"The Dallas Morning News." Most front pages do the abortion ban today. "Senate Bans Type of Abortion." But, very carefully, the headline does not call it -- or the sub-headline partial-birth abortion, which is a political term, at least to most people. Also on the front page, "Soaring Tuition Hits Political Nerve." Very good story. I think I saw today that the price of going to college has jumped enormously in the last year because of budget problems in public universities and in states.

"The Cincinnati Enquirer." I like this angle on the story. "Abortion Foes Look For Next Offensive" -- in quote -- "Partial-Birth Ban on Bush's Desk. Where is the Battle Going Next?" It's a pretty good take by "The Cincinnati Enquirer."

A couple of stories in the Detroit papers today to note. "Canton Man" -- we just told you about this -- "Free-falls Into Niagara Record." That belongs on the front page, I guess, because he came from Ohio.

And not only did "The Detroit News" think so, but so did "The Detroit Free Press." "Man Takes Flying Leap to Record," says the headline. Detroit, Michigan.

What did I say? Oh, I'm sorry. Michigan, Ohio, I confuse them, too. They're very close together. Aaron, come on. Pay attention to yourself. You're the one who's talking.

Where is the -- oh, I wanted one more thing out of here. On the front page of the paper, right, "Playground Game Has Life Lesson." Scissors, paper and rock makes the front page. This is -- "There is a Complex Simplicity To It. It's a Thinking-Person's Game." Huh. I never knew. That's in "The Detroit Free Press." I would buy the paper just to read that story.

"The Chicago Sun-Times," the weather tomorrow is Chicago is "tingly," if you're wondering. "Memo May Have Sent Worker to His Death." This is the high-rise fire and the aftermath of that. Tough story in Chicago.

Good to have you with us tonight. Back tomorrow, 10:00 Eastern time. Michigan and Ohio, we'll get them straight tomorrow, I promise.

Until then, good night for all of us.

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





Muhammad Cross-Examines One of Alleged Victims; Senators Call on Boykin to Step Down>


Aired October 21, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.
We would all prefer stories with happy endings, the successful rescue, the return of the soldier unharmed, the falsely accused set free, the triumph of justice over injustice.

We wish we saw the happy ending, any happy ending, in the sad, sad case of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman in a coma-like state for more than a decade whose husband says she would want to die rather than live this way and whose parents desperately want to keep her alive.

Her case has become a cause. Today the Florida legislature overruled the state's courts. Ms. Schiavo will be kept alive but will hardly be living. Sometimes happy endings are beyond us all. This one seems like one of those times.

It is the story that begins the whip. We start in Florida. John Zarrella is there, John a headline from you.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, the people here say they have never seen the Florida legislature move so quickly. In a single day writing a bill, passing a bill, sending it to the governor and he signed it all to save Terri Schiavo and put her back on life support -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

Now, to Virginia Beach day two of the trial of John Muhammad for the D.C. sniper killings, Jeanne Meserve there again for us tonight, Jeanne a headline.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bizarre encounters in the courtroom today as John Muhammad cross-examines one of his alleged victims and a cop who says he spoke to Muhammad shortly after one of the sniper shootings -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

To the Pentagon next where the trouble is not over for the general who mixed war and religion, Jamie McIntyre is there, Jamie a headline.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CHIEF PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, is it possible that the public statements from Lieutenant General William Boykin expressing his strong religious beliefs could actually be jeopardizing the lives of U.S. troops in Muslim countries? That's the charge tonight from two U.S. Senators as calls grow for Boykin to step down or at least step aside temporarily -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you.

And finally, Lawrence, Iowa, where a teenage boy and a town are fighting over his driving, the driving of his wheelchair, Jeff Flock is there for us, Jeff a headline.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, police in this small, tiny Iowa town say they were just trying to make a 14-year-old boy with Muscular Dystrophy safe. He said he didn't want to be safe. He wanted to be just like everyone else. Tonight he may get his wish.

BROWN: Jeff, thank you. We'll get back to you shortly, the rest as well.

Also tonight, we'll talk with the family of Terri Schiavo.

Then new details in the murder of journalist Danny Pearl, we'll talk with Sara Crichton who co-authored Maryanne Pearl's new book about the search for her husband's killers.

Later, we'll have the story of one victim of alleged priest abuse and why he says he won't settle with the Archdiocese of Boston.

And last, but hardly least, a check of your morning papers with rooster and all, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in Florida at a crossroads, crossroads for the law, for medicine, for a family, for a woman who in 13 years had neither been able to recover from a terrible illness nor manage her life or even consent to ending it. Call it a crossroads or limbo. It is murky and painful and a confusing place we imagine for everyone concerned.

Today after a long legal battle to let Terri Schiavo die, the Florida legislature passed a bill to stop the process and the governor signed it, which did nothing to end the story or settle the issue.

We'll talk with the family in a moment, first the background of the day from CNN's John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Bob and Mary Schiavo embraced and wept openly.

BOB SCHINDLER, FATHER OF TERRI SCHIAVO: We're damned near there.

ZARRELLA: They had just gotten the word, the Florida Senate had followed the State House passing a bill aimed at restoring their daughter Terri to life support. SCHINDLER: If anything it will restore your faith in God because I went the other way and I have to get back with it. Things like this just reinforce my faith.

ZARRELLA: The crowd of supporters gave thanks with prayers and songs, the mood far different from six days ago when the feeding tube that had kept Terri Schiavo alive for 13 years was removed. There had been a decade of legal battles.

These are the latest pictures made public of Terri Schiavo who were taken by the parents in 2001. Her husband, Michael, said his wife never wanted to live like this in what doctors declared was a "persistent vegetative state."

Her parents wanted her kept alive on life support and given rehabilitative therapy. When they lost their final court appeals the Schindler's appealed to Governor Jeb Bush. Bush who has said for weeks that he wanted to help finally did signing the Terri Schiavo bill.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: They responded appropriately. They did the right thing I think.

ZARRELLA: The governor called Schiavo's parents to let them know he had signed the bill.

SCHINDLER: I can't say too much about your integrity.

ZARRELLA: The bill orders Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted and it calls for the appointment of a guardian ad litem who could look out for Schiavo's needs. Late Tuesday, Terri Schiavo was moved by ambulance to an area hospital where the process of re-hydration was scheduled to take place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: The attorney representing Michael Schiavo went to court late this evening in Clearwater. He was seeking to have the governor's order stayed so that that feeding tube would not be reinserted. The court refused to stay the governor's order but told the attorney that he could come back in five days and file for a permanent injunction so it is not over yet -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, there are all sorts of legal issues, separation of powers and the rest. At the core of this, well not at the core of this. At the core of this is this woman's life. On the periphery of this I guess it's become a nasty battle over money, who's trying to benefit from all of this. It's quite unpleasant.

ZARRELLA: That's right. The family had maintained for a long time that the husband just wanted to get their daughter out of the way so that he could move on with his life.

He has said that Terri never wanted to live like this and that she would want -- that they had had conversations and that she would want to die rather than to be living like this. The family says she can be rehabilitated. They insist that she can and they want the opportunity to prove it -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you very much, John Zarrella in Florida tonight.

It's been a long, trying day for everyone involved in this as John Zarrella just reported, a day that has stretched well into the evening and tomorrow and the days after may not be any easier.

So we're especially grateful tonight to be joined by Bob Schindler, the father of Terri Schiavo. We appreciate your time. Obviously you're please with how the events went today. What next?

SCHINDLER: Well, our goal is to get Terry -- naturally now she has to be restored after being without food or water for a week but our ultimate goal and a goal we've had for ten years is to get Terri therapy.

Now, to reinforce our argument that Terri is not in a vegetative state is that 14 doctors on record with the court with affidavits saying she can recover and all she needs is therapy and for ten years we've been begging her husband just please give Terri therapy and he's denied her therapy for ten years.

So, this is a culmination of ten years of battling that and then what he did was there were some other traumatic things that he did to Terri in that ten year period. He decided that he wanted to end her life by starvation. So, for the past three years we've been fighting that to keep her alive.

BROWN: Let me -- a couple of things. If there were a piece of paper in Terri's handwriting where she clearly stated that in a circumstance such as this she would want to be left to die, would your position be any different?

SCHINDLER: In the first place I don't think Terri would ever do that. At the time of the incident she was only in her early 20s and I don't see in any way knowing Terri and everyone that knows Terri we all feel the same way. It's totally out of character. Terri was so much of a reinforcement for us, particularly when my mother died and she was the one that told me to put my mother on the ventilator.

BROWN: Right.

SCHINDLER: Didn't tell me to, I did it but she actually supported that decision, spent so many months taking care of her grandmother who was in a nursing home and was slowly dying and never one time suggested that grandma should be dead. So, just her nature is totally opposite plus she's a good Catholic girl. It's against the Catholic faith.

BROWN: I'm sorry. This is a difficult question. One of the legislators, I think it was the president of the Senate today said I hope to God we're doing the right thing. Do you have any question in your mind, any, that you have done the right thing?

SCHINDLER: Have I done the right thing? BROWN: Yes.

SCHINDLER: We've been fighting for the right thing to give her a chance. She's never had a chance. That's the most despicable part of this. She was literally shelved. She has not been out of this room over here in hospice for three years.

She's in a room that's eight by twelve and she has no way of getting out and she's very capable of visiting us, coming to our home. She's not on any kind of mechanical equipment.

All she is fed is by a tube. She responds and my God she's -- what happened to Terri is she got labeled and inappropriately labeled and that stayed with her. You're calling it (unintelligible). Terri has brain damage. She's a disabled young woman and she deserved a chance to recover and she never had that and that's what we're going to do with her.

BROWN: And just in the minute we have, sir, how will that take place? What sort of therapy do we talk about here?

SCHINDLER: Well, she's going to need physical therapy for sure because she's had no therapy of that sort in ten years so her hands, she's starting to atrophy and the ramifications of this neglect has to be taken care of.

Medically, she hasn't had a gynecological test in ten years. Her teeth were never cleaned in ten years so we have to restore her physically first and then go after her brain damage and it's not as bad as what people are saying that it is.

BROWN: Well, none of us can imagine what this has been like for you and for your family. I know this is an important day and we wish you and your daughter and everyone involved nothing but the best. Thank you, sir.

SCHINDLER: Thank you very much for having me.

BROWN: Thank you, sir, Bob Schindler in Florida tonight.

SCHINDLER: OK.

BROWN: And we'll keep track of where this goes, apparently court again, not over.

Other business of the day, the sniper trial, the second day of John Muhammad acting as his own defense attorney as Bob Tarver said on this program yesterday few judges would try to stop a defendant from defending himself in a court even where a death penalty is involved.

Mr. Muhammad has the right to represent himself and confront his accusers and today that meant confronting someone he may have tried to murder and confronting the police officer who let him go.

Here again, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): A missed clue, a missed opportunity, in the immediate aftermath of the Dean Myers shooting, police officer Stephen Bailey testified he questioned John Muhammad in a parking lot across the street.

Bailey said Muhammad told him police had diverted him there, though at the time police were actually routing traffic away from the area. Bailey acknowledged his missed the inconsistency saying "I didn't catch on. I wish I had." Muhammad went on his way that night. There were four subsequent sniper shootings.

Before the sniper rampage began, prosecutors contend, Paul LaRuffa was a victim of Muhammad and Lee Malvo.

PAUL LARUFFA, SNIPER VICTIM: I saw a shadow and almost immediately saw a flash of light and the window broke and I heard the shots coming in and I was getting hit by bullets.

MESERVE: In front of a jury, LaRuffa had a harder time recounting the details of being shot and robbed of his computer and money, choking up repeatedly. The bloody tee shirt LaRuffa was wearing that night was pointedly displayed to jurors who also heard LaRuffa yell in the background of a 911 tape "I don't want to die right here."

He didn't and Tuesday he had the surreal experience of being questioned by Muhammad who began his cross-examination by telling LaRuffa, "I understand how you feel when your life is on the line." That provoke a protest, he said it to curry favor with the jurors, said prosecutor James Willett.

For a second day, prosecutors contended that Muhammad's former defense team was playing too large a role. Muhammad is now sitting further away and rarely confers with them in court. Muhammad's decision to represent himself surprised almost everyone except apparently Lee Malvo.

MICHAEL ARIF, MALVO DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He was not surprised actually that Muhammad decided to become his own attorney. He said that's the control freak in him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: In some of his cross-examinations Muhammad did manage to raise some questions about some testimony but not a lot. The assessment of Lee Malvo's attorney Michael Arif, he'd be doing great if he were in traffic court -- Aaron, back to you.

BROWN: Where does this go? How long do we expect the trial to go? Where are the next witnesses headed?

MESERVE: Well, what we have been told is that this was going to be a six-week trial. That may have shrunk somewhat because Mr. Muhammad is now representing himself and he obviously doesn't have quite the arsenal of legal preparation that his defense attorneys did. What they're doing now, the prosecution is laying out the shootings one by one. Today we heard about the Dean Myers shooting. We heard about the LaRuffa shooting. It's going to continue from here. They're going to tick through, they said, 16 of them presenting evidence that they say ties John Muhammad to all the crimes.

BROWN: But he is -- this is a question, correct me if I'm wrong, he is in fact on trial for only one of those murders, correct?

MESERVE: The central murder is the Dean Myers murder, that's correct but one of these charges is a capital murder charge. Under Virginia law you have to have killed two people within three years to be convicted of that murder and so what they're trying to do here is to link him to an array of other crimes.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve in Virginia tonight.

This is one of those moments when it's safe to say greater knowledge brings very little in the way of comfort if any at all. Journalist Danny Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by Muslim extremists, brutally murdered, because he was an American and because he was Jewish.

For his friends and colleagues, for his parents and his widow those are the central facts. Knowing one more fact, the name of his murderer can't, we imagine at least, ease any pain or fill a void but it is another page of a story that unfolded today.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Journalist Daniel Pearl was murdered in Pakistan, his throat slit with a knife. There is a videotape of the murder but on it the face of the killer cannot be seen. U.S. officials are now saying it was al Qaeda leader and September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who personally wielded the knife.

MATT LEVITT, FORMER FBI ANALYST: This is a committed terrorist, a senior al Qaeda commander who not only is not afraid to participate in attacks but prefers to play very direct and a hands-on role in his attacks.

ARENA: Authorities had previously discounted reports of Mohammed's role but say there is new evidence he is the culprit. They are not saying what the evidence is but sources indicate it is not a confession from Mohammed himself.

In response to the latest revelation, Pearl's parents issued a statement. It reads in part: "We are thankful to the authorities for pursuing the identification of Danny's murderers and we trust that all those involved in this heinous crime will soon be brought to justice." But officials say it's not likely Mohammed will be charged in any court anytime soon. (on camera): He remains in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location and officials say is still being interrogated.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A little bit later in the program tonight we'll talk with Sara Crichton who, along with Maryanne Pearl, was the co-author of "Mighty Heart" the life and death of Danny Pearl. That's a little bit later.

First the general, the "Washington Post" op-ed page today called Rumsfeld's crusader. General William Boykin who is in hot water for comparing the war on terrorism to a religious battle and now faces a Pentagon investigation, not to mention criticism from some ranking lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, the report from CNN's Chief Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): With U.S. troops facing hostility in Iraq and the Arab press portraying General Boykin as anti-Islamic the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee thinks the general should be reassigned.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R) ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: I think just temporarily without any prejudice whatsoever ask him to take on another assignment until this matter is fully examined.

MCINTYRE: Both John Warner and his Democratic counterpart Carl Levin wrote Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Friday urging a formal investigation into whether Boykin possesses the "sound judgment expected of senior military officials.

"Statements of an inflammatory offensive nature that would denigrate another religion and which could be construed as bigotry" the Senators wrote, "may contribute to an erosion of support within the Arab world and perhaps increased risk for members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving in Muslim nations."

Rumsfeld is ordering the Pentagon inspector general to investigate Boykin's conduct after portraying the probe as something the general himself asked for but he's reserving judgment because a week after the story broke he says he still isn't clear what Boykin said.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I have since seen one of the network tapes and it had a lot of very difficult to understand words with subtitles which I was not able to verify.

MCINTYRE: Critics say in remarks he made while in uniform to church groups Boykin seemed to cast the war against terrorism as a spiritual battle saying that "Satan wants to destroy this nation and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army." And, he appeared to disparage Islam saying he defeated a Muslim Somali warlord because "my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

General Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs says Boykin told him how sad he was his comments caused a furor.

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEF'S VICE CHAIRMAN: He does not see this battle as a battle between religions. He sees it as a battle between good and evil. He sees it as the evil being the acts of individuals not the acts of any kind or any religion or affiliation with religions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: With members of Congress, religious groups and editorial writers all calling for Boykin's head his job is on the line but the question is not whether he had a right to exercise his free speech and state his religious views, he does. The question is did those views undercut the Bush administration's stated policy, that is that Islam is not the enemy -- Aaron.

BROWN: I'm a little confused by the defense secretary today. Is there -- does the general dispute the reporting of his comments?

MCINTYRE: Well, he has said that his comments were taken out of context. For instance in that comment about -- that would seem to imply that Muslims worship an idol not the real God, he insists he was talking about their idol being power and money but a fuller reading of the context of that comment does seem to support that that refers to Allah.

So, one of the things the general counsel is going to do is going to go take a look as best as they can the full record of what he said, where he said it, whether wearing his uniform, all the context and try to render a judgment about whether it was appropriate.

BROWN: Well, it's messy no matter how it turns out, Jamie, thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon again for us tonight.

Ahead on the program, with the president overseas a setback at home as the House is defiant over how to pay for Iraq's reconstruction.

And later tonight, the Iowa town battling the boy in the wheelchair, is Bryce Wiley (ph) one big moving violation, his story and more tonight on NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: President Bush who is asking Congress for $87 billion to spend on Iraq and Afghanistan ran into a patch of trouble today and smack into election year politics as well.

With states and cities starving for money the idea of some of it being sent overseas instead has been a tough sell for many lawmakers, Republicans included so there's pressure to make some Iraq reconstruction money, some of it, a loan or at least go on record favoring that idea, something the White House opposes and said so today in no uncertain terms. Let's write them a veto.

Here's CNN's Jonathan Karl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One Republican Senator who supports the president on the issue called the veto threat stunningly stupid and Republican Susan Collins, who opposes the president on this, told CNN she was shocked by the threat adding: "It seems unnecessary and unwise," unwise Collins said because the president was probably going to prevail anyway.

The Senate voted for loans. The House did not. The difference are being worked out now by Republican leaders. But just a couple of hours after the veto letter was delivered the House dealt the president a symbolic blow.

In a non-binding vote the House overwhelming voted to instruct negotiators to go along with the Senate and turn some of the money into a loan to be repaid by Iraq. Eighty-four Republicans defied the president and voted yes.

REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: Why don't we permit half of this, $10 billion of this, to go in the form of a loan that can be repaid? After all, we are in debt $400 billion a year now. That's our level of deficit spending. We have to borrow that $10 billion to give it to Iraq as a gift. Why don't we let them repay it after 20 years, put it in the form of a loan?

KARL (on camera): Even with the House vote and the controversy surrounding the veto threat, the White House is expected to win but only after the Republican-controlled Senate and the Republican- controlled House have gone on record disagreeing with the president.

Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The president meantime continues his visit to the Asian Pacific, Singapore today, Indonesia tonight, and tomorrow, though the International Dateline makes this all somewhat confusing, so did the confusing group picture at the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit early this morning.

Everyone put on their traditional jackets. It's a one time only event. The president for his part used the summit to stress security issues, North Korea in particular, and late tonight North Korea's official news agency responded to the president's offer of a security pledge in exchange for dismantling the North Korean nuclear program. The statement calling it, and we quote, "laughable."

Better luck on that score with Iran. European diplomats today came away with an agreement from the Iranian government to, among other things, suspend that portion of its nuclear program that can make weapons grade uranium.

Here's CNN's David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faced with unified pressure from Europe, the U.S., and Russia, Iran agreed to put its uranium enrichment program on hold and promised the visiting foreign ministers of France, Britain, and Germany it will sign an international treaty, a protocol that will allow spot inspections anywhere in Iran on almost no notice.

"Iran will suspend uranium nuclear enrichment voluntarily for a short time" said Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hasan Roohani. "In order to express its good will and create a new atmosphere of trust."

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We very much welcome their efforts to obtain this commitment today. Now what is essential is for Iran to fully comply with the IAEA and its nonproliferation obligations.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: The devil's in the details. I mean are they going to really implement the protocol right away? Are we looking at months and years of delay?

ENSOR: The Iranian concessions came as an October 31st deadline, imposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency looms, a deadline for Iran to reveal all the previously hidden nuclear facilities it has.

IAEA inspectors recently found evidence at a facility under construction near Natanz and at a site near Tehran of the presence of bomb grade highly-enriched uranium. Some American and other analysts worry that the concessions and the convivial tone in Tehran may be designed only to make sure the Europeans will never support the U.S. or others in action again Iran's nuclear sites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think broadly speaking Iran would have been seeking reassurances that the Europeans would act as sort of a buffer to prevent any possible military action in the future were things to deteriorate.

ENSOR (on camera): Iran appears for now at least to have warded off the threat of U.N. Security Council action or possible sanctions. Some U.S. officials remain concerned though that Iran may drag its feet on ratifying the protocol and then rush towards a bomb. This one they say bears watching closely.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight the murder of Danny Pearl. We'll talk with the author of a new book written with Mr. Pearl's wife Maryanne.

A break first, around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're going to go back now to the story of the murder of the journalist Daniel Pearl and the possibility that September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was in fact his killer.

Sarah Crichton is the co-author of Mariane Pearl's new book, "A Mighty Heart," which looks at both the search for Mr. Pearl and his killers. And Ms. Crichton joins us here in New York.

It's nice to see you.

Mariane Pearl is a reporter. And, at some level, the facts of this clearly must matter to her. She wants the answer.

SARAH CRICHTON, CO-AUTHOR, "A MIGHTY HEART": Yes, absolutely.

It's interesting. She really -- it made her -- it was almost unbearable in the last -- ever since Danny's death, the idea that she might never know exactly who killed him. And the fact that it really seriously looks as if it was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who personally was his murderer is actually quite comforting to her, while, at the same time, it raises a lot of questions.

BROWN: It is comforting because? Quickly. And then let's get to the questions, I suppose.

CRICHTON: She really wanted to know precisely who that person was.

BROWN: The literal person who wielded the knife.

CRICHTON: The literal person, yes, who is that evil.

BROWN: Yes, and the questions it raises.

CRICHTON: Well, it raises a lot, because the truth is, you had three different groups of terrorists who were involved in the kidnapping of Danny.

You had one cell that was involved in kidnapping and luring him to be kidnapped, another one that held him captive. And the third group was the one with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who came and executed him. And they come from a lot of different terrorist organizations and Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan. But -- or, for the most part, in Pakistan.

But what has always been known -- what has become clear over time is that this was al Qaeda, and that, even though there were people who were recruited from other groups, ultimately, this was an al Qaeda operation. What we -- by having Khalid Shaikh Mohammed be the No. 3 -- he's the director of operations for al Qaeda. He's the mastermind not only behind September 11, but the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole, a tremendous amount of al Qaeda operations.

BROWN: What is the -- something that's been unclear to me today, what exactly is the evidence here that he was the actual killer?

CRICHTON: I don't know. And that hasn't been clear. Your report earlier said that it does not look as if he has confessed.

BROWN: Yes.

CRICHTON: He's been held since at least March 1. And, in fact, there have been indications that maybe he was even being held earlier than that.

But, certainly, there was somebody from the second cell -- we have this in our book -- who early on said, the man you want is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But there hadn't been evidence until recently. And I just don't know exactly what that is.

BROWN: I want to talk about -- there is clearly now -- and I think there has been for a while -- some tension between Ms. Pearl and "The Wall Street Journal," her husband's employers. Does that go back to even before he was kidnapped?

CRICHTON: Yes.

The fact is, Danny Pearl was an extremely cautious man. I mean, the view of most journalists, or at least foreign correspondents, are sort of these dashing-around-the-world people who are taking tremendous risks. And they are taking tremendous risks. But Danny Pearl was a very sensible, cautious reporter.

And at a certain point, years ago, when he was in Kosovo, he wrote to his editors a memo that he called "The Safety Memo," where he said: Look, you're sending us out ill-equipped into these war zones. And you can't do this, especially for people working for a paper like "The Wall Street Journal." I'm not a war correspondent and yet I'm being sent into these situations. And I need better training.

BROWN: He felt undertrained?

CRICHTON: He felt undertrained. And he was very explicit in the memo, which we have in the book, about what kind of training and also what kind of support he needed.

BROWN: And she feels abandoned by "The Journal" since his death?

CRICHTON: She does.

But it's interesting. What she really wanted from "The Journal" was the system -- there were four men originally who were put on trial in Pakistan. And you need to have somebody represent the victim. You need lawyers to be paid. And you also need representatives to sit in court.

And she felt that "The Wall Street Journal" should be playing that kind of role. And they didn't want to. I think they didn't -- I'm not exactly sure, because I haven't been part of those conversations. But there were a number of situations where she also wanted them to pursue and investigate his death more aggressively than they did. And I think that they were wary about losing other reporters.

BROWN: It's unfortunate. I've known about this tension for a while. And I think, on both sides, both sides recognize it's unfortunate.

CRICHTON: Yes.

BROWN: And would like to somehow resolve it.

Thanks for coming in. It's nice to meet you.

CRICHTON: Nice to meet you.

BROWN: And good luck with the book.

CRICHTON: Thank you.

BROWN: Actually, it's a fascinating book. Thank you.

Still ahead on the program tonight: a victim of alleged priest abuse who says he will not settle with the Catholic Church in Boston.

And later, we go to Laurens, Iowa, small-town Iowa, where the town fathers want to crack down on teenagers driving -- well, a teenager driving -- his wheelchair.

A break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And lots more NEWSNIGHT ahead tonight, including morning papers, of course; the priest abuse victim who will not settle with the church; and the story of a teenage boy's driving and the town that wants him off the streets.

A break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In Boston today, arbitration hearings began to determine how precisely to compensate the hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse who have agreed to an $85 million settlement with the archdiocese there. More than 80 percent of the estimated 450 victims have agreed to a settlement, but some will not. And they risk, of course, receiving nothing.

Here's our Boston bureau chief, Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Clark's past is always part of his present, unable, he says, to shake painful memories of abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest.

BILL CLARK, VICTIM: You don't remember it all at once. It comes back in bits and pieces and at odd moments.

LOTHIAN: For most of the 552 victims who sued Boston's Archdiocese, the landmark $85 million church settlement reached last month provides some measure of justice and relief, but not for Clark, who refuses to sign on, motivated by the message, not the money put out by the archdiocese.

CLARK: My desire was to see the church acknowledge that it enabled pedophiles to use children and then covered up that action.

LOTHIAN: The church makes no admission of liability in the settlement, but stands by its public apology.

FATHER CHRISTOPHER COYNE, BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE: We have constantly, over and over and over again, admitted that what we did was wrong, acknowledged it.

LOTHIAN: An apology backed up by money, between $80,000 to $300,000 for each victim, depending on the severity of abuse. But Clark wants his day in court.

(on camera): Is this hard line with the archdiocese a risky gamble? What if, in the end, after more wounds are opened in court, the final decision falls way short of the current settlement?

(voice-over): A likely possibility, lawyers for the victims say, because, while the settlement was not perfect, it was the best option.

JEFFREY NEWMAN, VICTIMS ATTORNEY: This represents a very significant effort to try to accommodate the various needs of both sides. There's a lot of complexity here.

LOTHIAN: Going it alone could mean legal roadblocks, like a cap on damages. But Clark says winning isn't everything.

CLARK: I think it would be more rewarding to go to the court and to set a precedent, so that, in the future, any church has a case on the books that's -- that they can turn to or a plaintiff can turn to and say, here, this is what happened.

LOTHIAN: Clark claims Father John Geoghan, who was recently murdered while in prison, molested him as a young boy. So, he says, telling his story and hearing church testimony would be priceless.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Very full tonight. A few more items before we go to break, however.

The Senate voted to ban the medical procedure known by abortion opponents as partial-birth abortion. This type of abortion is relatively infrequent. Though, like most of the abortion debate, there is little agreement on that as well, we suppose. It is almost always done late in a pregnancy. The measure drawing fire it contains no exception for when the mother's life is in danger. It will certainly end up in court after the president signs it.

New York now. Federal investigators have issued a subpoena for the captain of the ferry that tore into a pier on Staten Island last week. They want to know Michael Gansas' whereabouts on the ferry when the accident happened. The subpoena came after the captain canceled an interviews with the NTSB.

North to Niagara, where a man fell from the falls and lived to tell about how he fell. Kirk Jones of Canton, Michigan, went over the Canadian side yesterday without a barrel and nary a serious injury, just a little pinch from the police. He faces a $10,000 fine.

And Liza Minnelli's estranged husband says life was anything but a cabaret. Try 10 rounds with the champ. In a civil suit filed today, David Gest says the singer threw things at him and beat him up. The filing also calls Ms. Minelli an alcoholic, overweight, and unable to effectively be merchandised. Yikes! That might make a person angry, hey? In any case, Mr. Gest says that the result from the battering, he suffers a variety of ills and now takes 11 different medications each day.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: driving while impaired, not what you might think, the story of a young Iowan and his wheelchair.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Sometimes, as Charles Dickens' Mr. Bumble so gently put it, "The law is an ass." Often, it isn't meant that way. And often, it started out as something sensible which became something inflexible. Such is the case out of small-town Iowa tonight about a young boy, his wheelchair and the law.

Here's CNN's Jeff Flock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: You go over the railroad tracks with this? I guess you have to if you want to go somewhere, right?

(voice-over): Bryce Wiley goes everywhere with his wheelchair. It gives him the mobility a 14-year-old boy, particularly one with muscular dystrophy, craves.

MICHAEL WILEY, FATHER: The wheelchair is an extension of his body. It is his legs.

FLOCK: Legs, his father says, their town of Laurens, Iowa, tried to take away.

ANN BENEKE, ATTORNEY: It clearly says under 16 -- or 16 years of age -- I'm sorry -- is a requirement. And he is not that.

FLOCK: Town attorney Ann Beneke shows me the state law that says you have to be 16 to operate a motorized wheelchair and another that says no one can use one on a street or road in Iowa.

(on camera): How important is this wheelchair you're sitting in right here?

BRYCE WILEY, TEENAGER: I can't go anywhere if I don't have it.

FLOCK (voice-over): So Bryce politely told police, yes, he would keep driving his wheelchair anywhere anyone with legs went. And then his parents got this letter threatening to ticket him every time he went out.

(on camera): Are you being a little too tough here, do you think?

BENEKE: No. I'm just doing my job.

M. WILEY: Ann is way off base.

FLOCK (voice-over): Mr. Wiley wasn't the only one upset.

SYLVIA PIPER, IOWA PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY: We're getting many calls from people who ride their wheelchairs on sidewalks and in streets in small, rural Iowa.

FLOCK (on camera): And they're afraid.

PIPER: They're afraid.

FLOCK (voice-over): After a firestorm descended on this tiny Iowa farm town, from everyone from disabilities activists, to state legislators, to Senator Tom Harkin, who pushed the Americans With Disabilities Act, the town officials relented. If Bryce puts a light on when he goes out at night, they will be reasonable and not enforce the state law. They just want him to be reasonable and safe, too.

B. WILEY: The main concern of law enforcement has been, from the beginning, that of safety of Bryce Wiley.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Given the choice, Aaron, of being 100 percent safe or living life, Bryce Wiley has chosen life. And the folks here have let him. Happy ending.

BROWN: Well, it sounds like a happy ending. Actually, I feel somewhat bad for the city attorney and the others there. They were concerned for the youngster's safety. Was it all the media attention? Was it the media attention that essentially changed their minds?

FLOCK: I think it didn't hurt that the folks here at CNN came into town tonight. Senator Harkin also, I think, put some pressure on and devoted one of his staff persons to try and mediate this. And by the end of the day, I think everyone agreed this was the best course of action.

BROWN: Well, we're glad it worked out for him. And we hope he stays safe out there in Iowa.

Jeff, thank you very much -- Jeff Flock in Laurens, Iowa, tonight.

Morning papers coming up. We'll take a break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: All right, time for morning papers and this troubling development. I seem more disorganized than normal tonight. Something to look forward to over the next two minutes.

"The Dallas Morning News." Most front pages do the abortion ban today. "Senate Bans Type of Abortion." But, very carefully, the headline does not call it -- or the sub-headline partial-birth abortion, which is a political term, at least to most people. Also on the front page, "Soaring Tuition Hits Political Nerve." Very good story. I think I saw today that the price of going to college has jumped enormously in the last year because of budget problems in public universities and in states.

"The Cincinnati Enquirer." I like this angle on the story. "Abortion Foes Look For Next Offensive" -- in quote -- "Partial-Birth Ban on Bush's Desk. Where is the Battle Going Next?" It's a pretty good take by "The Cincinnati Enquirer."

A couple of stories in the Detroit papers today to note. "Canton Man" -- we just told you about this -- "Free-falls Into Niagara Record." That belongs on the front page, I guess, because he came from Ohio.

And not only did "The Detroit News" think so, but so did "The Detroit Free Press." "Man Takes Flying Leap to Record," says the headline. Detroit, Michigan.

What did I say? Oh, I'm sorry. Michigan, Ohio, I confuse them, too. They're very close together. Aaron, come on. Pay attention to yourself. You're the one who's talking.

Where is the -- oh, I wanted one more thing out of here. On the front page of the paper, right, "Playground Game Has Life Lesson." Scissors, paper and rock makes the front page. This is -- "There is a Complex Simplicity To It. It's a Thinking-Person's Game." Huh. I never knew. That's in "The Detroit Free Press." I would buy the paper just to read that story.

"The Chicago Sun-Times," the weather tomorrow is Chicago is "tingly," if you're wondering. "Memo May Have Sent Worker to His Death." This is the high-rise fire and the aftermath of that. Tough story in Chicago.

Good to have you with us tonight. Back tomorrow, 10:00 Eastern time. Michigan and Ohio, we'll get them straight tomorrow, I promise.

Until then, good night for all of us.

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