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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Hinckley Decision: Unsupervised Outings Allowed; The Scene in Samarra

Aired December 17, 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.


WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Good evening to all our viewers, once again. It's been more than two decades, but it's still hard to forget the pop, pop, pop of the gunshots, the pandemonium outside the Washington Hilton that day in March 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot.
While the president's wounds healed, the healing of the mental illness suffered by gunman John Hinckley has been tougher to measure. And dealing with that does nothing to deal with the question of whether once healed, he deserves more punishment.

So we begin "The Whip" with the man who tried to kill a president. CNN's Kelli Arena with that tonight.

Kelli, a headline.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate President Reagan, is being given new freedoms. Now, he gets to visit with his parents without hospital supervision. It's a decision that has Nancy Reagan and others very much on edge.

BLITZER: All right. We'll be getting back to you, Kelli.

Let's move on to Iraq, though. A busy day for American forces in Samarra, where CNN's Nic Robertson has the story and a headline for us -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the largest anti-Iraqi insurgency operation in six months, but it's not just about security. We're told this troublesome town will have an infusion of money. Coalition officials hope that will turn it around -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Nic, we'll get back to you as well.

Up next, the White House and the diplomatic mileage the Bush administration seems to be getting from Saddam Hussein's capture.

CNN's Dana Bash with duty tonight.

Dana, a headline from you.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, so far, James Baker is three for three in convincing world leaders to relieve Iraq of at least some of its debt. Details on exactly how that will happen are still pretty vague, but administration officials do believe that the capture of Saddam Hussein has really helped the effort -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Dana. Stand by.

Finally, the case of the killer nurse. How could he get one job after another?

CNN's Michael Okwu covering that for us tonight from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Michael, the headline there.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, days after this nurse admitted to killing as many as 40 patients in New Jersey, as well as Pennsylvania, family members are flooding prosecutors with questions. The big question, did Charles Cullen play a major role in the death of their loved ones? -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks, Michael. Back to you and the rest shortly.

Also ahead tonight in the program: Strom Thurmond's family secret. The segregationist's African-American daughter speaks out.

Later, the continuing struggle in the Episcopal Church over the issue of gays in the priesthood. A schism appears closer than ever.

And in our "Segment 7," 100 years since the Wright brothers first flew. What we've experienced and where we go from here.

All that in the hour ahead. But we begin tonight with a judge's decision to let a man visit on his own with his parents. This is a man who has been locked up in one way or another more than 20 years for attempted murder. That's longer than most people serve for actually killing someone.

On that level, you might imagine there is little to argue. But this is also a man who nearly killed the president of the United States and three other people, and whose confinement to a mental hospital stirred up such great controversy back then, controversy that is being revisited tonight.

Here again, CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An early Christmas present for John Hinckley, Jr., who has lived for the last two decades at this Washington, D.C. mental hospital. A judge is allowing Hinckley six unsupervised day visits with his parents, and if all goes well, two unsupervised overnight visits, all within a 50-mile radius of the nation's capital. Hospital staff told the judge the visits are the next step in Hinckley's recovery.

JEFFREY HARRIS, FMR. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ATTORNEY: What the judge's job is, is to evaluate the medical expert testimony about the risks to Mr. Hinckley and the state of his health. And if he accepts that testimony, I don't think he has -- really does have much of a choice.

ARENA: But the government disagreed, alleging Hinckley has shown a pattern of deception. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement she is disappointed and continues to, "fear for the safety of the general public." Sarah Brady, wife of former White House Press Secretary James Brady, who was shot and permanently disabled by Hinckley, wrote the judge to oppose the release.

SARAH BRADY, JAMES BRADY'S WIFE: He fooled his parents, he fooled the doctors, the hospital, and law enforcement.

ARENA: Hinckley has been out in public on dozens of day trips with hospital staff. The Secret Service is always alerted. For these future outings there are strict conditions. For example, Hinckley is not permitted to leave his parents' supervision. He must follow a detailed itinerary. He's not allowed to contact the media or his ex- girlfriend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: Now the judge did opt for a more incremental approach than Hinckley wanted. And if there are any problems, the privilege can be revoked at any time -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli, will he have to wear some sort of monitoring device like an ankle bracelet or anything like that?

ARENA: No. As I mentioned in the report, he does have to follow a very strict itinerary. He cannot travel outside of the places that have been designated. And his parents have to check in with the hospital at least once a day to give a status report.

BLITZER: Any indication the prosecution can or will appeal this decision?

ARENA: No. The arguments were made before the judge. This is now in process.

BLITZER: All right. Kelli Arena with that story. Thanks very much for that.

Let's move on to Iraq. Once again tonight American forces are hoping to keep the momentum going from the capture of Saddam Hussein over the weekend in what's being described as a successful raid yesterday north of Baghdad. Today, the location shifted a few miles and the operation was even more ambitious.

CNN's Nic Robertson filed this report from Samarra.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Being processed for information, detainees picked up in Samarra are moved around a U.S. base. Intelligence they provide about anti-coalition elements critical as Operation Ivy Blizzard gains momentum. Hours earlier, as the largest anti-insurgency operation in six months started, troops began by breaking down doors, searching for insurgents.

Three thousand soldiers to seal off the rest of Sunni City of Samarra. By daybreak, tanks and troops in control as coalition commanders seek to hold attacks against U.S. troops.

COL. FREDERICK RUDESHEIM, 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION: This right here is a clear demonstration of our resolve to control the city of Samarra and hand it back to the peace-loving people of Samarra and Iraqis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is this for?

ROBERTSON: At key intersections, new checkpoints enforce the coalition plan to isolate insurgents, denying them the freedom of movement. No residents we found publicly supporting the crackdown.

"These checkpoints are a waste of time," says Ashmari (ph). "They block traffic, slow business. And besides, we don't have anything."

Inside his workshop, Yasser Ali (ph) carves a gravestone for a former city resident. "The Americans are destroying public property like pavements. It's our property. It belongs to the people," he complains. "If we don't defend it, who will?"

Operation Ivy Blizzard, though, not just a security crackdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is now going to be a tremendous focus also on bringing an economic benefit to the city of Samarra. There are funds that have come available that we will be able to infuse into the city.

ROBERTSON: After months of insurgency, the city still lacking what many others have: a council and a reliable police force. Until the money takes effect, little doubt among these commanders about what will happen next.

LT. COL. NATHAN SASSAMAN, 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION: They'll watch us. They'll go into probably a massive reconnaissance and surveillance effort to see if we establish any patterns as we move into the city and as we move around the city. They may take us on with direct action. That would be a big mistake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And what U.S. troops are doing here in Samarra is typical of what they're doing in other restive Sunni cities throughout the center of Iraq. And that is, cracking down and keeping pressure on those anti-coalition elements -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, any indication so far that the capture of Saddam Hussein has had a discernible boost in the morale of U.S. troops of the 4th Infantry Division where you are?

ROBERTSON: It has had a boost to the morale of the troops here. They do see how the work that they're doing on a daily basis does add up in the bigger picture, does bring positive results. One commander I talked to today said he didn't want to overplay it, but he really saw it as a turning point, not only in the momentum of their operations, in the minds of the Iraqis, but really reinforcing for his soldiers that what they're doing is making a difference and does, as I say, add up to a very -- some very positive points of success -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, do the troops where you are -- just in casual talk, do they think they have enough manpower on the ground to get the job done? Or are they suggesting they would like some reinforcements?

ROBERTSON: The troops we're talking to here don't talk about overwork. They do talk about working long hours. They do look forward to, in a couple of months now, rotating out to replacements coming in.

A lot of the folks here really have that horizon now sort of within their eyesight, if you will, this rotation in February and March. And although they're working hard, there are people here up all through the night rotating in and out on patrols, on duties inside the town of Samarra right now. We don't hear anyone complain of overwork. But they do say they are working very hard, very long hours.

BLITZER: I'm sure they are. I'm sure they're all looking forward, counting the days to when they can go home as well.

Nic Robertson joining us from Samarra tonight. Thanks, Nic. Please be careful over there.

Let's move on to Baghdad now, where it's been less than calm these last few days, in fact, these last few months. Tonight came word of a massive explosion that rocked the city earlier Wednesday. It may not have been an act of terrorism after all, but a terrible tragedy just the same, and certainly another huge jolt to the system.

Let's go back to CNN's Bill Hemmer. He's joining us with the rest of the developments in Baghdad and elsewhere.

Bill, first of all, what about that huge explosion? It scared a lot of people, I'm sure.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that it did. It really happened right as the day was breaking early Wednesday morning, Wolf. We have some videotape we can show you.

A huge fireball sent into the early morning night sky. In fact, a number of CNN colleagues staying here, we felt it. We certainly heard it in central Baghdad earlier.

Now, it's a bit unclear what the intention was here, Wolf. We should point out that the Iraqi police say this truck was loaded with explosives and its target actually was the Iraqi police headquarters just about a hundred yards further down the road. Later in the day, the U.S. military came out and said, no, that wasn't the case, it was just an accident.

Whatever the story is, in the end, an absolute tragedy. At least 10 are dead and 15 are wounded as a result. That was one of the bigger stories that happened here in Baghdad.

Also, later in the day on Wednesday, the Iraqi Governing Council came out and talked more about Saddam Hussein. They now say he never left this country. In fact, they say he is still being held at an undisclosed location somewhere in the country of Iraq. And they say he will stay here in Iraq until that trial begins.

When that trial happens, though, obviously, a wide open question. Some say it could start in a few months. Other legal observers are saying forget about that timeframe, it will be a couple years before this case goes to trial.

Another note here, Wolf. A few hours ago, hearing from the U.S. Army just north of Baghdad, about three miles outside of town, another U.S. soldier shot and killed earlier today, a victim of small arms fire. Another soldier wounded there in that incident. This brings now to an even 200 -- 200 U.S. service members killed as a result of hostile fire here in Iraq since the president declared the end of major combat operations going back to the 1st of May -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bill, I know that there are always conspiracy theories circulated around Baghdad. You've been there for a few days now. Do people generally, though, accept the notion that Saddam Hussein has been captured?

HEMMER: I could tell you -- no scientific poll by any means here -- the majority do, based on the observations I have made here. However, you make a great point. The rumor mill is almost a sort of pastime here in Iraq. As we were coming across the country the other day, coming across the border, a number of Iraqis told us that they believe the tape was an absolute fake and forgery and that Saddam Hussein is not in U.S. custody.

Other people buying this argument that's coming out of Jordan by one of Saddam Hussein's daughters saying that he has been drugged now, that he's in the captivity of the U.S. Rumors are hot. Whether or not the majority of Iraqis believe them, though, I think that's a bit of a stretch at this point.

BLITZER: All right. Bill Hemmer joining us from Baghdad. He'll be anchoring "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow with Soledad O'Brien from Baghdad.

Bill, only a few days ago you were in New York City. Now you're in Baghdad. Be careful over there.

Bill Hemmer joining us tonight from Baghdad.

Let's move on to the diplomatic front now: James Baker's effort to get European creditors, some of whom oppose the war, to forgive Iraqi debt, even though some of those countries have been locked out of major contracts for rebuilding Iraq. Today, Mr. Baker had an easier time of it, lobbying an ally that during the run-up to war actually behaved like one.

Here's CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Day two of James Baker's world tour, Italy. And for the second day, his mission to ease Iraq's massive debt proved successful. "The reduction of this debt is vital for the economic renewal for Iraq, as well as for the security of the country and for the construction of sovereign and democratic institutions," read a statement from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy has supported U.S. efforts to topple Saddam Hussein from the start, but Baker has already scored agreements from leaders of France and Germany, who led the charge against the war and have been reluctant to send troops and money to rebuild Iraq.

GERHARD SCHROEDER, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Germany is ready to make a substantial contribution to help rebuilding a Democratic and stable Iraq.

BASH: It is the first real sign, experts say, the diplomatic ice is beginning to thaw.

PHILIP GORDON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: This is the most significant positive step in relations between France, Germany and the United States, basically since the big clash over the war itself.

BASH: Although the former secretary of state's three-day, five- nation trip was planned before Saddam Hussein's dramatic arrest, Bush officials believe it's giving the effort momentum.

RICHARD ARMITAGE, U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: The capture recently of Saddam Hussein is a perfect opportunity for us to pivot a bit and really let the past be the past and move forward to a much better transatlantic future.

BASH: Iraq's debt totals about $120 billion. Germany is owed $5 billion, France, $5.5 billion, and the U.S. about $4.5 billion. Iraq also owes Russia, another war opponent, some $8 billion. Moscow is Baker's last stop, and Bush officials concede convincing Russia to relieve that debt will be the most challenging. But the hope is the early support will help.

GORDON: This is part of a process where the French and Germans make the first step, and that puts pressure on the Russians to play along.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And in exchange for debt relief, Russia is likely to press for a larger political and financial role in Iraq's future, especially because Russia, like France and Germany, has been excluded from the main U.S. contracts to rebuild that country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Dana, any indication that the White House may have a change of heart if France and Germany actually go along and eliminate or reduce the debt that they might become eligible to start bidding for some of those prime contracts in Iraq? BASH: Well, Wolf, in terms of the prime contracts, the main contracts, the president in his press conference the other day, and officials since, have still made clear that they believe that those should only go to countries that were involved in the war, that supported the war from the beginning. However, many of those contractors hire subcontractors.

And officials are making clear that those can be countries like France and Germany and perhaps even Russia. And a top aide to Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor, said that James Baker made it very clear during their meeting that that is very much the case -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Dana Bash at the White House. Thanks, Dana, very much.

Just ahead on the program tonight: could he have been stopped sooner? Questions about whether an allegedly murderous nurse could have been caught years ago.

And later: 100 years of manned flight. What the Wright brothers created, what followed, and what might come next over the next 100 years.

From Washington, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight, a troubling question in the case of the New Jersey nurse charged with murder. Why was he allowed to move from job to job despite suspicions he may have harmed patients? Prosecutors say Charles Cullen has admitted killing as many as 40 patients over the years. Yet somehow his past never quite caught up to him.

CNN's Michael Okwu has the story

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since Charles Cullen's arrest, shock days after no signs of it ending. Prosecutors scrambling to review dozens of potential cases, while scores of family members wonder whether the jailed nurse killed loved ones under his care.

WAYNE FORREST, SOMERSET COUNTY PROSECUTOR: We've received 50- plus phone calls from family members. I have been doing this for 28 years, and in my law enforcement career I have not seen anything like this before.

OKWU: Details of Cullen's questionable past emerging. Officials at St. Luke's Hospital in Pennsylvania say last year they launched an investigation involving Cullen after the hospital discovered vials of heart and blood pressure drugs improperly placed in a needle bin.

SUSAN SHANTZ, ST. LUKES HOSPITAL SPOKESPERSON: We had enough suspicion, certainly no proof, but some suspicions based on Charles Cullen's evasiveness. OKWU: The hospital removed Cullen from having any patient contact, but found no conclusive evidence against him. Cullen resigned the next day.

Meanwhile, the Warren County prosecutor's office in New Jersey has reopened a case involving the death of a 91-year-old woman who had complained Cullen administered an improper injection while she was a patient at this hospital. Her niece said she died the next day after being discharged. Hospital officials say an autopsy found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Police reports in Phillipsburg (ph) reveal Cullen has a history of mental illness, that he twice tried to commit suicide and was treated at this psychiatric hospital. Psychiatric treatment does not disqualify a nurse from continuing to practice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: Now, in his only court appearance this past Monday, Cullen said that he would not fight the charges against him. In fact, he does not yet have a public defender assigned to his case.

In the meantime, New Jersey's attorney general is saying that he will not supersede in this case at this point, just really watching developments in the case and reserving the possibility, the right of stepping in and trying, basically, to coordinate efforts in jurisdictions that will be spread out throughout the course of the state -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So what is he saying about his motive, basically? Does he think he was just doing the right thing?

OKWU: Well, at this point, he's saying basically -- he was suggesting that he was trying to put people out of his misery. But the very key point here, Wolf, is that these (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but they were all not necessarily...

BLITZER: It looks like unfortunately we're having some technical problems with that satellite uplink with Michael Okwu. We apologize to our viewers.

Thank you, Michael Okwu, for that report.

Many questions, though, raised by this case. Dennis Miller is president and CEO of Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey, where Charles Cullen worked until October 31. He joins us now.

Mr. Miller, thank you very much for joining us. How could this happen?

DENNIS MILLER, SOMERSET MEDICAL CENTER: Wolf, it happens because the system is broken. This individual escaped prosecution or investigation for some 16 years because, though he was committing various acts, he did not get caught, get arrested. Therefore, that information is not available to various licensing boards. We're going to have to have some national reform to allow federal legislation to have full disclosure on any type of criminal investigations of all licensed personnel.

BLITZER: But a lot of his employers had very, very serious suspicions about this guy, yet he kept getting hired.

MILLER: And that's the troubling aspect to this, the fact that he had suspicions, but no investigations or no arrests. Did not allow the licensing bodies -- allow information to come to various employers. And that's what we have to change.

BLITZER: Well how do you change that? What do you propose must be done?

MILLER: Well, I think there are three things that have to be done immediately on a national level. The first is that employers have to have immunity to be able to give honest and accurate information about why an employee, a licensed professional, may have been terminated from employment.

Two, all criminal investigations must be able to go to licensing bodies to indicate that there was an investigation, not necessarily conviction.

And then three, we must have a national registry to allow all licensing bodies to report this information, so when you're doing an employment check, you can have information available (UNINTELLIGIBLE) not only convictions, but investigations took place as a red flag to inquire during the employment process. That will end the system.

BLITZER: But sometimes these investigations prove out to be useless. But if there is that red flag, if there was an investigation and nothing turned up, that person's career is effectively over if your recommendations go through.

MILLER: Well, not necessarily so. Here you have a case for 16 years, this individual claims he may have murdered 35 to 40 people. I would want to have the information available to me as the CEO of a major medical center in New Jersey. And I would think all of my colleagues across the country.

Our job is to provide a patient-safe environment. And it's our job to make sure that the community has trust in our organizations. To do that, we must have full disclosure of all information, including investigations, so we can ask a prospective employee what took place and make a decision upon hiring. That's the only way this will stop.

BLITZER: Did you have a chance to meet with Mr. Cullen?

MILLER: No, I did not have a chance to meet with him.

BLITZER: But you spoke to a lot of your employees who did meet with him.

MILLER: I actually have not spoken to that many employees who met with him. Our ICU nurses did meet with him, and I have to indicate, I am so proud of our ICU nurses in our hospital and our nurse practitioner who began the investigation and who identified him as a possible suspect.

BLITZER: What did they say about him, his day-to-day activity, his demeanor, his behavior?

MILLER: He appeared to be a typical, normal guy, sort of a little bit of an introvert. But not causing any trouble, disruption in terms of his employee relationships.

BLITZER: As you look at this problem of this one individual case -- you've been in this business now a long time -- do you suspect it's more widespread than you and I might think?

MILLER: I really can't tell that, Wolf, but I can tell you the following: until we have a system in place where employers -- particularly for licensed health care professionals, so it's probably all employers -- can freely give information out about why employees have left their organizations without any chance of being prosecuted or sued, have full immunity, we're never going to have a patient- safety environment.

BLITZER: Dennis Miller, thanks very much for joining us.

MILLER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still ahead tonight on the program, living with the secret of who her father was for decades. A woman reveals the secret as the African-American daughter of a very famous segregationist.

From Washington, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've heard about her all week. Today we heard from her in South Carolina.

A 78-year-old woman finally said in public what many had known or suspected or whispered about for decades. It was an open secret in the state where her father held a seat of power. But it was a secret, all the same.

Not anymore, as CNN's David Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ESSIE MAE WASHINGTON-WILLIAMS, STROM THURMOND'S DAUGHTER: My father's name was James Strom Thurmond.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): In a single instant the secret that had burdened her for much of her 78 years was gone, as Essie Mae Washington-Williams publicly proclaimed that she was the daughter born to a 22-year-old Strom Thurmond and a 16-year- old African-American housekeeper for the Thurmond family.

WASHINGTON-WILLIAMS: I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams. And at last, I feel completely free.

MATTINGLY: Applauded by a crowd of friends and well-wishers, Williams spoke fondly of the father who privately visited and supported her financially from the time she was in college but never acknowledged her publicly, a secret she kept as well...

STROM THURMOND, FORMER SENATOR: Who dominate the country by force...

MATTINGLY: ... to protect the political career of the one-time ardent segregationist.

WASHINGTON-WILLIAMS: We respected each other. I never wanted to do anything to harm him or cause detriment to his life or to lives of those around him.

MATTINGLY: More than a personal milestone, former classmates say Williams' announcement reflects a new era in a new South, where racially mixed families no longer have to keep secrets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In our vocabulary today, we have a term that we didn't have in the '40s, and that's biracial.

MATTINGLY: Others call it the end of a culture of silence. When Jack Bass co-authored an unauthorized biography called "Ol' Strom" just six years ago, it included a chapter on Thurmond's then-rumored biracial daughter.

He now applauds the Thurmond family, who wish to meet with Williams and her children privately. And he credits them with showing other families how to break with old racial traditions.

JACK BASS, THURMOND BIOGRAPHER: Some people said perhaps that will be Strom Thurmond's greatest legacy in terms of racial issues.

MATTINGLY (on camera): And it is a legacy honored in bronze and stone prominently in South Carolina. Essie Mae Williams said she would like to see a change to these public monuments. She would like to see her name etched in stone alongside that of the other four Thurmond children.

David Mattingly, Columbia, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Before we go to our break, our "MONEYLINE" roundup, and it begins with the world's biggest stock exchange.

Today the SEC approved a plan to split the jobs of chairman and chief executive officer at the New York Stock Exchange and said more radical reforms may lie ahead.

The magazine that proves sex sells made $200 million on the auction block today. Bidders completed for 300 artifacts from "Playboy" magazine. A Marilyn Monroe centerfold from the debut issue sold for almost $18,000. A vintage satin bunny suit went for just over $14,000.

Burbank Airport was renamed Bob Hope Airport today. The beloved entertainer kept a private plane at the regional flying hub, one of the biggest airports in California.

And stocks closed pretty much where they began today, the Dow and S&P 500 up just a bit, the NASDAQ down just a smidgen.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, the split in the church. Episcopalians move close to a schism over a gay bishop. That story as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A battle within the Episcopal Church intensified today when a group of bishops said they are forming a rival network of dioceses and parishes.

They fought the decision to approve an openly gay bishop last August. Now they're taking their protests to another level. It's short of a schism but a challenge, nonetheless.

Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Gene Robinson put on vestments to become the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, opponents finalized plans to, as they see it, set the bishops straight.

BISHOP JACK IKER, FORT WORTH DIOCESE: Repentance is in order for the Episcopal Church.

CANDIOTTI: Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth is one of four bishops forming a network challenging the leadership of the American Episcopal Church, which has 100 dioceses and bishops nationwide. They want to minister to Episcopalians who feel disenfranchised by Robinson's consecration.

Alternate leadership not exactly spelled out.

IKER: It's a message that says we're not giving up, we're not giving in and we're not going away.

CANDIOTTI: The head of the Episcopal Church accepts dissent as routine. After all, church officials say, some of those in the new network still don't recognize women as Episcopal priests, approved long ago.

DAN ENGLAND, EPISCOPAL CHURCH SPOKESMAN: We have been through serious disputes before and have come through them. I have no doubt that will be the case this time.

CANDIOTTI: The new group insists it has the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, trying to keep the worldwide Anglican Communion united. The American Episcopal Church is a relatively small but relatively wealthy member.

The dispute is not only over Robinson's relationship with another man, but the church's recognition that some dioceses are blessing same sex union ceremonies.

IKER: People are concerned about a split within the Episcopal Church surely realize that there's already an internal split.

CANDIOTTI: Church officials predict the church will survive.

ENGLAND: There are so many Episcopalians who still, week by week, go to church. That's the way we'll get through it. We'll get through it by worshipping together.

CANDIOTTI: Bishop Robinson in New Hampshire declined comment.

(on camera) The Episcopal hierarchy may hope the flap over Bishop Gene Robinson may blow over soon, but for now things aren't heading that way.

Some dissenting bishops expect to formalize their new network at a meeting in Texas next month and say they hope their movement will continue to grow. But will it lead to schism?

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A couple of other items making news around the country.

In Ohio, investigators have linked a 16th shooting to others along a stretch of Interstate 270. The latest incident is the seventh link to the same weapon by ballistic tests. It happened Monday. No one was injured.

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan was indicted today on fraud, racketeering and tax charges, stemming from a five-year bribery investigation of Illinois officials.

Prosecutors say Mr. Ryan shared confidential information that allowed associates to benefit from state contracts. In return, he allegedly accepted payoffs, gifts and vacations.

And today Connecticut Governor John Roland made his first public remarks since admitting he accepted gifts from employees and state contractors. The gifts included renovations to his lakefront cottage.

Mr. Roland, who has not about charged with a crime, said today he will press on as governor.

As NEWSNIGHT continues from Washington, it's been 100 years since the Wright brothers first flew. Where have we gone so far? And where are we going next?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's a retired senator from Ohio reliving fond memories tonight. And he isn't the only one.

John Glenn was 8 years old when he first went up in an airplane. You might say it stuck with him. Back then, the airplane was just 26 itself. Today it turned 100.

And at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where man first flew, men and women tried to recapture that moment. They weren't entirely successful except, perhaps, in making a certain retired senator from Ohio feel young again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Wilbur and Orville certainly would have understood. Months of work and over $1 million. Today's attempt to recreate their historic flight of a century ago never got off the ground, coming to an end in a mud puddle.

The Wright brothers crashed, redesigned and crashed again. When they finally flew, their invention redefined the modern world.

NED PRESTON, AVIATION HISTORIAN: The Wright brothers had hoped that aviation would lead to world peace, because it would bring people together. Well, it has brought people together. Unfortunately, the world peace is still waiting.

BLITZER: Indeed, it was the use of their invention as a weapon of war that first brought the Wrights to an empty field outside Washington, D.C. After years of demonstrations, they were given a contract to teach Army officers to fly.

CATHERINE ALLEN, DIRECTOR, COLLEGE PARK AVIATION MUSEUM: Only the Wright brothers who knew how to fly the plane. So they came here. This was just an airfield -- it wasn't even an airfield. It was just a field. But it was far enough from the Washington area, they could get away from the crowds.

I mean, you can imagine, this is really the first time that people realized that man could fly.

BLITZER: If Kitty Hawk was the birthplace of powered flight, College Park Airport could be the place where the business of aviation was born.

The oldest continuously operated airport in the world, it hosted the first civilian aviation company, the first airmail service and the first military flight school.

It was only a few years before airplanes were dog fighting over the battlefields of the First World War. It was not something that the inventors had foreseen.

By the Second World War, air power was supreme and eventually carried another weapon thought so terrible that it would end war forever more. But it didn't.

And as the decades passed, aircraft ruled the skies over Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. And as the new century dawned, proved to be equally deadly in terrorists' hands.

The airplane companies that sprang up in this muddy field led to the tremendous leaps in science and engineering that took us to the moon.

But today, only one American aircraft builder is left. No one has returned to the moon in decades. And Russian spaceships supply the international space station.

The first civilian planes took off from here, just joyrides at first. Bigger planes soon carried paying passengers across the country, and then around the world. At first, only for the wealthy few. Now the everyday transport that ties together a global economy, a tiresome maze of long lines and crowded planes.

But for some, the glory of flight still lingers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even after 100 years, we look up at these planes and say, "Well isn't that nice." But we see a kind of near miracle of grace, ingenuity and power floating over our heads to a runway of a distant city. It's kind of wonderful.

BLITZER: No other invention has changed the world so much for good and ill and no other so captures the imagination of all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Up next on NEWSNIGHT: what next? Should man go back to the moon? And where else? We'll talk to the former lunar astronaut Gene Cernan as NEWSNIGHT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: One hundred years after man first took to the air and 34 years since men first walked on the moon, some people now wonder if our horizons aren't, in fact, shrinking.

The Concorde, after all, no longer crosses the ocean at twice the speed of sound, and people no longer travel beyond low earth orbit.

Few people feel this more keenly than Gene Cernan. More than three decades have gone by since he became the last person to set foot on the lunar surface. And not much has happened since then.

Now on the occasion of the Wright brothers' anniversary and amid reports the Bush administration is considering a return to the moon, we thought we'd take the opportunity to check in with Gene Cernan once again.

Welcome back. Thanks very much for joining us.

CAPT. GENE CERNAN, APOLLO 17 ASTRONAUT: Thanks, Wolf. Appreciate being here.

BLITZER: Is this a good idea, to go back to the moon right now?

CERNAN: Well, I think going back to the moon is a good idea if it fits into the bigger puzzle. I think we need to reach out there a little bit further.

I've been an advocate, in order to stimulate the imagination and inspire our young kids as to have a goal -- a generation out there in the future, an attainable goal but a challenging goal like Mars. I've been a strong Mars advocate.

And if going back to the moon is part of that initiative, is part of the program, fits the puzzle, then we ought to go back to the moon.

BLITZER: All right. Tell our viewers why that would be so important. Why is it important to go to Mars?

CERNAN: Why was it important for Columbus to sail across the ocean? You know, maybe because it's there. I don't know.

And I don't mean to play light of it, but curiosity is the essence of human existence. It's, you know, who we are, where we are, where did we come from? That's part of it.

But I think we are destined as a country to be the leader of not just a free world, the entire word. Technologically as well as spiritually, if you will.

And I don't think there's any question but that we will go on to Mars. We will eventually see man, women, humans land on Mars and explore the solar system. I just think it's part of our culture.

BLITZER: As you think about 100 years ago today with the Wright brothers, that no one could have envisioned then, 100 years later, what would be going on right now.

But I know you've given a lot of thought to what we might be able to expect over the next 100 years. And talk a little bit about that.

CERNAN: Well, Wolf, when I was a kid during World War II, who envisioned -- did I ever envision going to the moon? I was just a dreamer, a kid who wanted to fly airplanes, just like thousands and thousands of other kids out there who have a desire for the adventure, the challenge to do something they didn't think was possible to do.

And here we're talking about me having lived on the moon 31 years ago. It's as incredible to me as it sounds, I know, to other people. But I think the 100 years...

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers a picture of -- some pictures of you on the moon in 1972. It brings back probably, I'm sure, a lot of memories for you.

But put on your crystal ball and share with our viewers some of your thoughts about the amazing things that you could easily see happening over the next 100 years.

CERNAN: You know, from the day the Wright brothers first flew to the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon was only two-thirds of a century. We sort of, in my estimation, sort of wasted the last third of the century. So we've got a lot to make up.

The next 100 years, yes, it's going to see us go to Mars and probably on the moon, set up bases, put telescopes on there. Science is going to piggyback; it's going to be important, but there's other reasons we're going to go.

Commercial aircraft. Well, let's stay in space. I think we're going to see people go back to where I once lived, to my own little Camelot on the moon and they could say, "Hey, there's where Neil Armstrong walked."

BLITZER: What are they have going to do there?

CERNAN: Well, they're going to be maybe space tourists, who knows. To go back to an interesting, exciting, maybe historical place like we go back to Gettysburg or Normandy or Pearl Harbor today.

I think we're going to see commercial airplanes cross halfway around the world in two hours. You can go from here and put your show on in Tokyo in two hours. I think we're going to see...

BLITZER: Fly from Washington to Tokyo in two hours? You think you could see that happening?

CERNAN: I think it's going to happen. I think we're going to see, from a technological point of view, aircraft that can fly at 15 times the speed of sound and change their configuration, the way they look and the way they fly, so that they can also land in 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 feet of runway at 120 miles an hour like airplanes do today.

BLITZER: So if President Bush called you into the White House and said, "Gene Cernan, what do you think we should do, what kind of great adventure should we next pursue?"

CERNAN: Not to -- Well, I'm passionate about it, so I would probably try to persuade the president if that ever happened.

But I think our next venture -- our next initiative into space ought to be a far-reaching one, one that is out there and that we put the infrastructure together to get there, educationally, industrially, technologically.

And I'd say, "Mr. President, I want to sign up. I want to go to Mars. I want to" -- My dream today is to see...

BLITZER: How realistic is that? If the U.S. were to put its mind to it and its energy, how quickly do you think men and women could go to Mars?

CERNAN: Well, my dream today is to see others live theirs. And we've got to give them that opportunity. Mars is challenging. It's within reach. We've got to redesign -- I think the rockets that got me to the moon are obsolete. We've got to recreate some technology which allows us to get to Mars in a shorter period of time.

It's within reach. It's doable. Going to Pluto, going to Saturn, they're a little bit outside of my realm of even my dreams.

But Mars is reachable. It's doable. But the important thing is it's a goal. It's something for young kids to grow up and reach out for. And then -- and then let the infrastructure fall in place.

BLITZER: Gene Cernan, you inspire me; I'm sure our viewers as well.

CERNAN: I would like to be the first one on board tomorrow morning if I could go back.

BLITZER: I want to see what happens the next 100 years, as well. Let's see what happens.

CERNAN: Well, thank you. Pleasure being here.

BLITZER: Up next on NEWSNIGHT, we'll update our top stories and preview tomorrow. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Before we go tonight, a recap of our top story. A judge allowing John Hinckley to leave a Washington metal hospital for unsupervised visits with his parents.

Mr. Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan, his press secretary James Brady and two law enforcement officers, was found not guilty by reason of insanity more than 20 years ago. Mental health experts see a little risk in the judge's decision today.

As you might imagine, President Reagan's family has a different opinion.

Tomorrow night on this program, with "Lord of the Rings" fever running hot, a young man who might just be the next ring master. We'll take a look at a teenage author of a hot new fantasy book. Both he and the book are on the rise.

That's NEWSNIGHT for tonight. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer. I'll be back tomorrow. Good night.

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





in Samarra>


Aired December 17, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Good evening to all our viewers, once again. It's been more than two decades, but it's still hard to forget the pop, pop, pop of the gunshots, the pandemonium outside the Washington Hilton that day in March 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot.
While the president's wounds healed, the healing of the mental illness suffered by gunman John Hinckley has been tougher to measure. And dealing with that does nothing to deal with the question of whether once healed, he deserves more punishment.

So we begin "The Whip" with the man who tried to kill a president. CNN's Kelli Arena with that tonight.

Kelli, a headline.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate President Reagan, is being given new freedoms. Now, he gets to visit with his parents without hospital supervision. It's a decision that has Nancy Reagan and others very much on edge.

BLITZER: All right. We'll be getting back to you, Kelli.

Let's move on to Iraq, though. A busy day for American forces in Samarra, where CNN's Nic Robertson has the story and a headline for us -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the largest anti-Iraqi insurgency operation in six months, but it's not just about security. We're told this troublesome town will have an infusion of money. Coalition officials hope that will turn it around -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Nic, we'll get back to you as well.

Up next, the White House and the diplomatic mileage the Bush administration seems to be getting from Saddam Hussein's capture.

CNN's Dana Bash with duty tonight.

Dana, a headline from you.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, so far, James Baker is three for three in convincing world leaders to relieve Iraq of at least some of its debt. Details on exactly how that will happen are still pretty vague, but administration officials do believe that the capture of Saddam Hussein has really helped the effort -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Dana. Stand by.

Finally, the case of the killer nurse. How could he get one job after another?

CNN's Michael Okwu covering that for us tonight from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Michael, the headline there.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, days after this nurse admitted to killing as many as 40 patients in New Jersey, as well as Pennsylvania, family members are flooding prosecutors with questions. The big question, did Charles Cullen play a major role in the death of their loved ones? -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks, Michael. Back to you and the rest shortly.

Also ahead tonight in the program: Strom Thurmond's family secret. The segregationist's African-American daughter speaks out.

Later, the continuing struggle in the Episcopal Church over the issue of gays in the priesthood. A schism appears closer than ever.

And in our "Segment 7," 100 years since the Wright brothers first flew. What we've experienced and where we go from here.

All that in the hour ahead. But we begin tonight with a judge's decision to let a man visit on his own with his parents. This is a man who has been locked up in one way or another more than 20 years for attempted murder. That's longer than most people serve for actually killing someone.

On that level, you might imagine there is little to argue. But this is also a man who nearly killed the president of the United States and three other people, and whose confinement to a mental hospital stirred up such great controversy back then, controversy that is being revisited tonight.

Here again, CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An early Christmas present for John Hinckley, Jr., who has lived for the last two decades at this Washington, D.C. mental hospital. A judge is allowing Hinckley six unsupervised day visits with his parents, and if all goes well, two unsupervised overnight visits, all within a 50-mile radius of the nation's capital. Hospital staff told the judge the visits are the next step in Hinckley's recovery.

JEFFREY HARRIS, FMR. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ATTORNEY: What the judge's job is, is to evaluate the medical expert testimony about the risks to Mr. Hinckley and the state of his health. And if he accepts that testimony, I don't think he has -- really does have much of a choice.

ARENA: But the government disagreed, alleging Hinckley has shown a pattern of deception. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement she is disappointed and continues to, "fear for the safety of the general public." Sarah Brady, wife of former White House Press Secretary James Brady, who was shot and permanently disabled by Hinckley, wrote the judge to oppose the release.

SARAH BRADY, JAMES BRADY'S WIFE: He fooled his parents, he fooled the doctors, the hospital, and law enforcement.

ARENA: Hinckley has been out in public on dozens of day trips with hospital staff. The Secret Service is always alerted. For these future outings there are strict conditions. For example, Hinckley is not permitted to leave his parents' supervision. He must follow a detailed itinerary. He's not allowed to contact the media or his ex- girlfriend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: Now the judge did opt for a more incremental approach than Hinckley wanted. And if there are any problems, the privilege can be revoked at any time -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli, will he have to wear some sort of monitoring device like an ankle bracelet or anything like that?

ARENA: No. As I mentioned in the report, he does have to follow a very strict itinerary. He cannot travel outside of the places that have been designated. And his parents have to check in with the hospital at least once a day to give a status report.

BLITZER: Any indication the prosecution can or will appeal this decision?

ARENA: No. The arguments were made before the judge. This is now in process.

BLITZER: All right. Kelli Arena with that story. Thanks very much for that.

Let's move on to Iraq. Once again tonight American forces are hoping to keep the momentum going from the capture of Saddam Hussein over the weekend in what's being described as a successful raid yesterday north of Baghdad. Today, the location shifted a few miles and the operation was even more ambitious.

CNN's Nic Robertson filed this report from Samarra.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Being processed for information, detainees picked up in Samarra are moved around a U.S. base. Intelligence they provide about anti-coalition elements critical as Operation Ivy Blizzard gains momentum. Hours earlier, as the largest anti-insurgency operation in six months started, troops began by breaking down doors, searching for insurgents.

Three thousand soldiers to seal off the rest of Sunni City of Samarra. By daybreak, tanks and troops in control as coalition commanders seek to hold attacks against U.S. troops.

COL. FREDERICK RUDESHEIM, 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION: This right here is a clear demonstration of our resolve to control the city of Samarra and hand it back to the peace-loving people of Samarra and Iraqis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is this for?

ROBERTSON: At key intersections, new checkpoints enforce the coalition plan to isolate insurgents, denying them the freedom of movement. No residents we found publicly supporting the crackdown.

"These checkpoints are a waste of time," says Ashmari (ph). "They block traffic, slow business. And besides, we don't have anything."

Inside his workshop, Yasser Ali (ph) carves a gravestone for a former city resident. "The Americans are destroying public property like pavements. It's our property. It belongs to the people," he complains. "If we don't defend it, who will?"

Operation Ivy Blizzard, though, not just a security crackdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is now going to be a tremendous focus also on bringing an economic benefit to the city of Samarra. There are funds that have come available that we will be able to infuse into the city.

ROBERTSON: After months of insurgency, the city still lacking what many others have: a council and a reliable police force. Until the money takes effect, little doubt among these commanders about what will happen next.

LT. COL. NATHAN SASSAMAN, 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION: They'll watch us. They'll go into probably a massive reconnaissance and surveillance effort to see if we establish any patterns as we move into the city and as we move around the city. They may take us on with direct action. That would be a big mistake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And what U.S. troops are doing here in Samarra is typical of what they're doing in other restive Sunni cities throughout the center of Iraq. And that is, cracking down and keeping pressure on those anti-coalition elements -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, any indication so far that the capture of Saddam Hussein has had a discernible boost in the morale of U.S. troops of the 4th Infantry Division where you are?

ROBERTSON: It has had a boost to the morale of the troops here. They do see how the work that they're doing on a daily basis does add up in the bigger picture, does bring positive results. One commander I talked to today said he didn't want to overplay it, but he really saw it as a turning point, not only in the momentum of their operations, in the minds of the Iraqis, but really reinforcing for his soldiers that what they're doing is making a difference and does, as I say, add up to a very -- some very positive points of success -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, do the troops where you are -- just in casual talk, do they think they have enough manpower on the ground to get the job done? Or are they suggesting they would like some reinforcements?

ROBERTSON: The troops we're talking to here don't talk about overwork. They do talk about working long hours. They do look forward to, in a couple of months now, rotating out to replacements coming in.

A lot of the folks here really have that horizon now sort of within their eyesight, if you will, this rotation in February and March. And although they're working hard, there are people here up all through the night rotating in and out on patrols, on duties inside the town of Samarra right now. We don't hear anyone complain of overwork. But they do say they are working very hard, very long hours.

BLITZER: I'm sure they are. I'm sure they're all looking forward, counting the days to when they can go home as well.

Nic Robertson joining us from Samarra tonight. Thanks, Nic. Please be careful over there.

Let's move on to Baghdad now, where it's been less than calm these last few days, in fact, these last few months. Tonight came word of a massive explosion that rocked the city earlier Wednesday. It may not have been an act of terrorism after all, but a terrible tragedy just the same, and certainly another huge jolt to the system.

Let's go back to CNN's Bill Hemmer. He's joining us with the rest of the developments in Baghdad and elsewhere.

Bill, first of all, what about that huge explosion? It scared a lot of people, I'm sure.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that it did. It really happened right as the day was breaking early Wednesday morning, Wolf. We have some videotape we can show you.

A huge fireball sent into the early morning night sky. In fact, a number of CNN colleagues staying here, we felt it. We certainly heard it in central Baghdad earlier.

Now, it's a bit unclear what the intention was here, Wolf. We should point out that the Iraqi police say this truck was loaded with explosives and its target actually was the Iraqi police headquarters just about a hundred yards further down the road. Later in the day, the U.S. military came out and said, no, that wasn't the case, it was just an accident.

Whatever the story is, in the end, an absolute tragedy. At least 10 are dead and 15 are wounded as a result. That was one of the bigger stories that happened here in Baghdad.

Also, later in the day on Wednesday, the Iraqi Governing Council came out and talked more about Saddam Hussein. They now say he never left this country. In fact, they say he is still being held at an undisclosed location somewhere in the country of Iraq. And they say he will stay here in Iraq until that trial begins.

When that trial happens, though, obviously, a wide open question. Some say it could start in a few months. Other legal observers are saying forget about that timeframe, it will be a couple years before this case goes to trial.

Another note here, Wolf. A few hours ago, hearing from the U.S. Army just north of Baghdad, about three miles outside of town, another U.S. soldier shot and killed earlier today, a victim of small arms fire. Another soldier wounded there in that incident. This brings now to an even 200 -- 200 U.S. service members killed as a result of hostile fire here in Iraq since the president declared the end of major combat operations going back to the 1st of May -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bill, I know that there are always conspiracy theories circulated around Baghdad. You've been there for a few days now. Do people generally, though, accept the notion that Saddam Hussein has been captured?

HEMMER: I could tell you -- no scientific poll by any means here -- the majority do, based on the observations I have made here. However, you make a great point. The rumor mill is almost a sort of pastime here in Iraq. As we were coming across the country the other day, coming across the border, a number of Iraqis told us that they believe the tape was an absolute fake and forgery and that Saddam Hussein is not in U.S. custody.

Other people buying this argument that's coming out of Jordan by one of Saddam Hussein's daughters saying that he has been drugged now, that he's in the captivity of the U.S. Rumors are hot. Whether or not the majority of Iraqis believe them, though, I think that's a bit of a stretch at this point.

BLITZER: All right. Bill Hemmer joining us from Baghdad. He'll be anchoring "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow with Soledad O'Brien from Baghdad.

Bill, only a few days ago you were in New York City. Now you're in Baghdad. Be careful over there.

Bill Hemmer joining us tonight from Baghdad.

Let's move on to the diplomatic front now: James Baker's effort to get European creditors, some of whom oppose the war, to forgive Iraqi debt, even though some of those countries have been locked out of major contracts for rebuilding Iraq. Today, Mr. Baker had an easier time of it, lobbying an ally that during the run-up to war actually behaved like one.

Here's CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Day two of James Baker's world tour, Italy. And for the second day, his mission to ease Iraq's massive debt proved successful. "The reduction of this debt is vital for the economic renewal for Iraq, as well as for the security of the country and for the construction of sovereign and democratic institutions," read a statement from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy has supported U.S. efforts to topple Saddam Hussein from the start, but Baker has already scored agreements from leaders of France and Germany, who led the charge against the war and have been reluctant to send troops and money to rebuild Iraq.

GERHARD SCHROEDER, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Germany is ready to make a substantial contribution to help rebuilding a Democratic and stable Iraq.

BASH: It is the first real sign, experts say, the diplomatic ice is beginning to thaw.

PHILIP GORDON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: This is the most significant positive step in relations between France, Germany and the United States, basically since the big clash over the war itself.

BASH: Although the former secretary of state's three-day, five- nation trip was planned before Saddam Hussein's dramatic arrest, Bush officials believe it's giving the effort momentum.

RICHARD ARMITAGE, U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: The capture recently of Saddam Hussein is a perfect opportunity for us to pivot a bit and really let the past be the past and move forward to a much better transatlantic future.

BASH: Iraq's debt totals about $120 billion. Germany is owed $5 billion, France, $5.5 billion, and the U.S. about $4.5 billion. Iraq also owes Russia, another war opponent, some $8 billion. Moscow is Baker's last stop, and Bush officials concede convincing Russia to relieve that debt will be the most challenging. But the hope is the early support will help.

GORDON: This is part of a process where the French and Germans make the first step, and that puts pressure on the Russians to play along.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And in exchange for debt relief, Russia is likely to press for a larger political and financial role in Iraq's future, especially because Russia, like France and Germany, has been excluded from the main U.S. contracts to rebuild that country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Dana, any indication that the White House may have a change of heart if France and Germany actually go along and eliminate or reduce the debt that they might become eligible to start bidding for some of those prime contracts in Iraq? BASH: Well, Wolf, in terms of the prime contracts, the main contracts, the president in his press conference the other day, and officials since, have still made clear that they believe that those should only go to countries that were involved in the war, that supported the war from the beginning. However, many of those contractors hire subcontractors.

And officials are making clear that those can be countries like France and Germany and perhaps even Russia. And a top aide to Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor, said that James Baker made it very clear during their meeting that that is very much the case -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Dana Bash at the White House. Thanks, Dana, very much.

Just ahead on the program tonight: could he have been stopped sooner? Questions about whether an allegedly murderous nurse could have been caught years ago.

And later: 100 years of manned flight. What the Wright brothers created, what followed, and what might come next over the next 100 years.

From Washington, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight, a troubling question in the case of the New Jersey nurse charged with murder. Why was he allowed to move from job to job despite suspicions he may have harmed patients? Prosecutors say Charles Cullen has admitted killing as many as 40 patients over the years. Yet somehow his past never quite caught up to him.

CNN's Michael Okwu has the story

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since Charles Cullen's arrest, shock days after no signs of it ending. Prosecutors scrambling to review dozens of potential cases, while scores of family members wonder whether the jailed nurse killed loved ones under his care.

WAYNE FORREST, SOMERSET COUNTY PROSECUTOR: We've received 50- plus phone calls from family members. I have been doing this for 28 years, and in my law enforcement career I have not seen anything like this before.

OKWU: Details of Cullen's questionable past emerging. Officials at St. Luke's Hospital in Pennsylvania say last year they launched an investigation involving Cullen after the hospital discovered vials of heart and blood pressure drugs improperly placed in a needle bin.

SUSAN SHANTZ, ST. LUKES HOSPITAL SPOKESPERSON: We had enough suspicion, certainly no proof, but some suspicions based on Charles Cullen's evasiveness. OKWU: The hospital removed Cullen from having any patient contact, but found no conclusive evidence against him. Cullen resigned the next day.

Meanwhile, the Warren County prosecutor's office in New Jersey has reopened a case involving the death of a 91-year-old woman who had complained Cullen administered an improper injection while she was a patient at this hospital. Her niece said she died the next day after being discharged. Hospital officials say an autopsy found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Police reports in Phillipsburg (ph) reveal Cullen has a history of mental illness, that he twice tried to commit suicide and was treated at this psychiatric hospital. Psychiatric treatment does not disqualify a nurse from continuing to practice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: Now, in his only court appearance this past Monday, Cullen said that he would not fight the charges against him. In fact, he does not yet have a public defender assigned to his case.

In the meantime, New Jersey's attorney general is saying that he will not supersede in this case at this point, just really watching developments in the case and reserving the possibility, the right of stepping in and trying, basically, to coordinate efforts in jurisdictions that will be spread out throughout the course of the state -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So what is he saying about his motive, basically? Does he think he was just doing the right thing?

OKWU: Well, at this point, he's saying basically -- he was suggesting that he was trying to put people out of his misery. But the very key point here, Wolf, is that these (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but they were all not necessarily...

BLITZER: It looks like unfortunately we're having some technical problems with that satellite uplink with Michael Okwu. We apologize to our viewers.

Thank you, Michael Okwu, for that report.

Many questions, though, raised by this case. Dennis Miller is president and CEO of Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey, where Charles Cullen worked until October 31. He joins us now.

Mr. Miller, thank you very much for joining us. How could this happen?

DENNIS MILLER, SOMERSET MEDICAL CENTER: Wolf, it happens because the system is broken. This individual escaped prosecution or investigation for some 16 years because, though he was committing various acts, he did not get caught, get arrested. Therefore, that information is not available to various licensing boards. We're going to have to have some national reform to allow federal legislation to have full disclosure on any type of criminal investigations of all licensed personnel.

BLITZER: But a lot of his employers had very, very serious suspicions about this guy, yet he kept getting hired.

MILLER: And that's the troubling aspect to this, the fact that he had suspicions, but no investigations or no arrests. Did not allow the licensing bodies -- allow information to come to various employers. And that's what we have to change.

BLITZER: Well how do you change that? What do you propose must be done?

MILLER: Well, I think there are three things that have to be done immediately on a national level. The first is that employers have to have immunity to be able to give honest and accurate information about why an employee, a licensed professional, may have been terminated from employment.

Two, all criminal investigations must be able to go to licensing bodies to indicate that there was an investigation, not necessarily conviction.

And then three, we must have a national registry to allow all licensing bodies to report this information, so when you're doing an employment check, you can have information available (UNINTELLIGIBLE) not only convictions, but investigations took place as a red flag to inquire during the employment process. That will end the system.

BLITZER: But sometimes these investigations prove out to be useless. But if there is that red flag, if there was an investigation and nothing turned up, that person's career is effectively over if your recommendations go through.

MILLER: Well, not necessarily so. Here you have a case for 16 years, this individual claims he may have murdered 35 to 40 people. I would want to have the information available to me as the CEO of a major medical center in New Jersey. And I would think all of my colleagues across the country.

Our job is to provide a patient-safe environment. And it's our job to make sure that the community has trust in our organizations. To do that, we must have full disclosure of all information, including investigations, so we can ask a prospective employee what took place and make a decision upon hiring. That's the only way this will stop.

BLITZER: Did you have a chance to meet with Mr. Cullen?

MILLER: No, I did not have a chance to meet with him.

BLITZER: But you spoke to a lot of your employees who did meet with him.

MILLER: I actually have not spoken to that many employees who met with him. Our ICU nurses did meet with him, and I have to indicate, I am so proud of our ICU nurses in our hospital and our nurse practitioner who began the investigation and who identified him as a possible suspect.

BLITZER: What did they say about him, his day-to-day activity, his demeanor, his behavior?

MILLER: He appeared to be a typical, normal guy, sort of a little bit of an introvert. But not causing any trouble, disruption in terms of his employee relationships.

BLITZER: As you look at this problem of this one individual case -- you've been in this business now a long time -- do you suspect it's more widespread than you and I might think?

MILLER: I really can't tell that, Wolf, but I can tell you the following: until we have a system in place where employers -- particularly for licensed health care professionals, so it's probably all employers -- can freely give information out about why employees have left their organizations without any chance of being prosecuted or sued, have full immunity, we're never going to have a patient- safety environment.

BLITZER: Dennis Miller, thanks very much for joining us.

MILLER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still ahead tonight on the program, living with the secret of who her father was for decades. A woman reveals the secret as the African-American daughter of a very famous segregationist.

From Washington, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've heard about her all week. Today we heard from her in South Carolina.

A 78-year-old woman finally said in public what many had known or suspected or whispered about for decades. It was an open secret in the state where her father held a seat of power. But it was a secret, all the same.

Not anymore, as CNN's David Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ESSIE MAE WASHINGTON-WILLIAMS, STROM THURMOND'S DAUGHTER: My father's name was James Strom Thurmond.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): In a single instant the secret that had burdened her for much of her 78 years was gone, as Essie Mae Washington-Williams publicly proclaimed that she was the daughter born to a 22-year-old Strom Thurmond and a 16-year- old African-American housekeeper for the Thurmond family.

WASHINGTON-WILLIAMS: I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams. And at last, I feel completely free.

MATTINGLY: Applauded by a crowd of friends and well-wishers, Williams spoke fondly of the father who privately visited and supported her financially from the time she was in college but never acknowledged her publicly, a secret she kept as well...

STROM THURMOND, FORMER SENATOR: Who dominate the country by force...

MATTINGLY: ... to protect the political career of the one-time ardent segregationist.

WASHINGTON-WILLIAMS: We respected each other. I never wanted to do anything to harm him or cause detriment to his life or to lives of those around him.

MATTINGLY: More than a personal milestone, former classmates say Williams' announcement reflects a new era in a new South, where racially mixed families no longer have to keep secrets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In our vocabulary today, we have a term that we didn't have in the '40s, and that's biracial.

MATTINGLY: Others call it the end of a culture of silence. When Jack Bass co-authored an unauthorized biography called "Ol' Strom" just six years ago, it included a chapter on Thurmond's then-rumored biracial daughter.

He now applauds the Thurmond family, who wish to meet with Williams and her children privately. And he credits them with showing other families how to break with old racial traditions.

JACK BASS, THURMOND BIOGRAPHER: Some people said perhaps that will be Strom Thurmond's greatest legacy in terms of racial issues.

MATTINGLY (on camera): And it is a legacy honored in bronze and stone prominently in South Carolina. Essie Mae Williams said she would like to see a change to these public monuments. She would like to see her name etched in stone alongside that of the other four Thurmond children.

David Mattingly, Columbia, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Before we go to our break, our "MONEYLINE" roundup, and it begins with the world's biggest stock exchange.

Today the SEC approved a plan to split the jobs of chairman and chief executive officer at the New York Stock Exchange and said more radical reforms may lie ahead.

The magazine that proves sex sells made $200 million on the auction block today. Bidders completed for 300 artifacts from "Playboy" magazine. A Marilyn Monroe centerfold from the debut issue sold for almost $18,000. A vintage satin bunny suit went for just over $14,000.

Burbank Airport was renamed Bob Hope Airport today. The beloved entertainer kept a private plane at the regional flying hub, one of the biggest airports in California.

And stocks closed pretty much where they began today, the Dow and S&P 500 up just a bit, the NASDAQ down just a smidgen.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, the split in the church. Episcopalians move close to a schism over a gay bishop. That story as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A battle within the Episcopal Church intensified today when a group of bishops said they are forming a rival network of dioceses and parishes.

They fought the decision to approve an openly gay bishop last August. Now they're taking their protests to another level. It's short of a schism but a challenge, nonetheless.

Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Gene Robinson put on vestments to become the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, opponents finalized plans to, as they see it, set the bishops straight.

BISHOP JACK IKER, FORT WORTH DIOCESE: Repentance is in order for the Episcopal Church.

CANDIOTTI: Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth is one of four bishops forming a network challenging the leadership of the American Episcopal Church, which has 100 dioceses and bishops nationwide. They want to minister to Episcopalians who feel disenfranchised by Robinson's consecration.

Alternate leadership not exactly spelled out.

IKER: It's a message that says we're not giving up, we're not giving in and we're not going away.

CANDIOTTI: The head of the Episcopal Church accepts dissent as routine. After all, church officials say, some of those in the new network still don't recognize women as Episcopal priests, approved long ago.

DAN ENGLAND, EPISCOPAL CHURCH SPOKESMAN: We have been through serious disputes before and have come through them. I have no doubt that will be the case this time.

CANDIOTTI: The new group insists it has the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, trying to keep the worldwide Anglican Communion united. The American Episcopal Church is a relatively small but relatively wealthy member.

The dispute is not only over Robinson's relationship with another man, but the church's recognition that some dioceses are blessing same sex union ceremonies.

IKER: People are concerned about a split within the Episcopal Church surely realize that there's already an internal split.

CANDIOTTI: Church officials predict the church will survive.

ENGLAND: There are so many Episcopalians who still, week by week, go to church. That's the way we'll get through it. We'll get through it by worshipping together.

CANDIOTTI: Bishop Robinson in New Hampshire declined comment.

(on camera) The Episcopal hierarchy may hope the flap over Bishop Gene Robinson may blow over soon, but for now things aren't heading that way.

Some dissenting bishops expect to formalize their new network at a meeting in Texas next month and say they hope their movement will continue to grow. But will it lead to schism?

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A couple of other items making news around the country.

In Ohio, investigators have linked a 16th shooting to others along a stretch of Interstate 270. The latest incident is the seventh link to the same weapon by ballistic tests. It happened Monday. No one was injured.

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan was indicted today on fraud, racketeering and tax charges, stemming from a five-year bribery investigation of Illinois officials.

Prosecutors say Mr. Ryan shared confidential information that allowed associates to benefit from state contracts. In return, he allegedly accepted payoffs, gifts and vacations.

And today Connecticut Governor John Roland made his first public remarks since admitting he accepted gifts from employees and state contractors. The gifts included renovations to his lakefront cottage.

Mr. Roland, who has not about charged with a crime, said today he will press on as governor.

As NEWSNIGHT continues from Washington, it's been 100 years since the Wright brothers first flew. Where have we gone so far? And where are we going next?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's a retired senator from Ohio reliving fond memories tonight. And he isn't the only one.

John Glenn was 8 years old when he first went up in an airplane. You might say it stuck with him. Back then, the airplane was just 26 itself. Today it turned 100.

And at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where man first flew, men and women tried to recapture that moment. They weren't entirely successful except, perhaps, in making a certain retired senator from Ohio feel young again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Wilbur and Orville certainly would have understood. Months of work and over $1 million. Today's attempt to recreate their historic flight of a century ago never got off the ground, coming to an end in a mud puddle.

The Wright brothers crashed, redesigned and crashed again. When they finally flew, their invention redefined the modern world.

NED PRESTON, AVIATION HISTORIAN: The Wright brothers had hoped that aviation would lead to world peace, because it would bring people together. Well, it has brought people together. Unfortunately, the world peace is still waiting.

BLITZER: Indeed, it was the use of their invention as a weapon of war that first brought the Wrights to an empty field outside Washington, D.C. After years of demonstrations, they were given a contract to teach Army officers to fly.

CATHERINE ALLEN, DIRECTOR, COLLEGE PARK AVIATION MUSEUM: Only the Wright brothers who knew how to fly the plane. So they came here. This was just an airfield -- it wasn't even an airfield. It was just a field. But it was far enough from the Washington area, they could get away from the crowds.

I mean, you can imagine, this is really the first time that people realized that man could fly.

BLITZER: If Kitty Hawk was the birthplace of powered flight, College Park Airport could be the place where the business of aviation was born.

The oldest continuously operated airport in the world, it hosted the first civilian aviation company, the first airmail service and the first military flight school.

It was only a few years before airplanes were dog fighting over the battlefields of the First World War. It was not something that the inventors had foreseen.

By the Second World War, air power was supreme and eventually carried another weapon thought so terrible that it would end war forever more. But it didn't.

And as the decades passed, aircraft ruled the skies over Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. And as the new century dawned, proved to be equally deadly in terrorists' hands.

The airplane companies that sprang up in this muddy field led to the tremendous leaps in science and engineering that took us to the moon.

But today, only one American aircraft builder is left. No one has returned to the moon in decades. And Russian spaceships supply the international space station.

The first civilian planes took off from here, just joyrides at first. Bigger planes soon carried paying passengers across the country, and then around the world. At first, only for the wealthy few. Now the everyday transport that ties together a global economy, a tiresome maze of long lines and crowded planes.

But for some, the glory of flight still lingers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even after 100 years, we look up at these planes and say, "Well isn't that nice." But we see a kind of near miracle of grace, ingenuity and power floating over our heads to a runway of a distant city. It's kind of wonderful.

BLITZER: No other invention has changed the world so much for good and ill and no other so captures the imagination of all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Up next on NEWSNIGHT: what next? Should man go back to the moon? And where else? We'll talk to the former lunar astronaut Gene Cernan as NEWSNIGHT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: One hundred years after man first took to the air and 34 years since men first walked on the moon, some people now wonder if our horizons aren't, in fact, shrinking.

The Concorde, after all, no longer crosses the ocean at twice the speed of sound, and people no longer travel beyond low earth orbit.

Few people feel this more keenly than Gene Cernan. More than three decades have gone by since he became the last person to set foot on the lunar surface. And not much has happened since then.

Now on the occasion of the Wright brothers' anniversary and amid reports the Bush administration is considering a return to the moon, we thought we'd take the opportunity to check in with Gene Cernan once again.

Welcome back. Thanks very much for joining us.

CAPT. GENE CERNAN, APOLLO 17 ASTRONAUT: Thanks, Wolf. Appreciate being here.

BLITZER: Is this a good idea, to go back to the moon right now?

CERNAN: Well, I think going back to the moon is a good idea if it fits into the bigger puzzle. I think we need to reach out there a little bit further.

I've been an advocate, in order to stimulate the imagination and inspire our young kids as to have a goal -- a generation out there in the future, an attainable goal but a challenging goal like Mars. I've been a strong Mars advocate.

And if going back to the moon is part of that initiative, is part of the program, fits the puzzle, then we ought to go back to the moon.

BLITZER: All right. Tell our viewers why that would be so important. Why is it important to go to Mars?

CERNAN: Why was it important for Columbus to sail across the ocean? You know, maybe because it's there. I don't know.

And I don't mean to play light of it, but curiosity is the essence of human existence. It's, you know, who we are, where we are, where did we come from? That's part of it.

But I think we are destined as a country to be the leader of not just a free world, the entire word. Technologically as well as spiritually, if you will.

And I don't think there's any question but that we will go on to Mars. We will eventually see man, women, humans land on Mars and explore the solar system. I just think it's part of our culture.

BLITZER: As you think about 100 years ago today with the Wright brothers, that no one could have envisioned then, 100 years later, what would be going on right now.

But I know you've given a lot of thought to what we might be able to expect over the next 100 years. And talk a little bit about that.

CERNAN: Well, Wolf, when I was a kid during World War II, who envisioned -- did I ever envision going to the moon? I was just a dreamer, a kid who wanted to fly airplanes, just like thousands and thousands of other kids out there who have a desire for the adventure, the challenge to do something they didn't think was possible to do.

And here we're talking about me having lived on the moon 31 years ago. It's as incredible to me as it sounds, I know, to other people. But I think the 100 years...

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers a picture of -- some pictures of you on the moon in 1972. It brings back probably, I'm sure, a lot of memories for you.

But put on your crystal ball and share with our viewers some of your thoughts about the amazing things that you could easily see happening over the next 100 years.

CERNAN: You know, from the day the Wright brothers first flew to the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon was only two-thirds of a century. We sort of, in my estimation, sort of wasted the last third of the century. So we've got a lot to make up.

The next 100 years, yes, it's going to see us go to Mars and probably on the moon, set up bases, put telescopes on there. Science is going to piggyback; it's going to be important, but there's other reasons we're going to go.

Commercial aircraft. Well, let's stay in space. I think we're going to see people go back to where I once lived, to my own little Camelot on the moon and they could say, "Hey, there's where Neil Armstrong walked."

BLITZER: What are they have going to do there?

CERNAN: Well, they're going to be maybe space tourists, who knows. To go back to an interesting, exciting, maybe historical place like we go back to Gettysburg or Normandy or Pearl Harbor today.

I think we're going to see commercial airplanes cross halfway around the world in two hours. You can go from here and put your show on in Tokyo in two hours. I think we're going to see...

BLITZER: Fly from Washington to Tokyo in two hours? You think you could see that happening?

CERNAN: I think it's going to happen. I think we're going to see, from a technological point of view, aircraft that can fly at 15 times the speed of sound and change their configuration, the way they look and the way they fly, so that they can also land in 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 feet of runway at 120 miles an hour like airplanes do today.

BLITZER: So if President Bush called you into the White House and said, "Gene Cernan, what do you think we should do, what kind of great adventure should we next pursue?"

CERNAN: Not to -- Well, I'm passionate about it, so I would probably try to persuade the president if that ever happened.

But I think our next venture -- our next initiative into space ought to be a far-reaching one, one that is out there and that we put the infrastructure together to get there, educationally, industrially, technologically.

And I'd say, "Mr. President, I want to sign up. I want to go to Mars. I want to" -- My dream today is to see...

BLITZER: How realistic is that? If the U.S. were to put its mind to it and its energy, how quickly do you think men and women could go to Mars?

CERNAN: Well, my dream today is to see others live theirs. And we've got to give them that opportunity. Mars is challenging. It's within reach. We've got to redesign -- I think the rockets that got me to the moon are obsolete. We've got to recreate some technology which allows us to get to Mars in a shorter period of time.

It's within reach. It's doable. Going to Pluto, going to Saturn, they're a little bit outside of my realm of even my dreams.

But Mars is reachable. It's doable. But the important thing is it's a goal. It's something for young kids to grow up and reach out for. And then -- and then let the infrastructure fall in place.

BLITZER: Gene Cernan, you inspire me; I'm sure our viewers as well.

CERNAN: I would like to be the first one on board tomorrow morning if I could go back.

BLITZER: I want to see what happens the next 100 years, as well. Let's see what happens.

CERNAN: Well, thank you. Pleasure being here.

BLITZER: Up next on NEWSNIGHT, we'll update our top stories and preview tomorrow. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Before we go tonight, a recap of our top story. A judge allowing John Hinckley to leave a Washington metal hospital for unsupervised visits with his parents.

Mr. Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan, his press secretary James Brady and two law enforcement officers, was found not guilty by reason of insanity more than 20 years ago. Mental health experts see a little risk in the judge's decision today.

As you might imagine, President Reagan's family has a different opinion.

Tomorrow night on this program, with "Lord of the Rings" fever running hot, a young man who might just be the next ring master. We'll take a look at a teenage author of a hot new fantasy book. Both he and the book are on the rise.

That's NEWSNIGHT for tonight. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer. I'll be back tomorrow. Good night.

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