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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

American Abducted in Iraq; Cardinal Bernard Law Takes Center Stage in Vatican

Aired April 11, 2005 - 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, HOST: Good evening again, everyone, and good to see you.
We begin tonight in Iraq, but not with a battle, at least not with the conventional start. The story we start with tonight has its beginnings a year ago. A young soldier named Matt Maupin, a kid from just outside Cincinnati, who was captured by insurgents. You've likely forgotten about Matt; most people have. But where he grew up, where his family lives, they have neither forgotten nor have they given up hope, and hope at this point is pretty much all they have. The story tonight from CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside a home in Batavia, Ohio, a small suburb of Cincinnati, symbols showing that, here lives a family of a soldier at war, Matt Maupin's family. But inside, the Christmas tree still stands.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's Matt's picture.

CARROLL: Maupin's bedroom is untouched, signs his family is waiting for him to come home.

KEITH MAUPIN, MATT'S FATHER: Tough. I think it's been tough. Emotional. Like an emotional roller coaster. I mean, it doesn't matter, at any time of the day it could change, just, you think of Matt and it changes.

CARROLL: It has been a year since Maupin was taken hostage during an attack on his fuel convoy near Baghdad. Since then he has had a birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He spent his 21st birthday in Iraq, captured.

CARROLL: His sister decided to get married. His wedding invitation sits unopened on the tree.

CAROLYN MAUPIN, MATT'S MOTHER: He's been there every minute of the day. It's been a lonely year without him.

CARROLL: A week after Maupin's capture, they released a tape of him. Two months later, a grainy tape, showing a soldier who was later killed. But the U.S. military called that tape inconclusive, saying it can't I.D. who was on it.

K. MAUPIN: Trying to get information I think is the hardest. I mean, there's really nothing that they can tell you. But I think that's the hardest, not knowing.

C. MAUPIN: There's Matt's senior picture.

CARROLL: This is Matt's senior picture here?

C. MAUPIN: Uh-huh, one of them.

CARROLL: Matt's parents live with hope their son is alive. They surround themselves with cards and mementos from well-wishers, and Matt's pictures, from when he was a baby to high school. They say he loves football, and as a soldier in the army reserves.

C. MAUPIN: His soldier pose.

CARROLL: His soldier pose.

C. MAUPIN: Of course, we always have our angels.

CARROLL: Take a drive through Batavia: the community has not given up on Matt either.

K. MAUPIN: Just truly amazing.

C. MAUPIN: Very much so, because they've always been there. And they comfort us. They're right there with anything we would ask.

CARROLL: They say prayers and support help. It leaves them with a question they'd like to ask Matt.

C. MAUPIN: Are your shoulders getting heavy from all the prayers you're feeling over here? I wonder. I want to ask him that one day. Did you feel it?

CARROLL: They pray they'll get their chance to ask him soon.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Batavia, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: An American was abducted today in Iraq, snatched off a construction site in Baghdad. That's all the embassy will say about it. It will not reveal his name or the name of the company he works for, although we are told his family has been notified.

Since Americans are automatic targets, any job held by an American can be considered a dangerous line of work. That means armed guards and armored vehicles are a necessity.

From Baghdad, here's CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had his windows open...

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The last moments of safety before leaving the green zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, if we do encounter any problems or anything on the way, come under attack or something like that, we're going to stay in the vehicle.

ROBERTSON: Engineer John Crechemer (ph) is on his way to inspect a U.S.-funded power plant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't physically witnessed any explosions or attacks, but I keep thinking every time I go out it will be the time I'll see something or perhaps something will happen to us.

ROBERTSON: Also in the armored car, his colleague Rick Whitaker. Both men know this journey could cost their lives. But they have to make it. They have to see the $200 million project they're supervising.

RICK WHITAKER, USAID SENIOR TEAM LEADER: Anybody who wants to kill an American knows that they have the best chance outside the green zone.

ROBERTSON: How do you feel about that?

WHITAKER: I wish it weren't true. But I know it is true. And it is just one more reason that we have to restrict our travel.

ROBERTSON: As they make the dangerous run, two surveillance helicopters buzz overhead. Even more security than their usual weekly dashes through the city. With roadside, suicide and car bombs a growing threat, just sitting in traffic is stressful.

WHITAKER: We've all been in meetings where people started yelling at each other and get very intense. And I think that's a reflection of kind of constant fear people are living under, that your emotions are much closer to the surface.

ROBERTSON: But intense security takes more than a human toll. It eats into productivity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The security costs for our contractors are escalating. And since the issuance of the contracts, costs have gone up. And the contractors are asking for relief from the costs.

ROBERTSON: No incidents on the way to the site.

Even inside the compound, security remains tight. Between them Crechemar and Whitaker have more than 40 years power-generating experience. But no experience prepared them for this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a truckload of cable that was due to be delivered last week, and the convoy was attacked and one of the trucks was destroyed. And we lost four reels of very important cable.

What's this foundation for? Is this the control room?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, this is part of the...

ROBERTSON: This new power plant is paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Crechemar and Whitaker are on their first inspection for several months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are making progress, but it's amazing to me still when I come out here and see how we're working in this environment, bringing the material in, getting it done.

ROBERTSON: Almost anywhere but Iraq, this plant would be built in a year. Here, it will take at least six months longer.

WHITAKER: The most recent high moment was actually getting the turbine generators in here, coming out of Jordan, because transport on the roads today is iffy. And these were such big targets.

ROBERTSON: Despite the security setbacks, plant officials expect to have this and several other power-generating plants currently being built, on line by the end of the summer, helping supply another one million Iraqi homes with electricity.

The inspection over, time to leave. Back into the armored car. Out on to the streets. The dash back to the green zone. So why would two engineers who could work anywhere, put themselves through this?

WHITAKER: To be here when history is going on, I think is a big attraction. Probably for all of us.

ROBERTSON: And put their families through it, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call my wife once a day. But I always advise her on the days that I will be out of the green zone.

ROBERTSON: What does she say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful.

ROBERTSON: What do you say to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll do my best.

ROBERTSON: This time, best is good enough. Relief back in the green zone, minutes from that reassuring call home.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And now to the Vatican where a large part of the story is playing out tonight beneath the shroud of media silence. Cardinals say nothing in the run-up to the conclave next week when they'll begin the process of choosing a new pope. This is and will be a major story for a while. But for members of the church in the United States, there are others, too. Today a central figure in the priest sex abuse scandal took to the altar in the Vatican, center stage, if you will, and so reporting from Vatican City tonight, here's CNN's Jim Bittermann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For any priest, any parishioner and any Catholic Mass, the first order of business is to ask God for forgiveness. But this was not any priest and not any mass. This was Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Archbishop of Boston, celebrating mass at the papal altar of St. Peter's Basilica.

BARBARA BLAINE, SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM: I think Cardinal Law needs to take a back seat position in the church.

BITTERMANN: Barbara Blaine, who says as a girl she was sexually abused by a priest, was so outraged about Law that she and one other member of the victims abuse organization S.N.A.P. flew 5,000 miles to protest. Blaine said there would not have been so much sex abuse in the Boston Archdiocese if Law had acted appropriately.

BLAINE: He's seen as the poster child of the sex abuse scandal in the United States. So, where he goes, it just reopens wounds and it's embarrassing and painful to bring up the sex abuse scandal.

BITTERMANN: But, in the eyes of the Vatican, Law has paid for his sins, forced to give up his powerful post as archbishop of Boston, he was assigned to a much less demanding role as archpriest of this Roman church, Santa Maria Majore, a sinecure that permits Law to serve on seven important Vatican committees. As for the right to say Mass in the pope's memory, Vatican experts say it's a question of job description.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, it is traditional that the archpriest of St. Mary Major celebrates this mass. Law is the arch priest of St. Mary Major celebrates this mass, which is held on behalf of the Patriarchal Basilica. Law, of course, is the archpriest of St. Mary Major, therefore it's not like any at the Vatican decided let's give Bernie Law this platform. It simply is one of the privileges of his position.

BITTERMANN: Only about 25 of the 150 cardinals now in Rome, attended the Monday mass. A great majority of cardinal Law's American counterparts stayed away. The two American women were the only visible protesters at St. Peter's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Had he not been so well protected, he may -- he may have found himself actually in jail. Our goal is not to be concerned about punishing Cardinal Law. Our goal is to help victims to heal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the journalist asking the question right here.

BITTERMANN: That protection extended even to Vatican Square, where Italian police evicted reporters trying to interview the two protesters. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Vatican City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: It's often said that perception is reality. And fair to say that what mattered most to many people today, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, was that Cardinal Law, no matter what anyone said, appeared to have been given a great honor. Seen through the eyes of many Catholics in Boston, an honor that opened many old wounds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): To many in Boston, Cardinal Law and the word "forgiveness" simply don't go together.

MARGERY EGAN, COLUMNIST, "THE BOSTON HERALD": It is just inconceivable and just enraging to see Cardinal Law saying mass as we saw this morning, swaying the incense around. These poor survivors went all the way over to Rome, only to have the flyers taken right out of their hands and not even be able to get their message out. It was awful.

BROWN: Deposed, disgraced and basically run out of town to a job in Rome, that sounds like a much bigger deal than it actually is.

ALLEN: I mean, essentially your job is to make sure the lights are on for Mass on Sunday. And so I think, basically, this was considered a soft landing for a guy who from the pope's point of view, had put in a lifetime of faithful service to the church. But obviously also had ended his career in Boston in disgrace.

BROWN: And for the church, no matter what critics say in Boston, that is punishment enough.

ALLEN: What they would say to shun or ostracize him beyond that, is to capitulate to a kind of lynch mob mentality that is foreign to the thinking of the church. After all, if there's going to be redemption, there has to be redemption for Bernie Law as well.

BROWN: But what the church sees as redemption, the cardinals critics in Boston see as a slap in the face. Yet another example of Cardinal Law's failure to understand the sins committed, and sometimes ignored on his watch.

EGAN: He could get the flu. He could have a cold. He could get a toothache. He could need a root canal. He could do a million things besides sort of reopening the wounds. You know, how you can have such a blind spot. How you can be up there calling yourself the moral leader of the world or, you know, a church that's supposed to be about moral leadership. And just ignore the biggest crime committed in the 20th century in his name, I don't understand it. I just do not understand it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The story out of the Vatican tonight.

Still ahead on the program tonight, the war on terror and a question of imagination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My plan is to release bubonic plague in a form of an aerosolized attack.

BROWN: She's got two good reasons for planning mass murderer. The bad guys are doing it, and it will be on the midterm exam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today we're going to pick up looking at tactics.

BROWN: Just ahead tonight, preventing the unthinkable, by getting students to think about it.

Also tonight proof that the Michael Jackson story can always get a little stranger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got the sense that she sold her son. You got the sense that she received a gold bracelet, she received a necklace, she received a ring.

BROWN: And later, a story of friendship and dedication and love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For mom, it was beyond black and white or above black and white. She was really and truly the only color-blind person I've ever known.

BROWN: Two women and their enduring connection, because this after all is NEWSNIGHT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In just a moment, the price one man paid for helping a friend end his life. But first, at about a quarter past the hour, we'll look at some of the other stories that made news today.

Erica Hill joins us in Atlanta -- Erica.

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Aaron, good to see you. Welcome back to the States.

We start off actually with some information that's just coming in to us here. A developing story at CNN. We're just learning now that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has just landed recently in Baghdad, early Tuesday morning local time there, an unannounced visit. We're being told he'll meet with officials of the new Iraqi government, as well as understandably, U.S. commanders and American troops. Again, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld now in Baghdad. And we will continue to follow the story for you and bring you more details as we have them. Meantime, the story we were following throughout the day today, a lengthy standoff in New Jersey has now ended safely. A man surrendered peacefully just a few hours ago. Earlier this afternoon, he held his 4-month-old daughter and the baby's mother hostage in a car for more than three hours. And that was after he allegedly shot the child's grandfather, and led police on a high speed chase. Police say the man had threatened to commit suicide, but instead surrendered after his mother pleaded with him to give himself up.

An unidentified man is now in custody after causing a security scare at the U.S. Capitol Building. Authorities tackled the man who brought two rolling suitcases to a small plaza on the west front of the Capitol. And then stood with his hands behind his back facing the building. Now, he said, he wanted to see the president. Well, he was tackled by members of a SWAT team. Nothing hazardous, though, was found inside the suitcases.

Martha Stewart will serve out here full sentence. A federal judge today rejected a request by her lawyers to change her sentence. They argued home detention is actually damaging Stewart's business and wanted a shorter sentence or one that would allow her to leave her home more often. Stewart is serving five months home detention. It ends in August. She's allowed to leave home for work 48 hours a week. Her sentence was the minimum she could have received under the guidelines for her crimes.

And that is the latest from Headline News at this hour. Aaron, back to you.

BROWN: Erica, thank you. See you in half an hour.

It's fair to say testimony so far in the Michael Jackson trial has been many things, but not bland. Today the focus shifted to the mother of one of Mr. Jackson's alleged victims. That the boy who was at the center of the current case, a different boy, who met the pop star more than a decade ago. He's no longer a boy. These days he's 25, and has decided not to testify at this trial. So in his stead, his mother took the stand.

Reporting for us, CNN's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The mother of one of Michael Jackson's alleged victims broke down on the stand saying, she regrets trusting Jackson with her then 13-year-old boy. The woman detailed his alleged relationship with Jackson, which she said started after she gave the pop star her son's phone number following a chance meeting in 1992. The mother testified that phone calls started, some lasting up to 90 minutes; then an invitation to Neverland. And within a few months, she said, her family was traveling the world with Jackson, and her son was sleeping in his bed.

One of the trips, she said, was to Monaco, where her son sat on Jackson's lap at the 1993 World Music Awards. ANNE BREMNER, LEGAL ANALYST: He's a very charming, I think, individual. Somebody that was able to persuade this mother that he would not hurt her son. And she believed that.

ROWLANDS: The mother said Michael Jackson convinced her to allow her son to share his bed on a trip to Las Vegas, after she said Jackson cried and asked her, quote, "don't you trust me? We're family." The woman said Jackson ended up sleeping at her house, spending more than 30 nights, each time she said Jackson slept with her son in his room.

The woman said Jackson bought her gifts, including handbags, jewelry and a $7,000 boutique gift certificate.

JIM MORET, POOL REPORTER: You got the sense that she sold her son. You got the sense she received a gold bracelet, she received a necklace, she received a ring. In return, the implication is she allowed Michael Jackson to sleep at her house with her son for 30 nights.

ROWLANDS: On cross-examination, the mother admitted she hasn't talked to her son in 11 years, saying it wasn't her choice. She also admitted that she never saw any abuse, and that at times she was comfortable with Jackson sharing his bed with her son.

The mother was the latest in a series of witnesses allowed to testify about Michael Jackson's past. Her son, the accuser, is not expected to take the stand.

Jackson currently faces four counts of lewd acts on a minor, and has pleaded not guilty.

(on camera): The mother of the 1993 alleged victim is the 51st witness to testify for the prosecution. Prosecutors told the judge that they expect to bring the mother of the current accuser to the stand in the next few days.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In a month that's been consumed with issues of life and death, we return tonight to a case of assisted suicide, a case that to many people was anything but clear-cut. At its heart, two men, two old friends, neither young. One strong enough to work for the volunteer fire department; the other sick enough and in enough pain to consider life no longer worth living. And in between, the law.

Here's CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cornwall, Connecticut is the kind of town where everybody knows everybody, and where friends go back a long way.

Take Hunt Williams and John Welles.

CHARLES GOLD, FRIEND: They had a lot of respect for each other as individuals. They accepted people for what they were.

FEYERICK: Hunt Williams is the kind of guy you can always count on. 74, he still works as a volunteer medic.

SKIP KOSCIUSKO, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER: All times of day and night. And I know I can always count on Cornwall 27 signing on. And Cornwall 27 is Hunt Williams.

FEYERICK: John Welles was different. He moved with the seasons, embracing life in a way people envied.

GOLD: John was John. And I think that if people didn't like John, he just said, fine, that's their problem, and he went on and did his own thing his own way.

FEYERICK: It's how he lived. It's how he would die, months after being diagnosed with late stage cancer that had spread to his spine.

GOLD: He said, I'm not interested in ending up as a vegetable with a bunch of tubes sticking out of me while people poke me and stick stuff into me. And so I sort of said, well, what do you do? And he says, I think what I do is enjoy my life as much as I can for the next week or month, as it lasts, and when the time comes, I'll know it and I'll end it, and that will be that.

FEYERICK: Charles Gold knows both men. He tells the story the last time the two were together, John Welles suffering unbearable pain.

GOLD: When Hunt arrived, he didn't know that John had decided that that was the morning that he was going to end it. It just happened to happen on Hunt's watch.

FEYERICK (on camera): According to the police report, Hunt Williams arrived at the house early that morning. He was met by a friend who said, quote, "John needs to do this." Williams said he was ready to honor John's wishes. So he cleaned out Welles' .38 caliber revolver, told him the best place to aim, then carried the gun outside. Welles followed him, leaning on a walker. Williams began to head down the driveway. And that's when he heard a single shot.

(voice-over): In the police report, Williams is quoted saying, "this is what John wanted. I had a comfortable feeling that this was right for him, knowing the man."

The death of his friend was hard on Williams.

PHIL WEST, JOHN WELLES' STEP-SON: I saw him that morning. And I know he wasn't going down there planning on doing that. So it was just sort of what happened while he was there.

FEYERICK (on camera): Do the words "assisted suicide" or "I helped him kill himself" ever come into the conversation?

WEST: No, not at all.

FEYERICK (voice-over): But when prosecutors analyzed the police report and looked at the law defining assisted suicide, they concluded that Williams had done just that.

CHRISTOPHER MORANO, CHIEF STATE'S ATTORNEY: There are two things you look at: Aids or causes.

FEYERICK: Christopher Morano, the chief state's attorney, says prosecutors had no choice but to charge Williams.

MORANO: Cleaning a gun, showing how to use it, making sure that it's available, and anything else to aid the person in achieving a suicide they want to commit definitely comes within this statute.

FEYERICK: In January, Williams was charged with second-degree manslaughter, a crime that could have sent him to prison for 10 years. At 74, a lifetime.

Late last week, with his friends in court, the judge said Williams would not go to jail, not even for a day. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), an unusual ruling under the state's law, the right ruling to his friends.

BARBARA BARTLETT, JOHN WELLES' SISTER: He did a wonderful favor for my brother. A friend when you needed a friend.

FEYERICK: A friend in a town where it seems no one ever believed a crime was committed.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Cornwall, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on the program tonight, two women, one black, one white, and the promise that changed their lives. A terrific story coming up.

Take a break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There are people who help change the world in ways large and small. Where this country's great unfinished piece of business is concerned, the business of race, the list of such people is a long one. Sixty years ago last month, a white woman in Michigan traveled to Alabama, because she felt she could not, in good conscience, stay home. She left behind her family and her best friend. And this is about the promises that changed everything that followed.

It's reported for us by CNN's Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They had both grown up poor in the South. Sarah Evans in Mississippi, Viola Liuzzo in Tennessee. Both women moved north to Detroit where, near the end of World War II, they met. Viola went into a store where Sarah was a clerk and asked the store owner for rationed black pepper.

MARY LIUZZO LILLEBOE, DAUGHTER OF VIOLA LIUZZO: Mom walked in and said, do you have any pepper and the woman said, oh, no, we don't, and Sarah said, oh, yes, you do. And my mom said, hey, you're my kind of people.

MONZIA WILLIAMS, DAUGHTER OF SARAH EVANS: From that they became good friends, and they started talking and got acquainted. And they was on the same page.

NISSEN: Viola had money to hire Sarah to help with housework and baby-sitting. But Viola's daughter says the two women would do the chores together, then sit talking over coffee for hours. A black woman and white woman, best friends.

LILLEBOE: For mom it was beyond black and white or above black and white. She was really and truly the only color-blind person I've ever known.

NISSEN: Vie's five children and Sarah's grandchildren were constant playmates despite stares from the neighbors.

TYRONE GREENE, GRANDSON OF SARAH EVANS: I knew my mom would get strange looks and whatnot, but that's how Viola was. She was just -- she didn't have these old hang-ups that most people have.

NISSEN: Viola was dismayed by racism, horrified by what was happening down south. On March 7th, 1965, she watched in anger and sorrow TV scenes of police battling civil rights marchers in Selma.

PENNY LIUZZO HERRINGTON, DAUGHTER OF VIOLA LIUZZO: I remember her standing up and crying. I remember this so clear, in our living room.

NISSEN: When Viola heard Dr. Martin Luther King ask Americans of conscience to come to Alabama, join the march for change, Viola decided to go.

GREENE: Of course she knew how dangerous it was. But that was her destiny to go down there and be a part of something to make somebody's life better.

NISSEN: In a 2003 documentary, "Home of the Brave," filmmaker Paola di Florio spoke to Sarah Evans about a conversation the two women had just before Viola left for Alabama.

SARAH EVANS: Viola says to me, before she left, to promise her something: if anything happens, would I take care of her kids for her. And I told her I would.

NISSEN: Viola Liuzzo was among the thousands who walked from Selma to Montgomery in March of 1965. On March 25th, she called her family.

HERRINGTON: She said, the march is over. I'm going to be coming home. We were all really happy.

NISSEN: Viola Liuzzo would not make it home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where it happened, on Route 80, Lowndesboro, Alabama.

NISSEN: Viola's body was found in her car. She'd been shot in the head. Four men would later be charged in her death, three of them members of the Ku Klux Klan, one an FBI informant.

HERRINGTON: The phone rang at midnight, and my dad started screaming, mommy's dead, mommy's dead.

SALLY LIUZZO PRADO, DAUGHTER OF VIOLA LIUZZO: I just remember going out and dad was screaming and saying -- and all of you guys were on the couch crying. And the place was already full of reporters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think she would have wanted it this way?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knowing my wife, yes. Knowing my wife, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about that, Penny?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the way my mother was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tommy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wanted equal rights for everybody no matter what the cost was.

NISSEN: Sarah came as soon as she heard.

HERRINGTON: Almost from the minute we knew, there was Sarah, loving us and taking care of us.

NISSEN: Sarah helped them through the blur of the next few days, through Viola's funeral, tended by Dr. King and other dignitaries. The family was devastated. Sarah was devastated.

LILLEBOE: The hurt that Sarah went through, losing her very best, dear -- I mean, they were so, so close.

WILLIAMS: I don't think she ever got over it. I don't think my mother ever got over it.

GREENE: She remembered what she had told her. I got to raise those kids.

NISSEN: After the funeral, Sarah moved in.

HERRINGTON: She spent five days a week with us. And the weekends with her family. NISSEN: It was a terrible time for the Liuzzo's. Vicious rumors were spread that Viola had abandoned her family to consort with a black lover in Alabama, that Viola got what she deserved.

LILLEBOE: They quit delivering the mail to our house because the hate mail was so horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You guys used to burn the hate mail before dad would see it, right, you and Sarah?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes,.

NISSEN: Sarah would tell Viola's children, your mom is a hero. Trust that. You'll see. They did, in time. Outrage over Viola's death helped President Lyndon Johnson muster support in Congress for passage of the Voting Rights Act.

LILLEBOE: At that time, it took the murder of a white woman to really get the attention of our government and of our people.

NISSEN: Over the years, people forgot the name of that white woman who was killed in Alabama. Her children grew up with Sarah.

SARAH WILLIAMS, GRANDDAUGHTER OF SARAH EVANS: She was always a part of their life and giving them advice, the same advice that she would give us.

M. WILLIAMS: She would always say pretty is as pretty does.

S. WILLIAMS: That was her famous saying. And you would...

PRADO: She would say, you're so pretty, Sally. You need to act pretty.

NISSEN: Sarah attended the Liuzzo's graduations, weddings, the christenings of their children, standing in for her friend Viola, keeping her promise.

PRADO: She was the mother figure to me. All the way up until she died.

NISSEN: Sarah Evans died in January at the age of 94.

LILLEBOE: We were sad for a moment, but then I think all three of us had this picture of that reunion in heaven. And I just was filled with such a joy that they -- my mom and Sarah -- were together again. They knew what was important in life. And they lived for what was important in life.

NISSEN: Fairness, justice, the courage to fight for both, and living a life of selfless love.

WILLIAMS: It is possible. Maybe not for the whole society. But, you know, one step here, one step there. But it is possible. And we know it's possible because we seen two women live that.

NISSEN: Sarah and Viola.

Beth Nissen, CNN, Detroit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Waiting 60 years for that story.

Still to come tonight, teaching the students of today how to become the terrorists of tomorrow and why that's a good thing. And it is.

And later, morning papers, which 99 times out of 100 is a good thing, too. We'll talk a break first. This is NEWSNIGHT, from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: 26th of January, we'd say bad day, it is April already.

In our security watch tonight, someone, somewhere is planning to kill you. To kill you, then go out and get a beer, maybe download a song or two, and then call mom and dad and ask for more money. And what's more, you might even be glad they're doing what they're doing. And if you're mom or your dad, you might even be proud. An explanation tonight from CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lauren Rajczak is plotting a terrorist attack against the United States.

LAUREN RAJCZAK, COLLEGE STUDENT: My plan is to release a pneumonic plague in the form of aerosolize attack using a personal device and placing it in women's bathrooms across America and shopping malls during the peak shopping season.

ARENA: She spent hours scouring the Internet for information on the plague and hit the jack pot.

RAJCZAK: Things like information about the storage capability of the plague, things like specific animals that carry plague.

ARENA: And she's meticulous conducting surveillance of shopping malls in the Washington area.

RAJCZAK: Going in kind of look at how often they did their bathroom checks, whether they did them every hour, whether they did them every two hours, what ever was necessary.

ARENA: Sure looks like she's up to no good. But, Rajczak, a junior at George Mason University in Northern Virginia...

DENNIS PLUCHINSKY, FMR. STATE DEPT. INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: You could activate this bomb either by.

ARENA: ... is merely doing her homework. RAJCZAK: It's scary how much is on the Internet. One thing I've learned through this class is there's nothing you can't find on the Internet.

PLUCHINSKY: Today we're going to pick up looking at tactics, tactics which is basically the method of attack that terrorist groups carry out.

ARENA: Dennis Pluchinsky teaches the terrorism course. He just retired after nearly three decades at the State Department analyzing terror threats.

PLUCHINSKY: If you get into the shoes of the terrorists. If you know exactly the steps that they're going to go through when they're planning an attack, and say you become an intelligence analyst or law enforcement officer, you're going to be aware of those steps. And so you're going to be looking for those steps.

ARENA: Like Rajczak, many students come up with plans to attack so-called soft targets like shopping malls, schools and subway systems. Pluchinsky says he hands over the really good plots to the government, with his students' permission.

PLUCHINSKY: The country is just so vulnerable, it's incredible. Reading these students' papers just underlines that point.

ARENA: It's not the first time the government has gotten help from unconventional sources. John Mclaughlin, the former acting CIA director recalls the agency consulting with science fiction writers.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What al Qaeda achieved on 9/11 above all else was surprise. And what they will try to achieve the next time they mount an attack is surprise. And so, therefore, anything that helps us think through how they might surprise us has potential value.

ARENA: He tries to reduce the risk of impressionable students getting the wrong idea by keeping plots private. There is no discussion of them in class, and they are not posted on the Web. And we're not revealing key details of Rajczak's plot. Many students in this class say they want to work in intelligence. Rajczak says she'd like to get a job working with the military.

RAJCZACK: I'd rather be one of the ones on the front line protecting us, than I would having to go through what I went through on September 11, watching, you know, things like that. Watching the buildings fall.

ARENA: For CNN's America bureau, Kelli Arena in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, we'll check on some of the other stories that made news this day. And then our anniversary series recalls the story of a young man forced to mutilate himself to save his own life. Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In just a moment, a story of courage. What one man did or had to do to survive. It's part of our then and now series. But now, at about a quarter to the hour, Erica Hill, in Atlanta, with some of the other stories that made news today. Miss Hill.

HILL: Thank you, Aaron.

First up, an unannounced trip to Baghdad for the secretary of state. CNN has learned Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad less than an hour ago. While there he plans to meet with members of the newly formed Iraqi government as well as U.S. military officials and troops.

In the meantime, back in the state side, President Bush says Israel must honor its commitment to stop the expansion of settlements on the West Bank. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the president's ranch in Texas today. Sharon says, it may be "too early" to discuss what will happen to large Jewish settlements on the West Bank. President Bush emphasized the road map for peace in the Middle East clearly says there will be no expansion.

U.S. troop deployments Iraq and other combat zones will be limited now to one year. A memo released by the Pentagon today says, any extension beyond the 12-month limit would have to be approved by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Now, the memo clarifies the military's position on deployment limits. During the run-up to the Iraqi elections, thousands of U.S. troops were required to serve more than a 12-month tour.

The FDA is giving silicone breast implants another look at an emotional hearing today. Women who blame leaking silicone implants for crippling health problems face women who call the implants the best option. The acting director for FDA's Device Evaluation Division stresses any final decision will be based on scientific data. The FDA banned most uses of silicone implants 13 years ago.

And filling your tank. In case you hadn't noticed, getting even more painful. The average price of gasoline up again, setting another record high at $2.29 a gallon for regular unleaded. The Lundberg Survey, says the price is up 19 cents in just the last three weeks. But the cost of crude oil is dropping. At least one analyst believes prices may have reached their peak.

Aaron, I'll believe that one when I see it. That's the latest from Headline News. Back to you.

BROWN: That's so cynical, my goodness.

On we go. Aron Ralston, is it not a name most people will recognize. But most people will remember what he did. It is unforgettable. His story tonight as we continue our anniversary series "Then and Now."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARON RALSTON: My name is Aron Ralston. My parents have called me Don (ph) and Larry Ralston and they moved to Colorado.

BROWN (voice-over): His name may not be familiar, but Aron Ralston's desperate act of survival became headline news in the spring of 2003. The 27-year-old was climbing alone in a remote Utah canyon when his right hand became pinned under an 800 pound boulder. For six days he was trapped with little food and water until he took drastic action.

RALSTON: I reached for the knife, said out loud to myself, "Here we go, Aron, you're in it now." Very calmly and collectively went about the process of thrusting the knife into my arm.

BROWN: After cutting off his arm, Ralston still had to rappel down a cliff, and then hike five miles to find help.

After several surgeries and a painful recovery, he was climbing mountains just a few months later.

Ralston chronicled the experience in his book, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." He is now a motivational speaker, sharing the lessons he learned.

RALSTON: Given the impossible can be overcome by courage and perseverance.

BROWN: Ralston is still climbing mountains, with the help of a custom climbing arm. He recently summitted Mount Aquenguagua (ph) in Argentina. He says the drive to climb the next mountain is what sustains him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Okey-doke. Time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.

This was impossible to do in Rome, because you couldn't get papers. They were all in Italian.

"The Washington Post." I don't know. They just started sending us the paper, for which we are very grateful. So here's "The Washington Post's" lead tomorrow. "Bolton" -- that's John Bolton -- talks of restoring confidence at the U.N." -- or "In the U.N." And I would dare say there are some people who think that he's not the right choice, because he hasn't always said the kindest things about the U.N. But they'll fight that out in Congress. They seem to be fighting everything else out in Congress.

"Christian Science Monitor." "Pentagon's Long List of Bases to Close." Next month's proposal for the biggest ever round of cuts could transform both the military and many communities.

I like this story, too, over here. Can you get it? "No Thanks, Harvard, I Found a Better Fit." It's about kids who turned down their acceptance to Harvard. This was an opportunity that never presented itself to me -- the -- or any other university for that matter.

"The International Herald Tribune." "In Picking a New Pope, A Key Issue is Islam." "John Paul II Backed Talks, but Some Question That Policy." There's this disagreement about whether there ought to be dialogue or confrontation with Islam. It's actually very interesting and worthy of a front-page story in my estimation.

Out in Oregon, out West, "Oregon Job Picture Looking Up," "The Unemployment Rate Hits Its Lowest Level Since 2001. More Well-Paying Jobs Available." Those are the best kind.

"The Star Tribune" in Minneapolis. We don't normally get that either, the Twin Cities. I'm not sure they -- yes, they say it's the newspaper of the Twin Cities. It's really Minneapolis. "Wireless Internet Service for All." "Minneapolis," see what I mean? "Envisions City-Wide WiFi Network." Somebody's going to object to that. But I think that's a great idea.

And here is a great headline for you. "The Boston Herald." "Joy of Sox." Red Sox got their World Series rings today and raised their World Series banner, and pounded the tar out of the Yankees. So it was a pretty good day in Boston.

Down in the corner of the "Rocky Mountain News," "Retiring CEO Will Earn $22,500 an hour." Not a bad gig there.

Or is this a bad gig? "Merrill Lynch Chief Gets $31.3 Million Bonus." You know, I was either going to become this or the head of Merrill Lynch.

The weather tomorrow in Chicago for the first time in a while, "aspritzer." I guess it's going to rain there.

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: That retired guy makes $23,000 an hour. It sounds like a lot, but it's only $66,000 a day. Or $830,000 a week. So it's really not that much. He's retired.

Good to have you with us tonight. It's nice to be back in the country. We'll see you again tomorrow, 10:00 o'clock Eastern Time. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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


Aired April 11, 2005 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone, and good to see you.
We begin tonight in Iraq, but not with a battle, at least not with the conventional start. The story we start with tonight has its beginnings a year ago. A young soldier named Matt Maupin, a kid from just outside Cincinnati, who was captured by insurgents. You've likely forgotten about Matt; most people have. But where he grew up, where his family lives, they have neither forgotten nor have they given up hope, and hope at this point is pretty much all they have. The story tonight from CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside a home in Batavia, Ohio, a small suburb of Cincinnati, symbols showing that, here lives a family of a soldier at war, Matt Maupin's family. But inside, the Christmas tree still stands.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's Matt's picture.

CARROLL: Maupin's bedroom is untouched, signs his family is waiting for him to come home.

KEITH MAUPIN, MATT'S FATHER: Tough. I think it's been tough. Emotional. Like an emotional roller coaster. I mean, it doesn't matter, at any time of the day it could change, just, you think of Matt and it changes.

CARROLL: It has been a year since Maupin was taken hostage during an attack on his fuel convoy near Baghdad. Since then he has had a birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He spent his 21st birthday in Iraq, captured.

CARROLL: His sister decided to get married. His wedding invitation sits unopened on the tree.

CAROLYN MAUPIN, MATT'S MOTHER: He's been there every minute of the day. It's been a lonely year without him.

CARROLL: A week after Maupin's capture, they released a tape of him. Two months later, a grainy tape, showing a soldier who was later killed. But the U.S. military called that tape inconclusive, saying it can't I.D. who was on it.

K. MAUPIN: Trying to get information I think is the hardest. I mean, there's really nothing that they can tell you. But I think that's the hardest, not knowing.

C. MAUPIN: There's Matt's senior picture.

CARROLL: This is Matt's senior picture here?

C. MAUPIN: Uh-huh, one of them.

CARROLL: Matt's parents live with hope their son is alive. They surround themselves with cards and mementos from well-wishers, and Matt's pictures, from when he was a baby to high school. They say he loves football, and as a soldier in the army reserves.

C. MAUPIN: His soldier pose.

CARROLL: His soldier pose.

C. MAUPIN: Of course, we always have our angels.

CARROLL: Take a drive through Batavia: the community has not given up on Matt either.

K. MAUPIN: Just truly amazing.

C. MAUPIN: Very much so, because they've always been there. And they comfort us. They're right there with anything we would ask.

CARROLL: They say prayers and support help. It leaves them with a question they'd like to ask Matt.

C. MAUPIN: Are your shoulders getting heavy from all the prayers you're feeling over here? I wonder. I want to ask him that one day. Did you feel it?

CARROLL: They pray they'll get their chance to ask him soon.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Batavia, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: An American was abducted today in Iraq, snatched off a construction site in Baghdad. That's all the embassy will say about it. It will not reveal his name or the name of the company he works for, although we are told his family has been notified.

Since Americans are automatic targets, any job held by an American can be considered a dangerous line of work. That means armed guards and armored vehicles are a necessity.

From Baghdad, here's CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had his windows open...

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The last moments of safety before leaving the green zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, if we do encounter any problems or anything on the way, come under attack or something like that, we're going to stay in the vehicle.

ROBERTSON: Engineer John Crechemer (ph) is on his way to inspect a U.S.-funded power plant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't physically witnessed any explosions or attacks, but I keep thinking every time I go out it will be the time I'll see something or perhaps something will happen to us.

ROBERTSON: Also in the armored car, his colleague Rick Whitaker. Both men know this journey could cost their lives. But they have to make it. They have to see the $200 million project they're supervising.

RICK WHITAKER, USAID SENIOR TEAM LEADER: Anybody who wants to kill an American knows that they have the best chance outside the green zone.

ROBERTSON: How do you feel about that?

WHITAKER: I wish it weren't true. But I know it is true. And it is just one more reason that we have to restrict our travel.

ROBERTSON: As they make the dangerous run, two surveillance helicopters buzz overhead. Even more security than their usual weekly dashes through the city. With roadside, suicide and car bombs a growing threat, just sitting in traffic is stressful.

WHITAKER: We've all been in meetings where people started yelling at each other and get very intense. And I think that's a reflection of kind of constant fear people are living under, that your emotions are much closer to the surface.

ROBERTSON: But intense security takes more than a human toll. It eats into productivity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The security costs for our contractors are escalating. And since the issuance of the contracts, costs have gone up. And the contractors are asking for relief from the costs.

ROBERTSON: No incidents on the way to the site.

Even inside the compound, security remains tight. Between them Crechemar and Whitaker have more than 40 years power-generating experience. But no experience prepared them for this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a truckload of cable that was due to be delivered last week, and the convoy was attacked and one of the trucks was destroyed. And we lost four reels of very important cable.

What's this foundation for? Is this the control room?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, this is part of the...

ROBERTSON: This new power plant is paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Crechemar and Whitaker are on their first inspection for several months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are making progress, but it's amazing to me still when I come out here and see how we're working in this environment, bringing the material in, getting it done.

ROBERTSON: Almost anywhere but Iraq, this plant would be built in a year. Here, it will take at least six months longer.

WHITAKER: The most recent high moment was actually getting the turbine generators in here, coming out of Jordan, because transport on the roads today is iffy. And these were such big targets.

ROBERTSON: Despite the security setbacks, plant officials expect to have this and several other power-generating plants currently being built, on line by the end of the summer, helping supply another one million Iraqi homes with electricity.

The inspection over, time to leave. Back into the armored car. Out on to the streets. The dash back to the green zone. So why would two engineers who could work anywhere, put themselves through this?

WHITAKER: To be here when history is going on, I think is a big attraction. Probably for all of us.

ROBERTSON: And put their families through it, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call my wife once a day. But I always advise her on the days that I will be out of the green zone.

ROBERTSON: What does she say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful.

ROBERTSON: What do you say to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll do my best.

ROBERTSON: This time, best is good enough. Relief back in the green zone, minutes from that reassuring call home.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And now to the Vatican where a large part of the story is playing out tonight beneath the shroud of media silence. Cardinals say nothing in the run-up to the conclave next week when they'll begin the process of choosing a new pope. This is and will be a major story for a while. But for members of the church in the United States, there are others, too. Today a central figure in the priest sex abuse scandal took to the altar in the Vatican, center stage, if you will, and so reporting from Vatican City tonight, here's CNN's Jim Bittermann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For any priest, any parishioner and any Catholic Mass, the first order of business is to ask God for forgiveness. But this was not any priest and not any mass. This was Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Archbishop of Boston, celebrating mass at the papal altar of St. Peter's Basilica.

BARBARA BLAINE, SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM: I think Cardinal Law needs to take a back seat position in the church.

BITTERMANN: Barbara Blaine, who says as a girl she was sexually abused by a priest, was so outraged about Law that she and one other member of the victims abuse organization S.N.A.P. flew 5,000 miles to protest. Blaine said there would not have been so much sex abuse in the Boston Archdiocese if Law had acted appropriately.

BLAINE: He's seen as the poster child of the sex abuse scandal in the United States. So, where he goes, it just reopens wounds and it's embarrassing and painful to bring up the sex abuse scandal.

BITTERMANN: But, in the eyes of the Vatican, Law has paid for his sins, forced to give up his powerful post as archbishop of Boston, he was assigned to a much less demanding role as archpriest of this Roman church, Santa Maria Majore, a sinecure that permits Law to serve on seven important Vatican committees. As for the right to say Mass in the pope's memory, Vatican experts say it's a question of job description.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, it is traditional that the archpriest of St. Mary Major celebrates this mass. Law is the arch priest of St. Mary Major celebrates this mass, which is held on behalf of the Patriarchal Basilica. Law, of course, is the archpriest of St. Mary Major, therefore it's not like any at the Vatican decided let's give Bernie Law this platform. It simply is one of the privileges of his position.

BITTERMANN: Only about 25 of the 150 cardinals now in Rome, attended the Monday mass. A great majority of cardinal Law's American counterparts stayed away. The two American women were the only visible protesters at St. Peter's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Had he not been so well protected, he may -- he may have found himself actually in jail. Our goal is not to be concerned about punishing Cardinal Law. Our goal is to help victims to heal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the journalist asking the question right here.

BITTERMANN: That protection extended even to Vatican Square, where Italian police evicted reporters trying to interview the two protesters. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Vatican City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: It's often said that perception is reality. And fair to say that what mattered most to many people today, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, was that Cardinal Law, no matter what anyone said, appeared to have been given a great honor. Seen through the eyes of many Catholics in Boston, an honor that opened many old wounds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): To many in Boston, Cardinal Law and the word "forgiveness" simply don't go together.

MARGERY EGAN, COLUMNIST, "THE BOSTON HERALD": It is just inconceivable and just enraging to see Cardinal Law saying mass as we saw this morning, swaying the incense around. These poor survivors went all the way over to Rome, only to have the flyers taken right out of their hands and not even be able to get their message out. It was awful.

BROWN: Deposed, disgraced and basically run out of town to a job in Rome, that sounds like a much bigger deal than it actually is.

ALLEN: I mean, essentially your job is to make sure the lights are on for Mass on Sunday. And so I think, basically, this was considered a soft landing for a guy who from the pope's point of view, had put in a lifetime of faithful service to the church. But obviously also had ended his career in Boston in disgrace.

BROWN: And for the church, no matter what critics say in Boston, that is punishment enough.

ALLEN: What they would say to shun or ostracize him beyond that, is to capitulate to a kind of lynch mob mentality that is foreign to the thinking of the church. After all, if there's going to be redemption, there has to be redemption for Bernie Law as well.

BROWN: But what the church sees as redemption, the cardinals critics in Boston see as a slap in the face. Yet another example of Cardinal Law's failure to understand the sins committed, and sometimes ignored on his watch.

EGAN: He could get the flu. He could have a cold. He could get a toothache. He could need a root canal. He could do a million things besides sort of reopening the wounds. You know, how you can have such a blind spot. How you can be up there calling yourself the moral leader of the world or, you know, a church that's supposed to be about moral leadership. And just ignore the biggest crime committed in the 20th century in his name, I don't understand it. I just do not understand it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The story out of the Vatican tonight.

Still ahead on the program tonight, the war on terror and a question of imagination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My plan is to release bubonic plague in a form of an aerosolized attack.

BROWN: She's got two good reasons for planning mass murderer. The bad guys are doing it, and it will be on the midterm exam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today we're going to pick up looking at tactics.

BROWN: Just ahead tonight, preventing the unthinkable, by getting students to think about it.

Also tonight proof that the Michael Jackson story can always get a little stranger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got the sense that she sold her son. You got the sense that she received a gold bracelet, she received a necklace, she received a ring.

BROWN: And later, a story of friendship and dedication and love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For mom, it was beyond black and white or above black and white. She was really and truly the only color-blind person I've ever known.

BROWN: Two women and their enduring connection, because this after all is NEWSNIGHT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In just a moment, the price one man paid for helping a friend end his life. But first, at about a quarter past the hour, we'll look at some of the other stories that made news today.

Erica Hill joins us in Atlanta -- Erica.

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Aaron, good to see you. Welcome back to the States.

We start off actually with some information that's just coming in to us here. A developing story at CNN. We're just learning now that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has just landed recently in Baghdad, early Tuesday morning local time there, an unannounced visit. We're being told he'll meet with officials of the new Iraqi government, as well as understandably, U.S. commanders and American troops. Again, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld now in Baghdad. And we will continue to follow the story for you and bring you more details as we have them. Meantime, the story we were following throughout the day today, a lengthy standoff in New Jersey has now ended safely. A man surrendered peacefully just a few hours ago. Earlier this afternoon, he held his 4-month-old daughter and the baby's mother hostage in a car for more than three hours. And that was after he allegedly shot the child's grandfather, and led police on a high speed chase. Police say the man had threatened to commit suicide, but instead surrendered after his mother pleaded with him to give himself up.

An unidentified man is now in custody after causing a security scare at the U.S. Capitol Building. Authorities tackled the man who brought two rolling suitcases to a small plaza on the west front of the Capitol. And then stood with his hands behind his back facing the building. Now, he said, he wanted to see the president. Well, he was tackled by members of a SWAT team. Nothing hazardous, though, was found inside the suitcases.

Martha Stewart will serve out here full sentence. A federal judge today rejected a request by her lawyers to change her sentence. They argued home detention is actually damaging Stewart's business and wanted a shorter sentence or one that would allow her to leave her home more often. Stewart is serving five months home detention. It ends in August. She's allowed to leave home for work 48 hours a week. Her sentence was the minimum she could have received under the guidelines for her crimes.

And that is the latest from Headline News at this hour. Aaron, back to you.

BROWN: Erica, thank you. See you in half an hour.

It's fair to say testimony so far in the Michael Jackson trial has been many things, but not bland. Today the focus shifted to the mother of one of Mr. Jackson's alleged victims. That the boy who was at the center of the current case, a different boy, who met the pop star more than a decade ago. He's no longer a boy. These days he's 25, and has decided not to testify at this trial. So in his stead, his mother took the stand.

Reporting for us, CNN's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The mother of one of Michael Jackson's alleged victims broke down on the stand saying, she regrets trusting Jackson with her then 13-year-old boy. The woman detailed his alleged relationship with Jackson, which she said started after she gave the pop star her son's phone number following a chance meeting in 1992. The mother testified that phone calls started, some lasting up to 90 minutes; then an invitation to Neverland. And within a few months, she said, her family was traveling the world with Jackson, and her son was sleeping in his bed.

One of the trips, she said, was to Monaco, where her son sat on Jackson's lap at the 1993 World Music Awards. ANNE BREMNER, LEGAL ANALYST: He's a very charming, I think, individual. Somebody that was able to persuade this mother that he would not hurt her son. And she believed that.

ROWLANDS: The mother said Michael Jackson convinced her to allow her son to share his bed on a trip to Las Vegas, after she said Jackson cried and asked her, quote, "don't you trust me? We're family." The woman said Jackson ended up sleeping at her house, spending more than 30 nights, each time she said Jackson slept with her son in his room.

The woman said Jackson bought her gifts, including handbags, jewelry and a $7,000 boutique gift certificate.

JIM MORET, POOL REPORTER: You got the sense that she sold her son. You got the sense she received a gold bracelet, she received a necklace, she received a ring. In return, the implication is she allowed Michael Jackson to sleep at her house with her son for 30 nights.

ROWLANDS: On cross-examination, the mother admitted she hasn't talked to her son in 11 years, saying it wasn't her choice. She also admitted that she never saw any abuse, and that at times she was comfortable with Jackson sharing his bed with her son.

The mother was the latest in a series of witnesses allowed to testify about Michael Jackson's past. Her son, the accuser, is not expected to take the stand.

Jackson currently faces four counts of lewd acts on a minor, and has pleaded not guilty.

(on camera): The mother of the 1993 alleged victim is the 51st witness to testify for the prosecution. Prosecutors told the judge that they expect to bring the mother of the current accuser to the stand in the next few days.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In a month that's been consumed with issues of life and death, we return tonight to a case of assisted suicide, a case that to many people was anything but clear-cut. At its heart, two men, two old friends, neither young. One strong enough to work for the volunteer fire department; the other sick enough and in enough pain to consider life no longer worth living. And in between, the law.

Here's CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cornwall, Connecticut is the kind of town where everybody knows everybody, and where friends go back a long way.

Take Hunt Williams and John Welles.

CHARLES GOLD, FRIEND: They had a lot of respect for each other as individuals. They accepted people for what they were.

FEYERICK: Hunt Williams is the kind of guy you can always count on. 74, he still works as a volunteer medic.

SKIP KOSCIUSKO, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER: All times of day and night. And I know I can always count on Cornwall 27 signing on. And Cornwall 27 is Hunt Williams.

FEYERICK: John Welles was different. He moved with the seasons, embracing life in a way people envied.

GOLD: John was John. And I think that if people didn't like John, he just said, fine, that's their problem, and he went on and did his own thing his own way.

FEYERICK: It's how he lived. It's how he would die, months after being diagnosed with late stage cancer that had spread to his spine.

GOLD: He said, I'm not interested in ending up as a vegetable with a bunch of tubes sticking out of me while people poke me and stick stuff into me. And so I sort of said, well, what do you do? And he says, I think what I do is enjoy my life as much as I can for the next week or month, as it lasts, and when the time comes, I'll know it and I'll end it, and that will be that.

FEYERICK: Charles Gold knows both men. He tells the story the last time the two were together, John Welles suffering unbearable pain.

GOLD: When Hunt arrived, he didn't know that John had decided that that was the morning that he was going to end it. It just happened to happen on Hunt's watch.

FEYERICK (on camera): According to the police report, Hunt Williams arrived at the house early that morning. He was met by a friend who said, quote, "John needs to do this." Williams said he was ready to honor John's wishes. So he cleaned out Welles' .38 caliber revolver, told him the best place to aim, then carried the gun outside. Welles followed him, leaning on a walker. Williams began to head down the driveway. And that's when he heard a single shot.

(voice-over): In the police report, Williams is quoted saying, "this is what John wanted. I had a comfortable feeling that this was right for him, knowing the man."

The death of his friend was hard on Williams.

PHIL WEST, JOHN WELLES' STEP-SON: I saw him that morning. And I know he wasn't going down there planning on doing that. So it was just sort of what happened while he was there.

FEYERICK (on camera): Do the words "assisted suicide" or "I helped him kill himself" ever come into the conversation?

WEST: No, not at all.

FEYERICK (voice-over): But when prosecutors analyzed the police report and looked at the law defining assisted suicide, they concluded that Williams had done just that.

CHRISTOPHER MORANO, CHIEF STATE'S ATTORNEY: There are two things you look at: Aids or causes.

FEYERICK: Christopher Morano, the chief state's attorney, says prosecutors had no choice but to charge Williams.

MORANO: Cleaning a gun, showing how to use it, making sure that it's available, and anything else to aid the person in achieving a suicide they want to commit definitely comes within this statute.

FEYERICK: In January, Williams was charged with second-degree manslaughter, a crime that could have sent him to prison for 10 years. At 74, a lifetime.

Late last week, with his friends in court, the judge said Williams would not go to jail, not even for a day. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), an unusual ruling under the state's law, the right ruling to his friends.

BARBARA BARTLETT, JOHN WELLES' SISTER: He did a wonderful favor for my brother. A friend when you needed a friend.

FEYERICK: A friend in a town where it seems no one ever believed a crime was committed.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Cornwall, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on the program tonight, two women, one black, one white, and the promise that changed their lives. A terrific story coming up.

Take a break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There are people who help change the world in ways large and small. Where this country's great unfinished piece of business is concerned, the business of race, the list of such people is a long one. Sixty years ago last month, a white woman in Michigan traveled to Alabama, because she felt she could not, in good conscience, stay home. She left behind her family and her best friend. And this is about the promises that changed everything that followed.

It's reported for us by CNN's Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They had both grown up poor in the South. Sarah Evans in Mississippi, Viola Liuzzo in Tennessee. Both women moved north to Detroit where, near the end of World War II, they met. Viola went into a store where Sarah was a clerk and asked the store owner for rationed black pepper.

MARY LIUZZO LILLEBOE, DAUGHTER OF VIOLA LIUZZO: Mom walked in and said, do you have any pepper and the woman said, oh, no, we don't, and Sarah said, oh, yes, you do. And my mom said, hey, you're my kind of people.

MONZIA WILLIAMS, DAUGHTER OF SARAH EVANS: From that they became good friends, and they started talking and got acquainted. And they was on the same page.

NISSEN: Viola had money to hire Sarah to help with housework and baby-sitting. But Viola's daughter says the two women would do the chores together, then sit talking over coffee for hours. A black woman and white woman, best friends.

LILLEBOE: For mom it was beyond black and white or above black and white. She was really and truly the only color-blind person I've ever known.

NISSEN: Vie's five children and Sarah's grandchildren were constant playmates despite stares from the neighbors.

TYRONE GREENE, GRANDSON OF SARAH EVANS: I knew my mom would get strange looks and whatnot, but that's how Viola was. She was just -- she didn't have these old hang-ups that most people have.

NISSEN: Viola was dismayed by racism, horrified by what was happening down south. On March 7th, 1965, she watched in anger and sorrow TV scenes of police battling civil rights marchers in Selma.

PENNY LIUZZO HERRINGTON, DAUGHTER OF VIOLA LIUZZO: I remember her standing up and crying. I remember this so clear, in our living room.

NISSEN: When Viola heard Dr. Martin Luther King ask Americans of conscience to come to Alabama, join the march for change, Viola decided to go.

GREENE: Of course she knew how dangerous it was. But that was her destiny to go down there and be a part of something to make somebody's life better.

NISSEN: In a 2003 documentary, "Home of the Brave," filmmaker Paola di Florio spoke to Sarah Evans about a conversation the two women had just before Viola left for Alabama.

SARAH EVANS: Viola says to me, before she left, to promise her something: if anything happens, would I take care of her kids for her. And I told her I would.

NISSEN: Viola Liuzzo was among the thousands who walked from Selma to Montgomery in March of 1965. On March 25th, she called her family.

HERRINGTON: She said, the march is over. I'm going to be coming home. We were all really happy.

NISSEN: Viola Liuzzo would not make it home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where it happened, on Route 80, Lowndesboro, Alabama.

NISSEN: Viola's body was found in her car. She'd been shot in the head. Four men would later be charged in her death, three of them members of the Ku Klux Klan, one an FBI informant.

HERRINGTON: The phone rang at midnight, and my dad started screaming, mommy's dead, mommy's dead.

SALLY LIUZZO PRADO, DAUGHTER OF VIOLA LIUZZO: I just remember going out and dad was screaming and saying -- and all of you guys were on the couch crying. And the place was already full of reporters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think she would have wanted it this way?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knowing my wife, yes. Knowing my wife, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about that, Penny?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the way my mother was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tommy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wanted equal rights for everybody no matter what the cost was.

NISSEN: Sarah came as soon as she heard.

HERRINGTON: Almost from the minute we knew, there was Sarah, loving us and taking care of us.

NISSEN: Sarah helped them through the blur of the next few days, through Viola's funeral, tended by Dr. King and other dignitaries. The family was devastated. Sarah was devastated.

LILLEBOE: The hurt that Sarah went through, losing her very best, dear -- I mean, they were so, so close.

WILLIAMS: I don't think she ever got over it. I don't think my mother ever got over it.

GREENE: She remembered what she had told her. I got to raise those kids.

NISSEN: After the funeral, Sarah moved in.

HERRINGTON: She spent five days a week with us. And the weekends with her family. NISSEN: It was a terrible time for the Liuzzo's. Vicious rumors were spread that Viola had abandoned her family to consort with a black lover in Alabama, that Viola got what she deserved.

LILLEBOE: They quit delivering the mail to our house because the hate mail was so horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You guys used to burn the hate mail before dad would see it, right, you and Sarah?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes,.

NISSEN: Sarah would tell Viola's children, your mom is a hero. Trust that. You'll see. They did, in time. Outrage over Viola's death helped President Lyndon Johnson muster support in Congress for passage of the Voting Rights Act.

LILLEBOE: At that time, it took the murder of a white woman to really get the attention of our government and of our people.

NISSEN: Over the years, people forgot the name of that white woman who was killed in Alabama. Her children grew up with Sarah.

SARAH WILLIAMS, GRANDDAUGHTER OF SARAH EVANS: She was always a part of their life and giving them advice, the same advice that she would give us.

M. WILLIAMS: She would always say pretty is as pretty does.

S. WILLIAMS: That was her famous saying. And you would...

PRADO: She would say, you're so pretty, Sally. You need to act pretty.

NISSEN: Sarah attended the Liuzzo's graduations, weddings, the christenings of their children, standing in for her friend Viola, keeping her promise.

PRADO: She was the mother figure to me. All the way up until she died.

NISSEN: Sarah Evans died in January at the age of 94.

LILLEBOE: We were sad for a moment, but then I think all three of us had this picture of that reunion in heaven. And I just was filled with such a joy that they -- my mom and Sarah -- were together again. They knew what was important in life. And they lived for what was important in life.

NISSEN: Fairness, justice, the courage to fight for both, and living a life of selfless love.

WILLIAMS: It is possible. Maybe not for the whole society. But, you know, one step here, one step there. But it is possible. And we know it's possible because we seen two women live that.

NISSEN: Sarah and Viola.

Beth Nissen, CNN, Detroit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Waiting 60 years for that story.

Still to come tonight, teaching the students of today how to become the terrorists of tomorrow and why that's a good thing. And it is.

And later, morning papers, which 99 times out of 100 is a good thing, too. We'll talk a break first. This is NEWSNIGHT, from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: 26th of January, we'd say bad day, it is April already.

In our security watch tonight, someone, somewhere is planning to kill you. To kill you, then go out and get a beer, maybe download a song or two, and then call mom and dad and ask for more money. And what's more, you might even be glad they're doing what they're doing. And if you're mom or your dad, you might even be proud. An explanation tonight from CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lauren Rajczak is plotting a terrorist attack against the United States.

LAUREN RAJCZAK, COLLEGE STUDENT: My plan is to release a pneumonic plague in the form of aerosolize attack using a personal device and placing it in women's bathrooms across America and shopping malls during the peak shopping season.

ARENA: She spent hours scouring the Internet for information on the plague and hit the jack pot.

RAJCZAK: Things like information about the storage capability of the plague, things like specific animals that carry plague.

ARENA: And she's meticulous conducting surveillance of shopping malls in the Washington area.

RAJCZAK: Going in kind of look at how often they did their bathroom checks, whether they did them every hour, whether they did them every two hours, what ever was necessary.

ARENA: Sure looks like she's up to no good. But, Rajczak, a junior at George Mason University in Northern Virginia...

DENNIS PLUCHINSKY, FMR. STATE DEPT. INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: You could activate this bomb either by.

ARENA: ... is merely doing her homework. RAJCZAK: It's scary how much is on the Internet. One thing I've learned through this class is there's nothing you can't find on the Internet.

PLUCHINSKY: Today we're going to pick up looking at tactics, tactics which is basically the method of attack that terrorist groups carry out.

ARENA: Dennis Pluchinsky teaches the terrorism course. He just retired after nearly three decades at the State Department analyzing terror threats.

PLUCHINSKY: If you get into the shoes of the terrorists. If you know exactly the steps that they're going to go through when they're planning an attack, and say you become an intelligence analyst or law enforcement officer, you're going to be aware of those steps. And so you're going to be looking for those steps.

ARENA: Like Rajczak, many students come up with plans to attack so-called soft targets like shopping malls, schools and subway systems. Pluchinsky says he hands over the really good plots to the government, with his students' permission.

PLUCHINSKY: The country is just so vulnerable, it's incredible. Reading these students' papers just underlines that point.

ARENA: It's not the first time the government has gotten help from unconventional sources. John Mclaughlin, the former acting CIA director recalls the agency consulting with science fiction writers.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What al Qaeda achieved on 9/11 above all else was surprise. And what they will try to achieve the next time they mount an attack is surprise. And so, therefore, anything that helps us think through how they might surprise us has potential value.

ARENA: He tries to reduce the risk of impressionable students getting the wrong idea by keeping plots private. There is no discussion of them in class, and they are not posted on the Web. And we're not revealing key details of Rajczak's plot. Many students in this class say they want to work in intelligence. Rajczak says she'd like to get a job working with the military.

RAJCZACK: I'd rather be one of the ones on the front line protecting us, than I would having to go through what I went through on September 11, watching, you know, things like that. Watching the buildings fall.

ARENA: For CNN's America bureau, Kelli Arena in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, we'll check on some of the other stories that made news this day. And then our anniversary series recalls the story of a young man forced to mutilate himself to save his own life. Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In just a moment, a story of courage. What one man did or had to do to survive. It's part of our then and now series. But now, at about a quarter to the hour, Erica Hill, in Atlanta, with some of the other stories that made news today. Miss Hill.

HILL: Thank you, Aaron.

First up, an unannounced trip to Baghdad for the secretary of state. CNN has learned Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad less than an hour ago. While there he plans to meet with members of the newly formed Iraqi government as well as U.S. military officials and troops.

In the meantime, back in the state side, President Bush says Israel must honor its commitment to stop the expansion of settlements on the West Bank. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the president's ranch in Texas today. Sharon says, it may be "too early" to discuss what will happen to large Jewish settlements on the West Bank. President Bush emphasized the road map for peace in the Middle East clearly says there will be no expansion.

U.S. troop deployments Iraq and other combat zones will be limited now to one year. A memo released by the Pentagon today says, any extension beyond the 12-month limit would have to be approved by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Now, the memo clarifies the military's position on deployment limits. During the run-up to the Iraqi elections, thousands of U.S. troops were required to serve more than a 12-month tour.

The FDA is giving silicone breast implants another look at an emotional hearing today. Women who blame leaking silicone implants for crippling health problems face women who call the implants the best option. The acting director for FDA's Device Evaluation Division stresses any final decision will be based on scientific data. The FDA banned most uses of silicone implants 13 years ago.

And filling your tank. In case you hadn't noticed, getting even more painful. The average price of gasoline up again, setting another record high at $2.29 a gallon for regular unleaded. The Lundberg Survey, says the price is up 19 cents in just the last three weeks. But the cost of crude oil is dropping. At least one analyst believes prices may have reached their peak.

Aaron, I'll believe that one when I see it. That's the latest from Headline News. Back to you.

BROWN: That's so cynical, my goodness.

On we go. Aron Ralston, is it not a name most people will recognize. But most people will remember what he did. It is unforgettable. His story tonight as we continue our anniversary series "Then and Now."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARON RALSTON: My name is Aron Ralston. My parents have called me Don (ph) and Larry Ralston and they moved to Colorado.

BROWN (voice-over): His name may not be familiar, but Aron Ralston's desperate act of survival became headline news in the spring of 2003. The 27-year-old was climbing alone in a remote Utah canyon when his right hand became pinned under an 800 pound boulder. For six days he was trapped with little food and water until he took drastic action.

RALSTON: I reached for the knife, said out loud to myself, "Here we go, Aron, you're in it now." Very calmly and collectively went about the process of thrusting the knife into my arm.

BROWN: After cutting off his arm, Ralston still had to rappel down a cliff, and then hike five miles to find help.

After several surgeries and a painful recovery, he was climbing mountains just a few months later.

Ralston chronicled the experience in his book, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." He is now a motivational speaker, sharing the lessons he learned.

RALSTON: Given the impossible can be overcome by courage and perseverance.

BROWN: Ralston is still climbing mountains, with the help of a custom climbing arm. He recently summitted Mount Aquenguagua (ph) in Argentina. He says the drive to climb the next mountain is what sustains him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Okey-doke. Time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.

This was impossible to do in Rome, because you couldn't get papers. They were all in Italian.

"The Washington Post." I don't know. They just started sending us the paper, for which we are very grateful. So here's "The Washington Post's" lead tomorrow. "Bolton" -- that's John Bolton -- talks of restoring confidence at the U.N." -- or "In the U.N." And I would dare say there are some people who think that he's not the right choice, because he hasn't always said the kindest things about the U.N. But they'll fight that out in Congress. They seem to be fighting everything else out in Congress.

"Christian Science Monitor." "Pentagon's Long List of Bases to Close." Next month's proposal for the biggest ever round of cuts could transform both the military and many communities.

I like this story, too, over here. Can you get it? "No Thanks, Harvard, I Found a Better Fit." It's about kids who turned down their acceptance to Harvard. This was an opportunity that never presented itself to me -- the -- or any other university for that matter.

"The International Herald Tribune." "In Picking a New Pope, A Key Issue is Islam." "John Paul II Backed Talks, but Some Question That Policy." There's this disagreement about whether there ought to be dialogue or confrontation with Islam. It's actually very interesting and worthy of a front-page story in my estimation.

Out in Oregon, out West, "Oregon Job Picture Looking Up," "The Unemployment Rate Hits Its Lowest Level Since 2001. More Well-Paying Jobs Available." Those are the best kind.

"The Star Tribune" in Minneapolis. We don't normally get that either, the Twin Cities. I'm not sure they -- yes, they say it's the newspaper of the Twin Cities. It's really Minneapolis. "Wireless Internet Service for All." "Minneapolis," see what I mean? "Envisions City-Wide WiFi Network." Somebody's going to object to that. But I think that's a great idea.

And here is a great headline for you. "The Boston Herald." "Joy of Sox." Red Sox got their World Series rings today and raised their World Series banner, and pounded the tar out of the Yankees. So it was a pretty good day in Boston.

Down in the corner of the "Rocky Mountain News," "Retiring CEO Will Earn $22,500 an hour." Not a bad gig there.

Or is this a bad gig? "Merrill Lynch Chief Gets $31.3 Million Bonus." You know, I was either going to become this or the head of Merrill Lynch.

The weather tomorrow in Chicago for the first time in a while, "aspritzer." I guess it's going to rain there.

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: That retired guy makes $23,000 an hour. It sounds like a lot, but it's only $66,000 a day. Or $830,000 a week. So it's really not that much. He's retired.

Good to have you with us tonight. It's nice to be back in the country. We'll see you again tomorrow, 10:00 o'clock Eastern Time. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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