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A Bomb Rips a Popular Pet Market; Scooter Libby Perjury Trial

Aired January 26, 2007 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Tony Harris.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen in today for Heidi Collins.

Up next, for the next three hours, in fact, you do want to watch events as they unfold right here in THE NEWSROOM, live on this Friday, January 26th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

HARRIS: A bomb rips a popular pet market. More than a dozen people dead in the Baghdad blast.

NGUYEN: The Louis "Scooter" Libby perjury trial. Vice President Cheney's former aide says the White House is making him the fall guy. We talk to legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

HARRIS: A university e-mails acceptance letters to thousands of students. Now the admissions office is taking it back. An academic oops in THE NEWSROOM.

At the top this morning, permission to kill or capture -- we're told the Bush administration issues new orders for U.S. troops to go after Iranian operatives in Iraq.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has new details.

She joins us live -- Suzanne, good morning to you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HARRIS: The question, is this carte blanch for U.S. soldiers to pursue Iranians in Iraq?

MALVEAUX: this certainly is a much tougher stance against Iranians, Tony, I must tell you.

I've spoken with national security officials who say now the Bush administration has authorized that U.S. military go after Iranian agents, not only capture but kill Iranian agents inside of Iraq. Now, this is if they have actionable intelligence that somehow these agents are plotting or planning to go after American forces, coalition forces, Iraqi forces.

But they have the authority now to do so.

Now, how did all of this come about?

Well, these officials tell me this morning that it is a process, a policy that has evolved since last fall. It involved the president and his top officials from the State Department, the Pentagon, the intelligence community. But it was just over the last few months that the president authorized this new policy to go into effect, because of the deteriorating conditions on the ground inside of Iraq.

Now, I spoke with National Security Council Spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who said this, this morning. He describes it saying: "The president has made clear for some time that we will take the steps necessary to protect Americans on the ground in Iraq and disrupt activity that could lead to their harm. Our forces have standing authority consistent with the mandate of the U.N. Security Council."

Now, who is he talking about here, Tony?

He is talking about the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Kuds force, he says, is a part of the Iranian state apparatus that supports and carries out these activities. These activities meaning terrorist activities, activities against the United States and its allied forces.

Now just to give you a hint, a signal of, perhaps, what was coming here, this new change in policy, just take a listen to what President Bush said just two weeks ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria and we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Tony, as you know, this is a very serious development, a very clear signal to Iran that the United States is getting a lot tougher -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, significant, indeed.

Another quick question. I know you're doing a lot of work on this story today, Suzanne, and I'm sure one of the questions you're getting at is whether or not the Iraqis -- whether or not the Iraqis were consulted on this new policy shift?

MALVEAUX: Well, what I've been told is that the United States works in concert in certain situations with the Iraqi military on going after the Iranians. So on one hand, they are working side-by- side on this.

On the other hand, you do have to know that there is some conversation and some tension between the Americans, the Iranians and Iraqis over comparing and detaining some of these Iranians. Iraqi officials have not been pleased in certain situations where the United States has taken custody and keeps them in custody, some Iranians.

HARRIS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: It has caused some diplomatic problems between Iraq and Iran.

HARRIS: We will take that question up with Iraq's Foreign Minister Zebari next hour here in THE NEWSROOM.

One more question for you, Suzanne.

President Bush is to meet with his top military advisers today.

What's on the agenda?

MALVEAUX: Well, he's actually going to be meeting with the incoming commander, Petraeus. He's also meeting with the secretary of defense, Gates, as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Peter Pace. All of them about 9:00 this hour, so huddling at the White House to talk about the Iraq strategy.

We also expect the president to come out and talk about progress so far that he has seen, just within the last couple of weeks. He is going to point to this oil sharing deal among the Iraqi people, that that is moving forward, that legislation. And he's also specifically going to talk about Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's statement, this big speech that he made in public in Arabic saying that there is no safe haven for anyone -- any of the people who are involved in sectarian violence, including the Shiites. That is a very important statement, a bit of progress, they believe, because he is now saying things publicly, in Arabic, that he was saying privately to President Bush just weeks ago -- Tony.

HARRIS: Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, for us with a full plate.

Suzanne, thank you.

NGUYEN: Dozens dead and wounded in Iraq, victims of another market bombing.

Let's get right to CNN's Michael Holmes in Baghdad -- and, Michael, I understand the bomber in this particular instance used pigeons, of all things, to draw people close before detonating his device?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it appears that was a tactic. He was certainly carrying a box in which pigeons are normally carried to this pet market. Whether there were pigeons inside, we don't know. We understand he put it down, walked away and then, of course, it detonated. It was a large device -- 15 killed, 39 wounded.

As you said, this is a pet market. You can get everything there, from domestic animals, cats and dogs, to birds and even the exotic monkeys and sometimes snakes are found there, a very popular place.

It's been hit several times in recent months. And this explosion also showing a bit of a pattern that we've seen in just the last couple of weeks of commercial areas, shopping areas, marketplaces being struck. There have been a couple of other explosions around Baghdad today. A couple of IEDs earlier killed several people. And I can tell you, about 20 minutes ago, our entire bureau shook when only a few hundred meters away another car bomb went off. We've heard that it was a suicide car bomb targeting an Iraqi Army patrol. And two dead, four wounded.

But that was a large explosion. That toll could well go up -- Betty.

NGUYEN: You know, to get a handle on this violence, I understand Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki made similarly tough anti-insurgent announcements in parliament.

Does that represent a new plan or just more of the same rhetoric?

HOLMES: Well, at this stage it has to be said that it's rhetoric until we see him do something. He did say -- he went into parliament, as you said. He gave no real details about the plan. He gave it a name. He called it Operation Imposing Law. He didn't say when it would begin, although what we understand from U.S. military sources, that the first week of next month should be the beginning of the real push of this -- what the White House calls the surge.

But as far as the Iraqi government is concerned, let's see. A lot of people are saying to us let's see if they walk the walk after talking the talk. That's going to really come into sharp focus next week, probably -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Michael, something that we were just hearing about a little bit earlier, that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and some other Congressional members are in Iraq?

HOLMES: Yes, very briefly, I can tell you we've had confirmation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Baghdad. She's in the green zone at the moment and will be meeting with officials.

As you can understand, always a lot of secrecy and security surrounding these visits, so not a lot of detail right yet. We're told there will be a photo-op later. But she is in country -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Michael Holmes.

We appreciate that.

And you do want to beware of the spring offensive -- that's the warning from Washington today. And here's the concern. It's not about Iraq, but Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, NATO says an air strike just wiped out a Taliban command post in Southern Afghanistan. And the military alliance says a senior Taliban leader and his deputies may have been killed.

NATO, by the way, is holding a meeting today to discuss the resurgence of the Taliban and its attacks.

Well, five years after the start of the U.S.-led war on the Taliban, President Bush wants more money for Afghanistan.

The amount?

Well, he'll request that from Congress -- $10.6 billion, to be exact. The White House says the money would strengthen government security forces in Afghanistan and help rebuild the country.

HARRIS: On edge, the streets of Beirut, Lebanon calm this morning, a day after deadly student clashes. Four people killed, more than 150 hurt.

CNN's Anthony Mills is live in Beirut with the latest -- and, Anthony, does it seem like the fighting is over? If not for now, is this just a -- is it over or are we talking about a temporary lull?

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, an uneasy calm descended on Beirut yesterday night and lasted through a curfew imposed by the army from 8:30 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. that was, we understand, according to the army, the first time a curfew had been imposed in Lebanon overnight since the end of the civil war.

And that followed very serious clashes yesterday in a variety of neighborhoods. Those clashes were sparked, reportedly, in the cafeteria of the Beirut Arab University but very quickly got out of hand. They spread to other neighborhoods. Local television showed pictures of minibuses arriving with dozens of young men wearing hard helmets to protect them, probably, against the stones that were later hurled and also carrying large wooden clubs. And the whole thing just expanded dramatically. It spread to other neighborhoods.

The army then came in. Many shots were fired. There was the sound of gunfire for a couple of hours or so, mostly the Lebanese Army firing in the air, trying to keep people apart.

But Al-Manar Television a Hezbollah affiliated television here in Lebanon then showed pictures of what appeared to be snipers, or at least armed men on rooftops, on balconies in some of the neighborhoods in which these clashes were taking place.

Now, according to internal security forces, Tony, four people were killed and 151 injured. And many Lebanese here are fearful that if this kind of violence continues, that we could see it spiral completely out of control, despite the apparent lull that we're witnessing right now -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, let me pick up on that point with you, Anthony. What are the real prospects for the Siniora government if the violence doesn't come to a complete end, and, in fact, it -- the violence goes in the other direction and starts to further intensify?

MILLS: Well, Tony, ironically, as this violence was occurring and, indeed, appeared to be out of hand for a while, the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, was at an international donor conference in Paris, where he had received the backing not just for that conference, but also for his government, from a wide array of different states -- Arab states including Saudi Arabia and various Gulf States, but also the United States, the European Union.

So the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, feels emboldened, if you will, by the international support that he has behind his government.

He and his allies also claim that they have a large measure of Lebanese support. They say that they have still a large number of Lebanese who are behind them. But that is, of course, also a claim made by the opposition leaders who want to overthrow this government.

And so what we really have here, Tony, is a split right down the middle of the country. And because the two sides don't appear to be talking to each other for the moment and there's no political solution on the horizon, there's very real concern that what we're witnessing right now is just a temporary lull and that violence could erupt again at a time.

In fact, as we speak, at least one of the funerals for one of the four people killed yesterday has just got underway and there are scenes on local television of angry men behind the coffin being taken toward its burial place.

So very real concern here in Lebanon, Tony, that the violence may start up again.

HARRIS: An unbelievably complex story playing out in Lebanon.

Anthony Mills following it for us.

Anthony, thank you.

NGUYEN: Speaking of complex things...

HARRIS: Yes.

NGUYEN: Check this out. The snow in the Northeast -- it is causing a huge mess.

HARRIS: Yes.

NGUYEN: And Chad Myers joins us now from the Weather Center with the latest on all of this -- good morning, chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Politics at the highest rung of government.

Is it also, though, politics at the lowest level?

Tales of anger, betrayal, deceit -- a look at the CIA leak trial. Jeffrey Toobin joins us in THE NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Also, the underground search for illegal immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see there's not a whole lot to hide behind. So they've just got...

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's nothing to hide behind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a whole lot.

TUCHMAN: Yes, so if you're claustrophobic or afraid of the dark, this isn't the job for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No, I guess not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Gary Tuchman straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: And faith over fare -- some cab drivers won't pick up passengers with certain packages. We're going to explain that one right here in THE NEWSROOM.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Secrecy, spin and intrigue at the White House -- jurors in the Louis "Scooter" Libby trial got a behind-the-scenes look at the vice president's office.

CNN's Kelli Arena reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cathy Martin's testimony offered rare insight into the inner workings of the vice president's office and the personal efforts by the vice president himself to control information.

SCOTT REED, GOP POLITICAL CONSULTANT: What you're seeing is this -- for the first time, some real disarray at the senior levels of the White House.

ARENA: Martin, who was Vice President Cheney's communications chief, suggested that her boss and his chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby, were obsessed back in 2003 with gathering information about Joe Wilson, a Bush critic. At the time, Wilson was challenging the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq, based on information he uncovered during a trip to Africa.

REED: They obviously didn't want to let any little spark catch in the fire. And they weren't going to let one of these frontal attacks go unanswered.

ARENA: Wilson claimed that he was sent on his mission by the vice president. But Martin described how Cheney tried to distance himself from Wilson, how the vice president personally dictated talking points for dealing with the press. Her notes in evidence, telling her to say: "He did not travel at my request. I don't know him."

She testified Libby told her to actually call the CIA to get names of reporters working on stories about Wilson so that the vice president could direct a spin operation, with Libby as the front man.

TIMOTHY HEAPHY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The intrigue at the White House is playing out in the course of this because it's generally so secret.

ARENA: Martin's story flies in the face of Libby's defense, which claims that he was caught up in so many other issues, he didn't pay much attention to Wilson.

HEAPHY: The bigger deal this was inside the White House, the less credible his explanation of misrecollection becomes.

ARENA: Libby is charged with lying about how and when he found out that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked at the CIA. Martin testified she told him in June of 2003. But Libby claims he didn't find out until a month later.

HEAPHY: This is a case about description. This is a case about lies.

ARENA: It's also a case that has most of Washington wondering what other secrets are about to be exposed.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

NGUYEN: All right, so let's take a closer look at this case.

And joining us with that, CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin joins us from New York -- OK, let's just try to understand all of this.

Cathy Martin's testimony, how damaging was that to the defense's claim that Libby really didn't get the facts straight because there was just too much going on?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I think it's very damaging because remember, this is a perjury prosecution. And what "Scooter" Libby said under oath when he was questioned about how did he find out that Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, worked at the CIA.

He said, "I learned of it from Tim Russert of NBC when we had a conversation."

What the -- all the prosecution witnesses have shown so far -- it's been four of them. They've all said no, well before that conversation, we were talking about Joseph Wilson and we talked about his wife, the fact that she worked at the CIA. This is the government's case. It's their part of the case. And they are building an impressive persuasive case that this is how Libby learned about this fact, not from Tim Russert.

NGUYEN: And, also, I think something that was really intriguing about the testimony yesterday with Cathy Martin was the inner workings of the vice president's office.

Were you surprised about how much information was provided?

TOOBIN: Well, not really, because these witnesses are under oath and they have to tell the full story. These are people who have been -- led a very secretive White House for the past six years. But they're now under oath. They have to talk about what happened. And I think what's especially interesting, from a political perspective, not so much legally, is just how concerned the White House was about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Remember, this was just a few months after the start of the Gulf -- the Iraq War, which was largely justified on the basis of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

There were none found, as we all now know, and the administration was mobilizing to attack critics like Joseph Wilson who were saying the emperor has no clothes, there's no evidence for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

NGUYEN: It's also interesting it was really interesting how it seems like the prosecution is using Cathy Martin's testimony to set up the vice president's cross-examination when he comes before them in a couple of weeks.

TOOBIN: Right. I mean, one of the peculiar things about opening statements in this case was Ted Wells, "Scooter" Libby's very excellent defense lawyer, made a big point of saying that the White House used "Scooter" Libby as a scapegoat, as a guy to be put into the meat grinder in Vice President Cheney's phrase, to protect Karl Rove, who was the real architect of the president's strategy.

I don't understand exactly how that helps "Scooter" Libby because it doesn't really explain how he might lie to a grand jury. But I...

NGUYEN: Well, that was my question, how can you say that I'm the fall guy but at the same time, I didn't know anything because my facts were confused? TOOBIN: Well, I think the idea appears to be, look, this was a chaotic, difficult time at the White House. Instead of the White House taking on critics, they threw it all on "Scooter" Libby. "Scooter" Libby was forced to deal with these reporters he wasn't used to dealing with and he was confused, the facts were in dispute, he didn't remember exactly what was going on.

"Scooter" Libby took the brunt of dealing with the political fallout and the press fallout and he shouldn't be penalized for that when the real architects of the policy were people like Karl Rove.

That appears to be the defense argument.

But I have to say, I'm not entirely clear on it either.

NGUYEN: All right, and if you're not, we've got a problem.

TOOBIN: But the trial has got several weeks to go. We'll probably all figure it out by then.

NGUYEN: Yes, we do.

Senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.

We thank you, as always.

TOOBIN: OK.

HARRIS: Iraqis trained by U.S. forces, but could those Iraqi troops turn and become a threat to America?

Real concerns in THE NEWSROOM.

And you're in, no, wait, you're out.

NGUYEN: Huh?

HARRIS: You're in, then you're out. A big university fails an admissions test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes, that's what you're waiting for. You're nervous about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the only school I really wanted to go to, so it was really, really exciting for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Man, a school accepts thousands of freshmen then the wait a minute moment. Hold on. Wait a minute. We've got it for you in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: Among our top stories this morning, cracking down on Iranian agents in Iraq. We're told the Bush administration gives U.S. troops permission to kill or capture them. A national security official says the new policy targets Iranian operatives involved in plotting attacks against U.S. coalition or Iraqi forces. Troops have the authorization to kill or capture the Iranians if they have actionable intelligence.

Meanwhile, the president summoned the top Pentagon brass to the White House this morning to discuss Iraq War strategy. Among those attending, the man chosen as the new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General David Petraeus. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace also taking part in that meeting.

NGUYEN: There is more bloodshed in Baghdad today. This time, though, insurgents target a popular pet market. An explosion killing at least 15 people and wounding 35 others.

Iraqi officials say the bomb was stashed in a box. It is the second time in two months this pet market has been attacked.

Now, let's take you to northern Iraq. A suicide bomber detonated himself at a Shiite mosque near Mosul. Police there report one dead, three wounded, and another U.S. troop killed in action in Iraq's volatile Anbar Province. The military says a Marine died of wounds due to enemy action.

There is a troubling scenario feared by many. Could the U.S.- trained Iraqi military turn into future enemy?

CNN's Brian Todd examines the possibilities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day they fight alongside Americans with the world's best military resources.

Could some of these Iraqi troops come back to haunt U.S. interests in Iraq?

A question posed to the vice president by Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE SITUATION ROOM")

BLITZER: How worried are you of this nightmare scenario -- that the U.S. Is building up this Shiite-dominated Iraqi government with an enormous amount of military equipment, sophisticated training, and then, in the end, they're going to turn against the United States?

CHENEY: Wolf, that's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: But several military and political analysts say it very well could. AARON MILLER, FORMER U.S. MIDEAST NEGOTIATOR: Without a political compact, without an agreement that creates a national identity for an Iraqi Army and the national police, I would argue it's a virtual certainty.

TODD: Observers in Baghdad tell CNN many Shias in Iraq's American forces have strong alliances with Iran. Major powers have been bitten before by armies they've supported. The United States once backed Saddam Hussein during his war with Iran. In Afghanistan, the U.S. through intermediaries, gave Islamic rebels sophisticated shoulder-fired missiles to use against Soviet forces in the 1980s.

STEVE COLONEL, AUTHOR, "GHOST WARS": A lot of the high technology weapons ended up in the hands of Islamist rebels who ended up joining the Taliban later and some who were protecting Osama bin Laden at the time that he formed al Qaeda.

TODD: In the early 1980s, Israeli forces trained and equipped the South Lebanon Army, made up of Christians and Shias, to fight Palestinians in Lebanon. That army later disintegrated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

NGUYEN: Well, a curfew is listed, an uneasy calm, though. We're going to take you live to Beirut, Lebanon ahead here in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: What a difference a day makes, sadly the case for a group of UNC hopefuls -- one day they're in, the next, who knows? Admission mistake in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, the curfew is lifted, but an uneasy calm in Beirut, Lebanon. A day after the streets near Beirut Arab University erupted into violence. Look at this. Students supporting the Lebanese government clashed with those backing the opposition, Hezbollah. Four people were killed and more than 150 others hurt. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed after government troops and tanks moved in. The fighting It came two days after a Hezbollah-led general strikes to bring down the government.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: All right, just envision this, would you? The college admissions waiting game. We all know about that. Are you in? Are you out? It's really stressful.

HARRIS: Yes, but it became downright painful for thousands of would-be students who applied to the university of North Carolina.

Here's Kelsey Carson from our affiliate WRAL.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KELSEY CARSON, WRAL REPORTER (voice-over): No doubt, UNC Chapel Hill students love their school. And every year, there are thousands waiting to get accepted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what you're waiting for. You're nervous about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the only school I really wanted to go to, so it was really, really exciting for me.

CARSON (on camera): And that's why some UNC hopefuls are feeling a bit deflated. They got an e-mail telling them congratulations on their acceptance to UNC Chapel Hill, only to find out that e-mail was a mistake.

STEPHEN FARMER, UNC ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR: Our concerns are for students who receive this message.

CARSON: Admissions director Steven Farmer says the e-mail was intended for incoming freshmen who were already accepting, but 2,700 candidates whose applications still under review got it instead.

FARMER: It came down to two simple human errors that happened within about five minutes of one another.

CARSON: Farmer says one employee pulled up the wrong e-mail list as another employee was editing the note to say congratulations -- bam! -- an e-mail went to the wrong group.

FARMER: At this point, we will do whatever we need to do to try to do right by these students and to try to let them know that we regret what happened, that we wish we could take it back, but we can't.

CARSON: Instead, admissions has pumped out another e-mail to 9,500 candidates still waiting on their fate. This one explains the erroneous e-mail and apologizes for the confusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man, I just couldn't imagine how they would feel. I would be very disappointed.

CARSON: The group that got the wrong e-mail have to wait until March to see if they're accepted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Wait until march no less. You're sitting there on pins and needles. And what if you don't get in? Just a horrible situation.

HARRIS: Didn't we have a case in Georgia recently where that same kind of thing happened? It happens more than you think.

NGUYEN: Technology can get you.

HARRIS: It can get you. Still ahead in the NEWSROOM this morning, faith over fare. Some cab drivers won't pick up passengers with certain packages. We explain that one in the NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: Tony.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, drinking and driving, they don't mix, especially when it comes to Muslim cab drivers, and alcohol-toting fares.

Here's CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you see yourself as an American?

ABDULKADDIR ADAN, MUSLIM CAB DRIVER: I'm an American. I see myself as an American.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Abdulkaddir Adan has been driving a cab in the Twin Cities for two years. Adan says he would take me anywhere unless I was carrying alcohol.

ADAN: The one who drinks, the one who transports, and the one who makes business of it, they are the same category.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): So by taking my alcohol into your cab you are sinning.

ADAN: Sinning to God, yeah.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Adan is not alone. About 3/4 of the 900 cabbies serving the airport are Muslims. Many who say they will not pick up any passenger who has beer, wine or liquor.

ABDI AHMED, MUSLIM CAB DRIVER: This is America. We have freedom of religion.

OPPENHEIM: Bob Dildine is one of 54 passengers who has been refused in the last five years.

BOB DILDINE, PASSENGER: We were standing right in this area right here.

OPPENHEIM: Last May Dildine says was traveling with wine he bought on vacation when five cab drivers refused to give him and his daughter a ride.

DILDINE: They're here to provide service to people. We were a lawful customer and we were denied service. That's not our way of doing things.

OPPENHEIM: The Metropolitan Airport Commission or MAC, consulted the local Muslim-American society which issued this religion opinion or fatwa, or religious opinion. KHALID ELMASRY, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY: It is clear and expressly stated that transportation of alcohol for Muslims is against the Islamic faith and, therefore, forbidden.

OPPENHEIM: Airport officials say after thousands of complaints from passengers they looked for a compromise.

(on camera): Last September, an idea was floated to put distinctive lights on the roofs of cabs of observant Muslim drivers. The idea was that the taxi stalker (ph), the person who directs you to a cab, you would be able to send people with packages like this to those cab drivers who have no objection to transporting alcohol.

PAT HOGAN, AIRPORT SPOKESPERSON: But the feedback we got, not only locally but really from around the country and in fact around the world was almost entirely negative. People saw that as condoning discrimination against people who had alcohol.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Right now any cabby who refuses a passenger carrying alcohol has to go to the back of the line. That could mean another three-hour wait for a fare. But now MAC is considering stiffer penalties, a 30-day suspension for a first refusal, a two-year suspension for a second.

HOGAN: We're now at a point where the taxi drivers may have to make a choice. That either this is a good fit for them in terms of their career options or they might need to look for another place to earn a living.

OPPENHEIM: Like many cabbies here, Adan feels the airport is unsympathetic and intolerant.

ADAN: I would leave my job instead of doing something that's not allowed in my religion.

OPPENHEIM: If he does leave, Adan could be one of hundreds of Minnesota cabbies who choose their faith over the next fare.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Listen to this, a vow to bring his brother's killer to justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promised him in 2005 at his grave in Franklin County, at the Mount Arlen (ph) Cemetary that I will fight until I die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: His trip home led to a shocking discovery and reheated a cold case. We have that story right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: What do you say we take you to Capitol Hill right now, the full Senate confirmation hearing today for Lieutenant General David Petraeus? This is actually the boat will take place here this morning. David Petraeus to lead U.S. forces in Iraq to replace General George Casey's as commander of multinational forces. Confirmation pretty much assured after the nomination was unanimously approved this week by the Senate Armed Services Committee. We will follow that vote for you.

A case gone cold for nearly a half century, but a brother's persistence and a chance conversation lead to new charges.

CNN's Rusty Dornin reports.

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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 43 years, this was the only marker of the death of 19-year-old Charles Moore, a misspelled tombstone in the outer reaches of the local cemetery.

Then two years ago, his brother Thomas decided that was it.

THOMAS MOORE, BROTHER OF CHARLES EDDIE MOORE: I promised him in 2005 at his grave in Franklin County, that I will fight until I die.

DORNIN: So Thomas Moore went home to Meadville, Mississippi, with a CBC documentary filmmaker and Donna Ladd, a reporter from the "Jackson Free Press."

She took us to where it all began on Main Street.

DONNA LADD, REPORTER, "JACKSON FREE PRESS": This spot is where they were hitchhiking.

DORNIN: According to FBI informants in documents dating from 1964, the African-American teens were picked up by James Seale and Charles Edwards, reputed members of the Ku Klux Klan. The documents allege Seale and Edwards took the young men here, to the Homochitto National Forest.

LADD: They took them out of the car, they tied them to a tree, and kind of around their waist, and then they took these long skinny sticks that we call bean sticks and just started beating them.

DORNIN: When Thomas Moore went with CBC Filmmaker David Ridgen to this spot, the impassioned brother acted out the deed.

The two young men are believed to have been alive when they were reportedly then tied to an engine block and thrown into the old Mississippi River.

Edwards and Seale were arrested in 1964, charged with kidnapping and murder. The FBI turned the case over to local authorities.

But a justice of peace said witnesses refused to testify, and the charges against Seale and Edwards were dropped. There just wasn't enough evidence, they said.

When Thomas Moore vowed justice for his brother, James Seale was thought to have died years earlier. Then to his utter shock, Moore found out otherwise.

MOORE: They directed us to where he lived. That changed our mission.

DORNIN: Seale lived here in an RV on his brother's property.

MOORE: I'm calling for James Seale.

DORNIN: Moore did everything, but walk up to Seale's door. He even planted signs outside the property.

In July 2005, the U.S. attorney's office agreed to take a fresh look at the case. Then 19 months later, just yesterday, James Seal was arrested.

Seal has consistently denied involvement in the murders. Almost exactly 42 years after charges against him were dropped, today James Seal was walked into federal court under heavy guard, arraigned on kidnapping and conspiracy charges in the deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Dee.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Meadville, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Another bombing in Baghdad. This time, animal lovers attacked, live to the Iraqi capital in the NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: And calm after the storm. The streets of Beirut quiet after deadly student battles. We're live from Beirut, in the NEWSROOM.

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NGUYEN: In this week's life after work, a woman who spent her week fighting crime. Well, she's now turning that experience into a series of bestsellers.

Randi Kaye has her story.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's spent her life fighting for victims of sexual assault.

LINDA FAIRSTEIN, FORMER PROSECUTOR: When I came to the practice of law in 1972, the laws in this state and across the country were so archaic that most victims of sexual assault were not allowed to have a day in court. So the year I joined the office more than 1,000 men in the City of New York were arrested for sexual assault. Eighteen of them were convicted. KAYE: Linda Fairstein spent 30 years trying to change that. As head of the sex crimes unit in the New York district attorney's office, she pioneered the use of DNA evidence and made other real changes.

FAIRSTEIN: There was no victim advocacy, there were no rape crisis units, there were no rape evidence collection kits. Those all came to be through the years that I did the work.

KAYE: But she had another passion, writing crime novels.

FAIRSTEIN: The summer of 1994 we went to Martha's Vineyard and I spent a few hours every couple days writing this first crime novel that became "Final Jeopardy."

KAYE: In 2002 with the success of her writing career, Fairstein retired from the D.A.'s office. But not from the fight for victims of sexual assault.

FAIRSTEIN: It's interesting now that some of the celebrity, if you will, of the fictional career gets me in doors. People will listen who didn't listen to a Linda Fairstein, 35-year-old prosecutor.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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