Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Soldier Found?; Reducing Flight Delays; White House: Declassified Intel Links Osama bin Laden to Iraq Terror Plan

Aired May 23, 2007 - 10:59   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 again, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on Wednesday, the 23rd of May.

Here's what's on the rundown.

President Bush live this hour at the Coast Guard Academy making the case to stay in Iraq. Intelligence, the White House says, linking Osama bin Laden to terror plots in the country.

HARRIS: Summer vacation ahead, but don't get stuck in a time warp. The government announcing new ideas this morning to keep your flight on schedule.

COLLINS: A drug for Attention Deficit Disorder gaining popularity as a weight loss medication. Does it work? And what are the risks? Under scrutiny now, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: This hour, we are awaiting word out of Iraq, where U.S. military officials are trying to identify a body. It is believed to be one of the servicemen who disappeared 12 days ago.

CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Cal Perry joins us from the capital.

Cal, what's the latest?

CAL PERRY, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, perhaps some new developments in what has been an extensive search over the past 12 days. A body found in a creek bed near the town of Hilla. Today, earlier, at about 11:00 a.m., we heard recently from Major General Caldwell on this very subject. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: We will work diligently to determine if he is, in fact, one of our missing soldiers. We have not made any identification yet.

If appropriate, we will first notify the families of the results of that identification process. We are making every effort we can to ensure that the families of our soldiers are the first to receive accurate information. We all would expect, I believe, nothing less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: Now, of course the U.S. military wants to be incredibly thorough in identifying this body. And as the general said, they want to notify the family first to make sure that they get this right.

Now, Arwa Damon, just minutes ago, who is embedded with troops down on the search, spoke to a U.S. military official who said, "It's highly likely that this body could be shipped back to the states to Dover for further forensic tests to make sure that this could be, in fact, the body of one of the missing soldiers" -- Tony

HARRIS: CNN's Cal Perry for us.

Cal, thank you.

The military reports nine more U.S. troops killed in roadside bombings and gun battles across Iraq. That raises this month's death toll for American forces in Iraq to 81, and the total number of U.S. service members killed so far in the war to 3,423.

COLLINS: In Iraq, a suicide bomber strikes. A government official says the killer targeted a cafe in Diyala province. That's northeast of Baghdad, near the Iranian border. At least 22 people were killed, more than 40 wounded.

Also today, a firefight in central Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers and gunmen traded fire for half an hour. The result, four people killed, 18 others wounded. Most of the casualties civilians.

HARRIS: In the war funding debate, both sides declare victory this morning. Congress now pushing to pass a bill that provides billions of dollars, but no deadlines.

Democrats dropped demands for a withdrawal timetable for U.S. troops in Iraq. They faced another presidential veto if they kept it in. Instead, we are told the measure includes political goals for the Iraqi government.

The House is expected to vote tomorrow. The Senate on Friday.

COLLINS: Planning to fly this summer? Well, you'll have plenty of company and plenty of chances for delay. But the government says it is working to make sure your flight leaves on time. The FAA out just a short time ago with its new plan.

CNN Kathleen Koch joining us now with details.

All right, Kathleen. Let's hear it.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the bad news is that the FAA is not optimistic about the summer travel season ahead. Advanced schedule information shows that the number of flights will be up over last year, and the long-range weather forecast is for a long, hot summer. Now, what that means, of course, is more convective action, more thunderstorms, more delays. But the FAA is trying to counter that by expanding a program that it tried at seven airports last year.

The so-called Air Space Flow program basically changed the rules, only delaying flies whose routes sent them through bad weather and thunderstorms instead of shutting down the entire airport, as the FAA did in the past. Now, that cut delays at those particular airports by nine percent. So, this summer, 18 airports will try the new program.

Another change, the FAA is rolling out new software to ensure that the slots left open by canceled or delayed flights are automatically filled by the next available flight. And so the agency hopes that that will speed things along, as well.

Air travelers can also find some very interesting helpful information at an air traffic controller's Web site. It's called www.avoiddelays.com. And one section has quite useful tips from controllers about specific airports.

For example, there you see Denver. And the advice is, avoid late afternoon and evening flights that are often delayed by summer thunderstorms. Still, the Web site does note that the storms in the mountains pass quickly, and so the delays there are generally just 15 to 30 minutes -- Heidi.

COLLINS: OK. Well, we're going to try to stay optimistic, even though the FAA may not be.

All right. Kathleen, thanks.

KOCH: You bet.

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and check in now though with White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano. As you know, she is traveling with the president in New London, Connecticut.

Elaine, we know that this is going to be a commencement address for the president. He is, however, expected to be talking about some other topics.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And, of course, the backdrop here certainly very important, Heidi.

The president is speaking at the commencement for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy here in New London, Connecticut. And Fran Townsend, the president's homeland security adviser, traveling with him on Air Force One today, talked to reporters off camera just a short time ago to give a preview of what the president will talk about.

And he'll talk about the threat, the ongoing threats to homeland security, specifically by al Qaeda. And he is expected to outline three aviation plots that Townsend says have been disrupted.

The Coast Guard, again, a fitting back drop, Townsend says, for this particular speech. He will praise the Coast Guard, talk about the ongoing challenges that the United States continues to face. And then reiterate the need for maintaining a U.S. military presence in Iraq.

This, of course, Heidi, coming at a time when there has been a great deal of debate on Capitol Hill about withdrawing U.S. forces. President Bush will again try to make the case using these examples that, for U.S. forces to withdraw precipitously, in the administration's view, would be a mistake -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And we also now know that the Iraq war funding bill, the Democrats have decided to take out the portion where they discuss these timetables. Any chance he could be bringing that up today, as well?

QUIJANO: Unclear if that will necessarily make it into this speech, per se. It would not be surprising. He has, in fact, used these kinds of speeches to again make the case that the troops need funding, that they need funding quickly.

We just don't know at this point again the focus. Fran Townsend mentioning a short time ago on Air Force One, Heidi, that in fact these three disrupted aviation plots, something new that perhaps we've only heard in bits and pieces in the media, but President Bush himself will acknowledge in that speech set to take place just a short time from now -- Heidi.

COLLINS: That linked with the timetables being withdrawn, more in the direction of a long time that U.S. troops could be in Iraq.

Elaine Quijano traveling with the president at the United States Coast Guard Academy today.

We'll hear that commencement address. You can stay right here in the NEWSROOM for live coverage of it just a few minutes away, 11:15 Eastern, 8:15 Pacific.

HARRIS: Close call on a flooded creek. High water leads to a high ride. The story coming up for you in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Focus on weight. A drug for attention problems also help kids slim down, but does Adderall carry risks? Find out in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Monica Goodling under oath, shielded by immunity. What the former top Justice Department aide knows about the fired prosecutors. That story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, it is supposed to be used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, but some doctors are prescribing the drug Adderall for weight loss. Critics say that could be a prescription for trouble.

Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

Elizabeth, good to see you.

What are doctors saying about this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, doctors say that they are doing this because there is an obesity epidemic in the U.S. and that Adderall works.

Now, there aren't many, many doctors doing this, but we talked to one pediatrician in Chicago who says that he has prescribed Adderall to 800 overweight children. They did not have ADHD. He prescribed it to them just for weight loss.

It's a well-known side-effect of ADHD drugs that it often makes people lose their appetites. You can ask a lot of parents of kids on these drugs and they will tell you that their kids just didn't have the appetites that they once had.

Now, these doctors say obesity is a huge problem among young people. They often develop Type 2 Diabetes. They say they're doing a lot of good.

Other doctors say this is a terrible idea. ADHD drugs can have serious side-effects, it can have cardiovascular side-effects, it can have psychiatric side-effects. And these critics say, what are you doing? These drugs were never tested for weight loss. You are possibly giving kids side-effects when they don't have ADHD.

HARRIS: So a bit of an answer there to the "why" question. How about this "what" question?

You spoke with a family whose son took Adderall for weight loss. What does that family say?

COHEN: That family was very happy with it.

HARRIS: Really?

COHEN: Yes. They said that their son did not have any side- effects, no psychiatric side-effects.

Right now you're looking at Alex Veep (ph). Right now he is a teenager and right now he is a normal weight. But a couple of years ago he was about 30 pounds overweight, and he's not anymore.

So these parents were happy. But you can imagine if, God forbid, a child did have one of the cardiovascular or psychiatric side- effects, would they be so happy? Very likely not.

HARRIS: And if a drug is approved for one purpose, you can't just use that for a non-prescribed purpose, can you?

COHEN: You can. HARRIS: You can?

COHEN: Well, a doctor can prescribe it, yes. It's perfectly legal.

If a drug is out there and has been approved by the FDA for one condition, a doctor is free to prescribe it for another condition. This actually happens all the time.

It's called off-label usage. But sometimes it's not controversial. Sometimes a drug is often prescribed for another use and it's pretty much accepted in the medical community. But something like this is not generally accepted in the medical community.

HARRIS: Yes.

Elizabeth, great to see you.

COHEN: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Thanks for your time this morning.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARRIS: And to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. There you will find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address, cnn.com/help.

COLLINS: You can ask why terrible things happen in life, or you can carry on the best that you can.

CNN's Cal Perry looks at one Iraqi boy's choice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PERRY (voice over): Boys being boys, playing soccer. But these teenagers in Falluja are the lucky ones. Though, on this pitch, "luck" is relative.

Twelve-year-old Mohammed can no longer play his favorite sport. He lost his leg to a car bomb. His seven-year-old cousin lost her life. The two were together, preparing for Friday prayers last October when, in an instant, their lives changed forever.

"I don't remember anything," Mohammed says, "because I fainted and was taken to hospital. Before that I remember everything going pitch black. My cousin died instantly. I still hear her screams before she became a martyr."

Now Mohammed is learning how to negotiate the streets of his war- torn neighborhood on one leg, learning to walk all over again. He visits his cousin Hajr's (ph) grave every other day, watering the flowers, keeping her memory alive. Mohammed's way of dealing with his loss.

"This is my cousin's grave," he says. "She died a martyr in the incident. I come here always and give her water, water her."

Every other day I visit her. I feel pain when I think of her. Every time I remember her we cry."

PERRY: As he makes his way from the cemetery to school, he hobbles through piles of devastation, an everyday struggle to persevere in the hope of a better tomorrow.

"Despite all that happened to me," he says, "no matter what happens, I will never leave my school. I will never leave school and, God willing, I will continue my education and become an architect and build all schools."

Mohammed prays for a better day.

(on camera): Mohammed is one of the lucky ones. Thousands of children have been killed in this war, and with the ongoing violence and chaos overwhelming both security forces and health workers, there is no telling how this war really affects the children of Iraq.

Cal Perry, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Seeking safety. Palestinian refugees caught in a crossfire. Their plight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

COLLINS: They may hate U.S. policies, but they love American movies. American culture es muy bueno in Cuba.

CNN's Morgan Neill reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Cuba, when the subject of Americans comes up, one comment you'll often hear is (SPEAKING SPANISH), "They're bad, but they make good things."

Nowhere is that attitude more evident than in entertainment. Though the island's communist government constantly attacks American consumer culture, U.S.-made TV shows and movies are all over state-run media.

"They almost always show more American movies than Latin American ones," says this state TV worker.

Tickets for the movies cost just two Cuban pesos, or about nine cents U.S. And theaters fill up every weekend. This week in Havana, offerings include Mel Gibson's "Apocolyto" and horror film "Hannibal Rising," and Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd". All American.

And it's not just the movies. (on camera): Like all media, television in Cuba is controlled by the state. Satellite TV is illegal with a very few exceptions. That means this is what Cubans see, four or five channels, all of them programmed by the state.

(voice over): That's why it's so surprising some of the most popular shows here are American. Right now, "CSI" is big, just like in the states. And on the weekend, medical drama "House" is king.

"It's a good show," says Yanette (ph). "Plus it saves Sunday afternoon."

Physical therapist Lili (ph) can't get enough. "Even though Dr. House is undisciplined," she says, "he pays close attention to his cases."

So, while their politics may be worlds apart, when they head to the theater or turn on the tube, Cubans and Americans often look just alike.

Morgan Neill, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And this just in to CNN. President Bush's nominee to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission has withdrawn his nomination amid some strong opposition from Senate Democrats. The White House said it was reluctantly accepting the decision from Michael Baroody after some members in the Senate rushed to judgment.

So again, President Bush's nominee to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Michael Baroody, has withdrawn his nomination.

COLLINS: Monica Goodling under oath, shielded by immunity. What the former top Justice Department aide knows about the fired prosecutors. More on that coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Good morning again. Welcome back. Bottom of the hour. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: And I'm Heidi Collins. Hi, everybody. She quit her job, pleaded the fifth and reportedly broke down in tears over the U.S. attorney firings. Right now former Justice Department staffer Monica Goodling is breaking her silence testifying on Capitol Hill. Justice correspondent Kelli Arena watching it for us live. Hi there, Kelli, obviously still going on. We are in the question and answer phase.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. COLLINS: We went ahead and broadcast her opening statements. Tell us again what you took, what the headline was from all of that.

ARENA: I think Congress got one thing they were looking for and that was an outright admission that when she was hiring some people to work at the Justice Department, that she did take politics into account. When you are hiring career professionals to the Justice Department, that is a no-no. That is illegal. You cannot do that. What they are not going to get it seems, is any real explanation as to how those U.S. attorneys that were fired ended up on that list. Monica Goodling says, yeah, I gave some input, but I don't know how those names, you know, were decided at the end of the day. Another thing they are not going to get is any real clear connection, it looks like at least from this point, back to the White House. Don't forget, Monica was the liaison between the Justice Department and the White House. Here's what she had to say on that front.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONICA GOODLING, FMR. JUSTICE DEPT W.H. LIAISON: I wish to clarify my role as White House liaison. Despite that title, I did not hold the keys to the kingdom as some have suggested. I was not the primary White House contact for purposes of the development or approval of the U.S. attorney replacement plan. I have never attended a meeting of the White House judicious selection committee. The attorney general and Kyle Sampson attended those meetings. To the best of my recollection, I've never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice and I'm certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: You know, Heidi, Goodling also took some shots at the Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty (ph) saying that he was not exactly forthcoming with law makers when he testified. She went through some points where she thought that he just didn't present the entire picture. In some cases, it seemed like (ph) she was saying that he was not truthful and that is something that this committee, for sure, will continue to chew on. You know, Republicans still trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to change the topic here. One of them, Congressman Sensenbrenner saying, look, we spent $250,000 in this committee on this investigation. There are no fish in this water. We need to move on, but there's no indication that this committee is ready to.

COLLINS: Kelli, remind us, who called for the investigation in the first place?

ARENA: Well, it depends. There are (ph) a lot of investigations going on. You have one over in the Senate that Chuck Schumer has been spearheading. You've got another investigation here in the House Conyers is spearheading, but you also have independent Justice Department investigations going on to find out whether anyone did break the law. Now you have this admission from Monica Goodling that politics did play a role, an allegation we have heard for a very long time that. That just provides more grist for the mill.

COLLINS: From here we will see what?

ARENA: From here we are going to have a day of Monica. She is expected to be there through the end of business today. There are some more testimonies that are supposed to happen, not of key Justice officials, but some other people that may or may not have played a role. You still have to wait for the results of the investigations going on at Justice. Of course, there are other continued calls for the attorney general to resign. He is happily in Germany right now at the G-8 meeting, in a meeting with his counterparts from the European countries. But that hasn't quelled at all either. So you know what? I am not going to sit here and guess what's going to happen next because this has truly taken some unexpected turns all along the way.

COLLINS: No question about that. We know what you will be doing is watching these proceedings for certain. All right, CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena, Kelli, thank you.

HARRIS: The missing U.S. soldiers, days of relentless searching now a wait that seems insufferable. U.S. military officials trying to identify a body. It is believed to be one of the service men who disappeared 12 days ago. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is at her post. Barbara, good morning to you. What's the latest?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Tony, the U.S. military now does have custody of the body that was turned over to them after it was found in the Euphrates River by Iraqi forces. They are trying to make a positive identification of that set of remains so they can inform the family members back in the United States as quickly as possible. Of course, three sets of families are waiting for final word on what has happened to their loved ones, the three soldiers of course that disappeared after that attack about 12 days ago by Iraqi insurgents. Earlier today, Major General William Caldwell, the top military spokesman in Baghdad talked about this very sensitive time, about trying to make sure it is the families that learn word first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: Our first responsibility really is to the families. And if there's any possibility at all that this body that was given to us by the Iraqi police could be one of our missing soldiers, they really need to hear from us first any of the details associated with that. Obviously, we are proceeding along in a very cautious manner at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So Tony what happens in these cases, of course, is the military appoints liaison officers to work with these families to be with them and to be the ones that will give them first word. Behind the scenes, there is a very urgent effort to make sure the families are notified first from the military and that they don't learn word about this from the news media. That issue of positive identification of whether this set of missing remains actually is, in fact, one of the missing U.S. soldiers. Tony?

HARRIS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us, Barbara, thank you.

On the military reports, nine more U.S. troops killed in roadside bombings and gun battles across Iraq. That raises this month's death toll for American forces in Iraq to 81. The total number of U.S. service members killed so far in the war to 3,423.

COLLINS: It's a complaint heard all across California's farmlands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY VEGA, FARM LABOR CONTRACTOR: We're really behind the 8-ball right now because we are so short of workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Harvest help wanted. Tell you about it ahead right here in the NEWSROOM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Today could be the day the S&P 500 closes at an all-time high. Why you should care -- next on NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most name in news.

COLLINS: And a reminder this Memorial Day weekend, turn your frequent flier miles into hero miles. Fisher House will use those miles to transport service men and women wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan and their families to treatment centers around the country. Go to fisherhouse.org. Do it right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get you to the story that we have discovered in Columbia, South Carolina. This is Richling County. According to our affiliates and officials there, they tell us that one person is dead after a car ran off a ramp at the main post office in downtown Columbia, happened about 10:30 Eastern this morning. And apparently somehow this car in the upper deck went through a steel support beam and then dropped 40 to 50 feet and landed on the roof. They do know that it was a woman who died, apparently the driver and ejected from the vehicle, so an awful scenes there in Columbia, South Carolina.

HARRIS: And a big manhunt under way right now in Chicago. Police are looking for three masked men who stormed a bank on the city's south side yesterday. We told you about this story yesterday about this time here in the NEWSROOM. A teller was killed and two other people wounded in a shootout between the robbers and a security guard. The gunmen got away with only a small amount of cash. Police say they have located a vehicle that closely matches the getaway car. A $50,000 reward now offered by the FBI for the suspects capture.

COLLINS: Over the last seven months, it's been nothing but Dow, Dow, Dow. Meanwhile, another market average has quietly crept into record territory and it could set a new high today. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with more on the S&P 500's recent run and why it matters, one of our producer's favorite segments. Susan, explain.

LISOVICZ: We are all planning to retire early, right, Heidi? That B&B in the Caribbean?

COLLINS: I like it. I like it a lot.

LISOVICZ: Tony's in. We could all find jobs for us. Here's the deal about the S&P 500. We talk about the record highs for the Dow on nearly a daily basis literally. Wall Street pros usually consider the S&P 500 the best indicator of the stock market's performance. Consider this, the Dow is made up of just 30 stocks. The S&P 500 has well, 500 components, all big cap stocks that represent all sectors of the economy, everything from banking to retail to tech, to manufacturing, health care, you name it. It's been inching, the S&P, toward its all-time record close of 1527 hit back in March of 2000 when the world was a very different place. It's up more than 7 percent this year alone.

Why should this matter to the average investor? Not only is the S&P 500 a bellwether of the U.S. economy, you are probably invested in it. Not everyone owns individual stocks, but a lot of us have mutual funds, either personal investment accounts or retirement plans or both. The fact is, a lot of those funds mimic the S&P 500, so when it's doing well, investments that track it do well, too. Very simple Heidi.

COLLINS: Producers there are very happy with you right now. Obviously, just a better representative sample of the different stocks that are out there, obviously?

LISOVICZ: Exactly.

COLLINS: So not only is the Dow doing great, S&P doing great. What about the Nasdaq?

LISOVICZ: There's the bad news. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 7 percent this year. It closed at a new six-year high yesterday, but it's nowhere near the lofty level to join the tech boom in 2000 when tech stock prices were over inflated, to say the least. The Nasdaq is still nearly 50 percent below its record close of 5,048 hit back in March of 2000. It would have to more than double. Remember, tech stocks led the great bull run of the 1990s and they are a laggard to this day taking in the new century.

Taking a quick look at the numbers today, we've got a nice rally for all three averages. The Dow industrial up 44 points, it could close, would close, we close now at a new record high at 13,584. The Nasdaq composite is up .3 percent as well is the S&P 500. Woo hoo!

COLLINS: I like it. Very good, Susan Lisovicz.

LISOVICZ: Can't do it every day.

COLLINS: As long as the numbers stay high, we may ask you to do that.

HARRIS: B&B in the Bahamas. I'm loving that.

COLLINS: Perfect, Susan, thank you.

HARRIS: "Your World Today" coming up at the top of the hour in 16 minutes or so from now. Jim Clancy, where is he? There he is, standing by with a preview this morning. Jim, good morning to you.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony. Good morning, Heidi. Join Hala Gorani and I for "Your World Today." We've got a real spy yarn for you. You of course know the ex-KBG spy who was killed, contaminated with radioactive material. He knew that he was marked for death. We're going to hear his own words on videotape from a decade ago even as Russia says it won't surrender the man who is now wanted by British police in his killing. This, a real-life spy yarn.

Plus, more on the debate over proposed changes in U.S. immigration law, in the eyes of immigrants and would-be immigrants, the bill now on Capitol Hill, holds a lot of promise. They also have a lot of questions. We are going to find out more about what they think.

Plus, would you buy a used car, pay more for it if it belonged to somebody famous? How about if it belonged to a retiring prime minister? And Tony and Heidi, would it make any difference if this car was really, how shall I put this, really built for a soccer mom? Would that make any difference?

HARRIS: It would only make a difference to me if it were some kind of a hybrid.

COLLINS: Here we go. I knew it was coming.

HARRIS: Absolutely. It needs to be a hybrid for me today, tomorrow and into the future.

CLANCY: All right. The prime minister wasn't a hybrid and neither was his minivan.

COLLINS: All right. Jim Clancy, nice to see you. Thanks.

Want to get this story to you now, too, Liberty University student held this morning without bond. Police say they found homemade bombs in his car on the eve of Jerry Falwell's funeral. Nineteen-year-old Mark David Uhl (ph) is charged with manufacturing explosives. It's not known if he has a lawyer. Police say they found several soda-can sized bombs in his trunk Monday night. Investigators say Uhl had problems with an anti-gay group that was protesting near the Reverend Falwell's funeral. They say it is not clear what Uhl planned to do with those devices.

HARRIS: Harvest help wanted, the issue facing farmers in California. Illegal workers, the backbone of their labor force, are harder and harder to find. CNN's Chris Lawrence explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): California's cherries are blushing red.

BRUCE FRY, RANCHER: These are ready. That's ready.

LAWRENCE: But Bruce Fry worries whether enough workers will show up to pick them.

FRY: And you get half the crew, you get half the cherries.

LAWRENCE: California harvests about half the nation's fruits and vegetables. Every summer farmers need half a million workers to pick those crops, but the crackdown on illegal immigrants is keeping workers out of their fields, leaving unpicked fruit left to rot.

HENRY VEGA, FARM LABOR CONTRACTOR: They're definitely worried about being raided and deported.

LAWRENCE: Henry Vega not only grows his own crops, he contracts out labor to other farmers, as well.

VEGA: We're really, really behind the eight ball right now because we're so short of workers.

LAWRENCE: Vega says a lot of illegal immigrants left agriculture during the real estate boom. Now they've moved on to better paying construction jobs in places like Nevada. Critics say farmers themselves are to blame because they become so dependent on cheap labor.

JACK MARTIN, IMMIGRATION REFORM ADVOCATE: It is like an addiction.

LAWRENCE: Jack Martin's group is a leading opponent of an immigration bill that would let more than a million illegal farm workers stay in the country. The Senate's proposal addresses the worker shortage, but Martin says it's ripe for cheaters.

MARTIN: You'll have all sorts of people claiming to have been working in agriculture and they will have pieces of paper that will show that, but in fact, it will simply be taking advantage of our gullibility.

LAWRENCE: Meantime, help wanted signs are going up for the summer harvest.

VEGA: We can grow good fruit. You can put plenty of water and fertilizer, but when you don't have the labor, it just breaks your heart.

LAWRENCE: Farmers say if this keeps up, you may not see the selection you are used to at your local grocery store. When I asked them, why can't you just pay these workers more? They said they would have to pass the cost on to consumers and honestly, they don't feel anyone will pay more for a California strawberry as opposed to one just as good coming from, say, Argentina. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Santa Paula, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Close call on a flooded creek. High water leads to high rise. The story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly now to President Bush at the commencement address of the United States Coast Guard, New London, Connecticut, talking about Osama bin Laden and these newly declassified documents. Let's listen in.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan had been sent to the United States before September 11th to serve as a sleeper agent, ready for fall '01 attacks. He was ordered to our country by 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheikh Muhammed (ph) who is now in U.S. custody. Our intelligence community believes that KSM brought al Sali (ph) to meet Osama bin Laden, where he pledged his loyalty to the al Qaeda leader and offered himself up as a martyr.

Among the potential targets, our intelligence community believes this al Qaeda operative discussed with KSM the water reservoirs, the New York Stock Exchange and United States military academies such as this one. We also broke up two other post 9/11 aviation plots. The first in 2002 was a plot by Kaleg Sheikh Muhammed (ph) to repeat the destruction of 9/11, by sending operatives to hijack an airplane and fly into the tallest building on the west coast. During a hearing at Guantanamo Bay, just two months ago, Khalid Sheikh Muhammed stated that the intended target was the library tower in Los Angeles.

And in 2003 we uncovered and stopped a plot led by another suspected senior al Qaeda operative named Abu Bakur al azi (ph). Our intelligence community believes this plot was to be another east coast aviation attack, including multiple airplanes that had been hijacked and then crashed into targets into the United States. There is a reason that these and other plots have thus far not succeeded. Since September 11th, we've taken bold action at home and abroad to keep our people safe. To help stop new attacks on our country, we have undertaken the most sweeping reorganization of the Federal government since the start of the cold war. We created a new Department of Homeland Security merging 22 different government organizations, including the Coast Guard into a single department with a clear mission, to protect America from future attacks.

To stop new attacks on our country, we've strengthened our nation's intelligence community. We created a position of the director of national intelligence to ensure our intelligence agencies operate as a single unified enterprise. We created the national counterterrorism center where the FBI, the CIA and other agencies work side by side to track terrorist threats across the world. We directed the National Security Agency to monitor international terrorist communications. We established a program run by the CIA to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives. These measures are vital. These measures are working and these measures have helped prevent an attack on our homeland. They helped stop new attacks on our country.

We passed the Patriot Act, breaking down the walls that prevented Federal law enforcement and intelligence communities from sharing information about potential terrorist activities. We transformed the FBI into an agency whose primary focus is stopping terrorist attacks. We've expanded the number of FBI joint terrorism task forces from 35 before 9/11 to more than 100 today. And we saw their effectiveness recently when one of the teams helped disrupt a plot by a group of al Qaeda-inspired extremists to kill American soldiers at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. To help stop new attacks on our country we launched a bio- watch program, placing state of the art equipment in major U.S. cities to detect biological agents.

To help prevent terrorists from bringing nuclear radiological weapons into our country, we're placing radiation detectors in all major U.S. ports. We placed advanced screening equipment and U.S. homeland security personnel at foreign ports so we can prescreen cargo headed for America. We are determined to stop the world's most dangerous men from striking America with the world's most dangerous weapons. The Coast Guard is on the frontline of this battle.

To help stop new attacks in our country, we strengthened international cooperation in the fight against terror. A coalition of more than 90 nations, nearly one half of the world, is working together to dry up terrorist financing and bring terrorist leaders to justice. We launched the proliferation security initiatives, a vast coalition of nations that are working to stop shipments of weapons of mass destruction on land, at sea and in the air.

With our allies, we have uncovered and shut down the AQ-conn (ph) network which had supplied nuclear-related equipment and plans to terrorist states including Iran and North Korea. With Great Britain, we convinced the leader of Libya to abandon his country's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Key components of Libya's nuclear program are now locked up in a storage facility right here in the United States. And today the world is safer because Libya is out of the nuclear weapons business.

All these steps are making our country safer, but we're not yet safe. To strike our country, terrorists only have to be right once. To protect our country, we have to be right 100 percent of the time. That means the best way to protect our people is to take the fight to the enemy. So after 9/11, I vowed to America that we would go on the offense against these terrorists, fighting them across the world so we do not have to face them here at home. And since 9/11, that is precisely what the United States of America has done.

In Afghanistan, we removed a regime that gave sanctuary and support to al Qaeda as they planned the 9/11 attacks. Today because we acted, the terrorist camps in Afghanistan have been shut down, 25 million people have been liberated and the Afghan people have an elected government that is fighting terrorists instead of harboring them. The Taliban and al Qaeda are seeking to role back Afghanistan's democratic progress. With forces from 40 nations including every member of NATO, we're helping the Afghan people defend their democratic gains. Earlier this month, Afghan American and NATO forces tracked down and killed a top Taliban commander in Afghanistan.

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