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CNN Live Saturday

Smarty Jones Wins Preakness, Breaks Record; South Africa Wins Bid To Be First African Nation To Host World Cup; Israel Makes 3 Separate Military Strikes In Gaza

Aired May 15, 2004 - 18:00   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN SATURDAY is just ahead, but first, I've got these headlines.
Two Israeli helicopters have fired missiles in Gaza City. The Associated Press reports they were targeting a building used by Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. We'll have more on this developing story in just a moment.

In the meantime, grab who you must, do what you want. "The New Yorker" says those are the rules of the secret Pentagon program to fight al Qaeda. The article blames the prisoner abuse scandal on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who decided to expand those tactics to Iraq.

In the meantime, the eastbound lanes of I-70 south of Golden, Colorado are still closed. A 40-ton girder from an overpass collapsed onto the interstate killing three people. Crews put the girder up four days ago when they were adding a lane.

And good evening. I'm Carol Lin in Atlanta and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'll going to begin right now with a developing story out of the Middle East. Israeli helicopters have fired missiles in Gaza City. CNN's John Vause joins us right now from Jerusalem by telephone with the latest from there.

John, what happened?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it appears that there have been three separate strikes within the last hour or so in Gaza. The first, Israeli helicopters fired two missiles in a Gaza City neighborhood, at a building housing the Fatah Party. That's the party of Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat. Medical sources say two boys were wounded in that attack but not seriously.

The other strike appears to have been on a building that houses a pro-Hamas newspaper. And a third strike, at least according to the Associated Press, which hit the power source and knocked out electricity to the northern part of the city. This has been a violent 24 hours, in fact, a violent week, in Gaza.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Apache helicopters hit an office building to the militant group, Islamic Jihad. And also, in Rafah a few hours ago -- earlier today, rather, Israel bulldozers moved in, destroying dozens of homes. According to the U.N., almost a 100 homes were destroyed. And the U.N. says more than a thousand people have been left homeless. So a very violent day, a very violent week in Gaza, Carol.

LIN: But John, why? I mean what prompted this latest attack?

VAUSE: We haven't heard anything yet officially from the Israeli defense forces, but we were told earlier today that the attack on the building, which belonged to Islamic Jihad, Israel says that was a terrorist center used for recruiting terrorists to plan attacks on Israel.

As for the attack on the Fatah Party, we still don't know what the reasoning is behind that attack, but Israel routinely carries out these air strikes on workshops, which they say manufacture missiles, the homemade missiles and mortars, which they fire at Jewish settlements. So we're waiting to find out just exactly what was going on.

But the Hamas newspaper was also hit about a week or so ago for disseminating what Israel says was insightful messages to Palestinians as well as giving away troop movements.

LIN: All right, John. Any report on casualties?

VAUSE: Only what we're hearing from the medical sources saying two boys at this stage have been slightly hurt, nothing serious. But these are residential areas, a very, very densely populated area of Gaza. So we wait to find out what medical sources will tell us. But at this stage, it appears that no fatalities and just one or two minor injuries.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. John Vause reporting in from Jerusalem. We're keeping an eye on that breaking story.

Right now, we're going to move on to Iraq. Five U.S. troops have died since Friday, three of them in combat. Today was an extremely violent day in Baghdad. A mortar landed on a warehouse igniting a huge fire.

Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, 21 insurgents were killed in fighting with coalition troops. In Mosul, a mortar or rocket propelled grenade hit a group of Iraqi civilians who were lined up outside an Army recruitment center. Four people were killed, 15 were wounded.

And British troops killed 16 insurgents, but two British soldiers were wounded. It happened after their patrol was ambushed between the cities of Amara and Basra.

Now, several of the soldiers charged in the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq face court-martial next week. CNN's Kathleen Koch has more from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're being called the most important military prosecutions since Vietnam. First in court, Specialist Jeremy Sivits, who has offered to plead guilty and testify against the other six soldiers charged. Wednesday he faces a special court-martial similar to a civilian misdemeanor trial with a penalty of no more than a year in prison. On Thursday, more serious general courts-martial begin for two other defendants, Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Sergeant Javal Davis.

An attorney for Army Specialist Charles Graner, also charged in the alleged abuses, summarized his client's defense.

GUY WOMACH, GRANER'S ATTORNEY: He's following orders like a good soldier should. Keep in mind the environment that existed at Abu Ghraib, this was an interrogation center. He was being directed by military intelligence officers and others in the intel community.

KOCH: But the military says the requirement to follow orders doesn't apply to patently illegal orders. Another defense cited by an attorney for Private First Class Lynndie England, lack of training to the criticism of a former POW.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you have a balancing situation here with a young girl who was not sophisticated, who has basically 30 days of training in how to handle situations such as this, and who is a clerk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's no excuse. You're a soldier first. I was just a cook, but I think I handled myself very well underneath the pressure.

KOCH: Though no commanding officers are yet charged, one expert predicts the military legal process will soon look upward.

PROF. THOMAS MORRISON, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: It is the duty of the people who are there as the time and the supervisors of the people that are there to draw those lines, to watch what's going on to monitor how prisoners are being treated and taken care of and make policy and issue orders and set rules.

KOCH: Secretary of State Colin Powell Saturday assured an international audience the search for justice would not stop at enlisted soldiers.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We will make sure that any problems we had within our system of command are dealt with. I want you to know that you are about to see American democracy in action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: The case increasingly being made that the prison abuses illustrated the worst of the U.S. military, but the coming trials will showcase the best. Back to you, Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Kathleen Koch live at the Pentagon.

Both President Bush and John Kerry talked about Iraq on the radio this morning. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux listened in.

Suzanne, once again, Iraq is shaping the upcoming campaign.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol, and really the debate has shifted from this isolated prison abuse scandal to one of Iraq policy. And it is not surprising that both candidates are now saying it is an issue of presidential leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): On Armed Forces Day, President Bush paid tribute to fallen police.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their calling in life was to keep the peace.

MALVEAUX: It's a familiar refrain for Mr. Bush often reserved for U.S. soldiers in Iraq. But since the prison abuse scandal and the beheading of an American civilian there, the president is facing renewed criticism of his handling of Iraq. Mr. Bush used his weekly radio address to make his case.

BUSH: There is only one way to deal with terror. We must confront the enemy and stay on the offensive until these killers are defeated and this is precisely what our Armed Forces and the forces of our coalition are doing.

MALVEAUX: But the prison abuse scandal has solicited condemnation from around the world. Bush's critics and Democratic opponent John Kerry argue the prison debacle is part of a failed Iraq policy.

JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a duty to guarantee that when mistakes are made those responsible are held accountable whether they are at the bottom of the chain-of-command or at the top.

MALVEAUX: Both sides are now accusing the other of playing politics with Iraq. Mr. Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove...

KARL ROVE, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: America's defense, America's security, is too important to put it in the hands of someone whose views change with political expediency and the political winds.

MALVEAUX: A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee in response: "Karl Rove hasn't met an issue he didn't politicize. Time and again he has shown a willingness to turn the service of our military into a political tool."

The latest CNN/"Time" poll shows Mr. Bush is facing the lowest approval ratings of his presidency at just 46 percent, a fact the Bush administration is trying to play down.

ROVE: Regardless of the polls, regardless of fashion or fad, regardless of what the editorial pages of "The New York Times" says, he will do what he thinks is in the best interest of the security of the United States of America and nothing at all will stop him. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Nothing except perhaps being voted out of office. But political observers say there is still plenty of time before that is determined and much of that may depend on what happens on the ground inside Iraq --Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Suzanne Malveaux live at White House.

Evangelist Billy Graham is back in the hospital. That story tops our look at the news across America. Graham is in stable condition after falling at his home in North Carolina. Yesterday's accident comes after Graham underwent hip surgery in early January.

More trouble for legendary music producer, Phil Specter. He already faces a murder charge in last year's shooting death of an actress at his Los Angeles area mansion. Police say Specter was arrested yesterday after a scuffle with his chauffeur. He was released and ordered to appear in court on June 14.

Storms across Robertson County, Texas, are expected to clear out this weekend. Dry weather will give flood victims a chance to clean up from more than 17 inches of rain this week. That's the news across America.

In the meantime, investigators are trying to determine what caused a deadly overpass accident in Colorado. It happened just outside Denver on Interstate 70. A 40-ton steel girder collapsed right onto an SUV killing three people inside and blocking the eastbound lane. Shellene Cockrell with CNN affiliate KYGN joins us right now with the very latest -- Charlene.

SHELLENE COCKRELL, KYGN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, investigators are going to make sure that this is looked at thoroughly from every possible angle. They had several and criminal investigators here. The Colorado Department of Transportation is on scene along with a private consultant to try and find out exactly what happened to cause this very tragic accident.

If you take a look behind me, you can see where that 40-ton steel girder fell to the ground here on oncoming traffic here on eastbound I-70. It hit a Dodge Durango and cut the car in half. The bottom half, the chassis, went ahead on down the highway until it ended up in the median. The top half of the car -- the truck, as you can see here, remains on this side.

Now, the most tragic part of this is that a family -- we believe it was a family, an adult male, an adult female and a young girl were inside the car. They are believed to have been killed instantly in this accident. They didn't even have time to hit the brakes. There are no skid marks whatsoever.

The beam just fell for no apparent reason. It was put into place on Tuesday in what they call a temporary placement. It had five breakings going from the girder into the steel concrete bridge. This was pretty much a simple routine improvement project on these overramps over the major interstate here. And they're not really quite sure what went wrong to cause this accident.

Again, they're going to be looking at engineering to see what happened. And the Jefferson County sheriff's department also just brought out a criminal team to investigate this to make sure there was not any criminal negligence or possibly any criminal mischief that might have caused this beam to fall down on the highway.

Now, the state governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, came out here earlier today. He's very concerned about what happened. He says they are not going to wait for any type of lawsuits to be pressed. They are looking into this fully, extensively, to find out exactly what caused this and to find who is going to be responsible.

The people doing the work actually were an asphalt company -- subcontractor working on this bridge here to try and widen them. As of right now, eastbound I-70 has been closed since about 10:00 this morning. They're going to work on getting cranes in here as soon as the investigation is complete to try and cut up this girder and move it off the highway. But that's going to close both directions of traffic on this major interfare. So very tragic here today. Again, three people killed, apparently a family: mother, father and a daughter just outside of Golden, Colorado.

I'm Shellene Cockrell for CNN. Back to you, Carol.

LIN: All right. It's not the last we're going to be hearing from this story. Thank you, Shellene.

Well, there's a huge party going on in South Africa. There it is. Still to come, South Africa beats the competition and gets the Cup.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian in Topeka, Kansas. One of the schools of the center of Brown versus the Board of Education landmark ruling is now a museum. We'll take a tour when we come back.

LIN: All right. Plus, is it a marketing strategy or a social issue? Fast food chains going light. Coming up later, why the new menus, and more importantly, will it help your waistline.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: On Monday, it'll be 50 years since the Supreme Court ruled that separating black students from white students was unconstitutional in public schools. The school at the center of that case is about to reopen as a museum, chronicling the battle for desegregation. CNN's Dan Lothian is in Topeka, Kansas where it all began with a preview.

Hi there, Dan.

LOTHIAN: Well, hello. I am in front of Monroe Elementary School. It was only one of four black schools at the time here in Topeka, Kansas. It is now a museum run by the National Park Service. Latonya Miller is with the Park Service and she took us on a tour through the halls of history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LATONYA MILLER, PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST: We know that really a lot of chaos happened after 1954. That's really when it really erupted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United States segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.

MILLER: Brown versus Board of Education, the case was the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Fifty years later, that cornerstone is etched in the classrooms and halls of Monroe Elementary, the once segregated black school where this young girl at the center of the landmark case was first enrolled. The struggle to integrate across America is graphically displayed in black and white.

MILLER: The Hall of Courage is significant because it basically will take visitors and put them in the front lines of segregation, in the riots, with the epithets being screamed out, with the bulldogs.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Are you trying to give visitors the emotion of the moment?

MILLER: That's correct.

LOTHIAN: Are you not open something of the wounds that a lot of people have wanted to kind of put behind them and say, "OK this was tough, but we have gotten over it"?

MILLER: There are going to be a lot of people who come through this particular exhibit with all -- with a range of emotions, from anger to resentment to being happy that it's over, that we made it through, to victory and that's the goal of it.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): This is just one of four exhibit rooms highlighting the different stages of the Civil Rights Movement, a movement that gained unstoppable momentum on May 17 1954.

(on camera): This was the headline of...

MILLER: Yes, this was the headline that came out.

LOTHIAN: ...the 17 in Topeka.

MILLER: That's correct. "Supreme Court Refutes Doctrine of Separate but Equal Education" and school segregation banned...

LOTHIAN (voice-over): The old fireplace is still here. Everything else has been removed renovated or re-created.

(on camera): Can you imagine what was happening in this hallway back in 1954?

MILLER: I can just imagine all of the African-American students, you know, yelling and screaming and running up and down the hallways, the bell ringing with the echo.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): While much of the museum is about the past, it is also about the future.

MILLER: Along this wall here, of course, you find the unfinished business of Brown. A lot of work has been done in the last 50 years but there is still a lot more work that needs to be done. It's a reminder of where we have been and it's also a reminder of where we don't want to go in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: The general public, of course, has not yet had a chance to go inside. That will happen after Monday. But throughout the day, some VIPs, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, has been able to go inside and tour through the museum. President Bush expected here on Monday --Carol Lin?

LIN: Dan, why were there protests outside the museum today?

LOTHIAN: Well, that's right. You know, security has been very tight here because of some of the protests that were taking place earlier this morning. A white supremacist group did get a permit to protest against the integration of schools. But they were outnumbered by other protesters, some of whom are from Topeka, who were basically shouting and telling them to get out of here. And it was pretty much peaceful but we did have both sides facing off early today here in Topeka.

LIN: So is security going to remain pretty tight around the museum then?

LOTHIAN: Security will remain tight. In fact, earlier today we are told there were about 80 or so law enforcement agencies, from the Secret Service to local police officers, to those with the Park Service, National Park Service, they were here. They will continue to be here. Security is very tight. The area here has been cordoned off. They've put in some container barriers as a protective barrier stand. So yes, the security situation here went up a notch when President Bush decided to visit.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Dan Lothian reporting live in Topeka.

Well, the Brown decision was just the beginning and the catalyst for the violent fight for desegregation. In 1957, it took federal troops to make sure nine black students could attend an all white high school in the Arkansas capital. Terrence Roberts was one of the Little Rock 9 and he joined us earlier from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TERRENCE ROBERTS, ONE OF THE LITTLE ROCK 9: It stands out as a water shed event because post Little Rock, people began to pay attention. Little rock was one of the earlier responses to the Brown decision and that response was basically refusal. We're not going to comply. And so, it got everybody's attention and it put school integration on the map in a big way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: He is now a psychology professor at Aniak University.

Tomorrow, "CNN PRESENTS" will have a special program examining the Board of -- or the Brown versus Board of Education ruling and the real world impact. Reporter Dan Lothian, whom you just met, will have much more on 50 years after Brown versus the Board of Education. That is tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern.

Well, they're on the front lines trying to cling to things that are normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPEC. 1ST CLASS JOSH DOMINA, U.S. ARMY: They mortar every night. They shoot every night. I wake up -- you know it's bad you wake up in the middle of the night and you hear explosions all over the place, gunfire on the roof and you look up and you go eh, and you roll back over and go back to sleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Still to come, holding on to sanity in the midst of a war zone.

Plus, another victor for Nelson Mandela. All of the -- all of South Africa has a reason now to celebrate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: A day of wild celebrations in South Africa. The country is the first African nation selected to host the soccer world cup. CNN's Charlene Hunter-Gault is in Johannesburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): And what a tribute for a country celebrating 10 years of democracy that has just gone through a peaceful -- the third peaceful election in the history of this country. And, of course, as the step ladder says, a country is ready. It has a first world infrastructure of roads. It has some of the best airports in the world, not just Africa. It already -- it has nine stadiums. It has already hosted the Cricket World Cup and the Rugby World Cup and many other international events over the past 10 years.

So to hear that the people -- when this crowd heard Sepp Blatter say there was only one round of voting, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was started and the people started to dance because they had seen the presentation live from Zurich. It was a very slick, effective presentation. They had seen their icon, Nelson Mandela. They saw Bishop Tutu. They saw F.W. De Klerk, who has put aside whatever differences he has had with this black-led government that took over from him to unite, just as the people down here are uniting.

I don't think I've seen a crowd this varied in times of race, religion, culture, age, gender. This is South Africa's rainbow nation as Nelson Mandela dreamed it to be.

This is Charlene Hunter-Gault at the big party in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right. It's a great time for other stories around the world right now.

In Tel Aviv, a peace rally, tens of thousands of Israelis are demonstrating in support of an Israeli pullout from Gaza. Israel's Gaza pullout plan proposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was rejected by his right-wing Likud Party. Polls show a solid majority of Israelis favor the plan.

In Jordan, a three-day World Economic Forum gets under way. Secretary of state Colin Powell told dignitaries that Americans were shocked by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Talks also focused on Iraq, reform in the Middle East and the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

A student in search of scholarships turned into a killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINA: Love your enemy. So even after I ended up killing those two guys, I still prayed for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Still to come, on the front lines in Iraq. Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, give me a huah to shake the marble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Call it a shout out or call it a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but there's something special about a huah. We're going to spell it out coming up.

And later, aside of fatty fries and a healthy salad, fast food chains are mixing it up with their menus. Why? We're going to serve it up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: More news ahead, but first, here's what's happening right now.

Three children and an adult have been in an Israeli missile attack in Gaza city. Israel fired four missiles at targets in the city. A branch office, a Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement was hit. A few minutes later, two rockets slammed into a building housing a Hamas newspaper.

The editor of London's "Daily Mirror" newspaper quit after admitting he published fake photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Pierce Morgan said the paper was the victim of a hoax. The mass circulation daily published a front page apology today.

And back in this country, engineers are at the scene of a highway tragedy south of Golden, Colorado. They are trying to figure out how a 40-ton steel support beam came crashing down on an SUV killing a man, a woman and a young girl. The highway overpass was under construction.

All right, this year's Preakness race is now history. Heavily favored Smarty Jones turned the Preakness into a runaway home stretch. The win seals his second Triple Crown victory, earning his owners $5 million. We're going to have more on his amazing story a little bit later this hour, so stay right there.

In the meantime, a potentially major shift in a new poll -- in new poll numbers out on President Bush and the war in Iraq. A "Newsweek" survey puts the president's approval rating at its lowest point ever, 42 percent, down from 49 percent last month. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is in Washington with more on these latest poll numbers.

Bill, I know you want to mention that these are registered voters, not likely voters. But I'm wondering what do you find most interesting about these numbers?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANAYLST: What is most interesting, striking, in fact, is that President Bush's numbers are deteriorating quite rapidly. Forty-two percent approval is not numbers you can get re-elected on. Look, 52 percent said they disapprove of the job he's doing. In that "Newsweek" poll, a majority of registered voters said they would -- they do not think this president deserves to be re- elected.

The bottom line in this poll is very simple. President Bush is in trouble. He's in trouble on Iraq, and he's in trouble on the economy. His economic ratings are very low despite some good news on the jobs front. Nothing looks very good for the president right now.

LIN: How is he doing against John Kerry in the polls?

SCHNEIDER: Well, that's a big surprising and it's got Democrats a little confused because they say, "Wait a minute, if President Bush is doing so badly, John Kerry ought to be way ahead of him." But in the actual standings, he's just a little bit ahead of him within the margin of error.

In our own CNN/"Time" poll, as you can see here -- now, this is among likely voters, people who are most likely to turn out, Kerry is five points ahead of Bush with Ralph Nader at six. That is within the margin of error. Now, is that a problem for John Kerry? Should Democrats be rending their garments and mashing their teeth? Well, actually, Carol, no, because the fact is in every election when an incumbent president has been running for re-election, the incumbent, at this point in the campaign, has almost always been ahead. Even the first President Bush was ahead of Bill Clinton at this point in 1992. He went on, of course, to lose. Jimmy Carter was ahead of Ronald Reagan at this point in 1980. He went on to lose. So for Kerry to be ahead of the incumbent president this early in the campaign is rare and it's actually pretty good news for the Democrat.

LIN: So do you think it's likely that President Bush or John Kerry, but primarily President Bush in this polling, is going to change his strategy in the campaign?

SCHNEIDER: No, I think President Bush has a strategy and he's going to stick to it. The strategy consists of rallying his base. He's been advertising to white men, to conservatives. His ads have been going up on the Golf Channel, the ESPN Network. He's been appealing to the religious right. He believes that by mobilizing the country's rather large conservative base and turning them out in large numbers to vote, he can win the election.

The Democrats have a different strategy. They're appealing to swing voters and they're counting on the fact that in a presidential election, lots of swing voters who rarely vote outside of the presidential year are going to show up. And they're not very happy with President Bush now.

Those Conservative voters who can be rallied, they do make the difference in 1994 they did and in 2002, but those were midterm elections. It's going to be a real test to see if they can storm the polls and carry President Bush to re-election in a presidential year.

LIN: Bill Schneider, always good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: My pleasure.

LIN: Iraq isn't only taking a toll -- isn't the only thing that's taking a toll on President Bush. U.S. soldiers in the region find the realities of war turning their lives upside down. CNN's Jane Arraf takes a look at what they must cope with and how they do it. It is part of our look at Americans on the front lines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There's not much that's black and white in this war or in a soldier's life. Specialist Josh Domina turned 21 in Iraq and like most soldiers here, he's seen more than anyone should have to see in a lifetime. Three weeks ago, his unit was ambushed near Kufa. He fired at two men with weapons running out of the woods, killing them. DOMINA: It was the first time I actually had to shoot somebody.

ARRAF (on camera): It must have been really awful.

DOMINA: Yes, it still is.

ARRAF (voice-over): Domina is a gunner. He joined the Army to get a college education, but here he says he's learned it's kill or be killed.

DOMINA: I joined the military, you know -- I was like, at first, I was all, hey, shoot back at people, get cool guns, all this, yadda, yadda, yadda. And then I actually got out here, you know, and you worry about -- you face the reality that you're in danger for your life every day so you've got to watch your buddy's back because you know they'll watch yours.

ARRAF: He says he knows the people he killed have families they'll never go home to.

DOMINA: I was growing up, love your enemies. So even after I ended up killing those two guys, I still prayed for them because you've just got to.

ARRAF: Domina and his buddies from Iron Troop thought they'd be back in the United States by now. Instead, just days from leaving Baghdad for home, the 1st Armored Division was sent south to fight the Mahdi Militia.

After 13 months at war, there is no sugar coating what this is like. Specialist Jesse Riley says he's comfortably numb.

SPEC. JESSE RILEY, U.S. ARMY: Like, your hands get so cold and your fingers start to hurt, and then it gets so cold and it hurts so bad, you don't even feel it anymore. That's what it's like.

DOMINA: That's just...

RILEY: It sucks so bad (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOMINA: They mortar every night. They shoot every night. I wake up -- you know it's bad when you wake up in the middle of the night, you hear explosions all over the place, gunfire on the roof and you look up and go eh, and you roll back over and go to sleep. You know that's bad, you know. That's just not normal.

ARRAF: In this unfinished building they sleep in, they cling to things that are normal like movies. They wait for hours to get into the tiny Internet cafe.

DOMINA: I signed in at 6:30. It's about 8:45 now and I still got about 12 names to go through.

ARRAF: They say if they couldn't sit around and complain they'd go nuts.

In the morning, Domina cleans his gun, getting ready to hit the streets again.

DOMINA: Yes, hopefully I don't have to use her.

ARRAF: Hopefully, one day closer to being home.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Najaf, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: So is it light saying hello or more like hey, job well done?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huah!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: It's military lingo, but what are they saying? Our Jeanne Moos breaks it down, but first, healthy fast food. Yes, right. We're going to dissect the fat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Big Mac on the big screen, well, a new documentary is taking on the fast food industry, specifically McDonald's. The filmmaker is giving them and consumers plenty of food for thought. Our Keith Oppenheim has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a movie...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supersize me.

OPPENHEIM: ...that's not for weak stomachs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I'm going to have to go supersized.

OPPENHEIM: By swallowing some 5,000 calories of McDonald's products a day for nearly a month, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock says he gained 25 pounds and saw his cholesterol shoot up. Why McDonald's?

MORGAN SPURLOCK, FILM MAKER: They represent the chain mentality that has now not only enveloped our culture, but now has been franchised out to countries around the world.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): In other words, mutual blame. We all consume fatty food and the fast food chains sell it. Spurlock says he's calling on everyone to get healthier. McDonald's isn't buying it.

DR. KATHY CAPICA, NUTRITIONIST, MCDONALD'S CORP.: He promoted through an extreme stunt, irresponsible behavior of eating twice as many calories as he required per day.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Indeed. The American Dietetic Association called the film misleading, arguing that while not everything in the fast food restaurant is health food...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are healthier choices you can make and Morgan did not make them.

OPPENHEIM: Consider this, in the past year, McDonald's profits rose in part because of healthier menu items like big salads and yogurt parfaits. Yet, some argue that's all driven by the market, not a sense of social responsibility.

HARRY BALZER, FOOD INDUSTRY ANALYST: Food companies went to sell Americans what they will buy. And if it's healthy fare, we'll be out there buying it and they'll be out there selling it.

SPURLOCK: There's more dialogue coming around this issue than there has been in months.

OPPENHEIM: Spurlock is taking some credit his film is leading companies and consumers to better habits. Still the question, is he being fair to a fast food giant that's already making changes?

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, the fact is more than half of all Americans are still overweight or obese. So when we heard that McDonald's found a way to package salad, and market it as a Happy Meal, we asked Lisa Drayer to investigate your options. She's a registered dietitian in New York.

Lisa, you know, in fairness to McDonald's, it seems to be that they are make efforts to offer consumers more choices although it is hard for me to buy into the idea of a Go Active Happy Meal.

LISA DRAYER, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: That's right. I agree with you, Carol. And by the way, I just saw that documentary. It's very interesting to watch how this food can make an impact on our health. But the Go Active Happy Meal was recently introduced. It's only available until June 7 of this year. So basically what you're getting is a choice of premium salad -- there are four to choose from -- of bottled water or a drink of your choice and also they include a stepometer -- this is basically a pedometer -- and also a fun, little booklet I have with me here and it includes information like the ups and downs of walking. So for example, muscle tone would go up and weight would go down when you incorporate walking in your daily routine.

LIN: So you think that's helpful?

DRAYER: Well, certainly, if you need a little motivational boost...

LIN: Well, there you go.

DRAYER: ... I think that it might be helpful.

LIN: OK, all right. What about the choice of salads? Are they low fat because sometimes salads can get pretty tricky if you have high -- you know, high fat creamy dressings?

DRAYER: Exactly. And that's one point that I want to bring out. When I did some number crunching, Carol, I found that the crispy chicken bacon ranch salad -- this is one of the four premium salads offered -- if you do the calories, we're talking about 540 calories, 36 grams of fat...

LIN: Wow!

DRAYER: ...and 1,570 milligrams of sodium. That's the same amount of calories as a quarter pounder with cheese and more...

LIN: And not nearly as fun.

DRAYER: I know -- and more fat and sodium as compared to a quarter pounder combined with a small French fry. So you do want to be careful. And those creamy dressings can add a lot of calories and fat.

LIN: All right. It looks like though that there's going to be a trend in restaurants giving consumers more information. Do you think that's a good thing and a reliable bit of information from restaurants?

DRAYER: Definitely a very important issue. In fact, some, like Michael Jacobson at the Center For Science and The Public Interest, argued that this is what's missing, that is the ability to see nutrition information right at the point of purchase or the point when people make decisions about what they're eating. Right now, you can go online and go on the World Wide Web to find this information. But what we really need to see are the numbers right in front of us.

And Ruby Tuesday is actually the first and only chain restaurant to include nutritional information on their menus. We're talking about calories and net carbohydrates, fiber and fat. They introduced their new menu just about three weeks ago. And right now, they're the only restaurant to do this although there has been bills introduced in the Senate and the House to include this information as a nationwide mandate.

LIN: All right, Lisa, I know you've done some math for us just in case people don't -- didn't know that McDonald's is no longer offering their supersized fries and drinks. You did math for us. What did you learn?

DRAYER: I did and actually, if we go down from a super sized fries and a coke to a large -- we're not even talking about the smallest size -- you would save 190 calories per meal. If you eat this once per week, you would lose three pounds over a year's time or 20 pounds over a year if you consume this daily as the person in the movie.

Also Wendy's -- if you go to Wendy's and you order a fat free dressing as compared to a house Vinaigrette, you would save a 110 calories. That translates to 1.6 pounds lost over a year if you consumed one salad per week or 111/2 over the year if you consumed it daily.

And at Burger King, if you go with their low carb bunless burger -- so we're skipping the burger -- you would save 250 calories for the meal and that would translate to close to four pounds lost over a year if you had that bunless burger once per week or 26 pounds over a year...

LIN: Wow!

DRAYER: ...if you had it every day.

LIN: Right. And that's if you're a regular eater of this stuff to begin with.

DRAYER: Exactly.

LIN: Right. OK. Great information, Lisa. Lisa, thank you.

Well, there are many languages in this world and they've got their own meaning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, we're glad you're up there as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: But there's nothing like the bittersweet sound of huah. We're going to explain.

And there's a winner in the Preakness. Up next, a look at the race and the cult that is taking home a million -- multimillion dollar prize in this case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Smarty Jones may be on his way to immortality. The 3-year- old won the Preakness moments ago, taking the second jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown. Two weeks ago, Smarty won the Kentucky Derby. The Belmont Stakes is next. No horse has picked up all three races since affirmed back in 1978.

The undefeated colt blazed across the finish line 12 lengths ahead of the competition. Our Michelle Bonner is here with more on Smarty's amazing win. Twelve lengths, that's pretty significant.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, actually, it was a record of 11 1/2 lengths and it was truly amazing because this horse kept pace with Lionheart. If you remember two weeks ago in the Derby, he was just running right behind Lionheart and then he made his move and came right in down the stretch this and this is a horse that has never trailed coming in down the stretch.

And then today, it was absolutely amazing watching this horse. A record 11 1/2 lengths, I mean it is such a wide margin of victory for this horse but again Lionheart setting the pace. Only the third horse in the history to ever be undefeated and win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Seattle Slew did it in 1977 and Majestic Prince did it in 1969.

LIN: We just got...

BONNER: As you mentioned, Carol...

LIN: ...this picture in from Associated Press, from the Preakness.

BONNER: Yes, because this was just moments ago. And unfortunately, we can't show you video until NBC is off the air. So we're trying to just bring our viewers up to date as quickly as possible on what took place.

Eight for eight is what Smarty Jones is now, undefeated horse. And again, as you mentioned, 26 years since we have had a Triple Crown winner affirmed in 1978. This horse is one of those rags to riches stories. It's a remarkable story. An absolute unknown two weeks ago. We didn't know who this horse really was the day before the Kentucky Derby and we certainly know who this horse is now.

LIN: Right. I interviewed the trainer last week and we were talking about this amazing story of how he recovered from a head injury after he had bashed his head into an iron poll.

BONNER: Well, that's actually say -- yes, it was in one of the starting gates and the horse jerked his head up. And it was actually -- the tissue from his eye was hanging down when the horse arrived at the vet and the doctors were saying that this horse almost died. They're really not -- were not sure. They thought that perhaps his eye had come out of its socket. It was a remarkable story and they said that, you know, most horses would be jumping and kicking and you know, making a lot of fuss. And they said this horse came in completely unphased. And it's just a testament as to what kind of composure this horse really brings to the table.

LIN: Right. And there were some horses in this particular race that did not run in the Derby. So there was an unknown for Smarty Jones' team in terms of how he was going to be able to compete.

BONNER: Yes, you know, it's funny because he started out as an 8- 5 morning favorite and then he moved to 6-5 favorite. And I think in essence, when you look at a horse, like we said, an undefeated horse who's -- there's only been three undefeated horses -- Majestic Slew -- Seattle Slew and Majestic Prince to ever do this, to win these two races back-to-back. But there is a lot of talk in spinning this forward in terms of how you can really damage $100 million worth of horses and there's a lot of talk about possibly spacing out these races. You have two weeks between the Derby and the Preakness. Three weeks between now and the Belmont.

LIN: Right, a lot of stress.

BONNER: Yes. LIN: Let's take a look at some of the video that we just got in.

BONNER: Oh, great.

LIN: Fresh from the race. There it is.

BONNER: Well, obviously, this is the start of the race and Lionheart, just like in the Derby two weeks ago, had set the pace and -- on the inside there, by the inside of the track. Again, in the blue, you can see there, that is Smarty Jones. And I'll tell you --- look at the distance there.

LIN: My gosh.

BONNER: A record 111/2 lengths. It was just an absolute blow away. And honestly, I don't think that anybody could have predicted that it was going to be that kind of a finish because you know Imperialism in this race was actually a bit of a sentimental favorite. And there are the owners, Roy and Chappy Chapman -- and obviously, Chappy Chapman suffering from emphysema and this obviously heightening it a little bit for him.

LIN: Yes, getting a little excited there.

BONNER: Yes.

LIN: What a wonderful sight to see.

BONNER: It's a great story.

LIN: Thanks very much, Michelle.

BONNER: OK.

LIN: All right. In the meantime, lately, it seems like there's been a lot of hoopla over one of the military's most favorite, probably most used shouts. CNN's Jeanne Moos investigates the all purpose word.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The defense secretary wasn't so much interrupted by applause, he was interrupted by huah.

RUMSFELD: Well, we're glad you're up there as well.

MOOS: The secretary and the general were showered with more than 30 huahs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many Reservists in here or Guardsmen?

MOOS: A military exclamation they say means everything and anything except no.

BUSH: And my first chance as president to say huah! MOOS: A writer who spent four years at West Point studying modern military culture calls huah an all purpose world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every language has one word you can't do without, like on "The Sopranos" you couldn't deal with -- you couldn't go without forget about it.

MOOS: You can forget about the origin of huah. No one seems sure. I can't even decide how to spell the word let alone pronounce it. The New York Fire Department seems to have barred the Marine pronunciation. The Army says it differently.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, give me a huah to shake the marble.

MOOSE: There's even a Hooah energy bar in flavors ranging from raspberry to peanut butter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It depends on how much huah, it's the best compliment in the Army.

MOOS: Once in a while, you hear a lonely huah.

RUMSFELD: He's from Kansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huah!

RUMSFELD: How many from Illinois here?

CROWD: Huah!

RUMSFELD: Hey, now you're talking!

MOOS: And then there's Al Pacino's extent of a huah.

AL PACINO, ACTOR: Huah!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it reflects a magic power of that word. That you can say -- if you said huah enough, you'd eventually win an Academy Award. That's the power of huah.

MOOS (on camera): Sounds like a lot of hooey to me.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, huah, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And that is all the time we have this hour.

On CNN tonight, at 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS: HOPE AND FEAR: THE U.S. OCCUPATION IN IRAQ." At 9:00, Tim Russert, host of "Meet The Press," discusses his career and new book on "LARRY KING LIVE." And at 10:00 Eastern on "CNN SATURDAY NIGHT," allegations that a government is killing its own people. Those who are lucky to escape are cramming in to already packed refugee camps. Christiane Amanpour is talking with eyewitnesses and you will hear their stories on the border between Chad and Sudan tonight at 10:00. But right now, Mark Shields is with us to tell us what the gang has.

Hi, Mark

MARK SHIELDS, HOST "CAPITAL GANG": Hey, Carol. Carol, "THE CAPITAL GANG" will debate how abusive prisoners in Iraq is being handled, the terrorist beheading of Nicholas Berg, and Secretary Rumsfeld surprise trip to Iraq along with George W. Bush slipping in the polls. All that and much more right here next on CNN.

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 May 15, 2004 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN SATURDAY is just ahead, but first, I've got these headlines.
Two Israeli helicopters have fired missiles in Gaza City. The Associated Press reports they were targeting a building used by Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. We'll have more on this developing story in just a moment.

In the meantime, grab who you must, do what you want. "The New Yorker" says those are the rules of the secret Pentagon program to fight al Qaeda. The article blames the prisoner abuse scandal on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who decided to expand those tactics to Iraq.

In the meantime, the eastbound lanes of I-70 south of Golden, Colorado are still closed. A 40-ton girder from an overpass collapsed onto the interstate killing three people. Crews put the girder up four days ago when they were adding a lane.

And good evening. I'm Carol Lin in Atlanta and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'll going to begin right now with a developing story out of the Middle East. Israeli helicopters have fired missiles in Gaza City. CNN's John Vause joins us right now from Jerusalem by telephone with the latest from there.

John, what happened?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it appears that there have been three separate strikes within the last hour or so in Gaza. The first, Israeli helicopters fired two missiles in a Gaza City neighborhood, at a building housing the Fatah Party. That's the party of Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat. Medical sources say two boys were wounded in that attack but not seriously.

The other strike appears to have been on a building that houses a pro-Hamas newspaper. And a third strike, at least according to the Associated Press, which hit the power source and knocked out electricity to the northern part of the city. This has been a violent 24 hours, in fact, a violent week, in Gaza.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Apache helicopters hit an office building to the militant group, Islamic Jihad. And also, in Rafah a few hours ago -- earlier today, rather, Israel bulldozers moved in, destroying dozens of homes. According to the U.N., almost a 100 homes were destroyed. And the U.N. says more than a thousand people have been left homeless. So a very violent day, a very violent week in Gaza, Carol.

LIN: But John, why? I mean what prompted this latest attack?

VAUSE: We haven't heard anything yet officially from the Israeli defense forces, but we were told earlier today that the attack on the building, which belonged to Islamic Jihad, Israel says that was a terrorist center used for recruiting terrorists to plan attacks on Israel.

As for the attack on the Fatah Party, we still don't know what the reasoning is behind that attack, but Israel routinely carries out these air strikes on workshops, which they say manufacture missiles, the homemade missiles and mortars, which they fire at Jewish settlements. So we're waiting to find out just exactly what was going on.

But the Hamas newspaper was also hit about a week or so ago for disseminating what Israel says was insightful messages to Palestinians as well as giving away troop movements.

LIN: All right, John. Any report on casualties?

VAUSE: Only what we're hearing from the medical sources saying two boys at this stage have been slightly hurt, nothing serious. But these are residential areas, a very, very densely populated area of Gaza. So we wait to find out what medical sources will tell us. But at this stage, it appears that no fatalities and just one or two minor injuries.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. John Vause reporting in from Jerusalem. We're keeping an eye on that breaking story.

Right now, we're going to move on to Iraq. Five U.S. troops have died since Friday, three of them in combat. Today was an extremely violent day in Baghdad. A mortar landed on a warehouse igniting a huge fire.

Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, 21 insurgents were killed in fighting with coalition troops. In Mosul, a mortar or rocket propelled grenade hit a group of Iraqi civilians who were lined up outside an Army recruitment center. Four people were killed, 15 were wounded.

And British troops killed 16 insurgents, but two British soldiers were wounded. It happened after their patrol was ambushed between the cities of Amara and Basra.

Now, several of the soldiers charged in the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq face court-martial next week. CNN's Kathleen Koch has more from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're being called the most important military prosecutions since Vietnam. First in court, Specialist Jeremy Sivits, who has offered to plead guilty and testify against the other six soldiers charged. Wednesday he faces a special court-martial similar to a civilian misdemeanor trial with a penalty of no more than a year in prison. On Thursday, more serious general courts-martial begin for two other defendants, Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Sergeant Javal Davis.

An attorney for Army Specialist Charles Graner, also charged in the alleged abuses, summarized his client's defense.

GUY WOMACH, GRANER'S ATTORNEY: He's following orders like a good soldier should. Keep in mind the environment that existed at Abu Ghraib, this was an interrogation center. He was being directed by military intelligence officers and others in the intel community.

KOCH: But the military says the requirement to follow orders doesn't apply to patently illegal orders. Another defense cited by an attorney for Private First Class Lynndie England, lack of training to the criticism of a former POW.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you have a balancing situation here with a young girl who was not sophisticated, who has basically 30 days of training in how to handle situations such as this, and who is a clerk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's no excuse. You're a soldier first. I was just a cook, but I think I handled myself very well underneath the pressure.

KOCH: Though no commanding officers are yet charged, one expert predicts the military legal process will soon look upward.

PROF. THOMAS MORRISON, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: It is the duty of the people who are there as the time and the supervisors of the people that are there to draw those lines, to watch what's going on to monitor how prisoners are being treated and taken care of and make policy and issue orders and set rules.

KOCH: Secretary of State Colin Powell Saturday assured an international audience the search for justice would not stop at enlisted soldiers.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We will make sure that any problems we had within our system of command are dealt with. I want you to know that you are about to see American democracy in action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: The case increasingly being made that the prison abuses illustrated the worst of the U.S. military, but the coming trials will showcase the best. Back to you, Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Kathleen Koch live at the Pentagon.

Both President Bush and John Kerry talked about Iraq on the radio this morning. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux listened in.

Suzanne, once again, Iraq is shaping the upcoming campaign.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol, and really the debate has shifted from this isolated prison abuse scandal to one of Iraq policy. And it is not surprising that both candidates are now saying it is an issue of presidential leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): On Armed Forces Day, President Bush paid tribute to fallen police.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their calling in life was to keep the peace.

MALVEAUX: It's a familiar refrain for Mr. Bush often reserved for U.S. soldiers in Iraq. But since the prison abuse scandal and the beheading of an American civilian there, the president is facing renewed criticism of his handling of Iraq. Mr. Bush used his weekly radio address to make his case.

BUSH: There is only one way to deal with terror. We must confront the enemy and stay on the offensive until these killers are defeated and this is precisely what our Armed Forces and the forces of our coalition are doing.

MALVEAUX: But the prison abuse scandal has solicited condemnation from around the world. Bush's critics and Democratic opponent John Kerry argue the prison debacle is part of a failed Iraq policy.

JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a duty to guarantee that when mistakes are made those responsible are held accountable whether they are at the bottom of the chain-of-command or at the top.

MALVEAUX: Both sides are now accusing the other of playing politics with Iraq. Mr. Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove...

KARL ROVE, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: America's defense, America's security, is too important to put it in the hands of someone whose views change with political expediency and the political winds.

MALVEAUX: A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee in response: "Karl Rove hasn't met an issue he didn't politicize. Time and again he has shown a willingness to turn the service of our military into a political tool."

The latest CNN/"Time" poll shows Mr. Bush is facing the lowest approval ratings of his presidency at just 46 percent, a fact the Bush administration is trying to play down.

ROVE: Regardless of the polls, regardless of fashion or fad, regardless of what the editorial pages of "The New York Times" says, he will do what he thinks is in the best interest of the security of the United States of America and nothing at all will stop him. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Nothing except perhaps being voted out of office. But political observers say there is still plenty of time before that is determined and much of that may depend on what happens on the ground inside Iraq --Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Suzanne Malveaux live at White House.

Evangelist Billy Graham is back in the hospital. That story tops our look at the news across America. Graham is in stable condition after falling at his home in North Carolina. Yesterday's accident comes after Graham underwent hip surgery in early January.

More trouble for legendary music producer, Phil Specter. He already faces a murder charge in last year's shooting death of an actress at his Los Angeles area mansion. Police say Specter was arrested yesterday after a scuffle with his chauffeur. He was released and ordered to appear in court on June 14.

Storms across Robertson County, Texas, are expected to clear out this weekend. Dry weather will give flood victims a chance to clean up from more than 17 inches of rain this week. That's the news across America.

In the meantime, investigators are trying to determine what caused a deadly overpass accident in Colorado. It happened just outside Denver on Interstate 70. A 40-ton steel girder collapsed right onto an SUV killing three people inside and blocking the eastbound lane. Shellene Cockrell with CNN affiliate KYGN joins us right now with the very latest -- Charlene.

SHELLENE COCKRELL, KYGN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, investigators are going to make sure that this is looked at thoroughly from every possible angle. They had several and criminal investigators here. The Colorado Department of Transportation is on scene along with a private consultant to try and find out exactly what happened to cause this very tragic accident.

If you take a look behind me, you can see where that 40-ton steel girder fell to the ground here on oncoming traffic here on eastbound I-70. It hit a Dodge Durango and cut the car in half. The bottom half, the chassis, went ahead on down the highway until it ended up in the median. The top half of the car -- the truck, as you can see here, remains on this side.

Now, the most tragic part of this is that a family -- we believe it was a family, an adult male, an adult female and a young girl were inside the car. They are believed to have been killed instantly in this accident. They didn't even have time to hit the brakes. There are no skid marks whatsoever.

The beam just fell for no apparent reason. It was put into place on Tuesday in what they call a temporary placement. It had five breakings going from the girder into the steel concrete bridge. This was pretty much a simple routine improvement project on these overramps over the major interstate here. And they're not really quite sure what went wrong to cause this accident.

Again, they're going to be looking at engineering to see what happened. And the Jefferson County sheriff's department also just brought out a criminal team to investigate this to make sure there was not any criminal negligence or possibly any criminal mischief that might have caused this beam to fall down on the highway.

Now, the state governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, came out here earlier today. He's very concerned about what happened. He says they are not going to wait for any type of lawsuits to be pressed. They are looking into this fully, extensively, to find out exactly what caused this and to find who is going to be responsible.

The people doing the work actually were an asphalt company -- subcontractor working on this bridge here to try and widen them. As of right now, eastbound I-70 has been closed since about 10:00 this morning. They're going to work on getting cranes in here as soon as the investigation is complete to try and cut up this girder and move it off the highway. But that's going to close both directions of traffic on this major interfare. So very tragic here today. Again, three people killed, apparently a family: mother, father and a daughter just outside of Golden, Colorado.

I'm Shellene Cockrell for CNN. Back to you, Carol.

LIN: All right. It's not the last we're going to be hearing from this story. Thank you, Shellene.

Well, there's a huge party going on in South Africa. There it is. Still to come, South Africa beats the competition and gets the Cup.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian in Topeka, Kansas. One of the schools of the center of Brown versus the Board of Education landmark ruling is now a museum. We'll take a tour when we come back.

LIN: All right. Plus, is it a marketing strategy or a social issue? Fast food chains going light. Coming up later, why the new menus, and more importantly, will it help your waistline.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: On Monday, it'll be 50 years since the Supreme Court ruled that separating black students from white students was unconstitutional in public schools. The school at the center of that case is about to reopen as a museum, chronicling the battle for desegregation. CNN's Dan Lothian is in Topeka, Kansas where it all began with a preview.

Hi there, Dan.

LOTHIAN: Well, hello. I am in front of Monroe Elementary School. It was only one of four black schools at the time here in Topeka, Kansas. It is now a museum run by the National Park Service. Latonya Miller is with the Park Service and she took us on a tour through the halls of history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LATONYA MILLER, PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST: We know that really a lot of chaos happened after 1954. That's really when it really erupted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United States segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.

MILLER: Brown versus Board of Education, the case was the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Fifty years later, that cornerstone is etched in the classrooms and halls of Monroe Elementary, the once segregated black school where this young girl at the center of the landmark case was first enrolled. The struggle to integrate across America is graphically displayed in black and white.

MILLER: The Hall of Courage is significant because it basically will take visitors and put them in the front lines of segregation, in the riots, with the epithets being screamed out, with the bulldogs.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Are you trying to give visitors the emotion of the moment?

MILLER: That's correct.

LOTHIAN: Are you not open something of the wounds that a lot of people have wanted to kind of put behind them and say, "OK this was tough, but we have gotten over it"?

MILLER: There are going to be a lot of people who come through this particular exhibit with all -- with a range of emotions, from anger to resentment to being happy that it's over, that we made it through, to victory and that's the goal of it.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): This is just one of four exhibit rooms highlighting the different stages of the Civil Rights Movement, a movement that gained unstoppable momentum on May 17 1954.

(on camera): This was the headline of...

MILLER: Yes, this was the headline that came out.

LOTHIAN: ...the 17 in Topeka.

MILLER: That's correct. "Supreme Court Refutes Doctrine of Separate but Equal Education" and school segregation banned...

LOTHIAN (voice-over): The old fireplace is still here. Everything else has been removed renovated or re-created.

(on camera): Can you imagine what was happening in this hallway back in 1954?

MILLER: I can just imagine all of the African-American students, you know, yelling and screaming and running up and down the hallways, the bell ringing with the echo.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): While much of the museum is about the past, it is also about the future.

MILLER: Along this wall here, of course, you find the unfinished business of Brown. A lot of work has been done in the last 50 years but there is still a lot more work that needs to be done. It's a reminder of where we have been and it's also a reminder of where we don't want to go in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: The general public, of course, has not yet had a chance to go inside. That will happen after Monday. But throughout the day, some VIPs, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, has been able to go inside and tour through the museum. President Bush expected here on Monday --Carol Lin?

LIN: Dan, why were there protests outside the museum today?

LOTHIAN: Well, that's right. You know, security has been very tight here because of some of the protests that were taking place earlier this morning. A white supremacist group did get a permit to protest against the integration of schools. But they were outnumbered by other protesters, some of whom are from Topeka, who were basically shouting and telling them to get out of here. And it was pretty much peaceful but we did have both sides facing off early today here in Topeka.

LIN: So is security going to remain pretty tight around the museum then?

LOTHIAN: Security will remain tight. In fact, earlier today we are told there were about 80 or so law enforcement agencies, from the Secret Service to local police officers, to those with the Park Service, National Park Service, they were here. They will continue to be here. Security is very tight. The area here has been cordoned off. They've put in some container barriers as a protective barrier stand. So yes, the security situation here went up a notch when President Bush decided to visit.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Dan Lothian reporting live in Topeka.

Well, the Brown decision was just the beginning and the catalyst for the violent fight for desegregation. In 1957, it took federal troops to make sure nine black students could attend an all white high school in the Arkansas capital. Terrence Roberts was one of the Little Rock 9 and he joined us earlier from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TERRENCE ROBERTS, ONE OF THE LITTLE ROCK 9: It stands out as a water shed event because post Little Rock, people began to pay attention. Little rock was one of the earlier responses to the Brown decision and that response was basically refusal. We're not going to comply. And so, it got everybody's attention and it put school integration on the map in a big way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: He is now a psychology professor at Aniak University.

Tomorrow, "CNN PRESENTS" will have a special program examining the Board of -- or the Brown versus Board of Education ruling and the real world impact. Reporter Dan Lothian, whom you just met, will have much more on 50 years after Brown versus the Board of Education. That is tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern.

Well, they're on the front lines trying to cling to things that are normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPEC. 1ST CLASS JOSH DOMINA, U.S. ARMY: They mortar every night. They shoot every night. I wake up -- you know it's bad you wake up in the middle of the night and you hear explosions all over the place, gunfire on the roof and you look up and you go eh, and you roll back over and go back to sleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Still to come, holding on to sanity in the midst of a war zone.

Plus, another victor for Nelson Mandela. All of the -- all of South Africa has a reason now to celebrate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: A day of wild celebrations in South Africa. The country is the first African nation selected to host the soccer world cup. CNN's Charlene Hunter-Gault is in Johannesburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): And what a tribute for a country celebrating 10 years of democracy that has just gone through a peaceful -- the third peaceful election in the history of this country. And, of course, as the step ladder says, a country is ready. It has a first world infrastructure of roads. It has some of the best airports in the world, not just Africa. It already -- it has nine stadiums. It has already hosted the Cricket World Cup and the Rugby World Cup and many other international events over the past 10 years.

So to hear that the people -- when this crowd heard Sepp Blatter say there was only one round of voting, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was started and the people started to dance because they had seen the presentation live from Zurich. It was a very slick, effective presentation. They had seen their icon, Nelson Mandela. They saw Bishop Tutu. They saw F.W. De Klerk, who has put aside whatever differences he has had with this black-led government that took over from him to unite, just as the people down here are uniting.

I don't think I've seen a crowd this varied in times of race, religion, culture, age, gender. This is South Africa's rainbow nation as Nelson Mandela dreamed it to be.

This is Charlene Hunter-Gault at the big party in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right. It's a great time for other stories around the world right now.

In Tel Aviv, a peace rally, tens of thousands of Israelis are demonstrating in support of an Israeli pullout from Gaza. Israel's Gaza pullout plan proposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was rejected by his right-wing Likud Party. Polls show a solid majority of Israelis favor the plan.

In Jordan, a three-day World Economic Forum gets under way. Secretary of state Colin Powell told dignitaries that Americans were shocked by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Talks also focused on Iraq, reform in the Middle East and the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

A student in search of scholarships turned into a killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINA: Love your enemy. So even after I ended up killing those two guys, I still prayed for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Still to come, on the front lines in Iraq. Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, give me a huah to shake the marble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Call it a shout out or call it a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but there's something special about a huah. We're going to spell it out coming up.

And later, aside of fatty fries and a healthy salad, fast food chains are mixing it up with their menus. Why? We're going to serve it up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: More news ahead, but first, here's what's happening right now.

Three children and an adult have been in an Israeli missile attack in Gaza city. Israel fired four missiles at targets in the city. A branch office, a Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement was hit. A few minutes later, two rockets slammed into a building housing a Hamas newspaper.

The editor of London's "Daily Mirror" newspaper quit after admitting he published fake photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Pierce Morgan said the paper was the victim of a hoax. The mass circulation daily published a front page apology today.

And back in this country, engineers are at the scene of a highway tragedy south of Golden, Colorado. They are trying to figure out how a 40-ton steel support beam came crashing down on an SUV killing a man, a woman and a young girl. The highway overpass was under construction.

All right, this year's Preakness race is now history. Heavily favored Smarty Jones turned the Preakness into a runaway home stretch. The win seals his second Triple Crown victory, earning his owners $5 million. We're going to have more on his amazing story a little bit later this hour, so stay right there.

In the meantime, a potentially major shift in a new poll -- in new poll numbers out on President Bush and the war in Iraq. A "Newsweek" survey puts the president's approval rating at its lowest point ever, 42 percent, down from 49 percent last month. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is in Washington with more on these latest poll numbers.

Bill, I know you want to mention that these are registered voters, not likely voters. But I'm wondering what do you find most interesting about these numbers?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANAYLST: What is most interesting, striking, in fact, is that President Bush's numbers are deteriorating quite rapidly. Forty-two percent approval is not numbers you can get re-elected on. Look, 52 percent said they disapprove of the job he's doing. In that "Newsweek" poll, a majority of registered voters said they would -- they do not think this president deserves to be re- elected.

The bottom line in this poll is very simple. President Bush is in trouble. He's in trouble on Iraq, and he's in trouble on the economy. His economic ratings are very low despite some good news on the jobs front. Nothing looks very good for the president right now.

LIN: How is he doing against John Kerry in the polls?

SCHNEIDER: Well, that's a big surprising and it's got Democrats a little confused because they say, "Wait a minute, if President Bush is doing so badly, John Kerry ought to be way ahead of him." But in the actual standings, he's just a little bit ahead of him within the margin of error.

In our own CNN/"Time" poll, as you can see here -- now, this is among likely voters, people who are most likely to turn out, Kerry is five points ahead of Bush with Ralph Nader at six. That is within the margin of error. Now, is that a problem for John Kerry? Should Democrats be rending their garments and mashing their teeth? Well, actually, Carol, no, because the fact is in every election when an incumbent president has been running for re-election, the incumbent, at this point in the campaign, has almost always been ahead. Even the first President Bush was ahead of Bill Clinton at this point in 1992. He went on, of course, to lose. Jimmy Carter was ahead of Ronald Reagan at this point in 1980. He went on to lose. So for Kerry to be ahead of the incumbent president this early in the campaign is rare and it's actually pretty good news for the Democrat.

LIN: So do you think it's likely that President Bush or John Kerry, but primarily President Bush in this polling, is going to change his strategy in the campaign?

SCHNEIDER: No, I think President Bush has a strategy and he's going to stick to it. The strategy consists of rallying his base. He's been advertising to white men, to conservatives. His ads have been going up on the Golf Channel, the ESPN Network. He's been appealing to the religious right. He believes that by mobilizing the country's rather large conservative base and turning them out in large numbers to vote, he can win the election.

The Democrats have a different strategy. They're appealing to swing voters and they're counting on the fact that in a presidential election, lots of swing voters who rarely vote outside of the presidential year are going to show up. And they're not very happy with President Bush now.

Those Conservative voters who can be rallied, they do make the difference in 1994 they did and in 2002, but those were midterm elections. It's going to be a real test to see if they can storm the polls and carry President Bush to re-election in a presidential year.

LIN: Bill Schneider, always good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: My pleasure.

LIN: Iraq isn't only taking a toll -- isn't the only thing that's taking a toll on President Bush. U.S. soldiers in the region find the realities of war turning their lives upside down. CNN's Jane Arraf takes a look at what they must cope with and how they do it. It is part of our look at Americans on the front lines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There's not much that's black and white in this war or in a soldier's life. Specialist Josh Domina turned 21 in Iraq and like most soldiers here, he's seen more than anyone should have to see in a lifetime. Three weeks ago, his unit was ambushed near Kufa. He fired at two men with weapons running out of the woods, killing them. DOMINA: It was the first time I actually had to shoot somebody.

ARRAF (on camera): It must have been really awful.

DOMINA: Yes, it still is.

ARRAF (voice-over): Domina is a gunner. He joined the Army to get a college education, but here he says he's learned it's kill or be killed.

DOMINA: I joined the military, you know -- I was like, at first, I was all, hey, shoot back at people, get cool guns, all this, yadda, yadda, yadda. And then I actually got out here, you know, and you worry about -- you face the reality that you're in danger for your life every day so you've got to watch your buddy's back because you know they'll watch yours.

ARRAF: He says he knows the people he killed have families they'll never go home to.

DOMINA: I was growing up, love your enemies. So even after I ended up killing those two guys, I still prayed for them because you've just got to.

ARRAF: Domina and his buddies from Iron Troop thought they'd be back in the United States by now. Instead, just days from leaving Baghdad for home, the 1st Armored Division was sent south to fight the Mahdi Militia.

After 13 months at war, there is no sugar coating what this is like. Specialist Jesse Riley says he's comfortably numb.

SPEC. JESSE RILEY, U.S. ARMY: Like, your hands get so cold and your fingers start to hurt, and then it gets so cold and it hurts so bad, you don't even feel it anymore. That's what it's like.

DOMINA: That's just...

RILEY: It sucks so bad (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOMINA: They mortar every night. They shoot every night. I wake up -- you know it's bad when you wake up in the middle of the night, you hear explosions all over the place, gunfire on the roof and you look up and go eh, and you roll back over and go to sleep. You know that's bad, you know. That's just not normal.

ARRAF: In this unfinished building they sleep in, they cling to things that are normal like movies. They wait for hours to get into the tiny Internet cafe.

DOMINA: I signed in at 6:30. It's about 8:45 now and I still got about 12 names to go through.

ARRAF: They say if they couldn't sit around and complain they'd go nuts.

In the morning, Domina cleans his gun, getting ready to hit the streets again.

DOMINA: Yes, hopefully I don't have to use her.

ARRAF: Hopefully, one day closer to being home.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Najaf, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: So is it light saying hello or more like hey, job well done?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huah!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: It's military lingo, but what are they saying? Our Jeanne Moos breaks it down, but first, healthy fast food. Yes, right. We're going to dissect the fat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Big Mac on the big screen, well, a new documentary is taking on the fast food industry, specifically McDonald's. The filmmaker is giving them and consumers plenty of food for thought. Our Keith Oppenheim has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a movie...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supersize me.

OPPENHEIM: ...that's not for weak stomachs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I'm going to have to go supersized.

OPPENHEIM: By swallowing some 5,000 calories of McDonald's products a day for nearly a month, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock says he gained 25 pounds and saw his cholesterol shoot up. Why McDonald's?

MORGAN SPURLOCK, FILM MAKER: They represent the chain mentality that has now not only enveloped our culture, but now has been franchised out to countries around the world.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): In other words, mutual blame. We all consume fatty food and the fast food chains sell it. Spurlock says he's calling on everyone to get healthier. McDonald's isn't buying it.

DR. KATHY CAPICA, NUTRITIONIST, MCDONALD'S CORP.: He promoted through an extreme stunt, irresponsible behavior of eating twice as many calories as he required per day.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Indeed. The American Dietetic Association called the film misleading, arguing that while not everything in the fast food restaurant is health food...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are healthier choices you can make and Morgan did not make them.

OPPENHEIM: Consider this, in the past year, McDonald's profits rose in part because of healthier menu items like big salads and yogurt parfaits. Yet, some argue that's all driven by the market, not a sense of social responsibility.

HARRY BALZER, FOOD INDUSTRY ANALYST: Food companies went to sell Americans what they will buy. And if it's healthy fare, we'll be out there buying it and they'll be out there selling it.

SPURLOCK: There's more dialogue coming around this issue than there has been in months.

OPPENHEIM: Spurlock is taking some credit his film is leading companies and consumers to better habits. Still the question, is he being fair to a fast food giant that's already making changes?

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, the fact is more than half of all Americans are still overweight or obese. So when we heard that McDonald's found a way to package salad, and market it as a Happy Meal, we asked Lisa Drayer to investigate your options. She's a registered dietitian in New York.

Lisa, you know, in fairness to McDonald's, it seems to be that they are make efforts to offer consumers more choices although it is hard for me to buy into the idea of a Go Active Happy Meal.

LISA DRAYER, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: That's right. I agree with you, Carol. And by the way, I just saw that documentary. It's very interesting to watch how this food can make an impact on our health. But the Go Active Happy Meal was recently introduced. It's only available until June 7 of this year. So basically what you're getting is a choice of premium salad -- there are four to choose from -- of bottled water or a drink of your choice and also they include a stepometer -- this is basically a pedometer -- and also a fun, little booklet I have with me here and it includes information like the ups and downs of walking. So for example, muscle tone would go up and weight would go down when you incorporate walking in your daily routine.

LIN: So you think that's helpful?

DRAYER: Well, certainly, if you need a little motivational boost...

LIN: Well, there you go.

DRAYER: ... I think that it might be helpful.

LIN: OK, all right. What about the choice of salads? Are they low fat because sometimes salads can get pretty tricky if you have high -- you know, high fat creamy dressings?

DRAYER: Exactly. And that's one point that I want to bring out. When I did some number crunching, Carol, I found that the crispy chicken bacon ranch salad -- this is one of the four premium salads offered -- if you do the calories, we're talking about 540 calories, 36 grams of fat...

LIN: Wow!

DRAYER: ...and 1,570 milligrams of sodium. That's the same amount of calories as a quarter pounder with cheese and more...

LIN: And not nearly as fun.

DRAYER: I know -- and more fat and sodium as compared to a quarter pounder combined with a small French fry. So you do want to be careful. And those creamy dressings can add a lot of calories and fat.

LIN: All right. It looks like though that there's going to be a trend in restaurants giving consumers more information. Do you think that's a good thing and a reliable bit of information from restaurants?

DRAYER: Definitely a very important issue. In fact, some, like Michael Jacobson at the Center For Science and The Public Interest, argued that this is what's missing, that is the ability to see nutrition information right at the point of purchase or the point when people make decisions about what they're eating. Right now, you can go online and go on the World Wide Web to find this information. But what we really need to see are the numbers right in front of us.

And Ruby Tuesday is actually the first and only chain restaurant to include nutritional information on their menus. We're talking about calories and net carbohydrates, fiber and fat. They introduced their new menu just about three weeks ago. And right now, they're the only restaurant to do this although there has been bills introduced in the Senate and the House to include this information as a nationwide mandate.

LIN: All right, Lisa, I know you've done some math for us just in case people don't -- didn't know that McDonald's is no longer offering their supersized fries and drinks. You did math for us. What did you learn?

DRAYER: I did and actually, if we go down from a super sized fries and a coke to a large -- we're not even talking about the smallest size -- you would save 190 calories per meal. If you eat this once per week, you would lose three pounds over a year's time or 20 pounds over a year if you consume this daily as the person in the movie.

Also Wendy's -- if you go to Wendy's and you order a fat free dressing as compared to a house Vinaigrette, you would save a 110 calories. That translates to 1.6 pounds lost over a year if you consumed one salad per week or 111/2 over the year if you consumed it daily.

And at Burger King, if you go with their low carb bunless burger -- so we're skipping the burger -- you would save 250 calories for the meal and that would translate to close to four pounds lost over a year if you had that bunless burger once per week or 26 pounds over a year...

LIN: Wow!

DRAYER: ...if you had it every day.

LIN: Right. And that's if you're a regular eater of this stuff to begin with.

DRAYER: Exactly.

LIN: Right. OK. Great information, Lisa. Lisa, thank you.

Well, there are many languages in this world and they've got their own meaning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, we're glad you're up there as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: But there's nothing like the bittersweet sound of huah. We're going to explain.

And there's a winner in the Preakness. Up next, a look at the race and the cult that is taking home a million -- multimillion dollar prize in this case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Smarty Jones may be on his way to immortality. The 3-year- old won the Preakness moments ago, taking the second jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown. Two weeks ago, Smarty won the Kentucky Derby. The Belmont Stakes is next. No horse has picked up all three races since affirmed back in 1978.

The undefeated colt blazed across the finish line 12 lengths ahead of the competition. Our Michelle Bonner is here with more on Smarty's amazing win. Twelve lengths, that's pretty significant.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, actually, it was a record of 11 1/2 lengths and it was truly amazing because this horse kept pace with Lionheart. If you remember two weeks ago in the Derby, he was just running right behind Lionheart and then he made his move and came right in down the stretch this and this is a horse that has never trailed coming in down the stretch.

And then today, it was absolutely amazing watching this horse. A record 11 1/2 lengths, I mean it is such a wide margin of victory for this horse but again Lionheart setting the pace. Only the third horse in the history to ever be undefeated and win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Seattle Slew did it in 1977 and Majestic Prince did it in 1969.

LIN: We just got...

BONNER: As you mentioned, Carol...

LIN: ...this picture in from Associated Press, from the Preakness.

BONNER: Yes, because this was just moments ago. And unfortunately, we can't show you video until NBC is off the air. So we're trying to just bring our viewers up to date as quickly as possible on what took place.

Eight for eight is what Smarty Jones is now, undefeated horse. And again, as you mentioned, 26 years since we have had a Triple Crown winner affirmed in 1978. This horse is one of those rags to riches stories. It's a remarkable story. An absolute unknown two weeks ago. We didn't know who this horse really was the day before the Kentucky Derby and we certainly know who this horse is now.

LIN: Right. I interviewed the trainer last week and we were talking about this amazing story of how he recovered from a head injury after he had bashed his head into an iron poll.

BONNER: Well, that's actually say -- yes, it was in one of the starting gates and the horse jerked his head up. And it was actually -- the tissue from his eye was hanging down when the horse arrived at the vet and the doctors were saying that this horse almost died. They're really not -- were not sure. They thought that perhaps his eye had come out of its socket. It was a remarkable story and they said that, you know, most horses would be jumping and kicking and you know, making a lot of fuss. And they said this horse came in completely unphased. And it's just a testament as to what kind of composure this horse really brings to the table.

LIN: Right. And there were some horses in this particular race that did not run in the Derby. So there was an unknown for Smarty Jones' team in terms of how he was going to be able to compete.

BONNER: Yes, you know, it's funny because he started out as an 8- 5 morning favorite and then he moved to 6-5 favorite. And I think in essence, when you look at a horse, like we said, an undefeated horse who's -- there's only been three undefeated horses -- Majestic Slew -- Seattle Slew and Majestic Prince to ever do this, to win these two races back-to-back. But there is a lot of talk in spinning this forward in terms of how you can really damage $100 million worth of horses and there's a lot of talk about possibly spacing out these races. You have two weeks between the Derby and the Preakness. Three weeks between now and the Belmont.

LIN: Right, a lot of stress.

BONNER: Yes. LIN: Let's take a look at some of the video that we just got in.

BONNER: Oh, great.

LIN: Fresh from the race. There it is.

BONNER: Well, obviously, this is the start of the race and Lionheart, just like in the Derby two weeks ago, had set the pace and -- on the inside there, by the inside of the track. Again, in the blue, you can see there, that is Smarty Jones. And I'll tell you --- look at the distance there.

LIN: My gosh.

BONNER: A record 111/2 lengths. It was just an absolute blow away. And honestly, I don't think that anybody could have predicted that it was going to be that kind of a finish because you know Imperialism in this race was actually a bit of a sentimental favorite. And there are the owners, Roy and Chappy Chapman -- and obviously, Chappy Chapman suffering from emphysema and this obviously heightening it a little bit for him.

LIN: Yes, getting a little excited there.

BONNER: Yes.

LIN: What a wonderful sight to see.

BONNER: It's a great story.

LIN: Thanks very much, Michelle.

BONNER: OK.

LIN: All right. In the meantime, lately, it seems like there's been a lot of hoopla over one of the military's most favorite, probably most used shouts. CNN's Jeanne Moos investigates the all purpose word.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The defense secretary wasn't so much interrupted by applause, he was interrupted by huah.

RUMSFELD: Well, we're glad you're up there as well.

MOOS: The secretary and the general were showered with more than 30 huahs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many Reservists in here or Guardsmen?

MOOS: A military exclamation they say means everything and anything except no.

BUSH: And my first chance as president to say huah! MOOS: A writer who spent four years at West Point studying modern military culture calls huah an all purpose world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every language has one word you can't do without, like on "The Sopranos" you couldn't deal with -- you couldn't go without forget about it.

MOOS: You can forget about the origin of huah. No one seems sure. I can't even decide how to spell the word let alone pronounce it. The New York Fire Department seems to have barred the Marine pronunciation. The Army says it differently.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, give me a huah to shake the marble.

MOOSE: There's even a Hooah energy bar in flavors ranging from raspberry to peanut butter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It depends on how much huah, it's the best compliment in the Army.

MOOS: Once in a while, you hear a lonely huah.

RUMSFELD: He's from Kansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huah!

RUMSFELD: How many from Illinois here?

CROWD: Huah!

RUMSFELD: Hey, now you're talking!

MOOS: And then there's Al Pacino's extent of a huah.

AL PACINO, ACTOR: Huah!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it reflects a magic power of that word. That you can say -- if you said huah enough, you'd eventually win an Academy Award. That's the power of huah.

MOOS (on camera): Sounds like a lot of hooey to me.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, huah, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And that is all the time we have this hour.

On CNN tonight, at 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS: HOPE AND FEAR: THE U.S. OCCUPATION IN IRAQ." At 9:00, Tim Russert, host of "Meet The Press," discusses his career and new book on "LARRY KING LIVE." And at 10:00 Eastern on "CNN SATURDAY NIGHT," allegations that a government is killing its own people. Those who are lucky to escape are cramming in to already packed refugee camps. Christiane Amanpour is talking with eyewitnesses and you will hear their stories on the border between Chad and Sudan tonight at 10:00. But right now, Mark Shields is with us to tell us what the gang has.

Hi, Mark

MARK SHIELDS, HOST "CAPITAL GANG": Hey, Carol. Carol, "THE CAPITAL GANG" will debate how abusive prisoners in Iraq is being handled, the terrorist beheading of Nicholas Berg, and Secretary Rumsfeld surprise trip to Iraq along with George W. Bush slipping in the polls. All that and much more right here next on CNN.

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