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CNN Live Saturday

Greece Fine Tunes Security At Olympic Games; Republicans, Democrats Continue Mad Dash Across Swing States;

Aired July 31, 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: Hello there, I'm Carol Lin. "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" is just ahead, but first, here's what's happening right now. Two more hostages kidnapped in Iraq. Al Jazerra television reports a group linked to militant leader, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, have threatened to behead two Turkish truck drivers unless their company stops working in Iraq. Details coming up. And another Turkish truck driver seized earlier this month in Mosul has been freed after promising his captors he would not return. The man was held for 12 days.
The Marine who was captured in Iraq and turned up in Lebanon has been granted leave to ease his return to active duty. Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun has arrived in Utah where he has family. He was first listed as a deserter but that status was later changed to captor. Our Miguel Marquez was at the airport when Hassoun arrived and we hope to bring you a live report this hour.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Good evening. I'm Carol Lin and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. A lot ahead this hour, including a string of suspicious wildfires in Washington State. Investigators will share why they now believe an arsonist is responsible for fires burning out of control near Cascade Mountain towns.

And the almost 30-year-old mystery of Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance. I'm going to talk to the author of a new book who believes he has cracked the case. In fact, he had many meetings with the mafia man who says he was the one who killed Hoffa.

We begin, though, in the battle of the political bus tours and the road both George Bush and John Kerry are taking, literally. About a half an hour ago both campaign buses were converging on Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania. And that's the thing about stumping for votes in key battleground states. You are inevitably going to go down the road most traveled. Now, Bush was rallying in Canton and Cambridge, Ohio, and is now in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kerry and John Edwards started their day in Pennsylvania and are heading to Wheeling, West Virginia right now. They are going to be Zanesville, Ohio, later today. CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is traveling with the Kerry campaign and she joins me right now by the telephone.

Candy, where are you guys?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've crossed into West Virginia. We -- much as we really wanted the photo opportunity of the two bus-capades passing each other, we missed them by about 30 minutes. So they turned off 70 about 30 minutes before we got to the point where they are, but we are definitely pounding the same pavement.

LIN: And what is the message today? What is the candidate trying to accomplish here?

CROWLEY: Well, John Kerry and John Edwards are still traveling together and basically what they're giving us are sort of the "Reader's Digest" version of their convention speeches. So the whole point here is to use the juice, if you will that they got at the convention, that excitement and kind of bring it out into the grassroots. And they talk about, oh, look how big this is, you know that sort of thing to kind of keep generating the excitement so they can use some of that convention energy out here to propel themselves forward.

In terms of just news, we get very little of it. There was -- today, John Kerry took on the president for saying that the nation had turned the corner on the economy. Kerry said, "Well, go tell that to the people who don't have health insurance, go tell that to the people who have yet to find a new job or that are now in a job where they're getting paid less." He said, "You know, we haven't turned the corner, and I don't want to do that, I want to climb the mountain." So we're getting a little bit of substance and a lot of the same kind of campaign stuff that we got at the convention.

LIN: Well, Kerry's climbing the mountain. And I heard George W. Bush said today he was turning the corner. There's a lot of movement going on in both campaigns. Candy...

CROWLEY: Exactly.

LIN: ...can you do the math for us in terms of geographically where these candidates are choosing to spend this week, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. Can Kerry do without any of them? Does he need all three?

CROWLEY: They both would like all three. Ohio is particularly important to George Bush. But they're all important, as you look at how close we believe this race is going to be. The Midwest are the battleground states, of which West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio are considered to be, are so close right now. And what we've done with John Kerry today is to go through central Pennsylvania, which while it has more Democrats registered than Republicans, it has trended Republican in presidential races. John Kerry turned out a great crowd in Greensberg, Pennsylvania. Now we're headed down to Wheeling.

And last -- in 2000, West Virginia went Republican, went with Bush. And it's a state that has generally been Democratic, but they were mad at the Clinton/Gore administration for some environmental policies that hurt the mining industry. So this is another state that John Kerry really wants to call home. So we're going to dip into Wheeling and try to catch some of the excitement there, and then on up to Ohio, which everybody says is the new Florida because it's so close. LIN: Yes, the battleground state with 11 electoral votes. Thanks very much, Candy, enjoy the bus ride and I know you'll report again.

CROWLEY: Thanks.

LIN: Well, John Kerry and John Edwards are going to be our guests tomorrow on CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER" and that's at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific. So stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, President Bush is in Pittsburgh fine tuning his message to the Rust Belt and that is where Kathleen Koch picks up our campaign coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wooing the American Heartland, President Bush's bus tour winding through two battleground states critical to his re-election, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mr. Bush campaigning with the new intensity, hoping to blunt any post convention bounce in the polls by his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a big philosophical difference in this campaign -- our opponents share an old Washington mind-set. They'll give the orders and you pay the bills. But we've turned the corner and we're not turning back to that way of thinking.

KOCH: Mr. Bush promised workers in the states hard hit by job losses that he pushed to level of the playing field in international trade, especially with China.

BUSH: I know there's great concern about trade in eastern Ohio. Let me tell you something about trade. I believe that America and Americans can compete with anybody, any place, anywhere, so long as the rules are fair.

KOCH: Between rallies, President Bush make the requisite campaign stops tossing the football with Cleveland Browns players, buying candy at a Dover, Ohio, sweet shop. Outside a not so sweet reception from Kerry supporters. They were interspersed throughout the largely pro-Bush crowds lining the bus route. A large group of opponents chanting outside one venue where the president spoke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem with the jobs that the Bush administration has helped create is that most of them are lower paying jobs; most of them are unskilled work. We need more decent paying jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the past four years Bush has sent my friends to Iraq, sent my father's job overseas and sent my mom to -- she's a teacher -- her pay plummeting. And we're sick of it.

KOCH (on camera): President Bush on the road did not mention his administration's new prediction of a record budget deficit for 2004 nor Friday's figures showing slower growth in the economy.

(voice-over): The president deciding some things are better left unsaid in these critical swing states.

Kathleen Koch, Cambridge, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now, we move on to Iraq where it's happened again. There are reports of more people being taken hostage. Al Jazerra is airing a videotape and you're looking at it now from militants linked to Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Now, it says they've kidnapped two Turkish drivers who work for a company supplying U.S. forces in Iraq. The militants are threatening to behead them unless the company stops doing business in Iraq in 48 hours.

And elsewhere in that country, life and death negotiations began today. At stake, the fate of seven other hostages. A representative of the company they work for met with a tribal leader who says he speaks for their captors. He says he's hopeful the hostages will be released.

And there's news of more violence in Iraq. The head of a school for teachers was killed Friday in a town south of Baghdad. Iraqi police say he was walking home from a mosque when masked gunmen in two cars shot him dead.

Well, the man who led U.S. troops in Iraq is going public about the war. Retired General Tommy Franks says he's very surprised no weapons of mass destruction have actually been found. And he tells "Parade" magazine several Middle Eastern leaders told him Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And he says Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak told him in January of last year that -- quote -- "Saddam has WMD biologicals, actually, and he will use them on your troops."

As for Saddam Hussein, life behind bars isn't so bad. In fact, our John Vause tells us he likes American snacks and air conditioning, a life some Iraqis say is too good for the butcher of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oh, how life has changed from the marbled opulence of almost 50 palaces with their man- made lakes, crystal chandeliers and gold plated plumbing, Saddam Hussein is now one of 96 prisoners in a high security Baghdad jail.

BAKHTIAR AMIN, IRAQI HUMAN RIGHTS MINITER: He is in a three by four meters room. It's wide, tiled floor with a 100-volt bulb lamp.

VAUSE: But as the summer here hits 120 Fahrenheit, Saddam's cell is air conditioned, a luxury not enjoyed by most Iraqis. He showers twice a week, but can get a shampoo and a haircut whenever he wants. And the man who drained Iraq's marshland, causing the greatest man- made environmental disaster on the planet, according to the U.N., now cares for a little tree in the yard outside his cell.

AMIN: He goes out of his cell three hours per day.

VAUSE: In the eight months since he was caught, Saddam has lost 11 pounds. But recently, he's gained a little weight maybe because of a liking for muffins and cookies. And the man who once led the secular Ba'ath Party now regularly reads the Koran.

AMIN: And that's a sign that one can say more of fear, because he's not a real believer. He's an infidel.

VAUSE (on camera): Iraq's human rights minister says Saddam is generally in good health. He was treated by two Iraqi doctors for a chronic prostate infection. He has hypertension -- there's a surprise -- high blood pressure and a hernia. He was checked for cancer and given the all clear. And while some of Saddam's fellow inmates have sought help for depression and anxiety, Saddam has made no such request.

For the tens of thousands who suffered at the hands of the Iraqi dictator, like Karim Ibrahim Isaa, who spent three years locked away and tortured in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, Saddam's life behind bars seems like another grave injustice.

KARIM IBRAHIM ISAA, FORMER PRISONER (through translator): A prisoner who gets a tree, a doctor, and a barber is not a prisoner. He is leading a normal life.

VAUSE (voice-over): But Saddam's life of relative ease and comfort may be coming to an end. He's facing the death penalty, charged with crimes against humanity. And many Iraqis want him dead sooner rather than later.

John Vause, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And we may have a mystery solved on this program. Who killed Jimmy Hoffa? It's a question that's haunted his family and investigators for nearly 30 years. Ahead, I'll talk to a man who says he knows who did it. And his book has reopened the investigation into Hoffa's case.

And staying afloat in Bangladesh, we're going to take you there as the locals wade through the deep waters.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An amazing collection of historical baseball items, but for people in D.C., this is as close to professional baseball as they can get right now. But will the big leagues be returning to the capital? I'm Sean Callebs and we'll have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Nobody covers the world like CNN, so let's focus on some international news. Six weeks of monsoon rains and the water is just beginning to recede only to reveal more of the dead in South Asia. More than 1,500 people either drowned or were electrocuted or died of snake bites and diseases. CNN's Satinder Bindra has more from the capital city of Bangladesh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rush hour in Dhaka, commuters no longer drive, take the bus or walk. They use boats and try to maintain a sense of normalcy in the face of one of the worst floods in years.

"I have to go to work," he says, "My life cannot stop. My work cannot wait."

Even with his entire neighborhood submerged, civil servant Ghazi Rahaman (ph) is rushing to work. He wants to help rebuild his country, which has suffered an estimated $6 billion in losses.

(on camera): Almost half the capital city of Dhaka is now under water. The city's sewage system has collapsed. Many lack safe drinking water and thousands are suffering from diarrhea.

(voice-over): In such unsanitary conditions, doctors are fearing a cholera or typhoid epidemic. To help its flood ravaged citizens, the government is distributing food. This woman complains she isn't getting enough. Others, like Rizza Olislam (ph) try to fend for themselves. Even though his store is completely flooded, he's open for business.

"I'm hoping this water recedes," he says, "and life will be normal again."

The low lying country of Bangladesh is prone to flooding, but its people know how to keep up their spirits. It's the only way, they say, they can beat this monster flood.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Also in news around the world, we're going to start with a kidnapping in the West Bank. Three English teachers, including an American, were temporarily kidnapped by gunmen. Palestinian authorities say they were released unharmed about two hours later and it's not clear who actually kidnapped them.

And in the Ivory Coast, a peace deal. Former rebels and opposition leaders are rejoining the government. A dozen African presidents and the U.N. secretary-general hammered out a deal with rebels to define citizenship and qualifications for president. In exchange, the rebels will start disarming by October 15.

And in London, a modern-day royal wedding at Kensington Palace, Lady Davina Windsor ties the knot with Gary Lewis from New Zealand. She's the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and 20th in line for the throne. The happy couple met in Bali four years ago.

A warning today from Secretary of State Colin Powell. He is telling Bosnian leaders they're endangering their future by refusing to arrest those accused of war crimes from their past. Elisa Labott has a closer look at Powell's visit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a different Sarajevo than the one Colin Powell saw just three years ago. Ethnic violence between the Bosnian Serb and Croat populations is down and hundreds of thousands of refugees are back home. And Powell said the future looks bright as the country looks towards the E.U. and NATO. But he said the key stumbling block is the government's lack of cooperation in arresting indicted war criminals. Powell said he won't be happy until former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic (ph) and his military chief Ratko Mladic (ph) are standing before The Hague. Both are wanted by the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal on charges of genocide.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I hope that those who may be harboring these individuals realize that the future of their country is being held at risk by allowing these individuals to remain free.

LABOTT: And the Bosnians must consolidate gains made by the government in areas like defense, while enacting critical political and economic reforms necessary to join Europe.

(on camera): Though the ethnic violence has ended, Bosnia remains divided along ethnic lines. The Bosnian Serbs and Muslim Croat federations each maintain their own set of institutions, military and taxation systems, all of which has flamed ethnic tensions and strained the economy.

(voice-over): Many in Bosnia say there's a cease-fire but not a true peace. And the multiethnic society envisioned in 1995 at Dayton is still not in place. Old wounds still raw when Powell sat down with university students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the elections in 2002 we were actually, all those institutions we built two years ago or a year ago, we are dividing it in three parts again.

POWELL: You have to build the forces that keep this country together and not go into different directions.

LABOTT: NATO will hand over to a smaller peacekeeping force led by the European Union in December. But a small number of U.S. forces will remain as part of the war on terror. U.S. officials believe some groups linked to al Qaeda find safe haven in a country still struggling to get back on its feet.

Elisa Labott, CNN, Sarajevo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Coming up next on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, clinical drug studies and why one family says Zoloft could be to blame for their daughter's death.

Later, a killer confesses, the inside story of the death of Jimmy Hoffa. I'm going to talk to the man who wrote the book. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In our regular medical segment now, we want to bring you a story about a government accused of choosing between who lives and who dies. A U.N. AIDS expert says Uganda is too strict about the number of HIV sufferers it plans to treat with life prolonging drugs. And in Kampala today, Special U.S. Envoy Steven Lewis urged Uganda to target 100,000 instead of 60,000. He urged the African nation to retake its place as leader in the fight against AIDS.

Now, for those of us who count on getting the right prescription drugs, what if your doctor wasn't getting all the information he or she needed from the drug companies? Well, it turns out the pharmaceutical industry is fighting pressure from the medical profession to open up all the files. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Candace Downing's parents say the first hint they had that their 12-year-old daughter might be suicidal was when they found her hanging from her bedroom ceiling.

ANDY DOWNING, FATHER OF CANDACE DOWNING: We called the paramedics, and they tried feverishly to revive her, and I was trying to give her mouth-to-mouth, but I knew something was wrong, because her entire body was cold.

COHEN: Mathy and Andy Downing blame their daughter's suicide on the drug Zoloft, used to treat anxiety and depression. A psychiatrist prescribed it because Candace became anxious when taking tests at school. Her parents say she wasn't suicidal, wasn't even depressed before she began the medication.

MATHY DOWNING, MOTHER OF CANDACE DOWNING: She was very into sports, a ton of friends, probably the most social child I've ever met.

COHEN: Whether drugs like Zoloft really do cause suicides is a matter of medical debate with studies supporting both sides. But now another debate has emerged. The Downings and other families charge that drug makers knew from pre-marketing studies that these drugs made some children and teens suicidal but hid the study results. Pfizer, which makes Zoloft, wouldn't comment on the Downing case because the family has filed a lawsuit. The company referred us to the corporate policy on its website which states "Pfizer commits to timely communication of meaningful results of controlled clinical trials, regardless of outcome."

(on camera): By law, drug companies have to tell the Food and Drug Administration about all their studies when they apply for permission to put their drug on the market. But the FDA also by law is not allowed to release those studies to the public.

DR. BOB TEMPLE, FDA: We're not allowed to release confidential commercial information. It's illegal, it's a crime.

COHEN (voice-over): Patients aren't the only ones feeling kept in the dark. Doctors also say they're deprived of information and are now pushing for a change in the rules. The American Medical Association says drug companies should be required to submit their study results, negative as well as positive, to a central registry accessible to anyone via the Internet.

Dr. David Fassler, an expert on childhood depression, wrote the AMA registry proposal. He says he was shocked by what happened when he reviewed data on young people on anti-depressants at an FDA meeting six months ago.

DR. DAVID FASSLER, CHILD ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIST: I was given access to data from 25 clinical studies, most of which I had never seen before or I hadn't heard about. There were maybe three or four major studies that were in the literature, which we all knew about, but we didn't realize that there were this many studies involving 4,000 children and adolescents.

COHEN: The pharmaceutical industry hasn't taken an official position on the AMA's registry idea but has some concerns.

ALAN GOLDHAMMER, PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY REP.: We don't think that practicing physicians are going to have the time spent poring through tens of thousands of pages of clinical studies.

COHEN: Dr. Fassler disagrees.

FASSLER: This is clearly something which is going to help people. It's going to improve the quality of health care. It's going to improve our ability as physicians to take care of people.

COHEN: Two months after Candace Downing's death, the FDA, after further review of the research, urged doctors to closely monitor patients on drugs like Zoloft for suicidal behavior. The Downings say that's not enough and they're lobbying Congress to require drug companies to make all research public.

Elizabeth Cohen, Laytonsville, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And still to come on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, running for cover as the wildfire continues to burn out west. We're going to get the latest from officials on the frontlines.

Plus, they serve and protect, but what about their pay? Still to come, New York firefighters and police officers at odds with the city mayor.

And later, a good listener always has an ear to lend, but what happens when a killer confides in you. Confessions in the death of Jimmy Hoffa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: More of CNN LIVE SATURDAY in just a moment, but first a quick look at what's happening now in the news.

Another kidnapping in Iraq. The Arabic network, Al Jazerra, is broadcasting a new videotape released by a militant group linked to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. The terrorist group is threatening to behead two Turkish truck drivers in 48 hours if their company does not stop working in Iraq.

The Kerry/Edwards ticket is trying to add a lift -- or add a lift, yes, to their post convention bounce. The senator took aim -- both of them, actually, took aim at the president's economic policies at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania earlier. They are expected in Wheeling, West Virginia, this evening.

President Bush is also wooing voters today. He's been in Pennsylvania as well. The race there is expecting to be hotly contested come November. Bush's bus tour is wrapping up two days of campaigning with a rally in Pittsburgh.

And back in its cage -- after a brief period on the run, a white circus tiger escaped today in Queens, New York, scaring people and causing a number of cars to crash. The animal's trainer managed to coax it back into the cage. And there you see it.

Also, we've got some news out of Salt Lake City. You remember the U.S. Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun who was allegedly kidnapped inside of Iraq away from his barracks and then suddenly appeared in Lebanon? So we're going to go to Miguel Marquez who actually talked with the Marine corporal at the Salt Lake City airport.

Miguel, what did he have to say about his experience?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a whole lot. He was very excited to be home, I can tell you that but that long saga of Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun has certainly come full circle. Only CNN was there just a short time ago as Hassoun entered the Salt Lake City airport. He flew in on a commercial flight, was joined by relatives there and walked through the terminal. And as he walked through the terminal, people immediately recognized him and said, "Welcome home." He greeted them as well. It seemed that it was a bit of a celebration, him coming back.

A public affairs officer at Camp Lejeune where he is based says that he has been granted a 30-day leave in conjunction with the repatriation process and that this is pretty much typical for the repatriation process and called it convalescent leave so he can come back, see his family and rest up and the like. Hassoun, he looked very healthy as he came in dressed in civvies, the red knit shirt and the like. But he didn't stop long to talk to us as he made his way to his car.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Mr. Hassoun, I'm Miguel Marquez from CNN. How are you?

CORPORAL WASSEF ALI HASSOUN, U.S. MARINE CORPS.: Fine.

MARQUEZ: Will you just talk to me? What does it feel like to be home?

HASSOUN: It feels good. It feels perfect.

MARQUEZ: What's the first thing you are going to do?

HASSOUN: I don't know. I don't think about it yet.

MARQUEZ: No? What...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, on June 20th, Corporal Hassoun was listed as a deserter after he went missing from his post near Fallujah, Iraq, the Marine base where he was based there. Now, on June 27, that status was changed to captured when videotape surfaced of him being apparently held captive with a blindfold over his face and a sword being held over his head. And then he resurfaced on July 7 in the hands of his family. And there were a couple of days where he negotiated with the U.S. embassy to come find him and pick him up. He finally got to the U.S. embassy, was repatriated with them, was taken to Germany for a short time and then he went back to Virginia and then was finally back at his home base of Camp Lejeune. And now he is back with family.

The only thing he has said about this so far, he's made a short statement at Camp Lejeune before, and he did say that he was captured and was held against his will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days. And as you probably know as well a Navy -- the NCIS, the Navy Criminal Investigative Service is looking into the disappearance and the recovery of Corporal Hassoun. Back to you.

LIN: Thanks very much, Miguel.

In the meantime, we've got some news out west. We've been watching this wildfire which has been rolling across parts of Washington State. We're counting right now at least 11 wildfires burning there. And now there is an official investigation under way because it looks like the pattern of these fires may be the work of an arsonist.

Now, the latest here started yesterday and grew pretty fast. It was fanned by heavy winds and we've got Clayton Myers. He's an undersheriff of Kittitas County. He's on the telephone right now from Ellensburg.

Clayton, where are you in relationship Ellensburg -- in relationship to the fire?

CLAYTON MYERS, UNDERSHERIFF, KITTITAS COUNTY: They incident command, a mile from the fire.

LIN: All right, not too far at all. We counted 11, is that right, 11 fires burning right now? MYERS: No, not 11 fires burning right now. We have 11 fires in the past two months that are -- we believe are all connected.

LIN: Oh, I see. And how close together are they? What is the pattern here and the behavior of these fires that make you believe that it's the work of an arsonist?

MYERS: Some of the geographical data that we have associated with the fires. The fires are all started from a roadway where there's a heavy fuel load. They're all on days that are reported to have high winds. And each one of the fires endangers houses.

LIN: And so how is the firefighting going right now because we're watching a house burning as we speak on videotape?

MYERS: It's pretty tough right now. We're experiencing winds gusting up to 20 miles an hour. The crews have been battling this. You've got about 400 firefighters on the ground. They've been battling this since about noon yesterday, 1:00 yesterday. And it's holding down in the Morrison Canyon area right now.

LIN: So Clayton, in terms of the investigation, how do you actually go about catching this guy at the same time because he can strike at any time, and yet you're fighting a wildfire?

MYERS: That's correct. We've established a task force that was working on these last year. We also have some similarities with some of last year's fires and that individual was never apprehended. So we're working with the task force, local law enforcement and state. We're utilizing aircraft and some other assets. We're also doing some forensic with some of the ignition devices.

LIN: All right, thank you very much. Clayton Myers, he's the undersheriff of Kittitas County where there is a hunt now, an official hunt for an arsonist.

Now look for police among the protesters when Republicans descend upon New York next month. Dissatisfied firefighters and police officers plan to borrow some of the GOP spotlight to make their case for higher wages. Here's our Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The scenes of anti-war demonstrators filling New York City streets last year could be repeated at the Republican National Convention. But this time around, the line between demonstrators and law enforcement might not be as clear.

MICHAEL BILLOTTO, NEW YORK FIRE DEPT.: I'm probably going to be going down when the convention starts, all right, to picket.

JOE MCCAY, NEW YORK FIRE DEPT.: We put it on the line to the city and put it to the people of the city and we kind of feel left out. CARROLL: Joe McCay and Michael Billotto are among hundreds of city firefighters and police officers planning on protesting for higher wages.

BILLOTTO: I have a wife and four kids at home. And you know it's barely enough to make what I have to do just to survive in this city.

CARROLL: The city's firefighters and police have been without a contract for two years. The city's mayor says he's offered a fair deal. Police and firefighters think not.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: The strategy of following me around and yelling and screaming is just counterproductive.

CARROLL (on camera): The mayor also has to deal with security. There have been threats of sickouts on their first day of the convention although the mayor does not believe that will happen.

(voice-over): And even those on the frontlines are assuring the public not to worry.

PATRICK LYNCH, PATROLMEN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION: We'll go out there. We'll do our job to keep you safe.

CARROLL: Still, it could be a public relations nightmare for the mayor when his own party comes to town. Police and firefighters are still regarded as 9/11 heroes here. But political analysts say the real trick will be keeping the focus in the right place.

DOUG MUZZIO, BARUCH UNIVERSITY: Clearly, what the mayor needs to do is to keep the attention focused on the convention and not on the outside.

CARROLL: That may be easier said than done.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And another hot spot for high security, the whole world is going to be watching in about two weeks. But is Athens, Greece, ready for the attention? Still to come on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, fine tuning construction sites and tightening security. A closer look as the country prepares for the Olympics.

CALLEBS: And an amazing display of baseball memorabilia on display here at the Smithsonian. Right now, this is as close as D.C. residents can get to pro baseball but will that be changing? We'll have that story coming up live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: On the one hand, Washington is celebrating baseball's past, but it looks like they're also trying to get a team of its own. CNN's Sean Callebs joins us now from the Smithsonian baseball blast. Imagine that, a professional baseball team in Washington, D.C.?

CALLEBS: Imagine that. I think a lot of people are trying to imagine that, especially those coming down here to lock at all the fabulous exhibits going on here at the Natural History Museum. Some like this baseball to my left here, Abner Doubleday's baseball dating back to 1835. But it is also spawning a somewhat spirited debate. Does Washington deserve yet another crack at hosting a major league baseball team?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS (voice-over): Bats, hats, baseballs and other memorabilia belonging to the game's greatest, the Smithsonian's exhibit recognizing the national pastime. For now, this is as close as Washington, D.C. residents can get to Major League Baseball, but that could be changing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think the fans are guardedly optimistic, with an emphasis on the word guarded.

CALLEBS: The long suffering Montreal Expos are leaving Canada. The Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia area is widely considered the front-runner to be the team's new home. That stirs images of the lovable losers, the Washington Senators and the city that twice lost Major League Baseball, the last time back in 1971.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think when it left the second time, no one ever dreamed it would be such a struggle to try to get baseball back.

CALLEBS: The city is begging for one more chance to rekindle glory. There are critics, including powerful owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Peter Angelos. He contends a team in D.C. would cost him $40 million a year. He says "There are no real baseball fans in D.C. The fans are in the surrounding areas and in the Maryland counties. They are Orioles fans and we want to keep them because we need to keep them, to keep this team economically viable and to make it competitive, as our fans want it."

CAROLYN JOHNSON THOMAS, DAUGHTER OF WALTER JOHNSON: I don't know what he's worried about then. There isn't going to be any competition if there are no fans in Washington.

CALLEBS: Carolyn Johnson Thomas is the daughter of the Big Train, Walter Johnson, a star pitcher who led Washington to their only World Series championship in 1924.

HANK THOMAS, GRANDSON OF WALTER JOHNSON: And why wouldn't you want to have a ballpark where the center field opens up to the Washington Monument and the capitol and the Lincoln Memorial?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Well, we told you about that Abner Doubleday baseball. There it is. It looks more like a golf ball that has had the stuffing beat out of it. But hey, it's 165 years old. So what can you expect? There's a saying out here in D.C., at least when the Senators play, Washington, first in peace, first in war and last in the American League. Well, Carol, if they get the team, I can promise that won't be the case because the new team would be in the National League.

LIN: There you go. All right, keep hope alive there. Thanks very much, Sean Callebs.

Well, the U.S. is increasing spy plane flights over North Africa and the Middle East in the run-up to the Olympics. Officials at a U.S. base on Crete say Navy EP-3 reconnaissance planes and Air Force RC-135s, just in case you were wondering, they're going to be in the air monitoring potential threats to the games. They'll report anything suspicious to NATO and Greek authorities. Crete is also the location of a pre-Olympic training camp. The entire U.S. team will arrive there next week.

CNN's Guy Raz has more on how the organizers are ramping up security as the games near.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember these? The Patriot missiles made famous during the 1991 Gulf War and now resurrected. These anti-missile missiles will make a cameo appearance this summer at the Athens Olympics. Patriots are capable of countering an attack by ballistic and cruise missiles and aircraft. Radar stations throughout the city are now on full alert monitoring all air traffic over Athens. Truck scanners are in place. Massive x- ray machines that will scan every vehicle entering Olympic venue sites. Security measures are unprecedented. Greece will spend $1.2 billion on security, four times more than Sydney spent during the 2000 games. Seventy thousand officers will patrol the streets. Fighter jets will continuously patrol the skies to counter any attempt to disrupt the games.

THOMAS MILLER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO GREECE: There's nothing specific credible that I'm aware of right now, which doesn't necessarily mean everyone should breathe easy. It just means that there's nothing that we're aware of on a specific, credible level right now.

RAZ: Greek officials aren't taking any chances. Anti-terror squads have been training for nearly a year. With two weeks to go, Fortress Athens is now ready for its moment in the spotlight.

Guy Raz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's at it again, reality TV at its finest. Still to come, what it's like growing a Gotti, an inside look into one of America's most notable mob families.

Plus, who killed Jimmy Hoffa? Still to come, my interview with the man who was all ears for a confession.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: If you're hooked on reality TV, a new temptation is headed your way. "Growing up Gotti" offers a glimpse into one of America's most notable mob families. It is the real life story of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of deceased mob boss John Gotti. She's confrontational, witty, outspoken, as she juggles raising three teenage boys by herself. The series debuts Monday night on the A&E Network.

And also, Monday, Victoria Gotti will be a guest on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" and that airs at 7:00 Eastern.

Well, it was a life time of payoffs for the mob hit man Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran. But one hit haunted him until his death. Jimmy Hoffa was president of the Teamsters Union when he disappeared in the summer of 1975. Sheeran was his friend. Twenty-five years after Hoffa disappeared, Sheeran confessed to luring Hoffa to his death. And he confessed to none other Charles Brandt who wrote about it in his book, "I Heard You Paint Houses."

Charles joins me right now.

Charles, you were not only -- you were not actually a friend of his, necessarily, or a confidant, but you were actually a former law enforcement person, Delaware's chief deputy attorney general, a former attorney. Why did he come to you to make this confession?

CHARLES BRANDT, AUTHOR, "I HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES": He had read a book of mine, "The Right to Remain Silent" based on interrogations that I did as a homicide prosecutor and investigator and there's a line in it that confessions are a basic human need. They cleanse the emotional debris of the body. After he read that book, he said he wanted to tell his side of the Hoffa case, but I knew that what he really wanted to do was unburden himself. When people go to you to confess they want you to pull it out of them and that's what I did over the course of four to five years.

What the book is really about is the inner workings of this man's mind and what led him to the point in his life where he was required to betray one of his best friends and certainly one of the greatest men that he ever met, according to his own admission.

LIN: And what he told you was that he was able to lure Jimmy Hoffa into the car to the location where Hoffa would be shot to death because Hoffa trusted him. He would get in the car with Frank.

BRANDT: Yes, he trusted him not only from their personal relationship from the point of view that Frank was an iron man. He was 6'4", 220 pounds, a combat veteran of World War II. When the average number of combat days was 80, he had 411. He was a really tough man.

LIN: Right, you describe a born in killer. And I want to share part of what he told you about that fateful day. You wrote that he told you that "He reached for the knob of the door, and Jimmy Hoffa got shot twice at a decent range, not too close or the paint splatters back at you, in the back of the head behind his right ear." And then he tells you, "My friend didn't suffer." You say that this haunted him until he died, that he actually died wearing a piece of Jewelry that was a gift from Jimmy Hoffa?

BRANDT: That's correct. I recently had a conversation with Frank Sheeran's daughter, Dolores, and she said that Jimmy Hoffa was one of the few people in the world that Frank Sheeran cared about and that it tortured him for the remainder of his life.

LIN: This is a picture of the two of you that we're showing here.

BRANDT: Yes.

LIN: Yes. Hoffa and Frank Sheeran, actually. So what has this done in terms of the investigation into Jimmy Hoffa? Has a body been found? Have you been talking to investigators?

BRANDT: Well, yes, the D.A. of Oakland County, Dave Gorsica (ph) reopened his file. He never actually closed the case, but he reopened his file. And they investigated the flooring of the house in which Jimmy Hoffa was shot by Frank Sheeran. A luminal test showed indications of blood in a pattern matching exactly what Frank Sheeran had told me. They ripped the floor up in a long shot effort to see if they could find some DNA.

LIN: Anything? Anything?

BRANDT: Well, it is very -- highly unlikely. In fact, Dr. Michael Baden, the famed forensic pathologist who believes that Frank Sheeran's confession is entirely credible and solves the case, said that it is highly unlikely because of environmental changes that any DNA would...

LIN: So where are we left? Where are we left? Where is the body? Is Sheeran telling the truth?

BRANDT: Well, there's no question that Sheeran is telling the truth. Interrogation and cross-examination and interrogation is my passion. I had him for five years. This was not an afternoon on the witness stand. And he was trying to unburden himself in his later years. He had returned to his Catholic faith, gotten absolution from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of Philadelphia, and he's been a leading suspect in the case from the time of Hoffa's disappearance. Hoffa's daughter, a judge in St. Louis, a federal judge, wrote Sheeran in 1995 begging him to come clean. And this book is really his answer.

LIN: Ah, all right. Charles Brandt, the author of "I Heard You Paint Houses," which apparently were the first words that Jimmy Hoffa said to Frank Sheeran in an analogy or not -- it wasn't Hoffa, rather, it was a mob boss saying to him, which was a code word for, you kill people, don't you?

BRANDT: Yes, the paint is the blood that spatters on the floor, in this case, a hard wood floor.

LIN: Thank you very much, Charles Brandt.

BRANDT: Thank you.

LIN: Well, this week's Democratic Convention churned out a presidential nominee and it also turned out a new fashion statement. Still to come, the headset microphone. It's no longer meant for the pop singer. Hear what the newest clients have to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, getting the story is rule No. 1 for any journalist, but sometimes in the mid of a special event, say like the Democratic National Convention, conveying it can be really hard unless you have the right gear. Our Jeanne Moos has the mike check from this year's DNC.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What does Britney Spears have in common with journalists on the convention floor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he looks like Britney Spears with it?

MOOS: Just call him Britney Blitzer. Sure some journalists still look like they're planted in the 1950s. But these days the headset mike keeps your hands free to hold a fake cocktail. The big clunky headset and that stick mike stuck in, say, Howard Dean's face, has new competition.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER": It's very directional. In other words, it can hear me right now. But they can be blaring huge music behind me and the mike won't pick it up.

MOOSE: With such high tech wonders, no wonder David Letterman picked this CNN highlight of the night.

Hey, at least our anchors remembered to put on their mikes.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Right now, I guess he doesn't have the mike on.

MOOS: Then there are guests who forgot to take off their mike.

CHRIS NICINI, CNN AUDIO TECHNICIAN: The governor of New Mexico walked off with his mike, which is a big problem because they're $800 mikes.

MOOS: He eventually brought it back. Taking off one of these gizmos recalls language used in airplane takeoffs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear.

MOOS: To avoid that unsightly earmuff look, there are ear buds that hermetically seal you off from noise while transmitting only what you need to hear. John King before in the old days, John King after.

ABC couldn't resist a catty comment on its website. What's with that moley-looking microphone your anchors wear? I wouldn't get molier than thou ABC if my floor reporters looked like this. Anyway, it's probably just the windscreen.

BLITZER: That looks like a mole.

MOOS: Audio technicians have their hands full, full of hair on female guests.

NICINI: I used to lift it up and usually they've just been through makeup and hair. And here I am destroying it on them.

MOOS: Donna Brazile's earrings got pinned by the headset mike. They were later liberated by a hand mike. Hillary Clinton's people didn't want her to wear the headset, saying it felt experimental and looked questionable. But Ernestine the operator would have headset envy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have I reached the party with whom I am parlaying?

MOOS: By the way, that's an actual mole under Bill Richardson's eye, not our mike.

Jeanne Moos, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And that's all the time we have for this hour. I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern for the latest twists and turns in the Scott Peterson case. Join me and my guests for a closer look at the latest evidence and what it means for the defense.

But right now, Mark Shields is with us to tell us what "THE CAPITAL GANG" has to offer after a nice successful DNC coverage -- Mark.

MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": Hey, Carol, the gang of five is back safely from Boston. Look at what the Democrats accomplished there, what lies ahead in the Bush/Kerry race, also, our picks for winners and losers from the Fleet Center. Pardon me. 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 July 31, 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: Hello there, I'm Carol Lin. "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" is just ahead, but first, here's what's happening right now. Two more hostages kidnapped in Iraq. Al Jazerra television reports a group linked to militant leader, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, have threatened to behead two Turkish truck drivers unless their company stops working in Iraq. Details coming up. And another Turkish truck driver seized earlier this month in Mosul has been freed after promising his captors he would not return. The man was held for 12 days.
The Marine who was captured in Iraq and turned up in Lebanon has been granted leave to ease his return to active duty. Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun has arrived in Utah where he has family. He was first listed as a deserter but that status was later changed to captor. Our Miguel Marquez was at the airport when Hassoun arrived and we hope to bring you a live report this hour.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Good evening. I'm Carol Lin and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. A lot ahead this hour, including a string of suspicious wildfires in Washington State. Investigators will share why they now believe an arsonist is responsible for fires burning out of control near Cascade Mountain towns.

And the almost 30-year-old mystery of Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance. I'm going to talk to the author of a new book who believes he has cracked the case. In fact, he had many meetings with the mafia man who says he was the one who killed Hoffa.

We begin, though, in the battle of the political bus tours and the road both George Bush and John Kerry are taking, literally. About a half an hour ago both campaign buses were converging on Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania. And that's the thing about stumping for votes in key battleground states. You are inevitably going to go down the road most traveled. Now, Bush was rallying in Canton and Cambridge, Ohio, and is now in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kerry and John Edwards started their day in Pennsylvania and are heading to Wheeling, West Virginia right now. They are going to be Zanesville, Ohio, later today. CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is traveling with the Kerry campaign and she joins me right now by the telephone.

Candy, where are you guys?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've crossed into West Virginia. We -- much as we really wanted the photo opportunity of the two bus-capades passing each other, we missed them by about 30 minutes. So they turned off 70 about 30 minutes before we got to the point where they are, but we are definitely pounding the same pavement.

LIN: And what is the message today? What is the candidate trying to accomplish here?

CROWLEY: Well, John Kerry and John Edwards are still traveling together and basically what they're giving us are sort of the "Reader's Digest" version of their convention speeches. So the whole point here is to use the juice, if you will that they got at the convention, that excitement and kind of bring it out into the grassroots. And they talk about, oh, look how big this is, you know that sort of thing to kind of keep generating the excitement so they can use some of that convention energy out here to propel themselves forward.

In terms of just news, we get very little of it. There was -- today, John Kerry took on the president for saying that the nation had turned the corner on the economy. Kerry said, "Well, go tell that to the people who don't have health insurance, go tell that to the people who have yet to find a new job or that are now in a job where they're getting paid less." He said, "You know, we haven't turned the corner, and I don't want to do that, I want to climb the mountain." So we're getting a little bit of substance and a lot of the same kind of campaign stuff that we got at the convention.

LIN: Well, Kerry's climbing the mountain. And I heard George W. Bush said today he was turning the corner. There's a lot of movement going on in both campaigns. Candy...

CROWLEY: Exactly.

LIN: ...can you do the math for us in terms of geographically where these candidates are choosing to spend this week, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. Can Kerry do without any of them? Does he need all three?

CROWLEY: They both would like all three. Ohio is particularly important to George Bush. But they're all important, as you look at how close we believe this race is going to be. The Midwest are the battleground states, of which West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio are considered to be, are so close right now. And what we've done with John Kerry today is to go through central Pennsylvania, which while it has more Democrats registered than Republicans, it has trended Republican in presidential races. John Kerry turned out a great crowd in Greensberg, Pennsylvania. Now we're headed down to Wheeling.

And last -- in 2000, West Virginia went Republican, went with Bush. And it's a state that has generally been Democratic, but they were mad at the Clinton/Gore administration for some environmental policies that hurt the mining industry. So this is another state that John Kerry really wants to call home. So we're going to dip into Wheeling and try to catch some of the excitement there, and then on up to Ohio, which everybody says is the new Florida because it's so close. LIN: Yes, the battleground state with 11 electoral votes. Thanks very much, Candy, enjoy the bus ride and I know you'll report again.

CROWLEY: Thanks.

LIN: Well, John Kerry and John Edwards are going to be our guests tomorrow on CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER" and that's at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific. So stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, President Bush is in Pittsburgh fine tuning his message to the Rust Belt and that is where Kathleen Koch picks up our campaign coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wooing the American Heartland, President Bush's bus tour winding through two battleground states critical to his re-election, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mr. Bush campaigning with the new intensity, hoping to blunt any post convention bounce in the polls by his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a big philosophical difference in this campaign -- our opponents share an old Washington mind-set. They'll give the orders and you pay the bills. But we've turned the corner and we're not turning back to that way of thinking.

KOCH: Mr. Bush promised workers in the states hard hit by job losses that he pushed to level of the playing field in international trade, especially with China.

BUSH: I know there's great concern about trade in eastern Ohio. Let me tell you something about trade. I believe that America and Americans can compete with anybody, any place, anywhere, so long as the rules are fair.

KOCH: Between rallies, President Bush make the requisite campaign stops tossing the football with Cleveland Browns players, buying candy at a Dover, Ohio, sweet shop. Outside a not so sweet reception from Kerry supporters. They were interspersed throughout the largely pro-Bush crowds lining the bus route. A large group of opponents chanting outside one venue where the president spoke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem with the jobs that the Bush administration has helped create is that most of them are lower paying jobs; most of them are unskilled work. We need more decent paying jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the past four years Bush has sent my friends to Iraq, sent my father's job overseas and sent my mom to -- she's a teacher -- her pay plummeting. And we're sick of it.

KOCH (on camera): President Bush on the road did not mention his administration's new prediction of a record budget deficit for 2004 nor Friday's figures showing slower growth in the economy.

(voice-over): The president deciding some things are better left unsaid in these critical swing states.

Kathleen Koch, Cambridge, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now, we move on to Iraq where it's happened again. There are reports of more people being taken hostage. Al Jazerra is airing a videotape and you're looking at it now from militants linked to Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Now, it says they've kidnapped two Turkish drivers who work for a company supplying U.S. forces in Iraq. The militants are threatening to behead them unless the company stops doing business in Iraq in 48 hours.

And elsewhere in that country, life and death negotiations began today. At stake, the fate of seven other hostages. A representative of the company they work for met with a tribal leader who says he speaks for their captors. He says he's hopeful the hostages will be released.

And there's news of more violence in Iraq. The head of a school for teachers was killed Friday in a town south of Baghdad. Iraqi police say he was walking home from a mosque when masked gunmen in two cars shot him dead.

Well, the man who led U.S. troops in Iraq is going public about the war. Retired General Tommy Franks says he's very surprised no weapons of mass destruction have actually been found. And he tells "Parade" magazine several Middle Eastern leaders told him Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And he says Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak told him in January of last year that -- quote -- "Saddam has WMD biologicals, actually, and he will use them on your troops."

As for Saddam Hussein, life behind bars isn't so bad. In fact, our John Vause tells us he likes American snacks and air conditioning, a life some Iraqis say is too good for the butcher of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oh, how life has changed from the marbled opulence of almost 50 palaces with their man- made lakes, crystal chandeliers and gold plated plumbing, Saddam Hussein is now one of 96 prisoners in a high security Baghdad jail.

BAKHTIAR AMIN, IRAQI HUMAN RIGHTS MINITER: He is in a three by four meters room. It's wide, tiled floor with a 100-volt bulb lamp.

VAUSE: But as the summer here hits 120 Fahrenheit, Saddam's cell is air conditioned, a luxury not enjoyed by most Iraqis. He showers twice a week, but can get a shampoo and a haircut whenever he wants. And the man who drained Iraq's marshland, causing the greatest man- made environmental disaster on the planet, according to the U.N., now cares for a little tree in the yard outside his cell.

AMIN: He goes out of his cell three hours per day.

VAUSE: In the eight months since he was caught, Saddam has lost 11 pounds. But recently, he's gained a little weight maybe because of a liking for muffins and cookies. And the man who once led the secular Ba'ath Party now regularly reads the Koran.

AMIN: And that's a sign that one can say more of fear, because he's not a real believer. He's an infidel.

VAUSE (on camera): Iraq's human rights minister says Saddam is generally in good health. He was treated by two Iraqi doctors for a chronic prostate infection. He has hypertension -- there's a surprise -- high blood pressure and a hernia. He was checked for cancer and given the all clear. And while some of Saddam's fellow inmates have sought help for depression and anxiety, Saddam has made no such request.

For the tens of thousands who suffered at the hands of the Iraqi dictator, like Karim Ibrahim Isaa, who spent three years locked away and tortured in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, Saddam's life behind bars seems like another grave injustice.

KARIM IBRAHIM ISAA, FORMER PRISONER (through translator): A prisoner who gets a tree, a doctor, and a barber is not a prisoner. He is leading a normal life.

VAUSE (voice-over): But Saddam's life of relative ease and comfort may be coming to an end. He's facing the death penalty, charged with crimes against humanity. And many Iraqis want him dead sooner rather than later.

John Vause, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And we may have a mystery solved on this program. Who killed Jimmy Hoffa? It's a question that's haunted his family and investigators for nearly 30 years. Ahead, I'll talk to a man who says he knows who did it. And his book has reopened the investigation into Hoffa's case.

And staying afloat in Bangladesh, we're going to take you there as the locals wade through the deep waters.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An amazing collection of historical baseball items, but for people in D.C., this is as close to professional baseball as they can get right now. But will the big leagues be returning to the capital? I'm Sean Callebs and we'll have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Nobody covers the world like CNN, so let's focus on some international news. Six weeks of monsoon rains and the water is just beginning to recede only to reveal more of the dead in South Asia. More than 1,500 people either drowned or were electrocuted or died of snake bites and diseases. CNN's Satinder Bindra has more from the capital city of Bangladesh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rush hour in Dhaka, commuters no longer drive, take the bus or walk. They use boats and try to maintain a sense of normalcy in the face of one of the worst floods in years.

"I have to go to work," he says, "My life cannot stop. My work cannot wait."

Even with his entire neighborhood submerged, civil servant Ghazi Rahaman (ph) is rushing to work. He wants to help rebuild his country, which has suffered an estimated $6 billion in losses.

(on camera): Almost half the capital city of Dhaka is now under water. The city's sewage system has collapsed. Many lack safe drinking water and thousands are suffering from diarrhea.

(voice-over): In such unsanitary conditions, doctors are fearing a cholera or typhoid epidemic. To help its flood ravaged citizens, the government is distributing food. This woman complains she isn't getting enough. Others, like Rizza Olislam (ph) try to fend for themselves. Even though his store is completely flooded, he's open for business.

"I'm hoping this water recedes," he says, "and life will be normal again."

The low lying country of Bangladesh is prone to flooding, but its people know how to keep up their spirits. It's the only way, they say, they can beat this monster flood.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Also in news around the world, we're going to start with a kidnapping in the West Bank. Three English teachers, including an American, were temporarily kidnapped by gunmen. Palestinian authorities say they were released unharmed about two hours later and it's not clear who actually kidnapped them.

And in the Ivory Coast, a peace deal. Former rebels and opposition leaders are rejoining the government. A dozen African presidents and the U.N. secretary-general hammered out a deal with rebels to define citizenship and qualifications for president. In exchange, the rebels will start disarming by October 15.

And in London, a modern-day royal wedding at Kensington Palace, Lady Davina Windsor ties the knot with Gary Lewis from New Zealand. She's the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and 20th in line for the throne. The happy couple met in Bali four years ago.

A warning today from Secretary of State Colin Powell. He is telling Bosnian leaders they're endangering their future by refusing to arrest those accused of war crimes from their past. Elisa Labott has a closer look at Powell's visit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a different Sarajevo than the one Colin Powell saw just three years ago. Ethnic violence between the Bosnian Serb and Croat populations is down and hundreds of thousands of refugees are back home. And Powell said the future looks bright as the country looks towards the E.U. and NATO. But he said the key stumbling block is the government's lack of cooperation in arresting indicted war criminals. Powell said he won't be happy until former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic (ph) and his military chief Ratko Mladic (ph) are standing before The Hague. Both are wanted by the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal on charges of genocide.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I hope that those who may be harboring these individuals realize that the future of their country is being held at risk by allowing these individuals to remain free.

LABOTT: And the Bosnians must consolidate gains made by the government in areas like defense, while enacting critical political and economic reforms necessary to join Europe.

(on camera): Though the ethnic violence has ended, Bosnia remains divided along ethnic lines. The Bosnian Serbs and Muslim Croat federations each maintain their own set of institutions, military and taxation systems, all of which has flamed ethnic tensions and strained the economy.

(voice-over): Many in Bosnia say there's a cease-fire but not a true peace. And the multiethnic society envisioned in 1995 at Dayton is still not in place. Old wounds still raw when Powell sat down with university students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the elections in 2002 we were actually, all those institutions we built two years ago or a year ago, we are dividing it in three parts again.

POWELL: You have to build the forces that keep this country together and not go into different directions.

LABOTT: NATO will hand over to a smaller peacekeeping force led by the European Union in December. But a small number of U.S. forces will remain as part of the war on terror. U.S. officials believe some groups linked to al Qaeda find safe haven in a country still struggling to get back on its feet.

Elisa Labott, CNN, Sarajevo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Coming up next on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, clinical drug studies and why one family says Zoloft could be to blame for their daughter's death.

Later, a killer confesses, the inside story of the death of Jimmy Hoffa. I'm going to talk to the man who wrote the book. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In our regular medical segment now, we want to bring you a story about a government accused of choosing between who lives and who dies. A U.N. AIDS expert says Uganda is too strict about the number of HIV sufferers it plans to treat with life prolonging drugs. And in Kampala today, Special U.S. Envoy Steven Lewis urged Uganda to target 100,000 instead of 60,000. He urged the African nation to retake its place as leader in the fight against AIDS.

Now, for those of us who count on getting the right prescription drugs, what if your doctor wasn't getting all the information he or she needed from the drug companies? Well, it turns out the pharmaceutical industry is fighting pressure from the medical profession to open up all the files. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Candace Downing's parents say the first hint they had that their 12-year-old daughter might be suicidal was when they found her hanging from her bedroom ceiling.

ANDY DOWNING, FATHER OF CANDACE DOWNING: We called the paramedics, and they tried feverishly to revive her, and I was trying to give her mouth-to-mouth, but I knew something was wrong, because her entire body was cold.

COHEN: Mathy and Andy Downing blame their daughter's suicide on the drug Zoloft, used to treat anxiety and depression. A psychiatrist prescribed it because Candace became anxious when taking tests at school. Her parents say she wasn't suicidal, wasn't even depressed before she began the medication.

MATHY DOWNING, MOTHER OF CANDACE DOWNING: She was very into sports, a ton of friends, probably the most social child I've ever met.

COHEN: Whether drugs like Zoloft really do cause suicides is a matter of medical debate with studies supporting both sides. But now another debate has emerged. The Downings and other families charge that drug makers knew from pre-marketing studies that these drugs made some children and teens suicidal but hid the study results. Pfizer, which makes Zoloft, wouldn't comment on the Downing case because the family has filed a lawsuit. The company referred us to the corporate policy on its website which states "Pfizer commits to timely communication of meaningful results of controlled clinical trials, regardless of outcome."

(on camera): By law, drug companies have to tell the Food and Drug Administration about all their studies when they apply for permission to put their drug on the market. But the FDA also by law is not allowed to release those studies to the public.

DR. BOB TEMPLE, FDA: We're not allowed to release confidential commercial information. It's illegal, it's a crime.

COHEN (voice-over): Patients aren't the only ones feeling kept in the dark. Doctors also say they're deprived of information and are now pushing for a change in the rules. The American Medical Association says drug companies should be required to submit their study results, negative as well as positive, to a central registry accessible to anyone via the Internet.

Dr. David Fassler, an expert on childhood depression, wrote the AMA registry proposal. He says he was shocked by what happened when he reviewed data on young people on anti-depressants at an FDA meeting six months ago.

DR. DAVID FASSLER, CHILD ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIST: I was given access to data from 25 clinical studies, most of which I had never seen before or I hadn't heard about. There were maybe three or four major studies that were in the literature, which we all knew about, but we didn't realize that there were this many studies involving 4,000 children and adolescents.

COHEN: The pharmaceutical industry hasn't taken an official position on the AMA's registry idea but has some concerns.

ALAN GOLDHAMMER, PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY REP.: We don't think that practicing physicians are going to have the time spent poring through tens of thousands of pages of clinical studies.

COHEN: Dr. Fassler disagrees.

FASSLER: This is clearly something which is going to help people. It's going to improve the quality of health care. It's going to improve our ability as physicians to take care of people.

COHEN: Two months after Candace Downing's death, the FDA, after further review of the research, urged doctors to closely monitor patients on drugs like Zoloft for suicidal behavior. The Downings say that's not enough and they're lobbying Congress to require drug companies to make all research public.

Elizabeth Cohen, Laytonsville, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And still to come on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, running for cover as the wildfire continues to burn out west. We're going to get the latest from officials on the frontlines.

Plus, they serve and protect, but what about their pay? Still to come, New York firefighters and police officers at odds with the city mayor.

And later, a good listener always has an ear to lend, but what happens when a killer confides in you. Confessions in the death of Jimmy Hoffa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: More of CNN LIVE SATURDAY in just a moment, but first a quick look at what's happening now in the news.

Another kidnapping in Iraq. The Arabic network, Al Jazerra, is broadcasting a new videotape released by a militant group linked to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. The terrorist group is threatening to behead two Turkish truck drivers in 48 hours if their company does not stop working in Iraq.

The Kerry/Edwards ticket is trying to add a lift -- or add a lift, yes, to their post convention bounce. The senator took aim -- both of them, actually, took aim at the president's economic policies at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania earlier. They are expected in Wheeling, West Virginia, this evening.

President Bush is also wooing voters today. He's been in Pennsylvania as well. The race there is expecting to be hotly contested come November. Bush's bus tour is wrapping up two days of campaigning with a rally in Pittsburgh.

And back in its cage -- after a brief period on the run, a white circus tiger escaped today in Queens, New York, scaring people and causing a number of cars to crash. The animal's trainer managed to coax it back into the cage. And there you see it.

Also, we've got some news out of Salt Lake City. You remember the U.S. Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun who was allegedly kidnapped inside of Iraq away from his barracks and then suddenly appeared in Lebanon? So we're going to go to Miguel Marquez who actually talked with the Marine corporal at the Salt Lake City airport.

Miguel, what did he have to say about his experience?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a whole lot. He was very excited to be home, I can tell you that but that long saga of Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun has certainly come full circle. Only CNN was there just a short time ago as Hassoun entered the Salt Lake City airport. He flew in on a commercial flight, was joined by relatives there and walked through the terminal. And as he walked through the terminal, people immediately recognized him and said, "Welcome home." He greeted them as well. It seemed that it was a bit of a celebration, him coming back.

A public affairs officer at Camp Lejeune where he is based says that he has been granted a 30-day leave in conjunction with the repatriation process and that this is pretty much typical for the repatriation process and called it convalescent leave so he can come back, see his family and rest up and the like. Hassoun, he looked very healthy as he came in dressed in civvies, the red knit shirt and the like. But he didn't stop long to talk to us as he made his way to his car.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Mr. Hassoun, I'm Miguel Marquez from CNN. How are you?

CORPORAL WASSEF ALI HASSOUN, U.S. MARINE CORPS.: Fine.

MARQUEZ: Will you just talk to me? What does it feel like to be home?

HASSOUN: It feels good. It feels perfect.

MARQUEZ: What's the first thing you are going to do?

HASSOUN: I don't know. I don't think about it yet.

MARQUEZ: No? What...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, on June 20th, Corporal Hassoun was listed as a deserter after he went missing from his post near Fallujah, Iraq, the Marine base where he was based there. Now, on June 27, that status was changed to captured when videotape surfaced of him being apparently held captive with a blindfold over his face and a sword being held over his head. And then he resurfaced on July 7 in the hands of his family. And there were a couple of days where he negotiated with the U.S. embassy to come find him and pick him up. He finally got to the U.S. embassy, was repatriated with them, was taken to Germany for a short time and then he went back to Virginia and then was finally back at his home base of Camp Lejeune. And now he is back with family.

The only thing he has said about this so far, he's made a short statement at Camp Lejeune before, and he did say that he was captured and was held against his will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days. And as you probably know as well a Navy -- the NCIS, the Navy Criminal Investigative Service is looking into the disappearance and the recovery of Corporal Hassoun. Back to you.

LIN: Thanks very much, Miguel.

In the meantime, we've got some news out west. We've been watching this wildfire which has been rolling across parts of Washington State. We're counting right now at least 11 wildfires burning there. And now there is an official investigation under way because it looks like the pattern of these fires may be the work of an arsonist.

Now, the latest here started yesterday and grew pretty fast. It was fanned by heavy winds and we've got Clayton Myers. He's an undersheriff of Kittitas County. He's on the telephone right now from Ellensburg.

Clayton, where are you in relationship Ellensburg -- in relationship to the fire?

CLAYTON MYERS, UNDERSHERIFF, KITTITAS COUNTY: They incident command, a mile from the fire.

LIN: All right, not too far at all. We counted 11, is that right, 11 fires burning right now? MYERS: No, not 11 fires burning right now. We have 11 fires in the past two months that are -- we believe are all connected.

LIN: Oh, I see. And how close together are they? What is the pattern here and the behavior of these fires that make you believe that it's the work of an arsonist?

MYERS: Some of the geographical data that we have associated with the fires. The fires are all started from a roadway where there's a heavy fuel load. They're all on days that are reported to have high winds. And each one of the fires endangers houses.

LIN: And so how is the firefighting going right now because we're watching a house burning as we speak on videotape?

MYERS: It's pretty tough right now. We're experiencing winds gusting up to 20 miles an hour. The crews have been battling this. You've got about 400 firefighters on the ground. They've been battling this since about noon yesterday, 1:00 yesterday. And it's holding down in the Morrison Canyon area right now.

LIN: So Clayton, in terms of the investigation, how do you actually go about catching this guy at the same time because he can strike at any time, and yet you're fighting a wildfire?

MYERS: That's correct. We've established a task force that was working on these last year. We also have some similarities with some of last year's fires and that individual was never apprehended. So we're working with the task force, local law enforcement and state. We're utilizing aircraft and some other assets. We're also doing some forensic with some of the ignition devices.

LIN: All right, thank you very much. Clayton Myers, he's the undersheriff of Kittitas County where there is a hunt now, an official hunt for an arsonist.

Now look for police among the protesters when Republicans descend upon New York next month. Dissatisfied firefighters and police officers plan to borrow some of the GOP spotlight to make their case for higher wages. Here's our Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The scenes of anti-war demonstrators filling New York City streets last year could be repeated at the Republican National Convention. But this time around, the line between demonstrators and law enforcement might not be as clear.

MICHAEL BILLOTTO, NEW YORK FIRE DEPT.: I'm probably going to be going down when the convention starts, all right, to picket.

JOE MCCAY, NEW YORK FIRE DEPT.: We put it on the line to the city and put it to the people of the city and we kind of feel left out. CARROLL: Joe McCay and Michael Billotto are among hundreds of city firefighters and police officers planning on protesting for higher wages.

BILLOTTO: I have a wife and four kids at home. And you know it's barely enough to make what I have to do just to survive in this city.

CARROLL: The city's firefighters and police have been without a contract for two years. The city's mayor says he's offered a fair deal. Police and firefighters think not.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: The strategy of following me around and yelling and screaming is just counterproductive.

CARROLL (on camera): The mayor also has to deal with security. There have been threats of sickouts on their first day of the convention although the mayor does not believe that will happen.

(voice-over): And even those on the frontlines are assuring the public not to worry.

PATRICK LYNCH, PATROLMEN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION: We'll go out there. We'll do our job to keep you safe.

CARROLL: Still, it could be a public relations nightmare for the mayor when his own party comes to town. Police and firefighters are still regarded as 9/11 heroes here. But political analysts say the real trick will be keeping the focus in the right place.

DOUG MUZZIO, BARUCH UNIVERSITY: Clearly, what the mayor needs to do is to keep the attention focused on the convention and not on the outside.

CARROLL: That may be easier said than done.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And another hot spot for high security, the whole world is going to be watching in about two weeks. But is Athens, Greece, ready for the attention? Still to come on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, fine tuning construction sites and tightening security. A closer look as the country prepares for the Olympics.

CALLEBS: And an amazing display of baseball memorabilia on display here at the Smithsonian. Right now, this is as close as D.C. residents can get to pro baseball but will that be changing? We'll have that story coming up live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: On the one hand, Washington is celebrating baseball's past, but it looks like they're also trying to get a team of its own. CNN's Sean Callebs joins us now from the Smithsonian baseball blast. Imagine that, a professional baseball team in Washington, D.C.?

CALLEBS: Imagine that. I think a lot of people are trying to imagine that, especially those coming down here to lock at all the fabulous exhibits going on here at the Natural History Museum. Some like this baseball to my left here, Abner Doubleday's baseball dating back to 1835. But it is also spawning a somewhat spirited debate. Does Washington deserve yet another crack at hosting a major league baseball team?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS (voice-over): Bats, hats, baseballs and other memorabilia belonging to the game's greatest, the Smithsonian's exhibit recognizing the national pastime. For now, this is as close as Washington, D.C. residents can get to Major League Baseball, but that could be changing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think the fans are guardedly optimistic, with an emphasis on the word guarded.

CALLEBS: The long suffering Montreal Expos are leaving Canada. The Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia area is widely considered the front-runner to be the team's new home. That stirs images of the lovable losers, the Washington Senators and the city that twice lost Major League Baseball, the last time back in 1971.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think when it left the second time, no one ever dreamed it would be such a struggle to try to get baseball back.

CALLEBS: The city is begging for one more chance to rekindle glory. There are critics, including powerful owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Peter Angelos. He contends a team in D.C. would cost him $40 million a year. He says "There are no real baseball fans in D.C. The fans are in the surrounding areas and in the Maryland counties. They are Orioles fans and we want to keep them because we need to keep them, to keep this team economically viable and to make it competitive, as our fans want it."

CAROLYN JOHNSON THOMAS, DAUGHTER OF WALTER JOHNSON: I don't know what he's worried about then. There isn't going to be any competition if there are no fans in Washington.

CALLEBS: Carolyn Johnson Thomas is the daughter of the Big Train, Walter Johnson, a star pitcher who led Washington to their only World Series championship in 1924.

HANK THOMAS, GRANDSON OF WALTER JOHNSON: And why wouldn't you want to have a ballpark where the center field opens up to the Washington Monument and the capitol and the Lincoln Memorial?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Well, we told you about that Abner Doubleday baseball. There it is. It looks more like a golf ball that has had the stuffing beat out of it. But hey, it's 165 years old. So what can you expect? There's a saying out here in D.C., at least when the Senators play, Washington, first in peace, first in war and last in the American League. Well, Carol, if they get the team, I can promise that won't be the case because the new team would be in the National League.

LIN: There you go. All right, keep hope alive there. Thanks very much, Sean Callebs.

Well, the U.S. is increasing spy plane flights over North Africa and the Middle East in the run-up to the Olympics. Officials at a U.S. base on Crete say Navy EP-3 reconnaissance planes and Air Force RC-135s, just in case you were wondering, they're going to be in the air monitoring potential threats to the games. They'll report anything suspicious to NATO and Greek authorities. Crete is also the location of a pre-Olympic training camp. The entire U.S. team will arrive there next week.

CNN's Guy Raz has more on how the organizers are ramping up security as the games near.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember these? The Patriot missiles made famous during the 1991 Gulf War and now resurrected. These anti-missile missiles will make a cameo appearance this summer at the Athens Olympics. Patriots are capable of countering an attack by ballistic and cruise missiles and aircraft. Radar stations throughout the city are now on full alert monitoring all air traffic over Athens. Truck scanners are in place. Massive x- ray machines that will scan every vehicle entering Olympic venue sites. Security measures are unprecedented. Greece will spend $1.2 billion on security, four times more than Sydney spent during the 2000 games. Seventy thousand officers will patrol the streets. Fighter jets will continuously patrol the skies to counter any attempt to disrupt the games.

THOMAS MILLER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO GREECE: There's nothing specific credible that I'm aware of right now, which doesn't necessarily mean everyone should breathe easy. It just means that there's nothing that we're aware of on a specific, credible level right now.

RAZ: Greek officials aren't taking any chances. Anti-terror squads have been training for nearly a year. With two weeks to go, Fortress Athens is now ready for its moment in the spotlight.

Guy Raz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's at it again, reality TV at its finest. Still to come, what it's like growing a Gotti, an inside look into one of America's most notable mob families.

Plus, who killed Jimmy Hoffa? Still to come, my interview with the man who was all ears for a confession.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: If you're hooked on reality TV, a new temptation is headed your way. "Growing up Gotti" offers a glimpse into one of America's most notable mob families. It is the real life story of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of deceased mob boss John Gotti. She's confrontational, witty, outspoken, as she juggles raising three teenage boys by herself. The series debuts Monday night on the A&E Network.

And also, Monday, Victoria Gotti will be a guest on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" and that airs at 7:00 Eastern.

Well, it was a life time of payoffs for the mob hit man Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran. But one hit haunted him until his death. Jimmy Hoffa was president of the Teamsters Union when he disappeared in the summer of 1975. Sheeran was his friend. Twenty-five years after Hoffa disappeared, Sheeran confessed to luring Hoffa to his death. And he confessed to none other Charles Brandt who wrote about it in his book, "I Heard You Paint Houses."

Charles joins me right now.

Charles, you were not only -- you were not actually a friend of his, necessarily, or a confidant, but you were actually a former law enforcement person, Delaware's chief deputy attorney general, a former attorney. Why did he come to you to make this confession?

CHARLES BRANDT, AUTHOR, "I HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES": He had read a book of mine, "The Right to Remain Silent" based on interrogations that I did as a homicide prosecutor and investigator and there's a line in it that confessions are a basic human need. They cleanse the emotional debris of the body. After he read that book, he said he wanted to tell his side of the Hoffa case, but I knew that what he really wanted to do was unburden himself. When people go to you to confess they want you to pull it out of them and that's what I did over the course of four to five years.

What the book is really about is the inner workings of this man's mind and what led him to the point in his life where he was required to betray one of his best friends and certainly one of the greatest men that he ever met, according to his own admission.

LIN: And what he told you was that he was able to lure Jimmy Hoffa into the car to the location where Hoffa would be shot to death because Hoffa trusted him. He would get in the car with Frank.

BRANDT: Yes, he trusted him not only from their personal relationship from the point of view that Frank was an iron man. He was 6'4", 220 pounds, a combat veteran of World War II. When the average number of combat days was 80, he had 411. He was a really tough man.

LIN: Right, you describe a born in killer. And I want to share part of what he told you about that fateful day. You wrote that he told you that "He reached for the knob of the door, and Jimmy Hoffa got shot twice at a decent range, not too close or the paint splatters back at you, in the back of the head behind his right ear." And then he tells you, "My friend didn't suffer." You say that this haunted him until he died, that he actually died wearing a piece of Jewelry that was a gift from Jimmy Hoffa?

BRANDT: That's correct. I recently had a conversation with Frank Sheeran's daughter, Dolores, and she said that Jimmy Hoffa was one of the few people in the world that Frank Sheeran cared about and that it tortured him for the remainder of his life.

LIN: This is a picture of the two of you that we're showing here.

BRANDT: Yes.

LIN: Yes. Hoffa and Frank Sheeran, actually. So what has this done in terms of the investigation into Jimmy Hoffa? Has a body been found? Have you been talking to investigators?

BRANDT: Well, yes, the D.A. of Oakland County, Dave Gorsica (ph) reopened his file. He never actually closed the case, but he reopened his file. And they investigated the flooring of the house in which Jimmy Hoffa was shot by Frank Sheeran. A luminal test showed indications of blood in a pattern matching exactly what Frank Sheeran had told me. They ripped the floor up in a long shot effort to see if they could find some DNA.

LIN: Anything? Anything?

BRANDT: Well, it is very -- highly unlikely. In fact, Dr. Michael Baden, the famed forensic pathologist who believes that Frank Sheeran's confession is entirely credible and solves the case, said that it is highly unlikely because of environmental changes that any DNA would...

LIN: So where are we left? Where are we left? Where is the body? Is Sheeran telling the truth?

BRANDT: Well, there's no question that Sheeran is telling the truth. Interrogation and cross-examination and interrogation is my passion. I had him for five years. This was not an afternoon on the witness stand. And he was trying to unburden himself in his later years. He had returned to his Catholic faith, gotten absolution from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of Philadelphia, and he's been a leading suspect in the case from the time of Hoffa's disappearance. Hoffa's daughter, a judge in St. Louis, a federal judge, wrote Sheeran in 1995 begging him to come clean. And this book is really his answer.

LIN: Ah, all right. Charles Brandt, the author of "I Heard You Paint Houses," which apparently were the first words that Jimmy Hoffa said to Frank Sheeran in an analogy or not -- it wasn't Hoffa, rather, it was a mob boss saying to him, which was a code word for, you kill people, don't you?

BRANDT: Yes, the paint is the blood that spatters on the floor, in this case, a hard wood floor.

LIN: Thank you very much, Charles Brandt.

BRANDT: Thank you.

LIN: Well, this week's Democratic Convention churned out a presidential nominee and it also turned out a new fashion statement. Still to come, the headset microphone. It's no longer meant for the pop singer. Hear what the newest clients have to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, getting the story is rule No. 1 for any journalist, but sometimes in the mid of a special event, say like the Democratic National Convention, conveying it can be really hard unless you have the right gear. Our Jeanne Moos has the mike check from this year's DNC.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What does Britney Spears have in common with journalists on the convention floor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he looks like Britney Spears with it?

MOOS: Just call him Britney Blitzer. Sure some journalists still look like they're planted in the 1950s. But these days the headset mike keeps your hands free to hold a fake cocktail. The big clunky headset and that stick mike stuck in, say, Howard Dean's face, has new competition.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER": It's very directional. In other words, it can hear me right now. But they can be blaring huge music behind me and the mike won't pick it up.

MOOSE: With such high tech wonders, no wonder David Letterman picked this CNN highlight of the night.

Hey, at least our anchors remembered to put on their mikes.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Right now, I guess he doesn't have the mike on.

MOOS: Then there are guests who forgot to take off their mike.

CHRIS NICINI, CNN AUDIO TECHNICIAN: The governor of New Mexico walked off with his mike, which is a big problem because they're $800 mikes.

MOOS: He eventually brought it back. Taking off one of these gizmos recalls language used in airplane takeoffs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear.

MOOS: To avoid that unsightly earmuff look, there are ear buds that hermetically seal you off from noise while transmitting only what you need to hear. John King before in the old days, John King after.

ABC couldn't resist a catty comment on its website. What's with that moley-looking microphone your anchors wear? I wouldn't get molier than thou ABC if my floor reporters looked like this. Anyway, it's probably just the windscreen.

BLITZER: That looks like a mole.

MOOS: Audio technicians have their hands full, full of hair on female guests.

NICINI: I used to lift it up and usually they've just been through makeup and hair. And here I am destroying it on them.

MOOS: Donna Brazile's earrings got pinned by the headset mike. They were later liberated by a hand mike. Hillary Clinton's people didn't want her to wear the headset, saying it felt experimental and looked questionable. But Ernestine the operator would have headset envy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have I reached the party with whom I am parlaying?

MOOS: By the way, that's an actual mole under Bill Richardson's eye, not our mike.

Jeanne Moos, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And that's all the time we have for this hour. I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern for the latest twists and turns in the Scott Peterson case. Join me and my guests for a closer look at the latest evidence and what it means for the defense.

But right now, Mark Shields is with us to tell us what "THE CAPITAL GANG" has to offer after a nice successful DNC coverage -- Mark.

MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": Hey, Carol, the gang of five is back safely from Boston. Look at what the Democrats accomplished there, what lies ahead in the Bush/Kerry race, also, our picks for winners and losers from the Fleet Center. Pardon me. All that and much more right here next on CNN.

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