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CNN Live Saturday

President Bush's State Dinner With Pakistani President; General John Abizaid Meets With Iraqi Leaders To Discuss Insurgents; Bill Clinton And The Dubai Ports World Deal; California's Aging Levee System; Shortage Of Truck Drivers; President Bush Gives No Signs Of Pakistan Nuclear Deal; The Rise And Fall Of Duke Cunningham; Police Hunt For Pregnant Florida Woman Ongoing; Italian Report Says Russia Behind Pope John Paul II's Assassination Attempt; "Paradise Now" Controversial

Aired March 04, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You may not have noticed, but there are fewer truckers on the road. Why? And how might that impact the price we pay for goods and services? We'll explain coming up.
Well, welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY, I'm Fredericka Whitfield. A busy hour ahead, first "Now in the News."

President Bush prepares to wrap up his visit to Pakistan, but earlier after talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The two sat down for a state dinner, a full report on their meeting, straight ahead.

In Iraq a wave of violence goes on. Attacks today killed at least 10 people. The deadliest, a mortar attack on a market in a Baghdad suburb claimed seven lives, details coming up.

The Pentagon releases the names of many detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The release follows a victory by the "Associated Press" in a freedom of information act lawsuit. The Bush administration fought the release saying it would violate the detainees' privacy and could endanger them and their families.

Fifteen states asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in their battle over the federal government over the Medicare prescription drug program. The states claim they should not be forced to help fund the program which could cost billions of dollars over the next two years.

Former Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham goes to jail in San Diego. The California republican faces more than eight years in federal prison for taking bribes from defense contractors.

U.S. Capitol police chief Terrence Gainer steps down next month. Gainer faced heavy criticism over hiring his son-in-law as a police chief. His resignation takes affect place April 6.

We begin in Islamabad, Pakistan with President Bush wrapping up a security-intensive visit at a state dinner with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Later this hour, President Bush boards Air Force One and heads for Shannon, Ireland. In Pakistan, police stifled today's planned demonstration in the capital and the two leaders came to terms on issues vital to the war on terror and other pressing concerns. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An elaborate welcome for President Bush marking his historic visit to Pakistan. Set in a barricaded government compound in the so-called red zone. Islamabad was on lockdown.

The streets cleared for miles. A massive government round-up of opposition leaders in the days before Mr. Bush's visit kept the protests light. Mr. Bush was here to praise President Pervez Musharraf for being a strong ally in the war on terror, but also to prod him to do more.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The best way to defeat al Qaeda is to find -- is to share good intelligence, to locate him, and then to be prepared to bring him to justice.

MALVEAUX: Both sides had been frustrated with their alliance against terror. Two days before Mr. Bush's visit, a suicide bomber killed a U.S. diplomat and three others outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi. Early January, a U.S. Air strike targeting an al Qaeda leader along Pakistan's boarder killed at least a dozen Pakistani villagers instead. And five years after the September 11 attacks, U.S. And Pakistani intelligence have failed to find Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding in Pakistan's rugged mountains.

Mr. Bush has been pushing Musharraf embrace democratic reforms to counter the appeal of al Qaeda. Musharraf, who seized power a bloodless coup seven years ago and refuses to give up his military post, has struggled to make Pakistan more moderate.

PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: We have introduced the essence of democracy, now in Pakistan.

MALVEAUX: But Musharraf's reforms aren't enough to entitle it to the kind of nuclear energy deal President Bush just offered India, because it has a record of spreading dangerous nuclear technology.

BUSH: I have explained that Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories.

MALVEAUX: Later in the day, the president's trip took on a lighter note as he tried his hand at Pakistan's national past time, cricket. He then joined Pakistan's first couple for dinner and entertainment.

(on camera): This is just the beginning of the work ahead for Mr. Bush to improve the U.S. image and relations in south Asia. Now the president heads back home to Washington to focus on equally pressing domestic issues.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Islamabad, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, turning to the war in Iraq, attacks across the country today killed at least 10 people. Seven civilians died when a mortar landed in a busy market outside a market outside Baghdad. A bomb in a parked car exploded south of the capital killing two others. And a girl died after a bomb went off in front of a music store in downtown Baqubah.

In Baghdad today, General John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, warns Iraqi leaders they must form a government of national unity to stand against insurgents. Abizaid met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: It's very clear we cannot the let the terrorists led by Zarqawi get in the middle of peace that Iraq must have to develop. And it is very clear that the multinational force here will work with all sides to achieve peace, but it's also very clear that we must move together against the terrorists before they break the general peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Mr. Talabani says he received assurances U.S. forces will remain in the country as long as need.

God will be the ultimate judge, that's what British Prime Minister Tony Blair says of his decision to go to war with Iraq. In a televised interview airing today, Mr. Blair says, quote, "The only way you can take a decision like that is to try to do the right thing according to your conscious, and for the rest of it you leave it to the judgment that history will make," end quote.

Well, it took a court battle, but after nearly four years, the Pentagon releases the names and nationalities of many detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. All are accused of having links to al Qaeda or the Taliban. The Bush administration claims revealing the prisoners' identities places them and their families in danger. A judge rejected that claim and sided with the "Associated Press" in a Freedoms of information Act lawsuit.

A new twist in the controversial management plan involving six major American ports. D.P. World, the Dubai based company that hopes manage terminals at the ports formally filed for a more extensive review. That word from source close to the company. The 45-day intense investigation by the Treasury Department would determine whether the management plan would pose a national security threat. The probe would follow an initial review by the department that would last up to 30 days.

In the storm of controversy over the port's management plan, some prominent democrats are leading the opposition, among them, Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton. And while the former first lady rails against the deal, some new details have emerged about her husband's ties to Dubai. A report now from CNN's Brian Todd in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As long as we've known about it, Hilary Rodham Clinton has hammered against the deal for Dubai Ports World to take over operation at major American ports.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: This process is a failure of judgment. In the post-9/11 world, port security is too important an issue to be treated so cavalierly.

TODD: But CNN has learned that at the time Senator Clinton first began her public opposition to the deal, officials from Dubai Ports World called her husband, Bill Clinton, while he was in Pakistan in mid-February. A spokesman for the former president said, quote, "He told them that he didn't know the details about the deal, but that he felt that any ports deal should be full scrutiny process and should also take steps to make ports safer."

But Bill Clinton's ties with the Arab Emirates go beyond that phone call. CNN has obtained a senate financial disclosure form for Hillary Clinton in 2002. It says Bill Clinton received $450,000 for two speeches he made in Dubai that year.

STEPHEN HESS, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Bill Clinton has been a very active and very successful public speaker around the world since he's become an ex-president.

TODD: And, experts point out, so have other former presidents. But two senior officials in the government of Dubai tell CNN that that government donated half a million dollars to Bill Clinton's library, information not denied by the Clinton spokesman. Those officials said that Bill Clinton has visited Dubai four times in the past three years. The Clinton spokesman said that's about right.

In addition, the chief operating officer of Dubai Ports World told a House committee that Clinton spoke to a company chairman, recommending they hire former Clinton press secretary, Joe Lockhart. The COO, Edward Bilkey, said the company eventually turned down that recommendation. The Clinton spokesman said he didn't know about that recommendation. Our phone calls to Joe Lockhart were not returned.

(on camera): We called Hillary Clinton's office to ask if there was any discourse over the deal between her and her husband. They referred to us Bill Clinton's office. His spokesman said he doesn't see understand how the former president's speeches and trips to Dubai were relevant to the ports story. The spokesman says the former president supports his wife's efforts to block the deal and he says the two of them are, quote, "in lockstep over the issue."

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And here's a question for you: What happens to your life if many men and women decide they don't want to keep on trucking? Well find out next.

And later, was a Cold War power involved in the plot to killed Pope John Paul II?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist bonnie Schneider with a look at your "Cold and Flu Report" for Saturday.

As we take a look at the map we can show you places in the country already reporting outbreaks of flu this season. Much of the country, unfortunately, says widespread activity is occurring. That's in Texas and Florida, through much of the southeast. Some sporadic outbreaks out to the West, and local activity reported in Nevada and in California with regional outbreaks reported into the upper Midwest and parts of the plain states.

That's a look at your "Cold and Flu Report" for Saturday. I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider have a great weekend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Talk about severe weather, many Hawaiians work to recover from flooding in parts of their state. Days of rains, flooded roads caused mudslides and forced schools to close on the island of Oahu. About a foot of rain fell on several other islands over a period of about 48 hours. CNN Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is in the Weather Center.

And boy, they really got walloped, didn't they?

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Americans became all too familiar with the life and death roll levees play in protecting low-lying communities. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger describes many of the levees protecting that state's central valley as another Katrina-like disaster waiting to happen. He declared California's 1,600 mile levee system a state emergency. More from CNN correspondent Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the storm rolled into northern California, another sign the state's levee system is crumbling. A breach northeast of San Francisco flooding a wilderness area. Last January, heavy rains wash waves of water over levees near Sacramento. The erosion's so bad, breaks can also happen on a clear summer day.

June 2004, farmland east of Sacramento flooded. A major levee break happening at least once a year. Worrying Sacramento residents like Christina Lozano. CHRISTIAN LOZANO, SACRAMENTO RESIDENT: If the government helps the people, you know, who are in Louisiana and in Alabama and everywhere else, I mean, what makes me think that because we're in the capitol of California that they're going to come and help us?

LAH: The population is booming in California's central valley. Upwards of 500,000 people live here, the number's growing each day, attracted by affordable housing.

LOZANO: I mean, if we're putting ourselves at risk, everybody else is buying, probably could be putting themselves at risk as well.

LAH: Most live below the levee, separated from rushing water by aging barriers stretching 6,000 miles. In the balance, the drinking water for two out of three Californians. Governor Schwarzenegger is sounding the alarm with the state's congressional leaders. He marched through Washington, lobbied the president, but he came home empty handed.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: No matter what you guys are talking about here, our levees is the most important thing because we need to repair them right now and we need new federal money, so please help.

BRIAN MOORE, U.S. ARMY CORP. OF ENGINEERS: It turns a level of protection, there's a greater level of protection in New Orleans than there is in Sacramento.

LAH (on camera): How high would the water rise if there were a breach right here?

MOORE: Well, here's a two story building right here. So, you can see where the first story is and the story second is. You probably would probably have flooding around the first story, a little be up into the second story. So, maybe below those windows. In an hour where this whole area where 100,000 people live, could fill up to, in some cases, 15 to 20 feet of water.

LAH: The Army Corps of Engineers pointed out erosion seen in more than 100 spots along the central valley's levees.

MOORE: Over here, where the water is eating away at the bank.

LAH: The solution appears simple.

MOORE: Which is basically large rocks, which will anchor the levee and cause it to be stable, preventing erosion from occurring.

LAH: But this will cost 100 million for the two dozen critical sites, perhaps billions to reinforce the entire system. The governor with failed state budget referendums last year says he's out of cash to do anything but emergency repairs. While the politicians bicker, residents like Ann Oliver are not waiting.

ANN OLIVER, SACRAMENTO RESIDENT: Actually we did buy a boat. I would not be one of those people sitting on the roof, waiting for the flood waters to come up, you know, before I climbed in the boat, no.

LAH: While she jokes, this really is her plan. With so many comparisons to Hurricane Katrina, these residents say someone needs to pay now before everyone pays later.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Sacramento, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, truckers hold a special place in Americana. It often begins with many little boys playing with toy trucks, some of them often grow up to become truck drivers. And trucking has been a scene in several popular movies, in television shows, today some truckers appear in TV shows like "Trick My Truck" where their big rig dreams become reality.

Well, despite the lore surrounding trucking, industry experts say many truckers are walking away from the job creating a big shortage which could impact everything we buy. Ray Kuntz is vice chairman of the American Trucking Association. He joins us now from Great Falls, Montana. Good to see you, Ray.

RAY KUNTZ, AMERICA TRUCKING ASSOCIATION: Good morning, how are you doing?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good. So, how serious of a shortage is this?

KUNTZ: Well, the shortage is getting pretty severe. Currently we've got a shortage of about 20,000 drivers, but it's projected, if nothing changes, to grow to about 111,000 drivers over the next 10 years.

WHITFIELD: Why is that?

KUNTZ: Well, there's a couple of reasons that are happening. You know, probably the biggest is that we've got about 200 and some plus drivers that are over 55, 200,000 that are going to be retiring in the next 10 years. But at the same time, the economic demand is causing an increased need for drivers, and the labor pool is actually shrinking, or growing at a slower rate than demand. So we have a widening gap between the amount of drivers that are available and what's needed.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like some serious changes need to take effect. For one, it sounds like you need to try and recruit younger drivers, too, since you're saying the driving pool, a lot of them are facing retirement. What other changes need to take place and how do you go about that?

KUNTZ: We've got to reach out and recruit into a lot of areas. We've got to recruit younger drivers, more women drivers, minorities, and older drivers. You know, a lot of drivers come to us at 55 and want to drive for another 10 years in their retirement years to build up a bigger retirement, they're a great group of folks to go after also.

So I think what we have to do is reach out and let people know that there are jobs available, that we've got jobs that pay health insurance, we've got good retirement benefits, and that the trucking jobs are paying a lot more money than what they were in the past.

WHITFIELD: Has one impact also been any kind of federal changes on the amount of time drivers are allowed to be on the road at any time?

KUNTZ: There have been some changes with hours of service that have cut back the amount of time that a driver can be out there. And there are some challenges right now, legal challenges, some of the citizen groups are suing to take more hours away and if they're successful with that, then the driver shortage would become even more severe.

WHITFIELD: So this is a crisis not only affecting the trucking industry, but people really need to understand that it potentially could affect them, too, because in order for us to get a lot of the produce or merchandise, retail, electronics, any of that stuff in our stores, a lot of it relies on these truckers and of course, if there aren't enough of them on the roads, that means that ultimately we all may be paying a little bit more for certain goods and services?

KUNTZ: Well, over 80 percent of the goods and services in our country move by truck. And if the economy grows the way it's projected, the majority of that is going to have to move by truck in the future. So if the driver shortage continues to worsen, and we have to pay a higher and higher wage to get those drivers, then you're probably going to be looking at higher costs. Because the bulk of our cost in trucking is drivers' pay.

WHITFIELD: Is industry changing the way it is trying to recruit drivers? You mentioned trying to get younger drivers. But is there anything else about the profile or what has been traditionally the profile of the trucker may potentially change because of your recruiting efforts?

KUNTZ: Well I think -- I think what's happening a little bit is there are a lot of people that are in our -- that are potential drivers that are in jobs that don't pay well today, maybe they don't have health insurance, they don't have any retirement benefits, their jobs that don't get them out, maybe behind a desk, they get a little bored, and I think the industry has changed in the scenario where those people now are starting to get interested in looking at truck driving jobs as a future, as a way to get a retirement built up in their latter years, as a way to get better health benefits.

WHITFIELD: How hopeful are you that perhaps that projected number that you gave at the top of this interview, 110,000 truckers that you may be short of in 10 years, any hope that perhaps those numbers may change around?

KUNTZ: Yes, I'm very confident that if we do our job of reaching out and getting the message out to people that we will find people that wanted to go to work. I have a story I'd like to tell. I got a couple that came to me and thanked me for their job a few months ago.

They started driving for us about 10 years ago at 50 years old. And what they say, at that time, they didn't have a house, had no retirement income and had never had a seriously good-paying jobs. And today they have a house in Flat Head Lake, strong retirement built up, and that together they've made over $100,000 now for about five years in a row.

WHITFIELD: Wow, well that's a nice story of inspiration. Perhaps you've inspired other people to look into -- seriously look into, perhaps becoming a trucker.

Ray Kuntz, vice chairman of the American Trucking Association. Thanks so much and good luck.

KUNTZ: Yes, thank you.

WHITFIELD: A deal with India on nuclear power marked one of President Bush's biggest accomplishments during his trip to south Asia. We'll look at the controversy behind that deal.

And find out why some want the film "Paradise Now" withdrawn from Oscar consideration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Now in the news, President Bush wraps his brief visit to Pakistan and begins heading home. Earlier, President Musharraf assured President Bush of Pakistan's support in the war on terror. The two leaders held talks on a wide range of issues.

Baghdad market terror -- seven people are killed and 15 wounded in an explosion in southeastern Baghdad. The blast set several mini busses on fire and ripped up nearby storefronts as well. Attacks elsewhere in the country claimed three other lives.

A legal victory for the media. The Pentagon releases the names of several detainees at Guantanamo Bay Prison as part of a court order. It follows a Freedom of Information lawsuit from the Associated Press.

Hamas gets a lesson in diplomacy. Russia called on the Palestinian group to change and recognize Israel's right to exist. Russian and Hamas leaders opened talks in Moscow yesterday. Hamas leaders say the problem is not with them, but with Israel.

President Bush wraps up his historic visit to Pakistan following a state dinner in Islamabad. During the president's brief stay, he received assurances from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that his country remains committed in the fight against terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Pakistan's efforts to enhance peace and security have earned the respect and the admiration of the American people. When the terrorists are defeated, and when the peace is won, our two nations will share the peace together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: President Bush also says Pakistan and India have agreed to work toward resolving their long-standing dispute over Kashmir.

On the other hand, President Bush gave no sign he's ready to give Pakistan the same nuclear deal he reached with India earlier this week. That deal comes with huge implications.

More now from CNN's national security correspondent, David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S.-India nuclear energy deal is being called historic, unprecedented, the centerpiece of a new kind of relationship with the world's largest democracy.

BUSH: I'm confident we can sell this to our congresses in the interest of the United States.

ENSOR: But critics charge, giving assistance to India's civilian nuclear energy production will only allow it to build more nuclear bombs.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: This deal will be looked at as a bookend with the Dubai ports deal as an undermining of security in the United States and around the world.

BUSH: Thank you.

ENSOR: That is because, critics say, by rewarding India, a country that built nuclear weapons in defiance of international efforts to curb them, the U.S. would encourage others to press ahead and build their own bomb.

JOE CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The lesson Iran is going to draw is, if India, why not us? If we just stand firm, eventually, America will cave.

ENSOR: But supporters say India is no Iran. India has been careful not to spread nuclear technology and know-how to others, unlike Iran, which also deceived the International Atomic Energy Agency for more than 17 years about what it was up to.

RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: India is a responsible country. It is a democracy. And, quite honestly, we do discriminate.

ENSOR: And the president makes another strong argument. The rapid rise of China and India will drive global oil prices through the roof, unless some of that demand for energy finds another supply.

BUSH: It is in our economic interests that India have a civilian nuclear power industry to help take the pressure off of the global demand for energy.

ENSOR (on camera): Now, the administration must sell the deal to Congress, and the critics are predicted a rough road, but jobs from better trade prospects with India may sway some votes, and the growing power of China may help convince others that a new strategic relationship with neighboring India makes long-term sense.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: President Bush also defended outsourcing to India during his visit this week. Just how close are the ties between the U.S. and India? More in this CNN "Fact Check."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Trade between the U.S. and India totaled more than $25 billion in 2005. But there's an imbalance. The U.S. buy twice as many goods from India as it sells there. That's a trade gap that has grown substantially during the last decade.

Analysts say U.S. companies have moved about 500,000 American jobs to India, and that number is expected to triple in the next two years. Whether it's data entry, call center staffing, or research and development, an astonishing number of U.S. firms employ workers in India, companies ranging from Cisco Systems to General Electric and Home Depot.

The primary reason for the outsourcing trend, labor is much cheaper in India. While the average annual income is around $42,000 in the United States, it is only about $737 a year in India. Reports indicate U.S. companies can save as much as 50 percent in costs by having work done in India rather than the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: From war hero to disgraced politician, we'll trace the fall of a California hero straight ahead on LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Former California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham faces a long time to think about his crime. A federal judge sentenced the former Republican lawmaker to eight years and four months in prison for taking millions of dollars in bribes from defense contractors.

CNN's John King looks at the rise and fall of Duke Cunningham.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Randy Cunningham and high risk have been partners a long time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: His name is Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and he is a legend of airpower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The Vietnam ace whose daring exploits were an inspiration for Maverick in Hollywood's "Top Gun."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAL KILMER, ACTOR: I don't like you because you're dangerous.

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: That's right, Iceman. I am dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And from famous war hero, Cunningham parachuted into a seemingly less risky business, politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Duke Cunningham, running for U.S. Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Duke Cunningham will be a congressman we can be proud of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now 16 years after that first campaign, San Diego Congressman Duke Cunningham's exploits are once again the stuff of Hollywood.

CUNNINGHAM: I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my office.

KING: His corruption is stunning in its scope and in its sheer audacity, $2.4 million in bribes, at least, private jets for resort getaways, a California mansion, a Rolls-Royce, a lifestyle well beyond his means. Naked avarice is what prosecutors call it.

And look at this: Cunningham actually scribbled this bribe menu on his Congressional note pad. Want a $16 million contract? The cost is a boat, B.T. for short, worth $140,000. Add in another $50,000 for each additional million dollars in contracts.

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: What Cunningham did is breathtaking.

KING: He was, after all, on the House Appropriations Committee, the leading voice on its Defense Subcommittee, able to insert multimillion-dollar favors into the Pentagon and other budgets. His Navy days gave him standing on military matters and stories worthy of the big screen.

CUNNINGHAM: I met my wife by singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" to her at the Miramar Officers Club.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This is the boat from the bribe menu, the Duke-Stir, a flashy exhibit of Cunningham's lifestyle -- real estate records like these the more mundane evidence that would begin his fall from grace.

November 2003: Cunningham sold his home in Del Mar to a defense contractor for nearly $1.7 million. The contractor lost $700,000 when he resold it. That caught the eye of a Copley News Service reporter, and, then, that caught the eye of the Feds. What they found is eye- popping.

KING: In his note to the judge, Cunningham wrote, "It all started very slowly and innocently," that he's sorry, worried about dying in prison. "But I will accept your sentence without complaint."

CUNNINGHAM: In my life, I have had great joy and great sorrow. And now I know great shame.

John King, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Keeping it in the family, not such a good idea for a U.S. Capitol Police chief Terrence Gainer. He resigned after objections were the hiring of his son-in-law as a police officer two years ago. Gainer says his son-in-law is also resigning.

Authorities in Tallahassee, Florida, search for a pregnant woman they say disappeared without a trace. Police say they have no clue to the fate of the missing woman.

CNN's John Zarrella reports from Tallahassee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): In the shadow of a billboard no mother ever wants to see, Laurvetta Grimsley- McLawrence breaks down.

LAURVETTA GRIMSLEY-MCLAWRENCE, MOTHER: I really miss your voice. I love you so much. I don't know why. I don't know why. Lord...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will find her. We will find her. (CROSSTALK)

GRIMSLEY-MCLAWRENCE: I don't know why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will find her.

GRIMSLEY-MCLAWRENCE: I want my baby. I want my baby back.

ZARRELLA: Her daughter, Ali Gilmore, expecting a child, simply vanished one month ago from her home here in Tallahassee, Florida. For police here in the state capital, it's a mystery like none they have ever seen.

OFFICER JOHN NEWLAND, TALLAHASSEE POLICE DEPT.: We don't know -- we don't know where she is.

ZARRELLA: There are virtually no leads, no clues.

NEWLAND: There was no signs of a struggle inside. Ms. Gilmore is four-and-a-half months pregnant. She was very excited about the pregnancy. She had pregnancy books by her nightstand. She had a pregnancy book on her bed. She had baby clothes inside of another room.

ZARRELLA: Ali Gilmore left work at this Publix supermarket at 11:00 p.m. on February 2nd. That was the last time anyone saw her.

JAMES GILMORE, HUSBAND OF ALI GILMORE: We have been married for five years, been together for seven.

ZARRELLA: Gilmore and her husband, James, were supposed to meet the next morning, Friday, for a marriage counseling session. The two had been separated for a couple of months. Neither one showed up for the appointment. James Gilmore says he overslept. He tried reaching Ali to apologize, but she never answered the phone.

GILMORE: And I tried to get up with her over the weekend, but I kind of figured she was just upset with me, you know, she was avoiding me over the weekend because she was upset with me because I missed the marriage counseling appointment.

ZARRELLA: Police say James Gilmore says he was at his brother's house during the timeline for Ali's disappearance. He had been staying there since the separation.

GILMORE: I'm available for the police if they need me for anything. And, I mean, I don't have anything to hide from anyone, or the police, or nobody.

ZARRELLA: On Monday, February 6, when Ali didn't show up for work at her other job at the Department of Health, co-workers called police. They found her car at the house. Inside the house, nothing was out of place. Nothing had been stolen, no traces of blood. They searched a nearby construction site. Nothing.

TRACY SMITH, SISTER OF ALI GILMORE: Aliens swooped down with some radar beam and just perfectly took her off this planet, which I don't believe that.

ZARRELLA: Tracy, Ali's older sister, has led the effort to find her.

SMITH: I just have to believe every day that she's saying, Tracy, help me; come get me; help me.

ZARRELLA: Friends, family, police all say Ali Gilmore was not the type of person to just run off; she vanished, but not of her own will. Someone here, police say, knows what happened to Ali Gilmore.

John Zarrella, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, a new look at the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. Was it part of a political plot?

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WHITFIELD: An Italian commission releases a new report on the 1981 shooting of Pope John Paul II, and for many conspiracy theorists, it backs up their claim that the former Soviet Union was behind the shooting.

CNN's faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher reports from Krakow, Poland.

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DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mystery began May 13th, 1981. Pope John Paul II was greeting a crowd in St. Peter's Square when shots rang out. The Pope was seriously wounded. The gunman immediately captured. His name was Mehmet Ali Agca, a 19 year old Turk, a self-proclaimed militant and a member of the Gray Wolf Fascist Movement.

MEHMET ALI AGCA, CONVICTED SHOOTER: I am Jesus Christ. In this generation, all the world will be destroyed.

GALLAGHER: Ali Agca ranted in court. His own attorney called him a, quote, religious fanatic with delusions of the grandeur. He was convicted and served 19 years in an Italian prison for attempting to assassinate the Pope, although his victim almost immediately forgave him.

One question went unanswered, just why did Ali Agca try to kill the Pope? Though conspiracy theories seemed to pop up everywhere, and over the years Ali Agca himself offered several different reasons for why he did what he did, one story seemed to remain constant.

JOHN ALLEN, VATICAN ANALYST: The most popular theory is that the Bulgarian secret police were the immediate coordinators of the assassination attempt and, perhaps, ultimately acting on instructions from Moscow. GALLAGHER: Now an ongoing investigation by an Italian parliamentary commission has apparently concluded that was more than theory, that was the truth. According to a draft report obtained by CNN, the commission says Bulgarian agents, hired by the Russian military, hired Ali Agca to assassinate the pope.

SEN. PAOLO GUZZANTE, PRES. ITALIAN INVESTIGATING COMM.: Bulgarian agents were just the appendix -- you know, the agents working at the order of whether KGB or more likely the GRU, the Soviet Military Service.

GALLAGHER: The Russian government has consistently denied the allegations for years. But the commission concluded the proof was in a picture.

ALESSIO VINCI, ROME BUREAU CHIEF: It puts in St. Peter's Square a Bulgarian agent known as Sergei Antonov (ph). Now the report says that not only the picture is him, proves that it is him beyond a reasonable doubt, but he also basically says this picture has been analyzed by experts, and these experts believe this picture is indeed Antonov in St. Peter's Square and that creates the link between Antonov and Ali Agca, and eventually Ali Agca and the Soviet Union to Antonov

GALLAGHER (on camera): As to motive, the commission's report seems to point back here to the streets of Krakow in the Pope's native Poland. At the time, Poland was under Soviet control, but the workers' Solidarity movement was quickly gaining power. And they had a high profile and powerful ally in the Pope.

In fact, the movement would eventually push Poland to break free of Moscow.

(voice-over): Ali Agca is now back in prison in Turkey this time for a murder he committed there. In his last book, "Memory and Identity" the Pope said he never believed he Ali Agca acted alone. Though the two met in the years since the assassination attempt, the Pope never pressed him to reveal his co-conspirators.

ALLEN: In his mind it was about the powers of this world, the demonic forces at work in the world, who were trying to interfere, stop the work of good that he was attempting to do.

GALLAGHER: Work the pontiff began here in Poland. With a faith that was strong enough to carry a nation to freedom. Delia Gallagher, CNN, Krakow.

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WHITFIELD: And right now live pictures of President Bush and the first lady, Laura, making their way to Air Force One in Islamabad, ending a trip in South Asia. The president feeling rather good about his reinforced commitment, getting that from the president, Pervez Musharraf, in Pakistan.

The reinforced commitment of the war on terror. And just prior to his visit to Pakistan there, he was in India, and he has expressed feeling very confident about a nuclear power deal that they struck with India.

Now you're seeing the departure there of the first lady and the president, meeting up with the president and his wife as they get ready to board Air Force One. And more of CNN LIVE SATURDAY right after this.

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WHITFIELD: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences often faces controversy with some of its Oscar nominations. When the awards are handed out tomorrow night, however, a film about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict could be a very hot topic.

CNN's Richard Roth tells us why.

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RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Paradise Now" is this year's Oscar controversy. It's nominated for the Best Foreign Film award. The movie is about suicide bombings in Israel.

ANNOUNCER: In two extraordinary days, two life-long friends will struggle with an impossible choice.

ROTH: But relatives of those killed in actual suicide bus bombings are now furious at the choice made by the Hollywood academy.

YOSSI ZUR, FATHER OF BOMBING VICTIM: Our message to the Academy is, you have made a big mistake by having this film nominated and by, God forbid, giving it an award, you are going to be accomplices to the evil chain of terror.

ROTH: Yossi Zur's 17 year old son Asaf was killed in a bus bombing on his way home from school. This week he joined with fathers of other teens killed in the same attack, sending a petition with more than 32,000 signatures to the Motion Picture Academy, demanding "Paradise Now" be withdrawn from consideration. Not a likely reaction by Oscar executives, who are used to controversy.

BRUCE DAVIS, EXEC. DIR. ACADEMY AWARDS: It's a terrific movie, and that's what the Academy Awards are supposed to be about.

ROTH: "Paradise Now" has momentum from the Oscars. It won this year's Golden Globe Foreign Film Award.

HANY ABU-ASSAD, DIRECTOR "PARADISE NOW": I don't believe my film is controversial.

ROTH: An Israeli Arab, Hany Abu-Assad, the director of "Paradise Now" explains why.

ABU-ASSAD: I don't believe it's controversy if you show it from different point of views. ROTH: The families of suicide bombing victims say they're not opposed to the film itself and support free speech. They feel "Paradise Now" glorifies the act of suicide bombing.

"Paradise Now" is also embroiled in another controversy. There were objections when Hollywood press releases said the film represents Palestine, not an official country.

DAVIS: When the five films nominated in the foreign language category are introduced to the audience, we will use the phrase, the Palestinian territories.

ROTH: The nomination flap may not translate into a box office boost.

IAN MOHR, FILM REPORTER, VARIETY: Last year, "The Sea Inside," a Spanish film, won the Oscar and it only made $2 million dollars at the box office. So, "Paradise Now" is at 1.3 now, you might see a similar result, even if it wins the Oscar.

ROTH (on camera): For the filmmakers, it's the biggest night of their careers. For some of the protesting parents back in Israel it's a dreadful day. The bus bombing which claimed their children's lives occurred on March 5, three years to the day as this years Oscars.

Richard Roth, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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