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CNN Live Saturday
Pentagon to Probe Pat Tillman's Death; Bush Leaves Locked-Down Pakistan Without Incident; Could California Levees be Next Disaster?
Aired March 04, 2006 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICK WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorism, democracy, and nuclear weapons, ahead this hour progress President Bush made on those issues before leaving South Asia today.
Plus, a state of emergency in California. Is that state's levee system the next disaster waiting to happen?
And then, the conspiracy theory behind the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. Did the shooter act alone?
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All of that and more after a check of the headlines.
President Bush is en route to Washington after concluding his trip to South Asia. Mr. Bush departed Pakistan just as he arrived, under the cover of darkness with the running lights on Air Force One turned off for security reasons. Our full report is just one minute away.
A warning today from the four-star general in charge of operations in Iraq. In the eyes of General John Abizaid, Iraq should expect more bombings like the mosque attack that sparked the recent wave of killings. We'll have that story in a moment.
A breach in the shroud of secrecy concerning who is being held at Guantanamo Bay. Under orders from a federal judge, the Pentagon produces some 5,000 pages of transcripts and the documents name names. More on that in a moment.
And NASA says Antarctic ice is melting beyond any doubt. A researcher says the annual loss of ice over the past few years amounts to a three-month water supply for all of the U.S.
Up first this hour, before taking off on Air Force One today, President Bush won reassurances from Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf about his ongoing commitment on the war on terror, all of this, despite a backdrop of vocal protest and other disturbances.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE 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 border killed at least a dozen Pakistani villagers instead. And five years after the September 11th 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 to 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.
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: 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 pastime, 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: A Saturday morning at a busy market turned into bloodshed in a Baghdad suburb today. A mortar round killed seven people and wounded 15. It's the latest attack in a wave of violence set off by last month's bombing of a revered Shiite shrine. Also today a car bomb killed two people and wounded three near Baghdad. Gunmen dressed as Iraqi soldiers shot two people to death at a mosque in Kirkuk. And a bombing in front of a music store in Baqubah killed an Iraqi child. The chief of the U.S. Central Command says he's been very, very pleased with the response of Iraqi troops during the crisis. General John Abizaid met with the president and prime minister of Iraq today. He urged unity in the face of the insurgent threats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: 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: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been President Bush's most steadfast ally in the Iraq War. But the prime minister raised a few eyebrows when he referred to God by name, who will ultimately judge whether he was right to take part in the invasion. In a TV interview broadcast today, Mr. Blair also said, quote, "the only way you can take a decision like that is to try to do the right thing, according to your conscience, and for the rest of it, you leave it to the judgment that history will make," end quote.
Well, now to the war on terror and new insight into who is being held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Under court order the Pentagon is releasing the names and nationalities of some of the suspects. A federal judge ordered the release last month after the Associated Press sued under the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Department argued releasing the information could endanger lives or safety.
Topping our "Security Watch," the Arab company seeking to manage terminals at six major U.S. ports will face more scrutiny. A source close to DP World says the firm his filed to undergo a broader investigation. An earlier routine probe raised no red flags. The new 45-day probe will determine whether the company would pose a national security threat. President Bush backs the ports deal. But some lawmakers say it could make the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorists.
The politics of port security, it's a hot-button issue for the White House. Democrats and even some Republicans are turning up the heat on the president over the DP World deal. But how secure are the nation's ports now? CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve takes a firsthand look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is 7:00 p.m. and the second shift at the SSA Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach is in full swing. This port handles close to half the containers entering the U.S. If a terrorist strike closed it, there would be a choke hold on the U.S. Economy.
(on camera): We're about 13 stories off the ground in a crane, in the next 24 hours, this crane and the others like it at this port will move about 13,000 containers on and off ships. (voice-over): But most of the terminals here are leased to foreign companies from China, Taiwan, Korea, Israel, and elsewhere. A former Coast Guard commander, Stephen Flynn, worries not about who runs the system, but the system itself.
STEPHEN FLYNN, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: The core problem is we haven't set minimum standards who has access to the terminal for basic physical security in it. And we're not looking out into the supply chain enough, putting in place systems where we can validate what comes in is legitimate and what's illegitimate.
MESERVE: SSA is an American firm. It used to lease this terminal outright, but now partners with a Swiss shipping company.
JOHN DIBERNARDO, SSA TERMINALS: Virtually nothing has changed. We operated the same way before as we do today.
MERSERVE: SSA still handles security at its terminals. It hires the guards, it checks the workers, the drivers and trucks that come and go around the clock.
The U.S. Coast Guard has overall responsibility for port security and it has approved SSA's security plan. But the system uses driver's licenses, not biometric ID cards, and even the security personnel are not tightly screened.
CAPT. PETER NEFFENGER, U.S. COAST GUARD: There are no specific background checks that are done on terminal personnel at this time.
MESERVE: For operational reasons, the Coast Guard briefs foreign firms on some aspects of port security, and that worries the man who until recently was chief of port police.
NOEL CUNNINGHAM, FORMER PORT SECURITY OFFICIAL: Everything from tactical plans to alert status, a review of existing security plans, you name it.
MESERVE: But the man in charge of port security insists that the most crucial information is closely held.
NEFFENGER: Any sensitive security matters, any national intelligence is kept pretty close to the vest by those agencies responsible for maintaining that. So, no, we don't share.
MESERVE: The federal Customs and Border Protection agency screens some of cargo that arrives here.
KEVIN WEEKS, CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION: All security protocols are naturally (ph) changed regardless of who's here operating as a lessee terminal operator.
MESERVE: But those searches are largely based on paperwork submitted by shipping firms.
FLYNN: We basically expect commercial companies to police themselves. So we hope for the best, which is a pretty crazy way to do business in our post-911 world.
MESERVE: The Coast Guard at L.A.-Long Beach says foreign companies are excellent security partners because it is in their economic interest to keep the cranes hauling freight 24 hours a day.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, at the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And this "Just In," we're learning that the Pentagon is saying they will launch a criminal investigation into the death of a former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman. Our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon is on the line with us now.
And, Barbara, where did this come from?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, hello. CNN has learned within the last few minutes that the Pentagon's inspector general has told the Army's criminal investigative division to open, indeed, a criminal investigation into the death of Pat Tillman, the football player who joined the Army Rangers, and went to fight in Afghanistan and was killed there in 2004.
Now let's be clear, this does not mean that they will find anyone criminally responsible for Pat Tillman's death. What has happened is the Pentagon had been looking at the request of the Tillman family, at all of the investigations into Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan. And it had been generally believed that it was a result of fratricide, of friendly fire.
But when they looked into all of this, what they notified the family of apparently is that the IG felt the death still, after some three investigations, had not been looked into as a potential criminal matter, as a potential negligent homicide, according to two sources we have spoken to.
So, they have told the Army to now open an investigation using criminal investigatory procedures, criminal investigatory rules and process and look again at Pat Tillman's death. It does not mean, Fredricka, we have been told repeatedly in the last several minutes, that they will find it was negligent homicide. But that is now the process by which they will reinvestigate his death.
Until this point, it should be explained, the Army had conducted what they call fact-finding investigations within the Ranger (AUDIO GAP) belonged to within the Army, investigating it all as a fratricide, as a friendly fire. Now they are told higher-level authorities at the Pentagon say, no, you must really go back, look at everything one more time as a criminal matter -- as a potential criminal matter, and investigate it and see whether there was negligent homicide in the death of this young man -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, thank you so much.
A New York college student wanted to help solve crimes but instead, she became the victim of one. We'll have her story.
And was the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II a plot hatched behind the Iron Curtain? We'll have results of a new investigation.
And can hypnosis cure your bad habits? Find out from an expert later on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Again, we're following this story. The Pentagon opening a criminal investigation into the death of former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman. The Pentagon saying that this investigation does not mean that his death was more than an act of friendly fire back in 2004. But our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reporting just moments ago that it was a recommendation of the Pentagon in which to launch this criminal investigation.
Meantime, the chief of police on Capitol Hill is leaving his post after running afoul of a nepotism law. Chief Terrance Gainer says he didn't know it was wrong to put his son-in-law on the force, but he concede the law is clear and he announced his resignation yesterday, effectively April 6th. The son-in-law is also quitting.
A funeral service was held today in Boston for the victim of a brutal slaying. The killing occurred in New York where the woman was learning the methods of solving complex crimes like murder.
CNN's Allen Chernoff reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): A week ago Thursday, Imette St. Guillen was in Florida with her family, celebrating her upcoming birthday and her new life in New York. It would be the last time they ever saw her alive.
The next night, the 24-year-old grad student in criminal justice was out with a close friend at a popular Manhattan bar. They stayed until about 3:30 in the morning, when St. Guillen went on her own to a second bar several blocks away. She had a drink, then left at 4:00 a.m.
Seventeen hours later, an anonymous caller to 911 said a body was laying in tall grass near an isolated Brooklyn street, 15 miles from the bar. Imette St. Guillen had been raped and beaten.
(on camera): The anonymous 911 call about the body came from one of these telephones right outside of the Lindenwood Diner here in East New York, about a mile from where the body was found. There are 16 security cameras outside and inside of the diner, but, unfortunately, not one of them is trained on this telephone bank.
(voice-over): Former Detective Thomas Ruskin spent more than two decades with the NYPD.
(on camera): What are the police doing to try to identify the caller?
THOMAS RUSKIN, RETIRED NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT DETECTIVE: What the police are going to do, from this standpoint, is they're going to print this whole thing. And, as we can see from right here, this is the forensic latent print powder that has been put on here. And it looks like they have pulled some of the prints, possibly off of here and dusted up here.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Dozens of police officers today returned to the crime scene, searching for any evidence that may still remain.
RUSKIN: You don't want to take the chance that maybe he moved from this area to that area but just dumped the body over there. And, really, some of the evidence could be contained therein. We know that -- again, we know she's missing clothes. We know that she's missing a wallet. Maybe it was chucked over here, where the body was put down the street.
CHERNOFF: St. Guillen's corpse was found wrapped in a bedspread, her arms and legs bound with plastic ties, her face covered from forehead to chin with strips of tan packing tape, her hair cut and a sock stuffed in her mouth.
N.G. BERRILL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: It's clear that this crime was enacted in a fairly methodical manner. There was a bunch of supplies involved. There were step-by-step progressions, I'm sure, beginning with fear and then torture, sex abuse, then death.
CHERNOFF: Several of St. Guillen's fingernails were broken, indicating a struggle. New York's medical examiner has been analyzing skin from under the nails, hair and skin follicles found on the bedspread, as well as any bodily fluids found at the crime scene.
This is one of the most desolate parts of Brooklyn, in the shadow of an old garbage dump. No one lives anywhere near here. So there's no apparent reason that anyone would be driving along this street and suddenly uncover a body. All evidence that leads Tom Ruskin to believe the caller to 911 may have committed the crime.
RUSKIN: If it was him who made the telephone call, it was him who wanted the body to be found sooner rather than later, and was going to get excited by the fact that his crime was now going to be all over the media.
CHERNOFF: Adding irony to a horrific tragedy, police are using the same forensic skills that St. Guillen was studying for her master's in criminal justice to solve her murder.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And New Orleans isn't the only community at risk when a levee fails. Straight ahead, we'll look at a region where they are begging for money to upgrade the levees before disaster strikes there. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Trouble in paradise? Hawaii's governor has signed an emergency proclamation OKing the use of National Guard troops for relief efforts after flashing flooding in that state. The rain has stopped and flash flood warnings have been canceled but some major cleanup remains. Days of heavy rains washed out some roads on the island of Oahu. Water and debris also temporarily closed a main highway into Honolulu. Let's check in with meteorologist Monica McNeal and hopefully sun will shine again there in Hawaii.
MONICA MCNEIL, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they have been getting a little sunshine now as it's slowly starting to peek out for a temperature of about 73 degrees. And the good news is the reason why the rain has finally stopped is the winds have shifted. When we saw the rain earlier in the week, the winds were out of the south and east. That transported a great amount of moisture. When now starting to see northeast winds, getting things back in normal. So we're -- now we're pushing all of that moisture downwind of the islands. So it looks like things are shaping up and getting better for Hawaii.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much.
Repair now instead of regretting later? California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is eyeing the tough lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. He wants federal help to help repair weak levees. He's declared a state of emergency for the 1,600 miles of levees in California.
CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.
(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 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.
CHRISTINA LOZANO, SACRAMENTO RESIDENT: If the government didn't help the people, you know, who were in Louisiana and in Alabama and everywhere else, I mean, what makes me think that because we're in the capital 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 who 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 are the most important thing and we have got to rebuild it right now and we need new federal money, so please help.
BRIAN MOORE, U.S. ARMY CORPS 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 second story is. You probably would have flooding around the first story, a little bit 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 (voice-over): 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 edging in and 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 a 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) WHITFIELD: And here is what is happening "Now in the News." We are following a breaking story. CNN has learned the Defense Department inspector general is opening a criminal investigation into the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman. He was killed in what's been called a friendly fire incident in 2004 while serving in Afghanistan.
President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush are heading home from Pakistan. They'll arrive back in the U.S. tomorrow morning. First, they'll make a quick stop in Ireland for fueling of the plane.
Clashes have killed more than 100 people along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Intelligence officials say fighting broke out between villagers and Pakistani security forces. The area is a suspected hideout for Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
In Israel, thousands of people marched in Nazareth to demand increased protection for religious sites. The protest comes after firecrackers were set off in a major Christian shrine yesterday.
And new details emerge about the plot to kill Pope John Paul II. Who was behind the assassination attempt?
And they really were in Kansas when Truman Capote showed up. We'll have the background story of a potential Oscar winner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Bush is on his way home after a tour of South Asia. Today, he was in Pakistan meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, General Pervez Musharraf. The war on terror was front and center on the agenda. Mr. Bush says Mr. Musharraf assured him both sides will continue to closely work together in the hunt for al Qaeda terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pakistan's efforts to enhance peace and security have earned the respect and the admiration of the American people. When the terrorist are defeated and when the peace is won, our two nations will share the peace together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: In Israel, thousands marched peacefully in the biblical town of Nazareth today to protest an incident at a major Christian shrine. Israeli police say a Jewish man entered the Roman Catholic Church of the Enunciation with his Christian wife and daughter yesterday. Police say firecrackers in the family's baby's carriage were set off. In the end, 24 police and civilians were injured. The incident is under investigation.
A conspiracy theory shocks religious leaders. An Italian commission blames the Kremlin for trying to kill Pope John Paul II back in 1981. Russia condemns the investigation as completely absurd. The reports says the former Soviet Union saw the late Pope's support of freedom in Poland as a threat. Here's our faith and value's correspondent Delia Gallager.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT: 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 (ph).
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And checking news across America now. Police in North Carolina are questioning a man in connection with two deaths at an apartment fire in Charlotte. Authorities say two children were shot and killed before their apartment was set on fire Friday night. Their father, Jiberto Quaer (ph) is suspected in the deaths.
It made headlines when it was sold on eBay. Now a Canadian chapel brought by an Arizona congregation is a pile of ashes. Police believe the church was set on fire by teenagers. The congregation that had been restoring the century old church is heartbroken.
Fifteen states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court for help. They want the justices to intervene in a dispute against with the federal government over the new Medicare prescription drug plan. The states say they shouldn't be forced to help fund the program which could cost them billions over the next two years.
Stare deep into my eyes. Still ahead, hypnotherapy. Can it help you kick the habit, or perhaps, break any bad habit for that matter. Find out straight ahead.
Plus, the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, and why some people who live there aren't too happy about the film "Capote." We'll take you to the red carpet straight ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In our "Living Well" segment today, unlocking the power of hypnosis. Doctors say it can relieve anxiety. Others tout its benefits in stopping bad habit like smoking or overeating. Dr. Bill Lloyd with the University of California, Davis, Medical Center is joining us from San Antonio, Texas, this time, to dispel some of the myths. So you don't have the chain with the jewel at the end and rocking it back and forth?
DR. BILL LLOYD, UNIV. OF CALIF. DAVIS MED CTR.: No you get most hypnosis simply with the human voice, Fredricka. Just by allowing one person to relax another person.
WHITFIELD: All right. So, it is something to be taken seriously. It's not something kind of freaky.
LLOYD: You're right. It's a very powerful way for a therapist to help an individual, like you say, correct a bad habit or to alleviate a medical problem.
Hypnosis involves three important stages. A volunteer is necessary. You can't be hypnotized against your will. But it involves guided relaxation where a therapist allows the individual patient to relax more. Then they develop what we call, intense concentration. And Fredricka, when you're hypnotized, you're concentrating so much that you're unaware of what else is going on in that room and with that focused attention you can then build whatever skills you need to help you relax, alleviate anxiety, not feel pain as bad as you did or, like you say, correct an overeating problem.
WHITFIELD: Wow. So there are certain candidates who are better than others. You really have to be a willing participate in all of this, a believer?
LLOYD: Yes. They call it suggestibility. There are some people that don't want to be hypnotized. That may be an education issue, but there is other people who can't be hypnotized very well. Before a session, a therapist will actually do some simple physical tests with the individual. I myself have been hypnotized.
WHITFIELD: Really?
LLOYD: Oh, yes. By using these test, the doctor or therapist can determine if this individual is actually suggestible. That is, am I able to help this person get into a hypnotic trance? If not, we are wasting our time. But new research shows you can actually teach someone to become even more suggestible.
WHITFIELD: In your case, do you find that it was effective? Were you glad that you did it?
LLOYD: It was a wonderful experience. I had a chance to confront all of those myths about hypnosis. That you would be in some kind of paralyzing trance. That you would be forced to do something against your will, like become a chicken or something like that. That all of your senses would become muted. That you would forget everything. It would it be some kind of brainwashing procedure.
In fact, my session of hypnosis found I was more alert than ever before. When it was over, I felt terrific, I felt totally relaxed and ready to take on the world. WHITFIELD: Wow, interesting. For some folks who are turning to hypnotherapy because they want to quit a bad habit like smoking or like you said, lose weight, are they finding that really does have some true benefits?
LLOYD: Enormous benefits if you have a therapist who will work with you and you're willing to take that step. And the best way to find a hypnotherapist is start with your family doctor. Practically every medical practice uses hypnotherapy now. Sports medicine, OBGYN. And these specialists then can meet with you and through hypnotherapy help you overcome whatever fears or problems that you're trying to deal with. Depending on the problem, your insurance may even cover it.
WHITFIELD: Wow, so it's really more than just a one time visit. You make a commitment to this?
LLOYD: Yes. The initial suggestion may take several visits but you may actually learn how to do self-hypnosis. That is those three important steps that we talked about, guided relaxation, intense concentration and focused attention and using self hypnosis, you could put yourself in a powerful suggestive trance anytime you want to help you with those problems.
WHITFIELD: That sounds like another segment that you will have to have, self hypnosis. Dr. Bill Lloyd, thanks so much . Joining us from San Antonio this time.
LLOYD: You will talk to me again next weekend.
WHITFIELD: All right, Carol Lin is here to kind of keep the momentum going into the next hour. Would you be a taker?
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: I don't want to be --
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Hypnotherapy, he says that's not what could happen.
LIN: We journalists like to know what's going on. We like to be in control.
WHITFIELD: That's right.
LIN: Coming up in the next couple of hours, we've got interesting stories like Dr. Lloyd was talking about. Hey, try to find this or that or the other. Get more information. But what if you're so busy. What if you have somebody in your family who is sick, you're working, you're not sure if the specialists will be the right one.
There are companies, businesses, that are popping up charging a lot of money, though. But what if somebody could manage your family's health care for you, find the best doctors. Double-check the test results, but you pay the country club fees for that privilege. All your medical records in one little chip that hangs on your key chain. Because to gather all of that stuff is such a pain.
WHITFIELD: That really would be ideal for the person potentially ideal for the person who really does have perhaps some medical illness. They see their doctors a lot.
LIN: And also the story about the 16 year old boy whose father who was imprisoned, might be kidney donor candidate. This boy, his life is on the line. Dad promises he's going to donate the kidney and then he hits the road. OK? Hasn't been seen for a month. But there's been a sighting in Mexico. I'm going to be talking with the U.S. marshal on this case to see whether they can get this Dad back into the United States, save his son's life and go back to prison.
WHITFIELD: All right, we'll see. Thanks so much, Carol.
Well, the world's most grueling sled dog race begins in earnest tomorrow in Alaska after all. More than 80 teens are entered in the 2006 Iditarod. They practiced their paces today during a ceremonial run through Anchorage, and for the third year in a row, the official starting line was pushed farther back north due to lack of snow.
A race of another kind is about to begin and our Brooke Anderson is there.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka, I'm on the Oscar red carpet at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood where everybody is gearing up for Hollywood's biggest night. And one film receiving tremendous critical acclaim is nominated for the Best Picture Oscar is actually stirring up very painful memories for one community in Kansas. I'll have that story when we return. Stay with us.
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WHITFIELD: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is the talk of Hollywood for his Oscar nominated role in "Capote." The film is up for five nominations including Best Picture. So will it or will he take home Oscar gold? CNN's Brooke Anderson is outside of the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles where preparations are in full swing for tomorrow's star- studded night.
ANDERSON: Preparations are under way. Shaping up to be quite a spectacle tomorrow, Fredricka. And Philip Seymour Hoffman considered a favorite, in fact, to win Best Actor but the movie "Capote" is about much more than Hollywood awards. It's about a Kansas town that lost its innocence forever.
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BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kansas, a small, quiet farming community 70 miles from the Colorado border. Quiet until four shotgun blasts shook this humble town to its core.
(GUNSHOTS) (on camera): It was here on November 15, 1959, when two petty criminals drove down this tree-lined lane to the farmhouse you see in the distance. They entered through an unlocked door. That is when one of Holcomb's most prominent families was brutally murdered.
SHERIFF KEVIN BASCUE, FINNEY COUNTY: Home, of course.
ANDERSON (voice over): Finney County sheriff Kevin Bascue wasn't even born at the time four members of the Clutter family were murdered, yet he's become the town's unofficial expert on the case.
BASCUE: My guess is, is that changed everybody forever.
ANDERSON: Although 46 years have passed, friends and neighbors remember it like it was yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was even afraid to go out by myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People got guns out they hadn't looked at for years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After this happened you can believe the doors were locked all night.
ANDERSON: The true story of the Clutter murders was immortalized by author Truman Capote's best-seller "In Cold Blood," the 1967 film of the same name, and the current Oscar-nominated movie, "Capote."
CLIFTON COLLINS JR., ACTOR, "CAPOTE": What's the name of your book?
JEAN HANDS, CLUTTER FAMILY FRIEND: You told the story once in your way, Capote. We don't need another way.
ANDERSON: Jean Hands sang at the Clutters' funeral in neighboring Garden City, where Herb Clutter was a key benefactor at the First United Methodist Church.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the kind of person that we really all wanted to become.
ANDERSON: Delores (ph) and Cliff Hope (ph) befriended Capote. They, as well as others, say the author at times embellished the story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truman called it a nonfiction novel, which, you know, that really can cover whatever he wants to say it is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was interested in making a little money. Sell a book.
BASCUE: After every release of a documentary, whether it's on A&E or the release of the current movie "Capote," you're going to have that interest around the country stirred up again.
ANDERSON (on camera): I notice there's some flowers. BASCUE: There's always flowers here. And I've heard some comments around that nobody -- that they get placed here, but nobody seems to know by who.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Roses at the grave site and a rose-shaped stained glass window at the church memorializing the slain family's legacy by the people who knew them best.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every Sunday when I look at the rose window in the church, I think of the Clutters.
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Holcomb, Kansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
"Capote" hasn't even played at local cineplex, but many of the townspeople told me that they have mixed emotions of seeing if it were to play at the local theater. "Capote" is nominate for five Oscars, including the most coveted Oscar, Best Picture.
WHITFIELD: All right, it's going to be a big night. Brooke Anderson, thanks so much. Well, CNN will be live on the red carpet for the Academy Awards. It all starts Sunday with a special edition of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." That's on CNN headline news at 5:30 p.m. eastern. Then join us on CNN for live interviews with Hollywood's biggest stars as they arrive for the Oscars and that begins at 6:00 eastern right here on CNN.
Much more ahead. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Carol Lin is up next.
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