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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Senior U.S. Commander in Iraq: War Not Over; Bush Visits Botswana; Going Broke in America
Aired July 10, 2003 - 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.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Thursday, July 10. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, Jan Hopkins.
JAN HOPKINS, GUEST HOST: Good evening everyone.
The war in Iraq is no over. That was the assessment of the most senior U.S. commander in Iraq.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez (ph), said that Saddam Hussein loyalist have stepped up their attacks on coalition forces. Two soldiers were killed in the latest attacks. Former coalition commander General Tommy Franks today said that U.S. Troops could be in Iraq for four years.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't fire.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The latest deaths of American soldiers come as attacks against U.S. forces are averaging between one and two dozen a day. The members of Congress, Democrats in particular, the continued fighting is an ominous trend.
REP. IKE SKELTON (D-MO), ARMED SERVICE CMTE.: I have a fear that the pattern that we see now, if left unchecked we may find ourselves, general, in the throes of guerrilla warfare for years.
MCINTYRE: Having just relinquished command over Iraq and Afghanistan, Army General Tommy Franks insists the daily ambushes still don't fit his definition of guerrilla war.
GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, FMR. COMMANDER, CENTRAL COMMAND: Guerrilla and insurgency operations are supported by the people. And I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the people of Iraq do not support the violence that we're seeing right now.
MCINTYRE: Franks brought a map to a House Armed Services Committee hearing depicting most of Iraq in green to show it's considered calm and stable. But Democrats argued the map papers over the depth of Iraqi opposition.
REP. ELLEN TAUSCHER (D-CA), ARMED SERVICES CMTE: What I find fascinating is the map that you've brought that shows the Sunni triangle and these little spots that have all the problems represent 70 percent of the Iraqi population. What would lead me to believe that the Iraqi people are not supporting these attacks, since 70 percent of the population lives in those place and that's where the attacks are happening.
MCINTYRE: The answer, insists Franks, is that the average Iraqi remains terrified.
FRANKS: Terrified of the regime, wanting to get on with the rest of their lives, not being a part of these attacks against Americans. And that's what I think we see in these population centers.
MCINTYRE: Franks concedes the violence will force the U.S. to maintain roughly 150,000 troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future. And like his Pentagon bosses, he refuses to be pinned down on any timetable.
FRANKS: I anticipate that we will be involved in Iraq in the future. And I don't know whether that means two years or four years. I just don't know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Franks could not offer any explanation for why Saddam Hussein did not use any weapons of mass destruction during the war. He said at one point the U.S. military intercepted what appeared to be an execute order to use a chemical weapons, a transmission that said "blood, blood." But he said they never found any evidence that any of the weapons had actually been weaponized. And for that he says he still doesn't have an explanation -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Jamie, the Pentagon today said that it's looking to the possibility of deploying fighter jets to the horn of Africa.
What can you tell us about that?
MCINTYRE: Well, the U.S. Military's had an increasing presence on the Horn of Africa with a Marine task force there. And the U.S. has also been looking for other places to base resources in the region. The U.S. has sent a site survey team to Djibouti now, where they're going to examine the possibility of forward-deploying air force F-16s and F-15s as well as perhaps a navy or Marine Corps F-18s to this base on the strategic Horn of Africa. Again, as the United States is trying to reposition its forces around the world to better be able to respond to what it calls the global war on terrorism -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Jamie McIntyre, at the Pentagon. Thanks.
Secretary of State Colin Powell today said that he is confident that investigators will find evidence of Saddam Hussein's program to develop weapons of mass destruction. In an interview on "LARRY KING LIVE" secretary Powell also defended President Bush's comments on Iraq and its nuclear ambitions in the president's state of the union speech. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The president wasn't in any way trying to mislead. It was information that got into the speech. Whether it should or should not have been in the speech is something we can certainly discuss and debate. But it wasn't a deliberate attempt on the part of the president to either mislead or exaggerate. That's just ridiculous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOPKINS: You can see the entire interview with secretary Powell on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And that's 6:00 p.m. Pacific.
Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry today called on President Bush to tell the truth about Iraq. He said the president's declaration that major combat had ended in Iraq was premature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: It's been days since the president was flown to an aircraft carrier to announce that hostilities in Iraq had ended. Now clearly it's time for the president to step forward and tell the truth, that the war is continuing and so are the casualties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOPKINS: President Bush today said there is no question the United States has a security issue in Iraq. His comments were more measured than his remarks last week, when he said, "bring them on." Today the president was in Botswana, where the main issue was HIV/AIDS.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault joins us live from Pretoria, South Africa -- Charlayne.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jan, the president went to Botswana to mark a remarkable presidential achievement in that tiny country to celebrate their economic and political management. But as everywhere he went, he was confronted with questions about Iraq. Today, as soldiers in Iraq continued to be assaulted there, he had to talk about that in a question and answer session.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Having talked to Jerry Bremer the man in charge of the civilian operations there, he believes that the vast majority of Iraqi citizens are thrilled that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Secondly, there's no question we've got a security issue in Iraq. And we're just going to have to deal with it person by person. We're going to have to remain tough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTER-GAULT: The president did get the subject back to HIV and AIDs. In Botswana you have the highest incidence of HIV-infected people in the world. And the United States is providing support both for their AIDS clinics and to help them get anti-retrovirals. The president there has been giving anti-retrovirals to the poor, unlike in South Africa, which has not yet rolled out its program -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Thanks. Charlayne Hunter-Gault in Pretoria, South Africa.
And U.S. military experts today saw how the civil war in Liberia has created a huge refugee crisis. The experts visited a refugee camp that was built 10 years ago to house tens of thousands of people. But only 300 people are still there. The vast majority fled because of the fighting between government and rebel forces. The military team will deliver, perhaps as soon as this weekend, a security assessment that could determine whether the United States sends hundreds of peacekeepers to Liberia.
Here in this country customs agents and military investigators have raided 18 businesses in 10 states as part of an investigation of illegal arms sales to Iran. The agents are looking into the sale of parts for U.S. equipment that's still being used by the Iranian armed forces. Investigators say that those parts are being transferred to Iran through a front company in London, England.
A different kind of investigation has taken a bizarre twist. Vincent Brothers is a free man tonight. Brothers turned himself in in North Carolina in connection with the murder of his family in California. Then less than 12 hours later he was released.
David Mattingly joins us from Bakersfield, California, with the latest. -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jan, Bakersfield police say that what they want most right now is to question Vincent Brothers, this after yesterday, when he was arrested after turning himself in North Carolina. And this in the case of his -- the murders of his wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law. But after 12 hours, less than 12 hours, police let him go because they say they changed their mind after information that came in from Ohio. It's information apparently credible enough that they're sending investigators to check that out right now. But today, after the indecision of yesterday, the police chief here says it's time for investigators to slow down and get things right.
CHIEF ERIC MATLOCK, BAKERSFIELD POLICE DEPT.: I've asked them to take a step back, slow it down a little bit, because things are moving so fast. It's such a rapid pace. We're doing this for a number of reasons. That does not mean that we're pursuing other leads than what we have talked about before. But I want to make sure that we get this thing right. The family deserves it. And the community deserves it.
MATTINGLY: That might be the last time we hear from police here for a little while. They say they're not going to plan any more news conferences in this case until they have something new to report -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Thanks, David Mattingly in Bakersfield, California.
There are questions about the way the California police have handled the case. And CNN's Michael Brooks has more than two decades of experience in law enforcement. And he joins us now with more. Michael, what do you make of the current state of this investigation?
MICHAEL BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Jan, I'd say right now it appears to be disjointed at best. You've got Bakersfield, California calling Elizabeth City, asking them to hold him for probable cause. They arrested him. They let him go after he said that he had an attorney and he wasn't going to talk to them.
The Elizabeth City police today in a news conference said that they did not talk to him at all and that they are very surprised that the Bakersfield Police let him go. But in defense of the Bakersfield Police, I know that if they thought that they had enough that they would have him arrested right now.
So you know, what the big turn in this case is, what evidence do they have in Ohio? It's still not known. We know that they have served a search warrant in Bakersfield, California. They said they had another search warrant, we don't know where that was served, but we're assuming that they served it on his vehicle found at the airport.
They served a search warrant on his mother's residence in Elizabeth City. Now, what they found there remains to be seen. They also served a search warrant on him for DNA. The Elizabeth City, North Carolina Police did. So they did get DNA samples.
And earlier today Captain Mahan of the Bakersfield Police said that they have evidentiary issues, whatever that means. They let him go, but they still are calling him a suspect. So it's very confusing, Jan.
HOPKINS: So the police chief in Bakersfield is saying let's go slow and get it right. I mean, is that what you have to do in this kind of case, pull back? But why let a suspect go?
BROOKS: Well, I think what they were trying to do, they were trying to get, probably, as much evidence as they had with him being the main suspect. They want to get as much evidence as they can get to go ahead and make an arrest. The police in Elizabeth City said that they arrested him in good faith. And the District Attorney in North Carolina said that he was waiting for some paper. Well, apparently they decided they did not have enough evidence against him at this time and they did not send the paper, which in fact was a warrant.
So there was no warrant. They let him go. It's to be continued, Jan. We definitely haven't heard the end of this particular case.
HOPKINS: You're right. Thanks, Mike Brooks. And still to come, wild weather threatens much of the country tonight. Floods, record heat, a tropical storm. We'll have a live report from one of the worst-hit areas.
And John Jones of the National Weather Service will join us to tell us what's ahead.
Also ahead, our continuing series, "Going Broke in America." Tonight, an issue that hits home for millions of Americans, underfunded pension plans.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And for the Dow, Jan, it was the biggest point drop in almost two months. The Dow and the S&P 500 are now 3 percent off the year's high. The Nasdaq off about 2 percent, its high for the year made yesterday.
For the year the Dow is up more than 8 percent. The S&P 500 up 12 percent. And the Nasdaq up almost 29 percent. Today's rout came on 1.4 billion shares at the big board. That's about 23 percent less than the average volume for last July. And it's in line with the average for the past three months.
Meanwhile, evidence that corporate insiders have not been participating in the recent rally. Lon Gerber at Thomson Financial says insider buying was the weakest in six years in June and the second quarter had the lowest insider buying since 1995. And insiders sold almost $7 billion in stock in the second quarter. That's the most in five quarters. Using the rally, Gerber says, to cash out. But look at A.G. Edwards, LSI Logic, and Sylvan Learning. Gerber says insiders have recently bought stock in those companies even as their stock prices have risen. So a bright spot there.
Jan, all eyes tomorrow on June's producer price data and of course an earnings report from General Electric. That would be a big one.
HOPKINS: It's earnings season.
ROMANS: It is.
HOPKINS: Thanks, Christine.
Some better financial news for the Vatican. Donations from the United States actually increased last year. There were concerns that the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal would cause a cutback in contributions. But in fact, Americans donated more to the Vatican than any other country. Overall contributions more than doubled.
When we return, Boomtowns. The hottest places to live. Peter Viles reports on why Americans are moving on out, out west, that is.
And then we'll share some of your e-mails on last night's face- off topic, medical malpractice madness.
And Grange on point, U.S. troops on the front lines. Dangerously short of supplies. General David Grange will join us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Boom town, USA, may not be where you think. The fastest-growing communities are suburbs, suburbs of America's fastest- growing cities. Peter Viles has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Average high temperature, 85 degrees; 325 days of sunshine every year. But weather is not the only reason Americans are flocking to Arizona's Valley of the Sun. Other reasons include major employers such as Intel, Motorola and Honeywell.
TRACY CLARK, ECONOMIST, ARIZONA STATE UNIV.: The common denominator for the West in general and Arizona in particular is job availability. People often think of climate as one of the major reasons that people move out here from the Midwest or the East. And that is a major influence, but the bulk of the people that are moving here are working age. So if they don't have a job, they're not going to move here.
VILES: The Census Bureau, by tracking building permits, reports that nine of the 10 fastest-growing communities in America are in the Southwest. Here are the five fastest: Gilbert, Arizona, it once called itself the hay capital of the world and doesn't anymore. North Las Vegas, Nevada. Henderson, Nevada. Chandler, Arizona, which likes to call itself the high-tech oasis of the Silicon Desert. And Peoria, Arizona, which is now a more populous city than Peoria, Illinois.
GREGORY HARPER, DEMOGRAPHER: These are cities sort of on the outskirts of larger cities in the West that have been growing fast. They're also in areas where there is room to grow. Our estimates are based on housing unit growth. So these are areas where there is room to build houses.
VILES: The population losers over the past two years are older, inner cities. Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, and in a bit of a surprise, San Francisco, seen as reeling from the collapse of the dot-com businesses that fueled its growth in the late '90s.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: Jan, the growth in these places is just amazing. Gilbert, Arizona, was a small town in 1980, just 5,000 people. Today, 135,000 people live there. The population grows by about 1,000 people a month -- Jan.
HOPKINS: So what's the attraction?
VILES: In two words, and any American can understand this, good schools. It's known among the eastern suburbs of Phoenix to have terrific schools. It's an affluent community and a young community. Not a retirement community. Median age in Gilbert is about 30.
HOPKINS: It's also a hot community in other reasons. It's like 150 degrees. Thanks, Pete.
And now for some of your thoughts. Many of you wrote about our face-off last night, debating putting a cap on medical malpractice awards. Kate from West Palm Beach, Florida said: "Capping jury awards for negligence by doctors would be unfair to patients. States need to take more responsibility in taking licenses away from doctors that repeatedly injure patients. Obtaining and keeping a license to practice medicine in Florida is easier than obtaining a license to fish."
LeDonna Engle from Cedar Rapids, Iowa said: "The only way to stop this problem is to get rid of bad doctors and put a cap on insurance premiums. The victim of a bad doctor should not be punished because the doctor is negligent."
Sue Hadd from Anadarko, Oklahoma, wrote about our poll question last night, which asked what's worse for your health. "Your question about health omitted the real problem, that is extremely difficult to avoid, and that's salt. I say forget about worrying so much about fats and sugar and mandate unsalted foods."
And Ron Carlson of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote about the California recall of Governor Gray Davis. "Why don't they recalls the 330,000 jobs the Bay Area economy lost due to poor management? Recall those CEOs that made millions during the tech boom, and recall those Enron employees that manipulated the energy prices in California." We love hearing from you. Please send us your thoughts at loudobbs@cnn.com.
And still to come, wild weather is tearing across the United States tonight, leaving torrential rains, flooding and tornadoes in its path. John Jones of the National Weather Service will be our guest.
And "Going Broke in America." Our series of special reports continues with a look at pension plans, ravaged by years of stock market losses.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Flood warnings are in effect for a large part of the soggy Midwest tonight. Thunderstorms have been pounding the region for a week. More than 1,000 homes in Indiana have been hit by flooding. Three teens along with their rescuers were saved after their boats capsized in the St. Mary's River. Vicky Duncan of CNN affiliate WRTV is in Noblesville, Indiana with the latest from there -- Vicki.
VICKI DUNCAN, WRTV CORRESPONDENT: Jan, actually, I'm walking on one of the busiest roads here in Noblesville. It's called Allisonville (ph) Road, and I am on the center line right now. This is kind of indicative of what a lot of parts of central Indiana are seeing.
You see, usually this time of year we're talking about droughts. But so far in the last week we've been talking a lot about floods. Now, hundreds of homes here in Noblesville, or in central Indiana for that matter, have been hit by the flood waters. Here in Noblesville, it didn't really rain enough to cause this kind of flooding that you're seeing, but this is due to the rains to the north, flooding and running downstream, and then thus creating this mess here in Noblesville.
Now, the problem in northern Indiana is flooding due to more than a foot of rain that we've had in the last week. Now, it's been socked especially up around Bluffton (ph). They've called in the National Guard to come in and sandbag.
So really right now in this section we're expecting it to continue to rise another 4.5 inches or so. It's not even supposed to crest until tomorrow. So this is going to be something that we're going to be dealing with a lot in the next few days -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Thanks very much for joining us from Noblesville, Indiana.
The extreme weather is not just limited to Indiana. The rains have been falling for more than a week in Ohio as well. Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate advancing floodwaters.
The city of Phoenix, Arizona is under a heat advisory at this hour. Temperatures are expected to hit 116 degrees.
Colorado firefighters are battling a handful of raging wildfires that have already scorched more than 7,000 acres.
Tornadoes tore through Kansas last night. The twisters did some damage, but nobody was injured.
And tonight, Tropical Storm Claudette is bearing down on Mexico, threatening to become a hurricane overnight.
All of this extreme weather may seem unusual, but it's not. John Jones says that America has the most severe weather of any country in the world. John Jones is a deputy director of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. He joins us from Washington.
So I guess we're just lucky. Is that it?
JOHN JONES, NOAA: Well, as you said, this is normal for us. We average about 1,000 tornadoes a year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 2,500 floods. So this is not unusual, what we're seeing right now.
HOPKINS: And we have kind of a mix of all of them at the same time at this time of year.
JONES: Right. What's occurring over the last month or so is that we have a constant pattern of a very large high pressure system over the western part of the United States. So they're staying fairly dry and hot, where in the Midwest and the East we're getting a succession of cold fronts and low pressure areas that are bringing thunderstorms and rain, followed by a slow warm-up and then more thunderstorms and rain. So this cycle is going to continue for at least the next week or so.
HOPKINS: And can you see any further in the future? I mean, is this the kind of summer that we're going to have? Do these patterns tend to get stuck?
JONES: Not for that long. I can see this going on for another week to 10 days. Mainly we need to see some major system to come across the Pacific and move that large high pressure area across the West to the Midwest and to the east. Until that happens, we're pretty much stuck.
HOPKINS: Let's talk a little bit about the tropical storm that could very well be a hurricane. What kind of threat does that pose?
JONES: Right now it's heading for the Yucatan Peninsula. It's going to come on land at the Yucatan Peninsula sometime later tonight or tomorrow morning. It's going to continue to slowly strengthen. It could possibly be hurricane strength. Then as it goes over land it will weaken, come back out into the Gulf, and then by early next week could impact extreme southern Texas.
HOPKINS: The other problem that we have is dryness. You talked about this in the west. Is there a forest fire threat in the west again this year?
JONES: Oh, definitely. And one of the main problems is we've had a very long-term drought going back a couple years, and it's going to take another year or so if we're ever going to break this drought. It's just been in place for that long. So from Arizona, New Mexico, going as far north as Idaho and Montana and almost all the way to the west coast, that area is having extremely high fire weather indices. All it takes is some lightning or some -- something to start a spark, and if you get some high winds those fires can spread really rapidly.
HOPKINS: So this summer should be as bad as last summer?
JONES: Well, last summer, so far we've had about a million acres burned, fires in the west. Last summer by this point we had a 1.7 million. So we're below where we were last summer.
JONES: That's good news. John Jones of NOAA, thanks for joining us.
In other news across America new concerns for air travelers tonight. A new federal audit says significant mistakes have been found at the nation's airline maintenance facilities. Mistakes were discovered at 86 percent of those private repair shops. The report blames the FAA for a lax oversight.
As a sign in that window says, this shop in Herman, Missouri sold one of two winning Powerball tickets. The other was sold in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. The two winners, who haven't come forward yet, will share a $261 million jackpot.
One hit. One very big error for a baseball player, Randall Simon. During a popular mascot race in Milwaukee, Simon hit a woman dressed as a sausage with his bat. He says it was all in fun. Not everyone agreed.
Joining us now from Milwaukee is Myra Sanchick with CNN affiliate WYTI -- Myra.
MYRA SANCHICK, WYTI CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really not the kind of hit that Pittsburgh Pirate Randall Simon wanted to be famous for, no doubt. This is what he said happened. Last night at the Pirates, Brewers game at Miller Park he said he was joking around when he picked up a bat and hit one of the mascots dressed as an Italian sausage. Now, that mascot fell. And apparently, another mascot next to her, dressed as a hot dog tripped over her. Both were treated for minor injuries. And while Simon says it was all a joke Milwaukee county officials say it's no joking matter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE, MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPT.: Everybody can appreciate a good time and a few yuks. I mean, I like to laugh as much as anybody else, believe it or not. And we all want people to have fun at the ballpark. But sometimes fun crosses the line and it leads to injury. And that's kind of what happened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHICK: Simon was eventually given a $432 citation for disorderly conduct. If he pays it, officials say it'll all be over. If he wants to contest it, he can come back to court September 3. Reporting live from Miller Park in Milwaukee, Myra Sanchick.
HOPKINS: Thanks very much, Myra.
And late today baseball commissioner Bud Selig issued this statement. "Major League Baseball deeply regrets the incident that took place at Miller Park last night and extends its regards to the victims. Obviously the type of behavior exhibited by Mr. Simon is anathema to the family entertainment that we are trying to provide in our ball parks and it is wholly unacceptable."
And that's the topic of tonight's poll, what should Randall Simon's punishment be for hitting the human sausage? Serve jail time, be suspended by major league baseball, be fined, or work in a sausage factory? Cast your vote at CNN.com/lou. We'll bring you preliminary results later in the show.
And now checking the final results of yesterday's poll, we asked, which is the worst for your health? 31 percent of you said trans. fat, 14 percent said sugar, 19 percent said alcohol, and 35 percent of you said television.
Turning now to our series of special reports, "Going Broke in America," tonight we focus on the growing problem of underfunded pensions. Many companies are taking steps to shore up their pension plans, and taxpayers might end up paying the bill. As Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fading steel and troubled airlines have one thing in common. They're trying to pass off their pension obligations to the government and ultimately to your tax bill. U.S. Airways recently emerged from bankruptcy only after unloading its pension plan on the pension benefit guarantee corporation.
BILL PURCELL, ALLIED PILOTS ASSOC.: Of course, the real losers in that are the pilots and the plan participants. There was an obligation there, or a moral contract, or whatever you want to call it, that's now been voided. And it's almost as if -- that they've shifted that responsibility and they've effectively passed it over to the government.
TUCKER: The fear is others will try and do the same, namely United Airlines, which is already in bankruptcy. GM recently borrowed $13 billion in the credit markets to put into its pension plan. At the end of last year general motors owed that plan $25 billion. That's $5 billion more than the stock market values the entire company.
Ford has a $7 billion deficit. Total collective pension underfunding of the S&P 500, roughly $300 billion.
ZVI BODIE, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: What bothers me and a lot of my colleagues is that the misstatement of earnings that goes on, not because of fraud, but because of the crazy rules that we have, and this is -- I'm now talking about pension accounting -- dwarfs the misstatement of earnings that occurs as a result of fraud.
TUCKER: While debates and discussions around pensions often center on complex and arcane issues, here's the bottom line: companies will either be responsible for their commitments or the government and the taxpayers will be responsible for the broken promises of the companies.
DALLAS SALISBURY, CEO ERRI: They have a deficit, but they have 50 to 70 years to make sure they have the income to pay those benefits. So if the economy comes back and if the markets come back and if interest rates rise, in other words, if things are cyclical, then we should be fine for most pensioners.
TUCKER: On that there is general agreement. A pickup in the economy, a rise in interest rates to improve fixed income returns, and a recovery in the stock market should make everything better. Meanwhile, there are legislative efforts to address the soundness of plans.
REP. ROB PORTMAN, (R) OHIO: One would hope that these pension plans would get back into a sounder position and we will be able to be sure that, number one, there are plans out there, that we're not driving employers away from these plans. And two, that these plans will be able to make their commitments to their existing employees and to their retirees.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TUCKER: Now in an effort to enact a practical solution, one question seems to be getting lost in the equation, why might the taxpayer become responsible for the bad decisions of corporate boards? -- Jan
HOPKINS: I'll ask the question. Why should the taxpayer be responsible? Is there any way to make sure that it doesn't end up in the taxpayer's...
TUCKER: There's not. If the plan is going to be bad, it will go bad and we'll ultimately have to assume responsibility for it. If the system works, the pension benefit guarantee corporation collects premiums and should be able to cover it. But right now that Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation is in a deficit, it couldn't cover its liabilities if a lot of companies started turning over their pensions to them.
HOPKINS: So we'd better hope that the economy gets better, the stock market gets better, and these pension funds get healthier.
TUCKER: Yes, and we also, you know, have to pay attention to this debate that oftentimes centers around very arcane, small things that often put people to sleep like the subject of interest rate assumptions.
You know, it's funny, I sat down and did a spreadsheet in the office this afternoon. A difference of 1 percent over 20 years turns into a difference of 17 1/2 percent over the life of something. So when you're talking about a pension, little, tiny assumptions can make a big difference.
HOPKINS: Beware the assumptions. Thanks, Bill Tucker.
Tomorrow in our series of SPECIAL REPORTs, Going Broke in America, we will focus on non-profits. The rash of bankruptcies in this country has impacted museums, libraries, universities, and other not for profit businesses. Kitty Pilgrim will have that report.
And when we return, Grange on point. what U.S. troops need over there. General David Grange on dangerous shortfalls in supplies.
And later, they're known as black widows. And they're spinning a web of chaos and terror for Russian citizens. Jill Dougherty has a chilling report from Moscow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Tonight, in "Grange on Point," what the troops need over there. U.S. military forces are deployed around the world with some of the most sophisticated weaponry in history. However, many are still without crucial equipment that could help save their lives.
General David Grange joins us now. General, let me share part of an e-mail from one of our viewers. She writes, "My daughter is an MP with the National Guard outside Baghdad. Three months have passed since she was deployed, and she's patrolling the highway into Baghdad unvested. Here's a quote from my daughter: 'You can tell who's the Reserve around here. The Reserves don't have vests."
General, that seems to be a pretty sorry state of affairs, where there aren't enough protective vests to go around.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, protective vests, those that provide ballistic protection for the troopers on the ground, in other words, they stop bullets, there's not enough to go around to all the people deployed in Iraq, nor Afghanistan. Many soldiers are using the old type vest. It's kind of designed on a Vietnam-era model, which is designed to stop shrapnel, not bullets. And so we have soldiers patrolling without vests in Iraq right now, especially those in support roles, on convoys, in different places. And it's really a sorry state of affairs that we cannot outfit every one of our soldiers with a bulletproof vest.
HOPKINS: Also, we hear of, you know, 135 degree temperature and fans, but no place to plug the fans in.
GRANGE: Well, there's an electricity problem in Iraq. But that does not bother me as much as the fighting gear; in other words, a bulletproof vest. It's nice to have the amenities. It's very hot, very difficult to operate. Soldiers would like to have a place to cool off at night. But for me the big quality of life issue is combat gear more than just the housing type, food, electricity, those type of things.
HOPKINS: Also, transportation is an issue. And you have different transportation needs in places like Afghanistan compared to a place like Iraq. Right?
GRANGE: Well, on a transportation, I think one thing we ought to hone in on is helicopter movement. A lot of our helicopters are designed from a Vietnam-era style. In other words, they're designed for a couple of hours of endurance. They're designed for lower altitudes than we're experiencing in some of these places in Afghanistan, and, let's say, northern and eastern Iraq. And so it needs to be some new designs of helicopters to provide the legs they need. As an example, in some of the higher altitudes in Afghanistan, the Chinook helicopter, which does not have a tail rotor, is the only one that can really operate constantly carrying the payload needed for combat. So we're just behind on designing aircraft for some of the modern-day conflicts that our military is placed in.
HOPKINS: We also have communications problems. We hear today of really people putting in -- being put in harm's way because of dead batteries and radios. How do you solve these kind of problems?
GRANGE: Well, communication has always been a challenge in the military, and the more sophisticated armies get, the more communication needs that you have, whether it be bandwidth, using satellite communications, or just the individual trooper, or the small element, like a squad be able to talk to each other with a radio that works.
And the problem is that the military has been trying to design a radio that works in urban environments and jungle environments and desert environments, but for years and years, and it's still lagging behind in design. Batteries are not compatible between night vision devices and radios and other battery items that are required. So there's a supply issue on what kind of batteries to use. And there's no -- and there's a lack of finding a new power source to replace batteries to sustain combat operations in the field. So that's a problem we have.
HOPKINS: So you're saying that a lot of this is really design faults, that you really have to go back to the drawing board, it's not so much of getting the supplies to the front line.
GRANGE: Some is getting supplies. Some is just putting the priority on getting soldier equipment. In other words, the priority ought to be, as an example, the equipment for the basic individual soldier. And once that's accomplished, then you can go up to different higher levels of elements of units. But you have to have -- a soldier has to have some basic stuff. He has to have a weapon that operates. He has to have boots that are appropriate for that environment. And it would be nice to have a bulletproof vest so when you do wear it, it will stop a bullet and not just be something that you can use if you have a traffic accident.
So priority needs to be put on resourcing the basic soldier's needs for combat.
HOPKINS: How bad do you think the situation is?
GRANGE: Well, it's not that it's, you know, something that you cannot take care of. But when you lose one soldier because you can't outfit him with appropriate equipment, that's wrong. And so, you know, it depends on your perspective. When you're looking at 165,000 service members in Iraq, maybe it's not a big issue. But it sure is an issue to someone that's on a convoy that may get attacked from an ambush or standing on a street corner in Baghdad. They ought to have a protective vest that works.
HOPKINS: Thanks very much. Retired Brigadier General David Grange. Thanks for joining us.
And next week on "Grange on Point" -- the rising storm at the VA. We'll explain -- we'll examine the Department of Veteran Affairs' current ability to serve our veterans, and what's needed.
Well, Army Private Jessica Lynch continues to heal from her injuries in Iraq. The Army has released a report on the ambush that led to her capture. An Army investigation found fatigue, human error, and jammed weapons all played a role in that ambush. The 507th Maintenance Company made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah and came under Iraqi fire. The investigation found that many of the units' guns malfunctioned, including its only .50-caliber machine gun. Eleven soldiers were killed, seven others captured in the ambush on the third day of the war in Iraq.
Tonight's thought celebrates the soldier. "It is the soldier who pays most of the human cost. In war, it is extraordinary how it all comes down to the character of one man." End quote. And that is from General Creighton Abrams, Jr.
A reminder now to vote in tonight's poll. What should Randall Simon's punishment be for hitting the human sausage? Serve jail time, be suspended by Major League Baseball, be fined, or work in a sausage factory?
Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll bring you preliminary results in just a few minutes.
Coming up, black widows. Female suicide bombers on the front lines of deadly conflict. Jill Dougherty has that chilling report.
And later -- he was the best mind in his field. And now Albert Einstein's in a different field altogether. Jeanne Moos has that story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: In news "Around the World" tonight, the running of the bulls in Spain is becoming more dangerous. Eleven people were injured in today's run including two Americans. Three of the injured were gored by the bulls.
Hong Kong police are calling it a shocking incident. A double- decker bus plunged off a bridge. Twenty-one people were killed. At least 20 more were injured.
At least three people were killed and dozens more injured in a bomb blast in the Philippines. The bomb exploded in a crowded marketplace. So far no group has claimed responsibility for that bombing.
Authorities in Russia today said that radical Islamists are training more women to carry out suicide bomb attacks. A bomb disposal officer was killed in Moscow last night after a female terrorist from Chechnya tried to enter a restaurant.
Jill Dougherty, has the story from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russians call them (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Women suicide bombers from the breakaway republic of Chechnya. First seen in the Russian capital at last October's hostage taking in a Moscow theater. Dressed in black, wearing the so-called martyr's belt filled with explosives. This past Saturday two female suicide bombers linked by police to Chechen rebels blowed themselves up, killing 14 others. Just four days later a Russian security expert dies as he tries to defuse a bomb that a young Chechen woman attempted to carry into a Moscow restaurant. Suicide bomb attacks are nothing new in the breakaway Republic of Chechnya. But women willing to kill themselves and others in the Russian capital are.
ASLANBEK ASLAKHANOV, RUSSIAN LAWMAKER: This is absolutely not characteristic of Chechens. Men never send their women to fight in wars. There is no religious aspect to this. It's psychological. Terrorists exploiting the misfortune of these women.
DOUGHERTY: Many Chechen women have lost husbands or brothers in the war, and in their desperation they seek revenge. That's the opinion of one journalist who's traveled to Chechnya many times.
ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA, JOURNALIST (through translator): There's a line of young women hoping to be chosen as candidates for being suicide bombers. They say they want to force Russians to feel the same pain they have felt.
DOUGHERTY: The Kremlin says international terrorism is the real reason for women bombers.
ALEXANDER MOCHEVSKY, KREMLIN OFFICIAL: The technique, the financing, the outside control definitely comes from abroad.
DOUGHERTY: Whatever the true cause, the so-called black widows are claiming more and more victims.
(on camera): People here in Moscow haven't even finished burying their dead after last Saturday's double suicide attack. This afternoon a 31-year-old man laid to rest here in this Moscow cemetery.
(on camera): A Russian mother in black brought to grief by a black widow suicide bomber. As a war once fought by men is now waged by women.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOPKINS: When we return the preliminary results of tonight's poll.
And thanks to one artist's vision, Albert Einstein is bigger than ever, relatively speaking. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Checking the preliminary results of "Tonight's Poll."
The question, "What should Randall Simon's punishment be for hitting the human sausage?"
Twenty-five percent of you said jail time., 28 percent said major league baseball suspension, 18 percent said a fine, and 30 percent said work in a sausage factory.
Tonight's quote is from Milwaukee police official, who had this to say about the sausage assault at last night's Brewers-Pirates game. "I have been in law enforcement for 25 years and every time you think you've seen it all, you wake up and realize you haven't seen it all."
That is from Sheriff David Clarke of the Milwaukee Police Department. Finally tonight, he was without a doubt one of the world's most gifted minds. Now his image is immortalized in one artist's version of a field study.
Jeanne Moos has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the next best thing to getting inside the mind of Albert Einstein.
(on camera): What is this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of Einstein's hair.
MOOS: It's where you mowed him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Albert Einstein, genius.
MOOS: Albert Einstein, crop art.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These protrusions in the grass here are the wrinkles in his forehead.
MOOS: Einstein was tops in many fields, and now a hay field in the Catskill Mountains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are now in his right eye.
MOOS: A 35-foot eye. But from the ground you'd never know you'd stumbled on the glint in Albert Einstein's pupil. Starting from a sketch, artist Roger Baker used lawnmower tractors to carve Einstein's portrait.
ROGER BAKER, ARTIST: He's got great hair. It's a great image to do. I've always been fascinated with the guy. His mustache is really cool. Let's go to his mustache.
MOOS: The crop portrait coincides with an exhibit on Einstein at New York's American Museum of Natural History. But the e in this e equals mc squared is 120 feet tall.
BAKER: Look at a deer.
MOOS (on camera): Do they eat Einstein?
BAKER: Yes, they've grazed on Albert.
MOOS (voice-over): Nibbled on and landed on.
(on camera): So hang gliders land here?
BAKER: Hang gliders land here.
MOOS (voice-over): Some of these pictures were taken by a parasail pilot as he drifted back to earth. You can even see the shadow of an ultralight plane piloted by another photographer. Sure, there have been other crop portraits, from Larry King to Babe Ruth, but not with the fine lines of Einstein. This is not Roger's first.
(on camera): So Elvis was here and down there?
BAKER: It covered as far as you could see.
MOOS (voice-over): Last year Elvis was cut into the very same field. The high point was mowing Elvis's sideburns. From a hang glider's point of view...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really see it nice is when you're coming in to land.
MOOS: More than once Albert Einstein has had to take it on the chin, but this is one straw man who never had to say, "If I Only Had a Brain."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, Ellenville, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOPKINS: That's our show tonight. Thanks for joining us. Tomorrow in our series of special reports, "Going Broke in America," we look at the impact of bankruptcy on non-profit organizations. For all of us here, good night from New York. "LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" with Anderson Cooper is next.
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Botswana; Going Broke in America>
Aired July 10, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Thursday, July 10. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, Jan Hopkins.
JAN HOPKINS, GUEST HOST: Good evening everyone.
The war in Iraq is no over. That was the assessment of the most senior U.S. commander in Iraq.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez (ph), said that Saddam Hussein loyalist have stepped up their attacks on coalition forces. Two soldiers were killed in the latest attacks. Former coalition commander General Tommy Franks today said that U.S. Troops could be in Iraq for four years.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't fire.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The latest deaths of American soldiers come as attacks against U.S. forces are averaging between one and two dozen a day. The members of Congress, Democrats in particular, the continued fighting is an ominous trend.
REP. IKE SKELTON (D-MO), ARMED SERVICE CMTE.: I have a fear that the pattern that we see now, if left unchecked we may find ourselves, general, in the throes of guerrilla warfare for years.
MCINTYRE: Having just relinquished command over Iraq and Afghanistan, Army General Tommy Franks insists the daily ambushes still don't fit his definition of guerrilla war.
GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, FMR. COMMANDER, CENTRAL COMMAND: Guerrilla and insurgency operations are supported by the people. And I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the people of Iraq do not support the violence that we're seeing right now.
MCINTYRE: Franks brought a map to a House Armed Services Committee hearing depicting most of Iraq in green to show it's considered calm and stable. But Democrats argued the map papers over the depth of Iraqi opposition.
REP. ELLEN TAUSCHER (D-CA), ARMED SERVICES CMTE: What I find fascinating is the map that you've brought that shows the Sunni triangle and these little spots that have all the problems represent 70 percent of the Iraqi population. What would lead me to believe that the Iraqi people are not supporting these attacks, since 70 percent of the population lives in those place and that's where the attacks are happening.
MCINTYRE: The answer, insists Franks, is that the average Iraqi remains terrified.
FRANKS: Terrified of the regime, wanting to get on with the rest of their lives, not being a part of these attacks against Americans. And that's what I think we see in these population centers.
MCINTYRE: Franks concedes the violence will force the U.S. to maintain roughly 150,000 troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future. And like his Pentagon bosses, he refuses to be pinned down on any timetable.
FRANKS: I anticipate that we will be involved in Iraq in the future. And I don't know whether that means two years or four years. I just don't know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Franks could not offer any explanation for why Saddam Hussein did not use any weapons of mass destruction during the war. He said at one point the U.S. military intercepted what appeared to be an execute order to use a chemical weapons, a transmission that said "blood, blood." But he said they never found any evidence that any of the weapons had actually been weaponized. And for that he says he still doesn't have an explanation -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Jamie, the Pentagon today said that it's looking to the possibility of deploying fighter jets to the horn of Africa.
What can you tell us about that?
MCINTYRE: Well, the U.S. Military's had an increasing presence on the Horn of Africa with a Marine task force there. And the U.S. has also been looking for other places to base resources in the region. The U.S. has sent a site survey team to Djibouti now, where they're going to examine the possibility of forward-deploying air force F-16s and F-15s as well as perhaps a navy or Marine Corps F-18s to this base on the strategic Horn of Africa. Again, as the United States is trying to reposition its forces around the world to better be able to respond to what it calls the global war on terrorism -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Jamie McIntyre, at the Pentagon. Thanks.
Secretary of State Colin Powell today said that he is confident that investigators will find evidence of Saddam Hussein's program to develop weapons of mass destruction. In an interview on "LARRY KING LIVE" secretary Powell also defended President Bush's comments on Iraq and its nuclear ambitions in the president's state of the union speech. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The president wasn't in any way trying to mislead. It was information that got into the speech. Whether it should or should not have been in the speech is something we can certainly discuss and debate. But it wasn't a deliberate attempt on the part of the president to either mislead or exaggerate. That's just ridiculous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOPKINS: You can see the entire interview with secretary Powell on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And that's 6:00 p.m. Pacific.
Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry today called on President Bush to tell the truth about Iraq. He said the president's declaration that major combat had ended in Iraq was premature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: It's been days since the president was flown to an aircraft carrier to announce that hostilities in Iraq had ended. Now clearly it's time for the president to step forward and tell the truth, that the war is continuing and so are the casualties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOPKINS: President Bush today said there is no question the United States has a security issue in Iraq. His comments were more measured than his remarks last week, when he said, "bring them on." Today the president was in Botswana, where the main issue was HIV/AIDS.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault joins us live from Pretoria, South Africa -- Charlayne.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jan, the president went to Botswana to mark a remarkable presidential achievement in that tiny country to celebrate their economic and political management. But as everywhere he went, he was confronted with questions about Iraq. Today, as soldiers in Iraq continued to be assaulted there, he had to talk about that in a question and answer session.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Having talked to Jerry Bremer the man in charge of the civilian operations there, he believes that the vast majority of Iraqi citizens are thrilled that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Secondly, there's no question we've got a security issue in Iraq. And we're just going to have to deal with it person by person. We're going to have to remain tough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTER-GAULT: The president did get the subject back to HIV and AIDs. In Botswana you have the highest incidence of HIV-infected people in the world. And the United States is providing support both for their AIDS clinics and to help them get anti-retrovirals. The president there has been giving anti-retrovirals to the poor, unlike in South Africa, which has not yet rolled out its program -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Thanks. Charlayne Hunter-Gault in Pretoria, South Africa.
And U.S. military experts today saw how the civil war in Liberia has created a huge refugee crisis. The experts visited a refugee camp that was built 10 years ago to house tens of thousands of people. But only 300 people are still there. The vast majority fled because of the fighting between government and rebel forces. The military team will deliver, perhaps as soon as this weekend, a security assessment that could determine whether the United States sends hundreds of peacekeepers to Liberia.
Here in this country customs agents and military investigators have raided 18 businesses in 10 states as part of an investigation of illegal arms sales to Iran. The agents are looking into the sale of parts for U.S. equipment that's still being used by the Iranian armed forces. Investigators say that those parts are being transferred to Iran through a front company in London, England.
A different kind of investigation has taken a bizarre twist. Vincent Brothers is a free man tonight. Brothers turned himself in in North Carolina in connection with the murder of his family in California. Then less than 12 hours later he was released.
David Mattingly joins us from Bakersfield, California, with the latest. -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jan, Bakersfield police say that what they want most right now is to question Vincent Brothers, this after yesterday, when he was arrested after turning himself in North Carolina. And this in the case of his -- the murders of his wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law. But after 12 hours, less than 12 hours, police let him go because they say they changed their mind after information that came in from Ohio. It's information apparently credible enough that they're sending investigators to check that out right now. But today, after the indecision of yesterday, the police chief here says it's time for investigators to slow down and get things right.
CHIEF ERIC MATLOCK, BAKERSFIELD POLICE DEPT.: I've asked them to take a step back, slow it down a little bit, because things are moving so fast. It's such a rapid pace. We're doing this for a number of reasons. That does not mean that we're pursuing other leads than what we have talked about before. But I want to make sure that we get this thing right. The family deserves it. And the community deserves it.
MATTINGLY: That might be the last time we hear from police here for a little while. They say they're not going to plan any more news conferences in this case until they have something new to report -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Thanks, David Mattingly in Bakersfield, California.
There are questions about the way the California police have handled the case. And CNN's Michael Brooks has more than two decades of experience in law enforcement. And he joins us now with more. Michael, what do you make of the current state of this investigation?
MICHAEL BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Jan, I'd say right now it appears to be disjointed at best. You've got Bakersfield, California calling Elizabeth City, asking them to hold him for probable cause. They arrested him. They let him go after he said that he had an attorney and he wasn't going to talk to them.
The Elizabeth City police today in a news conference said that they did not talk to him at all and that they are very surprised that the Bakersfield Police let him go. But in defense of the Bakersfield Police, I know that if they thought that they had enough that they would have him arrested right now.
So you know, what the big turn in this case is, what evidence do they have in Ohio? It's still not known. We know that they have served a search warrant in Bakersfield, California. They said they had another search warrant, we don't know where that was served, but we're assuming that they served it on his vehicle found at the airport.
They served a search warrant on his mother's residence in Elizabeth City. Now, what they found there remains to be seen. They also served a search warrant on him for DNA. The Elizabeth City, North Carolina Police did. So they did get DNA samples.
And earlier today Captain Mahan of the Bakersfield Police said that they have evidentiary issues, whatever that means. They let him go, but they still are calling him a suspect. So it's very confusing, Jan.
HOPKINS: So the police chief in Bakersfield is saying let's go slow and get it right. I mean, is that what you have to do in this kind of case, pull back? But why let a suspect go?
BROOKS: Well, I think what they were trying to do, they were trying to get, probably, as much evidence as they had with him being the main suspect. They want to get as much evidence as they can get to go ahead and make an arrest. The police in Elizabeth City said that they arrested him in good faith. And the District Attorney in North Carolina said that he was waiting for some paper. Well, apparently they decided they did not have enough evidence against him at this time and they did not send the paper, which in fact was a warrant.
So there was no warrant. They let him go. It's to be continued, Jan. We definitely haven't heard the end of this particular case.
HOPKINS: You're right. Thanks, Mike Brooks. And still to come, wild weather threatens much of the country tonight. Floods, record heat, a tropical storm. We'll have a live report from one of the worst-hit areas.
And John Jones of the National Weather Service will join us to tell us what's ahead.
Also ahead, our continuing series, "Going Broke in America." Tonight, an issue that hits home for millions of Americans, underfunded pension plans.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And for the Dow, Jan, it was the biggest point drop in almost two months. The Dow and the S&P 500 are now 3 percent off the year's high. The Nasdaq off about 2 percent, its high for the year made yesterday.
For the year the Dow is up more than 8 percent. The S&P 500 up 12 percent. And the Nasdaq up almost 29 percent. Today's rout came on 1.4 billion shares at the big board. That's about 23 percent less than the average volume for last July. And it's in line with the average for the past three months.
Meanwhile, evidence that corporate insiders have not been participating in the recent rally. Lon Gerber at Thomson Financial says insider buying was the weakest in six years in June and the second quarter had the lowest insider buying since 1995. And insiders sold almost $7 billion in stock in the second quarter. That's the most in five quarters. Using the rally, Gerber says, to cash out. But look at A.G. Edwards, LSI Logic, and Sylvan Learning. Gerber says insiders have recently bought stock in those companies even as their stock prices have risen. So a bright spot there.
Jan, all eyes tomorrow on June's producer price data and of course an earnings report from General Electric. That would be a big one.
HOPKINS: It's earnings season.
ROMANS: It is.
HOPKINS: Thanks, Christine.
Some better financial news for the Vatican. Donations from the United States actually increased last year. There were concerns that the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal would cause a cutback in contributions. But in fact, Americans donated more to the Vatican than any other country. Overall contributions more than doubled.
When we return, Boomtowns. The hottest places to live. Peter Viles reports on why Americans are moving on out, out west, that is.
And then we'll share some of your e-mails on last night's face- off topic, medical malpractice madness.
And Grange on point, U.S. troops on the front lines. Dangerously short of supplies. General David Grange will join us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Boom town, USA, may not be where you think. The fastest-growing communities are suburbs, suburbs of America's fastest- growing cities. Peter Viles has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Average high temperature, 85 degrees; 325 days of sunshine every year. But weather is not the only reason Americans are flocking to Arizona's Valley of the Sun. Other reasons include major employers such as Intel, Motorola and Honeywell.
TRACY CLARK, ECONOMIST, ARIZONA STATE UNIV.: The common denominator for the West in general and Arizona in particular is job availability. People often think of climate as one of the major reasons that people move out here from the Midwest or the East. And that is a major influence, but the bulk of the people that are moving here are working age. So if they don't have a job, they're not going to move here.
VILES: The Census Bureau, by tracking building permits, reports that nine of the 10 fastest-growing communities in America are in the Southwest. Here are the five fastest: Gilbert, Arizona, it once called itself the hay capital of the world and doesn't anymore. North Las Vegas, Nevada. Henderson, Nevada. Chandler, Arizona, which likes to call itself the high-tech oasis of the Silicon Desert. And Peoria, Arizona, which is now a more populous city than Peoria, Illinois.
GREGORY HARPER, DEMOGRAPHER: These are cities sort of on the outskirts of larger cities in the West that have been growing fast. They're also in areas where there is room to grow. Our estimates are based on housing unit growth. So these are areas where there is room to build houses.
VILES: The population losers over the past two years are older, inner cities. Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, and in a bit of a surprise, San Francisco, seen as reeling from the collapse of the dot-com businesses that fueled its growth in the late '90s.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: Jan, the growth in these places is just amazing. Gilbert, Arizona, was a small town in 1980, just 5,000 people. Today, 135,000 people live there. The population grows by about 1,000 people a month -- Jan.
HOPKINS: So what's the attraction?
VILES: In two words, and any American can understand this, good schools. It's known among the eastern suburbs of Phoenix to have terrific schools. It's an affluent community and a young community. Not a retirement community. Median age in Gilbert is about 30.
HOPKINS: It's also a hot community in other reasons. It's like 150 degrees. Thanks, Pete.
And now for some of your thoughts. Many of you wrote about our face-off last night, debating putting a cap on medical malpractice awards. Kate from West Palm Beach, Florida said: "Capping jury awards for negligence by doctors would be unfair to patients. States need to take more responsibility in taking licenses away from doctors that repeatedly injure patients. Obtaining and keeping a license to practice medicine in Florida is easier than obtaining a license to fish."
LeDonna Engle from Cedar Rapids, Iowa said: "The only way to stop this problem is to get rid of bad doctors and put a cap on insurance premiums. The victim of a bad doctor should not be punished because the doctor is negligent."
Sue Hadd from Anadarko, Oklahoma, wrote about our poll question last night, which asked what's worse for your health. "Your question about health omitted the real problem, that is extremely difficult to avoid, and that's salt. I say forget about worrying so much about fats and sugar and mandate unsalted foods."
And Ron Carlson of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote about the California recall of Governor Gray Davis. "Why don't they recalls the 330,000 jobs the Bay Area economy lost due to poor management? Recall those CEOs that made millions during the tech boom, and recall those Enron employees that manipulated the energy prices in California." We love hearing from you. Please send us your thoughts at loudobbs@cnn.com.
And still to come, wild weather is tearing across the United States tonight, leaving torrential rains, flooding and tornadoes in its path. John Jones of the National Weather Service will be our guest.
And "Going Broke in America." Our series of special reports continues with a look at pension plans, ravaged by years of stock market losses.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Flood warnings are in effect for a large part of the soggy Midwest tonight. Thunderstorms have been pounding the region for a week. More than 1,000 homes in Indiana have been hit by flooding. Three teens along with their rescuers were saved after their boats capsized in the St. Mary's River. Vicky Duncan of CNN affiliate WRTV is in Noblesville, Indiana with the latest from there -- Vicki.
VICKI DUNCAN, WRTV CORRESPONDENT: Jan, actually, I'm walking on one of the busiest roads here in Noblesville. It's called Allisonville (ph) Road, and I am on the center line right now. This is kind of indicative of what a lot of parts of central Indiana are seeing.
You see, usually this time of year we're talking about droughts. But so far in the last week we've been talking a lot about floods. Now, hundreds of homes here in Noblesville, or in central Indiana for that matter, have been hit by the flood waters. Here in Noblesville, it didn't really rain enough to cause this kind of flooding that you're seeing, but this is due to the rains to the north, flooding and running downstream, and then thus creating this mess here in Noblesville.
Now, the problem in northern Indiana is flooding due to more than a foot of rain that we've had in the last week. Now, it's been socked especially up around Bluffton (ph). They've called in the National Guard to come in and sandbag.
So really right now in this section we're expecting it to continue to rise another 4.5 inches or so. It's not even supposed to crest until tomorrow. So this is going to be something that we're going to be dealing with a lot in the next few days -- Jan.
HOPKINS: Thanks very much for joining us from Noblesville, Indiana.
The extreme weather is not just limited to Indiana. The rains have been falling for more than a week in Ohio as well. Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate advancing floodwaters.
The city of Phoenix, Arizona is under a heat advisory at this hour. Temperatures are expected to hit 116 degrees.
Colorado firefighters are battling a handful of raging wildfires that have already scorched more than 7,000 acres.
Tornadoes tore through Kansas last night. The twisters did some damage, but nobody was injured.
And tonight, Tropical Storm Claudette is bearing down on Mexico, threatening to become a hurricane overnight.
All of this extreme weather may seem unusual, but it's not. John Jones says that America has the most severe weather of any country in the world. John Jones is a deputy director of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. He joins us from Washington.
So I guess we're just lucky. Is that it?
JOHN JONES, NOAA: Well, as you said, this is normal for us. We average about 1,000 tornadoes a year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 2,500 floods. So this is not unusual, what we're seeing right now.
HOPKINS: And we have kind of a mix of all of them at the same time at this time of year.
JONES: Right. What's occurring over the last month or so is that we have a constant pattern of a very large high pressure system over the western part of the United States. So they're staying fairly dry and hot, where in the Midwest and the East we're getting a succession of cold fronts and low pressure areas that are bringing thunderstorms and rain, followed by a slow warm-up and then more thunderstorms and rain. So this cycle is going to continue for at least the next week or so.
HOPKINS: And can you see any further in the future? I mean, is this the kind of summer that we're going to have? Do these patterns tend to get stuck?
JONES: Not for that long. I can see this going on for another week to 10 days. Mainly we need to see some major system to come across the Pacific and move that large high pressure area across the West to the Midwest and to the east. Until that happens, we're pretty much stuck.
HOPKINS: Let's talk a little bit about the tropical storm that could very well be a hurricane. What kind of threat does that pose?
JONES: Right now it's heading for the Yucatan Peninsula. It's going to come on land at the Yucatan Peninsula sometime later tonight or tomorrow morning. It's going to continue to slowly strengthen. It could possibly be hurricane strength. Then as it goes over land it will weaken, come back out into the Gulf, and then by early next week could impact extreme southern Texas.
HOPKINS: The other problem that we have is dryness. You talked about this in the west. Is there a forest fire threat in the west again this year?
JONES: Oh, definitely. And one of the main problems is we've had a very long-term drought going back a couple years, and it's going to take another year or so if we're ever going to break this drought. It's just been in place for that long. So from Arizona, New Mexico, going as far north as Idaho and Montana and almost all the way to the west coast, that area is having extremely high fire weather indices. All it takes is some lightning or some -- something to start a spark, and if you get some high winds those fires can spread really rapidly.
HOPKINS: So this summer should be as bad as last summer?
JONES: Well, last summer, so far we've had about a million acres burned, fires in the west. Last summer by this point we had a 1.7 million. So we're below where we were last summer.
JONES: That's good news. John Jones of NOAA, thanks for joining us.
In other news across America new concerns for air travelers tonight. A new federal audit says significant mistakes have been found at the nation's airline maintenance facilities. Mistakes were discovered at 86 percent of those private repair shops. The report blames the FAA for a lax oversight.
As a sign in that window says, this shop in Herman, Missouri sold one of two winning Powerball tickets. The other was sold in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. The two winners, who haven't come forward yet, will share a $261 million jackpot.
One hit. One very big error for a baseball player, Randall Simon. During a popular mascot race in Milwaukee, Simon hit a woman dressed as a sausage with his bat. He says it was all in fun. Not everyone agreed.
Joining us now from Milwaukee is Myra Sanchick with CNN affiliate WYTI -- Myra.
MYRA SANCHICK, WYTI CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really not the kind of hit that Pittsburgh Pirate Randall Simon wanted to be famous for, no doubt. This is what he said happened. Last night at the Pirates, Brewers game at Miller Park he said he was joking around when he picked up a bat and hit one of the mascots dressed as an Italian sausage. Now, that mascot fell. And apparently, another mascot next to her, dressed as a hot dog tripped over her. Both were treated for minor injuries. And while Simon says it was all a joke Milwaukee county officials say it's no joking matter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE, MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPT.: Everybody can appreciate a good time and a few yuks. I mean, I like to laugh as much as anybody else, believe it or not. And we all want people to have fun at the ballpark. But sometimes fun crosses the line and it leads to injury. And that's kind of what happened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHICK: Simon was eventually given a $432 citation for disorderly conduct. If he pays it, officials say it'll all be over. If he wants to contest it, he can come back to court September 3. Reporting live from Miller Park in Milwaukee, Myra Sanchick.
HOPKINS: Thanks very much, Myra.
And late today baseball commissioner Bud Selig issued this statement. "Major League Baseball deeply regrets the incident that took place at Miller Park last night and extends its regards to the victims. Obviously the type of behavior exhibited by Mr. Simon is anathema to the family entertainment that we are trying to provide in our ball parks and it is wholly unacceptable."
And that's the topic of tonight's poll, what should Randall Simon's punishment be for hitting the human sausage? Serve jail time, be suspended by major league baseball, be fined, or work in a sausage factory? Cast your vote at CNN.com/lou. We'll bring you preliminary results later in the show.
And now checking the final results of yesterday's poll, we asked, which is the worst for your health? 31 percent of you said trans. fat, 14 percent said sugar, 19 percent said alcohol, and 35 percent of you said television.
Turning now to our series of special reports, "Going Broke in America," tonight we focus on the growing problem of underfunded pensions. Many companies are taking steps to shore up their pension plans, and taxpayers might end up paying the bill. As Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fading steel and troubled airlines have one thing in common. They're trying to pass off their pension obligations to the government and ultimately to your tax bill. U.S. Airways recently emerged from bankruptcy only after unloading its pension plan on the pension benefit guarantee corporation.
BILL PURCELL, ALLIED PILOTS ASSOC.: Of course, the real losers in that are the pilots and the plan participants. There was an obligation there, or a moral contract, or whatever you want to call it, that's now been voided. And it's almost as if -- that they've shifted that responsibility and they've effectively passed it over to the government.
TUCKER: The fear is others will try and do the same, namely United Airlines, which is already in bankruptcy. GM recently borrowed $13 billion in the credit markets to put into its pension plan. At the end of last year general motors owed that plan $25 billion. That's $5 billion more than the stock market values the entire company.
Ford has a $7 billion deficit. Total collective pension underfunding of the S&P 500, roughly $300 billion.
ZVI BODIE, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: What bothers me and a lot of my colleagues is that the misstatement of earnings that goes on, not because of fraud, but because of the crazy rules that we have, and this is -- I'm now talking about pension accounting -- dwarfs the misstatement of earnings that occurs as a result of fraud.
TUCKER: While debates and discussions around pensions often center on complex and arcane issues, here's the bottom line: companies will either be responsible for their commitments or the government and the taxpayers will be responsible for the broken promises of the companies.
DALLAS SALISBURY, CEO ERRI: They have a deficit, but they have 50 to 70 years to make sure they have the income to pay those benefits. So if the economy comes back and if the markets come back and if interest rates rise, in other words, if things are cyclical, then we should be fine for most pensioners.
TUCKER: On that there is general agreement. A pickup in the economy, a rise in interest rates to improve fixed income returns, and a recovery in the stock market should make everything better. Meanwhile, there are legislative efforts to address the soundness of plans.
REP. ROB PORTMAN, (R) OHIO: One would hope that these pension plans would get back into a sounder position and we will be able to be sure that, number one, there are plans out there, that we're not driving employers away from these plans. And two, that these plans will be able to make their commitments to their existing employees and to their retirees.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TUCKER: Now in an effort to enact a practical solution, one question seems to be getting lost in the equation, why might the taxpayer become responsible for the bad decisions of corporate boards? -- Jan
HOPKINS: I'll ask the question. Why should the taxpayer be responsible? Is there any way to make sure that it doesn't end up in the taxpayer's...
TUCKER: There's not. If the plan is going to be bad, it will go bad and we'll ultimately have to assume responsibility for it. If the system works, the pension benefit guarantee corporation collects premiums and should be able to cover it. But right now that Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation is in a deficit, it couldn't cover its liabilities if a lot of companies started turning over their pensions to them.
HOPKINS: So we'd better hope that the economy gets better, the stock market gets better, and these pension funds get healthier.
TUCKER: Yes, and we also, you know, have to pay attention to this debate that oftentimes centers around very arcane, small things that often put people to sleep like the subject of interest rate assumptions.
You know, it's funny, I sat down and did a spreadsheet in the office this afternoon. A difference of 1 percent over 20 years turns into a difference of 17 1/2 percent over the life of something. So when you're talking about a pension, little, tiny assumptions can make a big difference.
HOPKINS: Beware the assumptions. Thanks, Bill Tucker.
Tomorrow in our series of SPECIAL REPORTs, Going Broke in America, we will focus on non-profits. The rash of bankruptcies in this country has impacted museums, libraries, universities, and other not for profit businesses. Kitty Pilgrim will have that report.
And when we return, Grange on point. what U.S. troops need over there. General David Grange on dangerous shortfalls in supplies.
And later, they're known as black widows. And they're spinning a web of chaos and terror for Russian citizens. Jill Dougherty has a chilling report from Moscow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Tonight, in "Grange on Point," what the troops need over there. U.S. military forces are deployed around the world with some of the most sophisticated weaponry in history. However, many are still without crucial equipment that could help save their lives.
General David Grange joins us now. General, let me share part of an e-mail from one of our viewers. She writes, "My daughter is an MP with the National Guard outside Baghdad. Three months have passed since she was deployed, and she's patrolling the highway into Baghdad unvested. Here's a quote from my daughter: 'You can tell who's the Reserve around here. The Reserves don't have vests."
General, that seems to be a pretty sorry state of affairs, where there aren't enough protective vests to go around.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, protective vests, those that provide ballistic protection for the troopers on the ground, in other words, they stop bullets, there's not enough to go around to all the people deployed in Iraq, nor Afghanistan. Many soldiers are using the old type vest. It's kind of designed on a Vietnam-era model, which is designed to stop shrapnel, not bullets. And so we have soldiers patrolling without vests in Iraq right now, especially those in support roles, on convoys, in different places. And it's really a sorry state of affairs that we cannot outfit every one of our soldiers with a bulletproof vest.
HOPKINS: Also, we hear of, you know, 135 degree temperature and fans, but no place to plug the fans in.
GRANGE: Well, there's an electricity problem in Iraq. But that does not bother me as much as the fighting gear; in other words, a bulletproof vest. It's nice to have the amenities. It's very hot, very difficult to operate. Soldiers would like to have a place to cool off at night. But for me the big quality of life issue is combat gear more than just the housing type, food, electricity, those type of things.
HOPKINS: Also, transportation is an issue. And you have different transportation needs in places like Afghanistan compared to a place like Iraq. Right?
GRANGE: Well, on a transportation, I think one thing we ought to hone in on is helicopter movement. A lot of our helicopters are designed from a Vietnam-era style. In other words, they're designed for a couple of hours of endurance. They're designed for lower altitudes than we're experiencing in some of these places in Afghanistan, and, let's say, northern and eastern Iraq. And so it needs to be some new designs of helicopters to provide the legs they need. As an example, in some of the higher altitudes in Afghanistan, the Chinook helicopter, which does not have a tail rotor, is the only one that can really operate constantly carrying the payload needed for combat. So we're just behind on designing aircraft for some of the modern-day conflicts that our military is placed in.
HOPKINS: We also have communications problems. We hear today of really people putting in -- being put in harm's way because of dead batteries and radios. How do you solve these kind of problems?
GRANGE: Well, communication has always been a challenge in the military, and the more sophisticated armies get, the more communication needs that you have, whether it be bandwidth, using satellite communications, or just the individual trooper, or the small element, like a squad be able to talk to each other with a radio that works.
And the problem is that the military has been trying to design a radio that works in urban environments and jungle environments and desert environments, but for years and years, and it's still lagging behind in design. Batteries are not compatible between night vision devices and radios and other battery items that are required. So there's a supply issue on what kind of batteries to use. And there's no -- and there's a lack of finding a new power source to replace batteries to sustain combat operations in the field. So that's a problem we have.
HOPKINS: So you're saying that a lot of this is really design faults, that you really have to go back to the drawing board, it's not so much of getting the supplies to the front line.
GRANGE: Some is getting supplies. Some is just putting the priority on getting soldier equipment. In other words, the priority ought to be, as an example, the equipment for the basic individual soldier. And once that's accomplished, then you can go up to different higher levels of elements of units. But you have to have -- a soldier has to have some basic stuff. He has to have a weapon that operates. He has to have boots that are appropriate for that environment. And it would be nice to have a bulletproof vest so when you do wear it, it will stop a bullet and not just be something that you can use if you have a traffic accident.
So priority needs to be put on resourcing the basic soldier's needs for combat.
HOPKINS: How bad do you think the situation is?
GRANGE: Well, it's not that it's, you know, something that you cannot take care of. But when you lose one soldier because you can't outfit him with appropriate equipment, that's wrong. And so, you know, it depends on your perspective. When you're looking at 165,000 service members in Iraq, maybe it's not a big issue. But it sure is an issue to someone that's on a convoy that may get attacked from an ambush or standing on a street corner in Baghdad. They ought to have a protective vest that works.
HOPKINS: Thanks very much. Retired Brigadier General David Grange. Thanks for joining us.
And next week on "Grange on Point" -- the rising storm at the VA. We'll explain -- we'll examine the Department of Veteran Affairs' current ability to serve our veterans, and what's needed.
Well, Army Private Jessica Lynch continues to heal from her injuries in Iraq. The Army has released a report on the ambush that led to her capture. An Army investigation found fatigue, human error, and jammed weapons all played a role in that ambush. The 507th Maintenance Company made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah and came under Iraqi fire. The investigation found that many of the units' guns malfunctioned, including its only .50-caliber machine gun. Eleven soldiers were killed, seven others captured in the ambush on the third day of the war in Iraq.
Tonight's thought celebrates the soldier. "It is the soldier who pays most of the human cost. In war, it is extraordinary how it all comes down to the character of one man." End quote. And that is from General Creighton Abrams, Jr.
A reminder now to vote in tonight's poll. What should Randall Simon's punishment be for hitting the human sausage? Serve jail time, be suspended by Major League Baseball, be fined, or work in a sausage factory?
Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll bring you preliminary results in just a few minutes.
Coming up, black widows. Female suicide bombers on the front lines of deadly conflict. Jill Dougherty has that chilling report.
And later -- he was the best mind in his field. And now Albert Einstein's in a different field altogether. Jeanne Moos has that story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: In news "Around the World" tonight, the running of the bulls in Spain is becoming more dangerous. Eleven people were injured in today's run including two Americans. Three of the injured were gored by the bulls.
Hong Kong police are calling it a shocking incident. A double- decker bus plunged off a bridge. Twenty-one people were killed. At least 20 more were injured.
At least three people were killed and dozens more injured in a bomb blast in the Philippines. The bomb exploded in a crowded marketplace. So far no group has claimed responsibility for that bombing.
Authorities in Russia today said that radical Islamists are training more women to carry out suicide bomb attacks. A bomb disposal officer was killed in Moscow last night after a female terrorist from Chechnya tried to enter a restaurant.
Jill Dougherty, has the story from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russians call them (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Women suicide bombers from the breakaway republic of Chechnya. First seen in the Russian capital at last October's hostage taking in a Moscow theater. Dressed in black, wearing the so-called martyr's belt filled with explosives. This past Saturday two female suicide bombers linked by police to Chechen rebels blowed themselves up, killing 14 others. Just four days later a Russian security expert dies as he tries to defuse a bomb that a young Chechen woman attempted to carry into a Moscow restaurant. Suicide bomb attacks are nothing new in the breakaway Republic of Chechnya. But women willing to kill themselves and others in the Russian capital are.
ASLANBEK ASLAKHANOV, RUSSIAN LAWMAKER: This is absolutely not characteristic of Chechens. Men never send their women to fight in wars. There is no religious aspect to this. It's psychological. Terrorists exploiting the misfortune of these women.
DOUGHERTY: Many Chechen women have lost husbands or brothers in the war, and in their desperation they seek revenge. That's the opinion of one journalist who's traveled to Chechnya many times.
ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA, JOURNALIST (through translator): There's a line of young women hoping to be chosen as candidates for being suicide bombers. They say they want to force Russians to feel the same pain they have felt.
DOUGHERTY: The Kremlin says international terrorism is the real reason for women bombers.
ALEXANDER MOCHEVSKY, KREMLIN OFFICIAL: The technique, the financing, the outside control definitely comes from abroad.
DOUGHERTY: Whatever the true cause, the so-called black widows are claiming more and more victims.
(on camera): People here in Moscow haven't even finished burying their dead after last Saturday's double suicide attack. This afternoon a 31-year-old man laid to rest here in this Moscow cemetery.
(on camera): A Russian mother in black brought to grief by a black widow suicide bomber. As a war once fought by men is now waged by women.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOPKINS: When we return the preliminary results of tonight's poll.
And thanks to one artist's vision, Albert Einstein is bigger than ever, relatively speaking. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOPKINS: Checking the preliminary results of "Tonight's Poll."
The question, "What should Randall Simon's punishment be for hitting the human sausage?"
Twenty-five percent of you said jail time., 28 percent said major league baseball suspension, 18 percent said a fine, and 30 percent said work in a sausage factory.
Tonight's quote is from Milwaukee police official, who had this to say about the sausage assault at last night's Brewers-Pirates game. "I have been in law enforcement for 25 years and every time you think you've seen it all, you wake up and realize you haven't seen it all."
That is from Sheriff David Clarke of the Milwaukee Police Department. Finally tonight, he was without a doubt one of the world's most gifted minds. Now his image is immortalized in one artist's version of a field study.
Jeanne Moos has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the next best thing to getting inside the mind of Albert Einstein.
(on camera): What is this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of Einstein's hair.
MOOS: It's where you mowed him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Albert Einstein, genius.
MOOS: Albert Einstein, crop art.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These protrusions in the grass here are the wrinkles in his forehead.
MOOS: Einstein was tops in many fields, and now a hay field in the Catskill Mountains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are now in his right eye.
MOOS: A 35-foot eye. But from the ground you'd never know you'd stumbled on the glint in Albert Einstein's pupil. Starting from a sketch, artist Roger Baker used lawnmower tractors to carve Einstein's portrait.
ROGER BAKER, ARTIST: He's got great hair. It's a great image to do. I've always been fascinated with the guy. His mustache is really cool. Let's go to his mustache.
MOOS: The crop portrait coincides with an exhibit on Einstein at New York's American Museum of Natural History. But the e in this e equals mc squared is 120 feet tall.
BAKER: Look at a deer.
MOOS (on camera): Do they eat Einstein?
BAKER: Yes, they've grazed on Albert.
MOOS (voice-over): Nibbled on and landed on.
(on camera): So hang gliders land here?
BAKER: Hang gliders land here.
MOOS (voice-over): Some of these pictures were taken by a parasail pilot as he drifted back to earth. You can even see the shadow of an ultralight plane piloted by another photographer. Sure, there have been other crop portraits, from Larry King to Babe Ruth, but not with the fine lines of Einstein. This is not Roger's first.
(on camera): So Elvis was here and down there?
BAKER: It covered as far as you could see.
MOOS (voice-over): Last year Elvis was cut into the very same field. The high point was mowing Elvis's sideburns. From a hang glider's point of view...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really see it nice is when you're coming in to land.
MOOS: More than once Albert Einstein has had to take it on the chin, but this is one straw man who never had to say, "If I Only Had a Brain."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, Ellenville, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOPKINS: That's our show tonight. Thanks for joining us. Tomorrow in our series of special reports, "Going Broke in America," we look at the impact of bankruptcy on non-profit organizations. For all of us here, good night from New York. "LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" with Anderson Cooper is next.
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