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Wolfowitz, Pace Grilled by Senators; Americans Fed Up at Pump

Aired May 13, 2004 - 13:58   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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: In recent months we've seen abuses here under our responsibility. And it has been a body blow for all of us/

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Under fire at home, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls on the Iraq prison that's shaking the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I was growing up, love you enemy. So even after I ended up killing those two guys, I still prayed for them because you've just got to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The harsh realities of war. Soldiers tell their stories from the front lines.

Heartland home wrecker. Watch this: a house literally sucked up into a tornado.

And camera phones, cool tool or invasion of your privacy? Congress moves against video voyeurs.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

We begin this hour with a day trip to Baghdad. With zero notice and almost as little fanfare, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chair Richard Myers hit the ground walking today at Baghdad International Airport. Rumsfeld denied they came, quote, "to throw water on a fire." But they did attempt to pump up the spirit of some potentially demoralized soldiers.

They also visited the prison where some soldiers apparently inflicted torment on Iraqi prisoners and untold damage on U.S. standing, at Abu Ghraib on Baghdad's far western outskirts. Rumsfeld assured the forces, quote, "we'll get through this tough period."

But it was at Camp Victory where the VIPs did their bulk of their business and where the red carpet was applied in a sea of olive drab. There Rumsfeld rallied GIs to concentrate on the big picture, not just some horrible snapshots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUMSFELD: In recent days, there's been a focus on a few who have betrayed our values and sullied the reputation of our country. Like each of you, I'm sure, and like most Americans, I was stunned. It was a body blow. And with six or seven investigations under way, and a country that has values and a military justice system that has values, we know that those involved, whoever they are, will be brought to justice.

You folks are young. I'm not. But you're going to look back on this conflict, on these debates, on these difficulties, and it's going to be a tough road ahead. We know that. It's not going to be an easy path from a repressive dictatorship to a stable, prosperous, successful country that respects all of the various religious and ethnic groups, that's at peace with its neighbors, that understands what human rights are.

That's not an easy path. It's a tough path. And there will be plenty of potholes in the road. And mistakes will get made. And people will have to be picked up and put back on that path towards a freer system. But one day you're going to look back and you're going to be proud of your service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you've been watching CNN, you may have heard General Myers quip that he and Rumsfeld were "really, really happy to be in Iraq" after the week they've had in Washington. Well, their seconds-in-command weren't so lucky today. CNN's Barbara Starr was watching how it aired on Capitol Hill from her post at the Pentagon.

Barbara, how did they do?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, let's first bring everybody up to date. We are now getting word that Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers have left Iraq and they are back in Kuwait and will be making their way back to Washington very quickly. But as they were in Iraq engaging in those public appearances with U.S. troops, a number of public appearances, back -- as you say, back on Capitol Hill their deputies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and General Pete Pace, the deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. And the questioning got very interesting. It got right down to what Congress is really interested in right now. What about these interrogation practices?

Let's listen to General Pace first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JACK REED (D-RI), ARMED SERVICES CMTE. General Pace, if you were shown a video of a United States Marine or an American citizen in the control of a foreign power in a cell block, naked with a bag over their head squatting with their arms uplifted for 45 minutes, would you describe that as a good interrogation technique or a violation of the Geneva Convention?

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHMN.: I would describe it as a violation, sir.

REED: As I read General Sanchez's guidance -- well, let me ask another question. Would your conclusion be different if it was ordered by a high ranking officer of that foreign power?

PACE: No, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: This, of course, Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and moments later he put the same basic question to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REED: Seventy-two hours without regular sleep, sensory deprivation, which would be a bag over your head for 72 hours. Do you think that's humane, putting a bag -- and that's what this says, a bag over your head for 72 hours, is that humane?

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY SECY. OF DEFENSE: Let me come back to what you said the work...

REED: No, no, answer the question, sir. Is that humane?

WOLFOWITZ: I don't know whether it means a bag over your head for 72 hours, Senator. I don't know.

REED: Mr. Secretary, you're dissembling, non-responsive. Anybody would say putting a bag over someone's head for 72 hours, which is sensory deprivation...

WOLFOWITZ: I believe it's not humane, it strikes me as not humane, Senator.

REED: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Kyra, what they are getting to here on this Senate committee is what about the so-called approved interrogation practices that U.S. soldiers are permitted to engage in? Real tough questioning now about whether those approved practices actually fall within the boundaries of the Geneva Conventions. And here at the Pentagon, top officials say some of this is a gray area, some of it is going to be resolved by the upcoming investigations. But right now, not a lot of clear answers -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, a lot of tough questions, a lot of tough answers, too. Let's talk about the war funding request. What's the latest there, Barbara? And how will all of this affect that?

STARR: Well, you know, actually, this hearing was about just that subject. It was supposed to be about the administration's request for a $25 billion, billion dollars, in additional spending to run the war in Iraq. Because now, of course, more troops there are staying longer. It is costing extra money. It's costing extra money.

The war already costing close to $5 billion a month. So the administration went back and said they need another $25 billion as soon as possible. They got a pretty lukewarm reception from the Senate Armed Services Committee in this respect, the Congress wants to give the money to support the troops, but several senators saying they don't want to write the administration what they call a blank check - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon, thank you.

Now to a gristly killing of an American in Iraq. CIA analysts say they believe they know who was behind the hood and the knife when Nicholas Berg was beheaded. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: CIA officials are saying, after doing a technical analysis of the tape, the one that shows the killing of American Nick Berg in Iraq, that they now believe that it is most likely that the person who does the talking on that tape, one of the five hooded figures who talks and subsequently is the person who actually kills Nick Berg, is in fact Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the noted terrorist leader, head of a gang that is affiliated with al Qaeda.

He is wanted in scores of attacks on Westerners in Iraq. He's also wanted for the murder of an American in Amman, Jordan, an American diplomat. There's a $10 million price on Abu Musab al- Zarqawi's head.

Now this comes as officials are saying that they are now absolutely confident that the individual who killed "Wall Street Journal" reporter Danny Pearl in Pakistan back some time ago was another top terrorist, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. This, of course, is the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He's been in CIA hands for some time now under pretty intense questioning. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Nick Berg's father says that his son just wanted to help people, not hurt anyone. Michael Berg says it wasn't that his son didn't respect danger, he says he just didn't recognize the danger in people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BERG, NICK BERG'S FATHER: Nick only saw the good in people. I'm sure that he only saw the good in his captors up to the last second of his life. My son wasn't stupid. His foreman from his company said to me yesterday, Nick was not disrespectful of danger. When he climbed these towers up 1700 feet off the ground, he was the most respectful person in the world. And he respected not only his own safety but the safety of his workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Michael Berg says the only thing on which he and his son disagreed was politics. Nick Berg was a strong supporter of President Bush, putting him at odds with his father.

Big cheers for Thomas Hamill, the American who escaped his Iraqi captors. Hamill threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Houston Astros baseball game even using his wounded arm. And the fans loved it. They gave him a standing ovation. Hamill is always quick to put the focus back on Americans in Iraq, however.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HAMILL, FMR. HOSTAGE IN IRAQ: I want to make sure that my safe return doesn't distract everyone's commitment to continue praying for our troops and the thousands of civilian contractors who risk their lives every day just like I did to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hamill was among seven American contractors who disappeared last month. The bodies of four have been found, two others remain missing.

Other news across America. The film flap involving director Michael Moore. Walt Disney has agreed to sell Moore's controversial documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" to the co-chairs of Miramax film. Terms have yet to be finalized. Disney, the parent company of Miramax, had blocked the release of that film. It criticizes President Bush's handling of September 11.

A possible pill problem for kids. A drug-maker says children's Motrin containers might actually contain adult Tylenol. The children's tablet is a purple pill with a grape smell. The adult product is a shiny red and white gelatin-coated tablet. If you think your child has taken the wrong product, call your health care provider immediately.

And in tornado alley, on this frontal clouds like this one in Kansas, storms touched off tornadoes in three south central Kansas counties overnight. Three houses in the town of Attica (ph) were destroyed. Now look closely. You can see one of them being lifted into the air right here.

Well, from weather woes to energy anxiety, gasoline prices at an all time high. And Americans are feeling the pain in their wallets when they head to the pump. CNN's Bill Tucker reports that the entire U.S. economy is definitely feeling the effects.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN FINANCIAL NEW CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): $3 a gallon is no joke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It gives me chest pains. And I even wrote the president a letter. I just dropped it off in the post office right now, I swear.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president remains concerned about rising gas prices. I think most Americans are concerned about rising gas prices.

TUCKER: Gasoline is one of the prices people take personally, for good reason. Any increase comes directly out of their pockets. The math is simple. Every penny increase in a gallon of gasoline equals $1.36 billion out of consumer pockets. Add all the petroleum products together and the penny means $3 billion. Consumers feel the pinch. Some are changing their ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I switched my gas from ultimate to regular now because I understood it is the same thing. Now I just use regular premium and save a few dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not driving as much, I'd say. I'm just not driving as much because I know I have to keep filling it up.

TUCKER: And there is another way to look at the numbers. For every penny increase in a gallon of petroleum products, $1.8 billion leaves the country and goes to foreign producers. In other words, it is not only bad for the personal economy, it hurts the American economy.

JOHN FELMY, AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: It means that we have reduced purchasing power in the United States. We can't buy as much domestically as we otherwise could. It raises our cost of production because we have to spend more on energy to produce goods and services. And it affects the trade deficit which can have negative implications on other parts of the economy.

TUCKER: How much does it add up to? Gasoline prices are now 45 cents a gallon more expensive than they were a year ago. That's $61 billion out of the economy and into gas tanks.

Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, it's a matter of life and death for millions of Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worst case scenario, I could die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Food allergies. Why are more people developing them? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the case.

Pumping up the volume to prop up sales. Musicians playing a new game to get you to buy.

And pedal power. Find out why this 80, that's right, 80-year-old is beginning the journey of a thousand-plus miles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: News around the world now. A stunning defeat. India's prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is out of a job. Voters deal his ruling coalition a huge blow in the general election. This paves the way for Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party to lead the nation.

Seeking shelter. Deposed Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is heading for South Africa. Officials there say he will get temporary refuge in the country until Haiti returns to stability. Aristide will move to South Africa with his wife and children.

And Athens, here they come. Iraq's national soccer team seen here in white is on its way to Greece after qualifying for the Olympic soccer tournament. Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 3-1 to make it to the games. Iraq's membership in the International Olympic Committee was reinstated just three months ago.

Back to the war in Iraq now, and a police station under attack in Najaf. Two militiamen belonging to the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr was killed along with two civilians. The attack was one of the latest in a city that has become a center of the Shiite resistance to the occupation. Thousands of coalition troops have been deployed to battle the insurgents.

CNN's Jane Arraf has the story of one of those frontline troops.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

SPC. 1ST CLASS JOSH DOMINA, U.S. ARMY: First time I actually had to shoot somebody.

ARRAF (on camera): (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOMINA: Yes, still is.

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

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

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

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

ARRAF: Domina and his buddies from Iron Troop thought they'd be back in the United States by now. Instead, just days from leaving Baghdad for home, the 1st Armored Division was sent south to fight the Mehdi militia. After 13 months at war, there's no sugar-coating what this is like.

Specialist Jesse Riley says he's comfortably numb.

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

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

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

DOMINA: I signed in at 6:30. It is about 8:45 right now. And they've still got about 12 names to go through.

ARRAF: They say if they couldn't sit around and complain, they'd go nuts. In the morning Domina cleans his gun, getting ready to hit the streets again.

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

ARRAF: Hopefully one day closer to being home.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Najaf, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, a prison scandal has him under fire, but he's not likely to be fired. Why the secretary of defense will likely get to keep his job.

And from bombs to bullets to Webcams and megabytes, increasingly effective tools of the trade for terrorists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: This elderly man is on a mission. 80-year-old Tony Palumbo (ph) is pedaling his bike cross country for a cause. He's riding 1500 miles from Florida to New York to raise money for an orphanage in Schenectady. Palumbo says it takes more mental preparation than physical to get ready for this ride. At the age of 70, he made a 3200-mile bike ride for another charity.

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Welcome back to the CNN Center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM... I'm Kyra Phillips. Here is what's all new this half hour. Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, how a camera and a Web site may be more effective for them than a bomb.

And when misreading the label can be fatal. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the growing problem of food allergies.

But first, the top stories we're following for you.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes a surprise visit to Baghdad accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers. Rumsfeld visited the Abu Ghraib Prison at the center of the firestorm over the abuse of prisoners. He later talked about the scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: The people who engage in abuses will be brought to justice. The world will see how a free system, a democratic system functions and operates transparently with no cover-ups, with the world seeing the fact that we're not perfect, and goodness knows we're not perfect. But don't let anyone tell you that America's what's wrong with this world, because it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost billions of dollars, now the administration says it needs lots more money. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee the administration will ask for more than $50 billion to fund the war effort next year.

The CIA believes it was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who beheaded American Nick Berg. A CIA official says it's "a high possibly that Zarqawi is the...

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired May 13, 2004 - 13:58   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: In recent months we've seen abuses here under our responsibility. And it has been a body blow for all of us/

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Under fire at home, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls on the Iraq prison that's shaking the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I was growing up, love you enemy. So even after I ended up killing those two guys, I still prayed for them because you've just got to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The harsh realities of war. Soldiers tell their stories from the front lines.

Heartland home wrecker. Watch this: a house literally sucked up into a tornado.

And camera phones, cool tool or invasion of your privacy? Congress moves against video voyeurs.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

We begin this hour with a day trip to Baghdad. With zero notice and almost as little fanfare, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chair Richard Myers hit the ground walking today at Baghdad International Airport. Rumsfeld denied they came, quote, "to throw water on a fire." But they did attempt to pump up the spirit of some potentially demoralized soldiers.

They also visited the prison where some soldiers apparently inflicted torment on Iraqi prisoners and untold damage on U.S. standing, at Abu Ghraib on Baghdad's far western outskirts. Rumsfeld assured the forces, quote, "we'll get through this tough period."

But it was at Camp Victory where the VIPs did their bulk of their business and where the red carpet was applied in a sea of olive drab. There Rumsfeld rallied GIs to concentrate on the big picture, not just some horrible snapshots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUMSFELD: In recent days, there's been a focus on a few who have betrayed our values and sullied the reputation of our country. Like each of you, I'm sure, and like most Americans, I was stunned. It was a body blow. And with six or seven investigations under way, and a country that has values and a military justice system that has values, we know that those involved, whoever they are, will be brought to justice.

You folks are young. I'm not. But you're going to look back on this conflict, on these debates, on these difficulties, and it's going to be a tough road ahead. We know that. It's not going to be an easy path from a repressive dictatorship to a stable, prosperous, successful country that respects all of the various religious and ethnic groups, that's at peace with its neighbors, that understands what human rights are.

That's not an easy path. It's a tough path. And there will be plenty of potholes in the road. And mistakes will get made. And people will have to be picked up and put back on that path towards a freer system. But one day you're going to look back and you're going to be proud of your service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you've been watching CNN, you may have heard General Myers quip that he and Rumsfeld were "really, really happy to be in Iraq" after the week they've had in Washington. Well, their seconds-in-command weren't so lucky today. CNN's Barbara Starr was watching how it aired on Capitol Hill from her post at the Pentagon.

Barbara, how did they do?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, let's first bring everybody up to date. We are now getting word that Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers have left Iraq and they are back in Kuwait and will be making their way back to Washington very quickly. But as they were in Iraq engaging in those public appearances with U.S. troops, a number of public appearances, back -- as you say, back on Capitol Hill their deputies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and General Pete Pace, the deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. And the questioning got very interesting. It got right down to what Congress is really interested in right now. What about these interrogation practices?

Let's listen to General Pace first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JACK REED (D-RI), ARMED SERVICES CMTE. General Pace, if you were shown a video of a United States Marine or an American citizen in the control of a foreign power in a cell block, naked with a bag over their head squatting with their arms uplifted for 45 minutes, would you describe that as a good interrogation technique or a violation of the Geneva Convention?

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHMN.: I would describe it as a violation, sir.

REED: As I read General Sanchez's guidance -- well, let me ask another question. Would your conclusion be different if it was ordered by a high ranking officer of that foreign power?

PACE: No, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: This, of course, Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and moments later he put the same basic question to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REED: Seventy-two hours without regular sleep, sensory deprivation, which would be a bag over your head for 72 hours. Do you think that's humane, putting a bag -- and that's what this says, a bag over your head for 72 hours, is that humane?

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY SECY. OF DEFENSE: Let me come back to what you said the work...

REED: No, no, answer the question, sir. Is that humane?

WOLFOWITZ: I don't know whether it means a bag over your head for 72 hours, Senator. I don't know.

REED: Mr. Secretary, you're dissembling, non-responsive. Anybody would say putting a bag over someone's head for 72 hours, which is sensory deprivation...

WOLFOWITZ: I believe it's not humane, it strikes me as not humane, Senator.

REED: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Kyra, what they are getting to here on this Senate committee is what about the so-called approved interrogation practices that U.S. soldiers are permitted to engage in? Real tough questioning now about whether those approved practices actually fall within the boundaries of the Geneva Conventions. And here at the Pentagon, top officials say some of this is a gray area, some of it is going to be resolved by the upcoming investigations. But right now, not a lot of clear answers -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, a lot of tough questions, a lot of tough answers, too. Let's talk about the war funding request. What's the latest there, Barbara? And how will all of this affect that?

STARR: Well, you know, actually, this hearing was about just that subject. It was supposed to be about the administration's request for a $25 billion, billion dollars, in additional spending to run the war in Iraq. Because now, of course, more troops there are staying longer. It is costing extra money. It's costing extra money.

The war already costing close to $5 billion a month. So the administration went back and said they need another $25 billion as soon as possible. They got a pretty lukewarm reception from the Senate Armed Services Committee in this respect, the Congress wants to give the money to support the troops, but several senators saying they don't want to write the administration what they call a blank check - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon, thank you.

Now to a gristly killing of an American in Iraq. CIA analysts say they believe they know who was behind the hood and the knife when Nicholas Berg was beheaded. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: CIA officials are saying, after doing a technical analysis of the tape, the one that shows the killing of American Nick Berg in Iraq, that they now believe that it is most likely that the person who does the talking on that tape, one of the five hooded figures who talks and subsequently is the person who actually kills Nick Berg, is in fact Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the noted terrorist leader, head of a gang that is affiliated with al Qaeda.

He is wanted in scores of attacks on Westerners in Iraq. He's also wanted for the murder of an American in Amman, Jordan, an American diplomat. There's a $10 million price on Abu Musab al- Zarqawi's head.

Now this comes as officials are saying that they are now absolutely confident that the individual who killed "Wall Street Journal" reporter Danny Pearl in Pakistan back some time ago was another top terrorist, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. This, of course, is the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He's been in CIA hands for some time now under pretty intense questioning. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Nick Berg's father says that his son just wanted to help people, not hurt anyone. Michael Berg says it wasn't that his son didn't respect danger, he says he just didn't recognize the danger in people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BERG, NICK BERG'S FATHER: Nick only saw the good in people. I'm sure that he only saw the good in his captors up to the last second of his life. My son wasn't stupid. His foreman from his company said to me yesterday, Nick was not disrespectful of danger. When he climbed these towers up 1700 feet off the ground, he was the most respectful person in the world. And he respected not only his own safety but the safety of his workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Michael Berg says the only thing on which he and his son disagreed was politics. Nick Berg was a strong supporter of President Bush, putting him at odds with his father.

Big cheers for Thomas Hamill, the American who escaped his Iraqi captors. Hamill threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Houston Astros baseball game even using his wounded arm. And the fans loved it. They gave him a standing ovation. Hamill is always quick to put the focus back on Americans in Iraq, however.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HAMILL, FMR. HOSTAGE IN IRAQ: I want to make sure that my safe return doesn't distract everyone's commitment to continue praying for our troops and the thousands of civilian contractors who risk their lives every day just like I did to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hamill was among seven American contractors who disappeared last month. The bodies of four have been found, two others remain missing.

Other news across America. The film flap involving director Michael Moore. Walt Disney has agreed to sell Moore's controversial documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" to the co-chairs of Miramax film. Terms have yet to be finalized. Disney, the parent company of Miramax, had blocked the release of that film. It criticizes President Bush's handling of September 11.

A possible pill problem for kids. A drug-maker says children's Motrin containers might actually contain adult Tylenol. The children's tablet is a purple pill with a grape smell. The adult product is a shiny red and white gelatin-coated tablet. If you think your child has taken the wrong product, call your health care provider immediately.

And in tornado alley, on this frontal clouds like this one in Kansas, storms touched off tornadoes in three south central Kansas counties overnight. Three houses in the town of Attica (ph) were destroyed. Now look closely. You can see one of them being lifted into the air right here.

Well, from weather woes to energy anxiety, gasoline prices at an all time high. And Americans are feeling the pain in their wallets when they head to the pump. CNN's Bill Tucker reports that the entire U.S. economy is definitely feeling the effects.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN FINANCIAL NEW CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): $3 a gallon is no joke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It gives me chest pains. And I even wrote the president a letter. I just dropped it off in the post office right now, I swear.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president remains concerned about rising gas prices. I think most Americans are concerned about rising gas prices.

TUCKER: Gasoline is one of the prices people take personally, for good reason. Any increase comes directly out of their pockets. The math is simple. Every penny increase in a gallon of gasoline equals $1.36 billion out of consumer pockets. Add all the petroleum products together and the penny means $3 billion. Consumers feel the pinch. Some are changing their ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I switched my gas from ultimate to regular now because I understood it is the same thing. Now I just use regular premium and save a few dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not driving as much, I'd say. I'm just not driving as much because I know I have to keep filling it up.

TUCKER: And there is another way to look at the numbers. For every penny increase in a gallon of petroleum products, $1.8 billion leaves the country and goes to foreign producers. In other words, it is not only bad for the personal economy, it hurts the American economy.

JOHN FELMY, AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: It means that we have reduced purchasing power in the United States. We can't buy as much domestically as we otherwise could. It raises our cost of production because we have to spend more on energy to produce goods and services. And it affects the trade deficit which can have negative implications on other parts of the economy.

TUCKER: How much does it add up to? Gasoline prices are now 45 cents a gallon more expensive than they were a year ago. That's $61 billion out of the economy and into gas tanks.

Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, it's a matter of life and death for millions of Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worst case scenario, I could die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Food allergies. Why are more people developing them? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the case.

Pumping up the volume to prop up sales. Musicians playing a new game to get you to buy.

And pedal power. Find out why this 80, that's right, 80-year-old is beginning the journey of a thousand-plus miles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: News around the world now. A stunning defeat. India's prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is out of a job. Voters deal his ruling coalition a huge blow in the general election. This paves the way for Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party to lead the nation.

Seeking shelter. Deposed Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is heading for South Africa. Officials there say he will get temporary refuge in the country until Haiti returns to stability. Aristide will move to South Africa with his wife and children.

And Athens, here they come. Iraq's national soccer team seen here in white is on its way to Greece after qualifying for the Olympic soccer tournament. Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 3-1 to make it to the games. Iraq's membership in the International Olympic Committee was reinstated just three months ago.

Back to the war in Iraq now, and a police station under attack in Najaf. Two militiamen belonging to the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr was killed along with two civilians. The attack was one of the latest in a city that has become a center of the Shiite resistance to the occupation. Thousands of coalition troops have been deployed to battle the insurgents.

CNN's Jane Arraf has the story of one of those frontline troops.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

SPC. 1ST CLASS JOSH DOMINA, U.S. ARMY: First time I actually had to shoot somebody.

ARRAF (on camera): (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOMINA: Yes, still is.

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

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

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

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

ARRAF: Domina and his buddies from Iron Troop thought they'd be back in the United States by now. Instead, just days from leaving Baghdad for home, the 1st Armored Division was sent south to fight the Mehdi militia. After 13 months at war, there's no sugar-coating what this is like.

Specialist Jesse Riley says he's comfortably numb.

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

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

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

DOMINA: I signed in at 6:30. It is about 8:45 right now. And they've still got about 12 names to go through.

ARRAF: They say if they couldn't sit around and complain, they'd go nuts. In the morning Domina cleans his gun, getting ready to hit the streets again.

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

ARRAF: Hopefully one day closer to being home.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Najaf, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, a prison scandal has him under fire, but he's not likely to be fired. Why the secretary of defense will likely get to keep his job.

And from bombs to bullets to Webcams and megabytes, increasingly effective tools of the trade for terrorists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: This elderly man is on a mission. 80-year-old Tony Palumbo (ph) is pedaling his bike cross country for a cause. He's riding 1500 miles from Florida to New York to raise money for an orphanage in Schenectady. Palumbo says it takes more mental preparation than physical to get ready for this ride. At the age of 70, he made a 3200-mile bike ride for another charity.

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Welcome back to the CNN Center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM... I'm Kyra Phillips. Here is what's all new this half hour. Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, how a camera and a Web site may be more effective for them than a bomb.

And when misreading the label can be fatal. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the growing problem of food allergies.

But first, the top stories we're following for you.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes a surprise visit to Baghdad accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers. Rumsfeld visited the Abu Ghraib Prison at the center of the firestorm over the abuse of prisoners. He later talked about the scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: The people who engage in abuses will be brought to justice. The world will see how a free system, a democratic system functions and operates transparently with no cover-ups, with the world seeing the fact that we're not perfect, and goodness knows we're not perfect. But don't let anyone tell you that America's what's wrong with this world, because it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost billions of dollars, now the administration says it needs lots more money. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee the administration will ask for more than $50 billion to fund the war effort next year.

The CIA believes it was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who beheaded American Nick Berg. A CIA official says it's "a high possibly that Zarqawi is the...

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