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Intelligence Reform Nears Passage; Karzai Inaugurated as Afghan President; Four Million More Flu Doses Available; Wine Merchants Argue for Fewer Interstate Restrictions
Aired December 07, 2004 - 13:00 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Intelligence reform is a step closer to reality, but what will the massive bill really do to improve America's security? We'll go in depth this hour.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: A nightmare scenario: 29 stories above the street, a high-rise fire in Chicago. We're live from the scene of the blaze.
PHILLIPS: Arson fires. Dozens of homes in a controversial development go up in smoke. Is this the work of eco-terrorists?
HARRIS: And you may finally be able to get a flu shot. A new announcement today about more vaccines.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
HARRIS: December 7 and 9/11, two dates that will live in infamy, soon to be linked in an historic overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system.
Barring some late complication, today, Pearl Harbor Day, is whether the House of Representatives will finally vote on the sprawling reform bill prompted by the attacks of 9/11. Assuming it passes, and everyone assumes it will, the Senate will vote tomorrow and the next Congress won't have to start all over again in 2005.
That's not to say every loose end is tied up. And CNN's Ed Henry looks at the ends and means and in betweens on Capitol Hill -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Tony.
That's right, a lot of lawmakers talking about this legislation, in terms of comparing it to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, in terms of moving forward and trying to prevent another catastrophe on American soil.
This is obviously something that has been debated now for months. In fact, years, three years since the 9/11 terror attacks. The 9/11 Commission report came out just this past July. The 9/11 Commission urged Congress to create a director of national intelligence, to serve as a quarterback, try to coordinate and oversee all 15 spy agencies.
And a lot of lawmakers, including Senator Bob Graham, are taking special note of the fact that today is Pearl Harbor Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Today, after a half a century, we are committed and on the verge of making some fundamental reforms that will reduce the chances of another Pearl Harbor or another 9/11 occurring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: but a lot of lawmakers are -- a lot of lawmakers up here on the Hill are also talking about what is left out and that is -- those are the immigration provisions that Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner was pushing for, tough immigration measures, trying to tighten the borders in the United States, saying it was key to also preventing another terror attack.
But that was left out. Instead, what House Republican leaders are saying is that they will bring those measures up for a vote early next year. That's a commitment both from the White House and from the Republican leaders up here.
Now, Congressman Sensenbrenner is still not quite happy with that. He wanted this to be -- his immigration provision to be part of this overall deal. And I can tell you, there was a closed-door meeting among House Republicans that went on for a couple of hours this morning, just wrapped up a short while ago.
And from people in the room, we're learning that there was a lot of division there, a lot of conservatives complaining. Dozens of them will vote against this deal in the House, saying that this is a major problem. These immigration provisions should have been included.
But House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra told CNN that this is the best deal they could get.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R-MI), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: If we waited in every -- on every bill in Washington to have the complete package done, we'd never get anything done. This is -- this is a good, solid step in the right direction, addressing many of the issues that will make America safer. But I think, you know, I think we're all agree -- it is not the complete and total package.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: They will come back, as I mentioned, next year, try to finish the job, if you will. But today, the House is expected to pass, despite the conservative concern, some conservative outrage about the immigration provisions being left out, it's still expected to pass by a wide bipartisan majority later this afternoon or early evening in the House and then either Wednesday or Thursday in the Senate -- Tony.
HARRIS: We'll be watching, Ed Henry, on Capitol Hill. Ed, thank you. We'll, of course, keep you posted on the bill's progress. And later this hour, we'll take an in-depth look at the ins and the outs of the biggest intelligence makeover in half a century.
PHILLIPS: Secret intel from the CIA. Deteriorating security in the new Iraq and minimal hopes for improvement anytime soon.
A cable from the outgoing Baghdad station chief notes Iraqi security forces are, quote, "growing in size and skill, but not quickly enough to face day in and day out insurgent attacks."
The grim assessment was first reported in "The New York Times" and confirmed by officials who have seen it. They note an on-the- record objection from the U.S. ambassador, who feels the cable understates coalition progress.
The commander in chief is saluting troops at Camp Pendleton today, home of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. As you may have seen right here live just a few minutes ago, President Bush is thanking, rallying, in some cases, and consoling Marines and Marine families who have served, will serve, and are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war on terror, you have fought enemies, freedom -- freedom's enemies from the caves and mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts and cities of Iraq.
Marines at Camp Pendleton's 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit were the first conventional forces to fight in Operation Enduring Freedom. They deployed hundreds of miles into a land-locked country, helped seize the Kandahar airport, hunted down the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, and helped to liberate more than 28 million people from one of the world's most brutal regimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Camp Pendleton has one of the highest casualty rates of any U.S. base sending forces to Iraq.
HARRIS: Afghanistan has a new president today and though he's not completely new -- he was interim president for years- -- Hamid Karzai is the first elected head of state in Afghan history.
CNN's Matthew Chance has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was a crucial day for the new Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has led the country since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. He now becomes the first directly elected Afghan president to be sworn in.
HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT, AFGHANISTAN: Whatever we have achieved in Afghanistan, the peace, the elections, the reconstruction, the life that the Afghans are living today in peace, the kids, children, going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community is for the help that the United States of America gave us.
CHANCE: And senior figures in the U.S. administration came with their support.
Afghanistan may have a new leader, but the country is racked by the same old problems. Osama bin Laden is still at large. The Taliban are resurgent. And heroin production is now rampant. It will be a testing future.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever challenges may come, the people of Afghanistan can count on the friendship and support of the people of the United States.
President Bush and I have confidence in the future of a free Afghanistan, because we have immense respect for its people and for the leader they have chosen. In his life as an Afghan patriot, President Karzai has taken incredible personal risk.
CHANCE: And the risk has reaped his reward. Hamid Karzai has achieved what no other Afghan leader could, securing the mandate of the Afghan people. What he does with it may be the real test.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Sign a form, get a shot. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson today announced some four million doses of so-called investigational flu vaccine are coming to the U.S. from Germany.
Investigational because the new serum, unlike the shots Americans have gotten for decades, hasn't been formally approved here, which also means recipients will have to sign consent forms. But the German vaccines have passed FDA inspection, and they do help reduce a gaping shortfall.
Here's CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Earlier today, Tommy Thompson said that the U.S. government has purchased four million doses of flu shots to give to Americans.
Now, they were made in a plant in Germany, but Thompson says that they've been inspected. The plant's been inspected, and that the shots are safe and that they are effective. T
Now, these four million doses still won't make up for the shortfall. The U.S. this flu season had expected 100 million doses of flu shots. And even with these extra four, still only brings it up to 62 million doses.
Now this year's flu season has been relatively mild. It's had a pretty slow start. But officials at the World Health Organization are warning about a flu pandemic coming up in the next years to come. Now, the reason why they can't give a year, they can't predict. But they say that it's definitely time.
Let's take a lock at the pandemics that have happened in the past. For example, you have the Spanish Flu, when 500,000 Americans were killed. And that was in 1918.
In 1957, the Asian Flu killed 70,000 Americans. In 1968, the Hong Kong Flu killed 34,000 Americans.
Now, pandemics tend to happen about every 20 to 30 years. Now, you might say, gee, what's the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic? There's no one good number that tells you the difference. But here is the definition of a pandemic.
A pandemic is an epidemic occurring over a very wide area, several countries or continents, and usually affecting a large proportion of the population.
A pandemic happens when there's a flu virus that is so genetically different from the flu viruses that came in previous years that people's immune systems don't know what to do with the virus, and it has a very high rate of making people very sick and of killing people.
Now, one of the flus that people are particularly concerned about now is the Avian Flu. That's a flu that went from birds to humans in Asia, making 40 people sick.
The good news, however, is that there has not been widespread human-to-human transmission, in fact, there's only been one suspected case. In order to have a pandemic, you have to have truly large-scale human-to-human transmission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we've got a double dose of Elizabeth Cohen. She'll be back later on LIVE FROM to talk about why your boss might be happier if you actually do call in sick.
A tense hostage situation. A boy held at knifepoint. We're going to show you how police resolved it, straight ahead.
Arson is suspected in fires that burned millions of dollars worth of homes in Maryland. Find out what investigators are digging up, straight ahead.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just pointed it, and he aimed at him and shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy, is that the most dangerous job on the planet? Thompson's now in the hospital for a gunshot wound to the shoulder. He's been charged with one count of robbery. As for the quick draw clerk, no injuries, no charges. By the way, Karen Smith says she'd never fired a gun before in her life.
Investigators are looking for the cause a frightening high-rise blaze in a downtown Chicago office building yesterday. The fire burned for more than five hours and sent 37 people to the hospital. Incredibly, no one was killed. And today there is plenty of praise for firefighters who risked their lives to save others.
Reporter Darlene Hill is with WFLD in Chicago. And she joins us with more on a story that is not lacking for drama -- Darlene.
DARLENE HILL, WFLD REPORTER: All right, Tony. Here's the latest on what's going on here in Chicago.
Fire investigators spent the morning going through that building, that's located right down here in the loop. They didn't find any victims or any more survivors. So now their investigation will shift as they try to determine how that blaze began and whether or not that building is structurally sound.
The owners of that building would apparently like to open up that building by the end of the week. It is closed for sure today and tomorrow.
Here's a look at some of the video that was shot. The fire started on the 29th floor of a major bank building here in the city of Chicago. It was a 511, and the second major high-rise fire in just over a year here in the city.
Now usually, during the day there are about 3,000 people working in that building. But because the fire happened about 6:30 yesterday evening, there were only 500 people there. All of them got out safely. Nearly three dozen people were taken to hospitals throughout the Chicago area.
Now, the 35-story building was built back in 1934 and had no working sprinkler systems. And because of the criticism -- criticism after a county building fire that we had last year in Chicago, where six people were killed, fire officials put into plan a number of procedures to make sure that what happened last year here in Chicago, where six people were killed, does not happen again.
Back to you in the studio.
HARRIS: Hey, Darlene, talk to us about those firefighters. They're always incredibly brave. In this case, they really went above and beyond, didn't they?
HILL: Surely. If you look at the video, you can tell that there were hard-working firefighters out here last night. They apparently had about 325 firefighters out here in the city of Chicago, so many on this site of the fire that they had to call in firefighters from the suburbs to try to work the other stations that they left vacant.
A lot -- as you said, a lot of people here in the city of Chicago are talking about the fine work that the Chicago firefighters did. And of course, as we said, this is the first time that they actually had to put a plan into action where they put in some new procedures so that more people are not killed in some of these old buildings in Chicago.
HARRIS: Wow. Amazing. Darlene Hill reporting from Chicago for us. Darlene, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Fire is also the headline in Charles County, Maryland, today. Forty-one homes were damaged or destroyed by fires early Monday in this upscale development. Total losses are estimated at $10 million.
And now a federal task force has been called in to investigate what may be a massive case of arson.
Our law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks, has more on the probe, what's been found and who could be a suspect.
What's the latest on the investigation?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I just got off the phone with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Mike Campbell, who says that they are gathering evidence right now. They're doing a canvass of the neighborhood to find out if anyone saw anything, heard anything at all. But they still do not have a motive.
You've got the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives. You've got the Charles County sheriff's office, Maryland state fire marshal's office, and the FBI's joint terrorism task force. They're on the scene, trying to figure out a motive for this horrendous fire.
PHILLIPS: All right. Motives for arson, we put together this graphic, top six reasons.
BROOKS: Right. Vandalism, excitement, revenge, crime concealment, profit, and extremism. They still do not know which one of these six motives for arson is involved in these particular fires.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about extremism and -- and eco- terrorism, because that's come up. It hasn't been tied to this yet. But it's interesting, the tactics.
BROOKS: It's very interesting, the tactics. There were some conservation groups that were against the building of this. Actually, it was two adjacent subdivisions. Forty-one houses in total were damaged or destroyed.
They were against this because they said it would hurt the wetlands. Now, we cannot say if it is eco-terrorism or not. But law enforcement sources close to the investigation tell me that that is one of the things that they are looking at, eco-terrorism.
We look at groups -- the biggest group that comes to mind, and the FBI calls then the most dangerous domestic terrorism group in the country, is the Earth Liberation Front. They have claimed a number of fires.
And the one before this, this is $10 million, but you go out in the number of years ago, in Vail, Colorado, they destroyed a development out there. It was a building they were building, $17 million in damage.
And if you look at arson it accounts annually for $1.3 million in property damage annually, Kyra. That's, you know, is unbelievable.
PHILLIPS: Looking at the Vail, Colorado, fires, we're seeing the destruction here. I was reading a quote. And it said, "You can't argue with the result. The results have been very positive." This is someone speaking from the Animal Liberation Front. ELF, ALF, I guess it's pretty much the same thing, right?
BROOKS: They're synonymous.
PHILLIPS: She goes on to say, "Time and time again, when money is lost, when profits decrease by economic sabotage, the response is that the abusers stop what they're doing." Is that true?
BROOKS: A lot of times, it's an intimidation factor. You look at the ELF, the Earth Liberation Front, or ALF, the Animal Liberation Front, they have the same kind of tactics: arson, intimidation.
Though a lot of people say, "Well, they're not hurting anyone, it's only property damage." But law enforcement sources tell me and I can tell you, as a former member of the joint terrorism task force, that it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or killed by these terrorist groups.
PHILLIPS: The tactics, the evidence retrieved from the fires in Maryland, is it matching up with ELF tactics?
BROOKS: There is -- some of the devices they found, if you will, are jugs with accelerant in them. Some of them didn't go off. They -- they were able to gather them up. They are taking them to the ATF lab.
But sources tell me that they are not indicative -- they're not signature devices that you usually see groups like the ALF or the Animal Liberation Front using. So, you know, whether or not it's linked to either ELF or any other eco-terrorist group, is still early in the investigation. But they still haven't ruled out any of those six motives, including eco-terrorism.
PHILLIPS: OK. As we saw that, we've got to talk about some other video that was pretty compelling that we saw today out of Thailand. We're going to totally switch gears here. But you used to be a negotiator.
BROOKS: Right.
PHILLIPS: And you used to deal with hostages. Just looking at this video and this little boy, let's talk about how this went down and what happened?
BROOKS: It's -- you know, you can't hear exactly what the person who's holding this little boy holding by the knife -- you look at this picture, you say, "Oh, my God, you know, how could anyone ever get out of this?"
Well, you know, he seems to let his guard down just a little bit. They used rubber bullets to go ahead and shoot at him. He dropped the knife and he ran into the crowd, and we see what the result is.
Here in the United States, you would see probably a little more of a perimeter set up. But still a dangerous situation for that person who was holding there at knifepoint. Whether it was someone who had an altered mental status, what exactly the reason that he was holding that boy at knifepoint is not known.
PHILLIPS: Why rubber bullets? Because you would think is a sniper -- a sniper could have been on one of those buildings.
BROOKS: Right.
PHILLIPS: It seemed like a SWAT sniper, and boy, you could have just tagged him on the side of the head or...
BROOKS: You could, but you look around him. I mean, there was -- if a round -- if a round had gone past that, it would have hit someone there. Because they didn't have any perimeter set up like you would probably see here in the United States, with a professional, you know, emergency response team or SWAT team.
The negotiators would come up, attempt to talk this person into letting them go. We don't know what the motive for this was. You know, many times, sometimes things like this happen, and it could be victim-precipitated homicide or suicide by cop. Maybe he didn't mean to harm that child.
PHILLIPS: But he wanted to be killed.
BROOKS: But he wanted to be killed, and he wanted the police to do it because he couldn't bring himself to do it.
But again, a very, very dangerous situation here. And right at that particular point it didn't look like a sniper shot would have been the prudent way to go in that particular point.
But at the end of the day, the boy got out alive. It was a successful job for those law enforcement officers from Thailand.
PHILLIPS: All right. Mike Brooks, thanks so much.
BROOKS: Kyra, good to be with you.
PHILLIPS: All right. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excellent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't it?
PHILLIPS: A superb vintage is a case for the Supreme Court. Wineries fight for your right to party, or at least have the bottle shipped right to your door from another state.
Later on LIVE FROM...
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I hope that they will come out of that meeting with an agreement.
PHILLIPS: ... steroid scandal. Will major leaguers hammer out a plan to deal with it? Or will the federal government have to step up to the plate?
Also ahead on LIVE FROM, after Leonardo DiCaprio, he's playing high-flying billionaire Howard Hughes, and he's doing the LIVE FROM interview next hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, e-commerce squaring off now a prohibition at the U.S. Supreme Court today. Justices heard arguments in a case challenging a state's right to ban residents from buying wine directly from out of state sources.
CNN's David Mattingly has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Connoisseurs with a special taste for the grape may find it difficult to purchase their favorite California wines. Twenty-four states prohibit direct alcohol sales from out of state sources.
But a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, with the wine industry, targeting laws in New York, Florida, and Michigan, could change that.
TRACY GENESSEN, COUNCIL FOR FREE TRADE: We will be able to use that decision in state legislatures around the country to indicate that the court is promoting a free and open market in these 50 states.
MATTINGLY: The growth of the Internet brought the issue to a head, as more and more customers try to point and click their way into virtual wine shops and liquor stores.
Direct sales bypass local distributors. They're the middlemen who argue that direct purchases lack control and could lead to more underage drinking.
Going online, I did find that it's easy to get, so long as you're not in a hurry and price is no object. In one case, shipping costs more than doubled the total bill, and it took more than a week before the purchases were delivered to my doorstep. The packages, however, were also left without a signature or I.D. check, a point opponents make with their own demonstrations.
JOHN FITZPATRICK, WHOLESALERS INDUSTRY GROUP: You would think all the check and balances are not in place. But they weren't. The truck driver simply left this on the step and went on to the next job.
MATTINGLY: According to wine industry analysts, a favorable ruling could be a boon to small wineries whose products aren't carried by distributors. But they say the sales increase would only be a small bump to total industry sales, already exceeding $20 billion.
David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: A federal jury has ruled that the September 11 terrorism attacks on New York's Twin Towers were two separate occurrences, a big deal. To explain the importance of that ruling, we turn to Rhonda Schaffler, who joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange.
Hi, Rhonda.
(STOCK REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired December 7, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Intelligence reform is a step closer to reality, but what will the massive bill really do to improve America's security? We'll go in depth this hour.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: A nightmare scenario: 29 stories above the street, a high-rise fire in Chicago. We're live from the scene of the blaze.
PHILLIPS: Arson fires. Dozens of homes in a controversial development go up in smoke. Is this the work of eco-terrorists?
HARRIS: And you may finally be able to get a flu shot. A new announcement today about more vaccines.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
HARRIS: December 7 and 9/11, two dates that will live in infamy, soon to be linked in an historic overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system.
Barring some late complication, today, Pearl Harbor Day, is whether the House of Representatives will finally vote on the sprawling reform bill prompted by the attacks of 9/11. Assuming it passes, and everyone assumes it will, the Senate will vote tomorrow and the next Congress won't have to start all over again in 2005.
That's not to say every loose end is tied up. And CNN's Ed Henry looks at the ends and means and in betweens on Capitol Hill -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Tony.
That's right, a lot of lawmakers talking about this legislation, in terms of comparing it to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, in terms of moving forward and trying to prevent another catastrophe on American soil.
This is obviously something that has been debated now for months. In fact, years, three years since the 9/11 terror attacks. The 9/11 Commission report came out just this past July. The 9/11 Commission urged Congress to create a director of national intelligence, to serve as a quarterback, try to coordinate and oversee all 15 spy agencies.
And a lot of lawmakers, including Senator Bob Graham, are taking special note of the fact that today is Pearl Harbor Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Today, after a half a century, we are committed and on the verge of making some fundamental reforms that will reduce the chances of another Pearl Harbor or another 9/11 occurring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: but a lot of lawmakers are -- a lot of lawmakers up here on the Hill are also talking about what is left out and that is -- those are the immigration provisions that Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner was pushing for, tough immigration measures, trying to tighten the borders in the United States, saying it was key to also preventing another terror attack.
But that was left out. Instead, what House Republican leaders are saying is that they will bring those measures up for a vote early next year. That's a commitment both from the White House and from the Republican leaders up here.
Now, Congressman Sensenbrenner is still not quite happy with that. He wanted this to be -- his immigration provision to be part of this overall deal. And I can tell you, there was a closed-door meeting among House Republicans that went on for a couple of hours this morning, just wrapped up a short while ago.
And from people in the room, we're learning that there was a lot of division there, a lot of conservatives complaining. Dozens of them will vote against this deal in the House, saying that this is a major problem. These immigration provisions should have been included.
But House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra told CNN that this is the best deal they could get.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R-MI), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: If we waited in every -- on every bill in Washington to have the complete package done, we'd never get anything done. This is -- this is a good, solid step in the right direction, addressing many of the issues that will make America safer. But I think, you know, I think we're all agree -- it is not the complete and total package.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: They will come back, as I mentioned, next year, try to finish the job, if you will. But today, the House is expected to pass, despite the conservative concern, some conservative outrage about the immigration provisions being left out, it's still expected to pass by a wide bipartisan majority later this afternoon or early evening in the House and then either Wednesday or Thursday in the Senate -- Tony.
HARRIS: We'll be watching, Ed Henry, on Capitol Hill. Ed, thank you. We'll, of course, keep you posted on the bill's progress. And later this hour, we'll take an in-depth look at the ins and the outs of the biggest intelligence makeover in half a century.
PHILLIPS: Secret intel from the CIA. Deteriorating security in the new Iraq and minimal hopes for improvement anytime soon.
A cable from the outgoing Baghdad station chief notes Iraqi security forces are, quote, "growing in size and skill, but not quickly enough to face day in and day out insurgent attacks."
The grim assessment was first reported in "The New York Times" and confirmed by officials who have seen it. They note an on-the- record objection from the U.S. ambassador, who feels the cable understates coalition progress.
The commander in chief is saluting troops at Camp Pendleton today, home of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. As you may have seen right here live just a few minutes ago, President Bush is thanking, rallying, in some cases, and consoling Marines and Marine families who have served, will serve, and are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war on terror, you have fought enemies, freedom -- freedom's enemies from the caves and mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts and cities of Iraq.
Marines at Camp Pendleton's 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit were the first conventional forces to fight in Operation Enduring Freedom. They deployed hundreds of miles into a land-locked country, helped seize the Kandahar airport, hunted down the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, and helped to liberate more than 28 million people from one of the world's most brutal regimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Camp Pendleton has one of the highest casualty rates of any U.S. base sending forces to Iraq.
HARRIS: Afghanistan has a new president today and though he's not completely new -- he was interim president for years- -- Hamid Karzai is the first elected head of state in Afghan history.
CNN's Matthew Chance has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was a crucial day for the new Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has led the country since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. He now becomes the first directly elected Afghan president to be sworn in.
HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT, AFGHANISTAN: Whatever we have achieved in Afghanistan, the peace, the elections, the reconstruction, the life that the Afghans are living today in peace, the kids, children, going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community is for the help that the United States of America gave us.
CHANCE: And senior figures in the U.S. administration came with their support.
Afghanistan may have a new leader, but the country is racked by the same old problems. Osama bin Laden is still at large. The Taliban are resurgent. And heroin production is now rampant. It will be a testing future.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever challenges may come, the people of Afghanistan can count on the friendship and support of the people of the United States.
President Bush and I have confidence in the future of a free Afghanistan, because we have immense respect for its people and for the leader they have chosen. In his life as an Afghan patriot, President Karzai has taken incredible personal risk.
CHANCE: And the risk has reaped his reward. Hamid Karzai has achieved what no other Afghan leader could, securing the mandate of the Afghan people. What he does with it may be the real test.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Sign a form, get a shot. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson today announced some four million doses of so-called investigational flu vaccine are coming to the U.S. from Germany.
Investigational because the new serum, unlike the shots Americans have gotten for decades, hasn't been formally approved here, which also means recipients will have to sign consent forms. But the German vaccines have passed FDA inspection, and they do help reduce a gaping shortfall.
Here's CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Earlier today, Tommy Thompson said that the U.S. government has purchased four million doses of flu shots to give to Americans.
Now, they were made in a plant in Germany, but Thompson says that they've been inspected. The plant's been inspected, and that the shots are safe and that they are effective. T
Now, these four million doses still won't make up for the shortfall. The U.S. this flu season had expected 100 million doses of flu shots. And even with these extra four, still only brings it up to 62 million doses.
Now this year's flu season has been relatively mild. It's had a pretty slow start. But officials at the World Health Organization are warning about a flu pandemic coming up in the next years to come. Now, the reason why they can't give a year, they can't predict. But they say that it's definitely time.
Let's take a lock at the pandemics that have happened in the past. For example, you have the Spanish Flu, when 500,000 Americans were killed. And that was in 1918.
In 1957, the Asian Flu killed 70,000 Americans. In 1968, the Hong Kong Flu killed 34,000 Americans.
Now, pandemics tend to happen about every 20 to 30 years. Now, you might say, gee, what's the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic? There's no one good number that tells you the difference. But here is the definition of a pandemic.
A pandemic is an epidemic occurring over a very wide area, several countries or continents, and usually affecting a large proportion of the population.
A pandemic happens when there's a flu virus that is so genetically different from the flu viruses that came in previous years that people's immune systems don't know what to do with the virus, and it has a very high rate of making people very sick and of killing people.
Now, one of the flus that people are particularly concerned about now is the Avian Flu. That's a flu that went from birds to humans in Asia, making 40 people sick.
The good news, however, is that there has not been widespread human-to-human transmission, in fact, there's only been one suspected case. In order to have a pandemic, you have to have truly large-scale human-to-human transmission.
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PHILLIPS: And we've got a double dose of Elizabeth Cohen. She'll be back later on LIVE FROM to talk about why your boss might be happier if you actually do call in sick.
A tense hostage situation. A boy held at knifepoint. We're going to show you how police resolved it, straight ahead.
Arson is suspected in fires that burned millions of dollars worth of homes in Maryland. Find out what investigators are digging up, straight ahead.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just pointed it, and he aimed at him and shot.
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HARRIS: Boy, is that the most dangerous job on the planet? Thompson's now in the hospital for a gunshot wound to the shoulder. He's been charged with one count of robbery. As for the quick draw clerk, no injuries, no charges. By the way, Karen Smith says she'd never fired a gun before in her life.
Investigators are looking for the cause a frightening high-rise blaze in a downtown Chicago office building yesterday. The fire burned for more than five hours and sent 37 people to the hospital. Incredibly, no one was killed. And today there is plenty of praise for firefighters who risked their lives to save others.
Reporter Darlene Hill is with WFLD in Chicago. And she joins us with more on a story that is not lacking for drama -- Darlene.
DARLENE HILL, WFLD REPORTER: All right, Tony. Here's the latest on what's going on here in Chicago.
Fire investigators spent the morning going through that building, that's located right down here in the loop. They didn't find any victims or any more survivors. So now their investigation will shift as they try to determine how that blaze began and whether or not that building is structurally sound.
The owners of that building would apparently like to open up that building by the end of the week. It is closed for sure today and tomorrow.
Here's a look at some of the video that was shot. The fire started on the 29th floor of a major bank building here in the city of Chicago. It was a 511, and the second major high-rise fire in just over a year here in the city.
Now usually, during the day there are about 3,000 people working in that building. But because the fire happened about 6:30 yesterday evening, there were only 500 people there. All of them got out safely. Nearly three dozen people were taken to hospitals throughout the Chicago area.
Now, the 35-story building was built back in 1934 and had no working sprinkler systems. And because of the criticism -- criticism after a county building fire that we had last year in Chicago, where six people were killed, fire officials put into plan a number of procedures to make sure that what happened last year here in Chicago, where six people were killed, does not happen again.
Back to you in the studio.
HARRIS: Hey, Darlene, talk to us about those firefighters. They're always incredibly brave. In this case, they really went above and beyond, didn't they?
HILL: Surely. If you look at the video, you can tell that there were hard-working firefighters out here last night. They apparently had about 325 firefighters out here in the city of Chicago, so many on this site of the fire that they had to call in firefighters from the suburbs to try to work the other stations that they left vacant.
A lot -- as you said, a lot of people here in the city of Chicago are talking about the fine work that the Chicago firefighters did. And of course, as we said, this is the first time that they actually had to put a plan into action where they put in some new procedures so that more people are not killed in some of these old buildings in Chicago.
HARRIS: Wow. Amazing. Darlene Hill reporting from Chicago for us. Darlene, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Fire is also the headline in Charles County, Maryland, today. Forty-one homes were damaged or destroyed by fires early Monday in this upscale development. Total losses are estimated at $10 million.
And now a federal task force has been called in to investigate what may be a massive case of arson.
Our law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks, has more on the probe, what's been found and who could be a suspect.
What's the latest on the investigation?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I just got off the phone with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Mike Campbell, who says that they are gathering evidence right now. They're doing a canvass of the neighborhood to find out if anyone saw anything, heard anything at all. But they still do not have a motive.
You've got the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives. You've got the Charles County sheriff's office, Maryland state fire marshal's office, and the FBI's joint terrorism task force. They're on the scene, trying to figure out a motive for this horrendous fire.
PHILLIPS: All right. Motives for arson, we put together this graphic, top six reasons.
BROOKS: Right. Vandalism, excitement, revenge, crime concealment, profit, and extremism. They still do not know which one of these six motives for arson is involved in these particular fires.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about extremism and -- and eco- terrorism, because that's come up. It hasn't been tied to this yet. But it's interesting, the tactics.
BROOKS: It's very interesting, the tactics. There were some conservation groups that were against the building of this. Actually, it was two adjacent subdivisions. Forty-one houses in total were damaged or destroyed.
They were against this because they said it would hurt the wetlands. Now, we cannot say if it is eco-terrorism or not. But law enforcement sources close to the investigation tell me that that is one of the things that they are looking at, eco-terrorism.
We look at groups -- the biggest group that comes to mind, and the FBI calls then the most dangerous domestic terrorism group in the country, is the Earth Liberation Front. They have claimed a number of fires.
And the one before this, this is $10 million, but you go out in the number of years ago, in Vail, Colorado, they destroyed a development out there. It was a building they were building, $17 million in damage.
And if you look at arson it accounts annually for $1.3 million in property damage annually, Kyra. That's, you know, is unbelievable.
PHILLIPS: Looking at the Vail, Colorado, fires, we're seeing the destruction here. I was reading a quote. And it said, "You can't argue with the result. The results have been very positive." This is someone speaking from the Animal Liberation Front. ELF, ALF, I guess it's pretty much the same thing, right?
BROOKS: They're synonymous.
PHILLIPS: She goes on to say, "Time and time again, when money is lost, when profits decrease by economic sabotage, the response is that the abusers stop what they're doing." Is that true?
BROOKS: A lot of times, it's an intimidation factor. You look at the ELF, the Earth Liberation Front, or ALF, the Animal Liberation Front, they have the same kind of tactics: arson, intimidation.
Though a lot of people say, "Well, they're not hurting anyone, it's only property damage." But law enforcement sources tell me and I can tell you, as a former member of the joint terrorism task force, that it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or killed by these terrorist groups.
PHILLIPS: The tactics, the evidence retrieved from the fires in Maryland, is it matching up with ELF tactics?
BROOKS: There is -- some of the devices they found, if you will, are jugs with accelerant in them. Some of them didn't go off. They -- they were able to gather them up. They are taking them to the ATF lab.
But sources tell me that they are not indicative -- they're not signature devices that you usually see groups like the ALF or the Animal Liberation Front using. So, you know, whether or not it's linked to either ELF or any other eco-terrorist group, is still early in the investigation. But they still haven't ruled out any of those six motives, including eco-terrorism.
PHILLIPS: OK. As we saw that, we've got to talk about some other video that was pretty compelling that we saw today out of Thailand. We're going to totally switch gears here. But you used to be a negotiator.
BROOKS: Right.
PHILLIPS: And you used to deal with hostages. Just looking at this video and this little boy, let's talk about how this went down and what happened?
BROOKS: It's -- you know, you can't hear exactly what the person who's holding this little boy holding by the knife -- you look at this picture, you say, "Oh, my God, you know, how could anyone ever get out of this?"
Well, you know, he seems to let his guard down just a little bit. They used rubber bullets to go ahead and shoot at him. He dropped the knife and he ran into the crowd, and we see what the result is.
Here in the United States, you would see probably a little more of a perimeter set up. But still a dangerous situation for that person who was holding there at knifepoint. Whether it was someone who had an altered mental status, what exactly the reason that he was holding that boy at knifepoint is not known.
PHILLIPS: Why rubber bullets? Because you would think is a sniper -- a sniper could have been on one of those buildings.
BROOKS: Right.
PHILLIPS: It seemed like a SWAT sniper, and boy, you could have just tagged him on the side of the head or...
BROOKS: You could, but you look around him. I mean, there was -- if a round -- if a round had gone past that, it would have hit someone there. Because they didn't have any perimeter set up like you would probably see here in the United States, with a professional, you know, emergency response team or SWAT team.
The negotiators would come up, attempt to talk this person into letting them go. We don't know what the motive for this was. You know, many times, sometimes things like this happen, and it could be victim-precipitated homicide or suicide by cop. Maybe he didn't mean to harm that child.
PHILLIPS: But he wanted to be killed.
BROOKS: But he wanted to be killed, and he wanted the police to do it because he couldn't bring himself to do it.
But again, a very, very dangerous situation here. And right at that particular point it didn't look like a sniper shot would have been the prudent way to go in that particular point.
But at the end of the day, the boy got out alive. It was a successful job for those law enforcement officers from Thailand.
PHILLIPS: All right. Mike Brooks, thanks so much.
BROOKS: Kyra, good to be with you.
PHILLIPS: All right. More LIVE FROM right after this.
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PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excellent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't it?
PHILLIPS: A superb vintage is a case for the Supreme Court. Wineries fight for your right to party, or at least have the bottle shipped right to your door from another state.
Later on LIVE FROM...
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I hope that they will come out of that meeting with an agreement.
PHILLIPS: ... steroid scandal. Will major leaguers hammer out a plan to deal with it? Or will the federal government have to step up to the plate?
Also ahead on LIVE FROM, after Leonardo DiCaprio, he's playing high-flying billionaire Howard Hughes, and he's doing the LIVE FROM interview next hour.
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PHILLIPS: Well, e-commerce squaring off now a prohibition at the U.S. Supreme Court today. Justices heard arguments in a case challenging a state's right to ban residents from buying wine directly from out of state sources.
CNN's David Mattingly has more.
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DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Connoisseurs with a special taste for the grape may find it difficult to purchase their favorite California wines. Twenty-four states prohibit direct alcohol sales from out of state sources.
But a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, with the wine industry, targeting laws in New York, Florida, and Michigan, could change that.
TRACY GENESSEN, COUNCIL FOR FREE TRADE: We will be able to use that decision in state legislatures around the country to indicate that the court is promoting a free and open market in these 50 states.
MATTINGLY: The growth of the Internet brought the issue to a head, as more and more customers try to point and click their way into virtual wine shops and liquor stores.
Direct sales bypass local distributors. They're the middlemen who argue that direct purchases lack control and could lead to more underage drinking.
Going online, I did find that it's easy to get, so long as you're not in a hurry and price is no object. In one case, shipping costs more than doubled the total bill, and it took more than a week before the purchases were delivered to my doorstep. The packages, however, were also left without a signature or I.D. check, a point opponents make with their own demonstrations.
JOHN FITZPATRICK, WHOLESALERS INDUSTRY GROUP: You would think all the check and balances are not in place. But they weren't. The truck driver simply left this on the step and went on to the next job.
MATTINGLY: According to wine industry analysts, a favorable ruling could be a boon to small wineries whose products aren't carried by distributors. But they say the sales increase would only be a small bump to total industry sales, already exceeding $20 billion.
David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.
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HARRIS: A federal jury has ruled that the September 11 terrorism attacks on New York's Twin Towers were two separate occurrences, a big deal. To explain the importance of that ruling, we turn to Rhonda Schaffler, who joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange.
Hi, Rhonda.
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