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Attorney General John Aschcroft Resigns

Aired December 10, 2004 - 13:30   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, CNN ANCHOR: It's a matter of life or death for the jury in the Scott Peterson case. Deliberations continue today and jurors must ultimately recommend life in prison without parole or the death penalty for Peterson.
The same jury convicted him of double murder last month.

The president continues restocking his cabinet. Today he nominated Samuel Bodman to succeed Spencer Abraham as energy secretary. Bodman is currently deputy secretary of the treasury and has also served as deputy secretary of commerce.

At this morning's news conference, Mr. Bush also vowed to use his second term to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy.

Another cabinet member officially rides off into the sunset. Attorney general, John Ashcroft's, farewell speech this morning was full of praise for his employees.

He says terrorists have not struck inside the U.S. in almost three years thanks to the relentless efforts of the justice department. Ashcroft warned al Qaeda "has not lost its thirst for American blood," though.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'll tell you what. If Donald Rumsfeld thought he took flack from his own troops on the armor shortage in Iraq, that was a lovefest compared to the fallout on Capitol Hill.

In the wake of Rumsfeld's town hall meeting on Wednesday, with Iraq-bound forces in Kuwait, members of Congress from both parties, but especially Democrats, are appalled at what they heard, in particular, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Here's house minority leader, Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: To compare the army we have with the army we want is irrelevant. The secretary, as the secretary of defense, is charged with making sure that the army we have has what it needs before we send it into harm's way.

And that is certainly more true in a war of choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Republicans are demanding answers, too, among them both senators from the home state of Rumsfeld's questioner, Tennessee. More about him and the question itself from Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We now know the armor question was prompted, if not dictated, by a newspaper reporter who was frustrated that Rumsfeld wasn't taking questions from the media.

Edward Lee Pitts of the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" admitted his role in an e-mail to colleagues, not to his readers. And his boss now says that was wrong.

Joining us with his take on all of this, "Washington Post" reporter, media analyst and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," Howard Kurtz.

Howard, you and I have been talking a lot about this. It created quite a stir in the newsroom here yesterday. What was the reaction at the "Washington Post" when this first came out?

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Well, it was very split. Some people were saying this was an outrageous thing for a journalist to have done, to have planted a question. You know, I'm concerned about it because it was kind of stage managing the news, almost manufacturing the news.

Had Pitts not asked the soldier to ask that question, that moment, which was replayed so often on television, landed on many front pages across the country, would not have happened.

On the other hand, a lot of people were saying, saying, well look, he's an ingenious guy. When you find a creative way to get Rumsfeld to answer -- it was obviously a legitimate question about the state of the army -- and Rumsfeld's response obviously made big news.

PHILLIPS: And obviously it brings up the issue of being embedded. You obviously make friends within a unit or a squadron. You see what they're going through firsthand.

Do you think this -- looking at how it is to this point and not having the chance to talk to the reporter yet -- but does it look like it was sort of, 'OK, I was frustrated.

I couldn't ask the questions. I couldn't tell the story maybe the way I wanted to, so I had to do this for the sake of the world knowing what's really going on? Or was this more of a, I kind of want attention for creating a little bit of a storm?'

KURTZ: Well, I don't think Pitts wanted all this attention because the e-mail leaked out, the one in which he boasted about being the brains behind the question. But I think, you know, when you are embedded, when you are traveling, living, sleeping, eating with the troops. Your life, your safety is dependent on their firepower, you develop a cozy relationship.

And in fairness, though, I talked to the editor of the Chattanooga paper, Tom Griscom, former Reagan White House aide, who said that not only was this a legitimate question but that people in the unit with which Pitts was embedded were concerned about this question of vehicles that were not armored and feeling that they were vulnerable.

In fact Pitts had written a story on the very subject last week. So, I think their view of it is that he was just helping facilitate a concern that these soldiers already had and, after all, the question got a cheer from the assembled troops.

On the other hand, the failure to disclose it in the story -- if I ask somebody to ask a question, and then I write a story about it as if this happened spontaneously, and I don't disclose my role -- I think that is a journalistic breach.

PHILLIPS: That's interesting. So, he should -- it should have been set up from --

You mean the soldier should have said, I was talking with the reporter, the reporter suggested that I ask this question...

KURTZ: No, no. I think the soldier should have said it. I think Edward Lee Pitts in writing his story for the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" should have disclosed in the story that he played a role.

I faced a situation in Bob Dole's '96 campaign. I was in a New York deli where the candidate was about to come in. I was sitting with a woman who said she was concerned about Dole's position on abortion.

And I kind of blurted out, well, here he comes now. Why don't you ask him? And she did.

I didn't suggest the question. But I was nervous enough about that, that I mentioned in my story that I had inadvertently played a role.

I think that's what Pitts should have done, and I think the Chattanooga paper now recognizes that disclosure, at the very least, was what they should have done in this situation.

PHILLIPS: Howard, let me toss out one more thing. I remember months ago we were trying to pursue a story about a mom and a dad. Their son sent them an e-mail from Iraq saying, we don't have enough armor. Could you police solicit police stations across the country to donate vests and send them overseas so we can protect ourselves.

We can put them on the bottom of the cabs in the trucks, or whatever, to protect us from IEDs. Well, we tried to pursue the story. It came out in the "New York Times."

And then the mom and the dad said, oops we're being told not to talk about this. And boom, it was squelched.

So, obviously it's a story that someone within the military didn't want to talk about. It's a point that Pitts also makes. So, and then you have soldiers, it's not -- it's not protocol to challenge your commander in chief or your secretary of defense.

So soldiers aren't used to asking questions like this or even being allowed to ask questions like this. So...

KURTZ: Well, that's what made this so unusual and so newsworthy, Kyra. And there were other questions from other soldiers apparently not prompted by reporters that also challenged Secretary Rumsfeld in a way that he seemed surprised and thrown a little bit on the defensive.

So, I think that the Tennessee army national guardsman who asked this question, whether or not he was prompted by Pitts -- and clearly Pitts says he was -- deserves some credit for standing up to the leader of the pentagon, in front of all of his colleagues, and asking that kind of skeptical question.

And I think he touched a nerve, which is why we're seeing so much reaction, not just in the media but on Capitol Hill, as you just showed.

I just simply think that if a reporter is going to play the middleman role and whisper in the soldier's ear, that (a) I don't think that's something I would have done, (b) I certainly would have disclosed it.

PHILLIPS: Yes, manufacturing, and staging and orchestrating, I mean we learned in journalism 101 you just don't go there.

Interesting.

Howard Kurtz, thank you so much.

KURTZ: Thank you.

HARRIS: In Oslo, Norway a history history-making moment, Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to ever receive the Nobel peace prize for her work fighting for the environment and the rights of women and children.

She accepted a medal, a diploma and prize money in the amount of $1.5 million.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANGARI MAATHAI, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa and, indeed, the whole world.

I am especially mindful of women and girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: With all the problems Kenya faces, the environment may seem a relatively minor concern. But Kenya's Green Belt movement proves the opposite is true.

CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault has one woman's example of the power of planting trees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A labor of love, women planting trees on a hillside by a school. Their young samplings will one day warm its classrooms.

(SINGING)

This is more than a labor of love, this is a revolution in motion.

(SINGING)

HUNTER-GAULT (on camera): These are some of the disciples of one Wangari Maathai. They heard her message, took it to heart and took action. Now they're changing their country and their own lives in the process.

(voice-over) Almost 20 years ago, Naomi Kabura (ph) heard Maathai's call to save the environment, while becoming economically and politically empowered.

Kabura (ph) grew and harvested trees and formed an ever-growing collective with other women.

(on camera) OK, so you had them in a straight line?

(voice-over) Naomi (ph) explains in her native Kakulu (ph) that she harvests some of the trees to make firewood to warm her home in northern Kenya's cold winters. Before she had to walk long distances to forage for firewood.

(on camera) These are the ones you use to build houses, I think.

(voice-over) Naomi tells me she gave birth to three sons who now have their own houses, also built from her trees.

Naomi (ph) says she learned from the movement how important it was to strike a balance between the needs of the people and the needs of the planet.

NAOMI KABURA (PH), KENYAN (through translator): The trees are good for the air and the rain.

HUNTER-GAULT: She tells us the bulk of the trees she plants will not be harvested but will remain as forest to help clean the air and bring the rains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We uproot the (untranslated).

HUNTER-GAULT: The women of Murasu (ph) have their own tree nursery and conduct tree growing seminars as more and more women join their movement.

They've pushed back the desert that was overtaking their land and have given their men new hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the women saw that now the men all they do, the women woke up so they can talk to their men and then they can do something together.

HUNTER-GAULT: All thanks to the woman they call Africa's forest goddess, Wangari Maathai.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN, Murasu Village (ph), Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, up next, a woman helps rescue a family after their car plunges into a canal.

HARRIS: Hear her story and why she says she's no hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, at first club goers thought the man who jumped on stage for the band Damageplan was just an excited fan or part of the show. But moments later, lead guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott had been shot at least five times in the head and three others had also been killed.

As the Ohio nightclub massacre unfolded, several people grabbed cell phones and called 911.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: 9-1-1 emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the Alrosa Villa, and there's a shooting. Somebody is shooting the band on the stage.

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: Someone's shooting the band on the stage?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the stage at the Alrosa Villa. And they are screaming call 9-1-1.

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: OK, stay on the line with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh (unintelligible), they're still shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: OK. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're still shooting. The person is still loose with the gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Last night about 200 people gathered for a vigil outside the club. The suspected gunman, Nathan Gale who shot -- was shot -- by police. And police say they may never know his motive for the rampage.

Some witnesses say he was angry that Pantera, an earlier version of the band broke up. Another friend says, Gale once claimed Pantera had stolen his song lyrics.

PHILLIPS: Also across America, the fires are out, and arson investigators are chasing some leads now. Evidence from a slew of house fires in Southern Maryland is on its way to federal labs for analysis.

Officials believe more than one person was involved in torching dozens of homes in this subdivision. Among the items being looked at, accelerant containers found in woods near that site.

A messy maritime incident that's getting worse, a cargo ship ran aground in the Aleutians. It broke completely in half and is dumping fuel into the Bering Sea.

Here's the worst part, a Coast Guard helicopter sent to rescue the crew crashed overnight. Ten people were onboard, only four of them picked up so far. Wintry conditions in remote Alaska, need we say, are hampering the efforts to find the rest of the crew.

A Rhode Island TV reporter will spend the next six months confined to his home. That's the order from a judge after Jim Taricani refused to say who leak to him a FBI videotape of a politician taking a bribe. That got him a contempt of court conviction.

HARRIS: Well, we call her a hero. Everyone in South Florida calls her a hero. And a family that is complete this holiday season because of her bravery certainly does, too.

But John Zarrella found this reluctant celebrity wondering what all the fuss is about?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vicki Ragins' desk reads, ask me, I can help. But the Salvation Army thrift store cashier...

VICKI RAGINS, CASHIER, SALVATION ARMY THRIFT STORE: This one's a dollar. It's a dollar and up.

ZARRELLA: Didn't need to be asked for help on a recent Sunday morning. RAGINS: Everyone's making a big deal out of it. And I did the only natural thing that a grandmother or any mother would do. I just saw someone that needed help.

ZARRELLA: An SUV carrying a Georgia family had gone into a canal along the side of the Florida turnpike. Ragins, driving by, pulled over, went in the water and with the help of others...

RAGINS: We just started pulling the bodies out of the truck. And we got about six or seven people out.

ZARRELLA: A 13-month-old girl was the last to come out. She wasn't breathing.

RAGINS: It was wet, muddy. The baby kept sliding. I kept screaming for people to give me a tee-shirt, someone to help me. And I was saying, oh god, don't let me lose this baby. And I puffed and puffed.

ZARRELLA: Ragins revived the child, then went on her way not wanting any attention.

RAGINS: I had no make-up on. I was in my pajamas. I had, you know, tank tops and bare-footed. And I had -- I was black mud up to my knees.

ZARRELLA: Two days later at a West Palm Beach hospital, she was reunited with the Georgia family whose lives she helped save.

RAGINS: I don't feel like no hero. I saw myself on TV. I'm going to definitely go on a diet, but I don't feel -- I don't feel like a hero.

ZARRELLA: Ironically, this Salvation Army cashier hates the water and can't swim. She acted on what she says were simply the instincts of a mother.

John Zarrella, CNN, Tamarack, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: She doesn't need to go on a diet. Come on. You're a hero.

HARRIS: No, come on.

PHILLIPS: Enjoy your life.

HARRIS: And we love you for it.

PHILLIPS: All right. Brad, George, Matt, they're all back on the big screen together, you know, my buddies.

HARRIS: Your pals?

PHILLIPS: Yes, we were talking last night... HARRIS: Yes, and...

PHILLIPS: ... and they were telling me about the movie.

HARRIS: OK. Sibila Vargas sat down with the stars of "Ocean 11" sequel. Coming up in the next hour, she'll give a low down on the behind the scenes. Tisk, tisk, rumors and practical jokes.

PHILLIPS: Also coming out soon is the bio-pic "Coach Carter" with Samuel L. Jackson playing the title role. Monday, the real McCoy is in the house. We'll get the story behind the movie.

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler in New York.

I'll tell you why a possible merger between two big cell phone companies could leave you disconnected.

That's coming up on LIVE FROM. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: News around the world now, get ready for some new security measures on your next trip to Japan. A government panel has recommend fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners who enter the country.

It's part of efforts to tighten border controls and keep terrorists out. Japan's cabinet is expected to approve the recommendations next week.

Terror in Pakistan, a bomb exploded today near an Army truck in the city of Quetta. At least ten people were killed, and more than a dozen were wounded.

The bomb was hidden on a bicycle. A little known group has claimed responsibility.

And a high profile acquittal in Italy, a court has cleared prime minister, Sylvia Berlusconi of two corruption charges. If found him not guilty of one count and ruled the statute of limitations has run out on the other.

Mr. Berlusconi didn't show up for the verdict but later said his acquittal is "better late than never."

PHILLIPS: You might recall that AT&T Wireless and Cingular merged earlier this year. Now there's talk of yet another deal in the cell phone industry.

HARRIS: Make my prices cheaper, please.

Rhonda Schaffler joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange...

SCHAFFLER: More minutes, less money.

HARRIS: Yes, there you go. Hi, Rhonda.

SCHAFFLER: Keep asking for that. I'm not sure you'll get that, Tony and Kyra.

All we know for sure is that a merger mania is in when it comes to these cell phone companies. Sprint and Nextel might be in talks for a merger. Published reports say the deal could be worth over $30 billion and would create the third largest cell phone operator in the nation.

If the deal goes through, analysts say it won't be the last in the industry. They say it might prompt other wireless companies to merge because the Sprint-Nextel combination, along with industry leaders Cingular and Verizon Wireless, would control about three- quarters of the whole market.

And Nextel customers might also need to get new handsets because the two companies use different technologies.

As for what's happening here on Wall Street today, stocks are changing direction a bit. The Dow higher now by 19 points. The NASDAQ also recovering from some early lows.

That's it from Wall Street.

In the next hour of LIVE FROM, I'll tell you how Santa has been a savvy investor this year.

Kyra, Tony, see you then.

HARRIS: And there's more coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM.

What it takes to protect America's troops in Iraq.

PHILLIPS: We're going to show you what's being done to reinforce the vehicles being targeted by insurgents.

LIVE FROM's "Hour of Power" begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 December 10, 2004 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's a matter of life or death for the jury in the Scott Peterson case. Deliberations continue today and jurors must ultimately recommend life in prison without parole or the death penalty for Peterson.
The same jury convicted him of double murder last month.

The president continues restocking his cabinet. Today he nominated Samuel Bodman to succeed Spencer Abraham as energy secretary. Bodman is currently deputy secretary of the treasury and has also served as deputy secretary of commerce.

At this morning's news conference, Mr. Bush also vowed to use his second term to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy.

Another cabinet member officially rides off into the sunset. Attorney general, John Ashcroft's, farewell speech this morning was full of praise for his employees.

He says terrorists have not struck inside the U.S. in almost three years thanks to the relentless efforts of the justice department. Ashcroft warned al Qaeda "has not lost its thirst for American blood," though.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'll tell you what. If Donald Rumsfeld thought he took flack from his own troops on the armor shortage in Iraq, that was a lovefest compared to the fallout on Capitol Hill.

In the wake of Rumsfeld's town hall meeting on Wednesday, with Iraq-bound forces in Kuwait, members of Congress from both parties, but especially Democrats, are appalled at what they heard, in particular, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Here's house minority leader, Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: To compare the army we have with the army we want is irrelevant. The secretary, as the secretary of defense, is charged with making sure that the army we have has what it needs before we send it into harm's way.

And that is certainly more true in a war of choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Republicans are demanding answers, too, among them both senators from the home state of Rumsfeld's questioner, Tennessee. More about him and the question itself from Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We now know the armor question was prompted, if not dictated, by a newspaper reporter who was frustrated that Rumsfeld wasn't taking questions from the media.

Edward Lee Pitts of the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" admitted his role in an e-mail to colleagues, not to his readers. And his boss now says that was wrong.

Joining us with his take on all of this, "Washington Post" reporter, media analyst and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," Howard Kurtz.

Howard, you and I have been talking a lot about this. It created quite a stir in the newsroom here yesterday. What was the reaction at the "Washington Post" when this first came out?

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Well, it was very split. Some people were saying this was an outrageous thing for a journalist to have done, to have planted a question. You know, I'm concerned about it because it was kind of stage managing the news, almost manufacturing the news.

Had Pitts not asked the soldier to ask that question, that moment, which was replayed so often on television, landed on many front pages across the country, would not have happened.

On the other hand, a lot of people were saying, saying, well look, he's an ingenious guy. When you find a creative way to get Rumsfeld to answer -- it was obviously a legitimate question about the state of the army -- and Rumsfeld's response obviously made big news.

PHILLIPS: And obviously it brings up the issue of being embedded. You obviously make friends within a unit or a squadron. You see what they're going through firsthand.

Do you think this -- looking at how it is to this point and not having the chance to talk to the reporter yet -- but does it look like it was sort of, 'OK, I was frustrated.

I couldn't ask the questions. I couldn't tell the story maybe the way I wanted to, so I had to do this for the sake of the world knowing what's really going on? Or was this more of a, I kind of want attention for creating a little bit of a storm?'

KURTZ: Well, I don't think Pitts wanted all this attention because the e-mail leaked out, the one in which he boasted about being the brains behind the question. But I think, you know, when you are embedded, when you are traveling, living, sleeping, eating with the troops. Your life, your safety is dependent on their firepower, you develop a cozy relationship.

And in fairness, though, I talked to the editor of the Chattanooga paper, Tom Griscom, former Reagan White House aide, who said that not only was this a legitimate question but that people in the unit with which Pitts was embedded were concerned about this question of vehicles that were not armored and feeling that they were vulnerable.

In fact Pitts had written a story on the very subject last week. So, I think their view of it is that he was just helping facilitate a concern that these soldiers already had and, after all, the question got a cheer from the assembled troops.

On the other hand, the failure to disclose it in the story -- if I ask somebody to ask a question, and then I write a story about it as if this happened spontaneously, and I don't disclose my role -- I think that is a journalistic breach.

PHILLIPS: That's interesting. So, he should -- it should have been set up from --

You mean the soldier should have said, I was talking with the reporter, the reporter suggested that I ask this question...

KURTZ: No, no. I think the soldier should have said it. I think Edward Lee Pitts in writing his story for the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" should have disclosed in the story that he played a role.

I faced a situation in Bob Dole's '96 campaign. I was in a New York deli where the candidate was about to come in. I was sitting with a woman who said she was concerned about Dole's position on abortion.

And I kind of blurted out, well, here he comes now. Why don't you ask him? And she did.

I didn't suggest the question. But I was nervous enough about that, that I mentioned in my story that I had inadvertently played a role.

I think that's what Pitts should have done, and I think the Chattanooga paper now recognizes that disclosure, at the very least, was what they should have done in this situation.

PHILLIPS: Howard, let me toss out one more thing. I remember months ago we were trying to pursue a story about a mom and a dad. Their son sent them an e-mail from Iraq saying, we don't have enough armor. Could you police solicit police stations across the country to donate vests and send them overseas so we can protect ourselves.

We can put them on the bottom of the cabs in the trucks, or whatever, to protect us from IEDs. Well, we tried to pursue the story. It came out in the "New York Times."

And then the mom and the dad said, oops we're being told not to talk about this. And boom, it was squelched.

So, obviously it's a story that someone within the military didn't want to talk about. It's a point that Pitts also makes. So, and then you have soldiers, it's not -- it's not protocol to challenge your commander in chief or your secretary of defense.

So soldiers aren't used to asking questions like this or even being allowed to ask questions like this. So...

KURTZ: Well, that's what made this so unusual and so newsworthy, Kyra. And there were other questions from other soldiers apparently not prompted by reporters that also challenged Secretary Rumsfeld in a way that he seemed surprised and thrown a little bit on the defensive.

So, I think that the Tennessee army national guardsman who asked this question, whether or not he was prompted by Pitts -- and clearly Pitts says he was -- deserves some credit for standing up to the leader of the pentagon, in front of all of his colleagues, and asking that kind of skeptical question.

And I think he touched a nerve, which is why we're seeing so much reaction, not just in the media but on Capitol Hill, as you just showed.

I just simply think that if a reporter is going to play the middleman role and whisper in the soldier's ear, that (a) I don't think that's something I would have done, (b) I certainly would have disclosed it.

PHILLIPS: Yes, manufacturing, and staging and orchestrating, I mean we learned in journalism 101 you just don't go there.

Interesting.

Howard Kurtz, thank you so much.

KURTZ: Thank you.

HARRIS: In Oslo, Norway a history history-making moment, Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to ever receive the Nobel peace prize for her work fighting for the environment and the rights of women and children.

She accepted a medal, a diploma and prize money in the amount of $1.5 million.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANGARI MAATHAI, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa and, indeed, the whole world.

I am especially mindful of women and girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: With all the problems Kenya faces, the environment may seem a relatively minor concern. But Kenya's Green Belt movement proves the opposite is true.

CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault has one woman's example of the power of planting trees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A labor of love, women planting trees on a hillside by a school. Their young samplings will one day warm its classrooms.

(SINGING)

This is more than a labor of love, this is a revolution in motion.

(SINGING)

HUNTER-GAULT (on camera): These are some of the disciples of one Wangari Maathai. They heard her message, took it to heart and took action. Now they're changing their country and their own lives in the process.

(voice-over) Almost 20 years ago, Naomi Kabura (ph) heard Maathai's call to save the environment, while becoming economically and politically empowered.

Kabura (ph) grew and harvested trees and formed an ever-growing collective with other women.

(on camera) OK, so you had them in a straight line?

(voice-over) Naomi (ph) explains in her native Kakulu (ph) that she harvests some of the trees to make firewood to warm her home in northern Kenya's cold winters. Before she had to walk long distances to forage for firewood.

(on camera) These are the ones you use to build houses, I think.

(voice-over) Naomi tells me she gave birth to three sons who now have their own houses, also built from her trees.

Naomi (ph) says she learned from the movement how important it was to strike a balance between the needs of the people and the needs of the planet.

NAOMI KABURA (PH), KENYAN (through translator): The trees are good for the air and the rain.

HUNTER-GAULT: She tells us the bulk of the trees she plants will not be harvested but will remain as forest to help clean the air and bring the rains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We uproot the (untranslated).

HUNTER-GAULT: The women of Murasu (ph) have their own tree nursery and conduct tree growing seminars as more and more women join their movement.

They've pushed back the desert that was overtaking their land and have given their men new hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the women saw that now the men all they do, the women woke up so they can talk to their men and then they can do something together.

HUNTER-GAULT: All thanks to the woman they call Africa's forest goddess, Wangari Maathai.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN, Murasu Village (ph), Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, up next, a woman helps rescue a family after their car plunges into a canal.

HARRIS: Hear her story and why she says she's no hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, at first club goers thought the man who jumped on stage for the band Damageplan was just an excited fan or part of the show. But moments later, lead guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott had been shot at least five times in the head and three others had also been killed.

As the Ohio nightclub massacre unfolded, several people grabbed cell phones and called 911.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: 9-1-1 emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the Alrosa Villa, and there's a shooting. Somebody is shooting the band on the stage.

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: Someone's shooting the band on the stage?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the stage at the Alrosa Villa. And they are screaming call 9-1-1.

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: OK, stay on the line with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh (unintelligible), they're still shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED 9-1-1 OPERATOR: OK. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're still shooting. The person is still loose with the gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Last night about 200 people gathered for a vigil outside the club. The suspected gunman, Nathan Gale who shot -- was shot -- by police. And police say they may never know his motive for the rampage.

Some witnesses say he was angry that Pantera, an earlier version of the band broke up. Another friend says, Gale once claimed Pantera had stolen his song lyrics.

PHILLIPS: Also across America, the fires are out, and arson investigators are chasing some leads now. Evidence from a slew of house fires in Southern Maryland is on its way to federal labs for analysis.

Officials believe more than one person was involved in torching dozens of homes in this subdivision. Among the items being looked at, accelerant containers found in woods near that site.

A messy maritime incident that's getting worse, a cargo ship ran aground in the Aleutians. It broke completely in half and is dumping fuel into the Bering Sea.

Here's the worst part, a Coast Guard helicopter sent to rescue the crew crashed overnight. Ten people were onboard, only four of them picked up so far. Wintry conditions in remote Alaska, need we say, are hampering the efforts to find the rest of the crew.

A Rhode Island TV reporter will spend the next six months confined to his home. That's the order from a judge after Jim Taricani refused to say who leak to him a FBI videotape of a politician taking a bribe. That got him a contempt of court conviction.

HARRIS: Well, we call her a hero. Everyone in South Florida calls her a hero. And a family that is complete this holiday season because of her bravery certainly does, too.

But John Zarrella found this reluctant celebrity wondering what all the fuss is about?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vicki Ragins' desk reads, ask me, I can help. But the Salvation Army thrift store cashier...

VICKI RAGINS, CASHIER, SALVATION ARMY THRIFT STORE: This one's a dollar. It's a dollar and up.

ZARRELLA: Didn't need to be asked for help on a recent Sunday morning. RAGINS: Everyone's making a big deal out of it. And I did the only natural thing that a grandmother or any mother would do. I just saw someone that needed help.

ZARRELLA: An SUV carrying a Georgia family had gone into a canal along the side of the Florida turnpike. Ragins, driving by, pulled over, went in the water and with the help of others...

RAGINS: We just started pulling the bodies out of the truck. And we got about six or seven people out.

ZARRELLA: A 13-month-old girl was the last to come out. She wasn't breathing.

RAGINS: It was wet, muddy. The baby kept sliding. I kept screaming for people to give me a tee-shirt, someone to help me. And I was saying, oh god, don't let me lose this baby. And I puffed and puffed.

ZARRELLA: Ragins revived the child, then went on her way not wanting any attention.

RAGINS: I had no make-up on. I was in my pajamas. I had, you know, tank tops and bare-footed. And I had -- I was black mud up to my knees.

ZARRELLA: Two days later at a West Palm Beach hospital, she was reunited with the Georgia family whose lives she helped save.

RAGINS: I don't feel like no hero. I saw myself on TV. I'm going to definitely go on a diet, but I don't feel -- I don't feel like a hero.

ZARRELLA: Ironically, this Salvation Army cashier hates the water and can't swim. She acted on what she says were simply the instincts of a mother.

John Zarrella, CNN, Tamarack, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: She doesn't need to go on a diet. Come on. You're a hero.

HARRIS: No, come on.

PHILLIPS: Enjoy your life.

HARRIS: And we love you for it.

PHILLIPS: All right. Brad, George, Matt, they're all back on the big screen together, you know, my buddies.

HARRIS: Your pals?

PHILLIPS: Yes, we were talking last night... HARRIS: Yes, and...

PHILLIPS: ... and they were telling me about the movie.

HARRIS: OK. Sibila Vargas sat down with the stars of "Ocean 11" sequel. Coming up in the next hour, she'll give a low down on the behind the scenes. Tisk, tisk, rumors and practical jokes.

PHILLIPS: Also coming out soon is the bio-pic "Coach Carter" with Samuel L. Jackson playing the title role. Monday, the real McCoy is in the house. We'll get the story behind the movie.

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler in New York.

I'll tell you why a possible merger between two big cell phone companies could leave you disconnected.

That's coming up on LIVE FROM. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: News around the world now, get ready for some new security measures on your next trip to Japan. A government panel has recommend fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners who enter the country.

It's part of efforts to tighten border controls and keep terrorists out. Japan's cabinet is expected to approve the recommendations next week.

Terror in Pakistan, a bomb exploded today near an Army truck in the city of Quetta. At least ten people were killed, and more than a dozen were wounded.

The bomb was hidden on a bicycle. A little known group has claimed responsibility.

And a high profile acquittal in Italy, a court has cleared prime minister, Sylvia Berlusconi of two corruption charges. If found him not guilty of one count and ruled the statute of limitations has run out on the other.

Mr. Berlusconi didn't show up for the verdict but later said his acquittal is "better late than never."

PHILLIPS: You might recall that AT&T Wireless and Cingular merged earlier this year. Now there's talk of yet another deal in the cell phone industry.

HARRIS: Make my prices cheaper, please.

Rhonda Schaffler joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange...

SCHAFFLER: More minutes, less money.

HARRIS: Yes, there you go. Hi, Rhonda.

SCHAFFLER: Keep asking for that. I'm not sure you'll get that, Tony and Kyra.

All we know for sure is that a merger mania is in when it comes to these cell phone companies. Sprint and Nextel might be in talks for a merger. Published reports say the deal could be worth over $30 billion and would create the third largest cell phone operator in the nation.

If the deal goes through, analysts say it won't be the last in the industry. They say it might prompt other wireless companies to merge because the Sprint-Nextel combination, along with industry leaders Cingular and Verizon Wireless, would control about three- quarters of the whole market.

And Nextel customers might also need to get new handsets because the two companies use different technologies.

As for what's happening here on Wall Street today, stocks are changing direction a bit. The Dow higher now by 19 points. The NASDAQ also recovering from some early lows.

That's it from Wall Street.

In the next hour of LIVE FROM, I'll tell you how Santa has been a savvy investor this year.

Kyra, Tony, see you then.

HARRIS: And there's more coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM.

What it takes to protect America's troops in Iraq.

PHILLIPS: We're going to show you what's being done to reinforce the vehicles being targeted by insurgents.

LIVE FROM's "Hour of Power" begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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