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Blast in Beirut; Eye on Iran?; Mass Suicide Pact

Aired February 14, 2005 - 13:59   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A blast in Beirut. A massive explosion. A former prime minister is dead. Right now investigators are trying to find out who is responsible.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Spying on Iran. Is the Untied States using unmanned planes to scope out a possible nuclear weapons program? We're live from the Pentagon.

O'BRIEN: Video game violence. A proposed ban on sales to minors has some parents telling the government to butt out.

PHILLIPS: From a number to a name. The tiny tsunami survivor at the center of a custody battle, Baby 81. We now know his real name and who his real parents are.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.

Back to the battle days, that is the fear in the fiery aftermath of a bomb blast on the Beirut oceanfront. Ten or more are dead, but this was almost certainly a political assassination. That of former prime minister, prominent, powerful, hugely wealthy businessman, Rafik Hariri.

CNN international correspondent Brent Sadler felt the explosion and has followed the story all day. We have him on the phone now -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles.

This was a tremendous blast by any scale. It shook the center of the city. It sent me under my desk, glass falling out of buildings and banking centers in the center of the downtown area.

The blast left a crater some 30 feet wide, and it tore through the armored motorcade of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He was killed, according to his family, immediately after the blast, along with some of his longest-serving bodyguards. The blast so powerful, that it tore to shreds the armor plating on the vehicles Hariri normally uses for his business purposes here in Lebanon.

Normally he would carry also the kind of electronic jamming equipment to prevent such an assassination attempt. He's normally at the wheel of his own Mercedes as he moves around town in the past. And this blast was so powerful that it just tore those vehicles apart. Now, this sent shock waves and panic in the downtown area of the Lebanese capital because it was a throwback to the dark days of the civil war when car bombings of this scale were the weapons of choice for rival militias vying for political power during that civil conflict that lasted 15 years here.

The background to this assassination, a political assassination, as it's being called by Hariri allies here in Lebanon, was the ongoing ferocious political infighting over the upcoming parliamentary elections here in Lebanon scheduled a couple months from now. Syria under intense U.S. pressure, also from France, to withdraw what's called Syrian occupation troops from Lebanon. And it's against that escalating threats and counterthreats by rivals here in Lebanon that this attack has taken place today.

Now, I just spoke to one of the former prime minister's top aides, and he said, "This is a doomsday for Lebanon. What we are witnessing today is not just an assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, it is the assassination of Lebanon as a democracy." That statement coming from one of Hariri's top advisers -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: That's obviously strong rhetoric in the wake of this, Brent. Reaction from the government of Syria. Syria, after all, calls the shots there. What is the government there saying about this particular assassination?

SADLER: The Syrian authorities are saying that this is a criminal act. It's been denounced by the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. It's also been denounced by Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, saying that this was an attack against -- not only against the Lebanese political system, against the Sunni Muslim in the shake of Rafik Hariri, it was also an attempt to destabilize Lebanon.

Syria has been warning for many weeks now that attempts to separate Syria from Lebanon, to separate the political structures here, the military corporation that goes on, really would invite trouble, could destabilize Lebanon. Syria is blaming other forces, not identifying who they suspect but identifying other forces as being behind this to destabilize this country, which has still really only got little more than a veneer of political, if you like, solidarity after that 15-year civil war.

This is a seismic event, not just on the Lebanese political scene, but also in the region as a whole because Hariri was a multibillionaire who used his immense power and international reach with top leaders, including the U.S. president and the French president, to push forward his idea for democracy in Lebanon, in the region and Middle East peace -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Brent Sadler in Beirut. Thank you very much -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: UIA, you betcha. Fifteen days after Iraqis held their first free elections in half a century, the results are in. And the UIA, the United Iraqi Alliance is on top.

The slate of religious Shiite candidates for national assembly captured 48 percent of the vote, worth 130 of the 275 seats up for grabs. That's not a majority, but it's well ahead of the second-place ticket of Kurdish candidates and light years ahead of the secular Shiite slate of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The alliance is backed by Shia Islam's senior and most influential cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. During the Saddam years, Shiites were shut out at best. But one top official now pledges a national reconciliation government like a national wedding.

All parties now have three days to file objections before the results are certified and assembly seats allocated. After that, the body gets down -- gets down, rather, to its main responsibility, and that's drafting a constitution. It has six months to do it, with a national referendum due 60 days after that.

Now, regarding Iran, the buzz is spelled UAV. Not a political party, but unmanned aerial vehicles, which some U.S. officials say have been buzzing over Iranian nuclear sites for months. Other sources say otherwise.

CNN's Barbara Starr is on drone watch at the Pentagon now -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it's that old saying, a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. Not clear at all what is going on here.

The intelligence community says it's not them. The Pentagon says it's not them. But somebody, apparently, is flying some sort of unmanned reconnaissance vehicles either over or near Iran, because at least two other extremely well-placed sources in the United States government say, yes, they have knowledge of this and that some sort of reconnaissance activity is going on.

What is not clear, of course, is whether these are exactly unmanned aerial drones, whether they are flying over Iran, off the coastline of Iran, and what type of intelligence they may be collecting, whether it is against that nuclear program or possibly just testing Iranian air defenses. But the fact is, here at the Pentagon, when you look at the map, there are a lot of concerns about the neighborhood as it does exist now, separate from any nuclear program.

The U.S. military confronts the Iranians in several places in very close quarters. One of them is across that Iraq-Iran border. A lot of concern that the Iranians are trying to influence and put some sort of Shia-backed government into Iraq.

The Pentagon is quite concerned about this. And, in fact, the number two man at the U.S. Central Command spoke about it last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. LANCE SMITH, DEPUTY COMMANDER, CENTCOM: Our focus is on what are they doing, you know, to try and influence what's going on in Iraq. And we are seeing, you know, mixed -- mixed activity there. (END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: When you look at the other part of the map, the northern end of the Arabian Gulf, the Persian Gulf, a lot of concern there. The U.S. Navy does encounter the Iranian navy in the northern end of that gulf many, many times. They say that their dealings with the Iranian military are very professional.

But here's the bottom line. With all of the rhetoric going on in capitals from Washington to Tehran, what military -- senior military people say here is they are concerned about something they call strategic miscalculation. While all the rhetoric is going on, as they deal with the Iranians in the real world, on the ground, in these two places, they don't want any miscalculation.

They don't want the Iranian military to misconstrue any U.S. military moves. They don't want something to accidentally get started. So a lot of, perhaps, simultaneous military and intelligence agendas going on here at the same time. Trying to collect the vital intelligence, but trying to make sure everything stays as stable as it possibly can -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon. Thanks -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now to the latest on the investigation into a mall shooting rampage. Authorities say the 24-year-old gunman who allegedly opened fire at a crowded shopping center in the town of Ulster, New York, last night had a fascination with the Columbine massacre. They're also trying to determine if Robert Bonelli was suicidal.

Police say he wounded two people before running out of bullets and then surrendering. A witness described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI AFSHAR, SHOOTING WITNESS: I suddenly looked up and I see about, like, 70 to 80 people just running in my direction. And I've never seen anything like it.

I grabbed one of them, and I was like, "What the hell's going on?" And they said that some guy had a gun and he was shooting other people.

And as soon as he said that, I let that guy go. And that's the first time I heard the gunshots. There were about four gun shots, rat- a-tat-tat, like that.

And at that time I moved from my card which is near the center court, towards the food court, where my other card is. I have a cell phone card there. And I told the guy, my employee there, I said, "Get out of the mall. There's some guy killing people in the mall."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Bonelli was arraigned last night on assault and reckless endangerment charges. Authorities say they may pursue more serious charges such as attempted murder.

PHILLIPS: A bizarre Valentine's Day story to tell you about. New details are emerging in the case of an Oregon man who police say used the Internet to contact emotionally fragile women, trying to persuade them to end their lives. Our Kimberly Osiers brings us the latest now from Klamath Falls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have anything to say?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say 26-year-old Gerald Krien has been targeting women on the Internet for years, soliciting sex and suicide. Most recently, a group plan that started back in December on a Yahoo! site called Suicide Party2005.

Investigators are beginning to connect the dots. They noticed a common theme. Krien targeted mostly women and instant messaged them about the specifics of the suicides, hanging themselves on Valentine's Day naked. When Internet chat turned towards murder, four female tipsters contacted police.

JAMIE, CHAT ROOM PARTICIPANT: When he started talking about the woman and her kids is what freaked me out and made me wonder if he was telling the truth. And then he started getting into like really grave details.

OSIAS: At least 32 women spanning several states, Canada and England are believed to be involved.

EDWIN CALEB, KLAMATH COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's definitely not a hoax. I mean, I suppose inside everybody's minds they could have said ha, ha, ha, we weren't really going to do this. But it's not a hoax, it's there on black and white.

OSIAS: Black and white photocopies with Krien's instant message conversations with one woman: "Do you want to hang?" "No." "Do you want to die in the nude?" "No." Then she says, "This sounds more perverted than anything."

SHERIFF TIM EVINGER, KLAMATH COUNTY, OREGON: He identifies women in the chat rooms and starts targeting them, is what it appears. And also indicates that he would like them to do maybe some sex acts or something and maybe for his own gratification.

OSIAS (on camera): A grand jury is convening at this hour to consider additional charges against Gerald Krien, who has already been charged with solicitation to commit murder. Krien's attorney says she won't make any comment until after that hearing.

Kimberly Osias, CNN, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Another megamerger in the telecom industry.

PHILLIPS: Just how will Verizon's purchase of MCI affect consumers? We're going to make the connection just ahead on LIVE FROM.

O'BRIEN: Can you hear me now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You cannot legislate and regulate everything. At some point, parents have to step in and do what they need to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Amen. Listen up, patients. Do what you got to do. City council to ban the sale of certain video games to minors get a little pushback.

PHILLIPS: And it was a case requiring the wisdom of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) when several families claimed this infant survivor of the tsunami was theirs. Well, guess what? We know who he is and who his parents are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So, is the U.S. spying on Iran's nuclear facilities? Some Washington officials say no. Others say yes. And still others say it depends on whether you're talking about a drone or a UAV.

Joining us now from Washington to explain the difference between a drone and a UAV, CNN military analyst James Marks.

Good to see you, General.

MAJ. GENERAL JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's start out with that, the difference between the two. Let's lay that out, and then I'll get more specific with some questions.

MARKS: Well, frankly, the term "drone" and "UAV" are often used synonymously. I think the term of art is "UAV" primarily. And they come in different sizes, different shapes and capabilities.

They can -- the Air Force has a handle on a whole bunch of them, and the Army as well. And they serve different purposes. But for the most part, they provide a great capability, an air-breathing capability, which means they operate within the atmosphere up to -- depending upon the type -- up to maybe 50,000 feet. And you could just sling onto the bottom of that different types of sensors, depending upon what you want to do.

Do you want to take pictures, or do you want to try to pick up some signals, intelligence? Or do you want to hang some type of a sniffer that would pick up evidence of radiation or some type of chemical activity?

PHILLIPS: Now, some viewers may be sitting back and going, oh, my gosh, we saw this before Iraq. Is this a precursor to another, you know, attack on another country? I mean, this is more of an intelligence-gathering strategy versus preparation for any major offense.

MARKS: Kyra, it is. You characterize "intelligence" as a 24/7 requirement. And so you really can't have enough intelligence. And so the use of the UAVs over Iran simply tries to improve and increase the amount of information you have in your database so that you can then do something with it, try to connect some dots to determine, from that capability, what you have.

But realize that the use of intelligence capabilities, really, is a complementary type of an art. You want to have multiple and redundant means so that what you get from space would be complemented by what you could get from an air breather. But, ideally, you'd like to have somebody on the ground that can open the door and do a wipe test or something like that to determine what you have.

PHILLIPS: All right. Aside from nuclear facilities, what about tracking what's happening in Iran with regard to the insurgency and a possible tie with what's happening in Iraq?

MARKS: What you want to try to do with all your intelligence collection is try to achieve as best you can what's called a stare capability, or some type of surveillance. And UAVs can do that.

Certainly the best is to have somebody on the ground that is there, eyes open, 24/7, available to see what type of movement's taking place between the border with Iran and Iraq. But UAVs can assist in that. And again, it's a complementary type of a capability.

But UAVs are very dynamic. You can put them on a track, you can then adjust that track, depending on what you see or what you get from some other tipping or queuing sensor.

So it's a very dynamic capability. And the coalition forces are truly using it to their advantage to see what type of traffic takes place between that very porous border.

PHILLIPS: Now, when you were active as a general, why did you use these? When did you use these? And what did they help you with? Was there a point where you thought this really -- this information came through for me on this particular mission or this particular plan?

MARKS: I need to tell you, Kyra, we used UAVs quite a bit. The Air Force, as I said, has a great array of capabilities to include the Predator and Global Hawk, just some names of some capabilities they have and systems. The Army as well has a Hunter capability, as well as a capability called Shadow. And there are many others out there on the shelf and are out there in the field being used.

We used these primarily at the start of the war to try to identify Saddam's major units. Then we would use them along routes to help provide surveillance along those routes either in advance of the movement of forces or to cover areas where we couldn't put forces.

Once we got into Baghdad and we started working and trying to get our arms around the insurgency, we realized that a lot of the challenges we had were coming in from the border with Iran. So we would fly UAVs along those -- those routes with the border.

PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to see what develops from this. Major General James Marks, thanks for your time today.

MARKS: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Miles.

O'BRIEN: A jury gets set to decide whether a 15-year-old boy is responsible for killing his grandparents. His attorney blames the antidepressant Zoloft. We are live from the courthouse ahead on LIVE FROM.

A dad's duty calls. A father with 11 good reasons to stay home ships out for Iraq. His story is coming up.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Haffenreffer at the New York Stock Exchange. MCI hears Verizon loud and clear. Details of the multibillion-dollar telecom deal coming up on LIVE FROM. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: When a Navy reservist from Springfield, Tennessee, ships out to Iraq later this month, he will be leaving 11 children behind. Johnny Shenault (ph) left yesterday for training in Mississippi.

Oh, the poor kid. That just breaks your heart, doesn't it?

PHILLIPS: Oh, gosh.

O'BRIEN: He says he has no regrets about joining the CBs (ph) after the 9/11 attacks. I don't know about that 8-year-old though. His wife says she's worried about him, but proud of the example that he is setting for the kids. We wish the entire family well, and him safe home.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

Well, Verizon is buying MCI in the latest multibillion-dollar telecom deal.

O'BRIEN: David Haffenreffer joining us from the New York Stock Exchange with more on how these telecoms just seem to want to get together.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: "Now in the News," tragedy in Tehran. A faulty heater sparks a fire in a crowded mosque. Iranian state television reporting 35 worshipers killed, 200 others injured. Some trampled in the rush to get out. Others overcome by smoke. Alberto Gonzales has taken the oath of office as attorney general. At today's swearing-in ceremony at the Justice Department, the former White House counsel promised his first allegiance would be to the Constitution. President Bush used the occasion to urge Congress to reauthorize the Patriot Act.

In Santa Maria, California, jury selection under way again in the Michael Jackson trial after a week's delay. Jackson on hand for the proceedings. His attorney says potential witnesses include NBA star Kobe Bryant, "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley and actress Elizabeth Taylor.

On thin ice. Sources tell the Canadian press the National Hockey League on the verge of blowing the whistle on its remaining games. An official announcement may come tomorrow. The league and Players Union still at odds over a new contract.

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 February 14, 2005 - 13:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A blast in Beirut. A massive explosion. A former prime minister is dead. Right now investigators are trying to find out who is responsible.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Spying on Iran. Is the Untied States using unmanned planes to scope out a possible nuclear weapons program? We're live from the Pentagon.

O'BRIEN: Video game violence. A proposed ban on sales to minors has some parents telling the government to butt out.

PHILLIPS: From a number to a name. The tiny tsunami survivor at the center of a custody battle, Baby 81. We now know his real name and who his real parents are.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.

Back to the battle days, that is the fear in the fiery aftermath of a bomb blast on the Beirut oceanfront. Ten or more are dead, but this was almost certainly a political assassination. That of former prime minister, prominent, powerful, hugely wealthy businessman, Rafik Hariri.

CNN international correspondent Brent Sadler felt the explosion and has followed the story all day. We have him on the phone now -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles.

This was a tremendous blast by any scale. It shook the center of the city. It sent me under my desk, glass falling out of buildings and banking centers in the center of the downtown area.

The blast left a crater some 30 feet wide, and it tore through the armored motorcade of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He was killed, according to his family, immediately after the blast, along with some of his longest-serving bodyguards. The blast so powerful, that it tore to shreds the armor plating on the vehicles Hariri normally uses for his business purposes here in Lebanon.

Normally he would carry also the kind of electronic jamming equipment to prevent such an assassination attempt. He's normally at the wheel of his own Mercedes as he moves around town in the past. And this blast was so powerful that it just tore those vehicles apart. Now, this sent shock waves and panic in the downtown area of the Lebanese capital because it was a throwback to the dark days of the civil war when car bombings of this scale were the weapons of choice for rival militias vying for political power during that civil conflict that lasted 15 years here.

The background to this assassination, a political assassination, as it's being called by Hariri allies here in Lebanon, was the ongoing ferocious political infighting over the upcoming parliamentary elections here in Lebanon scheduled a couple months from now. Syria under intense U.S. pressure, also from France, to withdraw what's called Syrian occupation troops from Lebanon. And it's against that escalating threats and counterthreats by rivals here in Lebanon that this attack has taken place today.

Now, I just spoke to one of the former prime minister's top aides, and he said, "This is a doomsday for Lebanon. What we are witnessing today is not just an assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, it is the assassination of Lebanon as a democracy." That statement coming from one of Hariri's top advisers -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: That's obviously strong rhetoric in the wake of this, Brent. Reaction from the government of Syria. Syria, after all, calls the shots there. What is the government there saying about this particular assassination?

SADLER: The Syrian authorities are saying that this is a criminal act. It's been denounced by the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. It's also been denounced by Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, saying that this was an attack against -- not only against the Lebanese political system, against the Sunni Muslim in the shake of Rafik Hariri, it was also an attempt to destabilize Lebanon.

Syria has been warning for many weeks now that attempts to separate Syria from Lebanon, to separate the political structures here, the military corporation that goes on, really would invite trouble, could destabilize Lebanon. Syria is blaming other forces, not identifying who they suspect but identifying other forces as being behind this to destabilize this country, which has still really only got little more than a veneer of political, if you like, solidarity after that 15-year civil war.

This is a seismic event, not just on the Lebanese political scene, but also in the region as a whole because Hariri was a multibillionaire who used his immense power and international reach with top leaders, including the U.S. president and the French president, to push forward his idea for democracy in Lebanon, in the region and Middle East peace -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Brent Sadler in Beirut. Thank you very much -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: UIA, you betcha. Fifteen days after Iraqis held their first free elections in half a century, the results are in. And the UIA, the United Iraqi Alliance is on top.

The slate of religious Shiite candidates for national assembly captured 48 percent of the vote, worth 130 of the 275 seats up for grabs. That's not a majority, but it's well ahead of the second-place ticket of Kurdish candidates and light years ahead of the secular Shiite slate of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The alliance is backed by Shia Islam's senior and most influential cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. During the Saddam years, Shiites were shut out at best. But one top official now pledges a national reconciliation government like a national wedding.

All parties now have three days to file objections before the results are certified and assembly seats allocated. After that, the body gets down -- gets down, rather, to its main responsibility, and that's drafting a constitution. It has six months to do it, with a national referendum due 60 days after that.

Now, regarding Iran, the buzz is spelled UAV. Not a political party, but unmanned aerial vehicles, which some U.S. officials say have been buzzing over Iranian nuclear sites for months. Other sources say otherwise.

CNN's Barbara Starr is on drone watch at the Pentagon now -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it's that old saying, a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. Not clear at all what is going on here.

The intelligence community says it's not them. The Pentagon says it's not them. But somebody, apparently, is flying some sort of unmanned reconnaissance vehicles either over or near Iran, because at least two other extremely well-placed sources in the United States government say, yes, they have knowledge of this and that some sort of reconnaissance activity is going on.

What is not clear, of course, is whether these are exactly unmanned aerial drones, whether they are flying over Iran, off the coastline of Iran, and what type of intelligence they may be collecting, whether it is against that nuclear program or possibly just testing Iranian air defenses. But the fact is, here at the Pentagon, when you look at the map, there are a lot of concerns about the neighborhood as it does exist now, separate from any nuclear program.

The U.S. military confronts the Iranians in several places in very close quarters. One of them is across that Iraq-Iran border. A lot of concern that the Iranians are trying to influence and put some sort of Shia-backed government into Iraq.

The Pentagon is quite concerned about this. And, in fact, the number two man at the U.S. Central Command spoke about it last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. LANCE SMITH, DEPUTY COMMANDER, CENTCOM: Our focus is on what are they doing, you know, to try and influence what's going on in Iraq. And we are seeing, you know, mixed -- mixed activity there. (END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: When you look at the other part of the map, the northern end of the Arabian Gulf, the Persian Gulf, a lot of concern there. The U.S. Navy does encounter the Iranian navy in the northern end of that gulf many, many times. They say that their dealings with the Iranian military are very professional.

But here's the bottom line. With all of the rhetoric going on in capitals from Washington to Tehran, what military -- senior military people say here is they are concerned about something they call strategic miscalculation. While all the rhetoric is going on, as they deal with the Iranians in the real world, on the ground, in these two places, they don't want any miscalculation.

They don't want the Iranian military to misconstrue any U.S. military moves. They don't want something to accidentally get started. So a lot of, perhaps, simultaneous military and intelligence agendas going on here at the same time. Trying to collect the vital intelligence, but trying to make sure everything stays as stable as it possibly can -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon. Thanks -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now to the latest on the investigation into a mall shooting rampage. Authorities say the 24-year-old gunman who allegedly opened fire at a crowded shopping center in the town of Ulster, New York, last night had a fascination with the Columbine massacre. They're also trying to determine if Robert Bonelli was suicidal.

Police say he wounded two people before running out of bullets and then surrendering. A witness described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI AFSHAR, SHOOTING WITNESS: I suddenly looked up and I see about, like, 70 to 80 people just running in my direction. And I've never seen anything like it.

I grabbed one of them, and I was like, "What the hell's going on?" And they said that some guy had a gun and he was shooting other people.

And as soon as he said that, I let that guy go. And that's the first time I heard the gunshots. There were about four gun shots, rat- a-tat-tat, like that.

And at that time I moved from my card which is near the center court, towards the food court, where my other card is. I have a cell phone card there. And I told the guy, my employee there, I said, "Get out of the mall. There's some guy killing people in the mall."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Bonelli was arraigned last night on assault and reckless endangerment charges. Authorities say they may pursue more serious charges such as attempted murder.

PHILLIPS: A bizarre Valentine's Day story to tell you about. New details are emerging in the case of an Oregon man who police say used the Internet to contact emotionally fragile women, trying to persuade them to end their lives. Our Kimberly Osiers brings us the latest now from Klamath Falls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have anything to say?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say 26-year-old Gerald Krien has been targeting women on the Internet for years, soliciting sex and suicide. Most recently, a group plan that started back in December on a Yahoo! site called Suicide Party2005.

Investigators are beginning to connect the dots. They noticed a common theme. Krien targeted mostly women and instant messaged them about the specifics of the suicides, hanging themselves on Valentine's Day naked. When Internet chat turned towards murder, four female tipsters contacted police.

JAMIE, CHAT ROOM PARTICIPANT: When he started talking about the woman and her kids is what freaked me out and made me wonder if he was telling the truth. And then he started getting into like really grave details.

OSIAS: At least 32 women spanning several states, Canada and England are believed to be involved.

EDWIN CALEB, KLAMATH COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's definitely not a hoax. I mean, I suppose inside everybody's minds they could have said ha, ha, ha, we weren't really going to do this. But it's not a hoax, it's there on black and white.

OSIAS: Black and white photocopies with Krien's instant message conversations with one woman: "Do you want to hang?" "No." "Do you want to die in the nude?" "No." Then she says, "This sounds more perverted than anything."

SHERIFF TIM EVINGER, KLAMATH COUNTY, OREGON: He identifies women in the chat rooms and starts targeting them, is what it appears. And also indicates that he would like them to do maybe some sex acts or something and maybe for his own gratification.

OSIAS (on camera): A grand jury is convening at this hour to consider additional charges against Gerald Krien, who has already been charged with solicitation to commit murder. Krien's attorney says she won't make any comment until after that hearing.

Kimberly Osias, CNN, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Another megamerger in the telecom industry.

PHILLIPS: Just how will Verizon's purchase of MCI affect consumers? We're going to make the connection just ahead on LIVE FROM.

O'BRIEN: Can you hear me now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You cannot legislate and regulate everything. At some point, parents have to step in and do what they need to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Amen. Listen up, patients. Do what you got to do. City council to ban the sale of certain video games to minors get a little pushback.

PHILLIPS: And it was a case requiring the wisdom of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) when several families claimed this infant survivor of the tsunami was theirs. Well, guess what? We know who he is and who his parents are.

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PHILLIPS: So, is the U.S. spying on Iran's nuclear facilities? Some Washington officials say no. Others say yes. And still others say it depends on whether you're talking about a drone or a UAV.

Joining us now from Washington to explain the difference between a drone and a UAV, CNN military analyst James Marks.

Good to see you, General.

MAJ. GENERAL JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's start out with that, the difference between the two. Let's lay that out, and then I'll get more specific with some questions.

MARKS: Well, frankly, the term "drone" and "UAV" are often used synonymously. I think the term of art is "UAV" primarily. And they come in different sizes, different shapes and capabilities.

They can -- the Air Force has a handle on a whole bunch of them, and the Army as well. And they serve different purposes. But for the most part, they provide a great capability, an air-breathing capability, which means they operate within the atmosphere up to -- depending upon the type -- up to maybe 50,000 feet. And you could just sling onto the bottom of that different types of sensors, depending upon what you want to do.

Do you want to take pictures, or do you want to try to pick up some signals, intelligence? Or do you want to hang some type of a sniffer that would pick up evidence of radiation or some type of chemical activity?

PHILLIPS: Now, some viewers may be sitting back and going, oh, my gosh, we saw this before Iraq. Is this a precursor to another, you know, attack on another country? I mean, this is more of an intelligence-gathering strategy versus preparation for any major offense.

MARKS: Kyra, it is. You characterize "intelligence" as a 24/7 requirement. And so you really can't have enough intelligence. And so the use of the UAVs over Iran simply tries to improve and increase the amount of information you have in your database so that you can then do something with it, try to connect some dots to determine, from that capability, what you have.

But realize that the use of intelligence capabilities, really, is a complementary type of an art. You want to have multiple and redundant means so that what you get from space would be complemented by what you could get from an air breather. But, ideally, you'd like to have somebody on the ground that can open the door and do a wipe test or something like that to determine what you have.

PHILLIPS: All right. Aside from nuclear facilities, what about tracking what's happening in Iran with regard to the insurgency and a possible tie with what's happening in Iraq?

MARKS: What you want to try to do with all your intelligence collection is try to achieve as best you can what's called a stare capability, or some type of surveillance. And UAVs can do that.

Certainly the best is to have somebody on the ground that is there, eyes open, 24/7, available to see what type of movement's taking place between the border with Iran and Iraq. But UAVs can assist in that. And again, it's a complementary type of a capability.

But UAVs are very dynamic. You can put them on a track, you can then adjust that track, depending on what you see or what you get from some other tipping or queuing sensor.

So it's a very dynamic capability. And the coalition forces are truly using it to their advantage to see what type of traffic takes place between that very porous border.

PHILLIPS: Now, when you were active as a general, why did you use these? When did you use these? And what did they help you with? Was there a point where you thought this really -- this information came through for me on this particular mission or this particular plan?

MARKS: I need to tell you, Kyra, we used UAVs quite a bit. The Air Force, as I said, has a great array of capabilities to include the Predator and Global Hawk, just some names of some capabilities they have and systems. The Army as well has a Hunter capability, as well as a capability called Shadow. And there are many others out there on the shelf and are out there in the field being used.

We used these primarily at the start of the war to try to identify Saddam's major units. Then we would use them along routes to help provide surveillance along those routes either in advance of the movement of forces or to cover areas where we couldn't put forces.

Once we got into Baghdad and we started working and trying to get our arms around the insurgency, we realized that a lot of the challenges we had were coming in from the border with Iran. So we would fly UAVs along those -- those routes with the border.

PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to see what develops from this. Major General James Marks, thanks for your time today.

MARKS: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Miles.

O'BRIEN: A jury gets set to decide whether a 15-year-old boy is responsible for killing his grandparents. His attorney blames the antidepressant Zoloft. We are live from the courthouse ahead on LIVE FROM.

A dad's duty calls. A father with 11 good reasons to stay home ships out for Iraq. His story is coming up.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Haffenreffer at the New York Stock Exchange. MCI hears Verizon loud and clear. Details of the multibillion-dollar telecom deal coming up on LIVE FROM. Stay tuned.

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O'BRIEN: When a Navy reservist from Springfield, Tennessee, ships out to Iraq later this month, he will be leaving 11 children behind. Johnny Shenault (ph) left yesterday for training in Mississippi.

Oh, the poor kid. That just breaks your heart, doesn't it?

PHILLIPS: Oh, gosh.

O'BRIEN: He says he has no regrets about joining the CBs (ph) after the 9/11 attacks. I don't know about that 8-year-old though. His wife says she's worried about him, but proud of the example that he is setting for the kids. We wish the entire family well, and him safe home.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

Well, Verizon is buying MCI in the latest multibillion-dollar telecom deal.

O'BRIEN: David Haffenreffer joining us from the New York Stock Exchange with more on how these telecoms just seem to want to get together.

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O'BRIEN: "Now in the News," tragedy in Tehran. A faulty heater sparks a fire in a crowded mosque. Iranian state television reporting 35 worshipers killed, 200 others injured. Some trampled in the rush to get out. Others overcome by smoke. Alberto Gonzales has taken the oath of office as attorney general. At today's swearing-in ceremony at the Justice Department, the former White House counsel promised his first allegiance would be to the Constitution. President Bush used the occasion to urge Congress to reauthorize the Patriot Act.

In Santa Maria, California, jury selection under way again in the Michael Jackson trial after a week's delay. Jackson on hand for the proceedings. His attorney says potential witnesses include NBA star Kobe Bryant, "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley and actress Elizabeth Taylor.

On thin ice. Sources tell the Canadian press the National Hockey League on the verge of blowing the whistle on its remaining games. An official announcement may come tomorrow. The league and Players Union still at odds over a new contract.

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