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Iran Removes U.N. Seals At Nuclear Facility; Choking Game Claims Young Casualties; Royal Navy Rescue Team Freed Disabled Russian Sub

Aired August 10, 2005 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The stories "Now in the News."
Six American troops have been killed in separate attacks in Iraq. Yesterday's attacks bring the number of U.S. service members killed this month to 43. In Western Iraq, U.S. forces have wrapped up Operation Quick Strike. The offensive targeted insurgents in Anbar province where several U.S. troops were killed last week.

Demanding answers: 9/11 Commission members want to know if the Pentagon knew well before the attacks that some of the hijackers were part of an al Qaeda cell. Congressman Kurt Weldon says some intelligence officials knew in 1999 but failed to share the information. Some members of the now disbanded panel are calling for congressional committees to investigate the claim.

Discovery astronauts are getting some well-deserved rest after their eventful return from space. A public reunion is scheduled later today for the shuttle crew members and their families. The seven astronauts were flown to Houston last night to be with their loved ones.

Ever dream of traveling to the moon? Now you can for a mere $100 million. A company called Space Adventurers is planning a mission as early as 2008 to send two people around the moon. The plan is to send the tourists to orbit in a modified Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Iran ups the ante in the standoff over its nuclear operations. Iran broke U.N. seals on uranium converting equipment at a nuclear processing facility today. European leaders have been trying to negotiate a deal with Teheran in exchange for guarantees it would not produce nuclear weapons. An Iranian negotiator says Iran rejected the offer because there was no objective way to measure what Iran is doing.

Joining me now, Jim Walsh, executive director of the Managing the Atom Project at Harvard University. He is currently working on a book on Iran.

Jim, good to see you.

JIM WALSH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, let's start this. Iran says the IAEA says it is allowing Iran to open these seals. Isn't the truth of the matter it had no choice? WALSH: Well, you know, this has been brewing for sometime now. The negotiations go back even before November. And the EU and Iran have been trying to settle their differences. But remember, in between then, we've had a presidential election in Iran. It's brought a nationalist lead to a country that is in a nationalist mood and that leader changed the head of the negotiating team and is probably more skeptical of these negotiations and more skeptical of the west than the previous leader. So I'm afraid to say that this was not unexpected.

HARRIS: Yes. So, Jim, how much let's back this thing way up here. How much of this move in Iran is truly based on national pride?

WALSH: I think a lot of it has to do with national pride. When I appeared on Iranian television a couple of days ago by phone and what the Iranian commentators were emphasizing as we had our discussion was, they have a right to enrich uranium. They have a right to these technologies under the treaty. And my argument to them was, well, you might have the right to do it but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. I might have the right to insult my boss, but that doesn't mean I should go and do it.

But they feel very strongly. They're a proud country. They think they're surrounded. They think people don't take them seriously enough. And I think part of this program is motivated not by security or by money but by national pride.

HARRIS: When the Iranian observers say, we have the right, are they looking at the Non-Proliferation Treaty and saying, look, there are no provisions that stop us from taking the steps to cultivate a civilian nuclear program. There are no provisions in this treaty to prevent us from doing this.

WALSH: Tony, you put your finger precisely on what the dispute is right now. The Iranians say that they are entitled, under the treaty, to peaceful uses of atomic energy. That includes enrichment and reprocessing. And that other countries, Brazil, the United States, other countries are interested in reprocessing or interested in enrichment or already have these technologies. Why should they be singled out? That's their argument.

But the big picture here, and I think it's important to step back and look at the big picture is, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. ElBaradei, has pointed out that if every country gets its own enrichment facility, pretty soon the NPT, the Non- Proliferation Treaty, isn't going to be worth very much. And so he's called for a moratoriums on all countries building any new facilities. But Iran, of course, is taking this personally. They think everyone's picking on them. Why should they be singled out.

HARRIS: Right. Right.

So the fact of the matter is, Iran was never going to give up its nuclear ambitions. So what we're really fighting for here is to verify everything we're doing if we cut away all the smoke and haze here. WALSH: Again, I think you're right. I think verification is the key. I do not expect that Iran would give up its civilian nuclear program. I think it would be good if they didn't you know, you can have a nuclear power reactor but not have enrichment or not have reprocessing. And that's really where the rub is right now. Where the rubber meets the road. I think that they can have nuclear reactors, they can have medical isotopes, they can have a full robust civilian program. I would prefer that they do not develop enrichment and reprocessing for the reason I mentioned before. But the key will be transparency and where the IAEA is able to go in and conducts the sorts of monitoring and verification it wants to do.

HARRIS: So are we likely to see Iran referred to the security council?

WALSH: I think not. I don't think what we have here is a crisis. I don't think Iran is going to enrich tomorrow. They're certainly not going to build a nuclear weapon any time soon. I don't expect the U.S. to attack Iran. That's not going to happen. But this is serious. It will probably not go to the security council because many of the developing countries, the poor countries, whether they like Iran or not, don't want this to be a precedent of the west denying technology that they're allowed under the treaty. So I think it will be tough to go to the security council. If they get there, that resolution could be vetoed by China or Russia. But what will happen, I think, if this continues in the current direction it's going is, is that the relationship between Europe and Iran will deteriorate and there will be consequences from that for Iran.

HARRIS: Jim Walsh, executive director of the Managing the Atom Project at Harvard University.

Jim, good to see you as always.

WALSH: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: And coming up, a tragic trend, young kids getting their kicks by choking each other?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM MORDECAI: Like, hyperventilating and go whoo. That kind of. Just like right here on each side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Aa deadly addiction that some children call their favorite game. Next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A school yard game that's been around for generations seems to be growing in popularity and killing kids. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't understand a word you're saying.

SARAH PACATTE, GABRIEL MORDECAI'S MOTHER: I feel a little bit of anger but mostly I feel desperation and an urgency.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It is the game played across the country.

SAM MORDECAI, GABRIEL MORDECAI'S TWIN BROTHER: Like, hyperventilating and then go, whoo. Like that kind of. Just like right here on each side.

GUTIERREZ: Children using ropes and belts to cut off oxygen to the brains to make themselves pass out. It's called the choking game. The results can be deadly.

OPERATOR: How old is the person?

CALLER: She's 13.

OPERATOR: OK. Is she breathing at all?

CALLER: No.

GUTIERREZ: Thirteen-year-old Chelsea Dunn (ph) of Idaho, 13-year old Gabriel Mordecai of California, and 14-year-old Jason Lincolns (ph) of North Carolina all died after playing that game. Details of how it's played once passed around schoolyards are now on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's cool because when you're out, it's like sleeping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, that game is so fun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You actually dream stuff.

GUTIERREZ: Paradise, California, where Sarah Pacatte was raising her four kids. Where 13-year-old Sam, and his twin brother Gabriel, spent many carefree days.

MORDECAI: I couldn't do, like, the things like that I did with him, like, with anybody else.

GUTIERREZ: Gabriel, Sam's brother and best friend, died in May while playing the choking game.

PACATTE: It's very hard to watch Samuel be without his brother. We miss him so much.

GUTIERREZ: The boy taught Gabriel and Sam how to play the game.

MORDECAI: He was like, have you guys ever did this? And I was like, what? And he was like, well, here, let me show you.

GUTIERREZ: The boy showed them how to hyperventilate. MORDECAI: You bend back like this and then like somebody like right here on each side but like not right here like puts their arm like there and like kind of like cuts off the blood flow to your brain I guess or something. And then you like kind of like pass out for like a few seconds. It's like a sensation like kind of thing. Like that we'd never experience, I guess. And, like, feels like weird. Kind of like, whoo.

GUTIERREZ: What was Gabriel's response?

MORDECAI: It's awesome! Something like that.

GUTIERREZ: He liked it?

MORDECAI: Yes.

GUTIERREZ: And you didn't?

MORDECAI: Well, I didn't really like it that much but like I kind of did it because like pressure. GUTIERREZ: When Sarah found out her sons were playing, she told them to stop.

PACATTE: Gabriel was argumentative about this game.

GUTIERREZ: What would he say to you about it?

PACATTE: Well, what's the big deal? You know, I'm not taking any drugs. I'm not drinking anything. I said the big deal is that every time you cut your oxygen off to your brain, you're causing brain damage little by little.

GUTIERREZ: But Gabriel loved the sensation.

PACATTE: It's almost like a drug. They crave it. They crave the high that they get from the lack of oxygen.

GUTIERREZ: Gabriel began to play alone.

MORDECAI: And the one day he was doing it to himself like to himself like I guess you can do because you go like this and you would do he's doing it to himself and then I like he stopped because, I like, told him to or I was going to tell mom.

GUTIERREZ: Despite Sarah's numerous warnings, Sam says Gabriel kept doing it, often while she was at work. Looking back, she now realizes there were warning signs.

PACATTE: A couple of months before he died, he became very hostile, very angry and he complained of horrible headaches. His then he then I started seeing bloodshot eyes.

GUTIERREZ: But at the time Sarah thought maybe her son was smoking marijuana. She never imagined Gabriel putting a rope around his neck and choking himself for a rush.

You never put two and two together?

PACATTE: I never did put two and two together. No. And the day before Gabriel died, I looked at his neck and I went up to him and I said, oh, what is that? And he looked at me kind of funny and he said, don't worry, mom, it's not a hickey.

GUTIERREZ: One evening, while Sarah was preparing dinner, Sam went into his room and saw his brother.

MORDECAI: I walk in there and the he's sitting down and with his math book and stuff on his lap and the movie's playing and I was like, oh. But he was he has the rope around his neck but he's like I said, he was sitting down. So I was like, Gabe, get that off your neck and whatever. And I started like getting dressed more and, um, like I look over at him because he didn't answer me and I look at his arm and like he was blotched like a purple and like white and stuff. And then, like, and then like I guess I yelled like, Gabe.

PACATTE: And when I got to him, the bedroom door, Samuel was across the room behind his brother and he was holding his brother up underneath his arms.

GUTIERREZ: Gabriel was airlifted to a hospital in Sacramento. Sarah and Sam made the two-hour gut wrenching journey by car.

PACATTE: And (INAUDIBLE) we kept, you know, yelling at him, you know, fight, Gabriel, fight.

GUTIERREZ: They prayed that Gabriel's side but 15 hours later . . .

PACATTE: He died on life support. Yes. His body shut down even though he was on life support.

GUTIERREZ: Sarah says their apartment is too quiet now.

PACATTE: I miss the fighting. I'd give I'd pay to hear have them fight. I would I'd gladly give up my life just so these two could fight.

MORDECAI: We saw a turtle and I got it and grabbed it.

GUTIERREZ: Sam and Sarah take some comfort from all the memories. And from the words in Gabriel's journal.

MORDECAI: I plan to go through all four years of high school, at Paradise High School, with As and Bs. Then I plan to go to college for four years. I plan to send my mom about $500 a month to help support her.

PACATTE: I'm angry. I'm hurt. I'm I have guilt. So much guilt because I didn't save my baby. What a beautiful child. What a beautiful gift. And he's gone. In a flash. Just a flash. Just a blink of the eye, my boy is gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: America's most famous house guest, Brian "Kato" Kaelin. He was living in O.J. Simpson's guest house when the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were committed. When he was called to the witness stand during the O.J. trial, the bleach blond aspiring actor made an impression.

BRIAN "KATO" KAELIN: I think what I learned from the trial is you've got to realize one thing with people, everybody has their own agenda and they all want something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the trial, Kaelin had a short-lived radio show and continued his acting career, appearing on TV shows such as "Talk Soup" and in B movies such as "BASEketball."

KAELIN: I (INAUDIBLE) invisible Hollywood and people look at me like, hey, Kato did it. And, heck, I can relate to that guy, he's every man America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He now works for National Lampoons and is the host of a new syndicated show called "Eye for an Eye."

KAELIN: It's sort of like "Judge Judy" meets "Fear Factor."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kaelin is not married but has a daughter from a previous relationship. Recently he lost a 22-year-old nephew, a Marine in the war in Iraq.

KAELIN: It's just a terrible thing to be taken away. That goes for everybody in the service that's lost someone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kaelin doesn't see or talk to O.J. Simpson anymore. And the guest house where Kato lived has been torn down.

KAELIN: I have my own place now. So, unfortunately, I live behind it.

BOB NEWHART: Happy 25th anniversary, CNN. And I guess now I should should blow out the candles. So if you want to bring if you want to bring the candles in you don't have any candles? What kind of birthday is it where you don't have candles?

ANNOUNCER: Then & Now is brought to you by Dodge. You can take life as it comes or you can grab life by the horns. Dodge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM, we expect a live briefing from authority on the hunt for two fugitives in Tennessee and we will talk with a former detective. What could police do now to end this without anymore bloodshed?

And later, this mom's story has us all shaking our heads. The surprise birth and lotto number connection that some would deem freaky. But first, a follow-up to the undersea Russian rescue drama of last week. It's a Russian newspaper report about how a news spread that a manned submarine was in trouble. According to the report, the wife of one of the submariners made an anonymous call to a radio station which followed the lead and began reporting it. The news snowballed and went international. Now, of course, we don't know if things would have turned out any differently otherwise, but as CNN's Soledad O'Brien reports, the rescue wasn't as silky smooth as we might have thought.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CMDR. IAN RICHES, ROYAL NAVY: You asked me whether or not I was optimistic. I lied. I said I was. I was scared.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Candid words from a British Navy commander who helped rescue seven Russian sailors trapped at the bottom of the ocean. New, underwater videotape of that rescue shows just how dire the situation was for the crew. The British team used a remote controlled Scorpio 45 vessel the cut away the fishing net and cables that had pinned the Russian sub to the ocean floor.

ADAM INGRAM, BRITISH ARMED FORCES MIN.: It was also an international effort and that's a new aspect of what is going on. Nations working together when there is, in this case, lives at risk.

O'BRIEN: It was a race against time. The Russian crew dangerously low on oxygen and finally, after about six hours, the submarine was able to float to the surface.

RICHES: It would be wrong of me to say that grown men don't cry. I can assure you, a lot of grown men cried that day to see that submarine back on the surface and to I'm sorry but the emotion is getting to me again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the thing shot to the surface, it was, well, it was something else. And, yes, I must admit I had a tear in my eye, too. It was quite something. And then a day later to see pictures of family and loved ones waiting by the phone to hear words that their fathers and brothers were safe, was something I'll never forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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