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President Bush Kicks Off Post-State of the Union Tour in Nashville; Art of War; Credit Data Breach; Violent Clashes Between Police and Settlers in the West Bank; Catholic Diocese in Spokane, Washington to Pay $75 Million in Retribution for Sexual Abuse by Priests; Iraq Soldier Shot In California

Aired February 01, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, the star of the Grand Old Party tries to keep his agenda in the spotlight. President Bush's post-State of the Union road trip kicked off in Nashville.
And CNN's Elaine Quijano was keeping tabs at the White House.

I bet you wish you were in Nashville, a little Grand Ole Opry...

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: ... a little country music, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's probably a little bit warmer, too. But, anyway, I digress.

One day after the president's State of the Union address, this really was a chance for him to hit the road and reinforce the ideas that he laid out during his State of the Union address. And, so, that's what the president was doing today in Nashville.

And, really, it was difficult to miss the White House's message. It was printed on the signs on the stage behind President Bush, the signs reading -- quote -- "Americans win when America leads."

Now, under that umbrella theme of leadership, the president discussed his domestic proposals, including education and health care, but the president also talked about foreign policy, saying that America can lead the world toward peace.

Now, at a time when polls show that many Americans are concerned about the president's Iraq policy, President Bush today acknowledged that there is uncertainty about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But, understand, there's a -- there's an anxiety about a time of war. That's natural, it seems like to me. Even though this economy is roaring -- and it's strong, particularly when you think that -- recognize that we have overcome a lot. We have over -- this year alone, we have overcome higher energy prices and natural disasters. And, yet, we are -- we really are the envy of the world. Our economy is the envy of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: So, President Bush clearly trying to set an optimistic tone, as he did last night.

And, also, as he did last night, the president tried to talk about national security, in terms of the controversial government surveillance program that has come under so much scrutiny. The president, also, again urged Congress to renew the Patriot Act, which is due to expire in just about a week or so -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Elaine Quijano live from the White House -- Thanks, Elaine.

Forget half-full and half-empty. Where the president's party sees triumph and progress in the State of the Union, many Democrats see failure in Iraq, an inept reaction to Hurricane Katrina and mismanagement of the nation's health care system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: Our federal government should serve the American people, but that mission is frustrated by this administration's poor choices and bad management. Families in the Gulf Coast see that as they wait to rebuild their lives. Americans who lose their jobs see that as they look to rebuild their careers. And our soldiers in Iraq see that as they try to rebuild a nation.

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D), MICHIGAN: We can do better than what the president proposed in his speech on health care. And the American people are counting on us to do better than this Medicare prescription drug plan.

What I heard last night were more proposals that are great for special interests, but bad for people, just like the Medicare prescription drug plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has a three-word reaction to the president's vision: "It wasn't credible."

Tragic missteps, that's Marine combat veteran John Murtha's reaction to President Bush's State of the Union comments on Iraq. The longtime Democratic congressman spoke as Mr. Bush took the stage in Nashville to recap last night's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: The president says we got to have leadership. That is what he said last night. He said, that is what is going to win this thing, leadership. We can't back off.

The Bush administration's ever-changing justification of the war in Iraq, combined with tragic missteps, have resulted in worldwide collapse for U.S. policies in Iraq. Restoring world confidence in America as a competent and morally superior world leader is essential to winning the war on global terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Murtha said the U.S. military could be in danger of breaking if President Bush continues his policy on Iraq.

Changing strategy for a changing enemy -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talks of changing the U.S. military to better confront enemy forces in Iraq and elsewhere.

Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins me with all the details now -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I have three words for you, the long war.

You heard President Bush say them last night, and, today, they were also said by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Edmund Giambastiani -- Admiral Giambastiani, rather.

The -- the implication here is that the Cold War took 50 years to win, and now the war on terror, the global war on terror, as the Pentagon calls it, has been called the long war, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried to make the point today that the American public has to have patience, as the U.S. fights extremists and terrorists around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I do think it's a long, hard slog. This is tough business, because there a lot of people out there recruiting young people, putting them in extremist madrassas schools, teaching them -- these suicide bombers. And I think the Iraqis are going to have to struggle with this insurgency for some time.

But I think our task is -- is to train them up and then pass over responsibility and not create a dependency there. And -- and the rate at which we're able to do that will be exactly the rate at which we're able to do it, which will be condition-based and it will be based on, as the president said last night, recommendations from the field.

And anyone who tries to predict it is foolish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld denied that the phrase the long war meant that U.S. troops would be deployed in Iraq and other places indefinitely.

In fact, Admiral Giambastiani made the point that an area the size of Kentucky, the state of Kentucky, has been turned over to Iraqi control just in the past several days -- evidence that Iraqi forces are beginning to step up, and take over significant parts of the mission in Iraq.

At the same time, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld refused to speculate on how soon the U.S. would be able to make significant troop cuts in Iraq, as you heard there, continuing to say it would be based on what happens on the ground.

Privately, members of the U.S. military say they are hopefully that the number of troops could be brought down to about 100,000 in Iraq by the end of the year, but that's not something you're going to hear any military or civilian here at the Pentagon say publicly -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, Jamie, as we talk about cuts, we have also been talking about the possibility of more money and bigger numbers with regard to special forces, right?

MCINTYRE: Yes.

One of the things we are going to see in this -- the Pentagon's quadrennial defense review, their four-year review of military strategy, much bigger emphasis on special forces -- special operations forces, both to counterterrorism and also to try to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

According to one document we have seen, it will be about a 15 percent increase in special operations forces, and they will come from all branches of the service, including, for the first time, from the U.S. Marines -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon -- thanks, Jamie.

The trial of Saddam Hussein without Saddam Hussein -- if you're following the day-to-day, you will remember, the former Iraqi leader and lead defendant led a walkout during the last session and was a no- show today. A spokesperson says Hussein wants a fair trial before a fair judge, and doesn't feel he's getting it.

CNN's Michael Holmes has all the drama from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The court was a lot emptier, the atmosphere a whole lot less charged than when Saddam is present -- the five main defendants all refusing to turn up for their trial today, saying, with their defense team, which alleges that this trial will never be fair and demands that the new chief judge be fired.

NAJIB AL-NUAIMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR FORMER IRAQI PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN: Well, we are very much concerned that court today is carrying out a miscarriage of justice and impartial by the new president of the court. As you see on the TV, there are only three coming in the court. And five is absent. And we are all, as the lawyers, 12 person is out of that court, and we're not coming back until this guy has to resign or removed. HOLMES: No sign of that, however, as witnesses continue to give evidence of torture in the wake of an attempt on Saddam Hussein's life in the village of Dujail in 1982. More than 140 people were killed, allegedly as reprisals after that incident, several witnesses directly implicating one defendant in particular, Saddam's half-brother and former head of intelligence, Barzan al-Tikriti, giving chilling accounts of torture after the Dujail massacre, on which this trial is based.

Now, the court-appointed defense lawyers were on hand, even if their clients were not. There was some minor cross-examination of witnesses. The trial adjourned until Thursday -- the question being, of course, whether the defendants will be there.

At the start of today's proceedings, the chief judge and the prosecutor debated the merits of forcibly having them attend. Now, Iraqi law does allow a choice, make the defendants show up by force, if necessary, or let the trial go on without them.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: They were day laborers waiting for work when a suicide bomber stood among them and did what he went there to do. Police say three people were killed, 61 wounded, in eastern Baghdad, in one of several insurgent attacks across the country.

In the western city of Amiriyah, a bombing killed one civilian and wounded two others. A bomb also went off near the Interior Ministry building in Baghdad, winning -- wounding, rather, two people.

Time for some diplomatic damage control -- U.S. troops fired on a car from the Canadian Consulate yesterday in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad. They say the car filled to heed signals to stay well behind a military convoy, though a Canadian spokeswoman takes issue with that explanation.

The State Department calls it an unfortunate incident. Canada's Charzey Dufer (ph) and three other people were in the car at the time. No one was hurt.

Coming up on live from, the paintbrush mightier than the sword. An Iraqi artist envisions freedom for his native land and a new home in the U.S. -- his story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras with a severe weather watch.

Jacqui, what you got?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, a new tornado watch just issued here from the Storm Prediction Center. That includes the Houston metro area, from just west of Houston along the I-10 Corridor, over towards Beaumont and into the Lake Charles area. That will be ongoing throughout the afternoon and into the early evening hours. You can see the individual storms themselves kind of pulling on up to the north.

But this whole complex is pushing eastward, so we will watch for that severe weather spread -- threat to spread into Louisiana, then on into Mississippi, through the overnight hours, and possibly even into southern parts of Alabama.

So, we have got a rough night to look forward to -- large hail, damaging winds a possibility along with the tornadoes -- a lot of heat and instability here across the Gulf Coast. Look at the temperature in Dallas, 70. We have got 67 in Houston. We have got a new area of low pressure which is developing across Texas, and that's going to head eastward.

By tomorrow, we will watch for showers and thunderstorms spread into the Southeastern states, including Birmingham, into Atlanta, even on up into Charlotte. We don't really anticipate that conditions are going to be quite as favorable tomorrow for severe thunderstorms.

And, then, this storm is going to be riding up the coast into the Northeast. So, that threat ongoing across parts of Texas. The Houston metro area, look out for travel trouble and the threat of severe storms -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, thanks so much.

Well, it was 2003. Operation Iraqi Freedom was under way. Saddam Hussein's regime was falling. Americans were glued to the images of Shock and Awe. New York art curator Peter Falk was also watching, but he noticed something else, an artist, the defiance of one Iraqi painter as he ripped down a mural of Saddam Hussein, replacing it with his own work.

That artist is Esam Pasha. And what he did that day was just the beginning. His journey included teaching judo to Iraqi police, translating for the American military, and now showing his beautiful artwork in a New York gallery.

Esam Pasha and curator Peter Falk both join me from New York.

So good to have you with us.

PETER FALK, ART CURATOR: Thank you, Kyra.

ESAM PASHA, IRAQI ARTIST: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: Peter, let's start with you. What was it about Esam that just captured your heart? How did you know that there was some serious talent in this painter?

FALK: Well, Kyra, I saw a photograph in the newspaper of this young man standing atop a ladder, painting over the largest outdoor mural portrait of Saddam. And I thought, boy, this takes guts, first of all. But then I thought, you know, I want to see more about what his art is really about. So, in a roundabout way, I discovered a Web site and his e-mail address, and I sent him a very simple message.

I just said, congratulations on your mural, and keep up the good work. I just wanted to offer some words of encouragement.

PHILLIPS: And...

FALK: And what...

PHILLIPS: And you...

(CROSSTALK)

FALK: What ensued were two years of -- of dialogue and having an e-mail pal, if you will, where I discovered what was really going on behind the scenes in Baghdad, and particularly from an artist's point of view.

PHILLIPS: Well, Esam, tell me what inspired you to do that. I mean, you went up there. You tear down this mural of Saddam Hussein and started painting your own beautiful piece. Why did you do it?

PASHA: Well, first of all, I -- I did it in a professional way. I proposed with the sketches to the Iraqi government and the coalition with a whole study of the project, the sketches, and the fees. And they agreed on it. And I remove it.

The impulse to do that is, I wanted to start rebuilding my city with -- with my specialty and field of interest. So, the -- the portrait of Saddam was already torn and half-burnt and the people throwing mud on it. So, I thought it was enough of destruction. We need to build something, and I needed to inspire others to do -- to do the same in Iraq.

PHILLIPS: And, so, you painted the new mural. Tell me how you conceptualized what you decided to paint.

PASHA: I choose to take elements of the Iraqi history on general and the Baghdadi tradition, because, in Baghdad, we have -- Baghdad, as any other capital, it has a long history, and it has special flavor in it, with its balconies, its columns, its architecture, and, also, some of the atmosphere in Baghdad, and try to -- to take glimpse of the feel and flavor of the city.

PHILLIPS: Well, now, you actually didn't start doing paintings like this during the war, but, even prior to that, you painted "Mortals," and you were inspired -- inspired to paint that piece after 9/11. Tell me why.

PASHA: "Mortals" is not a war painting. None of my paintings are war paintings.

My paintings are pure art. There is no politics in it, just the hints of -- we find in our environment of politics, but they are not -- they don't care political directions.

But "Mortals" is the pure human feelings that I felt. The 11th of September affected everybody around the world.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a beautiful painting of the towers. You -- you should have been a part of the design to create the -- the new area down there. I mean, it -- it's gorgeous.

PASHA: Well, thank you very much.

In my point of view, I thought we are very much like the Twin Towers. We think we're going to live forever, but we are still mortals. They were very much like two people standing up in pride, and they just died. And now it's time to have new people being born in their place...

PHILLIPS: And then...

PASHA: ... or somewhere else.

PHILLIPS: Well, and, then, during the Iraqi war, you did a series of paintings called "Tears of Wax," and you actually took album backs and used crayons. Tell me about this series.

PASHA: During the war, there was no art stores or art supplies open, not to mention there was no grocery stores mainly in Baghdad. So, I ran out of paint, and I needed to -- to paint something. So, I started melting crayons and working with them in a wax technique, or, as they call it, encaustics.

And I had only a few boards, and I ran out of boards, so I find the -- the 33 round records' sleeves, and I just peel them out and start working on them. I mean, you have many mixed feelings inside war and bombings. You can see all kinds of lights lighting the air, lighting the night of Baghdad. You hear a lot of voices, and you have many things you need to express on -- on paper.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

And, Peter, as you look at his artwork, what is it that Esam is doing here that other artists haven't been able to do?

FALK: Well, I think one of the attractive things, particularly about this "Tears of Wax" series, is that it expresses a very specific moment in time. There were only 27 of them created, and they were created during the actual bombings, when Esam -- you were pulling all- nighters. You were not going to sleep. Neighbors were crying.

That's where they got the name "Tears of Wax." And there's a freshness and a -- a vitality to these pictures and a certain honesty to them that -- that I think reach out to all of us.

PHILLIPS: A number of other pieces that reach out to many people -- it reached out to us -- "Dreams in a War Zone." This one's pretty powerful. It's a bit dark.

Tell me what you were trying to achieve in this piece, Esam.

PASHA: Though the painting looks kind of pessimist, but I think it's one of the most optimist paintings that I have.

It's people dreams inside the war zone. Inside the war zone, you would have many dreams and aspirations. You need...

PHILLIPS: Go ahead. I'm sorry. I was -- we were wondering -- we actually pulled up some pictures. We were having a conversation. I was listening to you talk about "Dreams in War Zone" -- about your -- your grandfather. He was actually a prime minister in Iraq.

Thinking about him and how the time was when he was prime minister, to looking at how Iraq has evolved now, I wonder what he would think of your paintings.

PASHA: Well, I -- my grandfather was -- has been killed before I born -- I was born. So, to be honest, I don't know.

PHILLIPS: But that life -- that life...

PASHA: But...

PHILLIPS: ... it was so different. So, do you think about what life was like for him and your family then, compared to now? And does that inspire you in any of your pieces?

PASHA: It inspires me a lot, because he didn't used to choose to fight or choose violence.

He was a very professional politician. And he solved many problems with the words, thoughts, and good expression. So, I think an artist has also a duty to represent his country, be an ambassador for his country outside, and his art should represent him and his environment and culture.

PHILLIPS: Well, as we look at these final pieces, "Freedom" and then "Baghdad," Peter, maybe you could just tell me how long you're going to have the pieces here, where we can see them, and your hope for Esam as an artist.

FALK: Certainly.

The works are in view at the Pomegranate Gallery in Soho. And they will be up through the end of this month. And, then, we are having a part two with other artists who are members of the Iraqi Phoenix Group.

But, Kyra, one of the great stories behind the scenes here, really, is the fact that this gentleman, this young man, who has become my friend over the past three years, is really one of the great unsung heroes of the war, and that he has saved hundreds of American lives, hundreds of Iraqi lives, actually, serving as an interpreter for the coalition troops. This is something we don't normally associate with an artist, with a painter.

PHILLIPS: You're right.

FALK: And...

PHILLIPS: He was a translator and trained the Iraqi police in judo. It's all in one. It's amazing. He's a renaissance man.

FALK: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, it was an absolute pleasure to have both of you. You inspire each other. You have inspired us.

Esam, beautiful work. Thank you both for your time today.

PASHA: Thank you very much.

FALK: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, some things happened that shouldn't have happened. A lot of things should have happened, but didn't. Did you catch all that? A Senate panel tries to sort out the havoc of Hurricane Katrina, with help today from the outspoken mayor of New Orleans. What Ray Nagin had to say -- when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: No bluster, no outbursts from New Orleans' passionate mayor on Capitol Hill today.

Instead, a soft-spoken Ray Nagin faced the Senate committee investigating governmental planning for and reaction to Hurricane Katrina. Nagin testified that a big problem in getting help was figuring out who was in charge even during a meeting with President Bush and the Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY NAGIN (D), MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: I felt as though -- and I think I described it -- and this man was at that meeting -- that there was an incredible dance going on between the federal government and the state government on who had final authority. And it was impeding, in my humble opinion, the recovery efforts, and it was very frustrating.

I mean, I suggested that they put General Honore in control...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

NAGIN: ... for a period of time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The National Guard general.

NAGIN: They would just coordinate every resource that was available to expedite with the needs that we had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Nagin said much of the difficulty came from agencies up the governmental food chain underestimating that problem.

Another sign of the new normal in New Orleans, the city's pro basketball team will spend most of next season somewhere else. The New Orleans Hornets will play 35 of their home games in Oklahoma City. Only six will be in New Orleans. But the NBA commissioner says the league will consider bringing the 2008 All-Star Game back to the city.

Does America have a monkey on its back? In his State of the Union address, President Bush said the nation is addicted to oil and needs to kick the habit. He called for more use of alternative fuels, in hopes of reducing U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East by 75 percent in 20 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: At the moment, only about one in five barrels the U.S. imports is Middle Eastern. And of oil dependence in general, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid blames the Bush administration for letting -- quote -- "big oil companies write our energy policy."

Among the president's proposals for reducing America's oil addiction, more research into ethanol-based fuel. Here's a look at where those efforts stand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ethanol is a liquid fuel, typically made from the plant sugars in corn or other grain products.

One of the more popular forms of it is called E-85, which is actually 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition says about six million automobiles on American roads can use E-85. But many of the vehicles' owners might not even know it.

Certain cars and trucks, including many Ford Explorers, new Ford F-150s, Chrysler Sebrings, Chevy Impalas and even some Mercedes can run on E-85. These flexible fuel vehicles cost about the same as standard fuel vehicles, but they use either regular gas or E-85.

Producing these vehicles helps manufacturers meet federal fuel efficiency requirements, even though, today, flexible fuel vehicles get 5 to 15 percent fewer miles per gallon in using E-85, rather than regular gas.

The real problem is finding somewhere to buy E-85. Some states in the Midwest have a dozen or more locations where it can be purchased, but many states have none at all. E-85 is made in America. Right now, producers have the capacity to make about two billion gallons a year. The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition says E-85 should be cheaper than regular gas, though it's typically priced about the same as regular 87 octane gas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, this kind of story has become far too common. There's yet another case of a business leaving confidential customer information out in the open.

Allan Chernoff standing by live from the New York Stock Exchange with the details -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you know, you just can't control these things.

This time, it's two newspapers in Massachusetts. They say they accidentally distributed confidential customer information to their retailers and newspaper carriers. It's "The Boston Globe" and "The Worcester Telegram & Gazette."

These two papers say routing slips containing the names and credit card numbers of nearly a quarter million subscribers were accidentally attached to newspaper bundles. The newspapers are notifying customers of the mistake. So far, there have been no reports of unauthorized use of the credit card information.

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to Fredricka Whitfield now in the CNN news room with a developing story.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Out of Spokane, Washington, the Roman Catholic diocese offers a $45.7 million settlement to 75 victims of abuse by priests. The diocese had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, protection. Bishop William Skylstad said it's not the end but the beginning of the end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BISHOP WILLIAM SKYLSTAD, CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF SPOKANE: I want to publicly apologize for, and on behalf of, myself and the Catholic Church and this diocese for the terrible wrongs that were inflicted upon you in the past. I can only hope and pray that with today's announcement, we can together begin to take the first small steps towards reconciliation and forgiveness. I also apologize for the fact that this day has been so long in coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Now, earlier the victims' attorney, James Stang, had this to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES STANG, VICTIMS' ATTORNEY: The most important component, because one of the goals of this group and of the individuals in the group has always been the prevention of further child abuse, are commitments by the diocese and the bishop to undertake certain actions that we believe help -- will help prevent child abuse in the future, and also increase awareness of child abuse, not only within Spokane and the diocese, but around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And now this offer from the diocese has to be approved by both the U.S. bankruptcy court as well as these abuse victims. And that has to take place within the next 120 days. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right, Fred, thank you.

More talk, less nukes. Not exactly the way the U.N. puts it , but that's the gist on the eve of an emergency meeting of the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.

Britain's foreign secretary is meeting with his Iranian counterpart in London while Russian and Chinese diplomats huddle in Tehran. At issue, Iran's insistence on nuclear research that could lead to bombs, though its leaders insist it won't.

In last nights State of the Union speech, President Bush urged the world to turn up the heat, but Iran's president isn't budging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): Our nation will continue its path until full realization of its rights. Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realized. Our nation cannot give in to the coercion of some bully countries who imagine they are the whole world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well meantime, new information shows Iran may indeed be seeking nuclear weapon, so says the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. nuclear agency, but he isn't giving any details. Tomorrow the agency considers whether to haul Iran before the U.N. Security Council which could impose sanctions.

We've just learned from Jerusalem that doctors have inserted a feeding tube in the stomach of Ariel Sharon. The Israeli Prime Minister has been in a coma for almost a month since suffering a major stroke. Experts in long-term care who have examined Mr. Sharon say the chances he'll wake up are pretty slim.

One is a partner in Middle East peace, the other tries to blow it apart. One recognizes Israel, the other refuses. On Friday, the two sides will meet. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of Hamas, the new ruling parties of the Palestinian parliament. They are expected to talk about forming a new government. At the moment, Abbas is in Cairo, talking things over with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. The delegation from Hamas will follow.

Israeli versus Israeli, this time in the West Bank. Security forces move to shut down an illegal outpost today as hardline Jewish settlers stood their ground. Ground they believe is their biblical birthright. CNN's Guy Raz is right in the middle of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In my time as a police officer, I have never seen violence like this against us. That was the description of one Israeli policeman sent to Amona.

Under a hail of stones, police confronted hardline, ultranationalists, all of them Jewish settlers and their supporters, battling fellow Israelis for a cause increasingly rejected by their countrymen.

Green-tinted water cannons will temporarily mark these protesters. It makes easier to identify them for arrest. Medics treated more than 150 people, both police and demonstrators. Stretcher after stretcher, carrying the bloodied and bruised.

Many of the demonstrators, teens, some children. All regard the government of interim Prime Minister Ehud Ohlmert as the enemy. They even have allies in the Israeli parliament.

EFFY EITAM, ISRAELI PARLIAMENT MEMBER: We are trying the best we can to stop the provocation of the government.

RAZ: But Amona outpost is just the beginning. The government says, 24 other unauthorized settlements are soon to be targeted for demolition. For these hard-liners, this is a battle over the future, a window into what Israel's government plans to do.

(on camera): Under the U.S.-backed road map for peace, Israel is required to demolish these illegal outposts. There are 100 more scattered across the West Bank, and perhaps 100 more confrontations yet to come. Guy Raz, CNN, Amona, in the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Tons of snow, and little sign of anything or anybody else. Dozens are feared dead after catastrophic avalanches in remote parts of Tajikistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Rescuers are digging for survivors but having trouble getting near the buried houses. A Tajik woman tells CNN it's been snowing for four straight days now.

A fight for life in the waters off Indonesia. Ferry passengers clung to anything they could reach after their boat went down with dozens of people on board. Rescuers managed to save more than 100 people. More than 40 others are still unaccounted for.

Now a heated exchange over heating. I'm talking black eyes, bruised knuckles and tossed chairs, with cooler heads few and far between. It's not the Taiwanese Parliament, it's actually a city council meeting in the capital of Georgia -- the country, not the state. Tempers have run hot and heavy since a mysterious pipeline explosion left millions of people without heat, right in the dead of winter.

An Air Force security officer survives a six-month tour in Iraq, only to be shot by a California deputy after a high-speed chase. Graphic video of the shooting when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It began with a car chase, but the real drama started when the car stopped. The images we are about to show you are pretty graphic. You'll see someone being shot. CNN's Christopher Lawrence has the story from California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The home video is dark and grainy. But this much is clear -- airman Elio Carrion survived six months of duty in Iraq and got shot in his own hometown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up, OK? Get up. I said get up.

LAWRENCE: Carrion got shot in his chest, leg, and shoulder, but he survived. Now, the FBI has been called in to analyze the tape, and find out what provoked the deputy to fire.

Officials say the deputy was chasing this car, before it crashed into a tree. Carrion was just the passenger. He's the one on the ground, telling the deputy, I'm on your side.

ELIO CARRION: I mean you no harm. I served more time than you in the police. In the military, OK?

LAWRENCE: Now, there's all kinds of background noise on the tape, and sometimes silence. Dr. Bruce Berg is a police training expert, who says the deputy may have mangled the instruction to shut up and get down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, get up.

CARRION: I'm going to get up.

DR. BRUCE BERG, POLICE TRAINING EXPERT: It's not clear who is the miscommunicator. It's not clear if the deputy has actually misspoken, which is possible, given his state of probable tension and anger and adrenaline and the circumstances, or if he spoke correctly but he's misheard.

CARRION: I mean you no harm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. (INAUDIBLE). You don't get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You told him to get up. LAWRENCE: Carrion himself is a security officer in the Air Force, and he was supposed to report back to his unit today. Authorities say it's unfair to make any kind of judgment now without knowing all the facts. But they placed the deputy on leave until the FBI finishes its investigation.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

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PHILLIPS: A southern capital embraces one of its own and prepares a proper farewell. The body of Coretta Scott King is back in Atlanta, the city she called home for most of her life.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be made public. The widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. last appeared in public in mid-January. You may remember here. Her health this deteriorated sharply in recent months. She died Monday night at a holistic clinic in Mexico at the age of 78.

It is not exactly silent, but is sneaky and may be deadly, and three million women in the U.S. may have it. It's a hidden type of coronary disease that greatly increases the chance of a heart attack. It happens when the fatty deposits build up evenly inside the coronary arteries.

Standard dye tests often don't show any blockage, and the patient doesn't get treatment. The main system -- symptom, rather, is chest pain. Stress tests could help with the diagnosis, but doctors also are being urged to aggressively treat their female patients for problems linked to artery disease such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

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PHILLIPS: Well, Mark Twain may have said it best: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."

Today's Capitol Hill kerfuffle over T-shirts is proving the point. Earlier on LIVE FROM, we asked for your e-mails. Should Cindy Sheehan and Beverly Young have been asked to leave the State of the Union speech for wearing political T-shirts?

Here's our first e-mail.

"The women should have been admitted since Cindy Sheehan's shirt only stated a fact which the president doesn't want to face and Beverly Young's shirt said what we all believe." That's from Joan in Yonkers.

This one coming from Mark. "Cindy Sheehan should have been removed. She is a disgrace to this nation and her son's honor. To lose someone and grieve is expected, but what she did was wrong."

And this one from Bill in Fairfax County, Virginia. "Both T- shirts should be allowed. They were legitimate, non-obnoxious statements on opinion on a highly relevant topic -- the war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan."

And another e-mail, this one coming to us from J. Bell. "This was not the time nor place for wearing T-shirts. Very poor taste. She has had more than her share of time to speak her mind."

Rex isn't saying what he thought of the State of the Union address. The handsome German Shepherd remained pretty calm throughout the speech, but that's Air Force training for you. This former bomb sniffer stayed close to his former handler all night, just as he has since friends in high places intervened to let Sergeant Jamie Dana bring him back from Iraq after she was wounded. Rex's military training cost the Pentagon a bundle, so he should have spent the last five years in service, not by Dana's side.

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TECH. SGT. JAMIE DANA, U.S. AIR FORCE: I know Rex and I kind of made a big story on the news for a while, and we got so many important people involved, accidentally -- I mean, the Congress, the Senate, the president, the leaders of the Air Force. I mean, everyone just got involved to help us out. And I'm sure that brought me here, but it also gave me the chance to tell them all thank you. I mean, a heartfelt thank you to every one of them that stood by me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, our copy editor Walt Smith (ph) might not know what BFF stands for, but a lion cub and a puppy at the San Diego Zoo sure do.

Shawn Styles with CNN affiliate KFMB has the story of these best friends today in today's animal adventure.

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SHAWN STYLES, KFMB REPORTER (voice-over): This friendship began four and a half months ago, when Cairo, a female Italian mastiff, was born here in San Diego. Her mother was rescued from the Katrina disaster. And Koza, a male lion born three and a half months ago by caesarian at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So they did slow introductions and I believe just within the past week or so, they've started putting them together, 24 hours a day. And they curl up together, they play together.

STYLES: Part of the reason Koza was not returned to the mother is because it was her first time giving birth, and she might not recognize the cub, putting him at risk. For now, though, the pair is working out perfectly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Real good buds. And they do the things that they would do with their own kind, whether they had a litter mate that was a dog or a litter mate that was a lion. STYLES: Despite the fact that the lion will grow much bigger, because the two have grown up together, the cat will have manners when it comes to dealing with its lifelong companion. Since lions are very social animals, Cairo will help out Koza build those skills, which will help him as he grows and becomes part of lion camp.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's going to be a lot of smells out there, there's going to be a lot of public. The dog is definitely going to be a security blanket for this lion cub to get comfortable and transition into the new area. So it's going to definitely help the lion cub out to a dog around.

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PHILLIPS: Well, you know how Ralph Kramden ended all those "Honeymooners" episodes by telling Alice, "baby, you're the greatest"? Well, a group of Japanese husbands are trying to capture that same vibe. The Japan Doting Husbands Association -- yes, it's for real -- just observed Beloved Wives Day.

They're urging workaholic hubbies to go home early, thank their wives for all the things they do and actually call them by their names instead of addressing them as you. It's a good idea. One in three Japanese marriages end with divorce.

Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He's standing by in Washington to tell us what he's going to do when he goes home and sees his beautiful wife. And then he's going to tell us what's coming up at the top of "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, you're the greatest. I'm going to tell you that right now.

Coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM," the president loosens up after the formal affair under the Capitol dome last night. Is he giving Americans something they didn't hear in the State of the Union address?

Plus, more on Cindy Sheehan and that T-shirt political uproar. We'll listen to the uproar over the arresting developments during the president's big speech.

And Katrina blow-back. New testimony before the U.S. Congress, and a new response to charges that the Bush administration lacked leadership. All that, Kyra, coming up right at the top of the hour.

And you're way too young, Kyra, to remember "The Honeymooners."

PHILLIPS: Oh, come, Wolf. I've got them on CD. Give me a break.

BLITZER: All right. You've read about them.

PHILLIPS: I'll invite you guys over sometime. I've read about them, exactly. Thanks, Wolf, you're the greatest.

More LIVE FROM after a quick break.

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PHILLIPS: Well, it's an inside look at Enron that investors and even most employees never got. It comes from a prosecution witness on the first day of testimony in the fraud trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. The company's former head of investors relations testified that both men were hands-on leaders, well aware of blatant maneuvers aimed at boosting Enron's standing on Wall Street. Lay and Skilling deny they cooked the books.

Well, how about some fried chicken or pizza during the next run for the roses? The Kentucky Derby, first duel in horseracing's Triple Crown, is getting its first corporate sponsor. Yum Brands, the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut, has designed a deal for the 132nd running of the derby this may. You won't be able to miss the logo between the twin spires at Churchill Downs.

Now, Pimlico racetrack, meanwhile -- home of the Preakness -- is quarantined, yes, after an outbreak of herpes. Several states have banned shipments of horses in or out of Maryland, but officials believe the illness will run its course before the middle jewel of the Triple Crown May 20th.

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