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Former FEMA Director Points to Flaws in System; New House Majority Leader Talks about GOP Strategy, Scandal; Iraq's Election Results Certified; Neil Entwistle Consents to Extradition; U.S. Athletes Suspended from Olympics

Aired February 10, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. Michael Brown misspoke. FEMA was doomed to failure. There's a disconnect in the federal emergency system. And these aren't criticisms of Brown; they're the words of the former FEMA chief himself.
As you know if you've been watching CNN, Brown underwent some pointed questioning in a Senate hearing on Hurricane Katrina. And he pointed right back at the layers of D.C. bureaucracy that he says made a proper response impossible.

And those infamous e-mails, can't forget those.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: And Mr. Brown, the concern that I have is, from your perspective I'm hearing balls to the walls, but I'm looking at e-mails and lack of responsiveness -- Monday (ph) on sending an e-mail about situation past critical. This is on Wednesday of this time. Hotels kicking people out, dying patients. And your response is, thanks for the update. Anything I need to do to tweak? We have questions on...

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: Senator, with all due respect you take that out of context, because you do that on the fly, saying, yes, is there anything else I need to tweak?

And what you ignore is what's done beyond that, which is calling the White House, talking to the operations people and making certain that things are getting done.

And I'm frankly getting sick and tired of these e-mails being taken out of context with words like "what do I need to tweak?" Because I need to know is there something else that I need to tweak, and that doesn't even include all of the other stuff that's going on, senators. So with all due respect, don't draw conclusions from an e- mail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: With reaction from the White House CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

What do you think, Suzanne? Does he still want a shot at some type of job in government or is he finished?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, of course, Mike Brown used to be in our government, and we know what happened as a result of that, you know, that loyalty runs very thick here in the White House, but, obviously, not that thick.

And of course, they've been keeping a very close eye on the testimony and really not taking as much issue with what Mike Brown has been saying but essentially pointing a finger at the media. The "New York Times," in particular, the article, "White House Knew of Levees' Failure on Night of Storm."

Scott McClellan we heard from this morning, raising the paper up and really very angry about the whole thing, saying, "It is sad and irresponsible that the 'New York Times' is rewriting history to fit an inaccurate storyline and conveniently ignoring key facts."

He says, "We knew full well of the flooding that was going on and that's why our focus was on rescuing people."

The bottom line here, Kyra, is that the point they're making is that the article says Monday night that they knew that all of the levees have been breached. They say that Monday night they got conflicting reports about what was going on. They said that the full picture didn't really come into light until Tuesday morning.

But, talking to White House officials they said, having said that, even if they did have that information Monday night, it still wouldn't have made a difference in terms of their response, because they say their focus was on saving lives, on basically rescue efforts and that they couldn't do anything about the levee breaches within 24 or 48 hours. That is the point that they're making.

They also go on to say, giving a timeline of how the president responded to all of this, saying it was on Sunday evening, you may recall, that he called Governor Blanco, saying that you have to have an emergency evacuation.

That it was also that Sunday evening that it got before the cameras, calling the reporters forward, saying you must evacuate. All of that is the case they're making.

They also acknowledge this morning there's a lot of frustration here because they say, yes, there were failures on the state, federal and local levels, of all of the government, and they would have liked to have gotten ahead of this story. They have their own investigation going on. But that, of course, hasn't come to light. They say it's going to be right around the corner -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So Suzanne, once this is all over, will we have some type of strategy or manual or paperwork that shows us exactly how we'll respond to a crisis like Katrina next time?

MALVEAUX: You know, Kyra, it's really hard to tell what's going to come of all of this. We do know that there's thousands of papers and pages that they have submitted to the committee, looking at this. We know there have been multiple investigations. We'll see what Fran Townsend, the homeland security advisor, comes up with in the weeks to come. They are very eager to get that out there as something that they tried to really stay on top of.

But, of course, this has come ahead of time, so they're a little bit behind here, and they're defensive about it. They're very angry about the reports.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House, thanks, Suzanne.

Did Louis Libby leak on his own or was he only following orders? Libby is the former chief of staff to Dick Cheney, who's charged with perjury and obstruction of justice relating to the outing of CNN agent Valerie Plame.

CNN has obtained a letter from the special prosecutor to Libby's lawyers, in which Patrick Fitzgerald writes that Libby told grand jurors he was, quote, "authorized to disclose information about the national intelligence estimate to his press by his superiors."

The letter doesn't specify who those superiors might be, but the "National Journal" quotes sources who say Cheney was one of them. A legal source tells CNN that Libby never has said that to anybody that the administration authorized the leaking of Plame's identity.

John Boehner has some house work to do, beginning with his own Washington apartment. The new House majority leader tells CNN he's confident going into the mid-term elections but knows that he has to clean up the damage inflicted by the lobbying controversy. A controversy no member of Congress, himself included, can afford to ignore.

CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry caught up with John Boehner a short time ago. He joins me live now from Capitol Hill. Now, I'm not going to say that you caught up with him just a moment ago, happened to bump into him. You have been working this interview, Ed, for days.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We finally get a chance. We actually drove to the eastern shore of Maryland, about 90 minutes away from D.C., yesterday. Because House Republicans right now are huddled there in some strategy sessions.

They realize it's a tough political year for them. They had a rough 2005. They're trying to turn the corner. And they've got the president there, actually, today. He just spoke in the last hour trying to rally the troops.

And John Boehner's message in this exclusive interview with CNN is that he thinks it's time for the Republicans to stop playing defense on these ethics scandals, on their political problems. It's time to not sugarcoat any of this. It's time to admit that they have a rough, political climate and to go back on offense. Take a listen to what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The president's numbers aren't as good as they could be. The situation in Iraq is still tenuous, at best. And so, the numbers aren't real good. I mean, there's no sense of kidding anybody about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: And he also realizes that a key point here is to start pushing back against the Democrats. They have been feasting on some of these Republican problems, and he really wants to fight back, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We're going to hear about what he had to say about the Democrats. Let's go ahead and roll that and then I've got a question for you, Ed.

HENRY: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOEHNER: We've been on offense for ten years now. We have big ideas and our friends across the aisle, while they are the opposition, they don't have any ideas. We've been hearing about their contract, their big package. We hear about it, we hear about it, but we never see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, go ahead. I'm sorry, Ed.

HENRY: What he's referring to there is that basically Democratic leaders like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have been saying for weeks, for months even, that they're going to roll out some sort of a Contract with America-type document, like the Republicans did in 1994.

And so far they really haven't really produced it. They've been saying maybe it's coming soon.

And what Boehner's trying to do there is not just deal with Republican problems but go on offense against the Democrats and say, basically, "where's the beef," to paraphrase that old commercial from the '80s, the Wendy's commercial. He's saying they haven't come up with an alternative, and it's something we're going to hear him hitting a lot, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we've talked about Bush. We talked about the Democrats. Now let's get down to business.

You were trying to get him to talk about the issue of renting this apartment from a lobbyist. And I asked you this question before you even had this interview. I remember that -- was he being up front about this in the first place? Did he have to be up front about this? What's your take now that you got to talk to him off camera and on camera? HENRY: Well, I think that he's frustrated that there have been -- he's only been on the job for a week and it's pretty clear that he's frustrated that there have been a spate of stories raising questions about his relationship, his close ties with various lobbyists.

And I think, you know, he says, "Look, I've been up front for years, frankly," about the fact that some of his best friends are on K Street. They're lobbyists. They work legislation on Capitol Hill. He didn't specifically talk publicly about this relationship with lobbyist John Milne, who he's renting the apartment from, but he says, look, there's nothing there. Take a listen. He pushes back pretty hard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOEHNER: We went and did a survey to make sure I was paying fair market prices. Matter of fact, I think I pay over the fair market price for a basement apartment. But why can't I rent an apartment from someone who happens to be a lobbyist?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: But Boehner himself noted he realizes that when you look at the polls most people look at lobbyists and they think that they're all doing something wrong, in the wake of this Jack Abramoff scandal. He knows there's a perception issue.

But he says, quite frankly, he doesn't care. He has a lot of friends who are lobbyists. He's acted ethically in his relationships with them, and he's not about to cut off ties with what he calls friends just because it might be unpopular.

So, this -- it's going to play out over time. We'll see whether the public buys that or not. But he's basically saying, "I'm going to be tough about it. I'm going to stick with it, because I haven't done anything wrong" -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: I know you're going to stick to the story. Ed Henry, thanks so much.

HENRY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And there's a reminder. You can see Ed's entire interview with Congressman John Boehner today at 4 p.m. Eastern right after LIVE FROM on "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER."

What did the mayor know and when did he know it? That's the question at the heart of a dispute between Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the White House. The mayor complained that he was blindsided yesterday when President Bush made a speech about a 2002 plot to attack L.A.'s tallest building, the U.S. Bank Tower. The mayor, a Democrat, says the White House should have briefed him before the president spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: There was a communication with the Department of Homeland Security here in California, who then called my office, but, again, nowhere near the level of detail that was shared with the public today was shared with us.

And there was no direct call to my office. I'm not expecting that the president of the United States would call me directly, but, certainly somebody from his office would call us directly, share with us the detail that they shared with the American public today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The White House says that while it didn't notify the mayor directly, homeland security did alert city officials about plans for the president's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, BUSH ADVISER: His office was contacted through the Department of Homeland Security and the L.A. Police Department. It's the usual way that we exchange information. It's operational information that we share the details of it. Doesn't come from the White House; it comes from the agencies responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: California's homeland security chief says that he told a deputy mayor about the speech, but Villaraigosa insists that the only information his office received was too general to be useful.

The good, the bad and the ugly in Iraq. First, the bad and ugly. A car bomb exploded outside a mosque in Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 20 others. Masked gunman later came around and shot dead a woman and wounded at least two other bystanders.

Elsewhere in the capitol, armed men in police uniforms stormed the house of a Sunni cleric, dragged him away, leaving his family unharmed.

Now the good. Results from December's parliamentary elections are certified once and for all. Now the hard part begins.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraq's election results certified. Now almost two months past election day, two important things happened. First a constitutionally mandated timeline kicks in. Within 15 days, Iraq's council of representatives is set to convene. But that's the only deadline they face.

Meantime, negotiations can now begin in earnest between the Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds and the secular politicians. The Shia United Iraqi Alliance, which has a plurality of seats, 128 out of the 275 seats, will seek to form a coalition with as many partners as it can.

And a new important ingredient this time around is the Sunni voice. They were largely absent. They boycotted the January elections last year. They now have upwards of 60 seats, which makes them a political force. They are likely to join forces with the secular politician Ayad Allawi.

The next step, the Shia will nominate a prime minister designate. We expect that in the coming days. It is a two-man race between the current prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jafari, and a current vice president, Adil Abdel-Mahdi. And then the talks will focus on the key ministerial positions, the security positions and how best to form this government and how to do so as quickly as possible.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: It won't be an international murder mystery very much longer. An Englishman accused of killing his American wife and baby daughter makes a decision on extradition. We'll have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: He missed the funerals, but Neil Entwistle returned to Massachusetts at the earliest opportunity, his lawyer says, for a fair and proper hearing on charges he murdered his wife and daughter.

Entwistle, an Englishman, was arrested in London yesterday and made his first court appearance hours later. He was back in court today, where he agreed to extradition.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in London. Paula, is there any word on how soon Entwistle will return to the U.S.?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the final legal hurdle having cleared on this side of the Atlantic, the home secretary, Charles Clark, has actually signed an order just a couple of hours ago this Friday afternoon, authorizing his extradition to the United States.

Now, Clark's office tells CNN that these cases can vary, obviously, but Entwistle could be back in the U.S. within a day or two. Now, his lawyers earlier on this Friday did say that it would be within the week, so we are expecting anything between a day and four days -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, did his lawyer have anything to say to the media?

HANCOCKS: Yes, Judith Seddon, one of his lawyers, came out and spoke to reporters just after Entwistle agreed to the extradition. And she said that he wanted to consent to the extradition at the earliest opportunity, because he was anxious that any delays to this process could cause added upset to his family and also to Rachel's family. Now, she also said that this wasn't a change of heart, even though Entwistle on Thursday evening had said that he did not consent to the extradition. She said that he just reserved the right to mull over the facts overnight while he was in custody and he had always suggested that he was going to consent to this extradition.

She was asked does he deny the allegations and also what does he think happened to his wife and daughter. At that point she apologized and said she had nothing more to add -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Paula, are there concerns there in England that Entwistle will not get a fair trial?

HANCOCKS: There are on this side of the Atlantic, yes. There have been a couple legal analysts that have said that they are worried, because the laws are very different in Britain than they are to America.

The U.K. Contempt of Court Act is very strict. You're not allowed to speculate. You're not allowed to interview family or friends or legal experts on the -- what his personality is like or state or mind is like or what his motives may have been. So very, very strict reporting over in this country.

So, there are some legal experts that are worried that, as this has been so widely covered in the media, there could be worries that he won't have a fair trial in the U.S., even though Judith Seddon actually said that Entwistle believes he will get a fair trial -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Paula Hancocks, thanks.

Straight ahead, dreams of gold tarnished. Opening ceremonies in the winter Olympics haven't even started and already a U.S. athlete has been banned. We're live from Torino, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Talk about your long, uncomfortable flight. Here's the ultimate red-eye. Steve Fossett more than halfway to another high-flying milestone.

No new pictures of the Global Flyer. There's not many cameras over the Pacific Ocean. That's where it is. And Fossett, well, rapidly approaching California at 46,000 feet. Despite some fuel concerns and other issues, Fossett is still on track to land tomorrow in England, the first person to fly around the world and then some all alone without stopping.

Want to follow Fossett's flight? Well, go to VirginAtlanticGlobalFlyer.com. Fossett's position is updated in real time.

And FDA panel urging stronger warnings for some widely prescribed medications. Susan Lisovicz has more details for us live from the New York Stock Exchange. Hey, Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

PHILLIPS: We're going to hear more from you about this. We also have a guest, Susan. So listen up. We're talking about is it possible to have too much of a choice? How about too much television?

More and more cable TV subscribers, as Susan was saying, want to buy fewer rather than more channels. LIVE FROM will bring you your money's worth, as always, when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The crowds are filling in, the athletes are lining up, the organizers, more than likely, are stressing out. The shows of shows in Torino, Italy, is less than an hour away. The opening of the 20th winter Olympics.

But already, the American skeleton team has suffered a loss, and so has the cross country team. Let's get straight to CNN's Mark McKay. He's in Torino.

Mark, let's start with all these suspensions with regard to the cross country team. We're hearing of more.

MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And now a total of 12, Kyra, cross country skiers representing various nations, including the United States, have been suspended by their federation by having high red blood cell counts coming into the games.

Now, high red blood cell counts can increase endurance, but it could be something as simple as arriving in Torino and having to adapt to the high altitude here in the Alps.

Two United States cross country skiers, Leif Zimmerman, and Kikkan Randall, have been suspended for a total of five days, Kyra, but they are expected to resume competition. What the International Ski Federation is saying, it's not a sanction, but, instead, a health concern for these athletes involved.

PHILLIPS: So, it's not necessarily that they did anything wrong, is that what you're saying? Or do you think they might have taken something to increase these levels?

MCKAY: No, the feeling of the International Ski Federation and everything we've heard this Friday here in Torino, Kyra, is that all 12 did nothing wrong, but, instead, they did test for red blood cell counts that were abnormal, higher than normal. It can increase endurance, but what we are hearing is the fact that just being here in the Alps can do that anyway.

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, the American skeleton team. What's up with this top slider?

MCKAY: Eric Lund (sic), he was a gold medal favorite in the skeleton for the United States, but he has now turned in his credentials and will not be competing at the Olympic games here in Torino. What happened was he tested positive last November for a hair restoration product that can, in fact, mask steroid use.

Now, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland ruled that he should be suspended retroactive to November, so he indeed will not be competing at the games. Lund pleads guilty. He says he didn't check the prohibitive list last year. Thus, his Olympic dream, Kyra, is now over.

PHILLIPS: Tell us about the agency that's responsible for testing the athletes during the games. Does it seem like members of this agency much more busy now? Were they expecting this?

MCKAY: Well, we've seen this really dating back to the Athens Olympics, even Salt Lake City, Kyra. The World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee are both responsible for drug testing here at the Torino Games.

Now, what was interesting was it took basically weeks and month for the IOC and WADA to work with Italian authorities who have anti- doping laws in place. There was some word that perhaps the Italian police would come in and even raid Olympic villages. They assured IOC officials they would not do that. Instead, testing here will go with the IOC and WADA, World Anti-Doping Agency.

PHILLIPS: Mark Mckay live from Italy. Thanks, Mark.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Unlocking the door to an ancient tomb. But who exactly is inside? Royalty, nobility, service. We're off to Egypt when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Could Hamas be coming in from the cold? Russian President Vladimir Putin, for one, is reaching out to the militant Islamic group that the U.S. and Israel consider a terrorist organization. In a move that caught Washington by surprise, Putin says he's prepared to invite Hamas leaders to Moscow. Hamas won a big majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections, but still refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.

Israel is fuming over Russia's invitation. Foreign Minister Tis Veleveny (ph) fears it could lead to other nations making deals with Hamas. Other Israelis accuse Putin of stabbing Israel in the back, and some say Israel should recall its ambassador from Moscow in protest.

Political cartoons are supposed to have some bite. That's why they're not on the comics page. But rarely do they stir up this much anger, or this much fear or this many other cartoons.

CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are not the offending cartoons. These are cartoons about the offending cartoons. Take the one about a cartoonist who gets a message: "We resent your inaccurate depiction of Mohammed as a murdering terrorist, so, we're sending over some terrorists to murder you."

Even when the late-night comedians make jokes about this subject, one thing they joke about is no joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE COLBERT REPORT")

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT" I chose not to show the offending cartoons out of an ethical concern that I would be killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": I have decided to stop drawing Muslim cartoons. It's just not fun anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: But cartoonists haven't stopped drawing. Mike Luckovich showed East and West arguing. "Sword mightier." "Pen is."

MIKE LUCKOVICH, EDITORIAL CARTOONIST, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION": You have in the back of your mind, well, geez, you know, what if people object to this cartoon, and -- and they're carrying sabers?

MOOS: This cartoonist loses his head while protesting, "Yes, but it's Muhammad Ali."

(on camera): Since CNN and many others aren't showing cartoons that depict the Mohammed, we won't show you all of the cartoons drawn by Daryl Cagle.

DARYL CAGLE, FOUNDER, CAGLE CARTOONS: I drew a figure of a kid who drew a stick figure, and he wrote the word Mohammed with an arrow pointing at it, and a guy who would seem to be a Muslim says, "Thank you for the drawing, Billy, but now I have to kill you."

MOOS (voice-over): Cagle, who has cartoons into books, and runs a syndicate of cartoonists, says, even cartoons about the offending cartoons have provoked reaction.

CAGLE: Some of our cartoonists are getting phone calls and e- mail threats.

MOOS: Exactly the theme "The Daily Show" picked up on. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": What are your thoughts on the violence, Ed?

ED HELMS, "THE DAILY SHOW": None. No thoughts, only profound respect for a great religion.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Where are you, Ed?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Right before our eyes, cartoonist Mike Luckovich whipped up this cartoon.

LUCKOVICH: This is the cartoonist's nightmare.

MOOS: It shows a cartoonist being introduced to a Muslim: "Meet your new editor."

But we wouldn't blame a cartoonist for not wanting to touch this subject with a 10-foot pencil.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A new intriguing mystery in the valley of the kings. The first tomb discovered since King Tut in 1922 has archaeologists scratching their heads. Are the mummies kings, queens, nobles or gardeners?

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins me from Cairo.

Ben, was there any kind of technology involved in this discovery?

Of course, we're going to work on our technology so we can hear what Ben has to say. We apologize, so we'll try and get that fixed and we'll come back. Actually really interesting story.

What we want to talk about it sometimes lethal, always frightening and definitely spreading now. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has now reached Azerbaijan. Dead, infected birds turned up on the Caspian Sea coast, and a British lab confirmed the diagnosis. Local TV is broadcasting descriptions of bird flu symptoms and urging viewers now not to eat the poultry.

Well, build it and they will come, but what if they don't? A "Star Trek" obsessed interior designer goes bust waiting for clients who want homes like his. Hey, just 1.5 million bucks will buy you the original, so why not? LIVE FROM dabbles in the unreal estate, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: All right. We were talking about the intriguing mystery in the Valley of the Kings. Then we got an intriguing mystery about our audio situation overseas, but that's a long way. We understand.

We now have Ben Wedeman back to talk about the first tomb that was discovered since King Tut in 1922. Now as archaeologists are asking some questions here, Ben, let's first talk about the technology used in this discovery and then we'll sort of try and unravel what we know.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: OK, Kyra, now that we've sorted out our technology problems, it's really interesting because there was no high tech involved. It was really painstaking, hard work that went into the discovery of this tomb.

Essentially, this group from the University of Memphis in the United States was digging in an adjacent tomb. They found some workers' quarters in which the gravel was a bit loose underneath. They started to dig down, simple, the usual archaeological ways of doing things.

Slowly, one level after another, after another, they went down about 20 feet where they discovered a shaft. In this shaft, they've knocked a hole in the side and found a chamber. Inside that chamber, five wooden coffins with mummies inside, alabaster jars as well.

So, really, it was just hard, hard work in the desert in some very difficult conditions that led to the discovery of these mummies dating back to the time of King Tut, around 1300 B.C -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, these were the first tombs discovered since King Tut, so is there any connection possibly with King Tut? Do we know who is inside of these tombs? And did they open them up? And how did they go about carefully sort of dissecting this?

WEDEMAN: Well, basically, what they've done is they've opened a hole in the wall about the size of an attache case, so they haven't gone inside yet. But they can tell from the coffins that these were not royalty. They may have been senior advisors to the pharaoh, for instance.

They were obviously important people because they were buried in the Valley of the Kings, which was reserved for nobility and others. But they haven't actually gotten a chance to go inside this chamber. I stuck my head inside and I can tell you, there is a lot of work to be done.

There's about, as I said, five coffins stacked up, some in fairly bad condition. But you can see faces painted on these coffins and archaeologists say they believe they were men.

But beyond that, until they actually go inside the chamber, which they haven't done yet, they won't be able to say with any certainly who these people are, but they do know that they were from the time of King Tut, 3,300 years ago -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Wow. So how can you tell that they're not royalty and, also, could there be more?

WEDEMAN: Well, at this point, they say that simply because of the kind of chamber they were in and the coffins, they probably were not royalty. Now, what's interesting is this is really the first major discovery in the Valley of the Kings since 1922 when King Tut's tomb was opened.

But Egyptologists say that really, they've only found about a third of what they believe is still out there under the sands, under the rocks, out there in the desert here in Egypt. So they really feel that they're really only skimming the surface, that there may be many more exciting discoveries like this to come -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Interesting stuff. Ben Wedeman, keep telling us more. We love those stories. Thanks, Ben.

Straight ahead, botched surgery leaves a dog near death. His owner cries foul but it was Fred who got the revenge. Fred the undercover cat, that is who's taken down a phony vet. But how long will it take him to lose the harness with the shiny badge? LIVE FROM honors New York's furriest, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New York's finest has a new hero. He goes by the name Fred. That's an undercover cat. Well, that's the part that makes the headlines. This animal adventure begins with a phony veterinarian and a dog owner that smelled a rat. Stacey Sager of our affiliate, WABC has this cautionary tale.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STACEY SAGER, WABC REPORTER (voice-over): Fortunately, this story has a happy ending for 5-year-old Boston Terrier Burt of Bed- Stuy, but investigators can't say the same for 28-year-old Steven Vassall. He's now facing felony charges for allegedly posing as a veterinarian and nearly killing Burt after cutting him open to remove a supposed foreign object from his intestines last summer.

RAYMOND REID, BURT'S OWNER: His mouth was drenched with blood from just licking the wound. He didn't leave any medication, nothing.

CHARLES HYNES, BROOKLYN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: After he left Burt at the doorstep with the open incision, he had the nerve to send a bill for almost $1,000 to Mr. Reid.

SAGER: Burt's owner, Raymond Reid, says Vassall was insisting on euthanizing the dog, but instead, Reid took him to an emergency clinic and then called detectives. That's where Fred comes in. Call him the pet detective, Fred once very ill himself.

JOYCE CLEMENS, ANIMAL CARE & CONTROL: We just saved his life and now he's giving back to help other cats and dogs of New York City. SAGER: In this undercover video, Fred was used as a lure for the proof they needed. On the tape, Vassall offers to take the cat and neuter him, but he was arrested before that ever happened.

Today at Vassall's last known address here in East Flatbush, the man behind this door identified himself as Vassall's father, but was clearly agitated by us, and said his son had moved away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss, I don't know.

SAGER (on camera): So you just don't know his address even, at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't.

SAGER (voice-over): Meanwhile, neighbors were stunned based on what they thought about Vassall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very nice, very friendly.

SAGER: Investigators fearing the problem of phony vets is probably far worse, but taking Fred public, so to speak, as a deterrent.

HYNES: He's the first undercover cat, but I want to make it very clear we'll use this technique again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: To boldly go where no decorator has gone before. That's saying something. And to look at the handiwork of Tony Alleyne, well, it's really saying something. The 52-year-old "Star Trek" fan has spent the last nine years and more than $50,000 turning his Leicestershire flat into a replica of the Starship Enterprise. He also sunk $175,000 into a business aimed at fellow trekies, but, amazingly, there were few takers. And now Alleyne,has been beamed into bankruptcy. He's also separated from his wife. She's hoping to sell-off these digs to cover his debt. LIVE FROM points to the immortal words of Mr. Spock: "If there are self-made, purgatories, then we all have to live in them."

The hottest new fashions from the hottest designers. Scads of beautiful people everywhere. Fashion Week in New York, like even the best of parties, it's got to end some time, but it's going in style.

Sibila Vargas looking quite fashionable herself.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: And I'm sure she didn't spend any time going to those parties, though, because she's been working so hard doing the cat walk.

VARGAS: Very, very hard. Very hard. You know, somebody has to do it. But you're talking about the beautiful people. You're the beautiful people. Why don't we just -- we love to love on each other, but let me get to my story, all right.

From Gwen Stefani to J.Lo to Sean "P Diddy" Combs, it seems like if you're anyone in Hollywood, you want to get into the fashion industry, you want to have your own fashion line. But how do these celebrity designers stack up when it comes to the true fashionistas?

Well, I decided to find out. Take a look, Kyra.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS (voice-over): It looks like pure glamour, wafer-thin models strutting down the runway in the highest fashion. Makes sense that celebrities would want a piece of the action, too.

MARY ALICE STEPHENSON, STYLIST/FASHION EXPERT: Celebrities, actors and musicians are coming out with their own clothing lines. Bottom line is how long can they make hit records? Will their movies be successful? Who knows. The bottom line, money. They want to make money.

VARGAS: And amidst the trendiness of it all comes the cold, hard fact that fashion is a very serious business. Designer Carolina Herrera tells me fashion isn't as glamorous as some celebrities may think.

CAROLINA HERRERA, DESIGNER: It's a lot of work. It's not like one collection, and then that's it. You have to follow, and you have to deliver, and you have to sell, and you have to go on and on and on forever.

VARGAS: In the past year, both Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani have made huge waves in the fashion world by showing their fashions this Fashion Week. But things are different this fashion week. J.Lo is having a quiet showing outside those tents, and Stefani's line is nowhere to be seen.

STEPHENSON: I don't think they realize how tough the fashion press can be. I've heard it said by Gwen, by Jennifer Lopez, that the fashion press is much tougher than the movie press or the movie press.

VARGAS: Designer Diana Von Furstenberg tell us, if a celebrity is going to create a fashion line, they've got to have talent.

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG, DESIGNER: I think the most important thing, if you have a line of clothes, is that you have a really strong point of view and to bring something that's missing. And then with a lot of work and, you know, then you make it happen.

VARGAS: Even singer Beyonce Knowles is on the verge of her big break in the fashion world. She and mom, Tina, are prepared to launch their full collection this spring. So how do designers really feel about celebrities trying their hand in fashion?

VERA WANG, DESIGNER: Don't get me started on this question. No, I think that I understand the commercial appeal of it, but I also think that there's really -- there should be a respect paid to the designers who are really artists. I think certainly our business is so large now that there is room for a lot of different contexts in which to view fashion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: And Lenny Kravitz is just one of the latest celebrities to get into the whole celebrity fashion craze. We hear that he's coming out with his own line of fashion watches, very high-end. Not sure if they're going to be rock or flare, though, Kyra. Can you handle it?

PHILLIPS: I think I can handle it. I don't know if I can handle much more of this Fashion Week. You know, all these beautiful women and beautiful clothes.

VARGAS: I know. But you don't have anything to worry about. They don't hold a candle to you.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Sibila. OK, check's in the mail. Talk to you soon.

Well, you could spend years in training and thousands of travel and equipment and blow the gold because you didn't get enough sleep. U.S. Olympians will have no stone unturned in their quest to be the best.

We're live from Torino, Italy in the next hour of LIVE FROM.

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