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Pentagon Probe Under Way Into Haditha Killings; Hopes Fading Fast in Indonesia; Soldier Describes Attack that Killed CBS Journalists in Iraq
Aired May 30, 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: Guilty on all counts -- John Allen Muhammad is convicted of six more of the sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington area in 2002. A Maryland jury took just over four hours to reach that verdict.
The trial, in which Muhammad acted as his own attorney, lasted four weeks. Muhammad is already under a death sentence in Virginia for a killing there.
Who is the enemy? Who is not? And where is the line? Wherever it is, there's a strong suspicion it was crossed last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha, resulting in the slaughter of at least 24 Iraqis by U.S. Marines. The Pentagon is investigating, and Congress will hold hearings. A war veteran himself, Democratic Congressman John Murtha says he understands what troops are going through and what might make them crack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I understand the troops. Troops doing a tremendous job. They carry 70 pounds of equipment. They're out there every day. An IED goes off; it kills somebody one day. The next day -- some of them have seen 25 and 30 of those go off, and they haven't been wounded, like -- like the reporter that was hit. She's been out there day after day. And, finally, it gets to them.
The pressure is tremendous. We don't have enough troops over there and they don't know what their mission is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Joining me from the Pentagon, CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
Jamie, how often are the troops rotated out of Iraq?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the -- this particular unit had been there before. This was the second time they had been to Iraq.
Some of them had actually been on a third tour -- tour of duty. They tend to rotate in and then be out for a year or so, before they are rotated back. And, last year, by using the National Guard, they were able to give some of the active-duty troops a break. But, again, what some of these troops are finding, when they go back for a second time, is that the second tour of duty is more dangerous than the first, because the insurgency has grown in the time since they left.
PHILLIPS: Well, Jamie, how experienced were the Marines in Haditha? And is Haditha one of the hottest insurgent spots in Iraq right now? That's what everybody is saying.
MCINTYRE: Well, it's not the hottest, but it certainly was a hotbed of activity back at the time this was going on.
In fact, the Marines who were serving in Haditha had -- had several incidents in which they had lost fellow Marines, one in which a vehicle was struck, and 14 people were -- were killed, a very deadly incident. And there have been a number of cases just -- just leading up to that.
So, that sort of tells you a little bit about the frame of mind the these troops are in, as they are on patrol. It's early in the morning. A bomb goes off underneath their Humvee. One of their Marines is killed in front of them. And, then, which is standard procedure, they go off to look for who the bombers were.
But the U.S. military stresses that one of the things -- the reasons they have such high standards and do such training to make sure that, while they are conducting those combat operations, they take every possible precaution to avoid killing noncombatants on the battlefield.
And they realize that accidents happen, mistakes are made. Things are inadvertent. That's understandable. But what the evidence points to here is that somebody, as you said early on, crossed the line, in not taking the precautions that were needed to make sure that innocent lives weren't lost.
PHILLIPS: Have we heard from General Hagee, the commandant of the Marines, yet, that went over there to deal with this?
MCINTYRE: No. We know what he was -- what he went over there to tell the troops, which was, no matter how emotional and stressful combat is, it's not an excuse for violating the laws of war.
But when he went over there, he wanted to meet privately with the Marines to talk to them, you know, Marine to Marine, without the dynamics of -- of a public event, and stress to them the importance of upholding Marine values.
PHILLIPS: Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon, thanks so much.
And Marine Lance Corporal Ryan Briones was in Haditha and helped document what happened there. He told "The L.A. Times" that he took pictures of at least 15 bodies. His mother spoke to CNN about the impact that the killings have had on her son.
CNN's Dan Simon is in San Francisco with more on that. Dan, what did you find out?
SIMON: Well, I spoke with the mother at her home near Fresno yesterday. And, like you said, Kyra, she says her son was asked to photograph actually the two dozen bodies that were there. And he was also asked to remove them. Just to be clear, he witnessed the carnage after the fact, and the mother says he was terribly disturbed by what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSIE BRIONES, MOTHER OF LANCE CORPORAL RYAN BRIONES: When he had to carry, since he was part of the cleanup crew, is carry that little girl's body, and her -- her head was blown off or something, that her brain splattered on his boots. And that's what affects Ryan the most, is that he had to pick up the child's body to put her in a body bag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Briones told "The Los Angeles Times" he's been interrogated twice by Navy investigators now. He turned over his digital camera, but he does not know what happened to it. Ms. Briones says her son is now seeing a psychiatrist, based on what he saw over there in Iraq.
She was very critical of his military care. She says his doctors are basically disregarding his emotional health. As for where the lance corporal is right now, he's back at his base in Camp Pendleton, where his mother says he's going to be interrogated again -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, why have these two been willing to speak with the media?
SIMON: That's a very good question.
I -- I didn't speak to the Marine, but I did speak to the mother. And she says it's basically to get the word out about post-traumatic stress disorder. She was so critical of his treatment. She says, when he got back from Iraq, he was never -- never really got a debriefing, was never really -- never really had an opportunity to tell medical professionals what he saw over there.
And she says this is -- is an opportunity to get their story out and to tell people that this is a very serious disorder, and real lives are affected -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Is his mother concerned at all about fallout from this Marine coming forward and talking to the media?
SIMON: Well, indeed she is.
And I should tell you that Lance Corporal Briones is not talking to the media anymore. We don't know if that's self-imposed or if his superiors basically silenced him. But she is worried herself. She is worried that -- that Navy investigators are going to come to her home and look for evidence, look -- look for pictures that he may have e- mailed.
There's certainly no evidence that that is going to occur, but that's something definitely in her mind -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dan Simon, thanks so much.
Critical care, first in Iraq, now in Germany -- CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier and one of the soldiers wounded alongside her have been transferred to the U.S. military's largest overseas hospital. Their families are on their way.
CNN's Chris Burns brings us the latest now from Landstuhl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After doctors fought to save her life in Iraq, Kimberly Dozier is now at Landstuhl Medical Center here in Germany, before she's transferred back to the states.
On her flight over here, doctors noticed some positive signs. She wiggled her toes. She opened her eyes and acknowledged the presence of at least one person. So, doctors see that as a positive sign, that having -- for her having suffered severe head wounds, shrapnel to the head. She underwent two operations in Iraq to remove that shrapnel.
But she also has a lot of serious injuries to her legs. Doctors will be looking to make sure that she is stabilized over the next few days, before she is allowed to go back to the states. Her family is to arrive early tomorrow, Wednesday morning, to see her and to visit and to talk with doctors about her condition.
The accounts coming from Iraq are quite remarkable. There are doctors and medics who talked about how they did fight to save her life.
CAPT. TIFFANY FUSCO, U.S. MILITARY HOSPITAL, BAGHDAD: Her blood pressure dropped to a point where we could barely see what it was anymore. We could barely assess it. Basically, it means that she was going down, and she did pretty hard. But we were able to get her back by giving her fluids and medications.
LT. COL. BOB MAZUR, U.S. MILITARY HOSPITAL, BAGHDAD: At one point, she -- her pulse stopped. She didn't have a heartbeat. She was as sick as you get.
The fact that she's alive, of course, is great. It's a miracle, pretty much. She's lucky to get to the 10th CSH. She's lucky the 10th CSH is here.
MAJOR SAM MEHTA, U.S. MILITARY HOSPITAL, BAGHDAD: If this would have happened back home in the states, she would have probably died.
I think, for me, Memorial Day will never be the same. While I do remember those who have died for our country in past wars and previous conflicts, for me, this will also be a day that I remember as the memory of people who have lived, because we, our team, saved the life, I believe, of seven soldiers and Ms. Dozier.
BURNS: The commander here at Landstuhl Medical Center says that Kimberly Dozier is still alive thanks to the protection she was wearing. She had on a Kevlar vest and helmet. And he says, thanks to that, Kimberly Dozier survived.
Chris Burns, CNN, Landstuhl Medical Center.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And Landstuhl makes headlines when it treats high- profile casualties, but Kimberly Dozier will be one of hundreds of surgical patients treated there this week alone.
The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is the largest American hospital outside the U.S. It opened to patients in 1953 and now treats casualties of U.S. military operations in Europe, Southwest Asia, and the Middle East. The staff is half Army personnel, 15 percent Air Force, and 35 percent civilian.
The man for ever mission, that's how the 1st Lieutenant Robert Seidel was remembered at his funeral on Memorial Day. The West Point grad died May 18 on patrol in Iraq, while his family and friends celebrated the life of their hero.
Veterans of other wars surrounded the Maryland church to prevent protesters from interrupting the final tribute.
Darryn Moore of affiliate WTTG has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARRYN MOORE, WTTG REPORTER (voice-over): Local residents, military veterans and police officers lined the street, honoring hometown hero 23-year-old Army Lieutenant Robert Seidel.
JOSH BOLLINGER, FRIEND OF ROBERT SEIDEL: It almost brings a chill to you, you know, just like the -- because nobody even knew him, you know, out of that group over there.
MOORE: The West Point graduate died in Iraq on May 18. A bomb exploded near his vehicle during combat operations in Baghdad.
Seidel's friends, wearing buttons, gathered together to remember a childhood friend.
MORGAN WILLIAMS, FRIEND OF ROBERT SEIDEL: All of us have our own special relationship with him. He was a really close friend to a lot of people. So, we are definitely -- he's definitely missed.
MOORE (on camera): Family and friends Lieutenant Robert Seidel were in church paying their final respects to a fallen soldier, while a group of veterans on motorcycles were keeping demonstrators in check who travel across the country protesting military funerals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to show honor. We ride with respect. I don't give a damn what those people do.
MOORE (voice-over): A handful of demonstrators from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, were protesting, holding signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers." They claim soldiers are dying because of the U.S. tolerance of gays.
LIBBY PHELPS, FUNERAL PROTESTER: This country is given over to perversion. And they are fighting for this country. You shouldn't fight for a country that is given over to perversion and sin. And, so, God is killing all those children and sending them back over here in body bags.
MOORE: In response, Patriot Guard Riders show up in large numbers at military funerals to protect grieving families from disruptions.
ROBERT BELL, PATRIOT GUARD RIDER: They come to high-profile -- where they think there's going to be a lot of people. And -- and they -- they speak their rhetoric. Their signs are -- personally, to me, are disgusting.
MOORE: But, on this Memorial Day, a whole town came together honoring a local soldier who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
In Emmitsburg, Darryn Moore, FOX 5 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Maryland is one of several states with rest-in-peace laws to restrict protesters from getting close to military funerals. Yesterday, President Bush signed a federal law barring demonstrators within 300 feet of a national cemetery. Violators could face prison time and a $100,000 fine.
A modern-day Rambo, that's what some people here in Atlanta are calling a former Marine who fended off a group of alleged robbers. Atlanta police say the Marine was leaving his job waiting tables late last night when a car approached him and five people jumped out. One had a shotgun. The other had a pistol. Police say the Marine pulled a knife from his backpack, killing one of the attackers and wounding another.
The dead suspect turned out to be a pregnant teenage girl. Police say the attackers were suspected of other robberies as well, and were arrested at the hospital. The Marine suffered minor injuries and won't be charged.
Not all forms of military heroism come from the battlefield. Army Sergeant Edward Boniberger and his girlfriend found a signed lottery ticket worth $,2500. They found it near a New York convenience store. Well, instead of cashing it, they tried to find down its owner. Police tracked down the grateful winner, who offered the couple a reward. They turned it down. Boniberger, who returned from Baghdad last fall, suggested she give something to charity instead. Towns and villages flattened, tens of thousands of earthquake victims looking for outside help -- the latest from the Indonesian disaster zone straight ahead.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, hopes are fading fast in Indonesia, where almost 6,000 people are known dead in Saturday's earthquake, and where there is little chance of finding more survivors. Tens of thousands of people don't have homes.
The latest now from CNN's Dan Rivers in one of the hardest-hit areas of Java.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the aid effort is under way here, but there are problems with the coordination of that aid effort. Thousands of boxes of equipment, of supplies, of food, of water have been arriving. The main airport is now open in Yogyakarta, which is helping to get all this stuff in.
But once it's in, the problem is getting it out to the people who need it. And we're being told by some aid workers that there are trucks sitting around empty with no supplies, and then in other places there are supplies and no trucks. So, clearly, there needs to be a bit more focus on trying to get those two things together and get them out to the people.
We have been to one village today where 49 of the 50 houses in that village were completely leveled in this earthquake. There was only one that was left standing, and the people are having to camp out in that village, amid all the rubble and ruins of their homes.
So far, they haven't received any help at all. The Indonesian government is, obviously, doing its best. It says it's going to give 12 kilograms of rice per family to tide them over in the short term, and $21 each for clothing and other materials.
The World Food Program, as well, is setting up a big two-month feeding program to feed 80,000 people in the first month, and then 50,000 in the second month. But for the people who are on the ground, living amid the rubble, like the rubble behind me, this is the fourth night now since this earthquake that they're having to camp outside.
Dan Rivers, CNN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: You can log on to CNN.com for up-to-the minute information on the Indonesian earthquake. And you can find out how you can help the victims of that quake.
Severe weather warnings in parts of the U.S. CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen is keeping a watch on all of it for us.
Hey, Dave.
DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kyra.
Thunderstorms have been developing back through the upstate of New York. And we have seen numerous reports now of trees and power lines down along Glens Falls and up towards Warren County. That's the area that we're watching now, as these storms continue to sink to the south. There is Albany right there. We expect the storms to be in the capital district in the next couple of hours.
So, watch out. Some of these storms have a history of producing some wind damage, as they continue to move slowly to the south. Severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 10:00, and then numerous severe thunderstorm warnings for the potential for mainly wind damage, as these storms continue to move on to the south.
Watching other strong storms which have been firing up in through Michigan, of course, it has been record heat, yesterday, record highs in Albany and Traverse City, 93 the forecast high today around Detroit, and those thunderstorms now along the cold front, which will bring welcome relief from the heat, but producing the severe weather at this hour.
Back into Wisconsin, too, watching some other strong storms. These are just south of Madison, moving off to the Northeast. And the rain here north of Milwaukee has been producing some flooding. There are still some flood warnings in effect, and a report of a possible tornado earlier, with storms west of Green Bay, watching those storms as well.
And one more stop for you farther off towards the west, numerous thunderstorms now developing, new severe thunderstorm watch box area. That's the yellow box here into parts of Kansas, into Oklahoma, and back into the Texas Panhandle, just west of Wichita right now, reports of storms here that could produce some large hail as they move off towards the east.
There's the heat, responsible for all the thunderstorms today, and the cooler air moving in back behind it will bring welcome relief from the heat. These were record highs yesterday on Memorial Day. We looked at temperatures in the mid-90s in Minnesota yesterday, 93, Traverse City, 92, Alpena. Normal highs are right around 70 degrees there. And we will see the cooler weather begin to move in as we head on into the day tomorrow.
See Chicago down to 75 tomorrow, 79 in Kansas city, and then cool conditions continue in much of the West, Salt Lake City tomorrow, only around 77 degrees. Heat continues into the Southeast, bad air quality as well into the Southeast. There are ozone advisories today around the Atlanta area, back toward Charlotte, and as far north as Columbus, Ohio. Cooler temperatures tomorrow as well, into the Northeast.
We will keep an eye on that severe weather and keep you updated -- Kyra, back to you. PHILLIPS: Thanks so much, Dave.
Alligator anxiety in the Sunshine State -- three fatal attacks on humans and now frequent gator sightings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: This one crossed without looking both ways. Another took a bite out of a bumper before its capture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Wow. Ahead, what Florida is doing to try and get a grip on the gator problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, one person's trash is another person's beach? New York City believes it has made progress with the Hudson River. So, why not add a beach? Word is, swimmers could replace a city sanitation depot in just a few years.
Environmentalists say the river is the cleanest it has been for the last several hundred years.
Two days before hurricane season, a reminder of just what is at stake. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been touring parts of New Orleans today, neighborhoods, a hospital, and the city's emergency operations center.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: This is one of I'm sure will be a number of visits to this area, as we're running up to hurricane season. I hope all of them are by way of preparing and none by way of reacting. Hopefully, we won't have a very active hurricane season in this particular area.
But we all know that, while we hope for the best, we have to prepare for the worst. And people in trailers, people who are still recovering from the trauma of last year, are vulnerable. And one of the things we want to make sure about is that we take a particularly active role as the federal government this year to protect those who are vulnerable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Chertoff promises a more effective federal response to this year's hurricanes.
A railroad man makes tracks at the U.S. Treasury. And a Wall Street wizard takes stock of public service. Henry Paulson is the Goldman Sachs CEO whom President Bush has tapped to replace John Snow, former CEO of CSX, as treasury secretary. You got all that?
Ali Velshi in New York with some insights.
That's a lot of A, B, C, D, E, F.
(LAUGHTER)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Paulson comes from Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is thought by many people to be, you know, like we talk about ExxonMobil in the oil industry being the gold standard. Well, Goldman Sachs is thought of as the gold standard on Wall Street.
And Wall Street has actually been a bit of a farm team for -- for White House economic advisers or -- or treasury secretaries. Clinton's secretary, Robert Rubin, was once at Goldman Sachs. When he hired him, he was with Citigroup. The...
PHILLIPS: Why is that?
VELSHI: ... White House economic adviser Friedman, Josh Bolten, the chief of staff, they're all ex-Goldman alums.
Now, I was talk to somebody saying, why do these guys who make this kind of money -- Paulson took home a total compensation package last year of about 38 million bucks -- why do they want to be treasury secretary? Because he goes from making all that money to signing all the money. He gets his name on the -- on the dollar bill.
PHILLIPS: What exactly does...
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Was that you laughing, Kyra? That was meant to be a...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: No.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: You know, I got a lot of hours on TV. So, I'm -- it's good that I find out now that you didn't think that was funny, because then I won't use it for my later...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: I was actually talking -- I thought I was talking to you. I didn't have a mike there for a second. I was talking to myself. I'm sorry.
But I wanted to ask -- yes, I got your little joke there.
VELSHI: OK. Good.
PHILLIPS: But let me ask you, the treasury secretary -- because a lot of people have been sitting back.
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You mentioned, you know, signing the check. What exactly do they do? I mean, what -- what is the, you know, daily...
VELSHI: Well, it's not like the -- it's not like the head of the Fed, that every time they -- you know, if they eat a turkey sandwich every day and then they go eat an egg salad sandwich, everybody thinks, oh, my God, interest rates are going up. It's not that cryptic.
The -- the treasury secretary is a little more hands on in -- you know, the Fed only has one tool. They can raise interest rates or lower interest rates. The treasury secretary, they head up the Treasury Department. There's a lot of policy. They are in the White House. It's a big job.
But, fundamentally, what -- what -- what -- what Paulson has got to be looking at right now -- some people have been looking at his comments this morning about wanting to make the U.S. more competitive, right? We talk about all these jobs going offshore.
He mentioned that he wants to be more competitive. Now, some people have read into that the White House might cool off on its policy of keeping the U.S. dollar strong. Now, I told some people that this morning. You know what the first thing they said? Oh, my God, that's going to make it more expensive to go away, which is true.
But, when our dollar is expensive, when the dollar is high, what it also means is that everything we make that other countries make is more expensive in the United States. One of the examples that Todd (ph), my producer, and I figured out today was apples. The United States makes lots of apples, right? That's particularly American, apples and apple pie?
Well, China makes five times as many apples as we make. And, as a result, when our currency is higher, it costs all those other countries that want to buy apples more money to buy it from America than it does to buy it from China.
So, there's some sense that this administration might weaken its stand on keeping the dollar high. So, you know, for most people, it won't make much of a difference. You may not want to go overseas for your trips. But that's actually good for the economy, because if you don't go to Europe, because the dollar is weaker, you will spend your money right here in the United States. You will buy more American products.
So, that might be something to look at. For more -- most purposes, it won't affect you directly. But that might be something to look at.
PHILLIPS: Ali Velshi, we are getting close.
VELSHI: Yes, listen, it's...
PHILLIPS: Yes, about 20 minutes from the closing bell. (CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: It's going to be a rough market. We're off 160 points on the Dow right now. I will tell you about that when I get back.
PHILLIPS: All right. See you in a little bit. Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: OK. Yes.
PHILLIPS: It was a model of success for U.S. foreign policy, or so it seemed. But is Afghanistan backsliding into war? We're going to check it out -- when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well her wounds are extensive, her condition critical, her care is exception, as it was for everyone brought to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier and one of the soldiers wounded alongside her in Baghdad arrived there earlier today. She's already been through two operations in Baghdad and is expected to undergo more there in Landstuhl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. W. BRYAN GAMBLE, U.S. ARMY: It's really hard right now to ascertain how much of a recovery period she will need or what the extent of her rehabilitation needs will be. It's really too early into the process of the trauma to know that right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Gamble adds that Dozier is doing as well as can be expected. She was wearing a protective vest when the bomb went off and doctors say that helped save her life.
As we've been telling you, a lot of credit is due to the medics in the field and the doctors and nurses at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad. CNN was there working on a documentary when Dozier and the wounded soldiers were rushed to the E.R. Here's what doctors said after each patient was stabilized.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LT. COL. BOB MAZUR, U.S. MILITARY HOSPITAL, BAGHDAD: She was very sick, obviously. At one point her pulse stopped. She didn't have a heartbeat. She was as sick as you get. Brink of death, basically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you guys brought her back.
MAZUR: Mostly the team that worked on this bed from the doctors, nurses, medics, quite a few folks doing that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How lucky is she? MAZUR: I think she's really unlucky, actually. She got hurt real bad. The fact that she is alive of course, is great. It's a miracle pretty much. She is lucky to get to the 10th cache. She's lucky the 10th cache is here. That's a good thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She would have probably died -- if a similar trauma would have happened back home in the states, she would have probably died. It takes quite awhile back home to enable us to get the patient and bring them here. There's testament to the evacuation system that the patient was able to get here this quickly and we were able to work on her as quickly as we were able to, to save her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Dozier and six soldiers were wounded yesterday by a roadside bomb, just outside Baghdad's Green Zone. CBS sound tech James Brolan and photographer Paul Douglas died at the scene. A U.S. soldier and an Iraqi contractor who haven't been identified also were killed.
The brakes went out, the truck crashed, the driver did all he could to avoid people. The U.S. military in Afghanistan looking back on yesterday's crash of a cargo truck into a row of parked cars and pedestrians in Kabul. What followed was a day of rioting, Kabul's worst since the fall of the Taliban. A spokesperson for coalition troops says the driver, after realizing his brakes had failed, deliberately aimed for parked cars hoping they would help him stop. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is in Kabul. We'll hear from her in the next hour of LIVE FROM.
War against the Taliban. Washington calls it a success, but what's been happening in Afghanistan calls the victory into question. CNN's Brian Todd investigated for "THE SITUATION ROOM."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If a traffic accident can spark a deadly riot in Kabul, if the Taliban can come back with a vengeance, and if the drug trade is still flourishing, then is the post-9/11 Western model for Afghanistan crumbling? It depends on who you ask.
This protester in Kabul has one answer.
AJMAL JAN, PROTESTER: And they're driving on the road, killing innocent people. We want America out of this country sooner or later! We hate America!
TODD: And one Western journalist in Afghanistan describes the situation as "quite bleak." "The perceived inability of the central government to extend its control over the whole country," he says, "is a huge factor."
Analysts believe that has led to the Tailbone's deadly resurgence in the south. As U.S. troops scale back and NATO forces move in there, Taliban militia are taking advantage of the porous border with Pakistan to launch offensives. Drug traffickers, they say, are also filling the void, allying with the Taliban and infiltrating the Afghan government.
But despite its problems, Afghanistan has made important strides.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The terror camps have been shut down. Women are working. Boys and girls are going to school. And Afghans have chosen a president and a new parliament in free elections.
TODD: Other signs of progress, analysts say, don't get much visibility.
BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The economy has improved by about 80 percent over the course of the last four years. Infrastructure is being built. Those are the schools and the hospitals and the road -- the road network. The training of the Afghanistan military and security forces is increasing. And there is an increased presence of Afghanistan command and control over the security that takes place within the country.
TODD (on camera): Those Afghan security forces, analysts believe, are key to the very delicate balance here. Their ability to win the trust of local villagers and war lords in the coming months and years, they say, will mean the difference between stability in some parts of Afghanistan and chaos in other areas. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And you can join Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and for the live prime-time edition at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. The news keeps coming, we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We have been talking about CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier, who is recovering after a roadside attack on the vehicle she was driving in. As you know, she lost her sound tech and her cameraman. A soldier and also an Iraqi translator were killed in that blast. We're just getting some new sound in by a sergeant, Ezekiel Hernandez, who witnessed that explosion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. EZEKIEL HERNANDEZ, U.S. ARMY: ... the second vehicle called me over and told me just to make sure you check the vehicles that are parked there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were the vehicles parked on the side?
HERNANDEZ: Yes. And he said make -- do a quick sweep around the vehicles and so when I commenced to start walking over there, Specialist Potter (ph) had called me over and said, "Is it all right if vehicles pass through the outer part of the other section over here?" Which was coming not close to us.
And we ere like, "Yes, that's fine. They can pass that way. But they can't come back within 50 or 75 meters from us." And right when he did that, that's when I just felt the gush of wind and fire all around me. I went deaf, my eardrum was blown out and I commenced to run across the street and so did Specialist Potter (ph) and I aided him.
I told him, "We've got a little courtyard." I told him to take off his gear so I can check over him, make sure he ain't got no injuries. When I didn't find nothing except for minor -- well, not minor, but burns on his hands and face, I told him to put his gear back on and that's when we commenced to go back out.
And I told him to sit in the middle truck and, you know, just for security get on the gun. And at that time, one of the NCOs on the ground already was calling Medevac and I told my -- I instructed my gunner that was still in the truck nearest to the explosion to get out, because our truck was starting on fire.
And when he moved I told him to go sit in the truck. And he was injured. He had, like, a neck injury -- a slight neck injury. And after that, that's when the medic -- I had to help the medic into dragging everybody away from the burning vehicles. We dragged them to the side and we did it. He did -- his aide -- you know, his medical aide and I assisted him on that for a little bit, then that's when I saw Moutoud (ph) also came and assisted and ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you know that our cameraman and soundman had died at that stage?
HERNANDEZ: Yes. Well, at that time, I knew the soundman was -- you know, deceased at the time, and the cameraman -- we assisted him. He had, of course, decapitation on his leg. And we did a tourniquet on him and stopped the bleeding. And we dragged him to safety, so he wouldn't get near the fire and the burning vehicle. And at that time we assisted everybody else. Started giving them IV. At from point the medics took over and I just started pulling security for them as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Pretty powerful story to tell. Sergeant Ezekiel Hernandez, he was one of the six soldiers that survived that attack, that bomb that went off and killed two members of a CBS crew. That was actually a CBS producer that got that interview with Sergeant Hernandez.
You see here James Brolan and Paul Douglas. They were the two that were killed in that explosion. And Sergeant Hernandez said how he tried to tend to the cameraman who had lost his leg in the explosion, put a tourniquet around him. Obviously, we do know what happened. Neither one of those men survived that attack. Kimberly Dozier still fighting for her life now in Landstuhl, Germany.
Meanwhile, we haven't gotten the name of the soldier that was killed in the explosion nor the Iraqi translator, but we will continue to cover the story. It's the first time we have heard from one of the soldiers that survived the attack.
Well, Pope Benedict walked in his predecessor's footsteps on a just completed four-day pilgrimage to Poland, but he also forged his own path.
CNN's Delia Gallagher traveled with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Stand firm in your faith" was Pope Benedict's message in Polish to the Polish people. And their message to him? "Welcome holy father," they chanted in German, once the language of their Nazi oppressors but now the language of their new pope who came to visit the places associated with the life of his predecessor, John Paul II.
In the late pope's hometown of Wadowice, the crowd held banners expressing their desire to see their most famous son made a saint. Pope Benedict said only that he hoped, along with them, that it would happen in the near future.
Like John Paul II, Pope Benedict visited the sick at a famous shrine to Mary, frequented by a young Karol Wojtyla. Pope Benedict is more reserved in public than John Paul II was. He seemed almost ill at ease, acknowledging the cheers of nearly a million young people assembled for an outdoor mass near Krakow.
He used the trip to nurture his larger agenda, renewing Catholicism in Europe, and to continue the restoration of Jewish- Catholic relations with a historic trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
(on camera): To appreciate the significance of this pope's trip to Poland, you have to understand the terrible history of this country, so marked by the Nazi occupation. And nowhere is more a reminder of that terror than here, in Auschwitz in Birkenau, site of the Nazi extermination camp.
(voice-over): It was stop Pope Benedict said he couldn't fail to make, although he admitted it was difficult for a German pope. He came, he said, as a son of Germany to ask for reconciliation from God and from the men and women who suffered here. Where was God in those days, the pope asked, and why did he remain silent?
The pope placed a single lit candle in front of the Wall of Death at Auschwitz, where thousands of inmates were executed and then met with 32 survivors of the Holocaust. One, a Jewish man wearing the striped cap of the Zander (ph) Commando, prisoners forced to empty the gas chambers where their fellow Jews had perished, kissed the German pontiff's ring.
The intermittent rain that plagued the trip turned to sunshine as the pope reached the memorial monument at Birkenau, topping before each of the 22 lapidaries, one for each of the nations whose citizens perished here. And a bright rainbow appeared in the sky as the pope began to speak, alternating between Polish and Italian.
POPE BENEDICT XVI: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
GALLAGHER: "The place where we are standing is a place of memory and at the same time, the place of the Shoah," the pope said, using the preferred Jewish name for the Holocaust. The pope called the Nazis a ring of criminals who used and abused the German people as an instrument of their thirst for destruction and power.
And then for the first time on this trip, the pope spoke in his native tongue. The sounds of the German language were heard once again in the camps, this time a prayer for peace offered by a German pope.
Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Stay with CNN. We'll be back right after a quick break.
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PHILLIPS: Take a close look at this. This is what a bird rescue group in California found inside a sick duck that later died. See the circled part? Well, many people say it looks like the tiny face of a space alien. Obviously, it's some sort of anomaly, but the rescue group sees funding potential so now it's on eBay. Just the x-ray, not the duck. You have five days to place a bid. It won't be cheap. Right now the bidding tops $20,000.
Did you ever wonder how many alligators are in Florida? The state's educated guess is more than a million: educated because biologists go out to count alligators every year; guess because gators don't, well, much take to biologists or anybody else. Gators have attacked and killed three people in Florida this month, and -- that doesn't say mating seasons --
Well, John Zarrella reports.
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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not in his 20- plus years of rounding up alligators had Todd Hardwick ever caught one so big, 11.5 feet, more than 600 pounds. The gator trapper called in a tow truck to hoist the writhing beast on to a flatbed.
TODD HARDWICK, ALLIGATOR TRAPPER: He got me good, didn't he?
ZARRELLA: In the wake of three fatal gator attacks on women in Florida -- this one killed a jogger west of Ft. Lauderdale -- gator trappers have been busier than ever before. Trappers are getting calls nonstop from people spotting gators in backyard lakes and along canals. They're targeting the biggest ones first. The recent attacks have brought on a frenzy of public awareness and degree of alligator anxiety. But experts say they're really isn't anything different between this and past years.
HARDWICK: Everything that we're experiencing right now has happened before, except for three fatalities in less than a week.
ZARRELLA: During Florida's usually dry winters and springs, alligators are on the move looking for water, which usually leads them to urban lakes, closer to humans, and more importantly, this is mating season.
HARDWICK: Because they're breeding and fighting with each other for territory and breeding rights, we literally have these alligators moving down the canal systems into the urban areas.
ZARRELLA: And they don't turn up just in the water. This one crossed without looking both ways. Another took a bite out of a bumper before its capture. Adam Stern is the senior children's zoo keeper at Miami's Metro Zoo. He's holding a four-year-old, 4.5-foot alligator named Kisses.
I'm not sure I want Kisses to be giving me any kisses.
ADAM STERN, MIAMI METRO ZOO: Probably not a good idea.
ZARRELLA: Kisses is motionless in Stern's arms. It looks like a stuffed animal until you see the eyelid roll from front to back. Stern says gators you encounter on land can be just as dangerous as one in the water.
STERN: I know it's kind of like an urban legend that if you try to outrun a gator you do it by zigzagging. But they are so fast, it's not going to happen.
ZARRELLA: By the time you think about making your move to get away, it's probably already to late, right?
STERN: Exactly.
ZARRELLA: Stern says gators don't go out looking for humans to attack. But as Florida's population booms, alligators and people share more of the same land and neither species sees eye to eye.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: You can see reports like this each weekday on AMERICAN MORNING, beginning at 6:00 Eastern.
Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour. Good to see you're back, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Kyra. Good to see you.
Violence raging in Iraq right now, and there's an investigation of a potential massacre of unarmed civilians. We're covering all sides of the story. The new Iraqi ambassador to the United States and Congressman John Murtha, among my guests in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Also, the start of hurricane season now just two days away. Are we ready for the next big one? I'll ask the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen. He joins us here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Also, from Wall Street to the White House. President Bush picks a new treasury secretary.
And we'll also have the greatest hits, Kyra, of the graduation speeches this year. Presidential hopefuls hit the college circuit. All that coming up right at the top of the hour -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf, sounds good.
Well forget T-Rex. Coming up on LIVE FROM, scientists in Utah say they've uncovered the heavy weight of the dino world. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: OK, maybe they had a few pints. Maybe they're just gluttons for punishment. But you got to be a little nuts to do this every year: chase a wheel of cheese down a hill in Gloucester, England. Supposedly, the cheese hits speeds of 70 miles an hour. But unbelievably, paramedics report only a few dislocations and fractures among the chasers. First prize, what else? That speedy wheel of cheese.
All right, for dinosaur lovers everywhere, the biggest story ever from Utah. Those scientists who spend a lot of time going through dirt with a toothbrush, well, they've uncovered something really big. Ed Yeates of CNN affiliate KSL reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED YEATES, KSL REPORTER (voice-over): Take the three foot forearm of this armored dinosaur and stretch it up to six feet. Pull it from head to tail so it's longer, up to 25 feet. Pack it with full armor and spikes, even over the hips. Now you've got a palanchathid (ph) weighing five tons.
As we said before...
DR. REESE BARRICK, PREHISTORIC MUSEUM DIRECTOR: It will be the largest, heaviest armored dinosaur found on the planet so far.
YEATES: College of Eastern Utah paleontologists found it right here in Utah, which seems to be unraveling more graves of armored dinos than anywhere in the world.
(on camera): This is three times the size and weight of this armored dinosaur, called gastonia (ph). A delicious meal for a Utah raptor here? I don't think so.
(voice-over): Utah raptor, as portrayed in "Jurassic Park," wouldn't have been able to get its teeth anywhere in this armor. And if it tried to pry open the tightly fused seams, bye-bye claws.
BARRICK: So its best defense is just to stand there or maybe even kneel down so that it -- there's no way for an animal to actually get to where the soft underbelly would be.
YEATES: At more than ten thousand pounds, even a pack of Utah raptors couldn't turn over this thing. Look at the size of this rib, even though it was broken right here before the animal died. As a new species, if it gets a name...
BARRICK: It will certainly be something that includes tank or monster or mountain or something.
YEATES: A slow, heavy-moving, dim-witted tank nature decided needed a lot of help.
Ed Yeates, Price, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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