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CNN Live Today

Arthur Miller Dead at 89; North Korea Nuclear Threat; Americans in the Gulag?; Rumsfeld's Surprise Visit to Iraq

Aired February 11, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

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


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Now, a look at some of the stories making news on this day.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Rumsfeld in Iraq. The defense secretary meets with interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi after paying a surprise visit to U.S. troops. We will go live to Baghdad for more on Rumsfeld's trip and on two deadly attacks today targeting Iraqi Shiites.

Pope John Paul II is back at the Vatican today. He left a Rome hospital last night and was greeted by crowds of well-wishers you see there. The 84-year-old pontiff was treated for breathing problems stemming from the flu. Many were watching to see if he would appear during mass today at the Vatican.

And we are watching, too. And we'll bring that to you live when it happens, if it happens.

Hundreds of families in Venezuela have been evacuated due to massive flooding. Authorities say torrential rains have left more than a dozen people dead. A rescue operation is taking place in the same area where heavy rains and flooding left thousands dead more than five years ago. The rains are expected to continue throughout the weekend.

And the state -- or the Senate passes a bill to limit class action lawsuits. The House is expected to approve it next week and send it on to President Bush. He's made legal reforms a priority of his second term. Backers of the bill say it will help reduce frivolous lawsuits. Opponents, though, say it will hurt consumers.

Well, good morning on this Friday. It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Daryn Kagan.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. A lot of news on this day.

We're going to begin, of course, with the story we found out about just 20 minutes ago and we were able to confirm. Legendary American playwright Arthur Miller is dead at the age of 89. He will be no doubt remembered for his Pulitzer Prize-winning work, "Death of a Salesman." But that was the beginning.

He wrote the play in just six weeks in the late 1940s. It's premier on Broadway in 1949 got Miller rave reviews.

Here now, a look at his life by CNN's Eric Philips.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Arthur Miller has given our nation some of the finest plays of this century.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chief among them, "Death of a Salesman," which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize. And in 1953, his metaphor for McCarthyism, "The Crucible."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want the truth now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We never conjure spirits.

PHILIPS: But Miller took his lumps before becoming known as a writer of classics.

ARTHUR MILLER, PLAYWRIGHT: Fifty years ago I quit forever. I had a disaster with my first play. I resolved never to write another one.

PHILIPS: Fortunately the playwright reneged on that vow and within a few years was penning masterpieces. Miller's characters were specific, yet universal, infected with human flaws like pride, envy, greed and lust.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harriet tells me you used to take out her cousin, Rosalind Fein (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's possible. I don't remember.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you had so many, didn't you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was younger.

MILLER: The art of playwriting consists of mainly the manipulation of time. Everything has to be squeezed so that it becomes dramatic.

PHILIPS: At the peak of his fame in 1956, Miller married Marilyn Monroe. The pair became the celebrity couple of their time. The marriage, his second of three, lasted until 1961.

Later on, Miller was honored for his contributions to the theater, an honorary degree from Harvard, a lifetime achievement award from the Tonys, and the National Medal of the Arts. Toward the end of his life, Miller lamented how Broadway had changed over the years.

MILLER: There was a kind of reverence that is gone. People felt it was an art, not a business. Now, of course, it always was a business.

PHILIPS: That business made Miller famous, and Miller's plays enriched readers and audiences everywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Once again, Arthur Miller passes on. Born in 1915. We at CNN will effort to bring you stories on Mr. Miller throughout the day -- Betty.

NGUYEN: In our CNN "Security Watch," the U.S. today rejected North Korea's demand for one-on-one talks on its nuclear problem. A North Korean official tells a South Korean newspaper that direct talks would be a sign the U.S. is changing its "hostile policy."

His comments comes a day after North Korea rejected six-party talks and announced publicly that it has nuclear weapons. North Korea says the weapons are a deterrent against a U.S. invasion.

Well, the announcement by North Korea ratchets up tensions in the standoff over its nuclear program. More on the threat and the efforts to defuse it from our CNN national correspondent, David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ever since North Korea fired a missile over Japan in 1998, the CIA has been watching it especially closely. U.S. intelligence currently estimates Pyongyang could have two to eight nuclear weapons and that its Tapo Dong II missile could have a range of 10,000 kilometers. That would reach parts of the United States.

JON WOLFSTAHL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: But the worst case is that they could put a nuclear weapon by a missile onto parts of Hawaii, Alaska or even parts of the West Coast of the United States.

ENSOR: But few experts believe that worst case is yet reality. They doubt North Korea's untested Tapo Dong II could hit such a distant target and whether its nuclear bombs would fit on the missile.

WOLFSTAHL: We have serious questions about whether they can shrink down a nuclear weapon to a size small enough that would enable it to hit the United States.

ENSOR: Still, Pyongyang's statement it has "nukes" and no interest, for now, in talks, is definitely jangling nerves.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE & INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: In a sense, we're on a knife's edge that North Korea has created for itself and we have to proceed very cautiously to try to increase the chance that we don't worsen it inadvertently.

ENSOR: Analysts in and out of government see North Korea's latest pronouncement as an effort to stave off what Kim Jong-il knows will be an intense pressure from the United States and from China to negotiate away its weapons program.

WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER COUNSELOR TO STATE DEPARTMENT: I think it is a negotiating ploy, but it is a very dangerous negotiating ploy because North Korea is very good at getting themselves into a box which they cannot get out of. ENSOR (on camera): Administration officials say they will keep turning up the pressure on Pyongyang to return to the six party talks and they will work hard to keep America and its Asian allies unified. Some analysts worry, though, that North Korea could turn up the temperature even higher by, for the first time, testing a nuke or a long range missile.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

NGUYEN: And CNN "Security Watch" keeps you up to date on safety. You'll want to stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

SANCHEZ: It turns out now that years of probing began chipping away at a still frozen secret of the Cold War, that American and British prisoners of war probably disappeared into the Soviet Gulag. There's a new page that's been turned in this -- in this epic story. It's a story that you'll only see on 7 -- I mean, only on CNN. The reporter is our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Soviet Union forced labor camp, millions imprisoned, dying in the Gulag as enemies of the state in the most remote areas of the country. The camps are now gone, but half a century later, a mystery remains. Were American servicemen imprisoned in the Gulag after their capture during the Korean conflict and the Cold War? Did American POWs die here?

NORMAN KASS, U.S. RUSSIAN CMSN. ON POW/MIAS: I personally would be comfortable saying that the number is in the hundreds.

STARR (on camera): That you believe died inside the Soviet Gulag?

KASS: That I believe were taken into the Soviet Union. And I frankly have no way of being able to say how many of them wound up where and how many of them perished there, how many may have been sent from there and may still be there.

STARR (voice-over): For more than a decade, Norman Kass has investigated dozens of reports Americans were seen inside the Gulag. Snippets of information about hundreds of camps that stretched across the Soviet Union. A new Pentagon study has a startling look at what may have happened.

At one Siberian camp, the daughter of a prisoner recently said her father met an American there named Stanley Warner. Investigators were stunned. Forty-five years earlier, another prisoner had reported three American soldiers in the same camp, one named Stanley Warner.

An internal Pentagon document concludes there is a high probability American citizens, or possibly U.S. or British POWs, died in that camp. Kass and his team are continuing the hunt for more clues on all the reports of Americans dying in the Soviet Gulag.

KASS: From our standpoint, it doesn't matter if someone is missing from the current conflicts that we have today, or someone missing from 50, 60 years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Once again, a story that we will continue to follow for you.

Betty, over to you.

NGUYEN: Well, it is day five of Fashion Week in New York. And we've got the cattiest in a "Queer Eye" fashion review. You don't want to miss this.

Plus, it's just about time for the ultimate dog and pony show. We have a preview of the Westminster Dog Show, including one of those furry contestants.

And this baby -- hopefully we'll have the picture -- nope, that's not the baby. That's the baby. You won't believe what he went through and is fighting to survive on this, his first day of life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. Now we take you to Iraq, to a surprise visit by Donald Rumsfeld.

The defense secretary rallied U.S. troops even as insurgents carried out more deadly attacks upon his arrival. Rumsfeld arrived in Mosul before dawn today to visit wounded soldiers. From there, he flew on to Baghdad to meet with Iraq's interim prime minister.

And that's where we now find our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, following developments there.

Interesting confluence of events there on this day -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very interesting, Rick.

And the prime minister, the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, very keen to thank Donald Rumsfeld for the U.S. troops' presence and help in providing safety and security for the elections just about two weeks ago. The secretary of defense congratulating Ayad Allawi for the elections going off well, saying it was a good step on the road towards democracy.

Part of the visit here, though, to meet with -- meet with the soldiers here on the ground to thank them for their commitment, to thank them for the elections passing off well. Indeed, Donald Rumsfeld thanked the soldiers for their families and their families' support back home.

He had one visit to make in the -- in a medical facility. He met with Sergeant Sean Ferguson (ph), who had been shot in the hand by a sniper just yesterday. The secretary of defense gave him a Purple Heart. The soldier's second Purple Heart, we understand, in the last four months.

But perhaps one of the focuses of Donald Rumsfeld's visit here was really to see the training of Iraqi security forces. And he was able to watch some of the new elite Iraqi special forces in training, watching them on a weapons range in Baghdad where they were firing automatic weapons, handguns at targets. He saw the men storming buildings, and he saw them in simulated raids, descending by a rope from helicopters, racing up to builds, in vehicles.

What Donald Rumsfeld wants to see here, and what he has been able to see, it appears, is a real step-up in the progression of training in Iraqi forces. That is going to become one of the principal roles for U.S. troops in the coming months, as Iraqi forces begin to take over more of the security measures inside the cities here in Baghdad, in the north in Mosul, and other cities.

The troops, the U.S. troops, will be providing those Iraqi security forces with training. And that was very much what Donald Rumsfeld got a good eyes on -- eyes on inspection of today -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: You say the key is to try and get a step up on the training of some of these Iraqi police and Iraqi security forces. You watch this all the time, Nic. You've been there for quite awhile. Has it stepped up?

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. I've been talking with soldiers, and they say, since the elections 10 days ago, 12 days ago, their focus has really changed.

It was providing security before it was going out on raids. The raids still go on. But by day they say they're beginning to train the U.S. security -- the Iraqi security forces here.

A real shift in focus, and a recognition of the fact that Iraqi forces are going to play the lead role in security, and that the only way to make that happen quickly against this backdrop of continuing insurgent violence is to step up the training. And the only way to do that is to involve more people in the training. And that's what the troops are beginning to step in and do.

What we saw today with the elite forces, that's something special. There's a whole range of training going on from sort of the basic security operations, all the way up to those elite commando-type high-tech operations involving a handful of troops engaged in sort of targeting one building -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Firsthand report from international correspondent Nic Robertson. We thank you for bringing us that perspective, Nic.

And we're going to be back in more -- with more news in just a little bit, business news.

NGUYEN: And we're also going to look at some fashion news as well. So stay tuned for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, fall Fashion Week wraps up tonight in New York. The day started with Ralph Lauren, and it ends with Jennifer Lopez, J.Lo. But we couldn't let the finale pass without consulting with a fashion diva. Of course not. And here he is, with CNN's Alina Cho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARSON KRESSLEY, "QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY": Come on out, gorgeous.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much.

KRESSLEY: Fashion week, here we come.

CHO: That's right.

(voice-over): A day at the fashion shows with Carson Kressley...

KRESSLEY: It's a secret entrance.

CHO: ... is a bit like being a rock star. There's the paparazzi, the backstage access and the hobnobbing with the designers. We had more fun talking about the food the models never eat.

KRESSLEY: Yes, this is from 2001. Fall 2001 Fashion Week.

CHO: And what you never see on the runway.

KRESSLEY: Been there, worn that. Actually, I didn't. I didn't wear this.

CHO (on camera): You have not.

KRESSLEY: This is look number 22. Just this.

CHO (voice-over): Soon we were looking for our seats.

KRESSLEY: I might be under Paris Hilton. I'm not sure.

CHO (on camera): What do you think?

KRESSLEY: I like it. I like it.

CHO (voice-over): That is, until the lights dimmed.

KRESSLEY: Alina, no. Get off me. Get your tongue out of my ear. Stop it!

CHO: On to the next show, and Carson's critique of this elaborate coat.

KRESSLEY: There are those earrings I've been looking for.

CHO: Close to show time, we move to our seats.

KRESSLEY: Thank you so much. Better than the movies.

CHO: This time it was less about the collection and more about the models.

(on camera): How long do you think it takes to learn how to walk like that?

KRESSLEY: It takes about three years or 10 margaritas.

CHO (voice-over): Kidding aside, Carson liked the clothes.

KRESSLEY: That's beautiful.

CHO: And we both liked the music. Later, after we got to know each other a bit better...

KRESSLEY: Will you go to Fashion Week with me?

CHO (on camera): Yes, I will.

(voice-over): We bonded.

KRESSLEY: Wonder Twin Powers activate in the form of outstanding CNN news piece.

CHO: How about Carson's assessment of a certain CNN anchor?

KRESSLEY: Anderson, he's got fashion in his genes.

CHO: One guy Carson says he doesn't need to help.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: And then there's the rest of us, right?

NGUYEN: Yes. Fashion victims.

SANCHEZ: I think we're trying to go to David Haffenreffer, but they say he may not be there in time because he's going to be at Fashion Week hanging out there.

NGUYEN: Right.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, you know, we are following a lot of stories. North Korea wants the United States to deal with them directly.

SANCHEZ: The United States is now giving them a direct answer. And we're going to tell you what it is when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. Not only is it Friday, but it is also Valentine's weekend. It's a whole weekend nowadays. Not just a day, but a weekend.

SANCHEZ: It means that whether it rains or shines, you should go out and buy a diamond, right?

NGUYEN: A big one.

SANCHEZ: Surrounded by women around here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: And we also have the latest on the North Korean nuclear situation. That in just a moment.

SANCHEZ: Also, a beautiful newborn, safe and sound. But it's how it got to the hospital that really becomes an amazing story. One we'll share with you if you stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)


Aired February 11, 2005 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Now, a look at some of the stories making news on this day.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Rumsfeld in Iraq. The defense secretary meets with interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi after paying a surprise visit to U.S. troops. We will go live to Baghdad for more on Rumsfeld's trip and on two deadly attacks today targeting Iraqi Shiites.

Pope John Paul II is back at the Vatican today. He left a Rome hospital last night and was greeted by crowds of well-wishers you see there. The 84-year-old pontiff was treated for breathing problems stemming from the flu. Many were watching to see if he would appear during mass today at the Vatican.

And we are watching, too. And we'll bring that to you live when it happens, if it happens.

Hundreds of families in Venezuela have been evacuated due to massive flooding. Authorities say torrential rains have left more than a dozen people dead. A rescue operation is taking place in the same area where heavy rains and flooding left thousands dead more than five years ago. The rains are expected to continue throughout the weekend.

And the state -- or the Senate passes a bill to limit class action lawsuits. The House is expected to approve it next week and send it on to President Bush. He's made legal reforms a priority of his second term. Backers of the bill say it will help reduce frivolous lawsuits. Opponents, though, say it will hurt consumers.

Well, good morning on this Friday. It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Daryn Kagan.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. A lot of news on this day.

We're going to begin, of course, with the story we found out about just 20 minutes ago and we were able to confirm. Legendary American playwright Arthur Miller is dead at the age of 89. He will be no doubt remembered for his Pulitzer Prize-winning work, "Death of a Salesman." But that was the beginning.

He wrote the play in just six weeks in the late 1940s. It's premier on Broadway in 1949 got Miller rave reviews.

Here now, a look at his life by CNN's Eric Philips.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Arthur Miller has given our nation some of the finest plays of this century.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chief among them, "Death of a Salesman," which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize. And in 1953, his metaphor for McCarthyism, "The Crucible."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want the truth now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We never conjure spirits.

PHILIPS: But Miller took his lumps before becoming known as a writer of classics.

ARTHUR MILLER, PLAYWRIGHT: Fifty years ago I quit forever. I had a disaster with my first play. I resolved never to write another one.

PHILIPS: Fortunately the playwright reneged on that vow and within a few years was penning masterpieces. Miller's characters were specific, yet universal, infected with human flaws like pride, envy, greed and lust.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harriet tells me you used to take out her cousin, Rosalind Fein (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's possible. I don't remember.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you had so many, didn't you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was younger.

MILLER: The art of playwriting consists of mainly the manipulation of time. Everything has to be squeezed so that it becomes dramatic.

PHILIPS: At the peak of his fame in 1956, Miller married Marilyn Monroe. The pair became the celebrity couple of their time. The marriage, his second of three, lasted until 1961.

Later on, Miller was honored for his contributions to the theater, an honorary degree from Harvard, a lifetime achievement award from the Tonys, and the National Medal of the Arts. Toward the end of his life, Miller lamented how Broadway had changed over the years.

MILLER: There was a kind of reverence that is gone. People felt it was an art, not a business. Now, of course, it always was a business.

PHILIPS: That business made Miller famous, and Miller's plays enriched readers and audiences everywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Once again, Arthur Miller passes on. Born in 1915. We at CNN will effort to bring you stories on Mr. Miller throughout the day -- Betty.

NGUYEN: In our CNN "Security Watch," the U.S. today rejected North Korea's demand for one-on-one talks on its nuclear problem. A North Korean official tells a South Korean newspaper that direct talks would be a sign the U.S. is changing its "hostile policy."

His comments comes a day after North Korea rejected six-party talks and announced publicly that it has nuclear weapons. North Korea says the weapons are a deterrent against a U.S. invasion.

Well, the announcement by North Korea ratchets up tensions in the standoff over its nuclear program. More on the threat and the efforts to defuse it from our CNN national correspondent, David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ever since North Korea fired a missile over Japan in 1998, the CIA has been watching it especially closely. U.S. intelligence currently estimates Pyongyang could have two to eight nuclear weapons and that its Tapo Dong II missile could have a range of 10,000 kilometers. That would reach parts of the United States.

JON WOLFSTAHL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: But the worst case is that they could put a nuclear weapon by a missile onto parts of Hawaii, Alaska or even parts of the West Coast of the United States.

ENSOR: But few experts believe that worst case is yet reality. They doubt North Korea's untested Tapo Dong II could hit such a distant target and whether its nuclear bombs would fit on the missile.

WOLFSTAHL: We have serious questions about whether they can shrink down a nuclear weapon to a size small enough that would enable it to hit the United States.

ENSOR: Still, Pyongyang's statement it has "nukes" and no interest, for now, in talks, is definitely jangling nerves.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE & INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: In a sense, we're on a knife's edge that North Korea has created for itself and we have to proceed very cautiously to try to increase the chance that we don't worsen it inadvertently.

ENSOR: Analysts in and out of government see North Korea's latest pronouncement as an effort to stave off what Kim Jong-il knows will be an intense pressure from the United States and from China to negotiate away its weapons program.

WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER COUNSELOR TO STATE DEPARTMENT: I think it is a negotiating ploy, but it is a very dangerous negotiating ploy because North Korea is very good at getting themselves into a box which they cannot get out of. ENSOR (on camera): Administration officials say they will keep turning up the pressure on Pyongyang to return to the six party talks and they will work hard to keep America and its Asian allies unified. Some analysts worry, though, that North Korea could turn up the temperature even higher by, for the first time, testing a nuke or a long range missile.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

NGUYEN: And CNN "Security Watch" keeps you up to date on safety. You'll want to stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

SANCHEZ: It turns out now that years of probing began chipping away at a still frozen secret of the Cold War, that American and British prisoners of war probably disappeared into the Soviet Gulag. There's a new page that's been turned in this -- in this epic story. It's a story that you'll only see on 7 -- I mean, only on CNN. The reporter is our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Soviet Union forced labor camp, millions imprisoned, dying in the Gulag as enemies of the state in the most remote areas of the country. The camps are now gone, but half a century later, a mystery remains. Were American servicemen imprisoned in the Gulag after their capture during the Korean conflict and the Cold War? Did American POWs die here?

NORMAN KASS, U.S. RUSSIAN CMSN. ON POW/MIAS: I personally would be comfortable saying that the number is in the hundreds.

STARR (on camera): That you believe died inside the Soviet Gulag?

KASS: That I believe were taken into the Soviet Union. And I frankly have no way of being able to say how many of them wound up where and how many of them perished there, how many may have been sent from there and may still be there.

STARR (voice-over): For more than a decade, Norman Kass has investigated dozens of reports Americans were seen inside the Gulag. Snippets of information about hundreds of camps that stretched across the Soviet Union. A new Pentagon study has a startling look at what may have happened.

At one Siberian camp, the daughter of a prisoner recently said her father met an American there named Stanley Warner. Investigators were stunned. Forty-five years earlier, another prisoner had reported three American soldiers in the same camp, one named Stanley Warner.

An internal Pentagon document concludes there is a high probability American citizens, or possibly U.S. or British POWs, died in that camp. Kass and his team are continuing the hunt for more clues on all the reports of Americans dying in the Soviet Gulag.

KASS: From our standpoint, it doesn't matter if someone is missing from the current conflicts that we have today, or someone missing from 50, 60 years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Once again, a story that we will continue to follow for you.

Betty, over to you.

NGUYEN: Well, it is day five of Fashion Week in New York. And we've got the cattiest in a "Queer Eye" fashion review. You don't want to miss this.

Plus, it's just about time for the ultimate dog and pony show. We have a preview of the Westminster Dog Show, including one of those furry contestants.

And this baby -- hopefully we'll have the picture -- nope, that's not the baby. That's the baby. You won't believe what he went through and is fighting to survive on this, his first day of life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. Now we take you to Iraq, to a surprise visit by Donald Rumsfeld.

The defense secretary rallied U.S. troops even as insurgents carried out more deadly attacks upon his arrival. Rumsfeld arrived in Mosul before dawn today to visit wounded soldiers. From there, he flew on to Baghdad to meet with Iraq's interim prime minister.

And that's where we now find our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, following developments there.

Interesting confluence of events there on this day -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very interesting, Rick.

And the prime minister, the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, very keen to thank Donald Rumsfeld for the U.S. troops' presence and help in providing safety and security for the elections just about two weeks ago. The secretary of defense congratulating Ayad Allawi for the elections going off well, saying it was a good step on the road towards democracy.

Part of the visit here, though, to meet with -- meet with the soldiers here on the ground to thank them for their commitment, to thank them for the elections passing off well. Indeed, Donald Rumsfeld thanked the soldiers for their families and their families' support back home.

He had one visit to make in the -- in a medical facility. He met with Sergeant Sean Ferguson (ph), who had been shot in the hand by a sniper just yesterday. The secretary of defense gave him a Purple Heart. The soldier's second Purple Heart, we understand, in the last four months.

But perhaps one of the focuses of Donald Rumsfeld's visit here was really to see the training of Iraqi security forces. And he was able to watch some of the new elite Iraqi special forces in training, watching them on a weapons range in Baghdad where they were firing automatic weapons, handguns at targets. He saw the men storming buildings, and he saw them in simulated raids, descending by a rope from helicopters, racing up to builds, in vehicles.

What Donald Rumsfeld wants to see here, and what he has been able to see, it appears, is a real step-up in the progression of training in Iraqi forces. That is going to become one of the principal roles for U.S. troops in the coming months, as Iraqi forces begin to take over more of the security measures inside the cities here in Baghdad, in the north in Mosul, and other cities.

The troops, the U.S. troops, will be providing those Iraqi security forces with training. And that was very much what Donald Rumsfeld got a good eyes on -- eyes on inspection of today -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: You say the key is to try and get a step up on the training of some of these Iraqi police and Iraqi security forces. You watch this all the time, Nic. You've been there for quite awhile. Has it stepped up?

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. I've been talking with soldiers, and they say, since the elections 10 days ago, 12 days ago, their focus has really changed.

It was providing security before it was going out on raids. The raids still go on. But by day they say they're beginning to train the U.S. security -- the Iraqi security forces here.

A real shift in focus, and a recognition of the fact that Iraqi forces are going to play the lead role in security, and that the only way to make that happen quickly against this backdrop of continuing insurgent violence is to step up the training. And the only way to do that is to involve more people in the training. And that's what the troops are beginning to step in and do.

What we saw today with the elite forces, that's something special. There's a whole range of training going on from sort of the basic security operations, all the way up to those elite commando-type high-tech operations involving a handful of troops engaged in sort of targeting one building -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Firsthand report from international correspondent Nic Robertson. We thank you for bringing us that perspective, Nic.

And we're going to be back in more -- with more news in just a little bit, business news.

NGUYEN: And we're also going to look at some fashion news as well. So stay tuned for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, fall Fashion Week wraps up tonight in New York. The day started with Ralph Lauren, and it ends with Jennifer Lopez, J.Lo. But we couldn't let the finale pass without consulting with a fashion diva. Of course not. And here he is, with CNN's Alina Cho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARSON KRESSLEY, "QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY": Come on out, gorgeous.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much.

KRESSLEY: Fashion week, here we come.

CHO: That's right.

(voice-over): A day at the fashion shows with Carson Kressley...

KRESSLEY: It's a secret entrance.

CHO: ... is a bit like being a rock star. There's the paparazzi, the backstage access and the hobnobbing with the designers. We had more fun talking about the food the models never eat.

KRESSLEY: Yes, this is from 2001. Fall 2001 Fashion Week.

CHO: And what you never see on the runway.

KRESSLEY: Been there, worn that. Actually, I didn't. I didn't wear this.

CHO (on camera): You have not.

KRESSLEY: This is look number 22. Just this.

CHO (voice-over): Soon we were looking for our seats.

KRESSLEY: I might be under Paris Hilton. I'm not sure.

CHO (on camera): What do you think?

KRESSLEY: I like it. I like it.

CHO (voice-over): That is, until the lights dimmed.

KRESSLEY: Alina, no. Get off me. Get your tongue out of my ear. Stop it!

CHO: On to the next show, and Carson's critique of this elaborate coat.

KRESSLEY: There are those earrings I've been looking for.

CHO: Close to show time, we move to our seats.

KRESSLEY: Thank you so much. Better than the movies.

CHO: This time it was less about the collection and more about the models.

(on camera): How long do you think it takes to learn how to walk like that?

KRESSLEY: It takes about three years or 10 margaritas.

CHO (voice-over): Kidding aside, Carson liked the clothes.

KRESSLEY: That's beautiful.

CHO: And we both liked the music. Later, after we got to know each other a bit better...

KRESSLEY: Will you go to Fashion Week with me?

CHO (on camera): Yes, I will.

(voice-over): We bonded.

KRESSLEY: Wonder Twin Powers activate in the form of outstanding CNN news piece.

CHO: How about Carson's assessment of a certain CNN anchor?

KRESSLEY: Anderson, he's got fashion in his genes.

CHO: One guy Carson says he doesn't need to help.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: And then there's the rest of us, right?

NGUYEN: Yes. Fashion victims.

SANCHEZ: I think we're trying to go to David Haffenreffer, but they say he may not be there in time because he's going to be at Fashion Week hanging out there.

NGUYEN: Right.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, you know, we are following a lot of stories. North Korea wants the United States to deal with them directly.

SANCHEZ: The United States is now giving them a direct answer. And we're going to tell you what it is when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. Not only is it Friday, but it is also Valentine's weekend. It's a whole weekend nowadays. Not just a day, but a weekend.

SANCHEZ: It means that whether it rains or shines, you should go out and buy a diamond, right?

NGUYEN: A big one.

SANCHEZ: Surrounded by women around here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: And we also have the latest on the North Korean nuclear situation. That in just a moment.

SANCHEZ: Also, a beautiful newborn, safe and sound. But it's how it got to the hospital that really becomes an amazing story. One we'll share with you if you stay with us.

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