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CNN Live Today

Israeli Police Removing Protesters From Synagogues; BTK Sentencing; Protesting the War

Aired August 18, 2005 - 10:59   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
In the Middle East right now, raw emotions versus brute strength as Israeli forces begin clearing hundreds of Jewish settlers and protesters jammed into a synagogue in Gaza. This is unfolding at the settlement of Neve Dekalim, the largest of several Gaza settlements that will be forcibly evacuated over the next several days. A live report is straight ahead.

Relatives of the BTK killer's victims get a chance to confront him in court. They're expected to testify today at the sentencing hearing for Dennis Rader. In testimony so far, police have provided chilling details from the 10 murders Rader confessed to committing.

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in his native Germany today. It's the first international trip as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope is in Cologne to celebrate World Youth Day. The event was founded by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

The National Archives releases 38,000 more pages of documents on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts today. The papers are from his tenure as a government lawyer during the Reagan administration. One other note here. The American Bar Association has rated Roberts well qualified to serve on the high court.

Ohio's governor is due in court this hour to face charges he violated state ethics laws. Prosecutors say that Governor Bob Taft failed to report 52 gifts, including golf outings, dinners and pro- hockey tickets. Taft is charged with four misdemeanors. A spokesman says the governor will issue a statement and is not planning to resign.

Good morning. Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. Let's check some of the time around the world.

Just after 10:00 a.m. in Crawford, Texas, just after 11:00 a.m. in Columbus, Ohio; and just after 5:00 p.m. in Cologne, Germany; just after 6:00 in Gaza City.

We are at CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan.

First, this hour to Gaza. A long-expected showdown is playing out live for news cameras this morning. Unarmed Israeli soldiers are dragging protesters from two synagogues in Jewish settlements. The emotional evictions come as Israel ends its 38-year presence in Gaza. International Correspondent Paula Hancocks has been watching developments as they unfold. She joins us now from Jerusalem -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, we've been seeing dramatic scenes from Gaza for the past few hours. Two particular settlements which is where the real hard-line protesters are being holed up in two synagogues.

Kfar Darom is where there are a number of protesters are on the roof of a synagogue. Now, police and military forces have sprayed them with water cannons. They have also broken through the front door of the synagogue. It had been barricaded with chairs, with anything that they could get their hands on.

They've stormed that particular synagogue. They are bringing these protesters out one by one. Carrying them, one policeman or military force official on each leg, each arm.

The protesters themselves have been throwing eggs. They've been throwing milk bottles. They've been throwing water balloons and paint balloons at the crowds below of the police and the military forces.

Now, there was a little earlier on a crate being hoisted up by a crane. That crate was full of police who were going to set the crane -- the crate down on the roof itself. They were going to storm the roof, we assume, and try and get some of the protesters into the crate so they could get them off the roof.

It was the only way, really, of getting to the roof at that point as the protesters had put barbed wire around the outside of the roof so that they could not put ladders up and get to them. We've seen some very emotional pictures of one woman giving her baby to one of the soldiers, shouting, "Look what you are doing to her future!"

So there's no physical attacks as far as I can see on the soldiers, but the emotional attacks will certainly be very damaging to these soldiers. They're very young, these soldiers, between 19 and 21. Very many of them 18 and 21, in some cases.

It's very difficult for them. It's Israelis pulling out Israelis from the synagogues themselves.

And also, in one other synagogue, in the largest settlement in Gaza, Neve Dekalim, we've seen similar pictures. There were about over a thousand protesters holed up in that particular synagogue. Again, soldiers were going in and taking them out one by one, a painstaking task, an emotionally draining task.

These protesters were linking arms, they were linking legs, and they were chanting things like, "Jews do not expel Jews," trying to persuade the soldiers not to carry out their mission. There was a couple of instances, one that I saw of a police -- of a soldier leaving the group of soldiers he was with and sitting down with the protesters. It just got too much for him. He gave up and he -- and he sat down with the protesters. He, as well, was carried away by his soldiers -- soldier colleagues.

Now, the protesters who have been carried out of these two synagogues are being put on to buses so that they can be take an way from Gaza, out of Gaza, into Israel itself. So very dramatic scenes playing out this afternoon in Gaza -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Paula Hancocks, live from Jerusalem. Thank you.

Now let's get some more insight on what is taking place in Gaza and welcome in David Makovsky. He is the director of the Washington Project on the Middle East Peace Process.

David, good to have you back here with us

DAVID MAKOVSKY, DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON PROJECT ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS: Good to be back with you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the man who is the face, basically, of this story, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He was such a supporter of the settlements, and he is the one who finally had to make the call that they must go.

MAKOVSKY: Yes. Look, Sharon, for him, this is -- this is traumatic. He has been their patron all these years. He's been the architect of the settlement movement, going back to 1971, when he was the southern commander of the Gaza Strip and helped build these settlements.

So, for him, this is a major turnaround. And that's why the settlers feel so betrayed.

Many of them felt they voted for him in 2003. But for Sharon, he believes he's got to get rid of these settlements in order to make Israel stronger. They see it as he's getting rid of the settlements to destroy Israel.

KAGAN: What happens to Israeli leaders that often come up through the military as hawks and then they become a leader and somehow they see a different light about what must happen in order to find peace for Israel?

MAKOVSKY: I think you're raising a very interesting question. I mean, it's very interesting how the leadership in Israel often does come from the military. Often, though, the top generals of the military have tended, over the years, to be moderates, like Rabin, Ehud Barak, Moshe Dayan, some of the well-known names to Americans.

The farther up they go up the ladder, the more they see the big picture. The more they see Israel's real needs and what Israel needs to do to survive. And they tend to be not as ideological as people in the lower ranks. And, you know, whatever their own personal views coming in. So you should know that in the Israeli system, Sharon is often surrounded by many of these generals. And they have often been the ones telling him, you've got to give them these settlements to secure Israel's future.

KAGAN: Many people of these protesters that we're seeing today, we're told, come from the West Bank and settlements there. Their concern, what's happening in Gaza could happen in the West Bank. On the other side, you hear people say they are just doing this removal from Gaza to distract from what's taking place in the West Bank, and that's increase settlement.

MAKOVSKY: Well, you're touching on something very important in that, for them, this is like "coming to a theater near you" and they don't like the movie. They're convinced that unless they traumatize the Israeli public, unless they create a sense of deterrence by this emotional turmoil, that the next evacuations will indeed come from the West Bank.

So it's not purely tactical. I mean, this is -- the very identity of the settler movement is based on the religious connection to the land. But there's also a tactical element for some of them, those who have infiltrated from the West Bank, is to say, make sure that this is so traumatic, the Israeli public never wants to see the images on television again.

KAGAN: David Makovsky, the Project on Middle East Peace. Thank you so much.

MAKOVSKY: My pleasure.

KAGAN: And now we move on to BTK. Dennis Rader, by his own admission, calling himself a monster. That is certainly the portrait that is emerging in Wichita, Kansas, in this courtroom, where we're looking at live pictures, as the crimes of the BTK killer are retold in chilling, graphic detail.

I'd like to go ahead and bring in our two guests that we have with us, Craig Silverman, an attorney, and Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, an expert on serial killers.

Good morning to both of you.

DEBORAH SCHURMAN-KAUFLIN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Good morning.

CRAIG SILVERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.

KAGAN: First, Craig, let's talk to you about what's taking place. As we've been listening in over the next day, and today, this is a sentencing hearing. But much of what we're hearing almost sounds like putting Dennis Rader on trial for crimes he's already confessed to.

SILVERMAN: It's a very extraordinary sentencing hearing. Normally, we would see this kind of material just chronicled in a pre- sentence report. I think that the victims wanted the closure, the police, who have worked on this case for decades, wanted to lay out for the public, especially the people in Wichita, what was going on. Sadly, I think this is to the benefit of Dennis Rader, who likes the publicity.

Some people like publicity, and they want it in the worst way. This is the worst way. And I'm afraid that this is feeding the ego and arrogance of this horribly evil man.

KAGAN: For more on that, let's bring in Deborah Schurman- Kauflin.

Deborah, we've talked with you a number of times over the month about -- since we've learned the identity of the BTK killer. When you look at his face here, his stone face, this lack of emotion, and the things that are being described, these crimes that are just unbelievable to a normal human brain, is he enjoying sitting here listening to this almost like a display? It's like a performance thing.

SCHURMAN-KAUFLIN: He's enjoying it very much because he knows that people are suffering, the victims' families are suffering having to listen to this. And, you know, he gets to relive the crimes over and over again with each detail, with each detail that's brought out.

KAGAN: Because what we're learning of the crimes investigators are saying, but it's only what they learned after interviewing him once he confessed.

SCHURMAN-KAUFLIN: Right. Also, they -- they got a lot of material from his personal property, such as he had pictures of young girls, and he would write on the back of the pictures what he would like to do to the young girls. So that gave investigators a window into his mindset and how deviant he really is.

KAGAN: Two common themes we are hearing as the crimes are discussed. One, the sexual aspect. And that was something you told us to look before even before the killer was caught, the sexual aspect. But also, he talks a lot about the afterlife and the fantasy he has of his victim servicing him even after everyone is long dead.

SCHURMAN-KAUFLIN: Right. Well, these people are control freaks. I mean, to the end.

They want to not only torture and torment their victims, but then they would like to cremate them. A lot of the offenders I've spoken with want to have their own crematorium so they can cremate the victims' bodies and turn them into lit bits of nothing. That's what they say.

So it doesn't really surprise me that Rader thought he might have slaves in the afterlife.

KAGAN: There was a moment where one of the investigators was testifying yesterday and talking about the recounting of his crime and being so horrified. And Dennis Rader looks at him and says, "I know this sounds terrible, but what you don't realize is, I'm a monster." So he knows, he gets what a sick, tormented individual he is, you think?

SCHURMAN-KAUFLIN: He understands right from wrong. He understands what he did was deviant, or else he would be out -- he would have done it in front of everybody. You know, he did it behind closed doors. And he looks at himself as a monster. He knows he's a monster, but he simply doesn't care.

KAGAN: Even at this point being caught?

SCHURMAN-KAUFLIN: Even at this point.

KAGAN: Craig, I want to go ahead and bring you back. When you hear about these terrible crimes and the victims and the families, through it all, though, Dennis Rader cannot get the death penalty.

SILVERMAN: And that's really something. I think this does have implications on capital punishment, because a lot of people will argue, if Dennis Rader doesn't deserve capital punishment, who does?

It really is unfortunate that Kansas had that lapse. There are a lot of people that have been put to death in this country. Very few have done the kind of evil, unspeakable acts that Dennis Rader has. And really, when you think about it, after he killed his first person, he should have suffered life imprisonment. So he will suffer no further penalty for the nine other murders that we know that he committed.

KAGAN: Craig Silverman, Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, thank you for your insight on this horrific story. We will be listening more into what the families have to say in that Wichita, Kansas, courtroom today.

Right now, I want to back to the West Bank. More action taking place.

Our Ben Wedeman standing by with that -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, we're in Khan Yunis, overlooking one of the Jewish settlement blocs. This is the Gush Katif settlement bloc. And as you can see just behind me, there is a thick plume of smoke coming out from somewhere in there. We don't know exactly what it is, but we know that over the last few days settlers have been burning their property, some of them burning tires in protest.

Now, Palestinians have been watching this entire process very closely. In fact, just a little while ago, there were hundreds of armed gunmen from Islamic Jihad parading in this area. Typical of what we've seen over the last weeks, which are daily, basically celebrations by the Islamic militants of over the Israeli pullout.

The Palestinian Authority is very anxious that no one, militants or otherwise, impedes the pullout. They've apparently been cooperating very closely with Israeli police and army to make sure that there are no hitches as this process goes ahead.

KAGAN: Ben Wedeman, live from the West Bank. Thank you for that update.

Pope Benedict XVI making his first trip abroad to his native Germany. A papal homecoming.

And it's a promotion unlike any other in Norway. That story is coming up. Get your tuxedo out.

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KAGAN: This just into CNN. The governor of Ohio, Bob Taft, pleaded no contest earlier today. Charges, he broke state ethics laws by failing to report golf outings and other gifts that -- and he was fined the maximum of $4,000. No jail time was ordered. The governor says he has no plans to resign.

The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan claimed the lives of more U.S. troops today. First, to Afghanistan.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb north of Kandahar. Their armored vehicle was part of a convoy helping on a road construction project.

In Iraq, four U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bomb explosion in Samarra. Sixty-three American troops have been killed in Iraq this month alone, 1,861 since the start of the war.

Back in Washington, newly declassified documents from early 2003 warned of serious planning gaps for postwar Iraq. The State Department memo came out just a few weeks before the invasion of Iraq. The memo warning that if security and humanitarian issues weren't addressed, serious human rights abuses could result. The memo went on to say that such abuses could undermine the military campaign and the U.S. reputation globally.

Anti-war protesters camped out in Crawford, Texas, they will be on the move today. They're relocating to a spot closer to their protest target, that is the president.

National Correspondent Bob Franken is in Crawford again this morning. And to him, we say good morning.

Hi, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Hello.

And they are moving very, very slowly. It's going to be a laborious process, moving up the road to the grounds of someone who is a supporter, who has property right next to the president's ranch. That after there have been any number of complaints here. And there was a bit of a very minor incident today. A man was arrested, was -- encountered sheriff's deputies here and Secret Service agents after there were charges that he had threatened some of the people here and had claimed to be a federal officer. A couple of the witnesses said he claimed to be an agent.

He is in custody now. No official word about the charges.

But it is just a demonstration, that in this quest with Cindy Sheehan and this highly amplified encampment, which is highlighting her individual protest and demands to meet President Bush, and it's become part of a cause that has spread nationwide, as we know. There's also going to be a procession here today as some of the members here are going to try and go up to the ranch, get as close as they can, and try and deliver a letter, asking from support from the first lady.

All of this as far, as Crawford is concerned, has caused no small amount of irritation.

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FRANKEN (voice over): By now, the 700 or so residents of Crawford are used to the hubbub when the president comes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got to be great for the local economy, everybody coming into Crawford.

FRANKEN: But Cindy Sheehan and her anti-war demonstrators have struck a nerve. Here, the complaints are less about international policy than simple inconvenience. Traffic problems and the other disruptions on the way to the president's ranch, where Camp Casey is set up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone has the right to freedom of speech. But we do think that this young lady who is here trying to address the president could have this party in her own front yard.

FRANKEN: Those sentiments were heard around town, from the Red Bull gift shop to the back room at the Fina gas station nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad she has the right to do what she's doing, but I don't think she should infringe on other people's right of way and so forth by blocking the highway at times.

FRANKEN: So Cindy Sheehan jumped at the offer to relocate to land that's actually closer to the president's ranch. But many of the Crawford residents feel close to the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know him. I got some property right across the street from him. Good people.

FRANKEN: And he does bring in the money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any time we have increased traffic here, it's always good for business. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: So the controversy is not altogether welcome among the people who live here, but the dollars, Daryn, certainly are.

KAGAN: All right. Bob Franken there in Crawford, Texas. Thank you.

The public will soon get a better view of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts when he was a counsel in the Reagan White House. About 38,000 documents from 1982 to 1986 were released just a few moments ago.

Journalists and Senate staffers are now poring over those. The Senate Judiciary Committee asked for the documents ahead of Roberts' confirmation hearing. That begins on September 6.

Roberts is a federal appeals judge. He got a big boost yesterday from the American Bar Association. The group gave Roberts its highest rating, saying he was well qualified to serve on the federal bench

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Germany. He is there celebrating World Youth Day. It's a homecoming trip for the pope. Live pictures there from Cologne, Germany.

Can this pope match John Paul II's popularity with young Catholics? A closer look just ahead.

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KAGAN: We are getting very close to the half-hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

In Gaza right now, Jewish settlers and protesters remain visibly defiant as Israeli forces evacuate their settlements. Despite the emotional pleas and anger resistance, soldiers and police have systematically removed the holdouts one by one. Seven Gaza settlements are to be shuttered over the next several days; 12 have already been evacuated.

Relatives of the BTK murder victims are expected to have their say today during day two of Dennis Rader's sentencing hearing. Rader has confessed to torturing and killing 10 people from 1974 to 1991.

Rader has been dispassionate as investigators recounted his crimes in horrifying detail. Prosecutors want Rader to receive the maximum sentence of 175 years, with no chance of parole.

A Texas jury began deliberations this morning in the first civil trial involving Vioxx. Merck pulled the painkiller last year. Studies showed it increased the risk of heart attack. The widow of a man who died in 2001 accuses Merck of denial and deception in order to reap billions of profits. Merck says it acted responsibly and believed Vioxx to be safe before the study.

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