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CNN Live Today

So-Called 'Bikini Strangler' Caught in Tennessee; CBS Correspondent Kimberly Dozier Heads Back to the United States; Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Defeated in Senate

Aired June 07, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Daryn Kagan.

The so-called bikini strangler captured. And the victim's relatives and a South Carolina community breathe a sigh of relief.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice over): His name is Jerry Buck Inman. He's 35 years old and a registered sex offender. Now he's being held in the death of Clemson University student Tiffany Marie Souers. Police say Inman's DNA match samples taken from Souers' apartment. Inman was arrested without incident last night near his parents' home in Dandridge, Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Took him into custody, he offered no resistance whatsoever.

WHITFIELD: Souers was a junior at Clemson studying civil engineering. Her body was found in her off-campus apartment last month lying on the bedroom floor almost nude. Her wrists and ankles bound, her bikini top around her neck. At her funeral last Thursday, hundreds of friends, family and classmates remembered her as an extraordinary young woman.

Inman, a construction worker, was registered as a sex offender in Florida and North Carolina. He now faces charges of murder, sexual assault and kidnapping.

BOB ARIAL, 13TH CIRCUIT SOLICITOR, S.C.: When someone is bound -- or forced against their will to stay where they are, and there's evidence in this case of her being bound in both her wrists and around her neck, then that's the basis of kidnapping charges.

WHITFIELD: Inman waived extradition to South Carolina and is expected to be returned there soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Coming home. New video this morning of CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier. She's being flown to the U.S. for further treatment. A week and a half ago, Dozier was critically wounded in a car bombing in Iraq. The blast killed two members of her news crew, along with a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi translator.

CNN's Chris Burns has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kimberly Dozier was placed on a C-17 U.S. military transport plane headed back to the states. The CBS correspondent remains in critical but stable condition after last week's car bombing that severely injured her in the head and legs, killed her cameraman and soundman, as well as an Iraqi translator and a U.S. soldier.

She's undergone surgery to remove shrapnel from her head. Doctors have also placed rods in her legs.

She has shown some signs of improvement here at Landstuhl Medical Center. She's been taken off of a ventilator. She started to eat solid foods. She's speaking with her family.

She's undergone physiotherapy for her legs, and the facial swelling has gone down considerably. She now goes on to Bethesda Naval Medical Center to decide on what the next steps should be in a recovery process that's expected to be a long one.

Chris Burns, CNN, Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A ban on same-sex marriage defeated in the Senate within the last half-hour. The outcome of the vote was no surprise, but supporters of the constitutional amendment are not giving up.

Dana Bash has been following developments all morning. She joins us now from Capitol Hill.

And certainly a lot of folks thought it would be defeated, but not so narrowly, especially supporters.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Fredricka. There was no question ever that this was not going to get the two-thirds majority or even come close to getting the two- thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution. But supporters did think and they expected that this vote would show that they were gaining momentum, that they had perhaps even a simple majority, 51, maybe even 52 votes, in favor of this. And they intended to tout that as a symbolic victory and a sign that this issue is gaining momentum on a national level, specifically in the U.S. Senate.

But it didn't fall out that way. In fact, what we saw was a vote of 49-48. That's just one vote more than proponents of a federal ban got two years ago when they voted for it.

Now, there was a press conference. I think we were just looking at it by some Republican supporters, essentially conceding that they didn't get as many votes on this as they would have expected. But as you said, they are still vowing to keep up the fight. But already we're getting statements from some opponents of this. For example, the Log Cabin Republicans who have been fighting hard against this saying that it is laughable given this vote that they can claim that they are gaining momentum on a national level.

And one interesting note as to why this turned -- and even realize it's just a little bit when you're talking about just a couple of votes, but when you're talking about symbolism, a little bit counts. One Republican senator, Fredricka, Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, switched his vote from what he -- what we did two years ago.

Two years ago, he voted in favor of this. Today, he switched and voted against it. And he put out a statement very quickly, essentially saying that he disagrees with the argument that President Bush, his own president, has been making, and other leaders here in Congress, that they believe that this is a problem that is going on in the states where states are overwhelmingly approving bans but judges are overturning them.

He said that he saw that there was a problem in his neighboring state of Massachusetts two years ago, but now he says fortunately legal pandemonium has not ensued. So he, essentially, disagrees with the president on this, and that's why he switched his vote, voted against this today -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Dana, now what? Where does this debate or this issue go?

BASH: Well, in terms of the political fallout, it will be interesting to see kind of how this shakes out. But the plan as of now is for the House of Representatives to take up the issue, as well.

The majority leader, John Boehner, said that it's likely to come up over there next month. So, you know, that certainly is the plan. It will be interesting to see if supporters can -- can use their argument that they were using before today that this is gaining momentum in terms of their long-term policy goal. They can use that with a House vote.

We'll see.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Dana Bash from Capitol Hill.

Thanks so much.

Ordered to war, but refusing to go. Later today, an U.S. Army lieutenant will announce that he did will not deploy to Iraq with his unit. He says he would rather face a court-martial than fight in what he calls "an illegal and immoral war."

We get details now from reporter Jim Foreman of CNN' Seattle affiliate, KING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JIM FOREMAN, REPORTER, KING (voice over): This Fort Lewis lieutenant is expected to announce he will refuse to report for duty in Iraq. First Lieutenant Ehren Watada is with the Army's 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The Stryker unit has been preparing to ship out.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Occupation without liberation!

FOREMAN: Protesters have tried to block their equipment from being loaded at the Port of Olympia.

Lieutenant Watada's refusal is a stunning objection to the ongoing war in Iraq. In a statement, he says, "I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. I wanted to be there for my fellow troops."

His father from Hawaii...

BOB WATADA, FATHER OF WAR OBJECTOR: He feels that he needs to do this because of all the lives that are being lost in Iraq, both Iraqi and Americans. And he doesn't want to lead his troops, his men to this kind of thing.

FOREMAN: The Army has had no comment on Lieutenant Watada's planned action. By all accounts, he would be the first commissioned officer to refuse to deploy.

"I refuse to be silent any longer," he says. "I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the president tells us to 'stay the course.'" Lieutenant Watada is quoted on a Web site sympathetic to his case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Ominous signs. Hot gas and molten lava are streaming down the slopes of Indonesia's Mount Merapi right now. Experts say the country's most violent volcano may be about to erupt.

Some 11,000 people are evacuating the area in central Java, but many others are staying behind. They're reluctant to leave their homes and livestock.

This is the same area hit by a deadly earthquake last month. The magnitude 6.3 quake killed more than 62,000 people and left tens of thousands more injured and homeless. Officials say as many as 80,000 people could be displaced if Merapi erupts, depending on the direction of the lava flow.

A renowned hurricane forecaster blackballed?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has been, I might say, a mild McCarthyism running against skeptics like me.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The global warming debate heats up.

And soaring gas prices eating away at profits. Truck drivers are paying the price in the heartland. One man's struggle to stay in business.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: On Capitol Hill, this, too, is at issue, the confidence of women. You are looking at on the left-hand side of your screen a very familiar face, Queen Latifah, who is an actress and musician. She is joined by a number of other women, including representatives of the YWCA, celebrating what they are calling the first National Women's Confidence Day.

They'll be talking on the Hill about the importance of confidence and how it impacts a woman's personal and professional life. And a little bit later on today here on CNN at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Queen Latifah will grace us with her presence to talk more specifically and more personally about why this day is so important.

Meantime, terrorism suspects locked up and interrogated in secret CIA prisons overseas? You've heard the allegations. Now a new report offers details. It names several European countries that it says helped the CIA in a Spiderman's web of human rights abuses.

CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley joins us live from London with some of the details.

And they're saying they have uncovered more evidence? Like what?

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, not exactly hard evidence, Fredricka. Senator Dick Marty (ph), the Swiss senator who has produced this report for the Council of Europe, says he hasn't got evidence which would stand up in a court of law. But what he's done is to put together the flight logs of various CIA flights around Europe with the stories of people who claim that as terrorist suspects they were taken off the streets in London and taken to other countries elsewhere and faced inhuman and degrading treatment, even torture.

So he's got a big pile of circumstantial evidence, and he's naming 14 European countries who he says have colluded with the CIA either actively, helping them in this process, or by turning a blind eye to CIA operations. Dick Marty (ph) says that Poland and Romania probably had detention centers for the CIA for these terror suspects. Both countries, of course, firmly deny that -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And what can be or what will be done to delve further into this to try to come up with more concrete evidence then?

OAKLEY: Well, what's happening here is that a lot of parliamentarians across European countries are very disturbed by this practice. What is significant is that ministers and prime ministers are being absolutely silent. Tony Blair and the British parliament today said, oh, the report produced absolutely nothing new. Poland's prime minister dismissed it, too. But the parliamentarians and the media are chasing this story because the European governments just want it to go away.

It isn't going to go away because people are seriously worried about human rights abuses, and they feel that the war against terror has -- things of just tipped too far in terms of these kinds of actions, covet CIA operations being backed by European governments. And they don't like it -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right.

European Political Correspondent Robin Oakley.

Thanks so much for that update.

In this country, immigration reform still on President Bush's agenda today. Mr. Bush just wrapped up a three-day state swing with a stop in Omaha, Nebraska. While there he visited a Catholic Charities center and stopped by a classroom where immigrants study civics and English. He talked about his vision for the path to U.S. citizenship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got to learn the English language. In other words, you've got to repay a debt to society and learn the skills necessary to assimilate into our society.

Show us you've been working hard. In other words, kind of -- there's a way to verify your contributions to our society. And then if you want to be a citizen, you can get in line to be a citizen, but not at the head of the line. You get to get at the back of the line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Mr. Bush says he is optimistic the House and Senate can come to a compromise on their sharply different approaches to dealing with illegal immigration. Among the major sticking points, enforcement and a guest worker plan.

The high price of gas is hitting truck drivers especially hard.

CNN's Dan Lothian hitches a ride on a big rig to gauge the impact. It's the latest in our series "Paying the Price in the Heartland."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Brian McDowell's home on 80 stunning acres in Peru, Iowa, it's hard to find anyone who is stressed. But lately, every time he sees off his family...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.

BRIAN MCDOWELL: Bye. You be good, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will.

LOTHIAN: ... he fires up the engine of his semi and heads out.

MCDOWELL: Here we go.

LOTHIAN: Stress seems to find him and follow him down the road.

MCDOWELL: Because you worry about the money and everything all the time.

LOTHIAN: Talk to me about how the gas prices have impacted your bottom line.

MCDOWELL: They're killing me.

LOTHIAN: McDowell, an independent trucker, says rising fuel costs have cut his profits in half.

MCDOWELL: On a good week, say I made $1,000. I'm down to $500 now. A $600 week I might bring home $200 out of it compared to what I was making. I mean, it hurts.

LOTHIAN: McDowell receives a lesson in economics every time he pulls up to the pumps.

MCDOWELL: Fuel is one of the biggest expenses we have. Fifty- two gallons. But you've just got to put up with it.

LOTHIAN: As we bounced along the highway to pick up a load of bricks, McDowell explained why a fuel surcharge customers must pay him doesn't relieve all of his pain.

MCDOWELL: But it's only set once a week. So if the fuel surcharge rate is set at, say, $2.76 a gallon fuel on Monday and if fuel jumps to $2.82 on Tuesday . . .

LOTHIAN: You have to pay the difference?

MCDOWELL: Yes.

LOTHIAN: So this veteran trucker is shifting gears to save money. He's cut down on his speed.

MCDOWELL: Any time you can save anything, a tenth, two tenths of a mile pickup, translates to dollars in your pocket.

LOTHIAN: He's had his engine fine tuned to be more efficient. Will often drive at night. Less wind resistance he says. And then there are the little things.

MCDOWELL: Instead of running into a convenience store and buying a bottle of pop or a bottle of water, carry it with you, you know? Any place that you can cut costs and if it isn't absolutely necessarily, don't bother. LOTHIAN: McDowell also tries harder to get more lucrative loads. While hauling bricks to Chicago may not pay all the bills, the bridge span he'll bring back is a cash cow.

MCDOWELL: We don't make money until it's delivered.

LOTHIAN: Driving to feed his family and determined to keep rolling despite the high costs.

MCDOWELL: I'm a very competitive person and I don't like to be forced into anything. So as long as I can keep making it work, nobody's going to force me out of business. I hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And our series, "Paying the Price in the Heartland," continues tomorrow. We'll take a look at how rising gas prices are affecting some rural school districts. That's on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," which starts at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.

A notorious Nazi war criminal comes back to haunt the CIA. A Cold War case raises new questions about the current war with al Qaeda.

We'll explain straight ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Let's now go to Carol Lin in the newsroom with more about the Queen on the Hill.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Queen Latifah, that's what we're talking about. She is there with Representative Carolyn Maloney on the first declared day of Women's Confidence Day. This is what Queen Latifah said a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN LATIFAH, ACTRESS, MUSICIAN: This day is really important because as our rights as women are being chipped away daily through laws being changed, sports and schools, equal opportunities in the workplace, the old-fashioned boys club being around, it's important that we raise our young women and girls to be strong, confident women.

As a child, I remember being encouraged by my father -- or actually included by my father when my brother was taken on camping trips -- camping trips with the family. That was so important because I was included. I wasn't told, "You're a girl. You can't come."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Fred, Queen Latifah was invited to be part of the ceremony because she's part of something called the National Project Confidence Awards with a company called Curvation to promote good body image. So, you know, on Women's Confidence Day, we're supposed to pat each other on the back, Fred.

I'm supposed to send you an e-mail to celebrate our confidence in being women and working women. And this is really just to promote not only women's rights, but also a good image of ourselves and for those of us who are raising girls, as well.

WHITFIELD: I like that.

LIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Let's encourage one another, all the time.

LIN: Do that.

WHITFIELD: All right.

And, of course, later on today here on CNN, the Queen will be gracing our presence, Carol, and everybody else out there, at 3:30 p.m. on "LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips.

Now, what did they know and when did they know it? When it comes to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and the CIA, it seems the agency knew plenty.

CNN's Brian Todd filed this report for "THE SITUATION ROOM".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This face coming back to haunt the CIA. Why did the agency stay silent for at least two years while this Nazi war criminal was in hiding? Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust, responsible for transporting millions of Jews to their deaths. Newly released CIA documents show the agency knew that Eichmann was hiding in Argentina well before his 1960 capture by Israeli agents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not U.S. policy to track Nazi war criminals once the Cold War...

TODD: Among tens of thousands of pages, this 1958 passage on Eichmann: "He is reported to have lived in Argentina under the alias Clemens since 1952."

Historians say the CIA was given that information by the government of then West German chancellor Conrad Adenauer, but they say neither the CIA nor the West Germans attempted to capture Eichmann and didn't tell the Israelis where he was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Bonn government feared what Eichmann might say about Adenauer's national security adviser, Hans Glocker (ph).

TODD: Hans Glocker (ph), who historians say was a key Cold War player on the side of the allies but had previously served in the Jewish Affairs Department of the Nazi government. Compromises like this found in case after case, like those of former Nazi officials tapped by the CIA as analysts or as so-called stay behind agents to be in place if the Soviets ever invaded West Germany. Compromises that experts say the agency is still dealing with in the war with al Qaeda.

ROBERT WOLFE, FORMER NATIONAL ARCHIVES OFFICIAL: Inevitably, this must require recruiting unsavory characters among the innermost circles of the enemy where few pure souls are to be found.

TODD (on camera): But among those less than pure souls, historians say there wasn't much decent intelligence. One expert says many of those Nazi war criminals peddled mostly hearsay and gossip designed to tell their American handlers what they wanted to hear.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Brian Todd is part of the team covering the world for "THE SITUATION ROOM". Join Wolf Blitzer at 4:00 Eastern and again at primetime at 7:00 Eastern.

A renowned hurricane forecaster blackballed?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has been, I might say, a mild McCarthyism running against skeptics like me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The global warming debate heating up ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK, so it's a story that's been hard to miss, two super celebrities traveling to Namibia in southern Africa to welcome their baby daughter into the world.

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