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Paula Zahn Now
Democratic Congress?; Border Fence Battle Rages; White House in State of Denial?
Aired September 29, 2006 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: And thank you for joining us.
Our "Top Story": the war in Iraq. Just hours ago, an emergency curfew was suddenly imposed, banning virtually any movement across Baghdad through Sunday morning. It's an attempt to deal with the violence that has become even more bloody this week.
Since Sunday, the bodies of 147 people have been dumped in Baghdad streets, 25 in the last day alone. And, tonight, there are clashes in the streets between gunmen and Iraqi forces, who are asking for U.S. help -- all this as the Bush administration fights off new charges about its handling of the war. They come in a new book by the veteran investigative reporter Bob Woodward. He paints a picture of a dysfunctional White House, divided over the war. And it has put the White House on the defensive tonight.
Just a few hours ago, we got the first extensive White House response to Woodward's book.
And that's where we begin.
Our Mary Snow has got ahold of the copy of the book, which isn't due out until Monday. She has the details and the denials for us tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld came under heavy fire within the Bush administration. And, according to Bob Woodward, there were attempts to get him fired.
In "State of Denial: Bush at War Part III," Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was about to leave the administration, is quoted as telling then White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, "If I go, Don should go."
Woodward reports Card tried twice to persuade the president to fire Rumsfeld. But the president refused, a fact a senior White House official confirmed to CNN.
While in Slovenia Friday, Rumsfeld was asked about the book, and generally dismissed it.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I haven't seen the book. I haven't read his first two books yet either, so, I don't -- I wouldn't hold your breath on this one. (CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
SNOW: Woodward maintains in his book that the administration ignored calls from officials in Iraq that they needed more troops. And, as an example of the friction inside the Bush inner circle, Woodward says that the president had to tell Rumsfeld at one point to return calls from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "I know you want talk to Condi, but you have got to talk to her."
The White House quotes Rice as saying, "That's ridiculous."
Perhaps the most damaging claim: that the administration is not being up front about the level of violence in Iraq. In an interview airing Sunday, Woodward tells CBS' "60 Minutes," there is intelligence that the violence is expected to get worse in 2007.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "60 MINUTES")
BOB WOODWARD, AUTHOR, "STATE OF DENIAL": In public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon saying, oh, no, things are going to get better. Now, there's public, and then there's private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: The books says there are attacks on coalition forces every 15 minutes.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said he was not authorized to talk about classified information, but replied:
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president, contrary to the assertion, was not in fact painting a rose-colored picture. He has been saying that it's a tough war; it's a long war; it's a war that's going to outlive his presidency.
SNOW: And, on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, Woodward says that Vice President Dick Cheney was so involved in the search for WMD in Iraq, that he called chief weapons inspector David Kay with specific satellite coordinates.
Woodward writes: "Cheney was acting as a kind of super investigator, trying to ferret out the elusive WMD, Kay concluded. But there were always loose ends in intelligence, disparate bits of information that could lead to all kinds of wild conclusions. It continued to remind Kay of the blockbuster novel 'The Da Vinci Code.'"
(on camera): This is the third book Woodward has written about the Bush administration. Critics complained that he was too easy on the administration in the first two.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) KING: And joining me now, senior national correspondent John Roberts and senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
John Roberts, let me pick up where Mary Snow left off.
This is the third book. And the administration was complimentary, for the most part, of the first two books. That makes the challenge harder now to dispute this one.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They have got a bit of a problem, because, don't forget, in 2004, Bob Woodward's second book, "Plan of Attack," was up on the Bush-Cheney campaign Web site.
They were saying, you want to read the truth about the administration, check out this book.
So, they have spent the last few years just, you know, really sort of confirming the veracity of just about everything that Woodward says. So, for them to turn around now and say, well, don't trust everything he says is a pretty difficult proposition to make stick.
KING: And, Jamie McIntyre, Secretary Rumsfeld still has his job, at least through the elections, and, many would say, probably through the end of the administration. Yet, in this book, you see more and more General John Abizaid saying, Rumsfeld doesn't have any credibility anymore to Bob Woodward.
He quotes the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Myers as saying, "He's that SOB," referring to Rumsfeld, and another term we won't say on family television.
What is the reaction in the halls of the Pentagon tonight?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) he's able to take all of these interviews and then sort of create a very real scenario of what's happened.
The problem is, of course, everyone's recollections are slightly different. There's no doubt that there's a lot of tension between Rumsfeld and the generals and some other people in the Pentagon, particularly as the war in Iraq has turned out to be much more difficult than many people anticipated. And that's rubbed salt -- salt into a lot of old wounds.
But Rumsfeld remains firmly in charge, as the civilian. He has said repeatedly he serves at the pleasure of the president. And one thing we learned from the book is President Bush's extreme reluctance to let Donald Rumsfeld go. That would seem to indicate that Rumsfeld is going to be around probably until the end.
KING: Jamie, stand by for us.
And, John, one of the hallmarks of this administration has been loyalty. You now have Andy Card, the former chief of staff, a Bush family friend, in the book, and confirmed to us now twice asked the president to fire Don Rumsfeld. You get to a point where you question. The president is in this campaign. The Iraq war is the big issue. Is there a bigger credibility question now, or can the question be any bigger?
ROBERTS: Well, the -- the question I have -- I have been asking people for the last couple of months is, is anybody listening to President Bush anymore when he talks about Iraq?
When you take a look at the numbers, 60 percent of Americans, or -- or roughly thereabouts, believe that the war in Iraq was a mistake. While people don't think that the United States should pull out now, they do think the U.S. should get out fairly soon.
So, for the president to be sticking with the same lines that he has been using for the past 18 months really raises the question of whether or not he can make an impact anymore, or if people's minds are so made up about Iraq, that it doesn't matter what he says, that the only thing that could possibly add would be negative publicity. And it looks like this book has got an awful lot of it.
KING: And, Jamie McIntyre, we see in this book -- and we have heard some of this before, especially from members of Congress who have gone to Iraq -- that the generals really did want more troops, but they are afraid to say so publicly, that they think the president, when he says don't use terms like insurgency, won't release to the public the number, the rate of the attacks on U.S. troops, is painting too rosy of a picture.
Do they worry inside the Pentagon about the president's political standing, if you will, as he tries to keep public support for this war?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, yes. The answer is yes, because the war is not going that well. Had it gone the other way, you wouldn't be hearing any of this.
I mean, one thing this book underscores is this conventional wisdom that the two big mistakes were not going in with enough troops and disbanding the Iraqi army. But both of those points are debatable. You can argue and you can -- you can foresee a reality where, had you done the opposite, that they both would have other consequences, and we would be arguing today about other things that have gone wrong with the Iraq policy.
KING: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, and John Roberts here, gentlemen, thank you both very much.
And we will hear much more about Bob Woodward's book on Monday, when he's a guest on "LARRY KING LIVE."
And get a rare up-close look at the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, this weekend on "CNN PRESENTS: Rumsfeld: Man of War." That's Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Now another "Top Story" that broke here in Washington today, still developing tonight: the sudden, dramatic resignation of a veteran Republican congressman. Representative Mark Foley of Florida announced he's stepping down, a day after a report detailing an e-mail exchange he apparently had with a 16-year-old boy who had been a congressional page.
Foley was chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus and a member of the Republican leadership. And there may be -- may be more damaging e-mails out there, as we hear from congressional correspondent Dana Bash, who just filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congressman Mark Foley's resignation was abrupt and shocking.
"I am deeply sorry, and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent," said Foley in a short written statement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For what purpose does the gentleman from Florida rise?
BASH: The six-term Republican and member of the GOP leadership made no mention of his e-mails with a former male congressional page or concerns, according to GOP sources close to Foley, that devastating information was about to become public.
In fact, hours later, it did. ABC News reported a number of sexually graphic instant-messages between Foley and male congressional pages.
"What are you wearing?" he asked in one.
"T-shirts and shorts," the teen replied.
"Love to slip them off you," Foley allegedly said.
And, in another, Foley asked, "Do I make you a little horny?"
"A little," said the teen.
"Cool," replied Foley.
There was no immediate response from Foley's office to those alleged messages. But a spokesman confirmed to CNN that Foley did have five e-mail exchanges last year with a 16-year-old page, asking him, "How old are you?" in one. And, in another, he asks the young man to "Send me a pic of you as well."
The young man forwarded that e-mail, according a government watchdog group that posted it online, to a congressional staffer, writing the word "sick" 13 times.
The group's director got it from a Hill staffer and sent it to the House Ethics Committee and the FBI.
MELANIE SLOAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON: Because Representative Foley was using a personal e-mail account to send the page e-mails, the former page e- mails, and the -- and the young man was clearly made very uncomfortable by the e-mails, we thought it was a matter appropriate for the House Ethics Committee to investigate.
BASH: Law enforcement sources won't comment, but there is no indication at this point of any criminal probe. And it is unclear how the House Ethics Committee proceeded.
Foley's resignation sent shockwaves through the Capitol. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was visibly angry.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: ... resigned from the House.
QUESTION: As of now?
HASTERT: He's done. As of now. He's done the right thing. I have asked John Shimkus, who is the head of the page board, to look into this issue regarding Congressman Foley. We want to make sure that all our pages are safe and the page system is safe -- safe.
QUESTION: How -- how disturbing is this?
HASTERT: Well, none of us are very happy about it.
BASH: And another GOP colleague said he was worried about other congressional pages.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: I hope that he can solve this problem for himself. And I wish him well. And I'm particularly concerned about any pages who may have been involved.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now, what makes this all the more surprising is that Congressman Mark Foley is a co-chair of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, and he also has written some of the most recent legislation to try to crack down on Internet predators -- John.
KING: And, Dana, Florida Republicans will find another candidate to run for the seat, although Congressman Foley's name will actually still be on the ballot, because it is so close to the election.
Do Republicans think they have any prayer of holding this seat, or is this one up for the Democrats already?
BASH: Republican sources really do think that this is a seat that will, in the end, likely go Democrat. And they're not very happy about it, as you can imagine, at all.
Congressman Foley is a moderate, somebody who went home to his district in Florida a lot, and was well liked there. And this is a district that many Republicans do think, in the end, will go Democrat. And, as you know, in a year where members of the House Republican leadership think that they cannot afford any seats to lose, this is not good news for them tonight, politically, as well -- John.
KING: The fallout from this surely to continue -- Dana Bash, thanks for us tonight.
And Dana, of course, part of the best political team on television. Thanks very much.
Representative Foley is a special case, but, with the elections just around the corner, there may be a tidal wave of congressional departures. Next in our "Top Story" coverage: Could it be a Democratic Congress?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The battles lines are drawn. The voters are angry -- coming up, the states and races that could put the Democrats in control of Capitol Hill.
And deadly combinations -- the sudden death of a celebrity's son, and a football star's off-the-field emergency, reminders that some prescription drugs should never go together. What's in your medicine cabinet?
All that and more just ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Another "Top Story" we're following tonight: a newly revealed letter left behind by the drifter who took hostages inside a Colorado school, killed a student, then shot himself when police closed in. We will get to that in a little bit.
But our "Top Story" in politics now: The Senate and House are still in session, this late on a Friday night, in a last push to get some business done, before heading off to the campaign trail for the next five weeks. And it's the most competitive campaign in years. The power balance in Washington is at stake, and Democrats, to say the least, are smelling blood.
Joining me now, senior political analyst Bill Schneider -- Bill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Democrats are cautiously optimistic about regaining the majority in the House of Representatives, and increasingly hopeful of winning control of the Senate. Right now, CNN estimates that 22 House seats could change parties, all in the same direction.
STUART ROTHENBERG, "THE ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT": If you look at the most vulnerable 15, 20, 25 congressional districts from the country that are most competitive, that could turn, each and every one is a Republican. SCHNEIDER: Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to win the majority in the House. Fifteen out of 22 sounds tough. But it looks increasingly doable.
Republicans are in serious trouble in the suburbs, homeland of moderate voters, like the New York suburbs of Connecticut, the Philadelphia suburbs, and the suburbs of Denver and Tucson. The Senate looks tougher for Democrats.
ROTHENBERG: I think the Republicans are still narrow favorites to hold the Senate, but there has been a fundamental shift in the way I think I and -- the way I view the race and the way most handicappers view it.
SCHNEIDER: Right now, seven Republican Senate seats at risk. The Democrats need to win six of those seven seats to control the Senate. That's tough. Five of those seven states voted to reelect President Bush in 2004. That's tougher.
Democrats cannot afford to lose the one Senate seat they hold that may be in trouble, New Jersey. They say a week is a long time in politics.
ROTHENBERG: Three weeks from now, we could decide that the Democrats have a best -- better chance in the Senate than the House. Things are shifting. It's -- it's -- there are a lot of unknowns.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And Bill Schneider joins us now, along with tonight's "Top Story" panel, political analyst Amy Holmes, a former speechwriter for the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, and a former speechwriter for President Clinton, Paul Glastris, who is now editor in chief of "Washington Monthly."
Bill, to you first, outside of the Capitol.
They're still working tonight -- tough week, this debate about the new national intelligence estimate saying perhaps the Iraq war is causing a bigger terrorism problem in the world, the resignation of Mark Foley tonight. Who's happier to leave town, the Democrats or the Republicans?
SCHNEIDER: I think the Republicans are desperate to get out of town and campaign, because they want to get out -- get away from national issues, which is what's going on behind me, and concentrate on local issues.
They're going by the slogan, Tip O'Neill's old slogan, all politics is local, because national conditions favor Democrats.
KING: Well, Amy Holmes, let's talk about that.
If national conditions favor Democrats, but Republicans have this huge fund-raising advantage, how can they use it to their advantage in the final weeks of the campaign? So much is said about the database, the get-out-the-vote. Do the Republicans actually think they can pull it off again, as they have in the last two campaigns?
AMY HOLMES, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, sure.
You mentioned the last campaign. Ken Mehlman proved that he was a terrific strategist when it came out to -- came to the get-out-the- vote effort. And you just saw the news reports today that Hillary Clinton, in addressing the DNC, told Howard Dean he needs to get out and raise more money, that the RNC has tens of millions of dollars ahead of them, and, if they're going to be able to come down into the home stretch, they are going to have to raise a lot more money to be competitive.
Republicans are definitely ahead when it comes to that.
KING: Well, Paul, what is the assessment among fellow Democrats? As you know, some call it the circular firing squad party, saying the national dynamics are going your way, and, yet, as Amy just noted, you do have this very public feud over fund-raising -- some Democrats quietly saying: This should be our year, but are we going to blow it in the end again?
PAUL GLASTRIS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY": That's exactly what a lot of Democrats are saying.
I think the bottom line is, Republicans have the organization. Democrats have the motivation. And we don't know which of the two forces are going to be stronger on November 7.
In any case, almost everyone thinks Democrats will take a lot of House seats, take a lot of Senate seats. Whether they get control of one of both houses, we don't know. But it will leave the Republicans with a very narrow majority. And what a lot of Democrats are -- are saying privately, but are not saying publicly, even a lot of Republicans, that could be even better for the Democrats.
I don't share this view, but this is the view of a lot of people in Washington. Let the Republicans have control of government for the next two years. Watch things go down, and take the -- the whole of it in 2008.
KING: Well, the voters will make that decision soon enough.
But, Bill Schneider, you see Republicans starting to use their fund-raising advantage to say: Maybe you're mad at us. Maybe you don't like everything we have done. Maybe you're mad at the war in Iraq. But, if you elect the Democrats, they will raise your taxes. They will be soft on national security.
Any evidence in the polling or other data that that is beginning to take hold?
SCHNEIDER: Well, not really.
There -- there has been a halt in the Democrats' momentum for the last few weeks, as President Bush focused the nation's attention on the terrorism issue, framed the election around that. But, this week, that may have been reversed, because of all the attention to Iraq.
You had the national intelligence estimate, with its assessment that the war in Iraq has made the world more dangerous for terrorism. And now you have the Woodward book. If the election is framed around Iraq, the Democrats do better. If it's framed around the war on terror, the Republicans have some hope.
So, it's a real question of how the election is going to be framed.
KING: And, Amy Holmes, do you want the president out there on the road, across the country, not just in the South, not just in conservative districts? Is the president an asset or is he a liability, beyond raising money for Republicans?
HOLMES: I was going to say, I think that he is an asset. I would reject this idea that he's a liability. He may be a liability, say, for Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, which is solidly a Democratic state that voted for Kerry, Gore, and Clinton.
So, I'm not sure Chafee would necessarily want him in Rhode Island. But, at the end of the day, George Bush, he rallies the troops. He raises the money. He's going to help with that get-out- the-vote effort. I think that Republicans will be embracing him in the five weeks to come.
KING: Paul Glastris, you remember, when Bill Clinton was president, Republicans complained all the time how tough it was, even when the dynamics should be going your way, to fight a White House, to fight the bully pulpit.
Now it's the Democrats on the outs -- occasional disagreement among themselves, if you will. Well, how does that dynamic play? And how tough is it? How valuable could the president be, despite his troubling poll numbers?
GLASTRIS: The president can be valuable, though, at this point, Congress is going to be out of session. There's not much left -- not much leverage left in Washington to help these candidates.
And the Democrats have been very good at countering a lot of the White House moves. You have seen testimony on the Hill of generals saying, we're losing the war in Iraq. We have had these leaks of the national intelligence estimate, saying Iraq is making the war on terror worse, not better.
So, for every move that the White House is making -- and they're making some smart moves -- some other moves are being made, either behind the scenes or not, by Democrats to counter it. So, it's unclear who's manipulating the agenda more.
KING: Let me start with you, Amy. I will give you each of you about 10 seconds to give me your surprise for the final five weeks.
HOLMES: Surprise for the final five weeks? I think that Menendez race is very exciting, one to keep a real look at. Tom Kean is ahead. I think that Democrats might be losing that seat. That could be a big surprise.
KING: Paul.
GLASTRIS: The state to watch, the race to watch is Missouri, my home state. I think Claire McCaskill will -- has a lot of momentum behind her. The -- the sitting senator, Talent, has the organization. Again, that's going to be state where it's going to be organization vs. motivation.
KING: And the final word to Bill Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: This race may not end on November 7, John.
You're having both parties arming themselves with teams of lawyers. Suppose the House comes down to a couple of seats determining the majority. The same thing could be true in the Senate. There could be disputed election results. It could go on and on beyond November 7.
KING: Send in the lawyers. And I thought it's a been there/done that.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Bill Schneider, thanks for that, I think.
Bill Schneider, Amy Holmes, and Paul Glastris, thanks to all three of you tonight.
And much more "Top Story" coverage in a few minutes.
First, though, our countdown of the day's top stories on CNN.com. About 20 million people logged in today.
At number 10: the end of a controversial experiment on the show "Survivor," after two episodes featuring regularly -- racially segregated teams have ended. The producers have now merged the black, white, Asian, and Latino tribes into two mixed-race groups.
Number nine: Actor Robert Downey Jr. is getting ready to play a Marvel Comics superhero. He will star in the upcoming film "Iron Man," which begins shooting early next year in Los Angeles.
And, at eight: In Nashville, Tennessee, a juror takes less than two hours to convict a woman and the lover she hid in a closet of killing her husband. They have been both sentenced to life in prison -- more of our countdown just ahead.
Plus: a piece of unfinished business on Capitol Hill. It has tempers boiling in Texas -- coming up, demands for a better fence along the border.
And, later, we check the facts behind some of the eye-opening revelations in a new book about the war on terror.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Our "Top Story" coverage is focusing on Congress tonight, a Congress that has been accused of doing almost nothing significant. But, tonight, right now, members are still at work, trying to wrap up business and end the session, so they can go home and campaign.
One major item they're trying to get done, approval for 700 miles of fence along the border with Mexico. That's about all that's left of that huge push earlier this year for immigration reform. The U.S. border with Mexico runs nearly 2,000 miles, 1,200 of them in Texas.
And that's where we go now, to El Paso, where part of the border fence would be built, and where it's already a divisive issue.
Ed Lavandera just filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL LOVELADY, WEST TEXAS FARMER: Those trees you see, those are on the other side of the river. That's in Mexico.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill Lovelady wants to change the view from his backyard.
LOVELADY: I would build a fence right there.
LAVANDERA: That, he believes, would stop the illegal immigrants he often sees crossing his cotton fields.
LOVELADY: A bunch of them will go across, and they will leave tracks, and they mess up the seedbed.
LAVANDERA: For almost 100 years, Lovelady's family has farmed this dusty patch of land near El Paso, just a few hundred feet from the U.S. border with Mexico.
This self-proclaimed moderate Republican who welcomes legal immigrants with open arms says, a border fence is a no-brainer.
LOVELADY: Well, a fence does work. But you have to keep the fence up, and you have to patrol the fence. But -- but anybody that says that a fence won't work is just not being realistic.
LAVANDERA: But Lovelady accepts he may be in a minority locally with his enthusiasm for a fence.
(on camera): Politicians in Washington might like the idea of a building a border fence. But here in border towns, the plan is far from popular. Business owners, politicians, and human rights activists, for the most part, say that this kind of fence won't make a good neighbor.
(voice-over): Some say a fence will drive illegal migrants to remote border regions, taking more life-threatening chances to get across. Human smugglers would charge more for a more difficult journey. Others say drug runners would literally head underground, building a network of tunnels. Tunnels have been discovered beneath border walls in Arizona and California.
Then there's the cost of building and maintaining a fence.
STUART HARRIS, BORDER PATROL UNION: We have a crew that comes out. Their only mission is to repair this fence every day.
LAVANDERA: Stuart Harris is a representative of the Border Patrol Union. He's not in uniform, because what he's saying is not the agency's official line.
HARRIS: I don't understand why they -- they believe that one fence is going to stop anything. We have three fences right here and a canal, and it's not stopping anybody. And you can see -- see how damaged the fence is. And, like I said, it -- it takes them probably 10 to 15 seconds to get through that.
LAVANDERA: Supporters of a border wall say it's a simple, commonsense idea. Someone like Ken Muise, a volunteer in a border watch group who spent the last year standing vigil in West Texas, puts it plainly.
KEN MUISE, TEXAS BORDER REGULATORS: If you don't see the necessity for protecting our borders, then, you aren't worth a bucket of warm spit, as far as I'm concerned.
LAVANDERA: As for Bill Lovelady, he says, the longer it takes Congress to deal with the issue, the more vulnerable the country becomes.
LOVELADY: I mean, this is common sense. This is not rocket science.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: John, the scars of the securing the border are visible all along the fence line here in El Paso. It's been cut, re- cut, driven through, driven over, and re-patched and rebuilt many times. And that is something Border Patrol agents here are familiar with.
But the plan Congress is considering tonight would include spending more than $1 billion on building this 700 miles of fence, and the question voters are asking themselves is, is this money worth spending on this kind of money.
KING: Well they are asking that question, Ed, with an election five weeks away. It does look like Congress will pass that money tonight and there will be more fencing put up. What's your sense? What will the political fallout be?
LAVANDERA: Well, you know, here everyone's pretty much entrenched. The critics of this will say that this is basically just election year politics. That it looks good and sounds good to be talking about building a fence, but in reality, what many of them say they would like to see is take that $1 billion, if that's what the final price tag is, and use that on spending money on and helping out the border patrol agents, improving technology and that sort of thing. That's what they would like to see.
KING: Ed Lavandera for us along the border, thanks Ed.
More top story coverage ahead. First our CNN.com countdown.
At number seven, Borat, the fictional TV reporter from Kazakhstan, played by the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. He's been here in Washington taking advantage of the Kazakh president's visit to the White House to promote Borat the flim.
Number seven is out of Florida. The suspect in the fatal shooting a of a deputy and the wounding of another was caught and killed this morning by authorities. That manhunt had been under way since Thursday.
Number five, a man wrote that insult about the head of the Transportation Security Administration on a plastic bag says he was detained at the Milwaukee Airport earlier this week. The insult read, quote, Kip Hawley is an idiot. Hawley is the head of the T.S.A. The man says he wrote it because he was frustrated with TSA policies about carry-on luggage.
Four and three on our countdown are coming up.
Plus, a key player in the war on terror has just written a tell- all memoir. Coming up, we'll fact check some of the most controversial revelations by Pakistan's president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jonathan Freed. Police in Bailey, Colorado are saying that a suicide note may help explain why a man attacked a high school, killed a student and then killed himself. That story coming up on PAULA ZAHN NOW.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Anna Nicole Smith's son is a top story in medicine. We'll look at drugs that are perfectly legal but in the wrong combination are lethal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Today's top story in the war on terror, a new message from the number two man in al Qaeda. Ayman al Zawahiri calls President Bush a liar, then goes on to complain about the Pope's recent comments about Muslims and violence. Zawahiri is thought to be hiding out in Pakistan.
Pakistan's president says his country needs understanding and assistance in the fight against terrorism, not more criticism. President Pervez Musharraf is in England after wrapping up a public relations blitz through the United States. He's not only asking for understanding for Pakistan, he would also appreciate it if you'd buy his book. Some of the things in that brand-new memoir are worth a closer inspection.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His excellency General Pervez Musharraf.
KING (voice-over): Not every book tour includes a stop at the United Nations, or the White House.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In other words, by the book, is what he's saying.
KING: General Pervez Musharraf's media blitz also included interviews on CNN and "60 Minutes." And he got to share green tea and one-liners with comedian Jon Stewart.
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": Where is Osama bin Laden?
PRES. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: I don't know. Do you know? Do you know where he is? You lead on, we'll follow you.
KING: Even before President Musharraf's memoir, "In the Line of Fire," came out, his claims were generating controversy. On the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, Musharraf writes, "I would assume that he is moving back and forth across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border somewhere." Afghanistan's president pointedly disagrees.
PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: Well, sir, if I told you he was in Pakistan, President Musharraf, my friend, would be mad at me. But if I said he was in Afghanistan, that would not be true.
KING: In one of the most talked-about parts of the book, President Musharraf writes that immediately after the September 11 attacks, Secretary of State Colin Powell's deputy Richard Armitage made this threat to a Pakistani official, "not only that we had to decide whether we were with America or with the terrorists, but that if we chose the terrorists, then we should be prepared to be bombed back to the stone age." Armitage says it didn't quite happen that way.
RICHARD ARMITAGE, FMR. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Since I wasn't authorized to make the threat, I didn't do it. I think that what President Musharraf says is this is what his intelligence chief told him, not what I said to Pervez Musharraf.
KING: In arguing he's been a good ally in the war on terror, President Musharraf writes the Pakistanis have captured 689 members of al Qaeda and handed over 369 of them to the United States. He adds, "those who habitually accuse us of not doing enough in the war on terror, should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan." While the CIA won't confirm that it's paid Pakistan for its help against al Qaeda, the agency's former counter-terrorism chief is sure that money changed hands. BOB GRENIER, KROLL INC.: Yes, obviously it takes a lot of money to maintain a lot of troops in the field and to mount these sorts of operations that the Pakistanis have for years on end now. So to say that there were millions of dollars involved, I don't think is an exaggeration.
KING: Another big surprise in President Musharraf's book concerns the kidnapping and eventual beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Pakistan convicted four people of Pearl's murder. But for the first time, President Musharraf's book connects the killing to the very top levels of al Qaeda.
The man who may have actually killed Pearl, or at least participated in his butchery, we eventually discovered, was none other than Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, al Qaeda's number three. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is also accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Captured by the Pakistanis in 2003, he's now awaiting trial at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
This week the U.S. State Department confirmed it had evidence suggesting Mohammad had a role in Daniel Pearl's murder, although he has not been charged in that case. President's Musharraf's memoir is currently number 12 on Amazon.com's list of best selling books. A spokesman for the Pakistani government says all proceeds from the book will go to charity.
More top story coverage still to come.
First though, our CNN.com countdown. Number four, Anna Nicole Smith exchanges vows with her boyfriend Howard K. Stern in the Bahamas. Smith says there was no official marriage. The ceremony was not legally binding. Stern says he's the father of Smith's baby, born earlier this month.
And three, director Oliver Stone blasts President Bush, telling journalists at a Spanish film festival that the president's policies in the war in Iraq make him, quote, ashamed for my country.
Our countdown continues in a minute. Also, tonight's top story in crime, the continuing string of school shootings. Coming up, new insights into a deadly classroom standoff in Colorado, including the killer's good-bye letter.
Later, the top story in medicine, how to make sure your prescriptions aren't threatening your life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Tonight's top stories "Outside the Law" are also the top stories on our CNN.com countdown. At No. 2, just a few hours ago, a Wisconsin high school principal died from gunshot wounds. The victim of a second deadly school shooting this week. Police say a ninth grader at Weston (ph) high school shot the principal three times. They say the student was upset about being disciplined for carrying tobacco and being bullied by other students. The sheriff's department says Eric Hainstock will be charged as an adult with first-degree murder.
At No. 1, in Bailey, Colorado, a memorial service will be held tomorrow for 16-year-old Emily Keyes. She was shot to death by a gunman, who took six school girls hostage on Monday. He then turned the gun on himself. He also left behind a letter. Jonathan Freed has tonight's "Outside the Law."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story behind the attack on Platte Canyon high school started before the gunman, Duane Morrison, even entered the building. The county sheriff says the 53-year-old man mailed a letter to a relative in Colorado that day, 14 hand-written pages described as part suicide note.
SHERIFF FRED WEGENER, PARK COUNTY, CO: The letter also clearly acknowledges his pending death. It also apologizes to his family for his actions that will occur.
FREED: Oddly enough, police say Morrison made no references to the school, or about intending to harm anyone other than himself. But at 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Morrison simply walked into the building, entered room 206, and, according to a local newspaper account from a student who was there, ordered everyone to line up and face a blackboard. And then fired a shot into the ceiling to show he was serious.
Morrison then told the teacher and all the male students to leave, leaving behind six teenage girls. By this time, police had been called, a SWAT team activated and the school evacuated.
Between 12:15 and 3:30 p.m., Morrison released four of the girls. But investigators say some, and possibly all of them, were molested first.
The girl who spoke to the media described what she heard as she was facing the wall. "You could hear the rustling of clothes and elastic being snapped and zippers being opened and closed."
Morrison had the hostages talk to police, and claimed he had a bomb in a backpack.
At 3:30, he stopped communicating. His last message? Something will happen at 4:00.
That's when the SWAT team moved in. One of the two remaining girls managed to get away, but police say Morrison shot 16-year-old Emily Keyes in the back of the head as she tried to escape, and then turned the gun on himself.
The next day, family and friends clung to each other, looking for support and answers.
(on camera): What frame of mind are you in today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, I'm just grieving with my community. You know, my son was in that building, too.
FREED (voice-over): The sheriff believes his county will never be the same again. A friend of Emily's, who says she was in a classroom directly below room 206, believes grief counselors will only be able to do so much.
CHARISSA GUERRERO, PLATTE CANYON HS JUNIOR: I think you just have to go with your friends and just kind of work it out.
FREED: Emily's parents say the last word they got from her was a text message that she sent during the ordeal. It said, "I love you guys."
The sheriff says Morrison's last message, the suicide letter, confirmed his worst fear.
WEGENER: That he probably intended to kill both the young ladies and then kill himself, or have us shoot him.
FREED: Still, Sheriff Wegener says he believes ordering the SWAT team to move in was the right decision.
Jonathan Freed, CNN, Bailey, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And then there's this: A Denver television station reports that video cameras showed the gunmen sitting in his jeep in the parking lot for about 20 minutes on Wednesday, and then mingling with students as classes changed. About half an hour later, the siege started.
Right now, let's take a biz break. After soaring to a near record high, the Dow Jones closed out the week with a whimper. The blue chip index finished with a loss of 39 points, 44 points shy of the all-time high set in January of 2000. The Nasdaq was down more than 11.5 points, while the S&P dropped over 3.
Oil prices rose a bit today after Venezuela pledged to cut production by around 50,000 barrels a day. Now, our "Crude Awakenings," our nightly look at gas prices across the country. The states with today's lowest gasoline prices are in green, the highest prices in red. The average today for unleaded regular, $2.34. That's up a fraction of a cent from yesterday. And the latest trend? Gas prices are up, but ever so slightly.
"LARRY KING LIVE" is coming up in just a few minutes. Larry, who will be with you tonight?
LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: Hey, John. Some say that our guest tonight is pro-June Cleaver and anti-"Desperate Housewives," but that would only be if June gave Ward Cleaver sex on demand. That, and much more, with the always outspoken, often controversial radio host Dr. Laura. It's right after you, John, at the top of the hour -- John.
KING: Can't wait. Thanks, Larry. We'll see you in just a few minutes at 9:00.
One of this week's top stories in medicine involved football star Terrell Owens. What happened to him could happen to anyone. Coming up, how to keep it from happening to you.
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KING: Our top story in medicine tonight, downright frightening news this week about the consequences of mixing medications. According to a pathologist hired by Anna Nicole Smith's family, her 20-year-old son Daniel died of a lethal combination of anti- depressants and Methadone. And then there's the NFL star Terrell Owens, who was rushed to the hospital this week after he says combining a painkiller with diet supplements. He was OK. But clearly, mixing pills can be dangerous, if not deadly. We asked our Judy Fortin to look into how it happens and what you can do to protect yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his pharmacy in Atlanta, Ira Katz (ph) dispenses not only drugs, but advice.
IRA KATZ, PHARMACIST: Take that every week and you don't lie down for 45 minutes to an hour.
FORTIN: Katz talks with every customer about potential dangerous drug interactions.
(on camera): Is it common for people to make mistakes and mix up drugs?
KATZ: All the time and a lot of times they're confused. They're taking two, three, four, multiple medications and they just don't have a good handle on it. That's where we come in.
FORTIN: The federal government's Institute of Medicine estimates that each year there are at least 1.5 million adverse reactions to prescription drugs in the United States. Of those, about 75,000 happen because people take a dangerous combination of drugs.
DR. ROBERT MILLMAN, NY PRESBYTERIAN/WEILL CORNELL: Everyone needs to be worried if they're taking more than one drug.
FORTIN: Dr. Robert Millman is an expert in pyscho-pharmacology.
MILLMAN: Sudden death or some fatal interaction is quite rare. Sometimes taking drugs together decreases the potency, decreases the effectiveness of one, or increases the potency or effectiveness of another.
FORTIN: One cause of the problem is lack of communication, patients failing to give doctors a detailed summary of other medicines they've been prescribed.
MILLMAN: Sometimes they're doing it on purpose to not tell the doctor how much they're taking.
FORTIN: For instance, patients who might be addicted to certain medications, who are being deceptive about what drugs they're taking, or how much. But if doctors are told what their patients are taking, they often can catch dangerous drug mistakes.
You can also do your own checking. There are many online resources for patients. But computers aren't foolproof, so here are some other ways to protect yourself. Keep a written list of all the drugs you're taking, prescription, over the counter, and dietary or herbal supplements. Also, read the paperwork that comes with each prescription. If you have any questions, ask the pharmacist. Often he or she is your last line of defense.
KATZ: They need to communicate before they medicate.
FORTIN: It could end up saving your life.
Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Joining me now to explore this a bit more Dr. Billy Goldberg, an emergency room physician in New York. Dr. Goldberg, you're in the emergency room, peel back the curtain, if you will. What are the most common interactions you have to deal with on an emergency basis and what are the most dangerous?
DR. BILLY GOLDBERG, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Well John, I'm actually headed into the emergency room at midnight tonight, and it's a common thing we see. They're usually not as dramatic as some of the stuff we're hearing these days, you know, sudden death, again, is very rare.
We see people that take excess amounts of pain pills, narcotics, they become sleepy. Blood thinners, a common blood thinner named Coumadin (ph) is one that if you take too much, you can have some bleeding complications. Most of the stuff is pretty minor, though.
KING: Well, take us inside this Anna Nicole Smith case. We have a combination here of the painkiller methadone and two anti- depressants. What is it about that particular combination that makes it deadly?
GOLDBERG: Well now, that's a pretty dramatic combination of drugs to be taking. I don't think we know for sure why this particular person is on Methadone, which is a pain medication, but is also used for narcotic addiction. That's an interesting medication because that can actually affect the heart and it affects the electrical system of the heart and can prolong one of the electrical functions in the heart and that can lead to arrhythmias (ph).
One of the antidepressants he was taking also can do the same thing. So that combination, probably along with being a little, perhaps overly intoxicated from the methadone probably triggered an arrhythmia and caused him to have a cardiac arrest. KING: A perhaps potentially more troubling and more dangerous is what happened to Terrell Owens. He's talking about mixing medications with supplements. These supplements, as you know, are unregulated. The labels are very different than what you get on prescription drugs. If you're talking to somebody out there, an athlete who is taking these, someone who is trying to lose weight and taking these supplements, what should they be looking for? Because obviously they don't have a warning label on those supplements.
GOLDBERG: Yes, most of the supplements are probably pretty safe. They're not as well regulated as regular medications. So the over- the-counter stuff and these health supplements are not as well regulated. We don't know for sure what T.O. was taking. So, in general, they're not really that dangerous. Again, if you have a lot of medications that you're taking, always consult with your physician, and bring the bottles. Because it helps us to look at the label to see what's in them.
KING: Well, from your experience, do people read the labels and read the inserts, or do people have just the take two, three times a day and they don't worry about the interactions?
GOLDBERG: No, people don't tend to read the inserts. People tend to rip them up right when they leave the pharmacy and it's important to read that material. Again, ask your doctor questions. There are systems of checks and balances. So the doctor, It starts with the doctor, and the patient has to be involved. So write down a list of your medications, then listen to what the pharmacist says. And also, online there's plenty of drug interaction checkers where you can check things yourselves. So if you're taking a lot of medications, you can enter those in and check them yourself.
KING: And quickly in closing, if you're organizing your medicine cabinet at home, what should you never put side by side?
GOLDBERG: Well, we don't want people to be terrified and duct tape their medicine cabinet closed. In general, I would recommend you throw away the old medications you're not using. Be very careful with blood pressure medications. The old antidepressants were more dangerous and pain medications, taking excess amounts of pain medications can cause problems.
KING: Dr. Billy Goldberg, thank you for your help tonight. It's a very difficult issue. Thanks for helping us understand it.
GOLDBERG: Thanks for having me.
KING: Thank you and at the top of the hour, "LARRY KING LIVE." Dr. Laura Schlessinger takes your phone calls.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: There's breaking news out of Brazil tonight. Reports say Gaul Airlines (ph) flight 1907, with at least 140 people aboard, vanished on the way from Manaus, in the Amazon jungle, to Sao Paulo. Reuters is reporting the airliner hit and executive jet, but only the smaller plane landed safely.
There's also some breaking news for consumers tonight. The federal food and drug administration has just lifted its two week old consumer warning on most fresh bagged Spinach. Spinach tainted with E. Coli bacteria, of course, is blamed for making at least 187 people sick in the past few weeks and one person has died. That scare effected 26 states.
That's all for us tonight. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now. Have a great weekend.
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