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The Situation Room

Security Threat Lowered; Israeli Withdrawal; US Army Uses Robots in Iraq; New 9/11 Tapes; Sri Lankan Minister Assassinated; CIA: Ahmadinejad Not 1979 Hostage Taker; Oil Refinery Capacity; Castro's Birthday

Aired August 12, 2005 - 15:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blizter, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. On these screens behind me, CNN journalists standing by from around the world. We'll be bringing them in. They're standing by from not only the United States, but all sorts of places, including an exclusive from North Korea.
Here's some of the stories that are happening right now.

It's 3:00 p.m. in New York City. Newly released tapes and transcripts bringing back the horror and the heroism of 9/11.

In Gaza, it's 10:00 p.m. The map is about to change, history about to be made. Israelis preparing to move out, Palestinians preparing to move in. Can it all happen without violence?

And it's 3:00 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio, where there's an angry outburst as a couple captured after a deadly courthouse shooting fights extradition to Tennessee.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

But we begin with news that's about to happen. After the local evening rush hours around the country today, the Department of Homeland Security will lower the threat level for the nation's mass transit systems.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve of the CNN America Bureau is live at a Metro station right here in the nation's capital. What exactly is going on, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN AMERICA BUREAU CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can see on the tracks behind me, Wolf, right now it's a pretty quiet time, but rush hour will begin shortly. Then, of course, trains up and down these tracks carrying an awful lot of people.

After rush hour tonight, Metro systems, transit systems around the country will have the option of taking their threat level, which was placed at orange after the July 7, bombings in London, and moving that level down to yellow.

Now, orange has meant increased surveillance. It has meant more police. It has meant more canine teams. It has even meant in cities like New York bag searches, which have been very controversial. Now the Department of Homeland Security says it will let transit systems lower their threat levels for two reasons. One is they have no specific or credible information that any attacks against the U.S. are imminent. And, two, they say that the baseline of security in transit systems has improved.

Secretary Chertoff spoke about that earlier this week right here on THE SITUATION ROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: One of the things I want to explain is that yellow itself has changed over time. The degree of preparedness and our ability to react has gotten much better under yellow in 2005 than it was under yellow in 2004. As we raise the baseline of preparedness, it may turn out to be that we can go to orange less often or come down from orange earlier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Now the American Public Transportation Association agrees that there has been an improvement in security; however, they say there is a wall that it's hit because of money. They say that to be on threat level orange has cost transit systems about $900,000 a day. They point out that much of this cost is being borne by them. The federal government isn't helping much.

So far only about $250 million allocated for transit security as opposed to about $18 billion for aircraft security. So they're making the pitch once again the threat may be over right now, but we need more money to keep our vigilance up -- Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Is there an update, Jeanne, on that story we reported 24 hours ago, a potential threat to tankers, fuel trucks out there around 9/11? What is the latest on that?

MESERVE: Well, there were some officials that held a conference call this afternoon. In that conference call they said that that was uncorroborated information, that its credibility was questionable. They are clearly ratcheting things way back on that one.

It does, of course, raise some questions about communication amongst government agencies. Why did this bulletin go out from some local FBI offices? Was the national FBI involved? Was DHS fully informed of what was happening?

Those are very pertinent questions. Today, the official line is, we are all talking. We are all comparing notes and we al agree that this is not a credible threat.

BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve reporting for us. Jeanne, thank you very much.

And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. When terrorists struck the Twin Towers, New York firefighters rushed in risking -- and in many cases, giving -- their lives trying to save others.

Now by court order, the chaos of 9/11 is being relived. The fire department has released hours of radio transmissions and thousands of pages of oral histories.

Let's go live to CNN's Mary Snow. She's standing by in New York. Mary, you've been going through these oral histories, these documents. What have you come up with?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, some very chilling moments. There are bursts of activity on the radio transmissions followed by lapses of silence. Family members saying this is obviously very painful, but some saying necessary, to find out exactly what happened on 9/11.

Some very chilling moments and dramatic ones, as you can imagine. One in particular is a man who became trapped in a fire truck calling for help shortly after the first tower collapsed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can anybody hear me? I'm a civilian. I'm trapped inside one of your fire trucks underneath the collapse that just happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand by. There's people close to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't breathe much longer. Save me. I'm in a cab of your truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Person transmitting the mayday where are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just told you! If you look at the World Trade Center, there's the north pedestrian bridge. I think it collapsed when the partial building just collapsed. I was on the street. I don't have much air. Please help me!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...copy that. I'm gonna go look for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10-4, Manhattan field com, urgent case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can barely breathe. Please save me, somebody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, person calling for help. Listen to me, you need to calm down and relax. Stand by. We do have somebody on the way. Maintain air. Get off the air. We do have somebody on their way over to you. You're to remain calm 10-4?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10-4. I'm in the cab of the truck.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SNOW: Now, the fire department did not want to release these tapes, saying that they were too personal. But family members, the "New York Times," started the legal fight to have them released. A widow of a victim saying today it's important to listen to them to find out "where we excelled and where we failed" -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary Snow they are chilling. We'll have you back with more. Thank you very much, Mary Snow in New York.

Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we can bring you lots of information simultaneously. Here's what's incoming right now, following these stories.

We're watching this ship fire in Long Beach, California. Fire crews are on the scene. No word yet on injuries. We'll get more information for you.

Tropical Storm Irene has grown stronger. It could reach hurricane strength, perhaps as early as tomorrow. It may reach the East Coast. We're watching Irene.

And look at this. Something like this does not happen very often. A large tree branch has fallen at the PGA tournament in New Jersey, possibly injuring spectators. We're watching this story. We'll see what's going on. Larry Smith, our reporter, is on the scene.

Meanwhile, hundreds of planes are grounded, tens of thousands of people stranded. The strike that crippled British Airways is now over technically, but they chaos it created certainly is not.

CNN's Richard Quest is joining us now live once again from London's Heathrow Airport with the latest. Richard, what is the latest?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Wolf, I've had to sit down for a moment. It's been a very long and frustrating day here at Heathrow. And, if I've had it bad, well Karen here has had it far worse. Tell us about your ordeal. How long have you been here?

KAREN, STRANDED AT HEATHROW AIRPORT: I think 34 hours now holding boarding passes for the world's favorite airline doesn't seem to mean much because we here are waiting on the road. We're not getting entry into the terminal floor. They've just told us wait outside. We don't know what's going to happen to you tonight.

QUEST: And you don't know when you're going to get to India?

KAREN: We have no clue. They're not willing to acknowledge us and they've just told us please wait. I'm sorry, no hotels, nothing.

QUEST: All right, good luck getting there. Wolf, that is half of the story here tonight, and an unhappy half of the story. But there are people who are managing to get out here. Good luck in your travels.

Let's see if we can just get past you because British Airways, Wolf, is now flying again, not to the United States. Flights to the U.S. are not going to be leaving here for the simple reason they will get to America too late.

But over there now they are starting to check in people for long- haul flights -- Sydney, Singapore, Melbourne, lots of Middle Eastern flights, Tel Aviv, Tehran and the like. So, Wolf, it's slow going, no getting away from it. It's pretty grim, no getting away from it. But things are starting to come back to normal at Heathrow Airport.

BLITZER: All right, Richard Quest, stand by for a moment.

I want to bring in CNN's Jack Cafferty. He's standing by in New York. I want to reunite the two of you and get Jack's thoughts and your questions for Richard -- Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The only question I would have, Richard -- it's nice to see you by the way -- is how come you're relegated to covering these airport delays? You used to do like the really important stories over there at Buckingham Palace.

QUEST: Now, Jack, the only thing I can say to you is if you had had the misfortune to be on one of these planes, I tell you, you wouldn't be in the car park, you'd be somewhere outside the airport.

CAFFERTY: What seems to be the problem with your homeland and its air transportation system, British Airways? I mean why can't they keep the planes in the air? What's the big deal? It's 2005, Richard.

QUEST: I know it's 2005. And the problem is a wildcat strike. And this is the interesting bit, Jack. Gate Gourmet, the catering company involved, is an American company owned by a bunch of financiers in Texas. And the workers claim that it is American labor practices, Jack, that's being imposed on British workers that's led to this dispute, that's led to the crisis, that's led to the problems with British Airways.

So, Jack, putting it bluntly it might not be British transport. It might be U.S. labor practices.

CAFFERTY: You all are just still bitter about losing the war.

BLITZER: All right, hold on guys for a second.

Richard Quest, we're going to have you back. Thanks very much, Richard Quest at Heathrow. Fortunately that strike is over. Let's get back to business as usual.

Jack Cafferty is setting up all of us for his e-mail. What is the question this hour, Jack, in the "Cafferty File"?

CAFFERTY: Well, it's Friday. And so, you know, it's been a long week and this is a little lame but we're going to forge ahead with it anyway. It's Fidel Castro's birthday. He's 79 years old tomorrow. He has no plans to retire, unfortunately for the Cuban people.

This communist dictatorial loon has been running Cuba since 1959. He's the world's longest serving head of government. He's been facing an uphill economic battle because the Soviet Union used to support Cuba to the tune of billions of dollars but when the Iron Curtain came down, the free ride was over and Castro hasn't been able to figure out how to get his economy going on his own.

The critics say that Cuba is nothing more than a gulag run by a demented leader who keeps 11 million people in the poorhouse. I'm inclined to agree with that assessment.

Castro says he's optimistic about his country's economic recovery. The only optimism for the Cuban people is when he finally either dies or steps down but it doesn't look like that's going to happen today.

The question of the hour, what kind of birthday gift does Fidel Castro deserve? You know like maybe an exploding cigar, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck. CaffertyFile@CNN.com.

BLITZER: All right, Jack Cafferty asking the question. We'll get the e-mail and he'll bring us some of those e-mails later. Jack, thanks very much.

Still to come, high tech warriors. Find out how robots are protecting U.S. troops in Iraq.

Plus, celebration and protest in the Middle East. The tension mounting as Israel preparing to pull out of Gaza. We'll take you there live.

And a little bit later, should Americans vote Christian? I'll ask the Reverend Jerry Falwell some tough questions. He's joining us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The military says roadside bombings of U.S. supply convoys in Iraq have doubled this year. The commander in charge of logistics for U.S. forces says there are now about 30 such attacks each week. He says insurgents are using new types of improvised explosive devices, but he says casualties are down because armor has been upgraded on Humvees and trucks used in the convoys.

As roadside bombs continue though to take a heavy toll in Iraq, military planners are scrambling to come up with some answers. One approach keeps U.S. troops at a safe distance and puts robots in harm's way.

Let's go live to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. She's standing by with details. Barbara, what's going on?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there Wolf.

Well, we have a very special look today at some of the new high tech robots that the Army is using in Iraq. I'm here today talking to Colonel Gregory Tubbs, who is in charge of a program to develop some of these new things that are already being used in Iraq to keep soldiers safe. And, we're going to -- Colonel Tubbs, you're going to show us some of the tools that you've already put in the field in Iraq, some of the things you're working on.

As we look at the first robot over here, what do these robots accomplish in Iraq? How do they help the soldiers out there?

COL GREGORY TUBBS, U.S. ARMY: What this specific robot does is it helps a soldier on a daily basis. Every day when he goes out on patrol he'll use a device like this to look for potential bombs. This is like maybe a pipe bomb that you might see.

STARR: Sure.

TUBBS: A soldier can (ph) standoff from over 100 meters, instead of going up and picking the bomb up to see if it's a bomb. He can search the potential bomb to see if it's a bomb. If it is, he can call the explosive ordinance device guys to disarm it. And, if it's not a bomb, he can move on with his mission. It's very powerful for soldiers (ph).

STARR: Now you're already using this in Iraq?

TUBBS: Yes, ma'am, we are. We had one robot. There's over 30 in theater right now. One robot in one week interrogated 32 potential explosive devices. And of that 32, 26 were actually bombs, so it's very powerful for soldiers.

STARR: So, it works. Now, we have another item here which looks pretty bizarre. Tell us about this.

TUBBS: Yes, ma'am. This is a very simple, but on the other hand sophisticated, airplane. It's an UAV and what the soldier does, he can wrap it up, put it in his pack. As you can see the technology, it can fold back out.

STARR: And what does he do with it?

TUBBS: What he does, ma'am, is he simply looks around the corner or he looks over the next hill to see if the enemy is there.

STARR: And what does he do with this then? What does he do? Does he throw it? Does it fly?

TUBBS: It's electric. You turn it on. It can loiter for over 30 minutes. And, again, it's for short duration missions.

STARR: So it has a little camera in there?

TUBBS: Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. It's got a camera at the bottom so you can see below as it's flying. And it's got a camera here on the side so it can see off to the side.

STARR: Right. Well, and that one is not in Iraq yet, but you're going to send that over there.

TUBBS: Very soon, and we think it's going to be promising.

STARR: Now this little guy. Who is this?

TUBBS: This is a tough bot. We called it a throw bot at first, but the first time we threw it, we threw it up against a wall and the tire broke off. So, we sent it back into development and that's what we're good at and we made it tougher. It's got two cameras on it.

STARR: And what does that do? How does that help a soldier in Iraq?

TUBBS: An infantryman can throw that through a window and he can see if there's somebody that's hostile to him inside that room.

STARR: OK. Well that's really great. Colonel Tubbs, we appreciate it and I guess what we want to have people see is that these really aren't toys. These are helping the soldiers now.

TUBBS: You're exactly right, ma'am. They help soldiers every day.

STARR: OK, thank you -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And that robot has a little camera on it from which they can see what's going on, is that right Barbara?

STARR: That's right. All of these basically have cameras. And what they do is they let the soldier look out there without the soldier being on the front line in harm's way. They keep the soldiers at a safe distance.

BLITZER: Does that robot have a name, Barbara?

STARR: Well, the little guy on the floor is called the tough bot and he is tough. He rolls around. This guy over here is called the mark bot. And that airplane you saw, well it's called the (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: All right, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank all your friends over there, appreciate it very much.

STARR: Thank you.

(BREAKING NEWS)

BLITZER: We're getting a story in and I want to bring in our Zain Verjee. He's developing this story, still developing. Zain, what exactly is going on?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, the Sri Lankan foreign minister has been shot and killed. He was shot in the head just outside his private residence in Colombo. He was taken to hospital. There was emergency surgery that was conducted, and he died an hour later. That's according to hospital and police sources.

Police say that what happened was he had just gone home after attending a function for the release of a new book that he had written. And he had gone home for a swim. And, as he got out of the pool and walked toward the house, a sniper apparently fired three shots striking him in the head and in the chest and apparently killing him.

The shooting happened at around 11:00 in the evening Colombo time. That would have been 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time here in the United States. So, again a significant development.

This man was a hardliner in the country dealing with the Tamil Tiger rebels, and that is a war that has been going on for more than 20 years. There's been a ceasefire for three years but it is a significant development for the region. The Sri Lankan foreign minister has been shot and killed -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Zain. We'll get back to you. Thanks very much.

Meanwhile there is sticker shock at the gas pumps and it appears to get worse. A new poll showing almost two-thirds of Americans expect fuel costs to cause them financial hardship in the months ahead. That's up from about 50 percent in April. Let's get the bottom line.

For that we turn to CNN's Ali Velshi in New York.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Wolf.

BLITZER: Ali, you got some stuff in front of you.

VELSHI: Yes.

BLITZER: You have to explain what's going on.

VELSHI: I'm going to be coming in a little later on to show you a little bit about what the problem really is. The problem in the United States is a supply and demand issue. It's not entirely connected to the thing that drives oil to all-time highs every single day this week.

Let's tell you what's going on with oil. The closing price for a barrel of crude oil is $66.86. It hit $67 today. It hit $66 yesterday, $65 the day before. We are hitting new highs. And, of course, we're seeing new highs in the price of gasoline and that's what's affecting people.

The issue is that we are at 100 percent refining capacity in this country, which we talked about a bit yesterday. I'm going to show you a little bit about where that bottleneck is.

We have had refinery fires. We had another one today. We had a shut down. It wasn't a fire, but a refinery in Tennessee shut down the processing of gasoline from crude oil.

So, that's where the slowdown is. And until we've sort of repaired that problem and figured out how to refine enough gasoline, it doesn't matter that there's enough oil coming into the system. We need it to put in our car -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. You're going to explain later this hour what exactly is going on.

VELSHI: I'm going to try to. Yes, I'm going to try.

BLITZER: While I have you, Ali, and you're going to be on throughout this program, you have your own program TURNAROUND, coming up tomorrow morning. Tell our viewers what you have in store for them.

VELSHI: We have a baker just outside of Oakland, California, who has been struggling with her bakery. She's suffering under a little bit of debt like so many small business owners are.

We have brought in a titan from the world of business, an ice cream mogul if you will, to go in and help this woman out to give her some tips, help her hit profitability. It's a great story. I really enjoyed doing it and you can watch it tomorrow morning at 11:00 Eastern on CNN.

BLITZER: Eleven a.m. Eastern.

VELSHI: Yes.

BLITZER: Don't forget the a.m. Ali Velshi, we'll have you back. Thank you very much.

Up next, a modern day Bonnie and Clyde accused of killing a cop before going on the run. They lashed out in court today in a battle over extradition. We'll take you there live.

Also, protest mom. She's camping out in Crawford, Texas, and drawing worldwide attention. She's my guest in the 5:00 hour.

Plus, four decades of Fidel Castro. We'll take you to Havana live where he's getting ready to mark another birthday.

Stay with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The couple accused of staging a deadly escape from a Tennessee courthouse are fighting extradition back to that state at least for now.

CNN's Alina Cho is joining us now here in THE SITUATION ROOM from Columbus, Ohio, where George and Jennifer Hyatte are being held. What happened today Alina?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, quite a bit of drama in the courtroom today as you mentioned. Both George and Jennifer Hyatte are fighting extradition back to Tennessee on first degree murder charges but that wasn't always the case. Now, initially George Hyatte was willing to waive extradition but after conferring with his lawyer all in a matter of minutes he changed his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HYATTE, RE-CAPTURED PRISONER: I'm not going through this every day (INAUDIBLE). I won't sign it, Your Honor, I won't sign my extradition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: George Hyatte was visibly agitated in court today. At one point he even complained that he couldn't feel his hands because his handcuffs were on too tight.

Quite a different story for his wife of three months, Jennifer. She remained silent during her five-minute court appearance today. Again, she too is fighting extradition to Tennessee on first degree murder charges in the death of that corrections officer during that dramatic escape in Tennessee on Tuesday.

Now, what this means going forward is that the state of Tennessee will have to issue an arrest warrant for the Hyattes. And the state will also have to prove that the Hyattes who were in court in Columbus, Ohio, today are the same people being sought in the murder of that corrections officer.

So, Wolf, for now the Hyattes will remain in a county jail here in Columbus, Ohio, until their next court appearance, and that is scheduled for September 8.

BLITZER: All right, Alina Cho in Columbus, Ohio. Thank you, Alina, very much.

Israel will begin removing settlers and dismantling settlements in Gaza next week. Many have already left. Some may put up a fight. Palestinians are already celebrating. But do they also face a battle among themselves?

CNN's John Vause is joining us now live from Kissufim, along the border between Israel and Gaza, with the latest. Where exactly are you, John?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. We're actually based at a kibbutz here at Kissufim. It's about a mile or so away from the border with Gaza.

Now in Gaza today, Wolf, thousands of Palestinians gathered around the Gaza harbor. They're also on the water in boats waving Palestinian flags, the first official celebration organized by the Palestinian Authority. The theme was setting sail for freedom.

The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was there. He told a cheering crowd that this pullout by Israel is an important step towards an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Now, Abbas needs some kind of big payoff from all of this. He's facing a big challenge from the group Hamas, a terrorist organization according to the U.S. State Department.

Today Hamas held their own celebration of sorts, about a thousand militants staging mock raids on a Jewish settlement, rappelling down buildings, jumping through burning hoops, that kind of thing. Hamas says that this Gaza pullout is in fact an Israeli retreat, and the result of the military campaign which they've waged over the last few years -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, John Vause at Kissufim along the border between Israel and Gaza. Thank you very much. We'll check back with you. This is going to be a huge story in the coming days.

And coming up, a president's past. Was Iran's new leader involved in the taking of American hostages a quarter century ago? We're looking into that.

And raging wildfires in Washington State. We're looking into that, as well. How you can track them online.

And he's an outspoken Christian conservative and a culture warrior. But has he gone too far? I'll speak next hour with the Reverend Jerry Falwell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. We can bring you lots of information simultaneously. Here's what incoming right now.

Check this out. Something you don't see every day. The PGA tournament in Springfield, New Jersey, right here. These pictures. A huge tree limb collapsed. Two people are injured. They are being treated. It delayed the PGA for some time just a little while ago. This is something you don't see every day.

We're also getting videotape now. The president, he's now returned to his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The Bush motorcade coming from a neighboring ranch, where there was a political fundraiser. The president going right by that protest outside the ranch. Cindy Sheehan and other mothers of slain soldiers and troops in Iraq are still protesting there. We'll be speaking with Cindy Sheehan during our 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

Some former hostages held in Iran a quarter century ago say Iran's new president was one of their captors. But the CIA now has apparently come up with a different conclusion.

Let's bring in our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The CIA has concluded in a recently released report -- in fact just yesterday -- and this is according to several U.S. government officials, that they can say with - quote -- "relative certainty" that Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was not involved in taking hostages back in 1979.

But a senior State Department official is also stressing that the report was based on tentative conclusions and said the analysis is not yet final.

As you know, the allegations have been swirling around Iran's president since his surprise election in June, when former hostages saw the pictures that you're looking at right there on your screen and believed that the man on the right was the same man as you see on the left there.

Now, President Ahmadinejad has denied these accusations and said that although he readily admits he was a member of the student group that held the 52 American hostages for 444 days, he was not one of the hostage takers.

This also, Wolf, had -- would have implications for whether or not President Bush would issue a visa for Iran's president to come to the U.N. General Assembly next month. As we heard the president say yesterday, he is likely to do that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Andrea Koppel with the latest on that. Andrea, thank you very much.

It's Friday, August 12. And coming up, you may know how oil prices affect gas prices, but how -- do you know how oil refineries themselves work? We'll walk you through the process.

And his critics call him an autocrat, even a dictator, but Cuban President Fidel Castro is defying them all with no plans to retire. So what do you think of him? We'll have your e-mail in the "Cafferty File."

And they wanted them, they got them. Members of Congress get the papers on baseball slugger Rafael Palmeiro's positive steroid test. Now they have the goods. What do they do now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's a quick look at some of the photos coming into us from the Associated Press, still pictures. Pictures likely to be in your hometown newspapers tomorrow.

Time now for a quick check on some other stories we're following. CNN's Zain Verjee following those stories from the CNN Center in Atlanta. Hi, Zain.

VERJEE: Hi, Wolf.

Today, officials are trying to learn more about a man arrested at the United Nations. Vernon Welcker's accused of trying to drive into a U.N. parking garage yesterday with two guns, a large knife, more than 200 rounds of ammunition, and a five-gallon can of gas. The California resident says he was at the U.N. to file suit over a property dispute.

In Baghdad, Iraqi officials working are feverishly to meet Monday's deadline for a new national constitution. An Iraqi presidential spokesman concedes that there have been no breakthroughs on key issues that have been on the table for months. President Bush says he expects a draft will be completed by Monday's deadline.

Lebanon releases an admitted Muslim extremist who had implicated the British government in the July 7, terrorist attacks in London. That's according to a high-ranking source in Beirut. Lebanon detained Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed yesterday, but a source says an investigation turned up nothing against him. Bakri has been living in Britain for 20 years, but today Britain banned him from returning. The cleric denies any involvement in the attack.

More than 100 homes and more than a hundred buildings -- that's how many structures have been destroyed in a raging wild fire in Washington State. The 48,000 acre fire near Pomeroy is about 40 percent contained. Many other fires are burning across eastern Washington, and the state's governor has declared a state of emergency -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Zain. We'll be getting back to you.

Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we're plugged into virtually everything happening online. Only CNN has teams dedicated solely to cyberspace.

Today, wildfires are raging, as Zain just reported, in Washington State. And we want to show you how to track them online, if you happen to be interested.

Our Internet reporters Jacki Schechner, Abbi Tatton are joining us. Abbi, let's start with you.

ABBI TATTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. There are some good online resources for tracking these fires, the fires that Zain was just talking about there. One of them is Gomac.gov. This looks at a map of the entire United States and pinpoints where these fires are. Originally, it was designed for fire managers and firefighters. But it's in the few years been opened up for the use of the general public.

If you look here, you can see the whole map of the United States. The green triangles there, where those fires are currently raging right now. For more detail, looking at southeastern Washington, we were just hearing about that, that School fire that started burning a week ago, you can zoom right in and see the perimeter there, where it is approaching, how much it is being contained. And if you zoom in even more, you can see where those perimeters are extending to, and even the roads that they are going forward up.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: See, Abbi got the easy URL. The one I want to show you is rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/, and this is a MODIS rapid response system. Basically, some really cool satellite imagery is the best way to put it. And you can hone in on specific fires from a top down view.

You can take a closer look. They've got it at 500 meters, 250 meters. You can get an idea of where the fires are burning, you can see the smoke image there is.

Something else we wanted to show you -- a lot of these -- here is one at NOAA. You can do fire events. And this one is isolated by region. You can zone in on the Northwest, take a look at that. And then something we always think is really cool and we wanted to show you was flickr.com. And this is a photo blog. And what people do is they post their photographs from their area. This one of the Montana fires. Somebody took a picture of I-90 right after it reopened after the fires. And you can take a look at what that looks like in the area from somebody who is right there.

So, Wolf, sometimes when you are looking for photographs from somebody on the ground, immediately, Flickr is a really good place to go to take a look.

BLITZER: Jacki, I know both of you are going to do a lot of education for us Internet 101 or blogging 101. You mentioned URL. To our viewers out there that have no clue of what URL is, what is URL?

SCHECHNER: That is the address that you go to. The URL of the site is the address that you type in the bar up top. And that's going to tell you exactly where you're going. Sometimes they're really long and complicated, sometimes they're just something.com. You've heard that before, right?

BLITZER: We certainly have. We will be checking back with both of you. Jacki and Abbi, thank you very much.

Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Fidel Castro. No, he won't be speaking with us, but he's still trying to perfect Cuban society. Still, he's angering his critics. Most importantly, though, he's still in charge. Now he's about to celebrate yet another milestone. We'll go to Havana.

And what exactly does voting Christian mean? The Reverend Jerry Falwell said it, and I'll ask him what he meant when he joins me here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And documents delivered: Congress gets the goods on baseball slugger Rafael Palmeiro and why he tested positive for steroids. So what now?

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITEZER: He still gives four-hour speeches denouncing U.S. imperialism, and touting his own brand of Communism. After more than four decades on the job, he shows no signs of slowing down at all. The Cuban president Fidel Castro turning 79 years old tomorrow.

Our Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman is joining us on the phone with more. How is the celebration expected to unfold, Lucia?

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi Wolf. Well, first of all, Fidel Casto's gait may be a lot slower and his beard a lot whiter and thinner, as you said. But he's certainly not planning to retire now that he's just about to be 79 years old.

Now today, supporters celebrated his birthday by organizing noisy rallies outside the home of several of Castro's staunchest opponents. First they sang happy birthday, and then began shouting slogans like, filthy rat get out of your hole. And Fidel, Fidel, give the Yankees hell.

All of this, Wolf, organized by the neighborhood Communist committees and a sign that so far the government is showing no willingness to allow dissidents to have at least some voice. In fact, Castro is still refusing to allow any opposition to his rule, calling opponents mercenaries of the U.S.A., Wolf.

BLITZER: What about tomorrow? Another big celebration, the actual day of his birthday?

NEWMAN: Now, Wolf, he usually stays out of sight on his birthday. It's very rare for him to come out in public. But there are persistent rumors that this year his staunchest regional ally, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez may be coming here tomorrow to celebrate his birthday with him. Chavez, of course, considers Castro his political inspiration. And he recently declared that his populist revolution is also going to be socialist, which has raised, as we all know, huge alarm bells in Washington. And Castro has been very -- or rather Chavez has been very generous with his country's oil and has provided an economic lifeline to Cuba.

So this would give Castro a pretty good reason to celebrate tomorrow, Wolf, especially if Chavez shows up.

BLITZER: President Chavez, as you know...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: As you know, Lucia, President Chavez making all sorts of bombastic statements in recent days warning people in Venezuela that the United States might even invade that country. How is that playing in Havana?

NEWMAN: Well, it plays right into the hands of the sort of things that President Castro's been saying ever since he took power in 1959. It's the sort of headlines we read here almost every day in the Communist Party newspapers. So they're playing it up a lot here. In fact, right now, most of the Cuban government is in Venezuela. The Cuban foreign minister, the head of the parliament, they are all there right now in Caracas celebrating the International Youth Festival, which is being hosted by Chavez right now. So they're pretty much singing the same tune.

BLITZER: Lucia Newman reporting for us from Havana. Thanks very much.

We're getting tons of e-mail in response to our question of the hour, and Jack Cafferty is reading all of that in New York. He's joining us with the "Cafferty File."

Jack. Sit down, Jack. Can you hear me, Jack? No. Let's wait 'til Jack gets himself hooked up right now. Jack, are you there? We'll turn on your microphone, Jack. We'll get you ready over there. CAFFERTY: No. I'm all set. I'm right here.

BLITZER: All right. Well, clip it to your tie. First clip it to your tie. We'll watch you clip it to your tie. Go ahead.

CAFFERTY: All right. I'm going to clip to my tie, but only if you'll play some of that music.

BLITZER: No. Now, we're going to play the music, but I want to hear some of the e-mail. Remind our viewers what the question is.

CAFFERTY: The question is, what should Fidel Castro get for his birthday? Seventy-nine years old tomorrow.

Shaw in Paragould, Arkansas: "Castro deserves a huge party -- a retirement party. Happy birthday and good-bye. "

RJB in Lakeland, Ohio: "Jack, I'd like to give Fidel Castro nuclear weapons to protect the Cuban revolution from idiotic and dangerous fascists like you."

Ooh.

Barry in Atlanta, Georgia: "Fidel should be given the privilege of living among his people for a month. Get him out of the palace and see what poverty is really like."

Joe in Atlanta, Georgia, says, "A gift certificate from PetSmart for a haircut and close clip."

And Joyce in Durham, New Hampshire: "What are you doing with a relic like Jack Cafferty on the show? Is CNN just running out his contract, and this show got stuck with him?"

BLITZER: Is Joyce -- you don't have -- is Joyce a relative of yours in Durham, New Hampshire?

CAFFERTY: No, no. She's no relative and apparently no friend, either. But that's all right. Relics have to have a place to hang out, too, you know.

BLITZER: And remind our viewers, Jack -- and don't hold back -- what do you really think about Fidel Castro?

CAFFERTY: He's a jerk. He's been a jerk all his life. He's a demented old fool who's repressed those people down there. And it's too bad somebody hasn't up and tossed him out on his can a long time ago. The Cuban people would have been a lot better off.

BLITZER: Jack Cafferty with the "Cafferty File." We'll check back with you. Another question coming up in the next hour. Thanks very much.

Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we've been telling you about skyrocketing crude oil prices. Up next, we want to show you how the oil business actually works. Our Ali Velshi, he'll be joining us with props and "The Bottom Line."

And when we go "Inside Politics," President Bush could have delivered an olive branch today to a mom turned Iraq war protester, but he didn't. Will there be fall-out?

A leading Jewish group has a gripe with the Reverend Jerry Falwell. I'll ask Reverend Falwell if he took politics and the pulpit too far?

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's almost time for the closing bell in New York. That means it's time to get another look at "The Bottom Line." Ali Velshi joining us now live from New York. Ali, what have you got over there?

VELSHI: Yes. You got me in the middle of my science experiment. I'll tell you for a second what's going on. We've got the markets down. Not as bad as they were, Wolf. But what's happened is, we've got yet another record high for oil, closing as $66.86.

I actually have my barrel back here, and you can take a look at that in a second to see the price of oil. I've decided to stick it on there. Sixty-six, eighty-six, having hit $67 today.

And the problem we've got, Wolf, is refineries.

Now, the problem I've got right now -- and I just want to show you this; this is exactly the problem -- I have a lot of crude oil, and the crude oil is all in here now. I'm pretending this is crude oil. And I put it into this refinery.

This is what's happening. The problem is that my crude oil, which was supposed to, for purposes of this experiment, move right into that refinery, become gasoline on the other side, as you can see is not working. Well, this is exactly what a whole bunch of refineries in the United States are doing.

We have two refineries that have been offline for a few days at least. And then earlier this week, we had another explosion at a refinery in Illinois, a fire at a refinery in Illinois, taking it off line. And today, we had some problems at a refinery in Memphis, Tennessee. We may or may not have pictures of that.

The issue here is that there's lots of oil, but as you can see in the little gasoline thing I've got going on, it's not making it to here. We do not have -- we haven't had a new refinery built in the United States in over 30 years. So the demand for gas keeps increasing. We can get the oil to the ports. We can get it out of the ground and into the refineries. We can't get it through into gas. This is why your gas is hitting record prices. This is what's happening. You're hitting -- the demand for gas doesn't stop. And we can't put enough of it out.

So until these problems are fixed -- and mine aren't right now, as you can see -- we're going to have this problem.

Wolf, when oil continues to hit record highs, you see problems on the markets. They're starting to sell off a little bit. We saw that today. The Dow was over 100 points lower. And now we're waiting for it to settle in to see what's happening with the markets. But I think at 66, $67 for a barrel of oil, Wolf, people are getting a little concerned.

BLITZER: Is the problem that we're not building enough refineries? Is that the problem?

VELSHI: We're not building any refineries, because they are messy, as you can see. They're filthy. They -- you can't get environmental clearance. Nobody wants them in their neighborhoods. So there are no new refineries. But, you know, 30 years ago, we didn't drive the way we do now. We don't have -- we didn't have as many cars on the road.

So the demand for oil continues to increase. I mean, we have world demand of almost 84 million barrels of oil a day, and the United States is most of that. So it is going to be an issue.

BLITZER: All right. Let's get ready for the market close. Only a few seconds away, but how does it look?

VELSHI: Ten-thousand, six-hundred and one points is where the Dow is closing in, about 84 points lower. The NASDAQ is off 20 points, to 2,154. And some of that is in fact attributed to the fact that oil prices are as high as they have. There are other things at play, but that's the big part of it right now. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Ali. Thanks very much. We'll see you in a little bit -- a little bit later.

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