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The Situation Room

British Royals Set to Dine with President Bush; Remembering Rosa Parks; New Addresses For Thousands of Former New Orleans Residents; Two Convicted Felons On The Loose In South Carolina; Closed Session Of Senate Causes Anger

Aired November 02, 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 Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you the day's top stories.
Happening now, it's 3:00 p.m. in Detroit. One day, she refused to give up her seat on the bus, becoming a civil rights symbol and helping to change a nation. On this day, the nation remembers Rosa Parks.

It's 2:00 p.m. in New Orleans, where many residents may never return. In one of the nation's biggest ever migrations, hundreds of thousands now have new addresses. We will tell you where they have gone.

And it's 3:00 p.m. also here in Washington, where the royals had watercress soup over at a White House luncheon. They will be back shortly for a formal dinner tonight, a rare gesture from a president who likes to turn in early.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Half-a-century ago, she decided that she had had enough of segregation and humiliation. The rest, as we now know, is American history. A former president now celebrates. And civil rights leader, among the thousands, have gathered for the funeral of Rosa Parks.

Let's go live to CNN's Dan Lothian. He's joining us from Detroit. What a moving service this has been, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: It really has been a moving service.

And, in fact, you know, what's interesting, every time you talk to people and you tell them, we're here for the funeral of Rosa Parks, they say, well, this really isn't so much a funeral. This is a celebration. We're celebrating her life. We're celebrating that act that she committed in 1955 that changed the world and changed the lives of African-Americans across the country.

Just a few minutes ago, we heard a musical message from Aretha Franklin. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ARETHA FRANKLIN, SINGER (singing): Say amen, somebody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE AND FEMALES: Amen.

FRANKLIN (singing): Say amen, somebody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE AND FEMALES: Amen.

FRANKLIN: To the Parks...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: So, that was Aretha Franklin just a few minutes ago.

Also, earlier today, we heard from former President Bill Clinton, who obviously has always been very comfortable among the African- American community and in African-American churches. He talked about Rosa Parks the person, and also about the symbol, what she was able to do and how she changed the world with just one small act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now that she has gone home and left us behind, let us never forget that, in that simple act, and a lifetime of grace and dignity, she showed us every single day what it means to be free. She made us see and agree that everyone should be free.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: God bless you, Rosa. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Wolf, if there's any disappointment in this day, it's the fact that there were so many people who were not able to get inside.

The capacity was 4,000 in the main auditorium and then about 1,000 in the overflow section. There were hundreds of people lined up behind me, going back at least another block behind me. And they, at the very (AUDIO GAP)

BLITZER: Unfortunately, we just lost our connection with Dan Lothian in Detroit. He's covering the Rosa Parks funeral. We will continue to watch that story for you, our viewers.

Here in Washington, there are important developments unfolding over at White House right now.

Our national correspondent, Bob Franken, is standing by. There's a briefing -- Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, briefing reporters on the president's trip, I take it. But -- but there's no doubt he's going to be asked some tough questions by those White House colleagues of yours.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Wolf, because just about everything at the White House these days has a complex subplot.

And one of the many subplots involving Stephen Hadley has to do with the CIA leak investigation. His name came up repeatedly, somebody who provided classified material to some of the other principals in this. And it comes on the day before the one man who has thus far been indicted in this matter, Lewis Scooter Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, will be arraigned after being charged with a series of crimes -- obstruction of justice, making false statements, perjury. His arraignment comes tomorrow, where he's expected to plead not guilty.

But there are a lot of unanswered questions on the minds of many. And some of those questions concern the role of Stephen Hadley or some insight he might have on some of the other officials here at White House, particularly high-level officials.

So, we will be looking for questions from -- to Hadley. We will not be surprised if he recites what has become the White House mantra, which is that nobody can make any comment at the White House during this ongoing investigation and legal proceedings. That's how -- how the response has gone. But at least there will be questions. And we will see if Hadley is determined to take -- take any of these questions.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's listen to a little exchange. He has just been asked about some of the secret detention centers the U.S. has around the world, following up a "Washington Post" story.

Let's listen to Stephen Hadley.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

STEPHEN L. HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: They raise some issues about possible intelligence operations. And, as you know, we don't talk about intelligence operations from this podium.

QUESTION: Don't they also raise the issue of our values and our reputation in the world?

HADLEY: Right. And I think the president has been pretty clear on that, that while we have to do what is necessary to defend the country against terrorist attacks and to win the war on terror, the president has been very clear that we're going to do that in a way that is consistent with our values.

And that is why he's been very clear that the United States will not torture. The United States will conduct its activities in compliance with the law and international obligations.

And in some of the issues involving detainees and the like, as you know, where there have been allegations that people have not met the standard the president has set, there have been investigations and they have been of two forms. There are over a dozen investigations that have been done in the Department of Defense to find out what has been going on. Two things have happened as a result. There have been revisions of procedures and practices to ensure that the standard the president set is met. And then there have been investigations, prosecutions and people punished for the failure to meet those standards.

So we think that consistent with the president's guidance, we are both protecting the country against the terrorists and doing it in a way that is consistent with our values and principles.

QUESTION: How do those self-correcting mechanisms that affirm our values and our laws, how do they work if the sites are secret to begin with?

HADLEY: Well, the fact that they are secret, assuming there are such sites, does not mean that simply because something is -- you know, and some people say that the test of your principles are what you do when no one's looking. And the president has insisted that whether it is in the public or it is in the private, the same principles will apply and the same principles will be respected. And to the extent people do not meet up, measure up to those principles, there will be accountability and responsibility.

QUESTION: Can we go back to what you were talking about with a nuclear reactor in Venezuela? You said it might be problematic. That wasn't what the president said yesterday. In fact, he said maybe it makes sense to have a nuclear reactor there.

Can you expand a little bit on why that might be problematic and why...

BLITZER: All right. We're going break way from this briefing. Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, briefing reporters on the president's upcoming trip. But there is no doubt other questions on the mind, especially a banner headline in today's "Washington Post," a story about secret detention centers for terrorists that the United States has set up around the world, in effect, since 9/11.

Let's get some more specifics on this story.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, is standing by. Jamie, what are you picking up?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Very interesting, listening to Stephen Hadley there in THE SITUATION ROOM, carefully not confirming or denying the "Washington Post" story, but saying that what the U.S. does in secret is in no way different from its standard than what it does in public.

Specifically, the "Washington Post" reported this morning that the CIA is holding and questioning some of its most important al Qaeda suspects in a secret Soviet-era prison compound in Eastern Europe. It didn't identify the specific country, or where it was located, but the "Post" says this is part of a -- a network of covert prisons around the world that include countries like Afghanistan and Thailand -- and it said at least eight different countries altogether, including some in Eastern Europe.

Now, a senior intelligence official tells our David Ensor, national security correspondent for CNN, that one of the reasons they don't want the names out, of those, is that they believe the idea of throwing those names out, whether the countries are correctly or incorrectly identified, essentially increases the risk that those countries and their citizens will be attacked by terrorists.

This all comes, by the way, as the Pentagon is engaged in its own internal debate over exactly how to -- to codify the standards for treatment of detainees and whether they should adopt language, specifically, out of the Geneva Conventions, or whether that might open them up to more criticism and tie their hands.

They have said all along that those detainees would be treated in the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, even as the administration argues they don't specifically apply -- apply to terrorist suspects held by the U.S.

BLITZER: Jamie, correct me if I'm -- but -- if I'm wrong -- but it seems there's one set of rules now, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib, the Guantanamo Bay prison -- prison scandals, if you will. There's one set of rules for the U.S. military. But there may be a separate set of rules for the CIA, which is apparently involved in these so-called black prisons in Eastern Europe and Asia and the Middle East, elsewhere?

MCINTYRE: And that is part of the debate. There is clear -- there are clearly separate rules and separate procedures that the CIA operates under. For instance, the U.S. military isn't supposed to do anything where people are, you know, covert, in the sense that they're using false identities and that sort of thing.

There is a separate set of rules. Part of the debate that was also on Capitol Hill, just recently with Senator McCain pushing to adopt a clear policy about the treatment of detainees -- an argument there about whether the CIA should be exempted from that. All of that right -- at this point, is unresolved. The Pentagon has yet to put out its policy.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you very much.

Let's go back over to the White House. Our correspondent there, Bob Franken, is standing by. We're listening carefully. We are monitoring, Bob, what Stephen Hadley is saying.

So far, no questions on the indictment last Friday Lewis Scooter Libby. But he sort of played a role in that leak as well, Stephen Hadley. And he was questioned by the -- by the grand jury, by Patrick Fitzgerald, even though he -- he was not accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever. But he apparently knew what was going on as a top deputy to Condoleezza Rice, the -- the president's national security adviser at the time.

FRANKEN: But they were not able to demonstrate, at least as far as we know, conclusively that either he had played any sort of role in contributing to the illegalities that were alleged -- and, by the way, there were no -- there was no finding that the underlying law that makes it illegal, under certain circumstances, to identify an undercover agent, no indictments in that regard, no -- no suggestion that Hadley had violated that law. You know, his role was mainly to talk back and forth with the people who were the focus of the investigation.

Wolf, if you don't mind to take just a couple of seconds to point out that, at Guantanamo Bay, where, as you know, I have been many, many times, they would point to an area on the prison grounds, to a building, and say, that was a CIA building. And while I was down there on occasion, we would see CIA agents and, on occasion, shot tape of them, finally reached an agreement with them. They were very upset that we would shoot them behind the back.

BLITZER: Bob Franken, over at the White House today. Bob, thank you very much.

Let's check in with our Jack Cafferty. He's standing by in New York. I don't know what you're working on yet, Jack, but you're going to tell us.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Smoking outdoors, Wolf. If you're looking to light up, your options could soon go up in smoke. Next week, voters in Washington state will consider the first statewide ban on outdoor smoking. The proposal would ban smoking within 25 feet of buildings where you can't smoke inside -- places like offices, restaurants stores.

The fine would be $100. Around the country, there have been other moves to ban outdoor smoking, many California beaches. Outside Iowa hospitals, they have tried it. Critics say it's going to far, that, soon, there will be no place left to smoke, except in your own home, in your bed, under the covers, with the lights off.

So, here's the question. Are outdoor smoking bans a good idea? Your thoughts, you can email us at CaffertyFile@CNN.com. Or you can go to CNN.com/caffertyfile. And we will read some of the answers in a little while.

BLITZER: All right, good job. Thanks very much. Good question.

Coming up, Charles and Camilla over at the house -- the duchess of Cornwall out with the first lady right now. We're over this story. We will be covering it for you.

And a little bit later, Saddam Hussein, did he agree to go into exile before the war started? A look at the deal that might have changed the course of history.

Plus, Wal-Mart woes -- two very different takes on the retail giant. Does it help or hurt local communities? We will take a closer look.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Day two of the closely-watched U.S. tour by Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla. Right now, they're here in Washington with not one, but two visits to the White House on their schedule.

CNN's Kimberly Osias is joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM. She's covering this visit. Kimberly, what do you got?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I will tell you, two, indeed. That's right, lunch and dinner. Although the official purpose of the royal visit to the U.S. is to enhance common bonds between the two countries, the unofficial reason, and one probably equally, if not more important -- in the court of public opinion, that is -- is to soften the image of Camilla.

The duchess of Cornwall, as she's officially known, has long been vilified in the tabloids as the reason for the breakup of the marriage of Charles and Diana. But it was a confident Camilla who waltzed into Washington earlier today, wearing a classic navy suit, walking slightly behind her husband, before the pair met with First Lady Laura Bush and the president.

The couple dined on lemon sole and butter lettuce -- mmm -- at the White House for lunch, before visiting a boarding school for disadvantaged youth in the area. This is the couple's first official trip together since their Windsor wedding back in April. Although the prince has made a number of private visits to the U.S., his last official one here was in June 2004 for President Reagan's funeral.

The couple will be honored at a black-tie fete later tonight at the White House. I'm not invited. Then, tomorrow, Camilla will make a rare public speech at NIH about osteoporosis. Of course, this is an issue very close to her heart, since both her mother and grandmother suffered from the disease.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Is there a sense, Kimberly, that some of this visit may be having a bigger -- may -- may turn out to have a bigger agenda than maybe the surface would suggest?

OSIAS: Well, I think -- you know, people that I have spoken with that have actually been around the couple in New York were a little bit underwhelmed. And, obviously, the public is still very enamored here with Diana, still feel very much protective of their -- their two boys, William and Harry. And, of course, who can forget when Diana came here in 1985 and really wowed Washingtonians and the White House, when she was dancing with John Travolta?

BLITZER: I remember that well.

OSIAS: Yes.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Kimberly Osias, reporting.

We're going to stay on top of this story during the course of THE SITUATION ROOM.

Still to come, on a very different, note a prison break -- two violent inmates escape a trash truck -- in a trash truck. Now police are asking for your help in trying to track them down. We will take you to the scene.

And, a little bit later, the plan that could have changed history. Saddam Hussein reportedly agreed to go into exile before the war started. So, why did the deal supposedly fall apart? We will take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Let's go back to the White House. Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, briefing reporters, answering questions right now on the CIA.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

HADLEY: ... has appointed David Addington to be chief of staff and John Hannah to be his national security adviser. These are people that I have had the privilege of working with over the last four or five years, David Addington in a prior incarnation. These are people who I know well, who are very capable at their jobs, and who will step forward and -- and serve the vice president in the way he needs to be served. And I look forward to working with them as colleagues.

Sir?

QUESTION: I'm from Russia, so, obviously, I'm interested in your recent trip to Russia and the development...

BLITZER: All right, Stephen Hadley answering questions on that CIA leak story, talking about some of the people who have been brought in to replace Lewis Scooter Libby as the vice president's chief of staff -- two other longtime aides to the vice president, one becoming the chief of staff, one becoming his national security adviser.

We will continue to monitor Stephen Hadley's briefing over at the White House.

In the meantime, let's head over to the CNN Center in Atlanta. Our Zain Verjee is standing by with a closer look at some other stories making news. Hi, Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: In South Carolina, a convicted kidnapper and a convicted murderer are on the loose, after breaking out of the maximum security prison in which they were serving life sentences. Right now, police are combing the state, trying to catch them. Officials say the violent prisoners broke out yesterday by riding in the back of a trash truck. They were sighted in Jasper County last night.

The fate of Vioxx and its maker again hangs in the balance. Today, in New Jersey, a jury resumed deliberations over whether pharmaceutical company Merck misled the public about the drug's safety and whether it caused an Idaho man's heart attack. This is the second liability trial involving Vioxx.

In Denver, Colorado, marijuana may be easier to smoke. In a vote, Denver residents legalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. But opponents of the measure say it's moot, because marijuana offenses are normally filed under state and federal law. Meanwhile, voters in Telluride narrowly defeated a proposal to move marijuana down the priority list of offenses for local law enforcement.

A truck hauling cattle overturned early this morning on Interstate 74 in Ohio. The highway was shut down in both directions for hours, as authorities tried to round up runaway cattle in foggy conditions. Several of the animals died. Police say the driver was just going too fast.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting assignment for those guys.

Thanks very much, Zain. We will get back to you soon.

Just ahead, the actual details in the president's proposal to fight bird flu. Yesterday, we heard about the general plan. But coming up, we will give you some of the specifics that could affect all of us.

And, after Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans, many families were either forced or, painfully, decided to leave New Orleans. Just how many fled? Some startling new numbers are emerging, gathered zip code by zip code.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. New details are emerging from the Bush administration's plan to fight a flu pandemic, which the government says could kill anywhere from 200,000 to two million people. If bird flu or some other super-bug starts spreading among humans, the United States could impose travel restrictions. And the plan says, states and cities will have to ration scarce medications.

Federal health officials were on Capitol Hill today to discuss funding needs. They made it clear that pandemics -- pandemics happen, adding that if one happens soon, there is no capability now to manufacture enough vaccine in time to counter it.

Critics say that the Bush administration bird flu plan offers too little, too late. Is it enough to keep all of us safe?

Joining us now is Michael Osterholm, the director for the Center for Infectious Disease and Research Policy at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Osterholm, thanks very much for joining us.

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: The poll, our latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, asked this question: Is the federal government's ability to handle outbreak of bird flu -- are you confident or not confident about the ability? Fifty-two percent say they're confident. Forty-seven percent say they're not confident. The public, clearly, evenly split -- roughly evenly split on that.

Are you confident that the federal government can handle an outbreak of bird flu right now?

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, we have to be really clear. Nobody can handle an outbreak of bird flu, as we see around the world.

What we're talking about is the minimizing damage, trying to reduce the amount of transmission. And we also have to talk about it in terms of whether it happens tonight, or at three or five years off where we can do more to get prepared.

But right now, bird flu, regardless of what we do, will be a serious problem if it occurs.

BLITZER: The study that came out, the documents that came out today, outlining the administration's plan, shows this. It shows that 20 percent of working adults, 30 percent of the overall population, and 40 percent of school age children would have a good chance of catching bird flu if that pandemic were to strike. Those are startling numbers, given the death rate that presumably that would follow.

OSTERHOLM: In fact, that, I think, is one of the important messages in this plan. It does not mince words. It basically says that in fact, we could see up to 1.9 million deaths if this situation unfolds like the 1918 pandemic, and so as such we have to plan for that. And I think this is the general consensus of scientists. This is not a political document. It's not an administration document. It really reflects the consensus of the body of scientific evidence.

BLITZER: There was this comment, quoted in the "Atlanta-Journal Constitution" today from one of your colleagues, Dr. Arnold Monto of the University of Michigan, who said this about the president's plan, "There's not a lot there" -- in the President's plan - "if we expect our friends and our colleagues in the developing countries where we expect the outbreak to come from to be working with us on surveillance and containment."

Does the president's plan contain enough specific help, enough specific information globally for other countries to deal with this potential threat?

OSTERHOLM: Well, I think that's actually a fair comment by Dr. Monto.

The point I would make is the whole world is unprepared. We're unprepared. The rest of the world is unprepared.

What this plan really gets at, first of all, is how do we begin to prepare America? And only if we're better prepared can we help prepare the world. Yes, we can do more in the developing countries. But again I have to come back to the point, pandemic influenza, if it unfolds any time soon, is going to strike across the world, and we're all going to have a lot of pain.

BLITZER: The argument that Dr. Monto is referring, $250 million approximately of the $7.1 billion that the president is asking Congress to appropriate that would go to foreign nations to help detect and control a flu pandemic.

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, again, there is a great debate among scientists that even if we detect an influenza pandemic in its earliest stages, can we really stop it. I mean, imagine what government out there is going to just declare to the world in the very earliest days, where the evidence is still sparse, that we're now basically the black hole of the earth. We are aware this is starting.

I have real doubts whether that can even happen. And I think I'm not alone in that. So I wouldn't put too much into this whether or not we are making or taking the steps to stop it in its tracks. I don't believe it can even happen.

BLITZER: The secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, was on CNN earlier today on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LEAVITT, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The good news is we have a vaccine. The scientists at NIH have developed a vaccine with sufficient immune response that it can protect the human being when given in proper dosage.

The bad news is we fundamentally lack the capacity to manufacture it in sufficient volumes in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Actually, that was from his testimony earlier today on Capitol Hill with Dr. Fauci and others.

That's a pretty worrisome business. The news is we fundamentally lack the capacity to manufacture the vaccine in sufficient volumes in time.

What do we need to do to make sure that we do have enough vaccine to save lives?

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, we have to look at vaccine as not just an American issue. It's an international issue. If a pandemic strikes the world and we're able to spare ourselves because of a vaccine, we'll still have a tremendous amount of collateral damage in this country because of the collapse of the global economy.

To build a vaccine capacity, though, it's like doing the dig in Boston. It's like building a skyscraper in downtown New York City. It's like building a new bridge across a major river. It takes time. And even with the investment today, we will not see the benefits of this kind of new vaccine research and this new vaccine manufacturing capacity for five to seven years. That's what the secretary's been very clear about.

I wish we had done this 10 years ago. We didn't. Now we're where we are at and we can only move forward with Godspeed and hope that the pandemic does not hit for five, or 10 more years.

BLITZER: Dr. Osterholm, as usual, thanks very much for helping us.

OSTERHOLM: Thanks a lot, Wolf.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is here with more on the president's plan to fight pandemic flu. What are you picking up Jacki?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, when the president announced his national plan yesterday he also announced this Web site: pandemicflu.gov. And we continue to look through it to give you an idea of what's available online for you.

Now, today we wanted to take a look at the research section. And, for example, they have a whole document on the history of the flu. There is a timeline.

Now, we've heard a lot about the 1918 flu. But did you know that in 1968 and 1969 something called the Hong Kong flu killed close to 34,000 people here in the United States?

What they also have is a timeline of the research of the avian flu that we've been talking about. And that research, Wolf, actually started back in 1997 when six people died in Hong Kong of what is now the same strain of the avian flu.

All of this available online through pandemicflu.gov, a very comprehensive Web site that the government rolled out yesterday.

BLITZER: Jacki, thank you very much. Jacki Schechner, our Internet reporter.

Up next, Hurricane Katrina destroyed large parts of New Orleans and many residents fled. But how many? We'll have new numbers gathered from a simple method of tracking zip codes.

In the days before the Iraq invasion, did Saddam Hussein accept an offer of exile? We'll have some new details of a private deal that could have changed history. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Reverend Al Sharpton is eulogizing Rosa Parks right now at the funeral in Detroit. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

REV. AL SHARPTON, PRES., NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: ...formed a boycott after Rosa Parks where people stayed off the bus for a year, with the rallies every night. And they never had email, never had a cell phone, never could go online.

Here you got two cell phones in your pocket, emails, computers at the house. You can't even get a block association meeting together. We got so much more that they gave us and we're doing so much less with it.

They went to vote when people were threatening their lives. Medgar Evers was shot dead in his driveway, left three children inside that never knew how it was to have a father in their young years, dying to give us the right to vote.

Pregnant women marched through the streets of Birmingham. They sicced police dogs on them to give us the right to vote. Four little girls bombed in a church in Birmingham, Alabama, to give us the right to vote.

And here you are, 40 years later in Detroit, Michigan -- no dogs biting you, no bombs going off, no bullets -- too lazy and ungrateful. Making mockery of her memory. Making mockery of her memory.

Nobody should have to beg you to vote. Nobody should have to beg you to stand up and protect the rights that they died and suffered to give us.

You can't take care of one thing on the ballot in Michigan when they had to change the laws of all 50 states? You're complaining about one referendum, when they did a whole revolution and never fired one shot. And then you turn it around on each other. While I want my daughters to visit that stone, because I want them to know black women are not hos, you have music companies selling misogynist records to our children.

Black womanhood was Rosa Parks, sitting in dignity. She wasn't break dancing. She wasn't talking about pimp me out. She made the world respect her people! So I want to thank Reverend Jackson and Mrs. Jackson and others that taught us a little younger who Rosa was. And we got to pass that on.

I want to challenge everybody here today that when we leave here, you ought to make a Rosa resolution. You ought to make one commitment in her name to yourself, that you will either join some organization or you're going to stand for some policy. You ought to make a Rosa resolution. You ought to resolve that you're going to do something that will make a difference because we are here because she made a difference.

Most people come and go, and we never come to say good-bye because their hellos didn't mean anything to us. But we are here because she touched every one of us, and we need to make a Rosa resolution.

I said to some of the young rappers the other day talking to me about, well Reverend you get on us about calling women other names. I said you need to come and know the story of a dignified woman. They make the excuse -- Mayor Kilpatrick said well, you know, we love Aretha and that generation but we kick it like we see it. We're just mirrors that reflect what we see.

BLITZER: The Reverend Al Sharpton eulogizing Rosa Parks in Detroit. We're going to keep an eye on this very, very moving tribute. The tributes pouring in to Rosa Parks, what she did 50 years ago simply by refusing to give up a seat on a bus.

Up next, here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the U.S. Senate showdown, Democrats pressuring Republicans for a probe into how the White House used prewar intelligence. The majority whip, Senator Mitch McConnell, the number two Republican in the U.S. Senate, he'll join us to weigh in.

Plus are outdoor smoking bans a good idea? It's our question of the hour. Jack Cafferty has been going through your email. He is standing by.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More now on the search for a convicted kidnapper and a convicted murderer on the loose in South Carolina. After breaking out of a maximum security prison and a daring ride on the back of a trash truck yesterday, they are out and about right now. Police are combing the state trying to catch them.

Let's get some more specific details. Mandy Gaither of our CNN affiliate WCSC is joining us now live. What is the latest, Mandy.

MANDY GAITHER, WCSC REPORTER: Well, Wolf, this is what we know. At this point, authorities say Johnny Brewer and Jimmy Causey had a woman check them into this Carolina Lodge motel, which is right off of I-95, close to the South Carolina/Georgia state line.

Since then, authorities have taken that woman into questioning and she's the one who led authorities here to the hotel room that the two suspects were supposedly staying. But when the SWAT team came in they did not find two suspects. They had already taken off. What they did find was some personal items and even some clothing believed to have belonged to the two suspects.

Now the suspects have been spotted in the town of Ridgeland in a local drugstore, the Eckerd drugstore. And police believe they could still be in the area because they don't believe they have any transportation out. So they are passing around these two flyers to local businesses asking everyone to be on the lookout for these two men who they call very dangerous. One was convicted of murder, the other convicted of a violent kidnapping. So pretty much everyone here is on high alert in Jasper County, South Carolina.

BLITZER: Mandy Gaither reporting for us from out CNN affiliate, WCSC. Thank you very much, Mandy, for that.

Here in Washington, a day after U.S. senators went into meltdown over a surprise maneuver by Democrats, hard feelings remain on Capitol Hill. Tough questions are being asked all around. Have Republicans thwarted investigations into prewar intelligence in Iraq as Democrats allege? Did Democrats pull a stunt that hijacked the Senate as Republicans allege?

Joining us, the Senate's number two Republican, the majority whip, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Senator McConnell, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (RKY), SENATE MAJORITY WHIP: Good afternoon.

BLITZER: Listen to what Senator Barbara Boxer said about what happened yesterday on the floor of the Senate. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: The American people have a right to know what happened. We went to war on false pretenses. What went wrong? And they need to see results of this investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Want to know what happened. Was intelligence deliberately manipulated by the Bush administration going into the war as the Democrats allege, or was there simply bad intelligence and the administration did the best they could do? The Intelligence Committee promised answers a long time ago. Democrats are complaining they still don't have them.

MCCONNELL: Well, first of all, with regard to yesterday's secret session, it was a cheap, political stunt. I concluded that some of my colleagues must have eaten too much chocolate the night before, on Halloween, and were hyper. That was unnecessary, of course.

Everybody knows that the intelligence was flawed leading up to the Iraq war. Everybody in America knows that. The investigation that's go on in the Intelligence Committee is proceeding apace. Everybody knows that it will be completed. It was really much ado about nothing, and the Senate is back to its normal business today.

BLITZER: The Democrats say, Senator McConnell, that it worked. They're finally going to get some action from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Republican chairman, they say -- Pat Roberts -- was simply trying to protect the White House from some of the bad news out there. MCCONNELL: It worked if their goal was to get a lot of attention to the cheap political stunt that they played, because you and I are still talking about it here 24 hours later.

BLITZER: No. What they're saying -- it worked...

MCCONNELL: It did not work...

BLITZER: It worked because they now have three Republican members, three Democratic members and they've promised to get some answers by the middle of the month, which the Democrats say would not have been the case if they have not pulled what you call that stunt.

MCCONNELL: Yes, I understand. I was going to finish my answer, if I could. What they got with the committee was what they were going to get anyway, which was that the Intelligence Committee chairman was going to continue the investigation and complete it as soon as possible. So they got absolutely nothing out of this that they weren't going to get in any event, except to get on the front page of the "Washington Post" and the "New York Times" and to have you and I still talking about it 24 hours later.

BLITZER: Well, how much bad blood is there right now? The Senate Intelligence Committee, historically, traditionally, was supposed to have been above politics. The members are supposed to work together on these issues of national security. Can they work together? Can Jay Rockefeller, the ranking Democrat, work together with Pat Roberts, the chairman, now?

MCCONNELL: Look, the security of the nation is much too important for this kind of childishness. And I think that Rockefeller and Roberts can work together. They've worked together in the past. They're working together today. I think it's all been blown out of proportion. We're going to move forward here and do the people's business.

BLITZER: Let's talk about Samuel Alito briefly, the president's choice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Tom Harkin is a Democrat from Iowa. He's quoted in today's "Baltimore Sun" as saying, "I believe Democrats will filibuster this nominee on the basis that he's way too ideologically to the right. We need a moderate on the court, not an avowed right-winger like him that would upset the balance."

Why are you smiling?

MCCONNELL: I'm smiling because Harkin was one of only 22 out of 100 that even voted against Chief Justice John Roberts, who was approved overwhelmingly.

Look, this nominee is brilliant, modest, restrained, not a zealot in any way. And the Democrats to watch are not Tom Harkins, but the Ben Nelsons and others who are in the center of the political spectrum on the Democratic side. And so far, the responses of the centrist Democrats who have met with Judge Alito have been quite positive. So I don't think there's any chance in the world that this brilliant judge is going to be filibustered.

BLITZER: But you remember, Senator, when we spoke about Harriet Miers, you predicted, in an interview with me, that all 55 Republicans would vote to confirm her. She didn't even get an up and down vote.

MCCONNELL: Well, had she stayed in -- you know, she withdrew. Had she stayed in, she certainly would have gotten an up or down vote, and in my opinion, would have gotten all 55 Republicans. She withdrew, thereby making it impossible to know for sure. But that would be my prediction again today, as it was when I talked to you last time about it.

BLITZER: Senator McConnell, as usual, thanks very much for joining us.

MCCONNELL: Thank you.

BLITZER: We plan to bring you a Democratic response to Senator McConnell. In our next hour, we'll hear from Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California.

Jack Cafferty's been going through your email. He's joining us, once again, from New York. Hi, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Wolf, next week, voters in Washington state will consider the first statewide ban on outdoor smoking. The proposal would ban smoking within 25 feet of buildings where you can't smoke inside -- places like offices, restaurants and stores. Critics say the bans are going too far, that soon they'll be no place left to smoke except in your own home.

So the question this hour is this, are outdoor smoking bans a good idea?

James in Fresno, California: "You ever heard that old saying, let's go outside, get a breath of fresh air? Well, that doesn't seem to apply anymore. I live in California where the outside of bars and restaurants are congested with smokers and smoke."

Reg writes: "When they ban the internal combustion engine, they can think about banning outdoor smoking. There are much worst things in the air out there than cigarette smoke."

Bruce writes: "I'm a smoker and I'm sick to death of being taxed usuriously and discriminated against. Make it illegal if you've got the guts, or leave us the hell alone."

Elizabeth in Athens, Georgia: "Of course outdoor smoking bans are a good idea. All smoking bans are. I don't appreciate walking or sitting by someone whose secondhand smoke will give me cancer against my will."

And finally Taylor writes: "Smoking sucks. I tried it one time, but don't tell my mom."

BLITZER: We won't tell his mom. Thanks very much, Jack. We'll get back to you very soon.

Still ahead, it's enough to make some ailing patients sick. We'll have the "Bottom Line" on the price of prescription drugs. Find out if you still can afford your medicine.

And later, why is this Democrat dancing? Check this out. We'll find out in our next hour in our report on odd ads and the important races on state ballots next Tuesday.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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