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The Situation Room
Grass Fires Across Texas; California Soaker; New Orleans Police Shooting; Italians Preparing To Fight Terror At Olympics; Katrina- Related Fraud Rampant; Iraqis Protest Preliminary Election Results; Bears Eating Wine Grapes
Aired December 27, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Back in Massachusetts, where the controversy began, a proposed amendment is in the works, designed to overrule the State Supreme Court and ban gay marriage. But, if approved, that ban would not take effect until 2008, some time from now.
Well, it's 5:00 p.m. in Washington, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information from around the world arrive in one place at the same time.
Happening right now, it's 4:00 p.m. in Texas and in Oklahoma, where grass fires are burning everything in their paths, driven by gusty winds and fed by dry conditions. Is there anything to stop them?
In New Orleans, it's 4:00 p.m., but all across the country swindlers are hitting the jackpot with fraudulent claims for Hurricane Katrina relief. Authorities are starting to hit back.
And it's 2:00 p.m. in California's Napa Valley, where some of the world's most valuable wines produce some of the world's best -- grapes produce some of the best wines. But hungry bears are now gobbling up the grapes with deadly consequences.
I'm Tom Foreman. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Whipped by winter winds and fueled by dry vegetation, fires are sweeping across parts of southwest -- the southwest in both Texas and Oklahoma. They're consuming miles of grassland.
Look at this home burning right here. Unbelievable what's happening down there. Very suddenly, everything in their way is being burned from these fires, homes, cars, it's jumping over streets, hopscotching all around.
Joining me by phone from Wise, Texas, is Traci Weaver of the Texas Forest Service. Traci, you were telling us earlier these fires are just popping up everywhere.
TRACI WEAVER, TEXAS FOREST SERVICE: They really are. Every time you look at the skyline you see another column. So every county I know of has got fires going right now.
FOREMAN: And what is making these move so fast, just this the wind? WEAVER: The wind and the fact that it's extremely dry out here. We haven't -- you know, we're way -- almost past our normal rainfall all this year. So it's just -- the vegetation is extremely dry and it's 80-some degrees out. So...
FOREMAN: Do you have any idea right now, Traci, how many fires you have burning or if they're clustered in one area? We keep seeing all this from East Arlington, but is it just everywhere?
WEAVER: It's everywhere. Wise County's got several fires burning. Hood County's got fires burning. You know, they're losing structures. Also, down in hill country we've got fires burning. So, yes, this wind is a widespread event. So it's affecting fires all across Texas and Oklahoma.
FOREMAN: How many -- is this the time of year when you normally have a lot of firefighters ready to go out and deal with this, or are they more on standby during summer?
WEAVER: Well, it's typical for us to have a summer fire season, but occasionally we do get dry winters like this. But this is by far the worst one we have had. In fact, it's worse than '96, which was a horrible winter fire service for us.
FOREMAN: Well, that's the wreckage of a home we just saw on the screen there. It was totally wiped out from this.
Do you have a sense -- because we're trying to get a sense -- how many homes have been hit so far?
WEAVER: I really don't, you know, because there's so many different fires going. But we lost three last night in one fire and had five more damaged. But there's been so many more fires since then, I haven't been able to get a handle on it.
FOREMAN: When did you really have the sense that these fires were kicking up in earnest? You talked about last night.
WEAVER: Yesterday we had a pretty bad day with lots of fires burning, and we didn't have the wind speed that we have today. But about, oh, probably about 2:00 today we just had fires erupting everywhere.
FOREMAN: How do you even array your resources at a time like this, when you have so many fires in so many places? What do you do with the people you have?
WEAVER: That's probably one of the most difficult jobs, is to try to determine who needs the resources the most. And Texas Forest Service is not a very big agency, but we've got everything possible out there and everybody working, you know, and the same with the locals.
Fortunately, I guess some people are still on vacation, so volunteer fire departments have been able to respond. But, you know, there's just a limited number. That's why they can't protect every house out there.
FOREMAN: Give us an idea, if you could. You mentioned down in the hill country, that gets down towards Austin, that sort of area. Is that correct?
WEAVER: Correct.
FOREMAN: And you mentioned up here around Dallas. What part of Dallas are we talking about here in East Arlington, for our viewers who may not have been there?
WEAVER: Actually, the fire down there is 287 between Arlington and Kennedale. That fire is burning structures and has jumped 287. Wise County is actually north of Ft. Worth. Hood County is southwest of Ft. Worth -- we've got fires. And then there's also fires down in Llano, which is getting closer to Austin.
FOREMAN: Traci, I'm going to interrupt you for a moment here. Thank you very much.
Scott Wallace from KDFW is talking in the helicopter now about what he's seeing. Let's go to him for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT WALLACE, KDFW HELICOPTER PILOT: They've made their stand, they've saved what they could, but there are some limits to the technology and the personnel and just being able to get to a place. This is right in the center of the firestorm when it was blowing through here. It was like a blast furnace. And they just physically couldn't get to it in time before it caught on fire.
It looks like the house is going to be a total loss. It looks like a ranch house just south of Sublett Road, about a quarter of a mile or so.
The good news to report is that the Highway 287 is reopened. But smoke has shifted a little bit. It's not blowing as intensely across the highway. So that's the good news to report.
The bad news is that several of these ranch houses out here, some of the outbuildings and things like that, are going to be a total loss.
Evan (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: That's Scott Wallace in the helicopter for KDFW.
Look at this home. Two days after Christmas it's gone, utterly gone. They're pictures from KDFW right there. We're also getting pictures from WFAA.
We'll try to get back to Traci Weaver with the Forest Department there in a little bit to find out a little bit more about what, if anything, they can do about this.
But let's go to our own meteorologist, Chad Myers, right now to explain a little bit more about the conditions. Is this going to get any better?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It will, probably, about 6:00 local time. When the sun sets and we stop mixing the atmosphere up with the jet stream aloft, the gusts will slow down. The winds are still going to be around 15 to 20, but the gusts that we've had over the day have been now approaching 35 and 40, and that one gust will gust through the fire, pick up a bunch of sparks, and then spread that fire somewhere else.
Oklahoma City, 22 miles per hour; Dallas, 20 miles per hour. Out toward Hobart, about 20 miles per hour as well.
The flames are so strong and the smoke so thick that the radar actually thinks it's raining. There's the storm that -- the firestorm that we've been watching right here. Moved to the south of Arlington and Kennedale, a little closer to Shelby (ph).
Farther down to the south, more streams, more plumes of smoke showing up on the radar picture here. And then back up toward Oklahoma City, Pauls Valley, you've had one heck of a fire to your west. Also, into Seminole, one big fire blowing across there.
It is truly amazing that you can see the smoke particles on the Doppler radar, and the smoke trails are literally, Tom, 30 to 40 miles long. When you see -- go ahead.
FOREMAN: Chad, we're going to interrupt you there because we want you to let people see the actual fires.
MYERS: Yes, absolutely.
FOREMAN: We have pictures now from Oklahoma which give you a sense of what's happening there, the very thing that Chad was just talking about. These are pictures from the ground there in Oklahoma. It looks an awful lot like Texas, dry ground burning very rapidly, driven by the winds there.
And this, you said -- until sun down, so we're talking about two hours from now, Chad, roughly, before this gets any better?
MYERS: Pretty much, yes. I mean, it's not like -- you can't shut off the spigot. It just doesn't stop all of a sudden. It just starts to slow down after sunset.
But at that point, 10, 15, the firefighters can get a handle on it. At 35 and 40, there's just no chance.
When you see white smoke, you'll know that that's a bush or grass burning, but when you see the black smoke, that that is a building or possibly a car burning. It's so different to see. And you look at that white smoke there, and, you know, OK, well that's just grass. But then all of a sudden, the white turns to black and you know that that grass caught up to a home or some type of structure. It's really sad to look at.
FOREMAN: Stand by, Chad, if you would.
Scott Wallace of KDFW is watching exactly what's happening. Let's go back to him in the helicopter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: ... that are immediately threatened which are not already on fire. So it looks like they've made their stand where they could, and they've prevented it from spreading any farther than it already was.
(END VIDEP CLIP)
FOREMAN: I think we just caught the tail end of Scott Wallace there, but obviously a lot of -- it looks like a significant number of homes being lost now in East Arlington, Texas, as the fire spread through there.
Our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner, is keeping up with all of this online, especially with regard to those Oklahoma wildfires right now. Can you tell us about this, Jacki?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Tom, we wanted to take a closer look at what NOAA classifies online as the Norman, Oklahoma, area. You can see the map right here. If I click on that general vicinity, they have a giant fire weather update section.
Now, take a look at this. This will give you everything you need to know in that general vicinity. It tells you all the stuff Chad was talking about, the short-term forecast, what we're seeing right now, those higher gusts of wind. If you click down here, it gives you the wildfire danger conditions we've been talking about, those high temperatures. Mix those in with the minimum humidity, and that's the conditions you're talking about.
For example, in Lawton, you've got that 76-degree temperature, and then the 16 percent humidity. If you click down to here, you've got the higher winds.
All of this available on your computer online at home. Go ahead, take a closer look for yourself. And then if you scroll down even further, it will give you tonight's outlook, and that will give you an idea of the cooler temperatures again that Chad was talking about.
But take a close look at this. It gives you some really up-to- date warnings online.
Tom.
FOREMAN: Unbelievable stuff, Jacki.
We'll take another quick look at Texas and Oklahoma, the fires out there right now. This is a developing story that we're following all across the country right now -- all across the West, at least, right now.
We heard a short while from the Texas Forestry Service that it is -- they have fires breaking out all over Texas right now. Quite a problem.
These are pictures from Oklahoma right now, where you can see again the plumes of smoke moving, the fire moving to the houses. We know from what we were told earlier they've lost some homes up there.
So this is a developing story out West, where really what we're seeing, a situation very much like you might see on a summer day, both in Oklahoma and in Texas. We'll be keeping up to date on all of that.
Now, moving from this fire to too much water, it has been raining for days further West, and it's raining now and more rain in the forecast for Northern California. Residents there are being warned to brace for possible problems, including flooding and mudslides. If you can imagine all of this at the same time we have these fires.
Let's go live to Marin County right now, just north of San Francisco, out by the Golden Gate, where CNN's Rusty Dornin is standing by live. What's going on out West, Rusty?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tom, since the last time we talked to you just an hour ago, we got another break from the rain. But the wind has really picked up -- maybe 30-mile-an-hour gusts we're getting now from our incredible vantage point, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge.
Now, all of that wind drives the ocean swells. And they're expecting huge waves tonight and tomorrow morning as a result of these storms that are coming onshore, they say probably 20, 25 feet, they'll be breaking onshore. This is true all north of San Francisco as well. Up in Oregon, they're having big surf there, also snow coming in, in Washington, and also in the Sierra...
FOREMAN: That was our Rusty Dornin out at the Golden Gate Bridge in California, where they're having big weather problems, as you can see. We just lost her signal there.
So much going on in the West today between the rain and the fire out there. We'll be looking at more of this. We'll take a quick look at the pictures out of Texas and Oklahoma right now.
These are all out of Texas at the moment, where you can see many homes. I don't know how many right now. We're trying to get a count on them. But many homes are being taken by these sudden wildfires that sprang up a little bit last evening but really took off today. So we'll be looking at those and seeing what happens there.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Stay put. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Sundown, that's what they're waiting for out West -- really waiting for, because they have had a wild afternoon in Oklahoma and Texas.
First, let's take a look at Texas, if we could, where these wildfires are eating up some neighborhoods outside of Dallas. Grass fires took off there this afternoon, really running fast. They're leaping over roads driven by very strong winds, and clearly they're taking a good number of houses.
We're trying to find out more about that. Let's listen in for a moment to Scott Wallace of KDFW, who is piloting a helicopter over these fires.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: ... inside of a car when you drive through some of these tender dry areas and things like that. I'm not aware of any kind of laws like that in Texas, but that's been effective out West because of the high fire danger and the high winds and the dry, tender areas, and things like that.
But I'm sure that that is something that law enforcement and fire authorities would like to take a look at -- just having that ability to keep people from doing that -- because so many times in my career we've flown over an area, and you can see where the fire started, right along the highway where somebody just carelessly threw out a lit cigarette, caught the brush on fire, and then that was where it started and then it just kept burning and burning and burning.
But the good news to report on this one is that the intense smoke across 287 has let up, but there's still hot spots in here. But you can see the natural fire break at 287, the area around this apartment complex and nearby church, and things like that, that there's still pockets of fire. But the widespread flames that were just sweeping across the prairie here 30 minutes ago, it looks like they've got that stopped. And now it's -- they're going to have to let this fire burn out to hit some of the hot spots. But it looks like the structures that have not caught on fire yet, it doesn't look like any more new ones are going to catch on fire, at least unless we get a fire shift or something like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Well, that's some good news from Scott Wallace, the helicopter pilot there for KDFW, over East Arlington, Texas. He's been watching those fires. Good news for that particular area, but obviously big issues up in Oklahoma, where they have other fires, and throughout Texas, where they said they have fires popping up all over the place. We're going to keep an eye on all of this.
But right now, let's jump next door to Texas to Louisiana. New Orleans' beleaguered police force is facing new criticism over the death of a man who was waving a knife at police. A department spokesman says the man was shot and killed when he lunged toward one officer. But the incident yesterday was recorded on videotape, and it's coming under a lot of scrutiny by some who question whether lethal force was really necessary in this circumstance.
Joining us to talk about it, Lou Cannon, the president of the District of Columbia Fraternal Order of Police.
Thanks for coming in here today.
Let's talk about a really basic idea here. Most of us do our jobs, we have no chance of dying if we do them badly. There's a lot of sympathy for police officers in situations like this. But in situations like this where a man is completely surrounded by 12, 13, 14 officers with their guns drawn, and he has a knife drawn, is it necessary for him to be killed?
LOU CANNON, D.C. FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: The circumstances individually dictate that. And not that he's -- they're trying to kill him, but they're trying to stop the threat at that time.
What you also have to understand is even every witness there says that these officers followed the continuum of force. They tried talking to him first. When that didn't work, they used a non-lethal pepper spray to try to resolve the situation.
He simply wiped that out of his eyes and continued with his aggression. Only, and only when he finally lunged at an officer within the space that officers are trained that is the deadly zone did the officer resort to a force that was required to stop the threat at that point.
FOREMAN: Why -- when you have this many officers there -- and maybe you can't speak for the New Orleans Police Department, but let's talk about similar shootings we've had around the nation now -- out of all of these officers there, why doesn't anybody have a stun gun or beanbag gun or these -- the guns that shoot nets, that sort of thing? Is this just not happening in police departments?
CANNON: A lot of departments, number one, don't have the resources to have all those things. I do not know whether New Orleans actually has Tasers, which is one of the things that you're alluding to, or some of the other things. If they don't have them, they're not available, then they're not available and you only have the tools at hand. The officers used the tools at hand that they had. They used the pepper spray prior to that, he didn't stop.
There's any number of non-lethal things that are out there. Some of them are still being experimented with, and all the reports aren't in on them.
You also have to make sure that if you're using a non-lethal force that it's going to work, because if it doesn't, he still has the knife and he's still going to injure or possibly kill somebody, either an officer or possibly an innocent bystander. Remember again, they did try non-lethal force first.
FOREMAN: Let's take a look at a moment of this videotape here if we can and look at this. You see the number of people involved in this incident, if we can get the right slate drawn up here for a moment.
We can count them up there. There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13 in this picture alone, officers with weapons who are drawn, who are around this man.
I think -- you know, Officer, the thing that I think concerns the normal person out there -- and again, they're not police officers, they don't do this work. They find themselves saying, when you have at least 13 people surrounding a guy with guns drawn, and he has a knife, it just seems surprising that the only solution in the end is to shoot and kill them.
CANNON: Well, if you take a look at it, one of the things that you're doing -- notice the position of the officers. They're trying to contain the individual. They don't want him to get out of the area. And what they're trying to do is contain the situation as best as possible. And whenever you have containment, you don't have some of these other tools that we talked about, such as nets or whatever, there is always going to be the possibility that he's going to come out, approach, he's going to try to break that perimeter.
FOREMAN: We're running -- we're running a long time. I want to ask something. Is your organization or organizations like yours pushing for more of these non-lethal methods, or do want to stay away from them?
CANNON: We always want to resolve situation without the loss of life. Anything that's non-lethal, anything that is new or whatever, our organization, the Fraternal Order of Police, always want to see life preserved. That is the most important thing.
FOREMAN: So you'd like to see more of that if you could.
CANNON: We'd like -- we'd like to see more things, and we'd like to see an investment in the technology also, and to get these things to the officers on the road. It's great to invest in the technology, but it does no good to leave them in the lab.
FOREMAN: Exactly. Well, Lou Cannon, thank you very much for joining us and talking about this terrible situation down there.
CANNON: Thank you very much.
FOREMAN: And it's hard for the officers, too. Difficult thing to go through.
CANNON: Really, because you've got to remember the stress that they're under, living on cruise ships, living in no homes.
FOREMAN: Sure.
CANNON: And they did...
FOREMAN: Well, any fatal shooting, it's hard.
CANNON: Right. They did a remarkable job under the situation.
FOREMAN: Thanks so much for coming in.
CANNON: You're welcome. FOREMAN: We appreciate it.
Coming up, an all-star arrested. For many years he was one of baseball's top pitchers, today he is charged with armed robbery.
And, they pop up after every disaster, seeking profit from others' pain. Con artists are raking it in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We'll tell you how.
And of course we'll be checking back in on the western wildfires which are taking a terrible toll right now in Texas and in Oklahoma as the winds push them through neighborhoods.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Some days the news just really takes off. And that is what is happening out in Texas at this hour. Take a look at these pictures.
We've had these big western wildfires, not only in Texas, but in Oklahoma. We have pictures from both areas right now, fires that have been pushed by very fierce winds out there and by temperatures that are very much like what you'd normally have in summertime.
It's consuming homes in both places. We do not have a count yet on the number of homes, but you can certainly tell that there are a lot of them there.
I want to throw to a moment here to Scott Wallace, who is a helicopter pilot for KDFW, who has been flying over this, giving us great pictures and explanations about what is happening in East Arlington, Texas, just outside of Dallas. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: That's right, Heather. This is just south of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is at Highway 287 and Sublett Road. So the neighborhood that was in danger initially about 30 minutes ago has been saved. That is just south of Sublett Road.
This is just south of the neighborhood, but they weren't allowed -- they weren't able to get to this home in time before it caught on fire. It looks like it's a total loss right now.
So that's happened just the last few minutes, and, you know, they've made their stand, they've saved what they could, but there are some limits to the technology and the personnel, and just being able to get to a place.
This was right in the center of the firestorm when it was blowing through here. It was like a blast furnace, and they just physically couldn't goat get to it in time before it caught on fire.
It looks like the house is going to be a total loss. It looks like a ranch house just south of Sublet Road, about a quarter of a mile or so.
The good news to report is that the Highway 287 has reopened. The smoke has shifted a little bit. It's not blowing as intensely across the highway. So that's the good news to report.
The bad news is that several of these ranch houses out here, some of the outbuildings and things like that, are going to be a total loss.
Heather.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Scott Wallace from KDFW down there. We'll keep track of that. Obviously, getting that highway open is pretty important down there.
Zain Verjee is off this week. Kimberly Osias joins us now for a closer look at all the other news happening on this busy afternoon. Kimberly?
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, it is a busy afternoon, Tom.
Well, one of Major League Baseball's top all-time relief pitchers is facing robbery charges. Florida police say 53-year-old Jeff Reardon threatened a jewelry store employee with a note saying that he had a gun and walked out with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was caught later at a nearby restaurant. Police say he blamed the incident on depression medication.
Now, I actually talked with Reardon's attorney, Mitchell Beers, earlier this afternoon, and he said he was taking five antidepressants after the death of his son back in 2004 for an accidental overdose of alcohol and drugs. And he also said that he had angioplasty surgery on December 23.
He said obviously this is a very, very sad situation, a serious situation. He said answers, of course, don't happen overnight. And they are certainly going to look at whether or not there was any kind of interaction with the medication that could have caused this. Of course Reardon starred with the Montreal Expos, the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox before retiring in 1994.
The funeral for the son of Indianapolis Colts' head coach Tony Dungy was held today in suburban Tampa, Florida. Eighteen-year-old James Dungy died last week of an apparent suicide. Hundreds attended his service, including the entire Colts team.
Later, Tony Dungy spoke highly of his son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY DUNGY, HEAD COACH, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS NFL TEAM: We loved our son very much, he loved us. And we miss him terribly. But we also understand that we have some tremendous promises from God. And God promises to be with us, and he's with us in the great times, he's with us in the tough times. And our family will stand strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: Suspected serial rapist Reynaldo Rapalo is now being held in Miami-Dade County Central Jail. A judge today ordered him held without bail. Rapalo, you may recall, escaped from a detention center last week by shimmying through a vent with a rope made from bed sheets. He is accused of raping young Miami-area girls and women raging in age from 11 to 79 in 2002 and 2003.
Of course, though, Tom, he was nicknamed the "Shenandoah Rapist." And what was amazing, in some of the video he sort of had a saunter and apparently bragged to police he eluded them for about a week -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Nice he didn't elude them any longer. Thank you, Kimberly.
Coming up in THE SITUATION ROOM, we will get an update in the fires in Texas and Oklahoma we have been following -- dry brush and high winds teaming up to create a harrowing situation in those states.
And, in our 7:00 p.m. hour, the story that left a blot on Dan Rather's journalism career and may have contributed to his exit from the anchor chair. Wolf talks to the former CBS producer behind the discredited story about the president's military service.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Fires in Texas right now -- pictures from KDFW and from WFAA showing fire trucks there trying to keep these fires in the grass and the bushes outside these neighborhoods under control, so they don't burn more into an apartment complex over here and houses over there -- an awful lot going on down in Texas today with these fires. Also, in Oklahoma, big fires there, dry brush and summer-like temperatures big problems right out there.
Chad Myers, our meteorologist, has an update, specifically on Oklahoma. We have been talking about Texas a lot.
MYERS: Right.
FOREMAN: Big problems there.
MYERS: Right.
FOREMAN: What's going on in Oklahoma now?
MYERS: Well, we started in Oklahoma about three hours ago, very close to the town of Mustang, which is four miles or so just west of the airport there. That fire really has gone out, all the smoke done from there.
But here's Pauls Valley, I-35, on the way down to Texas -- one large fire here, on the east side of the interstate -- but, on the west side, actually, the fire and the smoke blowing across the freeway. Here's some pictures from our affiliate KWTV -- may be a little bit hard to see, but there are two lanes to the interstate on this thing.
And the left lane, the southbound lane, is completely shut down. Well, they zoomed in -- not hard to see that. As they're going down, they're making all the traffic get off the freeway, so that they do not drive into this smoke. Driving into a smoke bank like this is like driving into a big fog bank anywhere. You can't see anything.
It's actually not that healthy for you. You're breathing that smoke all the way through that fire. And, then, getting south of there, the northbound lanes are also shut down, because no traffic is coming north on I-35, right there at Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.
Tom.
FOREMAN: Thanks so much for that update, Chad Myers. We will be keeping an eye on those fires. We are going to turn now to our "Security Watch."
New procedures at terminals and changes to list of banned carry- on items do not seem to have affected screening times at the nation's largest airports over this Christmas travel period. The Transportation Security Administration says the average wait time for screening was four-and-a-half minutes, similar to previous holiday travel periods.
Last week, the TSA began allowing small scissors and other sharp items, which were prohibited after 9/11.
Still, there are other concerns. Could terrorists be targeting the Winter Olympics is one of them. There is an international effort to keep the athletes and spectators safe at these international games, which will begin in February in Italy. It seems like they're creeping up on us fast.
CNN's Brian Todd has that story.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tom, Italian security services are always dealing with terrorist threats, but one official tells me, after the London and Madrid bombings, they're taking no chances with this event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): With the 20th Winter Olympics just weeks away, a top Italian security official tells CNN, the country's intelligence and law enforcement agencies have stepped up their tracking of potential terror suspects.
According to this official, video surveillance, wiretapping, court-approved, and information sharing with U.S. and other intelligence services are all in play. The officials stressed they don't have evidence of a specific threat. But the Italians and a former U.S. military intelligence officer who is consulting with them on security say radical Islamist groups have long targeted Italy because of its support for the U.S. in Iraq.
And the Islamists, they say, are just one concern.
MICHAEL HERSHMAN, PRESIDENT, THE FAIRFAX GROUP: There are other groups in Italy that have engaged in -- in violent activities, some of them affiliated with radical unions. There's also a strong environmentalist movement that has, from time to time, caused disruptions.
TODD: Michael Hershman has been involved in security preparations for 10 different Olympics over nearly 18 years. He says the Games in Turin, to be held from February 10 through the 26th, are, like other Winter Olympics, less of a security concern than Summer Games.
HERSHMAN: It's a smaller set of Games, fewer athletes, fewer visitors, perhaps 1.2 to 1.5 million, as compared to three, four, five million. The site is a lot more difficult to get to, and, therefore, would be more difficult to infiltrate, and, of course, far more difficult, if you're going to cause a disruption, to get away.
TODD: But the Italians are taking no chances and certainly taking the lead, the Italian officials stressing several times, on- the- ground security in Turin will be led exclusively by Italian forces. They are the only ones, he says, who will be armed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Other measures, according to this Italian official and Michael Hershman, suspicious people will be prevented from entering the country. Some already there will be detained, some deported.
Tom.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much, Brian Todd. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Coming up in our 7:00 p.m. hour, another security story you will want to see, an inside view of how Israel maintains security at its shopping malls. Could Israel's methods work in this country? We will find out tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Still to come, a seriously ill Iraqi infant begins a journey that could save her life, thanks to a group of American soldiers, good work we will show you in the exclusive video coming up.
Plus, world-famous wine allegedly threatened by bears -- why there's so much outrage over one man's solution to this problem.
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Kimberly Osias joins us now with a closer look at some other stories making news. Kimberly? OSIAS: And we are going to start, Tom, with some -- some news about the child known only as Baby Noor, who is one step closer to life-saving surgery. We have got exclusive pictures to share with you. She's now at Camp Victory in Iraq with her father and grandmother, awaiting visas to travel here to the U.S. Some members of the Georgia Army National Guard took a little shine to Baby Noor, who suffers from spina bifida. They found a neurosurgeon in Atlanta, Georgia, to operate for free. Now it's only a matter of getting her here to the states.
And three earthquakes shook a province in southern Iran today, damaging several buildings and injuring 11 people. Iranian TV reports the largest quake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale. Some residents fled their homes and camped out in the streets, fearing yet another quake.
And a new report today that almost 50 people have been indicted in an alleged scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Hurricane Katrina aid program. The "Washington Post" quotes federal authorities saying workers at a California Red Cross claim center and their friends and families have been charged. Authorities say the scheme came to light when they noticed lots of people picking up aid money in California, even though few evacuees actually went there.
Tom.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much, Kimberly.
You know, Hurricane Katrina seemed to bring the worst out in some people, who saw the disaster as a way to make cash for themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): The federal government is investigating more than 1,000 cases of Katrina-related fraud, the most ever to spring from a national disaster in this country.
The $62 billion congressional aid package, the millions donated to charity, for the greedy, it all amounts to a giant jackpot. Some stand accused of cashing in by posing as displaced evacuees, among them, this Florida woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone set it up, and I'm stupid enough to go do it.
FOREMAN: Others are charged with conjuring up more elaborate schemes, the Red Cross volunteer on trial for allegedly for stealing more than 100 debit cards intended for storm victims.
LAURA HOWE, SPOKESWOMAN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: It's terribly disappointing and disheartening that anyone would want to take anything away from people who need help, and need it so badly.
FOREMAN: The Justice Department has set up a special task force just to deal with all the scams. ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: What we have witnessed, the actions of a few, unscrupulous few, who want to take advantage of the situation. And our job, as you know, is to ensure that these victims don't become victims again.
FOREMAN: And that is a very big job, with more than 200,000 New Orleans residents still believed to be scattered all across the nation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: I will be back with much more on the fraud stemming from Hurricane Katrina tonight on ANDERSON COOPER 360. That's at 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. And I hope you will join me here.
Up next, we will have more about some of the scandals that have rocked our world this year.
Stay with us in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: The preliminary results of Iraq's December 15, election are meeting with protests in two cities. Hundreds of students demonstrated today in Baquba. Up to 3,000 took to the streets in Baghdad. The demonstrators are protesting what looks like a government that will be headed by religious Shias.
Iraq's Electoral Commission says the Shia United Alliance has posted a strong lead. The group that organized the Baghdad protest is calling for a revote.
Two U.S. Army helicopter crewmen were killed today when their AH- 64 Apaches collided with another over Baghdad.
Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tom, the U.S. military put out only a brief statement, saying that two U.S. Army soldiers were killed when a helicopter crashed.
They said it was not due to hostile fire. But CNN has learned that the accident happened when two Apaches actually clipped each other in midair. One of the helicopters crashed to the ground west of Baghdad, burst into flames, killing the two Army personnel on board. The other one was able to limp back to its base in Taji. An investigation is under way.
The last time they had two helicopters collide was in 2003, when two Black Hawks came under fire and ran into each other -- again, no indication of hostile fire in this incident, but it's still under investigation.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre, over at the Pentagon. These latest casualties bring the total U.S. military death toll since the start of the war to 2,174. In Iraq, where suicide attacks are a daily occurrence, violence had flared anew following the election lull -- and, as we just mentioned, a new development, today, mass protests by those unhappy with the apparent election results.
Now, could this be leading to civil war?
Joining me now is a key member of the CNN "Security Council", our world affairs analyst, former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He's chairman and CEO of the Cohen Group, right here in Washington.
What do you think? Is this talk of civil war premature?
WILLIAM COHEN, CNN WORLD AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think it's a bit premature. I think, first, we have to see how this election is really going to unfold, whether or not the -- what appears to be majority Shia are going to be willing to have a role for the Sunnis that is more than simply symbolic, but actually make them a part of the governing process, to give them a stake, so to speak, in the political process, so they don't turn to support the insurgents and try to undermine the entire country.
FOREMAN: Is there a sign that the Sunnis are willing to accept that role? Because part of the complaint is that they're not willing to have a role. They want to be in charge.
COHEN: Well, as a matter of fact, the Sunnis turned out to vote this time, unlike on previous occasions. So, that was a very positive sign. What's not so positive is a report that the Sunnis are not as well represented in the new military, the army, as perhaps they should be. So, it would seem to indicate that the Shia majority is going to really use the military to suppress them.
In that case, if that's the situation, the combination of lack of political participation, plus lack of a role in the army, could in fact lead to this kind of a civil war that would break out, which would then put the United States in a very difficult position. At that particular point, the U.S. would have to then make a judgment, either a substantial increase in American forces or an exodus on the way out, but not to be caught in a -- a raging civil war under those circumstances.
That's why it's very important to convey to the Shia majority, they need to bring the Sunnis into the political process, in order to avoid that kind of a catastrophic result.
FOREMAN: Obviously, that's going to be a big story into 2006.
I want to play a little lightning round with you on the rest of the world...
COHEN: Yes.
FOREMAN: ... though, here.
COHEN: All right.
FOREMAN: Other countries to watch in 2006, quick assessment on each one. India.
COHEN: India will be very important. India has now struck a strategic relationship with the United States. President Bush met with Prime Minister Singh last summer. President Bush is going there in the spring. The key issue -- will India separate its nuclear weapons program from its nuclear power capabilities. If that's done, and the United States then amends its laws to allow for further cooperation with India, that would be a very positive thing.
One big sticking point is Iran. India sided with the International Atomic Energy Agency in really speaking out against Iran's apparent desire to develop nuclear weapons. They will have to continue to do that. Any falloff from that position, I think, could undermine the strategic relationship with the U.S. and India.
FOREMAN: China?
COHEN: China is going to continue to expand. It's going to try to cool its economy somewhat, but not too much, before they do have a massive population to deal with. They're going to try to spread that prosperity that they have been generating along the coast in the urban areas into the hinterlands to make it more accessible to millions and millions of people. Failure to do that could cause civil unrest, which could put in jeopardy the economic expansion.
Also, I think they will try to cool their rhetoric on Taiwan. They don't want to yield to the perception in the United States and others -- on the parts of others -- that they're becoming much more militarily aggressive in the region.
FOREMAN: Two more very quickly here. North Korea, is it going to quiet down?
COHEN: I think North Korea is going to play its game of cat and mouse, on again, off again, with the discussions about curbing their nuclear ambitions.
The biggest problem that we have, I think, with North Korea is, if they condition on their way, the danger of proliferation. They proliferate virtually anything in order to get cash. That's the biggest concern we have, North Korea.
FOREMAN: And I don't want to miss South America here. Venezuela and Bolivia, suddenly players.
COHEN: Well, they're players because of energy, principally. And this is something that comes back to the United States' role in the world. We have got to develop an energy policy that makes us less dependent, hopefully, one day, independent of outsourced or foreign energy supplies. We have yet to undertake that kind of policy. Until we do, we're going to be subject to the whims taking place either in the Middle East or in Venezuela or elsewhere.
FOREMAN: And very antagonistic leaders in both of those places right now toward the U.S.
COHEN: Yes. They are. And that's another reason why we have to rebuild an energy policy, or build an energy policy, for the United States which makes us not subject to those kind of hostilities on the part of their leadership.
FOREMAN: Hearkens back a little bit to the early days of Castro, when he envisioned this great uprising in Latin America against the United States.
COHEN: Well, we have to watch that carefully. The Venezuelans obviously still want to have a peaceful society. And it's not in their interests to try to be too aggressive or hostile with the United States.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much for coming by again, sir.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: Pleasure.
FOREMAN: Secretary Cohen, always good to have you here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Up next, grape-eating bears raise the wrath of growers in California's Napa County. We will show you what that controversy is all about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: If you have ever visited a winery, you know making wine is fairly complicated, at least compared to drinking it. Now some Northern California wine makers are facing a very different kind of complication, bears.
CNN's Kimberly Osias, who has been very busy today, is here with that story.
OSIAS: Well, Tom, you know that nature has always posed a threat to wine makers. Too much rain or not enough can ruin grapes, as can excessive heat or cold, not to mention insects. But now some vintners are struggling to cope with a threat, well, they say is simply unbearable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: Northern California's picturesque Napa County is known for some world-famous wine. And the grapes used to make them sell for as much as $7,000 a ton, two to three times the average yield. So, protecting this precious produce is top priority for vintners. But some residents in this corner of the county, known as Pope Valley, were upset to learn that one landowner asked state wildlife officials to shoot bears he says were eating his grapes and damaging his vines.
Officials confirm a permit was issued and that trappers have killed four bears since August. Some residents question whether that was really necessary.
BILL DAKIN, NAPA COUNTY RESIDENT: These aren't vicious bears. These are nice bears. They -- they turn around -- when they see you, they put their ears back, turn around, and run away.
OSIAS: News of the killings prompted some angry phone calls like these, which, mistakenly, went to a winery with a similar name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks who drink the wine produced from your grapes are drinking blood wine. We really feel that that's a catchy phrase that is going to catch on. And we are going to let a lot of people there know.
OSIAS: One caller claimed to own a restaurant and vowed to stop carrying the wine, again, not knowing he had reached the wrong people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just unacceptable and -- and absolutely appalling, that you could do something like this.
SALLY KIMSEY, WINERY OWNER: It's not us. These people didn't leave phone numbers, where I could call them back and let them know that they're talking to the wrong person.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: Well, we did try to contact the man who asked wildlife officials to have the bears killed. He's not a wine maker. He really just grows the grapes. He didn't return our call.
The problem between wine growers and wildlife is only going to get worse. Business is booming in Napa County. And more and more land is being cultivated, reducing the area where hungry bears can forage for food.
Tom.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much, Kimberly Osias. We appreciate it.
We are here every afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. And we are back on the air at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, just one hour from now.
She was fired for the journalistic snafu that tarnished a CBS icon's career. In our 7:00 hour, producer Mary Mapes tells her side of the story. Don't miss it.
Until then, I'm Tom Foreman in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Christine Romans is filling in for Lou Dobbs tonight. Christine?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Tom.
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