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The Situation Room
Amtrak Passengers Stuck Aboard Train; John Kerry Takes Aim at President Bush's Iraq Policy
Aired December 30, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Happy New Year to you. To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the U.S. and around the world to bring you the day's top stories.
Happening now, railing at Amtrak. Train passengers stuck on board and going nowhere for more than 24 hours. It's 7:00 p.m. outside Savannah, Georgia, where train number 98 is supposed to be moving but isn't.
Also this hour, the Florida teenager who hightailed it to Iraq without telling his parents. He's on his way home. Farris Hassan got out of Baghdad with his life. Will he pay a price for his journey once he's back with his family? I'll speak live with his mother and brother.
And John Kerry still taking aim at President Bush's Iraq policy. The senator and former White House candidate gets tough questions from Wolf Blitzer about the war and his own votes on Iraq. I'm Ali Velshi. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Well, they're tired, they're ticked off, and they were trapped. Hundreds of passengers on three Amtrak trains that barely moved in more than 24 hours. But we just learned that those trains are once again in motion. CNN's Gary Nurenberg is outside Washington's Union Station with the latest -- Gary?
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ali. Amtrak says about 2,000 passengers have had some kind of delay in the last 30 hours, 780 of them on three northbound trains that left Florida yesterday. They are not happy. One of them joined us by phone earlier on THE SITUATION ROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELEANOR MEYER, PASSENGER: I do not understand why we sat in a Jacksonville train station from 4:30 yesterday afternoon until 4:15 this morning.
NURENBERG: It is a trip she'll never forget, but Eleanor Meyer probably wishes she could. Her train is one of three heading north that were blocked for more than a day by a derailed freight train near Savannah. An Amtrak spokesman told us they originally expected to have the tracks cleared by midnight last night. CLIFF BLACK, AMTRAK SPOKESMAN: That time slipped until 2:00 a.m., then until 5:00 a.m., then until 7:30 a.m. So early on, the decision was made to hold the trains in anticipation of getting track back in service at a reasonable hour so that we wouldn't have to disrupt our passengers, take them off the train with all their luggage, put them on buses, and make them proceed north that way.
NURENBERG: Passengers say conditions on the stalled trains are deteriorating with toilets stopping up and people running out of money to buy food onboard. Earlier in THE SITUATION ROOM, Meyer vented her frustration to the Amtrak spokesman.
MEYER: And may I also add that by the time we get to Florence, lunchtime will be over, and we are all due a big dinner.
NURENBERG: Meyer says she just wants to get home.
MEYER: We could have been put up in hotels. We could have been put into buses. We could have been gotten off this train.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NURENBERG: Well, 30 hours later she's on her way. One footnote, one reason for the delay is the federal government imposes limits on how long train crews can work. When Amtrak thought the delays would be short, they thought those crews would qualify. They ran up against that ceiling and had to bus in new crews to take over -- Ali?
VELSHI: Gary, a couple of hours ago as you know, as you said in the story, we talk to Eleanor. We want to go back and check in as to whether or not those trains were moving. She said the spokesman say to her that the trains will move in two hours. Now we know they are moving. So we're get back in touch with Eleanor in just a few more minutes and see how things are looking for her. Still a long way from home, though.
Well let's go to Northern California where the rain just does not seem to end. Another storm is moving through right now bringing more wet weather to a region already saturated. CNN's saturated reporter Jen Rodgers is live for us in Napa. Galen Crader is standing by at the CNN Weather Center, and Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Let's start with Jen in Northern California. It's back again.
JEN RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is back again. It is wet and it is windy. I mean, I really can't believe that we started off in the dark here. It was raining then, it is still raining now. It was windy then, it is still windy now. And they say there is still more to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS: From the beaches to the mountains, the West Coast is getting slammed again, and it's not over yet. A mudslide in Marin County, a flooded trailer park on the Sacramento River and a host of flood warnings for local rivers were evidence of nature's fury. COLIN KAMINSKI, JOE'S BREWERY: The stream is now almost to the bank edges right now, and it's almost filling right into the little sidewalks down there. So it's getting pretty bad.
RODGERS: Rainfall, runoff, and high tide push the waters at the Napa River higher, but it is still far below flood level. And city officials believe they'll be spared from widespread flooding this weekend. Although heavy rains or a shift in storm intensity could change that.
Many area residents aren't take anything chances. More than 7,000 sandbags have been distributed and businesses are taking preventative measures, including this brewpub on the banks of the Napa River.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Business is always booming during the flood because we have a river-view dining room. People want to drink a beer and watch the river and chat. So when we go to sandbag, it's always easy for us because there's a hundred people in there that have nothing better to do than help us sandbag.
RODGERS: If only everyone had that much help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Now, this part of the Napa River where we are in downtown Napa is looking like it might just dodge the bullet this weekend. But upriver north of here in St. Helena, they will be under a flood warning starting at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow running through 6:00 p.m. Sunday. Minor flooding is expected there on secondary roads and agriculture land. Over in Sonoma County, the Russian River will also be under a flood warning -- Ali?
VELSHI: All right, Jen Rodgers in Napa. Thanks so much. We will be checking in with you again. Galen Crader is standing by at the CNN Weather Center to see when Northern California might just dray out.
Galen, what's it looking like?
GALEN CRADER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I've looked as far ahead as five days, Ali. And past five days, the models just aren't that reliable. It looks like one break, Sunday night into Monday, maybe there's a break in that. But certainly on Tuesday, there's another storm believe it or not, lined up and ready to go in the Pacific Northwest.
It won't be as vigorous as this one. All of these main impulses right now pushing in between Oregon and Northern California, extremely energetic like just a blowtorch here. And that's making for several inches of rain through Northern California. Several feet of snow if not in the Cascades, then certainly as you get back to the Sierra Nevadas. And then on into the Wasatch and the Tetons and the Bitterroots (ph).
And we expect that that snowfall total will be measured in feet before this is all over. But there will certainly be high seas, great, really strong winds, and more than one mudslide is quite possible on this. I hate to be the bearer of that news, but it's just the nature of this terrain that can't hold this much water -- Ali?
VELSHI: Galen Crader at CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Galen's got all the fancy tools. If you want to be able to track some of this yourself, let's turn to Internet reporter Jacki Schechner. She is online, monitoring in real-time those stores.
JACKI SCHECHNER, INTERNET REPORTER: Some cool tools online, Ali, where you can do this yourself. Take a look at what we built, here. This is the storm prediction total for the area. You can go online and map this out for yourself and figure out what you want to plug in. This will show you how much rainfall they're expecting.
Also from the National Weather Service at NOAA, we're got this map of the area. You can see all of these different warnings. They've really got everything. They've got these gale force here. You can see that there's actually the winter storm warning area right here. I mean, it's just a tremendous amount of stuff going.
And then the other thing from the California Regional Weather Center -- if we can pull that up right there -- you can build your own radar. And this is actually fun to get this animated and going. You can see how this loops through, and you can take a look at how the storm is progressing at home -- Ali?
VELSHI: All right. Jacki Schechner with the situation online.
We told you about the Amtrak trains at the top of the hour. We've been following that. A couple of hours ago, we spoke with Eleanor Meyer. She is on train 98. It was stuck for so long. Eleanor is back with us now. She's on the phone.
Eleanor, you're rolling now? Eleanor, are you with us? Eleanor Meyer, are you there? I believe Eleanor is on this train, Train 98, which has been stuck near Savannah, Georgia. We'll check in with Eleanor and see if she's actually there. I think we're having cell phone reception problems. But we want to check that they're there and moving and have the food that they require.
Coming up in THE SITUATION ROOM, the newest leak investigation and what it means for the Bush administration and the secret spying controversy. The legal and political wrangling is just ahead.
And John Kerry's rematch with President Bush. The Democrat still has a lot to say about how the U.S. got into Iraq and how it should get out. The senator goes one-on-one with Wolf.
And later, skating to citizenship. An ice dancer's Olympic dream now may come true with the help from President Bush and Congress. We'll tell you about it. Stay in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A new investigation is underway in the secret spying program controversy that's been dogging the Bush White House. The Justice Department is trying to find who disclosed that Mr. Bush approved wiretaps without court warrants. Our correspondents are covering all the angles of the probe. CNN's Brian Todd is standing by. But first to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ali, as you say, Justice Department officials are confirming that a leak investigation has indeed been launched. The investigation by FBI agents and Justice Department officials is likely to focus first on the relatively small number of U.S. officials who knew that President Bush had authorized wiretaps of some Americans and others in this country suspected of terrorist ties who were communicating internationally, and to do so without a warrant.
"The New York Times" cited a dozen present and former officials who it said spoke to reporter James Risen and his colleague because they felt the domestic wiretaps program violates the law. So this leaks investigation stands in contrast with the Valerie Plame Wilson case, the case where Bush administration officials apparently leaked the CIA identity of the wife of a prominent critic of the Iraq war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK SAUBER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This leak investigation is more a traditional leak investigation involving what I'll call for the moment whistleblowers. The sense that I get here is that there are people in some of the intelligence agencies who were uncomfortable with the instructions that they had from the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Leaks investigations do not usually succeed in finding the leaker, but if the tactic used by the prosecutor in the Plame case is used, it may have a better chance. That tactic, of course, go after the journalists.
VELSHI: That may be one of those tactics. David, thank you so much. A closer look at what it takes to investigate a leak and why, as David said, it's not that easy to do. Our correspondent, Brian Todd has been talking to legal and intelligence experts to see where they might start -- Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, we went to a group of experts who have been involved in spying and leak case before. Their take on where investigators will likely focus their intention offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of intelligence gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Experts say the circle of people who knew about the order for wiretapping without warrants is likely very small, but those we spoke to including a former top U.S. intelligence official and two former federal prosecutors say there's a clear starting point for investigators. LARRY BARCELLA, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: You would start at the NSA. The NSA would also know not only its own people that would have had access to the information, but they also would know people in other agencies.
TODD: Other agencies in groups likely to be investigated as potential sources of the leak according to our experts? The FBI and CIA, with a focus their agents within the joint counterterrorism center. A small inner circle at the White House with access to the president's daily national security briefing.
A handful at the Justice Department, who might be privy to the information and have concerns about its legality. And select members of Congress including top leadership and the four heads of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, who were thoroughly briefed on the wiretapping program.
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: As we went through this process, it was very, very clear. Only a limited number of people were going to be briefed into this highly- compartmented program.
TODD: That compartmentalization is a key factor, according to our experts, with an even smaller number of people knowing about sources and methods.
BARCELLA Someone may know that their source of information, for instance, could be a signal intercept, a wire intercept, of some sort. But they wouldn't necessarily know where it was intercepted, whether it was Peoria or Potsdam.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: One place likely not to be seriously considered as a source of the leak, the foreign intelligence court or FISA. That was the court that has to grant warrants for wiretapping. That court was circumvented in this case. Our experts point out only a couple of judges on that court knew that the program even existed, and another one resigned when he found out, Ali?
VELSHI: All right, Brian. Good story, and we'll continue to follow it. Thanks so much, Brian Todd.
Well, still to come in THE SITUATION ROOM, he saw the situation in Iraq up close, probably too close. I'll talk to the mother and brother of the Florida teenager who made an incredible voyage and is now headed home.
And later, is Senator John Kerry planning to run for president again? He shares his thoughts on the race to 2008 with Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Well, a 16-year-old Florida boy is heading home from an adventure that took him from his private prep school to one of the world's most dangerous war zones, all without his parents' permission. We'll be joined shortly by Farris Hassan's brother and mother, they're standing by. But first, the details of that journey from our Christopher King. He's live at CNN Center.
Christopher, what a story.
CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What I story, indeed, Ali. And lots of people are comparing the saga of Farris Hassan to the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." But while that character just skipped one day of school to bum around Chicago, Farris Hassan went all the way to Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 16-year-old American high school student who doesn't speak any Arabic, it's unbelievable that he is still -- that nothing wanted to him.
KING: Farris Hassan's odyssey begins December 11th, when unbeknownst to anyone but two friends, he flies from Miami to Amsterdam, then to Kuwait. His goal, Baghdad. The prep school junior has been fascinated by the war and deeply sympathetic with the suffering of the Iraqi people.
Studying journalism in school, he's decided he must see the situation for himself. From Kuwait City, Hassan takes a taxi to the Iraqi border on December 13th, but it's closed ahead of elections. So he goes back to Kuwait City, where he finally tells his parents of his plan.
DR. REDHA HASSAN, FATHER: Where he sent me an email saying, "I am on my way to Baghdad. Don't be worried."
KING: His father encourages his son to fly to Beirut instead, where the boy stays more than a week with family friends. They help arrange for Hassan to achieve his goal, and on Christmas Day, he flies to Baghdad. The friends in Beirut have arranged for a driver to pick him up, and together, they safely navigate the notoriously dangerous highway from the airport into town.
Hassan checks into the Palestine Hotel, largely populated by westerners. Hassan's parents were born in Iraq but left for the U.S. decades ago. He looks like he could blend in, but the teen doesn't speak Arabic. And with his sneakers and jeans, here he's more suited for the mall than the war-ravaged streets of the Iraqi capital. On his second day there, Hassan presents himself at the offices of the Associated Press, stunning journalists who worked there.
PATRICK QUINN, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I recall telling Jason here that I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked into the office. And he actually announced to us that he wanted to join us and become a journalist.
JASON STRAZIUSO, ASSOCIATED PRESS: He's curious, and he's courageous. Now, if he could just wait a couple more years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: The AP journalists called the U.S. embassy, which made arrangements to get the boy out of Baghdad. He's on his way back to Fort Lauderdale -- Ali?
VELSHI: Christopher King, the story continues to be amazing, and we'll follow it all of the way through. Thank you, Christopher.
Well, Farris' odyssey has been frightening for his family. His mother Shatha Atiya and his brother Hayder Hassan join now from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Thanks for being with us. Shatha, where is Farris right now?
SHATHA ATIYA, FARRIS' MOTHER: He's on his way home.
VELSHI: Now, the story that Christopher just showed us, what it seemed to indicate is that he went away. He didn't tell too many people that he was going away. But certainly once his father found out about it, he seemed to be helping him out getting through there. Were you involved in that at that point? Did you know at that point that he was there, and you were going at least help him get through it at that point? Or did you just want him to come back?
ATIYA: I just wanted him to come back. I had no idea that his father was helping him in that process.
VELSHI: Now, where did he -- where did the 16-year-old boy -- putting aside his courage and his excitement about the whole thing, and the fact that he probably would make a very earnest journalist, where did he get the money to buy a ticket to get that taxi, to get from Kuwait City to Baghdad?
ATIYA: Farris had an investment account. He was always interested in trading, so he had an investment account that apparently he had cashed out to use it for his trip.
VELSHI: Hayder, we always expect a mother to be concerned about her son. You're close to his age. You're a few years older than him. What's he like? Was out of excitement and courage and enthusiasm, or was he up to no good?
HAYDER HASSAN, FARRIS' BROTHER: No. As far as being up to no good, that's far from it. He's a great kid, he's a brilliant kid. He's never been in trouble with school. I mean, he really did go there to do a report. And then once he had done that, he wanted to see what he could do. He asked about the Red Cross. I mean, he wanted to see the people. He wanted to see what was going. He wanted to see if what he sees on TV, is that true.
VELSHI: Shatha, what do you think about that? Is that a good thing? Are you proud that he's got that kind of inquisitiveness?
ATIYA: I am proud of the fact that Farris is an exceptional young man. He has a lot of motivation and virtues and morality and a lot of things that he's done that a normal 16-year-old does not. So, yes, I do believe that he went there. He wanted to see, have the firsthand experience with the people in Iraq, and their opinion about democracy and the election and the war and so forth.
VELSHI: But you'd be just as happy if he didn't take off to the other side of the world again. Is he going to get any punishment for this, or what's going to happen to him?
ATIYA: Well, when he comes back, I will sit down as a family and we'll discuss this issue. And we will certainly talk about responsibilities. And I do want to encourage his curiosity, but as long as he is responsible and sensitive to what the whole family has been put through this experience.
HASSAN: Passport will be taken.
ATIYA: Passport will be taken.
VELSHI: Passport, maybe some credit cards. Have you guys talked to him in the last day or two?
ATIYA: I spoke with him the day before yesterday when he was with the consulate in Baghdad. But he left me a message today on the phone. Unfortunately, with all of the phones and the calls coming in, he left me a message that he's on his way home. But I have no idea what time or to which airport yet.
VELSHI: But he's in the care of whom? Who's going to be making sure that he gets back home at this point?
ATIYA: I really have no idea. I have not received any phone calls or any information in that regard.
VELSHI: But you assume because the embassy was there that he's in the care of the government?
ATIYA: I believe so, yes. I think they sort of are trying to protect his privacy, if there's any privacy left.
VELSHI: I'm sure there will be a lot of people interested in talking to him, and he might have some job offers. Did he get that assignment done that he went there to do, this paper for school?
ATIYA: Yes. Well, he did put an e-mail out for an essay online. So I guess he -- I think he did not accomplish what he really wanted to do by going to Iraq and questioning everyone and, you know, what exactly he had in mind about the research. But I think he did accomplish quite a lot.
VELSHI: Let's hope he gets a good grade on it. Shatha Atiya and Hayder Hassan, good to talk to you. Will you please keep us posted as to when he gets back and what you're doing to make sure he doesn't go out on his own again? Farris will be returning to the United States soon, and we'll keep you posted on that.
Just ahead, Senator John Kerry on the current state of Iraq and the war there, on his vote for it, and on President Bush's handling of the war. Wolf Blitzer goes one-on-one with the man who tried to be president.
And a would-be presidential assassin who's been detained for decades gets more free time. John Hinckley Jr. has been in a mental hospital since shooting President Reagan in 1981. Now a federal judge has loosened the rules on visiting his family.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Kimberly Osias joins us now with a closer look at some other stories making news. Hello, again.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Ali. A federal judge has loosened restrictions on John Hinckley Jr.'s overnight visits with his parents. Hinckley shot President Reagan back in 1981 and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He's been in a Washington mental hospital ever since. Hinckley has been allowed brief overnights with his family. The latest court order expands that to as many as seven nights.
It started as an attempt to break up a protest encampment in an upscale Cairo neighborhood. By the time it was over, at least ten Sudanese refugees were dead. They were killed by Egyptian soldiers and police. The refugees were protesting living conditions in Egypt and a U.N. decision to stop processing applications for official refugee status.
The hurricane season is over. The whole year is almost over, in fact, but it turns out there's still time for another storm. Tropical storm Zeta has formed in the eastern Atlantic, but forecasters say this record 27th-named storm does not threaten land, fortunately.
And the owner of the New Orleans Saints says his team will be playing in New Orleans next fall. He says the team could be playing in the Superdome by September, but state officials say the dome may not be ready until November. And the NFL commissioner says it's too soon to say where the team will play--Ali.
VELSHI: Kimberly Osias, thank you.
In the 2004 presidential election President Bush and Senator John Kerry went head to head on Iraq, and on election day Mr. Bush won.
Now a year later, the two are at odds over Iraq once again. Well, Wolf recently sat down with the former Democratic presidential candidate to talk about the administration's handling of the war and about his own White House ambitions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Going into the war based on the intelligence that you had no doubt that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D) MASSACHUSETTS: I believed that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles, and I believed Saddam Hussein wanted to get more weapons. But I also believed that, as did many of my colleagues, that the intelligent way to try to deal with that was to do the inspections. I wrote an op-ed in "The New York Times," in which I suggested that you needed to go do them.
Now Dick Cheney, Vice President Cheney, opposed those inspections and the very Kabul that former chief of staff to secretary Powell talked about, taking over the policy, didn't even want to even do the inspections. They wanted to rush to this confrontation and to war.
Even two days before, three days before, the president decided to pull the trigger and launch the war. There were offers by security council members for further diplomatic efforts to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. And I said at that very time, I believed those should have been pursued and it was disappointing they weren't.
BLITZER: According to the Congressional record, on October 9th, 2002, you said, "the Iraqi regime's record over the decade leaves little doubt that Saddam Hussein wants to retain his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and obviously, as we have said, grow it. These weapons represent an unacceptable threat."
KERRY: Correct.
BLITZER: And then you went on to say there was "little question that Saddam Hussein wants to develop nuclear weapons."
The question is this. On the intelligence that you saw you came to those conclusions. On the intelligence the president saw, which he says is the same intelligence that you saw, he came to the conclusions that WMD existed.
KERRY: First of all, first of all, we did not see the same intelligence. Once again, the administration is not telling the truth.
BLITZER: I'm referring to the national intelligence estimate.
KERRY: It was beyond the national intelligence estimate, yes. There were things that were not in the national intelligence estimate that the president put out that were not accurate.
Moreover, on several different occasions, the president said things beyond the national intelligence estimate about Iraq, about Saddam Hussein, about nuclear weapons, about deadly gasses and poisons, about launch time and 45 minutes of delivery, which were not accurate, which his own intelligence people had told him were not accurate.
Let me be very specific. When the president stood up in front of America and said that Saddam Hussein was trying to get nuclear weapons and nuclear fissionable material from Africa, that was not accurate. And the White House had been told three times in writing, three times verbally, by the CIA not to use that intelligence. They did anyway.
They were -- they told America that Saddam Hussein could deliver these weapons in under 45 minutes--in about 45 minutes, under an hour. That meant something to me. What he did not say was that the National Intelligence Agency or the CIA, I forget which it is, disagreed with that. That he didn't believe that.
Moreover, he said, Vice President Cheney, stood up and said that Iraq had, in fact, had meetings. That there were meetings between Iraq and the hijackers of the 9/11 aircraft. That was denied by 9/11 Commission. That never took place, and there were people who doubted that at the time. We weren't told that. We weren't told about these other doubts.
So for the president to suggest -- I mean, I went to Pentagon briefings. I went to the Mid-East. I went to Great Britain and met with the defense and foreign secretary of Great Britain. I met with...
BLITZER: Well, they all believed he had weapons of mass destruction too.
KERRY: So did we. Wolf, that's not the misleading.
We believed that he had some weapons left over and that he wanted to get the nuclear. What we were given was a picture that drew an immediacy of threat that went well beyond containing some of those weapons and trying, ultimately, to build a nuclear facility.
Now, beyond that, what I voted for, I made very clear on the floor of the Senate. Every word of it is laid out in my statement...
BLITZER: Let me ask you if you agree with what your former running mate, John Edwards, wrote in "The Washington Post" on Sunday.
He wrote this, "I was wrong. It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. While we can't change the past, we need to accept responsibility because a key part of restoring America's moral leadership is acknowledging when we've made mistakes or been proven wrong."
Do you agree with Senator Edwards?
KERRY: I said that before Senator Edwards wrote that. I gave the speech.
BLITZER: You were wrong. You said you were wrong to vote for that war?
KERRY: I would not have voted for that resolution given what we know today. We wouldn't even have had a vote given what we had today. There would have been no vote.
The reason that vote took place in the United States Senate and Congress is because they built up the immediacy of the threat. And what many of us felt we were giving the president was the authority to use force as a last resort if he had fulfilled his promises. Gone is the last resort. Built up a troop coalition. Done the inspections to the greatest degree possible to contain Saddam Hussein. He didn't do those things.
BLITZER: So you regret voting for that resolution?
KERRY: I think anybody worth their salt ought to see the mistakes and incompetence of this administration. How could you possibly say you're going to vote to this incompetent administration go out and be incompetent again. Of course, I wouldn't do that. But we didn't know that at the time.
BLITZER: Well, there were senators like Senator Levin, Senator Graham, who didn't vote for the resolution, who thought it was a mistake and clearly, from your perspective with hindsight they were right.
KERRY: They saw things that others of us took the president at his value, at his word and shouldn't have. I mean, my regret is also that I believed the president, and I'm sorry that a president of the United States leaves members of the United States Senate not able to believe what he said. Look...
BLITZER: Let me press you on this one point, though.
KERRY: Sure. Sure.
BLITZER: Was the president the victim of the same bad intelligence you were the victim of?
Or was there something more sinister there? Because, as you know, that Bob Woodward book there's a conversation described between him and the then director of the CIA, George Tenet, and the president seems to be wavering a little bit and says to Tenet, according to Woodward's book, are you sure about this? And Tenet says, it's a slam dunk, Mr. President. It's a slam dunk to the weapons of mass destruction.
KERRY: I can't tell you because we haven't had the full investigation that was promised over a year and a half ago for the intelligence committee, which is why we Democrats have to shut the Senate's activities down and go into secret session to force people to do what they said they were going to do a year and a half ago.
Now, the answer to that question lies in that investigation. But I'll tell you what I believe. The president of the United States went before the Congress and used information that he -- that the White House had been told three times verbally and in writing was not accurate.
The president and vice president both in their speeches linked Saddam Hussein and Iraq to terrorism and to the war on terror and put it into the whole basket of 9/11. How else does 70 percent of America come to the belief that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. Coming up next, the man who might have been president. We'll have more from Wolf Blitzer's interview with Senator John Kerry, including this question, will Senator Kerry make another run for the White House?
And later, the dance of legislation. Congress and the president step in to help an Olympic hopeful, but was it the right thing to do? Stay with us. We'll tell you about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Now we pick up with Wolf's interview with Senator John Kerry and the big question facing the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. Will he run again in 2008?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Do you wake up and -- it's a year since you were defeated. Do you wake up every day and relive some of the campaign, what you could have done, what you should have done that may have turned things around a year ago? Do you think about that a lot?
KERRY: No. I don't relive that. I will tell you what I obviously think about is the different choices that I would be making today and the difference, I think, there could be for the country on a number of issues.
Look at what they're doing on energy independence. More dependency on oil, not moving America to be energy independent. That affects our security and our foreign policy. We can do better with that.
Look at what we're doing on health care. Americans are just crunched under the cost of the health care. More and more people losing it. They have no plan at all. I had a plan, and I think about what we could be doing to make lives better for Americans and health care.
And obviously, in Iraq, I know we could be doing a better job of bringing countries to the table, and we could, I think, save lives and restore America's honor and strengthen the world. We could do better there.
BLITZER: But do you ever think if only I had responded better to the swift boat veterans for truth campaign against you? Do you ever go back and think about some of those?
KERRY: Look, inevitably you think about some of the mistakes we might have made or not made. But I'm not dwelling on them. I mean, I know what they are, and you've got to go forward.
Americans don't want to hear about the past. They want to know what we're going to do to make lives better for people today, and I think there are a lot of things we can do better for Americans.
BLITZER: Let's go forward to 2008. KERRY: That's what I'm trying to do. 2006.
BLITZER: Well, what bout 2008? Do you want to run for president again?
KERRY: It is honestly too early to tell.
BLITZER: Why is it too early?
KERRY: I am focused--because it's just too early. I mean, would I like to be president? Yes. Obviously, I ran for the job. I think I would have made a good president for America, a strong president. And I would have had us in a very different place than we are today, but that's in the back.
Now my job is to help us provide alternatives to the country in 2006 and that is what I am really focused on is helping senators, helping Congressmen, helping mayors, those out campaigning, helping governors. I was campaigning in New Jersey, helping Tim Kaine in Virginia.
We need to do all we can to make 2006 the choice that I think people really want to make and need to make in light of what's happening in our country and then we'll see where we are.
BLITZER:: We're out of time. So a final question. Do you think you can beat Hillary Clinton in a Democratic primary?
KERRY: Well, I don't know if Hillary's running now. Who knows, who's running or not running? I'm not running yet. We need to see where we're at.
I'll tell you this, if I decide to run and I get into the race, and it won't depend on who else is running. My decision will not depend on who is running, but if I get in that race having learned what I learned and the experience I had last year, I think I know how to do what I need to do. And I will run to win and that's what I'll do if I decide to run.
BLITZER: When will you make that decision?
KERRY: Oh, some time after next year's elections, you know, when we've all had a chance to let the dust settle a little and see where we are.
BLITZER: Senator, thanks very much for joining us.
KERRY: Great.
BLITZER: Appreciate it.
KERRY: Good to be with you. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. Coming up next, her chances to make the U.S. Olympic Team were on thin ice until special legislation skated through Congress. And the president signed it today.
And then, around the world, live on your home computer. We'll have a virtual sight-seeing tour here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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VELSHI: All right. Here's a look at some of the hotshots coming in from Associated Press. Pictures that are likely to be in your newspaper tomorrow.
Frankfurt, Germany, the end of an era. U.S. General Mike Snodgrass hands over the keys to Ramstein Air Base after six decades of use by the United States. The base will become part of a civilian airport. One of the busiest in Europe.
In Jones, Oklahoma, fireman, Brice Brent (ph) hoses down some bales of hay that caught fire. Grass fires have broken out across Oklahoma and Texas.
In Sarajevo, two DNA analysts work to identify victims of Hurricane Katrina. Through an agreement with the state of Louisiana, the Bosnian lab, one of the most sophisticated in the world, will study bone samples from the Gulf Coast.
Columbus, Ohio, Monica Gargak (ph) holds her baby girl while talking to her husband in Iraq. The camera was set up in the delivery room so Major Mitch Gargak (ph) could watch his daughter's birth on his laptop computer over the Internet and talk to his wife throughout the six-hour delivery.
That's today's hotshots, pictures often worth a thousand words.
Well, it's not unusual for Olympic hopefuls and other athletes to get special treatment, but a Canadian ice dancer, who has a shot at a medal in the upcoming winter Olympics, got something that many view as precious, U.S. citizenship.
Kimberly Osias is back with that story--Kimberly.
OSIAS: Well, Ali, it was all with the stroke of a pen today. President Bush gave Olympic hopeful, Tanith Belbin, what she calls the very best gift she could ever ask for. The appropriations bill Mr Bush signed into law contains an amendment specifically designed to make sure Belbin can represent the U.S. at the winter games.
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OSIAS (voice over): Until just days ago, Tanith Belbin's hopes of competing at the winter games in Torino, Italy were on thin ice.
TANITH BELBIN: I really just want to gain maturity, experience confidence, all the things that teams who have been skating, you know, 20 years longer than we have. OSIAS: Talent isn't the issue. Belbin and her partner, Ben Augusto, won a silver medal in the world championships this year, the highest finish for an American ice dancing team in three decades.
The problem is, Belbin isn't American. She's Canadian. That would have kept her off the U.S. Olympic Team if the senator representing the state where Belbin now lives hadn't stepped in.
Michigan Democrat Carl Levin pushed a measure through Congress allowing foreigners with extraordinary ability to take advantage of a streamlined naturalization process approved in 2002.
Without the law, Belbin wouldn't qualify for the fast track program because she first applied for citizenship in 2000, and she wouldn't have become a citizen until 2007, too late for February's winter games.
But now with help from Congress, and the president Belbin and Agosto appear on track to go for the gold.
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OSIAS: Now the new law only applies to people who began the naturalization process before July 2002 and would be representing the country on the international stage.
In other words, not many people besides Tanith Belbin. Her skate to citizenship has raised new questions about special treatment for athletes and others seeking that coveted prize of becoming an American--Ali.
VELSHI: Great story. Thanks, Kimberly.
Well, this year hundreds of thousands of cheap tiny computer cameras gave us unique glimpses into just about anything imaginable.
Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is here to now take us on a quick tour around the world of those that we actually can show you on CNN--Jacki.
SCHECHNER: Ali, Earthcam.com, a network of Internet web cams, for the seventh year in a row has named its most interesting web cams. This one for the year 2005. Let's take a tour of some of the ones I thought were really fabulous and wanted to show you.
We start off in the French Polynesian islands. I figured people would get a kick out of this one because it is so cold up here in the northeast. You can take a look at how beautiful these pictures are. Now, some of these are streaming. Some of these will refresh, but you can see how pretty that view is.
Then we go over to the pyramids in Egypt. Let's take a look at those. Obviously, they don't move very much, but you can see how the weather changes. They cast the shadows. Very pretty. I kind of like that one. The next one I picked out was really unique. This is a vessel, a British vessel in the Antarctic. How cool is that? You can see as that moves around it takes different shots. It's up and running. It's a very cool thing not many of us would ever get to see otherwise.
And the final one in honor of New Orleans and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, we have got a live web cam of Bourbon Street. So Ali, those are the most interesting web cams of 2005.
VELSHI: Oh, that's amazing. Thank you, Jacki. Jacki Schechner with the situation online.
Still ahead, we close 2005 remembering some of those who won't be with us in 2006. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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VELSHI: Paula Zahn now comes your way in just a couple of minutes at the top of the hour, but first as we say goodbye to 2005 we want to remember some of the remarkable people we lost in the past year.
Our national correspondent Bruce Morton remembers.
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BRUCE MORTON, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We lost John Paul II, the towering figure of theological conservative, who inspired his fellow Pols with visits to Poland when it was still under Soviet occupation. A devout man, one who knew him wrote, who thinks on his knees.
We lost Rosa Parks, courteous, tough as nails, wouldn't give up her Montgomery, Alabama bus seat to a white, got arrested and lit a flame. A bus boycott led by a young minister named Martin Luther King, which integrated the buses and launched the civil rights movement that integrated so much more.
We lost Terri Schiavo, who collapsed in 1990, whose husband said she was brain dead and would want to die, but the Congress passed and the president signed a bill letting her parents appeal their case to the federal courts. The courts did not intervene and she did die. The autopsy showed her husband had been right about her condition.
WILLIAM REHNQUIST, FMR. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: Our work as a court of impeachment is now done.
MORTON: We lost William Rehnquist, a conservative chief justice.
Lost Eugene McCarthy, a poet and senator and in 1968 an anti- Vietnam War presidential candidate whose success in the New Hampshire primary persuaded President Lyndon Johnson not to seek re-election, but McCarthy did not get the nomination and did not stop the war.
PETER JENNINGS, ABC NEWS: Have a good evening. I'm Peter Jennings. Thanks and good night. MORTON: We lost Peter Jennings, longtime ABC news anchorman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's Johnny.
MORTON: Lost Johnny Carson, who somehow looked the way late- night hosts on TV ought to look.
We lost Hunter Thompson, the self-styled gonzo journalist, whose book "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" was one, critic said, the least factual and most accurate account of the 1972 presidential campaign.
Lost Frank Perdue. He made chickens famous or maybe it was the other way around.
We lost Anne Bancroft, who won a Tony and an Oscar for "The Miracle Worker" and who men of a certain age remember as the sexy predator, Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate."
DUSTIN HOFFMAN, ACTOR: Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.
MORTON: And we lost Richard Pryor, a gifted comedian who talked dirty and led a troubled life, but who was, as Jerry Seinfeld said in "Newsweek," the Picasso of our profession.
We remember at year's end, the famous who died, but we ought to remember this year some others, the 822 American service men and women, as of December 20th, mostly young and not famous, who died this year in Iraq. Their lives lay ahead of them. They had things they wanted to do.
And in that sense they are like another group we should remember, the 1,322 people, that's the confirmed count, the real toll is probably higher, who died in Hurricane Katrina. They had hopes and plans and families, and death came out of the sky and took them all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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