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The Situation Room
Moussaoui Trial Back On Track With Death Penalty Possible; Police Report 86 Bodies Found in Baghdad Since Monday; Anti-Muslim Rhetoric From Pat Robertson; Israeli Troops Storm West Bank Prison; Some U.S. Poultry Farmers Taking Precautions To Avoid Bird Flu Outbreak
Aired March 14, 2006 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information from around the world are arriving all the time.
Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you today's top stories.
Happening now, it's 1:00 a.m. in Baghdad, where dozens of bodies are found in the latest sectarian slaughter. As Iraq seems to be edging closer towards civil war, are U.S. troop levels about to edge up or down?
In California, where it's 2:00 p.m., a federal judge says he'll force Google to give the government information on Internet searches. Will Google go along? Is your privacy at risk right now?
And it's 5:00 p.m. in upstate New York, where the president of the United States goes one on one with J-Mac, the autistic teen who finally got his chance on the basketball court and made everyone's dreams come true.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
There are new developments in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in this country in connection with 9/11.
Let's get straight to our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve. She's outside the courthouse in nearby Alexandria, Virginia.
Jeanne, what happened?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the government case against Moussaoui, an admitted al Qaeda member, has been gutted. The judge has left the death penalty on the table, but she has said there will be no aviation testimony. The government said earlier that is half of their case. It is now gone.
This came about because of a Transportation Security Administration lawyer by the name of Carla Martin. She violated a court order prohibiting the coaching of witnesses, providing some of them with transcripts of court proceedings.
Six of those witnesses were in court today. They testified that they did not think that Martin's actions and communications had had an impact on their testimony, but the judge said it was impossible to tell whether their testimony had been tainted. She decided to err on the side of caution and keep them out of this case.
In addition, it was revealed today that government lawyers, based on information from Carla Martin, wrote a letter saying that three of the witnesses would not talk to defense attorneys. In court today, those three witnesses said they were unaware of the letter and two of them said they would have been willing to talk to the defense. The judge, Leonie Brinkema, accused Martin of telling a boldfaced lie and said never in the annals of criminal law had there been a case riddled with this many problems.
Reactions from 9/11 family members, they were startled. One of them was just devastated to hear that the actions of a U.S. government attorney might have jeopardized the case against Moussaoui.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEMARY DILLARD, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: I felt like my heart had been ripped out. I felt like my husband had been killed again. I felt like the government has let me down one more time.
There was no one held accountable for 9/11. Now we've got this woman, and the way she set things up, no one will be held accountable again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: The government has said it will appeal the judge's decision today.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, Jeanne. Thank you very much.
Jeanne Meserve at a windy courthouse in Alexandria.
While the sentencing phase of the Moussaoui trial will go forward, let's get a closer look at exactly what caused that federal judge to throw out testimony from six, yes, six aviation witnesses.
Our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton, picking up this part of the story -- Abbi.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, it was e-mails sent by a counsel from the Transportation Security Administration to forthcoming witnesses from the Federal Aviation Administration. E- mails that were prohibited by a court order but were sent, and documents that have now been released by the U.S. district court detail just exactly what was in them.
First of all, who they were sent to, the list of witnesses and whether they read those e-mails. Then, the e-mails themselves. The court order said that information about the trial, transcripts, must not be shared. The e-mail is specifically called "Moussaoui Transcripts." It also says things like, "You need to assert to those witnesses."
We now know that six of them that received the e-mails will not be testifying. A blow to the government.
We've posted all these e-mails for you to read at CNN.com/situationreport -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Abbi, thank you very much.
Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Meanwhile, there's unrelenting slaughter, it seems, going on in Iraq right now, with bodies turning up every day on the streets of Baghdad. Wary of spreading sectarian violence, the Pentagon is hinting that U.S. troop levels may increase, increase in the days ahead.
Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the Pentagon is insisting it still hopes to reduce U.S. troop levels later this year. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld today acknowledged they may go up slightly in the short term because, he said, religious pilgrims who are coming to Najaf and Karbala because of an Islamic holiday could result in an increase in attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice over): Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld steadfastly disputes that the current spike in sectarian violence is putting Iraq on a path to civil war, even as his top advisors say the conditions are there.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Is it true that people are -- in the intelligence community are thinking about this and analyzing it and doing red team -- A team, B team-type looks at it? Sure they are, and they should be. That's what people do.
Do I think we're in a civil war at the present time? No.
GEN. PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: The path to civil war is available to the Iraqi people, and the path toward freedom and representative government is available to them. And they are standing at the crossroads right now and they're looking down both paths.
MCINTYRE: General Pace says Iraq is on the right path. And the top U.S. commander for the region testifying on Capitol Hill agreed. General John Abizaid argued Iraq was, in his words, "a long way from civil war," but warned that could change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next big hurdle for Iraq, not unlike the elections, is the formation of a government of national unity. We should not underestimate how important that is.
MCINTYRE: To some outside experts, the Sunni versus Shia attacks and counterattacks already smack of a low-level civil war.
COL. DOUG MACGREGOR (RET.), AUTHOR, "TRANSFORMATION UNDER FIRE": We lost the initiative in this country a couple of years ago. People have been pointing to the elections as evidence for liberal democracy. There is no liberal democracy in Iraq. The elections have produced factionocracy (ph).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon continues to argue that the rise in sectarian violence, one faction fighting another, is different from an all-out civil war. But to many on the ground in Iraq, that is beginning to look like a difference without much of a distinction -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie, as you know, there's a hot new book that has just come out entitled "Cobra II" written by "New York Times" reporter Michael Gordon and retired U.S. Army lieutenant General Bernard Trainor. They make the case that early on, a lot of these problems we're seeing three years later could have been avoided if Rumsfeld and Tommy Franks, who was the commander of the Central Command, had listened to his -- their generals on the ground and bolstered the U.S. military presence.
Has there been any reaction from Rumsfeld to these latest revelations in this book?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, as you said, Wolf, it's a fascinating book. And it draws heavily in some areas on an internal history put together by the Joint Forces Command. They had the benefit of interviews with top Iraqi leaders after the fact and Iraqi documents.
I asked Rumsfeld about that study today in particular and whether he could share any of the insights that he got from it. And he declined to comment.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs cited the fact that part of that study is still classified as his reason for not answering. But it would be interested to get some perspective from them, because, as you point out, the evidence indicates there were a lot of mistakes that maybe if people had been a little bit smarter they would have been able to avoid.
BLITZER: They are going to be here in THE SITUATION ROOM tomorrow, the authors of this new book, this time tomorrow.
Jamie, thank you very much.
There's appalling carnage going on in Iraq's capital. Dozens of bodies have been found, often bound, then shot or strangled. Is this how a civil war would actually start?
Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the death toll mounted through the day. The police discovered 15 bodies earlier in the morning. All of them, they say, have been strangled.
They were discovered in the back of a pickup truck on the western side of the Baghdad. Police say they had all been strangled. But then, the death toll mounted through the rest of the day.
The police discovered a shallow grave on the eastern side of Baghdad, a Shia neighborhood. Police say they were directed to it because local residents pointed out a trail of blood.
Now, initially, earlier in the day, the police said they discovered seven bodies in that shallow grave. Then as the investigation went on, they said 14 bodies discovered there. Later on, they said 21 bodies discovered in that shallow grave.
By the end of the day, police say 29 bodies total discovered in that shallow grave on the eastern side of Baghdad. Eighty-six bodies turning up over the last two days in Baghdad.
It appears to be, although police cannot confirm this -- they say they're investigating these deaths. They don't know exactly who some of the -- who some of the dead are or exactly who killed them or why. But the impression that's being created in Baghdad is that this -- these are -- these deaths are results of sectarian attacks, the results of an ongoing, increased wave of sectarian violence here -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic Robertson in Baghdad with that story.
Thank you.
Europe's human rights court today threw out a lawsuit filed by Saddam Hussein. The suit named 21 European nations whose troops joined the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq. The former Iraqi leader said his arrest, detention and trial violated the European convention on human rights by violating his rights to life, liberty and security. But the court rejected the claim, saying the case fell outside his jurisdiction.
He's scheduled, by the way, to take the stand tomorrow in his trial in Baghdad.
Let's go back to New York. Jack Cafferty is standing by with "The Cafferty File."
I know you are looking forward to Saddam on the witness stand tomorrow.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm sure he'll do his best to turn that thing into a zoo, once again, or a circus. It's really -- is there any -- is there any kind of justice being ground out at that thing, or is it just -- is it just this ongoing theatrics that we see every time he's in the courtroom?
BLITZER: We have to wait and see. Let's give it the benefit of the doubt.
CAFFERTY: They ought to just take him out and hang him. That's what they'll probably get around to doing anyway.
Iran may be ready to talk, Wolf. The "Los Angeles Times" reports that some experts say the Islamic republic could be opening up to the idea of speaking directly with the United States. For the first time, folks in that country apparently agree that talks with the United States might be in Iran's best interest. But the same may not be true for Washington.
John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., says, "I don't think we have anything to say to the Iranians." And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that there are channels for limited talks with Iran through the U.S. envoys to Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran's mission to the U.N.
So, here's the question: Does the United States have anything to say to Iran?
E-mail us at CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/caffertyfile, and keep it clean -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Jack.
Jack Cafferty.
Thank you.
Up ahead, Google versus the government. There are new developments in the case that could involve your Internet searches. Our Internet reporters are standing by with the latest.
Also, savvy travelers, they know the best seats on the plane. Now one airline may charge you for -- a little bit extra for those seats.
Plus, he's the hoops hero who captivated the country. It turns out the president's a big fan as well. We are going to show you what happened at their meeting today near Rochester, New York.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Is the Dubai ports deal completely dead? There's fresh concern up on Capitol Hill, where some see some signs of actual life.
Our congressional correspondent is joining us now from the Hill with more.
What are you seeing, Ed? ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, the bottom line is Democrats are quite worried that DP World may be reneging on this whole deal, that, in fact, they may not keep their promise. So, they are demanding to see the company's plan, a specific timetable to sell these six U.S. ports to American companies.
And part of the concern is stemming from a Sunday talk show interview that Senate Majority Bill Frist did, where he answered questions about the ports controversy and really seemed to leave the door open to maybe this deal going through after all, against all the odds.
In fact, Republican Senator John Warner today told CNN that he felt compelled to approach Senator Frist in person in the last couple of days to get him to clarify exactly what he meant on that Sunday show, and Senator Warner, who's been sort of an informal liaison to DP World, told Senator Frist that he is absolutely convinced that this is going to be a full divestiture by DP World, and there should be no concerns.
A Frist aide telling me that this was just a hypothetical Senator Frist just throwing out there, and he does know the deal is dead. But there were fresh doubts and fresh concerns again raised last night when The Associated Press reported that, in fact, an executive for a U.S. subsidiary of DP World had sent around an e-mail suggesting that maybe they were not in such a rush to actually sell off the Port at Miami.
That is obviously raising concerns, alarm bells up here, in fact. And it's giving Democrats some fodder to push for a Senate vote to actually get this deal killed once and for all.
Frist still insisting he will not have that vote. But over in the House, Republicans are going to have a vote. As early as tomorrow, House Majority Leader John Boehner saying he wants to get this thing killed once and for all -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Ed. Thanks very much.
What sort of fallout can the United States expect in the Middle East over the failure of the ports deal? Fresh off the plane from the United Arab Emirates, our world affairs analyst, the former defense secretary, William Cohen, is joining us from New York. He's chairman and CEO of The Cohen Group.
You've just come from the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Secretary. What's the reaction there, what's the fallout from the collapse of this deal?
WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Wolf, I was in Abu Dhabi speaking at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, and frankly, they were obviously disappointed with the way in which it's been handled, that the UAE has not been given sufficient credit for its contribution to war against terror.
I tried to paint as positive a picture as possible under the circumstances by showing that, number one, most people perhaps were never aware of Dubai or the UAE, and now that they have been made aware of it, they may come to look with greater scrutiny upon the effort that the UAE is making in this war against terror. And they have been in the forefront, certainly since 9/11.
So, there may be some bright light coming out of this very dark period, as far as they are concerned. But nonetheless, they are disappointed.
More interesting to me was, during the course of my presentation to a large group of people, the DP decision was not the center of their attention. They were more concerned about our position in dealing with the Middle East peace process, and certainly with Iraq itself.
And so, those seemed to be the dominant issues, even though there were a number of expressions of disappointment that somehow the Congress has looked upon all countries in the Middle East and labeled them to be unfit for any kind of participation in the security interest of this country.
And once again, I would point out we have to be mostly concerned about those ports where the goods are loaded. And here, again, the UAE is going to be in the forefront of helping to secure the contents of those containers and making sure they are sufficiently monitored before they ever come to the United States.
BLITZER: As you know, the U.S. Navy spends a lot of time in the ports in the United Arab Emirates. Did you get any impression -- because in the conversations I've had with officials and the government of the United Arab Emirates, they say there's not going to be any punishment, there's not going to be any cutback in visits or strategic cooperation, cooperation in the war on terror. But behind the scenes, what impression did you come away with?
COHEN: Well, I had meetings with the leaders of the country. And I am satisfied there will be no such repercussions in terms of our security interests.
They are committed to joining and working with the United States in this effort to defeat terrorism. They have a lot at stake themselves.
They are a very modern and moderate Arab country. And once again, I would point out that the United States has been calling for the support on modern Arab leaders to join in this effort to support the United States and the coalition forces who are in Iraq trying to help stabilize that country. And these are the kinds of leaders that we want to turn to for help.
And so, working with them is going to be critical for us. It is going to be also very important for their future security, as well.
BLITZER: You're in New York. The U.N. Security Council is expected to take up this issue of Iran and its nuclear program. The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, says this -- she says, "I am quite certain that when everyone has a chance to think about the importance of sending Iran a very strong message that it is time for Ira to heed the call, I am quite certain that we will find the appropriate vehicle for stressing the international community's solidarity."
Are you as confident as she is that Russia and China, specifically, will stand with the U.S. and the Western European allies on this issue of Iran and nuclear weapons?
COHEN: Well, I hope that that confidence is merited. The Russian foreign minister, Lavrov, recently made a statement saying that Iran is simply not contributing to the process of seeking a peaceful solution to this problem. And so, the Russian comments have been very strong in the last day or so.
Nonetheless, there are tremendous economic pressures being generated with Iran, threatening to perhaps either decrease the sale of oil, or increase the price to those countries who are critical or seek to impose sanctions upon them. And so we'll have to see whether or not the United Nations, the IAEA are going to hang tough, or as Mrs. Thatcher once said, "Let's not go wobbly on this particular issue," and hang tough to make sure that Iran doesn't go forward with this nuclear program.
And I might say that the Iranians have been really trying to conflate or to merge the issue of having access to nuclear technology for power purposes, nuclear power for their energy needs, as opposed to nuclear weapons for their military needs. And they have been able to say they are one in the same.
Most people in the region are very, very concerned about Iran, given its expansionist nature, given the fact that they are now working with elements in Iraq, itself. For them to acquire a nuclear weapons capability is going to pose a significant challenge to stability in the Middle East.
BLITZER: Secretary Cohen, good to have you back in the United States. Glad you had a safe trip over there. Thanks for joining us.
COHEN: Pleasure to be here. Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: And coming up, the country's credit reporting agencies are about to make a major change to your credit score. It's a story that will affect almost every consumer. Our Ali Velshi standing by with "The Bottom Line."
And this note. Coming up at our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour, a rare interview with the world's richest man. Ali goes one on one with Bill Gates. It's an interview that you will see here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Time now for our own Ali Velshi with "The Bottom Line" -- Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Wolf.
Anyone who's tried to get a loan or a mortgage becomes quite familiar with their credit score. And one of the biggest mysteries in life is that there are at least three credit scores for every person out there.
Now, that's kind of strange, but the big three credit rating agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, have now devised a new uniform scoring system. It's call VantageScore. And your credit score, as most of you know, is a snapshot of your credit worthiness at any particular point in time. Usually, the higher the score, the more creditworthy you are considered.
Now, if you have traveled coach class, recently, Wolf, you'll know that it's kind of sparse. Pillows and blankets are scarce. The drinks are soft, and you often have to pay for meals.
And just when you thought there weren't any other freebies the airlines could take away from us, Northwest Airlines says now it will charge for emergency exit row and some select aisle seats.
Starting today, Northwest says passengers can confirm these preferred seat assignments -- they are called choice seats -- up to 24 hours in advance. The price tag for that, though, is $15 per flight.
Northwest, as you know, is already in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, and it's already eliminated free snacks and meals on all domestic flights.
Wolf, stop me if you've heard this one before. A conservative Christian group is launching a boycott of Ford. At issue, the American Family Association says Ford reneged on a pledge to drop its advertising in gay publications and its support of gay rights groups.
Back in December, Ford decided to pull advertising for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands from gay publications, but then Ford reversed course. Now the American Family Association says it's reinstating its boycott of Ford. Ford says that the company is proud of its tradition for treating all groups with respect and it will continue to focus on what it does best, making and selling cars.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
VELSHI: And as you said, I'm back at 7:00 with my conversation with Bill Gates today and where he thinks the future lies -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I know. It's a great conversation. Ali asked him about outsourcing and education, world trade, and a new idea he has that supposedly is going to revolutionize the world just like Microsoft did.
We're going to get to that 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Ali goes one on one with Bill Gates. That's coming up. And with Tax Day approaching, the Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers about a surge in e-mail scams. This is information you need to know about.
This year, the IRS is seeing an increase in what's known as phishing scams. Let's get some more from our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton -- Abbi.
TATTON: Wolf, this one is particularly low at tax time. You get an e-mail promising you a refund that looks like it's from the IRS, but it's not. It's from crooks trying to get your personal information.
We had one of these forwarded to us. We'll show you what it looks like.
Look, promising you $63.80. It tells you to click here, and that refund is going to be sent directly to your credit cart.
The site that it directs you to looks pretty authentic. It looks like it's an IRS site. But it's not. It's a copy of an old version of an IRS site, says a spokesman from the IRS today.
Don't reply to these e-mails, don't fill out your personal information.
This is the Treasury inspector general who's been tracking these scams this year. They say they have tracked 34 different sites that are doing this.
If you get one of these e-mails, as I said, don't reply. Send it to the Treasury inspector general and they will follow up with it -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Abbi. Good advice.
Let's go back to Zain at the CNN Center for a closer look at other stories making news.
Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi again, Wolf.
The U.S. Coast Guard says seven people are missing after this a dam in the Hawaiian island of Kauai burst. Officials say that more than 300 million gallons of water rushed over the dam above the northeast shore today. Some farm buildings and houses reportedly were washed away. It's been raining heavily over the area over the past few days.
Houston police say they have currently uncovered a drop house for illegal immigrants when they responded to a call about a shooting today. They say the house where the shooting took place appeared to be a place where illegal immigrants are held until relatives can pay their smugglers to let them go. Twenty-one men were found in the house. They have now been taken into custody and they're likely going to be deported. At least two men were injured in the shooting.
Mike Wallace, the face and voice of "60 Minutes," says that he'll still be on the show but he's looking forward to some longer vacations. CBS News has announced the 87-year-old news veteran will do occasional news pieces instead of being on air on a more regular basis. Wallace says that he's not being pushed out and he's happy with the new status.
Wolf, back to you in THE SITUATION ROOM.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Zain. We wish Mike Wallace only the best.
Coming up, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson takes aim at Islam again. He says he is criticizing fanatics, but is he fanning the flames?
And President Bush teams up with the autistic teen who became a hoops hero and touched the heart of an entire nation.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is stirring up fresh controversy with comments he made on his show, calling radical Muslims -- quote -- "satanic."
CNN's Brian Todd is joining us now with details of Robertson's latest clash with Islam.
What is going on, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Muslim organizations and watchdog groups are especially concerned about these latest remarks, because they says they follow a clear pattern of anti-Muslim rhetoric from Pat Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: You will pay!
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Denmark, you will pay!
TODD (voice-over): These images, Muslim protesters in Europe, furious over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, apparently give religious broadcaster Pat Robertson ammunition to take another shot at Islam.
On his show, "The 700 Club," Robertson makes this comment after a report on the protests. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAT ROBERTSON, HOST, "THE 700 CLUB": These people are crazed fanatics. And I want to say it's now -- I believe it's motivated by demonic power. It is satanic. And it's time we recognize what we're dealing with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Later, Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network deletes those comments from a version of the show posted on its Web site. Network representatives say they don't want the remarks viewed out of context.
CNN obtained these clips from Media Matters, a Web-based nonprofit watchdog group that describes itself as progressive. In a statement, Robertson says his remark about "crazed fanatics" -- quote -- "refers specifically to the radicals and terrorists who want to bomb innocent people."
He does not clarify these comments made seconds later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination. And, by the way, Islam is not a religion of peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
IBRAHIM HOOPER, SPOKESMAN, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Unfortunately, Pat Robertson has made these kinds of attacks on Islam repeatedly. And it's of great concern to us.
TODD: Ibrahim Hooper from the Council on American-Islamic Relations points to a virtual hit parade from Robertson of anti-Muslim rhetoric.
November 2002, Robertson says Muslims are -- quote -- "worse than the Nazis." Earlier that year, Robertson describes the Prophet Mohammed as -- quote -- "an absolute wild-eyed fanatic, a robber and a brigand, a killer."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: So, is this man who reaches millions on his broadcasts and who once ran for president intolerant and bigoted, as one watchdog group alleges? Pat Robertson would not speak to us. His representatives would not address those allegations.
And, when asked if he would apologize, they said Robertson's comments speak for themselves. They do point to remarks he has made that many who follow Islam are moderate Muslims, who he says are peaceful. But they also cite the instances where he has pointed to passages in the Koran which he believes call for violence against nonbelievers. The people who follow those statements, he says, are radicals -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, thank you very much -- Brian Todd reporting.
Still to come, Israeli troops in tanks storm a Palestinian prison. So, why are the Palestinians taking out their anger on foreigners in the West Bank and Gaza? We are going to go there and find out.
And his ideas helped change the way we live. What does the world's richest man think the future will look like? Our Ali Velshi speaks with Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates. That's ahead in our 7:00 p.m. hour, right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Israeli troops, backed by tanks, stormed a West Bank prison today, leaving this with -- leaving with several Palestinians wanted for killing a Cabinet minister in a botched arms deal. The siege followed a pullout by American and British monitors, triggered violence and kidnappings of foreigners in the West Bank, as well as in Gaza.
CNN's John Vause has the story from Jerusalem -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the Israeli military moved in with full force today, laying siege to a Palestinian-controlled prison in the West Bank town of Jericho.
Israeli tanks opened fired. Helicopters launched missiles. And heavy equipment demolished the outer perimeter fence of the prison compound. Israel had come for six militants, but, in particular, one man, Ahmed Saadat, the mastermind behind the 2001 assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister.
He was being held in Jericho under a U.S.-British-brokered deal, which included the presence of American and British guards. But, this morning, they pulled out, complaining about security at the prison and fearing for their own safety. Israel believed that, with those security guards gone, Saadat and the five other militants would be set free.
Eventually, though, all those inside the prison gave themselves up. But the decision by the U.S. and the British government to withdraw their security team provoked outrage across the Palestinian territories. American and British offices were ransacked. Some were set ablaze. There was a spree of kidnappings of foreigners, including one American teacher in Jenin, who was held for a few hours and later released -- Wolf.
John Vause in Jerusalem for us, thanks very much.
Let's go back to Zain at the CNN Center in Atlanta for a closer look at other stories making news right now -- Zain.
VERJEE: Wolf, Jordan's military prosecutor has indicted al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and seven other people in last year's deadly hotel bombings. The November 9 attacks at three hotels in Amman killed at least 60 people.
Only one of those indicted is now in custody. The would-be suicide bomber had fled when her explosives belt didn't detonate. Authorities say she will stand trial before Jordan's military state security court.
It appears former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic will be buried in Belgrade. That's according to the lawyer who represented him and a Serbian Party official. Milosevic was on trial for war crimes, when he died of a heart attack on Saturday in The Hague. His family members say he may have been poisoned. Final autopsy results and a toxicology report are expected later this week.
French students clashed for another day with police at the Sorbonne University in Paris. At least nine police officers are reported injured. Police, reportedly, sprayed their tear gas and charged the angry students, or the crowd of stone-throwing protesters.
The students are frustrated over a government jobs measure. It would essentially make it easier for employers to fire younger workers. Supporters, though, say that that is aimed, actually, at encouraging companies to hire younger employees.
"The Da Vinci Code" author, Dan Brown, was on the stand for a second day today for his copyright-infringement trial in London. He is accused of stealing the idea for his best-selling novel from a 1982 book called "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail." Brown says that he read that book, as well as 38 other ones, in the course of his research -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Zain, for that.
Let's go to New York. Lou is getting ready for his program that begins very, very shortly -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, Wolf. Thank you.
Coming up at 6:00 on CNN, the Dubai ports deal, it may not be dead, after all. Hang on -- a company e-mail revealing Dubai Ports World may not follow through with their pledge to sell off operational control of facilities at several key U.S. ports. We will have that special report for you.
And among my guests tonight are Congressmen Dan Lungren and Congresswoman Jane Harman. We will be talking about port security and whether or not the Dubai deal is really dead, and what Congress intends to do about it.
And we will tell you which American organization is lobbying against the Sensenbrenner bill, lobbying with the Mexican government, over illegal immigration and border security.
We hope you will be with us for that and a great deal more, coming up at the top of the hour. Please join us -- Wolf...
BLITZER: Thanks... DOBBS: ... back to you.
BLITZER: ... very much, Lou. We certainly will.
Google was dealt a blow in court today. A federal judge has just said, he will require Google to hand over some records that show how their customers use the search engine. The government says it needs this information to help craft a law to protect minors from online pornography.
Our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton, is watching this story for us -- Abbi.
TATTON: Wolf, yes, something we have been watching for the last couple of months now.
And what this means is that the -- four of the biggest search engines -- that's Google, MSN, Yahoo, and AOL -- that's a Time Warner company, like CNN -- these four are all going to be handing over at least some records of their online search engines.
It has been Google who has been really fighting this. They slammed the government last month, saying that this request was nonsensical, that these search terms weren't even going to give the government what they were looking for to craft this law. It now seems they will be handing over some of these -- some of this information.
Now, Google today, for their part, are calling this at least a partial victory. They are saying that the initial subpoena from the government asked for millions of Web addresses. And now it's down to about 50,000. But, bottom line, Wolf, is they are going to be handing over some of these records -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Abbi, thank you very much.
Up ahead, fighting bird flu before it spreads -- what are U.S. poultry farmers doing to prevent a possible outbreak? Our Mary Snow visits the front lines.
Plus, does the United States have anything to say to Iran? It's our question of the hour. And Jack Cafferty is standing by with your e-mail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Americans are growing increasingly concerned about bird flu.
A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows 29 percent of those asked say they are worried they or a family member will become a victim of the virus. That's up 20 percent since December. Seventy percent say they're not worried, down from 78 percent three months ago.
Some poultry farmers are already taking extra precautions to prevent a bird flu outbreak.
CNN's Mary Snow visited one of those farms. She is joining us now live from New York -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, farmers in Pennsylvania have had experience with a form of avian flu. One of the largest outbreaks in the U.S. in recent history occurred there two decades ago.
And farmers say, this time, they are determined not to let it get the upper hand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Behind the serene scene at this Pennsylvania farm, restricted vehicles have to be disinfected. Protective suits have to be worn, all before entering a chicken house holding 30,000 birds.
Scott Sechler says he's policing his business to prevent an outbreak of bird flu.
SCOTT SECHLER, OWNER, BELL AND EVANS: After the avian influenza episode we had back in the early '80s, you know, bio-security is very, very important. And, so, we don't want to drag anything in the building.
SNOW: In 1983 and '84, a strain of flu avian flu, not the strain of H5N1 that we are seeing today, spread through poultry in Pennsylvania. Seventeen million birds had to be destroyed, costing the economy tens of millions of dollars.
At the time, Sechler's business was just starting out. It's now worth about $170 million. He says migrating birds make bird flu's return inevitable. Health officials agree, predicting that wild birds could bring the deadly H5N1 strain into the U.S. in months.
SECHLER: We have to treat this serious. This is our -- our livelihood. And, you know, this is what we have been feeding our customers for years and years and years.
SNOW: While the threat to humans is low, the chicken industry is bracing for the day when bird flu shows up on a U.S. farm.
RICHARD LOBB, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL CHICKEN COUNCIL: All the chickens on that farm will be destroyed. None of them will go to market. None of them will enter the food supply in any way.
SNOW: Pennsylvania veterinarian Sherrill Davison is using tracking systems to impose quarantines on farms.
DR. SHERRILL DAVISON, SECRETARY-TREASURER, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LABORATORY OF AVIAN MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY: If we have an outbreak, we can very quickly identify a farm.
SNOW: Despite the assurances, Sechler still worries, not about bird flu, but about consumers shying away from chicken.
SECHLER: If 5 or 10 percent of the people quit eating chicken, we have got a problem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Even without any traces of the deadly strain of HN51 (sic) in the United States, the Department of Agriculture recently reported that chicken exports have dropped, because consumers overseas are shying away from eating poultry -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Mary Snow in New York, thanks very much.
And we are just getting this in, a statement from the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington. The Zacarias Moussaoui trial is going to resume on Monday, this after the judge ruled that the death penalty is still an option, although several key witnesses no longer allowed to participate. They have delayed the trial until Monday -- this is the sentencing phase of the trial -- until Monday, to give the prosecution more time to consider this decision -- more of this coming up, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Our Jeanne Meserve is out at the courthouse.
Let's go up to New York now. Jack Cafferty is back with "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.
CAFFERTY: Iran may be ready to talk -- "The Los Angeles Times" reporting, some experts say the Islamic republic may be opening up to the idea of speaking directly to the United States.
But John Bolton, the ambassador to the U.N. from this country, says -- quote -- "I don't think we have anything to say to the Iranians" -- unquote.
That's the question this hour: Does the United States have anything to say to Iran?
Aaron in Wisconsin writes: "You always have something to say -- always, without exception. The best solutions are those in which nobody winds up dead on either side. Discussions never killed anyone."
Anna in Greensboro, North Carolina: "The only thing the U.S. should say to Iran is that we won't bother them if they don't bother us. If they every even think about trying anything against the United States, we will send every available bomber to their front door, and we won't stop dropping things until there is nothing left -- no ground troops. So, leave us alone, and we will do the same."
Tony writes from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: "President Bush is preparing his launching statement as we speak. In it, he will discuss the logistics of paving an area the size of Iran. It's a good thing they have all that oil. Paving an area that size will take a lot of oil. Then all we have to do is be patient while the radioactivity dies out."
Rich in Huntington Beach, California says: "I think the U.S. should support Israel and in a bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities. That's only if we use Israeli intelligence. Ours has not been exactly real good of late."
And Curtis in Portland, Maine, writes: "Jack, how about this? 'Hey, Iran, did you see what we did to Iraq? This could be you'" -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jack, thanks very much. See you in an hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Up next, George W. meets J-Mac -- the special teen who got a chance to live out his hoop dreams and scored big with the president and, indeed, with the entire nation. We're going to show you what happened today.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A surprise today for President Bush during his travels in Upstate New York. He went one-on-one with the nation's newest sports hero. You probably remember the 17-year-old known as J-Mac. He was given a shot on the basketball court -- court, and he left Americans cheering and weeping, including the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Jason McElwain's smile said it all. His airport encounter with President Bush was icing on the cake for a high school senior whose hoop dreams came true.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jason, you mind if I call you J-Mac?
JASON MCELWAIN, FORMER HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL MANAGER/PLAYER: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: I call him J-Mac. You can call me George W.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: J-Mac's story never fails to choke most of us up, even if we have heard it and seen it over and over again.
Jason is autistic. For three years, he was the hard-working manager of his school's basketball team in a suburb of Rochester, New York. He had never been allowed to dress with the team, let alone play in a game. Then, last month, during the final home game of the season, the coach told him to suit up.
MCELWAIN: He said, this is your senior present. This is your last -- last chance to ever get on the floor as an actual basketball player for that night.
BLITZER: J-Mac took the ball and ran with it.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BLITZER: He scored an amazing 20 points in the four minutes left in the game, six three-point shots and one two-pointer.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCELWAIN: I was on fire. I was hotter than a pistol.
BUSH: It's a story of a young man who found his touch on the basketball court, which, in turn, touched the hearts of citizens all across the country.
BUSH: Saw it on TV. Saw it on TV...
QUESTION: What was your reaction?
BUSH: ... and I wept, just like a lot of other people did.
But let me -- let me have that there, coach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. There you go, sir.
BUSH: Thank you. There you go.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: Kind of looks like you.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: It was difficult to tell who enjoyed this meeting more, Jason and his parents, who got to spend some quality time with the commander in chief, or was it Mr. Bush? He took a detour from a routine Medicare speech, and from his mounting political problems, to enjoy the company of a young man who has been an inspiration to us all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And what is next for J-Mac? He says he plans to enroll at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, this fall, major in business management. We certainly wish him well.
Congratulations to Jason.
And, remember, we are here in THE SITUATION ROOM weekday afternoons, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. We are going to be back in one hour, 7:00 p.m. Eastern. At that time, Ali Velshi will go one-on-one with the world's richest man, Bill Gates, talking about everything from China, outsourcing, America's education, and a new idea he has right now to change the world.
Thanks very much for joining us. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
