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13 Dead in Two Separate Mishaps Involving Passengers On Very Popular Cruise Lines; Dubai Damage; Calls For Rumsfeld Resignation; Many Are Discharged From Hospitals And Dumped On Streets; Surveillance Camera Networks Springing Up In New York City; Fit Nation

Aired March 23, 2006 - 19:00   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 are arriving all the time.
Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you tonight's top stories.

Happening now, a developing story we're watching right now, twin tragedies for cruise ship tourists. One vessel stalled in the Caribbean after a deadly fire. The other luxury liner back at sea off South America after a dozen American passengers die in a bus excursion.

We have the latest.

And it's 3:00 a.m. in Iraq. When can American troops leave? Will Donald Rumsfeld leave? Tough questions for the defense secretary, but he's firing right back.

And hidden cameras are rolling.

In New York, the police are watching around the clock. Are they watching you?

In Los Angeles, the cameras catch homeless hospital patients as they're dumped, literally dumped, right onto skid row.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Right now, we're watching a developing story. There's been another cruise ship nightmare. The plans of thousands of American vacationers are now marred by death and disaster.

Thirteen people are dead in two separate mishaps involving passengers on very popular cruise lines. We have two reports on these tragic accidents.

John Zarrella is standing by in Miami.

Let's begin, though, with Fredricka Whitfield. She's joining us from the CNN Center -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you, Wolf. In one accident, a fire broke out in a Carnival cruise ship called the Star Princess. The blaze charred and blackened about 100 cabins.

Officials say one person died of a heart attack and 11 others are being treated for smoke inhalation. Just over 2,600 passengers were on this ship, as well as over a thousand crew members. One tourism official tells CNN that firefighters think a cigarette caused the blaze, but that is not being confirmed.

The Star Princess was en route from Grand Cayman Island to Montego Bay, Jamaica. And that's where the ship is docked right now. Officials with Princess Cruises say the ship's current tour will be canceled and that passengers will receive refunds and a paid trip home.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard is sending a fire official to Montego Bay to start an investigation into exactly what happened -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What a horrible tragedy. Those pictures are amazing. Fred, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, a couple of thousand other vacationers are shaken by the deaths of some of their fellow passengers from another popular cruise line.

CNN's John Zarrella is joining us from Miami with the latest details -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Well, the millennium, which is owned by Celebrity Cruises, is again sailing tonight. It left the port city of Arica this morning, early this morning, on its way to Lima, Peru. This after a terrible tragedy that took place less than 24 hours ago now when a tour bus went off the side of an Andes mountain cliff.

There were 14 Americans on that tour bus. Twelve of them died. Two are tonight listed in critical condition. They are in intensive care in a Chilean hospital.

Some of the latest information we have coming to us right now is that the families of the victims and those injured are either on the way or may already have arrived in Chile. And the bodies of the victims, those who perished, may be flown out of Chile as early as sometime early tomorrow.

Now, the cruise line has been maintaining right along that it -- that this particular tour operator was not authorized, was not sanctioned by the cruise line, was not one of those shore excursions that you can buy on the cruise ship before you dock. It was an independent cruise operator not sanctioned by the company. But yet, the company did give some more details as to what they said they knew happened to the bus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAN HANRAHAN, PRESIDENT, CELEBRITY CRUISES: The bus in which they were riding swerved to avoid an approaching truck on a rugged mountain highway. The bus apparently ran off the road and plunged 300 feet down a mountainside. Twelve guests on the bus were killed and two other guests were injured in the accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, many of the -- well, the victims were all, for the most part, from New Jersey, Monroe Township. They lived in a community called The Ponds.

And late this afternoon, we were able to talk with many of their friends there who expressed, of course, very deep sadness and sympathy for the survivors and the families, and for their friends.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says, "Don't be alarmed. I've got to tell you something." I'm losing my voice from screaming.

HANRAHAN: The bus in which they were riding swerved to avoid an approaching truck on a rugged mountain highway. The bus apparently ran off the road and plunged 300 feet down a mountainside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These were wonderful people enjoying life to the fullest. And they will be tremendously missed. And the impact of this event will be felt for a long time to come.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any conversation you had with these people was always upbeat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, we had an opportunity -- we had an opportunity to speak with some passengers onboard the Millennium late this afternoon. As it was sailing, some passengers who actually took an authorized tour, very similar to the one these -- these other people took, and they told us that even on that authorized tour, it was very scary on that mountain road in the Andes, and that if they knew how scary it was going to be, right off the side of the edge, if you moved three feet one way, three inches one way, they said, the bus could very easily have gone off. If they knew how scary it was going to be, they said they would not have taken that tour -- Wolf.

BLITZER: These people who died in this crash, John, mostly seniors in their 60s and 70s, retirees, and it was a B'nai Brith- sponsored tour they were on. They were Jewish people from New Jersey. What's been the reaction, though? I know you've been speaking with people from B'nai Brith.

ZARRELLA: From B'nai Brith there's -- a rabbi is going down. Some representatives from B'nai Brith have also gone down to Santiago, Chile, the capital of Chile. They're going to be meeting with the relatives there. There is going to be a memorial service in Chile sometime tomorrow. And we believe it will be handled and conducted by at least several leaders from the B'nai Brith organization.

Now, this group of 12 -- of 14 were part of a larger group. There were about 60 people from this Ponds B'nai Brith organization that were on this Millennium cruise -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John Zarrella reporting for us.

John, thank you very much.

And there's another incident we're getting word of tonight, another developing story involving yet another cruise ship. This one involving the Carnival ship the Sensation. It's leaving Florida later than expected after something turned up during a Coast Guard inspection.

CNN's Brian Todd is following this developing story. What are you picking up, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we've just spoken to the Coast Guard down in Florida, and they're telling us that those specific problems were as follows.

During a routine inspection of the Carnival's ship Sensation this morning, they found deficiencies in the fire safety system. Very specifically, a Coast Guard official tells us the fire screen doors, the fire station valves and the watertight doors were not working as they should. Some of them, not all of them were not working as they should.

The ship, as he put it, is being detained tonight while the cruise line fixes those problems. We did get word from Carnival -- they issued a statement saying that the items have been corrected and the work is awaiting certification by the Coast Guard and by Lloyd's Register of Shipping.

And they are assuring people that the cruise liner will depart later this evening. It's scheduled to go to Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas. And Carnival is trying to reassure everyone that the cruise ship will leave this evening and that these problems will be fixed.

They are apologizing to the crew and the passengers for any inconvenience that this has caused. They say that the safety and security of the crew and guests is their paramount concern. They say they're fixing those problems, they expect to be under way tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian, thank you very much.

Clearly, this is turning into a disastrous week for cruise lines. And that could be threatening the industry's bottom line.

Ali Velshi standing by in New York with more on this. (BUSINESS REPORT)

BLITZER: Let's check in with Jack Cafferty. He's in New York as well. He's got "The Cafferty File."

Hi, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How you doing, Wolf?

Call it Vice President Dick Cheney's tour rider. The Smoking Gun Web site has posted a document listing downtime requirements for Cheney, guidelines for an advanced person preparing a hotel room for the vice president. And some of the guidelines include these...

All lights have to be turned on. The temperature set at 68 degrees. Diet caffeine-free Sprite, sparking water, Calistoga or Perrier. That's if Mrs. Cheney's traveling with the vice president. And all televisions in the room tuned to the "F" word network.

The vice president's office confirmed to CNN it's all true.

Here's the question: How would you prepare a hotel room for the vice president?

E-mail us at CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/caffertyfile.

I'm looking forward to reading these.

BLITZER: You're going to get bombarded with e-mail, Jack. Thanks very much.

Coming up, Donald Rumsfeld, feisty and fighting. The defense secretary takes on calls for his resignation and takes on our Jamie McIntyre in a Pentagon briefing today.

You're going to want to see this.

And did the Dubai ports debacle sink critical business deals for Americans? Tough questions coming up for the economic minister for the United Arab Emirates.

She's here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Plus, they're old, they're sick and they're homeless. And guess what? They've been dumped on L.A.'s skid row, literally. A stunning story all caught on videotape. We're going to show it to you.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: How much damage was done by the torpedoing of the Dubai ports deal? Now that the smoke has started to clear, we've been taking a much closer look.

Once again, let's bring in our Brian Todd. He's got the latest -- Brian.

TODD: The damage is still being assessed, Wolf. And while that goes on, a key relationship hangs in the balance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): We have seen firsthand how this country the size of South Carolina has transformed itself from a tiny, oil- dependent sheikdom into an economic and strategic powerhouse. We have also seen the United Arab Emirates skewered by American politicians during the Dubai Ports World controversy.

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: Dubai is a place where you can, effectively, ship anything from anybody to anybody. And those are precisely the wrong people to be operating American ports.

TODD: The detractors had ammunition. Dubai was a major financial center for al Qaeda before September 11, a key money base for the 9/11 hijackers.

But, since 9/11, U.S. officials say the Emirates provided intelligence on terrorists, cracked down on weapons trafficking and money-laundering. But, after the port deal:

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There's a risk here, a chance, that they will lose a lot of their enthusiasm for cooperating as closely with us as they have in the past.

TODD: Take the military.

The port of Dubai and nearby U.S. air bases are critical to U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. One former U.S. defense secretary says the UAE may rethink its level of participation.

There are also economic ties, including billions of dollars in trade and American jobs at stake. Free-trade talks between the U.S. and UAE are on hold. And Emirates Airlines, which has been a big Boeing customer, buying billions of dollars worth of planes, can also put its money in European-based Airbus.

RICHARD ABOULAFIA, AVIATION INDUSTRY ANALYST: It's an easy to see a scenario where this poisons commercial relations between the Emirates and the U.S., and that could directly impact Boeing's prospects to sell aircraft to the Emirates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Boeing officials tell CNN the company is getting no signals from the UAE that business will be affected by the port deal collapse, but one expert worries that economically and strategically the U.S. may have blown an opportunity to show others in the Middle East that it can have close partnerships with an Arab country in very sensitive matters -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian, thank you very much. So how much harm could U.S. business and strategic interests suffer in the Middle East? Will American jobs be lost as a result of the collapse of this deal?

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi is the minister of economy and planning for the United Arab Emirates. She insists there's no damage, absolutely no damage, even to big deals like the current purchase of U.S. airliners.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let me press you on this point, because there is some suspicion now the next phase, you are not going to buy any more Boeings. You are going to go to Airbus, because you are angry at the United States.

SHEIKHA AL QASIMI, MINISTER OF ECONOMY AND PLANNING, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: No. I think every contract is actually being evaluated on merits of its own.

I want to remind everyone that, post-September 11, the largest purchase of Boeing was actually done by Emirates Airlines in the United Arab Emirates. So, that's -- to me, is a good example that, for us, business is business, and it will continue to be that way.

BLITZER: The issue for Americans, of course, is, a lot of aerospace jobs in Washington state and elsewhere are at stake, assuming that the United Arab Emirates and Dubai are going to go ahead and buy a lot more U.S.-made planes.

AL QASIMI: Well, I think it's very important to understand that foreign investments, a lot of foreign companies who establish businesses in here, in many ways, continue and contribute in the economy within a -- within a country.

For every billion dollars, you actually generate 10,000 employment here in the U.S. And this actually comes across many contracts, not just Boeing.

BLITZER: Will the U.S.-UAE military strategic relationship be damaged at all? As you know, the U.S. Navy uses the ports in Dubai more than any other ports outside of the United States. There are U.S. air bases that are in the United Arab Emirates. Is there going to be any impact on this military-to-military relationship?

AL QASIMI: No, not at all.

I think it's very important to understand, on both sides, we need each other. And, therefore, you can't jeopardize a relationship over decades because of an incident. The environment in the Middle East is a challenging one and a trying one. And there is need on both sides, on the U.S. and the UAE, to continue this relationship on the military aspect.

BLITZER: Let's -- let... AL QASIMI: There are 600 calls per year on the U.S. Navy of the Emirates. And this is actually the most frequent foreign port calls after the -- outside the USA.

BLITZER: We just saw the aircraft carrier the Ronald Reagan...

AL QASIMI: Yes, Ronald Reagan.

BLITZER: ... in Dubai.

Here's what the 9/11 Commission report said. And I want to clarify where you stand today on this matter.

AL QASIMI: Yes.

BLITZER: "The United Arab Emirates, the financial center of the Gulf area, also had a reputation for being wide open, with few regulations on the control of money, and a woefully inadequate anti- money-laundering program. The vast majority of the money funding the September 11 attacks flowed through the UAE."

That's what the 9/11 Commission report said.

AL QASIMI: Yes.

I'm hopeful, also, they mentioned that money-laundering had gone through 96 countries, because we...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But they say the vast majority went through your country.

AL QASIMI: This is because of a structure of hawala, the personal transfers.

As we stand today, UAE stands as a good bench -- benchmark, actually, in the act against money-laundering, with a lot of work and development between the constituencies, the organization, within the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates

BLITZER: Are you funneling charitable contributions, if you will, to Hamas, Hezbollah, groups the State Department deems to be terrorist organizations?

AL QASIMI: First, let's clarify one thing. There is no cash handover in any form or shape within the Emirates going anywhere else.

Usually, in support of people, for example, the Palestinians, and this is in tune of the policy of the U.S. government itself -- we have projects. Usually, we develop hospitals, roads, accommodation for people.

But any money that goes through for any particular reason, actually, for example, in -- in Palestine, gets scrutinized through the Israeli authority, because that's part of the system. BLITZER: Because the -- the argument is...

AL QASIMI: Yes.

BLITZER: Just as Saddam Hussein gave $25,000 to families of so- called Palestinian martyrs, suicide bombers, the argument is, the UAE may be doing the same thing, in effect, giving money to families of what they call martyrs.

AL QASIMI: UAE actually frowns and it stands against suicide bombers and doesn't give a single dollar to -- or a penny to any of these families, because it is against the policy -- not only the policy, but the -- the philosophy of the UAE itself.

So, there's no money that goes through. We work through NGOs, like the Red Crescent. And, in this process, we only work through projects. There's no money at all. And if there is any money of some form or shape, it actually goes through the process of Israeli clarifications and approval, before it gets to the -- you know, there's a joint effort between the Palestinian entities and the Israelis for any of this process.

BLITZER: Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, welcome to Washington. Good to have you here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

AL QASIMI: Thank you. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thanks very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And still to come tonight in THE SITUATION ROOM, hostages rescued in Iraq. We're going to tell you how they were found and how the operation went down.

And a former president's life-long struggle. That would be Bill Clinton, speaking out right now about his newest campaign against childhood obesity. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is there with him. He's going to join us live.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Zain is off tonight. Let's check back with Fred for a quick look at some other stories making news.

Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Hello again, Wolf.

A four-month hostage ordeal for three Christian aid workers in Iraq is finally over. U.S. and British forces stormed a house in western Baghdad today acting on a tip from a detainee captured by U.S. forces yesterday. The freed Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sooden and Briton Norman Kember. The kidnappers were not in the house. The body of a fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was found shot to death earlier in the month.

France's prime minister will meet with union leaders tomorrow to try to stop days of sometimes violent protests. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Paris and several other cities across France again today. They're angry over a jobs bill that would make it easier for companies to fire younger workers. Unions plan a national strike next Tuesday.

And U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is urging Afghanistan's president to press for a favorable resolution in the trial of an Afghan Christian convert. After meeting with Greece's foreign minister in Washington today, Rice says there is no more fundamental issue for the United States than freedom of religion.

Abdul Rahman could face execution for converting from Islam. It's a death penalty offense under Afghanistan's constitution -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Fred, for that.

Just ahead, does he think about stepping down? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld takes some tough questions, but gives as good as he gets. You'll want to see this.

And he was a chubby kid who grew up to be a junk food-loving president. Tonight, Bill Clinton is declaring war on childhood obesity.

That's coming up live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Should Donald Rumsfeld resign? There are some recent calls for him to step down, or Actually be forced out. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre was brave enough earlier today to ask the defense secretary about those reports. But he may have gotten a little more than he bargained for. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Secretary, I'm just curious, do you feel at all embattled at this point in your tenure?

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: No.

MCINTYRE: Aside from the retired two-star general calling you incompetent and asking you to step down in an op-ed over the weekend, you also have a column from Maureen Dowd in which she quoted an unnamed administration official saying that you don't hold the same sway in meetings and that you're treated as, quote, "an eccentric old uncle who is ignored." RUMSFELD: You like to repeat all that stuff, don't you. On camera? Did you get that? Let's make sure you got it. He loves that stuff. It's a sure way to get on camera. He'll be on the evening news.

MCINTYRE: I know you like to have the facts in the premise of the question.

RUMSFELD: Yes, I do. And you did it very well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can do one-armed push-ups and put all this to rest.

RUMSFELD: The answer is no.

MCINTYRE: Do you hold the same sway in meetings?

RUMSFELD: Oh, come on. I'm not going to get in that. Pam?

QUESTION: Sir, in your opening statement, said...

RUMSFELD: If you believe everything you read in Maureen Dowd, you better get a life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Secretary Rumsfeld says he has offered to resign as defense secretary, not once, but twice. He did it during the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse scandal in 2004. But he says President Bush refused to let him step down.

In our "Strategy Session" tonight, the political war over Iraq intensifying. Which party will be able to convince the voters they have a plan for success?

And is it a good strategy for Republicans to use the threat of impeachment as a fund-raising tool?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Joining us now, our CNN political analysts. Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, and Bill Bennett. He's the host of the radio program "Morning in America."

Let's listen to what the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today on all of these questions surrounding him. Listen to this.

RUMSFELD: The question of our time is whether we face this enemy on their terms or on our terms, on their territory, or on our territory, where they are on offense or where they are on defense.

BLITZER: Bill Bennett, some conservatives, and you know which ones I'm talking about, are themselves becoming increasingly irritated with the defense secretary. Are you among those?

BILL BENNETT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: No. BLITZER: Do you think his strategy is right on or way off?

BENNETT: No. I think there have been mistakes. Clearly there have been mistakes, but there have been mistakes in every war. And this stampede against Rumsfeld: the media, the incredible criticism of him for comparing Saddam to Nazism, when in fact the Baathist regime was inspired by Nazism, direct line of dissent. But these conservatives now -- George Will has been critical. He's been critical all along of the war. But others have turned against Rumsfeld.

He will stick it out as will the president. All the stuff, the impeachment stuff, abandon course, is all just a lot of talk. The president has made it clear where he stands. Rumsfeld is staying as part of his cabinet. And dare the Democrats to do this impeachment, censure, whatever the games they're playing.

BLITZER: Do you want to weigh in on Donald Rumsfeld?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: First of all, the president must decide whether or not he should stay or go. But, you know, Bill say, I dare the Democrats. Democrats don't have the votes to censure the president or to impeach the president. What Democrats are demanding is a full investigation over whether the president had the authority to wiretap.

Now, when it comes to Iraq, the Democrats are saying that they voted in 2005 for this year to be a year of transition. And thus far, they haven't seen that. What they're hearing is more PR, but not a clear strategy for victory.

BLITZER: But you're not suggesting -- and Bill, I don't want to put words in your mouth -- that the media is to blame for the horrible images that are coming out of Iraq?

BENNETT: No. But I think you and Jack earlier kind of missed what the American people are saying, and making fun of the American people as if they were castigating the media for this fog (ph) in Iraq is not the point. The American people are saying that the mainstream media does not properly represent in a full and fair perspective the goods with the bads. And Howie Kurtz backs it up -- Howie Kurtz who studies backs is up.

If you watch, the mainstream media, a lot of it, and I do as much as I can, you clearly get the sense of negativity. It's not analogous to saying, we only report crimes and not peace in Washington, D.C. When you're trying to make an assessment of where you should go, and are you prevailing, are some things going well, if almost all you get is negative, then that is leading to people's assessment that the war is going badly. When in fact I think the war is going pretty well. It's not going well, though, in the mainstream media, and certainly public opinion has been affected by it.

BLITZER: Certainly, if you think the war is going well, most Americans don't think the war is going well.

BENNETT: I understand that.

BLITZER: You think the media has been responsible in the way we've covered the situation in Iraq these past several months?

BRAZILE: I think the media has been very balanced in their coverage. First, they ignored all the signs that most Americans felt over in Iraq, because we didn't find weapons of mass destruction. There were all kinds of lies that were told. And the media didn't take the administration to task for almost a year into the war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett speaking with me earlier in THE SITUATION ROOM. And remember, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM as well. Political news arriving here all the time. CNN, America's campaign headquarters.

Up ahead, a shocking scene, a truly shocking scene. A hospital patient is left on the streets in Los Angeles' skid row, dazed and disoriented. The startling videotape and what hospitals are saying in response. That's coming up.

And don't look now, but big brother could be watching you, really. That's ahead in our "Security Watch," how New York police may be eyeing your every move on the streets. All that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's certainly not compassionate care -- imagine being sick, being discharged from the hospital and then being dumped, literally, on the streets as if your life meant absolutely nothing. There's startling new videotape showing that's what's happening to some people right now in Los Angeles. CNN's Chris Lawrence is joining us from L.A. with more on this shocking story -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some of these people are in their 60s. And even though they're homeless, they didn't necessarily live in the city of Los Angeles.

Now, a lot of them are getting dumped here, in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in L.A. where police say there are nearly 2,000 people on parole and more than 400 registered sex offenders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): So many patients have been dumped on skid row, they rescue mission installed outdoor cameras to catch them. This videotape shows a cab making a U-turn, then driving out of view. A few seconds later, Carol Reyes appears, disoriented and wandering about in her hospital gown.

(on camera): Did you ask the cab to take you here?

CAROL REYES, PATIENT: No.

LAWRENCE: Then why did he bring you here? REYES: I have no idea. If I knew, I'd tell you.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Carol has no idea who paid for the cab.

(on camera): Was this one incident?

ANDY BALES, PRESIDENT, UNION RESCUE MISSION: No, this is the third incident since last Wednesday.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Andy Bales runs the Union Rescue Mission. He showed us its logs, documenting dozens of incidents where patients were dumped on skid row.

BALES: We've got an ambulance with the name of the hospital on the side.

LAWRENCE: The hospital that released Reyes says patients should be discharged with dignity.

DIANA BONTA, KAISER PERMANENTE: I want to apologize to this patient. I want to sincerely apologize.

LAWRENCE: Kaiser Permanente and other hospitals are working with the Mission to more closely monitor discharge policies.

BALES: And make sure you call ahead. We know we have a bed. We know they're going to be welcomed and treated with dignity. Don't drop them off like baggage.

LAWRENCE (on camera): Were you angry?

REYES: Yes. And I still am.

LAWRENCE: Why?

REYES: I don't like what's happening.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: We is spoke with the Los Angeles city attorney, who is using these logs as part of an ongoing investigation into patient dumping. But he says it's a hard case to prosecute, because a lot of the victims are mentally unstable -- Wolf.

BLITZER: She looked like she was walking around in a daze, still in her hospital gown. Chris, thanks very much for bringing us that story.

Now to another story involving cameras and what they capture. In the city that never sleeps, big brother may soon be staying awake watching you. Mary Snow is on the streets of New York right now with more on this story.

Mary, what's going on?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, the city's police commissioner says that New York lags behind cities like London and Paris when it comes to surveillance, and he's pushing for more cameras to step up security.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): On Fordham Road, whether you're on foot or in a car, the New York City Police Department is watching, capturing your image, sometimes your license plate. Overhead cameras are rolling 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: We will see them as a deterrence tool. So, the fact that they're labeled NYPD, I think, you know, may very well prevent anybody from doing something untoward, committing a crime.

SNOW: The other goal, says New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, is to deter terrorism.

Kelly says New York trails behind cities like London, and he's using homeland security money to add more eyes.

(on camera): Here in the Bronx, police have been monitoring these streets with surveillance cameras for more than a year. They say it's cut down on crime, specifically robberies. Now the New York City Police Department wants to install cameras like this one throughout the entire city.

(voice-over): 505 cameras are slated to create what some call a ring of steel around areas like the financial district, considered a prime target for terrorists. Critics question the move.

DONNA LIEBERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NYCLU: It's chilling that somebody in government knows every place I go and with whom and when. That's a little bit scary, I think.

SNOW: Commissioner Kelly says New York is taking a page from London, where surveillance cameras helped track suspects in last summer's subway bombings.

KELLY: They were a useful tool in London. And god forbid we have to use them to that degree here. But I think, you know, they are an effective means of deterrent and also effective investigative tool when need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Now, the New York Civil Liberties Union is questioning whether it benefits of the cameras outweigh the erosion of privacy. But the police commissioner says that these cameras are not hidden, they are clearly labeled and there is no expectation of privacy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary, thank you very much.

Surveillance camera networks are springing up all over the United States. Are the police watching in your city? Our Internet reporter Jackie Schechner is taking a closer look -- Jackie.

JACKIE SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, this is a D.C. Department of Transportation camera. And the police can tap into this should they need to. They can also look at the cameras on the metro.

They have 19 cameras that are closed-circuit television and they turn them on in case of major events like protests or inaugurations.

But this is nothing like the network of cameras in Chicago. Some 2,000 cameras in their surveillance network, 100 of those belong to the Chicago Police Department. And 25 of those have a smart technology in them that can hear gunshots and turn towards where the noise is coming from. It can also identify what kind of gun is being fired.

Now, in Los Angeles, they also have a network of surveillance cameras. They have five cameras on Hollywood Boulevard and six in MacArthur Park. And they tell us that there's been a 16 percent drop in crime, Wolf, on Hollywood Boulevard or in that area since the cameras were installed.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jackie, for that.

And to our viewers, please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Up ahead, Bill Clinton, he's long had a battle with his own weight, now he's talking about that struggle to our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay standing by.

And we've been telling you what the vice president of the United States needs in his hotel rooms when he travels. Jack Cafferty wants to know how you would prepare the vice president's room. Your e-mail on Jack, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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BLITZER: The former President Bill Clinton is in Philadelphia right now on a mission to try to help young Americans lose weight and get in shape. Childhood obesity is a growing problem in this country, and that problem hits the former president very close to home.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Philadelphia along with the former president. Both of them are trying to help us get a "Fit Nation." Sanjay, what is going on?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're doing this "Fit Nation" tour, Wolf, actually going around the country, getting off the television screens and actually talking to people face-to-face, because honestly we're sick of just talking about the problem, we want to actually develop some solutions. I had a chance to sit down with the former president just a few minutes ago. This is a big initiative for him. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the society as a whole, we need to help organize opportunities for this. And for people that can't afford to join a health club, we need to do more things that Philadelphia has done.

I think it's unbelievable what's happened here. I hope because of this program, other cities will copy what has been done here. But I say on a personal level, anybody who says they don't have time to do this is spending time doing something that's not as valuable over the long run. Because if you don't have your health, you don't have much else. Anybody that's ever lost it for any period of time will tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: And obviously the President Clinton is talking about his own situation, his heart surgery.

By the way, Wolf, he looks great from that. And he seems like his health is quite good.

But you know, it's amazing, he went on to make points about the fact that we don't place enough of a premium on our health. We blow this off, we don't worry about it until it's often too late, as was the situation with him.

We're going around the nation, Wolf, trying to energize college students to come up with some ideas to try and fix this. This is a fixable problem, Wolf. So many things that we talk about on THE SITUATION ROOM, elsewhere, you've got to just throw up your hands and say, well there's nothing we can do about it. With the obesity epidemic, with the unhealthiness of America, it's a fixable problem. And that's his main message today.

BLITZER: And he has a personal story. He writes about -- he wrote about it in his book. He was a chubby little kid growing up in Arkansas. And that affected his life deeply to this very day.

GUPTA: Yes. He talks very candidly about the fact that it was -- he was a chubby kid. And he had a lifetime of neglect to his body. I mean, even when he was president, he said it took him some time to actually get into some sort of fitness routine, some sort of dietary routine, and even then he would go off of it. He was a yo-yo dieter by his own admission. And it caught up with him, Wolf. Everybody knows, he had four vessels in his heart bypassed. Big operation. Had some complications after that as well.

But now, I think, professionally and personally, he's out there trying to say, look, I waited too long. And he also makes his point this point that the generation of children that are born right now have a very good chance of having a shorter life span than their parents. And that's a remarkable point if you think about it. All advances in medicine, technology, possibly erased by this one fixable problem. BLITZER: Thanks to you, Sanjay. And thank the former president on our behalf as well. This is very important work both of you are doing. Thanks very much, Sanjay Gupta.

GUPTA: Thank you.

BLITZER: The fight against fat appears to have become politically correct. According to a recent report, the word obesity now appears in 56 bills introduced in the current Congress, and almost every state in the nation has taken some steps to try to ease America's weight problems. Most of those measures focusing in on children.

Jack Cafferty joining us now with "The Cafferty File." He has no problems with his weight.

CAFFERTY: No, but it's all -- that's just the genetic luck of the draw, Wolf, it's not because I pay any particular attention to it.

The Smoking Gun Web site has posted a document listing down time requirements, that's what they call them, for Vice President Dick Cheney. What it is is guidelines for an advanced person who is setting up a room for the vice president.

One of the requirements that his office has is that all televisions be tuned to the F-word network. I guess he won't watch anything else.

The question is, how would you prepare a hotel room for the vice president?

You know, some of this stuff, I mean, you know when you write it I can't read it on the air, some of what you said. You should be ashamed of yourselves. But some is pretty cute.

Phil in Grants Pass, Oregon, "Sodium pentothal in the liquor cabinet. I would like to hear the truth for once."

Phil in Valencia, California, "pad the walls, put bars on the windows, supply the room with a 12-gauge shotgun, a view to some open fields with friends and birds and a book to show the difference. Furnish a blackboard where he could write several hundred times, there are still WMDs out there, we just haven't found them yet."

Kathy in Bristol, Indiana, "a federal prison decor works for me."

Len in Florida, "I would short sheet his bed."

Jim in Grand Rapids, Michigan, "be certain all housekeeping personnel are wearing bulletproof vests."

Larry in Lynnwood, Washington, "I would stock Dick Cheney's hotel room with the following items: bulletproof pajamas, lots of Slim Fast, TVs tuned to CNN with broken remote controls and candies left by his pillow with a handwritten note from Senator Pat Leahy."

And Michael in West Virginia writes, "Shotgun, plenty of shells, a bottle of fine liquor and all the lawyers he could shoot" -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very clever little e-mails. Thanks, Jack, see you tomorrow.

And let's find out what's coming up right at the top of the hour on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Heidi Collins filling in for Paula again tonight. Hi, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf. Thank you. At the top of the hour, a dramatic confrontation in court. The family of a murdered graduate student watches as a former bouncer in a bar is accused of murder. And did you know that something most of us carry every day helped convince a grand jury to indict him.

Also, how did a family survive for two weeks trapped in the snowbound wilderness? We'll tell you about that.

And remember "the Bionic Man?" Well, now he's real. Meet a medical marvel coming up at the top of the hour, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks, Heidi, very much. See you soon.

Still ahead, online, all the time. It's hard to do that right now. But could we all be plugged in 24/7 in the not too distant future? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Constant Internet users have come to love their wireless access. The trouble is, you can't always get that access everywhere. How close are we, though, to what's called constant connectivity? In our series "Welcome to the Future," CNN's Miles O'Brien reports that we're getting closer every day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great that Wi-Fi technology exists. But if I spend all day looking for a hot spot, it doesn't help me.

Wi-fi is a way to get on the Internet wirelessly. A hot spot is a public place you can do it. If I need to get information, I've got to scramble around to find the nearest hot spot. I want to get access everywhere. I want access on the street corners, in a subway, in a bus, so that I can get access to whatever information I want, whenever, and wherever I am.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hot spots are great. But what if you're in the cold abyss that lies between them? Might as well be digital Siberia. So, how long before we can connect wirelessly wherever, whenever seamlessly? Now, that would be hot.

Frank is director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which sets standards for the technology. And he says Wi-Fi is spreading like wildfire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things that we're really going to see over the next few years is this notion, really, of seamless connectivity. So you're actually going to stay connected using a variety of different networks. You're not going to know you're on one network or another network, you're just going to stay connected with the best network at the lowest cost.

O'BRIEN: In other words, you could use one mobile device everywhere: home, office, on the road, timelessly tapping into a quilt of networks without missing an e-mail or a call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nice thing about Wi-Fi is that we're really just getting started. We're seeing Wi-Fi move into consumer electronics products. But we're also seeing Wi-Fi moving in the future into cars. So vehicle navigation systems, intelligent highway management systems, those kind of things are really going to enable us to travel with a lot more intelligence and a lot more convenience as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And remember, we're here in THE SITUATION ROOM, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, back at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting. Let's head up to New York right now. Heidi Collins filling in for Paula -- Heidi.

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