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The Situation Room

President Bush Nominates New Spy Chief; Letter From Iran

Aired May 08, 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 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 5:00 p.m. in Washington. The president picks a military officer as the new CIA chief, but is a concerned Congress already putting up bipartisan roadblocks?

After months of fierce rhetoric, Iran's president sends a surprising letter directly to President Bush. The White House received it only moments ago. Is the hard-liner softening his stance or just trying to avoid U.N. sanctions?

And it's midnight in Darfur, where the U.N. undersecretary- general flees for his life, chased by a mob of angry refugees. We have some extraordinary and exclusive images from our own Nic Robertson. He's on the scene in Sudan.

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

Three days after the surprise resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss, President Bush has nominated a new spy chief. But the Air Force general is already drawing some flack.

Well check in with our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, in a moment.

Let's begin our coverage, though, with our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the president made very clear that he has no doubts, whatsoever, about the choice he's made.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history.

ENSOR (voice over): By the time the president announced it, the choice of General Mike Hayden for the CIA job was the worse-kept secret in Washington.

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN, CIA DIRECTOR-NOMINEE: This is simply too important not to get absolutely right.

ENSOR: Officials were caught off guard by complaints from some key congressional Republicans that a four-star general should not lead the civilian CIA because he would be the Pentagon's man. Not true, insisted his boss.

JOHN NEGROPONTE, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR: Mike Hayden is a very, very independent-minded person, blunt spoken, and who, I don't think, will have any difficulty whatsoever staking out positions that are independent and responsive to the needs of our civilian intelligence community.

ENSOR: The change at CIA comes at a time when the agency is struggling to find the intelligence the administration needs on Iran's nuclear program to convince other nations to support sanctions against Tehran, and concerned, still, to stop the next terrorist attack against this country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: The administration is hoping for quick Senate action on this nominee, but he is likely to face some tough questions before it comes to that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, thank you very much for that.

Let's bring in our Jeff Greenfield. He's taking a look at this whole situation, as well -- Jeff.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, Wolf, the debate at the moment is, who should be running the CIA? But there's another question that may be much more significant. How well has the intelligence community been doing its job in the 60 years since the office of director of Central Intelligence was first created?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD (voice over): Critics point to an unsettling litany of misses: North Korea's invasion of the south in 1950; the entry of the Chinese into Korea, wildly optimistic predictions about the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion; the strength of Viet Cong; the shakiness of the shah of Iran; India's testing of a nuclear bomb in 1988; and, of course, the murderous plans of al Qaeda for an attack on the United States in 2001.

The most recent criticism is aimed at the failure to recognize that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. A fact unearthed by weapons inspector David Kay.

Back in 1991, it was the same David Kay who pointed out a different type of intelligence failure by the CIA and other agencies in Iraq. He said they had severely underestimated Iraq's nuclear weapons program. Indeed, that earlier failure may have prompted Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and others to doubt the CIA's skepticism about WMDs this time. And the run-up to the war in Iraq is not the only time policymakers have discounted intelligence that apparently challenged their assumptions. Back during Vietnam, the CIA was consistently skeptical about the assumptions underlined at war. CIA director John McCone, for example, warned President Johnson that a bombing campaign against the north would backfire, and his agency often challenged the rosy assessments about progress and light at the end of the tunnel.

Back in the mid-'70s, CIA Director Bush -- that is, George Herbert Walker Bush -- appointed a team of mostly conservatives who believe the CIA was underestimating the strength and the hostile intentions of the Soviet Union.

GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, CIA DIRECTOR: No policy bias will color the collective judgment of the CIA.

GREENFIELD: Barely a decade later, that same agency was faulted for missing the reformist intentions of Mikhail Gorbachev and for underestimating the weakness of the Soviet system and its potential for collapse, which it did. Moreover, the very focus on the CIA seems well out of date at a time when the various military intelligence operations consume the lion's share of the estimated $40 billion a year spent on intelligence, and when a new bureaucratic chief, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, outranks the CIA chief.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD: It is a well-worn cliche that the successes of the intelligence community are often shrouded in secrecy, while its failures are the stuff of headlines. But there may be something much more fundamental at play, the illusion that a ton of money, a massive bureaucracy, and a firm set of assumptions can really tell us what the future holds in store -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jeff Greenfield, thanks for that.

The president's choice for chief of the CIA is getting a mixed reaction in Congress, and it crosses party lines.

Joining us now is Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. He's a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Have you made up your mind yet, Senator, whether you're going to vote to confirm or reject this nominee?

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: I haven't, Wolf. I think it's only fair to let the nominee head to the witness table and say his peace.

I do have substantial questions about the nominee's credibility, however. I think it's possible to fight terrorism ferociously and still protect privacy, and the nominee has talked a lot about privacy with the intelligence committee, but at the same time early this year he became the Bush administration's public relations point man for warrantless surveillance. I think that's pretty hard to reconcile, and that's the kind of issue I'm going to get into with him. BLITZER: A Democratic colleague of yours, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, also a member of the intelligence committee, told us earlier here on CNN this -- listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think we need to get the CIA house in order. I think the most important thing is that the individual be a competent, qualified, intelligence professional. And Mike Hayden is all of those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Now, I assume, Senator Wyden, as a member of the intelligence committee you've been briefed by General Hayden. Is he competent? Is he qualified?

WYDEN: He is, and yet, there are other issues that have to be considered. I particularly want somebody who's independent of the Pentagon. I want somebody who is going to tell the truth to the president.

We don't need any more of the slam-dunk syndrome, which I think viewers will recall George Tenet told the president the war in Iraq was a slam-dunk. And so, I think there are other issues that need to be examined.

BLITZER: Would it be -- would it be your sense that if he stepped down and retired from the military, that would help his confirmation process if he were a civilian?

WYDEN: I think the fact that he's in the military raises the bar. I don't consider it disqualifying. Again, what we want is somebody independent.

We have to make significant changes at the CIA. We're going to be dealing with a substantial threat with Iran, for example. This is another area where the data and the information has not been in line with our country's national security interests.

BLITZER: What about Porter Goss? Did you think he was a total failure at the CIA, or was there a bigger problem that he faced?

WYDEN: What troubled me most about Porter Goss is he refused to lift the veil of secrecy that surrounded the agency on some key issues. For example, the inspector general has done a thorough review of the CIA's role prior to 9/11. I happen to think that inspector general report ought to come out. The families deserve it, the American people deserve it, and yet, Porter Goss just stonewalled.

BLITZER: Ron Wyden, member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Thanks for spending a few minutes with us, Senator.

WYDEN: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Time now for what we call "The Cafferty File." That's because it's Jack Cafferty's moment in New York -- Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It makes sense to me.

President Bush, Wolf, may have a new pen pal. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has written a letter to Mr. Bush proposing new ways to end the current standoff over Iran's nuclear program. The timing of this is quite interesting, actually.

This week the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are scheduled to sit down and consider a draft resolution on Iran which would demand that Tehran give up its production of nuclear fuel or face penalties up to and including economic sanctions. But the letter is suddenly a problem in all of this. It will likely be more difficult for the United States to convince the U.N. to get tough on Iran if Iran says, well, we reached out to the United States, we have some ideas on how we can work this all out. One expert called the letter an astute negotiating ploy.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, dismissed the letter from Iran as an attempt to break international pressure.

So the question is this: How should President Bush respond to the letter from Iran's president?

E-mail your thoughts to cafertyfile@cnn.com or go to cnn.com/cafertyfile -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jack, interesting how they send those letters. They don't e-mail each other. Not a Federal Express. The Iranian government gives into the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which is the diplomatic intersection for the United States. Then the Swiss eventually convey it over to the White House. A little -- a little snail mail, as they say.

CAFFERTY: And everybody has to sign it for it, like when you get a registered letter from Internal Revenue or something.

BLITZER: Something like that.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

BLITZER: All right, Jack. Thanks.

If you want a sneak preview of Jack's questions, plus an early read on the day's political news, what's ahead in THE SITUATION ROOM, you can sign up for our daily e-mail alert. Just go to cnn.com/situationroom and do what they tell you to do right there.

Up ahead, more on that letter from Iran. CNN's Aneesh Raman is one of the few Western reporters who is inside Iran right now. He's going to give us the details that you won't get anywhere else.

Also, a close call for CNN's Nic Robertson and his crew as deadly violence breaks out at a Darfur refugee camp. We have exclusive video of this narrow escape. We're going to show it to you. Also, why is the FBI adding a religious leader to its most wanted list? Details of the accusations, including polygamy and sexual abuse.

All that coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: After blistering verbal attacks on the United States, Israel and other targets, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has suddenly softened his style in a surprising letter to President Bush. U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte suggests it may be aimed at influencing a United Nations debate on Iran's nuclear program. But whatever the mood, the note is noteworthy in and of itself.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is one of the few Western reporters in Iran -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this letter came as a surprise, even to those in Tehran. A letter that in itself is historic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN (voice over): He is a man known for his fiery rhetoric. And now, in an unusual turnaround, Iran's president is striking a conciliatory tone in a letter sent Monday to U.S. President Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In this letter, he has proposed new solutions for getting out of the international problems in the current fragile situation of the world.

RAMAN: What those solutions are is still unclear, as is how they relate specifically to the current nuclear standoff between Iran and the West. Such details, Iranian officials suggest, will not be made public until President Bush has the letter in hand.

The letter itself, though, is a historic first. Since the U.S. cut off diplomatic ties with Iran amid the hostage crisis in 1980, there's been no public acknowledgement of communication between the two country's two top leaders until now. And the timing is critical as the U.N. debates what action to take against Iran's nuclear program.

Sadegh Zibakalam is a professor of political science at Tehran University.

SADEGH ZIBAKALAM, PROFESSOR, TEHRAN UNIVERSITY: President Ahmadinejad is trying to convey this message to the international opinion that, well, look, I am trying to do my best. We Iranians, we are trying to curtail the situation, we are trying to curtail the crisis.

RAMAN: But it is hard to imagine what specific solutions Iran could now offer. Iran has maintained all along that its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes only. It has said it will never cease its uranium enrichment, and has warned that if any action is taken against Iran by the U.N. Security Council, it may withdraw from the nuclear proliferation treaty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN: And with the U.N. likely to take action against Iran in the coming days, it could be Iran's president is now looking to tone down his rhetoric -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Aneesh Raman in Tehran for us.

Thanks, Aneesh.

Let's go to our White House correspondent, Ed Henry. He's traveling with the president in Fort Lauderdale right now.

I take it the president now has the letter, Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We're not sure that he exactly has the letter, but we do know from White House officials that the president was briefed about the letter aboard Air Force One on his here to Fort Lauderdale, where, as you noted, he has now arrived.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, though, making it clear to reporters that this does not get the job done, saying, "There are a number of concerns that the international community has with the regime, and the letter doesn't appear to do anything to address those concerns."

Senior administration officials noting that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, have reviewed that letter that you're talking about. They say that basically this is a broad, historical look at the U.S.-Iran relationship. It really does nothing to address the concerns about Iran's thirst and quest for nuclear weapons -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ed Henry with the president in Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks very much.

The president is there for a fund-raiser for a Republican congressman.

Coming up, an extraordinary and extremely dangerous drama played out today in Darfur when a top U.N. official, along with aid workers and reporters, had to flee a mob of refugees. We have an exclusive on-the-scene account from our own Nic Robertson. You're going to want to see this.

Plus, U.S. troop deployments to Iraq on hold. We're going to show you why the Pentagon is changing some plans.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

A very close call for a CNN crew at a refugee camp in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, was covering the visit of a top U.N. official when a crowd suddenly turned on the group, suspecting one of the interpreters was a government spy. That man was later killed.

Nic and his crew were forced to flee, and they captured the incident on videotape. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the matter? What's happening?

Go! What's happening? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!

What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? What's happening?

Shut the door! Shut the door!

Go, go, go, go! Drive! Drive!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go! Let's go!

ROBERTSON: Drive! Drive! Let's go!

Drive quickly! Drive! Drive! Quickly.

Open the door. Open the door. I can't. I can't get to the door.

Keep driving! Keep driving!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening?

ROBERTSON: I don't know. Are you OK?

Drive quickly! Just get out of here!

Keep driving! Just drive! Go, go, go, go! Quickly now!

Go, go, go, go! Quickly, quickly!

That was scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They're running after us, so we do have to keep going.

ROBERTSON: We've got to keep going. Just keep going. Just keep driving. Really quickly, as far as you can.

I don't know exactly what happened back there, but suddenly the crowd got very angry with the man sitting next to me in this car now. They came after the car, they came after him with knives. They were beating the car with sticks, throwing rocks at it.

The only thing we were able to do was drive out. And we drove out through some of the people's houses there. We're trying to get back to Nala (ph) now, where we hope we can find some safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Amazing video.

Joining us now on the phone from Khartoum in the Sudan is Nic Robertson.

Nic, I was watching that video, our viewers were watching it. Riveted, we were scared. You must have been scared out of your mind. Tell us what it was like in that vehicle.

ROBERTSON: Wolf, it's scary just to hear the sounds of the incident again. I'm inside the vehicle as it was happening.

I realize reasonably quickly, though not immediately, that the crowd wanted to get the man out of the vehicle. And I realized, as well, pretty much at the same time, that if they got him out their intention was to kill him.

Our driver didn't speak a word of English, and that was a problem, convincing him to drive forward. We were surrounded by people. The driver didn't want to drive through the people. But I think when he realized what was happening, he just started moving forward, driving through houses to get out of there.

There was a moment when the crowd had surrounded the vehicle, they had broken four of the windows. One man attacked one of the windows with a knife, and I knew at that point if the crowd managed to catch up with us and get into the car, at least the gentleman in the car with us was going to die, and that was -- that was a very big concern for us to get -- to get away, but to get him away safely as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: You've been in a lot of dangerous circumstances over the years, Nic. Was this the most frightening one? Did you ever really suspect, you know what, I might not get out of this one?

ROBERTSON: No, I don't think we did. I think on reflection afterwards we realized that we were lucky in our decision making.

As we drove out of the camp, we passed the African Union peacekeeper compound, and just as we passed it, the driver said, "African Union." And we made up our minds within about five seconds, do we drive out of town or do we stay in the African Union compound?

The African Union compound later that afternoon was overrun very likely by the same mob. And when they overran it, they murdered one of the translators there. And I feel when I reflect back on what happened that we were lucky in our decisions and lucky we were able to get away -- Wolf. BLITZER: A lot of the video that we saw, Nic, you shot with that little -- that little camera. It was almost the size of a cell phone. Tell our viewers what you were doing.

ROBERTSON: Well, Wolf, while we've been here in Sudan, I've been wanting to keep a video blog of what has been going on during each day, what I think in the morning, what's been happening in the afternoons. And I was just following Jan Egeland, the humanitarian -- the U.N. humanitarian relief coordinator, following him from a meeting, filming him, filming the crowd, filming some of the journalists standing on top of the vehicles getting pictures of the crowds and the action.

Just recording what we were doing. And it was an event turned quite literally as I was filming what would have been perfectly normal until a few -- until a few seconds before.

This little camera is a great aid for journalists to be able to record events just like this, to be able to pop it out of your pocket and pop it on at a moment's notice to catch a thought, to catch, perhaps, a quick interview with somebody you didn't think you were going to meet. Today it proved a great tool to record what were, for us, some harrowing moments. But for the translator, misdiagnosed, if you will, by the crowd as a possible government spy, we recorded essentially a life-and-death dash for him -- Wolf.

BLITZER: One individual was killed in this melee, in this mob scene. What were the circumstances surrounding that person's death?

ROBERTSON: As far as we know from the U.N., the mob came to the African Union compound, which is just -- just perhaps a few hundred yards away from the main area of the camp, the main area of the displaced person's camp. They overran -- the mob overran the compound, which is not heavily defended. A lot of the African Union peacekeepers were out protecting women and children as the women and children were leaving the camp to collect wood.

The women and children have often been attacked by militias who rape the women as they leave the camps to get wood. The reason the women go and not the men is the men -- the families say, if the men leave, then the men get killed.

The African Union peacekeepers mostly were out doing that. There weren't many in the compound. The mob overran the compound, trashed their vehicles, burned their vehicles, stole and looted things from the office, including communication equipment. And has been described to us, the translator, the Sudanese local translator working for the African Union peacekeeper was quite literally hacked to death -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson, thank god you got out OK and our CNN team got out OK. You're now in Khartoum. We're going to check back with you 7:00 p.m. Eastern here in THE SITUATION ROOM for more.

Nic Robertson doing extraordinary work for us in Darfur earlier today. The Darfur refugees are angry, clearly frustrated. More than two million of them live in squalid conditions with little food, no protection. President Bush says he wants to ease the crisis and try to bring peace to the region.

Let's bring in our Zain Verjee. She's got more on this part of the story -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, the president says he's dispatching five shiploads of food to Darfur. He'll buy more emergency food aid as well. President Bush also says he's going to ask Congress for $225 million for Darfur.

Rebels in the region have been fighting for more money and more power, essentially. In three years of war, militias, the U.N. says are backed by the government, have killed tens of thousands of civilians. President Bush says the U.S. is committed to ending the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: America will not turn away from this tragedy. We will call genocide by its rightful name and we will stand up for the innocent until the peace of Darfur is secured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: The president also says he wants United Nations peacekeepers in Darfur. He's sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the U.N. tomorrow to help make it happen faster.

There are about 7,000 African troops in the region. They've not really been effective because they don't have enough money or good enough man power and they don't also have a strong enough mandate. The government of Sudan and the main rebel group signed a peace deal on Friday last week. Two of the smaller rebel groups though Wolf, refuse to sign. The Sudanese government has promised to disarm the militias that have carried out the atrocious killing and, Wolf, if that were to happen, it would be a major step towards peace.

BLITZER: Zain, thanks very much.

Let's get some more now on the crisis in Darfur, the U.S. response. We're joined by the number two official at the State Department, the Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick. Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us. You're just back from Africa. You helped negotiate this deal. Are you confident that we're going to see an end to this crisis any time soon?

ROBERT ZOELLICK, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, with the picture you've seen, you realize you can't be confident about anything in Darfur. The peace agreement which the AU helped put together and we and other international partners helped pushed across the line gives an opening, gives a chance. It's a critical step as your correspondent said, but there has to be a lot of follow up. I've been in that camp that you just had, the Coma (ph) camp and it's a very very large and it's a troublesome place. That reaction was clearly because they thought that some of these individuals who were with the crew were associated with the government of the Janjaweed.

You also have the food problem. There were demonstrations at the same time because people were worried about the cut in food aid. United States has been providing about 85 percent of the food and President Bush is even committed to try to do more. You need more help on the food side. You need more help on the security side. That's why we're trying to strengthen the African Union mission and also trying to bring in the U.N. force which the government of Sudan had resisted until we had the peace agreement. So there is a lot of components here, including ultimately some development and reconstruction because after you improve the security, you got to create the conditions so those two million people can come home. So, it's an important step, but there's a lot to do.

BLITZER: There's clearly, the African peacekeepers have been unable to do much. There's now talk that NATO should send in some peacekeepers. What about U.S. forces, whether as part of a U.S. peacekeeping force or part of NATO. Is that something the Bush administration would consider?

ZOELLICK: Well, first, it's important to give some credit to those African forces as your correspondent said. There's about 7,200 now. They've been increasing the numbers, but it is an area the size of Texas. So, the idea with the NATO possibility would be that they need some help in terms of the intelligence about where to put their forces, some of the transport, some of the planning and logistics. We're providing about $11 million a month and the EU is providing the rest of the money for those forces, but the idea would be, they could be much more effective and I think we can increase their numbers now with the peace agreement, but then they need to be followed on by the U.N. side. You've got some U.S. personnel there now as military observers. We have some on contractors, a few other officers, but the U.S. forces could be part of the NATO mission, really, to help more to make sure that the logistics, the planning the operational side is followed through. I think in that region, the best we could have is African, some south Asian, some Arab forces and that is what the U.N. believes, too.

BLITZER: The president used the word genocide today. Is it the position of the U.S. government that the Sudanese government together with the Janjaweed, the rebels, they are engaged in genocide against these people in Darfur?

ZOELLICK: The U.S. has found that position. The U.N. found it to be something different, crimes against humanity, but that was, of course, the term that was used in the Nuremberg trial. So whatever it is, it is something that we need to do all that we can to stop, which is what we've been trying to help and that's one reason that I was rushed to Abuja last week and try to move this peace accord forward.

BLITZER: George Clooney was in Africa recently. I interviewed him here in the situation room as soon as he got back. He praised the president and what the president is trying to do in Sudan but he also said this. Listen to what the actor George Clooney said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR/DIRECTOR/ACTIVIST: I think that we are a country that is always slow to act. We have failed, you know, it's politically savvy to say, hey, we're all doing a little bit of something and it's good that we're moving in the right direction. We're not doing enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The question is, 60 years after the holocaust, after Rwanda and Burundi, what happened when former President Bill Clinton was slow to act then after Bosnia. Is it a fact that the U.S. government was too slow to act in Darfur?

ZOELLICK: Well, with due respect to Mr. Clooney, I appreciate all the involvement you have from people across churches and communities and universities. I was in Darfur four times last year. I'm glad that Mr. Clooney is bringing his name and reputation involved. But I think what we're trying to do and have been doing is we've been feeding those people. We ended a 21-year north/south civil war. We've now given a chance to end the conflict in Darfur. But to do that, we had to bring rebels and the government together. As you might have known, some of the rebels have been fighting the rebel forces. So as that picture showed, this is a very violent and dangerous place. The African Union has taken the lead and we've been supportive of that. It needs to be an African solution. But as I said, we now need to get the momentum of this agreement to follow up with the U.N., with food and also ultimately with development and keep the pressure on the government of Khartoum. So, I hope everyone can help us do that.

BLITZER: One final question before I let you go, Mr. Secretary, Osama bin Laden has now weighed in on the situation in Darfur, that April 24th audiotape he said this: I call on mujahideen and their supporters especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula to prepare for a long war against the crusader plunderers in western Sudan. Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden weighing in on Sudan for the first time. What do you make of this added, I guess you can call it complication?

ZOELLICK: Well, the most important thing is that both the rebels and the government, while they don't agree on much, both rejected it. But as the president said today, what it really tells you is that at a time that the United States and others in Africa and Europe are trying to help save lives and these are all Muslims in Darfur, that you got Osama bin Laden thinking it's for some reason we don't want to help with their security and that's why the people of Darfur and the people of Sudan seem to be rejected it. That's the main message.

BLITZER: Robert Zoellick is the deputy secretary of State, thanks for your good work. Thanks for joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ZOELLICK: Thanks.

BLITZER: Happening now, a manhunt under way in Virginia for a suspect accused of gunning down police officers. Jeanne Meserve is watching the story from here in Washington. What are we learning, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, two police officers said to be in bad condition according to multiple sources after two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons and handguns at a Fairfax County police station. According to one Fairfax County police source, the shootings took place in the parking lot of the Sully station, a Fairfax County police station. One of the, one of the men wielding the guns is also said by sources to have been wounded and is in custody.

A second suspect is on the loose and is being searched for right now. Several people who were wounded were medivaced to Fairfax hospitals. We're expecting a press conference shortly at the hospital. Hopefully we'll learn more about the numbers of people, their identities and their condition. That information not available at this point in time. Meanwhile, various law enforcement reinforcements have been sent in, including FBI agents, according to an FBI official, also a park police helicopter is being used in the search for the suspect. We're expecting more information shortly. Wolf?

BLITZER: Thanks for that report, Jeanne Meserve.

Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, U.S. military officials rethinking deployments to Iraq. We're going to show you why some troops who were supposed to go are now on hold.

Plus, he's the leader of a controversial breakaway religious group, but he's now on the FBI's most wanted list. We're going to have details of the unusual charges against him. Stay with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Are President Bush's approval ratings starting to climb just a little bit. In a new CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, 34 percent said they approve of the way Mr. Bush is handling his job; 58 percent disapprove. That's a slight improvement, two percentage points over the last CNN poll, but within the poll's sampling error. Those who disapprove of the president's performance were asked why. 56 percent cited Iraq as the main reason, 13 percent said gas prices, 26 percent said other reasons.

As the Pentagon ponders a troop cut in Iraq for later in the year, it was announced today a delay in a planned deployment to Iraq. Let's get some details from our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre. Jamie?

JAMIE McINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you can call it prudent planning. You can call it wishful thinking. Just don't call it part of the withdrawal from Iraq of U.S. troops, at least not yet. The Pentagon's plan to withdraw up to 30,000 troops this year is probably one of the worst-kept secrets, but they're not talking about it in public because it's based on a big if and that is if conditions are sufficient that they can begin to draw those troop numbers down. Nevertheless, this announcement that 300, 3,500 soldiers from the Army's 2nd Brigade 1st Infantry Division will stay in Schweinfurt, Germany, instead of going to Iraq, as they were supposed to do this month is an indication on how the whole withdrawal plan works.

Basically 133,000 American troops in Iraq are going to be rotating over the course of the year. Some of them will not be replaced. The idea is to end up with about 100,000 troops at the end of the year. But again, nobody is making that announcement because they're reassessing the security situation. They're also continuing and assessing Iraq's 250,000 plus military and their capability. So, it's possible that these troops from Germany will be sent later to Iraq, but it's also possible that they're the beginning of what could become a significant drawdown in U.S. troop levels in Iraq by the end of this year. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, thanks, Jamie, for that.

Still to come here in THE SITUATION ROOM, for two weeks they were stranded in a steel cage deep underground. Now two gold miners are laughing. They're joking and they're finally breathing some fresh air.

And why are Latino radio hosts in Los Angeles inviting illegal immigrants to name their babies after Lou Dobbs? Coming up in our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour, Jeanne Moos will take a closer look at that story. Stay with us.

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BLITZER: The leader of a controversial breakaway religious group has joined the ranks of terrorists and killers, including Osama bin Laden on the FBI's most wanted list. CNN's Chris Lawrence is joining us now from Los Angeles with the details of this very unusual case. Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, first off, Warren Jeffs has not been convicted of anything. He has been charged as an accomplice in the rape of an under aged girl and in a separate case having sexual contact with a minor. Now as heinous as that sounds, on the surface, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the FBI's 10 most wanted. That list includes, as you mentioned, terrorist Osama bin Laden, men suspected of armed robbery and multiple murders. But, what the FBI says is, he is the leader of a religious sect that practices polygamy. Agents tell us that they believe that Warren Jeffs has forced underage girls to marry much older adult men and he'll continue it do so as long as he is free.

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CHIP BURRUS, FBI: For us to take a look at him and try to find him and to pick him up and prevent him from doing that any more, we think doesn't just affect one child or two children or three children. It affects a whole possible generation of children. We can't just let him continue to sit out there. He's charged with some serious crimes and we think if he's allowed to continue to go between his enclaves, continue to arrange marriages and to do that type of activity, unimpeded, he affects a whole generation of children.

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LAWRENCE: Now, the person that Jeffs replaced was captured within 48 hours of being placed on the most wanted list. Then, the agent sent the word out all over the country to their field offices asking for nominations. Those nominations came in. They looked through the list. They took the best candidates and sent those up the chain of command until one was selected. But there was one other criteria that went into the Warren Jeffs decision and we'll explore that a little more coming up in the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM. Wolf.

BLITZER: That begins 7:00 Eastern. Chris thanks for that.

Let's go now to our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner. She's standing by with more on Warren Jeffs, the newest edition to the FBI's most wanted list. Jacqui.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can get all this information online from the FBI's Web site. Here you can see the wanted poster and also the most wanted list. Here Osama bin Laden and just a little farther down on that list of course, Warren Jeffs. In addition to the wanted poster which has the photograph, which is going to be the number one identifier also tells you how tall. He is about 6'4", 150 to 155 pounds. It mentions he has a slim build and his occupations were private schoolteacher and accountant before this.

You can also get some color photos. There's a $100,000 reward being offered for his capture or information leading to his capture. It also talks about how he's considered a prophet with some 10,000 followers, mentions he may some have loyal and armed body guards with him and he, himself, Wolf, considered armed and dangerous. Also go to cnn.com/situationreport to get all of these links and more of this information.

BLITZER: Let's hope they find him quickly. Thanks Jackie for that.

Up ahead, they were trapped underground for two weeks. Now two gold miners are back above ground. Their extraordinary rescue, that's coming up.

In the middle of a nuclear standoff, get this, President Bush gets a letter from his Iranian counterpart. How should the president respond? Jack Cafferty has "The Cafferty File."

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BLITZER: There's a new development in the Zacarias Moussaoui story. When we thought all was said and done. What's going on, Zain?

VERJEE: Wolf, a federal judge has just denied Zacarias Moussaoui's request to withdraw his guilty plea. The confessed al Qaeda conspirator had filed a notion in federal court just days after he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Moussaoui said that he didn't know about the 9/11 terror plot and that he was never supposed to crash a fifth plane into the White House. Now that contradicts his trial testimony.

In other news, the fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling is almost in the hands of the jury. Jurors have the rest of the week off after testimony wrapped up today. Closing arguments get under way next Monday. The jury will get the case after that. Lay and Skilling have pleaded not guilty to charges they misled investors in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history.

Two Australian gold miners are finally back above ground almost two weeks after they were stranded 3,000 feet under the earth. Todd Russell and Brant Webb are being examined now by doctors. They were trapped in a steel cage when the earthquake triggered a cave-in. A third miner was killed. Rescuers worked around the clock to free the men. They received oxygen, food and water, even an iPod through a plastic pipe. Wolf?

BLITZER: Zain, thanks for that.

Never miss a chance to talk about all the good work being done in Iraq. So says a Bush administration talking points memo leaked on to the Internet earlier today and while that may be good advice for speech writers over the at the Pentagon, why is it coming from the Agriculture Department. Our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton is joining us with the story. Abbi.

ABBI TATTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a memo that was only supposed to be e-mailed to about 20 top people at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Instead it went out to many more and it was obtained by the "Washington Post." It encourages positive language about Iraq to be inserted in agriculture speeches on any topic. Avian flu, on the farm bill for example, even giving you handy examples of transitions you can make to get from one topic to another. You can see some of the talking points in action at usda.gov. Transcripts there, one from last month from Secretary Mike Johanns talking at an Earth Day event, also mentioning democracy building in Iraq. A USDA spokesman tells me what happened was there was a new speech writer with the wrong e-mail list, that the e-mail was only supposed to go to undersecretaries and assistant secretaries at the department. Wolf?

BLITZER: Went out to everybody else instead. Thanks very much Abbi.

Up next, Iran reaches out to the White House over the nuclear impasse. How should the president respond? Jack Cafferty has your e- mail.

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BLITZER: Let's wrap up this hour with Jack, as we always do, we wrap up every hour with you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Yes, well, the good news is we're getting to the end, thank you, Wolf. Iran's president wrote a letter to President Bush proposing new ways to end the current standoff over Iran's nuclear program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told the Associated Press the letter is not a diplomatic opening. She says it's 17 or 18 pages long and covers history, philosophy and religion. The question we asked is how should President Bush respond to the letter from Iran's president?

Mike in California writes, if we start playing games with Iran now, they will be another North Korea before you know it. They had their chance to talk. Now let the U.N. deal with them.

Stephen writes, they've done nothing to indicate any willingness to discuss the matter except now in the 11th hour. This letter should be rejected outright as a ploy.

Rosemary in Groton, Connecticut, he needs to respond in a clear intelligent fashion and without that cowboy rhetoric. I hope he doesn't botch up what may be the only opportunity to work out this mess.

Al writes in Camarillo, California, finally an easy question, Jack. Where and when do you want to meet? How about the U.N. in New York tomorrow? Call his bluff and let the whole world know it.

Pete writes, I think President Bush should respond to the letter by communicating that this is a step in the right direction for Iran. In doing so, the U.S. would be acting as a leader who was interested in diplomacy and a peaceful resolution to the situation.

Jerry writes from Austin, Texas, Bush's response to quote Elvis Presley "Return to Sender." Wolf.

BLITZER: Jack, say congratulations, Wolf.

CAFFERTY: Why?

BLITZER: Just say, congratulations, Wolf.

CAFFERTY: Congratulations, Wolf.

BLITZER: Sixteen years today at CNN, 16 years. I started May 8th, 1990 and here I am, 16 years with you, Jack. Still around.

CAFFERTY: The proper expression is my condolences, Wolf.

BLITZER: How many years have you been here?

CAFFERTY: Too many.

BLITZER: Jack, see you in an hour. You're not going anywhere. We'll be back in one hour. Much more here in THE SITUATION ROOM. In the meantime, let's go up to Lou Dobbs, tonight Kitty Pilgrim filling in tonight. Kitty.

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