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CNN Live Sunday
Analyzing Messages from Al Qaeda; Possible Remnants of Noah's Ark; U.S. Has to Find New Way to Prosecute Detainees at Guantanamo Bay
Aired July 02, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN ANCHOR: Clouds get in the way of a second launch attempt for the shuttle Discovery. Plus, al Qaeda's public relations offensive. What's really being said in these messages from the terrorist underground? And could this be the remnants of Noah's Ark? One explorer says yes, it is, and I'll talk to him coming up.
It's Sunday July 2nd and you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Susan Roesgen, filling in tonight for Carol Lin. Here are the stories making news right now.
Within the past hour, Israel has launched at least two more air strikes on targets in Gaza. The attacks follow an order by Israel's prime minister to intensify the military operations to try to find the captured Israeli soldier.
NASA will now shoot for a Fourth of July launch for space shuttle "Discovery." Threatening skies around Cape Canaveral forced NASA to call off today's attempt, the second scrub in two days. We'll have a live report straight ahead.
A car plowed in to a crowd today just about an hour ago along the Ohio River in Indiana. Thousands of people were there for an annual speedboat race. About a dozen people were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Mexico is electing a new president today. Political analysts say the race will likely come down do to leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative candidate Felipe Calderon.
Film critic Roger Ebert is listed in serious condition after emergency surgery today. The operation was meant to repair complications from earlier cancer surgery.
Well, what can you say? It's deja vu for the crew of "Discovery." For the second time in as many days, they left the space shuttle after bad weather halted the launch. Now, Tuesday the Fourth of July, could be the day that NASA successfully lights a fire under that rocket. So let's go live to Daniel Sieberg at Kennedy Space Center. Daniel?
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Susan that's right. It was the second day in a row that stormy weather thwarted NASA's attempt to launch "Discovery." They went through all the motions, getting out to the launch pad and everything for about two hours before the scheduled launch time this afternoon. They called it all off. It was due to the stormy weather and a short time later at a NASA press briefing, mission management director John Shannon explained why they need to proceed with caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SHANNON, CHAIRMAN, MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM: We have been here before. The key is after a year of preparation and after a very careful countdown, you don't want to get in to a rush and do something that is not smart in -- from a weather standpoint. And, you know, nobody is going to remember that we scrubbed a day or two days a year from now. But, if we go launch and get struck by lightning or have some other problem, that will be very memorable. So we're going to -- since we have taken this much time, we're going to make sure that the weather conditions are right and we'll launch when we're ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIEBERG: Once the weather does cooperate, the whole point of the mission is to rendezvous with the international space station. They're actually bringing up a European space astronaut, that's Tomas Ryder from Germany, he will be staying on board the international space station. They're also bringing up some supplies. They're going to try and do a couple of space walks, maybe even a third space walk that would help them test to see if they could do any repairs on the space shuttle if they have any problems with something like this, this is the foam that we've all heard about that could possibly fall off and strike both the shuttle itself.
As you know, in the past this happened in particular with "Discovery" a year ago. Some pieces of foam did fall off the external fuel tank and hit "Discovery." In that case, it was not all that serious, but of course you'll remember that foam did also strike "Columbia" back in 2003 and that was a fatal hit from the foam that caused Columbia to crash. But they are actually going to be using a lot of high tech cameras to monitor for the pieces of falling foam to make sure that -- if it does happen they're at least more aware of it than they were in the past, Susan.
ROESGEN: And Daniel, if this launch doesn't happen on Tuesday, then what?
SIEBERG: Well, if it doesn't happen on Tuesday that would be Tuesday afternoon at 2:38. If it doesn't happen, they would try again on Wednesday about 22 1/2 minutes earlier, that's the next launch window. And the reason there's a launch window, if you think of, say, a quarterback and a receiver or a pitcher and a catcher, they both need to line up in order to catch the ball and the shuttle is the ball. All these things have to line up like the trajectory of the space shuttle and the orbit of the earth.
The next launch window would be on Wednesday. After that, they'd stand down for a few days to try and top off some of the fuels for the shuttle and then try again after that. The launch window for this month extends to July 19th and picks up again in late August. So of course they hope it will go sooner than later.
ROESGEN: Yes, it's like playing football on a rotating field.
SIEBERG: Right.
ROESGEN: I know they have to hit that window. Thanks Daniel.
SIEBERG: A cosmic field.
ROESGEN: You bet. So "Discovery" is now scheduled to launch at 2:38 p.m. eastern on Tuesday and CNN will once again bring you in depth coverage as NASA makes its third attempt to get the shuttle in to orbit.
Another round of violence today in Baghdad. A bomb went off at dusk at a busy market. Four people were killed and 22 wounded. And a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in this neighborhood earlier in the day. Two officers and two civilians were wounded.
Iraq's government has unveiled a list of that country's most wanted fugitives. 40 names on the list at the top, Issat Ibrahim Al Duri. He was deputy commander of Iraq's armed forces under Saddam Hussein. Saddam's relatives outrank several suspected Al Qaeda leaders on that list, his daughter is number 16 and his first wife comes in at 17.
Iraq's national security adviser says Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has been buried in a secret location somewhere in Baghdad. The Al Qaeda in Iraq leader was killed in an American air strike last month. His family had tried to have his body returned to Jordan.
Well, the bills are coming due for the war in Iraq and the lengthy war on terror. CNN Joe Johns has this report that first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a costly war in lives and limbs and in dollars and cents. War spending in the aftermath of 9/11 now at an estimated $437 billion according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. Almost three quarters of that, $319 billion has been for Iraq. If the new numbers are accurate from year to year, funding for the war efforts have increased dramatically from $31 billion for the first year to well over $100 billion for fiscal year 2006. But that's just an estimate because the report says it's been hard to get a full accounting from the pentagon. Congressional democrats say that's no accident.
REP. DAVID OBEY, (D) HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Well, I think the White House and the pentagon, the civilian leadership of the pentagon have done every possible thing in order to conceal those numbers. Instead of bringing down regular budget requests, they bring you down on the installment plan. A little piece at a time and a supplemental. That means that the public is going to have a devil of a time figuring out what the actual cost of this war is.
JOHNS: What no one doubts is that the cost is on the rise. Why? The pace of the war, for one thing. Also, force protection such as body armor, increasing oil prices, but there's also the issue of military gear. War is hard on it and much of it needs to be repaired if not replaced when troops leave Iraq. In pentagon jargon it's called resetting and apparently congress never fully addressed those replacement or repair costs. And the generals now need the money to pay for all those war ravaged tanks, humvees and uniforms.
GEN. PETER SCHOOMAKER, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: By the end of the this year, fiscal year 2006 ending in three months, we will have placed approximately 290,000 major items of equipment into reset.
JOHNS: Army chief of staff Peter Schoomaker said his branch will need $17 billion for equipment that got run down or trashed in the war. Not to be outdone, the marine corps says it will need almost 12 billion.
GEN. MICHAEL HAGEE, MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT: We have aged it as the chairman mentioned five, six, seven times more than we thought that we would. And we have used it in a very harsh and unforgiving environment.
JOHNS: So, if you're a taxpayer, hold on to your wallet. Because keeping them honest, even with all the talk of troop withdrawals and draw downs, the pentagon will still need more cash to fix up all the stuff that got destroyed and run down in combat. And according to the generals, the repair bills will keep coming years after the war ends. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And for more stories "Keeping Them Honest" like that, be sure to tune in to "ANDERSON COOPER 360" this week. The show airs week nights at 10:00 eastern, 7:00 pacific.
At least two Israeli missiles struck targets in Gaza City tonight. One is believed to be at the offices belonging to Hamas. Israel has been warning that it will step up its military operations in Gaza until a captured Israeli soldier is released. Hamas militants captured 19-year-old corporal Gilad Shalit a week ago today. They tunneled under the Gaza border to get him. Also, earlier Sunday an Israeli helicopter fired missiles at the empty offices of the Palestinian prime minister. In a military show of force.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Now things are slipping outside our fingers like sand. I'm really very worried tonight. I have a lot to be concerned about. If the Israelis as I expect expand and escalate the situation in Gaza by going in with tanks and planes and F-16s and so on, I'm afraid that this will not only widen the cycle of violence and counter violence and extremism in this part of the world between us and the Israelis, but this will translate and transmit to the region. The last thing this region wants is more extremists. We have enough extremism.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Again, get rid of it in one moment. There is a soldier. The operation would be over. In a moment of time. It's up to them. But they cannot keep the soldier as a hostage and then complain. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: However, in spite of the violence, Israel has opened two Gaza crossings to allow food and medicine and fuel shipments to get in. Israel insists that it will not allow this standoff to become a humanitarian crisis.
A Grammy winner in an Arab court on drug charges. Not something you hear about every day. We'll tell you what happened in three minutes.
America's drug war in the deep woods. How the vast northern border helps traffickers. And still to come --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The feeling of your stomach dropping out is a great (inaudible). But one piece of advice. Don't eat lunch or dinner just before you get on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: You won't even need to leave the couch to get the feel of that summer thrill ride.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROESGEN: Music producer Dallas Austin could face four years in an Arab prison. Austin pleaded guilty today in a Dubai courtroom to bringing cocaine into the United Arab Emirates. Austin calls it a mistake. Earlier today I talked to Don Melvin, he's a reporter for COX News Service and he's in Dubai covering the case.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DON MELVIN, COX NEWS SERVICE: So far as we know, he hasn't yet deviated from what a normal person would face which is four years in prison. There is an intense speculation right now in Dubai, however, that he will get pardoned.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Austin was arrested in May and charged with possessing 1.26 grams of cocaine. The 34-year-old producer faces sentencing on the Fourth of July.
There is a battle on the border, not over illegal immigrants but over drugs. And lawmen say they scored a major victory. Jeanne Meserve covered this story for "AC 360."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In just 30 minutes a helicopter drops two large loads of Canadian marijuana in the Washington state wilderness. This, agents say, is the perfect smuggling scheme. Audacious, simple, successful until now. Law enforcement has seized 4 tons of marijuana, 800 pounds of cocaine, several aircraft and made more than 40 arrests in the U.S., six in Canada.
JOHN MCKAY, U.S. ATTORNEY, WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON: There are drug runners, there are off loaders, there are attorneys, there are pilots and there are owners.
MESERVE: This is marijuana from British Columbia, known as BC bud because it consists only of the flowering tips of the plant with a high concentration of the active ingredient THC.
LYNN GARDINER, CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: This is pretty much gourmet marijuana. I mean it's very specialized and very potent.
MESERVE: It is also very expensive. Wholesaling for as much as $5,000 a pound in Los Angeles. One helicopter can carry a million dollars worth. The traffickers boasted in a "Playboy" article last year that they operated with impunity even during periods of heightened threat level. We're better than Fed-Ex, one crowed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop, drop, bag away, bag away, we have the bag locked up this time.
MESERVE: They didn't know they were already under investigation or that in the coming months at least two of their choppers flown by unlicensed pilots would crash.
The terrain to mask themselves. Radar can't see them here.
MESERVE: Immigration and customs enforcement special agent Peter Ostrovsky takes us along a smuggling route, demonstrating how a remote mountain valley can be a safe corridor, shielding a helicopter from detection as it slips from Canada into the U.S. We touched down in a small clearing only about 60 feet wide, used by traffickers.
PETER OSTROVSKY, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: This is all it takes.
MESERVE: And hundreds of spots like this in the forest?
OSTROVSKY: Absolutely hundreds of spots. Just a wide spot in the road, that's all it is.
MESERVE: The engine never stops. We linger only for the minute or two it would take to offload marijuana and on load cocaine.
OSTROVSKY: We're going to lift off here. If you do the same thing, you just lift off then you turn around and depart the area.
MESERVE: Mission accomplished.
OSTROVSKY: Mission accomplished, exactly.
MESERVE: Lasing through this national forest, logging roads like this where people wait to pick up the drugs the helicopters drop. The camera on a customs and border protection surveillance plane 6,000 feet in the air that captures me and my crew on the ground can also record a drug transfer or track a helicopter, if it knows where to look in this vast wilderness.
It truly is like finding a needle in a hay stack.
MESERVE: With at least 30 valleys leading south from Canada and innumerable landing spots in the 3.2 million acres of forest land here, intelligence and cooperation on both sides of the border in the air and on the ground have been critical to this bust. But law enforcement has no illusions.
OSTROVSKY: We can put a dent in the them but we can't change the terrain out here. This terrain's here forever, you know, we can't change mother earth and the smugglers are going to continue to exploit this kind of terrain.
MESERVE: For now, they are trafficking drugs but officials say these same methods could be used to sneak in terrorists or weapons of mass destruction. Not just here but elsewhere on the northern border where a stunning landscape offers a cloak for smugglers. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, over the Cascade Mountains.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: What does this slab of rock have to do with Noah's Ark? In 30 minutes, the story on a possible new discovery that has some biblical scholars buzzing.
And up next, it's NASCAR without the asphalt. Go inside the world of dirt track racing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROESGEN: In news across America, a Florida woman is safe after being lost in the woods for ten days. Rescuers found 66-year-old Eleanor Sheffield about two miles from her home. The police say she suffers from dementia and she just got lost while she was walking her dog.
A symbol of Tacoma, Washington's industrial past gone in the blink of an eye. Demolition crews destroyed a 500-foot smokestack, part of an old aluminum plant. More than 100 tons of soot was scrubbed from that smokestack beforehand to try to cut down on the pollution from the blast.
A young California man is wrapping up his weekend with a host of world records. 14-year-old Jonathan Strickland flew from California to Canada and back. And that trip makes Strickland the youngest African-American to fly a helicopter solo. The youngest to do internationally and the youngest solo pilot to fly both a helicopter and an airplane on the same day.
It's cleanup time for thousands of people in the northeast. Flooding there has left homes filled with dirt and debris. And you know what, hundreds of people in upstate New York are still waiting for permission to go home and look at the damage. The federal government has declared eight counties disaster areas.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROESGEN: Now let's get down and dirty. Have you ever wondered where many of today's big NASCAR stars get their start? Well Miles O'Brien says for some, the left turn started on dusty dirt tracks all over rural America.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Tony Stewart.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRSPONDENT: The now NASCAR driver Tony Stewart tips his hat to the skill of dirt drivers. After all, he got his start on dirt and now owns one of the most celebrated dirt tracks in the country. El Dora Speedway in Ohio.
TONY STEWART, NASCAR DRIVER: I make my living driving on pavement every week but I've always been more interested in dirt racing than pavement. Being on a dirt track a lot of times is like being on a gravel road. If you go just a little bit too fast, the car's going to slide. If you hit the gas too hard, it spins the tires and kicks the rocks up. If you try to stop too fast, you skid. You lock up the brakes. That's what makes driving on dirt more technical.
O'BRIEN: Technical, indeed. Stewart wiped out the night we saw him race at El Dora.
SCOTT BLOOMQUIST, DIRT TRACK DRIVER: Me personally, most of the NASCAR races, I'll turn them on, I'll be asleep after the first 20 and hope somebody wakes me up through the last 10.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: Don't miss "CNN PRESENTS Dirt Track Warriors" tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The drops and loops is what you wait for but the anticipation that sets it all up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Come along for the ride with Gary Tuchman as we check the safety of one of America's favorite thrill rides.
Then the search for Noah's Ark. Why a discovery in Iran has some people claiming that they have found proof of the biblical legend.
Al Qaeda's full court press in the media. What's behind the flood of public declarations? That story coming up in three minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We are a computer obsessed society whether for work or play we often can't function without it. But can you become an online-aholic. Hillary Parker and Jay Cash of Redmond, Washington are pioneers in treating internet and gaming addiction.
HILARIE CASH, PH.D, INTERNET ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Internet Computer Addiction Services is an organization started eight years ago. The most important symptoms are a sense of compulsivity about spending time on the internet. Such as video games, pornography, chat rooms, gambling, shopping.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Their treatment includes group and individual sessions with a focus on stress management.
CASH: All addictions are symptomatic of deeper problems, so always the work begins with stopping the behavior and helping them develop alternative coping skills.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROESGEN: Here's a look at what's happening now in the news. Another round of Israeli air strikes on suspected militant strongholds in Gaza. The strikes coincide with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's earlier announcement of stepped up military operations against suspected Palestinian militants. He says it will continue until a kidnapped Israeli soldier is freed.
Another launch delay for the space shuttle Discovery. The second postponement in two days because of bad weather.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SHANNON, CHAIRMAN, MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM: I'm looking forward to coming back on July 4th and trying this again. With a good vehicle that has really behaved really well during the count. And we'll have full cryo-tanks that will maximize our chances of getting the full mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: So, join us Tuesday now for our live in depth coverage of the planned shuttle launch right here on CNN.
At least eight people are in the hospital in southern Indiana after a car plows into a crowd of people at a speedboat race. It happened just a short while ago in Madison, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Right now, we don't know the extent of the injuries.
New Jersey's budget battle may require some midnight oil. Governor Jon Corzine says he is willing to go in to the night to negotiate a deal. Corzine shut down state government yesterday after the lawmakers failed to meet a July 1st budget deadline.
It's Election Day in Mexico. Mexican voters are deciding between two very different leading candidates and the polls there will close in about two hours. Movie critic Roger Ebert is back in a Chicago-area hospital. He is 64 years old and he is in serious condition after emergency surgery. Ebert suffered complications after an operation two weeks ago to remove a cancerous growth.
Now the latest threats from the top ranks of al Qaeda. Including two taped statements in the past three days from Osama bin Laden. In the message that surfaced yesterday, bin Laden encouraged jihadists to fight the crusaders, Americans in Somalia and in Iraq.
And he condemned Iraqi Shiites as agents of the Americans. Al Qaeda's leader did not reveal the face in moving video since 2004. But he has now issued five audio tapes in the first six months of this year.
Bin Laden's top deputy has been vocal as well. Since January Abu al Zawahiri has made seven statements including a slickly produced video on June 23rd.
With us now in Washington is Peter Bergen, a CNN terrorism analyst and in London, Paul Edele, an al Qaeda analyst, especially in terms of analyzing al Qaeda's messages on the Internet. Paul, we don't hear anything for weeks from bin Laden. The man behind the curtain and then we get these two tapes in three days. Why do you think that is?
PAUL EDELE, TERRORISM ANALYST: I think it is a critical now time for al Qaeda's war in Iraq. Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda having been removed, the new government having announced a very ambitious reconciliation plan, there's propaganda war on both sides. The government in the American administration are making their points and this is bin Laden's contribution.
I think he is on the defensive. That's my interpretation of the last message. I think that he is -- he mentions, for instance, leaving Baghdad would be -- would be a disaster. Baghdad today. Damascus an Amman tomorrow. He's mentioning the possibility of his fighters leaving the country.
ROESGEN: Peter, let me ask you this. I know that you have actually met bin Laden. You talked to him several years ago. I had seen a report that on the first tape, at least, bin Laden sounds out of breath and tired and, of course, we don't actually see him speaking on either of these tapes. We only hear him. What is your take on that?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, you know, I think stories about bin Laden having kidney disease and being kind of ill in some way have been overblown. Yes, we have not seen bin Laden on a videotape since October 29th, 2004. We have only had audio tapes from him but that could be just as much about wanting to maintain operational security as it might be that, you know, he is in horrible health.
I don't think bin Laden's going to be dying of natural causes any time soon. ROESGEN: OK. Let's talk about the production of this tape here, Paul. It seem that we used to see bin laden in front of like a sheet with a couple of Kalashnikov rifles around him. Very primitive, something you could do with a home video camera in your garage.
And now, we have these tapes getting more and more sophisticated, colorful graphics very slick. Should we assume that al Qaeda, the organization, is also becoming more sophisticated?
EDELE: No. I don't think I'd agree that the production values have changed radically recently. Al Qaeda started putting out very attractively packaged videos in 2002. It's first big video in 2002 celebrating the 9/11 events was extremely well put together. And for instance, they recorded the last wills and testimonies of the 9/11 hijackers against a green screen, you know, to be able to insert images of the burning Twin Towers afterwards. I think that shows that the production values have been high for a considerable amount of time.
ROESGEN: And do you think this in turn means that the organization is getting better organized?
EDELE: I think it means that they have access to the same skills as all the rest of us do. I don't think we should imagine that just because al Qaeda takes refuge in mountain caves they're less sophisticated in their use of readily available software packages than anybody else video blogging on the net today.
ROESGEN: Talking about where bin Laden might be, in what cave, a question for both of you. And I know it is the $25 million question. But what's your best guess on where bin Laden might be right now? And with the $25 million bounty on his head, why hasn't someone close to him turned him in?
BERGEN: Well, I mean, I think he is in Pakistan. It's the problem of finding one person, you know, people say on the FBI's most wanted list in the United States for years or even decades. And to extend that problem to the Afghan-Pakistan border region which is an area 40,000 square miles. And in some places quite remote and difficult to get in to. You've got a serious problem.
But I don't think bin Laden is actually in a cave. The kinds of messages we are getting for him, the fact he's well informed about current events suggests to me he has access to news, somewhere that's got electricity.
If he's in the tribal areas, and that between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he is in an area with some amenities. We've seen - when we did get a videotape from him, his clothes were well pressed. You don't usually have laundry facilities in caves and that is also true of Ayman al-Zawahiri, we've had several videotapes from him in recent months all of which show him to be somebody who appears to be not living in a cave but enjoying the amenities of electricity, clean clothes, et cetera.
ROESGEN: Well, Paul, why do you think we can't get this guy? EDELE: Oh, the -- it's 10 years that the Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been on the run in a small country in the heart of Europe and the combined forces of the western world have been unable to catch him. I think as Peter said, this is a large area. Not under any control and he has a lot of friends.
ROESGEN: All right. Peter Bergen and Paul Edele, thank you both for joining us today.
BERGEN: Thank you.
ROESGEN: Back here in the states, a New York senator says the Bush administration miscalculated how the Supreme Court would evaluate its handling of enemy combatants. Senator Charles Schumer is urging a legal review of our anti-terrorism measures. After last week's ruling, the U.S. does have to find a new way to prosecute detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Here's our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The high court ruled that if President Bush wants to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay before military commissions, those commissions brought into line with both military law and the Geneva Conventions.
The case brought on behalf of a Yemeni, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and who officials say admitted being Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver. Hamdan's legal team including a government-appointed military lawyer, argued the military commissions were unfair. And the Supreme Court agreed.
LT. CMDR. CHARLES SWIFT, MILITARY ATTORNEY FOR HAMDAN: We have never contested that we can not be tried there. All we have wanted is a fair trial and we thank the Supreme Court for ensuring that Mr. Hamdan will get one.
MCINTYRE: The ruling was 5-3. Chief justice John Roberts did not take part because he ruled in favor of the government when he was on a lower court. Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens said, "The rules specified for Hamdan's commission trial are illegal," citing the "failure to apply one of the most fundamental protections, the right to be present."
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a blistering dissent saying the ruling will "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."
But nothing in the ruling prevents President Bush from holding enemy combatants at Guantanamo indefinitely or eventually trying them so long as the legal deficiencies cited by the court are corrected and the attorney for Australian David Hicks, another detainee challenging the commission process says the irony for the 450 detainees at Guantanamo is the court victory could actually prolong their imprisonment. MAJOR MICHAEL MORI, MILITARY ATTORNEY FOR DAVID HICKS: Unfortunately, that's the byproduct of having to fight for a fair trial for them. If they used a fair system two and a half years ago, the trial would be done.
MCINTYRE: But defense attorneys insisted the ruling showed the strength of the American system of justice.
NEAL KATYAL, SALIM HAMDAN'S ATTORNEY: Just think of it. What happened today, a man from Yemen with a fourth grade education accused of conspiring with one of the most horrendous individuals on the planet was able to sue the world's highest, most powerful individual, the president of the United States and have his case heard. In no other country would this be possible.
MCINTYRE (on camera): The Bush administration took heart in the fact that the court found no constitutional impediment to trials for enemy combatants and vowed to move quickly to draw up new rules to get the commissions back on track. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Lawmakers today did take up the question of what to do about Gitmo on the Sunday talk shows. In case you missed it, here's some reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling from MEET THE PRESS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NY: This ruling undercuts some of the other things the president has done but on giving the president what he needs and giving our country what we need to fight the war on terror, there's going to be agreement.
ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's break it down here because this ruling does indicate to some human rights groups that this applies to the prisoners in secret CIA prisons, to the prisoners in Afghanistan, beyond Guantanamo. Are we going to see a flood of Habeas Corpus petitions now? Senator McConnell?
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (D) KY: I think clearly we have got to act. And I'm pleased to hear that Chuck thinks that we may be able to do this on a bipartisan basis. I think it's important to note that this president has not do anything with regard to enemy combatants that have not done by previous presidents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: And on "This Week", the controversy over reporting by the "New York Times." The paper has been criticized by a story on how the U.S. watches international bank transactions for terrorist activity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: Congressman Peter King suggested that the Justice Department should look to prosecuting them. Do you agree with that?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) AZ: I think we should go after the leakers. First. But if the "New York Times" thinks the story was inconsequential, a legitimate question is why was it on the front page?
STEPHANOPOULOS: On the issue of whether the "New York Times" should have published that article, on the banking surveillance program run out of Belgium, do you think they should have?
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CA: Well, I in a way wish they hadn't but that's not my job to say. I mean, one of the beauties of our system of government is that the press functions as a separate, independent entity and is not necessarily cowed by government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: And remember, every Sunday here at 7:00 Eastern CNN brings you the best headlines from the Sunday talk shows.
The search for Noah's ark leads to Iran. Up next, I'll talk to an explorer about why this latest find looks promising.
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ROESGEN: Checking headlines all around the world now. Things are heating up on the war front as we know and we don't necessarily mean in Iraq now. Shanon Cook joins us with the details of a deadly attack in Afghanistan. Shanon?
SHANON COOK, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there. Thank you, Susan. Allied troops came under attack in Afghanistan today. In fact, two British soldiers killed when the base targeted. The British Defence Ministry says the base hit by rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire yesterday. The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan is currently involved in two major operations to root out Taliban insurgents.
Violent clashes in Bangladesh. An opposition activist fatally shot and a police officer beaten to death in the capital, Dhaka. More than 150 people were hurt and 100 were arrested. The demonstrators want sweeping electoral reform ahead of a vote next January.
And to Berlin, Germany, now. Twenty-one people were injured when they were struck by a car that plowed through the World Cup fan mile. That's a public spot where fans gather to watch the soccer matches on big screens. It's a popular spot and the driver is in police custody pending an investigation.
Also, David Beckham retired today as captain of the English soccer team. He is getting hold at 31. But Britain's most glamorous athlete does say he still hopes to play for the English squad in international competition. And she is known as the Steel Butterfly. Imelda Marcos turned 77 today. The former first lady of the Philippines widow, of course, of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos chose to spend the day handing out rice and words of encouragement to poor families just outside Manila. A fairly humble birthday celebration, I think you can say, for Marcos, who is known for extravagance and enormous collection of shoes.
Susan, no sign she went shoe shopping today though there's a good chance somebody gave her some shoes for her birthday.
ROESGEN: Probably. How could we forget that? She's always tied to that. Thank you, Shanon.
COOK: Thank you.
ROESGEN: Now, I know you may have heard something like this before but some explorers say they might really have found the wreckage of Noah's ark. They say it was sitting right on a mountainside not in Turkey as many believed but in Iran. The team leader is Bob Cornuke who has launched repeated expeditions in search of biblical treasures.
And he joins us live now in Denver. Bob, just for the record, you are a Christian archaeologist. What does that mean?
BOB CORNUKE, BIBLICAL EXPLORER: Well, I look for thing that is are in the Bible. That are lost in the Bible. We -- I've spent 20 years looking for lost locations and lost artifacts that are mentioned in the scriptures.
ROESGEN: Well, in this possible Noah's ark find, tell us what you did find and where exactly was it?
CORNUKE: Well, I've been looking for about 20 years. I originally got started with astronaut Jim Irwin, the eighth man to walk on the moon. We looked in Turkey for a long time and didn't find anything there but we found biblical references that pointed towards Iran, ancient historical records. We went over to Iran.
We found this mountain with a lot of tradition about it as being the place where Noah's ark came to rest. We were blown away and found this object on the side of the mountain and it looked like rock but when we got up close and looked very much like wood that had turned to rock.
ROESGEN: How big is this?
CORNUKE: It about 400 feet long. It goes right through the mountainside and goes out the other side. And so the pictures you see are just kind of a nub of it coming out but it is a very impressive object. We don't know if it's Noah's ark. I don't think anybody is every going to be able tell if it is Noah's ark. We don't even know what gopher wood is and that is what the ark is made out of. But it is a very exciting find and it does deserve a lot more research.
ROESGEN: Well, can't you do scientific analysis on pieces of it and try to find out what it is? Whether it really is petrified wood or something else?
CORNUKE: Well, we have sliced it up and we have looked at it and some of the slides show that there are cell structure indicating we have some petrified wood within the object. We don't know if it is all petrified wood but some of it is and then we found some sea life as we sliced it open with the forms which are found in a quiescent ocean bottom so it is very exciting that we found these kinds of indicators around the site.
ROESGEN: If it is Noah's ark, would you plan to try to bring it -- some of it or all of it back here?
CORNUKE: No, no. I don't think the Iranian government would allow that. People maybe start to worship this object. And the object is not important. What it symbolizes is the saving grace of God that is important. So the ark is just an old piece of rotting wood or petrified wood which we think it may be. What it symbolizes something far greater than just some old wood.
ROESGEN: And I just want to get one more sense for viewers because we only see little pieces of it in the video. It's shaped like some kind of ark?
CORNUKE: Well, if you want to see video of it or photos of it, you can go on arkfever.com. A friend has placed some - Brandon Howse has placed some video and footage. So if you want to see the whole thing, go on arkfever.com and you will be able to see that but it shaped in a real -- like a pile of old timbers. That have been covered with black cement. It's very compelling when you get up close to it. These rocks look just like beams.
ROESGEN: All right. We'll take a look. We'll probably get it up on cnn.com, too. Thanks, Bob.
CORNUKE: Thank you.
ROESGEN: Well, chances are you or your children will be taking a ride on one of these this summer. Are they safe? That story in three minutes.
And at the top of the hour, playing in the mud has never been more popular. "CNN PRESENTS" goes inside the sport of dirt track racing.
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ROESGEN: The preliminary autopsy results indicate that the Florida boy who died last week on a roller coaster had a heart defect. The 12-year-old boy stopped breathing on Walt Disney's MGM Rock 'n' Roll roller coaster on Thursday. Industry experts, say, however, that there is no safer ride than a roller coaster.
In today's "Leading Edge" our Gary Tuchman looks at how these amusement park rides are getting even more thrilling. His report first aired on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360."
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you see the skull and cross bones, it's too late to turn back. There are more than 1,300 roller coasters in the United States. Bigger, better, faster, steeper. Coasters are more popular than ever. 335 million people went to U.S. amusement parks last year, most went on roller coasters.
BETH ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION AMUSEMENT PARKS & ATTRACTIONS: Our technology continues to improve and the demand for more fun, for new things.
TUCHMAN: The drops and the loops are what you wait for. But it's the anticipation that sets it all up. Grand openings of super coasters are the big thing in the industry now. 200 foot tall, 70 mile per hour Goliath just opened this year at Six Flags over Georgia. It follows in the tradition of the great Cyclone at New York's Coney Island, 79 years old and going strong. Other traditional coasters are the racer at Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, a wooden coaster where you race another car. But it's the ultimate thrill coasters with huge drops and loops that are dominating the industry now.
I play a game with my kids when I take them on a roller coaster, they could get on this time but they're at summer camp right now. The game is, keep a serious face as long as you can. When you go through the loop, you see if you can stay serious. But it's very hard to do for a long time. These are not your parents' or grandparents' roller coasters. But the industry says greater thrills do not mean greater risks.
ROBERTSON: Roller coasters are absolutely safe. In our industry, in today's regulatory system, there is virtually no safer form of recreation.
TUCHMAN: American amusement parks took in more than $11 billion last year. The feeling of your stomach dropping out is a great feeling but one piece of advice. Do not eat lunch or dinner just before you get on this. The summer season is just hitting its stride. Roller coaster ridership is expected to be record-setting.
So what did you think of that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was OK. I'm surprised we held on to the camera.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN Atlanta.
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ROESGEN: Way to go, Gary. Better Gary than me.
There is much more ahead tonight on CNN. Next, "CNN PRESENTS: Dirt Track Warriors." Before NASCAR and raced on dirt and some still do. CNN takes you inside the underground sensation of dirt track racing.
Then at 9:00 Eastern, Larry King sits down with Regis Philbin to talk about "American Idol's" Simon Cowell, plus the new "Superman" and we have heard a lot of talk lately about what's patriotic and what isn't. So what is patriotism?
We'll look at that 10:00 Eastern. Up next, "CNN PRESENTS."
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