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On the Story

Stewart Released From Prison; Michael Jackson's Trial

Aired March 06, 2005 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Kathleen Hays, on the story of Martha Stewart is back and riding high.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash, on the story of President Bush and why he started talking about Osama bin Laden again this week.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Barbara Starr, on the story of a 50-year quest by his family and the U.S. government to find a flyer lost in the Korean War.

Also coming up, we'll go to California to talk about the start of the Michael Jackson child molestation case. And we'll go to Iraq, where Jane Arraf is reporting on special U.S. Marine Corps units on the hunt for insurgents.

Email us at onthestory@cnn.com. Now straight to Kathleen Hays and Martha Stewart, Act II.

HAYS: With her fans paying attention from everything from her waistline to her company's bottom line, it seems Martha Stewart's been on camera ever since she left prison and got on that plane late Thursday night, and on camera, on line, and back on the job. She seems determined to say with double meaning in her first statement there's no place like home.

STARR: Well, Kathleen, she may be saying that, but people watching this are seeing an awful lot of the Martha image go by once again. And it's hard to discern whether this week was the story getting Martha out of jail, or was it all the pictures and all the news media coverage of Martha getting out of jail?

HAYS: Well, and Martha and her company and her people made sure we paid attention. It was very interesting that by about midweek news organizations had been informed that Martha would be leaving jail sometime between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. on that Thursday night.

Remember when she went into prison? She snuck past everybody.

Then we also got word that there would be a flatbed truck for news crews to put their cameras on so they could get a better shot of Martha getting on the plane. Her Web site, with this has been a life -- altering life, affirming experience, no place like home, it seems like the machine is cranked up. And when you see those pictures of Martha, though, you also see a woman who seems elated. The feeling she must have now, getting out of prison and emerging what seems triumphant so far, must be quite a -- quite a high.

BASH: So, is the bottom line here that the media this week are all essentially, just to put it bluntly, suckers here? Is that we kind of bought the new Martha line, and that is definitely something that, as you mentioned, they are churning out in order to help her image come back, her product come back, her stock sales prices come back?

HAYS: Well, it's interesting. Let me just say quickly the stock market maybe didn't buy it yet. They want to see what actually happens with her companies, with the shows, with her products.

Her stock price actually fell on Friday, though it remains at very high levels. But, you know, it's a story that's hard not to get drawn to, because this is a woman who now -- all of the phrases that we heard and saw this week, you know, from the comeuppance to the comeback, right? Now she's the victim, she is not the evil woman going into jail. So it remains to be seen.

I talked to a woman who is a marketing professor at Yeshiva University in New York, Deborah Cohn, and she says Martha's challenge now is to show her consumers her human side. What was it like in prison? What is her life now? How has this changed you, Martha?

Are you going to now, that the world sees how wealthy you are, get more involved in some philanthropy? Are you going to set up a foundation, say, for women leaving prison? These are the kinds of things.

STARR: So is it the fact that she has to show still after all of this remorse and humbleness and some sort of level of being contrite in order to get people to buy her products? Does it have to be genuine, or can she just appear to be sorry?

HAYS: I think that most people feel it has to be genuine or she has to be a very good actress. But people who know Martha say this experience has changed her.

She's more thoughtful. She listens to people more. And before she went in, and certainly when she was in prison, one of the things she talked about was the sentencing guidelines, that there are many drug offenders at the prison where she was in Alderson, women who for very -- what might be a minor first time transgression, are sentenced to years in prison, what it does to their families.

And I think here are groups of people who are now waiting to see, does Martha stick with that? Does she really care now? Because if she does, then she will show a face to people that she doesn't -- she's not just about making -- you know, decoration doilies and great lamb chops, that Martha has now evolved and has seen a side of life she hadn't seen before that has actually changed her. And that could draw more consumers back to her.

BASH: The question, though, is the things that she signed on to do now, like the reality show, her version of "The Apprentice," is that going to help that image she's trying to portray or is actually going to hurt her? I mean, how is she going to be like "The Donald" in "The Apprentice" and still look humble and sweet and nice?

HAYS: You hit it right on the head. It's going to be very tough, because people already saw the arrogant Martha. They saw the imperious Martha.

They saw the Martha that instead of just telling the SEC, hey, I sold this stock and I'm sorry, what happens next, fought, you know, the government and was convicted of lying about a stock sale. So this is a challenge. How can she play that role of a tough businesswoman but also again show this human side?

STARR: OK, Kathleen. But for the next, what, five months or so, there's another phase. What is it going to mean for her to have that ankle bracelet on? Is it going to really affect her life?

HAYS: Well, home confinement, the experts I've talked to say it's certainly better than prison. But in a sense, your home becomes your prison.

Martha can leave her home for up to 48 hours per week with permission from her probation officer. It has to be arranged in advance.

She can go food shopping. She can have recreation. She can go to church. And she can go to work.

She'll be wearing an ankle bracelet 24 hours a day. This ankle bracelet will never come off. It's an electronic thing so they can track her whereabouts at all times.

So it is definitely going to allow her to continue her business now, even to perhaps to start production of the shows sometime maybe at her estate in Bedford. Part of those 48 hours at a production studio elsewhere.

But people also say don't underestimate the extent to which she will still feel that this is a significant five months. She's out of jail, but she's not really free yet. She does not have complete control of her own life yet.

BASH: Kathleen, Martha's stock price might not have responded immediately, but the broader stock market is remarkable this week, right?

HAYS: What a day. All kinds of volatility.

Earlier in the week, oil prices surging again, back to those record highs we hit in October. Talk now of $60 a barrel for crude oil.

But on Friday, a very positive jobs report. The only thing bad you can say is Americans still aren't earning a lot more money. But more people got jobs. The stock market had its highest close in almost four years, over 10900. So things, certainly at week's end, were looking good for stocks.

BASH: Kathleen, thanks.

Well, the economy and, of course, Martha, how that's going to affect it, may have hogged a lot of the end of the week's spotlight. But President Bush also was making headlines. He had a retooled Social Security pitch, and he had a rare mention of Osama bin Laden.

And remember, you can stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. And stay tuned later this hour for our "What's Her Story?" feature. It's on the new book from a legend named Lauren.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're on a constant hunt for bin Laden. We're keeping the pressure on him, keeping him in hiding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The president's rare mention of Osama bin Laden on Thursday. It's been 3.5 years since pledging to catch enemy number one "dead or alive." And, in fact, Mr. Bush had virtually stopped even mentioning Osama bin Laden until this week.

Welcome back. I'm Dana Bash. And we're ON THE STORY.

BASH: So why did he mention him? Are we supposed to be paying attention to Osama again?

BASH: Well, Kathleen, first of all, it was just -- it really was striking to myself, to my colleagues, who all sort of heard the president, going, wait a minute, we haven't heard that lately, particularly unprompted. Certainly he had been asked questions about Osama bin Laden.

He had talked about Osama bin Laden frequently in the context of the fact that he is helping the White House believe the -- stoking the insurgency in Iraq. But in terms of the hunt, we hadn't heard him talk about it in a long time. Certainly made some calls to the White House, to other officials to say, ask the obvious question, what's up?

HAYS: What's up?

BASH: And Barbara, I'm -- you covered this as well.

STARR: But, you know, what was striking to me was the dead silence at the Pentagon.

BASH: Exactly. STARR: You know, it was like, OK, so the president said that.

BASH: OK. Right. Right.

STARR: What does that mean? You know?

BASH: And the answer to the question that I got from several White House officials was that, look, he actually has something to talk about that he hasn't in a while, which is this communication that they were really playing up between -- from Osama bin Laden to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, essentially saying that they want to strike the U.S. again.

So he wanted to play that up. And it was a forum. He was at the swearing-in ceremony for the new Homeland Security secretary, a new guy, new lieutenants, and he wanted to sort of remind them, this is our guy, we do need to get them.

HAYS: So it was the context as well.

BASH: Yes, to get him.

HAYS: Another big story, Social Security. The president, you know, out on the stomp, trying to tell the world why we need reform. Let's look Friday, a very pivotal day, what you saw, Dana, on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Before this New Jersey trip, the president already visited nine states looking for public support for his plan. Yet the more Americans here, several polls show, the less they like his ideas, especially so-called personal accounts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you are not welcome with your program on privatizing Social Security.

BASH: The reason, Bush aides complain, highly organized and well-funded opposition campaigns like these in New Jersey. Among the targets here, Republican Congressman Mike Ferguson, at the president's event but not ready to endorse personal accounts.

REP. MIKE FERGUSON (R), NEW JERSEY: There is no one plan out there right now that we are either supporting or opposing.

BASH: The Democratic National Committee bought its first round of ads to put the squeeze on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Call Congressman Ferguson and tell him to oppose President Bush's risky scheme...

BUSH: I don't care what the ads say. I don't care what the scare tactics say. You're going to get your check just like the government said.

(END VIDEOTAPE) STARR: Dana, what strikes me is a well-funded Democratic opposition to this, and the Republicans aren't too thrilled either. And this week you saw the president respond essentially to the Democrats and the Republicans.

BASH: Absolutely, Barbara. On that -- on that trip where I was filing from on Friday, both to New Jersey and to Indiana, you saw a shift in the president's rhetoric. And it was really notable.

He was using the Democrats' lingo, essentially. What the president, what the White House had heard from Republicans coming back from recess was that there was so much of an emphasis on these personal accounts that it was getting lost on people that perhaps the president was -- they thought maybe the president was trying to take away their Social security because that is what they were hearing from the well-funded opposition from the Democrats.

So you heard the president using the term "safety net," which is Democratic -- a Democratic label, saying that it it's not about losing benefits, necessarily. That he really -- what his goal is, is to preserve Social Security. Then, of course, he got to personal accounts.

HAYS: How key is it that Majority Leader Bill Frist said, OK, it may take us a year to get this to a vote? Are they giving up, or do they just figure they've got to dig in for the long, hard fight?

BASH: Look, that was a classic case of perhaps a politician speaking a little bit too honestly, not thinking about the ramifications of what he was saying. What Bill Frist says about the timing of a piece of legislation really is critical.

Now, he was taken, to be fair, a little bit out of context. People thought that he meant that it wasn't going to happen this year. He didn't say that..

But regardless, you saw him the next day go on the Senate floor and say this is going to happen this year. And the point here is that the White House is very concerned, as several officials I talked to very early in the week said, that they are concerned about the story line, as they put it, getting away from them.

And what's really fascinating to watch what they did just -- and what I was talking about on Friday, to try to take the story line back, what they did was talk about their P.R. strategy. They made their P.R. strategy going to 60 cities in 60 days. That was what they wanted as the story in order to get away from the idea that perhaps this wasn't going happen this year.

STARR: But it comes back to the point, do they take the story line back from the Democrats or do they take it back from the Republicans? Because aren't you beginning to see some Republican Social Security reform alternatives begin to take some shape on Capitol Hill?

BASH: Ideas are definitely out there. But the problem, White House officials when you talk to will readily admit is that there is a vacuum. Because the president is in what they call this education phase, which is still trying to convince the American people that there's a problem that needs to be solved, there's very little that is known about what could happen in the end, what a solution would look like.

The only thing that people are hearing about are these personal accounts. And the president had been out. He had visited nine states.

And the more people heard, according to Republicans coming back, and, more importantly, these national surveys that came out, several this week, the less they liked the idea that he has and the less they trust him to do it. So he's out there trying to give political cover to Republicans, and he's not necessarily the messenger, several polls are showing.

HAYS: It's just amazing to see Republicans get outflanked by Democrats on -- on this whole...

BASH: The fight's not over, though. And it's well-funded on both sides.

HAYS: That's true. Well, we're going to go now from Washington to Iraq, where U.S. forces are in the midst of a new campaign to find insurgents in the western part of the country. Our Jane Arraf is on the story there, and we're right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STARR: The war in western Iraq translates to the hard work of tracking down and capturing insurgents. That border with Syria has been a big welcome sign for outsiders trying to come into Iraq to fight the U.S. and coalition forces.

Welcome back. I'm Barbara Starr. And our Jane Arraf is on the story in western Iraq.

Jane, you have been out there now, as we understand it, for a few days. What is the situation looking like out in western Iraq near the Syrian border now?

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Barbara, it's a kind of -- part of the country we don't get to very much. Nobody really gets there very much. But there's an awful lot happening.

This is a huge, huge territory. They keep saying it is two- thirds the size of Wyoming, if that means anything to anyone. It's huge and empty, basically. And in there you've got Marines near the Syrian border.

Now, what we saw them doing yesterday was building up this huge sandbar (ph) nine feet tall. It runs about four miles. It's going to run even further. And it's essentially meant to stop trucks and vehicles and people from coming across the Syrian border.

This is one of the toughest places in Iraq to operate. There's no police force. They have all run away. There's no Iraqi army.

All there are, are smugglers and insurgents and people trying to live their lives caught in the crossfire. And U.S. Marines, who are so antsy about going into some of those towns that they do it very, very carefully.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's Maria Hinojosa joining you from New York a little bit late on this story.

Jane, I'm so glad to have you on the show. Let me ask you a question about morale, because I was recently with Army deserters in Canada, one of whom actually fought in Iraq and decided not to go back.

And I'm wondering about morale -- 1,500-plus troops now dead. You're with the troops on the ground there in western Iraq. What can you tell us about their mood?

ARRAF: You know, that is always the backdrop. There's been such a heavy price here paid on the part of Iraqis, on the part of soldiers and Marines. And in one of the offices here, there are the replicas of dog tags of every Marine in this regiment who's died.

And I walked in when we first came here and saw it, and was actually taken aback. It's a huge pile. And it represents all of these lives lost. And it's always in the backdrop of these Marines' and soldiers' minds.

Morale is still pretty high. These guys are professionals. And even if they're 19 years old from wherever, and have never seen this before, they are here to do a job. And they do it to the best of their abilities, for the most part.

Now, having said that, we were talking to one young Marine about whether he felt he was making a difference. There are a bunch of them leaving. There are thousands of them leaving in this next week, and they are absolutely euphoric.

And he initially said, no, he didn't think he was making a difference, because in the part of Iraq he was in, western Iraq, he believed that everyone still hated them out there. And that's a very different picture.

He then came back to me and said, "Don't use that part. I'm going to get into trouble with my sergeant major," which is what we hear a lot.

So it is a mixed picture. Generally morale is OK, but it is very, very, very tough out here and very complicated for the young soldiers and young Marines.

BASH: Speaking about how tough it is, Jane, the Marines that you are with have been trying to root out the insurgents in Iraq. And you filed a report on just how challenging that is. Let's take a listen to some of what you reported this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF (voice-over): They usually blast the door open. This one has glass, though, and they break it.

There are more than 50 reconnaissance Marines here, attack helicopters. And AC-130 gun ships have been called in. Many hours of planning have gone into a raid designed to take fewer than 15 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your head down.

ARRAF: They tie up the military-age men and search the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a whole like collage, and they'll take pictures. We're going to take that with us.

ARRAF: In another room are women and children. The man they're looking for isn't here.

(on camera): It wasn't a textbook operation by any means, but it points out the challenges of doing pinpoint raids in a territory this sprawling and an atmosphere this complicated.

(voice-over): These Marines have been here just three weeks. Over the next seven months there will be dozens more raids and a lot more chances to find the men they are looking for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: So Jane, have they seen much success in trying to root out these insurgents?

ARRAF: Success, I guess, is how you judge it. They believe that they are keeping them on the run.

And you know what's so fascinating about being out here and why we feel so lucky to be here? Normally, if we were not here, we would occasionally get press releases saying three insurgents rounded up. But a raid like this, we would never hear a word of it.

But this is really what a lot of this hard work is like. Now, these are force reconnaissance Marines, very specially trained. They specialize in rescues and they specialize in raids. These are elite Marines.

And they go out night after night. And a large part of the time they don't come back with the target that they thought they would get.

Now, they still say there is a value to doing what they are doing, as we saw in that piece, a value that gets some intelligence, that keeps the insurgents on the run. But this is really hard work. This is hard work involving air support, involving armored vehicles, involving hours of preparation, all coming down to a 10 or 15-minute raid.

It is very, very tough. And this is what is happening across the country. Now, having said that, everyone here is hoping that they will stumble across al-Zarqawi or be led to him through some sort of intelligence. And they believe that indeed they are getting closer to al-Zarqawi associates, that they are making significant dents in that network.

HAYS: So, Jane, is that the ultimate prize, or is it the broader question of quelling the insurgency overall?

ARRAF: You know, the bigger question, if you really think about it, is really taking down the insurgency, getting rid of those cell leaders, dismantling those links, disrupting their ability to communicate by command and control. But of course everyone is fixated on al-Zarqawi.

It's a little bit -- it reminds me a bit of what we used to call Saddam watch, which was before Saddam Hussein was captured when almost every journalist in the country had congregated around Tikrit, which is where that search was centered, in the hope that they would be, the journalists, out there when they caught Saddam. Now, there isn't nearly the hype attached to al-Zarqawi, but he is certainly the big prize, $25 million, which wouldn't go to the Marines or the soldiers, or even necessarily the Iraqi forces if they catch him. But certainly he is somebody they definitely want to get to say that they have done this, that it's going to get better.

STARR: Well, Jane, as we say to you virtually every day, please stay safe. We thank you. And tell us what you expect on the story in the coming days.

ARRAF: Well, we're going out -- back out again to the Syrian border. We hope to see what's going on there, to a legal border crossing where lots of Iraqis are still coming through.

We're going to be following more efforts to cut down on that illegal traffic and catching up with some Marines as they go home and some as they come in. Also following up on political developments, as well, in Baghdad and other places. There's an awful lot going on out here.

STARR: Indeed, as always.

Still ahead, how the war has hit Army recruitment here at home. Also coming up, how one young woman says hip-hop needs to clean up its act. And we're on the story of the opening days of the Michael Jackson trial, all ON THE STORY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

STARR: Welcome back. I'm Barbara Starr. We're ON THE STORY in Iraq, Rome and here in Washington.

Conflicting accounts of what happened Friday when Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was injured and an Italian security agent was killed by U.S. gunfire just after she was released by her kidnappers.

President Bush pledged a full investigation. U.S. forces said the shooting occurred when Sgrena's vehicle, traveling at high speed, refused to stop at a checkpoint.

HINOJOSA: But, Barbara, now it seems like we're getting conflicting reports because the journalist is saying that her car was not speeding. She was in the car. She's saying the car was not speeding.

I think that there are a lot of people who are beginning to raise a lot of questions about this. I mean at some point is there going to be a question of whether or not we're getting the straight story on what happened and how this journalist could be attacked after being held hostage?

STARR: Well, President Bush, of course, now Maria ordering a full investigation. There will be a military inquiry.

One of the issues here is this has happened so many times before in Iraq at these security checkpoints. There is so much concern, of course, about suicide car bombers, cars approaching at high speed. They will have to determine, both sides, you know, what exactly did happen.

They will look at the procedures that were used and also quite critically whether there was sufficient communication between the Italian team and the United States about that car, who was in that car, who was approaching and just how all of this happened, very unclear at this point still.

HAYS: So it's something we'll be watching for you reporting on in the future from the Pentagon. But you took a very interesting trip to report along the North Korea/China border to really kind of look back. Let's share with our viewers, Barbara, what you were looking at on that trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STARR (voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a bustling, colorful Chinese port city of one million. We know North Korea is just across the river but, as we enter the city, it is so unexpected. There it is, the hermit kingdom, North Korea in full view. Our voices become hushed.

We struggle to make out every detail. The shoreline of buildings and ships looks largely deserted. A lone patrol boat goes by. We board a Chinese boat, sailing past China's border control point at the bridge that joins both countries. The river is neutral territory.

But we are stunned when the boat sails within yards of the North Korean shoreline. The Chinese hosts know we are taking these sensitive pictures of a secretive North Korea.

This is the North Korean town of Sinuiju. As the warehouses, buildings and shorelines go by we see a country in economic collapse, smokestacks with no activity. We pass a bridge destroyed and never repaired, a Ferris wheel that does not move. There is no electricity. At night all of this is dark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: This was really one of the most striking experiences I think I've had as a reporter in years. You are in the middle of a river. On one side, China bustling, colorful, busy. On the other side, North Korea silent. It makes you drop your voice and whisper. You're like there it is. There's North Korea.

BASH: Was there any issue? I mean it's such an enigmatic society and it's so -- they're so secretive and they're very careful about who even goes near their shore, so was there any issue with that? I mean did they know who was coming and what you were doing?

STARR: Well, we took a little bit. We hope the Chinese boat actually told the North Koreans we were sailing that close. We were the guests of the Chinese government.

And there did come a point on this river boat cruise when the Chinese said, "Please, turn your camera off" and we certainly did. We were allowed to continue to take still pictures. We took some of those. But one is just stunned to be so close and see such a really truly sad state of affairs. It really was.

HINOJOSA: Barbara, because there's been so much talk about North Korea, the United States, the tensions there, could you feel those tensions at all? Was there any palpable sentiment of, you know, these people feel like there could be some confrontation at any possible time or not did it seem quite normal?

STARR: The Chinese, Maria, were very, very sensitive to the fact that a news crew was there but this is just a fascinating piece of territory because essentially this one little patch across this river is a free trade zone between China and North Korea. It's not clear at all what the North Koreans have to trade.

But you also look and you at it and you think the North Koreans are looking across the river, seeing China, seeing all this activity and what must they think? It's just a mystery.

HAYS: But beyond that in terms of this stretch of land what were you looking into on this trip?

STARR: I should remind everybody the reason we really went was to do a story about the recovery of the remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot 52 years after he was shot down over China during the Korean War and the Chinese helped locate the remains of this pilot. So, that was fascinating as well. It was just an incredible story.

HINOJOSA: Well, from the possibilities of very dangerous reporting to a kind of different cultural war, we're going to talk about one woman who's taking on the multibillion dollar hip-hop industry saying she wants the lyrics and videos degrading women to stop. We'll be back ON THE STORY in a minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was twice named by "Hispanic Business" magazine as one of the most influential Latinos in the country. She's written two books.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHA JENNINGS: I want people to start critically thinking about how these images affect black women today. We're telling people they're bitches and hos and sluts and not worthy of respect and that's exactly how society is treating them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: That's Asha Jennings, a one-woman, a tiny one-woman powerhouse who has made it her mission to take on the multibillion dollar hip-hop industry saying that she is angry and will not stand for the continuation of these very, very sexual images of African American women.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY. I'm Maria Hinojosa.

BASH: And, Maria, we should note that these images are graphic, perhaps too much to show at this early morning on a Sunday morning here but you mention a very interesting point there that this is incredibly popular music with young white men. And is that the issue her perhaps that that is the reason why this is a very incredibly hard fight to fight?

HINOJOSA: Well, actually what makes it difficult is that it's young African American women wanting to engage young African American men about why they continue to put out these images that these young women are saying are degrading to them.

And what's happened is, is that the majority of the people who consume this music are, in fact, young, white, affluent men between the ages of 18 to 34. And so, women like Asha Jennings, who is now in law school here at NYU in New York, she's saying, you know, everywhere I go this is the image that mainstream America has of me that black musicians are basically saying it's OK.

It's OK to think of these women or to put them out there in these videos as these over-sexualized really the whole issue of pimping and prostitution and this young woman has said no more, no way, no how. And what's fascinating is that she's actually started a national movement. It doesn't look like they're going to stop anytime soon.

HAYS: Well, Maria, I'm sure there's lots of women right now of all races and ages saying "You go" because I think people have wondered for a long time why there hasn't been more of an outcry against this.

But I would think if I was on the music side of it, if I was one of these young, black artists, I'd say "Hey, what are you talking about? Look at the white and African American women who sexualize themselves in their videos. Look at the white, you know, rock and roll artists who have very sexualized images. Why are you picking on us?"

HINOJOSA: Exactly. In fact, I was having a conversation with Russell Simmons, who is the grandfather of hip-hop and he basically said, you know what, to say that hip-hop or rap is really the focus here is incorrect. The American society is a sexist society and so to only target hip-hop artists and say that they're the problem is not where they should be putting their focus.

But what's interesting is that what happened with Asha Jennings was she had invited the hip-hop star Nelly to come to Spellman College because he's all involved in cancer. His sister has leukemia. He was going to do a fundraiser.

Asha Jennings happened to see this video that Nelly has called "Tip Drill" which is really over the top and that's why we're not going to show it to you. You can sometimes catch it overnight on BET, Black Entertainment Television.

Well, what they do is they actually have women, they're throwing money at their crotches. There are men doing a -- putting a credit card through women's backsides. It's very graphic.

And when Asha Jennings saw this, she said, "No way, no how. You can come to Spellman but if you come here, you better be prepared to receive the protests of Spellman women." Nelly canceled.

What's fascinating is that when we were doing this story, do you think that the Nelly people responded to our calls and inquiries for an interview? No, because in essence if it's young black women that are organizing against this, they're saying "Hey, you guys don't even buy our music, so if you're not reaching into young black men we don't have anything to worry about."

STARR: Maria, because there's another undercurrent here, isn't there, as always, which is big business, big money? There's a lot at stake in this industry.

HINOJOSA: Absolutely. Let's take a listen to what the vice president of BET television had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LEWELLEN, BET VICE PRESIDENT: If people don't buy the CDs, if people don't watch the shows, we won't show them and the artists won't make them and the record labels won't produce them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: And so, you know, Nelly will say this is all about artistic freedom and this is about, you know, we're just showing a real portrayal of what's happening in our neighborhoods.

But when it comes down to it, absolutely it's about money. And, as long as there is a hunger for this, as long as these CDs continue to be bought and as long as there's a hunger to see these videos, they have no intention, as far as I can tell, to stop.

I mean will they be aware of these protests? I mean one important thing Stanley Crouch (ph), a columnist, an African American columnist has called this movement by black women the most important cultural movement of this new century, which is a pretty big deal, so I don't think they're going to stop anytime soon.

BASH: And it's certainly something that we're going to continue to watch. Maria, thank you for that.

And we're going to stick with the music beat but we're going to turn to the start of the Michael Jackson child molestation trial in California this week.

We're back on that story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYS: Fans calling out "We love you, Michael," as the super star walked into the Santa Maria Courthouse this week for his child molestation trial.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

And joining us now Lorraine Ali, Senior Writer for "Newsweek." Lorraine, what is going on? This guy hasn't had a hit record in a couple of decades. He had to pay off a kid for alleged child molestation charges over a decade ago. They're loyal. They love him. Why?

LORRAINE ALI, SENIOR WRITER, "NEWSWEEK": You know the fans that have remained really loyal to Michael, the reasons they say they've remained loyal, the number one is that he's innocent and that they feel they need to be out there spreading that message.

And they're not just loyal. They're like devoted foot soldiers. They've got Web sites, you know. They organize trips outside the courtroom. They are his foot soldiers.

STARR: You know, Lorraine, for those of us watching from the other coastline and far away it just has that sense of, you know, California weirdness to it. And being born and raised in California, I'm allowed to say it.

ALI: Me too.

STARR: But I mean it's probably worth noting the prosecution, although it may have issues it has to contend with, is taking this very, very seriously obviously.

ALI: Yes. They definitely -- well, first off, this week we learned, you know who they're going to roll out in terms of character witnesses for Michael and you've got some really big -- this is obviously for Michael's defense but you've got some really big names such as Stevie Wonder, Liz Taylor, maybe even Bill Cosby, so this is going to turn into far more of a circus than you're even seeing right now. And I think just even in terms of L.A. weirdness this is going to be up there towards the top.

BASH: Talk a little bit about what they did this week in terms of the mother of the alleged victim and the attempt perhaps to just discredit her from the get-go.

ALI: Yes. I mean it looks like they're really going. The defense was really kind of at her this week and I think they're really going to sort of go for the jugular on this, discredit her and by the time they're finished make her look like not a very good person. I would use rougher terms than that but we're early in the morning.

Yes, I think these are desperate times for Jackson and I think there's going to be desperate measures. I mean, you know, you look at what's going on in the media and pretty much what the rest of the country thinks about this guy and I think the defense team is pretty aware they need to make the other side look really bad.

HINOJOSA: So, Lorraine, in your piece that you wrote for "Newsweek," I was fascinated because you said that these fans look at Michael Jackson as a man of humility and I was kind of thinking humble is not necessarily a term that I would think of when I think of Michael Jackson. Set me straight here.

ALI: Well, his fans really look at him like he is this humble, charitable, honest guy and that he cannot get a fair shake in this corrupt world. It's almost like they are putting all the traits on Michael that they almost want to see in themselves and out there in the world.

He is the symbol of all that is good and, you know, they will go to great lengths to prove that, yes, he is this great guy that's being totally misjudged. And I think that, you know, also the fans that I interviewed were really very gentle souls and almost people that are kind of -- were overly sensitive and kind of got hit by things a little harder than the rest of us.

HAYS: Lorraine, tell us about one of these examples because I was also struck that, you know, it wasn't just, you know, some "misfit" or somebody who had problems in their life. There are some successful, you know, professional people who I remember reading about in your piece who have pictures of Michael Jackson all over their room and they're totally identified with him. Give us a specific example of one of these people.

ALI: One of the fans that I interviewed, he's a biotech analyst, you know, works full time, makes a good living but what he does is he -- and he's also a seemingly normal 30-year-old guy. He goes snowboarding with his friends. But you go into his house and, you know, and his bedroom is like this shrine to Michael. He helps run a Web site for Michael. The day before I had interviewed him, he had taken a sick day off work and gone up and stood outside the courthouse with his sign screaming "Michael, I love you." And so, you would never know sitting next to this person, say on the train that, you know, they had this devotion for Michael Jackson.

STARR: And, you know, talk about Hollywood royalty, it also emerged this week that Jay Leno wants to continue to do his jokes, his monologue and cover the Jackson trial on his show. Tell us about that.

ALI: I think the Jackson trial is probably the test thing that's happened to comedians in a while. Leno's just struck gold on this one.

STARR: Some issue about the gag order I guess that, you know, he wasn't being up front.

ALI: Oh, I see. I'm sorry. I see what you're saying.

STARR: Yes, that the gag order was going to keep him possibly from talking about it on his show and I guess late night comedians see this trial as continuing fodder for the future, don't they?

ALI: Oh, definitely. I mean definitely and I think you're going to see things coming out of this trial every week, you know, that you don't expect and I think that's just going to give them those great sort of zingers that they need every night.

STARR: Well, that will be something that we'll all be continuing to watch. Thank you Lorraine.

ALI: Sure, thank you.

STARR: We'll be looking for your articles in "Newsweek."

More ON THE STORY after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: A screen legend returns to the spotlight this week. What's her story? More when we return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Lauren Bacall, what's her story? A stage and screen actress for more than half a century, Lauren Bacall updated her best- selling memoir "By Myself and Then Some" this week.

Bacall describes how she grew up in a traditional Jewish household and went to acting classes every Saturday. Her big break came when she appeared on the cover of "Harper's Bazaar" and soon after was cast with Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not."

LAUREN BACALL, ACTRESS: You know how to whistle don't you? You just put your lips together and blow.

ANNOUNCER: The pair became one of Hollywood's most glamorous couples. Their marriage was cut short, however, by Bogart's battle with cancer and death in 1957.

She writes, "I did not think in terms of sharing my life with a man. I felt I would rather travel alone to reach my goal and never plan on permanence. That's the way my life has turned out."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: Thanks to my colleagues. Thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back next Sunday.

Straight ahead "CNN LIVE SUNDAY."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 6, 2005 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Kathleen Hays, on the story of Martha Stewart is back and riding high.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash, on the story of President Bush and why he started talking about Osama bin Laden again this week.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Barbara Starr, on the story of a 50-year quest by his family and the U.S. government to find a flyer lost in the Korean War.

Also coming up, we'll go to California to talk about the start of the Michael Jackson child molestation case. And we'll go to Iraq, where Jane Arraf is reporting on special U.S. Marine Corps units on the hunt for insurgents.

Email us at onthestory@cnn.com. Now straight to Kathleen Hays and Martha Stewart, Act II.

HAYS: With her fans paying attention from everything from her waistline to her company's bottom line, it seems Martha Stewart's been on camera ever since she left prison and got on that plane late Thursday night, and on camera, on line, and back on the job. She seems determined to say with double meaning in her first statement there's no place like home.

STARR: Well, Kathleen, she may be saying that, but people watching this are seeing an awful lot of the Martha image go by once again. And it's hard to discern whether this week was the story getting Martha out of jail, or was it all the pictures and all the news media coverage of Martha getting out of jail?

HAYS: Well, and Martha and her company and her people made sure we paid attention. It was very interesting that by about midweek news organizations had been informed that Martha would be leaving jail sometime between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. on that Thursday night.

Remember when she went into prison? She snuck past everybody.

Then we also got word that there would be a flatbed truck for news crews to put their cameras on so they could get a better shot of Martha getting on the plane. Her Web site, with this has been a life -- altering life, affirming experience, no place like home, it seems like the machine is cranked up. And when you see those pictures of Martha, though, you also see a woman who seems elated. The feeling she must have now, getting out of prison and emerging what seems triumphant so far, must be quite a -- quite a high.

BASH: So, is the bottom line here that the media this week are all essentially, just to put it bluntly, suckers here? Is that we kind of bought the new Martha line, and that is definitely something that, as you mentioned, they are churning out in order to help her image come back, her product come back, her stock sales prices come back?

HAYS: Well, it's interesting. Let me just say quickly the stock market maybe didn't buy it yet. They want to see what actually happens with her companies, with the shows, with her products.

Her stock price actually fell on Friday, though it remains at very high levels. But, you know, it's a story that's hard not to get drawn to, because this is a woman who now -- all of the phrases that we heard and saw this week, you know, from the comeuppance to the comeback, right? Now she's the victim, she is not the evil woman going into jail. So it remains to be seen.

I talked to a woman who is a marketing professor at Yeshiva University in New York, Deborah Cohn, and she says Martha's challenge now is to show her consumers her human side. What was it like in prison? What is her life now? How has this changed you, Martha?

Are you going to now, that the world sees how wealthy you are, get more involved in some philanthropy? Are you going to set up a foundation, say, for women leaving prison? These are the kinds of things.

STARR: So is it the fact that she has to show still after all of this remorse and humbleness and some sort of level of being contrite in order to get people to buy her products? Does it have to be genuine, or can she just appear to be sorry?

HAYS: I think that most people feel it has to be genuine or she has to be a very good actress. But people who know Martha say this experience has changed her.

She's more thoughtful. She listens to people more. And before she went in, and certainly when she was in prison, one of the things she talked about was the sentencing guidelines, that there are many drug offenders at the prison where she was in Alderson, women who for very -- what might be a minor first time transgression, are sentenced to years in prison, what it does to their families.

And I think here are groups of people who are now waiting to see, does Martha stick with that? Does she really care now? Because if she does, then she will show a face to people that she doesn't -- she's not just about making -- you know, decoration doilies and great lamb chops, that Martha has now evolved and has seen a side of life she hadn't seen before that has actually changed her. And that could draw more consumers back to her.

BASH: The question, though, is the things that she signed on to do now, like the reality show, her version of "The Apprentice," is that going to help that image she's trying to portray or is actually going to hurt her? I mean, how is she going to be like "The Donald" in "The Apprentice" and still look humble and sweet and nice?

HAYS: You hit it right on the head. It's going to be very tough, because people already saw the arrogant Martha. They saw the imperious Martha.

They saw the Martha that instead of just telling the SEC, hey, I sold this stock and I'm sorry, what happens next, fought, you know, the government and was convicted of lying about a stock sale. So this is a challenge. How can she play that role of a tough businesswoman but also again show this human side?

STARR: OK, Kathleen. But for the next, what, five months or so, there's another phase. What is it going to mean for her to have that ankle bracelet on? Is it going to really affect her life?

HAYS: Well, home confinement, the experts I've talked to say it's certainly better than prison. But in a sense, your home becomes your prison.

Martha can leave her home for up to 48 hours per week with permission from her probation officer. It has to be arranged in advance.

She can go food shopping. She can have recreation. She can go to church. And she can go to work.

She'll be wearing an ankle bracelet 24 hours a day. This ankle bracelet will never come off. It's an electronic thing so they can track her whereabouts at all times.

So it is definitely going to allow her to continue her business now, even to perhaps to start production of the shows sometime maybe at her estate in Bedford. Part of those 48 hours at a production studio elsewhere.

But people also say don't underestimate the extent to which she will still feel that this is a significant five months. She's out of jail, but she's not really free yet. She does not have complete control of her own life yet.

BASH: Kathleen, Martha's stock price might not have responded immediately, but the broader stock market is remarkable this week, right?

HAYS: What a day. All kinds of volatility.

Earlier in the week, oil prices surging again, back to those record highs we hit in October. Talk now of $60 a barrel for crude oil.

But on Friday, a very positive jobs report. The only thing bad you can say is Americans still aren't earning a lot more money. But more people got jobs. The stock market had its highest close in almost four years, over 10900. So things, certainly at week's end, were looking good for stocks.

BASH: Kathleen, thanks.

Well, the economy and, of course, Martha, how that's going to affect it, may have hogged a lot of the end of the week's spotlight. But President Bush also was making headlines. He had a retooled Social Security pitch, and he had a rare mention of Osama bin Laden.

And remember, you can stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. And stay tuned later this hour for our "What's Her Story?" feature. It's on the new book from a legend named Lauren.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're on a constant hunt for bin Laden. We're keeping the pressure on him, keeping him in hiding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The president's rare mention of Osama bin Laden on Thursday. It's been 3.5 years since pledging to catch enemy number one "dead or alive." And, in fact, Mr. Bush had virtually stopped even mentioning Osama bin Laden until this week.

Welcome back. I'm Dana Bash. And we're ON THE STORY.

BASH: So why did he mention him? Are we supposed to be paying attention to Osama again?

BASH: Well, Kathleen, first of all, it was just -- it really was striking to myself, to my colleagues, who all sort of heard the president, going, wait a minute, we haven't heard that lately, particularly unprompted. Certainly he had been asked questions about Osama bin Laden.

He had talked about Osama bin Laden frequently in the context of the fact that he is helping the White House believe the -- stoking the insurgency in Iraq. But in terms of the hunt, we hadn't heard him talk about it in a long time. Certainly made some calls to the White House, to other officials to say, ask the obvious question, what's up?

HAYS: What's up?

BASH: And Barbara, I'm -- you covered this as well.

STARR: But, you know, what was striking to me was the dead silence at the Pentagon.

BASH: Exactly. STARR: You know, it was like, OK, so the president said that.

BASH: OK. Right. Right.

STARR: What does that mean? You know?

BASH: And the answer to the question that I got from several White House officials was that, look, he actually has something to talk about that he hasn't in a while, which is this communication that they were really playing up between -- from Osama bin Laden to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, essentially saying that they want to strike the U.S. again.

So he wanted to play that up. And it was a forum. He was at the swearing-in ceremony for the new Homeland Security secretary, a new guy, new lieutenants, and he wanted to sort of remind them, this is our guy, we do need to get them.

HAYS: So it was the context as well.

BASH: Yes, to get him.

HAYS: Another big story, Social Security. The president, you know, out on the stomp, trying to tell the world why we need reform. Let's look Friday, a very pivotal day, what you saw, Dana, on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Before this New Jersey trip, the president already visited nine states looking for public support for his plan. Yet the more Americans here, several polls show, the less they like his ideas, especially so-called personal accounts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you are not welcome with your program on privatizing Social Security.

BASH: The reason, Bush aides complain, highly organized and well-funded opposition campaigns like these in New Jersey. Among the targets here, Republican Congressman Mike Ferguson, at the president's event but not ready to endorse personal accounts.

REP. MIKE FERGUSON (R), NEW JERSEY: There is no one plan out there right now that we are either supporting or opposing.

BASH: The Democratic National Committee bought its first round of ads to put the squeeze on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Call Congressman Ferguson and tell him to oppose President Bush's risky scheme...

BUSH: I don't care what the ads say. I don't care what the scare tactics say. You're going to get your check just like the government said.

(END VIDEOTAPE) STARR: Dana, what strikes me is a well-funded Democratic opposition to this, and the Republicans aren't too thrilled either. And this week you saw the president respond essentially to the Democrats and the Republicans.

BASH: Absolutely, Barbara. On that -- on that trip where I was filing from on Friday, both to New Jersey and to Indiana, you saw a shift in the president's rhetoric. And it was really notable.

He was using the Democrats' lingo, essentially. What the president, what the White House had heard from Republicans coming back from recess was that there was so much of an emphasis on these personal accounts that it was getting lost on people that perhaps the president was -- they thought maybe the president was trying to take away their Social security because that is what they were hearing from the well-funded opposition from the Democrats.

So you heard the president using the term "safety net," which is Democratic -- a Democratic label, saying that it it's not about losing benefits, necessarily. That he really -- what his goal is, is to preserve Social Security. Then, of course, he got to personal accounts.

HAYS: How key is it that Majority Leader Bill Frist said, OK, it may take us a year to get this to a vote? Are they giving up, or do they just figure they've got to dig in for the long, hard fight?

BASH: Look, that was a classic case of perhaps a politician speaking a little bit too honestly, not thinking about the ramifications of what he was saying. What Bill Frist says about the timing of a piece of legislation really is critical.

Now, he was taken, to be fair, a little bit out of context. People thought that he meant that it wasn't going to happen this year. He didn't say that..

But regardless, you saw him the next day go on the Senate floor and say this is going to happen this year. And the point here is that the White House is very concerned, as several officials I talked to very early in the week said, that they are concerned about the story line, as they put it, getting away from them.

And what's really fascinating to watch what they did just -- and what I was talking about on Friday, to try to take the story line back, what they did was talk about their P.R. strategy. They made their P.R. strategy going to 60 cities in 60 days. That was what they wanted as the story in order to get away from the idea that perhaps this wasn't going happen this year.

STARR: But it comes back to the point, do they take the story line back from the Democrats or do they take it back from the Republicans? Because aren't you beginning to see some Republican Social Security reform alternatives begin to take some shape on Capitol Hill?

BASH: Ideas are definitely out there. But the problem, White House officials when you talk to will readily admit is that there is a vacuum. Because the president is in what they call this education phase, which is still trying to convince the American people that there's a problem that needs to be solved, there's very little that is known about what could happen in the end, what a solution would look like.

The only thing that people are hearing about are these personal accounts. And the president had been out. He had visited nine states.

And the more people heard, according to Republicans coming back, and, more importantly, these national surveys that came out, several this week, the less they liked the idea that he has and the less they trust him to do it. So he's out there trying to give political cover to Republicans, and he's not necessarily the messenger, several polls are showing.

HAYS: It's just amazing to see Republicans get outflanked by Democrats on -- on this whole...

BASH: The fight's not over, though. And it's well-funded on both sides.

HAYS: That's true. Well, we're going to go now from Washington to Iraq, where U.S. forces are in the midst of a new campaign to find insurgents in the western part of the country. Our Jane Arraf is on the story there, and we're right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STARR: The war in western Iraq translates to the hard work of tracking down and capturing insurgents. That border with Syria has been a big welcome sign for outsiders trying to come into Iraq to fight the U.S. and coalition forces.

Welcome back. I'm Barbara Starr. And our Jane Arraf is on the story in western Iraq.

Jane, you have been out there now, as we understand it, for a few days. What is the situation looking like out in western Iraq near the Syrian border now?

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Barbara, it's a kind of -- part of the country we don't get to very much. Nobody really gets there very much. But there's an awful lot happening.

This is a huge, huge territory. They keep saying it is two- thirds the size of Wyoming, if that means anything to anyone. It's huge and empty, basically. And in there you've got Marines near the Syrian border.

Now, what we saw them doing yesterday was building up this huge sandbar (ph) nine feet tall. It runs about four miles. It's going to run even further. And it's essentially meant to stop trucks and vehicles and people from coming across the Syrian border.

This is one of the toughest places in Iraq to operate. There's no police force. They have all run away. There's no Iraqi army.

All there are, are smugglers and insurgents and people trying to live their lives caught in the crossfire. And U.S. Marines, who are so antsy about going into some of those towns that they do it very, very carefully.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's Maria Hinojosa joining you from New York a little bit late on this story.

Jane, I'm so glad to have you on the show. Let me ask you a question about morale, because I was recently with Army deserters in Canada, one of whom actually fought in Iraq and decided not to go back.

And I'm wondering about morale -- 1,500-plus troops now dead. You're with the troops on the ground there in western Iraq. What can you tell us about their mood?

ARRAF: You know, that is always the backdrop. There's been such a heavy price here paid on the part of Iraqis, on the part of soldiers and Marines. And in one of the offices here, there are the replicas of dog tags of every Marine in this regiment who's died.

And I walked in when we first came here and saw it, and was actually taken aback. It's a huge pile. And it represents all of these lives lost. And it's always in the backdrop of these Marines' and soldiers' minds.

Morale is still pretty high. These guys are professionals. And even if they're 19 years old from wherever, and have never seen this before, they are here to do a job. And they do it to the best of their abilities, for the most part.

Now, having said that, we were talking to one young Marine about whether he felt he was making a difference. There are a bunch of them leaving. There are thousands of them leaving in this next week, and they are absolutely euphoric.

And he initially said, no, he didn't think he was making a difference, because in the part of Iraq he was in, western Iraq, he believed that everyone still hated them out there. And that's a very different picture.

He then came back to me and said, "Don't use that part. I'm going to get into trouble with my sergeant major," which is what we hear a lot.

So it is a mixed picture. Generally morale is OK, but it is very, very, very tough out here and very complicated for the young soldiers and young Marines.

BASH: Speaking about how tough it is, Jane, the Marines that you are with have been trying to root out the insurgents in Iraq. And you filed a report on just how challenging that is. Let's take a listen to some of what you reported this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF (voice-over): They usually blast the door open. This one has glass, though, and they break it.

There are more than 50 reconnaissance Marines here, attack helicopters. And AC-130 gun ships have been called in. Many hours of planning have gone into a raid designed to take fewer than 15 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your head down.

ARRAF: They tie up the military-age men and search the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a whole like collage, and they'll take pictures. We're going to take that with us.

ARRAF: In another room are women and children. The man they're looking for isn't here.

(on camera): It wasn't a textbook operation by any means, but it points out the challenges of doing pinpoint raids in a territory this sprawling and an atmosphere this complicated.

(voice-over): These Marines have been here just three weeks. Over the next seven months there will be dozens more raids and a lot more chances to find the men they are looking for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: So Jane, have they seen much success in trying to root out these insurgents?

ARRAF: Success, I guess, is how you judge it. They believe that they are keeping them on the run.

And you know what's so fascinating about being out here and why we feel so lucky to be here? Normally, if we were not here, we would occasionally get press releases saying three insurgents rounded up. But a raid like this, we would never hear a word of it.

But this is really what a lot of this hard work is like. Now, these are force reconnaissance Marines, very specially trained. They specialize in rescues and they specialize in raids. These are elite Marines.

And they go out night after night. And a large part of the time they don't come back with the target that they thought they would get.

Now, they still say there is a value to doing what they are doing, as we saw in that piece, a value that gets some intelligence, that keeps the insurgents on the run. But this is really hard work. This is hard work involving air support, involving armored vehicles, involving hours of preparation, all coming down to a 10 or 15-minute raid.

It is very, very tough. And this is what is happening across the country. Now, having said that, everyone here is hoping that they will stumble across al-Zarqawi or be led to him through some sort of intelligence. And they believe that indeed they are getting closer to al-Zarqawi associates, that they are making significant dents in that network.

HAYS: So, Jane, is that the ultimate prize, or is it the broader question of quelling the insurgency overall?

ARRAF: You know, the bigger question, if you really think about it, is really taking down the insurgency, getting rid of those cell leaders, dismantling those links, disrupting their ability to communicate by command and control. But of course everyone is fixated on al-Zarqawi.

It's a little bit -- it reminds me a bit of what we used to call Saddam watch, which was before Saddam Hussein was captured when almost every journalist in the country had congregated around Tikrit, which is where that search was centered, in the hope that they would be, the journalists, out there when they caught Saddam. Now, there isn't nearly the hype attached to al-Zarqawi, but he is certainly the big prize, $25 million, which wouldn't go to the Marines or the soldiers, or even necessarily the Iraqi forces if they catch him. But certainly he is somebody they definitely want to get to say that they have done this, that it's going to get better.

STARR: Well, Jane, as we say to you virtually every day, please stay safe. We thank you. And tell us what you expect on the story in the coming days.

ARRAF: Well, we're going out -- back out again to the Syrian border. We hope to see what's going on there, to a legal border crossing where lots of Iraqis are still coming through.

We're going to be following more efforts to cut down on that illegal traffic and catching up with some Marines as they go home and some as they come in. Also following up on political developments, as well, in Baghdad and other places. There's an awful lot going on out here.

STARR: Indeed, as always.

Still ahead, how the war has hit Army recruitment here at home. Also coming up, how one young woman says hip-hop needs to clean up its act. And we're on the story of the opening days of the Michael Jackson trial, all ON THE STORY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

STARR: Welcome back. I'm Barbara Starr. We're ON THE STORY in Iraq, Rome and here in Washington.

Conflicting accounts of what happened Friday when Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was injured and an Italian security agent was killed by U.S. gunfire just after she was released by her kidnappers.

President Bush pledged a full investigation. U.S. forces said the shooting occurred when Sgrena's vehicle, traveling at high speed, refused to stop at a checkpoint.

HINOJOSA: But, Barbara, now it seems like we're getting conflicting reports because the journalist is saying that her car was not speeding. She was in the car. She's saying the car was not speeding.

I think that there are a lot of people who are beginning to raise a lot of questions about this. I mean at some point is there going to be a question of whether or not we're getting the straight story on what happened and how this journalist could be attacked after being held hostage?

STARR: Well, President Bush, of course, now Maria ordering a full investigation. There will be a military inquiry.

One of the issues here is this has happened so many times before in Iraq at these security checkpoints. There is so much concern, of course, about suicide car bombers, cars approaching at high speed. They will have to determine, both sides, you know, what exactly did happen.

They will look at the procedures that were used and also quite critically whether there was sufficient communication between the Italian team and the United States about that car, who was in that car, who was approaching and just how all of this happened, very unclear at this point still.

HAYS: So it's something we'll be watching for you reporting on in the future from the Pentagon. But you took a very interesting trip to report along the North Korea/China border to really kind of look back. Let's share with our viewers, Barbara, what you were looking at on that trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STARR (voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a bustling, colorful Chinese port city of one million. We know North Korea is just across the river but, as we enter the city, it is so unexpected. There it is, the hermit kingdom, North Korea in full view. Our voices become hushed.

We struggle to make out every detail. The shoreline of buildings and ships looks largely deserted. A lone patrol boat goes by. We board a Chinese boat, sailing past China's border control point at the bridge that joins both countries. The river is neutral territory.

But we are stunned when the boat sails within yards of the North Korean shoreline. The Chinese hosts know we are taking these sensitive pictures of a secretive North Korea.

This is the North Korean town of Sinuiju. As the warehouses, buildings and shorelines go by we see a country in economic collapse, smokestacks with no activity. We pass a bridge destroyed and never repaired, a Ferris wheel that does not move. There is no electricity. At night all of this is dark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: This was really one of the most striking experiences I think I've had as a reporter in years. You are in the middle of a river. On one side, China bustling, colorful, busy. On the other side, North Korea silent. It makes you drop your voice and whisper. You're like there it is. There's North Korea.

BASH: Was there any issue? I mean it's such an enigmatic society and it's so -- they're so secretive and they're very careful about who even goes near their shore, so was there any issue with that? I mean did they know who was coming and what you were doing?

STARR: Well, we took a little bit. We hope the Chinese boat actually told the North Koreans we were sailing that close. We were the guests of the Chinese government.

And there did come a point on this river boat cruise when the Chinese said, "Please, turn your camera off" and we certainly did. We were allowed to continue to take still pictures. We took some of those. But one is just stunned to be so close and see such a really truly sad state of affairs. It really was.

HINOJOSA: Barbara, because there's been so much talk about North Korea, the United States, the tensions there, could you feel those tensions at all? Was there any palpable sentiment of, you know, these people feel like there could be some confrontation at any possible time or not did it seem quite normal?

STARR: The Chinese, Maria, were very, very sensitive to the fact that a news crew was there but this is just a fascinating piece of territory because essentially this one little patch across this river is a free trade zone between China and North Korea. It's not clear at all what the North Koreans have to trade.

But you also look and you at it and you think the North Koreans are looking across the river, seeing China, seeing all this activity and what must they think? It's just a mystery.

HAYS: But beyond that in terms of this stretch of land what were you looking into on this trip?

STARR: I should remind everybody the reason we really went was to do a story about the recovery of the remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot 52 years after he was shot down over China during the Korean War and the Chinese helped locate the remains of this pilot. So, that was fascinating as well. It was just an incredible story.

HINOJOSA: Well, from the possibilities of very dangerous reporting to a kind of different cultural war, we're going to talk about one woman who's taking on the multibillion dollar hip-hop industry saying she wants the lyrics and videos degrading women to stop. We'll be back ON THE STORY in a minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was twice named by "Hispanic Business" magazine as one of the most influential Latinos in the country. She's written two books.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHA JENNINGS: I want people to start critically thinking about how these images affect black women today. We're telling people they're bitches and hos and sluts and not worthy of respect and that's exactly how society is treating them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: That's Asha Jennings, a one-woman, a tiny one-woman powerhouse who has made it her mission to take on the multibillion dollar hip-hop industry saying that she is angry and will not stand for the continuation of these very, very sexual images of African American women.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY. I'm Maria Hinojosa.

BASH: And, Maria, we should note that these images are graphic, perhaps too much to show at this early morning on a Sunday morning here but you mention a very interesting point there that this is incredibly popular music with young white men. And is that the issue her perhaps that that is the reason why this is a very incredibly hard fight to fight?

HINOJOSA: Well, actually what makes it difficult is that it's young African American women wanting to engage young African American men about why they continue to put out these images that these young women are saying are degrading to them.

And what's happened is, is that the majority of the people who consume this music are, in fact, young, white, affluent men between the ages of 18 to 34. And so, women like Asha Jennings, who is now in law school here at NYU in New York, she's saying, you know, everywhere I go this is the image that mainstream America has of me that black musicians are basically saying it's OK.

It's OK to think of these women or to put them out there in these videos as these over-sexualized really the whole issue of pimping and prostitution and this young woman has said no more, no way, no how. And what's fascinating is that she's actually started a national movement. It doesn't look like they're going to stop anytime soon.

HAYS: Well, Maria, I'm sure there's lots of women right now of all races and ages saying "You go" because I think people have wondered for a long time why there hasn't been more of an outcry against this.

But I would think if I was on the music side of it, if I was one of these young, black artists, I'd say "Hey, what are you talking about? Look at the white and African American women who sexualize themselves in their videos. Look at the white, you know, rock and roll artists who have very sexualized images. Why are you picking on us?"

HINOJOSA: Exactly. In fact, I was having a conversation with Russell Simmons, who is the grandfather of hip-hop and he basically said, you know what, to say that hip-hop or rap is really the focus here is incorrect. The American society is a sexist society and so to only target hip-hop artists and say that they're the problem is not where they should be putting their focus.

But what's interesting is that what happened with Asha Jennings was she had invited the hip-hop star Nelly to come to Spellman College because he's all involved in cancer. His sister has leukemia. He was going to do a fundraiser.

Asha Jennings happened to see this video that Nelly has called "Tip Drill" which is really over the top and that's why we're not going to show it to you. You can sometimes catch it overnight on BET, Black Entertainment Television.

Well, what they do is they actually have women, they're throwing money at their crotches. There are men doing a -- putting a credit card through women's backsides. It's very graphic.

And when Asha Jennings saw this, she said, "No way, no how. You can come to Spellman but if you come here, you better be prepared to receive the protests of Spellman women." Nelly canceled.

What's fascinating is that when we were doing this story, do you think that the Nelly people responded to our calls and inquiries for an interview? No, because in essence if it's young black women that are organizing against this, they're saying "Hey, you guys don't even buy our music, so if you're not reaching into young black men we don't have anything to worry about."

STARR: Maria, because there's another undercurrent here, isn't there, as always, which is big business, big money? There's a lot at stake in this industry.

HINOJOSA: Absolutely. Let's take a listen to what the vice president of BET television had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LEWELLEN, BET VICE PRESIDENT: If people don't buy the CDs, if people don't watch the shows, we won't show them and the artists won't make them and the record labels won't produce them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: And so, you know, Nelly will say this is all about artistic freedom and this is about, you know, we're just showing a real portrayal of what's happening in our neighborhoods.

But when it comes down to it, absolutely it's about money. And, as long as there is a hunger for this, as long as these CDs continue to be bought and as long as there's a hunger to see these videos, they have no intention, as far as I can tell, to stop.

I mean will they be aware of these protests? I mean one important thing Stanley Crouch (ph), a columnist, an African American columnist has called this movement by black women the most important cultural movement of this new century, which is a pretty big deal, so I don't think they're going to stop anytime soon.

BASH: And it's certainly something that we're going to continue to watch. Maria, thank you for that.

And we're going to stick with the music beat but we're going to turn to the start of the Michael Jackson child molestation trial in California this week.

We're back on that story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYS: Fans calling out "We love you, Michael," as the super star walked into the Santa Maria Courthouse this week for his child molestation trial.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

And joining us now Lorraine Ali, Senior Writer for "Newsweek." Lorraine, what is going on? This guy hasn't had a hit record in a couple of decades. He had to pay off a kid for alleged child molestation charges over a decade ago. They're loyal. They love him. Why?

LORRAINE ALI, SENIOR WRITER, "NEWSWEEK": You know the fans that have remained really loyal to Michael, the reasons they say they've remained loyal, the number one is that he's innocent and that they feel they need to be out there spreading that message.

And they're not just loyal. They're like devoted foot soldiers. They've got Web sites, you know. They organize trips outside the courtroom. They are his foot soldiers.

STARR: You know, Lorraine, for those of us watching from the other coastline and far away it just has that sense of, you know, California weirdness to it. And being born and raised in California, I'm allowed to say it.

ALI: Me too.

STARR: But I mean it's probably worth noting the prosecution, although it may have issues it has to contend with, is taking this very, very seriously obviously.

ALI: Yes. They definitely -- well, first off, this week we learned, you know who they're going to roll out in terms of character witnesses for Michael and you've got some really big -- this is obviously for Michael's defense but you've got some really big names such as Stevie Wonder, Liz Taylor, maybe even Bill Cosby, so this is going to turn into far more of a circus than you're even seeing right now. And I think just even in terms of L.A. weirdness this is going to be up there towards the top.

BASH: Talk a little bit about what they did this week in terms of the mother of the alleged victim and the attempt perhaps to just discredit her from the get-go.

ALI: Yes. I mean it looks like they're really going. The defense was really kind of at her this week and I think they're really going to sort of go for the jugular on this, discredit her and by the time they're finished make her look like not a very good person. I would use rougher terms than that but we're early in the morning.

Yes, I think these are desperate times for Jackson and I think there's going to be desperate measures. I mean, you know, you look at what's going on in the media and pretty much what the rest of the country thinks about this guy and I think the defense team is pretty aware they need to make the other side look really bad.

HINOJOSA: So, Lorraine, in your piece that you wrote for "Newsweek," I was fascinated because you said that these fans look at Michael Jackson as a man of humility and I was kind of thinking humble is not necessarily a term that I would think of when I think of Michael Jackson. Set me straight here.

ALI: Well, his fans really look at him like he is this humble, charitable, honest guy and that he cannot get a fair shake in this corrupt world. It's almost like they are putting all the traits on Michael that they almost want to see in themselves and out there in the world.

He is the symbol of all that is good and, you know, they will go to great lengths to prove that, yes, he is this great guy that's being totally misjudged. And I think that, you know, also the fans that I interviewed were really very gentle souls and almost people that are kind of -- were overly sensitive and kind of got hit by things a little harder than the rest of us.

HAYS: Lorraine, tell us about one of these examples because I was also struck that, you know, it wasn't just, you know, some "misfit" or somebody who had problems in their life. There are some successful, you know, professional people who I remember reading about in your piece who have pictures of Michael Jackson all over their room and they're totally identified with him. Give us a specific example of one of these people.

ALI: One of the fans that I interviewed, he's a biotech analyst, you know, works full time, makes a good living but what he does is he -- and he's also a seemingly normal 30-year-old guy. He goes snowboarding with his friends. But you go into his house and, you know, and his bedroom is like this shrine to Michael. He helps run a Web site for Michael. The day before I had interviewed him, he had taken a sick day off work and gone up and stood outside the courthouse with his sign screaming "Michael, I love you." And so, you would never know sitting next to this person, say on the train that, you know, they had this devotion for Michael Jackson.

STARR: And, you know, talk about Hollywood royalty, it also emerged this week that Jay Leno wants to continue to do his jokes, his monologue and cover the Jackson trial on his show. Tell us about that.

ALI: I think the Jackson trial is probably the test thing that's happened to comedians in a while. Leno's just struck gold on this one.

STARR: Some issue about the gag order I guess that, you know, he wasn't being up front.

ALI: Oh, I see. I'm sorry. I see what you're saying.

STARR: Yes, that the gag order was going to keep him possibly from talking about it on his show and I guess late night comedians see this trial as continuing fodder for the future, don't they?

ALI: Oh, definitely. I mean definitely and I think you're going to see things coming out of this trial every week, you know, that you don't expect and I think that's just going to give them those great sort of zingers that they need every night.

STARR: Well, that will be something that we'll all be continuing to watch. Thank you Lorraine.

ALI: Sure, thank you.

STARR: We'll be looking for your articles in "Newsweek."

More ON THE STORY after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: A screen legend returns to the spotlight this week. What's her story? More when we return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Lauren Bacall, what's her story? A stage and screen actress for more than half a century, Lauren Bacall updated her best- selling memoir "By Myself and Then Some" this week.

Bacall describes how she grew up in a traditional Jewish household and went to acting classes every Saturday. Her big break came when she appeared on the cover of "Harper's Bazaar" and soon after was cast with Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not."

LAUREN BACALL, ACTRESS: You know how to whistle don't you? You just put your lips together and blow.

ANNOUNCER: The pair became one of Hollywood's most glamorous couples. Their marriage was cut short, however, by Bogart's battle with cancer and death in 1957.

She writes, "I did not think in terms of sharing my life with a man. I felt I would rather travel alone to reach my goal and never plan on permanence. That's the way my life has turned out."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: Thanks to my colleagues. Thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back next Sunday.

Straight ahead "CNN LIVE SUNDAY."

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