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On the Story

How Will Proposed Base Closings Affect U.S. Economy?; United Airlines Dumps Employee Pension Fund

Aired May 15, 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, from the security scare in Washington to the Secretary of State Rice in Baghdad.
I'm Kathleen Hays, on the story of base closings across the country, and how United Airlines dumped pension plans for thousands of its employees.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Suzanne Malveaux, on the story of how a tiny plane turned Washington upside down Wednesday, and reminded us lessons of 9/11 are still being learned.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Deborah Feyerick, on the story of a serial killer, executed by lethal injection. It was the first execution in Connecticut in more than four decades, and it triggered a lot of soul-searching on all sides.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Kelly Wallace, on the story of the drama playing out from coast to coast in May: The senior prom. What changes, what stays the same?

Also, we'll be going live to Iraq to talk to Jane Arraf about the surprised visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. We'll also go to California, to talk to "Newsweek" magazine's Allison Samuels about Macaulay Culkin helping his friend Michael Jackson in court.

And at the end of the hour, our "What's Her Story?" segment, about the woman in court this week for the prison abuse scandal. E- mail us at onthestory@cnn.com. Now we begin first with senior Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf, joining us on the phone from Baghdad.

Jane, tell us about this surprise visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Well, I guess one of the things is that in this situation in Baghdad, pretty well anytime a senior official comes to visit is going to be kept in extreme secrecy, which was -- certainly the case today.

Now, she donned a bulletproof vest. Imagine Condoleezza Rice putting on a bulletproof vest, a helmet. Got on the helicopter and flew to northern Iraq, to Iraqi Kurdistan to meet Kurdish leaders. She's now in Baghdad, where she's been talking to embassy staff, to Iraqi officials. And actually I'm waiting to see her for an interview. There is intense security, as you can imagine.

She is one of the architects of the invasion of Iraq, and this is her first trip here. This is her first chance to get a look at what all of this has done.

MALVEAUX: Jane, tell us the purpose of her trip. Is there a message behind this? I know there's been a lot of violence in the last couple of weeks. So really a very volatile situation there.

ARRAF: Well, I think one of the points of this trip is to send the message that the U.S. really is involved and wants to stay involved, and to put some pressure, let's be honest, on the Iraqi government, to in essence, get its act together. There is a series of deadlines that U.S. officials would very much like them to meet. The next one is putting together a constitution, voting on it, and having real elections next December.

Now, this constitutional thing is getting a bit rocky, but the other thing is, Condoleezza Rice is the first official from any country, the first senior official, to come here and meet the new government. The second one will be the Iranian foreign minister, which kind of tells you where the politics is at here these days.

HAYS: Well, certainly the level of attacks by insurgents has been extreme. Hundreds of Iraqis killed. Operation Matador last week concluding with 125 insurgents killed. Has Secretary Rice addressed any of that yet? Do you think she'll be meeting with any of the Sunni leaders who might be willing now to try and help -- join together with the Shiites and the Kurds and help bring this government together?

ARRAF: She may very well be meeting with Sunni members of the cabinet, but they're not really the ones who need to be brought on board. And as you know, from covering it, from all of you, this is a huge problem that no one is really getting a handle on.

Now, what she's been saying publicly is that there is a political solution to this, as well as a military solution. You can't just defeat an insurgency through military means, which is absolutely true. And it's going to be a real challenge bringing in Sunnis, who feel that they have no place in this.

As it is now, they have a committee to put together a constitution, but only two Sunni Arabs, only two, which is remarkable for a huge committee. And that's one of the problems that she will likely be raising and asking the Shia-led government about.

FEYERICK: Jane, a questionnaire came out this week, basically saying that life in Iraq is not very good for the average Iraqi citizen. Is she there to also show that there is hope, that things are going to get better for the people living there?

ARRAF: You know, that's a really tough thing to do, especially when you fly in for a day. What she's is doing is sending a very strong political signal, but let's face it, she's not going to see Baghdad. She's not going to meet ordinary Iraqis. Nobody does, really. They fly in. They go to military bases. They go to the green zone there. Incredibly heavily protected as they have to be. And she will not get a sense of what life here is like.

She may be told about it by some people, nor will ordinary Iraqis really see much of her, other than what they see on television. And certainly it will make them feel that they're not alone, but we have to remember, not every Iraqi here is thrilled that there are U.S. officials coming here. It is indeed, its own country.

MALVEAUX: And Jane, you said that Secretary Rice really doesn't get a chance to see Baghdad for herself. Doesn't get a chance to talk to ordinary Iraqis. What is your experience? What are you seeing? Is it really as dangerous, as frightening as it looks like on television?

ARRAF: This is such a tough thing, because you're right, it looks absolutely terrifying on television. There's (INAUDIBLE), as I freely am when I'm out of the country hearing it, watching it on television, I think, why would I ever want to go back? But when you're here, you realize that Iraq and Baghdad are not just a sum total of all the attacks. It's not a laundry list of the people who died. In this city, there are millions of people still, and this is what I take heart and comfort and courage in, who go to work every day.

I was talking to someone yesterday, who was telling me about a new restaurant that has opened up. Now, if that's not a sign of hope, I don't know what is. There are restaurants being blown up, but at the same time, there are new restaurants that are opening, and there are Iraqis who are going to them.

Life here is very, very tough in Baghdad particularly. Very unpredictable, chaotic, often dangerous, but it's not quite as grim as it may seem.

MALVEAUX: Well, Jane, thank you so much. You be safe there. You're doing an excellent job. We are actually going to be talking about a security scare that took place in Washington this week. We're back on that story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Fighter jets were scrambled at approximately 12:01, and the threat level was raised to orange. When the plane was within 10 miles, an evacuation and moving of people to more secure locations began at that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: White House press secretary Scott McClellan laying out how a blip on the radar moving toward Washington fired up a full-scare security alert. It was quite a tense moment.

FEYERICK: It would have seemed like a great opportunity for the president to get out there a couple of minutes after it happened, and said, you know, everything worked as planned, the F-16s were scrambled, the White House was evacuated, Congress was evacuated, and yet he was off on a bike ride, and Dick Cheney was in the West Wing. How upsetting was that perhaps even in the White House in retrospect?

MALVEAUX: Well, that certainly was a big issue. It was a big follow-up issue with this whole thing unfolding, because essentially, a lot of people were asking questions about that. You had a 15-minute window. As you had mentioned before, Vice President Dick Cheney was in the White House. His motorcade sped off at the time of the incident. We know that the first lady, as well as former first lady Nancy Reagan, were huddled down into a bunker, down below in the White House.

But the president was off about 60 miles or so, suburban Maryland, riding his bicycle. We did not find out until afterwards, late in the day, that he was not notified of any of this until after it actually happened.

A lot of questions about that, because they said, hey, this is a red alert here, and why wasn't it that the president was actually notified at that time? They said essentially that they didn't believe he needed to be notified, that he was never in any danger. That he -- that there were protocols that were being taking place at the White House. And essentially that it never got to the point where you had that order to shoot down a plane. Nevertheless, did not make sense to a lot of people who had questions about that, saying, look, your wife was shuttled to an undisclosed location, and 35,000 people essentially evacuated, confused, frustrated, wondering what was going on.

HAYS: Well, I was certainly positively impressed with Suzanne Malveaux, the reporter, who doesn't miss a beat, picks up her phone. We're usually -- we're on the story now. Suzanne Malveaux was in the story. And we're going to show you a little clip of Suzanne sort of instant reaction in this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: One of the Secret Service agents told me, run, this is no joke. Leave the grounds. They were -- they were poised with their guns on the northwest lawn. They are stationed outside of the White House. They are stationed inside of the gates. Immediately, as I was leaving, there was a motorcade that left the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: Suzanne, you stayed calm. You thought quickly...

MALVEAUX: You think so?

HAYS: Well, how did you feel in that moment, because we've all -- we lived through 9/11. You know when the Pentagon was hit. I was in New York City. Did your heart stop? What did you feel like?

MALVEAUX: It was really interesting, because we were actually in the basement of the White House in our little booth, and we have monitors everywhere. And we heard something, me and my producer heard something unusual. And it was just something's going on. And I grabbed my press pass, I grabbed my cell phone, and I said, you know what, I'm going upstairs. And he said fine, I go this way, you go that way. And went running upstairs, right outside the briefing room, and then that was when the confusion took place, because we had Secret Service, we had uniformed guards. They had their guns drawn. And essentially, one guy says to me, "get back into the building, get back on the grounds." And so I'm asking him, on the grounds, get in the building, I'm shouting back to him. And he's saying to me, a minute later, no, leave, run, run, that's what he's saying.

And then -- so I'm on my cell phone. I get on my cell phone, and I'm walking and I'm moving just a little too slowly for this guy, because he says to me, he says "run, this is no joke. I am not kidding. Run." So that's when we started moving much, much faster, and it all happened literally at the same time, I mean, within moments.

Another security official says, "there's a plane." We hear a roar overhead that -- later we know that that was the fighter jet that happened. But you hear the roar overhead. At that moment, I looked to the left, and I see a motorcade that is whizzing by, just taking off top speed outside of the White House grounds.

All of this happening within just moments. We're still walking. I'm still talking to Wolf, trying to get information. And then they just keep telling us to go, cross Pennsylvania Avenue, cross Lafayette Park, keep going. It was not far enough.

At the point where we got to Lafayette Park, that's when we could kind of like just take a beat, take a moment, turn around, and see what was going on on the grounds. It was really confusing. It was frightening. People were on their phones. And some people of course were visibly upset while all of this was taking place.

At the same time, there were people, as well, who were inside, some producers, some crews, who had no idea what was going on.

WALLACE: Suzanne, it was riveting to watch, and we applaud you for how calm you were under those circumstances. And then it was also riveting to watch that White House briefing. It reminded me when I was at the White House, all of the reporters sort of singling or honing in on one issue, and that is when the president was notified.

I want to ask you about lessons learned. Are some White House staffers after the fact saying they made a mistake here, that yes, in fact, the president should have been notified, because, after all, he's commander in chief, and should have just been notified about what was going on.

MALVEAUX: Right. And Kelly, it was really one of the most frustrating briefings. We all really did get a little bit angry about this, because we were trying to get the answer to that question, because it just did not make sense. We were told that his Secret Service detail, a military aide very close to him, that they were all in communication with those at the White House, the Situation Room. But they chose not to inform the president during that 15-minute window.

They say that, you know, of course, he cannot speak publicly against his own Secret Service. They say they followed protocol. But a senior official who I spoke with, really behind the scenes, off the camera, said look, this is so, so sensitive here. These are men and women who will take a bullet for the president at any moment. You are never going to have him in a situation publicly where he is actually going to second-guess or question what it is that they actually did, that call that they made during that 15-minute window, but you can be sure at the same time, they said, yes, we're going to be doing a review here, because obviously the fact that the president didn't know when so many other people, millions of people were watching, and were quite confused and upset about it, is quite unsettling for the administration.

WALLACE: Well, certainly it was an unbelievable week at the White House.

We are switching gears quite a bit, and we are going to move on to one of those things that can have a huge importance at a particular time in your life. We're talking about the senior prom. Yes, there I am. My colleague Justin Dial (ph) with the camera there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get down, get down!

WALLACE: On the story of what I saw and heard and how I moved at senior prom. We will be right back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have a name for that, Kelly, that move?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SGA Secretary Christine Brinkley (ph) escorted by Karl Bins (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And welcome to senior prom 2005. Christine Brinkley (ph) and her date, Karl Bins (ph) of Delmar, Delaware -- does this bring back memories? Remember what it was like to be 17? The pressure, the worries of parents. You can also find some brand new moments in the stop along the road to adulthood. Welcome back. I am Kelly Wallace, and we are on this very important story.

MALVEAUX: Well, Kelly, it certainly looked like you were having a good time at prom there with your little dance -- we're all going to learn that one.

WALLACE: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Obviously, this segment is either going to bring up really good memories or nightmares for all of us, the prom experience. What was the purpose of your series?

WALLACE: The purpose was to capture the excitement. I mean, this is a rite of passage for high school seniors, also for their parents. Their senor prom, soon after they're going to be leaving home, many of them, going off to college. So we wanted to capture the excitement, the dress, the limo ride, the tuxedo. But also, Suzanne, get into the serious stuff: The anxiety.

There are definite reasons for the anxiety here. According to the national highway statistics, more than half of all fatal crashes on prom weekend involve alcohol. People who are trying to stop drinking and driving consider prom night one of the most dangerous nights for a teenager. Also you have the issue of sex. A survey last year saying almost half of all teens said they would go all the way on prom night.

So there are real anxieties here for parents, pressures for students, and that's what we tried to capture in our pieces.

HAYS: Well, much to Christine's mom's delight and to the young man's dismay, not a chance for anything but good behavior on their prom night, because you were right there. You were right there with the camera. Let's take a look at some of Kelly watching these kids and participating on prom night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): No, she won't be drinking. Yes, she hopes her friends who do drink don't get behind the wheel. She lost a friend last summer in a car crash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we know it's a serious matter.

WALLACE: And as for sex?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: N-o, that's what your mom says, n-o.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D-a-r-n.

WALLACE: That would be darn.

No sex, but dancing that might make their parents, even the principal, blush.

His bigger concern, though, what happens after prom?

(on camera): When are you sort of like, got through the night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning when the cell phone hasn't rung all night.

WALLACE (voice-over): After a little more dancing, we decide to join in.

It is time for those after-prom parties. Nearly 11:00 p.m. now, three hours before Christine's curfew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we can report, you know, the Delmar high school principal does something pretty extraordinary. He goes around to the classrooms talking to juniors and seniors. He also gives them his cell phone number in case of emergency, saying call me up on prom night if you get in a jam. Well, he tells us he didn't get any calls at all, all night long. Nothing at all. Everyone got home safely, which is a very good thing.

FEYERICK: It seems dating is so different nowadays. It seems that kids have a lot more pressure on certain -- when it comes to certain things. But did you find that the prom was pretty much the way you know it or remember it, or were there real changes, except for of course the scare tactics really of principals, people coming out and saying don't drink, don't drive? There seems to be a lot more sort of advanced work done before the kids actually get on the dance floor.

WALLACE: Yeah, Deborah, I'm so sad to say, I didn't have a prom. I went to a high school in Brooklyn, no prom. Only nerds went to this dance. No limos, no dresses. So it was my first time at the senior prom, and I had a ball.

No, but I do think things have changed a bit, because it's gotten pretty incredible. I mean, students are spending hundreds of dollars for the dresses, for the limos, for the night out, the after-prom activities. And because drinking and driving has become such an issue, especially in teenager's lives, you are seeing more and more programs. I mean, at this school, they saw a video a couple of weeks before prom night, a really gruesome video about what can happen if you drink and get behind the wheel. Doing research for our story, there are schools that will do a whole mock DWI accident. Students pretending that they're killed, their own parents writing their obituaries, to really kind of hammer the point home about what can happen if you make bad choices.

So it seems that some of the programs out there are getting more and more advanced to try and fight what is a big problem at this time of year.

MALVEAUX: And Kelly, you talked to so many of the students and the parents, even the principal there. Did they get a sense that these program are working? Are the kids really impacted by this, and they feel like I really need to be careful on this night? I really need to behave well? Or is it the same kind of thing that used to happen, you know, back in the day?

WALLACE: Yeah, you know, it's a great question. I can take the Christine Brinkley (ph), the senior we followed around. You know, she says she doesn't drink at all, that she can have fun sober. She says some of her friends definitely do drink. And she said that video that they saw, that was again very, very powerful -- she said some of her friends were emotional, were crying. She thinks they got the message, that if they are going to drink, that they're going to stay in a place and not get behind the wheel.

And the principal says, Suzanne, it's this balancing act. You don't want to keep hammering home this message over and over again, and get so heavy that the students say, enough already, I don't want to hear it. So he says you have to sort of strike the balance between getting the message out, trying to talk it in a down-to-earth way, and then again hoping they make the right call if they're ever in that situation.

HAYS: Well, Kelly, we are glad you finally got your prom night. And you got to dance.

WALLACE: Yeah! It only took, you know, 38 years or something.

HAYS: Well, you just looked great, Kelly. I hope you didn't drink and drive.

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: I didn't.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Kelly, it's all about the date. It's not the limo or the dinner, it's the date. That's the only thing that matters.

HAYS: She was with the principal. I don't what the principal...

WALLACE: We should have gone around the table and heard about all of your prom experiences. We'll do that next time.

HAYS: Next time.

OK, we have to go to break. There you go. That's our safety net.

There's no dancing, we are on a serious story at United Airlines, after employees learned the company is dumping their pensions. And no celebration either in areas losing out in the latest round of military base cuts. Pretty important stuff. I'm back on those stories in just a moment.

Also coming up, we will go to Los Angeles and talk to "Newsweek's" Allison Samuels about the celebrity witness at the Michael Jackson trial this week. And our "What's Her Story?" segment on the woman in the prisoner abuse case. Plus, a check on what's making news right now. That's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN Center in Atlanta. ON THE STORY continues in a moment, but first, headlines now in the news.

Iraqi police are investigating some grisly discoveries. The bodies of at least 34 Iraqis have been found in three separate locations across the country this weekend. The bodies of 10 Iraqi soldiers were among those discovered.

The situation appears to be calmer today in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. So far, the streets in the eastern city of Andijan are empty after two days of deadly clashes between Uzbek troops and anti-government protesters. Reports say at least 450 people were killed in the violence.

The controversy still swirls around Mexican President Vicente Fox over some comments he made about Mexican immigrants who'd come to the United States. The Mexican leader said the immigrants take jobs, quote, "that not even blacks want to do." Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson says the comments had, quote, "ominous racial overtones."

Those are the headlines. We'll have more news in 30 minutes. Now back to Washington and CNN's ON THE STORY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm devastated. It's terrible. I mean, I can't believe that they would allow this to happen to the employees, the front line employees of this airline, and then expect us to go out on the line tomorrow and have to make passengers want to come back and fly United again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: (INAUDIBLE) Association of Flight Attendants echoing the worries of many United Airlines employees this week after the company dumped their plans. This can be the largest pension default in U.S. history, and you can bet other big companies are watching what United did very closely.

Welcome back. I'm Kathleen Hays. We're ON THE STORY.

MALVEAUX: So, Kathleen, what does this mean for all of these people who are no longer going to see their pension plans? And then are we the taxpayers essentially picking up the tab?

HAYS: Well, we are picking up the tab. In this case, United Airlines, because it's in bankruptcy, it can apply to offload its pension obligations onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. It's a mouthful, something we are going to hear a lot more about, though, because they have got a big deficit. There is more and more companies that have done this. They're about $23 billion in the hole.

What they do is up to $45,000 a year, they adjust your pension. So some people will still have pensions, but they'll be reduced. And remember, when you go to work for a company, and it's a union company like this, you have a wage, you have a pension. They are going to pay it when you retire. This is not bad planing on the part of any retiree. That's what I'm trying to say. This is bad management at United Airlines is what the workers would say.

But U.S. Airways is in bankruptcy. They've already done this. And the question is, let's say worst comes to worst, a company like General Motors -- far from bankruptcy, I don't want to say they are -- but we know Delta, for example Delta Air Lines is talking about bankruptcy. This is something they could do as well. It's going to increase the deficit for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and it's going to put more and more retirees' pensions at risk.

WALLACE: Kathleen, it was interesting -- it was interesting. Go ahead, Deb, you go.

FEYERICK: Well, here's what I don't understand. The airlines seem to be full. Every time I fly the airlines, they are packed. You're waiting for planes. We're constantly being told they're badly run, and now all of a sudden they say, well, here is how we are going to fix it. We are not going to pay the pension fund. We are actually going to put it off to a government agency. And there are a lot of people out there who don't even have pensions. So when do the airlines get their acts together, so that everybody else isn't always bailing them out?

HAYS: Well, of course United Airlines says that if they do this, if they can offload this obligation, they can come out of bankruptcy, they can get to be profitable again. And in fairness to the airlines, let's remember that this big jump in oil prices, which means higher jet fuel prices, which they have no control over, except of course to try and hedge it in the financial markets --maybe they could have done a better job of that, but they don't control the oil market. That's one of the big, big things that has hit them.

I think another sort of ominous message out of this, though, is what it means for unions. Because in some cases, the union leaders may tell their rank and file, look, maybe we are going to have to be a little more willing to accept some concessions on how much we pay for our health care costs, what kind of benefits we want in retirement. Because if we're in a troubled company and it says, look, we need to make these cuts in order to survive, will the rank and file be more willing to say, well, gees, I guess we better go along, because we want to make sure that we have something, which is better than nothing.

WALLACE: Kathleen, it was interesting. Jack Cafferty made this the e-mail question of the day Friday on "AMERICAN MORNING" and got a ton of e-mail, and so many people really expressing outrage about what is happening at United Airlines, and raising the point that you are just raising now, concern that that could happen in companies all across the country, that companies can see what United did here and say, OK, well, to protect our bottom line, we are going to do the same thing. What are the implications here?

HAYS: Well, again, the implications are, if you're in bankruptcy, the law allows you to do it. The taxpayers are going to have to support this. Corporate America at the top has shown a pension -- I mean, one of the big stories over the last two or three years has been companies where they, you know, lay off lots of workers to become more efficient, to help the bottom line. Fair enough. Maybe that's necessary to do in a capitalist society. But then you see the CEO at the end of the year getting a big, huge bonus? How does that add up? You know, what kind of loyalty do we see in corporate America? You know, loyalty to the bottom line or loyalty to the CEO's pockets.

Again, I don't want to sound like I'm coming down on UAL, because Glenn Tilton, their CEO, is not the guy who's been there for 20 years. It's an employee-owned and run company. It's a very complicated situation. But I think -- I think a little worker outrage, a little voter outrage would be a good thing, because I think more and more people are getting the rug pulled out from under them, and it's not fair.

MALVEAUX: And Kathleen, there was a lot of outrage, though, over another story this week that is really going to hit a lot of people hard. That was those base closings. And we know that at least for the local economies, that people are going to suffer. Is it going to be a national problem as well? What kind of situation are people in?

HAYS: Again, this is a move, the big macro move is, let's streamline the military bases. Let's make it more efficient. Let's realign. We are going to close 33 big bases. You can see some of these storied names. The Pascagoula Naval station in Mississippi. Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

Let's stop and look for a minute at that one, because it turns out Ellsworth Air Force base is the second largest employer in South Dakota. Isn't that amazing? So if this base closes down, the government says, look, we are going to come in and we're going to redevelop. We're going to find new uses. So there will be some transfer of jobs, but you know, there are cases that have been very successful, like Lowry Air Force base in Colorado was shut down in the early '90s, realignment I guess.

MALVEAUX: Right, right.

HAYS: And they've done fairly well, but there are other places like Treasure Island in San Francisco, a Naval base. It still hasn't been redeveloped. Small businesses will suffer around that area. No doubt about it. And I think if you look at a Naval base where someone is working, say, inspecting nuclear subs or building ships, that's a well-paid job with good benefits. That kind of worker, maybe middle age, is going to have a tough time in that area probably, finding a comparable job with comparable benefits, comparable wages. So I think people figure that maybe the macro effect isn't that big. The micro effect is. But it remains to be seen how this plays out.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

FEYERICK: And quickly, Kathleen, how does this affect the average person? Do these towns just die, and the people go off and look for jobs elsewhere? Or do people just wait and see whether they are going to come back?

HAYS: In some cases, the military personnel will be shifted to some of these new bases, because as some are closed, some new ones are built up. In the individual community, some people don't have any choice but to hope that the government comes in quickly and gets the ball rolling, so they can keep going and wait for a new round of business, new round of development.

FEYERICK: OK. Well, from the economy to crime, and how New England saw its first execution this weekend in 45 years. I'm back on that story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope the words, thoughts and life of Michael Ross will become a faint memory, and the notoriety that surrounded him will finally end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: That's Jennifer Taber (ph), sister of one of the young women raped and murdered by Ivy League grad Michael Ross. She spoke moments after he was executed by lethal injection before dawn Friday morning in Connecticut. Welcome back. I'm Deborah Feyerick. We're ON THE STORY.

WALLACE: Deborah, give us a sense of how the families felt afterwards? Because I'm hearing, you're picking up some frustration from some of the family members about how it all ended up after all.

FEYERICK: For some of the family, it was really, really frustrating. One of the fathers who lost his 14-year-old daughter said that he planned to be at that execution. He wanted to be front and center, or as he said, quote/unquote, "dead center." So he could see Michael Ross and so that Michael Ross could see him.

And what happened is that when the warden asked Ross whether he wanted to make a statement -- he was given 60 seconds to do so -- Michael Ross simply said, "no thank you." So there wasn't an, I'm sorry, there wasn't I feel badly for what I have done. He said things similar to that over the years, but there was no formal I'm sorry as he was basically going to his death. And also, Ross never opened his eyes. He was laying on that gurney. He was strapped down. He had an intravenous tube in his left arm, a backup intravenous tube in his right arm so he could be administered this three-drug combination which would ultimately kill him. He never, ever opened his eyes.

So if the families wanted to sort of look at him and stare him down or intimidate him or make him feel any fear, he did not feel that kind of fear, at least not by the families. It really seemed very, very peaceful. And interestingly, peaceful is the word one of the survivors whom I spoke to, that is the words that she said. She said, he should not be allowed to be executed by lethal injection. He should not be put to death peacefully. He said, that's not how those girls died; that's not how he should died here. And this is her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVIAN DOBSON, ROSS' VICTIM: If I had the courage or the gumption to even stab him, I probably would have been in jail -- went to jail for murder for killing him. But those four girls that died, they were ages of my daughter now. And I carry that knowing, that I had that one chance, that what would have happened if I would have just done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: And that was Vivian Dobson, and the night that she was raped, she was actually carrying a knife. She and her sister had practiced what they would do if in fact they were ever attacked, ironically enough. And she had that knife. She pressed it up to his chest, but she realized at that split second that she couldn't do it, and she said that it was at that same moment that Ross realized she was not going to pull that knife on him. So it was a very intense moment for this woman, and this woman saying that, you know, she -- she didn't necessarily think Ross should be put to death, but this is a man who completely changed the course of her life. She barricaded herself inside her home. She refused to live. This is the mother of five children. And yet, the impact of this brutal assault on her 20 years ago was so horrible that she still has yet to recover. And she's only now really getting the kind of help she needs from both the state -- from the state, both financially and psychologically.

HAYS: And obviously that was tormenting for her. And tell us, what was the impact with the community? Because I know this is something, an execution, that has not happened for decades there, is that right?

FEYERICK: That's correct. It hasn't happened in more than 45 decades (sic), although for the first 10 of those decades, death by execution was not legal in the state of Connecticut, but that changed then. But there was a real lot of psychological soul-searching going on by many people in the state, by the politicians there.

Michael Ross said he wanted to die. He claims he wanted to do it so that the families could have some peace. Many people saw it as a stunt. Something that he wanted to do so he could kind of go out in a blaze of glory as a hero, that this man, who has been in the middle of legal arguments for the last 20 years, could finally say, OK, enough is enough.

But one federal judge actually on the night he was supposed to be executed back in January, said, wait a minute, we better be sure this guy is mentally competent, because if we're not and we're putting him to death -- and he turned to Ross' personal lawyer, he said, I am going to make sure that you are disbarred. So there was a lot going on here as everybody tried to make sure that this was the right thing.

But Ross, when he decided that he was going to be put to death, one of the interesting things that he ended up saying was, sure, if somebody walked and gave me a life sentence, of course I would take that. Not to take it would be suicide. He knew that if this ever went to trial again, if he tried to continue the appeal process, that he would most likely still be back on death row.

And that being the case, he decided that he would go forward with this and he would die in a way that he was going to say, and that is, OK, I'm done, no more appeals, put me to death. And that's what happened.

MALVEAUX: Deborah, thank you very much. A very difficult story.

From Connecticut to California and the Michael Jackson trial. We're back on that story with Allison Samuels after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYS: Movie star Macaulay Culkin was at the Michael Jackson trial this weekend supporting his friend. Supporting us ON THE STORY is "Newsweek" national correspondent Allison Samuels in Los Angeles.

Allison, we welcome you to the show. You have been following this trial for some time now. Did the Michael Jackson defense get a big win this week when Macaulay Culkin testified on his behalf?

ALLISON SAMUELS, NEWSWEEK: Yes, I think so. I think that anytime you have someone as famous and visible as the child actor Macaulay Culkin has been, I think the jurors really sort of take heed. They listen. They give him a certain amount of credibility, because they feel like they have known him, they have seen him grow up. They feel, you know, very comfortable with him. And I think as the average person, rightly or wrongly, we're very swayed by famous people. I think we're highly influenced by them. So I think Macaulay getting there and saying that Michael had never touched him, that Michael was always on his best behavior with him, pretty much I think that was definitely in Michael's favor, and the defense's favor as well.

WALLACE: Allison, every day, it seems, another unusual development in this trial. On Friday, you had Michael Jackson's former attorney, Mark Geragos, being called to the stand by the defense. It's unusual. Why? Why did the defense want to bring him to the stand?

SAMUELS: I think they wanted to make it clear, because I guess the prosecution had been very critical of the way the defense, particularly Mark Geragos, was actually representing Michael. The way they followed the family around, the investigation that they had with the family. I guess the family in some ways felt that they were being harassed by Michael's people, and Geragos was there to sort of explain why he did that. He felt that Michael was in a position to be taken advantage of, that the family had ulterior motives from the very beginning, and he felt that the only way he could actually prove that was to actually have people following them, trying to see their habits, trying to see exactly other people, other celebrities that they were actually getting in contact with. And that -- and I think Geragos was there to sort of prove the fact that there was nothing else sinister going on, just the point of him trying to protect his client from people who he thought definitely were trying to take advantage of him.

FEYERICK: Now, during the trial this week, they played excerpts of the British documentary, and during those excerpts, Michael Jackson says he's very, very lonely, that he used to go up to people on the street, basically ask them whether they'd talk to him, or whether they would be his friend.

This is obviously a man who was in his own world, obviously with such stardom so quickly. We've never heard whether in fact he ever got sort of any kind of psychological counseling, or this is a man who just felt so lonely and so alienated. What steps did he take, other than surround himself with people who appeared to have just told him what he wanted to hear?

SAMUELS: I think that is all he did. I think that the family was sort of unable, and many of his friends were unable to sort of get him to sort of get help, because I don't think he necessarily thought that he had any problems per se. I think he thought he was lonely, obviously, and that he had had a very tough childhood, which he has talked about over the course of the last, you know, couple of years. But I don't think he really thought there was an answer to him via therapy or anything like that. I think he surrounded himself with children, because he felt that children were innocent and honest and didn't want anything from him, were very genuine people. I think he was very afraid of adults.

I think he felt very comfortable with kids. I think those were his friends, you know, the Websters and the Macaulay Culkins, and the Corey Feldmans, those kids, you know, they really gave him whatever sort of enjoyment he could get in terms of just friendships, but not adults. I think he really felt uncomfortable with adults at all times.

MALVEAUX: And Allison, so much of what we have seen, we have heard from the documentary, these kinds of things, people of course, the jurors who were looking at him on a daily basis, is there any sense that he is actually going to testify? He's going to take the stand himself and explain his behavior?

SAMUELS: I think, you know, the preference would be not for him to do that, because I think that the defense in some ways feel that he may be a little bit too emotional, but on some level I think that people really underestimate how strong Michael Jackson is. I mean, this is a very shrewd, smart man and has been, you know, because he has been in the business so long, and with many of his business deals, from acquiring the Beatles' music and all that stuff, this is a guy who is pretty smart. But I think the defense would much rather he not take the stand.

If you look at the outtakes of the documentary, which were shown right after Macaulay Culkin, I think it made a pretty good impression of him, you know, talking honestly about how much he cared about his children, about other kids, how he, you know, he said he would never harm a child. I think the jury, with all the impressions, really got a good sense of what his answer is to all these charges from that, those outtakes that were not shown originally when the documentary aired.

MALVEAUX: And Allison, how much longer do you think you have on this trial? How much longer do you think it is going to last?

SAMUELS: I think it is going to go on for a while. I think it's going to go on for at least a few more weeks. I mean, you have Jay Leno coming up, who is going to testify. Chris Tucker possibly can -- will be, you know, on the stand -- all very visible people who I think will certainly help the defense as well.

MALVEAUX: Allison Samuels, "Newsweek" national correspondent, thank you very much. We hope to see you back here soon. And we're back ON THE STORY right after this.

ANNOUNCER: A Virginia woman faces charges of prisoner abuse. "What's Her Story?" More when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Sabrina Harman, "What's Her Story?" The Army reservist pleaded not guilty this week to charges she abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Specialist Harman is accused of taking some of the most notorious photographs in the prisoner abuse scandal. She's also accused of wiring an Iraqi detainee and threatening him with electrocution. The 27-year-old Virginia native managed a pizza shop before joining the Army Reserves after the September 11th attacks. Last week, Lynndie England tried to plead guilty to prisoner abuse, but a judge declared a mistrial. If Harman is found guilty, she could face up to six-and-a-half years in prison.

HAYS: Before we go today, some buzz about ON THE STORY's sister Suzanne, after the presidential news conference at the end of April. Listen to the Bill Maher show on our sister network HBO. Bill Maher, and NPR's Farai Chideya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, HBO HOST: What did you think of the press conference? Because I thought it was...

FARAI CHIDEYA, NPR: Suzanne Malveaux's suit was fabulous. I just have to say that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whose?

CHIDEYA: Suzanne Malveaux, who's the CNN correspondent. And I have to say, as someone who has been on Air Force One and traveled with the White House press corps, the women usually wear gray, to try to fit in with the male-oriented world, and I was very proud of her for what...

MAHER: What did she wear?

CHIDEYA: She wore pink raw silk.

MAHER: Oh.

CHIDEYA: And she's also -- she asked a question about Putin, and it was wonderful. So I'll just say that.

MAHER: You may have to watch that on the E! Channel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: Way to go, way to go, Suzanne.

WALLACE: Girl power! Girl power!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it was funny...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never sacrifice style, Suzanne...

MALVEAUX: OK.

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

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 May 15, 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, from the security scare in Washington to the Secretary of State Rice in Baghdad.
I'm Kathleen Hays, on the story of base closings across the country, and how United Airlines dumped pension plans for thousands of its employees.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Suzanne Malveaux, on the story of how a tiny plane turned Washington upside down Wednesday, and reminded us lessons of 9/11 are still being learned.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Deborah Feyerick, on the story of a serial killer, executed by lethal injection. It was the first execution in Connecticut in more than four decades, and it triggered a lot of soul-searching on all sides.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Kelly Wallace, on the story of the drama playing out from coast to coast in May: The senior prom. What changes, what stays the same?

Also, we'll be going live to Iraq to talk to Jane Arraf about the surprised visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. We'll also go to California, to talk to "Newsweek" magazine's Allison Samuels about Macaulay Culkin helping his friend Michael Jackson in court.

And at the end of the hour, our "What's Her Story?" segment, about the woman in court this week for the prison abuse scandal. E- mail us at onthestory@cnn.com. Now we begin first with senior Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf, joining us on the phone from Baghdad.

Jane, tell us about this surprise visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Well, I guess one of the things is that in this situation in Baghdad, pretty well anytime a senior official comes to visit is going to be kept in extreme secrecy, which was -- certainly the case today.

Now, she donned a bulletproof vest. Imagine Condoleezza Rice putting on a bulletproof vest, a helmet. Got on the helicopter and flew to northern Iraq, to Iraqi Kurdistan to meet Kurdish leaders. She's now in Baghdad, where she's been talking to embassy staff, to Iraqi officials. And actually I'm waiting to see her for an interview. There is intense security, as you can imagine.

She is one of the architects of the invasion of Iraq, and this is her first trip here. This is her first chance to get a look at what all of this has done.

MALVEAUX: Jane, tell us the purpose of her trip. Is there a message behind this? I know there's been a lot of violence in the last couple of weeks. So really a very volatile situation there.

ARRAF: Well, I think one of the points of this trip is to send the message that the U.S. really is involved and wants to stay involved, and to put some pressure, let's be honest, on the Iraqi government, to in essence, get its act together. There is a series of deadlines that U.S. officials would very much like them to meet. The next one is putting together a constitution, voting on it, and having real elections next December.

Now, this constitutional thing is getting a bit rocky, but the other thing is, Condoleezza Rice is the first official from any country, the first senior official, to come here and meet the new government. The second one will be the Iranian foreign minister, which kind of tells you where the politics is at here these days.

HAYS: Well, certainly the level of attacks by insurgents has been extreme. Hundreds of Iraqis killed. Operation Matador last week concluding with 125 insurgents killed. Has Secretary Rice addressed any of that yet? Do you think she'll be meeting with any of the Sunni leaders who might be willing now to try and help -- join together with the Shiites and the Kurds and help bring this government together?

ARRAF: She may very well be meeting with Sunni members of the cabinet, but they're not really the ones who need to be brought on board. And as you know, from covering it, from all of you, this is a huge problem that no one is really getting a handle on.

Now, what she's been saying publicly is that there is a political solution to this, as well as a military solution. You can't just defeat an insurgency through military means, which is absolutely true. And it's going to be a real challenge bringing in Sunnis, who feel that they have no place in this.

As it is now, they have a committee to put together a constitution, but only two Sunni Arabs, only two, which is remarkable for a huge committee. And that's one of the problems that she will likely be raising and asking the Shia-led government about.

FEYERICK: Jane, a questionnaire came out this week, basically saying that life in Iraq is not very good for the average Iraqi citizen. Is she there to also show that there is hope, that things are going to get better for the people living there?

ARRAF: You know, that's a really tough thing to do, especially when you fly in for a day. What she's is doing is sending a very strong political signal, but let's face it, she's not going to see Baghdad. She's not going to meet ordinary Iraqis. Nobody does, really. They fly in. They go to military bases. They go to the green zone there. Incredibly heavily protected as they have to be. And she will not get a sense of what life here is like.

She may be told about it by some people, nor will ordinary Iraqis really see much of her, other than what they see on television. And certainly it will make them feel that they're not alone, but we have to remember, not every Iraqi here is thrilled that there are U.S. officials coming here. It is indeed, its own country.

MALVEAUX: And Jane, you said that Secretary Rice really doesn't get a chance to see Baghdad for herself. Doesn't get a chance to talk to ordinary Iraqis. What is your experience? What are you seeing? Is it really as dangerous, as frightening as it looks like on television?

ARRAF: This is such a tough thing, because you're right, it looks absolutely terrifying on television. There's (INAUDIBLE), as I freely am when I'm out of the country hearing it, watching it on television, I think, why would I ever want to go back? But when you're here, you realize that Iraq and Baghdad are not just a sum total of all the attacks. It's not a laundry list of the people who died. In this city, there are millions of people still, and this is what I take heart and comfort and courage in, who go to work every day.

I was talking to someone yesterday, who was telling me about a new restaurant that has opened up. Now, if that's not a sign of hope, I don't know what is. There are restaurants being blown up, but at the same time, there are new restaurants that are opening, and there are Iraqis who are going to them.

Life here is very, very tough in Baghdad particularly. Very unpredictable, chaotic, often dangerous, but it's not quite as grim as it may seem.

MALVEAUX: Well, Jane, thank you so much. You be safe there. You're doing an excellent job. We are actually going to be talking about a security scare that took place in Washington this week. We're back on that story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Fighter jets were scrambled at approximately 12:01, and the threat level was raised to orange. When the plane was within 10 miles, an evacuation and moving of people to more secure locations began at that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: White House press secretary Scott McClellan laying out how a blip on the radar moving toward Washington fired up a full-scare security alert. It was quite a tense moment.

FEYERICK: It would have seemed like a great opportunity for the president to get out there a couple of minutes after it happened, and said, you know, everything worked as planned, the F-16s were scrambled, the White House was evacuated, Congress was evacuated, and yet he was off on a bike ride, and Dick Cheney was in the West Wing. How upsetting was that perhaps even in the White House in retrospect?

MALVEAUX: Well, that certainly was a big issue. It was a big follow-up issue with this whole thing unfolding, because essentially, a lot of people were asking questions about that. You had a 15-minute window. As you had mentioned before, Vice President Dick Cheney was in the White House. His motorcade sped off at the time of the incident. We know that the first lady, as well as former first lady Nancy Reagan, were huddled down into a bunker, down below in the White House.

But the president was off about 60 miles or so, suburban Maryland, riding his bicycle. We did not find out until afterwards, late in the day, that he was not notified of any of this until after it actually happened.

A lot of questions about that, because they said, hey, this is a red alert here, and why wasn't it that the president was actually notified at that time? They said essentially that they didn't believe he needed to be notified, that he was never in any danger. That he -- that there were protocols that were being taking place at the White House. And essentially that it never got to the point where you had that order to shoot down a plane. Nevertheless, did not make sense to a lot of people who had questions about that, saying, look, your wife was shuttled to an undisclosed location, and 35,000 people essentially evacuated, confused, frustrated, wondering what was going on.

HAYS: Well, I was certainly positively impressed with Suzanne Malveaux, the reporter, who doesn't miss a beat, picks up her phone. We're usually -- we're on the story now. Suzanne Malveaux was in the story. And we're going to show you a little clip of Suzanne sort of instant reaction in this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: One of the Secret Service agents told me, run, this is no joke. Leave the grounds. They were -- they were poised with their guns on the northwest lawn. They are stationed outside of the White House. They are stationed inside of the gates. Immediately, as I was leaving, there was a motorcade that left the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: Suzanne, you stayed calm. You thought quickly...

MALVEAUX: You think so?

HAYS: Well, how did you feel in that moment, because we've all -- we lived through 9/11. You know when the Pentagon was hit. I was in New York City. Did your heart stop? What did you feel like?

MALVEAUX: It was really interesting, because we were actually in the basement of the White House in our little booth, and we have monitors everywhere. And we heard something, me and my producer heard something unusual. And it was just something's going on. And I grabbed my press pass, I grabbed my cell phone, and I said, you know what, I'm going upstairs. And he said fine, I go this way, you go that way. And went running upstairs, right outside the briefing room, and then that was when the confusion took place, because we had Secret Service, we had uniformed guards. They had their guns drawn. And essentially, one guy says to me, "get back into the building, get back on the grounds." And so I'm asking him, on the grounds, get in the building, I'm shouting back to him. And he's saying to me, a minute later, no, leave, run, run, that's what he's saying.

And then -- so I'm on my cell phone. I get on my cell phone, and I'm walking and I'm moving just a little too slowly for this guy, because he says to me, he says "run, this is no joke. I am not kidding. Run." So that's when we started moving much, much faster, and it all happened literally at the same time, I mean, within moments.

Another security official says, "there's a plane." We hear a roar overhead that -- later we know that that was the fighter jet that happened. But you hear the roar overhead. At that moment, I looked to the left, and I see a motorcade that is whizzing by, just taking off top speed outside of the White House grounds.

All of this happening within just moments. We're still walking. I'm still talking to Wolf, trying to get information. And then they just keep telling us to go, cross Pennsylvania Avenue, cross Lafayette Park, keep going. It was not far enough.

At the point where we got to Lafayette Park, that's when we could kind of like just take a beat, take a moment, turn around, and see what was going on on the grounds. It was really confusing. It was frightening. People were on their phones. And some people of course were visibly upset while all of this was taking place.

At the same time, there were people, as well, who were inside, some producers, some crews, who had no idea what was going on.

WALLACE: Suzanne, it was riveting to watch, and we applaud you for how calm you were under those circumstances. And then it was also riveting to watch that White House briefing. It reminded me when I was at the White House, all of the reporters sort of singling or honing in on one issue, and that is when the president was notified.

I want to ask you about lessons learned. Are some White House staffers after the fact saying they made a mistake here, that yes, in fact, the president should have been notified, because, after all, he's commander in chief, and should have just been notified about what was going on.

MALVEAUX: Right. And Kelly, it was really one of the most frustrating briefings. We all really did get a little bit angry about this, because we were trying to get the answer to that question, because it just did not make sense. We were told that his Secret Service detail, a military aide very close to him, that they were all in communication with those at the White House, the Situation Room. But they chose not to inform the president during that 15-minute window.

They say that, you know, of course, he cannot speak publicly against his own Secret Service. They say they followed protocol. But a senior official who I spoke with, really behind the scenes, off the camera, said look, this is so, so sensitive here. These are men and women who will take a bullet for the president at any moment. You are never going to have him in a situation publicly where he is actually going to second-guess or question what it is that they actually did, that call that they made during that 15-minute window, but you can be sure at the same time, they said, yes, we're going to be doing a review here, because obviously the fact that the president didn't know when so many other people, millions of people were watching, and were quite confused and upset about it, is quite unsettling for the administration.

WALLACE: Well, certainly it was an unbelievable week at the White House.

We are switching gears quite a bit, and we are going to move on to one of those things that can have a huge importance at a particular time in your life. We're talking about the senior prom. Yes, there I am. My colleague Justin Dial (ph) with the camera there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get down, get down!

WALLACE: On the story of what I saw and heard and how I moved at senior prom. We will be right back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have a name for that, Kelly, that move?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SGA Secretary Christine Brinkley (ph) escorted by Karl Bins (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And welcome to senior prom 2005. Christine Brinkley (ph) and her date, Karl Bins (ph) of Delmar, Delaware -- does this bring back memories? Remember what it was like to be 17? The pressure, the worries of parents. You can also find some brand new moments in the stop along the road to adulthood. Welcome back. I am Kelly Wallace, and we are on this very important story.

MALVEAUX: Well, Kelly, it certainly looked like you were having a good time at prom there with your little dance -- we're all going to learn that one.

WALLACE: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Obviously, this segment is either going to bring up really good memories or nightmares for all of us, the prom experience. What was the purpose of your series?

WALLACE: The purpose was to capture the excitement. I mean, this is a rite of passage for high school seniors, also for their parents. Their senor prom, soon after they're going to be leaving home, many of them, going off to college. So we wanted to capture the excitement, the dress, the limo ride, the tuxedo. But also, Suzanne, get into the serious stuff: The anxiety.

There are definite reasons for the anxiety here. According to the national highway statistics, more than half of all fatal crashes on prom weekend involve alcohol. People who are trying to stop drinking and driving consider prom night one of the most dangerous nights for a teenager. Also you have the issue of sex. A survey last year saying almost half of all teens said they would go all the way on prom night.

So there are real anxieties here for parents, pressures for students, and that's what we tried to capture in our pieces.

HAYS: Well, much to Christine's mom's delight and to the young man's dismay, not a chance for anything but good behavior on their prom night, because you were right there. You were right there with the camera. Let's take a look at some of Kelly watching these kids and participating on prom night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): No, she won't be drinking. Yes, she hopes her friends who do drink don't get behind the wheel. She lost a friend last summer in a car crash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we know it's a serious matter.

WALLACE: And as for sex?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: N-o, that's what your mom says, n-o.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D-a-r-n.

WALLACE: That would be darn.

No sex, but dancing that might make their parents, even the principal, blush.

His bigger concern, though, what happens after prom?

(on camera): When are you sort of like, got through the night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning when the cell phone hasn't rung all night.

WALLACE (voice-over): After a little more dancing, we decide to join in.

It is time for those after-prom parties. Nearly 11:00 p.m. now, three hours before Christine's curfew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we can report, you know, the Delmar high school principal does something pretty extraordinary. He goes around to the classrooms talking to juniors and seniors. He also gives them his cell phone number in case of emergency, saying call me up on prom night if you get in a jam. Well, he tells us he didn't get any calls at all, all night long. Nothing at all. Everyone got home safely, which is a very good thing.

FEYERICK: It seems dating is so different nowadays. It seems that kids have a lot more pressure on certain -- when it comes to certain things. But did you find that the prom was pretty much the way you know it or remember it, or were there real changes, except for of course the scare tactics really of principals, people coming out and saying don't drink, don't drive? There seems to be a lot more sort of advanced work done before the kids actually get on the dance floor.

WALLACE: Yeah, Deborah, I'm so sad to say, I didn't have a prom. I went to a high school in Brooklyn, no prom. Only nerds went to this dance. No limos, no dresses. So it was my first time at the senior prom, and I had a ball.

No, but I do think things have changed a bit, because it's gotten pretty incredible. I mean, students are spending hundreds of dollars for the dresses, for the limos, for the night out, the after-prom activities. And because drinking and driving has become such an issue, especially in teenager's lives, you are seeing more and more programs. I mean, at this school, they saw a video a couple of weeks before prom night, a really gruesome video about what can happen if you drink and get behind the wheel. Doing research for our story, there are schools that will do a whole mock DWI accident. Students pretending that they're killed, their own parents writing their obituaries, to really kind of hammer the point home about what can happen if you make bad choices.

So it seems that some of the programs out there are getting more and more advanced to try and fight what is a big problem at this time of year.

MALVEAUX: And Kelly, you talked to so many of the students and the parents, even the principal there. Did they get a sense that these program are working? Are the kids really impacted by this, and they feel like I really need to be careful on this night? I really need to behave well? Or is it the same kind of thing that used to happen, you know, back in the day?

WALLACE: Yeah, you know, it's a great question. I can take the Christine Brinkley (ph), the senior we followed around. You know, she says she doesn't drink at all, that she can have fun sober. She says some of her friends definitely do drink. And she said that video that they saw, that was again very, very powerful -- she said some of her friends were emotional, were crying. She thinks they got the message, that if they are going to drink, that they're going to stay in a place and not get behind the wheel.

And the principal says, Suzanne, it's this balancing act. You don't want to keep hammering home this message over and over again, and get so heavy that the students say, enough already, I don't want to hear it. So he says you have to sort of strike the balance between getting the message out, trying to talk it in a down-to-earth way, and then again hoping they make the right call if they're ever in that situation.

HAYS: Well, Kelly, we are glad you finally got your prom night. And you got to dance.

WALLACE: Yeah! It only took, you know, 38 years or something.

HAYS: Well, you just looked great, Kelly. I hope you didn't drink and drive.

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: I didn't.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Kelly, it's all about the date. It's not the limo or the dinner, it's the date. That's the only thing that matters.

HAYS: She was with the principal. I don't what the principal...

WALLACE: We should have gone around the table and heard about all of your prom experiences. We'll do that next time.

HAYS: Next time.

OK, we have to go to break. There you go. That's our safety net.

There's no dancing, we are on a serious story at United Airlines, after employees learned the company is dumping their pensions. And no celebration either in areas losing out in the latest round of military base cuts. Pretty important stuff. I'm back on those stories in just a moment.

Also coming up, we will go to Los Angeles and talk to "Newsweek's" Allison Samuels about the celebrity witness at the Michael Jackson trial this week. And our "What's Her Story?" segment on the woman in the prisoner abuse case. Plus, a check on what's making news right now. That's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN Center in Atlanta. ON THE STORY continues in a moment, but first, headlines now in the news.

Iraqi police are investigating some grisly discoveries. The bodies of at least 34 Iraqis have been found in three separate locations across the country this weekend. The bodies of 10 Iraqi soldiers were among those discovered.

The situation appears to be calmer today in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. So far, the streets in the eastern city of Andijan are empty after two days of deadly clashes between Uzbek troops and anti-government protesters. Reports say at least 450 people were killed in the violence.

The controversy still swirls around Mexican President Vicente Fox over some comments he made about Mexican immigrants who'd come to the United States. The Mexican leader said the immigrants take jobs, quote, "that not even blacks want to do." Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson says the comments had, quote, "ominous racial overtones."

Those are the headlines. We'll have more news in 30 minutes. Now back to Washington and CNN's ON THE STORY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm devastated. It's terrible. I mean, I can't believe that they would allow this to happen to the employees, the front line employees of this airline, and then expect us to go out on the line tomorrow and have to make passengers want to come back and fly United again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: (INAUDIBLE) Association of Flight Attendants echoing the worries of many United Airlines employees this week after the company dumped their plans. This can be the largest pension default in U.S. history, and you can bet other big companies are watching what United did very closely.

Welcome back. I'm Kathleen Hays. We're ON THE STORY.

MALVEAUX: So, Kathleen, what does this mean for all of these people who are no longer going to see their pension plans? And then are we the taxpayers essentially picking up the tab?

HAYS: Well, we are picking up the tab. In this case, United Airlines, because it's in bankruptcy, it can apply to offload its pension obligations onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. It's a mouthful, something we are going to hear a lot more about, though, because they have got a big deficit. There is more and more companies that have done this. They're about $23 billion in the hole.

What they do is up to $45,000 a year, they adjust your pension. So some people will still have pensions, but they'll be reduced. And remember, when you go to work for a company, and it's a union company like this, you have a wage, you have a pension. They are going to pay it when you retire. This is not bad planing on the part of any retiree. That's what I'm trying to say. This is bad management at United Airlines is what the workers would say.

But U.S. Airways is in bankruptcy. They've already done this. And the question is, let's say worst comes to worst, a company like General Motors -- far from bankruptcy, I don't want to say they are -- but we know Delta, for example Delta Air Lines is talking about bankruptcy. This is something they could do as well. It's going to increase the deficit for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and it's going to put more and more retirees' pensions at risk.

WALLACE: Kathleen, it was interesting -- it was interesting. Go ahead, Deb, you go.

FEYERICK: Well, here's what I don't understand. The airlines seem to be full. Every time I fly the airlines, they are packed. You're waiting for planes. We're constantly being told they're badly run, and now all of a sudden they say, well, here is how we are going to fix it. We are not going to pay the pension fund. We are actually going to put it off to a government agency. And there are a lot of people out there who don't even have pensions. So when do the airlines get their acts together, so that everybody else isn't always bailing them out?

HAYS: Well, of course United Airlines says that if they do this, if they can offload this obligation, they can come out of bankruptcy, they can get to be profitable again. And in fairness to the airlines, let's remember that this big jump in oil prices, which means higher jet fuel prices, which they have no control over, except of course to try and hedge it in the financial markets --maybe they could have done a better job of that, but they don't control the oil market. That's one of the big, big things that has hit them.

I think another sort of ominous message out of this, though, is what it means for unions. Because in some cases, the union leaders may tell their rank and file, look, maybe we are going to have to be a little more willing to accept some concessions on how much we pay for our health care costs, what kind of benefits we want in retirement. Because if we're in a troubled company and it says, look, we need to make these cuts in order to survive, will the rank and file be more willing to say, well, gees, I guess we better go along, because we want to make sure that we have something, which is better than nothing.

WALLACE: Kathleen, it was interesting. Jack Cafferty made this the e-mail question of the day Friday on "AMERICAN MORNING" and got a ton of e-mail, and so many people really expressing outrage about what is happening at United Airlines, and raising the point that you are just raising now, concern that that could happen in companies all across the country, that companies can see what United did here and say, OK, well, to protect our bottom line, we are going to do the same thing. What are the implications here?

HAYS: Well, again, the implications are, if you're in bankruptcy, the law allows you to do it. The taxpayers are going to have to support this. Corporate America at the top has shown a pension -- I mean, one of the big stories over the last two or three years has been companies where they, you know, lay off lots of workers to become more efficient, to help the bottom line. Fair enough. Maybe that's necessary to do in a capitalist society. But then you see the CEO at the end of the year getting a big, huge bonus? How does that add up? You know, what kind of loyalty do we see in corporate America? You know, loyalty to the bottom line or loyalty to the CEO's pockets.

Again, I don't want to sound like I'm coming down on UAL, because Glenn Tilton, their CEO, is not the guy who's been there for 20 years. It's an employee-owned and run company. It's a very complicated situation. But I think -- I think a little worker outrage, a little voter outrage would be a good thing, because I think more and more people are getting the rug pulled out from under them, and it's not fair.

MALVEAUX: And Kathleen, there was a lot of outrage, though, over another story this week that is really going to hit a lot of people hard. That was those base closings. And we know that at least for the local economies, that people are going to suffer. Is it going to be a national problem as well? What kind of situation are people in?

HAYS: Again, this is a move, the big macro move is, let's streamline the military bases. Let's make it more efficient. Let's realign. We are going to close 33 big bases. You can see some of these storied names. The Pascagoula Naval station in Mississippi. Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

Let's stop and look for a minute at that one, because it turns out Ellsworth Air Force base is the second largest employer in South Dakota. Isn't that amazing? So if this base closes down, the government says, look, we are going to come in and we're going to redevelop. We're going to find new uses. So there will be some transfer of jobs, but you know, there are cases that have been very successful, like Lowry Air Force base in Colorado was shut down in the early '90s, realignment I guess.

MALVEAUX: Right, right.

HAYS: And they've done fairly well, but there are other places like Treasure Island in San Francisco, a Naval base. It still hasn't been redeveloped. Small businesses will suffer around that area. No doubt about it. And I think if you look at a Naval base where someone is working, say, inspecting nuclear subs or building ships, that's a well-paid job with good benefits. That kind of worker, maybe middle age, is going to have a tough time in that area probably, finding a comparable job with comparable benefits, comparable wages. So I think people figure that maybe the macro effect isn't that big. The micro effect is. But it remains to be seen how this plays out.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

FEYERICK: And quickly, Kathleen, how does this affect the average person? Do these towns just die, and the people go off and look for jobs elsewhere? Or do people just wait and see whether they are going to come back?

HAYS: In some cases, the military personnel will be shifted to some of these new bases, because as some are closed, some new ones are built up. In the individual community, some people don't have any choice but to hope that the government comes in quickly and gets the ball rolling, so they can keep going and wait for a new round of business, new round of development.

FEYERICK: OK. Well, from the economy to crime, and how New England saw its first execution this weekend in 45 years. I'm back on that story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope the words, thoughts and life of Michael Ross will become a faint memory, and the notoriety that surrounded him will finally end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: That's Jennifer Taber (ph), sister of one of the young women raped and murdered by Ivy League grad Michael Ross. She spoke moments after he was executed by lethal injection before dawn Friday morning in Connecticut. Welcome back. I'm Deborah Feyerick. We're ON THE STORY.

WALLACE: Deborah, give us a sense of how the families felt afterwards? Because I'm hearing, you're picking up some frustration from some of the family members about how it all ended up after all.

FEYERICK: For some of the family, it was really, really frustrating. One of the fathers who lost his 14-year-old daughter said that he planned to be at that execution. He wanted to be front and center, or as he said, quote/unquote, "dead center." So he could see Michael Ross and so that Michael Ross could see him.

And what happened is that when the warden asked Ross whether he wanted to make a statement -- he was given 60 seconds to do so -- Michael Ross simply said, "no thank you." So there wasn't an, I'm sorry, there wasn't I feel badly for what I have done. He said things similar to that over the years, but there was no formal I'm sorry as he was basically going to his death. And also, Ross never opened his eyes. He was laying on that gurney. He was strapped down. He had an intravenous tube in his left arm, a backup intravenous tube in his right arm so he could be administered this three-drug combination which would ultimately kill him. He never, ever opened his eyes.

So if the families wanted to sort of look at him and stare him down or intimidate him or make him feel any fear, he did not feel that kind of fear, at least not by the families. It really seemed very, very peaceful. And interestingly, peaceful is the word one of the survivors whom I spoke to, that is the words that she said. She said, he should not be allowed to be executed by lethal injection. He should not be put to death peacefully. He said, that's not how those girls died; that's not how he should died here. And this is her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVIAN DOBSON, ROSS' VICTIM: If I had the courage or the gumption to even stab him, I probably would have been in jail -- went to jail for murder for killing him. But those four girls that died, they were ages of my daughter now. And I carry that knowing, that I had that one chance, that what would have happened if I would have just done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: And that was Vivian Dobson, and the night that she was raped, she was actually carrying a knife. She and her sister had practiced what they would do if in fact they were ever attacked, ironically enough. And she had that knife. She pressed it up to his chest, but she realized at that split second that she couldn't do it, and she said that it was at that same moment that Ross realized she was not going to pull that knife on him. So it was a very intense moment for this woman, and this woman saying that, you know, she -- she didn't necessarily think Ross should be put to death, but this is a man who completely changed the course of her life. She barricaded herself inside her home. She refused to live. This is the mother of five children. And yet, the impact of this brutal assault on her 20 years ago was so horrible that she still has yet to recover. And she's only now really getting the kind of help she needs from both the state -- from the state, both financially and psychologically.

HAYS: And obviously that was tormenting for her. And tell us, what was the impact with the community? Because I know this is something, an execution, that has not happened for decades there, is that right?

FEYERICK: That's correct. It hasn't happened in more than 45 decades (sic), although for the first 10 of those decades, death by execution was not legal in the state of Connecticut, but that changed then. But there was a real lot of psychological soul-searching going on by many people in the state, by the politicians there.

Michael Ross said he wanted to die. He claims he wanted to do it so that the families could have some peace. Many people saw it as a stunt. Something that he wanted to do so he could kind of go out in a blaze of glory as a hero, that this man, who has been in the middle of legal arguments for the last 20 years, could finally say, OK, enough is enough.

But one federal judge actually on the night he was supposed to be executed back in January, said, wait a minute, we better be sure this guy is mentally competent, because if we're not and we're putting him to death -- and he turned to Ross' personal lawyer, he said, I am going to make sure that you are disbarred. So there was a lot going on here as everybody tried to make sure that this was the right thing.

But Ross, when he decided that he was going to be put to death, one of the interesting things that he ended up saying was, sure, if somebody walked and gave me a life sentence, of course I would take that. Not to take it would be suicide. He knew that if this ever went to trial again, if he tried to continue the appeal process, that he would most likely still be back on death row.

And that being the case, he decided that he would go forward with this and he would die in a way that he was going to say, and that is, OK, I'm done, no more appeals, put me to death. And that's what happened.

MALVEAUX: Deborah, thank you very much. A very difficult story.

From Connecticut to California and the Michael Jackson trial. We're back on that story with Allison Samuels after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYS: Movie star Macaulay Culkin was at the Michael Jackson trial this weekend supporting his friend. Supporting us ON THE STORY is "Newsweek" national correspondent Allison Samuels in Los Angeles.

Allison, we welcome you to the show. You have been following this trial for some time now. Did the Michael Jackson defense get a big win this week when Macaulay Culkin testified on his behalf?

ALLISON SAMUELS, NEWSWEEK: Yes, I think so. I think that anytime you have someone as famous and visible as the child actor Macaulay Culkin has been, I think the jurors really sort of take heed. They listen. They give him a certain amount of credibility, because they feel like they have known him, they have seen him grow up. They feel, you know, very comfortable with him. And I think as the average person, rightly or wrongly, we're very swayed by famous people. I think we're highly influenced by them. So I think Macaulay getting there and saying that Michael had never touched him, that Michael was always on his best behavior with him, pretty much I think that was definitely in Michael's favor, and the defense's favor as well.

WALLACE: Allison, every day, it seems, another unusual development in this trial. On Friday, you had Michael Jackson's former attorney, Mark Geragos, being called to the stand by the defense. It's unusual. Why? Why did the defense want to bring him to the stand?

SAMUELS: I think they wanted to make it clear, because I guess the prosecution had been very critical of the way the defense, particularly Mark Geragos, was actually representing Michael. The way they followed the family around, the investigation that they had with the family. I guess the family in some ways felt that they were being harassed by Michael's people, and Geragos was there to sort of explain why he did that. He felt that Michael was in a position to be taken advantage of, that the family had ulterior motives from the very beginning, and he felt that the only way he could actually prove that was to actually have people following them, trying to see their habits, trying to see exactly other people, other celebrities that they were actually getting in contact with. And that -- and I think Geragos was there to sort of prove the fact that there was nothing else sinister going on, just the point of him trying to protect his client from people who he thought definitely were trying to take advantage of him.

FEYERICK: Now, during the trial this week, they played excerpts of the British documentary, and during those excerpts, Michael Jackson says he's very, very lonely, that he used to go up to people on the street, basically ask them whether they'd talk to him, or whether they would be his friend.

This is obviously a man who was in his own world, obviously with such stardom so quickly. We've never heard whether in fact he ever got sort of any kind of psychological counseling, or this is a man who just felt so lonely and so alienated. What steps did he take, other than surround himself with people who appeared to have just told him what he wanted to hear?

SAMUELS: I think that is all he did. I think that the family was sort of unable, and many of his friends were unable to sort of get him to sort of get help, because I don't think he necessarily thought that he had any problems per se. I think he thought he was lonely, obviously, and that he had had a very tough childhood, which he has talked about over the course of the last, you know, couple of years. But I don't think he really thought there was an answer to him via therapy or anything like that. I think he surrounded himself with children, because he felt that children were innocent and honest and didn't want anything from him, were very genuine people. I think he was very afraid of adults.

I think he felt very comfortable with kids. I think those were his friends, you know, the Websters and the Macaulay Culkins, and the Corey Feldmans, those kids, you know, they really gave him whatever sort of enjoyment he could get in terms of just friendships, but not adults. I think he really felt uncomfortable with adults at all times.

MALVEAUX: And Allison, so much of what we have seen, we have heard from the documentary, these kinds of things, people of course, the jurors who were looking at him on a daily basis, is there any sense that he is actually going to testify? He's going to take the stand himself and explain his behavior?

SAMUELS: I think, you know, the preference would be not for him to do that, because I think that the defense in some ways feel that he may be a little bit too emotional, but on some level I think that people really underestimate how strong Michael Jackson is. I mean, this is a very shrewd, smart man and has been, you know, because he has been in the business so long, and with many of his business deals, from acquiring the Beatles' music and all that stuff, this is a guy who is pretty smart. But I think the defense would much rather he not take the stand.

If you look at the outtakes of the documentary, which were shown right after Macaulay Culkin, I think it made a pretty good impression of him, you know, talking honestly about how much he cared about his children, about other kids, how he, you know, he said he would never harm a child. I think the jury, with all the impressions, really got a good sense of what his answer is to all these charges from that, those outtakes that were not shown originally when the documentary aired.

MALVEAUX: And Allison, how much longer do you think you have on this trial? How much longer do you think it is going to last?

SAMUELS: I think it is going to go on for a while. I think it's going to go on for at least a few more weeks. I mean, you have Jay Leno coming up, who is going to testify. Chris Tucker possibly can -- will be, you know, on the stand -- all very visible people who I think will certainly help the defense as well.

MALVEAUX: Allison Samuels, "Newsweek" national correspondent, thank you very much. We hope to see you back here soon. And we're back ON THE STORY right after this.

ANNOUNCER: A Virginia woman faces charges of prisoner abuse. "What's Her Story?" More when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Sabrina Harman, "What's Her Story?" The Army reservist pleaded not guilty this week to charges she abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Specialist Harman is accused of taking some of the most notorious photographs in the prisoner abuse scandal. She's also accused of wiring an Iraqi detainee and threatening him with electrocution. The 27-year-old Virginia native managed a pizza shop before joining the Army Reserves after the September 11th attacks. Last week, Lynndie England tried to plead guilty to prisoner abuse, but a judge declared a mistrial. If Harman is found guilty, she could face up to six-and-a-half years in prison.

HAYS: Before we go today, some buzz about ON THE STORY's sister Suzanne, after the presidential news conference at the end of April. Listen to the Bill Maher show on our sister network HBO. Bill Maher, and NPR's Farai Chideya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, HBO HOST: What did you think of the press conference? Because I thought it was...

FARAI CHIDEYA, NPR: Suzanne Malveaux's suit was fabulous. I just have to say that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whose?

CHIDEYA: Suzanne Malveaux, who's the CNN correspondent. And I have to say, as someone who has been on Air Force One and traveled with the White House press corps, the women usually wear gray, to try to fit in with the male-oriented world, and I was very proud of her for what...

MAHER: What did she wear?

CHIDEYA: She wore pink raw silk.

MAHER: Oh.

CHIDEYA: And she's also -- she asked a question about Putin, and it was wonderful. So I'll just say that.

MAHER: You may have to watch that on the E! Channel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: Way to go, way to go, Suzanne.

WALLACE: Girl power! Girl power!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it was funny...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never sacrifice style, Suzanne...

MALVEAUX: OK.

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

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