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Iraqis Try to Scrape By; President Bush's Fresh Promises of Success; Crackdown on Child Pornography; Final Hours of Pope John Paul II; Risks of a Lack of Sleep; Restrictions on Political Blogs and Fundraising Online?

Aired March 26, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta with these top stories.
Some families of those trapped inside the World Trade Center on September 11th will be able to hear recordings of their loved ones' 911 calls. CNN expects to get edited versions from the New York Fire Department this week. The next of kin will decide if full versions should be released to the public.

We are waiting to hear if an Afghan man facing trial and possible death for converting to Christianity will be freed today. Some reports say Abdul Rahman will be released but Afghan judiciary forces say the case has been sent back to prosecutors and Rahman might remain in custody. Afghanistan is under pressure from the U.S. and Europe to release Rahman. Condoleezza Rice tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer Afghanistan is an evolving democracy and needs time to work out conflicts between Islamic law and its new constitution.

I'll have more top stories in about 30 minutes from now. ON THE STORY begins right now.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is CNN and we are ON THE STORY, from the campus of the George Washington University in the heart of the nation's capital, our correspondents bring you the stories behind the stories they're covering.

Nic Robertson is back ON THE STORY in Baghdad as most Iraqis just try to scrape by.

Elaine Quijano was ON THE STORY on the road with President Bush and fresh promises that his policy will succeed.

Kelli Arena talks about a crackdown on child pornography and how computers are used by both the cops and criminals.

Delia Gallagher goes back to the Vatican a year after the death of Pope John Paul II to learn more about his final hours.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is ON THE STORY of tens of millions of us needing more sleep. Why it happens and what are the risks.

And Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is ON THE STORY of whether there should be restrictions on political blogs and fund-raising online. Welcome, I'm Ali Velshi. With me here Kelli Arena and Elaine Quijano. Our correspondents will be taking questions from people in the audience which is drawn from visitors, college students and people across Washington.

Well, deadly violence in Iraq. We've heard the heated debate by leaders there and here. Is it sectarian violence? Is it civil war? For many Iraqis it boils down to getting on with life. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is back in Baghdad. Let's click back to one of his reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Three years ago this is where I was, on the roof of the ministry of information. After the war it was looted and burned out. Now it's still a gutted shell. And just across the road over here is where the government's supermarket was. It was also looted, burned out and reduced to rubble. Indeed this, downtown neighborhood of Baghdad looks the worst I've seen it in the 15 years I've been coming to Iraq.

Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollar financing, rebuilding and security projects have helped boost the economy, earnings are up, but so, too, is the cost of living. Cooking oil, 500 dinners before the war, 15,000 now, up 30 times and gas for cars up more than tenfold and still in short supply. Hope of a better future is what Iraqis were dreaming of three years ago. So far, hope is proving only a limited defense against the forces that would drag the country into chaos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And Nic Robertson joins us from Baghdad, back in Baghdad. Nic, you have seen this city so many times for more than a decade. We are here debating whether it's better or worse, whether it's sectarian violence or civil war. What are you seeing? What is it to you?

ROBERTSON: You know what I see at the moment is an increase in sectarian violence and more attacks directly on mosques. These bodies turning up around the streets of Baghdad, hands bound, shot in the head. That's what people are telling me in their neighborhoods. Tit for tat sectarian violence. It's there and you can see it emerging above this sort of threshold of attacks by insurgences against police, against the army, against U.S. troops, Ali?

VELSHI: We have questions in the audience. Sir, your name and where are you from.

QUESTION: I'm Pat from Waverley, New York. There have been criticisms that the media isn't giving us the whole story such as the positive things coming from the war. Do you think these are accurate?

ROBERTSON: I think we're getting the positive stories. We're covering the opening of the parliament which is by anybody's estimation a positive story. We covered Operation Swarmer, a very positive story for the development of the Iraqi troops. We covered the release of hostages. So I think we're getting that, but there are levels of reality with each these stories that you have to look at. Forming a new parliament -- They've yet to get the government off the ground.

Iraqi troops great, doing well, doing better, but there's still a long way to go. We did a reality check on how long before they're actually ready and before U.S. troops can come home, too. So there are a lot of important stories out there and what we try to do is focus on the ones that bring you the biggest picture and tell you really what's happening here. So there are positive and there are stories - you know, a lot of people will say, again, that's just the death count. We don't want that. We want to know what's happening behind it. I think we're getting there overall.

VELSHI: And your name and where you're from?

QUESTION: I'm Gretchen from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. And can you talk a little bit about how the challenges of reporting are different from perhaps a year ago?

ROBERTSON: I'd say about a year ago we were sort of in a period where kidnapping was really, really a big, scary feature and nobody knew how it was going go, it was going to get worse and what you need to do to avoid it. I think we're perhaps -- although we've just been through a phase of kidnapping recently, I think we're sort of -- I never want to say we're safe from it, but I think we know better where to avoid and things like that. So perhaps we're slightly better off but I'd be kidding myself if we thought we were really in a much better place and the realities are this is a very difficult story to cover.

We've gone from when I was covering the war in Sarajevo where you were sort of caught in the crossfire. Here you are in the crosshairs, you're the target. So you've got to know that when you go out that you're the guy they might want to capture or you're the guy they might want to kill. And that is just so different than being around and covering any other story.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Nic, back to the Iraqi people. Even critics of the Iraq War say that what is so important right now is to get a unity government going. They say maybe the president should do more to get other countries to put pressure on the Iraqis themselves. In your view, do you think that would make a difference or do they obviously fully understand what's at stake here?

ROBERTSON: Oh, they understand but they're really playing for keeps here. It's going to be a government for four years, who gets the big ministries, interior, defense and foreign ministry. These are really key things. Who's going run education? Is the country going to go towards more of a religious country or is it going to remain more secular? If you control education that's a big deal if you want to determine which way the country is going to go.

So it's high stakes and really it is going to need a lot of pressure on the Iraqis to make the compromises. They've never had to make compromises before. Some of these guys have been in opposition outside. They know what to say against the leadership of the country, but they don't know how to come in and run it, they don't know how to make the compromises and that's where the pressure needs to come. That's where the hand-holding needs to come to explain how a democracy works and that is for the benefit of the people.

A lot of people here are very frustrated. They see their politicians -- they think politicians are all in it for themselves, for business and it's not benefiting the people without the government being formed.

VELSHI: And your name and where you're from?

QUESTION: Susan Ballard (ph) from Gulf Shores, Alabama. Every day we hear the increasing violence that is continuing in Iraq. How many troops are actually prepared to defend their own nation at this point?

ROBERTSON: That's a very good question. You know, the best estimates are several hundred thousand and what we see from the Iraqi army is they are getting better equipped and better trained and they certainly have a greater respect from the Iraqi people. The Iraqi police just seem to be a target every day and some of this, I think is sectarian violence, Sunni insurgence on the predominantly Shia police force and that's a very big ongoing problem. There's a lack of trust in the police and there's a greater trust put in the army. How many are ready to stand up? If you asked them individually they're all ready to stand up. The reality is they are getting cut down -- the police here are getting cut down every day. They probably need and they would tell you better armored protection and better armored vehicles. It wouldn't be looking like a police force that you have on the streets of Atlanta or Washington. They need to be much better armed and much better equipped if they're going to defeat the insurgents who are up against them massive explosives.

VELSHI: Nic Robertson, you know better than most the dangers of the streets of Baghdad. You've seen it up close so continue to stay safe and thank you for joining us from Baghdad. Nic Robertson.

Well, events in Iraq were what President Bush kept talking about this week. Elaine Quijano is back on that story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN is ON THE STORY on the campus of the George Washington University. Now we are just a short walk from the White House where President Bush talked to reporters this week. He also hit the road including a stop in West Virginia talking up his Iraq policy. Elaine Quijano covered that trip. Here's her reporter's notebook.

(BEGIN VIDETAPE)

QUIJANO: We saw him taking questions. We saw this on Monday in Cleveland.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I appreciate the question.

QUIJANO: On Tuesday in the briefing room with reporters.

BUSH: That's a trick question.

QUIJANO: And then Wednesday in Wheeling, West Virginia.

BUSH: Yeah, you've got a question?

QUIJANO: And the White House strategy and the thinking is that the president in these kinds of forums, in give and take kind of situations is quite comfortable and really able to show the strength of his conviction on a domestic trip like the West Virginia trip. You essentially have to kind of look at all aspects of everything from location to the timing, why at this particular moment in time is the president deciding to speak in West Virginia.

What we did know is a couple hundred of the tickets were distributed to military families and the message the president was really trying to send again was the same that he had a plan for victory, but in addition to that, something we perhaps hadn't seen lately, was him saying, look, I understand military personnel and military families that you are making tremendous sacrifices and yet I still believe this cause is worth it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: It can be a lot more casual when you're on the road, you are actually traveling with the White House staff. Sometimes they're on the plane with you and Scott McClellan is usually on Air Force One, and we travel on a sort of separate charter to get there ahead of time, but then he'll come wandering back to our press area and it's not uncommon to see him and other senior officials and to have that opportunity because you're not really allowed to go wandering around, necessarily, in the White House. It allows for a little more give and take and it's kind of nice.

VELSHI: Your name and where you're from.

QUESTION: My name is Elise Darrien (ph) and I'm from San Diego, California and I was wondering what the White House communications strategy was for raising the president's approval ratings.

QUIJANO: Well essentially you just saw it there. You saw him not necessarily always behind the podium because there's a recognition. These senior administration officials say, look, we know when he is out there and able to talk to people he can make a connection in a way that is not always possible when he's in these formal settings. At the same time he's been criticized in the past where they've had these forums and have only been sort of audiences friendly to the White House. We saw him in front of the media taking really tough questions.

VELSHI: So those public forums, are those people pre-selected and are those questions predetermined? QUIJANO: Well, these past appearances they weren't. What we saw in West Virginia. Most of the tickets were given out by the local chamber of commerce, the Wheeling chamber of commerce in West Virginia. A couple hundred military families, but a couple hundred by the local newspaper. So they really wanted to get that point out there that, look, there is the opportunity for a sort of free for all here and that is where they think the president can show best how strongly he feels about the war.

VELSHI: Sir?

QUESTION: I'm Chase Carpenter from Los Angeles, California. Will the issue of immigration divide the Republican Party as much as the question of a presidential censure as the presidential hopefuls?

QUIJANO: Well, it's interesting on the immigration issue. That is such a difficult subject. The president himself acknowledged that and said, look that's a difficult, difficult debate, but what was interesting that this past week we basically saw him try to set the tone and say, look, everybody needs to calm down. This is something that is obviously a highly-charged, highly-emotional issue, this issue of illegal immigration, and, you know, the president was basically trying to -- although the White House is saying well, we are talking to all sides not just any one group, it's basically saying to members of his own party we need to keep this civil. We don't want to be seen as anti-immigrant.

VELSHI: You have to think with all of the issues that the White House has faced in the last several months, the crisis-type issues, this is at least an issue that they can get their head around. There are sides to the issue. There's a debate. This isn't something like the vice president shooting someone or the ports thing that they completely lost control of. At least it's a topic they've got some sense of.

QUIJANO: It is a topic they have a sense of, but at the same time this is something that the president doesn't necessarily have any easy options. On the one hand, his guest worker program which is so controversial within his own party is seen as amnesty by some fellow Republicans. So he truly believes in his concept. Other people are adamantly opposed to that. He's got a tough row to hoe on that.

QUESTION: My name is Colleen Guyer (ph) from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. How do you compare Bush's tours to garner support for Iraq to LBJ's tour to garner support for Vietnam.

VELSHI: Elaine's been on the beat since ...

QUIJANO: I -- The one thing I will say is that there's that Vietnam comparison sort of made. Obviously, the situation now is much different because it's not a draft. And what we saw these military personnel could in fact come out and speak on behalf of the president and really try to show that they are with him on this mission. They've signed up for this duty. Some of them signed up, as the president himself has noted, after 9/11 because they felt compelled to contribute to the war on terrorism. They firmly believe in the cause and I think that's a major, major difference, obviously.

These are volunteers, men and women who have signed up to do this.

VELSHI: Your beat doesn't always involve a lot of sleep and we know that President Bush doesn't like late nights. Many of us like him do better with a good night's sleep. Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back ON THE STORY of sleep. Why we don't get enough and what the risks are to ourselves and to others. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN is ON THE STORY. Are you one of 50 to 70 million Americans who cheat yourself out of sleep you need? I am. Our hardworking senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is an expert on sleep as he shows on one of his prime time specials tonight. You're going to want to stay up for that. Sanjay even offered himself up for a sleep analysis. Take a look at his notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We as a society are chronically sleep deprived. Over time we're getting less and less sleep and it's a result of our fast-paced lives and how busy society's become. Too much sleep (ph) - Just about anybody. Everyone complains that they're not getting enough sleep. I think for the most part that is a common complaint here in America and around the world, really. What was interesting to me is through all these technologies, getting wired up and being monitored with cameras and having all these people analyze you as you're sleeping, you find these finite, specific things in your sleep that's just off and they can fix those things with some pretty simple maneuvers.

I think there's this belief that not only can you get through your life with five or six hours a knife night, but it's a badge of honor to do so, to get by with less sleep. What I found it's really not because ultimately it affects your performance in such drastic ways that you can't be the same businessperson, the same doctor and same correspondent, the same anything, on too little sleep. It just affects every aspect of your life, your family life, your professional life, just about everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Sanjay, this is going to be CNN's version of "American Idol," I bet you. Good to see you again. The number of people who even in this audience, the number of people who have sleep issues, I think a lot of people are going to watch this. Let's go right to the audience. Sir, your name, and where you're from and how many hours do you get a night.

QUESTION: Hey, Sanjay, I'm Jesse (ph) from Erie, Pennsylvania and I don't get enough sleep at night. My question is with the recent reports of Ambien actually disturbing people's sleep patterns, such as sleep eating, were any of the subjects at the sleep clinic have studies done on them while using Ambien?

VELSHI: Yeah. Absolutely. There are a lot of studies done. At Sleep connects with all sort of medications including Ambien, Restoril, Lunesta, several of them.

A couple of things to point out about that study real quick, though, is that was a very small number of people who actually had some of those sleep disturbances, talking specifically about sleep eating, for example. What I found interesting, Jesse is they told me a couple of areas in the brain, the eating area of the brain, the sleeping area of the brain, things responsible for the sustenance of life are very closely linked and they believe -- the researchers believe that when they were taking the Ambien it somehow interfered with the eating center of the brain which is why these people had a dramatic need to eat all of the sudden, despite the fact that they were asleep.

So that might be part of it, but again, very small numbers. Most of the people who take these sleeping pills are going to be just fine.

QUIJANO: Sanjay, I have heard that perhaps a glass of wine at night can help you fall a slip, but there are other people who say that is actually going to disrupt your sleep in the end. You're not going get as good quality sleep, but what's the reality there? What have they found through their research?

GUPTA: Here's the bottom line. With alcohol, any kind of alcohol you may have a better chance of getting to sleep more quickly, but as far as getting into some of the most restorative phases of sleep, there are several different phases of sleep, as far as getting to the most restorative phases of sleep, alcohol makes it harder and shorter times in those phases of sleep and you might not even get there at all. So, overall, not a good sleeping aid at all, alcohol.

VELSHI: Kelli, it looks like you're disagreeing with him entirely.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I'm very disappointed in that answer.

GUPTA: I don't know how much medical school you got, but you look certainly hearty in your disagreement. Sir, your name and where you're from?

QUESTION: Adam Arnold (ph) from Tulsa, Oklahoma. My question is is sleep apnea becoming more prevalent among young, healthy men? I was diagnosed at 19.

GUPTA: It's interesting with sleep apnea. Whenever you look at diseases like that actually increasing. There are two things at play. One is that it could just be better diagnosed now. Awareness of sleep apnea is certainly higher than it's ever been and I'm glad you were diagnosed because you can do something about it and that can make a significant impact on the rest of your life.

The second part, we might be having increasing numbers overall of sleep apnea as well. A lot of different things between sleep apnea. They have linked it to certain types of allergies, other types of sleeping disorders as well and you may know if it becomes almost like those chicken and egg things. Is it the sleeping problems that is somehow making the sleep apnea worse or is it your sleep apnea that's making your sleeping worse? Not entirely sure yet. Some controversy over, that but the bottom line is good thing you got diagnosed. I don't know if you're using the mask, but that could help a lot of people certainly with this problem.

ARENA: Sanjay, I saw you get all of that stuff is attached to your head. They were supposed to monitor you. How did you sleep with all that stuff connected to you?

GUPTA: This is actually the funniest thing. They're connecting all this stuff to me. They have this bandanna as you see there on my head and then they had several cameras in the room as well and they told me it's going to be -- just take your time falling asleep and it will be a while with all the distractions. I was out in three minutes. I was completely out in three minutes and they were actually measuring my sleep patterns and documented that I was asleep in three minutes.

And my wife, it's funny. She always says you asleep before your head even hits the pillow and I guess it was absolutely right. After I did this study. I had no problem sleeping. I guess I'm chronically sleep deprived.

VELSHI: Sanjay, just a question about the process of how you do this. We're always amazed at how much you know about so many different things as a doctor. Is this stuff you already knew? Did you have to sharpen up on it because of this special?

GUPTA: Absolutely, Ali. We traveled around the country, Boston to San Francisco and the entire country talking to who we believe are some of the best people in the areas of sleep. This is a huge business. There's entire medical fields dedicated to sleep disorders and we've been working on this for six months so we interviewed everybody who has written a paper on this recently and has been talking about this.

So the only thing I really knew about sleep is wasn't getting enough of it before I started the special and now I know more about sleep and let me say one thing about that, Ali. You and I were talking before the segment about how lack of sleep is sort of a badge of honor and I have to tell you that people don't place enough of a premium on sleep. If you don't sleep enough you can't remember things as well and your function goes way down in terms of reflexes. It is very hard to be as productive with lack of sleep and this is becoming increasingly documented and I found that out firsthand as well.

VELSHI: We're going to be watching your special tonight Sanjay. Something we'll stay away for.

Thanks so much for being up with us and I am so telling my boss what Sanjay said. Coming up, Kelli Arena is ON THE STORY of a major online child pornography ring that's being shut down by the feds but first, we're ON THE STORY from Washington to Baghdad this week and also elsewhere. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three hooded Basque ETA operatives shown in this undated videotape made public Wednesday declaring a permanent cease fire. ETA has mostly spoken with a different voice, violence. The leader of the main opposition party says ETA's cease-fire announcement isn't enough. The group should disband.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the village of Paga, children swim in crocodile-infested waters and men interact with the crocs as if they were pets. Legend has it that an ancestor of Mamapaga (ph) was being pursued by a lion. A crocodile carried him to safety across the pond and in return the man promised that his descendants would never eat crocodile meat.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With the 2005 election approaching the Labour Party was 14 million pounds short. Tony Blair's fund-raisers rounded up a dozen top businessmen and persuaded them to sign fat checks. Later, the names of three appeared on Mr. Blair's nominations offering them a place in the unelected House of Lords. It's rocked the Labour Party to its foundation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta. ON THE STORY continues in a moment, but first these top stories.

This just in this evening. Heavy fighting between U.S. forces and a Shiite militia is underway in Baghdad. The Iraq fighters are members of the Mehdi Militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr according to a source in Sadr's office. Iraqi police say at least 18 militia members are dead. We'll have more details at 4:00 Eastern.

In South Florida, a deadly crash on a racetrack. Driver Paul Dana died after a two-car crashed during today's warm-up session for the season opening IRL Indy Car series race at homestead Miami Speedway. That accident right there. The other driver, Ed Carpenter is being treated at a Miami hospital.

The families of two dozen victims of the 9/11 attacks will be able to listen to recordings of 911 calls made by their loved ones in the final moments of their lives. The New York City Fire Department is releasing the recordings. The families can decide whether to make them public. I'll have more stories in about 30 minutes. Back to more of ON THE STORY.

VELSHI: CNN is ON THE STORY here at the George Washington University in the heart of the nation's capital. There aren't many more disturbing stories than child pornography. CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena reported on a global sting. She saw how suspects used sophisticated technology to hide their identities online. Here's her reporter's notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: Any story like this is going get your juices flowing and you want to get out there and say this is sick and this is disgusting and the thing that is difficult sometimes is remembering that these are charges. These are not convictions and you need to take a step back and you need to make sure that you do your homework.

His lawyer has not returned calls. His neighbors were also shocked to hear about the charges against him.

The more insight that you gain into one of these people that has allegedly committed one of these crimes, the more service you do for your viewer.

Law enforcement officials are worried because both victims and offenders are getting younger.

We all have a natural curiosity about the people who commit crimes like that and we're also emotionally touched by hearing about children that are victimized. This is one of those stories that you don't have a problem getting air time for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Kelli, where to start with that. So stomach churning, when I remember watching that news conference and thinking, it's unimaginable. But how do you sort of separate it for yourself? You talked about it there and kind of get yourself in a place where you can actually report the facts in a way that, you know, perhaps is maybe not as emotional as this issue is.

ARENA: It's very difficult because as you know and which you don't know I have three young children so it's very hard to be a mother and hear in graphic detail the type of violence that is being done to these children.

But you know, I get back to the point of these are allegations and these people have not been convicted and you need to understand that some of them are fathers and husbands and brothers and so we try to get to the families and we get to people who know them to try to get some insight into who is this person? What makes them tick, and of course, everyone always says, shocking, such a wonderful person never would have thought they were capable of such a thing but that sort of helps you remember and keep it in some sort of perspective.

VELSHI: As a journalist you want to jump out of your skin when you're reporting on a story, but if you do that, maybe you lose a viewer who says isn't she a reporter? How do you - you said you help your viewer when you tell that story. Where is the line that you have to stand on the side of that viewers are still listening to you as an objective person and yet allowing you to feel like you were true to the story.

ARENA: I think you just have to layout all of the facts and unfortunately the story like this, you are holding back of them because you can't show the pictures that the investigators have seen and so there's half the story gone because usually what we do half of is pictures, right? So you lose that part of it, but I think if you lay out the facts as well as you can, I did not do so well because I made the worst face possible on the air when I was talking to Kyra Phillips and I just had this like -- scowl when I was telling the story and unfortunately Kyra did, too and it's hard. It's hard because you're hearing it and especially when you're playing off the news conference when you first hear the graphic details and you're thinking, my God, because you were talking about molestation of children on demand.

VELSHI: Let's ask for a quick second, just from a show of hands, when somebody is reporting a story like that, just put up your hand if you think that you want to see that reporter's emotional reaction? And how many of you think you don't? You want a straight report? OK. It's an interesting -- it's a challenge that we face. You're on another story that is very complicated. It's not nearly as black and white. You are covering the Moussaoui trial.

ARENA: That's right.

VELSHI: Twists and turns galore.

ARENA: It is amazing. The defense now starts its game. This is, of course, the sentencing trial, the jury has to decide whether or not he's eligible for the death penalty first and then we'll see if we get to stage two, but it has been unbelievably surprising. Every day, you never know. And Moussaoui is expected to take the stand and that should be very interesting.

VELSHI: Sir.

QUESTION: Kelli, I'm Drake Levada (ph) from Cape Elizabeth, Maine and I was wondering how your reporting on terrorism has changed from pre-9/11 to post-9/11.

ARENA: We're doing more of it, that's for sure and I think that it's now, very much part of my daily routine and I know so much more now than I knew pre-9/11. I did just a few reports about extremists and domestic terrorism. Militias and so on, but this is -- this is now 98 percent of what I do. That's the big difference.

QUESTION: Hi. I'm Sky Jordan from Patten, Maine. We always hear that lawyers coach their witnesses. What did the government lawyer do wrong in the Moussaoui trial?

ARENA: The judge had issued a ruling that said that people who were going testify were not allowed to hear what people said before they testified and so in e-mails, those witnesses, those witnesses that were supposed to testify were sent transcripts along with some of the testimony that was given in the courtroom and that was in a direct violation of the judge's order. VELSHI: A complicated case that you will continue to follow and make clear for us.

Well, almost a year since the death of Pope John Paul II. Our Delia Gallagher, faith and values reporter went back to the Vatican to learn more. She's back ON THE STORY after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN is ON THE STORY almost a year since we were all watching Delia Gallagher report from the Vatican about the final illness and death of Pope John Paul II. Delia has traveling to the Vatican and to Poland learning new details about what happened then and her reports will air in coming days. Right now have a look at Delia's reporter's notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have had unprecedented access to cardinals, to all of the people that were closest to the pope and to the people that visited him the day before who were in the room when he died literally at the foot of his bed. We were able to see from the outside the crowds that came to the square and all of the people that were praying for him and we didn't know what was going on inside the room.

What we know for sure in the room is his private secretary, Stanislaw Dziwisz. He also has the Polish nuns who run his household.

Cardina Szoka (ph) told us when he was in the room with the dying pope he doesn't remember what the room was like. He just remembers what was happening inside of him.

I've been very surprised by how willing they've been to open up about that time. And these are men of the church, they've been cardinals and priests for years and it's not in their vocabulary and not in their style, necessarily to speak personally about a man who was the pope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And Delia Gallagher joins us now. It may not been in their habit to do so, Delia, but that's the strength you bring. What an interesting story. Elaine Quijano is with us and she has a question for you. Elaine?

QUIJANO: Yeah, Delia, it sounds so fascinating. What other kind of details did you sort of bring back from your trip?

GALLAGHER: Well, the trip was plural, trips because we went three times to Rome. We went once to Krakow, Poland and there were many stories that these people had to tell us both about the last moments of John Paul II. The last few days when everybody was out in the square waiting for some news. When I was there I was wondering I wonder what's really happening there and now we had a chance to find out from the people who were inside the room with him sort of exactly what happened. What was the timeline? How was he feeling? How it all transpired.

We talked to his doctor from Rome's Gemelli Hospital when he came in first for his tracheotomy, how did he see the pope then and what were the decisions that had to be made and then we also spoke to the cardinals who were there, who went to say goodbye to him, say their last good-byes and then, of course had to do the conclave. We didn't know what happened inside the Sistine Chapel. That was the whole other place that we weren't able to see behind the doors and so they opened that up for us in some ways and gave us all kinds of wonderful stories about what was happening and how it all played out. It's very interesting to hear.

VELSHI: And everybody was riveted to this for so long, this whole story so this is the first chance for some of our viewers to ask questions. Let's go right to the audience sir, your name and where you're from.

QUESTION: Hi. My name is Taridambrush (ph), I'm from Madrid, Spain, and I want to know what's the relationship between the Pope Benedict and the more liberal groups like the Jesuits.

GALLAGHER: Between Pope Benedict and the liberal groups like the Jesuit, you know, in any relationship of the Catholic Church there are all kind of different factions and, of course, the Jesuits themselves would say there are more liberal Jesuits and there are some more conservative ones, and I think certainly Pope Benedict has stepped into this role now as pope. So he is going have to deal with more liberal and more conservative Catholics of all stripes, not just the Jesuits.

I think that he does have a good relationship. I think they are changing the Jesuit congregation in Rome and he will have to continue to develop some of those relationships, but certainly his job now as pope as compared to when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith is now one bringing in all of those factions and trying to create that unity and I have to say that so far from what we heard of the cardinals, they say he's doing a good job.

VELSHI: Your name, sir and where you're from.

QUESTION: My name is Haven (ph) and I'm from Pownal, Maine. Is it difficult to get the Vatican officials to go on the record and for a story like this do you need confirmation from two or three sources as you would on any other story?

GALLAGHER: Yes, it is difficult for them to speak on the record, certainly to speak in front of a camera and that's what was so amazing about doing this is that we got yes after yes after yes and I was certainly amazed by that because in my experience at the Vatican it's not so easy to get these top people who are around the pope to agree to talk to our camera about a very private issue and I think the reason that they did was simply because of their love for John Paul II.

And as regards to confirmation of what they said, well, each one confirmed the other's story because there were many of them that went up to visit him in the room and so on. So, yes, we have certainly their own confirmation of the stories that they told us.

VELSHI: Delia, quick question for you following on Haven's, we asked Elaine how she maintains objectivity while covering a child pornography story. How do you cover a story like this? How does a reporter remain objective in a story about faith?

GALLAGHER: Well, certainly in a story of John Paul II he was such an internationally recognized and loved figure, however he had his critics. There were certainly people who didn't agree with his theology and his teachings. And I think for this piece we were looking at his final days. We were looking at his death and the funeral and the election of a new pope.

So this was not a piece to discuss his theology as it were. However, it was interesting to note that when I went to visit the man who was in charge of the process to make him a saint, now there's a process underway at the Vatican and this man has to investigate the miracles that have been attributed to John Paul II and he has stacks and stacks of miracles and letters written by people who claim to have had a miracle from the pope.

He also has letters from people who are opposing the pope's sainthood. While there are fewer of those, they certainly exist and the Vatican takes them into consideration and they have to weigh also the opposition voices, as they call them.

VELSHI: And Delia's special, "The Last Days of Pope John Paul II" runs next Saturday.

Well from church to state and to campaigns ahead. Should there be new rules to restrict political speech and political fund-raising online? I'm going ask our audience here and then we'll go to our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner about what she sees ON THE STORY online.

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VELSHI: You are ON THE STORY. Tell us what topics you want discussed. Zap us a message at ONTHESTORY@cnn.com.

We saw in the 2004 presidential elections that campaigns more and more are looking for votes, volunteers and money on the Web. Well, right now it's wide open. What you can say, who pays and who raises money. Congressional elections are now seven months away in the 2008 presidential election isn't that far behind. So this looks like a crowd that spends a lot of time online and I want to ask of you how many of you think that there should be restrictions placed on campaign finance and fundraising online. All right. A couple of you.

How many of you think there should be no restrictions placed on what goes on online? OK. The overwhelming majority think there shouldn't be restrictions. This, of course is a big topic on the Web for the bloggers. They're offering their opinions on this. So keeping a watch on this story is our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner. She joins us now. Jacki, what are you seeing and hearing online about this? JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, blogs have the potential to raise a lot of money and as they become increasingly important and influential it becomes a bigger question of should they be regulated and how? It's something the Federal Elections Commission is taking a look at. It is something Congress is taking a look at and you better believe it's something bloggers are taking a look at.

So we're going to talk to one now. Her name is Allison Hayward at skepticseye.com. She's also an attorney and she used to work for the FEC. So, Allison, let me ask you, doesn't this leaf a giant loophole for people to funnel soft money into the Internet? They can have a lot of influence, you can really back a campaign and they can win if there's no regulation on the Internet?

ALLISON HAYWARD, SKEPTICSEYE.COM: I think that would be the case if that were true, but, you know that's the bogeyman that a lot of the regulators are concerned about.

SCHECHNER: This week, Allison, the Federal Elections Commission came down with an amendment or ruling. What did we find out this week?

HAYWARD: The Federal Election Commission wants to really give bloggers and individuals and groups that are not candidates and parties a lot of leeway in what they do on the Internet and I think that's good news.

SCHECHNER: Now, is this dangerous at all? I mean, do you think that if we have no regulation in place that somebody will take advantage of a blog?

HAYWARD: Well, if we had no regulation in place what I think the FEC is trying to do is keep it pretty narrow legal (ph) but I think they might be doing successfully where they allow people to have their own opinions who are in groups that want to have a group blog or who want to do things online like the Jib Jab ads that we saw in 2004, they can do that. What they're really going get after is corporations and unions that are trying to help candidates by coordinating campaign ads with candidates.

VELSHI: Let me take it to the audience for a second. Sir, you're one of very few people who felt there should be some restriction. Tell me why you feel that very briefly.

QUESTION: I think there's quite a few, gullible innocent people out there that will be swindled by an awful lot of people raising money.

SCHECHNER: All of the bloggers left, right and otherwise, you would probably agree that there would be some disclosure online, right, Allison?

HAYWARD: Yes, and I think you have that when you're working with the candidates in the parties because they already have to disclose and now under the new FEC rule there will be disclosure for people who do mass e-mails. They'll have to put disclaimers on e-mails.

SCHECHNER: Allison, thank you so much for giving us your time. I know this is something you will continue to follow and it's something we'll keep an eye on as well, Ali.

VELSHI: Yeah. It's a really interesting topic. Allison, thank you so much. Jacki Schechner. Our Internet reporter. Thank you so much. We're back in a moment with what we're predicting for next week ON THE STORY. Stay with us.

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VELSHI: Hi. Let's take a quick look ahead ON THE STORY. Do you know, Kelli, what you're working on next week?

ARENA: Oh yeah. Moussaoui. The trial.

VELSHI: We'll be paying close attention to that.

You're going on vacation or something?

QUIJANO: No, no, no. President Bush is going to Cancun for a summit with the Mexican leader and - and - he really is. And with the Canadian prime minister and immigration is going to be the big issue.

VELSHI: Yeah. I'll be in the south of France on business, I'm sure.

I'll be around putting in my day. Good to see all of you. Thank you to all my colleagues and our fantastic audience here at the George Washington University and thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We're back next Sunday.

Straight ahead, a check on what's making news right now.

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