Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Pope Wraps Up Sex Abuse Summit at Vatican
Aired April 24, 2002 - 17:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, April 24, 2002. Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Pope John Paul II has wrapped up his historic sexual abuse summit at the Vatican, and that tops our "News Alert."
After an extraordinary meeting at the Vatican, U.S. cardinals have expressed regret for failing to prevent the sex abuse scandal swirling about their church. In a message to American priests, the church leaders called for a set of standards deal with clergy who sexually abuse children and young people. They also called for a day of prayer and penance. But no final word on a zero tolerance policy. We'll have much more on this important story in just a moment.
A British court has dismissed a U.S. request for the extradition of an Algerian pilot, accused of involvement in the September 11 attacks. The United States has maintained that Lotfi Raissi trained the suicide hijacker who crashed into the Pentagon, although its extradition request hinged on a much lesser charge. The judge ruled there was insufficient evidence.
One of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives has been captured in Los Angeles. Michael Scott Bliss was sought on charges of molesting a 9-year-old girl. A tip from the public led to the arrest. I will speak shortly with John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted, which recently featured the case and received the tip.
Two stuntmen are expected to testify that actor Robert Blake tried to hire them to kill his wife. Blake's lawyer says the two will probably be key witnesses in the upcoming murder trial. Blake and his bodyguard have been charged in last year's shooting of Bonny Lee Bakley. Both have pleaded not guilty.
American cardinals and other church officials have completed an unprecedented conference at the Vatican, called to discuss reports of child sexual abuse by priests and alleged efforts by church leaders to cover up the problem. CNN's Jim Bittermann is in Rome. He joins me now live -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, yes, we just finished that news conference over at the Vatican press room. Cardinal Stafford and McCarrick from Washington and well as Wilton Gregory, the head of the U.S. Bishop's conference, gathering with journalists trying to explain exactly what kind of decisions they've come to over the last 48 hours. Basically I think you could say they have come to a decision to pass the decision-making along to the bishops when they meet in Dallas in June. However, they certainly have given in the statements they issued tonight a number of clear indications of which way they want the bishops to decide when they do meet in Dallas. One of the things that Wilton Gregory said is that there is a growing consensus that it is a very great risk to reassign priests that have be accused of sexual abuse, and that the bishop should be asked to look at that very carefully.
He said it was not in the confidence of the meetings here to come to any decision about that rule-making. An then Cardinal McCarrick took the floor and he said that there was no doubt in anyone's mind, there had been expressed doubt yesterday, but no doubt now in anyone's mind about what Pope John Paul II was trying to say in his statement. They believe the pope has made it very clear that he believes zero tolerance is the way to go in addressing priests that have been accused of sexual abuse.
In the course of the news conference, a number of very specific details came out. It is clear the cardinals are still wrestling with a lot of these specific cases, but one thing that they did was they were going to immediately turn over to civil authorities any information they had about sexual-abusing priests. Cardinal McCarrick said that probably in most cases in the United States, that's what's happening now, but in fact that they would for now on for sure in all cases hand over the information that they had on sexual abuse by priests to civil authorities for civil prosecution.
When asked about the question of reassigning priests, Wilton Gregory had this to say about the possibly of reassigning priests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BISHOP WILTON GREGORY, CONFERENCE OF BISHOPS: The question of the reassignment of those who have harmed children is certainly uppermost in our minds. However, the specific resolution to that particular question in the United States will be finalized when the bishops meet June.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDINAL MCCARRICK, WASHINGTON: We really came here because the holy father was so worried about the victims. It was so clear to me that he was worried about three things. First all he was worried about the children. This holy father is turned on by children. He's just so wonderful with kids. Kids are always so -- they love him and the young people get so excited when they're with him. And for him to think that any of his priests may have hurt them was I think just a -- it really broke his heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: Cardinal McCarrick there talking about the meetings today. The pope himself was not in those meetings today. He was having his regular Wednesday audience, but he did gather with the cardinals for lunch and was part of all the decision-making pretty much along line here through the top brass of the Vatican who had been meeting with the American cardinals -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jim, a lot of reporters noticed, I noticed that Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston was not at that news conference either. What's the latest on that news front?
BITTERMANN: Well, in fact that question was asked at the news conference and the response was that Cardinal Law had other things to do this evening and that if the news conference had taken place on time he might have been there, or at least he was planning to be there.
In any case one of the things that Cardinal McCarrick said was that he basically thought the stories about Cardinal Law planning to resign or being asked to resign by other cardinals were made of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) cloth, as he put it. He does not believe that, in fact, there was another movement by the other cardinals to ask Cardinal Law to resign and no word from Cardinal Law himself -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jim Bittermann in Rome covering this historic meeting and thank you.
Our Web question of the day: Should the Catholic church adopt a one-strike-you're-out policy toward sex offender priests? You can vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you are there, let me know what you're thinking. There's a "click here" icon on the left side of my Web page. Send me your comments and I'll read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That is also, by the way, where you can read my daily on-line column at cnn.com/wolf. And this important programming note, tonight at 8:00 Eastern, a SPECIAL REPORT: CRISIS IN THE PRIESTHOOD. Be sure to join CNN's Connie Chung. For the full hour.
He was on the FBI's most wanted list, accused of repeatedly molesting a 9-year-old girl. But, Michael Scott Bliss was arrested last night, after a tip to the FBI from someone who had seen the case on TV's "America's Most Wanted". Joining me now from Los Angeles, the crime-fighting host of that show, John Walsh. John, thanks as usual for joining us. Tell us what precisely happened. You featured this case last February.
JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Well, Michael Bliss was not only the FBI's 10 most wanted, he was at the on the of my own personal most wanted because he's accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl. Back in 1991 this lowlife beat three teenage boys so badly with a baseball bat that he almost killed them. One of the boys actually flat-lined and almost died on the way to the hospital and he only served eight years for that crime.
So we profiled him a few months back and got a tip that had been working as a handy man the Olympic Hotel in Los Angeles. And the word went out that he had been there, but the FBI didn't get him. We got a call yesterday from a wonderful tip server, name is Brit Austercamp (ph) and she works at the Newtel (ph) Motel in Los Angeles.
She'd seen the show and knew who Michael Bliss was. He came back and said can I have a job as a handy man here? Can I stay at the motel? She stay really calm, God bless her. What a wonderful lady, she said yep, I will give you a job, here is the key. She made that call, and the L.A. Safe Team, which is a multidisciplinary team that is involved in sex crimes against unit made up of LAPD, the sheriffs and the FBI, took down this creep last night and I'll tell you it is a great capture, Wolf.
BLITZER: Another interesting note, he was videotaping allegedly, some of these cases and prepared to put them out on the Internet. Tell us about that.
WALSH: You know, there are so many perverts on the Internet these days. The FBI just completed a sting about a month and a half ago with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of pedophiles exchanging these horrible movies and their crimes against children over the Internet, and this guy actually videotaped his sexual molestations of a 9-year-old girl and he was getting ready to sell them over the Internet to other sick pedophiles.
BLITZER: Just remind our viewers, how extraordinary is this for you and your program to get these kinds of tips that lead the FBI to make arrests in the top 10 of the FBI's most wanted. Obviously, there have been hundreds of arrests, but in the FBI's 10 most wanted how many tips have you received that resulted in those kinds of arrests?
WALSH: Well, I think it is incredible, Wolf. In the 15 years that we been on, Michael Bliss is our 700th capture ane he just happens to be the 15th guy we've taken off the 10 most wanted thanks to the American public and thanks specifically to this woman who had the guts to say, hey, this guy came back and asked for a job. She stayed nice and cool, did the right thing and made the call. So it has been incredible. So 15 guys off the list because of the American public.
BLITZER: The No. 1 person on that list of course, Osama bin Laden. Who is your top get right now? Who do you want to get the most right now? Who do you want to get the most, forget about Osama for a second?
WALSH: Well, I certainly, I have to say, he is at the top of my list. You and I talked about it. I was the only media person allowed at ground zero and I will tell you, those images will haunt me forever and I knew some of the people that were there, some of the firemen that were killed in that building, and until we catch this creep, he is still at the top of my list.
BLITZER: OK, John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted", thanks as usual for joining us.
WALSH: Thank you.
BLITZER: Thank you. Child sexual abuse has been called a crime and a sin. There is also a medical aspect. CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a topic we can't afford to ignore.
DR. GENE ABEL, BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE INSTITUTE OF ATLANTA: The conservative figure will your will be at least 20 percent of all females and at least 7 percent of all males have been molested.
BILL PITHERS, SEX OFFENDER RESEARCHER: If those percentages held true, there would be approximately 38 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse in our society.
GUPTA: Arguably the most reprehensible of all crimes, and it is worth asking -- why?
DR. FRED BERLIN, JOHN'S HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: I believe that people who are attracted sexually to children are that way through no fault of their own, I believe many of them are fundamentally decent people afflicted with an orientation that none of us would wish on our worst enemy. I believe many of them are struggling very hard to live in community as safe individuals.
GUPTA: But just how safe are they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started at age 11. I started with my brother. I knew what I was doing was wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not that easy to stop. Because every time I would offend, I would swear I'd never do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once you've tasted the forbidden fruit, it is always there in your mind. And I've had to consciously and on a daily basis just like maybe an alcoholic would go and not think about it and try to live my life on a clean basis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attraction, the lust, was just overbearing.
GUPTA: And not just overbearing, some pedophiles have no desire to resist the temptation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you felt you had been given a tremendous blessing from heaven above, something that livens your entire life, that colored it and made it beautiful and wonderful and made you want to be alive and gave you a feeling that the universe is profoundly good, would you in your wildest imagination suppose that you would go to a therapist to cure you of feeling good, of feeling love?
BERLIN: But it does look as though at least in some instances the presence of certain biological abnormalities, chromosome abnormalities, hormone abnormalities, abnormalities of the brain may be one of the categories of risk factor for developing a condition such as pedophilia. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are people who are going to have to be incarcerated and we need to use that space for those people who do need that incarceration who are very, very serious offenders.
GUPTA: Genetics, environment? Perhaps a combination of both, but never, say those who treat pettifiles, tolerance.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: There is a new development in the murder case against actor Robert Blake. CNN's Charles Feldman is in Los Angeles. He's covering that story -- Charles.
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf. after former "Baretta" star Robert Blake was busted last week by the Los Angeles cops for allegedly killing his wife, it was revealed in a criminal complaint that Blake first tried to get two hitmen to do the deed before allegedly shooting Bonny Lee Bakley himself.
Well, today Blake's lawyer is saying the police are talking about two veteran Hollywood stuntmen who are friends of Blake, but says his client never tried to hire them to kill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLAND BRAUN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They made comments that he thought were jokes like I'd kill her, something like that and no. He just dismissed it as bravado. But now they're basically attributing their comments to him and saying it was a solicitation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FELDMAN: One of the stuntmen named by Blake's lawyer is Gary McClaugherty (ph) back in the '80s McClaurgherty was a witness in the "Twilight Zone" movie case in which actor Dick Morrow was accidentally killed during a dangerous student. We tried to talk with him today, he doesn't want to, and we've been trying to reach the other stuntmen named by Blake's lawyer to see what his version of this bizarre story might be. Blake of course has pleaded not guilty -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Charles Feldman has been covering the story for almost a year now. Thanks for breaking all of those stories for us.
Not enough evidence: That's what a British court says about a man the U.S. accuses of training a September 11 hijacker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOTFI RAISSI, PILOT: From the start to finish I've always maintained my innocence and this nightmare has been the most horrible experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: An exclusive interview with Lotfi Raissi. Plus, off the tracks: what new surveillance video shows us about a deadly accident. And fire season in full effect. Hundreds evacuated in Colorado.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... Raissi and his family after a British judge dismissed all charges filed by the U.S. government seeking his extradition.
RAISSI: From the start to finish, I have always maintained my innocence, and this nightmare -- it's been the most horrible experience.
BOULDEN: The U.S. sought Raissi's extradition on eight counts that he falsified information on a Federal Aviation Administration medical form while he was living in Phoenix, Arizona last year. But the U.S. government said for months, these were only holding charges and said it was preparing conspiracy to murder charges in connection to September 11.
Raissi was held for five months in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in South London, but the conspiracy charges never materialized. The same judge let Raissi out on bail in February, when the U.S. declined to ask for tradition based on any terrorism charges.
(voice-over): Raissi was arrested by British police in late September, when the U.S. accused him of training Hani Hanjour, the pilot accused of crashing American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. His lawyer says the U.S. made out Raissi to be the most wanted man on the planet and now wants an apology from the U.S. government.
RICHARD EGAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Bearing in mind the length of time this case has already gone on, it is absurd to suggest there still is an still an ongoing investigation into Mr. Raissi. It is time that this whole sorry farce came to an end. It is time that his absolute innocence is recognized.
BOULDEN: The U.S. government insists its investigation continues. But the British judge ruled Raissi had not lied on the FAA forms and that the whole episode has gone on too long. Seven months after his arrest, Raissi is a free man.
Jim Boulden, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Turning now the Middle East: First, the siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. Two more Palestinians surrendered there today, but another round of talks between the two sides has failed to resolve the three-week standoff. Israel demands the surrender of wanted gunmen inside the church. Palestinians want to have them transferred to Gaza.
Today's talks were overshadowed by a gun battle at the church. One Palestinian was killed while another Palestinian and an Israeli soldier were wounded.
As recovery operations continue at the devastated Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank, Secretary of State Colin Powell says he has seen no evidence to suggest a massacre took place. Palestinians have claimed that up to 500 people were killed in the camp. Israel says dozens died, but says that came as a result of fierce fighting. Israeli objections have delayed a United Nations fact-finding mission to Jenin, but Powell says he's confident the differences can be worked out.
Three Palestinians were killed today in an explosion at the Jabala refugee camp in Gaza. Palestinian security sources said they were members of Yasser Arafat's Fatah group and were killed while preparing a bomb.
Saudi Arabia has proposed a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With President Bush preparing to host Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Texas tomorrow, our senior White House correspondent John King spoke earlier today with the Saudi foreign minister, prince Saud al-Faisal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to get your assessment and the Saudi assessment of how you view the state of relations with the United States at this moment. There appears to be frustration that this administration has been, in the view of perhaps your country and the broader Arab world, too pro-Israel especially in the recent weeks as you have tried to bring about some resolution of the crisis. Is that a fair assessment?
PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: People don't understand in the Middle East that if the United States wants something, asks for something from Israel, that it can't be refused outrightly, like what happened when they asked for withdraw from the Palestinian Territory.
If there is frustration, it is not because there is no vision from the United States of where peace should be, that and how to go with it. It is a frustration that they want to see implementation rather than just a vision.
KING: In your view, is Ariel Sharon a man of peace?
AL-FAISAL: Is Ariel Sharon?
KING: A man of peace, as president.
AL-FAISAL: A man of peace? I don't know whether the president said that Ariel Sharon is a man of peace, but I think what he said, Ariel Sharon is working for peace. But to Ariel Sharon a man of peace, I don't think even Ariel Sharon believes that. KING: Your government, through the auspices of the crown prince, has put on the table an ambitious plan, a Saudi peace plan in which the Arab world would recognize Israel's right to exist and establish relations with Israel if it agreed to pull back to the 1967 borders.
Obviously there would need to be negotiations about that, but the Bush Administration has embraced it as a very positive development. It certainly will be a major part of the discussions when you have the meetings at the ranch in Crawford, Texas. But in your view can there be progress towards such a political dialog so long as there are Israeli troops in the Palestinian areas especially surrounding the Palestinian Authority compound? Can there be any progress at all politically?
AL-FAISAL: Mr. Sharon always says that he cannot negotiate with a gun pointed at his head. Why does he expect that the others can negotiate with a gun pointed at their heads? There has to be withdraw, there has to be freedom of movement for Yasser Arafat, for any negotiations to happen.
KING: What do you say to the voices in the United States, and some of them are influential voices, who say Saudi Arabia is not part of the solution, that Saudi Arabia is part of the problem and in doing so they criticize things like the recent telethon or they say it is the birth place of Osama bin Laden and fundamentalists like him. How do you answer those in the United States who say such things?
AL-FAISAL: The telethon was a telethon to help the Palestinian people who had been massacred in the last operations. And because it is helping them, it is considered supporting terrorists.
KING: Mr. Sharon has called Mr. Arafat a terrorist. In the Bush White House they have refused at the presidential level to meet with Mr. Arafat and senior officials make clear, even the president himself has said is not a matter that Yasser Arafat has lost my trust, he has not earned my trust.
AL-FAISAL: Well, Yasser Arafat, you can like him or not like him. He is the elected president of the Palestinian people. He is the man authorized to negotiate for them. If we believe that he can do more than he has done in the past in order to implement his responsibility, then we have to do things. What is happening now, which is being isolated, his machine ready for working and doing things is being destroyed. How can I continue to talk of blame of Yasser Arafat when the man can do nothing now.
KING: When I was left in your country more than 10 years ago now, the Iraqi army was just up the street, if you will, sitting in Kuwait and was kicked out by the coalition forces led by the United States. This President Bush now makes the case that Saddam Hussein remains a threat and must be dealt with. Do you share that assessment?
AL-FAISAL: Well, we have in the last summit conference achieved a very important decision on this. It is a decision that was accepted by the Iraqis. They promised not to repeat what they did in August 2, 1990. They promised to guarantee independence and territorial integrity of Kuwait.
They promised to implement, complete the implementation of United Nations resolution. They promised to talk with the United Nations in order to bring back the inspectors. These are very important decisions. The requirement of the United States police on Iraq are those. These are the the elements that the United States wants to see implemented.
KING: One of the questions in the wake of September 11 and now again more recently has been stability in world oil markets. And one of the things Saddam Hussein has urged other leaders in that region to do is to cut off production or slow production, somehow to protest the treatment of the Palestinians. What is your view on an issue like that, and would Saudi Arabia ever do such a thing?
AL-FAISAL: We don't agree with that at all, and we have made our position clear on that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And joining us now from Houston is John King. John, what was your sense, the one specific issue, the most specific issue that the Saudis are expected to push tomorrow when the crown prince meets with the president in Crawford?
KING: Wolf, we were told the crown prince is a very straightforward, a very blunt man and we are told in his first meeting with President Bush he will say something very much like what the foreign minister said in other parts of that interview. He warned of what he called a re-radicalization of the Middle East.
He says in the Palestinian street there's growing frustration that they view President Bush, not only as pro-Israel, but as ineffectual. They believe his credibility is at stake across the region because when he asked Ariel Sharon to pull out of the Palestinian territories, that Ariel Sharon essentially said no. The president said pull out without delay, it is three weeks later now, the Israeli troops are still there, that we are told will be the key message, that this could spread well beyond am Israeli-Palestinian problem into a re-radicalization on the Arab street, unless President Bush gets tough with Israel.
BLITZER: And, John, what did the foreign minister say about the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were from Saudi Arabia?
KING: He did not directly address that issue, but I spoke to several senior aides traveling with him, the crown prince, other senior Saudi government officials, and one said, that yes, in Saudi Arabia they are embarrassed by that. But they also believe it was part of a deliberate strategy, remember Osama bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia.
He has expressed as his goal, not only destroying the United States, but overthrowing the Saudi regime in Saudi Arabia. They say they believe, very specifically, that Osama bin Laden chose Saudis for that mission to try to drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and the United States, to try to turn the American people against Saudi Arabia and destroy the relationship. For all the disagreements right now over how to handle the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the foreign minister and the crown prince, we are told will make clear this is a 60 year friendship, and friends learn how to get or their disagreements.
BLITZER: John King in Houston, very good interview. Thank you so much for joining us.
And this note, tomorrow I'll be reporting on this program live from Crawford, where the president will be meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. We'll be live at 5:00. Also, a special report at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night.
When we come back, a wreck caught on camera. What caused the deadly head on crash? The nation's lead safety investigator answers some tough questions, right after the break.
Plus, fire burning out of control. We'll go live to Colorado for the latest.
And remembering man's best friend. The NYPD pays tribute to a victim of September 11.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There was a memorial with a 21-gun salute today for the only police dog killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Sirius (ph) was left in a basement kennel when his handler went to help others. More than 100 canine dogs and their handlers were at the Jersey City service.
Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in a Colorado mountaintown called Bailey, about 45 miles southwest of Denver. A wildfire has burned more than a thousand acres and winds up to 35 miles a hour are spreading the flames. One person has been treated for smoke inhalation and one firefighter sprained an ankle. Lorie Hirose is in Bailey, Colorado. She joins me now live -- Lorie.
LORIE HIROSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the clouds you see behind me are actually clouds of smoke from that 1,200-acre fire 35 miles southwest of Denver. And it is being fueled by this, acres and acres of very dry pine needles and brush. Now, the fire started Tuesday afternoon at about noon at about the very same time that Colorado Governor Bill Owens was asking the federal government to declare a state of drought emergency in Colorado.
Now, 35 mile an hour winds have fanned the flames today. And the fire jumped a U.S. highway. Seven subdivisions have been evacuated. Emergency relief workers and firefighters say they are alarmed to see a wildfire this big this early. They usually see this kind of fire in August.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have never seen it this dry. We have been up here 30 years. We never got the snow. There's no snow pack. There's no runoff. Everywhere you walk, it is just crunch, crunch, crunch. So it's going to be a long summer if we don't start getting some rain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HIROSE: Now, with or without rain, firefighters are bracing for a very long and dangerous fire season. This is the second time in two years this fire has burned this kind of an area -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Lorie Hirose in Colorado, thanks for that report.
And investigators are trying to determine the cause of yesterday's train crash in southern California. This videotape from a surveillance camera shows the Metrolink commuter train passing by just before the accident, stopping, then being knocked back down the tracks after it was hit by the freight train.
Two hundred -- excuse me -- two people died, hundreds were hurt. A short time ago, I discussed the accident with Marion Blakey. She's the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Marion Blakey, thanks for joining us. You have seen this surveillance tape of the actual crash. What, if anything, does that tell you?
MARION BLAKEY, CHAIRWOMAN, NTSB: Well, it gives us some information on the crash worthiness of the locomotives and the cab car that was attacked carrying the passengers and crew for the Metrolink. We are studying it. We haven't got results on it yet, but it should be helpful.
BLITZER: So, it is very obviously very preliminary. But what do we know? Why did this crash occur?
BLAKEY: The crash occurred essentially because we had two trains on the same track. The Burlington Northern freight train was moving eastbound and a we had a commuter train here in the Los Angeles area that was moving westbound. It was intended to divert over to a different track with its passengers. And, at that point, the Burlington Northern should have stopped to let it go by. But the Burlington...
BLITZER: Why didn't it?
BLAKEY: ... Northern train didn't stop. We don't know that yet. We are looking at the signals and what the crew was doing at the time.
BLITZER: And what is the initial suspicion what happened?
BLAKEY: Well, it is important to know that if the signals were functioning normally and everything we can see so far is that the signals were performing their job, the crew should have begun to stop way back and certainly should have been at a complete halt well before they came to the Metrolink train. The Metrolink train saw the freight train coming and stopped. So, what we are looking at is the question of crew performance and we're looking at the signals to make sure that, in fact, they were flashing red when they should have been.
BLITZER: So it is possible it just could have been human error, is that right?
BLAKEY: It is possible. Unfortunately in transportation, over 70 percent of our accidents are human error. There is something we can do to address this kind of thing. On the northeast corridor, we have got automated train technology now that will stop trains before they get to a red signal, whether the engineer does it or not.
Where we've got congested corridors with freight trains and passenger trains on them, we need that kind of technology around the country. Certainly, it would have prevented this accident here in California.
BLITZER: I know that all of these accidents have different causes. But we saw one bad one in Florida last week, now where you are in California. In Michigan, there was another freight train that went off the rails yesterday. Is there an epidemic or is there a bigger problem that we are not focussing on?
BLAKEY: Well, what we are looking at, of course, in each accident is what happened. Down in Florida, for example, it was a derailment. And that is very different because there, you are looking at what the track conditions were.
Here, it was a collision, head on. And that calls into question what the performance was of the two crews, and as I say, the signals. So I don't think this indicates that there is a connection between the two in any way. And, in fact, rail transportation on the whole is a very safe form of travel. Only a handful, a couple, in fact, fatalities in the last several years. But that doesn't mean it doesn't need to be a lot safer.
BLITZER: Very briefly, what if anything could have been done to prevent this crash yesterday in California?
BLAKEY: Well, if we had had automatic train technology that would have stopped the trains without the engineers having to have done it, we wouldn't have had the accident. Certainly also, if the Burlington Northern freight train had stopped when it should have, the accident wouldn't have happened. Those are the two things that would have made a real difference here.
BLITZER: Well, let's hope we can get both of those things down the road. Marion Blakey, thanks for joining us.
BLAKEY: Thank you. I appreciate your having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And here is a follow up to a story we reported yesterday on this program. A judge in Georgia set bond today for a truck driver accused of beating a woman he held against her will for months. CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman has more on the woman found through a message left in a restroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTENA SHADDIX, HELD CAPTIVE: A lot of pain, pain inside and a lot of pain outside.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sitting in a hospital bed, Kittena Shaddix says her last few months have been straight out of a horror movie. Her charge: that this former boyfriend held her hostage in his truck for months, beating her and only letting her out for supervised bathroom and shower breaks.
SHADDIX: Sometimes we would go to rest areas and I snuck a magic marker in my sock and I wrote on the rest area's walls asking people to help me.
TUCHMAN: At least 40 times, she say, across the country, but police never got a call until this past Friday. A note reading won't let me out, beating me, this is no joke, cannon (ph) truck 383 was written on a wall at this McMinn County, Tennessee rest stop. Police used global positioning satellite technology to find this truck in Laurens County, Georgia. In the truck, they found Kittena Shaddix.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Jones, you have been charged with aggravated assault.
TUCHMAN: And arrested Shannon Jones.
SGT. GERALD FRAZIER, LAURENS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It is not your normal everyday call that we get like that.
TUCHMAN: The 25-year-old victim, who says she has lived on her own since she was 11, describes months of bondage, beatings and torment.
(on camera): Did you ever scream and yell in the last year?
SHADDIX: Oh, I screamed many times.
TUCHMAN: And what happened?
SHADDIX: I would scream with truck drivers walking right beside our truck, nothing. They don't care. They don't care.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We asked the 26-year-old suspect about the allegations against him.
SHANNON JONES, ALLEGED SUSPECT: I understand what she wants. It ain't true.
SHADDIX: I was a dog, that is what he said. I was a dog. I'm supposed to listen. He would say, here poochy, poochy. And if I don't get up, he jerks me up. TUCHMAN (on camera): Shannon Jones has been offered a $25,000 bond on the aggravated assault charge. But he will remain in jail for now, pending another hearing on a charge of kidnapping.
(voice-over): For now, Kittena Shaddix recuperates in a homeless shelter, appreciating freedom.
SHADDIX: It makes me feel good but I'm still scared. I'm scared they are going to let him out and he is going to come get me.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Dublin, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: What does staying home for men mean for their health? A new study on gender roles coming up. First, the "News Quiz."
Which of the following is not a warning sign of a heart attack: chest discomfort, headache, neck pain, shortness of breath? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked which of the following is not a warning sign of a heart attack: chest discomfort, headache, neck pain, shortness of breath? The answer is a headache.
Many women work and more men are staying at home, some to care of the kids. That role reversal may have some health risks. CNN medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sean Greene (ph) left his career as an architect to stay home with his two sons. Wife, Regan (ph), is an attorney.
Sean (ph) is a member of the Dad-to-Dad Playgroup of Atlanta, and they take their roles very seriously. Men who choose to exchange business cards for strollers and diaper bags may need that kind of support. Findings from a major heart study show that men who have been stay-at-home dads for at least 10 years have an 80 percent -- that's right -- 80 percent greater chance of dying than men who traditionally work outside the home.
Researchers speculate stress may be the cause of the grim statistic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to sit over here at the table? And then maybe you can get yourself a drink.
ROWLAND: Yet, they are all doing it for the same reason: their wives' incomes are higher.
(on camera): Was it a hard decision for you guys to make, for you to stay home? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decision was pretty easy to make. I mean, we knew we wanted to watch our kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to talk about that answer.
ROWLAND: So what about Sean's (ph) wife, Regan (ph), the high- demand, high-control attorney? The same study also found women like her are three times more likely to develop heart disease than women who are in low-authority jobs. Why? Researchers speculate role reversal may be behind both statistics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): This study began in the 1980s when house husbands and women in high-powered careers were a little bit more on the cutting edge and they may have been seen more so at that time as bucking the social norms. So, Wolf, what the researchers say is today this may not be as unusual, and so, therefore, the harmful effects may not be as strong. But still, Wolf, they do believe that there is something going on here and more research needs to be done to figure out why.
BLITZER: Rhonda Rowland, I have a feeling this is going to generate a lot of discussion. Thank you so much for that report.
And how do you honor one of America's greatest aviators? Charles Lindbergh's grandson has an idea and he is acting on it. We will hear from him live when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: When he took off from New York in 1927, many thought that was the last they would see of Charles Lindbergh. But, the legend landed in France, on the wings of the Spirit of St. Louis, shocking the world. Seventy-five years later, Lindbergh flies again. This time, Erik Lindbergh follows his late grandfather's grandiose plans.
Erik Lindbergh will make his flight in a plane named the New Spirit of St. Louis. He joins me now to talk about that flight. Erik, thanks for joining us. Why do you want to do this?
ERIK LINDBERGH, CHARLES LINDBERGH'S GRANDSON: Oh, I really have a couple of strong reasons why I want to do this, Wolf. No. 1, because I can. Fifteen years ago, I was disabled with -- diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. And five years ago, I could barely walk. My life consisted mostly of sitting.
Since then, I've had double total knee replacements and I've taken a breakthrough biotech drug called Enbrel that's given me my life back again. I really want to do something with that. Also, because I'm very interested like my grandfather in the future of flight and where are we going in the future? I believe that is into space. That's why I'm working with the Exprise (ph) Foundation to try to open up space so that you and I in the near future can go and enjoy space. BLITZER: Do you have a hard date yet when you're going to make this flight?
LINDBERGH: May 1 from Long Island, weather permitting, of course.
BLITZER: And how long do you think it will take?
LINDBERGH: About 18 hours unless I can take advantage of good tailwinds across the Atlantic. Today, we know about those tailwinds. So I should be able to shorten that by a little bit.
BLITZER: How do you prepare for this kind of flight?
LINDBERGH: The main preparation other than lots of flying and flying instrument approaches and procedures is exercise. And as long as I can exercise an hour a day, then I can sleep at night. And if I can get a lot of sleep at night, physiologically I will be in very good shape to make this 18-hour flight.
BLITZER: The -- I guess you have rheumatoid arthritis. Specifically, how will that hamper you? You say you're taking medication now that has given you ability to undertake this kind of mission.
LINDBERGH: That's right. Before taking Enbrel, I never could have make this flight. And, in fact, I do have a specific regimen of stretching while I'm in the plane so that I can massage my joints and put my legs up above the console so that I can lubricate my joints. It's very important when you have arthritis.
In the Lance Air (ph) Columbia 300 that I'm using, this state of the art aircraft, has enough room that I can do that. I've only got one seat in it, but that makes it possible for me to stretch like that. That should make for a really wonderful flight.
BLITZER: It is going to be a lot different than the original Spirit Of St. Louis. The plane that you're using, you're going to have a lot of conveniences that your grandfather didn't have.
LINDBERGH: That's right. I've got dual GPS's. I can also use the satellite phone to talk to mission control, Exprise mission control at the St. Louis Science Center. And I also have weather data and can send automatic position reports from my computers. So a lot of advances from then until now.
BLITZER: And the bottom line, when you look back after completing this mission, and of course we all hope it's a very successful mission, specifically, what do you hope that the final accomplishment will be?
LINDBERGH: You know, Wolf, if I can educate any kids about the possibilities of the future or help people to overcome obstacles that they're facing in their lives, this mission will have been successful.
BLITZER: Erik Lindbergh, congratulations. Good luck to you. We're going to wait anxiously for your successful transatlantic flight. Appreciate it very much.
LINDBERGH: Thank you very much, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much. And when we come back, what profession do you pick after you have been mayor of New York? The answer, according to Rudy Giuliani, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We've got a terrorist warning just coming into us from the state department. In a statement the state department has just released, I'll be precise, it says there is growing concern that individuals may be planning terrorist actions against United States citizens and interests in the region of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. U.S. citizens should exercise caution in those areas at this time. No further details given, unspecified information once again, a terror alert coming from the state department warning American citizens to be on the alert in the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf area.
In other news, the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, has a new job. He's helping brokerage firm Merrill Lynch, which has found itself in some hot water lately. Giuliani of course is a former federal prosecutor. He will negotiate with the state attorney general, who says Merrill Lynch pushed stocks even though its analysts had private doubts about them.
In a moment, the answer to our question of the day, should the Catholic church adopt a one strike you're out policy towards sex offender priests. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Now the results of our Web question of the day: Should the Catholic church adopt a one strike you're out policy toward sex offender priests? Most of you, 94 percent, said yes. Only six percent of you said no. A reminder, this is not a scientific poll.
And time now to hear directly from you. We got lots of feedback on the spread of anti-Semitism in Europe. From France, Alain writes this: "I'm shocked that the international community or the U.N. does not condemn the anti-Jewish acts in Europe. Living in Paris is becoming more and more dangerous for us. Don't we deserve help?"
And Adi from Israel writes: "This is no surprise, considering that Israel is being harassed about its decision to protect itself from Palestinian terrorist movements. It hurts me to hear all these lies."
But Jan in Germany writes: "I have not seen increased anti- Semitism in Germany or England recently. I regard interpreting valid criticism of the Israeli government as anti-Semitism just an attempt to garner support for Israel."
That's all the time we have today. I'll be reporting from Crawford, Texas tomorrow. The president is meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE begins right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
