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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
School Shooting Leaves 17 Dead in Germany; Palestinian Protesters Converge on Arafat Compound
Aired April 26, 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: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, one of the worst ever school slaughters.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had sometimes trouble with his teachers.
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BLITZER: How do you cope with the horror? I'll speak with someone who has faced the unthinkable.
Palestinian protesters try to break the siege of Yasser Arafat's compound but run into resistance.
He knows what went on at an ex-NBA star's mansion.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you alter that shotgun by wiping the shotgun clean of fingerprints and moving it before investigators arrived at the scene?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
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BLITZER: We have exclusive video.
Under fire for his handling of sex abuse cases, is the Vatican giving Cardinal Bernard Law a way out?
It's Friday, April 26, 2002. Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Topping our "News Alert", it's happened again, a bloody shooting rampage.
Shock and horror in Germany, after a 19-year-old recently expelled from school went back with two guns and shot dead 17 people before taking his own life. Most of the victims were teachers. This, on a day when Germany tightened its already strict gun control laws. We'll have more on this coming up.
A day after Saudi Arabia's crown prince warned that Middle East violence threatens U.S. ties with the Arab world, Israeli troops swept through four West Bank towns, rounding up dozens of terror suspects. President Bush today called on Israel again to call off its campaign in Palestinian areas, but he also had an answer for the Saudis.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told the crown prince that we've got a unique relationship with Israel. And that one thing that the world can count on is that we will not allow Israel to be crushed.
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BLITZER: More now on our top story. The shooting that was over in perhaps 10 minutes, but for the young witnesses, the horror may last a lifetime. Here's James Mates.
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JAMES MATES, ITV NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It started without warning so much so that many of the pupils thought it was joke until they saw a teacher lying dead in a hallway. The first policeman called to the scene was shot dead. By the time reinforcements had the school surrounded, a teenage gunman dressed in black and armed with two handguns had killed 17. He was a former pupil expelled from the school two weeks ago. His target it seems was his former teachers.
DIETMAR ZESCHKE, ERFURT POLICE CAPTAIN: The police was on the spot and they saw and heard the shooting and one of my colleagues was killed.
MATES: In a first-floor window, a pupil had posted a simple sign, one word only, hilfe, help.
For 14 teachers and two pupils, help came too late. The bodies were found scattered throughout the school building in classrooms, hallways, toilets. The gunman then, realizing he was surrounded, turned one of his guns on himself leaving behind the worst school shooting in Germany's post-war history.
As the injured were treated outside the school gate, parents and pupils had gathered to consul each other and to seek news. It is Germany's second school shooting in just two months, but so serious the shock is reverberating across this nation. The chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, immediately made a statement speaking of his horror of the day's events.
The questions begin now, what made the gunman do this and how was he able to kill so many? Answers will be expected quickly. James Mates, ITV News.
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BLITZER: For Americans, today's pictures from Germany are tragically reminiscent of the Columbine High School massacre three years ago this month in Littleton, Colorado. Beth Nimmo's daughter, Rachel Scott, was the first victim at Columbine. Beth Nimmo is the author of "The Journals of Rachel Scott" and the co-author of "Rachel's Tears." She joins us now live from Denver.
What was going through your mind when you heard about this tragic shooting in Germany today, Beth?
BETH NIMMO, MOTHER OF COLUMBINE VICTIM: Well, I was actually at a grocery store when a clerk was talking to her fellow co-workers about it and my heart started racing. Tears came to my eyes and by the time I got out to my car, I was just trembling. It just brings back so much of the shock and the trauma of April the 20th, 1999 for us.
BLITZER: I know you've written these two books about your daughter and her friends, but over these three years, what if anything have you seen change in the nation's schools in treatment of young kids that might make a difference?
NIMMO: Well, one of the things that we've done that we believe it is so proactive is we do school assemblies. We do community rallies. We're in churches. We're anywhere we have an opportunity to speak simply because kids need to know that their life was created for a wonderful life for something wonderful, that they can have purpose and destiny.
And a lot of kids don't know what life is all about. They don't see a future. They feel hopelessness and this despair. So we really counter that with saying you do have a future. Your life is important and every life is important and you can make a difference, even for yourself, your family, your community and possibly even in a bigger way.
BLITZER: This 19-year-old in Germany, by all accounts, the initial accounts clearly was troubled as the kids in Columbine. Do you feel that the school districts around the country are better prepared to deal with these troubled young kids?
NIMMO: Oh, I absolutely do. I think one of the most important things that came out of Columbine was the rescue aspect of Columbine. I know now that many local rescue areas know better how to respond to something that you really aren't prepared for. There's no way to be completely prepared for something like Columbine or what just happened in Germany. But you have a better idea of how to handle it and how to negotiate with so many departments coming together and work to fulfill one common goal.
BLITZER: Do you have any words of advice for the parents of those who were killed in Germany today?
NIMMO: My heart has grieved for them. They'll be in shock and trauma for months and that's OK. I can tell you though, three years later, we have found some healing and every year I feel like we get stronger and better. And the pain, even though the loss is always going to be there, I feel like at times the pain gets lessened by each, you know, passage of time. But those are things that don't seem real and there's no way they can relate to that for where they are right now.
BLITZER: Beth, before I let you go, tell me a little bit about your daughter Rachel.
NIMMO: We found out a side of Rachel after she was killed at Columbine that was an amazing side, where she had kept letters and journals and how she even predicted that she would die young and how she had called Columbine the halls of a tragedy. So many things that we found out about her where she had a sense of purpose and her purpose there at Columbine as a young Christian girl was to show kids that they've got hope and options and they don't have to give into violence and depression and anger, and that their life counts and it matters.
Rachel was a phenomenal girl. The testimonies that have come from her friends and people that knew her, we have been overwhelmed and it's also been a huge comfort to us to know that Rachel lived her 17 years very well. She died young, but those 17 years were well spent.
BLITZER: It's been three years, our deepest condolences to you, Beth. Thanks so much for joining us, Beth Nimmo. And obviously, we're obviously very saddened by what happened to your daughter, very saddened by what happened today in Germany.
NIMMO: Thank you.
BLITZER: Thank you.
And turning now to the situation in the Middle East. Could the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, be having a change of heart when it comes to U.N. weapons inspections? CNN's Jane Arraf has the story from Baghdad.
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JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. The question is will they or won't they? And we don't quite know yet. For the first time in four years though, Iraq says it is open to unconditional talks on letting weapons inspections resume.
Now, it is going to these talks at the U.N. saying that it is neither accepting nor rejecting the return of the inspectors. That's what a key official going to New York tells CNN. It doesn't sound like a huge departure, but in fact it is. Iraq, until quite recently, has said it will never let the weapons inspectors return. The official though, President Saddam Hussein's scientific adviser, General Amer al-Saadi, also tells CNN that Iraq has some questions of its own it needs answered before it makes any commitments.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope to have response from the secretary- general about the questions which were left from last time, which are wide-ranging questions which concerns everything, the legal aspects and the disarmament aspects and the future relation with the security council. ARRAF: That essentially means assurances, if Iraq can get them, that this new inspection body would be answerable to the U.N. and not to the U.S. They're also looking for a timetable as to how long it would take the weapons inspectors and what Iraq would get out of it.
Now, we have to remember that the last time there were weapons inspections here was December 1998. They pulled out just a few hours before the U.S. and Britain bombed, saying Iraq simply wasn't complying. Iraq said that killed all chances of the weapons inspections resuming.
Now it seems clear that pressure and threats from the U.S. are bringing Iraq back to the table in New York. It's not quite clear yet whether those threats seem eminent enough to actually prompt Iraq to own the door again to weapons inspections at this point. Back to you, Wolf.
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BLITZER: Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you very much.
And for more on the situation in Iraq and next week's resumption of U.N. weapons inspection talks, tune in LIVE FROM BAGHDAD tonight with Nic Robertson. That's a full hour at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, only here on CNN.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, more tension, more drama, as if that were possible. Hundreds of protesters marched toward the besieged compound of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Rocks were thrown at Israeli troops, and they did responded. CNN's Matthew Chance was right in the thick of it.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first Friday after the Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah, and Palestinian demonstrators are already back on the streets. This an act of defiance, one told me, to show support for Yasser Arafat and show the Israelis their will was still strong.
(on camera): Why have you come to protest here at this barricade today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To show the Israeli government that we are here and we will keep fighting to the end, until they get out from all of them.
CHANCE (voice-over): And fight they did, not with guns this time, but with rocks, across the Israeli barricades. There was a sharp response, live rounds and stun grenades pushed the protesters back.
(on camera): This is an example of just how quickly events here in Ramallah can quickly turn violent. Tear gas is thick in the air, flashbacks are being shot by the Israeli army, but Palestinians say despite this military action, they will continue to resist.
(voice-over): Later we heard Palestinian threats, more promises of the Ramallah streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The resistance will continue and will continue until the occupation stops and leave our country. Now what they did, it now makes us more stronger and strong and we will hit more than before. They will see.
CHANCE: But for the moment at least, Israeli is maintaining the strictest control.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Ramallah in the West Bank.
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BLITZER: And Israeli forces took their anti-terror campaign into four West Bank towns today, quickly leaving three of them. But troops stayed on in Qalqilya, where Israel says a local militant leader was killed in a gunfight. Palestinians said the Israelis were also blowing up homes. A number of Palestinians were arrested.
Talks have stalled, but there was movement at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where Palestinians have been holed up for weeks. Four of them came out today and surrendered to Israeli forces. Palestinians say two others inside the church were seriously wounded by sniper fire.
There have been claims and counterclaims from both sides since the latest Middle East conflict reignited. What's the true story? That often depends on the prism it is viewed through. But now, for a price, you can view it from any perspective you want. CNN's Garrick Utley explains.
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GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his small sales room in Fairlawn, New Jersey, Eitan Dermon can offer you the world, the televised world he advertises on his storefront at Broadway Satellite.
EITAN DERMON, BROADWAY SATELLITE: That's technology. For a couple of hundred dollars, you can see news directly from your country.
UTLEY: Eitan can see the news from his native Israel. He can also see it from the Arab world if he wants to, which is not that often.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's news from three years ago.
UTLEY: And while CNN is also on with its global coverage, Eitan Dermon can click and choose his preferred news reality, objectivity, and truth.
DERMON: I think that this is the truly, truly, truly news that is coming out from Israel.
UTLEY (on camera): Which raises a question about the promise, the vision called the global village. The marvel of satellite communications, dishes like these, is supposed to bring people and nations closer together along a new digital main street. We are all become neighbors, perhaps not always good neighbors, but at least we understand each other better. At least that's the theory.
(voice-over): But the reality offers a different picture along this main street in Patterson, New Jersey. This is the second-largest Arab-American community in the United States. At the Arabic Island Cafe, where Palestinian-Americans gather, the preferred objectivity and truth is found, no surprise, on the Arab news channel, Al Jazeera.
HANI AWADALLAH, ARAB-AMERICAN CIVIC ORGANIZATION: The truth is anything, anything which is not influenced by Zionist propaganda. The Al Jazeera, in a way, let the average Arab-American feel that there is some kind of an Arab broadcasting company which at least is not biased. We can be sure it is not biased against the Palestinians or against the Arab point of view.
UTLEY: A few miles away in northern New Jersey, a satellite dish is installed in a large Jewish and Israeli-American community. Sandy Dermon, whose husband sells the satellite receivers, does not like the Middle East news coverage from American television.
SANDY DERMON, TEACHER: I see very slanted reporting most of the time.
UTLEY: So, she and her family turn to Israeli television for their news.
S. DERMON: Absolutely. You know, it is like you want to hear only good things about your children. I only want to hear good things about Israel.
UTLEY: The powerful images of television, research has shown, do not usually change strongly-held opinions. Rather, they can reinforce opinions already held. And that can push people farther apart, instead of bringing them together. The Middle East is only the latest example.
(on camera): Well, what is accurate news? What is true news? How do you define it?
AWADALLAH: You call it as you see it. That's the accurate news. You call it as you see it.
UTLEY (voice-over): As satellites let is see what we want to see.
Garrick Utley, CNN.
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BLITZER: Does truth serum really make you tell the truth? Coming up, a weapon yet to be used in the war on terror. Should the detainees be forced to take the drug?
And Donald Rumsfeld makes his way to Afghanistan. And as he does, he issues a warning.
What makes a man become a molester? In light of all the recent news, reports on abuse. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asks the question.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't feel compelled, but the opportunity presented itself. I was excited by the idea.
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BLITZER: Welcome back.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says there may be more trouble brewing in Afghanistan. He began a tour of the region today, saying the search for Osama bin Laden has turned up neither hide nor hair since December. But Rumsfeld warned that bin Laden's fighters may soon make their presence known once again. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports.
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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld travels through Afghanistan and neighboring countries this weekend, he warns that the al Qaeda may find ways to communicate and prepare a warm weather offensive.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They will probably again try to attack the interim authority and opposing factions in the country, as well as U.S. and coalition forces.
STARR: Recently, much of the U.S. military activity has been out of the public eye, making some wonder if the war is really over. Rumsfeld said U.S. troops remain busy, looking for smaller groups of al Qaeda trying to melt back into the countryside.
RUMSFELD: They are continuing to detain people, arrest people, apprehend people almost every day in small numbers.
STARR: Everywhere he goes, the secretary is still asked the same question: What about Osama bin Laden? Bin Laden, he says, is not very effective right now, but he and the al Qaeda are still a worry.
RUMSFELD: They already have a lot of trained people, so there's no question but that they can conduct other terrorist operations, and they may very well in the period immediately ahead.
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STARR (on camera): What the secretary will not discuss publicly, Wolf, is a new arrangement with Pakistan that, for the first time, has U.S. military troops operating in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. And U.S. intelligence officials say that is a prime target area to search for al Qaeda leaders and even Osama bin Laden -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much.
And the quest to prevent another September 11 is reviving an old debate. At issue: Should U.S. law enforcement officials be allowed to use so-called truth serum drugs on al Qaeda and Taliban captives to obtain possibly more information about terror activities?
"USA Today" reports former CIA and FBI director William Webster says he thinks so. He says U.S. agents would be more effective if allowed to administer drugs such as sodium pentothal. Others argue that would amount to torture.
Joining us now from Durham, North Carolina is Scott Silliman. Scott Silliman is the director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University. And also from the CNN Center in Atlanta, our own medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, let me begin with you. If you gave this truth serum, let's say, to me, what would it do?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is a commonly used anesthetic agent, something that we use in operating rooms and stuff. For you, it would lower your blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and if enough was given, actually cause unconsciousness rather quickly.
For the purpose of this discussion, if you didn't give enough to cause unconsciousness, it might also decrease your inhibitions, possibly allowing people to talk a little more freely about things. And that's in part where it gets its name, but that's probably what would happen to you.
BLITZER: So presumably though, it would have a beneficial effect as far as interrogations are concerned?
GUPTA: That's right. I think the term truth serum itself is probably a bit of a misnomer or a bit of an overstatement. But as far as decreasing inhibitions, making people sleepy, sedate to the point where they actually might talk a little bit more freely, I think probably that's where it applies.
BLITZER: You do, when you perform -- when you do surgery, you give this drug to patients. It is a form of torture?
GUPTA: No, I wouldn't consider it a form of torture by any means. Certainly, we give this as a very routine part of operations to try and put patients to sleep during the operation. I guess we always do that with the patient knowing and being willing participants in receiving that medication. But other than that, I wouldn't consider it torture at all.
BLITZER: All right. We're going to come right back to you, Scott Silliman in just a moment.
We have some breaking news. I want to bring in our Charles Feldman. He's in Los Angeles, has got some developments in the Robert Blake murder case -- Charles.
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, thank you very much.
CNN has been told by the lawyer who represents Robert Blake, and I'm going to attribute this to Harland Braun, that the co-defendant in this case, Earle Caldwell, has just been bailed out on $1 million bail posted by Robert Blake. You may recall that Blake has been charged with murdering his wife. And Earle Caldwell, who has been variously described as either Mr. Blake's bodyguard or handyman, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Now, at the moment, Mr. Blake is not eligible for bail, but Mr. Caldwell was. It was set at $1 million which is what the state of California mandates in cases such as this with the charges against Mr. Caldwell. But what's remarkable here is that he came up with the million and who it was that put it up, in this case as I said, according to Harland Braun, it was his client, Robert Blake, who came up with $1 million. And we understand that Mr. Caldwell now is a free man at least until the trial begins -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Will there by any restrictions on him? Can he go out and speak, for example, publicly speak to the news media, assuming his lawyers were to allow him to do so?
FELDMAN: Well, you know, it is my understanding that when somebody's out on bail, with the one exception that they're not allowed to usually leave the jurisdiction until the trial, they're free to do anything they want. So I suppose if Mr. Caldwell would like to talk to us, we'd be more than happy to talk with him.
BLITZER: And one final question, Charles, before I let you go. When you say he's released on $1 million bail, normally they only have to put a specific percentage of that in hard cash. The rest is basically -- has to be made available if the guy skips bail.
FELDMAN: You're absolutely right and I asked that question to Mr. Blake's attorney. I said did he actually put up a million dollars and he said yes, that in this case, one of his employees, his investigator, took a cashier's check to the tune of $1 million down to bail Mr. Caldwell out. And I said why would Mr. Blake do that? And Harland Braun said, well, he was one of his employees, so a sort of good employee/employer relationship, I guess.
BLITZER: All right. There may be some other benefits for Robert Blake as well. We'll get into that on another occasion. Charles Feldman, thanks, as usual, for breaking that story here on CNN. Always appreciate it.
Want to go back now to what we were talking about, truth serum. Joining us once again, Scott Silliman of Duke University, the Center of Law over there. We were talking about whether or not the FBI and the CIA, Scott, should be allowed to use this so-called truth serum in the interrogations of the al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. What does the law say?
SCOTT SILLIMAN, DIRECTOR, CENTER ON LAW, ETHICS & NATIONAL SECURITY: Well, Wolf, the law is fairly clear as far as prohibiting both physical and mental torture as well as any form of coercion. You find that in the universal declaration of human rights, the Geneva Convention, the international covenant on civil and political rights. So it's very consistent in international law.
When you're dealing with drugs, not just sodium pentothal, but any kind of drug, that can be looked at under the law as basically a type of physical coercion. And I think it is our policy in this country, I think it's certainly the law in this country, that we have not used drugs of this sort. And Judge Webster, if I understand what he was saying, was not in any way indicating that these would be used for a criminal investigation but only in national security interests. But, Wolf, that's a hard line to keep.
BLITZER: Would it require some court order to allow that kind of drug to be administered?
SILLIMAN: Well, again, when you're talking about interrogating terrorists, whether they're at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere, the courts are not going to get involved. This is a military operation and continues to be a military operation.
But I do believe that the department of defense maintains that they would not use drugs, have not used drugs. And, again, Wolf, the important thing is whatever we do starts a state practice going that could be used against our own soldiers, sailors and airmen in the years to come. And I think we really need to be concerned about that.
BLITZER: You've heard the argument made by Allan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor, and others about the so-called ticking bomb. Why not use this kind of pressure, drugs, or perhaps even as some, like Dershowitz would say, perhaps even real torture to get at information that perhaps could prevent another terrorist incident like September 11?
SILLIMAN: Well, Wolf, for one thing, this is not the ticking bomb scenario. We're not having a thousand people locked up in a room with 30 minutes to go and the only way you can save those people is to extract it by torturous techniques.
More importantly, I'm not convinced that the information you get either out of torture or the use of drugs is that reliable. I think when you go back to Vietnam, Wolf, you're going to find that people will say anything to stop the pain. So, are we assured that even if we were to resort to these techniques, that we would get good information? I'm not.
BLITZER: OK. Scott Silliman, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks to both of you for helping us better understand a little bit the so-called truth serum and the detainees. Appreciate it very much.
Our Web question of the day is this: Should the FBI use truth serum in questioning al Qaeda prisoners? You've heard the arguments, pro and con. Join the debate. You can vote, cnn.com/wolf. That's also, of course, where you can let me know what you are thinking. There's a "click here" icon right on the left side of the Web page. Send me your comments. I'll read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also where you can read my daily online column. Once again, my Web page, cnn.com/wolf.
The war on terrorism is prompting the FBI to search aggressively for a new generation of agents. CNN's Jonathan Aiken paid a visit to the FBI's training academy in Virginia to find out who the agency is recruiting, and what it's looking for.
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JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty years ago training films glamorized the life of an FBI agent, but as those agents would tell you, the bureau has always been about detective work, not car chases.
September 11, though, shifted the burrow's emphasis to one of preventing crimes, not just trying to solve them after the fact. The attacks also stretched the ranks too thin for comfort.
ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: We lack a sufficient number of agents and analysts with a full range of language skills, as we require today.
AIKEN: With the goal of 900 new agents by this September, the FBI is aggressively hitting colleges and job fairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more I talk to the FBI the more I'm thinking about it more. It may become a reality for me, maybe.
NIAMBI ROBINSON, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: We are focusing as well on intelligence and counter terrorism, explosives.
AIKEN: And applicants with engineering, language and computer skills are also highly prized. Whether it is patriotism the hard sell or both the effort is paying off. In the past month alone the FBI received more than 15,000 applications on its new on-line job site.
Hearing the call is one thing, cutting the muster is another, and this is not your father's FBI. Instructors say this targeting session using video to measure hand-eye coordination is more effective in training younger agents.
(on camera): If I had experience with video games, this is how I'm going to learn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, visual, physical feedback.
AIKEN (voice-over): Among the new agents at the FBI Academy is a former police officer, Joe. And Brigitte, a former teacher and child abuse investigator. But their identities are a bit vague for security reasons. Both say their past careers have prepared them for their next one.
BRIGITTE: I'm an investigator, I have an analytical mind, and I'm always thinking. And that's more of what an FBI agent is. JOE: It can be tough, being patient, doing very in-depth investigations. They allow you that time, though, it's something I never experienced as a police officer.
AIKEN: The FBI isn't alone in seeking the best and the brightest. A host of federal agencies have put out help wanted signs since September 11.
After six weeks at the FBI Academy, these agents in training will be forced to hit the ground running.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then I'll give you the task and turn you loose.
AIKEN: On going terrorism threats, mean there's less time for older agents to explain the nuts and bolts. The class of '02 will get the basics and then learn the rest of what they need to know on the job.
Jonathan Aiken, CNN, Quantico, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: He may not be resigning, but is one cardinal getting a papal parachute: What a new report says about Cardinal Bernard Law's career option.
And a CNN exclusive: Why this confession is damaging to an ex- NBA star.
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BLITZER: Checking our "News Alert," America is roaring out of recession. The government says the economy grew at annual rate of 5.8 percent this winter. It's best performance in more than two years. One expert says today's report puts the final nail in the recessions. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" will have much more on this at the top of the hour.
Singer Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes of the Grammy-winning group TLC was killed in a car crash last night in Honduras. Lopes was known for her rap verses of the trio's songs, which include hits such as "Water Falls." Stressing themes such as safe sex and self respect, TLC has sold more albums than any other female group. Lisa Lopes was 30.
A lawyer suing the Catholic archdiocese of Boston says some newly obtained documents show the Reverend Paul Shanley was -- quote -- "a perverted monster" -- unquote. The documents include diary excerpts in which Shanley allegedly writes about having venereal disease and helping young people use drugs. Critics say Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law should have removed Shanley from the priesthood, but instead allowed him to transfer from parish to parish.
Calls continue for Cardinal Law's resignation, but a colleague says the cardinal is staying put. U.S. Catholic Church leaders are gathered in Philadelphia for a fund raising event. CNN's Maria Hinojosa is there, as well -- Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the event tonight is called the American cardinal's dinner. It's a $1,000 plate event to raise money for Catholic University in Washington in D.C. But much of the attention today has focused on embattled Boston Cardinal Law, who reports today say in the "Boston Globe" that he would be transferred to the Vatican. Today in Philadelphia, a denial.
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REV. DAVID O'CONNELL: I can't speak for Cardinal Law. I just spoke with him a little while ago. And he is aware of the report and he asked me if the question did come up to let you know that it was never discussed in Rome, that there is no plan whatsoever that he be replaced and be moving to Rome in June or any time in the near future. And that's directly from the cardinal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: This afternoon, a mass was held here in Philadelphia with the cardinals in attendance. Many, many churchgoers saying that their faith has not been rocked by the current church scandal. Many of them saying, in fact, one person told me, I can't see us suppressing things that are illegal. But I can see that you don't want to air all of your problems to the world either.
(voice-over): But in front of the church, demonstrators gathered to say that they are not satisfied with the reports coming out of the Vatican, That they want to see more definitive punishment for all sex abusers tied to the church.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe in the sacrament's life in the church. I believe in going to confession for one's sins and doing penance. But in a criminal justice system where people have been violated, you have to go through the criminal court system.
HINOJOSA: Wolf, and a final concern tonight, will the sex abuse scandal become a financial crisis for the Catholic Church? 800 people paid $1,000 a place for tonight's dinner. But reports are that some people in Boston in their contribution check, in their contribution envelopes in church are saying they will not give money until Cardinal Law resigns -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Maria Hinojosa in Philadelphia. Thank you very much for that report.
And in just a moment, a CNN exclusive.
A CNN camera confession that may be damaging to former NBA star, Jayson Williams.
And later, she was the bachelor's pick but that doesn't mean he is living with her. The scoop on the stars on a hit reality series.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
As we told you yesterday, a friend of Jayson Williams will testify against the former NBA star, charged in the death of a limo driver. CNN has obtained exclusive video of what the friend says happened inside Williams' mansion after the February shooting. Our Deborah Feyerick has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story Kent Culuko tells is a story of a cover-up, a cover-up in the frantic minutes following the shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you alter that shotgun by wiping the shotgun clean of fingerprints and moving it before investigators arrived at the scene?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you do so upon the instruction by anyone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By whom's instruction?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jayson Williams.
FEYERICK: Prosecutors say Williams pulled the trigger, killing 55-year-old Gus Christofi. His body found in Williams' master bedroom on the second floor. Culuko pleaded guilty to evidence and witness tampering, admitting trying to get several people to say they were downstairs when the gun went off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did someone instruct you or urge you to urge others to tell that story to the police?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who was that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jayson Williams.
FEYERICK: Culuko's lawyer says someone tried to give Christofi first aid, quickly realizing it was hopeless.
JOHN LACEY, ATTORNEY FOR KENT CULUKO: The witness tampering occurred within moments after a 911 phone call had been made. And really in a state of panic, the folks in this house decided to put together some story that just wasn't true.
FEYERICK: Investigators say it was clear to them early on Christofi didn't kill himself, despite initial claims that the death was suicide.
(on camera): How soon into the investigation did you realize that in fact a number of the people there were simply not telling the truth?
STEVEN LEMBER, HUNTERDON COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Very soon, very early. I knew when I left the scene that morning after speaking with detectives, crime scene detectives, speaking with the medical examiner, we knew immediately that this was not a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We knew it, and therefore, what everyone was telling us we knew couldn't be true. Everybody other than the victim could not have been out of the room.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Williams faces charges of manslaughter and tampering with witnesses and evidence. Williams says he is innocent, his lawyer calling the shooting an accident.
(on camera): Before pleading guilty, Culuko spoke to Jayson Williams. According to Culuko's lawyer, Williams telling him to cooperate truthfully. Prosecutors are ready to present their case to the grand jury. A Williams' spokeswoman saying when the time comes, Williams will plead not guilty.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Flemington, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we have this just in from our senior United Nations correspondent Richard Roth, who is reporting that the United Nations has agreed to postpone the arrive of an U.N. fact-finding team to investigate the charges at the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank, charges that Israel committed a massacre of Palestinians at that refugee camp, charges the Israelis deny insisting that there was fierce fighting. The delay for the arrival of this fact-finding team came at the request of Israel.
The team originally had been expected to arrive on Saturday, but there has been some serious haggling between the Israeli government and the U.N. over the makeup of that team. We are going to be following this development. Richard Roth will have more as it becomes available.
In just a moment, he gave a rose, not a ring. The bachelor makes his final pick. Are reality TV programs -- the latest love birds on these programs headed down the aisle?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Recent high-profile news stories have many Americans more concerned than ever about sexual abuse of children and teens. CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently interviewed a convicted molester. Dr. Gupta joins us once again from the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Sanjay, most of us can't even comprehend what would motivate someone to commit this kind of heinous crime, but you tried to get some answers. GUPTA: That's absolutely right. It's arguably one of the most reprehensible crimes. But is it a crime or is it a disease? And if it is a disease, can it be cured? These are tough questions to try and understand. And I don't know the answers to those, but we did try.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): We are going obscure his face. And after you hear his story, you will probably understand why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This 15-year-old instant messaged me and asked me to chat with him. We started chatting and getting to know each other, and one thing led to another. As time went on, the talk became more sexually specific and then we finally made arrangements to meet with each other.
GUPTA: Like some of the priests we have heard so much about, he is a hebephile, a sexual molester of adolescents, and he served two years in jail for it.
(on camera): Before you molested a 15-year-old boy, was this something that you had thought about? Was this something that you felt a compulsion to do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't feel compelled, but the opportunity presented itself. I was excited by the idea. I was aroused by the idea. But I didn't feel compelled to do it. I don't know how to explain how sexual attraction to somebody underage happens. But I think we are really a society that's obsessed with the youth image.
GUPTA: What has your life been like since you were caught?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lost professional standing in the community, left the community that I lived in and moved to another state to try and start over.
GUPTA (voice-over): His name is on a list of convicted sex abusers. So some people know about his past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They treat me with quite a bit of disdain. They just see a label and not a person.
GUPTA (on camera): Do you think -- do you look back and do you think that that was a disease that afflicted you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't look at it as a disease process at all. And I hesitate to ever call it a sickness or disease. It was always a result of a series of poor choices that I made. And I think it's wrong to hide behind any kind of disease or sickness label. There is not any kind of chemical imbalance going on in my life or something that can be just fixed with a pill.
GUPTA: You mentioned earlier that you don't have compulsions any more towards children, but you have to watch yourself. You have to be careful. Tell me what you mean specifically by that? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I avoid any association with children. I don't put myself in places where I'm alone with children. I don't think you can ever be cured. You always have to be on your guard. I always have to be on my guard. I always have to avoid situations that would make it more likely for me to reoffend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (on camera): And the man you heard from, as well as the priest, they are not alone. There are thousands of people currently listed in the national registry of sex offenders all around the country, Wolf.
BLITZER: You know, Sanjay, some have compared them to alcoholics, that they can never really be cured but they can try to control those urges. Is that your sense as well?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's certainly a very contentious topic. Some of the experts we spoke to said, listen, it could be a combination of genetic problems such as the things you see with alcoholism in combination with environment.
This particular gentleman that we interviewed did not feel it was a disease at all, rather that it was a series of poor choices that he had made. It is very difficult to equate alcoholism to pedophilia or hebephilia as the case may be here. And a lot of people are still struggling with that, Wolf.
But most people agree that it is a crime, a reprehensible crime. It's something that can be treated but probably not cured.
BLITZER: OK. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, very, very painful subject for all of us to deal with, but one critically important especially right now. Appreciate it very much.
And in just a moment, you make the call. Should the FBI use truth serum in questioning al Qaeda prisoners? You can vote. Go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf.
And later, your criticism of the prince and the president's meeting. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
It wasn't exactly what you'd call a traditional courtship. In fact, it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase TV date. Thirty- one-year-old management consultant Alex Michel met 25 single women on an ABC TV reality series called "The Bachelor." Week by week, he narrowed down the field. Then on last night's episode, he made his choice, 23-year-old Amanda Marsh. But to the disappointment of viewers who were looking forward to immediate wedding bells, the bachelor remains a bachelor at least for the time being.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALEX MICHEL, "THE BACHELOR": We're not even going to move in together. We are going to get separate apartments, but we're going to move to the same city and start living real life together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Even if Alex and Amanda aren't quite ready to pop the champagne cork, the network certainly is. "The Bachelor" was a rare hit on ABC's otherwise struggling program schedule. Get this: More than 18 million people watched that program last night. I was not one of them.
Let's go to New York now and get a preview of LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE. Jan Hopkins is sitting in tonight for Lou -- Jan.
JAN HOPKINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Wolf. Coming up on MONEYLINE, President Bush repeats demands for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories. We will have a live report from Crawford, Texas. Merrill Lynch offers an apology. The world's biggest brokerage says its research fell short of the firm's standards. We will have that story. And the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in more than two years. But the markets suffered the biggest weekly decline since the September 11 attacks. That seems like a confusing combination. Our Wall Street panel will help sort it out. All of that for you and much more at the top of the hour.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Jan. Now, the results of our Web question of the day: Should the FBI use truth serum in questioning al Qaeda prisoners? Eighty-two percent of you said yes, only 18 percent said no. A reminder, this is not a scientific poll.
Time now to hear from you. In response to viewers who wrote condemning the church yesterday, Mrs. Dippolito writes: "God bless our cardinals. They're trying to clean up these agonizing problems and by the grace of God, will make amends and purify the church. We have heard enough of the rot. Let us hear how we are moving forward in this crisis."
On President Bush's meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Gus writes: "Do not believe for a moment that Prince Abdullah would not use oil as a weapon against us. Next time Saddam starts amassing troops on the border of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, tell the Saudis not to call the U.S."
But Ken writes: "Why doesn't President Bush listen to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah? It's seems to me that U.S. Mideast policy is not even-handed. We are afraid to stand up to Israel."
That's all the time we have today. Please join me again Sunday at noon Eastern for "LATE EDITION." Senators Joe Lieberman and Chuck Hagel will be among my guests. We will speak about the Middle East crisis and the war on terror.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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