Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Yasser Arafat Free; Middle East Peace Conference Scheduled for Summer
Aired May 02, 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 Thursday, May 2, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Today, a V for victory from Yasser Arafat. But while he's free to come and go, has he really won? We will press for an answer right after this "News Alert."
With the Israeli siege lifted, Yasser Arafat today left his compound, stepped into the sunlight and began looking over the damage. Hundreds of Palestinians cheered as he emerged from confinement, and Arafat took his inspection tour like a victory lap, telling reporters, quote, "the more destruction I see, the stronger I get." We'll have much more on this coming up in just a moment.
In Bethlehem, the standoff may only be getting worse. Just hours after a furious gunbattle and fire, Israeli troops today shot at armed Palestinians who emerged from the Church of the Nativity, killing one of them, while a group of activists say they managed to get at least 10 people into the church.
Here in Washington only a few minutes ago Secretary of State Colin Powell announced an international peace conference will be held early this summer to try to move peace efforts forward. We'll have more in a moment as well.
Britain's Royal Marines are taking the lead in a mission to search out and destroy al Qaeda forces in the rugged terrain of southeast Afghanistan. U.S. ground troops and aircraft are also involved. The British say they have not yet encountered enemy forces, but say they believe the area has been a key base for al Qaeda.
Retired priest Paul Shanley has been arrested in San Diego on three counts of raping a child. The assaults allegedly occurred in Massachusetts between 1983 and 1990. Shanley is at the center of the scandal rocking the Boston archdiocese. According to church documents, he was transferred from parish to parish after the church learned of sex abuse allegations against him.
Now more on our top story, the crisis in the Middle East. Cheered by supporters, Yasser Arafat left his West Bank compound today and started taking stock of the damage. We begin our coverage with CNN's Matthew Chance in Ramallah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day after the end of the siege here at the presidential compound in Ramallah and the full extent of the damage incurred during that period has become apparent. Look at the damage behind me. Cars used as barricades by the Israelis, also the presidential motorcade, limousines, four wheel drives have been smashed by Israeli bulldozers.
All around these buildings, scorch marks and bullet holes, evidence of the veracity of the fighting that took place around this presidential compound. Inside the scene is pretty bad as well. Furniture has been smashed, bullet holes riddle the walls. The stench of hundreds of people living inside this compound for so long together. The six wanted Palestinians of course, Palestinian security forces, peace activists and of course Yasser Arafat himself.
(on camera): Well, after the siege was lifted I managed to get a one to one interview with Yasser Arafat and he told me despite all of this devastation, not just here but elsewhere in the Palestinian areas, he was still hopeful that there could one day be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Here's what he had to say.
YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: If there is a will, there is a way. And don't forget that the majority of the Israeli people are with the peace (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and our people is the same, and me the same.
CHANCE: Yasser Arafat said his immediate plans were to tour Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza to visit the devastation that had been reeked by the Israeli military incursion in various areas. He spent some of day in a hospital visiting Palestinian who have been injured and said a short prayer at a graveyard, a burial site where Palestinians killed by the Israelis and had been buried.
He also said he did at some point intend to move out of those Palestinian areas and travel to areas outside of that country, Arab countries and countries in Europe. But part of the risk that he is weighing up is that if he goes, will the Israeli government and Ariel Sharon ever let him back in?
Matthew Chance, CNN inside Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Now to the standoff at the Church of the Nativity, where there have been more dramatic developments in a situation being described as desperate. CNN senior international correspondent, Walter Rodgers, is in Bethlehem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. There were periodic exchanges of fire between Israeli snipers and Palestinians still inside the Church of the Nativity throughout the day here. Manger Square was indeed a free-fire zone and there was of course a fiery exchange of recriminations between Palestinians and Israelis over who was responsible for the fire at the Church of the Nativity the previous evening.
The Israelis are now saying they're convinced "for sure that those fires were deliberately started by Palestinians. the Israelis also say they have every reason to believe that the Church of the Nativity has been booby-trapped by the Palestinians still inside that church, dozens and dozens of them. Those are the latest numbers according to the Israelis. And the Israelis say the Palestinians have planted bombs inside the church. The Palestinians deny all of this. The Palestinians claim it was Israeli fire, perhaps Israeli flares from the previous night that started the fires in the church or near the Church of the Nativity.
However, the Israelis showed reporters photographs which suggested perhaps those fires were started from within the building itself because the glass was exploded outward from the site of the fire. Again, those recriminations continue here. There was a bizarre demonstration in Manger Square today. A group calling itself the world solidarity movement, very pro-Palestinian dashed into the church when the Israelis weren't looking taking in food and supplies.
Many of those people stayed in the church well over an hour. As I say, they are very, very pro-Palestinian. The Israelis became very tense after that. The situation in Manger Square again remains tense again this evening -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Walter Rodgers, thank you very much in Bethlehem.
As he got Europe's view of the Middle East situation, President Bush today looked past the current crisis and offered his vision of a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians. But, he set some tough standards for reaching that goal. Let's go live to CNN senior White House correspondent, John King. With all the late-breaking developments -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one major goal of this administration is to build on the modest progress in recent days and as part of that President Bush discussing with European leaders today the possibility of a Middle East peace conference and Secretary Powell, just moments ago announcing the target for that conference, an international peace conference, will be sometime this summer.
Secretary Powell didn't say so, but we are told the target is likely to be held somewhere in Europe. Mr. Powell meeting with his counterparts from the United Nations and the European union and the Russian foreign minister as well. That conference to discuss whether or not the negotiations toward peace can be accelerated, also to discuss economic matters, humanitarian aid and security cooperation.
So much to be resolved but they're trying, if you will, in this administration to put a target of hope out there in front of the Israelis and the Palestinians and hold them accountable over the next several days as the president tries to put this back towards a peace process -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And John the president did lay out a sort of vision of his own earlier in the day. Give us the details of that as well. KING: If there is to be a summer peace conference and any optimism, U.S. officials say what happens on the ground over the next several days is critical. First and foremost they say the burden is on Mr. Arafat. Now that he is free, U.S. officials were worried last night, he used the term barbarians. Said the Israelis were racists. This president saying Mr. Arafat must show he can lead the Palestinian people and making clear that Washington is watching closely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it is very important for Chairman Arafat to show the world that he's capable of leading. He's had some chances to grab the peace and hasn't done so in the past. And therefore, he's let down the Palestinian people. Now's the chance to show he can lead. And of course I've placed responsibilities on Israel as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Those responsibilities on Israel, administrations officials say, is a call from the United States for Israel to lift the economic restrictions on the Palestinians and as Matthew Chance noted earlier in the program to allow Mr. Arafat, if he chooses to go visit Arab capitals, the United States says Israeli must guarantee Mr. Arafat can then return to the Palestinian territories -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John King at the White House. Thank you very much.
Yasser Arafat did emerge from his Ramallah compound today faced with two enormous challenges: To rebuild the shattered Palestinian Authority and to face up to President Bush's demand to prove himself by denouncing terror and taking action to stop it. How will he tackle both tasks? A short while ago, I spoke with one of his top aides, Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian information minister.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Now that Yasser Arafat is free to leave the compound in Ramallah, will he travel throughout the West Bank and Gaza?
YASSER ABED RABBO, PALESTINIAN INFORMATION MINISTER: Well, he should travel to other parts of West Bank and Gaza because there's the need for his personal presence there. There is a lot of destruction and as you know, the infrastructure whether the security or the civil infrastructure was totally destroyed and this needs the presence of the Palestinian leadership on the spot in order to assess what should be done and in order to give more motivation for the people to rebuild what was destroyed.
BLITZER: As you know, Prime Minister Sharon is threatening that if Chairman Arafat leaves the West Bank and Gaza and goes to the Arab world and elsewhere or to Europe, he might not, might not let him back in. Is there a possibility he will test Sharon on that issue?
RABBO: Well, we had heard in the past so many threats from Mr. Sharon, and we believe when the American administration takes a decisive position on policy, Mr. Sharon will change his position as well and will quit these threats.
BLITZER: As you know, President Bush today in remarks at the White House also suggested that Yasser Arafat use this opportunity now to get tougher in fighting preventing terrorist actions against Israelis. Will Chairman Arafat take steps to prevent the suicide bombings?
RABBO: Well, you know that we had done our utmost in the past, and Chairman Arafat has called publicly many times for ending suicide attacks against civilians. But at the same time, the Israeli army was attacking the Palestinian Authority and had called a lot of weakening for the authority in the past few months.
So it is impossible to ask us to do our utmost, and at the same time Israel is doing its utmost to weaken our ability to control the situation. And that's why also we need the presence of international forces, and we called for this in the past and we hope now that there is such a possibility, because we're under international protection. We believe that security can be guaranteed and peaceful negotiations can go on into having final results and into achieving what President Bush had called for today -- that is the establishment of a Palestinian independent state and putting an end to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian homeland.
BLITZER: Yasser Abed Rabbo, thanks for joining us today from Ramallah.
Under the terms of his release, Arafat can travel in the West Bank and go abroad as well, but in an interview that was aired last night the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned if attacks on Israelis resume while Arafat is abroad, he may not be allowed to return.
Joining us now from Cleveland is Ra'anan Gissin, he is the senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister. Mr. Gissin, thanks for joining us. I'll get to that in a moment, but what about Secretary Powell announcing just a little while ago that he's ready to go to an international peace conference this summer, presumably in Europe? Will Israel, A, attend, and will it allow Yasser Arafat personally to attend?
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR ADVISER TO ARIEL SHARON: Well, I know first of all, with regard to Yasser Arafat, let me just say that, you know, it's not where he goes and whether he can freely go, but which direction he's going to take. Is he going to really take the direction which will put him away from that strategy of terror that he adopted and on the road toward reconciliation and peace, or not? That's the most important issue.
And with regard to the international conference, of course any international conference that requires the participation of Israel, which is a part of it, will have to be discussed with Israel. And of course, the terms of that should be discussed before any decision is made. But I can assure you that the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, is coming with a very serious proposal to Washington, and I think with a proposal that if the Palestinians are really interested in peace will enable them to move away from that terror that they have launched at us for the past 18 months that has caused so much suffering and so many tragedies.
BLITZER: Prime Minister Sharon will be meeting with President Bush here in Washington next week. But at this international peace conference, are you saying that Yasser Arafat will be allowed to attend?
GISSIN: Well, I don't know. I'm saying the terms of that meeting should be discussed separately, and I'm sure that it will be clarified in the continuing consultation between us and the United States.
One thing is clear here, Yasser Arafat is now on probation, but not on a probation on our side, but on -- under probation of the United States. The United States is his probation officer, and he has to prove himself, and I think President Bush made it very clear that before there can be any movement toward peace, Yasser Arafat has to prove that he is the responsible leader that could lead his people away from terror.
And up to now, I regret to say, he has done just the opposite.
BLITZER: President Bush's press secretary, Ari Fleischer, today said that if Arafat does leave the West Bank and Gaza, he should be allowed to return to Israel. Your prime minister suggested last night that might not be the case depending on what happens while he's abroad. Could you offer an assurance right now that he will be allowed to return?
GISSIN: Look, I'm not offering any assurances. The assurances lie with Arafat himself, depending on what he will do and what type of behavior he's going engage in. For example, if he continues to incite and instigate, as he has done last night, trying to pin on Israel the fire around the Church of the Nativity, which is no doubt today was staged and was conducted by the Palestinian terrorists inside that compound, clearly that is not conducive to peace. That is not intended to bring about a calm in the situation, in a situation where the two sides can sit and negotiate peacefully.
So it really depends on his behavior. As I said, he's on probation, and the United States is the probation officer.
BLITZER: Ra'anan Gissin, senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister, joining us from Cleveland, getting ready for the meeting next week between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon here in Washington. Thanks so much for joining us.
GISSIN: Thank you, and good evening.
BLITZER: And later in this newscast, a man who once pointed the Middle East parties toward peace, and has now become a controversial figure himself. We'll speak live with Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. special envoy. And we'll get the latest on the Middle East situation later tonight, at 8:00 Eastern. CNN Jerusalem bureau chief, Mike Hanna, will host "LIVE FROM RAMALLAH," 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast.
Coalition forces are probing the rugged mountains of southeast Afghanistan in hopes of finding al Qaeda hold-outs. Commanders say it's one of the few areas that has not been covered in previous ground searches. CNN's Bill Delaney has a report on how it's going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Wolf, the fight against terror here against remaining al Qaeda and Taliban fighters entered a new phase just in the past month or so, against a foe now much less numerous than before, but also much harder to fine.
Now, the effort to find al Qaeda and Taliban is under the umbrella of a U.S.-led operation known as Mountain Lion, but the current fighting force which has been out in the southeastern mountains of Afghanistan for about four days is largely British, about 1,000 British Royal Marines. They are targeted specifically on a former base of al Qaeda in these mountains. This operation known as Operation Snipe. This is considered one of the last al Qaeda bases not already overrun by coalition forces here. In four days in these mountains and sometimes working at altitudes as high as 13,000 feet. No shots have been fired as we file this report, an example of how elusive this enemy is.
Now, as far as crossing the border into Pakistan, American officials say so far as they know no troops have crossed into Pakistan on this operation. American officials now acknowledging that Pakistan has given permission for hot pursuit. But at the moment and likely to continue for some time here, this is no longer the big sort of operation you saw in March, Operation Anaconda, in which hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban were killed, military strategists will tell you primarily because they showed themselves so explicitly in the mountains. Now they're in hiding, and of course an enemy in hiding is much harder to kill than one that's out in the open. Back to you, Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Bill Delaney on the ground in Afghanistan, thank you very much.
A man of the cloth becomes a man in custody. Learn why prosecutors went after a retired Boston priest, coming up.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE TYSON: I'm a wild guy, man. You can't accept me like you accept everybody else. You can't accept (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Joe Namath being a wild man, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) being a wild man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Mike Tyson, unplugged, again. The always controversial boxer mouths off, and we have the tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I won't cry, no, I won't cry, I won't shed a tear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A majority of Americans stood by Bill Clinton the president. Will they stand by Bill Clinton the talk show host? We'll get the inside scoop.
But first, today's news quiz. "How much money does Oprah Winfrey get paid a year for her daily talk show? $40 million, $70 million, $100 million, $150 million?" The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. A retired Catholic priest at the center of the church scandal in Boston has been arrested in San Diego. The Reverend Paul Shanley is charged with three counts of raping a child. CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now live with the latest -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lots of developments on this one, Wolf. Father Paul Shanley was actually arrested at his apartment in San Diego early this morning. As you say, he was charged with three counts of rape of a child with force. Detectives called his residence from outside and told Shanley that they had an arrest warrant. He invited them in, and then he was taken into custody.
Again, he was arrested for allegedly raping a child. The district attorney says the abuse happened between 1983 and 1990, at Saint Jean parish in Newton. According to the district attorney, the victim is Paul Busa. He is now 24 years old. She described how the alleged abuse took place when Busa was a 6-year-old CCD student.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA COAKLEY, MIDDLESEX COUNTY D.A.: What the young man alleges is that almost on a weekly basis as he was a student in a CCD class, Father Paul Shanley, who was the pastor at the time, would come to take not only him but others from that class for talks, for various reasons. They would be removed from the class, the priest would take them to one of three locations -- to the bathroom, often across the street to the rectory, or to the confessional -- and that is where the sexual abuse would occur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Busa says Shanley told him that no one would believe him if he told anyone.
Shanley was actually scheduled to be deposed today in another separate case, a civil suit involving Greg Ford and his parents. Ford says Shanley sexually abused him when he was a child. The Fords forced the Archdiocese of Boston to release some 1,600 pages of documents relating to Shanley and his past. Those documents were very damaging. They showed that Shanley favored having sex between men and boys, also showing that the archdiocese was warned about Shanley's questionable past.
The documents were so damaging, in fact, there's been many calls here in Boston for Cardinal Law's resignation. Shanley was moved for parish to parish for a while under Cardinal Law's watch. Later today, Ford's mother, Paula, gave her thoughts on Shanley's arrest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA FORD, SUING ARCHDIOCESE: We had no idea of the magnitude that this would take on. And today, I want to speak to all of the victims out there, those who are fortunate enough to still be with us, and please, God, those who are not with us. Sleep tonight. The man that molested you is behind bars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Shanley has not publicly answered any of the allegations.
Also want to tell you about one more thing here, Wolf. The Archdiocese of Boston late today just released a statement. Their statement says -- reads as follows: "Our hope is that the arrest of retired Priest Paul Shanley on charges of the sexual abuse of a child will bring some level of relief and contribute to the healing of those who have been sexually abused as children and teenagers" -- Wolf?
BLITZER: Jason Carroll, with all the late breaking developments, thank you very much.
And declaring that Americans have been bilked for millions of dollars, the Attorney General John Ashcroft says the Justice Department is cracking down on identity theft. CNN justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sallie Twentyman has always been cautious. Fifteen years ago, she was among the first in Virginia to request a driver's license that didn't show her Social Security number. Still, she's a victim of identify fraud.
SALLIE TWENTYMAN, IDENTITY THEFT VICTIM: I got a credit card bill right here for $13,000. It had charges, and I don't recognize any of it.
ARENA: It has taken her nearly a year to fix the problem.
(on camera): You were the victim of a crime.
TWENTYMAN: Right.
ARENA: Did you get support from law enforcement?
TWENTYMAN: They felt sorry for me. But no. No one was there to help. I had to do it all myself.
ARENA (voice-over): I.D. theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States, with as many as 700,000 people falling victim each year. But not much has been done to deal with it.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: This has been a crime that has not been taken terribly seriously until recently.
ARENA: Now, the Justice Department wants to add two to five years prison time for those who steal identities to commit other crimes. And it's conducting sting operations -- so far, 141 people have been prosecuted.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: One defendant is charged with selling Social Security numbers on eBay. One hospital employee allegedly stole the identities of 393 hospital patients to obtain credit cards using the false identities.
ARENA: But privacy experts say more needs to be done. For example, you can buy someone else's Social Security number online for about $15.
EVAN HENDRICKS, PRIVACY TIME'S EDITOR: And it's nice that they are going to crack down on criminals, but that is basically like the guy with his finger in the dike and more holes opening up. You really need to go to the roots of the problem, and that's the use of our personal information and the ease with which fraudsters can get access to it.
ARENA: There is nothing you can do to completely prevent identity theft, but if you do become a victim, vigilance is key.
TWENTYMAN: I was wishing I could jump through that phone and shake up some people along the way, too.
ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And our Web question of the day is this: "Do you think you are adequately protected from identity theft?" You can vote; vote at my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, let me know what you are thinking. Send me your comments. I'll read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
In a moment: He was outraged by what he saw at the Jenin refugee camp and is now at the center of the controversy surrounding the U.N. fact-finding mission there. I will speak live with U.N. special coordinator, Terje Roed-Larsen.
And can stun guns keep terrorists out of the cockpit? I'll try my hand at shooting a controversial taser gun.
From stun guns to stunning words: What Queen Elizabeth really thought about the late Princess Diana. And how much for that doggy on the tanker? The pooch that spent 24 days alone at sea is finally safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Time now for our "News Alert." The Vatican envoy to the Middle East has arrived in Ramallah to meet with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. They'll discuss the standoff in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, which Arafat has blamed on Israel. Israeli forces, in turn, say dozens of terrorists holed up inside the church are taking orders directly from the Palestinian leader.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has abandoned efforts to send a fact-finding team to investigate what happened in Jenin. Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation, saying some members of the team had an anti-Israeli bias. One of those criticized by Israel is Terje Roed-Larsen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERJE ROED-LARSEN, U.N. SPECIAL COORDINATION TO MIDDLE EAST: I think I can speak for all in the U.N. delegation, that we are shocked. This is horrifying beyond belief. Just seeing this area, it's like there's been an earthquake here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
That's what Terje Larsen said earlier after visiting the Jenin refugee camp, causing an uproar. He joins us now live here in our studios. Mr. Larsen, thank you so much for joining us.
Did you jump to conclusions after visiting Jenin?
LARSEN: No, what I did very accurately was report what I saw, what I heard and what I smelled, there on the ground. It was a horrifying sight.
BLITZER: Most of the accounts, including our own investigation -- our Sheila MacVicar, spent a lot of time in Jenin -- says there is no evidence of a massacre.
LARSEN: That's exactly the same as I said when I was there.
BLITZER: But you didn't -- but the Israelis were outraged that you seemed to suggest that what they had done was outrageous, that no military operation could justify the damage that had ensued.
LARSEN: No, actually that's not what I said. What I criticized is what happened after the battle was over. There was the lack of access for international humanitarian organizations, and the lack of certain rescue operations after the battle.
My criticism at the time was limited to those issues. I was misrepresented. And I was criticized for something which I actually didn't say.
BLITZER: There were some reports that the Sharon government had branded you persona non grata. Is that true?
LARSEN: No, I am profoundly a friend of Israel. And I think that all previous governments of Israel, including this one, knows that very well. And I have an excellent relationship to the foreign ministry.
And the foreign minister, who I spoke to yesterday and I met several times after the Jenin story broke. And I will remain a friend of Israel and I will remain working very closely with the government of Israel.
BLITZER: Shimon Peres, the foreign minister. So you're going back, you're going to still stay on the job. But the U.N. fact- finding mission, that's been disbanded. Kofi Annan has killed that in the aftermath of Israel's opposition.
LARSEN: I'm sorry about this, but that's wrong, too.
BLITZER: OK, go ahead. Fix it.
LARSEN: Because what the secretary-general has done is sending a letter to the Security Council, saying that it's his intention to abandon, to disband. But this very issue is, as we are sitting here, being discussing in the Security Council. So I cannot comment on it as long as it's being discussed in the Security Council.
BLITZER: All right, but for all practical purposes, without commenting, it's probably not going to happen.
LARSEN: Well, the secretary-general has sent a letter to the Council and is now awaiting the answer from the Council before he makes his decision.
BLITZER: You've just come from the State Department. Major meetings going on with the Secretary of State Colin Powell. He's announced there will be an international peace conference this summer. Our reporter at the White House, John King, saying probably in Europe someplace.
Give us some perspective. Is this going to be at the head of government level, the head of state level, the foreign ministers' level? What's the purpose of this?
LARSEN: Let me first say that the meeting in the State Department today was incredibly important, because it restored hope for the revival of the peace process. And that's very significant indeed.
Then, secondly, what was also agreed in the meeting is that the security issues have to be addressed, and the political issues, they have to be addressed in a comprehensive way. In a parallel way, we have to address the security issues, the economic issues and the fundamental political issues, particularly the core -- the core, namely, the occupation of Gaza and West Bank.
There is now a broad consensus about this. And we will now, within the next days and weeks, the so-called quartet -- that is, Russia, the U.S., European Union and the U.N. secretary-general, who I represent -- we will now sit and work intensively in order to prepare for such a conference, together with the parties and other players in the region.
BLITZER: Terje Roed-Larsen, you've been on the job for a decade now, going back to the Oslo agreements. You were instrumental in putting that together. Welcome to Washington. Good to have you on your program. Good luck with the peace process. You have no easy mission.
LARSEN: Pleasure being with you again, Wolf. Thank you.
BLITZER: Thank you very much.
And the pictures show the pain. Take a look at the stun gun going off. Ooh. If it could do that on the ground, what could it do in the air? We'll test out a Taser stun gun live on this program, next.
And she has the public role for now. But does Bill Clinton have plans to upstage Hillary?
And Mike Tyson gives the CNN "Sports Illustrated" reporter a verbal workout. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Several members of the U.S. Congress are voicing support for a plan to let commercial airline pilots carry guns. The plan was discussed at a House aviation subcommittee hearing earlier today. The chairman, John Mica, says armed crewmembers could prevent future hijacking attempts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN MICA (R), FLORIDA: Arming trained and qualified flight crew members is an absolutely necessary step to ensure the safety and security of the flying public. Nothing else can provide the deterrence or the effectiveness of a weapon being wielded by highly- trained individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Critics say it's risky to fire bullets on an airliner. Some are proposing an alternative: having crew members carry stun guns instead. I'm joined now by Tom Smith. He's president of Taser International, the leading maker of stun guns.
Tom, thanks so much for joining us. You know all the controversy. But let's demonstrate to our viewers out there -- come over here -- what exactly this stun gun -- this is a real stun gun.
TOM SMITH, PRES., TASER INTERNATIONAL: This is the M-26.
BLITZER: And this will paralyze someone, but it won't really seriously injure them, is that right?
SMITH: Correct. It temporarily overrides the central nervous system, causing muscles to contract and release and effectively lock up so the person can't continue the actions they were under way, and knocks them to the ground or freezes them right in place so they can't continue an attack.
BLITZER: And it actually fires out something, right?
SMITH: Correct. It fires out two probes, fish hook, it attacks to a target and then sends electronic signals through wires into the body of the attacker, and overriding the central nervous system.
BLITZER: How many volts?
SMITH: Fifty-thousand volts, very low amperage. It's 1.62 jewels per pulse, so it's very low amperage, which is why it doesn't pose a threat to your heart or your pacemaker.
BLITZER: And nobody would be killed from this?
SMITH: That's correct. It will not injure anybody, so if it's misfired and hits a crew member, it's not going to injure them.
BLITZER: So if somebody feels the wrath of this stun gun, what will it feel like?
SMITH: The best description I've come up with is hitting your funny bone through your body and about ten times more intense.
BLITZER: Any damage, potentially, to electronic equipment, in a cockpit, for example, if this goes off in there?
SMITH: No. United Airlines has done very extensive testing with their engineering department, where we've actually fired this in the flight deck. We've hit the instruments. We've hit all the panels. We actually went up in an Airbus, which is a fly-by-wire airplane, and fired it on the flight deck during flight, and showed it had absolutely no effect on the aircraft.
BLITZER: All right, let's take a look. We've got a man over there. You're going to fire it and see if you can get him.
SMITH: When you turn it on, you get your laser sight, you pull the trigger. It fires out those probes, transmits an runs automatically for five seconds.
BLITZER: It sounds pretty startling, but I want you to watch, and I want our viewers to watch. Our correspondent, Patty Davis, demonstrated this with police officers and the results were not that impressive. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORI BEACH, FAIRFAX CO. VA. POLICE: I think the surprise was the worst part. Just not knowing what it was going to feel like. But if I had done it before, then I certainly would have been even less stopped by it.
JOE DESMEDT, PROTECTIVE SAFETY SYSTEMS: From what we saw today, the reliability factor isn't real high. And there might be other modalities of protection that are better for the cockpit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: It looks like a trained person could sustain that blow and keep on fighting.
SMITH: Yes, unfortunately, the unit that Patty had for that demonstration was malfunctioning. They were not delivering the full power of the unit to the person. We have over 1,600 actual field uses by law enforcement with better than a 95 percent success rate. Unfortunately, this demonstration didn't go as we had planned.
BLITZER: Let me take a look. Let me see if I can -- can I shoot this one?
SMITH: This one, we just happened to reload it.
BLITZER: What about this one?
SMITH: You can fire this one.
BLITZER: So if I were to shoot this one and aim there -- anybody can do this, is that what you're saying?
SMITH: That's correct.
BLITZER: The only thing I do is aim?
SMITH: And you have to turn the safety on here, which activates it. Now just put your laser sight...
BLITZER: I just have that laser sight...
SMITH: Pull the trigger.
BLITZER: And I just go right like that.
SMITH: There you go.
BLITZER: It only fires once. So what if there are four hijackers?
SMITH: After you fired it, in this mode, you could touch that to me, so you still have attacker being hit, but you also have the contact availability to touch a second attacker. And if time permits, you can reload the cartridge so that you could fire another shot.
And that's why United is going to be putting two on every flight deck, so that we have multiple shots and more than just one device available to stop an attacker.
BLITZER: All right, thanks for joining us. Tom Smith. SMITH: Thank you very much for having me.
BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.
SMITH: Thank you.
BLITZER: Don't shoot it at me.
SMITH: All right.
BLITZER: And, you're about to get a glimpse of what Queen Elizabeth really thinks about the late Princess Diana. While she was out celebrating her jubilee, a close confidante may have been a little loose-lipped.
And, you've already seen Bill Clinton the musician. What about Bill Clinton, the talk show host?
And later, the first pictures of the dog that cheated death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked: How much money does Oprah Winfrey get paid a year for her daily talk show? The answer, just for the talk show, $150 million a year.
According to "Fortune" magazine, the daytime talk diva's net worth is about $1 billion. Oprah recently extended her contract for the "Oprah Winfrey Show" through the 2005-2006 season. She says that will be her last year, marking 20 years in national syndication.
He feels your pain, just like Oprah. And if the guests are dull, he can always talk about himself. An aide confirms that the former President Bill Clinton is discussing the possibility of hosting a daytime TV talk show. So, will the Bill Clinton show be going into competition with "Jerry Springer," "The Price is Right," "All My Children," a few other daytime programs?
Let's ask J. Max Robins of "TV Guide." He joins us now live. Max, is this at all that serious?
J. MAX ROBINS, SENIOR EDITOR, "TV GUIDE": I don't think it's that serious, Wolf. But let's put this way: you underestimate Bill Clinton at your own peril. So who knows?
BLITZER: I don't think I, personally, having covered him for eight years in the White House, underestimated him. But $50 million a year, that's what the "L.A. Times" was reporting today. He might be up for that kind of money. That's pretty serious money.
ROBINS: That's extremely serious money. And it might be enough to tempt Clinton onto the small screen on a daily basis. However, Bill Clinton -- I mean, Wolf, you've covered him and covered him extremely well for a number of years -- this is guy who really wants to bolster his image. He's concerned about his legacy. And I don't know if becoming the next Oprah Winfrey or Maury Povich is the way to go.
BLITZER: He used to do a pretty good job. You know, Jay Leno had some fun the other night thinking, at least, about the possibility of Bill Clinton replacing, perhaps, Bryant Gumbel as the host of the "Early Show" on CBS. Look at this fun that Jay Leno had.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You heard this rumor? According to the TV show "Extra," they're thinking about Bill Clinton replacing Bryant Gumbel on the "Today Show." You know, Bryant Gumbel is leaving, you probably know that. They want Clinton to take over the job.
In fact, show that promo that ran this morning on CBS.
ANNOUNCER: "The Early Show" on CBS. Wake up to Bill Clinton, if you haven't already.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: That's pretty funny. But let me ask you this, on a more serious note. Could he sustain a daily Oprah-like talk show? Could the network, NBC in this particular case, if they were to syndicate that, could they make money on that?
ROBINS: Well, if people watch, they could. This is a guy who there are still millions of Americans who love him. And there are also millions of Americans who love to hate them. All those people -- and that's a lot of people -- would be expected to tune in. If you gave them something compelling to watch, yeah, he could make a lot of money.
BLITZER: Oprah is beloved, as you well know. She has very low negatives. Bill Clinton does have a lot of people who love him but he has pretty high negatives as well. A lot of people hate him. Would they hate him enough to watch him?
ROBINS: They just might. It's hard to say, though. Wolf, I think at the end of the day, we're not going to see Bill Clinton as the new Oprah. Somehow I just find it hard to see him doing, you know, kids who have come back from boot camp and "who's the daddy" DNA tests, and all that stuff that's prime fodder for daytime talk.
If he wants to be talking about policy issues and the crisis in the Mideast, well, that doesn't draw an audience that -- well, a syndicator needs to make to make the kind of money he wants. So if Bill Clinton does television, my guess is he does something a little bit more highbrow.
BLITZER: All right, Max Robins, making a prediction, going out on a limb. I'm not exactly convinced. I covered Bill Clinton, as you know. I know him somewhat, and I wouldn't rule anything out, as far as Bill Clinton is concerned. Max Robins, thanks for joining us.
ROBINS: Thank you, Wolf. BLITZER: And Britain's Queen Elizabeth today began a golden jubilee tour of her kingdom, a grueling undertaking, but one which may take her away from the latest royal embarrassment. In a new BBC documentary, a friend of the queen says the monarch did not get along well with her late daughter-in-law, Princess Diana.
Lady Kennard says -- quote -- "The Queen would never quite understand what Princess Diana was about. It would be impossible." Lady Kennard goes on to suggest Diana was -- quote -- "very damaged by her background and her childhood." No comment from the royal family, at least not yet.
Mike Tyson's heavyweight title fight with Lennox Lewis is five weeks away, but the boxer and his mouth already are attracting media attention. Meeting with reporters, Tyson discussed his controversial reputation and made some remarks that may add to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE TYSON, BOXER: You going to accept (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Joe Namath being a wild man, Mickey Mantle being a wild man, Babe Ruth being a wild man. You have to accept me, too because that's who I am. You put me in prison, I even like prison now.
So if you take me back there, you won't be doing anything to me. This is just who I am. I'm the animal that you guys made, so you all have to deal with me. Put me to sleep, put me in a cage, whatever it may be. This is who I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Mike Tyson will stop talking and begin fighting on June 8th. That's in Memphis, Tennessee.
In a moment, our picture of the day that was weeks in the making. But first, a somber goodbye. Celebrities, friends, family and fans packed a suburban Atlanta church today to attend the funeral for Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, a member of the Grammy-winning R&B group, TLC. Lopes died last week when her SUV overturned in Honduras.
Here's a little of the music she'll always be remembered for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TLC (singing): Don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to. I know that you're going to have it your way or nothing at all, but I think you're moving too fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. America's newest celebrity has it all: media attention, animal attraction and an upcoming, all-expense-paid vacation in Hawaii. You could also say she has a leg up on "Survivor" contestants.
Meet Forgea, the mixed terrier who was rescued after spending 24 days alone on an abandoned fuel tanker in the Pacific. The canine castaway arrived in Honolulu today wearing a traditional garland of flowers. The dog will spend the next four months in quarantine at a humane society on the island of Kauai. Good for you.
Let's get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" that begins at the top of the hour. Jan Hopkins is standing by -- Jan.
JAN HOPKINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf. Coming up on "MONEYLINE," after dozens of Palestinians recently left the Church of the Nativity today, a group of ten entered. We'll have the latest on the standoff in Bethlehem.
Yasser Arafat today saw the damage firsthand surrounding the compound during the Israeli siege. We will have a report from Ramallah.
And the crisis at the Catholic Church is taking a major financial toll. We'll tell you how the scandal is hurting fund-raising efforts. All that and much more at the top of the hour. Back to Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jan.
Now the results of our Web question of the day: do you really think you're adequately protected from identity theft? Look at this. Just 7 percent of you say yes while almost all of you, 93 percent, say no. A reminder, this is not a scientific poll.
Let's hear from some of your e-mail. Shelly offers this assessment. "I love your news program. It is exceedingly well-done and I never tire of watching you. I can see that the Blake case would interest many of your viewers, but some days so much time is devoted to it that coverage of the more important news suffers. Other than that, keep up the great work."
Thank you very much, Shelly.
That's all the time we have today. Tomorrow, a warning to parents with small children: new information on the dangers of sleeping in the same bed.
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
