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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Israel Takes Aim at Gaza; Solution to the Church Standoff; Cave-Hunting Commandos Uncover Motherlode in Afghanistan

Aired May 09, 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 from this special edition of "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS," live from Jerusalem.

Poised to retaliate, Israel takes aim at Gaza.

Back from the brink, a solution to the church standoff. We'll get the inside story.

An al Qaeda arsenal. Cave-hunting commandos uncover a mother load.

Facing a long list of charges for a long list of pipe bombings. Is he just a mixed up kid, or should they throw the book at him?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you buzz me if you need anything.

CANDICE BERGEN, ACTRESS: Wait, are you going to go too? There are so many things I need to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And 10 years after "Murphy Brown" became a single mother, former Vice President Dan Quayle is still speaking up for fatherhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN QUAYLE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I took a lot of heat during the time, but it's worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I'll ask him what he thinks of this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER ANISTON, ACTRESS: Monica, do I know anything about babies?

COURTENEY COX ARQUETTE, ACTRESS: No, not a thing. It's frightening. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(NEWS ALERT)

BLITZER: Two days after the deadly terror bombing, troops and tanks from the Israeli military have been massing, and a call-up of Israeli reserves has begun, as Israel takes aim at Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Israeli army troops moved briefly into the Rafa (ph) area of Gaza, searching for weapons and explosives. It was a relatively modest operation, widely seen by Israelis and Palestinians alike as a prelude to a much larger strike.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben- Eliezer received authorization from the Israeli cabinet to take any military action they deem necessary to fight terror. This, in the aftermath of Tuesday night's suicide bombing just south of Tel Aviv that left 15 Israelis dead. Palestinians were bracing for the worst.

DAVID HOROWITZ, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: It's clear that Sharon intends to continue the war against the Palestinian people.

BLITZER: Just as it did in advance of its most recent military operation on the West Bank, the Israeli army has now begun mobilizing reserved units.

Israeli military sources suggest some sort of combined air and ground assault against selected Palestinian targets is in the works. It would come even as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called on all Palestinians to end terror strikes against Israeli civilians. Palestinian Authority security forces have also rounded up more than a dozen Hamas and other militants in Gaza. Still, Israelis are skeptical.

HOROWITZ: Well I think the Israeli public shares the government's dilemma about Yasser Arafat. I think there's no doubt that almost all Israelis have given up any hope of reaching a deal with him. They think he's lying when he talks about cracking down on terrorism. They believe very much that he's inciting and financing terrorism, but they don't know what to do.

BLITZER: In Washington, President Bush was clearly more receptive to what Arafat has said and done.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said I was pleased that Chairman Arafat spoke in Arabic against terrorism. That's good; that's a positive development. Now it's up to Chairman Arafat to perform, to keep them in jail. Arrest them and keep them in jail.

BLITZER: Prime Minister Sharon, meanwhile, spent this day like so many other Israelis, celebrating what they call "Jerusalem Day," marking the 35th anniversary of Israel's unification of Jerusalem. ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): As the prime minister of Israel, and in the name of the state of Israel, I swear to defend and protect Jerusalem from every guard post for the Jewish people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: So Gaza is clearly bracing for an Israeli strike, and Palestinians there say they're prepared for a battle.

Our Matthew Chance is in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Into the Shata (ph) refuge camp in Gaza, impoverished, overcrowded and the center of Palestinian militancy, we drove through these streets to find residents preparing for a fight. As Israel its next move, there are sandbags on street corners here, makeshift defenses placed in case the troops are sent in. They can't stop the Israeli army, only make their advance more painful and more difficult.

"They won't prevent tanks coming here," Nimah (ph) says. "But at least these bags will protect our doorways from bullets, we hope. (UNINTELLIGIBL) across the roads are set in places to be land mined with homemade devices to slow any Israeli advance.

Insider her kitchen, Nimah's (ph) mother shows me how she's trying to hoard whatever little food she can. Stories of drawn out sieges in Ramallah, in Bethlehem and in Jenin have taught these people to expect acute shortages when the Israelis are in town. "But," she says, "every Palestinian living here is willing to fight. Everyone who has a weapon will use it to defend those who have not," she says. "Guns, knives or anything else."

It may be that Israel's forces will again enter Gaza to dismantle what it says is a terrorist infrastructure here. In places like Shata (ph), it could mean a terrible battle in which lives on both sides are lost.

(on camera): Already, members of Hamas have been detained by the Palestinians. Their leaders have gone into hiding and been instructed not to talk to the press. The Palestinian Authority says it is now cracking down on militant groups here. But will it be enough to stop more suicide attacks or a heavy Israeli response?

Matthew Chance, CNN, Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In Bethlehem, meanwhile, it's been an on again, off again standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Our Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers is on the scene. He joins us now live from Bethlehem -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

The Israelis have a main battle tank parked once again in Manger Square. The tank's gun pointed in the direction of the Church of the Nativity. That Israeli tank has been a bell weather (ph), a weathervane of sorts, indicating the state of relations between Israel and the Palestinians in this crisis.

Twenty-four hours ago the Israelis moved the tank out of the square, and they had buses in the square when they thought there was an agreement to evacuate more than 100 people from the Church of the Nativity. That agreement was aborted; it fell apart. The Israelis said that the Palestinians reneged, that they started making new demands after an agreement was made.

One of the demands the Palestinians had was that of the 13 remaining militants inside the church, they insisted -- the Palestinians insisted -- that there be a European Union representative in there or a British diplomat in there to protect them from the Israelis. The Americans and the Israelis strongly objected to that. The only fresh hope on the horizon now is a report of an agreement that several European countries will take the hard core militants from the church in the coming hours or days -- Wolf. BLITZER: Walter Rodgers will be standing by, as will you, to see if that deal is implemented. Within the next few hours, of course, CNN will have continuing coverage of that.

And the Middle East has been a continuing dilemma for several presidential administrations in the United States. A short while ago, I spoke with the former Vice President, Dan Quayle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Mr. Vice President, thanks for joining us once again.

I'm in Jerusalem, where there's a lot of pressure being felt on the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, by the Bush administration to resume negotiations with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Is that a good idea right now?

DAN QUAYLE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well I don't think there's going to be any direct negotiations with Yasser Arafat by Prime Minister Sharon. I don't think that will probably ever take place. I'm not sure you're going to get those two individuals into a room together.

BLITZER: Do you hold Yasser Arafat directly responsible for these suicide bombing attacks, as the Israeli government does?

QUAYLE: He clearly has responsibility. He's got his fingerprints all over it. Whether he specifically authorized this one, what kind of evidence we have I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows at this particular time.

Wolf, here's what I think is going on. I believe Arafat feels he's winning this war. He is now back on the international stage. He had the American secretary of state travel to visit him twice in Ramallah in his holed up place.

The war of attrition is favoring the Palestinians right now, and I'll give you a statistic that may be a bit jarring. A few years ago, the number of Palestinians that were killed for every one Israeli, it was 25 to one. Today, that equation has shifted from 25 to one to three to one.

And just by sheer numbers, I think Arafat believes that he can, in fact, reduce that even further. And that's what you're seeing going on right now with these suicide bombs killing 15, 16 or more at a time. BLITZER: But the Palestinians make the point that he is the leader of the Palestinian people, there's no alternative. Is there an alternative among the Palestinian leadership to Yasser Arafat?

QUAYLE: Clearly, he is the leader. And Prime Minister Sharon is dually elected from the democracy of the state of Israel. But there are ways and there are people there that might begin to come forth.

I happen to be of the school of the thought that Arafat has proven that he is a terrorist, that he isn't really serious about dealing with terrorists.

BLITZER: Mr. Vice President, do you see a difference between the U.S. war on terror as conducted by the Bush administration and the Israeli war on terror as conducted by the Sharon government?

QUAYLE: Well I think the Israelis clearly have a very good point of debate. They're saying, "Look, we're doing the same thing you would do if you were in our position." I don't know why it is that the other Arab countries don't really come down hard on these terrorist groups and stop the suicide bombings. Because what they are doing is they're giving the popular appeal to Prime Minister Sharon to go in and do what he's going to have to do. And it doesn't help the long-term cause by being identified for terrorists from the Palestinian point of view.

BLITZER: As far as the Israeli-Palestinian crisis right now is concerned, it seems to be delaying any Bush administration action against Iraq. And as you know, when you were vice president during the first Bush administration, there has been criticism that you never finished the job with Saddam Hussein. It's going to take this President Bush to do it.

Should he do it? Should he get on with trying to remove Saddam Hussein from power?

QUAYLE: I clearly and strongly support this administration's idea that we need a regime change in Baghdad. Now how that comes about can be done and accomplished in many ways.

One, the Iraqi people could take things into their own hands. Two, we could begin to seriously finance and to support an Iraqi resistance, particularly in the southwest part of Iraq and in the northern part of Iraq, that in coordination with us and others would try to do something about having a regime change. The third, and really a last resort, and one that is way down the road -- I think the media and the pundits and everyone are way out ahead of the curve on this. And that is a direct military action by the United States and others to go and march to Baghdad and to try to capture or kill Saddam Hussein.

That is the last option. I'm not sure that will ever happen. But this administration is very determined to see a regime change.

Now your question is a fair one, and I get it all the time when I speak. "Why didn't you guys finish the job back in 1991?" Well, first and foremost, it was never the mission. As you well know, our mission was to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The goal was to liberate Kuwait. We did that.

And when we got Saddam and the republican guard (ph) and others back into the territory of Iraq, it was perhaps wishful thinking, but we did have some good classified information. Some good intelligence, that within six months Saddam Hussein would no longer be with us. Well this was over 10 years.

He's still there. George Bush, number 41, as we affectionately call him, he's gone. Bill Clinton's gone, Margaret Thatcher's gone, John Major's gone, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Gorbachev, I could go on down the list. But Saddam is still there. It shows how a totalitarian leader can really stay in power if he wants to.

I do hope that we will have a regime change, and I do hope that we are working with the Iraqi resistance as overtly and covertly as much as possible to have this take place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I'll have more news from Jerusalem coming up, but first let's go to CNN's Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center in Atlanta with a quick check of some other major developments -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, a pleasure to be with you once again this afternoon.

Let's begin at the mailbox and the courthouse, as accused mailbox bomber Luke Helder had a visit -- a jailhouse visit today -- from his parents.

Our Martin Savidge has the latest on the Helder case. He's in Reno, Nevada -- Marty, hello.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Luke Helder's parents arrived here around noon eastern time after flying literally all night from a small town in Minnesota. They spent about two hours inside of the detention facility here just outside of Reno, but they actually, we are told, only had about 30 minutes to talk to their son. And that was over a telephone and looking through a glass partition.

Afterwards, Cameron Helder, his father, came out and spoke to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMERON HELDER, LUKE HELDER'S FATHER: We are here to see our son in his hour of need. We told him we love him. I feel better -- a lot better -- after speaking to him.

This will be a long process. It's already been very hard to us. And our hearts go out to the families of the victims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: As you know, Cameron Helder helped lead authorities to his son. As part of that deal, the FBI made two promises to the father. Number one, that his son would not be harmed, and number two, that the family -- the parents -- would be allowed to visit with him. This was obviously fulfilling that part of the bargain.

The family is heading back to Minnesota. Not Luke, though. He's got another destination. Tomorrow, he leaves early for Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Iowa one of the first federal districts to file charges against him. There were a total of five states that received 18 bombs, but Iowa is first out of the pick when it comes to prosecution. If he's convicted there alone he could face life in prison -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Martin Savidge in Reno, Nevada. If nothing else, this young man has a long legal road ahead of him.

And the question this afternoon: How should the justice system deal with Luke Helder? Is he a domestic terrorist or just a confused kid?

We have two guests with us with definite opinions on this subject. Jeanine Pirro is a prosecutor; Ron Kuby, a defense attorney. And they both join us from our New York bureau today.

Good afternoon, thanks for joining us.

RON KUBY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you.

JEANINE PIRRO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Hi.

KAGAN: Jeanine, let's start with you. You probably think they should throw the book at this guy.

PIRRO: I don't think there's any question, but after September 11th, in light of all the things that have happened to people in this country, to have an individual with knowledge of bomb making, to go around five states over a five-day period and plant 18 bombs, six of which explode, four of which injure postal workers, is a clear indication that this is an individual who is looking to hurt other people.

KAGAN: Let's not forget innocent until proven guilty, at least at this point in the justice system.

Ron, let's bring you in here. Jeanine does make a point, though. This is a person who allegedly made something as simple as going to your mailbox a scary proposition for people all across the country. KUBY: Well that's right, and I don't think anybody out there is defending the act. But try to compare this young man with al Qaeda, for example, or conjure up images of September 11th I think is fundamentally misplaced.

KAGAN: But, Ron, where do you draw the line with terrorism? Whether it's something that you can't go to the World Trade Center to go to work or you can't go to your own mailbox? KUBY: Terrorism in the United States, at least, has a legal definition. And that's defined as those acts of violence directed at civilians designed to intimidate or coerce a government to changing its policies. This young man was not part of any organized group, he wasn't part of a conspiracy, he didn't have a political or religious ideology.

He obviously is deeply disturbed and engaged in very serious activity. But to try to compare him with the World Trade Center bombers I think misses a very important point.

PIRRO: And I think, Ron, that you missed the fact that this individual terrorized a lot of people in the heartland of this country. This was not something that was just an idle threat. These were bombs, pipe bombs, that were going off in people's mailboxes.

The postal service was actually stopped in several states. In addition to that, this individual had a political motivation. His intent was to stop people and scare people, and that's just what he did.

KAGAN: Well hold on, Jeanine. Ron is saying he doesn't think he did have a political motivation. Clearly, the guy likes to talk. If you look at his manifesto that he sent in to the school newspaper at University of Wisconsin, he likes to talk. He apparently has been talking a lot to FBI agents ever since he got picked up.

But does that, in fact, Ron, make it a political statement? KUBY: In this case -- I mean, look, I represented many political defendants who have been accused of bombings. This young man rambles. He doesn't make any sense, he doesn't articulate any sort of coherent energy (ph).

He wanted to be noticed. That's what he was saying. People weren't listening to him. He wanted to get them to listen.

Well I'm not suggesting that his conduct is defensible, but it would seem to me that a locked ward in a psychiatric unit would probably be a much better thing than trying to compare him with Osama bin Laden. PIRRO: But you know what? To say that he needs a locked ward in the psychiatric unit is really jumping the gun, isn't it Ron? The bottom line is, unless the defendant (UNINTELLIGIBLE) insanity as a defense, there is no reason to believe right now that he's insane.

He's a college student who had a very planned, very methodical way of crossing states. Making sure that he planted these bombs in particular areas. And his message, by the way, was very anti- government. It was very political.

I read the statement that he sent. I read some of the stuff that he sent to his father. It is clearly anti-government. This person has to suffer the consequences.

KAGAN: Let me jump in here. I want to jump in here. Jeanine, let me jump here, and Ron, let me jump in here, that his mental state clearly is a question.

First of all, you have his mother saying that he didn't even think he was going to jail and has no idea of the amount of trouble that he's in. And even the judge yesterday was saying yesterday that he thinks that there might be some mental health issues here.

KUBY: Right. I mean all you have to do is read the rambling nature of the statements, watch the way he's been grinning through the course of this process and talk to people that have noticed this precipitous break he had over the past month, to say that clear this is a deeply disturbed young man.

We don't know yet at this point the nature and extent of his mental illness if any. But you better believe that the defense is going to interpose an insanity defense based on this young man's conduct and given the things that he said.

KAGAN: All right. So that's the defense. So prosecution, Jeanine, then how do you fight that?

PIRRO: Well, first of all, his response to questions at the time that he was questioned by law enforcement makes it clear that he understood what he was doing. That he was lucid, he was clear, there was a great deal of cognition.

Basically, he leaves a message on his answering machine saying, "Listen to the news and act accordingly." Interestingly enough, there are pipes, gunpowder and nails found under his bed. In addition to that, he says when he's asked if he understands, you know, that he has a right to remain silent, he says, "Most definitely."

And he is continuing to build bombs as he's crossing this five- state area. He's making it clear that it is his intention to hurt individuals. And he says specifically, "If this doesn't work out, I may have to kill myself."

KAGAN: All right. Two quick questions -- two quick questions. First to Ron, as we learned with Andrea Yates, it's not enough to claim the insanity defense, you have to prove that the person didn't know what they were doing was wrong. And it does appear -- at least from what we know so far -- that Luke Helder at least had an idea that he wasn't doing the right thing.

KUBY: Well you have to prove that you didn't understand the nature and the quality of your actions or you didn't know what you were doing was wrong. And Luke Helder has made it clear that he didn't think he was hurting people because he didn't think such a think as death existed. It was just another plane, like Nirvana, his favorite rock group.

This is not a guy who has all the furniture arranged properly upstairs.

KAGAN: And quickly, Jeanine, if mental health is not the issue here and not a psychiatric ward, where does a person like this belong?

PIRRO: A person like this belongs in jail. He has violated the laws of the United States, he has hurt under individuals for political reasons. He is a college student, Ron, who is a junior with good grades, a knowledge of chemistry and engineering, who planted bombs, who had a message and who wanted attention and knew, by the way, that the nature and consequences of what he was doing.

And, in fact, by saying he didn't mean to hurt anyone, he is recognizing that he knew that what he was doing was wrong...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: With that -- I'm sorry, with that, we're going to have let Jeanine have the last word. If nothing else, this young man does clearly have a family that is standing behind him and a long road through the legal system.

Jeanine Pirro, Ron Kuby, interesting discussion. Appreciate your very differing opinions -- thank you so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked what job did Dan Quayle hold at the age of 33? Dan Quayle earned a law degree from Indiana University while serving in the National Guard. He then worked as the associate publisher of his family's newspapaer the "Huntington Herald Press." He was elected to the Congress in 1976 and then to the Senate by the age of 33.

Now I want to get to part two of my interview with the former vice president Dan Quayle.

Earlier we spoke about the Middle East and Iraq, the war on terrorism, but I also used the occcasion to ask him about his controversial comments some ten years ago about Murphy Brown and the out of wedlock character that appeared -- the out of wedlock pregnancy that appeared on that sitcom some ten years ago and the signal it sent to the American public. I used the occasion today return to that controversy. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Mr. Vice President, let me switch to a couple other subjects while I have you. First of all, the tenth anniversary of your very famous comments in regarding the fictional character Murphy Brown on that sitcom, lamenting the fact that she was a single, unmarried mother. You have second thoughts looking back on what you said then and looking at it now with a ten-year perspective of hindsight?

DAN QUAYLE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, with the ten-year perspective of hindsight, and I am going to be speaking to the National Press Club today, we have made a lot of progress on the issue I tried to address, and the issue was not single motherhood, the issue was the absence of fathers. As you recall that famous sound bite that is run over and over again, I talk about mocking the importance of fathers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

It doesn't help matters when prime time TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers, by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And that is what I really did not like about the show. There was no father. The message was fathers need not be involved. Fathers can just be irresponsible. Fathers can go ahead and have children but they don't have to raise the children, and now looking back, ten years later, we have had a lot of fatherhood initiatives that have sprung up. I think of one, the National Fatherhood Institute, that has come up where both George Bush and Al Gore spoke to it within the last few years. Thousands of people.

The Million Man March you had right here in Washington, D.C. Even though I find Louis Farrakhan to be a dangerous and violent individual by his rhetoric, what they were talking about in that march, values for the men, better husbands, better fathers, better community leaders, more involved in the neighborhood.

These are the types of things that we ought to talk about.

BLITZER: Would you -- if you could redo that, those sentences you said ten years ago, rephrase them, would you do that?

QUAYLE: I don't think I would rephrase it. You got realize that the speech was about a 35, 40-minute speech. The subject was the poverty of values, the breakdown in the family, that if in fact you don't finish high school, you get married before 20, you have children before 20, you have an 80 percent chance of living in poverty.

I was trying to put out as a challenge to families and to all people, stay in school, get married, wait until you are after 20 to start having children, and you have less than five percent chance of living in poverty. Now, the sound bite was a ten-second deal, eight-second deal in a 40-minute speech. But what I found interesting, and I am going to address this at the press club a little bit, was the way, and you will remember this well, the way the print media treated it versus the electronic media.

The print media -- the Washington Post, it was the lead story, and the New York Times, it was above the fold. But Murphy Brown was in paragraph ten. It was the electronic media that had this meltdown. Perhaps they felt I was attacking one of their own, or whatever the cause may be. But in any event, it became a firestorm.

BLITZER: Do you have any problems with the current sitcom "Friends?" The character Rachel is about to have a baby. She is unmarried. There is a father, though, in that program.

QUAYLE: Yes. We have one half the battle. The fact is that TV is going to portray someone having a child out of wedlock, at least they are going to have the father involved, and that is a big, important -- that is a very important step. I would just assume them not do this, but the fact that the father is there, I think, is a very responsible and a very positive message.

But let me say this, that you take the character in Friends, Jennifer Aniston. In her life she is very happily married to Brad Pitt. Same way with Candice Bergen, for that matter. That time she was very happily married to her husband, a long time, wonderful family, so I wish some of these folks that portray things on television that tend to trash traditional values, but they practice the traditional values in their own lives, that maybe the motto is do as I do, not as I act, because they have entirely different lifestyle at home than what they portray on television.

BLITZER: We only have a few seconds left, Mr. Vice President. You going to get back directly into politics? You want it run for office again?

QUAYLE: Well, I have learned over the years that you never say never. But Marilyn and I are really enjoying ourselves in Phoenix, close to my mother. I goat involve myself in politics when I want to. I still try to stay close contact with the administration, offer my private advice when asked, and I enjoy myself right now.

But who knows. I still consider myself a young man, and I am only 55, and so we will see.

BLITZER: Fifty-five years old still very young as far as I am concerned, Mr. Vice president. Thanks so much for joining us. Continue to have some fun.

QUAYLE: Thanks a lot, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And when we come back in just a moment, friends of Martha Moxley. She was murdered in New England some 20 years ago. Her friends take the stand in the case, in the trial of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel.

And if you are one of the richest people in the world, how would you spend your money? Bill Gates is giving a multimillion dollar gift. We will tell you who the lucky recipient is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. You are looking at a live picture from Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity. We're standing by to see if that agreement is implemented any time soon. They will be walking through those metal detectors from inside the church when and if that happens. We are standing by for that. In the meantime, let's go back to the CNN center in Atlanta for quick check of some other developments. Once again, here's Daryn Kagan.

DARYN KAGAN: All right, Wolf. Let us go ahead and start in Norwalk Connecticut. Let's check in now with our Deborah Feyerick. She has been keeping an eye on the latest developments in Norwalk. Deb, hello.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, Michael Skakel has an alibi, explaining where he was at the time Martha Moxley was killed. That alibi puts him in car with two of his brothers driving a cousin home, but a key prosecution witness testified that she is positive that Michael Skakel was at home after the car pulled out of the driveway.

This is a woman who is a friend of Michael's sister. Now she says she was stunned when in the late '90s she heard differing accounts, because she said, in her words, "It was counter to what I knew was the case."

Skakel's lawyer tried pressing her as to why she didn't come forward when she saw these discrepancies, and she said, well, I read this in a book. Books are inaccurate. Now another hole in Micahel Skakel's alibi, a friend of Martha's saying she could not remember whether Michael Skakel was in the car, but she says she will never forget hearing dogs barking, her dogs, specifically, saying the dog was standing frozen in the middle of the road facing the Moxley house, a scared, violent barking, which was about the time Martha may have been killed.

A man everyone was waiting to hear from today took the stand, Ken Littleton, the ex-tutor for the Skakel family, and he tells a story how the day after the murder, Michael, Tommy, John, and the cousin all went to a vacation home getting out of town.

This was an unplanned trip. This was the story he was telling. Skakel's lawyers are going to be going after him because Skakel's lawyer is trying to create doubt by saying this tutor, Ken Littleton, was long considered a suspect, and he's going to show why -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Deborah Feyerick, live from Norwalk, Connecticut, thank you very much. Couple of other matters of legal interest to bring to your attention. For now, the adult daughter of jailed actor Robert Blake will take care of Blake's 2-year-old daughter. A judge today granted temporary guardianship of the child, Rose Blake, to her 35- year-old half-sister, Delinah. Their father is accused of killing Rose's mother last May. Another hearing on this matter is set for late July.

And this one, the estate of Margaret Mitchell has settled its suit against a "Gone With the Wind" parody. The "Wind Done Gone" satirizes Mitchell's Civil War era novel from an African American perspective. The agreement is confidential, but the newer book will continue to be published with the label "an unauthorized parody."

A famous actress had a tough time in front of Congress today, but not because of the lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA ROBERTS, ACTRESS: ... disorder suddenly and unexpectedly took Abigail from us and she was...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: What made Julia Roberts choke up? We will tell you.

Also ahead, the world's richest man tells CNN how he plans to spend some of his money.

And later, Janet Reno and her scare involving that red pickup truck. It is all ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Actress Julia Roberts took her star power to Capitol Hill today. She was there to appeal for funds to help fight Rett syndrome. She appeared before a House panel, asking for $15.5 million for research. Roberts was choked up as she talked about a young friend who died from Rett syndrome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Researchers are not cautiously optimistic, they are confident that they can master the disease if they have the continued resources to do it. As you could consider our request, our deeply heartfelt request, please keep my friend Abigail and my friends here and others that aren't here today in your hearts and in your minds. Her death was painful for her family and her friends. But Abigail's spirit motivate me and those with us today to raise our voices and the public's awareness about the urgent need for research funding of Rett syndrome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Rett syndrome, by the way, is a neurological disorder that is found almost exclusively in young girls. It leaves the victims unable to communicate and control body movements and functions, and it is often misdiagnosed as autism or cerebral palsy.

Now on to a man who knows a lot about giving away money. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is using some of his fortune to help promote health -- actually, better health for some of the world's neediest children.

At the United Nations today, he announced a major gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation -- $50 million to the new Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, talked to Bill Gates one-on-one.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The richest man in the world can't wait to give his money away.

BILL GATES, CHAIRMAN, MICROSOFT: It was the urgency that made me change my view that I should get involved.

GUPTA: With the same intensity he used to create and sustain Microsoft, Bill Gates is honing in on another endeavor, children's health.

GATES: One out of 12 children die in the world at large before age 5. I think within the next decade, we ought to be able to eliminate virtually all of those deaths.

GUPTA: Gates, a private citizen, spoke of his mission before nearly 80 heads of state at the U.N.

GATES: As we got more involved and saw the depth of these problems, we said, OK, we are going to be very careful about how we spend our money. But we also have to help raise the visibility here so that governments -- rich world governments in particular -- also are allocating more to these causes, and so have become a bit more evangelical.

GUPTA: But Gates is not just preaching, he's spending. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has already donated $2.1 billion for children's global health, and now another $50 million to help fortify foods and prevent illness in the first place.

GATES: Making sure that a kid has the Vitamin A or the iron they need to survive childhood diseases and to have the mental development that lets them go on and achieve their potential.

GUPTA: Gates and wife Melinda know firsthand.

GUPTA (on camera): We've seen some pictures of you actually innoculating children in New Delhi and things like that.

GATES: Well, I remember when my wife took her first trip to India, a lot of her time was in AIDS clinics and talking with the patients, and the sense of dignity they had, that they -- because they were being given some kind of treatment they had a chance to help out their children. You just feel it so directly, mostly when you sit down one-on-one with the people who are getting the help, and yet there are millions and millions who need it.

GUPTA (voice over): So while the world's richest man looks at things a little differently, it is not with any less intensity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And what struck me even more than that was that besides giving away money, besides going to New Delhi to innoculate kids, he is actually going to go meet with policy leaders as well to try and actually get something done.

He is -- his goal now, actually, go to go to India in the Fall and try and dramatically reduce the rate of HIV infections. If anybody could do it, he probably can, Daryn.

KAGAN: He can. Let us play just a cynic for just a second, Sanjay. You are talking lot of money, more than most of us can imagine, $50 million, but is that really enough to make an impact in a problem so huge?

GUPTA: I think that is a very good question. I talked to him about that. He's a businessman after all, and looks at lot of different models of ways of doing this. For example, if you eradicate a disease, as opposed to continuously trying to treat a disease, you are probably going to have much more luck in terms of reducing cost in the long run. Smallpox is the example he always gives. HIV and AIDS might be an example in the future.

KAGAN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, New York City. Safe travels back here to Atlanta.

GUPTA: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, we are going to show you something coming up. It is ten times the size of Manhattan and we have the pictures to prove it.

Later: what happened to Janet Reno and her famous red pickup? We will tell you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Let's check some other stories in our news wire. Janet Reno made it through a car accident in Florida this morning without a scratch. The minor accident happened near the former attorney general's home in a Miami suburb. The driver of the other car was not injured either. Reno was driving her red pickup truck, the one she has been using in her campaign for governor.

Another massive iceberg has broken off Antarctica. The iceberg, detected by satellite, is almost 10 times the area of Manhattan. It's 47 miles long and nearly five miles wide.

You have two minutes to vote on our Web question of the day. Go to my Web site: subject is the mailbox bomber. If convicted, do you think Luke Helder deserves lenience? We'll have the results when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: You have LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE. That begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you. As you know, Israel is preparing for retaliatory strike. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says he will try to stop the terrorist attacks. We will have the latest from the White House and the U.S. military suffering a severe shortage of manpower and resources.

Deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz will be my guest tonight, and we I will also be talking to a panel of experts to reinstitute the draft.

And tonight, the debut of a new segment: "The Dobbs List." We will tell you about some of the most interesting books on those book store shelves. All of that and lot more coming at the top of the hour. Now back to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou. I will be looking forward to that book list.

Our Web question of the day asked, if convicted, do you think Luke Helder deserves leniency? Look at the answers: 18 percent of you said yes, 82 percent said no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

That is all the time we have right now. I'll be back in two hours with more coverage of the Middle East crisis LIVE FROM JERUSALEM, 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast.

Tomorrow, he spied against the FBI. Now Robert Hanssen is about to get his punishment. We will speak to the author of a new book on the FBI. Are there other Robert Hanssens our there? Until then, thanks very much for watching. I am Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem. LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE begins right now.

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