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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Sexual Abuse Victims Address Bishop's Conference; Why Is Public Allowed to Watch Spy TV?; Interview With Toby Keith

Aired June 13, 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, HOST: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: baring their souls in front of the bishops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a priest. I was a minor. He sexually abused me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Will stories of horror change the minds of the clergy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is we who need to confess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It's the new spy TV: Pictures from U.S. military planes. Why is the public able to watch?

Patients say it's nothing short of a miracle: A medical breakthrough that makes the blind see.

And the angry American. Who says his red, white and blue isn't good enough for the 4th of July? You won't hear it on ABC, but you will hear it here, live. I will speak with country music sensation, Toby Keith.

It's Thursday, June 13, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

It's been a painful, wrenching and perhaps historic day for America's Catholic bishops. Gathered to discuss the church sexual abuse scandal, they heard tearful, firsthand accounts from Catholics who say they were abused by men they had been taught to trust. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas. He joins me now live -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the bishops, the 285 bishops that are gathered here in Dallas are now working behind closed doors, working on that sexual abuse policy. But before they began working this afternoon, they heard directly from four victims, sexual abuse victims who told their stories directly to a room full of bishops. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG MARTIN, SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM: A child who is abused is put in a frightening and confusing situation. They may have never heard of anything like this happening. Nobody's told them it's right. Nobody's told them it's wrong. Everybody may like and respect the person that's doing these things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can describe nights curling up in the fetal position and sobbing hysterically while my wife, Lora (ph), simply held me, and eventually having to get up and change the bed sheets, because they were soaked with tears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was an adult. He was a priest. I was a minor. He sexually abused me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please heed the words of our holy father. There is no place in the priestly ministry for those who harm children. I urge you to adopt a policy of zero tolerance for all offenders, whether they have abused one child or adolescent or many, whether past, present or future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now, what the victims are asking for is an across- the-board zero tolerance policy. Any priest that is accused -- found to be guilty of sexual abuse that they would be removed from the priesthood, and they also want bishops to be held accountable. That might be end up being the sticking point as the days move on here and the bishops continue debating the sexual abuse policy that will be voted on tomorrow afternoon.

As I've mentioned, they're in closed session, working out some of the finer other points, but every indication we have gotten so far from many of the folks we've talked to and some CNN sources also tell us that they will strengthen the rough sketch of the policy that was going to be brought in here. So we will see that final vote coming tomorrow -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ed Lavandera. And if there are any additional breaking developments, we will of course get back to you in Dallas. Thank you very much.

And you have a chance to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this: Do you think the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference in Dallas will bring an end to the church's sexual abuse problem? Vote at my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote. And while you are there, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of the program. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Salt Lake City Police say they are not leaving any stone unturned in their search for Elizabeth Smart, and that includes investigating the missing girl's family. Our national correspondent, Frank Buckley, joins me now from the search command center -- Frank. FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that has always been one theory that police investigators have been looking at, that the family might have been involved in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, but they've also said that was one theory against other theories, such as contractors or people who were there to potentially buy the house, neighbors, anyone who might have access to the neighborhood or the house. Everyone was under the umbrella of suspicion; all of them were being looked at as possible suspects.

But today it got a little more attention because it appeared on the front page of the local "Salt Lake Tribune," the headline "Police Eye Relatives in Probe." The theory here, according to this newspaper article, that members of the extended family may have staged the abduction to make it appear as if it was an outsider when in fact it was an insider. Today police once again said that that was one of many theories, and they said that they wouldn't characterize it as the primary focus of their investigation.

Also, one member of the Smart family said that it was understandable that at least the family was being considered in the police investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SMART, UNCLE: We will help them in any way possible, any questions they have or anything we can do to help aid in this investigation, we will do that.

As you know, in investigations there are many boxes that need to be checked, and we feel that the family box is one of those boxes, and if the police did not do their job, if they did not investigate us, they would not be doing their job. They'd be negligent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: Police also told us today that 9-year-old Mary Katherine, who is the younger sister of Elizabeth, who was in the room with Elizabeth at the time of the overnight abduction was once again interviewed today. She was also interviewed yesterday. That makes now at least four, possibly five formal interviews with police. They say she has been a consistent witness throughout all of this; they just want to get some additional detail from her.

Also today, police classified Bret Edmunds. He is the person who yesterday received a great deal of publicity. His photo, pictures of his car widely distributed throughout the national media. Police saying they wanted him for questioning. Police reiterated that today, saying that, quote, "he is not a suspect." They do not believe he was involved in Elizabeth's abduction" -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Frank Buckley, thanks for that update.

Let's move on to homeland security. In a dramatic development today, the American Airlines dispatcher who handled the flight carrying alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid today filed a whistle-blower complaint with the FAA. CNN's Patty Davis has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid had been subdued on American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami after a flight attendant stopped him from lighting his shoes on fire. American Airlines dispatcher, Julie Robichaux, who got the call, says her supervisor tried to stop her from alerting the authorities.

It was 9:00 a.m. Central time on December 22 when the dispatcher was first alerted to a passenger misconduct situation by the captain. She tells the pilot to divert to Boston. Robichaux says that about 15 minutes later, she was told by the captain the passenger's shoes appeared to have "some kind of pyrotechnic device." The dispatcher says she told her supervisor that the crew believed it had found shoe bombs.

In a complaint to the FAA, Robichaux claims her supervisor, worried about delays on the ground, told her, "it would be forever before we could get the plane out of there" if law enforcement got involved. But Robichaux did get on the phone with NORAD -- the North American Aerospace Defense Command -- which scrambled jets to escort the plane. She said in January, her supervisor interfered with that, too.

JULIE ROBICHAUX, AMERICAN AIRLINES DISPATCHER: At one point, I had a manager come up and actually -- I was on the phone with NORAD. And he told me whoever I was talking to, I needed to call them back. I said, well, it's NORAD -- kind of coordinating this. And he said, "well, get a number and call them back. You're busy with other flights."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: American Airlines says its managers were already on the phone with NORAD, and it was not Robichaux's job to handle security incidents. They also say they are not taking any disciplinary action against her. Now, the airline says it would not also have stopped her from contacting authorities.

Robichaux has asked for federal whistle-blower protection, saying her job has been threatened, and she faces retaliation from American Airlines for speaking out -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Patty Davis, thank you very much for that report.

The man alleged to be the 20th hijacker will now be handling his own case. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has been covering these late developments. She joins me now live -- Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, when the trial starts sometime in the fall, Zacarias Moussaoui will be acting as his own lawyer. A federal judge ruled that he's mentally competent, and the judge reached her conclusion based primarily on two things -- psychiatric reports and reports from officials at the Alexandria detention center where Moussaoui is being held. Now, Moussaoui fired his lawyers believing they were part of the government conspiracy to get him killed. His lawyers say Moussaoui has a family history of mental illness, and that should be considered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK DUNHAM, MOUSSAOUI ATTORNEY: We don't know why Mr. Moussaoui believes the way he does. It is that belief that caused us to question his mental status and ask for the exam. We just don't think that if it was a member of your family, you'd be satisfied with the kind of exam this man got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Moussaoui repeatedly tried telling the judge that he has secret information that would show he had nothing to do with the September 11 hijackings. Several times, he tried mentioning an address in Britain, saying it would show the case not as it appears, and he accused the U.S. government of a covert operation not on only against him but also potentially against the other 19 hijackers. He said he has been under surveillance since arrived in America, and that his apartment in Britain was searched in 1998 following the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

His mother from France was in the court, and as Moussaoui was led in, she stood, a figure dressed all in black, trying to make eye contact. She later did during the hearing. She brought a lawyer for her son, but Moussaoui said while he understands his mom's desire to help, she has no understanding of the reality of this case. Another hearing is set for July 11 on pre-trial notions -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much.

And two of the military personnel inquired in the crash of an Air Force plane in Afghanistan were transferred today to a U.S. medical facility in Germany. Five others are being treated in Afghanistan. Three people were killed in the crash of the MC-130 Special Ops aircraft which went down near the eastern Afghan town of Gardez. That's an area where U.S. forces have pursued al Qaeda holdouts, but a military spokesman says the crash does not -- repeat, does not -- appear to be the result of hostile fire.

Patriotism and controversy.

(MUSIC)

BLITZER: This song is titled "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," and it has some people at ABC hot under the collar. A chart- topping artist finds himself in the middle of a patriotic mess. Singer Toby Keith will join us live.

And talk about a close call: A traffic stop one Ohio trooper won't soon forget.

A whale tale in the Puget Sound. You're looking at live pictures. Rescuers trying to save the life of a killer whale. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

There are glasses, and there are contact lenses, and there is laser surgery. But there has never been anything like this: Artificial vision technology that offers hope to millions of blind people. CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins me now live with details on what's being called the bionic eye -- Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good evening, Wolf. Yeah, it is really quite a remarkable thing. We've had an opportunity to really learn a lot about what they're calling the bionic eye, and we've actually gone on a journey with one man who previously could not see at all and through this amazing technology is now able to see a lot more than he could previously.

Let me just give you a little explainer on how this thing works. We have some animation to sort of describe this. As you can see there, someone's actually looking at something, a chart, that signal is going through a camera, which is actually implanted in the eyeglasses. You can see it pulsating through to a computer and back to the visual cortex of the brain. When the visual cortex of the brain then reads it, you get a sense of something looking a little bit like what you're about to see now.

It is kind of like a computer score board. And you can see on the right, you see sort of a dot matrix of the various patterns on the right, compared to what somebody would normally see on the left. And that's sort of a sense of what it would look like if somebody actually had one of these devices implanted.

Now, this is obviously a remarkable thing, and the most remarkable thing, Wolf, is I think is because the people who can't see, losing sight, losing vision is just a remarkable loss, and being able to give that back is equally remarkable.

We actually had a chance to sit down and talk to Dr. Dobelle, one of the doctors who helped found this, and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BILL DOBELLE, DOBELLE INSTITUTE: It may not work, for example, for people blinded as children or as infants because the visual cortex did not develop normally, but I would say for the vast majority of the blind, 98, 99 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: And even more remarkable, one of the things that he said that really struck me is that this may be the beginning of the end of blindness, and it's technological innovations like this that can really make those sort of priorities come true -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Sanjay, this procedure has not yet been approved here in the United States. If someone wants to get this procedure, they have to go abroad, and it costs a lot of money, right?

GUPTA: That's right. It has not been done here in the United States. It is not FDA approved. The eight patients who had it done so far all had it done in Portugal.

That's not unusual, Wolf. A lot of procedures, a lot of drugs, a lot of things start off in other countries before they actually came to the United States.

Cost-wise, they say anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 it could be for this. Those costs will probably vary if it does -- when and if it gets approved here in the United States. That's sort of what we're talking about. Just for a frame of reference, incidentally, I thought this was interesting: A seeing eye dog, a fully trained seeing eye dog costs about $40,000, so that gives you a little bit of a frame of reference.

BLITZER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, on this amazing, potentially revolutionary development. Thank you so much.

And we are going to talk with one of the first people to benefit from this bionic eye technology. To protect his privacy, we are just going to use his first name, which is Jens.

Jens, thank you for joining us. Give us your story. At what point in your life were you blinded?

JENS: When I was 17, I lost my first eye working at the railway. A piece of metal flew in my left eye. And when I was 20, I was working on a snowmobile, and a piece of metal flew out of it in my right eye. And it was game over at that. I couldn't see anything from there on. And I'm 39 now, so that was quite a while ago.

BLITZER: And you were totally blind?

JENS: Yes, I'm completely blind. There's absolutely nothing left of either retina. And I saw doctor -- well, I saw the leading retinal surgeon in Canada in 1993, and he said I can go around the world as often as I want for the rest of my life. I have to get used to being blind.

BLITZER: And so what happened? How did you find out about this amazing new procedure?

JENS: A friend of mine found it in the Internet, the artificialvision.com Internet site, and I sent an application into the Dobelle Institute. And at that point in time, it was accepted. I was very surprised by that. This was two years ago.

BLITZER: And you had the surgery done in Portugal?

JENS: Yes, on April 8 this year.

BLITZER: And tell us, what can you see now?

JENS: Right now I can locate large objects such as this man sitting beside me. He will be represented by about four, five phosphenes, which are small flashes of light spaced randomly apart, which come on eight times a second. And if he moved out of the way, he would disappear. I'm able to see, for instance, the table top here, where it starts and where it ends, in a rough line going back and forth like this, as well as the lights that are sort of around this studio in that same fashion.

BLITZER: One of the most amazing things that I've discovered in researching you is -- you've been able to drive a car, haven't you?

JENS: Yes. Now, this was of course in a controlled environment. We had a building on the one side and we had a curbing on the other side. There was a row of trees as well surrounding the parking lot on one side. But if I did not have this device, I would have run into them, I would have become disoriented, and there would have been no possible way to do this. The demonstration purpose was to show everyone that without sight, this could not be done, whereas perhaps walking could be done slowly without sight by feeling with your foot. Driving just simply could not be done.

BLITZER: Now, can you make out letters if you're trying to read something?

JENS: Not at this point. I just received this device in its infancy, and unless we work on it a little more to align the points a little better that I see, the ability to read right now is just not going to be there.

BLITZER: And you obviously have various tubes connected to your head which create this image that you're seeing, but you're seeing images in black and white only now, not in color, is that right?

JENS: Actually, it's white dots on a black background, and these dots represent the image, whether the image is dark or light. So, basically the edges are picked up of the image and portrayed in white dots on a black background. That's correct. There's no color.

BLITZER: Jens, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck with this procedure, which is giving hope clearly to millions of people who may be watching and learning about this remarkable development. Clearly still in its early stages, potentially a great, great breakthrough.

Jens, thank you so much.

JENS: You're welcome.

BLITZER: And still ahead: recording artist Toby Keith joins us, live. We will get his take on the controversy around his new hit, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

The amazing video: When being fast on your feet can save your life. Plus, a different kind of amazing video.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jamie McIntyre. Some in Europe were shocked to discover that U.S. spy video was available on satellite TV. I'll tell you what the Pentagon has to say about it.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Charles Molineaux in Castle Rock, Colorado. The danger to metropolitan Denver has lessened up somewhat from Colorado's biggest ever forest fire, but it's getting more dangerous at the southern end of that fire. We are just back from the front lines; we'll have the whole story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here is something you don't see every day at a routine traffic stop: A direct hit from another car. It happened to Ohio state trooper William Davis, who managed to scramble out of way. Both the driver of the car he pulled over and the car that plowed into them were slightly hurt. So was the trooper, who nonetheless stumbled back up the hill to take control. Look at that.

Live video feeds from U.S. spy planes flying over Bosnia can now be watched by European television viewers, but the Pentagon insists the surveillance video is unclassified and not worth a second glance. More now from CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): A few years ago, the Pentagon would have closely guarded these images, but today, with relative peace in Bosnia, the live pictured beamed back by American spy planes are distributed to NATO peacekeeping forces by way of commercial satellite. So anyone in Europe can tune in. So far, the ratings are low.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They bored me after about 15 minutes.

MCINTYRE: The British newspaper "The Guardian" had a different take, calling the freely available images "a security lapse which is undermining the war on terrorism." Nonsense, argue Pentagon officials, who insist nothing sensitive is shown. Distributing the pictures unencrypted by commercial satellite, they say, is the fastest, easiest way to get the images to peacekeeping forces, who use them as a sort of security camera in the sky to look for possible threats such as arms smugglers.

The real problem, Pentagon officials say, is that most NATO countries lack the sophisticated encryption systems the U.S. uses to keep video images from war zone such as Afghanistan secure. It's another example, the officials say, of NATO's failure to increase defense spending to keep pace with the U.S.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The United States has been investing in technologies, and a number of other countries have invested less in technologies. That is part of the problem.

MCINTYRE: During the 1999 Kosovo war, some classified information had to be passed to pilots over open frequencies because of the incompatibility of NATO radios, and in some cases targets were compromised. But the Pentagon insists the Bosnia imagery doesn't give away any technological secrets and is of little use to anyone else. At least one analyst agrees.

ANDREW BROOKES, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: I suspect you could look at it long and hard and find nothing whatsoever to actually give you any real-time intelligence about nefarious activities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon is constantly reviewing whether the information it releases could be of any help to its enemies, but for now it has no plans to scramble its version of spy TV -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you very much.

And hundreds more firefighters are on the front lines of Colorado's worst ever fire, and more are on the way. The Hayman fire has destroyed at least 22 homes. But it appears, Denver is no longer in danger. Let's go live to CNN's Charles Molineaux for the latest from the front lines -- Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Wolf, we just got back from the firefighters who are working deep in the heart of the Pike National Forest, and the word right now is that while the fire did charge toward some of Denver's remote southwestern suburbs on Monday, the winds have really been very benign for that area, and in fact that area at the moment is not nearly as threatened as the area at the southern end of the fire, around Lake George, Colorado, where there is now considerable danger to homes and the fire has been doing much more expanding there.

We were out of the fire lines near the town of Deckers earlier today. This is an area considered very much under threat earlier on. Firefighters have been setting backfires, setting up fire breaks, taking advantage of the fact that the winds have been very favorable. At the northern end of the fire, these are a lot of firefighters just fresh in. There are 1,000 on the job today. The Forest Service is hoping to get 2,000 on the job by tonight, and some of these firefighters are coming right in from lower altitudes, and these fires are burning at about 6,500 feet up. Some of them had to do a little acclimating, and some of them have been surprised at how little time they have had to do that acclimating. They are showing up and getting put right on the job without wasting any time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB FISHER, PACIFICA, CALIFORNIA: It's very unusual. Not a lot of information yet. The federal government has just taken over the fire from the local agencies, and it was quick, and then they just sent us right out here. You know, they hand you some maps and said -- pretty much pointed up in the hills and said, you know, that's where you need to be. So it is much different from where we come from, where there's maybe a little more overhead support for that kind of stuff.

QUESTION: Hit the ground running? FISHER: Yeah, most definitely. I didn't think we would be deployed that quickly, and we were -- yes, very fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) getting an idea of just how big a deal the Forest Service is considering this fire. There are two type one incident management teams on the job on this fire. These are national level teams. One of them, for example, was dispatched to the World Trade Center after September 11. To have two of them at the same incident is practically unheard of -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Charles Molineaux at the front lines, thanks once again for that report.

And if you live out West, get ready for another hot, dry summer, and more wildfires. The latest map from the National Weather Service shows that an intense drought in the southwest and southern Texas. And although people in the southeast saw a lot of rain this spring, experts say this region is not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot.

On the other side of the coin is Roseau, Minnesota, a town literally under water. Heavy rains forced the river over its banks, then the dike broke. Officials say it could be this weekend before people can begin mopping up. They say they can't even begin to put a dollar figure on the damage.

Turning to stories making news around the world right now: More rain is forecast for southwestern China, already hit by some of the worst flooding in years. At least 205 people are reported dead, more than 200,000 evacuated. Already damage estimates top $100 million.

Punching and kicking diplomats who tried to stop them, Chinese guards dragged a North Korean asylum-seeker out of South Korea's visa office in Beijing. The man's son remained inside, joining dozens of North Koreans who have sought refuge at diplomatic missions. China's foreign ministry is demanding that they all be handed over to police, while South Korea is accusing China of violating international law.

As expected, Afghanistan's interim leader will be its new leader. Hamid Karzai was elected overwhelmingly today to a two-year term. Of the roughly 1,600 delegates taking part in the election, about 1,300 voted for him. Karzai will be sworn in as president next Saturday.

Under pressure to reform his Palestinian authority, Yasser Arafat today convened a new, slimmed-down cabinet and said he hopes to set a date soon for new elections. Meeting just a day after Israeli troops lifted their latest siege of his West Bank headquarters, Arafat told his cabinet that a peace process with Israel must continue.

A drama playing out in the Puget Sound. We'll hear -- we'll go there live.

CLARK STAHL, KIRO CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon. This is Clark Stahl reporting live near Seattle on the ongoing rescue of an ailing orphaned killer whale. We'll be back with the story coming right up.

BLITZER: Plus, the sound of controversy, why a song about the red, white and blue is raising such a ruckus. We will talk live with country superstar, Toby Keith.

First, our news quiz. Toby Keith's hit single, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," is about which of the musician's family members: his uncle, son, father, or grandfather? The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: An update now on that young killer whale we've been telling you about, the one who can't seem to find her way out of Puget Sound. Right now, a team of experts is trying to help her. And we have a front-row seat from our affiliate, KIRO reporter and helicopter pilot Clark Stahl. He joins us now live.

Give us the latest, Clark.

STAHL: Well, this has been an incredible rescue so far. We're right in the middle of it. What you're looking at now is this whale that has become known as Springer here in Puget Sound are. She adopted -- after orphaned by her pod, she adopted a couple of ferries on a ferry run here, causing concern among experts. And then she became quite sick. SO they were concerned about her health, as well.

You can see her there in that sling. The rescue effort took place just about a half an hour ago, about 8 miles to the southwest of downtown Seattle, went off perfectly. They had divers in the water. They moved her into the sling, lifted her by crane on top of the barge, put her on that foam bed that maybe you can see underneath there. And they've been putting water on her. They've got about a half an hour's worth of voyage from where she was captured to a holding pen, where they're going to attend to her needs, feed her, try to get her back up to a little bit more normal weight.

She weighs approximately a ton, about 2,000 pounds, but recently, because of her illness, she's lost a little bit of weight. So they're going to try to feed her and give her some antibiotics and nurse her back to health, and then move her some time within the next month or maybe sooner, up to the waters, oh, a hundred miles or so to the north of us and try to reunite her with her native pod up there.

Reporting live near Seattle, Clark Stahl, Cairo 7 Eyewitness News.

BLITZER: Clark, before I let you go, just -- oh, we just lost that picture, unfortunately. We have it back now -- Clark Stahl -- show us again, if you can, where that whale is aboard that boat.

STAHL: OK, we'll try push in here just a little bit tighter. You can see there's a sling moving from side to side across the boat there. The whale is inside the sling. You see that thing sticking up right in the middle there? That's the dorsal fin of that whale, covered by a wet towel. And they are taking big buckets of water and putting the buckets of water on top of the towel and also on top of the whale, trying to keep her as cool.

This is almost a record day here in Seattle, as far as temperature goes. Temperature is near 90 degrees. So they're hastening the effort to get her over to her holding pen, to get her back in the waters of the Puget Sound, which average about, oh, in the low 50-degree range this time of year. So temperature is a critical here, so they're trying to keep her cool.

But I think this angle here probably gives you a pretty good idea of what's going on below us. It's just been an incredible scene so far.

BLITZER: It certainly is incredible. It's amazing. Clark Stahl, our reporter on the helicopter from our affiliate, our excellent affiliate, Cairo. Thanks for all that help and that good work.

And all the experts agree this rescue effort will be quite successful for the whale, but it's for her own good. It's also quite complicated and even very costly. CNN environment correspondent Natalie Pawelski joins us now with that -- Natalie.

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a very young whale, only a couple years old, and very small. To give you an idea, my Jeep weighs twice as much as this whale does.

Let's take a look at the map and show you exactly where this rescue's going on. The rescue is going on here. That's where the whale first turned up in January, after it was orphaned. And right now, it's on the way to Manchester, here, which is where there will a holding pen, which is where they will nurse the whale back to health a little bit of the ways. But if we widen out the map a little bit, we can see the ultimate destination. It'll go from Manchester -- eventually, after a couple of weeks -- way up to Johnstown Strait off Vancouver Island. That's up where the whale's native pod is believed to live. And the hope is that after a month or two of good care, the whale can be released to the wild so it can be readopted by its pod.

Now, the technology they used today was going to be interesting. Their original option was to use a pen like this, to try to get the whale to swim into the pen and then kind of close the door on the whale. But the wave and wind conditions were not right for it. So what they did was they caught the whale by its tail, if can you believe it. That looks kind of brutal, but actually, it isn't. It's a very soft rope that they managed to lasso the tail of the whale and then haul it up onto a barge.

Their third option, which they're very glad they didn't have turn to, was going to be an acre-large purse seine net. The problem with that is if the whale got nervous and was thrashing around -- it's an air-breathing animal. If it got tangled in the net, that could have been dangerous for either the whale or the rescuers.

Now, I watched the rescue unfold, and I was astonished at how calm the whale was. Everything went remarkably smoothly, Wolf.

BLITZER: Natalie Pawelski, thanks for all that information. Good work.

He wrote it in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, but now a song about patriotism is kicking off a firestorm of controversy. We'll hear from recording artist Toby Keith when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked: Toby Keith's hit single, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," is about which of the musician's family member? The now controversial hit was inspired by Toby's late father.

Americans are blunt about their patriotism, but how blunt is too blunt? That seems to be the focal point of a 4th of July controversy involving a TV anchorman, a singer and some less-than-genteel song lyrics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): What could be more American on the 4th of July than hot dogs, fireworks and a celebrity controversy? This one involves ABC News anchor Peter Jennings and one of the hottest stars in country music, Toby Keith. Keith had been invited to perform on an ABC 4th of July special until Jennings reportedly heard his hit single, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." The controversial song is about military veteran who was injured in a training mission. But at its core, it's a reflection of American anger over the September 11 attacks.

TOBY KEITH (singing): You'll be sorry that you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) me U.S. of A. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) your ass (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

BLITZER: That's the lyric which Jennings reportedly objected to. When ABC rescinded the invitation to Keith, it drew this response from the country star. Referring to Jennings, who's Canadian, quote, "I find it interesting that he's not from the U.S. I bet Dan Rather'd let me do it on his special."

Contacted by CNN, ABC tried to downplay the controversy. The network issued statement saying, quote, "While we have cast a wide net searching for performers and considered adding Toby Keith to the line- up, unfortunately, a number of factors, including logistical ones, prevented us from booking him."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

When we come back, the word from the man right in the middle. We'll talk live with Toby Keith. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Just before the break, we told you about how singer Toby Keith won't be performing on ABC's 4th of July special. Keith says ABC had some problems with the lyrics to his song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." We invited Peter Jennings to come on this program, but through a spokesman, he declined. Now Toby Keith joins us live from Norman, Oklahoma, for this exclusive interview. Now, Toby, thanks for joining us. And before we talk about the song a little bit -- I know you have a guitar there -- why don't you pick it up and sing a few bars for us, the controversial lyrics, if you don't mind.

KEITH: All right. At the end of it, it's...

(singing): Justice will be served and the battle will rage. This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage. And you'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A because we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way. Hey, Uncle Sam, puts your name at the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist. And the eagle will fly, and it's going to be hell. You hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell, and it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you. All brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue.

BLITZER: All right, very nice. Now, tell us what the uproar is about. What happened? Walk us through your invitation to appear on this ABC 4th of the July special.

KEITH: Well, first of all, Wolf, I'd like to say that we didn't take any interviews today on this at all until they released a statement saying we weren't really confirmed in the show, to begin with, which that made me mad. I want to clear that right up. May 16, they had -- they said "We got to have you on the show. We want you opening it. This song's great. It's hot. America loves this song. It speaks, after all the sorrows taken and set in on us, that we're still allowed to be angry."

And my dad served in the Army, and this song was wrote about my daddy and the way he would have felt and that he taught me to be flag- waving patriot long before it was cool to wave a flag, like it is now. And that flag flew, and everybody in Oklahoma knows it.

But we confirmed -- they said, "We got to have written confirmation May 16." My manager, T.K. Campbell (ph), faxed it to them. They said, "Great. He's going to represent our country show." And in the 11th hour of things, after the production got in the later stages, it -- we were nixed from the show.

BLITZER: Why were you told you were nixed from the show?

KEITH: Lyric content. Now they're saying it's because...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: ... because the words are angry, is that it? Is that what they said to you?

KEITH: They just said -- all I heard was -- all I heard was that it came down from Mr. Jennings that lyrical content wasn't -- would not be performed -- because of the lyric content, this song will not be performed on that show.

BLITZER: Well, you know what they're just suggesting, that their 4th of July special is going to be a very uplifting, patriotic, happy event and that the lyrics of your song are, as yourself -- you yourself acknowledge, they're angry over what happened September 11.

When did the whole issue come to the fore? Was it ever discussed with you on a substantive level?

KEITH: No, they came to us. We didn't -- we got every TV show in the world we can play this song. I mean, at our level, our publicity people can go and get anybody they want. At this level here, it's not that way. They came in search of us. I released this song about 30 days ago, and it's unbelievable, the response it got. It was really never even intended to be a song. It was more of a statement.

I played it at Annapolis, Maryland, to raise the morale of some of the Navy -- Naval Academy people. I played it at the Pentagon for General Jones and the Marines and went overseas in Kosovo, in Bosnia, for two weeks on a USO tour. The response was so tremendous, I said, "Hey, we're allowed to be angry." I know how angry I was when I saw those towers come down, and you know, this is my way of serving my country and saying that -- I'm a musician/songwriter, so this is my way to try to express my feelings.

BLITZER: Was there any...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Let me ask you this, Toby. Was there ever any discussion of eliminating some of the verses from the song and just using, let's say, some of the less controversial part of it?

KEITH: Not in -- not in mine. But you know, you can't -- this was a statement, and I wouldn't have agreed to that, anyway. But no, I don't believe there was ever any discussion for that. I think -- we -- we confirmed May 16.

Dreamworks, my label, had agreed with the production staff to get the plane in. I had three hours. I was going on first. They wanted me to open the show and then do one more song after that. And then I had plenty of time to get back to a plane. We had the plane booked. I was in Salt Lake area for the 4th of July celebration that night, and this was in Montana. It was a piece of cake, and it was something that they came and sought us to do and came to find us to do it to get their show.

We asked who all was going to be on the show. They said Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos. And we said, "Hey," you know, "those are the kind of caliber actually want to be associated with." And we agreed to do it. And then the last, 11th hour, we got nixed. And I don't like the fact that they're -- that they're trying to push this back now and say that we never were confirmed. That's the part that made me angry, but...

BLITZER: What makes you say, though, that Peter Jennings, personally, who was going to anchor -- is going to host this special on the 4th of the July -- what makes you say that he personally vetoed your participating? KEITH: That's what I was told. Mr. Jennings -- the people who booked us on the show and was in -- that booked the talent, I guess, that had contacted us and had what my manager said practically begged us to be on the show. He bothered me with it several days in a row over phone calls. I said, "What day is it?" He said, "The 4th of July." And when you can do network television as an artist on 4th of July with something like this, it's big. And I said, "Absolutely. Let's do it. Whatever we got to do, let's do it." They said, "Let's get it on." And in the last hour, they said, "You're not going to be doing it." And I said, "How come?" And they said Mr. Jennings didn't like the lyric content, said this wasn't going to be on his show.

BLITZER: OK.

KEITH: And hey, he has right -- let's don't forget he has a right, as an American, to veto me. But let's just -- let's make sure that everybody knows that it's not because we weren't booked on there, that it was lyric content.

BLITZER: But you make the point in the "USA Today" interview that he's not an American, he's a Canadian.

KEITH: Well, now, we were in Nashville yesterday for a -- we were in Nashville yesterday for a big awards show, so there was a lot of press there. And when this thing busted out, somebody in the press corps made that up. And I made a big joke and said that, "Well, maybe Dan Rather'll let me do it on his show." And they said, "Well, hey, isn't he a Canadian?" And I said, "Well" -- in the same vein of laughing about Dan Rather, I said, "Well, that's interesting to know, that he's not from the U.S. I didn't know that. But that really doesn't have anything to do with this issue here.

This issue here -- the reason I'm on here today is because they're saying this isn't about lyric content. And it is, and I respect my right as an American to say what I want to say, and he can say what he wants to say.

BLITZER: OK. Toby Keith has got a great new song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." Thanks for joining us.

KEITH: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And once again, we did invite Peter Jennings to come on this program and offer his side of his side of the story. Through a spokesman, he declined.

Let's go to New York now and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That, of course, begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Remarkable story, Wolf. Thank you.

Coming up at the top of the hour: uncertainty still tonight in the Andersen trial in Houston, a new twist from the judge to tell you about in the eighth day of deliberations by that jury. We'll have the very latest for you.

And another corporate trial, of sorts, began in Washington. Imclone Systems former CEO Sam Waksal today took the Fifth Amendment just a day after he was arrested on charges of insider trading and perjury. We'll have the latest for you on that, as well.

And on the eve of a vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to purge the priesthood of predatory priests, we'll be covering a press conference expected this evening by Wilton Gregory, the -- Bishop Wilton Gregory, the president of the conference.

Also tonight, a discussion on defining our enemy. Tonight three experts will be here to discuss the war against radical Islamists.

All of that and a great deal more. We hope you will join us. Until then, back to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou. We will be joining you. And when we come back, the answer to our Web question of the day. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The answer to our Web question of the day. Earlier we asked this question: Do you think the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference in Dallas will bring an end to the church's sexual abuse problem? Ninety-five percent of you say yes, five percent say no. This is not a scientific poll.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.

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