Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Separated Twin in Surgery Again; Is Saudi Arabia a Friend or Foe?; Pilots Launch Investigation into Airbus Crash
Aired August 06, 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, separated sisters, from intensive surgery to intensive care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-by- day. We just can't get ahead of ourselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Another West Nile Virus victim, as mosquitoes spread fear in Louisiana. Friend of the U.S. or friend of terrorists, top Pentagon advisers hear sharp criticism of Saudi Arabia. Six months after Danielle van Dam disappeared, closing arguments in the trial of her alleged killer. And, a Hollywood murder mystery, what the police saw when they first searched the home of actor Robert Blake. Now we'll give you an exclusive look.
Hello, it's Tuesday, August 6, 2002. I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta in for Wolf Blitzer, who is off today. Two tiny girls from Guatemala are starting new and separate lives. Some pictures just in for you there, the girls just after they underwent surgery just hours ago.
Doctors in Los Angeles separated the girls who had been joined at the head. The situation is touch and go, however. One of the girls had to be rushed back to the operating room. For more on all of this, we turn it over to CNN's national correspondent Gary Tuchman, who has been keeping a vigil outside the hospital. Gary, what is the latest? Those pictures are great to see, aren't they?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These pictures are incredible, Miles, and that's one of the things about this story is that it's so emotional, everything we've been going through all day from the fact that they had the surgery, that it lasted 22 hours, that these two little girls were separated successfully, and now that one of the little girls is back in the operating room.
First of all, we can tell you we're at Mattel Children's Hospital at the UCLA Medical Center, where this is all taking place, and we just received this video a short time ago.
It starts off by showing these two little girls connected by heads lying on the table next to a young-looking man. That young- looking man happens to look young because he is young. He's their father. He's 20-year-old Wenceslao Quiej Lopez. He is the husband of Leticia Alvarez, who's 22 years old. They are from Guatemala and they were playing with their children just before they went to surgery.
They operated starting yesterday morning when they wheeled them in. The operation continued into the afternoon, into the evening, into the early morning hours, and just this morning before the sun came up, we were told the operation was successful, that these two children who spent the 377 days they spent on earth together, connected by their heads, had been separated successfully.
There was exhilaration. There were many doctors inside this hospital, we were told, who were giving each other high-fives, who had tears in their eyes, who were very emotional. We were also warned, though, that it's very common to have complications. That's something you could expect.
We would see them in the operating room with this video. They are separated for the first time and, if you weren't in love with these girls just by hearing the story, looking at these pictures and seeing them sleeping because of the anesthesia with their bandaged heads, it makes you fall in love with these two little girls who celebrated their first birthday on July 25th.
But we were told that the bigger one, Maria Teresa, a little bigger than her sister Maria de Jesus, suffered from a subdural hematoma. That is the collection of blood under the scalp. She had to be rushed back into the operating room at 9:17 a.m. Pacific time, about five hours ago, and as far as we know at this point, the operation is continuing at this hour.
We don't know how it's going, but we have been told, and we must stress this, that this type of thing is expected, this type of complication. Doctors have told us this type of hematoma is manageable, that the news was a disappointment but it is not unexpected.
We are expecting a briefing here at the hospital at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, which is about two-and-a-half hours from now, but as of now, the separation procedure was successful, but one of the twins is undergoing an operation for this complication. Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Gary Tuchman with the good news from southern California. Let's turn it over now to our in-house resident, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who will give us a sense of where things stand on all of this; this additional surgery Dr. Gupta if you could put it in perspective for us.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, as Gary said, it's certainly not unexpected to have what is known as subdural bleeding. Again, that is bleeding that is just on top of the brain after a long operation like that, after an operation where the blood vessels have been manipulated, certainly probably a likely scenario after the operation. Maria Teresa, the one back in the operating room, was having some trouble maybe not moving as well as her twin sister, or something that alerted the doctors to the subdural hematoma. They probably got a CAT scan that showed that and went back to the operating room.
I will say, Miles, that it's a little concerning that the operation's been going on, reportedly anyways, for over five hours. That does seem like a long time for an operation for a subdural hematoma to be going on, but I guess it's kind of hard to speculate. What they have to do is actually not only drain the blood that was putting pressure on the brain, but also stop any sources of bleeding so that this doesn't occur again. That's what they're probably doing right now, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, now as I understand it, Sanjay, you have an X-ray to show us, which will help us understand this a little better.
GUPTA: Yes, you know this is one of the most intricate operations in neurosurgery, and this X-ray will help explain why that is.
O'BRIEN: We should point out to our viewers, Dr. Gupta is a neurosurgeon, so this is somebody who speaks with great authority on this. Go ahead.
GUPTA: Yes, right. This is of great interest to me as well. You know, if you take a look at this X-ray, Miles, and I want to show you first of all just for frame of reference what you're looking at here where I'm putting this little dot, that's the eyeball.
Now let me clear that for a second. This is the eyeball here and here's the front of the brain over here. Up here is another brain over there, and in between here, this black line that I'm now highlighting, Miles, that is the membrane that actually separates the two brains, and the two brains are in opposition to each other just like that as you can see.
I got a little model here that explains something else about why this membrane is so important. If you take a look at this model now, you'll actually see within that membrane, within that area, is where one of the major veins of the brain actually runs. What should happen is this vein should run and then drain into the back of the brain over here.
In the case of these two girls, that wasn't happening. In fact, Maria Teresa's vein was running over here and then actually draining into the back of her twin sister and her twin sister's vein was actually draining into the back of Maria Teresa's brain.
Kind of a complicated situation, they talk sort of about the interconnectedness of the veins actually crisscrossing and that's sort of what they're talking about there. That was the most challenging part of this long operation.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question. Something occurs to me, when you have I guess plumbing like that that's potentially all crisscrossed, how much do you know in advance and how much of the decision has to be made on what to do after you've opened things up? Do you make real time calls like that on the table?
GUPTA: That's a very good question, Miles, and I'll tell you, it has changed over the years. Why? Because they actually get great images now, that MRI image that we showed earlier, they actually create three-dimensional models that show not only the brain but actually show all these blood vessels, so you can look at that model and really get a sense and trace it with your hand.
Where does the blood vessel come from? Where does it go? And, that is a really important thing. That's what makes these operations different today, easier today I would say, than in the past but you do have to make some real time decisions as well, especially when you know the blood vessels are different than what you expected.
Those real time decisions can be very tough. Sometimes the surgeons actually have to scrub out and go talk to the parents and say this is what we're seeing and, you know, this is what might happen. You know, a decision has to be made.
O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta, a man who knows quite a bit about brain surgery.
GUPTA: Thanks, Miles.
O'BRIEN: It's good to have you here.
GUPTA: Good seeing you.
O'BRIEN: And helping us understand this, and keep us posted on how things go.
GUPTA: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's shift gears and talk about closing arguments in an important trial. They have started in the trial of David Westerfield, accused of the kidnap and murder of seven-year-old Danielle van Dam. CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us from San Diego with the latest on all that. Rusty, bring us up to date.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, you know the trial has been underway for two months. There's been more than 100 witnesses and nearly 200 pieces of evidence. Now the case here seems like there were so many sensational headlines that often you would lose sight of the fact that it was seven-year-old Danielle Van Dam who was kidnapped and murdered. We heard stories about sex parties with the parents, about the fact that they smoke pot.
There was testimony that the mother of Danielle may have danced with the accused killer the night that her child was abducted. But now prosecutors are trying to refocus the jury's attention on the big question, did David Westerfield kill Danielle van Dam?
They say that there is key evidence, two days after the little girl's kidnapping that Westerfield took his motor home to a dry cleaners and left some laundry, including a piece of key evidence on his jacket.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF DUSEK, PROSECUTOR: On the jacket was Danielle Van Dam's blood, on his jacket, taken to the dry cleaners that morning when it's cold out, when he doesn't have his clothing on. That in and of itself tells you he's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN (on camera): Now they are in break right now, but the prosecution is expected to take another hour or couple hours. The defense is expected to then start their closing arguments, and the jury is likely to get this case either tomorrow or on Thursday -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Rusty Dornin in San Diego. Let's turn now to our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and get a sense of how this trial has gone. For that we turn to him in New York, and he has spent a little bit of time in San Diego. Jeff, are you there?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, sir.
O'BRIEN: OK. Give us a sense, first of all, the prosecution case -- it seems pretty cut and dried. Forensic evidence is pretty hard to refute, isn't it?
TOOBIN: It is. That's the prosecution's real goal here. Jeff Dusek has got to say, you've heard a lot of things over two months, but keep in mind the key evidence, her blood on his jacket, her blood in his mobile home, her hair in his bed. That is the key evidence in this case. There have been a lot of sideshows in this trial, but the prosecution has got to say to the jury, that's the only thing that matters, or that certainly is the most important thing that matters.
O'BRIEN: OK, but as we know sometimes juries -- let's go back to O.J. if we have to, I guess, but for instance...
TOOBIN: We always head back there.
O'BRIEN: Forensics are often not as irrefutable as we might think.
TOOBIN: That's right, and one of the real mysteries in this trial is how will the jury react to the defense's effort to put the parents of Danielle van Dam on trial? They led a lifestyle that involved apparently some swinging. The mother was out late with two women friends the night that Danielle was snatched.
O'BRIEN: So, I'm sorry, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China here?
TOOBIN: Well, that's the question that the prosecution has been asking in defense, in summation. The prosecutor has been saying keep your eye on the ball. There is no evidence about a bogeyman. He referred in his summation to a bogeyman, this mysterious figure that the defense has been alluding to, someone from their lifestyle who may have had access to the home.
One of the gaps in the prosecution's case is the question of how did David Westerfield find his way into the home and snatch her out of her bed if he'd never been there before, and everyone seems to agree that he hadn't been there.
The suggestion the defense is making is that the person who snatched Danielle actually did know his or her way around the house, but what Jeff Dusek has been saying all afternoon is don't speculate. Don't worry about who might have had access. Look at the evidence in the case. Look at the blood. Look at the fiber, and that's really what he's trying to do.
O'BRIEN: All right, at the risk of offending folks who are preparing dinner now, there is some entomology involved in this.
TOOBIN: Right.
O'BRIEN: And let's tread delicately but try to explain that to people.
TOOBIN: There have been four separate entomologists called, extensive detailed testimony. I heard a lot of it last week, and what this relates to is insects start to colonize, start to take over a body when it's been left out in the desert, as Danielle's body was. What the defense was trying to show was the insects, based on the analysis of the insects themselves, could only have gotten to the body after February 5th.
That was important because after that time, Westerfield himself was under surveillance. So what the defense has been saying is based on the analysis of these maggots, the body had to be placed after February 5th. Now the prosecution responded saying look, this is a vague science. This isn't fingerprints. This isn't DNA.
We really can't judge based on the insects when Danielle's body was placed there, but that is really the focus of the defense case and you can expect when Stephen Feldman, the defense attorney, steps up in the next couple of hours, he's going to focus heavily on that in saying it's simply impossible for Westerfield to have committed this crime.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much for trotting delicately over that subject. We appreciate it and we appreciate your insights on this trial. We, of course, will be covering that for you as those summations continue in San Diego.
Saudi Arabia, accused of aiding and abetting terrorism. Is this long-time U.S. ally really a wolf in sheep's clothing? The debate when we return; plus, Flight 587 crashed over Queens late last year.
Now "Vanity Fair" Magazine is raising some questions about the federal investigation. We'll hear from the former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board as well as the author of the article. Also, Martha's mess just got messier. Find out how a small stock trade can turn into big trouble for the doyen of domesticity. Who is the greatest guitarist of all time? "Total Guitar" magazine conducted a poll to find out. Did readers choose Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or Slash? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back. This just in to CNN out of the United Nations, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is telling the Iraqi government it must abide by Security Council resolutions providing access for weapons inspectors in Iraq before any further negotiations or discussions can begin.
Iraq had requested a dialogue with the chief weapons inspector for the United Nations, Hans Blix. Blix is in Baghdad but Annan's response to that has been no, the first thing to do is to allow those inspections and access to resume, this as the continuing debate over what to do over Iraq continues.
Let's move on and talk about the Pentagon. A top Pentagon advisory panel last month got a briefing from a think tank analyst who painted Saudi Arabia as a supporter of terrorism and an enemy of the United States. The analyst reportedly urged the United States should threaten its long-time Gulf ally with military force.
That has the Defense Department doing some damage control. Let's go live now to our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre with more on this. Hello, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, it's those pesky leaks again, this one in the "Washington Post," from that supposedly classified and closed briefing to the Defense Policy Board. It's a group that advises the Pentagon on policy.
The Pentagon today was quickly trying to put in perspective these comments from an outside analyst who said that the U.S. should threaten Saudi Arabia with seizing its oil fields and freezing its assets if it didn't take measures to curb anti-American activities. Well, the Pentagon quickly tried to distance itself from that proposal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: He had an opinion and, of course, everyone has a right to their opinion. It did not represent the views of the government. It didn't represent the views of the Defense Policy Board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): Nevertheless, the story is troublesome for the administration because it highlights some of the misgivings that some in the administration have about the Saudi regime. The ruling royal family has always been somewhat of a reluctant ally, fearing its close ties to the U.S. could fuel a domestic Islamic revolution. During the 1991 Gulf War, Saudi Arabia hosted half a million troops, but as the U.S. is readying for possibly another assault of Iraq, Saudi Arabia is not sounding so cooperative. Still, publicly the Pentagon is not complaining.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I think Saudi Arabia has been a -- I mean it's been a partner for many decades in the region and an important partner, and I think in terms of our work in Afghanistan and the support we've asked they've been very forthcoming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE (on camera): The U.S. is already making backup plans in case it can't use the Prince Sultan Air Base if it has to conduct an air war in the Persian Gulf region, improving a facility at Qatar, including putting in a high tech command center, and today the State Department said Secretary of State Colin Powell made a call to his Saudi counterpart to reassure him the United States does not see Saudi Arabia as an emerging enemy.
The State Department characterized relations between the two countries as excellent. The Pentagon privately continued to say it thought it would get all the help it needs from Saudi Arabia as long as it keeps it secret. Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you much. Is Saudi Arabia friend or foe of the United States then? Is it fighting terrorism or supporting terrorism? Joining me from Washington, Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute; and Jean Abinader, Managing Director of the Arab American Institute, good to have you both with us.
MICHAEL LEDEEN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Ledeen, let's begin with you, if I could, give us a sense of this complicated relationship. A lot of this has to do with the steady flow of oil out of the Middle East, does it not?
LEDEEN: Oh yes, if there weren't a steady flow of oil out of the Middle East, no one would waste five minutes thinking about Saudi Arabia. We can all be sure of that.
O'BRIEN: Would you agree with that, Mr. Abinader?
JEAN ABINADER, ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE: Yes, I think the oil and then consequently the American business and security relations that flow from that are critical to the national interest of the United States.
O'BRIEN: All right, so let's get on record here. Mr. Abinader, is Saudi Arabia a friend or foe of the U.S.?
ABINADER: I think Saudi Arabia has its own interests, and in many ways those overlap with the United States, and in many ways they don't, but I think you can't say, as the reporter just did, that geez, they haven't cooperated with us, and yet we had a half a million soldiers in there during the Gulf War.
That's kind of a statement that doesn't make any sense. Saudi Arabia pursues policies that make sense for Saudi Arabia and most of those times those policies are very helpful to us. They've made some mistakes and we should help them move to a greater political liberalization.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Ledeen, there are a lot of people who say Saudi Arabia doesn't do everything that the U.S. would like it to do but it is in a very, very difficult part of the world in which to live, and that perhaps the U.S. should tolerate some of that sort of thing given the overarching goal, first of all oil, and secondly the relationship in general.
LEDEEN: Sure, but when you ask is Saudi Arabia friend or foe, why not both? Saudi Arabia is both an ally, has been an ally for a long time as General Myers pointed out, but it's also a real problem and the problem from Saudi Arabia derives from the fact that they are spending billions of dollars a year to fund a radical network of mosques and schools that is in many ways the assembly line for the next generation of terrorists because those schools indoctrinate people all over the world, including more than 1,000 of them in the United States, with exactly the same kind of madness that the other Wahabis, including Osama bin Laden, has been spreading around the Middle East.
And that's a problem and we have to deal with that and they really have to stop that. Otherwise, we're not going to be able to reconcile our other differences or work together on common interests which are substantial.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Abinader, how do you respond to that? I mean after all the Saudi Arabians have been very -- well, their brand of Islam is very conservative and has spread throughout the Middle East.
ABINADER: The Saudis, as I said, pursue their own vision and their vision includes a very fundamentalist view of Islam but that's no more of a threat to us than fundamentalists in our own country are, the evangelical schools that we have in our country. The reality is that Saudi Arabia is threatened more by...
O'BRIEN: But in this country, sir. Sir.
ABINADER: ...is that Saudi Arabia is threatened more by extremists than we are and we have to look...
O'BRIEN: Sir, in this country there's a separation of church and state. This is the official religion of this country so there's a big difference there.
ABINADER: You're not asking Israel to separate out the Jewish schools, are you, in Israel? In other words, why set standards for one country that you're not setting for others? OK, looking at Saudi Arabia, you know these charges about these schools all around the world are empty, empty charges. We have found in some places, the U.S. government has investigated these, the Saudis have, the Pakistanis have and others, and the incidents of these kinds of schools spreading this kind of Wahabi conspiracy is nonsense.
And I think the more we get down to the business of how to build a future with Saudi Arabia by improving people to people exchanges, by helping them reform their educational system, by getting them more involved with the region as peacemakers, that's the way to build a relationship with Saudi Arabia, not to keep contriving these conspiracy theories that were addressed in this Rand Analysis Report.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Ledeen.
LEDEEN: It's not a conspiracy theory. I mean the Rand Analysis aside, there's abundant documentation of what's going on in these schools, including reports on the front page of the "Washington Post," who looked at a local school that was preaching exactly the same thing, and these are all books published in Saudi Arabia with the official approval of the Saudi government.
They reproduce sermons that are given in mosques in Saudi Arabia where the imams delivering the sermons are employees of the government and the censors approved them all. So it's a bit more complicated than that. I mean there are two schools of thought on this, frankly.
One is that they're intimidated into doing this by extremists in the region and they're buying favor. The other is that they or part of them really believe it and are advancing it because it's something they believe in. But I don't think the facts really are challengeable at this point. It's too well documented.
O'BRIEN: All right, Michael Ledeen, Jean Abinader, thank you both for being with us on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. We appreciate it. Here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day: Is Saudi Arabia friend or foe of the United States? We invite you to vote at cnn.com/wolf.
While you're there, send us your comments. We'll try to read some of them on the air each day. Also read our daily online column at cnn.com/wolf. I substituted for him today, so check it out.
Amtrak's high speed train hits a stumbling block. Find out what's driving the service off the track. Plus, a tropical punch is brewing off of South Carolina; we'll tell you where it's headed. And, a Hollywood star accused of murder, see the video that police shot as they searched Robert Blake's home. It's exclusive. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The investigation into what caused the fatal crash of American Airlines Flight 587 continues. Next week, the National Transportation Safety Board will try to recreate the brief flight in NASA simulators.
But nine months later, a probable cause of that crash remains elusive. Now an article in "Vanity Fair" Magazine is raising some questions about that investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): It isn't easy piecing together the puzzle that is a major airline crash, and so it has gone for American Airlines Flight 587. Nine months after the Airbus A-300 lost its tail fin and crashed shortly after departing New York's Kennedy Airport, killing 265, only a few facts have come to light but the competing contradictory theories abound.
DAVID ROSE, JOURNALIST: To be frank with you, I don't actually have a theory. What I do have is evidence which casts grave doubt on the NTSB's theory, which they've been...
O'BRIEN: Freelance journalist David Rose has penned an article for the September issue of "Vanity Fair." He cites official data, independent analysis, and dozens of interviews that cast doubt on the pilot error explanation.
He takes issue with a statement made by outgoing National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Marion Blakey.
MARION BLAKEY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: We've calculated that certain rudder inputs by pilots made during certain stages of a flight can cause catastrophic failure of an airliner's vertical stabilizer.
O'BRIEN: Despite this statement, the NTSB has not come to any conclusion about the cause of American 587, which leads us to what we have reported here at CNN. According to crash investigators, it is likely the plane flew into the so-called weight vortices created by a 747 that departed just prior. The vortices are like strong horizontal tornadoes that spin off the tips of wings.
Shortly after hitting that turbulence, the rudder, the movable flap on the tail fin, began swinging wildly to and fro. In seconds, the tail fin sheared off but what caused the rudder to move so violently?
BOB TAMBORINI, PILOT: If you speak to most pilots, they don't believe that. Normally pilots are going to operate a rudder in that fashion.
O'BRIEN: 8300 Captain Bob Tamborini (ph) is among a group of eight American pilots who have launched their own investigation. They believe there's a defect in the Airbus rudder America mechanism, which causes it to move on its own. But American says there is no evidence that happened.
The pilots are also concerned about the strength of the A-300's composite tail. In May, they delivered a petition to American management requesting ultrasound inspections of the A-300 fleet. The technique can identify latent defects beneath the surface.
(on-camera): So is that airbus, A-300 -- is that graphite composite tail design unsafe? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think there are very serious questions about the inspection regime that airbus and the FAA and American Airlines and other operators use.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): But American Airlines says the inspections, which require complete removal of the tail fin could do more harm than good. The airline and the NTSB say if the A-300s were unsafe, they would ground the fleet in an instant.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: We asked American Airlines to comment, and the company responded with this statement -- "The notion that this story in any way furthers the real investigation of Flight 587 is ludicrous. Fortunately, we don't think the American public depends upon publications like 'Vanity Fair' for credible investigative information on aviation safety, and neither should CNN."
Airbus has this to say -- "The tabloidesque narrative irrationally suggests that the opinions of a small group of people are of more relevance than the ongoing work of the professional investigators. Safety remains the highest priority of all in the aviation community."
We asked the NTSB if they could provide us somebody on camera to talk with about this investigation. They decided not to, but we do have somebody with us who is an expert on such matters. Jim Hall, former chairman of the NTSB, who handled some of the most complicated cases in the history of the board, joining us now from Washington.
Good to have you with us, Mr. Hall.
JIM HALL, FORMER NTSB CHAIRMAN: Good afternoon, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, we're nine months post Flight 587. The theories continue to abound, not a lot of facts coming out. Is that something that we should consider unusual or is that the way it goes now with these complicated investigations?
HALL: Well, it's certainly not unusual and obviously, the focus of this story is -- of this show is based on this "Vanity Fair" article that Mr. Rose wrote in which he basically put words into the NTSB's mouth, formed conclusions for the agency that are still under investigation. The TWA accident investigation took us four years; U.S. Air 427 took an almost four-year period of time. The board is doing a very responsible job as it always does and to do that and do a thorough professional investigation, requires time.
O'BRIEN: Of course, journalism being such as it is, sometimes deadlines and pressures bring out stories like this. And I'm curious; as an investigator, on the inside of these investigations, does it hinder your ability to get the job done at all?
HALL: No, not at all. Obviously, I think the investigators, you know, follow the news and pay attention to what's going on like anyone else, but they are trained. Their focus is to let the facts lead them to conclusions and those conclusions then lead to recommendations that will make aviation safer. "Vanity Fair" is an entertainment magazine. I'm sure Mr. Rose was writing against a deadline. It's too bad he did not wait until the October hearings so that many of the questions that he sort of sets up and provides answers to will be obviously, answered in those October hearings.
O'BRIEN: Now, do you have the sense of, by October, when those hearings begin that this will be one of the investigations that the NTSB is able to come up with some probable cause or is this one that might, in fact, stump the investigators?
HALL: No, there have been rare instances in which the board has not been able to determine a probable cause. But again, there is a significant investigation. The first investigation of what is a major -- an accident involving a composite flight surface. So the board certainly needs to take its time and look at the certification, obviously, at all of the issues surrounding the pilot operations and what happened to the rudder, the effects of the weight turbulence, all of these things are being looked at separately. Then, they have to be brought together in the hearing and looked at and an opportunity for people to express their views. It's a process that is independent and it's a process that has served the American people well.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Hall, we are just about out of time, but I've got to ask you before we get away. If investigators had found some sort of defect in that A-300, the tail or the tail mechanism by now, would there have been a request from the NTSB to ground those aircraft?
HALL: Well, of course, there would. The NTSB -- obviously, any time there is a safety of flight issue, brings that issue to the attention of the FAA and the appropriate authorities. What is unfortunate here is that the pilots who -- many of the pilots here who form the basis of this article aren't helping me support cockpit -- cameras in the cockpit that would have answered many of the questions that they're posing in terms of what happened, what the pilots did or did not do during the accident sequence.
O'BRIEN: Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, always a pleasure to have you with us.
HALL: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: All right, turning now to problems that are hobbling Amtrak. Officials confirm plans to reduce runs of the high-speed Acela train because it keeps breaking down. The Acela is a big hit with travelers between Washington and Boston when it works. A spokeswoman tells CNN that the original schedule of 18 runs per day has been cut now to 15. A full schedule will resume only after the manufacturer works out all of the bugs.
Up, up and away -- the Dow surges on hopes of an interest rate cut. Great, I just told you the Dow surges. Find out how big the boost was. Plus, weapons of mass destruction -- a grim anniversary to tell you about in Hiroshima, Japan. And the little stock deal that just won't go away. Why the queen of clean may be in a mess of trouble. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back. I'm Miles O'Brien at the CNN Center. President Clinton had it, but lost it. President Bush wanted it, and now he has it. We're talking about so-called fast-track trade authority. Mr. Bush signed legislation today authorizing him to negotiate trade deals that can be accepted or rejected by Congress, but not amended. The White House first got fast-track trade power in 1974, but Congress refused to renew it when it expired in 1994 -- that is, until now.
Today is the 57th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack. More than 45,000 people gathered in Hiroshima, Japan, for the annual ceremony remembering victims. The bomb killed 140,000 people in that city. Three days later, an American plane dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 people. Japan surrendered shortly there after, ending World War II.
Weather experts are watching a tropical depression off the coast of South Carolina. At last report, it had winds near 35 miles an hour, but it's expected to hit tropical storm strength before the day is over. The forecast calls for the system to move to the Northeast, hitting Newfoundland by Friday morning.
The bulls back on Wall Street today, another wild ride. The Dow surged 230 points. The Nasdaq up 53. The S&P up 25. The strong dollar, speculation about an interest rate cut helped fuel the buying frenzy, but some analysts attribute the rally primarily to the absence of negative economic data and corporate news.
Published reports suggest that Martha Stewart's legal problems may be deepening. The reports say a Merrill Lynch trading assistant has admitted tipping Stewart that Imclone's chief executive was selling stock. Stewart is under investigation for alleged insider trading of Imclone stock. For a look at how this latest report is affecting Stewart and her home lifestyle empire, we've asked "Fortune" magazine's Andy Serwer to join us from New York.
It's not a good thing, is it, Andy?
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: No, Miles, how are you? It is not a good thing for Martha Stewart or shareholders in her company.
O'BRIEN: Yes, tell us -- give us a sense where the stock is heading -- south, right?
SERWER: Well, the stock has been heading south. It's under $10 and has been for a while, Miles. It popped up a little bit last week when there were reports that management, meaning Martha Stewart herself, I guess, might be interested in buying the company out -- in other words, taking a private, giving the shareholders a premium and saying, "We're out of the public arena, out of the public eye." But that does not appear to be happening right now.
O'BRIEN: Well, tell us a little bit about that. That would require a fair amount of scraps on the part of Martha Stewart to do that.
SERWER: It would.
O'BRIEN: Where would she get that?
SERWER: Well, she'd presumably borrow it from banks and try to put together some sort of consortium. Miles, she's got some very powerful people on the board of her company, including Arthur Martinez, the former CEO of Sears and powerful banker, Darla Moore, who's been on the cover of "Fortune" magazine. And these people have been in discussions with her, no doubt, about -- possibly about that project.
You also have to believe, however, these directors have given thought to Martha Stewart the company without Martha Stewart. Now, that would sound to be impossible and probably would not be a very tenable situation, but that has to be discussed. That's the director's job -- what happens if she's in a situation where she's fined or even possibly jailed. Again, no charges have been filed against her. We should make that clear. But the investigation continues and the charges are fairly significant.
O'BRIEN: And while she focuses on her salad, this assistant, apparently, singing like a canary. Why?
SERWER: Well, you know, he is in the eye of a storm here. Here's a young guy who comes to New York, gets a job as an assistant to a very powerful stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, kind of the upper east side of Manhattan's stockbroker to the stars. And you know he's caught up in this swirl, in the investigation. You know, he has his lawyers. All of sudden, he went along with the broker's story that they just had a plan to sell the stock at a certain price point, but then all of a sudden, he changed his mind and said, "No, that's not really the way it was. I was forced to tell that story. Here's what really happened."
So you know, either he's telling the truth or trying to protect himself, wilting under the pressure of the investigation. Obviously, that's what Martha Stewart's attorneys would probably maintain, that he's just flipping to get himself out of trouble. But you know, if his story is true, it really casts Martha Stewart's story in doubt and doesn't put her in the best light, does it?
O'BRIEN: What -- now -- yes, I should say so. Let's talk briefly here about revenue. Martha Stewart's legends of fans, do they really care one way or another about this or are they still buying the magazines and putting together the Popsicle sticks or whatever they -- all those projects...
SERWER: Yes, hand-painted coat hangers...
O'BRIEN: Yes, whatever.
SERWER: ... you know, that kind of stuff. Right now, the empire, as we like to call it, seems to be holding up pretty well. You know, let's face it; Martha Stewart the magazine is a very successful and well-crafted publication. Advertising seems to be holding up. And it's probably true that people between the coasts or even outside of New York or maybe other media outlets don't really care so much about Martha Stewart's trouble. They just like to see her recipes and her ideas on how to fix up their home.
People inside the New York media world, however, probably don't like Martha Stewart. They're probably anxious to see her take a fall here. So there is this dichotomy and right now, her business seems to be holding up pretty well although, if the charges get more serious or in fact, of course -- or even filed, you know, that could come under question.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, we appreciate you being with us as always.
SERWER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer, who is a -- well, you're a big kahuna there at "Fortune..."
SERWER: Editor of something or other, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Yes, editor at large. Editor of whatever he wants to be. We appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much.
SERWER: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Shifting gears now. Did a discovery at Robert Blake's house lead police to him as suspect in his wife's murder? L.A. police searched the actor's home. They videotaped it. Our Charles Feldman got a copy of it. This is the only place you'll see it, so stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked -- "Who's the greatest guitarist of all times?" Readers polled by "Total Guitar" magazine tapped Jimmi Hendrix with the honor of greatest guitar player ever. Hendrix beat out Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. Eric Clapton came in at number three, followed by Slash of Guns 'N Roses at number 4.
CNN has brought you extensive coverage of the Hollywood murder case involving actor Robert Blake, who's been behind bars since April for allegedly killing his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Twenty-four hours after Bakley was gunned down last year, police searched Bakley's house, the only house searched within days of the murder. Now, CNN's Charles Feldman has obtained an exclusive copy of the police videotape made of the search of the home. Charles Feldman joining us now with more on what's in the tape.
Good to see you, Charles.
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Miles. Yes, you know, right after that murder of Robert Blake's wife, for a good time, police were insisting that Robert Blake was not a key suspect. But in fact, as you just pointed out, within 24 hours of the killing of Robert Blake's wife, they got a search warrant to extensively search Robert Blake's home as well as the adjoining house where his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley lived.
The tape that we're about to see was taped by the Los Angeles Police Department as they made their first extensive search of Robert Blake's compound in Los Angeles -- Studio City, to be exact, narrated now by the lead detective in the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DET. RON KNITO (ph), LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'm Detective Ron Knito (ph) from the robbery homicide division. And in my possession is a search warrant affidavit signed by Judge Kibbler (ph) and we'll be serving this warrant today along with my search team.
OK, this is the front door entry. It's unlocked. We'll be making our entry. We'll take the overall...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FELDMAN: Now, as you'll see in this tape as it unfolds -- and it runs quite long -- we're going to just show you a little bit here -- they go through the house. It's mostly uneventful. It doesn't look like a lot of homes of Hollywood celebrities. It's not filled with trophies and memorabilia from Blake's long career in Hollywood. But they did find envelopes stuffed with $100 bills, some $12,000 in cash. Blake's attorney says that he was a child of the Depression and liked to keep cash handy.
This portion of the tape shows the adjoining home where his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley resided. They did not live together although they lived next to one another. Robert Blake lived with their daughter Rosie and Bonny Lee Bakley lived right next door on property also owned by Robert Blake.
So it's an interesting tape in the fact that, as I said before, it shows quite clearly that within hours of the slaying of his wife, police did in fact, zero on Robert Blake and kept their attention focused on him for just about a year, finally arresting him this spring. Blake, of course, has pleaded not guilty and has been trying now unsuccessfully for months to get out of prison, out of jail on bail. His trial, Miles, expected some time around January or February, maybe of 2003 -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Charles, what are your sources telling you about this cash, $12,000 hidden there. Are they buying the attorney's argument that he just liked to have cash on hand?
FELDMAN: Well, probably not. You know, the prosecutors have maintained as part of this case that Blake ended up killing his own wife after he unsuccessfully tried to hire two stuntmen as hit men. And as part of their case, prosecutors will claim that he tried to hire them for money, cash. So it's good bet that come the trial, they'll focus on that $12,000 in cash. But as I said, his lawyer -- Blake's lawyer says, "You know the guy was a child of the post- Depression. He doesn't trust a lot of banks, although he does have about a million in them and so, he decided to keep cash in his house -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Charles. For more Charles Feldman's exclusive report on the Robert Blake murder case, be sure to tune in to "CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT," 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 5:00 Pacific.
The West Nile Virus has hit a deadly, new milestone in the state of Louisiana. We'll tell you what it is and what the state is doing about it after a brief break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A fifth Louisiana death has been linked to the West Nile Virus. Health officials say they've confirmed that the mosquito- borne virus was responsible for a death that occurred last week. More than 70 Louisiana residents had been infected. That makes the Louisiana outbreak bigger than the previous biggest U.S. outbreak in New York in '99. Louisiana's secretary of health and hospitals, David Hood, joining us from Baton Rouge.
Good to see you, sir. Thank you for being with us.
DAVID HOOD, SECRETARY, LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HOSPITALS: Well, thank you. Good evening.
O'BRIEN: All right, just bring us up-to-date on efforts to try and stem all of this. I understand it's very difficult when it's a mosquito-born disease.
HOOD: It is very difficult and this -- the Centers For Disease Control that has a team in here working side-by-side with us has advised that until the cold weather sets in, probably in October or November, we're not going to see an end to this.
O'BRIEN: So what you might predict then are further human afflictions, perhaps further deaths in Louisiana, correct?
HOOD: We -- unfortunately, we do expect that to happen. And we're doing everything we can to mitigate that. Parishes, who are responsible for doing spraying against mosquitoes, are working very hard. They've done intensive spraying and we're afraid that they may exhaust their resources at the rate they're going.
O'BRIEN: Is there funding available to help them out? Or is time to call in -- for additional support from elsewhere?
HOOD: Well, Governor Mike Foster has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help out with funding. And we've asked for about 13.7 million for various aspects of combating the West Nile Virus.
O'BRIEN: Would you call this a crisis?
HOOD: I would call it an area of deep concern. I'm not sure that crisis fits that, but certainly, we've declared an emergency. And what that means is that we're trying to focus our efforts very intensively on combating this problem.
O'BRIEN: All right and just before we get away -- we'd be remiss if we just didn't offer some people some words to the wise. If you're in this particular part of the world, what should you be doing?
HOOD: Well, in Louisiana and in every other state that's affected, there's two very simple rules to follow. One is to wear insect repellent that contains the chemical called DEET, D-E-E-T. And the other thing is to make sure that your neighborhood and your yard are clear of any standing water where mosquitoes might breed. If people will do those two things, I think we can minimize this problem.
O'BRIEN: All right, good words to leave it by. Thank you very much, David Hood, who is with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. We appreciate you being with us.
All right, coming up in just a little bit, "MONEYLINE" with Lou Dobbs and to tell us a little bit about it, who else -- Lou Dobbs.
Hello, Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Miles, thank you very much. Coming right up, we'll be telling you about what turned out to be a powerful rally on Wall Street. We'll have complete coverage of the market for you. Cisco Systems helps today. After the bell, Cisco reporting a more than a 10 percent jump on its revenue. I'll be joined tonight by its chief executive officer, John Chambers. We'll be talking about his future and the future of his company.
And did the Clinton administration have a plan to attack the al Qaeda before they left office? I'll be talking with former Defense Secretary William Cohen. And government officials are distancing themselves from an unofficial report that suggests treating Saudi Arabia as an enemy. I'll be joined by two leading authorities on the subject here. Please join us. Now, let's go back to Miles O'Brien -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Lou. We'll be watching. You still have a couple of minutes to weigh in on our "Question of The Day." Is Saudi Arabia a friend or foe of the United States? Lou's going to be talking about that in just a little bit. You can vote at CNN.com/Wolf.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The heat is on in our "Picture of The Day," 1,475 degrees, to be precise. So why are these people walking across these red-hot embers? Motivational therapy, they say. At least, that's the goal. Ouch! The 27 students in the class in England spent four hours preparing for this moment through a series of lectures and exercises. In the end, each of them made it across the coals unharmed. That's about it for our red-hot program. Here's how you're weighing in on "Web Question of The Day" before we get away. Is Saudi Arabia a friend of foe of the U.S.? Eighteen percent of you said, "friend."
Eighty-two percent of you said, "foe." Remember, this is not a scientific pole. And that's all the time we have today. Tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Erin Brockovich. Her story was a hit on the big screen. Now, she's joining the reality TV business. We'll ask her about it tomorrow. Until then, on behalf of Wolf Blitzer, who is off, thanks for being with us. I'm Miles O'Brien. Lou Dobbs and "MONEYLINE" up next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
