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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Videotape Shows Presidential-type Security for Osama bin Laden; Iraqi Officials Insult Bush's Intelligence; Republican Congressman Says Martha Stewart Should Have Known Insider Trading Rules
Aired August 20, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, "Terror on Tape," CNN'S exclusive look inside al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): By God's grace...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The crucial moment when Osama bin Laden declared war on America.
Hostages freed, police take back Iraq's Berlin Embassy from those seeking to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. A senior Iraqi official calls President Bush an idiot and dares the U.S. to invade. We'll go live to Baghdad. Relatives plead for the return of a young Virginian girl, missing since the killing of her parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jennifer, we miss you. We love you very much. Please don't give up because we'll never give up until we find you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And D-Day for Martha, the deadline set by Congress for coming clean about her sale of stock. It's Tuesday, August 20, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Now another in CNN's exclusive week- long look inside al Qaeda thanks to videotapes obtained in Afghanistan by CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson.
Today, Nic brings you what was in many ways Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda's coming out party, the time when they declared war on America. Until now, you've never seen video of this event, perhaps because the tape reveals so much about al Qaeda's security and just who was hanging out with bin Laden. Here's Nic Robertson with today's edition of "Terror on Tape."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The first to appear from Osama bin Laden's armored jeep, as guns fire a welcoming salute, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's right- hand man and inspirational ally.
Exiting from the other side of the vehicle, bin Laden leads the way accompanied by his military adviser Mohammed Atef. Atef is now dead, killed last November in coalition bombing.
But this day, the 26th of May, 1998 was Osama bin Laden's biggest day ever in public, and these pictures from Eastern Afghanistan part of an exclusive library of al Qaeda tapes CNN has obtained have never been seen before. Bin Laden is about to declare war on America.
BIN LADEN (through translator): By God's grace we have formed with many other Islamic groups and organizations in the Islamic world a front called The International Islamic Front to do jihad against the crusaders and Jews.
ROBERTSON: Of all the al Qaeda tapes CNN obtained, this stands out, a record of an event the terrorist leader saw as history in the making for al Qaeda. And do we know where this compound is?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: It's near Ghowst. It's a place called Zawakil (ph).
ROBERTSON: A day journalist Peter Bergen, who'd interviewed bin Laden for CNN the previous year, believes is incredibly significant.
BERGEN: Bin laden is calling really in this very public way with the military commander, the guy who probably planned September 11, and his number two, the guy who really is almost the brains of the operation, Ayman Al-Zawahiri. They're going public. They're saying we're having this war against the United States.
ROBERTSON: A select group of Pakistani journalists and one Chinese writer were invited to record al Qaeda launch its jihad on the Western world, which while noted at the time never got wide exposure because no independent videotaping was allowed. Ismail Khan was one of the journalists there that day.
ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTANI JOURNALIST: We were given a few instructions, you know, on how to photograph and, you know, only take pictures of Osama and the two leaders who were going to sit close to him, nobody else.
ROBERTSON: Could security be the reason we have never seen the video before? That's a question we put to Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside al Qaeda."
ROHAN GUNARATNA, AUTHOR, "INSIDE AL QAEDA": Making that tape public would compromise the security of al Qaeda and of Osama bin Laden. They did not release that tape.
ROBERTSON: Perhaps bin Laden didn't want his enemies to know he always carried a weapon or that even inside the building attentive bodyguards exuded professionalism worthy of presidential security, or maybe because there were others in the room that day they didn't want identified.
BERGEN: I recognize this bodyguard here from when we interviewed bin Laden in '97.
ROBERTSON: But neither Bergen nor the journalists at this press conference was allowed to take his picture. Another identity protected, bin Laden's interpreter who shows up on other tapes recovered by CNN as a military trainer.
While there were some who wanted to hide, there were others bin Laden wanted to highlight, like the two sons of Sheikh Abdul Rahman, the spiritual leader of those convicted of blowing up the World Trade Center in 1993, Sheikh Rahman himself in a U.S. prison for planning other attacks on New York.
BERGEN: The significance of having Sheikh Rahman's sons at the press conference can't be underestimated. First of all, Sheikh Rahman's sons made it clear that they have been fighting alongside bin Laden for many, many years, up to a decade.
They also distributed at this press conference what they claimed to be the will of their father, Sheikh Rahman, calling for attacks on Americans and the purported will states, you know, attack them on the sea. Attack them on the land. Attack them everywhere. Attack their economy. I mean it's a very kind of strong statement.
ROBERTSON: Sheikh Rahman's involvement, says Bergen, key for bin Laden who uses his spiritual guidance as a religious fig leaf from behind which he broadens his terror group's appeal to radicals. With hindsight, the important moments are easy to pick out, for example, when Osama bin Laden hints at an attack on U.S. targets.
BIN LADEN (through translator): And by God's grace, the men reacted to this call and they are going on this task and they are doing a good job. By God's will, their actions are going to have a successful result in killing Americans and getting rid of them.
ROBERTSON: Within 11 weeks, al Qaeda attacked U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and perhaps almost as chilling because it didn't happen, Ayman Al-Zawahiri appears to justify an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI: The CIA outside America, there are more than the CIA's station in Cairo is the biggest station for the CIA outside America. There are more than 20,000 Americans in Egypt working with the CIA.
ROBERTSON: A journalist asked bin Laden why he thinks he has the resources to take on the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: This is a superpower of this world.
BIN LADEN (through translator): In Islam, there is a natural dignity to be respected and whoever depends on God, God will give him victory.
ROBERTSON: For bin Laden, the day seems to have been a success. He looks relaxed, even slightly elated as he poses for photographs with journalists and entertains them over tea and candy. As the journalists prepare to leave, bin Laden looks somewhat less at ease.
Notice how he flinches when a rocket-propelled grenade is launched nearby, as he inspects the security laid on for his meeting. Fighters are keen to show off their prowess. Where these men are now remains a secret.
BERGEN: We know some bodyguards have shown up. The United States has captured some of bin Laden's bodyguards, which ones exactly, what it means, I don't know.
ROBERTSON: If bin Laden is still alive, then likely his security detail will now be less visible. These pictures, however, an insight into just how seriously he takes self preservation, an image never before seen as he sets off to wage terror against the West.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Now with more on these exclusives, Nic Robertson joins us live from the CNN Center in Atlanta. Nic, what else can you tell us about the nature of the security around Osama bin Laden? For example, where did these security personnel come from?
ROBERTSON: We don't know exactly where they come from. They are mostly, from what we know, Arabs, and listening to the tapes there are different accents from around the Arab world that can be heard. We don't know exactly who trained them, either.
Certainly we do know that al Qaeda has in their possession and has used extensively U.S. Special Forces and British Special Forces manuals. We do know as well that the security guards act in a very, very professional way. People who have in the past provided security for U.S. presidents have looked at this and they say the security that they see there is very much like the security that a president would have, rings of security that expand and contract depending on the threat level.
BLITZER: Nic, give us a little preview of what we can expect in Part 3 of your exclusive series tomorrow.
ROBERTSON: Well, we're going to see training out in the field. Now it is in the field. It's in the Afghan countryside, but what the experts say when they look at this is, don't be misled by the fact that it's in the countryside.
What the al Qaeda has done is recreate cities. They blow up bridges. They go into houses. They also do assassination training, hostage taking training, and our experts who looked at this said look, what they're doing here is not training for warfare in Afghanistan. They're training for warfare in an urban environment.
They believe, our experts believe, training for warfare in European cities and in cities in the United States. So what we are seeing from tomorrow's story is that al Qaeda has been training its people to take the fight to the West.
BLITZER: More chilling information, we'll have that report of course tomorrow at the same time. Nic Robertson thanks for that good reporting. Let's move now to Berlin where German commandos have stormed the Iraqi Embassy. A previously unknown group had taken hostages, seeking to underscore its opposition to Saddam Hussein. Let's go live to CNN's Michael Holmes. He's in Berlin and he has the latest -- Michael.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf. Yes, a bizarre sequence of events here in Berlin starting this afternoon when at about 2:30 five men, we believe them to be Iraqis, strolled into the Iraqi Embassy, it would appear. There was something of an altercation.
Two staff members there were slightly hurt, one affected by tear gas, we're told. They went up. They took four people hostage. Two of those people were released over the next five hours, as negotiations continued. We're told there were no political demands made.
These five men said that this was the first step on the road to the liberation of Iraq. They said their protest was peaceful. It would end in a timely manner. However, German police decided when it would end. Some ten or 15 specially-trained Special Forces Division of the police stormed the embassy; took the men into custody.
Apparently there was no resistance; however, they found a loaded pistol, a stun gun, and a starter's pistol. No demands made and they gave up without resistance. They're in custody at the moment. German legal procedure would have it that it will probably several days before any charges are laid. Wolf.
BLITZER: So what's the likely impact? What are the Germans thinking about? What happened as far as Iraq and a potential U.S. war against Iraq is concerned?
HOLMES: That's a very relevant question. In short, no one likes the idea here and almost everyone agrees on that. There was a poll taken not long ago in which 87 percent of Germans opposed any German role in any war or military action against Iraq, an extraordinarily high result. The German government also definitely opposed to any involvement by this nation in anything the U.S. chooses to do in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Michael Holmes in Berlin, thanks for that report. And tough talk from the United States on a possible preemptive strike against Iraq, how close is the Pentagon to war? We'll have live reports from Washington and Baghdad when we return.
Plus, homegrown terror, the accused mailbox bomber goes for an insanity defense. And later, Martha Stewart faces the music. Will she be subpoenaed by Congress? The head of the investigative panel will join us live.
But first, our question of the day: Is Martha Stewart being singled out because she's a celebrity? Go to cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can cast your vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. U.S. officials confirm the Bush Administration weighed a possible strike against an al Qaeda linked germ warfare facility in Northern Iraq. The area is controlled by Kurdish groups but the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he thinks the responsibility lies elsewhere. Here's CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is refusing to discuss any Pentagon and CIA plans to launch a covert mission against a facility in Northern Iraq where Kurdish militants affiliated with the al Qaeda were suspected of testing biological agents.
Sources say the site where the biological agent Rison (ph) was tested has now likely been disbanded and any plan to attack it now withdrawn. It was a primitive facility in the part of Northern Iraq not controlled by Saddam Hussein. All the secretary would say is that he doesn't buy the notion that the Iraqi president knew nothing about it.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: In a vicious, repressive dictatorship that exercises near total control over its population, it's very hard to imagine that the government is not aware of what's taking place in the country.
STARR: And Rumsfeld would only answer hypothetically when asked about the policy of launching preemptive strikes, emphasizing his answer did not involve Iraq.
RUMSFELD: In weighing the things, you have to make a judgment or net. Do you think that you're acting most responsibly by avoiding the threat that could be characterized, X numbers of people dying, innocent people? And, it's that kind of an evaluation one would have to make.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (on camera): So, Wolf, no movement today on the question of when the U.S. might launch military action against Iraq, but this whole chapter is far from closed. Don Rumsfeld making it very clear today that he believes the al Qaeda are in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein knows all about it -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much. And for its part, Iraq remains defiant. CNN's Chief News Executive Eason Jordan has had exclusive access to a top Iraqi official who seemingly dared the United States to invade, and he scorned directly on President Bush. Eason Jordan is joining us now live from Baghdad. Eason, is there a sense in Baghdad right now that war is inevitable?
EASON JORDAN, PRES., NEWS GATHERING, CNN: Wolf, I think that's right. There is that sense here in the Iraqi capitol. The Iraqi people, the people on the streets, there's a sense of foreboding among them. They've been permitted by the Iraqi government to double up on their food rations to stock up and so there is some stockpiling underway by just the average people in the streets.
We have seen many different signs of preparations. We've seen roadblocks outside of the city where clearly the services here, the authorities are heightening their state of readiness and the government officials with whom we speak say we hope for the best but expect the worst, and there's a real sense of foreboding here and an expectation of war.
BLITZER: And tell us about these statements that were made to you by an Iraqi official involving President Bush, some less than flattering, shall we say, comments.
JORDAN: Well, that's right, Wolf. The senior Iraqi official with whom I spoke, he asked not to be identified by name. He referred to President Bush as "an idiot," and he said that the president is taking the world into an adventure that would have a disastrous outcome and that Iraq would actually welcome, according to this Iraqi official, in fact appreciate a U.S. ground invasion because this Iraqi official said that would lead to a fair fight on the ground in which, according to this official, Iraq would be victorious.
BLITZER: Eason, we're getting a lot of conflicting signals from Baghdad about whether they will allow U.N. weapons inspectors to come back in. One day they send a letter to the U.N. saying that under certain circumstances they can come back, but now you're hearing from a top Iraqi official they're not coming back under any circumstances.
JORDAN: Well, I think Iraq recognizes that the conditions the U.N. requires for the inspections to resume basically meaning under all circumstances there can be no holds barred, that U.N. inspectors can go anywhere anytime for as long as they want. Iraq recognizes that it can not get the U.N. to change those requirements for the U.N. inspection.
So the Iraqi leadership, I believe, has come to the conclusion, at least one senior official with whom I met today said it would be foolish for the Iraqi government to allow these U.N. inspections to resume, effectively ruling out that possibility.
However, this official said that if the U.S. Congress responds favorably to an invitation from the speaker of the National Assembly here in Iraq to send a congressional delegation with its own investigators to look for weapons of mass destruction, then Iraq would allow that for a few weeks, but only a few weeks, and then it would be over and Iraq would insist on the lifting of the sanctions.
BLITZER: Eason Jordan, our man in Baghdad right now, thanks for that update. See you back here in the United States soon. Meanwhile, the United States military recently concluded its most elaborate ever war game. It was supposed to test the war fighting concepts that the Pentagon envisions for the future, but midway through, the commander of the so-called opposing force quit saying the maneuvers were rigged. The retired marine Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper told the Army Times that instead of free-play, the two-sided game that was advertised became a scripted exercise. He said the planners had a predetermined end and they scripted the exercise to that end. The Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman General Peter Pace today had this response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHAIRMAN: In the Millennium Challenge you had several cases of experimentation going on at the same time you had exercises going on. So, for example, if what the opposition force commander wanted to do at a particular time the experiment, was going to change the experiment to the point where the data being collected was no longer going to be valid as an experiment, then he was asked not to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Joining me now is the former United States Ambassador Robert Oakley who played the role of the civilian leader in the Millennium Challenge war game. You were, Ambassador Oakley, a hypothetical Osama bin Laden or Ayatollah of Iran, the enemy. You were the supreme leader, is that right?
ROBERT OAKLEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: Yes, and I had trouble with my rogue general, who was played by General Van Riper.
BLITZER: Why did you have trouble with your rogue general?
OAKLEY: Because he really was out to unseat me and I thought he was a threat and that was part of the game. We both had to deal with this mighty blue military force that was bearing down on us, but...
BLITZER: The blue being the United States?
OAKLEY: That's right. But the question of whether it was rigged or not, quite frankly it was meant to be a learning experience, and to me the best evidence it wasn't rigged is the fact that they allowed Van Riper to come in there because nobody could put them to a tougher test than he and expose the weaknesses in some of the concepts.
BLITZER: Why do you think he's now coming out? He knows this business. This was a huge war game. It lasted for three weeks, went on basically all over the world, cost the American taxpayers a quarter of a billion dollars, $250 million. Why do you think he thinks it was all rigged?
OAKLEY: Well, it was rigged in the sense that obviously the game had to be played out and so that was going to go to the end. We couldn't allow red to sort of outsmart blue and say the whole game is coming to an end today. You had to play it all the way through. But the question is not who wins or who loses on a particular event or a particular day but how much you learn from it.
BLITZER: All right, let's talk about how much the United States learned, the U.S. military learned from this. You are the supreme leader of the bad guys in this particular case, you did quite well against that high-tech U.S. military machine.
OAKLEY: By using low-tech things, which are not mirror images of what we would use, you see, and that's what we always have to remember. You remember Beirut, Wolf, where people used a truck bomb and we had carrier, air, and 16-inch guns off the coast. They didn't play fair. Our enemies are always going to try to find a way to outsmart us because they're weaker than we are, and so you have to be constantly on the alert for that.
BLITZER: So what was the bottom line conclusion that you drew from this three-week exercise if it comes to be that there's a U.S. war against Iraq in the near future?
OAKLEY: Well, I think they learned a lot. They learned a lot about the communications, command and control. They learned a lot about using different forces together in a more joint operation. They learned a lot of about sort of collaborative planning and making a lot of people aware of what the commander's intent is so they can all get on the save wavelength more rapidly.
But they also have learned some things about not underestimating the enemy which are going to be important in dealing with someone like Saddam Hussein.
BLITZER: So you concluded that any military confrontation, now 11 years after the first Gulf War, would by no means be a simple matter?
OAKLEY: Absolutely not.
BLITZER: So are you more or less inclined, if you were asked for advice, to tell the President of the United States, go for a preemptive strike?
OAKLEY: One of the things that this game pointed out is how hard it is to really understand the enemy, and I think that's going to be true of Saddam Hussein. Exactly what's he going to do? How's he going to do it? How strong will the allegiances be of those who will follow him or defect from him? These are things that are subjective. They're very, very hard to judge but they're going to be very, very important in the outcome.
BLITZER: Good experience for the U.S. military and the political leadership if it comes down to that. Ambassador Oakley, a former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, former U.S. Ambassador-at-large for conterterrorism, someone who knows the situation quite well, and obviously someone who knows how to think like the enemy in this particular case. Thanks for joining us.
OAKLEY: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: And in just a moment, alert in California, authorities are on the lookout for a missing girl again; and later, an emotional plea in Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jennifer, we miss you. We love you very much. Please don't give up because we'll never give up until we find you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Also a deadline passes for Martha Stewart, but is her story passing muster with congressional investigators? We'll speak with the lead investigator. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer, coming up Amber Alert again in California, the latest on a ten-year-old girl missing from her home. Plus Martha Stewart's growing mess; hear from the man in charge of investigating the queen of clean; but first, a look at some other stories making news right now.
An insanity defense is planned for accused mailbox bomber Luke Helder. Helder is scheduled to go on trial in November on charges he planted pipe bombs in 18 mailboxes in five states. His lawyers filed a notice with the court saying she intends to call expert witnesses to testify about Helder's mental condition. Helder told authorities he wanted the bomb locations to form the outline of, get this, a happy face on a map.
Gas is said to be the cause of an apartment building explosion in Moscow tonight, four stories of a five-story brick building collapses. Authorities say at least four people were hurt.
A lesson in the law of unintended consequences: U.S. efforts to fight terrorism are interfering with U.S. efforts to fight drugs. A United Nations report says poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rebounded to near record levels this year. The poppies are used to produce opium and heroin. Cultivation plunged under the Taliban regime, but it has made a comeback under the new U.S.-backed Afghan government.
China's second-biggest lake is on the verge of overflowing, and millions of people are in jeopardy. The lake is located in central Hunan province, one of the regions hit hardest by recent flooding. Workers and volunteers are trying to reinforce more than 1,000 miles of embankments. Floods have claimed almost 1,000 lives in China this year.
Firefighters along the California-Nevada border hope to confine a wildfire near Lake Tahoe tonight. It was started by a small plane that crashed shortly after taking off from the South Lake Tahoe Airport. Two people died in the crash. The fire has burned 325 acres and closed a highway.
There is also a wildfire near another well-known site, South Dakota's Mount Rushmore. It has burned 10,000 acres and destroyed three homes. There are flames along both sides of U.S. 16, which connects Rapid City with the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Several residential areas have been evacuated. Police in California have issued a statewide "Amber Alert" for a 10-year-old girl. Nichole Timmons was reported missing this morning from the family home in Riverside. The girl's mother told police her daughter was not in her room this morning, and was last seen when she went to bed last night.
Police have now named a suspect in the case. He is identified as 68-year-old Glenn Park, who once was a baby-sitter for the girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASST. CHIEF MIKE SMITH, RIVERSIDE POLICE DEPT.: ... that an individual whose name I believe you have, Glenn Macarthur (ph) Park, and I think you have the vehicle description of him, is in fact, we believe in company with our victim, Nichole Taylor Timmons.
The information that we are working at this time is that the two are together, that they are perhaps in central California someplace. We do not know where. We are particularly interested, obviously, in any assistance from the public in locating Glenn Park. He may have some other names, AKAs if you will, who is in company with our victim.
We are asking that if anybody has any information that they contact 911, the local CHP or local law enforce authorities. Or if you have any information, feel free, please, to call 909-320-8001. And please use caution. Just notify your local law enforcement agencies, and we'll respond to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Nichole Timmons is 4-and-a-half feet tall, she weighs 100 pounds, and has long, brown hair and hazel and gray eyes. There is a possibility, the police say, that the suspect may have left the state. There is an "Amber Alert" in California, as we've reported.
And relatives of a missing Virginia girl are pleading for her safe return. Jennifer Short was reported missing after her parents were found shot to death in the family home.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve brings us up-to-date on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time, the family of 9-year-old Jennifer Short stepped into the public eye, pleading with those who took her to let her go.
RUBY YOUNG, JENNIFER'S AUNT: Please release her so she can come home. We all miss her and hurt beyond words.
MESERVE: Jennifer's aunt begged anyone with information about the apparent abduction to step forward. Then, she addressed her comments to Jennifer directly.
YOUNG: Jennifer, we miss you, and we love you very much. Please don't give up, because we will never give up until we find you. MESERVE: It has been five days since Jennifer was discovered missing, and her parents, Mary and Michael Short, found murdered at their home.
Jennifer's uncle says he knows of no family situations that might explain what is, for now, an inexplicable crime.
JIM WHITEHEAD, JENNIFER'S UNCLE: There has been no evidence, nothing I've heard of, of any trouble.
MESERVE: The search has been suspended, all of the evidence collected. The investigation now comes down to interviews. Even some of Jennifer's young friends have been questioned by police. The sheriff's department says it will continue to pour whatever resources are necessary into the case.
SHERIFF H.F. CASSELL, HENRY COUNTY, VIRGINIA: Obviously, if the leads slow down and we've talked to everyone that we know to talk to, we'll cut back on the number, but we'll stay focused on this at the depth necessary as long as necessary.
MESERVE (on camera): Mary and Michael Short will be buried on Thursday. Their obituaries list them both as being survived by a daughter, Jennifer.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Collinsville, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: A sad case.
Martha, Martha, Martha, will she be called to testify against her will? Hear from the man who has the power to decide.
Plus, a legal concern that may involve your antidepressant. Find out why a judge is pulling the plug on Paxil ads.
But first, our "News Quiz."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(voice-over): Which species of North American bear is responsible for the highest number of fatal attacks on humans? Polar bear, grizzly bear, black bear. The answer coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: CNN has learned that a former Enron executive is getting ready to plead guilty to charges stemming the company's collapse. Michael Copper (ph) is expected to admit, perhaps as early as tomorrow, that he conspired to commit wire fraud and launder money. This would be the first time in the investigation that criminal charges have been levied against an Enron employee. Copper (ph) managed partnerships Enron allegedly used to disguise its losses. It looks like lifestyle guru, Martha Stewart, will avoid a congressional subpoena. Stewart's lawyers voluntary turned 1,000 pages of documents over to a congressional committee today. The panel is investigating reports Stewart was engaging in insider trading when she sold stock in a biotech company called ImClone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Martha Stewart has denied any wrongdoing, and so far, she has not been charged with anything. Her case is all about the timing of her actions, and whether she knew that the information she used to sell her stock in ImClone was obtained illegally, either directly or indirectly, from former ImClone CEO, Sam Waksal.
FRANK RAZZANO, FMR. SEC TRIAL ATTORNEY: What they might allege is that when the broker called Martha Stewart and told Martha Stewart that the Waksals were dumping their stock, that that was inside information which belonged to Merrill Lynch and belonged to the Waksals. And that she knew or should have known that she was receiving this information unlawfully.
BLITZER: In the simplest terms, you'd be committing insider trading if you took information from a company, information not available to the trading public, and used that information to trade that company stock. If that information was obtained illegally by someone else and you knew it was stolen, that's also considered insider trading.
But the existing law is somewhat vague, meaning the alleged crime may not always be as clear-cut as a bank robbery.
RAZZANO: It's very retrospective. What happens is, events occur. Usually, there's not too much debate about what the events were. And then, people go back, and in retrospect and in hindsight, try to figure out whether a crime was committed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: It's unclear whether Martha Stewart knew ImClone stock was about to plummet. What also may be in dispute, her claim that she already had an arrangement in place to sell the stock when it hit a certain price.
Representative Jim Greenwood is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. He is investigating Stewart's papers. They want Stewart's papers.
Congressman, first of all, have you received today everything by the time of the 5:00 p.m. deadline, everything you wanted?
REP. JIM GREENWOOD (R), ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE: Well, the lawyers say that they have complied fully with our request. They delivered actually 1,050 pages of documents in an accordion file at 4:10 today.
We will begin to review them and have a pretty good idea of whether they have met our requirements. But I suspect that they have.
BLITZER: So at this point, what does that say to you about forcing her to come before your committee and testify, assuming she doesn't want to do that?
GREENWOOD: Well, first off, I think the easiest thing for her to do would have been, and still would be, to come and just tell us her story. She says that she's completely innocent. She has put that in a letter to us, very formally, through her attorneys.
So it would be very helpful to us and to her if she would just fill in the details for us in an interview. Because she has declined to do that, we have to ask for these documents and try to piece this story together. And if we still find that there are gaps in the story, and there probably will be, then we may have to subpoena her to come and testify at a hearing, and that would happen after Labor Day.
BLITZER: What happens if she says that she still, through her attorneys, doesn't want to testify, will you make her go through that spectacle of appearing and citing her right against self- incrimination?
GREENWOOD: Well, that's an important question. We did that with Arthur Andersen. We did that with Enron. And as you just mentioned, one of those individuals, Mr. Copper (ph), who didn't want to come before our committee, but did, and took the Fifth in public, has pled guilty.
We think it's important that America have the opportunity to understand these issues. And so, we don't like to make it easy for people to just take the Fifth and never come forward. But at the same time, we understand the celebrity of Ms. Stewart, so we're trying to decide whether we would want to create that media circus or not. It's not my first choice.
BLITZER: You said earlier that no one should get a free pass, if they're rich and famous or a celebrity or anything like that. But at the same time, if someone is a celebrity, do they automatically become a target that they wouldn't necessarily have become if they were just an average person out there?
GREENWOOD: No, absolutely not. Ms. Stewart was never a target of our committee. We were looking at the company, we were looking at the product that it made, we were looking at FDA's procedures. The insider trading of Mr. Waksal was only in the course of that investigation, and we came across Ms. Stewart's trade. We did not bring her to our hearing in June. We have tried to be very judicious about all of this.
So she is not getting any special treatment one way or another. She's not getting any special attention, but nor is she entitled to any special compensation.
BLITZER: In the scheme of things, with all of the corporate scandals that have been out there, with Enron and all of these other companies that have gone down, WorldCom, Martha Stewart is relatively- speaking small potatoes, right?
GREENWOOD: Well, there's a big issue. She may only be dealing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in this instance, but there's major issue. And that is to do with the integrity of the marketplace and whether inside trading is something that's to be tolerated or not.
I think it's important for everyone to understand that Joe average and Mary average invested in the stock market for their retirement, for their children's college education, should bare no more or less risk than someone who happens to go to the right cocktail parties in the Hamptons. And that's the point here that we are trying to make. And if we need to tighten up the law in this case, we'll do that as a result of this investigation.
BLITZER: That's a fair point. Congressman Greenwood, thanks for joining us. Good luck with your investigation.
And here is your chance to weigh in on this story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this: Is Martha Stewart being singled out because she's a celebrity? Go to my Web page, CNN.com/wolf. That's where you can vote.
While you are there, by the way, send me your comments. We try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily on-line column, cnn.com/wolf.
A judge takes a stand on a popular antidepressant. And a bear attack in the Catskills: How a baby girl became a rare victim?
But first, the answer to our "News Quiz."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(voice-over): Earlier, we asked: Which species of North American bear is responsible for the highest number of fatal attacks on humans?
Over the past 10 years, an average of three attacks have occurred each year, two by grizzlies, one by black bears.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We have this just in. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and the mother of the broadcaster journalist, Maria Shriver, is in Sibley Memorial Hospital here in Washington, getting ready to undergo surgery for a fractured hip. The 81-year-old fell in her Silver Spring, Maryland home Tuesday morning, according to Shriver's son, the Maryland lawmaker, Mark Shriver.
We'll continue to follow Mrs. Shriver's situation and have more on that as it becomes available. Once again, Eunice Kennedy Shriver in a hospital ready to undergo surgery for a fractured hip.
Now, a follow-up to a story we first reported yesterday. Wildlife experts say they are baffled by a bear attack at a resort in the Catskills Mountains in upstate New York. A black bear was shot to death after it snatched a 5-month-old baby from a stroller. The child died from her injuries.
Reporter Jerry Gretzinger, with our affiliate, WRGB, has the latest on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERRY GRETZINGER, CNN AFFILIATE WRGB REPORTER (voice-over): Fallsburg, New York is typically a quiet vacation spot, filled with peaceful bungalows. But on Monday, cries of "bear" broke that silence. A black bear grabbed an infant, 5-month-old Ester Schwimmer, out of her stroller and tried to drag her into the woods.
CHIEF BRENT LAWRENCE, FALLSBURG POLICE: Now, eyewitnesses tell us that they actually saw the child in the bear's jaws. They started yelling and screaming. The bear got scared, dropped the child. With that, Officer Decker was responding simultaneously.
OFC. DAVID DECKER, FALLSBURG POLICE: As I approached the wood line, the baby was being taken out of the wood line by emergency personnel. I entered the woods, where I saw the bear standing approximately 15 foot in front of me. I approached the bear. The bear ran up a tree where I just had just passed and shot the bear.
GRETZINGER: The bear was shot at least five times and was transported to state labs in Delmar. Chief pathologist, Ward Stone, says the rabies tests were negative, and it appears the bear was just hungry.
WARD STONE, N.Y. CHIEF PATHOLOGIST: Bears are always hungry, and they are looking for something, and they have to put on a lot of weight by fall. And unfortunately, the baby was there, and I guess it wasn't afraid of people, and it picked it up.
Whether it knew it had a baby or it smelled milk and smells -- it smelled like food around the baby and thought it was just picking up something like that, I don't know. I don't know what it had in mind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: A very sad story. That report from Jerry Gretzinger with our affiliate, WRGB.
The maker of a popular antidepressant is ordered to pull its ads. Find out why a judge says, claims about Paxil are simply misleading.
Plus, it could have been aliens, but not likely. Unusual crop signs in the Midwest puts football on the mind -- stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
On the medical front, a federal judge is ordering the maker of the popular antidepressant, Paxil, to stop all TV commercials that claim the drug is not habit-forming.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with more.
Sanjay, precisely what does this ruling mean?
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, at the heart of this issue, Wolf, is 35 patients have filed a class-action lawsuit, basically talking about the fact that Paxil was never told to them to be habit-forming, that meaning that after they actually stopped taking the medication, they had symptoms, such as nausea, fever and actual electrical zaps they described going through their body. And they felt that they weren't adequately prepared for those types of symptoms when actually stopping the medication.
Now, Paxil, along with other medications, have a lot of television advertising, and as part their television advertising almost a year ago now as well, they started advertising that Paxil was not habit-forming, it was not addictive. And so obviously, Wolf, those two things are not -- are at odds with one another, and that's at the heart of it.
We actually talked to some folks from the GlaxoSmithKline company, which makes Paxil, and this is what they had to say as well: "The television ads were viewed by the FDA before they appeared. The agency, at that time, raised no objection to the language at issue. There is no reliable scientific evidence that Paxil is habit-forming or leads to addiction." And that is the company's line on this particular issue -- Wolf.
BLITZER: So Paxil will still be sold. The only change this popular antidepressant, which a lot of our viewers probably know about or have loved ones who take it, the only difference is the commercial will stop, but the Paxil will still be available.
GUPTA: That's right. And the makers of the drug say it is not habit-forming, it is not addictive. When you stop any medication, you may have some symptoms, such as nausea, fever, some of the symptoms that these folks are describing, but that is not the same as an addiction.
BLITZER: All right, let's talk about an herbal supplement that's making a lot of news today, a lot of our viewers know about Gingko. What's going on there?
GUPTA: It's a huge industry, Wolf, a $46 million dollar industry in this country alone. What they are talking about now is that Gingko became quite popular a few years ago when it was shown that it actually helped memory and thinking of elderly folks that had difficulty with those sorts of things. In fact, that study came out in 1997.
There is a new study now in a pretty reputable medical journal that says if you look at normal, healthy, elderly adults, they actually have no improvement in cognition, that is thinking or memory, as compared to a placebo if they're taking Gingko. They actually looked at 230 people and really found no difference.
So this is a little bit of a different result for the study, compared to what we've seen before. But some of the critics are concerned that you can't really look at people with normal memory. Gingko is actually targeted towards people who do have difficulty with memory, people with such things as Alzheimer's and dementia.
So it may still be useful for those folks, but it doesn't seem to have much benefit for people with normal thinking -- Wolf.
BLITZER: OK, thanks for the explanation, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as usual, appreciate it very much.
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. Jan Hopkins sitting in tonight for Lou -- Jan.
JAN HOPKINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Wolf. Coming up on MONEYLINE, we'll have complete coverage of CNN's exclusive look inside al Qaeda's terror network. Tonight, we'll focus on the time Osama bin Laden declared a holy war on America.
And eight months after Enron filed for bankruptcy, a former executive of the company is expected to plea guilty to criminal charges. We'll have that story.
Martha Stewart, today, handed over documents about her controversial sale of the ImClone stock. We'll tell you what's next for Martha and her company.
All of that and a lot more ahead on MONEYLINE -- Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Jan.
Only two minutes left to weigh in on our "Web Question of the Day." Is Martha Stewart being singled out because she is a celebrity? Log in to cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote.
The results, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Our "Picture of the Day" comes from southern Wisconsin. The owners of a farm in Lake Geneva are attracting a lot of Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears fans with a complicated maze. They have fashioned the teams' helmets in a big cornfield. Each helmet is three acres. Between them, is a one-acre football.
The Packers and the Bears rivalry is the longest in the NFL, kicking off in 1921. This was not done by space aliens, only football fans here in the United States.
Now, here is how you are weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Earlier, we asked: Is Martha Stewart being singled out because she's a celebrity? Forty-six percent of you say yes; 54 percent say no.
Remember, this is not a scientific poll. You can find out the exact vote tally on my Web site, cnn.com/wolf. We'll keep that question up there if you want to continue the voting.
Time now to hear directly from you on the al Qaeda tapes CNN has aired yesterday, Patrick writes this: "The videos were disturbing. Thankfully, the media got to them before the government did so people can now see what evil intentions they have."
P. Schneider writes this: "Thank you for warning us about the strong content of the al Qaeda terror tapes. I think possibly every dog lover in the world wants bin Laden's head for what he did to those pups.
And from Gayle: "I am glad you aired the dog experiment tape. It exposes the depravity of al Qaeda, and it's also a good reminder of the realities of research on animals. Americans tend to forget that countless dogs, cats, rabbits and mice endure agonizing deaths in our own labs every year."
Francis asks: "Have any of the war hawks even bothered to consider how old Saddam Hussein is, and how much longer he will be around? I bet not that long."
Francis, you're wrong. Saddam is 65 years old. He may be around for quite a bit of time.
That's all the time we have today. Tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Nic Robertson shares another rare look inside al Qaeda training camps, and how recruits were taught lessons in assassinations and hostage-taking.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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