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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Hurricane Lili Gains Strength, Expected to Hit Louisiana, Texas Tomorrow; Will the Senate OK the Use of Military Force in Iraq?
Aired October 02, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Showdown Iraq, a show of unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: The use of force may become unavoidable to protect the region and the world from Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: But will the Senate give the final go ahead? He was known as the most trusted man in America. Is he now the voice of dissent? I'll discuss Iraq with legendary journalist Walter Cronkite. Sabotage, discovered in midair, who cut the lifelines on more than a dozen parachutes at a Marine Corps base? Collision on camera, a cop on foot patrol, an alleged drunk driver, a Tennessee police sergeant tells us about her close call.
It's Wednesday, October 2, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. A mad scramble is underway at this hour along the central Gulf coast of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people are heading to higher ground as a very dangerous hurricane, Lili, moves ever so closer.
Right now it's a monster hurricane, a Category 4 with sustained winds of 135 miles an hour. Landfall is expected just hours from now along the western Louisiana coast. The National Hurricane Center's Deputy Director Ed Rappaport is joining me now live from Miami with the latest. Ed, tell us about this monster.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, you're right, Lili has strengthened all day long, now has maximum winds actually up to 140 miles per hour. That is Category 4. It means it's extremely dangerous. It will be destructive, both because of the winds and the storm surge. Now storm surges historically have taken most lives with these kinds of hurricanes and we expect a surge of on the order of 20 feet where it makes landfall.
BLITZER: So, show us if you can on the map, Ed, where this hurricane precisely appears to be heading.
RAPPAPORT: Well at this point, we have the center of the hurricane, of Lili, about 275 miles south of the coast of Louisiana. The movement is towards the northwest. We expect a northward turn over the next 12 to 24 hours with landfall most likely in south central to southwestern Louisiana during the pre-dawn to around noontime tomorrow. That would bring hurricane force winds to the shore line in the a.m. hours and with hurricane force winds proceeding inland, perhaps as much as 150 miles over the next 24 to 36 hours.
BLITZER: So this could affect hundreds of thousands of people in that area but it won't get all that close to New Orleans. How close will it be to New Orleans?
RAPPAPORT: Well, if our forecast is perfect and it never is, we're talking about the center and its hurricane force winds remaining to the west of New Orleans. But we do expect tropical storm force winds in the New Orleans area, perhaps gusts to hurricane force and there could be a storm surge in that area on the order of four to six feet as well.
BLITZER: So, what is your recommendation right now for people who are living in that area, who happen to be in that area where this hurricane is heading?
RAPPAPORT: It is critical at this stage to rush preparations to protect your life to completion. It's also very important to follow exactly what your emergency management officials are telling you at this stage.
BLITZER: And, when you say rush to completion, what does that mean, to get away from there or to look for higher ground?
RAPPAPORT: Do what the emergency management officials in your area are telling you. It depends on where you are and what they're saying, but for most of the area, it does require an evacuation in the south central to southwestern area. We need the people to get away from the shoreline. Again, we've had high storm surges in previous storms with hundreds of lives lost in this area.
BLITZER: Finally, Ed, compare this hurricane, its potential, to recent hurricanes over the past 10, 20, 30 years.
RAPPAPORT: This would probably be the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana during that period. In fact, if we go back to our records, this may be one of the two or three strongest hurricanes to make landfall in Louisiana in the last 150 years if it maintains its current strength.
BLITZER: All right, that sounds very ominous. Ed Rappaport, thanks for that update. We'll be checking in periodically of course with you and your colleagues at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
And, along the Gulf Coast, time of course is of the essence as Lili lurks offshore. While Louisiana appears to be the Bullseye, preparations are underway as far east as Alabama. There are some scenes from Mobile, Alabama of course that are already showing some great concern, and to the west in Grand Isle, Louisiana, workers are shoring up the coastline damaged by Tropical Storm Isidore less than only a week ago. That part of Louisiana hasn't seen a storm this ferocious in decades, maybe even 150 years as we just heard from Ed Rappaport. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in now with CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's in Cameron, Louisiana.
What's going on over there -- Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, last week when Tropical Storm Isidore hit Louisiana, this part of Louisiana felt that it had dodged a bullet as the storm pushed a little bit eastward. But here, on the southwestern edge of the Louisiana Gulf coastline, folks here are starting to prepare for the worst.
We're in the town of Cameron, Louisiana, which is a predominant shrimping community here and a lot of the boats - this area usually bustling with shrimp boats heading out to the Gulf to make its runs and a lot of freight liners will be seen also moving out to the Gulf as well.
What we've seen is a lot of these boats heading north throughout most of the day and now it's pretty much quiet. In fact, the guys working the ferries here just tell me they have one more run of one other person that's on the other side of this water that needs to be brought back here to land so that they can start heading northward. That's the last person here.
This town has really emptied out throughout most of the day. There are several parts of Louisiana that have been issued mandatory evacuations, so those folks have been starting, heading further northward seeking protection from this storm.
But right now as you can see, Wolf, the storm, the clouds, cloudy skies here but not a lot of wind yet and still no sign that Hurricane Lili is out there but obviously from everything we've been talking about, every indication is that this storm is expected to pound this part of Louisiana severely over the course of the next 24 hours - Wolf.
BLITZER: So, Ed, of course, what about you and our other journalistic colleagues? What do you guys plan on doing?
LAVANDERA: We're going to hunker down in Lake Charles, Louisiana. There's a hotel that we - we need to protect our satellite truck and, of course, ourselves as well and the crew members. So, we're going to be heading up there as soon as we're done with these reports throughout the next couple of hours and then we'll be heading northward up there and hopefully that will offer enough protection for this storm.
BLITZER: All right, Ed Lavandera, please be safe. Tell that to all of our producers, all of our technical people. We want you to make sure you stay away from that eye of the storm, appreciate it very much. And, as we've mentioned, Lili is what's described as a Category 4 hurricane. What does that classification mean? CNN Meteorologist Orelon Sidney is joining us now from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Orelon, tell us what that means to those viewers who aren't familiar with a Category 4 hurricane. ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's one word I can use, Wolf, Hugo. That is what Hurricane Hugo was as it made landfall in 1989 in South Carolina, a Category 4 storm. The winds again now to 140 but there's gusts up to 167 miles an hour. That's Category 5 wind gusts.
So, you're going to see quite a bit of damage associated with this as it moves in. The hurricane force winds are about 45 miles in diameter around the center of the storm and again located now 285 miles south of New Orleans.
This is going to be a very, very dangerous storm. You can see here that up to 155 miles an hour is Category 4, but then those gusts go up over 155. Indeed, that is Category 5, again 167 the highest gusts reported from the hurricane hunters so far.
And here it comes, folks, here come the first rain bands with thunderstorms moving into the southern portion of Louisiana. It's going to go downhill from here. It's not going to get any better until this storm system moves through and the eye, of course, is still 200 some miles off the coast.
No change in the hurricane warnings. High Island, Texas out to the Mississippi River still under a hurricane warning; tropical storm warning in effect from the Florida panhandle all the way back to Alabama, and then from the Galveston Bay down to Freeport, Texas, so these areas definitely going to be under the gun as we go through the evening.
Some of the rain starting to move in, but here's the jet stream. This is the big frontal system that's going to pick up the storm, take it and pull it off to the north and east, so we believe that that's the system that's going to make its move a little bit later tonight into Louisiana. Wolf.
BLITZER: Orelon Sidney, who will be watching this hurricane with the rest of us. Thanks for that important information. And, you can keep track of Hurricane Lili online. Just go to cnn.com/weather. You can also get there by logging on to my Web site cnn.com/wolf. Of course, stay with CNN for complete, continuing, the most authoritative coverage of this monster hurricane. We'll be watching it over the next several hours.
Now to another developing story that's breaking right now. Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to blow up an American Airlines transatlantic flight with a bomb in his shoes intends to plead guilty. CNN Justice Correspondent, Kelli Arena, is joining me now live. She has all the details, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, lawyers for the alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid say yes he does indeed plan to plead guilty to all eight charges against him. We are told this is not a deal that was made with the government. This is a decision that Reid and his lawyers made on their own.
Supposedly, Reid says that he does not want to go through a trial to bring negative publicity to his family. That's why he made this decision. As you said, he is accused of trying to blow up a bomb in his shoes aboard an American Airlines flight that was going from Paris to Miami with 197 passengers onboard.
Now, the offer doesn't come without a hitch. Reid apparently in a motion that was filed today said that he wants the language removed from two counts against him that talk about the fact that he received training from al Qaeda. The U.S. Attorney, of course, is expected to review the filing today, did not have any immediate comment. The trial against Reid was supposed to start next month, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelli, as you well know, whenever there is a plea agreement, if there's a plea agreement, the defendant has to fully cooperate with law enforcement authorities. That's one of the provisions that's almost standard in this kind of an arrangement. Reid potentially could provide U.S. authorities with a lot of important information about al Qaeda and terrorism if the accusations against him are indeed true.
ARENA: According to investigators, Wolf, he may be able to provide some information but he is not seen as someone who was significant within the al Qaeda terrorist organization but the belief has been all along that he did not act alone, and so whether or not he provides information on people who hooked him up and got him in touch with the necessary people to make the bombs and to pull off the alleged attack would be very important.
If he were to lead them to others, but insofar as knowledge that he has about the operation or about possible other attacks that are being planned is, at least according to investigators highly unlikely, back to you.
BLITZER: Kelli Arena, our Justice Correspondent, thanks very much. I'll be interested personally in hearing about his exploits in Israel when he went there just before he made that trip to the United States with that shoe bomb allegedly onboard. When we come back, why is Walter Cronkite speaking out on Iraq? I'll as him. That's coming up.
Also, more on that regime change policy. Is assassination out of bounds, a closer look at the implications of a one-bullet comment when we come back: Plus, sabotage at Camp LeJeune, at least a dozen parachutes rigged to fail. Is someone targeting marines for murder? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A deadly blast near a military base in the Philippines has killed three people, including a U.S. Special Ops soldier. At least 25 other people were injured when the homemade bomb detonated. Our Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr, has more on the explosion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Police officials believe the blast of nails and shrapnel came from a bomb attached to a motorcycle. The explosion occurred in this open-air market about half a mile outside the gate of a military base in Zamboanga (ph) City, some 500 miles south of Manila. One U.S. Army soldier was killed, another critically wounded, both part of a Special Operations Task Force. More than 20 Filipinos were injured. The Bush administration condemned the attack.
PHILIP REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: Our officials from our embassy are in close contact with appropriate Philippine authorities and, as you would expect, the embassy is reviewing its security posture and it's going to take any additional steps necessary.
STARR: U.S. and Philippine officials don't know if the powerful homemade bomb was the work of the Muslim terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. The attack came just outside the Moligatai (ph) Army Base. More than 250 military personnel live two miles away and are only allowed outside to conduct official business. Military sources speculate the men may have stopped to buy food at the end of the work day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, Wolf, as you'll remember earlier this year, about 1,000 U.S. military personnel were in the Philippines training their military to fight those Muslin guerrillas. The U.S. troops that have remained behind are continuing much of that work, but with this latest attack there may now be improvements in their security as well. Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, Barbara thanks very much. President Bush, meanwhile, moved today a bit closer to getting the go ahead he wants for the use of force if necessary against Iraq. Members of the U.S. Congress came to the White House to line up behind the president. Let's get the lowdown now from our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. She's joining me live, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it really was a watershed moment for the Bush administration, the president basking in bipartisan support, the House giving him the authority to use military action against Saddam Hussein unilaterally without the approval of the United Nations, but there were some concessions.
The president would have to go before Congress, either before or within 48 hours of striking Iraq. He would also have to show that all diplomatic means had been exhausted and keep the channels open between the United States and the United Nations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: None of us here today desire to see military conflict because we know the awful nature of war. Our country values life and never seeks war unless it is essential to security and to justice. America's leadership and willingness to use force confirmed by the Congress is the best way to ensure compliance and avoid conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Now today's event a sign that the president most likely will get the kind of congressional resolution that he wants, not only from the House, but also from the Senate in the weeks to come. There are still some who are holding out in the Senate. They want more restrictive language, but perhaps in a hint of what's to come, there were some strong, very powerful Democratic Senators who were standing side-by-side with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMAN: There are those who say that this represents hurried or precipitous action, that we should give Saddam and the Iraqi government another chance. The record shows that for the last ten years, we have tried, the world has tried in just about every way, diplomatic, economic, and otherwise except military in the end to convince Saddam Hussein to live by the rules of international law and civilization. They've not worked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now the question now is whether or not the president will be as successful with the U.N. Security Council members to get a tough resolution calling for possible military action against Saddam Hussein if he does not comply with U.N. resolutions. Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, Suzanne thanks very much. The White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer addressed the issue of Iraq yesterday, making it clear the administration favors regime change no matter how it comes about. U.S. policy apparently draws the line, though, at political assassination. That wasn't always the case, as CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is assassination ever legitimate? It's an issue so dramatic even Hollywood script writers take it on.
(VIDEO CLIP OF "THE WEST WING" FROM NBC)
ENSOR: As the real White House West Wing organizes for a possible military move against Saddam Hussein, the issue of assassination instead of war came up in real life.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The cost of one bullet, the Iraqi people taking it on themselves is substantially less than that.
ENSOR: Fleischer said he did not mean to change U.S. policy. Still on the books, still in force, is a 1976 Executive Order from President Gerald Ford prohibiting political assassination. The order came after public exposure of the CIA's covert programs to assassinate foreign leaders, some successful, some not, including Fidel Castro.
DAVID WISE, AUTHOR: They tried exploding cigars, exploding seashells, putting stuff in his diving suit, a dangerous disease in his diving suit so it would kill him. None of it worked, of course. Castro is still around.
ENSOR: In 1981, President Ronald Reagan tightened the rules even further saying: "No one working for the U.S. Government shall engage in or conspire to engage in assassination and that U.S. intelligence agencies may not request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this order. That includes Iraqi dissidents."
There are exceptions to the rules. White House lawyers have reportedly advised the president he can order the CIA to try to kill a terrorist like Osama bin Laden who has attacked this country.
BUSH: There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said "Wanted Dead or Alive."
ENSOR: There is also a big loophole in the rules for bombing. President Reagan tried to kill Libya's Moammar Ghadhafi once. President Clinton ordered a missile fired during the Kosovo war into the bedroom of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic. Each time, officials said the target was not an individual. It was command and control. President Bush could change the rules all together and could make assassination official U.S. policy. David Wise hopes he doesn't.
WISE: If we start bumping off world leaders, are they going to start attacking our president? I mean we've lost several presidents through assassination. This is not a very good business as an instrument of foreign policy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Israel has openly said that it uses assassination sometimes to save lives and advocates usually bring up the example of Adolf Hitler. But opponents say for the U.S. to participate in killing Saddam Hussein would put it on a slippery slope. It could no longer claim to be a nation that plays by the rules, by the rule of law. David Ensor CNN, Washington.
BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this: Is political assassination ever justified? We'll have the results later this hour. Vote at cnn.com/wolf, and while you're there, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of the on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
When he voiced his opinion on the Vietnam War, the whole country and the president of the United States listened. Up next, Walter Cronkite sounds off on Iraq. Also, marines targets of sabotage? Who cut the lines of a dozen parachutes at Camp LeJeune? The latest on the military investigation, plus a police officer run over and her department catches the incident on camera. She'll join us live to talk about her harrowing experience. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. It could have been a catastrophe. Marines discovered in midair that their parachute lines had been cut. That led to a sabotage investigation at Camp LeJeune.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Proper packing of a parachute, it's a life or death detail, but before a training exercise last month near Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, the details nearly proved deadly.
Officially, military investigators say they don't know what caused the suspension lines on 13 parachutes to be severed, but they suspect sabotage and are treating this as a criminal case.
During a routine training jump, three marines leaped from the plane but their main parachutes never even left the aircraft. Those marines deployed their reserve chutes and landed safely. But the exercise was immediately halted and when the plane landed, investigators were already there and found that ten more chutes had had their lines cut.
In a terse but chilling statement, the marines said the lines had been clipped in such a way that it couldn't be detected in a pre-jump inspection. Those marines in charge of inspections take it very personally.
SGT. CARLOS SNEAD, MARINE PARACHUTE RIGGER: A lot of people within the community who do jump have a lot of trust in you, a lot of faith in your abilities to pack these parachutes correctly, and so that when they do jump them that they open, they have good lift.
BLITZER: Hundreds of parachutes at Camp LeJeune now have to be re-inspected and repacked. So far, no arrests have been made.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And in our Justice Files, the caretakers for a Florida girl missing since last year have been arrested and charged with welfare fraud. Sisters Pamela Graham and Geralyn (ph) Graham are not charged in the disappearance of Rilya Wilson who they say they handed over to state child welfare workers in January, 2001. It was 15 months before the Department of Children and Families discovered the girl was missing.
Milwaukee police say eight of the ten young people being held in connection with a deadly beating have confessed. They allegedly were part of a mob of 16 teens and children who attacked Charlie Young, Jr. Sunday night. Young died form his injuries last night. The confrontation started when Young punched one of the teens after a ten- year-old in the group threw an egg at him.
And, in California, West Hollywood Sheriff's investigators are trying to determine if three men arrested for an attack on a gay man Labor Day Weekend are responsible for three similar crimes. An anonymous tip led detectives to the suspects. Two of them were arrested last night and one already was in custody. A sheriff's spokeswoman says the men probably will face assault charges and possibly charges for hate crimes.
Updating you on a story we told you yesterday, now the Florida Governor Jeb Bush has lifted his stay of execution order on convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos. She had dropped her appeals but the execution was postponed when a lawyer questioned her competency. She's now scheduled to die October 9. Wuornos is a former prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in the early 1990s.
Hurricane Lili upgraded to a Category 4. The Gulf Coast braces for another pounding, the latest on the storm path when we come back. Also, the big bang in Afghanistan, a massive stockpile blown away, look at this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, Walter Cronkite in his own words. He helped turn the tide during the Vietnam War now he's sounding off on Iraq, but first let's look at other stories making news right now. Hurricane Lili is a category 4 storm, and moving in on the Louisiana coast. More than 200,000 people have been ordered to evacuate ahead of this very, very dangerous storm. CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney is tracking Lili from the CNN weather center in Atlanta.
Give us the updated latest, Orelon.
SIDNEY: Well, the latest is that we expect the center to make landfall somewhere between the Sabine Pass and Vermillion Bay, which would put Lake Charles pretty close to where the center may make landfall. It may make landfall a little bit to the east of that. But of course, it could wobble around and vary in intensity before it hits land. It is a category 4 storm with gusts up to category 5. Looking at it right now at 135 miles an hour. Expected to be 150 by 1:00 a.m. and then just off the coast at 7:00 a.m. Central Time. Still looking at winds of 145 miles per hour.
Again some fluctuation in strength is possible. But look at what could happen with a category 4. Your storm surge could be up to 18 feet in some areas. Low-lying escape routes, those may be closed off to you as soon as five hours before landfall. And we are expecting landfall sometime early on Thursday. Rush those plans to completion and get out if you have to -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Good advice from Orelon Sidney. We'll be doing that. We'll be tracking Hurricane Lili indeed, throughout the night, early morning, watching it and its aftereffects. Let's hope for the best. Meanwhile, there's been a development in New Jersey in that Senate race. Robert Torricelli dropping out. Our Deborah Feyerick is covering a late breaking development.
Deborah, what is going on?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the Republicans are not going to wait for the New Jersey Supreme Court to decide what's going to happen, whether the Democrats get on this ballot. They're taking their case directly to the United States attorney general and they're also going to be filing papers in U.S. Federal Court. Bill Baroni (ph) is the attorney for the Republican candidate, Bill Forester. Very quickly -- excuse me, why did you decide to do this right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, every day that goes by -- and there are civilian and military absentee ballots being held in vaults all across the state of New Jersey, not being permitted to be mailed out and we're going to court under the Voting Rights Act to enforce the Voting Rights Act to have those ballots sent to fighting men and women overseas.
FEYERICK: OK, Bill Baroni (ph), thanks for your time on that. So again, they're not going to wait for this decision. If this decision does happen, there will be an appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. But right now, they're moving it up a notch, taking it to the federal level now so that not another day goes by -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Sounds like Florida all over again. Deborah Feyerick, thanks for that late-breaking development. We'll stick by this story as well.
As always, we want your opinion. Is political assassination ever justified? Right now, go to my Web page, CNN.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results later in this program.
A police officer run over on duty and the crime is caught on camera. We'll talk to the woman who survived this scary accident when we return, but first, a look at news making headlines around the world.
Firefighters in Nagasaki, Japan, have control of a major fire that broke out on a cruise ship under construction. The blaze heavily damaged the luxury liner being fitted out for a British cruise line. Hundreds of workers were on board when the fire started. Authorities say they all escaped unharmed.
In Kashmir, at least one death and several injuries are reported in a bomb blast aboard a bus. Muslim militants are getting the blame. The bus was filled with pilgrims on their way to a city near a Hindu holy site.
Two-dozen people are confirmed dead in Syria after several mountain homes collapsed. The houses crumbled after caves beneath them gave way.
One of the highest-ranking suspects of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands pled guilty today to one count of crimes against humanity. Former Bosnian Serb leader, Biljana Plavsic, is the only woman indicted by the court. She's been named as a possible witness against other leading suspects, including former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
Japanese scientists are out with a new electric car that could give the vehicles a new image. Unlike previous models, the KAZ car is fast. It can reach speeds of almost 200 miles an hour, but it comes with a hefty price tag, more than $400,000. And in London, former pop idol, Adam Ant, gets a big break. He walked away from a courtroom today without a prison sentence. A judge ruled that Ant, whose real name is Stewart Goddard, was suffering mental problems when he threatened pub customers with a gun. And that's our look around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A crime against the police and they caught it on camera. Hear from the woman who survived and witnessed what she went through coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Let's go to Tennessee where a collision caught on tape by a police cruiser camera is underscoring some of the dangers of the job. The images you are about to see are graphic, but the officer, thank God, is alive.
Sergeant Lisa Green was on a walking patrol Saturday morning when she was hit by a suspected drunk driver. Sergeant Green and her husband, Ron Green, join me now live from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Thanks for joining us, Sergeant. And let me ask you first of all, how are you feeling?
SGT. LISA GREEN, KNOXVILLE POLICE: Like I got hit by a car.
BLITZER: Well, tell us what happened precisely. We'll show our viewers the videotape as you sort of tell us what happened.
L. GREEN: OK, it was the end of the night, so it was time to go home. I know what the campus brings and that's a lot of alcohol, a lot of drinkers, and I'm just used to the fact that even if the light's red someone's going to try to get through it. So I'm waiting at the cross walk, the light turns red, and there's a car in the lane closest to me, and I want to make sure that car was going to stop, so I hesitated several seconds. That car got stopped so I started across the road. I waved to another officer that was turning, and the next thing I know, just boom. And I don't think I ever lost consciousness. I could -- I felt like I was maybe in a washing machine spinning around, landed on the ground. I mean you can see the video how I landed, and was still conscious at that time, in a lot of pain, but conscious.
BLITZER: And the suspect, the driver in this particular case was an 18-year-old woman who apparently was drunk. Is that the allegation?
L. GREEN: Yes. Yes. And the passenger was the actual owner of the car and she was intoxicated, too, and for whatever reason, she let the 18-year-old drive.
BLITZER: Ron, how's your wife doing, really? Tell us the truth.
RON GREEN, HUSBAND: A lot of pain. A lot of pain. Staying in best most of the time. I've got duties with the children. And I understand exactly what she's been going through now.
BLITZER: When you saw that videotape, Ron, what went through your mind?
R. GREEN: If I didn't know who she was and just an innocent bystander, I would have thought she was dead, most definitely.
BLITZER: Well, thank God, she's not dead. Thank God she's alive and well. And when will you be back on the job, Lisa?
L. GREEN: I have no idea, hopefully some day and that's my intention.
BLITZER: All right, just take your time over there. Get healthy. We need you in full strength. The community needs you. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
L. GREEN: Thank you.
R. GREEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: And produce rotting on docks, billions of dollars floating away. The economic impact of the port lockout. It's going to hit pocketbooks nationwide, including yours. A closer look at your money when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A guilty plea in a stock trading investigation surrounding Martha Stewart. Douglas Faneuil, the man who worked as an assistant to Stewart's stockbroker is pleading guilty to taking payoffs to conceal information. It's reportedly part of a deal allowing him to provide incriminating testimony against Stewart in the ImClone scandal.
And the former chief financial officer of Enron turned himself in to federal authorities in Houston this morning. Andrew Fastow's charged with securities, wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and conspiring to inflate Enron's profits. He's seen at the chief architect in the off-the-balance sheet partnerships that allowed Enron to hide a billion dollars of debt.
Billions of dollars of goods are sitting idle for yet another day. Contract negotiations scheduled between west coast longshoremen and shipping companies have been called off. The lockout affects all west coast ports. As CNN's Brian Cabell tells us, businesses around the country are about to begin feeling the pinch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After four days, more than 10,000 longshoremen, and dozens of loaded ships, remain idle. A shutdown of 28 west coast ports is approaching the crisis stage. $320 billion of goods, exports and imports, flow through here yearly, $1 billion a day. Right now, nothing. Many American assembly plants, which need a constant flow of imported parts, will be especially hard-hit. They've been using parts already in the pipeline for the last few days. Those parts will soon be running out.
DONALD RATAJCZAK, ECONOMIST: It's maybe a billion dollars today if that pipeline goes dry. It'll be multiple billion dollars a day, and then it becomes really significant. And that will happen by the middle of October in the absence of any agreement.
CABELL: Plant shutdowns will likely follow. The impact on agriculture is already apparent. Produce is starting to rot on the docks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Farmers caught in the middle. We have perishable commodities and everybody else is -- they're making decisions that's going to affect our very livelihood.
CABELL: For other businesses, clothing, home improvement, toys, the crisis is not yet severe but it could be in a matter of weeks. Cars? This Kia dealership in Tacoma, Washington, is already starting to run short of vehicles.
UNIDENTIFIED CAR DEALER: What we'll do is try and buy from other dealers that maybe are a little bit slower. We might have to go to the Midwest or something like that. But if that supply runs out then we basically are pretty much out of business.
CABELL: There are options for some businesses -- ship the goods through the Panama Canal to the East Coast or ship by air, but that can be extremely expensive. Which leaves much of the American economy at the mercy of the negotiations between the longshoremen and the ports. By the way, the last major work stoppage at west coast ports in 1971 lasted 134 days.
Brian Cabell, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's hope it doesn't last that long this time. Let's go to New York now, get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That, of course, begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "MONEYLINE": Wolf, thank you. Coming up at the top of the hour, Hurricane Lili is tonight gaining strength and heading to shore. We'll bring you a live report from the Louisiana coastline, where residents are preparing to evacuate and preparing to be hit by a very powerful hurricane. We'll also have the latest for you from the National Hurricane Center tonight.
A major turning point in the Enron investigation today. The Justice Department today charged the man, they say, was behind the firm's complex and fraudulent deals. We'll be going live to Houston for the very latest. And tonight I'll be joined by CNN legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
And that's not the only development in the fight against corporate crime. A key player in the Martha Stewart scandal also charged. We'll have that story. All of that and a great deal more ahead on "MONEYLINE." Please join us tonight. Now back to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. Time is running out for you to weigh in on our "Web Questions of The Day." Is political assassination ever justified? Log on to my Web site, CNN.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A couple breaking stories we're following right now. In Utah, the Utah Highway Patrol has confirmed that five people are confirmed dead in a tour bus crash that happened earlier today. You're looking at a picture of that crash. Utah Highway Patrol spokesmen saying that the fatalities were confirmed just a little while ago. We'll cover that story a little bit more as we get some more information.
And we are getting news now from -- CNN has learned that the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Democrats, allowing someone else to replace Senator Robert Torricelli on the ballot in New Jersey to run for a Senate.
Orelon Sidney is standing by for an update now on the Hurricane Lili situation.
Orelon, tell what's going on.
SIDNEY: Well, right now, it looks like heavy rain bands are already starting to move into the southern portion of Louisiana. We're seeing thunderstorms just to the south of New Orleans. Remember, New Orleans, you're under a tropical storm watch -- or tropical storm warning, rather, that includes Lake Pontchartrain.
Southward now, down towards Houston, we're not seeing a whole lot of action, but that will certainly change by tonight. Slowing up the landfall now to about 2:00 local time on Thursday. So we're going to watch out for high tide, which is very close to that time -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Orelon Sidney, thanks very much.
"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
TO ORDER A COPY OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Texas Tomorrow; Will the Senate OK the Use of Military Force in Iraq?>
Aired October 2, 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: Showdown Iraq, a show of unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: The use of force may become unavoidable to protect the region and the world from Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: But will the Senate give the final go ahead? He was known as the most trusted man in America. Is he now the voice of dissent? I'll discuss Iraq with legendary journalist Walter Cronkite. Sabotage, discovered in midair, who cut the lifelines on more than a dozen parachutes at a Marine Corps base? Collision on camera, a cop on foot patrol, an alleged drunk driver, a Tennessee police sergeant tells us about her close call.
It's Wednesday, October 2, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. A mad scramble is underway at this hour along the central Gulf coast of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people are heading to higher ground as a very dangerous hurricane, Lili, moves ever so closer.
Right now it's a monster hurricane, a Category 4 with sustained winds of 135 miles an hour. Landfall is expected just hours from now along the western Louisiana coast. The National Hurricane Center's Deputy Director Ed Rappaport is joining me now live from Miami with the latest. Ed, tell us about this monster.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, you're right, Lili has strengthened all day long, now has maximum winds actually up to 140 miles per hour. That is Category 4. It means it's extremely dangerous. It will be destructive, both because of the winds and the storm surge. Now storm surges historically have taken most lives with these kinds of hurricanes and we expect a surge of on the order of 20 feet where it makes landfall.
BLITZER: So, show us if you can on the map, Ed, where this hurricane precisely appears to be heading.
RAPPAPORT: Well at this point, we have the center of the hurricane, of Lili, about 275 miles south of the coast of Louisiana. The movement is towards the northwest. We expect a northward turn over the next 12 to 24 hours with landfall most likely in south central to southwestern Louisiana during the pre-dawn to around noontime tomorrow. That would bring hurricane force winds to the shore line in the a.m. hours and with hurricane force winds proceeding inland, perhaps as much as 150 miles over the next 24 to 36 hours.
BLITZER: So this could affect hundreds of thousands of people in that area but it won't get all that close to New Orleans. How close will it be to New Orleans?
RAPPAPORT: Well, if our forecast is perfect and it never is, we're talking about the center and its hurricane force winds remaining to the west of New Orleans. But we do expect tropical storm force winds in the New Orleans area, perhaps gusts to hurricane force and there could be a storm surge in that area on the order of four to six feet as well.
BLITZER: So, what is your recommendation right now for people who are living in that area, who happen to be in that area where this hurricane is heading?
RAPPAPORT: It is critical at this stage to rush preparations to protect your life to completion. It's also very important to follow exactly what your emergency management officials are telling you at this stage.
BLITZER: And, when you say rush to completion, what does that mean, to get away from there or to look for higher ground?
RAPPAPORT: Do what the emergency management officials in your area are telling you. It depends on where you are and what they're saying, but for most of the area, it does require an evacuation in the south central to southwestern area. We need the people to get away from the shoreline. Again, we've had high storm surges in previous storms with hundreds of lives lost in this area.
BLITZER: Finally, Ed, compare this hurricane, its potential, to recent hurricanes over the past 10, 20, 30 years.
RAPPAPORT: This would probably be the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana during that period. In fact, if we go back to our records, this may be one of the two or three strongest hurricanes to make landfall in Louisiana in the last 150 years if it maintains its current strength.
BLITZER: All right, that sounds very ominous. Ed Rappaport, thanks for that update. We'll be checking in periodically of course with you and your colleagues at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
And, along the Gulf Coast, time of course is of the essence as Lili lurks offshore. While Louisiana appears to be the Bullseye, preparations are underway as far east as Alabama. There are some scenes from Mobile, Alabama of course that are already showing some great concern, and to the west in Grand Isle, Louisiana, workers are shoring up the coastline damaged by Tropical Storm Isidore less than only a week ago. That part of Louisiana hasn't seen a storm this ferocious in decades, maybe even 150 years as we just heard from Ed Rappaport. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in now with CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's in Cameron, Louisiana.
What's going on over there -- Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, last week when Tropical Storm Isidore hit Louisiana, this part of Louisiana felt that it had dodged a bullet as the storm pushed a little bit eastward. But here, on the southwestern edge of the Louisiana Gulf coastline, folks here are starting to prepare for the worst.
We're in the town of Cameron, Louisiana, which is a predominant shrimping community here and a lot of the boats - this area usually bustling with shrimp boats heading out to the Gulf to make its runs and a lot of freight liners will be seen also moving out to the Gulf as well.
What we've seen is a lot of these boats heading north throughout most of the day and now it's pretty much quiet. In fact, the guys working the ferries here just tell me they have one more run of one other person that's on the other side of this water that needs to be brought back here to land so that they can start heading northward. That's the last person here.
This town has really emptied out throughout most of the day. There are several parts of Louisiana that have been issued mandatory evacuations, so those folks have been starting, heading further northward seeking protection from this storm.
But right now as you can see, Wolf, the storm, the clouds, cloudy skies here but not a lot of wind yet and still no sign that Hurricane Lili is out there but obviously from everything we've been talking about, every indication is that this storm is expected to pound this part of Louisiana severely over the course of the next 24 hours - Wolf.
BLITZER: So, Ed, of course, what about you and our other journalistic colleagues? What do you guys plan on doing?
LAVANDERA: We're going to hunker down in Lake Charles, Louisiana. There's a hotel that we - we need to protect our satellite truck and, of course, ourselves as well and the crew members. So, we're going to be heading up there as soon as we're done with these reports throughout the next couple of hours and then we'll be heading northward up there and hopefully that will offer enough protection for this storm.
BLITZER: All right, Ed Lavandera, please be safe. Tell that to all of our producers, all of our technical people. We want you to make sure you stay away from that eye of the storm, appreciate it very much. And, as we've mentioned, Lili is what's described as a Category 4 hurricane. What does that classification mean? CNN Meteorologist Orelon Sidney is joining us now from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Orelon, tell us what that means to those viewers who aren't familiar with a Category 4 hurricane. ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's one word I can use, Wolf, Hugo. That is what Hurricane Hugo was as it made landfall in 1989 in South Carolina, a Category 4 storm. The winds again now to 140 but there's gusts up to 167 miles an hour. That's Category 5 wind gusts.
So, you're going to see quite a bit of damage associated with this as it moves in. The hurricane force winds are about 45 miles in diameter around the center of the storm and again located now 285 miles south of New Orleans.
This is going to be a very, very dangerous storm. You can see here that up to 155 miles an hour is Category 4, but then those gusts go up over 155. Indeed, that is Category 5, again 167 the highest gusts reported from the hurricane hunters so far.
And here it comes, folks, here come the first rain bands with thunderstorms moving into the southern portion of Louisiana. It's going to go downhill from here. It's not going to get any better until this storm system moves through and the eye, of course, is still 200 some miles off the coast.
No change in the hurricane warnings. High Island, Texas out to the Mississippi River still under a hurricane warning; tropical storm warning in effect from the Florida panhandle all the way back to Alabama, and then from the Galveston Bay down to Freeport, Texas, so these areas definitely going to be under the gun as we go through the evening.
Some of the rain starting to move in, but here's the jet stream. This is the big frontal system that's going to pick up the storm, take it and pull it off to the north and east, so we believe that that's the system that's going to make its move a little bit later tonight into Louisiana. Wolf.
BLITZER: Orelon Sidney, who will be watching this hurricane with the rest of us. Thanks for that important information. And, you can keep track of Hurricane Lili online. Just go to cnn.com/weather. You can also get there by logging on to my Web site cnn.com/wolf. Of course, stay with CNN for complete, continuing, the most authoritative coverage of this monster hurricane. We'll be watching it over the next several hours.
Now to another developing story that's breaking right now. Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to blow up an American Airlines transatlantic flight with a bomb in his shoes intends to plead guilty. CNN Justice Correspondent, Kelli Arena, is joining me now live. She has all the details, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, lawyers for the alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid say yes he does indeed plan to plead guilty to all eight charges against him. We are told this is not a deal that was made with the government. This is a decision that Reid and his lawyers made on their own.
Supposedly, Reid says that he does not want to go through a trial to bring negative publicity to his family. That's why he made this decision. As you said, he is accused of trying to blow up a bomb in his shoes aboard an American Airlines flight that was going from Paris to Miami with 197 passengers onboard.
Now, the offer doesn't come without a hitch. Reid apparently in a motion that was filed today said that he wants the language removed from two counts against him that talk about the fact that he received training from al Qaeda. The U.S. Attorney, of course, is expected to review the filing today, did not have any immediate comment. The trial against Reid was supposed to start next month, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelli, as you well know, whenever there is a plea agreement, if there's a plea agreement, the defendant has to fully cooperate with law enforcement authorities. That's one of the provisions that's almost standard in this kind of an arrangement. Reid potentially could provide U.S. authorities with a lot of important information about al Qaeda and terrorism if the accusations against him are indeed true.
ARENA: According to investigators, Wolf, he may be able to provide some information but he is not seen as someone who was significant within the al Qaeda terrorist organization but the belief has been all along that he did not act alone, and so whether or not he provides information on people who hooked him up and got him in touch with the necessary people to make the bombs and to pull off the alleged attack would be very important.
If he were to lead them to others, but insofar as knowledge that he has about the operation or about possible other attacks that are being planned is, at least according to investigators highly unlikely, back to you.
BLITZER: Kelli Arena, our Justice Correspondent, thanks very much. I'll be interested personally in hearing about his exploits in Israel when he went there just before he made that trip to the United States with that shoe bomb allegedly onboard. When we come back, why is Walter Cronkite speaking out on Iraq? I'll as him. That's coming up.
Also, more on that regime change policy. Is assassination out of bounds, a closer look at the implications of a one-bullet comment when we come back: Plus, sabotage at Camp LeJeune, at least a dozen parachutes rigged to fail. Is someone targeting marines for murder? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A deadly blast near a military base in the Philippines has killed three people, including a U.S. Special Ops soldier. At least 25 other people were injured when the homemade bomb detonated. Our Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr, has more on the explosion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Police officials believe the blast of nails and shrapnel came from a bomb attached to a motorcycle. The explosion occurred in this open-air market about half a mile outside the gate of a military base in Zamboanga (ph) City, some 500 miles south of Manila. One U.S. Army soldier was killed, another critically wounded, both part of a Special Operations Task Force. More than 20 Filipinos were injured. The Bush administration condemned the attack.
PHILIP REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: Our officials from our embassy are in close contact with appropriate Philippine authorities and, as you would expect, the embassy is reviewing its security posture and it's going to take any additional steps necessary.
STARR: U.S. and Philippine officials don't know if the powerful homemade bomb was the work of the Muslim terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. The attack came just outside the Moligatai (ph) Army Base. More than 250 military personnel live two miles away and are only allowed outside to conduct official business. Military sources speculate the men may have stopped to buy food at the end of the work day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, Wolf, as you'll remember earlier this year, about 1,000 U.S. military personnel were in the Philippines training their military to fight those Muslin guerrillas. The U.S. troops that have remained behind are continuing much of that work, but with this latest attack there may now be improvements in their security as well. Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, Barbara thanks very much. President Bush, meanwhile, moved today a bit closer to getting the go ahead he wants for the use of force if necessary against Iraq. Members of the U.S. Congress came to the White House to line up behind the president. Let's get the lowdown now from our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. She's joining me live, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it really was a watershed moment for the Bush administration, the president basking in bipartisan support, the House giving him the authority to use military action against Saddam Hussein unilaterally without the approval of the United Nations, but there were some concessions.
The president would have to go before Congress, either before or within 48 hours of striking Iraq. He would also have to show that all diplomatic means had been exhausted and keep the channels open between the United States and the United Nations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: None of us here today desire to see military conflict because we know the awful nature of war. Our country values life and never seeks war unless it is essential to security and to justice. America's leadership and willingness to use force confirmed by the Congress is the best way to ensure compliance and avoid conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Now today's event a sign that the president most likely will get the kind of congressional resolution that he wants, not only from the House, but also from the Senate in the weeks to come. There are still some who are holding out in the Senate. They want more restrictive language, but perhaps in a hint of what's to come, there were some strong, very powerful Democratic Senators who were standing side-by-side with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMAN: There are those who say that this represents hurried or precipitous action, that we should give Saddam and the Iraqi government another chance. The record shows that for the last ten years, we have tried, the world has tried in just about every way, diplomatic, economic, and otherwise except military in the end to convince Saddam Hussein to live by the rules of international law and civilization. They've not worked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now the question now is whether or not the president will be as successful with the U.N. Security Council members to get a tough resolution calling for possible military action against Saddam Hussein if he does not comply with U.N. resolutions. Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, Suzanne thanks very much. The White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer addressed the issue of Iraq yesterday, making it clear the administration favors regime change no matter how it comes about. U.S. policy apparently draws the line, though, at political assassination. That wasn't always the case, as CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is assassination ever legitimate? It's an issue so dramatic even Hollywood script writers take it on.
(VIDEO CLIP OF "THE WEST WING" FROM NBC)
ENSOR: As the real White House West Wing organizes for a possible military move against Saddam Hussein, the issue of assassination instead of war came up in real life.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The cost of one bullet, the Iraqi people taking it on themselves is substantially less than that.
ENSOR: Fleischer said he did not mean to change U.S. policy. Still on the books, still in force, is a 1976 Executive Order from President Gerald Ford prohibiting political assassination. The order came after public exposure of the CIA's covert programs to assassinate foreign leaders, some successful, some not, including Fidel Castro.
DAVID WISE, AUTHOR: They tried exploding cigars, exploding seashells, putting stuff in his diving suit, a dangerous disease in his diving suit so it would kill him. None of it worked, of course. Castro is still around.
ENSOR: In 1981, President Ronald Reagan tightened the rules even further saying: "No one working for the U.S. Government shall engage in or conspire to engage in assassination and that U.S. intelligence agencies may not request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this order. That includes Iraqi dissidents."
There are exceptions to the rules. White House lawyers have reportedly advised the president he can order the CIA to try to kill a terrorist like Osama bin Laden who has attacked this country.
BUSH: There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said "Wanted Dead or Alive."
ENSOR: There is also a big loophole in the rules for bombing. President Reagan tried to kill Libya's Moammar Ghadhafi once. President Clinton ordered a missile fired during the Kosovo war into the bedroom of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic. Each time, officials said the target was not an individual. It was command and control. President Bush could change the rules all together and could make assassination official U.S. policy. David Wise hopes he doesn't.
WISE: If we start bumping off world leaders, are they going to start attacking our president? I mean we've lost several presidents through assassination. This is not a very good business as an instrument of foreign policy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Israel has openly said that it uses assassination sometimes to save lives and advocates usually bring up the example of Adolf Hitler. But opponents say for the U.S. to participate in killing Saddam Hussein would put it on a slippery slope. It could no longer claim to be a nation that plays by the rules, by the rule of law. David Ensor CNN, Washington.
BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this: Is political assassination ever justified? We'll have the results later this hour. Vote at cnn.com/wolf, and while you're there, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of the on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
When he voiced his opinion on the Vietnam War, the whole country and the president of the United States listened. Up next, Walter Cronkite sounds off on Iraq. Also, marines targets of sabotage? Who cut the lines of a dozen parachutes at Camp LeJeune? The latest on the military investigation, plus a police officer run over and her department catches the incident on camera. She'll join us live to talk about her harrowing experience. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. It could have been a catastrophe. Marines discovered in midair that their parachute lines had been cut. That led to a sabotage investigation at Camp LeJeune.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Proper packing of a parachute, it's a life or death detail, but before a training exercise last month near Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, the details nearly proved deadly.
Officially, military investigators say they don't know what caused the suspension lines on 13 parachutes to be severed, but they suspect sabotage and are treating this as a criminal case.
During a routine training jump, three marines leaped from the plane but their main parachutes never even left the aircraft. Those marines deployed their reserve chutes and landed safely. But the exercise was immediately halted and when the plane landed, investigators were already there and found that ten more chutes had had their lines cut.
In a terse but chilling statement, the marines said the lines had been clipped in such a way that it couldn't be detected in a pre-jump inspection. Those marines in charge of inspections take it very personally.
SGT. CARLOS SNEAD, MARINE PARACHUTE RIGGER: A lot of people within the community who do jump have a lot of trust in you, a lot of faith in your abilities to pack these parachutes correctly, and so that when they do jump them that they open, they have good lift.
BLITZER: Hundreds of parachutes at Camp LeJeune now have to be re-inspected and repacked. So far, no arrests have been made.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And in our Justice Files, the caretakers for a Florida girl missing since last year have been arrested and charged with welfare fraud. Sisters Pamela Graham and Geralyn (ph) Graham are not charged in the disappearance of Rilya Wilson who they say they handed over to state child welfare workers in January, 2001. It was 15 months before the Department of Children and Families discovered the girl was missing.
Milwaukee police say eight of the ten young people being held in connection with a deadly beating have confessed. They allegedly were part of a mob of 16 teens and children who attacked Charlie Young, Jr. Sunday night. Young died form his injuries last night. The confrontation started when Young punched one of the teens after a ten- year-old in the group threw an egg at him.
And, in California, West Hollywood Sheriff's investigators are trying to determine if three men arrested for an attack on a gay man Labor Day Weekend are responsible for three similar crimes. An anonymous tip led detectives to the suspects. Two of them were arrested last night and one already was in custody. A sheriff's spokeswoman says the men probably will face assault charges and possibly charges for hate crimes.
Updating you on a story we told you yesterday, now the Florida Governor Jeb Bush has lifted his stay of execution order on convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos. She had dropped her appeals but the execution was postponed when a lawyer questioned her competency. She's now scheduled to die October 9. Wuornos is a former prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in the early 1990s.
Hurricane Lili upgraded to a Category 4. The Gulf Coast braces for another pounding, the latest on the storm path when we come back. Also, the big bang in Afghanistan, a massive stockpile blown away, look at this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, Walter Cronkite in his own words. He helped turn the tide during the Vietnam War now he's sounding off on Iraq, but first let's look at other stories making news right now. Hurricane Lili is a category 4 storm, and moving in on the Louisiana coast. More than 200,000 people have been ordered to evacuate ahead of this very, very dangerous storm. CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney is tracking Lili from the CNN weather center in Atlanta.
Give us the updated latest, Orelon.
SIDNEY: Well, the latest is that we expect the center to make landfall somewhere between the Sabine Pass and Vermillion Bay, which would put Lake Charles pretty close to where the center may make landfall. It may make landfall a little bit to the east of that. But of course, it could wobble around and vary in intensity before it hits land. It is a category 4 storm with gusts up to category 5. Looking at it right now at 135 miles an hour. Expected to be 150 by 1:00 a.m. and then just off the coast at 7:00 a.m. Central Time. Still looking at winds of 145 miles per hour.
Again some fluctuation in strength is possible. But look at what could happen with a category 4. Your storm surge could be up to 18 feet in some areas. Low-lying escape routes, those may be closed off to you as soon as five hours before landfall. And we are expecting landfall sometime early on Thursday. Rush those plans to completion and get out if you have to -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Good advice from Orelon Sidney. We'll be doing that. We'll be tracking Hurricane Lili indeed, throughout the night, early morning, watching it and its aftereffects. Let's hope for the best. Meanwhile, there's been a development in New Jersey in that Senate race. Robert Torricelli dropping out. Our Deborah Feyerick is covering a late breaking development.
Deborah, what is going on?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the Republicans are not going to wait for the New Jersey Supreme Court to decide what's going to happen, whether the Democrats get on this ballot. They're taking their case directly to the United States attorney general and they're also going to be filing papers in U.S. Federal Court. Bill Baroni (ph) is the attorney for the Republican candidate, Bill Forester. Very quickly -- excuse me, why did you decide to do this right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, every day that goes by -- and there are civilian and military absentee ballots being held in vaults all across the state of New Jersey, not being permitted to be mailed out and we're going to court under the Voting Rights Act to enforce the Voting Rights Act to have those ballots sent to fighting men and women overseas.
FEYERICK: OK, Bill Baroni (ph), thanks for your time on that. So again, they're not going to wait for this decision. If this decision does happen, there will be an appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. But right now, they're moving it up a notch, taking it to the federal level now so that not another day goes by -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Sounds like Florida all over again. Deborah Feyerick, thanks for that late-breaking development. We'll stick by this story as well.
As always, we want your opinion. Is political assassination ever justified? Right now, go to my Web page, CNN.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results later in this program.
A police officer run over on duty and the crime is caught on camera. We'll talk to the woman who survived this scary accident when we return, but first, a look at news making headlines around the world.
Firefighters in Nagasaki, Japan, have control of a major fire that broke out on a cruise ship under construction. The blaze heavily damaged the luxury liner being fitted out for a British cruise line. Hundreds of workers were on board when the fire started. Authorities say they all escaped unharmed.
In Kashmir, at least one death and several injuries are reported in a bomb blast aboard a bus. Muslim militants are getting the blame. The bus was filled with pilgrims on their way to a city near a Hindu holy site.
Two-dozen people are confirmed dead in Syria after several mountain homes collapsed. The houses crumbled after caves beneath them gave way.
One of the highest-ranking suspects of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands pled guilty today to one count of crimes against humanity. Former Bosnian Serb leader, Biljana Plavsic, is the only woman indicted by the court. She's been named as a possible witness against other leading suspects, including former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
Japanese scientists are out with a new electric car that could give the vehicles a new image. Unlike previous models, the KAZ car is fast. It can reach speeds of almost 200 miles an hour, but it comes with a hefty price tag, more than $400,000. And in London, former pop idol, Adam Ant, gets a big break. He walked away from a courtroom today without a prison sentence. A judge ruled that Ant, whose real name is Stewart Goddard, was suffering mental problems when he threatened pub customers with a gun. And that's our look around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A crime against the police and they caught it on camera. Hear from the woman who survived and witnessed what she went through coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Let's go to Tennessee where a collision caught on tape by a police cruiser camera is underscoring some of the dangers of the job. The images you are about to see are graphic, but the officer, thank God, is alive.
Sergeant Lisa Green was on a walking patrol Saturday morning when she was hit by a suspected drunk driver. Sergeant Green and her husband, Ron Green, join me now live from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Thanks for joining us, Sergeant. And let me ask you first of all, how are you feeling?
SGT. LISA GREEN, KNOXVILLE POLICE: Like I got hit by a car.
BLITZER: Well, tell us what happened precisely. We'll show our viewers the videotape as you sort of tell us what happened.
L. GREEN: OK, it was the end of the night, so it was time to go home. I know what the campus brings and that's a lot of alcohol, a lot of drinkers, and I'm just used to the fact that even if the light's red someone's going to try to get through it. So I'm waiting at the cross walk, the light turns red, and there's a car in the lane closest to me, and I want to make sure that car was going to stop, so I hesitated several seconds. That car got stopped so I started across the road. I waved to another officer that was turning, and the next thing I know, just boom. And I don't think I ever lost consciousness. I could -- I felt like I was maybe in a washing machine spinning around, landed on the ground. I mean you can see the video how I landed, and was still conscious at that time, in a lot of pain, but conscious.
BLITZER: And the suspect, the driver in this particular case was an 18-year-old woman who apparently was drunk. Is that the allegation?
L. GREEN: Yes. Yes. And the passenger was the actual owner of the car and she was intoxicated, too, and for whatever reason, she let the 18-year-old drive.
BLITZER: Ron, how's your wife doing, really? Tell us the truth.
RON GREEN, HUSBAND: A lot of pain. A lot of pain. Staying in best most of the time. I've got duties with the children. And I understand exactly what she's been going through now.
BLITZER: When you saw that videotape, Ron, what went through your mind?
R. GREEN: If I didn't know who she was and just an innocent bystander, I would have thought she was dead, most definitely.
BLITZER: Well, thank God, she's not dead. Thank God she's alive and well. And when will you be back on the job, Lisa?
L. GREEN: I have no idea, hopefully some day and that's my intention.
BLITZER: All right, just take your time over there. Get healthy. We need you in full strength. The community needs you. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
L. GREEN: Thank you.
R. GREEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: And produce rotting on docks, billions of dollars floating away. The economic impact of the port lockout. It's going to hit pocketbooks nationwide, including yours. A closer look at your money when we return.
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BLITZER: A guilty plea in a stock trading investigation surrounding Martha Stewart. Douglas Faneuil, the man who worked as an assistant to Stewart's stockbroker is pleading guilty to taking payoffs to conceal information. It's reportedly part of a deal allowing him to provide incriminating testimony against Stewart in the ImClone scandal.
And the former chief financial officer of Enron turned himself in to federal authorities in Houston this morning. Andrew Fastow's charged with securities, wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and conspiring to inflate Enron's profits. He's seen at the chief architect in the off-the-balance sheet partnerships that allowed Enron to hide a billion dollars of debt.
Billions of dollars of goods are sitting idle for yet another day. Contract negotiations scheduled between west coast longshoremen and shipping companies have been called off. The lockout affects all west coast ports. As CNN's Brian Cabell tells us, businesses around the country are about to begin feeling the pinch.
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BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After four days, more than 10,000 longshoremen, and dozens of loaded ships, remain idle. A shutdown of 28 west coast ports is approaching the crisis stage. $320 billion of goods, exports and imports, flow through here yearly, $1 billion a day. Right now, nothing. Many American assembly plants, which need a constant flow of imported parts, will be especially hard-hit. They've been using parts already in the pipeline for the last few days. Those parts will soon be running out.
DONALD RATAJCZAK, ECONOMIST: It's maybe a billion dollars today if that pipeline goes dry. It'll be multiple billion dollars a day, and then it becomes really significant. And that will happen by the middle of October in the absence of any agreement.
CABELL: Plant shutdowns will likely follow. The impact on agriculture is already apparent. Produce is starting to rot on the docks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Farmers caught in the middle. We have perishable commodities and everybody else is -- they're making decisions that's going to affect our very livelihood.
CABELL: For other businesses, clothing, home improvement, toys, the crisis is not yet severe but it could be in a matter of weeks. Cars? This Kia dealership in Tacoma, Washington, is already starting to run short of vehicles.
UNIDENTIFIED CAR DEALER: What we'll do is try and buy from other dealers that maybe are a little bit slower. We might have to go to the Midwest or something like that. But if that supply runs out then we basically are pretty much out of business.
CABELL: There are options for some businesses -- ship the goods through the Panama Canal to the East Coast or ship by air, but that can be extremely expensive. Which leaves much of the American economy at the mercy of the negotiations between the longshoremen and the ports. By the way, the last major work stoppage at west coast ports in 1971 lasted 134 days.
Brian Cabell, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's hope it doesn't last that long this time. Let's go to New York now, get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That, of course, begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "MONEYLINE": Wolf, thank you. Coming up at the top of the hour, Hurricane Lili is tonight gaining strength and heading to shore. We'll bring you a live report from the Louisiana coastline, where residents are preparing to evacuate and preparing to be hit by a very powerful hurricane. We'll also have the latest for you from the National Hurricane Center tonight.
A major turning point in the Enron investigation today. The Justice Department today charged the man, they say, was behind the firm's complex and fraudulent deals. We'll be going live to Houston for the very latest. And tonight I'll be joined by CNN legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
And that's not the only development in the fight against corporate crime. A key player in the Martha Stewart scandal also charged. We'll have that story. All of that and a great deal more ahead on "MONEYLINE." Please join us tonight. Now back to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. Time is running out for you to weigh in on our "Web Questions of The Day." Is political assassination ever justified? Log on to my Web site, CNN.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results when we come back.
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BLITZER: A couple breaking stories we're following right now. In Utah, the Utah Highway Patrol has confirmed that five people are confirmed dead in a tour bus crash that happened earlier today. You're looking at a picture of that crash. Utah Highway Patrol spokesmen saying that the fatalities were confirmed just a little while ago. We'll cover that story a little bit more as we get some more information.
And we are getting news now from -- CNN has learned that the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Democrats, allowing someone else to replace Senator Robert Torricelli on the ballot in New Jersey to run for a Senate.
Orelon Sidney is standing by for an update now on the Hurricane Lili situation.
Orelon, tell what's going on.
SIDNEY: Well, right now, it looks like heavy rain bands are already starting to move into the southern portion of Louisiana. We're seeing thunderstorms just to the south of New Orleans. Remember, New Orleans, you're under a tropical storm watch -- or tropical storm warning, rather, that includes Lake Pontchartrain.
Southward now, down towards Houston, we're not seeing a whole lot of action, but that will certainly change by tonight. Slowing up the landfall now to about 2:00 local time on Thursday. So we're going to watch out for high tide, which is very close to that time -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Orelon Sidney, thanks very much.
"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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