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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

White House Confirms Newly-Released Audiotape is bin Laden

Aired November 19, 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, ANCHOR, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: ...Nic Robertson, he's in the Iraqi capitol -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, so far it seems to have been a fairly successful mission for Hans Blix. He met a few hours ago with Iraq's foreign minister Naji Sabri. It is now only a matter of hours before Hans Blix and some members of his advance team leave here, but he says he has got cooperation, an agreement from the Iraqi officials here to comply with Resolution 1441. So, by December 8th, he says he expects them to make a declaration of their weapons of mass destruction as they have to do by the terms of that resolution.

However, he does say, and it has been Iraq's position up to now, they have no weapons of mass destruction. Hans Blix has said if Iraq goes ahead and makes a declaration of that type, effectively presenting a blank sheet, then they need to be able to back it up with some very serious evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: If the answer of the Iraqi government were to be that there aren't any whatever, then it must be convincingly so by documentation and by evidence that nothing is remaining, and in the analysis that we have made of the areas for which I am responsible, the missiles and biological and chemical, we do not think that has yet...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, Blix says the first team of inspectors will arrive in Baghdad on the 25th of November. Two days later on the 27th, he says they will get to work. Their work should become clearer after Iraq makes that declaration December the 8th. He says four more teams will be joining them soon after as they ramp up to perhaps as many as 100 inspectors here on the ground working by the end of the year -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, there seems already to be a difference of opinion, a dispute between the Bush administration on the one hand and the United Nations on the other, specifically Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary-General, over whether or not the Iraqis targeting British and U.S. warplanes patrolling the no-fly zones in the north and the south represent a violation of Security Council Resolution 1441, the most recent resolution. Explain to our viewers what's going on.

ROBERTSON: Well, Iraq has waded into that issue as well. The foreign ministry here saying the fact that the United States accuses Iraq of already being in breach of Resolution 1441 by showing hostile acts by targeting those coalition aircraft in the northern and southern no-fly zones that they patrol south of the 33rd, north of the 36th, Iraq says that these calls by the United States are essentially showing what the Iraqi government has always been saying that the new resolution is just an excuse for the United States to show aggression against Iraq.

So, the foreign ministry here has been calling on Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, to do something about it, and they've said that this is a violation of the U.N. charter and a violation of international law. It is certainly something that Iraq has put up a very strong front about now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And the Bush administration says exactly the opposite. The Iraqis have no right to go and interfere with those patrols. Nic Robertson in Baghdad thanks very much. As the United States prepares for a possible war in the Gulf, federal agents are fanning out from coast to coast to interview Iraqi-Americans and Iraqi nationals living in this country. CNN's Charles Feldman has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Moustafa al-Qazwini, the Iraqi-American Imam of this mosque in Orange County, California, the surprise visit recently by agents of the FBI and CIA wanting to know about possible Iraqi terrorists in his community made him angry.

MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI, IMAM: We fled Iraq because we were, we've been interrogated several times on several occasions by Saddam Hussein's security people and many members of my family were imprisoned, were executed. We fled Iraq for this reason, so to come and experience the same, you know, climate here, it's not a good feeling.

FELDMAN: Although he says he felt better after the interview was over, he says federal agents are targeting the wrong community since most Iraqi-Americans want to see Saddam Hussein gone. Across the nation, faculty and students at the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst are upset about the questioning of an Iraqi-born professor by the FBI a few weeks ago.

PROF. MUSADDAK ALHABEEB, UNIV. OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST: About five to ten minutes, not long and they left and they gave me the impression that nothing is serious. But after that, the story, you know, it took on a life of its own because my colleagues and my students were very much concerned.

FELDMAN: El Cajon, California, some 20 miles east of San Diego is home to about 35,000 Iraqis, the second largest Iraqi community in the U.S. after Detroit. The newspaper headlines highlight the concern about the FBI surveillance, a concern shared by this civil rights attorney who has handled many cases since 9/11 involving Arab- Americans. RANDALL HAMUD, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I was appalled. I mean every Iraqi-American I've ever met has fled Iraq because of Saddam Hussein, because of this sort of profiling and governmental persecution, and here they come to the United States. We offer them sanctuary. We give them citizenship, and now we turn around and say they're potential terror suspects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FELDMAN (on camera): Now, just how tolerant Iraqi-Americans remain about FBI monitoring will no doubt depend upon how intrusive and how extensive it becomes and whether or not the tactic is eventually viewed as being un-American -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Charles, I noticed in the peace you said that when the FBI confronted some of these Iraqi nationals, Iraqi-Americans, they were accompanied by CIA officers. I thought that was not supposed to be allowed here in the United States for CIA officers to be engaged in law enforcement or domestic intelligence.

FELDMAN: Well, Wolf, in at least one case that we mentioned the person there, the Imam says that one of the people identified himself as being with the CIA and the FBI sources I have and the CIA, in fact, told us that when it comes to terrorism, there is nothing, and I'm quoting now -- illegal or immoral about a CIA analyst accompanying the FBI if the FBI feels that there's some particular expertise that the CIA might have when it comes again to terrorism or espionage -- – Wolf.

BLITZER: Charles Feldman, very precise reporting thanks very much Charles for that good work. Now, word of an FBI intelligence sharing program run amuck. According to the Wall Street Journal right after September 11th, the bureau distributed to scores of U.S. corporations a so-called watch list of people it wanted to talk to, among those getting the list, car rental companies, banks, power plants and casinos.

A year later the FBI says the effort dubbed Project Lookout is out of control. Expanding versions of the list are being circulated among firms full of errors, and those who have been cleared can't seem to get their names off the list. Project Lookout is the largest intelligence sharing effort with the private sector ever attempted by the FBI.

Despite the problems, the bureau says it did help agents obtain relevant information right after the attacks. The Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked about this list earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We need to find ways to share as much information with individuals as is possible to make every American, whether they're in industry or business or in law enforcement or in their families capable of enhancing their security by being aware and alert. So, it's with that in mind that we will guide our approach to information sharing to make it possible for us all to be a part of the team which defeats terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now with his unique insight into this story, Larry Mussarra who says his name is on the FBI watch list. Tell us your story, Larry. What happened? How did you find out about this?

LARRY MUSSARRA, NAME ON WATCH LIST: Well, good afternoon Wolf. I was flying down to Seattle with my wife and 12-year-old son and we went up to the airport and proceeded to buy our tickets, went to the electronic ticket kiosk and proceeded to put our confirmation code in there and it was unable to process the code. It said see the attendant.

So, we went to the attendant and she had some puzzled look after she typed in a code and called a supervisor over and another supervisor and they sat there for a few minutes and tried typing and then it was about 45 minutes before they were able to clear my name. They had to go call Seattle, the Seattle office and get my name through.

We were finally able to board the plane and we flew down there since three times to Seattle and Portland and ever since we've continued to have problems like this where we couldn't get processed through without having to go through a screening, pre-screening and another screening.

BLITZER: Has it affected any other aspect of your life, other than these flights?

MUSSARRA: Fortunately, not. I was able to apply for loans for college. My son is in college so we were able to get his loan approved and he has been screened, but my son's wrestling team, the Juno (ph) Wrestling Team has flown three times in the last month here and the whole team about 15 kids, were screened and we can only assume that his name is targeted for that reason.

BLITZER: Did they offer any explanation? Did you find out any explanation why your name might have been on this original FBI watch list?

MUSSARRA: No. I have not. I have gotten calls from Senator Mikulski's office and Senator Stevens office, went through the local TS agents here and the FBI here locally and still have no reason why I'm on this list. My uncle is also on the list. He had some problems with his last name getting out of the Anchorage Airport back in the summer, and he has not had success in finding out why we're on the list.

BLITZER: Is Mussarra an Arabic name? Are you of Arab ancestry or anything like that?

MUSSARRA: No, I'm Italian-Irish. My mother's maiden name was O'Shea (ph) and my father is a Sicilian, so if you put an H in the middle or an F on the back of a name it comes up somewhat of an Arabic origin, yes. BLITZER: Maybe they got confused because the name perhaps sounded Arabic. I'm just speculating obviously.

MUSSARRA: Well, that's the only thing I can do is speculate. I did find the USA article when I was in Portland the first time, a USA news article saying that there was a list of names with Arabic origins ran through a computer, misspelling of Khadafi (ph) and they can see how they can spell Khadafi different ways, so I was assuming that well, if you misspell my name, it is of Arabic origin misspelled and maybe that was the reason.

So, I took it as that reason for the first time, but then the second time was a little ridiculous. The third and fourth time it was just getting out of control, I think.

BLITZER: So, give us your opinion as someone who's been directly affected by this watch list how you feel about the government perhaps going too far in trying to fight terrorism.

MUSSARRA: Oh, gee that's a hard one to answer. There is a reason for this obviously. I mean there's got to be some reason but my feeling is that if you can't get the right people, I mean I've got 23 years active duty in the Coast Guard retired, and a commissioned officer and I'm still on a watch list. I think something's a little wrong in that aspect, yes.

BLITZER: I think they got to do something to get your name off that list and probably a lot of other names off that list as well, a lot of damage already having been done, but it's all, of course, as we know part of the war on terrorism. Larry thanks for joining us. Good luck to you and that little wrestler and the entire family of yours.

MUSSARRA: Thank you.

BLITZER: Here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this: Is the government unfairly trampling on civil rights to fight the war on terror? We'll have the results later in this program. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear from you. Send me your comments, your questions. I'll 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 online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Inmates on the run, one down, one to go, an escaped convict captured, another still wanted for a cross-country crime spree. Also, a potential environmental disaster, a sinking tanker threatens the ocean. And he committed one of the worst terrorist attacks in history, now a revealing look at his behavior on that ill-fated day; but first, a look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice over): Terror threats in Australia, the Australian government says it's received a credible terrorist threat linked to al Qaeda. The justice minister says the threat does not mention a specific target or timing but is similar to threats received recently by the United States and Britain.

Death sentence protest, in Iran's capitol Tehran more massive protests by hardliners and pro-reform students triggered by the death sentence given to a history professor. Student protesters argue the professor sentenced for insulting Islam is an attempt to block reform programs of Mohammed Khatami. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini has ordered a review of the case.

Venezuela protest, thousands opposed to President Hugo Chavez marched in the capitol Caracas to protest the military takeover of the city's police force. It's the latest of a series of protests aimed at forcing Mr. Chavez to resign and hold an early referendum on his rule.

In Peru, a former leader of a military death squad is under arrest. Retired Army Major Santiago Martin Rivas is suspected in two massacres during the government of former President Alberto Fujimori. Rivas was pardoned by Fujimori in 1995 but the present government says the move was illegal.

In Pakistan, thousands attended today's funeral of the man who killed two CIA employees. Mir Aimal Kasi was executed in the United States last week for the 1993 murders outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)

BLITZER: Let's move on to some other news right now. Police in Ashland, Kentucky say they've nabbed one of two escaped convicts suspected in a string of fresh crimes, including the kidnapping of a South Carolina woman. CNN's Charles Molineaux is reporting now from Conway, South Carolina, where the search for the missing woman continues. Charles, tell us what's happening.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does Wolf, and for all the crimes these two are accused of in what looks like a multi- state rampage, it is that kidnapping that most concerns investigators of a woman from this Wal-Mart parking lot because she is still missing and, of course, we do still have that other suspect still on the loose even after that hairy arrest in Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (voice over): Police had one of their fugitives almost a day before they realized it. Twenty-one-year-old Brandon Basham was arrested Sunday night after an alleged carjacking attempt in Ashland, Kentucky that turned into a shootout with police. Investigators say he gave them a false name and they didn't get his real one until late Monday.

So far, Basham is charged with Robbery, Fleeing from Police, and Attempted Murder of a Police Officer. Monday night, the hunt turned into a high speed car chase. State troopers in Ohio say they pursued a stolen BMW at speeds of up to 130 miles an hour. The driver got away but police say the FBI has confirmed he was their other fugitive, 25-year-old Chadrick Fulks, and the car belonged to the woman the two were accused of kidnapping, who is still missing.

Police say Basham and Fulks broke out of a jail in Hopkins County, Kentucky two weeks ago. They then allegedly carjacked and kidnapped a Kentucky man and left him tied to a tree in Indiana. Last Thursday, investigators say the two shot at a man who caught them breaking into a house in Orie (ph) County, South Carolina. Then that same afternoon, carjacked 44-year-old Alice Donovan in the parking lot of this Wal-Mart in Conway, South Carolina and took off with her and her BMW. Store surveillance cameras caught the incident on tape. It's not being made public but FBI agents say that tape is chilling.

CLYDE MERRYMAN, FBI: We're dealing with very dangerous people, obviously, and I think the chief and I believe they're very desperate people, which is a dangerous combination.

MOLINEAUX: Agents say finding Alice Donovan and getting her home safely are the top priority in this case.

MERRYMAN: We're hopeful that they didn't harm her and that they've kept her in a hostage situation.

MOLINEAUX: And they're not revealing anything Basham might have told them. Right now he's being held in Ashland on $2 million bail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (on camera): One big concern for police is the increasing level of violence that we've seen in this case from the non-violent offenses the two were originally locked up for to that carjacking with a knife, to shooting at somebody, to ultimately having a shootout with police.

The cops think that is also very scary and also is the fact that that one victim was actually tied to a tree overnight. There's a lot of concern that if that happened to Alice Donovan that we could actually see her having severe problems being out in what has become increasingly cold weather overnight. They're hoping to get a swift conclusion to this case and get her home safely as quickly as they can -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's hope for the best, thanks very much Charles for that report. Of course, it has to be crushing for Ohio State Troopers to lose the man believed to be Chadrick Fulks in that hair-raising high speed chase last night. Ohio State Highway Patrol Colonel Ken Morckle is joining me now from Columbus. What exactly happened, Colonel?

COL. KEN MORCKLE, OHIO STATE HIGHWAY PATROL: Well, Wolf, last night about 10:36, one of our officers approached a vehicle with what we believe was just a single male in the vehicle and there was no plate on the front of it. It was a BMW, dark blue, and when the officer went around to the rear, got the plate off the West Virginia tag and ran it, it came back as a wanted vehicle, wanted plate, and called for back-up, just as our standard operating procedure would be in a felony situation such as that.

And as the officer was waiting on back-up, of course the suspect was aroused in the car and he interacts with the officer. The officer tries to contain the situation there and, quite frankly, the suspect just drove off. Keep in mind at that time all they knew they were dealing with was what was believed either a stolen tag or a stolen car, and so he didn't have all the background at that time.

Unfortunately, after a lengthy pursuit and very high speeds, we were able to get the road spikes out. He went down around the spikes, almost struck another trooper, and after that we lost sight of him and unfortunately we have policies and procedures and good common sense to use in these pursuits and the suspects don't follow those rules.

BLITZER: And that video that we were showing our viewers, that was from one of your cars from the dashboard, is that right?

MORCKLE: That's correct. That video was from the dashboard of the original officer that made contact with this suspect at the rest area there in Marion County, and as you can see in the video. He just kind of speeds right on out of the rest area, and at that time was when the pursuit ensued first northbound on 23 out of the Columbus area and then through the median and back southbound where the other officer got involved and was almost struck then by the suspect at that time.

BLITZER: And how certain are you that the individual in the car is this suspect Chadrick Fulks?

MORCKLE: Well, we're pretty certain. We've been working with the local authorities here, certainly the local departments involved. We've been working with a number of different FBI offices on this case and we're pretty certain that this was Chadrick Fulks, the suspect involved in these other incidents both in West Virginia and certainly down there in South Carolina involving the missing lady.

That's certainly our primary concern and what we've been concerning ourselves here with this area in Ohio is searching the area to see if we can come up with any evidence of the whereabouts of this young lady.

BLITZER: All right, Colonel Morckle, thanks for joining us. Good luck to you and all your associates over there. Pregnancy and peanut allergies, doctors make the connection, plus surgery by robot, how to get your heart fixed without necessarily getting your chest cracked open. And, an oil tanker sinking off the Spanish coast, the accident that threatens to pour millions of gallons into the water, first today's news quiz.

The world's largest oil spill happened where, Kuwait in Saudi Arabia; Alaska; Galapagos Islands; Gulf of Mexico; the answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked the world's largest oil spill happened where; the answer, Kuwait in Saudi Arabia. In 1991 during the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein opened the spigots on Kuwait's oil fields and detonated the wells, unleashing millions of gallons of oil.

The scramble is on to protect Spain's northwest coast from a potentially catastrophic oil spill. CNN's Alan Goodman reports from a town close to where the crippled tanker sank today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The stricken tanker Prestige leaking fuel oil since last week went from bad to worse on Tuesday. In the morning, the stern sank more than a hundred miles off the coast of northwest Spain. Later in the day, the rest of the ship went down. Officials say at least some of the oil leaked on Tuesday as the ship sank. They know a huge amount of oil remained on the ship as it went down. What's not known is if it remained in the cargo hold as the ship sunk to the bottom, and what happens to that oil will determine just how much damage there is to the environment.

FRANCIS SULLIVAN, DIR. OF CONSERVATION, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, UK: We're looking at an ecological disaster unprecedented in recent history. Many people remember the Exxon Valdez, which sank with about half as much oil as the Prestige has onboard. If that oil escapes into the marine environment and spreads along that coastline, it will be an unprecedented ecological disaster in European waters.

GOODMAN: Ten European nations have offered to help Spain fight the spill and two already have sent ships to the area. The lucrative fishing industry here says there could be $100 million in damage already.

GOODMAN (on camera): This area of northwestern Spain already had a major environmental catastrophe ten years ago when an oil tanker spilled tens of thousands of tons of oil. The area was just finishing the clean-up, finishing the compensation payments from that event when this one happened and the questions are rising now about why, why another spill in this area. Al Goodman CNN Camarenas (ph), Spain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: If the tanker Prestige loses its entire cargo, the spill would almost double the Exxon Valdez disaster. The Exxon Valdez catastrophe happened in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. It dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sound. The Prestige carried more than 20 million gallons of diesel fuel and went down in the Atlantic.

Could tankers off U.S. shores be in danger of going down and what sent this to the bottom of the Atlantic? Here's CNN National Correspondent Gary Tuchman. Gary, tell us about this.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, fortunately tanker accidents are rare but they could happen anytime at any place, including off the United States coast. Now, U.S. and European Union officials have passed new rules to make tankers safer, but it won't be until the year 2015 that all tankers will be affected. The main issue involves hulls. The Prestige had a single hull. All new tankers have double hulls, double hulls like double bags at the grocery store, are much safer. I want to give you a look at a double-hull ship that is currently under construction and this gives you an idea, a double hull is two layers of steel protecting the oil from the water. This is the steel we're talking about. The oil goes here and the water's over here. If this was a single hull ship, this steel would be much smaller. All new ships have double hulls. According to the new regulations by the U.S. and the E.U. some tankers with single hulls have to be off the water by 2005, others by 2010, all of them by 2015.

Now, we want to give you a look at a drawing of the prestige to give you an idea of what might have happened here. According to the American Bureau of Shipping, they are telling us that there are 12 different areas. You can see here -- one, two, three, four, and so on. That's bad number drawing. I know you could tell. But these gray areas are where the oil, where the fuel was on the ship. The blue areas that you see right here were empty ballast areas, areas that are kept empty to balance the ship.

What apparently happened is during an accident last weekend -- and they don't know what caused the accident -- a 50-foot crack or rupture occurred on the port side, or the right side of the ship right here, where you see the red. The decision was then made after it flooded on the red side to purposely flood the blue side, which was also empty, to try to balance the prestige. But it apparently did not work and the prestige went completely under water today. The cause of the accident they don't know yet.

The Prestige is one of the ships that was supposed to be decommissioned by the year 2005 but obviously it's all happened three years premature.

Wolf, back to you.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Gary Tuchman, I think it's fair to call this a disaster. Thank you very much for that explanation.

And inside the mind of a September 11 hijacker. Hear from the girlfriend of Ziad Jarrah. And the baby over the balcony -- what was Michael Jackson thinking about when he did this earlier? We'll tell you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. Coming up, a September 11 hijacker. His girlfriend speaks out on what he did that fateful day.

Turning now to the Homeland Security Bill, President Bush's massive weapon to protect the nation from terrorist attacks. Final passage is expected later today after the Senate earlier defeated a bid by Democrats to kill what they called "special interest measures" in the bill. But will this new giant agency really make the nation safer? Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a huge country, protecting it a huge task. Now there will be a huge bureaucracy charged with doing the job, incorporating 22 separate agencies. Will it work?

JAMES LINDSEY, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It's sort of like trying to redesign and overhaul a plane's engine in mid-flight.

MESERVE: The guts of the proposal, the merger of border agency, including Customs, the Coast Guard, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the new Transportation and Security Agency. Experts say it could make policing the border more coherent, comprehensive and smart, improving the exchange of information about suspicious people and goods.

STEPHEN FLYNN, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATION: If bananas were shipped from Iceland that should obviously set off an alarm. That's caught through trade information. And the ability to merge that together, the people, the conveyances and the cargo information under one roof is a sensible step forward to deal with the intelligence preventive side of this.

MESERVE: Information on critical infrastructure and terrorist threats will be synthesized and analyzed by the new department with an eye to predicting and preventing possible terrorist actions. But some wonder if intelligence agencies and the private sector will give up all the information the department needs to do the job.

First responders are promised one-stop shopping for grants, gear, training and information. The League of Cities says one thing is missing, money.

CAMERON WHITMAN, NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES: Unfortunately, as long as Congress does not appropriate any money for first responders, the shelves in this shop are going to be empty. There's not going to be anything there that they can give us.

MESERVE: On Wall Street, about 70 percent of private mergers and acquisitions fail and they usually involve just two entities, not 22. In Washington, making the new department function effectively is going to be a gargantuan managerial task, according to experts.

LINDSEY: It's number one, just as people all share the same stationary and report up the same chain of command doesn't mean they communicate. The second problem is that there is an awful lot of government that handles homeland security issues that is not part of this new Department of Homeland Security.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Some experts and state and local officials predict that in the short testimony the country could be less safe rather than more safe as agencies and individuals jockey for power and clarify their role in the new department. They say ultimately the department could make us safer, but that may not be evident for three to five years -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Three to five years, but the president will sign this into law in the coming days. How long before the department is actually up and running?

MESERVE: It will take 60 days for the department to be established. No agencies could be moved into the department for 90 days. But by 14 months out, all of these 22 agencies have to be integrated. There has been a Planning Transition Office that has been up and operating for months.

It has taken representatives of these 22 different agencies, had them working together to try and look at how this might be done and anticipate some of the problems. They've even looked at things like computer compatibility, trying to figure out how they can quickly integrate all the information systems so at least that little piece will work.

BLITZER: An amazing job. The largest reorganization of the federal government in what -- half a century.

MESERVE: And it took 40 years to get that one right, the experts say. And some of them project we should see more reorganization of this department down the pike.

BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.

Turning now to a new revelation from the terror trial in Germany. She once planned to marry him, but he was planning a shocking act of terror. Intimate testimony from the girlfriend of a 9/11 suicide pilot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Inside the mind of a hijacker during his final hours. The hijacker, Ziad Jarrah, the man who investigators say piloted United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11. The insight, from his girlfriend, who appeared today at the trial in Germany of Munar el Mutasanic (ph). Mutansanic (ph) is accused of helping the so-called Hamburg cell of September 11 hijackers with money and logistics. At the trial, Ziad Jarrah's girlfriend says she got a phone call from Jarrah shortly before he boarded Flight 93 at Newark International Airport. Aysel Sengun said of her boyfriend, "He called me on September 11. He was very brief. He said he loved me three times. I asked what was up. He hung up shortly afterwards. It was so short and rather strange of him saying that repeatedly."

Sengun spoke at length about her relationship with Jarrah, which she said constrained over his insistence that she wear a veil. "He had a different view of Islam than I did. He was more serious. He wanted me to cover up. I said I wouldn't do so for him, only for God." Sengun testified that she helped her boyfriend find a flying school in Florida. She said Jarrah told her not to tell anyone that he was in the United States and that when she did tell a few people, he was very upset. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Medical news making headlines right now as well. A possible test to detect ovarian cancer, plus, heart surgery without the human hand. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live with this cutting edge technology that may make you breathe easier if you go under the knife. And what happened here? A controversial appearance by Michael Jackson. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Would you want a robot operating on you? The answer could be yes after you see this next story. It's happening right now, news that will save your life potentially. It might even be easier on your body. That's all coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In our "Health Beat," a promising discovery in the battle against ovarian cancer. Researchers say a genetic test can find tiny changes in the DNA of ovarian cancer patients and that may offer a useful way to find the disease before symptoms appear. Ovarian cancer usually isn't detected until it spreads. There's one drawback, the test is too expensive for general screening, but it could be put to use for women with a high risk of -- for the disease.

Researchers in Britain think they may know why more children are developing peanut allergies. They say the increase may be tied to increase in peanut consumption by pregnant and breastfeeding moms. The researchers say children who tested positive for peanut allergies have a high genetic tendency to develop allergy and asthma symptoms.

Doctors are praising an experimental robotic heart surgery. The procedure makes for a much quicker recovery because the operation can be performed without cracking open the rib cage. More now from CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet da Vinci, named appropriately after the 15th century sculptor, painter and inventor. This modern day da Vinci is a pioneer of sorts as well. He's the first robot in the world to assist in heart surgery. He costs about $1 million but can work 24 hours a day, never asks for a raise, and most importantly, his hands never shake. Curious? So were we.

(on camera): So we decided to come here to the operating room. That's the da Vinci. That's a patient. We're watching heart surgery.

(voice-over): Remarkably, surgeon Doug Murphy is on the other side of the room. He looks like he's playing a video game but for Murphy, da Vinci isn't just a cool toy and it may revolutionize the way heart surgery is performed.

DR. DOUG MURPHY, CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON: This won't be a paperweight. We will learn how to use this robot. We haven't cut any bones. We haven't spread any ribs. Nothing's dislocated. So in terms -- all he will have is a little soft tissue pain.

GUPTA: The traditional, soon to become old-fashioned way of doing heart surgery involves a 12-inch incision in the chest and the splitting open of sternum. With da Vinci...

MURPHY: He just had four little holes over on the right side his chest.

GUPTA: To be sure, patients who have had their operation with da Vinci go home in three days on average compared to seven to ten days. More importantly, these patients get back to a normal life within two weeks compared to two months.

Of course, these advantages come at a price. Financially, about $2,000 more per operation and time wise, about two hours longer. It also has a steep learning curve and even veteran doctors will observe before they ever try it on their own. In fact, you are watching only the third case ever performed at this hospital.

(on camera): But it isn't just a difficult technique to learn. It really requires an entirely readjusted approach and a readjusted way of thinking, really. This now becomes one of your personal assistants and that takes a little getting used to.

(voice-over): But most everyone agrees, da Vinci represents the future. Right now, it's still experimental but soon Dr. Murphy and his colleagues at five hospitals around the country hope to prove that da Vinci is here to stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And it looks promising, Wolf. There's no question about it. Just to reiterate, the da Vinci and robotic surgeries like da Vinci will shorten hospitalization, minimize invasiveness and possibly be the way lot of operations all go in the future -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So could we expect that all surgeries somewhere down the road are going to be done by da Vinci or its colleague?

GUPTA: We're already starting to see lot of techniques that become more and more minimally invasive either using robots or using some sort of image guidance technique or something like that to try and make it less invasive for the patient, get the patients out of the hospital quicker. Whether or not it's an actual robot, it may not be an actual robot for all these various cases, some are obviously much smaller cases, but I think that that is definitely the trend, Wolf.

BLITZER: You said that at the hospital in New York where you saw this procedure done, it was only the third time at that hospital. But widespread is this surgery, this robotic surgery elsewhere around the country?

GUPTA: The particular procedure you were watching there is still in what's known as a clinical trial. This isn't something that's widely available yet. It's being done at five hospitals around the country, including Atlanta, Washington, New York and a few different places around the country. It may be at 12 to 18 months before we actually see it being -- seeing it done in all sorts of hospitals.

And interestingly, Wolf, the procedure you were watching there was actually what's known as a valve replacement in the heart. They're all going to be trying to do bypass surgery, certainly one of the most common heart operations. They're going to be doing that as well with robotic assistance in the near future, within the next few months.

BLITZER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, that's amazing stuff, as you always bring us.

GUPTA: We'll keep you posted.

BLITZER: Thanks very much for that medical news, news our viewers can certainly potentially use. You can find a lot more -- out a lot more about this experimental robotic heart surgery on our Web site CNN.com/Wolf.

Michael Jackson gives his fans an odd thriller. More on this strange appearance when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Checking these other stories on this evening's "Newswire." He didn't actually throw the baby out with the bath water, but pop star Michael Jackson shocked fans in Berlin today by holding a baby from a hotel balcony. Jackson then pulled the infant back. The Associated Press is reporting that it is his youngest son.

The singer is in Germany to receive a lifetime achievement award. We have calls in to Michael Jackson's office but have not yet heard back. Jackson is fresh from a three-day court appearance in California defending himself in a lawsuit over canceled concerts. We don't know -- repeat, don't know what was in his mind when he was doing that.

It happened with candy bars, laundry detergent and other consumer products, now even ice cream. Some manufacturers afraid to raise the price of ice cream are packaging less of it instead. The maker of Bryers and Edy's recently followed Schwan's in downsizing the traditional half-gallon ice cream brick by half a pint and charging the same for it. Some consumers are noticing and complaining.

In today's passing, the Oscar-winning actor, James Coburn, the 74-year-old Coburn died yesterday of an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles after a career that spanned decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): James Coburn won an Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actor" in the 1997 film, "Affliction."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop that. JAMES COBURN, ACTOR: Who, me? Well, I didn't do nothing. Look, just look what a good job I done here now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You haven't done anything. I should have left you at home to stew in your drink.

BLITZER: My best personal memories of Coburn in the 1965 box office smash, "Our Man Flint."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, Flint.

COBURN: Lower your hand slowly and smile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

COBURN: If he senses hostility towards me, he'll rip you apart. Smile, sir. Thank you, Caesar.

BLITZER: Hold legend, James Coburn died in his wife's arms last night at the age of 74.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: He was a great actor. I remember that movie, "Our Man Flint." I was young usher at a theater in Buffalo, New York. I saw that movie more than 30 times. James Coburn, dead at the age of 74. We'll miss you.

Time's running out for your turn to weigh in on our "Web Question of The Day." Is the government unfairly trampling on civil rights to fight the war on terror? Log on to CNN.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In our "Picture of The Day," we turn to the heavens and a rare treat for sky gazers. The Leonid meteor shower put on a show last night for much of North America and other parts of the world. In one spot in Pennsylvania, almost two-dozen meteors streaked across the sky in the span of 10 minutes. The Leahy appear every year, but this year the concentration was especially heavy and won't be repeated for almost a century. That's a long time.

Now here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Earlier we asked this question -- is the government unfairly trampling on civil rights to fight the war on terror? Seventy percent of you say yes, 30 percent say no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to your e-mails. David sends us this -- "With all the reporting on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, it amazes me that the world's most advanced army still cannot find one man on a horse in the middle of Afghanistan."

Douglas writes -- "Debate on war should be encouraged before it starts. It will help us prepare for it. But once the war begins, it should be supported. That will help ensure victory and prevent suffering."

That's all the time we have today. Please join me again tomorrow, every day at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Please join me weekdays as well at noon Eastern for "SHOWDOWN IRAQ." We take an in-depth look at the crisis -- the potential crisis indeed, the potential war. Tomorrow on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, 5:00 Eastern, I'll speak with Bob Woodward. He's got a hot new book out now on the president and the war. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

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Aired November 19, 2002 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: ...Nic Robertson, he's in the Iraqi capitol -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, so far it seems to have been a fairly successful mission for Hans Blix. He met a few hours ago with Iraq's foreign minister Naji Sabri. It is now only a matter of hours before Hans Blix and some members of his advance team leave here, but he says he has got cooperation, an agreement from the Iraqi officials here to comply with Resolution 1441. So, by December 8th, he says he expects them to make a declaration of their weapons of mass destruction as they have to do by the terms of that resolution.

However, he does say, and it has been Iraq's position up to now, they have no weapons of mass destruction. Hans Blix has said if Iraq goes ahead and makes a declaration of that type, effectively presenting a blank sheet, then they need to be able to back it up with some very serious evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: If the answer of the Iraqi government were to be that there aren't any whatever, then it must be convincingly so by documentation and by evidence that nothing is remaining, and in the analysis that we have made of the areas for which I am responsible, the missiles and biological and chemical, we do not think that has yet...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, Blix says the first team of inspectors will arrive in Baghdad on the 25th of November. Two days later on the 27th, he says they will get to work. Their work should become clearer after Iraq makes that declaration December the 8th. He says four more teams will be joining them soon after as they ramp up to perhaps as many as 100 inspectors here on the ground working by the end of the year -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, there seems already to be a difference of opinion, a dispute between the Bush administration on the one hand and the United Nations on the other, specifically Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary-General, over whether or not the Iraqis targeting British and U.S. warplanes patrolling the no-fly zones in the north and the south represent a violation of Security Council Resolution 1441, the most recent resolution. Explain to our viewers what's going on.

ROBERTSON: Well, Iraq has waded into that issue as well. The foreign ministry here saying the fact that the United States accuses Iraq of already being in breach of Resolution 1441 by showing hostile acts by targeting those coalition aircraft in the northern and southern no-fly zones that they patrol south of the 33rd, north of the 36th, Iraq says that these calls by the United States are essentially showing what the Iraqi government has always been saying that the new resolution is just an excuse for the United States to show aggression against Iraq.

So, the foreign ministry here has been calling on Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, to do something about it, and they've said that this is a violation of the U.N. charter and a violation of international law. It is certainly something that Iraq has put up a very strong front about now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And the Bush administration says exactly the opposite. The Iraqis have no right to go and interfere with those patrols. Nic Robertson in Baghdad thanks very much. As the United States prepares for a possible war in the Gulf, federal agents are fanning out from coast to coast to interview Iraqi-Americans and Iraqi nationals living in this country. CNN's Charles Feldman has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Moustafa al-Qazwini, the Iraqi-American Imam of this mosque in Orange County, California, the surprise visit recently by agents of the FBI and CIA wanting to know about possible Iraqi terrorists in his community made him angry.

MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI, IMAM: We fled Iraq because we were, we've been interrogated several times on several occasions by Saddam Hussein's security people and many members of my family were imprisoned, were executed. We fled Iraq for this reason, so to come and experience the same, you know, climate here, it's not a good feeling.

FELDMAN: Although he says he felt better after the interview was over, he says federal agents are targeting the wrong community since most Iraqi-Americans want to see Saddam Hussein gone. Across the nation, faculty and students at the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst are upset about the questioning of an Iraqi-born professor by the FBI a few weeks ago.

PROF. MUSADDAK ALHABEEB, UNIV. OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST: About five to ten minutes, not long and they left and they gave me the impression that nothing is serious. But after that, the story, you know, it took on a life of its own because my colleagues and my students were very much concerned.

FELDMAN: El Cajon, California, some 20 miles east of San Diego is home to about 35,000 Iraqis, the second largest Iraqi community in the U.S. after Detroit. The newspaper headlines highlight the concern about the FBI surveillance, a concern shared by this civil rights attorney who has handled many cases since 9/11 involving Arab- Americans. RANDALL HAMUD, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I was appalled. I mean every Iraqi-American I've ever met has fled Iraq because of Saddam Hussein, because of this sort of profiling and governmental persecution, and here they come to the United States. We offer them sanctuary. We give them citizenship, and now we turn around and say they're potential terror suspects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FELDMAN (on camera): Now, just how tolerant Iraqi-Americans remain about FBI monitoring will no doubt depend upon how intrusive and how extensive it becomes and whether or not the tactic is eventually viewed as being un-American -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Charles, I noticed in the peace you said that when the FBI confronted some of these Iraqi nationals, Iraqi-Americans, they were accompanied by CIA officers. I thought that was not supposed to be allowed here in the United States for CIA officers to be engaged in law enforcement or domestic intelligence.

FELDMAN: Well, Wolf, in at least one case that we mentioned the person there, the Imam says that one of the people identified himself as being with the CIA and the FBI sources I have and the CIA, in fact, told us that when it comes to terrorism, there is nothing, and I'm quoting now -- illegal or immoral about a CIA analyst accompanying the FBI if the FBI feels that there's some particular expertise that the CIA might have when it comes again to terrorism or espionage -- – Wolf.

BLITZER: Charles Feldman, very precise reporting thanks very much Charles for that good work. Now, word of an FBI intelligence sharing program run amuck. According to the Wall Street Journal right after September 11th, the bureau distributed to scores of U.S. corporations a so-called watch list of people it wanted to talk to, among those getting the list, car rental companies, banks, power plants and casinos.

A year later the FBI says the effort dubbed Project Lookout is out of control. Expanding versions of the list are being circulated among firms full of errors, and those who have been cleared can't seem to get their names off the list. Project Lookout is the largest intelligence sharing effort with the private sector ever attempted by the FBI.

Despite the problems, the bureau says it did help agents obtain relevant information right after the attacks. The Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked about this list earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We need to find ways to share as much information with individuals as is possible to make every American, whether they're in industry or business or in law enforcement or in their families capable of enhancing their security by being aware and alert. So, it's with that in mind that we will guide our approach to information sharing to make it possible for us all to be a part of the team which defeats terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now with his unique insight into this story, Larry Mussarra who says his name is on the FBI watch list. Tell us your story, Larry. What happened? How did you find out about this?

LARRY MUSSARRA, NAME ON WATCH LIST: Well, good afternoon Wolf. I was flying down to Seattle with my wife and 12-year-old son and we went up to the airport and proceeded to buy our tickets, went to the electronic ticket kiosk and proceeded to put our confirmation code in there and it was unable to process the code. It said see the attendant.

So, we went to the attendant and she had some puzzled look after she typed in a code and called a supervisor over and another supervisor and they sat there for a few minutes and tried typing and then it was about 45 minutes before they were able to clear my name. They had to go call Seattle, the Seattle office and get my name through.

We were finally able to board the plane and we flew down there since three times to Seattle and Portland and ever since we've continued to have problems like this where we couldn't get processed through without having to go through a screening, pre-screening and another screening.

BLITZER: Has it affected any other aspect of your life, other than these flights?

MUSSARRA: Fortunately, not. I was able to apply for loans for college. My son is in college so we were able to get his loan approved and he has been screened, but my son's wrestling team, the Juno (ph) Wrestling Team has flown three times in the last month here and the whole team about 15 kids, were screened and we can only assume that his name is targeted for that reason.

BLITZER: Did they offer any explanation? Did you find out any explanation why your name might have been on this original FBI watch list?

MUSSARRA: No. I have not. I have gotten calls from Senator Mikulski's office and Senator Stevens office, went through the local TS agents here and the FBI here locally and still have no reason why I'm on this list. My uncle is also on the list. He had some problems with his last name getting out of the Anchorage Airport back in the summer, and he has not had success in finding out why we're on the list.

BLITZER: Is Mussarra an Arabic name? Are you of Arab ancestry or anything like that?

MUSSARRA: No, I'm Italian-Irish. My mother's maiden name was O'Shea (ph) and my father is a Sicilian, so if you put an H in the middle or an F on the back of a name it comes up somewhat of an Arabic origin, yes. BLITZER: Maybe they got confused because the name perhaps sounded Arabic. I'm just speculating obviously.

MUSSARRA: Well, that's the only thing I can do is speculate. I did find the USA article when I was in Portland the first time, a USA news article saying that there was a list of names with Arabic origins ran through a computer, misspelling of Khadafi (ph) and they can see how they can spell Khadafi different ways, so I was assuming that well, if you misspell my name, it is of Arabic origin misspelled and maybe that was the reason.

So, I took it as that reason for the first time, but then the second time was a little ridiculous. The third and fourth time it was just getting out of control, I think.

BLITZER: So, give us your opinion as someone who's been directly affected by this watch list how you feel about the government perhaps going too far in trying to fight terrorism.

MUSSARRA: Oh, gee that's a hard one to answer. There is a reason for this obviously. I mean there's got to be some reason but my feeling is that if you can't get the right people, I mean I've got 23 years active duty in the Coast Guard retired, and a commissioned officer and I'm still on a watch list. I think something's a little wrong in that aspect, yes.

BLITZER: I think they got to do something to get your name off that list and probably a lot of other names off that list as well, a lot of damage already having been done, but it's all, of course, as we know part of the war on terrorism. Larry thanks for joining us. Good luck to you and that little wrestler and the entire family of yours.

MUSSARRA: Thank you.

BLITZER: Here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this: Is the government unfairly trampling on civil rights to fight the war on terror? We'll have the results later in this program. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear from you. Send me your comments, your questions. I'll 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 online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Inmates on the run, one down, one to go, an escaped convict captured, another still wanted for a cross-country crime spree. Also, a potential environmental disaster, a sinking tanker threatens the ocean. And he committed one of the worst terrorist attacks in history, now a revealing look at his behavior on that ill-fated day; but first, a look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice over): Terror threats in Australia, the Australian government says it's received a credible terrorist threat linked to al Qaeda. The justice minister says the threat does not mention a specific target or timing but is similar to threats received recently by the United States and Britain.

Death sentence protest, in Iran's capitol Tehran more massive protests by hardliners and pro-reform students triggered by the death sentence given to a history professor. Student protesters argue the professor sentenced for insulting Islam is an attempt to block reform programs of Mohammed Khatami. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini has ordered a review of the case.

Venezuela protest, thousands opposed to President Hugo Chavez marched in the capitol Caracas to protest the military takeover of the city's police force. It's the latest of a series of protests aimed at forcing Mr. Chavez to resign and hold an early referendum on his rule.

In Peru, a former leader of a military death squad is under arrest. Retired Army Major Santiago Martin Rivas is suspected in two massacres during the government of former President Alberto Fujimori. Rivas was pardoned by Fujimori in 1995 but the present government says the move was illegal.

In Pakistan, thousands attended today's funeral of the man who killed two CIA employees. Mir Aimal Kasi was executed in the United States last week for the 1993 murders outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)

BLITZER: Let's move on to some other news right now. Police in Ashland, Kentucky say they've nabbed one of two escaped convicts suspected in a string of fresh crimes, including the kidnapping of a South Carolina woman. CNN's Charles Molineaux is reporting now from Conway, South Carolina, where the search for the missing woman continues. Charles, tell us what's happening.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does Wolf, and for all the crimes these two are accused of in what looks like a multi- state rampage, it is that kidnapping that most concerns investigators of a woman from this Wal-Mart parking lot because she is still missing and, of course, we do still have that other suspect still on the loose even after that hairy arrest in Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (voice over): Police had one of their fugitives almost a day before they realized it. Twenty-one-year-old Brandon Basham was arrested Sunday night after an alleged carjacking attempt in Ashland, Kentucky that turned into a shootout with police. Investigators say he gave them a false name and they didn't get his real one until late Monday.

So far, Basham is charged with Robbery, Fleeing from Police, and Attempted Murder of a Police Officer. Monday night, the hunt turned into a high speed car chase. State troopers in Ohio say they pursued a stolen BMW at speeds of up to 130 miles an hour. The driver got away but police say the FBI has confirmed he was their other fugitive, 25-year-old Chadrick Fulks, and the car belonged to the woman the two were accused of kidnapping, who is still missing.

Police say Basham and Fulks broke out of a jail in Hopkins County, Kentucky two weeks ago. They then allegedly carjacked and kidnapped a Kentucky man and left him tied to a tree in Indiana. Last Thursday, investigators say the two shot at a man who caught them breaking into a house in Orie (ph) County, South Carolina. Then that same afternoon, carjacked 44-year-old Alice Donovan in the parking lot of this Wal-Mart in Conway, South Carolina and took off with her and her BMW. Store surveillance cameras caught the incident on tape. It's not being made public but FBI agents say that tape is chilling.

CLYDE MERRYMAN, FBI: We're dealing with very dangerous people, obviously, and I think the chief and I believe they're very desperate people, which is a dangerous combination.

MOLINEAUX: Agents say finding Alice Donovan and getting her home safely are the top priority in this case.

MERRYMAN: We're hopeful that they didn't harm her and that they've kept her in a hostage situation.

MOLINEAUX: And they're not revealing anything Basham might have told them. Right now he's being held in Ashland on $2 million bail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MOLINEAUX (on camera): One big concern for police is the increasing level of violence that we've seen in this case from the non-violent offenses the two were originally locked up for to that carjacking with a knife, to shooting at somebody, to ultimately having a shootout with police.

The cops think that is also very scary and also is the fact that that one victim was actually tied to a tree overnight. There's a lot of concern that if that happened to Alice Donovan that we could actually see her having severe problems being out in what has become increasingly cold weather overnight. They're hoping to get a swift conclusion to this case and get her home safely as quickly as they can -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's hope for the best, thanks very much Charles for that report. Of course, it has to be crushing for Ohio State Troopers to lose the man believed to be Chadrick Fulks in that hair-raising high speed chase last night. Ohio State Highway Patrol Colonel Ken Morckle is joining me now from Columbus. What exactly happened, Colonel?

COL. KEN MORCKLE, OHIO STATE HIGHWAY PATROL: Well, Wolf, last night about 10:36, one of our officers approached a vehicle with what we believe was just a single male in the vehicle and there was no plate on the front of it. It was a BMW, dark blue, and when the officer went around to the rear, got the plate off the West Virginia tag and ran it, it came back as a wanted vehicle, wanted plate, and called for back-up, just as our standard operating procedure would be in a felony situation such as that.

And as the officer was waiting on back-up, of course the suspect was aroused in the car and he interacts with the officer. The officer tries to contain the situation there and, quite frankly, the suspect just drove off. Keep in mind at that time all they knew they were dealing with was what was believed either a stolen tag or a stolen car, and so he didn't have all the background at that time.

Unfortunately, after a lengthy pursuit and very high speeds, we were able to get the road spikes out. He went down around the spikes, almost struck another trooper, and after that we lost sight of him and unfortunately we have policies and procedures and good common sense to use in these pursuits and the suspects don't follow those rules.

BLITZER: And that video that we were showing our viewers, that was from one of your cars from the dashboard, is that right?

MORCKLE: That's correct. That video was from the dashboard of the original officer that made contact with this suspect at the rest area there in Marion County, and as you can see in the video. He just kind of speeds right on out of the rest area, and at that time was when the pursuit ensued first northbound on 23 out of the Columbus area and then through the median and back southbound where the other officer got involved and was almost struck then by the suspect at that time.

BLITZER: And how certain are you that the individual in the car is this suspect Chadrick Fulks?

MORCKLE: Well, we're pretty certain. We've been working with the local authorities here, certainly the local departments involved. We've been working with a number of different FBI offices on this case and we're pretty certain that this was Chadrick Fulks, the suspect involved in these other incidents both in West Virginia and certainly down there in South Carolina involving the missing lady.

That's certainly our primary concern and what we've been concerning ourselves here with this area in Ohio is searching the area to see if we can come up with any evidence of the whereabouts of this young lady.

BLITZER: All right, Colonel Morckle, thanks for joining us. Good luck to you and all your associates over there. Pregnancy and peanut allergies, doctors make the connection, plus surgery by robot, how to get your heart fixed without necessarily getting your chest cracked open. And, an oil tanker sinking off the Spanish coast, the accident that threatens to pour millions of gallons into the water, first today's news quiz.

The world's largest oil spill happened where, Kuwait in Saudi Arabia; Alaska; Galapagos Islands; Gulf of Mexico; the answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked the world's largest oil spill happened where; the answer, Kuwait in Saudi Arabia. In 1991 during the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein opened the spigots on Kuwait's oil fields and detonated the wells, unleashing millions of gallons of oil.

The scramble is on to protect Spain's northwest coast from a potentially catastrophic oil spill. CNN's Alan Goodman reports from a town close to where the crippled tanker sank today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The stricken tanker Prestige leaking fuel oil since last week went from bad to worse on Tuesday. In the morning, the stern sank more than a hundred miles off the coast of northwest Spain. Later in the day, the rest of the ship went down. Officials say at least some of the oil leaked on Tuesday as the ship sank. They know a huge amount of oil remained on the ship as it went down. What's not known is if it remained in the cargo hold as the ship sunk to the bottom, and what happens to that oil will determine just how much damage there is to the environment.

FRANCIS SULLIVAN, DIR. OF CONSERVATION, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, UK: We're looking at an ecological disaster unprecedented in recent history. Many people remember the Exxon Valdez, which sank with about half as much oil as the Prestige has onboard. If that oil escapes into the marine environment and spreads along that coastline, it will be an unprecedented ecological disaster in European waters.

GOODMAN: Ten European nations have offered to help Spain fight the spill and two already have sent ships to the area. The lucrative fishing industry here says there could be $100 million in damage already.

GOODMAN (on camera): This area of northwestern Spain already had a major environmental catastrophe ten years ago when an oil tanker spilled tens of thousands of tons of oil. The area was just finishing the clean-up, finishing the compensation payments from that event when this one happened and the questions are rising now about why, why another spill in this area. Al Goodman CNN Camarenas (ph), Spain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: If the tanker Prestige loses its entire cargo, the spill would almost double the Exxon Valdez disaster. The Exxon Valdez catastrophe happened in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. It dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sound. The Prestige carried more than 20 million gallons of diesel fuel and went down in the Atlantic.

Could tankers off U.S. shores be in danger of going down and what sent this to the bottom of the Atlantic? Here's CNN National Correspondent Gary Tuchman. Gary, tell us about this.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, fortunately tanker accidents are rare but they could happen anytime at any place, including off the United States coast. Now, U.S. and European Union officials have passed new rules to make tankers safer, but it won't be until the year 2015 that all tankers will be affected. The main issue involves hulls. The Prestige had a single hull. All new tankers have double hulls, double hulls like double bags at the grocery store, are much safer. I want to give you a look at a double-hull ship that is currently under construction and this gives you an idea, a double hull is two layers of steel protecting the oil from the water. This is the steel we're talking about. The oil goes here and the water's over here. If this was a single hull ship, this steel would be much smaller. All new ships have double hulls. According to the new regulations by the U.S. and the E.U. some tankers with single hulls have to be off the water by 2005, others by 2010, all of them by 2015.

Now, we want to give you a look at a drawing of the prestige to give you an idea of what might have happened here. According to the American Bureau of Shipping, they are telling us that there are 12 different areas. You can see here -- one, two, three, four, and so on. That's bad number drawing. I know you could tell. But these gray areas are where the oil, where the fuel was on the ship. The blue areas that you see right here were empty ballast areas, areas that are kept empty to balance the ship.

What apparently happened is during an accident last weekend -- and they don't know what caused the accident -- a 50-foot crack or rupture occurred on the port side, or the right side of the ship right here, where you see the red. The decision was then made after it flooded on the red side to purposely flood the blue side, which was also empty, to try to balance the prestige. But it apparently did not work and the prestige went completely under water today. The cause of the accident they don't know yet.

The Prestige is one of the ships that was supposed to be decommissioned by the year 2005 but obviously it's all happened three years premature.

Wolf, back to you.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Gary Tuchman, I think it's fair to call this a disaster. Thank you very much for that explanation.

And inside the mind of a September 11 hijacker. Hear from the girlfriend of Ziad Jarrah. And the baby over the balcony -- what was Michael Jackson thinking about when he did this earlier? We'll tell you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. Coming up, a September 11 hijacker. His girlfriend speaks out on what he did that fateful day.

Turning now to the Homeland Security Bill, President Bush's massive weapon to protect the nation from terrorist attacks. Final passage is expected later today after the Senate earlier defeated a bid by Democrats to kill what they called "special interest measures" in the bill. But will this new giant agency really make the nation safer? Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a huge country, protecting it a huge task. Now there will be a huge bureaucracy charged with doing the job, incorporating 22 separate agencies. Will it work?

JAMES LINDSEY, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It's sort of like trying to redesign and overhaul a plane's engine in mid-flight.

MESERVE: The guts of the proposal, the merger of border agency, including Customs, the Coast Guard, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the new Transportation and Security Agency. Experts say it could make policing the border more coherent, comprehensive and smart, improving the exchange of information about suspicious people and goods.

STEPHEN FLYNN, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATION: If bananas were shipped from Iceland that should obviously set off an alarm. That's caught through trade information. And the ability to merge that together, the people, the conveyances and the cargo information under one roof is a sensible step forward to deal with the intelligence preventive side of this.

MESERVE: Information on critical infrastructure and terrorist threats will be synthesized and analyzed by the new department with an eye to predicting and preventing possible terrorist actions. But some wonder if intelligence agencies and the private sector will give up all the information the department needs to do the job.

First responders are promised one-stop shopping for grants, gear, training and information. The League of Cities says one thing is missing, money.

CAMERON WHITMAN, NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES: Unfortunately, as long as Congress does not appropriate any money for first responders, the shelves in this shop are going to be empty. There's not going to be anything there that they can give us.

MESERVE: On Wall Street, about 70 percent of private mergers and acquisitions fail and they usually involve just two entities, not 22. In Washington, making the new department function effectively is going to be a gargantuan managerial task, according to experts.

LINDSEY: It's number one, just as people all share the same stationary and report up the same chain of command doesn't mean they communicate. The second problem is that there is an awful lot of government that handles homeland security issues that is not part of this new Department of Homeland Security.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Some experts and state and local officials predict that in the short testimony the country could be less safe rather than more safe as agencies and individuals jockey for power and clarify their role in the new department. They say ultimately the department could make us safer, but that may not be evident for three to five years -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Three to five years, but the president will sign this into law in the coming days. How long before the department is actually up and running?

MESERVE: It will take 60 days for the department to be established. No agencies could be moved into the department for 90 days. But by 14 months out, all of these 22 agencies have to be integrated. There has been a Planning Transition Office that has been up and operating for months.

It has taken representatives of these 22 different agencies, had them working together to try and look at how this might be done and anticipate some of the problems. They've even looked at things like computer compatibility, trying to figure out how they can quickly integrate all the information systems so at least that little piece will work.

BLITZER: An amazing job. The largest reorganization of the federal government in what -- half a century.

MESERVE: And it took 40 years to get that one right, the experts say. And some of them project we should see more reorganization of this department down the pike.

BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.

Turning now to a new revelation from the terror trial in Germany. She once planned to marry him, but he was planning a shocking act of terror. Intimate testimony from the girlfriend of a 9/11 suicide pilot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Inside the mind of a hijacker during his final hours. The hijacker, Ziad Jarrah, the man who investigators say piloted United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11. The insight, from his girlfriend, who appeared today at the trial in Germany of Munar el Mutasanic (ph). Mutansanic (ph) is accused of helping the so-called Hamburg cell of September 11 hijackers with money and logistics. At the trial, Ziad Jarrah's girlfriend says she got a phone call from Jarrah shortly before he boarded Flight 93 at Newark International Airport. Aysel Sengun said of her boyfriend, "He called me on September 11. He was very brief. He said he loved me three times. I asked what was up. He hung up shortly afterwards. It was so short and rather strange of him saying that repeatedly."

Sengun spoke at length about her relationship with Jarrah, which she said constrained over his insistence that she wear a veil. "He had a different view of Islam than I did. He was more serious. He wanted me to cover up. I said I wouldn't do so for him, only for God." Sengun testified that she helped her boyfriend find a flying school in Florida. She said Jarrah told her not to tell anyone that he was in the United States and that when she did tell a few people, he was very upset. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Medical news making headlines right now as well. A possible test to detect ovarian cancer, plus, heart surgery without the human hand. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live with this cutting edge technology that may make you breathe easier if you go under the knife. And what happened here? A controversial appearance by Michael Jackson. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Would you want a robot operating on you? The answer could be yes after you see this next story. It's happening right now, news that will save your life potentially. It might even be easier on your body. That's all coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In our "Health Beat," a promising discovery in the battle against ovarian cancer. Researchers say a genetic test can find tiny changes in the DNA of ovarian cancer patients and that may offer a useful way to find the disease before symptoms appear. Ovarian cancer usually isn't detected until it spreads. There's one drawback, the test is too expensive for general screening, but it could be put to use for women with a high risk of -- for the disease.

Researchers in Britain think they may know why more children are developing peanut allergies. They say the increase may be tied to increase in peanut consumption by pregnant and breastfeeding moms. The researchers say children who tested positive for peanut allergies have a high genetic tendency to develop allergy and asthma symptoms.

Doctors are praising an experimental robotic heart surgery. The procedure makes for a much quicker recovery because the operation can be performed without cracking open the rib cage. More now from CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet da Vinci, named appropriately after the 15th century sculptor, painter and inventor. This modern day da Vinci is a pioneer of sorts as well. He's the first robot in the world to assist in heart surgery. He costs about $1 million but can work 24 hours a day, never asks for a raise, and most importantly, his hands never shake. Curious? So were we.

(on camera): So we decided to come here to the operating room. That's the da Vinci. That's a patient. We're watching heart surgery.

(voice-over): Remarkably, surgeon Doug Murphy is on the other side of the room. He looks like he's playing a video game but for Murphy, da Vinci isn't just a cool toy and it may revolutionize the way heart surgery is performed.

DR. DOUG MURPHY, CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON: This won't be a paperweight. We will learn how to use this robot. We haven't cut any bones. We haven't spread any ribs. Nothing's dislocated. So in terms -- all he will have is a little soft tissue pain.

GUPTA: The traditional, soon to become old-fashioned way of doing heart surgery involves a 12-inch incision in the chest and the splitting open of sternum. With da Vinci...

MURPHY: He just had four little holes over on the right side his chest.

GUPTA: To be sure, patients who have had their operation with da Vinci go home in three days on average compared to seven to ten days. More importantly, these patients get back to a normal life within two weeks compared to two months.

Of course, these advantages come at a price. Financially, about $2,000 more per operation and time wise, about two hours longer. It also has a steep learning curve and even veteran doctors will observe before they ever try it on their own. In fact, you are watching only the third case ever performed at this hospital.

(on camera): But it isn't just a difficult technique to learn. It really requires an entirely readjusted approach and a readjusted way of thinking, really. This now becomes one of your personal assistants and that takes a little getting used to.

(voice-over): But most everyone agrees, da Vinci represents the future. Right now, it's still experimental but soon Dr. Murphy and his colleagues at five hospitals around the country hope to prove that da Vinci is here to stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And it looks promising, Wolf. There's no question about it. Just to reiterate, the da Vinci and robotic surgeries like da Vinci will shorten hospitalization, minimize invasiveness and possibly be the way lot of operations all go in the future -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So could we expect that all surgeries somewhere down the road are going to be done by da Vinci or its colleague?

GUPTA: We're already starting to see lot of techniques that become more and more minimally invasive either using robots or using some sort of image guidance technique or something like that to try and make it less invasive for the patient, get the patients out of the hospital quicker. Whether or not it's an actual robot, it may not be an actual robot for all these various cases, some are obviously much smaller cases, but I think that that is definitely the trend, Wolf.

BLITZER: You said that at the hospital in New York where you saw this procedure done, it was only the third time at that hospital. But widespread is this surgery, this robotic surgery elsewhere around the country?

GUPTA: The particular procedure you were watching there is still in what's known as a clinical trial. This isn't something that's widely available yet. It's being done at five hospitals around the country, including Atlanta, Washington, New York and a few different places around the country. It may be at 12 to 18 months before we actually see it being -- seeing it done in all sorts of hospitals.

And interestingly, Wolf, the procedure you were watching there was actually what's known as a valve replacement in the heart. They're all going to be trying to do bypass surgery, certainly one of the most common heart operations. They're going to be doing that as well with robotic assistance in the near future, within the next few months.

BLITZER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, that's amazing stuff, as you always bring us.

GUPTA: We'll keep you posted.

BLITZER: Thanks very much for that medical news, news our viewers can certainly potentially use. You can find a lot more -- out a lot more about this experimental robotic heart surgery on our Web site CNN.com/Wolf.

Michael Jackson gives his fans an odd thriller. More on this strange appearance when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Checking these other stories on this evening's "Newswire." He didn't actually throw the baby out with the bath water, but pop star Michael Jackson shocked fans in Berlin today by holding a baby from a hotel balcony. Jackson then pulled the infant back. The Associated Press is reporting that it is his youngest son.

The singer is in Germany to receive a lifetime achievement award. We have calls in to Michael Jackson's office but have not yet heard back. Jackson is fresh from a three-day court appearance in California defending himself in a lawsuit over canceled concerts. We don't know -- repeat, don't know what was in his mind when he was doing that.

It happened with candy bars, laundry detergent and other consumer products, now even ice cream. Some manufacturers afraid to raise the price of ice cream are packaging less of it instead. The maker of Bryers and Edy's recently followed Schwan's in downsizing the traditional half-gallon ice cream brick by half a pint and charging the same for it. Some consumers are noticing and complaining.

In today's passing, the Oscar-winning actor, James Coburn, the 74-year-old Coburn died yesterday of an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles after a career that spanned decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): James Coburn won an Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actor" in the 1997 film, "Affliction."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop that. JAMES COBURN, ACTOR: Who, me? Well, I didn't do nothing. Look, just look what a good job I done here now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You haven't done anything. I should have left you at home to stew in your drink.

BLITZER: My best personal memories of Coburn in the 1965 box office smash, "Our Man Flint."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, Flint.

COBURN: Lower your hand slowly and smile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

COBURN: If he senses hostility towards me, he'll rip you apart. Smile, sir. Thank you, Caesar.

BLITZER: Hold legend, James Coburn died in his wife's arms last night at the age of 74.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: He was a great actor. I remember that movie, "Our Man Flint." I was young usher at a theater in Buffalo, New York. I saw that movie more than 30 times. James Coburn, dead at the age of 74. We'll miss you.

Time's running out for your turn to weigh in on our "Web Question of The Day." Is the government unfairly trampling on civil rights to fight the war on terror? Log on to CNN.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In our "Picture of The Day," we turn to the heavens and a rare treat for sky gazers. The Leonid meteor shower put on a show last night for much of North America and other parts of the world. In one spot in Pennsylvania, almost two-dozen meteors streaked across the sky in the span of 10 minutes. The Leahy appear every year, but this year the concentration was especially heavy and won't be repeated for almost a century. That's a long time.

Now here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Earlier we asked this question -- is the government unfairly trampling on civil rights to fight the war on terror? Seventy percent of you say yes, 30 percent say no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to your e-mails. David sends us this -- "With all the reporting on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, it amazes me that the world's most advanced army still cannot find one man on a horse in the middle of Afghanistan."

Douglas writes -- "Debate on war should be encouraged before it starts. It will help us prepare for it. But once the war begins, it should be supported. That will help ensure victory and prevent suffering."

That's all the time we have today. Please join me again tomorrow, every day at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Please join me weekdays as well at noon Eastern for "SHOWDOWN IRAQ." We take an in-depth look at the crisis -- the potential crisis indeed, the potential war. Tomorrow on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, 5:00 Eastern, I'll speak with Bob Woodward. He's got a hot new book out now on the president and the war. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

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