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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Bush Meets with Putin About NATO Expansion

Aired November 22, 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: Hi, Judy. Thank you very much. It's Saddam Hussein like you've never seen him before, how his personal habits may surprise you. And, troops aren't the only ones getting ready for a possible showdown with Iraq. Wait until you see who's getting the training this time around. It's all coming up right here on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice over): Two leaders face to face, a warning to Iraq but another warning to President Bush, the private life of Saddam Hussein; the Iraqi leader as you've never seen him before. In U.S. hands...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We did bring to justice a killer.

BLITZER: Is a key al Qaeda suspect telling what he knows? A CNN exclusive, we'll show you how army intelligence recruits learn to break a prisoner. Indecent exposure, the Fed's communications cop takes on the TV networks. And, Bond is back, I'll talk gadgets, girls, and bad guys with an early 007, Roger Moore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (on camera): It's Friday, November 22, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting today from Los Angeles. President Bush got backing for his tough stand against Iraq today but he also got a warning from Russia's President Vladimir Putin, don't go to war on your own.

Our CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King is traveling with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At Catherine's Palace, a walk down the golden corridor with the man President Bush calls his good friend Vladimir, a quick visit to compare notes on Iraq and to promise NATO's expansion to Russia's border is anything but a threat. After the talks, Mr. Bush's first comment on the arrest of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, al Qaeda's Persian Gulf operations chief.

BUSH: We did bring to justice a killer and the message is we're making progress on the war against terrorists that we're going to hunt them down one at a time. KING: A new joint U.S.-Russia statement demands Iraq "cooperate fully and unconditionally in its disarmament obligations or face serious consequences." But Russia says Washington has too low a threshold for war with Iraq and that there are higher priorities in the war on terror, like finding Osama bin Laden. Mr. Putin gave no indication 90 minutes with Mr. Bush had changed that view.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We do believe that we have to stay within the framework of the work being carried out by the Security Council of the United Nations.

KING: Mr. Bush came to St. Petersburg from the NATO Summit in Prague, where seven Eastern European nations were invited to join the alliance. Three of them, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are on Russia's doorstep. President Putin did not object and says he will work with NATO but he also wants assurances the alliance will limit troop deployment so close to his borders.

BUSH: The mood of the NATO countries is this: Russia is our friend and we've got a lot of interests together.

KING: This was the eighth Bush-Putin meeting in just 17 months and Mr. Bush is due back in Russia in May.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING (on camera): The president now in Lithuania. He speaks to the Lithuanian people here in the morning, then onto Romania before heading back to the United States, Mr. Bush greeting two of those seven countries now invited to join the NATO alliance. But, Wolf, White House officials saying once again a frank and friendly discussion with President Putin, these two leaders are friends, but it is very clear, even more clear after today's talks, they have differences when it comes to Iraq and the broader war on terrorism - Wolf.

BLITZER: John, after the Russians voted in favor of that unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution, Secretary of State Powell and other U.S. officials told me they flatly denied they made any concessions to the Russians, any quid pro quo future oil deals with Iraq or anything else. But now there are some suggestions that perhaps some concessions were made. Are you hearing anything about that?

KING: Well, U.S. officials say there have been no explicit concessions but President Bush himself said in a television interview on Russian TV right before he arrived in St. Petersburg that he understood full well that Russia not only had debts owed to it by Iraq but that Russia had longstanding economic ties and longstanding interest in redeveloping the Iraqi oil business, especially development of the Iraqi oil fields.

Mr. Bush said all those interests would be taken into account as his policy went forward, whether or not there is a military conflict, but especially the president's remarks implied if there is a military conflict. Mr. Bush said the United States has no interest in running Iraq and that Russia's interests and other interests would be taken into account. So, U.S. officials say no quid pro quo but it is clear this is something on the president's mind - Wolf.

BLITZER: John King traveling with the president. Have a safe trip back. Thanks very much for that report. In Iraq, meanwhile, a United Nations advance team is getting things ready for the weapons hunt. Let's get that story straight from our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Outside U.N. weapons inspection offices, Iraqi construction workers take a break from helping in the cleanup. Inside the carefully guarded building and out of sight, U.N. technicians are racing to refurbish laboratories and offices for the first team of 18 inspectors arriving Monday. Already progress had been made. Rows of recently cleaned off road jeeps sporting new UNMOVIC registrations are ready for the first inspections due to begin next Wednesday.

ROBERTSON (on camera): Plans are already well advanced for the next few weeks. Top of the list will be visiting sites where previous inspection teams have left behind monitoring equipment.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Exactly where they'll be going is still a closely-guarded secret.

HIRO UEKI, U.N. SPOKESMAN: We have the right to inspect any sites; therefore, we will send inspectors to any location and there will be Iraqi minders following them.

ROBERTSON: One such site could be the Al Nassar (ph) heavy industry complex 30 kilometers north of Baghdad, a so-called dual use site where inspectors had installed monitoring cameras.

UEKI: We have to check whether the equipment matters is still operational or not and if not, we have to bring in new equipment.

ROBERTSON: Not being ruled out either for early inspection are presidential palaces, until now the most contentious sites. Still unresolved how will inspectors interview Iraqi scientists. Resolution 1441 calls for such conversations to be in private and away from Iraq government officials even out of the country.

UEKI: With the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we're looking to more detailed mechanisms as to how we can really secure their witness accounts or information.

ROBERTSON: For now, U.N. officials here in Baghdad seem encouraged by Iraqi cooperation, a view that may soon be tested when inspections begin next week. Nic Robertson CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: There's more to Saddam Hussein than meets the eye and today we bring you some revealing pictures of the Iraqi leader that show a man obsessed with cleanliness and a pension for fishing with explosives. Joel Soler is the French filmmaker who captured Mr. Hussein in a new documentary Soler calls "Uncle Saddam." CNN's Paula Zahn talked to the filmmaker about his surprising findings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL SOLER, FILMMAKER (voice over): The first thing that Saddam Hussein does every morning when he wakes up at 5:00 a.m. is to have some coffee. Then, he takes care of his personal hygiene. This is especially important because Saddam prefers to be greeted with a kiss near the armpits.

SOLER (on camera): Do you know why Saddam thinks that the woman should shower twice a day, because according to Saddam Hussein he thinks that the smell of a woman is more noticeable than a man. All that hygiene, even diet, it's national talk. I mean he goes on camera even for his diets saying, you know, this month I'm going on diet, and of course when he goes on diet everybody around him has to go on diet.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): And what does Saddam like to do for fun? He likes to swim.

SOLER: During his rare free time, Saddam enjoys relaxing near the Tigress River, playing games in the water and swimming. It's no secret why Saddam is Iraq's biggest heartthrob. In the '70s he was often seen picnicking with his family and gadding about on their boat.

SOLER (on camera): That really surprised me. I was expecting, you know, Saddam Hussein the evil guy from Baghdad and I guess you can be evil and can't be.

ZAHN: And one of Saddam's more campy hobbies is how he allegedly goes fishing.

SOLER (voice over): Saddam loves to eat fish, especially ones he caught himself. Fishing with grenades seems to do the trick. Later when it's safe, a couple of buddies in scuba gear will retrieve the catch.

ZAHN (on camera): It is amazing to me that you have video actually showing that. Where did you get that video?

SOLER (on camera): This is one of a cousins of Saddam fishing with grenades. It's not Saddam himself but you know (UNINTELLIGIBLE) told me about that and they're proud of it. I mean it's fun. It's a fun thing to do during the weekend.

ZAHN: And they said that without any sense of embarrassment, when they told you about this pastime?

SOLER: No. No, I think they...

ZAHN: And Saddam Hussein they claim did this as well?

SOLER: Yes. I mean but it's like, it's something very normal for them. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Soler's documentary airs Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 Pacific on Cinemax. Following a bloody suicide bombing, Israeli troops have carried out widespread operations, retaking at least temporarily the West Bank town of Bethlehem, scene of a violent standoff earlier this year. CNN's Matthew Chance has our story.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we've been witnessing Israel's response to that devastating suicide attack in Jerusalem on Thursday that left, of course, 11 Israelis dead. Witnessing their response here in Bethlehem, the city of course where Israeli police believe the man who carried out that suicide lived with his family.

Indeed, Israeli forces knew quickly not just to seal off the Church of the Nativity in the center of town here, but also to surround the house of that suspected bomber, filling it with explosives, ordering the people inside out onto the street, detonating the charges, razing it to the ground, the latest example there of Israel's very controversial policy of house demolition.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, there has been more bloodshed in the city of Jenin. We're told that a U.N. official from Britain who's been named as Ian Hook (ph) was shot and killed in an exchange between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.

The Palestinian Authority have moved very quickly to blame the Israelis for shooting that man, Mr. Hook, in the stomach and letting him bleed to death. The Israeli Defense Forces saying that at this stage in the confusion of the gunfight that was underway between them and Palestinian militants, they can't say for sure, Wolf, who pulled the trigger, back to you.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance reporting for us, thank you Matthew very much. An American military helicopter meanwhile came under fire today when it was parked at a base in the United Arab Emirates. The Pentagon says a man fired an AK-47 at the helicopter but no American personnel were nearby. Local security officers shot the man gravely wounding him. Officials say they don't know the motive for the shooting.

Al Qaeda terror suspects interrogated; how to squeeze information without crossing the line. Does hot chocolate really work better than threats? We'll take you inside the military's training school. Also, politics and decency collide on television. Should the government step in to curb sex and violence? Victoria's Secret prompts calls for more restrictions. And, an original spymaster, Roger Moore, is my guess on Bond, the new James Bond, but first a look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice over): Rioting over the Miss World beauty pageant has killed at least 100 people in the host country Nigeria and injured hundreds more. The violence in the Muslim north broke out after a newspaper wrote that the Prophet Mohammed would find the pageant acceptable.

A state of emergency is declared in southern Ecuador after a series of explosions at an army ammunition facility killed at least seven people. Officials now say a hand grenade fell during routine maintenance and triggered the blast.

It was an accident, that's the testimony today from an American nurse on trial in Monaco. Ted Mahr (ph) admits setting the fire that killed his wealthy employer but says he only meant to start a small blaze so he could get credit for saving his boss' life.

British firefighters have started an eight-day strike accusing the government of sinking a last minute pay deal. The military is stepping in to cover but much of its firefighting equipment is outdated.

A condom caper has landed a Swedish radio station in trouble. It covered one of Stockholm's most visible monuments in a giant condom. It took a giant crane to remove it and authorities say the station will have to cover the costs, and that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Turning now to the war on terror, U.S. intelligence has scored a victory with the capture of a key al Qaeda commander. Better yet, he's cooperating.

CNN Justice Correspondent, Kelli Arena, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Captured al Qaeda operative Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is talking. According to sources, his interrogation has already led the FBI to warn about possible maritime attacks against targets, such as ports, naval bases, and cruise ship docks. Officials say that is his specialty. He allegedly helped plan the bombing of the USS Cole. But what other information could al-Nashiri offer?

ERIC MARGOLIS, AUTHOR: He and the higher echelon would know many of the subordinate cell members throughout the Mid East and southwest Asia.

ARENA: Terror experts rank al-Nashiri among the top 25 al Qaeda leaders. One source says he attended the infamous al Qaeda meeting at this building in Koala Lumpur in January of 2000. It was chaired by Khalid Sheikh Muhammad who government officials believe masterminded the September 11 attacks.

Officials say it's likely al-Nashiri knows about terror plots now underway, the location of active cells, perhaps the location of weapons factories and weapons caches. The key, according to a former FBI interrogator, is finding his weak spot.

CINDY CAPPS, FORMER FBI AGENT: Every person has a button that can be pushed but you have to find the button.

ARENA: But counterterrorism officials warn any information he provides about al Qaeda has about a six-month shelf life.

KENNETH KATZMAN, CONG. RESEARCH SERVICE: The only thing that's really going to devastate would be to find the top leadership, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. They are the charisma. They are the ethos behind the organization.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (on camera): Experts say because those two men are still at large, al Qaeda can recruit new members and maintain its core mission - Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena thanks very much for that report. Arrests like that of al-Nashiri are only half the battle; just as critical as gleaning information from suspects and detainees information that, of course, can save lives and doing that effectively requires highly- specialized training as CNN National Correspondent Mike Boettcher shows us in this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Captured fighters on the Afghan battlefield, each one a potential goldmine of information, but how does the army get at the information locked inside the mind of the enemy?

After 63 days in Arizona, these U.S. army trainees will know how. Here at the U.S. Army Intelligence Training Center at Fort Huachuca, student soldiers learn the steps to breaking a prisoner.

PVT. PHILLIP MORENO, U.S. ARMY: I think a lot of people get this impression, interrogation it's this real, you know, big intimidating thing, that there's like a dark room and there's all this like, almost like detectives, you know they're like pushing you, shining the light in your face, when really it's not. It's very methodical.

BOETTCHER: Through exercises with role players and instructors, student interrogators practice their techniques. Here, Private Timothy Schultz (ph) uses an approach labeled Pride and Ego Down, trying to deflate an arrogant enemy Special Forces prisoner whose pride is his armor against questioning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My understanding is that Special Forces soldiers usually fight and put and put up some (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't want to risk the lives of my men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, so your men. Do you even know where your men are now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And combines that with an incentive approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you what, let's talk here. You answer my questions. We'll get done here. I'll even bring you to your men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll take me to my men?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not? It's too easy.

BOETTCHER: Students begin by being scrutinized themselves, via closed circuit TV. Instructors who occasionally deploy to the field are wary of being shown on TV.

(VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if they forget something...

BOETTCHER: Well, what happened right there that we just saw?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was trying to question from one area to a different area without getting all of the information he's required to get.

BOETTCHER: One instructor, who asked that his identity not be revealed, recently returned from Afghanistan where he questioned suspected al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. As is the case with prisoners of any type, many in Afghanistan respond to a simple, direct approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to keep in mind that they're human, and if you do forget that then you lose some of your best tools. You will be amazed at what a tiny word and cup of hot cocoa on a 15-degree night will get you as far as information.

BOETTCHER: The tough image the U.S. military projects in the world can also work to the advantage of interrogators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of them are scared out of their skin anyways and you know they knew that we were Americans but they didn't really know exactly where in the structure we fit.

BOETTCHER: Did the reactions vary according to their status inside either the Taliban or al Qaeda? I mean were those of higher rank and status harder?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it seemed the opposite. You know one of the highest-ranking al Qaeda guys that came through I was amazed. They brought him in. He started crying. He was one of the ones that peed his pants before we said a thing to him.

BOETTCHER: Once they manage to get a prisoner talking, the process becomes methodical, even tedious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you stop at the observation post?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I said, the observation post is atop Mt. Martin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where atop Mt. Martin is the observation post? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A horse ranch.

BOETTCHER: There are rarely a-ha moments, instead small puzzle pieces of information that can be key to knowing an enemy's plans.

Do you believe the information you were able to gather from the interrogations saved lives?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it did. I know for a fact that it did.

BOETTCHER: Mike Boettcher CNN, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sometimes they don't have a lot of time either in those interrogations to save some lives. Mike Boettcher doing some excellent reporting for us, thank you very much Mike.

How not to get killed on the front lines; we'll take you inside the Pentagon's War Training School for journalists. Plus, Miss America's been parading in a bathing suit for years, so why is the Victoria's Secret special prompting calls for decency? The politics and passion of TV restrictions, and that's our web question of the day as well. Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television? Log onto cnn.com/wolf, that's where you can vote. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. If the United States goes to war with Iraq, journalists will likely follow the military into battle zones. The military is helping the news media get ready, more now from CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's not Iraq yet, but it is all about getting ready for war. Around 60 reporters finished a week of battlefield training provided by the Pentagon, teaching them how to stay alive on the battlefield if they accompanied U.S. troops into combat zones, the final event, a five- mile road march with a 25-pound backpack. Pentagon Spokeswoman Torie Clarke joined the media.

STARR (on camera): How are you feeling coming up cardiac hill?

VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: I feel good. I'm breaking a sweat. I'm breaking a sweat but it's good.

STARR (voice over): CNN's Mike Boettcher, a media veteran of several wars, says he can now put on a gas mask in nine seconds, just in case the Iraqis launch a chemical attack. The reporters also learned to instantly react to enemy fire.

BOETTCHER: The hardest thing was getting off the helicopter in a hot landing zone with simulated fire and incoming artillery and trying to get a pack full of TV gear off of there and get out of the way and stay alive.

STARR: But as reporters, training to stay alive in combat became the story themselves, a story covered by dozens of news crews, controversy arose. Many worried that images of journalists in military gear would feed the view in some places that U.S. reporters are not impartial.

JOHN KIFNER, NEW YORK TIMES: They already think that we're spies. To have images broadcast of us with military gear on, with helmets, with flack jackets, with military packs puts everybody that does this kind of work in danger.

STARR (on camera): Reporters attending the course here all agreed they learned a lot about how to stay alive on the battlefield but they want to make sure that everyone understands if there is war in Iraq they are just covering the military. They have not joined up.

Barbara Starr CNN, Quantico, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sex and violence over the top on prime time television and cries for decency, a closer look when we come back. Joining me live the executive producer of "Law and Order" Special Victims' Unit. Also, bloody streets in L.A. What's happening in the City of Angels that's causing a record number of killings? We'll tell you, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Los Angeles today. Coming up, is television pushing the lines of decency, or is the FCC playing politics with your favorite programs?

We'll get to that in just a moment, but first let's look at some other stories making news right now in our CNN "News Alert."

The Bush administration is rolling back some clean air rules for power plants. They had required all plants to install new emission controls if they expand. The industry said that was too expensive. The administration says the rules discourage plants from projects that would increase energy efficiency. Environmental groups are threatening to sue over the new rules.

A county judge has ordered that a Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state be allowed to die. Terri Schiavo suffered massive brain damage from a heart attack in 1990. Her husband has been fighting to have her feeding tube removed. Her parents oppose that, and plan to appeal the ruling.

And the 107th Congress has adjourned for the year without taking action on unemployment. Benefits will run out for more than 800,000 people on December 28 when a 13 week extension approved earlier expires. After the New Year, about 95,000 people a week will lose benefits. Retiring House Majority Leader Dick Armey said the next Congress can take up the issue.

Victoria's secret unveiled its newest fashions on network television this week. Some women's groups are crying foul. They say the trendy lingerie store went too far, revealing too much skin. Now a member of the FCC is calling for a review of the agency's policies against indecency on the airwaves.

CNN's Brian Cabell has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Flash, flesh, and sex. Some critics have called it soft core porn, others call it entertainment. However it's characterized, the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show," aired on CBS Wednesday night, has again raised the question, how much sex and nudity are appropriate on network TV shows?

Here's what one FCC commissioner, the federal agency that is supposed to oversee such things, has to say.

MICHAEL COPPS, FCC: The point is not this specific show. The point is what's going on in the big picture? It's the overall race to the bottom, and it's time to do something about it.

CABELL: Copps wants the FCC to more thoroughly investigate viewers' complaints of indecency, and perhaps revise its standards. Are the complaints legitimate?

One watch dog group counted 24 shots of thongs in the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show." Too much, according to some, even at the 9:00 hour. CBS' response?

"We are confident," the network says, "that the Victoria's Secret special was completely within acceptable boundaries for broadcast television."

CBS pushed the envelope again on their movie "Master Spy: the Robert Hanssen Story," which angered some critics.

LARA MAHANEY, PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL: They aired a shot of a woman's breast. It was a picture of a woman's breast on network television. You have never seen a picture of a woman's breast. There has also been language that has crossed -- what we feel like, the indecency standards, and it hasn't been upheld. And -- it's time for the FCC to step up and say, you know what, we really do want to take indecency violations serious and start fining the affiliates.

CABELL: FCC commissioner Copps says network standards on violence also need to be reviewed. Critics point to NBC movies such as "Hunter: Return to Justice," and the recent remake of "Carrie."

NBC didn't respond with a comment on its shows. Clearly, American viewers acceptance of sex and violence on TV has broadened over the decades. Are there truly any standards left? Can they be enforced? Those are ever evolving questions for the FCC, the networks, and the viewers. Brian Cabell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Here to talk a little bit more about network television's position on indecency and violence is Neal Baer, the executive producer of "Law & Order SVU," a hip show.

Neal, thanks for joining us. Should there be any restrictions whatsoever?

NEAL BAER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "LAW & ORDER SVU": Of course there should be on network television. I don't think we should be depicting graphic sex or graphic violence. But it's hard to decide, really, what indecency means, and I think we should be allowed to tell really good stories, and if the stories demand adult themes, then we should go ahead and do it.

BLITZER: Well, let's start off with the Victoria's Secret pageant, which we just -- some of that was pretty risque.

BAER: Nothing that you wouldn't see, probably, on daytime soaps. But I think the important issue is that there were no surprises about it. Everybody knew, when they turned it on, it was advertised as Victoria's Secret's, and that's what it was. If it was something that was unexpected, then maybe there would be a problem, but there was a little rating in the corner. Parents had the opportunity not to turn it on if they didn't want to. So really don't see anything that's a problem with doing it that way.

BLITZER: It's more revealing than the Miss America pageants and the baiting suits we've seen, obviously, for years there. But in the old days, a lot of people used to complain about that as well.

BAER: And it's the way the culture has changed. People weren't allowed to say "pregnancy" on "I Love Lucy" in the '50s, and culture has changed, and there probably is some effect from cable television that they're not as restricted as we are when we are doing our network shows.

BLITZER: It's one thing, obviously, for HBO or Cinemax or Showtime to have something on cable, but it's another thing for the broadcast over the air waves, where anybody can pick that kind of stuff up. Is there -- what should be the limit, as far as nudity is concerned?

BAER: Well, it's interesting that you ask that. I'm not sure that there should be full frontal nudity on network television. I think that probably would bother a lot of people. It doesn't bother the Europeans. They don't allow graphic violence in Europe, but they have no problem with frontal nudity. That's part of -- more acceptable in their culture.

I think we, as writers, on "SVU" and all the other 10:00 drama shows know how far to push the envelope, and you're not going to see graphic nudity and you're not going to see graphic violence, at least on our show, because we don't think we need that to tell our good story.

BLITZER: But you don't necessarily see that on your show, but you do see plenty of violence on a lot of these other very successful programs. Are they going too far with the brutal killings, for example, that we see?

BAER: I can't say whether they're going too far. It's really involving the story telling. Is it necessary to tell the good story? If it is, then I say do it. If it's not, then don't do it.

It is really a matter of, how do you get a good story across? And if you need to show something fairly heinous, as we say on our show, in terms of a sex crime, then we'll show the results. We won't show the actual violence on our show.

BLITZER: We only have a few seconds. You're involved in a hit show. Is there self-censorship? Are the networks coming down, for example, on you basically saying with a wink and a nod, don't go further than X, Y, or Z?

BAER: The network -- NBC, in this case, trusts us to tell really good stories and to do them within the bounds of good taste, which we do. They never have told us not to do something.

BLITZER: Neal Baer, an MD (ph). Thanks for joining us.

BAER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Good luck with the show.

Here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television. We'll have results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf.

While you are there, I would, of course, love to hear from you. Please send me your comments. That's also where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Los Angeles fast becoming the murder capital of the United States. With police stretched to the max, is there any way to curb the violence? And a germ fest on the high seas, 100 sick passengers on a Disney cruise. What made Mickey ill? We'll go live to Miami when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here in Los Angeles, the new police chief is facing his first crisis. There has been an incredible surge in the city's murder rate. At least 18 people have been killed in the last week alone, and the number for the year now tops 600.

CNN's Charles Feldman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day in L.A. Another body riddled with bullets. Is this one No. 3 this week? Or is it No. 14? The numbers become a blur. The anger is mounting.

ALICE HARRIS, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: I am a mother,a grandmother, a great grandmother, watching our childrens die like dogs. We have to stop this killing our children. We just have to stop it.

FELDMAN: But there is no sign of a slowdown in the mostly gang related killings. Six hundred and six murders so far this year and counting. More people slain here than in New York, Chicago, Detroit or Philadelphia.

And if there is a spawning ground for this madness, it is here in South Central L.A.

We can show you where it is on the map. But it's a lot harder to show you the poverty and hopelessness and drugs that feed the rival gangs like warm water nourishing a hurricane.

Bill Burgess once was at the eye of the storm. He was left in a wheelchair after a rival gang member pumped six bullets into him back in the late '80s.

Why the escalating violence now? Not enough gang intervention programs, he says.

BILL BURGESS, FORMER GANG MEMBER: I believe we have it has to do with this a lot of people without problems with nothing to do.

FELDMAN: If people here are getting angry, and they are, then L.A.'s brand new New York City-imported Police Chief Bill Bratton is positively livid and fighting back.

(on camera): We just had a weekend of, what? Fourteen homicides? Or 10 homicides? I forgot...

CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: What we're -- well, that's part of the issue, isn't it? That there's so many that you lose track.

(on camera): You lose count, absolutely.

BRATTON: And I try to get to homicide scenes so I don't lose count. I don't lose the sensitivity that each one of these is a life that's lost and each one's chipping away at the foundation of the city.

FELDMAN (voice-over): But, can the new police chief be the man to tame the Wild West like he tamed the Big Apple? He's just started ordering his people to come up with an action plan promising a multiagency approach using federal and state resources.

But L.A. has 1, 000 fewer cops than it's supposed to and it faces the prospects of fighting a war against gangs along with a war against terrorism. But Bratton has a plan for that, too.

BRATTON: We need to consistently work on ways to develop means to get local police much better informed about what is happening on the international level. To get local cops on patrol much more aware of what they need to be watching for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FELDMAN (on camera): Now, there was a lot of talk after 9/11 about people pulling together. Perhaps.

But here in L.A., while the year's headlines have been filled with news about possible terrorist attacks, the price of human life has become considerably cheaper, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I have only been here a day, but so many people are talking about this. This isn't the first time that this homicide, this murder rate has gone up. It was even worse a few years ago.

FELDMAN: Absolutely right. We were doing some checking on figures. Back in 1993, there were 1,077 killings and the last time the LAPD made an effort to combat this mostly gang related violence, it led to its biggest corruption scandal in half a century.

This time, the new police chief is saying he's going to respect constitutional rights. He's going to act with the help of the community and he's not, he says, going to make the same mistakes they made in the past.

BLITZER: Let's hope he doesn't. Let's hope it ends. Thank you very much, Charles Feldman.

It's happened again. Another batch of vacationers fall sick to a stomach virus aboard a cruise ship. About 100 passengers on the Disney views vessel "Magic" are the latest victims. Could this same virus be jumping ships?

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti is joining us live from Miami with the latest. People are going to start getting worried about taking those cruises, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They might be, Wolf. We don't know if it's the same virus yet because the Disney ship, "Magic," is still out to sea and is due back in port tomorrow.

Now, only a small number of the 3,200 people aboard are sick, but for those who are, it cannot be pleasant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): A vacation gone awry for about 100 passengers and crew aboard the Disney ship "Magic." An attack of the still unidentified virus making passengers and crew sick to their stomach and stuck in their state rooms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're taking every precaution necessary to make sure that we don't have a recurrence.

CANDIOTTI: A recurrence of nausea, vommitting, diarrhea. Just experienced by more than 500 passengers who contracted the Norwalk virus on the same Holland America cruise ship in its last four sailings. Some passengers who were on the "Amsterdam" called their cruise a nightmare, sick or not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just felt kind of tense all the time and you weren't having as good a time as you would have normally.

CANDIOTTI: Travel agent Isaac Ever has been fielding calls from cruise customers with vacations coming up. He and his family are booked on a Disney cruise in a couple of weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a serious illness and I have two young children. But I know that it will be OK.

CANDIOTTI: The Centers for Disease Control is investigating the latest viral outbreak. Cruise ships especially susceptible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you have lots of people in a contained environment, a real common way for it to get spread is contamination of surfaces that people touch.

CANDIOTTI: The Norwalk virus, nearly as common as the common cold, has hit eight cruises since last May. In July. it attacked a Holland America Alaskan cruise. Martin Massey died a week later.

While his widow does not allege the virus itself was the cause, his family and about 200 others are part of a class action lawsuit against the cruise line, alleging the company did not sufficiently disinfect the ship and warn them ahead of time of a previous outbreak.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know how Holland America could ever compensate for the damages, mental and physical, that were caused to us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Martin Massey was infected with the virus.

Now, Holland America has no comment on that lawsuit that was filed just last month regarding the cruise ship -- the cruise that took place in July.

Now, as far as the "Amsterdam" passengers, those who were sick and had to get off the ship were fully compensated. But if you did not get sick and had to put up with the problem anyway, no compensation for you.

As for the Disney cruise ship people, those who are going to be -- who were supposed to take a cruise tomorrow, they'll be rescheduled on future cruises and will be taken care of according to the cruise line -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Susan Candiotti reporting for us from Miami. Thanks very much.

And that ship is supposed to come back around 6:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow. CNN will have live coverage beginning 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Bond, the new James Bond, veteran big screen spy master Roger Moore joins us to talk about the new movie and real-life spooks. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's Bond, James Bond and he's back in the movie theaters today. Pierce Brosnan is back at 007 and Oscar-winner Halle Berry is his Jinx, Bonds' sexy side kick.

Berry joins the likes of a host of Bond girls in 20th 007 movie in 40 years.

I talked to former James Bond star Roger Moore about the Bond phenomena, and some of the latest projects he's undertaking right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Roger Moore, thanks so much for joining us. I want to get to some of your current projects in just a moment, but with the release of this latest James Bond movie, tell us why you think the world -- the world has been so captivated over these decades by James Bond?

ROGER MOORE, ACTOR: Well, I think quite honestly because the producers have never stinted the money they put on the screen. They spend every dollar, put it up on the screen. It's rather like a fairy tale that you tell a child. They want the same story every night. You can change things a little, and what Bond does, it is good against evil, and it's -- good always wins in the end.

BLITZER: Which was your favorite Bond movie? The ones that you starred in?

MOORE: The ones that I was in? "The Spy Who Loved Me."

BLITZER: That was my favorite, too.

MOORE: Well, thank you.

BLITZER: It was an incredible -- I loved all of them. I have loved all of the Bond movies over all of these years. Do you think Pierce Brosnan is a good James Bond?

MOORE: I think he's very good indeed, yes.

BLITZER: You like him?

MOORE: And he is unforgiveably younger than I am.

BLITZER: Let's talk about this National Geographic special that you're hosting Sunday night on all these spy gadgets. An incredible world of espionage out there. You learned a little bit, obviously, doing those James Bond movies. But talk a little bit about what you hope the viewer will gain from this "Spy Tools" special.

MOORE: Well, I think it's what real spies are. You know, I all said that Bond is not a real spy. How can you be a real spy and everybody knows you? "Ah, Mr. Bond." A martini, shaken not stirred. Everybody knows him. So he's not a spy, a spy is a faceless person.

And of course, they needed most extraordinary equipment, and they came up with some very, very strange things.

BLITZER: Among all of your other activities, you've been incredibly involved in UNICEF over the years. I know you just came back from Zambia. What, some 3 million people are on the verge of starvation, including a lot of children. Tell our viewers what's going on, and what they can do about it.

MOORE: You have fields that have been unseeded because there is nobody to do it. There are child-headed families. There was one little boy, 12 years old, I saw taken in by an organization that is funded by UNICEF. He had his 18-month-old sister on his hip, and two brothers and a sister by his side. He was 12 years old. They had found him on the streets, when his mother and father died of aids.

His relatives came and took the furniture from his house, all the sticks, every stick, and then the bailiffs threw him out of the house. He was on the streets. He was found by somebody from the organization, and brought into care. So now, he is learning love again, and also being looked after.

BLITZER: It's clearly a heart-wrenching story, and doesn't get enough attention, but I know that you're trying to do your best to get some attention on this, and hopefully your work and the work of UNICEF will pay off.

MOORE: UNICEF is run entirely on voluntary contributions of governments and corporations and individuals. We are hoping to set up a partnership, rather like we do with British Airways and Change for Good with Quantas Airlines, with the Starwood Hotels, where they do Checkout for Children around the world.

BLITZER: It's incredibly important work, and I can only wish you and all of your associates the best of luck with it. And unfortunately, we're all out of time, but thanks, Roger Moore, for joining us. We'll be watching Sunday night. We, of course, always will watch you on the big screen as well as the little screen.

MOORE: Well, thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you.

BLITZER: Roger Moore, thanks much for joining us.

MOORE: Thanks, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Time's running out for your turn to weigh in on our Web question of the day. Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television? Log on to cnn.com/wolf. That is where you can vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: No one can say Charles Barkley doesn't keep his word, and that is our picture of the day. The former NBA star bet Kenny Smith of the Houston Rockets Yao Ming couldn't score 20 points in a game. Well, he did. Barkley had said he would kiss Smith's ass -- and he honored his bet, in the Biblical sense of the word, by laying one on the back end of a donkey. There he is.

Now here's how you are weighing in on our Web question of the day. Earlier, we asked, "Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television?"

Look at this, it is amazing. Fifty percent of you say yes, 50 percent of you say no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll, but you seem to be, at least in this unscientific poll, evenly divided.

That's all the time we have today. Please join me Sunday at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific for "LATE EDITION," the last word in Sunday talk. Among my guests, two key members of the Senate foreign relations committee, Senators Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Los Angeles.

"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next. Lou, tell us what you have.

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

President Bush travelled to Russia to reassure the Russian president that he has nothing to fear from an expansion of NATO.

Also tonight, one of the highest ranking terrorist captives could be providing investigators with lifesaving clues about future terrorist attacks. We'll have a special report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 22, 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: Hi, Judy. Thank you very much. It's Saddam Hussein like you've never seen him before, how his personal habits may surprise you. And, troops aren't the only ones getting ready for a possible showdown with Iraq. Wait until you see who's getting the training this time around. It's all coming up right here on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice over): Two leaders face to face, a warning to Iraq but another warning to President Bush, the private life of Saddam Hussein; the Iraqi leader as you've never seen him before. In U.S. hands...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We did bring to justice a killer.

BLITZER: Is a key al Qaeda suspect telling what he knows? A CNN exclusive, we'll show you how army intelligence recruits learn to break a prisoner. Indecent exposure, the Fed's communications cop takes on the TV networks. And, Bond is back, I'll talk gadgets, girls, and bad guys with an early 007, Roger Moore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (on camera): It's Friday, November 22, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting today from Los Angeles. President Bush got backing for his tough stand against Iraq today but he also got a warning from Russia's President Vladimir Putin, don't go to war on your own.

Our CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King is traveling with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At Catherine's Palace, a walk down the golden corridor with the man President Bush calls his good friend Vladimir, a quick visit to compare notes on Iraq and to promise NATO's expansion to Russia's border is anything but a threat. After the talks, Mr. Bush's first comment on the arrest of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, al Qaeda's Persian Gulf operations chief.

BUSH: We did bring to justice a killer and the message is we're making progress on the war against terrorists that we're going to hunt them down one at a time. KING: A new joint U.S.-Russia statement demands Iraq "cooperate fully and unconditionally in its disarmament obligations or face serious consequences." But Russia says Washington has too low a threshold for war with Iraq and that there are higher priorities in the war on terror, like finding Osama bin Laden. Mr. Putin gave no indication 90 minutes with Mr. Bush had changed that view.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We do believe that we have to stay within the framework of the work being carried out by the Security Council of the United Nations.

KING: Mr. Bush came to St. Petersburg from the NATO Summit in Prague, where seven Eastern European nations were invited to join the alliance. Three of them, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are on Russia's doorstep. President Putin did not object and says he will work with NATO but he also wants assurances the alliance will limit troop deployment so close to his borders.

BUSH: The mood of the NATO countries is this: Russia is our friend and we've got a lot of interests together.

KING: This was the eighth Bush-Putin meeting in just 17 months and Mr. Bush is due back in Russia in May.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING (on camera): The president now in Lithuania. He speaks to the Lithuanian people here in the morning, then onto Romania before heading back to the United States, Mr. Bush greeting two of those seven countries now invited to join the NATO alliance. But, Wolf, White House officials saying once again a frank and friendly discussion with President Putin, these two leaders are friends, but it is very clear, even more clear after today's talks, they have differences when it comes to Iraq and the broader war on terrorism - Wolf.

BLITZER: John, after the Russians voted in favor of that unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution, Secretary of State Powell and other U.S. officials told me they flatly denied they made any concessions to the Russians, any quid pro quo future oil deals with Iraq or anything else. But now there are some suggestions that perhaps some concessions were made. Are you hearing anything about that?

KING: Well, U.S. officials say there have been no explicit concessions but President Bush himself said in a television interview on Russian TV right before he arrived in St. Petersburg that he understood full well that Russia not only had debts owed to it by Iraq but that Russia had longstanding economic ties and longstanding interest in redeveloping the Iraqi oil business, especially development of the Iraqi oil fields.

Mr. Bush said all those interests would be taken into account as his policy went forward, whether or not there is a military conflict, but especially the president's remarks implied if there is a military conflict. Mr. Bush said the United States has no interest in running Iraq and that Russia's interests and other interests would be taken into account. So, U.S. officials say no quid pro quo but it is clear this is something on the president's mind - Wolf.

BLITZER: John King traveling with the president. Have a safe trip back. Thanks very much for that report. In Iraq, meanwhile, a United Nations advance team is getting things ready for the weapons hunt. Let's get that story straight from our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Outside U.N. weapons inspection offices, Iraqi construction workers take a break from helping in the cleanup. Inside the carefully guarded building and out of sight, U.N. technicians are racing to refurbish laboratories and offices for the first team of 18 inspectors arriving Monday. Already progress had been made. Rows of recently cleaned off road jeeps sporting new UNMOVIC registrations are ready for the first inspections due to begin next Wednesday.

ROBERTSON (on camera): Plans are already well advanced for the next few weeks. Top of the list will be visiting sites where previous inspection teams have left behind monitoring equipment.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Exactly where they'll be going is still a closely-guarded secret.

HIRO UEKI, U.N. SPOKESMAN: We have the right to inspect any sites; therefore, we will send inspectors to any location and there will be Iraqi minders following them.

ROBERTSON: One such site could be the Al Nassar (ph) heavy industry complex 30 kilometers north of Baghdad, a so-called dual use site where inspectors had installed monitoring cameras.

UEKI: We have to check whether the equipment matters is still operational or not and if not, we have to bring in new equipment.

ROBERTSON: Not being ruled out either for early inspection are presidential palaces, until now the most contentious sites. Still unresolved how will inspectors interview Iraqi scientists. Resolution 1441 calls for such conversations to be in private and away from Iraq government officials even out of the country.

UEKI: With the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we're looking to more detailed mechanisms as to how we can really secure their witness accounts or information.

ROBERTSON: For now, U.N. officials here in Baghdad seem encouraged by Iraqi cooperation, a view that may soon be tested when inspections begin next week. Nic Robertson CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: There's more to Saddam Hussein than meets the eye and today we bring you some revealing pictures of the Iraqi leader that show a man obsessed with cleanliness and a pension for fishing with explosives. Joel Soler is the French filmmaker who captured Mr. Hussein in a new documentary Soler calls "Uncle Saddam." CNN's Paula Zahn talked to the filmmaker about his surprising findings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL SOLER, FILMMAKER (voice over): The first thing that Saddam Hussein does every morning when he wakes up at 5:00 a.m. is to have some coffee. Then, he takes care of his personal hygiene. This is especially important because Saddam prefers to be greeted with a kiss near the armpits.

SOLER (on camera): Do you know why Saddam thinks that the woman should shower twice a day, because according to Saddam Hussein he thinks that the smell of a woman is more noticeable than a man. All that hygiene, even diet, it's national talk. I mean he goes on camera even for his diets saying, you know, this month I'm going on diet, and of course when he goes on diet everybody around him has to go on diet.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): And what does Saddam like to do for fun? He likes to swim.

SOLER: During his rare free time, Saddam enjoys relaxing near the Tigress River, playing games in the water and swimming. It's no secret why Saddam is Iraq's biggest heartthrob. In the '70s he was often seen picnicking with his family and gadding about on their boat.

SOLER (on camera): That really surprised me. I was expecting, you know, Saddam Hussein the evil guy from Baghdad and I guess you can be evil and can't be.

ZAHN: And one of Saddam's more campy hobbies is how he allegedly goes fishing.

SOLER (voice over): Saddam loves to eat fish, especially ones he caught himself. Fishing with grenades seems to do the trick. Later when it's safe, a couple of buddies in scuba gear will retrieve the catch.

ZAHN (on camera): It is amazing to me that you have video actually showing that. Where did you get that video?

SOLER (on camera): This is one of a cousins of Saddam fishing with grenades. It's not Saddam himself but you know (UNINTELLIGIBLE) told me about that and they're proud of it. I mean it's fun. It's a fun thing to do during the weekend.

ZAHN: And they said that without any sense of embarrassment, when they told you about this pastime?

SOLER: No. No, I think they...

ZAHN: And Saddam Hussein they claim did this as well?

SOLER: Yes. I mean but it's like, it's something very normal for them. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Soler's documentary airs Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 Pacific on Cinemax. Following a bloody suicide bombing, Israeli troops have carried out widespread operations, retaking at least temporarily the West Bank town of Bethlehem, scene of a violent standoff earlier this year. CNN's Matthew Chance has our story.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we've been witnessing Israel's response to that devastating suicide attack in Jerusalem on Thursday that left, of course, 11 Israelis dead. Witnessing their response here in Bethlehem, the city of course where Israeli police believe the man who carried out that suicide lived with his family.

Indeed, Israeli forces knew quickly not just to seal off the Church of the Nativity in the center of town here, but also to surround the house of that suspected bomber, filling it with explosives, ordering the people inside out onto the street, detonating the charges, razing it to the ground, the latest example there of Israel's very controversial policy of house demolition.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, there has been more bloodshed in the city of Jenin. We're told that a U.N. official from Britain who's been named as Ian Hook (ph) was shot and killed in an exchange between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.

The Palestinian Authority have moved very quickly to blame the Israelis for shooting that man, Mr. Hook, in the stomach and letting him bleed to death. The Israeli Defense Forces saying that at this stage in the confusion of the gunfight that was underway between them and Palestinian militants, they can't say for sure, Wolf, who pulled the trigger, back to you.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance reporting for us, thank you Matthew very much. An American military helicopter meanwhile came under fire today when it was parked at a base in the United Arab Emirates. The Pentagon says a man fired an AK-47 at the helicopter but no American personnel were nearby. Local security officers shot the man gravely wounding him. Officials say they don't know the motive for the shooting.

Al Qaeda terror suspects interrogated; how to squeeze information without crossing the line. Does hot chocolate really work better than threats? We'll take you inside the military's training school. Also, politics and decency collide on television. Should the government step in to curb sex and violence? Victoria's Secret prompts calls for more restrictions. And, an original spymaster, Roger Moore, is my guess on Bond, the new James Bond, but first a look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice over): Rioting over the Miss World beauty pageant has killed at least 100 people in the host country Nigeria and injured hundreds more. The violence in the Muslim north broke out after a newspaper wrote that the Prophet Mohammed would find the pageant acceptable.

A state of emergency is declared in southern Ecuador after a series of explosions at an army ammunition facility killed at least seven people. Officials now say a hand grenade fell during routine maintenance and triggered the blast.

It was an accident, that's the testimony today from an American nurse on trial in Monaco. Ted Mahr (ph) admits setting the fire that killed his wealthy employer but says he only meant to start a small blaze so he could get credit for saving his boss' life.

British firefighters have started an eight-day strike accusing the government of sinking a last minute pay deal. The military is stepping in to cover but much of its firefighting equipment is outdated.

A condom caper has landed a Swedish radio station in trouble. It covered one of Stockholm's most visible monuments in a giant condom. It took a giant crane to remove it and authorities say the station will have to cover the costs, and that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Turning now to the war on terror, U.S. intelligence has scored a victory with the capture of a key al Qaeda commander. Better yet, he's cooperating.

CNN Justice Correspondent, Kelli Arena, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Captured al Qaeda operative Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is talking. According to sources, his interrogation has already led the FBI to warn about possible maritime attacks against targets, such as ports, naval bases, and cruise ship docks. Officials say that is his specialty. He allegedly helped plan the bombing of the USS Cole. But what other information could al-Nashiri offer?

ERIC MARGOLIS, AUTHOR: He and the higher echelon would know many of the subordinate cell members throughout the Mid East and southwest Asia.

ARENA: Terror experts rank al-Nashiri among the top 25 al Qaeda leaders. One source says he attended the infamous al Qaeda meeting at this building in Koala Lumpur in January of 2000. It was chaired by Khalid Sheikh Muhammad who government officials believe masterminded the September 11 attacks.

Officials say it's likely al-Nashiri knows about terror plots now underway, the location of active cells, perhaps the location of weapons factories and weapons caches. The key, according to a former FBI interrogator, is finding his weak spot.

CINDY CAPPS, FORMER FBI AGENT: Every person has a button that can be pushed but you have to find the button.

ARENA: But counterterrorism officials warn any information he provides about al Qaeda has about a six-month shelf life.

KENNETH KATZMAN, CONG. RESEARCH SERVICE: The only thing that's really going to devastate would be to find the top leadership, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. They are the charisma. They are the ethos behind the organization.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (on camera): Experts say because those two men are still at large, al Qaeda can recruit new members and maintain its core mission - Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena thanks very much for that report. Arrests like that of al-Nashiri are only half the battle; just as critical as gleaning information from suspects and detainees information that, of course, can save lives and doing that effectively requires highly- specialized training as CNN National Correspondent Mike Boettcher shows us in this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Captured fighters on the Afghan battlefield, each one a potential goldmine of information, but how does the army get at the information locked inside the mind of the enemy?

After 63 days in Arizona, these U.S. army trainees will know how. Here at the U.S. Army Intelligence Training Center at Fort Huachuca, student soldiers learn the steps to breaking a prisoner.

PVT. PHILLIP MORENO, U.S. ARMY: I think a lot of people get this impression, interrogation it's this real, you know, big intimidating thing, that there's like a dark room and there's all this like, almost like detectives, you know they're like pushing you, shining the light in your face, when really it's not. It's very methodical.

BOETTCHER: Through exercises with role players and instructors, student interrogators practice their techniques. Here, Private Timothy Schultz (ph) uses an approach labeled Pride and Ego Down, trying to deflate an arrogant enemy Special Forces prisoner whose pride is his armor against questioning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My understanding is that Special Forces soldiers usually fight and put and put up some (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't want to risk the lives of my men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, so your men. Do you even know where your men are now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And combines that with an incentive approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you what, let's talk here. You answer my questions. We'll get done here. I'll even bring you to your men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll take me to my men?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not? It's too easy.

BOETTCHER: Students begin by being scrutinized themselves, via closed circuit TV. Instructors who occasionally deploy to the field are wary of being shown on TV.

(VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if they forget something...

BOETTCHER: Well, what happened right there that we just saw?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was trying to question from one area to a different area without getting all of the information he's required to get.

BOETTCHER: One instructor, who asked that his identity not be revealed, recently returned from Afghanistan where he questioned suspected al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. As is the case with prisoners of any type, many in Afghanistan respond to a simple, direct approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to keep in mind that they're human, and if you do forget that then you lose some of your best tools. You will be amazed at what a tiny word and cup of hot cocoa on a 15-degree night will get you as far as information.

BOETTCHER: The tough image the U.S. military projects in the world can also work to the advantage of interrogators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of them are scared out of their skin anyways and you know they knew that we were Americans but they didn't really know exactly where in the structure we fit.

BOETTCHER: Did the reactions vary according to their status inside either the Taliban or al Qaeda? I mean were those of higher rank and status harder?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it seemed the opposite. You know one of the highest-ranking al Qaeda guys that came through I was amazed. They brought him in. He started crying. He was one of the ones that peed his pants before we said a thing to him.

BOETTCHER: Once they manage to get a prisoner talking, the process becomes methodical, even tedious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you stop at the observation post?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I said, the observation post is atop Mt. Martin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where atop Mt. Martin is the observation post? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A horse ranch.

BOETTCHER: There are rarely a-ha moments, instead small puzzle pieces of information that can be key to knowing an enemy's plans.

Do you believe the information you were able to gather from the interrogations saved lives?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it did. I know for a fact that it did.

BOETTCHER: Mike Boettcher CNN, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sometimes they don't have a lot of time either in those interrogations to save some lives. Mike Boettcher doing some excellent reporting for us, thank you very much Mike.

How not to get killed on the front lines; we'll take you inside the Pentagon's War Training School for journalists. Plus, Miss America's been parading in a bathing suit for years, so why is the Victoria's Secret special prompting calls for decency? The politics and passion of TV restrictions, and that's our web question of the day as well. Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television? Log onto cnn.com/wolf, that's where you can vote. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. If the United States goes to war with Iraq, journalists will likely follow the military into battle zones. The military is helping the news media get ready, more now from CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's not Iraq yet, but it is all about getting ready for war. Around 60 reporters finished a week of battlefield training provided by the Pentagon, teaching them how to stay alive on the battlefield if they accompanied U.S. troops into combat zones, the final event, a five- mile road march with a 25-pound backpack. Pentagon Spokeswoman Torie Clarke joined the media.

STARR (on camera): How are you feeling coming up cardiac hill?

VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: I feel good. I'm breaking a sweat. I'm breaking a sweat but it's good.

STARR (voice over): CNN's Mike Boettcher, a media veteran of several wars, says he can now put on a gas mask in nine seconds, just in case the Iraqis launch a chemical attack. The reporters also learned to instantly react to enemy fire.

BOETTCHER: The hardest thing was getting off the helicopter in a hot landing zone with simulated fire and incoming artillery and trying to get a pack full of TV gear off of there and get out of the way and stay alive.

STARR: But as reporters, training to stay alive in combat became the story themselves, a story covered by dozens of news crews, controversy arose. Many worried that images of journalists in military gear would feed the view in some places that U.S. reporters are not impartial.

JOHN KIFNER, NEW YORK TIMES: They already think that we're spies. To have images broadcast of us with military gear on, with helmets, with flack jackets, with military packs puts everybody that does this kind of work in danger.

STARR (on camera): Reporters attending the course here all agreed they learned a lot about how to stay alive on the battlefield but they want to make sure that everyone understands if there is war in Iraq they are just covering the military. They have not joined up.

Barbara Starr CNN, Quantico, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sex and violence over the top on prime time television and cries for decency, a closer look when we come back. Joining me live the executive producer of "Law and Order" Special Victims' Unit. Also, bloody streets in L.A. What's happening in the City of Angels that's causing a record number of killings? We'll tell you, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Los Angeles today. Coming up, is television pushing the lines of decency, or is the FCC playing politics with your favorite programs?

We'll get to that in just a moment, but first let's look at some other stories making news right now in our CNN "News Alert."

The Bush administration is rolling back some clean air rules for power plants. They had required all plants to install new emission controls if they expand. The industry said that was too expensive. The administration says the rules discourage plants from projects that would increase energy efficiency. Environmental groups are threatening to sue over the new rules.

A county judge has ordered that a Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state be allowed to die. Terri Schiavo suffered massive brain damage from a heart attack in 1990. Her husband has been fighting to have her feeding tube removed. Her parents oppose that, and plan to appeal the ruling.

And the 107th Congress has adjourned for the year without taking action on unemployment. Benefits will run out for more than 800,000 people on December 28 when a 13 week extension approved earlier expires. After the New Year, about 95,000 people a week will lose benefits. Retiring House Majority Leader Dick Armey said the next Congress can take up the issue.

Victoria's secret unveiled its newest fashions on network television this week. Some women's groups are crying foul. They say the trendy lingerie store went too far, revealing too much skin. Now a member of the FCC is calling for a review of the agency's policies against indecency on the airwaves.

CNN's Brian Cabell has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Flash, flesh, and sex. Some critics have called it soft core porn, others call it entertainment. However it's characterized, the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show," aired on CBS Wednesday night, has again raised the question, how much sex and nudity are appropriate on network TV shows?

Here's what one FCC commissioner, the federal agency that is supposed to oversee such things, has to say.

MICHAEL COPPS, FCC: The point is not this specific show. The point is what's going on in the big picture? It's the overall race to the bottom, and it's time to do something about it.

CABELL: Copps wants the FCC to more thoroughly investigate viewers' complaints of indecency, and perhaps revise its standards. Are the complaints legitimate?

One watch dog group counted 24 shots of thongs in the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show." Too much, according to some, even at the 9:00 hour. CBS' response?

"We are confident," the network says, "that the Victoria's Secret special was completely within acceptable boundaries for broadcast television."

CBS pushed the envelope again on their movie "Master Spy: the Robert Hanssen Story," which angered some critics.

LARA MAHANEY, PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL: They aired a shot of a woman's breast. It was a picture of a woman's breast on network television. You have never seen a picture of a woman's breast. There has also been language that has crossed -- what we feel like, the indecency standards, and it hasn't been upheld. And -- it's time for the FCC to step up and say, you know what, we really do want to take indecency violations serious and start fining the affiliates.

CABELL: FCC commissioner Copps says network standards on violence also need to be reviewed. Critics point to NBC movies such as "Hunter: Return to Justice," and the recent remake of "Carrie."

NBC didn't respond with a comment on its shows. Clearly, American viewers acceptance of sex and violence on TV has broadened over the decades. Are there truly any standards left? Can they be enforced? Those are ever evolving questions for the FCC, the networks, and the viewers. Brian Cabell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Here to talk a little bit more about network television's position on indecency and violence is Neal Baer, the executive producer of "Law & Order SVU," a hip show.

Neal, thanks for joining us. Should there be any restrictions whatsoever?

NEAL BAER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "LAW & ORDER SVU": Of course there should be on network television. I don't think we should be depicting graphic sex or graphic violence. But it's hard to decide, really, what indecency means, and I think we should be allowed to tell really good stories, and if the stories demand adult themes, then we should go ahead and do it.

BLITZER: Well, let's start off with the Victoria's Secret pageant, which we just -- some of that was pretty risque.

BAER: Nothing that you wouldn't see, probably, on daytime soaps. But I think the important issue is that there were no surprises about it. Everybody knew, when they turned it on, it was advertised as Victoria's Secret's, and that's what it was. If it was something that was unexpected, then maybe there would be a problem, but there was a little rating in the corner. Parents had the opportunity not to turn it on if they didn't want to. So really don't see anything that's a problem with doing it that way.

BLITZER: It's more revealing than the Miss America pageants and the baiting suits we've seen, obviously, for years there. But in the old days, a lot of people used to complain about that as well.

BAER: And it's the way the culture has changed. People weren't allowed to say "pregnancy" on "I Love Lucy" in the '50s, and culture has changed, and there probably is some effect from cable television that they're not as restricted as we are when we are doing our network shows.

BLITZER: It's one thing, obviously, for HBO or Cinemax or Showtime to have something on cable, but it's another thing for the broadcast over the air waves, where anybody can pick that kind of stuff up. Is there -- what should be the limit, as far as nudity is concerned?

BAER: Well, it's interesting that you ask that. I'm not sure that there should be full frontal nudity on network television. I think that probably would bother a lot of people. It doesn't bother the Europeans. They don't allow graphic violence in Europe, but they have no problem with frontal nudity. That's part of -- more acceptable in their culture.

I think we, as writers, on "SVU" and all the other 10:00 drama shows know how far to push the envelope, and you're not going to see graphic nudity and you're not going to see graphic violence, at least on our show, because we don't think we need that to tell our good story.

BLITZER: But you don't necessarily see that on your show, but you do see plenty of violence on a lot of these other very successful programs. Are they going too far with the brutal killings, for example, that we see?

BAER: I can't say whether they're going too far. It's really involving the story telling. Is it necessary to tell the good story? If it is, then I say do it. If it's not, then don't do it.

It is really a matter of, how do you get a good story across? And if you need to show something fairly heinous, as we say on our show, in terms of a sex crime, then we'll show the results. We won't show the actual violence on our show.

BLITZER: We only have a few seconds. You're involved in a hit show. Is there self-censorship? Are the networks coming down, for example, on you basically saying with a wink and a nod, don't go further than X, Y, or Z?

BAER: The network -- NBC, in this case, trusts us to tell really good stories and to do them within the bounds of good taste, which we do. They never have told us not to do something.

BLITZER: Neal Baer, an MD (ph). Thanks for joining us.

BAER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Good luck with the show.

Here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television. We'll have results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf.

While you are there, I would, of course, love to hear from you. Please send me your comments. That's also where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Los Angeles fast becoming the murder capital of the United States. With police stretched to the max, is there any way to curb the violence? And a germ fest on the high seas, 100 sick passengers on a Disney cruise. What made Mickey ill? We'll go live to Miami when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here in Los Angeles, the new police chief is facing his first crisis. There has been an incredible surge in the city's murder rate. At least 18 people have been killed in the last week alone, and the number for the year now tops 600.

CNN's Charles Feldman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day in L.A. Another body riddled with bullets. Is this one No. 3 this week? Or is it No. 14? The numbers become a blur. The anger is mounting.

ALICE HARRIS, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: I am a mother,a grandmother, a great grandmother, watching our childrens die like dogs. We have to stop this killing our children. We just have to stop it.

FELDMAN: But there is no sign of a slowdown in the mostly gang related killings. Six hundred and six murders so far this year and counting. More people slain here than in New York, Chicago, Detroit or Philadelphia.

And if there is a spawning ground for this madness, it is here in South Central L.A.

We can show you where it is on the map. But it's a lot harder to show you the poverty and hopelessness and drugs that feed the rival gangs like warm water nourishing a hurricane.

Bill Burgess once was at the eye of the storm. He was left in a wheelchair after a rival gang member pumped six bullets into him back in the late '80s.

Why the escalating violence now? Not enough gang intervention programs, he says.

BILL BURGESS, FORMER GANG MEMBER: I believe we have it has to do with this a lot of people without problems with nothing to do.

FELDMAN: If people here are getting angry, and they are, then L.A.'s brand new New York City-imported Police Chief Bill Bratton is positively livid and fighting back.

(on camera): We just had a weekend of, what? Fourteen homicides? Or 10 homicides? I forgot...

CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: What we're -- well, that's part of the issue, isn't it? That there's so many that you lose track.

(on camera): You lose count, absolutely.

BRATTON: And I try to get to homicide scenes so I don't lose count. I don't lose the sensitivity that each one of these is a life that's lost and each one's chipping away at the foundation of the city.

FELDMAN (voice-over): But, can the new police chief be the man to tame the Wild West like he tamed the Big Apple? He's just started ordering his people to come up with an action plan promising a multiagency approach using federal and state resources.

But L.A. has 1, 000 fewer cops than it's supposed to and it faces the prospects of fighting a war against gangs along with a war against terrorism. But Bratton has a plan for that, too.

BRATTON: We need to consistently work on ways to develop means to get local police much better informed about what is happening on the international level. To get local cops on patrol much more aware of what they need to be watching for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FELDMAN (on camera): Now, there was a lot of talk after 9/11 about people pulling together. Perhaps.

But here in L.A., while the year's headlines have been filled with news about possible terrorist attacks, the price of human life has become considerably cheaper, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I have only been here a day, but so many people are talking about this. This isn't the first time that this homicide, this murder rate has gone up. It was even worse a few years ago.

FELDMAN: Absolutely right. We were doing some checking on figures. Back in 1993, there were 1,077 killings and the last time the LAPD made an effort to combat this mostly gang related violence, it led to its biggest corruption scandal in half a century.

This time, the new police chief is saying he's going to respect constitutional rights. He's going to act with the help of the community and he's not, he says, going to make the same mistakes they made in the past.

BLITZER: Let's hope he doesn't. Let's hope it ends. Thank you very much, Charles Feldman.

It's happened again. Another batch of vacationers fall sick to a stomach virus aboard a cruise ship. About 100 passengers on the Disney views vessel "Magic" are the latest victims. Could this same virus be jumping ships?

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti is joining us live from Miami with the latest. People are going to start getting worried about taking those cruises, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They might be, Wolf. We don't know if it's the same virus yet because the Disney ship, "Magic," is still out to sea and is due back in port tomorrow.

Now, only a small number of the 3,200 people aboard are sick, but for those who are, it cannot be pleasant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): A vacation gone awry for about 100 passengers and crew aboard the Disney ship "Magic." An attack of the still unidentified virus making passengers and crew sick to their stomach and stuck in their state rooms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're taking every precaution necessary to make sure that we don't have a recurrence.

CANDIOTTI: A recurrence of nausea, vommitting, diarrhea. Just experienced by more than 500 passengers who contracted the Norwalk virus on the same Holland America cruise ship in its last four sailings. Some passengers who were on the "Amsterdam" called their cruise a nightmare, sick or not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just felt kind of tense all the time and you weren't having as good a time as you would have normally.

CANDIOTTI: Travel agent Isaac Ever has been fielding calls from cruise customers with vacations coming up. He and his family are booked on a Disney cruise in a couple of weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a serious illness and I have two young children. But I know that it will be OK.

CANDIOTTI: The Centers for Disease Control is investigating the latest viral outbreak. Cruise ships especially susceptible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you have lots of people in a contained environment, a real common way for it to get spread is contamination of surfaces that people touch.

CANDIOTTI: The Norwalk virus, nearly as common as the common cold, has hit eight cruises since last May. In July. it attacked a Holland America Alaskan cruise. Martin Massey died a week later.

While his widow does not allege the virus itself was the cause, his family and about 200 others are part of a class action lawsuit against the cruise line, alleging the company did not sufficiently disinfect the ship and warn them ahead of time of a previous outbreak.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know how Holland America could ever compensate for the damages, mental and physical, that were caused to us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Martin Massey was infected with the virus.

Now, Holland America has no comment on that lawsuit that was filed just last month regarding the cruise ship -- the cruise that took place in July.

Now, as far as the "Amsterdam" passengers, those who were sick and had to get off the ship were fully compensated. But if you did not get sick and had to put up with the problem anyway, no compensation for you.

As for the Disney cruise ship people, those who are going to be -- who were supposed to take a cruise tomorrow, they'll be rescheduled on future cruises and will be taken care of according to the cruise line -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Susan Candiotti reporting for us from Miami. Thanks very much.

And that ship is supposed to come back around 6:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow. CNN will have live coverage beginning 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Bond, the new James Bond, veteran big screen spy master Roger Moore joins us to talk about the new movie and real-life spooks. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's Bond, James Bond and he's back in the movie theaters today. Pierce Brosnan is back at 007 and Oscar-winner Halle Berry is his Jinx, Bonds' sexy side kick.

Berry joins the likes of a host of Bond girls in 20th 007 movie in 40 years.

I talked to former James Bond star Roger Moore about the Bond phenomena, and some of the latest projects he's undertaking right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Roger Moore, thanks so much for joining us. I want to get to some of your current projects in just a moment, but with the release of this latest James Bond movie, tell us why you think the world -- the world has been so captivated over these decades by James Bond?

ROGER MOORE, ACTOR: Well, I think quite honestly because the producers have never stinted the money they put on the screen. They spend every dollar, put it up on the screen. It's rather like a fairy tale that you tell a child. They want the same story every night. You can change things a little, and what Bond does, it is good against evil, and it's -- good always wins in the end.

BLITZER: Which was your favorite Bond movie? The ones that you starred in?

MOORE: The ones that I was in? "The Spy Who Loved Me."

BLITZER: That was my favorite, too.

MOORE: Well, thank you.

BLITZER: It was an incredible -- I loved all of them. I have loved all of the Bond movies over all of these years. Do you think Pierce Brosnan is a good James Bond?

MOORE: I think he's very good indeed, yes.

BLITZER: You like him?

MOORE: And he is unforgiveably younger than I am.

BLITZER: Let's talk about this National Geographic special that you're hosting Sunday night on all these spy gadgets. An incredible world of espionage out there. You learned a little bit, obviously, doing those James Bond movies. But talk a little bit about what you hope the viewer will gain from this "Spy Tools" special.

MOORE: Well, I think it's what real spies are. You know, I all said that Bond is not a real spy. How can you be a real spy and everybody knows you? "Ah, Mr. Bond." A martini, shaken not stirred. Everybody knows him. So he's not a spy, a spy is a faceless person.

And of course, they needed most extraordinary equipment, and they came up with some very, very strange things.

BLITZER: Among all of your other activities, you've been incredibly involved in UNICEF over the years. I know you just came back from Zambia. What, some 3 million people are on the verge of starvation, including a lot of children. Tell our viewers what's going on, and what they can do about it.

MOORE: You have fields that have been unseeded because there is nobody to do it. There are child-headed families. There was one little boy, 12 years old, I saw taken in by an organization that is funded by UNICEF. He had his 18-month-old sister on his hip, and two brothers and a sister by his side. He was 12 years old. They had found him on the streets, when his mother and father died of aids.

His relatives came and took the furniture from his house, all the sticks, every stick, and then the bailiffs threw him out of the house. He was on the streets. He was found by somebody from the organization, and brought into care. So now, he is learning love again, and also being looked after.

BLITZER: It's clearly a heart-wrenching story, and doesn't get enough attention, but I know that you're trying to do your best to get some attention on this, and hopefully your work and the work of UNICEF will pay off.

MOORE: UNICEF is run entirely on voluntary contributions of governments and corporations and individuals. We are hoping to set up a partnership, rather like we do with British Airways and Change for Good with Quantas Airlines, with the Starwood Hotels, where they do Checkout for Children around the world.

BLITZER: It's incredibly important work, and I can only wish you and all of your associates the best of luck with it. And unfortunately, we're all out of time, but thanks, Roger Moore, for joining us. We'll be watching Sunday night. We, of course, always will watch you on the big screen as well as the little screen.

MOORE: Well, thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you.

BLITZER: Roger Moore, thanks much for joining us.

MOORE: Thanks, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Time's running out for your turn to weigh in on our Web question of the day. Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television? Log on to cnn.com/wolf. That is where you can vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: No one can say Charles Barkley doesn't keep his word, and that is our picture of the day. The former NBA star bet Kenny Smith of the Houston Rockets Yao Ming couldn't score 20 points in a game. Well, he did. Barkley had said he would kiss Smith's ass -- and he honored his bet, in the Biblical sense of the word, by laying one on the back end of a donkey. There he is.

Now here's how you are weighing in on our Web question of the day. Earlier, we asked, "Should the FCC further restrict sex and violence on television?"

Look at this, it is amazing. Fifty percent of you say yes, 50 percent of you say no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll, but you seem to be, at least in this unscientific poll, evenly divided.

That's all the time we have today. Please join me Sunday at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific for "LATE EDITION," the last word in Sunday talk. Among my guests, two key members of the Senate foreign relations committee, Senators Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Los Angeles.

"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next. Lou, tell us what you have.

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

President Bush travelled to Russia to reassure the Russian president that he has nothing to fear from an expansion of NATO.

Also tonight, one of the highest ranking terrorist captives could be providing investigators with lifesaving clues about future terrorist attacks. We'll have a special report.

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