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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Predator Aircraft Shot Down Over Iraq; Could John Muhammad Escape the Death Penalty in Virginia?
Aired December 23, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): The Predator becomes the prey.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: They got a lucky shot and they brought down the Predator.
BLITZER: Is Iraq upping the ante? North Korea's nukes back in business?
MOHAMED EL BARADEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: If they're restarting, particularly that processing plant which will start producing plutonium, then we are in a pretty dangerous situation.
BLITZER: Will the U.S. go up against the evil axis on two fronts?
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other and let there be no doubt.
BLITZER: Senate Republicans choose a new leader but can this heart surgeon repair the damage? And, a whole new meaning to hot Christmas gifts as Santa stocks up in the police property room.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): It's Monday, December 23, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. It's long been called the most dangerous place on earth, almost 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed along the DMZ in South Korea facing a million North Korean troops and now ominous word that North Korea's nuclear program is coming back to life. The stakes for the United States, indeed for the world, are enormous; joining me now CNN's National Security Correspondent, David Ensor with details -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, senior U.S. officials are downplaying the strategic threat of a tiny country like North Korea could make to the United States, but at the same time, the events of the last few days, some of the moves North Korea has made are causing real concern.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ENSOR (voice over): With U.N. monitoring equipment now removed from North Korea's sizable plutonium stockpile and its reactor, senior United Nations and U.S. officials are sounding the alarm that North Korea could soon be building a nuclear weapon.
EL BARADEI: They're processing spent fuel and producing plutonium have no, absolutely no rational in terms of peaceful activities in North Korea. It's a pretty dangerous situation.
RUMSFELD: They don't need a nuclear power plant. Their power grid couldn't even absorb that. If you look at a picture from the sky of the Korean Peninsula at night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and vitality and a booming economy. North Korea is dark. It is a tragedy what's being done in that country.
ENSOR: Given that North Korea has already tested a missile which could be made capable of hitting Japan, Alaska, and eventually the mainland U.S., experts say Washington can not afford to wait long to resolve the crisis.
JOHN LARGE, NUCLEAR ANALYST: It could be a crisis of three to six months, six months to a year or a little longer before they have an operational weapon.
ENSOR: U.S. officials say North Korea's Kim Jong-Il is trying to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea's new President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, amid a wave of anti-Americanism in that country. Roh said during the campaign he would review South Korea's alliance with the U.S. Now, North Korea may be trying to force him to make an early choice of how independent from Washington he really intends to be.
PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: That the United States and others in the international community are not sort of give into blackmail. North Korea knows what steps it needs to take.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: For now, administration officials are engaged in tense diplomacy trying to get the Chinese, the Russians, and others to put pressure on Pyongyang to back down. U.S. officials believe and they hope that the North Koreans are trying to get attention and aid but that they do not want to risk additional economic sanctions or military action -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Well, how long does the United States have to use diplomacy before other options become much more prepared, for example the military option?
ENSOR: We're a little ways away from that yet, Wolf. The feeling is that there's weeks and months, at least three, six, nine months before they could have a weapon and in the meantime you're going to see some very intense diplomatic activity. There may be some sticks as well as carrots that are in the talking points for those diplomats.
BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on a very frightening situation, North Korea. Thanks very much David for that report. There was a challenge in the skies over Iraq today and the United States came out on the short end. We get the story now from CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqi fighters have been trying to shoot down an unmanned Predator drone like this one for weeks. It wasn't a big surprise to the Pentagon when they finally got lucky. The Iraqi aircraft entered the southern no-fly zone specifically to chase one of the slow-flying spy planes. Until now, Iraqi jets had been unable to actually slow their air speed enough to target one of the drones. Today, they were successful, the first time a drone has been brought down by hostile air-to-air fire over Iraq.
Pentagon officials claim not to read much into it and note it's still better not to risk a pilot in hostile airspace.
MYERS: They attempt to shoot down all our aircraft that fly over southern and northern Iraq in support of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and they got a lucky shot today and they brought down the Predator but I do not see it as an exclamation. It's been something they've been doing for literally the last couple of years.
STARR: This is not the first unmanned Predator to be lost. Iraq claims to have downed three of the multimillion dollar reconnaissance planes using ground based antiaircraft fire. Each time the U.S. Central Command said the drones may have crashed or been shot down. Today, U.S. officials acknowledge that at least the August and October incidents were in fact due to ground fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, Wolf, the Predators do more now than just unmanned reconnaissance. The Air Force Predators, like the CIA Predators, have been equipped with missiles that can strike ground targets and keep a pilot out of risk. What we don't know is whether today's mission was one of those armed Predators -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon thanks Barbara very much. To find out what Iraq is saying about the Predator and the latest on the weapons hunt, let's turn to CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Iraq has confirmed that it downed an unmanned drone, a U.S. plane earlier today in the south of Iraq. An air defense spokesman said that at 10:30 a.m. the plane violated Iraqi airspace and then five hours later he says the plane was downed by the Iraqi Air Force in what he said was a precise and planned operation. He said the plane was spying on Iraq's civilian and military installations.
Now, there's been a lot of activity at the same time today in terms of inspectors. The inspectors went out today to a baby milk factory, a site that was the subject of great controversy back in 1991 when it was bombed during the Gulf War by the U.S., the U.S. saying that it was a dual-use facility that could potentially have produced biological weapons, Iraq maintaining at the time that it was a baby milk factory only producing baby milk.
Now, the inspectors with their biological team interviewed the director, asked a lot of questions about what equipment was being used, and then later on in the day the UNMOVIC spokesman at the U.N. headquarters spoke to reporters saying that so far in the past four weeks, the inspectors had carried out 150 inspections and he also mentioned the interview, saying that they were also in the process of carrying out interviews with Iraqi scientists on a one-to-one basis. As for interviews outside of Iraq, he said that they were in the process of working out the details.
Now, Tariq Aziz, Iraq's vice prime minister spoke to a group of Arab representatives at a conference today saying that the U.S. with its build-up in the Gulf was not only threatening Iraq but also threatening the entire Arab world from East to West -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, Rym thanks very much. And, while the United States of course is focused on Iraq, does North Korea's latest move to revive its nuclear program pose an even bigger threat? Can the United States take on the two pillars of the so- called axis of evil at the same time? Joining me now is Paul Chamberlin.
He's president of Korea-U.S. Consulting, a former U.S. military attache in Seoul. He's been a Korea specialist for three decades. Colonel Chamberlin thanks so much for joining us. It's pretty frightening three to six months, perhaps nine months to a year but the North Koreans seem to be pretty close to developing a nuclear bomb.
PAUL CHAMBERLIN, KOREA-U.S. CONSULTING, INC.: I think a security analyst, a national security analyst has to assume that North Korea has one or two nuclear weapons.
BLITZER: Already?
CHAMBERLIN: One has to assume that.
BLITZER: They never tested it though.
CHAMBERLIN: No. They partially de-fueled their five megawatt reactor in the late 1980s and the estimate is there was enough plutonium extracted from that that could have been reprocessed.
BLITZER: What are they up to North Korea right now? It's hard to understand what their goal is right now but they're certainly scaring a lot of us.
CHAMBERLIN: Many Koreans, if not most, as well as a great number of Korea specialists believe that what this is primarily about is an effort to get the U.S. attention to improve relations. Sounds bizarre but the North Koreans are damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.
BLITZER: Does the U.S. have an option beyond the diplomatic diplomacy? Is there a military option, for example, to destroy the North Koreans nuclear reactor along the way? The Israelis destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 at Osira (ph).
CHAMBERLIN: The United States, of course, has extensive military capabilities. The question is what would be the repercussions? North Korea is accustomed to playing hardball. This incident, many people believe was -- this development many people believe was largely preventable. The Bush administration came in office following, of course, the Clinton administration which through a long series of constructive engagement militated that threat. But the Bush administration came in office with threats and North Korea...
BLITZER: So what you're saying is the U.S. has itself at least in part to blame for this mess that has developed?
CHAMBERLIN: That's how many people view it.
BLITZER: What about the bigger threat to the U.S. right now, the nuclear threat, the bigger nuclear threat? Is it North Korea? Is it Iran, or is it Iraq?
CHAMBERLIN: I don't believe any of the three countries have the capability to strike the United States in the near term. North Korea tested a Tapedong (ph) missile against Japan. That was supposed to go into further development as a Tapedong II, which was assessed to have the capability to reach the continental United States. Accuracy probably would be very low. The effect would be terror. That potentially could be by 2003, according to some estimates. Would they use it? It's very unlikely.
BLITZER: North Korea.
CHAMBERLIN: Right it's very unlikely.
BLITZER: But you're thinking that North Korea is still a bigger threat potentially than Iran and Iraq?
CHAMBERLIN: Well, I'm Korea specialist. I'm really not qualified to talk in detail about Iran or Iraq, but North Korea I believe has the greater missile capability and that's what we're talking about, delivery system.
BLITZER: We'll be watching that obviously very, very closely in the days, weeks, and months to come. Let's hope for the best. Colonel Chamberlin thanks so much for joining us.
CHAMBERLIN: Well, if I could just ...
BLITZER: We got to leave it right there unfortunately.
CHAMBERLIN: OK.
BLITZER: We'll save something for next time.
CHAMBERLIN: All right. Good.
BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.
CHAMBERLIN: Thank you.
BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this very important story. Our web question of the day is this. Who is the bigger threat to the United States Iraq or North Korea? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear from you. Send me your comments. 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.
It's unanimous Senator Bill Frist is the new leader of the U.S. Senate Republicans. Coming up, we'll hear some of Frist's first words after the vote and find out more about this Tennessee Republican.
Also, prosecutors are lashing out at reports that John Lee Malvo fired all the shots in the sniper attacks, how the news might complicate efforts to get a death sentence for John Muhammad. All that is still ahead but first in case you were out enjoying the days off this past weekend, here's our Weekend Snapshot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): As promised, President Bush got vaccinated for smallpox. Aides say he's feeling fine with no side effects. A French TV reporter died after being hit by a tank while covering U.S. war exercises in Kuwait. A national survey reported gas prices up nationwide. The Lundberg (ph) survey said the average price has risen three cents since early December to $1.41 a gallon.
"TIME" magazine named three whistle-blowing women its persons of the year. One is the FBI agent who said the agency ignored September 11 clues. The other two turned the spotlight on accounting at Enron and WorldCom.
No winner again in the multi-state Powerball lottery. That means the drawing Christmas night could be worth almost $300 million. And NBC has reached a deal with Warner Brothers for another season of "Friends", but at $10 million an episode it will be the most expensive show ever, and that's our Weekend Snapshot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: President Bush immediately issued a statement saying he looks forward to working with Frist for a safer, stronger, and better America. Senator Frist is a medical doctor by profession and observers are watching to see if he can heal the scars left by the Trent Lott controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): There's an early consensus in Washington on Senator Bill Frist, a consensus at least among Republicans who have their fingers crossed after the Trent Lott debacle.
CLIFF MAY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think he's got a hard job but a possible task in bringing together the Republican Caucus but also bringing the Senate together so they can get some work done for the whole country.
BLITZER: By many accounts, this heart surgeon's first job as Senate majority leader may be that of healer, someone the Republicans will count on to improve the party's public image and reach out to African-American voters after the fallout from Trent Lott's remarks on the 1948 segregationist presidential candidacy of Strom Thurmond.
It's a tall order falling on the shoulders of a man the nation really doesn't know very well. Frist does have a reputation as a moderate who is very close to the Bush White House, a connection Lott didn't have. That relationship should enable Frist to become an effective liaison between the White House and the Senate, but Democrats are already lining up to paint him as a pawn.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think he really does become the hand-totie (ph) of the administration and will take his marching orders from the White House.
BLITZER: Frist entered Congress in 1995 as the first practicing doctor elected to the Senate in nearly 70 years. He became the Senate's point man on bioterrorism legislation when anthrax letters arrived at Congress' doorstep last year. Health care is where Frist has made his mark in Congress but he's got a potential problem if he's going to take on those issues as majority leader.
His brother and father founded the nation's largest for-profit health care company, HCA. Frist still has close ties to the company. HCA has had to pay the government back nearly $2 billion to settle claims they overcharged Medicare and Medicaid. Navigating those potential conflicts and defending the Republican agenda without being portrayed as a White House lackey are challenges for Bill Frist that potential rivals are keeping close eyes on.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: I hope that he'll be a bridge builder and not a partisan divider. Unfortunately, these leadership jobs sometimes turn people more partisan than they should be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Frist, by the way, is 50 years old. He's a graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Medical School. He and his wife, Karen, have three sons.
Was John Lee Malvo the gunman in the sniper attacks? A newspaper report says yes but the prosecutor in the case is denying the report. Coming up we'll sort it all out with Court TV's Roger Cossack, but first a look at news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice over): Talking tough, Venezuela's President Huge Chavez threatens to fire and prosecute managers at the state auto monopoly unless production resumes. Venezuela's oil industry has been paralyzed by a 22-day general strike aimed at toppling Mr. Chavez.
Prescription for peace, visiting the Middle East, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman voiced support for the creation of a Palestinian State. He also said he hopes talks in Cairo next week will lead to an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire.
It will be a quiet Christmas in Bethlehem. Citing the continued Israeli occupation, Palestinian Christians say the only Christmas observances will be religious rituals.
Popular party, former South African President Nelson Mandela teamed up with television personality Oprah Winfrey to host a holiday party in South Africa. The party drew many more guests than expected and crowd control became a big problem.
White China, snow has fallen in Beijing five days straight. That's the longest streak of snow days since the city started keeping records back in 1841. Historic homecoming, one month after Italy lifted a ban on its former royal family, the son of Italy's last king visited his homeland for the first time in half a century. Victor Emanuel has a 20-minute meeting with Pope John Paul II.
Legend of rock, British punk rocker Joe Strummer is dead at the age of 50. He was the lead singer of the Clash, with hits that included "London cabinetry and "Rock the Casba." A spokesman says the cause of death was heart attack, and that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER (on camera): Prosecutors in the D.C. area sniper case are dismissing a report that says the younger suspect was likely the gunman in most if not all of the shootings. The "New York Times" article said 17-year-old John Lee Malvo confessed to three of the shootings and that DNA evidence linked him to the others. The report also said prosecutors are concerned that could complicate efforts to get a death sentence for Malvo's alleged accomplice 41-year-old John Muhammad.
At a news conference this afternoon, the prosecutors blasted the "New York Times" article as outrageous. They also had harsh words for the anonymous source quoted in the report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL HORAN, FAIRFAX COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: If it is a law enforcement officer who's putting out that information, that officer in my opinion is a disgrace to law enforcement, disgrace for one of two reasons. He's a disgrace because he's stupid or number two, he's a disgrace because he's doing something that he or she must know is contrary to good law enforcement. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Joining me now here in Washington now for some analysis of this case is Court TV's Roger Cossack. Roger thanks for helping us understand.
ROGER COSSACK, COURT TV: Sure.
BLITZER: What is going on right now?
COSSACK: Well, first of all I think you have to realize that these two people are charged for two murders in two different parts of the Washington, D.C. area where two murders occurred, not for all of the murders that we think that they have committed. So that when the "New York Times" says that Malvo is responsible for all the murders, the only ones that they're on trial for right now is two of them and we don't know the evidence as to what evidence they have and what evidence we don't have and obviously when we read the "New York Times" we have to take it with a grain of salt.
The problem is in the "New York Times" is right, then what you have is you have the 17-year-old pulling the trigger. You have the other gentleman, Muhammad acting as an associate if you will, as an accessory, which under Virginia law may make it very, very difficult for him, the adult, the 41-year-old or whatever he is, the adult to get the death penalty where the 17-year-old could get the death penalty.
BLITZER: Even if John Muhammad was brainwashing, if you will, or convincing the 17-year-old who was under his control to go ahead and actually fire the weapon, there could be a situation legally whereby the 17-year-old gets the death penalty and the 41-year-old doesn't?
COSSACK: That"s exactly what the problem is and that's exactly what they're worried about. If, in fact, the evidence comes out in these Virginia areas that in fact it was the 17-year-old that pulled the trigger and not the 41-year-old, then it's going to make it more difficult for the 41-year-old to get the death penalty and the reason is, is that in Virginia the law is usually interpreted to mean it's only the one that pulls the trigger that gets the death penalty.
Now you have this situation where you have this 17-year-old eligible if these are the facts, and I want to stress that we've just seen the prosecutor saying that the story was 60 percent true. But if these are the facts, it's going to make it more difficult.
Now, they're going to argue that there were more than one murder and there were mass murders and that, several murders, and that also they're going to try and argue this terrorism law that they just passed in response to 9/11. But many people feel that that's really not what they had in mind when they passed that terrorism law that it wasn't for these kinds of cases.
BLITZER: And that's untested. It's never been tested in a court of law.
COSSACK: Right. Right.
BLITZER: But you would think that before the attorney general and the Justice Department decided to let Virginia handle this case, they would have an iron clad kind of case against both of these suspects.
COSSACK: You know, Wolf, that's why they call you Wolf Blitzer. That's exactly what this story is all about. The story is, is that there was a tremendously quick rush to judgment by the attorney general of the United States in this case to send these cases to Virginia where admittedly it's much easier to get the death penalty than it is perhaps in Maryland or other jurisdictions.
So, they sent them down to Virginia without really knowing what the evidence is and now there is at least a suspicion that there may be some problems because one of the things that's going to be very, very difficult and look, in reality the notion that this 17-year-old is going to get the death penalty and this 41-year-old may not is going to be hard to sit, particularly with a jury and particularly with the public.
So, there's a problem but again I stress we've just heard Prosecutor Horan come out and say we don't know the true facts and we don't and these are leaks and we just have to wait and see how the evidence shakes out.
BLITZER: Well, we'll be waiting and watching with your Roger Cossack, who always helps us sort through these legal.
COSSACK: I'm here to sort for you. All right, Wolf.
BLITZER: OK, you're a good sorter. Roger Cossack thanks very much. What if there were a smallpox outbreak in a city near you, coming up, how researchers simulated a scenario just like that. We'll tell you what the model reveals about a vaccination strategy. Also, scientists try to find the cause of the mysterious Gulf War illness. We'll talk to one doctor who says Sarin gas was perhaps the culprit but first today's news quiz. What famous Christmas song was originally written for Thanksgiving, "Joy to the World," "Jingle Bells," "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," "Deck The Halls," the answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, new research may provide clues to the mysterious illness of Gulf War veterans. We'll talk to one of the doctors who's linking Saren gas to the problem.
(NEWS ALERT)
BLITZER: Researchers are using computer simulations to devise a containment strategy for a possible smallpox attack on the United States. CNN's Christie Feig tells us what they found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTIE FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two small towns, side by side, anywhere in America. Each has 400 people and a school. They share a hospital and like many of us, 10 percent commute to the next town for work. But what if one of those commuters came down with smallpox? Researchers at the Brookings Institution created a computer simulation for such a scenario assuming two towns where no one had been vaccinated. Here is what would happen.
JOSHUA EPSTEIN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: All 800 members of the county gets smallpox and 30 percent of them die.
FEIG: The next question, what vaccination plan would work best? Understanding the vaccine itself can be deadly.
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIRECTOR: About 15 people will experience a life threatening complication for every million people that we vaccinate and one to two people will die.
FEIG: In real life, the Bush administration has chosen to vaccinate some healthcare workers and first responders. In the virtual world, the computer recommends vaccinating all hospital workers who are able to take the vaccine and all Americans vaccinated as children since it's expected they would have fewer side effects than people who have never vaccinated.
EPSTEIN: Under this package, in 100 percent of the simulated outbreaks, fewer than 70 cases occur, 21 deaths.
FEIG: Although the model proved effective, Brookings researchers say they aren't recommending any vaccination until there is a credible threat.
Christie Feig, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: More than a decade after the Persian Gulf War, mysterious illnesses still haunt many Gulf War veterans. Now, scientists are hoping new research will help unlock some of the mysteries. Two studies found that low levels of Saren nerve gas affected behavior and organ functions in laboratory animals at a month after exposure. Dr. Robert Haley is an epidemiologist and an expert on Gulf War illnesses. He's joining us now live from Dallas.
Dr. Haley, thanks for joining us. A very important study, especially as U.S. military personnel prepare for the possibility of going back to the Persian Gulf and engaging in another war. Tell us about this study. Give us some perspective. How good is it?
DR. ROBERT HALEY, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, SOUTHWESTERN MED. CTR.: This is an excellent study. It's very important and really provides the missing piece of the puzzle that connects nerve gas exposure in the first Gulf War with what we see now as Gulf War Syndrome. Basically, the researchers at the University of New Mexico funded by the U.S. Army exposed laboratory animals, rats, to several very low doses of Saren, too low to produce initial symptoms and that was an important part of the design. And then they showed that the animals were not sick the first day after their exposure stopped. So these were not immediate effects.
Later on, 30 days later, they examined their brains and found that there was actually evidence of brain damage in a particular set of brain structures, particularly the part of the deep brain structures we call the basil ganglia. These are deep brain structures down the center of the brain that have to do with a lot of the automatic functions of the brain that produce the types of symptoms that we see in Gulf War veterans.
BLITZER: So the point, Dr. Haley, is what that perhaps even though those these were lab animals that have this result, perhaps some of the U.S. troops who served a dozen years ago during the Persian Gulf War were exposed to very, very low levels of Saren gas? Is that the suspicion?
HALEY: Yes. Now, we've shown this about five years ago. Our research team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas published a number of papers showing that Gulf War veterans do have a real illness, a physical illness that affects the brain. It's due to brain damage or brain cell damage to these deep brain structures called the basil ganglia.
We can demonstrate this with brain imaging that's now been replicated by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco VA. We then linked it to Saren exposure, to low-level Saren exposure in the Gulf War with epidemiologic associations. And actually a very interesting genetic finding showing that veterans who have very low levels of an enzyme that protects your blood and your brain from nerve gas exposure, the ones who are sick were born with low levels of this protective enzyme. So that's another finding that links it to Saren.
Our findings were not widely accepted in the scientific world at that time however because there were no studies in animals showing the biological plausibility of this. And now this new study from the University of New Mexico funded by the Army has supplied that missing piece. And so, now, we think there is a very compelling case for low level Saren gas exposure in the atmosphere, too little to cause immediate symptoms, can actually lead to delayed onset of damage of these deep brain structures.
BLITZER: Dr. Haley, during the Gulf War, as far as we know, the Iraqis never used this nerve gas, Saren gas, but there were depots destroyed that may have housed some of these canisters. But a lot of the troops who have come down with Gulf War Syndrome were nowhere near those depots and certainly down -- they weren't anywhere near where the wind could have affected them. So there may be a problem here, right?
HALEY: No, I don't think so. Actually, when you really look at the trail of evidence, there is very substantial evidence that a large proportion of our troops were exposed to low-level nerve gas from our bombing of their chemical stores early in the air war, about the 19 and 20 of January 1991. The evidence for this is that the Czechoslovakian chemical nerve gas specialists, who were hired by the Saudis, detected nerve gas on several days during this period of time mid -- right in the middle of our troop concentrations.
So it's very clear there was fairly broad exposure during the bombing period. Now, it's still controversial whether there was exposure from demolishing -- the demolition of these chemical depots after the war. And most of the attention's been focused on that because there's actually very strong evidence that there was widespread exposure to very low levels of nerve gas back during the bombing period.
BLITZER: Another theory out there, a theory that Dr. Robert Haley of the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas is giving a lot of credence to. Dr. Haley, we'll continue to cover this story and we hope you'll join us when we have some more information. Appreciate it very much.
HALEY: My pleasure.
BLITZER: A very important story, especially, as I said, as U.S. troops prepare for the possibility of returning to the Gulf. Thanks very much.
Want the $200 Rolex watch that's not a fake? Or how about a gas mask? Coming up, if you still need some Christmas gifts and don't know where to look, we'll tell you about a Web site that's looking at some stolen and confiscated property they're looking to sell among the cheap. Later, I'll talk to one U.S. airman who was inspired to take action after the September 11 attacks. All that and much more ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Imagine getting robbed and then seeing your belongings up for sale. Coming up, details on a new Web site that does exactly that. That's next on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. We're back in one minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked -- what famous Christmas song was originally written for Thanksgiving? The answer, "Jingle Bells." In 1857, James Pierpot (ph) wrote it for a Thanksgiving program at his church in Boston. He called it "The One Horse Open Sleigh."
OK, information you get only here on this program. Two of the country's largest retailers are singing the holiday blues. Wal-Mart and Federated department stores report sales are lower than projected despite a promising start right after Thanksgiving. Subsequent sales have been weak despite heavy discounts. Some companies are holding out hope that last minute shoppers will make it a Merry Christmas after all.
Online shoppers will want to take note of this Web site. It auctions off unique items some of which sell for bargain basement prices. The only catch, they're stolen. CNN's John Zarrella explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The folks who run the Broward Sheriff's Office, BSO Property Room, will tell you their wish is that under every tree Christmas morning there is a stolen lawn mower or maybe a power tool or rare coins. How about a pair of Kmart jeans? The crook got 24 months for stealing these. Ho, ho, ho. Maybe that special someone in your life likes camping.
SHERIFF KEN JENNE, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA: We can send you on a camping trip with a canoe, a sleeping bag and a tent.
ZARRELLA: It used to be that to buy stolen, confiscated and unclaimed merchandise from police departments, you'd have to wait until one of the periodic public auctions. Not anymore. All this stuff is now just a mouse click away. Just go to Propertyroom.com. One hundred and ninety police departments from 14 states have their merchandise listed on the site.
JENNE: Once they're on the Internet, the price will go up because you have more and more people bidding rather than just the several million people that live in South Florida that might have an interest on these items, now we have a national audience.
ZARRELLA: Once a month the Broward sheriff's office packs up a truckload of goods and ships it to a central clearinghouse near Los Angeles.
(on camera): The merchandise here won't be priced until it gets out to California. But police say that go-carts, for example, are hot items. No pun intended. And these go-carts, once they get on the Web site, should bring a good price.
(voice-over): In Los Angeles, the goods are cleaned up, sometimes repaired, appraised and then put on the Web site. There is even a gadget that tests whether a diamond is really a diamond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That means it is real.
ZARRELLA: Deals are great. Bidding on some stuff starts at a couple bucks. The police departments and Propertyroom.com split the profits 50/50. But police say don't come looking for items from high profile cases.
TOM LANE, PROPERTYROOM.COM CEO: If you're looking for the other glove, we're not going to get the other glove. Cases like that are just not -- they're not -- the police department's not going to release that stuff to us.
ZARRELLA: But if you're looking for a steal of a deal at the last minute, you might want to check out the cop shot version of Santa's workshop.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Lauderdale.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Excellent report from our John Zarrella.
September 11 undoubtedly changed the lives of millions. Coming up, I talk to one U.S. airman who says the terrorist attacks inspired him to protect his country. You'll hear that interview straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It was and still remains a majestic backdrop, the Saudi desert, which we visited last week and when we dropped in on a prince's farm. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): What are they building here?
(voice-over): Heading east, it doesn't take long to get out of the Saudi capital of Riyadh. The highway is smooth. The process is uncomplicated though we were stopped briefly at a security checkpoint when a guard spotted our video camera. Our Saudi Ministry of Information escort showed the appropriate paperwork and we continued the drive down to what the Saudis often call "Our Small Grand Canyon."
(on camera): This is the Saudi desert. It's spectacularly raw and spectacularly beautiful. It was depicted in the classic film "Lawrence of Arabia." Take my word for it, it's much more impressive in person.
(voice-over): It's peaceful here. There is a powerful quiet interrupted occasionally by some wild camels. For the Saudis, the desert is in their (UNINTELLIGIBLE) blood. They say they often escape the bigger cities to come here to relax and to think.
The war on terror and a possible war against Iraq seems so very far removed, even if they are both very close. It doesn't take very long before we can see some green, a sure sign that we're getting close to our destination, the farm of our host, the former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki Al-Faisal.
But before we get to see Prince Turki, we head toward some of his prized possessions, 800 ostriches. Mohmoud Belal came to Saudi Arabia from Kenya a dozen year ago to manage a big part of Prince Turkey's farm, including the ostriches. He takes us on a tour.
MOHMOUD BELAL, FARM MANAGER: This is the chicks that we have got there by natural birthing.
BLITZER (on camera): The little one?
BELAL: Yes. This is a father and this is a mother.
BLITZER (voice-over): But there's more. Belal is also in charge of the goats. We continue on to Prince Turki's desert home where he welcomes us with a traditional Arabic coffee and sweet tea. After some rest, we tour the residence and the grounds, including, as is the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) custom, the mandatory tent in the backyard.
(on camera): It's just a pleasure to be here.
PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, FORMER SAUDI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: I'm glad you like it.
BLITZER: You'll miss it when you're in London.
AL-FAISAL: Absolutely.
BLITZER (voice-over): The desert, as any outside visitor quickly discovers, is in their blood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And among the U.S. military men and women serving right now in the Persian Gulf, preparing for a possible war with Iraq, are some who volunteered to be there for their own deeply personal reasons. I met one of them last week in Saudi Arabia. This is how he described his mission in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): You were at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
PAUL MILLER, CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT U.S. AIR FORCE: Yes, yes, I was.
BLITZER: You were in the building that day?
MILLER: Actually, I was right outside the building, right around the corner from the impact area.
BLITZER: What were you doing there?
MILLER: Well, the long story, to make it short, was I was initially supposed to be gone over to be in Japan. They had canceled that two days ago. And I had taken some leave but I had gone in to do some work at Pentagon anyway. And before I went into work, I was going to go for a run. And I had -- I was just getting ready to go run when the plane impacted over on the side there, over at the airport
BLITZER: You heard it?
MILLER: You know, to this day I cannot say that I actually heard it. I'm sure I did. But the memory of -- is more envisioned in my mind as I turned and looked and saw the fireball, the flames and the black and orange smoke out there is what really is burned into my brain.
BLITZER: It obviously had a dramatic impact on your life. How did it change?
MILLER: It changed in some ways with images, the images that stick in my mind. The -- one of the main images is turning and seeing the Pentagon burning and firing. The other image that stands is I remember seeing first F-16 coming low flying across and it really struck me at that point that -- like something I never thought I would see, to see one of our own airplanes flying across the Pentagon to protect it.
And -- but one of the most images that was at about 23:00 at night. That night, I was sitting there watching the Pentagon, the top of it still burning. And there was a young woman that came walking up with her child. And she was about 30 yards in front of me and I remember her standing there and she was cry crying. And it first struck me like what is she doing here bringing a baby here and then at that point, it struck me that, you know, that she probably had somebody in there that wasn't going to come out. And that was kind of significant in the moment that the past was there still in a way burning, but the future there, holding the young baby. And it kind of set a whole different tone for me at that point that, you know, I wanted to be a part of anything that we do. And that's when I started thinking about wanting to volunteer to come over here in any way I could get over here.
BLITZER: So you're here today, you think, in part because of 9/11?
MILLER: Oh, I think in a huge part because of 9/11 is one of the main driving factors on that.
BLITZER: But when it comes to being ready, you're motivated.
MILLER: I -- 100 percent motivated, just like all the troops that we have here are 100 percent motivated without a doubt, without even a shadow of a doubt.
BLITZER: Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Chief Master Sergeant Paul Miller, U.S. Air Force, he's a good man.
Time's running out for your turn to weigh in on our "Web Question of The Day." Who is the bigger threat to the United States, Iraq or North Korea? Log on to CNN.com/Wolf to vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: While I was at the Prince Sultan Air Base last week in Saudi Arabia, I came across something the U.S. troops there call Boot Hill Cemetery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's an old legend in POL that if you leave this AWAR and if you don't put your boots in Boot Hill, you will return. If you put them in Boot Hill, there's a -- probably about a 50/50 chance you won't. But a lot of people put a lot of boots in there and they're back. So that's the way we do things around here.
BLITZER (on camera): So there's no guarantee, but I guess it can't hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes you feel a little bit better that maybe you have a 50/50 chance.
BLITZER: But a lot of people probably want to come back, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a very dedicated crew of folks here at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and they're one team, one fight. And they'll do anything they have to do to get the mission completed. And they're really high morale and this is just one example of creativity that we instill in our people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Boot Hill Cemetery, I'll remember that for a long time.
Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Remember we've been asking you this -- who's the bigger threat to the United States, Iraq or North Korea? Twenty percent of you say Iraq. Eighty percent of you said North Korea. You can find the exact vote tally, continue to vote, by the way, on our Web site, CNN.com/Wolf. Of course, this is not a scientific poll. But the numbers are still interesting.
Let's get to some of your e-mail. You've been writing us about a lot of subjects. JoAnn writes this -- "There should be no question as to whether or not we got to war with Iraq or North Korea for that matter. We have to put an end to this and fast. There is no discussing an alternative with these people. End of discussion, time to act." Thanks JoAnn.
Gilbert adds this -- "It is obvious that North Korea is producing weapons of mass destruction. North Korea is a bigger threat to the U.S. and its neighbors than Iraq, yet the U.S. is not preparing to invade it. Enough of this double standard."
And on another topic, John writes this -- "The only trap Senator Lott fell into was the one which manifested itself when he opened his big mouth. I'm a Christian from Illinois. Are those conspiring against Lott in Mississippi going to get me next?"
Remember, we always want to hear from you. Just send me your comments, CNN.com/Wolf.
That's all the time we have today. Please join me again tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and don't forget "SHOWDOWN: IRAQ" at noon Eastern as well. Tomorrow, we'll also speak with some U.S. pilots who have been patrolling the no-fly zone in Southern Iraq exclusively.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next. Jan Hopkins is sitting in tonight for Lou. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Escape the Death Penalty in Virginia?>
Aired December 23, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): The Predator becomes the prey.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: They got a lucky shot and they brought down the Predator.
BLITZER: Is Iraq upping the ante? North Korea's nukes back in business?
MOHAMED EL BARADEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: If they're restarting, particularly that processing plant which will start producing plutonium, then we are in a pretty dangerous situation.
BLITZER: Will the U.S. go up against the evil axis on two fronts?
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other and let there be no doubt.
BLITZER: Senate Republicans choose a new leader but can this heart surgeon repair the damage? And, a whole new meaning to hot Christmas gifts as Santa stocks up in the police property room.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): It's Monday, December 23, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. It's long been called the most dangerous place on earth, almost 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed along the DMZ in South Korea facing a million North Korean troops and now ominous word that North Korea's nuclear program is coming back to life. The stakes for the United States, indeed for the world, are enormous; joining me now CNN's National Security Correspondent, David Ensor with details -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, senior U.S. officials are downplaying the strategic threat of a tiny country like North Korea could make to the United States, but at the same time, the events of the last few days, some of the moves North Korea has made are causing real concern.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ENSOR (voice over): With U.N. monitoring equipment now removed from North Korea's sizable plutonium stockpile and its reactor, senior United Nations and U.S. officials are sounding the alarm that North Korea could soon be building a nuclear weapon.
EL BARADEI: They're processing spent fuel and producing plutonium have no, absolutely no rational in terms of peaceful activities in North Korea. It's a pretty dangerous situation.
RUMSFELD: They don't need a nuclear power plant. Their power grid couldn't even absorb that. If you look at a picture from the sky of the Korean Peninsula at night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and vitality and a booming economy. North Korea is dark. It is a tragedy what's being done in that country.
ENSOR: Given that North Korea has already tested a missile which could be made capable of hitting Japan, Alaska, and eventually the mainland U.S., experts say Washington can not afford to wait long to resolve the crisis.
JOHN LARGE, NUCLEAR ANALYST: It could be a crisis of three to six months, six months to a year or a little longer before they have an operational weapon.
ENSOR: U.S. officials say North Korea's Kim Jong-Il is trying to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea's new President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, amid a wave of anti-Americanism in that country. Roh said during the campaign he would review South Korea's alliance with the U.S. Now, North Korea may be trying to force him to make an early choice of how independent from Washington he really intends to be.
PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: That the United States and others in the international community are not sort of give into blackmail. North Korea knows what steps it needs to take.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: For now, administration officials are engaged in tense diplomacy trying to get the Chinese, the Russians, and others to put pressure on Pyongyang to back down. U.S. officials believe and they hope that the North Koreans are trying to get attention and aid but that they do not want to risk additional economic sanctions or military action -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Well, how long does the United States have to use diplomacy before other options become much more prepared, for example the military option?
ENSOR: We're a little ways away from that yet, Wolf. The feeling is that there's weeks and months, at least three, six, nine months before they could have a weapon and in the meantime you're going to see some very intense diplomatic activity. There may be some sticks as well as carrots that are in the talking points for those diplomats.
BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on a very frightening situation, North Korea. Thanks very much David for that report. There was a challenge in the skies over Iraq today and the United States came out on the short end. We get the story now from CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqi fighters have been trying to shoot down an unmanned Predator drone like this one for weeks. It wasn't a big surprise to the Pentagon when they finally got lucky. The Iraqi aircraft entered the southern no-fly zone specifically to chase one of the slow-flying spy planes. Until now, Iraqi jets had been unable to actually slow their air speed enough to target one of the drones. Today, they were successful, the first time a drone has been brought down by hostile air-to-air fire over Iraq.
Pentagon officials claim not to read much into it and note it's still better not to risk a pilot in hostile airspace.
MYERS: They attempt to shoot down all our aircraft that fly over southern and northern Iraq in support of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and they got a lucky shot today and they brought down the Predator but I do not see it as an exclamation. It's been something they've been doing for literally the last couple of years.
STARR: This is not the first unmanned Predator to be lost. Iraq claims to have downed three of the multimillion dollar reconnaissance planes using ground based antiaircraft fire. Each time the U.S. Central Command said the drones may have crashed or been shot down. Today, U.S. officials acknowledge that at least the August and October incidents were in fact due to ground fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, Wolf, the Predators do more now than just unmanned reconnaissance. The Air Force Predators, like the CIA Predators, have been equipped with missiles that can strike ground targets and keep a pilot out of risk. What we don't know is whether today's mission was one of those armed Predators -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon thanks Barbara very much. To find out what Iraq is saying about the Predator and the latest on the weapons hunt, let's turn to CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Iraq has confirmed that it downed an unmanned drone, a U.S. plane earlier today in the south of Iraq. An air defense spokesman said that at 10:30 a.m. the plane violated Iraqi airspace and then five hours later he says the plane was downed by the Iraqi Air Force in what he said was a precise and planned operation. He said the plane was spying on Iraq's civilian and military installations.
Now, there's been a lot of activity at the same time today in terms of inspectors. The inspectors went out today to a baby milk factory, a site that was the subject of great controversy back in 1991 when it was bombed during the Gulf War by the U.S., the U.S. saying that it was a dual-use facility that could potentially have produced biological weapons, Iraq maintaining at the time that it was a baby milk factory only producing baby milk.
Now, the inspectors with their biological team interviewed the director, asked a lot of questions about what equipment was being used, and then later on in the day the UNMOVIC spokesman at the U.N. headquarters spoke to reporters saying that so far in the past four weeks, the inspectors had carried out 150 inspections and he also mentioned the interview, saying that they were also in the process of carrying out interviews with Iraqi scientists on a one-to-one basis. As for interviews outside of Iraq, he said that they were in the process of working out the details.
Now, Tariq Aziz, Iraq's vice prime minister spoke to a group of Arab representatives at a conference today saying that the U.S. with its build-up in the Gulf was not only threatening Iraq but also threatening the entire Arab world from East to West -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, Rym thanks very much. And, while the United States of course is focused on Iraq, does North Korea's latest move to revive its nuclear program pose an even bigger threat? Can the United States take on the two pillars of the so- called axis of evil at the same time? Joining me now is Paul Chamberlin.
He's president of Korea-U.S. Consulting, a former U.S. military attache in Seoul. He's been a Korea specialist for three decades. Colonel Chamberlin thanks so much for joining us. It's pretty frightening three to six months, perhaps nine months to a year but the North Koreans seem to be pretty close to developing a nuclear bomb.
PAUL CHAMBERLIN, KOREA-U.S. CONSULTING, INC.: I think a security analyst, a national security analyst has to assume that North Korea has one or two nuclear weapons.
BLITZER: Already?
CHAMBERLIN: One has to assume that.
BLITZER: They never tested it though.
CHAMBERLIN: No. They partially de-fueled their five megawatt reactor in the late 1980s and the estimate is there was enough plutonium extracted from that that could have been reprocessed.
BLITZER: What are they up to North Korea right now? It's hard to understand what their goal is right now but they're certainly scaring a lot of us.
CHAMBERLIN: Many Koreans, if not most, as well as a great number of Korea specialists believe that what this is primarily about is an effort to get the U.S. attention to improve relations. Sounds bizarre but the North Koreans are damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.
BLITZER: Does the U.S. have an option beyond the diplomatic diplomacy? Is there a military option, for example, to destroy the North Koreans nuclear reactor along the way? The Israelis destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 at Osira (ph).
CHAMBERLIN: The United States, of course, has extensive military capabilities. The question is what would be the repercussions? North Korea is accustomed to playing hardball. This incident, many people believe was -- this development many people believe was largely preventable. The Bush administration came in office following, of course, the Clinton administration which through a long series of constructive engagement militated that threat. But the Bush administration came in office with threats and North Korea...
BLITZER: So what you're saying is the U.S. has itself at least in part to blame for this mess that has developed?
CHAMBERLIN: That's how many people view it.
BLITZER: What about the bigger threat to the U.S. right now, the nuclear threat, the bigger nuclear threat? Is it North Korea? Is it Iran, or is it Iraq?
CHAMBERLIN: I don't believe any of the three countries have the capability to strike the United States in the near term. North Korea tested a Tapedong (ph) missile against Japan. That was supposed to go into further development as a Tapedong II, which was assessed to have the capability to reach the continental United States. Accuracy probably would be very low. The effect would be terror. That potentially could be by 2003, according to some estimates. Would they use it? It's very unlikely.
BLITZER: North Korea.
CHAMBERLIN: Right it's very unlikely.
BLITZER: But you're thinking that North Korea is still a bigger threat potentially than Iran and Iraq?
CHAMBERLIN: Well, I'm Korea specialist. I'm really not qualified to talk in detail about Iran or Iraq, but North Korea I believe has the greater missile capability and that's what we're talking about, delivery system.
BLITZER: We'll be watching that obviously very, very closely in the days, weeks, and months to come. Let's hope for the best. Colonel Chamberlin thanks so much for joining us.
CHAMBERLIN: Well, if I could just ...
BLITZER: We got to leave it right there unfortunately.
CHAMBERLIN: OK.
BLITZER: We'll save something for next time.
CHAMBERLIN: All right. Good.
BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.
CHAMBERLIN: Thank you.
BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this very important story. Our web question of the day is this. Who is the bigger threat to the United States Iraq or North Korea? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear from you. Send me your comments. 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.
It's unanimous Senator Bill Frist is the new leader of the U.S. Senate Republicans. Coming up, we'll hear some of Frist's first words after the vote and find out more about this Tennessee Republican.
Also, prosecutors are lashing out at reports that John Lee Malvo fired all the shots in the sniper attacks, how the news might complicate efforts to get a death sentence for John Muhammad. All that is still ahead but first in case you were out enjoying the days off this past weekend, here's our Weekend Snapshot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): As promised, President Bush got vaccinated for smallpox. Aides say he's feeling fine with no side effects. A French TV reporter died after being hit by a tank while covering U.S. war exercises in Kuwait. A national survey reported gas prices up nationwide. The Lundberg (ph) survey said the average price has risen three cents since early December to $1.41 a gallon.
"TIME" magazine named three whistle-blowing women its persons of the year. One is the FBI agent who said the agency ignored September 11 clues. The other two turned the spotlight on accounting at Enron and WorldCom.
No winner again in the multi-state Powerball lottery. That means the drawing Christmas night could be worth almost $300 million. And NBC has reached a deal with Warner Brothers for another season of "Friends", but at $10 million an episode it will be the most expensive show ever, and that's our Weekend Snapshot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: President Bush immediately issued a statement saying he looks forward to working with Frist for a safer, stronger, and better America. Senator Frist is a medical doctor by profession and observers are watching to see if he can heal the scars left by the Trent Lott controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): There's an early consensus in Washington on Senator Bill Frist, a consensus at least among Republicans who have their fingers crossed after the Trent Lott debacle.
CLIFF MAY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think he's got a hard job but a possible task in bringing together the Republican Caucus but also bringing the Senate together so they can get some work done for the whole country.
BLITZER: By many accounts, this heart surgeon's first job as Senate majority leader may be that of healer, someone the Republicans will count on to improve the party's public image and reach out to African-American voters after the fallout from Trent Lott's remarks on the 1948 segregationist presidential candidacy of Strom Thurmond.
It's a tall order falling on the shoulders of a man the nation really doesn't know very well. Frist does have a reputation as a moderate who is very close to the Bush White House, a connection Lott didn't have. That relationship should enable Frist to become an effective liaison between the White House and the Senate, but Democrats are already lining up to paint him as a pawn.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think he really does become the hand-totie (ph) of the administration and will take his marching orders from the White House.
BLITZER: Frist entered Congress in 1995 as the first practicing doctor elected to the Senate in nearly 70 years. He became the Senate's point man on bioterrorism legislation when anthrax letters arrived at Congress' doorstep last year. Health care is where Frist has made his mark in Congress but he's got a potential problem if he's going to take on those issues as majority leader.
His brother and father founded the nation's largest for-profit health care company, HCA. Frist still has close ties to the company. HCA has had to pay the government back nearly $2 billion to settle claims they overcharged Medicare and Medicaid. Navigating those potential conflicts and defending the Republican agenda without being portrayed as a White House lackey are challenges for Bill Frist that potential rivals are keeping close eyes on.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: I hope that he'll be a bridge builder and not a partisan divider. Unfortunately, these leadership jobs sometimes turn people more partisan than they should be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Frist, by the way, is 50 years old. He's a graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Medical School. He and his wife, Karen, have three sons.
Was John Lee Malvo the gunman in the sniper attacks? A newspaper report says yes but the prosecutor in the case is denying the report. Coming up we'll sort it all out with Court TV's Roger Cossack, but first a look at news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice over): Talking tough, Venezuela's President Huge Chavez threatens to fire and prosecute managers at the state auto monopoly unless production resumes. Venezuela's oil industry has been paralyzed by a 22-day general strike aimed at toppling Mr. Chavez.
Prescription for peace, visiting the Middle East, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman voiced support for the creation of a Palestinian State. He also said he hopes talks in Cairo next week will lead to an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire.
It will be a quiet Christmas in Bethlehem. Citing the continued Israeli occupation, Palestinian Christians say the only Christmas observances will be religious rituals.
Popular party, former South African President Nelson Mandela teamed up with television personality Oprah Winfrey to host a holiday party in South Africa. The party drew many more guests than expected and crowd control became a big problem.
White China, snow has fallen in Beijing five days straight. That's the longest streak of snow days since the city started keeping records back in 1841. Historic homecoming, one month after Italy lifted a ban on its former royal family, the son of Italy's last king visited his homeland for the first time in half a century. Victor Emanuel has a 20-minute meeting with Pope John Paul II.
Legend of rock, British punk rocker Joe Strummer is dead at the age of 50. He was the lead singer of the Clash, with hits that included "London cabinetry and "Rock the Casba." A spokesman says the cause of death was heart attack, and that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER (on camera): Prosecutors in the D.C. area sniper case are dismissing a report that says the younger suspect was likely the gunman in most if not all of the shootings. The "New York Times" article said 17-year-old John Lee Malvo confessed to three of the shootings and that DNA evidence linked him to the others. The report also said prosecutors are concerned that could complicate efforts to get a death sentence for Malvo's alleged accomplice 41-year-old John Muhammad.
At a news conference this afternoon, the prosecutors blasted the "New York Times" article as outrageous. They also had harsh words for the anonymous source quoted in the report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL HORAN, FAIRFAX COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: If it is a law enforcement officer who's putting out that information, that officer in my opinion is a disgrace to law enforcement, disgrace for one of two reasons. He's a disgrace because he's stupid or number two, he's a disgrace because he's doing something that he or she must know is contrary to good law enforcement. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Joining me now here in Washington now for some analysis of this case is Court TV's Roger Cossack. Roger thanks for helping us understand.
ROGER COSSACK, COURT TV: Sure.
BLITZER: What is going on right now?
COSSACK: Well, first of all I think you have to realize that these two people are charged for two murders in two different parts of the Washington, D.C. area where two murders occurred, not for all of the murders that we think that they have committed. So that when the "New York Times" says that Malvo is responsible for all the murders, the only ones that they're on trial for right now is two of them and we don't know the evidence as to what evidence they have and what evidence we don't have and obviously when we read the "New York Times" we have to take it with a grain of salt.
The problem is in the "New York Times" is right, then what you have is you have the 17-year-old pulling the trigger. You have the other gentleman, Muhammad acting as an associate if you will, as an accessory, which under Virginia law may make it very, very difficult for him, the adult, the 41-year-old or whatever he is, the adult to get the death penalty where the 17-year-old could get the death penalty.
BLITZER: Even if John Muhammad was brainwashing, if you will, or convincing the 17-year-old who was under his control to go ahead and actually fire the weapon, there could be a situation legally whereby the 17-year-old gets the death penalty and the 41-year-old doesn't?
COSSACK: That"s exactly what the problem is and that's exactly what they're worried about. If, in fact, the evidence comes out in these Virginia areas that in fact it was the 17-year-old that pulled the trigger and not the 41-year-old, then it's going to make it more difficult for the 41-year-old to get the death penalty and the reason is, is that in Virginia the law is usually interpreted to mean it's only the one that pulls the trigger that gets the death penalty.
Now you have this situation where you have this 17-year-old eligible if these are the facts, and I want to stress that we've just seen the prosecutor saying that the story was 60 percent true. But if these are the facts, it's going to make it more difficult.
Now, they're going to argue that there were more than one murder and there were mass murders and that, several murders, and that also they're going to try and argue this terrorism law that they just passed in response to 9/11. But many people feel that that's really not what they had in mind when they passed that terrorism law that it wasn't for these kinds of cases.
BLITZER: And that's untested. It's never been tested in a court of law.
COSSACK: Right. Right.
BLITZER: But you would think that before the attorney general and the Justice Department decided to let Virginia handle this case, they would have an iron clad kind of case against both of these suspects.
COSSACK: You know, Wolf, that's why they call you Wolf Blitzer. That's exactly what this story is all about. The story is, is that there was a tremendously quick rush to judgment by the attorney general of the United States in this case to send these cases to Virginia where admittedly it's much easier to get the death penalty than it is perhaps in Maryland or other jurisdictions.
So, they sent them down to Virginia without really knowing what the evidence is and now there is at least a suspicion that there may be some problems because one of the things that's going to be very, very difficult and look, in reality the notion that this 17-year-old is going to get the death penalty and this 41-year-old may not is going to be hard to sit, particularly with a jury and particularly with the public.
So, there's a problem but again I stress we've just heard Prosecutor Horan come out and say we don't know the true facts and we don't and these are leaks and we just have to wait and see how the evidence shakes out.
BLITZER: Well, we'll be waiting and watching with your Roger Cossack, who always helps us sort through these legal.
COSSACK: I'm here to sort for you. All right, Wolf.
BLITZER: OK, you're a good sorter. Roger Cossack thanks very much. What if there were a smallpox outbreak in a city near you, coming up, how researchers simulated a scenario just like that. We'll tell you what the model reveals about a vaccination strategy. Also, scientists try to find the cause of the mysterious Gulf War illness. We'll talk to one doctor who says Sarin gas was perhaps the culprit but first today's news quiz. What famous Christmas song was originally written for Thanksgiving, "Joy to the World," "Jingle Bells," "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," "Deck The Halls," the answer coming up.
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BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, new research may provide clues to the mysterious illness of Gulf War veterans. We'll talk to one of the doctors who's linking Saren gas to the problem.
(NEWS ALERT)
BLITZER: Researchers are using computer simulations to devise a containment strategy for a possible smallpox attack on the United States. CNN's Christie Feig tells us what they found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTIE FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two small towns, side by side, anywhere in America. Each has 400 people and a school. They share a hospital and like many of us, 10 percent commute to the next town for work. But what if one of those commuters came down with smallpox? Researchers at the Brookings Institution created a computer simulation for such a scenario assuming two towns where no one had been vaccinated. Here is what would happen.
JOSHUA EPSTEIN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: All 800 members of the county gets smallpox and 30 percent of them die.
FEIG: The next question, what vaccination plan would work best? Understanding the vaccine itself can be deadly.
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIRECTOR: About 15 people will experience a life threatening complication for every million people that we vaccinate and one to two people will die.
FEIG: In real life, the Bush administration has chosen to vaccinate some healthcare workers and first responders. In the virtual world, the computer recommends vaccinating all hospital workers who are able to take the vaccine and all Americans vaccinated as children since it's expected they would have fewer side effects than people who have never vaccinated.
EPSTEIN: Under this package, in 100 percent of the simulated outbreaks, fewer than 70 cases occur, 21 deaths.
FEIG: Although the model proved effective, Brookings researchers say they aren't recommending any vaccination until there is a credible threat.
Christie Feig, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: More than a decade after the Persian Gulf War, mysterious illnesses still haunt many Gulf War veterans. Now, scientists are hoping new research will help unlock some of the mysteries. Two studies found that low levels of Saren nerve gas affected behavior and organ functions in laboratory animals at a month after exposure. Dr. Robert Haley is an epidemiologist and an expert on Gulf War illnesses. He's joining us now live from Dallas.
Dr. Haley, thanks for joining us. A very important study, especially as U.S. military personnel prepare for the possibility of going back to the Persian Gulf and engaging in another war. Tell us about this study. Give us some perspective. How good is it?
DR. ROBERT HALEY, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, SOUTHWESTERN MED. CTR.: This is an excellent study. It's very important and really provides the missing piece of the puzzle that connects nerve gas exposure in the first Gulf War with what we see now as Gulf War Syndrome. Basically, the researchers at the University of New Mexico funded by the U.S. Army exposed laboratory animals, rats, to several very low doses of Saren, too low to produce initial symptoms and that was an important part of the design. And then they showed that the animals were not sick the first day after their exposure stopped. So these were not immediate effects.
Later on, 30 days later, they examined their brains and found that there was actually evidence of brain damage in a particular set of brain structures, particularly the part of the deep brain structures we call the basil ganglia. These are deep brain structures down the center of the brain that have to do with a lot of the automatic functions of the brain that produce the types of symptoms that we see in Gulf War veterans.
BLITZER: So the point, Dr. Haley, is what that perhaps even though those these were lab animals that have this result, perhaps some of the U.S. troops who served a dozen years ago during the Persian Gulf War were exposed to very, very low levels of Saren gas? Is that the suspicion?
HALEY: Yes. Now, we've shown this about five years ago. Our research team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas published a number of papers showing that Gulf War veterans do have a real illness, a physical illness that affects the brain. It's due to brain damage or brain cell damage to these deep brain structures called the basil ganglia.
We can demonstrate this with brain imaging that's now been replicated by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco VA. We then linked it to Saren exposure, to low-level Saren exposure in the Gulf War with epidemiologic associations. And actually a very interesting genetic finding showing that veterans who have very low levels of an enzyme that protects your blood and your brain from nerve gas exposure, the ones who are sick were born with low levels of this protective enzyme. So that's another finding that links it to Saren.
Our findings were not widely accepted in the scientific world at that time however because there were no studies in animals showing the biological plausibility of this. And now this new study from the University of New Mexico funded by the Army has supplied that missing piece. And so, now, we think there is a very compelling case for low level Saren gas exposure in the atmosphere, too little to cause immediate symptoms, can actually lead to delayed onset of damage of these deep brain structures.
BLITZER: Dr. Haley, during the Gulf War, as far as we know, the Iraqis never used this nerve gas, Saren gas, but there were depots destroyed that may have housed some of these canisters. But a lot of the troops who have come down with Gulf War Syndrome were nowhere near those depots and certainly down -- they weren't anywhere near where the wind could have affected them. So there may be a problem here, right?
HALEY: No, I don't think so. Actually, when you really look at the trail of evidence, there is very substantial evidence that a large proportion of our troops were exposed to low-level nerve gas from our bombing of their chemical stores early in the air war, about the 19 and 20 of January 1991. The evidence for this is that the Czechoslovakian chemical nerve gas specialists, who were hired by the Saudis, detected nerve gas on several days during this period of time mid -- right in the middle of our troop concentrations.
So it's very clear there was fairly broad exposure during the bombing period. Now, it's still controversial whether there was exposure from demolishing -- the demolition of these chemical depots after the war. And most of the attention's been focused on that because there's actually very strong evidence that there was widespread exposure to very low levels of nerve gas back during the bombing period.
BLITZER: Another theory out there, a theory that Dr. Robert Haley of the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas is giving a lot of credence to. Dr. Haley, we'll continue to cover this story and we hope you'll join us when we have some more information. Appreciate it very much.
HALEY: My pleasure.
BLITZER: A very important story, especially, as I said, as U.S. troops prepare for the possibility of returning to the Gulf. Thanks very much.
Want the $200 Rolex watch that's not a fake? Or how about a gas mask? Coming up, if you still need some Christmas gifts and don't know where to look, we'll tell you about a Web site that's looking at some stolen and confiscated property they're looking to sell among the cheap. Later, I'll talk to one U.S. airman who was inspired to take action after the September 11 attacks. All that and much more ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
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BLITZER: Imagine getting robbed and then seeing your belongings up for sale. Coming up, details on a new Web site that does exactly that. That's next on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. We're back in one minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked -- what famous Christmas song was originally written for Thanksgiving? The answer, "Jingle Bells." In 1857, James Pierpot (ph) wrote it for a Thanksgiving program at his church in Boston. He called it "The One Horse Open Sleigh."
OK, information you get only here on this program. Two of the country's largest retailers are singing the holiday blues. Wal-Mart and Federated department stores report sales are lower than projected despite a promising start right after Thanksgiving. Subsequent sales have been weak despite heavy discounts. Some companies are holding out hope that last minute shoppers will make it a Merry Christmas after all.
Online shoppers will want to take note of this Web site. It auctions off unique items some of which sell for bargain basement prices. The only catch, they're stolen. CNN's John Zarrella explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The folks who run the Broward Sheriff's Office, BSO Property Room, will tell you their wish is that under every tree Christmas morning there is a stolen lawn mower or maybe a power tool or rare coins. How about a pair of Kmart jeans? The crook got 24 months for stealing these. Ho, ho, ho. Maybe that special someone in your life likes camping.
SHERIFF KEN JENNE, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA: We can send you on a camping trip with a canoe, a sleeping bag and a tent.
ZARRELLA: It used to be that to buy stolen, confiscated and unclaimed merchandise from police departments, you'd have to wait until one of the periodic public auctions. Not anymore. All this stuff is now just a mouse click away. Just go to Propertyroom.com. One hundred and ninety police departments from 14 states have their merchandise listed on the site.
JENNE: Once they're on the Internet, the price will go up because you have more and more people bidding rather than just the several million people that live in South Florida that might have an interest on these items, now we have a national audience.
ZARRELLA: Once a month the Broward sheriff's office packs up a truckload of goods and ships it to a central clearinghouse near Los Angeles.
(on camera): The merchandise here won't be priced until it gets out to California. But police say that go-carts, for example, are hot items. No pun intended. And these go-carts, once they get on the Web site, should bring a good price.
(voice-over): In Los Angeles, the goods are cleaned up, sometimes repaired, appraised and then put on the Web site. There is even a gadget that tests whether a diamond is really a diamond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That means it is real.
ZARRELLA: Deals are great. Bidding on some stuff starts at a couple bucks. The police departments and Propertyroom.com split the profits 50/50. But police say don't come looking for items from high profile cases.
TOM LANE, PROPERTYROOM.COM CEO: If you're looking for the other glove, we're not going to get the other glove. Cases like that are just not -- they're not -- the police department's not going to release that stuff to us.
ZARRELLA: But if you're looking for a steal of a deal at the last minute, you might want to check out the cop shot version of Santa's workshop.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Lauderdale.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Excellent report from our John Zarrella.
September 11 undoubtedly changed the lives of millions. Coming up, I talk to one U.S. airman who says the terrorist attacks inspired him to protect his country. You'll hear that interview straight ahead.
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BLITZER: It was and still remains a majestic backdrop, the Saudi desert, which we visited last week and when we dropped in on a prince's farm. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): What are they building here?
(voice-over): Heading east, it doesn't take long to get out of the Saudi capital of Riyadh. The highway is smooth. The process is uncomplicated though we were stopped briefly at a security checkpoint when a guard spotted our video camera. Our Saudi Ministry of Information escort showed the appropriate paperwork and we continued the drive down to what the Saudis often call "Our Small Grand Canyon."
(on camera): This is the Saudi desert. It's spectacularly raw and spectacularly beautiful. It was depicted in the classic film "Lawrence of Arabia." Take my word for it, it's much more impressive in person.
(voice-over): It's peaceful here. There is a powerful quiet interrupted occasionally by some wild camels. For the Saudis, the desert is in their (UNINTELLIGIBLE) blood. They say they often escape the bigger cities to come here to relax and to think.
The war on terror and a possible war against Iraq seems so very far removed, even if they are both very close. It doesn't take very long before we can see some green, a sure sign that we're getting close to our destination, the farm of our host, the former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki Al-Faisal.
But before we get to see Prince Turki, we head toward some of his prized possessions, 800 ostriches. Mohmoud Belal came to Saudi Arabia from Kenya a dozen year ago to manage a big part of Prince Turkey's farm, including the ostriches. He takes us on a tour.
MOHMOUD BELAL, FARM MANAGER: This is the chicks that we have got there by natural birthing.
BLITZER (on camera): The little one?
BELAL: Yes. This is a father and this is a mother.
BLITZER (voice-over): But there's more. Belal is also in charge of the goats. We continue on to Prince Turki's desert home where he welcomes us with a traditional Arabic coffee and sweet tea. After some rest, we tour the residence and the grounds, including, as is the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) custom, the mandatory tent in the backyard.
(on camera): It's just a pleasure to be here.
PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, FORMER SAUDI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: I'm glad you like it.
BLITZER: You'll miss it when you're in London.
AL-FAISAL: Absolutely.
BLITZER (voice-over): The desert, as any outside visitor quickly discovers, is in their blood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And among the U.S. military men and women serving right now in the Persian Gulf, preparing for a possible war with Iraq, are some who volunteered to be there for their own deeply personal reasons. I met one of them last week in Saudi Arabia. This is how he described his mission in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): You were at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
PAUL MILLER, CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT U.S. AIR FORCE: Yes, yes, I was.
BLITZER: You were in the building that day?
MILLER: Actually, I was right outside the building, right around the corner from the impact area.
BLITZER: What were you doing there?
MILLER: Well, the long story, to make it short, was I was initially supposed to be gone over to be in Japan. They had canceled that two days ago. And I had taken some leave but I had gone in to do some work at Pentagon anyway. And before I went into work, I was going to go for a run. And I had -- I was just getting ready to go run when the plane impacted over on the side there, over at the airport
BLITZER: You heard it?
MILLER: You know, to this day I cannot say that I actually heard it. I'm sure I did. But the memory of -- is more envisioned in my mind as I turned and looked and saw the fireball, the flames and the black and orange smoke out there is what really is burned into my brain.
BLITZER: It obviously had a dramatic impact on your life. How did it change?
MILLER: It changed in some ways with images, the images that stick in my mind. The -- one of the main images is turning and seeing the Pentagon burning and firing. The other image that stands is I remember seeing first F-16 coming low flying across and it really struck me at that point that -- like something I never thought I would see, to see one of our own airplanes flying across the Pentagon to protect it.
And -- but one of the most images that was at about 23:00 at night. That night, I was sitting there watching the Pentagon, the top of it still burning. And there was a young woman that came walking up with her child. And she was about 30 yards in front of me and I remember her standing there and she was cry crying. And it first struck me like what is she doing here bringing a baby here and then at that point, it struck me that, you know, that she probably had somebody in there that wasn't going to come out. And that was kind of significant in the moment that the past was there still in a way burning, but the future there, holding the young baby. And it kind of set a whole different tone for me at that point that, you know, I wanted to be a part of anything that we do. And that's when I started thinking about wanting to volunteer to come over here in any way I could get over here.
BLITZER: So you're here today, you think, in part because of 9/11?
MILLER: Oh, I think in a huge part because of 9/11 is one of the main driving factors on that.
BLITZER: But when it comes to being ready, you're motivated.
MILLER: I -- 100 percent motivated, just like all the troops that we have here are 100 percent motivated without a doubt, without even a shadow of a doubt.
BLITZER: Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Chief Master Sergeant Paul Miller, U.S. Air Force, he's a good man.
Time's running out for your turn to weigh in on our "Web Question of The Day." Who is the bigger threat to the United States, Iraq or North Korea? Log on to CNN.com/Wolf to vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.
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BLITZER: While I was at the Prince Sultan Air Base last week in Saudi Arabia, I came across something the U.S. troops there call Boot Hill Cemetery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's an old legend in POL that if you leave this AWAR and if you don't put your boots in Boot Hill, you will return. If you put them in Boot Hill, there's a -- probably about a 50/50 chance you won't. But a lot of people put a lot of boots in there and they're back. So that's the way we do things around here.
BLITZER (on camera): So there's no guarantee, but I guess it can't hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes you feel a little bit better that maybe you have a 50/50 chance.
BLITZER: But a lot of people probably want to come back, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a very dedicated crew of folks here at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and they're one team, one fight. And they'll do anything they have to do to get the mission completed. And they're really high morale and this is just one example of creativity that we instill in our people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Boot Hill Cemetery, I'll remember that for a long time.
Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Remember we've been asking you this -- who's the bigger threat to the United States, Iraq or North Korea? Twenty percent of you say Iraq. Eighty percent of you said North Korea. You can find the exact vote tally, continue to vote, by the way, on our Web site, CNN.com/Wolf. Of course, this is not a scientific poll. But the numbers are still interesting.
Let's get to some of your e-mail. You've been writing us about a lot of subjects. JoAnn writes this -- "There should be no question as to whether or not we got to war with Iraq or North Korea for that matter. We have to put an end to this and fast. There is no discussing an alternative with these people. End of discussion, time to act." Thanks JoAnn.
Gilbert adds this -- "It is obvious that North Korea is producing weapons of mass destruction. North Korea is a bigger threat to the U.S. and its neighbors than Iraq, yet the U.S. is not preparing to invade it. Enough of this double standard."
And on another topic, John writes this -- "The only trap Senator Lott fell into was the one which manifested itself when he opened his big mouth. I'm a Christian from Illinois. Are those conspiring against Lott in Mississippi going to get me next?"
Remember, we always want to hear from you. Just send me your comments, CNN.com/Wolf.
That's all the time we have today. Please join me again tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and don't forget "SHOWDOWN: IRAQ" at noon Eastern as well. Tomorrow, we'll also speak with some U.S. pilots who have been patrolling the no-fly zone in Southern Iraq exclusively.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next. Jan Hopkins is sitting in tonight for Lou. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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