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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Passenger Plane Crashes in North Carolina; White Supremacist Arrested in Chicago for Allegedly Attempting to Have Federal Judge Killed

Aired January 08, 2003 - 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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Disaster at Charlotte's airport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I seen the plane going straight up in the air and then all of a sudden it did just kind of like a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it started nose diving straight into the ground.

BLITZER: Today, coping with the Carolina crash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very saddened by today's events.

BLITZER: And finding out what went wrong.

Tragedy in Turkey. An airliner goes down with dozens onboard.

Inside the interrogation room as police question a convicted child killer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this to Danielle's family, OK. Please help us out David because I know that it's eating at you.

BLITZER: The heir to a cosmetics fortune walks away from house arrest. Now he's on the run from a date rape trial.

California loses track of thousands of convicted sex offenders. Where are they?

And, will your doctor tell you to start drinking?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's Wednesday, January 08, 2003. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. The flight was supposed to take about half an hour but for passengers and crewmembers about U.S. Airways Express Flight 5481 it ended in just seconds. CNN's David Mattingly is joining us now from the Charlotte-Douglass International Airport in North Carolina with the latest -- David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was supposed to be a short half-hour flight, a quick commuter hop from Charlotte, North Carolina to Greenville, South Carolina. Everything seemed to be going fine until just after takeoff when the plane inexplicably veered to the left, then crashed at the hangar that you see behind me.

We're going to zoom in just a little bit to give you a look at the corner of the hangar. You see that it's blackened and charred that from the fireball as the plane crashed. One eyewitness at the time says there seemed to have been a problem with the plane's engine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was right at the end of the runway and I looked up through my sunroof and I saw them through my sunroof and he was going straight up. It looked like the prop on the right side just completely stopped and he rolled on his back and came straight down and hit nose first and just a huge fireball as soon as it hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are on the ground. They will be scrutinizing the six- year-old Beech 1900 turbo prop. This particular plane according to the FAA records had problems last year with a leaky fuel pump and landing gear that wouldn't retract. Those problems had been fixed.

There was also an alert issued last year for mechanics to be on the lookout for a loose bolt that holds together the vertical stabilizer. That's part of the rear assembly of the plane. We don't know if this was a problem with this particular plane. Right now hopes are high, however, for a quick recovery of both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN GOGLIA, NTSB: We are working as we speak to move the wreckage to find what we think is the voice recorder. I just moments ago walked by. We have what we believe to be the flight data recorder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, of course, the grim task at hand continues right now, Wolf, the recovery of the bodies, the identification of the people onboard and the notification of their families, Wolf back to you.

BLITZER: David Mattingly who's on the scene for us tonight is Charlotte, North Carolina, David thanks very much.

Our Miles O'Brien who himself is a pilot is over at the CNN Center in Atlanta and has a look at what passengers may have experienced during the final moments of Flight 5481. Miles is joining us now live -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, believe it or not there aren't many possible emergencies in aviation that require quick action. Engine failure on takeoff, however, is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN (voice-over): It was supposed to be a short commuter run from Charlotte's Douglass International Airport to Greenville- Spartanburg only 75 miles away. The plane, a twin engine turbo prop Raytheon Beech 1900-D, didn't have an empty seat, a flight crew of two and 19 passengers aboard. Controllers cleared the plane for takeoff on Runway 18 right, seen here in recent satellite pictures.

It's a 10,000 foot north/south ribbon of runway, plenty of room for the 1900D. Typically such a plane would roll less than 4,000 feet before taking flight but just as it took off on this morning the plane veered sharply to the left, and according to witnesses, rolled upside down then dove into the ground near a maintenance hangar.

Investigators will look very closely at the airplane's left or number one engine. If it failed just as the plane became airborne, the flight crew would have had to act very quickly and very precisely to keep the plane from doing just what it did.

They are supposed to step hard on the rudder pedals to counteract the uneven thrust. Then, according to the aircraft checklist, keep the operating engine at full takeoff power while ensuring the blades on the bad engine are feathered or edge onto the air stream; otherwise, the prop would create so much drag the plane would be impossible to control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Now investigators will learn an awful lot, Wolf, just by looking at the wreckage. They can determine if that propeller on that left engine was spinning. It can also determine the angle of the blades, and they can also try to figure out if there was an engine failure if it was a catastrophic engine failure which might have spewed out some sort of parts which might have damaged that wing, thus making it all the more difficult for the flight crew to control that aircraft -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Miles, what kind of safety record does this Beech 1900 turbo prop have?

O'BRIEN: Well, we did a little web search on the 1900 and it turns out there are about 17 crashes total since it first came out in 1982. This was the 13th crash involving fatalities and that's worldwide. It's a pretty good safety record when you consider the number of cycles as they say, the number of flights that have been flown.

Beech Craft and Raytheon make a very hearty aircraft. This aircraft has its lineage in the so-called King Air. You may recall the King Air from back in October when Senator Paul Wellstone died in a King Air. It is a plane that has a long history, has very reliable power plants and is built well beyond the minimums if you will.

BLITZER: Miles O'Brien who always helps us understand these plane crashes, thanks very much, Miles, for that information.

And David Isola was at the Charlotte Airport when Flight 5481 crashed and he got some pictures of that horrible accident. He's joining us now live from Charlotte. David, thanks for joining us. Walk us through where you were, what you saw, what happened.

DAVID ISOLA, SHOT VIDEO OF CRASH: Well, when I walked out there I saw the fire crews and everything running around. I saw the flames. First I saw the ball of fire and that's when I jumped in my truck and went down there to see if I could help out and then I just saw the flames and the firefighters trying to put out some of the wreckage and frantically trying to get that fire out.

BLITZER: Then you started rolling some videotape. You had a video camera with you and tell us what happened and what you saw then.

ISOLA: I had my video camera. I just, I saw fire in the -- there was a (UNINTELLIGLE) there. I saw fire there and I saw fire in the parking lot and they were trying to squirt down the cars to make sure those weren't going to catch on fire, and then I saw over there wreckage, or at least it looked -- I couldn't see with the smoke, I couldn't see all the wreckage but I did see a piece of the wreckage there that they were frantically trying to put out.

BLITZER: And we're looking at some of that videotape that you shot. You had the presence of mind to go ahead and get your video camera and take these pictures. How long did it take for those first responders, the firefighters and everyone else to get to the scene?

ISOLA: Well, when I got there, they had already been there. I was told that they were there within two minutes but they were continuously coming more people, more firefighters and everything.

BLITZER: You have a background, what's your background, your personal background and give us some, as a result of that some experience that you've had in seeing these kinds of horrible disasters.

ISOLA: Well, my background is aircraft work on aircraft, clean aircraft. Aircraft Appearance is the company I work for and cleaning aircraft and, you know, also ground handling and cargo. That's my background with the aircraft.

BLITZER: But you had never seen anything like this before, have you?

ISOLA: No, sir I sure haven't. No, that was just a horrible sight to look at.

BLITZER: David Isola, he's at the Charlotte Airport, thanks very much for your videotape. Thanks for joining us to give us some of your eyewitness account of the aftermath of what happened after this plane went down.

Michael Goldfarb is a former chief of staff for the Federal Aviation Administration. He's joining me here live in Washington. What's your initial reading on what may have happened here, Michael?

MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, Wolf, you know the speculation normally turns out not to be ultimately the cause of the crash and I think everything is on the table. I understand the FBI has initially ruled out terrorism but everything else is on the table.

BLITZER: They say there's no signs of any foul play.

GOLDFARB: Miles is right in his report. I mean obviously engine failure at that critical stage of a flight would be catastrophic in terms of recovery for any experienced crew. If there's good news in a tragedy, the only good news here for the investigation would be that in fact the flight data recorder probably is a new one.

The plane is only six years old and if they get the cockpit voice recorder that could be very telling given that there was an emergency call made as well to the air traffic controllers at the tower.

BLITZER: They say the weather was good. It was clear. There was a lot of visibility. It was a little windy but nothing unusual for these planes to be able to take off from.

GOLDFARB: These planes are really the workhorse, you know of the planes that fly in the commuter fleet and there's been concern are the pilots qualified, you know, to fly these planes? You bet they are.

I mean they fly so many cycles, so many takeoff and landings and very safely in the worst kinds of weather and conditions, so it's a rugged aircraft. There's a service history on it, no air worthiness directives that would indicate systemic failure of the air frame or its sub-systems. So, it's baffling.

Once again it's a small area of impact, 100 feet or 100 yards. The investigators will break into teams and look very extensively at engine systems, look at air traffic control communications.

BLITZER: I was going to say, you know a lot of our viewers they take the big airliners. They don't mind flying in the big jets but these little commuter planes they get nervous. They get very nervous.

GOLDFARB: Right, yes. Right.

BLITZER: Should they be as nervous as they apparently are? What is the track record of the smaller planes, for example, versus the big ones?

GOLDFARB: Well, I'm nervous, everyone is nervous when you're in weather at 10,000 feet in a small plane because like a small boat you feel the impact of the currents on you. But these planes are remarkably resilient. They have enormous amounts of safety built into them. Statistically there's one level of safety that the government has enforced with the small planes as well as the large ones.

Statistically they have more accidents simply because they have more takeoff and landings, the most critical parts of flight but outside of that, they're entirely safe to be on. In fact, the pilots handle the aircraft more than 747 pilots who have so much automation in that cockpit, Wolf, they can basically not even have to handle the controls.

BLITZER: So realistically speaking our viewers should not necessarily be more nervous even though they are?

GOLDFARB: Well and we also, the speculation we have the sniper case white van scenario here where early speculation just takes precious resources away from what ultimately might become the cause of this crash, and I know it's tempting when you have a tragedy like this to find a quick cause because so many people fly every day. The board was on top of this and it's on the ground. It's not in the ocean, no salvage, no rescue.

BLITZER: It usually takes six months or so to find out what really happened.

GOLDFARB: Right.

BLITZER: Michael Goldfarb we often call on you during these times of aviation disasters. Thanks very much for coming in here.

GOLDFARB: Thank you.

BLITZER: As we mentioned at the top of this broadcast there's also been a crash in Turkey. A Turkish airlines flight from Istanbul crashed as it was landing in an airport in Southeastern Turkey and more than 70 people are dead. CNN's Jane Arraf is standing by in Istanbul. Jane, first of all what do we know about survivors?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually some pretty dramatic accounts, Wolf, only five survivors out of a total of 80 passengers and crew but one of them was very small, a two-year-old girl named Helen, who has apparently just come out of surgery we're told at hospital in Diyarbakir where the crash happened and is in intensive care, a very lucky little girl.

Another one, an amazing story a woman who was in the plane when it split apart, who said she was thrown from the plane onto a bail of hay at the airport. She has survived to tell the tale. The others, of course, weren't so lucky. Turkey's transport minister said 75 people believed to have died in that crash, some of them foreigners. We're not sure yet from where.

He actually announced that most of them had burned to death after the plane broke apart. The reason, officials say, for the crash appears to be very heavy fog at the airport, one of the main airports in Southeast Turkey -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What kind of plane was it and, as you answer that question Jane, we're looking at the first pictures we're now getting in from that airport, the scene of that horrible crash. What kind of record, what kind of aircraft was involved?

ARRAF: Well, this was a regular flight from Istanbul to Diyarbakir. There are two flights a day most days. It's a major center. It's one of the biggest cities with a majority Kurdish population in the region and it was by all accounts a normal flight. That airport, however, according to aviation sources does not have the kind of guidance system that would have allowed pilots to land more easily in heavy fog. It is mostly a military airport.

Now, those pictures that you're seeing obviously relatives and friends who are learning the news, seeing the passenger manifest some of them collapsing in grief. We're seeing similar scenes in Istanbul. Most of the people on that flight would have been from Diyarbakir or living in Istanbul going home or vice versa, so certainly relatives in shock after learning the news of that horrific crash -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jane Arraf on the scene for us, another plane crash today in Turkey. Thanks, Jane, for that report.

When we come back a White supremacist behind bars, Matt Hale busted for allegedly trying to kill a federal judge, the latest on his arrest.

Plus, an heir to the Max Factor fortune accused of drugging, raping, and videotaping women. Now he's a fugitive on the run from the law, the latest on this very bizarre case.

And, alcohol and medicine, it apparently protects men from heart attacks but should doctors start prescribing it, that debate still to come, but first a look at our "News Quiz."

What state has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol, Nevada, California, New Hampshire, Florida, the answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The leader of a White supremacist church is accused of soliciting the murder of the federal judge overseeing his case. Matt Hale was arrested today when he arrived at the courthouse in Chicago for his trademark infringement lawsuit. CNN's Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock is standing by with details of this very, very bizarre case. Jeff, tell us all about it.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: You said it, Wolf. I just got back from talking with the U.S. attorney in the case. This is the indictment against Matt Hale. It alleges that he had essentially tried to have a federal judge killed.

Who is Matt Hale? Well, I think you may know him. Let's take a look back. I've spent a lot of time with him over the years, his church, the World Church of the Creator, an avowed White racist organization. They're very anti-Black, anti-Jew. The question is did he cross the line from saying unpopular things to planning to do something unpopular?

We've got pictures today of him arriving at the federal court for his trademark infringement lawsuit. Essentially another organization has copyrighted World Church of the Creator. He was ordered by the judge, the judge in question here, to essentially destroy all church flyers, Bibles, and the rest with the name World Church of the Creator on it. Also, asked to pull down the Web site, change the domain name on the website. Hale very, very upset about this and very upset with the federal judge. We had an opportunity to talk with him, reporters did, on the way and here is some of what he had to say as he arrived at the court before he was arrested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HALE, WHITE SUPREMACIST CHURCH LEADER: The fact of the matter is that we're not talking about just the color of skin here. We're talking about the right of White people to live and we submit that they do have a right to live, that their interests are being encroached upon, that our country is being turned into a third world hell hole and we don't want that to persist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Wolf, I don't think anybody is alleging that Matt Hale doesn't say things that are inflammatory, certainly he does. The question is what has the federal government got to prove that he actually intended to carry something violent out. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald here in the Northern District of Illinois not saying very much at all about what he has.

He wouldn't say who Hale allegedly solicited, whether it was a government informant or a church member or someone else, and perhaps a few more details in about ten minutes time when Hale appears, his first court appearance on these murder, or at least solicitation of murder allegations.

Wolf, that's the latest from Chicago, back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff Flock when you get some more information we'll want to hear about it, very strange case indeed. Thanks very much, Jeff Flock our Chicago Bureau Chief.

Let's move on now to the terrorist scare. Doctors throughout Britain are on alert for symptoms which could be caused by the deadly poison Ricin. Authorities found traces during a raid on a suspected terror cell and they fear more suspects could be at large with more of the toxin. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Following the raid on a deadly poison lab in this North London apartment Sunday another arrest. The latest detainee joins six others, all Algerians. The discovery of the deadly Ricin poison is a first for British authorities.

CHARLES SHOEBRIDGE, FMR. ANTITERROR OFFICER: We've got clear and apparent evidence of an intent to produce them and presumably to use them too, and in that respect this is a ratcheting up, if you like, of the stakes of the war on terror, certainly within the British context. ROBERTSON: According to European intelligence officials, the British arrests follow a tip from French security services, which have been monitoring at least two of the six when they left Paris for London less than three months ago. The same intelligence officials say they believe the pair from Paris had links with a suspect terror cell picked up by French police before Christmas. During that raid, police captured a military chemical protection suit.

MAGNUS RANSTORP, TERRORISM EXPERT: They are the most active of all contingents working in the service of al Qaeda. I think it's fair to assume that we are looking at probably some connection with an al Qaeda source.

ROBERTSON: An assumption further supported, experts say, by al Qaeda training manuals CNN obtained in Afghanistan, lessons in the use of Ricin as a poison. However, similar information is available on websites like this one, offering instruction on how to prepare deadly toxins.

Even al Qaeda manuals, like this one, discovered on the computer of an al Qaeda operative in England highlight the limitations of Ricin as a mass killer. It is listed here only in the section on assassinations by poison. So, how could the suspects in Britain have intended to use Ricin?

RANSTORP: It would probably be in assassinations and smearing doorknobs, in infecting food, and then of course probably taking credit afterwards.

ROBERTSON (on camera): An act of terror, experts say, that could have instilled public panic, something British authorities have been trying very carefully to avoid even as they warn the public to be particularly alert because no one is really sure if all the Ricin has been accounted form.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Families of September 11victims tour Baghdad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want any other families to suffer and to feel the same sorrow that our families have felt this past 16 months.

BLITZER: Pawns of Saddam Hussein or true voices for peace? We rode along with them in Baghdad, a look at Iraq through their eyes when we return.

Plus, thousands of sex offenders lost and free in California, how did the state lose track of them?

And, a convicted child murderer in his own words, we'll take you inside the police interrogation of David Westerfield.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: There's a strange development in the showdown with Iraq. As U.S. forces prepare for a possible way, other Americans are already in Iraq on a peace mission. CNN's Rym Brahimi has the latest from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They lost family members 16 months ago in the September 11 attacks. Now they're in Baghdad meeting with Iraqis who lost family members 12 years ago in the 1991 Gulf War.

KRISTINA OLSEN, RELATIVE OF 9/11 VICTIM: The meetings have been like a mirror of our own suffering and only magnified.

BRAHIMI: On their first day in the Iraqi capital, the four members of the peace group September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows visited the Amaria (ph) Shelter. More than 200 Iraqis, mostly women and children, were killed when the shelter was bombed during the Gulf War. It's now a standard stop on government tours. Families of those killed in 1991 say they don't want to sacrifice more people to war.

"I have a 26-year-old son," says (UNINTELLIGIBLE). "If the U.S. attacks we have to defend our country. We're appealing to these people to take our voice to Bush."

The peace activists say they and the Iraqis they've met have a lot in common. They're here, they say, to try and put a stop to more violent deaths.

COLLEEN KELLY, RELATIVE OF 9/11 VICTIM: We don't want any other families to suffer and to feel the same sorrow that our families have felt this past 16 months.

BRAHIMI: Terry Rockefeller lost her sister Laura in the September 11th attacks. In the short time she's been in Iraq, she said she's seen much emotion.

TERRY ROCKEFELLER, REALTIVE OF 9/11 VICTIM: They expressed grief. Many of us hugged and cried together and kissed and then when we looked at each other again often I found that people immediately expressed a great deal of anger about America.

BRAHIMI: Rockefeller and her group say they believe they can make a difference.

(on camera): While the politics of the current crisis are being played out in the capitals of the world, this group has come to Baghdad on a personal mission they hope will find resonance on a larger scale.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: A confidential report by a United Nations emergency planning organization suggests a second Gulf War could be devastating to the Iraqi population. The assessment says up to a half a million Iraqis could require medical treatment as a result of a conflict and as many as 900,000 refugees would require assistance. An estimated three million Iraqis would need food assistance.

The report was disclosed by a British group opposed to sanctions on Iraq and confirmed by U.N. officials. Thousands of Iraqi troops are believed to have died during the first Gulf War, though it's impossible to know precisely how many. The Baghdad government claims 35,000 civilian lives were lost but, once again, it's impossible to believe to know for sure how many civilians were killed. Those numbers never, never have been confirmed authoritatively.

He's sitting on death row for killing a child. Now hear the police interrogation of David Westerfield. We'll play you the tapes when we return.

Also, sex offenders free to roam in California, find out how the state lost track of thousands of potentially vicious criminals.

And, a millionaire fugitive runs away from rape charges, an heir to the Max Factor fortune on the loose and wanted by police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, a child killer under interrogation, the David Westerfield tapes coming up.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: The man sentenced to death for the murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam told detectives interrogating him that, quote, "My life is over." And David Westerfield asked that he be left alone with a gun. That's part of what's contained in a newly obtained videotape of the interrogation. CNN Investigative Correspondent Art Harris reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART HARRIS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While police desperately search for a missing Danielle van Dam, the prime suspect in her disappearance is brought in for questioning. That's David Westerfield last February. Head on the table at San Diego police headquarters, three days after 7-year-old Danielle turns up missing. Those are two homicide detectives, gunning for a confession.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I know in my heart and being a detective for 12 years, I know you had something to do with her disappearance.

HARRIS: He never does confess, so it's good cop/bad cop, try to draw him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This can't go on any longer. OK? You got to -- your stomach's bothering you. You're under a lot of stress. Things are falling apart around you. And...

DAVID WESTERFIELD, SUSPECT: They've already fallen apart.

HARRIS: Then questions about kiddy porn on the Internet. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever download any stuff off the Lolita?

WESTERFIELD: Off of what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lolita.

WESTERFIELD: Lolita, yes, I did. There were pictures of what I would consider -- I thought they were older children, not young children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you consider older children?

WESTERFIELD: Well, 13, 14, 15, stuff like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever had any desire for young children?

WESTERFIELD: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None whatsoever?

WESTERFIELD: No, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never had fantasized about them?

WESTERFIELD: No, I like a woman with boobs.

HARRIS: Detectives focus on the missing girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this to Danielle's family. OK? Please help us out, David, because I know that...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's eating at you and I can see it.

WESTERFIELD: I asked you to get me a lawyer, bring a lawyer in here, bring the D.A. in, bring somebody in that I can talk to.

HARRIS: One detective leaves, purportedly check on that. Westerfield hints he's thinking suicide.

WESTERFIELD: If you want to leave your gun here for a few minutes, I'd appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's silly, no.

WESTERFIELD: Why is that silly in your opinion?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's silly.

WESTERFIELD: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're still a dad, right? HARRIS: The tape offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a killer, a pedophile who only hints he may have done something wrong.

WESTERFIELD: Everything in your lifetime comes back and bites you. You notice that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually.

WESTERFIELD: Isn't that amazing?

HARRIS: It's a riveting 45-minute interrogation; the only time we've seen Westerfield speak directly about the case. He never did make a statement before he was sentenced to death. The judge ruled that police never properly read the suspect his rights and the tape inadmissible. So the jury never got to see it.

Art Harris, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And in a stunning admission, California officials say they've lost track of more than 33,000 convicted sex offenders despite a law requiring rapists and child molesters to register each year in the Meaghan's Law Database. CNN National Correspondent Frank Buckley has the latest from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): L.A. County Sheriff's Detective Dan White showed us how resident in his county are supposed to be able to keep track of registered sex offenders.

DET. DAN WHITE, LOS ANGELES SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: This is what the public can view, high risk and serious sex offenders. Now, if you want to, give me a zip code and I can run a zip code for you.

BUCKLEY: And who is responsible for keeping information on the sex offenders current? The sex offenders themselves.

WHITE: Call it a flaw if you choose to. You can't -- you have them and -- but you can't watch them 24/7.

BUCKLEY: An analysis of California's Meaghan's Law Database performed by the Associated Press shows just how flawed it is. The AP obtained data from the California Department of Justice that indicates that some 76,000 sex offenders have registered at least once as required by law, but of those the whereabouts of some 33,000 sex offenders are unknown.

MARC KLAAS, VICTIM RIGHTS ADVOCATE: It's absolutely outrageous that we could lose a good third of the registered sex offenders in the state of California and it points out the low priority this issue seems to have in government law enforcement.

BUCKLEY: State Attorney General Bill Lockyer says tracking offenders is a local law enforcement function and if the public wants better tracking of sex offenders, it will be costly.

BILL LOCKYER, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The weak link in the system is having some probably sworn police officer who knocks on the door and asks if Mr. So and So still lives at that address and try to find out if they've moved where they moved. That's very labor intensive. We estimate it's a $15 million to $20 million expenditure each year.

BUCKLEY: And that's just in California. Meaghan's Law advocates say the system is similarly flawed in states across the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: And there are no federal statistics on this, but anecdotally advocates say that some 10 to 30 percent of sex offenders are not where they say they are on their registration forms.

I just talked to Laura Ahern, who's one of the chief advocates for parents who are trying to find information. She's the executive director of Parents For Meaghan's Law and she's among those who believe that some sort of a program should be put in place to monitor sex offenders for life. And Wolf, she also says that there needs to be more funding for local law enforcement agencies who are tasked with carrying out this duty -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Amazing stuff. Frank Buckley, thanks very much.

Frank will be back later this hour with a report on a separate shocking case involving the heir to the Max Factor fortune. He's accused of raping women. He's also on the loose right now. We'll have that report. That's coming up.

Also, alcohol may keep men -- men -- from having heart attacks. Should doctors start recommending it to patients? A closer look at this controversial health news making headlines this hour.

And Homeland Security, does it mean you shouldn't be able to sue the makers of vaccines even if they make something wrong? A look at both sides when we return, but first, a look at other news making "Headlines Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Emergency meeting. OPEC ministers plan to meet this weekend to consider boosting oil production. A general strike in Venezuela and concern about a possible Gulf War have caused prices to surge.

Death on the rails. A commuter train crashed into a freight train near Capetown, South Africa killing 10 people. Dozens were injured.

Paris in peril. Heavy rain and snow have caused France's Seine River to rise prompting a flood alert in central Paris. Two major roads are closed and officials fear the water could reach the cathedral of Notre Dame. Moscow misery. Extreme cold even by Russian standards is putting a big strain on hot water pipes leaving thousands without heat. Several deaths have been reported in Moscow where overnight temperatures fell to minus 24. Elsewhere in Russia, temperatures have dipped as low as minus 54.

Saving the whales. More than 100 whales beached themselves on an island off Southern New Zealand. Although dozens died, conservation specialists and volunteers worked together to get 39 of them safely back into the water.

Good-bye Mr. Chimps. The Berlin Zoo wants to send five chimpanzees to China but some observers say it's a clear case of age discrimination. The zoo says it needs room for other animals, but critics say the chimps are being laid off because they're getting older and less active and less interesting to watch. Apparently, it's a jungle out there, even if you live in the zoo. And that's our look "Around the World."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: An effort is under way on Capitol Hill here in Washington to repeal part of the Homeland Security Act. The controversial provision protects pharmaceutical companies in lawsuits over a vaccine preservation some say is linked to autism. CNN's Kathleen Koch has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give Mommy a kiss.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four-year-old Noah Woark is autistic. His mother says his behavior changed not long after receiving a series of vaccines. But the lawsuit she filed against the drug companies that made them has been stymied by a new law limiting such complaints.

DAWN WOARK, NOAH'S MOTHER: I'm very angry because who's going to take care of my child after we're gone? My child's going to have to maybe live with us for the rest of his life. He's not going to be able to function in a normal society without some kind of help.

KOCH: Dozens of parents from across the country joined by several lawmakers protested on Capitol Hill about how the measure was inserted at the 11 hour into the Homeland Security Bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a major scandal.

KOCH: Michigan senator, Debbie Stabenow, has already introduced legislation to overturn the liability limits.

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D), MICHIGAN: What we have in the dead of night, a provision put in to help a pharmaceutical company or series of companies that help the parents and their rights for protecting their children right off at the knees. KOCH: Vaccine makers like Eli Lilly objects, saying trial lawyers are, quote, "Clearly attempting to thwart the original aim of Congress, which was to reduce the chilling effect that litigation has on the development of new vaccines."

There is no definitive scientific link between vaccines and disorders like autism. At the same time, the Institute of Medicine in 2001 said a mercury-based preservative once used in vaccines could not be ruled in or out as a potential cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. The new Senate Majority Leader, Dr. Bill Frist, argued for the liability limits.

(on camera): Now his Republican team says Frist will follow through on a promise by his predecessor, to revisit the issue in his new Congress.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MINORITY LEADER: That commitment was made and it will be filled and very quickly, I might add.

KOCH: That can't come soon enough for parents like Scott and Laura Bono, who's son, Jackson, is autistic.

LAURA BONO, JACKSON'S MOTHER: We have no recourse. We're left with a child that was damaged by vaccines and there is nothing that we can do about it.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Here's your chance to weigh in on the story. Our "Web Question of The Day" is this: should Americans be able to sue companies that make vaccines? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf.

While you're there, I'd like 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 can you read my online daily column, cnn.com/wolf.

He says he's a misunderstood pornographer. Police say he's a rapist who likes to videotape his crimes. Now the heir to the Max Factor fortune is on the run. We'll have the story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: California authorities say Max Factor Cosmetic heir, Andrew Luster, is on the run and may even be out of the country by now as his date-rape trial continues. According to "The Los Angeles Times," Luster had a 12-hour head start been officials realized he was gone. That's because the service monitoring Luster's house arrest electronic ankle bracelet was told to ignore alert messages between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Once again, here's CNN national correspondent, Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BUCKLEY (voice-over): In some respects, Andrew Luster is a man who shouldn't have a care in the world. He is healthy and wealthy. He has a trust fund and this beach house and a family name that opens doors. He is a great grandson of this man, the late cosmetics creator, Max Factor.

But now, Andrew Luster, an heir to the Max Factor fortune, is a fugitive. Either a victim of foul play or an accident as his attorney suggests, or fleeing justice as prosecutors allege, accused of jumping bail and skipping out on his trial.

Authorities say he raped three women after bringing them to his beach bungalow and rendering them unconscious with the so-called date- rape drug, GHB.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence, videotapes Luster himself made of explicit acts with women who appear to be unconscious. Luster's attorneys have said the acts were consensual. He was an aspiring porn film director.

Luster himself denied the rape allegations in an interview two years ago at "The L.A. Times." "This is ridiculous, overblown and outrageous," he said. Luster's attorney says he is limited in what he can say by a gag order.

(on camera): Can you say whether or not you've heard from your client?

ROGER DIAMOND, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't believe that would violate the gag order and the answer is no.

BUCKLEY (voice-over): Tuesday investigators released new photos of Luster, of his dog, also missing and of the SUV they believe he may have used to get away. They say if Luster attempts to tap his fortune or get in touch with anyone he knows, it will help them to track him down.

GARY AUER, VENTURA CO. DISTRICT ATTORNEY INVESTIGATOR: If he wants to maintain any connection with his businesses, friends, associates, investments, prior recreation, prior lifestyle, all of those things, if he wants to keep still being Mr. Luster, that just makes the job easier for us.

BUCKLEY (on camera): While authorities search for Luster, the judge in the case has decided to move forward with the trial. Luster's mother meanwhile, that's Max Factor's granddaughter, is said to be devastated by all of this. One family member telling me that all that matters to us is that he's found alive and we can continue with the process.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And now to some important medical news, potentially medical news that could save your life. We've heard before that moderate drinking can be beneficial to your health, but a study just out this hour goes one step further saying that daily consumption of alcohol can cut the risks of heart attack in men as much as 37 percent compared to nondrinkers.

That has some questioning whether doctors should start prescribing alcohol to patients with heart diseases. Joining me to discuss this study is the author, Dr. Ken Mukamal of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. He's also a professor at the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Mukamal, thanks very much for joining us. Give us some perspective. How important is drinking to prevent heart attacks?

DR. KEN MUKAMAL, BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER: Well, the magnitude of findings that we have is pretty dramatic. As you suggested, men who were drinking five to seven days per week had a 37 percent lower risk of heart disease and men who drank three to four days per week had a 32 percent lower risk. That's pretty dramatic, particularly in comparison to previous work on the subject.

BLITZER: Well, we've all heard that people susceptible should maybe think of taking an aspirin a day or a baby aspirin, but now add to that alcohol, whether beer, wine or spirits? Is that what you're saying?

MUKAMAL: Well, I'm not sure we're ready to go and make any sort of one-size-fits-all prescription for everybody. Obviously, alcohol has a whole range of effects in people that need to be considered when one decides whether to drink or not. But it's certainly true that at least moderate drinking done frequently seems to pretty dramatically lower risk of heart disease.

BLITZER: One of the writers in "The New England Journal of Medicine," Dr. Ira Goldberg writes this in an editorial: "Is it time for a randomized, clinical trial of alcohol? It may be time to randomly assign patients who already have cardiovascular disease to an alcoholic beverage treatment study." Do you agree with that assessment?

MUKAMAL: I agree with having a randomized, control trial to definitively address the issue would be great. The problem is in such a study; we would really face tremendous hurdles. To be able to randomize thousands of people to either drink or not to drink for years at a time study what happens as far as heart disease go, would be, obviously, very difficult.

It's easy to imagine that nobody would want to enroll in a study where they might be asked to not drink at all for several years in a row. And in the interim, what do we do? I think studies like ours hopefully will help inform the debate. But clearly, a randomized, control trial some day would be the definitive answer.

BLITZER: What's the theory? How exactly would moderate alcohol consumption affect -- thinning the blood? Is that what we're talk about? MUKAMAL: Well, there's probably at least two or three different effects. We know that alcohol drinkers have higher levels of HDL, the good cholesterol. And in fact, alcohol is one of the most consistent ways to raise HDL. That probably accounts for about half of what we're seeing.

But the fact that frequent drinking seems to be important points perhaps to a blood thinning effect. We know that alcohol has an effect on platelets, which are substances in the blood that form blood clots. By inhibiting those, we may prevent clots in narrow arteries and therefore, prevent heart attacks.

BLITZER: And just to precise because I don't want our viewers, especially the men out there to that they have an excuse now to go out and buy a lot of alcohol. What you're talking about very moderate consumption, isn't that right?

MUKAMAL: In fact, very moderate consumption. Men who drank as little of about one drink a day three to four days a week were in the lowest risk category. So we're certainly not talking about a great deal of alcohol consumption necessary to potentially have a dramatic effect on heart disease.

BLITZER: All right. Dr. Ken Mukamal with important -- potentially important medical information. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more study of this and indeed I suspect a lot more controversy as well. Thanks very much for joining us.

Time's running out for your turn to weight in on our "Web Question of The Day." Should Americans be able to sue companies that make vaccines? Log onto cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back. First thought, the answer to today's "News Quiz."

Earlier we asked what state has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol? The answer, according to the latest statistics, New Hampshire. The state just barely edged out Nevada.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Should Americans be able to sue companies that make vaccines? Sixty-six percent of you say yes, 34 percent say no. This is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to your e-mail. Charlie writes this: "By putting this provision in the Homeland Security Bill, the federal government is basically saying that vaccines are harmful. Therefore, it should no longer force parents to vaccinate their children. The American people should start rejecting the nonsense vaccines for chicken pox and measles and let their kids get the real illness to develop real immunity. In the long run they will be better off."

Ann says this: "Should Americans be able to sue vaccine manufacturers? Yes. But even this solves only half of the problem. A funding mechanism should be set up to compensate for persons injured by vaccines."

That's all the time we have today. Please join me again tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't forget "SHOWDOWN IRAQ" weekdays at noon Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

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





Supremacist Arrested in Chicago for Allegedly Attempting to Have Federal Judge Killed>


Aired January 8, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Disaster at Charlotte's airport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I seen the plane going straight up in the air and then all of a sudden it did just kind of like a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it started nose diving straight into the ground.

BLITZER: Today, coping with the Carolina crash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very saddened by today's events.

BLITZER: And finding out what went wrong.

Tragedy in Turkey. An airliner goes down with dozens onboard.

Inside the interrogation room as police question a convicted child killer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this to Danielle's family, OK. Please help us out David because I know that it's eating at you.

BLITZER: The heir to a cosmetics fortune walks away from house arrest. Now he's on the run from a date rape trial.

California loses track of thousands of convicted sex offenders. Where are they?

And, will your doctor tell you to start drinking?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's Wednesday, January 08, 2003. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. The flight was supposed to take about half an hour but for passengers and crewmembers about U.S. Airways Express Flight 5481 it ended in just seconds. CNN's David Mattingly is joining us now from the Charlotte-Douglass International Airport in North Carolina with the latest -- David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was supposed to be a short half-hour flight, a quick commuter hop from Charlotte, North Carolina to Greenville, South Carolina. Everything seemed to be going fine until just after takeoff when the plane inexplicably veered to the left, then crashed at the hangar that you see behind me.

We're going to zoom in just a little bit to give you a look at the corner of the hangar. You see that it's blackened and charred that from the fireball as the plane crashed. One eyewitness at the time says there seemed to have been a problem with the plane's engine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was right at the end of the runway and I looked up through my sunroof and I saw them through my sunroof and he was going straight up. It looked like the prop on the right side just completely stopped and he rolled on his back and came straight down and hit nose first and just a huge fireball as soon as it hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are on the ground. They will be scrutinizing the six- year-old Beech 1900 turbo prop. This particular plane according to the FAA records had problems last year with a leaky fuel pump and landing gear that wouldn't retract. Those problems had been fixed.

There was also an alert issued last year for mechanics to be on the lookout for a loose bolt that holds together the vertical stabilizer. That's part of the rear assembly of the plane. We don't know if this was a problem with this particular plane. Right now hopes are high, however, for a quick recovery of both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN GOGLIA, NTSB: We are working as we speak to move the wreckage to find what we think is the voice recorder. I just moments ago walked by. We have what we believe to be the flight data recorder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, of course, the grim task at hand continues right now, Wolf, the recovery of the bodies, the identification of the people onboard and the notification of their families, Wolf back to you.

BLITZER: David Mattingly who's on the scene for us tonight is Charlotte, North Carolina, David thanks very much.

Our Miles O'Brien who himself is a pilot is over at the CNN Center in Atlanta and has a look at what passengers may have experienced during the final moments of Flight 5481. Miles is joining us now live -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, believe it or not there aren't many possible emergencies in aviation that require quick action. Engine failure on takeoff, however, is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN (voice-over): It was supposed to be a short commuter run from Charlotte's Douglass International Airport to Greenville- Spartanburg only 75 miles away. The plane, a twin engine turbo prop Raytheon Beech 1900-D, didn't have an empty seat, a flight crew of two and 19 passengers aboard. Controllers cleared the plane for takeoff on Runway 18 right, seen here in recent satellite pictures.

It's a 10,000 foot north/south ribbon of runway, plenty of room for the 1900D. Typically such a plane would roll less than 4,000 feet before taking flight but just as it took off on this morning the plane veered sharply to the left, and according to witnesses, rolled upside down then dove into the ground near a maintenance hangar.

Investigators will look very closely at the airplane's left or number one engine. If it failed just as the plane became airborne, the flight crew would have had to act very quickly and very precisely to keep the plane from doing just what it did.

They are supposed to step hard on the rudder pedals to counteract the uneven thrust. Then, according to the aircraft checklist, keep the operating engine at full takeoff power while ensuring the blades on the bad engine are feathered or edge onto the air stream; otherwise, the prop would create so much drag the plane would be impossible to control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Now investigators will learn an awful lot, Wolf, just by looking at the wreckage. They can determine if that propeller on that left engine was spinning. It can also determine the angle of the blades, and they can also try to figure out if there was an engine failure if it was a catastrophic engine failure which might have spewed out some sort of parts which might have damaged that wing, thus making it all the more difficult for the flight crew to control that aircraft -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Miles, what kind of safety record does this Beech 1900 turbo prop have?

O'BRIEN: Well, we did a little web search on the 1900 and it turns out there are about 17 crashes total since it first came out in 1982. This was the 13th crash involving fatalities and that's worldwide. It's a pretty good safety record when you consider the number of cycles as they say, the number of flights that have been flown.

Beech Craft and Raytheon make a very hearty aircraft. This aircraft has its lineage in the so-called King Air. You may recall the King Air from back in October when Senator Paul Wellstone died in a King Air. It is a plane that has a long history, has very reliable power plants and is built well beyond the minimums if you will.

BLITZER: Miles O'Brien who always helps us understand these plane crashes, thanks very much, Miles, for that information.

And David Isola was at the Charlotte Airport when Flight 5481 crashed and he got some pictures of that horrible accident. He's joining us now live from Charlotte. David, thanks for joining us. Walk us through where you were, what you saw, what happened.

DAVID ISOLA, SHOT VIDEO OF CRASH: Well, when I walked out there I saw the fire crews and everything running around. I saw the flames. First I saw the ball of fire and that's when I jumped in my truck and went down there to see if I could help out and then I just saw the flames and the firefighters trying to put out some of the wreckage and frantically trying to get that fire out.

BLITZER: Then you started rolling some videotape. You had a video camera with you and tell us what happened and what you saw then.

ISOLA: I had my video camera. I just, I saw fire in the -- there was a (UNINTELLIGLE) there. I saw fire there and I saw fire in the parking lot and they were trying to squirt down the cars to make sure those weren't going to catch on fire, and then I saw over there wreckage, or at least it looked -- I couldn't see with the smoke, I couldn't see all the wreckage but I did see a piece of the wreckage there that they were frantically trying to put out.

BLITZER: And we're looking at some of that videotape that you shot. You had the presence of mind to go ahead and get your video camera and take these pictures. How long did it take for those first responders, the firefighters and everyone else to get to the scene?

ISOLA: Well, when I got there, they had already been there. I was told that they were there within two minutes but they were continuously coming more people, more firefighters and everything.

BLITZER: You have a background, what's your background, your personal background and give us some, as a result of that some experience that you've had in seeing these kinds of horrible disasters.

ISOLA: Well, my background is aircraft work on aircraft, clean aircraft. Aircraft Appearance is the company I work for and cleaning aircraft and, you know, also ground handling and cargo. That's my background with the aircraft.

BLITZER: But you had never seen anything like this before, have you?

ISOLA: No, sir I sure haven't. No, that was just a horrible sight to look at.

BLITZER: David Isola, he's at the Charlotte Airport, thanks very much for your videotape. Thanks for joining us to give us some of your eyewitness account of the aftermath of what happened after this plane went down.

Michael Goldfarb is a former chief of staff for the Federal Aviation Administration. He's joining me here live in Washington. What's your initial reading on what may have happened here, Michael?

MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, Wolf, you know the speculation normally turns out not to be ultimately the cause of the crash and I think everything is on the table. I understand the FBI has initially ruled out terrorism but everything else is on the table.

BLITZER: They say there's no signs of any foul play.

GOLDFARB: Miles is right in his report. I mean obviously engine failure at that critical stage of a flight would be catastrophic in terms of recovery for any experienced crew. If there's good news in a tragedy, the only good news here for the investigation would be that in fact the flight data recorder probably is a new one.

The plane is only six years old and if they get the cockpit voice recorder that could be very telling given that there was an emergency call made as well to the air traffic controllers at the tower.

BLITZER: They say the weather was good. It was clear. There was a lot of visibility. It was a little windy but nothing unusual for these planes to be able to take off from.

GOLDFARB: These planes are really the workhorse, you know of the planes that fly in the commuter fleet and there's been concern are the pilots qualified, you know, to fly these planes? You bet they are.

I mean they fly so many cycles, so many takeoff and landings and very safely in the worst kinds of weather and conditions, so it's a rugged aircraft. There's a service history on it, no air worthiness directives that would indicate systemic failure of the air frame or its sub-systems. So, it's baffling.

Once again it's a small area of impact, 100 feet or 100 yards. The investigators will break into teams and look very extensively at engine systems, look at air traffic control communications.

BLITZER: I was going to say, you know a lot of our viewers they take the big airliners. They don't mind flying in the big jets but these little commuter planes they get nervous. They get very nervous.

GOLDFARB: Right, yes. Right.

BLITZER: Should they be as nervous as they apparently are? What is the track record of the smaller planes, for example, versus the big ones?

GOLDFARB: Well, I'm nervous, everyone is nervous when you're in weather at 10,000 feet in a small plane because like a small boat you feel the impact of the currents on you. But these planes are remarkably resilient. They have enormous amounts of safety built into them. Statistically there's one level of safety that the government has enforced with the small planes as well as the large ones.

Statistically they have more accidents simply because they have more takeoff and landings, the most critical parts of flight but outside of that, they're entirely safe to be on. In fact, the pilots handle the aircraft more than 747 pilots who have so much automation in that cockpit, Wolf, they can basically not even have to handle the controls.

BLITZER: So realistically speaking our viewers should not necessarily be more nervous even though they are?

GOLDFARB: Well and we also, the speculation we have the sniper case white van scenario here where early speculation just takes precious resources away from what ultimately might become the cause of this crash, and I know it's tempting when you have a tragedy like this to find a quick cause because so many people fly every day. The board was on top of this and it's on the ground. It's not in the ocean, no salvage, no rescue.

BLITZER: It usually takes six months or so to find out what really happened.

GOLDFARB: Right.

BLITZER: Michael Goldfarb we often call on you during these times of aviation disasters. Thanks very much for coming in here.

GOLDFARB: Thank you.

BLITZER: As we mentioned at the top of this broadcast there's also been a crash in Turkey. A Turkish airlines flight from Istanbul crashed as it was landing in an airport in Southeastern Turkey and more than 70 people are dead. CNN's Jane Arraf is standing by in Istanbul. Jane, first of all what do we know about survivors?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually some pretty dramatic accounts, Wolf, only five survivors out of a total of 80 passengers and crew but one of them was very small, a two-year-old girl named Helen, who has apparently just come out of surgery we're told at hospital in Diyarbakir where the crash happened and is in intensive care, a very lucky little girl.

Another one, an amazing story a woman who was in the plane when it split apart, who said she was thrown from the plane onto a bail of hay at the airport. She has survived to tell the tale. The others, of course, weren't so lucky. Turkey's transport minister said 75 people believed to have died in that crash, some of them foreigners. We're not sure yet from where.

He actually announced that most of them had burned to death after the plane broke apart. The reason, officials say, for the crash appears to be very heavy fog at the airport, one of the main airports in Southeast Turkey -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What kind of plane was it and, as you answer that question Jane, we're looking at the first pictures we're now getting in from that airport, the scene of that horrible crash. What kind of record, what kind of aircraft was involved?

ARRAF: Well, this was a regular flight from Istanbul to Diyarbakir. There are two flights a day most days. It's a major center. It's one of the biggest cities with a majority Kurdish population in the region and it was by all accounts a normal flight. That airport, however, according to aviation sources does not have the kind of guidance system that would have allowed pilots to land more easily in heavy fog. It is mostly a military airport.

Now, those pictures that you're seeing obviously relatives and friends who are learning the news, seeing the passenger manifest some of them collapsing in grief. We're seeing similar scenes in Istanbul. Most of the people on that flight would have been from Diyarbakir or living in Istanbul going home or vice versa, so certainly relatives in shock after learning the news of that horrific crash -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jane Arraf on the scene for us, another plane crash today in Turkey. Thanks, Jane, for that report.

When we come back a White supremacist behind bars, Matt Hale busted for allegedly trying to kill a federal judge, the latest on his arrest.

Plus, an heir to the Max Factor fortune accused of drugging, raping, and videotaping women. Now he's a fugitive on the run from the law, the latest on this very bizarre case.

And, alcohol and medicine, it apparently protects men from heart attacks but should doctors start prescribing it, that debate still to come, but first a look at our "News Quiz."

What state has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol, Nevada, California, New Hampshire, Florida, the answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The leader of a White supremacist church is accused of soliciting the murder of the federal judge overseeing his case. Matt Hale was arrested today when he arrived at the courthouse in Chicago for his trademark infringement lawsuit. CNN's Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock is standing by with details of this very, very bizarre case. Jeff, tell us all about it.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: You said it, Wolf. I just got back from talking with the U.S. attorney in the case. This is the indictment against Matt Hale. It alleges that he had essentially tried to have a federal judge killed.

Who is Matt Hale? Well, I think you may know him. Let's take a look back. I've spent a lot of time with him over the years, his church, the World Church of the Creator, an avowed White racist organization. They're very anti-Black, anti-Jew. The question is did he cross the line from saying unpopular things to planning to do something unpopular?

We've got pictures today of him arriving at the federal court for his trademark infringement lawsuit. Essentially another organization has copyrighted World Church of the Creator. He was ordered by the judge, the judge in question here, to essentially destroy all church flyers, Bibles, and the rest with the name World Church of the Creator on it. Also, asked to pull down the Web site, change the domain name on the website. Hale very, very upset about this and very upset with the federal judge. We had an opportunity to talk with him, reporters did, on the way and here is some of what he had to say as he arrived at the court before he was arrested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HALE, WHITE SUPREMACIST CHURCH LEADER: The fact of the matter is that we're not talking about just the color of skin here. We're talking about the right of White people to live and we submit that they do have a right to live, that their interests are being encroached upon, that our country is being turned into a third world hell hole and we don't want that to persist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Wolf, I don't think anybody is alleging that Matt Hale doesn't say things that are inflammatory, certainly he does. The question is what has the federal government got to prove that he actually intended to carry something violent out. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald here in the Northern District of Illinois not saying very much at all about what he has.

He wouldn't say who Hale allegedly solicited, whether it was a government informant or a church member or someone else, and perhaps a few more details in about ten minutes time when Hale appears, his first court appearance on these murder, or at least solicitation of murder allegations.

Wolf, that's the latest from Chicago, back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff Flock when you get some more information we'll want to hear about it, very strange case indeed. Thanks very much, Jeff Flock our Chicago Bureau Chief.

Let's move on now to the terrorist scare. Doctors throughout Britain are on alert for symptoms which could be caused by the deadly poison Ricin. Authorities found traces during a raid on a suspected terror cell and they fear more suspects could be at large with more of the toxin. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Following the raid on a deadly poison lab in this North London apartment Sunday another arrest. The latest detainee joins six others, all Algerians. The discovery of the deadly Ricin poison is a first for British authorities.

CHARLES SHOEBRIDGE, FMR. ANTITERROR OFFICER: We've got clear and apparent evidence of an intent to produce them and presumably to use them too, and in that respect this is a ratcheting up, if you like, of the stakes of the war on terror, certainly within the British context. ROBERTSON: According to European intelligence officials, the British arrests follow a tip from French security services, which have been monitoring at least two of the six when they left Paris for London less than three months ago. The same intelligence officials say they believe the pair from Paris had links with a suspect terror cell picked up by French police before Christmas. During that raid, police captured a military chemical protection suit.

MAGNUS RANSTORP, TERRORISM EXPERT: They are the most active of all contingents working in the service of al Qaeda. I think it's fair to assume that we are looking at probably some connection with an al Qaeda source.

ROBERTSON: An assumption further supported, experts say, by al Qaeda training manuals CNN obtained in Afghanistan, lessons in the use of Ricin as a poison. However, similar information is available on websites like this one, offering instruction on how to prepare deadly toxins.

Even al Qaeda manuals, like this one, discovered on the computer of an al Qaeda operative in England highlight the limitations of Ricin as a mass killer. It is listed here only in the section on assassinations by poison. So, how could the suspects in Britain have intended to use Ricin?

RANSTORP: It would probably be in assassinations and smearing doorknobs, in infecting food, and then of course probably taking credit afterwards.

ROBERTSON (on camera): An act of terror, experts say, that could have instilled public panic, something British authorities have been trying very carefully to avoid even as they warn the public to be particularly alert because no one is really sure if all the Ricin has been accounted form.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Families of September 11victims tour Baghdad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want any other families to suffer and to feel the same sorrow that our families have felt this past 16 months.

BLITZER: Pawns of Saddam Hussein or true voices for peace? We rode along with them in Baghdad, a look at Iraq through their eyes when we return.

Plus, thousands of sex offenders lost and free in California, how did the state lose track of them?

And, a convicted child murderer in his own words, we'll take you inside the police interrogation of David Westerfield.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: There's a strange development in the showdown with Iraq. As U.S. forces prepare for a possible way, other Americans are already in Iraq on a peace mission. CNN's Rym Brahimi has the latest from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They lost family members 16 months ago in the September 11 attacks. Now they're in Baghdad meeting with Iraqis who lost family members 12 years ago in the 1991 Gulf War.

KRISTINA OLSEN, RELATIVE OF 9/11 VICTIM: The meetings have been like a mirror of our own suffering and only magnified.

BRAHIMI: On their first day in the Iraqi capital, the four members of the peace group September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows visited the Amaria (ph) Shelter. More than 200 Iraqis, mostly women and children, were killed when the shelter was bombed during the Gulf War. It's now a standard stop on government tours. Families of those killed in 1991 say they don't want to sacrifice more people to war.

"I have a 26-year-old son," says (UNINTELLIGIBLE). "If the U.S. attacks we have to defend our country. We're appealing to these people to take our voice to Bush."

The peace activists say they and the Iraqis they've met have a lot in common. They're here, they say, to try and put a stop to more violent deaths.

COLLEEN KELLY, RELATIVE OF 9/11 VICTIM: We don't want any other families to suffer and to feel the same sorrow that our families have felt this past 16 months.

BRAHIMI: Terry Rockefeller lost her sister Laura in the September 11th attacks. In the short time she's been in Iraq, she said she's seen much emotion.

TERRY ROCKEFELLER, REALTIVE OF 9/11 VICTIM: They expressed grief. Many of us hugged and cried together and kissed and then when we looked at each other again often I found that people immediately expressed a great deal of anger about America.

BRAHIMI: Rockefeller and her group say they believe they can make a difference.

(on camera): While the politics of the current crisis are being played out in the capitals of the world, this group has come to Baghdad on a personal mission they hope will find resonance on a larger scale.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: A confidential report by a United Nations emergency planning organization suggests a second Gulf War could be devastating to the Iraqi population. The assessment says up to a half a million Iraqis could require medical treatment as a result of a conflict and as many as 900,000 refugees would require assistance. An estimated three million Iraqis would need food assistance.

The report was disclosed by a British group opposed to sanctions on Iraq and confirmed by U.N. officials. Thousands of Iraqi troops are believed to have died during the first Gulf War, though it's impossible to know precisely how many. The Baghdad government claims 35,000 civilian lives were lost but, once again, it's impossible to believe to know for sure how many civilians were killed. Those numbers never, never have been confirmed authoritatively.

He's sitting on death row for killing a child. Now hear the police interrogation of David Westerfield. We'll play you the tapes when we return.

Also, sex offenders free to roam in California, find out how the state lost track of thousands of potentially vicious criminals.

And, a millionaire fugitive runs away from rape charges, an heir to the Max Factor fortune on the loose and wanted by police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, a child killer under interrogation, the David Westerfield tapes coming up.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: The man sentenced to death for the murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam told detectives interrogating him that, quote, "My life is over." And David Westerfield asked that he be left alone with a gun. That's part of what's contained in a newly obtained videotape of the interrogation. CNN Investigative Correspondent Art Harris reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART HARRIS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While police desperately search for a missing Danielle van Dam, the prime suspect in her disappearance is brought in for questioning. That's David Westerfield last February. Head on the table at San Diego police headquarters, three days after 7-year-old Danielle turns up missing. Those are two homicide detectives, gunning for a confession.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I know in my heart and being a detective for 12 years, I know you had something to do with her disappearance.

HARRIS: He never does confess, so it's good cop/bad cop, try to draw him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This can't go on any longer. OK? You got to -- your stomach's bothering you. You're under a lot of stress. Things are falling apart around you. And...

DAVID WESTERFIELD, SUSPECT: They've already fallen apart.

HARRIS: Then questions about kiddy porn on the Internet. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever download any stuff off the Lolita?

WESTERFIELD: Off of what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lolita.

WESTERFIELD: Lolita, yes, I did. There were pictures of what I would consider -- I thought they were older children, not young children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you consider older children?

WESTERFIELD: Well, 13, 14, 15, stuff like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever had any desire for young children?

WESTERFIELD: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None whatsoever?

WESTERFIELD: No, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never had fantasized about them?

WESTERFIELD: No, I like a woman with boobs.

HARRIS: Detectives focus on the missing girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this to Danielle's family. OK? Please help us out, David, because I know that...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's eating at you and I can see it.

WESTERFIELD: I asked you to get me a lawyer, bring a lawyer in here, bring the D.A. in, bring somebody in that I can talk to.

HARRIS: One detective leaves, purportedly check on that. Westerfield hints he's thinking suicide.

WESTERFIELD: If you want to leave your gun here for a few minutes, I'd appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's silly, no.

WESTERFIELD: Why is that silly in your opinion?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's silly.

WESTERFIELD: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're still a dad, right? HARRIS: The tape offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a killer, a pedophile who only hints he may have done something wrong.

WESTERFIELD: Everything in your lifetime comes back and bites you. You notice that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually.

WESTERFIELD: Isn't that amazing?

HARRIS: It's a riveting 45-minute interrogation; the only time we've seen Westerfield speak directly about the case. He never did make a statement before he was sentenced to death. The judge ruled that police never properly read the suspect his rights and the tape inadmissible. So the jury never got to see it.

Art Harris, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And in a stunning admission, California officials say they've lost track of more than 33,000 convicted sex offenders despite a law requiring rapists and child molesters to register each year in the Meaghan's Law Database. CNN National Correspondent Frank Buckley has the latest from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): L.A. County Sheriff's Detective Dan White showed us how resident in his county are supposed to be able to keep track of registered sex offenders.

DET. DAN WHITE, LOS ANGELES SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: This is what the public can view, high risk and serious sex offenders. Now, if you want to, give me a zip code and I can run a zip code for you.

BUCKLEY: And who is responsible for keeping information on the sex offenders current? The sex offenders themselves.

WHITE: Call it a flaw if you choose to. You can't -- you have them and -- but you can't watch them 24/7.

BUCKLEY: An analysis of California's Meaghan's Law Database performed by the Associated Press shows just how flawed it is. The AP obtained data from the California Department of Justice that indicates that some 76,000 sex offenders have registered at least once as required by law, but of those the whereabouts of some 33,000 sex offenders are unknown.

MARC KLAAS, VICTIM RIGHTS ADVOCATE: It's absolutely outrageous that we could lose a good third of the registered sex offenders in the state of California and it points out the low priority this issue seems to have in government law enforcement.

BUCKLEY: State Attorney General Bill Lockyer says tracking offenders is a local law enforcement function and if the public wants better tracking of sex offenders, it will be costly.

BILL LOCKYER, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The weak link in the system is having some probably sworn police officer who knocks on the door and asks if Mr. So and So still lives at that address and try to find out if they've moved where they moved. That's very labor intensive. We estimate it's a $15 million to $20 million expenditure each year.

BUCKLEY: And that's just in California. Meaghan's Law advocates say the system is similarly flawed in states across the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: And there are no federal statistics on this, but anecdotally advocates say that some 10 to 30 percent of sex offenders are not where they say they are on their registration forms.

I just talked to Laura Ahern, who's one of the chief advocates for parents who are trying to find information. She's the executive director of Parents For Meaghan's Law and she's among those who believe that some sort of a program should be put in place to monitor sex offenders for life. And Wolf, she also says that there needs to be more funding for local law enforcement agencies who are tasked with carrying out this duty -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Amazing stuff. Frank Buckley, thanks very much.

Frank will be back later this hour with a report on a separate shocking case involving the heir to the Max Factor fortune. He's accused of raping women. He's also on the loose right now. We'll have that report. That's coming up.

Also, alcohol may keep men -- men -- from having heart attacks. Should doctors start recommending it to patients? A closer look at this controversial health news making headlines this hour.

And Homeland Security, does it mean you shouldn't be able to sue the makers of vaccines even if they make something wrong? A look at both sides when we return, but first, a look at other news making "Headlines Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Emergency meeting. OPEC ministers plan to meet this weekend to consider boosting oil production. A general strike in Venezuela and concern about a possible Gulf War have caused prices to surge.

Death on the rails. A commuter train crashed into a freight train near Capetown, South Africa killing 10 people. Dozens were injured.

Paris in peril. Heavy rain and snow have caused France's Seine River to rise prompting a flood alert in central Paris. Two major roads are closed and officials fear the water could reach the cathedral of Notre Dame. Moscow misery. Extreme cold even by Russian standards is putting a big strain on hot water pipes leaving thousands without heat. Several deaths have been reported in Moscow where overnight temperatures fell to minus 24. Elsewhere in Russia, temperatures have dipped as low as minus 54.

Saving the whales. More than 100 whales beached themselves on an island off Southern New Zealand. Although dozens died, conservation specialists and volunteers worked together to get 39 of them safely back into the water.

Good-bye Mr. Chimps. The Berlin Zoo wants to send five chimpanzees to China but some observers say it's a clear case of age discrimination. The zoo says it needs room for other animals, but critics say the chimps are being laid off because they're getting older and less active and less interesting to watch. Apparently, it's a jungle out there, even if you live in the zoo. And that's our look "Around the World."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: An effort is under way on Capitol Hill here in Washington to repeal part of the Homeland Security Act. The controversial provision protects pharmaceutical companies in lawsuits over a vaccine preservation some say is linked to autism. CNN's Kathleen Koch has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give Mommy a kiss.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four-year-old Noah Woark is autistic. His mother says his behavior changed not long after receiving a series of vaccines. But the lawsuit she filed against the drug companies that made them has been stymied by a new law limiting such complaints.

DAWN WOARK, NOAH'S MOTHER: I'm very angry because who's going to take care of my child after we're gone? My child's going to have to maybe live with us for the rest of his life. He's not going to be able to function in a normal society without some kind of help.

KOCH: Dozens of parents from across the country joined by several lawmakers protested on Capitol Hill about how the measure was inserted at the 11 hour into the Homeland Security Bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a major scandal.

KOCH: Michigan senator, Debbie Stabenow, has already introduced legislation to overturn the liability limits.

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D), MICHIGAN: What we have in the dead of night, a provision put in to help a pharmaceutical company or series of companies that help the parents and their rights for protecting their children right off at the knees. KOCH: Vaccine makers like Eli Lilly objects, saying trial lawyers are, quote, "Clearly attempting to thwart the original aim of Congress, which was to reduce the chilling effect that litigation has on the development of new vaccines."

There is no definitive scientific link between vaccines and disorders like autism. At the same time, the Institute of Medicine in 2001 said a mercury-based preservative once used in vaccines could not be ruled in or out as a potential cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. The new Senate Majority Leader, Dr. Bill Frist, argued for the liability limits.

(on camera): Now his Republican team says Frist will follow through on a promise by his predecessor, to revisit the issue in his new Congress.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MINORITY LEADER: That commitment was made and it will be filled and very quickly, I might add.

KOCH: That can't come soon enough for parents like Scott and Laura Bono, who's son, Jackson, is autistic.

LAURA BONO, JACKSON'S MOTHER: We have no recourse. We're left with a child that was damaged by vaccines and there is nothing that we can do about it.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Here's your chance to weigh in on the story. Our "Web Question of The Day" is this: should Americans be able to sue companies that make vaccines? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf.

While you're there, I'd like 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 can you read my online daily column, cnn.com/wolf.

He says he's a misunderstood pornographer. Police say he's a rapist who likes to videotape his crimes. Now the heir to the Max Factor fortune is on the run. We'll have the story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: California authorities say Max Factor Cosmetic heir, Andrew Luster, is on the run and may even be out of the country by now as his date-rape trial continues. According to "The Los Angeles Times," Luster had a 12-hour head start been officials realized he was gone. That's because the service monitoring Luster's house arrest electronic ankle bracelet was told to ignore alert messages between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Once again, here's CNN national correspondent, Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BUCKLEY (voice-over): In some respects, Andrew Luster is a man who shouldn't have a care in the world. He is healthy and wealthy. He has a trust fund and this beach house and a family name that opens doors. He is a great grandson of this man, the late cosmetics creator, Max Factor.

But now, Andrew Luster, an heir to the Max Factor fortune, is a fugitive. Either a victim of foul play or an accident as his attorney suggests, or fleeing justice as prosecutors allege, accused of jumping bail and skipping out on his trial.

Authorities say he raped three women after bringing them to his beach bungalow and rendering them unconscious with the so-called date- rape drug, GHB.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence, videotapes Luster himself made of explicit acts with women who appear to be unconscious. Luster's attorneys have said the acts were consensual. He was an aspiring porn film director.

Luster himself denied the rape allegations in an interview two years ago at "The L.A. Times." "This is ridiculous, overblown and outrageous," he said. Luster's attorney says he is limited in what he can say by a gag order.

(on camera): Can you say whether or not you've heard from your client?

ROGER DIAMOND, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't believe that would violate the gag order and the answer is no.

BUCKLEY (voice-over): Tuesday investigators released new photos of Luster, of his dog, also missing and of the SUV they believe he may have used to get away. They say if Luster attempts to tap his fortune or get in touch with anyone he knows, it will help them to track him down.

GARY AUER, VENTURA CO. DISTRICT ATTORNEY INVESTIGATOR: If he wants to maintain any connection with his businesses, friends, associates, investments, prior recreation, prior lifestyle, all of those things, if he wants to keep still being Mr. Luster, that just makes the job easier for us.

BUCKLEY (on camera): While authorities search for Luster, the judge in the case has decided to move forward with the trial. Luster's mother meanwhile, that's Max Factor's granddaughter, is said to be devastated by all of this. One family member telling me that all that matters to us is that he's found alive and we can continue with the process.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And now to some important medical news, potentially medical news that could save your life. We've heard before that moderate drinking can be beneficial to your health, but a study just out this hour goes one step further saying that daily consumption of alcohol can cut the risks of heart attack in men as much as 37 percent compared to nondrinkers.

That has some questioning whether doctors should start prescribing alcohol to patients with heart diseases. Joining me to discuss this study is the author, Dr. Ken Mukamal of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. He's also a professor at the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Mukamal, thanks very much for joining us. Give us some perspective. How important is drinking to prevent heart attacks?

DR. KEN MUKAMAL, BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER: Well, the magnitude of findings that we have is pretty dramatic. As you suggested, men who were drinking five to seven days per week had a 37 percent lower risk of heart disease and men who drank three to four days per week had a 32 percent lower risk. That's pretty dramatic, particularly in comparison to previous work on the subject.

BLITZER: Well, we've all heard that people susceptible should maybe think of taking an aspirin a day or a baby aspirin, but now add to that alcohol, whether beer, wine or spirits? Is that what you're saying?

MUKAMAL: Well, I'm not sure we're ready to go and make any sort of one-size-fits-all prescription for everybody. Obviously, alcohol has a whole range of effects in people that need to be considered when one decides whether to drink or not. But it's certainly true that at least moderate drinking done frequently seems to pretty dramatically lower risk of heart disease.

BLITZER: One of the writers in "The New England Journal of Medicine," Dr. Ira Goldberg writes this in an editorial: "Is it time for a randomized, clinical trial of alcohol? It may be time to randomly assign patients who already have cardiovascular disease to an alcoholic beverage treatment study." Do you agree with that assessment?

MUKAMAL: I agree with having a randomized, control trial to definitively address the issue would be great. The problem is in such a study; we would really face tremendous hurdles. To be able to randomize thousands of people to either drink or not to drink for years at a time study what happens as far as heart disease go, would be, obviously, very difficult.

It's easy to imagine that nobody would want to enroll in a study where they might be asked to not drink at all for several years in a row. And in the interim, what do we do? I think studies like ours hopefully will help inform the debate. But clearly, a randomized, control trial some day would be the definitive answer.

BLITZER: What's the theory? How exactly would moderate alcohol consumption affect -- thinning the blood? Is that what we're talk about? MUKAMAL: Well, there's probably at least two or three different effects. We know that alcohol drinkers have higher levels of HDL, the good cholesterol. And in fact, alcohol is one of the most consistent ways to raise HDL. That probably accounts for about half of what we're seeing.

But the fact that frequent drinking seems to be important points perhaps to a blood thinning effect. We know that alcohol has an effect on platelets, which are substances in the blood that form blood clots. By inhibiting those, we may prevent clots in narrow arteries and therefore, prevent heart attacks.

BLITZER: And just to precise because I don't want our viewers, especially the men out there to that they have an excuse now to go out and buy a lot of alcohol. What you're talking about very moderate consumption, isn't that right?

MUKAMAL: In fact, very moderate consumption. Men who drank as little of about one drink a day three to four days a week were in the lowest risk category. So we're certainly not talking about a great deal of alcohol consumption necessary to potentially have a dramatic effect on heart disease.

BLITZER: All right. Dr. Ken Mukamal with important -- potentially important medical information. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more study of this and indeed I suspect a lot more controversy as well. Thanks very much for joining us.

Time's running out for your turn to weight in on our "Web Question of The Day." Should Americans be able to sue companies that make vaccines? Log onto cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote. We'll have the results immediately when we come back. First thought, the answer to today's "News Quiz."

Earlier we asked what state has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol? The answer, according to the latest statistics, New Hampshire. The state just barely edged out Nevada.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of The Day." Should Americans be able to sue companies that make vaccines? Sixty-six percent of you say yes, 34 percent say no. This is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to your e-mail. Charlie writes this: "By putting this provision in the Homeland Security Bill, the federal government is basically saying that vaccines are harmful. Therefore, it should no longer force parents to vaccinate their children. The American people should start rejecting the nonsense vaccines for chicken pox and measles and let their kids get the real illness to develop real immunity. In the long run they will be better off."

Ann says this: "Should Americans be able to sue vaccine manufacturers? Yes. But even this solves only half of the problem. A funding mechanism should be set up to compensate for persons injured by vaccines."

That's all the time we have today. Please join me again tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't forget "SHOWDOWN IRAQ" weekdays at noon Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

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