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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Kidnap Victim is Recovered, Suspect in Custody; Will Anthrax Mystery be Solved at Bottom of a Pond?

Aired June 09, 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.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Happening right now: action on the anthrax attacks. Death and panic once spread through the mail. Will the mystery will be solved at the bottom of this pond?

A brutal home invasion and kidnapping, some of it caught on camera. This time, a happy ending.

CHIEF WILLIAM LANDSDOWNE, SAN JOSE POLICE DEPT.: I have never seen such a courageous little girl who kept her wits about her.

BLITZER: Iraq and al Qaeda. Did the White House hype the connection?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time will prove that the United States made the absolute right decision in freeing the people of Iraq.

BLITZER: Manhunt. A CNN exclusive. We're with U.S. troops searching for regime diehards. So why were women and children bound?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world.

WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.

BLITZER: It's Monday, June 9, 2003. Hello from Washington. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.

An extraordinary development in the anthrax attacks that killed five people and terrorized the nation two years ago.

Happening right now, FBI and other federal officials are draining a pond just north of Washington, D.C. in Frederick, Maryland, for clues to those deadly attacks. Joining us now with the latest, CNN justice correspondent, Kelli Arena -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, no doubt, a massive undertaking, and one the FBI obviously believes may help provide a break in the anthrax investigation. It's been 20 months since those attacks, and still not a single arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): One investigator called it "a shot in the dark." Another described it as "an obvious next step" in finding out who the anthrax killer is. Approximately 50,000 gallons of water will be drained out of this one-acre pond in Frederick, Maryland, into a nearby pond, a process to take several weeks.

In a statement, the FBI says the purpose of these searches is to locate and collect items of evidence related to the anthrax attacks. The FBI's interest in this state park dates back to December. Officials got a tip back then that someone may have dumped equipment into one of the park's ponds. Officials say they found the tip significant because the park is about 10 miles from Ft. Detrick, where the army has experimented with anthrax.

According to government sources, agents in December found a large plastic closed container with two openings in the side, similar to those used to limit exposure during scientific tests. Several vials were also found. Sources say testing on those items and others continues.

But still, officials say, there is no evidence connecting anything found in the park to the anthrax attacks, nor is there any evidence linking any individual to the deadly anthrax letters. That includes Steven Hatfill, a former research at Ft. Detrick described by the attorney general as a person of interest. Hatfill has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and his spokesman says the FBI is welcome to drain every pond in Maryland.

PAT CLAWSON, HATFILL'S SPOKESMAN: Anything that can be done to clear Steve Hatfill right now, he welcomes. And he knows that the search of the pond in Frederick is not going to lead to anything tying him into the anthrax case because he had nothing to do with the anthrax case. So if it helps prove his innocence, he welcomes it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: By some estimates, draining the pond will cost $250,000, that with no guarantee of finding anything significant -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Extraordinary development. Kelli Arena, thanks very much for that report.

A little background right now. America came face to face with anthrax in the fall of 2001. In September, the first poisoned letters go through the mail targeting news organizations, as some office and postal workers noticed troubling symptoms. October brings the first fatality, a photo editor for a Florida tabloid publisher.

Anthrax-laced letters reached the offices of key U.S. lawmakers as hundreds of employees get tested. Congressional buildings are shut down for contamination. Hardest hit: a Washington postal facility where two workers die of inhalation anthrax despite a massive cleanup operation. It has still not reopened. And despite a massive search for clues, still no named suspect. Joining us now to talk about all this, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI, Skip Brandon.

Skip, thanks for joining us.

In your history, a long history with the FBI, can you ever remember the FBI doing anything like this, draining a pond?

SKIP BRANDON, FORMER FBI DEPUTY: You know, Wolf, I really don't. I think the last time that I can think of that they did this -- and it goes clear back to the '60s, when they were looking for victims in civil rights cases, when they drained a large pond in Mississippi.

BLITZER: That was -- that -- that goes -- so what is the point? What are they -- they really appear to be convinced they know but they don't have the evidence. Is that it?

BRANDON: They don't have the evidence. It sounds trite to say it. It's obvious. They're looking for evidence.

I think that they have to be pretty hopeful that they're going to find something, if for no other reason when they thought about it, they knew the media would be all over this. It's just going to resurrect the whole anthrax investigation.

BLITZER: And if, as Kelli says, it costs,let's say, a quarter of a million dollars to go ahead and drain this pond, they come up empty handed, that's a huge black eye for the FBI.

BRANDON: Well, I don't know whether it's a black eye. They have to take their best shot. I don't think it's an uneducated shot. I think personally I would guess -- and I emphasize guess -- that they have more to go with it. They haven't just picked a pond in Maryland and decided to drain it.

BLITZER: This person of interest, Steven Hatfill. First of all, what is a person of interest?

BRANDON: Well, it's a new legal term, apparently. I've never heard of a person of interest. I would suggest that when that term was raised maybe people raising it might wish now that they hadn't. Maybe we have a pond of interest now.

BLITZER: There was a former State Department official who used to followed by the FBI.

BRANDON: Yes.

BLITZER: He was suspected of being a Russian spy in the old days during the height of the Cold War, Felix Block. You remember. He was followed everywhere he went. Media used to follow him.

The other day Steven Hatfill was followed by the FBI. Apparently, he's constantly being followed. And they had some incident, they ran over his foot and he was -- a minor little injury. What do you make of this spectacle that's unfolding?

BRANDON: They're not doing it just fooling around. There's a lot of resources that go into this. If the FBI is following Steven Hatfill, they have a pretty strong reason to believe that he may have been involved in this. I think that's very clear.

BLITZER: It's a huge case involving science and a traditional manhunt.

BRANDON: Yes.

BLITZER: And as a result, is that why it's so difficult? Because as you know, there are a lot of clues out there. All those letters.

BRANDON: The letters are out there. Again, we don't know for sure what the FBI laboratory may have gotten from the letters. They had a real problem because they were letters that would kill the examiners. So they had a real problem in examining it.

It is a marriage of science and traditional investigation, possibly at the beginning a bit of an uneasy marriage because there was some new science coming along.

BLITZER: And what do you make of the fact that apparently since the initial attacks, it went dry. There have been no more.

BRANDON: We have never seen it with anthrax letters before. We've never had it. But we've seen it with people who have been serial killers, things like this, they go dormant. They go quiet for a long period of time. It is a mystery. It's an obvious thing to say. It's a real mystery.

BLITZER: We'll continue to watch what unfolds. Skip Brandon, as usual, thanks very much.

BRANDON: Surely.

BLITZER: Has it really come down to the word of the Bush administration against the word of two al Qaeda operatives? Already under fire for the way it made the case on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration is now being challenged on its linking of Iraq and al Qaeda.

For that, let's turn to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden did not conspire together, or so two senior al Qaeda prisoners of the U.S. are saying according to knowledgeable sources.

Both Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed have told their CIA interrogators that they knew of no such connection, the officials say. But knowledgeable U.S. officials say the two al Qaeda lieutenants may not be telling the truth or may not have been in a position to know about any such link. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): Word that the two prisoners are denying ties to Iraq, first reported in "The New York Times, " prompted a testy response from the president.

BUSH: I guess the people that wrote that article forget about al Zarqawi's network inside of Baghdad that ordered the killing of a U.S. citizen named Foley.

ENSOR: Mr. Bush spoke of Abu Massab al-Zarqawi, a suspected terrorist associated with al Qaeda, though not a member. who U.S. officials say spent time in Baghdad and got his injured leg amputated there after the Afghan War. His group is accused of attacking Lawrence Foley in his car in Amman, Jordan.

But it is the pre-war intelligence on weapons of mass destruction that is prompting the most persistent question: why haven't U.S. forces found anything yet. Was U.S. intelligence distorted for political ends?

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: I do think that there's evidence that the CIA did shade and embellish this information in a number of areas.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), INTELLIGENCE CHMN.: Now we're beating up on the intelligence community. We have a lot of people with a tad bit of politics involved blaming the president for virtually every car bomb and every suicide bomber.

BUSH: I am absolutely convinced with time we'll find out that they did have a weapons program.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: The president, as you know, used it as his primary case for war. The Iraqi regime has never accounted for over 800,000 liters of anthrax and several tons of VX gas that they admitted in the '90s to having produced. Still the criticism and the questions will continue and may accelerate unless and until something the found -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, the investigations will continue as well. Thanks, David very much.

Here is your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this, "Did President Bush exaggerate the ties between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

We'll have the results later in the broadcast. You can vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear if you. Send me your comments, I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Kidnapped from her home, a 9-year-old girl reunited with her family. The suspect behind bars. The terrifying ordeal caught on tape. We'll go live to San Jose where it all went down.

The search for Iraq's most wanted. We'll take you on a manhunt that ended up with some children and women being held.

And will she or won't she, Hillary Rodham Clinton weighs in on presidential politics.

The details from her brand new book. First, today's news quiz.

"Which book has had the longest run on the New York times best sellers list?"

"The Road Less Traveled," "What Color is Your Parachute," "The Bible," "The Celestine Prophecy?"

The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A virus outbreak in the midwest. We'll tell you how it's spreading and what the symptoms are.

Also, a truly unbelievable story of survival. A girl walks to freedom after being taken in a violent abduction. We'll speak to the chief of police who heads the investigation and who now has a man in custody. All of that and much more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. California police are praising the bravery of a 9-year-old girl kidnapped from her home Friday. San Jose Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, credits Jenette Tamayo as the absolute instrumental reason for the arrest of the suspect today.

Jenette was reunited with her mother early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): At a news conference this afternoon, Jenette's mother, her face still puffy from Friday's attack expressed gratitude for the safe return of her daughter.

ROSALIE TOMAYO, MOTHER: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)

BLITZER: Speaking in Spanish, Rosalie Tomayo said, "The only thing I want to say is to thank you, thank the people who supported me and prayed for me and my daughter. Thank god my daughter is now with me.

Incredibly, a neighbor's surveillance camera caught much of the Friday night abduction. These pictures show a man pulling up in Tamayo's home and going inside. It shows Jenette entering the house, and later, her mother and half brother arriving. Away from the camera, both say that the kidnapper beat them. They fought while Jenette watched, but the kidnapper got away with Jenette. Fast forward to last night. Almost out of the blue, Jenette walks into a convenience store less than 30 miles from her home.

She said she wanted to use the phone. I said, okay, I said here's the phone. She started dialing the phone, she was panicking and scared when she dialed.

Police are not sure if the kidnapper dropped her off or if she escaped. Today they have a man in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The San Jose Police chief Bill Lansdowne, said today, he's confident that the suspect in custody is the right man. The chief is joining us live from San Jose, California.

Chief, what's the latest on the case first of all?

LANSDOWNE: We have a suspect in custody. We're going to book him for kidnapping, and a felony assault. And we're looking at charging him with sexual assault also.

BLITZER: So, do we have a name. Are you ready to release the name of the suspect?

LANSDOWNE: We have a name, but we're still doing a little bit of investigation. So, it will probably be another hour before we put that out.

BLITZER: So, the charge including the sexual assault, that's new. Obviously, you have just come upon that?

LANSDOWNE: We have had a chance to reinterview the young lady. She's nine years old. It's certainly difficult to do that under these circumstances. But there is enough information now to charge that.

BLITZER: Do we know, chief, if -- there was one suspect or are you still searching for others who may have been involved in this kidnapping?

LANSDOWNE: There is a possibility, as you look at the videotape of this incident, that there might be another suspect. At this time we have not confirmed that. We're very sure that the suspect we do have in custody is the primary suspect who did the actual kidnapping.

BLITZER: Do we know if the little girl escaped or if she was let go at the convenience store?

LANSDOWNE: That point is not quite clear. We have talked to her on two different occasions. Please bear with us, because she's very tired. She has been up for quite a while now. She may or may not have escaped from the suspect. We do know that he took her to that location, and she did get into the store. We're not sure exactly how that happened at this time.

BLITZER: Chief, does the suspect have some sort of a relationship with this family, or was this allegedly some sort of a random incident? LANSDOWNE: We have not confirmed a relationship to the family. There are some people that they both have as friends that may be connected. But we're still looking into that.

BLITZER: And the casing of the house, as we saw on that security surveillance video, was obviously very helpful in helping find this little girl, is that right?

LANSDOWNE: It is was a big break to have that video. But I tell you this, probably the key to solving this case and get her back safely was all of the media coverage and assistance we have gotten from everybody in this case. It's just been wonderful. It clearly and truly saved her life.

BLITZER: This is almost a textbook case in what should be done, god forbid when the horrible incidents occur.

What other lessons have you taken away from this particular case?

LANSDOWNE: What we have found is that if you get a kidnapping, stranger kidnapping like this, you have to use every single resource at your disposal. You have to do it immediately. We had 150 officers committed to this full-time. We called in the state mutual aid and got search teams. We went to the FBI. They brought us a complete team and analysts. We went to the amber alert system in California that has been proven to be very, very effective in these cases.

BLITZER: So, let's review, chief, while I have you, the charges and news that you made on this program right now.

What exactly will the charges be and when will the suspect be formally charged?

LANSDOWNE: We're still discussing that with the district attorney here in Santa Clara County. It will probably be another hour-an-half before we finalize the charges and take them in. We're still working on that piece of it.

BLITZER: Abduction, kidnapping, sexual -- a sexual abuse charge, if you will, or sexual assault, those are the main charges?

LANSDOWNE: That's correct. And it may be multiple counts of that.

BLITZER: Chief Lansdowne, thank you very much for joining us. Congratulations to you and your entire team for bringing the little girl home.

Hundreds of women murdered in the same city. Is enough being done to solve these serial kills? We're going to take a closer look.

Also, stun guns in the cockpit. A new line of defense for all of us who fly.

Plus, women and children bound by U.S. troops: necessary precaution or excessive military might? We'll take you along on a mission to find Iraq's 55 most wanted.

And bad boy Prince Harry. A rare glimpse at his royal life.

First, in case you were out enjoying the days off -- I hope that you were -- here's our "Weekend Snapshot."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): History in New Hampshire. Episcopalians have made history, electing an openly gay man as bishop. The reverend Gene Robinson was elected Saturday, but he must be confirmed by the church's national convention next month.

Beware of the BugBear. A new version of the computer warm continued to spread to home computers over the weekend. The BugBearB worm tries to steal passwords and it takes aim at PC that store financial information. It's passed from computer to computer through e-mail. Subject lines that carry the worm include, "Hello, " "Just a reminder" or "Bad News."

Final death toll: 5. Authorities in Los Angeles yesterday recovered the fifth and final body from the crash of a private plane. The aircraft crashed into an apartment building.

No crown for Funny Cide. There will be no Triple Crown for the horse who finished first at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Funny Cide came up short Saturday at the Belmont Stakes, finishing in third place. Empire Maker won Saturday's race.

Female phenomenon. Alison Felix became the fastest woman in the world this year in the 200-meter sprint at a high school track meet Saturday in California. She's expected be a force to be reckoned with in next year's Olympics.

Boosting the bouffant. The Broadway hit "Hairspray" is the big winner in this year's Tony Awards. It won eight awards last night, including best musical. "Take Me Out" won for best play.

And that's our "Weekend Snapshot."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

At the United States Supreme Court, a victory today for a Vietnam veteran who's suing the makers of Agent Orange, and a setback for another veteran. The court ruled that Daniel Stevenson, who has cancer, can continue pursuing claims that he was not properly represented in a 1984 class action settlement. A second veteran's claim was sent back to a lower court. Among the issues today, whether businesses should be held liable for a potentially unlimited period.

And in another decision, Justices let stand a ruling that struck down a Cincinnati law that sought to create a drug exclusion zone. That law banned anyone arrested or convicted of a certain drug offense from a high crime neighborhood.

Imagine living near a city where women are routinely murdered, an average of two each month. It's happening right across the border from El Paso, Texas. The number of killings has added up to a figure that's shocking. What's more, they're almost entirely unsolved.

Here'S CNN's Harris Whitbeck.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Miria Malfaro Luna (ph) is scared every time she leaves her house for school. She lives less than two miles from the U.S. border, in this Ciudad Juarez, Mexico slum.

Her older sister, Brenda, took the same route five-and-a-half years ago to get to her housemate's job. She never made it to work. Her family never saw her alive again. Brenda was kidnapped, sexually tortured and murdered, her body found in the desert three weeks later.

Each of these crosses represents a victim, more than 300 women murdered in Juarez in the last 10 years; 89 of those cases have been classified as sexual murders.

Maria's Esther still bears the emotional and physical scares of her daughter's murder. She regularly suffers panic attacks that that cause her to black out. Last time it happened, she fell against a hot stove, severely burning her hands.

If she knew her daughter's killer were found, she says, it would be easier.

"The people in charge of justice here need to do more, "she adds. "When I was looking for my daughter, I asked for help, and never got any."

The state has named a special prosecutor to handle the cases, but few have been solved.

"These are the most difficult time of homicides to solve," he says. "We have to be honest. There is a good chance that many of the cases will never be solved."

Former investigators say that the special prosecutor's office is overwhelmed, and not properly trained. The FBI office across the border in El Paso offered help and training.

HARDRICK CRAWFORD, FBI: What pains me is that there are mothers and fathers over there that know that their daughter has been murdered or is missing and no one is doing anything meaningful to find those and bring them to justice.

WHITBECK: The murders continue as they have for the last decade, more than two a month. For many women here, living in Juarez is living in a nightmare.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Stun guns in the cockpit: a new defense against hijackers gets the green light.

U.S. troops, meanwhile, on the hunt for Iraq's 55 most wanted. Coming up, a CNN exclusive: women and children bound in the name of security. The perilous tension between keeping the peace and winning friends.

Also, Hillary Rodham Clinton's tell-all hits the shelves, including a surprising passage about the need for her to wear a bulletproof vest while she was in the White House, at least on some occasions. Will it change the minds of those who love to hate her?

And an outbreak in the Midwest. How a rare disease jumped from animals to humans.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Coming up, a CNN exclusive. We'll take you along on the hunt for Iraq's 55 most wanted, where civilians are getting caught up the fighting. First, the latest headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: Virtually every day now they occur without warning, ambushes, attack, hit and run raids. Another American soldier has died in Iraq, this time at a checkpoint near the Syrian border. The U.S. military says the incident began late Sunday when a vehicle pulled up and the occupants asked for medical help. At that point, two assailants got out and shot the soldier. One of the attackers was killed and another captured, at least one escaped.

U.S. officials say the continuing attacks on American troops are organized by remnants of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. U.S. forces have stepped up the search for these die-hards, especially those on the coalition's most wanted list. CNN's Ben Wedeman has spent the past few days embedded with one of the units and has the CNN exclusive from central Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Monitor, no civilian traffic has come by the checkpoint.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dead of night, officers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade try to make sense of an operation in uncharted territory. Intelligence had indicated this stretch of the Tigris River, an hour north of Baghdad, had become a refuge for hard core pro-Saddam holdouts.

Their sweep initially netted a sleepy, bewildered group of children, women, the elderly and a sprinkling of men. The Americans bound their hands behind their backs with plastic cuffs, detained them in the front yard of a house belonging to a former mid-level officer in the old regime.

Later, the women and children were unbound and ushered inside. While the men were sorted and questioned outside, U.S. troops searched every room in the house. They found an AK-47 assault rifle and a few pistols, nothing unusual in a country where firearms are considered an ordinary household appliance.

By early morning, the American forces had failed to haul in the big fish they were looking for.

(on camera): This operation involved more than a thousand troops, tasked with, among other things, searching for notorious figures from the old regime, including Ali Hassan al Majeed, otherwise known as "Chemical Ali."

(voice-over): Boats patrolled the Tigris River, helicopters hovered overhead, all keeping an eye on anyone who might be trying to slip away.

But among the men and teen-age boys who were taken away for further questioning, there was no Chemical Ali, nor anyone else of renown. After a hectic night, the senior American officer explained why his men bound women and children.

COL. DOMENIC CARACILLIO, U.S. ARMY: There's a lot of reports of young women, young kids walking up to Humvees and throwing grenades in. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for our own safety, and frankly for their own safety, because what it does is it puts them into a submissive mode.

WEDEMAN: The commotion left those who were not detained by the Americans angry and resentful.

"We were astounded," says Mohammad al Jaburi (ph). "We imagined the Americans would bring freedom and democracy, but the opposite has happened."

In the dawn of the new relationship between the United States and Iraq, almost nothing is as anyone imagined.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, near elBelied (ph) in central Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Preventing another 9/11, the government has taken another extraordinary step to try to make the skies a little bit safer, but air crews may soon get even yet more weapons for that. Let's go live to CNN's Patty Davis who broke the story here on CNN earlier today -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that weapon is a stun gun and it delivers a very serious electrical jolt to an attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS (voice-over): Some pilots already have firearms, now another layer of security for the cockpit. The Transportation Security Administration says it's convinced that "stun guns could act as a beneficial deterrent to acts of terrorism on a plane," and approved the idea.

But the agency stopped short of giving airlines the go ahead that puts the less than lethal weapons in pilots' hands for now saying it needs time to work out detail, including pilot training, weapons storage and weather flight attendants could use them, too.

Both United Airlines and Mesa Airlines say they want stun guns for their pilots. In fact, United has already trained 8,300 pilots and bought more than 1,000 stun guns.

But are they effective? Some security experts say no.

LARRY JOHNSON, TERRORISM ANALYST: If someone's come through the door to hit them with a stun gun they can keep coming at you. If you hit them with a nine millimeter bullet, they're going to be down on the ground.

DAVIS: In our demonstration last year with a Taser M26, the same stun gun United has trained its pilots to use, none of the seven police officers shot was brought down by the weapon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: Taser says they're stun guns are effective 93 percent of the time in the close proximity of a cockpit. An official with United Airlines says the airline expects a final decision on weapons for pilots (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stun guns within a matter of weeks, not months. And for their part, the pilots' union says it welcomes this extra layer of security, but it says guns, not stun guns should be the priority for pilots -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And one of the important elements of all of this, Patty, is the deterrent value of guns and stun guns. They're trying to publicize this to get the message out -- you try to hijack a plane, you're going to be in deep trouble.

DAVIS: Absolutely. There are only right now 40 or so pilots who have actual firearms in the cockpit. You're rarely going to come across one of them. But just thinking that one of them could be on board your plane and now perhaps a stun gun in the near future on board that plane will make, perhaps, a terrorist think twice -- Wolf.

BLITZER: They're going to be shocked, at a minimum. Thanks very much, Patty Davis, for breaking that story here on CNN.

The White House in crisis, through the eyes of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not this White House, but a former White House. What her new book says about the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the time she had to wear -- yes, a bulletproof vest. That's coming up next.

Also, an outbreak that has U.S. officials very, very concerned. Health officials, that is. What is it? Where is it? Just ahead.

First, let's look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Tribal bloodshed. Deadly fighting continues in northeastern Congo. Reports say several dozen people were killed over the weekend. In one town, fighting between two rival tribes has killed hundreds and forced thousands to flee their homes. French troops have arrived in the region to pave the way for a multinational force.

Another African hotspot. The United Nations is expressing alarm over the intensity of fighting in Liberia. Fighting between government forces and rebels has reached the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.

Not ready for the euro. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government says Britain is not ready to dump the pound and adopt the European currency. But the government plans to look at the issue again in a year.

Farewell, Croatia. Pope John Paul II has wrapped up his 100th trip abroad. He ended a five-day visit to Croatia today. His visit has drawn huge crowds.

Naked in Barcelona. Spencer Tunic, famous for his photographs of huge groups of naked people beat his own record yesterday : 7,000 people posed nude for him in the Spanish city.

And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Coming up, it's called monkeypox, a virus outbreak that has the potential to kill. We'll have details.

Also, why did Hillary Rodham Clinton have to wear a bulletproof vest at one point when she was in the White House? New details emerging, as her book hits bookstores today.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

A frightening new health concern in the United States. Federal health officials suspect pet prairie dogs may be spreading a smallpox- like illness to people in the Midwest. So far, three states are directly affected: Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

As CNN's Christy -- Christy Figue (ph) reports, the virus known as monkeypox apparently has not been seen in the United States until now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FIGUE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prairie dogs are kept as exotic pets across the country. But the ones apparently responsible for spreading the monkeypox virus in the Midwest are proving hard to trace because they passed through several pet stores and informal gatherings called pet swaps.

DR. STEVE OSTROFF, CDC: There may be other individuals with ill animals that may not necessarily make the connection because they don't recognize that their animals are potentially from that source.

FIGUE: Health officials aren't sure how many animals or humans might be infected. So far, those who are sick have been exposed in high risk places.

OSTROFF: One is in veterinary clinics, the other is in several pet shops, and the third is in individuals who directly purchased and handled prairie dogs.

FIGUE (on camera): The disease is most common in Africa, and studies there have found monkeypox isn't as contagious or deadly as smallpox, which kills about one-third of people infected.

Monkeypox is fatal between 1 and 10 percent of the time.

(voice-over): But health officials cannot predict how this disease might respond in the U.S.

OSTROFF: I think the biggest concern is the potential for it to be transferred to other types of rodents and what we refer to as lagamores, which are rabbits. Those would be the animals of particular concern.

FIGUE: For now, experts are asking those who have been in contact with prairie dogs to watch for symptoms, like fever, headache, enlarged lymph nodes and a rash.And most important, keep pet prairie dogs from getting loose into the wild.

Christy Figue, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton speaks out about life inside a turbulent White House. Will it change the minds of her critics? We're going to take a closer look.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked, which book has had the longest run on the "New York Times" best seller's list? the answer, "The Road Less Traveled," by M. Scott Peck. It stayed on for more than 13 years. It's book day for Hillary Rodham Clinton. More than 1,000 people lined up at a New York City bookstore today to have the senator sign copies of her long-awaited memoirs of her White House years. The book is entitle, "Living History." like the former first lady herself, her new book is creating fervent responses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?

BLITZER (voice-over): Her critics charge her motivation is purely cynical. The $8 million contract and a possible presidential run. Others say enough time has passed for her to be comfortable revealing herself.

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Thank you. Thank you for coming.

BLITZER: Whatever the motivation, hilly Rodham Clinton's book, "Living History" has the kind of buzz that a publisher lives for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love to hear them talking about Monica Lewinsky. I think it's priceless.

BLITZER: Network interviews with millions tuning in will not hurt sales either. Simon & Schuster has ordered a first run of 1 million books.

CLINTON: That was probably the worst moment that I can even imagine anyone going through.

BLITZER: But there's part of all of this that certainly is painful for Mrs. Clinton. This is not a woman who has shown public emotion over the years. But here she is, letting us all in on one of her most wrenching personal crises. This excerpt in her own words from the book's on tape version.

CLINTON: I could hardly breathe. Gulping for air, I started crying. And yelling at him. What do you mean? what are you saying? why did you lie to me? I was furious and get more so by the second. He just stood there saying over and over again, I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I was trying to protect you and Chelsea.

BLITZER: But even when bearing her soul over the Lewinsky scandal, there's an edge of payback to her political enemies and a sense that she and her husband may still believe others were more responsible for the drawn out public scandal.

CLINTON: These were obviously personal and private moments that unfortunately were made public for partisan political purposes.

BLITZER: She takes us through the early years in Arkansas, admits her mistakes in the failure of health care reform in 1994.

CLINTON: We know that comprehensive health care reform means expanding family planning. It means providing access to the kinds of facilities that the -- those of us in this room take for granted to all of our citizens.

BLITZER: And describes the tension at one event as the healthcare and Whitewater controversies were at a boil. Quote "The Secret Service warned me that we might run into trouble. For once, I agreed to wear a bulletproof vest. It was one of the few times I felt in real physical danger."

The book is full of these moments, reflecting a woman with a strong sense of how polarizing a figure she became in the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: This very important note, Hillary Rodham Clinton in her first live interview tomorrow night, that's Tuesday night, right here on CNN on "LARRY KING LIVE." 9:00 p.m, Eastern, 6:00 p.m. on the west coast. Must viewing for our viewers.

He's known as the spare heir, Britain's Prince Harry is third in line for the throne behind his father, Prince Charles and his older brother, William. Now as Harry prepares to end his days at a schoolboy, can he shed his bad boy reputation. The British public has been given a graduation present, officially sanctioned photos showing the prince as a sportsman, an artist and a scholar.

Our hot web question of the day is this, "Did President Bush exaggerate the ties between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

Vote now at cnn.com and we'll show you the results. Those will be immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Here's how you're weighing in on the web question of the day. Remember, we have been asking you this question, "Did President Bush exaggerate the ties between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

Look at this, among you voting on the web site 86 percent of you so far say yes, 14 percent say no. As always, remember, this is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to some of your e-mail. We love getting your feed back.

Bill writes this, "If the feds are convinced that there is anthrax in that pond in Maryland, will they launch an environmental clean-up of the area after they gather their evidence?"

Good question, Bill. Don't know the answer.

This is from Gary, "Both the local and national media should be commended for the role they played in he recovery of the kidnapped San Jose girl. Minutes after the abduction and throughout the weekend, you couldn't turn around without hearing about the situation."

Occasionally, we tend to get it right.

Let's take a quick look at headlines this hour.

(NEWS BREAK)

That's it for me.

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

Anthrax Mystery be Solved at Bottom of a Pond?>

Aired June 9, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Happening right now: action on the anthrax attacks. Death and panic once spread through the mail. Will the mystery will be solved at the bottom of this pond?

A brutal home invasion and kidnapping, some of it caught on camera. This time, a happy ending.

CHIEF WILLIAM LANDSDOWNE, SAN JOSE POLICE DEPT.: I have never seen such a courageous little girl who kept her wits about her.

BLITZER: Iraq and al Qaeda. Did the White House hype the connection?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time will prove that the United States made the absolute right decision in freeing the people of Iraq.

BLITZER: Manhunt. A CNN exclusive. We're with U.S. troops searching for regime diehards. So why were women and children bound?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world.

WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.

BLITZER: It's Monday, June 9, 2003. Hello from Washington. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.

An extraordinary development in the anthrax attacks that killed five people and terrorized the nation two years ago.

Happening right now, FBI and other federal officials are draining a pond just north of Washington, D.C. in Frederick, Maryland, for clues to those deadly attacks. Joining us now with the latest, CNN justice correspondent, Kelli Arena -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, no doubt, a massive undertaking, and one the FBI obviously believes may help provide a break in the anthrax investigation. It's been 20 months since those attacks, and still not a single arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): One investigator called it "a shot in the dark." Another described it as "an obvious next step" in finding out who the anthrax killer is. Approximately 50,000 gallons of water will be drained out of this one-acre pond in Frederick, Maryland, into a nearby pond, a process to take several weeks.

In a statement, the FBI says the purpose of these searches is to locate and collect items of evidence related to the anthrax attacks. The FBI's interest in this state park dates back to December. Officials got a tip back then that someone may have dumped equipment into one of the park's ponds. Officials say they found the tip significant because the park is about 10 miles from Ft. Detrick, where the army has experimented with anthrax.

According to government sources, agents in December found a large plastic closed container with two openings in the side, similar to those used to limit exposure during scientific tests. Several vials were also found. Sources say testing on those items and others continues.

But still, officials say, there is no evidence connecting anything found in the park to the anthrax attacks, nor is there any evidence linking any individual to the deadly anthrax letters. That includes Steven Hatfill, a former research at Ft. Detrick described by the attorney general as a person of interest. Hatfill has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and his spokesman says the FBI is welcome to drain every pond in Maryland.

PAT CLAWSON, HATFILL'S SPOKESMAN: Anything that can be done to clear Steve Hatfill right now, he welcomes. And he knows that the search of the pond in Frederick is not going to lead to anything tying him into the anthrax case because he had nothing to do with the anthrax case. So if it helps prove his innocence, he welcomes it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: By some estimates, draining the pond will cost $250,000, that with no guarantee of finding anything significant -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Extraordinary development. Kelli Arena, thanks very much for that report.

A little background right now. America came face to face with anthrax in the fall of 2001. In September, the first poisoned letters go through the mail targeting news organizations, as some office and postal workers noticed troubling symptoms. October brings the first fatality, a photo editor for a Florida tabloid publisher.

Anthrax-laced letters reached the offices of key U.S. lawmakers as hundreds of employees get tested. Congressional buildings are shut down for contamination. Hardest hit: a Washington postal facility where two workers die of inhalation anthrax despite a massive cleanup operation. It has still not reopened. And despite a massive search for clues, still no named suspect. Joining us now to talk about all this, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI, Skip Brandon.

Skip, thanks for joining us.

In your history, a long history with the FBI, can you ever remember the FBI doing anything like this, draining a pond?

SKIP BRANDON, FORMER FBI DEPUTY: You know, Wolf, I really don't. I think the last time that I can think of that they did this -- and it goes clear back to the '60s, when they were looking for victims in civil rights cases, when they drained a large pond in Mississippi.

BLITZER: That was -- that -- that goes -- so what is the point? What are they -- they really appear to be convinced they know but they don't have the evidence. Is that it?

BRANDON: They don't have the evidence. It sounds trite to say it. It's obvious. They're looking for evidence.

I think that they have to be pretty hopeful that they're going to find something, if for no other reason when they thought about it, they knew the media would be all over this. It's just going to resurrect the whole anthrax investigation.

BLITZER: And if, as Kelli says, it costs,let's say, a quarter of a million dollars to go ahead and drain this pond, they come up empty handed, that's a huge black eye for the FBI.

BRANDON: Well, I don't know whether it's a black eye. They have to take their best shot. I don't think it's an uneducated shot. I think personally I would guess -- and I emphasize guess -- that they have more to go with it. They haven't just picked a pond in Maryland and decided to drain it.

BLITZER: This person of interest, Steven Hatfill. First of all, what is a person of interest?

BRANDON: Well, it's a new legal term, apparently. I've never heard of a person of interest. I would suggest that when that term was raised maybe people raising it might wish now that they hadn't. Maybe we have a pond of interest now.

BLITZER: There was a former State Department official who used to followed by the FBI.

BRANDON: Yes.

BLITZER: He was suspected of being a Russian spy in the old days during the height of the Cold War, Felix Block. You remember. He was followed everywhere he went. Media used to follow him.

The other day Steven Hatfill was followed by the FBI. Apparently, he's constantly being followed. And they had some incident, they ran over his foot and he was -- a minor little injury. What do you make of this spectacle that's unfolding?

BRANDON: They're not doing it just fooling around. There's a lot of resources that go into this. If the FBI is following Steven Hatfill, they have a pretty strong reason to believe that he may have been involved in this. I think that's very clear.

BLITZER: It's a huge case involving science and a traditional manhunt.

BRANDON: Yes.

BLITZER: And as a result, is that why it's so difficult? Because as you know, there are a lot of clues out there. All those letters.

BRANDON: The letters are out there. Again, we don't know for sure what the FBI laboratory may have gotten from the letters. They had a real problem because they were letters that would kill the examiners. So they had a real problem in examining it.

It is a marriage of science and traditional investigation, possibly at the beginning a bit of an uneasy marriage because there was some new science coming along.

BLITZER: And what do you make of the fact that apparently since the initial attacks, it went dry. There have been no more.

BRANDON: We have never seen it with anthrax letters before. We've never had it. But we've seen it with people who have been serial killers, things like this, they go dormant. They go quiet for a long period of time. It is a mystery. It's an obvious thing to say. It's a real mystery.

BLITZER: We'll continue to watch what unfolds. Skip Brandon, as usual, thanks very much.

BRANDON: Surely.

BLITZER: Has it really come down to the word of the Bush administration against the word of two al Qaeda operatives? Already under fire for the way it made the case on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration is now being challenged on its linking of Iraq and al Qaeda.

For that, let's turn to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden did not conspire together, or so two senior al Qaeda prisoners of the U.S. are saying according to knowledgeable sources.

Both Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed have told their CIA interrogators that they knew of no such connection, the officials say. But knowledgeable U.S. officials say the two al Qaeda lieutenants may not be telling the truth or may not have been in a position to know about any such link. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): Word that the two prisoners are denying ties to Iraq, first reported in "The New York Times, " prompted a testy response from the president.

BUSH: I guess the people that wrote that article forget about al Zarqawi's network inside of Baghdad that ordered the killing of a U.S. citizen named Foley.

ENSOR: Mr. Bush spoke of Abu Massab al-Zarqawi, a suspected terrorist associated with al Qaeda, though not a member. who U.S. officials say spent time in Baghdad and got his injured leg amputated there after the Afghan War. His group is accused of attacking Lawrence Foley in his car in Amman, Jordan.

But it is the pre-war intelligence on weapons of mass destruction that is prompting the most persistent question: why haven't U.S. forces found anything yet. Was U.S. intelligence distorted for political ends?

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: I do think that there's evidence that the CIA did shade and embellish this information in a number of areas.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), INTELLIGENCE CHMN.: Now we're beating up on the intelligence community. We have a lot of people with a tad bit of politics involved blaming the president for virtually every car bomb and every suicide bomber.

BUSH: I am absolutely convinced with time we'll find out that they did have a weapons program.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: The president, as you know, used it as his primary case for war. The Iraqi regime has never accounted for over 800,000 liters of anthrax and several tons of VX gas that they admitted in the '90s to having produced. Still the criticism and the questions will continue and may accelerate unless and until something the found -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, the investigations will continue as well. Thanks, David very much.

Here is your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this, "Did President Bush exaggerate the ties between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

We'll have the results later in the broadcast. You can vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear if you. Send me your comments, I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Kidnapped from her home, a 9-year-old girl reunited with her family. The suspect behind bars. The terrifying ordeal caught on tape. We'll go live to San Jose where it all went down.

The search for Iraq's most wanted. We'll take you on a manhunt that ended up with some children and women being held.

And will she or won't she, Hillary Rodham Clinton weighs in on presidential politics.

The details from her brand new book. First, today's news quiz.

"Which book has had the longest run on the New York times best sellers list?"

"The Road Less Traveled," "What Color is Your Parachute," "The Bible," "The Celestine Prophecy?"

The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A virus outbreak in the midwest. We'll tell you how it's spreading and what the symptoms are.

Also, a truly unbelievable story of survival. A girl walks to freedom after being taken in a violent abduction. We'll speak to the chief of police who heads the investigation and who now has a man in custody. All of that and much more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. California police are praising the bravery of a 9-year-old girl kidnapped from her home Friday. San Jose Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, credits Jenette Tamayo as the absolute instrumental reason for the arrest of the suspect today.

Jenette was reunited with her mother early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): At a news conference this afternoon, Jenette's mother, her face still puffy from Friday's attack expressed gratitude for the safe return of her daughter.

ROSALIE TOMAYO, MOTHER: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)

BLITZER: Speaking in Spanish, Rosalie Tomayo said, "The only thing I want to say is to thank you, thank the people who supported me and prayed for me and my daughter. Thank god my daughter is now with me.

Incredibly, a neighbor's surveillance camera caught much of the Friday night abduction. These pictures show a man pulling up in Tamayo's home and going inside. It shows Jenette entering the house, and later, her mother and half brother arriving. Away from the camera, both say that the kidnapper beat them. They fought while Jenette watched, but the kidnapper got away with Jenette. Fast forward to last night. Almost out of the blue, Jenette walks into a convenience store less than 30 miles from her home.

She said she wanted to use the phone. I said, okay, I said here's the phone. She started dialing the phone, she was panicking and scared when she dialed.

Police are not sure if the kidnapper dropped her off or if she escaped. Today they have a man in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The San Jose Police chief Bill Lansdowne, said today, he's confident that the suspect in custody is the right man. The chief is joining us live from San Jose, California.

Chief, what's the latest on the case first of all?

LANSDOWNE: We have a suspect in custody. We're going to book him for kidnapping, and a felony assault. And we're looking at charging him with sexual assault also.

BLITZER: So, do we have a name. Are you ready to release the name of the suspect?

LANSDOWNE: We have a name, but we're still doing a little bit of investigation. So, it will probably be another hour before we put that out.

BLITZER: So, the charge including the sexual assault, that's new. Obviously, you have just come upon that?

LANSDOWNE: We have had a chance to reinterview the young lady. She's nine years old. It's certainly difficult to do that under these circumstances. But there is enough information now to charge that.

BLITZER: Do we know, chief, if -- there was one suspect or are you still searching for others who may have been involved in this kidnapping?

LANSDOWNE: There is a possibility, as you look at the videotape of this incident, that there might be another suspect. At this time we have not confirmed that. We're very sure that the suspect we do have in custody is the primary suspect who did the actual kidnapping.

BLITZER: Do we know if the little girl escaped or if she was let go at the convenience store?

LANSDOWNE: That point is not quite clear. We have talked to her on two different occasions. Please bear with us, because she's very tired. She has been up for quite a while now. She may or may not have escaped from the suspect. We do know that he took her to that location, and she did get into the store. We're not sure exactly how that happened at this time.

BLITZER: Chief, does the suspect have some sort of a relationship with this family, or was this allegedly some sort of a random incident? LANSDOWNE: We have not confirmed a relationship to the family. There are some people that they both have as friends that may be connected. But we're still looking into that.

BLITZER: And the casing of the house, as we saw on that security surveillance video, was obviously very helpful in helping find this little girl, is that right?

LANSDOWNE: It is was a big break to have that video. But I tell you this, probably the key to solving this case and get her back safely was all of the media coverage and assistance we have gotten from everybody in this case. It's just been wonderful. It clearly and truly saved her life.

BLITZER: This is almost a textbook case in what should be done, god forbid when the horrible incidents occur.

What other lessons have you taken away from this particular case?

LANSDOWNE: What we have found is that if you get a kidnapping, stranger kidnapping like this, you have to use every single resource at your disposal. You have to do it immediately. We had 150 officers committed to this full-time. We called in the state mutual aid and got search teams. We went to the FBI. They brought us a complete team and analysts. We went to the amber alert system in California that has been proven to be very, very effective in these cases.

BLITZER: So, let's review, chief, while I have you, the charges and news that you made on this program right now.

What exactly will the charges be and when will the suspect be formally charged?

LANSDOWNE: We're still discussing that with the district attorney here in Santa Clara County. It will probably be another hour-an-half before we finalize the charges and take them in. We're still working on that piece of it.

BLITZER: Abduction, kidnapping, sexual -- a sexual abuse charge, if you will, or sexual assault, those are the main charges?

LANSDOWNE: That's correct. And it may be multiple counts of that.

BLITZER: Chief Lansdowne, thank you very much for joining us. Congratulations to you and your entire team for bringing the little girl home.

Hundreds of women murdered in the same city. Is enough being done to solve these serial kills? We're going to take a closer look.

Also, stun guns in the cockpit. A new line of defense for all of us who fly.

Plus, women and children bound by U.S. troops: necessary precaution or excessive military might? We'll take you along on a mission to find Iraq's 55 most wanted.

And bad boy Prince Harry. A rare glimpse at his royal life.

First, in case you were out enjoying the days off -- I hope that you were -- here's our "Weekend Snapshot."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): History in New Hampshire. Episcopalians have made history, electing an openly gay man as bishop. The reverend Gene Robinson was elected Saturday, but he must be confirmed by the church's national convention next month.

Beware of the BugBear. A new version of the computer warm continued to spread to home computers over the weekend. The BugBearB worm tries to steal passwords and it takes aim at PC that store financial information. It's passed from computer to computer through e-mail. Subject lines that carry the worm include, "Hello, " "Just a reminder" or "Bad News."

Final death toll: 5. Authorities in Los Angeles yesterday recovered the fifth and final body from the crash of a private plane. The aircraft crashed into an apartment building.

No crown for Funny Cide. There will be no Triple Crown for the horse who finished first at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Funny Cide came up short Saturday at the Belmont Stakes, finishing in third place. Empire Maker won Saturday's race.

Female phenomenon. Alison Felix became the fastest woman in the world this year in the 200-meter sprint at a high school track meet Saturday in California. She's expected be a force to be reckoned with in next year's Olympics.

Boosting the bouffant. The Broadway hit "Hairspray" is the big winner in this year's Tony Awards. It won eight awards last night, including best musical. "Take Me Out" won for best play.

And that's our "Weekend Snapshot."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

At the United States Supreme Court, a victory today for a Vietnam veteran who's suing the makers of Agent Orange, and a setback for another veteran. The court ruled that Daniel Stevenson, who has cancer, can continue pursuing claims that he was not properly represented in a 1984 class action settlement. A second veteran's claim was sent back to a lower court. Among the issues today, whether businesses should be held liable for a potentially unlimited period.

And in another decision, Justices let stand a ruling that struck down a Cincinnati law that sought to create a drug exclusion zone. That law banned anyone arrested or convicted of a certain drug offense from a high crime neighborhood.

Imagine living near a city where women are routinely murdered, an average of two each month. It's happening right across the border from El Paso, Texas. The number of killings has added up to a figure that's shocking. What's more, they're almost entirely unsolved.

Here'S CNN's Harris Whitbeck.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Miria Malfaro Luna (ph) is scared every time she leaves her house for school. She lives less than two miles from the U.S. border, in this Ciudad Juarez, Mexico slum.

Her older sister, Brenda, took the same route five-and-a-half years ago to get to her housemate's job. She never made it to work. Her family never saw her alive again. Brenda was kidnapped, sexually tortured and murdered, her body found in the desert three weeks later.

Each of these crosses represents a victim, more than 300 women murdered in Juarez in the last 10 years; 89 of those cases have been classified as sexual murders.

Maria's Esther still bears the emotional and physical scares of her daughter's murder. She regularly suffers panic attacks that that cause her to black out. Last time it happened, she fell against a hot stove, severely burning her hands.

If she knew her daughter's killer were found, she says, it would be easier.

"The people in charge of justice here need to do more, "she adds. "When I was looking for my daughter, I asked for help, and never got any."

The state has named a special prosecutor to handle the cases, but few have been solved.

"These are the most difficult time of homicides to solve," he says. "We have to be honest. There is a good chance that many of the cases will never be solved."

Former investigators say that the special prosecutor's office is overwhelmed, and not properly trained. The FBI office across the border in El Paso offered help and training.

HARDRICK CRAWFORD, FBI: What pains me is that there are mothers and fathers over there that know that their daughter has been murdered or is missing and no one is doing anything meaningful to find those and bring them to justice.

WHITBECK: The murders continue as they have for the last decade, more than two a month. For many women here, living in Juarez is living in a nightmare.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Stun guns in the cockpit: a new defense against hijackers gets the green light.

U.S. troops, meanwhile, on the hunt for Iraq's 55 most wanted. Coming up, a CNN exclusive: women and children bound in the name of security. The perilous tension between keeping the peace and winning friends.

Also, Hillary Rodham Clinton's tell-all hits the shelves, including a surprising passage about the need for her to wear a bulletproof vest while she was in the White House, at least on some occasions. Will it change the minds of those who love to hate her?

And an outbreak in the Midwest. How a rare disease jumped from animals to humans.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Coming up, a CNN exclusive. We'll take you along on the hunt for Iraq's 55 most wanted, where civilians are getting caught up the fighting. First, the latest headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: Virtually every day now they occur without warning, ambushes, attack, hit and run raids. Another American soldier has died in Iraq, this time at a checkpoint near the Syrian border. The U.S. military says the incident began late Sunday when a vehicle pulled up and the occupants asked for medical help. At that point, two assailants got out and shot the soldier. One of the attackers was killed and another captured, at least one escaped.

U.S. officials say the continuing attacks on American troops are organized by remnants of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. U.S. forces have stepped up the search for these die-hards, especially those on the coalition's most wanted list. CNN's Ben Wedeman has spent the past few days embedded with one of the units and has the CNN exclusive from central Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Monitor, no civilian traffic has come by the checkpoint.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dead of night, officers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade try to make sense of an operation in uncharted territory. Intelligence had indicated this stretch of the Tigris River, an hour north of Baghdad, had become a refuge for hard core pro-Saddam holdouts.

Their sweep initially netted a sleepy, bewildered group of children, women, the elderly and a sprinkling of men. The Americans bound their hands behind their backs with plastic cuffs, detained them in the front yard of a house belonging to a former mid-level officer in the old regime.

Later, the women and children were unbound and ushered inside. While the men were sorted and questioned outside, U.S. troops searched every room in the house. They found an AK-47 assault rifle and a few pistols, nothing unusual in a country where firearms are considered an ordinary household appliance.

By early morning, the American forces had failed to haul in the big fish they were looking for.

(on camera): This operation involved more than a thousand troops, tasked with, among other things, searching for notorious figures from the old regime, including Ali Hassan al Majeed, otherwise known as "Chemical Ali."

(voice-over): Boats patrolled the Tigris River, helicopters hovered overhead, all keeping an eye on anyone who might be trying to slip away.

But among the men and teen-age boys who were taken away for further questioning, there was no Chemical Ali, nor anyone else of renown. After a hectic night, the senior American officer explained why his men bound women and children.

COL. DOMENIC CARACILLIO, U.S. ARMY: There's a lot of reports of young women, young kids walking up to Humvees and throwing grenades in. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for our own safety, and frankly for their own safety, because what it does is it puts them into a submissive mode.

WEDEMAN: The commotion left those who were not detained by the Americans angry and resentful.

"We were astounded," says Mohammad al Jaburi (ph). "We imagined the Americans would bring freedom and democracy, but the opposite has happened."

In the dawn of the new relationship between the United States and Iraq, almost nothing is as anyone imagined.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, near elBelied (ph) in central Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Preventing another 9/11, the government has taken another extraordinary step to try to make the skies a little bit safer, but air crews may soon get even yet more weapons for that. Let's go live to CNN's Patty Davis who broke the story here on CNN earlier today -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that weapon is a stun gun and it delivers a very serious electrical jolt to an attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS (voice-over): Some pilots already have firearms, now another layer of security for the cockpit. The Transportation Security Administration says it's convinced that "stun guns could act as a beneficial deterrent to acts of terrorism on a plane," and approved the idea.

But the agency stopped short of giving airlines the go ahead that puts the less than lethal weapons in pilots' hands for now saying it needs time to work out detail, including pilot training, weapons storage and weather flight attendants could use them, too.

Both United Airlines and Mesa Airlines say they want stun guns for their pilots. In fact, United has already trained 8,300 pilots and bought more than 1,000 stun guns.

But are they effective? Some security experts say no.

LARRY JOHNSON, TERRORISM ANALYST: If someone's come through the door to hit them with a stun gun they can keep coming at you. If you hit them with a nine millimeter bullet, they're going to be down on the ground.

DAVIS: In our demonstration last year with a Taser M26, the same stun gun United has trained its pilots to use, none of the seven police officers shot was brought down by the weapon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: Taser says they're stun guns are effective 93 percent of the time in the close proximity of a cockpit. An official with United Airlines says the airline expects a final decision on weapons for pilots (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stun guns within a matter of weeks, not months. And for their part, the pilots' union says it welcomes this extra layer of security, but it says guns, not stun guns should be the priority for pilots -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And one of the important elements of all of this, Patty, is the deterrent value of guns and stun guns. They're trying to publicize this to get the message out -- you try to hijack a plane, you're going to be in deep trouble.

DAVIS: Absolutely. There are only right now 40 or so pilots who have actual firearms in the cockpit. You're rarely going to come across one of them. But just thinking that one of them could be on board your plane and now perhaps a stun gun in the near future on board that plane will make, perhaps, a terrorist think twice -- Wolf.

BLITZER: They're going to be shocked, at a minimum. Thanks very much, Patty Davis, for breaking that story here on CNN.

The White House in crisis, through the eyes of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not this White House, but a former White House. What her new book says about the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the time she had to wear -- yes, a bulletproof vest. That's coming up next.

Also, an outbreak that has U.S. officials very, very concerned. Health officials, that is. What is it? Where is it? Just ahead.

First, let's look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Tribal bloodshed. Deadly fighting continues in northeastern Congo. Reports say several dozen people were killed over the weekend. In one town, fighting between two rival tribes has killed hundreds and forced thousands to flee their homes. French troops have arrived in the region to pave the way for a multinational force.

Another African hotspot. The United Nations is expressing alarm over the intensity of fighting in Liberia. Fighting between government forces and rebels has reached the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.

Not ready for the euro. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government says Britain is not ready to dump the pound and adopt the European currency. But the government plans to look at the issue again in a year.

Farewell, Croatia. Pope John Paul II has wrapped up his 100th trip abroad. He ended a five-day visit to Croatia today. His visit has drawn huge crowds.

Naked in Barcelona. Spencer Tunic, famous for his photographs of huge groups of naked people beat his own record yesterday : 7,000 people posed nude for him in the Spanish city.

And that's our look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Coming up, it's called monkeypox, a virus outbreak that has the potential to kill. We'll have details.

Also, why did Hillary Rodham Clinton have to wear a bulletproof vest at one point when she was in the White House? New details emerging, as her book hits bookstores today.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

A frightening new health concern in the United States. Federal health officials suspect pet prairie dogs may be spreading a smallpox- like illness to people in the Midwest. So far, three states are directly affected: Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

As CNN's Christy -- Christy Figue (ph) reports, the virus known as monkeypox apparently has not been seen in the United States until now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FIGUE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prairie dogs are kept as exotic pets across the country. But the ones apparently responsible for spreading the monkeypox virus in the Midwest are proving hard to trace because they passed through several pet stores and informal gatherings called pet swaps.

DR. STEVE OSTROFF, CDC: There may be other individuals with ill animals that may not necessarily make the connection because they don't recognize that their animals are potentially from that source.

FIGUE: Health officials aren't sure how many animals or humans might be infected. So far, those who are sick have been exposed in high risk places.

OSTROFF: One is in veterinary clinics, the other is in several pet shops, and the third is in individuals who directly purchased and handled prairie dogs.

FIGUE (on camera): The disease is most common in Africa, and studies there have found monkeypox isn't as contagious or deadly as smallpox, which kills about one-third of people infected.

Monkeypox is fatal between 1 and 10 percent of the time.

(voice-over): But health officials cannot predict how this disease might respond in the U.S.

OSTROFF: I think the biggest concern is the potential for it to be transferred to other types of rodents and what we refer to as lagamores, which are rabbits. Those would be the animals of particular concern.

FIGUE: For now, experts are asking those who have been in contact with prairie dogs to watch for symptoms, like fever, headache, enlarged lymph nodes and a rash.And most important, keep pet prairie dogs from getting loose into the wild.

Christy Figue, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton speaks out about life inside a turbulent White House. Will it change the minds of her critics? We're going to take a closer look.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked, which book has had the longest run on the "New York Times" best seller's list? the answer, "The Road Less Traveled," by M. Scott Peck. It stayed on for more than 13 years. It's book day for Hillary Rodham Clinton. More than 1,000 people lined up at a New York City bookstore today to have the senator sign copies of her long-awaited memoirs of her White House years. The book is entitle, "Living History." like the former first lady herself, her new book is creating fervent responses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?

BLITZER (voice-over): Her critics charge her motivation is purely cynical. The $8 million contract and a possible presidential run. Others say enough time has passed for her to be comfortable revealing herself.

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Thank you. Thank you for coming.

BLITZER: Whatever the motivation, hilly Rodham Clinton's book, "Living History" has the kind of buzz that a publisher lives for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love to hear them talking about Monica Lewinsky. I think it's priceless.

BLITZER: Network interviews with millions tuning in will not hurt sales either. Simon & Schuster has ordered a first run of 1 million books.

CLINTON: That was probably the worst moment that I can even imagine anyone going through.

BLITZER: But there's part of all of this that certainly is painful for Mrs. Clinton. This is not a woman who has shown public emotion over the years. But here she is, letting us all in on one of her most wrenching personal crises. This excerpt in her own words from the book's on tape version.

CLINTON: I could hardly breathe. Gulping for air, I started crying. And yelling at him. What do you mean? what are you saying? why did you lie to me? I was furious and get more so by the second. He just stood there saying over and over again, I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I was trying to protect you and Chelsea.

BLITZER: But even when bearing her soul over the Lewinsky scandal, there's an edge of payback to her political enemies and a sense that she and her husband may still believe others were more responsible for the drawn out public scandal.

CLINTON: These were obviously personal and private moments that unfortunately were made public for partisan political purposes.

BLITZER: She takes us through the early years in Arkansas, admits her mistakes in the failure of health care reform in 1994.

CLINTON: We know that comprehensive health care reform means expanding family planning. It means providing access to the kinds of facilities that the -- those of us in this room take for granted to all of our citizens.

BLITZER: And describes the tension at one event as the healthcare and Whitewater controversies were at a boil. Quote "The Secret Service warned me that we might run into trouble. For once, I agreed to wear a bulletproof vest. It was one of the few times I felt in real physical danger."

The book is full of these moments, reflecting a woman with a strong sense of how polarizing a figure she became in the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: This very important note, Hillary Rodham Clinton in her first live interview tomorrow night, that's Tuesday night, right here on CNN on "LARRY KING LIVE." 9:00 p.m, Eastern, 6:00 p.m. on the west coast. Must viewing for our viewers.

He's known as the spare heir, Britain's Prince Harry is third in line for the throne behind his father, Prince Charles and his older brother, William. Now as Harry prepares to end his days at a schoolboy, can he shed his bad boy reputation. The British public has been given a graduation present, officially sanctioned photos showing the prince as a sportsman, an artist and a scholar.

Our hot web question of the day is this, "Did President Bush exaggerate the ties between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

Vote now at cnn.com and we'll show you the results. Those will be immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Here's how you're weighing in on the web question of the day. Remember, we have been asking you this question, "Did President Bush exaggerate the ties between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

Look at this, among you voting on the web site 86 percent of you so far say yes, 14 percent say no. As always, remember, this is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to some of your e-mail. We love getting your feed back.

Bill writes this, "If the feds are convinced that there is anthrax in that pond in Maryland, will they launch an environmental clean-up of the area after they gather their evidence?"

Good question, Bill. Don't know the answer.

This is from Gary, "Both the local and national media should be commended for the role they played in he recovery of the kidnapped San Jose girl. Minutes after the abduction and throughout the weekend, you couldn't turn around without hearing about the situation."

Occasionally, we tend to get it right.

Let's take a quick look at headlines this hour.

(NEWS BREAK)

That's it for me.

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Anthrax Mystery be Solved at Bottom of a Pond?>