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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Should U.S. Send Troops to Liberia?

Aired July 02, 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)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, HOST: A new hotspot for American troops.

Hopes are high in Liberia.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're exploring all options as how to keep the situation peaceful and stable.

SAVIDGE: In Iraq they are in for the long haul.

BUSH: We're not going to get nervous.

SAVIDGE: Israeli troops pull out.

Tearing down a wall at Wal-Mart. Conservative values and gay rights.

And Maryland's Mega Millions mystery. A winner revealed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought to myself, I may as well throw this one right in that can.

SAVIDGE: It is Wednesday, July 2, 2003.

Hello from CNN center in Atlanta. I'm Martin Savidge reporting it's great to be with you. Wolf Blitzer is off. It could come tomorrow an announcement that U.S. troops will go to war torn West African nation of Liberia.

For more on this late-breaking development let's go straight to CNN's senior White House correspondent John King.

He joins us from the White House.

John, what do we know?

JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Marty, as the afternoon drags on, more officials telling us that announcement probably not tomorrow, probably later in the week. Some saying it could come as early as tomorrow. The announcement in question. The president We are told by several senior administration officials is poised to announce that some 500 to 1,000 U.S. troops will lead a peacekeeping mission in the Western African nation of Liberia.

Mr. Bush told reporters this morning in the Roosevelt Room here at the White House that all options are on the table and that he's debate this and discuss this with his national security team, as well as with other governments around the world. But we also know from sources, that at a meeting with his national security team here at the White House, there were plans discussed, again, to use roughly 500 to 1,000 troops to take the lead in a peacekeeping mission that would include Western African troops as well. What we are being told now is the reason most are now skeptical, this will be announced tomorrow is there are urgent efforts under way to get the Liberian president, Charles Taylor, to step down and leave the country. Mr. Bush earlier today said that would be critical, getting President Taylor out of the country is there is to be peace and stability in Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: One thing has to happen, Mr. Taylor needs to leave the country. And I made it clear publicly. I just made it clear again. He made it clear to Kofi Annan. In order for there to be peace and stability in Liberia, Charles Taylor needs to leave now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The president's referral to Kofi Annan the U.N. Secretary- General and Colin Powell the secretary of state. They are involved in this urgent diplomacy. Some see a shift here, not only in the president poised to announce that the U.S. will lead a peacekeeping mission, but also in saying President Taylor must leave the country. Last week President Bush saying he must step down. Some say perhaps a deal in the work. Get him out of Liberia and then not hold him accountable for indictment charging him through the United Nations with war crimes -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: John King live at the White House. Thanks very much.

Let's continue on this front. Even before the president spoke, the White House spoke, the White House had hinted at possible military involvement. That was enough to spark celebration in war-torn Liberia.

CNN's Jeff Koinange reports form the capitol Monrovia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside the U.S. embassy here, scenes of hysteria as Liberians celebrated the news they thought they heard.

(on camera): The reaction in the streets of Monrovia was almost instantaneous, thousands pouring into the streets saying, we want peace. Send in the Americans. Some even brought with them a copy of the history of the American nation, just to show their new found loyalty.

What makes you think they are going to bring peace, these Americans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We think American can bring peace because why? They are the original, OK, founders of this nation. And secondly, they are the superpower of the world.

KOINANGE: The handful of Marines guarding the U.S. embassy here became the center of attention for those celebrating a possible U.S. intervention. Retired Marine Colonel Hirsch Hernandez has been training the staff at the U.S. embassy for the last eight years and welcomes the deployment of troops, if it will help bring about peace.

COL. HIRSCH HERNANDEZ, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): It's been a long road for these poor people. The 25th was the icing on the case. 25 dead, 53 wounded, a wanton act of savage, of barbarity by whoever did it. These people are so traumatized, they need help. They need help from somebody.

KOINANGE (voice-over): What many fail to realize is the statement by the white house was merely a consideration. And more importantly that if any U.S. Deployment was to happen, it would be in Liberia without its popular but embattled President Charles Taylor. They may not understand the subtleties of political comments, but these folks have been suffering for most of the last quarter century and rejoice at any hint of good news.

Jeff Koinange, Monrovia, Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Here's more information on a country that will be dominating the headlines this week. Liberia was founded by freed American slaves in the early 19th Century. The official language is English. And its religion is predominantly Christian or other as noted by the CIA Web site. There is no oil and no one has said al Qaeda. But it has a nasty civil war that's killed 200,000 people in the last decade Liberia's President Charles Taylor's removal is seen as critical to ending the strife. His enemies control two-thirds of the country and want him out.

A decade a ago the U.S. sent troops to Somalia. But that humanitarian mission ended badly after a bloody clash in Mogadishu.

Will Liberia be any different?

Joining me from Chicago is CNN military analyst retired Brigadier General David Grange. That's the question for you.

How do we prevent Liberia from becoming another Somalia?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): The United States military and other nations have been in Liberia before when they had trouble. I believe if the proper force is sent in and the goals that are established are accomplished, in other words, they hold the resolve to accomplish these objectives, then it won't be another Somalia.

SAVIDGE: But we're saying (UNINTELLIGIBLE) force. We're only talking 500, maybe a 1,000 Marines in a nation that is over 3 million people. GRANGE: Yes, that is correct. But several things will happen here. One is the possibility of an extremist force going in to reinforce the embassy and extract American citizens or other designated citizens by our government. The other is that that may be the core of a peacekeeping force augmented by coalition forces from elsewhere.

SAVIDGE: Do you think this has a potential to be a bloody campaign?

GRANGE: It could be. A couple of things. No doubt in my mind something is going to happen. They're going to go in with some force. One the president said that Charles Taylor must leave. Two the historical connectivity to the United States of America. No. 3, what's just been shown, the images on television has an effect internationally. And no. 4 is that we don't want another Rwanda.

SAVIDGE: I saw the similar sort of imagery in Iraq when I was there. The celebration when the troops arrive. That quickly fades away when the problems persist.

I mean, how do we know in Liberia that's not going to be the case again?

GRANGE: Well, you never know. But I believe every one of these operations for the United States of America and other countries get involved learn from that. And other things have to be in place besides the military to transition to a peaceful environment with a Democratic governance of some sort.

SAVIDGE: Don't you need like an outdate or maybe a strong to-do list before we jump in?

GRANGE: Well, timing may be critical to get military in right away. But that's right. I think in Iraq you saw yourself that maybe some of the front-loaded other means, besides military force, was not quite there in the robustness that it needed to be. And so I'm sure there's planning going on to do that right now. At least I'd hope so.

SAVIDGE: I hope so, too. General David Grange, thanks very much for joining us. We're going to talk about this again, I am certain of that.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story.

Our "Web Question of the Day" is this, "Should President Bush send peacekeeping troops to Liberia?

We'll have the result later in the broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. And while you're there, we'd love to hear from you. Send us your comments and we might read some of them at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can also read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Let's go to break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: How severe a punishment did one man get for spitting? Wait until you hear about the penalty in Oklahoma.

And JFK Jr.'s friend speaks out against a new book on the Kennedy couple. Learn why there is a backlash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Authorities in Denver, Colorado, area are forming -- or have formed -- a task force to investigate dozens of recent cat mutilations. Someone or something has been killing outdoor cats, sometimes cutting them up with surgical precision.

Joining us to talk about that task force and dealing with the FBI and former FBI profiler Is Candice DeLong. She is in San Francisco.

Thanks very much for being with us.

CANDICE DELONG, FMR. FBI PROFILER: You're welcome.

SAVIDGE: On the surface, we could look at this and say, Well, it's just cats. But it's not -- I mean, we should be worried about this, right, from what you see?

DELONG: Possibly.

The first thing that needs to be eliminated is the possibility that this is being done by another animal. I had a very similar case just three years ago here in the Bay area. One of our suburbs, San Jose. Not suburb, large city, surrounded by mountains and very, very similar to what we're seeing, and it turned out, we finally had a witness after the 18th attack, and the culprit was a coyote.

SAVIDGE: And do you think that's the case from what you've read or seen about these particular incidents?

DELONG: Well, apparently Salt Lake City, from what I've just gleaned by watching TV, they haven't ruled out that it also might be an animal, bearing in mind that I have not seen the photographs.

We also have -- had an expert, a vet look at the carcasses of the cats, in my case and thought that it was also surgical precision. Well, the tooth or teeth of a coyote can be very sharp.

But let's say for the sake of argument that it is being done by a human, then it certainly is something that we need to concern ourselves with.

SAVIDGE: And the reason, I understand, for that concern, if it were to be human, is that it's not that big a jump necessarily for someone to go from harming animals to harming humans.

DELONG: Well, I don't know about that.

One thing we do know is that many serial killers in their youth, children, teens, often mutilated animals, tortured animals, so -- but not everyone that tortures animals becomes a serial killer.

What's of concern here is the number. Let's just talk about Denver -- 39 over a one-year period, and if the facts are accurate that the animals are gone for 24, 48 hours and then replaced at the individual's home, then that certainly speaks to human involvement, and it could simply be someone that's mentally ill. I've seen that before, too.

SAVIDGE: Well, some of the serial killers that may have gone from animals to humans -- Jeffrey Dahmer comes to mind. I remember going to his boyhood home in Ohio, and the grounds were littered with the carcasses -- or that the point, bones of animals. Son of Sam, another case that's been talked about that. So, there are clear examples of people who have done this.

DELONG: Absolutely. As I said, many serial killers in their youth did involve themselves with this kind of behavior towards animals.

SAVIDGE: Another pattern we've seen is that it seems to go to about December, stops, and then starts up again in the spring time. I don't know. Is that just weird coincidence or do you read anything into that?

DELONG: Well, as I don't know the specifics of coyote or animal behavior in that part of the country, the Rocky Mountains, I would think that it wouldn't matter. One would think that a coyote would be more hungry in the winter than in the spring and summer. And it's hard for people to imagine a coyote or a wild animal actually going into a residential neighborhood, but, in fact, they do.

SAVIDGE: OK. Candice DeLong, former FBI profiler, thanks very much for joining us from San Francisco. We'll continue to follow this story.

Well, the megalottery mystery winner. Find out what it's like to win millions off a $4 investment.

Also, life in prison for spitting? An Oklahoma man gets an unusually harsh sentence.

And President Bush weighs in on gay marriages. Hear his take on a constitutional ban.

But first, today's news quiz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: What was the first U.S. corporation to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy? Apple Computer? AT&T? Eastman Kodak? Levi-Strauss? The answer coming up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Police probing the case of a missing college basketball player spoke out today and they may not be saying much else for awhile.

CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman following developments for us from Waco, Texas. Gary, what is the reason behind the sudden silence?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, that's because the Waco, Texas, police are telling us they are not close to solving this case. They don't have a lot of news to talk about. So they've decided they won't hold any more news conferences regarding this mysterious disappearance until there's news to talk about.

Patrick Dennehy has now been missing for three weeks. It's believed he met a very sorry end. It's believed he's the victim of a homicide, but as of now there's no proof of that. So this officially still is a missing persons case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ANDERSON, WACO POLICE: We always have that little bit of hope that somehow Mr. Dennehy is going to show up, safe and sound. The longer it goes, as you all have seen in other missing person cases -- the longer that it goes, it doesn't look good. We're hoping that as soon as possible, something will turn up as far as location of Mr. Dennehy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: The police tell us this is not progressing as well as they thought, in terms of the investigation. And that's why they are not planning to talk to the news media for awhile.

They do say they've gotten hundreds of tips from people and because of that they've conducted multiple searches in the Waco, Texas area. But they've not found a body. We asked them if they found any other type of evidence. That question they won't answer. They do say at this point there are no suspects in the case, but they say there are persons of interest. They won't tell us the number of people of interest.

They do say one name of one person and that is Carlton Dotson. Dotson is also a basketball player on the Baylor University team. Now he has an attorney, Mr. Dotson. Dotson lives in Hurlock, Maryland on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and that attorney says he talked to his client in Maryland last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: The charges have been filed in that case, have they?

GRADY IRVIN, DOTSON'S ATTORNEY: In regard to Mr. Dotson? No. There are no formal charges -- no charges whatsoever that have been filed against Mr. Dotson.

QUESTION: So what does he need you for?

IRVIN: Because I'm a good lawyer. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Well, there's likely a bit more to it. Namely that there's not enough evidence to arrest anyone. After all, this still officially is a missing person case. Marty, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Gary Tuchman in Waco. OK. Thanks. We'll continue to listen if they've got something to say.

Well, what should the punishment be for spitting on a police officer? An Oklahoma man got life in prison.

Nicole Burgin of CNN affiliate KTUL explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE BURGIN, KTUL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Creek County jury sent a man to jail for a long time for spitting at a police officer. John Marquez will spend life in prison. But the handling of justice is drawing some attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see where that would be justified if he had been tested positive for HIV or some other communicable disease. Not having been tested positive, I think the sentence was a little bit harsh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And people who murder children get six years, often three with good behavior. They're crazy in this county.

BURGIN: It certainly could have been emotion at pushed the jury. The jury heard how he broke his wife's wrist and arms in a fight and then bit the arresting officer and spit on him. The maximum punishment for domestic abuse, one year, for revisiting arrest, one year, but the spiting or bodily fluid charge had a more severe punishment, life in prison. Not only is it a felony, but Marquez has a previous rape and burglary conviction, set the punishment.

MARK LYONS, ATTORNEY: Pure emotional outrage by the jury at this point.

BURGIN: Mark Lyons have been a both a prosecutor and defense attorney.

LYONS: If a similar case with similar prior convictions was tried with other people, another 10 or 15 people, you wouldn't get another life sentence. So, to me in seeing this, this is probably an extraordinary situation.

BURGIN: It's a decision made by 12 men and women, but each jury is different.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People don't get life in prison for rape and, to me, that's a lot more serious offense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Marquez attorney says he is planning to appeal that sentence.

Still to come a retailing giant opens its arms to gay employees. Find out what made Wal-Mart have a change of its discrimination policy.

Also, by any means necessary. Telemarketers being block from making those annoying phone calls hear their new plan to get you at home.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never saw any cocaine use, and I knew those folks as long as they were together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The Kennedy controversy. Friends fire back against serious allegations.

First, a look at other news making headlines around the world.

The 21st Olympic Winter Games in 2010 are awarded to the city of Vancouver.

SAVIDGE: Vancouver, British Columbia, will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The city first beat out Salzburg, Austria and then Pyeongchang, South Korea in the final ballotting in Prague.

Outrage in the European parliament, where Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a Certain German lawmaker would be good in an upcoming movie role as a Nazi concentration camp guard. Berlusconi is saying he didn't mean to offend, but he stopped short of retracting his statement.

Japan's Upper House of Parliament has passed a law that would let transsexuals change their gender on government record. The law would impact about 2,000 Japanese who have had sex change operations. The bill is expected to pass the lower house this month.

In Oxford, England, events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Rhodes scholarship. On hand past scholar Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, who is setting up a similar program in South Africa.

It's official, British Soccer Star David Beckham is now wearing the colors of team Madrid. His introduction ceremony broadcast live worldwide.

Potter problems. In Melbourne, Australia, a Christian elementary school there has banned the latest Harry Potter book. The principal says it's about the Occult and evil. And that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Welcome back to CNN. Another victory for gay rights. Find out why a retailing giant is jumping on the bandwagon.

First, the latest headlines.

(NEWBREAK)

SAVIDGE: Wal-Mart is the latest major U.S. company to add gays and lesbians to its non-discrimination policy.

CNN's Chris Huntington is in New York with more on how the change came about and what it means -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, Wal-Mart's shift on its stance towards gays was years in the making and ultimately came as a result from pressure within the company. But the giant retailer says the new rules are not only good policy, but they are good business as well. The biggest company on the planet now says it will not discriminate against gay and lesbian workers and today it put that in writing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Wal-Mart sent a memo to the managers of 3,500 U.S. stores with an amended employment policy pledging support for all qualified persons, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability or status as a veteran or sexual orientation. Folks at a New Jersey Wal-Mart took the new rules in stride.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that everyone needs to make a living, and I feel that god don't discriminate people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in the middle. It doesn't matter. You know, when I need something from here, I'll get it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually work here, so we don't have a problem with anybody.

HUNTINGTON: A Wal-Mart spokesperson told CNN the new policy formalizes in writing what your company expectations have always been regarding respect for all people. It is in response to concerns raised by gay employees at Wal-Mart. Shareholder activism did not play a role in this case. A coalition of gay and lesbian shareholder activists had worked on the policy directly with Wal-Mart for several years. But they say getting credit is not nearly as important as setting the right example.

SHELLEY ALPERN, SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS ACTIVIST: When a large company like Wal-Mart makes a policy change like this, it tends to have a ripple effect throughout the industry.

KIM MILLS, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: We're talking about a company that represents middle America. It's based in middle America. And now it's adopting a policy which says that this is just a basic American value.

HUNTINGTON: With Wal-Mart's shift in policy, there is only one company remaining in the top five, in fact the top 70 of the fortune 500 without an explicit gay and lesbian anti-discrimination policy. Exxon Mobile has said it does not need to change because its employment policy is already nondiscriminatory. Those who oppose explicit protection for homosexuals say such practices are discriminatory.

PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Adding sexual orientation to just a policy implies that a disapproval of homosexuality is just as offensive as racism or sexism, and that's a message that I don't like to see Wal-Mart sending.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Now on the related issue of whether to provide benefits for the live-in partners of its employees, Wal-Mart sides with the majority of the fortune 500. It does not provide those benefits and has no plans to change that policy anytime soon.

SAVIDGE: Chris what does Wal-Mart say about the timing of all of this, especially in light of the Supreme Court victory for gays and lesbians.

HUNTINGTON: I asked them that and they really said it's simply a coincidence. That this is something that's been in the works for a long time. They've been having meetings, face-to-face meetings, with various shareholder rights groups for quite awhile. The concerns raised by the employees at Wal-Mart were raised this spring in March and April in letters to senior employees, senior management at Wal- Mart. And Wal-Mart said they responded to those internal concerns with a change in policy on May 1 and the formal statement going out in writing today. All this a coincidence in timing, so says Wal-Mart.

SAVIDGE: OK, got it. Chris Huntington in New York. Thanks very much.

President Bush says it is too soon for a preemptive strike against gay marriage. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist though is backing changing the constitution to prohibit gay marriage, even though no State currently allows it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know if it's necessary yet. Let's let the lawyers look at the full ramifications of the recent Supreme Court hearing. What I do support is the -- is the notion that marriage is between a man and a woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Meanwhile, Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is distancing himself from the GOP platform on gay marriage. In 2000 it strongly supported the traditional definition of the legal union of one man and one woman. Bloomberg says people should be allowed to go about their business themselves. The issue has moved to the forefront since last week when the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that made gay sex illegal. Well are you on the new national do not call list yet? Great, soon the phone won't distract you as much while you're weeding out a lot more junk mail and spam. Telemarketers are planning an e-mail and snail mail blitz to reach consumers that they can't call on the phone anymore.

Louis Mastria is the director of Public and International Affairs for the Direct Marketing Association and he is now in our New York bureau. Thanks very much for being with us.

LOUIS MASTRIA, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FOR THE DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: Thank you Martin, how are you?

SAVIDGE: Very good thanks, although I'm wondering what does this mean? If you can't call me on the phone, how are you going to get me?

MASTRIA: Well, I think that you'll see advertisers react in a number of different ways. I don't think that it's fair to say that people are going to be spammed, for instance. I think that you'll see legitimate marketers react to this in ways that they can in -- and ways that will protect their relationship with their customers.

SAVIDGE: But they have to make up for it somehow. I mean, you're going to have to try to overcome the problems with the telephones and get in to my house. So I presume that means more e- mail more junk mail.

MASTRIA: No, not necessarily. In fact it could be more television advertising, more billboard advertising, more newspaper advertising. It's a whole variety of channels out there available. I think some of the things that we'll see is the greater use of perhaps toll-free 800 numbers, greater use of web sites, greater use of live chats. So I think that there are avenues out there that marketers can use and will use respectfully of consumers' request.

SAVIDGE: With all the griping that is done about telemarketing, I presume, though, it must work because they used to keep calling me all the time.

MASTRIA: Well, in fact, that's right. Within the last 12 months, 66 million individual Americans bought at least one product or service via telephone marketing. And so it does work.

Last year, last calendar year, over $100 billion worth of sales were rung up via telephone marketing. It does work. Now you know, people have asked us about the rate at which folks have signed on to this list, is that some sort of indication of how much of a backlash there is? I say no. In fact, we're not surprised at all. How many rose garden ceremonies have there been in a year?

In fact, on a week when the Supreme Court, as your earlier report said, changed some of the social structures of this country, both in terms of affirmative action and gay rights, and the Congress was working on Health Care reform and prescription drug benefits, the administration chose the rose garden ceremony for this do not call list. So it's not surprising at all. SAVIDGE: Let's get out of the rose garden for a minute and talk about, you know, when I get these phone calls, when I get this stuff in the mail, there is not one thing that I can remember I have signed up for. In fact, I have just the opposite effect. I throw it all away or I don't hang up the phone, but I certainly get off the phone quickly. How do you overcome that?

MASTRIA: That's right. And in fact, that's why we've run our own national do not call list since 1985 because it's important for us to know that there are people like you who simply won't buy via the telephone. It's cost saving for us to know in advance that you are not there and good for us not to bother you if you choose not to shop that way.

So that is not a problem. Some of the problems that we are encountering today are really more with sort of the implementation of this FTC list where we're finding people having problems with everything from signing up to implementing the list, to not getting the confirmation e-mails being blocked by spam blockers and so on.

SAVIDGE: Let's look in the crystal ball for the future. Aside from the Internet, aside from mailings, what other -- and you've already mentioned broadcast -- what other ways are you going to try to hit me?

MASTRIA: Well I think you'll see, as I said more advertising perhaps in the print advertising, billboard advertising, I think those things are certainly out there. I think some of the things that you may want to look out for, and I think consumers will welcome, is telephone via 800 numbers, where consumers can still have that one to one dialogue that is really critical in terms of the sales process. And also some of the live chat technology that we're starting to see come online.

I still think that in spite of all this publicity, there is still going to be a core constituency who does choose to buy via telephone marketing. 66 million people in the last 12 months alone. So, clearly, even though you may not like it, other people may not like it, there is a sector of the economy that does like it, and does use it.

SAVIDGE: Got to get out of there. Louis Master -- I'm sorry, Mastria -- thank you for joining us. It was a pleasure, I think, talking about e-mail on that.

MASTRIA: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well if you get fat eating fast food, who is at fault, the fast food industry or you? A leading business group says it's you. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is following this story. Elizabeth, is that true?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well I don't know about you personally, Marty, I'd have to ask you more about your eating habits, but today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls for a ban on lawsuits like the one from the man who said McDonald's made him fat, so he sued McDonald's.

So we went down to a food court here in Atlanta and we asked people, do you think people should be allowed to sue restaurants for making them fat?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. You knew going into the fast-food restaurant that this is high cholesterol and high calories. So why should you sue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you need to make your own choices, just like anything else in life. You know it's your choice. If you choose to stay home and have a home-made meal, eat healthy, do what you want to do , you know, that's your choice. If your out and about and you don't have time and you to have something fast and available, then you also have a choice to eat health there. You don't have to have a hamburger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think, as adults, we take responsibility because we know what's in it. So it's really our fault because we know what the nutrient content are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: As you can see the answers we got were pretty consistent. People said no, people should not be able to sue restaurants for making them fat, that's just plain silly. And in fact, the McDonald's lawsuit, I mentioned earlier, was thrown out, as was another case against the makers of Oreo cookies for having a kind of fat that's bad for your heart -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: So the lawsuit sounds silly, but have they had any impact what so ever?

COHEN: Hopefully, nutrition advocates will tell you that they have had a big impact. Just recently, McDonald's and Kraft said they will be doing things to make their dishes more heart healthy and better for you and fewer calories and less fat. And these advocates have said we've been trying to get these people to do this for decades, but it was the lawsuits that actually made them do it.

The companies say, well it wasn't really the lawsuits but the right thing to do. But the proximity of the lawsuits to the changes is evident.

SAVIDGE: And what's a good way to make smart decisions, then?

COHEN: When you go down to the fast food court, when you go into a fast-food restaurant, ask them for nutritional information that says how many calories and how much fat are in the dishes you are about to order. If they don't have it, go on the Internet. That information is also there -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much for the advice on fast food. Doing good under the worst possible conditions. On the front lines with the group Doctors Without Borders. An unvarnished look at what they really go through just ahead.

And claims of a troubled marriage, drug abuse and other problems. A new book makes startling allegations about John F. Kennedy Jr. And his late wife. We'll hear what a friend has to say.

First the answer to today's news quiz. Earlier we asked, what was the first U.S. corporation to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy? The answer -- AT&T. It made the move in 1975.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Turning to the situation in Iraq. Military officials say a U.S. Marine was killed today, three others wounded while clearing mines at Karbala, that's south of Baghdad. Sixty-seven Americans now have died in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. Today the president had tough talks for those still targeting U.S. troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Anybody who wants to harm American troops will be found and brought to justice. There are some who feel like that if they attack us, that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they are talking about, if that's the case.

Let me finish. There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: A somber ceremony at an English air force base. The bodies of six British soldiers killed late last month in Iraq were repatriated. The men were military police, killed by an angry Iraqi mob near Basra over an apparent misunderstanding about house-to-house searches.

One sign of progress in Iraq. The national museum is to officially reopen tomorrow, and for two hours only, there will be a glimpse of the 4,000-year-old jewel treasures of Nimrod brought out of prewar hiding places. Post-war looting was not as bad as first feared, but Iraq is still missing an estimated 40 major pieces.

Well, a very different kind of reality series debuts tonight on National Geographic Channel. It has the remote locations, the suspense and the human drama we've come to expect from reality TV. But these stories are a matter of life and death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without us in this hospital, the baby wouldn't have a chance.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Legendary for their selflessness, heroes to people who don't have many. As a group, winners of a Nobel Piece Prize. But spend some time with them, and you realize with each reward, there is so much exhaustion, deprivation, heartbreak.

These are the people of Doctors Without Borders. For 32 years, this group has sidestepped the bureaucracy that has plagued other aid programs, gone into the worst places on earth, seen its people kidnapped, threatened, killed, and provided medical care on the frontlines of war and desperation.

DOMINIQUE DUJARDIN, NURSE, SIERRA LEONE: Here, it's totally different. When you talk about emergency in this country, people are in danger of death.

SAVIDGE: Starting tonight, "Doctors Without Borders, Life in the Field," 13 episodes on the National Geographic Channel. Stories you couldn't make up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FRENCH)

SAVIDGE: Luke Lagrand (ph), a haggard French nurse running a prison clinic in Ivory Coast, 20 years with the group. The nobility of this work long since gone.

Dr. Linda Molenkamp. At home in Holland, she delivers babies. In Burundi, she treats gunshot wound. Casualties of a seemingly unending civil war.

LINDA MOLENKAMP, DOCTOR, BURUNDI: It's 4:00 in the morning and suddenly there was this loud explosion. Everybody was, like, awake at the same time. Your heart beating 120.

SAVIDGE: And let's not forget the glorious work of British engineer Richard Mole (ph). His job, clean out a hospital basement in Uzbekistan, flooded with human waste.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bit smelly.

SAVIDGE: Overwhelming and uplifting at the same time. People who clearly cannot help many of the most helpless, but who could also be elsewhere and have chosen to make some difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And again, the series debuts tonight at 9:00 Eastern on the National Geographic Channel.

And for more, I'm joined, actually, from New York by producer Glenda Hersh of True Entertainment and Nicolas de Torrenti, executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA. Thank you both for being with us.

Glenda, first, how did you pick this subject matter, or why, maybe, did you pick this subject matter to follow for National Geographic?

GLENDA HERSH, PRODUCER: I had seen the doctors and nurses of Medecins Sans Frontieres working in other work that I've done, and while I was reporting for different news organizations and making different films for National Geographic and others, and I was so moved by the kind of work that they do and the circumstances that they face and the challenges that they confront, and I thought that it was time to tell their story.

SAVIDGE: I'm sorry. I was going to ask Nicholas and bring him in on the conversation. The same question, really, to you. Why did you go along with having this? I mean, is it the publicity you seek, perhaps hoping to get more money or more volunteers? Why were you in on this?

NICOLAS DE TORRENTI, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Well, our mission is to provide, you know, direct medical care to people who are in real acute need. But we can never do enough. And one of the things we can do, though, is to tell the stories of the people, raise awareness about what they are going through, and we thought that this was a very innovative and new way of bringing this reality to people here back in the United States, and we felt that Glenda's team and the National Geographic Channel were really good partners to show it as it is, to show what our volunteers are going through and to show, as Glenda said, the struggles, the challenges, the dilemmas they face in trying to provide much-needed care in many parts of the world.

SAVIDGE: Glenda, it would have been, I guess, very easy, because I've seen this operation out in many desperate places. It would be very easy to overromanticize it and make it look grand and self- serving. You didn't do that. You showed it with warts and all.

HERSH: Yes, because I think people don't believe it when you tell a story that isn't real, and that the doctors and nurses working out in the field face the kind of problems and difficulties and dilemmas that are real and that, you know, where you don't have medication, where you don't have what you need to make things right, where you do get tired and you do get fed up, and I think that the average American viewer wouldn't believe it unless they saw what it really was like.

SAVIDGE: Nicolas, let me ask you this, and I'm sidestepping the program for a moment to ask you about Liberia, because that was at the top of our program. What is the need there, and what do you think about the U.S. possibly sending troops?

DE TORRENTI: Well, the need is overwhelming in Liberia. The population of Monrovia in particular is completely beleaguered. Everything is broken down. We have a hospital there that has had to evacuate a number of times because of its proximity to the frontline. People there need food, water and medical attention. So clearly something needs to be done, and the violence and especially the abuse against the population has to be stopped, and I think that's what needs to happen now.

SAVIDGE: All right. Glenda Hersh, she is the producer of the program, and Nicolas de Torrenti, executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA. Thank you both for being with us tonight.

Allegation of cocaine use and a bitter marriage? Is a new tell- all biography over the line? Friends of John F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy speak or answer back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Publishers of a new book on the Kennedy family say that they are shipping 100,000 copies to stores. That is almost double the initial printing, due to publicity created by an excerpt that has just come out. The focus is on the late Kennedy couple JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bisset Kennedy. The book itself is coming under scrutiny and criticism.

CNN's Michael Okwu reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it the new Camelot revisited. A new book on sale next week is suggesting that drugs, infidelity and possible depression were bringing down the seemingly idyllic marriage between John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bisset.

Now as excerpts, publishes by "Vanity Fair," hit the newsstands, some who knew or who have written about the Kennedys say the book is hogwash.

LAURENCE LEAMER, AUTHOR, "THE KENNEDY MEN": Anonymous sources are like garlic. A little bit makes the dish taste good, and a lot of it, the dish stinks, OK? This book is almost exclusively anonymous sources. I don't who they are.

OKWU: We wanted to take a look at the book, but its publisher, St. Martin's Press, won't make it available until next week. The article, however, quotes Kennedy telling an anonymous friend two days before his fatal plane crash, "It's impossible to talk to Carolyn about anything. We've become total strangers. I've had it with her. It's got to stop, otherwise we're headed for divorce."

Author Ed Klein reports Bisset was cracking under the pressure of public scrutiny. He quotes anonymous sources saying that she displayed signs of clinical depression, that she was a -- quote -- "frequent cocaine user" and that she was unfaithful to Kennedy up until the time they were married. Klein reports that in their final days, the two were living apart. Kennedy, at an expensive Upper Eastside hotel, Bisset at the couple's Lower Manhattan loft.

Klein also reports Bisset delayed the couple's final flight because she was having a pedicure redone.

JOHN PERRY BARLOW, KENNEDY FRIEND: They're too dead to defend themselves and to exploit their memories, given the fact that they're not in a position to defend themselves, and with the knowledge that the family will not engage because they don't want to get wrestling the tar baby, is a form of grave robbery as far as I'm concerned. OKWU: A magazine spokeswoman said that article was thoroughly fact-checked by "Vanity Fair."

(on camera): Attorneys for both families declined to comment. When reached by CNN, Klein indicated he wouldn't talk until the book is in stores.

Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And author Ed Klein will be our guest on this program one week from today.

The two biggest names in women's boxing apparently just couldn't wait until their August match. A news conference by Laila Ali and Christie Martin was more like an episode of "The Jerry Springer Show."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just relax.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why don't you just relax, home girl?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you back up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You stood up to me, little mama. You stood up to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break it up! Break it up!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: The chairman of the Mississippi Athletic Commission finally put a stop to it all. Ali, daughter of the boxing great Mohammed Ali, and Martin, are scheduled to throw some more punches in Biloxi August 23.

Our hot "Web Question of the Day" is this: "Should President Bush send peacekeeping troops to Liberia?" Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. The results when we come back.

Plus, mystery lottery winner. Find out how blood ended up on the ticket.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: You know, even the luckiest people aren't immune to life's little annoyances. The winner of last year's $183 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot says her winning ticket gave her a paper cut. The part-time letter carrier from suburban Baltimore went public today. After taxes she will walk away with a lump sum payment of $76 million. That's something to carry home. She says it took her almost a day to realize she'd won.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNADETTE GIETKA, MEGA MILLIONS WINNER: It was strange. It was -- it certainly doesn't register at that point. And you don't jump up and down. It's just your stomach kind of turns right over. You know, it's a very strange reaction. You wouldn't think it was that.

QUESTION: What's your reaction now?

GIETKA: I've finished being sick. And everyone I told, they were sick for a few days. But I'm just enjoying the telling everybody really, telling the story of it. And trying to figure out what to do with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: That's -- as far as that paper cut goes, $76 million will buy a lot of Band-Aids.

Now here's how you're weighing in on "Web Question of the Day." Remember, we've been asking you this: "Should President Bush send peacekeeping troops to Liberia?" Forty-two percent of you said yes, while 58 percent of you said no. As always, we like to tell you this: it's not a scientific poll.

Time to hear from you and read some of your e-mails. We should mention this is instant feedback coming to us during the newscast. Lots of strong feelings on both sides when it comes to sending the U.S. troops to Liberia.

Janie in North Carolina writes this, "I hope the U.S. will get actively involved in this conflict. After all, if we are the peacekeepers of the world, perhaps we could do it with no other payoff than that it is the right thing to do."

Jack in Alabama weighed in on the other side, "The U.S. does not need to get involved in another civil war. We have lost far too many troops in a useless invasion of Iraq."

A reminder you can always watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, at 5:00 Eastern Time. I'll see you again tomorrow at noon Eastern time.

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







Aired July 2, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, HOST: A new hotspot for American troops.

Hopes are high in Liberia.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're exploring all options as how to keep the situation peaceful and stable.

SAVIDGE: In Iraq they are in for the long haul.

BUSH: We're not going to get nervous.

SAVIDGE: Israeli troops pull out.

Tearing down a wall at Wal-Mart. Conservative values and gay rights.

And Maryland's Mega Millions mystery. A winner revealed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought to myself, I may as well throw this one right in that can.

SAVIDGE: It is Wednesday, July 2, 2003.

Hello from CNN center in Atlanta. I'm Martin Savidge reporting it's great to be with you. Wolf Blitzer is off. It could come tomorrow an announcement that U.S. troops will go to war torn West African nation of Liberia.

For more on this late-breaking development let's go straight to CNN's senior White House correspondent John King.

He joins us from the White House.

John, what do we know?

JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Marty, as the afternoon drags on, more officials telling us that announcement probably not tomorrow, probably later in the week. Some saying it could come as early as tomorrow. The announcement in question. The president We are told by several senior administration officials is poised to announce that some 500 to 1,000 U.S. troops will lead a peacekeeping mission in the Western African nation of Liberia.

Mr. Bush told reporters this morning in the Roosevelt Room here at the White House that all options are on the table and that he's debate this and discuss this with his national security team, as well as with other governments around the world. But we also know from sources, that at a meeting with his national security team here at the White House, there were plans discussed, again, to use roughly 500 to 1,000 troops to take the lead in a peacekeeping mission that would include Western African troops as well. What we are being told now is the reason most are now skeptical, this will be announced tomorrow is there are urgent efforts under way to get the Liberian president, Charles Taylor, to step down and leave the country. Mr. Bush earlier today said that would be critical, getting President Taylor out of the country is there is to be peace and stability in Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: One thing has to happen, Mr. Taylor needs to leave the country. And I made it clear publicly. I just made it clear again. He made it clear to Kofi Annan. In order for there to be peace and stability in Liberia, Charles Taylor needs to leave now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The president's referral to Kofi Annan the U.N. Secretary- General and Colin Powell the secretary of state. They are involved in this urgent diplomacy. Some see a shift here, not only in the president poised to announce that the U.S. will lead a peacekeeping mission, but also in saying President Taylor must leave the country. Last week President Bush saying he must step down. Some say perhaps a deal in the work. Get him out of Liberia and then not hold him accountable for indictment charging him through the United Nations with war crimes -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: John King live at the White House. Thanks very much.

Let's continue on this front. Even before the president spoke, the White House spoke, the White House had hinted at possible military involvement. That was enough to spark celebration in war-torn Liberia.

CNN's Jeff Koinange reports form the capitol Monrovia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside the U.S. embassy here, scenes of hysteria as Liberians celebrated the news they thought they heard.

(on camera): The reaction in the streets of Monrovia was almost instantaneous, thousands pouring into the streets saying, we want peace. Send in the Americans. Some even brought with them a copy of the history of the American nation, just to show their new found loyalty.

What makes you think they are going to bring peace, these Americans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We think American can bring peace because why? They are the original, OK, founders of this nation. And secondly, they are the superpower of the world.

KOINANGE: The handful of Marines guarding the U.S. embassy here became the center of attention for those celebrating a possible U.S. intervention. Retired Marine Colonel Hirsch Hernandez has been training the staff at the U.S. embassy for the last eight years and welcomes the deployment of troops, if it will help bring about peace.

COL. HIRSCH HERNANDEZ, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): It's been a long road for these poor people. The 25th was the icing on the case. 25 dead, 53 wounded, a wanton act of savage, of barbarity by whoever did it. These people are so traumatized, they need help. They need help from somebody.

KOINANGE (voice-over): What many fail to realize is the statement by the white house was merely a consideration. And more importantly that if any U.S. Deployment was to happen, it would be in Liberia without its popular but embattled President Charles Taylor. They may not understand the subtleties of political comments, but these folks have been suffering for most of the last quarter century and rejoice at any hint of good news.

Jeff Koinange, Monrovia, Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Here's more information on a country that will be dominating the headlines this week. Liberia was founded by freed American slaves in the early 19th Century. The official language is English. And its religion is predominantly Christian or other as noted by the CIA Web site. There is no oil and no one has said al Qaeda. But it has a nasty civil war that's killed 200,000 people in the last decade Liberia's President Charles Taylor's removal is seen as critical to ending the strife. His enemies control two-thirds of the country and want him out.

A decade a ago the U.S. sent troops to Somalia. But that humanitarian mission ended badly after a bloody clash in Mogadishu.

Will Liberia be any different?

Joining me from Chicago is CNN military analyst retired Brigadier General David Grange. That's the question for you.

How do we prevent Liberia from becoming another Somalia?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): The United States military and other nations have been in Liberia before when they had trouble. I believe if the proper force is sent in and the goals that are established are accomplished, in other words, they hold the resolve to accomplish these objectives, then it won't be another Somalia.

SAVIDGE: But we're saying (UNINTELLIGIBLE) force. We're only talking 500, maybe a 1,000 Marines in a nation that is over 3 million people. GRANGE: Yes, that is correct. But several things will happen here. One is the possibility of an extremist force going in to reinforce the embassy and extract American citizens or other designated citizens by our government. The other is that that may be the core of a peacekeeping force augmented by coalition forces from elsewhere.

SAVIDGE: Do you think this has a potential to be a bloody campaign?

GRANGE: It could be. A couple of things. No doubt in my mind something is going to happen. They're going to go in with some force. One the president said that Charles Taylor must leave. Two the historical connectivity to the United States of America. No. 3, what's just been shown, the images on television has an effect internationally. And no. 4 is that we don't want another Rwanda.

SAVIDGE: I saw the similar sort of imagery in Iraq when I was there. The celebration when the troops arrive. That quickly fades away when the problems persist.

I mean, how do we know in Liberia that's not going to be the case again?

GRANGE: Well, you never know. But I believe every one of these operations for the United States of America and other countries get involved learn from that. And other things have to be in place besides the military to transition to a peaceful environment with a Democratic governance of some sort.

SAVIDGE: Don't you need like an outdate or maybe a strong to-do list before we jump in?

GRANGE: Well, timing may be critical to get military in right away. But that's right. I think in Iraq you saw yourself that maybe some of the front-loaded other means, besides military force, was not quite there in the robustness that it needed to be. And so I'm sure there's planning going on to do that right now. At least I'd hope so.

SAVIDGE: I hope so, too. General David Grange, thanks very much for joining us. We're going to talk about this again, I am certain of that.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story.

Our "Web Question of the Day" is this, "Should President Bush send peacekeeping troops to Liberia?

We'll have the result later in the broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf. And while you're there, we'd love to hear from you. Send us your comments and we might read some of them at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can also read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Let's go to break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: How severe a punishment did one man get for spitting? Wait until you hear about the penalty in Oklahoma.

And JFK Jr.'s friend speaks out against a new book on the Kennedy couple. Learn why there is a backlash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Authorities in Denver, Colorado, area are forming -- or have formed -- a task force to investigate dozens of recent cat mutilations. Someone or something has been killing outdoor cats, sometimes cutting them up with surgical precision.

Joining us to talk about that task force and dealing with the FBI and former FBI profiler Is Candice DeLong. She is in San Francisco.

Thanks very much for being with us.

CANDICE DELONG, FMR. FBI PROFILER: You're welcome.

SAVIDGE: On the surface, we could look at this and say, Well, it's just cats. But it's not -- I mean, we should be worried about this, right, from what you see?

DELONG: Possibly.

The first thing that needs to be eliminated is the possibility that this is being done by another animal. I had a very similar case just three years ago here in the Bay area. One of our suburbs, San Jose. Not suburb, large city, surrounded by mountains and very, very similar to what we're seeing, and it turned out, we finally had a witness after the 18th attack, and the culprit was a coyote.

SAVIDGE: And do you think that's the case from what you've read or seen about these particular incidents?

DELONG: Well, apparently Salt Lake City, from what I've just gleaned by watching TV, they haven't ruled out that it also might be an animal, bearing in mind that I have not seen the photographs.

We also have -- had an expert, a vet look at the carcasses of the cats, in my case and thought that it was also surgical precision. Well, the tooth or teeth of a coyote can be very sharp.

But let's say for the sake of argument that it is being done by a human, then it certainly is something that we need to concern ourselves with.

SAVIDGE: And the reason, I understand, for that concern, if it were to be human, is that it's not that big a jump necessarily for someone to go from harming animals to harming humans.

DELONG: Well, I don't know about that.

One thing we do know is that many serial killers in their youth, children, teens, often mutilated animals, tortured animals, so -- but not everyone that tortures animals becomes a serial killer.

What's of concern here is the number. Let's just talk about Denver -- 39 over a one-year period, and if the facts are accurate that the animals are gone for 24, 48 hours and then replaced at the individual's home, then that certainly speaks to human involvement, and it could simply be someone that's mentally ill. I've seen that before, too.

SAVIDGE: Well, some of the serial killers that may have gone from animals to humans -- Jeffrey Dahmer comes to mind. I remember going to his boyhood home in Ohio, and the grounds were littered with the carcasses -- or that the point, bones of animals. Son of Sam, another case that's been talked about that. So, there are clear examples of people who have done this.

DELONG: Absolutely. As I said, many serial killers in their youth did involve themselves with this kind of behavior towards animals.

SAVIDGE: Another pattern we've seen is that it seems to go to about December, stops, and then starts up again in the spring time. I don't know. Is that just weird coincidence or do you read anything into that?

DELONG: Well, as I don't know the specifics of coyote or animal behavior in that part of the country, the Rocky Mountains, I would think that it wouldn't matter. One would think that a coyote would be more hungry in the winter than in the spring and summer. And it's hard for people to imagine a coyote or a wild animal actually going into a residential neighborhood, but, in fact, they do.

SAVIDGE: OK. Candice DeLong, former FBI profiler, thanks very much for joining us from San Francisco. We'll continue to follow this story.

Well, the megalottery mystery winner. Find out what it's like to win millions off a $4 investment.

Also, life in prison for spitting? An Oklahoma man gets an unusually harsh sentence.

And President Bush weighs in on gay marriages. Hear his take on a constitutional ban.

But first, today's news quiz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: What was the first U.S. corporation to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy? Apple Computer? AT&T? Eastman Kodak? Levi-Strauss? The answer coming up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Police probing the case of a missing college basketball player spoke out today and they may not be saying much else for awhile.

CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman following developments for us from Waco, Texas. Gary, what is the reason behind the sudden silence?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, that's because the Waco, Texas, police are telling us they are not close to solving this case. They don't have a lot of news to talk about. So they've decided they won't hold any more news conferences regarding this mysterious disappearance until there's news to talk about.

Patrick Dennehy has now been missing for three weeks. It's believed he met a very sorry end. It's believed he's the victim of a homicide, but as of now there's no proof of that. So this officially still is a missing persons case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ANDERSON, WACO POLICE: We always have that little bit of hope that somehow Mr. Dennehy is going to show up, safe and sound. The longer it goes, as you all have seen in other missing person cases -- the longer that it goes, it doesn't look good. We're hoping that as soon as possible, something will turn up as far as location of Mr. Dennehy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: The police tell us this is not progressing as well as they thought, in terms of the investigation. And that's why they are not planning to talk to the news media for awhile.

They do say they've gotten hundreds of tips from people and because of that they've conducted multiple searches in the Waco, Texas area. But they've not found a body. We asked them if they found any other type of evidence. That question they won't answer. They do say at this point there are no suspects in the case, but they say there are persons of interest. They won't tell us the number of people of interest.

They do say one name of one person and that is Carlton Dotson. Dotson is also a basketball player on the Baylor University team. Now he has an attorney, Mr. Dotson. Dotson lives in Hurlock, Maryland on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and that attorney says he talked to his client in Maryland last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: The charges have been filed in that case, have they?

GRADY IRVIN, DOTSON'S ATTORNEY: In regard to Mr. Dotson? No. There are no formal charges -- no charges whatsoever that have been filed against Mr. Dotson.

QUESTION: So what does he need you for?

IRVIN: Because I'm a good lawyer. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Well, there's likely a bit more to it. Namely that there's not enough evidence to arrest anyone. After all, this still officially is a missing person case. Marty, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Gary Tuchman in Waco. OK. Thanks. We'll continue to listen if they've got something to say.

Well, what should the punishment be for spitting on a police officer? An Oklahoma man got life in prison.

Nicole Burgin of CNN affiliate KTUL explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE BURGIN, KTUL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Creek County jury sent a man to jail for a long time for spitting at a police officer. John Marquez will spend life in prison. But the handling of justice is drawing some attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see where that would be justified if he had been tested positive for HIV or some other communicable disease. Not having been tested positive, I think the sentence was a little bit harsh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And people who murder children get six years, often three with good behavior. They're crazy in this county.

BURGIN: It certainly could have been emotion at pushed the jury. The jury heard how he broke his wife's wrist and arms in a fight and then bit the arresting officer and spit on him. The maximum punishment for domestic abuse, one year, for revisiting arrest, one year, but the spiting or bodily fluid charge had a more severe punishment, life in prison. Not only is it a felony, but Marquez has a previous rape and burglary conviction, set the punishment.

MARK LYONS, ATTORNEY: Pure emotional outrage by the jury at this point.

BURGIN: Mark Lyons have been a both a prosecutor and defense attorney.

LYONS: If a similar case with similar prior convictions was tried with other people, another 10 or 15 people, you wouldn't get another life sentence. So, to me in seeing this, this is probably an extraordinary situation.

BURGIN: It's a decision made by 12 men and women, but each jury is different.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People don't get life in prison for rape and, to me, that's a lot more serious offense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Marquez attorney says he is planning to appeal that sentence.

Still to come a retailing giant opens its arms to gay employees. Find out what made Wal-Mart have a change of its discrimination policy.

Also, by any means necessary. Telemarketers being block from making those annoying phone calls hear their new plan to get you at home.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never saw any cocaine use, and I knew those folks as long as they were together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The Kennedy controversy. Friends fire back against serious allegations.

First, a look at other news making headlines around the world.

The 21st Olympic Winter Games in 2010 are awarded to the city of Vancouver.

SAVIDGE: Vancouver, British Columbia, will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The city first beat out Salzburg, Austria and then Pyeongchang, South Korea in the final ballotting in Prague.

Outrage in the European parliament, where Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a Certain German lawmaker would be good in an upcoming movie role as a Nazi concentration camp guard. Berlusconi is saying he didn't mean to offend, but he stopped short of retracting his statement.

Japan's Upper House of Parliament has passed a law that would let transsexuals change their gender on government record. The law would impact about 2,000 Japanese who have had sex change operations. The bill is expected to pass the lower house this month.

In Oxford, England, events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Rhodes scholarship. On hand past scholar Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, who is setting up a similar program in South Africa.

It's official, British Soccer Star David Beckham is now wearing the colors of team Madrid. His introduction ceremony broadcast live worldwide.

Potter problems. In Melbourne, Australia, a Christian elementary school there has banned the latest Harry Potter book. The principal says it's about the Occult and evil. And that's our look around the world.

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SAVIDGE: Welcome back to CNN. Another victory for gay rights. Find out why a retailing giant is jumping on the bandwagon.

First, the latest headlines.

(NEWBREAK)

SAVIDGE: Wal-Mart is the latest major U.S. company to add gays and lesbians to its non-discrimination policy.

CNN's Chris Huntington is in New York with more on how the change came about and what it means -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, Wal-Mart's shift on its stance towards gays was years in the making and ultimately came as a result from pressure within the company. But the giant retailer says the new rules are not only good policy, but they are good business as well. The biggest company on the planet now says it will not discriminate against gay and lesbian workers and today it put that in writing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Wal-Mart sent a memo to the managers of 3,500 U.S. stores with an amended employment policy pledging support for all qualified persons, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability or status as a veteran or sexual orientation. Folks at a New Jersey Wal-Mart took the new rules in stride.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that everyone needs to make a living, and I feel that god don't discriminate people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in the middle. It doesn't matter. You know, when I need something from here, I'll get it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually work here, so we don't have a problem with anybody.

HUNTINGTON: A Wal-Mart spokesperson told CNN the new policy formalizes in writing what your company expectations have always been regarding respect for all people. It is in response to concerns raised by gay employees at Wal-Mart. Shareholder activism did not play a role in this case. A coalition of gay and lesbian shareholder activists had worked on the policy directly with Wal-Mart for several years. But they say getting credit is not nearly as important as setting the right example.

SHELLEY ALPERN, SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS ACTIVIST: When a large company like Wal-Mart makes a policy change like this, it tends to have a ripple effect throughout the industry.

KIM MILLS, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: We're talking about a company that represents middle America. It's based in middle America. And now it's adopting a policy which says that this is just a basic American value.

HUNTINGTON: With Wal-Mart's shift in policy, there is only one company remaining in the top five, in fact the top 70 of the fortune 500 without an explicit gay and lesbian anti-discrimination policy. Exxon Mobile has said it does not need to change because its employment policy is already nondiscriminatory. Those who oppose explicit protection for homosexuals say such practices are discriminatory.

PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Adding sexual orientation to just a policy implies that a disapproval of homosexuality is just as offensive as racism or sexism, and that's a message that I don't like to see Wal-Mart sending.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Now on the related issue of whether to provide benefits for the live-in partners of its employees, Wal-Mart sides with the majority of the fortune 500. It does not provide those benefits and has no plans to change that policy anytime soon.

SAVIDGE: Chris what does Wal-Mart say about the timing of all of this, especially in light of the Supreme Court victory for gays and lesbians.

HUNTINGTON: I asked them that and they really said it's simply a coincidence. That this is something that's been in the works for a long time. They've been having meetings, face-to-face meetings, with various shareholder rights groups for quite awhile. The concerns raised by the employees at Wal-Mart were raised this spring in March and April in letters to senior employees, senior management at Wal- Mart. And Wal-Mart said they responded to those internal concerns with a change in policy on May 1 and the formal statement going out in writing today. All this a coincidence in timing, so says Wal-Mart.

SAVIDGE: OK, got it. Chris Huntington in New York. Thanks very much.

President Bush says it is too soon for a preemptive strike against gay marriage. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist though is backing changing the constitution to prohibit gay marriage, even though no State currently allows it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know if it's necessary yet. Let's let the lawyers look at the full ramifications of the recent Supreme Court hearing. What I do support is the -- is the notion that marriage is between a man and a woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Meanwhile, Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is distancing himself from the GOP platform on gay marriage. In 2000 it strongly supported the traditional definition of the legal union of one man and one woman. Bloomberg says people should be allowed to go about their business themselves. The issue has moved to the forefront since last week when the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that made gay sex illegal. Well are you on the new national do not call list yet? Great, soon the phone won't distract you as much while you're weeding out a lot more junk mail and spam. Telemarketers are planning an e-mail and snail mail blitz to reach consumers that they can't call on the phone anymore.

Louis Mastria is the director of Public and International Affairs for the Direct Marketing Association and he is now in our New York bureau. Thanks very much for being with us.

LOUIS MASTRIA, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FOR THE DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: Thank you Martin, how are you?

SAVIDGE: Very good thanks, although I'm wondering what does this mean? If you can't call me on the phone, how are you going to get me?

MASTRIA: Well, I think that you'll see advertisers react in a number of different ways. I don't think that it's fair to say that people are going to be spammed, for instance. I think that you'll see legitimate marketers react to this in ways that they can in -- and ways that will protect their relationship with their customers.

SAVIDGE: But they have to make up for it somehow. I mean, you're going to have to try to overcome the problems with the telephones and get in to my house. So I presume that means more e- mail more junk mail.

MASTRIA: No, not necessarily. In fact it could be more television advertising, more billboard advertising, more newspaper advertising. It's a whole variety of channels out there available. I think some of the things that we'll see is the greater use of perhaps toll-free 800 numbers, greater use of web sites, greater use of live chats. So I think that there are avenues out there that marketers can use and will use respectfully of consumers' request.

SAVIDGE: With all the griping that is done about telemarketing, I presume, though, it must work because they used to keep calling me all the time.

MASTRIA: Well, in fact, that's right. Within the last 12 months, 66 million individual Americans bought at least one product or service via telephone marketing. And so it does work.

Last year, last calendar year, over $100 billion worth of sales were rung up via telephone marketing. It does work. Now you know, people have asked us about the rate at which folks have signed on to this list, is that some sort of indication of how much of a backlash there is? I say no. In fact, we're not surprised at all. How many rose garden ceremonies have there been in a year?

In fact, on a week when the Supreme Court, as your earlier report said, changed some of the social structures of this country, both in terms of affirmative action and gay rights, and the Congress was working on Health Care reform and prescription drug benefits, the administration chose the rose garden ceremony for this do not call list. So it's not surprising at all. SAVIDGE: Let's get out of the rose garden for a minute and talk about, you know, when I get these phone calls, when I get this stuff in the mail, there is not one thing that I can remember I have signed up for. In fact, I have just the opposite effect. I throw it all away or I don't hang up the phone, but I certainly get off the phone quickly. How do you overcome that?

MASTRIA: That's right. And in fact, that's why we've run our own national do not call list since 1985 because it's important for us to know that there are people like you who simply won't buy via the telephone. It's cost saving for us to know in advance that you are not there and good for us not to bother you if you choose not to shop that way.

So that is not a problem. Some of the problems that we are encountering today are really more with sort of the implementation of this FTC list where we're finding people having problems with everything from signing up to implementing the list, to not getting the confirmation e-mails being blocked by spam blockers and so on.

SAVIDGE: Let's look in the crystal ball for the future. Aside from the Internet, aside from mailings, what other -- and you've already mentioned broadcast -- what other ways are you going to try to hit me?

MASTRIA: Well I think you'll see, as I said more advertising perhaps in the print advertising, billboard advertising, I think those things are certainly out there. I think some of the things that you may want to look out for, and I think consumers will welcome, is telephone via 800 numbers, where consumers can still have that one to one dialogue that is really critical in terms of the sales process. And also some of the live chat technology that we're starting to see come online.

I still think that in spite of all this publicity, there is still going to be a core constituency who does choose to buy via telephone marketing. 66 million people in the last 12 months alone. So, clearly, even though you may not like it, other people may not like it, there is a sector of the economy that does like it, and does use it.

SAVIDGE: Got to get out of there. Louis Master -- I'm sorry, Mastria -- thank you for joining us. It was a pleasure, I think, talking about e-mail on that.

MASTRIA: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well if you get fat eating fast food, who is at fault, the fast food industry or you? A leading business group says it's you. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is following this story. Elizabeth, is that true?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well I don't know about you personally, Marty, I'd have to ask you more about your eating habits, but today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls for a ban on lawsuits like the one from the man who said McDonald's made him fat, so he sued McDonald's.

So we went down to a food court here in Atlanta and we asked people, do you think people should be allowed to sue restaurants for making them fat?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. You knew going into the fast-food restaurant that this is high cholesterol and high calories. So why should you sue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you need to make your own choices, just like anything else in life. You know it's your choice. If you choose to stay home and have a home-made meal, eat healthy, do what you want to do , you know, that's your choice. If your out and about and you don't have time and you to have something fast and available, then you also have a choice to eat health there. You don't have to have a hamburger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think, as adults, we take responsibility because we know what's in it. So it's really our fault because we know what the nutrient content are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: As you can see the answers we got were pretty consistent. People said no, people should not be able to sue restaurants for making them fat, that's just plain silly. And in fact, the McDonald's lawsuit, I mentioned earlier, was thrown out, as was another case against the makers of Oreo cookies for having a kind of fat that's bad for your heart -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: So the lawsuit sounds silly, but have they had any impact what so ever?

COHEN: Hopefully, nutrition advocates will tell you that they have had a big impact. Just recently, McDonald's and Kraft said they will be doing things to make their dishes more heart healthy and better for you and fewer calories and less fat. And these advocates have said we've been trying to get these people to do this for decades, but it was the lawsuits that actually made them do it.

The companies say, well it wasn't really the lawsuits but the right thing to do. But the proximity of the lawsuits to the changes is evident.

SAVIDGE: And what's a good way to make smart decisions, then?

COHEN: When you go down to the fast food court, when you go into a fast-food restaurant, ask them for nutritional information that says how many calories and how much fat are in the dishes you are about to order. If they don't have it, go on the Internet. That information is also there -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much for the advice on fast food. Doing good under the worst possible conditions. On the front lines with the group Doctors Without Borders. An unvarnished look at what they really go through just ahead.

And claims of a troubled marriage, drug abuse and other problems. A new book makes startling allegations about John F. Kennedy Jr. And his late wife. We'll hear what a friend has to say.

First the answer to today's news quiz. Earlier we asked, what was the first U.S. corporation to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy? The answer -- AT&T. It made the move in 1975.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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SAVIDGE: Turning to the situation in Iraq. Military officials say a U.S. Marine was killed today, three others wounded while clearing mines at Karbala, that's south of Baghdad. Sixty-seven Americans now have died in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. Today the president had tough talks for those still targeting U.S. troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Anybody who wants to harm American troops will be found and brought to justice. There are some who feel like that if they attack us, that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they are talking about, if that's the case.

Let me finish. There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: A somber ceremony at an English air force base. The bodies of six British soldiers killed late last month in Iraq were repatriated. The men were military police, killed by an angry Iraqi mob near Basra over an apparent misunderstanding about house-to-house searches.

One sign of progress in Iraq. The national museum is to officially reopen tomorrow, and for two hours only, there will be a glimpse of the 4,000-year-old jewel treasures of Nimrod brought out of prewar hiding places. Post-war looting was not as bad as first feared, but Iraq is still missing an estimated 40 major pieces.

Well, a very different kind of reality series debuts tonight on National Geographic Channel. It has the remote locations, the suspense and the human drama we've come to expect from reality TV. But these stories are a matter of life and death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without us in this hospital, the baby wouldn't have a chance.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Legendary for their selflessness, heroes to people who don't have many. As a group, winners of a Nobel Piece Prize. But spend some time with them, and you realize with each reward, there is so much exhaustion, deprivation, heartbreak.

These are the people of Doctors Without Borders. For 32 years, this group has sidestepped the bureaucracy that has plagued other aid programs, gone into the worst places on earth, seen its people kidnapped, threatened, killed, and provided medical care on the frontlines of war and desperation.

DOMINIQUE DUJARDIN, NURSE, SIERRA LEONE: Here, it's totally different. When you talk about emergency in this country, people are in danger of death.

SAVIDGE: Starting tonight, "Doctors Without Borders, Life in the Field," 13 episodes on the National Geographic Channel. Stories you couldn't make up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FRENCH)

SAVIDGE: Luke Lagrand (ph), a haggard French nurse running a prison clinic in Ivory Coast, 20 years with the group. The nobility of this work long since gone.

Dr. Linda Molenkamp. At home in Holland, she delivers babies. In Burundi, she treats gunshot wound. Casualties of a seemingly unending civil war.

LINDA MOLENKAMP, DOCTOR, BURUNDI: It's 4:00 in the morning and suddenly there was this loud explosion. Everybody was, like, awake at the same time. Your heart beating 120.

SAVIDGE: And let's not forget the glorious work of British engineer Richard Mole (ph). His job, clean out a hospital basement in Uzbekistan, flooded with human waste.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bit smelly.

SAVIDGE: Overwhelming and uplifting at the same time. People who clearly cannot help many of the most helpless, but who could also be elsewhere and have chosen to make some difference.

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SAVIDGE: And again, the series debuts tonight at 9:00 Eastern on the National Geographic Channel.

And for more, I'm joined, actually, from New York by producer Glenda Hersh of True Entertainment and Nicolas de Torrenti, executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA. Thank you both for being with us.

Glenda, first, how did you pick this subject matter, or why, maybe, did you pick this subject matter to follow for National Geographic?

GLENDA HERSH, PRODUCER: I had seen the doctors and nurses of Medecins Sans Frontieres working in other work that I've done, and while I was reporting for different news organizations and making different films for National Geographic and others, and I was so moved by the kind of work that they do and the circumstances that they face and the challenges that they confront, and I thought that it was time to tell their story.

SAVIDGE: I'm sorry. I was going to ask Nicholas and bring him in on the conversation. The same question, really, to you. Why did you go along with having this? I mean, is it the publicity you seek, perhaps hoping to get more money or more volunteers? Why were you in on this?

NICOLAS DE TORRENTI, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Well, our mission is to provide, you know, direct medical care to people who are in real acute need. But we can never do enough. And one of the things we can do, though, is to tell the stories of the people, raise awareness about what they are going through, and we thought that this was a very innovative and new way of bringing this reality to people here back in the United States, and we felt that Glenda's team and the National Geographic Channel were really good partners to show it as it is, to show what our volunteers are going through and to show, as Glenda said, the struggles, the challenges, the dilemmas they face in trying to provide much-needed care in many parts of the world.

SAVIDGE: Glenda, it would have been, I guess, very easy, because I've seen this operation out in many desperate places. It would be very easy to overromanticize it and make it look grand and self- serving. You didn't do that. You showed it with warts and all.

HERSH: Yes, because I think people don't believe it when you tell a story that isn't real, and that the doctors and nurses working out in the field face the kind of problems and difficulties and dilemmas that are real and that, you know, where you don't have medication, where you don't have what you need to make things right, where you do get tired and you do get fed up, and I think that the average American viewer wouldn't believe it unless they saw what it really was like.

SAVIDGE: Nicolas, let me ask you this, and I'm sidestepping the program for a moment to ask you about Liberia, because that was at the top of our program. What is the need there, and what do you think about the U.S. possibly sending troops?

DE TORRENTI: Well, the need is overwhelming in Liberia. The population of Monrovia in particular is completely beleaguered. Everything is broken down. We have a hospital there that has had to evacuate a number of times because of its proximity to the frontline. People there need food, water and medical attention. So clearly something needs to be done, and the violence and especially the abuse against the population has to be stopped, and I think that's what needs to happen now.

SAVIDGE: All right. Glenda Hersh, she is the producer of the program, and Nicolas de Torrenti, executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA. Thank you both for being with us tonight.

Allegation of cocaine use and a bitter marriage? Is a new tell- all biography over the line? Friends of John F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy speak or answer back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Publishers of a new book on the Kennedy family say that they are shipping 100,000 copies to stores. That is almost double the initial printing, due to publicity created by an excerpt that has just come out. The focus is on the late Kennedy couple JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bisset Kennedy. The book itself is coming under scrutiny and criticism.

CNN's Michael Okwu reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it the new Camelot revisited. A new book on sale next week is suggesting that drugs, infidelity and possible depression were bringing down the seemingly idyllic marriage between John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bisset.

Now as excerpts, publishes by "Vanity Fair," hit the newsstands, some who knew or who have written about the Kennedys say the book is hogwash.

LAURENCE LEAMER, AUTHOR, "THE KENNEDY MEN": Anonymous sources are like garlic. A little bit makes the dish taste good, and a lot of it, the dish stinks, OK? This book is almost exclusively anonymous sources. I don't who they are.

OKWU: We wanted to take a look at the book, but its publisher, St. Martin's Press, won't make it available until next week. The article, however, quotes Kennedy telling an anonymous friend two days before his fatal plane crash, "It's impossible to talk to Carolyn about anything. We've become total strangers. I've had it with her. It's got to stop, otherwise we're headed for divorce."

Author Ed Klein reports Bisset was cracking under the pressure of public scrutiny. He quotes anonymous sources saying that she displayed signs of clinical depression, that she was a -- quote -- "frequent cocaine user" and that she was unfaithful to Kennedy up until the time they were married. Klein reports that in their final days, the two were living apart. Kennedy, at an expensive Upper Eastside hotel, Bisset at the couple's Lower Manhattan loft.

Klein also reports Bisset delayed the couple's final flight because she was having a pedicure redone.

JOHN PERRY BARLOW, KENNEDY FRIEND: They're too dead to defend themselves and to exploit their memories, given the fact that they're not in a position to defend themselves, and with the knowledge that the family will not engage because they don't want to get wrestling the tar baby, is a form of grave robbery as far as I'm concerned. OKWU: A magazine spokeswoman said that article was thoroughly fact-checked by "Vanity Fair."

(on camera): Attorneys for both families declined to comment. When reached by CNN, Klein indicated he wouldn't talk until the book is in stores.

Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And author Ed Klein will be our guest on this program one week from today.

The two biggest names in women's boxing apparently just couldn't wait until their August match. A news conference by Laila Ali and Christie Martin was more like an episode of "The Jerry Springer Show."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just relax.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why don't you just relax, home girl?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you back up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You stood up to me, little mama. You stood up to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break it up! Break it up!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: The chairman of the Mississippi Athletic Commission finally put a stop to it all. Ali, daughter of the boxing great Mohammed Ali, and Martin, are scheduled to throw some more punches in Biloxi August 23.

Our hot "Web Question of the Day" is this: "Should President Bush send peacekeeping troops to Liberia?" Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. The results when we come back.

Plus, mystery lottery winner. Find out how blood ended up on the ticket.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: You know, even the luckiest people aren't immune to life's little annoyances. The winner of last year's $183 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot says her winning ticket gave her a paper cut. The part-time letter carrier from suburban Baltimore went public today. After taxes she will walk away with a lump sum payment of $76 million. That's something to carry home. She says it took her almost a day to realize she'd won.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNADETTE GIETKA, MEGA MILLIONS WINNER: It was strange. It was -- it certainly doesn't register at that point. And you don't jump up and down. It's just your stomach kind of turns right over. You know, it's a very strange reaction. You wouldn't think it was that.

QUESTION: What's your reaction now?

GIETKA: I've finished being sick. And everyone I told, they were sick for a few days. But I'm just enjoying the telling everybody really, telling the story of it. And trying to figure out what to do with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: That's -- as far as that paper cut goes, $76 million will buy a lot of Band-Aids.

Now here's how you're weighing in on "Web Question of the Day." Remember, we've been asking you this: "Should President Bush send peacekeeping troops to Liberia?" Forty-two percent of you said yes, while 58 percent of you said no. As always, we like to tell you this: it's not a scientific poll.

Time to hear from you and read some of your e-mails. We should mention this is instant feedback coming to us during the newscast. Lots of strong feelings on both sides when it comes to sending the U.S. troops to Liberia.

Janie in North Carolina writes this, "I hope the U.S. will get actively involved in this conflict. After all, if we are the peacekeepers of the world, perhaps we could do it with no other payoff than that it is the right thing to do."

Jack in Alabama weighed in on the other side, "The U.S. does not need to get involved in another civil war. We have lost far too many troops in a useless invasion of Iraq."

A reminder you can always watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, at 5:00 Eastern Time. I'll see you again tomorrow at noon Eastern time.

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