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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Did Bush Go Too Far in Making Case for War?; U.S. Troops' Tour of Duty in Iraq Extended
Aired July 14, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: You're looking at a live picture of the Texas coast where tropical trouble is just offshore and we're just getting a revised forecast of Claudette. Who will bear the brunt of the bad weather?
WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Under fire in Iraq but the attacks may intensify. Why Saddam Hussein's loyalists may have their eyes on the calendar.
Did the president go too far in making the case for war?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence.
BLITZER: Texas braces for trouble as the latest storm decides where to strike.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, we need to be very, very careful and take this seriously.
BLITZER: A father under arrest, where are his missing children?
JEFF STRELZIN, N.H. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: We've obviously conducted searches here in Concord, New Hampshire, and we have searched some areas, some general and specific areas in the Midwest.
BLITZER: What surveillance cameras and dozens of shoppers didn't see, a young girl molested in a department store, now the search for a suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is somebody's brother, neighbor, cousin. He's related to somebody. We want to find him before he does it again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Monday, July 14, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
President Bush is not backing down despite simmering controversy over intelligence and new American casualties in Iraq. He's downplaying critics who question whether he exaggerated the threat to justify the war which has claimed the life of another American soldier today.
At the same time, the president is contemplating sending U.S. troops to another hot spot, namely Liberia. We have two reports for you.
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad but we begin with our White House Correspondent Chris Burns -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a U.S. mission to Liberia would be one filled with risks but after the president's visit to Africa, his commitment to helping that continent is being put to the test.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): It's the closest President Bush has come to pledging boots on the ground in Liberia, a country on the brink of more bloody fighting if a tenuous cease-fire collapses.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has led the call for U.S. participation at least help for West African ECOWAS peacekeepers to deploy and he got some qualified assurances.
BUSH: It stands. Any commitment we have would be limited in size and limited in tenure.
BURNS: But the president also made clear that any participation depends on the exile of Liberian President Charles Taylor, blamed for years of civil wars in West Africa.
Mr. Bush said he won't make a decision until he gets a report as soon as possible, he said, from a U.S. assessment team greeted enthusiastically in the streets of Monrovia.
Despite America's moral, historical link to a nation founded by freed American slaves, President Bush must weigh the military and political risks of sending U.S. troops to yet another conflict zone, this amid the growing number of American troops dying in Iraq.
The president was pressed again over the controversy about the pre-war allegation that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Africa. And, despite administration regrets about putting the charge in his January State of the Union message, Mr. Bush insists he remains confident about the intelligence he gets.
BUSH: The speeches I have given were backed by good intelligence and I am absolutely convinced today, like I was convinced when I gave the speeches, that Saddam Hussein developed a program of weapons of mass destruction and that our country made the right decision. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: It was the latest attempt by President Bush to smooth over what the Democrats are seizing on as a credibility gap, a gap that could widen unless weapons of mass destruction or their programs are eventually found in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Chris Burns at the White House thanks Chris very much.
Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this, we're asking this question. "Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
You can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
On the ground in Iraq, American troops under fire once again today with deadly consequences. Once again, let's go live to our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. He's on the scene for us in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one U.S. soldier killed this morning and ten injured in an attack on a convoy they were traveling in. One truck was hit by two rocket- propelled grenades. Eyewitnesses say the attack took place early in the morning, 5:30 in the morning. They say they heard two loud explosions followed by heavy machine gun fire.
A little later, U.S. personnel were on the ground trying to get more information about that particular attack. Later in the day, another attack while the new governing council in Iraq was meeting in a convention center deciding to send its first envoy to the U.N. Security Council, outside somebody set off an explosive device under the car belonging to an embassy here in Baghdad that car destroyed in that particular attack.
And, north of Baghdad, Operation Ivy Serpent underway to track down, the coalition says to track down Ba'ath Party loyalists. They say they've so far detained in that operation some 226 Iraqis, six of them they describe as being loyalists to Saddam Hussein. That has taken place in 27 raids. Hundreds of mortar rounds seized, 50 AK-47s, and several dozen rocket-propelled grenades so far -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic, any improvement as far as rotating troops? Anything you're hearing about new U.S. troops coming in, troops that have been there for a while coming back to the United States?
ROBERTSON: What I heard today, Wolf was disappointment. I was in Fallujah, which is where the 3rd Infantry Division are based. They have been told -- the troops I've been talking to have been told within the last week or so they would probably leave later this month, maybe the end of the month. They were told two days ago, they told me, that their stay has been extended indefinitely. They were disappointed about that.
Troops in other areas still quite fresh still say morale is high but, clearly, from the soldiers I've talked to today not happy about having their mission extended further -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic Robertson in Baghdad thanks Nic very much.
Most of the attacks on U.S. forces over these past couple of months have come within an area that's become known as the Sunni Triangle, dominated by Sunni Muslims. It ranges from Baghdad on the south to Tikrit in the north, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, out to the west to Fallujah, another hotbed of regime loyalists.
Do Saddam Hussein's diehards have their eyes on the calendar? The attacks on U.S. troops just may be stepped up to coincide with some key anniversaries.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): It's already been a dangerous month for U.S. troops in Iraq, at least nine killed in attacks over the past two weeks. This week brings a dire warning from the U.S. defense secretary.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Ba'athist events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks.
BLITZER: In fact, the most significant anniversaries all come this week. Exactly 45 years ago today, Iraq's military turns on the British-backed monarchy. King Faisal II assassinated, years of political unrest follow.
This Wednesday, July 16, on that day in 1979, Saddam Hussein forces his relative Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr to retire and becomes president. Saddam begins an infamous purge ordering the executions of hundreds of Ba'ath Party members who supported him.
An earlier piece of Saddam's history is marked this Thursday, July 17. That's the date of the bloodless coup in 1968 when the Ba'ath Party came to power, a Ba'ath Party led in part by a young Saddam Hussein. All three of these dates have until now been national holidays.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Meanwhile, a group claiming to be an al Qaeda affiliate says it's behind recent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, not Saddam Hussein loyalists. The group calls itself the Armed Islamic Movement of al Qaeda organization al-Fallujah branch and it warned of more attacks in a tape delivered to the Al-Arabiya Television Network.
But a U.S. intelligence official tells CNN that claim should be taken, and I'm quoting now, "with a huge grain of salt." The group, this official says, is unknown. Let's get some more information on what we just heard from Nic Robertson on when U.S. troops might be coming home. Let's go to the Pentagon. Our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre is standing by for that -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you just heard from Nic Robertson no rest for the war weary. It was last week that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced in congressional testimony that the entire 3rd Infantry Division, the battle scarred war weary division would be returning to the United States by September.
But now, that redeployment is on hold. It's a bitter poll for the soldiers, especially their families at Fort Stewart, Georgia, home base for the division's 1st and 2nd brigades. These troops were the first into Baghdad and have suffered more deaths, 37, than any other division. They've been told they'd be home, return home in August and September.
The 3rd Brigade, roughly one-third of the division, is already out of Iraq and on its way home to the U.S., but for 9,000 remaining soldiers who have borne the brunt of the fighting and lately the guerrilla-style attacks, it's back to wondering when they can return home and soldiers tell us that the uncertainty is the hardest part.
What happened? Well, Pentagon sources say part of the problem is the security just isn't good enough in Iraq to allow those troops to come home and, also, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld may have been slightly ahead of the planning.
Now, the question is will Army planners work very hard to catch up to what the secretary said, try to make his statement come true but that point that is a hope more than a promise -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie, is the U.S. Army that stretched out right now? They don't have enough top of the line troops to go in and replace these guys?
MCINTYRE: They are pretty thinly stretched. Right now the only division in the United States that's ready to go is the 1st Cavalry Division in Texas. They'll probably be going sometime soon but the question is who will they replace? Parts of the 10th Mountain Division are ready to go but they're going to have to go to Afghanistan where the U.S. still has troops there that need to be refreshed as well.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre with that word at the Pentagon, Jamie thanks very much.
A brother and a sister missing and feared dead, their father suspected of murder, the latest on this custody dispute that apparently has turned into a tragedy.
Plus, sexual assault caught on tape at a Target store. Now police are asking for your help to track down this man.
And, the brewing storm, the Gulf Coast hunkers down for a big one. We'll tell you what's going on and we'll take you there live.
First, today's news quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Where was the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history, Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Homestead, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana, the answer coming up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Police are holding out little hope that two New Hampshire children will be found alive and they're considering murder charges against the children's father. Just moments ago the suspect was due in court in Santa Clara, California.
CNN's Jennifer Coggiola is with us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with more on this story.
JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.
Well, the cross-country search for these two missing New Hampshire children is not looking promising this after law enforcement officials have reported that they may now have evidence that the children are dead.
Right now, though, Manuel Gehring is scheduled to be arraigned in a Clara County courthouse in California. Now, as we get more information from that hearing I will bring you the details but, for right now, let me give you a little background on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA (voice-over): The last time 14-year-old Sarah and her 11-year-old brother Philip were seen was leaving a Fourth of July fireworks display with their father Manuel Gehring, apparently very upset.
STRELZIN: I think it's fair to characterize it as a loud, verbal argument. It certainly caught the notice of at least two people who have contacted us.
COGGIOLA: A week later, Gehring was arrested at a hotel in California on charges of interfering with the custody of his children and they were nowhere to be found. Their suspected abduction comes after a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Teresa Knight who has told authorities that Gehring told her he had no intention of following through with the custody agreement and that "he was very agitated and angry the last time she spoke with him."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA: Now, at this point, police do continue to search the Midwest, primarily Ohio over this past weekend though officials say they're holding out little hope that the children will be found alive -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jennifer Coggiola with that thanks. Let's hope for the best. Jennifer, thank you very much.
Attack at a department store, we've just received new surveillance of the suspect apparently leading his victim down the shopping aisle. The man who did it is still on the run allegedly. It's turning into a case of he-said she-said.
Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant speaks out for the first time along with friends of his alleged victim. Hear what they're saying about that night at a Colorado resort.
And, where are the weapons of mass destruction? The debate over pre-war intelligence is raging.
First, in case you were out enjoying the days off, here's our Weekend Snapshot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Off the tracks, it could be weeks before part of the Columbia Gorge in Washington State is cleaned up after a train derailment. The freight train carrying wood chips, wheat and barley went off the tracks yesterday.
Terror in the surf, an eight-year-old girl survived after she was swept off the beach on South Padre Island, Texas yesterday by a massive wave. The girl was found an hour later walking along the beach after she was carried more than a mile down the shoreline. The girl was holding onto a bogey board while she was being carried by the surf.
Solar challenge, using sun rays for power some race car drivers are on their way from Chicago to California. They're taking part in a 2,300 mile race sponsored by the Energy Department. The cars were built by American and Canadian colleges and universities.
Fleischer hosed down, outgoing White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was literally showered with affection by a staff member Saturday. They staked out Air Force One after its return from the presidential trip to Africa and they arranged for their boss to be sprayed with a hose from a fire engine. Today is Fleischer's last official day on the job.
Revenge of the mascots, the pickles from Louisville avenged an attack on a sausage buddy from Milwaukee by turning the tables and attacking a player during Saturday's minor league game between Louisville and Ottawa. It was all in fun, of course. Last week in the big leagues the sausage from Milwaukee was attacked by a player from Pittsburgh, and that's our Weekend Snapshot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: In West Virginia, tips are pouring in as police search for a man they say sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl in a crowded discount store. They're main lead right now surveillance tape of the suspect.
CNN's Mike Brooks is with us at the CNN Center in Atlanta. He's got details -- Mike.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, very, very disturbing case here in South Charleston, West Virginia, where an 11-year-old girl was allegedly assaulted by another customer in the store.
Now, earlier today we saw some video that showed him actually in the store stalking her but the new video we've received that we're seeing right now shows a man taking a woman, a girl, by the hand and dragging her as the detectives described to me, dragging her down the aisle.
Now, in his video he is actually taking her between the seasonal department at the Target Department Store and the men's department, so this was in between two assaults.
Now, Detective Yeager (ph) of the South Charleston Police Department who I've been speaking to on a regular basis today, he said that it shows -- this video is -- that the alleged perpetrator could be charged with sexual abuse and sexual assault but this is after he had already followed her around the store, Wolf, stalked her and then took her from one department to another department where he assaulted her twice.
So, then he's described by detectives as a White male about 200 pounds, 5'6" to 5'9" in his late 20s, early 30s, Wolf, with a baseball cap. No distinguishable tattoos or anything else that they are looking at.
Now, they're going to send this videotape that we're seeing here to the FBI and to NASA to have it enhanced. It could take some time for them to do that but I can tell you, Wolf, from personal experience and working cases they can do miracles with some fuzzy video like this and, if anyone does see anyone in this that they recognize, if they do recognize this man they're asked to please call the South Charleston Police Department at 304-744-4666.
Wolf, they've been getting a lot of tips in and they're pouring over a lot of other video from stores in the shopping center where this Target is but, ironically Wolf, the detective I spoke to said that he works with Target on a regular basis on other cases they've worked and they usually have a high tech video system in the parking lot. That system in the parking lot today was broken -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Mike. I'm going to ask you to repeat the number in a second so get it ready for our viewers who may have missed it the first time you mentioned it.
But, this 11-year-old girl was she in the store by herself or was she accompanied by an adult? BROOKS: She apparently was in the store by her mother. In the early video, we could see, you can see just the alleged perpetrator looking over the rack of some videos and there you can just see off to the side in one of the videos that I've seen you could just see a woman and a little girl.
Now, of course, we cannot show the little girl's picture because she is an alleged victim and she is 11 years old but we see the alleged perpetrator right here and the police said that in this video we're seeing right now he was actually stalking his victim right then -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Any reaction from Target, the store itself?
BROOKS: Well, we received a statement from Target, Wolf, and I'll just read that quickly. It says:
"We're appalled by the nature of the situation and are working extensively with South Charleston law enforcement, including providing recorded video from our automated cameras. Target has invested in state of the art video equipment which we hope will be helpful in apprehending the perpetrator.
Target store's first priority is the safety of its guests and team members. It is our goal to provide a safe shopping environment for our communities. We are conducting an internal investigation into the situation, which we believe is isolated." And then they also give the South Charleston Police Department number should anyone have any information at all regarding this incident -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, tell them Mike. Mike, tell our viewers the number again in case they recognize this man and we'll put the picture as best as we have it up on the screen. In case anyone knows anything about this, recognizes this man, what's the number they should call?
BROOKS: The number again is the South Charleston, West Virginia Police Department at 304-744-4666. Now, they're getting a lot of tips but if there's anything that you think you recognize this -- anything about this man, this alleged perpetrator they want you to contact them because they do need your help -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, that number is at the bottom of our screen for viewers who want to write it down. Of course, the South Charleston Police will be grateful for any kind of leads. Mike Brooks thanks very much, a shocking, shocking story indeed.
Was Iraq really, really an imminent threat to U.S. security?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they had them and they were armed to the teeth with them, why didn't they use them?
BLITZER: The debate over pre-war intelligence. It's heating up. We'll have some of that when we come back.
Plus, millions brace for Claudette. We'll go live to the Gulf Coast where hurricane preparations are now underway.
And, crash ending, the competition gets fierce at the Tour de France, find out what almost took out, almost took out Lance Armstrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. Here now is Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. The controversy over pre-war intelligence, was Iraq really an imminent threat, that debate that's coming up in only a few minutes.
But first, the latest headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: It's a controversy that simply won't go away. The president's use of a prewar British intelligence report suggesting Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain uranium in Africa to rebuild his nuclear weapons program. But for increasingly vocal Bush administration critics, that's raising a much broader question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): In the weeks and months leading up to the war with Iraq, President Bush and his top advisers were categorical in warning of the threat.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. At such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
BLITZER: Top U.N. weapons inspectors, in contrast, were much more nuanced in their bottom-line assessments.
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: During the course of these inspections, we have not found any smoking gun.
BLITZER: On the eve of the war, Saddam Hussein and his loyalists insisted they had no weapons of mass destruction, period.
MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.N: The bottom line: You can accuse as much as you like, but you cannot provide one piece of evidence.
BLITZER: Now, nearly four months after the start of the war, even some previous supporters are openly expressing their doubts.
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, it's clear that they weren't armed with these weapons. They didn't use them. We defeated their army in the field. We have control over their arsenals. We haven't found them.
BLITZER: Brzezinski had been a hawk on the war, but now dismisses the notion the Iraqis hid the weapons, calling that comical.
BRZEZINSKI: If they had them and they were armed to the teeth with them, why didn't they use them? If they didn't use them and hid them, that means they were deterred. And how do you hide all of these hundreds of hundreds of thousands of weapons with which they were armed?
BLITZER: No signs the president is backing away at all from his pre-war warnings about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
BUSH: The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, does Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The best way for the White House, of course, to resolve this matter once and for all is for the United States to locate weapons of mass destruction. Short of that, the debate will not only continue, but it's likely to intensify in the weeks and months to come.
So did the Bush administration go too far in making the case for war? Democratic Congressman Ed Markey has written the president asking for answers, and he joins me now, along with Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of the International Relations Committee.
Ed Markey, you supported the president going into the war. But now you have got some serious doubts.
REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, the resolution was passed in order to give the president a two by four to go to the United Nations in order to set up an inspections regime, in order to find, amongst other things, a nuclear weapons program.
Now, if in January, two months after that resolution passes, the president says that he is relying upon information that the British are giving him, that says that they have a nuclear weapons program, they are seeking uranium, they are seeking aluminum tubing in order to construct a nuclear weapons factory, and all of that turns out to not be true, then it raises the question as to whether or not we should have ended the inspections regime and began a war. Because if the inspections regime was not identifying these weapons of mass destruction, then, in fact, the war may have begun unnecessarily in order to disarm a man that did not have a nuclear weapons program.
BLITZER: What about that, Congressman?
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: These guys are stretching. I hope the American people really remember this whole incident. The fact is, the president of the United States mentioned that the British had intelligence indicating this, but so what? Do we want Saddam Hussein back? Do we want a man who had a blood grudge against the United States to continue in such power that he had beforehand? We found mass graves there. Just in terms of his chemical, biological weapons and nuclear weapons capabilities, we know that he had nuclear ambition, but we knew he had chemical, biological weapons because he used them on his own people.
MARKEY: We have 147,000 young men and women over in Iraq right now. The basis for that was that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States. In the State of the Union address, he said that a nuclear program was under construction, and that if it was successful, it could hand over a weapon to al Qaeda to threaten us. Now that scares the American public. They did not want Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon.
BLITZER: Are you saying you don't believe that he had weapons of mass destruction?
MARKEY: I do not believe that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapons program in progress.
BLITZER: Well, forget about weapons -- what about biological and chemical?
MARKEY: Well, as far as the American people are concerned, one nuclear weapon equals all of the rest of the weapons of mass destruction tied together, because it could destroy an entire city. None of the other weapons of mass destruction can do that.
(CROSSTALK)
MARKEY: You would have to move 3,000 barrels of sarin gas in order to equal one nuclear weapon, and that's impossible to do. That's why nuclear weapons scare the American public so much the president should not have included it.
ROHRABACHER: Saddam Hussein murdered tens of thousands of his own people with chemical, biological weapons. The fact is, that in and of itself, and the fact that he had a blood grudge against the United States. If he didn't have a nuclear weapon at the moment that we invaded, why should we wait until he gets his hands on it? This is a man who hated the United States because of what we did to him 10 years before. It was prudent for this president to get rid of him.
BLITZER: Are you suggesting, Congressman Markey, that the president sold you and your fellow Democrats who voted for the resolution, a bill of goods?
MARKEY: What I'm saying is that the American people heard that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapons program. It turns out that it did not. It turns out that Tony Blair was using bogus information. Now, some of these administration officials are still saying ...
ROHRABACHER: That's not in the record.
MARKEY: ... they are still saying that it may be true. So I say to the president, you ask Tony Blair this week when he comes to the White House, what the intelligence information was. Because he owes it, as the president of the United States, to tell the American people what the British knew that we relied upon in the State of the Union address that scared the American people.
ROHRABACHER: By the way, we know the Israelis bombed out and destroyed his first attempt at getting a nuclear weapon.
BLITZER: That was in 1981.
ROHRABACHER: Right. So we knew that this gangster who ran Iraq and murdered so many of his own people, we knew he wanted to get his hands on weapons of mass destruction.
It's very good that he's gone. What did these Democrats want to do? Bring back Saddam?
BLITZER: What do you say to those, like Ed Markey, like Zbigniew Brzezinski, who argue, you know what, they believed the president going into the war, but now, looking back, the evidence was exaggerated.
ROHRABACHER: This is nitpicking at its worst. This is a political reach. This is a political gamesmanship.
MARKEY: First of all, the Reagan and Bush administrations of 1981 condemned the Israelis for bombing the nuclear power plant in Iraq and the Democrats supported the Israelis in 1981. And on this, calling it nitpicking, maybe it's nuke picking, because for the American public, nukes are the most serious issue that threaten world stability. And you cannot just dismiss it as any other issue. It's the most important.
ROHRABACHER: We have a man in power in Iraq who is about to because of new oil discoveries in Iraq is about to receive enormous financial and political power. He hates the United States of America. We are going to wait until he just buys a nuclear weapon 10 years down the road or five years down the road or are we going to wait -- we already know he's used chemical and biological weapons and killed thousands of his own people. It's good that he's out of power. And I'm proud of our president and the American people should be proud...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Congressman Markey, you are happy Saddam Hussein is gone.
MARKEY: Saddam Hussein is not gone. We have not captured Saddam Hussein yet.
BLITZER: We got control of Baghdad.
MARKEY: Well, if we don't stay there for the next two to four years with 150,000 young men and women he could easily reconstitute himself, in the same way Napoleon did in coming back from Elba and retake Paris again. So until we capture Saddam Hussein, there's no guarantee that a Napoleon-like return is in the offing. And I believe there are thousands of Baathists who are armed in that country, who are waiting for that day, and that's why we can't leave. ROHRABACHER: Look, look we know in the northern part of that country, the Kurds, a whole third of that country, they worship the ground that we walk on because we've liberated them from Saddam Hussein. We know that the vast majority of the rest of the country are Shiites and they were kept ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: All right, let me ask both of you, because we don't have a lot of time. Congressman Rohrabacher, you first, what does the president need to do to end this controversy?
ROHRABACHER: Well, first of all, there's nothing that can be done to end the controversy, because this controversy is much to do made out of a little. The fact is the Democrats are playing presidential year election politics, and this is a reach.
BLITZER: A formal inquiry in Congress?
ROHRABACHER: Well, look, I don't believe -- I am happy always to have formal inquiries in the Congress. This doesn't even warrant it, as far as I'm concerned. We are glad Saddam Hussein is gone. If they want to nitpick and say, well, the president may have been wrong here and may have been wrong here in what he said, that doesn't change the outcome. The outcome is very powerful.
BLITZER: Congressman Markey, what do you want the president to do?
MARKEY: George Tenet must resign for the credibility of the intelligence community. Secondly, those who forced him in the national security community, in the White House, to accept those words which he disagreed with, they also must be made accountable.
BLITZER: Any other names, you want people gone?
MARKEY: Whoever they are, whoever was responsible. Thirdly, we need an independent blue ribbon commission. Independent is the key word. And fourth, we need the president to ask Tony Blair this Wednesday, what was the information the United States relied upon with regard to that nuclear weapons program.
ROHRABACHER: The perception is the president was wrong. Mr. Markey is suggesting that the president was absolutely wrong. By the way, I've worked on State of the Union messages. The president's staff has to check off and the CIA director had to check off. But you take a look at what the president said, it was based on British intelligence. The president was not stating something that was factually in error. And here we have the Democrats making a big deal out of something that is not factually incorrect and, by the way, once it's further investigated I bet we will find that Saddam Hussein was...
(CROSSTALK)
MARKEY: Recently. That's what the speech (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- recently tried to get nuclear materials. That's the key word.
BLITZER: And before I get flooded with a lot of e-mails, you were referring to the 1991 Ocyruk (ph)...
MARKEY: 1981.
BLITZER: 1981, when the Reagan administration voted ....
MARKEY: In the U.N.
BLITZER: ...at the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel....
MARKEY: That's correct.
BLITZER: ... for bombing that reactor. Jean Kirkpatrick was then the U.N. Ambassador.
MARKEY: And I believe the Israelis deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for doing it.
BLITZER: In looking back, you think the Israelis did the right thing?
ROHRBACHER: Looking back, I think the israelis did the right thing and looking back it gives me more evidence that the Democrats are playing politics.
BLITZER: All right. We're going to have to leave it right back there. Congressman Rohrbacher, thanks very much for joining us. Congressman Markey, thank you very much.
Of course, we'd love to hear from you on this very important question. Our "Web Question of the Day is this: "Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war?" You can log on to cnn.com/wolf. You can vote right now. We'll have the results coming up this hour.
The Texas Gulf coast watches and waits. When we return, as Claudette moves closer to shore, hurricane warnings go up in Corpus Christi and other parts of the Texas coast. We'll find out what's happening there and what the region can expect.
First, let's look at other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Suspected terrorists on trial in Jordan. Six men are charges with conspiracy, including last year's assassination of American diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman. Prosecutors say the men have links to al Qaeda.
Flooding in eastern China, the result of weeks of heavy rain. More than half a million homes have been destroyed and more than 1 million damaged. A show of military force as France celebrates Bastille Day. Four thousand troops and 350 vehicles proceeded down the Champs d'Elysees in Paris while 76 aircraft flew above. Bastille Day commemorates the start of the French Revolution in 1789.
Cuban singer and guitarist Compay Segundo has died at 95. His career spanned decades, but his international fame came late in life with his 1997 Grammy for "Buena Vista Social Club."
American cyclist Lance Armstrong, the overall leader after the ninth stage of the Tour de France. He placed fourth in today's 114- mile mountain leg after narrowly avoiding a wreck.
And in the streets of Berlin, the 15th annual Love Parade. Half a million techno fans took part in possibly the world's largest rave with 250 deejays on 50 floats.
And that's our look "Around the World."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked: "Where was the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history? The answer: Galveston, Texas. Eight thousand people were killed and 12 city blocks were wind away when a monster hurricane hit at the beginning of the last century.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Waiting on the law. Is Kobe Bryant closer to learning if the allegations against him will lead to charges? We'll go live to Colorado for the latest.
First, though, let's go live to the Gulf Coast where a hurricane -- a hurricane could crash. A hurricane warning is indeed up along the Texas Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Claudette swirls toward that region. CNN's Ed Lavandera is keeping an eye on the situation in Corpus Christi -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.
Well, here in Corpus Christi, a muggy, hot day. Blue skies -- some clouds in the skies here. But very hot. No signs of a storm coming very close here.
We're in the Corpus Christi Marina, where throughout the day we've seen a lot of people here taking care of their boats and doing what they need to to secure things here as best they can. If we take you upstream from here a couple of hundred miles in Galveston, you can see some of the early effects of Tropical Storm Claudette making its way. The surf starting to pick up there a little bit here as well. But this is a very slow moving storm. Here in Corpus Christi, there aren't -- a lot of people aren't terribly worried about the winds that were coming, some 65 to 70 mile an hour winds. At this point, but people mostly concerned with the possibility of major flooding. This is a slow-moving storm and storms like this that have come through in the past have generally stalled out over the inland areas and caused some flooding. So that is what people here along the Texas Gulf Coast are worried about at this point -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed Lavandera. We'll be watching and waiting with you, Ed. Thanks very much.
For more on the storm, we turn now to an expert. Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Mr. Mayfield, thanks very much for joining us. Give us the latest information you have.
MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, right now, Wolf, we have a strong tropical storm. The maximum sustained winds are near 65 miles an hour. We've have issued a hurricane warning from Baffin Bay to up to High Island, Texas. We are forecasting some additional strengthening, and people in the hurricane warning area there should be preparing for a category 1 hurricane.
BLITZER: When do you think it will hit?
MAYFIELD: Well, the center is about 250 miles east of Corpus right now. It's drifting north northwestward. We think it will turn more towards the west-northwest. The center will likely be there tomorrow afternoon. But the storm force winds out 100 to 115 miles away from that center, so they'll start some of those tropical storm force winds on the upper Texas coast tonight shortly after midnight.
BLITZER: Show us on your monitor -- I see you have a map behind you -- where you think the most dangerous areas are.
MAYFIELD: Well, the center is actually here, right on the edge of the thunderstorm area. But the strongest winds are going to be in the north and northeast side here. The track that we're forecasting has it, as I said, turning more to the west-northwest. So storm surge wise, we're expecting 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels near and to the north of where the center crosses the coast.
But we don't want to focus just on that center because it could easily turn a little more to the north or a little bit more even to the west there. We just don't want to overdo this, but at the same time we don't want to minimize it, because it almost always has some loss of life in even strong storms or weak hurricanes.
BLITZER: This would be a -- what? A weak hurricane? A relatively weak hurricane, a level one. But our viewers shouldn't be under any illusions. This is still very dangerous.
MAYFIELD: It is, and you need to treat it with respect and listen to the advice of your local officials. And we're particularly concerned about the surfers. We almost always have some loss of life there. A little bit of common sense and we don't have to see that.
BLITZER: And the greatest dangers is, what, flooding? Is that what you're suggesting?
MAYFIELD: No, I don't -- actually, I think most of Texas there would appreciate some of this rainfall. We are forecasting some locally high amounts, 5 to 8 inches. It is moving slowly, but it is going to keep moving when it moves inland area. So I don't think that's going to be as big a concern with river flooding as in some situations in the past. Certainly not like Allison.
BLITZER: So as early as after midnight local time tonight do you think the effects of this hurricane could begin happening?
MAYFIELD: We'll start getting some of those outer bands and the storm force winds after midnight and then depending on the exact track, the winds will increase and the seas will also increase during the day tomorrow. The center should be nearing the coast early tomorrow afternoon.
BLITZER: Does it make any difference, Mr. Mayfield, a hurricane hits at night when it's dark as opposed during the daylight hours?
MAYFIELD: Usually, if it hits at nighttime, most people are indeed, indoors and you typically don't have as much in the way of loss of life. I'm a little concerned, if it does come during the daytime, we are going to have people out there, swimmers and surfers. And, again, we really don't want to see that loss of life. So people need to exercise caution.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, we'll be watching with you and all your experts over there, and we'll be obviously calling on your expertise for some more information as we continue to watch and wait. Thanks very much.
MAYFIELD: Thank you very much, Wolf.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, thank you very much.
Kobe Bryant speaks out about possible, possible sexual assault charges. Hear his side of the story when we return.
And another NBA star pleads guilty. Find out what Chris Webber is taking the wrap for.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Kobe Bryant is breaking his silence, making his first public comments about the sexual assault allegation against him and the coverage it's generating. CNN's Brian Cabell is in Vail, Colorado, where the charges could be filed as early as this week. What's the latest, Brian?
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we just talked to the district attorney about an hour ago, as a matter of fact. He says no decision has been made yet. No announcement is planned yet. But he's hoping to make that decision early this week, which we interpret as meaning either tomorrow or possibly on Wednesday. The very latest he said he hopes would be the end of this week, Friday maybe.
In the meantime, some of the alleged victim's friends are making some news. One of them appeared on ABC this morning and said the alleged victim had had personal, emotional problems in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STARLENE BRAY, FRIEND OF ALLEGED VICTIM: Yes, it's true, she did seek some medical help. She knew that she needed it, so she went and got it. I don't think it has anything to do with what happened that night. I think that was solely, you know, just something that came about. Has nothing to do with her psychological abilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Another of the alleged victim's friends went on NBC this morning, said she had talked to the alleged victim very recently and the alleged victim had said, quote, "he went the whole way," referring to Kobe Bryant and the alleged sexual encounter.
That confirms more or less what we heard last week from a source in the investigation who said they were not looking at a charge of fondling here. They were look at a case of penetration.
Bryant in the meantime is speaking up for himself. He spoke to the "Los Angeles Times" by phone over the weekend. He said, quote, "when everything comes clean it will all be fine, you'll see. But you guys know me. I shouldn't have to say anything. You know I would never do something like that. Man, there's a lot of crazy stories out there."
We also talked to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation earlier today. They say they have actually finished some of the analysis on these lab tests, they have sent those back to the sheriff. They are still doing more tests. Those will come in later this week. Normally a case like this takes about six weeks. They are expending it. They think it will take about two weeks. That means they should have all those tests in they think by this week. That means, Wolf, as we said, that probably we'll have a decision by the prosecutor on whether to file charges some time later this week, possibly, possibly by tomorrow -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, very quickly, is Kobe Bryant denying there was any sex or denying there was sexual assault? Was he suggesting that there was some consensual sex there?
CABELL: That's up for interpretation, Wolf. He said, you know I wouldn't do something like that. It leaves open the possibility, conceivably, I would think, for consensual sex. But he'd have to elaborate.
BLITZER: All right, Brian Cabell, we'll be watching this for us. Thanks very much, Brian Cabell in Vail, Colorado. Our hot Web question of the day is coming up. Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war? You can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Kobe Bryant's problems are resolved -- have not been resolved, but no federal perjury trial for Sacramento Kings basketball star Chris Webber. He's pleading guilty to a lesser charge of criminal contempt and will likely have to pay a fine, but will avoid jail time.
Webber is accused of lying to a grand jury about paying back a supporter and confessed money launderer who lent him thousands of dollars while he was playing at the University of Michigan.
Here's how you are weighing in on our Web question of the day. We've been asking you this: Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war? Look at this -- 12 percent of you say yes, 88 percent of you say no; more than 10,000 of you have already voted. You can continue to vote, but remember, this is not a scientific poll.
A reminder, you can see us every day, twice a day, at noon Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. See you again tomorrow. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" with Jan Hopkins sitting in starts right now.
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Tour of Duty in Iraq Extended>
Aired July 14, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: You're looking at a live picture of the Texas coast where tropical trouble is just offshore and we're just getting a revised forecast of Claudette. Who will bear the brunt of the bad weather?
WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Under fire in Iraq but the attacks may intensify. Why Saddam Hussein's loyalists may have their eyes on the calendar.
Did the president go too far in making the case for war?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence.
BLITZER: Texas braces for trouble as the latest storm decides where to strike.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, we need to be very, very careful and take this seriously.
BLITZER: A father under arrest, where are his missing children?
JEFF STRELZIN, N.H. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: We've obviously conducted searches here in Concord, New Hampshire, and we have searched some areas, some general and specific areas in the Midwest.
BLITZER: What surveillance cameras and dozens of shoppers didn't see, a young girl molested in a department store, now the search for a suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is somebody's brother, neighbor, cousin. He's related to somebody. We want to find him before he does it again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Monday, July 14, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
President Bush is not backing down despite simmering controversy over intelligence and new American casualties in Iraq. He's downplaying critics who question whether he exaggerated the threat to justify the war which has claimed the life of another American soldier today.
At the same time, the president is contemplating sending U.S. troops to another hot spot, namely Liberia. We have two reports for you.
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad but we begin with our White House Correspondent Chris Burns -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a U.S. mission to Liberia would be one filled with risks but after the president's visit to Africa, his commitment to helping that continent is being put to the test.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): It's the closest President Bush has come to pledging boots on the ground in Liberia, a country on the brink of more bloody fighting if a tenuous cease-fire collapses.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has led the call for U.S. participation at least help for West African ECOWAS peacekeepers to deploy and he got some qualified assurances.
BUSH: It stands. Any commitment we have would be limited in size and limited in tenure.
BURNS: But the president also made clear that any participation depends on the exile of Liberian President Charles Taylor, blamed for years of civil wars in West Africa.
Mr. Bush said he won't make a decision until he gets a report as soon as possible, he said, from a U.S. assessment team greeted enthusiastically in the streets of Monrovia.
Despite America's moral, historical link to a nation founded by freed American slaves, President Bush must weigh the military and political risks of sending U.S. troops to yet another conflict zone, this amid the growing number of American troops dying in Iraq.
The president was pressed again over the controversy about the pre-war allegation that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Africa. And, despite administration regrets about putting the charge in his January State of the Union message, Mr. Bush insists he remains confident about the intelligence he gets.
BUSH: The speeches I have given were backed by good intelligence and I am absolutely convinced today, like I was convinced when I gave the speeches, that Saddam Hussein developed a program of weapons of mass destruction and that our country made the right decision. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: It was the latest attempt by President Bush to smooth over what the Democrats are seizing on as a credibility gap, a gap that could widen unless weapons of mass destruction or their programs are eventually found in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Chris Burns at the White House thanks Chris very much.
Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this, we're asking this question. "Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
You can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
On the ground in Iraq, American troops under fire once again today with deadly consequences. Once again, let's go live to our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. He's on the scene for us in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one U.S. soldier killed this morning and ten injured in an attack on a convoy they were traveling in. One truck was hit by two rocket- propelled grenades. Eyewitnesses say the attack took place early in the morning, 5:30 in the morning. They say they heard two loud explosions followed by heavy machine gun fire.
A little later, U.S. personnel were on the ground trying to get more information about that particular attack. Later in the day, another attack while the new governing council in Iraq was meeting in a convention center deciding to send its first envoy to the U.N. Security Council, outside somebody set off an explosive device under the car belonging to an embassy here in Baghdad that car destroyed in that particular attack.
And, north of Baghdad, Operation Ivy Serpent underway to track down, the coalition says to track down Ba'ath Party loyalists. They say they've so far detained in that operation some 226 Iraqis, six of them they describe as being loyalists to Saddam Hussein. That has taken place in 27 raids. Hundreds of mortar rounds seized, 50 AK-47s, and several dozen rocket-propelled grenades so far -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic, any improvement as far as rotating troops? Anything you're hearing about new U.S. troops coming in, troops that have been there for a while coming back to the United States?
ROBERTSON: What I heard today, Wolf was disappointment. I was in Fallujah, which is where the 3rd Infantry Division are based. They have been told -- the troops I've been talking to have been told within the last week or so they would probably leave later this month, maybe the end of the month. They were told two days ago, they told me, that their stay has been extended indefinitely. They were disappointed about that.
Troops in other areas still quite fresh still say morale is high but, clearly, from the soldiers I've talked to today not happy about having their mission extended further -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic Robertson in Baghdad thanks Nic very much.
Most of the attacks on U.S. forces over these past couple of months have come within an area that's become known as the Sunni Triangle, dominated by Sunni Muslims. It ranges from Baghdad on the south to Tikrit in the north, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, out to the west to Fallujah, another hotbed of regime loyalists.
Do Saddam Hussein's diehards have their eyes on the calendar? The attacks on U.S. troops just may be stepped up to coincide with some key anniversaries.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): It's already been a dangerous month for U.S. troops in Iraq, at least nine killed in attacks over the past two weeks. This week brings a dire warning from the U.S. defense secretary.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Ba'athist events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks.
BLITZER: In fact, the most significant anniversaries all come this week. Exactly 45 years ago today, Iraq's military turns on the British-backed monarchy. King Faisal II assassinated, years of political unrest follow.
This Wednesday, July 16, on that day in 1979, Saddam Hussein forces his relative Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr to retire and becomes president. Saddam begins an infamous purge ordering the executions of hundreds of Ba'ath Party members who supported him.
An earlier piece of Saddam's history is marked this Thursday, July 17. That's the date of the bloodless coup in 1968 when the Ba'ath Party came to power, a Ba'ath Party led in part by a young Saddam Hussein. All three of these dates have until now been national holidays.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Meanwhile, a group claiming to be an al Qaeda affiliate says it's behind recent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, not Saddam Hussein loyalists. The group calls itself the Armed Islamic Movement of al Qaeda organization al-Fallujah branch and it warned of more attacks in a tape delivered to the Al-Arabiya Television Network.
But a U.S. intelligence official tells CNN that claim should be taken, and I'm quoting now, "with a huge grain of salt." The group, this official says, is unknown. Let's get some more information on what we just heard from Nic Robertson on when U.S. troops might be coming home. Let's go to the Pentagon. Our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre is standing by for that -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you just heard from Nic Robertson no rest for the war weary. It was last week that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced in congressional testimony that the entire 3rd Infantry Division, the battle scarred war weary division would be returning to the United States by September.
But now, that redeployment is on hold. It's a bitter poll for the soldiers, especially their families at Fort Stewart, Georgia, home base for the division's 1st and 2nd brigades. These troops were the first into Baghdad and have suffered more deaths, 37, than any other division. They've been told they'd be home, return home in August and September.
The 3rd Brigade, roughly one-third of the division, is already out of Iraq and on its way home to the U.S., but for 9,000 remaining soldiers who have borne the brunt of the fighting and lately the guerrilla-style attacks, it's back to wondering when they can return home and soldiers tell us that the uncertainty is the hardest part.
What happened? Well, Pentagon sources say part of the problem is the security just isn't good enough in Iraq to allow those troops to come home and, also, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld may have been slightly ahead of the planning.
Now, the question is will Army planners work very hard to catch up to what the secretary said, try to make his statement come true but that point that is a hope more than a promise -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie, is the U.S. Army that stretched out right now? They don't have enough top of the line troops to go in and replace these guys?
MCINTYRE: They are pretty thinly stretched. Right now the only division in the United States that's ready to go is the 1st Cavalry Division in Texas. They'll probably be going sometime soon but the question is who will they replace? Parts of the 10th Mountain Division are ready to go but they're going to have to go to Afghanistan where the U.S. still has troops there that need to be refreshed as well.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre with that word at the Pentagon, Jamie thanks very much.
A brother and a sister missing and feared dead, their father suspected of murder, the latest on this custody dispute that apparently has turned into a tragedy.
Plus, sexual assault caught on tape at a Target store. Now police are asking for your help to track down this man.
And, the brewing storm, the Gulf Coast hunkers down for a big one. We'll tell you what's going on and we'll take you there live.
First, today's news quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Where was the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history, Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Homestead, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana, the answer coming up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Police are holding out little hope that two New Hampshire children will be found alive and they're considering murder charges against the children's father. Just moments ago the suspect was due in court in Santa Clara, California.
CNN's Jennifer Coggiola is with us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with more on this story.
JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.
Well, the cross-country search for these two missing New Hampshire children is not looking promising this after law enforcement officials have reported that they may now have evidence that the children are dead.
Right now, though, Manuel Gehring is scheduled to be arraigned in a Clara County courthouse in California. Now, as we get more information from that hearing I will bring you the details but, for right now, let me give you a little background on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA (voice-over): The last time 14-year-old Sarah and her 11-year-old brother Philip were seen was leaving a Fourth of July fireworks display with their father Manuel Gehring, apparently very upset.
STRELZIN: I think it's fair to characterize it as a loud, verbal argument. It certainly caught the notice of at least two people who have contacted us.
COGGIOLA: A week later, Gehring was arrested at a hotel in California on charges of interfering with the custody of his children and they were nowhere to be found. Their suspected abduction comes after a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Teresa Knight who has told authorities that Gehring told her he had no intention of following through with the custody agreement and that "he was very agitated and angry the last time she spoke with him."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA: Now, at this point, police do continue to search the Midwest, primarily Ohio over this past weekend though officials say they're holding out little hope that the children will be found alive -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jennifer Coggiola with that thanks. Let's hope for the best. Jennifer, thank you very much.
Attack at a department store, we've just received new surveillance of the suspect apparently leading his victim down the shopping aisle. The man who did it is still on the run allegedly. It's turning into a case of he-said she-said.
Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant speaks out for the first time along with friends of his alleged victim. Hear what they're saying about that night at a Colorado resort.
And, where are the weapons of mass destruction? The debate over pre-war intelligence is raging.
First, in case you were out enjoying the days off, here's our Weekend Snapshot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Off the tracks, it could be weeks before part of the Columbia Gorge in Washington State is cleaned up after a train derailment. The freight train carrying wood chips, wheat and barley went off the tracks yesterday.
Terror in the surf, an eight-year-old girl survived after she was swept off the beach on South Padre Island, Texas yesterday by a massive wave. The girl was found an hour later walking along the beach after she was carried more than a mile down the shoreline. The girl was holding onto a bogey board while she was being carried by the surf.
Solar challenge, using sun rays for power some race car drivers are on their way from Chicago to California. They're taking part in a 2,300 mile race sponsored by the Energy Department. The cars were built by American and Canadian colleges and universities.
Fleischer hosed down, outgoing White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was literally showered with affection by a staff member Saturday. They staked out Air Force One after its return from the presidential trip to Africa and they arranged for their boss to be sprayed with a hose from a fire engine. Today is Fleischer's last official day on the job.
Revenge of the mascots, the pickles from Louisville avenged an attack on a sausage buddy from Milwaukee by turning the tables and attacking a player during Saturday's minor league game between Louisville and Ottawa. It was all in fun, of course. Last week in the big leagues the sausage from Milwaukee was attacked by a player from Pittsburgh, and that's our Weekend Snapshot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: In West Virginia, tips are pouring in as police search for a man they say sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl in a crowded discount store. They're main lead right now surveillance tape of the suspect.
CNN's Mike Brooks is with us at the CNN Center in Atlanta. He's got details -- Mike.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, very, very disturbing case here in South Charleston, West Virginia, where an 11-year-old girl was allegedly assaulted by another customer in the store.
Now, earlier today we saw some video that showed him actually in the store stalking her but the new video we've received that we're seeing right now shows a man taking a woman, a girl, by the hand and dragging her as the detectives described to me, dragging her down the aisle.
Now, in his video he is actually taking her between the seasonal department at the Target Department Store and the men's department, so this was in between two assaults.
Now, Detective Yeager (ph) of the South Charleston Police Department who I've been speaking to on a regular basis today, he said that it shows -- this video is -- that the alleged perpetrator could be charged with sexual abuse and sexual assault but this is after he had already followed her around the store, Wolf, stalked her and then took her from one department to another department where he assaulted her twice.
So, then he's described by detectives as a White male about 200 pounds, 5'6" to 5'9" in his late 20s, early 30s, Wolf, with a baseball cap. No distinguishable tattoos or anything else that they are looking at.
Now, they're going to send this videotape that we're seeing here to the FBI and to NASA to have it enhanced. It could take some time for them to do that but I can tell you, Wolf, from personal experience and working cases they can do miracles with some fuzzy video like this and, if anyone does see anyone in this that they recognize, if they do recognize this man they're asked to please call the South Charleston Police Department at 304-744-4666.
Wolf, they've been getting a lot of tips in and they're pouring over a lot of other video from stores in the shopping center where this Target is but, ironically Wolf, the detective I spoke to said that he works with Target on a regular basis on other cases they've worked and they usually have a high tech video system in the parking lot. That system in the parking lot today was broken -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Mike. I'm going to ask you to repeat the number in a second so get it ready for our viewers who may have missed it the first time you mentioned it.
But, this 11-year-old girl was she in the store by herself or was she accompanied by an adult? BROOKS: She apparently was in the store by her mother. In the early video, we could see, you can see just the alleged perpetrator looking over the rack of some videos and there you can just see off to the side in one of the videos that I've seen you could just see a woman and a little girl.
Now, of course, we cannot show the little girl's picture because she is an alleged victim and she is 11 years old but we see the alleged perpetrator right here and the police said that in this video we're seeing right now he was actually stalking his victim right then -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Any reaction from Target, the store itself?
BROOKS: Well, we received a statement from Target, Wolf, and I'll just read that quickly. It says:
"We're appalled by the nature of the situation and are working extensively with South Charleston law enforcement, including providing recorded video from our automated cameras. Target has invested in state of the art video equipment which we hope will be helpful in apprehending the perpetrator.
Target store's first priority is the safety of its guests and team members. It is our goal to provide a safe shopping environment for our communities. We are conducting an internal investigation into the situation, which we believe is isolated." And then they also give the South Charleston Police Department number should anyone have any information at all regarding this incident -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, tell them Mike. Mike, tell our viewers the number again in case they recognize this man and we'll put the picture as best as we have it up on the screen. In case anyone knows anything about this, recognizes this man, what's the number they should call?
BROOKS: The number again is the South Charleston, West Virginia Police Department at 304-744-4666. Now, they're getting a lot of tips but if there's anything that you think you recognize this -- anything about this man, this alleged perpetrator they want you to contact them because they do need your help -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, that number is at the bottom of our screen for viewers who want to write it down. Of course, the South Charleston Police will be grateful for any kind of leads. Mike Brooks thanks very much, a shocking, shocking story indeed.
Was Iraq really, really an imminent threat to U.S. security?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they had them and they were armed to the teeth with them, why didn't they use them?
BLITZER: The debate over pre-war intelligence. It's heating up. We'll have some of that when we come back.
Plus, millions brace for Claudette. We'll go live to the Gulf Coast where hurricane preparations are now underway.
And, crash ending, the competition gets fierce at the Tour de France, find out what almost took out, almost took out Lance Armstrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. Here now is Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. The controversy over pre-war intelligence, was Iraq really an imminent threat, that debate that's coming up in only a few minutes.
But first, the latest headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: It's a controversy that simply won't go away. The president's use of a prewar British intelligence report suggesting Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain uranium in Africa to rebuild his nuclear weapons program. But for increasingly vocal Bush administration critics, that's raising a much broader question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): In the weeks and months leading up to the war with Iraq, President Bush and his top advisers were categorical in warning of the threat.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. At such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
BLITZER: Top U.N. weapons inspectors, in contrast, were much more nuanced in their bottom-line assessments.
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: During the course of these inspections, we have not found any smoking gun.
BLITZER: On the eve of the war, Saddam Hussein and his loyalists insisted they had no weapons of mass destruction, period.
MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.N: The bottom line: You can accuse as much as you like, but you cannot provide one piece of evidence.
BLITZER: Now, nearly four months after the start of the war, even some previous supporters are openly expressing their doubts.
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, it's clear that they weren't armed with these weapons. They didn't use them. We defeated their army in the field. We have control over their arsenals. We haven't found them.
BLITZER: Brzezinski had been a hawk on the war, but now dismisses the notion the Iraqis hid the weapons, calling that comical.
BRZEZINSKI: If they had them and they were armed to the teeth with them, why didn't they use them? If they didn't use them and hid them, that means they were deterred. And how do you hide all of these hundreds of hundreds of thousands of weapons with which they were armed?
BLITZER: No signs the president is backing away at all from his pre-war warnings about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
BUSH: The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, does Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The best way for the White House, of course, to resolve this matter once and for all is for the United States to locate weapons of mass destruction. Short of that, the debate will not only continue, but it's likely to intensify in the weeks and months to come.
So did the Bush administration go too far in making the case for war? Democratic Congressman Ed Markey has written the president asking for answers, and he joins me now, along with Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of the International Relations Committee.
Ed Markey, you supported the president going into the war. But now you have got some serious doubts.
REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, the resolution was passed in order to give the president a two by four to go to the United Nations in order to set up an inspections regime, in order to find, amongst other things, a nuclear weapons program.
Now, if in January, two months after that resolution passes, the president says that he is relying upon information that the British are giving him, that says that they have a nuclear weapons program, they are seeking uranium, they are seeking aluminum tubing in order to construct a nuclear weapons factory, and all of that turns out to not be true, then it raises the question as to whether or not we should have ended the inspections regime and began a war. Because if the inspections regime was not identifying these weapons of mass destruction, then, in fact, the war may have begun unnecessarily in order to disarm a man that did not have a nuclear weapons program.
BLITZER: What about that, Congressman?
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: These guys are stretching. I hope the American people really remember this whole incident. The fact is, the president of the United States mentioned that the British had intelligence indicating this, but so what? Do we want Saddam Hussein back? Do we want a man who had a blood grudge against the United States to continue in such power that he had beforehand? We found mass graves there. Just in terms of his chemical, biological weapons and nuclear weapons capabilities, we know that he had nuclear ambition, but we knew he had chemical, biological weapons because he used them on his own people.
MARKEY: We have 147,000 young men and women over in Iraq right now. The basis for that was that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States. In the State of the Union address, he said that a nuclear program was under construction, and that if it was successful, it could hand over a weapon to al Qaeda to threaten us. Now that scares the American public. They did not want Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon.
BLITZER: Are you saying you don't believe that he had weapons of mass destruction?
MARKEY: I do not believe that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapons program in progress.
BLITZER: Well, forget about weapons -- what about biological and chemical?
MARKEY: Well, as far as the American people are concerned, one nuclear weapon equals all of the rest of the weapons of mass destruction tied together, because it could destroy an entire city. None of the other weapons of mass destruction can do that.
(CROSSTALK)
MARKEY: You would have to move 3,000 barrels of sarin gas in order to equal one nuclear weapon, and that's impossible to do. That's why nuclear weapons scare the American public so much the president should not have included it.
ROHRABACHER: Saddam Hussein murdered tens of thousands of his own people with chemical, biological weapons. The fact is, that in and of itself, and the fact that he had a blood grudge against the United States. If he didn't have a nuclear weapon at the moment that we invaded, why should we wait until he gets his hands on it? This is a man who hated the United States because of what we did to him 10 years before. It was prudent for this president to get rid of him.
BLITZER: Are you suggesting, Congressman Markey, that the president sold you and your fellow Democrats who voted for the resolution, a bill of goods?
MARKEY: What I'm saying is that the American people heard that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapons program. It turns out that it did not. It turns out that Tony Blair was using bogus information. Now, some of these administration officials are still saying ...
ROHRABACHER: That's not in the record.
MARKEY: ... they are still saying that it may be true. So I say to the president, you ask Tony Blair this week when he comes to the White House, what the intelligence information was. Because he owes it, as the president of the United States, to tell the American people what the British knew that we relied upon in the State of the Union address that scared the American people.
ROHRABACHER: By the way, we know the Israelis bombed out and destroyed his first attempt at getting a nuclear weapon.
BLITZER: That was in 1981.
ROHRABACHER: Right. So we knew that this gangster who ran Iraq and murdered so many of his own people, we knew he wanted to get his hands on weapons of mass destruction.
It's very good that he's gone. What did these Democrats want to do? Bring back Saddam?
BLITZER: What do you say to those, like Ed Markey, like Zbigniew Brzezinski, who argue, you know what, they believed the president going into the war, but now, looking back, the evidence was exaggerated.
ROHRABACHER: This is nitpicking at its worst. This is a political reach. This is a political gamesmanship.
MARKEY: First of all, the Reagan and Bush administrations of 1981 condemned the Israelis for bombing the nuclear power plant in Iraq and the Democrats supported the Israelis in 1981. And on this, calling it nitpicking, maybe it's nuke picking, because for the American public, nukes are the most serious issue that threaten world stability. And you cannot just dismiss it as any other issue. It's the most important.
ROHRABACHER: We have a man in power in Iraq who is about to because of new oil discoveries in Iraq is about to receive enormous financial and political power. He hates the United States of America. We are going to wait until he just buys a nuclear weapon 10 years down the road or five years down the road or are we going to wait -- we already know he's used chemical and biological weapons and killed thousands of his own people. It's good that he's out of power. And I'm proud of our president and the American people should be proud...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Congressman Markey, you are happy Saddam Hussein is gone.
MARKEY: Saddam Hussein is not gone. We have not captured Saddam Hussein yet.
BLITZER: We got control of Baghdad.
MARKEY: Well, if we don't stay there for the next two to four years with 150,000 young men and women he could easily reconstitute himself, in the same way Napoleon did in coming back from Elba and retake Paris again. So until we capture Saddam Hussein, there's no guarantee that a Napoleon-like return is in the offing. And I believe there are thousands of Baathists who are armed in that country, who are waiting for that day, and that's why we can't leave. ROHRABACHER: Look, look we know in the northern part of that country, the Kurds, a whole third of that country, they worship the ground that we walk on because we've liberated them from Saddam Hussein. We know that the vast majority of the rest of the country are Shiites and they were kept ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: All right, let me ask both of you, because we don't have a lot of time. Congressman Rohrabacher, you first, what does the president need to do to end this controversy?
ROHRABACHER: Well, first of all, there's nothing that can be done to end the controversy, because this controversy is much to do made out of a little. The fact is the Democrats are playing presidential year election politics, and this is a reach.
BLITZER: A formal inquiry in Congress?
ROHRABACHER: Well, look, I don't believe -- I am happy always to have formal inquiries in the Congress. This doesn't even warrant it, as far as I'm concerned. We are glad Saddam Hussein is gone. If they want to nitpick and say, well, the president may have been wrong here and may have been wrong here in what he said, that doesn't change the outcome. The outcome is very powerful.
BLITZER: Congressman Markey, what do you want the president to do?
MARKEY: George Tenet must resign for the credibility of the intelligence community. Secondly, those who forced him in the national security community, in the White House, to accept those words which he disagreed with, they also must be made accountable.
BLITZER: Any other names, you want people gone?
MARKEY: Whoever they are, whoever was responsible. Thirdly, we need an independent blue ribbon commission. Independent is the key word. And fourth, we need the president to ask Tony Blair this Wednesday, what was the information the United States relied upon with regard to that nuclear weapons program.
ROHRABACHER: The perception is the president was wrong. Mr. Markey is suggesting that the president was absolutely wrong. By the way, I've worked on State of the Union messages. The president's staff has to check off and the CIA director had to check off. But you take a look at what the president said, it was based on British intelligence. The president was not stating something that was factually in error. And here we have the Democrats making a big deal out of something that is not factually incorrect and, by the way, once it's further investigated I bet we will find that Saddam Hussein was...
(CROSSTALK)
MARKEY: Recently. That's what the speech (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- recently tried to get nuclear materials. That's the key word.
BLITZER: And before I get flooded with a lot of e-mails, you were referring to the 1991 Ocyruk (ph)...
MARKEY: 1981.
BLITZER: 1981, when the Reagan administration voted ....
MARKEY: In the U.N.
BLITZER: ...at the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel....
MARKEY: That's correct.
BLITZER: ... for bombing that reactor. Jean Kirkpatrick was then the U.N. Ambassador.
MARKEY: And I believe the Israelis deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for doing it.
BLITZER: In looking back, you think the Israelis did the right thing?
ROHRBACHER: Looking back, I think the israelis did the right thing and looking back it gives me more evidence that the Democrats are playing politics.
BLITZER: All right. We're going to have to leave it right back there. Congressman Rohrbacher, thanks very much for joining us. Congressman Markey, thank you very much.
Of course, we'd love to hear from you on this very important question. Our "Web Question of the Day is this: "Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war?" You can log on to cnn.com/wolf. You can vote right now. We'll have the results coming up this hour.
The Texas Gulf coast watches and waits. When we return, as Claudette moves closer to shore, hurricane warnings go up in Corpus Christi and other parts of the Texas coast. We'll find out what's happening there and what the region can expect.
First, let's look at other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Suspected terrorists on trial in Jordan. Six men are charges with conspiracy, including last year's assassination of American diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman. Prosecutors say the men have links to al Qaeda.
Flooding in eastern China, the result of weeks of heavy rain. More than half a million homes have been destroyed and more than 1 million damaged. A show of military force as France celebrates Bastille Day. Four thousand troops and 350 vehicles proceeded down the Champs d'Elysees in Paris while 76 aircraft flew above. Bastille Day commemorates the start of the French Revolution in 1789.
Cuban singer and guitarist Compay Segundo has died at 95. His career spanned decades, but his international fame came late in life with his 1997 Grammy for "Buena Vista Social Club."
American cyclist Lance Armstrong, the overall leader after the ninth stage of the Tour de France. He placed fourth in today's 114- mile mountain leg after narrowly avoiding a wreck.
And in the streets of Berlin, the 15th annual Love Parade. Half a million techno fans took part in possibly the world's largest rave with 250 deejays on 50 floats.
And that's our look "Around the World."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked: "Where was the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history? The answer: Galveston, Texas. Eight thousand people were killed and 12 city blocks were wind away when a monster hurricane hit at the beginning of the last century.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Waiting on the law. Is Kobe Bryant closer to learning if the allegations against him will lead to charges? We'll go live to Colorado for the latest.
First, though, let's go live to the Gulf Coast where a hurricane -- a hurricane could crash. A hurricane warning is indeed up along the Texas Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Claudette swirls toward that region. CNN's Ed Lavandera is keeping an eye on the situation in Corpus Christi -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.
Well, here in Corpus Christi, a muggy, hot day. Blue skies -- some clouds in the skies here. But very hot. No signs of a storm coming very close here.
We're in the Corpus Christi Marina, where throughout the day we've seen a lot of people here taking care of their boats and doing what they need to to secure things here as best they can. If we take you upstream from here a couple of hundred miles in Galveston, you can see some of the early effects of Tropical Storm Claudette making its way. The surf starting to pick up there a little bit here as well. But this is a very slow moving storm. Here in Corpus Christi, there aren't -- a lot of people aren't terribly worried about the winds that were coming, some 65 to 70 mile an hour winds. At this point, but people mostly concerned with the possibility of major flooding. This is a slow-moving storm and storms like this that have come through in the past have generally stalled out over the inland areas and caused some flooding. So that is what people here along the Texas Gulf Coast are worried about at this point -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed Lavandera. We'll be watching and waiting with you, Ed. Thanks very much.
For more on the storm, we turn now to an expert. Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Mr. Mayfield, thanks very much for joining us. Give us the latest information you have.
MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, right now, Wolf, we have a strong tropical storm. The maximum sustained winds are near 65 miles an hour. We've have issued a hurricane warning from Baffin Bay to up to High Island, Texas. We are forecasting some additional strengthening, and people in the hurricane warning area there should be preparing for a category 1 hurricane.
BLITZER: When do you think it will hit?
MAYFIELD: Well, the center is about 250 miles east of Corpus right now. It's drifting north northwestward. We think it will turn more towards the west-northwest. The center will likely be there tomorrow afternoon. But the storm force winds out 100 to 115 miles away from that center, so they'll start some of those tropical storm force winds on the upper Texas coast tonight shortly after midnight.
BLITZER: Show us on your monitor -- I see you have a map behind you -- where you think the most dangerous areas are.
MAYFIELD: Well, the center is actually here, right on the edge of the thunderstorm area. But the strongest winds are going to be in the north and northeast side here. The track that we're forecasting has it, as I said, turning more to the west-northwest. So storm surge wise, we're expecting 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels near and to the north of where the center crosses the coast.
But we don't want to focus just on that center because it could easily turn a little more to the north or a little bit more even to the west there. We just don't want to overdo this, but at the same time we don't want to minimize it, because it almost always has some loss of life in even strong storms or weak hurricanes.
BLITZER: This would be a -- what? A weak hurricane? A relatively weak hurricane, a level one. But our viewers shouldn't be under any illusions. This is still very dangerous.
MAYFIELD: It is, and you need to treat it with respect and listen to the advice of your local officials. And we're particularly concerned about the surfers. We almost always have some loss of life there. A little bit of common sense and we don't have to see that.
BLITZER: And the greatest dangers is, what, flooding? Is that what you're suggesting?
MAYFIELD: No, I don't -- actually, I think most of Texas there would appreciate some of this rainfall. We are forecasting some locally high amounts, 5 to 8 inches. It is moving slowly, but it is going to keep moving when it moves inland area. So I don't think that's going to be as big a concern with river flooding as in some situations in the past. Certainly not like Allison.
BLITZER: So as early as after midnight local time tonight do you think the effects of this hurricane could begin happening?
MAYFIELD: We'll start getting some of those outer bands and the storm force winds after midnight and then depending on the exact track, the winds will increase and the seas will also increase during the day tomorrow. The center should be nearing the coast early tomorrow afternoon.
BLITZER: Does it make any difference, Mr. Mayfield, a hurricane hits at night when it's dark as opposed during the daylight hours?
MAYFIELD: Usually, if it hits at nighttime, most people are indeed, indoors and you typically don't have as much in the way of loss of life. I'm a little concerned, if it does come during the daytime, we are going to have people out there, swimmers and surfers. And, again, we really don't want to see that loss of life. So people need to exercise caution.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, we'll be watching with you and all your experts over there, and we'll be obviously calling on your expertise for some more information as we continue to watch and wait. Thanks very much.
MAYFIELD: Thank you very much, Wolf.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, thank you very much.
Kobe Bryant speaks out about possible, possible sexual assault charges. Hear his side of the story when we return.
And another NBA star pleads guilty. Find out what Chris Webber is taking the wrap for.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Kobe Bryant is breaking his silence, making his first public comments about the sexual assault allegation against him and the coverage it's generating. CNN's Brian Cabell is in Vail, Colorado, where the charges could be filed as early as this week. What's the latest, Brian?
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we just talked to the district attorney about an hour ago, as a matter of fact. He says no decision has been made yet. No announcement is planned yet. But he's hoping to make that decision early this week, which we interpret as meaning either tomorrow or possibly on Wednesday. The very latest he said he hopes would be the end of this week, Friday maybe.
In the meantime, some of the alleged victim's friends are making some news. One of them appeared on ABC this morning and said the alleged victim had had personal, emotional problems in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STARLENE BRAY, FRIEND OF ALLEGED VICTIM: Yes, it's true, she did seek some medical help. She knew that she needed it, so she went and got it. I don't think it has anything to do with what happened that night. I think that was solely, you know, just something that came about. Has nothing to do with her psychological abilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Another of the alleged victim's friends went on NBC this morning, said she had talked to the alleged victim very recently and the alleged victim had said, quote, "he went the whole way," referring to Kobe Bryant and the alleged sexual encounter.
That confirms more or less what we heard last week from a source in the investigation who said they were not looking at a charge of fondling here. They were look at a case of penetration.
Bryant in the meantime is speaking up for himself. He spoke to the "Los Angeles Times" by phone over the weekend. He said, quote, "when everything comes clean it will all be fine, you'll see. But you guys know me. I shouldn't have to say anything. You know I would never do something like that. Man, there's a lot of crazy stories out there."
We also talked to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation earlier today. They say they have actually finished some of the analysis on these lab tests, they have sent those back to the sheriff. They are still doing more tests. Those will come in later this week. Normally a case like this takes about six weeks. They are expending it. They think it will take about two weeks. That means they should have all those tests in they think by this week. That means, Wolf, as we said, that probably we'll have a decision by the prosecutor on whether to file charges some time later this week, possibly, possibly by tomorrow -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, very quickly, is Kobe Bryant denying there was any sex or denying there was sexual assault? Was he suggesting that there was some consensual sex there?
CABELL: That's up for interpretation, Wolf. He said, you know I wouldn't do something like that. It leaves open the possibility, conceivably, I would think, for consensual sex. But he'd have to elaborate.
BLITZER: All right, Brian Cabell, we'll be watching this for us. Thanks very much, Brian Cabell in Vail, Colorado. Our hot Web question of the day is coming up. Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war? You can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Kobe Bryant's problems are resolved -- have not been resolved, but no federal perjury trial for Sacramento Kings basketball star Chris Webber. He's pleading guilty to a lesser charge of criminal contempt and will likely have to pay a fine, but will avoid jail time.
Webber is accused of lying to a grand jury about paying back a supporter and confessed money launderer who lent him thousands of dollars while he was playing at the University of Michigan.
Here's how you are weighing in on our Web question of the day. We've been asking you this: Do you believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the war? Look at this -- 12 percent of you say yes, 88 percent of you say no; more than 10,000 of you have already voted. You can continue to vote, but remember, this is not a scientific poll.
A reminder, you can see us every day, twice a day, at noon Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. See you again tomorrow. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" with Jan Hopkins sitting in starts right now.
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Tour of Duty in Iraq Extended>
