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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Will Ten Commandments' Defenders Be Able to Save Their Monument?; Red Cross Fears Terrorism; On the Offensive in Afghanistan

Aired August 25, 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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Crowd control outside this Alabama courthouse, will defenders of the Ten Commandments be able to save the monument now? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): A week after the U.N. bombing, is the Red Cross next?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've received some information that we are taking seriously that we may be the focus of an attack.

O'BRIEN: The hunt for Saddam, U.S. troops may be closing in but is Iraq already caught up in a new power struggle?

Targeting the Taliban, on the offensive in Afghanistan.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who go on fighting long after their cause is lost.

O'BRIEN: The Commandments and the Constitution, is a court order to move the monument carved in stone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see the First Amendment to protect religious liberty not crush religious liberty.

O'BRIEN: Pedophile priest, was he the victim of a prison plot, new details on the death of John Geoghan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It is Monday, August 25, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Mile's O'Brien. Wolf Blitzer has the day off.

Barricades are in place. Protesters are entrenched and the rhetoric is as hot as the weather in Montgomery, Alabama. The controversial Ten Commandments monument in the State Judicial Building could be removed at any moment but the man who put it there and his supporters are fighting to the bitter end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JUSTICE ROY MOORE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: Today I stand before the court of the judiciary not because I've done anything wrong, not because I've violated any law, because I've taken money, none of those things. I stand before the court of the judiciary because I've done my oath. I've kept my oath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: To Montgomery and David Mattingly -- David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it was the first time we've heard from Chief Justice Roy Moore since he was suspended from office last week. Both he and his lawyers came out today swinging.

They announced that a second filing before the U.S. Supreme Court hoping to overturn the federal court order that is mandated that this monument to the Ten Commandments be removed from the justice building.

They also announced they will fight the ethics charges that Moore is facing in a state judiciary court. Now, add into this another lawsuit that's been filed by two people in Mobile in federal court. These people are claiming that if the monument is moved it will affect their constitutional rights.

So, what it all adds up to is a lot of legal maneuvering going on right now while the monument sits in place just where it's been for the last two years where Justice Roy Moore put it inside the rotunda of the building behind me.

Now, earlier today barricades were erected outside the doors, the glass doors of the judicial building. Organizers say they were told it was a safety precaution.

People here have been told to undergo some sort of symbolic civil disobedience once there are signs that the monument is being moved. They've been told to go to the exits and kneel and block the exits for anyone who might be trying to move the monument.

They've also been told to keep it peaceful. They've been told that they're supposed to listen to police orders and they hope to see that this is carried out peacefully and no one is arrested this time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: David, I wonder if you could get your photographer to pan across there and show us the crowd a little bit and just give us a sense of the mood there on the steps. I imagine you're seeing people on both sides of the issue.

MATTINGLY: Well, Miles, at this hour there is not a lot going on. People are using this time before a rally scheduled for this evening to maybe go find a place to cool off. It has been incredibly hot out here.

Paramedics have had to come out a couple of times to assist people here in this crowd and, as you can see, there are a lot of empty chairs but that means that there will be a lot of people sitting in them later today.

And, again, they are having another rally tonight just as they have had every night since the deadline last Wednesday, that midnight deadline come and gone and the monument is still here, something people here consider that is a victory in their favor so far -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's David Mattingly in Montgomery, Alabama, thank you.

We'll continue to follow developments in Montgomery and let you know as soon as anything changes, of course, and later this hour, we'll talk to the mayor of that city about the tense situation there.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question is this: "Should the Ten Commandments monument stay or should it go?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote now at cnn.com/wolf and while you're there we'd like to hear from you directly.

Send us your comments. We might read some of them, time permitting, at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

New details are out about the violent weekend prison murder of John Geoghan, the defrocked priest accused of molesting almost 150 boys.

CNN's Jason Carroll is in New York. He joins us now with more on all this -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, prosecutors describe Joseph Druce, the inmate accused of murdering Geoghan, as a man filled with a longstanding hatred of homosexuals; in fact, he was already serving a life sentence for killing one.

He is housed in the same prison unit as John Geoghan, the defrocked priest, convicted of molesting a young boy. Boston's district attorney says Druce had been planning Geoghan's murder for more than a month using a book, a nail clipper, and a toothbrush to jam Geoghan's cell door.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CONTE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WORCESTER CO., MASSACHUSETTS: The defendant tied Geoghan's hands behind his back with a tee shirt, threw him on the floor, took socks which he had previously been stretching for some time and used them to strangle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: The D.A. says Druce confessed to beating Geoghan, then used a pillowcase to strangle him telling authorities getting Geoghan was a prize. Both Geoghan and Druce were kept in the protective custody unit at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center.

The questions are why was Druce, a homophobic violent offender, kept in the same unit as Geoghan and why was he able to get into his cell so easily? The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the prison system, has begun an investigation into exactly what went wrong -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jason Carroll, keep us posted as that investigation unfolds, appreciate it.

A little more on the man who the D.A. says confessed to killing Geoghan. Joseph Druce is described as having a longstanding phobia of gays, as we just told you, the D.A. says Druce filled with hatred for them.

He's serving a life sentence for killing a gay man who picked him up hitchhiking 15 years ago. Druce drove the car for three days with the body in the trunk. He said the man made a sexual advance toward him and he pleaded insanity but was convicted and sentenced to life.

He is said to be a member of a neo-Nazi group, the Aryan Nation, and was convicted of sending fake anthrax from prison to lawyers with Jewish-sounding names. For that, he received an additional 37 month sentence.

The still unsolved deadly sniper shootings in West Virginia are forcing school officials to beef up security measures as almost 300,000 students return to classes this week.

CNN Investigative Correspondent Art Harris is in Charleston. He joins us now with the latest, hello Art.

ART HARRIS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

In (unintelligible) Creek, where one victim was gunned down and two victims lived, nerves remain on edge. Tomorrow is the first day of school at Mary Ingels (ph) Elementary where security will be tight.

For the first time since 9/11, outdoor recess has been canceled and parents have been recruited as human shields to walk their children to class until the sniper is caught.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll be walking them in and out and, other than that, they won't be outside the building, just to enter and exit. We will not be using the playground.

HARRIS (voice-over): No recess?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

KAREN VICKERS, SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: We felt like that we would be better served by not having our students available for a sniper. I know that's hard core but reality is that we need to be safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The task force now counts more than 800 leads with more coming in from investigators knocking on doors, fewer coming in by phone. One investigator told me: "It's come down to plain, hard police work" -- Miles. O'BRIEN: CNN's Art Harris in Charleston, West Virginia, thank you very much.

A special assignment for Special Forces in Afghanistan, coming up learn the target and the fallout on the ground.

Also, blue skies for Gray Davis, why California's governor may have a little less reason to worry.

And, where is he hiding, why Saddam Hussein may be outside Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Terror in Baghdad, why does the Red Cross fear it could be next?

An allied attack in Afghanistan, who was the target?

WOLF BLITZER REPORTS back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: U.S. forces were on the offensive today in Afghanistan. Special Ops troops and warplanes backed Afghan forces in an attack on Taliban fighters, 200 miles south of Kabul.

Let's go live now to our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre with more on all this -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Pentagon officials tell CNN this was part of something called Warrior Sweep, a patrol of the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

According to sources, U.S. troops, Special Operations forces, called in air support after an Afghan militia group that they were accompanying received fire and returned fire on the ground.

A couple of 500-pound bombs were dropped on suspected Taliban militia fighters in this area in southeastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. At least 14 enemy were killed according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command. We're told that AV-8 Harriers and F-16s from the U.S. Air Force dropped 500-pound bombs on the locations.

Again, they believe that 14 were killed. There were no casualties reported on the U.S. side and this is just evidence that the combat operations in Afghanistan continue as Afghanistan rivals Iraq as a place where remnants of the old regime continue to pose a threat to U.S. forces -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jamie, put it into the big picture for us. Is this part of a stepped up effort in Afghanistan?

MCINTYRE: Well, it's not necessarily stepped up, it's more continuing. There's been still a great amount of concern about what's going on in this border region, which by the way is the area where it's believed Osama bin Laden is most likely to be hiding.

And, there's a great deal of sort of ungoverned area there that is under the control of local militias that's been sympathetic to the Taliban and there is a considerable number of Taliban fighters who are armed and posing a threat to the U.S. and coalition forces.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon thank you very much.

A week after the U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad was devastated by a truck bomb, the Red Cross says it too is scathing back operations in Iraq. Red Cross officials cite the U.N. bombing, the earlier bombing of the Jordanian Embassy, and what they call daily attacks in Iraq. Those attacks are increasingly targeting Iraqis themselves. A prominent Shiite cleric narrowly escaped a bloody bombing this weekend.

Let's go live now to Baghdad and CNN's Ben Wedeman -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, well the Red Cross has announced that it's going to reduce its non-Iraqi staff here in Baghdad, that in addition to all those other factors you mentioned, also as a result of their receipt of what they call credible knowledge that the organization itself may -- could be a target for an attack.

Now, a Red Cross spokesman said that they would reconsider this move if the situation, the security situation stabilizes but that doesn't seem to be the case for the time being.

Now, almost a week after that bomb blast ripped through U.N. Headquarters, the search and recovery operations there have officially come to an end. According to a U.N. spokesman today there are 20 people confirmed dead on their list; however, they are still conducted forensic tests on remains that have been found at the bomb site so that list, in fact, may well increase.

Also today, the United Nations handed over the bodies of seven Iraqis who were killed in the bombing to their families. That had been something of an issue of contention among those families who really wanted to get their loved ones, the bodies of their loved ones back so they could give them a proper burial.

Meanwhile today, there was a massive funeral in the Shiite heartland of Najaf. That is really the spiritual center for the Shiites of Iraq. There they were mourning the death of three men killed in an apparent assassination attempt of a leading Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim (ph).

Now, what had happened was that yesterday a bomb was placed outside his office, blowing up, killing three of his staff members in addition to wounding 10 others.

Now, Najaf has really been the scene of a fairly intense but really behind-the-scenes struggle, power struggle among leading Shiite clerics, all of whom want to play a leadership role among the Shiite majority in this country, of course Shiites making up about 60 percent of the population.

And, of course, under Saddam Hussein they had really been severely repressed by the regime and, of course, now they feel it is their time to take power and so you have these leaders who are really fighting among themselves to take that power -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Obviously important, Ben, for the U.S. not to appear to take sides in this dispute. What are U.S. troops doing to avoid sort of getting caught in that crossfire?

WEDEMAN: They're keeping a very, very low profile, Miles. I was there for about 24 hours. I did not see one American soldier on the streets. This is a holy city for the Shiites and the Americans are very sensitive to that. So, really you don't see them going around.

There are what amounts to Shiite militias and the local police who are essentially responsible for security. The Americans, as I said, basically staying on the fringes of the city -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Probably a good place to be. CNN's Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad thank you very much.

A pair of car bombs ripped through lunchtime crowds in India's financial capital of Mumbai today killing at least 44 people, at least 115 wounded.

CNN's Ram Ramgopal is in Mumbai.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The two explosions occurred minutes apart at two monuments, on the famous Gateway of India monument close to the southern tip of Mumbai, the other in Mumba Devi, which is the ancient temple that gives the city of Mumbai its name.

Police say both targets were chosen for their prominence and they have not at this point blamed any group specifically for being behind the attacks but they do describe the attackers as being jihadi elements, which in their terms means Islamic militants.

Now, the Deputy Prime Minister of India Mr. L.K. Advani, who will be visiting the city tomorrow morning went on to say that some of these groups could have links to al Qaeda. The police have, however, not named these groups specifically. They have stepped up security across the city and they are prepared to deal with the worst.

Ram Ramgopal, CNN, Mumbai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The recall gets tighter. Simon says goodbye to the California governor's race. How does the departure of this prominent Republican affect the other candidates? That story is just ahead.

The noose gets tighter or does it? How close are U.S. forces really getting to Saddam Hussein? CNN Terrorism and National Security Analyst Ken Robinson will join me in just a moment.

And, a closer look at the man in the center of the storm, the road Justice Roy Moore took staring down federal judges over the Ten Commandments.

But first, a snapshot of the weekend's top stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Tragic trip home, eight young firefighters from eastern Oregon were killed when their van collided head on with a tractor-trailer rig. The men, all younger than 23, were returning home after battling a wildfire in Idaho. The collision happened in Vail, Oregon.

Gas crunch easing, a pipeline that broke creating gasoline shortages in Phoenix, Arizona is up and running again but it's expected to be several days before supplies are back to normal.

Japan does it again, for the third time in five years a Japanese team has won the Little League World Series. A team from Tokyo beat the U.S. champs, a team from East Boynton Beach, Florida, 10-1. Florida has put eight teams into title games but they've never won a championship. The Little League World Series is held each year in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Farewell, Bobby Bonds, the father of one of baseball's greatest sluggers, Barry Bonds, died at the age of 57. The elder Bonds had suffered from lung cancer and a brain tumor and, like his son, Bobby Bonds was also a star player. He spent seven season with San Francisco and remained with the Giants after retiring, serving as a hitting coach and special assistant to the general manager, and that's our Weekend Snapshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There are some major changes in the California recall election in both the poll numbers and the list of players. One major candidate is now out of the race and new numbers show a significant reversal between the top contenders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. GOV. CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D), CA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Ups and downs will always occur in a campaign so I tell my folks you just keep your nose to the grindstone. We keep moving forward.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante reacting to a new "Los Angeles Times" poll. It shows him leading in the California recall race with 35 percent.

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger trails by 13 points, a major reversal from last week's numbers. State Senator Tom McClintock, former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, and businessman Bill Simon, all Republicans, trail significantly.

BILL SIMON (R), FORMER CA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Fellow Californians, I come before you today to announce that I am withdrawing as a candidate for governor.

O'BRIEN: Simon dropped out of the race over the weekend saying there were too many Republicans running, sparking speculation the party pressured him to withdraw. What does it mean for Schwarzenegger?

DANIEL WEINTRAUB, "THE SACRAMENTO BEE": In the short term, I think it actually could be more trouble for Arnold because Simon was competing with State Senator Tom McClintock for the more conservative wing of the Republican Party and if Simon's votes go toward McClintock that's going to make him appear to be even more viable.

O'BRIEN: The same "L.A. Times" poll also shows support for recalling Davis is slipping. Only 50 percent of those asked now support ousting the governor, down eight points from a different poll last week.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Davis signaled his support for Bustamante should he be recalled but the governor stopped short of endorsing his lieutenant.

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Cruz is my friend. He is a very capable person. His entry in the race I think will actually help me by bringing out more people to vote no on the recall and clearly he's the most qualified person on question number two.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And it looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger might be getting some help from some high profile New York Republicans. Sources close to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, of course, say he will endorse Schwarzenegger, and sources also say Governor George Pataki is planning a Manhattan fund-raiser for the actor.

Coming up on our program, the gospel according to Roy Moore. We'll look at the man vowing to keep a massive Ten Commandments monument right where it is, thank you very much.

And then, Saddam Hussein, the hunt's still on, is the U.S. any closer to finding the elusive leader and just where could he be hiding?

And, Pete Sampras, one of the greatest tennis players of this or any other era, is ready to set down his racket and pull up a rocking chair?

But first, news quiz time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Where was the first U.S. Men's tennis championship held, Flushing Meadows, New York; Forest Hills, New York; Newport, Rhode Island; or Washington, D.C., the answer coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, I'm Miles O'Brien in for Wolf Blitzer.

Coming up this half hour, thou shalt not be moved without a fight. Protesters pray to keep a controversial Ten Commandments monument right where it is. We'll hear what Montgomery's mayor has to say, but first the latest headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

O'BRIEN: He's managed to stay at least one or two steps ahead of his pursuers. But are U.S. troops now perhaps closing in on Saddam Hussein?

Joining me from the CNN Center in Atlanta is Ken Robinson, CNN terrorism and national security analyst. Ken, good to have you with us.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: What's your best guess right now on Saddam Hussein's whereabouts, inside Iraq or has he fled the country?

ROBINSON: The folks are split into two camps, Miles. They are naturally pursuing every lead that they're getting from these last few arrests which they've made in the last 39 days. You know they've rolled up five people, two of them being Uday and Qusay, Chemical Ali, Saddam's secretary. And from each of these they had a lot of leads that they pursued.

Some of those leads give them indication that he potentially remained in the country, but some leads have given them the idea that potentially he may have fled. Specifically, when Saddam's presidential secretary was picked up, he was picked up with Belarussian passports, a whole bunch of them. And there's a lot of concern that potentially he may have used passports of that country or another country possibly to be able to be spirited away through a border country like Syria and then into possibly Eastern Europe.

O'BRIEN: And it's worth reminding viewers he has a tremendous amount of money to keep him on the run and in hiding.

ROBINSON: Well, it's a huge incentive for any small country that has a poor GNP, because if you have a billionaire that you could bring into your country and hide him, that sure is incentive.

O'BRIEN: Now, if, for a moment, we accept the notion that he is, in fact, still in Iraq, as has most of the top 55, as we've seen so far, is it likely he'd be, as the others have been, in the urban centers or would he be out in the middle of the desert somewhere? ROBINSON: Well, he's got some serious choices to make. He knows our technology, the technology of the United States. And he knows that if he is in a desert area it's going to be easier for them to be able to be able to pick up someone out there.

He's also -- you know this is a man who's been on the run for 30 years from his own people. He's traveled in large entourages with multiple impostors presenting themselves as him to protect himself from his own folks. So this is a lifestyle that he's used to, but the difference now is he has no infrastructure and support like he had before.

The other thing that's important is the United States government has legitimized the reward program by paying the rewards for the first two information that led to the capture of Uday and Qusay, and so with that in mind, and that legitimacy in mind, he's got to be looking over his shoulder very carefully right now. The other issue is Saddam was a serial tunnel maker. I mean, if you look at Baghdad itself, the coalition has been going through multiple and numerous large tunnels all throughout, honeycombed throughout Baghdad, and the potential exists that those might also exist in Tikrit or in other large urban area cities.

O'BRIEN: Now of course the group pursuing them is cloaked under a lot of secrecy. Task Force 20 it's called. It's a group of special ops, CIA, all the black arts, so to speak. This particular group, are they doing business the right way as best you're hearing from your sources? And do they have the sense it's just a matter of time?

ROBINSON: It's a matter of time, Miles. This special operations task force is not unusual. When the United States government conducts operations in any country, they always have a special operations component to that. And they try not to focus all their time and energy on one individual.

However, this individual, Saddam, is incredibly important because of the political game that could happen by finally closing the chapter on him. A lot of folks in the intelligence community talk about Iraqi citizens as being similar to battered wife syndrome and that finally putting a closure to him and the shadow he cast on Iraq would enable them to work harder toward reconstruction and putting down these Ba'athists and these Islamists who crossed the border trying to prevent the phase four reconstruction in Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: All right. Quickly, what does your gut tell you? Is it near? It won't be too long before Saddam Hussein is found and captured?

ROBINSON: I believe there's enormous pressure on him right now, and that if he has remained in the country it won't be long before they close the noose on him.

O'BRIEN: All right. Ken Robinson, CNN Center in Atlanta, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

U.S. troops on dangerous missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. I'll get the straight talk on how the war on terror is progressing in Afghanistan and the controversy over U.S. troop strength in Iraq from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. She's just back from a trip to Pakistan and Iraq. She'll join us live in just a bit.

And just who is the man at the center of this Ten Commandments dispute we've been telling you so much about? A profile of the State Chief Justice Roy Moore is just ahead. I'll speak with the mayor of Montgomery as well and see how his city is faring through all of this. But first a quick look at the other news making headlines around the world.

Liberian fighting. Despite continued fighting in Liberia's countryside, 150 U.S. Marines have pulled out of the capital Monrovia and returned to ships off the coast. One hundred U.S. troops remain, guarding the American embassy and working with the West African peace force that's been in the country for three weeks.

North Korea talks. Delegates are arriving in Beijing for the six-nation crisis talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Taking part in the three-day meeting set to begin Wednesday are China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the United States and North Korea.

Heat wave deaths. Makeshift morgues in Paris are filled with hundreds of unclaimed bodies; victims of France's deadly heat wave. Officials say the dead will be buried with dignity whether families claim them or not.

Fierce storms. Hurricane Ignacio packing sustained winds of 85 miles an hour is lashing tourist resorts with sheets of rain as it moves along the coast of Baja, California. Although weakening, the storm already has forced 3,000 people into shelters and knocked down trees and power lines.

Whirly bird musical. Mixed sounds of violins and chopper blades filled the air over Salsberg, Austria, all for a good cause. The event coincided with the opening of a new home for a collection of historic planes.

And that's our look around the world.

O'BRIEN: Two of President Bush's top aides out on the road today carrying the message to both retired and active members of the military that the U.S. is winning the war on terrorism and will prevail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The war on terror must be fought on the offense. Defense of the homeland is a vital mission, but the president has been clear. We will take this fight to them. We will not fight this in the cities of America. We will fight on their turf and we will win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There will continue to be some setbacks, I regret to say. But there will be more successes, and the outcome is not in doubt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A U.S. congressional delegation has just visited Iraq and Afghanistan and some other world hot spots. Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison returned home this weekend. She joins us now live from Dallas.

Senator, good to have you with us.

SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Is it premature to declare victory or even come close to declaring victory on the war on terrorism?

HUTCHISON: Oh, it is premature. We are certainly making progress, but it is very tough. We now are seeing a little bit of a resurgence in some of the remnants of Taliban, of al Qaeda, of the Saddam Hussein leadership, and we've got to continue this fight so that it doesn't come to our shores, so that we stop them in their tracks where they are.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the Taliban and al Qaeda, and specifically, that border area, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Extremely porous border. Plenty of places to hide.

Do you have the sense that the Pakistanis are truly cooperating hunting down Taliban and al Qaeda suspects?

HUTCHISON: Well, we've talk with President Karzai of Afghanistan, and he does not think that Pakistan is doing everything that it can. But when we talked to General Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, he believes that they are. And I was pleased to hear that they had done a pretty comprehensive raid on the Taliban leadership today, because it has been escalating.

It is very dangerous over there on that arc at the bottom of Afghanistan. And if the Taliban has a resurgence, then, of course, it's going to stop progress in Afghanistan, where we have been doing pretty well, until just a few week ago.

O'BRIEN: What's the sense you got from talking to people over there? Is bin Laden alive? And, if so, is he right on that border of Pakistan and Afghanistan?

HUTCHISON: Many believe he is in Pakistan up in the hills where it's very hard to get, where there are villages that are very remote. And, of course, capturing him would be terrific and helpful. But mainly it is getting the remnants of the Taliban and stopping them.

I think that if Osama bin Laden is alive -- and people think he is -- he is not able to get out. He's pretty much hemmed in into that area, and I think what we really need to do is stop the Taliban and the drug trafficking that's now occurring there that could be very troublesome for the whole country.

O'BRIEN: Let's move to Iraq for just a moment, the hunt for another fugitive, Saddam Hussein. We just heard a few moments ago from Ken Robinson, our security analyst, that there is some circumstantial evidence which might lead us to believe he might be out of the country, specifically Belarus, of all places. What was your sense while you were there? Is Saddam Hussein in the country based on the information you got from people you talked to there?

HUTCHISON: It's very hard to tell. It's very hard to tell. But I think it's more important that we get Saddam Hussein, even than Osama bin Laden, because we have not been able to get the intelligence that we need from the Iraqi people to get the rest of the Saddam Hussein regime and to stop the individual acts of terrorism because people still fear that Saddam Hussein is going to come back. And getting him, I think, would open the spigot in Iraq for better intelligence, for getting the rest of his thugs out of there as well, so that we can get about the infrastructure improvements that they need to live a decent life.

O'BRIEN: A lot of talk now about troop strength or perhaps the lack of it. U.S. boots on the ground in the both the countries you've just been talking about. What is your sense of it? Does the U.S. need to send more troops to both Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan?

HUTCHISON: I do think that we need a higher troop strength, probably in both, just to not allow the remnants to come back, which they appear to be doing in both countries. I would like to see Arab countries do more. I'd like to see a Muslim coalition of people who would go into Iraq, especially, and help in the security efforts.

There would be a lot of credibility, and I think it would sit well with the Iraqi people. So if we could get the Arab countries, the moderate Arab countries and the Muslim countries to take the lead here, I think it would really help improve the prospects of success and in rebuilding Iraq and giving the people of Iraq a voice in their own government.

O'BRIEN: Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, thanks very much for being with us. We appreciate it.

HUTCHISON: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: The Ten Commandment controversy thrusts Montgomery, Alabama into the spotlight. We'll talk to the mayor of the town on the showdown that is the talk of the town and the nation. The life and times of Judge Roy Moore. Who is the man who calls himself the Ten Commandments Judge?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This is the scene in Montgomery, Alabama. The barricades in place. Protesters still on the steps of the judicial building there. The two-and-a-half ton monument to the Ten Commandments still in place. The question is, when will it be removed, and what will be the reaction? For more on all this I'm joined by the mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, Bobby Bright, from his city. Mayor Bright, good to have you with us.

MAYOR BOBBY BRIGHT (D), MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: Good to be here with you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. First of all, how has this impacted your city? I imagine it has taxed your resources quite a bit.

BRIGHT: Well, it has. It's stressed our resources, but it's not something that we didn't expect and something that we can't really handle.

We have our police department. We've had men work overtime. We -- our fire department, same way. And, of course, our maintenance department and sanitation department also has extended their hours just to handle this additional activity here in our city.

O'BRIEN: I suspect your phone has been ringing off the hook through all of this. What are your constituents telling you?

BRIGHT: Well, people -- both sides -- people are wanting me to come down on both sides to support Judge Moore and they are also wanting me to use whatever influence we have. Of course, we have none in the judiciary. All we do is take care of the city and the services for our city -- to ask him to, you know, remove the monument.

But what we are trying to do -- as mayor, I'm just providing the safest forum we possibly can for all the demonstrators who are here, the people who are visiting our city. We welcome all of them here. They have been extremely cooperative. No problems whatsoever.

The only additional resource that we're expending at this point in time is the police, fire and the additional services to make sure that everything around the monument, around the judicial complex is safe and also presentable or -- as far as trash is concerned. Because when you have people of this number, you are going to have issues of trash and litter. So we're making sure that's taken care of also by way of our sanitation department.

O'BRIEN: Now, Mr. Mayor, you are newsworthy in the sense that you perhaps may be the only person in America who is in the middle of this issue as sort of not taken a stand. Why haven't you? I assume this is something you have a firm belief on.

BRIGHT: I do. You know everybody loves the Ten Commandments. I love the Ten Commandments and I live by them every day.

The issue here is not whether or not the mayor of the city of Montgomery endorses the Ten Commandments being in the judicial complex, but whether or not the presence of that monument is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. And, of course, as mayor, I do not have to issue an opinion based on that, and I have to follow the law issued by the federal courts. And I'm bound as mayor to uphold the law, and I will do whatever necessary in order to make sure the law is complied with.

However, with that said, I respect the protesters who are here, the people who feel that their religious beliefs are being challenged. I can say this, I would be there too if I felt that my religious beliefs were being challenged. But as mayor, I have to ensure that both sides are heard and protected and taken care of while they are expressing their viewpoints.

O'BRIEN: Well, step out of your role as mayor for just a moment and give us your sense as Bobby Bright the person.

BRIGHT: Well, Miles, it's awfully -- it's easy for you to go there, and what I am as a person is I am a very religiously strong person, individual. I believe in my faith and my god. And, like I said, the Ten Commandments is a basis for our whole society, quite frankly.

But we also have the Constitution. We can't look at our society in a narrow sense. We have to look at a broad sense. And the broad sense is the Constitution, and we have to comply with the Constitution, live up to the Constitution.

If we didn't, we're not a country of laws of, you know, laws of one man or a man. We are a country of laws. And we have to comply with those laws. If we didn't, we'd be living in a country of chaos.

And that's what we're guarding against. And that's what my duty is as mayor, is to make sure that everyone complies with the law and they have a safe forum in which to express their opinions. And that's what we're all about here in the city of Montgomery. And so far we've been very fortunate because all of the demonstrations that we've had here have been very cordial and very emotional and very legal technically. But they have been cooperative and everyone has been extremely cordial.

O'BRIEN: Bobby Bright, I think you have your future in the diplomatic core. I think you successfully did this entire interview without upsetting either side. The mayor of Montgomery, Bobby Bright.

Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.

BRIGHT: Thank you, Miles, for having me.

O'BRIEN: Apparently size and location matter when it comes to government displays of the Ten Commandments. "The New York Times" is reporting that some displays have recently been approved by courts, as long as they are not -- and we quote now -- "in your face." Among them, "The Times" says, a stylized depiction of the Ten Commandments in the seal of the Georgia state court and a small plaque in a Philadelphia appeals court that was installed in 1920 in a remote part of the building.

Now the man at the center of this judicial and religious storm is no stranger to controversy. In fact, the Alabama chief justice has been known as The Commandments Judge for almost a decade. It's a title he wears proudly and defiantly. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Justice Roy Moore hasn't ever seemed to care much that others might be uncomfortable with his ideas of god, country and the law.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROY MOORE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: To do my duty, I must acknowledge god. That's what this case is about.

O'BRIEN: Moore has long been of the mind that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and just about every other law on the books first came from the creator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Judge Roy S. Moore.

O'BRIEN: Moore's own roots suggest he was taught these beliefs from a very early age. From a working class home in rural Etowah County, Alabama, Roy Moore earned an appointment to West Point in 1965. He later served as a military policeman in Vietnam.

Fresh out of law school in 1977, he landed a job as an assistant D.A. in Etowah County, but resigned in 1982. Moore moved to Texas, trained as a full-contact karate fighter and spent several months in the Australian outback, wrangling wild cattle.

He returned to the legal profession and to Alabama in 1992, becoming a circuit court judge in Gadsden. It was in that position that Roy Moore became known as The Ten Commandments Judge, a title he has embraced.

MOORE: I will never, never deny the god upon whom our laws and our country are made.

O'BRIEN: In 1995, Moore hand carved a wooden plaque of the Ten Commandments and placed it on his courtroom wall. A legal firestorm ensued and, in 1997, a federal judge ordered him to remove it. Moore refused. Alabama's governor intervened and the plaque stayed in place.

In 2001, after his election as chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court, even having campaigned as The Ten Commandments Judge, Moore had a monument to the scroll, weighing more than two tons, placed in the rotunda of Alabama's judicial building. That very summer, activists were locked out of the judicial building when they tried to place a display of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech next to the Ten Commandments monument.

MOORE: No judge or man can dictate in whom we can believe and in whom we trust.

O'BRIEN: Now, having lost two federal court rulings, a refusal from the Supreme Court to stay those rulings, and a vote by his fellow state justices to remove the statute, Roy Moore finds himself under suspension and yet still fighting. He vows to take his case back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And, once again, our hot Web question of the day is this: Should the Ten Commandments monument stay or should it go? Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. The results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked, where was the first U.S. men's tennis championship held? The answer is Newport, Rhode Island back in 1881.

He's recognized as one of the greatest players ever to pick up a tennis racket. But at the age of 32, Pete Sampras calling it quits. As the U.S. Open gets under way in Flushing Meadows, New York, Sampras is saying good-bye to the sport he dominated for years. His farewell ceremony begins just a few moments from now.

Sampras, the defending champ of the U.S. Open, owns a record 14 Grand Slam titles. He was ranked number one in the world for a record six straight years. Among his career highlights, seven Wimbledon and five U.S. Open titles.

Now, here's how you are weighing in on our Web question of the day: Should the Ten Commandments monument stay or should it go? Look at this, 28 percent of you said stay, 72 percent of you said go. As we always tell you, it's not a scientific poll.

Now let's hear from you and read a few of your e-mails. Carol writes this: "Knowing that our country was founded on the principle of religious freedom and the separation of church and state, how can it possibly be acceptable to have a statement of one specific religion in a public courthouse?"

But Emily counters it with this: "What a shame that we live in a world where anything pertaining to god and religion can't be displayed in public places. I am offended by many things that I see displayed on billboards and on TV, but god forbid that anything like that would be removed.

A reminder. You can always watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time. That's 5:00 Eastern.

I'll see you again tomorrow. Until then, thanks for joining us.

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





Monument?; Red Cross Fears Terrorism; On the Offensive in Afghanistan>


Aired August 25, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Crowd control outside this Alabama courthouse, will defenders of the Ten Commandments be able to save the monument now? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): A week after the U.N. bombing, is the Red Cross next?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've received some information that we are taking seriously that we may be the focus of an attack.

O'BRIEN: The hunt for Saddam, U.S. troops may be closing in but is Iraq already caught up in a new power struggle?

Targeting the Taliban, on the offensive in Afghanistan.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who go on fighting long after their cause is lost.

O'BRIEN: The Commandments and the Constitution, is a court order to move the monument carved in stone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see the First Amendment to protect religious liberty not crush religious liberty.

O'BRIEN: Pedophile priest, was he the victim of a prison plot, new details on the death of John Geoghan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It is Monday, August 25, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Mile's O'Brien. Wolf Blitzer has the day off.

Barricades are in place. Protesters are entrenched and the rhetoric is as hot as the weather in Montgomery, Alabama. The controversial Ten Commandments monument in the State Judicial Building could be removed at any moment but the man who put it there and his supporters are fighting to the bitter end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JUSTICE ROY MOORE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: Today I stand before the court of the judiciary not because I've done anything wrong, not because I've violated any law, because I've taken money, none of those things. I stand before the court of the judiciary because I've done my oath. I've kept my oath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: To Montgomery and David Mattingly -- David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it was the first time we've heard from Chief Justice Roy Moore since he was suspended from office last week. Both he and his lawyers came out today swinging.

They announced that a second filing before the U.S. Supreme Court hoping to overturn the federal court order that is mandated that this monument to the Ten Commandments be removed from the justice building.

They also announced they will fight the ethics charges that Moore is facing in a state judiciary court. Now, add into this another lawsuit that's been filed by two people in Mobile in federal court. These people are claiming that if the monument is moved it will affect their constitutional rights.

So, what it all adds up to is a lot of legal maneuvering going on right now while the monument sits in place just where it's been for the last two years where Justice Roy Moore put it inside the rotunda of the building behind me.

Now, earlier today barricades were erected outside the doors, the glass doors of the judicial building. Organizers say they were told it was a safety precaution.

People here have been told to undergo some sort of symbolic civil disobedience once there are signs that the monument is being moved. They've been told to go to the exits and kneel and block the exits for anyone who might be trying to move the monument.

They've also been told to keep it peaceful. They've been told that they're supposed to listen to police orders and they hope to see that this is carried out peacefully and no one is arrested this time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: David, I wonder if you could get your photographer to pan across there and show us the crowd a little bit and just give us a sense of the mood there on the steps. I imagine you're seeing people on both sides of the issue.

MATTINGLY: Well, Miles, at this hour there is not a lot going on. People are using this time before a rally scheduled for this evening to maybe go find a place to cool off. It has been incredibly hot out here.

Paramedics have had to come out a couple of times to assist people here in this crowd and, as you can see, there are a lot of empty chairs but that means that there will be a lot of people sitting in them later today.

And, again, they are having another rally tonight just as they have had every night since the deadline last Wednesday, that midnight deadline come and gone and the monument is still here, something people here consider that is a victory in their favor so far -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's David Mattingly in Montgomery, Alabama, thank you.

We'll continue to follow developments in Montgomery and let you know as soon as anything changes, of course, and later this hour, we'll talk to the mayor of that city about the tense situation there.

Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question is this: "Should the Ten Commandments monument stay or should it go?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote now at cnn.com/wolf and while you're there we'd like to hear from you directly.

Send us your comments. We might read some of them, time permitting, at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

New details are out about the violent weekend prison murder of John Geoghan, the defrocked priest accused of molesting almost 150 boys.

CNN's Jason Carroll is in New York. He joins us now with more on all this -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, prosecutors describe Joseph Druce, the inmate accused of murdering Geoghan, as a man filled with a longstanding hatred of homosexuals; in fact, he was already serving a life sentence for killing one.

He is housed in the same prison unit as John Geoghan, the defrocked priest, convicted of molesting a young boy. Boston's district attorney says Druce had been planning Geoghan's murder for more than a month using a book, a nail clipper, and a toothbrush to jam Geoghan's cell door.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CONTE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WORCESTER CO., MASSACHUSETTS: The defendant tied Geoghan's hands behind his back with a tee shirt, threw him on the floor, took socks which he had previously been stretching for some time and used them to strangle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: The D.A. says Druce confessed to beating Geoghan, then used a pillowcase to strangle him telling authorities getting Geoghan was a prize. Both Geoghan and Druce were kept in the protective custody unit at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center.

The questions are why was Druce, a homophobic violent offender, kept in the same unit as Geoghan and why was he able to get into his cell so easily? The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the prison system, has begun an investigation into exactly what went wrong -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jason Carroll, keep us posted as that investigation unfolds, appreciate it.

A little more on the man who the D.A. says confessed to killing Geoghan. Joseph Druce is described as having a longstanding phobia of gays, as we just told you, the D.A. says Druce filled with hatred for them.

He's serving a life sentence for killing a gay man who picked him up hitchhiking 15 years ago. Druce drove the car for three days with the body in the trunk. He said the man made a sexual advance toward him and he pleaded insanity but was convicted and sentenced to life.

He is said to be a member of a neo-Nazi group, the Aryan Nation, and was convicted of sending fake anthrax from prison to lawyers with Jewish-sounding names. For that, he received an additional 37 month sentence.

The still unsolved deadly sniper shootings in West Virginia are forcing school officials to beef up security measures as almost 300,000 students return to classes this week.

CNN Investigative Correspondent Art Harris is in Charleston. He joins us now with the latest, hello Art.

ART HARRIS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

In (unintelligible) Creek, where one victim was gunned down and two victims lived, nerves remain on edge. Tomorrow is the first day of school at Mary Ingels (ph) Elementary where security will be tight.

For the first time since 9/11, outdoor recess has been canceled and parents have been recruited as human shields to walk their children to class until the sniper is caught.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll be walking them in and out and, other than that, they won't be outside the building, just to enter and exit. We will not be using the playground.

HARRIS (voice-over): No recess?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

KAREN VICKERS, SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: We felt like that we would be better served by not having our students available for a sniper. I know that's hard core but reality is that we need to be safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The task force now counts more than 800 leads with more coming in from investigators knocking on doors, fewer coming in by phone. One investigator told me: "It's come down to plain, hard police work" -- Miles. O'BRIEN: CNN's Art Harris in Charleston, West Virginia, thank you very much.

A special assignment for Special Forces in Afghanistan, coming up learn the target and the fallout on the ground.

Also, blue skies for Gray Davis, why California's governor may have a little less reason to worry.

And, where is he hiding, why Saddam Hussein may be outside Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Terror in Baghdad, why does the Red Cross fear it could be next?

An allied attack in Afghanistan, who was the target?

WOLF BLITZER REPORTS back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: U.S. forces were on the offensive today in Afghanistan. Special Ops troops and warplanes backed Afghan forces in an attack on Taliban fighters, 200 miles south of Kabul.

Let's go live now to our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre with more on all this -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Pentagon officials tell CNN this was part of something called Warrior Sweep, a patrol of the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

According to sources, U.S. troops, Special Operations forces, called in air support after an Afghan militia group that they were accompanying received fire and returned fire on the ground.

A couple of 500-pound bombs were dropped on suspected Taliban militia fighters in this area in southeastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. At least 14 enemy were killed according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command. We're told that AV-8 Harriers and F-16s from the U.S. Air Force dropped 500-pound bombs on the locations.

Again, they believe that 14 were killed. There were no casualties reported on the U.S. side and this is just evidence that the combat operations in Afghanistan continue as Afghanistan rivals Iraq as a place where remnants of the old regime continue to pose a threat to U.S. forces -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jamie, put it into the big picture for us. Is this part of a stepped up effort in Afghanistan?

MCINTYRE: Well, it's not necessarily stepped up, it's more continuing. There's been still a great amount of concern about what's going on in this border region, which by the way is the area where it's believed Osama bin Laden is most likely to be hiding.

And, there's a great deal of sort of ungoverned area there that is under the control of local militias that's been sympathetic to the Taliban and there is a considerable number of Taliban fighters who are armed and posing a threat to the U.S. and coalition forces.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon thank you very much.

A week after the U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad was devastated by a truck bomb, the Red Cross says it too is scathing back operations in Iraq. Red Cross officials cite the U.N. bombing, the earlier bombing of the Jordanian Embassy, and what they call daily attacks in Iraq. Those attacks are increasingly targeting Iraqis themselves. A prominent Shiite cleric narrowly escaped a bloody bombing this weekend.

Let's go live now to Baghdad and CNN's Ben Wedeman -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, well the Red Cross has announced that it's going to reduce its non-Iraqi staff here in Baghdad, that in addition to all those other factors you mentioned, also as a result of their receipt of what they call credible knowledge that the organization itself may -- could be a target for an attack.

Now, a Red Cross spokesman said that they would reconsider this move if the situation, the security situation stabilizes but that doesn't seem to be the case for the time being.

Now, almost a week after that bomb blast ripped through U.N. Headquarters, the search and recovery operations there have officially come to an end. According to a U.N. spokesman today there are 20 people confirmed dead on their list; however, they are still conducted forensic tests on remains that have been found at the bomb site so that list, in fact, may well increase.

Also today, the United Nations handed over the bodies of seven Iraqis who were killed in the bombing to their families. That had been something of an issue of contention among those families who really wanted to get their loved ones, the bodies of their loved ones back so they could give them a proper burial.

Meanwhile today, there was a massive funeral in the Shiite heartland of Najaf. That is really the spiritual center for the Shiites of Iraq. There they were mourning the death of three men killed in an apparent assassination attempt of a leading Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim (ph).

Now, what had happened was that yesterday a bomb was placed outside his office, blowing up, killing three of his staff members in addition to wounding 10 others.

Now, Najaf has really been the scene of a fairly intense but really behind-the-scenes struggle, power struggle among leading Shiite clerics, all of whom want to play a leadership role among the Shiite majority in this country, of course Shiites making up about 60 percent of the population.

And, of course, under Saddam Hussein they had really been severely repressed by the regime and, of course, now they feel it is their time to take power and so you have these leaders who are really fighting among themselves to take that power -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Obviously important, Ben, for the U.S. not to appear to take sides in this dispute. What are U.S. troops doing to avoid sort of getting caught in that crossfire?

WEDEMAN: They're keeping a very, very low profile, Miles. I was there for about 24 hours. I did not see one American soldier on the streets. This is a holy city for the Shiites and the Americans are very sensitive to that. So, really you don't see them going around.

There are what amounts to Shiite militias and the local police who are essentially responsible for security. The Americans, as I said, basically staying on the fringes of the city -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Probably a good place to be. CNN's Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad thank you very much.

A pair of car bombs ripped through lunchtime crowds in India's financial capital of Mumbai today killing at least 44 people, at least 115 wounded.

CNN's Ram Ramgopal is in Mumbai.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The two explosions occurred minutes apart at two monuments, on the famous Gateway of India monument close to the southern tip of Mumbai, the other in Mumba Devi, which is the ancient temple that gives the city of Mumbai its name.

Police say both targets were chosen for their prominence and they have not at this point blamed any group specifically for being behind the attacks but they do describe the attackers as being jihadi elements, which in their terms means Islamic militants.

Now, the Deputy Prime Minister of India Mr. L.K. Advani, who will be visiting the city tomorrow morning went on to say that some of these groups could have links to al Qaeda. The police have, however, not named these groups specifically. They have stepped up security across the city and they are prepared to deal with the worst.

Ram Ramgopal, CNN, Mumbai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The recall gets tighter. Simon says goodbye to the California governor's race. How does the departure of this prominent Republican affect the other candidates? That story is just ahead.

The noose gets tighter or does it? How close are U.S. forces really getting to Saddam Hussein? CNN Terrorism and National Security Analyst Ken Robinson will join me in just a moment.

And, a closer look at the man in the center of the storm, the road Justice Roy Moore took staring down federal judges over the Ten Commandments.

But first, a snapshot of the weekend's top stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Tragic trip home, eight young firefighters from eastern Oregon were killed when their van collided head on with a tractor-trailer rig. The men, all younger than 23, were returning home after battling a wildfire in Idaho. The collision happened in Vail, Oregon.

Gas crunch easing, a pipeline that broke creating gasoline shortages in Phoenix, Arizona is up and running again but it's expected to be several days before supplies are back to normal.

Japan does it again, for the third time in five years a Japanese team has won the Little League World Series. A team from Tokyo beat the U.S. champs, a team from East Boynton Beach, Florida, 10-1. Florida has put eight teams into title games but they've never won a championship. The Little League World Series is held each year in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Farewell, Bobby Bonds, the father of one of baseball's greatest sluggers, Barry Bonds, died at the age of 57. The elder Bonds had suffered from lung cancer and a brain tumor and, like his son, Bobby Bonds was also a star player. He spent seven season with San Francisco and remained with the Giants after retiring, serving as a hitting coach and special assistant to the general manager, and that's our Weekend Snapshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There are some major changes in the California recall election in both the poll numbers and the list of players. One major candidate is now out of the race and new numbers show a significant reversal between the top contenders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. GOV. CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D), CA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Ups and downs will always occur in a campaign so I tell my folks you just keep your nose to the grindstone. We keep moving forward.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante reacting to a new "Los Angeles Times" poll. It shows him leading in the California recall race with 35 percent.

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger trails by 13 points, a major reversal from last week's numbers. State Senator Tom McClintock, former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, and businessman Bill Simon, all Republicans, trail significantly.

BILL SIMON (R), FORMER CA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Fellow Californians, I come before you today to announce that I am withdrawing as a candidate for governor.

O'BRIEN: Simon dropped out of the race over the weekend saying there were too many Republicans running, sparking speculation the party pressured him to withdraw. What does it mean for Schwarzenegger?

DANIEL WEINTRAUB, "THE SACRAMENTO BEE": In the short term, I think it actually could be more trouble for Arnold because Simon was competing with State Senator Tom McClintock for the more conservative wing of the Republican Party and if Simon's votes go toward McClintock that's going to make him appear to be even more viable.

O'BRIEN: The same "L.A. Times" poll also shows support for recalling Davis is slipping. Only 50 percent of those asked now support ousting the governor, down eight points from a different poll last week.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Davis signaled his support for Bustamante should he be recalled but the governor stopped short of endorsing his lieutenant.

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Cruz is my friend. He is a very capable person. His entry in the race I think will actually help me by bringing out more people to vote no on the recall and clearly he's the most qualified person on question number two.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And it looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger might be getting some help from some high profile New York Republicans. Sources close to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, of course, say he will endorse Schwarzenegger, and sources also say Governor George Pataki is planning a Manhattan fund-raiser for the actor.

Coming up on our program, the gospel according to Roy Moore. We'll look at the man vowing to keep a massive Ten Commandments monument right where it is, thank you very much.

And then, Saddam Hussein, the hunt's still on, is the U.S. any closer to finding the elusive leader and just where could he be hiding?

And, Pete Sampras, one of the greatest tennis players of this or any other era, is ready to set down his racket and pull up a rocking chair?

But first, news quiz time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Where was the first U.S. Men's tennis championship held, Flushing Meadows, New York; Forest Hills, New York; Newport, Rhode Island; or Washington, D.C., the answer coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, I'm Miles O'Brien in for Wolf Blitzer.

Coming up this half hour, thou shalt not be moved without a fight. Protesters pray to keep a controversial Ten Commandments monument right where it is. We'll hear what Montgomery's mayor has to say, but first the latest headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

O'BRIEN: He's managed to stay at least one or two steps ahead of his pursuers. But are U.S. troops now perhaps closing in on Saddam Hussein?

Joining me from the CNN Center in Atlanta is Ken Robinson, CNN terrorism and national security analyst. Ken, good to have you with us.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: What's your best guess right now on Saddam Hussein's whereabouts, inside Iraq or has he fled the country?

ROBINSON: The folks are split into two camps, Miles. They are naturally pursuing every lead that they're getting from these last few arrests which they've made in the last 39 days. You know they've rolled up five people, two of them being Uday and Qusay, Chemical Ali, Saddam's secretary. And from each of these they had a lot of leads that they pursued.

Some of those leads give them indication that he potentially remained in the country, but some leads have given them the idea that potentially he may have fled. Specifically, when Saddam's presidential secretary was picked up, he was picked up with Belarussian passports, a whole bunch of them. And there's a lot of concern that potentially he may have used passports of that country or another country possibly to be able to be spirited away through a border country like Syria and then into possibly Eastern Europe.

O'BRIEN: And it's worth reminding viewers he has a tremendous amount of money to keep him on the run and in hiding.

ROBINSON: Well, it's a huge incentive for any small country that has a poor GNP, because if you have a billionaire that you could bring into your country and hide him, that sure is incentive.

O'BRIEN: Now, if, for a moment, we accept the notion that he is, in fact, still in Iraq, as has most of the top 55, as we've seen so far, is it likely he'd be, as the others have been, in the urban centers or would he be out in the middle of the desert somewhere? ROBINSON: Well, he's got some serious choices to make. He knows our technology, the technology of the United States. And he knows that if he is in a desert area it's going to be easier for them to be able to be able to pick up someone out there.

He's also -- you know this is a man who's been on the run for 30 years from his own people. He's traveled in large entourages with multiple impostors presenting themselves as him to protect himself from his own folks. So this is a lifestyle that he's used to, but the difference now is he has no infrastructure and support like he had before.

The other thing that's important is the United States government has legitimized the reward program by paying the rewards for the first two information that led to the capture of Uday and Qusay, and so with that in mind, and that legitimacy in mind, he's got to be looking over his shoulder very carefully right now. The other issue is Saddam was a serial tunnel maker. I mean, if you look at Baghdad itself, the coalition has been going through multiple and numerous large tunnels all throughout, honeycombed throughout Baghdad, and the potential exists that those might also exist in Tikrit or in other large urban area cities.

O'BRIEN: Now of course the group pursuing them is cloaked under a lot of secrecy. Task Force 20 it's called. It's a group of special ops, CIA, all the black arts, so to speak. This particular group, are they doing business the right way as best you're hearing from your sources? And do they have the sense it's just a matter of time?

ROBINSON: It's a matter of time, Miles. This special operations task force is not unusual. When the United States government conducts operations in any country, they always have a special operations component to that. And they try not to focus all their time and energy on one individual.

However, this individual, Saddam, is incredibly important because of the political game that could happen by finally closing the chapter on him. A lot of folks in the intelligence community talk about Iraqi citizens as being similar to battered wife syndrome and that finally putting a closure to him and the shadow he cast on Iraq would enable them to work harder toward reconstruction and putting down these Ba'athists and these Islamists who crossed the border trying to prevent the phase four reconstruction in Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: All right. Quickly, what does your gut tell you? Is it near? It won't be too long before Saddam Hussein is found and captured?

ROBINSON: I believe there's enormous pressure on him right now, and that if he has remained in the country it won't be long before they close the noose on him.

O'BRIEN: All right. Ken Robinson, CNN Center in Atlanta, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

U.S. troops on dangerous missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. I'll get the straight talk on how the war on terror is progressing in Afghanistan and the controversy over U.S. troop strength in Iraq from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. She's just back from a trip to Pakistan and Iraq. She'll join us live in just a bit.

And just who is the man at the center of this Ten Commandments dispute we've been telling you so much about? A profile of the State Chief Justice Roy Moore is just ahead. I'll speak with the mayor of Montgomery as well and see how his city is faring through all of this. But first a quick look at the other news making headlines around the world.

Liberian fighting. Despite continued fighting in Liberia's countryside, 150 U.S. Marines have pulled out of the capital Monrovia and returned to ships off the coast. One hundred U.S. troops remain, guarding the American embassy and working with the West African peace force that's been in the country for three weeks.

North Korea talks. Delegates are arriving in Beijing for the six-nation crisis talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Taking part in the three-day meeting set to begin Wednesday are China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the United States and North Korea.

Heat wave deaths. Makeshift morgues in Paris are filled with hundreds of unclaimed bodies; victims of France's deadly heat wave. Officials say the dead will be buried with dignity whether families claim them or not.

Fierce storms. Hurricane Ignacio packing sustained winds of 85 miles an hour is lashing tourist resorts with sheets of rain as it moves along the coast of Baja, California. Although weakening, the storm already has forced 3,000 people into shelters and knocked down trees and power lines.

Whirly bird musical. Mixed sounds of violins and chopper blades filled the air over Salsberg, Austria, all for a good cause. The event coincided with the opening of a new home for a collection of historic planes.

And that's our look around the world.

O'BRIEN: Two of President Bush's top aides out on the road today carrying the message to both retired and active members of the military that the U.S. is winning the war on terrorism and will prevail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The war on terror must be fought on the offense. Defense of the homeland is a vital mission, but the president has been clear. We will take this fight to them. We will not fight this in the cities of America. We will fight on their turf and we will win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There will continue to be some setbacks, I regret to say. But there will be more successes, and the outcome is not in doubt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A U.S. congressional delegation has just visited Iraq and Afghanistan and some other world hot spots. Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison returned home this weekend. She joins us now live from Dallas.

Senator, good to have you with us.

SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Is it premature to declare victory or even come close to declaring victory on the war on terrorism?

HUTCHISON: Oh, it is premature. We are certainly making progress, but it is very tough. We now are seeing a little bit of a resurgence in some of the remnants of Taliban, of al Qaeda, of the Saddam Hussein leadership, and we've got to continue this fight so that it doesn't come to our shores, so that we stop them in their tracks where they are.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the Taliban and al Qaeda, and specifically, that border area, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Extremely porous border. Plenty of places to hide.

Do you have the sense that the Pakistanis are truly cooperating hunting down Taliban and al Qaeda suspects?

HUTCHISON: Well, we've talk with President Karzai of Afghanistan, and he does not think that Pakistan is doing everything that it can. But when we talked to General Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, he believes that they are. And I was pleased to hear that they had done a pretty comprehensive raid on the Taliban leadership today, because it has been escalating.

It is very dangerous over there on that arc at the bottom of Afghanistan. And if the Taliban has a resurgence, then, of course, it's going to stop progress in Afghanistan, where we have been doing pretty well, until just a few week ago.

O'BRIEN: What's the sense you got from talking to people over there? Is bin Laden alive? And, if so, is he right on that border of Pakistan and Afghanistan?

HUTCHISON: Many believe he is in Pakistan up in the hills where it's very hard to get, where there are villages that are very remote. And, of course, capturing him would be terrific and helpful. But mainly it is getting the remnants of the Taliban and stopping them.

I think that if Osama bin Laden is alive -- and people think he is -- he is not able to get out. He's pretty much hemmed in into that area, and I think what we really need to do is stop the Taliban and the drug trafficking that's now occurring there that could be very troublesome for the whole country.

O'BRIEN: Let's move to Iraq for just a moment, the hunt for another fugitive, Saddam Hussein. We just heard a few moments ago from Ken Robinson, our security analyst, that there is some circumstantial evidence which might lead us to believe he might be out of the country, specifically Belarus, of all places. What was your sense while you were there? Is Saddam Hussein in the country based on the information you got from people you talked to there?

HUTCHISON: It's very hard to tell. It's very hard to tell. But I think it's more important that we get Saddam Hussein, even than Osama bin Laden, because we have not been able to get the intelligence that we need from the Iraqi people to get the rest of the Saddam Hussein regime and to stop the individual acts of terrorism because people still fear that Saddam Hussein is going to come back. And getting him, I think, would open the spigot in Iraq for better intelligence, for getting the rest of his thugs out of there as well, so that we can get about the infrastructure improvements that they need to live a decent life.

O'BRIEN: A lot of talk now about troop strength or perhaps the lack of it. U.S. boots on the ground in the both the countries you've just been talking about. What is your sense of it? Does the U.S. need to send more troops to both Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan?

HUTCHISON: I do think that we need a higher troop strength, probably in both, just to not allow the remnants to come back, which they appear to be doing in both countries. I would like to see Arab countries do more. I'd like to see a Muslim coalition of people who would go into Iraq, especially, and help in the security efforts.

There would be a lot of credibility, and I think it would sit well with the Iraqi people. So if we could get the Arab countries, the moderate Arab countries and the Muslim countries to take the lead here, I think it would really help improve the prospects of success and in rebuilding Iraq and giving the people of Iraq a voice in their own government.

O'BRIEN: Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, thanks very much for being with us. We appreciate it.

HUTCHISON: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: The Ten Commandment controversy thrusts Montgomery, Alabama into the spotlight. We'll talk to the mayor of the town on the showdown that is the talk of the town and the nation. The life and times of Judge Roy Moore. Who is the man who calls himself the Ten Commandments Judge?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This is the scene in Montgomery, Alabama. The barricades in place. Protesters still on the steps of the judicial building there. The two-and-a-half ton monument to the Ten Commandments still in place. The question is, when will it be removed, and what will be the reaction? For more on all this I'm joined by the mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, Bobby Bright, from his city. Mayor Bright, good to have you with us.

MAYOR BOBBY BRIGHT (D), MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: Good to be here with you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. First of all, how has this impacted your city? I imagine it has taxed your resources quite a bit.

BRIGHT: Well, it has. It's stressed our resources, but it's not something that we didn't expect and something that we can't really handle.

We have our police department. We've had men work overtime. We -- our fire department, same way. And, of course, our maintenance department and sanitation department also has extended their hours just to handle this additional activity here in our city.

O'BRIEN: I suspect your phone has been ringing off the hook through all of this. What are your constituents telling you?

BRIGHT: Well, people -- both sides -- people are wanting me to come down on both sides to support Judge Moore and they are also wanting me to use whatever influence we have. Of course, we have none in the judiciary. All we do is take care of the city and the services for our city -- to ask him to, you know, remove the monument.

But what we are trying to do -- as mayor, I'm just providing the safest forum we possibly can for all the demonstrators who are here, the people who are visiting our city. We welcome all of them here. They have been extremely cooperative. No problems whatsoever.

The only additional resource that we're expending at this point in time is the police, fire and the additional services to make sure that everything around the monument, around the judicial complex is safe and also presentable or -- as far as trash is concerned. Because when you have people of this number, you are going to have issues of trash and litter. So we're making sure that's taken care of also by way of our sanitation department.

O'BRIEN: Now, Mr. Mayor, you are newsworthy in the sense that you perhaps may be the only person in America who is in the middle of this issue as sort of not taken a stand. Why haven't you? I assume this is something you have a firm belief on.

BRIGHT: I do. You know everybody loves the Ten Commandments. I love the Ten Commandments and I live by them every day.

The issue here is not whether or not the mayor of the city of Montgomery endorses the Ten Commandments being in the judicial complex, but whether or not the presence of that monument is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. And, of course, as mayor, I do not have to issue an opinion based on that, and I have to follow the law issued by the federal courts. And I'm bound as mayor to uphold the law, and I will do whatever necessary in order to make sure the law is complied with.

However, with that said, I respect the protesters who are here, the people who feel that their religious beliefs are being challenged. I can say this, I would be there too if I felt that my religious beliefs were being challenged. But as mayor, I have to ensure that both sides are heard and protected and taken care of while they are expressing their viewpoints.

O'BRIEN: Well, step out of your role as mayor for just a moment and give us your sense as Bobby Bright the person.

BRIGHT: Well, Miles, it's awfully -- it's easy for you to go there, and what I am as a person is I am a very religiously strong person, individual. I believe in my faith and my god. And, like I said, the Ten Commandments is a basis for our whole society, quite frankly.

But we also have the Constitution. We can't look at our society in a narrow sense. We have to look at a broad sense. And the broad sense is the Constitution, and we have to comply with the Constitution, live up to the Constitution.

If we didn't, we're not a country of laws of, you know, laws of one man or a man. We are a country of laws. And we have to comply with those laws. If we didn't, we'd be living in a country of chaos.

And that's what we're guarding against. And that's what my duty is as mayor, is to make sure that everyone complies with the law and they have a safe forum in which to express their opinions. And that's what we're all about here in the city of Montgomery. And so far we've been very fortunate because all of the demonstrations that we've had here have been very cordial and very emotional and very legal technically. But they have been cooperative and everyone has been extremely cordial.

O'BRIEN: Bobby Bright, I think you have your future in the diplomatic core. I think you successfully did this entire interview without upsetting either side. The mayor of Montgomery, Bobby Bright.

Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.

BRIGHT: Thank you, Miles, for having me.

O'BRIEN: Apparently size and location matter when it comes to government displays of the Ten Commandments. "The New York Times" is reporting that some displays have recently been approved by courts, as long as they are not -- and we quote now -- "in your face." Among them, "The Times" says, a stylized depiction of the Ten Commandments in the seal of the Georgia state court and a small plaque in a Philadelphia appeals court that was installed in 1920 in a remote part of the building.

Now the man at the center of this judicial and religious storm is no stranger to controversy. In fact, the Alabama chief justice has been known as The Commandments Judge for almost a decade. It's a title he wears proudly and defiantly. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Justice Roy Moore hasn't ever seemed to care much that others might be uncomfortable with his ideas of god, country and the law.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROY MOORE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: To do my duty, I must acknowledge god. That's what this case is about.

O'BRIEN: Moore has long been of the mind that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and just about every other law on the books first came from the creator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Judge Roy S. Moore.

O'BRIEN: Moore's own roots suggest he was taught these beliefs from a very early age. From a working class home in rural Etowah County, Alabama, Roy Moore earned an appointment to West Point in 1965. He later served as a military policeman in Vietnam.

Fresh out of law school in 1977, he landed a job as an assistant D.A. in Etowah County, but resigned in 1982. Moore moved to Texas, trained as a full-contact karate fighter and spent several months in the Australian outback, wrangling wild cattle.

He returned to the legal profession and to Alabama in 1992, becoming a circuit court judge in Gadsden. It was in that position that Roy Moore became known as The Ten Commandments Judge, a title he has embraced.

MOORE: I will never, never deny the god upon whom our laws and our country are made.

O'BRIEN: In 1995, Moore hand carved a wooden plaque of the Ten Commandments and placed it on his courtroom wall. A legal firestorm ensued and, in 1997, a federal judge ordered him to remove it. Moore refused. Alabama's governor intervened and the plaque stayed in place.

In 2001, after his election as chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court, even having campaigned as The Ten Commandments Judge, Moore had a monument to the scroll, weighing more than two tons, placed in the rotunda of Alabama's judicial building. That very summer, activists were locked out of the judicial building when they tried to place a display of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech next to the Ten Commandments monument.

MOORE: No judge or man can dictate in whom we can believe and in whom we trust.

O'BRIEN: Now, having lost two federal court rulings, a refusal from the Supreme Court to stay those rulings, and a vote by his fellow state justices to remove the statute, Roy Moore finds himself under suspension and yet still fighting. He vows to take his case back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And, once again, our hot Web question of the day is this: Should the Ten Commandments monument stay or should it go? Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. The results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked, where was the first U.S. men's tennis championship held? The answer is Newport, Rhode Island back in 1881.

He's recognized as one of the greatest players ever to pick up a tennis racket. But at the age of 32, Pete Sampras calling it quits. As the U.S. Open gets under way in Flushing Meadows, New York, Sampras is saying good-bye to the sport he dominated for years. His farewell ceremony begins just a few moments from now.

Sampras, the defending champ of the U.S. Open, owns a record 14 Grand Slam titles. He was ranked number one in the world for a record six straight years. Among his career highlights, seven Wimbledon and five U.S. Open titles.

Now, here's how you are weighing in on our Web question of the day: Should the Ten Commandments monument stay or should it go? Look at this, 28 percent of you said stay, 72 percent of you said go. As we always tell you, it's not a scientific poll.

Now let's hear from you and read a few of your e-mails. Carol writes this: "Knowing that our country was founded on the principle of religious freedom and the separation of church and state, how can it possibly be acceptable to have a statement of one specific religion in a public courthouse?"

But Emily counters it with this: "What a shame that we live in a world where anything pertaining to god and religion can't be displayed in public places. I am offended by many things that I see displayed on billboards and on TV, but god forbid that anything like that would be removed.

A reminder. You can always watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time. That's 5:00 Eastern.

I'll see you again tomorrow. Until then, thanks for joining us.

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Monument?; Red Cross Fears Terrorism; On the Offensive in Afghanistan>