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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Blackout hits London; North Korea May Have Nuclear Weapons Ready To Test; Prime Minister Blair To Answer Tough Inquiry Questions Today

Aired August 28, 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: You're looking at Big Ben. It's London's turn. A power blackout strands commuters across the pond.
And, targeted from they sky, Israel takes action.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Nuclear threat, is North Korea ready to declare it has weapons and start testing them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And by the end of this year we'll really have to worry that they'll have a small nuclear arsenal.

O'BRIEN: Sexed up intelligence, Britain's Blair on the hot seat.

ANTHONY SELDON, BLAIR BIOGRAPHER: There's been a steady erosion of trust in his government and, indeed, in him himself.

O'BRIEN: Frantic phone calls and urgent messages, new transcripts that will put you inside the doomed towers on 9/11.

He's aging and ailing, the man in black is back. Johnny Cash meets the MTV generation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It's Thursday, August 28, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Miles O'Brien reporting. Wolf Blitzer is off again today.

A verbal bombshell from North Korea, Bush administration officials say the Pyongyang government is preparing to declare the country a nuclear nation and warning it has the means to deliver atomic weapons and it will soon begin testing them.

CNN's State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel joins us live now with more on this -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Miles, while those who don't follow North Korea day in and day out might have been shocked by the news, for officials inside the Bush administration they say the announcement was not unexpected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KOPPEL (voice-over): The threat came during the second day of six-party talks in Beijing. Administration officials tell CNN North Korea said that hostile U.S. policy had left Pyongyang no choice but to declare itself a nuclear power, conduct a nuclear weapons test and show they have the means to deliver these weapons, a warning interpreted by some U.S. officials as a threat to resume ballistic missile testing.

PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: We don't think they should have nuclear weapons so obviously we don't think they should be testing them.

KOPPEL: During the last round of talks in April, Pyongyang made vague yet strikingly similar threats and talks broke down. Since then, North Korea claims it's finished reprocessing close to 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods with enough plutonium for five or six nuclear bombs.

The purpose of the Beijing talks to convince North Korea to freeze and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons program. In exchange, North Korea wants a non-aggression treaty from the United States to guarantee its security. Experts say North Korea is well known for its brinksmanship and its bluster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Korea is playing a relatively weak hand. I mean the fact is that they do have nuclear weapons but they're not a political or economic power, so I think what they're trying to do is they're trying to up the ante. North Korea has pursued a foreign policy of opportunism, of brinksmanship and blackmail and I think this is just more of the same.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The question, said one administration official, is whether this is a serious and irreversible statement or just part of their pattern of starting every conversation by making threatening statements to see if it wins them something. Some officials, Miles, believe that North Korea, in fact, is just playing for time until their nuclear program is ready for prime time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department thanks.

There are more questions than answers when it comes to how far North Korea's missiles can reach but to just give you an idea, a device with a range of 620 miles could deliver a nuclear weapon to South Korea, Japan, Russia, or China.

A missile with a roughly 2,500 mile range could strike all of those plus most of Southeast Asia and a missile with a 3,700 mile range could reach as far as Australia or even Alaska.

Joining me here in Washington for more on the nuclear crisis in Korea is former defense secretary William Cohen, good to have you with us Senator Cohen.

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to be here. O'BRIEN: Let's talk briefly about what sort of testing the Koreans are likely talking about here. We're talking about more missile tests. We've seen them lob missiles in the past, or are they perhaps talking about exploding some sort of nuclear device underground or otherwise?

COHEN: It's unclear but it seems to me that the implication is that they would pursue an underground nuclear test. I don't know that they would want to try to have an above ground test but even an underground test would be a serious step for them to take.

You have to remember that one of the reasons we decided to go forward with a missile defense system was precisely because of the threat that North Korea could pose in the future, so they do have a missile capability. They have fired their Taepo Dong missile in the past and they're likely to expand the missile testing program.

O'BRIEN: It's so difficult to figure out their motivations in all of this but why this particular threat and why now? They agreed to these multilateral talks with some urging on the part of the Chinese and yet then they drop quite literally this bombshell.

COHEN: Well, part of it is strategy or tactics on their part. They do engage in a good deal of bluster to try to extract every concession they possibly can get but we have to look at them very seriously. We cannot allow them to become a nuclear power as such because of their proliferation activities.

The disseminate missile technology. The disseminate drugs. That's what they sell on the open and black market for that matter. So, it's clear that now China is very, very involved in this process, Japan, South Korea, Russia. They are becoming even more and more isolated than ever before.

O'BRIEN: So, really three options here, an economic stranglehold possibly, more negotiations, or some sort of military strike. I guess given the choice of those three, negotiation is probably the best route but, nonetheless, it doesn't seem very fruitful.

COHEN: I think negotiations will continue. It's in everyone's best interest, including North Korea. They can't afford to alienate all of the international community. They've had friends like Russia and China in the past but those friendships are being frayed by their activities and their bombastic statements as of today.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's try to anticipate here for just a moment because if it's more than bluster. If, in fact, a test is staged in North Korea, what happens then? What happens to those neighbors and what is their reaction likely to be?

COHEN: Well, China, for example, has been reluctant to really intervene in this whole process until recently but even China now recognizes that they cannot afford to have North Korea become a nuclear power. It would set in motion a dynamic that would be totally destabilizing, the possibility of Japan following suit, South Korea, Taiwan and others. So, everyone has an interest in seeing to it that they don't do this. If they should, there are bound to be consequences that would flow. I think they're best left unstated now but there will be serious economic consequences and perhaps much further than that in the future.

O'BRIEN: We are talking about the possible range of some of these North Korean missiles and some of the targets they might potentially strike. They build good rockets. They are good rocket makers. Is it a likelihood that they could have a weapon which could go as far as Alaska?

COHEN: It's possible that they could develop such a weapon. It depends upon the so-called payload. The size of the payload would determine whether or not it could reach portions of Alaska or even in Hawaii or even CONUS as such in terms of California and other states. That would depend upon their continued expansion of the missile testing program and the size and weight of the payload.

O'BRIEN: That's a pretty sobering thought and that does lead one to the question of if it came down to that would some sort of preemptive military strike be appropriate and do you see that happening?

COHEN: Well, again, one of the reasons we've been going forward and moving forward as quickly as we can to have a national missile defense program is precisely to make sure that North Korea does not pose such a problem to the United States and to our allies.

And so, I don't think we have to reach that issue yet in terms of whether we would have a preemptive strike. I don't think we ever should take the military option off the table but I think, frankly, that's way at the very end of all of our options.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this as far as the tactics and strategy right now if you were providing counsel, should the U.S. be offering more carrots along with the sticks here as they engage in negotiations with the North Koreans or is that a dangerous thing to do as well?

COHEN: I think President Bush back in the spring indicated that if they were to forego their nuclear program there would be a robust economic package made available. That's about a clear a signal that the United States is prepared to help them economically provided they forego this nuclear program.

Beyond that, I think that it would be unwise for us to start negotiating with ourselves at this point. Continue negotiations. Bring as much pressure to bear from our other allies who are also concerned about that but not many upfront concessions based upon this particular latest blast.

O'BRIEN: So, leave what's on the table on the table.

Let me look back to your years when you were the defense secretary under the Clinton administration. How close did we come then to a confrontation of this nature and how -- I mean are we at a point now which exceeds the tension levels that you encountered during your tenure with the Clinton administration.

COHEN: Actually, it was Secretary Bill Perry who was then secretary during the first four years of the Clinton administration who decided that it was important to send a signal that going nuclear for North Korea was not an option that we could accept and actually sent more forces to the region.

Something like that may become necessary in the future in order to let them know that using this kind of a nuclear blackmail is not going to be sufficient or will work against the Bush administration.

O'BRIEN: Former Defense Secretary William Cohen thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

COHEN: Pleasure to be here.

O'BRIEN: Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this: if North Korea has nuclear weapons, should the U.S. take out the weapons? We'll have those results later in the broadcast.

We invite you to vote now at cnn.com/wolf and, while you're there, we'd like to hear directly from you. Send us your comments. Time permitting we'll read some of them at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

There was another bloody attack on American forces in Iraq today, which follows the killing of a British soldier. The embattled allies may soon be getting more help but will it be what they need?

Let's go live now to CNN's Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers who is in Baghdad -- Walt.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Five months ago when U.S. troops swept into Iraq, many of those U.S. troops genuinely believed that they would be welcomed as liberators that they had come to establish democracy here.

That appears to be anything but the case in the wake of the latest rash of violence against U.S. troops. The incident Thursday occurred about 25 miles west of Baghdad in the Fallujah district.

A U.S. convoy was going down the road. It encountered what is called an explosive device which is something of a homemade land mine. What happened, we know, is at least four U.S. soldiers were injured when that explosive device was set off as their vehicles were passing by.

Some of those wounded soldiers had to be medivac'd out. We are not yet sure at this point of what their condition is but in the distance, almost within sight of this attack on the U.S. convoy, a large crowd of Iraqis began cheering and jumping up and down and shouting, "With our blood and with our souls we sacrifice to you Saddam Hussein." Someone in the crowd was said to be waving a bloody uniform of an American soldier.

Now, the commanding general of U.S. forces here, senior ranking officer Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said he would now gladly welcome multinational troops in the area as long as they remained under the command of a U.S. general.

General Sanchez was asked if he needed more U.S. troops and, in point of fact, he said no that is not what he needs. What he needs most immediately is better intelligence assets. Translate that into better intelligence coming in so he can track down those who are trying to pick off the American soldiers. What he's specifically talking about here is getting the Iraqis to collaborate with the U.S. soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHES, U.S. ARMY: Putting more U.S. soldiers on the ground is not going to solve the problem when I don't have the intelligence to act on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: The Americans were not the only ones to have bled here today. The British had one of their soldiers killed. That brings to a total of 50 British soldiers. Another British soldier was wounded. A British patrol was moving south towards Basra, which is the principal focus of the British troops, principal concentration.

There was an obstruction in the road. They detoured into a village. Suddenly, there was an angry mob in the village. It was almost as if it was a premeditated ambush. The British fired warning shots into the air.

Suddenly, the British came under very heavy fire from RPGs, again one British soldier killed, another wounded. They had to be escorted and extricated out of the area with a helicopter escort, helicopter gun ships overhead - Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Walt Rodgers in Baghdad thanks very much.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in the hot seat today testifying about the mysterious death of a weapons expert who was the source of a news report about Britain's intelligence dossier on Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Tony Blair's immediate political future may not have been on the line today but his credibility was.

SELDON: There's been a steady erosion of trust in his government and, indeed, in him himself.

O'BRIEN: Before a judicial inquiry at the British Royal Courts of Justice, Blair answered a charge in a BBC report accusing his government of "sexing up" intelligence about Iraq's weapons program. At the inquiry, Blair said: "This was an allegation that we had behaved in a way which, if true, would have merited my resignation." But Blair emphatically denied that his office and the now infamous dossier had knowingly exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons program.

That dossier, put out in September, claimed Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Blair said that information came from British intelligence. He conceded his government was under intense public pressure to justify going to war but he said, and we quote him:

"At that stage, the strategy was not to use the dossier as the immediate reason to go to conflict, but as the reason why we had to return to the issue of Saddam and weapons of mass destruction."

This inquiry began after the apparent suicide of David Kelly in July. Kelly was a weapons expert who was the main source of a BBC report exposing the dossier. After admitting to superiors he was the source, the word leaked out from Blair's cabinet. As a result, Kelly endured intense public pressure.

Today, Blair took responsibility for that saying he felt there was no way the name could be kept secret once Kelly told his own bosses. The question now, can Great Britain's master politician survive the scandal?

SELDON: So, I think he will come out himself in a clean way and I think that actually it will make him even more determined to stay on as prime minister to show that his decision to go to war with Iraq was right and a brave decision.

O'BRIEN: A decision still hanging over Tony Blair, along with the nearly unprecedented distinction of being a sitting prime minister having to defend his honesty before a judge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Israel has once again targeted Hamas militants with a missile strike in Gaza this time after a Palestinian rocket attack on an Israel city.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Gaza and joins us now by videophone - Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Miles, thank you very much.

And, Israel apparently stepping up its policy of hunting down Hamas militants and striking them at will. In this latest military operation, eyewitnesses say an Israeli helicopter gunship circling in the skies over the city of (unintelligible) in the south of the Gaza strip, fired at least three missiles into a vehicle which was being driven by what we now know to be a senior figure or mid-ranking figure at least of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a military wing of that group. He's been named by Palestinian officials as Hamdi Kadak (ph). He's somebody who has been involved, according to Palestinian officials, with the firing of makeshift rockets from the territory of the Gaza Strip into Israel proper.

We also understand from Palestinian officials and hospital sources in the south of Gaza that at least three other people were injured as a result of this strike. It's not altogether clear at this stage whether they were simply bystanders or whether they were targeted on purpose, as it were, by the Israeli officials.

What we can tell you is over the course of the past week this Hamdi Kadak becomes the eighth member of the military wing of Hamas or of Hamas itself to be targeted and to be killed by the Israeli military but what we can also tell you is that a good number of civilians have also been killed and injured in the process -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Matthew Chance in Gaza thank you very much.

Transcripts of terror, poignant and harrowing moments captured in radio calls as the heroes of 9/11 try to save the day. But, for many family members, it is a sad day as those transcripts are released.

Blackout in Britain, commuters caught off guard. We'll take you to the scene of confusion.

And, Arnold Schwarzenegger has always lived large but wait until you hear what he was doing in the '70s. It's definitely going to pump you up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Millions of weapons in passengers' bags, what airport security around the country has turned up since 9/11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Happening right now the release of transcripts of 9/11 mayday calls made by rescue personnel just before the collapse of the World Trade Center. Family members of the Port Authority police officers and other employees who were killed oppose the move.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa is in New York and she has details for us. Hello, Maria.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

You know these last few weeks before the second anniversary of the September 11th tragedy is a difficult time for a lot of New Yorkers and, now today, two weeks to the day from September 11th and the second anniversary, the release of 2,000 pages of transcripts of communication between Port Authority police officers and radio transmitters and dispatchers.

Again, if you haven't lost, if you didn't lose a family member it's really hard to understand how painful this can be for them. Now, today, earlier today long lines of people who were standing in line to get these transcripts, reporters as well as civilians.

The reason why these transcripts are being released today is because of the lawsuit from the "New York Times." Now, the transcripts are of 260 hours of radio transmissions and some of it is quite technical, some people asking for help, officers responding.

And also, what might be even more dramatic, handwritten notes from Port Authority employees who were asked to recount that day as part of the investigation, many never knowing that any of that could be released to the public.

Now, some division among the families some of them saying that they're anxious to see anything that would give them any clues about what were the last moments of their loved ones.

One woman saying who has already seen these transcripts saying that they were just too horrible to bear and some mixed emotions because the families didn't get a chance to see these transcripts first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUS DANESE, PORT AUTHORITY POLICE: This time of year is very solemn. This is definitely going to open up old wounds. You know, the anniversary itself opens up old wounds. This only compounds it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: Now, 37 Port Authority police officers died that day, a higher share than the number of New York police officers that died that day. The Port Authority ran the security for the World Trade Center so they knew that building inside and out and many of them felt a very special responsibility to help those in need. For some those transcripts might help make that clearer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG TREVOR, PORT AUTHORITY SPOKESMAN: We have always known in our hearts that these people were heroes to the very end on that morning. These transcripts prove that we were right and that they were, in fact, heroes until the very end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: But many families still saying that these are very private, intimate moments that they wanted to have for themselves at least for a time to sit with before they were released to the public so this is going to be a very difficult several days for these family members in the beginning of a long weekend and, again, a long holiday weekend and, again, just two weeks to the day from September 11th second anniversary - Miles.

O'BRIEN: Maria, what about the tape recordings of these conversations, will they ever be released? That would probably be even more difficult for the family members I suppose. HINOJOSA: Right now the court agreement with the judge and the "New York Times" was that only these written transcripts would be released. So, at this point, there is no information about whether or not these audio transcripts will ever be released to the public. But at least now, 2,000 pages for those who want to see them will be available.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in New York thank you very much.

Despite tightened airport security measures since 9/11 or perhaps because of, officials say they've discovered millions of weapons hidden in passenger bags in the past 18 months.

Transportation Security Administration officials say more than 7.5 million potential weapons have been confiscated, including more than 1,400 firearms, two million knives, and almost 50,000 box cutters.

The TSA says in one case a man tried to hide two razor blades in the insoles of his tennis shoes, and at the Austin, Texas Airport a man attempted to sneak a gun past security by hiding it in a car stereo. Officials say the number of confiscated items justifies keeping a high level of vigilance at the nation's airports.

A blackout across the pond, London goes dark following the rush hour streets and trapping thousands in the tubes. We'll shed some light.

Plus, we plug into the three-ring circus that they call an election in California. Schwarzenegger does some explaining. Bustamante does some bashing and Ueberroth tries to rekindle the torch.

And, the man known as the Scud stud will join us and take us on a fascinating journey into the lives of an Iraqi couple before and after the U.S. invasion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In London, the lights have come back on after a blackout turned the evening rush hour into a nightmare but the biggest problem was underground, the Underground that is, where an estimated quarter million people were stuck.

Let's go live now to CNN's Liz George who is in London. Hello, Liz.

LIZ GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles.

Yes, and you can probably see behind me, in fact that problem is going to get worse because now we're seeing the theaters actually kicking people out as well, so the center of London not only has still got hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded and trying to find their way home, but now all the theaters and the pubs are going to be shutting as well, the old stalwarts for Londoners in times of crisis. We actually spoke to one or two commuters and found out what their view was about the power outage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said the northern lines all closed down. There is no power. There won't be any more trains. They told us which bus to catch so we all got on that. I just off that (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So yes very annoyed.

GEORGE (voice-over): How are you going to get home now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to try to get a bus if I can. Not particularly, quite irritated. I was supposed to be going out this evening. I was hoping it wasn't delayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE: Now, because about 60 percent of that underground network was actually taken out with this power cut it is going to take a long time for trains to get moving again.

The underground police have to make sure that nobody has actually got out of the trains and is walking along the tracks before they start the trains moving from where they are into the stations and then actually bring people above ground again and then they're going to ship them out in reported to be the busses that will take them home.

But it wasn't just the underground service. Now, this power outage actually affected the over ground trains as well, taking people out to the suburbs. For about 20 to 30 miles mostly through the southeast and the south of London and that again is going to be a major problem for those commuters trying to get home. It's going to be a...

GEORGE: ... trains as well, taking people out to the suburbs for about 20 to 30 miles, mostly through the southeast and the south of London. And that, again, is going to be a major problem for those commuters trying to get home. It's going to be a long night -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Liza, Londoners are famous for having a stiff upper lip during times of adversity. Have you seen a lot of evidence of that?

GEORGE: There's been a fairly stiff upper lip. I was walking along one of the main shopping streets a little bit earlier on, about an hour after it actually happened, and people on the phones with their loved ones at home saying, I'm going to be awhile getting home, it's not running at the moment, so heading to the pub.

And I think the pubs are really going to be the place where the money has been made tonight as people turn to their beer to stop their woes as they wait for normality to return. And of course it was raining at the time as well. How typical of London, which meant that the buses were packed, which meant that the taxis were all full, too. So there really wasn't much option for Londoners apart from to head to the boozer.

O'BRIEN: It's a good thing they like the beer warm over there, isn't it?

GEORGE: Absolutely, isn't it just?

O'BRIEN: Liz George in London, thank you very much.

Well, he never claimed to be a choirboy, but who knew how wild and loose life could be for a young bodybuilder on the rise. It's pumping irony for Arnold.

Also, Arthur Kent sans scuds. The former NBC correspondent takes us on a very personal journey to Iraq.

And Johnny Cash meets Nine Inch Nails and the result is a pretty penny indeed. A music video that puts the man in black back in the thick of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OBRIEN: Well, step right up, ladies and gentlemen. Come one, come all to the political circus: the California recall election. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken watching it all unfold from Los Angeles. Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. And the question of the hour, Miles, is, where is Arnold Schwarzenegger? And we have the answer of the hour.

He is in Fresno, venturing out of his Hollywood environment to go to the farm belt in California. He is, at the moment, appearing at a Charter School in Fresno, California, practicing a little retail politics, meeting and greeting to try and form an association with the conservative central part of the state as he tries to get the Republican Party together and then take on the Democrats, who are also having their own problems.

But, as I said, he's in Fresno. He's going to be spending he day and evening campaigning there -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk a little bit about this old article that surfaced today in an old magazine that was now defunct, owned by the "Playboy" operation, wherein Arnold Schwarzenegger had some very, very frank statements to make about certain activities in the '70s. I'll leave it at that, and I'm going to put you on the hot seat on how to explain it.

FRANKEN: Well, I will do my best. These are articles that are 26 years old. There's an article in "Oui" magazine. That's the magazine. Also a book that he wrote all in conjunction with the release of his movie "Pumping Iron."

He's quite frank about his activities. He talks about the fact that he had used marijuana and hashish, although not any of the harder drugs. He also talked about an awful lot of explicit sexual activity, including one incident in which he and several of his bodybuilders all were involved sexually with one woman. Those are the descriptions that he gave in the book. He of course is now being questioned about that. And he had some answers for a Sacramento radio station last night.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is an old 1977 interview you did with "Oui" magazine out there. And I can tell you, Arnold, you were having a lot more fun in 1977 than I was.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Well, you know, you have to understand, I mean, I know exactly what you are saying. I never lived my life to be a politician. I never lived my life to be the governor of California.

Obviously, I've made statements that are ludicrous and crazy and outrageous and all those things because that's the way I always was. I was always outrageous, otherwise I wouldn't have done the things I did in my career, with the bodybuilding and the show business and all the things. I was always out there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

FRANKEN: So now he is running for governor, Miles, and of course the question is, what will be the response from the people he's asking to vote for him -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Big question. CNN's Bob Franken, thanks very much.

Let's put that question to our next guest. Joining me from Los Angeles to talk about that interview and what it might mean for the Schwarzenegger campaign, political analyst Carol Liebau. Carol, good to have you with us.

CAROL LIEBAU, POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be with you. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: All right. "Oui" magazine. Who knew what "Oui" magazine was until today. Now we all do and now we all know what they wrote about back 20-some odd years ago. Factor this into the race for us.

LIEBAU: Well, this kind of story is something that everyone had sort of been expecting to hear. A lot of the Democrats in the state had been alluding to some tales of what I think "The Washington Post" today called titillating hijinks. And of course we're starting to see them.

That being said, there is nothing that's come out today that probably will do anything to deter people who otherwise would have supported Arnold Schwarzenegger. And, in fact, Miles, it's actually sort of refreshing to have everyone upset again about the potential of a politician having a very active and busy sex life. The only difference is that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't actually in office.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right. So this is one of those bodybuilders will be bodybuilders thing. And this was the '70s and that's the end of it.

LIEBAU: Well, that will be the end of it eventually. Of course, more of this may come out and everyone will have a different take on it. And obviously this is nothing that Arnold Schwarzenegger is terribly proud of. It's hard to explain to one's children, I suppose.

But there's nothing here that renders him unfit to be governor of California. After all, he was a young guy. It was, as you point out, the end of the '70s, and he wasn't a married man. And so while it may be a little bit embarrassing, ultimately it should have fairly little impact on the outcome of the governor's race.

O'BRIEN: All right. Here's a possible twist in all of this. If you view it as not being a negative, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking about it, it saves him from having to talk about any of the issues. So in a way, this might be very good for his campaign.

LIEBAU: Well, you know, Miles, actually Arnold Schwarzenegger has done a pretty good job over the past couple of days in getting out and talking about his views on the issues. He started on talk radio, of course, where he was able to sort of go directly to the people and bypass the elite media, as it might be termed. And he's really begun very thoroughly to put out positions, to put out position papers, because he knows that he will need that credibility in order to win the votes he needs to win in order to be successful in the end.

O'BRIEN: Carol Liebau, thanks very much for watching that for us in California. We'll check in with you later undoubtedly.

Back to Basra. Journalist Arthur Kent returns to the Iraqi city to look at life after Saddam. We'll talk to him about how it has changed.

And there could be an unlikely hero at tonight's MTV Video Music Awards. A 71-year-old veteran country singer is pitted against today's hottest young artists. A preview of that is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Many people remember journalist Arthur Kent from the first Gulf War, but his remarkable reporting during those weeks is just a fraction of the work he's done in the region. His latest report, "Back to Basra After Saddam," chronicles his return to the southern Iraqi city he profiled extensively in the 1998 documentary, "A Wedding in Basra."

"Back to Basra" airs tonight 8:00 Eastern on the History Channel. And here to talk about it is Arthur Kent joining us from New York. Is it OK to still call you the scud stud, or is that out now?

ARTHUR KENT, JOURNALIST: Hey, Miles, just don't call me late for dinner.

O'BRIEN: All right. Welcome to the program.

This idea of viewing a big conflict through the eyes of just a couple, it seems like a great idea because it is a very personal way of following things. What sort of insights did you glean that way?

KENT: Well, you know, the whole idea when I saw how things were going, that British forces were going to take control of Basra, that was the first thing I thought of. Ali and Sahar (ph), this young baker in Basra and his bride, who I filmed five years ago during their marriage with a couple of Saddam's regime minders on my shoulder and neighborhood informers, now, after the war to remove Saddam, I was most interested in getting back to Basra and tracking that couple down to find out, first of all, had they survived since '98, five more years of sanctions, and this latest war. And what does the war really mean to them? I thought that they, as Iraqis, could explain better than anyone what Operation Iraqi Freedom, as it was called by the president, really means, and what they see for the future.

O'BRIEN: Was it hard to find them? And I suppose you ran into some interesting stories and people along the way as well.

KENT: Well, indeed. I just had a dim memory of where they lived. I was forbidden by the regime to maintain contact with them. And they specifically were told by the regime not to stay in contact with me.

So I hadn't heard from them in five years. I just had to find people who spoke English and send a lot of searches out into the neighborhoods until finally we found them.

O'BRIEN: And when you found them finally, what was that like? What was their reaction to seeing you and what surprised you, if anything?

KENT: Well, you know, of course they were overjoyed to see that I didn't have any minders. I didn't have any foreign soldiers with me. You know my being there was a sign that maybe things really were changing.

But they were really circumspect. They were really cautious about, well, have the Americans and the British really come here to help us, the Iraqi people, or are they here once again for the West's interests?

But I think I sensed at that time a great opportunity. We could have really won the day had British and U.S. forces had the kind of resources, the skilled personnel, the money to really start reconstruction swiftly. Sadly, that hasn't happened, and the Iraqi people are very discouraged.

O'BRIEN: So there's a lot of discouraged people, a lot of anxiety, a lot of mistrust. Do you walk away from it fairly pessimistic about the future of Iraq?

KENT: Well, no, we have to turn this around. But, I mean, the odds have been heavily stacked against us. It's no good that four months on we're still talking about getting electricity into places like Basra.

You know it should have been done much swifter because the terrorists and the Saddam holdouts, of course, see this lack of goodwill being turned into real support for the Iraqi people as an opportunity for them to get support themselves for their attacks against U.S. and British forces. That's why we're seeing in the past two weeks six soldiers killed in the Basra area.

O'BRIEN: One final thought here. If Saddam Hussein were captured, how much would that change things on the streets of Basra?

KENT: Not much. You know they think he's gone. What they are worried about is Islamic hard-liners taking control, other forces of instability. What they are most terrified of is that the U.S. and Britain really won't follow through on those lofty promises, which sadly is the evidence on the ground as of now.

O'BRIEN: Arthur Kent, thanks very much for your time. "Back to Basra" airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern on the History Channel. We appreciate you being with us, and we'll look you up tonight.

KENT: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Earlier, we told you about the Israeli missile strike which killed a Hamas militant today in Gaza. The pictures we showed you, which you are seeing here again, however, were of a rocket fired by Palestinians which landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon today. The deepest such rocket attack into Israel so far. We're sorry about the mistake.

Expect the unexpected at tonight's MTV Video Music Awards. A veteran country singer could steal the show. More on the top nominees when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The MTV Video Music Awards are famous for their wacky antics. Tonight's edition maybe may be a little different thanks to Johnny Cash. The country music icon won't be in the audience at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. He'll be watching from a hospital bed in Nashville recovering from what's described as a non-serious stomach ailment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): He's 71 years old and sick. But Johnny Cash still has that edge from back in the day. Cash's video for the song "Hurt," carrying six nominations into tonight's MTV Video Music Awards, is a wrenching ballad about a lifetime of drug abuse.

JOHN NORRIS, MTV NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It's an amazing video. A cover of a Nine Inch Nails song. And, I mean, such a tribute to this real American musical icon. And to have MTV of all places honoring him I think is just tremendous.

O'BRIEN: The man in black, who performed at least 200 concerts a year in his prime, struggles to get around these days. Cash suffers from a disease of the nervous system that makes him susceptible to pneumonia. Late last year, CNN's Larry King asked Cash if he was angry over his physical slide.

JOHNNY CASH, SINGER: No, I'm not bitter. Why should I be bitter? I'm thrilled to death with life. Life is -- the way God has given it to me is just a golden platter of life laid out there for me. It's been beautiful.

O'BRIEN: And we still see it in the new video. The swagger, the rough-neck charm. We remember his best work. We understand why rock star Bono once said, "Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."

Johnny lost his wife, June Carter Cash, in May, a few months after filming the video. In this work, we're left with a haunting image, a country legend whose lived several lifetimes, who may have a few regrets after all.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Let's go live now to Midtown Manhattan and get an update on the awards, as the buzz of Manhattan is in fact right there at Radio City Music Hall, Kendis Gibson is there. Kendis, are you having fun?

KENDIS GIBSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're trying to, Miles. And me and a few thousand of my closest friends are starting to gather here outside Radio City Music Hall, as you can tell. They're not going to see anybody because the red carpet this time around is nowhere near the entrance to Radio City Music Hall. But a lot of folks still gathering because there's a lot of buzz going on this year for the awards.

Hard to believe that a show so eternally adolescent is turning 20 years old. As a result, some of the folks on the pass, including Madonna, will make appearances, or at least we're told will make appearances, rumored to make appearances later on this evening.

This was from the first show in 1984, the very first VMAs. Madonna sliding all over the stage performing "Like a Virgin." And the rumor has it that Madonna will be here on the stage opening the show possibly with another person for singing like a virgin in some ways, Britney Spears.

They're expected to do somewhat of a duo. Exactly what kind it's not clear. But Britney Spears is expected to hit the stage with Madonna if all the rumors are correct.

Also, though, there air couple of other duos that are gathering attention, including Beyonce and Christina Aguilera in the performances that many are calling the battle of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Back to you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kendis Gibson live from New York city. Thanks very much.

Our hot Web Question of the Day is this: If North Korea has nuclear weapons, should the U.S. take out those weapons? The results for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There's the question and there's the response. Thirty- four percent of you say yes, 66 percent say no. Not scientific.

I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us on WOLF BLTIZER REPORTS.

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





Ready To Test; Prime Minister Blair To Answer Tough Inquiry Questions Today>


Aired August 28, 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: You're looking at Big Ben. It's London's turn. A power blackout strands commuters across the pond.
And, targeted from they sky, Israel takes action.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Nuclear threat, is North Korea ready to declare it has weapons and start testing them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And by the end of this year we'll really have to worry that they'll have a small nuclear arsenal.

O'BRIEN: Sexed up intelligence, Britain's Blair on the hot seat.

ANTHONY SELDON, BLAIR BIOGRAPHER: There's been a steady erosion of trust in his government and, indeed, in him himself.

O'BRIEN: Frantic phone calls and urgent messages, new transcripts that will put you inside the doomed towers on 9/11.

He's aging and ailing, the man in black is back. Johnny Cash meets the MTV generation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It's Thursday, August 28, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Miles O'Brien reporting. Wolf Blitzer is off again today.

A verbal bombshell from North Korea, Bush administration officials say the Pyongyang government is preparing to declare the country a nuclear nation and warning it has the means to deliver atomic weapons and it will soon begin testing them.

CNN's State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel joins us live now with more on this -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Miles, while those who don't follow North Korea day in and day out might have been shocked by the news, for officials inside the Bush administration they say the announcement was not unexpected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KOPPEL (voice-over): The threat came during the second day of six-party talks in Beijing. Administration officials tell CNN North Korea said that hostile U.S. policy had left Pyongyang no choice but to declare itself a nuclear power, conduct a nuclear weapons test and show they have the means to deliver these weapons, a warning interpreted by some U.S. officials as a threat to resume ballistic missile testing.

PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: We don't think they should have nuclear weapons so obviously we don't think they should be testing them.

KOPPEL: During the last round of talks in April, Pyongyang made vague yet strikingly similar threats and talks broke down. Since then, North Korea claims it's finished reprocessing close to 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods with enough plutonium for five or six nuclear bombs.

The purpose of the Beijing talks to convince North Korea to freeze and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons program. In exchange, North Korea wants a non-aggression treaty from the United States to guarantee its security. Experts say North Korea is well known for its brinksmanship and its bluster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Korea is playing a relatively weak hand. I mean the fact is that they do have nuclear weapons but they're not a political or economic power, so I think what they're trying to do is they're trying to up the ante. North Korea has pursued a foreign policy of opportunism, of brinksmanship and blackmail and I think this is just more of the same.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The question, said one administration official, is whether this is a serious and irreversible statement or just part of their pattern of starting every conversation by making threatening statements to see if it wins them something. Some officials, Miles, believe that North Korea, in fact, is just playing for time until their nuclear program is ready for prime time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department thanks.

There are more questions than answers when it comes to how far North Korea's missiles can reach but to just give you an idea, a device with a range of 620 miles could deliver a nuclear weapon to South Korea, Japan, Russia, or China.

A missile with a roughly 2,500 mile range could strike all of those plus most of Southeast Asia and a missile with a 3,700 mile range could reach as far as Australia or even Alaska.

Joining me here in Washington for more on the nuclear crisis in Korea is former defense secretary William Cohen, good to have you with us Senator Cohen.

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to be here. O'BRIEN: Let's talk briefly about what sort of testing the Koreans are likely talking about here. We're talking about more missile tests. We've seen them lob missiles in the past, or are they perhaps talking about exploding some sort of nuclear device underground or otherwise?

COHEN: It's unclear but it seems to me that the implication is that they would pursue an underground nuclear test. I don't know that they would want to try to have an above ground test but even an underground test would be a serious step for them to take.

You have to remember that one of the reasons we decided to go forward with a missile defense system was precisely because of the threat that North Korea could pose in the future, so they do have a missile capability. They have fired their Taepo Dong missile in the past and they're likely to expand the missile testing program.

O'BRIEN: It's so difficult to figure out their motivations in all of this but why this particular threat and why now? They agreed to these multilateral talks with some urging on the part of the Chinese and yet then they drop quite literally this bombshell.

COHEN: Well, part of it is strategy or tactics on their part. They do engage in a good deal of bluster to try to extract every concession they possibly can get but we have to look at them very seriously. We cannot allow them to become a nuclear power as such because of their proliferation activities.

The disseminate missile technology. The disseminate drugs. That's what they sell on the open and black market for that matter. So, it's clear that now China is very, very involved in this process, Japan, South Korea, Russia. They are becoming even more and more isolated than ever before.

O'BRIEN: So, really three options here, an economic stranglehold possibly, more negotiations, or some sort of military strike. I guess given the choice of those three, negotiation is probably the best route but, nonetheless, it doesn't seem very fruitful.

COHEN: I think negotiations will continue. It's in everyone's best interest, including North Korea. They can't afford to alienate all of the international community. They've had friends like Russia and China in the past but those friendships are being frayed by their activities and their bombastic statements as of today.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's try to anticipate here for just a moment because if it's more than bluster. If, in fact, a test is staged in North Korea, what happens then? What happens to those neighbors and what is their reaction likely to be?

COHEN: Well, China, for example, has been reluctant to really intervene in this whole process until recently but even China now recognizes that they cannot afford to have North Korea become a nuclear power. It would set in motion a dynamic that would be totally destabilizing, the possibility of Japan following suit, South Korea, Taiwan and others. So, everyone has an interest in seeing to it that they don't do this. If they should, there are bound to be consequences that would flow. I think they're best left unstated now but there will be serious economic consequences and perhaps much further than that in the future.

O'BRIEN: We are talking about the possible range of some of these North Korean missiles and some of the targets they might potentially strike. They build good rockets. They are good rocket makers. Is it a likelihood that they could have a weapon which could go as far as Alaska?

COHEN: It's possible that they could develop such a weapon. It depends upon the so-called payload. The size of the payload would determine whether or not it could reach portions of Alaska or even in Hawaii or even CONUS as such in terms of California and other states. That would depend upon their continued expansion of the missile testing program and the size and weight of the payload.

O'BRIEN: That's a pretty sobering thought and that does lead one to the question of if it came down to that would some sort of preemptive military strike be appropriate and do you see that happening?

COHEN: Well, again, one of the reasons we've been going forward and moving forward as quickly as we can to have a national missile defense program is precisely to make sure that North Korea does not pose such a problem to the United States and to our allies.

And so, I don't think we have to reach that issue yet in terms of whether we would have a preemptive strike. I don't think we ever should take the military option off the table but I think, frankly, that's way at the very end of all of our options.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this as far as the tactics and strategy right now if you were providing counsel, should the U.S. be offering more carrots along with the sticks here as they engage in negotiations with the North Koreans or is that a dangerous thing to do as well?

COHEN: I think President Bush back in the spring indicated that if they were to forego their nuclear program there would be a robust economic package made available. That's about a clear a signal that the United States is prepared to help them economically provided they forego this nuclear program.

Beyond that, I think that it would be unwise for us to start negotiating with ourselves at this point. Continue negotiations. Bring as much pressure to bear from our other allies who are also concerned about that but not many upfront concessions based upon this particular latest blast.

O'BRIEN: So, leave what's on the table on the table.

Let me look back to your years when you were the defense secretary under the Clinton administration. How close did we come then to a confrontation of this nature and how -- I mean are we at a point now which exceeds the tension levels that you encountered during your tenure with the Clinton administration.

COHEN: Actually, it was Secretary Bill Perry who was then secretary during the first four years of the Clinton administration who decided that it was important to send a signal that going nuclear for North Korea was not an option that we could accept and actually sent more forces to the region.

Something like that may become necessary in the future in order to let them know that using this kind of a nuclear blackmail is not going to be sufficient or will work against the Bush administration.

O'BRIEN: Former Defense Secretary William Cohen thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

COHEN: Pleasure to be here.

O'BRIEN: Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this: if North Korea has nuclear weapons, should the U.S. take out the weapons? We'll have those results later in the broadcast.

We invite you to vote now at cnn.com/wolf and, while you're there, we'd like to hear directly from you. Send us your comments. Time permitting we'll read some of them at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

There was another bloody attack on American forces in Iraq today, which follows the killing of a British soldier. The embattled allies may soon be getting more help but will it be what they need?

Let's go live now to CNN's Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers who is in Baghdad -- Walt.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Five months ago when U.S. troops swept into Iraq, many of those U.S. troops genuinely believed that they would be welcomed as liberators that they had come to establish democracy here.

That appears to be anything but the case in the wake of the latest rash of violence against U.S. troops. The incident Thursday occurred about 25 miles west of Baghdad in the Fallujah district.

A U.S. convoy was going down the road. It encountered what is called an explosive device which is something of a homemade land mine. What happened, we know, is at least four U.S. soldiers were injured when that explosive device was set off as their vehicles were passing by.

Some of those wounded soldiers had to be medivac'd out. We are not yet sure at this point of what their condition is but in the distance, almost within sight of this attack on the U.S. convoy, a large crowd of Iraqis began cheering and jumping up and down and shouting, "With our blood and with our souls we sacrifice to you Saddam Hussein." Someone in the crowd was said to be waving a bloody uniform of an American soldier.

Now, the commanding general of U.S. forces here, senior ranking officer Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said he would now gladly welcome multinational troops in the area as long as they remained under the command of a U.S. general.

General Sanchez was asked if he needed more U.S. troops and, in point of fact, he said no that is not what he needs. What he needs most immediately is better intelligence assets. Translate that into better intelligence coming in so he can track down those who are trying to pick off the American soldiers. What he's specifically talking about here is getting the Iraqis to collaborate with the U.S. soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHES, U.S. ARMY: Putting more U.S. soldiers on the ground is not going to solve the problem when I don't have the intelligence to act on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: The Americans were not the only ones to have bled here today. The British had one of their soldiers killed. That brings to a total of 50 British soldiers. Another British soldier was wounded. A British patrol was moving south towards Basra, which is the principal focus of the British troops, principal concentration.

There was an obstruction in the road. They detoured into a village. Suddenly, there was an angry mob in the village. It was almost as if it was a premeditated ambush. The British fired warning shots into the air.

Suddenly, the British came under very heavy fire from RPGs, again one British soldier killed, another wounded. They had to be escorted and extricated out of the area with a helicopter escort, helicopter gun ships overhead - Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Walt Rodgers in Baghdad thanks very much.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in the hot seat today testifying about the mysterious death of a weapons expert who was the source of a news report about Britain's intelligence dossier on Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Tony Blair's immediate political future may not have been on the line today but his credibility was.

SELDON: There's been a steady erosion of trust in his government and, indeed, in him himself.

O'BRIEN: Before a judicial inquiry at the British Royal Courts of Justice, Blair answered a charge in a BBC report accusing his government of "sexing up" intelligence about Iraq's weapons program. At the inquiry, Blair said: "This was an allegation that we had behaved in a way which, if true, would have merited my resignation." But Blair emphatically denied that his office and the now infamous dossier had knowingly exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons program.

That dossier, put out in September, claimed Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Blair said that information came from British intelligence. He conceded his government was under intense public pressure to justify going to war but he said, and we quote him:

"At that stage, the strategy was not to use the dossier as the immediate reason to go to conflict, but as the reason why we had to return to the issue of Saddam and weapons of mass destruction."

This inquiry began after the apparent suicide of David Kelly in July. Kelly was a weapons expert who was the main source of a BBC report exposing the dossier. After admitting to superiors he was the source, the word leaked out from Blair's cabinet. As a result, Kelly endured intense public pressure.

Today, Blair took responsibility for that saying he felt there was no way the name could be kept secret once Kelly told his own bosses. The question now, can Great Britain's master politician survive the scandal?

SELDON: So, I think he will come out himself in a clean way and I think that actually it will make him even more determined to stay on as prime minister to show that his decision to go to war with Iraq was right and a brave decision.

O'BRIEN: A decision still hanging over Tony Blair, along with the nearly unprecedented distinction of being a sitting prime minister having to defend his honesty before a judge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Israel has once again targeted Hamas militants with a missile strike in Gaza this time after a Palestinian rocket attack on an Israel city.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Gaza and joins us now by videophone - Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Miles, thank you very much.

And, Israel apparently stepping up its policy of hunting down Hamas militants and striking them at will. In this latest military operation, eyewitnesses say an Israeli helicopter gunship circling in the skies over the city of (unintelligible) in the south of the Gaza strip, fired at least three missiles into a vehicle which was being driven by what we now know to be a senior figure or mid-ranking figure at least of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a military wing of that group. He's been named by Palestinian officials as Hamdi Kadak (ph). He's somebody who has been involved, according to Palestinian officials, with the firing of makeshift rockets from the territory of the Gaza Strip into Israel proper.

We also understand from Palestinian officials and hospital sources in the south of Gaza that at least three other people were injured as a result of this strike. It's not altogether clear at this stage whether they were simply bystanders or whether they were targeted on purpose, as it were, by the Israeli officials.

What we can tell you is over the course of the past week this Hamdi Kadak becomes the eighth member of the military wing of Hamas or of Hamas itself to be targeted and to be killed by the Israeli military but what we can also tell you is that a good number of civilians have also been killed and injured in the process -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Matthew Chance in Gaza thank you very much.

Transcripts of terror, poignant and harrowing moments captured in radio calls as the heroes of 9/11 try to save the day. But, for many family members, it is a sad day as those transcripts are released.

Blackout in Britain, commuters caught off guard. We'll take you to the scene of confusion.

And, Arnold Schwarzenegger has always lived large but wait until you hear what he was doing in the '70s. It's definitely going to pump you up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Millions of weapons in passengers' bags, what airport security around the country has turned up since 9/11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Happening right now the release of transcripts of 9/11 mayday calls made by rescue personnel just before the collapse of the World Trade Center. Family members of the Port Authority police officers and other employees who were killed oppose the move.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa is in New York and she has details for us. Hello, Maria.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

You know these last few weeks before the second anniversary of the September 11th tragedy is a difficult time for a lot of New Yorkers and, now today, two weeks to the day from September 11th and the second anniversary, the release of 2,000 pages of transcripts of communication between Port Authority police officers and radio transmitters and dispatchers.

Again, if you haven't lost, if you didn't lose a family member it's really hard to understand how painful this can be for them. Now, today, earlier today long lines of people who were standing in line to get these transcripts, reporters as well as civilians.

The reason why these transcripts are being released today is because of the lawsuit from the "New York Times." Now, the transcripts are of 260 hours of radio transmissions and some of it is quite technical, some people asking for help, officers responding.

And also, what might be even more dramatic, handwritten notes from Port Authority employees who were asked to recount that day as part of the investigation, many never knowing that any of that could be released to the public.

Now, some division among the families some of them saying that they're anxious to see anything that would give them any clues about what were the last moments of their loved ones.

One woman saying who has already seen these transcripts saying that they were just too horrible to bear and some mixed emotions because the families didn't get a chance to see these transcripts first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUS DANESE, PORT AUTHORITY POLICE: This time of year is very solemn. This is definitely going to open up old wounds. You know, the anniversary itself opens up old wounds. This only compounds it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: Now, 37 Port Authority police officers died that day, a higher share than the number of New York police officers that died that day. The Port Authority ran the security for the World Trade Center so they knew that building inside and out and many of them felt a very special responsibility to help those in need. For some those transcripts might help make that clearer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG TREVOR, PORT AUTHORITY SPOKESMAN: We have always known in our hearts that these people were heroes to the very end on that morning. These transcripts prove that we were right and that they were, in fact, heroes until the very end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: But many families still saying that these are very private, intimate moments that they wanted to have for themselves at least for a time to sit with before they were released to the public so this is going to be a very difficult several days for these family members in the beginning of a long weekend and, again, a long holiday weekend and, again, just two weeks to the day from September 11th second anniversary - Miles.

O'BRIEN: Maria, what about the tape recordings of these conversations, will they ever be released? That would probably be even more difficult for the family members I suppose. HINOJOSA: Right now the court agreement with the judge and the "New York Times" was that only these written transcripts would be released. So, at this point, there is no information about whether or not these audio transcripts will ever be released to the public. But at least now, 2,000 pages for those who want to see them will be available.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in New York thank you very much.

Despite tightened airport security measures since 9/11 or perhaps because of, officials say they've discovered millions of weapons hidden in passenger bags in the past 18 months.

Transportation Security Administration officials say more than 7.5 million potential weapons have been confiscated, including more than 1,400 firearms, two million knives, and almost 50,000 box cutters.

The TSA says in one case a man tried to hide two razor blades in the insoles of his tennis shoes, and at the Austin, Texas Airport a man attempted to sneak a gun past security by hiding it in a car stereo. Officials say the number of confiscated items justifies keeping a high level of vigilance at the nation's airports.

A blackout across the pond, London goes dark following the rush hour streets and trapping thousands in the tubes. We'll shed some light.

Plus, we plug into the three-ring circus that they call an election in California. Schwarzenegger does some explaining. Bustamante does some bashing and Ueberroth tries to rekindle the torch.

And, the man known as the Scud stud will join us and take us on a fascinating journey into the lives of an Iraqi couple before and after the U.S. invasion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In London, the lights have come back on after a blackout turned the evening rush hour into a nightmare but the biggest problem was underground, the Underground that is, where an estimated quarter million people were stuck.

Let's go live now to CNN's Liz George who is in London. Hello, Liz.

LIZ GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles.

Yes, and you can probably see behind me, in fact that problem is going to get worse because now we're seeing the theaters actually kicking people out as well, so the center of London not only has still got hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded and trying to find their way home, but now all the theaters and the pubs are going to be shutting as well, the old stalwarts for Londoners in times of crisis. We actually spoke to one or two commuters and found out what their view was about the power outage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said the northern lines all closed down. There is no power. There won't be any more trains. They told us which bus to catch so we all got on that. I just off that (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So yes very annoyed.

GEORGE (voice-over): How are you going to get home now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to try to get a bus if I can. Not particularly, quite irritated. I was supposed to be going out this evening. I was hoping it wasn't delayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE: Now, because about 60 percent of that underground network was actually taken out with this power cut it is going to take a long time for trains to get moving again.

The underground police have to make sure that nobody has actually got out of the trains and is walking along the tracks before they start the trains moving from where they are into the stations and then actually bring people above ground again and then they're going to ship them out in reported to be the busses that will take them home.

But it wasn't just the underground service. Now, this power outage actually affected the over ground trains as well, taking people out to the suburbs. For about 20 to 30 miles mostly through the southeast and the south of London and that again is going to be a major problem for those commuters trying to get home. It's going to be a...

GEORGE: ... trains as well, taking people out to the suburbs for about 20 to 30 miles, mostly through the southeast and the south of London. And that, again, is going to be a major problem for those commuters trying to get home. It's going to be a long night -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Liza, Londoners are famous for having a stiff upper lip during times of adversity. Have you seen a lot of evidence of that?

GEORGE: There's been a fairly stiff upper lip. I was walking along one of the main shopping streets a little bit earlier on, about an hour after it actually happened, and people on the phones with their loved ones at home saying, I'm going to be awhile getting home, it's not running at the moment, so heading to the pub.

And I think the pubs are really going to be the place where the money has been made tonight as people turn to their beer to stop their woes as they wait for normality to return. And of course it was raining at the time as well. How typical of London, which meant that the buses were packed, which meant that the taxis were all full, too. So there really wasn't much option for Londoners apart from to head to the boozer.

O'BRIEN: It's a good thing they like the beer warm over there, isn't it?

GEORGE: Absolutely, isn't it just?

O'BRIEN: Liz George in London, thank you very much.

Well, he never claimed to be a choirboy, but who knew how wild and loose life could be for a young bodybuilder on the rise. It's pumping irony for Arnold.

Also, Arthur Kent sans scuds. The former NBC correspondent takes us on a very personal journey to Iraq.

And Johnny Cash meets Nine Inch Nails and the result is a pretty penny indeed. A music video that puts the man in black back in the thick of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OBRIEN: Well, step right up, ladies and gentlemen. Come one, come all to the political circus: the California recall election. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken watching it all unfold from Los Angeles. Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. And the question of the hour, Miles, is, where is Arnold Schwarzenegger? And we have the answer of the hour.

He is in Fresno, venturing out of his Hollywood environment to go to the farm belt in California. He is, at the moment, appearing at a Charter School in Fresno, California, practicing a little retail politics, meeting and greeting to try and form an association with the conservative central part of the state as he tries to get the Republican Party together and then take on the Democrats, who are also having their own problems.

But, as I said, he's in Fresno. He's going to be spending he day and evening campaigning there -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk a little bit about this old article that surfaced today in an old magazine that was now defunct, owned by the "Playboy" operation, wherein Arnold Schwarzenegger had some very, very frank statements to make about certain activities in the '70s. I'll leave it at that, and I'm going to put you on the hot seat on how to explain it.

FRANKEN: Well, I will do my best. These are articles that are 26 years old. There's an article in "Oui" magazine. That's the magazine. Also a book that he wrote all in conjunction with the release of his movie "Pumping Iron."

He's quite frank about his activities. He talks about the fact that he had used marijuana and hashish, although not any of the harder drugs. He also talked about an awful lot of explicit sexual activity, including one incident in which he and several of his bodybuilders all were involved sexually with one woman. Those are the descriptions that he gave in the book. He of course is now being questioned about that. And he had some answers for a Sacramento radio station last night.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is an old 1977 interview you did with "Oui" magazine out there. And I can tell you, Arnold, you were having a lot more fun in 1977 than I was.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Well, you know, you have to understand, I mean, I know exactly what you are saying. I never lived my life to be a politician. I never lived my life to be the governor of California.

Obviously, I've made statements that are ludicrous and crazy and outrageous and all those things because that's the way I always was. I was always outrageous, otherwise I wouldn't have done the things I did in my career, with the bodybuilding and the show business and all the things. I was always out there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

FRANKEN: So now he is running for governor, Miles, and of course the question is, what will be the response from the people he's asking to vote for him -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Big question. CNN's Bob Franken, thanks very much.

Let's put that question to our next guest. Joining me from Los Angeles to talk about that interview and what it might mean for the Schwarzenegger campaign, political analyst Carol Liebau. Carol, good to have you with us.

CAROL LIEBAU, POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be with you. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: All right. "Oui" magazine. Who knew what "Oui" magazine was until today. Now we all do and now we all know what they wrote about back 20-some odd years ago. Factor this into the race for us.

LIEBAU: Well, this kind of story is something that everyone had sort of been expecting to hear. A lot of the Democrats in the state had been alluding to some tales of what I think "The Washington Post" today called titillating hijinks. And of course we're starting to see them.

That being said, there is nothing that's come out today that probably will do anything to deter people who otherwise would have supported Arnold Schwarzenegger. And, in fact, Miles, it's actually sort of refreshing to have everyone upset again about the potential of a politician having a very active and busy sex life. The only difference is that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't actually in office.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right. So this is one of those bodybuilders will be bodybuilders thing. And this was the '70s and that's the end of it.

LIEBAU: Well, that will be the end of it eventually. Of course, more of this may come out and everyone will have a different take on it. And obviously this is nothing that Arnold Schwarzenegger is terribly proud of. It's hard to explain to one's children, I suppose.

But there's nothing here that renders him unfit to be governor of California. After all, he was a young guy. It was, as you point out, the end of the '70s, and he wasn't a married man. And so while it may be a little bit embarrassing, ultimately it should have fairly little impact on the outcome of the governor's race.

O'BRIEN: All right. Here's a possible twist in all of this. If you view it as not being a negative, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking about it, it saves him from having to talk about any of the issues. So in a way, this might be very good for his campaign.

LIEBAU: Well, you know, Miles, actually Arnold Schwarzenegger has done a pretty good job over the past couple of days in getting out and talking about his views on the issues. He started on talk radio, of course, where he was able to sort of go directly to the people and bypass the elite media, as it might be termed. And he's really begun very thoroughly to put out positions, to put out position papers, because he knows that he will need that credibility in order to win the votes he needs to win in order to be successful in the end.

O'BRIEN: Carol Liebau, thanks very much for watching that for us in California. We'll check in with you later undoubtedly.

Back to Basra. Journalist Arthur Kent returns to the Iraqi city to look at life after Saddam. We'll talk to him about how it has changed.

And there could be an unlikely hero at tonight's MTV Video Music Awards. A 71-year-old veteran country singer is pitted against today's hottest young artists. A preview of that is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Many people remember journalist Arthur Kent from the first Gulf War, but his remarkable reporting during those weeks is just a fraction of the work he's done in the region. His latest report, "Back to Basra After Saddam," chronicles his return to the southern Iraqi city he profiled extensively in the 1998 documentary, "A Wedding in Basra."

"Back to Basra" airs tonight 8:00 Eastern on the History Channel. And here to talk about it is Arthur Kent joining us from New York. Is it OK to still call you the scud stud, or is that out now?

ARTHUR KENT, JOURNALIST: Hey, Miles, just don't call me late for dinner.

O'BRIEN: All right. Welcome to the program.

This idea of viewing a big conflict through the eyes of just a couple, it seems like a great idea because it is a very personal way of following things. What sort of insights did you glean that way?

KENT: Well, you know, the whole idea when I saw how things were going, that British forces were going to take control of Basra, that was the first thing I thought of. Ali and Sahar (ph), this young baker in Basra and his bride, who I filmed five years ago during their marriage with a couple of Saddam's regime minders on my shoulder and neighborhood informers, now, after the war to remove Saddam, I was most interested in getting back to Basra and tracking that couple down to find out, first of all, had they survived since '98, five more years of sanctions, and this latest war. And what does the war really mean to them? I thought that they, as Iraqis, could explain better than anyone what Operation Iraqi Freedom, as it was called by the president, really means, and what they see for the future.

O'BRIEN: Was it hard to find them? And I suppose you ran into some interesting stories and people along the way as well.

KENT: Well, indeed. I just had a dim memory of where they lived. I was forbidden by the regime to maintain contact with them. And they specifically were told by the regime not to stay in contact with me.

So I hadn't heard from them in five years. I just had to find people who spoke English and send a lot of searches out into the neighborhoods until finally we found them.

O'BRIEN: And when you found them finally, what was that like? What was their reaction to seeing you and what surprised you, if anything?

KENT: Well, you know, of course they were overjoyed to see that I didn't have any minders. I didn't have any foreign soldiers with me. You know my being there was a sign that maybe things really were changing.

But they were really circumspect. They were really cautious about, well, have the Americans and the British really come here to help us, the Iraqi people, or are they here once again for the West's interests?

But I think I sensed at that time a great opportunity. We could have really won the day had British and U.S. forces had the kind of resources, the skilled personnel, the money to really start reconstruction swiftly. Sadly, that hasn't happened, and the Iraqi people are very discouraged.

O'BRIEN: So there's a lot of discouraged people, a lot of anxiety, a lot of mistrust. Do you walk away from it fairly pessimistic about the future of Iraq?

KENT: Well, no, we have to turn this around. But, I mean, the odds have been heavily stacked against us. It's no good that four months on we're still talking about getting electricity into places like Basra.

You know it should have been done much swifter because the terrorists and the Saddam holdouts, of course, see this lack of goodwill being turned into real support for the Iraqi people as an opportunity for them to get support themselves for their attacks against U.S. and British forces. That's why we're seeing in the past two weeks six soldiers killed in the Basra area.

O'BRIEN: One final thought here. If Saddam Hussein were captured, how much would that change things on the streets of Basra?

KENT: Not much. You know they think he's gone. What they are worried about is Islamic hard-liners taking control, other forces of instability. What they are most terrified of is that the U.S. and Britain really won't follow through on those lofty promises, which sadly is the evidence on the ground as of now.

O'BRIEN: Arthur Kent, thanks very much for your time. "Back to Basra" airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern on the History Channel. We appreciate you being with us, and we'll look you up tonight.

KENT: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Earlier, we told you about the Israeli missile strike which killed a Hamas militant today in Gaza. The pictures we showed you, which you are seeing here again, however, were of a rocket fired by Palestinians which landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon today. The deepest such rocket attack into Israel so far. We're sorry about the mistake.

Expect the unexpected at tonight's MTV Video Music Awards. A veteran country singer could steal the show. More on the top nominees when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The MTV Video Music Awards are famous for their wacky antics. Tonight's edition maybe may be a little different thanks to Johnny Cash. The country music icon won't be in the audience at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. He'll be watching from a hospital bed in Nashville recovering from what's described as a non-serious stomach ailment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): He's 71 years old and sick. But Johnny Cash still has that edge from back in the day. Cash's video for the song "Hurt," carrying six nominations into tonight's MTV Video Music Awards, is a wrenching ballad about a lifetime of drug abuse.

JOHN NORRIS, MTV NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It's an amazing video. A cover of a Nine Inch Nails song. And, I mean, such a tribute to this real American musical icon. And to have MTV of all places honoring him I think is just tremendous.

O'BRIEN: The man in black, who performed at least 200 concerts a year in his prime, struggles to get around these days. Cash suffers from a disease of the nervous system that makes him susceptible to pneumonia. Late last year, CNN's Larry King asked Cash if he was angry over his physical slide.

JOHNNY CASH, SINGER: No, I'm not bitter. Why should I be bitter? I'm thrilled to death with life. Life is -- the way God has given it to me is just a golden platter of life laid out there for me. It's been beautiful.

O'BRIEN: And we still see it in the new video. The swagger, the rough-neck charm. We remember his best work. We understand why rock star Bono once said, "Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."

Johnny lost his wife, June Carter Cash, in May, a few months after filming the video. In this work, we're left with a haunting image, a country legend whose lived several lifetimes, who may have a few regrets after all.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Let's go live now to Midtown Manhattan and get an update on the awards, as the buzz of Manhattan is in fact right there at Radio City Music Hall, Kendis Gibson is there. Kendis, are you having fun?

KENDIS GIBSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're trying to, Miles. And me and a few thousand of my closest friends are starting to gather here outside Radio City Music Hall, as you can tell. They're not going to see anybody because the red carpet this time around is nowhere near the entrance to Radio City Music Hall. But a lot of folks still gathering because there's a lot of buzz going on this year for the awards.

Hard to believe that a show so eternally adolescent is turning 20 years old. As a result, some of the folks on the pass, including Madonna, will make appearances, or at least we're told will make appearances, rumored to make appearances later on this evening.

This was from the first show in 1984, the very first VMAs. Madonna sliding all over the stage performing "Like a Virgin." And the rumor has it that Madonna will be here on the stage opening the show possibly with another person for singing like a virgin in some ways, Britney Spears.

They're expected to do somewhat of a duo. Exactly what kind it's not clear. But Britney Spears is expected to hit the stage with Madonna if all the rumors are correct.

Also, though, there air couple of other duos that are gathering attention, including Beyonce and Christina Aguilera in the performances that many are calling the battle of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Back to you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kendis Gibson live from New York city. Thanks very much.

Our hot Web Question of the Day is this: If North Korea has nuclear weapons, should the U.S. take out those weapons? The results for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There's the question and there's the response. Thirty- four percent of you say yes, 66 percent say no. Not scientific.

I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us on WOLF BLTIZER REPORTS.

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