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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Rep. Bill Janklow Accused of Manslaughter; Report: Seven Percent of Female Cadets at Air Force Academy Victimized; Interview With Author John Weisman; Shark Scare Closes Waters off One California County
Aired August 29, 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: A holy site up in flames. Today terror takes Iraq by surprise putting American troops in a tough predicament.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Terror in Iraq, a top cleric among dozens killed at a Shiite Muslim shrine. Is it the start of a worst case scenario?
FAWAZ GERGES, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: Where the country could descend into chaos and civil war.
O'BRIEN: With his image crumbling, can Tony Blair survive the departure of his image maker?
Serial speeder, has a Congressman's past caught up with him?
Blaster bust, did a teenager worm his way into thousands of computers?
Special Operations, should the most elite U.S. forces take on a bigger role? I'll speak with a best-selling author about the secret world of Black Ops.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: It's Friday, August 29, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Miles O'Brien. Wolf is off today once again.
In Iraq today, a holy place turned into hell, extraordinary images right after a massive car bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers leaving prayers at the 1,000-year-old Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf revered by Shiite Muslims.
Scores are dead, among them the Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite leaders. He returned in May from a 23 year exile in Iran. He's seen here shortly before the attack giving his last public address, an appeal for unity.
This came on a day when yet another American soldier was killed, several more wounded in ambushes north and west of Baghdad. The car bombing has left at least 75 people dead but many more are gravely wounded.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has made it to the scene of the attack in Najaf and he joins us now live. Ben, what is the scene there right now?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, now it's fairly quiet in Najaf but this has been anything but a quiet day. Hundreds of people were coming out of the Imam Ali Mosque after Friday prayers.
Friday of course being the Muslim holy day, when a huge car bomb went off right outside the southern entrance to that mosque killing, as you mentioned before, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.
Now, he is the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main Shiite factions here and one of those factions that is vying for power.
Now, the car bomb caused a huge amount of destruction in that area around the mosque and caused a gigantic death toll. Now, earlier we were quoting a figure of 75 dead, but apparently after one of our staff members went to a local hospital he saw a list of 124 people dead.
Now today, we went to one of the main hospitals in Najaf and it was a scene of chaos and pandemonium that hospital simply incapable to handle the hundreds of wounded who came in. People were being operated on in the hallways. The morgue is overflowing with the dead.
Now, this bomb has really send shockwaves across the country but particularly among the Shiites who make up about 60 percent of the population and even in Baghdad thousands of people came out to demonstrate against the attack.
Now, blame is being thrown in all four directions. We've heard people blame the Americans. We've heard them blame the Israelis, the Sunnis, and many others. At this point, it is not clear who was behind the blast, Miles, but whoever it was they were aiming at the stability of Iraq and they certainly have struck a severe blow to whatever stability there was -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Ben, do we know were they suicide bombers or was it remotely set off?
WEDEMAN: It's not clear. Some people are saying that they believe the bomb was actually placed inside the car of Ayatollah al- Hakim. Now, there haven't been any bomb experts yet to the scene; in fact, the scene is still something of a -- there's a search going on as I speak.
It is now, what, one o'clock in the morning in Najaf and, apparently, there are still people there digging through the ruins, so nobody has come up yet with any clue as to who may be behind the bombing -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman in Najaf where the situation is very tumultuous right now. He'll keep us posted from there. Thank you very much, Ben. The latest violence comes in the Shiite heartland where Islam split into rival factions soon after its birth and where religious and political differences threaten to send modern Iraq into all out civil war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): From the chaos in Najaf an even deeper concern, this happened at one of the most revered sites for Shiite Muslims, the Imam Ali Mosque and now some wonder if this incident could sent Iraqi into an irreversible tailspin. It has already sent shockwaves throughout the Shiite Muslim world.
KEN POLLACK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It would be like a major bomb going off outside of St. Peter's in Rome or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for Christians.
O'BRIEN: But who stands to gain for the death of the Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite Muslim leaders?
HASSAN FATAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": You could say, of course, members of the former regime, remnants of the Fedayeen and people like that. There's also been a lot of internal fighting among the groups themselves, the Shia groups. The suspect list can be quite long in fact.
O'BRIEN: The Ayatollah al-Hakim did have his enemies. In exile for 23 years in Iran, he supports a similar Islamic theocracy for Iraq. As a result, al-Hakim was a long time foe of Saddam Hussein's regime, which was dominated by Sunni Muslims, a minority in Iraq. If Saddam's followers are behind the Najaf bombing, experts say the potential Sunni/Shiite conflict that might follow could be disastrous.
GERGES: The danger lies, as I said before, in the potential for sectarian violence in Iraq between Sunnis and Shias and this is a worst case scenario where the country could descend into chaos and civil war.
O'BRIEN: And that is not the only dangerous scenario. Ayatollah al-Hakim was also engaged in a generational power struggle with a less traditional Shiite faction, led by a young fire brand named Sheikh Mutata al-Sadr (ph). Other prominent Shiite clerics have been attacked, one of them killed, since the fall of Baghdad.
U.S. forces could soon find themselves between Shiite groups fighting one another with Saddam's Sunni factions taking pot shots at everyone, and there is the growing anger toward the U.S. among the majority of Shiites for not providing better security at places like the Imam Ali Mosque.
POLLACK: If the Shia population turns against the United States and you see a large scale resistance by the Shia against the U.S., this reconstruction effort is doomed.
O'BRIEN: Still, Pollack says the vast majority of Iraqi Shiites do support the U.S.-led reconstruction effort for now. (END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this. "Is Iraq headed toward Civil War?" We'll have the results later in the broadcast. We invite you to vote now, cnn.com/wolf is the place.
And while you're there we'd like to hear directly from you. Send us your comments and, 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.
Elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. troops remained that targets today. One soldier was killed and others were wounded in ambushes.
CNN's Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers is in Baghdad.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles. Almost eclipsed by the car bombing outside the Shia mosque was the death of yet another American soldier just north of Baghdad killed by Iraqi guerillas firing Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades.
After sweeping triumphantly into Iraq five months ago, American forces now often find themselves on the defensive against an unseen enemy. Those growing U.S. casualties are bad for troop morale and the bombing at Najaf convinces many Iraqis the Americans cannot alone provide security for the Iraqi people.
Further, the violence against the Shiites hints at earlier predictions Iraq could slide into civil war, that combined with the growing American casualties suggest President Bush miscalculated badly when he declared this war over in May -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Well, he's been called one of the most powerful men in Britain, certainly within the ruling Labour Party. He's been Prime Minister Tony Blair's top aide and image maker for years but with his boss' image tarnished over a scandal over an allegedly sexed up Iraq intelligence dossier, Alastair Campbell resigned today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, BRITISH COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: People can say what they like and you can be as cynical as you like about anything that I might say. I know what I stand for and I know what to believe and I know what I've done in this job and I know what I will continue to believe in outside this job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: How big a blow is this to Tony Blair then? Is President Bush's closest ally in danger of seeing his government fall?
Joining me now from London is CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider who's there to give us some perspective on all this. Bill, first of all was this a surprise this announcement? BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: The surprise was the timing, Miles. It was widely expected that Alastair Campbell would leave the government. He had announced earlier that he expected to leave sometime this year.
Most people thought it would happen after the Hutton inquiry, which is the judicial inquiry to which Tony Blair testified and Alastair Campbell himself testified within the last couple of weeks after it issued its report sometime this fall. The fact that it happened the day after the prime minister testified, that was a bit of a surprise.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's show folks exactly why it is so surprising. We have a piece of tape which was gathered in June, an interview with Mr. Campbell captured on the BBC. Let's listen for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the government's communications chief is himself part of the story isn't it time he resigned?
CAMPBELL: Oh, for heaven's sake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: All right, well there you have it. I guess it's not unprecedented for politicians to say something one time and to do something later but, nevertheless, at that time the sense was that he was going to hang in there.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. He was expected to hang in but he indicated in his resignation today that he fully expected to leave and he made no secret of that. You know he was not discredited by the inquiry.
In fact, he had argued all along that he had had no part in, as you said and as the BBC reported, sexing up the government's dossier on Iraqi intelligence, essentially including a charge that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction with just 45 minutes' notice, a sensational charge that helped produce the fervor for Britain to enter the war against Iraq.
Well, in the inquiry there was just no evidence that Alastair Campbell had changed the intelligence information, had altered it, had ordered any changes in the information, so therefore it didn't look like he had been disgraced at all by the inquiry.
What was the problem was the death of Dr. David Kelly. He was the source of the news report which has not yet been authenticated that the government interfered with, doctored up, the intelligence information.
He went after the BBC, which originally broadcast that report. He was instrumental in the naming of Dr. Kelly who ultimately committed, apparently committed, suicide and, therefore, a lot of people thought the government was to blame for Dr. Kelly's suicide.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's put this in perspective then. Is what is going on in Great Britain right now sort of tantamount to what was going on here during the Clinton impeachment days?
SCHNEIDER: It's a little bit like that. It is widely expected that Tony Blair will survive, just as Bill Clinton survived but he will be damaged, just as Bill Clinton was damaged. What has hurt Tony Blair is the same thing that happened to Bill Clinton. His credibility is damaged.
A lot of people, in fact, only about a quarter of Britons say they can now believe Tony Blair that they find him and his government honest and trustworthy. Essentially, the Blair government, helped the Alastair Campbell, made the case that it was essential for Britain to go to war with Iraq because they faced an imminent threat from the Iraqi regime.
Well, the weapons of mass destruction were central to that threat. Those weapons have not been found and as long as they are not found, people say here in Britain that Tony Blair misled them. They were duped into going to war and they resent it so his credibility is seriously damaged.
O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider who will go anywhere in the world for a good political story, case in point right here. Thanks very much for joining us. We appreciate it.
The worm turns, federal agents trace those obnoxious, ubiquitous, malicious e-mail messages to a teenager in Minnesota.
Into the wild blue yonder, sky high numbers of women at the Air Force Academy say they have been assaulted.
And queue the cellos now, it's a holiday weekend and there's a hungry great white shark out there somewhere.
We're just wading in here, lots more ahead on the program, but first for some Labor Day trivia, here's the News Quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Which president made Labor Day a national holiday, Grover Cleveland, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, or Lyndon Johnson. The answer is coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A first court appearance this afternoon for the man accused of unleashing the latest worldwide computer virus or at least making it worse. Eighteen-year-old Jeffrey Lee Parson was released for now and ordered to stay away from computers, good idea.
CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena is following the case for us. Let's clarify exactly who this guy is. He actually copied one of the worms, correct?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: He altered it is what he did.
O'BRIEN: Yes, OK.
ARENA: But this is a break in the blaster case but the investigation though is far from over, Miles. As said, Jeffrey Parson is a high school senior and, according to the FBI, he admitted to altering the blaster computer worm and creating Blaster B.
Now, he was arrested at his Hopkins, Minnesota home this morning. He faces ten years in prison and fines. According to investigators, Parson allegedly built into his version a method for infected computers to automatically register themselves with his Web site. That is how investigators eventually tracked him down.
Now, his Blaster B version allegedly infected as many as 7,000 computers, but the original Blaster worm infected more than a million computers worldwide. Now, the creator of the original worm has not yet been identified and some computer experts predict that he may never, in fact, be found -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right and there's no reason to believe that Jeffrey Lee Parson knows anything about him?
ARENA: Nothing investigators have let on, no.
O'BRIEN: All right, has he ever done any hacking in the past? It sounds like he has a little bit of expertise here.
ARENA: Well, not that he's been prosecuted for but, according to the Minnesota Government Finance Officer's Association, they say that last year he twice hacked into their Web site and just fooled around with the homepage.
And, at that time, the president of that association said, the police said it wasn't a prosecutable crime that they would go talk to him. They said they never heard from him again, never saw any trouble. They assumed it was all over and done with but the computer experts we spoke with said that what he allegedly did, did take a great deal of sophistication.
O'BRIEN: All right, Kelli Arena, thanks very much, appreciate it.
(BREAKING NEWS)
This just in to CNN. We're learning that President Bush is expanding an executive order concerning Iraq.
CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King joining us now from Crawford, Texas with some details on all this, hello John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles. All of this because the administration says it has some evidence that family members of senior former Iraqi officials left Iraq and took with them assets, money, property and other things that the president says belong to the people of Iraq.
Now, so what the president has done today is issued this new executive order. It expands the scope of an order he issued three months ago back in May. There are 55 former regime officials on this list, Saddam Hussein among them, his two late sons Uday and Qusay, the head of the former Iraqi oil ministry, the head of the Special Republican Guard, top regime members of Saddam Hussein's former regime all covered.
They are not allowed to take any money out of Iraq. They are not allowed to take any property out of Iraq. If any of that money is somehow transferred into a U.S. bank, the Treasury Department has the authority to freeze it.
What the president has done today is to expand that order, not only the 55 former members of the regime, senior Ba'ath Party officials and the like but also their immediate family members.
And, the administration says it is doing this because there is evidence that some of those family members did leave the country, in many cases not stopped at all by coalition forces because they were not targets of any investigation or round-up and they perhaps took significant amounts of money with them.
Now, Miles, the president has just issued this order. We're trying to get a sense of the White House of how much money or how much property they think may have left Iraq, also trying to get an answer to this question.
We do know Saddam Hussein's two daughters left. The coalition let them go. They moved onto Jordan and they are there. We are trying to ask if there's any evidence that they may have taken any significant amount of money from the treasuries in Iraq.
But, the White House saying this is a necessary step, that that money belongs not to former members of the regime or their families but to the people of Iraq -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: John, have you seen anywhere an accurate figure on the total Saddam Hussein fortune, how much money he stole from the Iraqi people?
KING: No. Administration officials say it is in the billions. They are still, as they try to round up members of the Iraqi regime and as they still try to find Saddam Hussein himself, administration officials say they are gathering miles and miles of documents and they say they're going through it to see how much money could be in offshore bank accounts, other countries, still hidden.
Remember, when the sons were found a significant -- and killed, a significant amount of cash was found with them. So, administration officials that's a very complicated plot they're still trying to unravel.
O'BRIEN: And, I suppose this kind of thing is a real hall of mirrors when you start getting into all the aliases, numbered accounts, and so forth. It's difficult to go after these funds, isn't it?
KING: That's one of the interesting things about this list of 55 people. It lists in many cases aliases that some of these people have or other names and it also lists in some cases, in this age of information, the dates of birth and the passport numbers of a number of the former senior members of the Iraqi regime, including Tariq Aziz.
We know he turned himself in, the vice president who was just captured, Mr. Ramadan, they have their passport numbers, their date of birth all right here on this list -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Interesting stuff, all right CNN's John King in Crawford keep us posted on that one.
Just stay put, fateful words from rescue personnel to people in the World Trade Center after the first plane hit on 9/11. We'll hear the tragic tales.
A deadly collision, a lead foot Congressman now faces a felony charge in South Dakota.
And then there's this, the seals could be just appetizers. Don't dive in at one California beach unless you want to become the main course.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Horrifying and heartbreaking, almost two years after the attacks on the World Trade Center the firsthand accounts of that catastrophe are powerful as ever. The latest come in transcripts released by the Port Authority of phone calls, radio transmissions, memos, and reports by employees who were there that day.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa has been looking at them -- Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the 2,000 pages of transcripts provide a gripping chronicle of what transpired on September 11th. One of the first real time accounts from employees of the Port Authority which did security for the towers. These are stories of a rescue operation taking place against immeasurable odds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HINOJOSA (voice-over): There are 260 hours of communications, radio and telephone calls from people trapped inside the towers, rescue workers and dispatchers and their accounts written after the fact. Many are like this early telephone call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SCC, go ahead. SCC, go with your message. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now the -- the smoke is getting real heavy in here and it is starting to burn my eyes. We still have tremoring up here.
HINOJOSA: The transcripts also show how people quickly realized the enormity of the event.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something blew up at the trade center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Either a plane crashed into the trade center or a rocket hit. People are all over the place, dead.
HINOJOSA: The transcripts also give a sense of the confusion of that day.
KEN SMART, PORT NEWARK: I've got people on the 64th floor. OK, they want to know if they should leave the building?
PO JOHN KANNUZO: Absolutely yes.
SMART: They called 911 and they were told to stay.
KANNUZO: Absolutely, absolutely.
SMART: So, they should get out of the building?
KANNUZO: Absolutely.
SMART: Even though 911 told them to stay where they are?
KANNUZO: Absolutely. We've been told to evacuate.
Eight-four Port Authority employees died that day. Many of them helped in the evacuation of up to 25,000 people from the towers. Their accounts reveal the horrors they faced.
PO MARK J. MEIER: A steady stream of bodies and debris was raining down. Inspector Fields was about to run into the building and I stopped him. A man was coming down. He hit with such force it sounded like a shotgun going off. Inspector Fields put a hand on the wall to steady himself. He said, oh my God.
HINOJOSA: And, these publics give the public an insight into some very personal moments, like John Kannuzo call to his son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy?
PO JOHN KANNUZZO: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will happen if people are only staying in the building?
KANNUZO: I'm staying in the building at the airport right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How come?
KANNUZO: Because that's where they want me. That's where they need me to be to help people here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.
KANNUZO: All right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
KANNUZO: Will you do me a favor Anthony?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh huh.
KANNUZO: Daddy's not home so you're the big man in the house so you help mommy and keep her happy, okay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Okay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HINOJOSA: Police Officer Kannuzo survived that attacks that day but it is important to remember that while these transcripts may be an important addition to the historical documentation of September 11 they are still some of the saddest and most intimate last moments many of the 9/11 families have of their loved ones -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Maria, it's heartbreaking and we're not even hearing the voices there. I can only imagine what the families are saying. Where do they go from here on this? Is there apt to be more things that are going to come out or will this be the end of these kinds of transcripts and discussions that will be released?
HINOJOSA: In terms of the Port Authority this is what -- this all was released as the result of a lawsuit from the "New York Times" against the Port Authority and they were told by the judge to release only these written transcripts, no audio transcripts. So, in terms of the Port Authority that's what we know of.
But I think in terms of the families this is a very, very painful time for them, two weeks away from the second anniversary, a long weekend just when they get this material, so for a lot of these families it's just opening up very, very deep wounds -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in New York thank you very much.
A sexual assault scandal inside the Air Force Academy, a new report paints an ugly picture of life for female cadets. We're live from the Pentagon on that.
The changing face of war, an inside look at the new tactics Special Ops forces are using to win the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And, no picnic at this beach, great white shark appears along parts of the California coast keeping swimmers dry this weekend.
Details ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: How is a fatal accident catching up with a U.S. Congressman?
Also, a case that could shake-up the California recall, those stories and more coming up in 60 second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. congressman was charged with second degree manslaughter today in connection with a deadly accident. Bill Janklow, a Republican from South Dakota, is already facing calls to resign.
CNN's Ted Barrett is following the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED BARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators say Janklow was going more than 70 miles per hour when he ran his 1995 Cadillac through this stop sign two weeks ago. The congressman struck 55-year-old motorcyclist Randy Scott of Minnesota, who had just left a birthday party. Scott died at the scene.
Janklow was charged with second degree manslaughter, which could put him behind bars for 10 years. He is also charged with three misdemeanors: failure to stop at a stop sign, going 71 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone and reckless driving. It wasn't Janklow's first time speeding. He was cited 12 times in the early '90s and was involved in several accidents over the past decade, according to South Dakota records. He had a perverse pride in his lead foot.
In a 1999 speech, the then South Dakota governor acknowledged he speeds when he drives, shouldn't, but he does. Janklow went on to say, "If someone told me I was going to jail for two days for speeding, my driving habits would change."
Janklow was elected South Dakota governor four times and also served the state as its attorney general. Janklow won't return Washington next week when Congress reconvenes. He is still recovering from his injuries, which aides say are minor. But when he does, he could face a probe by the House Ethics Committee, which could recommend punishment as severe as expulsion.
STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: South Dakotans are telling pollsters that if he's charged and convicted they think he should leave office immediately. You know, when you have a felony charge lodged against you, it just makes it very difficult to survive politically.
BARRETT (on camera): Janklow has not responded publicly to the charges, but already he's facing pressure from safety advocates led by Ralph Nader, who we're calling on him to reside sign.
Ted Barrett, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: Some shocking numbers in a draft report on sexual assaults at the U.S. Air Force Academy. More than seven percent of female cadets say they have been victims of rape or attempted rape at the academy. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, is watching that story for us from the Pentagon -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the survey was done by the Pentagon's Inspector General's Office, which is trying to get a handle on the extent of the sexual assault problem in the U.S. Air Force Academy. Investigators surveyed 579 female cadets and asked them if they had ever been a victim of sexual assault. The category covers everything from uninvited fondling up to violent rape.
One hundred nine cadets reported some form of sexual assault. That's almost 19 percent of the women. And 43, a little over 7 percent, reported they had either been raped or were the victim of a rape attempt.
Since early this year, when female cadets began to come forward and complain, it's been well known there was a problem, but the survey doesn't answer some key questions. It doesn't, for example, differentiate between violent assault and so-called date rape. It lumps rape and attempted rape together, and it doesn't distinguish between rapes by strangers and by fellow cadets.
It does confirm that many women don't report rape because they feel reprisals, think that nothing will be done, or are simply embarrassed. The entire class of 4,000 cadets got a lecture yesterday from the academy commander after several male cadets were caught drinking off campus with underaged girls. Perhaps the most fundamental change in the school's new policy designed to encourage women who are victims to come forward, they will no longer be punished for minor infractions such as drinking or curfew violations if they're reporting a sexual assault.
And the survey did have one positive finding. Almost all, 96 percent of the women, believe the new leadership of the academy is making an honest and reasonable effort to stop unwanted sexual attention -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Well, Jamie, aside from lectures and the changes of those rules to make women feel like there won't be reprisals, what else is the Air Force contemplating as far as changing things at the academy to make things better?
MCINTYRE: Well, they believe that they need to instill in the cadets a culture change. Essentially, reinforcing the already very strict moral code that's supposed to be in effect there. And they believe that by giving women the opportunity to come forward and reassuring them that their charges will be handled and those cases will be followed up and they won't be punished for minor things while the person that they accused escapes punishment, they believe that will go a long way. The biggest thing they think is just a culture change that needs to take place.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you very much.
The hunt for Saddam. U.S. forces still searching around the leader's ancestral hometown of Tikrit. We'll take you there live.
Tactics and targets in the wake of 9/11. Insight into the new war. U.S. Special Ops Forces are waging in Iraq and Afghanistan in the hunt for Saddam, by the way.
Plus shark scares grounding surfers and swimmers. Is it the year of the Great White, perhaps? But first, a look at other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): The toll in France from this month's heat wave appears worse than anyone thought. The French government now says there were 11,432 more deaths than normal in early August when temperatures soared as high as 104 degrees.
North Korean cheerleaders in South Korea were mortified when they saw banners of their leader, Kim Jong Il, hanging in the rain from trees. They ran from their buses, some in tears, to retrieve the signs. The women are in Seoul for a college athletic competition.
Aussie rugby fans are outraged. International rugby officials won't let them have their traditional sing along of "Waltzing Matilda" during the upcoming Rugby World Cup. Rules say only national anthems are allowed, but fans are vowing to sing anyway.
A rollercoaster record. American Richard Rodriguez rode a German rollercoaster for 192 hours, eight days in all. He rode in eight hour stretches, day and night, with 15 minute breaks in between.
And meet the world's most expensive kitten. Zeus is 10 percent house cat and 90 percent leopard. The couple who bred him say they've been offered as much as $157,000 for him, but Zeus is not for sale.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: U.S. troops continue the hunt for Saddam Hussein and his loyalists, staging raids in the former Iraqi leader's hometown, which has been a hot bed of resistance, as you know. CNN's Jason Bellini is near Tikrit. He joins us live now via videophone -- Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I'm coming to you from a battalion tactical operations center just north of Tikrit. This is where they base nearly daily raids around the Tikrit area, hoping to perhaps find that needle in the haystack, Saddam Hussein, but going after party loyalists, Ba'ath Party members, Fedayeen, people that human intel has recommended to them. Sometimes they're going after arms cashes. And now, for the last few months, they've continued to do these daily raids. They do what they call attacking from the normal, where they'll do these raids nearly every hour of the day. Sometimes in the heat of the day while they expect people to be at home and people not expecting to see them. They normally expect these things to happen at night, and so they're doing them all of the time.
They also tell us -- one of the executive officers I spoke to said that they're really trying to show the people in Tikrit who's in charge. Those were his words. He says even though that may not be politically correct to say, that's what he thinks they still need to do at this stage -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jason, I thought, generally speaking, U.S. forces prefered to operate at night because of the superiority they have with the technology. Is part of this what you just said, to show force during the daylight hours?
BELLINI: That's exactly right. The element of surprise, and they know that the people they're going after know that they have superiority at night with their night vision goggles, but they feel at this stage that things are secure enough in the areas around Tikrit that they can mount these raids during the day.
They'll surround an area, they'll set up (UNINTELLIGIBLE) around a building, and then they'll go and they said they'll actually knock on the door. They don't always go in with the guns blazing. They'll go in, knock on the door and see what happens.
Things have been a bit calmer, but they still have all these targets that they have to go after. And most of the time these raids don't lead to gunfire exchanges. People will surrender quite readily, they tell me -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jason Bellini in Tikrit on the hunt for Saddam Hussein. Thank you very much.
U.S. Special Forces have been spearheading that hunt for Saddam and for Osama bin Laden as well. They've helped change the face of warfare since the 9/11 attacks. And should they play perhaps even a bigger role?
Joining me now is someone well acquainted with the secret world of Special Ops. John Weisman is the author of the new thriller "Soar" and co-author of the best-selling "Rogue Warrior" series. He's written both fiction and nonfiction on this subject. Not bad for an English major.
Congratulations on the latest book.
JOHN WEISMAN, AUTHOR, "SOAR": Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: Let's just talk about Special Ops, where Special Ops is right now in the grand scheme of things for the Pentagon. The invasion of Iraq, Special Ops were used in the days immediately prior to the invasion with great skill to ensure that the oilfields weren't set afire and that those scuds weren't used. Are Special Ops coming of age, in other words?
WEISMAN: Well, they are. And you have to remember that Don Rumsfeld is a big fan of Special Operations, and he appointed the former commander of Delta Force and the former four-star in charge of the Special Operations command to be the army chief of staff. And I think that that tells a big story right there.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, there is a perception that the role right now in Iraq requires lots of boots on the ground. You hear that term quite a bit.
There are some who would suggest that you could pull some troops out of there, lean a little heavier on the Special Ops, and maybe get the job done even a little bit better. Are you one of those people?
WEISMAN: I am one of those people and I'm not alone. I think that the argument can be made coherently that more troops means more targets. And the tail to tooth ratio in the conventional Army is very high. You have a lot of support troops.
They're all targets. Special Operations is all muscle, and they can move fast. They move quickly. If they have good intelligence, they can operate very, very effectively.
O'BRIEN: Now, Special Ops right now has a lot on their plate with the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Just that that we know about. Are they spread too thin?
WEISMAN: I don't think they're spread too thin. I mean, you have various layers of Special Ops and Special Operations Forces. You have Rangers, you have Special Forces, you have Navy SEALS, you have Naval Special Warfare, you have Delta.
We tend to see sometimes these black ops guys as huge entities. And actually sometimes they go out in pairs or quartets, very, very small unit operations, and can be very effective given good intelligence.
O'BRIEN: How can forces like that, though, try at all to come up with some semblance of order and peace in Iraq?
WEISMAN: That's not their job.
O'BRIEN: OK.
WEISMAN: These guys are not Rangers who take down airports. They're not military police. These are people who hunt and find and -- I mean, these are the guys who kill people and break things.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, looking at where Special Ops has come from desert one, the ill-fated attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages, and out of this has formed this robust capability, do you see -- especially with who's in charge of the Pentagon right now -- do you see it becoming even more a greater emphasis on it in the future?
WEISMAN: Oh, I do. First of all, the current army chief of staff, Pete Schoomaker, was on the ground in desert one. And he has said in the past that the big lesson that he learned was never to confuse enthusiasm with capability after that.
I mean, you had a lot of guys wanting to go and rescue these people. They couldn't do it because they didn't have the capability. I think what you're going to see in the future is a lot more state craft done through planned assigned, under-the-surface missions. I think that Special Forces will operate where conventional forces just can't.
O'BRIEN: Do you have a high degree of confidence that they will succeed in finding Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden?
WEISMAN: Don't know, but these are people who don't like to fail.
O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us about the books. Is there a lot of truth in all of these? You hang around with these guys, you talk to them...
WEISMAN: Well, there's nothing like drinking beer with guys from Delta to make you humble. I'll tell you. I think that their capabilities are awesome, and hopefully the book is close enough to the real thing so that I'm not doing them a disservice.
O'BRIEN: Do you ever hear that? Do you ever hear stuff like, "Why did you put that in there? You gave away a secret."
WEISMAN: Well, actually, a Navy captain called and said, "By the way, when these characters go out of a plane at 35,000 feet you've got them in a frog position. It's not. What you've got them in is a modified frog." I said, "Larry, I'll take yes for an answer."
O'BRIEN: If they're going to quibble like that I guess you can't complain that much. All right. Excellent. Thank you very much, John Weisman.
The latest book is "Soar: A Black Ops Novel." Appreciate your time.
WEISMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: And good luck with the book.
Get away if you can. Travelers hit the road for the holiday, but Californians may think twice before heading to the beach, or at least in the water at the beach. Concerns over a Great White shark are rising. The story straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked which president made Labor Day a national holiday. The answer: President Grover Cleveland in 1894, with the blessing of Congress.
Millions of Americans are hitting the roads as the last holiday weekend of the summer begins. Summer's over. We're sorry.
You're looking at some live pictures of the traffic situation on the central artery in Boston, courtesy of WBC. Thanks. And -- Interstate 93 they call it, too.
AAA says more than 33 million Americans plan to travel more than 50 miles from home this Labor Day weekend. That's the most in about eight years' time.
California beaches and forests are sure to be a big draw this Labor Day weekend, but danger may be lurking in both. Authorities have extended the closure of the waters of San Louis Bay beaches through the holiday. That is after a dead sea lion washed up in the region.
Bite marks indicate it was the victim of yet another shark attack. And Angeles National Forest officials are warning visitors to beware of black bears. They're now 35,000 of the animals in California. More than double the population 20 years ago.
More on that shark scare now along that part of the California coast and a scene right out of the movie "Jaws." Officials are closing off the water off of San Luis Obispo to swimmers this holiday weekend because of a Great White shark believed to be in the area.
It's already blamed for one death, a 50-year-old swimmer killed this month. Joining us now by phone is Casey Nielsen, operations manager for the harbor district there. Casey, good to have you with us.
CASEY NIELSEN, OPERATIONS MANAGER: Good afternoon.
O'BRIEN: All right. Are people not swimming at all right now? Is that the recommendation?
NIELSEN: That's correct. All our waters off of our district are closed to any type of body contact. No swimming, boogie boarding, those type of activities.
O'BRIEN: Let's try to put this in perspective if we could. The odds of being attacked by a Great White Shark, would you rate them as fairly small?
NIELSEN: Well, since it's been tracked, there's only been 10 fatalities in California regarding shark attacks.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, this woman who was apparently killed by a shark attack, she was actually swimming with seals correct?
NIELSEN: That's correct. She was swimming, and it appears that it was a tragic case of mistaken identity.
O'BRIEN: In other words, the sharks presumably were going after the seals?
NIELSEN: That's correct. Witnesses in the area said they saw the pod of seal lions and seals exit the water, even go into about two to three foot of water to try to avoid the attack.
O'BRIEN: Now, can you remember a situation like this in the past? I mean, generally the Great Whites come through there when the seals are in the area to feast upon them?
NIELSEN: I can't. This is extremely rare but both for the coast of California and for the central coast, definitely. So it's something we haven't dealt with before. I mean, there's always been risks, but we've never experienced any type of attack in our area.
O'BRIEN: All right. I assume people, businesses there are a little worried about that. And we wish you well, nevertheless. Enjoy the beach, but maybe not the water for now. Casey Nielsen who is joining us there from California where the Great White Shark is of some concern this holiday weekend.
Our Hot Web Question of the Day is this: Is Iraq headed toward civil war? Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. The results for you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: This just in to CNN. More on the devastating car bombing in Najaf in Iraq at the mosque there, the Imam Ali Mosque. The death toll now confirmed at 125 in total. Mohammed Baqir al- Hakim, a leading Shiite cleric, and 124 others dead after this very, very strong car bombing in the midst of Friday prayers in Najaf.
We'll keep you posted. Dozens more are wounded and in hospitals, and we'll keep you posted on that story.
Now, here is how you're weighing in on our Web Question of the Day. Is Iraq headed toward civil war? Look at these numbers: 89 percent of you said yes, 11 percent of you said no. As we always tell you, not a scientific poll, of course.
Let's hear from you and read some of your email now. Yesterday we asked if North Korea has nuclear weapons, should the U.S. take out the weapons by force? Bill writes this: "We must act quickly to take out the nukes in North Korea. This is a very depressed area, and if we don't act we face the very real possibility of those nukes getting into the hands of terrorist organizations."
But Larry sends this: "North Korea is just a blustery buffoon. We should not give them any blackmail money or incentives or take out the weapons. What are they going to do with the nuclear weapons? If they use them on anyone we'll just destroy their country without a word or a second thought."
A reminder, you can always watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at 5:00 Eastern Time. Wolf will be back with you on Monday, but don't forget to catch him on LATE EDITION, the last word in Sunday talk over the weekend.
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Percent of Female Cadets at Air Force Academy Victimized; Interview With Author John Weisman; Shark Scare Closes Waters off One California County>
Aired August 29, 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: A holy site up in flames. Today terror takes Iraq by surprise putting American troops in a tough predicament.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Terror in Iraq, a top cleric among dozens killed at a Shiite Muslim shrine. Is it the start of a worst case scenario?
FAWAZ GERGES, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: Where the country could descend into chaos and civil war.
O'BRIEN: With his image crumbling, can Tony Blair survive the departure of his image maker?
Serial speeder, has a Congressman's past caught up with him?
Blaster bust, did a teenager worm his way into thousands of computers?
Special Operations, should the most elite U.S. forces take on a bigger role? I'll speak with a best-selling author about the secret world of Black Ops.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: It's Friday, August 29, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Miles O'Brien. Wolf is off today once again.
In Iraq today, a holy place turned into hell, extraordinary images right after a massive car bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers leaving prayers at the 1,000-year-old Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf revered by Shiite Muslims.
Scores are dead, among them the Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite leaders. He returned in May from a 23 year exile in Iran. He's seen here shortly before the attack giving his last public address, an appeal for unity.
This came on a day when yet another American soldier was killed, several more wounded in ambushes north and west of Baghdad. The car bombing has left at least 75 people dead but many more are gravely wounded.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has made it to the scene of the attack in Najaf and he joins us now live. Ben, what is the scene there right now?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, now it's fairly quiet in Najaf but this has been anything but a quiet day. Hundreds of people were coming out of the Imam Ali Mosque after Friday prayers.
Friday of course being the Muslim holy day, when a huge car bomb went off right outside the southern entrance to that mosque killing, as you mentioned before, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.
Now, he is the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main Shiite factions here and one of those factions that is vying for power.
Now, the car bomb caused a huge amount of destruction in that area around the mosque and caused a gigantic death toll. Now, earlier we were quoting a figure of 75 dead, but apparently after one of our staff members went to a local hospital he saw a list of 124 people dead.
Now today, we went to one of the main hospitals in Najaf and it was a scene of chaos and pandemonium that hospital simply incapable to handle the hundreds of wounded who came in. People were being operated on in the hallways. The morgue is overflowing with the dead.
Now, this bomb has really send shockwaves across the country but particularly among the Shiites who make up about 60 percent of the population and even in Baghdad thousands of people came out to demonstrate against the attack.
Now, blame is being thrown in all four directions. We've heard people blame the Americans. We've heard them blame the Israelis, the Sunnis, and many others. At this point, it is not clear who was behind the blast, Miles, but whoever it was they were aiming at the stability of Iraq and they certainly have struck a severe blow to whatever stability there was -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Ben, do we know were they suicide bombers or was it remotely set off?
WEDEMAN: It's not clear. Some people are saying that they believe the bomb was actually placed inside the car of Ayatollah al- Hakim. Now, there haven't been any bomb experts yet to the scene; in fact, the scene is still something of a -- there's a search going on as I speak.
It is now, what, one o'clock in the morning in Najaf and, apparently, there are still people there digging through the ruins, so nobody has come up yet with any clue as to who may be behind the bombing -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman in Najaf where the situation is very tumultuous right now. He'll keep us posted from there. Thank you very much, Ben. The latest violence comes in the Shiite heartland where Islam split into rival factions soon after its birth and where religious and political differences threaten to send modern Iraq into all out civil war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): From the chaos in Najaf an even deeper concern, this happened at one of the most revered sites for Shiite Muslims, the Imam Ali Mosque and now some wonder if this incident could sent Iraqi into an irreversible tailspin. It has already sent shockwaves throughout the Shiite Muslim world.
KEN POLLACK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It would be like a major bomb going off outside of St. Peter's in Rome or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for Christians.
O'BRIEN: But who stands to gain for the death of the Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite Muslim leaders?
HASSAN FATAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": You could say, of course, members of the former regime, remnants of the Fedayeen and people like that. There's also been a lot of internal fighting among the groups themselves, the Shia groups. The suspect list can be quite long in fact.
O'BRIEN: The Ayatollah al-Hakim did have his enemies. In exile for 23 years in Iran, he supports a similar Islamic theocracy for Iraq. As a result, al-Hakim was a long time foe of Saddam Hussein's regime, which was dominated by Sunni Muslims, a minority in Iraq. If Saddam's followers are behind the Najaf bombing, experts say the potential Sunni/Shiite conflict that might follow could be disastrous.
GERGES: The danger lies, as I said before, in the potential for sectarian violence in Iraq between Sunnis and Shias and this is a worst case scenario where the country could descend into chaos and civil war.
O'BRIEN: And that is not the only dangerous scenario. Ayatollah al-Hakim was also engaged in a generational power struggle with a less traditional Shiite faction, led by a young fire brand named Sheikh Mutata al-Sadr (ph). Other prominent Shiite clerics have been attacked, one of them killed, since the fall of Baghdad.
U.S. forces could soon find themselves between Shiite groups fighting one another with Saddam's Sunni factions taking pot shots at everyone, and there is the growing anger toward the U.S. among the majority of Shiites for not providing better security at places like the Imam Ali Mosque.
POLLACK: If the Shia population turns against the United States and you see a large scale resistance by the Shia against the U.S., this reconstruction effort is doomed.
O'BRIEN: Still, Pollack says the vast majority of Iraqi Shiites do support the U.S.-led reconstruction effort for now. (END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this. "Is Iraq headed toward Civil War?" We'll have the results later in the broadcast. We invite you to vote now, cnn.com/wolf is the place.
And while you're there we'd like to hear directly from you. Send us your comments and, 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.
Elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. troops remained that targets today. One soldier was killed and others were wounded in ambushes.
CNN's Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers is in Baghdad.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles. Almost eclipsed by the car bombing outside the Shia mosque was the death of yet another American soldier just north of Baghdad killed by Iraqi guerillas firing Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades.
After sweeping triumphantly into Iraq five months ago, American forces now often find themselves on the defensive against an unseen enemy. Those growing U.S. casualties are bad for troop morale and the bombing at Najaf convinces many Iraqis the Americans cannot alone provide security for the Iraqi people.
Further, the violence against the Shiites hints at earlier predictions Iraq could slide into civil war, that combined with the growing American casualties suggest President Bush miscalculated badly when he declared this war over in May -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Well, he's been called one of the most powerful men in Britain, certainly within the ruling Labour Party. He's been Prime Minister Tony Blair's top aide and image maker for years but with his boss' image tarnished over a scandal over an allegedly sexed up Iraq intelligence dossier, Alastair Campbell resigned today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, BRITISH COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: People can say what they like and you can be as cynical as you like about anything that I might say. I know what I stand for and I know what to believe and I know what I've done in this job and I know what I will continue to believe in outside this job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: How big a blow is this to Tony Blair then? Is President Bush's closest ally in danger of seeing his government fall?
Joining me now from London is CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider who's there to give us some perspective on all this. Bill, first of all was this a surprise this announcement? BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: The surprise was the timing, Miles. It was widely expected that Alastair Campbell would leave the government. He had announced earlier that he expected to leave sometime this year.
Most people thought it would happen after the Hutton inquiry, which is the judicial inquiry to which Tony Blair testified and Alastair Campbell himself testified within the last couple of weeks after it issued its report sometime this fall. The fact that it happened the day after the prime minister testified, that was a bit of a surprise.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's show folks exactly why it is so surprising. We have a piece of tape which was gathered in June, an interview with Mr. Campbell captured on the BBC. Let's listen for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the government's communications chief is himself part of the story isn't it time he resigned?
CAMPBELL: Oh, for heaven's sake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: All right, well there you have it. I guess it's not unprecedented for politicians to say something one time and to do something later but, nevertheless, at that time the sense was that he was going to hang in there.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. He was expected to hang in but he indicated in his resignation today that he fully expected to leave and he made no secret of that. You know he was not discredited by the inquiry.
In fact, he had argued all along that he had had no part in, as you said and as the BBC reported, sexing up the government's dossier on Iraqi intelligence, essentially including a charge that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction with just 45 minutes' notice, a sensational charge that helped produce the fervor for Britain to enter the war against Iraq.
Well, in the inquiry there was just no evidence that Alastair Campbell had changed the intelligence information, had altered it, had ordered any changes in the information, so therefore it didn't look like he had been disgraced at all by the inquiry.
What was the problem was the death of Dr. David Kelly. He was the source of the news report which has not yet been authenticated that the government interfered with, doctored up, the intelligence information.
He went after the BBC, which originally broadcast that report. He was instrumental in the naming of Dr. Kelly who ultimately committed, apparently committed, suicide and, therefore, a lot of people thought the government was to blame for Dr. Kelly's suicide.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's put this in perspective then. Is what is going on in Great Britain right now sort of tantamount to what was going on here during the Clinton impeachment days?
SCHNEIDER: It's a little bit like that. It is widely expected that Tony Blair will survive, just as Bill Clinton survived but he will be damaged, just as Bill Clinton was damaged. What has hurt Tony Blair is the same thing that happened to Bill Clinton. His credibility is damaged.
A lot of people, in fact, only about a quarter of Britons say they can now believe Tony Blair that they find him and his government honest and trustworthy. Essentially, the Blair government, helped the Alastair Campbell, made the case that it was essential for Britain to go to war with Iraq because they faced an imminent threat from the Iraqi regime.
Well, the weapons of mass destruction were central to that threat. Those weapons have not been found and as long as they are not found, people say here in Britain that Tony Blair misled them. They were duped into going to war and they resent it so his credibility is seriously damaged.
O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider who will go anywhere in the world for a good political story, case in point right here. Thanks very much for joining us. We appreciate it.
The worm turns, federal agents trace those obnoxious, ubiquitous, malicious e-mail messages to a teenager in Minnesota.
Into the wild blue yonder, sky high numbers of women at the Air Force Academy say they have been assaulted.
And queue the cellos now, it's a holiday weekend and there's a hungry great white shark out there somewhere.
We're just wading in here, lots more ahead on the program, but first for some Labor Day trivia, here's the News Quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Which president made Labor Day a national holiday, Grover Cleveland, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, or Lyndon Johnson. The answer is coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A first court appearance this afternoon for the man accused of unleashing the latest worldwide computer virus or at least making it worse. Eighteen-year-old Jeffrey Lee Parson was released for now and ordered to stay away from computers, good idea.
CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena is following the case for us. Let's clarify exactly who this guy is. He actually copied one of the worms, correct?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: He altered it is what he did.
O'BRIEN: Yes, OK.
ARENA: But this is a break in the blaster case but the investigation though is far from over, Miles. As said, Jeffrey Parson is a high school senior and, according to the FBI, he admitted to altering the blaster computer worm and creating Blaster B.
Now, he was arrested at his Hopkins, Minnesota home this morning. He faces ten years in prison and fines. According to investigators, Parson allegedly built into his version a method for infected computers to automatically register themselves with his Web site. That is how investigators eventually tracked him down.
Now, his Blaster B version allegedly infected as many as 7,000 computers, but the original Blaster worm infected more than a million computers worldwide. Now, the creator of the original worm has not yet been identified and some computer experts predict that he may never, in fact, be found -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right and there's no reason to believe that Jeffrey Lee Parson knows anything about him?
ARENA: Nothing investigators have let on, no.
O'BRIEN: All right, has he ever done any hacking in the past? It sounds like he has a little bit of expertise here.
ARENA: Well, not that he's been prosecuted for but, according to the Minnesota Government Finance Officer's Association, they say that last year he twice hacked into their Web site and just fooled around with the homepage.
And, at that time, the president of that association said, the police said it wasn't a prosecutable crime that they would go talk to him. They said they never heard from him again, never saw any trouble. They assumed it was all over and done with but the computer experts we spoke with said that what he allegedly did, did take a great deal of sophistication.
O'BRIEN: All right, Kelli Arena, thanks very much, appreciate it.
(BREAKING NEWS)
This just in to CNN. We're learning that President Bush is expanding an executive order concerning Iraq.
CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King joining us now from Crawford, Texas with some details on all this, hello John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles. All of this because the administration says it has some evidence that family members of senior former Iraqi officials left Iraq and took with them assets, money, property and other things that the president says belong to the people of Iraq.
Now, so what the president has done today is issued this new executive order. It expands the scope of an order he issued three months ago back in May. There are 55 former regime officials on this list, Saddam Hussein among them, his two late sons Uday and Qusay, the head of the former Iraqi oil ministry, the head of the Special Republican Guard, top regime members of Saddam Hussein's former regime all covered.
They are not allowed to take any money out of Iraq. They are not allowed to take any property out of Iraq. If any of that money is somehow transferred into a U.S. bank, the Treasury Department has the authority to freeze it.
What the president has done today is to expand that order, not only the 55 former members of the regime, senior Ba'ath Party officials and the like but also their immediate family members.
And, the administration says it is doing this because there is evidence that some of those family members did leave the country, in many cases not stopped at all by coalition forces because they were not targets of any investigation or round-up and they perhaps took significant amounts of money with them.
Now, Miles, the president has just issued this order. We're trying to get a sense of the White House of how much money or how much property they think may have left Iraq, also trying to get an answer to this question.
We do know Saddam Hussein's two daughters left. The coalition let them go. They moved onto Jordan and they are there. We are trying to ask if there's any evidence that they may have taken any significant amount of money from the treasuries in Iraq.
But, the White House saying this is a necessary step, that that money belongs not to former members of the regime or their families but to the people of Iraq -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: John, have you seen anywhere an accurate figure on the total Saddam Hussein fortune, how much money he stole from the Iraqi people?
KING: No. Administration officials say it is in the billions. They are still, as they try to round up members of the Iraqi regime and as they still try to find Saddam Hussein himself, administration officials say they are gathering miles and miles of documents and they say they're going through it to see how much money could be in offshore bank accounts, other countries, still hidden.
Remember, when the sons were found a significant -- and killed, a significant amount of cash was found with them. So, administration officials that's a very complicated plot they're still trying to unravel.
O'BRIEN: And, I suppose this kind of thing is a real hall of mirrors when you start getting into all the aliases, numbered accounts, and so forth. It's difficult to go after these funds, isn't it?
KING: That's one of the interesting things about this list of 55 people. It lists in many cases aliases that some of these people have or other names and it also lists in some cases, in this age of information, the dates of birth and the passport numbers of a number of the former senior members of the Iraqi regime, including Tariq Aziz.
We know he turned himself in, the vice president who was just captured, Mr. Ramadan, they have their passport numbers, their date of birth all right here on this list -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Interesting stuff, all right CNN's John King in Crawford keep us posted on that one.
Just stay put, fateful words from rescue personnel to people in the World Trade Center after the first plane hit on 9/11. We'll hear the tragic tales.
A deadly collision, a lead foot Congressman now faces a felony charge in South Dakota.
And then there's this, the seals could be just appetizers. Don't dive in at one California beach unless you want to become the main course.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Horrifying and heartbreaking, almost two years after the attacks on the World Trade Center the firsthand accounts of that catastrophe are powerful as ever. The latest come in transcripts released by the Port Authority of phone calls, radio transmissions, memos, and reports by employees who were there that day.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa has been looking at them -- Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the 2,000 pages of transcripts provide a gripping chronicle of what transpired on September 11th. One of the first real time accounts from employees of the Port Authority which did security for the towers. These are stories of a rescue operation taking place against immeasurable odds.
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HINOJOSA (voice-over): There are 260 hours of communications, radio and telephone calls from people trapped inside the towers, rescue workers and dispatchers and their accounts written after the fact. Many are like this early telephone call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SCC, go ahead. SCC, go with your message. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now the -- the smoke is getting real heavy in here and it is starting to burn my eyes. We still have tremoring up here.
HINOJOSA: The transcripts also show how people quickly realized the enormity of the event.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something blew up at the trade center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Either a plane crashed into the trade center or a rocket hit. People are all over the place, dead.
HINOJOSA: The transcripts also give a sense of the confusion of that day.
KEN SMART, PORT NEWARK: I've got people on the 64th floor. OK, they want to know if they should leave the building?
PO JOHN KANNUZO: Absolutely yes.
SMART: They called 911 and they were told to stay.
KANNUZO: Absolutely, absolutely.
SMART: So, they should get out of the building?
KANNUZO: Absolutely.
SMART: Even though 911 told them to stay where they are?
KANNUZO: Absolutely. We've been told to evacuate.
Eight-four Port Authority employees died that day. Many of them helped in the evacuation of up to 25,000 people from the towers. Their accounts reveal the horrors they faced.
PO MARK J. MEIER: A steady stream of bodies and debris was raining down. Inspector Fields was about to run into the building and I stopped him. A man was coming down. He hit with such force it sounded like a shotgun going off. Inspector Fields put a hand on the wall to steady himself. He said, oh my God.
HINOJOSA: And, these publics give the public an insight into some very personal moments, like John Kannuzo call to his son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy?
PO JOHN KANNUZZO: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will happen if people are only staying in the building?
KANNUZO: I'm staying in the building at the airport right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How come?
KANNUZO: Because that's where they want me. That's where they need me to be to help people here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.
KANNUZO: All right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
KANNUZO: Will you do me a favor Anthony?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh huh.
KANNUZO: Daddy's not home so you're the big man in the house so you help mommy and keep her happy, okay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Okay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HINOJOSA: Police Officer Kannuzo survived that attacks that day but it is important to remember that while these transcripts may be an important addition to the historical documentation of September 11 they are still some of the saddest and most intimate last moments many of the 9/11 families have of their loved ones -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Maria, it's heartbreaking and we're not even hearing the voices there. I can only imagine what the families are saying. Where do they go from here on this? Is there apt to be more things that are going to come out or will this be the end of these kinds of transcripts and discussions that will be released?
HINOJOSA: In terms of the Port Authority this is what -- this all was released as the result of a lawsuit from the "New York Times" against the Port Authority and they were told by the judge to release only these written transcripts, no audio transcripts. So, in terms of the Port Authority that's what we know of.
But I think in terms of the families this is a very, very painful time for them, two weeks away from the second anniversary, a long weekend just when they get this material, so for a lot of these families it's just opening up very, very deep wounds -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in New York thank you very much.
A sexual assault scandal inside the Air Force Academy, a new report paints an ugly picture of life for female cadets. We're live from the Pentagon on that.
The changing face of war, an inside look at the new tactics Special Ops forces are using to win the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And, no picnic at this beach, great white shark appears along parts of the California coast keeping swimmers dry this weekend.
Details ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: How is a fatal accident catching up with a U.S. Congressman?
Also, a case that could shake-up the California recall, those stories and more coming up in 60 second.
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. congressman was charged with second degree manslaughter today in connection with a deadly accident. Bill Janklow, a Republican from South Dakota, is already facing calls to resign.
CNN's Ted Barrett is following the story.
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TED BARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators say Janklow was going more than 70 miles per hour when he ran his 1995 Cadillac through this stop sign two weeks ago. The congressman struck 55-year-old motorcyclist Randy Scott of Minnesota, who had just left a birthday party. Scott died at the scene.
Janklow was charged with second degree manslaughter, which could put him behind bars for 10 years. He is also charged with three misdemeanors: failure to stop at a stop sign, going 71 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone and reckless driving. It wasn't Janklow's first time speeding. He was cited 12 times in the early '90s and was involved in several accidents over the past decade, according to South Dakota records. He had a perverse pride in his lead foot.
In a 1999 speech, the then South Dakota governor acknowledged he speeds when he drives, shouldn't, but he does. Janklow went on to say, "If someone told me I was going to jail for two days for speeding, my driving habits would change."
Janklow was elected South Dakota governor four times and also served the state as its attorney general. Janklow won't return Washington next week when Congress reconvenes. He is still recovering from his injuries, which aides say are minor. But when he does, he could face a probe by the House Ethics Committee, which could recommend punishment as severe as expulsion.
STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: South Dakotans are telling pollsters that if he's charged and convicted they think he should leave office immediately. You know, when you have a felony charge lodged against you, it just makes it very difficult to survive politically.
BARRETT (on camera): Janklow has not responded publicly to the charges, but already he's facing pressure from safety advocates led by Ralph Nader, who we're calling on him to reside sign.
Ted Barrett, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: Some shocking numbers in a draft report on sexual assaults at the U.S. Air Force Academy. More than seven percent of female cadets say they have been victims of rape or attempted rape at the academy. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, is watching that story for us from the Pentagon -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the survey was done by the Pentagon's Inspector General's Office, which is trying to get a handle on the extent of the sexual assault problem in the U.S. Air Force Academy. Investigators surveyed 579 female cadets and asked them if they had ever been a victim of sexual assault. The category covers everything from uninvited fondling up to violent rape.
One hundred nine cadets reported some form of sexual assault. That's almost 19 percent of the women. And 43, a little over 7 percent, reported they had either been raped or were the victim of a rape attempt.
Since early this year, when female cadets began to come forward and complain, it's been well known there was a problem, but the survey doesn't answer some key questions. It doesn't, for example, differentiate between violent assault and so-called date rape. It lumps rape and attempted rape together, and it doesn't distinguish between rapes by strangers and by fellow cadets.
It does confirm that many women don't report rape because they feel reprisals, think that nothing will be done, or are simply embarrassed. The entire class of 4,000 cadets got a lecture yesterday from the academy commander after several male cadets were caught drinking off campus with underaged girls. Perhaps the most fundamental change in the school's new policy designed to encourage women who are victims to come forward, they will no longer be punished for minor infractions such as drinking or curfew violations if they're reporting a sexual assault.
And the survey did have one positive finding. Almost all, 96 percent of the women, believe the new leadership of the academy is making an honest and reasonable effort to stop unwanted sexual attention -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Well, Jamie, aside from lectures and the changes of those rules to make women feel like there won't be reprisals, what else is the Air Force contemplating as far as changing things at the academy to make things better?
MCINTYRE: Well, they believe that they need to instill in the cadets a culture change. Essentially, reinforcing the already very strict moral code that's supposed to be in effect there. And they believe that by giving women the opportunity to come forward and reassuring them that their charges will be handled and those cases will be followed up and they won't be punished for minor things while the person that they accused escapes punishment, they believe that will go a long way. The biggest thing they think is just a culture change that needs to take place.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you very much.
The hunt for Saddam. U.S. forces still searching around the leader's ancestral hometown of Tikrit. We'll take you there live.
Tactics and targets in the wake of 9/11. Insight into the new war. U.S. Special Ops Forces are waging in Iraq and Afghanistan in the hunt for Saddam, by the way.
Plus shark scares grounding surfers and swimmers. Is it the year of the Great White, perhaps? But first, a look at other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): The toll in France from this month's heat wave appears worse than anyone thought. The French government now says there were 11,432 more deaths than normal in early August when temperatures soared as high as 104 degrees.
North Korean cheerleaders in South Korea were mortified when they saw banners of their leader, Kim Jong Il, hanging in the rain from trees. They ran from their buses, some in tears, to retrieve the signs. The women are in Seoul for a college athletic competition.
Aussie rugby fans are outraged. International rugby officials won't let them have their traditional sing along of "Waltzing Matilda" during the upcoming Rugby World Cup. Rules say only national anthems are allowed, but fans are vowing to sing anyway.
A rollercoaster record. American Richard Rodriguez rode a German rollercoaster for 192 hours, eight days in all. He rode in eight hour stretches, day and night, with 15 minute breaks in between.
And meet the world's most expensive kitten. Zeus is 10 percent house cat and 90 percent leopard. The couple who bred him say they've been offered as much as $157,000 for him, but Zeus is not for sale.
And that's our look around the world.
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O'BRIEN: U.S. troops continue the hunt for Saddam Hussein and his loyalists, staging raids in the former Iraqi leader's hometown, which has been a hot bed of resistance, as you know. CNN's Jason Bellini is near Tikrit. He joins us live now via videophone -- Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I'm coming to you from a battalion tactical operations center just north of Tikrit. This is where they base nearly daily raids around the Tikrit area, hoping to perhaps find that needle in the haystack, Saddam Hussein, but going after party loyalists, Ba'ath Party members, Fedayeen, people that human intel has recommended to them. Sometimes they're going after arms cashes. And now, for the last few months, they've continued to do these daily raids. They do what they call attacking from the normal, where they'll do these raids nearly every hour of the day. Sometimes in the heat of the day while they expect people to be at home and people not expecting to see them. They normally expect these things to happen at night, and so they're doing them all of the time.
They also tell us -- one of the executive officers I spoke to said that they're really trying to show the people in Tikrit who's in charge. Those were his words. He says even though that may not be politically correct to say, that's what he thinks they still need to do at this stage -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jason, I thought, generally speaking, U.S. forces prefered to operate at night because of the superiority they have with the technology. Is part of this what you just said, to show force during the daylight hours?
BELLINI: That's exactly right. The element of surprise, and they know that the people they're going after know that they have superiority at night with their night vision goggles, but they feel at this stage that things are secure enough in the areas around Tikrit that they can mount these raids during the day.
They'll surround an area, they'll set up (UNINTELLIGIBLE) around a building, and then they'll go and they said they'll actually knock on the door. They don't always go in with the guns blazing. They'll go in, knock on the door and see what happens.
Things have been a bit calmer, but they still have all these targets that they have to go after. And most of the time these raids don't lead to gunfire exchanges. People will surrender quite readily, they tell me -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jason Bellini in Tikrit on the hunt for Saddam Hussein. Thank you very much.
U.S. Special Forces have been spearheading that hunt for Saddam and for Osama bin Laden as well. They've helped change the face of warfare since the 9/11 attacks. And should they play perhaps even a bigger role?
Joining me now is someone well acquainted with the secret world of Special Ops. John Weisman is the author of the new thriller "Soar" and co-author of the best-selling "Rogue Warrior" series. He's written both fiction and nonfiction on this subject. Not bad for an English major.
Congratulations on the latest book.
JOHN WEISMAN, AUTHOR, "SOAR": Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: Let's just talk about Special Ops, where Special Ops is right now in the grand scheme of things for the Pentagon. The invasion of Iraq, Special Ops were used in the days immediately prior to the invasion with great skill to ensure that the oilfields weren't set afire and that those scuds weren't used. Are Special Ops coming of age, in other words?
WEISMAN: Well, they are. And you have to remember that Don Rumsfeld is a big fan of Special Operations, and he appointed the former commander of Delta Force and the former four-star in charge of the Special Operations command to be the army chief of staff. And I think that that tells a big story right there.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, there is a perception that the role right now in Iraq requires lots of boots on the ground. You hear that term quite a bit.
There are some who would suggest that you could pull some troops out of there, lean a little heavier on the Special Ops, and maybe get the job done even a little bit better. Are you one of those people?
WEISMAN: I am one of those people and I'm not alone. I think that the argument can be made coherently that more troops means more targets. And the tail to tooth ratio in the conventional Army is very high. You have a lot of support troops.
They're all targets. Special Operations is all muscle, and they can move fast. They move quickly. If they have good intelligence, they can operate very, very effectively.
O'BRIEN: Now, Special Ops right now has a lot on their plate with the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Just that that we know about. Are they spread too thin?
WEISMAN: I don't think they're spread too thin. I mean, you have various layers of Special Ops and Special Operations Forces. You have Rangers, you have Special Forces, you have Navy SEALS, you have Naval Special Warfare, you have Delta.
We tend to see sometimes these black ops guys as huge entities. And actually sometimes they go out in pairs or quartets, very, very small unit operations, and can be very effective given good intelligence.
O'BRIEN: How can forces like that, though, try at all to come up with some semblance of order and peace in Iraq?
WEISMAN: That's not their job.
O'BRIEN: OK.
WEISMAN: These guys are not Rangers who take down airports. They're not military police. These are people who hunt and find and -- I mean, these are the guys who kill people and break things.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, looking at where Special Ops has come from desert one, the ill-fated attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages, and out of this has formed this robust capability, do you see -- especially with who's in charge of the Pentagon right now -- do you see it becoming even more a greater emphasis on it in the future?
WEISMAN: Oh, I do. First of all, the current army chief of staff, Pete Schoomaker, was on the ground in desert one. And he has said in the past that the big lesson that he learned was never to confuse enthusiasm with capability after that.
I mean, you had a lot of guys wanting to go and rescue these people. They couldn't do it because they didn't have the capability. I think what you're going to see in the future is a lot more state craft done through planned assigned, under-the-surface missions. I think that Special Forces will operate where conventional forces just can't.
O'BRIEN: Do you have a high degree of confidence that they will succeed in finding Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden?
WEISMAN: Don't know, but these are people who don't like to fail.
O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us about the books. Is there a lot of truth in all of these? You hang around with these guys, you talk to them...
WEISMAN: Well, there's nothing like drinking beer with guys from Delta to make you humble. I'll tell you. I think that their capabilities are awesome, and hopefully the book is close enough to the real thing so that I'm not doing them a disservice.
O'BRIEN: Do you ever hear that? Do you ever hear stuff like, "Why did you put that in there? You gave away a secret."
WEISMAN: Well, actually, a Navy captain called and said, "By the way, when these characters go out of a plane at 35,000 feet you've got them in a frog position. It's not. What you've got them in is a modified frog." I said, "Larry, I'll take yes for an answer."
O'BRIEN: If they're going to quibble like that I guess you can't complain that much. All right. Excellent. Thank you very much, John Weisman.
The latest book is "Soar: A Black Ops Novel." Appreciate your time.
WEISMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: And good luck with the book.
Get away if you can. Travelers hit the road for the holiday, but Californians may think twice before heading to the beach, or at least in the water at the beach. Concerns over a Great White shark are rising. The story straight ahead.
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O'BRIEN: Earlier we asked which president made Labor Day a national holiday. The answer: President Grover Cleveland in 1894, with the blessing of Congress.
Millions of Americans are hitting the roads as the last holiday weekend of the summer begins. Summer's over. We're sorry.
You're looking at some live pictures of the traffic situation on the central artery in Boston, courtesy of WBC. Thanks. And -- Interstate 93 they call it, too.
AAA says more than 33 million Americans plan to travel more than 50 miles from home this Labor Day weekend. That's the most in about eight years' time.
California beaches and forests are sure to be a big draw this Labor Day weekend, but danger may be lurking in both. Authorities have extended the closure of the waters of San Louis Bay beaches through the holiday. That is after a dead sea lion washed up in the region.
Bite marks indicate it was the victim of yet another shark attack. And Angeles National Forest officials are warning visitors to beware of black bears. They're now 35,000 of the animals in California. More than double the population 20 years ago.
More on that shark scare now along that part of the California coast and a scene right out of the movie "Jaws." Officials are closing off the water off of San Luis Obispo to swimmers this holiday weekend because of a Great White shark believed to be in the area.
It's already blamed for one death, a 50-year-old swimmer killed this month. Joining us now by phone is Casey Nielsen, operations manager for the harbor district there. Casey, good to have you with us.
CASEY NIELSEN, OPERATIONS MANAGER: Good afternoon.
O'BRIEN: All right. Are people not swimming at all right now? Is that the recommendation?
NIELSEN: That's correct. All our waters off of our district are closed to any type of body contact. No swimming, boogie boarding, those type of activities.
O'BRIEN: Let's try to put this in perspective if we could. The odds of being attacked by a Great White Shark, would you rate them as fairly small?
NIELSEN: Well, since it's been tracked, there's only been 10 fatalities in California regarding shark attacks.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, this woman who was apparently killed by a shark attack, she was actually swimming with seals correct?
NIELSEN: That's correct. She was swimming, and it appears that it was a tragic case of mistaken identity.
O'BRIEN: In other words, the sharks presumably were going after the seals?
NIELSEN: That's correct. Witnesses in the area said they saw the pod of seal lions and seals exit the water, even go into about two to three foot of water to try to avoid the attack.
O'BRIEN: Now, can you remember a situation like this in the past? I mean, generally the Great Whites come through there when the seals are in the area to feast upon them?
NIELSEN: I can't. This is extremely rare but both for the coast of California and for the central coast, definitely. So it's something we haven't dealt with before. I mean, there's always been risks, but we've never experienced any type of attack in our area.
O'BRIEN: All right. I assume people, businesses there are a little worried about that. And we wish you well, nevertheless. Enjoy the beach, but maybe not the water for now. Casey Nielsen who is joining us there from California where the Great White Shark is of some concern this holiday weekend.
Our Hot Web Question of the Day is this: Is Iraq headed toward civil war? Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. The results for you when we come back.
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O'BRIEN: This just in to CNN. More on the devastating car bombing in Najaf in Iraq at the mosque there, the Imam Ali Mosque. The death toll now confirmed at 125 in total. Mohammed Baqir al- Hakim, a leading Shiite cleric, and 124 others dead after this very, very strong car bombing in the midst of Friday prayers in Najaf.
We'll keep you posted. Dozens more are wounded and in hospitals, and we'll keep you posted on that story.
Now, here is how you're weighing in on our Web Question of the Day. Is Iraq headed toward civil war? Look at these numbers: 89 percent of you said yes, 11 percent of you said no. As we always tell you, not a scientific poll, of course.
Let's hear from you and read some of your email now. Yesterday we asked if North Korea has nuclear weapons, should the U.S. take out the weapons by force? Bill writes this: "We must act quickly to take out the nukes in North Korea. This is a very depressed area, and if we don't act we face the very real possibility of those nukes getting into the hands of terrorist organizations."
But Larry sends this: "North Korea is just a blustery buffoon. We should not give them any blackmail money or incentives or take out the weapons. What are they going to do with the nuclear weapons? If they use them on anyone we'll just destroy their country without a word or a second thought."
A reminder, you can always watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at 5:00 Eastern Time. Wolf will be back with you on Monday, but don't forget to catch him on LATE EDITION, the last word in Sunday talk over the weekend.
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Percent of Female Cadets at Air Force Academy Victimized; Interview With Author John Weisman; Shark Scare Closes Waters off One California County>
