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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Who Exposed a CIA Operative?; Another Arrest at Gitmo; Laura Bush Visits Moscow
Aired September 30, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, Democrats smell blood and they're pouncing. At issue the disclosure of the name of the CIA operative but where is this story going and how much damage was done? Former Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Shelby will join us live.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Who exposed a CIA operative? Government investigators are on the case.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The prosecutors and agents who are and will be handling this investigation are career professionals.
BLITZER: Democrats say that's not good enough.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: That the chips will fall where they may in this dastardly crime and that's what it is will be exposed.
BLITZER: His job's on the line but Tony Blair is still lining up with the U.S. in the war on terrorism.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Not because we are America's poodle but because dealing with it will make Britain safer.
BLITZER: Guantanamo Bay investigation, another arrest, another translator but this time a new twist.
Bumper-to-bumper, new research shows you're spending more and more of your life stuck in traffic. What's that doing to your health?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Tuesday, September 30, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
We begin with the leak that blew the cover of a CIA operative. Speaking out for the first time today, President Bush says he welcomes the investigation but Democrats are speaking out as well and they want something more.
Let's go live to our Senior White House Correspondent John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was late last night when the White House was told by the Justice Department that the preliminary inquiry had given way to a full blown criminal investigation that will, of course, focus on the president's inner circle. Did someone on the senior staff here at the White House break the law and out, if you will, Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, a CIA operative?
The president was on the road today raising money in Chicago. He's raising more money in Cincinnati tonight. One of his jobs try to project an image of calm, although in doing so today the president also rejected Democratic calls for a special prosecutor. He thinks the Justice Department is the right agency to handle this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the Executive Branch. There's leaks in the Legislative Branch.
There's just too many leaks and if there's a leak out of my administration I want to know who it is and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of and so I welcome the investigation. I'm absolutely confident the Justice Department will do a very good job.
There's a special division of career Justice Department officials who are tasked with doing this kind of work. They have done this kind of work before in Washington this year.
I have told our administration, people in my administration, to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth. If anybody's got any information inside our administration or outside our administration it will be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Career Justice Department prosecutors, the president says, handling the investigation. They, of course, report to the Attorney General John Ashcroft, a Bush appointee.
Mr. Ashcroft today told reporters he could not answer any questions about this because it is a pending criminal investigation but he did read a statement in which he defended the impartiality and the fairness of the team looking into this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The prosecutors and agents who are and will be handling this investigation are career professionals with extensive experience in handling matters involving sensitive national security information and with experience relating to investigations of unauthorized disclosures of such information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That explanation not good enough for the Democrats. They have been on the floor of the House and the Senate, news conferences on Capitol Hill all day long saying John Ashcroft has a conflict of interest because he was appointed by President Bush, among those leading the Democratic charge, the Democratic leader in the Senate Tom Daschle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: The conflicts that would exist in the Justice Department are obvious. John Ashcroft won't even go after Ken Lay. How will he possibly go after somebody who appointed him as attorney general?
So, I think that there is a real concern about objectivity, about the degree to which they're willing to pursue this and I think that that's the concern expressed by all of my colleagues in various ways over the last couple of days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, for now this investigation led by the Attorney General John Ashcroft, a senior Justice Department official did tell reporters today that the door is not closed on a special counsel, a special prosecutor down the road but, for now, the decision is to let career prosecutors and FBI agents look into this allegation.
It has sent a bit of a chill over the White House, Wolf. Everyone who works here received a memo from presidential counsel Alberto Gonzales this morning telling them the investigation was underway, telling them the president expected their full cooperation and telling them not to destroy any records, e-mail logs, phone logs, any records at all that might be relevant to his criminal investigation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It seems this story, John, clearly has, as they say in our business, legs. John King at the White House thanks very much.
It's not often that a CIA operative is outed, if you will. How serious, though, is this leak? Has it caused real damage to U.S. intelligence?
For that let's turn to our National Security Correspondent David Ensor. David, what's the answer?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, CIA officials, you won't be surprised to hear, are not talking about this specifically. Clearly, there's been a damage assessment done. They're not discussing what its findings are.
But, first of all, let's make clear that this -- contrary to some other reports elsewhere this individual, Mrs. Wilson, is a covert officer in the CIA. She spent, she's had a career, much of which has been spent as a field officer overseas. She would have been in a position to collect intelligence.
As one official put it if she were only an analyst, not an operative, we would not have filed a crimes report and that they did and that is what's led to this Justice Department investigation.
Now, if you're a CIA field officer, as she has been in the past, what you do is you go and try to collect secrets. You may, for example, pose as an arms buyer in order to get arms dealers to tell you what's available on the market.
You may try to open up a flow of information from such a person and if that person finds out now that the person they were dealing and they thought was an arms buyer is actually a CIA officer that information flow may stop. So, the flow of information could be cut off and lives could also be at stake -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very serious investigation indeed. I'm sure they're very nervous and upset about this over at the CIA. David Ensor thanks very much.
Does this intelligence leak have ominous implications for national security or is it just another political hot potato?
Joining us now with some answers from Capitol Hill, Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, he's the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Senator thanks very much. How serious, how big a deal is this?
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: Wolf, we don't know at this point. I think the investigation has to be pursued and from what the attorney general and the president has said it will be but let's watch the facts, see what's uncovered, who did what.
I don't know anything about it other than what I've seen on TV and read but the process should be allowed to work. Some people are trying to get a special counsel involved and so forth but, you know, several years ago the Democrats joined the Republicans in letting the special counsel, Independent Counsel Statute expire because if you look at the history of it, it was not always a good history.
BLITZER: That was -- I was going to interrupt, Senator, and say that was the Independent Counsel Statute which lapsed...
SHELBY: That's right.
BLITZER: ...which expired as you correctly point out in 1999.
SHELBY: That's exactly right.
BLITZER: Senator Lieberman is proposing that to be reinstated. But there is within the current law, within the Justice Department, the attorney general, even the president can ask himself for some sort of special counsel.
SHELBY: They could.
BLITZER: Some sort of independent look at all of this. Right now they're saying the career professionals at Justice, the FBI, Justice, they can do it. Do you think there could be an appearance of a conflict of interest?
SHELBY: Well, I think we've got to give the investigators an opportunity to investigate this incident and see what they have and then if there's conflict and it appears that there's no objectivity that's a different case. Then the attorney general, as you just indicated, can then bring in independent counsel or somebody independent of the Justice Department.
But I believe, Wolf, in any situation like this let the process work. This is a political season and let's don't forget this. There are a lot of people running for president on both sides.
BLITZER: If this were in the Clinton administration this had happened certainly the shoe would be on the other foot. Republicans wouldn't think that Janet Reno's as attorney general, her Justice Department could do an impartial look, would they?
SHELBY: I'm not sure about that, Wolf. From the beginning, if you look back in my history I voted against the creation of the independent counsel a long time ago I know on one or more occasions because I've looked at what they've done as independent counsel.
Sometimes the independent counsel they go wild. They've got unusual powers and we know this. I think, again, let's give this -- the Justice Department an opportunity to do their job and see what happens.
BLITZER: One final question before I let you go, Senator, worst case scenario. A lot of Americans don't understand the whole nature of clandestine operations, sources and methods, how the U.S. goes about working with covert agents to try to get this kind of information necessary for national security. What's your worst fear right now?
SHELBY: Well, my worst fear in this situation that perhaps this agent has been compromised the identity and then if you compromise the agent you could compromise sources that she's dealt with over time. I don't know that but, you know, that is a scenario that we're all concerned with.
BLITZER: A deeply concerning development, potentially at least. Senator Richard Shelby, the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee thanks, as usual, for joining us.
SHELBY: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. "Who should probe the leak of the CIA operative's name, the Justice Department, a special counsel, no probe is needed?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
You can vote right now. Go to cnn.com/wolf. While you're there I'd love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
For British Prime Minister Tony Blair a day of reckoning as he stood before his restless Labour Party under fire at home and abroad for supporting the war in Iraq. The prime minister came out punching in a speech some said could determine his political future.
CNN's Senior European Political Correspondent Robin Oakley caught the fireworks and he's joining us now live -- Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this was the tenth occasion on which Tony Blair had faced his party conference as their leader and it was supposed to be the trickiest yet.
Mr. Blair's been taking a hammering in the opinion polls. Ex- ministers have been calling for him to go. Only the day before, his Finance Minister Gordon Brown had held out an alternative vision to the party based on traditional socialist labor values but in the end, the critics, both in the media and in his party were proved wrong. A sober and serious speech from Mr. Blair proved a qualified triumph.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OAKLEY (voice-over): The obituary writers can stow their laptops.
BLAIR: I can only go one way. I'm not going to reverse here.
OAKLEY: A seven-minute ovation at the Labour Party conference confirms that predictions of Tony Blair's coming political end were premature. Despite a controversial war, a battle with the BBC, and plunging polls he is, he admitted, older, tougher and battered but he's going on.
BLAIR: I believe the British people will forgive a government mistakes and they'll put the media onslaught in more perspective than sometimes we think. But what they won't forgive is cowardice in the face of a challenge.
OAKLEY: Mr. Blair admitted Iraq had divided his party.
BLAIR: I know many people are disappointed and hurt and angry. I know many believe profoundly that the action that we took was wrong and I do not at all disrespect anyone who disagrees with me. I just ask one thing. Attack my decision but at least understand why I took it.
OAKLEY: Terrorist fanaticism, he insisted, had to be confronted. BLAIR: And if it is the threat of the 21st century, Britain should be in there confronting it not because we are America's poodle but because dealing with it will make Britain safer.
OAKLEY: That didn't please the left.
JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: The vast majority of the party which he recognized were against the war, are against the war and against what he's doing but he's saying well, I'm sorry. I'm leader. I'm prime minister. I'm doing it. Well, that's not really good enough in a democratic organization.
OAKLEY: The reformist Mr. Blair told his party that modernizing wasn't selling out and reminded them it had made him the first Labour leader in 100 years to be six years in office with more to come. Enough said one regular critic to cool the criticism.
ROY HATTERSLEY, FORMER DEPUTY, LABOUR LEADER: I think he may have calmed the party. I think the party liked the speech at least the party on the whole liked the speech.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OAKLEY: Not everybody cheered and the opinion polls still look bleak but Mr. Blair lives to fight another day even if he had to promise a lot more consultation in future -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Robin Oakley reporting on the prime minister's developments today. Thanks very much, Robin, for that report.
And a new company with a eye on potentially lucrative business deals in Iraq is made up of businessmen and women with close ties to President Bush's family and his administration.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today criticized the connections between New Bridge strategies and Mr. Bush. Edwards is calling for an independent oversight board to make sure that Iraq construction money is handed out fairly.
The consulting firm is headed by Joe Allbaugh, Mr. Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA until he stepped down in March.
New Bridge President John Howland tells the "New York Times" the company has no plans to seek any U.S. government contracts itself but might be a middleman for others seeking taxpayer financed business. President Bush is seeking congressional approval for $20 billion in additional funds to rebuild Iraq.
Have al Qaeda agents penetrated the U.S. military? The Pentagon's urgent investigation of alleged espionage has taken a new turn with the arrest of a civilian. Let's go live to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this man Ahmed Mahaba (ph) made an initial appearance in Boston court today. He was held over until October 8, this after he was arrested at Boston's Logan Airport yesterday for allegedly carrying classified material into the country, material about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He was returning to the United States from Egypt.
Now, he is a civilian translator, as you said, but now a third man under arrest for potential espionage at Guantanamo Bay and this entire probe is raising new questions about just how secure is one of the U.S. military's most secure facilities?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): This third arrest caught military officials by surprise adding to Pentagon worries of a major security breach inside the prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
So far, no evidence connects the civilian translator Ahmed Mahaba to either Ahmed al-Halabi, the senior airman facing charges of espionage and aiding the enemy, or Islamic Army Chaplain Captain James Yee, who is also under arrest but not charged. Two other military members remain under scrutiny, sources say. One counterterrorism expert says it's not all likely to be a coincidence.
MATTHEW LEVITT, FORMER FBI ANALYST: When you're talking about gaining access to so secure a location in an atmosphere, in an environment of national security post 9/11, I find it very unlikely that it was possible that there were three disparate penetrations of Guantanamo.
STARR: The investigation is now trying to answer these critical questions. Is there an espionage conspiracy? Were all suspects working independently? Did the suspects who have Arab and Muslim backgrounds develop sympathies towards the detainees? Or, are the suspects innocent?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But, Wolf, at minimum it appears tonight there are or have been serious security breaches at Guantanamo Bay -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Disturbing developments on this front as well. Thanks, Barbara, very much for that report.
Betraying a community's trust...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ooh, I'm a little frightened for kids. You don't know who to trust anymore, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Authorities searching for a soccer coach accused of secretly videotaping young girls undressing.
And the cost of congestion, why your long commute could be hazardous to your health.
And, not your ordinary book club. On the road with the First Lady Laura Bush promoting her true passion in Moscow, our Soledad O'Brien is standing by for that.
First, though, our News Quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Which first lady was the first to travel overseas on her own, Pat Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton," the answer coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Think your commute is bad? The annual urban mobility report is out measuring the average time lost in traffic in 75 U.S. cities. Get this, Los Angeles leads the top ten with an average 22 minutes a day spent in traffic. It's followed by San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia and New York City.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now takes a look at what all that stress can do to you and how you can fight it back.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, those long commutes aren't just annoying they can actually make you sick.
Let's take a look at some of the adverse health effects of having long commutes; first of all increased blood pressure if you have a long or a difficult commute with lots of traffic, lower job satisfaction, higher illness rates, higher absenteeism, and poor performance. Also, people who have difficult commutes tend to be in bad moods more often and also tend to have more family problems.
So, what can you do about this? Well we have some tips for making commutes less stressful. First of all, you can listen to music. You can also car pool and use public transportation. You can use alternate routes and see if one perhaps is shorter, and you can alter your commute time even if you alter it by just 15 minutes, leaving 15 minutes earlier or later. Sometimes that can really help.
Also, try to see if you can find a route that's more scenic. One study has shown that people who drive by strip malls and other things that aren't quite as attractive they're more stressed out than people who drive by golf courses and lots of trees -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Elizabeth Cohen with that important information. Thanks very much, Elizabeth.
Today is the deadline for the Transportation Security Administration to reduce the ranks of airport screeners by another 3,000 positions. The Bush administration calls the move rightsizing and maintains it will neither jeopardize security nor inconvenience travelers.
A TSA statement says that: "The rightsizing effort, which started in March, has reduced 3,000 positions from the TSA roles reaching the halfway mark in the effort to trim 6,000 positions by September 30."
Today the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, Peter Goelz, spoke to CNN about the ramifications of the cuts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB: I don't think we can say we're going to be less safe but clearly TSA is under a budgetary crunch. They're cutting back. By the end of next year they'll be down to 45,000 full time employees. When they say they're rightsizing it, that's really kind of half the answer.
They do need more part-time employees. They're hiring part-time employees at Los Angeles Airport because they have a crunch at certain times of the day that full-time employees just can't meet.
The thing I'm most concerned about is the cutback in money that's spent on researching the next generation of detection equipment. These checkpoints are running off of ten-year-old equipment. We need the next generation that reduces human error.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Last week, TSA Chief James Loy said it's still possible for someone to sneak a blade like a box cutter onto a commercial plane but he said the agency is focusing on developing better screening technology to prevent that from happening.
CIA operative outed, now Senate Democrats are pushing for a special counsel to investigate. We'll be live on Capitol Hill.
Abandoning the recall race, is Arianna Huffington leaving the campaign trail?
And, Californians racing to buy a new car by midnight find out why the talk of new wheels has increased the talk of a new governor. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: California's historic recall election is now just one week away and the long list of candidates may soon get a little bit shorter.
Our National Correspondent Bob Franken is joining us now with details from L.A. -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, Wolf, what's so interesting about this campaign is as much as it changes and the changes are sometimes radical, fundamental messages stay the same. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): Governor Gray Davis is trying to do everything he can to prevent the reports that his campaign is being overrun by Arnold Schwarzenegger from becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Now, Mr. Schwarzenegger wants you to throw me out because of past problems.
FRANKEN: But Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign to throw Davis out and replace him seems to have gotten traction. The latest CNN/USA Today Gallup poll shows Davis losing badly and Schwarzenegger winning handily.
All eyes will be on the "Los Angeles Times" which is releasing a new poll tomorrow. For obvious reasons, everyone involved will be intensely interested in gauging whether it tracks the weekend poll or whether it backs up the contention by the Davis camp that it's really much closer than that.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (I), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It's completely hypocritical of Arnold.
FRANKEN: Whatever the poll, Arianna Huffington is clearly not in the competition. Friends and advisers tell CNN she is deciding when to drop out, whether to drop out, or where her support will go if she does drop out. She plans to announce her intentions on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And there are still plenty of candidates left so one thing is for sure, Wolf, anybody who wants to watch television in California this week will be seeing a barrage of political ads -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Bob Franken, with that.
And, as Bob just reported for the latest on the recall news be sure to watch "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. Among his guests the candidate Arianna Huffington. She'll be talking, announcing the future of her own campaign. That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific only, of course here on CNN.
A couple of car issues are adding fuel to the recall fire. Governor Gray Davis has been criticized for signing a bill that lets illegal immigrants get driver's licenses and California's car tax triples tomorrow.
Both have been a rallying cry among Davis' opponents but the car tax increase was triggered by the state's budget deficit and largely, as many observers say, was largely beyond Davis' own control. And while the increase is sizable it only brings the tax back to the levels of the late '90s yet it's still very, very controversial.
CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley is joining us now live from Van Nuys with more on this sensitive subject.
California and cars, a very sensitive subject, indeed.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Wolf. We're car crazy out here.
And this is really tough political timing for Gray Davis to have to understand that the many people are going to showrooms today to purchase cars, knowing that today is the last day to buy a car before the license fee triples.
And I want to show you here at Galpin Motors, a Ford dealership here in Los Angeles -- they're actually using this in their marketing to show people how much their license fees are going to go up. On a Ford, for examples, if it's $25,000, their current license fee is $207. Tomorrow it's going up to $543.
Wolf, you seem like sort of a Jaguar kind of a guy -- $79,000 car. It's $564 if you buy it today. Tomorrow the license fee goes up to $1,643. Not the kind of check that Gray Davis wants taxpayers to be paying right before a recall election.
A couple of the people who will be voting in the recall election are joining me here. We have Sidney Haider and Brian Jeffrey.
Sydney, you work here. First tell me, what's the sense that you're getting from people buying cars about this and how this will affect their vote?
SIDNEY HAIDER, CAR DEALER: Well, I think that this is political suicide because most people in California have at least one car. Some of them have more than one -- two, three cars. And this affects everything. This affects their recreational vehicles, anybody has motorcycles. And average trade-in cycle in California is about 30 months. So people buying new cars every three years or two years, this is going to affect them a lot. So at this point, yes, we're having a huge surge of customers because of this license fee.
BUCKLEY: All right. And Brian, you -- you're a small business owner. And you were saying you have over 30 vehicle that will be affected by this. You were saying you're also a Republican. So I would imagine you were voting for the recall to begin with?
BRIAN JEFFREY, CUSTOMER: Yes, I'd be voting for the recall.
Altogether, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about 30 vehicle registration fees to my name. I'm a small business owner. I have approximately nine business trucks. We've been go -- considering upsizing our fleet a little bit. And the decision with this has got me down here today to purchase a truck that -- I called Sid last night and we're working on a deal right now to hopefully close out a truck or two and, you know, save $1,100 for my business.
BUCKLEY: OK. Well, thank you both very much.
Just a snapshot here of just two voters, two Republicans as well. Clearly, something that is going to be in the minds of voters just a week from now on this recall election.
But as you correctly stated, Wolf, this is something that Governor Davis has said was triggered by a '98 law. Because the budget went into the deficit, it had to go into effect, this tripling of the fee. And it was a tough choice. He said he doesn't particularly favor this fee either. But he really had to put it into place to try to help balance the budget -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Bad political timing for the governor. Thanks very much, Frank Buckley, for that report.
A community stunned after a soccer coach is accused of secretly taping young girl players undressing.
And on tour with the first lady, Laura Bush, as she takes her love of literature to an international audience. We'll go to Moscow for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The furor over one journalist's column. One prominent mediawatcher said columnist Robert Novak was in dangerous territory by printing the name of a CIA officer. Just ahead, I'll speak live with Novak's editor at "The Chicago Sun Times," who defends the decision to run the column.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on our top story. The Justice Department is investigating the leak which blew the cover of a CIA operative. Democrats are demanding an independent probe, while Republicans say there's no cover-up going on.
For the political fallout, let's go live to our Congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl. He's joining us from Capitol Hill -- Jon.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Democrats are in no way satisfied with the Justice Department's announcement that a criminal probe has been launched. They say John Ashcroft is simply not the man that should be heading up a probe like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: What is a certain frivolity with which this issue is being treated by the White House that I find of concern. And that is why I believe that a counsel, independent of the administration, is the way to go to investigate this, so we remove all doubt as to whether we understand the seriousness of who was done.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KARL: In a sign of just how eager Democrats are to keep this controversy front and center, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife was the CIA operative who was named, leaked out of the White House allegedly, will be up here on Capitol Hill tomorrow addressing House Democrats. After a meeting with House Democrats, they will hold a joint press conference. Democrats trying to keep this matter front and center.
Meanwhile, Republicans are saying that this just proves that this is really all about politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED GILLESPIE, CHAIRMAN, RNC: This is a serious matter. And that's why I think it's appropriate that the Department Justice look into it.
And, you know, these are people with guns who are going to examine this. And I suspect that if they find wrongdoing here, and they're only allegations at point, that whoever committed any wrongdoing is going to find themselves in some serious situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: Now, as for the calls for a special prosecutor to be named, Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked about that today by reporters. Did not respond. But Justice Department officials say they have not ruled out appointing a special prosecutor to look into this matter -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill with that.
As we mentioned, the journalist at the center of this firestorm is our own Robert Novak, the co-host of "CROSSFIRE," a CNN contributor. He's a syndicated columnist, of course, for "The Chicago Sun Times." Novak broke the story with the name of the CIA operative back in his "Sun-Times" column way back in July. Today, Howard Kurtz of "The Washington Post" and the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" spoke to me about all this, and he took a strong issue with Novak's decision to go with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S "RELIABLE SOURCES": Bob Novak is a great shoe leather reporter, Wolf, but I think he clearly allowed himself to be used. by the Bush administration in this instance
Whether he made the call or received the call is not relevant. What is relevant is that, by his own account, two senior administration officials passed this information to him. And I can't understand why he published it, because what was the great newsworthy value? Novak has spoken with me only briefly. He said he thought it was newsworthy. But to take a step like this to out somebody associated with the CIA when it's clear that the motives of those providing the information were to get even with her husband, who is an outspoken critic of Iraq policy, is hard for me to understand what the argument is on the other side, why this information was so important that it needed to be published.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Joining us now with his take on the story, Steve Huntley. He's the editorial page editor for "The Chicago Sun-Times."
Steve, thanks for joining us. Why was it so necessary to publish her name?
STEVE HUNTLEY, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, I disagree with most of what I just heard.
Let me say this. What Bob went out to do was find to out why Ambassador Wilson had been chosen -- Ambassador Wilson, an opponent of George Bush, had been chosen to make this trip to Africa and do the investigation. And during the course of that, nobody volunteered this information to him. He was interviewing people. And one of them then said -- when -- in direct response to Bob's question, "How did this man get appointed, get this job?" The man responded. Bob confirmed it with another source. He called the CIA -- two people at the CIA. Nobody at the CIA suggested there was any hint of a danger to either this man's wife or anybody else in the CIA. If it had, he wouldn't have done it.
BLITZER: But they did ask him, by his own account, not to publish the name.
HUNTLEY: You've been around enough and covered Washington enough to know that as much as people come to you to publish stuff, almost an equal number of people are out to get you to not publish or broadcast something.
BLITZER: But the question is, why was it necessary to publish her name when you know the sensitivity of CIA agents and their names being published?
HUNTLEY: The question was how was he got in this -- how did he get this job? And he got it from somebody, apparently, recommending the CIA. That person was his wife.
BLITZER: I'm not -- I'm not questioning that point. The only thing I'm questioning is, what would have been the harm if he would have written everything in that story, simply not naming her?
HUNTLEY: How would the naming -- identifying her as his wife?
BLITZER: Just saying -- just saying that his wife, without mentioning her name. Nobody would have known her maiden name since it's a different than Joe Wilson's.
HUNTLEY: I'm told her name is in the "Who's Who in America." So the name is readily available.
I mean, the point here -- let's keep -- Bob Novak is one of the best reporters in this country. I have worked with him for 10 years. I trust his accuracy, the soundness of his judgment and his commitment to the ethics of our profession. What he does and what he does better than anybody else is get the story behind the story.
And back in July, there -- this man, Ambassador Wilson, had come forward and identified himself as the author of this report questioning the intelligence. And he then was critical of Bush's policy.
BLITZER: your counterpart -- your counterpart at "The Washington Post," Fred Hyatt, The op-ed page editor, now says, at least he told Howard Kurtz, that he regrets he didn't question more the publishing of this woman's name before it went into "The Washington Post." Looking back, was it a mistake for you and Bob Novak, for "The Sun- Times," "The Washington Post" to go ahead and publish the name?
HUNTLEY: No. Our job, my job, your job, Bob Novak's job, is to report the news, not to slam the door on it.
BLITZER: So you don't have any regrets about that at all, even knowing as you do know now, that she was a clandestine operative and that her life and other lives potentially could have been endangered by releasing that information?
HUNTLEY: We don't know any of that. Like I said, two CIA....
BLITZER: I said potentially. I said potentially.
HUNTLEY: That's hypothetical. I mean, we don't know that's the -- Bob was told. Nobody brought up the question of anybody's safety. If they had, and his subsequent reporting indicates that she's not a covert agent, but rather she's some of analysis -- an analyst, which is what I assumed when I read it.
BLITZER: Well, I think you did probably assume that at the time, and I'm sure he did as well, although we have subsequently reported here on CNN, our David Ensor, that while she does analysis, her earlier part of her career was long-established in clandestine covert operations. So she does have a history in espionage. That's why this is being referred by the CIA to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation.
But we have to leave it right there. Steve Huntley, we're all smarter with hindsight than we are at the time.
And just a personal note. No one is questioning your motivations of Bob Novak's. All of us who know Bob Novak know he's one of the best reporters in the business and has been for nearly have a century.
Thanks very much for that analysis, Steve Huntley of "The Chicago Sun-Times."
Coach accused. Officials are searching for a man charged now with secretly videotaping girls undressing. Find out how you can protect your children involved in youth sports all across the country.
And this -- chaos in court. We'll tell you how the judge restored order.
But, first, let's look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Belgium's biggest terror trial ever is over. 18 Islamic militants were convicted of plotting attacks and recruiting fighters for al Qaeda and the Taliban. Sentences range from two to 10 years.
Air France has agreed to buy Dutch rival KLM in a 900 million dollar deal. The airlines will keep their separate identities. But the combined operation will make it the world's third largest airline.
A royal wedding that almost wasn't. The 12-year-old daughter of Romania self proclaimed gypsy king fled the ceremony. She was quickly brought back and married to a 15-year-old against her will. Child marriages are common in Romania gypsy community.
A British man has become the first balloonist man to cross the Atlantic in a wicker basket. It took him 84 hours. And the successful mission follows two failed attempts.
And something new looming over London's Picadilly Circuit. This Coca-Cola billboard is among the worlds most sophisticated and at almost 100 feet wide, one of the largest. And that's our look "Around the World."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Yet another disturbing case involving children, this one in Virginia. Fairfax County Police are searching for a local soccer coach accused of secretly videotaping his girls on his team in various states of undress. According to search warrants out there, 61-year-old Robert Shipler used cameras in his house while they were using bathroom or showers facilities. Shipler's own daughter was on the team. Police were tipped off by police in Pennsylvania who received complaints that Shipler allegedly videotaped children at a nudist community. Shipler is wanted on three counts of production of child pornography.
A soccer mom in Fairfax County says she doesn't know whom she can trust in the wake of this case.
Joining us to talk about this and how parents might protect their children who are on youth sports teams, our own Mike Brooks joining us from the CNN center in Atlanta.
How can parents protect their young kids from this kind of situation -- Mike.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, first of all, I want to add that Shipler has been arrested by Fairfax County Police and charged with production of child pornography. Investigators say he can face up to 28 charges on this. This is a class 5 felony. Now, how can people know who they're dealing with, coaches, volunteers these things in dealing with sports leagues?
There are many jurisdictions now that are requiring finger print or background investigations of both coaches and volunteers who are dealing with minors. The girls who were involved on this team, it is a traveling soccer team, it was not part of the Fairfax County Department of Recreation. It was a traveling team, an independent team. So there were no background checks as far as Fairfax County police had told me. But people should insist on this. And also, try to find out if this coach is part of any kind of coach's league, a football, soccer, baseball coach. These are things that they should look for.
There is a brochure that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children puts out called "Know the Rules." It is an excellent brochure that talks about what parents can do. It includes fingerprint, criminal history checks, both state and federal. It talks about adults who supervise overnight sleepovers on trips dealing with sports teams, how children should act, and how -- what kind of adult supervision they should have in locker rooms, who should be present. All these kind of things, Wolf, that can help parents know exactly who these volunteers and coaches are that are around their young children -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN law enforcement correspondent Mike Brooks. Mike, thanks for that very useful information. Appreciate it very much.
And a violent scene in a Michigan courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are a sick person. You are sick to think that you have a right to run around with a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what? Shut the hell up. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A man convicted of shooting two police officers and a motorist during a crime spree tried to attack the mother of one of his victims as she spoke at the sentencing hearing. The incident happened yesterday in Detroit. The defendant, excuse me, was sentenced to 79 to 142 years in prison.
Study abroad. The first lady brings her love of reading to Russia. Our Soledad O'Brien is traveling with Laura Bush. She'll have a report from Moscow. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked -- which first lady was the first to travel overseas on her own? The answer, Eleanor Roosevelt. She visited wounded American service members in England, the Caribbean and the South Pacific during World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Moving from Paris to Moscow, the first lady, Laura Bush, continues her five-day solo trip to Europe. After arriving today in Russia's capital, Mrs. Bush turned her focus to books and a festival organized by the wife of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. CNN's Soledad O'Brien is traveling with the first lady.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Mrs. Bush is truly right at home when the topic is education or children. In this case, it's both. She made her way directly to the Kremlin, once she arrived in Moscow from Paris.
First lady Laura Bush joined the first lady of Russia, Ludmila Putina, and her other invited guests, the first lady of Armenia and the first lady of Bulgaria for a tour of some historic Russian artifacts, before the meeting got under way.
The private residence of the Russian president held a small part of the book collection of the Russian National Library. Some of the items, which go on display on October 2, the diary of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Russian czar, and the first printed Russian newspaper from the 1700s.
In organizing the roundtable, Mrs. Putin said she wanted it to be informal, and a dialogue, with a focus on the family and education, themes of Wednesday's book festival. Mrs. Putin said all the nations represented shared a common interest, and frankly dilemma of getting children to read and to motivate them to turn off the TV or the computer. Clearly a problem in Russia and Armenia and Bulgaria, and as Mrs. Bush pointed out, a problem in the U.S. as well.
Mrs. Bush carried with her five books, five that she said represented best the values of American society. They included "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss and also "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Mrs. Bush will bring some American authors with her at the festival on Wednesday.
Soledad O'Brien, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Soledad.
Who should probe the leak of the CIA operative's name? You can vote right now, go to CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Those are the results of our unscientific Web question of the day. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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Laura Bush Visits Moscow>
Aired September 30, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, Democrats smell blood and they're pouncing. At issue the disclosure of the name of the CIA operative but where is this story going and how much damage was done? Former Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Shelby will join us live.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Who exposed a CIA operative? Government investigators are on the case.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The prosecutors and agents who are and will be handling this investigation are career professionals.
BLITZER: Democrats say that's not good enough.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: That the chips will fall where they may in this dastardly crime and that's what it is will be exposed.
BLITZER: His job's on the line but Tony Blair is still lining up with the U.S. in the war on terrorism.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Not because we are America's poodle but because dealing with it will make Britain safer.
BLITZER: Guantanamo Bay investigation, another arrest, another translator but this time a new twist.
Bumper-to-bumper, new research shows you're spending more and more of your life stuck in traffic. What's that doing to your health?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Tuesday, September 30, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
We begin with the leak that blew the cover of a CIA operative. Speaking out for the first time today, President Bush says he welcomes the investigation but Democrats are speaking out as well and they want something more.
Let's go live to our Senior White House Correspondent John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was late last night when the White House was told by the Justice Department that the preliminary inquiry had given way to a full blown criminal investigation that will, of course, focus on the president's inner circle. Did someone on the senior staff here at the White House break the law and out, if you will, Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, a CIA operative?
The president was on the road today raising money in Chicago. He's raising more money in Cincinnati tonight. One of his jobs try to project an image of calm, although in doing so today the president also rejected Democratic calls for a special prosecutor. He thinks the Justice Department is the right agency to handle this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the Executive Branch. There's leaks in the Legislative Branch.
There's just too many leaks and if there's a leak out of my administration I want to know who it is and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of and so I welcome the investigation. I'm absolutely confident the Justice Department will do a very good job.
There's a special division of career Justice Department officials who are tasked with doing this kind of work. They have done this kind of work before in Washington this year.
I have told our administration, people in my administration, to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth. If anybody's got any information inside our administration or outside our administration it will be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Career Justice Department prosecutors, the president says, handling the investigation. They, of course, report to the Attorney General John Ashcroft, a Bush appointee.
Mr. Ashcroft today told reporters he could not answer any questions about this because it is a pending criminal investigation but he did read a statement in which he defended the impartiality and the fairness of the team looking into this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The prosecutors and agents who are and will be handling this investigation are career professionals with extensive experience in handling matters involving sensitive national security information and with experience relating to investigations of unauthorized disclosures of such information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That explanation not good enough for the Democrats. They have been on the floor of the House and the Senate, news conferences on Capitol Hill all day long saying John Ashcroft has a conflict of interest because he was appointed by President Bush, among those leading the Democratic charge, the Democratic leader in the Senate Tom Daschle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: The conflicts that would exist in the Justice Department are obvious. John Ashcroft won't even go after Ken Lay. How will he possibly go after somebody who appointed him as attorney general?
So, I think that there is a real concern about objectivity, about the degree to which they're willing to pursue this and I think that that's the concern expressed by all of my colleagues in various ways over the last couple of days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, for now this investigation led by the Attorney General John Ashcroft, a senior Justice Department official did tell reporters today that the door is not closed on a special counsel, a special prosecutor down the road but, for now, the decision is to let career prosecutors and FBI agents look into this allegation.
It has sent a bit of a chill over the White House, Wolf. Everyone who works here received a memo from presidential counsel Alberto Gonzales this morning telling them the investigation was underway, telling them the president expected their full cooperation and telling them not to destroy any records, e-mail logs, phone logs, any records at all that might be relevant to his criminal investigation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It seems this story, John, clearly has, as they say in our business, legs. John King at the White House thanks very much.
It's not often that a CIA operative is outed, if you will. How serious, though, is this leak? Has it caused real damage to U.S. intelligence?
For that let's turn to our National Security Correspondent David Ensor. David, what's the answer?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, CIA officials, you won't be surprised to hear, are not talking about this specifically. Clearly, there's been a damage assessment done. They're not discussing what its findings are.
But, first of all, let's make clear that this -- contrary to some other reports elsewhere this individual, Mrs. Wilson, is a covert officer in the CIA. She spent, she's had a career, much of which has been spent as a field officer overseas. She would have been in a position to collect intelligence.
As one official put it if she were only an analyst, not an operative, we would not have filed a crimes report and that they did and that is what's led to this Justice Department investigation.
Now, if you're a CIA field officer, as she has been in the past, what you do is you go and try to collect secrets. You may, for example, pose as an arms buyer in order to get arms dealers to tell you what's available on the market.
You may try to open up a flow of information from such a person and if that person finds out now that the person they were dealing and they thought was an arms buyer is actually a CIA officer that information flow may stop. So, the flow of information could be cut off and lives could also be at stake -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very serious investigation indeed. I'm sure they're very nervous and upset about this over at the CIA. David Ensor thanks very much.
Does this intelligence leak have ominous implications for national security or is it just another political hot potato?
Joining us now with some answers from Capitol Hill, Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, he's the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Senator thanks very much. How serious, how big a deal is this?
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: Wolf, we don't know at this point. I think the investigation has to be pursued and from what the attorney general and the president has said it will be but let's watch the facts, see what's uncovered, who did what.
I don't know anything about it other than what I've seen on TV and read but the process should be allowed to work. Some people are trying to get a special counsel involved and so forth but, you know, several years ago the Democrats joined the Republicans in letting the special counsel, Independent Counsel Statute expire because if you look at the history of it, it was not always a good history.
BLITZER: That was -- I was going to interrupt, Senator, and say that was the Independent Counsel Statute which lapsed...
SHELBY: That's right.
BLITZER: ...which expired as you correctly point out in 1999.
SHELBY: That's exactly right.
BLITZER: Senator Lieberman is proposing that to be reinstated. But there is within the current law, within the Justice Department, the attorney general, even the president can ask himself for some sort of special counsel.
SHELBY: They could.
BLITZER: Some sort of independent look at all of this. Right now they're saying the career professionals at Justice, the FBI, Justice, they can do it. Do you think there could be an appearance of a conflict of interest?
SHELBY: Well, I think we've got to give the investigators an opportunity to investigate this incident and see what they have and then if there's conflict and it appears that there's no objectivity that's a different case. Then the attorney general, as you just indicated, can then bring in independent counsel or somebody independent of the Justice Department.
But I believe, Wolf, in any situation like this let the process work. This is a political season and let's don't forget this. There are a lot of people running for president on both sides.
BLITZER: If this were in the Clinton administration this had happened certainly the shoe would be on the other foot. Republicans wouldn't think that Janet Reno's as attorney general, her Justice Department could do an impartial look, would they?
SHELBY: I'm not sure about that, Wolf. From the beginning, if you look back in my history I voted against the creation of the independent counsel a long time ago I know on one or more occasions because I've looked at what they've done as independent counsel.
Sometimes the independent counsel they go wild. They've got unusual powers and we know this. I think, again, let's give this -- the Justice Department an opportunity to do their job and see what happens.
BLITZER: One final question before I let you go, Senator, worst case scenario. A lot of Americans don't understand the whole nature of clandestine operations, sources and methods, how the U.S. goes about working with covert agents to try to get this kind of information necessary for national security. What's your worst fear right now?
SHELBY: Well, my worst fear in this situation that perhaps this agent has been compromised the identity and then if you compromise the agent you could compromise sources that she's dealt with over time. I don't know that but, you know, that is a scenario that we're all concerned with.
BLITZER: A deeply concerning development, potentially at least. Senator Richard Shelby, the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee thanks, as usual, for joining us.
SHELBY: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. "Who should probe the leak of the CIA operative's name, the Justice Department, a special counsel, no probe is needed?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
You can vote right now. Go to cnn.com/wolf. While you're there I'd love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
For British Prime Minister Tony Blair a day of reckoning as he stood before his restless Labour Party under fire at home and abroad for supporting the war in Iraq. The prime minister came out punching in a speech some said could determine his political future.
CNN's Senior European Political Correspondent Robin Oakley caught the fireworks and he's joining us now live -- Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this was the tenth occasion on which Tony Blair had faced his party conference as their leader and it was supposed to be the trickiest yet.
Mr. Blair's been taking a hammering in the opinion polls. Ex- ministers have been calling for him to go. Only the day before, his Finance Minister Gordon Brown had held out an alternative vision to the party based on traditional socialist labor values but in the end, the critics, both in the media and in his party were proved wrong. A sober and serious speech from Mr. Blair proved a qualified triumph.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OAKLEY (voice-over): The obituary writers can stow their laptops.
BLAIR: I can only go one way. I'm not going to reverse here.
OAKLEY: A seven-minute ovation at the Labour Party conference confirms that predictions of Tony Blair's coming political end were premature. Despite a controversial war, a battle with the BBC, and plunging polls he is, he admitted, older, tougher and battered but he's going on.
BLAIR: I believe the British people will forgive a government mistakes and they'll put the media onslaught in more perspective than sometimes we think. But what they won't forgive is cowardice in the face of a challenge.
OAKLEY: Mr. Blair admitted Iraq had divided his party.
BLAIR: I know many people are disappointed and hurt and angry. I know many believe profoundly that the action that we took was wrong and I do not at all disrespect anyone who disagrees with me. I just ask one thing. Attack my decision but at least understand why I took it.
OAKLEY: Terrorist fanaticism, he insisted, had to be confronted. BLAIR: And if it is the threat of the 21st century, Britain should be in there confronting it not because we are America's poodle but because dealing with it will make Britain safer.
OAKLEY: That didn't please the left.
JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: The vast majority of the party which he recognized were against the war, are against the war and against what he's doing but he's saying well, I'm sorry. I'm leader. I'm prime minister. I'm doing it. Well, that's not really good enough in a democratic organization.
OAKLEY: The reformist Mr. Blair told his party that modernizing wasn't selling out and reminded them it had made him the first Labour leader in 100 years to be six years in office with more to come. Enough said one regular critic to cool the criticism.
ROY HATTERSLEY, FORMER DEPUTY, LABOUR LEADER: I think he may have calmed the party. I think the party liked the speech at least the party on the whole liked the speech.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OAKLEY: Not everybody cheered and the opinion polls still look bleak but Mr. Blair lives to fight another day even if he had to promise a lot more consultation in future -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Robin Oakley reporting on the prime minister's developments today. Thanks very much, Robin, for that report.
And a new company with a eye on potentially lucrative business deals in Iraq is made up of businessmen and women with close ties to President Bush's family and his administration.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today criticized the connections between New Bridge strategies and Mr. Bush. Edwards is calling for an independent oversight board to make sure that Iraq construction money is handed out fairly.
The consulting firm is headed by Joe Allbaugh, Mr. Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA until he stepped down in March.
New Bridge President John Howland tells the "New York Times" the company has no plans to seek any U.S. government contracts itself but might be a middleman for others seeking taxpayer financed business. President Bush is seeking congressional approval for $20 billion in additional funds to rebuild Iraq.
Have al Qaeda agents penetrated the U.S. military? The Pentagon's urgent investigation of alleged espionage has taken a new turn with the arrest of a civilian. Let's go live to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this man Ahmed Mahaba (ph) made an initial appearance in Boston court today. He was held over until October 8, this after he was arrested at Boston's Logan Airport yesterday for allegedly carrying classified material into the country, material about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He was returning to the United States from Egypt.
Now, he is a civilian translator, as you said, but now a third man under arrest for potential espionage at Guantanamo Bay and this entire probe is raising new questions about just how secure is one of the U.S. military's most secure facilities?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): This third arrest caught military officials by surprise adding to Pentagon worries of a major security breach inside the prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
So far, no evidence connects the civilian translator Ahmed Mahaba to either Ahmed al-Halabi, the senior airman facing charges of espionage and aiding the enemy, or Islamic Army Chaplain Captain James Yee, who is also under arrest but not charged. Two other military members remain under scrutiny, sources say. One counterterrorism expert says it's not all likely to be a coincidence.
MATTHEW LEVITT, FORMER FBI ANALYST: When you're talking about gaining access to so secure a location in an atmosphere, in an environment of national security post 9/11, I find it very unlikely that it was possible that there were three disparate penetrations of Guantanamo.
STARR: The investigation is now trying to answer these critical questions. Is there an espionage conspiracy? Were all suspects working independently? Did the suspects who have Arab and Muslim backgrounds develop sympathies towards the detainees? Or, are the suspects innocent?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But, Wolf, at minimum it appears tonight there are or have been serious security breaches at Guantanamo Bay -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Disturbing developments on this front as well. Thanks, Barbara, very much for that report.
Betraying a community's trust...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ooh, I'm a little frightened for kids. You don't know who to trust anymore, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Authorities searching for a soccer coach accused of secretly videotaping young girls undressing.
And the cost of congestion, why your long commute could be hazardous to your health.
And, not your ordinary book club. On the road with the First Lady Laura Bush promoting her true passion in Moscow, our Soledad O'Brien is standing by for that.
First, though, our News Quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Which first lady was the first to travel overseas on her own, Pat Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton," the answer coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Think your commute is bad? The annual urban mobility report is out measuring the average time lost in traffic in 75 U.S. cities. Get this, Los Angeles leads the top ten with an average 22 minutes a day spent in traffic. It's followed by San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia and New York City.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now takes a look at what all that stress can do to you and how you can fight it back.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, those long commutes aren't just annoying they can actually make you sick.
Let's take a look at some of the adverse health effects of having long commutes; first of all increased blood pressure if you have a long or a difficult commute with lots of traffic, lower job satisfaction, higher illness rates, higher absenteeism, and poor performance. Also, people who have difficult commutes tend to be in bad moods more often and also tend to have more family problems.
So, what can you do about this? Well we have some tips for making commutes less stressful. First of all, you can listen to music. You can also car pool and use public transportation. You can use alternate routes and see if one perhaps is shorter, and you can alter your commute time even if you alter it by just 15 minutes, leaving 15 minutes earlier or later. Sometimes that can really help.
Also, try to see if you can find a route that's more scenic. One study has shown that people who drive by strip malls and other things that aren't quite as attractive they're more stressed out than people who drive by golf courses and lots of trees -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Elizabeth Cohen with that important information. Thanks very much, Elizabeth.
Today is the deadline for the Transportation Security Administration to reduce the ranks of airport screeners by another 3,000 positions. The Bush administration calls the move rightsizing and maintains it will neither jeopardize security nor inconvenience travelers.
A TSA statement says that: "The rightsizing effort, which started in March, has reduced 3,000 positions from the TSA roles reaching the halfway mark in the effort to trim 6,000 positions by September 30."
Today the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, Peter Goelz, spoke to CNN about the ramifications of the cuts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB: I don't think we can say we're going to be less safe but clearly TSA is under a budgetary crunch. They're cutting back. By the end of next year they'll be down to 45,000 full time employees. When they say they're rightsizing it, that's really kind of half the answer.
They do need more part-time employees. They're hiring part-time employees at Los Angeles Airport because they have a crunch at certain times of the day that full-time employees just can't meet.
The thing I'm most concerned about is the cutback in money that's spent on researching the next generation of detection equipment. These checkpoints are running off of ten-year-old equipment. We need the next generation that reduces human error.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Last week, TSA Chief James Loy said it's still possible for someone to sneak a blade like a box cutter onto a commercial plane but he said the agency is focusing on developing better screening technology to prevent that from happening.
CIA operative outed, now Senate Democrats are pushing for a special counsel to investigate. We'll be live on Capitol Hill.
Abandoning the recall race, is Arianna Huffington leaving the campaign trail?
And, Californians racing to buy a new car by midnight find out why the talk of new wheels has increased the talk of a new governor. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: California's historic recall election is now just one week away and the long list of candidates may soon get a little bit shorter.
Our National Correspondent Bob Franken is joining us now with details from L.A. -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, Wolf, what's so interesting about this campaign is as much as it changes and the changes are sometimes radical, fundamental messages stay the same. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): Governor Gray Davis is trying to do everything he can to prevent the reports that his campaign is being overrun by Arnold Schwarzenegger from becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Now, Mr. Schwarzenegger wants you to throw me out because of past problems.
FRANKEN: But Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign to throw Davis out and replace him seems to have gotten traction. The latest CNN/USA Today Gallup poll shows Davis losing badly and Schwarzenegger winning handily.
All eyes will be on the "Los Angeles Times" which is releasing a new poll tomorrow. For obvious reasons, everyone involved will be intensely interested in gauging whether it tracks the weekend poll or whether it backs up the contention by the Davis camp that it's really much closer than that.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (I), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It's completely hypocritical of Arnold.
FRANKEN: Whatever the poll, Arianna Huffington is clearly not in the competition. Friends and advisers tell CNN she is deciding when to drop out, whether to drop out, or where her support will go if she does drop out. She plans to announce her intentions on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And there are still plenty of candidates left so one thing is for sure, Wolf, anybody who wants to watch television in California this week will be seeing a barrage of political ads -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Bob Franken, with that.
And, as Bob just reported for the latest on the recall news be sure to watch "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. Among his guests the candidate Arianna Huffington. She'll be talking, announcing the future of her own campaign. That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific only, of course here on CNN.
A couple of car issues are adding fuel to the recall fire. Governor Gray Davis has been criticized for signing a bill that lets illegal immigrants get driver's licenses and California's car tax triples tomorrow.
Both have been a rallying cry among Davis' opponents but the car tax increase was triggered by the state's budget deficit and largely, as many observers say, was largely beyond Davis' own control. And while the increase is sizable it only brings the tax back to the levels of the late '90s yet it's still very, very controversial.
CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley is joining us now live from Van Nuys with more on this sensitive subject.
California and cars, a very sensitive subject, indeed.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Wolf. We're car crazy out here.
And this is really tough political timing for Gray Davis to have to understand that the many people are going to showrooms today to purchase cars, knowing that today is the last day to buy a car before the license fee triples.
And I want to show you here at Galpin Motors, a Ford dealership here in Los Angeles -- they're actually using this in their marketing to show people how much their license fees are going to go up. On a Ford, for examples, if it's $25,000, their current license fee is $207. Tomorrow it's going up to $543.
Wolf, you seem like sort of a Jaguar kind of a guy -- $79,000 car. It's $564 if you buy it today. Tomorrow the license fee goes up to $1,643. Not the kind of check that Gray Davis wants taxpayers to be paying right before a recall election.
A couple of the people who will be voting in the recall election are joining me here. We have Sidney Haider and Brian Jeffrey.
Sydney, you work here. First tell me, what's the sense that you're getting from people buying cars about this and how this will affect their vote?
SIDNEY HAIDER, CAR DEALER: Well, I think that this is political suicide because most people in California have at least one car. Some of them have more than one -- two, three cars. And this affects everything. This affects their recreational vehicles, anybody has motorcycles. And average trade-in cycle in California is about 30 months. So people buying new cars every three years or two years, this is going to affect them a lot. So at this point, yes, we're having a huge surge of customers because of this license fee.
BUCKLEY: All right. And Brian, you -- you're a small business owner. And you were saying you have over 30 vehicle that will be affected by this. You were saying you're also a Republican. So I would imagine you were voting for the recall to begin with?
BRIAN JEFFREY, CUSTOMER: Yes, I'd be voting for the recall.
Altogether, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about 30 vehicle registration fees to my name. I'm a small business owner. I have approximately nine business trucks. We've been go -- considering upsizing our fleet a little bit. And the decision with this has got me down here today to purchase a truck that -- I called Sid last night and we're working on a deal right now to hopefully close out a truck or two and, you know, save $1,100 for my business.
BUCKLEY: OK. Well, thank you both very much.
Just a snapshot here of just two voters, two Republicans as well. Clearly, something that is going to be in the minds of voters just a week from now on this recall election.
But as you correctly stated, Wolf, this is something that Governor Davis has said was triggered by a '98 law. Because the budget went into the deficit, it had to go into effect, this tripling of the fee. And it was a tough choice. He said he doesn't particularly favor this fee either. But he really had to put it into place to try to help balance the budget -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Bad political timing for the governor. Thanks very much, Frank Buckley, for that report.
A community stunned after a soccer coach is accused of secretly taping young girl players undressing.
And on tour with the first lady, Laura Bush, as she takes her love of literature to an international audience. We'll go to Moscow for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The furor over one journalist's column. One prominent mediawatcher said columnist Robert Novak was in dangerous territory by printing the name of a CIA officer. Just ahead, I'll speak live with Novak's editor at "The Chicago Sun Times," who defends the decision to run the column.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on our top story. The Justice Department is investigating the leak which blew the cover of a CIA operative. Democrats are demanding an independent probe, while Republicans say there's no cover-up going on.
For the political fallout, let's go live to our Congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl. He's joining us from Capitol Hill -- Jon.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Democrats are in no way satisfied with the Justice Department's announcement that a criminal probe has been launched. They say John Ashcroft is simply not the man that should be heading up a probe like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: What is a certain frivolity with which this issue is being treated by the White House that I find of concern. And that is why I believe that a counsel, independent of the administration, is the way to go to investigate this, so we remove all doubt as to whether we understand the seriousness of who was done.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KARL: In a sign of just how eager Democrats are to keep this controversy front and center, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife was the CIA operative who was named, leaked out of the White House allegedly, will be up here on Capitol Hill tomorrow addressing House Democrats. After a meeting with House Democrats, they will hold a joint press conference. Democrats trying to keep this matter front and center.
Meanwhile, Republicans are saying that this just proves that this is really all about politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED GILLESPIE, CHAIRMAN, RNC: This is a serious matter. And that's why I think it's appropriate that the Department Justice look into it.
And, you know, these are people with guns who are going to examine this. And I suspect that if they find wrongdoing here, and they're only allegations at point, that whoever committed any wrongdoing is going to find themselves in some serious situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: Now, as for the calls for a special prosecutor to be named, Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked about that today by reporters. Did not respond. But Justice Department officials say they have not ruled out appointing a special prosecutor to look into this matter -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill with that.
As we mentioned, the journalist at the center of this firestorm is our own Robert Novak, the co-host of "CROSSFIRE," a CNN contributor. He's a syndicated columnist, of course, for "The Chicago Sun Times." Novak broke the story with the name of the CIA operative back in his "Sun-Times" column way back in July. Today, Howard Kurtz of "The Washington Post" and the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" spoke to me about all this, and he took a strong issue with Novak's decision to go with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S "RELIABLE SOURCES": Bob Novak is a great shoe leather reporter, Wolf, but I think he clearly allowed himself to be used. by the Bush administration in this instance
Whether he made the call or received the call is not relevant. What is relevant is that, by his own account, two senior administration officials passed this information to him. And I can't understand why he published it, because what was the great newsworthy value? Novak has spoken with me only briefly. He said he thought it was newsworthy. But to take a step like this to out somebody associated with the CIA when it's clear that the motives of those providing the information were to get even with her husband, who is an outspoken critic of Iraq policy, is hard for me to understand what the argument is on the other side, why this information was so important that it needed to be published.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Joining us now with his take on the story, Steve Huntley. He's the editorial page editor for "The Chicago Sun-Times."
Steve, thanks for joining us. Why was it so necessary to publish her name?
STEVE HUNTLEY, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, I disagree with most of what I just heard.
Let me say this. What Bob went out to do was find to out why Ambassador Wilson had been chosen -- Ambassador Wilson, an opponent of George Bush, had been chosen to make this trip to Africa and do the investigation. And during the course of that, nobody volunteered this information to him. He was interviewing people. And one of them then said -- when -- in direct response to Bob's question, "How did this man get appointed, get this job?" The man responded. Bob confirmed it with another source. He called the CIA -- two people at the CIA. Nobody at the CIA suggested there was any hint of a danger to either this man's wife or anybody else in the CIA. If it had, he wouldn't have done it.
BLITZER: But they did ask him, by his own account, not to publish the name.
HUNTLEY: You've been around enough and covered Washington enough to know that as much as people come to you to publish stuff, almost an equal number of people are out to get you to not publish or broadcast something.
BLITZER: But the question is, why was it necessary to publish her name when you know the sensitivity of CIA agents and their names being published?
HUNTLEY: The question was how was he got in this -- how did he get this job? And he got it from somebody, apparently, recommending the CIA. That person was his wife.
BLITZER: I'm not -- I'm not questioning that point. The only thing I'm questioning is, what would have been the harm if he would have written everything in that story, simply not naming her?
HUNTLEY: How would the naming -- identifying her as his wife?
BLITZER: Just saying -- just saying that his wife, without mentioning her name. Nobody would have known her maiden name since it's a different than Joe Wilson's.
HUNTLEY: I'm told her name is in the "Who's Who in America." So the name is readily available.
I mean, the point here -- let's keep -- Bob Novak is one of the best reporters in this country. I have worked with him for 10 years. I trust his accuracy, the soundness of his judgment and his commitment to the ethics of our profession. What he does and what he does better than anybody else is get the story behind the story.
And back in July, there -- this man, Ambassador Wilson, had come forward and identified himself as the author of this report questioning the intelligence. And he then was critical of Bush's policy.
BLITZER: your counterpart -- your counterpart at "The Washington Post," Fred Hyatt, The op-ed page editor, now says, at least he told Howard Kurtz, that he regrets he didn't question more the publishing of this woman's name before it went into "The Washington Post." Looking back, was it a mistake for you and Bob Novak, for "The Sun- Times," "The Washington Post" to go ahead and publish the name?
HUNTLEY: No. Our job, my job, your job, Bob Novak's job, is to report the news, not to slam the door on it.
BLITZER: So you don't have any regrets about that at all, even knowing as you do know now, that she was a clandestine operative and that her life and other lives potentially could have been endangered by releasing that information?
HUNTLEY: We don't know any of that. Like I said, two CIA....
BLITZER: I said potentially. I said potentially.
HUNTLEY: That's hypothetical. I mean, we don't know that's the -- Bob was told. Nobody brought up the question of anybody's safety. If they had, and his subsequent reporting indicates that she's not a covert agent, but rather she's some of analysis -- an analyst, which is what I assumed when I read it.
BLITZER: Well, I think you did probably assume that at the time, and I'm sure he did as well, although we have subsequently reported here on CNN, our David Ensor, that while she does analysis, her earlier part of her career was long-established in clandestine covert operations. So she does have a history in espionage. That's why this is being referred by the CIA to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation.
But we have to leave it right there. Steve Huntley, we're all smarter with hindsight than we are at the time.
And just a personal note. No one is questioning your motivations of Bob Novak's. All of us who know Bob Novak know he's one of the best reporters in the business and has been for nearly have a century.
Thanks very much for that analysis, Steve Huntley of "The Chicago Sun-Times."
Coach accused. Officials are searching for a man charged now with secretly videotaping girls undressing. Find out how you can protect your children involved in youth sports all across the country.
And this -- chaos in court. We'll tell you how the judge restored order.
But, first, let's look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Belgium's biggest terror trial ever is over. 18 Islamic militants were convicted of plotting attacks and recruiting fighters for al Qaeda and the Taliban. Sentences range from two to 10 years.
Air France has agreed to buy Dutch rival KLM in a 900 million dollar deal. The airlines will keep their separate identities. But the combined operation will make it the world's third largest airline.
A royal wedding that almost wasn't. The 12-year-old daughter of Romania self proclaimed gypsy king fled the ceremony. She was quickly brought back and married to a 15-year-old against her will. Child marriages are common in Romania gypsy community.
A British man has become the first balloonist man to cross the Atlantic in a wicker basket. It took him 84 hours. And the successful mission follows two failed attempts.
And something new looming over London's Picadilly Circuit. This Coca-Cola billboard is among the worlds most sophisticated and at almost 100 feet wide, one of the largest. And that's our look "Around the World."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Yet another disturbing case involving children, this one in Virginia. Fairfax County Police are searching for a local soccer coach accused of secretly videotaping his girls on his team in various states of undress. According to search warrants out there, 61-year-old Robert Shipler used cameras in his house while they were using bathroom or showers facilities. Shipler's own daughter was on the team. Police were tipped off by police in Pennsylvania who received complaints that Shipler allegedly videotaped children at a nudist community. Shipler is wanted on three counts of production of child pornography.
A soccer mom in Fairfax County says she doesn't know whom she can trust in the wake of this case.
Joining us to talk about this and how parents might protect their children who are on youth sports teams, our own Mike Brooks joining us from the CNN center in Atlanta.
How can parents protect their young kids from this kind of situation -- Mike.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, first of all, I want to add that Shipler has been arrested by Fairfax County Police and charged with production of child pornography. Investigators say he can face up to 28 charges on this. This is a class 5 felony. Now, how can people know who they're dealing with, coaches, volunteers these things in dealing with sports leagues?
There are many jurisdictions now that are requiring finger print or background investigations of both coaches and volunteers who are dealing with minors. The girls who were involved on this team, it is a traveling soccer team, it was not part of the Fairfax County Department of Recreation. It was a traveling team, an independent team. So there were no background checks as far as Fairfax County police had told me. But people should insist on this. And also, try to find out if this coach is part of any kind of coach's league, a football, soccer, baseball coach. These are things that they should look for.
There is a brochure that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children puts out called "Know the Rules." It is an excellent brochure that talks about what parents can do. It includes fingerprint, criminal history checks, both state and federal. It talks about adults who supervise overnight sleepovers on trips dealing with sports teams, how children should act, and how -- what kind of adult supervision they should have in locker rooms, who should be present. All these kind of things, Wolf, that can help parents know exactly who these volunteers and coaches are that are around their young children -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN law enforcement correspondent Mike Brooks. Mike, thanks for that very useful information. Appreciate it very much.
And a violent scene in a Michigan courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are a sick person. You are sick to think that you have a right to run around with a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what? Shut the hell up. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A man convicted of shooting two police officers and a motorist during a crime spree tried to attack the mother of one of his victims as she spoke at the sentencing hearing. The incident happened yesterday in Detroit. The defendant, excuse me, was sentenced to 79 to 142 years in prison.
Study abroad. The first lady brings her love of reading to Russia. Our Soledad O'Brien is traveling with Laura Bush. She'll have a report from Moscow. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked -- which first lady was the first to travel overseas on her own? The answer, Eleanor Roosevelt. She visited wounded American service members in England, the Caribbean and the South Pacific during World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Moving from Paris to Moscow, the first lady, Laura Bush, continues her five-day solo trip to Europe. After arriving today in Russia's capital, Mrs. Bush turned her focus to books and a festival organized by the wife of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. CNN's Soledad O'Brien is traveling with the first lady.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Mrs. Bush is truly right at home when the topic is education or children. In this case, it's both. She made her way directly to the Kremlin, once she arrived in Moscow from Paris.
First lady Laura Bush joined the first lady of Russia, Ludmila Putina, and her other invited guests, the first lady of Armenia and the first lady of Bulgaria for a tour of some historic Russian artifacts, before the meeting got under way.
The private residence of the Russian president held a small part of the book collection of the Russian National Library. Some of the items, which go on display on October 2, the diary of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Russian czar, and the first printed Russian newspaper from the 1700s.
In organizing the roundtable, Mrs. Putin said she wanted it to be informal, and a dialogue, with a focus on the family and education, themes of Wednesday's book festival. Mrs. Putin said all the nations represented shared a common interest, and frankly dilemma of getting children to read and to motivate them to turn off the TV or the computer. Clearly a problem in Russia and Armenia and Bulgaria, and as Mrs. Bush pointed out, a problem in the U.S. as well.
Mrs. Bush carried with her five books, five that she said represented best the values of American society. They included "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss and also "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Mrs. Bush will bring some American authors with her at the festival on Wednesday.
Soledad O'Brien, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Soledad.
Who should probe the leak of the CIA operative's name? You can vote right now, go to CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Those are the results of our unscientific Web question of the day. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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Laura Bush Visits Moscow>
