Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Earthquake in Iraq Kills Thousands; Search Continues For California Mudslide Survivors

Aired December 26, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Killer quake: an ancient treasure in ruins. Thousands are dead. And the toll is rising.

Deadly mudslides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was really horrifying. It really scared me. I really didn't think I was going to be able to survive it.

LIN: A desperate search for survivors in the California hills.

Iraq attacks: a bloody 24 hours of trouble for American troops.

Targeted for terror? There's stepped-up security at cities, but is al Qaeda eying this small town?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, December 26, 2003.

LIN: I'm Carol Lin, in for Wolf Blitzer.

We begin with two natural disasters. First to California in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County. A frantic search continues for victims who may be buried alive. About 14 people are still missing, nearly half of them children. Devastating mudslides already killed three people at a California youth camp. We'll have full details coming up.

In Iran, far greater devastation, tens of thousands of people killed in an earthquake. And, for the government there, too many too count in one day. Tonight, there are equal numbers stranded outside with no shelter in freezing temperatures.

Here's CNN's Jonathan Mann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The earthquake struck just before dawn. And in the light of day, Bam looked like a war zone. Even buildings meant to withstand war, such as a 2,000- year-old fortress in the city, were damaged or destroyed.

"The main problem is, a vast area has been affected, Iran's interior minister said. "And it is difficult. Our facilities are limited to deal with the number of casualties, especially people who are under the rubble."

The first estimates of the quake's magnitude disagreed. Tehran University measured it as 6.3, while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 6.7, capable of severe damage. The damage was severe. Very few buildings in Iran are built to withstand earthquakes, even though the country has a long history of them. In Bam, many of the buildings were built from mud bricks. And even more modern buildings were not immune.

State media said two of Bam's hospitals had collapsed, with at least some of their staff inside. Many of the city's injured survivors were being moved to neighboring town. But, nationwide, Iran said it was short of emergency supplies. It appealed to the outside world for aid, disinfectants, generators, and the means to pump and test drinking water.

"There are many dead, numerous casualties," President Mohammad Khatami said. "We need to make sure that people can help with the situation and equipment. It's needed. It probably will not be enough to deal with all the casualties."

A number of countries immediately offered their help, and Iran declared three days of mourning.

Jonathan Mann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Iranians are all too familiar with devastating earthquakes. The Iranian Red Crescent Society says there have been 1,000 earthquakes in Iran since 1991, killing 17,600 people. That doesn't include today's quake, which reports say have killed anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000. The United States is among the countries that have already promised aid. The list also includes Britain, Turkey, and Russia.

Disaster of a different kind in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Massive walls of mud, boulders and debris swept through a canyon that was devastated just weeks ago by wildfire. At least three people are dead. As many as 15 are still missing.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is in San Bernardino County with the very latest from there -- Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol.

As searchers are still searching the mountains here near San Bernardino, we can see some new pictures now coming in from one of our affiliates, KCAL-KCBS. Nine of the missing people are believed to be children between the ages of 6 months and 16 years old. Two of them are dead in the Waterman Canyon area near San Bernardino. And at least one of them is dead in Devore, about five miles west of here, in a whole different mudslide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope my sister -- I don't know. Maybe they stay in the other house.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Mildred Najeda (ph) hopes and prays that her sister and 7-year-old niece are found alive. They were among several people swept by mud, boulders and trees after a torrential downpour.

MIKE CONRAD, INCIDENT COMMANDER: Basically, what we're facing is huge mounds of debris, rock, trees, sand and silt that's much like quicksand in some areas.

MARQUEZ: Natural disaster compounded by natural disaster. Some evacuees had just survived massive wildfires in October.

CARLA HANSON, FLOOD VICTIM: We were one of seven that survived the fire. And then ours were the very first structures threatened in the fire. But we didn't survive the flood.

MARQUEZ: The land, stripped by fire, vegetation that used to hold it in place could only obey gravity, Christmas living rooms turned inside out. Furniture floated away. And dry stream beds turned into rivers of boulders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The boulders coming down, that's all we heard. It just felt like an earthquake kept going on, with them falling through the creek. And it turned into like a river. We thought our house was going to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, her house actually made it. And she walked out of here with her family and her cat today, all in good health. They feel lucky just to be alive. So far, all the reported missing in the Waterman Canyon area were staying at a summer camp run by the a Greek Orthodox church in Los Angeles.

The church says they didn't know that these people were there. They believe they were friends of the caretaker. And he is among the missing -- Carol.

LIN: Thank you very much, Miguel Marquez.

We're looking at a live picture now of the search for any remaining victims, a line of search-and-rescue workers working every inch of ground to make sure that they find anyone who is missing, injured or possibly dead. A very serious situation out there in California.

In many ways, the situation is a worst-case scenario. And emergency crews are facing an extremely difficult task. Here is how one fire official describes the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CAPT. RICK MCCLINTOCK, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Right now, we're still in the rescue mode. And we will continue the rescue mode until we deem that there is no possibility that anybody could survive any longer in this environment.

Coming through here, the dirt looks like dirt. But it was basically like quicksand. So, wherever you stepped, you sunk up up to your knees or so. And you would just be walking along and you would sink. And below the surface, it was all sorts of rocks and debris. And so our feet were getting stuck in between rocks. And it made climbing across this area quite difficult.

This was just soft, boot-sucking, up to your knees, deep. We found an adult male trapped with mud up to his waist area with this log right here that was across his stomach and chest area. We brought in a chain saw. We brought in some of our rescue team members off of San Bernardino County Rescue 74. We cut the -- with a chain saw, we cut log, which got the pressure off his chest. His legs were still stuck. And it took us approximately another 20 minutes to remove his feet out of the debris. He was apparently in this building. And you can see lots of the building debris that came through.

The total rescue took about an hour and a half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, that same storm system that deluged Southern California hit also Las Vegas, making for at least one tense situation there. Seven tourists had to be rescued from their car when it became trapped in floodwaters in a hotel parking garage.

Emergency crews found the vehicle submerged in four feet of water. You're looking at it right there. But they were able to get everyone out, and no one was hurt.

Now a CNN exclusive. Hear from Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge on the country's code orange alert.

Terror threat: concerns about a plot to use a dirty bomb. One official warns, the threat window has not closed.

Deadly day: five U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq over the last 24 hours. We'll take you to Baghdad.

Plus:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOBE BRYANT, NBA PLAYER: It is a blessing that I have the talent to be able to play this game. So I'm going to try to maximize that blessing, that God-given talent to play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: One-on-one with Kobe Bryant. The basketball star speaks out about on controversies both on and off the court. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, we're fighting a 360 degree war. We're fighting in every direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Is there another way for American troops to wage war? A man who has led soldiers himself offers suggestions for America's fighting forces.

The king of pop speaking out for the first time since his arrest, what he says about sleeping with children and his Neverland Ranch.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Turning now to terrorism, authorities are still looking to the skies for possible threats, but the worries don't end there.

Let's go live to CNN's Barbara Starr in our Washington bureau.

What's new, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, Air France today resumed flying from Paris to Los Angeles, but the concern about the terrorist threat is far from over.

U.S. government sources say that two of the flights from Paris on Friday, today, left late, specifically due to additional security screening of bags and passengers. Plans were made early for those flights when they landed that they would not come directly to the terminal in Los Angeles, that they were to be stopped at a remote point on the airfield.

Passengers, the plan said, would again be screen and then bused to the terminal, all of this planning going into effect even before those flights took off. And officials say other select flights from other countries are also being handled in the same fashion.

Now, some confusion about the 13 people who were questioned by French law enforcement from those canceled flights. One official is saying they were still under investigation, but another official telling CNN those people, in particular, are no longer of any interest to the U.S., although the Bush administration says it would like to talk to the people who never showed up.

Officials say they still believe, Carol, there's the real possibility of some type of attempted terrorist attack against the United States, one counterterrorism official saying authorities simply do not believe the threat window has closed -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Barbara Starr, for that latest information, which brings us to our CNN exclusive.

This just in. Our Jeanne Meserve has been speaking at this hour with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about the current terror alert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The world community is aware that al Qaeda would like to continue to use aviation as a means of destruction and terror. They want to use it as weapons or as a target.

And it is in the world's collective interest that we make passenger aviation even more secure. We've collaborated, had great collaboration with the French, and decided it was in the interest of the safety of the passengers, given the information that we shared, that we cancel those flights. And we will continue to do so. And the more and more information that we share with one another gives us even greater opportunities to protect one another. And that's precisely what happened there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: That entire interview can be seen on "NEWSNIGHT" tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, it has been a bloody 24 hours for U.S. troops in Iraq.

CNN's Rym Brahimi reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At least five U.S. soldiers have been killed here in the Iraq in the past 24 hours, mainly in and around the so-called Sunni Triangle.

One U.S. soldier was killed, another one wounded in the northern town of Balad, about an hour's drive from the Iraqi capital, when they were attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade. In northern town of Mosul, a four-hour drive north of Baghdad, one tribal sheik and his son were killed, an incident that Iraqi police are still investigating.

And two U.S. soldiers were wounded when they fell under fire in the same area of Mosul. Apparently, the injuries were not too serious. In Baquba, which is about an hour's drive northeast of Baghdad, two U.S. soldiers were killed again today. One of them, the death was caused by an improvised explosive device. The other one died when trying to dismantle an IED in Baquba, the same place where, yesterday, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when their forward operating base was attacked by mortars.

And here in Baghdad, there are reports that two people were killed when a bomb on a highway west of Baghdad exploded, not clear for the time being if this was a roadside bomb or whether the bomb was placed in a car. The sound of bombing and gunfire was certainly a sound we heard a lot last night as well, as we understand that several raids were under way and a lot of U.S. forces operations, as well as attacks by insurgents. Apparently, several mortars hit the Green Zone, where coalition authorities have their headquarters. We are told, however, by the 1st Armored Division that they were able to capture five men that they suspect of having launched those mortar attacks.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Looking for answers in the U.S. case of mad cow disease, more animals quarantined today.

Unlikely target: why a small town in Eastern Virginia might be the focus of a terrorist attack.

Deadly waves of mud: rescuers searching for survivors in Southern California, an update on the mudslides ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The Agriculture Department says two calves in Washington state are now under quarantine. They are the offspring of the first cow in the U.S. ever diagnosed with mad cow disease.

Since the case was announced Monday, more than a dozen countries have banned U.S. beef imports, but the full impact on the industry is unclear.

CNN's Chris Huntington has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Agriculture Department officials say they have not determined where the infected cow was born. But they do know it was purchased from one of two livestock operations in Washington state.

One official conceded that imprecise records meant that discovering the cow's birth herd had become a tangled web. Investigators also say the cow has two living offspring, a female still in the mother's quarantined herd and a bull calf sold to another smaller herd in Washington state that is now also under quarantine.

Without complete answers, though, the beef industry is bracing for the worst.

CHANDLER KEYS, NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION: Our top priority is talking to the American public about the safety of the product and why beef is safe to eat. And we've been expecting something like this for a long time. So it is not that -- we've had a plan in place and so we're just implementing the plan.

HUNTINGTON: The other priority is to try to reopen the nearly $3.5 billion worth of export markets now shut to U.S. beef. A delegation of U.S. officials heads to Japan next week for the difficult task of convincing Japan, the biggest overseas buyer of U.S. beef, to lift its ban.

In the Chicago trading pits, cattle futures fell limit-down for the second straight session. The chief economist for the USDA predicted futures prices would eventually retreat from recent record levels of more than 90 cents per pound to last year's range of about 75 cents per pound. The key will be American consumers. They buy 90 percent of U.S. beef.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not worried about it at all. I'm ordering a filet mignon today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't say like hysterically worried. But I just figure I will stay away for it for the time being.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beef prices have been very high over the last period of time. So I think -- I'm hoping it will actually bring prices down.

GREG SHERRY, OLD HOMESTEAD STEAK HOUSE: I think people are very, very well schooled on what's going on. And the USDA has pretty much said it's not a problem with the states.

HUNTINGTON (on camera): But American consumers are notoriously fickle and impatient. And beef industry insiders concede, it will take months to determine the exact extent of mad cow disease in this country. And, in that time, beef producers are likely to suffer a significant financial setback.

Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: Have mad cow fears changed your beef-eating habits? You can vote right now at CNN.com/Wolf.

We'll have the results later in this broadcast. And while you're there, I would like to hear directly from you, our viewers. Send me your comments anytime and we might read some of them at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read Wolf's daily online column: CNN.com/Wolf.

Deadly mudslides: search-and-rescue efforts under way right now in Southern California.

Al Qaeda arrests: Authorities dismantle the cell behind last month's suicide attacks in Turkey.

Terror target: why one small town in Virginia is on special alert.

More hard news ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Boys will be boys, but add a bowl game to the mix and things can get out of hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is simply a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: A Christmas classic ends with postgame punches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back to CNN.

Race against time: rescuers digging through mounds of mud and debris for signs of survivors in California.

But first, a quick check of the latest headlines.

The best post-Christmas present possible for a South Carolina family. Their 2-year-old son was found in the woods near Charleston this afternoon, after disappearing yesterday on a walk with his father. Hundreds of people helped searched for the boy who is said to appear healthy. He's being checked out at a hospital as a precaution.

Conflicting reports on the probe into the latest attempt to kill Pakistan's president. The country's interior minister told lawmakers, one of two suicide bombers who attacked Pervez Musharraf's convoy yesterday has been identified. But the information minister says he has not. The assassination attempt was the second against Musharraf in 12 days.

Funerals today for victims of yesterday's violence in the Middle East. Among them, one of four people killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber near Tel Aviv. And, in Gaza, an Islamic Jihad commander was buried. He died in a targeted Israeli airstrike, along with five other people.

And a predawn earthquake has killed thousands of people in they ancient Iranian city of Bam. News reports in Iran quoting government officials say more than 20,000 were killed and thousands more injured. Countries from around the world are offering help, including the United States.

Aid already is beginning to arrive in Bam, where whole neighborhoods were leveled.

Shirzad Bozorgmehr has the latest story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): The military are using several helicopters and C-130 transport planes to evacuate the injured. But many survivors face a freezing night outdoors. Nights in Bam can be bitterly cold at this time of year. Iranian officials are urging the people to donate blood, blankets, warm clothing and canned food. The government has set up six centers in Tehran for receiving public donations of cash and supplies for the victims of the quake. The ancient city of Bam was founded well over two millennia ago. Its citadel, which is now totally destroyed, was one of Iran's major tourist attractions and the largest mud brick structure in the world.

The Office of Natural Disasters in Tehran has sent rescue teams to the city to help with rescue operations already undertaken by provisional and local authorities. And from further afield, several countries, including Russia, France and Greece, say they're ready to send experts, sniffer dogs and first aid to help the victims.

The United Nations is also sending teams of experts to Iran to assess the damage and help coordinate rescue efforts. The government has declared three days of mourning for the victims of this disaster.

Shirzad Bozorgmehr for CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Here is more information about the ancient city of Bam, devastated by today's quake.

Homes, schools, mosques and bath houses stand in the same places they did centuries ago. They are mostly constructed of mud and sandstone materials that don't weather earthquakes well, obviously. Since the city's inception, believed to be between 250 B.C. and 224 A.D., Bam was known as a major trading and military post. The Afghan invasion of 1722 devastated Bam, eventually leading to the closing of its illustrious gates. It has been one of the most visited historical sites in Iran.

And this just in: Four people are now dead from that mudslide that swept over homes and cabins in Southern California's fire-scarred San Bernardino mountains.

CNN's Julie Cevene is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE CEVENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At daybreak, from above, homes buried, vehicles swallowed by an avalanche of mud and debris. The day after massive mudslides crews tackled the job on foot, searching for a number of people still unaccounted for.

TRACEY MARTINEZ, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: What happened was two buildings washed away. And we do believe that there were folks in one of the buildings. And it washed straight down. The road is covered. And I would say a good 15 feet high of mud.

CEVENE: The site they're targeting, a church campground just north of San Bernadino, where rescuers plucked 14 people from fast- moving water, mud and debris on Christmas day. TABITHA LINDEMULDER, FLOOD VICTIM: It was probably about a mile and a half we had to walk down. And it was just muddy. The bridges were gone there. It was like waterfalls everywhere. Mud. And we had to climb over a few things to get out of there. But we did.

CEVENE: The storm dumped at least three inches of rain on areas badly scarred by wildfires, including near by Devore (ph), where some 52 people were rescued after a wall of mud slammed into their campground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on top of that log, that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CEVENE: Chilling temperatures and treacherous terrain is making finding victims all the more difficult.

MARTINEZ: We're not going up there to locate dead bodies. We're going up there to find the folks that survived this horrible incident.

CEVENE (on camera): Authorities call it a tedious search. More than 65 personnel, six rescue dogs. Despite improved weather conditions, much of this effort is still being conducted on foot.

In San Bernadino County, California, I'm Julie Cevene, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Waging war. Why one U.S. Army colonel believes the size of America's ground troops needs to be reduced.

Blocking out the bad. NBA star Kobe Bryant talks about the difficulties of facing sometimes hostile crowds night after night.

Sore losers, and no real winners. A National Bowl game turn into a slugfest.

But first, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIN (voice-over): Turkish crackdown. Turkish authorities say they have effectively dismantled an al Qaeda cell that was behind the suicide bombings that took more than 60 lives last month. Officials say they have detained about 160 suspects and confiscated more than 1,000 pounds of explosives.

Heading out. Twenty-three members of the Japanese air force boarded flights for the Mideast. They are the vanguard of 1,000 troops being sent to Iraq on a noncombat, humanitarian mission. It is Japan's biggest military deployment since World War II.

Grim hunt. The search continues off the coast of Benin following yesterday's airliner crash. Officials in the West African country say the number of confirmed deaths has risen from above 100, but more than 20 people reportedly survived. Not giving up. Europeans space scientists are still trying to determine whether their Beagle space probe landed on Mars successfully. So far, efforts to detect a signal from the probe have been unsuccessful.

A royal welcome. The new Queen Mary II has arrived in its home port of Southampton, England. After a training cruise that started in France, where the huge luxury liner was built. The QM2 will begin its maiden transatlantic voyage January 12 when it departs for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: The chatter picked up by U.S. intelligence about a possible terror plot may have included the name of a small Virginia town. Residents are scratching their heads about that. But they, too, are now on alert. CNN's Jennifer Coggiola spent the day in Tappahannock, and is now back in our Washington bureau. Jennifer, what did you learn out there?

JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, we took a little road trip today down to that town southeast of D.C. that the FBI last week labeled a possible target for terrorism, news that took this small Virginia community by surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA (voice-over): In L.A., New York, Washington, obvious signs of cities on high alert. But just two hours outside of the nation's capitol, through Virginia's farm country, Tappahannock, a 300-year-old town with just 2,000 residents. You can't help to think -- a terrorist target?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would they pick a little town such as this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we got a phone call. And they said, turn the television on right away, Tappahannock has been targeted by a possible terrorist group.

COGGIOLA: News from the FBI that Tappahannock, like big U.S. cities, could be targeted by terrorists, took this sheriff, who has lived here his whole life, by surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came as a surprise to everybody who lives here. I was hoping it was a mistake.

COGGIOLA: So why Tappahannock?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we don't know. Nobody seems to know. We don't have anything major here to attract anybody.

COGGIOLA: There are no obvious terror targets in this waterfront town, not factories, not plants, just retail shops, restaurants and beautiful views. Even the river has no commercial port, though it does run into the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac river.

Nevertheless, extra security precautions were taken this week, including two of the town's 10 police officers on duty, as opposed to the usual one.

But the most effective method for security?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we've been a little more observant of what goes on, following up on any complaints we get about suspicious people, suspicious vehicles, that type of thing.

COGGIOLA: Something that comes easy in a town this small.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we know a lot of the people and we know things that are out of place. And I think something obviously out of place would be immediately reported.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you know, you tend to think, what would a terrorist look like, because I've never seen any of them with a sign across their chest saying they was terrorists.

COGGIOLA: In fact, the only cause for panic and concern this week, causing dozens of alarmed phone calls to the sheriff's office...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Media. Out-of-town plates, that type of thing. People are not used to that around here. So when they see media around, they start calling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA: The FBI reportedly included Tappahannock in the terror alert list of cities to watch based on some intercepted chatter. But somewhere in translation the name came up, as did Rappahannock, which is another rural Virginia town about 150 miles from Tappahannock -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Jennifer Coggiola. Interesting trip for you.

All right. Now to someone with first-hand experience fighting terror. Bozel Boz spent years in counter terrorism with the Marines and with the CIA. He's also the author of "The Terrorism Survival Handbook." Bazzel Baz joins us now from Tampa, Florida.

Bazzel, good afternoon to you. Thanks very much for joining us.

BAZZEL BAZ, AUTHOR, "TERRORISM SURVIVAL HANDBOOK": Thank you, Carol.

LIN: I want to play for you a soundbite from defense Secretary Ridge, from homeland security. This just in. We have an exclusive -- homeland security -- we have an exclusive interview with him. And this is what he had to say about cities being targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: Las Vegas and the folks out there know from time to time it comes up in the threat reporting generally. But there has been some, I think public speculation, either in Las Vegas or Los Angeles was a target for one of those airplanes. It may derive from the fact they were flying from Paris to Los Angeles, but they weren't a specific target, to my knowledge at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: All right. Bazzel, does the secretary of homeland security there, saying that Las Vegas was not a suspected target by terrorist attacks during this orange alert status. How do we know what to believe? It seems like there is a Russian roulette out there of likely targets, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago. How are people to know what to believe?

BAZ: I think we're going to continue to collect intelligence. But that has intelligence has to be analyzed and the dots have to be connected. A lot of times that is not intercepted until some of the last moments. I think that what we have to do is put out the best word we can to the American public when we receive that intelligence and let them know it is a possibility. And if we have a specific target list, a certain city, we owe it to the American public to at least mention that instead of not disclose that.

LIN: Why not disclose why it is that some places have been talked about, for example, an obscure place like Tappahannock, Virginia?

BAZ: I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

LIN: Why can't the government be more specific about cities being discussed, for example, Tappahannock, Virginia in the piece that aired before you?

BAZ: Well, a lot of times we only get partial intelligence. It is not enough to stir up the public as far as a specific threat is concerned. You know, we know we're under an entire umbrella as far as the war on terrorism is concerned when it comes to threats within our entire nation.

It is not just internationally. It is domestic as well. It is a hit and miss to be quite honest with you. It is a very big world out there. There's a ton of intelligence to cipher through. That is one of the reasons why the FBI and CIA are constantly asking the public to assist on the war on terrorism in keeping an eye out for suspicious- looking activity.

LIN: And not only the American public but, also, for example, the French government and the French airline, Air France. In this particular incident, in the last 48 hours, passengers, more than 13 of them being interrogated by authorities. At least six flights delayed or canceled. Is this based on bad information the United States is getting and therefore, passing on to foreign governments? BAZ: No. I believe it is based on solid intelligence. In this case the United States did the right thing. We put a demand in place that said you will not fly here to the United States. As you know, certain countries have harbored terrorism in the past. France being one of those. The United States is not willing to risk the lives of the American people, nor its cities, just by being a little too soft with the demands these days.

LIN: All right. Getting to the heart of the matter, if al Qaeda is behind the information on the latest threats, you have a situation now where the United States has captured Saddam Hussein. By his capture, what has the United States learned about how to get, then, Osama bin Laden next?

BAZ: Well, I think that, Carol, we know that enemies of the United States, both foreign and domestic, travel in the same circles. The fact that Saddam Hussein, for many years, was concerned about U.S. foreign policy means that he probably did collaborate with al Qaeda and other -- possibly, other world leaders in monitoring and deterring anything the United States had in mind.

Through our interrogation methods and what documents we may have seized from Saddam Hussein, you know, eventually we'll find out what connection financially or politically he had with those other people. That will, obviously, give us a thread to follow and know exactly who our enemies are.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Bazzel Baz, for joining us today. Former CIA official. I'll be talking to you, as well, throughout the weekend during this orange terror alert.

BAZ: Thank you, Carol.

LIN: Well, the U.S. military has its hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan but there are questions about its readiness to fight the next war. A hotly debated new book calls for a revolution in the way America fights. It's titled "Transformation Under Fire." Wolf Blitzer sat down with the author, Col. Douglas MacGregor of the National Defense University.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Col. MacGregor, thanks very much for joining us. Your book has sparked a lot, a lot of commotion out there, a lot of controversy. The bottom line is what?

COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR, U.S. ARMY: The bottom line is that landpower is the center of warfare and landpower needs to fundamentally change and landpower over the last 12 years has not fundamentally changed.

BLITZER: Landpower meaning a ground war?

MACGREGOR: Absolutely. The ground forces and how we integrate them as the rest of the force, how we organize them to deploy and fight. Someone mentioned the other day that this was not your father's Oldsmobile in a commercial. Well, our soldiers, who are probably the best we've ever had, are serving in their grandfather's and their great grandfather's army.

BLITZER: They seem to have done a great job, going in from Kuwait up through Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime.

MACGREGOR: Well, first of all, the soldier has always done a good job. The good news is the American soldier is well trained. If you put him in any environment where he has to fight, he is going to fight very well. The problem is the enemy we took on was much much weaker than he was 12 years ago in 1991 and is probably the weakest and the least competent enemy that we've ever faced and may face for many, many years.

BLITZER: The enemy out there is a different kind of enemy. There is a Saddam Hussein type of formal military that the U.S. did well with, but there's also another enemy out there, the terror network and Osama bin Laden. Is the military ready to deal with that terror threat?

MACGREGOR: Well, we're dealing with it today but we're not postured for as much success as we can enjoy if we were structured differently. Today we're fighting a 360-degree war. We're fighting in every direction.

We had to do that on the way to Baghdad, we've had to do that in the post-conflict environment which has turned out to be an extended conflict. That means that you have got to build forces that can operate independently at lower levels than we currently have organized to fight. We're still into divisions and corps of World War II. We've had to break those up, modify those, build 5,000 to 5,500-men brigade battle groups to try and cope with this new environment.

BLITZER: What are you recommending? What must be done in the short term?

MACGREGOR: The first thing we've got to do is abandon these formations of linear warfare that were designed in 1942 for an environment that doesn't exist anymore. What I set forth in the book is a plan to reorganize the force to do two things. First of all, to create more combat power at the lowest level with less overhead. Less overhead in bureaucratic terms in peacetime, in terms of the army that readies the force to deploy and fight and also a commanding control structure that is, as Secretary Rumsfeld has outlined repeatedly, inherently joint.

BLITZER: So what does that mean specifically in lay terms?

MACGREGOR: Well, it means that your maneuver forces would be under brigadier generals. They would be roughly 5,000 to 5,500 men contingence-designed to operate across a battle space independently as opposed to being part of these large divisions that are really designed to advance on a linear front.

BLITZER: So they could make life and death decisions in terms of moving the battle forward on their own without waiting for guidance from above.

MACGREGOR: Yes. You want to drive the decisionmaking to a lower level so people can respond and react more quickly. You want information exploited at a lower level. We talk about networking. With all the networking in the world it won't make any difference if culturally, and organizationally, you are not postured to exploit information.

BLITZER: But everything I've heard lately is that the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, this joint operation, as you will, is working a lot better than it ever did before.

MACGREGOR: If you look carefully, we did a brilliant job by the time, three weeks into the war, we get to Baghdad. But we began the war organized essentially as we have always organized. If you went back to 1944 and looked at the structure of command and control in the Armed Forces, it was very similar in Kuwait and in Iraq during this last war. By the time the war was almost at a close, in three weeks, we began to achieve the level of jointness that is desirable when we ought to enter conflicts in that state of readiness.

BLITZER: Col. MacGregor's book is called, "Transformation Under Fire: The Strategic Revolution on Land, Warfare." I know a lot of your fellow officers are discussing and debating your ideas. Thanks for joining us.

MACGREGOR: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: In other news, Kobe Bryant gets personal in public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOBE BRYANT, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: You can't control -- try to control things you can't control. You just, kind of, have to let it go. And at times, that can be extremely difficult, but, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The NBA star speaking out as he prepares for the fight of his life.

And Michael Jackson breaks his silence. What he's saying about the allegations against him, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: A boy sentenced to life without parole for the murder of another child is getting a second chance. The Florida's state attorney's office says Lionel Tate has been offered the same plea deal that was rejected by his mother before trial. Tate, now 16, killed a 6-year-old playmate when he was 12.

His attorney said he was imitating pro wrestling moves. The original deal would have sent the boy to juvenile prison for three years followed by a year of house arrest. Prosecutors say the new offer should lead to Lionel Tate's release within months. It follows the recent overturning of his conviction by an appeals court.

Michael Jackson talks about the child molestation charges he's facing in an interview airing this Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes". He sat down last night with correspondent Ed Bradley telling him, quote, "before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists."

Asked if he thought it was still okay to have children in his bed, Jackson responded, "if you're going to be a pedophile, if you're going to be Jack the Ripper, if you're going to be a murderer, it's not a good idea. That I am not."

And speaking of the police search of his Neverland Ranch, Jackson said, "I won't live there ever again." It's a house now, not a home anymore. I'll only visit.

For the first time since he was charged, Kobe Bryant is speaking publicly and in detail about the sexual assault case that could send him to prison. He shared his thoughts in an interview with ABC that was broadcast last night during halftime of the Lakers-Rockets game.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOBE BRYANT, NBA PLAYER: I'm go into arenas anticipating the worst. I'm going to the floor and just concentrating on being with my teammates and trying to do the task at hand. You can't help but overhear the fans booing or whatever.

LIN (voice-over): Kobe Bryant did not discuss the charges he faces but he did discuss his feelings.

BRYANT: You know, you live in a nightmare and you can't wake up out of it.

LIN: In his first broadcast interview since he was charged with sexual assault, the L.A. Lakers star said he sometimes has to struggle to keep his mind on the game.

BRYANT: It's much easier said than done as far as letting go what you can control, try to control. What you can't control, you kind of have to let it go, and, at times, that can be extremely difficult, but, you know, you do it.

LIN: Bryant is expected to go on trial this coming spring on charges he sexually assaulted a 19-year-old worker at a Colorado hotel. He says the sex was consensual. He could face a long prison sentence if he's convicted. But Bryant is trying to focus on what he hopes will be many more years on the basketball court.

BRYANT: It is a blessing to have the talent to play this game. I'm going to try to maximize that blessing. God gave me a talent to play.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LIN: College football fans are talking about the way last night's Hawaii Bowl ended. Emotions got out of control after Hawaii's triple overtime victory over Houston. Players starting swinging at each other, turning the playing field into a mob scene. It took several minutes to break it up.

Hawaii coach June Jones blames referees for letting things get out of hand. But Houston;s coach says it was, quote "just one of those things." Just one of those things.

Our hot Web question of the day when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Here's how you're weighing in on the Web question of the day. "Have mad cow fears changed your beef-eating habits?" Look at this. 70 percent of you say yes while 30 percent of you say no. As we always tell you, this is not, of course, a scientific poll.

Let's hear from you and read some of our e-mail now. Carri writes, "I believe it is irresponsible to portray Mad Cow disease as not a big deal. It is extremely serious in a society that views a cheese burger Happy Meal as a suitable meal for a child. If that child becomes sick with the human form of BSE, I'm sure then, we will view this debilitating disease as serious, but then it will be too late. Please, look at the facts of this disease, it is scary.

Meanwhile, John writes, "The media is making it sound as if the entire beef supply of this country is tainted, thus causing people in other nations to assume this and not buy American beef. I find your commentary of 1 positive cow to be absurd and counterproductive to all beef all beef farmers."

A reminder, you can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, 5:00 pm Eastern. And tune in to LATE EDITION this Sunday. Among the guests, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Thanks so much for joining us, Kitty Pilgrim is in for LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, which starts right now.

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





California Mudslide Survivors>


Aired December 26, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Killer quake: an ancient treasure in ruins. Thousands are dead. And the toll is rising.

Deadly mudslides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was really horrifying. It really scared me. I really didn't think I was going to be able to survive it.

LIN: A desperate search for survivors in the California hills.

Iraq attacks: a bloody 24 hours of trouble for American troops.

Targeted for terror? There's stepped-up security at cities, but is al Qaeda eying this small town?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, December 26, 2003.

LIN: I'm Carol Lin, in for Wolf Blitzer.

We begin with two natural disasters. First to California in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County. A frantic search continues for victims who may be buried alive. About 14 people are still missing, nearly half of them children. Devastating mudslides already killed three people at a California youth camp. We'll have full details coming up.

In Iran, far greater devastation, tens of thousands of people killed in an earthquake. And, for the government there, too many too count in one day. Tonight, there are equal numbers stranded outside with no shelter in freezing temperatures.

Here's CNN's Jonathan Mann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The earthquake struck just before dawn. And in the light of day, Bam looked like a war zone. Even buildings meant to withstand war, such as a 2,000- year-old fortress in the city, were damaged or destroyed.

"The main problem is, a vast area has been affected, Iran's interior minister said. "And it is difficult. Our facilities are limited to deal with the number of casualties, especially people who are under the rubble."

The first estimates of the quake's magnitude disagreed. Tehran University measured it as 6.3, while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 6.7, capable of severe damage. The damage was severe. Very few buildings in Iran are built to withstand earthquakes, even though the country has a long history of them. In Bam, many of the buildings were built from mud bricks. And even more modern buildings were not immune.

State media said two of Bam's hospitals had collapsed, with at least some of their staff inside. Many of the city's injured survivors were being moved to neighboring town. But, nationwide, Iran said it was short of emergency supplies. It appealed to the outside world for aid, disinfectants, generators, and the means to pump and test drinking water.

"There are many dead, numerous casualties," President Mohammad Khatami said. "We need to make sure that people can help with the situation and equipment. It's needed. It probably will not be enough to deal with all the casualties."

A number of countries immediately offered their help, and Iran declared three days of mourning.

Jonathan Mann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Iranians are all too familiar with devastating earthquakes. The Iranian Red Crescent Society says there have been 1,000 earthquakes in Iran since 1991, killing 17,600 people. That doesn't include today's quake, which reports say have killed anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000. The United States is among the countries that have already promised aid. The list also includes Britain, Turkey, and Russia.

Disaster of a different kind in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Massive walls of mud, boulders and debris swept through a canyon that was devastated just weeks ago by wildfire. At least three people are dead. As many as 15 are still missing.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is in San Bernardino County with the very latest from there -- Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol.

As searchers are still searching the mountains here near San Bernardino, we can see some new pictures now coming in from one of our affiliates, KCAL-KCBS. Nine of the missing people are believed to be children between the ages of 6 months and 16 years old. Two of them are dead in the Waterman Canyon area near San Bernardino. And at least one of them is dead in Devore, about five miles west of here, in a whole different mudslide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope my sister -- I don't know. Maybe they stay in the other house.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Mildred Najeda (ph) hopes and prays that her sister and 7-year-old niece are found alive. They were among several people swept by mud, boulders and trees after a torrential downpour.

MIKE CONRAD, INCIDENT COMMANDER: Basically, what we're facing is huge mounds of debris, rock, trees, sand and silt that's much like quicksand in some areas.

MARQUEZ: Natural disaster compounded by natural disaster. Some evacuees had just survived massive wildfires in October.

CARLA HANSON, FLOOD VICTIM: We were one of seven that survived the fire. And then ours were the very first structures threatened in the fire. But we didn't survive the flood.

MARQUEZ: The land, stripped by fire, vegetation that used to hold it in place could only obey gravity, Christmas living rooms turned inside out. Furniture floated away. And dry stream beds turned into rivers of boulders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The boulders coming down, that's all we heard. It just felt like an earthquake kept going on, with them falling through the creek. And it turned into like a river. We thought our house was going to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, her house actually made it. And she walked out of here with her family and her cat today, all in good health. They feel lucky just to be alive. So far, all the reported missing in the Waterman Canyon area were staying at a summer camp run by the a Greek Orthodox church in Los Angeles.

The church says they didn't know that these people were there. They believe they were friends of the caretaker. And he is among the missing -- Carol.

LIN: Thank you very much, Miguel Marquez.

We're looking at a live picture now of the search for any remaining victims, a line of search-and-rescue workers working every inch of ground to make sure that they find anyone who is missing, injured or possibly dead. A very serious situation out there in California.

In many ways, the situation is a worst-case scenario. And emergency crews are facing an extremely difficult task. Here is how one fire official describes the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CAPT. RICK MCCLINTOCK, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Right now, we're still in the rescue mode. And we will continue the rescue mode until we deem that there is no possibility that anybody could survive any longer in this environment.

Coming through here, the dirt looks like dirt. But it was basically like quicksand. So, wherever you stepped, you sunk up up to your knees or so. And you would just be walking along and you would sink. And below the surface, it was all sorts of rocks and debris. And so our feet were getting stuck in between rocks. And it made climbing across this area quite difficult.

This was just soft, boot-sucking, up to your knees, deep. We found an adult male trapped with mud up to his waist area with this log right here that was across his stomach and chest area. We brought in a chain saw. We brought in some of our rescue team members off of San Bernardino County Rescue 74. We cut the -- with a chain saw, we cut log, which got the pressure off his chest. His legs were still stuck. And it took us approximately another 20 minutes to remove his feet out of the debris. He was apparently in this building. And you can see lots of the building debris that came through.

The total rescue took about an hour and a half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, that same storm system that deluged Southern California hit also Las Vegas, making for at least one tense situation there. Seven tourists had to be rescued from their car when it became trapped in floodwaters in a hotel parking garage.

Emergency crews found the vehicle submerged in four feet of water. You're looking at it right there. But they were able to get everyone out, and no one was hurt.

Now a CNN exclusive. Hear from Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge on the country's code orange alert.

Terror threat: concerns about a plot to use a dirty bomb. One official warns, the threat window has not closed.

Deadly day: five U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq over the last 24 hours. We'll take you to Baghdad.

Plus:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOBE BRYANT, NBA PLAYER: It is a blessing that I have the talent to be able to play this game. So I'm going to try to maximize that blessing, that God-given talent to play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: One-on-one with Kobe Bryant. The basketball star speaks out about on controversies both on and off the court. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, we're fighting a 360 degree war. We're fighting in every direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Is there another way for American troops to wage war? A man who has led soldiers himself offers suggestions for America's fighting forces.

The king of pop speaking out for the first time since his arrest, what he says about sleeping with children and his Neverland Ranch.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Turning now to terrorism, authorities are still looking to the skies for possible threats, but the worries don't end there.

Let's go live to CNN's Barbara Starr in our Washington bureau.

What's new, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, Air France today resumed flying from Paris to Los Angeles, but the concern about the terrorist threat is far from over.

U.S. government sources say that two of the flights from Paris on Friday, today, left late, specifically due to additional security screening of bags and passengers. Plans were made early for those flights when they landed that they would not come directly to the terminal in Los Angeles, that they were to be stopped at a remote point on the airfield.

Passengers, the plan said, would again be screen and then bused to the terminal, all of this planning going into effect even before those flights took off. And officials say other select flights from other countries are also being handled in the same fashion.

Now, some confusion about the 13 people who were questioned by French law enforcement from those canceled flights. One official is saying they were still under investigation, but another official telling CNN those people, in particular, are no longer of any interest to the U.S., although the Bush administration says it would like to talk to the people who never showed up.

Officials say they still believe, Carol, there's the real possibility of some type of attempted terrorist attack against the United States, one counterterrorism official saying authorities simply do not believe the threat window has closed -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Barbara Starr, for that latest information, which brings us to our CNN exclusive.

This just in. Our Jeanne Meserve has been speaking at this hour with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about the current terror alert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The world community is aware that al Qaeda would like to continue to use aviation as a means of destruction and terror. They want to use it as weapons or as a target.

And it is in the world's collective interest that we make passenger aviation even more secure. We've collaborated, had great collaboration with the French, and decided it was in the interest of the safety of the passengers, given the information that we shared, that we cancel those flights. And we will continue to do so. And the more and more information that we share with one another gives us even greater opportunities to protect one another. And that's precisely what happened there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: That entire interview can be seen on "NEWSNIGHT" tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, it has been a bloody 24 hours for U.S. troops in Iraq.

CNN's Rym Brahimi reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At least five U.S. soldiers have been killed here in the Iraq in the past 24 hours, mainly in and around the so-called Sunni Triangle.

One U.S. soldier was killed, another one wounded in the northern town of Balad, about an hour's drive from the Iraqi capital, when they were attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade. In northern town of Mosul, a four-hour drive north of Baghdad, one tribal sheik and his son were killed, an incident that Iraqi police are still investigating.

And two U.S. soldiers were wounded when they fell under fire in the same area of Mosul. Apparently, the injuries were not too serious. In Baquba, which is about an hour's drive northeast of Baghdad, two U.S. soldiers were killed again today. One of them, the death was caused by an improvised explosive device. The other one died when trying to dismantle an IED in Baquba, the same place where, yesterday, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when their forward operating base was attacked by mortars.

And here in Baghdad, there are reports that two people were killed when a bomb on a highway west of Baghdad exploded, not clear for the time being if this was a roadside bomb or whether the bomb was placed in a car. The sound of bombing and gunfire was certainly a sound we heard a lot last night as well, as we understand that several raids were under way and a lot of U.S. forces operations, as well as attacks by insurgents. Apparently, several mortars hit the Green Zone, where coalition authorities have their headquarters. We are told, however, by the 1st Armored Division that they were able to capture five men that they suspect of having launched those mortar attacks.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Looking for answers in the U.S. case of mad cow disease, more animals quarantined today.

Unlikely target: why a small town in Eastern Virginia might be the focus of a terrorist attack.

Deadly waves of mud: rescuers searching for survivors in Southern California, an update on the mudslides ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The Agriculture Department says two calves in Washington state are now under quarantine. They are the offspring of the first cow in the U.S. ever diagnosed with mad cow disease.

Since the case was announced Monday, more than a dozen countries have banned U.S. beef imports, but the full impact on the industry is unclear.

CNN's Chris Huntington has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Agriculture Department officials say they have not determined where the infected cow was born. But they do know it was purchased from one of two livestock operations in Washington state.

One official conceded that imprecise records meant that discovering the cow's birth herd had become a tangled web. Investigators also say the cow has two living offspring, a female still in the mother's quarantined herd and a bull calf sold to another smaller herd in Washington state that is now also under quarantine.

Without complete answers, though, the beef industry is bracing for the worst.

CHANDLER KEYS, NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION: Our top priority is talking to the American public about the safety of the product and why beef is safe to eat. And we've been expecting something like this for a long time. So it is not that -- we've had a plan in place and so we're just implementing the plan.

HUNTINGTON: The other priority is to try to reopen the nearly $3.5 billion worth of export markets now shut to U.S. beef. A delegation of U.S. officials heads to Japan next week for the difficult task of convincing Japan, the biggest overseas buyer of U.S. beef, to lift its ban.

In the Chicago trading pits, cattle futures fell limit-down for the second straight session. The chief economist for the USDA predicted futures prices would eventually retreat from recent record levels of more than 90 cents per pound to last year's range of about 75 cents per pound. The key will be American consumers. They buy 90 percent of U.S. beef.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not worried about it at all. I'm ordering a filet mignon today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't say like hysterically worried. But I just figure I will stay away for it for the time being.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beef prices have been very high over the last period of time. So I think -- I'm hoping it will actually bring prices down.

GREG SHERRY, OLD HOMESTEAD STEAK HOUSE: I think people are very, very well schooled on what's going on. And the USDA has pretty much said it's not a problem with the states.

HUNTINGTON (on camera): But American consumers are notoriously fickle and impatient. And beef industry insiders concede, it will take months to determine the exact extent of mad cow disease in this country. And, in that time, beef producers are likely to suffer a significant financial setback.

Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: Have mad cow fears changed your beef-eating habits? You can vote right now at CNN.com/Wolf.

We'll have the results later in this broadcast. And while you're there, I would like to hear directly from you, our viewers. Send me your comments anytime and we might read some of them at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read Wolf's daily online column: CNN.com/Wolf.

Deadly mudslides: search-and-rescue efforts under way right now in Southern California.

Al Qaeda arrests: Authorities dismantle the cell behind last month's suicide attacks in Turkey.

Terror target: why one small town in Virginia is on special alert.

More hard news ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Boys will be boys, but add a bowl game to the mix and things can get out of hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is simply a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: A Christmas classic ends with postgame punches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back to CNN.

Race against time: rescuers digging through mounds of mud and debris for signs of survivors in California.

But first, a quick check of the latest headlines.

The best post-Christmas present possible for a South Carolina family. Their 2-year-old son was found in the woods near Charleston this afternoon, after disappearing yesterday on a walk with his father. Hundreds of people helped searched for the boy who is said to appear healthy. He's being checked out at a hospital as a precaution.

Conflicting reports on the probe into the latest attempt to kill Pakistan's president. The country's interior minister told lawmakers, one of two suicide bombers who attacked Pervez Musharraf's convoy yesterday has been identified. But the information minister says he has not. The assassination attempt was the second against Musharraf in 12 days.

Funerals today for victims of yesterday's violence in the Middle East. Among them, one of four people killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber near Tel Aviv. And, in Gaza, an Islamic Jihad commander was buried. He died in a targeted Israeli airstrike, along with five other people.

And a predawn earthquake has killed thousands of people in they ancient Iranian city of Bam. News reports in Iran quoting government officials say more than 20,000 were killed and thousands more injured. Countries from around the world are offering help, including the United States.

Aid already is beginning to arrive in Bam, where whole neighborhoods were leveled.

Shirzad Bozorgmehr has the latest story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): The military are using several helicopters and C-130 transport planes to evacuate the injured. But many survivors face a freezing night outdoors. Nights in Bam can be bitterly cold at this time of year. Iranian officials are urging the people to donate blood, blankets, warm clothing and canned food. The government has set up six centers in Tehran for receiving public donations of cash and supplies for the victims of the quake. The ancient city of Bam was founded well over two millennia ago. Its citadel, which is now totally destroyed, was one of Iran's major tourist attractions and the largest mud brick structure in the world.

The Office of Natural Disasters in Tehran has sent rescue teams to the city to help with rescue operations already undertaken by provisional and local authorities. And from further afield, several countries, including Russia, France and Greece, say they're ready to send experts, sniffer dogs and first aid to help the victims.

The United Nations is also sending teams of experts to Iran to assess the damage and help coordinate rescue efforts. The government has declared three days of mourning for the victims of this disaster.

Shirzad Bozorgmehr for CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Here is more information about the ancient city of Bam, devastated by today's quake.

Homes, schools, mosques and bath houses stand in the same places they did centuries ago. They are mostly constructed of mud and sandstone materials that don't weather earthquakes well, obviously. Since the city's inception, believed to be between 250 B.C. and 224 A.D., Bam was known as a major trading and military post. The Afghan invasion of 1722 devastated Bam, eventually leading to the closing of its illustrious gates. It has been one of the most visited historical sites in Iran.

And this just in: Four people are now dead from that mudslide that swept over homes and cabins in Southern California's fire-scarred San Bernardino mountains.

CNN's Julie Cevene is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE CEVENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At daybreak, from above, homes buried, vehicles swallowed by an avalanche of mud and debris. The day after massive mudslides crews tackled the job on foot, searching for a number of people still unaccounted for.

TRACEY MARTINEZ, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: What happened was two buildings washed away. And we do believe that there were folks in one of the buildings. And it washed straight down. The road is covered. And I would say a good 15 feet high of mud.

CEVENE: The site they're targeting, a church campground just north of San Bernadino, where rescuers plucked 14 people from fast- moving water, mud and debris on Christmas day. TABITHA LINDEMULDER, FLOOD VICTIM: It was probably about a mile and a half we had to walk down. And it was just muddy. The bridges were gone there. It was like waterfalls everywhere. Mud. And we had to climb over a few things to get out of there. But we did.

CEVENE: The storm dumped at least three inches of rain on areas badly scarred by wildfires, including near by Devore (ph), where some 52 people were rescued after a wall of mud slammed into their campground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on top of that log, that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CEVENE: Chilling temperatures and treacherous terrain is making finding victims all the more difficult.

MARTINEZ: We're not going up there to locate dead bodies. We're going up there to find the folks that survived this horrible incident.

CEVENE (on camera): Authorities call it a tedious search. More than 65 personnel, six rescue dogs. Despite improved weather conditions, much of this effort is still being conducted on foot.

In San Bernadino County, California, I'm Julie Cevene, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Waging war. Why one U.S. Army colonel believes the size of America's ground troops needs to be reduced.

Blocking out the bad. NBA star Kobe Bryant talks about the difficulties of facing sometimes hostile crowds night after night.

Sore losers, and no real winners. A National Bowl game turn into a slugfest.

But first, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIN (voice-over): Turkish crackdown. Turkish authorities say they have effectively dismantled an al Qaeda cell that was behind the suicide bombings that took more than 60 lives last month. Officials say they have detained about 160 suspects and confiscated more than 1,000 pounds of explosives.

Heading out. Twenty-three members of the Japanese air force boarded flights for the Mideast. They are the vanguard of 1,000 troops being sent to Iraq on a noncombat, humanitarian mission. It is Japan's biggest military deployment since World War II.

Grim hunt. The search continues off the coast of Benin following yesterday's airliner crash. Officials in the West African country say the number of confirmed deaths has risen from above 100, but more than 20 people reportedly survived. Not giving up. Europeans space scientists are still trying to determine whether their Beagle space probe landed on Mars successfully. So far, efforts to detect a signal from the probe have been unsuccessful.

A royal welcome. The new Queen Mary II has arrived in its home port of Southampton, England. After a training cruise that started in France, where the huge luxury liner was built. The QM2 will begin its maiden transatlantic voyage January 12 when it departs for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: The chatter picked up by U.S. intelligence about a possible terror plot may have included the name of a small Virginia town. Residents are scratching their heads about that. But they, too, are now on alert. CNN's Jennifer Coggiola spent the day in Tappahannock, and is now back in our Washington bureau. Jennifer, what did you learn out there?

JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, we took a little road trip today down to that town southeast of D.C. that the FBI last week labeled a possible target for terrorism, news that took this small Virginia community by surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA (voice-over): In L.A., New York, Washington, obvious signs of cities on high alert. But just two hours outside of the nation's capitol, through Virginia's farm country, Tappahannock, a 300-year-old town with just 2,000 residents. You can't help to think -- a terrorist target?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would they pick a little town such as this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we got a phone call. And they said, turn the television on right away, Tappahannock has been targeted by a possible terrorist group.

COGGIOLA: News from the FBI that Tappahannock, like big U.S. cities, could be targeted by terrorists, took this sheriff, who has lived here his whole life, by surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came as a surprise to everybody who lives here. I was hoping it was a mistake.

COGGIOLA: So why Tappahannock?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we don't know. Nobody seems to know. We don't have anything major here to attract anybody.

COGGIOLA: There are no obvious terror targets in this waterfront town, not factories, not plants, just retail shops, restaurants and beautiful views. Even the river has no commercial port, though it does run into the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac river.

Nevertheless, extra security precautions were taken this week, including two of the town's 10 police officers on duty, as opposed to the usual one.

But the most effective method for security?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we've been a little more observant of what goes on, following up on any complaints we get about suspicious people, suspicious vehicles, that type of thing.

COGGIOLA: Something that comes easy in a town this small.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we know a lot of the people and we know things that are out of place. And I think something obviously out of place would be immediately reported.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you know, you tend to think, what would a terrorist look like, because I've never seen any of them with a sign across their chest saying they was terrorists.

COGGIOLA: In fact, the only cause for panic and concern this week, causing dozens of alarmed phone calls to the sheriff's office...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Media. Out-of-town plates, that type of thing. People are not used to that around here. So when they see media around, they start calling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA: The FBI reportedly included Tappahannock in the terror alert list of cities to watch based on some intercepted chatter. But somewhere in translation the name came up, as did Rappahannock, which is another rural Virginia town about 150 miles from Tappahannock -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Jennifer Coggiola. Interesting trip for you.

All right. Now to someone with first-hand experience fighting terror. Bozel Boz spent years in counter terrorism with the Marines and with the CIA. He's also the author of "The Terrorism Survival Handbook." Bazzel Baz joins us now from Tampa, Florida.

Bazzel, good afternoon to you. Thanks very much for joining us.

BAZZEL BAZ, AUTHOR, "TERRORISM SURVIVAL HANDBOOK": Thank you, Carol.

LIN: I want to play for you a soundbite from defense Secretary Ridge, from homeland security. This just in. We have an exclusive -- homeland security -- we have an exclusive interview with him. And this is what he had to say about cities being targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: Las Vegas and the folks out there know from time to time it comes up in the threat reporting generally. But there has been some, I think public speculation, either in Las Vegas or Los Angeles was a target for one of those airplanes. It may derive from the fact they were flying from Paris to Los Angeles, but they weren't a specific target, to my knowledge at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: All right. Bazzel, does the secretary of homeland security there, saying that Las Vegas was not a suspected target by terrorist attacks during this orange alert status. How do we know what to believe? It seems like there is a Russian roulette out there of likely targets, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago. How are people to know what to believe?

BAZ: I think we're going to continue to collect intelligence. But that has intelligence has to be analyzed and the dots have to be connected. A lot of times that is not intercepted until some of the last moments. I think that what we have to do is put out the best word we can to the American public when we receive that intelligence and let them know it is a possibility. And if we have a specific target list, a certain city, we owe it to the American public to at least mention that instead of not disclose that.

LIN: Why not disclose why it is that some places have been talked about, for example, an obscure place like Tappahannock, Virginia?

BAZ: I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

LIN: Why can't the government be more specific about cities being discussed, for example, Tappahannock, Virginia in the piece that aired before you?

BAZ: Well, a lot of times we only get partial intelligence. It is not enough to stir up the public as far as a specific threat is concerned. You know, we know we're under an entire umbrella as far as the war on terrorism is concerned when it comes to threats within our entire nation.

It is not just internationally. It is domestic as well. It is a hit and miss to be quite honest with you. It is a very big world out there. There's a ton of intelligence to cipher through. That is one of the reasons why the FBI and CIA are constantly asking the public to assist on the war on terrorism in keeping an eye out for suspicious- looking activity.

LIN: And not only the American public but, also, for example, the French government and the French airline, Air France. In this particular incident, in the last 48 hours, passengers, more than 13 of them being interrogated by authorities. At least six flights delayed or canceled. Is this based on bad information the United States is getting and therefore, passing on to foreign governments? BAZ: No. I believe it is based on solid intelligence. In this case the United States did the right thing. We put a demand in place that said you will not fly here to the United States. As you know, certain countries have harbored terrorism in the past. France being one of those. The United States is not willing to risk the lives of the American people, nor its cities, just by being a little too soft with the demands these days.

LIN: All right. Getting to the heart of the matter, if al Qaeda is behind the information on the latest threats, you have a situation now where the United States has captured Saddam Hussein. By his capture, what has the United States learned about how to get, then, Osama bin Laden next?

BAZ: Well, I think that, Carol, we know that enemies of the United States, both foreign and domestic, travel in the same circles. The fact that Saddam Hussein, for many years, was concerned about U.S. foreign policy means that he probably did collaborate with al Qaeda and other -- possibly, other world leaders in monitoring and deterring anything the United States had in mind.

Through our interrogation methods and what documents we may have seized from Saddam Hussein, you know, eventually we'll find out what connection financially or politically he had with those other people. That will, obviously, give us a thread to follow and know exactly who our enemies are.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Bazzel Baz, for joining us today. Former CIA official. I'll be talking to you, as well, throughout the weekend during this orange terror alert.

BAZ: Thank you, Carol.

LIN: Well, the U.S. military has its hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan but there are questions about its readiness to fight the next war. A hotly debated new book calls for a revolution in the way America fights. It's titled "Transformation Under Fire." Wolf Blitzer sat down with the author, Col. Douglas MacGregor of the National Defense University.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Col. MacGregor, thanks very much for joining us. Your book has sparked a lot, a lot of commotion out there, a lot of controversy. The bottom line is what?

COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR, U.S. ARMY: The bottom line is that landpower is the center of warfare and landpower needs to fundamentally change and landpower over the last 12 years has not fundamentally changed.

BLITZER: Landpower meaning a ground war?

MACGREGOR: Absolutely. The ground forces and how we integrate them as the rest of the force, how we organize them to deploy and fight. Someone mentioned the other day that this was not your father's Oldsmobile in a commercial. Well, our soldiers, who are probably the best we've ever had, are serving in their grandfather's and their great grandfather's army.

BLITZER: They seem to have done a great job, going in from Kuwait up through Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime.

MACGREGOR: Well, first of all, the soldier has always done a good job. The good news is the American soldier is well trained. If you put him in any environment where he has to fight, he is going to fight very well. The problem is the enemy we took on was much much weaker than he was 12 years ago in 1991 and is probably the weakest and the least competent enemy that we've ever faced and may face for many, many years.

BLITZER: The enemy out there is a different kind of enemy. There is a Saddam Hussein type of formal military that the U.S. did well with, but there's also another enemy out there, the terror network and Osama bin Laden. Is the military ready to deal with that terror threat?

MACGREGOR: Well, we're dealing with it today but we're not postured for as much success as we can enjoy if we were structured differently. Today we're fighting a 360-degree war. We're fighting in every direction.

We had to do that on the way to Baghdad, we've had to do that in the post-conflict environment which has turned out to be an extended conflict. That means that you have got to build forces that can operate independently at lower levels than we currently have organized to fight. We're still into divisions and corps of World War II. We've had to break those up, modify those, build 5,000 to 5,500-men brigade battle groups to try and cope with this new environment.

BLITZER: What are you recommending? What must be done in the short term?

MACGREGOR: The first thing we've got to do is abandon these formations of linear warfare that were designed in 1942 for an environment that doesn't exist anymore. What I set forth in the book is a plan to reorganize the force to do two things. First of all, to create more combat power at the lowest level with less overhead. Less overhead in bureaucratic terms in peacetime, in terms of the army that readies the force to deploy and fight and also a commanding control structure that is, as Secretary Rumsfeld has outlined repeatedly, inherently joint.

BLITZER: So what does that mean specifically in lay terms?

MACGREGOR: Well, it means that your maneuver forces would be under brigadier generals. They would be roughly 5,000 to 5,500 men contingence-designed to operate across a battle space independently as opposed to being part of these large divisions that are really designed to advance on a linear front.

BLITZER: So they could make life and death decisions in terms of moving the battle forward on their own without waiting for guidance from above.

MACGREGOR: Yes. You want to drive the decisionmaking to a lower level so people can respond and react more quickly. You want information exploited at a lower level. We talk about networking. With all the networking in the world it won't make any difference if culturally, and organizationally, you are not postured to exploit information.

BLITZER: But everything I've heard lately is that the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, this joint operation, as you will, is working a lot better than it ever did before.

MACGREGOR: If you look carefully, we did a brilliant job by the time, three weeks into the war, we get to Baghdad. But we began the war organized essentially as we have always organized. If you went back to 1944 and looked at the structure of command and control in the Armed Forces, it was very similar in Kuwait and in Iraq during this last war. By the time the war was almost at a close, in three weeks, we began to achieve the level of jointness that is desirable when we ought to enter conflicts in that state of readiness.

BLITZER: Col. MacGregor's book is called, "Transformation Under Fire: The Strategic Revolution on Land, Warfare." I know a lot of your fellow officers are discussing and debating your ideas. Thanks for joining us.

MACGREGOR: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: In other news, Kobe Bryant gets personal in public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOBE BRYANT, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: You can't control -- try to control things you can't control. You just, kind of, have to let it go. And at times, that can be extremely difficult, but, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The NBA star speaking out as he prepares for the fight of his life.

And Michael Jackson breaks his silence. What he's saying about the allegations against him, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: A boy sentenced to life without parole for the murder of another child is getting a second chance. The Florida's state attorney's office says Lionel Tate has been offered the same plea deal that was rejected by his mother before trial. Tate, now 16, killed a 6-year-old playmate when he was 12.

His attorney said he was imitating pro wrestling moves. The original deal would have sent the boy to juvenile prison for three years followed by a year of house arrest. Prosecutors say the new offer should lead to Lionel Tate's release within months. It follows the recent overturning of his conviction by an appeals court.

Michael Jackson talks about the child molestation charges he's facing in an interview airing this Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes". He sat down last night with correspondent Ed Bradley telling him, quote, "before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists."

Asked if he thought it was still okay to have children in his bed, Jackson responded, "if you're going to be a pedophile, if you're going to be Jack the Ripper, if you're going to be a murderer, it's not a good idea. That I am not."

And speaking of the police search of his Neverland Ranch, Jackson said, "I won't live there ever again." It's a house now, not a home anymore. I'll only visit.

For the first time since he was charged, Kobe Bryant is speaking publicly and in detail about the sexual assault case that could send him to prison. He shared his thoughts in an interview with ABC that was broadcast last night during halftime of the Lakers-Rockets game.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOBE BRYANT, NBA PLAYER: I'm go into arenas anticipating the worst. I'm going to the floor and just concentrating on being with my teammates and trying to do the task at hand. You can't help but overhear the fans booing or whatever.

LIN (voice-over): Kobe Bryant did not discuss the charges he faces but he did discuss his feelings.

BRYANT: You know, you live in a nightmare and you can't wake up out of it.

LIN: In his first broadcast interview since he was charged with sexual assault, the L.A. Lakers star said he sometimes has to struggle to keep his mind on the game.

BRYANT: It's much easier said than done as far as letting go what you can control, try to control. What you can't control, you kind of have to let it go, and, at times, that can be extremely difficult, but, you know, you do it.

LIN: Bryant is expected to go on trial this coming spring on charges he sexually assaulted a 19-year-old worker at a Colorado hotel. He says the sex was consensual. He could face a long prison sentence if he's convicted. But Bryant is trying to focus on what he hopes will be many more years on the basketball court.

BRYANT: It is a blessing to have the talent to play this game. I'm going to try to maximize that blessing. God gave me a talent to play.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LIN: College football fans are talking about the way last night's Hawaii Bowl ended. Emotions got out of control after Hawaii's triple overtime victory over Houston. Players starting swinging at each other, turning the playing field into a mob scene. It took several minutes to break it up.

Hawaii coach June Jones blames referees for letting things get out of hand. But Houston;s coach says it was, quote "just one of those things." Just one of those things.

Our hot Web question of the day when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Here's how you're weighing in on the Web question of the day. "Have mad cow fears changed your beef-eating habits?" Look at this. 70 percent of you say yes while 30 percent of you say no. As we always tell you, this is not, of course, a scientific poll.

Let's hear from you and read some of our e-mail now. Carri writes, "I believe it is irresponsible to portray Mad Cow disease as not a big deal. It is extremely serious in a society that views a cheese burger Happy Meal as a suitable meal for a child. If that child becomes sick with the human form of BSE, I'm sure then, we will view this debilitating disease as serious, but then it will be too late. Please, look at the facts of this disease, it is scary.

Meanwhile, John writes, "The media is making it sound as if the entire beef supply of this country is tainted, thus causing people in other nations to assume this and not buy American beef. I find your commentary of 1 positive cow to be absurd and counterproductive to all beef all beef farmers."

A reminder, you can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, 5:00 pm Eastern. And tune in to LATE EDITION this Sunday. Among the guests, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Thanks so much for joining us, Kitty Pilgrim is in for LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, which starts right now.

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





California Mudslide Survivors>