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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Guarding Skies Against al Qaeda; Is Saddam Coming Clean About Baghdad's Missing Millions?; Jackson Speaks Out
Aired December 29, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Emergency order. Guarding the skies against al Qaeda.
Saddam's stash. Is he coming clean about Baghdad's missing millions.
More mudslides?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're not prepared for a flood, please take the time today and be prepared.
ANNOUNCER: Heavy rain is on the way.
Roughed up? Michael Jackson speaks out on his arrest and on the charges against him.
This is WOLF BLIZTER REPORTS for Monday, December 29, 2003.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN: CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta. Wolf is off today. America on alert. The threat from the skies. Live pictures now from airports around the country where security has been stepped up for more than a week now. The concern, a 9/11-style terror attack by al Qaeda or one of its affiliates.
America's pointman for homeland security says that concern has not eased at all since the nation went to code orange and today he issued emergency orders for international airlines serving the U.S. We'll go across the country with reports from key transportation hubs.
But we begin with the latest emergency decree from Washington. The Department of Homeland Security is ordering international airlines to place armed government officers on certain flights to, from, or over the United States. Let's go live now to CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena for more on this. Hello, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Well, Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge described it is an added precaution. If the U.S. receives intelligence about a particular airline or flight, it can act to make sure that passengers are safe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARENA (voice-over): The U.S. now wants armed air marshals on international flights that may pose a terror threat. If airlines do not comply, they could be denied U.S. landing rights.
TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: It's pretty clear that it is understood by our international aviation partners that the threat to passenger aircraft is an international challenge and all of us must work as closely together as possible to share information and act upon it to ensure the safety of our citizens.
ARENA: Officials say intelligence continues to suggest al Qaeda and related groups are planning another 9/11-type attack against the United States. Such information led to the cancellation of six Air France flights just last week, and a general concern about flights out of Mexico.
RAFI RON, NEW AGE SECURITY SOLUTIONS: It was only on the background of this specific intelligence that was received a few weeks ago concerning such a flight, or flights, that, suddenly, everybody realized that this is critical.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: But the threat information is not limited to aviation. There is still concern about possible suicide bombings or the use of a weapon of mass destruction. Officials say the most immediate challenge is deciphering intelligence regarding New Year's Eve. Sources say there is information suggesting there could be an attack on New Year's but do not have any specifics -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelli Arena in Washington. Thank you very much.
As the orange alert moves into its second week, we thought we would check on how some American cities are coping. We'll start with New York and Joe Torres of CNN affiliate, WABC.
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JOE TORRES, WABC CORRESPONDENT: Here in Times Square and the tourists keep coming and coming and coming. From Europe, from Asia, from all across the United States, pouring into the Big Apple for the big New Year's Eve celebrations on Wednesday night. And they are arriving here despite a code orange terror alert and all the things that come with it. That means a huge police presence throughout the city.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kris Osborn in Chicago where law enforcement authorities have stepped up security in this orange alert holiday period. Chicago police say so far, things have been reasonably calm, and quote, "people are behaving."
Although they do have stepped-up patrols in the Chicago metropolitan area and they say they have a specific security plan in place for the New Year, they just won't discuss what that is. Meanwhile, the airport officials say they, too, are stepping up their security on this orange alert holiday season.
More law enforcement, they have canine dogs patrolling the terminals and they point to additional behind the scenes security measures that is, of course, not being discussed. Much of it, however, relates to chatter or intelligence, threat-related information and a specific geographic area.
MARY STEWART, KTVT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Mary Stewart reporting from Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport. Airport officials here say that they are pleased with the new security regulations. American Airlines is based here. Flights here go to some 20 international destinations.
Airport officials say they believe that homeland security has done such a good job showing up security to this point, that would-be terrorists are now looking for softer targets and, as a result, the regulations have been tightened. Back to you.
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O'BRIEN: Thank you, Mary Stewart with KTVT. So how serious is the threat from the skies? Can the latest emergency measures stop a potential al Qaeda attack? Joining us from Los Angeles, veteran terrorism analyst Brian Jenkins. He's served on a blue ribbon panel on aviation security and is currently a senior adviser at the Rand corporation. Dr. Jenkins, good to have you back with us.
DR. BRIAN JENKINS, SR. ADVISER, RAND CORPORATION: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: We focus so much on these holidays. I wonder if the terrorists do the same.
JENKINS: I don't think so. They are opportunistic, they're patient. They carefully prepare their attacks and when they think they have things in place to do so, they will carry them out. There's nothing special about any particular date.
O'BRIEN: So when we most expect it, we should least expect it, perhaps?
JENKINS: I wouldn't go that far. I mean, the fact that we have this recent alert that happens to coincide with the holidays, it's not a matter of listening to the terrorists say, can we get together during the holidays and do something. There is not only an increase in the volume of chatter, as it's referred to, but, also, these judgments to raise the threat level are based upon the quality of that information, the credibility of the sources, as well as the specificity of the information.
O'BRIEN: The announcement today that armed security personnel would be on some flights originating out of the country, flying into the U.S., over the U.S., that came as a surprise to a lot of people who would have said, perhaps rightly, why haven't they been doing this since 9/11?
JENKINS: The fact is that some foreign carriers do, depending on the nature of the threat and their analysis of it, have armed security personnel on their aircraft now. Not in every aircraft, nor do we. So this is not something that's entirely new.
When we looked at the episode last week where these flights out of Paris were canceled because of security concerns, then one looks at that and says, look, there are additional things we can do to provide additional layers of security. We're doing some here in the United States. Let's think about doing some of these, requesting some of these same steps be taken abroad.
O'BRIEN: Now we're looking at live pictures of Los Angeles International Airport in 1999, it is known now, al Qaeda singled that particular facility out for an attack when the millennium struck. That was forwarded when someone was arrested at the Canadian border. But I guess that proves that airports remain a fixation as well as significant dates. How concerned should we be about airports and other locations come New Year's Eve?
JENKINS: Let's make a distinction between airports and protecting aviation. Security measures that we have in place are designed primarily to keep weapons, explosives, and villains off of commercial aircraft. They are not designed to protect the airport itself, although there are some measures to do that. But the fact is that's just another public place. Protecting public places is extremely difficult because security measures at one simply move the terrorist down the road to another. If somebody is determined to kill people at some public place it's extremely difficult to stop them.
O'BRIEN: Are you concerned about places like shopping malls, for example, when you start talking about that?
JENKINS: All of these have been mentioned as possible -- as possible targets. Of course, that concern is there but, again, I think we Americans have to recognize that even the heightened probability of an attack or possibility of a terrorist attack does not translate into significantly increased risk for us as individuals. The best security advice one can give during the holidays is, still, drive very carefully.
O'BRIEN: All right. One final thought. Orange alert yet again. We seem to hear a statement from the government which is confusing, at best, to the general public. Heightened concern, but go about your business. Would it be better if these raised levels of security threat were just shared among law enforcement officers who, after all, are the people who can do something about it?
JENKINS: Miles, that might be better. But let's be realistic. You are in the news media. You know the fact that the minute the federal government shares its information not only with the federal government agencies involved in security, but with 50 states, with 18,000 police jurisdictions in this country, plus those in the private sector that have security responsibilities, plus once we begin to see a heightened security measure take place, it's going to take the news media only minutes, if not seconds, to be on top of that, to ask the question, what is going on? To go to their sources. And then we'll have several different versions of what is going on getting out to the public.
I prefer treating the American citizens as adults. Tell them what they know -- tell them what we don't know. And allow people to make their own individual decisions. This is not something we can do easily and private in our society.
O'BRIEN: Brian Jenkins, who is with the Rand Corporation, terrorism expert, thanks as always for your insights. Appreciate it.
JENKINS: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this. Do you agree with the new U.S. demand that foreign carriers have air marshals? You can vote right now. The location is cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results a little later in this broadcast.
And while you're there, we would like to hear from you directly. Send us your comments anytime. If we have time, we will read some of them at the end of this program.
Interrogating Saddam. Is he offering more information, perhaps? We'll tell you how the former Iraqi leader may be helping coalition troops battle insurgent forces in the war-torn nation.
Also, the mad cow concern. We have details that point to the source, and it extends beyond the Canadian borders.
Plus, tough timing in Southern California where the forecast could bring more trouble to victims dealing with those terrible mudslides.
But first, the "News Quiz."
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O'BRIEN (voice-over): The worst damage toll ever recorded from a mudslide occurred which of the following places? Venezuela, California, Brazil or Kazakhstan? The answer later in the program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Saddam Hussein long ago turned Iraq's national treasury into his personal piggybank. Some of those funds went to build luxurious palaces. You know that. But the total is said to run into the tens of billions of dollars. What happened to the rest of the money? Let's go live now to CNN's Jennifer Coggiola in Washington for more on that. Hello, Jennifer.
JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well you may remember when Saddam Hussein was captured December 14, he was found with $750,000 in $100 denominations. But that cash, not even a fraction of Saddam's estimated savings. Now, according to one member of the Iraqi Governing Council, the former Iraqi leader has begun it talk about where his money is hidden as well weapons arsenals used by those attacking coalition forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA (voice-over): Billions of dollars stashed away by Saddam. Smuggled funds, its whereabouts unknown. Now, according to one member of the Iraqi Governing Council, Saddam Hussein has acknowledged money he looted from Iraq has been deposited abroad.
The U.S. estimated Saddam made off with nearly $40 billion. Now council member Iyad Allawi, quoted in two London-based Arab newspapers, saying that Mr. Hussein has told investigators what happened to the 40 billion, that he deposited the money under factious names into the banks of several countries, including Japan, Switzerland and Germany.
This afternoon, the State Department said efforts were already under way to recover missing funds, but could not confirm the newest reports yet.
J. ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: As we determine their veracity and credibility, we, along with the Iraqis -- I would put the emphasis on the Iraqis -- will spare no effort to ensure that the funds are returned to the people to whom they rightfully belong.
COGGIOLA: Important work for a country currently in debt up to $120 billion.
ERELI: The money that belongs -- that was stolen from the Iraqi people by the former regime will be returned to the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA: One of those articles went on to say that in Baghdad another member of the Iraqi Government Council said he knew Saddam had been talking about other things, including the names of people inside Iraq who were carrying out attacks against U.S. forces, but he knew nothing about funds.
And another council member, spokesman for Ahmed Chalabi, acknowledged that they had information about Saddam's money before his arrest but, added, quote, "We don't have new information on funds. If we did, we won't be talking about this" -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jennifer Coggiola, thank you very much.
There's been more deadly violence in Iraq. A firefight erupted between American troops and suspected insurgents in the northern city of Mosul. Three Iraqis were killed, two U.S. soldiers wounded. CNN's Karl Penhaul in Baghdad with more.
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KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. military spokesman have told us that overnight Sunday soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were involved in a gunfight with suspected members of Ansar al Islam. That's the Islamic militant group that Washington accuses of links to al Qaeda.
That firefight erupted when the 101st Airborne unit tried to conduct a raid on a house used by suspected members of Ansar al Islam. The suspected guerrillas responded with AK-47 and grenade fire.
In the gunfight, three suspected members of that group were killed, two U.S. soldiers were wounded. But we understand now that they are in stable condition and out of danger.
In addition to that overnight Sunday but in a separate part of Iraq in the city of Karbala, the scene of the devastating suicide bomb attacks on Saturday, Polish commanders in charge of the multi-national force there, say that they have arrested five suspects in connection with those bombings. They haven't yet declared the nationality of those suspects. On Sunday, a Polish general in the city said that he suspected that foreign fighters may have been involved in that attack.
Now, in a somewhat different matter, about 500 officers from the newly-formed Iraqi national army left Baghdad Airport today en route for Jordan. They'll be undergoing over the next few days officer training with the Jordanian army and then returning to Iraq. The second battalion of the army is due to graduate on about January the 6th.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: A medical alert in the northeast. There's concern, yet not panic, over a deadly meningitis taking its toll on two school districts.
Grief and agony in Iran. The death toll is rising as rescue teams sift through the rubble of that massive quake. We'll have the latest.
And what really happened behind closed doors? We'll examine the circumstances behind the King of Pop's arrest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The Agriculture Department's top veterinarian says there's more evidence that a Washington state cow with mad cow disease came from Canada. CNN's Chris Huntington is in New York and he has more on that for us in this case.
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CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. officials say original records provided by the owner of the infected cow showed that she was, in fact, 6 1/2-years-old, a crucial finding that could go a long way to calm the fears of a mad cow outbreak. DR. RON DEHAVEN, USDA: The age of the animal is specially important in that it is a likely explanation as to how this animal would have become infected. She would have been born before feed bans were implemented in North America as the feed bans in the U.S. and Canada both went into effect in August of 1997.
HUNTINGTON: Those feed bans prevent farmers from feeding rendered cow parts back to the herds, a practice that is seen as the primary cause of mad cow disease. The cow in question, along with 81 others cattle that officials are concerned about, have been traced to a herd from Alberta, Canada. But until DNA tests, which will talk about a week confirm that link, Canadian officials do not want to take the blame.
PREMIER RALPH KLEIN, ALBERTA, CANADA: I'm saying let cooler head prevail, let's do the investigation. And regardless of whether the cow came from Canada or not, let's deal with the problem.
HUNTINGTON: Alberta has seen two incidents of mad cow disease, one confirmed case last May and another one back in 1993. One theory is that ranchers in Alberta relied more heavily on feed containing reprocessed cow parts prior to the 1997 ban. A lesson for U.S. cattle producers is that any link to mad cow is extremely costly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a neighbor to the north that this happened to in May of this year. That industry is still somewhat feeling, and, in some instances, reeling from the effects of that seven months later.
HUNTINGTON: But both Canada and the United States have a direct link to the biggest known source of mad cow disease. Both countries imported breeder cattle from Great Britain in the mid-1980s. Those imports stopped in 1989 when mad cow broke out in England. But both Canadian and U.S. beef industry sources confirm that remnants from most of those British cows were almost certainly fed to North American cattle.
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HUNTINGTON: Now in the Chicago trading pits today, cattle futures prices fell, the limit down for the third straight session. But if the cash market at the feeder lots for cattle that are going straight to slaughter, prices actually stabilized. And McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King say their business has held firm in the last week, a sign that the U.S. consumer has not given up a beef just yet -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: So that the statement by the USDA today probably helped the markets, Chris?
HUNTINGTON: Ultimately, yes, Miles. It is the cash market if you will. That's the transaction that taking place, right, if you will, on the front lines at the feeder lots. Those, in a sense, are the most important transactions because that tells you, really, what the front line feeling is about this situation. And the fact that those prices stabilized a bit today, albeit down about 20 percent from last week, is an important sign that, at least for now, the down draft has come to a halt.
O'BRIEN: Perhaps the worst is over. CNN's Chris Huntington in New York. Thank you very much.
Emergency workers in New Hampshire are being urged to be hyper vigilant after five teenagers were hospitalized with symptoms of bacterial meningitis. One has died from the disease. CNN Boston bureau chief Dan Lothian is on the story for us.
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DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Across New Hampshire doctors and nurses are on alert for symptoms of bacterial meningitis. The health department's Web site is giving them specific guidance.
DR. JESSE GREENBLATT, N.H. EPIDEMEOLGIST: We do not, however, consider the state to be having a outbreak. We are noticing a cluster of illnesses, that's true. But we do not know that that represents anything more than sporadic cases.
LOTHIAN: There's concern but not panic after teens in New Hampshire, including 18-year-old Rachael Perry, were hospitalized in less than a week with the disease. Two 15-year-old teens are classmates but authorities have not yet connected the others. Perry died over the weekend.
MICHAEL PERRY, RACHAEL PERRY'S FATHER: Hard to believe that the young girl that strong was taken.
LOTHIAN: Perry had initially checked into an emergency room just before Christmas, but her father says she was sent home.
PERRY: She had flu symptoms and she was released. They didn't do any bloodwork.
LOTHIAN: Christmas morning, Perry was again taken to the emergency room, this time with symptoms the hospital says were, quote, "severe and acute."
Bacterial meningitis, which can be treated with antibiotics, affects the -- infects the membranes and spinal cord. The symptoms? High fever, headache, stiff neck, rash, seizures. State health officials say the disease is spread primarily through direct contact like kissing or sharing a water bottle. They are now searching for a link.
(on camera): As for the other teens who remain hospitalized, three in fair condition, one in serious. Despite these recent cases, there are fewer this year than most, 11 compared to an average 15 to 25 cases of meningitis annually.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: He was sentenced to life in prison but a new plea bargain could change that. Hear how soon 16-year-old Lionel Tate might be free. It is soon.
A close call. Pakistan's president avoids two recent assassination attempts. Who is behind the attacks? We have new some information to share with you.
And hope fades as casualties rise. We'll have the latest on the desperate search for survivors in the wake of Iran's deadly quake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to CNN. Coming up this next half hour...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The important thing is they don't have to wait for us to tell them to get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Barely recovering from one tragedy. Why Californians need to watch out for more mudslides.
But first, a quick check of the headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
O'BRIEN: More now on the top story, the threat from the skies. The U.S. government has ordered international air carriers to place armed officers on selected flights to this country. Britain is activating a plan to do just that, over the objections of its pilots.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police! Don't move!
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An appropriate level of response to a real and serious threat. That's the UK's government's justification of putting air marshals on flights where and when deemed necessary. A justification rejected by the British Airline Pilots' Association.
JIM MCAUSLAN, BRITISH AIRLINE PILOTS ASSOC. : We've made our position clear. We don't believe that guns should be in aircraft. If they are we want the proper protocol for the deployment of police sky marshals.
We've been pressing a very reasonable list of demands, but unsuccessfully, I'm afraid. We haven't had a response, a positive response from the government.
HANCOCKS: The pilots union is angered they found about the move at the same time as the public and say pilots may refuse to fly an aircraft if certain conditions are not met.
Those conditions include prior knowledge a marshal will be on their flight, and the captain maintaining ultimate control of the flight.
The undercover marshals are expected to begin work as early as Monday.
(on camera) These air marshals will have a police or a military background and have been in training for the past year. They'll be disguised as ordinary passengers, and the UK government says that their main role is to act as a deterrent to a potential terrorist.
(voice-over) Israel's carrier El Al has had marshals for around 30 years, and the Australian government announced last week it would use armed guards on many flights between Australia and Singapore.
As for Britain, the pilots' union is demanding talks with the UK government so the pilots have input into how the air marshal plan is implemented.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Pakistan's information minister says at least one of the three suicide bombers who tried to kill President Pervez Musharraf last week was from outside the country. It's another sign pointing to possible al Qaeda involvement in efforts to eliminate Mr. Musharraf.
CNN's Barbara Starr explains why that is a frightening prospect for the U.S. -- hello, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello to you, Miles.
While many people have been focused on code orange here in the United States, some very significant concerns developing about terrorism abroad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Two assassination attempts in 12 days against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a vital U.S. ally in the war on terror and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. In Washington and Islamabad, senior officials suspect, al Qaeda or affiliated groups are behind it.
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: We have to rid this country of all extremism, fundamentalism, terrorism.
STARR: At the highest levels of the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community, officials are worried. If Musharraf were assassinated, would the U.S. military even be able to retaliate as part of President Bush's promise to fight terrorism? PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: If Musharraf is assassinated, the United States loses probably its most critical ally in the war on terror.
STARR: Under Musharraf, Taliban and al Qaeda have felt the pressure, hundreds arrested. And, for the first time, the Pakistani military moved into areas believed sheltering extremists, perhaps even bin Laden.
BERGEN: Assassinating President Musharraf would not only have an effect on the war on terrorism. It might send Pakistan into chaos. It is a country with 140 million people, armed with nuclear weapons, where religious parties, militant religious parties, are taking an ever-greater role.
STARR: The U.S. has good reason to worry. A tape believed to be recorded by Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's No. 2, called in August for Pakistanis to rise up against Musharraf. The first attack against Musharraf involved explosives with advanced detonators, the second, suicide bombers in vehicles, all hallmarks of past al Qaeda operations.
ASHRAF JEHANGIR QAZI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: I think it's fair to surmise -- at this stage, we can only surmise -- that it is these kinds of people who are behind this dastardly attempt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: And, Miles, no one here is forgetting that it was just two days before 9/11 that extremists assassinated a key Northern Alliance commander in Afghanistan. In hindsight, that assassination was seen as possibly paving the way for the 9/11 attacks.
So here, keeping Musharraf alive and in power is key to keeping al Qaeda intact -- al Qaeda from attacking again, officials say.
O'BRIEN: Well, what do we know about the ring of security around Mr. Musharraf? And to what extent is the U.S. able to augment it?
STARR: That is the key question. We have spoken to Pakistani officials about it. Now, for the record, they say that the U.S. is not providing any direct assistance to President Musharraf's personal security.
However, it is widely believed that there are some technical things that the United States is helping with. Sources have told CNN, for example, that the U.S. sent forensic experts after the first assassination attempt to look at the detonators, look at the explosives, see if they could pick up any forensic evidence of who might have been behind all of it, every reason to believe that type of technical assistance from the United States is continuing.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks much.
Devastating mudslides. The search is on in San Bernardino, California, for two children missing from a Christmas Day mudslide. We'll go live there in just a moment.
Bruised and battered. This time, it is Michael Jackson making who is the accusations.
But first, the "Weekend Snapshot."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Four people died in a collision between a small plane and a glider over Peoria, Arizona. Both aircraft had taken off on from a flight school. The son of the school's founder was among those killed. Federal officials are investigating.
Seven years after the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, a potential significant development in the case. Her parents lawyer said, DNA from a bloodstain on the child's underwear has been sent to the FBI and may help identify her killer.
New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner collapsed in Sarasota, Florida, over the weekend. Emergency crews said it appeared to be a simply fainting spell. And Steinbrenner fully recovered, although the cause is unclear. It happened while he was at the funeral of Otto Graham, a former quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.
And Hobbits ruled the holiday weekend box office. The final installment of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is No. 1 again. It's edging toward a half-billion dollars in receipts after less than two weeks in release.
And that's your "Weekend Snapshot."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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O'BRIEN: The search continues in California for two boys missing since a Christmas Day mudslide. But authorities admit it is unlikely they will be found alive.
A dozen bodies already have been recovered from the site, a religious camp in the San Bernardino mountains. Two more victims were killed in another mudslide nearby. And authorities fear new storms will trigger even more mudslides.
Craig Fiegener of CNN affiliate KCAL -- KCAL -- joins us from San Bernardino.
What's the latest, Craig?
CRAIG FIEGENER, KCAL REPORTER: Well, this is the very latest.
We have just been given an update by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. They are telling us that it does appear unlikely now that they will find the last two victims in this Christmas Day campground disaster. This all started with a flood. It released these SUV-sized boulders. They plowed through a building. There were 28 people inside; 14 were rescued; 12 bodies have been recovered.
But there are two more people, younger people, one a child, 8 or 9 months old, the other a teenager. They have not been seen since this Christmas Day disaster. And today, after 4.5 days of using dogs, the sheriff's department says it appears as though they may not find those two victims. In fact, they said they were still surprised they were able to recover 12 bodies.
O'BRIEN: Craig, give us a sense of what's next, then, for these teams. The weather is not good. The prospects are dim. Are they going to abandon their efforts?
FIEGENER: Well, they do appear as though they are going to call this search off at sundown tonight, maybe bring the dogs back when the weather is warmer and drier.
If you look at the forecast over the next few days here, we do have some rain. And that poses a new problem. We are talking about an area that was devastated by those wildfires in late October, early November. And now that area where the wildfires were burning is all a serious flood threat. We have about 30 miles of burned-out territory, much of it in the San Bernardino National Forest, where there could be a landslide or some sort of flooding disaster at any time.
When the fires were burning, they knew what areas were directly being threatened, because they knew where the fires were going. At this point, with rain falling over the entire area, there is the warning to people who live there to be ready to go, to have your car packed and be ready to leave immediately. But they are not going as far as to issue an actual evacuation order, like they did in the fires.
O'BRIEN: And why not, Craig? Why no evacuation order at this point?
FIEGENER: Well, that was a question that we had asked the sheriff's department about. And that's a very contentious issue, these evacuation orders. They can issue one. They can make people leave. In many cases, they do not obey the order, at least not everybody.
During the fires, we saw that they were driving through neighborhoods and tagging houses with yellow tape where people were defying the evacuation order. I think they feel, at this point, that, with what people have seen here, if they issue this evacuation order, they will have a large number of people who will leave, just like they did in the fires. But there is still going to be the problem of people who don't. They will tag those houses. And then they will try and deal with them in the flooding.
The problem is so widespread here, because we're talking about an area that was devastated by fire. Again, they knew where the fire was moving. They knew where the threat was moving to. That is not the case with the flooding, where the rain will be falling in all 30 miles of this threatened area.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Craig Fiegener with KCAL in the Los Angeles area.
Let's check in the Weather Center. Brad Huffines is up there to give us what amounts to more bad news, unfortunately, for folks in that area concerned about a mudslide.
Brad, is there any glimmer of hope?
BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Miles, what's happening right now across Southern California is, more rains are moving in now. And, as you discussed many times in hurricanes, these storms, these large storms can come inland and they can vary. And depending upon where they exactly hit, that shows how much rain is going to fall.
Let me show you what radar is showing us right now. And, on radar, we are seeing a large mass of rain moving on across Western sections of California. There is the mass of rain. And, of course, here is the area right there that we have just showed you earlier near San Bernardino, California.
Now, we're going to zoom into this area and use NASA high- resolution satellite imagery and show you something called burn spots, where what's happening is, NASA has taken some high-resolution imagery. And where the greenery has been burned away, those area, these burn scars that you see in the brick red there, those are areas that are subject to mudslides when heavy rains fall.
Moving past the Los Angeles area, moving down toward San Diego, expect those burn scars near San Diego, North Island, of course, not really in the path of the difficulties, but Ramona right in the middle. San Bernardino, that's where we're seeing the earlier problems, near Waterman Canyon, Silverwood Lake right there. Notice the burn scars. Heavy rains will mean that, as the rains move in from the south to the north, what happens is, the rain piles up along the mountains.
And then, as the rain begins to slide down off the mountains, water runs downhill, as you know, from school, it simply mains that any heavy rains may cause more mudslides.
Here's the forecast amount for rain. From Santa Maria to Santa Barbara, three to five inches, two to three inches inland. But, again, as you remember from looking at hurricanes, if this storm varies just a couple miles one way or the other, that area of three- to-five-inch rains, Miles, could very travel to the south or even farther inland. So that's we're hoping for, is, it misses it to the north.
But, as of right now, that's what it looks like across Southern California. More tomorrow as the storm continues to develop, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Brad Huffines in the Weather Center, thanks very much.
Officials in Iran now say at least 25,000 people were killed in Friday's earthquake. They say the toll could rise because much of the devastated ancient city of Bam has not yet been searched. But the huge task right now is burying the dead. CNN's Matthew Chance is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the human cost of the catastrophe that's befallen Bam.
With thousands of bodies already recovered, mass graves are being filled as fast as they can be dug. This is burial on an industrial scale. Few here have been spared death or grief. Local clerics supervising the funeral rights are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. "We are preparing the ground for 70,000 graves," one told me. "We're trying to give them all respect and an Islamic funeral. But it's becoming very hard for us. There are so many," he says.
Exact numbers of dead in this disaster zone have still to be reckoned.
(on camera): This is a grave site of enormous proportions, because it has to be. The bodies are being buried 100 at a time. Most will never be identified. The authorities say, quite simply, there is nobody left in Bam who knows who they are.
(voice-over): In the ruins of the town, efforts continued to dig for survivors. But this is an increasingly desperate search. And there's debate about whether the time has now come to stop.
'There is slim hope," says one man, "that someone could be found alive." "No," says another. "People need air. And there is none under all this rubble."
Time may well have run out for anyone still trapped. But it's clear the cost of this catastrophe may yet exceed this country's worst fears.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Bam, in Southeastern Iran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Howard Dean in the north, Wes Clark in the South, John Edwards and John Kerry in Iowa. Let's go on the campaign trail with the presidential candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Not skipping a holiday beat, the Democratic presidential candidates are back in the full swing of things today, including Howard Dean, who, after a weekend of campaigning in Iowa, kicked off his day with a forum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But there's some things you can blame the Bush administration for. And they are going to cost us a lot of money in this town for the packages.
O'BRIEN: After a rally in Detroit, Dean heads to South Carolina, where he will campaign tomorrow.
Dean certainly won't be alone in the South though, as Wesley Clark today starts a two-day "True Grit" Southern tour.
WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can take the man out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the man.
O'BRIEN: After a true Southern send-off in Arkansas this morning, his first stop was Jackson, Mississippi.
Far away from his home in the South, John Edwards spent today getting even more familiar with the Iowa terrain, topping with a speech on middle-class issues in Des Moines. Edwards has four other stops throughout the state today.
Not to be outdone in the Hawkeye State, John Kerry, fighting for at least a second-place finish there, met with several Democratic groups today. And President Bush, taking a break from fund-raising and work, is spending the holidays on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
And that's our look at the 2004 presidential candidates on the trail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Well, millions of investors are riding high today, with the Nasdaq closing above 2000 today for the first time in almost two years.
CNN's Allan Chernoff joins us from a rather bullish New York City -- hello, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles.
The Nasdaq really knows how to make a comeback, now up 50 percent year to date, that after a gain of 1.7 percent today, putting the Nasdaq at 2006, this the first time that the Nasdaq composite has been above 2000 since January of last year. What's happening here is that investors are anticipating a big bounce-back in profitability for technology companies, as corporate America starts buying technology equipment.
Semiconductor stocks have been leading the way. And guess what? Even Internet stocks have been doing very, very well. However, just to put it all in perspective, we are still down 60 percent from the all-time high of the Nasdaq composite, 5048, hit back in March of 2000 -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Allan Chernoff in New York, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Michael Jackson is talking about the charges against him. And he has some harsh words about the authorities who put him in handcuffs.
But, first, a look at some other headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Suspected SARS case. World Health Organization experts are helping Chinese doctors test a 32-year-old man who may have SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The patient is hospitalized in Southern China, where SARS first emerged late last year. If confirmed, it will be the first case in China since the country was declared free of the disease in July.
Serbia elections. With most votes counted, an extreme nationalist party is the bigger winner in parliamentary elections. The Serbian Radical Party won 81 seats in the 250-seat parliament, far more than the pro-Western groups that toppled former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic, who also won a seat, is on trial for alleged war crimes stemming from the 1990s Balkan War.
Mourning the dead. Emotions run high at funerals in Lebanon for some of the victims of last week's plane crash in Benin; 140 people were killed when the Beirut-bound jetliner crashed into the sea moments after takeoff; 21 survived.
Kidnapped cyclist freed. Three European tourists abducted in southeast Iran have been released. Government officials say the two German and Irish cyclists were kidnapped this month by bandits or drug runners. All three are said to be in good health.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In his first television interviews since he was charged with child molestation, Michael Jackson denied doing anything wrong. He also accused the sheriff's deputies who booked him of roughing him up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Michael Jackson is not only fighting back. He has got a few accusations of his own. The pop star levels new broadsides at the Santa Barbara County sheriffs who arrested him on child molestation charges last month.
Jackson says, during that process, deputies fastened his handcuffs too tight. His wrists were swollen. This photo obtained by CNN from a source close to Jackson shows a large bruise and swelling on his right forearm. And Jackson told CBS' "60 Minutes" that wasn't all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "60 MINUTES")
MICHAEL JACKSON, MUSICIAN: Once I went in the restroom, they locked me in there for like 45 minutes. There was doo-doo, feces, thrown all over the walls, the floor, the ceiling. And it stunk so bad. And one of the policemen came by the window and he made a sarcastic remark. He said: "Does it smell good enough for you in there? How do you like the smell? Is it good?" And I said: "Well, it's all right. It's OK." So I just sat there and waited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Saying the bookings process was meant to belittle him, Jackson claims sheriff's deputies dislocated his shoulder by manhandling him. Jackson says he is unable to sleep or raise his arms as a result of this treatment.
But, if that's true, it was not in evidence after his processing, when he is shown waving and blowing a kiss to observers outside the sheriff's office. In a statement today, the Santa Barbara County sheriff says -- quote -- "Mr. Jackson was treated with courtesy and professionalism throughout the arrest and booking process. Both his attorney and his personal security thanked the sheriff's department for the level of cooperation and professionalism demonstrated throughout the process."
On the molestation charges, Jackson told "60 Minutes" he would slit his wrists before he would hurt a child. But he had some rather surprising comments about various reports of children sleeping in his bed.
JACKSON: 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'm not. That's how we were raised. And I didn't sleep in the bed with the child. Even if I did, it's OK. I slept on the floor. I gave the bed to the child.
O'BRIEN: Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned next month. His attorney calls the current accusations a shakedown.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Jackson is free on $3 million bond right now.
One man's journey around the world, the story of an adventurous pilot and his plane, our picture of the day. And our hot web question of the day is this: Do you agree with the U.S. demand that foreign carriers have air marshal aboard? Vote right now. CNN.com/Wolf is the place.
But, first, our "News Quiz" answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Earlier, we asked, the worst damage toll ever recorded from a mudslide occurred in which of the following places? The correct answer, California. In January of 1969, after nine days of torrential rain, a series of mudslides caused a totaled of $138 million worth of damage in Southern California.
(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Setting off for the history books. That's our picture of the day.
Gus Mcleod took off this morning from College Park, Maryland, with a rather ambitious itinerary. He hopes to become the first person to circle the globe over both poles in a single-engine plane flying alone.
Here is how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Do you agree with the new U.S. demand that foreign carriers have air marshals? Not a surprise on this one: 86 percent of you say yes, while 14 percent of you say no. Once again, we should remind you, it is not a scientific poll.
Let's hear from you and read some of your e-mail.
Gary writes this: "During the power blackout, America was quick to lay blame on Canada, when it was America's fault. Now that there is mad cow disease in America, the U.S. is again putting the blame on Canada. The American people always have to have a scapegoat."
But Edwin sends this: "Enough of the finger-pointing. It is useless and childish. We know what causes mad cow and it is being remedied. We are seeing the tail end of a problem that will soon be gone because of better feeding standards."
A reminder. You can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays this time, 5:00 Eastern.
Until then, thanks for joining us. I'm Miles O'Brien.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
About Baghdad's Missing Millions?; Jackson Speaks Out>
Aired December 29, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Emergency order. Guarding the skies against al Qaeda.
Saddam's stash. Is he coming clean about Baghdad's missing millions.
More mudslides?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're not prepared for a flood, please take the time today and be prepared.
ANNOUNCER: Heavy rain is on the way.
Roughed up? Michael Jackson speaks out on his arrest and on the charges against him.
This is WOLF BLIZTER REPORTS for Monday, December 29, 2003.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN: CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta. Wolf is off today. America on alert. The threat from the skies. Live pictures now from airports around the country where security has been stepped up for more than a week now. The concern, a 9/11-style terror attack by al Qaeda or one of its affiliates.
America's pointman for homeland security says that concern has not eased at all since the nation went to code orange and today he issued emergency orders for international airlines serving the U.S. We'll go across the country with reports from key transportation hubs.
But we begin with the latest emergency decree from Washington. The Department of Homeland Security is ordering international airlines to place armed government officers on certain flights to, from, or over the United States. Let's go live now to CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena for more on this. Hello, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Well, Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge described it is an added precaution. If the U.S. receives intelligence about a particular airline or flight, it can act to make sure that passengers are safe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARENA (voice-over): The U.S. now wants armed air marshals on international flights that may pose a terror threat. If airlines do not comply, they could be denied U.S. landing rights.
TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: It's pretty clear that it is understood by our international aviation partners that the threat to passenger aircraft is an international challenge and all of us must work as closely together as possible to share information and act upon it to ensure the safety of our citizens.
ARENA: Officials say intelligence continues to suggest al Qaeda and related groups are planning another 9/11-type attack against the United States. Such information led to the cancellation of six Air France flights just last week, and a general concern about flights out of Mexico.
RAFI RON, NEW AGE SECURITY SOLUTIONS: It was only on the background of this specific intelligence that was received a few weeks ago concerning such a flight, or flights, that, suddenly, everybody realized that this is critical.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: But the threat information is not limited to aviation. There is still concern about possible suicide bombings or the use of a weapon of mass destruction. Officials say the most immediate challenge is deciphering intelligence regarding New Year's Eve. Sources say there is information suggesting there could be an attack on New Year's but do not have any specifics -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelli Arena in Washington. Thank you very much.
As the orange alert moves into its second week, we thought we would check on how some American cities are coping. We'll start with New York and Joe Torres of CNN affiliate, WABC.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE TORRES, WABC CORRESPONDENT: Here in Times Square and the tourists keep coming and coming and coming. From Europe, from Asia, from all across the United States, pouring into the Big Apple for the big New Year's Eve celebrations on Wednesday night. And they are arriving here despite a code orange terror alert and all the things that come with it. That means a huge police presence throughout the city.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kris Osborn in Chicago where law enforcement authorities have stepped up security in this orange alert holiday period. Chicago police say so far, things have been reasonably calm, and quote, "people are behaving."
Although they do have stepped-up patrols in the Chicago metropolitan area and they say they have a specific security plan in place for the New Year, they just won't discuss what that is. Meanwhile, the airport officials say they, too, are stepping up their security on this orange alert holiday season.
More law enforcement, they have canine dogs patrolling the terminals and they point to additional behind the scenes security measures that is, of course, not being discussed. Much of it, however, relates to chatter or intelligence, threat-related information and a specific geographic area.
MARY STEWART, KTVT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Mary Stewart reporting from Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport. Airport officials here say that they are pleased with the new security regulations. American Airlines is based here. Flights here go to some 20 international destinations.
Airport officials say they believe that homeland security has done such a good job showing up security to this point, that would-be terrorists are now looking for softer targets and, as a result, the regulations have been tightened. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Mary Stewart with KTVT. So how serious is the threat from the skies? Can the latest emergency measures stop a potential al Qaeda attack? Joining us from Los Angeles, veteran terrorism analyst Brian Jenkins. He's served on a blue ribbon panel on aviation security and is currently a senior adviser at the Rand corporation. Dr. Jenkins, good to have you back with us.
DR. BRIAN JENKINS, SR. ADVISER, RAND CORPORATION: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: We focus so much on these holidays. I wonder if the terrorists do the same.
JENKINS: I don't think so. They are opportunistic, they're patient. They carefully prepare their attacks and when they think they have things in place to do so, they will carry them out. There's nothing special about any particular date.
O'BRIEN: So when we most expect it, we should least expect it, perhaps?
JENKINS: I wouldn't go that far. I mean, the fact that we have this recent alert that happens to coincide with the holidays, it's not a matter of listening to the terrorists say, can we get together during the holidays and do something. There is not only an increase in the volume of chatter, as it's referred to, but, also, these judgments to raise the threat level are based upon the quality of that information, the credibility of the sources, as well as the specificity of the information.
O'BRIEN: The announcement today that armed security personnel would be on some flights originating out of the country, flying into the U.S., over the U.S., that came as a surprise to a lot of people who would have said, perhaps rightly, why haven't they been doing this since 9/11?
JENKINS: The fact is that some foreign carriers do, depending on the nature of the threat and their analysis of it, have armed security personnel on their aircraft now. Not in every aircraft, nor do we. So this is not something that's entirely new.
When we looked at the episode last week where these flights out of Paris were canceled because of security concerns, then one looks at that and says, look, there are additional things we can do to provide additional layers of security. We're doing some here in the United States. Let's think about doing some of these, requesting some of these same steps be taken abroad.
O'BRIEN: Now we're looking at live pictures of Los Angeles International Airport in 1999, it is known now, al Qaeda singled that particular facility out for an attack when the millennium struck. That was forwarded when someone was arrested at the Canadian border. But I guess that proves that airports remain a fixation as well as significant dates. How concerned should we be about airports and other locations come New Year's Eve?
JENKINS: Let's make a distinction between airports and protecting aviation. Security measures that we have in place are designed primarily to keep weapons, explosives, and villains off of commercial aircraft. They are not designed to protect the airport itself, although there are some measures to do that. But the fact is that's just another public place. Protecting public places is extremely difficult because security measures at one simply move the terrorist down the road to another. If somebody is determined to kill people at some public place it's extremely difficult to stop them.
O'BRIEN: Are you concerned about places like shopping malls, for example, when you start talking about that?
JENKINS: All of these have been mentioned as possible -- as possible targets. Of course, that concern is there but, again, I think we Americans have to recognize that even the heightened probability of an attack or possibility of a terrorist attack does not translate into significantly increased risk for us as individuals. The best security advice one can give during the holidays is, still, drive very carefully.
O'BRIEN: All right. One final thought. Orange alert yet again. We seem to hear a statement from the government which is confusing, at best, to the general public. Heightened concern, but go about your business. Would it be better if these raised levels of security threat were just shared among law enforcement officers who, after all, are the people who can do something about it?
JENKINS: Miles, that might be better. But let's be realistic. You are in the news media. You know the fact that the minute the federal government shares its information not only with the federal government agencies involved in security, but with 50 states, with 18,000 police jurisdictions in this country, plus those in the private sector that have security responsibilities, plus once we begin to see a heightened security measure take place, it's going to take the news media only minutes, if not seconds, to be on top of that, to ask the question, what is going on? To go to their sources. And then we'll have several different versions of what is going on getting out to the public.
I prefer treating the American citizens as adults. Tell them what they know -- tell them what we don't know. And allow people to make their own individual decisions. This is not something we can do easily and private in our society.
O'BRIEN: Brian Jenkins, who is with the Rand Corporation, terrorism expert, thanks as always for your insights. Appreciate it.
JENKINS: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this. Do you agree with the new U.S. demand that foreign carriers have air marshals? You can vote right now. The location is cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results a little later in this broadcast.
And while you're there, we would like to hear from you directly. Send us your comments anytime. If we have time, we will read some of them at the end of this program.
Interrogating Saddam. Is he offering more information, perhaps? We'll tell you how the former Iraqi leader may be helping coalition troops battle insurgent forces in the war-torn nation.
Also, the mad cow concern. We have details that point to the source, and it extends beyond the Canadian borders.
Plus, tough timing in Southern California where the forecast could bring more trouble to victims dealing with those terrible mudslides.
But first, the "News Quiz."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): The worst damage toll ever recorded from a mudslide occurred which of the following places? Venezuela, California, Brazil or Kazakhstan? The answer later in the program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Saddam Hussein long ago turned Iraq's national treasury into his personal piggybank. Some of those funds went to build luxurious palaces. You know that. But the total is said to run into the tens of billions of dollars. What happened to the rest of the money? Let's go live now to CNN's Jennifer Coggiola in Washington for more on that. Hello, Jennifer.
JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well you may remember when Saddam Hussein was captured December 14, he was found with $750,000 in $100 denominations. But that cash, not even a fraction of Saddam's estimated savings. Now, according to one member of the Iraqi Governing Council, the former Iraqi leader has begun it talk about where his money is hidden as well weapons arsenals used by those attacking coalition forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA (voice-over): Billions of dollars stashed away by Saddam. Smuggled funds, its whereabouts unknown. Now, according to one member of the Iraqi Governing Council, Saddam Hussein has acknowledged money he looted from Iraq has been deposited abroad.
The U.S. estimated Saddam made off with nearly $40 billion. Now council member Iyad Allawi, quoted in two London-based Arab newspapers, saying that Mr. Hussein has told investigators what happened to the 40 billion, that he deposited the money under factious names into the banks of several countries, including Japan, Switzerland and Germany.
This afternoon, the State Department said efforts were already under way to recover missing funds, but could not confirm the newest reports yet.
J. ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: As we determine their veracity and credibility, we, along with the Iraqis -- I would put the emphasis on the Iraqis -- will spare no effort to ensure that the funds are returned to the people to whom they rightfully belong.
COGGIOLA: Important work for a country currently in debt up to $120 billion.
ERELI: The money that belongs -- that was stolen from the Iraqi people by the former regime will be returned to the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COGGIOLA: One of those articles went on to say that in Baghdad another member of the Iraqi Government Council said he knew Saddam had been talking about other things, including the names of people inside Iraq who were carrying out attacks against U.S. forces, but he knew nothing about funds.
And another council member, spokesman for Ahmed Chalabi, acknowledged that they had information about Saddam's money before his arrest but, added, quote, "We don't have new information on funds. If we did, we won't be talking about this" -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jennifer Coggiola, thank you very much.
There's been more deadly violence in Iraq. A firefight erupted between American troops and suspected insurgents in the northern city of Mosul. Three Iraqis were killed, two U.S. soldiers wounded. CNN's Karl Penhaul in Baghdad with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. military spokesman have told us that overnight Sunday soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were involved in a gunfight with suspected members of Ansar al Islam. That's the Islamic militant group that Washington accuses of links to al Qaeda.
That firefight erupted when the 101st Airborne unit tried to conduct a raid on a house used by suspected members of Ansar al Islam. The suspected guerrillas responded with AK-47 and grenade fire.
In the gunfight, three suspected members of that group were killed, two U.S. soldiers were wounded. But we understand now that they are in stable condition and out of danger.
In addition to that overnight Sunday but in a separate part of Iraq in the city of Karbala, the scene of the devastating suicide bomb attacks on Saturday, Polish commanders in charge of the multi-national force there, say that they have arrested five suspects in connection with those bombings. They haven't yet declared the nationality of those suspects. On Sunday, a Polish general in the city said that he suspected that foreign fighters may have been involved in that attack.
Now, in a somewhat different matter, about 500 officers from the newly-formed Iraqi national army left Baghdad Airport today en route for Jordan. They'll be undergoing over the next few days officer training with the Jordanian army and then returning to Iraq. The second battalion of the army is due to graduate on about January the 6th.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: A medical alert in the northeast. There's concern, yet not panic, over a deadly meningitis taking its toll on two school districts.
Grief and agony in Iran. The death toll is rising as rescue teams sift through the rubble of that massive quake. We'll have the latest.
And what really happened behind closed doors? We'll examine the circumstances behind the King of Pop's arrest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The Agriculture Department's top veterinarian says there's more evidence that a Washington state cow with mad cow disease came from Canada. CNN's Chris Huntington is in New York and he has more on that for us in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. officials say original records provided by the owner of the infected cow showed that she was, in fact, 6 1/2-years-old, a crucial finding that could go a long way to calm the fears of a mad cow outbreak. DR. RON DEHAVEN, USDA: The age of the animal is specially important in that it is a likely explanation as to how this animal would have become infected. She would have been born before feed bans were implemented in North America as the feed bans in the U.S. and Canada both went into effect in August of 1997.
HUNTINGTON: Those feed bans prevent farmers from feeding rendered cow parts back to the herds, a practice that is seen as the primary cause of mad cow disease. The cow in question, along with 81 others cattle that officials are concerned about, have been traced to a herd from Alberta, Canada. But until DNA tests, which will talk about a week confirm that link, Canadian officials do not want to take the blame.
PREMIER RALPH KLEIN, ALBERTA, CANADA: I'm saying let cooler head prevail, let's do the investigation. And regardless of whether the cow came from Canada or not, let's deal with the problem.
HUNTINGTON: Alberta has seen two incidents of mad cow disease, one confirmed case last May and another one back in 1993. One theory is that ranchers in Alberta relied more heavily on feed containing reprocessed cow parts prior to the 1997 ban. A lesson for U.S. cattle producers is that any link to mad cow is extremely costly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a neighbor to the north that this happened to in May of this year. That industry is still somewhat feeling, and, in some instances, reeling from the effects of that seven months later.
HUNTINGTON: But both Canada and the United States have a direct link to the biggest known source of mad cow disease. Both countries imported breeder cattle from Great Britain in the mid-1980s. Those imports stopped in 1989 when mad cow broke out in England. But both Canadian and U.S. beef industry sources confirm that remnants from most of those British cows were almost certainly fed to North American cattle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTINGTON: Now in the Chicago trading pits today, cattle futures prices fell, the limit down for the third straight session. But if the cash market at the feeder lots for cattle that are going straight to slaughter, prices actually stabilized. And McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King say their business has held firm in the last week, a sign that the U.S. consumer has not given up a beef just yet -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: So that the statement by the USDA today probably helped the markets, Chris?
HUNTINGTON: Ultimately, yes, Miles. It is the cash market if you will. That's the transaction that taking place, right, if you will, on the front lines at the feeder lots. Those, in a sense, are the most important transactions because that tells you, really, what the front line feeling is about this situation. And the fact that those prices stabilized a bit today, albeit down about 20 percent from last week, is an important sign that, at least for now, the down draft has come to a halt.
O'BRIEN: Perhaps the worst is over. CNN's Chris Huntington in New York. Thank you very much.
Emergency workers in New Hampshire are being urged to be hyper vigilant after five teenagers were hospitalized with symptoms of bacterial meningitis. One has died from the disease. CNN Boston bureau chief Dan Lothian is on the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Across New Hampshire doctors and nurses are on alert for symptoms of bacterial meningitis. The health department's Web site is giving them specific guidance.
DR. JESSE GREENBLATT, N.H. EPIDEMEOLGIST: We do not, however, consider the state to be having a outbreak. We are noticing a cluster of illnesses, that's true. But we do not know that that represents anything more than sporadic cases.
LOTHIAN: There's concern but not panic after teens in New Hampshire, including 18-year-old Rachael Perry, were hospitalized in less than a week with the disease. Two 15-year-old teens are classmates but authorities have not yet connected the others. Perry died over the weekend.
MICHAEL PERRY, RACHAEL PERRY'S FATHER: Hard to believe that the young girl that strong was taken.
LOTHIAN: Perry had initially checked into an emergency room just before Christmas, but her father says she was sent home.
PERRY: She had flu symptoms and she was released. They didn't do any bloodwork.
LOTHIAN: Christmas morning, Perry was again taken to the emergency room, this time with symptoms the hospital says were, quote, "severe and acute."
Bacterial meningitis, which can be treated with antibiotics, affects the -- infects the membranes and spinal cord. The symptoms? High fever, headache, stiff neck, rash, seizures. State health officials say the disease is spread primarily through direct contact like kissing or sharing a water bottle. They are now searching for a link.
(on camera): As for the other teens who remain hospitalized, three in fair condition, one in serious. Despite these recent cases, there are fewer this year than most, 11 compared to an average 15 to 25 cases of meningitis annually.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: He was sentenced to life in prison but a new plea bargain could change that. Hear how soon 16-year-old Lionel Tate might be free. It is soon.
A close call. Pakistan's president avoids two recent assassination attempts. Who is behind the attacks? We have new some information to share with you.
And hope fades as casualties rise. We'll have the latest on the desperate search for survivors in the wake of Iran's deadly quake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to CNN. Coming up this next half hour...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The important thing is they don't have to wait for us to tell them to get out.
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O'BRIEN: Barely recovering from one tragedy. Why Californians need to watch out for more mudslides.
But first, a quick check of the headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
O'BRIEN: More now on the top story, the threat from the skies. The U.S. government has ordered international air carriers to place armed officers on selected flights to this country. Britain is activating a plan to do just that, over the objections of its pilots.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police! Don't move!
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An appropriate level of response to a real and serious threat. That's the UK's government's justification of putting air marshals on flights where and when deemed necessary. A justification rejected by the British Airline Pilots' Association.
JIM MCAUSLAN, BRITISH AIRLINE PILOTS ASSOC. : We've made our position clear. We don't believe that guns should be in aircraft. If they are we want the proper protocol for the deployment of police sky marshals.
We've been pressing a very reasonable list of demands, but unsuccessfully, I'm afraid. We haven't had a response, a positive response from the government.
HANCOCKS: The pilots union is angered they found about the move at the same time as the public and say pilots may refuse to fly an aircraft if certain conditions are not met.
Those conditions include prior knowledge a marshal will be on their flight, and the captain maintaining ultimate control of the flight.
The undercover marshals are expected to begin work as early as Monday.
(on camera) These air marshals will have a police or a military background and have been in training for the past year. They'll be disguised as ordinary passengers, and the UK government says that their main role is to act as a deterrent to a potential terrorist.
(voice-over) Israel's carrier El Al has had marshals for around 30 years, and the Australian government announced last week it would use armed guards on many flights between Australia and Singapore.
As for Britain, the pilots' union is demanding talks with the UK government so the pilots have input into how the air marshal plan is implemented.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Pakistan's information minister says at least one of the three suicide bombers who tried to kill President Pervez Musharraf last week was from outside the country. It's another sign pointing to possible al Qaeda involvement in efforts to eliminate Mr. Musharraf.
CNN's Barbara Starr explains why that is a frightening prospect for the U.S. -- hello, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello to you, Miles.
While many people have been focused on code orange here in the United States, some very significant concerns developing about terrorism abroad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Two assassination attempts in 12 days against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a vital U.S. ally in the war on terror and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. In Washington and Islamabad, senior officials suspect, al Qaeda or affiliated groups are behind it.
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: We have to rid this country of all extremism, fundamentalism, terrorism.
STARR: At the highest levels of the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community, officials are worried. If Musharraf were assassinated, would the U.S. military even be able to retaliate as part of President Bush's promise to fight terrorism? PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: If Musharraf is assassinated, the United States loses probably its most critical ally in the war on terror.
STARR: Under Musharraf, Taliban and al Qaeda have felt the pressure, hundreds arrested. And, for the first time, the Pakistani military moved into areas believed sheltering extremists, perhaps even bin Laden.
BERGEN: Assassinating President Musharraf would not only have an effect on the war on terrorism. It might send Pakistan into chaos. It is a country with 140 million people, armed with nuclear weapons, where religious parties, militant religious parties, are taking an ever-greater role.
STARR: The U.S. has good reason to worry. A tape believed to be recorded by Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's No. 2, called in August for Pakistanis to rise up against Musharraf. The first attack against Musharraf involved explosives with advanced detonators, the second, suicide bombers in vehicles, all hallmarks of past al Qaeda operations.
ASHRAF JEHANGIR QAZI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: I think it's fair to surmise -- at this stage, we can only surmise -- that it is these kinds of people who are behind this dastardly attempt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: And, Miles, no one here is forgetting that it was just two days before 9/11 that extremists assassinated a key Northern Alliance commander in Afghanistan. In hindsight, that assassination was seen as possibly paving the way for the 9/11 attacks.
So here, keeping Musharraf alive and in power is key to keeping al Qaeda intact -- al Qaeda from attacking again, officials say.
O'BRIEN: Well, what do we know about the ring of security around Mr. Musharraf? And to what extent is the U.S. able to augment it?
STARR: That is the key question. We have spoken to Pakistani officials about it. Now, for the record, they say that the U.S. is not providing any direct assistance to President Musharraf's personal security.
However, it is widely believed that there are some technical things that the United States is helping with. Sources have told CNN, for example, that the U.S. sent forensic experts after the first assassination attempt to look at the detonators, look at the explosives, see if they could pick up any forensic evidence of who might have been behind all of it, every reason to believe that type of technical assistance from the United States is continuing.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks much.
Devastating mudslides. The search is on in San Bernardino, California, for two children missing from a Christmas Day mudslide. We'll go live there in just a moment.
Bruised and battered. This time, it is Michael Jackson making who is the accusations.
But first, the "Weekend Snapshot."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Four people died in a collision between a small plane and a glider over Peoria, Arizona. Both aircraft had taken off on from a flight school. The son of the school's founder was among those killed. Federal officials are investigating.
Seven years after the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, a potential significant development in the case. Her parents lawyer said, DNA from a bloodstain on the child's underwear has been sent to the FBI and may help identify her killer.
New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner collapsed in Sarasota, Florida, over the weekend. Emergency crews said it appeared to be a simply fainting spell. And Steinbrenner fully recovered, although the cause is unclear. It happened while he was at the funeral of Otto Graham, a former quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.
And Hobbits ruled the holiday weekend box office. The final installment of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is No. 1 again. It's edging toward a half-billion dollars in receipts after less than two weeks in release.
And that's your "Weekend Snapshot."
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O'BRIEN: The search continues in California for two boys missing since a Christmas Day mudslide. But authorities admit it is unlikely they will be found alive.
A dozen bodies already have been recovered from the site, a religious camp in the San Bernardino mountains. Two more victims were killed in another mudslide nearby. And authorities fear new storms will trigger even more mudslides.
Craig Fiegener of CNN affiliate KCAL -- KCAL -- joins us from San Bernardino.
What's the latest, Craig?
CRAIG FIEGENER, KCAL REPORTER: Well, this is the very latest.
We have just been given an update by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. They are telling us that it does appear unlikely now that they will find the last two victims in this Christmas Day campground disaster. This all started with a flood. It released these SUV-sized boulders. They plowed through a building. There were 28 people inside; 14 were rescued; 12 bodies have been recovered.
But there are two more people, younger people, one a child, 8 or 9 months old, the other a teenager. They have not been seen since this Christmas Day disaster. And today, after 4.5 days of using dogs, the sheriff's department says it appears as though they may not find those two victims. In fact, they said they were still surprised they were able to recover 12 bodies.
O'BRIEN: Craig, give us a sense of what's next, then, for these teams. The weather is not good. The prospects are dim. Are they going to abandon their efforts?
FIEGENER: Well, they do appear as though they are going to call this search off at sundown tonight, maybe bring the dogs back when the weather is warmer and drier.
If you look at the forecast over the next few days here, we do have some rain. And that poses a new problem. We are talking about an area that was devastated by those wildfires in late October, early November. And now that area where the wildfires were burning is all a serious flood threat. We have about 30 miles of burned-out territory, much of it in the San Bernardino National Forest, where there could be a landslide or some sort of flooding disaster at any time.
When the fires were burning, they knew what areas were directly being threatened, because they knew where the fires were going. At this point, with rain falling over the entire area, there is the warning to people who live there to be ready to go, to have your car packed and be ready to leave immediately. But they are not going as far as to issue an actual evacuation order, like they did in the fires.
O'BRIEN: And why not, Craig? Why no evacuation order at this point?
FIEGENER: Well, that was a question that we had asked the sheriff's department about. And that's a very contentious issue, these evacuation orders. They can issue one. They can make people leave. In many cases, they do not obey the order, at least not everybody.
During the fires, we saw that they were driving through neighborhoods and tagging houses with yellow tape where people were defying the evacuation order. I think they feel, at this point, that, with what people have seen here, if they issue this evacuation order, they will have a large number of people who will leave, just like they did in the fires. But there is still going to be the problem of people who don't. They will tag those houses. And then they will try and deal with them in the flooding.
The problem is so widespread here, because we're talking about an area that was devastated by fire. Again, they knew where the fire was moving. They knew where the threat was moving to. That is not the case with the flooding, where the rain will be falling in all 30 miles of this threatened area.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Craig Fiegener with KCAL in the Los Angeles area.
Let's check in the Weather Center. Brad Huffines is up there to give us what amounts to more bad news, unfortunately, for folks in that area concerned about a mudslide.
Brad, is there any glimmer of hope?
BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Miles, what's happening right now across Southern California is, more rains are moving in now. And, as you discussed many times in hurricanes, these storms, these large storms can come inland and they can vary. And depending upon where they exactly hit, that shows how much rain is going to fall.
Let me show you what radar is showing us right now. And, on radar, we are seeing a large mass of rain moving on across Western sections of California. There is the mass of rain. And, of course, here is the area right there that we have just showed you earlier near San Bernardino, California.
Now, we're going to zoom into this area and use NASA high- resolution satellite imagery and show you something called burn spots, where what's happening is, NASA has taken some high-resolution imagery. And where the greenery has been burned away, those area, these burn scars that you see in the brick red there, those are areas that are subject to mudslides when heavy rains fall.
Moving past the Los Angeles area, moving down toward San Diego, expect those burn scars near San Diego, North Island, of course, not really in the path of the difficulties, but Ramona right in the middle. San Bernardino, that's where we're seeing the earlier problems, near Waterman Canyon, Silverwood Lake right there. Notice the burn scars. Heavy rains will mean that, as the rains move in from the south to the north, what happens is, the rain piles up along the mountains.
And then, as the rain begins to slide down off the mountains, water runs downhill, as you know, from school, it simply mains that any heavy rains may cause more mudslides.
Here's the forecast amount for rain. From Santa Maria to Santa Barbara, three to five inches, two to three inches inland. But, again, as you remember from looking at hurricanes, if this storm varies just a couple miles one way or the other, that area of three- to-five-inch rains, Miles, could very travel to the south or even farther inland. So that's we're hoping for, is, it misses it to the north.
But, as of right now, that's what it looks like across Southern California. More tomorrow as the storm continues to develop, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Brad Huffines in the Weather Center, thanks very much.
Officials in Iran now say at least 25,000 people were killed in Friday's earthquake. They say the toll could rise because much of the devastated ancient city of Bam has not yet been searched. But the huge task right now is burying the dead. CNN's Matthew Chance is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the human cost of the catastrophe that's befallen Bam.
With thousands of bodies already recovered, mass graves are being filled as fast as they can be dug. This is burial on an industrial scale. Few here have been spared death or grief. Local clerics supervising the funeral rights are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. "We are preparing the ground for 70,000 graves," one told me. "We're trying to give them all respect and an Islamic funeral. But it's becoming very hard for us. There are so many," he says.
Exact numbers of dead in this disaster zone have still to be reckoned.
(on camera): This is a grave site of enormous proportions, because it has to be. The bodies are being buried 100 at a time. Most will never be identified. The authorities say, quite simply, there is nobody left in Bam who knows who they are.
(voice-over): In the ruins of the town, efforts continued to dig for survivors. But this is an increasingly desperate search. And there's debate about whether the time has now come to stop.
'There is slim hope," says one man, "that someone could be found alive." "No," says another. "People need air. And there is none under all this rubble."
Time may well have run out for anyone still trapped. But it's clear the cost of this catastrophe may yet exceed this country's worst fears.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Bam, in Southeastern Iran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Howard Dean in the north, Wes Clark in the South, John Edwards and John Kerry in Iowa. Let's go on the campaign trail with the presidential candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Not skipping a holiday beat, the Democratic presidential candidates are back in the full swing of things today, including Howard Dean, who, after a weekend of campaigning in Iowa, kicked off his day with a forum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But there's some things you can blame the Bush administration for. And they are going to cost us a lot of money in this town for the packages.
O'BRIEN: After a rally in Detroit, Dean heads to South Carolina, where he will campaign tomorrow.
Dean certainly won't be alone in the South though, as Wesley Clark today starts a two-day "True Grit" Southern tour.
WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can take the man out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the man.
O'BRIEN: After a true Southern send-off in Arkansas this morning, his first stop was Jackson, Mississippi.
Far away from his home in the South, John Edwards spent today getting even more familiar with the Iowa terrain, topping with a speech on middle-class issues in Des Moines. Edwards has four other stops throughout the state today.
Not to be outdone in the Hawkeye State, John Kerry, fighting for at least a second-place finish there, met with several Democratic groups today. And President Bush, taking a break from fund-raising and work, is spending the holidays on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
And that's our look at the 2004 presidential candidates on the trail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Well, millions of investors are riding high today, with the Nasdaq closing above 2000 today for the first time in almost two years.
CNN's Allan Chernoff joins us from a rather bullish New York City -- hello, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles.
The Nasdaq really knows how to make a comeback, now up 50 percent year to date, that after a gain of 1.7 percent today, putting the Nasdaq at 2006, this the first time that the Nasdaq composite has been above 2000 since January of last year. What's happening here is that investors are anticipating a big bounce-back in profitability for technology companies, as corporate America starts buying technology equipment.
Semiconductor stocks have been leading the way. And guess what? Even Internet stocks have been doing very, very well. However, just to put it all in perspective, we are still down 60 percent from the all-time high of the Nasdaq composite, 5048, hit back in March of 2000 -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Allan Chernoff in New York, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Michael Jackson is talking about the charges against him. And he has some harsh words about the authorities who put him in handcuffs.
But, first, a look at some other headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Suspected SARS case. World Health Organization experts are helping Chinese doctors test a 32-year-old man who may have SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The patient is hospitalized in Southern China, where SARS first emerged late last year. If confirmed, it will be the first case in China since the country was declared free of the disease in July.
Serbia elections. With most votes counted, an extreme nationalist party is the bigger winner in parliamentary elections. The Serbian Radical Party won 81 seats in the 250-seat parliament, far more than the pro-Western groups that toppled former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic, who also won a seat, is on trial for alleged war crimes stemming from the 1990s Balkan War.
Mourning the dead. Emotions run high at funerals in Lebanon for some of the victims of last week's plane crash in Benin; 140 people were killed when the Beirut-bound jetliner crashed into the sea moments after takeoff; 21 survived.
Kidnapped cyclist freed. Three European tourists abducted in southeast Iran have been released. Government officials say the two German and Irish cyclists were kidnapped this month by bandits or drug runners. All three are said to be in good health.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In his first television interviews since he was charged with child molestation, Michael Jackson denied doing anything wrong. He also accused the sheriff's deputies who booked him of roughing him up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Michael Jackson is not only fighting back. He has got a few accusations of his own. The pop star levels new broadsides at the Santa Barbara County sheriffs who arrested him on child molestation charges last month.
Jackson says, during that process, deputies fastened his handcuffs too tight. His wrists were swollen. This photo obtained by CNN from a source close to Jackson shows a large bruise and swelling on his right forearm. And Jackson told CBS' "60 Minutes" that wasn't all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "60 MINUTES")
MICHAEL JACKSON, MUSICIAN: Once I went in the restroom, they locked me in there for like 45 minutes. There was doo-doo, feces, thrown all over the walls, the floor, the ceiling. And it stunk so bad. And one of the policemen came by the window and he made a sarcastic remark. He said: "Does it smell good enough for you in there? How do you like the smell? Is it good?" And I said: "Well, it's all right. It's OK." So I just sat there and waited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Saying the bookings process was meant to belittle him, Jackson claims sheriff's deputies dislocated his shoulder by manhandling him. Jackson says he is unable to sleep or raise his arms as a result of this treatment.
But, if that's true, it was not in evidence after his processing, when he is shown waving and blowing a kiss to observers outside the sheriff's office. In a statement today, the Santa Barbara County sheriff says -- quote -- "Mr. Jackson was treated with courtesy and professionalism throughout the arrest and booking process. Both his attorney and his personal security thanked the sheriff's department for the level of cooperation and professionalism demonstrated throughout the process."
On the molestation charges, Jackson told "60 Minutes" he would slit his wrists before he would hurt a child. But he had some rather surprising comments about various reports of children sleeping in his bed.
JACKSON: 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'm not. That's how we were raised. And I didn't sleep in the bed with the child. Even if I did, it's OK. I slept on the floor. I gave the bed to the child.
O'BRIEN: Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned next month. His attorney calls the current accusations a shakedown.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Jackson is free on $3 million bond right now.
One man's journey around the world, the story of an adventurous pilot and his plane, our picture of the day. And our hot web question of the day is this: Do you agree with the U.S. demand that foreign carriers have air marshal aboard? Vote right now. CNN.com/Wolf is the place.
But, first, our "News Quiz" answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Earlier, we asked, the worst damage toll ever recorded from a mudslide occurred in which of the following places? The correct answer, California. In January of 1969, after nine days of torrential rain, a series of mudslides caused a totaled of $138 million worth of damage in Southern California.
(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Setting off for the history books. That's our picture of the day.
Gus Mcleod took off this morning from College Park, Maryland, with a rather ambitious itinerary. He hopes to become the first person to circle the globe over both poles in a single-engine plane flying alone.
Here is how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Do you agree with the new U.S. demand that foreign carriers have air marshals? Not a surprise on this one: 86 percent of you say yes, while 14 percent of you say no. Once again, we should remind you, it is not a scientific poll.
Let's hear from you and read some of your e-mail.
Gary writes this: "During the power blackout, America was quick to lay blame on Canada, when it was America's fault. Now that there is mad cow disease in America, the U.S. is again putting the blame on Canada. The American people always have to have a scapegoat."
But Edwin sends this: "Enough of the finger-pointing. It is useless and childish. We know what causes mad cow and it is being remedied. We are seeing the tail end of a problem that will soon be gone because of better feeding standards."
A reminder. You can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays this time, 5:00 Eastern.
Until then, thanks for joining us. I'm Miles O'Brien.
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