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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

U.S. Marines Prepare for Battle for Fallujah; Jordanian Authorities Uncover al Qaeda Plot

Aired April 26, 2004 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, a nightmare scenario, potentially. United States Marines preparing for urban warfare. The battle for Fallujah could be hours away. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Battleground Iraq. A raid gone wrong. A raging firefight. And a warning.

DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and mosques and schools to store weapons, simply unacceptable.

BLITZER: More deadly than 9/11? An alleged al Qaeda conspiracy to launch a huge attack in Jordan.

Border bus. An unsung hero in the war against terror tells how she helped stop a millennium bombing plot.

Kobe Bryant case, back in court. Behind closed doors. At issue, the accuser's sexual history.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, April 26, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Time is running out for Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah. A cease-fire that includes a deadline to surrender heavy weapons expires within hours. What happened today could possibly engulf the entire city.

The cease-fire was shattered once again when insurgents attacked American Marines, touching off a raging three and a half hour battle. At least one service member was killed in this latest fighting. Ten others were wounded. Four of them, seriously.

Reporter Karl Penhaul is in Fallujah with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the words of one Marine, all hell broke loose. Insurgent gunmen appeared to have amassed around those two buildings and opened fire on the Marine platoon, with rockets, with mortars, and with automatic weapons fire. Some of those rockets came in the window; mortar rounds were exploding all around that building.

And for the space of about an hour, an hour and a half, the Marines held on in those buildings, fighting back and firing back.

Two U.S. Army tanks were called in. They drew up to positions behind the buildings and exchanged gunfire with the insurgents.

Cobra attack helicopters were also called in.

At that point, the platoon commander issued the order for his Marines to pull out, and they did so. But at that stage already four Marines were seriously wounded, according to Captain Douglas Zembeck (ph), commander of the company. Six other Marines have received superficial shrapnel wounds, according to the captain.

Karl Penhaul, U.S. networks pool, Fallujah, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: At least two more American troops were killed today in Iraq. It happened while soldiers were searching a building in Baghdad. CNN's Jim Clancy is in the Iraqi capital with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baghdad itself rocked by a powerful blast. Coalition troops were investigating a chemical storehouse in northwest Baghdad when a powerful explosion ripped through the building, killing two coalition soldiers and wounding five others. Eight Iraqi civilians, some of them in adjoining buildings, were injured by the force of the explosion.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: The location where the raid occurred was a chemical store which the owner and his associates were suspected of supplying chemical agents to terrorist, criminals and insurgents. There was also information that suggests these individuals were involved in the production of chemical munitions.

CLANCY: School age children jumped on damaged U.S. military humvees after the blast. U.S. Army was brought in and warning shots were fired to disburse the crowd of several hundred people who had gathered at the site.

(on camera): It's doubtful the coalition will as easily dispel Iraqis' fears about insecurity in their country. A peaceful settlement in Fallujah would go a long way, but that, like so much else in the country, also depends on the insurgents.

Jim Clancy, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush once again today strongly defended his decision to invade Iraq. Speaking at a campaign event in Minnesota, the president repeated that Iraq posed a threat to world peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I saw a threat in Iraq. The Congress looked at the same intelligence and saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at the same intelligence, and they said there's a threat. So I went in front of the U.N. and said, why don't we do something about it now? The man has ignored you for 10 years. For the sake of world peace, why don't we do something about it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president did not mention today's bloody battle in Fallujah, but that fierce fighting may be just a sample of what's in store for U.S. troops if they decide to move directly into the city. Are they prepared for urban combat?

Joining us now from Chicago, the former defense secretary, William Cohen. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us. Fallujah, as you well know, is not a little village, it's a city, it's a sprawling city. How well prepared are Marines for urban combat?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, the Marines have been planning for sometime and training for sometime in urban combat warfare. But in this particular case, obviously, you have some difficulty. You have a large city, as you pointed out, and you don't have a large number of Marines.

I would hope that if there's going to be an assault launched in that city that we have more than we have to date, but these Marines are prepared. They no doubt will be using precision-guided munitions. They all have the advantage of attack helicopters, to aid and assist them, but going street to street, house to house, that's going to be very difficult and very bloody in terms of soldiers who will be in the line of combat, but also civilians.

BLITZER: There are some Arab analysts who are suggesting that this is precisely what the insurgents want, the U.S. to go in there, to be sucked in, if you will, to kill a lot of people, because that would poison, supposedly, the entire atmosphere in Iraq against the United States. Do you buy that analysis?

COHEN: Well, I think that is certainly one of the arguments that we have to take into account, namely that we could ultimately win the battle and lose the war. The war being for the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq. And the danger that we might, in fact, inflame the region. That's something that obviously we have to take into account. It's one of the reasons why the United States is now considering using Iraqis to patrol with American soldiers, to put an Iraqi or local face on the security apparatus.

But it is certainly an issue that we have to contend with. And I'm sure that's been the hesitancy for the Marines and the United States to order an attack prior to this time

BLITZER: And as complicated as the situation in Fallujah is, as you well know, Mr. Secretary, the situation in Najaf is even more complicated, because this is a holy city to Iraqi Shiites. How complicated is the standoff in Najaf?

COHEN: Well, that's even more complicated, because of the fact that it is regarded as a holy city, and to wage war, even though Mr. Bremer has pointed out that they may be stockpiling weapons in schools and mosques, in violation of all international standards as such -- nonetheless, it's an effort by the United States to point out that it is the Iraqis themselves who are positioning the militants in a way to cause as much inflammation to the region as possible.

So that's another factor that has caused us to hesitate. Whether we will actually decide to go in remains to be seen. But, certainly, once again I would hope that we have sufficient forces in both places, and so we don't find ourselves at a numerical disadvantage, and also find that psychologically we end up in the worst of both positions, namely losing the battles, but losing the war for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

BLITZER: Yesterday, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Lugar said unless the U.S. has more troops, more allies, June 30, the scheduled transfer of sovereignty back to the Iraqis, could turn out to be a disaster. Do you accept that?

COHEN: Well, I -- as I have indicated before, I think that the United Nations really has a key role to play here. It would be very difficult for the president at this point, having indicated June 30 is the deadline, to then move that, because it would then be seen by the Iraqi people as a false promise made on his part to turn sovereignty or power, however limited it might be, over to the Iraqi people.

But if Mr. Brahimi on behalf of the U.N. were to suggest that it is not feasible with that deadline, then that might be more acceptable all the way around. But I think it's going to be very difficult for the president to change it at this point.

BLITZER: All right, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. He served during the Clinton administration. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

COHEN: A pleasure.

BLITZER: Alleged terrorists reveal a plot to destroy much of Amman, Jordan, including the United States embassy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Azme told me that this would be the first chemical suicide attack that al Qaeda would execute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A raid netting big arrests and confessions of a bold plan, potentially perhaps even more deadly than 9/11.

On the attack, Vice President Dick Cheney comes out swinging at Democratic candidate John Kerry. While the Democrats launch their own hard-hitting strike. Millennium bomb plot. Who foiled the plan to attack Los Angeles International Airport? I'll have a rare interview with a U.S. Customs agent who was directly involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The government of Jordan says it could have been one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever. Suspected al Qaeda operatives allegedly planned an assault on the heart of the Jordanian capital. In a series of raids one week ago, security forces say they broke up the plot, killing three suspects and arresting several more.

Now, as CNN's John Vause reports from Amman, some of those in custody are talking. In extraordinary taped confessions made available to CNN by the Jordanian government, the alleged al Qaeda operatives describe the plot and talk about its alleged mastermind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jordanian special forces raiding an apartment house in Amman in the hunt for an al Qaeda cell. Some of the suspects are killed, others arrested, ending what Jordanian intelligence says was a bold plan to use chemical weapons and truck bombs in their capital; targets including Jordanian intelligence headquarters, the prime minister's office and the U.S. embassy. The Jordanian government fears the death toll could have run into the thousands, more deadly even than 9/11.

For the first time the alleged plotters were interviewed on videotape, aired on Jordanian TV. CNN obtained copies of the tapes from the Jordanians. This man revealing his orders came from a man named Azme Jayoussi, the cell's alleged ringleader.

HUSSEIN SHARIF, ACCUSED PLOTTER (through translator): The aim of this operation was to strike Jordan and the Hashemite royal family, a war against the crusaders and infidels. Azme told me that this would be the first chemical suicide attack that al Qaeda would execute.

VAUSE: Also appearing on the tape, Azme Jayoussi, who says his orders came from this man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the same man the U.S. says is behind many of the violent attacks in Iraq.

AZME JAYOUSSI, ACCUSED PLOTTER (through translator): I took advanced explosives course, poisons, high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning, and to be on his side. After this, Afghanistan fell. I met Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq.

VAUSE: Al Jayoussi was only shown in profile. He had marks on his hand, neck and face. The Jordanians, who taped the confessions, say the suspect suffered the injuries during the arrest. CNN was not allowed access to any of those arrested. The Jordanian government says this plot is only the latest attempt by al Qaeda to destabilize this country.

ASMA KHADER, JORDANIAN MINISTER OF STATE: Jordan was fighting this type of plans years now, and the security forces were able to confront them.

VAUSE (on camera): The Jordanians say the alleged terrorist plot was just days away from execution. If successful, Jordan's King Abdullah told a U.S. newspaper it could have decapitated his government.

John Vause, CNN, Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: There's some debate among U.S. intelligence officials over the exact nature of the plot. But they are calling it a big deal. Our national security correspondent David Ensor is joining us now with more. David, what are you hearing here in Washington?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say, they are calling it a big deal. The capture of these plotters and the chemicals by Jordanian authorities. But they are expressing caution, also, about whether the chemicals captured by the Jordanian authorities were really intended to create a toxic cloud chemical weapon. More likely, some U.S. officials are saying, the massive quantities of chemicals involved were intended to create large conventional explosions.

At issue is the presence of a large quantity of sulfuric acid among the tons of chemicals seized by the authorities. Sulfuric acid can be used as a blister agent. But U.S. government scientists say it's more commonly used in conventional explosions, to greatly increase the explosive power. So that is why there is some caution here, Wolf, between different U.S. officials, they are not quite clear on whether this was really a chemical attack, a toxic cloud type of attack, or whether it was just intended to be a massive explosion.

But one thing they are doing is congratulating the Jordanians on a counterterrorism job very well done. This could have been very serious.

BLITZER: All right, David Ensor, thanks very much for that.

And this note to our viewers: We'll have much more on this note. You can learn more about this alleged al Qaeda terror plot on "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown. That airs tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

John Kerry under attack while his party swings back at the current number two man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: We remember Dick Cheney, and he is the last guy that should be lecturing John Kerry about how to defend America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But Vice President Cheney has his own, equally strong response for his critics.

Not the solution. Why one general in Iraq says armored humvees are not providing adequate protection for U.S. troops.

Controversial comments. U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi now in the hot seat for criticizing the United States and Israel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Strong words in the battle for the White House today. Words from the vice president, Dick Cheney, as well as Senator John Kerry. The Democratic presidential candidate also had some strong words at President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): As in football, the best defense is often the best offense in politics. That helps explain why Vice President Dick Cheney came out swinging today against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, citing his votes against various weapons systems.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Leaders must speak out and act against threats as they gather, even when it's difficult. Dangers cannot be wished away.

BLITZER: Kerry supporters were assuming this was going to be a tough week for the Bush-Cheney campaign, with three events that would put the president and the vice president on the defensive. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Cheney's refusal to release details of his 2001 controversial energy task force. On Thursday, the president and the vice president will appear before the 9/11 commission. And Saturday is the one-year anniversary of the president's landing aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under the "mission accomplished" banner.

But even before Cheney lashed out against Kerry, Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe launched his own preemptive strike.

MCAULIFFE: You remember Dick Cheney. When John Kerry was risking his life for his country in Vietnam, Dick Cheney was getting deferments because, in his own words, he had "other priorities" than military service.

BLITZER: But as much as the Democratic candidate supporters were hoping to keep the Bush-Cheney team on the defensive, Kerry was clearly feeling the heat on his 1971 statements and behavior in opposing the Vietnam War after he came home.

At issue, whether he threw away his medals to protest the war and not just his ribbons, as he has long maintained.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I threw my ribbons. I didn't have my medals. It's very simple.

BLITZER: Appearing on ABC, he then took the offensive. KERRY: This comes from a president who can't even show or prove that he showed up for duty in the National Guard. And I'm not going to stand for it.

BLITZER: This debate is only just beginning. Witness this latest Bush-Cheney ad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kerry even voted against body armor for our troops on the front line of the war on terror. John Kerry's record on national security, troubling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And this note, Democratic politicians say the pressure is now clearly on Senator Kerry to name a vice presidential running mate quickly. Someone who can take on Cheney and the president directly, the same way the vice president is taking on Kerry right now.

And here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: Is Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War medals controversy a relevant campaign issue? You can vote right now, go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

Heavy fighting and heavy casualties as U.S. Marines battle Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah. Has the cease-fire ceased to exist?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Saudis over the last decades and the United States have had a very interesting relationship. And most of it has not been very public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A private partnership. Just how big a role did the Saudis play in the war against Saddam Hussein? Surprising new information out about their quiet cooperation with the United States.

And the Kobe Bryant case. Front and center today, his accuser's sex life. Should the jury hear about it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back. New information emerging right now in the war in Iraq. A high ranking U.S. Army leader says armored humvees aren't tough enough to give U.S. troops in Iraq adequate protection. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is joining us now live with details -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, with U.S. troops, Wolf, dying in Iraq in deadly roadside attacks, the Pentagon is spending $400 million to race new, improved, so-called up-armored humvees to the battlefield in Iraq. But today, CNN obtained a memo from a four-star general who says those improved humvees are not getting the job done.

General Larry Ellis, who is the commanding general of the U.S. Army forces command, writes in the memo -- "Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the up-armored humvee is not providing the solution the Army hoped to achieve." General Ellis says that the Army should shift more funds into buying Stryker, the Army's newest armored vehicle. He says it's imperative the Army accelerate the production of Stryker vehicles to support the current operations. He would like to see those vehicles doubled in production.

Critics say that even with the better armor, the humvee's shoulder-level doors make it too easy to lob a grenade inside. Its four rubber tires burn too readily, and at two tons, it's light enough to be overturned by a mob. Some critics also say the Army is overlooking a cheaper, even faster solution, using some Vietnam era M- 113 Gavin armored cars that the Army has thousands of in stock.

In his memo, General Ellis pleads for quick action, lamenting that even though the nation is at war, some in the Army are still in a peace time posture. He writes: "If our actions impede our ability to train, equip or organize our soldiers for combat, then we failed the soldier and our nation."

Now, Wolf, no vehicle offers 100 percent protection, but it goes without saying, the more armor the better chance you have for survival -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie, any reaction that you're getting from the manufacturer of the humvee?

MCINTYRE: Well, nobody here is alleging that this is a defective product. It's clearly the case that the up-armored humvee offers more protection. The question is really the threat that the U.S. faces and whether they just need something that's bigger and better.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, disturbing information. Thanks, Jamie, very much.

Word at -- war, that is -- at its doorstep, a clear concern over the outcome and a long-standing relationship on the line. A contentious ally lends some critical and until now mostly unknown support to U.S. forces as they swarm into Iraq.

Here is CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Highly placed Saudi sources confirm to CNN that, during the war, Saudi Arabia allowed the U.S. military to operate from at least three critical locations, the massive Prince Sultan air base and in the north key airstrips at Tabuk and Arar. Many U.S. planes took off from Saudi Arabia during the war and much of the U.S. air campaign was managed from control centers inside Saudi borders. The Saudi ambassador to the U.S. does not confirm details, but does admit to an American presence.

PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN, SAUDI ARABIAN AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: American forces were there, but they were doing and supporting the Southern Watch, as you remember. And that continued all through.

TODD: In addition, CNN confirms the Saudis permitted U.S. special forces troop to launch operations into Iraq from Saudi soil, allowed U.S. cruise missiles to be fired across Saudi airspace into Iraq, and supplied oil and fuel for American forces.

BANDAR: What more was done or less was judged based on the need and the circumstances. But I don't think your viewers, particularly in the United States of America, should be surprised to know that Saudi-American relationship is much more solid than people try to make it.

TODD (on camera): Contrast that to last year, when the kingdom declared, mostly for Arab consumption, that it would not participate in any way in a war in Iraq. Popular discontent for war among Saudi citizens hardened when Turkey refused the use of its soil for U.S. operations.

(voice-over): The ground attack originated mostly from Kuwait. Central Command set up in Qatar, a smaller Arab kingdom that has had its own problem with Saudi Arabia.

HAMAD BIN JASIM BIN JABIR AL THANI, QATARI FOREIGN MINISTER: At least we never lie to our people. Our people know our cooperation with the United States from day one.

TODD: But the house of Saud walked a fine line, qualifying its public declaration with what U.S. officials claim were private assurances that some cooperation would be forthcoming.

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: The Saudis over the last decades and the United States have had a very interesting relationship. And most of it has not been very public. They have helped us significantly at important times to the United States.

TODD: At other times, officials say, U.S.-Saudi cooperation in the war on terror and in regional disputes is as jagged as this very complicated alliance.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The United Nations envoy helping set up a new government in Iraq is in hot water over some remarks he has made about Israel and the United States.

CNN's Liz Neisloss takes a look at Lakhdar Brahimi. She joins us now live -- Liz.

Liz Neisloss, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's right, Wolf,

The U.N. envoy to Iraq, the man the U.S. is hoping will help map out a political future for Iraq, has landed in some controversy with some comments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEISLOSS (voice-over): The quiet diplomat speaks out. Lakhdar Brahimi told French radio "There is no doubt that the great poison in the region is this Israeli policy of domination and the suffering imposed on the Palestinians." Brahimi also said what he calls unjust U.S. support for Israel undermines U.S. efforts in Iraq.

DANIEL GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Mr. Brahimi's very dangerous comments are an expression of bigotry. And I believe that they are the real poison.

NEISLOSS: Brahimi stands by his comments.

LAKHDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY TO IRAQ: What I have said is a statement of fact, not an opinion. What I have said is that the policy of Israel, not Israel is a poison. The policy of Israel is a poison in the region and that this is the feeling of every one in the region and beyond.

NEISLOSS: Brahimi's boss, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, didn't so much defend his Iraq envoy's comments as explain them.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think what Mr. Brahimi, whom I've spoken to, was trying to convey was the reactions he has picked up in the region and in the Islamic world, and not really talking about the conflict in the Mideast.

NEISLOSS: Brahimi also warned the U.S. that retaking Fallujah by force could backfire.

BRAHIMI: If you have enemies there, this is exactly what they want you to do, to alienate more people so that more people support them rather than you.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We welcome the proposals presented by the U.N. special envoy, Brahimi.

NEISLOSS: President Bush, not recently a vocal U.N. supporter, endorsed the envoy's approach on national television earlier this month before Brahimi's latest comments.

MICHAEL RUBIN, FORMER PENTAGON ADVISER: He's definitely putting the United States in an awkward position because the Bush administration has put its neck out to support him and what he's basically doing is taking slaps at the White House.

NEISLOSS: U.N. watchers say the usually cautious Brahimi wants to show he's not taking orders from the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEISLOSS: And Brahimi is not a diplomatic novice. A former Algerian foreign minister, an official with the Arab League, and most recently the U.N.'s envoy to Afghanistan, he brings to the Iraqis a credibility that the U.S. really needs. But the quest ion is, will his recent comments help or hurt the U.S. efforts to democratize Iraq -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Liz Neisloss reporting for us from the United Nations -- Liz, thanks very much.

Let's go back to our top story, the battle for Fallujah. How close is it? One of the embedded U.S. reporters, Tony Perry, from "The Los Angeles Times" joining us now live from Fallujah.

What exactly is going on right now, Tony?

TONY PERRY, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": It's been a very violent day here, Wolf.

U.S. Marines fought a two-hour fight with insurgents that left one Marine dead and dozens of insurgents dead or wounded. And more importantly it was a preview, I think, of what we could be seeing if the Marines have to go into the core of the city to attack the surrounded insurgents.

This is what one Marine official calls a true city battle, close up. They were firing within 30 yards of each other, extraordinarily violent and used enormous amounts of ammunition. This was a city battle. This is what lies ahead if there isn't a peaceful settlement. If the Marines have to go in and wipe out the final vestige of the insurgents who are holed up in the center of the town, this is what it could look like.

BLITZER: We heard that Tuesday was the deadline for the insurgents to lay down their heavy weapons. Is there any indication they are doing that?

PERRY: No. In fact, the whole idea of a truce, the whole idea of the insurgents turning in their weapons has become a kind of joke among the U.S. Marines. The joke is that the insurgents are turning in their mortars one at a time by shelling the U.S. positions. There is no indication that the insurgents are following that. There is no indication that the negotiators who have been trying to work this settlement on the Iraqi side have the authority or the power to force the insurgents.

If there is a deadline, it's going to come and go, I believe, without that major condition being met by the insurgents.

BLITZER: How concerned are Marines, Tony, that they could be getting themselves into some sort of trap?

PERRY: I don't think they are concerned of that at all. They are very confident. Every scrap that they have been in, every skirmish they have been in, they have won. They have taken casualties, true. But, dozens, hundreds of the enemy have died. And that I think is the way it will go. I don't think it's going to be a trap.

Remember, of course, and the insurgents might also want to remember, that they have only seen a fraction of the capability of the U.S. and of the Marines. If you have two aircraft in a skirmish here, it's a big deal. But when the push comes, there are going to be dozens of aircraft. You have a little bit of artillery, it's a big deal. When the big push comes, there could be a lot of artillery. There are six battalions of Marines. That's nearly 7,000 Marines ready to go in and play a part in this.

The insurgents haven't seen a fraction of the power that the U.S. and the Marine Corps is ready to bring to bear on this situation.

BLITZER: Tony Perry of "The Los Angeles Times," he's an embedded journalist with the U.S. Marines.

Tony, we'd like to check back with you tomorrow at this time, if possible. Good luck to you. Stay safe. Thanks very much, Tony Perry of "The Los Angeles Times."

Condoleezza Rice says it was an alert customs agent who helped thwart a terrorist attack at LAX in 1999. Richard Clarke says it was the Clinton administration's strict terrorism policies then under way. Who is right? Up next, I'll speak to that U.S. customs agent herself. Diana Dean will join me.

Kobe Bryant's accuser, the judge decides whether the jury should hear about her sexual past.

And his top two lawyers are out. So who is in charge of the Michael Jackson defense team right now? We'll get to all of that.

First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): At least 18 people have been killed in two days of fighting between Christians and Muslims in Eastern Indonesia. Police and army reinforcements have been rushed to the area. Almost 10,000 people have been killed in fighting between the two groups over the past five years.

Indian elections. Armed militants attacked voting stations in the latest round of parliamentary elections. One report says at least six people were killed. And yesterday, in the disputed state of Kashmir, at least three people were killed in grenade attacks.

Helping North Korea. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States will offer aid to North Korea in the aftermath of a deadly train accident last week. And South Korea says it has reached an agreement with the north to send relief supplies by ship. The blast killed about 160 people and injured 1,300 near the border with China.

China SARS cases. Health officials are keeping almost 500 people under observations in a bid to contain a small number of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome. There are two confirmed cases and six suspected cases. One patient died last week. All are linked to people who worked in a SARS laboratory in Beijing.

And that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Who prevented the millennium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles International Airport? It's Just one of a number of disagreements between the Bush administration and its former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke. In just a moment, a rare interview with the customs ought who caught the would-be bomber.

First, though, the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): On December 14, 1999, customs officials arrested Algerian-born Ahmed Ressam at Port Angeles, Washington, as he arrived on a ferry from British Columbia. Hidden in the trunk of his car agents found 130 pounds of explosives, along with timing devices. His plan was to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on or around New Year's Day 2000.

But the millennium bomb plot as it came to be known was thwarted. And Ressam and an accomplice were both convicted, a pre-9/11 success story in the fight against terrorism. But there's disagreement over how it happened.

Richard Clarke, the former White House antiterrorism chief under Presidents Clinton and Bush, credits the Clinton administration.

RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: ... failed you.

BLITZER: He says it had border agents on high alert and was aggressively flushing out terror information or shaking the trees, as he puts it. In his tell-all book, "Against All Enemies," Clarke says the Bush administration failed to do that in the summer of 2001, that terrorism was a low priority before 9/11, which he says might have been prevented.

But his former boss, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, has a different version. She says the Clinton administration had nothing to do with Ressam's capture, that there was no alert. Instead, Rice says it was just luck and the keen eye of one woman.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It was because a very alert customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleagues sniffed something about Ressam. They saw that something was wrong. I don't think it was shaking the trees that produced the breakthrough in the millennium plot.

It was that you got a -- Dick Clarke would say a lucky break. I would say you got an alert customs agent who got it right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now is that alert customs agent, Diana Dean.

Diana Dean, thanks very much for joining us.

Let me take you back to that night in December 1999. What exactly happened when you were on duty along the border?

DIANA DEAN, FORMER U.S. CUSTOMS INSPECTOR: Well, we were on our last ferry of the evening. It was supposed to come in at 5:30 at night. It came in around 6:00. It was a very light load. There were only about 20 cars on the boat that night. Mr. Ressam was in the very last car that came off the ferry and he came through my lane.

He -- his car had B.C. license plates and he presented me with a passport from -- a Canadian passport and a driver's license from Quebec. So I started asking him our normal custom questions. I asked him where he was going. And he said Seattle. I detected a French accent and he didn't appear to be English. And I asked him why he was going to Seattle, and he said, visit.

I asked him where he lived. And he said Montreal. I asked him who he would visit in Seattle. And he said hotel. By this time, he was getting very, very nervous and he was very agitated. And I knew we were going to take a closer look at him to make sure that everything was OK with him. So I asked him to turn his car off and complete a customs declaration for us, which is something we always do prior to a secondary inspection.

And by that, I just mean taking a closer look at the -- what he's carrying with him. He completed the declaration. And we asked him to step out of his car. By this time, there were other inspectors around. We asked him to step out of the car and pop open his trunk. We finally encouraged him to get out of the car. Another inspector took Mr. Ressam over to a table, because he was wearing a very large coat. He wanted to go through the coat and make sure he didn't have anything in his pockets.

And everybody else went to the -- either the interior of the car or the trunk of the car, opened the trunk and there was only one suitcase in the trunk. Another inspector took that out to look through it. And a third inspector unscrewed the cap over the spare tire. And as soon as did he that and lifted it up, we saw, you know, there were big bags of powder in there.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Diana, let me interrupt and ask you this question. The fact that you were doing all of this, this screening, was it the result of some orders that you got from Washington to be on heightened alert in advance of the millennium or was this just business as usual?

DEAN: This was just business as usual. That's what we do. We look for somebody out of the ordinary that just needs a little closer look. And that's what he was at that time.

BLITZER: But it was only two weeks before the millennium. Were you along the border with Canada on a heightened state of alert, knowing that there were terror threats that were widely reported coming at the end of the year?

DEAN: You know, we weren't on higher state of alert. We did not have an alert system at that time. And, no, we weren't. We were -- it was pretty much business as usual for us.

BLITZER: So how much longer did it take to discover there were explosives in that car? What exactly did you discover?

DEAN: Well, at first, to make a long story short, I went in to start making phone calls and Mr. Ressam slipped out of his jacket and ran. As soon as he saw that we had uncovered what he had in there, he was able to get away. He was chased down and eventually returned to the port. That probably took about 15 minutes.

And then we started testing what was in the bags for drugs because that was the first thing on our mind. It's really all we had experience with. We had never had a terrorist or seen bombmaking materials before. It didn't take us too long to realize that what was in those bags was not drugs. So we started looking around and there were also some timers. They were like electrical outlets. And when somebody unscrewed one, we saw the watches and we saw the wires.

We realized immediately that what we had was something that we weren't prepared to deal with. And so we started making all the appropriate phone calls to different agencies to come and help us.

BLITZER: Did you realize at that time this was al Qaeda?

DEAN: You know, it was purely speculation, but we talked about that amongst ourselves, yes.

BLITZER: Diana Dean, you did good work out there. You saved a lot of people. You realize, of course, what was in store for LAX. Now looking back, do you understand what you did?

DEAN: We do. We do. We're very thankful that we were able to stop him at the border.

BLITZER: We're very thankful as well. Diana Dean, thanks very much for joining us.

DEAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: This note. We tried to reach Richard Clarke today to get his reaction to Diana Dean's story. We've been unable to speak with him so far. We hope to speak with him at some point.

Kobe Bryant is back in court. His defense team wants to shed light on his accuser's sexual history. Will the judge allow it? We'll get to that.

First, though, a quick look at some stories you may have missed this past weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): State and federal officials are trying to find the cause of a massive Friday night explosion that killed four workers at an Illinois plastics plant. The plant is in Illiopolis, about 20 miles east of Springfield.

Politicians, celebrities and several hundred thousand others took part in an abortion rights rally in the nation's capital yesterday. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vanessa Kerry, daughter of presidential candidate John Kerry, were at the march for women's lives. Many taking part voice frustration at the current administration's opposition to abortion.

A major name in the business of beauty died Saturday. Estee Lauder died of cardiopulmonary arrest at her Manhattan home. She launched her namesake company in 1946 and was considered an innovator in the industry. Lauder was 97.

For the third time, a college quarterback named Manning went as a first-round pick in the NFL draft. Eli Manning, son of Archie and brother of Peyton, was chosen No. 1 by the San Diego Chargers Saturday. Eli had said he didn't want to play in San Diego. The Chargers made the best of it, trading Manning to the New York Giants for quarterback Philip Rivers and several draft picks.

And that's our weekend snapshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Kobe Bryant is back in Eagle, Colorado, at a closed- door pretrial hearing for a sexual assault case.

Our Gary Tuchman is standing by with what happened today -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the court is in session, but the judge says the talk is too salty and controversial to allow the public or the news media's ears inside. But we can tell that you Kobe Bryant arrived this morning at 8:00 Mountain time.

He has been in there eight hours. The topic of the day, the sexual history of the alleged victim. Bryant's attorney want to use part of her sexual history in a trial. They say she had sex at least three times in the 72 hours she was with Kobe Bryant. And they allege she could have suffered the injuries she received from other people. Prosecutors say her are sexual history is irrelevant to the case.

We expect the decision from the judge will not come this week, perhaps as early as next month. But as of now, there's still no trial date set -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Gary Tuchman is watching all of this for us. Thanks, Gary, very much. Michael Jackson's lead attorneys have left the case. That tops our "Justice Report." Saying his life is at stake, the embattled pop star has reshuffled his defense team just days before his next court appearance. Celebrity lawyers Mark Geragos and Benjamin Brafman are out. Stepping in is another star attorney. Thomas Mesereau represented the actor Robert Blake until their recent split-up.

The results of our hot "Web Question of the Day," that's coming up when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in our "Web Question of the Day." Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

U.S. Grant's new look on the new $50 bill is our "Picture of the Day." The Treasury Department unveiled it today. Take a look, a U.S. flag with splashes of red and blue join the 18th president on the front.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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


Aired April 26, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, a nightmare scenario, potentially. United States Marines preparing for urban warfare. The battle for Fallujah could be hours away. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Battleground Iraq. A raid gone wrong. A raging firefight. And a warning.

DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and mosques and schools to store weapons, simply unacceptable.

BLITZER: More deadly than 9/11? An alleged al Qaeda conspiracy to launch a huge attack in Jordan.

Border bus. An unsung hero in the war against terror tells how she helped stop a millennium bombing plot.

Kobe Bryant case, back in court. Behind closed doors. At issue, the accuser's sexual history.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, April 26, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Time is running out for Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah. A cease-fire that includes a deadline to surrender heavy weapons expires within hours. What happened today could possibly engulf the entire city.

The cease-fire was shattered once again when insurgents attacked American Marines, touching off a raging three and a half hour battle. At least one service member was killed in this latest fighting. Ten others were wounded. Four of them, seriously.

Reporter Karl Penhaul is in Fallujah with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the words of one Marine, all hell broke loose. Insurgent gunmen appeared to have amassed around those two buildings and opened fire on the Marine platoon, with rockets, with mortars, and with automatic weapons fire. Some of those rockets came in the window; mortar rounds were exploding all around that building.

And for the space of about an hour, an hour and a half, the Marines held on in those buildings, fighting back and firing back.

Two U.S. Army tanks were called in. They drew up to positions behind the buildings and exchanged gunfire with the insurgents.

Cobra attack helicopters were also called in.

At that point, the platoon commander issued the order for his Marines to pull out, and they did so. But at that stage already four Marines were seriously wounded, according to Captain Douglas Zembeck (ph), commander of the company. Six other Marines have received superficial shrapnel wounds, according to the captain.

Karl Penhaul, U.S. networks pool, Fallujah, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: At least two more American troops were killed today in Iraq. It happened while soldiers were searching a building in Baghdad. CNN's Jim Clancy is in the Iraqi capital with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baghdad itself rocked by a powerful blast. Coalition troops were investigating a chemical storehouse in northwest Baghdad when a powerful explosion ripped through the building, killing two coalition soldiers and wounding five others. Eight Iraqi civilians, some of them in adjoining buildings, were injured by the force of the explosion.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: The location where the raid occurred was a chemical store which the owner and his associates were suspected of supplying chemical agents to terrorist, criminals and insurgents. There was also information that suggests these individuals were involved in the production of chemical munitions.

CLANCY: School age children jumped on damaged U.S. military humvees after the blast. U.S. Army was brought in and warning shots were fired to disburse the crowd of several hundred people who had gathered at the site.

(on camera): It's doubtful the coalition will as easily dispel Iraqis' fears about insecurity in their country. A peaceful settlement in Fallujah would go a long way, but that, like so much else in the country, also depends on the insurgents.

Jim Clancy, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush once again today strongly defended his decision to invade Iraq. Speaking at a campaign event in Minnesota, the president repeated that Iraq posed a threat to world peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I saw a threat in Iraq. The Congress looked at the same intelligence and saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at the same intelligence, and they said there's a threat. So I went in front of the U.N. and said, why don't we do something about it now? The man has ignored you for 10 years. For the sake of world peace, why don't we do something about it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president did not mention today's bloody battle in Fallujah, but that fierce fighting may be just a sample of what's in store for U.S. troops if they decide to move directly into the city. Are they prepared for urban combat?

Joining us now from Chicago, the former defense secretary, William Cohen. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us. Fallujah, as you well know, is not a little village, it's a city, it's a sprawling city. How well prepared are Marines for urban combat?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, the Marines have been planning for sometime and training for sometime in urban combat warfare. But in this particular case, obviously, you have some difficulty. You have a large city, as you pointed out, and you don't have a large number of Marines.

I would hope that if there's going to be an assault launched in that city that we have more than we have to date, but these Marines are prepared. They no doubt will be using precision-guided munitions. They all have the advantage of attack helicopters, to aid and assist them, but going street to street, house to house, that's going to be very difficult and very bloody in terms of soldiers who will be in the line of combat, but also civilians.

BLITZER: There are some Arab analysts who are suggesting that this is precisely what the insurgents want, the U.S. to go in there, to be sucked in, if you will, to kill a lot of people, because that would poison, supposedly, the entire atmosphere in Iraq against the United States. Do you buy that analysis?

COHEN: Well, I think that is certainly one of the arguments that we have to take into account, namely that we could ultimately win the battle and lose the war. The war being for the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq. And the danger that we might, in fact, inflame the region. That's something that obviously we have to take into account. It's one of the reasons why the United States is now considering using Iraqis to patrol with American soldiers, to put an Iraqi or local face on the security apparatus.

But it is certainly an issue that we have to contend with. And I'm sure that's been the hesitancy for the Marines and the United States to order an attack prior to this time

BLITZER: And as complicated as the situation in Fallujah is, as you well know, Mr. Secretary, the situation in Najaf is even more complicated, because this is a holy city to Iraqi Shiites. How complicated is the standoff in Najaf?

COHEN: Well, that's even more complicated, because of the fact that it is regarded as a holy city, and to wage war, even though Mr. Bremer has pointed out that they may be stockpiling weapons in schools and mosques, in violation of all international standards as such -- nonetheless, it's an effort by the United States to point out that it is the Iraqis themselves who are positioning the militants in a way to cause as much inflammation to the region as possible.

So that's another factor that has caused us to hesitate. Whether we will actually decide to go in remains to be seen. But, certainly, once again I would hope that we have sufficient forces in both places, and so we don't find ourselves at a numerical disadvantage, and also find that psychologically we end up in the worst of both positions, namely losing the battles, but losing the war for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

BLITZER: Yesterday, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Lugar said unless the U.S. has more troops, more allies, June 30, the scheduled transfer of sovereignty back to the Iraqis, could turn out to be a disaster. Do you accept that?

COHEN: Well, I -- as I have indicated before, I think that the United Nations really has a key role to play here. It would be very difficult for the president at this point, having indicated June 30 is the deadline, to then move that, because it would then be seen by the Iraqi people as a false promise made on his part to turn sovereignty or power, however limited it might be, over to the Iraqi people.

But if Mr. Brahimi on behalf of the U.N. were to suggest that it is not feasible with that deadline, then that might be more acceptable all the way around. But I think it's going to be very difficult for the president to change it at this point.

BLITZER: All right, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. He served during the Clinton administration. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

COHEN: A pleasure.

BLITZER: Alleged terrorists reveal a plot to destroy much of Amman, Jordan, including the United States embassy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Azme told me that this would be the first chemical suicide attack that al Qaeda would execute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A raid netting big arrests and confessions of a bold plan, potentially perhaps even more deadly than 9/11.

On the attack, Vice President Dick Cheney comes out swinging at Democratic candidate John Kerry. While the Democrats launch their own hard-hitting strike. Millennium bomb plot. Who foiled the plan to attack Los Angeles International Airport? I'll have a rare interview with a U.S. Customs agent who was directly involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The government of Jordan says it could have been one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever. Suspected al Qaeda operatives allegedly planned an assault on the heart of the Jordanian capital. In a series of raids one week ago, security forces say they broke up the plot, killing three suspects and arresting several more.

Now, as CNN's John Vause reports from Amman, some of those in custody are talking. In extraordinary taped confessions made available to CNN by the Jordanian government, the alleged al Qaeda operatives describe the plot and talk about its alleged mastermind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jordanian special forces raiding an apartment house in Amman in the hunt for an al Qaeda cell. Some of the suspects are killed, others arrested, ending what Jordanian intelligence says was a bold plan to use chemical weapons and truck bombs in their capital; targets including Jordanian intelligence headquarters, the prime minister's office and the U.S. embassy. The Jordanian government fears the death toll could have run into the thousands, more deadly even than 9/11.

For the first time the alleged plotters were interviewed on videotape, aired on Jordanian TV. CNN obtained copies of the tapes from the Jordanians. This man revealing his orders came from a man named Azme Jayoussi, the cell's alleged ringleader.

HUSSEIN SHARIF, ACCUSED PLOTTER (through translator): The aim of this operation was to strike Jordan and the Hashemite royal family, a war against the crusaders and infidels. Azme told me that this would be the first chemical suicide attack that al Qaeda would execute.

VAUSE: Also appearing on the tape, Azme Jayoussi, who says his orders came from this man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the same man the U.S. says is behind many of the violent attacks in Iraq.

AZME JAYOUSSI, ACCUSED PLOTTER (through translator): I took advanced explosives course, poisons, high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning, and to be on his side. After this, Afghanistan fell. I met Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq.

VAUSE: Al Jayoussi was only shown in profile. He had marks on his hand, neck and face. The Jordanians, who taped the confessions, say the suspect suffered the injuries during the arrest. CNN was not allowed access to any of those arrested. The Jordanian government says this plot is only the latest attempt by al Qaeda to destabilize this country.

ASMA KHADER, JORDANIAN MINISTER OF STATE: Jordan was fighting this type of plans years now, and the security forces were able to confront them.

VAUSE (on camera): The Jordanians say the alleged terrorist plot was just days away from execution. If successful, Jordan's King Abdullah told a U.S. newspaper it could have decapitated his government.

John Vause, CNN, Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: There's some debate among U.S. intelligence officials over the exact nature of the plot. But they are calling it a big deal. Our national security correspondent David Ensor is joining us now with more. David, what are you hearing here in Washington?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say, they are calling it a big deal. The capture of these plotters and the chemicals by Jordanian authorities. But they are expressing caution, also, about whether the chemicals captured by the Jordanian authorities were really intended to create a toxic cloud chemical weapon. More likely, some U.S. officials are saying, the massive quantities of chemicals involved were intended to create large conventional explosions.

At issue is the presence of a large quantity of sulfuric acid among the tons of chemicals seized by the authorities. Sulfuric acid can be used as a blister agent. But U.S. government scientists say it's more commonly used in conventional explosions, to greatly increase the explosive power. So that is why there is some caution here, Wolf, between different U.S. officials, they are not quite clear on whether this was really a chemical attack, a toxic cloud type of attack, or whether it was just intended to be a massive explosion.

But one thing they are doing is congratulating the Jordanians on a counterterrorism job very well done. This could have been very serious.

BLITZER: All right, David Ensor, thanks very much for that.

And this note to our viewers: We'll have much more on this note. You can learn more about this alleged al Qaeda terror plot on "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown. That airs tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

John Kerry under attack while his party swings back at the current number two man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: We remember Dick Cheney, and he is the last guy that should be lecturing John Kerry about how to defend America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But Vice President Cheney has his own, equally strong response for his critics.

Not the solution. Why one general in Iraq says armored humvees are not providing adequate protection for U.S. troops.

Controversial comments. U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi now in the hot seat for criticizing the United States and Israel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Strong words in the battle for the White House today. Words from the vice president, Dick Cheney, as well as Senator John Kerry. The Democratic presidential candidate also had some strong words at President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): As in football, the best defense is often the best offense in politics. That helps explain why Vice President Dick Cheney came out swinging today against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, citing his votes against various weapons systems.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Leaders must speak out and act against threats as they gather, even when it's difficult. Dangers cannot be wished away.

BLITZER: Kerry supporters were assuming this was going to be a tough week for the Bush-Cheney campaign, with three events that would put the president and the vice president on the defensive. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Cheney's refusal to release details of his 2001 controversial energy task force. On Thursday, the president and the vice president will appear before the 9/11 commission. And Saturday is the one-year anniversary of the president's landing aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under the "mission accomplished" banner.

But even before Cheney lashed out against Kerry, Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe launched his own preemptive strike.

MCAULIFFE: You remember Dick Cheney. When John Kerry was risking his life for his country in Vietnam, Dick Cheney was getting deferments because, in his own words, he had "other priorities" than military service.

BLITZER: But as much as the Democratic candidate supporters were hoping to keep the Bush-Cheney team on the defensive, Kerry was clearly feeling the heat on his 1971 statements and behavior in opposing the Vietnam War after he came home.

At issue, whether he threw away his medals to protest the war and not just his ribbons, as he has long maintained.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I threw my ribbons. I didn't have my medals. It's very simple.

BLITZER: Appearing on ABC, he then took the offensive. KERRY: This comes from a president who can't even show or prove that he showed up for duty in the National Guard. And I'm not going to stand for it.

BLITZER: This debate is only just beginning. Witness this latest Bush-Cheney ad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kerry even voted against body armor for our troops on the front line of the war on terror. John Kerry's record on national security, troubling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And this note, Democratic politicians say the pressure is now clearly on Senator Kerry to name a vice presidential running mate quickly. Someone who can take on Cheney and the president directly, the same way the vice president is taking on Kerry right now.

And here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: Is Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War medals controversy a relevant campaign issue? You can vote right now, go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

Heavy fighting and heavy casualties as U.S. Marines battle Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah. Has the cease-fire ceased to exist?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Saudis over the last decades and the United States have had a very interesting relationship. And most of it has not been very public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A private partnership. Just how big a role did the Saudis play in the war against Saddam Hussein? Surprising new information out about their quiet cooperation with the United States.

And the Kobe Bryant case. Front and center today, his accuser's sex life. Should the jury hear about it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back. New information emerging right now in the war in Iraq. A high ranking U.S. Army leader says armored humvees aren't tough enough to give U.S. troops in Iraq adequate protection. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is joining us now live with details -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, with U.S. troops, Wolf, dying in Iraq in deadly roadside attacks, the Pentagon is spending $400 million to race new, improved, so-called up-armored humvees to the battlefield in Iraq. But today, CNN obtained a memo from a four-star general who says those improved humvees are not getting the job done.

General Larry Ellis, who is the commanding general of the U.S. Army forces command, writes in the memo -- "Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the up-armored humvee is not providing the solution the Army hoped to achieve." General Ellis says that the Army should shift more funds into buying Stryker, the Army's newest armored vehicle. He says it's imperative the Army accelerate the production of Stryker vehicles to support the current operations. He would like to see those vehicles doubled in production.

Critics say that even with the better armor, the humvee's shoulder-level doors make it too easy to lob a grenade inside. Its four rubber tires burn too readily, and at two tons, it's light enough to be overturned by a mob. Some critics also say the Army is overlooking a cheaper, even faster solution, using some Vietnam era M- 113 Gavin armored cars that the Army has thousands of in stock.

In his memo, General Ellis pleads for quick action, lamenting that even though the nation is at war, some in the Army are still in a peace time posture. He writes: "If our actions impede our ability to train, equip or organize our soldiers for combat, then we failed the soldier and our nation."

Now, Wolf, no vehicle offers 100 percent protection, but it goes without saying, the more armor the better chance you have for survival -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie, any reaction that you're getting from the manufacturer of the humvee?

MCINTYRE: Well, nobody here is alleging that this is a defective product. It's clearly the case that the up-armored humvee offers more protection. The question is really the threat that the U.S. faces and whether they just need something that's bigger and better.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, disturbing information. Thanks, Jamie, very much.

Word at -- war, that is -- at its doorstep, a clear concern over the outcome and a long-standing relationship on the line. A contentious ally lends some critical and until now mostly unknown support to U.S. forces as they swarm into Iraq.

Here is CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Highly placed Saudi sources confirm to CNN that, during the war, Saudi Arabia allowed the U.S. military to operate from at least three critical locations, the massive Prince Sultan air base and in the north key airstrips at Tabuk and Arar. Many U.S. planes took off from Saudi Arabia during the war and much of the U.S. air campaign was managed from control centers inside Saudi borders. The Saudi ambassador to the U.S. does not confirm details, but does admit to an American presence.

PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN, SAUDI ARABIAN AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: American forces were there, but they were doing and supporting the Southern Watch, as you remember. And that continued all through.

TODD: In addition, CNN confirms the Saudis permitted U.S. special forces troop to launch operations into Iraq from Saudi soil, allowed U.S. cruise missiles to be fired across Saudi airspace into Iraq, and supplied oil and fuel for American forces.

BANDAR: What more was done or less was judged based on the need and the circumstances. But I don't think your viewers, particularly in the United States of America, should be surprised to know that Saudi-American relationship is much more solid than people try to make it.

TODD (on camera): Contrast that to last year, when the kingdom declared, mostly for Arab consumption, that it would not participate in any way in a war in Iraq. Popular discontent for war among Saudi citizens hardened when Turkey refused the use of its soil for U.S. operations.

(voice-over): The ground attack originated mostly from Kuwait. Central Command set up in Qatar, a smaller Arab kingdom that has had its own problem with Saudi Arabia.

HAMAD BIN JASIM BIN JABIR AL THANI, QATARI FOREIGN MINISTER: At least we never lie to our people. Our people know our cooperation with the United States from day one.

TODD: But the house of Saud walked a fine line, qualifying its public declaration with what U.S. officials claim were private assurances that some cooperation would be forthcoming.

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: The Saudis over the last decades and the United States have had a very interesting relationship. And most of it has not been very public. They have helped us significantly at important times to the United States.

TODD: At other times, officials say, U.S.-Saudi cooperation in the war on terror and in regional disputes is as jagged as this very complicated alliance.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The United Nations envoy helping set up a new government in Iraq is in hot water over some remarks he has made about Israel and the United States.

CNN's Liz Neisloss takes a look at Lakhdar Brahimi. She joins us now live -- Liz.

Liz Neisloss, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's right, Wolf,

The U.N. envoy to Iraq, the man the U.S. is hoping will help map out a political future for Iraq, has landed in some controversy with some comments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEISLOSS (voice-over): The quiet diplomat speaks out. Lakhdar Brahimi told French radio "There is no doubt that the great poison in the region is this Israeli policy of domination and the suffering imposed on the Palestinians." Brahimi also said what he calls unjust U.S. support for Israel undermines U.S. efforts in Iraq.

DANIEL GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Mr. Brahimi's very dangerous comments are an expression of bigotry. And I believe that they are the real poison.

NEISLOSS: Brahimi stands by his comments.

LAKHDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY TO IRAQ: What I have said is a statement of fact, not an opinion. What I have said is that the policy of Israel, not Israel is a poison. The policy of Israel is a poison in the region and that this is the feeling of every one in the region and beyond.

NEISLOSS: Brahimi's boss, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, didn't so much defend his Iraq envoy's comments as explain them.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think what Mr. Brahimi, whom I've spoken to, was trying to convey was the reactions he has picked up in the region and in the Islamic world, and not really talking about the conflict in the Mideast.

NEISLOSS: Brahimi also warned the U.S. that retaking Fallujah by force could backfire.

BRAHIMI: If you have enemies there, this is exactly what they want you to do, to alienate more people so that more people support them rather than you.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We welcome the proposals presented by the U.N. special envoy, Brahimi.

NEISLOSS: President Bush, not recently a vocal U.N. supporter, endorsed the envoy's approach on national television earlier this month before Brahimi's latest comments.

MICHAEL RUBIN, FORMER PENTAGON ADVISER: He's definitely putting the United States in an awkward position because the Bush administration has put its neck out to support him and what he's basically doing is taking slaps at the White House.

NEISLOSS: U.N. watchers say the usually cautious Brahimi wants to show he's not taking orders from the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEISLOSS: And Brahimi is not a diplomatic novice. A former Algerian foreign minister, an official with the Arab League, and most recently the U.N.'s envoy to Afghanistan, he brings to the Iraqis a credibility that the U.S. really needs. But the quest ion is, will his recent comments help or hurt the U.S. efforts to democratize Iraq -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Liz Neisloss reporting for us from the United Nations -- Liz, thanks very much.

Let's go back to our top story, the battle for Fallujah. How close is it? One of the embedded U.S. reporters, Tony Perry, from "The Los Angeles Times" joining us now live from Fallujah.

What exactly is going on right now, Tony?

TONY PERRY, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": It's been a very violent day here, Wolf.

U.S. Marines fought a two-hour fight with insurgents that left one Marine dead and dozens of insurgents dead or wounded. And more importantly it was a preview, I think, of what we could be seeing if the Marines have to go into the core of the city to attack the surrounded insurgents.

This is what one Marine official calls a true city battle, close up. They were firing within 30 yards of each other, extraordinarily violent and used enormous amounts of ammunition. This was a city battle. This is what lies ahead if there isn't a peaceful settlement. If the Marines have to go in and wipe out the final vestige of the insurgents who are holed up in the center of the town, this is what it could look like.

BLITZER: We heard that Tuesday was the deadline for the insurgents to lay down their heavy weapons. Is there any indication they are doing that?

PERRY: No. In fact, the whole idea of a truce, the whole idea of the insurgents turning in their weapons has become a kind of joke among the U.S. Marines. The joke is that the insurgents are turning in their mortars one at a time by shelling the U.S. positions. There is no indication that the insurgents are following that. There is no indication that the negotiators who have been trying to work this settlement on the Iraqi side have the authority or the power to force the insurgents.

If there is a deadline, it's going to come and go, I believe, without that major condition being met by the insurgents.

BLITZER: How concerned are Marines, Tony, that they could be getting themselves into some sort of trap?

PERRY: I don't think they are concerned of that at all. They are very confident. Every scrap that they have been in, every skirmish they have been in, they have won. They have taken casualties, true. But, dozens, hundreds of the enemy have died. And that I think is the way it will go. I don't think it's going to be a trap.

Remember, of course, and the insurgents might also want to remember, that they have only seen a fraction of the capability of the U.S. and of the Marines. If you have two aircraft in a skirmish here, it's a big deal. But when the push comes, there are going to be dozens of aircraft. You have a little bit of artillery, it's a big deal. When the big push comes, there could be a lot of artillery. There are six battalions of Marines. That's nearly 7,000 Marines ready to go in and play a part in this.

The insurgents haven't seen a fraction of the power that the U.S. and the Marine Corps is ready to bring to bear on this situation.

BLITZER: Tony Perry of "The Los Angeles Times," he's an embedded journalist with the U.S. Marines.

Tony, we'd like to check back with you tomorrow at this time, if possible. Good luck to you. Stay safe. Thanks very much, Tony Perry of "The Los Angeles Times."

Condoleezza Rice says it was an alert customs agent who helped thwart a terrorist attack at LAX in 1999. Richard Clarke says it was the Clinton administration's strict terrorism policies then under way. Who is right? Up next, I'll speak to that U.S. customs agent herself. Diana Dean will join me.

Kobe Bryant's accuser, the judge decides whether the jury should hear about her sexual past.

And his top two lawyers are out. So who is in charge of the Michael Jackson defense team right now? We'll get to all of that.

First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): At least 18 people have been killed in two days of fighting between Christians and Muslims in Eastern Indonesia. Police and army reinforcements have been rushed to the area. Almost 10,000 people have been killed in fighting between the two groups over the past five years.

Indian elections. Armed militants attacked voting stations in the latest round of parliamentary elections. One report says at least six people were killed. And yesterday, in the disputed state of Kashmir, at least three people were killed in grenade attacks.

Helping North Korea. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States will offer aid to North Korea in the aftermath of a deadly train accident last week. And South Korea says it has reached an agreement with the north to send relief supplies by ship. The blast killed about 160 people and injured 1,300 near the border with China.

China SARS cases. Health officials are keeping almost 500 people under observations in a bid to contain a small number of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome. There are two confirmed cases and six suspected cases. One patient died last week. All are linked to people who worked in a SARS laboratory in Beijing.

And that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Who prevented the millennium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles International Airport? It's Just one of a number of disagreements between the Bush administration and its former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke. In just a moment, a rare interview with the customs ought who caught the would-be bomber.

First, though, the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): On December 14, 1999, customs officials arrested Algerian-born Ahmed Ressam at Port Angeles, Washington, as he arrived on a ferry from British Columbia. Hidden in the trunk of his car agents found 130 pounds of explosives, along with timing devices. His plan was to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on or around New Year's Day 2000.

But the millennium bomb plot as it came to be known was thwarted. And Ressam and an accomplice were both convicted, a pre-9/11 success story in the fight against terrorism. But there's disagreement over how it happened.

Richard Clarke, the former White House antiterrorism chief under Presidents Clinton and Bush, credits the Clinton administration.

RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: ... failed you.

BLITZER: He says it had border agents on high alert and was aggressively flushing out terror information or shaking the trees, as he puts it. In his tell-all book, "Against All Enemies," Clarke says the Bush administration failed to do that in the summer of 2001, that terrorism was a low priority before 9/11, which he says might have been prevented.

But his former boss, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, has a different version. She says the Clinton administration had nothing to do with Ressam's capture, that there was no alert. Instead, Rice says it was just luck and the keen eye of one woman.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It was because a very alert customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleagues sniffed something about Ressam. They saw that something was wrong. I don't think it was shaking the trees that produced the breakthrough in the millennium plot.

It was that you got a -- Dick Clarke would say a lucky break. I would say you got an alert customs agent who got it right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now is that alert customs agent, Diana Dean.

Diana Dean, thanks very much for joining us.

Let me take you back to that night in December 1999. What exactly happened when you were on duty along the border?

DIANA DEAN, FORMER U.S. CUSTOMS INSPECTOR: Well, we were on our last ferry of the evening. It was supposed to come in at 5:30 at night. It came in around 6:00. It was a very light load. There were only about 20 cars on the boat that night. Mr. Ressam was in the very last car that came off the ferry and he came through my lane.

He -- his car had B.C. license plates and he presented me with a passport from -- a Canadian passport and a driver's license from Quebec. So I started asking him our normal custom questions. I asked him where he was going. And he said Seattle. I detected a French accent and he didn't appear to be English. And I asked him why he was going to Seattle, and he said, visit.

I asked him where he lived. And he said Montreal. I asked him who he would visit in Seattle. And he said hotel. By this time, he was getting very, very nervous and he was very agitated. And I knew we were going to take a closer look at him to make sure that everything was OK with him. So I asked him to turn his car off and complete a customs declaration for us, which is something we always do prior to a secondary inspection.

And by that, I just mean taking a closer look at the -- what he's carrying with him. He completed the declaration. And we asked him to step out of his car. By this time, there were other inspectors around. We asked him to step out of the car and pop open his trunk. We finally encouraged him to get out of the car. Another inspector took Mr. Ressam over to a table, because he was wearing a very large coat. He wanted to go through the coat and make sure he didn't have anything in his pockets.

And everybody else went to the -- either the interior of the car or the trunk of the car, opened the trunk and there was only one suitcase in the trunk. Another inspector took that out to look through it. And a third inspector unscrewed the cap over the spare tire. And as soon as did he that and lifted it up, we saw, you know, there were big bags of powder in there.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Diana, let me interrupt and ask you this question. The fact that you were doing all of this, this screening, was it the result of some orders that you got from Washington to be on heightened alert in advance of the millennium or was this just business as usual?

DEAN: This was just business as usual. That's what we do. We look for somebody out of the ordinary that just needs a little closer look. And that's what he was at that time.

BLITZER: But it was only two weeks before the millennium. Were you along the border with Canada on a heightened state of alert, knowing that there were terror threats that were widely reported coming at the end of the year?

DEAN: You know, we weren't on higher state of alert. We did not have an alert system at that time. And, no, we weren't. We were -- it was pretty much business as usual for us.

BLITZER: So how much longer did it take to discover there were explosives in that car? What exactly did you discover?

DEAN: Well, at first, to make a long story short, I went in to start making phone calls and Mr. Ressam slipped out of his jacket and ran. As soon as he saw that we had uncovered what he had in there, he was able to get away. He was chased down and eventually returned to the port. That probably took about 15 minutes.

And then we started testing what was in the bags for drugs because that was the first thing on our mind. It's really all we had experience with. We had never had a terrorist or seen bombmaking materials before. It didn't take us too long to realize that what was in those bags was not drugs. So we started looking around and there were also some timers. They were like electrical outlets. And when somebody unscrewed one, we saw the watches and we saw the wires.

We realized immediately that what we had was something that we weren't prepared to deal with. And so we started making all the appropriate phone calls to different agencies to come and help us.

BLITZER: Did you realize at that time this was al Qaeda?

DEAN: You know, it was purely speculation, but we talked about that amongst ourselves, yes.

BLITZER: Diana Dean, you did good work out there. You saved a lot of people. You realize, of course, what was in store for LAX. Now looking back, do you understand what you did?

DEAN: We do. We do. We're very thankful that we were able to stop him at the border.

BLITZER: We're very thankful as well. Diana Dean, thanks very much for joining us.

DEAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: This note. We tried to reach Richard Clarke today to get his reaction to Diana Dean's story. We've been unable to speak with him so far. We hope to speak with him at some point.

Kobe Bryant is back in court. His defense team wants to shed light on his accuser's sexual history. Will the judge allow it? We'll get to that.

First, though, a quick look at some stories you may have missed this past weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): State and federal officials are trying to find the cause of a massive Friday night explosion that killed four workers at an Illinois plastics plant. The plant is in Illiopolis, about 20 miles east of Springfield.

Politicians, celebrities and several hundred thousand others took part in an abortion rights rally in the nation's capital yesterday. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vanessa Kerry, daughter of presidential candidate John Kerry, were at the march for women's lives. Many taking part voice frustration at the current administration's opposition to abortion.

A major name in the business of beauty died Saturday. Estee Lauder died of cardiopulmonary arrest at her Manhattan home. She launched her namesake company in 1946 and was considered an innovator in the industry. Lauder was 97.

For the third time, a college quarterback named Manning went as a first-round pick in the NFL draft. Eli Manning, son of Archie and brother of Peyton, was chosen No. 1 by the San Diego Chargers Saturday. Eli had said he didn't want to play in San Diego. The Chargers made the best of it, trading Manning to the New York Giants for quarterback Philip Rivers and several draft picks.

And that's our weekend snapshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Kobe Bryant is back in Eagle, Colorado, at a closed- door pretrial hearing for a sexual assault case.

Our Gary Tuchman is standing by with what happened today -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the court is in session, but the judge says the talk is too salty and controversial to allow the public or the news media's ears inside. But we can tell that you Kobe Bryant arrived this morning at 8:00 Mountain time.

He has been in there eight hours. The topic of the day, the sexual history of the alleged victim. Bryant's attorney want to use part of her sexual history in a trial. They say she had sex at least three times in the 72 hours she was with Kobe Bryant. And they allege she could have suffered the injuries she received from other people. Prosecutors say her are sexual history is irrelevant to the case.

We expect the decision from the judge will not come this week, perhaps as early as next month. But as of now, there's still no trial date set -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Gary Tuchman is watching all of this for us. Thanks, Gary, very much. Michael Jackson's lead attorneys have left the case. That tops our "Justice Report." Saying his life is at stake, the embattled pop star has reshuffled his defense team just days before his next court appearance. Celebrity lawyers Mark Geragos and Benjamin Brafman are out. Stepping in is another star attorney. Thomas Mesereau represented the actor Robert Blake until their recent split-up.

The results of our hot "Web Question of the Day," that's coming up when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in our "Web Question of the Day." Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

U.S. Grant's new look on the new $50 bill is our "Picture of the Day." The Treasury Department unveiled it today. Take a look, a U.S. flag with splashes of red and blue join the 18th president on the front.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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