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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

U.S. Pushes for U.N. to Take Lead Role in Iraq; American Lawyer Cleared of Madrid Bombings; Tornadoes Destroy Nebraska Town

Aired May 24, 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: New strategy. Can President Bush convince the country on his plans for Iraq? We're hours away from a prime time speech and moments away from hearing directly from Howard Dean. He takes on the commander in chief.
An American lawyer smeared by allegations of a link to the Madrid train bombings is now told by U.S. law enforcement authorities "never mind." We expect to hear from him this hour.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): United Nations to the rescue? The U.S. and Britain have their hats in hand in the hand-over in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will see the U.N. take a very prominent part in what now unfolds.

BLITZER: Innocents or insurgents? Do new pictures show the before and after of an American attack?

March of the tornadoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Went down in the basement and just waited and prayed.

BLITZER: The outbreak may not be over.

And unveiling...

BOB DOLE, FORMER SENATOR: Some made the ultimate sacrifice. The rest of us were lucky.

BLITZER: Pictures of war, some not seen for 60 years.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, May 24, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We begin with a dramatic call for help. Before U.S. troops marched into Iraq, U.S. diplomats marched into the United Nations rattling sabers.

The United States is now looking for a way out of Iraq and for the blessing of the United Nations.

Let's go live to our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the resolution rumble is on again, and this time it's the United States that eagerly needs the assistance of the United Nations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (voice-over): One year later, the United States returned to the Security Council for urgent help in Iraq.

This time Washington is not threatening to go it alone. Instead it's desperately requesting United Nations involvement as control is turned over to Iraq authorities.

JAMES CUNNINGHAM, DEPUTY U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The resolution looks forward to the end of the Coalition Provisional Authority and the occupation and a leading role for the United Nations in Iraq.

ROTH: Knowing the U.S. is in a tight spot, Security Council members such as France and Germany angled to get as much authority for the Iraqis as possible and place limits on the extent of the U.S. political and military role.

GUNTER PLEUGER, GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We will have to make sure that this process provides Iraq ownership for the political process as well as for the process of economic reconstruction.

ROTH: So will there be the same showdown as before the war?

HERALDO MUNOZ, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: There are differences. But at the same time, I have seen progress and growing agreements over the meetings that we have had informally.

ROTH: Debate is likely on key points in the resolution. A U.S.- led multinational force stays for a year, only to then be reviewed, not necessarily withdrawn.

The international military and the Iraq military plan cooperation but left unsaid is whether Iraq troops can refuse an order from an American commander.

And oil revenues will be controlled by Iraq, but an international monitoring board will remain in place to look for corruption.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Next meeting of the Security Council, Wolf, will be Wednesday. The future ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, will be there.

The U.S. would like a vote on this resolution in early June. Others expect it to be more toward mid, late June, June 20 or so.

Back to you.

BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thanks, Richard, very much.

Three hours from now, the president will tell the nation how the U.S.-led coalition will hand over power in Iraq.

That speech comes as the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows 47 percent of those surveyed approve of the president's handling of his job. Forty-nine percent disapprove.

The president's speech tonight is at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is already there. She's joining us live.

Dana, how does the president hope to turn around these numbers?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the president's political aides concede that 47 percent is not a place they want to be five months before the election. It's dangerous in looking at it through history.

But the way they want to turn it around with his speech tonight and other speeches to follow, leading up until the June 30 deadline, just five weeks away.

Essentially what the president is going to try to do is say, yes, it looks like there is chaos in Iraq. He understands that there is violence and there have been major setbacks like the Iraq prisoner abuse story.

But he will say that this is a mission with a plan. And he's going to essentially try to be communicator in chief, detailing some of the things that he -- we have been reporting we have known have been out there, if you will, for sometime, like the fact that the interim government will take over on June 30.

And he will talk about exactly what that will look like. He will talk about the fact that the U.S. troops will stay in Iraq after that and prepare the nation for that.

He'll also talk about what Richard Roth was just reporting, that there is a U.N. resolution and will try to explain that it's not just the U.S., that there is an international role and they're hoping to make it even more of an international role.

But essentially, it's unclear whether or not this will answer the critics, Wolf, not only from Democrats but within his own party, that it's not the communications effort' it's the policy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Dana Bash, already in Pennsylvania for the speech. Thanks, Dana, very much.

As the coalition counts down the days to the hand-over of power, insurgents are stepping up their attacks. There was another deadly bombing right in the heart of Baghdad today.

CNN's Guy Raz reports from the Iraq capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The burning carcass of an armored sport utility vehicle, inside the charred remains of two British nationals, two others flown to an Army medical center.

U.S. forces and Iraq police quickly sealed off the area, as forensic teams combed the site.

A senior U.S. military official at the scene told CNN the attack bore all the hallmarks of a targeted killing. No collateral damage, no other vehicles hit. And just steps away from the main entrance of the Green Zone where the coalition authority is headquartered.

To the south more clashes in the city of Kufa between U.S. forces and fighters from the radical Shiite Mehdi brigade. According to U.S. military officials, 32 suspected fighters were killed.

U.S. troops entered a mosque, where they found large stockpiles of military shells, mortars, rocket propelled grenades and weapons.

(on camera) Baghdad is now a city where a day without violence or an explosion would almost shock its battered residents. The one senior Iraq official now says, as the June 30 hand-over date approaches, violence will only get worse.

Guy Raz, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: So can the president sell the American people on a new strategy in Iraq? And is this an exit strategy?

Joining us now from Phoenix, Arizona, our world affairs analyst, the former defense secretary William Cohen. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

What does need to do to convince the American public tonight that he has a strategy on Iraq?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, first he has to indicate to the American people that he has the support, their support and the support of the Congress.

He's got to convey to the country and to the international community and ultimately to the Iraq people, of course, that he has to convey the sense that we are united. United we stand, divided we're going to fail.

And so it's going to be an attempt on his part to say we have a plan for turning over political legitimacy, as such, to the Iraq people. They will be in the hands of their own government, at least temporarily until next January or February.

And then indicate that we're moving from occupation to stabilization. And that we need the help of the international community.

We have to express -- concede that we have made errors. There have been misjudgments made. This doesn't have to amount to contrition, but it does have to involve a statement that we have made mistakes. And that we are in this and we have to be successful, and that the international community has very much at stake in our success. And to be sure in our failure, as well.

BLITZER: How big of a deal is it now for the Bush administration to effectively go hat in hand to the U.N. Security Council and ask some of the other permanent members like Russia or China or France, ask them for help?

COHEN: I think it's important that the president go to the major countries and to seek their assistance. And point out that Russia has its own problem with terrorist activity. The Chinese have their own problems with terrorist activity, as well.

And to make an appeal, saying that stability in that region is critical certainly for the United States and coalition forces. But equally importantly, it's also critical for the stabilization of the entire region. And ultimately those countries you mentioned, China, Russia, France, Germany, they all have a major stake in our success.

BLITZER: So many in this administration once had such high hopes for Ahmed Chalabi, but his stock has gone up from way up to way down only in the last few days.

You used to have to deal with this issue when you were at the Pentagon. What do you make of this amazing turnabout in his fortune?

COHEN: Well, Mr. Chalabi has always been an individual of some controversy. And I think we ought not to focus on one individual as much as we are today.

The real issue is, what do we need to do in order to establish this new architecture for governance on the part of the Iraq people? What do we need to do in terms of persuading other countries that they should join us politically if not contribute militarily?

I think we'll have to assume that we'll still have the bulk of the forces for the foreseeable future in the region. But the political legitimacy and support will be critical to persuading the Iraq people that this has international support. And this is a stabilization force and no longer an occupation force, even though we'll be there in very large numbers.

BLITZER: General Zinni, Anthony Zinni, the former commander of the Central Command, has got a new book coming out.

He has been very critical, if you saw "60 Minutes" last night, basically saying this is Niagara Falls. This administration is taking the U.S. military over the falls right now. What a disaster.

What do you make of those comments? COHEN: Well, I have enormous respect for General Zinni, and I in fact recommended his appointment when he was the head of Central Command. And so I respect his judgment.

But I think he also indicated that we have to make some course directions here. And I think involving the Iraq people in this process now in a major way, going to the United Nations, going to the Security Council, going to the NATO members, the big members of NATO, and saying, "We need your help. We're in this in a major way now, and we can't afford to fail, because failure could result in catastrophe for the Iraq people. It could inflame the entire region and jeopardize the world economy in a very major way."

BLITZER: William Cohen, thanks very much for joining us.

COHEN: My pleasure.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: will you watch President Bush's prime time speech on Iraq? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

He was thrown in jail and publicly linked to the Madrid train bombings. Now just like that, American lawyer Brandon Mayfield, a convert to Islam, has been told he's completely off the hook.

Let's turn to our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena.

Kelli, what an amazing turnabout.

KELLI MAYFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Wolf.

The federal court today threw out that case against Brandon Mayfield, saying that the FBI made a fingerprinting error.

Mayfield was detained, as you know, as a material witness for two weeks in connection to the Madrid train bombing. Law enforcement sources said a fingerprint found near the scene of the bombings matched Mayfield, but Spanish officials said that the print belonged to another man, an Algerian who remains at large.

Sources tell CNN that the digital image the FBI was using to compare prints was not of the best resolution.

Mayfield was released last Thursday, but he was still subject to court supervision as a material witness. So today's ruling completely clears him.

The court ruled that all his personal property be returned, that any copies of that property held by the government be destroyed. And that the files regarding this case be unsealed.

And we expect to hear from Mayfield's lawyer, if not Mayfield himself within the hour at a news conference. For now, though, the only comment from the Mayfield camp is that he and his family are very happy. No word yet from the Department of Justice. No word from the FBI yet, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll be speaking also later this hour with Jeffrey Toobin, our legal analyst. I assume there could be some legal fall- out from all of this, as well.

Kelli, thanks very much.

ARENA: Yes.

BLITZER: A reversal for two storm chasers. The twister ends up catching them. We have dramatic pictures. That's coming up.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got pretty windy. And we saw the tornado coming, and we went downstairs and heard the house take off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Blown away, literally. Hear from residents ravaged by the severe storms.

And there are more dangerous weather warnings right now.

Did U.S. forces strike a wedding party or terror suspects in the Iraq desert? New home video emerges. What story do the pictures support?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to bring our guard and reserves home. They have no business being in Iraq with this kind of length of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Howard Dean on the hand-over in Iraq: what the former Democratic presidential hopeful wants to hear from the president. Tonight I'll speak with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Midwest residents are being warned to brace themselves for more severe weather today. That's on top of violent storms over the weekend that produced more than 100 reports of tornadoes, including one with winds of more than 200 miles an hour that virtually wiped the town of Hallam, Nebraska, off the map.

CNN's Michael Schulder reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MICHAEL SCHULDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the force that demolished an American town: a tornado as it headed for Hallam, Nebraska, a village which calls itself the little town with the big heart.

The man and woman taking the video of this tornado were driving along in their car doing what they've done for more than a decade, chasing tornadoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's rotating right over there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. Would you just book it?

SCHULDER: When they got too close they tried to drive away, but their escape route was blocked by a tree and so the storm they were chasing ended up catching them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!

SCHULDER: They survived unscathed.

The town of Hallam fared worse.

Next time somebody says a tornado sounds like a freight train, remember this picture. A freight train is no match for a tornado.

The destruction in Hallam was so complete of the town's 85 homes, only two are now habitable.

This couple thought it lost more than its home, then suddenly they heard a whimper from the wreckage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a dog in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here, Percy.

SCHULDER: Their dog was alive.

In this part of the country, people typically have concrete basements where they can ride out tornadoes. The last place you want to be when a tornado strikes is in your car, like this woman was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going to ask the Lord to do right now, even though these storms never seem to stop. We need to have quiet and peace and warmth within this car,

And he said, "I feel it, Mom." He said, "I feel it, too."

SCHULDER: A couple of counties away, a remarkable perspective on the storm that took so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... we'd even be here. Thought we'd be dead. They blew it all down here (UNIDENTIFIED) That's what counts.

SCHULDER: Hallam, Nebraska, and its neighbors, the little towns with the big hearts.

Michael Schulder, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we're just getting word right now of tornado warnings happening elsewhere. Let's go right to our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras.

What's the latest, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, we have multiple tornado warnings. And one of them, actually, not all that far away from Hallam, Nebraska. But it's going to stay to the south of Hallam, so that's good news for those folks there.

We've got Cass County in Nebraska, Fremont County in southwest Iowa, also Decatur County in Iowa, Banner County in Nebraska, Knox County. And there was a tornado reported earlier with this Knox County tornado. And so that's a really dangerous situation going on right there.

Also northern Andrew and Nodaway County in Missouri. Holt County in Missouri. A tornado with that one, earlier. So his definitely has potential here and northern Republic County in north central Kansas.

This is a very dangerous situation. This is day four of the biggest outbreak of tornadoes so far in 2004.

We want to take you into the Omaha area. Some of these super cells very impressive. This is the one that's just to the south of the Hallam area right there. A very clear hook in this one in northwestern Missouri. Just to the south of Maryville.

We also have a cluster of thunderstorms getting close to the Des Moines metro area at this time. So if you live in Des Moines, be aware.

Severe thunderstorm warning in effect for Omaha. Large hail and damaging winds will be possible for you within the next 20 minutes or so.

And there is a tornado watch for the Kansas City area. Things are looking quiet right now. But this watch extends until 10 p.m. local time tonight. Clusters of severe thunderstorms.

And in New York we did have a report of a tornado around Sylvan Lake earlier. Right now, no tornado warnings in New York.

We'll keep you up to date, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. This is a deadly, deadly business. Thanks very much, Jacqui Jeras for that update.

Flooding is the problem in other parts of the Midwest. Homes have been evacuated and schools have been canceled in Gurnee, Illinois. The Des Plaines River is expected to crest there tomorrow at more than five feet above flood stage.

And look at this. This is the scene near Detroit where almost three inches of rain fell yesterday at the city's airport. More than 20 Michigan counties were under flood warnings today.

Flooding is also causing problems in parts of Wisconsin and Iowa.

An Oregon attorney linked to the Madrid train bombings is now officially cleared. He's officially in the clear. We're standing by for a live news conference from Portland, Oregon. We expect to hear from him.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: George Bush needs to be a one-term president if we're ever going to get out of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Countdown to the hand over in Iraq. The former Democratic presidential frontrunner, Howard Dean, weighs in with his own exit strategy.

The horrific cost of war. Rarely scene images from journalists who covered World War II.

And sprucing up David but not without controversy. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll numbers are out, and while they continue to show problems for President Bush, the good news for the administration is that they haven't gotten any worse over the past two weeks.

When likely voters were asked their choice for president between President Bush and Senator John Kerry, Kerry leads 49 to 47 percent. That's statistically just about where the polls have been for the last two weeks.

And when candidate Ralph Nader is factored in, John Kerry still beats President Bush 47 to 46 percent, with Ralph Nader getting four percent of the vote.

Howard Dean, never at a loss for words, has a quick response to the question on how to end the mess in Iraq. His answer: defeat President Bush in November.

The former Democratic presidential candidate also says his former rival, John Kerry, has the right solution for Iraq.

Earlier I spoke with Howard Dean about this and other key issues of the campaign. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Governor Dean, thanks once again for joining us.

Let's get right to the issue at hand. What does the president need to say tonight?

DEAN: Well, first I hope he won't be giving a political speech at the War College. The War College ironically did a number of studies which showed -- which, had the president read, we would not be in Iraq today.

They raise exactly the issues the president now has to face tonight.

And those issues are how do you, on the ground, after the military victory, create a democratic Iraq. The president has had no plan. We're waiting to see what it is.

I think the plan has to be a real plan. It has to show that we're going to have order in Iraq, not civil war. It has to show that minority rights have to be protected so that we don't have a Shiite theocracy, which would be a greater danger than Saddam Hussein was to the national security of the United States.

We have to have minority rights protected in a constitution. And there has to be a real exit strategy. This can't go on forever.

BLITZER: It sounds, though, if you look closely at what the president's position, how it's evolving, he's moving toward the positions that John Kerry wants: greater internationalization. A multinational force. A new U.N. Security Council resolution.

It seems these two positions, the Kerry and Bush positions, are getting pretty close.

DEAN: The difference between the Kerry position and the Bush position is the Bush position is probably unrealistic for Bush but very realistic for Kerry.

That is George Bush got us into this by ignoring and humiliating our allies. It's very unlikely he's going to be able to get out of it.

The truth is we need a new president to get us out of this. And I don't think George Bush has the capacity to undo what he has done.

It's true the right thing to do, as the president will undoubtedly say, is to turn this into an international reconstruction and not an American occupation.

You've got to get -- the soldiers have to be safer. Our soldiers have to be safer. And that's not going to happen in an American occupation.

John Kerry has been saying that and has the wherewithal to deliver it. George Bush does not, which of course, is why I'm supporting John Kerry.

BLITZER: But are there differences in the John Kerry position on Iraq and the Howard Dean position on Iraq?

DEAN: No, all the time, other than the vote for the initial resolution, I continually said this needs to be a foreign reconstruction effort.

We need to bring our guard and reserves home. They have no business being in Iraq with this kind of length of time. We can bring one of the two divisions home and replace all of them with foreign troops.

I think Kerry will be able to do that. I think Bush will not be able to do that, because he got us into it simply by denigrating the advice and ignoring our allies and humiliating them deliberately if they disagreed with us.

That is why George Bush needs to be a one-term president if we're ever going to get out of Iraq.

BLITZER: How concerned are you, Governor, that Ralph Nader is emerging as the so-called peace candidate, the anti-war candidate, because unlike Bush and Kerry, he wants U.S. forces out of Iraq almost immediately?

DEAN: Well, I think that's irresponsible. I never took that position when I was running.

It's one thing to be against the war, which I am and was. It's another thing to allow our troops to be pulled out without any kind of police protection for the Iraqis.

What's going to happen if we adopt Ralph Nader's position is that we'll have civil war, a Shiite theocracy. Or worse, al Qaeda will do in Iraq what they did in Afghanistan. That's a genuine danger to the security of the United States.

George Bush has created this danger to the security of the United States when none had existed before. That's why I want John Kerry in.

But I don't think it's realistic to just pull our troops out tomorrow. And I actually have not even heard Ralph Nader advocate that.

BLITZER: He says -- he says six months.

DEAN: Well, you know, you'd like to be able to get them out as fast as possible. and I think a Kerry presidency will enable us to do that. Ralph Nader is not going to be president. The question is, do you want somebody with a chance of getting us out of Iraq or do you want four more years of the guy who got us into it?

BLITZER: How concerned are you, though, that Howard Dean supporters could be enticed to vote for Ralph Nader and that, in some states, that could be significant? DEAN: Well, obviously, I am supporting John Kerry because I believe that there's only two people who can now be president of the United States. One is John Kerry. The other is George Bush. Ralph Nader isn't going to be president of the United States.

So if a choice for a voter who supported me during the primary is between Ralph Nader and John Kerry, the unfortunate conclusion is that a vote for Ralph Nader is the same thing as a vote for George Bush. And I think that John Kerry would be a far better president than George Bush.

BLITZER: What is your political advice to John Kerry about delaying accepting the nomination at the Democratic Convention in Boston scheduled for the end of July in order to be able to raise more money?

DEAN: Well, since I give political advice to John Kerry in private, I'm not going to do it in public.

But I will say that we did explore that in November and December when I thought I was going to be the nominee. And I think it's a very smart thing for the Kerry campaign to be doing. Essentially, George Bush would get two-thirds or a third more money than the Kerry campaign because of the way the schedule has been manipulated by the Republicans, an extra five weeks of spending.

And so if there's a way to do this, I think we ought to seriously consider having Senator Kerry be officially nominated on September 1, so that the Republicans and the Democrats have the same amount of money to spend in the same amount of time. I think that's fair. I think that's reasonable. And I don't think the convention schedule ought to be manipulated the way Karl Rove and George Bush did manipulate it.

BLITZER: Even if it means the Democratic Convention in Boston, which is not far away from where you are right now, becomes merely a pep rally?

DEAN: I don't think it will be a pep rally. There's a lot of business that can be done. There's platforms. Senator Kerry may choose to select his vice presidential nominee at that time. There are a lot of things that can be done in the every-four-year convention time.

But we're fighting here to take back our country from what I consider to be a band of extremists. And this is too important to worry about timing of the convention. If the timing of the convention gives an advantage to the Republicans, which it now does, we ought to get rid of that advantage and play -- have an even playing field. And I think there's an opportunity to do that.

BLITZER: Governor Howard Dean, thanks for joining us.

DEAN: Thank you, Wolf.

And tomorrow at this time, we'll get reaction to President Bush's speech from the Republican side. This additional programming note. CNN will have live coverage of the president's address during a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN NOW: Countdown to Hand Over." That airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

The Iraqis there say it was a wedding celebration. But the U.S. military says it was a safe house for foreign fighters. Who is right? A new home video could offer some new insights.

And the latest on the American lawyer detained in connection with the Madrid train bombing. We're standing by to hear from Brandon Mayfield in a live news conference from Portland, Oregon.

And history through the lens. The ranks are thinning and the memories are fading. But the pictures remain oh so vivid, remembering World War II with photographs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

We're awaiting a live news conference in Portland, Oregon. An Oregon attorney once held in connection to the Madrid train bombings is now officially cleared. We'll go there live once that starts.

First, though, to Iraq. New video has emerged of an Iraqi wedding party that witnesses say was attacked by U.S. forces, killing dozens of people. But American military officials insist they bombed a safe house full of foreign fighters and they are offering their own pictures to back up the claim.

Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Associated Press says it obtained this video showing vehicles on their way to a wedding party that Iraqis claim U.S. forces attacked last week, killing more than 40 people, including women and children. U.S. forces say there was no evidence of a wedding party at the site they attacked, only foreign fighters.

But they do not yet know where this video was taken of the celebration and the children being buried.

OSFOOK NAWAF, WITNESS (through translator): I swear to God there was a wedding. I swear to God there were no weapons. I swear to God we did not fire one bullet.

STARR: In Baghdad, the coalition spokesman said there was a chain of evidence that the U.S. attacked a safe house for foreign fighters, photographs of documents and passports, some from Sudan, weapons and money seized, and apparent drug paraphernalia.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: It is pretty clear to us that what happened that night from about after midnight until 04:00, that the activities that we saw happening on the ground were somewhat inconsistent with a wedding party.

STARR: Military officials want to know why they did not find this tent, these musical instruments, why an organist who is seen playing in the wedding video wound up dead in the back of a truck, and whether it is possible there was a wedding at a fighter's safe house. As one official said, "Bad guys get married, too."

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Portland, Oregon, right now, we're watching Brandon Mayfield. He's a lawyer. He's an attorney who had converted to Islam. He was suspected of some sort of involvement to the Madrid train bombing. Supposedly, his fingerprints had been connected to that Madrid train bombings, but today the U.S. law enforcement authorities are saying he's been officially cleared, no wrongdoing whatsoever. A mistake by the FBI in the fingerprints resulted in this blunder.

Let's listen in, see what is going on.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

STEVEN WAX, ATTORNEY FOR MAYFIELD: ... has been working on the case, Janan Stall (ph), Tanya Polk (ph) and Kent Mayfield (ph), Tom Nelson (ph), who has been representing Mr. Mayfield in civil matters, and then William Tielsdale (ph), investigator in the defender's office, and Amy Bagio (ph), research and writing attorney, who has also been on the case.

We have distributed to all of you press statements that have been prepared by Mr. Shots and myself on behalf of Mr. Mayfield and a press statement that he prepared. We're going to just say a few words about that and then we'll take questions from you.

Obviously, we are quite pleased to be here and to have Mr. Mayfield today not just released from custody, but a person who the FBI now says they cannot identify as the person whose fingerprint was found, the man who is now much farther down the road to exoneration and having his name completely cleared.

This case as it has proceeded raises many, many questions about the grand jury process, the material witness statute, and perhaps the Patriot Act and also the use of the FISA wiretaps. We'll be happy to answer any questions that you have about that. I think at this point it would make most sense for me to turn the microphone over to Mr. Mayfield, who has some introductory comments to make. And then we can take your questions.

BRANDON MAYFIELD, ATTORNEY: OK, first of all, I'd just like to say thank you. Hamdulillah (ph). Thank God that I'm here. But as Mr. Wax had said, I'm this much closer to being exonerated.

I have been through what I've described earlier as a harrowing ordeal. And this whole process has been a harrowing ordeal. It shouldn't happen to anybody, at least in the manner that it happened to me. I do have some serious concerns with the material witness statute and felt like it was certainly applied inappropriately in my case and more importantly for those others that don't have the friends and support that I do.

In other words, there's other material witnesses that are languishing away in detention centers, God knows where, jail, prison. In my estimation, it's an abuse of judicial process. I also have some serious concerns. And even before this happened, I have always been a staunch opponent of the Patriot Act, particularly those provisions of the act that are an invasion on our privacy, such as the sneak and review provisions of the Patriot Act.

This is a serious infringement on our civil liberties. I want to share with you a statement by Pastor Martin Niemoller. And in Nazi Germany, the Nazis tried to identify citizens and prisoners according to their religion and ideology. I'm a Muslim and I'm an American. I'm an American Muslim. I'm an attorney. I'm an ex-officer of the U.S. military. And I have been singled out and discriminated against, I feel, as a Muslim.

And I want to quote to you almost verbatim a statement that was made by this pastor, Martin Niemoller: "In Germany, they first came for the communist and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. And then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. And by that time, there was nobody left to speak up."

So this is the state of affairs we find ourselves in today. We're living in a climate of fear. This war on terrorism is -- has gone to the extreme. And innocent people are victims as a result. And I feel what happened to me was unfortunate injustice, but I'm more concerned about the greater injustice that others that are wrongfully accused or oppressed are suffering.

So I also want to thank everybody who supported me at the initial outset of this. Those that know me, and either by testament of my good character or friendship, had never believed that I would do something to intentionally harm somebody else, let alone these horrendous acts that I was somehow connected to. But I want to thank, first and foremost, God. Hamdulillah. It's by his mercy that I'm here.

I want to thank my family, my wife, my children, my extended, family, my brother Kent (ph), and my mother, who flew down here almost immediately from the outset to support me, everybody back in my rural hometown Halstead of Kansas, Norman Rockwell-esque setting, town of 2,000, small community. People rallied together and supported me. I want to support them and members of the local Muslim opportunity and the greater Muslim community at large.

For everybody that supported me, even in light of this before we received this information that suggested now that I'm not linked to this crime, I want to support those people that stood by me at a time when... BLITZER: All right, that's Brandon Mayfield, a 37-year-old attorney in Portland, Oregon. He's a former U.S. Army lieutenant, an attorney who converted to Islam, thanking everyone for getting out of this mess. He had been falsely suspected by the FBI. His fingerprints supposedly had been connected to the Madrid train bombings. That was a mistake that the FBI acknowledges now was a blunder.

We're going to get some legal analysis of some of the fallout surrounding this case of Brandon Mayfield just ahead. I'll speak with our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB DOLE (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I think it will make it clear that we're the disappearing generation and that the greatest generation now is in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world on the DMZ and in South Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bob Dole on hand for the opening of an historic exhibit. We'll preview some unforgettable images of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As we reported, a federal court today threw out the case against Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon attorney arrested in connection with the deadly train bombings in Madrid, Spain, in March. The court said the FBI had misidentified fingerprints.

Joining us now, our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.

This is a pretty shocking case, you've got to admit, from all perspectives.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely.

And to have the judge very specifically say that the FBI made this error on the fingerprint, that's a real slap at the FBI on a fairly straightforward matter, identifying a fingerprint. And there probably will be and should be some fallout on this.

BLITZER: The suspicion was that he was supposedly under some sort of surveillance before this, and they -- because his name was surfacing or whatever, they tried to arrest him under this material witness issue in order to get -- before it was too late, supposedly, before he could flee.

TOOBIN: Absolutely.

One of the key aspects of the Justice Department policy since 9/11 has been prevention. They believe that it is important to arrest people before they can commit any terrorist acts, rather than try to enforce the law after something terrible has happened. Now, that's a very good idea in theory, but here, we have a situation where someone was arrested for absolutely no reason and then held under the material witness rule, which is I think a very unfamiliar rule to many people.

BLITZER: Well, talk about that material witness rule.

TOOBIN: Well, the way it works is, the Justice Department can designate anyone and say, we believe this person is a witness who may flee if he is not held in custody. These people are not accused of any crime. They are simply witnesses who are material to an investigation or a pending trial. They have no rights to get out on bail. This has been used a lot by the Justice Department.

Many of the 1,000 or so people who were held after 9/11 were held as material witnesses and then ultimately freed, as this fellow was, when it was discovered that they did nothing wrong. But material witnesses are very -- it's a very dangerous tool in the hands of law enforcement, if used improperly, because there is no -- there's no recourse, except the Justice Department saying, well, we got the wrong guy.

BLITZER: And if this could happen -- this kind of mistake, the FBI could make this kind of mistake in this case, the question will be asked, who knows how many other mistakes have been made?

TOOBIN: Well, that's right. And that's one of the reasons that there's been a lot of attempts to find out how many material witnesses were held since 9/11. Some of them have been released. We don't know if all of them have been released.

This is an example of someone being held for two weeks inappropriately. You know, obviously, it is good that an innocent man was freed, but two weeks is not a trivial amount of time to be held in prison.

BLITZER: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks very much.

More than 100,000 photographs of World War II narrowed down to the very best. They are haunting, shocking, inspiring and heart- wrenching. We'll have a preview of this one-of-a-kind exhibit. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Some of the most unforgettable photographs from World War II have been gathered together for an exhibit opening today right here in Washington, D.C., and touring nationwide this summer.

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some pictures, only a few people have seen. Others are so famous, they are emblematic of the great conflict. During World War II, thousands of newspapers and hundreds of thousands of Americans got their news of what was happening overseas from the Associated Press. These are the images of that long-distance lifeline.

TOM CURLEY, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATED PRESS: There can be no more dangerous mission for a journalist than covering war in conflict.

TODD: For its new exhibit and book, "Memories of World War II," AP reached into its archive of more than 100,000 photographs to pull fewer than 200 of the most riveting scenes.

From those who prosecuted the war to those who were innocently caught up in it, the unimaginable cost of those years spills out, a Polish girl weeping over the body her sister just killed by German machine gunfire, a mother desperately trying to deliver her children from the rubble of a decimated Belgium village, Hiroshima's devastation.

Max Desfor is a retired AP photographer. He was aboard the USS Missouri to cover the surrender of Japan. He also captured shots of the Enola Gay crew when it returned from dropping the first atomic bomb.

MAX DESFOR, FORMER AP PHOTOGRAPHER: Frankly, I didn't know what an A-bomb was. It had never been fully explained. Only I knew that it was -- of course, I find out later because I flew over Hiroshima shortly thereafter and I saw the terrible destruction from one bomb.

TODD: The pictures of soldiers killed in combat deliver the reality, young, robust lives going full speed, cut down in an instant.

Bob Dole escaped that fate on an Italian battlefield in 1945, but at great cost. He's grateful.

DOLE: Some made the ultimate sacrifice. The rest of us were lucky.

TODD: Stephen Cromwell seemed to be everywhere as a U.S. Army Corpsman. June 6, 1944, with the 101st Airborne, first wave on Omaha Beach, the next year on board the USS Missouri, first when it narrowly escaped destruction from a Japanese kamikaze, then for the surrender.

STEPHEN CROMWELL, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: The war was over. We didn't have to worry about killing people or the chance of getting killed. We were all going to be able to go home. We were going to be able to pick up our lives again and carry on with things that were much more meaningful. War is a terrible experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Now, This AP exhibit is now at Union Station in Washington. At the end of July, it will pack up and tour around the country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And I think a lot of people will want to see it.

Thanks very much, Brian Todd.

Results of our "Web Question of the Day," that's coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in our "Web Question of the Day." Take a look at these numbers, knowing this is not a scientific poll.

Cleaning "David," it's our picture of the day. Michelangelo's "David" is said to appear more radiant now that it's undergone a controversial cleaning months ahead of its 500th anniversary. One restorer quit over a plan to use distilled water during the cleaning process.

"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 May 24, 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: New strategy. Can President Bush convince the country on his plans for Iraq? We're hours away from a prime time speech and moments away from hearing directly from Howard Dean. He takes on the commander in chief.
An American lawyer smeared by allegations of a link to the Madrid train bombings is now told by U.S. law enforcement authorities "never mind." We expect to hear from him this hour.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): United Nations to the rescue? The U.S. and Britain have their hats in hand in the hand-over in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will see the U.N. take a very prominent part in what now unfolds.

BLITZER: Innocents or insurgents? Do new pictures show the before and after of an American attack?

March of the tornadoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Went down in the basement and just waited and prayed.

BLITZER: The outbreak may not be over.

And unveiling...

BOB DOLE, FORMER SENATOR: Some made the ultimate sacrifice. The rest of us were lucky.

BLITZER: Pictures of war, some not seen for 60 years.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, May 24, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We begin with a dramatic call for help. Before U.S. troops marched into Iraq, U.S. diplomats marched into the United Nations rattling sabers.

The United States is now looking for a way out of Iraq and for the blessing of the United Nations.

Let's go live to our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the resolution rumble is on again, and this time it's the United States that eagerly needs the assistance of the United Nations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (voice-over): One year later, the United States returned to the Security Council for urgent help in Iraq.

This time Washington is not threatening to go it alone. Instead it's desperately requesting United Nations involvement as control is turned over to Iraq authorities.

JAMES CUNNINGHAM, DEPUTY U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The resolution looks forward to the end of the Coalition Provisional Authority and the occupation and a leading role for the United Nations in Iraq.

ROTH: Knowing the U.S. is in a tight spot, Security Council members such as France and Germany angled to get as much authority for the Iraqis as possible and place limits on the extent of the U.S. political and military role.

GUNTER PLEUGER, GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We will have to make sure that this process provides Iraq ownership for the political process as well as for the process of economic reconstruction.

ROTH: So will there be the same showdown as before the war?

HERALDO MUNOZ, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: There are differences. But at the same time, I have seen progress and growing agreements over the meetings that we have had informally.

ROTH: Debate is likely on key points in the resolution. A U.S.- led multinational force stays for a year, only to then be reviewed, not necessarily withdrawn.

The international military and the Iraq military plan cooperation but left unsaid is whether Iraq troops can refuse an order from an American commander.

And oil revenues will be controlled by Iraq, but an international monitoring board will remain in place to look for corruption.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Next meeting of the Security Council, Wolf, will be Wednesday. The future ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, will be there.

The U.S. would like a vote on this resolution in early June. Others expect it to be more toward mid, late June, June 20 or so.

Back to you.

BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thanks, Richard, very much.

Three hours from now, the president will tell the nation how the U.S.-led coalition will hand over power in Iraq.

That speech comes as the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows 47 percent of those surveyed approve of the president's handling of his job. Forty-nine percent disapprove.

The president's speech tonight is at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is already there. She's joining us live.

Dana, how does the president hope to turn around these numbers?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the president's political aides concede that 47 percent is not a place they want to be five months before the election. It's dangerous in looking at it through history.

But the way they want to turn it around with his speech tonight and other speeches to follow, leading up until the June 30 deadline, just five weeks away.

Essentially what the president is going to try to do is say, yes, it looks like there is chaos in Iraq. He understands that there is violence and there have been major setbacks like the Iraq prisoner abuse story.

But he will say that this is a mission with a plan. And he's going to essentially try to be communicator in chief, detailing some of the things that he -- we have been reporting we have known have been out there, if you will, for sometime, like the fact that the interim government will take over on June 30.

And he will talk about exactly what that will look like. He will talk about the fact that the U.S. troops will stay in Iraq after that and prepare the nation for that.

He'll also talk about what Richard Roth was just reporting, that there is a U.N. resolution and will try to explain that it's not just the U.S., that there is an international role and they're hoping to make it even more of an international role.

But essentially, it's unclear whether or not this will answer the critics, Wolf, not only from Democrats but within his own party, that it's not the communications effort' it's the policy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Dana Bash, already in Pennsylvania for the speech. Thanks, Dana, very much.

As the coalition counts down the days to the hand-over of power, insurgents are stepping up their attacks. There was another deadly bombing right in the heart of Baghdad today.

CNN's Guy Raz reports from the Iraq capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The burning carcass of an armored sport utility vehicle, inside the charred remains of two British nationals, two others flown to an Army medical center.

U.S. forces and Iraq police quickly sealed off the area, as forensic teams combed the site.

A senior U.S. military official at the scene told CNN the attack bore all the hallmarks of a targeted killing. No collateral damage, no other vehicles hit. And just steps away from the main entrance of the Green Zone where the coalition authority is headquartered.

To the south more clashes in the city of Kufa between U.S. forces and fighters from the radical Shiite Mehdi brigade. According to U.S. military officials, 32 suspected fighters were killed.

U.S. troops entered a mosque, where they found large stockpiles of military shells, mortars, rocket propelled grenades and weapons.

(on camera) Baghdad is now a city where a day without violence or an explosion would almost shock its battered residents. The one senior Iraq official now says, as the June 30 hand-over date approaches, violence will only get worse.

Guy Raz, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: So can the president sell the American people on a new strategy in Iraq? And is this an exit strategy?

Joining us now from Phoenix, Arizona, our world affairs analyst, the former defense secretary William Cohen. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

What does need to do to convince the American public tonight that he has a strategy on Iraq?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, first he has to indicate to the American people that he has the support, their support and the support of the Congress.

He's got to convey to the country and to the international community and ultimately to the Iraq people, of course, that he has to convey the sense that we are united. United we stand, divided we're going to fail.

And so it's going to be an attempt on his part to say we have a plan for turning over political legitimacy, as such, to the Iraq people. They will be in the hands of their own government, at least temporarily until next January or February.

And then indicate that we're moving from occupation to stabilization. And that we need the help of the international community.

We have to express -- concede that we have made errors. There have been misjudgments made. This doesn't have to amount to contrition, but it does have to involve a statement that we have made mistakes. And that we are in this and we have to be successful, and that the international community has very much at stake in our success. And to be sure in our failure, as well.

BLITZER: How big of a deal is it now for the Bush administration to effectively go hat in hand to the U.N. Security Council and ask some of the other permanent members like Russia or China or France, ask them for help?

COHEN: I think it's important that the president go to the major countries and to seek their assistance. And point out that Russia has its own problem with terrorist activity. The Chinese have their own problems with terrorist activity, as well.

And to make an appeal, saying that stability in that region is critical certainly for the United States and coalition forces. But equally importantly, it's also critical for the stabilization of the entire region. And ultimately those countries you mentioned, China, Russia, France, Germany, they all have a major stake in our success.

BLITZER: So many in this administration once had such high hopes for Ahmed Chalabi, but his stock has gone up from way up to way down only in the last few days.

You used to have to deal with this issue when you were at the Pentagon. What do you make of this amazing turnabout in his fortune?

COHEN: Well, Mr. Chalabi has always been an individual of some controversy. And I think we ought not to focus on one individual as much as we are today.

The real issue is, what do we need to do in order to establish this new architecture for governance on the part of the Iraq people? What do we need to do in terms of persuading other countries that they should join us politically if not contribute militarily?

I think we'll have to assume that we'll still have the bulk of the forces for the foreseeable future in the region. But the political legitimacy and support will be critical to persuading the Iraq people that this has international support. And this is a stabilization force and no longer an occupation force, even though we'll be there in very large numbers.

BLITZER: General Zinni, Anthony Zinni, the former commander of the Central Command, has got a new book coming out.

He has been very critical, if you saw "60 Minutes" last night, basically saying this is Niagara Falls. This administration is taking the U.S. military over the falls right now. What a disaster.

What do you make of those comments? COHEN: Well, I have enormous respect for General Zinni, and I in fact recommended his appointment when he was the head of Central Command. And so I respect his judgment.

But I think he also indicated that we have to make some course directions here. And I think involving the Iraq people in this process now in a major way, going to the United Nations, going to the Security Council, going to the NATO members, the big members of NATO, and saying, "We need your help. We're in this in a major way now, and we can't afford to fail, because failure could result in catastrophe for the Iraq people. It could inflame the entire region and jeopardize the world economy in a very major way."

BLITZER: William Cohen, thanks very much for joining us.

COHEN: My pleasure.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: will you watch President Bush's prime time speech on Iraq? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

He was thrown in jail and publicly linked to the Madrid train bombings. Now just like that, American lawyer Brandon Mayfield, a convert to Islam, has been told he's completely off the hook.

Let's turn to our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena.

Kelli, what an amazing turnabout.

KELLI MAYFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Wolf.

The federal court today threw out that case against Brandon Mayfield, saying that the FBI made a fingerprinting error.

Mayfield was detained, as you know, as a material witness for two weeks in connection to the Madrid train bombing. Law enforcement sources said a fingerprint found near the scene of the bombings matched Mayfield, but Spanish officials said that the print belonged to another man, an Algerian who remains at large.

Sources tell CNN that the digital image the FBI was using to compare prints was not of the best resolution.

Mayfield was released last Thursday, but he was still subject to court supervision as a material witness. So today's ruling completely clears him.

The court ruled that all his personal property be returned, that any copies of that property held by the government be destroyed. And that the files regarding this case be unsealed.

And we expect to hear from Mayfield's lawyer, if not Mayfield himself within the hour at a news conference. For now, though, the only comment from the Mayfield camp is that he and his family are very happy. No word yet from the Department of Justice. No word from the FBI yet, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll be speaking also later this hour with Jeffrey Toobin, our legal analyst. I assume there could be some legal fall- out from all of this, as well.

Kelli, thanks very much.

ARENA: Yes.

BLITZER: A reversal for two storm chasers. The twister ends up catching them. We have dramatic pictures. That's coming up.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got pretty windy. And we saw the tornado coming, and we went downstairs and heard the house take off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Blown away, literally. Hear from residents ravaged by the severe storms.

And there are more dangerous weather warnings right now.

Did U.S. forces strike a wedding party or terror suspects in the Iraq desert? New home video emerges. What story do the pictures support?

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to bring our guard and reserves home. They have no business being in Iraq with this kind of length of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Howard Dean on the hand-over in Iraq: what the former Democratic presidential hopeful wants to hear from the president. Tonight I'll speak with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Midwest residents are being warned to brace themselves for more severe weather today. That's on top of violent storms over the weekend that produced more than 100 reports of tornadoes, including one with winds of more than 200 miles an hour that virtually wiped the town of Hallam, Nebraska, off the map.

CNN's Michael Schulder reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MICHAEL SCHULDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the force that demolished an American town: a tornado as it headed for Hallam, Nebraska, a village which calls itself the little town with the big heart.

The man and woman taking the video of this tornado were driving along in their car doing what they've done for more than a decade, chasing tornadoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's rotating right over there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. Would you just book it?

SCHULDER: When they got too close they tried to drive away, but their escape route was blocked by a tree and so the storm they were chasing ended up catching them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!

SCHULDER: They survived unscathed.

The town of Hallam fared worse.

Next time somebody says a tornado sounds like a freight train, remember this picture. A freight train is no match for a tornado.

The destruction in Hallam was so complete of the town's 85 homes, only two are now habitable.

This couple thought it lost more than its home, then suddenly they heard a whimper from the wreckage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a dog in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here, Percy.

SCHULDER: Their dog was alive.

In this part of the country, people typically have concrete basements where they can ride out tornadoes. The last place you want to be when a tornado strikes is in your car, like this woman was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going to ask the Lord to do right now, even though these storms never seem to stop. We need to have quiet and peace and warmth within this car,

And he said, "I feel it, Mom." He said, "I feel it, too."

SCHULDER: A couple of counties away, a remarkable perspective on the storm that took so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... we'd even be here. Thought we'd be dead. They blew it all down here (UNIDENTIFIED) That's what counts.

SCHULDER: Hallam, Nebraska, and its neighbors, the little towns with the big hearts.

Michael Schulder, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we're just getting word right now of tornado warnings happening elsewhere. Let's go right to our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras.

What's the latest, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, we have multiple tornado warnings. And one of them, actually, not all that far away from Hallam, Nebraska. But it's going to stay to the south of Hallam, so that's good news for those folks there.

We've got Cass County in Nebraska, Fremont County in southwest Iowa, also Decatur County in Iowa, Banner County in Nebraska, Knox County. And there was a tornado reported earlier with this Knox County tornado. And so that's a really dangerous situation going on right there.

Also northern Andrew and Nodaway County in Missouri. Holt County in Missouri. A tornado with that one, earlier. So his definitely has potential here and northern Republic County in north central Kansas.

This is a very dangerous situation. This is day four of the biggest outbreak of tornadoes so far in 2004.

We want to take you into the Omaha area. Some of these super cells very impressive. This is the one that's just to the south of the Hallam area right there. A very clear hook in this one in northwestern Missouri. Just to the south of Maryville.

We also have a cluster of thunderstorms getting close to the Des Moines metro area at this time. So if you live in Des Moines, be aware.

Severe thunderstorm warning in effect for Omaha. Large hail and damaging winds will be possible for you within the next 20 minutes or so.

And there is a tornado watch for the Kansas City area. Things are looking quiet right now. But this watch extends until 10 p.m. local time tonight. Clusters of severe thunderstorms.

And in New York we did have a report of a tornado around Sylvan Lake earlier. Right now, no tornado warnings in New York.

We'll keep you up to date, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. This is a deadly, deadly business. Thanks very much, Jacqui Jeras for that update.

Flooding is the problem in other parts of the Midwest. Homes have been evacuated and schools have been canceled in Gurnee, Illinois. The Des Plaines River is expected to crest there tomorrow at more than five feet above flood stage.

And look at this. This is the scene near Detroit where almost three inches of rain fell yesterday at the city's airport. More than 20 Michigan counties were under flood warnings today.

Flooding is also causing problems in parts of Wisconsin and Iowa.

An Oregon attorney linked to the Madrid train bombings is now officially cleared. He's officially in the clear. We're standing by for a live news conference from Portland, Oregon. We expect to hear from him.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: George Bush needs to be a one-term president if we're ever going to get out of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Countdown to the hand over in Iraq. The former Democratic presidential frontrunner, Howard Dean, weighs in with his own exit strategy.

The horrific cost of war. Rarely scene images from journalists who covered World War II.

And sprucing up David but not without controversy. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll numbers are out, and while they continue to show problems for President Bush, the good news for the administration is that they haven't gotten any worse over the past two weeks.

When likely voters were asked their choice for president between President Bush and Senator John Kerry, Kerry leads 49 to 47 percent. That's statistically just about where the polls have been for the last two weeks.

And when candidate Ralph Nader is factored in, John Kerry still beats President Bush 47 to 46 percent, with Ralph Nader getting four percent of the vote.

Howard Dean, never at a loss for words, has a quick response to the question on how to end the mess in Iraq. His answer: defeat President Bush in November.

The former Democratic presidential candidate also says his former rival, John Kerry, has the right solution for Iraq.

Earlier I spoke with Howard Dean about this and other key issues of the campaign. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Governor Dean, thanks once again for joining us.

Let's get right to the issue at hand. What does the president need to say tonight?

DEAN: Well, first I hope he won't be giving a political speech at the War College. The War College ironically did a number of studies which showed -- which, had the president read, we would not be in Iraq today.

They raise exactly the issues the president now has to face tonight.

And those issues are how do you, on the ground, after the military victory, create a democratic Iraq. The president has had no plan. We're waiting to see what it is.

I think the plan has to be a real plan. It has to show that we're going to have order in Iraq, not civil war. It has to show that minority rights have to be protected so that we don't have a Shiite theocracy, which would be a greater danger than Saddam Hussein was to the national security of the United States.

We have to have minority rights protected in a constitution. And there has to be a real exit strategy. This can't go on forever.

BLITZER: It sounds, though, if you look closely at what the president's position, how it's evolving, he's moving toward the positions that John Kerry wants: greater internationalization. A multinational force. A new U.N. Security Council resolution.

It seems these two positions, the Kerry and Bush positions, are getting pretty close.

DEAN: The difference between the Kerry position and the Bush position is the Bush position is probably unrealistic for Bush but very realistic for Kerry.

That is George Bush got us into this by ignoring and humiliating our allies. It's very unlikely he's going to be able to get out of it.

The truth is we need a new president to get us out of this. And I don't think George Bush has the capacity to undo what he has done.

It's true the right thing to do, as the president will undoubtedly say, is to turn this into an international reconstruction and not an American occupation.

You've got to get -- the soldiers have to be safer. Our soldiers have to be safer. And that's not going to happen in an American occupation.

John Kerry has been saying that and has the wherewithal to deliver it. George Bush does not, which of course, is why I'm supporting John Kerry.

BLITZER: But are there differences in the John Kerry position on Iraq and the Howard Dean position on Iraq?

DEAN: No, all the time, other than the vote for the initial resolution, I continually said this needs to be a foreign reconstruction effort.

We need to bring our guard and reserves home. They have no business being in Iraq with this kind of length of time. We can bring one of the two divisions home and replace all of them with foreign troops.

I think Kerry will be able to do that. I think Bush will not be able to do that, because he got us into it simply by denigrating the advice and ignoring our allies and humiliating them deliberately if they disagreed with us.

That is why George Bush needs to be a one-term president if we're ever going to get out of Iraq.

BLITZER: How concerned are you, Governor, that Ralph Nader is emerging as the so-called peace candidate, the anti-war candidate, because unlike Bush and Kerry, he wants U.S. forces out of Iraq almost immediately?

DEAN: Well, I think that's irresponsible. I never took that position when I was running.

It's one thing to be against the war, which I am and was. It's another thing to allow our troops to be pulled out without any kind of police protection for the Iraqis.

What's going to happen if we adopt Ralph Nader's position is that we'll have civil war, a Shiite theocracy. Or worse, al Qaeda will do in Iraq what they did in Afghanistan. That's a genuine danger to the security of the United States.

George Bush has created this danger to the security of the United States when none had existed before. That's why I want John Kerry in.

But I don't think it's realistic to just pull our troops out tomorrow. And I actually have not even heard Ralph Nader advocate that.

BLITZER: He says -- he says six months.

DEAN: Well, you know, you'd like to be able to get them out as fast as possible. and I think a Kerry presidency will enable us to do that. Ralph Nader is not going to be president. The question is, do you want somebody with a chance of getting us out of Iraq or do you want four more years of the guy who got us into it?

BLITZER: How concerned are you, though, that Howard Dean supporters could be enticed to vote for Ralph Nader and that, in some states, that could be significant? DEAN: Well, obviously, I am supporting John Kerry because I believe that there's only two people who can now be president of the United States. One is John Kerry. The other is George Bush. Ralph Nader isn't going to be president of the United States.

So if a choice for a voter who supported me during the primary is between Ralph Nader and John Kerry, the unfortunate conclusion is that a vote for Ralph Nader is the same thing as a vote for George Bush. And I think that John Kerry would be a far better president than George Bush.

BLITZER: What is your political advice to John Kerry about delaying accepting the nomination at the Democratic Convention in Boston scheduled for the end of July in order to be able to raise more money?

DEAN: Well, since I give political advice to John Kerry in private, I'm not going to do it in public.

But I will say that we did explore that in November and December when I thought I was going to be the nominee. And I think it's a very smart thing for the Kerry campaign to be doing. Essentially, George Bush would get two-thirds or a third more money than the Kerry campaign because of the way the schedule has been manipulated by the Republicans, an extra five weeks of spending.

And so if there's a way to do this, I think we ought to seriously consider having Senator Kerry be officially nominated on September 1, so that the Republicans and the Democrats have the same amount of money to spend in the same amount of time. I think that's fair. I think that's reasonable. And I don't think the convention schedule ought to be manipulated the way Karl Rove and George Bush did manipulate it.

BLITZER: Even if it means the Democratic Convention in Boston, which is not far away from where you are right now, becomes merely a pep rally?

DEAN: I don't think it will be a pep rally. There's a lot of business that can be done. There's platforms. Senator Kerry may choose to select his vice presidential nominee at that time. There are a lot of things that can be done in the every-four-year convention time.

But we're fighting here to take back our country from what I consider to be a band of extremists. And this is too important to worry about timing of the convention. If the timing of the convention gives an advantage to the Republicans, which it now does, we ought to get rid of that advantage and play -- have an even playing field. And I think there's an opportunity to do that.

BLITZER: Governor Howard Dean, thanks for joining us.

DEAN: Thank you, Wolf.

And tomorrow at this time, we'll get reaction to President Bush's speech from the Republican side. This additional programming note. CNN will have live coverage of the president's address during a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN NOW: Countdown to Hand Over." That airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

The Iraqis there say it was a wedding celebration. But the U.S. military says it was a safe house for foreign fighters. Who is right? A new home video could offer some new insights.

And the latest on the American lawyer detained in connection with the Madrid train bombing. We're standing by to hear from Brandon Mayfield in a live news conference from Portland, Oregon.

And history through the lens. The ranks are thinning and the memories are fading. But the pictures remain oh so vivid, remembering World War II with photographs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

We're awaiting a live news conference in Portland, Oregon. An Oregon attorney once held in connection to the Madrid train bombings is now officially cleared. We'll go there live once that starts.

First, though, to Iraq. New video has emerged of an Iraqi wedding party that witnesses say was attacked by U.S. forces, killing dozens of people. But American military officials insist they bombed a safe house full of foreign fighters and they are offering their own pictures to back up the claim.

Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Associated Press says it obtained this video showing vehicles on their way to a wedding party that Iraqis claim U.S. forces attacked last week, killing more than 40 people, including women and children. U.S. forces say there was no evidence of a wedding party at the site they attacked, only foreign fighters.

But they do not yet know where this video was taken of the celebration and the children being buried.

OSFOOK NAWAF, WITNESS (through translator): I swear to God there was a wedding. I swear to God there were no weapons. I swear to God we did not fire one bullet.

STARR: In Baghdad, the coalition spokesman said there was a chain of evidence that the U.S. attacked a safe house for foreign fighters, photographs of documents and passports, some from Sudan, weapons and money seized, and apparent drug paraphernalia.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: It is pretty clear to us that what happened that night from about after midnight until 04:00, that the activities that we saw happening on the ground were somewhat inconsistent with a wedding party.

STARR: Military officials want to know why they did not find this tent, these musical instruments, why an organist who is seen playing in the wedding video wound up dead in the back of a truck, and whether it is possible there was a wedding at a fighter's safe house. As one official said, "Bad guys get married, too."

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Portland, Oregon, right now, we're watching Brandon Mayfield. He's a lawyer. He's an attorney who had converted to Islam. He was suspected of some sort of involvement to the Madrid train bombing. Supposedly, his fingerprints had been connected to that Madrid train bombings, but today the U.S. law enforcement authorities are saying he's been officially cleared, no wrongdoing whatsoever. A mistake by the FBI in the fingerprints resulted in this blunder.

Let's listen in, see what is going on.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

STEVEN WAX, ATTORNEY FOR MAYFIELD: ... has been working on the case, Janan Stall (ph), Tanya Polk (ph) and Kent Mayfield (ph), Tom Nelson (ph), who has been representing Mr. Mayfield in civil matters, and then William Tielsdale (ph), investigator in the defender's office, and Amy Bagio (ph), research and writing attorney, who has also been on the case.

We have distributed to all of you press statements that have been prepared by Mr. Shots and myself on behalf of Mr. Mayfield and a press statement that he prepared. We're going to just say a few words about that and then we'll take questions from you.

Obviously, we are quite pleased to be here and to have Mr. Mayfield today not just released from custody, but a person who the FBI now says they cannot identify as the person whose fingerprint was found, the man who is now much farther down the road to exoneration and having his name completely cleared.

This case as it has proceeded raises many, many questions about the grand jury process, the material witness statute, and perhaps the Patriot Act and also the use of the FISA wiretaps. We'll be happy to answer any questions that you have about that. I think at this point it would make most sense for me to turn the microphone over to Mr. Mayfield, who has some introductory comments to make. And then we can take your questions.

BRANDON MAYFIELD, ATTORNEY: OK, first of all, I'd just like to say thank you. Hamdulillah (ph). Thank God that I'm here. But as Mr. Wax had said, I'm this much closer to being exonerated.

I have been through what I've described earlier as a harrowing ordeal. And this whole process has been a harrowing ordeal. It shouldn't happen to anybody, at least in the manner that it happened to me. I do have some serious concerns with the material witness statute and felt like it was certainly applied inappropriately in my case and more importantly for those others that don't have the friends and support that I do.

In other words, there's other material witnesses that are languishing away in detention centers, God knows where, jail, prison. In my estimation, it's an abuse of judicial process. I also have some serious concerns. And even before this happened, I have always been a staunch opponent of the Patriot Act, particularly those provisions of the act that are an invasion on our privacy, such as the sneak and review provisions of the Patriot Act.

This is a serious infringement on our civil liberties. I want to share with you a statement by Pastor Martin Niemoller. And in Nazi Germany, the Nazis tried to identify citizens and prisoners according to their religion and ideology. I'm a Muslim and I'm an American. I'm an American Muslim. I'm an attorney. I'm an ex-officer of the U.S. military. And I have been singled out and discriminated against, I feel, as a Muslim.

And I want to quote to you almost verbatim a statement that was made by this pastor, Martin Niemoller: "In Germany, they first came for the communist and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. And then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. And by that time, there was nobody left to speak up."

So this is the state of affairs we find ourselves in today. We're living in a climate of fear. This war on terrorism is -- has gone to the extreme. And innocent people are victims as a result. And I feel what happened to me was unfortunate injustice, but I'm more concerned about the greater injustice that others that are wrongfully accused or oppressed are suffering.

So I also want to thank everybody who supported me at the initial outset of this. Those that know me, and either by testament of my good character or friendship, had never believed that I would do something to intentionally harm somebody else, let alone these horrendous acts that I was somehow connected to. But I want to thank, first and foremost, God. Hamdulillah. It's by his mercy that I'm here.

I want to thank my family, my wife, my children, my extended, family, my brother Kent (ph), and my mother, who flew down here almost immediately from the outset to support me, everybody back in my rural hometown Halstead of Kansas, Norman Rockwell-esque setting, town of 2,000, small community. People rallied together and supported me. I want to support them and members of the local Muslim opportunity and the greater Muslim community at large.

For everybody that supported me, even in light of this before we received this information that suggested now that I'm not linked to this crime, I want to support those people that stood by me at a time when... BLITZER: All right, that's Brandon Mayfield, a 37-year-old attorney in Portland, Oregon. He's a former U.S. Army lieutenant, an attorney who converted to Islam, thanking everyone for getting out of this mess. He had been falsely suspected by the FBI. His fingerprints supposedly had been connected to the Madrid train bombings. That was a mistake that the FBI acknowledges now was a blunder.

We're going to get some legal analysis of some of the fallout surrounding this case of Brandon Mayfield just ahead. I'll speak with our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB DOLE (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I think it will make it clear that we're the disappearing generation and that the greatest generation now is in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world on the DMZ and in South Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bob Dole on hand for the opening of an historic exhibit. We'll preview some unforgettable images of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As we reported, a federal court today threw out the case against Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon attorney arrested in connection with the deadly train bombings in Madrid, Spain, in March. The court said the FBI had misidentified fingerprints.

Joining us now, our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.

This is a pretty shocking case, you've got to admit, from all perspectives.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely.

And to have the judge very specifically say that the FBI made this error on the fingerprint, that's a real slap at the FBI on a fairly straightforward matter, identifying a fingerprint. And there probably will be and should be some fallout on this.

BLITZER: The suspicion was that he was supposedly under some sort of surveillance before this, and they -- because his name was surfacing or whatever, they tried to arrest him under this material witness issue in order to get -- before it was too late, supposedly, before he could flee.

TOOBIN: Absolutely.

One of the key aspects of the Justice Department policy since 9/11 has been prevention. They believe that it is important to arrest people before they can commit any terrorist acts, rather than try to enforce the law after something terrible has happened. Now, that's a very good idea in theory, but here, we have a situation where someone was arrested for absolutely no reason and then held under the material witness rule, which is I think a very unfamiliar rule to many people.

BLITZER: Well, talk about that material witness rule.

TOOBIN: Well, the way it works is, the Justice Department can designate anyone and say, we believe this person is a witness who may flee if he is not held in custody. These people are not accused of any crime. They are simply witnesses who are material to an investigation or a pending trial. They have no rights to get out on bail. This has been used a lot by the Justice Department.

Many of the 1,000 or so people who were held after 9/11 were held as material witnesses and then ultimately freed, as this fellow was, when it was discovered that they did nothing wrong. But material witnesses are very -- it's a very dangerous tool in the hands of law enforcement, if used improperly, because there is no -- there's no recourse, except the Justice Department saying, well, we got the wrong guy.

BLITZER: And if this could happen -- this kind of mistake, the FBI could make this kind of mistake in this case, the question will be asked, who knows how many other mistakes have been made?

TOOBIN: Well, that's right. And that's one of the reasons that there's been a lot of attempts to find out how many material witnesses were held since 9/11. Some of them have been released. We don't know if all of them have been released.

This is an example of someone being held for two weeks inappropriately. You know, obviously, it is good that an innocent man was freed, but two weeks is not a trivial amount of time to be held in prison.

BLITZER: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks very much.

More than 100,000 photographs of World War II narrowed down to the very best. They are haunting, shocking, inspiring and heart- wrenching. We'll have a preview of this one-of-a-kind exhibit. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Some of the most unforgettable photographs from World War II have been gathered together for an exhibit opening today right here in Washington, D.C., and touring nationwide this summer.

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some pictures, only a few people have seen. Others are so famous, they are emblematic of the great conflict. During World War II, thousands of newspapers and hundreds of thousands of Americans got their news of what was happening overseas from the Associated Press. These are the images of that long-distance lifeline.

TOM CURLEY, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATED PRESS: There can be no more dangerous mission for a journalist than covering war in conflict.

TODD: For its new exhibit and book, "Memories of World War II," AP reached into its archive of more than 100,000 photographs to pull fewer than 200 of the most riveting scenes.

From those who prosecuted the war to those who were innocently caught up in it, the unimaginable cost of those years spills out, a Polish girl weeping over the body her sister just killed by German machine gunfire, a mother desperately trying to deliver her children from the rubble of a decimated Belgium village, Hiroshima's devastation.

Max Desfor is a retired AP photographer. He was aboard the USS Missouri to cover the surrender of Japan. He also captured shots of the Enola Gay crew when it returned from dropping the first atomic bomb.

MAX DESFOR, FORMER AP PHOTOGRAPHER: Frankly, I didn't know what an A-bomb was. It had never been fully explained. Only I knew that it was -- of course, I find out later because I flew over Hiroshima shortly thereafter and I saw the terrible destruction from one bomb.

TODD: The pictures of soldiers killed in combat deliver the reality, young, robust lives going full speed, cut down in an instant.

Bob Dole escaped that fate on an Italian battlefield in 1945, but at great cost. He's grateful.

DOLE: Some made the ultimate sacrifice. The rest of us were lucky.

TODD: Stephen Cromwell seemed to be everywhere as a U.S. Army Corpsman. June 6, 1944, with the 101st Airborne, first wave on Omaha Beach, the next year on board the USS Missouri, first when it narrowly escaped destruction from a Japanese kamikaze, then for the surrender.

STEPHEN CROMWELL, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: The war was over. We didn't have to worry about killing people or the chance of getting killed. We were all going to be able to go home. We were going to be able to pick up our lives again and carry on with things that were much more meaningful. War is a terrible experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Now, This AP exhibit is now at Union Station in Washington. At the end of July, it will pack up and tour around the country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And I think a lot of people will want to see it.

Thanks very much, Brian Todd.

Results of our "Web Question of the Day," that's coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in our "Web Question of the Day." Take a look at these numbers, knowing this is not a scientific poll.

Cleaning "David," it's our picture of the day. Michelangelo's "David" is said to appear more radiant now that it's undergone a controversial cleaning months ahead of its 500th anniversary. One restorer quit over a plan to use distilled water during the cleaning process.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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