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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Are Security Officials Up to Memorial Day Traffic Challenge? Iraq's Governing Council Agrees on Prime Minister, Three Children Murdered in Baltimore; One Decapitated, Will New Movie "Day After Tomorrow" Rock Political Landscape?

Aired May 28, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now. Rush hour, more travel, more hassle. Memorial Day Weekend is here. Live pictures of the Windy City, Chicago, where the traffic is already piling up. Another question for you. Are security officials up to the challenge? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): New leader? Iraq's governing council agrees on a prime minister. But does everyone else?

From KIA to POW. The story changes on how this soldier died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very angry. They took him in the room and shot him in the back.

O'BRIEN: Gruesome find. A mother comes home to a horrific scene. Three dead children, one decapitated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I'm sorry to worry about my children are safe here.

O'BRIEN: "The Day After Tomorrow," the new movie rocking the cinematic landscape, but will it rock the political one as well.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, May 28, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Hi, I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta. Wolf is off today. We begin what is being called a historic moment in Iraq. That's how a senior Bush administration official is characterizing the selection of Iyad Allawi to become the prime minister of the next government. So who is he? How would he lead Iraq when he takes office at the end of next month? CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.N., the United States, and the Iraqi governing council finally agreed on the name everyone was waiting to hear. That of Iraq's future interim prime minister. He is Iyad Allawi, a current member of the council. The U.N.'s special envoy office said he will work with Allawi to select the remainder of Iraq's new government. Now he says it is time to start phasing in democracy and he recognizes it will be difficult.

IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NOMINEE: To expect Iraq to go into a full-blown democracy, as you would have in the United States, or Britain or Sweden, well, we need a lot of time. It's not a joke. We are here talking about people who have never experienced democracy, who have never faced democracy.

WHITBECK: Some Iraqis seem positive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): As long as he is an Iraqi that will present Iraq and the Iraqi people's opinion he will have my support and the support of all the Iraqis.

WHITBECK: Others had doubts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So the governing council had a meeting and chose a prime minister. What is the role of the Iraqi people? They chose him not the Iraqi people.

WHITBECK: With the name of the new interim prime minister now made public, at least some of the uncertainty over the political transition has been dissipated. How that new government will be made up is the next question. And how that new government will work with the coalition occupying force is the biggest question of all. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

O'BRIEN: President Bush is taking pains to get backing for the Iraqi hand-over from the United Nations. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash joining us now with more. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, from the President on down, U.S. officials are trying to send a very clear signal to members of the U.N Security Council that they are going to do what it takes to find compromise to get their blessing on the way forward in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Standing in the rose garden with a European, ally the president tried to be crystal clear about the power of the new Iraqi government and the role of the United Nations in creating it.

GEORGE W. BUSH, U. S. PRESIDENT: Complete and full sovereignty to a(sic) Iraqi government that will be. Picked by Mr. Brahimi of the United Nations. He said "Do you mean full sovereignty?" I said "I mean full sovereignty."

BASH: Reassuring words also used in a phone call to Russia's Vladimir Putin from a president working to convince skeptical Security Council members the U.S. will give them what they want. Full surrender of political control in Iraq. Returning to the U.N. and relying on its special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to create an Iraqi government not where Bush officials thought they would be after issuing prewar ultimatums like this. BUSH: Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding? Or will it be irrelevant?

BASH: Then four months later.

BUSH: The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities. So we will rise to ours.

BASH: But the post war problems officials admit were worse than expected. The American-led coalition had little success in building the peace. For example, the powerful Ayatollah al-Sistani refused to meet with U.S. administrator Paul Bremer but agreed to sit down with Mr. Brahimi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found out it may not be easy to use just raw military power to achieve victory. And that we need something else. We need legitimacy.

BASH: And with the U.S. election just five months away even members of the President's own party, not fans of the United Nations, concede Mr. Bush is now backed into a corner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well I think there are a lot of conservatives who are offend bid the very idea of the United States cooperating with the United Nations but I think we have to do what is practical, at that point I'm not sure we have much after choice.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BASH: The key sticking point on a new U.N. resolution remains the same, that is how much control Iraqis will have over U.S. and other international forces in their country. And the President got a pledge from the Danish prime minister he will keep his 500 or so troops in Iraq but he made clear they will only stay at the invitation of the Iraqis. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Dana, no official word from the white house yet about Allawi being the prime minister designate. Why not?

BASH: They are very reluctant here at the White House, over at the State Department to say anything on the record about Allawi because they say it's really up to Mr. Brahimi to do. He has been in charge of this process on background, certainly privately, they are saying that they fully support him and they say the process works the way they wanted it to work. However, it certainly is an illustration of how the U.S is really handing over control of the process to the U.N. and Mr. Brahimi. The fact they won't make a public statement until he does first.

O'BRIEN: A little symbolic distance, at least. Dana Bash at the White House. Thank you very much.

The death of a U.S. soldier thought to have been killed in action in Iraq last year now being investigated as a war crime. And it turns out he may have been the real hero of an infamous ambush. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us now with details. Jamie?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, if not the hero certainly one of the heroes of the ambush in which was originally thought to be a case where everyone died at the scene now it's turning out the army believes that one soldier, previously unsung, was murdered by Iraqis after he fought back valiantly.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): An army investigation last year confirmed that Private First Class Jessica Lynch never fired a shot in the March 23, 2003, ambush, having been seriously injured and likely knocked unconscious when her Humvee hit another vehicle after coming under fire. But it now seems some of the heroics falsely attributed to lynch in a front page "Washington Post" account a year ago things like-- "fought fiercely and shot several minute soldiers, firing until she ran out of ammunition, and continued firing after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds" may have been the actions of this soldier, Sergeant Donald Walters who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for valor last month.

Immediately after the "Post" report which was eventually retracted Pentagon sources told CNN the Lynch account was likely the result of confusion. That while a battlefield report did describe such valiant actions they were by a male soldier who had died. After pressure from his family in Oregon, and the intervention of a member of Congress, the army found that Walters did not die in the fight but was severely wounded after repelling the minute until he was unable to resist any longer. Now the army has told Walters' family he was murdered by suspected Fedayeen Saddam fighters while he was a POW.

ARLENE WALTERS, MOTHER: I'm very angry. You know, they took him, they took him in a room and shot him in the back. That's not according to the--That's not the way you are supposed to treat prisoners of war, according to the Geneva Convention. That is not what you are supposed to do with a prisoner of war.

NORMAN WALTERS, FATHER: Not the last I heard. I'm very angry.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MCINTYRE: The U.S. military is investigating the death as a war crime. And officials say there are suspects. And today Jessica Lynch issued a statement in which she said she is personally grateful for the heroic efforts of Sergeant Walters and credited him for saving many lives of fellow American soldiers -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

Putting the nation's security measures to the test under heightened terror warnings. How the airlines are coping on this busy weekend of travel. Also ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Evacuate everyone south of that line. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the people in the north?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go outside. The storm will kill them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Science fiction versus science fact? The movie "The Day After Tomorrow" stirring up debate over the environment.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was our R&R. The Battle in the Bulge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Unforgettable stories. He survived one of the most famous battles of World War II. Now this veteran opens up and speaks about the reality of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: With air travel beginning to return to pre-9/11 levels, America's airport security system facing its first big test of the year, thousands of Americans arriving at U.S. airports to begin Memorial Day vacations and with so many passengers going through the screening process, arduous as it is, there are fears of long delays. CNN's Gary Tuchman watching the lines at Atlanta's airport -- Gary.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, when it comes to traveling Memorial Day weekend stretches from Thursday, yesterday, to Tuesday, four days from now. But today, Friday, is the single busiest day. Here at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport they are expecting 250,000 people to fly in or out. That's 14 percent more than last year. Nationally AAA says there are a grand total of 4.1 million people who will be flying this weekend. Not for business, only for vacation. So literally that's one out of about every 70, men women and children who live in the United States of America who will be going on a vacation this weekend and they will all be going despite all the security warnings out there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): It's late afternoon. The security lines don't look so bad. But alas you are not getting the whole picture. This is the whole picture. This is the maze that leads into the security line. The line right now about a 30-minute wait. Not so bad by Atlanta standards. Sometimes it gets up to 90 minutes. People in the line wondering if they have any anxiety over the holiday weekend. Where are you going, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Florida.

TUCHMAN: Where in South Florida?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: West Palm Beach.

TUCHMAN: OK. West Palm Beach. Good town. Any anxiety about flying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Security warnings, terrorism warnings this week don't make you think twice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I fly about every two weeks (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

TUCHMAN: So he's a calm guy.

Let me ask you a question, where are you going today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gulfport.

TUCHMAN: To Gulfport, Mississippi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh.

TUCHMAN: What do you think about the length of the lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not that bad.

TUCHMAN: All right, you have you a good attitude about it. Any anxiety at all about flying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Tell me why. With all the warnings this week, particularly. How come you have no anxiety?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't. I've been flying for a while now and I love it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

TUCHMAN: It's nice to see those attitudes. A lot different than the airport on Memorial Day 2002; the first Memorial Day after 9/11. We met lots of passengers in the airports who had their hearts in their throat. Next busy weekend is an even busier one about a month away from now. The July 4th weekend. July 4th falls on a weekend for the first time since 1999 on a Sunday. So that means July 2, Friday, that's the day you may want to circle and avoid the airport on July 2. It will be very busy that day. Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Gary Tuchman at Atlanta's airport, where it doesn't look so bad right this moment, but there is still time.

Now to check on air travel in the West Coast. Let's go to Mark Coogan, CNN's affiliate KCAL, K-Cal, at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport. Mark, what's the latest there? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK COOGAN, KCAL CORRESPONDENT: Here at Los Angeles International Airport security concerns obviously no deterrent to people traveling this Memorial Day weekend. The managers of Los Angeles world airport say they expect 12 percent more passengers to use the airport this Memorial Day than did Memorial Day of 2003. That will translate into 740,000 people passing through LAX, as it is called, between now and Monday night. Things running smoothly, as you see, regarding the terrorism warnings of this week, we get from passengers what we have gotten really since 9/11, which is I'm going to live my life. I'm not going to change my plans. In fact, one passenger heading back to the East Coast said, look, once I get back there, I'll be able to buy cheaper gasoline. This is Mark Coogan reporting in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Despite the recent surge in gasoline price, highway traffic expected to be up this weekend, too. Live pictures coming to you now from Chicago. Early hour commuters sharing the Kennedy expressway with vacationers heading out of the city. Traffic also heavy in the East, pictures now coming to you very shortly. We hope-- there it is from the bay bridge heading to Maryland's Eastern Shore. Getting crowded at the toll booths, at least. The AAA auto club says more than 30 million travelers will be on the highways this weekend, a 3.4 percent increase from last year. Almost 2 million Americans expected to travel by train, bus or boat this weekend. That's about even with last year's figures.

In Baltimore, a brutal crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was an act of someone who obviously has no conscience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A community searches for answers after an act that claimed three children.

Also head--on the nation's movie screens. Could it really happen, though? And in as little as five days?

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were frightened to death because for all we knew the Germans were going to take over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And for World War II vets it really did happen and now we remember them. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Baltimore's deputy police commissioner says he has never seen a worse crime in 35 years on the job. He spoke a day after three children were found dead, one beheaded and two partially decapitated. Today two relatives were charged in the gruesome deaths. CNN's Kathleen Koch joining us live from Baltimore on that.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, police today describe those two suspects as emotionless, but emotions are certainly running high here in this neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): Northwest Baltimore is still reeling after the gruesome murders of the three young children.

PETER KING, NEIGHBOR: They were nice children. They were cute kids. They were always playing together. Lovingly and everything. I mean, it's a shock to me. Right now we are devastated.

KOCH: The bodies of 10-year-old Alexis Quezada and her 9-year- old brother Lucero and another 9-year-old boy, Ricardo Espinosa were found in two bedrooms of the apartment by one of their mother's Thursday evening. One had been decapitated. Two partially beheaded. Arrested and charged with murder in the case, two young men police say may be the children's uncles. 17-year-old Adan Espinosa Canela and 22- year-old Policarpio Espinosa. Two suspects but no motive.

ANTONIO WILLIAMS, CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: It's a curious thing. We're still deviling into the matter to determine what the actual motive could have been. We're not at that stage yet. We have not developed clear motive in this case.

KOCH: Police cadets continue to search around the apartment building for evidence. Authorities say they have already gathered a great deal including what they believe is the murder weapon.

KENNETH BLACKWELL, DEPUTY POLICE COMMISSIONER: What was located near the crime scene was a knife, would be described as possibly what we would call maybe a butcher knife as possibly a 10 or 12 inch blade to it.

KOCH: Despite the arrests, some residents of the apartment complex are still afraid.

HEATHER HOPKINS, NEIGHBOR: I'm still a little scared. To know that happened. I just--with a 1-year-old son you have to be. You have to be worried and you have to be cautious.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KOCH: A vigil is being held here at the apartment later this evening by the local Hispanic community to show support for the family -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kathleen Koch in Baltimore. Thank you much.

It's the new film expected to be a big summer blockbuster. Also expected to cause some heat in the political world. It's called "The Day After Tomorrow" and we'll debate its impact today. The case against Michael Jackson, new arguments over the pop star's bail and a trial date penciled in, at least. Then there's this:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's amazing. It is. That I came out of it alive.

O'BRIEN: Remembering the battle. This former soldier earned the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He also endured an epic fight

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Disaster on the big screen causing quite a stir in Washington. The summer film with a potential political impact. But first, let's check the headlines.

At least 23 are dead, dozens hurt after an earthquake hit northern Iran. The 6.3 quake was centered in an area about 45 miles north of the nation's capital, Tehran. This is the first major quake to hit Tehran since December's quake near the city of Bam. That earthquake killed an estimated 25,000.

U.S. and European officials signed an agreement today that allows U.S. authorities to continue getting personal data on passengers flying to the U.S. The data will be cross checked against U.S. terrorist databases. The deal takes effect immediately. It includes flights to the U.S. coming from 25 European Union countries.

Michael Jackson's trial on child molestation charges tentatively set to begin September 13. A judge set the date today during a hearing in Santa Maria, California, but did he not rule on a request by Jackson's lawyers to reduce the singer's $3 million bail.

It's opening day for one of the biggest disaster movies of the summer. "The Day After Tomorrow" has all the goods. Star power, great special effects and a plot about a global threat. It also has some politicians fuming about its message. CNN's Sharon Collins with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rising sea levels engulf Manhattan. Killer tornadoes wipe out Los Angeles. And a new ice age settles over the Northern Hemisphere.

ROLAND EMMERICH, DIRECTOR: It's an important message in this movie. It's like--(inaudible) is polluting the planet. One day the planet will strike back at us.

COLLINS: There is consensus in the scientific community that the earth's atmosphere is warming up.

JOHN CHRISTY, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, HUNTSVILLE: The globe has warmed, and that, I think that partly is due to human effects but the rate of warming and the kinds of things we see in the natural world do not lead me at all to expect a disaster or catastrophe to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight of the ten hottest years have happened since 1990. 19 of the top 20 since 1980. We've seen some tremendous changes. If this continues unchecked that could mean some very serious threats for our health, for our economy and for our environment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Now everyone knows is movie is just a movie and all the drama really wouldn't happen, now would it? But the underlying scientific premise of the movie that is earth is getting warmer because of man's increasing use of hydrocarbon fuels, that is world life. At least most of the world's scientists think so. It's also is a political issue where the differences between the Bush administration and Democrats are large. With me are two men who have very different takes on the subject. Scott Segal is a spokesman for the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, that's a lobbying group made up of electric utilities and power companies. And Robert Kennedy Jr. is a senior attorney for the National Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. Gentlemen, good to have you with us.

SCOTT SEGAL, ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COORDINATING COUNCIL: Good to be here.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., NATIONAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL: Thanks for having us.

O'BRIEN: All right. Mr. Segal, first and foremost, do you accept the premise that the climate is warming and that human beings and the emissions they make have something to do with it?

SEGAL: Well, we have about a 10,000 year interglacial period. We're overdue for the last--this period of temperature between Ice Ages to move away, and yes, there is good and compelling data that temperatures are rising. That said, that data is within the natural variations that occur and that the satellite data which is often used to show the longer-term perturbations and to show if there are any recent changes is indicative of that.

O'BRIEN: So, then, you are saying it's a natural cycle, then. There's a lot of scientists who would disagree with you.

Mr. Kennedy, what would you say about it?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Well, virtually all the prominent scientists in the world would disagree with that statement. The globe is warming. It is because of human- made emissions.

The 19 hottest years on record have occurred during the last 20 years. Glaciers are melting all over the world. The snows of Kilimanjaro will be gone within 15 years. The North Pole will be gone within 30 years, maybe 15. Last summer, we had the hottest summer in 500 years, at least 500 years in Europe. It killed 26,000 people. There is a looming crisis that is going to affect the globe, that's going to affect the capacity of our children to have communities.

O'BRIEN: All right, now, this movie, this movie does make a fanciful statement the sense that the climate turns on a dime in five days.

But, Mr. Segal, it also has a fairly overt political statement in it as well. There's a character here that plays the vice president, not seen right there, who happens to be a dead ringer for Dick Cheney. And it is clearly a message there that the Bush White House is ignoring the whole notion that global warming is a problem. There you see the character there.

What do you say to that?

SEGAL: Well, not only is that not the case, but the fact of the matter is that statements like those that are made in the movie, and frankly like I just heard from Mr. Kennedy only serve to trivialize what can be a serious problem and a serious item for the national agenda.

There are plenty of no-regrets policies that can be adopted regardless of what the veracity of the greenhouse effect actually is, things like insulation and weather stripping and changes in consumer behavior for improved gasoline mileage and better appliances. All of these things can be done. But when you reduce environmental concerns to a punchline or to electioneering, which is what this film does and frankly what Mr. Kennedy just did, I think you do a disservice, because you result in trivializing what can otherwise be a serious concern.

If that's the national conversation on climate change, it's a very poor one. And I hope we can clear up the rhetoric.

O'BRIEN: Well, any national conversation on climate change leads you to Kyoto, the Kyoto protocol, which most nations have signed on to, more than 100 nations, back in '97, which effectively limits greenhouse emissions. The U.S. has steadfastly refused to do so under the Bush administration.

Mr. Kennedy, I note that John Kerry on his Web site doesn't clearly state that he would sign the Kyoto accord. Why not?

KENNEDY: Well, it's not -- you know, the things we have to do to deal with global warming are things that we ought to be doing anyway to reduce our dependence on Mideastern oil, which John Kerry is committed to, to reduce our -- to reduce the impact of price shocks on the international oil market, to increase prosperity at home.

The stuff that we really need to do at home, many of the things that Mr. Segal just talked about, are things that we ought to be doing anyway to ensure prosperity, national security, etcetera. The problem is, we have a president and a vice president now that are doing everything that they can to stick their heads in the sand and to avoid any kind of action on global warming.

The president has suppressed 12 major federal studies on global warming over the last three and a half years, including one that was commissioned by his own father in 1993 by the international -- by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change...

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: ... which is the coalition of the world's most prominent scientists, that the president suppressed in order to avoid doing any kind of taking any kind of responsible action to deal with something that is a looming global crisis. Every other nation in the world is doing what it's supposed to be doing except for the United States.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: The concern, of course, is the economy. Mr. Segal, the Bush administration would tell you by signing on to Kyoto and forcing the U.S. to reduce its emotions, ultimately, that impacts the economy.

SEGAL: Kyoto is not the only way to adopt a no-regrets climate change policy.

In fact, this president has released a national energy plan which is reflected in legislation. And that legislation, while it contains many components that Mr. Kennedy might disagree with, it also contains components that funded up tax credits for solar energy and wind power, for example, that created stimulus for better energy efficiency and control.

And the fact of the matter is that Senator Kerry, while he -- I will agree on a rhetorical level he has long talked about alternative energy, couldn't even be bothered to show up in Washington, D.C., to cast a vote one way or another on the energy bill. So you know the fact of the matter is, there are solutions out there, but not all roads lead to Kyoto.

In fact, some would say that the Kyoto regime is a deeply flawed regime that will never see the light of day.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Mr. Kennedy, are there other ways to do it besides Kyoto? Because there are a lot of flaws out there. It is interesting to note, however, that just this past week, Vladimir Putin of Russia announced that Russia would sign on, thus putting Kyoto officially into effect, right?

KENNEDY: Yes.

Not only should we be enacting Kyoto because it will be good for our economy at home, but also on -- we should be doing what Senator Kerry has been fighting for, for the last 15 years, which is corporate average fuel efficiency standards. If we raise the efficiency of our automobile by one mile per gallon of our national fleet, it's two Arctic National Wildlife Refugee of oil.

If we raise fuel efficiency by 2.6 miles a gallon, that's all the oil that we import from Iraq and Kuwait combined. If we raise fuel efficiency by 7.6 miles per gallon, we can eliminate 100 percent of oil imports from the Persian Gulf. Instead of that, the president has enacted policies that are actually encouraging us to burn more gas and to buy the most fuel inefficient automobiles.

For example, the president has passed a law that says that you get a $100,000 tax deduction if you buy a Hummer or any of the 16 largest, biggest gas guzzlers.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Mr. Segal, the rest of the world in essence has signed on to Kyoto. The Russians did most recently, this week, the European Union, more than 100 nations, now more than 55 percent of those that emit carbon gases that cause global warming problems or a link to it. Isn't it high time that the U.S. did something?

SEGAL: Well, the fact of the matter is, that in order for the Kyoto regime to work, there has to be a robust international trading region from the major carbon-producing nations.

That implies there must be significant action on the part of the United States. It doesn't have to be within the Kyoto regime, though. That is an imperfect and a flawed international regime. In fact, what we need to do is focus on what we do best, which is domestic policy in this country that focuses on everything from energy efficiency to putting those tax incentives forward on solar and wind power.

That can only be done by passing pending energy legislation, HR- 6, the pending energy bill that unfortunately Mr. Kerry and some of his colleagues in the United States Senate have kept from even seeing the light of day in debate. They don't even want to have a principled debate on forward-looking comprehensive energy policies.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: All right, final thought from Mr. Kennedy. We are just about running out of time. Go ahead.

KENNEDY: Yes, "The Wall Street Journal" has called that legislation the biggest boondoggle in United States history. It's $145 billion worth of tax breaks and waivers for large oil companies and coal companies and will actually increase our dependence on foreign oil, rather than decreasing it. It's an absolute catastrophe.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: The president has also walked away from our obligation to limit CO2 internationally or nationwide. And that's really the answer to global warming. He has walked away from it. He's closed the door. There's nothing happening in this administration.

O'BRIEN: We have to close the door on this debate, unfortunately, right now. Lots more to talk about. We appreciate you gentlemen joining us, Scott Segal and Robert Kennedy Jr. Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this: Will "The Day After Tomorrow" affect people's awareness of global warming? You can vote right now at CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in the broadcast.

The Kerry campaign announces another big ad buy next week, a buy big enough for more than just battleground states. Find out where Kerry's targeting now and what it all means.

Plus, unexpected help. Could Russian President Vladimir Putin heighten President Bush's political standing? Carlos Watson joining me for "The Inside Edge."

Also ahead:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES YODER, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: He was badly hit. I carried him out of there back to the barn. So guess I got the Silver Star because I was wounded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The poignant story of a soldier. He was a medic who became a hero. A World War II veteran looks back 60 years later.

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

In Australia, a terror trial came to an abrupt end when the defendant changed his plea to guilty. The British born Muslim convert admitted playing a role in an al Qaeda plot which was never carried out to bomb the Israeli Embassy.

Flood deaths. The toll continues to climb after floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Reports suggest the final number will be in the thousands.

Dam breaks. Water broke through a dam at a reservoir in central China. The surge swept away 18 people, including 12 children on a bus.

Hip to the hippos. Here's why you have never seen a sunburned hippopotamus. Japanese have discovered hippo sweat acts as a natural sunscreen. The practical aspects of this discovery appear to be limited, however. Scientists say hippo sweat is too unstable to be used for human sunscreen products. And they also say there's another drawback. Hippo sweat stinks.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This just in to CNN, a joint statement coming out from the attorney general of the United States, John Ashcroft, and the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, indicating that those two agencies, the Transportation -- excuse me, the Homeland Security Agency and the Justice Department, are working in concert in the war on terror, that statement precipitated by a lot of speculation after this week's announcement about the possibility that there is a clear and present danger of a terror attack inside the United States in the coming months.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve covers homeland security for us. She joins us from Washington with more on all this -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Miles, there's no real news in the statement. What is news is that there is a statement at all.

Let me read some of what it says. It says: "There is credible intelligence from multiple sources indicating that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States during the coming holiday period," not Memorial Day, but the extended summer period.

And then it goes on to say: "The Department of Homeland Security and Justice, in partnership with the FBI, the CIA, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center and other agencies jointly review threat information each and every day. We are working together. We will take all necessary steps to protect the American people. We have improved intelligence collection and sharing. We have reached out to state and local homeland security and law enforcement officials."

This may sound like it is stating the obvious, but this is important because it's been obvious since Tuesday night that Secretary Ridge and John Ashcroft were reading the intelligence differently, John Ashcroft being much more dire in his predictions, saying the planning for a terrorist attack was 90 percent complete. That led to a lot of speculation about why they weren't on the same page, whether there was some political motivation in all of this.

It sparked some outrage amongst state and local officials who were unhappy that they learned about this latest information through the media and not through established channels. And so this is an effort to say we are all on the same page, we are all working together to protect the American people -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thanks.

It's Friday, which means it is time to check in with CNN political analyst Carlos Watson, joining us today from Houston. He just landed, rather breathless, practically.

Good to see you, Carlos.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you. Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: All right, big week in politics, the president with an important speech on the situation in Iraq, Senator Kerry out with an important foreign policy speech. And just today, we hear that Senator Kerry's campaign writing some big checks, $18 million ad buy in some unlikely places. Put it all together.

WATSON: Well, you know what?

I think that for all the big speeches we have seen, the president, John Kerry and, by the way, don't forget Al Gore, I thought maybe the biggest news in domestic politics and presidential politics this week was John Kerry's decision to spend money in Virginia, part of the South. Remember, it was only a couple of months ago that John Kerry said out loud that, maybe I can win the presidency without even winning a single Southern state, that instead I would focus on the Southwest, the Northeast and part of the West Coast.

But the fact that he's spending money I think says something about how fluid, how dynamic this race is, and how much they think that the president is on the run in many ways. Whether or not this ultimately translates into a win is a big question. But, Miles, I wouldn't be surprised, as we get closer to the fall, many of us who thought that the battleground in this election would be in the heartland, namely the Midwest, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, if it turns out to actually be potentially on the Eastern Seaboard as well, including Virginia and Georgia.

O'BRIEN: Could this be factored into his decision on a running mate, you think?

WATSON: It could be.

You wonder if John Edwards, if this isn't a training ground for John Edwards, the candidate from North Carolina. If they are going to put him on the ticket, they want to believe that he can help in the South. And Virginia is one place you would turn to.

O'BRIEN: All right, if you are inside the White House now, what kind of political advice are you giving the president's campaign?

WATSON: You are saying turn to policy as quickly as you can and fix Iraq as best as you can before June 30, turnover date.

Significantly, instead of looking for help from the U.K., from Germany, from France, countries which Don Rumsfeld called old Europe, you might see them turning to Russia. Why Russia? Russia is one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. So they could help the U.K. and the U.S. put together a U.N. resolution. They also still have a fairly large army, Miles. So they could help put together some troops, although they would be very careful where they put them.

And last but not least, they have got a powerful leader -- some say that there's some dictatorial powers there -- but who could ignore public pressure in a way that, frankly, you couldn't in Germany and France. So although they were once called the evil empire by President Bush's hero, Ronald Reagan, do not be surprised if you start hearing a lot more about Russia being a key U.S. bargaining partner to help them fix the situation in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: Carlos Watson with "The Inside Edge" from Houston, thanks much.

WATSON: Have a good one.

O'BRIEN: A country at war now and then; 60 years ago, it was World War II claiming lives and demanding sacrifice. One veteran remembers it just as it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YODER: Not fun for anybody, including the wounded. But we did it. And I think I mentioned that we were quartered in all kind of different places, including...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Coming up, one man among thousands remembering the ultimate conflict of the 20th century.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Tomorrow, the World War II Memorial will be dedicated on the Mall in Washington. Thousands of veterans will be there, including one man who is also taking part in ceremonies in France next week, when President Bush commemorates the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the liberation of Europe. You would think this veteran was some kind of celebrity.

CNN's Brian Todd has the story of a very different man, part of our series "Memories of War."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Charles Yoder blends in here. Among more than 500 World War II veterans of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, Yoder, by his own admission, is a loner. He blends in until he speaks.

YODER: I'm telling you, if you're ever hit or you're near a shell that explodes, it can be something because your ears start ringing and you -- there's a buzz in the air long after the shell has exploded. You have still got this ringing sensation. I don't like to be reminded of these things. I have forgotten all about them.

TODD: Late 1944, early 1945, a cold, wet, ugly campaign into Germany.

YODER: The fighting was intense. And we lived in mud.

TODD: Private Charles Yoder, a medic with the U.S. 3rd Army, General George S. Patton's 3rd Army as it swept through Europe to rescue a surrounded American unit in Belgium. It became the Battle of the Budge and it started in the middle of Yoder's R&R.

YODER: That was our R&R, the Battle of the Budge.

TODD: Yoder endured that epic fight, but his reckoning was yet to come.

(on camera): Charles Yoder's story is compelling in so many different ways. His heroism and sacrifice clearly stand out. But what draws you closer is when you start to understand just how relevant his story is right now.

(voice-over): When you hear about a mortar attack in Iraq, imagine a day in Germany March 1945. Yoder and his mates thought they were out of danger. At a farm, they lined up for a rare hot meal. They heard a whistling sound, then explosions. Some men took cover in a barn. Others were hit. As Yoder moved to help them, a shell exploded right next to him. He was wounded, but kept moving.

YODER: So I knew I had work to do and I went and got this guy out and led him back. I didn't know it was a lieutenant, the lieutenant of our company. I led him back into the barn. And I had to go back and pick up the other guy. And he was badly hit. I carried him out of there back to the barn. So guess I got the Silver Star because I was wounded. And the two guys were wounded.

TODD: From that day, in a span of two weeks, Charles Yoder earned a Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He doesn't consider himself highly decorated.

YODER: I don't know. A lot of the highly decorated guys and the guys that would be highly decorated are dead. I think the amazing thing is that I came out of it alive.

TODD: We changed the subject to happier times, finished the interview. Charles Yoder goes back to blending in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And we're here live at the World War II memorial.

As Miles mentioned, Charles Yoder will be here tomorrow. He goes to France next week for the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the Normandy invasion. And CNN will be here live to cover most of the events tomorrow. And next week, we'll profile two veterans who took part in the Normandy campaign -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Brian Todd on the Mall, thanks much.

CNN's Paula Zahn will anchor our live coverage of the World War II Memorial dedication tomorrow afternoon. It's tomorrow afternoon. It starts at 2:00 Eastern on the East Coast, 11:00 a.m. in the West.

The results of our "Web Question of the Day," straight ahead.

Plus, have you heard the one about the four-legged bat boy? Not a joke. He's definitely a team player. We'll explain. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

A four-legged bat boy, our picture of the day. Meet Chase, the bat dog. That's right, bat dog. He plays for the -- plays? -- I guess -- the Trenton Thunder, a New Jersey farm team for the Yankees, AA. The golden retriever is in his second season fetching bats and generally charming players and fans alike. They can buy Chase T- shirts, stuffed animals, and coming soon, a Chase bobblehead -- sort of a fungo Fido, I guess.

Thanks for joining us. "LOU DOBBS" 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 28, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now. Rush hour, more travel, more hassle. Memorial Day Weekend is here. Live pictures of the Windy City, Chicago, where the traffic is already piling up. Another question for you. Are security officials up to the challenge? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): New leader? Iraq's governing council agrees on a prime minister. But does everyone else?

From KIA to POW. The story changes on how this soldier died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very angry. They took him in the room and shot him in the back.

O'BRIEN: Gruesome find. A mother comes home to a horrific scene. Three dead children, one decapitated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I'm sorry to worry about my children are safe here.

O'BRIEN: "The Day After Tomorrow," the new movie rocking the cinematic landscape, but will it rock the political one as well.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, May 28, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Hi, I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta. Wolf is off today. We begin what is being called a historic moment in Iraq. That's how a senior Bush administration official is characterizing the selection of Iyad Allawi to become the prime minister of the next government. So who is he? How would he lead Iraq when he takes office at the end of next month? CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.N., the United States, and the Iraqi governing council finally agreed on the name everyone was waiting to hear. That of Iraq's future interim prime minister. He is Iyad Allawi, a current member of the council. The U.N.'s special envoy office said he will work with Allawi to select the remainder of Iraq's new government. Now he says it is time to start phasing in democracy and he recognizes it will be difficult.

IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NOMINEE: To expect Iraq to go into a full-blown democracy, as you would have in the United States, or Britain or Sweden, well, we need a lot of time. It's not a joke. We are here talking about people who have never experienced democracy, who have never faced democracy.

WHITBECK: Some Iraqis seem positive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): As long as he is an Iraqi that will present Iraq and the Iraqi people's opinion he will have my support and the support of all the Iraqis.

WHITBECK: Others had doubts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So the governing council had a meeting and chose a prime minister. What is the role of the Iraqi people? They chose him not the Iraqi people.

WHITBECK: With the name of the new interim prime minister now made public, at least some of the uncertainty over the political transition has been dissipated. How that new government will be made up is the next question. And how that new government will work with the coalition occupying force is the biggest question of all. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

O'BRIEN: President Bush is taking pains to get backing for the Iraqi hand-over from the United Nations. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash joining us now with more. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, from the President on down, U.S. officials are trying to send a very clear signal to members of the U.N Security Council that they are going to do what it takes to find compromise to get their blessing on the way forward in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Standing in the rose garden with a European, ally the president tried to be crystal clear about the power of the new Iraqi government and the role of the United Nations in creating it.

GEORGE W. BUSH, U. S. PRESIDENT: Complete and full sovereignty to a(sic) Iraqi government that will be. Picked by Mr. Brahimi of the United Nations. He said "Do you mean full sovereignty?" I said "I mean full sovereignty."

BASH: Reassuring words also used in a phone call to Russia's Vladimir Putin from a president working to convince skeptical Security Council members the U.S. will give them what they want. Full surrender of political control in Iraq. Returning to the U.N. and relying on its special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to create an Iraqi government not where Bush officials thought they would be after issuing prewar ultimatums like this. BUSH: Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding? Or will it be irrelevant?

BASH: Then four months later.

BUSH: The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities. So we will rise to ours.

BASH: But the post war problems officials admit were worse than expected. The American-led coalition had little success in building the peace. For example, the powerful Ayatollah al-Sistani refused to meet with U.S. administrator Paul Bremer but agreed to sit down with Mr. Brahimi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found out it may not be easy to use just raw military power to achieve victory. And that we need something else. We need legitimacy.

BASH: And with the U.S. election just five months away even members of the President's own party, not fans of the United Nations, concede Mr. Bush is now backed into a corner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well I think there are a lot of conservatives who are offend bid the very idea of the United States cooperating with the United Nations but I think we have to do what is practical, at that point I'm not sure we have much after choice.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BASH: The key sticking point on a new U.N. resolution remains the same, that is how much control Iraqis will have over U.S. and other international forces in their country. And the President got a pledge from the Danish prime minister he will keep his 500 or so troops in Iraq but he made clear they will only stay at the invitation of the Iraqis. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Dana, no official word from the white house yet about Allawi being the prime minister designate. Why not?

BASH: They are very reluctant here at the White House, over at the State Department to say anything on the record about Allawi because they say it's really up to Mr. Brahimi to do. He has been in charge of this process on background, certainly privately, they are saying that they fully support him and they say the process works the way they wanted it to work. However, it certainly is an illustration of how the U.S is really handing over control of the process to the U.N. and Mr. Brahimi. The fact they won't make a public statement until he does first.

O'BRIEN: A little symbolic distance, at least. Dana Bash at the White House. Thank you very much.

The death of a U.S. soldier thought to have been killed in action in Iraq last year now being investigated as a war crime. And it turns out he may have been the real hero of an infamous ambush. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us now with details. Jamie?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, if not the hero certainly one of the heroes of the ambush in which was originally thought to be a case where everyone died at the scene now it's turning out the army believes that one soldier, previously unsung, was murdered by Iraqis after he fought back valiantly.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): An army investigation last year confirmed that Private First Class Jessica Lynch never fired a shot in the March 23, 2003, ambush, having been seriously injured and likely knocked unconscious when her Humvee hit another vehicle after coming under fire. But it now seems some of the heroics falsely attributed to lynch in a front page "Washington Post" account a year ago things like-- "fought fiercely and shot several minute soldiers, firing until she ran out of ammunition, and continued firing after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds" may have been the actions of this soldier, Sergeant Donald Walters who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for valor last month.

Immediately after the "Post" report which was eventually retracted Pentagon sources told CNN the Lynch account was likely the result of confusion. That while a battlefield report did describe such valiant actions they were by a male soldier who had died. After pressure from his family in Oregon, and the intervention of a member of Congress, the army found that Walters did not die in the fight but was severely wounded after repelling the minute until he was unable to resist any longer. Now the army has told Walters' family he was murdered by suspected Fedayeen Saddam fighters while he was a POW.

ARLENE WALTERS, MOTHER: I'm very angry. You know, they took him, they took him in a room and shot him in the back. That's not according to the--That's not the way you are supposed to treat prisoners of war, according to the Geneva Convention. That is not what you are supposed to do with a prisoner of war.

NORMAN WALTERS, FATHER: Not the last I heard. I'm very angry.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MCINTYRE: The U.S. military is investigating the death as a war crime. And officials say there are suspects. And today Jessica Lynch issued a statement in which she said she is personally grateful for the heroic efforts of Sergeant Walters and credited him for saving many lives of fellow American soldiers -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

Putting the nation's security measures to the test under heightened terror warnings. How the airlines are coping on this busy weekend of travel. Also ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Evacuate everyone south of that line. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the people in the north?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go outside. The storm will kill them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Science fiction versus science fact? The movie "The Day After Tomorrow" stirring up debate over the environment.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was our R&R. The Battle in the Bulge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Unforgettable stories. He survived one of the most famous battles of World War II. Now this veteran opens up and speaks about the reality of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: With air travel beginning to return to pre-9/11 levels, America's airport security system facing its first big test of the year, thousands of Americans arriving at U.S. airports to begin Memorial Day vacations and with so many passengers going through the screening process, arduous as it is, there are fears of long delays. CNN's Gary Tuchman watching the lines at Atlanta's airport -- Gary.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, when it comes to traveling Memorial Day weekend stretches from Thursday, yesterday, to Tuesday, four days from now. But today, Friday, is the single busiest day. Here at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport they are expecting 250,000 people to fly in or out. That's 14 percent more than last year. Nationally AAA says there are a grand total of 4.1 million people who will be flying this weekend. Not for business, only for vacation. So literally that's one out of about every 70, men women and children who live in the United States of America who will be going on a vacation this weekend and they will all be going despite all the security warnings out there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): It's late afternoon. The security lines don't look so bad. But alas you are not getting the whole picture. This is the whole picture. This is the maze that leads into the security line. The line right now about a 30-minute wait. Not so bad by Atlanta standards. Sometimes it gets up to 90 minutes. People in the line wondering if they have any anxiety over the holiday weekend. Where are you going, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Florida.

TUCHMAN: Where in South Florida?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: West Palm Beach.

TUCHMAN: OK. West Palm Beach. Good town. Any anxiety about flying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Security warnings, terrorism warnings this week don't make you think twice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I fly about every two weeks (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

TUCHMAN: So he's a calm guy.

Let me ask you a question, where are you going today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gulfport.

TUCHMAN: To Gulfport, Mississippi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh.

TUCHMAN: What do you think about the length of the lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not that bad.

TUCHMAN: All right, you have you a good attitude about it. Any anxiety at all about flying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Tell me why. With all the warnings this week, particularly. How come you have no anxiety?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't. I've been flying for a while now and I love it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

TUCHMAN: It's nice to see those attitudes. A lot different than the airport on Memorial Day 2002; the first Memorial Day after 9/11. We met lots of passengers in the airports who had their hearts in their throat. Next busy weekend is an even busier one about a month away from now. The July 4th weekend. July 4th falls on a weekend for the first time since 1999 on a Sunday. So that means July 2, Friday, that's the day you may want to circle and avoid the airport on July 2. It will be very busy that day. Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Gary Tuchman at Atlanta's airport, where it doesn't look so bad right this moment, but there is still time.

Now to check on air travel in the West Coast. Let's go to Mark Coogan, CNN's affiliate KCAL, K-Cal, at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport. Mark, what's the latest there? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK COOGAN, KCAL CORRESPONDENT: Here at Los Angeles International Airport security concerns obviously no deterrent to people traveling this Memorial Day weekend. The managers of Los Angeles world airport say they expect 12 percent more passengers to use the airport this Memorial Day than did Memorial Day of 2003. That will translate into 740,000 people passing through LAX, as it is called, between now and Monday night. Things running smoothly, as you see, regarding the terrorism warnings of this week, we get from passengers what we have gotten really since 9/11, which is I'm going to live my life. I'm not going to change my plans. In fact, one passenger heading back to the East Coast said, look, once I get back there, I'll be able to buy cheaper gasoline. This is Mark Coogan reporting in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Despite the recent surge in gasoline price, highway traffic expected to be up this weekend, too. Live pictures coming to you now from Chicago. Early hour commuters sharing the Kennedy expressway with vacationers heading out of the city. Traffic also heavy in the East, pictures now coming to you very shortly. We hope-- there it is from the bay bridge heading to Maryland's Eastern Shore. Getting crowded at the toll booths, at least. The AAA auto club says more than 30 million travelers will be on the highways this weekend, a 3.4 percent increase from last year. Almost 2 million Americans expected to travel by train, bus or boat this weekend. That's about even with last year's figures.

In Baltimore, a brutal crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was an act of someone who obviously has no conscience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A community searches for answers after an act that claimed three children.

Also head--on the nation's movie screens. Could it really happen, though? And in as little as five days?

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were frightened to death because for all we knew the Germans were going to take over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And for World War II vets it really did happen and now we remember them. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Baltimore's deputy police commissioner says he has never seen a worse crime in 35 years on the job. He spoke a day after three children were found dead, one beheaded and two partially decapitated. Today two relatives were charged in the gruesome deaths. CNN's Kathleen Koch joining us live from Baltimore on that.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, police today describe those two suspects as emotionless, but emotions are certainly running high here in this neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): Northwest Baltimore is still reeling after the gruesome murders of the three young children.

PETER KING, NEIGHBOR: They were nice children. They were cute kids. They were always playing together. Lovingly and everything. I mean, it's a shock to me. Right now we are devastated.

KOCH: The bodies of 10-year-old Alexis Quezada and her 9-year- old brother Lucero and another 9-year-old boy, Ricardo Espinosa were found in two bedrooms of the apartment by one of their mother's Thursday evening. One had been decapitated. Two partially beheaded. Arrested and charged with murder in the case, two young men police say may be the children's uncles. 17-year-old Adan Espinosa Canela and 22- year-old Policarpio Espinosa. Two suspects but no motive.

ANTONIO WILLIAMS, CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: It's a curious thing. We're still deviling into the matter to determine what the actual motive could have been. We're not at that stage yet. We have not developed clear motive in this case.

KOCH: Police cadets continue to search around the apartment building for evidence. Authorities say they have already gathered a great deal including what they believe is the murder weapon.

KENNETH BLACKWELL, DEPUTY POLICE COMMISSIONER: What was located near the crime scene was a knife, would be described as possibly what we would call maybe a butcher knife as possibly a 10 or 12 inch blade to it.

KOCH: Despite the arrests, some residents of the apartment complex are still afraid.

HEATHER HOPKINS, NEIGHBOR: I'm still a little scared. To know that happened. I just--with a 1-year-old son you have to be. You have to be worried and you have to be cautious.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KOCH: A vigil is being held here at the apartment later this evening by the local Hispanic community to show support for the family -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kathleen Koch in Baltimore. Thank you much.

It's the new film expected to be a big summer blockbuster. Also expected to cause some heat in the political world. It's called "The Day After Tomorrow" and we'll debate its impact today. The case against Michael Jackson, new arguments over the pop star's bail and a trial date penciled in, at least. Then there's this:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's amazing. It is. That I came out of it alive.

O'BRIEN: Remembering the battle. This former soldier earned the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He also endured an epic fight

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Disaster on the big screen causing quite a stir in Washington. The summer film with a potential political impact. But first, let's check the headlines.

At least 23 are dead, dozens hurt after an earthquake hit northern Iran. The 6.3 quake was centered in an area about 45 miles north of the nation's capital, Tehran. This is the first major quake to hit Tehran since December's quake near the city of Bam. That earthquake killed an estimated 25,000.

U.S. and European officials signed an agreement today that allows U.S. authorities to continue getting personal data on passengers flying to the U.S. The data will be cross checked against U.S. terrorist databases. The deal takes effect immediately. It includes flights to the U.S. coming from 25 European Union countries.

Michael Jackson's trial on child molestation charges tentatively set to begin September 13. A judge set the date today during a hearing in Santa Maria, California, but did he not rule on a request by Jackson's lawyers to reduce the singer's $3 million bail.

It's opening day for one of the biggest disaster movies of the summer. "The Day After Tomorrow" has all the goods. Star power, great special effects and a plot about a global threat. It also has some politicians fuming about its message. CNN's Sharon Collins with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rising sea levels engulf Manhattan. Killer tornadoes wipe out Los Angeles. And a new ice age settles over the Northern Hemisphere.

ROLAND EMMERICH, DIRECTOR: It's an important message in this movie. It's like--(inaudible) is polluting the planet. One day the planet will strike back at us.

COLLINS: There is consensus in the scientific community that the earth's atmosphere is warming up.

JOHN CHRISTY, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, HUNTSVILLE: The globe has warmed, and that, I think that partly is due to human effects but the rate of warming and the kinds of things we see in the natural world do not lead me at all to expect a disaster or catastrophe to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight of the ten hottest years have happened since 1990. 19 of the top 20 since 1980. We've seen some tremendous changes. If this continues unchecked that could mean some very serious threats for our health, for our economy and for our environment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Now everyone knows is movie is just a movie and all the drama really wouldn't happen, now would it? But the underlying scientific premise of the movie that is earth is getting warmer because of man's increasing use of hydrocarbon fuels, that is world life. At least most of the world's scientists think so. It's also is a political issue where the differences between the Bush administration and Democrats are large. With me are two men who have very different takes on the subject. Scott Segal is a spokesman for the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, that's a lobbying group made up of electric utilities and power companies. And Robert Kennedy Jr. is a senior attorney for the National Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. Gentlemen, good to have you with us.

SCOTT SEGAL, ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COORDINATING COUNCIL: Good to be here.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., NATIONAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL: Thanks for having us.

O'BRIEN: All right. Mr. Segal, first and foremost, do you accept the premise that the climate is warming and that human beings and the emissions they make have something to do with it?

SEGAL: Well, we have about a 10,000 year interglacial period. We're overdue for the last--this period of temperature between Ice Ages to move away, and yes, there is good and compelling data that temperatures are rising. That said, that data is within the natural variations that occur and that the satellite data which is often used to show the longer-term perturbations and to show if there are any recent changes is indicative of that.

O'BRIEN: So, then, you are saying it's a natural cycle, then. There's a lot of scientists who would disagree with you.

Mr. Kennedy, what would you say about it?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Well, virtually all the prominent scientists in the world would disagree with that statement. The globe is warming. It is because of human- made emissions.

The 19 hottest years on record have occurred during the last 20 years. Glaciers are melting all over the world. The snows of Kilimanjaro will be gone within 15 years. The North Pole will be gone within 30 years, maybe 15. Last summer, we had the hottest summer in 500 years, at least 500 years in Europe. It killed 26,000 people. There is a looming crisis that is going to affect the globe, that's going to affect the capacity of our children to have communities.

O'BRIEN: All right, now, this movie, this movie does make a fanciful statement the sense that the climate turns on a dime in five days.

But, Mr. Segal, it also has a fairly overt political statement in it as well. There's a character here that plays the vice president, not seen right there, who happens to be a dead ringer for Dick Cheney. And it is clearly a message there that the Bush White House is ignoring the whole notion that global warming is a problem. There you see the character there.

What do you say to that?

SEGAL: Well, not only is that not the case, but the fact of the matter is that statements like those that are made in the movie, and frankly like I just heard from Mr. Kennedy only serve to trivialize what can be a serious problem and a serious item for the national agenda.

There are plenty of no-regrets policies that can be adopted regardless of what the veracity of the greenhouse effect actually is, things like insulation and weather stripping and changes in consumer behavior for improved gasoline mileage and better appliances. All of these things can be done. But when you reduce environmental concerns to a punchline or to electioneering, which is what this film does and frankly what Mr. Kennedy just did, I think you do a disservice, because you result in trivializing what can otherwise be a serious concern.

If that's the national conversation on climate change, it's a very poor one. And I hope we can clear up the rhetoric.

O'BRIEN: Well, any national conversation on climate change leads you to Kyoto, the Kyoto protocol, which most nations have signed on to, more than 100 nations, back in '97, which effectively limits greenhouse emissions. The U.S. has steadfastly refused to do so under the Bush administration.

Mr. Kennedy, I note that John Kerry on his Web site doesn't clearly state that he would sign the Kyoto accord. Why not?

KENNEDY: Well, it's not -- you know, the things we have to do to deal with global warming are things that we ought to be doing anyway to reduce our dependence on Mideastern oil, which John Kerry is committed to, to reduce our -- to reduce the impact of price shocks on the international oil market, to increase prosperity at home.

The stuff that we really need to do at home, many of the things that Mr. Segal just talked about, are things that we ought to be doing anyway to ensure prosperity, national security, etcetera. The problem is, we have a president and a vice president now that are doing everything that they can to stick their heads in the sand and to avoid any kind of action on global warming.

The president has suppressed 12 major federal studies on global warming over the last three and a half years, including one that was commissioned by his own father in 1993 by the international -- by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change...

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: ... which is the coalition of the world's most prominent scientists, that the president suppressed in order to avoid doing any kind of taking any kind of responsible action to deal with something that is a looming global crisis. Every other nation in the world is doing what it's supposed to be doing except for the United States.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: The concern, of course, is the economy. Mr. Segal, the Bush administration would tell you by signing on to Kyoto and forcing the U.S. to reduce its emotions, ultimately, that impacts the economy.

SEGAL: Kyoto is not the only way to adopt a no-regrets climate change policy.

In fact, this president has released a national energy plan which is reflected in legislation. And that legislation, while it contains many components that Mr. Kennedy might disagree with, it also contains components that funded up tax credits for solar energy and wind power, for example, that created stimulus for better energy efficiency and control.

And the fact of the matter is that Senator Kerry, while he -- I will agree on a rhetorical level he has long talked about alternative energy, couldn't even be bothered to show up in Washington, D.C., to cast a vote one way or another on the energy bill. So you know the fact of the matter is, there are solutions out there, but not all roads lead to Kyoto.

In fact, some would say that the Kyoto regime is a deeply flawed regime that will never see the light of day.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Mr. Kennedy, are there other ways to do it besides Kyoto? Because there are a lot of flaws out there. It is interesting to note, however, that just this past week, Vladimir Putin of Russia announced that Russia would sign on, thus putting Kyoto officially into effect, right?

KENNEDY: Yes.

Not only should we be enacting Kyoto because it will be good for our economy at home, but also on -- we should be doing what Senator Kerry has been fighting for, for the last 15 years, which is corporate average fuel efficiency standards. If we raise the efficiency of our automobile by one mile per gallon of our national fleet, it's two Arctic National Wildlife Refugee of oil.

If we raise fuel efficiency by 2.6 miles a gallon, that's all the oil that we import from Iraq and Kuwait combined. If we raise fuel efficiency by 7.6 miles per gallon, we can eliminate 100 percent of oil imports from the Persian Gulf. Instead of that, the president has enacted policies that are actually encouraging us to burn more gas and to buy the most fuel inefficient automobiles.

For example, the president has passed a law that says that you get a $100,000 tax deduction if you buy a Hummer or any of the 16 largest, biggest gas guzzlers.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Mr. Segal, the rest of the world in essence has signed on to Kyoto. The Russians did most recently, this week, the European Union, more than 100 nations, now more than 55 percent of those that emit carbon gases that cause global warming problems or a link to it. Isn't it high time that the U.S. did something?

SEGAL: Well, the fact of the matter is, that in order for the Kyoto regime to work, there has to be a robust international trading region from the major carbon-producing nations.

That implies there must be significant action on the part of the United States. It doesn't have to be within the Kyoto regime, though. That is an imperfect and a flawed international regime. In fact, what we need to do is focus on what we do best, which is domestic policy in this country that focuses on everything from energy efficiency to putting those tax incentives forward on solar and wind power.

That can only be done by passing pending energy legislation, HR- 6, the pending energy bill that unfortunately Mr. Kerry and some of his colleagues in the United States Senate have kept from even seeing the light of day in debate. They don't even want to have a principled debate on forward-looking comprehensive energy policies.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: All right, final thought from Mr. Kennedy. We are just about running out of time. Go ahead.

KENNEDY: Yes, "The Wall Street Journal" has called that legislation the biggest boondoggle in United States history. It's $145 billion worth of tax breaks and waivers for large oil companies and coal companies and will actually increase our dependence on foreign oil, rather than decreasing it. It's an absolute catastrophe.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: The president has also walked away from our obligation to limit CO2 internationally or nationwide. And that's really the answer to global warming. He has walked away from it. He's closed the door. There's nothing happening in this administration.

O'BRIEN: We have to close the door on this debate, unfortunately, right now. Lots more to talk about. We appreciate you gentlemen joining us, Scott Segal and Robert Kennedy Jr. Here is your turn to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this: Will "The Day After Tomorrow" affect people's awareness of global warming? You can vote right now at CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in the broadcast.

The Kerry campaign announces another big ad buy next week, a buy big enough for more than just battleground states. Find out where Kerry's targeting now and what it all means.

Plus, unexpected help. Could Russian President Vladimir Putin heighten President Bush's political standing? Carlos Watson joining me for "The Inside Edge."

Also ahead:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES YODER, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: He was badly hit. I carried him out of there back to the barn. So guess I got the Silver Star because I was wounded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The poignant story of a soldier. He was a medic who became a hero. A World War II veteran looks back 60 years later.

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

In Australia, a terror trial came to an abrupt end when the defendant changed his plea to guilty. The British born Muslim convert admitted playing a role in an al Qaeda plot which was never carried out to bomb the Israeli Embassy.

Flood deaths. The toll continues to climb after floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Reports suggest the final number will be in the thousands.

Dam breaks. Water broke through a dam at a reservoir in central China. The surge swept away 18 people, including 12 children on a bus.

Hip to the hippos. Here's why you have never seen a sunburned hippopotamus. Japanese have discovered hippo sweat acts as a natural sunscreen. The practical aspects of this discovery appear to be limited, however. Scientists say hippo sweat is too unstable to be used for human sunscreen products. And they also say there's another drawback. Hippo sweat stinks.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This just in to CNN, a joint statement coming out from the attorney general of the United States, John Ashcroft, and the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, indicating that those two agencies, the Transportation -- excuse me, the Homeland Security Agency and the Justice Department, are working in concert in the war on terror, that statement precipitated by a lot of speculation after this week's announcement about the possibility that there is a clear and present danger of a terror attack inside the United States in the coming months.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve covers homeland security for us. She joins us from Washington with more on all this -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Miles, there's no real news in the statement. What is news is that there is a statement at all.

Let me read some of what it says. It says: "There is credible intelligence from multiple sources indicating that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States during the coming holiday period," not Memorial Day, but the extended summer period.

And then it goes on to say: "The Department of Homeland Security and Justice, in partnership with the FBI, the CIA, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center and other agencies jointly review threat information each and every day. We are working together. We will take all necessary steps to protect the American people. We have improved intelligence collection and sharing. We have reached out to state and local homeland security and law enforcement officials."

This may sound like it is stating the obvious, but this is important because it's been obvious since Tuesday night that Secretary Ridge and John Ashcroft were reading the intelligence differently, John Ashcroft being much more dire in his predictions, saying the planning for a terrorist attack was 90 percent complete. That led to a lot of speculation about why they weren't on the same page, whether there was some political motivation in all of this.

It sparked some outrage amongst state and local officials who were unhappy that they learned about this latest information through the media and not through established channels. And so this is an effort to say we are all on the same page, we are all working together to protect the American people -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thanks.

It's Friday, which means it is time to check in with CNN political analyst Carlos Watson, joining us today from Houston. He just landed, rather breathless, practically.

Good to see you, Carlos.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you. Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: All right, big week in politics, the president with an important speech on the situation in Iraq, Senator Kerry out with an important foreign policy speech. And just today, we hear that Senator Kerry's campaign writing some big checks, $18 million ad buy in some unlikely places. Put it all together.

WATSON: Well, you know what?

I think that for all the big speeches we have seen, the president, John Kerry and, by the way, don't forget Al Gore, I thought maybe the biggest news in domestic politics and presidential politics this week was John Kerry's decision to spend money in Virginia, part of the South. Remember, it was only a couple of months ago that John Kerry said out loud that, maybe I can win the presidency without even winning a single Southern state, that instead I would focus on the Southwest, the Northeast and part of the West Coast.

But the fact that he's spending money I think says something about how fluid, how dynamic this race is, and how much they think that the president is on the run in many ways. Whether or not this ultimately translates into a win is a big question. But, Miles, I wouldn't be surprised, as we get closer to the fall, many of us who thought that the battleground in this election would be in the heartland, namely the Midwest, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, if it turns out to actually be potentially on the Eastern Seaboard as well, including Virginia and Georgia.

O'BRIEN: Could this be factored into his decision on a running mate, you think?

WATSON: It could be.

You wonder if John Edwards, if this isn't a training ground for John Edwards, the candidate from North Carolina. If they are going to put him on the ticket, they want to believe that he can help in the South. And Virginia is one place you would turn to.

O'BRIEN: All right, if you are inside the White House now, what kind of political advice are you giving the president's campaign?

WATSON: You are saying turn to policy as quickly as you can and fix Iraq as best as you can before June 30, turnover date.

Significantly, instead of looking for help from the U.K., from Germany, from France, countries which Don Rumsfeld called old Europe, you might see them turning to Russia. Why Russia? Russia is one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. So they could help the U.K. and the U.S. put together a U.N. resolution. They also still have a fairly large army, Miles. So they could help put together some troops, although they would be very careful where they put them.

And last but not least, they have got a powerful leader -- some say that there's some dictatorial powers there -- but who could ignore public pressure in a way that, frankly, you couldn't in Germany and France. So although they were once called the evil empire by President Bush's hero, Ronald Reagan, do not be surprised if you start hearing a lot more about Russia being a key U.S. bargaining partner to help them fix the situation in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: Carlos Watson with "The Inside Edge" from Houston, thanks much.

WATSON: Have a good one.

O'BRIEN: A country at war now and then; 60 years ago, it was World War II claiming lives and demanding sacrifice. One veteran remembers it just as it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YODER: Not fun for anybody, including the wounded. But we did it. And I think I mentioned that we were quartered in all kind of different places, including...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Coming up, one man among thousands remembering the ultimate conflict of the 20th century.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Tomorrow, the World War II Memorial will be dedicated on the Mall in Washington. Thousands of veterans will be there, including one man who is also taking part in ceremonies in France next week, when President Bush commemorates the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the liberation of Europe. You would think this veteran was some kind of celebrity.

CNN's Brian Todd has the story of a very different man, part of our series "Memories of War."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Charles Yoder blends in here. Among more than 500 World War II veterans of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, Yoder, by his own admission, is a loner. He blends in until he speaks.

YODER: I'm telling you, if you're ever hit or you're near a shell that explodes, it can be something because your ears start ringing and you -- there's a buzz in the air long after the shell has exploded. You have still got this ringing sensation. I don't like to be reminded of these things. I have forgotten all about them.

TODD: Late 1944, early 1945, a cold, wet, ugly campaign into Germany.

YODER: The fighting was intense. And we lived in mud.

TODD: Private Charles Yoder, a medic with the U.S. 3rd Army, General George S. Patton's 3rd Army as it swept through Europe to rescue a surrounded American unit in Belgium. It became the Battle of the Budge and it started in the middle of Yoder's R&R.

YODER: That was our R&R, the Battle of the Budge.

TODD: Yoder endured that epic fight, but his reckoning was yet to come.

(on camera): Charles Yoder's story is compelling in so many different ways. His heroism and sacrifice clearly stand out. But what draws you closer is when you start to understand just how relevant his story is right now.

(voice-over): When you hear about a mortar attack in Iraq, imagine a day in Germany March 1945. Yoder and his mates thought they were out of danger. At a farm, they lined up for a rare hot meal. They heard a whistling sound, then explosions. Some men took cover in a barn. Others were hit. As Yoder moved to help them, a shell exploded right next to him. He was wounded, but kept moving.

YODER: So I knew I had work to do and I went and got this guy out and led him back. I didn't know it was a lieutenant, the lieutenant of our company. I led him back into the barn. And I had to go back and pick up the other guy. And he was badly hit. I carried him out of there back to the barn. So guess I got the Silver Star because I was wounded. And the two guys were wounded.

TODD: From that day, in a span of two weeks, Charles Yoder earned a Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He doesn't consider himself highly decorated.

YODER: I don't know. A lot of the highly decorated guys and the guys that would be highly decorated are dead. I think the amazing thing is that I came out of it alive.

TODD: We changed the subject to happier times, finished the interview. Charles Yoder goes back to blending in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And we're here live at the World War II memorial.

As Miles mentioned, Charles Yoder will be here tomorrow. He goes to France next week for the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the Normandy invasion. And CNN will be here live to cover most of the events tomorrow. And next week, we'll profile two veterans who took part in the Normandy campaign -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Brian Todd on the Mall, thanks much.

CNN's Paula Zahn will anchor our live coverage of the World War II Memorial dedication tomorrow afternoon. It's tomorrow afternoon. It starts at 2:00 Eastern on the East Coast, 11:00 a.m. in the West.

The results of our "Web Question of the Day," straight ahead.

Plus, have you heard the one about the four-legged bat boy? Not a joke. He's definitely a team player. We'll explain. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Remember, this is not a scientific poll.

A four-legged bat boy, our picture of the day. Meet Chase, the bat dog. That's right, bat dog. He plays for the -- plays? -- I guess -- the Trenton Thunder, a New Jersey farm team for the Yankees, AA. The golden retriever is in his second season fetching bats and generally charming players and fans alike. They can buy Chase T- shirts, stuffed animals, and coming soon, a Chase bobblehead -- sort of a fungo Fido, I guess.

Thanks for joining us. "LOU DOBBS" starts right now.

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