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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

American Beheaded in Iraq; Dates for Presidential Debates to be Set; Dan Rather Apologizes for Bush Story

Aired September 20, 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. An American beheaded. The terrorists have struck again in Iraq.
Also in the next hour, the candidates face off. A deal for the upcoming presidential debates is about to be made public.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Admission and apology. CBS says it was caught off guard by those National Guard documents. Who hoodwinked Dan Rather?

Deadline. A claim of responsibility for a killing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were very honored to be in Iraq and helping the Iraqi people. They wanted to provide a better world for everyone that was over there.

BLITZER: The war over the war.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lack of planning by an absence of candor, arrogance, and outright incompetence.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq after just last month saying he still would have voted for force.

BLITZER: After Ivan. Far from Florida, waters are still running wild.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Between me and you and God, we'll get you through this, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Just stay real calm.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, September 20, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's the worst possible news for one family and an intensely agonizing development for two others. An American kidnapped in Baghdad has been beheaded and another American and one Briton abducted with him may face the same fate. Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joining us now live from Baghdad with more -- Walt.

WALT RODGERS, SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. Well, the radical Islamist affiliated with Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq have made good on their threat and have begun executing the three western hostages whom they kidnapped from an upscale Baghdad neighborhood last Thursday.

The first victim was Eugene Armstrong. The Islamists released a video on one of their websites. That website shows a video of five masked men standing behind Eugene Armstrong, the American, on his knees. The masked men are in black. They have weapons, four (UNINTELLIGIBLE). One man has a knife, which becomes the murder weapon, the killing weapon. They -- one of the men reads a statement out in which he says, "we are carrying out God's law." Then he proceeds to saw off Eugene Armstrong's head with a knife. And you can hear the victim screaming in pain as he is dying. The insurgents also say they will resume these killings within the next 24 hours unless their demands are met -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Walter Rodgers in Baghdad. Walter, thank you very much. The last five days have been a nightmare for the families of Eugene Armstrong and his coworkers. The three men were kidnapped in Baghdad last Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY HENSLEY, HOSTAGE'S WIFE: Please realize that they are loving family men who have people who want them back terribly.

BLITZER (voice-over): Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong and Briton Kenneth Bigley were working for a company based in Qatar, Gulf Supplies and Commercial Services. They lived in this building in central Baghdad. Their captors say they were offering logistical support to U.S. troops. Their families say they were assisting efforts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. Hensley came to Baghdad from the Atlanta area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jack Hensley was my tee-ball coach. I mean, Jack Hensley -- we never won a game, but he was my big brother.

BLITZER: Hensley started work in Iraq about six months ago, but he used his vacation time to return to the United States for his daughter's 13th birthday. His wife, Patty, says she talked with their daughter about the pictures from Iraq.

HENSLEY: That was a very difficult moment for me to try to explain to her why someone would be holding a gun to her father's head because she's always known this man to be a gentle and kind and loving person who would not harm or threaten anyone.

BLITZER: Armstrong grew up in south central Michigan. A cousin said Armstrong's work in the construction business took him around the world and he'd been living in Thailand with his wife before he went to Iraq. Bigley, a married 62-year-old British civil engineer, had been working in the Middle East for a decade.

In a televised appeal on Arab television, Phillip Bigley said his brother was looking forward to the birth of his first grandchild in February. Patty Hensley spoke on behalf of all three families.

HENSLEY: Please understand that these three men are very gentle, very kind men. They were very honored to be in Iraq and helping the Iraqi people. They wanted to provide a better world for everyone that was over there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: With Armstrong's death, at least four U.S. hostages have been killed in Iraq. At least 29 other foreigners also have died as hostages in Iraq. 1,035 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, 785 of them in what the Pentagon describes as hostile action. 250 in so-called nonhostile incidents.

The war in Iraq has sparked a rapidly escalating war of words in the U.S. presidential campaign. The Democratic candidate, John Kerry, went on the offensive today, firing a powerful broadside at President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KERRY: George Bush has not told the truth to the American people about why we went to war and how the war is going. I have and I will continue to do so.

BLITZER: Twenty-four hours before President Bush's speech before the U.N. General Assembly, the Democratic presidential nominee came to New York to deliver his hardest-hitting attack of the president's handling of the war in Iraq.

KERRY: His miscalculations were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment and judgment is what we look for in a president.

BLITZER: Iraq today, Kerry charged, has become a sanctuary for a new generation of terrorists who could some day hit the United States.

KERRY: I believe the invasion of Iraq has made us less secure and weaker in the war on terrorism. I have a plan to fight a smarter, more effective war on terror that actually makes America safer.

BLITZER: He outlined a four-step plan for action, including more international support for U.S. troops, better training for Iraqi security forces, a reconstruction plan with tangible benefits to the Iraqi people, and immediate steps to guarantee Iraqi elections early next year. Bush supporters note that President Bush is already deeply engaged in those four steps.

DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: He really didn't lay out anything that the president isn't already doing. All he seemed to imply was that he was going to do the things the president is doing, but he would do them differently.

BLITZER: But Kerry charged that the war was a diversion from a more dangerous enemy, Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.

KERRY: Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. But that was not -- that was not in and of itself, a reason to go to war.

BLITZER: He defended his decision to vote for a resolution authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein but charged that the president misused that authority.

KERRY: Instead, the president rushed to war without letting the weapons inspectors finish their work. He went purposefully, by choice, without a broad and deep coalition of allies.

BLITZER: Kerry did not address the other major point of criticism from Republicans, his subsequent vote against the $87 billion to fund U.S. troops in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Senator Kerry insists that if his four-point plan is implemented a withdrawal of U.S. forces could begin next summer. He says a realistic aim is to bring all the U.S. troops home from Iraq within the next four years.

President Bush today was quick to fire right back, portraying Senator Kerry as a walking contradiction when it comes to Iraq. Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, has the story from Derry, New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president continues to forcefully make the case the administration did the right thing in invading Iraq. Today at a forum in Derry, New Hampshire, he used new and more aggressive language against his opponent. In a new line of attack against Kerry, he was arguing that his opponent's position on Iraq is inconsistent and that in the middle of war, this is no time for American voters to change their commander-in-chief.

BUSH: Today, my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind with new contradictions of his old positions on Iraq. He apparently woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq after just last month saying he still would have voted for force, even knowing everything we know today.

Incredibly, he now believes our national security would be stronger with Saddam Hussein in power, not in prison. Today he said, and I quote, "we have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure." He's saying he prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy. I couldn't disagree more. Not so long ago, so did my opponent.

MALVEAUX: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Derry, New Hampshire. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And there are new details just coming into CNN on the upcoming presidential debates. For that, let's go to our White House correspondent, Dana Bash.

Dana, tell our viewers what you have learned?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as we reported first last hour, CNN has learned that after weeks of intense negotiations between the two camps, the Bush and Kerry campaigns have signed an agreement on how to go forward with debates between the two camps.

And that is an agreement for three debates between President Bush and Senator John Kerry. And they're largely in line with what a non- partisan debate commission recommended. And that is a first debate next week, September 30, in Florida. That will focus on Iraq and homeland security.

Then a second, October 8, in St. Louis. That is going to be a town hall type format. And then last, on October 13, in Arizona, the focus on that will really be domestic issues.

And there will also be one vice presidential debate on October 5 in Ohio.

Now, we will get more details when both campaigns issue a formal announcement later on today. But we do know that as tradition, these negotiations were very intense and going on until the last minute into the nitty-gritty, Wolf.

Just for example, I'm told by both sides that the last thing that they had to work out was what kind of cue the candidates would get, time cues during these debates, whether it would be just a light or whether they would get an audible cue. That was the final thing that they had to work out.

Again, more details to come when we get a formal announcement. But they have agreed on a series of three debates between President Bush and Senator Kerry, the first one next week, September 30 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And one vice presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, as well. Dana Bash, thanks very much.

There has been a major development in a major story. Dan Rather and CBS News admitting to mistakes in a politically charged report. But that's not the end of the story. We'll have details.

Two candidates, two visions for U.S. policy overseas. We'll put them in a side-by-side comparison.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Between me and you and God, we'll get you through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Swept away by Ivan's flood waters. She made a dramatic call for help. One woman's very close call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're just getting some sound in from Dan Rather speaking to a local CBS affiliate in New York. The first time he has been speaking since, since CBS News apologized earlier today.

Let's go to Dan Rather's statement, released just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: I made a mistake. I didn't dig hard enough, long enough, didn't ask enough of the right questions. And I trusted a source who changed his story. It turns out he misled us, lied to us about one thing. But there are no excuses. This is not a day for excuses. I made a mistake. We made a mistake and I'm sorry for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Clearly contrite and solemn. Dan Rather speaking to to WCBS just a short while ago. Let's get some more on this major turnaround. For that, we turn to CNN's Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, CBS News President Andrew Heyward says: "We should not have used them. That was a mistake which we deeply regret." Heyward, as you've just heard, was not the only one to speak on this issue today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): From Dan Rather, the face of CBS News, an admission of mistaken judgment: "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired and I certainly would not have used the documents in question."

In a separate statement, CBS identified Bill Burkett as the source of the documents, saying he admits he deliberately misled CBS about their origins.

The White House pounced on the revelation that Burkett was CBS's source.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He is someone who has been discredited in the past for telling things that simply were not true, and someone who has had a lot of contacts and involvement with Democrats.

MESERVE: Burkett, a former National Guardsmen, made allegations earlier this year that Bush supporters had purged potentially damaging information from President Bush's military records.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the bottom line to that was, make sure there wasn't anything there that would embarrass the governor.

MESERVE: The documents which CBS says Burkett provided were allegedly written by Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, who died 20 years ago. They were first revealed on "60 MINUTES" September 8.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "60 MINUTES", SEPTEMBER 8, 2004)

RATHER: One of the Killiam memos is an official order to George W. Bush to report for a physical. Mr. Bush never carried out that order.

MESERVE: Within ours of the broadcast, questions about the documents' authenticity began to surface. For a week, Rather and his network stood by the story. Though on September 15, they aired an interview with a former secretary of Jerry Killian who called the documents fake. And CBS acknowledged for the first time there were legitimate questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "CBS EVENING NEWS" FROM SEPTEMBER 15)

ANDREW HEYWARD, PRESIDENT, CBS NEWS: Enough questions have been raised that we're going to redouble our efforts to answer those questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Today's admissions by CBS are by no means the end of the story. It is still unclear who created the documents and why. And one additional thing. Sources tell CNN that Burkett, in conversations with CBS, told network representatives it was their responsibility to make sure the documents were authentic before they used them -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What's the reaction from the Democratic Party, Jeanne?

MESERVE: Well, a statement is coming out from Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the party, he says, let's focus on the facts of George Bush's National Guard service. However, he does not address these allegations that Democrats and Burkett are somehow tied and there may have been some orchestrated attack.

BLITZER: Yesterday he flatly denied that there was any involvement by Democratic Party officials in this whole story. Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.

MESERVE: You bet.

BLITZER: Dan Rather has been with CBS News for 42 years. He gained national notice for his work confirming the death of John F. Kennedy. He was the first American journalist to interview Saddam Hussein after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Rather was again granted an exclusive interview with the then Iraqi leader in February, 2003, just before the war. He was also the first to get a sit-down interview with then-President Bill Clinton following the Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.

So what's on Dan Rather's mind? "RELIABLE SOURCES" host Howard Kurtz has heard from the CBS anchor, he will fill us in. That's coming up.

Also this.

KERRY: The president now admits to miscalculations in Iraq, miscalculations. This is one of the greatest understatements in recent American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A sharp war of words over Iraq. We'll have our own debate.

And raging rivers. What Ivan left behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As we've reported, CBS News now says it was misled and cannot vouch for documents that question President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. For more on the controversy, we're joined by Howard Kurtz of "CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES" and the "Washington Post." He spoke with Dan Rather just a short while ago. What did he say to you, Howie?

HOWARD KURTZ, "WASHINGTON POST": Dan Rather said that he was sorry. He apologized. He acknowledged that this was a serious mistake in judgment to put these documents on the air without being able to fully authenticate them. And I asked him, just, you know, about the criticism that his own reputation as the face of CBS News for so long now has been tarnished. He said he hoped that people would consider his whole reporting career over decades when making an assessment.

BLITZER: Did you get any sense at all that he's thinking of resigning or he might be fired or this could be the end of his career, the aftermath of this uproar?

KURTZ: I didn't get the slightest sense, Wolf. He talked about continuing to work on the story, maybe still trying to get the original documents. I also interviewed the president of CBS News, Andrew Heyward, he gave me no indication whatsoever. It's possible some heads may roll, but he certainly didn't say that his star anchor would be walking the plank. On the other hand, there's going to be an outside review, finally in the view of some. A lot of people think that Rather and Heyward and CBS simply waited too long, nearly two weeks to back off this hotly disputed story. Now Heyward is going to appoint some outsiders to take a look at what CBS did wrong.

BLITZER: The criticism against Dan Rather and CBS News, by conservatives, is that this liberal news organization that was so anxious to embarrass the president only weeks before an election, that they rushed to get this on the air without thoroughly vetting it. Did he respond to that direct criticism?

KURTZ: They plead guilty to half of that indictment, Wolf. Andrew Heyward telling me that yes, they did rush to get this on the air. I think I was able to demonstrate in my story that it was five days from the time that CBS got these documents to the time they put them on the air. They ignored warning flags from their own documents experts who said these couldn't be verified and they took a lack of a hard denial from the White House, from communications director Dan Bartlett as a kind of a confirmation, a kind of a green light that it was OK to go ahead.

On the other part of your question, Rather told me that he was not in any way motivated by any past conflicts with the Bush family. You know, there was that famous on-air shouting match with former President Bush back in 1988, that he is only motivated by news. But nobody is disputing that CBS did a sloppy job, rushed this to the air. They say not for partisan reasons but for competitive reasons.

BLITZER: Do you have any indication who will lead this independent investigation of CBS News to determine how this happened?

KURTZ: CBS News president Heyward told me he hadn't yet decided who he was going to appoint. I'm sure it will be somebody who -- a couple of people who are well known in the business so this will have some credibility. The one thing that CBS seems to be almost relieved about, in a strange sort of way, Wolf, is that their source for this story Bill Burkett, the former Texas National Guardsman -- this is the first time they've acknowledged that he's the source -- he says that he misled CBS, he says he lied to them about who he got the documents from all of which still remains a mystery.

They feel like that lets them off the hook a little bit because they were going on his word. But obviously, you don't stake the reputation of your gold-plated news magazine and your star anchor and your entire network on the word of one source if you can't authenticate that these 30-year-old documents that certainly don't look like they were written on a government typewriter are real.

BLITZER: Howard Kurtz, he's done some excellent reporting on this story, for us, for the "Washington Post." Howie, thanks very much.

And we'll have more on this document controversy. Still to come, Dan Rather has already apologized. But should it end there? We'll discuss that with guests from both sides of the political spectrum.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she's a very lucky individual. After reviewing the tape of the rescue, there's no doubt in my mind that somebody's watching out for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll show you some very dramatic footage and have the full story of how a pregnant woman was rescued from a flooded Tennessee river.

Hundreds in Haiti were not so fortunate. Another killer storm swept through the Caribbean. We'll have details on that. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. CBS News says the organization got duped. More on Dan Rather's apology and the debate over the documents, that's coming up.

First, though, a quick check of some stories now in the news.

George W. Bush and John Kerry will go head to head in three presidential debates over a two-week period starting at the end of this month. Sources say both campaigns have signed off on a schedule and an official announcement expected within the hour. The vice presidential candidates will hold one debate of their own. That would be on October 5 in Cleveland.

President Bush's choice to head the CIA told a Senate hearing today he has engaged in partisan politics during his career in Congress. But Porter Goss insists that, when it comes to national security, party affiliation does not come into play. Some Democrats say the Florida Republican is too political for the job.

It was a bloody day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Two American soldiers were killed in a gun battle in an eastern province. Two others were wounded, along with six Afghan army troops. The area is a stronghold of Islamic insurgents who have sought to disrupt upcoming elections.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Back now to our top story, the beheading of an American hostage in Iraq. An Islamist Web site has posted a videotape showing the killing of Eugene Armstrong, one of three Westerners seized in Iraq last week. The kidnappers say they'll kill the others if Muslim women aren't freed from Iraqi prisons. This horrific act of terror comes amid a heightened war over words, a war of words involving U.S. policy in Iraq.

Joining us now, two guests, Susan Rice, a senior foreign policy adviser for Democratic nominee, John Kerry, and from Bush/Cheney headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the former White House adviser Richard Falkenrath.

Thanks to both of you for joining us.

Susan Rice, let me begin with you. On the speech John Kerry made, he gave four major points what he says U.S. policy should be right now. Bush administration officials say the president is doing exactly those four things. What new, what else would John Kerry do to start bringing troops home from Iraq next summer and have them all home within four years, as he says he could do?

SUSAN RICE, SENIOR KERRY FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Wolf, the central theme of John Kerry's speech today was that the war in Iraq was a dangerous diversion from the war on terrorism and has made us less, not more safe.

But we are there now, because of the failed policies and bad choices of President Bush. We have got to do our best to bring our troops home with our mission accomplished. To do that, John Kerry is laying out a concrete, specific plan indicating what he would do today if he were sitting in George Bush's seat.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But let me interrupt for a second. Isn't the president doing those four things right now?

RICE: No.

BLITZER: Trying to get greater international support for U.S. troops, working on reconstruction, training Iraq forces and setting the stage for elections scheduled for early next year? Those are the four points.

(CROSSTALK)

RICE: Wolf, he's giving lip service to doing that, but he's not getting the job done. John Kerry has mentioned some very specific steps that he would be taking now, not just to talk about doing those things, but get the job done.

If you look at "The New York Times" this morning, you'll see that the authority in Iraq that is supposed to be training our security personnel don't even have half the staff needed to do the job. There has been a pattern of incompetence and mismanagement, as well as poor planning that's characterized the president's mission in Iraq.

BLITZER: All right.

I'll let Richard Falkenrath defend the president.

Go ahead, Richard.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Well, Wolf, I think your question is apt. This -- the four-point plan that Senator Kerry proposed today is a just a repackaging of the Bush administration strategy in Iraq and exactly a repackaging of the five- point plan that President Bush offered in May of this year.

Senator Kerry keeps talk about getting additional international support about our efforts in Iraq if he were president. Well, they've never said which country would offer support to Senator Kerry if he were president that isn't now offering it to President Bush. So this is really empty rhetoric. BLITZER: Well, what about the basic point? The basic point -- forget about the four points right now. The basic thrust of his criticism, Richard, is that the president diverted attention, diverted resources from a much more dangerous threat, the notion of al Qaeda gaining perhaps nuclear weapons, and he went against the threat that wasn't necessarily all that imminent to the United States.

FALKENRATH: The critique is incorrect. We're a global power and able to fight a war on multiple fronts. And the war on terror requires us to fight on multiple fronts.

Iraq is one war. It's a very expensive, very difficult, very costly war, one which Senator Kerry at various times in his political career has supported. But it's vital to the war on terror. Our success in Iraq is vital to the war on terror.

BLITZER: All right.

FALKENRATH: Senator Kerry said a remarkable thing today, a complete reversal of what he said in the Democratic primary, which is that our removal of Saddam Hussein from power had made us less secure. When he was running against Howard Dean, he said the exact opposite.

BLITZER: He also said Saddam Hussein should rot in hell. But I'll let Susan Rice respond.

RICE: Wolf, John Kerry did not say what Richard just said he said.

I think we should get past the distortions and focus on the facts. The fact is George Bush had a choice to make. He says that if he knew now that there were no weapons of mass destruction, no relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, no imminent threat, he would do exactly the same thing he's done, which is to take us into a messy war in Iraq, where we've lost over 1,000 young men and women, and he'd take his eye off the ball, which is al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Remember him?

Instead of going after the people who killed Americans on September 11, George Bush says that he would do the same thing all over again and topple a dictator who we now know was weakened and had no weapons of mass destruction. That's crazy.

BLITZER: All right.

Richard, the other point that John Kerry makes is, the president is effectively misleading the American people, including information he received earlier in the summer from the CIA that the situation in Iraq is so much worse than he's letting on publicly. What do you make of that criticism?

FALKENRATH: I think it's incorrect criticism.

He has never -- the president has never said that it's going to be easy in Iraq. There will be challenges in our effort to bring freedom and liberty to this war-torn country with the terrible problem of insurgency. And we're proceeding with that effort. And there have been -- it is a very difficult security situation in parts of Iraq. There's no question about that today.

But progress is being made. We have a unanimous Security Council resolution that lays down the political transition for Iraq. Because of that resolution, achieved with President Bush's diplomacy, we now have a prime minister of Iraq who is here in the United States today who will be addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations. It's an historic event. John Kerry said that, if he had stayed in office, he'd have pursued a policy of containment, leading us to believe that Saddam Hussein would still be in power.

RICE: No. That's another distortion, Richard.

What John Kerry said is, if he knew that George Bush -- if he knew that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and no links to al Qaeda, he would not have taken our efforts away from the primary task of killing al Qaeda and killing Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden might well be dead or in prison today if George Bush had made that decision back then.

BLITZER: All right. Unfortunately, we have to leave it right there. A good debate, but we'll continue it over these next six weeks.

Susan Rice, thanks very much.

RICE: Great to be with you.

BLITZER: Richard Falkenrath, thanks to you as well.

Another debate unfolding over the CBS documents, the documents that now apparently, by almost everyone's account, clearly fake. Dan Rather's response -- all of that coming up. We have a debate of our own on what should happen to Dan Rather.

Also ahead, a daring rescue to save a pregnant woman caught in rising waters from Hurricane Ivan.

Plus, Italy, landslide, earth and dust moving down the mountainside, amazing video released today.

And a celebrity wedding. The pop princess Britney Spears says I do again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As we've been reporting, Dan Rather speaking on camera for the first time since CBS News apologized for that document controversy. This interview was conducted with the local CBS television station in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: I made a mistake. I didn't dig hard enough, long enough, didn't have enough of the right questions. And I trusted a source who changed his story. It turns out he misled us, lied to us about one thing. But there are no excuses. This is not a day for excuses. I made a mistake. We made a mistake and I'm sorry for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Here to talk about the CBS document debacle, two guests. Jonah Goldberg is the editor of "The National Review" online. Jack Quinn is an attorney and former White House council during the Clinton administration.

Thanks to both of you for joining us.

What do you think needs to be done right now to end this whole issue, Jonah?

JONAH GOLDBERG, "THE NATIONAL REVIEW": He needs to find out who the source was, not just who the alleged middleman was, who was Burkett. We need to find out who the actual source was, who did the forging, what the motivations were. And I think you actually need to fire Ms. Mapes. And I think Dan Rather should resign.

BLITZER: Mary Mapes, the producer who put this -- and Dan Rather should resign?

GOLDBERG: I think he absolutely should resign.

BLITZER: But he's apologized. He's said, you know what? I made a mistake. Take a look at the whole span of his career and then come to a conclusion.

GOLDBERG: Look, Dan Rather hasn't -- first of all, great, he's had a great career. That's not the issue. The issue is what has happened.

Other great journalists who were a lot less rich, who had got a lot less glory, who had a lot fewer opportunities have lost their careers over much smaller mistakes than this. But Dan Rather -- look, Dan Rather says that Bill Burkett -- Dan Rather says that his source was unimpeachable. That is what he was saying for a week, that his source was unimpeachable on this story.

And now he's saying his source is Bill Burkett. Well, if he thinks that Bill Burkett is an unimpeachable source, then his news judgment needs to be questioned or CBS needs to come clean and say who the real source is.

BLITZER: Bill Burkett was in the Texas Air National Guard. And for a long time, he has been railing against George W. Bush.

JACK QUINN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Yes.

But, look, Wolf, in the cases of "The New York Times" and "USA Today," "Boston Globe," when there was fabrication, heads rolled and people lost their jobs, and they should have. Dan Rather has apologized. We have indications that his source lied to him. You know, the headline of this thing ought to be, "Guilty Man Framed." All we're talking about is Dan Rather, when, as "The New York Times" demonstrated today, the underlying and real story here is probably the fact that Lieutenant Bush didn't have the credits to get an honorable discharge from the United States Navy.

That's something that the White House and the Department of Defense should be digging into every bit as much as everyone's digging into Dan Rather.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: And, on Dan Rather, let me just say this, Wolf. The American people will vote with their remotes. If Dan Rather has lost his credibility and the American people don't trust him, they'll leave.

GOLDBERG: It doesn't shock me that the Democrats want this story to be about George Bush and his service in the National Guard. I'm perfectly willing to stipulate -- I'm not a water carrier for George Bush. I'm perfectly willing to stipulate he probably didn't serve his best or as honorably or as great as he should have. He probably in the last two years of his service trimmed at the edges. Fine.

This is not a story anymore about George Bush's service in the National Guard. It's a story about CBS. The Democrats want to make it about George Bush. This came up in 2000. It came up this summer. This has been exhaustively focused on. The only reason we're coming back at it again is because John Kerry has chosen to base his entire campaign about what he did 30 years ago, and they see this false parallel that we have to talk about Bush 30 years ago.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Jack.

QUINN: Well, what he did -- what John Kerry did was enormously honorable and the right thing to do for the country.

This story did not -- this story in fact, started out as a story as to whether or not President Bush served honorably. I don't come to a conclusion about that. But I think we have to keep this in perspective and understand that that is far more important to the American people and to the outcome of this election than whether or not Dan Rather

(CROSSTALK)

GOLDBERG: That may be true. It's not an election story. It's not a political story. It's a media story.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Well, let's get back to the media story. You say Dan Rather should resign.

GOLDBERG: Absolutely.

BLITZER: But he didn't fabricate -- you don't believe he fabricated -- he was part of the conspiracy?

GOLDBERG: No.

BLITZER: He was duped himself. He was the product of sloppy journalism.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLDBERG: Well, I think he was the product of sloppy journalism beyond the point of just simply being the product of sloppy journalism.

It is inconceivable -- I don't know a single rationale person who believes that if the swift boat guys or an anti-Clinton person when Clinton was president had come to CBS with forged documents like this, that "60 Minutes" would throw out, by its own admission, throw out all of its proper procedures for authenticating documents in order to rush those kinds of things on air.

I believe the media bias thing is real. It's the background radiation of this thing. I don't think it's the whole thing, whole story. But there is no way that so many people would get caught up in group think about getting Bush if it weren't about getting Bush.

BLITZER: All right, let's let Jack respond.

QUINN: Well, but, again, I think the American people will vote with their remotes when it comes to whether or not CBS did what it should have done to put this story on the air.

They also are going to vote in November for president of the United States. And we need to focus on the underlying story, whether or not the truth has been told by this administration.

BLITZER: But what about this other issue that has been raised? Who helped Burkett get those documents?

QUINN: I certainly don't know the answer to that, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, a lot of people are going to be looking at that to see if there's some sort of Democratic Party associate, someone designed to try to embarrass the president only weeks before an election.

QUINN: I can't imagine that that is the case.

And I think there is as much evidence of that as there is that Republican operatives did this to set the Democrats up and embarrass them. I have no evidence of that. None of us has any evidence that there was culpability on the part of either Republican or Democratic operatives.

GOLDBERG: All we know -- we do know, though, is that the original "60 Minutes" broadcast was centered around an interview with Ben Barnes, whose ties to the Democratic Party are not a hidden. They are not a secret. They are open and out there. He's basically part of the Kerry campaign.

We know that Burkett brought these documents to Max Cleland, the senator, who is a surrogate for John Kerry. It is certainly...

BLITZER: You don't know he brought those documents. We know he spoke with them.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: And, also, let's not forget that Ben Barnes as lieutenant governor of the state of Texas, had close ties to one George W. Bush and got him in this cushy assignment in the National Guard.

GOLDBERG: But he wasn't lieutenant governor yet when Bush got into the National Guard. He was in the House, on the state Senate. Regardless, look...

QUINN: Regardless, the issue there was one of privilege and Barnes was involved. Bush was the beneficiary.

GOLDBERG: In your days of defending the Clinton White House, I can't imagine you'd consider these kind of partisan ties and these kind of partisan motivations, which was always a big deal back then, to be totally irrelevant if the situation was reversed.

BLITZER: All right, we have to leave it right there, unfortunately.

GOLDBERG: OK.

BLITZER: Jonah Goldberg, thanks very much.

Jack Quinn, thanks to you as well.

GOLDBERG: Thank you.

QUINN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And our Web question of the day is this: Is Dan Rather's apology and CBS' independent review enough to mend the network's credibility? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

Assessing the damage in the aftermath of Ivan. From North Carolina to New Jersey, residents still wading through flood waters.

Plus, risky rescue, a pregnant woman swept away in violent floodwaters. We'll get to all of that.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Another violent storm is battering the Caribbean. At least 250 people are reported dead in northern Haiti after Tropical Storm Jeanne tore through over the weekend. Flooding and mudslides are said to have affected 80,000 people. U.N. officials call the situation desperate and say the death toll could rise.

Italian landslide. Heavy rainfall is thought to be responsible for a massive flow of ice and rock on an 11,000-foot mountain in the Italian Alps. There were no reported injuries.

Indonesian elections. In a landslide of a different sort, voters appear to have swept a new president into power. Unofficial results show Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defeating President Megawati Sukarnoputri with more than 60 percent of the vote.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Ivan is gone, but the storm's terrible after-effects linger on. At least four people still are missing in North Carolina, which was hit hard by flooding. To the north, floodwaters in New Jersey are just starting to recede. And evacuees numbering about 1,000 are beginning to return home. Similar scenes next door in Pennsylvania, where cresting rivers forced more than 2,000 people to flee.

The storm resulted in some dramatic rescues, including that of a pregnant woman who found herself trapped in floodwaters in Tennessee.

Marc Stewart of our affiliate WBIR has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALICIA CORRELL, RESCUED WOMAN: I'm in the river.

DONNA GREER, EMERGENCY DISPATCHER: You're in the river?

MARC STEWART, WBIR REPORTER (voice-over): Two months pregnant, Alicia Correll calls 9-1-1 for help. Her truck is swept away by the violent waters of the Nolichucky River.

GREER: OK, first thing you got to do is stay calm for me, OK?

CORRELL: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have people coming.

STEWART: On the other end of the line is operator Donna Greer, offering a calming voice.

GREER: Between me and you and God, we'll get you through this, OK?

CORRELL: OK.

GREER: All righty. Just stay real calm. STEWART: Correll was trying to cross a country road. After realizing the water was too deep, she tried to back away, but it was too late. The pull of the water consumed her truck. The 30-year-old was trapped in the cab.

CORRELL: The current was so strong, it would have washed me away.

GREER: OK. Is it rising very fast, honey?

CORRELL: Yes.

GREER: It is rising?

CORRELL: Yes.

STEWART: Despite the rising waters, a rescue squad was able to wade through the choppy current. Once she had on a life jacket, Correll crawled to safety.

CORRELL: Still shaken up a little bit. I'm just glad I'm OK. And thinking my little boy and the baby and stuff. That kept me calm to where, you know, I had to get out of here.

STEWART (on camera): Responders say it's a good thing Alicia did not get out of her truck. Several years ago a man drowned in a similar case. They did not want that to happen again.

BRIAN ROBINSON, HAMBLEN COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD: I think she's a very lucky individual. After reviewing the tape of the rescue, there's no doubt in my mind that somebody's watching out for her.

GREER: Once or twice, it just flashed there my mind what if something went wrong, but I couldn't think about that.

STEWART (voice-over): Correll thanks those who helped keep her cool, the people who together saved her life.

CORRELL: Thinking of what could have happened without everybody's help and stuff.

STEWART: Near Morristown, Marc Stewart, 10 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Marc.

And let's take a look at some other stories now you may have missed this past weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A fast-moving thunderstorm dumped three inches of rain in just 30 minutes on Sacramento, California. Parts of the city were flooded, including the basement of the state legislature. The deluge also collapsed the roof of a market. Emmy honors. HBO was the big winner at the Emmy Awards. Its miniseries "Angels in America" tied the record of 11 awards. "The Sopranos" won best drama and two stars of "Sex and the City" took awards for best actress and supporting actress in a comedy.

She did it again. Britney Spears got married for the second time in nine months, this time to a dancer. The ceremony reportedly was held at a private home in Los Angeles with 20 to 30 guests. Spears' last marriage happened in Las Vegas and lasted just over two days.

And that's our weekend snapshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here are the results of our Web question of the day. Take a look at this. Remember, though, this is not a scientific poll.

That's it for me. Tomorrow, I'll be in New York to interview the Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

"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 September 20, 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. An American beheaded. The terrorists have struck again in Iraq.
Also in the next hour, the candidates face off. A deal for the upcoming presidential debates is about to be made public.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Admission and apology. CBS says it was caught off guard by those National Guard documents. Who hoodwinked Dan Rather?

Deadline. A claim of responsibility for a killing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were very honored to be in Iraq and helping the Iraqi people. They wanted to provide a better world for everyone that was over there.

BLITZER: The war over the war.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lack of planning by an absence of candor, arrogance, and outright incompetence.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq after just last month saying he still would have voted for force.

BLITZER: After Ivan. Far from Florida, waters are still running wild.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Between me and you and God, we'll get you through this, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Just stay real calm.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, September 20, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's the worst possible news for one family and an intensely agonizing development for two others. An American kidnapped in Baghdad has been beheaded and another American and one Briton abducted with him may face the same fate. Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joining us now live from Baghdad with more -- Walt.

WALT RODGERS, SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. Well, the radical Islamist affiliated with Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq have made good on their threat and have begun executing the three western hostages whom they kidnapped from an upscale Baghdad neighborhood last Thursday.

The first victim was Eugene Armstrong. The Islamists released a video on one of their websites. That website shows a video of five masked men standing behind Eugene Armstrong, the American, on his knees. The masked men are in black. They have weapons, four (UNINTELLIGIBLE). One man has a knife, which becomes the murder weapon, the killing weapon. They -- one of the men reads a statement out in which he says, "we are carrying out God's law." Then he proceeds to saw off Eugene Armstrong's head with a knife. And you can hear the victim screaming in pain as he is dying. The insurgents also say they will resume these killings within the next 24 hours unless their demands are met -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Walter Rodgers in Baghdad. Walter, thank you very much. The last five days have been a nightmare for the families of Eugene Armstrong and his coworkers. The three men were kidnapped in Baghdad last Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY HENSLEY, HOSTAGE'S WIFE: Please realize that they are loving family men who have people who want them back terribly.

BLITZER (voice-over): Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong and Briton Kenneth Bigley were working for a company based in Qatar, Gulf Supplies and Commercial Services. They lived in this building in central Baghdad. Their captors say they were offering logistical support to U.S. troops. Their families say they were assisting efforts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. Hensley came to Baghdad from the Atlanta area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jack Hensley was my tee-ball coach. I mean, Jack Hensley -- we never won a game, but he was my big brother.

BLITZER: Hensley started work in Iraq about six months ago, but he used his vacation time to return to the United States for his daughter's 13th birthday. His wife, Patty, says she talked with their daughter about the pictures from Iraq.

HENSLEY: That was a very difficult moment for me to try to explain to her why someone would be holding a gun to her father's head because she's always known this man to be a gentle and kind and loving person who would not harm or threaten anyone.

BLITZER: Armstrong grew up in south central Michigan. A cousin said Armstrong's work in the construction business took him around the world and he'd been living in Thailand with his wife before he went to Iraq. Bigley, a married 62-year-old British civil engineer, had been working in the Middle East for a decade.

In a televised appeal on Arab television, Phillip Bigley said his brother was looking forward to the birth of his first grandchild in February. Patty Hensley spoke on behalf of all three families.

HENSLEY: Please understand that these three men are very gentle, very kind men. They were very honored to be in Iraq and helping the Iraqi people. They wanted to provide a better world for everyone that was over there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: With Armstrong's death, at least four U.S. hostages have been killed in Iraq. At least 29 other foreigners also have died as hostages in Iraq. 1,035 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, 785 of them in what the Pentagon describes as hostile action. 250 in so-called nonhostile incidents.

The war in Iraq has sparked a rapidly escalating war of words in the U.S. presidential campaign. The Democratic candidate, John Kerry, went on the offensive today, firing a powerful broadside at President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KERRY: George Bush has not told the truth to the American people about why we went to war and how the war is going. I have and I will continue to do so.

BLITZER: Twenty-four hours before President Bush's speech before the U.N. General Assembly, the Democratic presidential nominee came to New York to deliver his hardest-hitting attack of the president's handling of the war in Iraq.

KERRY: His miscalculations were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment and judgment is what we look for in a president.

BLITZER: Iraq today, Kerry charged, has become a sanctuary for a new generation of terrorists who could some day hit the United States.

KERRY: I believe the invasion of Iraq has made us less secure and weaker in the war on terrorism. I have a plan to fight a smarter, more effective war on terror that actually makes America safer.

BLITZER: He outlined a four-step plan for action, including more international support for U.S. troops, better training for Iraqi security forces, a reconstruction plan with tangible benefits to the Iraqi people, and immediate steps to guarantee Iraqi elections early next year. Bush supporters note that President Bush is already deeply engaged in those four steps.

DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: He really didn't lay out anything that the president isn't already doing. All he seemed to imply was that he was going to do the things the president is doing, but he would do them differently.

BLITZER: But Kerry charged that the war was a diversion from a more dangerous enemy, Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.

KERRY: Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. But that was not -- that was not in and of itself, a reason to go to war.

BLITZER: He defended his decision to vote for a resolution authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein but charged that the president misused that authority.

KERRY: Instead, the president rushed to war without letting the weapons inspectors finish their work. He went purposefully, by choice, without a broad and deep coalition of allies.

BLITZER: Kerry did not address the other major point of criticism from Republicans, his subsequent vote against the $87 billion to fund U.S. troops in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Senator Kerry insists that if his four-point plan is implemented a withdrawal of U.S. forces could begin next summer. He says a realistic aim is to bring all the U.S. troops home from Iraq within the next four years.

President Bush today was quick to fire right back, portraying Senator Kerry as a walking contradiction when it comes to Iraq. Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, has the story from Derry, New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president continues to forcefully make the case the administration did the right thing in invading Iraq. Today at a forum in Derry, New Hampshire, he used new and more aggressive language against his opponent. In a new line of attack against Kerry, he was arguing that his opponent's position on Iraq is inconsistent and that in the middle of war, this is no time for American voters to change their commander-in-chief.

BUSH: Today, my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind with new contradictions of his old positions on Iraq. He apparently woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq after just last month saying he still would have voted for force, even knowing everything we know today.

Incredibly, he now believes our national security would be stronger with Saddam Hussein in power, not in prison. Today he said, and I quote, "we have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure." He's saying he prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy. I couldn't disagree more. Not so long ago, so did my opponent.

MALVEAUX: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Derry, New Hampshire. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And there are new details just coming into CNN on the upcoming presidential debates. For that, let's go to our White House correspondent, Dana Bash.

Dana, tell our viewers what you have learned?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as we reported first last hour, CNN has learned that after weeks of intense negotiations between the two camps, the Bush and Kerry campaigns have signed an agreement on how to go forward with debates between the two camps.

And that is an agreement for three debates between President Bush and Senator John Kerry. And they're largely in line with what a non- partisan debate commission recommended. And that is a first debate next week, September 30, in Florida. That will focus on Iraq and homeland security.

Then a second, October 8, in St. Louis. That is going to be a town hall type format. And then last, on October 13, in Arizona, the focus on that will really be domestic issues.

And there will also be one vice presidential debate on October 5 in Ohio.

Now, we will get more details when both campaigns issue a formal announcement later on today. But we do know that as tradition, these negotiations were very intense and going on until the last minute into the nitty-gritty, Wolf.

Just for example, I'm told by both sides that the last thing that they had to work out was what kind of cue the candidates would get, time cues during these debates, whether it would be just a light or whether they would get an audible cue. That was the final thing that they had to work out.

Again, more details to come when we get a formal announcement. But they have agreed on a series of three debates between President Bush and Senator Kerry, the first one next week, September 30 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And one vice presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, as well. Dana Bash, thanks very much.

There has been a major development in a major story. Dan Rather and CBS News admitting to mistakes in a politically charged report. But that's not the end of the story. We'll have details.

Two candidates, two visions for U.S. policy overseas. We'll put them in a side-by-side comparison.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Between me and you and God, we'll get you through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Swept away by Ivan's flood waters. She made a dramatic call for help. One woman's very close call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're just getting some sound in from Dan Rather speaking to a local CBS affiliate in New York. The first time he has been speaking since, since CBS News apologized earlier today.

Let's go to Dan Rather's statement, released just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: I made a mistake. I didn't dig hard enough, long enough, didn't ask enough of the right questions. And I trusted a source who changed his story. It turns out he misled us, lied to us about one thing. But there are no excuses. This is not a day for excuses. I made a mistake. We made a mistake and I'm sorry for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Clearly contrite and solemn. Dan Rather speaking to to WCBS just a short while ago. Let's get some more on this major turnaround. For that, we turn to CNN's Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, CBS News President Andrew Heyward says: "We should not have used them. That was a mistake which we deeply regret." Heyward, as you've just heard, was not the only one to speak on this issue today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): From Dan Rather, the face of CBS News, an admission of mistaken judgment: "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired and I certainly would not have used the documents in question."

In a separate statement, CBS identified Bill Burkett as the source of the documents, saying he admits he deliberately misled CBS about their origins.

The White House pounced on the revelation that Burkett was CBS's source.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He is someone who has been discredited in the past for telling things that simply were not true, and someone who has had a lot of contacts and involvement with Democrats.

MESERVE: Burkett, a former National Guardsmen, made allegations earlier this year that Bush supporters had purged potentially damaging information from President Bush's military records.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the bottom line to that was, make sure there wasn't anything there that would embarrass the governor.

MESERVE: The documents which CBS says Burkett provided were allegedly written by Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, who died 20 years ago. They were first revealed on "60 MINUTES" September 8.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "60 MINUTES", SEPTEMBER 8, 2004)

RATHER: One of the Killiam memos is an official order to George W. Bush to report for a physical. Mr. Bush never carried out that order.

MESERVE: Within ours of the broadcast, questions about the documents' authenticity began to surface. For a week, Rather and his network stood by the story. Though on September 15, they aired an interview with a former secretary of Jerry Killian who called the documents fake. And CBS acknowledged for the first time there were legitimate questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "CBS EVENING NEWS" FROM SEPTEMBER 15)

ANDREW HEYWARD, PRESIDENT, CBS NEWS: Enough questions have been raised that we're going to redouble our efforts to answer those questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Today's admissions by CBS are by no means the end of the story. It is still unclear who created the documents and why. And one additional thing. Sources tell CNN that Burkett, in conversations with CBS, told network representatives it was their responsibility to make sure the documents were authentic before they used them -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What's the reaction from the Democratic Party, Jeanne?

MESERVE: Well, a statement is coming out from Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the party, he says, let's focus on the facts of George Bush's National Guard service. However, he does not address these allegations that Democrats and Burkett are somehow tied and there may have been some orchestrated attack.

BLITZER: Yesterday he flatly denied that there was any involvement by Democratic Party officials in this whole story. Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.

MESERVE: You bet.

BLITZER: Dan Rather has been with CBS News for 42 years. He gained national notice for his work confirming the death of John F. Kennedy. He was the first American journalist to interview Saddam Hussein after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Rather was again granted an exclusive interview with the then Iraqi leader in February, 2003, just before the war. He was also the first to get a sit-down interview with then-President Bill Clinton following the Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.

So what's on Dan Rather's mind? "RELIABLE SOURCES" host Howard Kurtz has heard from the CBS anchor, he will fill us in. That's coming up.

Also this.

KERRY: The president now admits to miscalculations in Iraq, miscalculations. This is one of the greatest understatements in recent American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A sharp war of words over Iraq. We'll have our own debate.

And raging rivers. What Ivan left behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As we've reported, CBS News now says it was misled and cannot vouch for documents that question President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. For more on the controversy, we're joined by Howard Kurtz of "CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES" and the "Washington Post." He spoke with Dan Rather just a short while ago. What did he say to you, Howie?

HOWARD KURTZ, "WASHINGTON POST": Dan Rather said that he was sorry. He apologized. He acknowledged that this was a serious mistake in judgment to put these documents on the air without being able to fully authenticate them. And I asked him, just, you know, about the criticism that his own reputation as the face of CBS News for so long now has been tarnished. He said he hoped that people would consider his whole reporting career over decades when making an assessment.

BLITZER: Did you get any sense at all that he's thinking of resigning or he might be fired or this could be the end of his career, the aftermath of this uproar?

KURTZ: I didn't get the slightest sense, Wolf. He talked about continuing to work on the story, maybe still trying to get the original documents. I also interviewed the president of CBS News, Andrew Heyward, he gave me no indication whatsoever. It's possible some heads may roll, but he certainly didn't say that his star anchor would be walking the plank. On the other hand, there's going to be an outside review, finally in the view of some. A lot of people think that Rather and Heyward and CBS simply waited too long, nearly two weeks to back off this hotly disputed story. Now Heyward is going to appoint some outsiders to take a look at what CBS did wrong.

BLITZER: The criticism against Dan Rather and CBS News, by conservatives, is that this liberal news organization that was so anxious to embarrass the president only weeks before an election, that they rushed to get this on the air without thoroughly vetting it. Did he respond to that direct criticism?

KURTZ: They plead guilty to half of that indictment, Wolf. Andrew Heyward telling me that yes, they did rush to get this on the air. I think I was able to demonstrate in my story that it was five days from the time that CBS got these documents to the time they put them on the air. They ignored warning flags from their own documents experts who said these couldn't be verified and they took a lack of a hard denial from the White House, from communications director Dan Bartlett as a kind of a confirmation, a kind of a green light that it was OK to go ahead.

On the other part of your question, Rather told me that he was not in any way motivated by any past conflicts with the Bush family. You know, there was that famous on-air shouting match with former President Bush back in 1988, that he is only motivated by news. But nobody is disputing that CBS did a sloppy job, rushed this to the air. They say not for partisan reasons but for competitive reasons.

BLITZER: Do you have any indication who will lead this independent investigation of CBS News to determine how this happened?

KURTZ: CBS News president Heyward told me he hadn't yet decided who he was going to appoint. I'm sure it will be somebody who -- a couple of people who are well known in the business so this will have some credibility. The one thing that CBS seems to be almost relieved about, in a strange sort of way, Wolf, is that their source for this story Bill Burkett, the former Texas National Guardsman -- this is the first time they've acknowledged that he's the source -- he says that he misled CBS, he says he lied to them about who he got the documents from all of which still remains a mystery.

They feel like that lets them off the hook a little bit because they were going on his word. But obviously, you don't stake the reputation of your gold-plated news magazine and your star anchor and your entire network on the word of one source if you can't authenticate that these 30-year-old documents that certainly don't look like they were written on a government typewriter are real.

BLITZER: Howard Kurtz, he's done some excellent reporting on this story, for us, for the "Washington Post." Howie, thanks very much.

And we'll have more on this document controversy. Still to come, Dan Rather has already apologized. But should it end there? We'll discuss that with guests from both sides of the political spectrum.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she's a very lucky individual. After reviewing the tape of the rescue, there's no doubt in my mind that somebody's watching out for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll show you some very dramatic footage and have the full story of how a pregnant woman was rescued from a flooded Tennessee river.

Hundreds in Haiti were not so fortunate. Another killer storm swept through the Caribbean. We'll have details on that. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. CBS News says the organization got duped. More on Dan Rather's apology and the debate over the documents, that's coming up.

First, though, a quick check of some stories now in the news.

George W. Bush and John Kerry will go head to head in three presidential debates over a two-week period starting at the end of this month. Sources say both campaigns have signed off on a schedule and an official announcement expected within the hour. The vice presidential candidates will hold one debate of their own. That would be on October 5 in Cleveland.

President Bush's choice to head the CIA told a Senate hearing today he has engaged in partisan politics during his career in Congress. But Porter Goss insists that, when it comes to national security, party affiliation does not come into play. Some Democrats say the Florida Republican is too political for the job.

It was a bloody day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Two American soldiers were killed in a gun battle in an eastern province. Two others were wounded, along with six Afghan army troops. The area is a stronghold of Islamic insurgents who have sought to disrupt upcoming elections.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Back now to our top story, the beheading of an American hostage in Iraq. An Islamist Web site has posted a videotape showing the killing of Eugene Armstrong, one of three Westerners seized in Iraq last week. The kidnappers say they'll kill the others if Muslim women aren't freed from Iraqi prisons. This horrific act of terror comes amid a heightened war over words, a war of words involving U.S. policy in Iraq.

Joining us now, two guests, Susan Rice, a senior foreign policy adviser for Democratic nominee, John Kerry, and from Bush/Cheney headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the former White House adviser Richard Falkenrath.

Thanks to both of you for joining us.

Susan Rice, let me begin with you. On the speech John Kerry made, he gave four major points what he says U.S. policy should be right now. Bush administration officials say the president is doing exactly those four things. What new, what else would John Kerry do to start bringing troops home from Iraq next summer and have them all home within four years, as he says he could do?

SUSAN RICE, SENIOR KERRY FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Wolf, the central theme of John Kerry's speech today was that the war in Iraq was a dangerous diversion from the war on terrorism and has made us less, not more safe.

But we are there now, because of the failed policies and bad choices of President Bush. We have got to do our best to bring our troops home with our mission accomplished. To do that, John Kerry is laying out a concrete, specific plan indicating what he would do today if he were sitting in George Bush's seat.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But let me interrupt for a second. Isn't the president doing those four things right now?

RICE: No.

BLITZER: Trying to get greater international support for U.S. troops, working on reconstruction, training Iraq forces and setting the stage for elections scheduled for early next year? Those are the four points.

(CROSSTALK)

RICE: Wolf, he's giving lip service to doing that, but he's not getting the job done. John Kerry has mentioned some very specific steps that he would be taking now, not just to talk about doing those things, but get the job done.

If you look at "The New York Times" this morning, you'll see that the authority in Iraq that is supposed to be training our security personnel don't even have half the staff needed to do the job. There has been a pattern of incompetence and mismanagement, as well as poor planning that's characterized the president's mission in Iraq.

BLITZER: All right.

I'll let Richard Falkenrath defend the president.

Go ahead, Richard.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Well, Wolf, I think your question is apt. This -- the four-point plan that Senator Kerry proposed today is a just a repackaging of the Bush administration strategy in Iraq and exactly a repackaging of the five- point plan that President Bush offered in May of this year.

Senator Kerry keeps talk about getting additional international support about our efforts in Iraq if he were president. Well, they've never said which country would offer support to Senator Kerry if he were president that isn't now offering it to President Bush. So this is really empty rhetoric. BLITZER: Well, what about the basic point? The basic point -- forget about the four points right now. The basic thrust of his criticism, Richard, is that the president diverted attention, diverted resources from a much more dangerous threat, the notion of al Qaeda gaining perhaps nuclear weapons, and he went against the threat that wasn't necessarily all that imminent to the United States.

FALKENRATH: The critique is incorrect. We're a global power and able to fight a war on multiple fronts. And the war on terror requires us to fight on multiple fronts.

Iraq is one war. It's a very expensive, very difficult, very costly war, one which Senator Kerry at various times in his political career has supported. But it's vital to the war on terror. Our success in Iraq is vital to the war on terror.

BLITZER: All right.

FALKENRATH: Senator Kerry said a remarkable thing today, a complete reversal of what he said in the Democratic primary, which is that our removal of Saddam Hussein from power had made us less secure. When he was running against Howard Dean, he said the exact opposite.

BLITZER: He also said Saddam Hussein should rot in hell. But I'll let Susan Rice respond.

RICE: Wolf, John Kerry did not say what Richard just said he said.

I think we should get past the distortions and focus on the facts. The fact is George Bush had a choice to make. He says that if he knew now that there were no weapons of mass destruction, no relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, no imminent threat, he would do exactly the same thing he's done, which is to take us into a messy war in Iraq, where we've lost over 1,000 young men and women, and he'd take his eye off the ball, which is al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Remember him?

Instead of going after the people who killed Americans on September 11, George Bush says that he would do the same thing all over again and topple a dictator who we now know was weakened and had no weapons of mass destruction. That's crazy.

BLITZER: All right.

Richard, the other point that John Kerry makes is, the president is effectively misleading the American people, including information he received earlier in the summer from the CIA that the situation in Iraq is so much worse than he's letting on publicly. What do you make of that criticism?

FALKENRATH: I think it's incorrect criticism.

He has never -- the president has never said that it's going to be easy in Iraq. There will be challenges in our effort to bring freedom and liberty to this war-torn country with the terrible problem of insurgency. And we're proceeding with that effort. And there have been -- it is a very difficult security situation in parts of Iraq. There's no question about that today.

But progress is being made. We have a unanimous Security Council resolution that lays down the political transition for Iraq. Because of that resolution, achieved with President Bush's diplomacy, we now have a prime minister of Iraq who is here in the United States today who will be addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations. It's an historic event. John Kerry said that, if he had stayed in office, he'd have pursued a policy of containment, leading us to believe that Saddam Hussein would still be in power.

RICE: No. That's another distortion, Richard.

What John Kerry said is, if he knew that George Bush -- if he knew that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and no links to al Qaeda, he would not have taken our efforts away from the primary task of killing al Qaeda and killing Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden might well be dead or in prison today if George Bush had made that decision back then.

BLITZER: All right. Unfortunately, we have to leave it right there. A good debate, but we'll continue it over these next six weeks.

Susan Rice, thanks very much.

RICE: Great to be with you.

BLITZER: Richard Falkenrath, thanks to you as well.

Another debate unfolding over the CBS documents, the documents that now apparently, by almost everyone's account, clearly fake. Dan Rather's response -- all of that coming up. We have a debate of our own on what should happen to Dan Rather.

Also ahead, a daring rescue to save a pregnant woman caught in rising waters from Hurricane Ivan.

Plus, Italy, landslide, earth and dust moving down the mountainside, amazing video released today.

And a celebrity wedding. The pop princess Britney Spears says I do again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As we've been reporting, Dan Rather speaking on camera for the first time since CBS News apologized for that document controversy. This interview was conducted with the local CBS television station in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: I made a mistake. I didn't dig hard enough, long enough, didn't have enough of the right questions. And I trusted a source who changed his story. It turns out he misled us, lied to us about one thing. But there are no excuses. This is not a day for excuses. I made a mistake. We made a mistake and I'm sorry for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Here to talk about the CBS document debacle, two guests. Jonah Goldberg is the editor of "The National Review" online. Jack Quinn is an attorney and former White House council during the Clinton administration.

Thanks to both of you for joining us.

What do you think needs to be done right now to end this whole issue, Jonah?

JONAH GOLDBERG, "THE NATIONAL REVIEW": He needs to find out who the source was, not just who the alleged middleman was, who was Burkett. We need to find out who the actual source was, who did the forging, what the motivations were. And I think you actually need to fire Ms. Mapes. And I think Dan Rather should resign.

BLITZER: Mary Mapes, the producer who put this -- and Dan Rather should resign?

GOLDBERG: I think he absolutely should resign.

BLITZER: But he's apologized. He's said, you know what? I made a mistake. Take a look at the whole span of his career and then come to a conclusion.

GOLDBERG: Look, Dan Rather hasn't -- first of all, great, he's had a great career. That's not the issue. The issue is what has happened.

Other great journalists who were a lot less rich, who had got a lot less glory, who had a lot fewer opportunities have lost their careers over much smaller mistakes than this. But Dan Rather -- look, Dan Rather says that Bill Burkett -- Dan Rather says that his source was unimpeachable. That is what he was saying for a week, that his source was unimpeachable on this story.

And now he's saying his source is Bill Burkett. Well, if he thinks that Bill Burkett is an unimpeachable source, then his news judgment needs to be questioned or CBS needs to come clean and say who the real source is.

BLITZER: Bill Burkett was in the Texas Air National Guard. And for a long time, he has been railing against George W. Bush.

JACK QUINN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Yes.

But, look, Wolf, in the cases of "The New York Times" and "USA Today," "Boston Globe," when there was fabrication, heads rolled and people lost their jobs, and they should have. Dan Rather has apologized. We have indications that his source lied to him. You know, the headline of this thing ought to be, "Guilty Man Framed." All we're talking about is Dan Rather, when, as "The New York Times" demonstrated today, the underlying and real story here is probably the fact that Lieutenant Bush didn't have the credits to get an honorable discharge from the United States Navy.

That's something that the White House and the Department of Defense should be digging into every bit as much as everyone's digging into Dan Rather.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: And, on Dan Rather, let me just say this, Wolf. The American people will vote with their remotes. If Dan Rather has lost his credibility and the American people don't trust him, they'll leave.

GOLDBERG: It doesn't shock me that the Democrats want this story to be about George Bush and his service in the National Guard. I'm perfectly willing to stipulate -- I'm not a water carrier for George Bush. I'm perfectly willing to stipulate he probably didn't serve his best or as honorably or as great as he should have. He probably in the last two years of his service trimmed at the edges. Fine.

This is not a story anymore about George Bush's service in the National Guard. It's a story about CBS. The Democrats want to make it about George Bush. This came up in 2000. It came up this summer. This has been exhaustively focused on. The only reason we're coming back at it again is because John Kerry has chosen to base his entire campaign about what he did 30 years ago, and they see this false parallel that we have to talk about Bush 30 years ago.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Jack.

QUINN: Well, what he did -- what John Kerry did was enormously honorable and the right thing to do for the country.

This story did not -- this story in fact, started out as a story as to whether or not President Bush served honorably. I don't come to a conclusion about that. But I think we have to keep this in perspective and understand that that is far more important to the American people and to the outcome of this election than whether or not Dan Rather

(CROSSTALK)

GOLDBERG: That may be true. It's not an election story. It's not a political story. It's a media story.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Well, let's get back to the media story. You say Dan Rather should resign.

GOLDBERG: Absolutely.

BLITZER: But he didn't fabricate -- you don't believe he fabricated -- he was part of the conspiracy?

GOLDBERG: No.

BLITZER: He was duped himself. He was the product of sloppy journalism.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLDBERG: Well, I think he was the product of sloppy journalism beyond the point of just simply being the product of sloppy journalism.

It is inconceivable -- I don't know a single rationale person who believes that if the swift boat guys or an anti-Clinton person when Clinton was president had come to CBS with forged documents like this, that "60 Minutes" would throw out, by its own admission, throw out all of its proper procedures for authenticating documents in order to rush those kinds of things on air.

I believe the media bias thing is real. It's the background radiation of this thing. I don't think it's the whole thing, whole story. But there is no way that so many people would get caught up in group think about getting Bush if it weren't about getting Bush.

BLITZER: All right, let's let Jack respond.

QUINN: Well, but, again, I think the American people will vote with their remotes when it comes to whether or not CBS did what it should have done to put this story on the air.

They also are going to vote in November for president of the United States. And we need to focus on the underlying story, whether or not the truth has been told by this administration.

BLITZER: But what about this other issue that has been raised? Who helped Burkett get those documents?

QUINN: I certainly don't know the answer to that, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, a lot of people are going to be looking at that to see if there's some sort of Democratic Party associate, someone designed to try to embarrass the president only weeks before an election.

QUINN: I can't imagine that that is the case.

And I think there is as much evidence of that as there is that Republican operatives did this to set the Democrats up and embarrass them. I have no evidence of that. None of us has any evidence that there was culpability on the part of either Republican or Democratic operatives.

GOLDBERG: All we know -- we do know, though, is that the original "60 Minutes" broadcast was centered around an interview with Ben Barnes, whose ties to the Democratic Party are not a hidden. They are not a secret. They are open and out there. He's basically part of the Kerry campaign.

We know that Burkett brought these documents to Max Cleland, the senator, who is a surrogate for John Kerry. It is certainly...

BLITZER: You don't know he brought those documents. We know he spoke with them.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: And, also, let's not forget that Ben Barnes as lieutenant governor of the state of Texas, had close ties to one George W. Bush and got him in this cushy assignment in the National Guard.

GOLDBERG: But he wasn't lieutenant governor yet when Bush got into the National Guard. He was in the House, on the state Senate. Regardless, look...

QUINN: Regardless, the issue there was one of privilege and Barnes was involved. Bush was the beneficiary.

GOLDBERG: In your days of defending the Clinton White House, I can't imagine you'd consider these kind of partisan ties and these kind of partisan motivations, which was always a big deal back then, to be totally irrelevant if the situation was reversed.

BLITZER: All right, we have to leave it right there, unfortunately.

GOLDBERG: OK.

BLITZER: Jonah Goldberg, thanks very much.

Jack Quinn, thanks to you as well.

GOLDBERG: Thank you.

QUINN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And our Web question of the day is this: Is Dan Rather's apology and CBS' independent review enough to mend the network's credibility? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

Assessing the damage in the aftermath of Ivan. From North Carolina to New Jersey, residents still wading through flood waters.

Plus, risky rescue, a pregnant woman swept away in violent floodwaters. We'll get to all of that.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Another violent storm is battering the Caribbean. At least 250 people are reported dead in northern Haiti after Tropical Storm Jeanne tore through over the weekend. Flooding and mudslides are said to have affected 80,000 people. U.N. officials call the situation desperate and say the death toll could rise.

Italian landslide. Heavy rainfall is thought to be responsible for a massive flow of ice and rock on an 11,000-foot mountain in the Italian Alps. There were no reported injuries.

Indonesian elections. In a landslide of a different sort, voters appear to have swept a new president into power. Unofficial results show Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defeating President Megawati Sukarnoputri with more than 60 percent of the vote.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Ivan is gone, but the storm's terrible after-effects linger on. At least four people still are missing in North Carolina, which was hit hard by flooding. To the north, floodwaters in New Jersey are just starting to recede. And evacuees numbering about 1,000 are beginning to return home. Similar scenes next door in Pennsylvania, where cresting rivers forced more than 2,000 people to flee.

The storm resulted in some dramatic rescues, including that of a pregnant woman who found herself trapped in floodwaters in Tennessee.

Marc Stewart of our affiliate WBIR has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALICIA CORRELL, RESCUED WOMAN: I'm in the river.

DONNA GREER, EMERGENCY DISPATCHER: You're in the river?

MARC STEWART, WBIR REPORTER (voice-over): Two months pregnant, Alicia Correll calls 9-1-1 for help. Her truck is swept away by the violent waters of the Nolichucky River.

GREER: OK, first thing you got to do is stay calm for me, OK?

CORRELL: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have people coming.

STEWART: On the other end of the line is operator Donna Greer, offering a calming voice.

GREER: Between me and you and God, we'll get you through this, OK?

CORRELL: OK.

GREER: All righty. Just stay real calm. STEWART: Correll was trying to cross a country road. After realizing the water was too deep, she tried to back away, but it was too late. The pull of the water consumed her truck. The 30-year-old was trapped in the cab.

CORRELL: The current was so strong, it would have washed me away.

GREER: OK. Is it rising very fast, honey?

CORRELL: Yes.

GREER: It is rising?

CORRELL: Yes.

STEWART: Despite the rising waters, a rescue squad was able to wade through the choppy current. Once she had on a life jacket, Correll crawled to safety.

CORRELL: Still shaken up a little bit. I'm just glad I'm OK. And thinking my little boy and the baby and stuff. That kept me calm to where, you know, I had to get out of here.

STEWART (on camera): Responders say it's a good thing Alicia did not get out of her truck. Several years ago a man drowned in a similar case. They did not want that to happen again.

BRIAN ROBINSON, HAMBLEN COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD: I think she's a very lucky individual. After reviewing the tape of the rescue, there's no doubt in my mind that somebody's watching out for her.

GREER: Once or twice, it just flashed there my mind what if something went wrong, but I couldn't think about that.

STEWART (voice-over): Correll thanks those who helped keep her cool, the people who together saved her life.

CORRELL: Thinking of what could have happened without everybody's help and stuff.

STEWART: Near Morristown, Marc Stewart, 10 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Marc.

And let's take a look at some other stories now you may have missed this past weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A fast-moving thunderstorm dumped three inches of rain in just 30 minutes on Sacramento, California. Parts of the city were flooded, including the basement of the state legislature. The deluge also collapsed the roof of a market. Emmy honors. HBO was the big winner at the Emmy Awards. Its miniseries "Angels in America" tied the record of 11 awards. "The Sopranos" won best drama and two stars of "Sex and the City" took awards for best actress and supporting actress in a comedy.

She did it again. Britney Spears got married for the second time in nine months, this time to a dancer. The ceremony reportedly was held at a private home in Los Angeles with 20 to 30 guests. Spears' last marriage happened in Las Vegas and lasted just over two days.

And that's our weekend snapshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here are the results of our Web question of the day. Take a look at this. Remember, though, this is not a scientific poll.

That's it for me. Tomorrow, I'll be in New York to interview the Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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