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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Interview with Roger Stone; Cat Stevens Lands On Terrorist Watch-list, Denied Entry
Aired September 22, 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, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: hostage heartache. The terrorists in Iraq make public a victim's desperate plea.
Reinstating the military draft: why this is now becoming an issue in the presidential election. Which candidate says there may be one if the other is elected?
And he was called an enemy combatant in the war on terror. Now the U.S. government is letting American-born Yaser Hamdi go back home to Saudi Arabia. We'll tell you why. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Bombings and gun battles. A bloody yeah day in Baghdad. And far from Iraq, heartache.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was my T-ball coach. He put my toys together at Christmas and he was the most incredible father to his 13- year-old daughter, softball coach to her.
BLITZER: Busstop blast: A female bomber strikes in Jerusalem. Why it could have been much worse.
Paper probe. CBS News hires an ex-attorney general to investigate those (ph) documents. Did the network break its word to a source? Did anyone break the law?
Watch list. As Cat Stevens, he sang "Peace Train." As Yusuf Islam, he's pulled from a plane. Why is the the U.S. keeping him out?
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, September 22, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: A new chilling hostage video from Iraq has just surfaced on an Islamic Web site. It shows the British hostage, Kenneth Bigley, pleading desperately for his life. Bigley is a civilian civil engineer, he was kidnapped from Baghdad last week along with American co-workers Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong. Both Hensley and Armstrong already have been beheaded.
In the video, which we're about to show you, Bigley asks the British prime minister, Tony Blair, to give in to his captors' demands. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNETH BIGLEY, HOSTAGE: I need you to help me, Mr. Blair, because you are the only person now on God's Earth that I can speak to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A heart-breaking moment, indeed. Also in Iraq today, a U.S. patrol was attacked in Samarra. U.S. troops managed to fight off the assault, killing 14 insurgents, but Samarra wasn't the only hot spot. As CNN's senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers reports, Baghdad remains a very dangerous place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Army calls this, quote, "a joint operation" in eastern Baghdad, targeting insurgents. For the soldiers of the U.S. 1st Armored Cavalry, it was as if the gates of hell had opened and the dogs of war loosed.
It is but another reminder that the rebellious Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad known as Sadr City is far from subdued. And until the Medhi Army rebellion of Muqtada al-Sadr is defeated, U.S. dreams of rebuilding Iraq's poorest neighborhoods remain unfulfilled.
Even with total control of the sky, it appears it will take bloody slogging by infantry to quash Iraqi insurgents who, despite heavy casualties, show no sign of capitulating.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, the war was waged by car bombs, this one targeting a police recruiting center and an ice cream parlor where recruits gather. At least a dozen dead, more than 50 wounded. Later a suicide car bomb attack on a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad, killing one soldier, and wounding four.
Some Iraqi government officials recommended paroling Mrs. Rihab Taha, who allegedly worked on Iraq's biological weapons program, but later the U.S. embassy politely reminded the Iraqis Taha is in American legal custody, not Iraq's, and her release is not imminent.
(on camera): That does not bode well for Kenneth John Bigley, the remaining British hostage. The Islamist militants have warned he, too, will be killed unless all Iraqi female prisoners are freed.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: U.S. officials are planning talks now with Syria aimed at trying to stop the flow of insurgents across the Syrian-Iraqi border. The United States and Syria are long-time foes, but as CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports, Syria may be now ready to offer some help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a long-time U.S. adversary, may finally be ready to help control his border with Iraq and shut down the flow of foreign fighters joining the insurgency. U.S. and Iraqi military personnel will travel to Damascus next week to discuss coordinated military operations to tighten border security in the remote desert.
The talks come after recent signals from Assad that he wants to cooperate with the West. This week, Syria began dismantling some military posts in Lebanon. The U.S. has long criticized Syria, which is accused by Washington of sheltering terrorists.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The fact is that Syria and Iran have both been unhelpful to what it is we're trying to do in Iraq.
STARR: As Iraqi insurgents continue their violent attacks, the U.S. is signaling it won't cave to demands from kidnappers linked to insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that female prisoners be released from jail.
Iraqi officials in Baghdad had said that some detainees might be released, including the woman known as Dr. Germ, Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha. Discussions about her status took place last week just before the kidnappings.
But while the status of all detainees is under review, U.S. officials are insisting there is no final decision to release anybody.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: But if there is one thing we've learned over time is that you can't negotiate with these kinds of terrorists. You can't give in to them because all it does is incentivize them to do it again. And therefore our policy will remain unchanged.
STARR: As a practical matter, the U.S. and Iraq would have to agree on any prisoner release, but Washington wants to make sure that the kidnappers have no further incentive for additional attacks.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: More now on that hostage situation in Iraq. The body of the American hostage Jack Hensley has been handed over to U.S. authorities in baghdad. Hensley and two co-workers, as you know, were kidnapped in Iraq last week, joining a long list of Western civilians targeted by insurgents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Today would have been Jack Hensley's 49th birthday. But at his home outside Atlanta, it was a day of grief. U.S. officials confirmed that a headless body found by Iraqi police was that of Hensley. He was the second of three men kidnapped from this building in Baghdad last week to be murdered. Brother Ty says Jack Hensley was a role model.
TY HENSLEY, VICTIM'S BROTHER: Jack Hensley was a volunteer on the rescue squad. He was my T-ball coach. He put my toys together at Christmas. And he was the most incredible father to his 13-year-old daughter, softball coach to her.
BLITZER: Ty Hensley says it was his brother's love for his family that made him decide to go to work in Iraq.
HENSLEY: He went over so he didn't have to work three jobs in the United States. He wanted to help his family.
BLITZER: Hensley earned good money in Iraq. But a steady stream of reports that Westerners were being kidnapped and murdered in Iraq worried his wife, Patty.
HENSLEY: Patty wanted him home. She had -- she just -- her nerves couldn't take it anymore.
BLITZER: Friends have set up a fund to help pay for daughter Sarah's education. Ty Hensley says his family's pain will last for generations.
HENSLEY: These horrible people have made a tremendous mistake. They had the wrong person. Jack Hensley was a father, a good father. He was an incredible husband to his wife Patty. I want these people to know that this -- something like this just hurts a family, individuals. That's where the pain is felt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Our deepest condolences to that family. The bad news from Iraq has sparked another campaign clash. The Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, today suggested that President Bush may, may reintroduce a military draft.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If George Bush were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war, and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea and Iran and other places, it is possible, I can't tell you, I will tell you this, I will not reinstate the draft.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: In response to that statement, a Bush campaign spokesman said this, let me quote: "John Kerry raising the possibility of a military draft is as irresponsible as him raising the possibility that the war he voted for is illegal."
Still quoting here: "The one thing John Kerry has demonstrated is his willingnes to say whatever he believes will benefit him politically, regardless of its affect on our troops, our allies and our mission." That's the end of the quote.
Joining us now with some perspective on that and other issues, our world affairs analyst, the former defense secretary, William Cohen.
What about the prospect of reinstating the draft? I have to tell you a lot of people are nervous out there about that.
WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, first, the issue of whether or not we should return to a draft is a legitimate issue for discussion and debate. The notion, however, in which -- the context in which it's raisedm, that if George Bush is re-elected, then given his past performance, there seems to be some inevitability of that, I think that is not a responsible course to debate.
No more so than when the vice president implied, at least, if not directly, said that if John Kerry were elected president, that we're likely to see a terrorist action on American soil. That was not a responsible statement coming from the vice president.
So I think we have to take and put both of these statements aside. The issue of a military draft or a volunteer army still remains a legitimate subject of discussion but not in the context of which it was raised.
BLITZER: Are there enough volunteers right now willing to sign up, active duty, Reserves, National Guard, for the U.S. military to meet the needs, the current needs, on the table?
COHEN: We cannot continue to expand our military obligations in terms of whether there will be a conflict in Iran or North Korea. I think there's some speculation. It's been reported in the press that members of the administration, some, are contemplating regime change in Iran. I don't think that is a responsible level of dialogue either. I think right now we're stretched very thin. We need to have the help of the international community. That's one of the reasons that President Bush went to the U.N. yesterday to request assistance coming from the members of the U.N. as they had indicated they would do in the past.
And so we are stretched thin and I think that for us to engage in any kind of a major military conflict elsewhere, would stress our forces to the limit.
BLITZER: But based on what you know, the recruitment goals that the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps have in place right now for their current needs, those recruitment goals are being met?
COHEN: They're being met, but if I say that, we're still stretched very thin given the fact that we're in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as other commitments around the globe. We are still stretched very thin.
BLITZER: What do you make of this apparent effort to try to cooperate with Syria right now to stop what some are calling, including Iyad Allawi, I spoke with him yesterday, the interim prime minister, the flooding of foreign terrorists into Iraq?
COHEN: If it's a legitimate deal, if it's a real deal as such that Syria's going to cooperate with the United States, it's an important breakthrough because there are people coming across from Syria, also coming from Iran, contributing to the insurgency itself. So if Syria is serious about this, this could mark some change in our relationship with Syria much for the better.
BLITZER: What, if anything, should be done to deal with this notion, these hostage takers who behead Americans, make demands? You see what's happening with the British hostage today.
COHEN: These individuals who are doing this, mercy is not in their vocabulary. They're not certainly going to take into account his plea for mercy and calling upon the prime minister, the British prime minister, for help. The United States cannot be in a position of succumbing to that kind of threat no matter how painful it is for individuals. The notion that we would report reverse policy and then yield to the demands of extortionists -- Secretary of State Powell is clearly right. The price will always go up. There'll be a demand tomorrow for another type of action on the part of the United States and the coalition forces. It's simply not feasible or desirable for us to do so.
BLITZER: You, obviously, you make any concessions, it merely invites more of this.
COHEN: There will be more hostage taking, there will be more demands made. The price is always ratcheted up. It never goes down.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, William Cohen.
A military prisoner in a landmark terrorism case is now free to go home. An update on the developing story coming up.
Bus stop attack. A female suicide bomber strikes in Israel.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They promised him that they would keep his identity absolutely confidential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: New twists in the investigation of those disputed CBS News documents. Could criminal charges be next?
And later. A former pop star kicked off a flight to the United States and sent back home. Who is he? And is he really a dangerous man?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Jerusalem today, a female suicide bomber blew herself up, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen others. The al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, is claiming responsibility. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a popular spot with suicide bombers this busy intersection in Jerusalem. Always crowded with people catching buses or hitchhiking. It's been attacked four previous times in the past three years. The latest attack, the grim work of what Israeli security officials say was a woman suicide bomber who on this late summer afternoon killed two border policemen and wounded more than a dozen passers-by.
It would have been even worse were it not for two border guards who spotted the woman acting suspiciously. When they confronted her she detonated a bomb weighing between 6 and 11 pounds, packed with metal fragments to maximize the blast's impact.
The two border guards who approached her were killed. The bomber was identified as an 18-year-old woman from the northern West Bank. While the so-called Burial Society picked up parts, investigators used magnets to collect bomb fragments for analysis. Israeli security forces had been on the lookout for the past two days.
GIL KLEIMAN, ISRAELI POLICE SPOKESMAN: Jerusalem had been on a higher state of alert since yesterday along with the army in certain areas of the West Bank and Ramallah.
WEDEMAN: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israeli television not all attacks can be prevented. .
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Sometimes things happen like what happened today. But we intend to continue the struggle against terror with all our force.
WEDEMAN: Jerusalemites were just beginning to enjoy the longest period of relative calm in the city since the Palestinian uprising broke out four years ago this month.
(on camera): This is the first suicide bombing in Jerusalem in eight months. Israeli officials attribute the fall in the number of such bombings to the barrier and increased defensive activities against Palestinian militants. But occasionally someone is going to slip through the cracks. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Yasser Hamdi, the U.S.-born Saudi national who became a central figure in a landmark terrorism case has been given the OK to go back home to Saudi Arabia. That word from his attorneys and the U.S. Justice Department. For more let's turn to our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Hamdi has been in custody for nearly three years. And if you remember, he was the first person designated an enemy combatant by the Bush administration. The government says that he was caught on the battlefield in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban when it was discovered that he was born in Louisiana. He was transported to the United States and put in a military brig.
Back in December the Pentagon said that its interrogation of Hamdi was done and provided him access to a lawyer. But in June, the Supreme Court ruled that Hamdi had a right to challenge his detention. It's not exactly clear when Hamdi will return to his home in Saudi Arabia, but the agreement calls for that to happen by next week. Officials say the agreement also bans Hamdi from returning to the United States and he has to relinquish his U.S. citizenship. Hamdi's lawyer Frank Dunham and the government say that travel details are currently being worked out -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. We'll watch that story. Thanks very much. See what happens to him when he gets back to Saudi Arabia. Thanks very much, Kelli.
Devastation, worse than anyone imagined. The latest coming in from Haiti, which is struggling to recover from Tropical Storm Jeanne.
Details of the first outside investigation into the scandal rocking CBS News.
Plus, we'll hear from the lawyer of the man who produced the disputed documents.
And more trouble for the network as the government announces the fine for its Super Bowl blunder.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There are several new developments in the scandal over CBS News. The scandal involving those disputed documents that question President Bush's National Guard service. CBS now says it's hired the former U.S. attorney general Dick Thornburg and the former Associated Press President Luis Bacardi (ph), to conduct a review of how the report was prepared.
Also, the former attorney for Bill Burkett, who gave the documents to the network, is accusing CBS News of breaking the rules Burkett laid down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID VAN OS, FRM. ATTORNEY FOR BILL BURKETT: They promised him that they would keep his identity absolutely confidential. And they promised him that they would make sure that the documents were authentic and that they would not use them unless their studies of the documents proved to them that they were authentic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: It's important to note that David Van Os, the attorney, made clear his account is based on what he was told by Bill Burkett. Van Os has no firsthand knowledge of the events. Whatever any investigations may eventually find out, some people already have suspicious about who's really behind the scandal. Yesterday on this program, the Democratic National Committee Chairman, Terry McAuliffe, pointed a direct finger at a long-time Republican strategist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: I mean, "The New York Post" today reports that Roger Stone, an old dirty trickster from the Nixon days, may have been involved in the production of these documents. We were involved in any shape, way or form.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Roger Stone is here now to talk about that. Roger, thanks very much for joining us.
You're smiling, but the origin was really a report in "The New York Post." The report in "The New York Post" suggested this, "the hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the long-time GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard memos." The report went on to say, "reached at his Florida home, Stone had no comment."
Did they reach you at your Florida home, and you had no comment?
ROGER STONE, GOP ACTIVIST: Yes. I didn't want to comment on the entire CBS matter on a Sunday afternoon when I was with my family. I mean, in all honesty, this this is an irresponsible cheap shot by Terry McAuliffe. It's Terry McAuliffe who front-loaded the Democratic process that produced this pathetic nominee. It's Terry McAuliffe who scheduled the Democratic convention five weeks before the Republican convention, dissipating the Democrat's money and giving the president a boost going into Labor Day. Mr. Mcauliffe ought to stick to his knitting.
BLITZER: Well, let's talk about these specific accusations. Are you prepared to say what about the accusation in "The New York Post" repeated by Terry McAuliffe?
STONE: Categorically false. If Mr. McAuliffe has any evidence whatsoever that I have any involvement or anyone else in the Republican Party has any involvement with these documents, let him put up or shut up. But in the meantime, I think this is a deflection from what's going on in the Kerry campaign.
BLITZER: Let me interrupt for a second, Roger. With hindsight, clearly you should have flatly told "The New York Post" when they called you at home, even on a Sunday, this is ridiculous, absurd, there's absolutely no truth it to.
STONE: Please understand the manner in which it was presented. There's a rumor going around, and I got a call from Democratic political consultant who said you're the source of the documents. And I told the reporter I'm not going to comment on any of that. I made it very clear that I was, not but I didn't expect him to write it.
BLITZER: You're an experience political operative, when you avoid a comment on a sensitive, explosive charge like that, doesn't that give some sort of credibility to the charge when you say I have no comment?
STONE: Look, let me be very clear, I said no comment for the record. I went on background with the reporter and I told them there was nothing whatsoever to it. I'm surprised that he wrote it, but he wrote.
BLITZER: Well, why couldn't you say that on the record? Why did you have to go on background?
STONE: Because I had no particular interest in being embroiled in something in which I have nothing to do. Look, this is a smoke screen. The real question here is what is the complicity of the Kerry campaign, or what did Max Cleland know and when did he know it? This is what Terry is trying to do. It's baseless. If he has some evidence that links me to this, let him put it forward.
BLITZER: I think he made clear the only evidence he had was the New York Post report, which was clearly not true.
STONE: That was a thin read indeed.
BLITZER: Well, we're going to have to leave it right there, but thanks very much for clarifying all this for us and for our viewers.
STONE: Wolf, thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.
BLITZER: Roger Stone, joining us from Miami. Thank you, Roger.
Document debate: Should the alleged fraud result in criminal charges? Our coverage of the story will continue.
And on the trail in 2 important battle ground states, tough talk from both the president and the Democratic nominee.
"Wild World:" that song's famous performer is kicked off a flight and now kicked out of the United States.
And no longer on the loose: an update on Chucky. Chucky, the 12- foot gator who escaped during Hurricane Ivan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's official.
Just a few seconds ago, Porter Goss, the Democratic congressman from Florida, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The final vote -- you're looking at live pictures of the Senate floor -- 77 in favor of confirmation, 17 opposed. Porter Goss will be sworn in as the next CIA director.
Welcome back to our program.
Will the CBS document drama result in criminal charges? I'll discuss the investigation with a former federal prosecutor and a former White House counsel.
First, though, a quick check of some stories now in the news.
Hurricane Jeanne may be a threat to the United States after all. After slamming parts of the Caribbean, the storm had been expected to move out into the Atlantic Ocean. But forecasters now saying Jeanne is in the process of perhaps making a U-turn and could wind up heading toward Florida, Georgia or the Carolinas. We'll watch.
The nation's most wanted alligator is now back in custody in Alabama. The fugitive gator known as Chucky escaped from a zoo in Gulf Shores during Hurricane Ivan. A special alligator retrieval team had been brought in to track him down, fallout from the hurricane.
The FCC has handed out over a $1.5 million fine for the Super Bowl halftime show that briefly showed singer Janet Jackson's breasts; 20 CBS affiliates were ordered to pay $27,500 each.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
More now on the scandal involving CBS News and those disputed documents questioning President Bush's National Guard service. Some are now suggesting it may actually involve some criminal violations, specifically a federal law that prohibits fraud by way of TV or radio broadcasts. So should there be a federal investigation?
Here to talk about that, two guests, the former federal prosecutor Joe diGenova and the former Clinton White House counsel Jack Quinn.
Thanks to both of you for joining us.
Does this rise to that level, Joe, of a criminal investigation?
JOE DIGENOVA, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Wolf, I think you would have to tread carefully in this area, if anybody were to get involved, but, clearly, there is no question that if the documents are forgeries, they...
BLITZER: And everybody assumes by now they are.
DIGENOVA: And I think it's safe to assume that.
They were documents which were also forgeries of federal documents, the National Guard documents. They were -- they were put in the stream of commerce. They were given to CBS News. They were sent out over the airwaves. The victim here would be CBS. CBS's airtime was used and the value of that airtime would be what was defrauded, plus the value of any loss of the affiliate of their airtime. It was an attempt to influence the federal election.
There's no question about that, that was the intent. So I think if the federal government wanted to investigate it, they clearly have a basis for doing so, now that there are forged documents. And I would say that the Justice Department, if it were going to, should appoint a special counsel. This is something the attorney general should never touch himself. If they're going to do it, they should appoint a former U.S. attorney or someone like that of stature to investigate it. That doesn't mean
(CROSSTALK)
DIGENOVA: ... a crime was committed.
BLITZER: You're a former U.S. attorney. If the attorney general came to you -- you were the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
DIGENOVA: Yes.
BLITZER: And said, we want you to take this on, would you do that?
DIGENOVA: Oh, sure, sure.
BLITZER: And you think it rises to that level?
DIGENOVA: Well, I don't think there's any question that when you try to influence a federal election for a president by using one of the three major networks to put a lie out about one of the candidates, that's pretty serious business. And I think it ought to be investigated.
BLITZER: You're a former White House counsel. What do you say, Jack?
JACK QUINN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Well, you know, the Republicans are always very -- Joe is a great lawyer and I'll preface it with that.
The Republicans, though, are always very quick to demand an investigation when it suits their partisan political purposes. But where was the outrage when someone in the White House revealed the identity of a covert CIA operative?
BLITZER: Well, there is an independent -- special counsel
(CROSSTALK)
QUINN: Yes, but we didn't see the kind of outrage. We didn't see the kind of vigor that we have here.
My God, if you want to talk about a forged document, the State of the Union address was a forged document. The president's address to the United Nations was a forged document.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: All right, now let's get back to the issue at hand. (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Do you agree that this narrow -- forget about all these other cases. Does this case involving apparently a forged document, CBS News transmitting it over the airwaves, rise to the level there should be a federal investigation?
QUINN: I don't think that's clear at all. And I certainly don't think that there's been any evidence that anyone in the Democratic Party, in the Kerry campaign, or for that matter in the Republican Party and the Bush campaign, is culpable in this matter.
BLITZER: We have no idea at this point who created that document. Isn't it worthwhile getting somebody with subpoena power to try to find out that information?
QUINN: I don't think so.
Wolf, this is a nation at war. This is a country with people concerned about jobs being outsourced overseas and seniors being stiffed on their Medicare prescription benefits. These are the things people want to hear a debate about. If democracy is going to work, these candidates are going to focus on the issues that count for the American people.
BLITZER: Joe, go ahead.
DIGENOVA: Because we are a war, and because someone tried to influence a federal election by using forged documents through one of the three major networks to affect the outcome of this election, that is precisely why it should be investigated.
And I urge the Justice Department to do so, but not for them to do it, for an independent counsel. By the way, I agree with Jack. there's no evidence that CBS did anything wrong. They appear to be dupes. In fact, they are victims under federal law.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Journalistically, they were sloppy.
DIGENOVA: Oh, journalistically, they have so much to account for, we can't get into that.
But -- and I'm not suggesting anybody in the Democratic Party is. I want to know who was responsible for this. I think we have a right to know.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Let me ask Jack.
There's the former U.S. attorney general, Dick Thornburgh, the former president of the Associated Press, Lou Boccardi, they have been asked by CBS to conduct an independent investigation. I assume you think that's good enough. QUINN: Good luck and Godspeed. Let them do it.
But, Wolf, I don't -- I meant it when I said that, you know, we went to war over an assertion that there were ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. That was not true. We went to war over assertions in the State of the Union.
BLITZER: We're not discussing that right now. We're discussing a very narrow issue.
(CROSSTALK)
QUINN: But don't you think that's as important to the outcome of this election?
BLITZER: Those are obviously very important issues, but this is a discussion on whether there should be a criminal investigation of how these documents were aired over the broadcast, this one broadcast network. The question is, Dick Thornburgh, Lou Boccardi, is that good enough, to let them get to the bottom of this?
DIGENOVA: Well, certainly, if I were conducting a federal investigation, I wouldn't do anything until they finished their investigation, because they're going to interview people. People are going to give them statements.
And I would certainly -- if I were appointed, I would be in communication with them and say, I would like to have what whatever product you generate, because they may get people to say things that they would not otherwise say, and that would make it easy to find out what went on here, because CBS, if it doesn't know now who created those documents, had damn well better find out because they put them on the air. And if they didn't know who created them or where they came from, they need to find out.
(CROSSTALK)
QUINN: We agree on that.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: What happens -- and it's certainly speculative -- that somebody involved, either in the Democratic Party or the Kerry campaign, had some role in helping to create those documents? Then it becomes a whole new issue.
QUINN: Yes, but there's no indication that that is the case.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But it's important to find that out, isn't it?
QUINN: Well, eventually it is.
But we're in danger right now, Wolf -- this is like that World Series game where a fan reached over and interfered with the outfielder's effort to catch the ball. This is a distraction and a sideshow from the important issues that American people want to hear about. We should not let CBS' sloppiness or some crackpot's effort in East Texas to get in touch with the campaign influence the outcome of this election.
BLITZER: I'll give you the final word, Joe.
DIGENOVA: There is no question that we need to find out who created these documents. And the only way that's going to be -- happen is with subpoena power.
BLITZER: Well, those are strong words. But we'll have to leave it there.
Joe diGenova, thanks, as usual.
DIGENOVA: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Jack Quinn, appreciate it very much.
QUINN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Just 41 days until the election and the charges and countercharges are flying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent is sending mixed signals. He has had many different positions on Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yesterday, I was in Orlando, right next to Fantasyland. And the difference between George Bush and me is, I drove by it. He lives in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Bad time for John Kerry to be losing his voice. We're live on the campaign trail with both candidates.
Plus, why a former pop star is being kicked out of the country. We'll get to all of that. First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Grim scenes in flood-ravaged northern Haiti. At least 700 people are now reported dead in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Jeanne. More than 1,000 others are missing. And an estimated quarter of a million people are homeless. The International Red Cross is appealing for aid.
Philippine bombing. A homemade explosive device sent nails slicing through a crowded village fiesta. A 4-year-old was killed and at least 29 people were wounded. Police say no suspects have been identified. Ape inquiry. Hair, saliva and blood samples have been collected from more than 100 endangered orangutans discovered at a zoo in Thailand. DNA tests will help determine if the animals were illegally smuggled from Indonesia.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: On the campaign trail today, Democrat John Kerry spent the day in another battleground state, namely Florida, where he made an appeal to seniors.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken has the story from West Palm Beach.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Kerry covered a wide range of issues, but one of the most significant ones is the one that he came to West Palm Beach, where there are so many senior citizens, and that is Social Security.
It came in the wake of a report that had been issued by a University of Chicago business professor about Bush plans to support a proposal that would privatize part of the Social Security program. The study says that that would be a huge windfall for the financial services sector. That is a sector of the economy that has been strongly supportive of President Bush. It would also reduce benefits by close to half, could cost, over a 10-year period, up to $2 trillion, according to the study.
John Kerry was emphatic in the promise that he made.
KERRY: Let me make it clear. I will never privatize Social Security, ever, ever, ever.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
FRANKEN: A Bush campaign spokesman responded by saying that Kerry is offering senior citizens a raw deal, that he has supported tax increases on retirees eight different times.
This is just one of the many issues that promises to be extremely decisive as the election winds down, winds down by heating up.
Bob Franken, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: President Bush is in the battleground state of Pennsylvania once again. He's focusing in on the war in Iraq.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is live, joining us right now -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, President Bush wrapped up two days of high-stakes diplomacy, turning the corner, of course, back to the campaign in this key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
The strategy here with less than six weeks away from the election, to focus on his domestic agenda, but also to make the case on a daily basis that despite what happens on the ground in Iraq, that the administration is headed in the right direction, it was the right thing to do to invade Iraq, that now is not the time in the middle of a war to change the commander in chief, but also the president engaged in a very delicate balancing act. He has to recognize as well, aides know, that there are difficulties on the ground, including in the last two days the beheading of two American hostages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We're doing hard work in Iraq right now. It's hard to help a country go from tyranny to elections to peace when there are a handful of people who are willing to kill in order to stop the process. And that's what you're seeing on the TV screens.
You know, these people cannot beat us militarily, and so they use the only tool at their disposal, which is beheadings and death to try to shake our will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush campaign is determined to show the American people that he is not in what his opponent calls a fantasy land of spin. Tomorrow, the president is going to make that case when he meets with the prime minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, at the White House -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux in Latrobe, Pennsylvania -- thanks, Suzanne, very much.
Saw Arnold Palmer standing there behind the president. He introduced him at that event.
If you were around during the '70s, you certainly remember his music. Now find out why this former pop star has landed on the homeland security watch list. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A former pop star is being sent back to Britain from the United States after being abruptly taken off a plane bound for Washington, D.C., yesterday. It's a story with several twists, one of them involving America's war on terror.
CNN's Brian Todd is here. He's joining us live with details -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it involves post-9/11 security, to be specific, and in the middle of it all is a person you might not recognize at the outset, but whose former name is very familiar to baby boomers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): A trans-Atlantic flight diverted, an abrupt landing in Bangor, Maine, passengers disoriented.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said get ready to land. And then they said, welcome to Bangor. And we thought they were joking. We had no idea that we had been diverted.
TODD: They also may have had no idea that a high-profile passenger was the reason for the diversion of the United Airlines London-to-Washington flight on Tuesday. Recognize the name Yusuf Islam? He used to call himself Cat Stevens and he was a huge pop music star in the '60s and early '70s with hits like "Wild World." But that was a different world and long ago. As Yusuf Islam, he is on a U.S. government watch list designed to keep terrorists from boarding flights.
KEN PIERNICK, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: He apparently has made some contributions to Islamic charities, and, as you know, there are many, many Islamic charities, some of which have nefarious goals and support terrorism.
TODD: U.S. officials wouldn't say which charities on are involved. On his Web site, Yusuf Islam associates himself with three Muslim obscure charities, one for humanitarian relief, the other two supporting education. Muslim advocate groups are outraged that he's being singled out and sent back to Great Britain.
IBRAHIM HOOPER, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: We're getting a little tired of this kind of Kafkaesque treatment of people, where vague allegations are made and actions are taken against individuals or organizations.
TODD: But a Homeland Security Department spokesman tells CNN -- quote -- "The intelligence community has come into possession of additional information that further heightens our concerns of Yusuf Islam." The spokesman would not give specifics, but another official tells CNN the department is very confident that the information is credible.
As his recording career faded in the late 1970s, Cat Stevens embraced Islam and abandoned the music business.
YUSUF ISLAM, FORMER MUSICIAN: I wrote a letter to all my record labels asking them, pleading with them to stop producing my records. I said, you know, at this time, I think I've outgrown this particular phase.
TODD: Barely heard from for about a decade, he shocked many fans in 1989 by supporting the death sentence issued for "Satanic Verses" author Salmon Rushdie by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. He was once deported from Israel over allegations that he supported the militant Islamic group Hamas.
But Islam has claimed that he's never given money to charities that support terrorism. He condemned the September 11 attacks, has performed to raise money for 9/11 victims, and even reignited his music career for peaceful causes in the Middle East.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: If he's on a watch list, how did Yusuf Islam get on the plane? Well, government sources say Islam's name, which was recently added to the list, was misspelled on it, which could explain why it was originally missed by United Airlines.
Now, contacted by CNN, a United spokesman would not comment on this incident, but did say United has one of the best systems for checking passengers against that watch list -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much for the report.
Showing off for the camera. Look at this. This dog, look at this dog. Where is the dog? There is the dog. It can do it all, I guess.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Despite reports the wedding was a fake, Britney Spears' fiancee, Kevin Federline, insists it was real.
He tells "People" magazine the planned October 16 nuptials were moved up to this past weekend to avoid a media frenzy. He says he and Spears will file their license next week. They have 90 days under L.A. County law. It's Spears' second marriage. Her first in Las Vegas to a childhood friend lasted less than two days before that one was annulled.
He's no one-trick puppy, our picture of the day. Look at this. Joey (ph) is a Jack Russell of all trades. The high-energy terrier has to keep moving. They can't keep him off his skateboard. And he also drives a minicar with one paw. He's been known to dunk a basketball and jump rope again and again. Cute.
That's all the time we have. "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 22, 2004 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: hostage heartache. The terrorists in Iraq make public a victim's desperate plea.
Reinstating the military draft: why this is now becoming an issue in the presidential election. Which candidate says there may be one if the other is elected?
And he was called an enemy combatant in the war on terror. Now the U.S. government is letting American-born Yaser Hamdi go back home to Saudi Arabia. We'll tell you why. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Bombings and gun battles. A bloody yeah day in Baghdad. And far from Iraq, heartache.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was my T-ball coach. He put my toys together at Christmas and he was the most incredible father to his 13- year-old daughter, softball coach to her.
BLITZER: Busstop blast: A female bomber strikes in Jerusalem. Why it could have been much worse.
Paper probe. CBS News hires an ex-attorney general to investigate those (ph) documents. Did the network break its word to a source? Did anyone break the law?
Watch list. As Cat Stevens, he sang "Peace Train." As Yusuf Islam, he's pulled from a plane. Why is the the U.S. keeping him out?
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, September 22, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: A new chilling hostage video from Iraq has just surfaced on an Islamic Web site. It shows the British hostage, Kenneth Bigley, pleading desperately for his life. Bigley is a civilian civil engineer, he was kidnapped from Baghdad last week along with American co-workers Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong. Both Hensley and Armstrong already have been beheaded.
In the video, which we're about to show you, Bigley asks the British prime minister, Tony Blair, to give in to his captors' demands. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNETH BIGLEY, HOSTAGE: I need you to help me, Mr. Blair, because you are the only person now on God's Earth that I can speak to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A heart-breaking moment, indeed. Also in Iraq today, a U.S. patrol was attacked in Samarra. U.S. troops managed to fight off the assault, killing 14 insurgents, but Samarra wasn't the only hot spot. As CNN's senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers reports, Baghdad remains a very dangerous place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Army calls this, quote, "a joint operation" in eastern Baghdad, targeting insurgents. For the soldiers of the U.S. 1st Armored Cavalry, it was as if the gates of hell had opened and the dogs of war loosed.
It is but another reminder that the rebellious Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad known as Sadr City is far from subdued. And until the Medhi Army rebellion of Muqtada al-Sadr is defeated, U.S. dreams of rebuilding Iraq's poorest neighborhoods remain unfulfilled.
Even with total control of the sky, it appears it will take bloody slogging by infantry to quash Iraqi insurgents who, despite heavy casualties, show no sign of capitulating.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, the war was waged by car bombs, this one targeting a police recruiting center and an ice cream parlor where recruits gather. At least a dozen dead, more than 50 wounded. Later a suicide car bomb attack on a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad, killing one soldier, and wounding four.
Some Iraqi government officials recommended paroling Mrs. Rihab Taha, who allegedly worked on Iraq's biological weapons program, but later the U.S. embassy politely reminded the Iraqis Taha is in American legal custody, not Iraq's, and her release is not imminent.
(on camera): That does not bode well for Kenneth John Bigley, the remaining British hostage. The Islamist militants have warned he, too, will be killed unless all Iraqi female prisoners are freed.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: U.S. officials are planning talks now with Syria aimed at trying to stop the flow of insurgents across the Syrian-Iraqi border. The United States and Syria are long-time foes, but as CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports, Syria may be now ready to offer some help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a long-time U.S. adversary, may finally be ready to help control his border with Iraq and shut down the flow of foreign fighters joining the insurgency. U.S. and Iraqi military personnel will travel to Damascus next week to discuss coordinated military operations to tighten border security in the remote desert.
The talks come after recent signals from Assad that he wants to cooperate with the West. This week, Syria began dismantling some military posts in Lebanon. The U.S. has long criticized Syria, which is accused by Washington of sheltering terrorists.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The fact is that Syria and Iran have both been unhelpful to what it is we're trying to do in Iraq.
STARR: As Iraqi insurgents continue their violent attacks, the U.S. is signaling it won't cave to demands from kidnappers linked to insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that female prisoners be released from jail.
Iraqi officials in Baghdad had said that some detainees might be released, including the woman known as Dr. Germ, Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha. Discussions about her status took place last week just before the kidnappings.
But while the status of all detainees is under review, U.S. officials are insisting there is no final decision to release anybody.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: But if there is one thing we've learned over time is that you can't negotiate with these kinds of terrorists. You can't give in to them because all it does is incentivize them to do it again. And therefore our policy will remain unchanged.
STARR: As a practical matter, the U.S. and Iraq would have to agree on any prisoner release, but Washington wants to make sure that the kidnappers have no further incentive for additional attacks.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: More now on that hostage situation in Iraq. The body of the American hostage Jack Hensley has been handed over to U.S. authorities in baghdad. Hensley and two co-workers, as you know, were kidnapped in Iraq last week, joining a long list of Western civilians targeted by insurgents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Today would have been Jack Hensley's 49th birthday. But at his home outside Atlanta, it was a day of grief. U.S. officials confirmed that a headless body found by Iraqi police was that of Hensley. He was the second of three men kidnapped from this building in Baghdad last week to be murdered. Brother Ty says Jack Hensley was a role model.
TY HENSLEY, VICTIM'S BROTHER: Jack Hensley was a volunteer on the rescue squad. He was my T-ball coach. He put my toys together at Christmas. And he was the most incredible father to his 13-year-old daughter, softball coach to her.
BLITZER: Ty Hensley says it was his brother's love for his family that made him decide to go to work in Iraq.
HENSLEY: He went over so he didn't have to work three jobs in the United States. He wanted to help his family.
BLITZER: Hensley earned good money in Iraq. But a steady stream of reports that Westerners were being kidnapped and murdered in Iraq worried his wife, Patty.
HENSLEY: Patty wanted him home. She had -- she just -- her nerves couldn't take it anymore.
BLITZER: Friends have set up a fund to help pay for daughter Sarah's education. Ty Hensley says his family's pain will last for generations.
HENSLEY: These horrible people have made a tremendous mistake. They had the wrong person. Jack Hensley was a father, a good father. He was an incredible husband to his wife Patty. I want these people to know that this -- something like this just hurts a family, individuals. That's where the pain is felt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Our deepest condolences to that family. The bad news from Iraq has sparked another campaign clash. The Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, today suggested that President Bush may, may reintroduce a military draft.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If George Bush were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war, and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea and Iran and other places, it is possible, I can't tell you, I will tell you this, I will not reinstate the draft.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: In response to that statement, a Bush campaign spokesman said this, let me quote: "John Kerry raising the possibility of a military draft is as irresponsible as him raising the possibility that the war he voted for is illegal."
Still quoting here: "The one thing John Kerry has demonstrated is his willingnes to say whatever he believes will benefit him politically, regardless of its affect on our troops, our allies and our mission." That's the end of the quote.
Joining us now with some perspective on that and other issues, our world affairs analyst, the former defense secretary, William Cohen.
What about the prospect of reinstating the draft? I have to tell you a lot of people are nervous out there about that.
WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, first, the issue of whether or not we should return to a draft is a legitimate issue for discussion and debate. The notion, however, in which -- the context in which it's raisedm, that if George Bush is re-elected, then given his past performance, there seems to be some inevitability of that, I think that is not a responsible course to debate.
No more so than when the vice president implied, at least, if not directly, said that if John Kerry were elected president, that we're likely to see a terrorist action on American soil. That was not a responsible statement coming from the vice president.
So I think we have to take and put both of these statements aside. The issue of a military draft or a volunteer army still remains a legitimate subject of discussion but not in the context of which it was raised.
BLITZER: Are there enough volunteers right now willing to sign up, active duty, Reserves, National Guard, for the U.S. military to meet the needs, the current needs, on the table?
COHEN: We cannot continue to expand our military obligations in terms of whether there will be a conflict in Iran or North Korea. I think there's some speculation. It's been reported in the press that members of the administration, some, are contemplating regime change in Iran. I don't think that is a responsible level of dialogue either. I think right now we're stretched very thin. We need to have the help of the international community. That's one of the reasons that President Bush went to the U.N. yesterday to request assistance coming from the members of the U.N. as they had indicated they would do in the past.
And so we are stretched thin and I think that for us to engage in any kind of a major military conflict elsewhere, would stress our forces to the limit.
BLITZER: But based on what you know, the recruitment goals that the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps have in place right now for their current needs, those recruitment goals are being met?
COHEN: They're being met, but if I say that, we're still stretched very thin given the fact that we're in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as other commitments around the globe. We are still stretched very thin.
BLITZER: What do you make of this apparent effort to try to cooperate with Syria right now to stop what some are calling, including Iyad Allawi, I spoke with him yesterday, the interim prime minister, the flooding of foreign terrorists into Iraq?
COHEN: If it's a legitimate deal, if it's a real deal as such that Syria's going to cooperate with the United States, it's an important breakthrough because there are people coming across from Syria, also coming from Iran, contributing to the insurgency itself. So if Syria is serious about this, this could mark some change in our relationship with Syria much for the better.
BLITZER: What, if anything, should be done to deal with this notion, these hostage takers who behead Americans, make demands? You see what's happening with the British hostage today.
COHEN: These individuals who are doing this, mercy is not in their vocabulary. They're not certainly going to take into account his plea for mercy and calling upon the prime minister, the British prime minister, for help. The United States cannot be in a position of succumbing to that kind of threat no matter how painful it is for individuals. The notion that we would report reverse policy and then yield to the demands of extortionists -- Secretary of State Powell is clearly right. The price will always go up. There'll be a demand tomorrow for another type of action on the part of the United States and the coalition forces. It's simply not feasible or desirable for us to do so.
BLITZER: You, obviously, you make any concessions, it merely invites more of this.
COHEN: There will be more hostage taking, there will be more demands made. The price is always ratcheted up. It never goes down.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, William Cohen.
A military prisoner in a landmark terrorism case is now free to go home. An update on the developing story coming up.
Bus stop attack. A female suicide bomber strikes in Israel.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They promised him that they would keep his identity absolutely confidential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: New twists in the investigation of those disputed CBS News documents. Could criminal charges be next?
And later. A former pop star kicked off a flight to the United States and sent back home. Who is he? And is he really a dangerous man?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Jerusalem today, a female suicide bomber blew herself up, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen others. The al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, is claiming responsibility. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a popular spot with suicide bombers this busy intersection in Jerusalem. Always crowded with people catching buses or hitchhiking. It's been attacked four previous times in the past three years. The latest attack, the grim work of what Israeli security officials say was a woman suicide bomber who on this late summer afternoon killed two border policemen and wounded more than a dozen passers-by.
It would have been even worse were it not for two border guards who spotted the woman acting suspiciously. When they confronted her she detonated a bomb weighing between 6 and 11 pounds, packed with metal fragments to maximize the blast's impact.
The two border guards who approached her were killed. The bomber was identified as an 18-year-old woman from the northern West Bank. While the so-called Burial Society picked up parts, investigators used magnets to collect bomb fragments for analysis. Israeli security forces had been on the lookout for the past two days.
GIL KLEIMAN, ISRAELI POLICE SPOKESMAN: Jerusalem had been on a higher state of alert since yesterday along with the army in certain areas of the West Bank and Ramallah.
WEDEMAN: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israeli television not all attacks can be prevented. .
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Sometimes things happen like what happened today. But we intend to continue the struggle against terror with all our force.
WEDEMAN: Jerusalemites were just beginning to enjoy the longest period of relative calm in the city since the Palestinian uprising broke out four years ago this month.
(on camera): This is the first suicide bombing in Jerusalem in eight months. Israeli officials attribute the fall in the number of such bombings to the barrier and increased defensive activities against Palestinian militants. But occasionally someone is going to slip through the cracks. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Yasser Hamdi, the U.S.-born Saudi national who became a central figure in a landmark terrorism case has been given the OK to go back home to Saudi Arabia. That word from his attorneys and the U.S. Justice Department. For more let's turn to our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Hamdi has been in custody for nearly three years. And if you remember, he was the first person designated an enemy combatant by the Bush administration. The government says that he was caught on the battlefield in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban when it was discovered that he was born in Louisiana. He was transported to the United States and put in a military brig.
Back in December the Pentagon said that its interrogation of Hamdi was done and provided him access to a lawyer. But in June, the Supreme Court ruled that Hamdi had a right to challenge his detention. It's not exactly clear when Hamdi will return to his home in Saudi Arabia, but the agreement calls for that to happen by next week. Officials say the agreement also bans Hamdi from returning to the United States and he has to relinquish his U.S. citizenship. Hamdi's lawyer Frank Dunham and the government say that travel details are currently being worked out -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. We'll watch that story. Thanks very much. See what happens to him when he gets back to Saudi Arabia. Thanks very much, Kelli.
Devastation, worse than anyone imagined. The latest coming in from Haiti, which is struggling to recover from Tropical Storm Jeanne.
Details of the first outside investigation into the scandal rocking CBS News.
Plus, we'll hear from the lawyer of the man who produced the disputed documents.
And more trouble for the network as the government announces the fine for its Super Bowl blunder.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There are several new developments in the scandal over CBS News. The scandal involving those disputed documents that question President Bush's National Guard service. CBS now says it's hired the former U.S. attorney general Dick Thornburg and the former Associated Press President Luis Bacardi (ph), to conduct a review of how the report was prepared.
Also, the former attorney for Bill Burkett, who gave the documents to the network, is accusing CBS News of breaking the rules Burkett laid down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID VAN OS, FRM. ATTORNEY FOR BILL BURKETT: They promised him that they would keep his identity absolutely confidential. And they promised him that they would make sure that the documents were authentic and that they would not use them unless their studies of the documents proved to them that they were authentic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: It's important to note that David Van Os, the attorney, made clear his account is based on what he was told by Bill Burkett. Van Os has no firsthand knowledge of the events. Whatever any investigations may eventually find out, some people already have suspicious about who's really behind the scandal. Yesterday on this program, the Democratic National Committee Chairman, Terry McAuliffe, pointed a direct finger at a long-time Republican strategist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: I mean, "The New York Post" today reports that Roger Stone, an old dirty trickster from the Nixon days, may have been involved in the production of these documents. We were involved in any shape, way or form.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Roger Stone is here now to talk about that. Roger, thanks very much for joining us.
You're smiling, but the origin was really a report in "The New York Post." The report in "The New York Post" suggested this, "the hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the long-time GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard memos." The report went on to say, "reached at his Florida home, Stone had no comment."
Did they reach you at your Florida home, and you had no comment?
ROGER STONE, GOP ACTIVIST: Yes. I didn't want to comment on the entire CBS matter on a Sunday afternoon when I was with my family. I mean, in all honesty, this this is an irresponsible cheap shot by Terry McAuliffe. It's Terry McAuliffe who front-loaded the Democratic process that produced this pathetic nominee. It's Terry McAuliffe who scheduled the Democratic convention five weeks before the Republican convention, dissipating the Democrat's money and giving the president a boost going into Labor Day. Mr. Mcauliffe ought to stick to his knitting.
BLITZER: Well, let's talk about these specific accusations. Are you prepared to say what about the accusation in "The New York Post" repeated by Terry McAuliffe?
STONE: Categorically false. If Mr. McAuliffe has any evidence whatsoever that I have any involvement or anyone else in the Republican Party has any involvement with these documents, let him put up or shut up. But in the meantime, I think this is a deflection from what's going on in the Kerry campaign.
BLITZER: Let me interrupt for a second, Roger. With hindsight, clearly you should have flatly told "The New York Post" when they called you at home, even on a Sunday, this is ridiculous, absurd, there's absolutely no truth it to.
STONE: Please understand the manner in which it was presented. There's a rumor going around, and I got a call from Democratic political consultant who said you're the source of the documents. And I told the reporter I'm not going to comment on any of that. I made it very clear that I was, not but I didn't expect him to write it.
BLITZER: You're an experience political operative, when you avoid a comment on a sensitive, explosive charge like that, doesn't that give some sort of credibility to the charge when you say I have no comment?
STONE: Look, let me be very clear, I said no comment for the record. I went on background with the reporter and I told them there was nothing whatsoever to it. I'm surprised that he wrote it, but he wrote.
BLITZER: Well, why couldn't you say that on the record? Why did you have to go on background?
STONE: Because I had no particular interest in being embroiled in something in which I have nothing to do. Look, this is a smoke screen. The real question here is what is the complicity of the Kerry campaign, or what did Max Cleland know and when did he know it? This is what Terry is trying to do. It's baseless. If he has some evidence that links me to this, let him put it forward.
BLITZER: I think he made clear the only evidence he had was the New York Post report, which was clearly not true.
STONE: That was a thin read indeed.
BLITZER: Well, we're going to have to leave it right there, but thanks very much for clarifying all this for us and for our viewers.
STONE: Wolf, thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.
BLITZER: Roger Stone, joining us from Miami. Thank you, Roger.
Document debate: Should the alleged fraud result in criminal charges? Our coverage of the story will continue.
And on the trail in 2 important battle ground states, tough talk from both the president and the Democratic nominee.
"Wild World:" that song's famous performer is kicked off a flight and now kicked out of the United States.
And no longer on the loose: an update on Chucky. Chucky, the 12- foot gator who escaped during Hurricane Ivan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's official.
Just a few seconds ago, Porter Goss, the Democratic congressman from Florida, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The final vote -- you're looking at live pictures of the Senate floor -- 77 in favor of confirmation, 17 opposed. Porter Goss will be sworn in as the next CIA director.
Welcome back to our program.
Will the CBS document drama result in criminal charges? I'll discuss the investigation with a former federal prosecutor and a former White House counsel.
First, though, a quick check of some stories now in the news.
Hurricane Jeanne may be a threat to the United States after all. After slamming parts of the Caribbean, the storm had been expected to move out into the Atlantic Ocean. But forecasters now saying Jeanne is in the process of perhaps making a U-turn and could wind up heading toward Florida, Georgia or the Carolinas. We'll watch.
The nation's most wanted alligator is now back in custody in Alabama. The fugitive gator known as Chucky escaped from a zoo in Gulf Shores during Hurricane Ivan. A special alligator retrieval team had been brought in to track him down, fallout from the hurricane.
The FCC has handed out over a $1.5 million fine for the Super Bowl halftime show that briefly showed singer Janet Jackson's breasts; 20 CBS affiliates were ordered to pay $27,500 each.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
More now on the scandal involving CBS News and those disputed documents questioning President Bush's National Guard service. Some are now suggesting it may actually involve some criminal violations, specifically a federal law that prohibits fraud by way of TV or radio broadcasts. So should there be a federal investigation?
Here to talk about that, two guests, the former federal prosecutor Joe diGenova and the former Clinton White House counsel Jack Quinn.
Thanks to both of you for joining us.
Does this rise to that level, Joe, of a criminal investigation?
JOE DIGENOVA, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Wolf, I think you would have to tread carefully in this area, if anybody were to get involved, but, clearly, there is no question that if the documents are forgeries, they...
BLITZER: And everybody assumes by now they are.
DIGENOVA: And I think it's safe to assume that.
They were documents which were also forgeries of federal documents, the National Guard documents. They were -- they were put in the stream of commerce. They were given to CBS News. They were sent out over the airwaves. The victim here would be CBS. CBS's airtime was used and the value of that airtime would be what was defrauded, plus the value of any loss of the affiliate of their airtime. It was an attempt to influence the federal election.
There's no question about that, that was the intent. So I think if the federal government wanted to investigate it, they clearly have a basis for doing so, now that there are forged documents. And I would say that the Justice Department, if it were going to, should appoint a special counsel. This is something the attorney general should never touch himself. If they're going to do it, they should appoint a former U.S. attorney or someone like that of stature to investigate it. That doesn't mean
(CROSSTALK)
DIGENOVA: ... a crime was committed.
BLITZER: You're a former U.S. attorney. If the attorney general came to you -- you were the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
DIGENOVA: Yes.
BLITZER: And said, we want you to take this on, would you do that?
DIGENOVA: Oh, sure, sure.
BLITZER: And you think it rises to that level?
DIGENOVA: Well, I don't think there's any question that when you try to influence a federal election for a president by using one of the three major networks to put a lie out about one of the candidates, that's pretty serious business. And I think it ought to be investigated.
BLITZER: You're a former White House counsel. What do you say, Jack?
JACK QUINN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Well, you know, the Republicans are always very -- Joe is a great lawyer and I'll preface it with that.
The Republicans, though, are always very quick to demand an investigation when it suits their partisan political purposes. But where was the outrage when someone in the White House revealed the identity of a covert CIA operative?
BLITZER: Well, there is an independent -- special counsel
(CROSSTALK)
QUINN: Yes, but we didn't see the kind of outrage. We didn't see the kind of vigor that we have here.
My God, if you want to talk about a forged document, the State of the Union address was a forged document. The president's address to the United Nations was a forged document.
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BLITZER: All right, now let's get back to the issue at hand. (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Do you agree that this narrow -- forget about all these other cases. Does this case involving apparently a forged document, CBS News transmitting it over the airwaves, rise to the level there should be a federal investigation?
QUINN: I don't think that's clear at all. And I certainly don't think that there's been any evidence that anyone in the Democratic Party, in the Kerry campaign, or for that matter in the Republican Party and the Bush campaign, is culpable in this matter.
BLITZER: We have no idea at this point who created that document. Isn't it worthwhile getting somebody with subpoena power to try to find out that information?
QUINN: I don't think so.
Wolf, this is a nation at war. This is a country with people concerned about jobs being outsourced overseas and seniors being stiffed on their Medicare prescription benefits. These are the things people want to hear a debate about. If democracy is going to work, these candidates are going to focus on the issues that count for the American people.
BLITZER: Joe, go ahead.
DIGENOVA: Because we are a war, and because someone tried to influence a federal election by using forged documents through one of the three major networks to affect the outcome of this election, that is precisely why it should be investigated.
And I urge the Justice Department to do so, but not for them to do it, for an independent counsel. By the way, I agree with Jack. there's no evidence that CBS did anything wrong. They appear to be dupes. In fact, they are victims under federal law.
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BLITZER: Journalistically, they were sloppy.
DIGENOVA: Oh, journalistically, they have so much to account for, we can't get into that.
But -- and I'm not suggesting anybody in the Democratic Party is. I want to know who was responsible for this. I think we have a right to know.
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BLITZER: Let me ask Jack.
There's the former U.S. attorney general, Dick Thornburgh, the former president of the Associated Press, Lou Boccardi, they have been asked by CBS to conduct an independent investigation. I assume you think that's good enough. QUINN: Good luck and Godspeed. Let them do it.
But, Wolf, I don't -- I meant it when I said that, you know, we went to war over an assertion that there were ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. That was not true. We went to war over assertions in the State of the Union.
BLITZER: We're not discussing that right now. We're discussing a very narrow issue.
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QUINN: But don't you think that's as important to the outcome of this election?
BLITZER: Those are obviously very important issues, but this is a discussion on whether there should be a criminal investigation of how these documents were aired over the broadcast, this one broadcast network. The question is, Dick Thornburgh, Lou Boccardi, is that good enough, to let them get to the bottom of this?
DIGENOVA: Well, certainly, if I were conducting a federal investigation, I wouldn't do anything until they finished their investigation, because they're going to interview people. People are going to give them statements.
And I would certainly -- if I were appointed, I would be in communication with them and say, I would like to have what whatever product you generate, because they may get people to say things that they would not otherwise say, and that would make it easy to find out what went on here, because CBS, if it doesn't know now who created those documents, had damn well better find out because they put them on the air. And if they didn't know who created them or where they came from, they need to find out.
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QUINN: We agree on that.
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BLITZER: What happens -- and it's certainly speculative -- that somebody involved, either in the Democratic Party or the Kerry campaign, had some role in helping to create those documents? Then it becomes a whole new issue.
QUINN: Yes, but there's no indication that that is the case.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But it's important to find that out, isn't it?
QUINN: Well, eventually it is.
But we're in danger right now, Wolf -- this is like that World Series game where a fan reached over and interfered with the outfielder's effort to catch the ball. This is a distraction and a sideshow from the important issues that American people want to hear about. We should not let CBS' sloppiness or some crackpot's effort in East Texas to get in touch with the campaign influence the outcome of this election.
BLITZER: I'll give you the final word, Joe.
DIGENOVA: There is no question that we need to find out who created these documents. And the only way that's going to be -- happen is with subpoena power.
BLITZER: Well, those are strong words. But we'll have to leave it there.
Joe diGenova, thanks, as usual.
DIGENOVA: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Jack Quinn, appreciate it very much.
QUINN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Just 41 days until the election and the charges and countercharges are flying.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent is sending mixed signals. He has had many different positions on Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yesterday, I was in Orlando, right next to Fantasyland. And the difference between George Bush and me is, I drove by it. He lives in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Bad time for John Kerry to be losing his voice. We're live on the campaign trail with both candidates.
Plus, why a former pop star is being kicked out of the country. We'll get to all of that. First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.
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BLITZER (voice-over): Grim scenes in flood-ravaged northern Haiti. At least 700 people are now reported dead in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Jeanne. More than 1,000 others are missing. And an estimated quarter of a million people are homeless. The International Red Cross is appealing for aid.
Philippine bombing. A homemade explosive device sent nails slicing through a crowded village fiesta. A 4-year-old was killed and at least 29 people were wounded. Police say no suspects have been identified. Ape inquiry. Hair, saliva and blood samples have been collected from more than 100 endangered orangutans discovered at a zoo in Thailand. DNA tests will help determine if the animals were illegally smuggled from Indonesia.
And that's our look around the world.
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BLITZER: On the campaign trail today, Democrat John Kerry spent the day in another battleground state, namely Florida, where he made an appeal to seniors.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken has the story from West Palm Beach.
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BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Kerry covered a wide range of issues, but one of the most significant ones is the one that he came to West Palm Beach, where there are so many senior citizens, and that is Social Security.
It came in the wake of a report that had been issued by a University of Chicago business professor about Bush plans to support a proposal that would privatize part of the Social Security program. The study says that that would be a huge windfall for the financial services sector. That is a sector of the economy that has been strongly supportive of President Bush. It would also reduce benefits by close to half, could cost, over a 10-year period, up to $2 trillion, according to the study.
John Kerry was emphatic in the promise that he made.
KERRY: Let me make it clear. I will never privatize Social Security, ever, ever, ever.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
FRANKEN: A Bush campaign spokesman responded by saying that Kerry is offering senior citizens a raw deal, that he has supported tax increases on retirees eight different times.
This is just one of the many issues that promises to be extremely decisive as the election winds down, winds down by heating up.
Bob Franken, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: President Bush is in the battleground state of Pennsylvania once again. He's focusing in on the war in Iraq.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is live, joining us right now -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, President Bush wrapped up two days of high-stakes diplomacy, turning the corner, of course, back to the campaign in this key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
The strategy here with less than six weeks away from the election, to focus on his domestic agenda, but also to make the case on a daily basis that despite what happens on the ground in Iraq, that the administration is headed in the right direction, it was the right thing to do to invade Iraq, that now is not the time in the middle of a war to change the commander in chief, but also the president engaged in a very delicate balancing act. He has to recognize as well, aides know, that there are difficulties on the ground, including in the last two days the beheading of two American hostages.
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BUSH: We're doing hard work in Iraq right now. It's hard to help a country go from tyranny to elections to peace when there are a handful of people who are willing to kill in order to stop the process. And that's what you're seeing on the TV screens.
You know, these people cannot beat us militarily, and so they use the only tool at their disposal, which is beheadings and death to try to shake our will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush campaign is determined to show the American people that he is not in what his opponent calls a fantasy land of spin. Tomorrow, the president is going to make that case when he meets with the prime minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, at the White House -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux in Latrobe, Pennsylvania -- thanks, Suzanne, very much.
Saw Arnold Palmer standing there behind the president. He introduced him at that event.
If you were around during the '70s, you certainly remember his music. Now find out why this former pop star has landed on the homeland security watch list. That story is next.
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BLITZER: A former pop star is being sent back to Britain from the United States after being abruptly taken off a plane bound for Washington, D.C., yesterday. It's a story with several twists, one of them involving America's war on terror.
CNN's Brian Todd is here. He's joining us live with details -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it involves post-9/11 security, to be specific, and in the middle of it all is a person you might not recognize at the outset, but whose former name is very familiar to baby boomers.
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TODD (voice-over): A trans-Atlantic flight diverted, an abrupt landing in Bangor, Maine, passengers disoriented.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said get ready to land. And then they said, welcome to Bangor. And we thought they were joking. We had no idea that we had been diverted.
TODD: They also may have had no idea that a high-profile passenger was the reason for the diversion of the United Airlines London-to-Washington flight on Tuesday. Recognize the name Yusuf Islam? He used to call himself Cat Stevens and he was a huge pop music star in the '60s and early '70s with hits like "Wild World." But that was a different world and long ago. As Yusuf Islam, he is on a U.S. government watch list designed to keep terrorists from boarding flights.
KEN PIERNICK, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: He apparently has made some contributions to Islamic charities, and, as you know, there are many, many Islamic charities, some of which have nefarious goals and support terrorism.
TODD: U.S. officials wouldn't say which charities on are involved. On his Web site, Yusuf Islam associates himself with three Muslim obscure charities, one for humanitarian relief, the other two supporting education. Muslim advocate groups are outraged that he's being singled out and sent back to Great Britain.
IBRAHIM HOOPER, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: We're getting a little tired of this kind of Kafkaesque treatment of people, where vague allegations are made and actions are taken against individuals or organizations.
TODD: But a Homeland Security Department spokesman tells CNN -- quote -- "The intelligence community has come into possession of additional information that further heightens our concerns of Yusuf Islam." The spokesman would not give specifics, but another official tells CNN the department is very confident that the information is credible.
As his recording career faded in the late 1970s, Cat Stevens embraced Islam and abandoned the music business.
YUSUF ISLAM, FORMER MUSICIAN: I wrote a letter to all my record labels asking them, pleading with them to stop producing my records. I said, you know, at this time, I think I've outgrown this particular phase.
TODD: Barely heard from for about a decade, he shocked many fans in 1989 by supporting the death sentence issued for "Satanic Verses" author Salmon Rushdie by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. He was once deported from Israel over allegations that he supported the militant Islamic group Hamas.
But Islam has claimed that he's never given money to charities that support terrorism. He condemned the September 11 attacks, has performed to raise money for 9/11 victims, and even reignited his music career for peaceful causes in the Middle East.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: If he's on a watch list, how did Yusuf Islam get on the plane? Well, government sources say Islam's name, which was recently added to the list, was misspelled on it, which could explain why it was originally missed by United Airlines.
Now, contacted by CNN, a United spokesman would not comment on this incident, but did say United has one of the best systems for checking passengers against that watch list -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much for the report.
Showing off for the camera. Look at this. This dog, look at this dog. Where is the dog? There is the dog. It can do it all, I guess.
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BLITZER: Despite reports the wedding was a fake, Britney Spears' fiancee, Kevin Federline, insists it was real.
He tells "People" magazine the planned October 16 nuptials were moved up to this past weekend to avoid a media frenzy. He says he and Spears will file their license next week. They have 90 days under L.A. County law. It's Spears' second marriage. Her first in Las Vegas to a childhood friend lasted less than two days before that one was annulled.
He's no one-trick puppy, our picture of the day. Look at this. Joey (ph) is a Jack Russell of all trades. The high-energy terrier has to keep moving. They can't keep him off his skateboard. And he also drives a minicar with one paw. He's been known to dunk a basketball and jump rope again and again. Cute.
That's all the time we have. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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