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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Exlposion Rocks Hilton Hotel On Egypt/Israel Border; Deulfer Report Looks Deeply Into Personality Of Hussein; Interview with Scott Ritter

Aired October 07, 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.


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news story happening right now. A huge explosion at a Hilton hotel in Egypt along the border with Israel. Reports of casualties coming in right now. Part of the hotel in Taba collapsing. We're waiting for pictures. We're waiting for eyewitness accounts. There are conflicting reports at this hour about the possible cause. One possibility, of course, is terrorism. We're standing by for details.
Also happening now, is the Green Zone no longer secure in Baghdad? There are new warnings to Americans to prevent kidnappings and killings as insurgents shock the West at a Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Baghdad caught on camera. Hotels housing Americans under siege in the heart of the capital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two rockets, I saw them go right past me.

BLITZER: Weapons wrangle. Bush concedes the intelligence was wrong, but...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were right to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison.

BLITZER: Kerry counters...

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This week has provided definitive evidence as to why George Bush should not be reelected president of the United States.

BLITZER: Was he right all along?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth of the matter is Iraq has not been shown to possess weapons of mass destruction.

BLITZER: I'll speak with former weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

And flu shot fallout. Not enough vaccine to go around? What's the government doing about it? I'll ask the CDC director.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, October 7, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We are beginning with breaking news out of the Middle East. A powerful explosion has shaken the Hilton Hotel at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Taba just across the border, literally a few feet across the border from Israel. This is the hotel, normally, under normal circumstances, a beautiful resort. This Hilton Hotel in Taba, along the Sinai, along Israel -- along Israel's southern city of Eilat. This is what it normally looks like. It doesn't look like this anymore.

We're standing by for pictures from this explosion. Israeli medics on the scene say they have reports of what they say are many casualties. At this point, though, accounts are differing to the cause of the explosion. Some witnesses are reporting a gas explosion, others are saying it was a terrorist attack.

As I said, the hotel sits just yards from Israel's border, the city of Eilat, Taba is the main crossing point for thousands of Israelis who want to visit Egypt's Red Sea area and the Sinai resort. CNN's John Vause is on the phone with us now. He joins us from Jerusalem. A lot of Israelis go to that hotel. John, what are you hearing there?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. What we know right now is there has been a large explosion in the resort of Taba. We do not know the cause. As you mentioned, it could be a gas explosion, it could be some kind of suicide bomber. The Reuters News Agency reporting that it could be some kind of suicide bombing involved in this explosion. We cannot confirm that at this date. What we do know is that there is in fact a large number of casualties. We are at the end of the Jewish holiday here in Israel. A large number of Israelis have been holidaying in the Sinai area in Taba despite a warning which was issued a week or so ago by the Israeli government to Israelis not to holiday in the Sinai area because of the threat of terrorism.

Israeli media has been reporting that Israeli ambulances have been stopped at the border, they are not being allowed to cross to tend to the wounded. We are hearing that in fact there are a large number of casualties. But the exact number at this stage is not known. We do not know if there are in fact fatalities involved, but there certainly to be a very large explosion, possibly caused by some kind of gas cylinder explosion, but as I said, according to the Reuters News Agency, by some kind of suicide bombing. Those details are not clear at this stage -- Wolf.

BLITZER: The Associated Press is quoting an Israeli eyewitness at the explosion, telling Israel's army radio, let me quote directly what this eyewitness said, Igal Yakni (ph), he said, "the whole front of the hotel has collapsed, there are dozens of people on the floor, lots of blood. It's very tense. He added this, "I am standing outside of the hotel. The whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with. There is nothing here."

What we are seeing are some file pictures of the hotel, file pictures before this hotel explosion in Taba at the Hilton Hotel. Clearly, a serious, serious development indeed. John Vause, I'm going to ask you to stand by. We're going to get back to you as soon as we get some more information.

Once again, an explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba. Lots of casualties. We'll get more information for you. The Hilton Hotel in Taba.

The source of this explosion, the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad, the source of another attack earlier in the day. If Iraq's insurgents wanted to send a message, they found the right address. Rockets slammed into that Sheraton Hotel right in the middle of central Baghdad, touching off a furious display of fireworks as U.S. troops shot back at the attackers. Our senior international correspondent Brent Sadler saw it all. Here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The unseen by terrifying face of Iraq's insurgents striking at one of central Baghdad's best known hotels, the Sheraton, hit by two powerful rockets fired from close range. A lower floor set ablaze. The blasts followed by machine gunfire and near-immediate U.S. response.

I saw tracer rounds pierce the night sky. U.S. troops on top of the hotel pouring fire at a 45-degree angle towards the launch site. Reporters in the hotel say the first rocket exploded two floors up on the outside of the Sheraton, scattering shrapnel and debris, guests taking cover after the first blast were caught by the second as it slammed into the building detonating higher up.

No serious casualties, but shock and confusion in smoke-filled areas of the hotel, home to Western media organizations and foreign contractors. They picked their way through piles of broken glass amid hotel warnings that more rockets could be fired. Then, as emergency services circled the blast site, a third detonation.

Not a rocket this time, a reported misfire from a launch vehicle. U.S. troops make up part of sector security here, taking a higher profile soon after the attack. The Sheraton and nearby Palestine Hotel that wasn't hit are among the heaviest guarded buildings in the capital sitting across the Tigris River from the fortress-like Green Zone.

By Iraq's gruesome yardstick of terror, the impact of those rockets literally a stone's throw from here should barely register, but the targeting of journalists and private contractors fuels the angst here that the insurgency is far from under control. Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: "The Washington Post" correspondent Karl Vick was inside the Sheraton Hotel when it was hit. He is joining us on the phone now from Baghdad. Carl, what was it like, set the scene for us, tell us what you remember. KARL VICK, "WASHINGTON POST" CORRESPONDENT: Well, I was on -- you have to understand that The Sheraton is a tall tower, but the first six floors are built around an atrium with sort of a familiar balcony-like walkways around it. I was sort of at one corner talking to an Iraqi staff when there was a very loud explosion. We all hit the deck, they're all piling on top of me like (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and we see down -- then we hear another report some moments later, then we sort of cleared and got to a safe place, but at least one of the rooms was on fire from this explosion.

It turns out it was, after talking with the military here, it was not a rocket, but a 155-millimeter artillery shell. These were fired from the back of a minivan from the square, the place where they pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein, which faces the hotel, and so it was a really big shell. It happened to hit in the concrete between two rooms, so it didn't impact a room directly but sort of ruined and tore up two of them.

BLITZER: Karl, this is an extraordinary circumstance at the Sheraton Hotel or the Palestine Hotel, not in the so-called Green Zone, the most secure area, but relatively speaking, a pretty secure area. How unusual is this for an attack like this to happen at a Western hotel in Baghdad?

VICK: It's not -- it's happened before. We've had rockets land here, they were rockets, some months ago. This is maybe the third or fourth attack. Mortars land near here. Sometimes they're falling short while aimed at the Green Zone. Sometimes they're clearly meant for here. It's just a hotel that's identified with the U.S. presence because of the contractors, because of the U.S. military that is here to protect it. And they do get a big ride, as you say, because there's also a lot of television here.

BLITZER: And even though it's not in the Green Zone, it's a relatively secure area. Karl, let me get your thoughts on this. I just got a copy of a consular affairs bulletin put out by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad telling Americans living and working inside the Green Zone to limit nonessential movement, especially at night, to travel in groups of two or more, to carry several means of communication, and to conduct a thorough search of their vehicles before entering it. It looks like it's even getting more tenuous inside the Green Zone itself. Is that what you're hearing?

VICK: Yes, and it has been that way, Wolf -- it's been growing more tense there in recent weeks. You know, it was really a significant attempted attack today on a Western target was an IUD found inside a place called The Green Zone Cafe, which is a place where people who think they're living in this sort of this little mini-America that is that fortress frequent, and it was found and disarmed, no harm. But now we're finding IUDs in the Green Zone.

BLITZER: All right, Karl Vick of the "Washington Post." Thank God you're OK, and thank God there were no casualties. It was pretty harrowing around noon Eastern today when those artillery shells hit the Sheraton Hotel. Karl Vick, thanks very much. Please be careful. On the campaign trail here in the United States, Democratic candidate John Kerry took the gloves off a day after U.S. intelligence found there were no weapons stockpiles or active programs of any serious weapons in Iraq, certainly no weapons of mass destruction. Kerry unleashed his strongest criticism yet of President Bush. CNN's Dan Lothian reports from Englewood, Wisconsin (sic).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Senator Kerry took a break from his debate preparations at this resort in Englewood, Colorado, to respond to attacks by the Bush administration and to respond to a couple developments this week, specifically remarks made by Paul Bremer, the former U.S. administrator in Iraq concerning the inadequate number of troops on the ground and also responding to the CIA report yesterday which indicated that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when the United States attacked.

KERRY: The primary justification for going to war, the reason the Congress gave the president authority to use force after he had exhausted all the other remedies, was to disarm Saddam Hussein of the weapons of mass destruction. We remember the pieces of evidence like aluminum tubes and Niger yellowcake uranium that were laid out before us, all overblown then, we said they were, and now completely known to be wrong.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Senior Kerry advisers say even though tomorrow's debate will focus on domestic issues, they expect that the senator will go after the president on Iraq. He wants to continue that theme that he has been speaking about throughout this campaign that the president has not been straight with the American people. As to whether or not he is prepared for the debate when he was asked that question, he simply said, "I'm ready for some exercise and enjoying the good day." Dan Lothian, CNN, Englewood, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Colorado, not Wisconsin, sorry for that mistake. Thanks, Dan Lothian, very much.

Unbowed by the weapons report President Bush is standing by his decision to invade Iraq. He's now in Wisconsin himself. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with him -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, of course, that debate continues despite the administration's own findings there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion, the principal rationale for going to war in the first place. President Bush at the White House defending his position using selected portions of that report to make his case that it was the right decision to go after Saddam Hussein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Based on all the information we have today, I believe we were right to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means, and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, the debate over who is best fit to lead as commander-in-chief in the global war on terror, of course, becoming the emerging centerpiece of this reelection campaign. It was just moments ago that President Bush here before a rally in Wisconsin making the argument that he believes that his opponent Kerry has been inconsistent when it comes to his positions on Iraq. He used Kerry's own words in which he said on the Senate floor that he was in support of this war and that he made the case that just this past week that Kerry's position against it, he says he believes this makes Kerry unfit to be commander-in-chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: He's claiming I misled America about weapons when he himself cited the very same intelligence about Saddam's weapons programs as the reason he voted to go to war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now the president, after leaving here, of course, will go to St. Louis, Missouri, he'll begin to prepare for the debate for tomorrow. The president, we're told by Bush aides, will continue to use the strategy of using Kerry's own words against him including his record. At the same time, the president will take advantage of what he says is his perceived advantage of the middle-class voters when it comes to his plan on the economy. Expect to hear much about the economy, but also, of course, very much some heated words and debate over Iraq policy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux in Wisconsin, thanks very much.

We're continuing to follow that breaking news. Our top story out of Egypt where a strong explosion has rocked the Hilton Hotel in Taba, along the border with Israel just outside Israel's southern city of Eilat. There are now reports emerging of significant numbers of casualties. We'll bring you the developments as we get them. Once again, a serious explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, Egypt along the border with Israel.

We're also getting new revelations right now about Saddam Hussein, details about the former dictator's interests, including a fondness for a famous American author.

Flu shot frenzy. With the supply dwindling, how will officials make sure the highest-risk people get the vaccine. The director of the Center for Disease Control will join me live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: That massive new U.S. intelligence report which has sent out so many shockwaves focused on the hunt for Saddam Hussein's weapons, but it also draws an extraordinary portrait of Saddam Hussein himself. For that, our national security correspondent David Ensor is joining us live -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Saddam is shrewd, but ignorant, brutal, paranoid. A fascinating picture of the Iraqi dictator emerges from the Duelfer report. Saddam Hussein watched classic American movies, using them, he says, to try to understand the west.

Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" was among his favorite books.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): By his own account, he only used a telephone twice since 1990, for fear of being located for a U.S. attack. That insight, gleaned recently from Saddam the prisoner, by his Arabic- speaking FBI interrogator.

CHARLES DUELFER, CIA ADVISER: He naturally had limited incentives to be candid or forthcoming at all, nevertheless, many of his statements were interesting and revealing.

ENSOR: Saddam saw himself as a monumental Arab leader in the tradition of Nebuchadnezzar or Saladin. He worked hard on the cult of personality in the style of another hero, Stalin.

DUELFER: He's very shrewd. He has an exquisite sense of what motivates people, often at the basest level, but is enormously susceptible to making hugely dangerous decisions.

ENSOR: For example, the decision to invade Kuwait in 1990, a decision his then foreign minister, Tarik Aziz, now says he argued against.

DUELFER: I asked him why did you invade Kuwait before you had a nuclear weapon? And he more or less shrugged and pointed to the picture on the wall. And the picture on the wall, in virtually any room you're in in Iraq those days was Saddam.

ENSOR: Apparently the CIA or someone bugged his office, because there is a transcript in the report of his discussion with aides before the Gulf War. "I need these germs to be fixed on missiles," he orders at one point. Saying "biological weapons should be pointed at Saudi Arabia and Israel."

His subordinates say Saddam increasingly trusted only family and clan members, and coddled his violent, corrupt sons Uday and Qusay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Interesting Duelfer's report says Saddam did not consider the United States a natural adversary as he did Iran and Israel. Right up until the end, he still thought he might be able to achieve good relations someday. BLITZER: Living in a dream world indeed. Thanks very much. Fascinating material. I suspect a lot more interesting tidbits in that 1,000-page report, David.

ENSOR: It's a long report.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

We'll continue to following the breaking news out of Egypt right now where a strong explosion has rocked the Hilton Hotel in Taba along the border with Israel near Eilat. We'll bring you those developments as they happen. We're standing by.

Also, he spoke out against the Bush administration's earlier claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He spoke out before the war began. The former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter joins me live this hour.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the end of the day, the community does very much feel it is under a microscope and it is being looked at and scrutinized very closely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Controversial questioning, is one group being unfairly targeted by the FBI? Our Kelli Arena standing by with details.

Flu fears: people scrambling to receive the vaccine. I'll talk with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding. She joins me live. All of that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Reuters news agency now reporting that 23 people -- 23 Israelis are believed to have been killed in that hotel explosion. At the Hilton Hotel in Taba, along with the border with Israel, outside Eilat in Egypt itself.

Reuters saying that Arab TV quoting Egyptian sources in Taba as saying 23 people have been killed. Clearly, if that is true, many, many more have been injured.

This is a picture of the Hilton Hotel in Taba clearly before the explosion. Eyewitnesses saying the whole front of the hotel has been destroyed. Unclear now the cause of what caused the explosion. Lots of suspicion, though, that terrorists were involved.

We'll monitor this story for you and get back to you as we get more information. Reuters, though, saying 23 people dead.

The FBI meanwhile has launched a new round of interviews this week, part of a larger effort to uncover intelligence about a possible terror attack right here in the United States. For information on that, let's turn to our justice correspondent Kelli Arena -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the interviews are being conducted nationwide. Agents hope that they will lead to useful information, but some say that they are doing more harm than good.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Federal investigators are once again stepping up questioning of Muslims and Arab-Americans.

LAILA AL-QATAMI, AM-ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE: At the end of the day, the community does very much feel that it is under a microscope and it is being looked at and scrutinized very closely.

ARENA: The FBI has conducted nearly 13,500 interviews, not all of Arabs and Muslims, since May when a special task force was set up to deal with, what officials say, is an election-year threat.

Back in July, agents in Florida interviewed one Muslim convert. Fearing retaliation, she agreed to talk to CNN, but wanted her face hidden.

LINDA, INTERVIEWED BY FBI: They were asking me have I heard anything within the Muslim community, through anybody at the mosque or anybody that we know, is there anybody looking to buy a truck or a van or a large vehicle of any kind that they could carry stuff in?

ARENA: She testified as a character witness on behalf of a man officials say was linked to enemy combatant Jose Padilla who allegedly planned to set off a dirty bomb.

LINDA: They wanted to know how I knew him.

ARENA: The FBI would not comment. Other Muslims who ahve been interviewed say they have no idea how they came to be on the FBI's radar screen, and called some interview questions inappropriate.

AL-QATAMI: Agents were asking them whether they favored a regime change in Iraq.

ARENA: The Justice Department denies charges of racial profiling.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Our objective is not directed toward ethnicity.

ARENA: Officials say the majority of those interviewed by the FBI are not Muslims who are Arab-Americans, but workers in specific industries that could be used by terrorists, like trucking, or self- storage.

JOYCE LAVOY, SOUTH TOLEDO SELF STORAGE: Suspicions were if somebody came in and wanted to rent a unit for like six months and pay cash.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ARENA: But perception is sometimes as potent and reality. Many Arab-Americans say the interviews are causing fear and resentment and further chilling relations between the FBI and their communities -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena, thanks very much for that report.

He was an expert on WMD long before the war in Iraq, but his warnings went largely unheeded. I'll speak live with the former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

Flu season approaching and a severe shortage of vaccine, is it a crisis in the making? The head of the CDC will join us live.

And late-night TV breaking the campaign tension with the lighter side of politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's more information we're getting on that explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, Egypt, along the border with Israel, just outside Eilat, Reuters quoting Egyptian media, saying 23 Israelis have been killed. An unknown number have been wounded.

We're also getting information now from Reuters that one and maybe two other resort towns in Egypt along the border, not from Israel, Nuweiba being one of them, have also seen explosions only within the past few minutes.

Let's bring in our John Vause in Jerusalem. He's monitoring this story for us, a breaking news story.

John, update our viewers. What are you hearing there?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it appears, at least according to Israeli security sources, what they are telling us right now and what we're hearing from the wire reports, they believe -- they have no confirmation of this -- that this does appear in fact to be a terrorist attack.

There was at least at first massive blasts in Taba, in the Egyptian border town, killing at least at this stage according to some wire reports and also according to Israeli media, at least 20 Israelis, possibly more. The wounded are being evacuated to the seaside town of Eilat on the Israeli side. Two Israeli helicopters have been scrambled to evacuate the wounded from Eilat. They've being given permission by the Egyptian government to cross the border to evacuate the wounded.

And as you mentioned, Wolf, two more explosions possibly in the last few moments alone, one in the Nuweiba and another in another resort. We're finding out details about that as we speak. We're not too sure of the exact location right now.

But what we are hearing is this could be the responsibility of the militant group Hamas. Over the last nine days here, Wolf, here in the Gaza Strip, there has been a concentrated Israeli military campaign within the Gaza Strip to crack the back of militants who have been firing homemade Qassam rockets into Israel. It's been a massive Israeli campaign.

During that campaign, they have killed a number of senior militant leaders, including the leader of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. They have vowed revenge, but they have been frustrated by their attempts to carry out attacks within Israel. So purely speculation at this stage, but it appears, it appears that possibly these attacks in these Egyptian seaside resorts could be a result of that massive military operation ongoing right now in the Gaza Strip.

A number of reporters and analysts within the Israeli media and the security sources are speculating that this could be the source of those blasts in the Egyptian seaside resorts that we are seeing right now, Wolf.

BLITZER: And, John, just to make it clear to our viewers who have never been to this area, this is an area inside Egypt, but it's an area where thousands of Israelis and other foreign tourists congregate. They go for the beautiful diving, the scenery, the Sinai obviously right there. This is a time right now at the end of the Jewish holiday called Sukkot, where literally hundreds if not thousands of Israelis had gone to this hotel, not only in Taba, but in Nuweiba and other parts of these resort areas in Egypt, in Eastern Sinai as well.

It's a very popular tourist attraction for Israelis, which could make it a very, very good target for terrorists. Increasingly, if there's a second and a third terrorist attack or attack, explosion near this Hilton Hotel in Taba, it would tend to reinforce the notions that these were acts of terror, as opposed to some sort of gas leak.

I'm going to ask John Vause to stand by in Jerusalem, get some more information for us.

Our national security analyst Ken Robinson is joining us now as well.

Ken, it looks like some sort of -- it's all very sketchy, very preliminary, but it would look to be some like sort of coordinated terror strike at these hotels.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Wolf.

Egypt suffered from an enormous amount of coordinated terrorist attacks in 1996 and 1997 by Ayman Zawahri and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, where they were attacking tourist camps. They attacked the Cairo Museum. They attacked Luxor, where they macheted almost 70 German tourists. And the attempt there at that time was an economic sabotage of the economy of Egypt.

These attacks in this area, especially in the Eilat area -- I've been there. It's fantastic, scuba diving, enormous congregation of all nationalities, and it will have a serious economic impact on the region. BLITZER: All right, Ken Robinson, we're going to continue to monitor this story for our viewers.

Once again, reports of some 23, at least 23 Israelis killed in this hotel explosion, the Hilton Hotel in Taba in Egypt along the border with Israel, a second explosion in Nuweiba, not far away, another resort town, and possibly a third resort town hit by an explosion as well. We're standing by.

We're getting some -- we're standing by for video that is about to come in. We'll share it with you and get some more information as it becomes available, but we'll move on to other news for now.

Long before the world focused on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Scott Ritter was already an expert on the subject. Over the course of almost a decade, the former U.N. weapons inspector managed to irritate two U.S. administrations and his United Nations boss with contrarian views that now appear to have been absolutely right.

Here's CNN Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first, he was a thorn in Saddam's side.

SCOTT RITTER, FORMER CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR IN IRAQ: Are you denying the access to this site?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not denying you.

RITTER: So let me go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not allowed to go.

TODD: That was in the mid-1990s, when former U.S. Marine Scott Ritter was such a bulldog as a U.N. weapons inspector that he was accused of being an American spy by Iraqi officials. He later quit the inspection team, accusing the U.N. and the Clinton administration of being too soft on Saddam's regime.

By late 2002 and early 2003, as U.S. forces prepared to invade Iraq, the president's national security team fanned out on TV to pound the message.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Based on what we have seen, we're fairly confident that he in fact is moving forward once again to develop nuclear weapons.

TODD: But, by then, Scott Ritter had emphatically changed his tune.

RITTER: We have inspectors on the ground. They're getting compliance. They're doing their job, and they're not finding anything that warrants a threat worthy of war. TODD: Ritter became a punching back, pummeled by some of the most powerful figures in the Iraq debate, from his former boss in the U.N..

RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER UNSCOM CHAIRMAN: What Ritter is saying is simply not true. When he worked for me, right to the last day before he resigned, he gave me robust recommendations to the effect that we should go and kick in doors and look for the weapons that he utterly assured me Iraq continued to hold.

TODD: To the man who was then vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Shelby, September 2002, quote -- "I have met Scott Ritter before and I think he's an idealist. I think he wants to believe that everybody's good and the world's going to be safe. But I don't believe there's any real credence to his statements. It looks to me like that he's over there courting Saddam Hussein at the wrong time at the wrong place."

Ritter had gone to Baghdad in September 2002 to address the Iraqi Parliament. He told them the Bush administration had no proof that Iraq had reconstituted its weapons program. At the time, Charles Duelfer, another of Ritter's former U.N. bosses, had this to say.

CHARLES DUELFER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I think it's an exercise that you know, supports the Iraqi government, him showing up in Baghdad. I wish that Iraqis could come to the United States with equal freedom and speak their minds equally.

TODD: This was Charles Duelfer on Wednesday on his role as chief author of a new CIA report on Iraq's weapons program.

DUELFER: I think the prospects of finding militarily significant -- and I sound like I'm trying to create jargon here -- but a significant stockpile is -- I don't know, less than 5 percent.

TODD: Those prewar attacks on Ritter's credibility were not entirely baseless. Ritter had, by own admission, accepted $400,000 from an Iraqi-American businessman said to be sympathetic to Saddam to produce a documentary critical of U.S. sanctions against Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And at the time he leveled those prewar assertions that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, one intelligence analyst points out, Ritter hadn't been an inspector for years. He had to have been guessing on at least some of it. Well, guessing or not, most accounts now support much of what Scott Ritter said then -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much for that report.

And let's bring in the man himself, Scott Ritter, the former U.N. weapons inspector, joining us now from Albany, New York.

Scott, as you take a look right now at what Charles Duelfer has reported, David Kay has reported, the fact that no significant stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction have been found, what goes through your mind looking back on what you went through personally, how you were hammered before the war?

RITTER: Well, I try to keep myself out of the debate, because it's not about me. It's about the United States of America and the decisions that our elected officials make in our name. Look, I said what I said. I wasn't guessing. I was basing it upon factual data derived from seven years experience in Iraq.

If you read my book that I write in 1998, "Endgame," it's almost a mirror image of the report that Charles Duelfer just produced. It's the same data. We used the same facts. The problem is, in 1998, I was willing to embrace these facts. Unfortunately, it's taken us five years and a war and over 1,060 dead Americans before government officials have come to the same conclusion that was very reachable in 1998, indeed reachable in 2002 on the eve of war.

BLITZER: Well, what is your interpretation? You came up with the right conclusion before the war. The administration came up with the wrong conclusion. You didn't have access to the latest intelligence reports. You had access to information you had collected years earlier.

RITTER: Well, let's keep in mind that I acknowledge that all of the analysis that I made was derived from seven years of accumulated data that I had not updated the database since I left in 1998. And I made it clear in my discussion since 1998 that unless someone can demonstrate that there is a new stream of intelligence, that there is new data out there that significantly alters what I knew to be the case in 1998, then I would stick to the data that existed.

No one could provide any hard substantive data to sustain the assertions made by the Bush administration post-2001 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It simply wasn't possible.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Scott, one final question. I want to cut this relatively short, because we have breaking news coming out of the Middle East in Taba, Egypt, as you know.

There was a suggestion from Charles Duelfer in his report saying that if the sanctions were lifted, Saddam Hussein would then go ahead, his intention was to reconstitute a weapons of mass destruction program. Do you accept that one?

RITTER: Absolutely not.

First of all, Charles Duelfer in his report acknowledges that this assessment is based on fragmentary speculation. He doesn't have a confession from Saddam. He doesn't have a confession from any of the senior leadership. He doesn't have any documentation to back this up.

This is political spin. Charles Duelfer, a nice guy, I like him a lot and I respect him, but he's a political appointee whose task is to spin this data to the political advantage of the president, and that's all this issue of intent is. BLITZER: Well, if that was what he was intending to do, to spin it for the political advantage of the president, he certainly didn't do it in that 1,000-page document, most of which contradicted dramatically what the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense were saying on the eve of the war, so you have to give him a little bit more credit than that.

RITTER: No.

Again, the issue of intention provides the Bush administration a convenient out. Witness the statements made by the president and the vice president just today, where they say that because Saddam Hussein intended to have his weapons, this war was justified. That's a dramatic, you know, new approach to why we went to war with Iraq, and I don't think the American public or the American Congress should buy it in the least.

We should demand that the data used by Charles Duelfer to derive this conclusion of intention be declassified, so that we all could be privy to why he believes Saddam Hussein had such intentions.

BLITZER: Scott Ritter joining us today -- Scott, thanks very much.

RITTER: Thank you.

BLITZER: To our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Do you believe Saddam Hussein intended to produce weapons of mass destruction? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

We're getting these reports, breaking news, three -- not one, not two, but three separate explosions in Egypt along the border with Israel, one at the Hilton Hotel in Taba and two others at resort towns, Nuweiba being one of them, not far away in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. There are significant casualties. We'll continue to follow this breaking news story for you, get some more information.

Also, a very important story right here at home, flu shot fallout. What can be done about the critical shortage of the vaccine? I'll ask the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding. She's standing by to answer some questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: With the nation's supply of flu vaccine cut almost in half, public health officials are scrambling to make sure what is available will get to the people who need it most.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is joining us now live.

Dr. Gerberding, this is a serious, serious problem. A lot of our viewers, especially older people, very nervous. How nervous should they be? DR. JULIE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Well, I think right now, we should have confidence that everyone is trying to cooperate and make sure we get the doses of vaccine that we do have to the people who need it the most. That's happening at the local level. It's happening here in the federal government.

And even as we speak, the Food and Drug Administration is in the United Kingdom seeing if any safe doses of vaccine might be made available.

BLITZER: Who are the people that need it the most?

GERBERDING: Well, the people who are most likely to have serious complications from flu are those who are 65 years of age or older, children between the ages of six and 23 months, and people who have underlying medical conditions. So those people should be first in line to receive the vaccine.

Healthy people should probably forgo the vaccine this year unless we're able to find more doses.

BLITZER: And a lot of people don't realize how many people die from complications from the flu every year. About how many Americans die from flu complications every year?

GERBERDING: Well, you know, in an average year, about 36,000 people die and about 200,000 people are hospitalized. People really don't realize how serious influenza can be. And that's why we really need to solve the problem of the vaccine production, so that we can guarantee that everyone who needs a dose of vaccine can get it.

BLITZER: We're hearing reports, sporadic right now, of price gouging, of some suppliers doubling, tripling, quadrupling the price to make a quick buck. Are you hearing that as well?

GERBERDING: We're hearing some isolated reports of that, and we're making sure we pass that information on to the FDA, as well as the local health officials.

But, fortunately, that's an exception and not the rule. Part of the planning that we're doing right now is to identify where the doses of vaccine are at the community level, so that we can help alert health officials where additional doses are needed.

BLITZER: What if anything can you do to tell people who are healthy, not in the high-risk group, to stop getting the flu shots right now and let others in greater need get it, other than just telling them, this is the right thing to do and it's a worthwhile thing to do, is simply wait. What if people are selfish and greedy? How do you stop that from happening?

GERBERDING: Well, you know, we learned in 2000, when we also had a flu vaccine shortage, that most people really do cooperate with the recommendations. There are a few people who, for whatever reason, feel that they need a flu shot, but I think by and large we can get that kind of cooperation. So that's what we're counting on and we need everybody's helps.

BLITZER: Finally, Dr. Gerberding, are there some people even in that high-risk group that should not even under any circumstances get a flu shot?

GERBERDING: Absolutely.

People who are allergic to eggs or egg products should absolutely not get a flu shot no matter what, because all of the vaccine is made in eggs. And, in addition, anyone who's had a serious reaction to the flu shot should not be vaccinated this year. And, of course, if you have any doubt about it, just talk with your clinician, because they will be able to give you the best specific advice.

BLITZER: Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, thank you very much for that excellent advice. We hope this crisis situation does not become a real crisis. We're counting on you and your colleagues to make sure it doesn't.

Thanks very much, Dr. Gerberding.

GERBERDING: Thank you. We'll do our best.

BLITZER: And we'll update our viewers on a breaking story we've been following this whole hour, multiple explosions now coming in along the Egyptian-Israeli border. We're getting pictures now for the first time. We'll share them with you and get some more information as soon as we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Egyptian officials now say 23 people are dead in that hotel explosion in Taba, Taba, Egypt, along the border with Israel, not far from Eilat.

Others who are injured are rushed to hospitals inside Eilat itself. The borders have been opened. You can see people leaving, trying to get away from the hotel, the Hilton Hotel in Taba, try to get out, serious explosion there, believed to be terrorist-related. That's because since the explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, there's been two others Nuweiba camping grounds. Thousands of Israeli and other foreign tourists have gone to this area, love this area because of the beautiful resorts that are there.

Ken Robinson, our national security analyst, has been there. I have been there.

Ken, we are looking at these pictures. These are the first pictures coming in, Israeli medics. You can see the border area where that Israeli flag is, the Star of David. That's where the wounded are being brought to hospitals and clinics inside Eilat.

It comes, Ken, at the end of a Jewish holiday where hundreds, if not thousands of Israelis have flocked to those resort areas in Taba, despite a warning from Israeli government authorities that this could be a potentially dangerous time.

ROBINSON: And as we saw in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002, the same types of attacks had enormous economic, advantageous effect for al Qaeda. And the potential for that to impact here is going to be enormous.

BLITZER: Well, it's unclear who is responsible, al Qaeda or Hamas or any terrorist group.

We see the ambulances bringing the wounded to hospitals right now in Eilat, near Taba, Eilat being a major Israeli city, the southern port city of Israel, below the Negev Desert in Eilat. This is an explosion potentially that could have a serious ripple effect, given what the Israelis are doing now to the north in Gaza.

ROBINSON: I agree, Wolf, but there's a great possibility that there's a long-term strategy in play here. And that strategy is instability. We're seeing that effectively being carried out in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Africa. Now we see it in Egypt and in Israel. That plays into larger regional and global ramifications, other than just the specific ramifications of what's happening with Hamas.

BLITZER: A bad day for American-based hotels, the Sheraton Hotel attacked in Baghdad, now the Hilton Hotel attacked in Taba, Egypt.

We'll continue to watch this story for our viewers. We'll continue to monitor it and get all the information. Stay with CNN throughout the night for continuing coverage.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"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 October 7, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news story happening right now. A huge explosion at a Hilton hotel in Egypt along the border with Israel. Reports of casualties coming in right now. Part of the hotel in Taba collapsing. We're waiting for pictures. We're waiting for eyewitness accounts. There are conflicting reports at this hour about the possible cause. One possibility, of course, is terrorism. We're standing by for details.
Also happening now, is the Green Zone no longer secure in Baghdad? There are new warnings to Americans to prevent kidnappings and killings as insurgents shock the West at a Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Baghdad caught on camera. Hotels housing Americans under siege in the heart of the capital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two rockets, I saw them go right past me.

BLITZER: Weapons wrangle. Bush concedes the intelligence was wrong, but...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were right to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison.

BLITZER: Kerry counters...

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This week has provided definitive evidence as to why George Bush should not be reelected president of the United States.

BLITZER: Was he right all along?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth of the matter is Iraq has not been shown to possess weapons of mass destruction.

BLITZER: I'll speak with former weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

And flu shot fallout. Not enough vaccine to go around? What's the government doing about it? I'll ask the CDC director.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, October 7, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We are beginning with breaking news out of the Middle East. A powerful explosion has shaken the Hilton Hotel at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Taba just across the border, literally a few feet across the border from Israel. This is the hotel, normally, under normal circumstances, a beautiful resort. This Hilton Hotel in Taba, along the Sinai, along Israel -- along Israel's southern city of Eilat. This is what it normally looks like. It doesn't look like this anymore.

We're standing by for pictures from this explosion. Israeli medics on the scene say they have reports of what they say are many casualties. At this point, though, accounts are differing to the cause of the explosion. Some witnesses are reporting a gas explosion, others are saying it was a terrorist attack.

As I said, the hotel sits just yards from Israel's border, the city of Eilat, Taba is the main crossing point for thousands of Israelis who want to visit Egypt's Red Sea area and the Sinai resort. CNN's John Vause is on the phone with us now. He joins us from Jerusalem. A lot of Israelis go to that hotel. John, what are you hearing there?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. What we know right now is there has been a large explosion in the resort of Taba. We do not know the cause. As you mentioned, it could be a gas explosion, it could be some kind of suicide bomber. The Reuters News Agency reporting that it could be some kind of suicide bombing involved in this explosion. We cannot confirm that at this date. What we do know is that there is in fact a large number of casualties. We are at the end of the Jewish holiday here in Israel. A large number of Israelis have been holidaying in the Sinai area in Taba despite a warning which was issued a week or so ago by the Israeli government to Israelis not to holiday in the Sinai area because of the threat of terrorism.

Israeli media has been reporting that Israeli ambulances have been stopped at the border, they are not being allowed to cross to tend to the wounded. We are hearing that in fact there are a large number of casualties. But the exact number at this stage is not known. We do not know if there are in fact fatalities involved, but there certainly to be a very large explosion, possibly caused by some kind of gas cylinder explosion, but as I said, according to the Reuters News Agency, by some kind of suicide bombing. Those details are not clear at this stage -- Wolf.

BLITZER: The Associated Press is quoting an Israeli eyewitness at the explosion, telling Israel's army radio, let me quote directly what this eyewitness said, Igal Yakni (ph), he said, "the whole front of the hotel has collapsed, there are dozens of people on the floor, lots of blood. It's very tense. He added this, "I am standing outside of the hotel. The whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with. There is nothing here."

What we are seeing are some file pictures of the hotel, file pictures before this hotel explosion in Taba at the Hilton Hotel. Clearly, a serious, serious development indeed. John Vause, I'm going to ask you to stand by. We're going to get back to you as soon as we get some more information.

Once again, an explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba. Lots of casualties. We'll get more information for you. The Hilton Hotel in Taba.

The source of this explosion, the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad, the source of another attack earlier in the day. If Iraq's insurgents wanted to send a message, they found the right address. Rockets slammed into that Sheraton Hotel right in the middle of central Baghdad, touching off a furious display of fireworks as U.S. troops shot back at the attackers. Our senior international correspondent Brent Sadler saw it all. Here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The unseen by terrifying face of Iraq's insurgents striking at one of central Baghdad's best known hotels, the Sheraton, hit by two powerful rockets fired from close range. A lower floor set ablaze. The blasts followed by machine gunfire and near-immediate U.S. response.

I saw tracer rounds pierce the night sky. U.S. troops on top of the hotel pouring fire at a 45-degree angle towards the launch site. Reporters in the hotel say the first rocket exploded two floors up on the outside of the Sheraton, scattering shrapnel and debris, guests taking cover after the first blast were caught by the second as it slammed into the building detonating higher up.

No serious casualties, but shock and confusion in smoke-filled areas of the hotel, home to Western media organizations and foreign contractors. They picked their way through piles of broken glass amid hotel warnings that more rockets could be fired. Then, as emergency services circled the blast site, a third detonation.

Not a rocket this time, a reported misfire from a launch vehicle. U.S. troops make up part of sector security here, taking a higher profile soon after the attack. The Sheraton and nearby Palestine Hotel that wasn't hit are among the heaviest guarded buildings in the capital sitting across the Tigris River from the fortress-like Green Zone.

By Iraq's gruesome yardstick of terror, the impact of those rockets literally a stone's throw from here should barely register, but the targeting of journalists and private contractors fuels the angst here that the insurgency is far from under control. Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: "The Washington Post" correspondent Karl Vick was inside the Sheraton Hotel when it was hit. He is joining us on the phone now from Baghdad. Carl, what was it like, set the scene for us, tell us what you remember. KARL VICK, "WASHINGTON POST" CORRESPONDENT: Well, I was on -- you have to understand that The Sheraton is a tall tower, but the first six floors are built around an atrium with sort of a familiar balcony-like walkways around it. I was sort of at one corner talking to an Iraqi staff when there was a very loud explosion. We all hit the deck, they're all piling on top of me like (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and we see down -- then we hear another report some moments later, then we sort of cleared and got to a safe place, but at least one of the rooms was on fire from this explosion.

It turns out it was, after talking with the military here, it was not a rocket, but a 155-millimeter artillery shell. These were fired from the back of a minivan from the square, the place where they pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein, which faces the hotel, and so it was a really big shell. It happened to hit in the concrete between two rooms, so it didn't impact a room directly but sort of ruined and tore up two of them.

BLITZER: Karl, this is an extraordinary circumstance at the Sheraton Hotel or the Palestine Hotel, not in the so-called Green Zone, the most secure area, but relatively speaking, a pretty secure area. How unusual is this for an attack like this to happen at a Western hotel in Baghdad?

VICK: It's not -- it's happened before. We've had rockets land here, they were rockets, some months ago. This is maybe the third or fourth attack. Mortars land near here. Sometimes they're falling short while aimed at the Green Zone. Sometimes they're clearly meant for here. It's just a hotel that's identified with the U.S. presence because of the contractors, because of the U.S. military that is here to protect it. And they do get a big ride, as you say, because there's also a lot of television here.

BLITZER: And even though it's not in the Green Zone, it's a relatively secure area. Karl, let me get your thoughts on this. I just got a copy of a consular affairs bulletin put out by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad telling Americans living and working inside the Green Zone to limit nonessential movement, especially at night, to travel in groups of two or more, to carry several means of communication, and to conduct a thorough search of their vehicles before entering it. It looks like it's even getting more tenuous inside the Green Zone itself. Is that what you're hearing?

VICK: Yes, and it has been that way, Wolf -- it's been growing more tense there in recent weeks. You know, it was really a significant attempted attack today on a Western target was an IUD found inside a place called The Green Zone Cafe, which is a place where people who think they're living in this sort of this little mini-America that is that fortress frequent, and it was found and disarmed, no harm. But now we're finding IUDs in the Green Zone.

BLITZER: All right, Karl Vick of the "Washington Post." Thank God you're OK, and thank God there were no casualties. It was pretty harrowing around noon Eastern today when those artillery shells hit the Sheraton Hotel. Karl Vick, thanks very much. Please be careful. On the campaign trail here in the United States, Democratic candidate John Kerry took the gloves off a day after U.S. intelligence found there were no weapons stockpiles or active programs of any serious weapons in Iraq, certainly no weapons of mass destruction. Kerry unleashed his strongest criticism yet of President Bush. CNN's Dan Lothian reports from Englewood, Wisconsin (sic).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Senator Kerry took a break from his debate preparations at this resort in Englewood, Colorado, to respond to attacks by the Bush administration and to respond to a couple developments this week, specifically remarks made by Paul Bremer, the former U.S. administrator in Iraq concerning the inadequate number of troops on the ground and also responding to the CIA report yesterday which indicated that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when the United States attacked.

KERRY: The primary justification for going to war, the reason the Congress gave the president authority to use force after he had exhausted all the other remedies, was to disarm Saddam Hussein of the weapons of mass destruction. We remember the pieces of evidence like aluminum tubes and Niger yellowcake uranium that were laid out before us, all overblown then, we said they were, and now completely known to be wrong.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Senior Kerry advisers say even though tomorrow's debate will focus on domestic issues, they expect that the senator will go after the president on Iraq. He wants to continue that theme that he has been speaking about throughout this campaign that the president has not been straight with the American people. As to whether or not he is prepared for the debate when he was asked that question, he simply said, "I'm ready for some exercise and enjoying the good day." Dan Lothian, CNN, Englewood, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Colorado, not Wisconsin, sorry for that mistake. Thanks, Dan Lothian, very much.

Unbowed by the weapons report President Bush is standing by his decision to invade Iraq. He's now in Wisconsin himself. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with him -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, of course, that debate continues despite the administration's own findings there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion, the principal rationale for going to war in the first place. President Bush at the White House defending his position using selected portions of that report to make his case that it was the right decision to go after Saddam Hussein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Based on all the information we have today, I believe we were right to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means, and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, the debate over who is best fit to lead as commander-in-chief in the global war on terror, of course, becoming the emerging centerpiece of this reelection campaign. It was just moments ago that President Bush here before a rally in Wisconsin making the argument that he believes that his opponent Kerry has been inconsistent when it comes to his positions on Iraq. He used Kerry's own words in which he said on the Senate floor that he was in support of this war and that he made the case that just this past week that Kerry's position against it, he says he believes this makes Kerry unfit to be commander-in-chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: He's claiming I misled America about weapons when he himself cited the very same intelligence about Saddam's weapons programs as the reason he voted to go to war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now the president, after leaving here, of course, will go to St. Louis, Missouri, he'll begin to prepare for the debate for tomorrow. The president, we're told by Bush aides, will continue to use the strategy of using Kerry's own words against him including his record. At the same time, the president will take advantage of what he says is his perceived advantage of the middle-class voters when it comes to his plan on the economy. Expect to hear much about the economy, but also, of course, very much some heated words and debate over Iraq policy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux in Wisconsin, thanks very much.

We're continuing to follow that breaking news. Our top story out of Egypt where a strong explosion has rocked the Hilton Hotel in Taba, along the border with Israel just outside Israel's southern city of Eilat. There are now reports emerging of significant numbers of casualties. We'll bring you the developments as we get them. Once again, a serious explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, Egypt along the border with Israel.

We're also getting new revelations right now about Saddam Hussein, details about the former dictator's interests, including a fondness for a famous American author.

Flu shot frenzy. With the supply dwindling, how will officials make sure the highest-risk people get the vaccine. The director of the Center for Disease Control will join me live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: That massive new U.S. intelligence report which has sent out so many shockwaves focused on the hunt for Saddam Hussein's weapons, but it also draws an extraordinary portrait of Saddam Hussein himself. For that, our national security correspondent David Ensor is joining us live -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Saddam is shrewd, but ignorant, brutal, paranoid. A fascinating picture of the Iraqi dictator emerges from the Duelfer report. Saddam Hussein watched classic American movies, using them, he says, to try to understand the west.

Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" was among his favorite books.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): By his own account, he only used a telephone twice since 1990, for fear of being located for a U.S. attack. That insight, gleaned recently from Saddam the prisoner, by his Arabic- speaking FBI interrogator.

CHARLES DUELFER, CIA ADVISER: He naturally had limited incentives to be candid or forthcoming at all, nevertheless, many of his statements were interesting and revealing.

ENSOR: Saddam saw himself as a monumental Arab leader in the tradition of Nebuchadnezzar or Saladin. He worked hard on the cult of personality in the style of another hero, Stalin.

DUELFER: He's very shrewd. He has an exquisite sense of what motivates people, often at the basest level, but is enormously susceptible to making hugely dangerous decisions.

ENSOR: For example, the decision to invade Kuwait in 1990, a decision his then foreign minister, Tarik Aziz, now says he argued against.

DUELFER: I asked him why did you invade Kuwait before you had a nuclear weapon? And he more or less shrugged and pointed to the picture on the wall. And the picture on the wall, in virtually any room you're in in Iraq those days was Saddam.

ENSOR: Apparently the CIA or someone bugged his office, because there is a transcript in the report of his discussion with aides before the Gulf War. "I need these germs to be fixed on missiles," he orders at one point. Saying "biological weapons should be pointed at Saudi Arabia and Israel."

His subordinates say Saddam increasingly trusted only family and clan members, and coddled his violent, corrupt sons Uday and Qusay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Interesting Duelfer's report says Saddam did not consider the United States a natural adversary as he did Iran and Israel. Right up until the end, he still thought he might be able to achieve good relations someday. BLITZER: Living in a dream world indeed. Thanks very much. Fascinating material. I suspect a lot more interesting tidbits in that 1,000-page report, David.

ENSOR: It's a long report.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

We'll continue to following the breaking news out of Egypt right now where a strong explosion has rocked the Hilton Hotel in Taba along the border with Israel near Eilat. We'll bring you those developments as they happen. We're standing by.

Also, he spoke out against the Bush administration's earlier claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He spoke out before the war began. The former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter joins me live this hour.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the end of the day, the community does very much feel it is under a microscope and it is being looked at and scrutinized very closely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Controversial questioning, is one group being unfairly targeted by the FBI? Our Kelli Arena standing by with details.

Flu fears: people scrambling to receive the vaccine. I'll talk with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding. She joins me live. All of that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Reuters news agency now reporting that 23 people -- 23 Israelis are believed to have been killed in that hotel explosion. At the Hilton Hotel in Taba, along with the border with Israel, outside Eilat in Egypt itself.

Reuters saying that Arab TV quoting Egyptian sources in Taba as saying 23 people have been killed. Clearly, if that is true, many, many more have been injured.

This is a picture of the Hilton Hotel in Taba clearly before the explosion. Eyewitnesses saying the whole front of the hotel has been destroyed. Unclear now the cause of what caused the explosion. Lots of suspicion, though, that terrorists were involved.

We'll monitor this story for you and get back to you as we get more information. Reuters, though, saying 23 people dead.

The FBI meanwhile has launched a new round of interviews this week, part of a larger effort to uncover intelligence about a possible terror attack right here in the United States. For information on that, let's turn to our justice correspondent Kelli Arena -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the interviews are being conducted nationwide. Agents hope that they will lead to useful information, but some say that they are doing more harm than good.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Federal investigators are once again stepping up questioning of Muslims and Arab-Americans.

LAILA AL-QATAMI, AM-ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE: At the end of the day, the community does very much feel that it is under a microscope and it is being looked at and scrutinized very closely.

ARENA: The FBI has conducted nearly 13,500 interviews, not all of Arabs and Muslims, since May when a special task force was set up to deal with, what officials say, is an election-year threat.

Back in July, agents in Florida interviewed one Muslim convert. Fearing retaliation, she agreed to talk to CNN, but wanted her face hidden.

LINDA, INTERVIEWED BY FBI: They were asking me have I heard anything within the Muslim community, through anybody at the mosque or anybody that we know, is there anybody looking to buy a truck or a van or a large vehicle of any kind that they could carry stuff in?

ARENA: She testified as a character witness on behalf of a man officials say was linked to enemy combatant Jose Padilla who allegedly planned to set off a dirty bomb.

LINDA: They wanted to know how I knew him.

ARENA: The FBI would not comment. Other Muslims who ahve been interviewed say they have no idea how they came to be on the FBI's radar screen, and called some interview questions inappropriate.

AL-QATAMI: Agents were asking them whether they favored a regime change in Iraq.

ARENA: The Justice Department denies charges of racial profiling.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Our objective is not directed toward ethnicity.

ARENA: Officials say the majority of those interviewed by the FBI are not Muslims who are Arab-Americans, but workers in specific industries that could be used by terrorists, like trucking, or self- storage.

JOYCE LAVOY, SOUTH TOLEDO SELF STORAGE: Suspicions were if somebody came in and wanted to rent a unit for like six months and pay cash.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ARENA: But perception is sometimes as potent and reality. Many Arab-Americans say the interviews are causing fear and resentment and further chilling relations between the FBI and their communities -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena, thanks very much for that report.

He was an expert on WMD long before the war in Iraq, but his warnings went largely unheeded. I'll speak live with the former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

Flu season approaching and a severe shortage of vaccine, is it a crisis in the making? The head of the CDC will join us live.

And late-night TV breaking the campaign tension with the lighter side of politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's more information we're getting on that explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, Egypt, along the border with Israel, just outside Eilat, Reuters quoting Egyptian media, saying 23 Israelis have been killed. An unknown number have been wounded.

We're also getting information now from Reuters that one and maybe two other resort towns in Egypt along the border, not from Israel, Nuweiba being one of them, have also seen explosions only within the past few minutes.

Let's bring in our John Vause in Jerusalem. He's monitoring this story for us, a breaking news story.

John, update our viewers. What are you hearing there?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it appears, at least according to Israeli security sources, what they are telling us right now and what we're hearing from the wire reports, they believe -- they have no confirmation of this -- that this does appear in fact to be a terrorist attack.

There was at least at first massive blasts in Taba, in the Egyptian border town, killing at least at this stage according to some wire reports and also according to Israeli media, at least 20 Israelis, possibly more. The wounded are being evacuated to the seaside town of Eilat on the Israeli side. Two Israeli helicopters have been scrambled to evacuate the wounded from Eilat. They've being given permission by the Egyptian government to cross the border to evacuate the wounded.

And as you mentioned, Wolf, two more explosions possibly in the last few moments alone, one in the Nuweiba and another in another resort. We're finding out details about that as we speak. We're not too sure of the exact location right now.

But what we are hearing is this could be the responsibility of the militant group Hamas. Over the last nine days here, Wolf, here in the Gaza Strip, there has been a concentrated Israeli military campaign within the Gaza Strip to crack the back of militants who have been firing homemade Qassam rockets into Israel. It's been a massive Israeli campaign.

During that campaign, they have killed a number of senior militant leaders, including the leader of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. They have vowed revenge, but they have been frustrated by their attempts to carry out attacks within Israel. So purely speculation at this stage, but it appears, it appears that possibly these attacks in these Egyptian seaside resorts could be a result of that massive military operation ongoing right now in the Gaza Strip.

A number of reporters and analysts within the Israeli media and the security sources are speculating that this could be the source of those blasts in the Egyptian seaside resorts that we are seeing right now, Wolf.

BLITZER: And, John, just to make it clear to our viewers who have never been to this area, this is an area inside Egypt, but it's an area where thousands of Israelis and other foreign tourists congregate. They go for the beautiful diving, the scenery, the Sinai obviously right there. This is a time right now at the end of the Jewish holiday called Sukkot, where literally hundreds if not thousands of Israelis had gone to this hotel, not only in Taba, but in Nuweiba and other parts of these resort areas in Egypt, in Eastern Sinai as well.

It's a very popular tourist attraction for Israelis, which could make it a very, very good target for terrorists. Increasingly, if there's a second and a third terrorist attack or attack, explosion near this Hilton Hotel in Taba, it would tend to reinforce the notions that these were acts of terror, as opposed to some sort of gas leak.

I'm going to ask John Vause to stand by in Jerusalem, get some more information for us.

Our national security analyst Ken Robinson is joining us now as well.

Ken, it looks like some sort of -- it's all very sketchy, very preliminary, but it would look to be some like sort of coordinated terror strike at these hotels.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Wolf.

Egypt suffered from an enormous amount of coordinated terrorist attacks in 1996 and 1997 by Ayman Zawahri and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, where they were attacking tourist camps. They attacked the Cairo Museum. They attacked Luxor, where they macheted almost 70 German tourists. And the attempt there at that time was an economic sabotage of the economy of Egypt.

These attacks in this area, especially in the Eilat area -- I've been there. It's fantastic, scuba diving, enormous congregation of all nationalities, and it will have a serious economic impact on the region. BLITZER: All right, Ken Robinson, we're going to continue to monitor this story for our viewers.

Once again, reports of some 23, at least 23 Israelis killed in this hotel explosion, the Hilton Hotel in Taba in Egypt along the border with Israel, a second explosion in Nuweiba, not far away, another resort town, and possibly a third resort town hit by an explosion as well. We're standing by.

We're getting some -- we're standing by for video that is about to come in. We'll share it with you and get some more information as it becomes available, but we'll move on to other news for now.

Long before the world focused on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Scott Ritter was already an expert on the subject. Over the course of almost a decade, the former U.N. weapons inspector managed to irritate two U.S. administrations and his United Nations boss with contrarian views that now appear to have been absolutely right.

Here's CNN Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first, he was a thorn in Saddam's side.

SCOTT RITTER, FORMER CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR IN IRAQ: Are you denying the access to this site?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not denying you.

RITTER: So let me go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not allowed to go.

TODD: That was in the mid-1990s, when former U.S. Marine Scott Ritter was such a bulldog as a U.N. weapons inspector that he was accused of being an American spy by Iraqi officials. He later quit the inspection team, accusing the U.N. and the Clinton administration of being too soft on Saddam's regime.

By late 2002 and early 2003, as U.S. forces prepared to invade Iraq, the president's national security team fanned out on TV to pound the message.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Based on what we have seen, we're fairly confident that he in fact is moving forward once again to develop nuclear weapons.

TODD: But, by then, Scott Ritter had emphatically changed his tune.

RITTER: We have inspectors on the ground. They're getting compliance. They're doing their job, and they're not finding anything that warrants a threat worthy of war. TODD: Ritter became a punching back, pummeled by some of the most powerful figures in the Iraq debate, from his former boss in the U.N..

RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER UNSCOM CHAIRMAN: What Ritter is saying is simply not true. When he worked for me, right to the last day before he resigned, he gave me robust recommendations to the effect that we should go and kick in doors and look for the weapons that he utterly assured me Iraq continued to hold.

TODD: To the man who was then vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Shelby, September 2002, quote -- "I have met Scott Ritter before and I think he's an idealist. I think he wants to believe that everybody's good and the world's going to be safe. But I don't believe there's any real credence to his statements. It looks to me like that he's over there courting Saddam Hussein at the wrong time at the wrong place."

Ritter had gone to Baghdad in September 2002 to address the Iraqi Parliament. He told them the Bush administration had no proof that Iraq had reconstituted its weapons program. At the time, Charles Duelfer, another of Ritter's former U.N. bosses, had this to say.

CHARLES DUELFER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I think it's an exercise that you know, supports the Iraqi government, him showing up in Baghdad. I wish that Iraqis could come to the United States with equal freedom and speak their minds equally.

TODD: This was Charles Duelfer on Wednesday on his role as chief author of a new CIA report on Iraq's weapons program.

DUELFER: I think the prospects of finding militarily significant -- and I sound like I'm trying to create jargon here -- but a significant stockpile is -- I don't know, less than 5 percent.

TODD: Those prewar attacks on Ritter's credibility were not entirely baseless. Ritter had, by own admission, accepted $400,000 from an Iraqi-American businessman said to be sympathetic to Saddam to produce a documentary critical of U.S. sanctions against Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And at the time he leveled those prewar assertions that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, one intelligence analyst points out, Ritter hadn't been an inspector for years. He had to have been guessing on at least some of it. Well, guessing or not, most accounts now support much of what Scott Ritter said then -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much for that report.

And let's bring in the man himself, Scott Ritter, the former U.N. weapons inspector, joining us now from Albany, New York.

Scott, as you take a look right now at what Charles Duelfer has reported, David Kay has reported, the fact that no significant stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction have been found, what goes through your mind looking back on what you went through personally, how you were hammered before the war?

RITTER: Well, I try to keep myself out of the debate, because it's not about me. It's about the United States of America and the decisions that our elected officials make in our name. Look, I said what I said. I wasn't guessing. I was basing it upon factual data derived from seven years experience in Iraq.

If you read my book that I write in 1998, "Endgame," it's almost a mirror image of the report that Charles Duelfer just produced. It's the same data. We used the same facts. The problem is, in 1998, I was willing to embrace these facts. Unfortunately, it's taken us five years and a war and over 1,060 dead Americans before government officials have come to the same conclusion that was very reachable in 1998, indeed reachable in 2002 on the eve of war.

BLITZER: Well, what is your interpretation? You came up with the right conclusion before the war. The administration came up with the wrong conclusion. You didn't have access to the latest intelligence reports. You had access to information you had collected years earlier.

RITTER: Well, let's keep in mind that I acknowledge that all of the analysis that I made was derived from seven years of accumulated data that I had not updated the database since I left in 1998. And I made it clear in my discussion since 1998 that unless someone can demonstrate that there is a new stream of intelligence, that there is new data out there that significantly alters what I knew to be the case in 1998, then I would stick to the data that existed.

No one could provide any hard substantive data to sustain the assertions made by the Bush administration post-2001 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It simply wasn't possible.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Scott, one final question. I want to cut this relatively short, because we have breaking news coming out of the Middle East in Taba, Egypt, as you know.

There was a suggestion from Charles Duelfer in his report saying that if the sanctions were lifted, Saddam Hussein would then go ahead, his intention was to reconstitute a weapons of mass destruction program. Do you accept that one?

RITTER: Absolutely not.

First of all, Charles Duelfer in his report acknowledges that this assessment is based on fragmentary speculation. He doesn't have a confession from Saddam. He doesn't have a confession from any of the senior leadership. He doesn't have any documentation to back this up.

This is political spin. Charles Duelfer, a nice guy, I like him a lot and I respect him, but he's a political appointee whose task is to spin this data to the political advantage of the president, and that's all this issue of intent is. BLITZER: Well, if that was what he was intending to do, to spin it for the political advantage of the president, he certainly didn't do it in that 1,000-page document, most of which contradicted dramatically what the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense were saying on the eve of the war, so you have to give him a little bit more credit than that.

RITTER: No.

Again, the issue of intention provides the Bush administration a convenient out. Witness the statements made by the president and the vice president just today, where they say that because Saddam Hussein intended to have his weapons, this war was justified. That's a dramatic, you know, new approach to why we went to war with Iraq, and I don't think the American public or the American Congress should buy it in the least.

We should demand that the data used by Charles Duelfer to derive this conclusion of intention be declassified, so that we all could be privy to why he believes Saddam Hussein had such intentions.

BLITZER: Scott Ritter joining us today -- Scott, thanks very much.

RITTER: Thank you.

BLITZER: To our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Do you believe Saddam Hussein intended to produce weapons of mass destruction? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

We're getting these reports, breaking news, three -- not one, not two, but three separate explosions in Egypt along the border with Israel, one at the Hilton Hotel in Taba and two others at resort towns, Nuweiba being one of them, not far away in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. There are significant casualties. We'll continue to follow this breaking news story for you, get some more information.

Also, a very important story right here at home, flu shot fallout. What can be done about the critical shortage of the vaccine? I'll ask the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding. She's standing by to answer some questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: With the nation's supply of flu vaccine cut almost in half, public health officials are scrambling to make sure what is available will get to the people who need it most.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is joining us now live.

Dr. Gerberding, this is a serious, serious problem. A lot of our viewers, especially older people, very nervous. How nervous should they be? DR. JULIE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Well, I think right now, we should have confidence that everyone is trying to cooperate and make sure we get the doses of vaccine that we do have to the people who need it the most. That's happening at the local level. It's happening here in the federal government.

And even as we speak, the Food and Drug Administration is in the United Kingdom seeing if any safe doses of vaccine might be made available.

BLITZER: Who are the people that need it the most?

GERBERDING: Well, the people who are most likely to have serious complications from flu are those who are 65 years of age or older, children between the ages of six and 23 months, and people who have underlying medical conditions. So those people should be first in line to receive the vaccine.

Healthy people should probably forgo the vaccine this year unless we're able to find more doses.

BLITZER: And a lot of people don't realize how many people die from complications from the flu every year. About how many Americans die from flu complications every year?

GERBERDING: Well, you know, in an average year, about 36,000 people die and about 200,000 people are hospitalized. People really don't realize how serious influenza can be. And that's why we really need to solve the problem of the vaccine production, so that we can guarantee that everyone who needs a dose of vaccine can get it.

BLITZER: We're hearing reports, sporadic right now, of price gouging, of some suppliers doubling, tripling, quadrupling the price to make a quick buck. Are you hearing that as well?

GERBERDING: We're hearing some isolated reports of that, and we're making sure we pass that information on to the FDA, as well as the local health officials.

But, fortunately, that's an exception and not the rule. Part of the planning that we're doing right now is to identify where the doses of vaccine are at the community level, so that we can help alert health officials where additional doses are needed.

BLITZER: What if anything can you do to tell people who are healthy, not in the high-risk group, to stop getting the flu shots right now and let others in greater need get it, other than just telling them, this is the right thing to do and it's a worthwhile thing to do, is simply wait. What if people are selfish and greedy? How do you stop that from happening?

GERBERDING: Well, you know, we learned in 2000, when we also had a flu vaccine shortage, that most people really do cooperate with the recommendations. There are a few people who, for whatever reason, feel that they need a flu shot, but I think by and large we can get that kind of cooperation. So that's what we're counting on and we need everybody's helps.

BLITZER: Finally, Dr. Gerberding, are there some people even in that high-risk group that should not even under any circumstances get a flu shot?

GERBERDING: Absolutely.

People who are allergic to eggs or egg products should absolutely not get a flu shot no matter what, because all of the vaccine is made in eggs. And, in addition, anyone who's had a serious reaction to the flu shot should not be vaccinated this year. And, of course, if you have any doubt about it, just talk with your clinician, because they will be able to give you the best specific advice.

BLITZER: Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, thank you very much for that excellent advice. We hope this crisis situation does not become a real crisis. We're counting on you and your colleagues to make sure it doesn't.

Thanks very much, Dr. Gerberding.

GERBERDING: Thank you. We'll do our best.

BLITZER: And we'll update our viewers on a breaking story we've been following this whole hour, multiple explosions now coming in along the Egyptian-Israeli border. We're getting pictures now for the first time. We'll share them with you and get some more information as soon as we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Egyptian officials now say 23 people are dead in that hotel explosion in Taba, Taba, Egypt, along the border with Israel, not far from Eilat.

Others who are injured are rushed to hospitals inside Eilat itself. The borders have been opened. You can see people leaving, trying to get away from the hotel, the Hilton Hotel in Taba, try to get out, serious explosion there, believed to be terrorist-related. That's because since the explosion at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, there's been two others Nuweiba camping grounds. Thousands of Israeli and other foreign tourists have gone to this area, love this area because of the beautiful resorts that are there.

Ken Robinson, our national security analyst, has been there. I have been there.

Ken, we are looking at these pictures. These are the first pictures coming in, Israeli medics. You can see the border area where that Israeli flag is, the Star of David. That's where the wounded are being brought to hospitals and clinics inside Eilat.

It comes, Ken, at the end of a Jewish holiday where hundreds, if not thousands of Israelis have flocked to those resort areas in Taba, despite a warning from Israeli government authorities that this could be a potentially dangerous time.

ROBINSON: And as we saw in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002, the same types of attacks had enormous economic, advantageous effect for al Qaeda. And the potential for that to impact here is going to be enormous.

BLITZER: Well, it's unclear who is responsible, al Qaeda or Hamas or any terrorist group.

We see the ambulances bringing the wounded to hospitals right now in Eilat, near Taba, Eilat being a major Israeli city, the southern port city of Israel, below the Negev Desert in Eilat. This is an explosion potentially that could have a serious ripple effect, given what the Israelis are doing now to the north in Gaza.

ROBINSON: I agree, Wolf, but there's a great possibility that there's a long-term strategy in play here. And that strategy is instability. We're seeing that effectively being carried out in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Africa. Now we see it in Egypt and in Israel. That plays into larger regional and global ramifications, other than just the specific ramifications of what's happening with Hamas.

BLITZER: A bad day for American-based hotels, the Sheraton Hotel attacked in Baghdad, now the Hilton Hotel attacked in Taba, Egypt.

We'll continue to watch this story for our viewers. We'll continue to monitor it and get all the information. Stay with CNN throughout the night for continuing coverage.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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