Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Will U.S. Troops in Iraq Accomplish Mission by December 2005?; Bin Laden Releases New Tape

Aired December 16, 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. Back in Washington from Iraq, the U.S. commander of operations gives a one-year prediction. Will U.S. troops in Iraq accomplish their mission by December of 2005?
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Terror on tape. A new message believed to be from Osama bin Laden. What clues does it contain?

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: He's a terrorist, he's a murderer, and we're going to continue to hunt for him until he is captured and brought to justice.

BLITZER: Controversial client. A year after his arrest, Saddam Hussein meets with a lawyer for the first time.

Flu shots, full circle. After fears of a shortage, now word some vaccine could go to waste.

JULIE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: There's still vaccine available, and people who are at risk should first check with their clinician.

BLITZER: The battle of the bulge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we did was to defend ourselves and to try to live through it.

BLITZER: Sixty years later, a hero recalls the longest winter.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, December 16th, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We begin with the voice of America's most wanted enemy, echoing through the Arab and Muslim world once again. The CIA says the speaker on an audiotape that surfaced today is almost certainly Osama bin Laden. As CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports, there's evidence the tape was made very recently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A link from this jihadi Web site delivering what purports to be Osama bin Laden's latest message referring directly to this attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah last week. Almost undoubtedly recorded in the last 10 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): We pray to Allah to accept the mujahedeen who stormed the U.S. consulate in Jeddah as martyrs.

ROBERTSON: Unlike recent video messages, delivered to Arabic news broadcaster Al Jazeera, bin Laden's audio-only, anti-Saudi royals diatribe is available in its 74-minute entirety.

PAUL EEDLE, ANALYST: He didn't want this message to be edited. And it's clear that for some time Al Jazeera has been carefully editing Osama bin Laden's messages and indeed has particularly edited out on some occasions references to the Saudi government.

ROBERTSON: In this poor-quality message, the voice, claimed to be bin Laden's, accuses the Saudi royals of being puppets of a crusader Zionist alliance, led by America, seeking to steal the wealth and occupy the lands of Muslims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): Millions are suffering in poverty while money pours into the hands of the Saudi royal family.

ROBERTSON: Possibly significant, this message was released hours before a planned anti-royal demonstration inside Saudi Arabia.

EEDLE: Perhaps he wanted to lend his authority and his definition to the conflict.

ROBERTSON (on camera): The demonstration's organizers are here in London, a group of Saudi dissidents intent on overthrowing the Saudi government. But despite Web site claims that thousands turned out, fought battles with police and were arrested, a witness in Jeddah said demonstrations there fizzled amid tight security, bin Laden's message apparently having little effect.

(voice-over): Already on heightened alert, following the attack on the consulate last week, the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia warned Americans about the demonstrations, advising them to stay off the streets. Bin Laden seen as adding to that threat.

POWELL: He's a terrorist, he's a murderer and we are going to continue to hunt for him until he is captured and brought to justice.

ROBERTSON: While Pakistani troops have all but closed down the hunt for bin Laden in their tribal lands, it seems the al Qaeda leader is so confident of his lines of communication now he can boldly release statements within days of al Qaeda attacks, though in this case, without showing his face.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll have more on this bin Laden audiotape later this hour from our national security correspondent David Ensor.

Moving on now. For the first time since his capture just over a year ago, the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, talked with a member of his legal defense team today. That meeting took place not only in Baghdad, but at that undisclosed site where Saddam Hussein is being held by U.S. military forces.

More now from Chris Lawrence in Baghdad.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Saddam's lawyers are all based in Jordan, but today one of them came into Iraq and visited his client for the first time. After spending about four hours talking with Saddam, another member of his legal team told CNN, Saddam sent his regards to all his lawyers and their families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He met with him, and he discussed the details of the trial. And he discussed the points of view of the president, and he wrote them and he sent his best regards to all the members of the Saddam Hussein defense lawyers committee, and their families. And he was in very good health status, and mental status, and high spirits. He was enjoying very high spirits.

LAWRENCE: Now this is a first step in bringing Saddam to trial. But that's still a long way off. I sat down with Iraq's deputy prime minister this afternoon and he admitted to me that there are serious problems with the Iraqi legal system and he does not expect sentences to be handed out any time soon.

Now as early as next week the judiciary will begin investigative hearings for a general in the old Iraqi army, and Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as "Chemical Ali." He is accused of gassing up to 5,000 Kurds in northern Iraq during the late 1980s. And Iraqi officials say they have plenty of evidence against him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have videotapes, we have audiotapes, Ali Hassan Majid -- "Ali Chemical" ordering the killing of people, himself beating people around and the evidence is overwhelming.

LAWRENCE: I was also told they plan to try Saddam after all of his lieutenants, mainly so that prosecutors can collect evidence from the trials of the men who used to work for him. Iraqi officials have already sent forensic evidence from a number of mass graves to labs outside the country. But in a trial prosecutors may need to tie those killings to direct orders from Saddam.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, a top U.S. military official is making a prediction about when the U.S.-led mission in Iraq will be successful. CNN's Kathleen Koch is over at the Pentagon where she just emerged from a briefing with the U.S. commander in Iraq -- Kathleen. KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was a very blunt assessment from the commander of multinational forces in Iraq who did at the same time though express some measured optimism. General George Casey said that while the insurgents are a tough, aggressive enemy, they are not quote "10 feet tall." Casey insisted that violence has dropped dramatically since the offensive on Falluja, and that insurgents were actually having more success attacking Iraqis than coalition forces.

And though he did predict that more attacks would be coming in the next month in order to disrupt the election, the general vowed that it was the coalition, not the insurgents, who is winning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, MULTINATIONAL FORCE CMDR.: My view of winning is that we are broadly on track to accomplishing our objectives which is a constitutionally elected government that is representative of all the Iraqi people. And with Iraqi security forces that are capable of maintaining domestic order and denying Iraq as a safe haven for terror. And I believe we will get there by the end of December '05.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And General Casey verified what some have been saying for more than a year, that a top lieutenant of Saddam Hussein, who you see there, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, is directing and financing much of the resistance from Syria. General Casey said that that had to stop and that it was his opinion that the government of Syria could stop it if it wanted to.

And Casey also added that there were three areas that he believed that the multinational forces should be farther along at this point in the conflict, he said, in helping to build an Iraqi intelligence service, helping to train Iraqi police, and helping to protect Iraq's borders -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. Kathleen, thank you very much.

Over at the State Department Colin Powell says the United Nations appears to be on track in preparations for next month's scheduled elections in Iraq. Powell and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, met with the U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, who's in Washington trying to shore up his support from the Bush administration. More now from our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, for the secretary-general this was an opportunity to turn a new page in the U.S. relationship with the U.N., a chance to sit down and discuss some very weighty issues with the outgoing secretary of state, Colin Powell, and to try to get off on the right foot with the woman who's slated to replace him, Condoleezza Rice. Both sides insisting despite the tensions in the relationship, this wasn't a trip about fence- mending, but rather about serious issues facing both the U.S. and the U.N. in coming months.

At the top of the list, next month's elections in Iraq. The U.S. is eager to prove that Washington won't be choosing Iraq's new leaders, to that end has been pushing the U.N. to take the lead. Today Secretary Powell said that based on what the secretary-general told him, things are looking good.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: He advised me that some 6,000 Iraqi personnel had been trained in the conduct of the election and over 130,000 have been identified to actually run the various polling stations. So the U.N. effort seems to be on track in support of the Iraqi effort. They have the principal responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Even though the two men did discuss some very serious and weighty foreign policy issues, they said they also discussed really the scandal that has been plaguing and hovering over the secretary-general for many months now and that is the U.N. Oil for Food investigation. To that end the secretary-general was asked whether or not he felt personally snubbed that President Bush or his deputy wouldn't be meeting with him. This was the last time the two men met at the U.N. in September. The secretary-general said he wasn't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The president and I have met on many occasions, and we also do talk on the phone. And so I don't feel that if I come to Washington and we don't get the chance to meet, I should feel offended or snubbed. This is the nature of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, by the same token, Wolf, if the president had wanted to meet with the secretary-general he obviously could have dropped by the meeting. But for the U.S. it's a difficult position. There are some Republicans on Capitol Hill calling for Kofi Annan to resign. The U.S. doesn't want to be seen as either embracing him, but also doesn't want to be seen as publicly calling for him to step down. Trying to tread a very delicate situation there.

BLITZER: Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Thank you very much.

This additional update now on a report our Brian Todd brought you on this program only a few days ago. The U.S. government is now planning to take direct action against the Lebanon-based satellite television station. A State Department official saying the station known as Almanar will be designated as a terrorist organization. The designation will make it harder for Almanar to broadcast directly in to the United States. Almanar has been accused of inciting anti- western hatred. Critics say it's controlled by Hezbollah. It's self- designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

Caught on camera, without knowing. Who's watching you? And what exactly are they looking at? Surprising information about hidden surveillance in public places.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not too late to receive your immunization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Message reversed after advising the masses to skip their flu shot, the CDC now says it's worried about waste. We'll explain.

And later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We weren't trained to occupy a defensive position in the front lines. We were trained to patrol and get information about the enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He survived one of World War II's bloodiest battles. Now this hero shares his story with all of us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Overhaul Social Security and rein in the deficit. Those were just some of the goals President Bush laid out at a White House economic summit that wrapped up today. CNN's Kathleen Hays is here in Washington joining us now with details.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you know in his first term, President Bush put through four rounds of tax cuts that he says put the economy back on track. Now he wants to put his stamp on history with reforms he says will ensure a secure and competitive future for America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The president was relaxed. Even jovial.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's OK to correct the president. Just not in front of all the TV cameras.

HAYS: He was conciliatory toward the opposition.

BUSH: These issues are big enough for all of us need to work together. These are compelling national issues that require a national response.

HAYS: But make no mistake, President George W. Bush intends to stake his legacy on some of the most far-reaching reforms since the New Deal, starting with Social Security.

BUSH: I will also assure members of Congress that this is an issue on which I campaigned. And I'm still standing. HAYS: Bush's Social Security reform vision rests on three main principles. Number one, no change in benefits for those who are now retired or near retirement. Number two, no payroll tax increases to fix the system. And number three, let younger workers invest some of their own retirement money in personal savings accounts. The true believers in the audience applauded every word. But across town the skeptics said the plan will leave the wrong legacy for American workers.

JOHN SWEENEY, AFL-CIO PRESIDENT: The president's plan to privatize Social Security will take trillions of dollars out of the Social Security trust funds, further balloon our nation's deficit, and jeopardize the retirement security of millions of working families.

HAYS: But Bush's vision of reform goes much farther. Simplify the nation's tax code. Expand health savings accounts. Stop runaway lawsuits.

BUSH: I said this morning when we meet these challenges, we can say to ourselves, and perhaps other generations will eventually say about us, well done. You did the job you're supposed to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYS: Of course different generations may have different views on what that job is supposed to be. Elder Americans tend to be more skeptical of any change in Social Security. But Wolf, surveys show that younger workers tend to be focusing on the idea that if there's any chance of them having benefits when they retire they've got to make changes now. And they tend to be much more approachable, much more amenable to this idea of personal savings accounts which are going to pick up a lot (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Congress.

BLITZER: We'll be watching that battle unfold together with you. Kathleen Hays, joining us here in Washington. Thank you very much.

Flu fears reversed. Why the CDC, the Centers For Disease Control, now say don't wait to get your vaccine.

I'll speak live with the head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding. She'll explain what's going on.

Danger lurking at the pump. How to protect yourself from fire while fueling up.

An arson probe, ten homes destroyed and more than a dozen others damaged. Now there's a new development in the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: After concern over widespread shortages, fears about flu vaccine have now come almost full circle with officials now saying some doses may actually go to waste. Dr. Julie Gerberding is the head of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. She's joining us live from Atlanta to help explain what is going on. I'll begin by a simple question, Dr. Gerberding, what is going on? DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC: Well, we've got some good news and that is three out of every four doses of vaccine this year have gone to the high priority people. And at least 80 percent of our states still have vaccine available to meet their demand. But the challenge is that in some places, private providers have doses that they haven't been able to get to the high risk people, and we don't want those doses to go to waste, so some states are expanding to make good use of those doses. We're asking states that have a lot of extra vaccine, however, to contribute it to those states that are still looking for doses. So the problem here is really one of distribution from one state to another, and not so much that we've got excess vaccine overall.

BLITZER: There are some people who already think it's too late, it's already December, it's really too late to get an effective flu vaccine. Is that a fear that's justified?

GERBERDING: No. Flu is unpredictable. But February is the most common month for flu to peak. We're certainly not seeing a peak yet and we're off to a slow start this year. So there's plenty of time to be vaccinated and we are encouraging people to continue to get the shot even in December and January.

BLITZER: So what do you do if you're, let's say that high risk category, remind our viewers what that high risk category is. What do you do if you haven't gotten a flu shot yet and you want to get one?

GERBERDING: Well, if you're 65 or older or you have any kind of chronic condition or you're a health care worker who takes care of patients directly or if you're pregnant you really should get a flu shot this year and we're working hard to make sure it's available in your community. So contact your clinician or contact your local health agency because they do know where the doses are and they're working hard to get them out to people.

BLITZER: Are you telling people who are not in those categories to avoid getting a flu shot?

GERBERDING: We're still telling people who don't have risks for complications to step aside. We're grateful that they have. If, in your community, there is vaccine that's not being used for the priority groups it's OK to get a shot if you'd like to have one. But in general, we're still worried that we need to get the doses where they're needed the most, and that involves continuing to focus them on the highest priority people.

BLITZER: Can you move flu vaccine around the country rather easily? In other words I'm just throwing out a couple of states, if you have plenty of extra vaccine in Illinois but not enough in New York, can you just unilaterally move it to New York?

GERBERDING: Well, we have some special permissions from the FDA that allow us to move vaccine as long as we maintain the chain of custody, ensuring that it's properly stored and transferred. So we do have the ability to do that as long as we can assure the safety of those transfers. And that's really helped us a lot this year. It's also important to know that vaccine is still being produced by Aventis, so more doses will continue to come throughout December and January and those doses will be targeted where there are shortages.

BLITZER: If there are shortages still over the next few weeks and months, at what point will you say, you know what, make it available to anyone who wants it?

GERBERDING: We don't ever want to waste doses, and particularly in a year of a shortage. So on a state by state and a community by community basis, when the health officials see that there's going to be unused doses of vaccine, I'm sure they will alert people that it's OK to expand the indications. We're also meeting with our advisers tomorrow to get expert opinion to see whether or not this should happen sooner rather than later and certain criteria for having it happen. So we're getting some expert advice in this and we'll do everything we can to try to communicate that effectively at the local level.

BLITZER: One final question looking ahead to next year, can you assure our viewers out there that this shortage problem that we've had this year will be corrected and there won't be any shortage next year?

GERBERDING: I can't make that promise. And I'm sorry I can't. But I can tell you that we're doing everything we can, and the FDA in particular is doing everything it can to work with Chiron to get them back online so that their production is back up to speed. But we're also reaching out to international manufacturers and making investments in our domestic producers to try to expand their capability of making more doses for next year.

So through all of these mechanisms we're taking every step we can, and if we sense that there's going to be a shortage next year, we'll be starting out of the front end of the season with a more targeted approach to immunization rather than waiting, as we did this year, until 33 million doses had already been allocated. So it may be a challenge, but we're taking the right steps now.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Dr. Gerberding for joining us and explaining what's going on. I suspect we'll be talking again in the not too distant future.

GERBERDING: Thank you, I look forward to it.

BLITZER: The Israeli prime minister seizes on what he calls a window of opportunity. Why Ariel Sharon has new hope for a historic breakthrough. We'll go live to Jerusalem for the full story.

And flaming fuels. What you need to know especially as it starts getting cold outside to keep yourself safe at the pump.

Plus candy lovers beware. We'll bring you some sour news to those of you with a sweet tooth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) * BLITZER: Welcome back. Hidden surveillance going where no camera should go, a shocking story about who may be watching you and where. We'll get to that, first, though, a quick check of some other stories new in the news.

An arson investigation in Maryland apparently taking a new twist. Officials acknowledge privately they have virtually ruled out any connection between so-called ecoterrorists and the fires, despite earlier speculation. Earlier this month, fires destroyed part of a new upscale housing development outside Washington. Authorities have searched the home of a security guard who worked there. Authorities have declined to say what evidence was recovered. We'll have details. We'll follow that story.

Amber Frey has signed a tell-all book deal about her relationship with Scott Peterson. It reportedly will discuss how Frey sought justice for Scott Peterson's murdered pregnant wife, Laci. A jury convicted Scott Peterson and recommended he be given the death penalty. The book hits stores January 4. Pretty quick.

Candy lovers beware. Hershey Foods says it's hiking the wholesale price of its candies by up to 6 percent. The company cites a similar move by competitors and blames higher costs for fuel, packaging and employee benefits.

As we reported earlier this hour, U.S. experts have confirmed an Osama bin Laden audiotape posted on an Islamic Web site appears to be authentic.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor examines the message.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This time, Osama bin Laden chose to distribute his audio message not through Arabic-language television, but through the Internet. That may have helped his security. It certainly helped with speed.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is the fastest turnaround tape that I can remember. Usually, the turnaround is weeks or even months, when he's responding to actual news events. Here, it's within 10 days.

ENSOR: Bin Laden proves that by referring to the attack December 6 against the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah.

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): We pray to Allah to accept the mujahedeen to stormed the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah as martyrs.

ENSOR: But there's another possible reason bin Laden did not send this tape, as he usually does, to Al-Jazeera television in Qatar. The tape is a 70-plus minute diatribe largely against the Saudi royal family, Qatar's powerful neighborhoods.

MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CHIEF OF CIA BIN LADEN UNIT: Al-Jazeera is reluctant a lot of times to offend the Saudis gratuitously. And some of his more scathing remarks are excerpted by the Qatari government and Al-Jazeera. So, if he has something he wants to say that's very, very harsh toward the Saudis, he has chosen in the past to use other venues.

ENSOR (on camera): Besides Al-Jazeera?

SCHEUER: Besides Al-Jazeera, yes, sir, so the message comes out whole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: That message is 74 minutes long. Translators in the U.S. government and around the world are working their way through it. After a technical analysis, CIA officials say the agency has a high degree of confidence that the voice is indeed that of bin Laden -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David, thank you very much -- David Ensor, our national security correspondent.

There were hopeful words about Middle East peace prospects today from Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

CNN's John Vause has that story in Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the Israeli prime minister, 2005 is a window of opportunity, the chance to work with the Palestinians towards a lasting peace.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Who knows when we will have this opportunity in the future? We must not miss this opportunity to reach an agreement.

VAUSE: Why? Quite simply, because of the death of Yasser Arafat.

SHARON (through translator): Now there is a real chance that the new Palestinian leaders will rise, those who will be elected who will truly abandon the path of terror and instead will advance a strategy of reconciliation and negotiation without violence, terror and hatred.

VAUSE: He's now willing, he says, to work with this new leadership to coordinate Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. But for Palestinians, there was also confirmation of their worst fears. Israel is not willing to give up major settlements in the West Bank, not willing to share Jerusalem, and a total rejection of the demand for the right of return to Palestinian refugees.

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Preemptive moves that are really ideological and that are liable to undermine the substance of any agreement. That's why we have to look at the text itself and not just at the tone. VAUSE: It was a year ago at this same conference, Ariel Sharon announced Israel's plans to evacuate some settlements. Since then, his ruling coalition has been torn apart, leaving him with a minority government in danger of collapse.

Back then, many doubted Sharon was willing to see this through, but not now. For some, this marks the transformation of the man they once called the Bulldozer.

BARRY RUBIN, GLORIA CENTER: Namely, the view of Sharon as an extreme right-wing war monger, monster, hawk, and someone who's against peace does not apply.

VAUSE (on camera): But 2005 could also be the year when Ariel Sharon's government is forced from power. Unless he forms a location with Labor -- and talks there have stalled -- then chances are, there will be early elections. And that could be an end to his plans for disengagement.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Now a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A popular beach in Adelaide, Australia, was closed after a deadly shark attack. Two great white sharks killed an 18-year-old surfer who had fallen off his board. It was the second fatal shark attack in Australia in a week.

Terror threats. Security has been stepped up in Indonesia following several reports that terrorists are planning attacks against Western targets. One report was unusually specific. It said terrorists are targeting Hilton Hotels.

Victory day. India celebrated the 33rd anniversary of a 1971 military victory against Pakistan. The victory ended Pakistani control of what then was East Pakistan and now is the independent nation of Bangladesh.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Surveillance cameras are everywhere in the name of safety. But are those eyes in the sky checking out more than they should? Ladies, you won't want to miss this report.

Safety at the gas pump, how to avoid fire while fueling, tips you need to know before filling up your tank.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX KERSHAW, AUTHOR, "THE LONGEST WINTER": They were told to hold at all costs. Basically, that meant until you get killed or taken prisoner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Remembering the Battle of the Bulge 60 years later. A hero shares his story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Women, beware. Surveillance cameras in at least one New Jersey casino not only look for cheats and crooked dealers, but often they look for something else as well.

Eye-opening details now from CNN's Mary Snow. She's standing by in New York -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf.

Caesars in Atlantic City was fined $80,000 by New Jersey state regulators, this after two female employees complained that videotapes were being used improperly and they were used to be focused in on things like women's cleavage and that a greatest-hits tape had been made and circulated. Now, Caesars today did not have any comment.

However, the incident raises the overall question about how much of our private lives are public.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): At a place where people take their chances, what they didn't bet on was close-ups of their own private parts. Court documents show that selected parts of the female anatomy were photographed on sky cameras inside Caesars Atlantic City hotel casino. Cameras in casinos is nothing new. But advanced technology is providing sharper images.

GREGG GRAISON, QUARK SECURITY: The old concept of being able to pan, tilt, zoom in from the eye in the sky in the casinos is still basically the same. It's enhanced and there's a lot more capability now than there was years ago.

SNOW: Cameras outside casinos, on street corners and train stations are putting us in an unblinking public eye.

BILL DALY, SECURITY EXPERT: We're covering a good part of our life with cameras. And some studies have suggested that in places like New York people are caught on video cameras several dozen times a day, just that they don't realize that they've been caught on those cameras.

SNOW: This spy shop reports an increase of hidden cameras in homes to monitor baby-sitters who can be watched on the Internet, cameras that can be hidden inside a stuffed animal. And businesses, too, are no longer planting cameras just to spot robbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open it up.

PERRY MEYERS, SPY SHOP: We've had restaurant that they've had complaints from customers where they found this in their food, they found that in their food. So they want to be able to monitor, say, the dining room to see, are these people coming in and bringing these objects and throwing them in their food to get a free meal or a potential lawsuit?

SNOW: And those who've taken a closer look at how surveillance cameras are used find, the more available they are, the more of a chance they'll be misused.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen wrote a book about video surveillance. He says the increasing number of these cameras is also increasing the chances of people becoming more voyeuristic and he says it increases the chances of racial profiling -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Eye-opening information, indeed. Mary Snow, thanks very much for that report.

Police, meanwhile, are investigating an incident that could have killed a Houston woman. She was doing something millions of us do every day when something went wrong at the gas pump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Theressa Lopez was filling up her car at a gas station near her Houston home when something truly unexpected happened. Surveillance video recorded the horrifying scene as a fireball erupted and engulfed Lopez. She says her first thought was to move her car.

THERESSA LOPEZ, VICTIM: Just to get it out the way out of the other things, like the gas station thing, to get it out the way, because, if not, everything was going to explode.

BLITZER: Amazingly, Lopez was treated only for burns on her hands and right leg. It's not clear what caused the fire. Firefighters reported finding a lighter nearby. Lopez says she doesn't know what happened.

LOPEZ: I didn't have no lighter in my hand. I didn't have a cigarette. I didn't have anything with me. And just -- the car just like started on fire.

BLITZER: Her roommate, who was with Lopez, says the car's gas gauge wasn't working, and as a result they overfilled the tank, and the gas overflowed.

PRISCILLA CALDERON, ROOMMATE: The thing is that the car hasn't been well. The meter doesn't work on the gas. BLITZER: The Petroleum Equipment Institute has been tracking these kinds of fires for more than a decade. It says the most common culprit is static electricity. And in most cases the motorist caused it to build up by getting back in the car while fueling, then returning to the pump, where a minute spark ignites the gas vapors.

A more obvious cause? Smoking at the pump. The institute says concern over cell phones is unwarranted. It says, of the hundreds of pump fires it's investigated, not one was found to have been caused by a mobile phone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The exact cause of that Houston incident is still not known. An investigation continues.

But it does underscore the need to remember some things when you're pumping gas.

Earlier, I spoke about that with Bob Renkes of the Petroleum Equipment Institute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Bob Renkes, thanks very much for joining us.

How often do these accidents occur where someone is either hurt or worse filling up their tanks?

BOB RENKES, PETROLEUM EQUIPMENT INSTITUTE: Not very often. We have 11 billion fuelings in the United States each year. Maybe we get one or two a week, maybe 50 to 100 a year. But when it happens, it need not happen. So we want to tell people what we can do to prevent them from doing it.

BLITZER: Now, one of the most important rules that you put out to save people's lives and to prevent them from getting hurt is, don't start filling up your tank and then go back in your car while it's waiting to be filled.

And we're going to roll some videotape of what happened when a woman decided not to listen to that advice. Talk a little bit about this issue.

RENKES: Well, when you start to fuel your car, you've got gasoline vapors coming out of the fill pipe. You've got air from outside. Of course, you don't have a source of ignition.

But when you get back in your car, you rub around the car, you start generating some static electricity. And when that happens, you become charged. And if you go out and touch the nozzle again, you can get a spark going between your hand and the nozzle. You've got the vapors from the tank coming out. You've got the air from outside. And that's the three parts of the fire triangle. And you can get a spark and you can get an ignition, like the lady did. BLITZER: Because as we're talking, we're showing this video. This was taken from a surveillance camera. And we see here. She's getting ready to fill up her car to put the nozzle in the tank. There she is. She's doing it right now. Now we're going to see her walking and going back in the car.

And, as you say, this static electricity is something that most of our viewers aren't familiar with, because let's say it's cold outside. And it's about to get very cold in much of the United States. People want to warm up, so they'll go back in their car.

RENKES: That's exactly right. And you'll notice that she didn't shut her door. If she had shut her door, when she'd go to open the door she'd discharge her static electricity. She didn't do that in this case.

BLITZER: And we see the results. The fire starts. All of the sudden, the fire erupts from outside. What do you do in that case once it happens?

RENKES: You don't do what she did. You don't pull that nozzle out. You leave the nozzle in the car and you run and get help from the station operator.

BLITZER: There's other rules that we should point out to our viewers as well. What are some of the other dos and don'ts of filling up your car with gasoline?

RENKES: Don't top it off, for one, would be a good rule. Stay with the nozzle. And keep attention to what you're doing. It doesn't matter if you're using a cell phone or not. Cell phones do not cause accidents.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Because there's a widely held assumption out there, and sometimes even here in the Washington, D.C. area, there are signs that say do not use cell phones while filling up your car with gas.

RENKES: We've been looking at this issue for five years. That's 55 billion refuelings and we've yet to find an accident caused by static discharge from a cell phone. But it's still a good idea, despite that, to keep your attention on what you're doing and not talk on the cell phone.

BLITZER: And it's also imperative, correct me if I'm wrong, to make sure you turn off your engine when you're filling up the car with gasoline, and you, of course, never smoke anything anywhere around that area.

RENKES: You don't smoke. You don't light a match. You don't light a lighter. Actually, that's probably what would be more harmful than just the cigarette being lit. But, no, no sources of ignition around the filling outlet.

BLITZER: And just make sure you turn off your engine as well. RENKES: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Prevent a lot of problems.

Bob Renkes, thanks for all your help. Appreciate it very much.

RENKES: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sixty years after the battle began, a war hero now remembers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYLE BOUCK, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: We were in those fox holes and what we did was to defend ourselves and to try to live through it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Firsthand accounts from the front lines of one of World War II's bloodiest battles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Sixty years ago today marked a moment when many thought Adolf Hitler might beat Allied and Soviet forces. Germany's last major offensive in World War II claimed tens of thousands of soldiers' lives on both sides.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd with one survivor's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 58 years of marriage, Lyle Bouck and his wife, Lucy, are still helping each other down the front walk.

LUCY BOUCK, WIFE OF LYLE: I didn't think we'd live that long.

(LAUGHTER)

TODD: At one point, Lyle didn't even think he'd make it to the altar.

LYLE BOUCK: Even at this point, I can't measure some of it.

TODD: But he certainly can remember 60 years back, as a young, whip-smart lieutenant commanding a U.S. Army intelligence and reconnaissance platoon, 18 elite soldiers, the eyes and ears of a fragmented Allied force pushing through Belgium toward the German border.

By mid-December of 1944, they'd just about reached the border. But there's a huge gap in the front lines. And Bouck's platoon is ordered to plug an isolated stretch of it on a hill. LYLE BOUCK: We were not trained to occupy a defensive position in the front lines. We were trained to patrol and get information about the enemy.

TODD: But the enemy finds them.

December 16, a huge column of German paratroopers gets wind of Bouck's platoon dug in on that hill. The Germans throw a total of 700 men in three waves at Lyle Bouck and 17 other Americans.

KERSHAW: And they were told to hold at all costs. Basically, that meant until you get killed or taken prisoner.

TODD: But by day's end, hundreds of Germans are dead. Some Americans are badly wounded, but not one is killed. And they're only captured when they run out of ammunition. As he's interrogated inside a house nearby, Lyle Bouck watches a clock stroke midnight. At that moment, he turns 21 years old and thinks of what an aunt had told him years earlier.

LYLE BOUCK: If you live to be 21, you're going to have a good life. And I guess it was significant.

TODD: Bouck and his men don't realize they've been among the first Americans to confront the Germans' final massive counterattack of the war, the Battle of the Bulge.

KERSHAW: Had they not stood and held the Germans and halted their attack, or, rather, postponed it for a crucial 24 hours, the Battle of the Bulge would have been a great German victory.

TODD: Instead, the Allies regroup, subdue the Germans and push to Berlin. Bouck and his men spend four months in freezing, disease- infested prison camps and are near death when they're liberated by their own Army division.

(on camera): After he was liberated, Lyle Bouck was too weak physically to file a combat report and not of the mind to do it. This 21-year-old hero simply didn't think he had done anything extraordinary.

LYLE BOUCK: We were in those fox holes and what we did was to defend ourselves. And to try to live through it.

TODD (voice-over): Bouck says he still has no idea why those German paratroopers didn't kill him and his men after their capture. Alex Kershaw, whose new book, "The Longest Winter," recounts this story, does have an idea.

KERSHAW: The paratroopers said and then others have said since, we had too much respect for you. We put ourselves in your position and imagined what we would have done, 18 guys, massively outnumbered. And you fought like lions.

TODD: Sixty years later, an old lion can laugh about it.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And on the 60th anniversary of that battle, we salute those heroes of World War II.

We'll take a quick break. We'll have an amazing sight in our picture of the day when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Several world-class surfers in Hawaii catching a wave. Look at this picture.

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 December 16, 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. Back in Washington from Iraq, the U.S. commander of operations gives a one-year prediction. Will U.S. troops in Iraq accomplish their mission by December of 2005?
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Terror on tape. A new message believed to be from Osama bin Laden. What clues does it contain?

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: He's a terrorist, he's a murderer, and we're going to continue to hunt for him until he is captured and brought to justice.

BLITZER: Controversial client. A year after his arrest, Saddam Hussein meets with a lawyer for the first time.

Flu shots, full circle. After fears of a shortage, now word some vaccine could go to waste.

JULIE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: There's still vaccine available, and people who are at risk should first check with their clinician.

BLITZER: The battle of the bulge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we did was to defend ourselves and to try to live through it.

BLITZER: Sixty years later, a hero recalls the longest winter.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, December 16th, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We begin with the voice of America's most wanted enemy, echoing through the Arab and Muslim world once again. The CIA says the speaker on an audiotape that surfaced today is almost certainly Osama bin Laden. As CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports, there's evidence the tape was made very recently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A link from this jihadi Web site delivering what purports to be Osama bin Laden's latest message referring directly to this attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah last week. Almost undoubtedly recorded in the last 10 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): We pray to Allah to accept the mujahedeen who stormed the U.S. consulate in Jeddah as martyrs.

ROBERTSON: Unlike recent video messages, delivered to Arabic news broadcaster Al Jazeera, bin Laden's audio-only, anti-Saudi royals diatribe is available in its 74-minute entirety.

PAUL EEDLE, ANALYST: He didn't want this message to be edited. And it's clear that for some time Al Jazeera has been carefully editing Osama bin Laden's messages and indeed has particularly edited out on some occasions references to the Saudi government.

ROBERTSON: In this poor-quality message, the voice, claimed to be bin Laden's, accuses the Saudi royals of being puppets of a crusader Zionist alliance, led by America, seeking to steal the wealth and occupy the lands of Muslims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): Millions are suffering in poverty while money pours into the hands of the Saudi royal family.

ROBERTSON: Possibly significant, this message was released hours before a planned anti-royal demonstration inside Saudi Arabia.

EEDLE: Perhaps he wanted to lend his authority and his definition to the conflict.

ROBERTSON (on camera): The demonstration's organizers are here in London, a group of Saudi dissidents intent on overthrowing the Saudi government. But despite Web site claims that thousands turned out, fought battles with police and were arrested, a witness in Jeddah said demonstrations there fizzled amid tight security, bin Laden's message apparently having little effect.

(voice-over): Already on heightened alert, following the attack on the consulate last week, the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia warned Americans about the demonstrations, advising them to stay off the streets. Bin Laden seen as adding to that threat.

POWELL: He's a terrorist, he's a murderer and we are going to continue to hunt for him until he is captured and brought to justice.

ROBERTSON: While Pakistani troops have all but closed down the hunt for bin Laden in their tribal lands, it seems the al Qaeda leader is so confident of his lines of communication now he can boldly release statements within days of al Qaeda attacks, though in this case, without showing his face.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll have more on this bin Laden audiotape later this hour from our national security correspondent David Ensor.

Moving on now. For the first time since his capture just over a year ago, the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, talked with a member of his legal defense team today. That meeting took place not only in Baghdad, but at that undisclosed site where Saddam Hussein is being held by U.S. military forces.

More now from Chris Lawrence in Baghdad.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Saddam's lawyers are all based in Jordan, but today one of them came into Iraq and visited his client for the first time. After spending about four hours talking with Saddam, another member of his legal team told CNN, Saddam sent his regards to all his lawyers and their families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He met with him, and he discussed the details of the trial. And he discussed the points of view of the president, and he wrote them and he sent his best regards to all the members of the Saddam Hussein defense lawyers committee, and their families. And he was in very good health status, and mental status, and high spirits. He was enjoying very high spirits.

LAWRENCE: Now this is a first step in bringing Saddam to trial. But that's still a long way off. I sat down with Iraq's deputy prime minister this afternoon and he admitted to me that there are serious problems with the Iraqi legal system and he does not expect sentences to be handed out any time soon.

Now as early as next week the judiciary will begin investigative hearings for a general in the old Iraqi army, and Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as "Chemical Ali." He is accused of gassing up to 5,000 Kurds in northern Iraq during the late 1980s. And Iraqi officials say they have plenty of evidence against him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have videotapes, we have audiotapes, Ali Hassan Majid -- "Ali Chemical" ordering the killing of people, himself beating people around and the evidence is overwhelming.

LAWRENCE: I was also told they plan to try Saddam after all of his lieutenants, mainly so that prosecutors can collect evidence from the trials of the men who used to work for him. Iraqi officials have already sent forensic evidence from a number of mass graves to labs outside the country. But in a trial prosecutors may need to tie those killings to direct orders from Saddam.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, a top U.S. military official is making a prediction about when the U.S.-led mission in Iraq will be successful. CNN's Kathleen Koch is over at the Pentagon where she just emerged from a briefing with the U.S. commander in Iraq -- Kathleen. KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was a very blunt assessment from the commander of multinational forces in Iraq who did at the same time though express some measured optimism. General George Casey said that while the insurgents are a tough, aggressive enemy, they are not quote "10 feet tall." Casey insisted that violence has dropped dramatically since the offensive on Falluja, and that insurgents were actually having more success attacking Iraqis than coalition forces.

And though he did predict that more attacks would be coming in the next month in order to disrupt the election, the general vowed that it was the coalition, not the insurgents, who is winning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, MULTINATIONAL FORCE CMDR.: My view of winning is that we are broadly on track to accomplishing our objectives which is a constitutionally elected government that is representative of all the Iraqi people. And with Iraqi security forces that are capable of maintaining domestic order and denying Iraq as a safe haven for terror. And I believe we will get there by the end of December '05.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And General Casey verified what some have been saying for more than a year, that a top lieutenant of Saddam Hussein, who you see there, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, is directing and financing much of the resistance from Syria. General Casey said that that had to stop and that it was his opinion that the government of Syria could stop it if it wanted to.

And Casey also added that there were three areas that he believed that the multinational forces should be farther along at this point in the conflict, he said, in helping to build an Iraqi intelligence service, helping to train Iraqi police, and helping to protect Iraq's borders -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. Kathleen, thank you very much.

Over at the State Department Colin Powell says the United Nations appears to be on track in preparations for next month's scheduled elections in Iraq. Powell and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, met with the U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, who's in Washington trying to shore up his support from the Bush administration. More now from our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, for the secretary-general this was an opportunity to turn a new page in the U.S. relationship with the U.N., a chance to sit down and discuss some very weighty issues with the outgoing secretary of state, Colin Powell, and to try to get off on the right foot with the woman who's slated to replace him, Condoleezza Rice. Both sides insisting despite the tensions in the relationship, this wasn't a trip about fence- mending, but rather about serious issues facing both the U.S. and the U.N. in coming months.

At the top of the list, next month's elections in Iraq. The U.S. is eager to prove that Washington won't be choosing Iraq's new leaders, to that end has been pushing the U.N. to take the lead. Today Secretary Powell said that based on what the secretary-general told him, things are looking good.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: He advised me that some 6,000 Iraqi personnel had been trained in the conduct of the election and over 130,000 have been identified to actually run the various polling stations. So the U.N. effort seems to be on track in support of the Iraqi effort. They have the principal responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Even though the two men did discuss some very serious and weighty foreign policy issues, they said they also discussed really the scandal that has been plaguing and hovering over the secretary-general for many months now and that is the U.N. Oil for Food investigation. To that end the secretary-general was asked whether or not he felt personally snubbed that President Bush or his deputy wouldn't be meeting with him. This was the last time the two men met at the U.N. in September. The secretary-general said he wasn't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The president and I have met on many occasions, and we also do talk on the phone. And so I don't feel that if I come to Washington and we don't get the chance to meet, I should feel offended or snubbed. This is the nature of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, by the same token, Wolf, if the president had wanted to meet with the secretary-general he obviously could have dropped by the meeting. But for the U.S. it's a difficult position. There are some Republicans on Capitol Hill calling for Kofi Annan to resign. The U.S. doesn't want to be seen as either embracing him, but also doesn't want to be seen as publicly calling for him to step down. Trying to tread a very delicate situation there.

BLITZER: Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Thank you very much.

This additional update now on a report our Brian Todd brought you on this program only a few days ago. The U.S. government is now planning to take direct action against the Lebanon-based satellite television station. A State Department official saying the station known as Almanar will be designated as a terrorist organization. The designation will make it harder for Almanar to broadcast directly in to the United States. Almanar has been accused of inciting anti- western hatred. Critics say it's controlled by Hezbollah. It's self- designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

Caught on camera, without knowing. Who's watching you? And what exactly are they looking at? Surprising information about hidden surveillance in public places.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not too late to receive your immunization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Message reversed after advising the masses to skip their flu shot, the CDC now says it's worried about waste. We'll explain.

And later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We weren't trained to occupy a defensive position in the front lines. We were trained to patrol and get information about the enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He survived one of World War II's bloodiest battles. Now this hero shares his story with all of us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Overhaul Social Security and rein in the deficit. Those were just some of the goals President Bush laid out at a White House economic summit that wrapped up today. CNN's Kathleen Hays is here in Washington joining us now with details.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you know in his first term, President Bush put through four rounds of tax cuts that he says put the economy back on track. Now he wants to put his stamp on history with reforms he says will ensure a secure and competitive future for America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The president was relaxed. Even jovial.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's OK to correct the president. Just not in front of all the TV cameras.

HAYS: He was conciliatory toward the opposition.

BUSH: These issues are big enough for all of us need to work together. These are compelling national issues that require a national response.

HAYS: But make no mistake, President George W. Bush intends to stake his legacy on some of the most far-reaching reforms since the New Deal, starting with Social Security.

BUSH: I will also assure members of Congress that this is an issue on which I campaigned. And I'm still standing. HAYS: Bush's Social Security reform vision rests on three main principles. Number one, no change in benefits for those who are now retired or near retirement. Number two, no payroll tax increases to fix the system. And number three, let younger workers invest some of their own retirement money in personal savings accounts. The true believers in the audience applauded every word. But across town the skeptics said the plan will leave the wrong legacy for American workers.

JOHN SWEENEY, AFL-CIO PRESIDENT: The president's plan to privatize Social Security will take trillions of dollars out of the Social Security trust funds, further balloon our nation's deficit, and jeopardize the retirement security of millions of working families.

HAYS: But Bush's vision of reform goes much farther. Simplify the nation's tax code. Expand health savings accounts. Stop runaway lawsuits.

BUSH: I said this morning when we meet these challenges, we can say to ourselves, and perhaps other generations will eventually say about us, well done. You did the job you're supposed to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYS: Of course different generations may have different views on what that job is supposed to be. Elder Americans tend to be more skeptical of any change in Social Security. But Wolf, surveys show that younger workers tend to be focusing on the idea that if there's any chance of them having benefits when they retire they've got to make changes now. And they tend to be much more approachable, much more amenable to this idea of personal savings accounts which are going to pick up a lot (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Congress.

BLITZER: We'll be watching that battle unfold together with you. Kathleen Hays, joining us here in Washington. Thank you very much.

Flu fears reversed. Why the CDC, the Centers For Disease Control, now say don't wait to get your vaccine.

I'll speak live with the head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding. She'll explain what's going on.

Danger lurking at the pump. How to protect yourself from fire while fueling up.

An arson probe, ten homes destroyed and more than a dozen others damaged. Now there's a new development in the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: After concern over widespread shortages, fears about flu vaccine have now come almost full circle with officials now saying some doses may actually go to waste. Dr. Julie Gerberding is the head of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. She's joining us live from Atlanta to help explain what is going on. I'll begin by a simple question, Dr. Gerberding, what is going on? DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC: Well, we've got some good news and that is three out of every four doses of vaccine this year have gone to the high priority people. And at least 80 percent of our states still have vaccine available to meet their demand. But the challenge is that in some places, private providers have doses that they haven't been able to get to the high risk people, and we don't want those doses to go to waste, so some states are expanding to make good use of those doses. We're asking states that have a lot of extra vaccine, however, to contribute it to those states that are still looking for doses. So the problem here is really one of distribution from one state to another, and not so much that we've got excess vaccine overall.

BLITZER: There are some people who already think it's too late, it's already December, it's really too late to get an effective flu vaccine. Is that a fear that's justified?

GERBERDING: No. Flu is unpredictable. But February is the most common month for flu to peak. We're certainly not seeing a peak yet and we're off to a slow start this year. So there's plenty of time to be vaccinated and we are encouraging people to continue to get the shot even in December and January.

BLITZER: So what do you do if you're, let's say that high risk category, remind our viewers what that high risk category is. What do you do if you haven't gotten a flu shot yet and you want to get one?

GERBERDING: Well, if you're 65 or older or you have any kind of chronic condition or you're a health care worker who takes care of patients directly or if you're pregnant you really should get a flu shot this year and we're working hard to make sure it's available in your community. So contact your clinician or contact your local health agency because they do know where the doses are and they're working hard to get them out to people.

BLITZER: Are you telling people who are not in those categories to avoid getting a flu shot?

GERBERDING: We're still telling people who don't have risks for complications to step aside. We're grateful that they have. If, in your community, there is vaccine that's not being used for the priority groups it's OK to get a shot if you'd like to have one. But in general, we're still worried that we need to get the doses where they're needed the most, and that involves continuing to focus them on the highest priority people.

BLITZER: Can you move flu vaccine around the country rather easily? In other words I'm just throwing out a couple of states, if you have plenty of extra vaccine in Illinois but not enough in New York, can you just unilaterally move it to New York?

GERBERDING: Well, we have some special permissions from the FDA that allow us to move vaccine as long as we maintain the chain of custody, ensuring that it's properly stored and transferred. So we do have the ability to do that as long as we can assure the safety of those transfers. And that's really helped us a lot this year. It's also important to know that vaccine is still being produced by Aventis, so more doses will continue to come throughout December and January and those doses will be targeted where there are shortages.

BLITZER: If there are shortages still over the next few weeks and months, at what point will you say, you know what, make it available to anyone who wants it?

GERBERDING: We don't ever want to waste doses, and particularly in a year of a shortage. So on a state by state and a community by community basis, when the health officials see that there's going to be unused doses of vaccine, I'm sure they will alert people that it's OK to expand the indications. We're also meeting with our advisers tomorrow to get expert opinion to see whether or not this should happen sooner rather than later and certain criteria for having it happen. So we're getting some expert advice in this and we'll do everything we can to try to communicate that effectively at the local level.

BLITZER: One final question looking ahead to next year, can you assure our viewers out there that this shortage problem that we've had this year will be corrected and there won't be any shortage next year?

GERBERDING: I can't make that promise. And I'm sorry I can't. But I can tell you that we're doing everything we can, and the FDA in particular is doing everything it can to work with Chiron to get them back online so that their production is back up to speed. But we're also reaching out to international manufacturers and making investments in our domestic producers to try to expand their capability of making more doses for next year.

So through all of these mechanisms we're taking every step we can, and if we sense that there's going to be a shortage next year, we'll be starting out of the front end of the season with a more targeted approach to immunization rather than waiting, as we did this year, until 33 million doses had already been allocated. So it may be a challenge, but we're taking the right steps now.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Dr. Gerberding for joining us and explaining what's going on. I suspect we'll be talking again in the not too distant future.

GERBERDING: Thank you, I look forward to it.

BLITZER: The Israeli prime minister seizes on what he calls a window of opportunity. Why Ariel Sharon has new hope for a historic breakthrough. We'll go live to Jerusalem for the full story.

And flaming fuels. What you need to know especially as it starts getting cold outside to keep yourself safe at the pump.

Plus candy lovers beware. We'll bring you some sour news to those of you with a sweet tooth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) * BLITZER: Welcome back. Hidden surveillance going where no camera should go, a shocking story about who may be watching you and where. We'll get to that, first, though, a quick check of some other stories new in the news.

An arson investigation in Maryland apparently taking a new twist. Officials acknowledge privately they have virtually ruled out any connection between so-called ecoterrorists and the fires, despite earlier speculation. Earlier this month, fires destroyed part of a new upscale housing development outside Washington. Authorities have searched the home of a security guard who worked there. Authorities have declined to say what evidence was recovered. We'll have details. We'll follow that story.

Amber Frey has signed a tell-all book deal about her relationship with Scott Peterson. It reportedly will discuss how Frey sought justice for Scott Peterson's murdered pregnant wife, Laci. A jury convicted Scott Peterson and recommended he be given the death penalty. The book hits stores January 4. Pretty quick.

Candy lovers beware. Hershey Foods says it's hiking the wholesale price of its candies by up to 6 percent. The company cites a similar move by competitors and blames higher costs for fuel, packaging and employee benefits.

As we reported earlier this hour, U.S. experts have confirmed an Osama bin Laden audiotape posted on an Islamic Web site appears to be authentic.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor examines the message.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This time, Osama bin Laden chose to distribute his audio message not through Arabic-language television, but through the Internet. That may have helped his security. It certainly helped with speed.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is the fastest turnaround tape that I can remember. Usually, the turnaround is weeks or even months, when he's responding to actual news events. Here, it's within 10 days.

ENSOR: Bin Laden proves that by referring to the attack December 6 against the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah.

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): We pray to Allah to accept the mujahedeen to stormed the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah as martyrs.

ENSOR: But there's another possible reason bin Laden did not send this tape, as he usually does, to Al-Jazeera television in Qatar. The tape is a 70-plus minute diatribe largely against the Saudi royal family, Qatar's powerful neighborhoods.

MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CHIEF OF CIA BIN LADEN UNIT: Al-Jazeera is reluctant a lot of times to offend the Saudis gratuitously. And some of his more scathing remarks are excerpted by the Qatari government and Al-Jazeera. So, if he has something he wants to say that's very, very harsh toward the Saudis, he has chosen in the past to use other venues.

ENSOR (on camera): Besides Al-Jazeera?

SCHEUER: Besides Al-Jazeera, yes, sir, so the message comes out whole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: That message is 74 minutes long. Translators in the U.S. government and around the world are working their way through it. After a technical analysis, CIA officials say the agency has a high degree of confidence that the voice is indeed that of bin Laden -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David, thank you very much -- David Ensor, our national security correspondent.

There were hopeful words about Middle East peace prospects today from Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

CNN's John Vause has that story in Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the Israeli prime minister, 2005 is a window of opportunity, the chance to work with the Palestinians towards a lasting peace.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Who knows when we will have this opportunity in the future? We must not miss this opportunity to reach an agreement.

VAUSE: Why? Quite simply, because of the death of Yasser Arafat.

SHARON (through translator): Now there is a real chance that the new Palestinian leaders will rise, those who will be elected who will truly abandon the path of terror and instead will advance a strategy of reconciliation and negotiation without violence, terror and hatred.

VAUSE: He's now willing, he says, to work with this new leadership to coordinate Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. But for Palestinians, there was also confirmation of their worst fears. Israel is not willing to give up major settlements in the West Bank, not willing to share Jerusalem, and a total rejection of the demand for the right of return to Palestinian refugees.

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Preemptive moves that are really ideological and that are liable to undermine the substance of any agreement. That's why we have to look at the text itself and not just at the tone. VAUSE: It was a year ago at this same conference, Ariel Sharon announced Israel's plans to evacuate some settlements. Since then, his ruling coalition has been torn apart, leaving him with a minority government in danger of collapse.

Back then, many doubted Sharon was willing to see this through, but not now. For some, this marks the transformation of the man they once called the Bulldozer.

BARRY RUBIN, GLORIA CENTER: Namely, the view of Sharon as an extreme right-wing war monger, monster, hawk, and someone who's against peace does not apply.

VAUSE (on camera): But 2005 could also be the year when Ariel Sharon's government is forced from power. Unless he forms a location with Labor -- and talks there have stalled -- then chances are, there will be early elections. And that could be an end to his plans for disengagement.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Now a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A popular beach in Adelaide, Australia, was closed after a deadly shark attack. Two great white sharks killed an 18-year-old surfer who had fallen off his board. It was the second fatal shark attack in Australia in a week.

Terror threats. Security has been stepped up in Indonesia following several reports that terrorists are planning attacks against Western targets. One report was unusually specific. It said terrorists are targeting Hilton Hotels.

Victory day. India celebrated the 33rd anniversary of a 1971 military victory against Pakistan. The victory ended Pakistani control of what then was East Pakistan and now is the independent nation of Bangladesh.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Surveillance cameras are everywhere in the name of safety. But are those eyes in the sky checking out more than they should? Ladies, you won't want to miss this report.

Safety at the gas pump, how to avoid fire while fueling, tips you need to know before filling up your tank.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX KERSHAW, AUTHOR, "THE LONGEST WINTER": They were told to hold at all costs. Basically, that meant until you get killed or taken prisoner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Remembering the Battle of the Bulge 60 years later. A hero shares his story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Women, beware. Surveillance cameras in at least one New Jersey casino not only look for cheats and crooked dealers, but often they look for something else as well.

Eye-opening details now from CNN's Mary Snow. She's standing by in New York -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf.

Caesars in Atlantic City was fined $80,000 by New Jersey state regulators, this after two female employees complained that videotapes were being used improperly and they were used to be focused in on things like women's cleavage and that a greatest-hits tape had been made and circulated. Now, Caesars today did not have any comment.

However, the incident raises the overall question about how much of our private lives are public.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): At a place where people take their chances, what they didn't bet on was close-ups of their own private parts. Court documents show that selected parts of the female anatomy were photographed on sky cameras inside Caesars Atlantic City hotel casino. Cameras in casinos is nothing new. But advanced technology is providing sharper images.

GREGG GRAISON, QUARK SECURITY: The old concept of being able to pan, tilt, zoom in from the eye in the sky in the casinos is still basically the same. It's enhanced and there's a lot more capability now than there was years ago.

SNOW: Cameras outside casinos, on street corners and train stations are putting us in an unblinking public eye.

BILL DALY, SECURITY EXPERT: We're covering a good part of our life with cameras. And some studies have suggested that in places like New York people are caught on video cameras several dozen times a day, just that they don't realize that they've been caught on those cameras.

SNOW: This spy shop reports an increase of hidden cameras in homes to monitor baby-sitters who can be watched on the Internet, cameras that can be hidden inside a stuffed animal. And businesses, too, are no longer planting cameras just to spot robbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open it up.

PERRY MEYERS, SPY SHOP: We've had restaurant that they've had complaints from customers where they found this in their food, they found that in their food. So they want to be able to monitor, say, the dining room to see, are these people coming in and bringing these objects and throwing them in their food to get a free meal or a potential lawsuit?

SNOW: And those who've taken a closer look at how surveillance cameras are used find, the more available they are, the more of a chance they'll be misused.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen wrote a book about video surveillance. He says the increasing number of these cameras is also increasing the chances of people becoming more voyeuristic and he says it increases the chances of racial profiling -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Eye-opening information, indeed. Mary Snow, thanks very much for that report.

Police, meanwhile, are investigating an incident that could have killed a Houston woman. She was doing something millions of us do every day when something went wrong at the gas pump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Theressa Lopez was filling up her car at a gas station near her Houston home when something truly unexpected happened. Surveillance video recorded the horrifying scene as a fireball erupted and engulfed Lopez. She says her first thought was to move her car.

THERESSA LOPEZ, VICTIM: Just to get it out the way out of the other things, like the gas station thing, to get it out the way, because, if not, everything was going to explode.

BLITZER: Amazingly, Lopez was treated only for burns on her hands and right leg. It's not clear what caused the fire. Firefighters reported finding a lighter nearby. Lopez says she doesn't know what happened.

LOPEZ: I didn't have no lighter in my hand. I didn't have a cigarette. I didn't have anything with me. And just -- the car just like started on fire.

BLITZER: Her roommate, who was with Lopez, says the car's gas gauge wasn't working, and as a result they overfilled the tank, and the gas overflowed.

PRISCILLA CALDERON, ROOMMATE: The thing is that the car hasn't been well. The meter doesn't work on the gas. BLITZER: The Petroleum Equipment Institute has been tracking these kinds of fires for more than a decade. It says the most common culprit is static electricity. And in most cases the motorist caused it to build up by getting back in the car while fueling, then returning to the pump, where a minute spark ignites the gas vapors.

A more obvious cause? Smoking at the pump. The institute says concern over cell phones is unwarranted. It says, of the hundreds of pump fires it's investigated, not one was found to have been caused by a mobile phone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The exact cause of that Houston incident is still not known. An investigation continues.

But it does underscore the need to remember some things when you're pumping gas.

Earlier, I spoke about that with Bob Renkes of the Petroleum Equipment Institute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Bob Renkes, thanks very much for joining us.

How often do these accidents occur where someone is either hurt or worse filling up their tanks?

BOB RENKES, PETROLEUM EQUIPMENT INSTITUTE: Not very often. We have 11 billion fuelings in the United States each year. Maybe we get one or two a week, maybe 50 to 100 a year. But when it happens, it need not happen. So we want to tell people what we can do to prevent them from doing it.

BLITZER: Now, one of the most important rules that you put out to save people's lives and to prevent them from getting hurt is, don't start filling up your tank and then go back in your car while it's waiting to be filled.

And we're going to roll some videotape of what happened when a woman decided not to listen to that advice. Talk a little bit about this issue.

RENKES: Well, when you start to fuel your car, you've got gasoline vapors coming out of the fill pipe. You've got air from outside. Of course, you don't have a source of ignition.

But when you get back in your car, you rub around the car, you start generating some static electricity. And when that happens, you become charged. And if you go out and touch the nozzle again, you can get a spark going between your hand and the nozzle. You've got the vapors from the tank coming out. You've got the air from outside. And that's the three parts of the fire triangle. And you can get a spark and you can get an ignition, like the lady did. BLITZER: Because as we're talking, we're showing this video. This was taken from a surveillance camera. And we see here. She's getting ready to fill up her car to put the nozzle in the tank. There she is. She's doing it right now. Now we're going to see her walking and going back in the car.

And, as you say, this static electricity is something that most of our viewers aren't familiar with, because let's say it's cold outside. And it's about to get very cold in much of the United States. People want to warm up, so they'll go back in their car.

RENKES: That's exactly right. And you'll notice that she didn't shut her door. If she had shut her door, when she'd go to open the door she'd discharge her static electricity. She didn't do that in this case.

BLITZER: And we see the results. The fire starts. All of the sudden, the fire erupts from outside. What do you do in that case once it happens?

RENKES: You don't do what she did. You don't pull that nozzle out. You leave the nozzle in the car and you run and get help from the station operator.

BLITZER: There's other rules that we should point out to our viewers as well. What are some of the other dos and don'ts of filling up your car with gasoline?

RENKES: Don't top it off, for one, would be a good rule. Stay with the nozzle. And keep attention to what you're doing. It doesn't matter if you're using a cell phone or not. Cell phones do not cause accidents.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Because there's a widely held assumption out there, and sometimes even here in the Washington, D.C. area, there are signs that say do not use cell phones while filling up your car with gas.

RENKES: We've been looking at this issue for five years. That's 55 billion refuelings and we've yet to find an accident caused by static discharge from a cell phone. But it's still a good idea, despite that, to keep your attention on what you're doing and not talk on the cell phone.

BLITZER: And it's also imperative, correct me if I'm wrong, to make sure you turn off your engine when you're filling up the car with gasoline, and you, of course, never smoke anything anywhere around that area.

RENKES: You don't smoke. You don't light a match. You don't light a lighter. Actually, that's probably what would be more harmful than just the cigarette being lit. But, no, no sources of ignition around the filling outlet.

BLITZER: And just make sure you turn off your engine as well. RENKES: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Prevent a lot of problems.

Bob Renkes, thanks for all your help. Appreciate it very much.

RENKES: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sixty years after the battle began, a war hero now remembers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYLE BOUCK, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: We were in those fox holes and what we did was to defend ourselves and to try to live through it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Firsthand accounts from the front lines of one of World War II's bloodiest battles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Sixty years ago today marked a moment when many thought Adolf Hitler might beat Allied and Soviet forces. Germany's last major offensive in World War II claimed tens of thousands of soldiers' lives on both sides.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd with one survivor's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 58 years of marriage, Lyle Bouck and his wife, Lucy, are still helping each other down the front walk.

LUCY BOUCK, WIFE OF LYLE: I didn't think we'd live that long.

(LAUGHTER)

TODD: At one point, Lyle didn't even think he'd make it to the altar.

LYLE BOUCK: Even at this point, I can't measure some of it.

TODD: But he certainly can remember 60 years back, as a young, whip-smart lieutenant commanding a U.S. Army intelligence and reconnaissance platoon, 18 elite soldiers, the eyes and ears of a fragmented Allied force pushing through Belgium toward the German border.

By mid-December of 1944, they'd just about reached the border. But there's a huge gap in the front lines. And Bouck's platoon is ordered to plug an isolated stretch of it on a hill. LYLE BOUCK: We were not trained to occupy a defensive position in the front lines. We were trained to patrol and get information about the enemy.

TODD: But the enemy finds them.

December 16, a huge column of German paratroopers gets wind of Bouck's platoon dug in on that hill. The Germans throw a total of 700 men in three waves at Lyle Bouck and 17 other Americans.

KERSHAW: And they were told to hold at all costs. Basically, that meant until you get killed or taken prisoner.

TODD: But by day's end, hundreds of Germans are dead. Some Americans are badly wounded, but not one is killed. And they're only captured when they run out of ammunition. As he's interrogated inside a house nearby, Lyle Bouck watches a clock stroke midnight. At that moment, he turns 21 years old and thinks of what an aunt had told him years earlier.

LYLE BOUCK: If you live to be 21, you're going to have a good life. And I guess it was significant.

TODD: Bouck and his men don't realize they've been among the first Americans to confront the Germans' final massive counterattack of the war, the Battle of the Bulge.

KERSHAW: Had they not stood and held the Germans and halted their attack, or, rather, postponed it for a crucial 24 hours, the Battle of the Bulge would have been a great German victory.

TODD: Instead, the Allies regroup, subdue the Germans and push to Berlin. Bouck and his men spend four months in freezing, disease- infested prison camps and are near death when they're liberated by their own Army division.

(on camera): After he was liberated, Lyle Bouck was too weak physically to file a combat report and not of the mind to do it. This 21-year-old hero simply didn't think he had done anything extraordinary.

LYLE BOUCK: We were in those fox holes and what we did was to defend ourselves. And to try to live through it.

TODD (voice-over): Bouck says he still has no idea why those German paratroopers didn't kill him and his men after their capture. Alex Kershaw, whose new book, "The Longest Winter," recounts this story, does have an idea.

KERSHAW: The paratroopers said and then others have said since, we had too much respect for you. We put ourselves in your position and imagined what we would have done, 18 guys, massively outnumbered. And you fought like lions.

TODD: Sixty years later, an old lion can laugh about it.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And on the 60th anniversary of that battle, we salute those heroes of World War II.

We'll take a quick break. We'll have an amazing sight in our picture of the day when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Several world-class surfers in Hawaii catching a wave. Look at this picture.

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