Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Bush Warns Iran on Arabic TV; 30 U.S. Marines Dead in Iraq; Deadly Derailment in California; Interview with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom; Man Rushed from Morgue to Emergency Room
Aired January 26, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, a rare bold move. President Bush goes on Arab television and delivers a stern warning to Iran.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Desert disaster. A Marine helicopter goes down in western Iraq on the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the war began.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The story today is going to be discouraging to the American people. I understand that. We value life.
BLITZER: California collision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The train just shook, then it rolled, and then we heard a big boom, and glass breaking and people screaming.
BLITZER: Three trains and a car involved in a deadly derailment. Was it deliberate?
They're on speaking terms again. Can a new secretary of state steer them toward peace? I'll speak with Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom.
Declared dead. Two hours later...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the body and come to find out that he was still alive a little bit and breathing.
BLITZER: A North Carolina man is rushed from the morgue to the emergency room.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, January 26, 2005.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We're tracking two major stories this hour. 30 U.S. Marines and a U.S. sailor were killed today in the crash of a Super Stallion helicopter near Iraq's border with Jordan. Four U.S. marines and two soldiers die in combat elsewhere in Iraq, on this, the deadliest day, for American forces since the start of the war. In California, meanwhile, at least ten people are dead and more than 100 injured in a catastrophic crash which involved three trains. Police say it began with an apparent suicide attempt by a man who parked his car at a crossing. We'll have much more on this story coming up in a few moments.
We begin in Iraq where it was a bloody day all around as insurgents stepped up their campaign of bombings. For the U.S. military, it was the worst day yet. CNN's Jeff Koinange reports from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the single deadliest incident for U.S. forces since the invasion of Iraq. U.S. officials say 30 U.S.marines and one sailor were killed after their helicopter crashed in the early hours of Wednesday morning near the town of Rutba in a remote part of western Iraq. Still no word on whether the crash was an accident or whether the helicopter a CH-53 Super Stallion like this was brought down by fire.
Bad weather may have also been a factor according to a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force who adds search and rescue teams are combing the area and an investigation is under way.
And on a dark day for U.S. forces here, four other Marines were killed in combat operations also in western Iraq. Nor was it just U.S. forces that suffered this day. Near Kirkuk, in the country's north, three car bombs in the space of an hour targeted Iraq security forces, killing several and wounding a number of soldiers and policemen.
Insurgents have already started targeting schools which will become polling centers on election day. Three were fire bombed late Tuesday causing extensive damage.
Despite the violence some candidates are campaigning hard to be elected to the new national assembly. This is Sadr City, a sprawling low-income neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, home to more than 2 million people, most of them Shiites. Candidates of the Independent Patriotic Movement are hustling for votes. They are followers of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He is not running for office but his supporters are and have high hopes that Sunday's vote will pay dividends for the long-oppressed Shia majority.
The Sadr followers are tired and have sacrificed a lot, this man says. We want free and decent elections if God wills. That's all we want. We are fed up with the present situation.
Few here dare to predict whether Sunday's election will restore a sense of purpose and stability for Iraqis, or whether they will be incidental to the rule of the gun. But fore U.S. forces in Iraq, the elections right now are overshadowed by the continuing loss of comrades. Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Both the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and the 1st Marine Division whose personnel were involved in the crash in Iraq today are based at southern California's Camp Pendleton and the mood there is grim. Here is CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a heartbreaking day here at Camp Pendleton. I talked to a public information officer a short time ago. He says both the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Marine Air Wing both based here at Camp Pendleton. About 30,000 Marines are serving in Iraq from this camp. He said he's been up most of the night making calls. And it is just like being punched in the heart.
No matter what brought down that CH-53 Stallion, the focus now for the Marines here at home base is notification of family members that they have lost a loved one. Marine officials hope to have the families notified within 24 hours. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Camp Pendleton, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We'll have more on this deadly day in Iraq coming up.
Let's move on now to our other top story which is developing elsewhere in southern California. There was a deadly commuter train wreck outside Los Angeles and police say it was caused by a man who was trying to commit suicide. CNN's Ted Rowlands is there and he's joining us now live -- Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are still on- scene here looking for bodies in the twisted wreckage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I felt the conductor put the brakes on, and then I felt like we went over a bump.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Investigators say their train hit an automobile, then derailed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it seemed like we were gliding along, and then, all of a sudden, the impact. And, you know, people were moaning. There were people that fell forward.
ROWLANDS: The train ran into another commuter train moving in the opposite direction, then crashed into a Union Pacific train parked nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sitting where -- when I fell forward, I hit a wall.
ROWLANDS: Passengers say it was dark and doors were shut while they tried to get out. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was all, like, steamy in there. Things you see on TV. You know, like, it's really steamy. And you can hear hoses broken and people screaming. The first thing to do was just to get out.
ROWLANDS: The injured were taken to five different area hospitals, dozens of others were treated at triage centers at the scene. Police investigators say the accident was caused by a 26-year- old suicidal man who parked his car on the tracks.
CHIEF RANDY ADAMS, GLENDALE POLICE: Our information initially is that he was suicidal, and he had really attempted a variety of forms of taking his life, including placing his car on the tracks as one of the potential ways to commit suicide. However, apparently, he changed his mind because he exited his vehicle, leaving the vehicle on the tracks prior to it being struck.
ROWLANDS: One of the dead has been identified as Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy James Tutino (ph). He, like most of the other passengers, was on his way to work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): It has been a chaotic scene out here, Wolf. It was very difficult for first responders to get to the passengers. It took hours for all of the injured and dead to be removed. In fact some bodies are still in the wreckage at this hour. They continue to work on that. As for Mr. Alvarez, the individual that owned that car that was contemplating suicide, he has been arrested and they say he is facing at least ten counts of murder -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ted Rowlands, reporting for us. Ted, thanks very much. We'll have more on this deadly train collision coming up later this hour. The mayor of Glendale Bob Ulsefien (ph) will be joining me live.
There also is a schoolbus wreck in the news. A bus carrying elementary school students went off the road and overturned in Hernando County in west central Florida. Eight children and the bus driver were hurt, but none of the injuries are believed to be life- threatening. The cause is under investigation.
And near Baltimore today a truck went off Interstate 95 and plunged 70 feet into an icy creek. Police say the truck driver swerved to avoid a pedestrian. The pedestrian has been charged with walking on a controlled access road. The truck driver is now in serious condition with a broken leg as well.
No meddling. New strong statements by President Bush to Iraq's neighbors just made on Arab television.
And building peace in the Middle East. Can Condoleeza Rice really make a difference? Israel's foreign minister is standing by. He'll join me live. Silvan Shalom has just met with Condoleezza Rice.
No smoking. One company taking strong steps to enforce a rule on employees at work and at home.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so much mixed emotion inside and I feel relieved, angry, praise God, everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Declared dead, a man sent to the morgue after an accident. Suddenly, the man begins breathing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Only four days before Iraqis go to the polls, and President Bush is now warning Iran against interfering in Iraq's elections. The president's comments came during an interview today with the Arabic TV channel Al-Arabiya.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make it very clear that the Iranians should not be trying to unduly influence the elections. I'm confident that the Iraqi citizens will want Iraq to be free from any influence. They want to be able to vote and elect people that will represent their views, not the views of a foreign government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The president also praised the Iraqi people for what he said is their courage, courage in wanting to bring freedom and democracy to their country.
President Bush's pick to be the next attorney general got the vote both wanted today, despite complaints from Democrats that Alberto Gonzalez is the wrong man for the job, Republicans had enough votes to push the former White House counsel through the Senate Judiciary Committee and onto the full Senate floor where he is expected to be confirmed sometime next week. It was a 10-8 vote strictly along party lines in the Judiciary Committee.
Another victory for President Bush today. The Senate confirmed Condoleeza Rice as secretary of state. The vote there 85-13. Twelve Democrats and an independent senator, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, voted against her.
By the way, the Senate Historical Office says Rice received the second highest number of negative votes of any secretary of state nominee in U.S. history. The highest number, 14 nays, went to Henry Clay way back in 1825. Today's vote followed contentious hearings in which some Democrats accuse Rice of making false statements in helping President Bush build his case for invading Iraq. She is expected, by the way, to be sworn in tonight to become secretary of state. Can Condoleeza Rice help Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace deal? Two weeks after a terror attack led to a suspension of contacts, Israel has now resumed talks with the Palestinian Authority. And officials from both sides met today to discuss a future summit. Joining us here in Washington now, the foreign minister of Israel, Silvan Shalom.
Mr. Minister, welcome to Washington, thanks very much for joining us.
SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Thank you for having me on your show.
BLITZER: Is a peace negotiation with Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, the new Palestinian Authority president, in the cards any time soon?
SHALOM: Absolutely, if he's willing to take the strategic decision to find the terrorists and to dismantle them, I think the time has come for a meeting between Prime Minister Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas. We could have seen recently while we were asking him to put an end to those missiles that they were firing from Gaza towards Israel. He has done it. And now we are expecting him to go to the other side and stop those terrorist attacks against us.
BLITZER: Are you encouraged by his initial steps these first few weeks?
SHALOM: First of all, we are very happy that we don't have to suffer from more missiles. And he has done it only because we were forcing him to do it. But even though it's very encouraging to find out that they can do it in a very short time, we were convinced to believe for a very long time that they can't do it, they're not capable, they're very weak, it will bring a civil war. And we could have seen that they've done it in a few hours after we gave them the sides of those (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLITZER: So he's sincere. You believe he's a sincere Palestinian leader who is committed to a peaceful track with Israel?
SHALOM: I would like to believe he is.
BLITZER: But do you believe that?
SHALOM: I think he's more positive than Arafat, that's for sure. But in order to make a peace process going in the right direction, he should take a strategic decision, and it means to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organizations. Otherwise, if you will move only toward a ceasefire, what he's trying to do now, it will give only more time to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to rebuild their forces and to carry out a huge attack after it in order to destroy the quiet.
BLITZER: Is your government ready to take some steps to encourage him, to encourage the Palestinians to build confidence, withdrawing from certain settlements, releasing some Palestinian prisoners, making it easier for Palestinians to go through checkpoints in the territories? Are you ready to take those steps? SHALOM: Absolutely, if they are going to ease our lives, there is no reason why we're not going to ease their theirs.
BLITZER: The Gaza withdrawal will go forward?
SHALOM: It looks very good in the right direction, if we're not going to face one more coalition crisis that will force us maybe to move to an earlier election. I see that in months from today going to be the final vote in the Israeli cabinet. And there will be a huge majority.
It is not so easy, we still have this dispute with the settlers. And it will be, let's say, a process that will take a few months, but still, we are very determined. The prime minister is very determined to do it. We are trying now to move and to coordinate it with the Palestinians. It is very important to do it with them and not do it only in a unilateral way, but we need two to tango. If they're willing to do it with us, that's fine.
BLITZER: You were with Dr. Condoleeza Rice in her office at the White House when she got word that the Senate had confirmed her. She was obviously very happy. What did you learn though about her strategy, now that she's going to be secretary of state, in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Will she be the point person there, or do you believe there will be some sort of special U.S. Middle East envoy?
SHALOM: I think she is going to be the one. She would like to be very active. She doesn't need the time in order to study. She's coming from a position that she was very involved in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. And I think she will continue from the same point.
BLITZER: So she'll be in charge?
SHALOM: So I think she will be in charge, she will be very active. She's planning maybe to come to the region. And it is a very, very positive signal.
BLITZER: When will she go to the region?
SHALOM: I don't know. She should be the one to announce when she's going to come. But I think it will be a short time and if they will come it would be a very positive signal that the Americans are involved and it will maybe push the Palestinians to do what needs to be done. They're trying now to push both parties to move forward.
I asked her today to do everything she can in order not to allow Hezbollah (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is to undermine Abu Mazen and his regime, in order (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to put an end to this quiet that we are having now. And it's very important not to allow those crazy organizations that are sponsored by Iran to do it.
BLITZER: So you're encouraged, basically. I want you to listen to what Farouk al-Shara, the foreign minister of Syria, said to me. I interviewed him here on CNN's "LATE EDITION" last Sunday. And he said he, the Syrian government, is ready to resume peace negotiations with Israel.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAROUK AL-SHARA, SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have been saying that for so many years, for a decade or more, that total peace for total withdrawal.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: If Israel were to withdraw fully from the Golan Heights, Syria would establish full peace with Israel?
AL-SHARA: That's right. This is the equation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Is Israel ready to get full peace with Syria in exchange for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights?
SHALOM: We would like peace with all of our neighbors. The question is if the last statement that was made by the President Assad are serious or he made them only in order to reduce the pressure that he's facing now from the American administration, from the Security Council. Every...
BLITZER: Why not test the Syrians and see if they're sincere?
SHALOM: OK. That's fine. But he can't talk about his willingness to have peace on one end while on the other end it still hosting the Hamas and Islamic Jihad, their headquarters and their training camps are still open. The shipments of missiles that are coming toward Hezbollah are coming from Iran through the airport of Damascus.
If he would like to move toward peace, we are willing to do it. And he can start with one humanitarian step, just return the body of Eli Cohen, he's an Israeli agent that was hanged there 40 years ago, it would be a very positive thing...
BLITZER: So if they do that, you would start negotiations with them?
SHALOM: I think it would be a very positive thing. It would convince us that he's serious about his willingness to move towards peace. While now it looks -- even Americans believe the same, that he is not making those statements because he really believes that he wants to go towards peace with Israel only because he knows that most of the terrorists that are carrying out attacks in Iraq are coming from Syria.
They're instructed by the Baath regime that escaped to Syria. And they're very much afraid that the sanctions that might be imposed by the American president. They're under the pressure of the Security Council that's called them to end their occupation in Lebanon. And it might be that they're doing it only because of that.
If they're serious, we are serious, too. We are willing to move toward peace. We want to have peace with the Syrians. We want to have peace with the Palestinians. The question is if they're serious or not, that's -- we will find out in a short time.
Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom of Israel, thanks very much.
SHALOM: Thank you.
BLITZER: When we come back: smoking in the workplace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to quit, but I want it to be on my terms, not someone forcing me to have to make that choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Should your boss decide whether or not you can smoke cigarettes? Find out why one employer is making their workers quit completely at work and at home.
And his family had heard the worst but then was pronounced alive again. Find out why this man was mistaken for dead.
Plus another extraordinary story of survival. This man escaped death when a wild animal came through the window of his home.
All those stories, much more coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's one thing to be told you can't smoke at work, but does your employer have the right to tell you you can't smoke at home or anywhere else, for that matter? CNN's Mary Snow is in New York with the story of one company under fire for doing just that -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this isn't the first time a company has banned smoking. Turner Broadcasting, the parent of CNN, once required employees to sign a policy saying that they wouldn't smoke. The company no longer does that. However, a small company in Michigan is now prohibiting its employees from smoking and it's carrying out random testing to make sure that workers comply.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): It is more than a fight over smoking cigarettes for former Weyco employee Cara Stiffler, quitting smoking was a fight about personal liberty.
CARA STIFFLER, FORMER WEYCO EMPLOYEE: People shouldn't have to be forced to do something that they don't believe in as long as it's not going to hurt somebody.
SNOW: Stiffler and three other employees lost their jobs. The medical benefits company says they have resigned when they refused to take a breathalyzer test under new rules imposed on January 1st. Stiffler says she refused to stop smoking.
STIFFLER: I want to quit but I want it to be on my terms, not someone forcing me to have to make that choice.
SNOW: The company says its ban on smoking is part of an overall wellness program that also encourages exercise. It says cutting medical insurance costs is one of the goals.
DAVID HOUSTON, WEYCO GENERAL COUNSEL: This is an opportunity for employees of Weyco to have the encouragement and the incentive to stop a damaging habit.
SNOW: Privacy advocates say the issue isn't about cigarettes.
WENDY WAGENHAIM, ACLU: There is no law that prevents Weyco from doing this, but I think there's a problem when people can't do what they want to do in the privacy of their own home.
SNOW: And the company says the issue is not privacy but personal responsibility.
HOUSTON: There's not a liberty right or any other right to have any particular employment, and I think it is time for people in our country to start taking personal responsibility for many aspects of their lives, including healthcare.
SNOW: But some question where a line can be drawn when it comes to people's health.
WAGENHEIM: You won't be able to sit in the sun because there is a possibility of skin cancer, or if you have children there's an inherent danger in childbirth. Where will it go?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: While it's legal for Weyco to monitor employees for smoking in the state of Michigan, that's not the case for every state. In fact, the company says it has a worker in Illinois it can't monitor because of the laws there. And the ACLU estimates there are about two dozen states with smoker protection laws -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Mary Snow in New York. Fascinating material. Thanks, Mary, very much.
To our viewers, here is your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: "Should employers be able to enforce smoking bans outside the office?" You can vote right now. Go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results for you later in this broadcast.
More on that deadly commuter train crash, that is coming up. I will speak live with the mayor of the L.A. suburb that awoke this morning to a scene of devastation.
Iraq by the numbers, on this, the deadliest day there for U.S. forces. Questions about Iraqi replacements and new deployments.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): I saw an S.S. guard climb the roof. He had a gas mask, and he put some powder in the little hole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A witness to the horror of the Holocaust returns to Auschwitz for an important anniversary.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. The U.S. Army plans for troop deployments in Iraq. But where will the troops come from? We have new details coming in from the Pentagon.
First, though, a quick check of some other top stories.
A Southern California man faces murder charges for causing this morning's collision between two commuter trains near Los Angeles. Ten people died and more than 100 were injured. Police say the man drove his SUV on to the tracks, planning to kill himself, but jumped out at the last minute. We're standing by to speak with the mayor there.
And this has been the single deadliest day for U.S. forces in Iraq since the war began, with 37 Americans killed on this day alone; 31 died indeed a helicopter crash near one location west -- western part of Iraq. The military says it is likely that it was weather related, but they're still investigating. Four were killed in combat and two others were killed in separate insurgent attacks.
The U.S. military suffered a heavy blow today, when that Marine Corps helicopter went down in western Iraq. All 31 troops aboard were killed. Six more Americans died in combat operations, all this as the U.S. Congress was briefed on the Pentagon's so-called exit strategy.
Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He has details -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as this tragic news came in, Wolf, it again begs the question of how long will the United States have to stay in Iraq.
Up on Capitol Hill today, members of Congress were told by Pentagon officials that the U.S. won't be leaving any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The crash of the CH-53 Super Stallion like this one killed 30 Marines and Navy corpsman. It made for the deadliest day so far for U.S. troops in Iraq, underscoring the continued cost of the war and raising more questions about how soon the U.S. can leave.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We value life, and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life. And -- but it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom.
MCINTYRE: On Capitol Hill, John Abizaid, the general in charge of Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, briefed lawmakers privately on the Pentagon's exit strategy, which continues to hinge on the hope Iraqi troops can eventually replace U.S. forces.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It is not a timetable, and it's not a numbers game, and the task is to see that the Iraqi security forces develop the capacity and the capability and the leadership so that they can assume responsibility for security in that country.
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon says more than 120,000 Iraqis are already trained, and that Iraqi troops will be the first line of security for Sunday's elections.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We believe that combination of Iraqi security forces and coalition forces will make the situation stable enough for voting to take place.
MCINTYRE: But critics in Congress remain skeptical, arguing, the raw number of Iraqis in uniform is misleading.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: An Iraqi soldier or policeman should be considered fully trained when he or she is capable of doing the job we're now asking an American young man or woman to do. How many meet that standard today? Nowhere near, as I said, 120,000. In my judgment, it's closer to 14,000.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld also told Congress that the 120,000 U.S. troops the Army is planning to be able to provide for Iraq in the next two years is simply contingency planning. How many of those troops are actually sent will depend almost entirely on the performance of the Iraqi military in the coming months -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon -- Jamie, thank you very much.
Let's check some other news we're following right now.
A potentially deadly mistake discovered at a North Carolina morgue is now the subject of a formal investigation.
CNN's Brian Todd joining us now live here in the studios with more -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf, an investigation that now has local attorneys, members of a very confused family, members of the medical community in that area taking a long, hard look at what happened on a rural highway less than 48 hours ago. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Larry Green's family had heard the worst possible news.
STEVE GREEN, VICTIM'S BROTHER: We were making the funeral arrangements. Family had came by. Everybody thought that he had passed away.
TODD: Monday evening, the 29-year-old Green was walking on this rural highway just northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, when he was struck by a car. Highway patrol and emergency response teams got there quickly. Green was pronounced dead and placed in a body bag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I passed by, he laying up in the road. And he was balled up and had a sheet over top of him. And I also heard he laid there for two hours.
TODD: More than two hours at the accident at the Franklin County Morgue, the medical examiner tells CNN he unzipped Green's body bag and saw what he called slight abdominal movement. Larry Green was breathing.
GREEN: You are seeing your brother laying there with a sheet over the body and come to find out that he was still alive a little bit and he's breathing, that's serious.
TODD: Green was immediately taken to a local hospital, then to Duke University Medical Center. He's listed in critical condition. How could a mistake like this have been made? The Franklin County attorney overseeing the investigation tells CNN, based on his interviews with the emergency responders involved, he doesn't believe they felt a pulse, observed any chest movement or saw Green's breath in the cold air.
The medical examiner tells us he's never seen anything like this in 35 years. A former chief medical examiner of New York City tells CNN, in eight years overseeing the coroner's office, which handled 34,000 deaths year, he never observed it. But it has happened.
November 2003, a 20-month old girl is found floating face down in her family's pool in Fullerton, California. She's pronounced dead at a local hospital, her breathing tube disconnected. More than an hour later, a police officer notices her breathing and she's revived.
Nine years earlier, an 86-year-old woman in Albany, New York is pronounced dead, placed in a cooler at a local morgue and spends about 90 minutes there. A morgue attendant opens the body bag and finds her breathing shallowly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Medical examiners and forensic experts tell CNN that's a telltale sign, in some of these cases, they say, a victim can have extremely faint breathing, a pulse so spotty that it is undetectable, no visible chest movement, all resulting from trauma or cold, and that can fool even experienced paramedics.
As for the responders in this incident, the Franklin County attorney's office tells us some members of that response team are now temporarily suspended, pending the investigation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brian Todd, good work. Thanks very much.
And we'll have more on that deadly train crash in California. The mayor and the police chief of Glendale both standing by to join us live with all the latest information.
Also ahead, how one man -- look at this -- one man was almost killed by a deer. It is a story you're simply going to have to see to believe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on that horrible train collision outside of Los Angeles earlier this morning. At least 10 people are dead; 100 people have been injured.
Joining us, two guests. Bob Yousefian is the mayor of Glendale. Randy Adams is the Glendale police chief. They're joining us now from the site of today's crash of that collision.
And, Mayor, I will start with you. What is the latest information? What do we know precisely what happened?
BOB YOUSEFIAN, MAYOR OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA: Well, so far, all we know is, there was a person who was suicidal, decided to commit suicide, was not successful in his attempts. So, consequently, he decided to get in his Jeep Cherokee and drive down on to the tracks. His vehicle got stuck on the tracks. And, at that point, he changed his mind as he saw the train come by.
He got out of the car and walked away and literally watched the incident happen. The train coming southbound collided with the jeep, took the vehicle and put it into the undercarriage, which, at that point, started a chain of events which caused all this horrible tragedy.
BLITZER: Now, let me ask the police chief, I assume you've apprehended this man, the suspect. Is that, right, Chief?
RANDY ADAMS, GLENDALE POLICE CHIEF: Yes, we have. His name is Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25 years old. His date of birth is 2/26/79. Last known residence is in Compton.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And what is he going to be charged with?
ADAMS: Well, we have 10 fatalities so far at the scene. Certainly, he'll face at least 10 counts of murder. As far as the specific degrees and so forth, that will be a determination made by the district attorney's office after reviewing the totality of the investigation.
BLITZER: How did he get -- was the car parked in an intersection where the trains were going by, or did he actually get the car on the tracks someplace else?
Let me ask the mayor that.
Mr. Mayor?
YOUSEFIAN: Well, actually, what the individual did is drove off of the street, off the intersection, into the right-of-way of the train, and, literally, put the car on the tracks and tried to cross the tracks and changed his mind, tried to back out. He couldn't back out. He was stuck on the actual tracks itself. And that's when the accident happened.
BLITZER: Police -- let me ask the police chief this question. What, if anything, can we learn from this horrible tragedy? What, if anything, can be done to prevent these kinds of suicide attempts down the road?
ADAMS: Well, Wolf, that's difficult to say.
First of all, it's important for all of your viewers to know that we don't think that there was any terrorist act or involvement of any type here. We feel that this was simply the act of one deranged individual. It is not unusual in history to have people decide to commit suicide using the train, either by jumping in front of a train themselves and/or positioning their vehicles in front of a train.
Normally, the trains are so powerful that they simply clear the wreckage off of the track and continue to stop. But, rarely, does it result in any type of a derailment, as it has this time. So, this is quite a tragedy.
What is really unfortunate, you know, it's very difficult in all circumstances to control all situations. And this individual, bent on suicide, drove off of the right-of-way and down the tracks, as the mayor said, and then actually put his vehicle on to the tracks and in the path of the train.
BLITZER: Randy Adams is the police of chief of Glendale. And Mayor Bob Yousefian is the mayor.
Our hearts go out to your community, our deepest condolences to all those families. Thank you for spending a few moments with us on this horrible, horrible story.
In Ohio, meanwhile, there was a story of extraordinary survival involving an 80-year-old native of Hungary who has lived in the United States for the past 50 years. After surviving the Holocaust and five years in a Russian prison camp, it would seem that Alfred Tibor has experienced his share of close calls with death. But that's not necessarily the case.
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on his latest encounter. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine this was your window and a deer just jumped through it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A deer? Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED) There's a deer in the house.
OPERATOR: There's a deer in the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.
MOOS: A 300-pound deer crashed into the house of Alfred Tibor, a famous sculptor and Holocaust survivor who lives in a wooded area in Columbus, Ohio.
Tibor heard glass break, went and tried to lead the deer out and ended up pinned by the panicking buck. This was no Bambi. Tibor's wife hit the deer with a broom, then ran outside and flagged down this taxi driver.
RANDALL RADER, WITNESS: She was saying her husband was inside and there was somebody on top of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the one guy is bleeding really bad.
OPERATOR: Can he get out of the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) But the buck's got him pinned.
ALFRED TIBOR, VICTIM: He touched me here and I will be dead.
MOOS: When the taxi driver entered the house, he startled the deer and it pulled away from Tibor. The police then moved furniture to corral the buck, but couldn't get it to leave.
SGT. ANTHONY WILSON, COLUMBUS POLICE: I could see that it had significant injuries to its front and hind legs. At that point, we made a decision to put it down.
MOOS: Sergeant Anthony Wilson shot the deer. Tibor was hospitalized, but is in very good condition.
(on camera): So what makes a deer jump through a window? Wildlife experts say it's probably not because the deer wanted to come inside, but rather that the buck mistook the reflection in the glass for open space.
(voice-over): At one point, politics say the deer tried to exit through the bathroom mirror.
As for Alfred Tibor, he feels bad that the deer ended up dearly departed.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: That report from CNN's Jeanne Moos, reporting. Thank God he's OK.
Let's take a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): An investigation is under way into the deaths of 258 people at a Hindu temple in western India. Police say yesterday's tragedy began when some pilgrims among tens of thousand who had converged on the temple were trampled to death after falling on the temple floor. In a fit of anger, some pilgrims set fire to shops, triggering a stampede that killed scores of others.
Tsunami anniversary. People in South Asia are remembering the tens of thousands of people killed in the earthquake and tsunami disaster one month ago today. On Thailand's resort island of Phuket, victims were honored with the inauguration of a remembrance wall.
Back home at last. Eight Chinese construction workers freed by Iraqi insurgents arrived back in China today. They were released over the weekend after China pledged to discourage its citizens from traveling to Iraq.
Good day, mate. London's Trafalgar Square has been turned into an Australian beach to mark Australia Day. And, of course, there's plenty of Aussie beer and barbecue.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Still ahead this hour, remembering the 20th century's deadliest atrocity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEF PASZYNSKI, AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR: After every selection and gassing, they would come to the barber shop after the deed, and they seemed abnormal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A survivor of the Auschwitz death camp speaks out when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Dignitaries are gathering for tomorrow's ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland where more than a million people died.
In addition to about 30 world leaders, survivors also will attend this anniversary ceremony.
CNN's Chris Burns joining us now live from Auschwitz with more -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, you have seen this barbed wire. You see these guard towers and pictures. It is another thing to be here in a driving snow in the middle of the night just a few yards away from one of the crematoriums, to see what is going to happen tomorrow, as officials come here, leaders from around the world, including Vice President Dick Cheney, joining with more than 1,000 survivors of this Holocaust here to mark the event 60 years ago, when Soviet troops came in and liberated it.
One of those survivors, we talked to. And here is his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): Josef Paszynski was a 20-year-old Polish prisoner of war when he was sent to Auschwitz. While fellow soldiers were murdered, he survived working as a barber for the Nazi officers and guards.
PASZYNSKI (voice-over): After every selection and gassing, they would come to the barber shop after the deed, and they seemed abnormal. I could smell the stench from them and I could see their faces they were conscious of what they did, but not one of them said a word.
BURNS: Among his customers, camp commander Rudolph Hoess.
PASZYNSKI (through translator): Every morning and evening, he would be by the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) gate just watching. The orchestra would be playing and he would be there like a mummy without saying a word, just watching, the prisoners going out to work and returning tired, carrying the corpses.
BURNS: Paszynski says he watched a mass execution from a nearby building as SS guards told hundreds of Jewish men to undress and sent them into a gas chamber.
PASZYNSKI (through translator): I saw an SS guard climb the roof. He had a gas mask. And he put some powder into a little hole. And, soon, I could hear a great scream come out from the building, in spite of the fact that the walls were pretty thick. And the scream lasted for about 15 minutes and then became weaker and weaker. And after about 20 minutes, it was all silent.
BURNS: Paszynski's testimony later helped convict SS guards of crimes against humanity, though during the war, Hoess' barber passed up plenty of chances to kill the man.
PASZYNSKI (through translator): It is true I could do it, but the consequences would be that my whole family would be killed and half of the inmates. And I realized that if this silent son of a bitch would go, they would put another in his place.
BURNS: Sent on a death march as Soviet forces approached Auschwitz, Paszynski was later freed by American troops at another camp, two days before Germany's surrender. PASZYNSKI (through translator): We had the hope that such a thing would never happen again, but these things are happening again in other parts of the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: And yet people like Josef Paszynski keep going on, pressing on, telling their story, hoping they will persuade people to take action to stop genocide. That effort will continue tomorrow as we remember 60 years ago, when this camp was finally liberated -- back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Chris Burns at Auschwitz.
We'll have more from Auschwitz, the 60th anniversary commemoration, tomorrow here on this program.
Let's go up to Capitol Hill. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner, has been meeting with other senators with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General John Abizaid. Let's listen in to what they're saying.
(LIVE EVENT JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: ... are doing, and continue to do.
The one thing that I urge the secretary and the general is that the information that they imparted to some 20 senators today, in my judgment, needs to be quickly conveyed throughout the United States by the secretary of state, defense and others in positions of authority.
The elections are going forward. Every expectation is that they will meet a measure of success. But the period of aftermath of the elections is fraught with uncertainty, and we should prepare the American people for as many eventualities as could possibly happen.
For example, it will take several weeks after the election to certify the results. The assembly will then have to appoint the president and two deputies. They will appoint a prime minister. The prime minister has to be confirmed by the assembly.
This is a period of uncertainty that will descend upon Iraq, and you've got to remember, these people have been suffering some 30 years under Saddam Hussein, and the acceptance and placing of confidence in another government, which is, again, not the final government, but an interim government, is going to take time.
And, very clearly, the secretary and the general explained to us we could anticipate a level of increased insurgency in this period of time and increased difficulty in trying to continue the good work that's been done to train all segments of the security forces.
So, Mr. Secretary, I would hope that you could convey to the nation this message which you've given, I think, very successfully to our senators. And I'll yield the floor to you at this time. DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I have no statement to make other than I'd be happy to respond to a couple of questions.
QUESTION: For General Abizaid: Can you flesh out a little bit the role the U.S. would play in a post-election-Iraq environment?
Doug Feith today, the undersecretary of policy, signaled that there would be more intense effort to train, equip and organize Iraqi forces, and less actually providing physical security.
Can you shed any light on that?
GENERAL JOHN ABIZAID, COMBATANT COMMANDER, CENTCOM: Well, clearly, in the post-election environment in Iraq we intend to increase the level of our training and partnership with the Iraqi security forces.
Exactly how much force we would move from insurgency and counter- insurgency operations and counter-terrorist operations remains to be seen. Our staffs are working on that.
But we clearly know that Iraqi security forces need to mature further. We know that the Iraqi people want that to happen. And as we move from this period of occupation to a period of partnership, more intense effort on our part to get those forces ready is something that has to be done.
QUESTION: General Abizaid: If I could ask something that Chairman Warner spoke about, which was what do you expect after the election? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) telling us to expect that things may be harder or more difficult. Can you elaborate on that?
And what is that basis coming from? Is that from intelligence is that hunch? What do you suspect is going to happen?
ABIZAID: I think that we all need to understand that in Iraq today that what is happening is revolutionary in political terms.
We also need to understand that the thing the enemy fears the most, the thing that people, such as Zarqawi and bin Laden and Zawahari, fear the most are free elections, elections that are the result of a fair process where a new government is chosen and a new future is taken.
And so we should anticipate that after the elections that the people that desire to derail the process of a new future for Iraq will continue to fight and will continue to fight hard.
ABIZAID: But they are fighting an up-hill battle, because the Iraqi security forces, with our backing, will be successful.
RUMSFELD: Let me comment on that, briefly.
If you think about it, Iraq originally had a governing council of 25 people, with a rotating chairmanship. It was difficult for the United States government and the coalition to interact with a council of 25 people with a rotating presidency.
They moved from there to the current arrangement with a prime minister, where you have ministers and a prime minister and a president. And the coalition can interact with them and make agreements as to budgets and "What do you want, how many people do you need in the army?" and you can then proceed on things.
We are now going to move into this period that the chairman just mentioned, where, for a couple of weeks after the election, the results will not have been certified.
So there's a period of ambiguity: Who's going to be in the government?
And then, after it's certified, they seat the assembly, the transitional national assembly, and then they get organized. And that's another period of weeks: however many, who knows?
And then what they do is they select a president and two deputies. And that's going to take a little time.
And then those three people will recommend a prime minister. And the prime minister will then recommend cabinet ministers.
Now, this takes some time to -- these are not people who have a lot of experience in a democratic system where you are going to be negotiating among all of the people in this constituent assembly.
The next step, obviously then, is that the assembly has to approve, by I believe a majority vote, all of the ministers that are selected.
Then the ministers have to get into office and gather people around them.
And if you think about it, there are already people in those jobs. And the people coming in may be from a different tribe or a different viewpoint, and they may want to change the people in there.
So now you've got some turbulence in these ministries.
And it is a -- I think General Abizaid used the word, not a mature democratic system, at this stage. It's in its...
(AUDIO GAP)
RUMSFELD: ... and the reason I mention all of this is because I think it -- to be realistic, we have to recognize that that's the period we're moving into, and it will take some time for that government to settle down, get its staff worked out, get its relationships worked out among the ministers.
I mean, if you think about it, it takes coordination between the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense.
RUMSFELD: And so, they're going to have to get to know each other. They're going to have to develop some working relationships.
And I think that's the period we're going into and that's the context we ought to be looking at, the things and the events that will be taking place in the period immediately ahead. You're looking -- I would guess, well into March, possibly into April for these things to sort themselves out.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you believe this will be as violent a period as it has been in the run-up to the election? Is that...
RUMSFELD: I don't know. General Abizaid believes that we can -- we have to recognize how determined the people who we're up against are. These are people who cut off people's heads on television. These are people that go around killing innocent civilians throughout Iraq. These are people that know they have a lot to lose if Iraq is successful in setting itself on a path of democracy.
So one has to expect that the level of violence will either stay where it is or go up or down modestly during this period, as they attempt to prevent from happening that which is going to happen.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the top U.N. elections official today said the U.S. military was getting too involved, over enthusiastic in getting -- helping the get out the vote effort in Iraq. Do you think the U.S. military should be involved in helping get out the vote?
RUMSFELD: Get out the vote?
QUESTION: The Marines are handing out fliers, encouraging Iraqis to vote.
ABIZAID: I think the only thing that you would see inside Iraq is American forces moving to assist the Iraqi interim government in ways that they've requested, and the Iraqi electoral commission in ways that they've requested.
We understand that our role is to ensure that this is an Iraqi election. And I think you'll see on Saturday, millions of Iraqis will go to vote because they want to vote.
QUESTION: So do you think it's appropriate for American soldiers to do that if they're asked to? Or have they been asked to?
ABIZAID: No, I am saying that millions of Iraqis are going to go vote because they want to vote. And American soldiers do not have the mission to get the vote out.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, there's word that Undersecretary Doug Feith is going to be handing in his resignation today.
QUESTION: Has he talked to you about this, or did you know this was coming?
RUMSFELD: He visited with me after the election and indicated that at some point this year, later this year, by summer, that he thought he, after serving four years, would like to move back into the private sector.
And I've asked him to stick around. We don't have a replacement. And he's agreed to do that.
I don't know what he's announced or what's been announced, but it happens to be a fact that he has had that discussion with me, and I'm hopeful he'll stay until we are able to find an appropriate successor, which we've not started looking for.
(LIVE EVENT INTERRUPTED)
BLITZER: The Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General John Abizaid, the head of the U.S. military central command which oversees Iraq and other countries in the region meeting with the Senate armed services committee answering a few questions there. We saw it live here. Much more coverage on all of the lead up to the Iraqi elections this coming Sunday coming up. That's it for me. 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 January 26, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, a rare bold move. President Bush goes on Arab television and delivers a stern warning to Iran.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Desert disaster. A Marine helicopter goes down in western Iraq on the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the war began.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The story today is going to be discouraging to the American people. I understand that. We value life.
BLITZER: California collision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The train just shook, then it rolled, and then we heard a big boom, and glass breaking and people screaming.
BLITZER: Three trains and a car involved in a deadly derailment. Was it deliberate?
They're on speaking terms again. Can a new secretary of state steer them toward peace? I'll speak with Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom.
Declared dead. Two hours later...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the body and come to find out that he was still alive a little bit and breathing.
BLITZER: A North Carolina man is rushed from the morgue to the emergency room.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, January 26, 2005.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We're tracking two major stories this hour. 30 U.S. Marines and a U.S. sailor were killed today in the crash of a Super Stallion helicopter near Iraq's border with Jordan. Four U.S. marines and two soldiers die in combat elsewhere in Iraq, on this, the deadliest day, for American forces since the start of the war. In California, meanwhile, at least ten people are dead and more than 100 injured in a catastrophic crash which involved three trains. Police say it began with an apparent suicide attempt by a man who parked his car at a crossing. We'll have much more on this story coming up in a few moments.
We begin in Iraq where it was a bloody day all around as insurgents stepped up their campaign of bombings. For the U.S. military, it was the worst day yet. CNN's Jeff Koinange reports from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the single deadliest incident for U.S. forces since the invasion of Iraq. U.S. officials say 30 U.S.marines and one sailor were killed after their helicopter crashed in the early hours of Wednesday morning near the town of Rutba in a remote part of western Iraq. Still no word on whether the crash was an accident or whether the helicopter a CH-53 Super Stallion like this was brought down by fire.
Bad weather may have also been a factor according to a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force who adds search and rescue teams are combing the area and an investigation is under way.
And on a dark day for U.S. forces here, four other Marines were killed in combat operations also in western Iraq. Nor was it just U.S. forces that suffered this day. Near Kirkuk, in the country's north, three car bombs in the space of an hour targeted Iraq security forces, killing several and wounding a number of soldiers and policemen.
Insurgents have already started targeting schools which will become polling centers on election day. Three were fire bombed late Tuesday causing extensive damage.
Despite the violence some candidates are campaigning hard to be elected to the new national assembly. This is Sadr City, a sprawling low-income neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, home to more than 2 million people, most of them Shiites. Candidates of the Independent Patriotic Movement are hustling for votes. They are followers of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He is not running for office but his supporters are and have high hopes that Sunday's vote will pay dividends for the long-oppressed Shia majority.
The Sadr followers are tired and have sacrificed a lot, this man says. We want free and decent elections if God wills. That's all we want. We are fed up with the present situation.
Few here dare to predict whether Sunday's election will restore a sense of purpose and stability for Iraqis, or whether they will be incidental to the rule of the gun. But fore U.S. forces in Iraq, the elections right now are overshadowed by the continuing loss of comrades. Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Both the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and the 1st Marine Division whose personnel were involved in the crash in Iraq today are based at southern California's Camp Pendleton and the mood there is grim. Here is CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a heartbreaking day here at Camp Pendleton. I talked to a public information officer a short time ago. He says both the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Marine Air Wing both based here at Camp Pendleton. About 30,000 Marines are serving in Iraq from this camp. He said he's been up most of the night making calls. And it is just like being punched in the heart.
No matter what brought down that CH-53 Stallion, the focus now for the Marines here at home base is notification of family members that they have lost a loved one. Marine officials hope to have the families notified within 24 hours. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Camp Pendleton, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We'll have more on this deadly day in Iraq coming up.
Let's move on now to our other top story which is developing elsewhere in southern California. There was a deadly commuter train wreck outside Los Angeles and police say it was caused by a man who was trying to commit suicide. CNN's Ted Rowlands is there and he's joining us now live -- Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are still on- scene here looking for bodies in the twisted wreckage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I felt the conductor put the brakes on, and then I felt like we went over a bump.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Investigators say their train hit an automobile, then derailed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it seemed like we were gliding along, and then, all of a sudden, the impact. And, you know, people were moaning. There were people that fell forward.
ROWLANDS: The train ran into another commuter train moving in the opposite direction, then crashed into a Union Pacific train parked nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sitting where -- when I fell forward, I hit a wall.
ROWLANDS: Passengers say it was dark and doors were shut while they tried to get out. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was all, like, steamy in there. Things you see on TV. You know, like, it's really steamy. And you can hear hoses broken and people screaming. The first thing to do was just to get out.
ROWLANDS: The injured were taken to five different area hospitals, dozens of others were treated at triage centers at the scene. Police investigators say the accident was caused by a 26-year- old suicidal man who parked his car on the tracks.
CHIEF RANDY ADAMS, GLENDALE POLICE: Our information initially is that he was suicidal, and he had really attempted a variety of forms of taking his life, including placing his car on the tracks as one of the potential ways to commit suicide. However, apparently, he changed his mind because he exited his vehicle, leaving the vehicle on the tracks prior to it being struck.
ROWLANDS: One of the dead has been identified as Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy James Tutino (ph). He, like most of the other passengers, was on his way to work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): It has been a chaotic scene out here, Wolf. It was very difficult for first responders to get to the passengers. It took hours for all of the injured and dead to be removed. In fact some bodies are still in the wreckage at this hour. They continue to work on that. As for Mr. Alvarez, the individual that owned that car that was contemplating suicide, he has been arrested and they say he is facing at least ten counts of murder -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ted Rowlands, reporting for us. Ted, thanks very much. We'll have more on this deadly train collision coming up later this hour. The mayor of Glendale Bob Ulsefien (ph) will be joining me live.
There also is a schoolbus wreck in the news. A bus carrying elementary school students went off the road and overturned in Hernando County in west central Florida. Eight children and the bus driver were hurt, but none of the injuries are believed to be life- threatening. The cause is under investigation.
And near Baltimore today a truck went off Interstate 95 and plunged 70 feet into an icy creek. Police say the truck driver swerved to avoid a pedestrian. The pedestrian has been charged with walking on a controlled access road. The truck driver is now in serious condition with a broken leg as well.
No meddling. New strong statements by President Bush to Iraq's neighbors just made on Arab television.
And building peace in the Middle East. Can Condoleeza Rice really make a difference? Israel's foreign minister is standing by. He'll join me live. Silvan Shalom has just met with Condoleezza Rice.
No smoking. One company taking strong steps to enforce a rule on employees at work and at home.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so much mixed emotion inside and I feel relieved, angry, praise God, everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Declared dead, a man sent to the morgue after an accident. Suddenly, the man begins breathing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Only four days before Iraqis go to the polls, and President Bush is now warning Iran against interfering in Iraq's elections. The president's comments came during an interview today with the Arabic TV channel Al-Arabiya.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make it very clear that the Iranians should not be trying to unduly influence the elections. I'm confident that the Iraqi citizens will want Iraq to be free from any influence. They want to be able to vote and elect people that will represent their views, not the views of a foreign government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The president also praised the Iraqi people for what he said is their courage, courage in wanting to bring freedom and democracy to their country.
President Bush's pick to be the next attorney general got the vote both wanted today, despite complaints from Democrats that Alberto Gonzalez is the wrong man for the job, Republicans had enough votes to push the former White House counsel through the Senate Judiciary Committee and onto the full Senate floor where he is expected to be confirmed sometime next week. It was a 10-8 vote strictly along party lines in the Judiciary Committee.
Another victory for President Bush today. The Senate confirmed Condoleeza Rice as secretary of state. The vote there 85-13. Twelve Democrats and an independent senator, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, voted against her.
By the way, the Senate Historical Office says Rice received the second highest number of negative votes of any secretary of state nominee in U.S. history. The highest number, 14 nays, went to Henry Clay way back in 1825. Today's vote followed contentious hearings in which some Democrats accuse Rice of making false statements in helping President Bush build his case for invading Iraq. She is expected, by the way, to be sworn in tonight to become secretary of state. Can Condoleeza Rice help Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace deal? Two weeks after a terror attack led to a suspension of contacts, Israel has now resumed talks with the Palestinian Authority. And officials from both sides met today to discuss a future summit. Joining us here in Washington now, the foreign minister of Israel, Silvan Shalom.
Mr. Minister, welcome to Washington, thanks very much for joining us.
SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Thank you for having me on your show.
BLITZER: Is a peace negotiation with Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, the new Palestinian Authority president, in the cards any time soon?
SHALOM: Absolutely, if he's willing to take the strategic decision to find the terrorists and to dismantle them, I think the time has come for a meeting between Prime Minister Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas. We could have seen recently while we were asking him to put an end to those missiles that they were firing from Gaza towards Israel. He has done it. And now we are expecting him to go to the other side and stop those terrorist attacks against us.
BLITZER: Are you encouraged by his initial steps these first few weeks?
SHALOM: First of all, we are very happy that we don't have to suffer from more missiles. And he has done it only because we were forcing him to do it. But even though it's very encouraging to find out that they can do it in a very short time, we were convinced to believe for a very long time that they can't do it, they're not capable, they're very weak, it will bring a civil war. And we could have seen that they've done it in a few hours after we gave them the sides of those (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLITZER: So he's sincere. You believe he's a sincere Palestinian leader who is committed to a peaceful track with Israel?
SHALOM: I would like to believe he is.
BLITZER: But do you believe that?
SHALOM: I think he's more positive than Arafat, that's for sure. But in order to make a peace process going in the right direction, he should take a strategic decision, and it means to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organizations. Otherwise, if you will move only toward a ceasefire, what he's trying to do now, it will give only more time to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to rebuild their forces and to carry out a huge attack after it in order to destroy the quiet.
BLITZER: Is your government ready to take some steps to encourage him, to encourage the Palestinians to build confidence, withdrawing from certain settlements, releasing some Palestinian prisoners, making it easier for Palestinians to go through checkpoints in the territories? Are you ready to take those steps? SHALOM: Absolutely, if they are going to ease our lives, there is no reason why we're not going to ease their theirs.
BLITZER: The Gaza withdrawal will go forward?
SHALOM: It looks very good in the right direction, if we're not going to face one more coalition crisis that will force us maybe to move to an earlier election. I see that in months from today going to be the final vote in the Israeli cabinet. And there will be a huge majority.
It is not so easy, we still have this dispute with the settlers. And it will be, let's say, a process that will take a few months, but still, we are very determined. The prime minister is very determined to do it. We are trying now to move and to coordinate it with the Palestinians. It is very important to do it with them and not do it only in a unilateral way, but we need two to tango. If they're willing to do it with us, that's fine.
BLITZER: You were with Dr. Condoleeza Rice in her office at the White House when she got word that the Senate had confirmed her. She was obviously very happy. What did you learn though about her strategy, now that she's going to be secretary of state, in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Will she be the point person there, or do you believe there will be some sort of special U.S. Middle East envoy?
SHALOM: I think she is going to be the one. She would like to be very active. She doesn't need the time in order to study. She's coming from a position that she was very involved in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. And I think she will continue from the same point.
BLITZER: So she'll be in charge?
SHALOM: So I think she will be in charge, she will be very active. She's planning maybe to come to the region. And it is a very, very positive signal.
BLITZER: When will she go to the region?
SHALOM: I don't know. She should be the one to announce when she's going to come. But I think it will be a short time and if they will come it would be a very positive signal that the Americans are involved and it will maybe push the Palestinians to do what needs to be done. They're trying now to push both parties to move forward.
I asked her today to do everything she can in order not to allow Hezbollah (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is to undermine Abu Mazen and his regime, in order (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to put an end to this quiet that we are having now. And it's very important not to allow those crazy organizations that are sponsored by Iran to do it.
BLITZER: So you're encouraged, basically. I want you to listen to what Farouk al-Shara, the foreign minister of Syria, said to me. I interviewed him here on CNN's "LATE EDITION" last Sunday. And he said he, the Syrian government, is ready to resume peace negotiations with Israel.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAROUK AL-SHARA, SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have been saying that for so many years, for a decade or more, that total peace for total withdrawal.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: If Israel were to withdraw fully from the Golan Heights, Syria would establish full peace with Israel?
AL-SHARA: That's right. This is the equation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Is Israel ready to get full peace with Syria in exchange for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights?
SHALOM: We would like peace with all of our neighbors. The question is if the last statement that was made by the President Assad are serious or he made them only in order to reduce the pressure that he's facing now from the American administration, from the Security Council. Every...
BLITZER: Why not test the Syrians and see if they're sincere?
SHALOM: OK. That's fine. But he can't talk about his willingness to have peace on one end while on the other end it still hosting the Hamas and Islamic Jihad, their headquarters and their training camps are still open. The shipments of missiles that are coming toward Hezbollah are coming from Iran through the airport of Damascus.
If he would like to move toward peace, we are willing to do it. And he can start with one humanitarian step, just return the body of Eli Cohen, he's an Israeli agent that was hanged there 40 years ago, it would be a very positive thing...
BLITZER: So if they do that, you would start negotiations with them?
SHALOM: I think it would be a very positive thing. It would convince us that he's serious about his willingness to move towards peace. While now it looks -- even Americans believe the same, that he is not making those statements because he really believes that he wants to go towards peace with Israel only because he knows that most of the terrorists that are carrying out attacks in Iraq are coming from Syria.
They're instructed by the Baath regime that escaped to Syria. And they're very much afraid that the sanctions that might be imposed by the American president. They're under the pressure of the Security Council that's called them to end their occupation in Lebanon. And it might be that they're doing it only because of that.
If they're serious, we are serious, too. We are willing to move toward peace. We want to have peace with the Syrians. We want to have peace with the Palestinians. The question is if they're serious or not, that's -- we will find out in a short time.
Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom of Israel, thanks very much.
SHALOM: Thank you.
BLITZER: When we come back: smoking in the workplace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to quit, but I want it to be on my terms, not someone forcing me to have to make that choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Should your boss decide whether or not you can smoke cigarettes? Find out why one employer is making their workers quit completely at work and at home.
And his family had heard the worst but then was pronounced alive again. Find out why this man was mistaken for dead.
Plus another extraordinary story of survival. This man escaped death when a wild animal came through the window of his home.
All those stories, much more coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's one thing to be told you can't smoke at work, but does your employer have the right to tell you you can't smoke at home or anywhere else, for that matter? CNN's Mary Snow is in New York with the story of one company under fire for doing just that -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this isn't the first time a company has banned smoking. Turner Broadcasting, the parent of CNN, once required employees to sign a policy saying that they wouldn't smoke. The company no longer does that. However, a small company in Michigan is now prohibiting its employees from smoking and it's carrying out random testing to make sure that workers comply.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): It is more than a fight over smoking cigarettes for former Weyco employee Cara Stiffler, quitting smoking was a fight about personal liberty.
CARA STIFFLER, FORMER WEYCO EMPLOYEE: People shouldn't have to be forced to do something that they don't believe in as long as it's not going to hurt somebody.
SNOW: Stiffler and three other employees lost their jobs. The medical benefits company says they have resigned when they refused to take a breathalyzer test under new rules imposed on January 1st. Stiffler says she refused to stop smoking.
STIFFLER: I want to quit but I want it to be on my terms, not someone forcing me to have to make that choice.
SNOW: The company says its ban on smoking is part of an overall wellness program that also encourages exercise. It says cutting medical insurance costs is one of the goals.
DAVID HOUSTON, WEYCO GENERAL COUNSEL: This is an opportunity for employees of Weyco to have the encouragement and the incentive to stop a damaging habit.
SNOW: Privacy advocates say the issue isn't about cigarettes.
WENDY WAGENHAIM, ACLU: There is no law that prevents Weyco from doing this, but I think there's a problem when people can't do what they want to do in the privacy of their own home.
SNOW: And the company says the issue is not privacy but personal responsibility.
HOUSTON: There's not a liberty right or any other right to have any particular employment, and I think it is time for people in our country to start taking personal responsibility for many aspects of their lives, including healthcare.
SNOW: But some question where a line can be drawn when it comes to people's health.
WAGENHEIM: You won't be able to sit in the sun because there is a possibility of skin cancer, or if you have children there's an inherent danger in childbirth. Where will it go?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: While it's legal for Weyco to monitor employees for smoking in the state of Michigan, that's not the case for every state. In fact, the company says it has a worker in Illinois it can't monitor because of the laws there. And the ACLU estimates there are about two dozen states with smoker protection laws -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Mary Snow in New York. Fascinating material. Thanks, Mary, very much.
To our viewers, here is your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: "Should employers be able to enforce smoking bans outside the office?" You can vote right now. Go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results for you later in this broadcast.
More on that deadly commuter train crash, that is coming up. I will speak live with the mayor of the L.A. suburb that awoke this morning to a scene of devastation.
Iraq by the numbers, on this, the deadliest day there for U.S. forces. Questions about Iraqi replacements and new deployments.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): I saw an S.S. guard climb the roof. He had a gas mask, and he put some powder in the little hole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A witness to the horror of the Holocaust returns to Auschwitz for an important anniversary.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. The U.S. Army plans for troop deployments in Iraq. But where will the troops come from? We have new details coming in from the Pentagon.
First, though, a quick check of some other top stories.
A Southern California man faces murder charges for causing this morning's collision between two commuter trains near Los Angeles. Ten people died and more than 100 were injured. Police say the man drove his SUV on to the tracks, planning to kill himself, but jumped out at the last minute. We're standing by to speak with the mayor there.
And this has been the single deadliest day for U.S. forces in Iraq since the war began, with 37 Americans killed on this day alone; 31 died indeed a helicopter crash near one location west -- western part of Iraq. The military says it is likely that it was weather related, but they're still investigating. Four were killed in combat and two others were killed in separate insurgent attacks.
The U.S. military suffered a heavy blow today, when that Marine Corps helicopter went down in western Iraq. All 31 troops aboard were killed. Six more Americans died in combat operations, all this as the U.S. Congress was briefed on the Pentagon's so-called exit strategy.
Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He has details -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as this tragic news came in, Wolf, it again begs the question of how long will the United States have to stay in Iraq.
Up on Capitol Hill today, members of Congress were told by Pentagon officials that the U.S. won't be leaving any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The crash of the CH-53 Super Stallion like this one killed 30 Marines and Navy corpsman. It made for the deadliest day so far for U.S. troops in Iraq, underscoring the continued cost of the war and raising more questions about how soon the U.S. can leave.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We value life, and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life. And -- but it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom.
MCINTYRE: On Capitol Hill, John Abizaid, the general in charge of Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, briefed lawmakers privately on the Pentagon's exit strategy, which continues to hinge on the hope Iraqi troops can eventually replace U.S. forces.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It is not a timetable, and it's not a numbers game, and the task is to see that the Iraqi security forces develop the capacity and the capability and the leadership so that they can assume responsibility for security in that country.
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon says more than 120,000 Iraqis are already trained, and that Iraqi troops will be the first line of security for Sunday's elections.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We believe that combination of Iraqi security forces and coalition forces will make the situation stable enough for voting to take place.
MCINTYRE: But critics in Congress remain skeptical, arguing, the raw number of Iraqis in uniform is misleading.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: An Iraqi soldier or policeman should be considered fully trained when he or she is capable of doing the job we're now asking an American young man or woman to do. How many meet that standard today? Nowhere near, as I said, 120,000. In my judgment, it's closer to 14,000.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld also told Congress that the 120,000 U.S. troops the Army is planning to be able to provide for Iraq in the next two years is simply contingency planning. How many of those troops are actually sent will depend almost entirely on the performance of the Iraqi military in the coming months -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon -- Jamie, thank you very much.
Let's check some other news we're following right now.
A potentially deadly mistake discovered at a North Carolina morgue is now the subject of a formal investigation.
CNN's Brian Todd joining us now live here in the studios with more -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf, an investigation that now has local attorneys, members of a very confused family, members of the medical community in that area taking a long, hard look at what happened on a rural highway less than 48 hours ago. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Larry Green's family had heard the worst possible news.
STEVE GREEN, VICTIM'S BROTHER: We were making the funeral arrangements. Family had came by. Everybody thought that he had passed away.
TODD: Monday evening, the 29-year-old Green was walking on this rural highway just northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, when he was struck by a car. Highway patrol and emergency response teams got there quickly. Green was pronounced dead and placed in a body bag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I passed by, he laying up in the road. And he was balled up and had a sheet over top of him. And I also heard he laid there for two hours.
TODD: More than two hours at the accident at the Franklin County Morgue, the medical examiner tells CNN he unzipped Green's body bag and saw what he called slight abdominal movement. Larry Green was breathing.
GREEN: You are seeing your brother laying there with a sheet over the body and come to find out that he was still alive a little bit and he's breathing, that's serious.
TODD: Green was immediately taken to a local hospital, then to Duke University Medical Center. He's listed in critical condition. How could a mistake like this have been made? The Franklin County attorney overseeing the investigation tells CNN, based on his interviews with the emergency responders involved, he doesn't believe they felt a pulse, observed any chest movement or saw Green's breath in the cold air.
The medical examiner tells us he's never seen anything like this in 35 years. A former chief medical examiner of New York City tells CNN, in eight years overseeing the coroner's office, which handled 34,000 deaths year, he never observed it. But it has happened.
November 2003, a 20-month old girl is found floating face down in her family's pool in Fullerton, California. She's pronounced dead at a local hospital, her breathing tube disconnected. More than an hour later, a police officer notices her breathing and she's revived.
Nine years earlier, an 86-year-old woman in Albany, New York is pronounced dead, placed in a cooler at a local morgue and spends about 90 minutes there. A morgue attendant opens the body bag and finds her breathing shallowly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Medical examiners and forensic experts tell CNN that's a telltale sign, in some of these cases, they say, a victim can have extremely faint breathing, a pulse so spotty that it is undetectable, no visible chest movement, all resulting from trauma or cold, and that can fool even experienced paramedics.
As for the responders in this incident, the Franklin County attorney's office tells us some members of that response team are now temporarily suspended, pending the investigation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brian Todd, good work. Thanks very much.
And we'll have more on that deadly train crash in California. The mayor and the police chief of Glendale both standing by to join us live with all the latest information.
Also ahead, how one man -- look at this -- one man was almost killed by a deer. It is a story you're simply going to have to see to believe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on that horrible train collision outside of Los Angeles earlier this morning. At least 10 people are dead; 100 people have been injured.
Joining us, two guests. Bob Yousefian is the mayor of Glendale. Randy Adams is the Glendale police chief. They're joining us now from the site of today's crash of that collision.
And, Mayor, I will start with you. What is the latest information? What do we know precisely what happened?
BOB YOUSEFIAN, MAYOR OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA: Well, so far, all we know is, there was a person who was suicidal, decided to commit suicide, was not successful in his attempts. So, consequently, he decided to get in his Jeep Cherokee and drive down on to the tracks. His vehicle got stuck on the tracks. And, at that point, he changed his mind as he saw the train come by.
He got out of the car and walked away and literally watched the incident happen. The train coming southbound collided with the jeep, took the vehicle and put it into the undercarriage, which, at that point, started a chain of events which caused all this horrible tragedy.
BLITZER: Now, let me ask the police chief, I assume you've apprehended this man, the suspect. Is that, right, Chief?
RANDY ADAMS, GLENDALE POLICE CHIEF: Yes, we have. His name is Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25 years old. His date of birth is 2/26/79. Last known residence is in Compton.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And what is he going to be charged with?
ADAMS: Well, we have 10 fatalities so far at the scene. Certainly, he'll face at least 10 counts of murder. As far as the specific degrees and so forth, that will be a determination made by the district attorney's office after reviewing the totality of the investigation.
BLITZER: How did he get -- was the car parked in an intersection where the trains were going by, or did he actually get the car on the tracks someplace else?
Let me ask the mayor that.
Mr. Mayor?
YOUSEFIAN: Well, actually, what the individual did is drove off of the street, off the intersection, into the right-of-way of the train, and, literally, put the car on the tracks and tried to cross the tracks and changed his mind, tried to back out. He couldn't back out. He was stuck on the actual tracks itself. And that's when the accident happened.
BLITZER: Police -- let me ask the police chief this question. What, if anything, can we learn from this horrible tragedy? What, if anything, can be done to prevent these kinds of suicide attempts down the road?
ADAMS: Well, Wolf, that's difficult to say.
First of all, it's important for all of your viewers to know that we don't think that there was any terrorist act or involvement of any type here. We feel that this was simply the act of one deranged individual. It is not unusual in history to have people decide to commit suicide using the train, either by jumping in front of a train themselves and/or positioning their vehicles in front of a train.
Normally, the trains are so powerful that they simply clear the wreckage off of the track and continue to stop. But, rarely, does it result in any type of a derailment, as it has this time. So, this is quite a tragedy.
What is really unfortunate, you know, it's very difficult in all circumstances to control all situations. And this individual, bent on suicide, drove off of the right-of-way and down the tracks, as the mayor said, and then actually put his vehicle on to the tracks and in the path of the train.
BLITZER: Randy Adams is the police of chief of Glendale. And Mayor Bob Yousefian is the mayor.
Our hearts go out to your community, our deepest condolences to all those families. Thank you for spending a few moments with us on this horrible, horrible story.
In Ohio, meanwhile, there was a story of extraordinary survival involving an 80-year-old native of Hungary who has lived in the United States for the past 50 years. After surviving the Holocaust and five years in a Russian prison camp, it would seem that Alfred Tibor has experienced his share of close calls with death. But that's not necessarily the case.
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on his latest encounter. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine this was your window and a deer just jumped through it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A deer? Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED) There's a deer in the house.
OPERATOR: There's a deer in the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.
MOOS: A 300-pound deer crashed into the house of Alfred Tibor, a famous sculptor and Holocaust survivor who lives in a wooded area in Columbus, Ohio.
Tibor heard glass break, went and tried to lead the deer out and ended up pinned by the panicking buck. This was no Bambi. Tibor's wife hit the deer with a broom, then ran outside and flagged down this taxi driver.
RANDALL RADER, WITNESS: She was saying her husband was inside and there was somebody on top of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the one guy is bleeding really bad.
OPERATOR: Can he get out of the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) But the buck's got him pinned.
ALFRED TIBOR, VICTIM: He touched me here and I will be dead.
MOOS: When the taxi driver entered the house, he startled the deer and it pulled away from Tibor. The police then moved furniture to corral the buck, but couldn't get it to leave.
SGT. ANTHONY WILSON, COLUMBUS POLICE: I could see that it had significant injuries to its front and hind legs. At that point, we made a decision to put it down.
MOOS: Sergeant Anthony Wilson shot the deer. Tibor was hospitalized, but is in very good condition.
(on camera): So what makes a deer jump through a window? Wildlife experts say it's probably not because the deer wanted to come inside, but rather that the buck mistook the reflection in the glass for open space.
(voice-over): At one point, politics say the deer tried to exit through the bathroom mirror.
As for Alfred Tibor, he feels bad that the deer ended up dearly departed.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: That report from CNN's Jeanne Moos, reporting. Thank God he's OK.
Let's take a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): An investigation is under way into the deaths of 258 people at a Hindu temple in western India. Police say yesterday's tragedy began when some pilgrims among tens of thousand who had converged on the temple were trampled to death after falling on the temple floor. In a fit of anger, some pilgrims set fire to shops, triggering a stampede that killed scores of others.
Tsunami anniversary. People in South Asia are remembering the tens of thousands of people killed in the earthquake and tsunami disaster one month ago today. On Thailand's resort island of Phuket, victims were honored with the inauguration of a remembrance wall.
Back home at last. Eight Chinese construction workers freed by Iraqi insurgents arrived back in China today. They were released over the weekend after China pledged to discourage its citizens from traveling to Iraq.
Good day, mate. London's Trafalgar Square has been turned into an Australian beach to mark Australia Day. And, of course, there's plenty of Aussie beer and barbecue.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Still ahead this hour, remembering the 20th century's deadliest atrocity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEF PASZYNSKI, AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR: After every selection and gassing, they would come to the barber shop after the deed, and they seemed abnormal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: A survivor of the Auschwitz death camp speaks out when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Dignitaries are gathering for tomorrow's ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland where more than a million people died.
In addition to about 30 world leaders, survivors also will attend this anniversary ceremony.
CNN's Chris Burns joining us now live from Auschwitz with more -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, you have seen this barbed wire. You see these guard towers and pictures. It is another thing to be here in a driving snow in the middle of the night just a few yards away from one of the crematoriums, to see what is going to happen tomorrow, as officials come here, leaders from around the world, including Vice President Dick Cheney, joining with more than 1,000 survivors of this Holocaust here to mark the event 60 years ago, when Soviet troops came in and liberated it.
One of those survivors, we talked to. And here is his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): Josef Paszynski was a 20-year-old Polish prisoner of war when he was sent to Auschwitz. While fellow soldiers were murdered, he survived working as a barber for the Nazi officers and guards.
PASZYNSKI (voice-over): After every selection and gassing, they would come to the barber shop after the deed, and they seemed abnormal. I could smell the stench from them and I could see their faces they were conscious of what they did, but not one of them said a word.
BURNS: Among his customers, camp commander Rudolph Hoess.
PASZYNSKI (through translator): Every morning and evening, he would be by the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) gate just watching. The orchestra would be playing and he would be there like a mummy without saying a word, just watching, the prisoners going out to work and returning tired, carrying the corpses.
BURNS: Paszynski says he watched a mass execution from a nearby building as SS guards told hundreds of Jewish men to undress and sent them into a gas chamber.
PASZYNSKI (through translator): I saw an SS guard climb the roof. He had a gas mask. And he put some powder into a little hole. And, soon, I could hear a great scream come out from the building, in spite of the fact that the walls were pretty thick. And the scream lasted for about 15 minutes and then became weaker and weaker. And after about 20 minutes, it was all silent.
BURNS: Paszynski's testimony later helped convict SS guards of crimes against humanity, though during the war, Hoess' barber passed up plenty of chances to kill the man.
PASZYNSKI (through translator): It is true I could do it, but the consequences would be that my whole family would be killed and half of the inmates. And I realized that if this silent son of a bitch would go, they would put another in his place.
BURNS: Sent on a death march as Soviet forces approached Auschwitz, Paszynski was later freed by American troops at another camp, two days before Germany's surrender. PASZYNSKI (through translator): We had the hope that such a thing would never happen again, but these things are happening again in other parts of the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: And yet people like Josef Paszynski keep going on, pressing on, telling their story, hoping they will persuade people to take action to stop genocide. That effort will continue tomorrow as we remember 60 years ago, when this camp was finally liberated -- back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Chris Burns at Auschwitz.
We'll have more from Auschwitz, the 60th anniversary commemoration, tomorrow here on this program.
Let's go up to Capitol Hill. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner, has been meeting with other senators with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General John Abizaid. Let's listen in to what they're saying.
(LIVE EVENT JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: ... are doing, and continue to do.
The one thing that I urge the secretary and the general is that the information that they imparted to some 20 senators today, in my judgment, needs to be quickly conveyed throughout the United States by the secretary of state, defense and others in positions of authority.
The elections are going forward. Every expectation is that they will meet a measure of success. But the period of aftermath of the elections is fraught with uncertainty, and we should prepare the American people for as many eventualities as could possibly happen.
For example, it will take several weeks after the election to certify the results. The assembly will then have to appoint the president and two deputies. They will appoint a prime minister. The prime minister has to be confirmed by the assembly.
This is a period of uncertainty that will descend upon Iraq, and you've got to remember, these people have been suffering some 30 years under Saddam Hussein, and the acceptance and placing of confidence in another government, which is, again, not the final government, but an interim government, is going to take time.
And, very clearly, the secretary and the general explained to us we could anticipate a level of increased insurgency in this period of time and increased difficulty in trying to continue the good work that's been done to train all segments of the security forces.
So, Mr. Secretary, I would hope that you could convey to the nation this message which you've given, I think, very successfully to our senators. And I'll yield the floor to you at this time. DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I have no statement to make other than I'd be happy to respond to a couple of questions.
QUESTION: For General Abizaid: Can you flesh out a little bit the role the U.S. would play in a post-election-Iraq environment?
Doug Feith today, the undersecretary of policy, signaled that there would be more intense effort to train, equip and organize Iraqi forces, and less actually providing physical security.
Can you shed any light on that?
GENERAL JOHN ABIZAID, COMBATANT COMMANDER, CENTCOM: Well, clearly, in the post-election environment in Iraq we intend to increase the level of our training and partnership with the Iraqi security forces.
Exactly how much force we would move from insurgency and counter- insurgency operations and counter-terrorist operations remains to be seen. Our staffs are working on that.
But we clearly know that Iraqi security forces need to mature further. We know that the Iraqi people want that to happen. And as we move from this period of occupation to a period of partnership, more intense effort on our part to get those forces ready is something that has to be done.
QUESTION: General Abizaid: If I could ask something that Chairman Warner spoke about, which was what do you expect after the election? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) telling us to expect that things may be harder or more difficult. Can you elaborate on that?
And what is that basis coming from? Is that from intelligence is that hunch? What do you suspect is going to happen?
ABIZAID: I think that we all need to understand that in Iraq today that what is happening is revolutionary in political terms.
We also need to understand that the thing the enemy fears the most, the thing that people, such as Zarqawi and bin Laden and Zawahari, fear the most are free elections, elections that are the result of a fair process where a new government is chosen and a new future is taken.
And so we should anticipate that after the elections that the people that desire to derail the process of a new future for Iraq will continue to fight and will continue to fight hard.
ABIZAID: But they are fighting an up-hill battle, because the Iraqi security forces, with our backing, will be successful.
RUMSFELD: Let me comment on that, briefly.
If you think about it, Iraq originally had a governing council of 25 people, with a rotating chairmanship. It was difficult for the United States government and the coalition to interact with a council of 25 people with a rotating presidency.
They moved from there to the current arrangement with a prime minister, where you have ministers and a prime minister and a president. And the coalition can interact with them and make agreements as to budgets and "What do you want, how many people do you need in the army?" and you can then proceed on things.
We are now going to move into this period that the chairman just mentioned, where, for a couple of weeks after the election, the results will not have been certified.
So there's a period of ambiguity: Who's going to be in the government?
And then, after it's certified, they seat the assembly, the transitional national assembly, and then they get organized. And that's another period of weeks: however many, who knows?
And then what they do is they select a president and two deputies. And that's going to take a little time.
And then those three people will recommend a prime minister. And the prime minister will then recommend cabinet ministers.
Now, this takes some time to -- these are not people who have a lot of experience in a democratic system where you are going to be negotiating among all of the people in this constituent assembly.
The next step, obviously then, is that the assembly has to approve, by I believe a majority vote, all of the ministers that are selected.
Then the ministers have to get into office and gather people around them.
And if you think about it, there are already people in those jobs. And the people coming in may be from a different tribe or a different viewpoint, and they may want to change the people in there.
So now you've got some turbulence in these ministries.
And it is a -- I think General Abizaid used the word, not a mature democratic system, at this stage. It's in its...
(AUDIO GAP)
RUMSFELD: ... and the reason I mention all of this is because I think it -- to be realistic, we have to recognize that that's the period we're moving into, and it will take some time for that government to settle down, get its staff worked out, get its relationships worked out among the ministers.
I mean, if you think about it, it takes coordination between the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense.
RUMSFELD: And so, they're going to have to get to know each other. They're going to have to develop some working relationships.
And I think that's the period we're going into and that's the context we ought to be looking at, the things and the events that will be taking place in the period immediately ahead. You're looking -- I would guess, well into March, possibly into April for these things to sort themselves out.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you believe this will be as violent a period as it has been in the run-up to the election? Is that...
RUMSFELD: I don't know. General Abizaid believes that we can -- we have to recognize how determined the people who we're up against are. These are people who cut off people's heads on television. These are people that go around killing innocent civilians throughout Iraq. These are people that know they have a lot to lose if Iraq is successful in setting itself on a path of democracy.
So one has to expect that the level of violence will either stay where it is or go up or down modestly during this period, as they attempt to prevent from happening that which is going to happen.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the top U.N. elections official today said the U.S. military was getting too involved, over enthusiastic in getting -- helping the get out the vote effort in Iraq. Do you think the U.S. military should be involved in helping get out the vote?
RUMSFELD: Get out the vote?
QUESTION: The Marines are handing out fliers, encouraging Iraqis to vote.
ABIZAID: I think the only thing that you would see inside Iraq is American forces moving to assist the Iraqi interim government in ways that they've requested, and the Iraqi electoral commission in ways that they've requested.
We understand that our role is to ensure that this is an Iraqi election. And I think you'll see on Saturday, millions of Iraqis will go to vote because they want to vote.
QUESTION: So do you think it's appropriate for American soldiers to do that if they're asked to? Or have they been asked to?
ABIZAID: No, I am saying that millions of Iraqis are going to go vote because they want to vote. And American soldiers do not have the mission to get the vote out.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, there's word that Undersecretary Doug Feith is going to be handing in his resignation today.
QUESTION: Has he talked to you about this, or did you know this was coming?
RUMSFELD: He visited with me after the election and indicated that at some point this year, later this year, by summer, that he thought he, after serving four years, would like to move back into the private sector.
And I've asked him to stick around. We don't have a replacement. And he's agreed to do that.
I don't know what he's announced or what's been announced, but it happens to be a fact that he has had that discussion with me, and I'm hopeful he'll stay until we are able to find an appropriate successor, which we've not started looking for.
(LIVE EVENT INTERRUPTED)
BLITZER: The Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General John Abizaid, the head of the U.S. military central command which oversees Iraq and other countries in the region meeting with the Senate armed services committee answering a few questions there. We saw it live here. Much more coverage on all of the lead up to the Iraqi elections this coming Sunday coming up. That's it for me. 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
