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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Officials Downplay Terrorist's Drawings of Grand Central Station; Increased Violence Turns Iraqis Against Insurgents

Aired March 02, 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: Israeli soldiers by the thousands getting ready to refuse to obey Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's orders to withdraw from Gaza. A crisis in Israel is looming, Jew versus Jew, as the peace process with the Palestinians gets off the ground.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Terror on the tracks. Were the Madrid railway bombers eyeing America's biggest train station? I'll ask New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Day of mourning: as Iraqis grieve for victims of the deadliest insurgent attack, bombers find more victims.

Comeback from Camp Cupcake: she got richer while sitting in prison. Now, Martha Stewart has big plans for life on the outside.

From fat to fit: he lost 100 pounds and beat his doctor's death sentence.

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE, ARKANSAS: The good news is that we really can take charge and -- and reverse the habits of a lifetime.

BLITZER: I'll ask Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee how he did it, and how you can do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, March 2, 2005.

BLITZER: Every morning, commuters surge through New York's Grand Central terminal on their way to work. Could they be in danger?

In our "CNN Security Watch," a discovery in Spain is raising new concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The report surfaced in one of Spain's biggest newspapers. Police investigating last year's train bombings found evidence that one of the suspects might have been thinking about an attack in the United States. A computer disk containing a sketch of New York's Grand Central terminal, used by tens of thousands of commuters every day.

New York officials were quick to downplay the significance of the report. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city has known about the sketch since November.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: It did not look to us like a plan of attack. Rather, it looked like some information that somebody had gathered.

BLITZER: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly characterized the sketch as an amateur rendering that did not appear to be based on actual surveillance.

COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: We don't see it as particularly threatening. It is a subject of investigation, but we don't see it, again, as -- as an immediate cause for concern.

BLITZER: Even so, some experts were concerned that it apparently took months for Spain to turn the information over to U.S. officials.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: The information in the modern era needs to be shared immediately so that we can vet it.

BLITZER: It's not hard to gather information about Grand Central Station. Actual photos can be obtained easily, in numerous books and magazines, even on the Web.

BLOOMBERG: You can go and get detailed information about any building in the world.

You can certain go to a public facility and walk through and look at the construction, and you can buy postcards of buildings. In this case, let me reiterate. It was not at the level where we thought it was an operational plan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now from New York City, the police commissioner, Ray Kelly.

Commissioner, thanks very much for joining us. Did Spain wait too long to share this information? Even if it was modest information, to share it with U.S. law enforcement?

KELLY: I'm not certain how long it took for them to download it, to actually process this information, but it was given, to the best of my knowledge, to the federal authorities, our federal authorities, in November of this year.

It was immediately turned over to us. We contacted the MTA officials, and again, MTA is on the joint terrorist task force in New York City. Members of the task force went to Washington, looked at the originals of these documents. So we were given this information early on. We've had it now at least 3 1/2 months.

BLITZER: But even if the information is not important, you believe that Spain should have, if they had it earlier, should have shared it with the U.S., simply as a matter of overabundance of caution?

KELLY: Well, I want to point out that the Spanish officials have been very cooperative, as far as I know. We had officers in Madrid on the day of the bombing, and the day after we had a team of detectives there. They were very forthcoming with our investigators. So as far as I can see, the Spanish authorities have been very forth coming with the information.

BLITZER: What about the drawing itself, the sketch, whatever it was? Are you certain that it was Grand Central terminal?

KELLY: We believe it to be Grand Central terminal. We had engineers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority come take a look at it. They believe it to be Grand Central Station.

We believe it is an adjacent room, the Vanderbilt Room. The station itself, of course, is one big central area, and then adjacent to that is another room, a smaller room, the Vanderbilt Room. We believe it to be sketches of the Vanderbilt Room.

BLITZER: Is there any explanation why they sketches were on a disk that supposedly belonged to some terrorists?

KELLY: No. There's no -- there's no narrative with it. There's no written information with it. And to the best of my knowledge, that hasn't been determined by the Spanish investigators or our federal authorities.

BLITZER: How unusual is this kind of situation? Because you must be getting tips from all over the world that are not necessarily made public. Is this an extraordinary situation, or would you put it more in the realm of routine?

KELLY: Well, I wouldn't say it's routine. Obviously, these people were involved in some way, shape or form, at least the Spanish authorities believe, involved with the Madrid bombing. So that makes it somewhat different.

But we do get a lot of tips. We get a lot of information on a daily basis that has to be analyzed. Judgments have to be made as to what you do with this information.

We don't see it as an operational plan. We didn't see it as something that was particular cause for concern, but certainly cause for investigation, and that's what's been happening with this information.

BLITZER: After you got the sketch in November, did you beef up security at Grand Central?

KELLY: We had increased security immediately after the Madrid bombings, partly as a result of our detectives being there and getting information from the Spanish authorities. So we've been doing that all along. That bombing happened on March 11, and indeed, that very day we were able to make some adjustments. And our increased security is in place now.

BLITZER: Commuters in New York City under your jurisdiction, can they rest assured that they're safe?

KELLY: Well, I wouldn't change my habits based on this information. We live in a changed world as a result of September 11, but this information does not give us any increased cause for concern at this time.

BLITZER: Commissioner Ray Kelly of New York, thanks, Commissioner, very much.

KELLY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

With Iraqis already mourning dozens of people killed in Monday's horrific bombing, insurgents are stepping up their assault. A judge and his lawyer son working with the war crimes panel which will try Saddam have been gunned down in Baghdad, and suicide bombers today struck twice at Iraq's new security forces.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day began like so many others, with a suicide bombing and death.

Six killed and 28 wounded outside an army recruitment center at 7:09 a.m. Two hours later, a second suicide attack, an Iraqi army convoy the target. Seven dead, two wounded.

It was supposed to be a national day of mourning for the 127 killed two days ago in the deadliest blast sense the insurgency began.

Monday's blast did jolt Iraqis.

ISMAIL ZAYYER, JOURNALIST: It's like a shock, shock in the sense of -- that Iraqi people felt like it was abrading their victory with the election.

ROBERTSON: Four weeks and a day since the elections, the Hillah blast may have punctured the joy of voting, but far from being deflated, some Iraqis, at least, seem to be hardening against the insurgents.

Tariq Jamil (ph) is an 18-year-old student.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only the innocent people, our police, our people, the Iraq people, so I'm against this war.

ROBERTSON: His classmate, Walid Saeed (ph), is 20.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shouldn't do this. They were innocent. They just shouldn't do that. And I wish they wouldn't do it again.

ROBERTSON: A recent anti-insurgent P.R. blitz on Iraqi TV appears to be reshape attitudes, breaking down barriers.

ZAYYER: In the past, they were petrifying society. They are unknown. They are masked. They are killing. They are cutting heads. But now they saw them as criminals, thugs.

ROBERTSON: And that may be paying off for these U.S. soldiers, on a mission to hand out frozen chickens. Help from a first-time informant that leads to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is gunpowder. This is a bomb.

ROBERTSON: And other bomb-making equipment around the impoverished ramshackle house that, without help, no security force would have found.

(on camera) It may be too soon to say that Iraqis can withstand whatever the insurgents inflict on them, but if the blast in Hillah can be measured beyond the death toll, it maybe confirms a change in mood here, that the insurgents are increasingly resented.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A possible fingerprint, bloody shoeprint and phone calls from prison. There are several new developments in the murders of a federal judge's family. We'll have an update on the investigation. That's coming up next.

Martha Stewart's comeback. Just days away from her release, we'll take a closer look at what changes are ahead for the domestic diva.

And, later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUCKABEE: I weighed over 280 pounds, which was 110 pounds ago. I had to wear huge clothes and felt awful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Total transformation, Arkansas's governor, Mike Huckabee, shares his weight-loss success story, how he lost 110 pounds. You'll hear it right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: A few possible key leads in the killing of the husband and mother of a federal judge in Chicago. Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow and her family are now under the protection of the federal marshals.

"Chicago Tribune" reporter David Heinzmann joining us once again from Chicago.

What new clues have surfaced, new information about this double murder?

DAVID HEINZMANN, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well, they -- there is a considerable amount of evidence at the scene that they've collected, and they're doing -- they can't talk exactly about what it is. There was a shoeprint in blood that the killer apparently did -- had cleaned up with a mop, and they're still sorting out whether or not there's forensic evidence to be gathered there.

They do have some other more concrete things that are being tested for DNA. There's some broken glass from the window, where the killer is thought to have come into the basement, and they found a fingerprint on one of shards of glass. All that stuff has been flown to the FBI lab in D.C., and it's being -- it's being tested.

BLITZER: There have been reports, David, as you know, about a phone call or a series of phone calls from some prison to the house. What, if anything, do we know about that, if it's true?

HEINZMANN: There was a phone call, but it turns out to be unrelated. A fairly typical scam out of the Cook County Jail. Inmates at the jail will call people with their privileges and attempt to have the calls rerouted to third parties. And by a strange coincidence, it appears that it's one of these inmates at the jail called the judge's house on Sunday night. Our sources say they have looked into this, vetted it out and think there's no investigative value to the fact that that happened Sunday night.

BLITZER: The whole white supremacist angle of this story, is that still a possible motive, or is -- are they debunking that?

HEINZMANN: No, they're not debunking that. The way it was described to me last night by sources was that this is really a two- prong investigation now. The Chicago Police Department's homicide detectives are processing this murder scene, in this guy's words, like no murder scene has been processed in more than a decade, as far as he can remember, really, really putting the screws to the scene.

And the federal government's, the FBI's real focus here is, in his words, shaking the white supremacist tree, trying to follow, talk to everybody and anybody they can, put the screws to anybody they can in the white supremacist/Aryan world and hope that somebody's, you know, chattering out there with real information about this killing.

BLITZER: David Heinzmann is covering this story for "The Chicago Tribune." We'll be in touch, David. Thank you very much.

HEINZMANN: You're very welcome. BLITZER: Soldiers disobeying their government and refusing their military orders. Find out where it's happening and why.

And from Camp Cupcake to the ultimate comeback kid, a look at what's changed for Martha Stewart, just two days before her prison release.

Diet confusion, how to wade through all the popular weight-loss plans. We'll get advice from health experts.

And later, honoring Jackie Robinson for his achievements, both on and off the baseball field.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Prison time is almost over for Martha Stewart. She's due to be released from a federal prison camp in West Virginia Friday. During her five-month stay, a lot has changed for her and for her company.

CNN's Mary Snow reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Bedford, New York, in anticipation of her homecoming, workers are putting up fences at her 153-acre estate, and her company has been changing the guard. Just days before Stewart's release, it announced the resignation of the magazine's publisher. Also gone, Sharon Patrick, who was CEO when Stewart went into prison, replaced in November by Susan Lyne.

SUSAN LYNE, CEO, MARTHA STEWART OMNIMEDIA: The morale here has been building, I think, as we get closer to Martha's return, because it also signals our ability to put a rough 2 1/2 years behind us and to be able to finally plan for the future with no clouds.

SNOW: Analysts who follow the company see some potential clouds.

GARY MCDANIEL, STANDARD & POOR'S: I've never seen anything in Martha Stewart's past to indicate she's particularly good at playing the second fiddle, so it's really going to be interesting to see how that plays out between Susan and Martha and who is really running the ship.

SNOW: Investors have been betting on a winning outcome, doubling her company's stock since she entered Alderson. Investors are not just hitching their hopes to her, but to reality TV show producer Mark Burnett.

Burnett's two TV shows that include a spin-off of "The Apprentice" starring Martha Stewart will help transition Stewart's image away from convicted felon, which has scared off advertisers.

Stewart's new boss says Stewart's time in prison may not hurt her in the long run. LYNE: I think Martha has made it a good experience. She's used her time well. She's done a lot of reading. She's learned some new skills, and she's made a connection with a lot of women who -- who, I think, actually inspire her in many ways.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Now, Martha Stewart had to step down as CEO in June of 2003 when she was indicted. She currently holds the title of company founder.

Now besides her appeal of criminal charges, she also faces civil charges that were filed by the SEC. And tomorrow we're going to take a look at what home confinement will be like for Martha Stewart and meet some of her new neighbors -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Look forward to that. Mary Snow reporting for us from New York. Mary, thank you very much.

As Israel prepares for a pullout from Gaza, thousands of Israeli soldiers say they won't have any part of it. Will that throw the Jewish state into a state of crisis?

And 110 pounds ago, he lost weight so he wouldn't lose his life. Now, Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has some weight-loss ideas. He'll share them with us.

And they call him Mad Mike. Here he is. Mad Mike, not Mike Huckabee, a different Mike. We'll show you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Soldiers refusing their military orders. It could happen in Israel. Find out why some Jews are revolting against their own government.

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

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the volatile issue of whether displays of the Ten Commandments should be allowed on government property. Supporters argue they should, because they're part of the nation's legal heritage. Opponents counter that such displays are unconstitutional because they promote religion. It's the high court's first case on the issue in 25 years.

In the Michael Jackson trial, a public relations expert who briefly worked for Jackson gave potentially damaging testimony today. Ann Marie Kite suggested that Jackson's associates arranged a smear campaign against the family who accuses Jackson of molesting a 13- year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch two years ago. British regulators have lifted a suspension on the flu vaccine maker Chiron. The move allows Chiron to resume producing flu vaccine at its Liverpool, England, factory. In October, Britain barred the U.S.-based company from shipping -- the U.K.-based company from shipping 48 million flu shots from Liverpool to the United States because of contamination concerns. That caused a flu vaccine shortage, prompting U.S. officials to put restrictions on who should get flu shots.

President Bush and Congress today honored one of the baseball's best players ever, Jackie Robinson. Mr. Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to Robinson's widow during a ceremony in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. He praised Robinson for both his skill on the field and his historic role in breaking down baseball's racial barrier. Robinson was Major League Baseball's first African-American player.

A decade ago, Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin was assassinated by another Israeli after moving toward peace with the Palestinians. Now Israel's government is getting ready to order a withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, but many Israeli soldiers are getting ready to resist those orders, and that's raising new fears of a new crisis within the Jewish state.

CNN's John Vause reports from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Israeli army tried to dismantle an illegal Jewish outpost in West Bank in January, an off-duty soldier was among those leading the resistance. He was arrested and spent a month in jail.

But it could be the start of a revolt, with thousands of soldiers who say they'll disobey the government's order to force Jewish settlers from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank.

CHAIM MISGAV, LAWYER FOR REFUSENIKS: You can see all these signs here.

VAUSE: So far 10,000 soldiers have signed a petition saying they'll not be part of the government's disengagement plans.

MISGAV: Within a few weeks, we shall have about 30,000 signatures. Let's see what happens. Let's see whether the army can function without these people.

VAUSE: Most of the so-called refuseniks are reservists. In Israel, reserve duty is compulsory, the backbone of the armed forces.

Men like Chaim Murad, a reserve colonel who served for 35 years, opposed the disengagement. He's been removed from command.

(on camera) Have you ever disobeyed an order in all that time?

CHAIM MURAD, REFUSENIK: Never. VAUSE: Never?

MURAD: Never.

VAUSE: Why now?

MURAD: Because it's, in my opinion, illegal, immoral order.

VAUSE (voice-over): Along with four other colonels, he's appealing to Israel's Supreme Court, arguing not only unfair treatment, but also questioning whether the order itself is legal.

(on camera): Shouldn't soldiers in the army follow orders? That's what soldiers do.

MURAD: Yes. I don't want to remind whose soldiers follow only orders, only follow orders just 60 years ago.

VAUSE (voice-over): Some prominent rabbis have said that disengagement violates Jewish law, forcing many Orthodox soldiers to choose between God and country.

RABBI JONATHAN BLASS: I feel that a philosophy that says a soldier must carry out orders, even when he feels that these are immoral, that kind of thing threatens the democracy of the state of Israel.

VAUSE: Other rabbis, like Shlomo Aviner, while opposed to the plan, believe soldiers must follow orders for the sake of the army and the country.

RABBI SHLOMO AVINER: Our faith telling us to serve the nation, to serve the state.

VAUSE (on camera): The Israeli military has dealt with refuseniks before, soldiers who are opposed to the occupation and refuse to serve in the Palestinian territories. But they numbered in the hundreds. And most were simply reassigned. It may not be so easy this time.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's take a quick look at some other stories making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A British court ruled that a school violated a teenage Muslim student's rights by banning her from wearing a traditional gown to class. The school says it was trying to respect the views of all students. The case is at the heart of a fierce debate in Europe over religious clothing.

Dancing for the prince. Britain's Prince Charles was greeted by aboriginal women dancers and singers when he arrived in the Australian Outback town of Alice Springs. During a five-hour stay, Charles also sampled desert fruits, but politely turned down an offering of witchetty grub, moth larva, usually eaten alive.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: This opportunity to give you the...

(CROSSTALK)

BILL GATES, FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Oh, fantastic. Thank you so much.

BLITZER: Knight Commander Gates. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has a new title, courtesy of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. He was made an honorary knight. While not entitled to use sir, he can put the initials KBE, knight commander of the British empire, After his name.

GATES: Thank you very much.

BLITZER: Extreme sport. A stunt diver known as Mad Mike jumped from a 557-foot-high bridge in Austria. After somersaulting in a 98- foot freefall, he paraglided to a smooth landing.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: He was obese, diabetic and told he had 10 years left to live. Coming up, how a doctor's warning simply shocked the governor of Arkansas into action. This is how he used to look. Take a look. You'll learn how Mike Huckabee lost more than 100 pounds. Learn what happened to his diabetes and learn the lessons he wants to share with all of us. It's a story that could prolong your life.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: If you're trying to lose weight, you're not alone. Tens of millions of Americans are dieting at any time. Diets offer a mind-boggling and sometimes contradictory range of options.

Our Brian Todd is joining us now with a little bit more on the diet dilemma.

Brian, what did you find out?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's dizzying the number of diet programs, books and experts out there. It seems to multiply every year. Navigating this process is confusing and time- consuming. But those who have successfully lost weight seem to have come up with simple formulas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Mike Huckabee could have made excuses. As governor of Arkansas, he had a crushing schedule, no time to eat right or exercise. Like so many others, he got motivated by fear.

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R), ARKANSAS: At one point, I was having chest pains and all kinds of symptoms. And I thought, my gosh, I have a heart blockage. It's got to be. And I had a heart cath done. They said, your heart's fine, but you're just horribly out of shape.

TODD: That was a little over two years and 100 pounds ago. From a high of 280, he's now down to 170 pounds.

HUCKABEE: I'm making bacon and eggs. That's my typical breakfast.

TODD: It wasn't so much about dieting. Huckabee had tried many of the popular weight-loss plans, with limited success. Doctors and dietitians who we spoke to say programs like the Atkins and South Beach diets are good for losing weight quickly, but:

KATHERINE TALLMADGE, AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION: What happens, when you're the person who is doing a fad diet, losing weight more quickly, you gain the weight back anyway. So, in weight loss, the tortoise wins the race.

TODD: Experts say the high-protein, low-carb regimens in those diets exclude whole food groups that are good for you, that can help maintain energy and a healthy metabolism. And a common problem for those wanting to shed weight is the sheer confusion of it all. How do you weave through the diets like Atkins and South Beach, group programs like Weight Watchers, and find the one that's right for you?

Experts say people like Mike Huckabee, who lose weight and keep it off successfully, do a few simple things, one, avoid those diets with narrow menus.

TALLMADGE: The best diet is a diet with a variety of foods. To be nutritionally adequate, you need foods from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins like lean meats and legumes and fish, healthy fats, oils, nuts.

TODD: Also eat smaller portions, say the experts, avoid processed food and, perhaps most important, keep physically active, even if it's not a high-octane exercise program.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Experts say the most common misperception about weight loss, that, if you take it off quickly, you can keep it off forever. Diet alone won't do it, they say. It's all about changing your lifestyle, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Brian Todd, good advice. Thank very much, Brian.

All across the country today, people are stepping on scales as part of the American Cancer Society's Great Weigh-In. It's part of an effort to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining a healthy weigh. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, as we just saw, says his fight against obesity began with a health scare. I talked with Governor Huckabee just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, thanks very much for joining us.

You're looking mighty healthy, but it wasn't all that long ago you looked a lot different. How big were you in 2002?

HUCKABEE: Oh, gosh. If we roll the clock back a couple of years, I weighed over 280 pounds, which was 110 pounds ago. I had to wear huge clothes and felt awful, looked awful. And, you know, enough people kept telling me that as well.

BLITZER: You're 5'11''. You weighed 280 pounds. But there were medical results, medical ramifications from that. What did your doctors tell you?

HUCKABEE: Well, the shakeup was when the doctor told me I was Type II diabetic. And he sat me down and he said, if you don't make some changes, you've got maybe 10 years.

I just thought, that's crazy. This is insane. I've done this to myself. I'm the only person who can fix it. And as a result of taking charge of my own health and deciding that I wasn't going to die within 10 years, I not only longer have diabetes. I don't have to take any medicine. The doctor said it's as if I have never had it. And now I have the body chemistry of a teenager, instead of that of an old man.

BLITZER: For those of our viewers who aren't familiar with Type II diabetes, what can that result in? What does that cause?

HUCKABEE: The worst part is that it's a progressive disease that begins to affect your vision, your circulation. Many people end up losing toes and legs and limbs. Often, people will be far more susceptible to having heart attack, kidney disease, kidney failure, renal failure.

There's just a host of things. And the fact is, the longer you live with the disease, the more progressively worse it gets. And it finally will result in killing you.

BLITZER: All right, you're 48 years old in 2002. You're 5'11'', 280 pounds. The doctors say you might have 10 years left to live unless you take action, immediate action.

It wasn't just prescription drugs. What did you do?

HUCKABEE: Well, I went to our medical school here. There's a wonderful endocrinologist named Dr. Philip Kern, whose specialty is metabolism and how to really eat the right things and how to burn calories by exercising. And the whole thing, it's not rocket science, as he told me. You take fewer calories in and you burn more off. The first thing was to give me a very restricted caloric intake every day, eliminate sugar, eliminate processed foods, eliminate junk foods and, for this Southern boy, the toughest of all, get rid of the fried foods.

And once I cleansed my system and got it out, it really wasn't that difficult. I started slowly exercising, because, you know, at first, he told me, you can't exercise much. You are so big, you'll hurt your knees and your joints by even exerting yourself. And I of course agreed to that.

But, little by little, I started first learning how to eat right, and then putting exercise increasingly into my lifestyle. And this coming Sunday, Wolf, I'll be running in the Little Rock marathon, 26.2 miles. Governor Tom Vilsack, my Democrat governor friend from Iowa, is actually coming to Little Rock, will be running with me. So we're going to be sort of a strange pair of running mates this coming Sunday.

But I couldn't have even imagined walking 26 blocks two years ago. And I'm going to be running 26 miles. I've got to tell you, I'm amazed myself at the progress that an old man like me can make when he really wants to.

BLITZER: Well, first of all, you're not that hold. Second of all, it was hard to even exercise for six minutes once you started, when you weighed 280 pounds, because you were just short of breath.

HUCKABEE: Oh, I felt awful.

I mean, I got to the place -- I tell people I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. But a few minutes of exertion, going up a flight of stairs -- when I would be at the Capitol and I would see reporters at the top, I said, oh, no, they're going to be up there. They'll ask me a question. I'll be so our of breath, I can't answer it.

And I'd be sweating just from a little bit of exertion. And, you know, it was just a miserable way to live. And there are so many people who battle with it, as I have throughout my life. And the good news is that we really can take charge and reverse the habits of a lifetime.

BLITZER: Some people who are 100 pounds or more overweight have that operation to cut out a big chunk of their stomach. You know some of the celebrities who have gone through that. Was that ever something that you considered?

HUCKABEE: It wasn't for me. I've had friends who have done it, and many of them have done it successfully. Others have done it not so successfully.

But I just was scared to death of it. I thought that that would be such a major alteration. Now, I'm not against it for other people. And many people, that's the best way that they go about it. And I would never second-guess or judge somebody's method of taking control of their health, but, for me, I just was afraid of it, quite frankly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll have more of my interview with Governor Mike Huckabee. That's coming up. We'll hear exactly how he lost 110 pounds, his personal tips for successful living. This is information all of us need to consider.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has been become a warrior of sorts for healthy weight loss. He says it doesn't happen overnight and involves lifestyle changes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's go through some of your recommendations. I read a long article in "The Washington Post" on some of the tips that you've put together. And you're going to be writing a book about this that Time Warner, our sister, our parent company, is actually going to be publishing in May.

But let's go through some of these lessons learned. Find the big picture, what do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, realize that the goal is not weight lost. The goal is health and fitness. I've lost a lot of weight in my life.

What was different this time was that my goal was not losing weight. My goal was getting healthy. There is a huge difference, because when you say, I'm going to lose weight, you have a beginning and an ending. When you say, I'm going to get healthy, it is going to take the rest of your life and you will never get off -- quote -- "the plan or the program." And that's a real mental difference.

And it results in some permanent changes. So that's the first thing a person has to do.

BLITZER: All right, let's talk about the small goals that -- you call it small goals need to establish.

HUCKABEE: Well, the book that I'm doing is called "Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork." And then it's -- really, the subtitle, is 12 stops.

And what I say is that you have got to stop doing some things before you can start doing the right things. And one of those things, the small steps is, don't try to do it all at one time. For example, exercise. Don't go out and join a gym and say, I'm going to spent an hour and a half at the gym every day, because you know what? You're not.

The truth is, if you can just start walking five, six, minutes a day, I say 12 minutes a day, because it kind of is a good round number. And don't do any more than that for a week or so. Then, little by little, add a minute to that time. After all, you've given yourself to the rest of your life to get this done. So, don't expect you're going to be finished with it in one month.

BLITZER: The next tip you have is no dieting. What do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, as I said before, don't focus on dieting and weight loss. Focus on eating healthy foods, eating the right kinds of things in the right kind of portions and having a balanced approach to a lifestyle, because, when you diet, you tend to think of yourself as being deprived.

What I'm thinking of myself deprived of, I'm deprived of a heart attack. I'm deprived of paying an enormous amount of money for diabetic medicine. I'm depriving myself of high blood pressure. I'm depriving myself of fatigue. I'm glad I'm deprived of those things.

BLITZER: So, if somebody puts a hot fudge sundae in front of you or some fried chicken, what do you do?

HUCKABEE: I just say no.

And the beautiful thing is, once I detoxed my body, which is another important step of cleansing your system of the refined sugar and the junk foods, you'd be amazed that you just don't want it anymore. So, I don't mind somebody putting it in front of me, and I will look at it and I'll say, yes, I know that that probably tastes pretty good.

But, as Frank Broyles, the athletic director at the University of Arkansas, said to me, nothing ever tastes as good as it feels to be thin.

BLITZER: You also have a tip that I really think is important, find a daily routine. Talk about your daily routine.

HUCKABEE: Well, people ask me, how do you find time to exercise? How do you find time to get the right food?

And I tell them, you know, I don't find that time. I make that time. I make appointments. I make scheduling allotments for speeches and meetings. So, if I'm going to really focus on eating right and exercising, I have to make that time in my schedule. Now, for me, I get up at 4:30 every morning. That's when I go out and do my runs. That's when I will get on a bike or exercise and work out.

And, as far as food, because I never know where I'm going to eat and who's going to put something in front of me that I can eat, if I'm traveling, I carry a cooler with me, and I will take some turkey breast and some yogurt and apples and things that I know I can eat, and that way, I don't feel like I'm obligated to eat things that really aren't good for me.

BLITZER: And if you miss a day of exercise, you feel awful about that, don't you?

HUCKABEE: I used to feel awful if I had a day of exercise. And now I really feel like that my whole schedule is off if I don't get to exercise. I feel great doing it.

And the feeling of exhilaration and even the energy lasts for hours and hours past that time when I've worked out, whether it's running or lifting weights, or whatever it is.

BLITZER: One of your tips is know your weakest time. What do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, for me, it was at night. I would get home at night after going to events and being busy all day. It would be the first time I had to myself. And I would find it so easy to console myself with a big bag of chips or some other types of salty snack food washed down by soft drinks, followed up by ice cream. And I would just continue to eat until I was finally so bloated that I was ready to go to sleep. Or maybe I just fell asleep.

That was my weak time. Everybody has that time. But, for me, that was it. Once you know what it is, don't make provisions for failure. Get rid of the junk that is in your cabinets and in your refrigerator that's likely to call you the downfall.

BLITZER: And, Governor, this other tip that you have, weight loss is an effect, not a goal. What do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, the goal, again, is health. Weight loss is simply one of the ingredients.

The goal that you should have is lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, a better heart rate. You should have a better sense of cholesterol, an A1C hemoglobin. There are a whole lot of markers that tell you whether you're healthy. Those things are better indicators than simply what's on the scale.

When people focus only on weight, they may lose weight, but they may not be healthy. There are a lot of rail-skin, rail-skinny people out there who are anything but healthy, because they haven't eaten healthy foods and they don't exercise. The just deprive themselves and they think they're healthy. That's what I mean by that.

BLITZER: And when you think about 110 pounds, which you used to carry around, just imagine 110 pounds of potatoes or concrete, that extra fat that you didn't need. You walked around carrying that the enormous pressure that must have exerted on all your vital organs.

HUCKABEE: Oh, it was incredible.

When I do school assemblies now and talk about health to teenagers, one of the things I do if I'm at a junior high, there will usually be a bunch of kids there that weigh about 100, 110 pounds. I will say, somebody here that weighs 100 pounds, let me see your hands. And usually some girl, she will raise her hand. I will say, come up here. And I'll have her get up on my back, like playing horsy. And all the kids are amazed. And I have -- I walk around the gym floor if I'm at an assembly. And I say, you know what it was like carrying an extra 110 pounds? It's like carrying little Ashley here for every day. If I go upstairs, I have got her on my back. If I walk across the parking lot, she's right there. Wherever I sit, she's hanging on to me.

I said,imagine every day walking around with this girl on my back. I said, that's what it's like to have 110 pounds. It really makes it visual for the kids. They get a picture of it. And they say, gee whiz, bet that would get old, doesn't it?

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, you've been an inspiration. You like to run.

Totally unrelated question. Governor Vilsack is going to be running with you. A lot of people are mentioning his name for 2008. They're mentioning your name as well for 2008. What do you say about that?

HUCKABEE: Well, I think it's a little premature to be talking about it. It's always flattering, though, to even be mentioned in it.

And let me get through this run of the marathon. And I have a feeling Tom is going to tell you the same thing. But it is going to be a fun time. I think it is going to be neat that we'll have a Democrat and Republican governor. Both our names get tossed out every now and then. But the kind of run we're going to be running on this Sunday is really to encourage people to be healthy.

And I'll tell you something. Healthy behavior is neither a Democrat or Republican issue. It's something that every American needs to embrace. And I hope we can encourage some folks to do it.

BLITZER: Well said.

Governor Huckabee, congratulations to you. We will look forward to reading your book. Thanks very much for joining us.

HUCKABEE: Appreciate it, Wolf. Great to talk to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll have our picture of the day, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: If you ordered this lobster, you need to be really hungry.

This 22-pounder named Bubba was caught near Nantucket and shipped to a fish market in Pittsburgh. He may be 100 years old. He's not going to be eaten, though. He's going to Ripley's Believe It or Not!.

"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 March 2, 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: Israeli soldiers by the thousands getting ready to refuse to obey Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's orders to withdraw from Gaza. A crisis in Israel is looming, Jew versus Jew, as the peace process with the Palestinians gets off the ground.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Terror on the tracks. Were the Madrid railway bombers eyeing America's biggest train station? I'll ask New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Day of mourning: as Iraqis grieve for victims of the deadliest insurgent attack, bombers find more victims.

Comeback from Camp Cupcake: she got richer while sitting in prison. Now, Martha Stewart has big plans for life on the outside.

From fat to fit: he lost 100 pounds and beat his doctor's death sentence.

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE, ARKANSAS: The good news is that we really can take charge and -- and reverse the habits of a lifetime.

BLITZER: I'll ask Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee how he did it, and how you can do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, March 2, 2005.

BLITZER: Every morning, commuters surge through New York's Grand Central terminal on their way to work. Could they be in danger?

In our "CNN Security Watch," a discovery in Spain is raising new concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The report surfaced in one of Spain's biggest newspapers. Police investigating last year's train bombings found evidence that one of the suspects might have been thinking about an attack in the United States. A computer disk containing a sketch of New York's Grand Central terminal, used by tens of thousands of commuters every day.

New York officials were quick to downplay the significance of the report. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city has known about the sketch since November.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: It did not look to us like a plan of attack. Rather, it looked like some information that somebody had gathered.

BLITZER: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly characterized the sketch as an amateur rendering that did not appear to be based on actual surveillance.

COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: We don't see it as particularly threatening. It is a subject of investigation, but we don't see it, again, as -- as an immediate cause for concern.

BLITZER: Even so, some experts were concerned that it apparently took months for Spain to turn the information over to U.S. officials.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: The information in the modern era needs to be shared immediately so that we can vet it.

BLITZER: It's not hard to gather information about Grand Central Station. Actual photos can be obtained easily, in numerous books and magazines, even on the Web.

BLOOMBERG: You can go and get detailed information about any building in the world.

You can certain go to a public facility and walk through and look at the construction, and you can buy postcards of buildings. In this case, let me reiterate. It was not at the level where we thought it was an operational plan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now from New York City, the police commissioner, Ray Kelly.

Commissioner, thanks very much for joining us. Did Spain wait too long to share this information? Even if it was modest information, to share it with U.S. law enforcement?

KELLY: I'm not certain how long it took for them to download it, to actually process this information, but it was given, to the best of my knowledge, to the federal authorities, our federal authorities, in November of this year.

It was immediately turned over to us. We contacted the MTA officials, and again, MTA is on the joint terrorist task force in New York City. Members of the task force went to Washington, looked at the originals of these documents. So we were given this information early on. We've had it now at least 3 1/2 months.

BLITZER: But even if the information is not important, you believe that Spain should have, if they had it earlier, should have shared it with the U.S., simply as a matter of overabundance of caution?

KELLY: Well, I want to point out that the Spanish officials have been very cooperative, as far as I know. We had officers in Madrid on the day of the bombing, and the day after we had a team of detectives there. They were very forthcoming with our investigators. So as far as I can see, the Spanish authorities have been very forth coming with the information.

BLITZER: What about the drawing itself, the sketch, whatever it was? Are you certain that it was Grand Central terminal?

KELLY: We believe it to be Grand Central terminal. We had engineers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority come take a look at it. They believe it to be Grand Central Station.

We believe it is an adjacent room, the Vanderbilt Room. The station itself, of course, is one big central area, and then adjacent to that is another room, a smaller room, the Vanderbilt Room. We believe it to be sketches of the Vanderbilt Room.

BLITZER: Is there any explanation why they sketches were on a disk that supposedly belonged to some terrorists?

KELLY: No. There's no -- there's no narrative with it. There's no written information with it. And to the best of my knowledge, that hasn't been determined by the Spanish investigators or our federal authorities.

BLITZER: How unusual is this kind of situation? Because you must be getting tips from all over the world that are not necessarily made public. Is this an extraordinary situation, or would you put it more in the realm of routine?

KELLY: Well, I wouldn't say it's routine. Obviously, these people were involved in some way, shape or form, at least the Spanish authorities believe, involved with the Madrid bombing. So that makes it somewhat different.

But we do get a lot of tips. We get a lot of information on a daily basis that has to be analyzed. Judgments have to be made as to what you do with this information.

We don't see it as an operational plan. We didn't see it as something that was particular cause for concern, but certainly cause for investigation, and that's what's been happening with this information.

BLITZER: After you got the sketch in November, did you beef up security at Grand Central?

KELLY: We had increased security immediately after the Madrid bombings, partly as a result of our detectives being there and getting information from the Spanish authorities. So we've been doing that all along. That bombing happened on March 11, and indeed, that very day we were able to make some adjustments. And our increased security is in place now.

BLITZER: Commuters in New York City under your jurisdiction, can they rest assured that they're safe?

KELLY: Well, I wouldn't change my habits based on this information. We live in a changed world as a result of September 11, but this information does not give us any increased cause for concern at this time.

BLITZER: Commissioner Ray Kelly of New York, thanks, Commissioner, very much.

KELLY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

With Iraqis already mourning dozens of people killed in Monday's horrific bombing, insurgents are stepping up their assault. A judge and his lawyer son working with the war crimes panel which will try Saddam have been gunned down in Baghdad, and suicide bombers today struck twice at Iraq's new security forces.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day began like so many others, with a suicide bombing and death.

Six killed and 28 wounded outside an army recruitment center at 7:09 a.m. Two hours later, a second suicide attack, an Iraqi army convoy the target. Seven dead, two wounded.

It was supposed to be a national day of mourning for the 127 killed two days ago in the deadliest blast sense the insurgency began.

Monday's blast did jolt Iraqis.

ISMAIL ZAYYER, JOURNALIST: It's like a shock, shock in the sense of -- that Iraqi people felt like it was abrading their victory with the election.

ROBERTSON: Four weeks and a day since the elections, the Hillah blast may have punctured the joy of voting, but far from being deflated, some Iraqis, at least, seem to be hardening against the insurgents.

Tariq Jamil (ph) is an 18-year-old student.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only the innocent people, our police, our people, the Iraq people, so I'm against this war.

ROBERTSON: His classmate, Walid Saeed (ph), is 20.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shouldn't do this. They were innocent. They just shouldn't do that. And I wish they wouldn't do it again.

ROBERTSON: A recent anti-insurgent P.R. blitz on Iraqi TV appears to be reshape attitudes, breaking down barriers.

ZAYYER: In the past, they were petrifying society. They are unknown. They are masked. They are killing. They are cutting heads. But now they saw them as criminals, thugs.

ROBERTSON: And that may be paying off for these U.S. soldiers, on a mission to hand out frozen chickens. Help from a first-time informant that leads to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is gunpowder. This is a bomb.

ROBERTSON: And other bomb-making equipment around the impoverished ramshackle house that, without help, no security force would have found.

(on camera) It may be too soon to say that Iraqis can withstand whatever the insurgents inflict on them, but if the blast in Hillah can be measured beyond the death toll, it maybe confirms a change in mood here, that the insurgents are increasingly resented.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A possible fingerprint, bloody shoeprint and phone calls from prison. There are several new developments in the murders of a federal judge's family. We'll have an update on the investigation. That's coming up next.

Martha Stewart's comeback. Just days away from her release, we'll take a closer look at what changes are ahead for the domestic diva.

And, later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUCKABEE: I weighed over 280 pounds, which was 110 pounds ago. I had to wear huge clothes and felt awful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Total transformation, Arkansas's governor, Mike Huckabee, shares his weight-loss success story, how he lost 110 pounds. You'll hear it right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: A few possible key leads in the killing of the husband and mother of a federal judge in Chicago. Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow and her family are now under the protection of the federal marshals.

"Chicago Tribune" reporter David Heinzmann joining us once again from Chicago.

What new clues have surfaced, new information about this double murder?

DAVID HEINZMANN, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well, they -- there is a considerable amount of evidence at the scene that they've collected, and they're doing -- they can't talk exactly about what it is. There was a shoeprint in blood that the killer apparently did -- had cleaned up with a mop, and they're still sorting out whether or not there's forensic evidence to be gathered there.

They do have some other more concrete things that are being tested for DNA. There's some broken glass from the window, where the killer is thought to have come into the basement, and they found a fingerprint on one of shards of glass. All that stuff has been flown to the FBI lab in D.C., and it's being -- it's being tested.

BLITZER: There have been reports, David, as you know, about a phone call or a series of phone calls from some prison to the house. What, if anything, do we know about that, if it's true?

HEINZMANN: There was a phone call, but it turns out to be unrelated. A fairly typical scam out of the Cook County Jail. Inmates at the jail will call people with their privileges and attempt to have the calls rerouted to third parties. And by a strange coincidence, it appears that it's one of these inmates at the jail called the judge's house on Sunday night. Our sources say they have looked into this, vetted it out and think there's no investigative value to the fact that that happened Sunday night.

BLITZER: The whole white supremacist angle of this story, is that still a possible motive, or is -- are they debunking that?

HEINZMANN: No, they're not debunking that. The way it was described to me last night by sources was that this is really a two- prong investigation now. The Chicago Police Department's homicide detectives are processing this murder scene, in this guy's words, like no murder scene has been processed in more than a decade, as far as he can remember, really, really putting the screws to the scene.

And the federal government's, the FBI's real focus here is, in his words, shaking the white supremacist tree, trying to follow, talk to everybody and anybody they can, put the screws to anybody they can in the white supremacist/Aryan world and hope that somebody's, you know, chattering out there with real information about this killing.

BLITZER: David Heinzmann is covering this story for "The Chicago Tribune." We'll be in touch, David. Thank you very much.

HEINZMANN: You're very welcome. BLITZER: Soldiers disobeying their government and refusing their military orders. Find out where it's happening and why.

And from Camp Cupcake to the ultimate comeback kid, a look at what's changed for Martha Stewart, just two days before her prison release.

Diet confusion, how to wade through all the popular weight-loss plans. We'll get advice from health experts.

And later, honoring Jackie Robinson for his achievements, both on and off the baseball field.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Prison time is almost over for Martha Stewart. She's due to be released from a federal prison camp in West Virginia Friday. During her five-month stay, a lot has changed for her and for her company.

CNN's Mary Snow reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Bedford, New York, in anticipation of her homecoming, workers are putting up fences at her 153-acre estate, and her company has been changing the guard. Just days before Stewart's release, it announced the resignation of the magazine's publisher. Also gone, Sharon Patrick, who was CEO when Stewart went into prison, replaced in November by Susan Lyne.

SUSAN LYNE, CEO, MARTHA STEWART OMNIMEDIA: The morale here has been building, I think, as we get closer to Martha's return, because it also signals our ability to put a rough 2 1/2 years behind us and to be able to finally plan for the future with no clouds.

SNOW: Analysts who follow the company see some potential clouds.

GARY MCDANIEL, STANDARD & POOR'S: I've never seen anything in Martha Stewart's past to indicate she's particularly good at playing the second fiddle, so it's really going to be interesting to see how that plays out between Susan and Martha and who is really running the ship.

SNOW: Investors have been betting on a winning outcome, doubling her company's stock since she entered Alderson. Investors are not just hitching their hopes to her, but to reality TV show producer Mark Burnett.

Burnett's two TV shows that include a spin-off of "The Apprentice" starring Martha Stewart will help transition Stewart's image away from convicted felon, which has scared off advertisers.

Stewart's new boss says Stewart's time in prison may not hurt her in the long run. LYNE: I think Martha has made it a good experience. She's used her time well. She's done a lot of reading. She's learned some new skills, and she's made a connection with a lot of women who -- who, I think, actually inspire her in many ways.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Now, Martha Stewart had to step down as CEO in June of 2003 when she was indicted. She currently holds the title of company founder.

Now besides her appeal of criminal charges, she also faces civil charges that were filed by the SEC. And tomorrow we're going to take a look at what home confinement will be like for Martha Stewart and meet some of her new neighbors -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Look forward to that. Mary Snow reporting for us from New York. Mary, thank you very much.

As Israel prepares for a pullout from Gaza, thousands of Israeli soldiers say they won't have any part of it. Will that throw the Jewish state into a state of crisis?

And 110 pounds ago, he lost weight so he wouldn't lose his life. Now, Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has some weight-loss ideas. He'll share them with us.

And they call him Mad Mike. Here he is. Mad Mike, not Mike Huckabee, a different Mike. We'll show you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From our studios in Washington, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Soldiers refusing their military orders. It could happen in Israel. Find out why some Jews are revolting against their own government.

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

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the volatile issue of whether displays of the Ten Commandments should be allowed on government property. Supporters argue they should, because they're part of the nation's legal heritage. Opponents counter that such displays are unconstitutional because they promote religion. It's the high court's first case on the issue in 25 years.

In the Michael Jackson trial, a public relations expert who briefly worked for Jackson gave potentially damaging testimony today. Ann Marie Kite suggested that Jackson's associates arranged a smear campaign against the family who accuses Jackson of molesting a 13- year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch two years ago. British regulators have lifted a suspension on the flu vaccine maker Chiron. The move allows Chiron to resume producing flu vaccine at its Liverpool, England, factory. In October, Britain barred the U.S.-based company from shipping -- the U.K.-based company from shipping 48 million flu shots from Liverpool to the United States because of contamination concerns. That caused a flu vaccine shortage, prompting U.S. officials to put restrictions on who should get flu shots.

President Bush and Congress today honored one of the baseball's best players ever, Jackie Robinson. Mr. Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to Robinson's widow during a ceremony in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. He praised Robinson for both his skill on the field and his historic role in breaking down baseball's racial barrier. Robinson was Major League Baseball's first African-American player.

A decade ago, Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin was assassinated by another Israeli after moving toward peace with the Palestinians. Now Israel's government is getting ready to order a withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, but many Israeli soldiers are getting ready to resist those orders, and that's raising new fears of a new crisis within the Jewish state.

CNN's John Vause reports from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Israeli army tried to dismantle an illegal Jewish outpost in West Bank in January, an off-duty soldier was among those leading the resistance. He was arrested and spent a month in jail.

But it could be the start of a revolt, with thousands of soldiers who say they'll disobey the government's order to force Jewish settlers from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank.

CHAIM MISGAV, LAWYER FOR REFUSENIKS: You can see all these signs here.

VAUSE: So far 10,000 soldiers have signed a petition saying they'll not be part of the government's disengagement plans.

MISGAV: Within a few weeks, we shall have about 30,000 signatures. Let's see what happens. Let's see whether the army can function without these people.

VAUSE: Most of the so-called refuseniks are reservists. In Israel, reserve duty is compulsory, the backbone of the armed forces.

Men like Chaim Murad, a reserve colonel who served for 35 years, opposed the disengagement. He's been removed from command.

(on camera) Have you ever disobeyed an order in all that time?

CHAIM MURAD, REFUSENIK: Never. VAUSE: Never?

MURAD: Never.

VAUSE: Why now?

MURAD: Because it's, in my opinion, illegal, immoral order.

VAUSE (voice-over): Along with four other colonels, he's appealing to Israel's Supreme Court, arguing not only unfair treatment, but also questioning whether the order itself is legal.

(on camera): Shouldn't soldiers in the army follow orders? That's what soldiers do.

MURAD: Yes. I don't want to remind whose soldiers follow only orders, only follow orders just 60 years ago.

VAUSE (voice-over): Some prominent rabbis have said that disengagement violates Jewish law, forcing many Orthodox soldiers to choose between God and country.

RABBI JONATHAN BLASS: I feel that a philosophy that says a soldier must carry out orders, even when he feels that these are immoral, that kind of thing threatens the democracy of the state of Israel.

VAUSE: Other rabbis, like Shlomo Aviner, while opposed to the plan, believe soldiers must follow orders for the sake of the army and the country.

RABBI SHLOMO AVINER: Our faith telling us to serve the nation, to serve the state.

VAUSE (on camera): The Israeli military has dealt with refuseniks before, soldiers who are opposed to the occupation and refuse to serve in the Palestinian territories. But they numbered in the hundreds. And most were simply reassigned. It may not be so easy this time.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's take a quick look at some other stories making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A British court ruled that a school violated a teenage Muslim student's rights by banning her from wearing a traditional gown to class. The school says it was trying to respect the views of all students. The case is at the heart of a fierce debate in Europe over religious clothing.

Dancing for the prince. Britain's Prince Charles was greeted by aboriginal women dancers and singers when he arrived in the Australian Outback town of Alice Springs. During a five-hour stay, Charles also sampled desert fruits, but politely turned down an offering of witchetty grub, moth larva, usually eaten alive.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: This opportunity to give you the...

(CROSSTALK)

BILL GATES, FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Oh, fantastic. Thank you so much.

BLITZER: Knight Commander Gates. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has a new title, courtesy of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. He was made an honorary knight. While not entitled to use sir, he can put the initials KBE, knight commander of the British empire, After his name.

GATES: Thank you very much.

BLITZER: Extreme sport. A stunt diver known as Mad Mike jumped from a 557-foot-high bridge in Austria. After somersaulting in a 98- foot freefall, he paraglided to a smooth landing.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: He was obese, diabetic and told he had 10 years left to live. Coming up, how a doctor's warning simply shocked the governor of Arkansas into action. This is how he used to look. Take a look. You'll learn how Mike Huckabee lost more than 100 pounds. Learn what happened to his diabetes and learn the lessons he wants to share with all of us. It's a story that could prolong your life.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: If you're trying to lose weight, you're not alone. Tens of millions of Americans are dieting at any time. Diets offer a mind-boggling and sometimes contradictory range of options.

Our Brian Todd is joining us now with a little bit more on the diet dilemma.

Brian, what did you find out?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's dizzying the number of diet programs, books and experts out there. It seems to multiply every year. Navigating this process is confusing and time- consuming. But those who have successfully lost weight seem to have come up with simple formulas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Mike Huckabee could have made excuses. As governor of Arkansas, he had a crushing schedule, no time to eat right or exercise. Like so many others, he got motivated by fear.

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R), ARKANSAS: At one point, I was having chest pains and all kinds of symptoms. And I thought, my gosh, I have a heart blockage. It's got to be. And I had a heart cath done. They said, your heart's fine, but you're just horribly out of shape.

TODD: That was a little over two years and 100 pounds ago. From a high of 280, he's now down to 170 pounds.

HUCKABEE: I'm making bacon and eggs. That's my typical breakfast.

TODD: It wasn't so much about dieting. Huckabee had tried many of the popular weight-loss plans, with limited success. Doctors and dietitians who we spoke to say programs like the Atkins and South Beach diets are good for losing weight quickly, but:

KATHERINE TALLMADGE, AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION: What happens, when you're the person who is doing a fad diet, losing weight more quickly, you gain the weight back anyway. So, in weight loss, the tortoise wins the race.

TODD: Experts say the high-protein, low-carb regimens in those diets exclude whole food groups that are good for you, that can help maintain energy and a healthy metabolism. And a common problem for those wanting to shed weight is the sheer confusion of it all. How do you weave through the diets like Atkins and South Beach, group programs like Weight Watchers, and find the one that's right for you?

Experts say people like Mike Huckabee, who lose weight and keep it off successfully, do a few simple things, one, avoid those diets with narrow menus.

TALLMADGE: The best diet is a diet with a variety of foods. To be nutritionally adequate, you need foods from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins like lean meats and legumes and fish, healthy fats, oils, nuts.

TODD: Also eat smaller portions, say the experts, avoid processed food and, perhaps most important, keep physically active, even if it's not a high-octane exercise program.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Experts say the most common misperception about weight loss, that, if you take it off quickly, you can keep it off forever. Diet alone won't do it, they say. It's all about changing your lifestyle, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Brian Todd, good advice. Thank very much, Brian.

All across the country today, people are stepping on scales as part of the American Cancer Society's Great Weigh-In. It's part of an effort to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining a healthy weigh. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, as we just saw, says his fight against obesity began with a health scare. I talked with Governor Huckabee just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, thanks very much for joining us.

You're looking mighty healthy, but it wasn't all that long ago you looked a lot different. How big were you in 2002?

HUCKABEE: Oh, gosh. If we roll the clock back a couple of years, I weighed over 280 pounds, which was 110 pounds ago. I had to wear huge clothes and felt awful, looked awful. And, you know, enough people kept telling me that as well.

BLITZER: You're 5'11''. You weighed 280 pounds. But there were medical results, medical ramifications from that. What did your doctors tell you?

HUCKABEE: Well, the shakeup was when the doctor told me I was Type II diabetic. And he sat me down and he said, if you don't make some changes, you've got maybe 10 years.

I just thought, that's crazy. This is insane. I've done this to myself. I'm the only person who can fix it. And as a result of taking charge of my own health and deciding that I wasn't going to die within 10 years, I not only longer have diabetes. I don't have to take any medicine. The doctor said it's as if I have never had it. And now I have the body chemistry of a teenager, instead of that of an old man.

BLITZER: For those of our viewers who aren't familiar with Type II diabetes, what can that result in? What does that cause?

HUCKABEE: The worst part is that it's a progressive disease that begins to affect your vision, your circulation. Many people end up losing toes and legs and limbs. Often, people will be far more susceptible to having heart attack, kidney disease, kidney failure, renal failure.

There's just a host of things. And the fact is, the longer you live with the disease, the more progressively worse it gets. And it finally will result in killing you.

BLITZER: All right, you're 48 years old in 2002. You're 5'11'', 280 pounds. The doctors say you might have 10 years left to live unless you take action, immediate action.

It wasn't just prescription drugs. What did you do?

HUCKABEE: Well, I went to our medical school here. There's a wonderful endocrinologist named Dr. Philip Kern, whose specialty is metabolism and how to really eat the right things and how to burn calories by exercising. And the whole thing, it's not rocket science, as he told me. You take fewer calories in and you burn more off. The first thing was to give me a very restricted caloric intake every day, eliminate sugar, eliminate processed foods, eliminate junk foods and, for this Southern boy, the toughest of all, get rid of the fried foods.

And once I cleansed my system and got it out, it really wasn't that difficult. I started slowly exercising, because, you know, at first, he told me, you can't exercise much. You are so big, you'll hurt your knees and your joints by even exerting yourself. And I of course agreed to that.

But, little by little, I started first learning how to eat right, and then putting exercise increasingly into my lifestyle. And this coming Sunday, Wolf, I'll be running in the Little Rock marathon, 26.2 miles. Governor Tom Vilsack, my Democrat governor friend from Iowa, is actually coming to Little Rock, will be running with me. So we're going to be sort of a strange pair of running mates this coming Sunday.

But I couldn't have even imagined walking 26 blocks two years ago. And I'm going to be running 26 miles. I've got to tell you, I'm amazed myself at the progress that an old man like me can make when he really wants to.

BLITZER: Well, first of all, you're not that hold. Second of all, it was hard to even exercise for six minutes once you started, when you weighed 280 pounds, because you were just short of breath.

HUCKABEE: Oh, I felt awful.

I mean, I got to the place -- I tell people I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. But a few minutes of exertion, going up a flight of stairs -- when I would be at the Capitol and I would see reporters at the top, I said, oh, no, they're going to be up there. They'll ask me a question. I'll be so our of breath, I can't answer it.

And I'd be sweating just from a little bit of exertion. And, you know, it was just a miserable way to live. And there are so many people who battle with it, as I have throughout my life. And the good news is that we really can take charge and reverse the habits of a lifetime.

BLITZER: Some people who are 100 pounds or more overweight have that operation to cut out a big chunk of their stomach. You know some of the celebrities who have gone through that. Was that ever something that you considered?

HUCKABEE: It wasn't for me. I've had friends who have done it, and many of them have done it successfully. Others have done it not so successfully.

But I just was scared to death of it. I thought that that would be such a major alteration. Now, I'm not against it for other people. And many people, that's the best way that they go about it. And I would never second-guess or judge somebody's method of taking control of their health, but, for me, I just was afraid of it, quite frankly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll have more of my interview with Governor Mike Huckabee. That's coming up. We'll hear exactly how he lost 110 pounds, his personal tips for successful living. This is information all of us need to consider.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has been become a warrior of sorts for healthy weight loss. He says it doesn't happen overnight and involves lifestyle changes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's go through some of your recommendations. I read a long article in "The Washington Post" on some of the tips that you've put together. And you're going to be writing a book about this that Time Warner, our sister, our parent company, is actually going to be publishing in May.

But let's go through some of these lessons learned. Find the big picture, what do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, realize that the goal is not weight lost. The goal is health and fitness. I've lost a lot of weight in my life.

What was different this time was that my goal was not losing weight. My goal was getting healthy. There is a huge difference, because when you say, I'm going to lose weight, you have a beginning and an ending. When you say, I'm going to get healthy, it is going to take the rest of your life and you will never get off -- quote -- "the plan or the program." And that's a real mental difference.

And it results in some permanent changes. So that's the first thing a person has to do.

BLITZER: All right, let's talk about the small goals that -- you call it small goals need to establish.

HUCKABEE: Well, the book that I'm doing is called "Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork." And then it's -- really, the subtitle, is 12 stops.

And what I say is that you have got to stop doing some things before you can start doing the right things. And one of those things, the small steps is, don't try to do it all at one time. For example, exercise. Don't go out and join a gym and say, I'm going to spent an hour and a half at the gym every day, because you know what? You're not.

The truth is, if you can just start walking five, six, minutes a day, I say 12 minutes a day, because it kind of is a good round number. And don't do any more than that for a week or so. Then, little by little, add a minute to that time. After all, you've given yourself to the rest of your life to get this done. So, don't expect you're going to be finished with it in one month.

BLITZER: The next tip you have is no dieting. What do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, as I said before, don't focus on dieting and weight loss. Focus on eating healthy foods, eating the right kinds of things in the right kind of portions and having a balanced approach to a lifestyle, because, when you diet, you tend to think of yourself as being deprived.

What I'm thinking of myself deprived of, I'm deprived of a heart attack. I'm deprived of paying an enormous amount of money for diabetic medicine. I'm depriving myself of high blood pressure. I'm depriving myself of fatigue. I'm glad I'm deprived of those things.

BLITZER: So, if somebody puts a hot fudge sundae in front of you or some fried chicken, what do you do?

HUCKABEE: I just say no.

And the beautiful thing is, once I detoxed my body, which is another important step of cleansing your system of the refined sugar and the junk foods, you'd be amazed that you just don't want it anymore. So, I don't mind somebody putting it in front of me, and I will look at it and I'll say, yes, I know that that probably tastes pretty good.

But, as Frank Broyles, the athletic director at the University of Arkansas, said to me, nothing ever tastes as good as it feels to be thin.

BLITZER: You also have a tip that I really think is important, find a daily routine. Talk about your daily routine.

HUCKABEE: Well, people ask me, how do you find time to exercise? How do you find time to get the right food?

And I tell them, you know, I don't find that time. I make that time. I make appointments. I make scheduling allotments for speeches and meetings. So, if I'm going to really focus on eating right and exercising, I have to make that time in my schedule. Now, for me, I get up at 4:30 every morning. That's when I go out and do my runs. That's when I will get on a bike or exercise and work out.

And, as far as food, because I never know where I'm going to eat and who's going to put something in front of me that I can eat, if I'm traveling, I carry a cooler with me, and I will take some turkey breast and some yogurt and apples and things that I know I can eat, and that way, I don't feel like I'm obligated to eat things that really aren't good for me.

BLITZER: And if you miss a day of exercise, you feel awful about that, don't you?

HUCKABEE: I used to feel awful if I had a day of exercise. And now I really feel like that my whole schedule is off if I don't get to exercise. I feel great doing it.

And the feeling of exhilaration and even the energy lasts for hours and hours past that time when I've worked out, whether it's running or lifting weights, or whatever it is.

BLITZER: One of your tips is know your weakest time. What do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, for me, it was at night. I would get home at night after going to events and being busy all day. It would be the first time I had to myself. And I would find it so easy to console myself with a big bag of chips or some other types of salty snack food washed down by soft drinks, followed up by ice cream. And I would just continue to eat until I was finally so bloated that I was ready to go to sleep. Or maybe I just fell asleep.

That was my weak time. Everybody has that time. But, for me, that was it. Once you know what it is, don't make provisions for failure. Get rid of the junk that is in your cabinets and in your refrigerator that's likely to call you the downfall.

BLITZER: And, Governor, this other tip that you have, weight loss is an effect, not a goal. What do you mean by that?

HUCKABEE: Well, the goal, again, is health. Weight loss is simply one of the ingredients.

The goal that you should have is lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, a better heart rate. You should have a better sense of cholesterol, an A1C hemoglobin. There are a whole lot of markers that tell you whether you're healthy. Those things are better indicators than simply what's on the scale.

When people focus only on weight, they may lose weight, but they may not be healthy. There are a lot of rail-skin, rail-skinny people out there who are anything but healthy, because they haven't eaten healthy foods and they don't exercise. The just deprive themselves and they think they're healthy. That's what I mean by that.

BLITZER: And when you think about 110 pounds, which you used to carry around, just imagine 110 pounds of potatoes or concrete, that extra fat that you didn't need. You walked around carrying that the enormous pressure that must have exerted on all your vital organs.

HUCKABEE: Oh, it was incredible.

When I do school assemblies now and talk about health to teenagers, one of the things I do if I'm at a junior high, there will usually be a bunch of kids there that weigh about 100, 110 pounds. I will say, somebody here that weighs 100 pounds, let me see your hands. And usually some girl, she will raise her hand. I will say, come up here. And I'll have her get up on my back, like playing horsy. And all the kids are amazed. And I have -- I walk around the gym floor if I'm at an assembly. And I say, you know what it was like carrying an extra 110 pounds? It's like carrying little Ashley here for every day. If I go upstairs, I have got her on my back. If I walk across the parking lot, she's right there. Wherever I sit, she's hanging on to me.

I said,imagine every day walking around with this girl on my back. I said, that's what it's like to have 110 pounds. It really makes it visual for the kids. They get a picture of it. And they say, gee whiz, bet that would get old, doesn't it?

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, you've been an inspiration. You like to run.

Totally unrelated question. Governor Vilsack is going to be running with you. A lot of people are mentioning his name for 2008. They're mentioning your name as well for 2008. What do you say about that?

HUCKABEE: Well, I think it's a little premature to be talking about it. It's always flattering, though, to even be mentioned in it.

And let me get through this run of the marathon. And I have a feeling Tom is going to tell you the same thing. But it is going to be a fun time. I think it is going to be neat that we'll have a Democrat and Republican governor. Both our names get tossed out every now and then. But the kind of run we're going to be running on this Sunday is really to encourage people to be healthy.

And I'll tell you something. Healthy behavior is neither a Democrat or Republican issue. It's something that every American needs to embrace. And I hope we can encourage some folks to do it.

BLITZER: Well said.

Governor Huckabee, congratulations to you. We will look forward to reading your book. Thanks very much for joining us.

HUCKABEE: Appreciate it, Wolf. Great to talk to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll have our picture of the day, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: If you ordered this lobster, you need to be really hungry.

This 22-pounder named Bubba was caught near Nantucket and shipped to a fish market in Pittsburgh. He may be 100 years old. He's not going to be eaten, though. He's going to Ripley's Believe It or Not!.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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