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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

New Controversy Over Terri Schiavo; Killer Quake

Aired March 29, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Happening now, a new controversy, sparked over the life and death battle of Terri Schiavo. New allegations she's being prevented from receiving communion today. Stand by for hard news on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS."

Killer quake. We'll take you to the hardest-hit area of Indonesia, where hundreds are dead. Why was the rest of the region spared a repeat of the worst?

Unlikely ally? A civil rights icon joins the parents of Terri Schiavo.

REV. JESSE JACKSON, SUPPORTS SCHINDLER FAMILY: She is being starved to death. She is being dehydrated to death, and that's inhumane.

BLITZER: As emotions run high outside the hospice, I'll speak with Jesse Jackson.

Dying with dignity: a family opens their door and their hearts, as a lesson to the rest of us.

UNIDENTIFIED ELDERLY MALE: We're supposed to die. We're not supposed to live forever, and if you're living on artificial means, you're not really living. You're just existing.

Heavy lifting in Iraq, a CNN exclusive: extraordinary nighttime images as a rescue chopper carries away a broken-down Black Hawk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, March 29th, 2005.

BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us.

12 days since Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed, and depending on whom you believe, the severely brain-damaged woman is either slipping peacefully to death, or fighting to stay alive. A new player entered the drama today. The Reverend Jesse Jackson met with Schiavo's family, calling the situation an "injustice. " Schiavo's brother says her husband Michael is now barring her from receiving communion, violating her rights. Meanwhile, there are fresh calls for state and federal legislators to intervene and have Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.

For the latest on this story, let's check in with our national correspondent, Bob Franken. He's outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not a new charge, Wolf, it is one that the family has made on almost a daily basis. They have gone in seeking to say holy communion with their chaplain, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski and they have been turned away. It was a charge they made once again today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: We are told that Michael Schiavo that is denied for the hospice priest to come to hospice, and subsequently, is denying Terri holy communion. Monsignor and I went over to visit with Terri, and when we got there, there was three policemen in the room, and we're told that if the Monsignor tried to administer holy communion to Terri, that he would be essentially arrested immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, this is, according to the court order, fulfilling the court order. The holy communion, according to the judge, had to be administered twice before Terri Schiavo passed away, if she did on the day the feeding tube was disconnected. Wolf, it was administered, and it was also administered with the permission of her husband on Easter Sunday. But, what's really important here is a demonstration of how bitter the family divisions are over the life or death decisions of Terri Schiavo.

Wolf?

BLITZER: We're watching the story carefully, Bob. We'll get back to you as developments unfold.

There were other major developments in the Schiavo case today. For more on that, let's go to CNN's Mary Snow. She's also in Pinellas Park.

Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one of the big developments here today was the fact that Reverend Jesse Jackson came here. He said the family called on him to come here. He did not get inside to see Terri Schiavo. He said a request for a visit was turned down be her husband. Now, an attorney for Michael Schiavo was not available for comment, but the Reverend Jackson says he's joining the family in praying for a miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW (voice-over): Answering a call from the Schindler family, the Reverend Jesse Jackson went to the hospice where Terri Schiavo has been without a feeding tube for 12 days. Jackson says he prayed with the family and worked the phone in an attempt to get lawmakers to prevent Terri from, in his words, "being starved to death."

JACKSON: She is still alive. That's should send a message to all of us, that while law is important, law must be tempered with mercy to have justice.

MARY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S MOTHER: I wanted the Reverend Jackson here today for moral support, because he has spoke up for Terri before on television, and I just feel good with him here.

SNOW: Terri's husband Michael has maintained his wife would not want her feeding tube reinserted. In the past he has called on outsiders to stop trying to violate his wife's wish. His attorney, who has acted as a spokesman, said, Monday, that Terri appeared peaceful, despite statements by the Schindler family to the contrary.

GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: Mrs. Schiavo's appearance to me was very calm, very relaxed, very peaceful.

SNOW: Outside the hospice, one demonstrator was able to get past police and get close to the hospice door. Police used a taser gun to stop him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (on camera): The man who was arrested has been identified as a family therapist from the state of Pennsylvania. He has been charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence. Besides that incident, it has been pretty peaceful, besides that one thing.

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Mary Snow, reporting for us in Pinellas Park.

We'll have more on the Terri Schiavo case, that's coming up; my interview with the reverend Jesse Jackson, that will air later this hour.

Moving on to another huge story we're following. It was powerful and deadly, but the latest earthquake that struck off the western coast of Indonesia did not trigger a killer tsunami. That fact does not diminish the quake's widespread destruction, and the deaths of hundreds of people. The magnitude of yesterday's quake was 8.7, making it one of the eight biggest quakes in the world since 1900.

Indonesian officials say the death toll is at least 330, but that could climb well into the thousands. Most of the victims were on the Indonesian island of Nias.

It was nighttime when the latest quake shook the ground, toppling homes and buildings. The center was just 60 miles from the site of the 9.0 quake of December, which unleashed a monster tsunami killing at least 170,000 people; another 100,000 or so, still missing. Yesterday's quake didn't inflict anywhere near the damage, or kill as many people, except for one glaring exception. John Irvine reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN IRVINE, ITV NEWS (voice-over): It may have been another huge quake, but unlike December's, which spread death and destruction far and wide, last night's caused damage to just one inhabited place, the Indonesian island of Nias, the bit of land unlucky enough to be closest.

It seems the terrible two-minute disturbance brought many homes crashing down. Most of the dead will have died where they slept; the timing was disastrous. Nias is 125 kilometers off Sumatra; about 700,000 people live there, 95 percent of them Christian, the rest Muslim. It's known as a surfer's paradise because of the three-meter waves which break onto its shores.

Now the island yearns for help which was hampered today by poor weather. The Indonesian army has got through, the United Nations and others are ready to send in supplies, doctors, plus search-and-rescue teams, for many victims who are thought to be trapped by rubble. The earthquake was violent enough to be felt not just on Sumatra, but in Thailand, far to the north, and quickly afterwards, the bitter experience of three months ago caused thousands to take flight from coastal areas. And yet, thankfully, people's worst fears were unfounded. There was no repeat cataclysm, but the world did get another big fright and the morale of the Boxing Day, battered and bereaved, has taken another knock.

John Irvine, ITV News, Sumatra, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: One American geologist says luck played a role in sparing South Asia from another catastrophic earthquake and tsunami like the ones three months ago, but he also cites what he calls scientific reasons why yesterday's 8.7 was a major one, it was smaller than the on in December. The rupture also moved in the opposite direction, to the southeast. Another key factor, yesterday's quake happened in deeper waters than the one in December.

New pleas to save the life of Terri Schiavo. We'll hear from the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He's in Pinellas Park, Florida; I spoke with him early today.

Also Black Hawk down: we have dramatic video of the dangerous recovery mission in Iraq, a story you will see only here on CNN.

Stryker concerns, once billed as a wonder weapon, the U.S. Army's new armored carrier is now under fire in more ways than one. We'll explain.

And, later...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We're not supposed to live forever, and if you're living on artificial means, you're not really living. You're just existing.

Dying with dignity. With his family by his side, one terminally ill man teaches courage while facing his own death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

On my visit to Iraq last week, I heard some very dramatic stories. One of the most memorable involved a U.S. helicopter that had to land in hostile territory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The Black Hawk helicopter flight into the U.S. airbase in Balad goes smoothly, though U.S. Army gunners are clearly ready for trouble. In recent days, CNN has learned, U.S. military intelligence has picked up fresh indications that Iraqi insurgents are desperately anxious to shoot down a U.S. aircraft, especially one carrying high-ranking military officers.

There's fear that insurgents may have shoulder-fired missiles left over from the Saddam Hussein military. Even without those missiles, insurgents routinely use small arms fire to shoot at low- flying U.S. helicopters.

(on camera): We're north of Baghdad, still in the Sunni triangle at the Balad airbase. This is a huge airbase; used to be an airbase under Saddam Hussein's regime as well. Now it's a U.S. and coalition facility, the largest helicopter facility in the region. U.S. troops are playing an active role throughout the region. The helicopters play a decisive role as well. Not long ago, about a month or so ago, one Black Hawk helicopter had transmission problems, had a forced landing, and then there's an incredible story of how they got that helicopter out.

(voice-over): The Black Hawk, like this one, was on a routine mission in Iraq when it began to experience transmission problems. It was forced to make an emergency landing in hostile territory. There were 14 U.S. and Iraqi troops on board.

LT. COL. CHRIS CALLAHAN, US ARMY: We made a conscious decision to land the aircraft, because eventually it would become unflyable if the transmission seized.

BLITZER: The 14 troops were quickly joined by reinforcements, to guard the helicopter, and its sensitive technology.

CNN has obtained this nightscope video from the U.S. military, pictures that capture the recovery of the Black Hawk during a complicated and dangerous operation.

CALLAHAN: So, what we ended up doing was putting together a mission where we would use one of the CH-47s, which is the Army's heavy-lift helicopter, to come in and literally pick it up off the ground and fly it back up here to Balad. BLITZER: You can make out the much larger CH-47 helicopters lifting the damaged Black Hawk and literally carrying it back to the Balad airbase, a flight that took about an hour and 15 minutes.

CALLAHAN: They used what we called a long line, and they hooked it up, and very gently picked it up and brought it back.

BLITZER: The operation had been to carefully rehearsed, and a separate unit of commandos were sent in to secure the area. They were backed up by Apache attack helicopters, from where these pictures were taken.

CALLAHAN: And what we see on the camera film, we two snippets of -- specifically, one is just simply the enormous length of the rope and how it flies, and then, one is as it comes in to touch down, where the crew did a real nice job -- between the ground crew and the flying crew, to set the aircraft back here on it's right-side-up and no further damage, you know, and that was good news.

BLITZER: The mission was successful, and the Black Hawk is now being repaired.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (on camera): One sensitive note, had they not been able to airlift that damaged helicopter out of there, they would have had to destroy it, given the very sensitive technology on board.

President Bush today met with a number of Iraqi-Americans who voted in the January elections. While his guests voiced concern about the slow pace of Democracy in Iraq, Mr. Bush said he expects a new government to be chosen soon and he said, freedom is on the march in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Freedom is the birthright and deep desire of every human soul, and spreading freedom's blessings is the calling of our time. And when freedom and democracy take root in the Middle East, America and the world, will be safer and more peaceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Iraqis got a look at democracy in action today, but that look didn't last very long. CNN's Aneesh Raman has the story from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A rough lesson in politics for Iraq's national assembly: after hours of delay, an announcement that a vote to elect a speaker, the reason they had convened, would be postponed. Anger immediately igniting among representatives frustrated with the process.

We demand to know what is happening behind the scenes, said this assembly member. And then, minutes later, Iraqis watching at home, saw their screens go back. The live feed was cut, the media kicked out and an impromptu closed-door session got under way.

All of this frenzied negotiations took place outside the assembly. Last-minute attempts to fill key ministerials positionings, like oil and defense, that remain unresolved, and all accompanied by plenty of frustrations, the Shia blaming the Kurds.

SAAD QINDEEL, UNITED IRAQI ALLIANCE: They put their demands very high, and we have to endure very severe, very difficult discussion and negotiation with them, in order to reach agreement.

RAMAN: The Kurds pointing to those outside the majority alliance.

BARHIM SALIH, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: The issue is the Sunni participation, the issue is the Iraqi list of Dr. Allawi's participation in this government.

RAMAN: Days like this undermine confidence among ordinary Iraqis. Many feel they did their part by coming out to vote at the end of January, and they want this national assembly to end the talking and start dealing with the many pressing issues, including drafting a constitution, that face this country. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A new plea to have Terri Schiavo's feeding tube restored. The Reverend Jesse Jackson visits the hospice where Schiavo is staying. My interview with him, that's coming up.

Is Kofi Annan in the clear? A new report concerning the Oil-for- Food scandal has been released.

And later, the last good-bye: life and death lessons from a man bravely facing his own mortality.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

The now-defunct United Nations Oil-for-Food program did billions of dollars worth of business for the regime of Saddam Hussein. A panel looking into corruption allegations has now found no wrongdoing by the Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but the actions of his son may give him some cause for embarrassment. Let's go live to our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth.

Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it doesn't have the clout of a criminal investigation, but the Volcker verdict is in today on Kofi Annan and the messy Oil-for-Food case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROTH (voice-over): The Oil-for-Food investigation isn't over, but interest was intense Tuesday because it focused on the Annan connection. Father, the head of the U.N., and son Kojo, employee of Cotecna, the company awarded a major contract inspecting Oil-for-Food shipments. The inquiry, conducted by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker cleared Secretary-General Kofi Annan of any corruption.

PAUL VOLCKER, CHMN., OIL-FOR-FOOD INQUIRY: We have no evidence, we have had no suspicion of evidence, from anybody we have talked to, that he interfered with the selection process for Cotecna.

ROTH: This, despite several meetings between Kofi Annan and Cotecna's chairman. The report says Kojo Annan misled investigators and his own father, failing to disclose the lengths of his own payments and the hundreds of dollars received.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The most difficult moments for me personally, throughout this past year, have been those which appeared -- when it appeared that my son Kojo might have acted inappropriately or might not have told me the full truth about his actions.

ROTH: In a statement, Kojo Annan said, "I deeply regret any embarrassment that the whole Cotecna issue may have caused my father. I am an independent businessman." Volcker says Kojo Annan has stopped cooperating with investigators; his father says he will urge him to start talking. Volcker accused Cotecna of acting with the son to disguise the payments and mislead the U.N. and the probers. Cotecna CEO Robert Massey said, "the company was awarded this contract fairly, based on the merit of our proposal, and has cooperated with the investigation." Volcker blamed Annan for failing to authorize a internal proper investigation at the U.N. to check if there was any conflict of interest in the first place.

VOLCKER: The U.N. inquiry initiated by the Secretary-General was inadequate.

ROTH: Oil-for-Food is just one of many U.N. management missteps which has prompted calls for a change at the top.

UNIDENTIFIED U.N. MALE: Do you feel it's time for the good of the organization, to step down?

KOFI ANNAN: Hell, no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (on camera): The real verdict, though, from the member countries of the United Nations, especially the United States, and today it was somewhat favorable for Kofi Annan: both spokesmen at the White House and the State Department, will say we support the United Nations and the work of Secretary-General Annan.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thank you, Richard.

Can the problems at the United Nations be fixed? Joining us now, our world affairs analyst, the former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He's chairman and CEO of the the Cohen Group.

Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

Kofi Annan -- does he have a long-term problem at the U.N. now?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I'm not sure he has a long-term problem. I think there's a long-term problem that the U.N. has yet to face up to, and that is the management issue. There have been criticisms over the years that an institution of bureaucracy that large has not adopted sufficient management techniques that would prevent the kind of thing that took place.

What the Volcker investigation found was that Kofi Annan himself played no role in the awarding of the contract, but that -- there were processees undertaken, there was no financial information, really, provided by this particular company, and also the CEO of that company was under investigation for some alleged wrongdoing, so there was something -- it was given as a result of it being a low bidder, but the proper procedures certainly weren't in place. So, I think this is going to require Kofi Annan and the others to really have some management changes.

BLITZER: As you know, a lot of people have pointed out that, yes, billions may have been siphoned off from the Oil-for-Food program, but other billions went into Saddam Hussein's pocket from transactions -- oil shipments to Jordan or Syria or Turkey or other countries that were illegal, but the U.S. and other countries simply closed their eyes to.

COHEN: There's no question that Saddam Hussein was engaging in extortion of sorts, that he would allow certain countries and companies to provide the kind of humanitarian assistance provided there were kickbacks, so there was no real vigorous oversight, and that's something which Congress is investigating.

By the way, as Congress investigates the United Nations, I hope they also take a look in terms of it's own oversight, in terms of the amounts of money that are unaccounted for, to this date, in terms of our awarding of contracts in Iraq. So, there's a lot of fingers to be pointed right now, but we ought to take a real close examination of U.S. oversight as well as what's taking place, and what should have taken place in U.N.

BLITZER: Well, you're talking in Iraq over the past two years?

COHEN: Over the past two years, the contracts that were led by the United States -- there were millions and hundreds of billions of dollars yet to be fully accounted for. So, Congress, as it investigates abuses or mismanagement by the U.N., also needs to take a look at our procurement system and how we let contracts and don't have sufficient oversight in terms of how that money is being spent.

BLITZER: You're not just simply referring to the Halliburton issue?

COHEN: I'm talking about the overall in terms of the procurement process. There have been allegations about millions of dollars that have not been properly accounted for.

BLITZER: How much of a setback is this delay in forging -- putting together a new Iraqi government? It's been two months, now, since the elections in January 30th.

COHEN: Well, we have to remember that democracy is new to Iraq. They've been under the heel and boots of a tyrant for many decades now. This is the first opportunity they've had -- a chance to really sort -- try to sort things out. The important thing is that they're talking to each other and not shooting each other or killing each other in terms of the political process right now, but time is running out. They have to form a government, they have to elect a speaker of the parliament, and then a president, two vice presidents, who will then choose a prime minister, and all of that has to take place fairly soon. Otherwise, you're going to see a disenchantment set in, people become discouraged, and all of the progress made on the ground by our fine military could come to naught if this political process doesn't have a momentum that spells itself out, or spins itself out, rather, in a very positive way.

BLITZER: I can tell you, when I was in Iraq last week and met with General Abizaid, General Casey, a lot of top, high-ranking U.S. military officials, they were all frustrated, concerned that no new government would hurt -- would undermine the ability to see new Iraqi troops take charge because they need the leadership.

COHEN: That will only delay our departure. To the extent that you're not seeing this kind of government put in place, with an interim government, with contracts being negotiated and let by this new government, that means there's going to be great delays as far as the U.S. is concerned and that will have a political repercussion in this country and elsewhere.

BLITZER: Secretary Cohen, as usual, thanks very much.

COHEN: Pleasure, Wolf.

BLITZER: Fresh controversy in the Terri Schiavo case as the Reverend Jesse Jackson steps in. My interview with the civil rights leader -- that's coming up.

Trial by fire for the U.S. military's newest armored vehicle. We'll show you how the Stryker is performing in Iraq.

Plus, what went wrong? A new high-level report on U.S. intelligence failures. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Terri Schiavo now in her 12th day without food and water. We'll hear from the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He's in Pinellas Park. He met with her family today. We'll get to that.

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

The former director of programming for the Boy Scouts now faces child pornography charges. Douglas Smith Jr. is accused of downloading child porn from the Internet. He's scheduled to appear before a federal judge tomorrow in Fort Worth, Texas. Smith retired from the Boy Scouts last month. Officials with the organization say they're shocked and dismayed by his arrest.

A Native American tribal leader in Minnesota says his teenage son is not guilty of charges he faces in connection with last week's shooting spree at Red Lake High School. In last Tuesday's rampage, a teenage shooter killed nine people before killing himself.

The first lady, Laura Bush, is on her way to Afghanistan. Her visit will highlight the advances of women in that country. And during her short stay, Mrs. Bush will meet with students and teachers. She flies home Thursday.

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is in critical, but stable condition in a Lynchburg, Virginia, hospital. The conservative Christian leader was admitted last night for breathing problems. He was stabilized and placed on a ventilator. The 71-year-old Falwell was treated for pneumonia earlier this year.

Now an update on the Terri Schiavo case. Schiavo is in her 12th day without food and water. Her mother says she's still fighting for her life. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has joined the effort to get Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, called on Florida lawmakers to pass an emergency law to save the brain-damaged woman. But one source says, even if the Florida Senate passes an emergency bill, the Statehouse wouldn't be able to consider it under Tuesday.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson has long been associated with liberal causes. His decision to intercede in the Schiavo case along anti- abortion activists is some raising eyebrows.

Once again, here's CNN's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): It is an unlikely alliance. On the left, Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and, on the right, Randall Terry, the founder of the anti-abortion movement Operation Rescue.

But outside Terri Schiavo's hospice, they were united, both pro- life, Terri Schiavo's life, with Jackson calling the Florida legislature to push once again. REV. JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: I'm on the phone today talking with members of the Senate, asking them to be creative enough to try to fashion some emergency legislation to stop the starving, to stop the dehydration.

SNOW: And Terry cheering him on.

RANDALL TERRY, SPOKESMAN FOR PARENTS OF TERRI SCHIAVO: If he can find three votes and the leadership, President Lee, who has always expressed support to the family, if they can create the will, then they will make the way.

SNOW: But, in a press release, Jackson leveraging this case for a wider cause, saying: "A consistent moral and ethical position would extend a feeding tube to all who are confronted with starvation to demand public government policy to feed the hungry."

And Terry redefining himself beyond abortion as a promoter of a return to ethics and morality in the nation's public life. As Terri Schiavo's life moves closer to an end, the volume is turning up.

(on camera): As for the three votes that Randall Terry says are needed for emergency legislation, Senate sources say the earliest anything could be finalized is next Tuesday, and the bill does not call for the feeding tube to be reinserted.

Mary Snow, CNN, Pinellas Park, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Earlier, I spoke to Jesse Jackson about the Terri Schiavo case and what he's trying to accomplish by becoming involved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Reverend Jackson, thanks very much for joining us. I suspect a lot of our viewers were surprised to hear that you were brought in to deal with the family, the parents on this matter. What motivated you, Reverend Jackson, to go down to Florida and get involved?

JACKSON: Wolf, I care deeply about Terri's situation.

And when the parents asked me would I come, I was quick to say yes, because I think that I've been in a situation as a minister where you had to pull the plug. That is to say that people in advanced stages of cancer had Demerol to fight the pain, and then went into a coma, because they were hurt. They got more Demerol. And then you could see them losing their pulse. And you pulled the plug, and -- and they died.

In this situation, we pull the feeding tube and the water, so we are starving her to death and dehydrating her to death. There's something about that that's fundamentally immoral, unethical and unnecessary. So, I say, seize this moment to let -- to temper law with mercy to arrive at justice. BLITZER: The neurologists who testified before all the various courts that reviewed this said she was in what they called a persistent vegetative state, and her husband testified she didn't want to live like this; she wanted to end her life in what they called dignity. Do you have a problem with the way that the judicial process worked in dealing with Terri Schiavo?

JACKSON: You know, I do not want to challenge the integrity or motive of her husband. I do not think that's a good thing, but suffice it to say, when you pull the tube, the feeding tube, and someone survives 12 days without food and water, that there was more life signs, more life energy than was originally anticipated.

You pull the plug on you for 12 days and nights without water and food, and you would get sicker. So, she is getting weaker, but why won't we give her food and water? We have enough food, enough water. Why not give her food and water?

BLITZER: Well, the argument that her husband makes and that the courts approved of is that she didn't want to have to live in this kind of condition. She wanted to die, rather than live like this. That was the testimony that came before the courts.

JACKSON: You know, I'm just not sure if one can say for a certainty that -- arrive at that conclusion. I don't want to challenge what she may have said to him when.

How could one know the true inner state where there are still vital signs, a state where you can live without food and water? It's a debate, and I feel the pain on both sides, the pain of her husband, the passion of her parents. But having said all of that, I come down on the side of let her live. Right now, we're just simply going to starve her to death, no food, no water, and not even ice cubes for her parched lips. That's inhumane and it's unnecessary.

I think that what we must take this, however, we cannot just reduce her to a trophy for some political cause. She symbolizes a need now for us to look at long-term health care and health care for the indigent and for those who need it. You know, Wolf, we as Americans are going to live longer now because of medicine and because of our life options. And so she in many ways becomes a symbol of the need to address the issue of health care and life options for all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The Reverend Jesse Jackson speaking with me earlier today.

The intelligence was wrong, but why? A new report tries to get to the bottom of the debacle over Saddam Hussein's weapons stockpile.

Also, the Stryker makes its debut in Iraq, why some call this new U.S. armored vehicle a costly failure.

And an odd couple takes a turn in Tokyo. We'll explain in our picture of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: On the CNN "Security Watch," a presidential commission has completed its investigation into U.S. intelligence failures, and sources say it includes some candid criticism.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush was briefed on the recommendations of his bipartisan commission on intelligence. Sources say the report offers harsh criticisms of intelligence failings on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues and suggests more changes are needed.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations as well.

ENSOR: The commission report will charge, sources say, that, at the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, where the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies work alongside each other, there still is not enough intelligence sharing. One analyst doesn't always know what's on the other analyst's computer, the same stovepiping problem that hurt the U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks.

John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of central intelligence.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In this business, there's always a tension between the obvious need to share and, on the other hand, the need to be careful about sources and methods, that is, not to expose sources to danger to their lives and so forth.

ENSOR: The commission's recommendations will set the scene for next month's hearings on the nomination of Ambassador John Negroponte to be the first director of national intelligence and of General Michael Hayden to be his deputy.

One major question not resolved by the new intelligence reform law is who in the new system will be in charge of secret intelligence operations against terrorists.

MCLAUGHLIN: Much of that is to be worked out, because the legislation allows you to draw a number of conclusion on that point.

ENSOR: Sources say, in addition to hard-hitting criticism of the CIA and FBI in the report, some lesser-known intelligence agencies are also criticized, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and Department of Energy Analysts, who, before the war, said Iraq was still trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

(on camera): A senior U.S. officials says the White House is already planning a series of executive orders to implement some of the recommendations of the commission. The official said it's not clear to him yet whether Congress will also need to get into the act with additional legislation.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

The Stryker is a new armored to vehicle which is getting a trial by fire in Iraq. Soldiers who depend on it say it's a success. I heard that and saw it in action when I was in Mosul last week, but critics also call it a costly failure. CNN has obtained an internal Army report which lists a number of Stryker shortcomings.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move it. Hurry.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The Army's newest armored personnel carrier, the Stryker, is under fire, not just from the insurgents in Iraq, but also from the critics at home, who argue the 19-ton wheeled fighting vehicle is too heavy to be flown anywhere quickly, too vulnerable to heavy attack, and, at almost $2 million a copy, too expensive compared to alternatives like the old M-113 Gavin track vehicle.

RET. COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR, PRESIDENT, GLENSIDE ANALYSIS: It's enormous in side, which is unavoidable with wheeled chassis, and it doesn't bring significant power, armored protection or mobility to the fight.

MCINTYRE: But the Stryker remains the linchpin of U.S. Army plans to convert to a lighter, more agile force, and the soldiers who serve in them swear by them.

STAFF SGT. BENJAMIN HANNER, U.S. ARMY: Well, after spending 12 months in Iraq, there's no other vehicle in the inventory I'd rather go to Iraq in. Well, I was actually wounded in Mosul from an IED incident while in a Stryker. And I walked away from the incident with routine injuries.

MCINTYRE: For Iraq, the Strykers had to be outfitted with a birdcage of slat armor, designed to cause rocket-propelled grenades to detonate prematurely. An internal report from the Center for Army Lessons Learned obtained by CNN concludes that, while soldiers were told the "slat armor would protect them against eight out of 11 strikes," in fact, soldiers say it's only "effective against half of the RPG attacks."

Meanwhile, the extra armor adds three feet in width and three tons of weight to the Stryker, which critics argue makes it anything but nimble.

MACGREGOR: Initially, people billed the Stryker as this wonder weapon of the 21st century that would allow you to drive up and down the roads at 60 miles per hour. If you do that, you risk turning over and killing risking everybody in it.

MCINTYRE: The Lessons Learned report also details dozens of needed modifications, everything from reengineering the tire inflation system to handle the extra weight to adding air conditioning for the high-tech electronics. The commander of one Stryker battalion insists the changes will simply make a great vehicle better.

LT. COL. KARL REED, U.S. ARMY: I'm confident that these are not flaws. In fact, they're improvements.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The Stryker may not be the death trap its critics claim, but it's not a magic bullet either. Iraq has many in the Army rethinking the idea that lighter armor is better suited to urban combat. In fact, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, which lost 28 main battle tanks in Iraq, says the lesson he learned is, the heavier the armor, the better.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Learning to let go and to say the most difficult goodbye. When we come back, in the midst of the Terri Schiavo controversy, one dying man offers his view of life and death, an unforgettable story you'll see only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Terri Schiavo case has made the issue of death with dignity a national debate, and it's an issue families across America have to deal with every day.

Over the Easter weekend, a Georgia man and his family spent their final hours together. And their story could provide a valuable lesson to other families wrestling with the impending loss of a loved one.

Here's CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ordinary home in an ordinary American neighborhood. Ed Davis is dying. It's clear the end is near. And so, this past Friday, Ed's children and grandchildren came to say goodbye. They let us share these intimate moments because they wanted to be an example of how to die with love and with dignity.

ED DAVIS, CANCER PATIENT: I'm not concerned about the cancer. I'm not concerned about dying.

COHEN: Cancer was diagnosed just a month ago, so advanced that Ed's surgeons could offer no help.

DAVIS: It was in my liver and my pancreas and also many other part of the body.

COHEN: Doctors offered chemotherapy and dialysis for his ailing kidneys, but they made it clear, these treatments would not buy Ed Davis much time. And what little he would have would be unpleasant. So, Ed said no.

DAVIS: We're supposed to die. We're not supposed to live forever. And if you're living on artificial means, you're not really living. You're just existing.

COHEN: Ed Davis has spent his 84 years a happy man. He's had the love of his wife, Chris (ph), and their three sons and their families. He chose to live the last remaining days at home, with care from hospice and love from his family and friends. As a man of faith, he wanted one thing, to spend one last Sunday in church.

DAVIS: I just got to thinking if I might not ever get to go to church again. And I would like to have that last time.

COHEN: But one last Sunday in church seemed pretty unlikely last Friday. The family took turns sitting by his side feeding him, thanking him for his love and hoping he'd get that one last wish.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just be your sweet, lovable self, and everything will be fine.

COHEN: Over the weekend, the Davises talked about old times. They've been married for 61 years.

DAVIS: She's a country girl for sure. I had to put shoes on her when we got married.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: For most of the weekend, the family told stories, while they laughed and shared their love.

DAVIS: I don't have a thing to worry about with this girl. She's going to be a fine woman.

COHEN: But Saturday was rough for the Davises.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really weren't sure he was even going to make it through the night.

COHEN: But he did. And, on Easter Sunday, his last wish came true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (singing): I will worship with all of my heart.

COHEN: Mr. Davis took communion, his faith steady, an example of grace and dignity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father, God, we're so thankful for Ed, and, Lord, his courageous witness for you.

COHEN (on camera): Mr. Davis, you said you really wanted to go to church. Now you've been. How do you feel?

DAVIS: I feel fulfilled.

COHEN: Fulfilled by the love of his family and by living out his last few days exactly as he wanted.

DAVIS: It's not hard to make a decision like this when you're 84 years old, lived a good life and raised your family. Of course, it's not always easy to leave, but we have to do that. We cry like this when we go on a trip, so that's where I'm going, is on a trip. I'm going to take the rest of my life and be with the lord in heaven.

COHEN: Ed Davis died Sunday night, just hours after we spoke, surrounded by his family in his own home at peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: An unusual move by an unusual couple, it's our picture of the day. Check it out. Japan's prime minister asked Richard Gere, "Shall we dance?" referring to the title of the actor's latest movie.

That's exactly what they did, taking a twirl before TV cameras in Tokyo. Gere is traveling through Japan on a promotional tour. The American movie, by the way, is based on a Japanese film, excellent films, both of them.

A reminder, we're on the air weekdays 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Thanks for joining us.

"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 29, 2005 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Happening now, a new controversy, sparked over the life and death battle of Terri Schiavo. New allegations she's being prevented from receiving communion today. Stand by for hard news on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS."

Killer quake. We'll take you to the hardest-hit area of Indonesia, where hundreds are dead. Why was the rest of the region spared a repeat of the worst?

Unlikely ally? A civil rights icon joins the parents of Terri Schiavo.

REV. JESSE JACKSON, SUPPORTS SCHINDLER FAMILY: She is being starved to death. She is being dehydrated to death, and that's inhumane.

BLITZER: As emotions run high outside the hospice, I'll speak with Jesse Jackson.

Dying with dignity: a family opens their door and their hearts, as a lesson to the rest of us.

UNIDENTIFIED ELDERLY MALE: We're supposed to die. We're not supposed to live forever, and if you're living on artificial means, you're not really living. You're just existing.

Heavy lifting in Iraq, a CNN exclusive: extraordinary nighttime images as a rescue chopper carries away a broken-down Black Hawk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, March 29th, 2005.

BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us.

12 days since Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed, and depending on whom you believe, the severely brain-damaged woman is either slipping peacefully to death, or fighting to stay alive. A new player entered the drama today. The Reverend Jesse Jackson met with Schiavo's family, calling the situation an "injustice. " Schiavo's brother says her husband Michael is now barring her from receiving communion, violating her rights. Meanwhile, there are fresh calls for state and federal legislators to intervene and have Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.

For the latest on this story, let's check in with our national correspondent, Bob Franken. He's outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not a new charge, Wolf, it is one that the family has made on almost a daily basis. They have gone in seeking to say holy communion with their chaplain, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski and they have been turned away. It was a charge they made once again today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: We are told that Michael Schiavo that is denied for the hospice priest to come to hospice, and subsequently, is denying Terri holy communion. Monsignor and I went over to visit with Terri, and when we got there, there was three policemen in the room, and we're told that if the Monsignor tried to administer holy communion to Terri, that he would be essentially arrested immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, this is, according to the court order, fulfilling the court order. The holy communion, according to the judge, had to be administered twice before Terri Schiavo passed away, if she did on the day the feeding tube was disconnected. Wolf, it was administered, and it was also administered with the permission of her husband on Easter Sunday. But, what's really important here is a demonstration of how bitter the family divisions are over the life or death decisions of Terri Schiavo.

Wolf?

BLITZER: We're watching the story carefully, Bob. We'll get back to you as developments unfold.

There were other major developments in the Schiavo case today. For more on that, let's go to CNN's Mary Snow. She's also in Pinellas Park.

Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one of the big developments here today was the fact that Reverend Jesse Jackson came here. He said the family called on him to come here. He did not get inside to see Terri Schiavo. He said a request for a visit was turned down be her husband. Now, an attorney for Michael Schiavo was not available for comment, but the Reverend Jackson says he's joining the family in praying for a miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW (voice-over): Answering a call from the Schindler family, the Reverend Jesse Jackson went to the hospice where Terri Schiavo has been without a feeding tube for 12 days. Jackson says he prayed with the family and worked the phone in an attempt to get lawmakers to prevent Terri from, in his words, "being starved to death."

JACKSON: She is still alive. That's should send a message to all of us, that while law is important, law must be tempered with mercy to have justice.

MARY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S MOTHER: I wanted the Reverend Jackson here today for moral support, because he has spoke up for Terri before on television, and I just feel good with him here.

SNOW: Terri's husband Michael has maintained his wife would not want her feeding tube reinserted. In the past he has called on outsiders to stop trying to violate his wife's wish. His attorney, who has acted as a spokesman, said, Monday, that Terri appeared peaceful, despite statements by the Schindler family to the contrary.

GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: Mrs. Schiavo's appearance to me was very calm, very relaxed, very peaceful.

SNOW: Outside the hospice, one demonstrator was able to get past police and get close to the hospice door. Police used a taser gun to stop him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (on camera): The man who was arrested has been identified as a family therapist from the state of Pennsylvania. He has been charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence. Besides that incident, it has been pretty peaceful, besides that one thing.

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Mary Snow, reporting for us in Pinellas Park.

We'll have more on the Terri Schiavo case, that's coming up; my interview with the reverend Jesse Jackson, that will air later this hour.

Moving on to another huge story we're following. It was powerful and deadly, but the latest earthquake that struck off the western coast of Indonesia did not trigger a killer tsunami. That fact does not diminish the quake's widespread destruction, and the deaths of hundreds of people. The magnitude of yesterday's quake was 8.7, making it one of the eight biggest quakes in the world since 1900.

Indonesian officials say the death toll is at least 330, but that could climb well into the thousands. Most of the victims were on the Indonesian island of Nias.

It was nighttime when the latest quake shook the ground, toppling homes and buildings. The center was just 60 miles from the site of the 9.0 quake of December, which unleashed a monster tsunami killing at least 170,000 people; another 100,000 or so, still missing. Yesterday's quake didn't inflict anywhere near the damage, or kill as many people, except for one glaring exception. John Irvine reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN IRVINE, ITV NEWS (voice-over): It may have been another huge quake, but unlike December's, which spread death and destruction far and wide, last night's caused damage to just one inhabited place, the Indonesian island of Nias, the bit of land unlucky enough to be closest.

It seems the terrible two-minute disturbance brought many homes crashing down. Most of the dead will have died where they slept; the timing was disastrous. Nias is 125 kilometers off Sumatra; about 700,000 people live there, 95 percent of them Christian, the rest Muslim. It's known as a surfer's paradise because of the three-meter waves which break onto its shores.

Now the island yearns for help which was hampered today by poor weather. The Indonesian army has got through, the United Nations and others are ready to send in supplies, doctors, plus search-and-rescue teams, for many victims who are thought to be trapped by rubble. The earthquake was violent enough to be felt not just on Sumatra, but in Thailand, far to the north, and quickly afterwards, the bitter experience of three months ago caused thousands to take flight from coastal areas. And yet, thankfully, people's worst fears were unfounded. There was no repeat cataclysm, but the world did get another big fright and the morale of the Boxing Day, battered and bereaved, has taken another knock.

John Irvine, ITV News, Sumatra, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: One American geologist says luck played a role in sparing South Asia from another catastrophic earthquake and tsunami like the ones three months ago, but he also cites what he calls scientific reasons why yesterday's 8.7 was a major one, it was smaller than the on in December. The rupture also moved in the opposite direction, to the southeast. Another key factor, yesterday's quake happened in deeper waters than the one in December.

New pleas to save the life of Terri Schiavo. We'll hear from the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He's in Pinellas Park, Florida; I spoke with him early today.

Also Black Hawk down: we have dramatic video of the dangerous recovery mission in Iraq, a story you will see only here on CNN.

Stryker concerns, once billed as a wonder weapon, the U.S. Army's new armored carrier is now under fire in more ways than one. We'll explain.

And, later...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We're not supposed to live forever, and if you're living on artificial means, you're not really living. You're just existing.

Dying with dignity. With his family by his side, one terminally ill man teaches courage while facing his own death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

On my visit to Iraq last week, I heard some very dramatic stories. One of the most memorable involved a U.S. helicopter that had to land in hostile territory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The Black Hawk helicopter flight into the U.S. airbase in Balad goes smoothly, though U.S. Army gunners are clearly ready for trouble. In recent days, CNN has learned, U.S. military intelligence has picked up fresh indications that Iraqi insurgents are desperately anxious to shoot down a U.S. aircraft, especially one carrying high-ranking military officers.

There's fear that insurgents may have shoulder-fired missiles left over from the Saddam Hussein military. Even without those missiles, insurgents routinely use small arms fire to shoot at low- flying U.S. helicopters.

(on camera): We're north of Baghdad, still in the Sunni triangle at the Balad airbase. This is a huge airbase; used to be an airbase under Saddam Hussein's regime as well. Now it's a U.S. and coalition facility, the largest helicopter facility in the region. U.S. troops are playing an active role throughout the region. The helicopters play a decisive role as well. Not long ago, about a month or so ago, one Black Hawk helicopter had transmission problems, had a forced landing, and then there's an incredible story of how they got that helicopter out.

(voice-over): The Black Hawk, like this one, was on a routine mission in Iraq when it began to experience transmission problems. It was forced to make an emergency landing in hostile territory. There were 14 U.S. and Iraqi troops on board.

LT. COL. CHRIS CALLAHAN, US ARMY: We made a conscious decision to land the aircraft, because eventually it would become unflyable if the transmission seized.

BLITZER: The 14 troops were quickly joined by reinforcements, to guard the helicopter, and its sensitive technology.

CNN has obtained this nightscope video from the U.S. military, pictures that capture the recovery of the Black Hawk during a complicated and dangerous operation.

CALLAHAN: So, what we ended up doing was putting together a mission where we would use one of the CH-47s, which is the Army's heavy-lift helicopter, to come in and literally pick it up off the ground and fly it back up here to Balad. BLITZER: You can make out the much larger CH-47 helicopters lifting the damaged Black Hawk and literally carrying it back to the Balad airbase, a flight that took about an hour and 15 minutes.

CALLAHAN: They used what we called a long line, and they hooked it up, and very gently picked it up and brought it back.

BLITZER: The operation had been to carefully rehearsed, and a separate unit of commandos were sent in to secure the area. They were backed up by Apache attack helicopters, from where these pictures were taken.

CALLAHAN: And what we see on the camera film, we two snippets of -- specifically, one is just simply the enormous length of the rope and how it flies, and then, one is as it comes in to touch down, where the crew did a real nice job -- between the ground crew and the flying crew, to set the aircraft back here on it's right-side-up and no further damage, you know, and that was good news.

BLITZER: The mission was successful, and the Black Hawk is now being repaired.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (on camera): One sensitive note, had they not been able to airlift that damaged helicopter out of there, they would have had to destroy it, given the very sensitive technology on board.

President Bush today met with a number of Iraqi-Americans who voted in the January elections. While his guests voiced concern about the slow pace of Democracy in Iraq, Mr. Bush said he expects a new government to be chosen soon and he said, freedom is on the march in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Freedom is the birthright and deep desire of every human soul, and spreading freedom's blessings is the calling of our time. And when freedom and democracy take root in the Middle East, America and the world, will be safer and more peaceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Iraqis got a look at democracy in action today, but that look didn't last very long. CNN's Aneesh Raman has the story from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A rough lesson in politics for Iraq's national assembly: after hours of delay, an announcement that a vote to elect a speaker, the reason they had convened, would be postponed. Anger immediately igniting among representatives frustrated with the process.

We demand to know what is happening behind the scenes, said this assembly member. And then, minutes later, Iraqis watching at home, saw their screens go back. The live feed was cut, the media kicked out and an impromptu closed-door session got under way.

All of this frenzied negotiations took place outside the assembly. Last-minute attempts to fill key ministerials positionings, like oil and defense, that remain unresolved, and all accompanied by plenty of frustrations, the Shia blaming the Kurds.

SAAD QINDEEL, UNITED IRAQI ALLIANCE: They put their demands very high, and we have to endure very severe, very difficult discussion and negotiation with them, in order to reach agreement.

RAMAN: The Kurds pointing to those outside the majority alliance.

BARHIM SALIH, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: The issue is the Sunni participation, the issue is the Iraqi list of Dr. Allawi's participation in this government.

RAMAN: Days like this undermine confidence among ordinary Iraqis. Many feel they did their part by coming out to vote at the end of January, and they want this national assembly to end the talking and start dealing with the many pressing issues, including drafting a constitution, that face this country. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A new plea to have Terri Schiavo's feeding tube restored. The Reverend Jesse Jackson visits the hospice where Schiavo is staying. My interview with him, that's coming up.

Is Kofi Annan in the clear? A new report concerning the Oil-for- Food scandal has been released.

And later, the last good-bye: life and death lessons from a man bravely facing his own mortality.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

The now-defunct United Nations Oil-for-Food program did billions of dollars worth of business for the regime of Saddam Hussein. A panel looking into corruption allegations has now found no wrongdoing by the Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but the actions of his son may give him some cause for embarrassment. Let's go live to our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth.

Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it doesn't have the clout of a criminal investigation, but the Volcker verdict is in today on Kofi Annan and the messy Oil-for-Food case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROTH (voice-over): The Oil-for-Food investigation isn't over, but interest was intense Tuesday because it focused on the Annan connection. Father, the head of the U.N., and son Kojo, employee of Cotecna, the company awarded a major contract inspecting Oil-for-Food shipments. The inquiry, conducted by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker cleared Secretary-General Kofi Annan of any corruption.

PAUL VOLCKER, CHMN., OIL-FOR-FOOD INQUIRY: We have no evidence, we have had no suspicion of evidence, from anybody we have talked to, that he interfered with the selection process for Cotecna.

ROTH: This, despite several meetings between Kofi Annan and Cotecna's chairman. The report says Kojo Annan misled investigators and his own father, failing to disclose the lengths of his own payments and the hundreds of dollars received.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The most difficult moments for me personally, throughout this past year, have been those which appeared -- when it appeared that my son Kojo might have acted inappropriately or might not have told me the full truth about his actions.

ROTH: In a statement, Kojo Annan said, "I deeply regret any embarrassment that the whole Cotecna issue may have caused my father. I am an independent businessman." Volcker says Kojo Annan has stopped cooperating with investigators; his father says he will urge him to start talking. Volcker accused Cotecna of acting with the son to disguise the payments and mislead the U.N. and the probers. Cotecna CEO Robert Massey said, "the company was awarded this contract fairly, based on the merit of our proposal, and has cooperated with the investigation." Volcker blamed Annan for failing to authorize a internal proper investigation at the U.N. to check if there was any conflict of interest in the first place.

VOLCKER: The U.N. inquiry initiated by the Secretary-General was inadequate.

ROTH: Oil-for-Food is just one of many U.N. management missteps which has prompted calls for a change at the top.

UNIDENTIFIED U.N. MALE: Do you feel it's time for the good of the organization, to step down?

KOFI ANNAN: Hell, no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (on camera): The real verdict, though, from the member countries of the United Nations, especially the United States, and today it was somewhat favorable for Kofi Annan: both spokesmen at the White House and the State Department, will say we support the United Nations and the work of Secretary-General Annan.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thank you, Richard.

Can the problems at the United Nations be fixed? Joining us now, our world affairs analyst, the former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He's chairman and CEO of the the Cohen Group.

Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

Kofi Annan -- does he have a long-term problem at the U.N. now?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I'm not sure he has a long-term problem. I think there's a long-term problem that the U.N. has yet to face up to, and that is the management issue. There have been criticisms over the years that an institution of bureaucracy that large has not adopted sufficient management techniques that would prevent the kind of thing that took place.

What the Volcker investigation found was that Kofi Annan himself played no role in the awarding of the contract, but that -- there were processees undertaken, there was no financial information, really, provided by this particular company, and also the CEO of that company was under investigation for some alleged wrongdoing, so there was something -- it was given as a result of it being a low bidder, but the proper procedures certainly weren't in place. So, I think this is going to require Kofi Annan and the others to really have some management changes.

BLITZER: As you know, a lot of people have pointed out that, yes, billions may have been siphoned off from the Oil-for-Food program, but other billions went into Saddam Hussein's pocket from transactions -- oil shipments to Jordan or Syria or Turkey or other countries that were illegal, but the U.S. and other countries simply closed their eyes to.

COHEN: There's no question that Saddam Hussein was engaging in extortion of sorts, that he would allow certain countries and companies to provide the kind of humanitarian assistance provided there were kickbacks, so there was no real vigorous oversight, and that's something which Congress is investigating.

By the way, as Congress investigates the United Nations, I hope they also take a look in terms of it's own oversight, in terms of the amounts of money that are unaccounted for, to this date, in terms of our awarding of contracts in Iraq. So, there's a lot of fingers to be pointed right now, but we ought to take a real close examination of U.S. oversight as well as what's taking place, and what should have taken place in U.N.

BLITZER: Well, you're talking in Iraq over the past two years?

COHEN: Over the past two years, the contracts that were led by the United States -- there were millions and hundreds of billions of dollars yet to be fully accounted for. So, Congress, as it investigates abuses or mismanagement by the U.N., also needs to take a look at our procurement system and how we let contracts and don't have sufficient oversight in terms of how that money is being spent.

BLITZER: You're not just simply referring to the Halliburton issue?

COHEN: I'm talking about the overall in terms of the procurement process. There have been allegations about millions of dollars that have not been properly accounted for.

BLITZER: How much of a setback is this delay in forging -- putting together a new Iraqi government? It's been two months, now, since the elections in January 30th.

COHEN: Well, we have to remember that democracy is new to Iraq. They've been under the heel and boots of a tyrant for many decades now. This is the first opportunity they've had -- a chance to really sort -- try to sort things out. The important thing is that they're talking to each other and not shooting each other or killing each other in terms of the political process right now, but time is running out. They have to form a government, they have to elect a speaker of the parliament, and then a president, two vice presidents, who will then choose a prime minister, and all of that has to take place fairly soon. Otherwise, you're going to see a disenchantment set in, people become discouraged, and all of the progress made on the ground by our fine military could come to naught if this political process doesn't have a momentum that spells itself out, or spins itself out, rather, in a very positive way.

BLITZER: I can tell you, when I was in Iraq last week and met with General Abizaid, General Casey, a lot of top, high-ranking U.S. military officials, they were all frustrated, concerned that no new government would hurt -- would undermine the ability to see new Iraqi troops take charge because they need the leadership.

COHEN: That will only delay our departure. To the extent that you're not seeing this kind of government put in place, with an interim government, with contracts being negotiated and let by this new government, that means there's going to be great delays as far as the U.S. is concerned and that will have a political repercussion in this country and elsewhere.

BLITZER: Secretary Cohen, as usual, thanks very much.

COHEN: Pleasure, Wolf.

BLITZER: Fresh controversy in the Terri Schiavo case as the Reverend Jesse Jackson steps in. My interview with the civil rights leader -- that's coming up.

Trial by fire for the U.S. military's newest armored vehicle. We'll show you how the Stryker is performing in Iraq.

Plus, what went wrong? A new high-level report on U.S. intelligence failures. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Terri Schiavo now in her 12th day without food and water. We'll hear from the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He's in Pinellas Park. He met with her family today. We'll get to that.

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

The former director of programming for the Boy Scouts now faces child pornography charges. Douglas Smith Jr. is accused of downloading child porn from the Internet. He's scheduled to appear before a federal judge tomorrow in Fort Worth, Texas. Smith retired from the Boy Scouts last month. Officials with the organization say they're shocked and dismayed by his arrest.

A Native American tribal leader in Minnesota says his teenage son is not guilty of charges he faces in connection with last week's shooting spree at Red Lake High School. In last Tuesday's rampage, a teenage shooter killed nine people before killing himself.

The first lady, Laura Bush, is on her way to Afghanistan. Her visit will highlight the advances of women in that country. And during her short stay, Mrs. Bush will meet with students and teachers. She flies home Thursday.

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is in critical, but stable condition in a Lynchburg, Virginia, hospital. The conservative Christian leader was admitted last night for breathing problems. He was stabilized and placed on a ventilator. The 71-year-old Falwell was treated for pneumonia earlier this year.

Now an update on the Terri Schiavo case. Schiavo is in her 12th day without food and water. Her mother says she's still fighting for her life. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has joined the effort to get Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, called on Florida lawmakers to pass an emergency law to save the brain-damaged woman. But one source says, even if the Florida Senate passes an emergency bill, the Statehouse wouldn't be able to consider it under Tuesday.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson has long been associated with liberal causes. His decision to intercede in the Schiavo case along anti- abortion activists is some raising eyebrows.

Once again, here's CNN's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): It is an unlikely alliance. On the left, Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and, on the right, Randall Terry, the founder of the anti-abortion movement Operation Rescue.

But outside Terri Schiavo's hospice, they were united, both pro- life, Terri Schiavo's life, with Jackson calling the Florida legislature to push once again. REV. JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: I'm on the phone today talking with members of the Senate, asking them to be creative enough to try to fashion some emergency legislation to stop the starving, to stop the dehydration.

SNOW: And Terry cheering him on.

RANDALL TERRY, SPOKESMAN FOR PARENTS OF TERRI SCHIAVO: If he can find three votes and the leadership, President Lee, who has always expressed support to the family, if they can create the will, then they will make the way.

SNOW: But, in a press release, Jackson leveraging this case for a wider cause, saying: "A consistent moral and ethical position would extend a feeding tube to all who are confronted with starvation to demand public government policy to feed the hungry."

And Terry redefining himself beyond abortion as a promoter of a return to ethics and morality in the nation's public life. As Terri Schiavo's life moves closer to an end, the volume is turning up.

(on camera): As for the three votes that Randall Terry says are needed for emergency legislation, Senate sources say the earliest anything could be finalized is next Tuesday, and the bill does not call for the feeding tube to be reinserted.

Mary Snow, CNN, Pinellas Park, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Earlier, I spoke to Jesse Jackson about the Terri Schiavo case and what he's trying to accomplish by becoming involved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Reverend Jackson, thanks very much for joining us. I suspect a lot of our viewers were surprised to hear that you were brought in to deal with the family, the parents on this matter. What motivated you, Reverend Jackson, to go down to Florida and get involved?

JACKSON: Wolf, I care deeply about Terri's situation.

And when the parents asked me would I come, I was quick to say yes, because I think that I've been in a situation as a minister where you had to pull the plug. That is to say that people in advanced stages of cancer had Demerol to fight the pain, and then went into a coma, because they were hurt. They got more Demerol. And then you could see them losing their pulse. And you pulled the plug, and -- and they died.

In this situation, we pull the feeding tube and the water, so we are starving her to death and dehydrating her to death. There's something about that that's fundamentally immoral, unethical and unnecessary. So, I say, seize this moment to let -- to temper law with mercy to arrive at justice. BLITZER: The neurologists who testified before all the various courts that reviewed this said she was in what they called a persistent vegetative state, and her husband testified she didn't want to live like this; she wanted to end her life in what they called dignity. Do you have a problem with the way that the judicial process worked in dealing with Terri Schiavo?

JACKSON: You know, I do not want to challenge the integrity or motive of her husband. I do not think that's a good thing, but suffice it to say, when you pull the tube, the feeding tube, and someone survives 12 days without food and water, that there was more life signs, more life energy than was originally anticipated.

You pull the plug on you for 12 days and nights without water and food, and you would get sicker. So, she is getting weaker, but why won't we give her food and water? We have enough food, enough water. Why not give her food and water?

BLITZER: Well, the argument that her husband makes and that the courts approved of is that she didn't want to have to live in this kind of condition. She wanted to die, rather than live like this. That was the testimony that came before the courts.

JACKSON: You know, I'm just not sure if one can say for a certainty that -- arrive at that conclusion. I don't want to challenge what she may have said to him when.

How could one know the true inner state where there are still vital signs, a state where you can live without food and water? It's a debate, and I feel the pain on both sides, the pain of her husband, the passion of her parents. But having said all of that, I come down on the side of let her live. Right now, we're just simply going to starve her to death, no food, no water, and not even ice cubes for her parched lips. That's inhumane and it's unnecessary.

I think that what we must take this, however, we cannot just reduce her to a trophy for some political cause. She symbolizes a need now for us to look at long-term health care and health care for the indigent and for those who need it. You know, Wolf, we as Americans are going to live longer now because of medicine and because of our life options. And so she in many ways becomes a symbol of the need to address the issue of health care and life options for all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The Reverend Jesse Jackson speaking with me earlier today.

The intelligence was wrong, but why? A new report tries to get to the bottom of the debacle over Saddam Hussein's weapons stockpile.

Also, the Stryker makes its debut in Iraq, why some call this new U.S. armored vehicle a costly failure.

And an odd couple takes a turn in Tokyo. We'll explain in our picture of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: On the CNN "Security Watch," a presidential commission has completed its investigation into U.S. intelligence failures, and sources say it includes some candid criticism.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush was briefed on the recommendations of his bipartisan commission on intelligence. Sources say the report offers harsh criticisms of intelligence failings on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues and suggests more changes are needed.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations as well.

ENSOR: The commission report will charge, sources say, that, at the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, where the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies work alongside each other, there still is not enough intelligence sharing. One analyst doesn't always know what's on the other analyst's computer, the same stovepiping problem that hurt the U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks.

John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of central intelligence.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In this business, there's always a tension between the obvious need to share and, on the other hand, the need to be careful about sources and methods, that is, not to expose sources to danger to their lives and so forth.

ENSOR: The commission's recommendations will set the scene for next month's hearings on the nomination of Ambassador John Negroponte to be the first director of national intelligence and of General Michael Hayden to be his deputy.

One major question not resolved by the new intelligence reform law is who in the new system will be in charge of secret intelligence operations against terrorists.

MCLAUGHLIN: Much of that is to be worked out, because the legislation allows you to draw a number of conclusion on that point.

ENSOR: Sources say, in addition to hard-hitting criticism of the CIA and FBI in the report, some lesser-known intelligence agencies are also criticized, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and Department of Energy Analysts, who, before the war, said Iraq was still trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

(on camera): A senior U.S. officials says the White House is already planning a series of executive orders to implement some of the recommendations of the commission. The official said it's not clear to him yet whether Congress will also need to get into the act with additional legislation.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

The Stryker is a new armored to vehicle which is getting a trial by fire in Iraq. Soldiers who depend on it say it's a success. I heard that and saw it in action when I was in Mosul last week, but critics also call it a costly failure. CNN has obtained an internal Army report which lists a number of Stryker shortcomings.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move it. Hurry.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The Army's newest armored personnel carrier, the Stryker, is under fire, not just from the insurgents in Iraq, but also from the critics at home, who argue the 19-ton wheeled fighting vehicle is too heavy to be flown anywhere quickly, too vulnerable to heavy attack, and, at almost $2 million a copy, too expensive compared to alternatives like the old M-113 Gavin track vehicle.

RET. COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR, PRESIDENT, GLENSIDE ANALYSIS: It's enormous in side, which is unavoidable with wheeled chassis, and it doesn't bring significant power, armored protection or mobility to the fight.

MCINTYRE: But the Stryker remains the linchpin of U.S. Army plans to convert to a lighter, more agile force, and the soldiers who serve in them swear by them.

STAFF SGT. BENJAMIN HANNER, U.S. ARMY: Well, after spending 12 months in Iraq, there's no other vehicle in the inventory I'd rather go to Iraq in. Well, I was actually wounded in Mosul from an IED incident while in a Stryker. And I walked away from the incident with routine injuries.

MCINTYRE: For Iraq, the Strykers had to be outfitted with a birdcage of slat armor, designed to cause rocket-propelled grenades to detonate prematurely. An internal report from the Center for Army Lessons Learned obtained by CNN concludes that, while soldiers were told the "slat armor would protect them against eight out of 11 strikes," in fact, soldiers say it's only "effective against half of the RPG attacks."

Meanwhile, the extra armor adds three feet in width and three tons of weight to the Stryker, which critics argue makes it anything but nimble.

MACGREGOR: Initially, people billed the Stryker as this wonder weapon of the 21st century that would allow you to drive up and down the roads at 60 miles per hour. If you do that, you risk turning over and killing risking everybody in it.

MCINTYRE: The Lessons Learned report also details dozens of needed modifications, everything from reengineering the tire inflation system to handle the extra weight to adding air conditioning for the high-tech electronics. The commander of one Stryker battalion insists the changes will simply make a great vehicle better.

LT. COL. KARL REED, U.S. ARMY: I'm confident that these are not flaws. In fact, they're improvements.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The Stryker may not be the death trap its critics claim, but it's not a magic bullet either. Iraq has many in the Army rethinking the idea that lighter armor is better suited to urban combat. In fact, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, which lost 28 main battle tanks in Iraq, says the lesson he learned is, the heavier the armor, the better.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Learning to let go and to say the most difficult goodbye. When we come back, in the midst of the Terri Schiavo controversy, one dying man offers his view of life and death, an unforgettable story you'll see only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Terri Schiavo case has made the issue of death with dignity a national debate, and it's an issue families across America have to deal with every day.

Over the Easter weekend, a Georgia man and his family spent their final hours together. And their story could provide a valuable lesson to other families wrestling with the impending loss of a loved one.

Here's CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ordinary home in an ordinary American neighborhood. Ed Davis is dying. It's clear the end is near. And so, this past Friday, Ed's children and grandchildren came to say goodbye. They let us share these intimate moments because they wanted to be an example of how to die with love and with dignity.

ED DAVIS, CANCER PATIENT: I'm not concerned about the cancer. I'm not concerned about dying.

COHEN: Cancer was diagnosed just a month ago, so advanced that Ed's surgeons could offer no help.

DAVIS: It was in my liver and my pancreas and also many other part of the body.

COHEN: Doctors offered chemotherapy and dialysis for his ailing kidneys, but they made it clear, these treatments would not buy Ed Davis much time. And what little he would have would be unpleasant. So, Ed said no.

DAVIS: We're supposed to die. We're not supposed to live forever. And if you're living on artificial means, you're not really living. You're just existing.

COHEN: Ed Davis has spent his 84 years a happy man. He's had the love of his wife, Chris (ph), and their three sons and their families. He chose to live the last remaining days at home, with care from hospice and love from his family and friends. As a man of faith, he wanted one thing, to spend one last Sunday in church.

DAVIS: I just got to thinking if I might not ever get to go to church again. And I would like to have that last time.

COHEN: But one last Sunday in church seemed pretty unlikely last Friday. The family took turns sitting by his side feeding him, thanking him for his love and hoping he'd get that one last wish.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just be your sweet, lovable self, and everything will be fine.

COHEN: Over the weekend, the Davises talked about old times. They've been married for 61 years.

DAVIS: She's a country girl for sure. I had to put shoes on her when we got married.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: For most of the weekend, the family told stories, while they laughed and shared their love.

DAVIS: I don't have a thing to worry about with this girl. She's going to be a fine woman.

COHEN: But Saturday was rough for the Davises.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really weren't sure he was even going to make it through the night.

COHEN: But he did. And, on Easter Sunday, his last wish came true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (singing): I will worship with all of my heart.

COHEN: Mr. Davis took communion, his faith steady, an example of grace and dignity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father, God, we're so thankful for Ed, and, Lord, his courageous witness for you.

COHEN (on camera): Mr. Davis, you said you really wanted to go to church. Now you've been. How do you feel?

DAVIS: I feel fulfilled.

COHEN: Fulfilled by the love of his family and by living out his last few days exactly as he wanted.

DAVIS: It's not hard to make a decision like this when you're 84 years old, lived a good life and raised your family. Of course, it's not always easy to leave, but we have to do that. We cry like this when we go on a trip, so that's where I'm going, is on a trip. I'm going to take the rest of my life and be with the lord in heaven.

COHEN: Ed Davis died Sunday night, just hours after we spoke, surrounded by his family in his own home at peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: An unusual move by an unusual couple, it's our picture of the day. Check it out. Japan's prime minister asked Richard Gere, "Shall we dance?" referring to the title of the actor's latest movie.

That's exactly what they did, taking a twirl before TV cameras in Tokyo. Gere is traveling through Japan on a promotional tour. The American movie, by the way, is based on a Japanese film, excellent films, both of them.

A reminder, we're on the air weekdays 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Thanks for joining us.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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