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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Priscilla Owen Nomination Goes Forward; Embryonic Stem Cell Research Discussed; Al-Zarqawi Possibly Wounded; Overview of Zarqawi's Past Provides Insights; Book Explains Suicide Terrorism; Drug Maker Withdraws Entire Line
Aired May 24, 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.
BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're standing by the president of the United States is meeting inside the Oval Office now with Priscilla Owen, his judicial nominee. Priscilla Owen, the nominee for the for the circuit -- for the U.S. Court of appeals. Her way has been cleared by the United States Senate for a final vote. Today there was an effort to continue to filibuster. That was defeated 81-18. You need 60 votes in order to defeat a filibuster. In the aftermath of last night's dramatic, dramatic development -- a compromise involving seven Democrats, seven Republicans, 14 U.S. senators in all -- the way has been cleared for her final confirmation presumably as early as tomorrow. The president has invited her into the Oval Office together with other Republican leaders in the Senate. There they are. Only moments ago they spoke. Let's listen to what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome Judge Priscilla Owen to the Oval Office along with Leader Frist and my two buddies from the great state of Texas, Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn. Over fours ago I put Judge Owens's (SIC) name up to the Senate for confirmation, Fifth Court of Appeals. Thanks to the good work of the leader, whose work cleared the way -- Judge Owens is finally going to get an up or down vote on the Senate floor. She is my friend, and more importantly, she's a great judge.
I want to thank the Texas senators for being so strong in standing beside Priscilla. There was never any doubt in the senators' minds that Priscilla Owens is well-qualified to honorably serve on the federal bench. And it's such a -- it's a great day for our friend, to see our friend finally get a just due, after a long, long wait. So welcome, and congratulations. Perhaps you'd like to say something.
JUDGE PRISCILLA OWEN, US APPEALS CT. NOMINEE: Mr. President, first of all, thank you for nominating me. I was very humbled by that, and I will remember what -- that you expect judges to follow the law. And I want to thank both of my senators, Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn. Your support was tremendous throughout all of this. I really appreciate it, and I thank you so much for all the time and effort you've put in, responding tirelessly for months and months. And Senator Frist, thank you for your leadership. I appreciate that, and I appreciate the fact that I'm finally going to get a vote. Thanks to your efforts. Thank you.
BUSH: Well, thank you all for coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all very much.
BUSH: Anybody get hurt over here?
BLITZER: No questions, no answers from the president at the White House with Priscilla Owen, his nominee to be U.S. court of appeals judge. That nomination could be confirmed as early as tonight or perhaps tomorrow. You saw the Senate Republican leader, the majority leader, Bill Frist, other Republican leaders, including Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both senators from Texas, there with the president and Priscilla Owen. This in the aftermath of last night's dramatic compromise, setting the stage for what's happening right now. We'll have much more on this and other stories coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Stem cell showdown, a vote and a veto threat.
BUSH: This bill would take us across a critical ethical line. Crossing this line would be a great mistake.
BLITZER: But is the president in step with the public on this issue?
Is Iraq's most-wanted wounded? Militant websites call on Muslims to pray for al Qaeda's ally, but insurgents take a growing toll among Iraqis and U.S. troops.
Recall: a drug maker pulls its entire product line, from painkillers to blood pressure medicine to antibiotics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, May 24th, 2005.
BLITZER: Thanks for joining us. One Capitol Hill showdown may have gone away, but a new one has erupted. This one is taking shape between the White House and the Congress over the very controversial issue of embryonic stem cell research. This hour, the U.S. House of Representatives may approve federal funding, and that has President Bush threatening to use what would be his first veto since taking office.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is joining us now. She has more on this latest development. Kathleen?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the House is about to vote on this very controversial measure, and it's looking at two separate bills. One of them would fund research on umbilical cord blood stem cells, and the other to fund embryonic stem cell research. Needless to say, it has been a very passionate and a very personal debate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Supporters set the stage with emotional pleas from parents like Beth Westbrook, who believes stem cell research might have prevented her daughter Katie's death at age 15 from cancer.
BETH WESTBROOK, PARENT: No parent should ever have to look at their child and tell them there are no more options. There's no more hope.
KOCH: And hope was what authors claimed the two bills offered -- one boosting federal spending on umbilical cord stem cell research; the more controversial measure allowing federal funding of stem cell research on excess embryos at fertility clinics.
REP. CHRIS SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: These are discarded embryos that were never in the womb. They weren't taken from it and they weren't put into it, but they can help save lives.
REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D), COLORADO: Every single American who suffers from a terrible disease should have the right to a cure.
KOCH: But many who supported umbilical cord research drew the line at embryonic stem cell research.
REP. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: It's morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans, who believe as I do that human life is sacred, and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research.
KOCH: President Bush is promising to veto the embryonic research bill in an East Room speech, surrounding himself with babies born from embryos that might have been destroyed but were instead adopted by others wanting children.
BUSH: The children here today remind us that there is no such thing as a spare embryo. Every embryo is unique and genetically complete, like every other human being, and each of us started out our life this way. These lives are not raw material to be exploited but gifts.
KOCH: Still, even some ardent pro-life Republicans tearfully split from the president, voting for research that many believe holds the cure for diseases from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to juvenile diabetes.
REP. DUKE CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA: I am for life, and I'm for the quality of life, but I don't want another 6-year-old to die.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: That was Congressman Cunningham talking about a 6-year-old who told him at a recent hearing, Congressman, you're the only person who can save my life. Now, Wolf, that vote takes place in about 10 minutes, and what the magic number is that they have to hit, if they want to override a presidential veto, 290. It's unclear whether they will.
BLITZER: They need 218 to pass it.
KOCH: Correct.
BLITZER: Then, the president, assuming it passes the Senate, he could veto it. Then they would need 290 in the House to override it. We'll watch this story, bringing the latest to our viewers. Kathleen Koch, thanks very much.
The looming stem cell battle comes just hours after a compromise on the president's judicial nominees. A group of moderate senators hammered out a deal averting the so-called nuclear option, which would have eliminated filibusters of judges and could have effectively shut down the U.S. Senate.
Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, is joining us now live from Capitol Hill with more. Ed?
ED HENRY, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this stunning Senate deal has shifted power to the center and away from the far left and the far right. But moderate senators are now wondering, is this a seismic shift or just a flash in the pan?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): The so-called Gang of 14 was beaming, not just about the deal on judges but the promise it holds for the future.
SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NEBRASKA: I think the good faith and the mutual trust that we've achieved here will carry over into this Senate on other business as well.
HENRY: In recent years, the Senate has become more like the House, increasingly partisan and less centrist. But this band of moderates now believes it may hold the key to unlock President Bush's second term agenda, by forging bipartisan deals on social issues like abortion and stem cell research, and pocketbook issues like energy and Social Security reform.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Bottom line, we can repair it in a way that will allow the country to have a Senate that functions for the common good.
HENRY: Robert Byrd and John Warner, the veteran senators crucial to crafting the filibuster deal, are cautiously optimistic.
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: The work of the Senate has got to go on. We've got serious problems facing our population today.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: And don't you hope, John, that this spirit of give and take, this spirit of cooperation, will prevail in the coming days? There will still be disputes. There will still be differences. But we've got to put political party aside. There's been too much of this Republican versus Democrat. I hope we can get away from that and think of the people and of the country and of the Constitution.
HENRY: But can that be real...
BYRD: And the institution of the Senate.
HENRY: Can that be realized or is this just a flash of the pan?
BYRD: It can be.
HENRY: On something like Social Security, can a gang of 14 get together and pull this together?
BYRD: But I don't know. I hope that both sides will get together. I hope Democrats and Republicans will work together to save this.
HENRY: But the unity will be tested, especially if there's a divisive fight over a Supreme Court nominee. One senator noted the deal on judges was just a truce, not a treaty.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: For more on the compromise worked out last night, we're joined by two influential members of the Senate -- Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi. He's in our studio. And up on Capitol Hill, Senator Mark Pryor, Democrat of Arkansas.
Senators, thanks very much for joining us. Senator Lott, what does this say about the future of the Senate in this session this year and next year, in terms of the moderate center now really controlling the process as far as judicial nominees is concerned?
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: I don't think you should make too much of that, Wolf. It came together in this instance because there really was a need for it. We were going to go forward with a vote to put this rule in place that it only took 51 votes to confirm these judges or we were going to come up with a process that would stop the serial filibusters.
I think a lot of credit goes to Senator McCain, Senator Pryor, Senator Nelson, others that were involved in coming up with at least a process to back away from what has been occurring over the last three or four years.
BLITZER: So does this bode, Senator Lott, for a new, more cooperative Senate?
LOTT: I hope so, Wolf. This -- these filibusters have become a real problem. And it has clouded everything really for four years, certainly over the last few months as we have moved steadily toward actually having this vote to put the rule in place. This gives us the opportunity now to calm the rhetoric down, to move these men, women, and minorities that have been obstructed through the process with an up or down vote, and hopefully then get on to some other issues like energy legislation, immigration reform. We...
BLITZER: And that was one of the arguments that a lot of these so-called moderate senators said, get this behind the Senate so you could move on to other critical issues.
Let me bring Senator Pryor in, get his thoughts. What does it say to you about where the U.S. Senate is right now, what we can expect this year and next year during the course of this memorandum of understanding as it's been called, how it will affect judicial nominees?
SEN. MARK PRYOR (D), ARKANSAS: Well, I think that this is a very positive step. I think that it does show that people of goodwill, senators of goodwill can come together and work through the most difficult, most tense issues. And I don't think there's anything -- been anything more difficult than judicial nominations in the last few years. So I'm encouraged. I agree with what Senator Lott said. We can't read too much into this, but I think it is a positive sign for the future.
BLITZER: Will -- Senator Pryor, will it spill over, for example, into issues like Social Security reform or tax simplification, other issues that could come up in the Senate. Stem cell research a big subject today?
PRYOR: I think it's very possible that it could. I think we need to understand that it may not be these same 14 that come together. We actually had other people that were involved in this process that for one reason or another couldn't sign on the dotted line, so to speak. But there are a lot of senators here -- here in the Senate that want to see legislation get done. We have some very big challenges facing this country. Everything, as you mentioned, from stem cell to energy policy to immigration. I mean, you can go down a long list of Social Security and many other things. So we have a lot of work to do if we're willing to do it. And I hope this is a positive sign that we are willing to put our shoulder to the plow and get it done.
BLITZER: Some conservatives, religious conservatives especially, are very disappointed. James Dobson, as you know, Senator Lott, chairman of the Christian Conservative Group, Focused on the Family, issued a statement saying we share the disappointment, outrage, and sense of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who helped put Republicans in power last November. He then goes on and says, "I am certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Those are strong words.
LOTT: They are strong words. And I think they're inappropriate words. It's an example of the overheated rhetoric on both sides. From the left and the right. And by the way, over 33 years in Congress I don't have a reputation of being a flaming moderate or anything of that nature. I'm pretty conservative. And when you look at this group, this was not just a moderate group. I mean, Lindsey Graham wouldn't generally consider himself a moderate... BLITZER: He's a maverick, Lindsey Graham.
LOTT: Well -- well, and then there's...
BLITZER: John Warner, on the other hand, is a conservative.
LOTT: Well, and then there were some Democrats that probably would be more liberal. So this was a group that came together and worked together and they produced what I think too is a positive result. It may not be perfect. It may be temporary. But it was good enough for now. And what these groups on both sides tend to do is they lose sight of the forest for all the trees that they're upset about.
BLITZER: There's a bigger picture out there.
LOTT: There's a process here that -- where we need -- we need to get away from these regular filibusters, and get a little more positive atmosphere going and move some other substantive issues.
BLITZER: Senator Pryor, you're from Arkansas. Where do you stand on the president's threat to veto this additional funding for embryonic stem cell research?
PRYOR: Well, we'll just have to wait to see what the House does. And if it works its way through the Senate what happens there. And certainly, I think that embryonic stem cell research does show some promise, some medical and scientific promise. There's a lot of potential there. But also I think it's important for people in my state that we put the proper ethical framework and parameters around it. So we'll see how it comes out.
BLITZER: Are you inclined to vote for the additional funding, Senator Pryor or against it?
PRYOR: You know, I just can't say yet without knowing exactly what it would look like. But I can assure you that I work very closely with my colleagues. And as it makes its way through the Senate, I work very hard on that issue, and we'll just see where it is.
BLITZER: Senator Lott, what about you?
LOTT: I think Senator Pryor took the right position. Let's see what it is. We want to do everything we can responsibly to find ways to save lives, and to improve the quality of health of all Americans. But we want to be very careful about ethical violations, legal problems that come out of all this, and also what's basically right or wrong. We don't want to get into a position where we wind up harvesting life or taking life to save life. There's got to be responsible balance. There's great potential in human embryonic stem cell research. So let's see what all we can do there.
BLITZER: When you say human, you mean adult stem cell research...
LOTT: Right.
BLITZER: ... or umbilical cord stem cell research beyond the embryonic stem cell research. It gets confusing.
LOTT: It does.
BLITZER: But those are important distinctions certainly on this issue.
LOTT: They are.
BLITZER: Senator Lott, as usual, thanks very much. Senator Pryor, thanks to you as well for spending a few moments with us on this day. We'll see what happens in the Senate in the days and weeks and months to come.
We'll take a quick break.
When we come back, injured insurgency? Web sites claiming the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been wounded. Are the reports fact or fiction? And what does it mean for Iraq?
Total recall -- why one drug company is pulling all of its products, including generic versions of many popular painkillers.
And comedian on the stand. The "Tonight Show" host, Jay Leno on the stand in the Michael Jackson trial. We'll tell you what happened there today. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The accusations are clear and brutal. He's tortured and tainted and taunted and boasted, an inspiration to the insurgents. He's become public enemy number one for American forces and their Iraqi allies. Now there's word that the al Qaeda ally in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may have been wounded.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote has the story from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A surprising message purportedly from al Qaeda in Iraq. This time concerning one of their own, Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The message says he has been wounded and calls on Muslims to, quote, "Pray for the healing of our Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered in the path of God. The injury of our leader is an honor, and a cause to close in on the enemies of God, and a reason to increase the attacks against them."
The Jordanian-born extremist is believed to be responsible for the highest-profile terrorist acts in Iraq in the last two years, including this suicide bomber attack that killed 127 and the beheading of American hostage Nick Berg. In an audio message purportedly from bin Laden five months ago, he called Zarqawi al Qaeda's prince in Iraq. Even if Zarqawi is wounded, it has had no effect on the violence that never seems to quit. Insurgents killed a total of nine U.S. troops on Monday and Tuesday, three of them here, when a car bomb went off beside their convoy. They also hit Iraqi security forces, but ordinary Iraqis were, as usual, the worst hit. More than 50 Iraqis were slaughtered, hundreds more maimed, in attacks on restaurants parties, and mosques in the first 24 hours of this week.
Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis are increasingly blaming one another for the violence prompting a prominent Shiite and Sunni leader to meet Tuesday in an effort to quell the tension. The U.S. government is also concerned that Sunni Arabs, who have largely been left out of the new government, are supporting the insurgency. It says Zarqawi represents just one strand of the insurgency.
The bottom line -- Iraq has become a battlefield for multiple groups with multiple interests.
There have been rumors about Zarqawi's condition before. CNN can't independently confirm the new reports and the U.S. and Iraqi militaries have always said they just don't know. They do say that while Zarqawi's loss would be a blow to the insurgency, they don't think it will stop there.
Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: U.S. authorities would like to believe the reports about Abu Musab al Zarqawi, but are they true? Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, as much as U.S. officials might want to believe it, right now they insist the answer is they just don't know.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over); Pentagon military and intelligence officials tell CNN there is no intelligence to corroborate website claims that terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi has been wounded. The postings on several insurgent websites purportedly come from a Zarqawi associate, who contends Zarqawi has suffered a heroic wound and asks for prayers for our leader. T
The U.S. military admits it just doesn't know, but a spokesman puts the latest assertion in the same category as previous unconfirmed rumors Zarqawi was ill or injured, though last month one tip was deemed credible enough to launch a raid on a hospital in Ramadi after an informer claimed the terrorist had gone there seeking medical treatment. An exhaustive search revealed no sign of Zarqawi or any other terrorist was ever there.
LT. GEN. JAMES CONWAY, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I can simply say there's been no evidence to indicate that he was there, either through interrogation of the people that we spoke to afterwards or any physical evidence of his presence. MCINTYRE: And there has been conjecture that Zarqawi may have been injured jumping from a moving vehicle on February 20th, when the U.S. military stopped his car and captured his laptop computer, but that too remains unconfirmed speculation. If Zarqawi was hurt, it didn't stop him from taping an audio message to his followers a month ago.
ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Dear brothers, be patient. It is only a matter of a few days, and you will be the ultimate winners, either by way of martyrdom or victory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: The bottom line is the U.S. military doesn't put much credence in websites run by the insurgents. One U.S. military official quipped, if the reports are true then they should tell us where he is, and we'll make sure Zarqawi gets all the medical attention he needs. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thanks very much.
From obscurity to the world's most wanted list, we'll take a closer look at Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his rise to power in the terrorist world.
Also, suicide bombers. Why are al Qaeda fighters increasingly dying to win?
And later -- a stand-up comedian takes the stand in the Michael Jackson trial. What the defense thought "The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno could add to their case.
Steroids testing -- there are new calls to require major American sports leagues to test their players. We'll have details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Let's get to our justice report. Lionel Tate is in trouble again. Four years ago, you'll remember, when he was only 14 years old, he was convicted of murdering a playmate. That conviction was overturned but Tate later was sentenced to a year of house arrest under a plea deal. Now 18 years old, Tate remains on parole, and now he's been charged with robbing a pizza delivery man at gunpoint in Pembroke Park, Florida.
Private First Class Lynndie England has waived the right to a preliminary hearing. England is accused of abusing inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. She entered a guilty plea earlier this month, but the judge threw it out after a hearing contradictory testimony in the sentencing phase of that trial. The move allows the Army to go ahead with a new court-martial.
"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is center stage today at Michael Jackson's child molestation trial. CNN's Ted Rowlands has details of testimony by the latest defense celebrity witness.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CORRESPONDENT: Comedian Jay Leno spent less than half an hour on the stand. He is expected to be one of the last defense witnesses. He was supposed to, according to the defense, come up and say that he was the victim of a shakedown from this accuser and the accuser's family. However, on cross-examination, he said he was never asked directly for any money. He did say that he received a number of phone messages from the accuser and he thought that it was odd, the tone of those messages, and he said that they were, quote, scripted. But he said they never actually asked for money.
It is expected that comedian Chris Tucker will be the defense's final witness and Tucker is here in Santa Maria. We are told that he could take the stand today and that the defense could rest its case as early as today.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we're hearing -- this just in -- that the comedian Chris Tucker is in fact now currently on the stand in the Jackson trial. We'll watch that, get back there as soon as it's warranted.
The rise of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, how a small town boy from Jordan grew up to be the most wanted terrorist in Iraq.
Plus -- dying to win. What drives those suicide bombers? And can they be stopped?
Drug recall. One generic drugmaker withdraws all, yes, all, of its products. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Welcome back.
Suicide mission. Al Qaeda fighters increasingly dying for their cause. What can be done to combat this type of terrorism? We'll get to that. First, a quick check of some other stories now in the news.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to crack down on steroid use in pro sports. They're introducing legislation that would require leagues to test their players for steroids, amphetamines, and other illegal drugs. The bill is one -- one of two steroid-related measures currently under consideration by Congress.
The Senate has cleared the way for an up or down vote on Judge Priscilla Owen, President Bush's nominee to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote, which could come later today, was part of a deal worked out last night by 14 senators to avoid the so-called nuclear option. Has the most wanted man in Iraq been wounded? The U.S. military isn't sure. But word on the street and on some militant web sites is that al Qaeda's ally is, in fact, ailing. If this terror chief has indeed been put out of action, it would be a serious blow to Iraq's insurgents but almost certainly not the end of the insurgency.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson looks at the rise of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. We must caution you first, though, some of the initial images you're about to see may be disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq, May 2004.
NICK BERG, KILLED BY INSURGENTS: My brother and sister David and Pam...
ROBERTSON: American Nick Berg is about to be beheaded. His execution recorded and released on a web site titled Abu Musab al- Zarqawi Slaughters an American. Its barbarity rockets Zarqawi from relative obscurity to front page familiarity.
But already he is the deadliest insurgent in Iraq. Born Ahmed Fadail al-Khalaila (ph), he later took his nom de guerre, Zarqawi, from the name of his home town, Zarqa. It looks pretty from a distance, but up close it's different, crammed by successive waves of Palestinian refugees, one of the poorest towns in the country.
(on camera) With its densely packed housing and intense tribal loyalties, Zarqa's been compared to the Bronx, but others liken its down at the heels working class neighborhoods to Detroit. For Zarqawi, though, it was a place of limited opportunity.
(voice-over) Outside the house where he was born in October 1966, neighbors say they remember the family well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They were simple people. They lived a simple life. They barely made it.
ROBERTSON: His father fought against the Israelis in 1948 and was well respected before he died. In this picture at the time, the young Zarqawi looks unremarkable but seems determined to earn respect like his father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If someone would even harm his neighbors, Zarqawi would always come to defend the victim. He always did good deeds, nothing wrong.
ROBERTSON: His days were spent here, in Zarqa's school. But by all accounts he didn't excel academically.
(on camera) Zarqawi left school before his final exams, disappointing his parents. He didn't seem to have a career in mind, and his father tried to fix him up with a job at the local municipality. (voice-over) That was 1982. Zarqawi was about 16, developing a reputation as a tough guy who, against Muslim custom, drank and got a tattoo.
Outside his old mosque I tracked down his brother-in-law, hoping he can tell me more.
(on camera) Excuse me, sir. Can we talk to you about Abu Musab, your brother-in-law? Is that possible? You know nothing? You don't want to say?
(voice-over) He's not unfriendly, just unwilling to talk.
In 1989 the U.S.-backed Mujahideen were on the verge of driving the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. Thousands of Arabs, including Osama bin Laden, were in the fight. Zarqawi decided to join them.
In these rare pictures, taken soon after he arrived, Zarqawi is seen relaxing, mixing happily with other jihaddists, or Muslim holy warriors. He'd arrived as the jihad was ending.
Some reports say Zarqawi never fought the Soviets. Others that he was very brave in battle. All accounts agree, though, he befriended this man, Abu Mohammed al-Muqdisi (ph), a Kuwaiti-born cleric, intent on the violent overthrow of secular Arab governments.
Much of what he did in Afghanistan is unknown. There are conflicting accounts of whether or not he met Osama bin Laden.
General Ali Shukri was a military and intelligence adviser to Jordan's King Hussein and knows Zarqawi's case file.
GENERAL ALI SHUKRI, FORMER JORDANIAN MILITARY ADVISOR: He decided to join the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He was trained. He became a bomb expert.
ROBERTSON: Zarqawi left Afghanistan in 1992. He came back to Jordan with new friends, ideas, and an agenda.
Nic Robertson, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And tomorrow part two of Nic Robertson's report, how Abu Musab al-Zarqawi got from Jordan to waging jihad in Iraq. That's coming up tomorrow, this time.
When we come back, dying to win. What motivates suicide bombers to kill and be killed? I'll speak live with the author of a new book that goes inside the minds of these suicide terrorists.
Also, total recall. From painkillers to blood pressure medicine, one drug maker pulls its entire product line. Our Mary Snow will have details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back.
Suicide bombers. In the past 25 years hundreds have blown themselves up in order to kill others. From Sri Lanka to Lebanon, from Israel to Iraq, it's become the terror weapon of choice. On 9/11, al Qaeda showed that it's a weapon that can reach almost anywhere and any scale.
Who are these people? Where do they come from? Can it be stopped? Robert Pape is from the University of Chicago. He's written an important new book on suicide terrorists. It's entitled "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." And Robert Pape joins us now.
Professor, thanks very much for writing this book, and thanks very much for joining us. An important subject indeed.
The common sense out there is that the suicide bombers are simply poor, they're naive, and they're manipulated by others to go kill themselves. You debunk that.
ROBERT PAPE, AUTHOR, "DYING TO WIN": Well, I do. But you should know that that was my common sense understand understanding, too, before I began the research.
But several years ago I started to collect what has now become the first complete database of every suicide attack around the world from 1980 to early 2004, over 315 events involving 462 suicide terrorists who actually killed themselves. And this actually changed my mind about suicide terrorism.
BLITZER: And so you also found that a lot of these suicide bombers turned out to be relatively educated and from relatively affluent backgrounds.
PAPE: Most suicide terrorists are not depressed, lonely individuals on the margins of society seeking to escape from a miserable existence. In fact, many are from working class or middle class backgrounds. They're quite socially integrated. They're technicians, waitresses, ambulance drivers, policemen. Few are actually criminals. For most, their first experience with terrorism is their very own suicide terrorist attack.
BLITZER: The other notion out there is that these are religious fundamentalist fanatics who believe that if they go ahead and kill and become martyrs they'll be in heaven with Allah and with virgins all around, and that is what motivates them.
PAPE: Well, the facts show a completely different picture. The world leader in suicide terrorism is the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. This is a Marxist-Leninist group that's completely secular, that draws its recruits from the Hindu families in the Tamil regions of Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Tigers have done more suicide terrorist attacks than Hamas. The Tamil Tigers are the group that invented the famous suicide belt when they used a suicide attack to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.
The Palestinians got the idea of a suicide belt from the Tamil Tigers, not the other way around.
BLITZER: Let me read to you from your book, "Dying to Win." You write this: "Since the root cause of suicide terrorism does not lie in an ideology, even among Muslims, spreading democracy across the Middle East is not likely to be a panacea, so long as foreign combat troops remain on the Arabian Peninsula."
Explain what you mean by that.
PAPE: The central fact about suicide terrorism is that it's not driven by a religion but by a clear strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. That's what's common across 95 percent of all suicide terrorist attacks since 1980.
Iraq is true to form. Before March 2003, when we invaded Iraq, there had never been a suicide terrorist event in Iraq in its history. Never. And since our invasion, in 2003, there were 20 suicide attacks, 2004 over 40. And the first five months of this year over 50.
That is, since our invasion, it has -- suicide terrorism has doubled every year that we have stationed tens of thousands and now 150,000 troops in Iraq. And we're on pace to set a new record of 100 suicide terrorist attacks by the end of this year.
BLITZER: So Professor Pape, how do you deal with this mentality, with this terror tactic?
PAPE: It's terribly important that we, over the next year shift responsibility for the security of Iraq to the Iraqi government and that we begin to return to our traditional policy for securing oil in the Persian Gulf: offshore balancing.
In the 1970s and 1980s the United States secured its interest in oil in the Persian Gulf without stationing a single combat soldier in the Persian Gulf. Instead, we formed an alliance with Iraq and Saudi Arabia, something we can do today. And we built the infrastructure, the basing infrastructure, to be able to rapidly move hundreds of thousands of American troops to the region, if necessary.
Offshore balancing worked splendidly against Saddam Hussein in 1990, and it is again our best strategy for securing our interest in oil while preventing the rise of more suicide terrorists coming at us.
BLITZER: But what about a country like Israel? How can -- what are they supposed to do as far as withdrawing, let's say, from the pre-1967 lines of Israel? If Israel withdrew completely from Gaza and the West Bank, suicide bombers presumably would want to continue that effort to get Israel to withdraw from all of Israel.
PAPE: Well, actually, on Israel, in my first article that I published on this several years ago, I called for Israel to build a fence so that it would have defenses against suicide terrorism and then to unilateral unilaterally withdraw from whatever territory it was going to concede on the West Bank. Since then, Israel has done both, and suicide terrorism has dramatically receded.
In fact, the fence has become incredibly valuable as a measure of protection against suicide terrorism, which is why Israel is, even as we speak, working hard to finish it.
BLITZER: It's a fascinating book, "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." Robert Pape is the author. And I'm grateful to him for spending a few minutes with us. More grateful to him for writing this book. Thanks very much, Professor.
PAPE: Well, thank you very much for having me, Wolf.
BLITZER: We'll take a quick break. When we come back, production halted. Why a drug company is recalling, get this, all of its products, including many generic painkillers that you may currently be using.
Ring of fire. A volcano in Mexico has its largest eruption in a decade. The pictures. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: If you use generic drugs, you may want to check your medicine cabinet. A company that makes some 40 types of generic drugs has halted production lines, and it's recalling all of its products.
CNN's Mary Snow is standing by in New York, and she has details -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the company is Able Laboratories. It's based in New Jersey and makes generic drugs to treat everything from pain to attention deficit disorder.
It took the unusual but voluntary step of recalling all of its products. It cites problems with its lab testing practices.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Able Laboratories may not be a household name, but you'll find its generic drugs in households all over the country. A generic version of Tylenol with codeine, a generic version of Vicodin, and a generic version of Ritalin are among the more than 40 drugs it lists as its products.
But in a matter of days the company has spiraled into turmoil, beginning Thursday with the resignation of the CEO.
SHARON DISTEFANO, SKY CAPITAL: To withdraw all of your products, shut down your manufacturing, have your CEO take flight that day, those are unusual occurrences.
SNOW: Sharon Distefano is an independent health care analyst who followed the company for two years, saying it was once considered a hot company, reaching $100 million in sales last year.
Distefano says she was startled by the company's actions since last week. Thursday the CEO resigned. Monday the company announced it was suspending its manufacturing operations, citing improper laboratory practices, and it initiated a recall of all its products.
Numerous calls by CNN to Able Laboratories were not returned.
The Food and Drug Administration said it can't discuss what, if any, actions it may be taking with Able Laboratories, but last year the FDA sent a warning letter to Able, citing 27 reports of adverse effects of its drugs, and said Able did not report them.
Its recall comes at a time when the drug industry has come under scrutiny because of high-profile recalls.
KENNETH REID, EDITOR, "INSPECTION MONITOR": This is totally different from the Vioxx and Celebrex case. This deals with how this company was manufacturing the finished product.
SNOW: One of Able's biggest products, for example, is the generic form of Vicodin. But it is only one of 11 companies making it, estimated to have less than 10 percent of the market share.
REID: At one time it was very difficult to tell which generic you were getting. But these days because of labeling that's handed out at pharmacies you can see the name of the company at the bottom.
SNOW: At the moment, the company that last year produced more than 1.3 billion doses of medicine is, in effect, on hold, conducting an internal investigation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And the company is saying today that it does not -- in a statement yesterday, that is, it does not know what action will be taken in the future, what action the FDA might take. We did try to reach the company today for an update, but we were unable to reach a spokesperson -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Mary snow with that information, important information for our viewers. Thanks, Mary, very much.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Lou is standing but in New York with a preview -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": ... on the carnage in Iraq. The war in Iraq has claimed four more American lives over the past 24 hours. Nearly 60 troops have been killed over the past month. Tonight our special report on what is a rising insurgency in Iraq.
In this country a public safety crisis that's putting our children at risk. Our special report tonight on how the government and law enforcement agencies have lost track of tens of thousands of registered sex offenders. And a department charged with fighting the war on terrorism doesn't even know whether terrorists are working for it. Thousands of Pentagon employees have false Social Security numbers, and worse, the inspector general says the Coast Guard and the U.S. Air Force aren't even checking.
All of that and more in just a few minutes. Please join us.
Now back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. Sounds like an excellent show.
We'll take another quick break. When we come back, far out discovery. How an amateur astronomer played a vital role in unveiling a distant new planet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A Mexican volcano in our picture of the day. Mexico's Fire Volcano spewed lava and glowing rocks in its biggest eruption in years. Check this out. A two-mile-high column of smoke rose from the crater in a sparsely populated area, 430 miles northwest of Mexico City.
Also, there's a new planet. An amateur astronomer in New Zealand is being credited with helping to discover a new planet, 25,000 light years from Earth in a different solar system. Jenny McCormick was part of an international collaboration that identified the planet, believed to be the most distant ever detected.
That's it for me. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starting in New York right now. Lou standing by -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, Wolf.
END
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Aired May 24, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're standing by the president of the United States is meeting inside the Oval Office now with Priscilla Owen, his judicial nominee. Priscilla Owen, the nominee for the for the circuit -- for the U.S. Court of appeals. Her way has been cleared by the United States Senate for a final vote. Today there was an effort to continue to filibuster. That was defeated 81-18. You need 60 votes in order to defeat a filibuster. In the aftermath of last night's dramatic, dramatic development -- a compromise involving seven Democrats, seven Republicans, 14 U.S. senators in all -- the way has been cleared for her final confirmation presumably as early as tomorrow. The president has invited her into the Oval Office together with other Republican leaders in the Senate. There they are. Only moments ago they spoke. Let's listen to what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome Judge Priscilla Owen to the Oval Office along with Leader Frist and my two buddies from the great state of Texas, Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn. Over fours ago I put Judge Owens's (SIC) name up to the Senate for confirmation, Fifth Court of Appeals. Thanks to the good work of the leader, whose work cleared the way -- Judge Owens is finally going to get an up or down vote on the Senate floor. She is my friend, and more importantly, she's a great judge.
I want to thank the Texas senators for being so strong in standing beside Priscilla. There was never any doubt in the senators' minds that Priscilla Owens is well-qualified to honorably serve on the federal bench. And it's such a -- it's a great day for our friend, to see our friend finally get a just due, after a long, long wait. So welcome, and congratulations. Perhaps you'd like to say something.
JUDGE PRISCILLA OWEN, US APPEALS CT. NOMINEE: Mr. President, first of all, thank you for nominating me. I was very humbled by that, and I will remember what -- that you expect judges to follow the law. And I want to thank both of my senators, Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn. Your support was tremendous throughout all of this. I really appreciate it, and I thank you so much for all the time and effort you've put in, responding tirelessly for months and months. And Senator Frist, thank you for your leadership. I appreciate that, and I appreciate the fact that I'm finally going to get a vote. Thanks to your efforts. Thank you.
BUSH: Well, thank you all for coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all very much.
BUSH: Anybody get hurt over here?
BLITZER: No questions, no answers from the president at the White House with Priscilla Owen, his nominee to be U.S. court of appeals judge. That nomination could be confirmed as early as tonight or perhaps tomorrow. You saw the Senate Republican leader, the majority leader, Bill Frist, other Republican leaders, including Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both senators from Texas, there with the president and Priscilla Owen. This in the aftermath of last night's dramatic compromise, setting the stage for what's happening right now. We'll have much more on this and other stories coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): Stem cell showdown, a vote and a veto threat.
BUSH: This bill would take us across a critical ethical line. Crossing this line would be a great mistake.
BLITZER: But is the president in step with the public on this issue?
Is Iraq's most-wanted wounded? Militant websites call on Muslims to pray for al Qaeda's ally, but insurgents take a growing toll among Iraqis and U.S. troops.
Recall: a drug maker pulls its entire product line, from painkillers to blood pressure medicine to antibiotics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Tuesday, May 24th, 2005.
BLITZER: Thanks for joining us. One Capitol Hill showdown may have gone away, but a new one has erupted. This one is taking shape between the White House and the Congress over the very controversial issue of embryonic stem cell research. This hour, the U.S. House of Representatives may approve federal funding, and that has President Bush threatening to use what would be his first veto since taking office.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is joining us now. She has more on this latest development. Kathleen?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the House is about to vote on this very controversial measure, and it's looking at two separate bills. One of them would fund research on umbilical cord blood stem cells, and the other to fund embryonic stem cell research. Needless to say, it has been a very passionate and a very personal debate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Supporters set the stage with emotional pleas from parents like Beth Westbrook, who believes stem cell research might have prevented her daughter Katie's death at age 15 from cancer.
BETH WESTBROOK, PARENT: No parent should ever have to look at their child and tell them there are no more options. There's no more hope.
KOCH: And hope was what authors claimed the two bills offered -- one boosting federal spending on umbilical cord stem cell research; the more controversial measure allowing federal funding of stem cell research on excess embryos at fertility clinics.
REP. CHRIS SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: These are discarded embryos that were never in the womb. They weren't taken from it and they weren't put into it, but they can help save lives.
REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D), COLORADO: Every single American who suffers from a terrible disease should have the right to a cure.
KOCH: But many who supported umbilical cord research drew the line at embryonic stem cell research.
REP. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: It's morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans, who believe as I do that human life is sacred, and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research.
KOCH: President Bush is promising to veto the embryonic research bill in an East Room speech, surrounding himself with babies born from embryos that might have been destroyed but were instead adopted by others wanting children.
BUSH: The children here today remind us that there is no such thing as a spare embryo. Every embryo is unique and genetically complete, like every other human being, and each of us started out our life this way. These lives are not raw material to be exploited but gifts.
KOCH: Still, even some ardent pro-life Republicans tearfully split from the president, voting for research that many believe holds the cure for diseases from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to juvenile diabetes.
REP. DUKE CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA: I am for life, and I'm for the quality of life, but I don't want another 6-year-old to die.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: That was Congressman Cunningham talking about a 6-year-old who told him at a recent hearing, Congressman, you're the only person who can save my life. Now, Wolf, that vote takes place in about 10 minutes, and what the magic number is that they have to hit, if they want to override a presidential veto, 290. It's unclear whether they will.
BLITZER: They need 218 to pass it.
KOCH: Correct.
BLITZER: Then, the president, assuming it passes the Senate, he could veto it. Then they would need 290 in the House to override it. We'll watch this story, bringing the latest to our viewers. Kathleen Koch, thanks very much.
The looming stem cell battle comes just hours after a compromise on the president's judicial nominees. A group of moderate senators hammered out a deal averting the so-called nuclear option, which would have eliminated filibusters of judges and could have effectively shut down the U.S. Senate.
Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, is joining us now live from Capitol Hill with more. Ed?
ED HENRY, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this stunning Senate deal has shifted power to the center and away from the far left and the far right. But moderate senators are now wondering, is this a seismic shift or just a flash in the pan?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): The so-called Gang of 14 was beaming, not just about the deal on judges but the promise it holds for the future.
SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NEBRASKA: I think the good faith and the mutual trust that we've achieved here will carry over into this Senate on other business as well.
HENRY: In recent years, the Senate has become more like the House, increasingly partisan and less centrist. But this band of moderates now believes it may hold the key to unlock President Bush's second term agenda, by forging bipartisan deals on social issues like abortion and stem cell research, and pocketbook issues like energy and Social Security reform.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Bottom line, we can repair it in a way that will allow the country to have a Senate that functions for the common good.
HENRY: Robert Byrd and John Warner, the veteran senators crucial to crafting the filibuster deal, are cautiously optimistic.
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: The work of the Senate has got to go on. We've got serious problems facing our population today.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: And don't you hope, John, that this spirit of give and take, this spirit of cooperation, will prevail in the coming days? There will still be disputes. There will still be differences. But we've got to put political party aside. There's been too much of this Republican versus Democrat. I hope we can get away from that and think of the people and of the country and of the Constitution.
HENRY: But can that be real...
BYRD: And the institution of the Senate.
HENRY: Can that be realized or is this just a flash of the pan?
BYRD: It can be.
HENRY: On something like Social Security, can a gang of 14 get together and pull this together?
BYRD: But I don't know. I hope that both sides will get together. I hope Democrats and Republicans will work together to save this.
HENRY: But the unity will be tested, especially if there's a divisive fight over a Supreme Court nominee. One senator noted the deal on judges was just a truce, not a treaty.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: For more on the compromise worked out last night, we're joined by two influential members of the Senate -- Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi. He's in our studio. And up on Capitol Hill, Senator Mark Pryor, Democrat of Arkansas.
Senators, thanks very much for joining us. Senator Lott, what does this say about the future of the Senate in this session this year and next year, in terms of the moderate center now really controlling the process as far as judicial nominees is concerned?
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: I don't think you should make too much of that, Wolf. It came together in this instance because there really was a need for it. We were going to go forward with a vote to put this rule in place that it only took 51 votes to confirm these judges or we were going to come up with a process that would stop the serial filibusters.
I think a lot of credit goes to Senator McCain, Senator Pryor, Senator Nelson, others that were involved in coming up with at least a process to back away from what has been occurring over the last three or four years.
BLITZER: So does this bode, Senator Lott, for a new, more cooperative Senate?
LOTT: I hope so, Wolf. This -- these filibusters have become a real problem. And it has clouded everything really for four years, certainly over the last few months as we have moved steadily toward actually having this vote to put the rule in place. This gives us the opportunity now to calm the rhetoric down, to move these men, women, and minorities that have been obstructed through the process with an up or down vote, and hopefully then get on to some other issues like energy legislation, immigration reform. We...
BLITZER: And that was one of the arguments that a lot of these so-called moderate senators said, get this behind the Senate so you could move on to other critical issues.
Let me bring Senator Pryor in, get his thoughts. What does it say to you about where the U.S. Senate is right now, what we can expect this year and next year during the course of this memorandum of understanding as it's been called, how it will affect judicial nominees?
SEN. MARK PRYOR (D), ARKANSAS: Well, I think that this is a very positive step. I think that it does show that people of goodwill, senators of goodwill can come together and work through the most difficult, most tense issues. And I don't think there's anything -- been anything more difficult than judicial nominations in the last few years. So I'm encouraged. I agree with what Senator Lott said. We can't read too much into this, but I think it is a positive sign for the future.
BLITZER: Will -- Senator Pryor, will it spill over, for example, into issues like Social Security reform or tax simplification, other issues that could come up in the Senate. Stem cell research a big subject today?
PRYOR: I think it's very possible that it could. I think we need to understand that it may not be these same 14 that come together. We actually had other people that were involved in this process that for one reason or another couldn't sign on the dotted line, so to speak. But there are a lot of senators here -- here in the Senate that want to see legislation get done. We have some very big challenges facing this country. Everything, as you mentioned, from stem cell to energy policy to immigration. I mean, you can go down a long list of Social Security and many other things. So we have a lot of work to do if we're willing to do it. And I hope this is a positive sign that we are willing to put our shoulder to the plow and get it done.
BLITZER: Some conservatives, religious conservatives especially, are very disappointed. James Dobson, as you know, Senator Lott, chairman of the Christian Conservative Group, Focused on the Family, issued a statement saying we share the disappointment, outrage, and sense of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who helped put Republicans in power last November. He then goes on and says, "I am certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Those are strong words.
LOTT: They are strong words. And I think they're inappropriate words. It's an example of the overheated rhetoric on both sides. From the left and the right. And by the way, over 33 years in Congress I don't have a reputation of being a flaming moderate or anything of that nature. I'm pretty conservative. And when you look at this group, this was not just a moderate group. I mean, Lindsey Graham wouldn't generally consider himself a moderate... BLITZER: He's a maverick, Lindsey Graham.
LOTT: Well -- well, and then there's...
BLITZER: John Warner, on the other hand, is a conservative.
LOTT: Well, and then there were some Democrats that probably would be more liberal. So this was a group that came together and worked together and they produced what I think too is a positive result. It may not be perfect. It may be temporary. But it was good enough for now. And what these groups on both sides tend to do is they lose sight of the forest for all the trees that they're upset about.
BLITZER: There's a bigger picture out there.
LOTT: There's a process here that -- where we need -- we need to get away from these regular filibusters, and get a little more positive atmosphere going and move some other substantive issues.
BLITZER: Senator Pryor, you're from Arkansas. Where do you stand on the president's threat to veto this additional funding for embryonic stem cell research?
PRYOR: Well, we'll just have to wait to see what the House does. And if it works its way through the Senate what happens there. And certainly, I think that embryonic stem cell research does show some promise, some medical and scientific promise. There's a lot of potential there. But also I think it's important for people in my state that we put the proper ethical framework and parameters around it. So we'll see how it comes out.
BLITZER: Are you inclined to vote for the additional funding, Senator Pryor or against it?
PRYOR: You know, I just can't say yet without knowing exactly what it would look like. But I can assure you that I work very closely with my colleagues. And as it makes its way through the Senate, I work very hard on that issue, and we'll just see where it is.
BLITZER: Senator Lott, what about you?
LOTT: I think Senator Pryor took the right position. Let's see what it is. We want to do everything we can responsibly to find ways to save lives, and to improve the quality of health of all Americans. But we want to be very careful about ethical violations, legal problems that come out of all this, and also what's basically right or wrong. We don't want to get into a position where we wind up harvesting life or taking life to save life. There's got to be responsible balance. There's great potential in human embryonic stem cell research. So let's see what all we can do there.
BLITZER: When you say human, you mean adult stem cell research...
LOTT: Right.
BLITZER: ... or umbilical cord stem cell research beyond the embryonic stem cell research. It gets confusing.
LOTT: It does.
BLITZER: But those are important distinctions certainly on this issue.
LOTT: They are.
BLITZER: Senator Lott, as usual, thanks very much. Senator Pryor, thanks to you as well for spending a few moments with us on this day. We'll see what happens in the Senate in the days and weeks and months to come.
We'll take a quick break.
When we come back, injured insurgency? Web sites claiming the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been wounded. Are the reports fact or fiction? And what does it mean for Iraq?
Total recall -- why one drug company is pulling all of its products, including generic versions of many popular painkillers.
And comedian on the stand. The "Tonight Show" host, Jay Leno on the stand in the Michael Jackson trial. We'll tell you what happened there today. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The accusations are clear and brutal. He's tortured and tainted and taunted and boasted, an inspiration to the insurgents. He's become public enemy number one for American forces and their Iraqi allies. Now there's word that the al Qaeda ally in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may have been wounded.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote has the story from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A surprising message purportedly from al Qaeda in Iraq. This time concerning one of their own, Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The message says he has been wounded and calls on Muslims to, quote, "Pray for the healing of our Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered in the path of God. The injury of our leader is an honor, and a cause to close in on the enemies of God, and a reason to increase the attacks against them."
The Jordanian-born extremist is believed to be responsible for the highest-profile terrorist acts in Iraq in the last two years, including this suicide bomber attack that killed 127 and the beheading of American hostage Nick Berg. In an audio message purportedly from bin Laden five months ago, he called Zarqawi al Qaeda's prince in Iraq. Even if Zarqawi is wounded, it has had no effect on the violence that never seems to quit. Insurgents killed a total of nine U.S. troops on Monday and Tuesday, three of them here, when a car bomb went off beside their convoy. They also hit Iraqi security forces, but ordinary Iraqis were, as usual, the worst hit. More than 50 Iraqis were slaughtered, hundreds more maimed, in attacks on restaurants parties, and mosques in the first 24 hours of this week.
Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis are increasingly blaming one another for the violence prompting a prominent Shiite and Sunni leader to meet Tuesday in an effort to quell the tension. The U.S. government is also concerned that Sunni Arabs, who have largely been left out of the new government, are supporting the insurgency. It says Zarqawi represents just one strand of the insurgency.
The bottom line -- Iraq has become a battlefield for multiple groups with multiple interests.
There have been rumors about Zarqawi's condition before. CNN can't independently confirm the new reports and the U.S. and Iraqi militaries have always said they just don't know. They do say that while Zarqawi's loss would be a blow to the insurgency, they don't think it will stop there.
Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: U.S. authorities would like to believe the reports about Abu Musab al Zarqawi, but are they true? Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, as much as U.S. officials might want to believe it, right now they insist the answer is they just don't know.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over); Pentagon military and intelligence officials tell CNN there is no intelligence to corroborate website claims that terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi has been wounded. The postings on several insurgent websites purportedly come from a Zarqawi associate, who contends Zarqawi has suffered a heroic wound and asks for prayers for our leader. T
The U.S. military admits it just doesn't know, but a spokesman puts the latest assertion in the same category as previous unconfirmed rumors Zarqawi was ill or injured, though last month one tip was deemed credible enough to launch a raid on a hospital in Ramadi after an informer claimed the terrorist had gone there seeking medical treatment. An exhaustive search revealed no sign of Zarqawi or any other terrorist was ever there.
LT. GEN. JAMES CONWAY, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I can simply say there's been no evidence to indicate that he was there, either through interrogation of the people that we spoke to afterwards or any physical evidence of his presence. MCINTYRE: And there has been conjecture that Zarqawi may have been injured jumping from a moving vehicle on February 20th, when the U.S. military stopped his car and captured his laptop computer, but that too remains unconfirmed speculation. If Zarqawi was hurt, it didn't stop him from taping an audio message to his followers a month ago.
ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Dear brothers, be patient. It is only a matter of a few days, and you will be the ultimate winners, either by way of martyrdom or victory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: The bottom line is the U.S. military doesn't put much credence in websites run by the insurgents. One U.S. military official quipped, if the reports are true then they should tell us where he is, and we'll make sure Zarqawi gets all the medical attention he needs. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thanks very much.
From obscurity to the world's most wanted list, we'll take a closer look at Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his rise to power in the terrorist world.
Also, suicide bombers. Why are al Qaeda fighters increasingly dying to win?
And later -- a stand-up comedian takes the stand in the Michael Jackson trial. What the defense thought "The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno could add to their case.
Steroids testing -- there are new calls to require major American sports leagues to test their players. We'll have details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Let's get to our justice report. Lionel Tate is in trouble again. Four years ago, you'll remember, when he was only 14 years old, he was convicted of murdering a playmate. That conviction was overturned but Tate later was sentenced to a year of house arrest under a plea deal. Now 18 years old, Tate remains on parole, and now he's been charged with robbing a pizza delivery man at gunpoint in Pembroke Park, Florida.
Private First Class Lynndie England has waived the right to a preliminary hearing. England is accused of abusing inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. She entered a guilty plea earlier this month, but the judge threw it out after a hearing contradictory testimony in the sentencing phase of that trial. The move allows the Army to go ahead with a new court-martial.
"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is center stage today at Michael Jackson's child molestation trial. CNN's Ted Rowlands has details of testimony by the latest defense celebrity witness.
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TED ROWLANDS, CORRESPONDENT: Comedian Jay Leno spent less than half an hour on the stand. He is expected to be one of the last defense witnesses. He was supposed to, according to the defense, come up and say that he was the victim of a shakedown from this accuser and the accuser's family. However, on cross-examination, he said he was never asked directly for any money. He did say that he received a number of phone messages from the accuser and he thought that it was odd, the tone of those messages, and he said that they were, quote, scripted. But he said they never actually asked for money.
It is expected that comedian Chris Tucker will be the defense's final witness and Tucker is here in Santa Maria. We are told that he could take the stand today and that the defense could rest its case as early as today.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.
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BLITZER: And we're hearing -- this just in -- that the comedian Chris Tucker is in fact now currently on the stand in the Jackson trial. We'll watch that, get back there as soon as it's warranted.
The rise of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, how a small town boy from Jordan grew up to be the most wanted terrorist in Iraq.
Plus -- dying to win. What drives those suicide bombers? And can they be stopped?
Drug recall. One generic drugmaker withdraws all, yes, all, of its products. Stay with us.
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WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Welcome back.
Suicide mission. Al Qaeda fighters increasingly dying for their cause. What can be done to combat this type of terrorism? We'll get to that. First, a quick check of some other stories now in the news.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to crack down on steroid use in pro sports. They're introducing legislation that would require leagues to test their players for steroids, amphetamines, and other illegal drugs. The bill is one -- one of two steroid-related measures currently under consideration by Congress.
The Senate has cleared the way for an up or down vote on Judge Priscilla Owen, President Bush's nominee to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote, which could come later today, was part of a deal worked out last night by 14 senators to avoid the so-called nuclear option. Has the most wanted man in Iraq been wounded? The U.S. military isn't sure. But word on the street and on some militant web sites is that al Qaeda's ally is, in fact, ailing. If this terror chief has indeed been put out of action, it would be a serious blow to Iraq's insurgents but almost certainly not the end of the insurgency.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson looks at the rise of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. We must caution you first, though, some of the initial images you're about to see may be disturbing.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq, May 2004.
NICK BERG, KILLED BY INSURGENTS: My brother and sister David and Pam...
ROBERTSON: American Nick Berg is about to be beheaded. His execution recorded and released on a web site titled Abu Musab al- Zarqawi Slaughters an American. Its barbarity rockets Zarqawi from relative obscurity to front page familiarity.
But already he is the deadliest insurgent in Iraq. Born Ahmed Fadail al-Khalaila (ph), he later took his nom de guerre, Zarqawi, from the name of his home town, Zarqa. It looks pretty from a distance, but up close it's different, crammed by successive waves of Palestinian refugees, one of the poorest towns in the country.
(on camera) With its densely packed housing and intense tribal loyalties, Zarqa's been compared to the Bronx, but others liken its down at the heels working class neighborhoods to Detroit. For Zarqawi, though, it was a place of limited opportunity.
(voice-over) Outside the house where he was born in October 1966, neighbors say they remember the family well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They were simple people. They lived a simple life. They barely made it.
ROBERTSON: His father fought against the Israelis in 1948 and was well respected before he died. In this picture at the time, the young Zarqawi looks unremarkable but seems determined to earn respect like his father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If someone would even harm his neighbors, Zarqawi would always come to defend the victim. He always did good deeds, nothing wrong.
ROBERTSON: His days were spent here, in Zarqa's school. But by all accounts he didn't excel academically.
(on camera) Zarqawi left school before his final exams, disappointing his parents. He didn't seem to have a career in mind, and his father tried to fix him up with a job at the local municipality. (voice-over) That was 1982. Zarqawi was about 16, developing a reputation as a tough guy who, against Muslim custom, drank and got a tattoo.
Outside his old mosque I tracked down his brother-in-law, hoping he can tell me more.
(on camera) Excuse me, sir. Can we talk to you about Abu Musab, your brother-in-law? Is that possible? You know nothing? You don't want to say?
(voice-over) He's not unfriendly, just unwilling to talk.
In 1989 the U.S.-backed Mujahideen were on the verge of driving the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. Thousands of Arabs, including Osama bin Laden, were in the fight. Zarqawi decided to join them.
In these rare pictures, taken soon after he arrived, Zarqawi is seen relaxing, mixing happily with other jihaddists, or Muslim holy warriors. He'd arrived as the jihad was ending.
Some reports say Zarqawi never fought the Soviets. Others that he was very brave in battle. All accounts agree, though, he befriended this man, Abu Mohammed al-Muqdisi (ph), a Kuwaiti-born cleric, intent on the violent overthrow of secular Arab governments.
Much of what he did in Afghanistan is unknown. There are conflicting accounts of whether or not he met Osama bin Laden.
General Ali Shukri was a military and intelligence adviser to Jordan's King Hussein and knows Zarqawi's case file.
GENERAL ALI SHUKRI, FORMER JORDANIAN MILITARY ADVISOR: He decided to join the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He was trained. He became a bomb expert.
ROBERTSON: Zarqawi left Afghanistan in 1992. He came back to Jordan with new friends, ideas, and an agenda.
Nic Robertson, CNN.
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BLITZER: And tomorrow part two of Nic Robertson's report, how Abu Musab al-Zarqawi got from Jordan to waging jihad in Iraq. That's coming up tomorrow, this time.
When we come back, dying to win. What motivates suicide bombers to kill and be killed? I'll speak live with the author of a new book that goes inside the minds of these suicide terrorists.
Also, total recall. From painkillers to blood pressure medicine, one drug maker pulls its entire product line. Our Mary Snow will have details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back.
Suicide bombers. In the past 25 years hundreds have blown themselves up in order to kill others. From Sri Lanka to Lebanon, from Israel to Iraq, it's become the terror weapon of choice. On 9/11, al Qaeda showed that it's a weapon that can reach almost anywhere and any scale.
Who are these people? Where do they come from? Can it be stopped? Robert Pape is from the University of Chicago. He's written an important new book on suicide terrorists. It's entitled "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." And Robert Pape joins us now.
Professor, thanks very much for writing this book, and thanks very much for joining us. An important subject indeed.
The common sense out there is that the suicide bombers are simply poor, they're naive, and they're manipulated by others to go kill themselves. You debunk that.
ROBERT PAPE, AUTHOR, "DYING TO WIN": Well, I do. But you should know that that was my common sense understand understanding, too, before I began the research.
But several years ago I started to collect what has now become the first complete database of every suicide attack around the world from 1980 to early 2004, over 315 events involving 462 suicide terrorists who actually killed themselves. And this actually changed my mind about suicide terrorism.
BLITZER: And so you also found that a lot of these suicide bombers turned out to be relatively educated and from relatively affluent backgrounds.
PAPE: Most suicide terrorists are not depressed, lonely individuals on the margins of society seeking to escape from a miserable existence. In fact, many are from working class or middle class backgrounds. They're quite socially integrated. They're technicians, waitresses, ambulance drivers, policemen. Few are actually criminals. For most, their first experience with terrorism is their very own suicide terrorist attack.
BLITZER: The other notion out there is that these are religious fundamentalist fanatics who believe that if they go ahead and kill and become martyrs they'll be in heaven with Allah and with virgins all around, and that is what motivates them.
PAPE: Well, the facts show a completely different picture. The world leader in suicide terrorism is the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. This is a Marxist-Leninist group that's completely secular, that draws its recruits from the Hindu families in the Tamil regions of Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Tigers have done more suicide terrorist attacks than Hamas. The Tamil Tigers are the group that invented the famous suicide belt when they used a suicide attack to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.
The Palestinians got the idea of a suicide belt from the Tamil Tigers, not the other way around.
BLITZER: Let me read to you from your book, "Dying to Win." You write this: "Since the root cause of suicide terrorism does not lie in an ideology, even among Muslims, spreading democracy across the Middle East is not likely to be a panacea, so long as foreign combat troops remain on the Arabian Peninsula."
Explain what you mean by that.
PAPE: The central fact about suicide terrorism is that it's not driven by a religion but by a clear strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. That's what's common across 95 percent of all suicide terrorist attacks since 1980.
Iraq is true to form. Before March 2003, when we invaded Iraq, there had never been a suicide terrorist event in Iraq in its history. Never. And since our invasion, in 2003, there were 20 suicide attacks, 2004 over 40. And the first five months of this year over 50.
That is, since our invasion, it has -- suicide terrorism has doubled every year that we have stationed tens of thousands and now 150,000 troops in Iraq. And we're on pace to set a new record of 100 suicide terrorist attacks by the end of this year.
BLITZER: So Professor Pape, how do you deal with this mentality, with this terror tactic?
PAPE: It's terribly important that we, over the next year shift responsibility for the security of Iraq to the Iraqi government and that we begin to return to our traditional policy for securing oil in the Persian Gulf: offshore balancing.
In the 1970s and 1980s the United States secured its interest in oil in the Persian Gulf without stationing a single combat soldier in the Persian Gulf. Instead, we formed an alliance with Iraq and Saudi Arabia, something we can do today. And we built the infrastructure, the basing infrastructure, to be able to rapidly move hundreds of thousands of American troops to the region, if necessary.
Offshore balancing worked splendidly against Saddam Hussein in 1990, and it is again our best strategy for securing our interest in oil while preventing the rise of more suicide terrorists coming at us.
BLITZER: But what about a country like Israel? How can -- what are they supposed to do as far as withdrawing, let's say, from the pre-1967 lines of Israel? If Israel withdrew completely from Gaza and the West Bank, suicide bombers presumably would want to continue that effort to get Israel to withdraw from all of Israel.
PAPE: Well, actually, on Israel, in my first article that I published on this several years ago, I called for Israel to build a fence so that it would have defenses against suicide terrorism and then to unilateral unilaterally withdraw from whatever territory it was going to concede on the West Bank. Since then, Israel has done both, and suicide terrorism has dramatically receded.
In fact, the fence has become incredibly valuable as a measure of protection against suicide terrorism, which is why Israel is, even as we speak, working hard to finish it.
BLITZER: It's a fascinating book, "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." Robert Pape is the author. And I'm grateful to him for spending a few minutes with us. More grateful to him for writing this book. Thanks very much, Professor.
PAPE: Well, thank you very much for having me, Wolf.
BLITZER: We'll take a quick break. When we come back, production halted. Why a drug company is recalling, get this, all of its products, including many generic painkillers that you may currently be using.
Ring of fire. A volcano in Mexico has its largest eruption in a decade. The pictures. That's coming up.
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BLITZER: If you use generic drugs, you may want to check your medicine cabinet. A company that makes some 40 types of generic drugs has halted production lines, and it's recalling all of its products.
CNN's Mary Snow is standing by in New York, and she has details -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the company is Able Laboratories. It's based in New Jersey and makes generic drugs to treat everything from pain to attention deficit disorder.
It took the unusual but voluntary step of recalling all of its products. It cites problems with its lab testing practices.
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SNOW (voice-over): Able Laboratories may not be a household name, but you'll find its generic drugs in households all over the country. A generic version of Tylenol with codeine, a generic version of Vicodin, and a generic version of Ritalin are among the more than 40 drugs it lists as its products.
But in a matter of days the company has spiraled into turmoil, beginning Thursday with the resignation of the CEO.
SHARON DISTEFANO, SKY CAPITAL: To withdraw all of your products, shut down your manufacturing, have your CEO take flight that day, those are unusual occurrences.
SNOW: Sharon Distefano is an independent health care analyst who followed the company for two years, saying it was once considered a hot company, reaching $100 million in sales last year.
Distefano says she was startled by the company's actions since last week. Thursday the CEO resigned. Monday the company announced it was suspending its manufacturing operations, citing improper laboratory practices, and it initiated a recall of all its products.
Numerous calls by CNN to Able Laboratories were not returned.
The Food and Drug Administration said it can't discuss what, if any, actions it may be taking with Able Laboratories, but last year the FDA sent a warning letter to Able, citing 27 reports of adverse effects of its drugs, and said Able did not report them.
Its recall comes at a time when the drug industry has come under scrutiny because of high-profile recalls.
KENNETH REID, EDITOR, "INSPECTION MONITOR": This is totally different from the Vioxx and Celebrex case. This deals with how this company was manufacturing the finished product.
SNOW: One of Able's biggest products, for example, is the generic form of Vicodin. But it is only one of 11 companies making it, estimated to have less than 10 percent of the market share.
REID: At one time it was very difficult to tell which generic you were getting. But these days because of labeling that's handed out at pharmacies you can see the name of the company at the bottom.
SNOW: At the moment, the company that last year produced more than 1.3 billion doses of medicine is, in effect, on hold, conducting an internal investigation.
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SNOW: And the company is saying today that it does not -- in a statement yesterday, that is, it does not know what action will be taken in the future, what action the FDA might take. We did try to reach the company today for an update, but we were unable to reach a spokesperson -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Mary snow with that information, important information for our viewers. Thanks, Mary, very much.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Lou is standing but in New York with a preview -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": ... on the carnage in Iraq. The war in Iraq has claimed four more American lives over the past 24 hours. Nearly 60 troops have been killed over the past month. Tonight our special report on what is a rising insurgency in Iraq.
In this country a public safety crisis that's putting our children at risk. Our special report tonight on how the government and law enforcement agencies have lost track of tens of thousands of registered sex offenders. And a department charged with fighting the war on terrorism doesn't even know whether terrorists are working for it. Thousands of Pentagon employees have false Social Security numbers, and worse, the inspector general says the Coast Guard and the U.S. Air Force aren't even checking.
All of that and more in just a few minutes. Please join us.
Now back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Lou. Sounds like an excellent show.
We'll take another quick break. When we come back, far out discovery. How an amateur astronomer played a vital role in unveiling a distant new planet.
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BLITZER: A Mexican volcano in our picture of the day. Mexico's Fire Volcano spewed lava and glowing rocks in its biggest eruption in years. Check this out. A two-mile-high column of smoke rose from the crater in a sparsely populated area, 430 miles northwest of Mexico City.
Also, there's a new planet. An amateur astronomer in New Zealand is being credited with helping to discover a new planet, 25,000 light years from Earth in a different solar system. Jenny McCormick was part of an international collaboration that identified the planet, believed to be the most distant ever detected.
That's it for me. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starting in New York right now. Lou standing by -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, Wolf.
END
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