[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] It's approaching 5:00 p.m. here in Washington, midnight in Jerusalem. To our viewers in the United States and around the world, welcome to THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following this developing story out of Jerusalem right now. The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, 77 years old, has suffered what his doctors are now describing as a significant stroke. He has undergone he's undergoing treatment at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. He's had massive bleeding, his doctors say, in his brain. And there is a significant and he's under anesthetic treatment right now, he's receiving breathing assistance. The 77-year-old Israeli leader had suffered what his doctors called a mild stroke on December 18, and he was scheduled to undergo treatment for a hole, a small little hole that was found in his heart in the aftermath of that mild stroke. That treatment, that procedure was supposed to take place tomorrow in Jerusalem, but he was not feeling well at his ranch in the Negev Desert near Beersheba, and as a result he was rushed by ambulance to the hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is our senior medical correspondent who can give us a little bit better perspective right now on the medical condition that Ariel Sharon is suffering from. Sanjay, give our viewers a sense, as only you can, how serious a situation this is.
[Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Cnn Sr. Medical Correspondent:] Well, it sounds very serious, Wolf. We're always a bit reluctant to try and diagnose this from afar without looking at his his brain scan or seeing the specific condition that he's in now, but everything that we're hearing and, you know, these doctors describing his condition, it sounds very serious. In a nutshell, you have a gentleman who had a mild stroke back on December 18. This was probably from a small clot in his heart that dislodged and traveled to his brain. When doctors investigated that, they found, in fact, it was a small hole in his heart that they planned on repairing. But in that interim period, between the time that he had his stroke and the time they were planning on doing the repair, he was on blood-thinning medications, which is a very significant thing, because now the stroke that he's had today is probably in part due to these blood-thinning medications, causing an actual bleed in his brain. You have a 77-year-old man who's had, you know, a history of medical problems now, who has a significant bleed in his brain, has been taken to the operating room to have this blood removed, but is also still on the blood-thinning medications. It is a very concerning situation, I think, by anybody's standards. Again, diagnosing from afar, but these facts, if they are true, are all very concerning from a medical perspective. Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Sanjay, the cerebral hemorrhage that he has and the surgery that he's going to need to deal with, the massive bleeding, he's being moved to the to the emergency operating theater, as it's called, in Jerusalem right now, the operating room. What kind of what kind of surgery will this require? You hear the words bleeding in the brain and treating it. How do you treat that?
[Gupta:] The number one way to treat that, Wolf, is to actually remove the blood from the brain. And what we're talking about here is a procedure known as a craniotomy. What that means, Wolf, is to actually make an incision in the scalp, remove a portion of bone, and then to find where this bleeding is and take out the blood clot, the actual clotting of blood that has occurred, it sounds like, anyway, either in or on top of his brain. That is the goal of the operation, is to try and take some of the pressure off the brain. And as it sounds like it's happening, needs to be done, and needs to be done in a fairly urgent manner. You don't want that pressure on the brain certainly to be sitting there any longer than necessary at all. So you're sort of balancing the fact that he's on these blood- thinning medications with a need for surgery. And it's a tough situation for him.
[Blitzer:] It sounds like a very dangerous, complicated surgery right now to go in and drill a hole, basically, into the top of your head.
[Gupta:] Yes. You know, I think under any circumstances this is a operation that neurosurgeons in the United States and around the world take very seriously. But what makes this more complicated, again, Wolf, is the fact that he's on these blood-thinning medications, which may have contributed to the stroke that he had today, but also makes the operation much more difficult as well. And then, you know, any time a gentleman who is 77 years old, has had a history of medical problems, these are all complicating factors as well. You have to look at this as a whole picture, and it's concerning for sure.
[Blitzer:] Sanjay, listen I want you and our other viewers and correspondents, analysts who are watching this breaking story out of Jerusalem to listen to what to what the Israel cabinet secretary said only a few moments ago. Listen to this.
[Israel Maimon, Israeli Cabinet Secretary:] The prime minister, Ariel Sharon, at home on his ranch felt not well. He came here about 11:00, as the director of the hospital standing next to me will shortly give you extra information, medical information. Given the fact that the treatment of the prime minister requires anesthetic, I spoke to the attorney general a few minutes ago, and I spoke to the deputy prime minister, Minister Olmert, and it's been decided that Minister Olmert, who is at home and is updated, should be have powers transferred to him. And the other ministers have also been updated.
[Blitzer:] The Israeli cabinet secretary, Yisrael Maimon, speaking only a few moments ago. John Vause is our correspondent in Jerusalem, he's watching this story, together with all of us. John, for someone like myself, who's covered Israel over these many years, it's impressive how transparent they now are about dealing openly with the condition of an Israeli prime minister. In the past, in the '70s and '80s and even '90s, the Israeli authorities were pretty reluctant to give any information about any of their leaders once they were in trouble, but they seem to be pretty pretty open with the press and with the Israeli public right now.
[John Vause, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, if you cast your line back to the '70s, when Menachem Begin actually suffered a heart attack in the on the floor of the Knesset and walked out, bidding fair well to a Knesset member as he left, the problems with Golda Meir as well, if you look at the medical history of Ariel Sharon, though, it has been pretty much a closely-guarded state secret up until that December 18 mild stroke. It was then that they released all of the prime minister's medical records, and it appeared that he was in good health, that apart from the stroke and this small defect in his heart, that he was, for all intents and purposes, in good health for a man of his years and also a man of his weight. We know that after he suffered that stroke, that doctors here in the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem advised the prime minister that he should go on a strict diet, that he should cut back the number of hours that he has been working. But certainly there has been a great deal of transparency over the last couple of days, the last couple of weeks since Ariel Sharon did suffer that stroke. They've been very up front about this heart operation which Ariel Sharon has been going through. We've been told over and over again that it's a minor procedure, that it's a common complaint which is afflicting a very significant but small percentage of the population. The prime minister being no different at all. In fact, we were even told that the prime minister would be arriving at Hadassah Hospital at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning local time to have this operation. So, yes, they have been very up front ever since Ariel Sharon suffered that stroke. But there was concerns, of course, that the prime minister's office, his aides, the political people around him, have been trying to hide his medical conditions for years. They refused to release his medical conditions. They refused to talk about it. In fact, when he suffered that stroke, December 18, we went back to try and find out if there's ever been any public recognition of Ariel Sharon, any health problems. The only thing we could find was a case of kidney stones back in 2004. In fact, Ariel Sharon has always joked that he that longevity runs in his family, that he had an aunt who lived well into her '90s, and that if he released his medical records, he is so healthy that it would make his political opponents sick. He's that kind of that kind of personality, that he tends to brush off these kinds of questions with jokes, with laughter, that kind of thing. We know that after he suffered that stroke December 18, he was back up, he was joking with his staff within a matter of hours. He was telling them he's sorry he put them through through so much trouble. He also joked with his staff that he was surprised that everybody was so interested in his condition. Of course now, tonight, a lot more serious than that last stroke, December 18. Right now, the prime minister undergoing that operation. Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All right. John Vause in Jerusalem with the latest. And I was trying to make the point that since his mild stroke, as it was described on December 18, they've been much more open, much more transparent in dealing with his medical records. Earlier, they were very, very closed-mouth. And you correctly point out that Golda Meir and her death, and Menachem Begin, his death, until the very, very end, Israeli officials were insisting everything was pretty good until it was all virtually over for those Israeli leaders. John, we're going to get back to you. Stand by. We're getting more information all the time. I want to go over to the White House, though. There's some initial reaction coming in from there. Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, is standing by. Dana?
[Dana Bash, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Hi, Wolf. Well, we just got word from Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, that Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, has informed President Bush about the condition of Ariel Sharon, that they have been in touch with the government of Israel. And as you can imagine, they say here that Prime Minister Sharon and his family are in the thoughts and prayers of everybody here at the White House. As you know, Wolf, President Bush has had a very close relationship with Ariel Sharon sometimes complicated, but certainly close. They've known each other, actually, since the president was governor, and when he was a candidate for president, took a trip to Israel, and Ariel Sharon showed him around the country. He's really the only prime minister that President Bush has worked with under various scenarios and various situations. But they formed a bond, a political bond, if you will, at the beginning of the president's administration and when he was first trying to deal with the Middle East primarily a bond over the fact that neither of them wanted to deal with Yasser Arafat, and that is certainly something that President Bush continued until Yasser Arafat passed away. So this is a situation, as you can imagine, that the White House is watching and keeping in touch with the Israeli government over. And they say here that their thoughts and prayers, again, are with the prime minister and his family. Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Dana Bash at the White House. Thanks, Dana, very much. And once again, just to recap, the prime minister of Israel, 77- year-old Ariel Sharon, has suffered a significant stroke, a massive stroke, according to Dr. Shapiro of the Hadassah Medical Center. He told Channel 2, Israel television, that he was taken to an operating room to drain the blood from his brain. We're continuing to watch this story for you, for our viewers. We'll go back to Jerusalem as soon as more information is under way. But Sharon now at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, being transferred if he hasn't already been transferred to the operating room for surgery to deal with this significant stroke. To our international viewers, our coverage will continue on this matter here in the United States, in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're going to pick up another huge story that we're following in West Virginia. Angry relatives want answers right now, and the family of the sole survivor of the mine accident is hoping for a speedy recovery. This after 12 of his co-workers are found dead in that mine a revelation that was at first reversed. Someone told anguished relatives 12 men had survived and one had died, a miscommunication according to the CEO of the missing of the mining company, who addressed this question just a short while ago.
[Ben Hatfield, Ceo, International Coal Group:] We fully recognize the criticism that the company has received about the manner in which the news was communicated to the families. Rightly or wrongly, we believed it was important to make factual statements to the families, and we believe that word had been sent to the church to indicate that additional reports were may not be correct. We made what we believed to be the best decisions based on the information available while working under extreme stress and physical exhaustion.
[Blitzer:] We have reporters covering all angles of this incredible, heartbreaking story. Kimberly Osias is standing by in Upshur County in West Virginia. Chris Huntington is in Morgantown, at the hospital where the sole survivor is being treated. Let's begin our coverage, though, with CNN's Brian Todd. He's on the scene right at that mine. Brian?
[Brian Todd, Cnn Correspondent:] Wolf, essentially, Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the International Coal Group, spent the majority of this news conference tearfully, haltingly trying to explain the breakdown in communication. That was the dominant theme. He also explained these miners' deaths and how they believed this happened, and the timeline for the recovery of the bodies. But it was the breakdown in communication that dominated this and where he got his toughest questions. Essentially, you know, just very briefly, 11:45 p.m. last night, they got word from the mine, from someone, that these 12 miners were alive. That was the first inclination they had had of the incorrect report. At that point, the story essentially got away from them. Cell phone calls went out from the members of the various rescue teams that were all around that area. They started calling relatives and friends, people down at the church where the relatives of the miners had gathered. 12:30 a.m., after the celebrations had already started, the rescue team that dealt with where the bodies were came out and indicated there may only be one survivor. But it wasn't until 2:15 to 2:30 a.m. this morning when the celebrations were well under way that they got confirmed reports that the 12 miners had in fact died. At that point, Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the International Coal Group, went down to Sago Baptist Church and broke the news to the families. We just a short time ago interviewed a woman named Lynette Roby, who was in the church at that time. She described the scene when Mr. Hatfield broke the news. Take a listen.
[Lynette Roby, Witness To Announcement:] He couldn't get out whatever he wanted to say in the manner that he wanted, Mr. Hatfield, so he just said, 11 are dead and one is alive, and he blurted out the name. People from up front, several the crowd started moving forward when the first people up front got upset, and they started somebody, I think it was a woman, I'm not sure, lunged for him, and was calmed down by, you know, the state troopers.
[Todd:] Lynette Roby saying, in fact, that it took about six to 10 people to restrain that woman who lunged at Ben Hatfield. Mr. Hatfield says he said throughout the news conference that he was very sorry. They understand the family's anger. They are dealing with the families on issues of insurance and compensation, and they're starting their investigation into this at this very moment. Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All right, Brian. Thanks very much. Brian Todd. We're going to get back to you very soon. We're going to check in with all of our reporters momentarily. I want to go to Jack Cafferty in New York first. He's watching the story unfold, together with all of us. Jack?
[Jack Cafferty, Cnn Anchor:] Thanks, Wolf. We were talking earlier, could we remember another story where the information initially put out proved to be as dramatically wrong as this was. And several viewers wrote in about the Munich Olympics. Remember when the terrorists kidnapped the athletes at...
[Blitzer:] I do, yes.
[Cafferty:] ... at the Olympic Games? And Jim McKay originally reported that the terrorists had all been killed and that the athletes had all survived. And of course later that turned out to be wrong. So that's perhaps the other biggest example, and that goes back 33 years ago. The story of the Sago Mine was covered as intensely as any event, at least in recent memory. Around the clock, the world waited breathlessly for any development. And hours and hours passed when there just was none. Then finally, last night word came of a miracle, 12 of the 13 miners had survived. The trouble is, the story was wrong. They were dead. But it was too late. The story had already gone out over television. It was on the front page of every major newspaper in the country this morning. Here's the "New York Daily News": "Miracle in West Virginia," "Alive!" "Twelve miners rescued after almost two days trapped underground. The "New York Post" same thing, "Alive!" All the major papers all over the country. The editor and publisher called it, "One of the most disturbing and disgraceful media performances of this type in recent years." So here's the question this hour: What's the role of the news media in a story like the Sago Mine tragedy? And you can email us your thoughts at CaffertyFile@CNN.com, and we'll read some of your responses a bit later. Wolf?
[Blitzer:] You know, it's an incredibly difficult story to cover, and I think our people at CNN and all the reporters out there, if authorities are telling us that these 12 miners are alive, people in positions to know, and family members have been told by authorities that the miners, their loved ones are alive, are we not supposed to report this information? Do we not report it? I mean, it's a I've been a reporter a long time. If I'm covering a story, if I'm an Anderson Cooper there and he's doing an incredibly excellent job doing this what, do you not report what the family members are telling you?
[Cafferty:] Well, no. I mean, that's obviously a very tough question. As I understand it, initially, Anderson expressed some skepticism. When the initial report happened, he said something to the effect that, you know, we're not sure this is true, but the early word we're getting but it hasn't been verified and he put some qualifiers in. Then he apparently, according to what one of our viewers wrote to me, he observed a reporter from the F word network down there kissing one of the family members and celebrating in jubilation that they apparently the report that these guys were alive. And then he took the next step, which was to repeat that everybody else was saying, that in fact these people were alive. I don't know how you avoid doing that in a situation like these people were in. Journalism 101 says you get the information and then you verify it. Well, the only way to verify this information, to my way of thinking, would be to go into that mine and go talk first-hand to the people on these rescue teams. And of course that was impossible. The initial reports from these rescue workers came out of the mine apparently over cell phones and were relayed to people who then eventually spread the word to the news media. Tough, tough stuff. But, you know, the public holds us to a pretty high standard and I think rightfully so. They depend heavily on us for information that affects their daily lives and their economics and all kind of other things. And so they expect the truth from us, and they have every right to. We made a mistake last night. I say we, collectively, all of the media. Whether it was an unavoidable mistake or not, I don't know the answer to that. And I'm not trying to cop out. People who watch me regularly know that I don't tend to do that. If something is wrong, I tend to say I think that's wrong. In this case, I'm just not sure.
[Blitzer:] Well, I just know that if I were on the scene, I think and I was watching Anderson and our entire team out there report this information. They were very precise, they were reporting what people were telling them, people in positions to know, and it's a tough one. And I remember the Jim McKay story from the Munich massacre, the Olympics in '72, quite vividly as well.
[Cafferty:] Yes. The other one do you remember when Reagan was shot? Early reports were that Brady died in that attack. And, of course, he turned out to have survived, too. That's the only other one that I can remember.
[Blitzer:] Yes.
[Cafferty:] But again, I understand exactly what you're saying. And I'm not sure that any of us would have reacted any differently. It's unfortunate that it turned out to be inaccurate information. The one little thing in here that I get out of this is, during this time, apparently the owners of the mine did not issue any kind of a statement to the effect that these miners were alive. Is that what you're gathering from all of this?
[Blitzer:] Right. Yes. They should have come out and said they should have said, hold off, we don't know, don't go with this. And instead, they were silent. And that was a huge mistake as all of us now recognize. Hold off for a moment.
[Cafferty:] OK.
[Blitzer:] Because we've got to take a quick break.
[Cafferty:] Yes, go ahead.
[Blitzer:] There's a lot more to talk about. And I'm really anxious to hear what our viewers think. Jack Cafferty has your email. That's coming up later this hour. Also ahead, in spite of the profound sadness in West Virginia with the deaths of those 12 miners, we're not losing sight of the fact there is a survivor. We'll tell you about Randal McCloy and his update and we'll update you on his condition. Also, what's more dangerous, working in a coal mine or in a grocery store? Our Ali Velshi has an answer that might surprise you. And we have more on the breaking news coming out of Jerusalem, the condition of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the political situation in the Middle East. He suffered a significant stroke. He has massive bleeding in his brain. He's in the operating room right now. We'll tell you what's going on in Israel. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.