[Judy Woodruff, Cnn Anchor:] Holy day massacre. Insurgents strike at multiple mosques.
[Unidentified Male:] I see many, many legs and hands, explosives. This is a horrible thing.
[Woodruff:] Glass ceiling reinforced? An Ivy League president under fire for comments he made about women.
[Unidentified Female:] It's hard enough to figure out how to live your life and work as a woman and have a family without him putting another barrier into it.
[Woodruff:] Will Harvard women and faculty forgive and forget? Blockbuster battle, the chain wanted to bring customers back to the stores. Now one attorney general calls the no late fee campaign misleading.
[Announcer:] This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Friday, February 18, 2005.
[Woodruff:] Thank you for joining us. I'm Judy Woodruff. Wolf is off today. Shiite Muslims were targeted in Iraq in a series of bloody attacks on their most important holiday. At least 20 people died in an insurgent offensive that appeared to be aimed at exploiting the tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims and provoking civil war. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports from Baghdad.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Correspondent:] Anguish as wounded arrive at a Baghdad hospital. Casualties from the first attack on Shia Muslims on the eve of their holiest day, Ashurah. At the site of the first blast targeting worshipers as they made their way to a mosque, the clean up already under way. The physical evidence of the suicide attack that killed as many as 15 and wounded 20 more, mostly gone.
[Unidentified Male:] It happened when I go to mosque here. I heard somebody. Explosives, body between there, guards. I see many, many legs and hands, explosive. This is a horrible thing.
[Robertson:] In the west of the capital another suicide attack on another Shia mosque at prayer time, killing two and wounding eight. A rocket fired in the north of the city at a Shia mosque missed, hitting a coffee shop, killing one, wounding three. The attacks heightening fears that, despite security around Shia mosques and shrines in preparation for Ashurah on Saturday, Sunni Muslim insurgents will attack.
[Sgt. Hashim, Iraqi Police:] some might come with a suicide belt or a car bomb disguised as a police car. They might wear badges like the ones we wear or a shirt like mine so they might go undetected.
[Robertson:] During last year's Ashurah commemoration, as many of 141 Shias were killed in multiple attacks in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility.
[Mowaffak Al-rubaie, Iraqi National Security Adviser:] The real intention behind all this is to draw a rift, to dig a wedge between the Shia and Sunni in this country. And this is actually is going to be a fruitless effort on the behalf of the terrorists.
[Robertson:] So far, no claim of responsibility for these latest attacks. [on camera] But how fruitless insurgent efforts to ignite sectarian violence remain depends on who gets the top jobs in the new government, now being hammered out behind closed doors. And by day's end more attacks, suicide bombers killing and wounding more Shias. Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
[Woodruff:] Thank you, Nic. Well, President Bush is about to meet with his strongest allies in the Iraq war and his toughest critics. As he prepares to leave for Europe on Sunday, Mr. Bush is also focused on Iran. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us now, live, with a preview of the president's trip Suzanne.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Judy, really as is custom, President Bush is trying to get ahead of the message here, ahead of the trip. He gave several interviews to foreign television stations, the president and the first lady both preparing for their five-day trip overseas that will take them to Belgium, Germany and the Slovak Republic. Now it's really part of what many see as a U.S. charm offensive, really to try to bridge the gap there and to make good with the damaged alliance with many of European allies. And the president, of course, a number of things to look out for. First of all, look out for the meeting that he will have with the French president Jacques Chirac. The two of them will talk about shared goals. But also, of course, the clear differences the United States and the European Union have in their approach to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Now while the E.U. is willing to offer some diplomatic as well as economic incentives, the United States is against that policy. Today, President Bush, in an interview with Belgium TV, however, tried to downplay those differences.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] It's in our interests they not have a nuclear weapon. And so we want to support the European efforts. And I applaud the European efforts to continue to send a clear message to the Iranians. And we want to we want to you know, we will consult like we have been to make sure that we fully understand where we stand to achieve that goal.
[Malveaux:] Another moment, of course, to watch is going to be the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin today saying that he did not believe that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program and that he would continue, his country would continue to help support what they are saying the nuclear energy program. That is quite a point of contention between the United States and Russia, as well as Russia's plans to sell missiles to Syria, as well as some of the backsliding of democratic reforms. Today the president in another interview, this one with Slovak state TV, saying, "Well, I have a good relationship with President Putin and the reason that's important is because then it will give me a chance to say in private, ask him why he's been making some of the decisions he's been making. I mean, he's done some things that have concerned people." Of course, Judy, the big question is what is the substance that's going to come out of all of this. A top European Union official saying that he did not believe there would be any kind of substantive change in U.S. policy coming out of this trip. But he did say he had hoped that they would king of gain a sense of trust, regain a sense of trust, between the United States and its European allies Judy.
[Woodruff:] Suzanne, in one of these interviews with European media, the president did not rule out the use of military force with Iran. How does that square with what he said before?
[Malveaux:] It's very much in line with what he said before. He has said that, of course, they're not going to rule it out, that he's going to keep all the options on the table. But in that same interview, he also stressed very much that he wants to move forward with diplomacy. And we heard that in the press conference just yesterday, that he is emphasizing that, yes, the United States is a military might. But he is backing down here, backing off a little that many of those European allies are very much against the Iraq war. Looking for ways that the president can be more diplomatic in his approach. The president, of course, also trying to prove that he can do that.
[Woodruff:] All right. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thank you, Suzanne. If you think you've been wronged by big business, you may find it harder to sue. Today the president signed legislation aimed at discouraging class-action lawsuits. CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns is live with details. Hi, John.
[Joe Johns, Cnn Correspondent:] Judy, of course, this act would make it harder to file class-action lawsuits in state court. It would also move a lot of those class action lawsuits to federal court, where it is harder to recover. The president of the United States, of course, this is a very big victory for him as he signed that bill into law today.
[Bush:] The bill provides new safeguards to assure that plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits are treated fairly. The bill required judges to consider the real monetary value of coupons and discounts so that victims can count on true compensation for their injuries. Demands settlements and rulings to be explained in plain English so that class members understand their full rights.
[Rep. John Conyers , Judiciary Committee:] The Class Action Fairness Act will be to funnel nearly all the major class-action lawsuits out of the state courts and into the already overburdened federal courts. That will inevitably make it harder for Americans to pursue legislate claims successfully.
[Johns:] Of course, that John Conyers, recorded on yesterday. Besides that bill signed into law today, there's also bankruptcy reform, a bill that could be on the Senate floor after this next week when the Congress returns to Capitol Hill. That would make it harder for people who are bankrupt to avoid paying their debts eventually and after all. There's also medical malpractice reform. Of course, that's a very contentious issue here on Capitol Hill. A number of people in disagreement as to whether caps or ceilings should be put on the amount of money people get for damages, as well. There is also a bill to change the way asbestos lawsuits are handled in this country. Of course, a lot of contention surrounding that, as well. Now, interestingly enough, right now, this week in fact, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho has reintroduced a bill of his that essentially would give lawsuit protection to gun manufacturers, firearm manufacturers. This is a bill, of course, that went down in flames on the Senate floor last year when a couple of amendments were attached, amendments of many of the people who fight for gun rights said they just couldn't live with. They were gun control amendments. This time, of course, Larry Craig says in his view the chemistry of the United States Senate has changed. He does believe he can push that bill through before the end of the session. Judy, back to you.
[Woodruff:] Joe, very quickly, the medical liability legislation, is the prospect as good for that as they were for this legislation that the president signed today?
[Johns:] Well, it's hard to say. There is a great deal of disagreement here on Capitol Hill. A number of people, of course, saying they don't think this bill can make it through with caps as they've been configured right now. So the question, of course, one key question is just how much people ought to be able to recover in court, particularly if they're victims of catastrophic damage. So that's one of those issues that Congress still has to work out Judy.
[Woodruff:] OK. Joe Johns at the capitol. Thanks very much. And to our viewers, here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day: "Should the government be limiting class action lawsuits against companies?" You can vote right now at CNN.comwolf. We'll have the results later. A confrontation between a Marine recruit and his drill instructor caught on camera just one day before his death. Now the Marine's family calls for an investigation. Blockbuster lawsuit. Why one state says the movie rental chain is deceiving its customers. Also ahead...
[Unidentified Female:] You'd think by this time people have accepted that women are equals in science. Maybe there are reasons that scores on tests could be different.
[Woodruff:] Harvard's president under fire after making controversial remarks about women and science.