Senators Asking Tough Questions about Haditha
BLITZER: Zain Verjee is joining us from the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta with a closer look at some other important stories making news. Hi, Zain.</s>ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf. In Canada, the case continues against 17 Muslims arrested last week on terrorism charges. Today, a defense lawyer says government prosecutors allege that the group was planning to strike Canada's parliament, hit the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, and that one of the defendants even allegedly wanted to behead the prime minister of Canada. The defense lawyer says that those are among the allegations given to him in a document by the prosecution. We're going to have a lot more in a live report from our Jeanne Meserve, who's in Canada. That will be in the next hour. In Afghanistan, two U.S. soldiers are dead after a roadside bombing in Nangarhar province. That's east of Kabul. Officials say the bombing injured another American soldier and an Afghan interpreter. Officials say it happened as the soldiers conducted security operations in their military vehicle. Meanwhile, military officers also say three American soldiers have been hurt after a suspected suicide bomber set off explosives. It happened in Khost province. That's near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. And in Iraq, bombings, beheadings and unidentified bodies. Two civilians are dead after two mortars hit the markets in Baghdad. An Iraqi health ministry official says nearly 1,400 Iraqi civilians died in the country last month, most of them shot execution-style. That would be the most number of civilian deaths in a single month since the war began. Also today, police in the town of Hadid found nine heads, no bodies, just heads. Officials say the heads were wrapped in plastic bags and shoved into fruit boxes. Meanwhile, the Iraqi prime minister is vowing to restore law and order. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says insurgents are just trying to derail the new unity government, but he adds that they will lose. Al-Maliki says his plan to secure Baghdad has been ratified and will soon be in place. Also today, a source tells CNN that Navy investigators have evidence that some Marines may have committed premeditated murder last April when they allegedly shot and killed an Iraqi man in Hamandiyah. The source says some of the Marines now in pre-trial confinement have admitted that the circumstances of the man's death were staged -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Thanks, Zain, for that. Zain Verjee reporting. On Capitol Hill here in Washington, senators are back at work and asking some tough questions about an alleged massacre by U.S. Marines in Iraq. Let's go to our congressional correspondent Dana Bash. She's watching the reaction in the Congress to the Haditha incident. What's the latest, Dana?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, we have some new developments on that front here on Capitol Hill this afternoon. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner, wrote to the defense secretary this letter today, which is clearly intended to push the Pentagon along on its investigations on both Haditha and Hamandiyah. Senator Warner says that Secretary Rumsfeld should provide him the earliest possible date for witnesses to come before his committee to talk about these issues. Specifically, he said that the American people are entitled to timely disclosure. Earlier today, Wolf, Senator Warner said he is concerned about the fact that there's public discussion about this without much official word from the Pentagon, and he says that is increasingly harmful. So, in this letter to the defense secretary, Senator Warner says, quote, "Delays in getting out the official findings of fact due to a protracted review process will mean a mixture of information, misinformation and unconfirmed fact will continue to spiral in the public domain." So Senator Warner is serving notice to Secretary Rumsfeld that considers this issue the first priority of the Senate Armed Services Committee and that he will hold a series of hearings -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Any indication who he's going to call to testify and when this might all come down?</s>BASH: Well, he says in the letter, Senator Warner does, that he thinks the best first witness should be General Bargewell who is leading the investigation, the inquiry into how this exactly was reported internally in the military. But he also is pretty clear -- at least has been with us in the hallways here, Wolf -- that he's probably not going to do that until General Bargewell's investigation is completed. They do think that's going to happen soon. But one thing that is noteworthy, Wolf, in this letter to Secretary Rumsfeld is that he is silent on whether he will call the defense secretary himself to testify. Senator Warner's office is not ruling that in or out. You remember, of course, about two years ago after the Abu Ghraib scandal the secretary did actually come up to Capitol Hill and testify. But, of course, since then the Iraq war has gotten even more unpopular. He has personally been under fire, even, of course, recently in the past several weeks, from generals -- former generals, I should say, questioning his war plan on Iraq. So a Republican congressional official tells CNN they believe the Pentagon will be reluctant to send the defense secretary to testify either before the Senate or House Armed Services Committee, because they realize it could be problematic for him personally, politically and also for the Pentagon, in general -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: And Senator Joe Biden has already said he should resign over this incident, but he's been calling for his resignation for some time. Dana, thank you very much. New developments, meanwhile, in the theft of a laptop containing data on some 26 million American veterans. One thousand dollars per victim, that's what the veterans are now demanding in a new class- action lawsuit, the second such case against the government in the last week. Let's bring in our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton. She's following the story -- Abbi?</s>ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, the lawsuit has been filed on behalf of veterans groups whose members total more than 50,000 people. It alleges that the department showed a reckless disregard for their privacy, and now that 26 million people fear identity theft. In addition to compensation, the lawsuit also asks for an independent panel to be set up to review and monitor information security at the department. It says there are fundamental deficiencies in that area. Indeed, a congressional panel in the past has given the Department of Veterans Affairs a failing grade for its computer security. When asked to comment on this today, a spokesman for Veterans Affairs says they don't comment on pending litigation. They have said repeatedly in the past that there's no evidence this data has been used illegally. Meanwhile, though, the data is still missing. Local police in Montgomery County, Maryland, today appealing to the public to lookout for this laptop, giving the make and type of computer that is still missing -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: All right, Abbi, thank you very much. From Abbi to Ali, Ali Velshi is standing by in New York to give us the good news, the bad news, the awful news. What's going on, on the markets today, Ali?</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN BUSINESS NEWS ANCHOR: You remember this thing? This is my 11,722 board, the all-time high on the Dow? We were within 80 points of that a month ago.</s>BLITZER: We were just there. We were almost there.</s>VELSHI: EBay, you can get this on eBay, because we're nowhere near it now. We are 640 points lower right now, the Dow closing just above 11,000 today. This is the second day in a row. We took a 200- point hit yesterday, another 46 points. It was trading below 11,000 for most of the day. People are a little worried about Ben Bernanke and how much he likes to talk and how much he likes to warn everybody about inflation and possible interest rates and a slowing economy. I'm going to have more on this a little later, Wolf, but another tough day on Wall Street.</s>BLITZER: Ali, thank you very much. Up next, the fight over illegal immigration. Will this bitter political battle hurt Republicans up for re-election this year? Bill Schneider investigating. Plus, will today's congressional election in California be a bellwether for the November midterm elections? I'll ask James Carville and Torie Clarke. They're standing by live, right here in today's "Strategy Session."