the time in the world to think about all the money you have spent on your trip before you even get off the ground. so, sit back and relax. just be ready to pay for every little bit of that experience. talk about flying the friendly skies huh? that is it for now. thanks for joining us. larry king starts right now. >> larry: why does law enforcement want to talk to this man? tom ridge, america's first secretary of homeland security tells us what he thinks. and new york governor david paterson reveals what insiders are telling him. then, environmental disaster, economic catastrophe,

2.5 million gallons spilled into the gulf, four states in its path. could currents carry it up the entire east coast? jack hanna is here with the effects on wildlife, next, on "larry king live." >> larry: good evening, first, check in with deborah feyerick, our cnn correspondent in new york with the latest on the car bomb investigation. what's up to date, deborah? >> law enforcement sources telling us that, in fact, that nissan pathfinder that was loaded with propane tanks and fertilizer placed in times square that, in fact, that was purchased on craigslist about three weeks ago. the buyer, a man in his late 20s, early 30s, we ared to. the seller handed over the keys to the vehicle for $1800 in cash, no record of the

transaction, no formal registration, done virtually anonymously with no way to trace it. we are being told that investigators now looking into possible e-mails as well as phone calls that the buyer and seller had with one another to determine exactly who this guy was who bought the vehicle. we are told that blogs are really saying that it is are the easiest way to purchase a car, virtually without trace. now, the scrap yard that we are here in connecticut, you can see just here, about an hour and a half outside of times square, authorities bow live this is where the license plate on the car actually came from. so although the car was purchased elsewhere here in connecticut, not too far away, in fact, the license plate, a decoy license plate was apparently picked up here at this scrap yard in connecticut here, larry. >> larry: thanks, deborah, deborah feyerick on the scene in new york. speaking of new york two to the state capital, albany, check in with governor david paterson,

the democratic governor of the state of new york. what is the latest information you have on all of this, governor? >> well, larry, i have heard about this but i think that it is so important to bring those who tried to inflict pain on a lot of our citizens to justice, that i don't want to go beyond anything the investigators are saying publicly. >> larry: what has the conversations with mayor bloomberg taught you, if anything? >> well, we are just very happy that somebody saw something and somebody said something. it could be a whole different description that we would be discussing this evening and it could have been very tragic. but the t-shirt vendor told a mounted police officer and the new york city police department cleared times square in a matter of a half hour, which is stellar. and we have a very strong police force there and a strong police force in new york state. we have gone through this a lot. we have all kinds of threats assessments every couple of weeks.

there are a lot of stories that don't come out that turn out to be false alarms and we are happy to say that people are safe today as they were yesterday. the problem though, and this is what terrorism really is, is whether or not people feel as if they can conduct their normal business and that's something that we have to persuade the public that the situation, at least in this instance, is under control. >> the governor, the white house doesn't didn't characterize the car bomb scare as terrorism until today. you used the word this weekend. white house press secretary robert gibbs said, i would say that was intended to terrorize and whoever did that would becality gore rised-- be catego terrorist. would you agree? >> i was coming from an asian pacific heritage night, 35th avenue. my and assistant and i drove right past that area right around 7:00 in the evening or

7:30, something like that don't think that even i as a governor of a state don't feel a little bit of anxiety about having been in the vicinity. and so that's what i equate terrorism. it is the symbolic attempt to make masses of people feel frightened and to deny them of their freedoms that this country allows. so i think that it can come from timothy mcveigh's car bomb that killed 168 people in oklahoma city can come from the middle east. any time, violence the threat or violence is used to distract people from the every day lives, i would label it terrorism. >> larry: do you have knowledge that other acts that we may never have heard of were prevented? >> i mean, from time to time, that probably has been the case and there are -- believe me, we have a strong homeland security system and coordination between the agencies, i think, is the biggest advantage that we have

from perhaps where we were ten years ago. and there are a lot of false alarms as well, but there's certainly, i must say in my time as governor, every two weeks, you kind of hear about something that could be brewing and fortunately, to this point and -- in the period that i've been governor, we have not had a maj major incident as yet. really, these car bombs are what we are specializing in in terms of trying to stop but because it is almost impossible unless you stop every answers car and search them. people with tinted windows, can't see who they are, they are the most difficult types of threats for law enforcement to address, but as i said before, the coordination of the federal, state and local officials in and law enforcement authorities in this case, it was a ban banner day for all of them and we should, as americans, congratulate all of them. >> larry: governor david

patterson, governor of new york. when we come back, tom ridge, former homeland security secretary under president bush, former governor of pennsylvania. don't go away. why is that? - uh, cause we're bears? - [ panda chuckles ] well, you know snapple's made with healthy green tea, tasty black tea and real sugar. - are you familiar with tea? - uh, yeah, snapple man. we're from china. we're familiar with tea. it's just that i know you're trying to be healthy so-- healthy? hello! we're pandas. it's called extinction. look it up. [ announcer ] healthy green tea, tasty black tea, real sugar. we're still getting paid, right? the best stuff on earth... just got better.

aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. also available in small, easy-to-swallow petites. citracal. communities. industry. energy. her. this. lives. how ? by bringing together... information. ... people ... ... machines ... ... systems ... ideas... verizon helps businesses worldwide... including fortune 500 companies... find and achieve... better. better. better. better.

i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i'm going to work with kids. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] together we can discover the best of what's next at aarp.org. it's all that people notice. i didn't even think that was possible. [ woman ] i know, but there it is. [ sniffing ] febreze you plug in to the wall. [ male announcer ] when you plug in a febreze noticeables, it's all that people notice. [ man ] wow. that is amazing. i know. imagine. [ sniffing ] febreze you plug in to the wall. [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] from febreze comes noticeables. freshness you'll notice

>> larry: one more question for deborah feyerick in new york.any possibility, any word yet about an international connection to this? >> well, you know, larry, that is what some of our counterterrorism folks are telling us in washington. they are investigating now, the focus of the investigation shifting overseas to see whether, in fact this person or people involved in this attempted attack, whether they traveled overseas whether they communicated, did they have any sort of ties to any radical groups over there or were they influenced by radical jihadi websites. all of that under investigation. they are trying to determine whether this was the act of a lone wolf or possibly a domestic sleeper cell. and one of the things they are looking at is the bomb. the bomb simply not like any they have seen before. so, that raises a lot of question. but again, focus now while it is actively going on here in

connecticut and elsewhere, also shifting overseas to see what the connections might be there, larry. >> thank you, deborah feyerick on the scene in new york. go to harrisburg, pennsylvania. tom ridge, he served as secretary of homeland security under george w. bush, and former pennsylvania -- former governor of pennsylvania and decorated marine what is your reaction to this story, tom? all right. tom is not hearing me. one of those nights, folks, mother told me about this. we will get back with tom. let's check in right here in l.a. with harry humphries, counterterrorism expert and former navy s.e.a.l., president of global studies group and bob bayer, former cia officer and host of the channel 4 documentary "car bomb" and can a a columnist for time.com. harry, what is your take? >> well, one of two scenarios are possible. obviously it is extremely amateurish. it was not, in fact, a bomb.

it was more of an incineration device. >> larry: not sophisticated? >> not remotely sophisticated. the level so low, i isn't it possibly could have been a probe. if, in fact a -- >> larry: a probe? >> a probe of the response facilities that nypd would have in that region, that area and oh, by the way, they were excellent. so anybody watching if it was a probe, sees a very, very adept police force waiting for the real thing to happen. >> larry: bob, show you a video and then your comment. the car and truck bombs employed with devastating frequency for a decade in many of the world's hot spots. you explored this in "car bomb." here is a sample of what you did. >> a story how the century of the car became the century of the car bomb.

and how our dreams turned into nightmares. >> larry: bob why -- car bombs are new to the united states, respect they? >> they were invented here, 1920, wall street, first went off. it was a cart -- >> larry: during the depression? >> before the depression. it was a cart, parked in front of jpmorgan it had sash weights in it dynamite, killed 38 people. the man behind the group escaped. we don't -- absolutely sure, probably anarchists, italian anarchists. and of course, we had in 1970 was the university of wisconsin, where a -- >> larry: yeah. >> part-time student blew up a

math building. >> larry: how do you protect yourself from them? >> you can't. you can't. >> larry: somebody is going to set up a car bomb tomorrow, set it off. >> place like new york city what do you do inspect every car? it is absolutely impossible. there are sniffers wire, look for nitrates, you can profile car bombers but ultimately, you cannot stop them. >> larry: what did this guy do, harry? left a bomb and just ran from the car? in the middle of traffic? what did he do? >> it is a mystery. you have a car that wasn't even parked, simply vacated in the middle of broadway and -- >> larry: raise a little suspicion. >> with the flashers on, i might add. down the street he ran. i can't wait to find out end story on what really initiated that move. >> larry: what do you think it was intended to do had it gone off, bob? >> i think this is an amateur that got on the internet, an . -

an experienced bomb make wore have had some sort of initiator that would have worked that set this thing off. experts have told me if the propane tanks had gone off, the kill radius would have been 30 to 50 feet. there would have been a lot of dead people at times square. >> if it is amateurish, does it belie, harry, any international conspiracy involvement, in your opinion? >> i suspect no. i isn't it is local. again, my crystal ball is as good as anyone else's. the one thing that was not done that should have been done, in fact if he knew what was doing, is turn the gas valve on on the propane. then if you had an m-80 or m-88, whatever firecracker he had to innish yates, we have had the initiation of a combustible, that would have as bob said hurricane a radius of about 50 feet. >> larry: so they are effective, when done right? >> effective but they have divided baghdad, essentially, car bombs it started a civil war in iraq it slided lebanon in the '80s.

they are the poor man's air force and very effective. what do we do about cars? can't get rid of them. >> larry: what does this society do, harry? you can live in fear or what? >> basically -- >> larry: ban making it able to see inside a car, right? you can ban tinting? >> that would be one thing. new york city is doing some great things technologically in detection. they have a system called ring of -- i have forgot the exact name, maybe i shouldn't even talk about it but basically it is a detection system that actually can detect license plates, run the license plates in real time and also sniff, sniff for radiological issues and for -- for explosives, for nitrates. and that's been in existence now down in the financial area for some time and i believe the city is now moving the same system up to times square. >> it would appear, bob, they are on the trail of this guy, wouldn't it? >> probably catch him, yeah.

because of the fact that the bomb was so crudely made, i'm sure he has made mistakes along the way, but i think the problem here is the cautionary tale is it's reminding people new york is vulnerable and if we are scared about a failed attempt what would a real explosion do? >> thank you both. call own again. harry humphries, bob bayer. tom ridge is next. don't go away. [ female announcer ] breathe right asks... [ woman ] could i ask you to strip on the street? absolutely! i have a lot of stuffiness at night. it wakes me up. i have allergies. ♪ you're right. i'm getting more air. -oh, yeah. -oh, wow!

[ female announcer ] for two free samples, go to breatheright.com.

lose weight and save money with our lowest price since 2004. i'm angie everhart, and i lost 34 pounds on nutrisystem. i lost 120 pounds on nutrisystem. enjoy four perfectly portioned meals for as low as $8.92 a day, our best price guaranteed. i'm marie osmond, and i lost 50 pounds on nutrisystem. i lost over 100 pounds and lowered my blood sugar on nutrisystem d. based on the proven science of the glycemic index, nutrisystem works, and now it can work for you. that's me 22 pounds ago, and i'm never going back there again. roll back prices no matter who you are or what program is right for you. people say i look 10 years younger. i feel 10 years younger. smart money named nutrisystem the best value of popular weight-loss programs. now our best price just got better. call 888-988-thin and start losing weight today. with nutrisystem, there are no more excuses.

the nutrisystem roll back sales event won't last long. call or click now. ♪ [ male a announcer ] try fixodt with the time-released formula. use just once per day for dawn-to-dark hold. it is important to use the product as directed. fixodent and forget it. >> larry: we are back. by the way, cnn has learned that the joint terrorism task force is considering the possibility that the incident in times square was more than just a lone wolf with and that there's a connection to pakistan. that's according to a source familiar with the investigation. investigators believe this was an intended terrorist attack to set off explosives in times square with, that the individuals intended for the tanks to explode, but didn't have the expertise to detonate it. tom ridge was secretary of

homeland security. he was our first marine hero, former governor. what's your reaction to this story, tom? >> well, larry, it's a reminder of a couple of very important elements as we try to deal with this global scourge. the first reminder is it can happen any where any place, to anybody much the second reminder is that because of the vigilance of a couple of vendors, you see something, you're supposed to say something and a third reminder, they said something to a police officer who reminds us that training is very important. he called up -- called in backup. he evacuated the area. they brought in the bomb squad and i think the fourth reminder, unfortunately in all of this as good as new york is and there is no city that i think spends more time, more resources, works harder and smarter to deal with the situation to protect their citizens and protect their visitors, but sometimes it's just good to combine luck with being smart and good at your job.

>> larry: does anything about this in view of the experts saying it was an amateurish setup, that there is international, we just heard a report there might be a pakistan involvement? >> it is interesting, larry. when you look at the ideology, they will follow the evidentiary trail are. obviously, they focused on who purchased the automobile. they get a name. they will check phone numbers. they will check e-mail. they will do some data mining to see maybe where there's some kind of international connection. obviously it is a pretty unsophisticated device. you can buy that material very inexpensively. you can put it together. ironically, they learned on your show what they did wrong. we live in a very transparent society. so maybe the next time, they will be a little bit better at it because we do -- we do talk about these things. but i think at the end of the day, you know this maybe very unremarkable person who may have been convinced because they got access to website and his connection to the international community may be simply that, so time will tell whether or not

there is a formal connection or just been radicalized because of the access to a website or some radical imam in the neighborhood. >> larry: you mentioned luck. from our previous guests' standpoint it is very hard to stop car bombings. do you agree? >> i agree. i think one of the things we need to accept as a real knit 21st century as we deal with these terrorists is that the real battle is to identify the terrorists before they act. the tip of the spear in counterterrorism is the work that the joint terrorism task force do, the new york city police force does, john brennan, the national security council does and everybody doesn't try to identify the terrorist but when you live in a huge, opening, welcoming country such as ours it is almost impossible to stop these unless you have vigilant citizens, fortunately because you had a fairly

unsophisticated terrorist attack who acted swiftly upon something that was out of the ordinary. fortunately, it thing didn't go off but also fortunately, some people who are smart enough to say this is in the wrong place, we better contact officials immediately. pro-pairedness and we call it situational awareness, just being alert to your neighborhood and what is going in on in your community. if you see something, you are is up toesed to say something and ex-l and exactly what they did in new york. >> tom is there something locally or federally that should be getting done that is not getting done? >> i think also a reminder, any time an incident like this happens, fort hood incident, i think of what happened on december 25th, i think this incident. i think reaction that lee hamilton and governor keen and the 9/11 commission made almost ten years ago and we still haven't done them. for example, we really do need

to give our public safety community the capability to communicate, they call tinter operable communications. to that extent, want them to be able to send voice and data to each other. i look at this incident and wonder if we had been as well prepared if there had been a radiological device inside that automobile and were we prepared to respond? again it is a reminder that even though quite a bit of time has elapsed from 9/11, we shouldn't be restless about this fear there are still some fundamental things i think we need to do as a country to maximize our ability to protect ourselves and still do the knot down that path yet and the political agenda has taken us off that. a lot of pressing problems we have in this country but i do think it is important and maybe this incident will elevate the need to do a little bit more in this area and then sustain it. i suspect new york is looking for more money and they probably deserve t they have been and will continue to be a sick gant dark to the terrorists. >> larry: how is the obama administration doing, in your

opinion, in regard to this? >> larry, there are a couple of thing that i was commended them on, a couple things we found fault with. the debate whether they should have the ksm's trial in new york city is misplaced, i think debate around guantanamo is misplaced. we need to understand that these are not criminals. i don't believe we should treat them as criminals. i did both some prosecution work and i was defense attorney, i never met a criminal that wanted to be caught and never met a criminal that was prepared to blow themselves up in order to advance their mission. i think we have to get away from the rhetoric. i, for one, would love to see a special court system built to deal with what i consider to be a global challenge that we are going to be dealing with in the years ahead. i think generally, i think we should pay a lot more attention to what the coast guard is doing, one off from what we are doing here but this is an agency that is critical in so many different ways, as well as the maritime defense. i think they are underresourced and underfunded. i could give you a long list but

i think there is a lot of work that needs to be done and i think this administration could be -- should try to shape as it looks at its budget in response to what happened over the past year and a half, particularly the number of home grown terrorists that we are seeing, a more elevate and more focused response on counterterrorism. >> thanks, tom. we will call own again soon. we always appreciate having you with us with. >> thank you, larry, always a pleasure. we don't talk about too many fun things but talk a lot about important ones. thank you. >> larry: not kidding. tom ridge, terrific american. the staggering cost of the oil spill in the gulf and not just talking money. that's next.

>> larry: we are back, let's let get the lase on the gulf oil spill and its tragic consequences. cnn national correspondent gary tuchman joins us from gulfport, mississippi. what's the latest? >> larry this is like a horror

movie, you keep waiting for the scary part, like a slow motion disaster, 13 days now since this tragedy and a tragedy because 11 people were killed when it happened, but 200,000 gallons of oil, more, at least 200,000 gallons every day spewing in the gulf of mexico. we expect by today, the oil would reach the beach here and gulfport, mississippi, along the mississippi/louisiana coach, it hasn't reached the beach here. does that mean it wouldn't come here? unlikely, probably going to reach the next few days. nevertheless, we have been told by rob marciano, our colleague in a helicopter, the close point now the oil about 30 miles away from the coast. the winds light and variable the next all couple of days, may take a couple of days more but very likely that this huge amount of oil will hit the gulf coast beaches and make life very difficult for fishermen, for the tourist industry and everyone who lives here on the coast. >> larry: one other quick thing, gary is that a definite? is it gonna hit? >> yeah, i asked rob that question, because rob is our meteorologist, an expert these

kinds of things, definite it is going to hit in the question you asked me, no it is not definite, however it is very likely. >> larry: gary tuchman, cnn national correspondent, one of the best in the business. thanks, gary. robert kennedy jr. is president of water keep alliance, environmental attorney involved in two class action suits, find behalf of commercial fishermen in florida and will a will in connection with the oil spill. he is the son, of course, of the late robert f kennedy, nephew of the late senator ed kennedy and james carville, senior political contributor and democratic strategist. james is with us from new orleans, robert from vancouver. bp, the oil company, says that while bp is responsible for dealing with the oil gush nothing the gulf and for cleaning it up it is not responsible for the accident. they note the rig which explode and sank was run by transoaks and it was their people and their processes. do you agree, robert? bobby, you agree?

>> it is unclear now who's responsible for the spill. there are actually liability issues that are involved that are -- that are really critical, i think, ultimately to bp's claim because there's more limitations on liability if there's -- if it's transocean under the oil prevention act. the culprit that i think people are more focusing on today halyburton because haliburton poured the cement and the accident occurred as the cement filling of the casing was completed. now, if you look back over the past 15 years, half of the oil failure -- of the oil platform explosions and failures on the gulf have occurred because of poor application of the cement. the cement is forced down the center of -- the steel center of

the pipe and comes up and floods the sayings of the pipe, pros the pipe and a firm casing that will isolate the oil and the gas as it comes up the pipe. ifle wrong cement is used, poorly applied, can lead to this explosion. so halyburton has become a major culprit. >> james could this be a katrina moment for the obama administration? >> no, i think an entirely different kind of event than katrina than this silliness. what this is this is going to be some kind of a defining event in our hist dwroirks know which way this is going to go as of right now, a hail mary thing, trying to get this thing plugged up, you know, if they don't from what people estimate, could be another three months before they do it keep spewing this up as far as people know.

so, we are -- we might be in the first, second inning of this thing, to use a baseball analogy. we just don't know what is going on. there is some talk about currents taking this i can up in the atlantic ocean. this is an ongoing story. we are going to be on this story for a while to come, i'm afraid. >> james, the president announced he was going to expand oil drilling off the atlantic coasting now stopping all of it was that premature? >> let's remember are, think robert can address this, too, this is deep-water drilling this is 5,000 feet. something like this happened at 5,000 feet, a lot different than happening at 300 feet. one running 100 yards, one is running a mile. and i don't think anybody's going to be drilling anything in deep water until we find out what happened out here and how it won't happen again. you know, maybe there will be some shallow-water drilling but not anything in deep water that i see any time soon. its >> larry: when we come back, i will ask robert if he thinks we

will find out who caused it, what caused whole story on something like this right after this. with nati, i roll past the counter... and choose any car in the aisle. oh, buck chooses the blue one! [ male announcer ] go national. go like a pro. choosing your own car? now, that's a good call. choosing your own car? to the seekers of things which are one of a kind. the authentic, the rare, the hard to define. to those who'd climb mountains or sail across seas... for the perfect vanilla or honey from bees. to the lovers of orchards where simple is grown, who treat every bite as a world of its own. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real... from we who believe... we know just how you feel.

i just want fewer pills and pain relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4-6 hours. i'm taking 8 pills a day, and if i take it for 10 days, that's 80 pills. just two aleve can last all day. perfect. [ male announcer ] choose aleve and you could be taking 4 times fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just two aleve have e strength to last all day. get the all day in relief of aleve. also in liquid-gels. [ male announcer ] we call it the american renewal. because ge capital understands what businesses need to grow. that's why today ge capital provides critical financing to more than 300,000 growing companies.

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] winning more awards for quality and customer service than any other luxury manufacturer the last 10 years says something. yet the award we value most is the fact that lexus has had more repeat loyal drivers in more of the last 10 years than any other luxury automotive brand. to express our thanks, we are featuring our best values of the year. giving you unprecedented access to lexus at your lexus dealer. it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together. we really missed a great opportunity -- dodged a bullet there. [ banker ] so we talked to them about the wells fargo priority buyer preapproval. it lets people know that you are a serious buyer because you've been credit-approved. we got everything in order so that we can move on the next place we found. which was clear on the other side of town.

[ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when you're ready to move. bobby kennedy will we eventually find out who what, where, when, why? >> well, the coast guard and the management agency is currently doing a postmortem. the -- what they are focusing now is the absence of a number of piece of equipment that could have provided a fail safe for this operation, larry, one that was apparently no acoustic regulator device which is a device that could remotely shut off the valve. there was a manual device but the manual device was a button that was at the precise location where the fire started so we don't know whether the men who were actually killed during the blowout were able to ever push that but the. there is a remote system that is used throughout the world, the

north sea and it is used by bp on all of its north sea rigs. it is called an accostic regulator device and it can remotely turn or shut off the pipe in the event of a blowout. they did not have one on this pipe. they were excused from having that in a 2003 meeting with dick cheney in which he said -- he absolved the oil industry from installing the safety devices in its offshore rigs. they also didn't have a dope-well valve, apparently, which is another valve that is 200 feet below the surface of the sand, another fail safe device they could have used to shut off the pipe. apparently, bp was also drilling beyond its permit limitations. it was permitted to go down to 18,000 feet but we have information indicating they were as deep as 25,000 feet, which would have been a violation of

permit. unfortunately, bp now concentrating on limiting its liability by making statements blaming transocean but also by circulating large numbers of operatives throughout the communities from the louisiana coast, alabama coast, to get fishermen and other people in impacted by this to this -- by the spill to sign limb times liability for payments between $1,000 and $5,000. and we think -- instead of doing that, they should be installing absorbent booms up and down the coast, which they have failed to do to date. >> james, governor schwarzenegger today withdraw his support of plan to expand oil drilling off california's coast. are we going to see a lot more this? should we stop offshore drilling, james? >> we certainly ought to, but we need to find out what happened here. that job, if an airplane crashes, we find out what

happened, why it did and until we know that and believe me, a lot of people look and we need answers but right now, i tell you, people on the coast, first thing we want is somebody to protect -- protect people and to try to stop this thing and after that there is going to be a ton of losses and i don't know what bp is thinking, trying to get people to sign these waivers. this is the worst -- this is the dumbest pr move and legal move that one can imagine. and they are getting hammered for that, and i think rightly some but people here, you know, people want to be protected. that's the most productive, high-quality seafood area in the world, not just the united states, and we are in danger of losing this, an entire way of life people have down here in south louisiana and all along this coast. and you know, people are really looking for solutions right now and i mean, the lawsuits are going to come and, i mean, eventually, we have to find out what happened here and boy, people are liable, they have to

be held accountable and i mean strictly caccountable. >> james, you mentioned sports as an example here, therefore, we can use the term snake bit. do you think your state is snake bit? >> no my state is a victim of two massive engineering failures. what happened in orleans and st. bernard parish is an engineering failure. what happened in the gulf of mexico is an engineering failure. we are a victim of sloppy engineering and that is a real kind of a tragedy here. you know, storms are going gonna come, there is no doubt about it we were supposed to be protected and protected well against a storm the size of katrina. we were not. what happened in the pacific coast and other parts of the natural disaster, that happened, part of the risk someone takes when they live in a police like this what happened out here in the gulf was an engineering failure could be something worse than that. what robert said is true, they

were exempt from putting safety devices on that they need to full fledge look into what happened here, we are deserving of answers. but this country -- we need more people going into engineering and less people going into investment banking. that's what i think. >> we -- sammy kershaw was due to be with us. we had a technical difficulty. sammy will be on tomorrow night or the next night to discuss. this it is his home state, too. we will be back with more on the ecological damage from jack hanna after this. nutrisystem's roll back sales event: lose weight and save money with our lowest price since 2004.

i'm angie everhart, and i lost 34 pounds on nutrisystem. i lost 120 pounds on nutrisystem. enjoy four perfectly portioned meals a day with our best price guaranteed. i'm marie osmond, and i lost 50 pounds on nutrisystem. i lost over 100 pounds and lowered my blood sugar on nutrisystem d. based on the proven science of the glycemic index, nutrisystem works, and now it can work for you. that's me 22 pounds ago, and i'm never going back there again. roll back prices no matter who you are or what program is right for you. people say i look 10 years younger. i feel 10 years younger. smart money named nutrisystem the best value of popular weight-loss programs. now our best price just got better. call 888-993-thin and start losing weight today. with nutrisystem, there are no more excuses. the nutrisystem roll back sales event won't last long. call or click now.

>> larry: anderson cooper will host "ac 360" at the top of the hour. what's the lead tonight, anderson. >> the breaks news tonight, larry, the cnn has learned the joint terrorism task force is considering the possibility that the incident in times square is more than just a lone wolf and there is a connection to pakistan, according to a source familiar with the investigation. investigator believe this was an intended terror attack to set off explosives in times square, that the individuals intended for the tanks to explode, didn't have the expertise to detonate t

we will have the latest ahead. also, keeping them honest tonight, on the oil spill. oil and accountability. we will show you how little bp, which is a very big oil company, which makes an awful lot of money, how little they could end up paying for ruining a lot of lives it is all legal. we will explain ahead. a stunning story, a letter signed by joseph ratzinger, the man now the pope delaying for years the removal of an american priest already convicted of sexual abuse. we confront the former priest tonight in crime and punishment. those stories and more, larry, at the top of the hour. >> larry: busy calendar for our man anderson cooper, 10 eastern, 7 pacific. go to the columbus zoo with jack hanna, director emeritus of that zoo and director of "into the wild." jack may have animals around him, a sea turtle, baby alligator, he is outside. what is the threat to this marone life by the oil spill, jack? >> larry, as far as this is concerned, the timing couldn't

be worse. you have got to remember, for 500,000, thousands of years, who knows how long, these animals have been making migrating patterns, turtles laying eggs this time of year, fish spawning this time of year, birds my this time of year, laying nests, laying eggs this time of year. with all this said, the timing is probably the worst it can be, manatee now, not colder any longer, going out in the ocean now, plankton and things like that the source of food in the ocean being affected. even though it hasn't hit shore yet, which i pray it country, the valdez oil spill affected lost lives of over 200,000 animals. let's hope it doesn't happen, one thing, larry, for your viewers, people want could go down there and help, go down there with dawn soap which is great to use if you know what you are doing, can't take an animal that is stressed, a bird, sea turtle and try to help unless you get with the folks and know what you are doing. if not, could lead to more deaths. folks shouldn't be out there trying to rescue animals. get with toke folks that know

what they are doing, audubon zoo. seaworld rescued 20,000 penguins in south africa in the year 2000 by washing these birds off and they did pretty good, but the washing these birds off, and they did pretty good, but the timing couldn't be worse. >> larry: do any of these creatures have a sense of this and try to get away? >> you know, larry, that's a very good point. you take the manatee, behind me, i don't know if you can see this. i'll show you this, this is a court of oil i'm holding here. in this 300,000 plus beautiful habitat with manatee, sea turtles, sting ray, this would kill all of them probably within 24 hours. and of course, the manatee, it would take quite quite a bit longer, but animals like dolphins or other animals like that might recognize what this is and take off. but other animals might think it's just a flood flow. they land there like a lot of sea birds and shore birds and oil gets on their wings. what happens? it kagt waigt it weights them down. automatical

automatically, not knowing what it is, they're affected. but some animals, some fishes can. but this is a spawning area. i'm not sure about a certain type of tuna. this is a spawning area for different types of fish. that could be affected greatly because a lot of these eggs rise to the surface. >> larry: we'll be right back with jack hannah. time now for tonight's "larry king live" top 25 moment. iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad spoke at the u.n. today. he called the united states a bully. last year when he was in this country, he appeared on this show for a second time. and after this exchange, possibly the last time. do you agree that there was -- >> >> translator: if you bear with me --

>> larry: was there a holocaust? >> translator: you want to impose your viewpoint on me. >> larry: it wasn't a viewpoint. it was a question. how can you deny an obvious fact. what frus matrates me when i as simple question, all it can be is no, i don't think there was a holocaust. two days prior, we had breakfast. he says we always look forward to having you, we know it will be fair and wonderful. i say i look forward to it, too. will you acknowledge there was a holocaust, that 6 million jews were exterminated by the germans? >> translator: what does this have to do with palestine? >> larry: do you agree there was a holocaust? >> translator: allow me to raise a second question and you'll get your answer. >> larry: are you denying the holocaust existed. >> translator: you can't violate the rights -- >> larry: i understand that. but do you agree there was a

holocaust. that's a simple yes or no. i don't think he'll let me do him again. ahmadinejad, that was something. i agree with myself. we need our help choosing our top five larry king live moments. to vote for this or one of the other top moments, go to cnn.com/larryking. while you're there sign up for our lkl top 25 sweep stakes. you can also win this one of a kind lkl 25 t-shirt. got two sides to it. more with jack hannah coming up. don't go away. granola nut clusters from nature valley. 100% natural nuts and granola in bite sized clusters. it's a little bit of nature... a little bit better. and nature approves. granola nut clusters from nature valley.

>> larry: we're back with jack hannah. how much can actually be done? you can't really protect them if something goes wrong with an oil spill, can you, jack? >> well, not with tens of thousands of animals, no. but larry, if you see in the picture there, you'll see the manatee.

right now, we lost over 500 manatee, approaching 500 right now in florida because of the cold weather. we only had two manatee we were rehabbing six weeks ago. we have seven or eight here right now. for all the animal rights groups who say we don't do much. we spend millions of dplarps all the zoological aquariums are rehabilitating. we've lost 500 probably this winter. imagine if this happens again or if the oil spill affects them? look what they're eating there. that's lettuce we feed them there. we'll get them out in the wild as quickly as we can. however, if the food chain is affected out in the ocean, you can imagine how it will affect the sea turtles who lay their eggs this time of year. the plankton provides everything in the oceans. this is what i'm more worried about than almost anything. if it affects food sources it's going to affect a great many types of spee cease cies of ani.

>> larry: what are the wild life that are affected? >> we know about the bird life. what about the oysters, what about the fishing industry? even though that's an industry, that's what people stay alive with. that's very, very critical. what do all those animals -- we talk about the chain, larry, and people -- well, the chain really isn't anything. this is going to be a perfect example of what the chain of life is going to be like. it's going to start with the little microorganisms and go up to the biggest, the magnificent manatee. it's going to affect all of them if this really does hit shore. even though it hasn't hit shore yet, it will affect many creatures. let's pray it does not hit shore just like that tsunami that didn't hit shore. that's what i'm pry praig for. if it does, i can't tell you the numbers of manles, from the little crabs. the little creatures affect all the creatures throughout the world. we have to think about the littlest ones as well. >> larry: did we learn lessons from the exxon valdez habitat clean-up effort, what they went

through? >> well, the exxon valdez effort, someone said this is going to be another 20 or 30 years before the entire thing is totally done right, but a great effort was made i'm sure by those folks. a lot was learned from the oil spill, just as was said about this spill here. we all depend on oil. we have 22 boilers at the soothe that keeps some of the most endangered animals in the world alive. until we find another source, we all have to work together to figure out what happened here, correct it and then we're going to have to use the oil to keep life sustained here alive in situations like this. what else is the answer? i don't know until we don't have to depend on oil. but right now we do. as far as the oil spill -- i know we're short on time. we lost 200,000 animals there. but many, many animals are saved thanks to folks at the zoological parks up there, the aquariums up there. the columbus zoo in ohio. we're here saving manatee. we're going to release back in