Scientist Convicted in Afghan Incident
BLITZER: Getting right back to Jack Cafferty for the "CAFFERTY FILE." Jack?</s>CAFFERTY: Imagine taking a pill, Wolf, that could help you to live to be 100 years. You could do THE SITUATION ROOM until your 98th birthday. Scientists expect the drug to be ready for testing within three years, and they claim the pill could revolutionize aging. Here's the deal. Researchers have identified three super genes that allowed those who have them to live 100 years. Two of these genes produce good cholesterol which reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, and the third gene protects against diabetes. People born with these three genes are 20 more times more likely to reach 100 years of age, even if they are overweight, heavy smokers, have a bad diet and don't exercise. In other words, they can maintain these unhealthy lifestyles and still live for a century. Those with these three genes in their DNA are also 80 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease. Now that scientists have identified these super genes, they are trying to develop a pill that will duplicate those genes so that anybody can live 100 years. Experts say that they'll eventually mean longer, healthier lives for millions of people. The social implications, though, of something like this are huge. We are already overpopulating the planet. Think about the costs to social security, Medicare, et cetera. All of the entitlement programs if the population began reaching the age of 100. Here is the question, though, and that aside, "Would you choose to live to be 100?" Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile. You can post comment on my blog. You want to do this for another 50 years or so?</s>BLITZER: Yes, I do. I want to be in THE SITUATION ROOM when I am 98 or 99.</s>CAFFERTY: You do? What is wrong with you?</s>BLITZER: I want to just be here. I am having too much fun.</s>CAFFERTY: There's something wrong with you.</s>BLITZER: Jack, you and me, will be THE SITUATION ROOM for decades to come. That's going to be great. The answer is yes. I want to be here, 100, maybe 120. You know, we will see.</s>CAFFERTY: Fine.</s>BLITZER: Jack, thank you. After a stormy trial, a U.S.-educated scientist and a mother of three was today found guilty of attempting to kill Americans. Stems from an incident in Afghanistan. Our Mary Snow has been following the case. Mary is joining us now with more. Quite a scene there today, Mary.</s>MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was. And, Wolf, you know, there had been two very different stories about Aafia Siddiqui, who is from Pakistan, but have lived in the U.S. for a while. She was convicted on seven counts after being charged with trying to kill U.S. military officers and FBI agents. The U.S. attorney here in New York is praising the decision. But an official to Pakistani embassy says their government is dismayed by the verdict and confirms the Pakistan government paid for Aafia Siddiqui's legal bills.</s>SNOW (voice-over): With the scarf covering most of her face, Aafia Siddiqui declared, "This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America," after she was convicted of charges she tried to kill Americans while she was detained in Afghanistan in 2008. It is a far cry from the life she once had in the United States, where she became a neuroscientist after studying at M.I.T. and Brandeis. She left the U.S. in 2002 with her three children. By 2004, U.S. officials named her as having links to al Qaeda. Tina Foster who serves as the family spokesperson believes Siddiqui is being framed. Pointing to the fact that Siddiqui was in charge with terrorism.</s>TINA FOSTER, INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE NETWORK: This is a lot of the same type of secret, smoke and mirrors kind of evidence that the U.S. government has relied on to paint a picture of Aafia Siddiqui as a terrorist, but have not come forward with anything that would actually corroborate those types of allegations.</s>SNOW: But prosecutors say when Saddiqui was taken into custody in 2008, she was found with documents describing mass casualties that named New York's Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty among other landmarks. Prosecutors in the case didn't speak publicly, but former federal prosecutor Barco says that fact Saddiqui was charged with the shooting incident and not terrorism is not surprising.</s>ANTHONY BARKOW, FORMER U.S. PROSECUTOR: Certainly not a straightforward as a prosecution for attempted murder, for using a weapon and firing upon people in close range. That's a much easier case to prove. It's cleaner, it's more straightforward, it has fewer distractions for the jury or a judge to seize upon.</s>SNOW: Siddiqui testified in her own defense calling charges crazy that she tried to attack U.S. personnel who were trying to interrogate her in Afghanistan. She claimed she had been tortured and held in a secret prison. Foster believes Siddiqui, and says two of her children are still missing.</s>FOSTER: I think Aafia Siddiqui and her three children have become a symbol in Pakistan of the disappeared, of the missing, of those who have disappeared into secret prisons.</s>SNOW: But former U.S. Attorney David Kelley sees another explanation behind the mystery of Siddiqui's whereabouts between the time she left the U.S. and when she was apprehended in Afghanistan.</s>DAVID KELLEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Sir Walker Lean basically fell out of touch with his family, and the next thing he know, he is up on the front lines of Afghanistan. You saw recently the folks from the Midwest who were arrested in Pakistan after kind of disappearing and going through some training and so forth in Pakistan. And she falls into the same category.</s>SNOW: And the Justice Department has denied all along that Saddiqui was held at Bagram or any secret prisons before her arrest in 2008. Now the 37-year-old Saddiqui faces life in prison, and Wolf, her lawyers say they expect to appeal.</s>BLITZER: What struck you most about this entire case, Mary?</s>SNOW: You know, it was very colorful, Wolf. You know, Siddiqui had several outbursts during this trial which lasted about two weeks. And at certain time, she was kicked and thrown out of the courtroom. She wanted to fire her attorneys, she testified against their advice, but, you know, prosecutors had said that she knew what she was doing. She had been tested for her mental stability. It was deemed that she was OK to stand trial. And, you know, it was just a very bizarre atmosphere at times during this trial.</s>BLITZER: Guilty verdict today. All right, thanks Mary. Mary Snow reporting for us. Let's get a little bit more on this and more other subjects with our national security contributor Fran Townsend. She joining us now from New York. She was the Homeland Security adviser to President Bush. I assume you weren't surprised by the guilty verdict today, Fran?</s>FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: I was not, Wolf. And, look, this would have been an easier charge to prove. The actual assault on the FBI agents. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the significance that Siddiqui played. She was caught for materials calling for a mass casualty events, referring to cells, materials referring to a dirty bomb. So this -- she was a significant player, and it goes well beyond the assault on what she was convicted of today.</s>BLITZER: All right. Let's move on to Eric Holder, the attorney general. I've got his letter here, a lengthy letter he wrote to Mitch McConnell, a Senate Republican leader, defending his actions with Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day alleged bomber. Among other things, Eric Holder writes this. He said, "I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, with the knowledge of and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government." He says he made that decision. You read this letter. Does he make a convincing case?</s>TOWNSEND: You know, Wolf, I think when you read the whole letter, it really has a very defensive tone to it. And I think that's because they have been under tremendous political heat, because Abdulmutallab was given his Miranda warnings after only 15 minutes of questioning. They are trying to defend themselves by saying he is talking now, but, of course, that doesn't save them from the fact that there have been weeks have passed without his talking. In the letter, he goes on to sort of point to the prior administration charging people criminally. I will tell, I find it a little surprising that this attorney general in this administration is looking to the prior Bush administration for any comfort or protection. And so I think the letter is frankly very defensive.</s>BLITZER: But I don't remember, Fran, and you worked with the Bush White House, you remember those years. I don't remember a lot of critics, a lot of Republicans saying to President Bush and to his attorney, respective attorneys general, why are you trying these terrorists, these alleged terrorists that you captured in civilian court, because most of them were tried in civilian court. The question is, why are they complaining now about Eric Holder's behavior when they didn't complain about John Ashcroft's behavior for example?</s>TOWNSEND: Well, I think that, Wolf, beyond the general politics of it that we always seem to see in Washington, I really think that part of this has got to do with the circumstances and the timing of the decision. I mean, frankly, I was in the Justice Department when the decision was made to try the East Africa Embassy bombers in 1998 and take them into a criminal process. So I have seen this work before, not per se a problem. The issue here is they made this decision on about 50-minutes' worth of questioning when in theory , at least, Abdulmutallab could have had information about the whereabouts of other co-conspirators of the bomb makers, the cell, those he was working with, that they didn't take the time to get before they made that decision, and I think that's the crux of the objections.</s>BLITZER: And he goes out to say, Eric Holder in his letter, he says, "The way that they were dealing with the suspect was fully consistent with the long-established and publicly done policies and practices of the Department of Justice, the FBI and the United States government as a whole as implemented for many years by administrations of both parties." Eric Holder' letter. All right, Fran, thanks very much. We'll continue this conversation in the days to come. I'm sure it's not going away.</s>TOWNSEND: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: A massive roadside bomb takes a deadly toll on U.S. troops in Pakistan. We've got late details from CNN's Reza Sayah. He's in Islamabad. Stand by. And moving things with your mind. Is that possible? We're going to show you the amazing new technology that's harnessing what's being called brain power.