Jackson Family To Gather Tomorrow; Cross-Dressing Militants Fool Marines; Defiance At the Top
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now, disturbing new video confirms the worst fears. And the lineup for Michael Jackson's memorial has now been announced, as a few lucky fans line up to collect their tickets to what will be a star-studded event, with sports legends, celebrities and other famous public figures now slated to take part. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. All right, details of Michael Jackson's funeral -- funeral, not the memorial service, but the funeral -- are just coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now. We are being told by sources it will take place immediately before tomorrow's massive public memorial in L.A. . Let's go straight to CNN's Ted Rowlands. He's in Los Angeles -- all right, Ted, be specific. Tell our viewers everything we're learning about the funeral.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, as you know, the family has been very tight-lipped about what they were planning in terms of a private memorial service -- a private funeral service. And we are now learning that before the 10:00 a.m. Pacific time public memorial here at Staples Center, there will be an 8:00 a.m. service -- a funeral service for members of the family and very close friends, that we're just learning here. Two hours before the public memorial, there will be a private funeral in Los Angeles for family and friends of Michael Jackson.</s>BLITZER: And, Ted, they're calling it a family gathering. They're not necessarily saying it's a funeral. It will be two hours before the memorial service at the Staples Center, where you are right now. They will all gather there. Other associates of the family have been calling it a funeral. But is there a distinction there with a difference or what -- what do we know specifically? Is there a difference between a family gathering at a plot at Forest Lawn as opposed to a formal funeral?</s>ROWLANDS: Well, absolutely. And when you -- the problem is, the family is still tight-lipped about it and we don't have that confirmed in terms of the resting spot of Michael Jackson -- is Michael Jackson going to be buried at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles? We don't have that confirmed. What we do have confirmed is that they're -- this family gathering is taking place two hours before the public ceremony here. And that, of course, lends itself to the possibility that he could be interred at that point or possibly later. But we do know now for sure that the family is gathering in this private -- very private, what we're led to believe -- ceremony of some sort -- gathering two hours before the very public memorial here at Staples Center.</s>BLITZER: All right. So that family gathering scheduled for 8:00 a.m. Pacific time in Forest Lawn in Los Angeles. At 10:00 a.m. The Pacific time, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, the memorial service at the Staples Center begins. All right. Stand by, Ted. We're going to come back to you. We have a lot more coming up on what we can anticipate tomorrow. But I want to move on to some other news we're following right now -- important news in Afghanistan. The war there growing more deadly and more complicated for U.S. forces. And they are now operating under new rules designed to limit civilian casualties and gain civilian trust. But those very same rules resulted in an almost unbelievable twist that let Taliban militants to simply walk away from a standoff with U.S. Marines. Those Taliban militants were dressed in burkas as women. Our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, is following all these developments for us. Really, an amazing turn of events and a very, very serious confrontation that's unfolding in Afghanistan right now -- Chris.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hard to believe, Wolf. You know, Insurgents in Afghanistan are taking women and children hostage and then stealing their clothes to evade capture. That's right -- cross dressing insurgents and how they fooled the U.S. military.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): U.S. officials predicted violence would spike in Afghanistan and it has. Four American soldiers died Monday, when their vehicles hit a roadside bomb in Kunduz Province. A suicide bomber attacked the main NATO base in Kandahar and two more U.S. troops were killed by an explosion in the south. The Marines keep pushing into Taliban-controlled towns. U.S. troops were issued a tactical directive that basically says troops will assume more risk to make sure they don't harm civilians. Part of it reads: "Any entry into a Afghan house should always be accomplished by Afghan forces and account for the unique cultural sensitivities toward local women." That was put to the test Monday, when Marines are battling insurgents in Khan Neshin. The insurgents ran into a compound with women and children inside. The Marines held their fire and settled into a stand-off. At 6:30 a.m., a group of women and children leave the compound. They say there are no more civilians inside, but Marines continue to hold their fire. Sure enough, at 7:30, another group of women and children walk south. And after 8:00, a woman comes out screaming, with a bullet wound in her hand. As the Marines rush over to help her, one last group of women come out -- covered head to toe. These women just walked away. And when the Marines went into the compound, it's empty. The cross dressing insurgents had walked right past them.</s>LAWRENCE: Even the troops describe these women as broad- shouldered, with hairy feet. So how did it happen? Well, even the troops say when these insurgents came out dressed as women, they had at least two kids with them, which added to the disguise. And the Americans didn't have any females with them to conduct searches, so they erred on the side of caution and refused to cause a potential cultural incident by having Marines pat down Afghan women -- effort.</s>BLITZER: It could be very, very deadly caution, as well. All right. Thanks very much, Chris, for that. In Iran, the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khameini, spoke out today against what he called enemies and outsiders. And he's blaming them for the political unrest following the contested peen. The former presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Moussavi, also spoke publicly today for the first time in a week. He's quoted as vowing to continue leading government opposition. And now, critical new support for his cause -- some top Iranian clerics are questioning the election and the government's response. Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd. He's been looking into this -- potentially a pretty significant development -- Brian.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are, Wolf. Real rumblings in Iran that have a lot of us bracing right now. A fresh round of defiance in Iran -- an ominous counterattack by members of the government leadership, adding up to some signs that Iran may be seeing -- may be seeing, in the coming days, a second wave of political confrontation.</s>TODD (voice-over): Part of Iran's religious establishment from the holy city of Qom now openly questions the election results. Former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an ayatollah who heads the group responsible for appointing or removing Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, says: "I don't think any wakened consciousness would be satisfied with the post-election crackdown." Some grand ayatollahs make their own statements critical of the regime, as do some senior clerics at a seminary in Qom. Perspective from an Islamic scholar once jailed under the Shah.</s>PROF. ABBAS MILANI, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: All of this put together is, I think, creating the historic challenge to the regime and to Khamenei's leadership.</s>TODD: Contacted by CNN, an Iranian official discounted the influence of the clerics' statements. But he warns leadership is lashing out at what it calls "interlopers from outside."</s>AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMEINI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): The Iranian nation warns the heads of countries who try to benefit from an internal issue of our country against the Iranian nation that you should be careful.</s>TODD: And a key adviser to Khamenei writes in an editorial that opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi could be working for the Americans. An Islamic scholar critical of the regime says Khameini has to quickly move beyond accusations and reconcile with his strongest critics.</s>PROF. MOHSEN KADIVAR, DUKE UNIVERSITY: He should repair the trust of the people, in one hand; and, also, he needs the support of grand ayatollahs of Qom seminally (ph), in the other hand. If he cannot provide these two, I think it will be a crisis.</s>TODD: But it's not clear what the regime is about to do. A source in Iran with firsthand knowledge of the situation says it does not look like there will be imminent action by the government to move against those clerics in Qom. The clerics who have weighed in against the government, even some of those grand ayatollahs, are not the only important members of the clergy there. Experts say there are several grand ayatollahs who have remained completely silent so far. Many are watching for what they do next -- Wolf. They may signal the real shift in the religious leadership against the government, if they say something.</s>BLITZER: But the former presidential candidate, the opposition leader, Mir Hossein Moussavi, he's -- he's vowing to continue his fight.</s>TODD: That's right. He is planning on filing papers in the coming days for a new political party aimed at reigning in the power of the current regime. He says he's going to file those new papers before Ahmadinejad is sworn in, later this month or early next. So he is going to press ahead. He may be pushing that envelope to see just how far he can take this before the government comes back after him.</s>BLITZER: We're going to stay on top of this story. Obviously, significant developments in Iran. Brian, thank you. Let's go to Jack Cafferty right now. He has "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A semi-related story -- there are some questions about whether Vice President Joe Biden may have done it again. Over the weekend, Biden said the U.S. would not stand in the way if Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities. Some say that signals a change in the U.S. policy -- drawing a harder line against Iran. But the White House is quick to point out the statement, in its opinion, simply maintains what they've always said -- that Israel has the right to defend itself. The vice president also said the U.S. remains willing to negotiate with Iran in spite of the recent violence that erupted in the wake of those contested elections -- the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In May, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, you'll recall, met with President Obama. And he said that Israel would wait it out for the rest of this year to see if Iran is willing to talk. When asked if this was the right approach, Vice President Biden didn't say whether or not the U.S. agrees with that position, but did say -- quoting now -- "Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else." So here's the question: Vice President Biden said Israel is free to set its own course on Iran. What do this mean? Go to CNN.com/caffertyfile and you can post a comment on my blog. The State Department was out this afternoon, as well, Wolf, kind of trying to put some Band-Aids on the -- on the Biden stuff.</s>BLITZER: Did you -- do you remember what he told Gloria Borger and me in, I think it was in April, when I asked him if he thought Israel, you know, had the right or should go forward?</s>CAFFERTY: Yes, he said absolutely not.</s>BLITZER: Yes. And so there's a clear difference what he said then as opposed to now. And there's going to be a lot of speculation about that, Jack.</s>CAFFERTY: Perhaps he changed his mind.</s>BLITZER: Yes. Obviously, he did. All right, Jack. Thanks very much. Millions of people wanted them, but only a lucky few thousand collected them today over at Dodger Stadium. That would be tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial, as the celebrity-filled lineup is now announced. And the FBI makes an unusual move, as speculation swirls around why Sarah Palin is resigning as governor of Alaska. We have the details of what the agency is saying about those rumors. And ethnic tension boiling over in China right now, resulting in deadly protests -- among the worst in China since the Tiananmen massacre two decades ago.