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Militants Promise Vengeance after Death of Hamas Leader; Former Bush Advisor Says al Qaeda Threat Not Taken Seriously Before 9/11; Tunnels May Have Aided al Qaeda Leader to Escape; Hezbollah Attacks Israeli Posts; Jury Selection to Continue for Scott Peterson
Aired March 22, 2004 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Chris, are you with us?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The streets of Gaza are deserted right now amid prayers and mourning as Palestinians here mourn the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who they are outraged that the Israelis could kill him, a quadriplegic 67-year-old struck, struck as he left a mosque in the morning for morning prayers.
That has caused a lot of outrage among Palestinian, who say that this was a cold-blooded act, the Israelis arguing that this was the killing of a cold-blooded killer who has inspired a lot of people to stage suicide attacks inside Israel, something -- killing hundreds of Israelis. So that debate goes on.
There is the threat from the militants for yet more attacks. In fact, during the funeral procession today, with tens of thousands of people in the streets here and bonfires in the streets, there were leaflets being distributed by Hamas, which called for an earthquake to strike, an earthquake of revenge to strike the Israeli territory. So the calls for revenge from Hamas.
The Palestinian authority condemning the attack, calling it cowardly and very dangerous. They say that it could cause more chaos here in the territories.
The Israelis are girding for more attacks. In fact, we believe that we saw another rocket attack, or a mortar attack from here just minutes ago. There were two that struck near the Erez border crossing as we were passing through earlier -- later this afternoon.
So the reprisals go on, but the militants are promising more strikes inside Israel proper.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Chris Burns with the latest from Gaza City. A little taste of live television for us, as well. Chris, thank you so much.
Now let's focus on a problem here in the U.S. President Bush's former adviser on counter terrorism has issued a blistering critique of the White House in the run-up to September 11.
His book was released today, Richard Clarke claiming that President Bush and his inner circle failed to take al Qaeda seriously before 9/11. In fact, he said they ignored the threat. Clark says he warned repeatedly that attacks were in the works but could not get anyone to listen.
After 9/11, Clarke says the president and his aides pushed him to find a link between al Qaeda and Iraq.
On "60 Minutes" last night, he said the Iraq was has only energized al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER BUSH ADVISOR: Osama bin Laden had been saying for years, America wants to invade an Arab country and occupy it, an oil-rich Arab country. He had been saying this. This is part of his propaganda.
So what did we do after 9/11? We invade an oil-rich and occupy an oil-rich Arab country which was doing nothing to threaten us. In other words, we stepped right in to bin Laden's propaganda.
And the result of that is that al Qaeda and organizations like it, offshoots of it, second generation al Qaeda, have been greatly strengthened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, if Richard Clarke came out swinging last night, the White House came swinging back this morning, defending the president vigorously against Clarke's accusations.
Let's bring in Suzanne Malveaux, who is at the White House.
Suzanne, good morning once again.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Well, White House spokesman Scott McClellan actually made a joke of it earlier today, saying it's Dick Clark's American Bandstand, saying that he just keeps changing his tune. It as part of the White House -- the Bush administration's effort to discredit Richard Clarke, who has been a 30-year civil servant, worked with Reagan, Bush, Clinton as well as this Bush presidency in the terms of counter terrorism field.
He said that the accusations that President Bush didn't take threats seriously before 9/11 were just plain irresponsible. He also said that they were flat-out wrong.
Regarding a conversation that Clarke said he had with President Bush just after 9/11, in which he felt that the president was pressuring him to put this on Saddam Hussein, McClellan says that the president doesn't even recall having such a conversation.
And then earlier today, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice spoke with CNN, essentially taking issue with the accusation that much of the administration's attention was focused on Saddam and Iraq and not on al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I wasn't born yesterday when Dick Clarke briefed me.
I knew that in 1998 we suspected that al Qaeda had done the bombings of the embassy. I knew about Osama bin Laden. We all knew that in 2000 they were suspected of doing the Cole.
No, this wasn't an issue of who knew about al Qaeda. This was an issue of what we were going to do about al Qaeda. And it was Dick Clarke's job to develop for this president a broad, comprehensive strategy for dealing with the al Qaeda threat.
And he eventually did that, and I think did a very good job. But this retrospective rewriting of the history of the first several months of the administration is not helpful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Daryn, the White House certainly isn't backing down. And as you now, this comes at a critical time. The Bush administration has been under a great deal of scrutiny about its war on terror.
Also this week we're going to be hearing from Bush and Clinton administration officials will be publicly testifying before the 9/11 commission about what they knew before the terrorist attacks -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Suzanne, I want to ask you about other news breaking today, and that is the killing of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. France and Germany have come out and condemned the action.
What's the reaction from the U.S. government?
MALVEAUX: Well, the White House is really walking a fine line here, a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, Scott McClellan saying that the administration is consistent. It is supporting its policy that it does not support these targeted assassinations.
But having said that, McClellan saying the focus here is that Hamas is a terrorist organization, that the U.S. does not play traffic cop, meaning they don't give a red or a green light when it comes to these assassinations. But they squarely put the responsibility on the Palestinian authority, saying they need to do more to make sure they dismantle these terrorist organizations.
We are not hearing an outright condemnation from this administration -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you for the latest on that.
Pakistan's military discovers a possible escape route for militants. The troops made the discovery during an offensive against suspected al Qaeda holdouts.
Nic Robertson is in Islamabad with the latest on that -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the very latest we're hearing just in the last few hours, an attack on a Pakistani military convoy as it was heading into that tribal region of Waziristan close to the border with Afghanistan.
And there are no details yet on casualties, although we do understand that it was a rocket attack and that the convoy -- some of the trucks in the convoy were carrying fuel into the troops in that tribal region.
That network of tunnels that we learned about a little earlier in the day from Pakistani military officials, they say linking some of the compounds that they had surrounded. They say that one of the tunnels stretched a mile away from one of those compounds, and they cannot rule out the possibility that people may have escaped down that tunnel.
They do not know who may have escaped down that tunnel. They do say that these compounds were owned by tribal people who they called bandits and criminals.
We also know that the Pakistani military have removed at least six bodies from the battlefield. And we understand from Pakistani intelligence sources that U.S. officials will be -- or are performing DNA analysis on those bodies, although we're not told there is any likelihood that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 in al Qaeda, is among them -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So, Nic, with these tunnels, is this coming as a surprise to the Pakistani military? Did they not know there were these types of systems in these mountains in this part of the country?
ROBERTSON: The Pakistani military here have been very surprised by the level of resistance that they encountered when they went into this region. They say that they'd known for some time that there were a lot of foreigners in the area. They blame their own conflicting intelligence service reports as to why they hadn't gone into this area before.
But they've been surprised by the trench systems, the complexity of the military attacks laid against them when they went into the area.
They're not saying that they're surprised about these tunnels, but as they have gone through some of the compounds now, the cordon and search operations, they've become aware of these tunnels. And that for them gives them an indication that perhaps some of the people they are looking for may have escaped that way.
We've noticed over the weekend, Daryn, how they've begun to lower expectations that Ayman al-Zawahiri or any other high-value target may be caught, and this very much fits into that information that we're being provided by Pakistani military officials. Again, it's another indication perhaps, then, letting us know, letting the world know that perhaps they're not going to show up with a high-value target, although nobody ruling it out concretely yet -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson with the latest from Islamabad, thank you so much.
Want to go live to Washington, D.C. The Israeli foreign minister at the White House speaking about the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Let's listen in.
SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: I just concluded a meeting with Vice President Cheney, where I briefed him about what's happened in Gaza.
Sheik Yassin was behind many terrorist attacks that caused hundreds of hundreds of casualties in Israel. Sheik Yassin was personally involved by so many attacks in our region, and we believe that no one of those terrorist leaders deserves immunity.
Sheik Yassin is the godfather of the suicide bombers, and I believe that today we delivered a very important message to all of those who are responsible with terrorist attacks against Israelis that they should be punished while they are planning to attack Israelis.
QUESTION: Mr. Shalom, you said there is no one deserves immunity over there from those leaders. Are we going to see more attacks against those leaders in the future? Could you tell us?
SHALOM: Israel took a strategic decision to fight all the terrorist organizations, and it includes its leaders. It can't be that from one end we will do everything we can in order to kill those suicide bombers if they didn't succeed to implement or to carry out their attacks, while in the other end those leaders of those organizations won't be punished.
As I have said, Sheik Yassin was the leader of a terrorist organization that has a very extreme ideology, to destroy the state of Israel and to kill its people. Hamas, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, all of them are extreme organizations that would like to implement their ideology to fight all of those societies and countries that are having values of freedom, democracy and human rights.
QUESTION: Mr. Foreign Minister, was the United States government aware in advance of this strike? And given that Israel has tried to kill Sheik Yassin before, had the administration communicated over the previous months and years anything about that matter to your government?
SHALOM: Israel have decided to take the decision by its own government. And the decision to carry out this action this morning in Gaza was accepted by the Israeli government itself. Israel deserves to self-defense and this action in Gaza was pure self-defense in order to protect our people.
We are doing everything we can to coordinate our future moves with the American administration, but it didn't include this action that was taken this morning in Gaza.
QUESTION: Mr. Shalom, the White House is asking you to exercise restraint on the other people around the world. Don't you think such action will hurt the peace process?
SHALOM: We think to the contrary. It might bring all of the leaders of the Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the other extremist organizations to realize that they will pay for their crimes, they will pay for the instructions that they are giving to the suicide bombers. And it might bring them to realize that they should abandon this extreme ideology and it might bring them to move toward another attitude.
And we believe that in every time, to talk to the Palestinian Authority is something that we would like to do. But in the other end, we can't ignore the situation that is taking place in our region. Those organizations are doing everything they can in order to hurt and to damage the Israeli society and the Israeli people.
QUESTION: Mr. Shalom, why now? Why now? Why today? And what was the U.S. reaction -- the official reaction to you vis-a-vis the strike?
SHALOM: To ask why now, I think it's not the right question, if I may.
SHALOM: You might be asked, "Why not in the past?"
Sheik Yassin and his organization, the Hamas, are responsible to the killings of more than 400 Israelis, in more than 400 attacks that were carried out against Israelis.
Recently, there were many attacks that were carried out by Israelis that were instructed by Yassin and the leadership of the Hamas.
So the question shouldn't be, "Why now?" I think it should be, "Why not before?" But the decision was taken recently and the implementation took place this morning in Gaza.
QUESTION: What was the U.S. reaction?
SHALOM: I don't want to talk about my discussions with the American administration. I had a very good meeting with Vice President Bush. We were talking about various issues. I will have more meetings today with Secretary Powell and with Dr. Rice and, of course, we will discuss all the issues in the Middle East.
Thank you very much.
STAFF: Vice President Cheney.
SHALOM: Vice President Cheney, of course. I'm sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
That's fine. But his father was in the past vice president before he became a president, so it was Vice President Cheney. I'm sorry for that.
And what we are trying to do is to put an end to this phenomena that is taking place so many years and we would like to believe that it's a very strong message and a very strong signal to all the extremists that from now on they don't have immunity anymore.
Thank you very much.
KAGAN: We've been listening in there, listening in for a bit to Israel's foreign minister talking about the killing earlier today of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader and the founder of Hamas and the condemnation that that has brought around the world.
Foreign Minister Shalom saying that Israel acted on its own; it did not act in concert with the U.S.
He earlier called Yassin the godfather of suicide bombers. And as for the question of why now, he said the question really is why not earlier?
Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He's also an expert on Mid-East matters, and he's joining us now to talk about this and some other issues in the news.
Michael, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: My pleasure, Daryn.
KAGAN: I'm so glad that that reporter asked that question of why now, because that's my question that I have about clearly, this -- Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is someone who's been around since the late '80s. Why did Israel pick now to carry out this attack?
O'HANLON: Well, as you know, Hamas also has charitable roles that it has broader political role among the Palestinian people, not all of which has to do with terror. And this has been a charismatic figure and, as you know, also a cripple.
And so it's a little bit more of a risky proposition to go after this kind of figurehead. You tend to prefer to go after the more operational terrorist activists within Hamas. At least that was the past Israeli approach.
But to the extent that there seemed to be more and more of a blurring over of functions and someone like Yassin even being involved more directly in terrorist plots or that Hamas no longer seemed willing to draw a distinction between terrorism and its other activities and just seemed bent on killing as many as Israelis as possible, Israel decided to escalate itself.
So I think that's the basic thing that's gone on here.
KAGAN: And the Mid-East is such a place of mixed messages. As you mentioned with Hamas, some people see it as a terrible terrorist organization. Others see it, as you mentioned, as an organization that provides social services to the poor in the Palestinian community.
As for Israeli, they go after this leader at the same time they're talking about pulling out of Gaza.
O'HANLON: Yes. Well, I think that it's understandable to do a serious carrot and stick strategy. I just hope Israel stays serious about the carrots, as well.
In fact, I'd like to see a much more radical Israeli approach which says we're going to pull a lot of the settlements out of West Bank now and not wait for a peace deal.
Of course, that would require major changes in the domestic politics of Israel. Mr. Sharon is simply not going do that.
But I think it's the right thing. Withhold the diplomatic recognition, withhold some aid to the Palestinians until they sign a peace deal, but pull those settlements out now, because they are provoking a lot of the Arab anger that we're also suffering from here in this country.
So I'm glad to see the Gaza move. I just hope it continues and is amplified and joined by similar moves in the West Bank. But I'm not holding my breath.
KAGAN: Well, as we heard, the U.S. government not coming out and condemning the action by Israel today but asking for moderation and some cooler heads on both sides of this conflict. And we'll see if that prevails in the Middle East.
Michael O'Hanlon, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
O'HANLON: My pleasure, Daryn.
KAGAN: And the story does continue to develop. Want to go to Jerusalem now. Paula Hancocks with development for us -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, that speech just a few moments ago by the Israeli foreign minister echoing exactly what Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, has said a little earlier on.
Silvan Shalom saying that -- when asked why they decided to target Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, saying that it would show to terror groups that they would be punished for these kind of attacks. Obviously referring back to the twin suicide bombing in Ashdod port on March 15, which killed ten Israelis.
It was just a couple of days after that that the Israeli security cabinet met and decided to up the ante and increase their military operations and no top individual would be immune. They have proved that early this morning by assassinating Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Also as you were saying, when asked why now, he said, why not earlier? Why not in the past?
And he was also saying that many attacks in Israel, attacks that have killed almost a thousand Israelis, many of those attacks have been directed and planned by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as Hamas founder and a spiritual leader.
Now we're getting some developments out of the Lebanon-Israeli border, as well, over the past half hour also. The Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah has been firing anti-tank missiles at a number of Israeli military outposts. That's according to Israeli military sources that we are talking to at the moment.
We're just hearing there is apparently a second attack, a second random attack from Hezbollah as well.
Also we're hearing from Lebanese eyewitnesses that Israeli warplanes are fighting back and bombing the outskirts of part of the Shebaa Farm border district, a disputed district just on the border of Israel and Lebanon.
So pockets of violence also in Gaza strip. There were five Palestinians killed in clashes against Israelis earlier on this Monday. Also, we had one person killed in Nablus in the West Bank. So pockets of violence around the place at the moment -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Paula Hancocks with the latest for us from Jerusalem. Paula, thank you.
Plenty of news happening back here in the states. Scott Peterson is back in court today. Defense attorneys say today's hearing could impact Peterson's fate.
And ahead of the tech curve. The next generation of cell phones, a live demonstration just a little bit later.
And if you're looking for that perfect golf getaway, we'll show you the world's best resorts. You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT)
KAGAN: One on one questioning of potential jurors to hear the Scott Peterson double murder trial gets under way this hour in California. There is also an unsettled question there: will the trial be moved yet again?
Our Ted Rowlands is at the courthouse in Redwood City for the proceedings.
Ted, good morning.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. The judge gave both sides a week off to pour over those juror questionnaires as they prepare for the second phase of jury selection. That is expected to take place today.
As far as a potential move of this trial, a potential motion to move this trial, nobody knows quite sure what to expect here this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Defense attorney Mark Geragos told the court it was his intention to formally ask for relief from what he says is a tainted jury pool. But a court-imposed deadline has come and gone, and no motion has been filed.
On March 9, Geragos told the judge that he'd be asking for one of three remedies: another change of venue, a separate jury for the guilt and penalty phase, or extra challenges to get rid of unwanted jurors.
MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: All I want -- and I think all the judge wants -- is to get a fair and impartial jury and not get a stealth juror or jurors.
SCOTT PETERSON, ACCUSED OF WIFE'S MURDER: People accuse me.
GERAGOS: A defense motion to exclude Scott Peterson's statements to the media is scheduled to be ruled on when court resumes this morning. Geragos is arguing that the statements are not relevant to the charges and should be thrown out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: That ruling should come in the next ten minutes when court resumes here. At that point, too, it is expected that Geragos will express his intentions on whether or not he'll file a change of venue motion.
And then at 9:30 this morning, it's expected that they'll get to that second phase of jury selection when both sides will have an opportunity to question each juror as to what they indicated on their jury questionnaire and go from there.
The voir dire questioning is expected to take weeks. Opening arguments are not expected to take place until at least two weeks from now. It may be even longer -- Daryn.
KAGAN: That would be without a change of venue. So Mark Geragos has been able to move this trial or have this trial moved once before. Where would he really like ultimately to see it go, Ted?
ROWLANDS: Well, in California what they do is when a file -- as motion is made, the court administration comes up with a list of cities that are a possibility.
At this point there is really one city -- or county left and that is Orange County that the defense wants this moved to. The prosecution would like to keep it here.
Geragos, however, has maintained that in his eyes, Redwood City where we are now is just a, quote, "weigh station." And his intention is try to convince this judge to move this down to Orange County. Whether or not he'll be successful, we'll have to wait and see.
KAGAN: And for those not as familiar with California as us, Orange County, the county just south of Los Angeles.
Ted, thank you so much. Live from Redwood City, Ted Rowlands.
A check of the top stories coming up, just after a quick break. And new medical research on children and allergies. Having pets may actual improve their health. But other factors may play a larger role. Details ahead on that as CNN's LIVE TODAY continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Former Bush Advisor Says al Qaeda Threat Not Taken Seriously Before 9/11; Tunnels May Have Aided al Qaeda Leader to Escape; Hezbollah Attacks Israeli Posts; Jury Selection to Continue for Scott Peterson>
Aired March 22, 2004 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Chris, are you with us?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The streets of Gaza are deserted right now amid prayers and mourning as Palestinians here mourn the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who they are outraged that the Israelis could kill him, a quadriplegic 67-year-old struck, struck as he left a mosque in the morning for morning prayers.
That has caused a lot of outrage among Palestinian, who say that this was a cold-blooded act, the Israelis arguing that this was the killing of a cold-blooded killer who has inspired a lot of people to stage suicide attacks inside Israel, something -- killing hundreds of Israelis. So that debate goes on.
There is the threat from the militants for yet more attacks. In fact, during the funeral procession today, with tens of thousands of people in the streets here and bonfires in the streets, there were leaflets being distributed by Hamas, which called for an earthquake to strike, an earthquake of revenge to strike the Israeli territory. So the calls for revenge from Hamas.
The Palestinian authority condemning the attack, calling it cowardly and very dangerous. They say that it could cause more chaos here in the territories.
The Israelis are girding for more attacks. In fact, we believe that we saw another rocket attack, or a mortar attack from here just minutes ago. There were two that struck near the Erez border crossing as we were passing through earlier -- later this afternoon.
So the reprisals go on, but the militants are promising more strikes inside Israel proper.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Chris Burns with the latest from Gaza City. A little taste of live television for us, as well. Chris, thank you so much.
Now let's focus on a problem here in the U.S. President Bush's former adviser on counter terrorism has issued a blistering critique of the White House in the run-up to September 11.
His book was released today, Richard Clarke claiming that President Bush and his inner circle failed to take al Qaeda seriously before 9/11. In fact, he said they ignored the threat. Clark says he warned repeatedly that attacks were in the works but could not get anyone to listen.
After 9/11, Clarke says the president and his aides pushed him to find a link between al Qaeda and Iraq.
On "60 Minutes" last night, he said the Iraq was has only energized al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER BUSH ADVISOR: Osama bin Laden had been saying for years, America wants to invade an Arab country and occupy it, an oil-rich Arab country. He had been saying this. This is part of his propaganda.
So what did we do after 9/11? We invade an oil-rich and occupy an oil-rich Arab country which was doing nothing to threaten us. In other words, we stepped right in to bin Laden's propaganda.
And the result of that is that al Qaeda and organizations like it, offshoots of it, second generation al Qaeda, have been greatly strengthened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, if Richard Clarke came out swinging last night, the White House came swinging back this morning, defending the president vigorously against Clarke's accusations.
Let's bring in Suzanne Malveaux, who is at the White House.
Suzanne, good morning once again.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Well, White House spokesman Scott McClellan actually made a joke of it earlier today, saying it's Dick Clark's American Bandstand, saying that he just keeps changing his tune. It as part of the White House -- the Bush administration's effort to discredit Richard Clarke, who has been a 30-year civil servant, worked with Reagan, Bush, Clinton as well as this Bush presidency in the terms of counter terrorism field.
He said that the accusations that President Bush didn't take threats seriously before 9/11 were just plain irresponsible. He also said that they were flat-out wrong.
Regarding a conversation that Clarke said he had with President Bush just after 9/11, in which he felt that the president was pressuring him to put this on Saddam Hussein, McClellan says that the president doesn't even recall having such a conversation.
And then earlier today, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice spoke with CNN, essentially taking issue with the accusation that much of the administration's attention was focused on Saddam and Iraq and not on al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I wasn't born yesterday when Dick Clarke briefed me.
I knew that in 1998 we suspected that al Qaeda had done the bombings of the embassy. I knew about Osama bin Laden. We all knew that in 2000 they were suspected of doing the Cole.
No, this wasn't an issue of who knew about al Qaeda. This was an issue of what we were going to do about al Qaeda. And it was Dick Clarke's job to develop for this president a broad, comprehensive strategy for dealing with the al Qaeda threat.
And he eventually did that, and I think did a very good job. But this retrospective rewriting of the history of the first several months of the administration is not helpful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Daryn, the White House certainly isn't backing down. And as you now, this comes at a critical time. The Bush administration has been under a great deal of scrutiny about its war on terror.
Also this week we're going to be hearing from Bush and Clinton administration officials will be publicly testifying before the 9/11 commission about what they knew before the terrorist attacks -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Suzanne, I want to ask you about other news breaking today, and that is the killing of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. France and Germany have come out and condemned the action.
What's the reaction from the U.S. government?
MALVEAUX: Well, the White House is really walking a fine line here, a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, Scott McClellan saying that the administration is consistent. It is supporting its policy that it does not support these targeted assassinations.
But having said that, McClellan saying the focus here is that Hamas is a terrorist organization, that the U.S. does not play traffic cop, meaning they don't give a red or a green light when it comes to these assassinations. But they squarely put the responsibility on the Palestinian authority, saying they need to do more to make sure they dismantle these terrorist organizations.
We are not hearing an outright condemnation from this administration -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you for the latest on that.
Pakistan's military discovers a possible escape route for militants. The troops made the discovery during an offensive against suspected al Qaeda holdouts.
Nic Robertson is in Islamabad with the latest on that -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the very latest we're hearing just in the last few hours, an attack on a Pakistani military convoy as it was heading into that tribal region of Waziristan close to the border with Afghanistan.
And there are no details yet on casualties, although we do understand that it was a rocket attack and that the convoy -- some of the trucks in the convoy were carrying fuel into the troops in that tribal region.
That network of tunnels that we learned about a little earlier in the day from Pakistani military officials, they say linking some of the compounds that they had surrounded. They say that one of the tunnels stretched a mile away from one of those compounds, and they cannot rule out the possibility that people may have escaped down that tunnel.
They do not know who may have escaped down that tunnel. They do say that these compounds were owned by tribal people who they called bandits and criminals.
We also know that the Pakistani military have removed at least six bodies from the battlefield. And we understand from Pakistani intelligence sources that U.S. officials will be -- or are performing DNA analysis on those bodies, although we're not told there is any likelihood that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 in al Qaeda, is among them -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So, Nic, with these tunnels, is this coming as a surprise to the Pakistani military? Did they not know there were these types of systems in these mountains in this part of the country?
ROBERTSON: The Pakistani military here have been very surprised by the level of resistance that they encountered when they went into this region. They say that they'd known for some time that there were a lot of foreigners in the area. They blame their own conflicting intelligence service reports as to why they hadn't gone into this area before.
But they've been surprised by the trench systems, the complexity of the military attacks laid against them when they went into the area.
They're not saying that they're surprised about these tunnels, but as they have gone through some of the compounds now, the cordon and search operations, they've become aware of these tunnels. And that for them gives them an indication that perhaps some of the people they are looking for may have escaped that way.
We've noticed over the weekend, Daryn, how they've begun to lower expectations that Ayman al-Zawahiri or any other high-value target may be caught, and this very much fits into that information that we're being provided by Pakistani military officials. Again, it's another indication perhaps, then, letting us know, letting the world know that perhaps they're not going to show up with a high-value target, although nobody ruling it out concretely yet -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson with the latest from Islamabad, thank you so much.
Want to go live to Washington, D.C. The Israeli foreign minister at the White House speaking about the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Let's listen in.
SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: I just concluded a meeting with Vice President Cheney, where I briefed him about what's happened in Gaza.
Sheik Yassin was behind many terrorist attacks that caused hundreds of hundreds of casualties in Israel. Sheik Yassin was personally involved by so many attacks in our region, and we believe that no one of those terrorist leaders deserves immunity.
Sheik Yassin is the godfather of the suicide bombers, and I believe that today we delivered a very important message to all of those who are responsible with terrorist attacks against Israelis that they should be punished while they are planning to attack Israelis.
QUESTION: Mr. Shalom, you said there is no one deserves immunity over there from those leaders. Are we going to see more attacks against those leaders in the future? Could you tell us?
SHALOM: Israel took a strategic decision to fight all the terrorist organizations, and it includes its leaders. It can't be that from one end we will do everything we can in order to kill those suicide bombers if they didn't succeed to implement or to carry out their attacks, while in the other end those leaders of those organizations won't be punished.
As I have said, Sheik Yassin was the leader of a terrorist organization that has a very extreme ideology, to destroy the state of Israel and to kill its people. Hamas, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, all of them are extreme organizations that would like to implement their ideology to fight all of those societies and countries that are having values of freedom, democracy and human rights.
QUESTION: Mr. Foreign Minister, was the United States government aware in advance of this strike? And given that Israel has tried to kill Sheik Yassin before, had the administration communicated over the previous months and years anything about that matter to your government?
SHALOM: Israel have decided to take the decision by its own government. And the decision to carry out this action this morning in Gaza was accepted by the Israeli government itself. Israel deserves to self-defense and this action in Gaza was pure self-defense in order to protect our people.
We are doing everything we can to coordinate our future moves with the American administration, but it didn't include this action that was taken this morning in Gaza.
QUESTION: Mr. Shalom, the White House is asking you to exercise restraint on the other people around the world. Don't you think such action will hurt the peace process?
SHALOM: We think to the contrary. It might bring all of the leaders of the Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the other extremist organizations to realize that they will pay for their crimes, they will pay for the instructions that they are giving to the suicide bombers. And it might bring them to realize that they should abandon this extreme ideology and it might bring them to move toward another attitude.
And we believe that in every time, to talk to the Palestinian Authority is something that we would like to do. But in the other end, we can't ignore the situation that is taking place in our region. Those organizations are doing everything they can in order to hurt and to damage the Israeli society and the Israeli people.
QUESTION: Mr. Shalom, why now? Why now? Why today? And what was the U.S. reaction -- the official reaction to you vis-a-vis the strike?
SHALOM: To ask why now, I think it's not the right question, if I may.
SHALOM: You might be asked, "Why not in the past?"
Sheik Yassin and his organization, the Hamas, are responsible to the killings of more than 400 Israelis, in more than 400 attacks that were carried out against Israelis.
Recently, there were many attacks that were carried out by Israelis that were instructed by Yassin and the leadership of the Hamas.
So the question shouldn't be, "Why now?" I think it should be, "Why not before?" But the decision was taken recently and the implementation took place this morning in Gaza.
QUESTION: What was the U.S. reaction?
SHALOM: I don't want to talk about my discussions with the American administration. I had a very good meeting with Vice President Bush. We were talking about various issues. I will have more meetings today with Secretary Powell and with Dr. Rice and, of course, we will discuss all the issues in the Middle East.
Thank you very much.
STAFF: Vice President Cheney.
SHALOM: Vice President Cheney, of course. I'm sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
That's fine. But his father was in the past vice president before he became a president, so it was Vice President Cheney. I'm sorry for that.
And what we are trying to do is to put an end to this phenomena that is taking place so many years and we would like to believe that it's a very strong message and a very strong signal to all the extremists that from now on they don't have immunity anymore.
Thank you very much.
KAGAN: We've been listening in there, listening in for a bit to Israel's foreign minister talking about the killing earlier today of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader and the founder of Hamas and the condemnation that that has brought around the world.
Foreign Minister Shalom saying that Israel acted on its own; it did not act in concert with the U.S.
He earlier called Yassin the godfather of suicide bombers. And as for the question of why now, he said the question really is why not earlier?
Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He's also an expert on Mid-East matters, and he's joining us now to talk about this and some other issues in the news.
Michael, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: My pleasure, Daryn.
KAGAN: I'm so glad that that reporter asked that question of why now, because that's my question that I have about clearly, this -- Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is someone who's been around since the late '80s. Why did Israel pick now to carry out this attack?
O'HANLON: Well, as you know, Hamas also has charitable roles that it has broader political role among the Palestinian people, not all of which has to do with terror. And this has been a charismatic figure and, as you know, also a cripple.
And so it's a little bit more of a risky proposition to go after this kind of figurehead. You tend to prefer to go after the more operational terrorist activists within Hamas. At least that was the past Israeli approach.
But to the extent that there seemed to be more and more of a blurring over of functions and someone like Yassin even being involved more directly in terrorist plots or that Hamas no longer seemed willing to draw a distinction between terrorism and its other activities and just seemed bent on killing as many as Israelis as possible, Israel decided to escalate itself.
So I think that's the basic thing that's gone on here.
KAGAN: And the Mid-East is such a place of mixed messages. As you mentioned with Hamas, some people see it as a terrible terrorist organization. Others see it, as you mentioned, as an organization that provides social services to the poor in the Palestinian community.
As for Israeli, they go after this leader at the same time they're talking about pulling out of Gaza.
O'HANLON: Yes. Well, I think that it's understandable to do a serious carrot and stick strategy. I just hope Israel stays serious about the carrots, as well.
In fact, I'd like to see a much more radical Israeli approach which says we're going to pull a lot of the settlements out of West Bank now and not wait for a peace deal.
Of course, that would require major changes in the domestic politics of Israel. Mr. Sharon is simply not going do that.
But I think it's the right thing. Withhold the diplomatic recognition, withhold some aid to the Palestinians until they sign a peace deal, but pull those settlements out now, because they are provoking a lot of the Arab anger that we're also suffering from here in this country.
So I'm glad to see the Gaza move. I just hope it continues and is amplified and joined by similar moves in the West Bank. But I'm not holding my breath.
KAGAN: Well, as we heard, the U.S. government not coming out and condemning the action by Israel today but asking for moderation and some cooler heads on both sides of this conflict. And we'll see if that prevails in the Middle East.
Michael O'Hanlon, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
O'HANLON: My pleasure, Daryn.
KAGAN: And the story does continue to develop. Want to go to Jerusalem now. Paula Hancocks with development for us -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, that speech just a few moments ago by the Israeli foreign minister echoing exactly what Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, has said a little earlier on.
Silvan Shalom saying that -- when asked why they decided to target Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, saying that it would show to terror groups that they would be punished for these kind of attacks. Obviously referring back to the twin suicide bombing in Ashdod port on March 15, which killed ten Israelis.
It was just a couple of days after that that the Israeli security cabinet met and decided to up the ante and increase their military operations and no top individual would be immune. They have proved that early this morning by assassinating Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Also as you were saying, when asked why now, he said, why not earlier? Why not in the past?
And he was also saying that many attacks in Israel, attacks that have killed almost a thousand Israelis, many of those attacks have been directed and planned by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as Hamas founder and a spiritual leader.
Now we're getting some developments out of the Lebanon-Israeli border, as well, over the past half hour also. The Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah has been firing anti-tank missiles at a number of Israeli military outposts. That's according to Israeli military sources that we are talking to at the moment.
We're just hearing there is apparently a second attack, a second random attack from Hezbollah as well.
Also we're hearing from Lebanese eyewitnesses that Israeli warplanes are fighting back and bombing the outskirts of part of the Shebaa Farm border district, a disputed district just on the border of Israel and Lebanon.
So pockets of violence also in Gaza strip. There were five Palestinians killed in clashes against Israelis earlier on this Monday. Also, we had one person killed in Nablus in the West Bank. So pockets of violence around the place at the moment -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Paula Hancocks with the latest for us from Jerusalem. Paula, thank you.
Plenty of news happening back here in the states. Scott Peterson is back in court today. Defense attorneys say today's hearing could impact Peterson's fate.
And ahead of the tech curve. The next generation of cell phones, a live demonstration just a little bit later.
And if you're looking for that perfect golf getaway, we'll show you the world's best resorts. You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
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(STOCK REPORT)
KAGAN: One on one questioning of potential jurors to hear the Scott Peterson double murder trial gets under way this hour in California. There is also an unsettled question there: will the trial be moved yet again?
Our Ted Rowlands is at the courthouse in Redwood City for the proceedings.
Ted, good morning.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. The judge gave both sides a week off to pour over those juror questionnaires as they prepare for the second phase of jury selection. That is expected to take place today.
As far as a potential move of this trial, a potential motion to move this trial, nobody knows quite sure what to expect here this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Defense attorney Mark Geragos told the court it was his intention to formally ask for relief from what he says is a tainted jury pool. But a court-imposed deadline has come and gone, and no motion has been filed.
On March 9, Geragos told the judge that he'd be asking for one of three remedies: another change of venue, a separate jury for the guilt and penalty phase, or extra challenges to get rid of unwanted jurors.
MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: All I want -- and I think all the judge wants -- is to get a fair and impartial jury and not get a stealth juror or jurors.
SCOTT PETERSON, ACCUSED OF WIFE'S MURDER: People accuse me.
GERAGOS: A defense motion to exclude Scott Peterson's statements to the media is scheduled to be ruled on when court resumes this morning. Geragos is arguing that the statements are not relevant to the charges and should be thrown out.
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ROWLANDS: That ruling should come in the next ten minutes when court resumes here. At that point, too, it is expected that Geragos will express his intentions on whether or not he'll file a change of venue motion.
And then at 9:30 this morning, it's expected that they'll get to that second phase of jury selection when both sides will have an opportunity to question each juror as to what they indicated on their jury questionnaire and go from there.
The voir dire questioning is expected to take weeks. Opening arguments are not expected to take place until at least two weeks from now. It may be even longer -- Daryn.
KAGAN: That would be without a change of venue. So Mark Geragos has been able to move this trial or have this trial moved once before. Where would he really like ultimately to see it go, Ted?
ROWLANDS: Well, in California what they do is when a file -- as motion is made, the court administration comes up with a list of cities that are a possibility.
At this point there is really one city -- or county left and that is Orange County that the defense wants this moved to. The prosecution would like to keep it here.
Geragos, however, has maintained that in his eyes, Redwood City where we are now is just a, quote, "weigh station." And his intention is try to convince this judge to move this down to Orange County. Whether or not he'll be successful, we'll have to wait and see.
KAGAN: And for those not as familiar with California as us, Orange County, the county just south of Los Angeles.
Ted, thank you so much. Live from Redwood City, Ted Rowlands.
A check of the top stories coming up, just after a quick break. And new medical research on children and allergies. Having pets may actual improve their health. But other factors may play a larger role. Details ahead on that as CNN's LIVE TODAY continues.
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