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American Morning
War on Terror in Pakistan; Interview With Jacques Verges
Aired March 30, 2004 - 07:30 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 7:30 here in New York. It's Tuesday morning. Good to have you with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
A few moments away, a man with a big job ahead and a big one indeed. We'll talk to Jacques Verges. He's a French attorney. He's being asked, he says, to represent Saddam Hussein at trial. Very interesting things to say about -- considering the position he's in. We will listen to that in a moment. He says, the nephew of Saddam Hussein wrote him a letter, and that's how he got involved. So his thoughts in a moment.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, a mystery in Wisconsin. A 20-year-old student vanished over the weekend. There was also a very strange assault on this same young woman last month to talk about. This morning, we're going to talk to police; also her uncle. Really, really bizarre circumstances.
HEMMER: All right, we'll get to that.
First, top stories this hour. A developing story from London, British police say they have made a series of terrorism-related arrests in the London area. Eight British citizens taken into custody earlier today, and one of the raids taking place at the warehouse seen in this videotape. Police also have seized half a ton of ammonium nitrate. That's a fertilizer that can be used to make bombs. Much more on this story throughout the show. Sheila MacVicar working her sources in London at this hour.
In this country, Massachusetts is taking the first steps to block same-sex marriage. State lawmakers gave their approval yesterday for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage but allow civil unions. Another vote is required by the next legislature before it can go on the ballot in November in 2006 in Massachusetts.
Government lawyers in three separate cities are defending a new ban on certain types of abortions. President Bush signing what some call the partial-birth abortion ban last November, but the courts delaying enforcing it pending three federal cases. Challenges to the ban are being heard in courts in New York, San Francisco and in Lincoln, Nebraska.
President Bush, meanwhile, and Senator John Kerry are exchanging jabs over the high gas prices. The president releasing a TV ad this week in the style of an old silent movie. In it, he claims that Senator Kerry supported gasoline taxes that would have cost Americans $657 per person every year. Senator Kerry fired back at a fund-raiser in California, saying Americans are being charged -- quote -- "Halliburton prices." The campaign continues today.
A new survey finds children are not getting the sleep they need. Experts recommend toddlers get 12 to 14 hours of sleep a day. Preschoolers should have 11 to 13, and elementary children need 10 to 11 hours. The National Sleep Foundation found that in all of those age groups, the average child gets one to two hours less sleep than the recommendation.
O'BRIEN: And the average parent...
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... gets five to six hours less sleep than the recommendation.
HEMMER: That's right. And you would know that well.
O'BRIEN: But I'm speaking from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bias.
HEMMER: And very soon you're about to even get less sleep. I feel for you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. But youve offered to baby-sit, and that's really appreciated.
HEMMER: I'm here for you. That's right.
(WEATHER BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has vowed that his country's troops will press on with an offensive against al Qaeda in a border region with Afghanistan. The U.S. considers Pakistan a vital ally on the war with terror. But extremists are calling for Pakistanis to overthrow the government. Well, just how strong of an ally is Pakistan really?
Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon this morning.
Barbara -- good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the loyalty of the Pakistani army to its government and to the war on terror is now being watched very closely here at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Pakistan's army is wrapping up its bloody offensive in the tribal areas, the most politically-sensitive military operation ever ordered by President Pervez Musharraf. The army vowing to keep the pressure on Islamic extremists.
MAJ. GEN. SHAUKAT SULTAN, PAKISTAN MILITARY SPOKESMAN: Whenever (UNINTELLIGIBLE) picture is complete, and when they go to nab them, they're on the run.
STARR: The Pakistani army is perhaps now Washington's most vital ally in the war on terrorism. The CIA Web site spells it out. In Pakistan, the "military remains the most important political force."
STEVE COLL, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, the Pakistanis are on new political ground in this operation. They are attempting to use the army to establish political control in a part of Pakistani territory where they've never tried this before.
STARR: Pentagon officials watching all of this closely after an audiotape from Ayman al Zawahiri tells the troops to revolt. He says:
AYMAN AL ZAWAHIRI, AL QAEDA (through translator): I address the Pakistani army and tell them, Musharraf has put you in a very terrible situation.
STARR: The cost is mounting for the army; 46 troops killed and local tribesmen demanding compensation for damaged property. But the Bush administration says no chance of the type of coup that Musharraf himself launched in 1999.
The loyalty of Pakistan's 10,000 intelligence agents is more in question. They were long-time supporters of the Taliban in al Qaeda.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: You do have a schism, however, with the intelligence services which have been very pro- Taliban in Afghanistan and which do have a number of fundamentalists.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Soledad, the Bush administration has taken another step, recently designating Pakistan as a major ally. Now, that will pave the way for Islamabad to buy more U.S. weapons, but will be another step, of course, in ensuring the loyalty of Pakistani military and security forces -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, about 23 minutes now before the hour.
The French attorney who says he will represent former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein wants to enlist the help of the International Red Cross in setting up a meeting with Saddam. Jacques Verges says Saddam's nephew has written him a letter in Paris asking him to defend Saddam in a possible trial.
Late yesterday, I talked with Verges in Paris, asking him if he thinks Saddam Hussein can get a fair trial in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUES VERGES, LAWYER FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN: I don't think so today, because to have a fair trial, it should be necessary to have a state in Iraq. That is not the case. A government elected by free elections. That is not the case. A constitution. That is not the case. A justice organized. That is not the case.
HEMMER: How will you defend Saddam Hussein in a trial?
VERGES: I should answer to you, which are the accusations? In a democratic country, when a man is accused, he's accused from a document issued by the public attorney. Here, I am looking for a document issued by a public attorney. I don't find. He is accused by the political leaders of the coalition, by his enemies, who said that he is guilty. That he deserves to be killed.
Everybody has a right to be defended, and every lawyer has a duty to defend people accused. And my office is to defend him, to discuss the accusation point by point, as I think this is a normal step in a democracy.
HEMMER: We have seen videotape pictures of Saddam Hussein in captivity several months ago. What do you know about his physical and mental condition in Iraq?
VERGES: I don't know the situation of Mr. Saddam Hussein, because he is in secrecy. And because the behavior of the people who have captured him are not conform to the Geneva Convention, which forbids the humiliation of the prisoners, I think to have shown him looked by a doctor who looked more like a veterinary, examining his teeth, his tongue, his hair. I think all of this is disgusting behavior, and do not conform to the Geneva Convention.
HEMMER: Will you try to get the trial moved out of Iraq?
VERGES: I am trying nothing about this. I am waiting for the decision, which is not depending of me, to know if the trial will be in Iraq, in the states, or in international court. Of course, the decision is not mine.
HEMMER: When will you be able to meet with Saddam Hussein?
VERGES: When I shall receive the authorization of the people who keep him. And I shall look with the International Red Cross to make steps to authorize me to see him.
HEMMER: In a trial, sir, who would you call to testify?
VERGES: The main accusation is to have in his possession, to have had mass destructive weapons, and eventually to have use of them. But who sells these to him? The United States and England, and the man who was the representative for this bargain, for this market, for this deal, is called Mr. Rumsfeld. So, I should ask him to come and to testify.
HEMMER: Would you call President Bush also?
VERGES: Of course. The links between the American government and the Iraqi government are so close that you cannot judge one without asking at least the other what he has done by this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HEMMER: Jacques Verges from Paris yesterday. No reaction from the coalition authority in Baghdad regarding this possibility, contacted by Saddam Hussein's nephew. A team of about 50 specialists from the Justice Department traveling to Iraq earlier this year to help Iraqis organize evidence to use against Saddam Hussein in the even of a trial there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a college student attacked two weeks ago by an unknown assailant is now missing. Could there be an important clue on this surveillance tape?
HEMMER: Also, Janet Jackson touting the new CD. There were not any -- excuse me -- wardrobe malfunction. She had plenty to say about her new music, though, on a late-night talk show. We'll show part of that last night to you this morning ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Heavy rain and flooding in North Dakota, forcing the governor there to declare an emergency. Look at this mess here on videotape. Torrential downpours causing rivers in the northeastern part of the state to overflow yesterday. Dozens of homes had water in just about every room. Floodwaters even come up to the toilets in the bathrooms there. Many families fleeing to higher ground. The damage estimate is not yet known, but they are expected to be significant. North Dakota, the scene of that mess there.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it looks terrible.
Well, police and volunteers and the University of Wisconsin have teamed up for a search for a student who disappeared without a trace on Saturday. Even more strange, 20-year-old Audrey Ruth Seiler was also assaulted last month. She was attacked from behind. She was knocked unconscious. Then she was dragged for a block. She was not sexually assaulted or robbed.
Officer Larry Kamholz of the Madison Police Department and Audrey's uncle, Scott Charlesworth-Seiler, are with us from Madison, Wisconsin, this morning.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us. This is such a confusing story.
Officer Kamholz, why don't you begin and tell me a little bit about the latest in the search for this young woman.
OFC. LARRY KAMHOLZ, MADISON WISCONSIN POLICE: Well, we have been actively out in the streets, going door to door, checking the neighborhoods, just going through the city, anywhere near her residence, to see if we can find any information to help us determine where she's at. We've been talking to many people, many of her friends and family, and just trying to get as much information about her, to help us provide information to, you know, her location and why she actually left the apartment at 2:30 in the morning, which is not typical of her. O'BRIEN: 2:30 in the morning, and that was the last thing that was captured on a surveillance videotape outside of her apartment. Have you been able to get any information outside of the obviously she's walking out of the apartment, from this video? Have you been able to gleam anything about what she was carrying, where she may have been heading?
KAMHOLZ: We don't. We really don't have much from that video, and we're hoping that by providing the video out to the community people will have an accurate picture of what she looked like when she last left the apartment. It is very strange.
She didn't take any personal belongings from her apartment, as a normal person would if they were going to an appointment or seeing a friend or that type of thing. She didn't take anything with her. She left her car in the driveway, and, you know, she walked out the door of the residence. So it's very unusual. And, like I said, we have spoken to the family and friends, and we quickly learned that that is not typical of Audrey to leave on those types of terms.
O'BRIEN: What makes it even more bizarre, Mr. Seiler, maybe you can tackle this question for me, that your niece was actually attacked in February. Give me some specifics of that attack and if anyone thinks there's any link between that attack, very recently, and the fact that she's missing now.
SCOTT CHARLESWORTH-SEILER, MISSING STUDENT'S UNCLE: Well, we don't have any specifics. We know what Audrey knew, and that was that she was struck from behind not far from her apartment, woke up sometime later, an additional distance from her apartment. And we don't have any other information at that point.
O'BRIEN: Do you believe, Officer Kamholz, that in some way these two bizarre events are somehow connected?
KAMHOLZ: Well, we have nothing to indicate, no evidence, nothing to indicate that these two cases are similar. You know, we'll take a look at the case that she was involved in, in February, to see if there's anything that we can glean from that that would help us to locate Audrey. But at this point with our investigation, we have nothing to link these two incidences together.
O'BRIEN: You've got a search under way. Many volunteers out there helping you. How many folks are out there helping? And what exactly are they doing at this point?
KAMHOLZ: Well, we have probably at least 100 volunteers from Audrey's hometown that have come to Madison and are helping. We have several volunteers from our community. We've had our search-and- rescue K-9 unit that's been out. We have an aerial surveillance plane that will be up in the air today trying to take some pictures, trying to give us a better insight. We have tons of pamphleting and door to door, and officers going door to door. We have the IU (ph) system that has sent out mass e-mails to all of the students, as well as wires.
So, we have really hit the community hard with the information in hopes to glean some information off of somebody as to her whereabouts.
O'BRIEN: Well, we certainly hope you're successful. Office Larry Kamholz joining us this morning. Also, Scott Charlesworth Seiler. Gentlemen, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it.
HEMMER: Back here now, question of the day, to Jack Cafferty on that.
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's a problem. It's a big problem for the White House. We've got this 9/11 Commission, and they want Condoleezza Rice, the national security advisor, to come back in front of them and testify under oath and in public. The White House says no, she enjoys executive privilege, and she doesn't have to do that. Nevertheless, she did testify for a number of hours behind closed doors, not under oath. She's also done a bunch of television interviews, including one here on this very program, AMERICAN MORNING.
But there are discrepancies apparently between the sworn testimony of Richard Clarke, the counterterrorism advisor to the president -- whose book coincidently came out in conjunction with these hearings -- and some of the things that Dr. Rice told the commission.
So, now they want her to come back, and the White House is saying no. And she's become almost a bigger issue than the hearings themselves.
Should she be required to testify under oath and in public is the question.
Aired March 30, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 7:30 here in New York. It's Tuesday morning. Good to have you with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
A few moments away, a man with a big job ahead and a big one indeed. We'll talk to Jacques Verges. He's a French attorney. He's being asked, he says, to represent Saddam Hussein at trial. Very interesting things to say about -- considering the position he's in. We will listen to that in a moment. He says, the nephew of Saddam Hussein wrote him a letter, and that's how he got involved. So his thoughts in a moment.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, a mystery in Wisconsin. A 20-year-old student vanished over the weekend. There was also a very strange assault on this same young woman last month to talk about. This morning, we're going to talk to police; also her uncle. Really, really bizarre circumstances.
HEMMER: All right, we'll get to that.
First, top stories this hour. A developing story from London, British police say they have made a series of terrorism-related arrests in the London area. Eight British citizens taken into custody earlier today, and one of the raids taking place at the warehouse seen in this videotape. Police also have seized half a ton of ammonium nitrate. That's a fertilizer that can be used to make bombs. Much more on this story throughout the show. Sheila MacVicar working her sources in London at this hour.
In this country, Massachusetts is taking the first steps to block same-sex marriage. State lawmakers gave their approval yesterday for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage but allow civil unions. Another vote is required by the next legislature before it can go on the ballot in November in 2006 in Massachusetts.
Government lawyers in three separate cities are defending a new ban on certain types of abortions. President Bush signing what some call the partial-birth abortion ban last November, but the courts delaying enforcing it pending three federal cases. Challenges to the ban are being heard in courts in New York, San Francisco and in Lincoln, Nebraska.
President Bush, meanwhile, and Senator John Kerry are exchanging jabs over the high gas prices. The president releasing a TV ad this week in the style of an old silent movie. In it, he claims that Senator Kerry supported gasoline taxes that would have cost Americans $657 per person every year. Senator Kerry fired back at a fund-raiser in California, saying Americans are being charged -- quote -- "Halliburton prices." The campaign continues today.
A new survey finds children are not getting the sleep they need. Experts recommend toddlers get 12 to 14 hours of sleep a day. Preschoolers should have 11 to 13, and elementary children need 10 to 11 hours. The National Sleep Foundation found that in all of those age groups, the average child gets one to two hours less sleep than the recommendation.
O'BRIEN: And the average parent...
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... gets five to six hours less sleep than the recommendation.
HEMMER: That's right. And you would know that well.
O'BRIEN: But I'm speaking from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bias.
HEMMER: And very soon you're about to even get less sleep. I feel for you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. But youve offered to baby-sit, and that's really appreciated.
HEMMER: I'm here for you. That's right.
(WEATHER BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has vowed that his country's troops will press on with an offensive against al Qaeda in a border region with Afghanistan. The U.S. considers Pakistan a vital ally on the war with terror. But extremists are calling for Pakistanis to overthrow the government. Well, just how strong of an ally is Pakistan really?
Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon this morning.
Barbara -- good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the loyalty of the Pakistani army to its government and to the war on terror is now being watched very closely here at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Pakistan's army is wrapping up its bloody offensive in the tribal areas, the most politically-sensitive military operation ever ordered by President Pervez Musharraf. The army vowing to keep the pressure on Islamic extremists.
MAJ. GEN. SHAUKAT SULTAN, PAKISTAN MILITARY SPOKESMAN: Whenever (UNINTELLIGIBLE) picture is complete, and when they go to nab them, they're on the run.
STARR: The Pakistani army is perhaps now Washington's most vital ally in the war on terrorism. The CIA Web site spells it out. In Pakistan, the "military remains the most important political force."
STEVE COLL, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, the Pakistanis are on new political ground in this operation. They are attempting to use the army to establish political control in a part of Pakistani territory where they've never tried this before.
STARR: Pentagon officials watching all of this closely after an audiotape from Ayman al Zawahiri tells the troops to revolt. He says:
AYMAN AL ZAWAHIRI, AL QAEDA (through translator): I address the Pakistani army and tell them, Musharraf has put you in a very terrible situation.
STARR: The cost is mounting for the army; 46 troops killed and local tribesmen demanding compensation for damaged property. But the Bush administration says no chance of the type of coup that Musharraf himself launched in 1999.
The loyalty of Pakistan's 10,000 intelligence agents is more in question. They were long-time supporters of the Taliban in al Qaeda.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: You do have a schism, however, with the intelligence services which have been very pro- Taliban in Afghanistan and which do have a number of fundamentalists.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Soledad, the Bush administration has taken another step, recently designating Pakistan as a major ally. Now, that will pave the way for Islamabad to buy more U.S. weapons, but will be another step, of course, in ensuring the loyalty of Pakistani military and security forces -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, about 23 minutes now before the hour.
The French attorney who says he will represent former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein wants to enlist the help of the International Red Cross in setting up a meeting with Saddam. Jacques Verges says Saddam's nephew has written him a letter in Paris asking him to defend Saddam in a possible trial.
Late yesterday, I talked with Verges in Paris, asking him if he thinks Saddam Hussein can get a fair trial in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUES VERGES, LAWYER FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN: I don't think so today, because to have a fair trial, it should be necessary to have a state in Iraq. That is not the case. A government elected by free elections. That is not the case. A constitution. That is not the case. A justice organized. That is not the case.
HEMMER: How will you defend Saddam Hussein in a trial?
VERGES: I should answer to you, which are the accusations? In a democratic country, when a man is accused, he's accused from a document issued by the public attorney. Here, I am looking for a document issued by a public attorney. I don't find. He is accused by the political leaders of the coalition, by his enemies, who said that he is guilty. That he deserves to be killed.
Everybody has a right to be defended, and every lawyer has a duty to defend people accused. And my office is to defend him, to discuss the accusation point by point, as I think this is a normal step in a democracy.
HEMMER: We have seen videotape pictures of Saddam Hussein in captivity several months ago. What do you know about his physical and mental condition in Iraq?
VERGES: I don't know the situation of Mr. Saddam Hussein, because he is in secrecy. And because the behavior of the people who have captured him are not conform to the Geneva Convention, which forbids the humiliation of the prisoners, I think to have shown him looked by a doctor who looked more like a veterinary, examining his teeth, his tongue, his hair. I think all of this is disgusting behavior, and do not conform to the Geneva Convention.
HEMMER: Will you try to get the trial moved out of Iraq?
VERGES: I am trying nothing about this. I am waiting for the decision, which is not depending of me, to know if the trial will be in Iraq, in the states, or in international court. Of course, the decision is not mine.
HEMMER: When will you be able to meet with Saddam Hussein?
VERGES: When I shall receive the authorization of the people who keep him. And I shall look with the International Red Cross to make steps to authorize me to see him.
HEMMER: In a trial, sir, who would you call to testify?
VERGES: The main accusation is to have in his possession, to have had mass destructive weapons, and eventually to have use of them. But who sells these to him? The United States and England, and the man who was the representative for this bargain, for this market, for this deal, is called Mr. Rumsfeld. So, I should ask him to come and to testify.
HEMMER: Would you call President Bush also?
VERGES: Of course. The links between the American government and the Iraqi government are so close that you cannot judge one without asking at least the other what he has done by this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HEMMER: Jacques Verges from Paris yesterday. No reaction from the coalition authority in Baghdad regarding this possibility, contacted by Saddam Hussein's nephew. A team of about 50 specialists from the Justice Department traveling to Iraq earlier this year to help Iraqis organize evidence to use against Saddam Hussein in the even of a trial there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a college student attacked two weeks ago by an unknown assailant is now missing. Could there be an important clue on this surveillance tape?
HEMMER: Also, Janet Jackson touting the new CD. There were not any -- excuse me -- wardrobe malfunction. She had plenty to say about her new music, though, on a late-night talk show. We'll show part of that last night to you this morning ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Heavy rain and flooding in North Dakota, forcing the governor there to declare an emergency. Look at this mess here on videotape. Torrential downpours causing rivers in the northeastern part of the state to overflow yesterday. Dozens of homes had water in just about every room. Floodwaters even come up to the toilets in the bathrooms there. Many families fleeing to higher ground. The damage estimate is not yet known, but they are expected to be significant. North Dakota, the scene of that mess there.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it looks terrible.
Well, police and volunteers and the University of Wisconsin have teamed up for a search for a student who disappeared without a trace on Saturday. Even more strange, 20-year-old Audrey Ruth Seiler was also assaulted last month. She was attacked from behind. She was knocked unconscious. Then she was dragged for a block. She was not sexually assaulted or robbed.
Officer Larry Kamholz of the Madison Police Department and Audrey's uncle, Scott Charlesworth-Seiler, are with us from Madison, Wisconsin, this morning.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us. This is such a confusing story.
Officer Kamholz, why don't you begin and tell me a little bit about the latest in the search for this young woman.
OFC. LARRY KAMHOLZ, MADISON WISCONSIN POLICE: Well, we have been actively out in the streets, going door to door, checking the neighborhoods, just going through the city, anywhere near her residence, to see if we can find any information to help us determine where she's at. We've been talking to many people, many of her friends and family, and just trying to get as much information about her, to help us provide information to, you know, her location and why she actually left the apartment at 2:30 in the morning, which is not typical of her. O'BRIEN: 2:30 in the morning, and that was the last thing that was captured on a surveillance videotape outside of her apartment. Have you been able to get any information outside of the obviously she's walking out of the apartment, from this video? Have you been able to gleam anything about what she was carrying, where she may have been heading?
KAMHOLZ: We don't. We really don't have much from that video, and we're hoping that by providing the video out to the community people will have an accurate picture of what she looked like when she last left the apartment. It is very strange.
She didn't take any personal belongings from her apartment, as a normal person would if they were going to an appointment or seeing a friend or that type of thing. She didn't take anything with her. She left her car in the driveway, and, you know, she walked out the door of the residence. So it's very unusual. And, like I said, we have spoken to the family and friends, and we quickly learned that that is not typical of Audrey to leave on those types of terms.
O'BRIEN: What makes it even more bizarre, Mr. Seiler, maybe you can tackle this question for me, that your niece was actually attacked in February. Give me some specifics of that attack and if anyone thinks there's any link between that attack, very recently, and the fact that she's missing now.
SCOTT CHARLESWORTH-SEILER, MISSING STUDENT'S UNCLE: Well, we don't have any specifics. We know what Audrey knew, and that was that she was struck from behind not far from her apartment, woke up sometime later, an additional distance from her apartment. And we don't have any other information at that point.
O'BRIEN: Do you believe, Officer Kamholz, that in some way these two bizarre events are somehow connected?
KAMHOLZ: Well, we have nothing to indicate, no evidence, nothing to indicate that these two cases are similar. You know, we'll take a look at the case that she was involved in, in February, to see if there's anything that we can glean from that that would help us to locate Audrey. But at this point with our investigation, we have nothing to link these two incidences together.
O'BRIEN: You've got a search under way. Many volunteers out there helping you. How many folks are out there helping? And what exactly are they doing at this point?
KAMHOLZ: Well, we have probably at least 100 volunteers from Audrey's hometown that have come to Madison and are helping. We have several volunteers from our community. We've had our search-and- rescue K-9 unit that's been out. We have an aerial surveillance plane that will be up in the air today trying to take some pictures, trying to give us a better insight. We have tons of pamphleting and door to door, and officers going door to door. We have the IU (ph) system that has sent out mass e-mails to all of the students, as well as wires.
So, we have really hit the community hard with the information in hopes to glean some information off of somebody as to her whereabouts.
O'BRIEN: Well, we certainly hope you're successful. Office Larry Kamholz joining us this morning. Also, Scott Charlesworth Seiler. Gentlemen, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it.
HEMMER: Back here now, question of the day, to Jack Cafferty on that.
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's a problem. It's a big problem for the White House. We've got this 9/11 Commission, and they want Condoleezza Rice, the national security advisor, to come back in front of them and testify under oath and in public. The White House says no, she enjoys executive privilege, and she doesn't have to do that. Nevertheless, she did testify for a number of hours behind closed doors, not under oath. She's also done a bunch of television interviews, including one here on this very program, AMERICAN MORNING.
But there are discrepancies apparently between the sworn testimony of Richard Clarke, the counterterrorism advisor to the president -- whose book coincidently came out in conjunction with these hearings -- and some of the things that Dr. Rice told the commission.
So, now they want her to come back, and the White House is saying no. And she's become almost a bigger issue than the hearings themselves.
Should she be required to testify under oath and in public is the question.
