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Your World Today
France Riots; Libby Pleads Not Guilty to Charges in CIA Leak Case; Bush and Chavez
Aired November 03, 2005 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The French government tries to extinguish yet another night of riots in some Paris suburbs.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: He was the U.S. vice president's right-hand man, but today he went before a judge to face perjury and other charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's an expression on the backboard (ph) there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. There's people lying in the road. There's a London bus -- it's a 30, I think. I think there's ambulances on the way, but there's people dead and everything by the looks of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: These recorded calls track a time of terror in London.
CLANCY: It is 6:00 p.m. in Paris, 12:00 noon in Washington right now.
I'm Jim Clancy.
VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. A warm welcome to YOUR WORLD TODAY. We are live in the United States and around the world here on CNN International.
We are going to begin our report this hour in France, where officials are just shaking their heads. Another night of riots has shaken the government.
VERJEE: Night number seven, and the violence is concentrated to the north and the east of Paris, in immigrant-dominated areas. It's spread from one rundown suburb to a dozen over the past week.
CLANCY: And in the worst clashes yet, rioters shot at police and fire crews overnight.
VERJEE: French Prime Minister Dominque deVillepin has condemned the violence and is vowing to restore order. But questions have been raised about the government's handling of the crisis. Joining us now with more is CNN's Jim Bittermann.
Jim, why is the government unable to stop the violence?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Zain, that's a very good question. For one thing, it's very deeply rooted.
It has to do with things that have been going on here for -- injustices that have been going on here for 20 and 30 years. And as a consequence, finding any quick fix right now is not going to change things. In fact, these kinds of demonstrations, these kinds of protests, have broken out many times before in France.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BITTERMANN (voice over): For decades, there have been periodic outbreaks of violence and vandalism in the impoverished suburbs around French cities. But it is a measure of the underlying anger that this time neither force nor reason has worked to bring the rioting to an end.
What's more, after a week, it has spread to at least nine communities in the Paris area. Hundreds of vehicles have been destroyed. Firemen and police have been shot at. And a police station was briefly taken over by young tots (ph) from the neighborhoods.
More than a thousands police and hundreds of arrests have not brought an end to the destruction of businesses and public property. A Sri Lankan immigrant saw the local school go up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a loud noise. Then me and my niece, we opened the window, and we saw the school was burning. We saw smoke, and we were watching. And we saw it was burning.
BITTERMANN: So far, the police have seemed powerless to stop the young people. And for those not taking part in the rioting, just trying to survive it, anger is building that authorities have not been able to bring it to an end.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Because of this, we will not go to school tomorrow. Look at all the pollution. We can't even breathe.
BITTERMANN: Elected officials have appealed for calm, but there is no quick fix for the problems of these suburbs, problems which have festered for years. Heavily-populated by immigrants and the children of immigrants who are now French in nationality, unemployment averages 20 percent, twice the national average.
All day long, government ministers met in crisis sessions trying to determine what they could do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BITTERMANN: And the results of those meetings aren't really known at this point. We do know that Prime Minister Devillepin met with local officials before lunch today. He met with the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, for lunch. And in the afternoon the interior minister met with the defense minister.
And that has given rise to some speculation, perhaps, that one of the solutions that might be tried here is something suggested by one of the police unions, and that is that a curfew be imposed in these suburbs that have been hit by the rioting, and that perhaps the French military would be called in -- Jim, Zain.
VERJEE: CNN's Jim Bittermann reporting for us from Paris.
For more on the riots and the social conditions in those neighborhoods, you can log on to CNN.com/Europe. There you go going to find streaming video and photo galleries of the clashes, and a lot more about what's behind them.
CLANCY: U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney's former top aide has pleaded not guilty to charges in the CIA leak case.
VERJEE: Lewis or Scooter Libby made his first court appearance on Thursday after being indicted on five counts, including perjury. Now, the trial could keep the spotlight on the Bush administration's case for a war in Iraq for a long time.
For the very latest, we have Bob Franken in Washington, White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, and former federal prosecutor Aitan Goelman with some analysis.
CLANCY: All right. Let's begin here with Bob Franken. He's standing by outside that federal courthouse in Washington with the latest for us there.
Well, we heard the attorney come out and speak just a few minutes ago. What was the impression that everybody has about how they are going to take on this case?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, apparently they are going to take it on, at least if you believe these initial fighting words from the newly-retained attorney, Ted Wells, who has a strong reputation for being able to successfully handle case like this. This one, of course, as high profile as they come.
The former vice president's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, making, as was pointed out, his first court appearance. But it was made very clear in court that there will be what was described as protracted litigation, that this could go on for a long while.
There are some really complex legal issues to resolve. First of all, if reporters are put on the witness list, there is almost certain to be new legal resistance to that.
There are all the questions about classified material that are so central to this case. And just going through the clearance process is exceedingly time-consuming. There's a potential that a witnesses like the vice president may be called, which raises issues of executive privilege.
So this could go for a very long time, with almost -- it's almost a redundancy to say that Scooter Libby, Lewis Libby, waived his right to a speedy trial, because this is going to be nothing but. This is going to be, as his lawyer said, with him standing by his side outside, a big legal battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED WELLS, SCOOTER LIBBY'S ATTORNEY: Mr. Libby has pled not guilty to each and every count in the indictment. In pleading not guilty, he has declared to the world that he is innocent. He has declared that he intends to fight the charges in the indictment. And he has declared that he wants to clear his good name. And he wants a jury trial.
We do not intend to try this case in the press. Mr. Libby intends to clear his good name by using the judicial process. And we have no further comment at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And adding to the complexity, the unresolved questions by the special prosecutor about whether he will seek an indictment against another top White House official, the deputy chief of staff, the president's chief political adviser, Karl Rove -- Jim.
CLANCY: Bob Franken reporting outside federal court there in Washington. Thank you.
VERJEE: If the case goes to trial, many Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, may be called to testify, as Bob Franken was just reporting.
Suzanne Malveaux joins us now from the White House with more.
Suzanne, White House staff have been told, haven't they, not to reach out to Libby and not to talk about the case?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you are absolutely right, Zain. White House counsel, immediately following the indictment last week, put out a memo to all White House staffers saying not to reach out to Scooter Libby, not to discuss this in any shape or form.
Of course this is a White House, as well as the vice president's office, that is trying to portray an image of business as usual. It did not take much time at all to actually after his resignation to fill some of those slots.
David Addington is the new chief of staff to the vice president. John Hannah as the new national security adviser.
One White House official saying what they are doing is simply trying to put one foot in front of the next because they have a lot to do. And of course what Bob had mentioned, very important, is Karl Rove, the fact that he is still in legal limbo. And that has led to much speculation and outright calls from Democrats and some critics for his resignation. A lot of speculation about his future.
I can tell you, Zain, that the people I've talked to both in and outside of the White House say that there is no evidence that discussions are taking place about Karl Rove's future, short of an indictment. They believe that, of course, that the expectation is, is that he would stay in the administration, in the White House. And that is clearly a job that he wants to maintain.
According to one Republican insider, he says this is about half- dozen people who he says don't orbit as true allies, but are too big to ignore. Some of those Republican strategists actually mentioning and suggesting to the White House that perhaps he should go. But they say that the larger problem here is that perhaps not a shakeup, but the fact that there is this culture that is growing inside of the White House that people are turning against each other -- Zain.
VERJEE: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux reporting to us from the White House.
Thanks, Suzanne -- Jim.
CLANCY: Well, now Libby's indictment has dealt a blow to the White House. No doubt about that. It's already reeling from the mounting death toll in Iraq and other issues that continue to amount.
But for some analysis, let's go now to Aitan Goelman. He's a former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department. He's worked with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who happens to be handling this case. He's currently a partner in a Washington law firm.
Tell us a bit about Fitzgerald. Is he trying to squeeze Libby at this point, trying to push him? Because he didn't get him on the major charge. But now it appears that Libby and his attorneys are really ready to fight.
AITAN GOELMAN, WASHINGTON ATTORNEY: Yes. I mean, I think if you look at the indictment, you can definitely tell that Pat believes that Vice President Cheney might, at the very least, have some information to provide.
He talks explicitly about a conversation on Air Force Two that Mr. Libby and others were involved in, and the indictment goes out of its way to say that Vice President Cheney was on that return flight from Norfolk to the White House, and that there was a conversation on that flight about how to respond to press inquiries, including the inquiry from Matt Cooper.
So I would not be surprised if Pat, on some level, hopes that Mr. Libby will cut a deal and agree to detail to him Vice President Cheney's involvement in the outing.
CLANCY: Tell us a little bit more of insight, though. When he is going to see some high-powered defense attorneys come in here -- defense attorneys, I must point out, that see all of this as really technicalities. After all, Scooter Libby was not charged with leaking the name of a CIA agent. It was on other peripheral issues. Serious ones, certainly, but other issues.
And now they seem to be digging in their heels.
GOELMAN: Yes. You know, I would dig agree that defense attorneys necessarily see the perjury and obstruction as peripheral issues. A lot oft times those are charged, and the underlying crime is not charged. And part of the reason for that is, as Pat explained at the news conference, that it's hard to get the truth if somebody is lying to investigators and lying to the grand jury.
Having said that, there's no question that Ted Wells and Bill Jeffreys (ph) are -- they are not guys you go to if you are planning on pleading guilty. They are guys that you go to if you plan on flighting.
CLANCY: How is that going to affect the prosecutor's strategy in the days, weeks, months ahead? Because obviously you've got a few things that are coming into play here. We've talked about it before.
One of them is classified information. Another one is going to be First Amendment.
GOELMAN: Yes, there's going to be a lot of protracted pre-trial litigation. I think ultimately, you know, Pat will be permitted to call the reporters.
I mean, you had a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals already allow Pat to force a reporter to sit in jail for 85 days. So there -- reporters are going to get subpoenas. Subpoenas are mandatory and not optional.
And there might be litigation. There may be First Amendment litigation, there may be executive privilege litigation. But I think at the end of the day Pat will be allowed to call the people to the stand he thinks he needs to prove his case.
CLANCY: Aitan Goelman, a former federal prosecutor who has experience working with Patrick Fitzgerald, who is taking on this case and the White House.
Thank you.
GOELMAN: Thank you.
VERJEE: We love getting e-mail from you. And what we really want is for you to weigh in on this now.
CLANCY: The question that we are asking this day: Will the political fallout from Lewis Libby's indictment have an effect on President Bush's agenda? What do you think?
VERJEE: E-mail us, YWT@CNN.com. And we just want to ask you, you know, keep your comments brief. Let us now your name and where you are watching us from. This is of course one hour of world news that's being seen both in the United States and around the world.
CLANCY: And some of the interesting comments already coming in from around the world.
VERJEE: Well, coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, the arrest of a suspected al Qaeda operative in Pakistan.
CLANCY: Also ahead, a race ahead time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tsunami didn't have winter coming. I mean, here we've just got this hammer blow that's going to come down very, very shortly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Time running out to save the lives of survivors of the South Asia earthquake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Hello. And welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY.
This footnote for our viewers in the United States who are joining us now by the thousands because we are simulcasting this. This is a broadcast that CNN sends around the world. And in case you didn't know it, we actually have more viewers around the world than we do in the United States. An interesting footnote for you there.
Well, Pakistan says a suspected member of al Qaeda has been arrested this week by its security forces. But it came after a shootout.
It happened in Quetta, a city near the border with Afghanistan. A second suspect -- or a third suspect, rather, was killed. The country's information minister says there's no conclusive word yet on exactly who they may have in their custody and whether either of the men is what is often called one of those high-value targets.
VERJEE: The United Nations is warning that the death toll in South Asia's earthquake could double if aid doesn't reach millions of survivors before winter arrives. That could be any day.
The U.S. military says it will continue to help Pakistani quake victims for months to come. The commander of U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan made that commitment during a visit to Muzaffarabad in northern Pakistan.
The U.S. has sent 24 helicopters to Pakistan and has treated more than 700 patients at a U.S. Army field hospital.
CLANCY: Across the quake-effected region, relief workers have been battling trying to make the difference between life and death.
Bill Neely joined -- visited one village high in the Himalayan range where aid is only now beginning to get through.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL NEELY, ITV NEWS (voice over): The helicopters are still busy here. But the weather is worsening. There are days they won't fly, and places they won't go.
Into one of these today came Save the Children, driving a convoy of 200 tents 6,000 feet up into one of Kashmir's most remote corners. There waiting, hundreds of villagers. This aid the difference between life and death. One man at least has suffered enough death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His seven kids, one mom and one wife.
NEELY (on camera): He lost his seven children?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven children. He lost his seven children, plus his wife and his mom.
NEELY (voice over): Even the blind walked for hours across a mountain to get here.
The tents, blankets and clothes their only protection against a brutal winter. It's a race here against time and against the heavy snows that are on their way.
(on camera): In about two weeks' time, these mountains and this valley will be covered in snow. And the logic of survival, then, is brutally simple: anyone without shelter will die.
The problem is, there aren't enough tents here or anywhere else. So a second disaster that the U.N. says could kill thousands isn't just looming, it's highly likely.
(voice over): These children survived the earthquake, 20,000 didn't. The coming cold and hunger could carry off thousands more. So they struggle away with their tents and even the aid workers who have been through the tsunami struggle to cope here.
SAM RUSH, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Logistically it's worse, without a doubt. It's getting high in mountains. The roads that we came up now was pretty perilous, to say the least. But we could get vehicles up.
We are talking about a lot of places that have got no vehicle access whatsoever. Then we're talking meal trains (ph) and helicopters. And we are really running out of time. It's quite a serious situation.
NEELY (on camera): So the tsunami was much easier to deal with than this?
RUSH: The tsunami didn't have winter coming. I mean, here we've just got this hammer blow that's going to come down very, very shortly.
NEELY (voice over): The first disaster was an act of god. A second can be prevented. But time and aid money is running out.
As we left, night fell, and the first snow fell, too. It didn't settle, but it will soon. Pakistan's mountain people are braced for another terrible test.
Bill Neely, ITV News, Kashmir.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has given lawmakers his report on the state of the U.S. economy.
VERJEE: We'll see what he had to say. That's just ahead. And a check of the U.S. headlines for our viewers in the United States, and a check of financial markets for the rest of us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, everyone. I'm Tony Harris at the CNN Center this Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes.
But first, a check of stories making headlines in the United States.
A bipartisan group of influential senators, the so-called Gang of 14, says members will reserve judgment on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. The federal judge is meeting separately today with more members of the centrist group, such as Rhode Island Republican Lincoln Chafee.
Earlier, lawmaker emerged from their first meeting on the nomination, well aware that their moderate voices could swing a Senate vote either way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NEBRASKA: I think number one, we felt that it's early in the process. It's way too early to talk about some of the more divisive things that have been talked about in the past.
And we are going to let the process unfold and make up our minds as we go along that nobody's talking about those -- those issues that would break us -- break up the gang or cause a rule change, or a filibuster. Certainly not at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Several members of the group say they would likely not support a filibuster against Alito's nomination should their opposition stand. That alone could doom any such attempt by the Democrats.
Eerier this morning, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan voiced optimism on Capitol Hill. Greenspan told Congress's Joint Economic Committee that the national economy is strong and the overall drag created by the hurricane should be fleeting. Greenspan is three months away from retiring after 18 years as the nation's top economic policymaker.
E-mails to and from the former FEMA director Michael Brown provide a glimpse of what he was thinking during and after Hurricane Katrina. You probably remember this video of President Bush getting a briefing from Brown in the days after the hurricane. Notice their respective shirt sleeves.
In the flurry of e-mails to and from Brown during the crisis was this advice from his press secretary: "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt. All shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this crisis and on TV, you just need to look more hard-working."
Louisiana Congressman Charlie Melachon posted the e-mails on his Web site. He says the communications show Brown was out of touch with what was happening. Melachon says on the day of storm, Brown exchanged e-mails on his attire after receiving a compliment.
He wrote back, "I got it from Nordstrom's. Are you proud of me?" He followed that up with, "If you you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."
Brown's e-mails were released by the office of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the request of two congressmen whose committee is investigating the slow response federally to Katrina.
Drug maker Merck is off the hook in at least one major lawsuit over its once-popular painkiller Vioxx. A jury in New Jersey acquitted Merck of any wrongdoing, saying the company had properly warned of Vioxx's potential health risks. The verdict means Merck is not liable in the case of man who suffered a heart attack in 2001 after taking Vioxx. Merck lost a similar lawsuit in Texas last August.
More than 6,400 lawsuits over Vioxx are still pending against Merck.
Former President Jimmy Carter says he's very unhappy with some of the policies of the current White House. He's written a new book highlighting some of his concerns about the political climate in Washington.
Last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE," the former president says he believes the government has become too influenced by religion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the first time in the history of our country since Thomas Jefferson said build a wall between church and state, there have been a deliberate and overt, not secret melding of religion and politics of the church and state, which I believe is not only contrary to what our founding fathers intended, and what everyone else has agreed to the last 230 years, but also, in my opinion as a Christian, it's different from what I've been taught to believe in my religion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Be sure to tune in tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, when Larry's guest will be Republican Senator Republican John McCain. McCain is one of the so-called Gang of 14 in the Senate whose judgment of Samuel Alito could be crucial to his Supreme Court confirmation.
A White House gala for Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall, last night. President Bush and the prince exchanged toasts to U.S.-British ties. Today the royal couple visits the National Institutes of Health and the National Building Museum. Their U.S. tour will continue in New Orleans and San Francisco.
Bird flu, we've been told to get ready. It's coming. So what are employers doing to repair? A close look at the top of the hour on "LIVE FROM."
Meantime, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Hello and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. For our viewers in the United States, this is the network that goes around the world from CNN, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
VERJEE: And in case you don't know, we are watched in over 200 countries and territories, and the United States is now just one more.
I'm Zain Verjee.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. And these are the top stories we are following right now.
The French government struggling this day. It is struggling to quell nightly riots that have spread through several run-down suburbs of Paris. Rioters shot at police. They burned cars, buses, and shops. Overnight was the worst of violence this far in seven consecutive days. It was sparked by the accidental electrocution of two young people just a week ago. They thought they were fleeing police. Questions are being raised over the government's handling of the crisis.
VERJEE: Pakistan says a suspected member of al Qaeda was arrested this week by security forces following the shootout. Another suspect was killed. It happened in Quetta, which is near the border with Afghanistan. The country's information minister says there is no conclusive word yet on exactly who they have in their hands and whether either man is what's often called a high-value target.
CLANCY: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide making his first court appearance to face charges in the CIA leak investigation. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has pleaded not guilty to charges, including obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements. A federal grand jury handed down the indictment Friday.
VERJEE: As U.S. domestic issues heat up, President George W. Bush is heading to Argentina for the Summit of the Americas. Mr. Bush and First Lady Laura boarded Air Force One earlier on Thursday for the flight to the coastal city of Mar del Plata. The Summit of the Americas brings 31 leaders from the Americas and the Caribbean together for talks on how to alleviate poverty in the region. Mr. Bush hopes to return to talks on a proposed free trade area of the Americas, but he is expected to meet tough resistance from thousands of protesters, fearful that a free trade zone would mean corporations would dominate the poor.
CLANCY: Now U.S. presidents and other world leaders who face domestic trouble sometimes plunge enthusiastically into international affairs for a respite from the headlines back home. But there could be little respite for President Bush, at least on this trip. He's going to be crossing paths with a certain other leader who doesn't hold him in high record. No, not Fidel Castro, a new one.
Lucia Newman has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In private, but especially in public, Venezuela's fiery leftist leader can't stop warning the world about Mr. Danger, alias George W. Bush.
HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Danger! Danger, says the dangerous one. And they say we're the danger.
NEWMAN: Whether in Havana, with his alter ego, Fidel Castro or at home, Hugo Chavez is always on the defensive, and the offensive when it comes to the United States, which he refers to as the empire. The word evil is implicit. In August, President Chavez even took part in a mock anti-empire trial that put President Bush on the stand.
CHAVEZ (through translator): So today, Mr. President, members of the court, you are passing judgment on Mr. Danger, which means passing judgment on U.S. imperialism.
NEWMAN: The White House sees Chavez as a bad influence at best, a threat to regional stability, a populist Latin leader who is using his nation's vast oil wealth as a revolutionary weapon to counter U.S. influence in the hemisphere. For this, Chavez makes no apologies, but insists his recent purchase of 100,000 Russian-made assault rifles is purely for defensive purposes, since he claims Mr. Bush insults him, wants him dead and has plans for invading Venezuela.
(on camera): You say that the White House treats you without respect. But you, too -- I mean, every time you refer to the United States, you talk about the empire, the world's most terrorist government. You know, it has to be a two-way street.
CHAVEZ (through translator): Each one of those statements of mine are in response to the imperial aggression. I am telling the truth when I say that the coup attempt against me, against Venezuela, which took place just a few meters from here and which cost so many lives, that coup attempt was planned in Washington, Lucia. We have proof.
NEWMAN: The government denies it.
CHAVEZ: They can deny it all they want, but we have irrefutable evidence; videos, files, witnesses.
NEWMAN (voice-over): U.S. officials dismiss it all.
PAT ROBERTSON, EVANGELIST BROADCASTER: If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.
NEWMAN: Although comments like these from a close Bush ally don't help. Whether real or imagined, Chavez is using the imperial threat card to his advantage, to rally support to what he calls a socialist alternative for the millenium.
(on camera): Considering how unpopular the U.S. president is in Latin America, Chavez's message does have some resonance. So the question right now may be, who is the bigger threat to who?
Lucia Newman, CNN, Mar del Plata, Argentina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: The European Commission says it will investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in Eastern Europe to interrogate Al Qaeda captives. And the International Red Cross says it's asked the United States about the allegations. This after a report in the "Washington Post" which said the CIA operates a network of such clandestine prisons overseas.
David Ensor has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ramzi Binalshibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other senior al Qaeda leaders are held by the CIA in undisclosed locations around the world. That much is well known. But "The Washington Post" reports some are held in a Soviet-era compound in a former East Bloc nation and in other new European democracies.
An official at Human Rights Watch said he is convinced some CIA prisoners are there, after tracking the movements of CIA aircraft in recent years.
TOM MALINOWSKI, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: We think we know that because we looked at the flight records of the CIA aircraft that we know are ferrying high-value detainees around the world from Afghanistan to these locations.
ENSOR: CNN has previously reported that Abu Zubaydah and other CIA prisoners were once held in Thailand. That facility has been closed.
CIA al Qaeda prisoners are also still held in Afghanistan, sources have said. And a few remain at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The CIA and Bush administration officials decline to talk about the prisoners.
ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have a very patient, diabolical enemy that is intent on harming Americans. And so we need to be doing everything we can do to protect America.
ENSOR: Though Human Rights Watch named former East Bloc countries where it says the CIA detainees are held, CNN and "The Washington Post" decided not to report the names of those countries, at the request of U.S. officials.
LEONARD DOWNIE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": In this case, we agreed to keep the names of those particular countries out, because we were told, and it seems reasonable to us, that there could be terrorist retaliation against those countries, or more importantly, disruption of other very important intelligence activities, anti- terrorist activities.
ENSOR: But Human Rights Watch is even putting out aircraft tail numbers and names of towns in Europe. It is a tactic that angers many intelligence professionals.
MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: It's sexy, it's splashy, but it's irrelevant. How else would you get someone from A to B unless you used an airplane? And the exposure of such, either firms or aircraft, just undoes years of cover building and makes America weaker.
MALINOWSKI: I can't believe that three years after their capture we're still getting enough useful, actionable intelligence out of these detainees to justify the enormous damage this kind of secret, incommunicado, illegal detention is doing to the United States around the world.
ENSOR (on camera): But U.S. intelligence officials insist these prisons still are producing intelligence that is useful in the war against terrorism. They don't want to give that up, even though human rights groups are pushing hard now to have these CIA prisoners moved out of secret places and put on some sort of trial.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: With considerable pain, London is looking back this day. Hearings are under way in the British capital on the emergency response to the July 7th terror attacks that killed 52 people. The harrowing moment when terror struck was captured on one of several tapes played to the panel of a public review.
Keir Simmons was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLER: Hi, there's a bus just exploded outside of in Tavistock Square, just outside my window.
OPERATOR: In Tavistock Square?
CALLER: Yes, in London. There's people lying on the ground and everything.
KEIR SIMMONS, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): It was the moment the emergency services must have realized they were dealing with a terrorist attack. A 999 call on the morning of July 7th confirming there had been another incident, and this time it was clearly a bomb.
The phone call begins with a matter-of-fact description of what is a terrible scene.
OPERATOR: Emergency?
CALLER: Hi. There's a bus just exploded outside in Tavistock Square, just outside my window.
OPERATOR: In Tavistock Square?
CALLER: Yes, in London. There's people lying on the ground and everything.
OPERATOR: There was an explosion on the bus, was there?
CALLER: Yes, there's people lying in the road. There's a London bus. It's a 30 I think. I think there's ambulances on the way. But there's people dead and everything, by the looks of it.
SIMMONS: As the call continues, you can hear the ambulances arriving. The recording was released as the London assembly launched an investigation into what could be learned. The police officer who coordinated the response told them, all the services had been outstanding.
ALAN BROWN, ASST. COMM., SCOTLAND YARD: Those passenger, the London underground staff, as you've already mentioned, and the emergency-services staff who came to assist the injured and the dying were met with horrific scenes.
And I, like Tim, too would like to say that London came together in the face of a unique attack with determination, bravery, resilience, and most importantly, the professionalism that people of London would expect.
SIMMONS: One of the problems identified today was faulty radio communications. The aim is to pinpoint such failings, so that if there is another attack, the response is even more effective.
Keir Simmons, ITV News.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CLANCY: Two months after Katrina, two very different worlds in the city of New Orleans.
VERJEE: On one side of the Mississippi River, a neighborhood still in ruins. On the other, a community busily coming back to life. We are going to take a look at what's behind the disparity, when YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: Hello. Welcome back. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. We have a lot of people watch this program when they're on holiday, or working or stuck in their hotel rooms, and they watch us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
GUILLERMO ARDUINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two months after Katrina, two very different worlds are emerging in New Orleans. One, the Lower Ninth Ward. It's still devastated, angry, much of it like a ghost town. But life in the other, Algiers Point, is almost normal.
CNN's Dan Simon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, the famous words of Charles Dickens in "A Tale of Two Cities." Here in New Orleans that 19th century text resonates as it feels like two cities have emerged from Hurricane Katrina. One filled with anger and desperation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody's trying to help. Nobody's trying to do nothing.
SIMON: But here across the river on what locals call the west bank, they have different problems, the kind you don't mind having, like where to get coffee and go shopping. Here it's about progress and optimism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest complaint we have is we never know when the garbage is being picked up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Big deal, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, so you know, it's all relative.
SIMON: Don and Joy Paolo live across the river from the devastation. We found the retired couple relaxing on their porch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A play on words, this is the west bank, but people here call it the "blessed bank." The Paolo bounced back quickly after evacuating to Ohio. While they came back to mold and a busted heater, their problems seemed minuscule. DON PAOLO, ALGIERS POINT RESIDENT: One of the biggest problems we have over here truthfully is traffic.
SIMON: There is no traffic in other parts of town. This is the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, restaurants, gas stations closed, neighborhoods vacant, filled with trash.
Contrast that with Algiers, where carved pumpkins dot the landscape and most of the stores, even little cafes, are open for business.
DAISY PETERS, NINTH WARD RESIDENT: We just isolated. We are like on an island over here. We isolated from the whole city.
SIMON: Daisy Peters' feelings are understandable. Her house in ruins. Other than the help of a few family members clearing away debris, she's on her own.
PETERS: I am very, very, very disgusted with this place.
SIMON (on camera): Who are you disgusted with?
PETERS: The governor, and the mayor, and FEMA and all of them.
SIMON: You feel like they just don't care.
PETERS: I feel like they do not care.
SIMON (voice-over): Government officials say they do care, but the magnitude of destruction makes rebuilding very difficult. There's no drinkable water and little if any electricity here, and no plan yet for restoring the neighborhood.
PETERS: I'm not giving this house away. If somebody -- they don't want to rebuild down here, somebody need to see me about this house, because I'm not giving it to nobody.
SIMON: Daisy decides to take a rest. They're also resting at the Paolo house, but in a different way.
Dan Simon, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARDUINO: Well, Katrina was a very powerful storm, but also an important factor is the level. And New Orleans is below sea level -- Zain.
(LAUGHTER)
CLANCY: I knew it.
Guillermo, thank you.
We've got to take a break here. Still ahead here, what are they up to now? Britain's royal couple continues their U.S. visit. You'll never guess what's on their agenda in Washington today. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: A popular woman's magazine in the United States presenting its bravest woman in the world award to Mukhtar Mai.
VERJEE: "Glamour" magazine recognized the Pakistani woman for her work as a human rights activist. She took on the role after she was gang raped under tribal orders back in 2002 for an alleged offense committed by her brother.
CLANCY: She was accused of behaving dishonorably of a woman of a higher caste. Mai says she is fighting the oppression of women and the poor by futile lords.
VERJEE: And also honored the 16th annual "Glamour" magazine woman of the year award ceremony, or very own CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.
CLANCY: Congratulations to all. She was presented with the news source award.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: It's another busy day in the U.S. for a British royal couple.
CLANCY: That's right. Prince Charles and his wife Camilla headed to Washington and its suburbs for a seminar at the National Institutes of Health.
VERJEE: Later they go to the National Building Museum, where Charles is supposed to get an award recognizing his long-standing interest in creating urban areas with human scale touches.
CLANCY: And all of this after a lavish and star-studded dinner at the White House last night with the president and Washington's elite.
Robert Moore has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT MOORE, ITV NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): Last night, the royal couple were guests of honor at a black tie dinner at the White House. This the climax of the visit to Washington of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The president is not a man who likes formal entertainment, but passed without a hitch, and included a warm exchange of toasts.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Your compassion and charitable efforts, such as the Prince's Trust, continue to help more of Britain's young people and entrepreneurs pursue their dreams in life. Your royal highness, your generous spirit, your steadfast leadership and your devotion to your people are an inspiration.
PRINCE CHARLES, UNITED KINGDOM: We share so much history and tradition, language and culture, and a commitment to democracy and liberty. These enrich the spirits, and are founded on those greatest of all gifts, friendship and loyalty.
MOORE: Earlier yesterday, they had arrived at the White House for a private lunch on this, their inaugural foreign trip together. Watching from the balcony, the president's mother Barbara, one of the very few invited for lunch yesterday. What did they speak about? Well, not invasion of Iraq, we're told. That's too politically controversial a subject to be raised.
After that private White House lunch yesterday, the duke and duchess went to a school in a deprived Washington neighborhood. This, the sort of media-friendly side-trip that is likely to win Camilla a favorable reception in America.
And in the moment that may invoke memories of the late princess of Wales, the duchess walked the rope line and worked the crowd. After a nervous start in New York, you might be forgiven for thinking Camilla was enjoying herself.
Certainly the dinner last night will create plenty of publicity for the royal couple in America. If the aim was to put Camilla on the America stage, the palace may judge this a successful opening couple of days.
Robert Moore, ITV News, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: We like getting e-mails from you, so we want to check on them.
CLANCY: That's right. Our question today was, will political fallout from Lewis Libby's indictment have any effect on President Bush's agenda?
Dick Dadds from Colorado writes: "I seriously doubt that this indictment will have any effect on Bush's agenda. He's too sure he's right in everything he does."
Leslie Kelly in Cyprus writes: "I believe George Bush must look to his agenda to regain trust, both internally and internationally."
VERJEE: Finally, Tiffany Whitney in California writes: "It won't exactly stop unethical practices within the administration, it will just make those under the president's rule little more careful about covering their tracks."
CLANCY: This has been YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy. VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. Thanks so much for watching.
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