Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Saddam Hussein Refuses to Appear in Court; Castro Attends Elian's 12th Birthday Party

Aired December 07, 2005 - 06:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A developing story in Iraq right now. A delay in the Saddam Hussein trial as the former dictator refuses to sit where you see him there in that tape. He won't come to court. We're waiting to see how this standoff will end.
President Bush on the offensive, trying to build support for the war. Another speech this morning. We're following the political battle over Iraq as well.

And it's brutally cold across much of the country this morning. In some places the temperatures could plunge to 20 below zero. We'll have a forecast for you ahead.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. We're going to bring you right live to Baghdad in just a moment.

First, though, a look at some of the other stories that are making news. Carol has that.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I've got them right here. Good morning to all of you.

What went wrong in the aftermath of Katrina? It's been more than three months now, and we still don't have the answers. Now Congress is getting involved. A House panel is set to hear this morning from state officials in Mississippi, including the governor, Haley Barbour. Topping today's agenda, food and water. Lawmakers want to know why supplies requested by the state took six days to arrive. That hearing begins in about three hours.

The mayor of Spokane, Washington, is on his way out. Mayor James West was recalled by voters. West allegedly offered jobs and perks to young men he met in a gay chat room. West admits to having relationships with the young men, but he denies doing anything illegal. No criminal charges have been filed.

Today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Sixty-four years ago, some 2,400 naval and military personnel were killed in the Japanese attack. A ceremony, including some survivors, will observe a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. Pacific Time, the very moment the attack began in 1941.

And questions this morning of whether Dr. Phil McGraw really believed in the diet pills he once endorsed. The TV therapist is being sued for making false statements about the Shape-Up diet campaign. Court documents show Dr. Phil admitted in e-mails that he had no expertise in the diet field. And he insisted on the strongest of disclaimers for advertisements. But in an interview on "LARRY KING LIVE," Dr. Phil defended the endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PHIL MCGRAW, TALK SHOW HOST: I've learned as I have gained in recognition and notoriety that you're a little bit of a lightning rod for that kind of thing.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Are you very concerned?

MCGRAW: I'm not. I'm very comfortable. The products are high quality. They were presented in a right and proper fashion. And I have no problem with it whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Lightning rod he is. "LARRY KING LIVE" airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Let's talk more about the cold weather, especially in Chicago.

Jacqui, I can't believe what people's heating bills are going to be after this.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I know.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: And back to Baghdad now and the total confusion in the Saddam Hussein trial.

Saddam Hussein is boycotting the courtroom. Court has been delayed for over three hours while the judges are trying to figure out what they should do now.

Let's get right to Nic Robertson. He is live on the trial watch this morning.

Hey, Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

I think just at the moment where you didn't think it could get any more confusing or muddy, it has taken another turn. Journalists were called up to the courtroom about half-an-hour, 45 minutes ago, expecting the trial to resume. When they got to the journalists' gallery, the curtains were closed, separating them from the courtroom. They were told that maybe another session was about to get under way, but that it would be a closed session. So, they left the room, because they wouldn't be able to hear anything. So, right now it appears that the meetings this morning between Saddam Hussein's lawyers, the judges, the meetings between the lawyers and Saddam Hussein have amounted to no conclusion that we can see. We still don't know if the trial is going to go ahead with or without Saddam Hussein today -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, they've really tried to avoid the three- ring circus image, and they are struggling every step of the way, aren't they, Nic?

ROBERTSON: They are. And this seems to be how Saddam Hussein wants to play this, a power struggle. He goes into court thinking, pretending, acting as if he's still the president of the country, seeming to think that he can affect the course of the events of the trial.

And what we've been able to see so far, he has to a degree. The judge has found some compromises.

But this is what it seems to be, a power struggle between the guy who still thinks he's president and the court that thinks it's the legitimate court and that it's ready to try him.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll see who wins the power struggle. Nic Robertson for us live in Baghdad this morning. Nic, thank you for the update. And, of course, we're going to continue to check in as things change in that courtroom -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, imagine for a moment it's your 12th birthday, and among the people who come to your party is the president. Well, that's what's happening in Cuba today for Elian Gonzalez. Fidel Castro in Elian's hometown for the big 12.

CNN's Havana bureau chief, Lucia Newman, joining us now.

Lucia, at the tender age of 12, Elian Gonzalez has become really an icon, hasn't he?

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Absolutely, Miles. Good morning.

Well, as you can see, he's just -- he's still a cute, little boy. But he isn't so little anymore. He was 12 years old yesterday. And Castro was right by his side, just like he has been every single time that Elian has celebrated his birthday since he returned to Cuba back in the year 2000.

Things, though, are very different now. It's not a birthday party as you would imagine. There was no cake. There were no clowns. Elian had to sit in the front row with his family, with Castro, as Castro made an hour's long speech. In fact, this birthday party was really less about Elian than a platform for Castro to talk about his so-called battle of ideas and an all-out campaign that he has now to fight against corruption and black marketeering, which are both endemic in communist Cuba -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, clearly Castro, in a sense, uses Elian Gonzalez as a symbol, as a prop if you will. Is that something that you just see evolving and growing as time goes on?

NEWMAN: Well, every single time that there's a big event, celebrations, Cuba's equivalent of the Fourth of July, anything like that you'll always see Elian Gonzalez in the front row with his family.

So, yes, he is brought out and put into public for these sorts of special events to show him as sort of the ideal boy, the boy who is the best one in his class, that's how he's portrayed by Castro -- the sort of person that the rest of Cuban children should aspire to be like.

But most of the time he's at home, like most little kids, playing with his friends. But on big events like this, they definitely bring him out.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Lucia Newman, not exactly my vision of the perfect 12-year-old birthday party, an hour-long speech for the president, but nonetheless happy birthday to Elian. Lucia Newman in Havana. Thanks very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a Red Cross volunteer working on Katrina relief efforts is in some hot water this morning. We're going to find out what she's doing with the money that you gave to hurricane victims.

Also ahead this morning, we've been talking about Saddam Hussein and his refusal to go to court today. Is the judge letting him run wild? A look at that is up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, Saddam Hussein seems to be running the show at his own trial. There was no testimony so far today, because Hussein refuses to attend.

And take a look at this. Some of the outbursts from yesterday would up overshadowing some of the riveting testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, FORMER IRAQI PRESIDENT (through translator): Criminal, to hell fire, to hell fire. You to hell fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Please don't interrupt the testimony.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Saddam Hussein telling the court to go to hell.

Let's get right to Professor Michael Scharf. He is a professor who has trained some of the Iraqi tribunal judges. He joins us from Cleveland, Ohio, this morning.

Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.

MICHAEL SCHARF, ADVISOR TO HUSSEIN TRIBUNAL: Thanks, Soledad. Good to be on.

S. O'BRIEN: When you take a look and see Saddam Hussein -- I mean, that was a clip from yesterday. He's controlling this court, isn't he?

SCHARF: Not quite. I think what you do have is a battle of the wills, as Nic suggested. Yesterday actually was a very good day for the prosecution with the strongest witnesses so far. And I think after Witness A, a woman, testified, Saddam Hussein realized that he had to do something to disrupt the proceedings, because this testimony was so powerful and damaging. And so, he started to say, go to hell, and I'm going to boycott the proceedings.

Now, Judge Amin does have some cards to play. He doesn't want to be seen as heavy-handed. But Saddam Hussein and the other defendants do not have a right to just hijack the trial. They can't actually say, we won't show up, so the trial must close down.

You know, Soledad, this reminds me of the footage I've seen of the 1968 Chicago Seven trial, where Abbie Hoffman tried to do many of the things that Saddam Hussein is trying to do. And ultimately that court figured a way to navigate the problems and gain control of the courtroom.

S. O'BRIEN: So much less at stake...

SCHARF: And Judge Amin is going to do the same thing.

S. O'BRIEN: So much less at stake, though, in the Abbie Hoffman trial obviously.

SCHARF: Of course.

S. O'BRIEN: Can they just take him, shackle him, sit him in the courtroom, tie him down and make him attend court?

SCHARF: Well, they can legally, but they wouldn't want to do that, because nothing would look more like an unfair trial than that. So, probably what they would do instead is put all of the defendants in the detention center and create a video link so that they can watch the proceedings from the detention center, and they wouldn't have to be shackled. But there are all sorts of other alternatives.

Ultimately what I prescribe is that the judge has to appoint standby lawyers right away who are in the trial every day and ready to step in as soon as the defense lawyers try to boycott again. That action itself, which was successfully done by the Rwanda tribunal and the Sierra Leone tribunal earlier this year, will make the defense lawyers play by the rules, because they won't want to be replaced so easily. S. O'BRIEN: Do they call you, I mean, when things like this happen, since you're the guy who helped train the tribunal? Do they say, Professor Scharf, what are our options here?

SCHARF: We actually prepared detailed legal memos on these issues. In fact, we just sent five boxes of them to Baghdad last week, and they're being translated into Arabic.

One of the issues that we dealt with was, how do you maintain control of the courtroom? So, hopefully, the prescription that I'm talking about today on the air is something that they'll be studying carefully in the next few days.

S. O'BRIEN: You mentioned yesterday was very emotional and really strong certainly for the prosecution when you consider the five witnesses and overall what they had to say about their torture. But isn't the real issue connecting those horrible, very graphic and detailed descriptions with Saddam Hussein?

SCHARF: Well, it's Saddam and the other seven defendants. And yesterday, the most amazing moment of the trial was when his co- defendants, his half-brother and the vice president of the country, said, yes, I was there, and I didn't do what you said I did. I actually freed people who were in detention in the town of Dujail.

What he didn't realize is he just implicated himself. He said he was there, and he said he was in control. That's the two things the prosecution wanted to prove. They proved their case yesterday.

S. O'BRIEN: An interesting development. And really what we're talking about is all of the dramatics and the theater in the courtroom today. Michael Scharf is a professor at Case Western Reserve University. Nice to see you, Michael. As always, thanks.

SCHARF: Good to talk to you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer is here. He was thinking about boycotting here, but he managed to...

S. O'BRIEN: We would get you and tie you down.

M. O'BRIEN: He's in leg irons.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: (INAUDIBLE) the whole jail.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I knew this was a difficult job.

Sadly, there are some in every crowd, you guys. Rampant fraud in the Katrina relief effort. We'll have that. Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SERWER: There you go. Easy country, they call it.

M. O'BRIEN: Easy country.

SERWER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, we're back. We're going to get to Andy in just a moment. But first, let's get some headlines in. Carol Costello with that.

COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone.

In Iraq, more violence to tell you about. In the northern city of Kirkuk, at least 15 gunmen attacked a general hospital. They freed a prisoner accused of planting bombs and explosives. The suspect was getting treatment at the hospital. He had been wounded during his arrest.

The attack comes one day after a double suicide bombing at a police academy. The death toll in that attack is reportedly at 40 this morning. Dozens more were wounded.

President Bush marks the second in a series of speeches today to outline his strategy for winning the war in Iraq. It focuses on rebuilding Iraq's economy shattered by the war and decades of Saddam Hussein's rule. CNN will have live coverage of the president's speech this morning. He's set to take the podium at 10:45 a.m. Eastern.

And legendary Hawaiian singer Don Ho, remember him? This is video we have from the '80s. And this is how we all remember Don Ho. Well, he's in the hospital in Thailand after a stem cell procedure on his heart. The 75-year-old underwent an experimental treatment, which has not been approved in the United States. He's suffered from heart problems for about a year. He has a pacemaker. He's now in intensive care, but doctors say his vital signs are said to be strong. So, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

The middle of the country, boy, it's caught in a bitter deep freeze. Jacqui Jeras is in Atlanta to tell us about it. I don't know if we want to hear it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Andy and a look at business.

You knew it was coming, fraud in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I mean, it was bound to happen.

SERWER: And it's sad news, but not unexpected, Soledad, as you're suggesting.

Federal investigators say there are now 1,000 active cases into relief efforts involving fraud and Hurricane Katrina. And more to come, they suggest.

And the news is not something that you'd be surprised about, because there is so much money washing through this area, $63 billion coming through here. And investigations are going from California to Georgia. Obviously this would entail collecting funds.

For instance, a brother and sister couple in Texas stealing debit cards worth as much as $230,000, using these cards to buy jewelry, cars and clothes that they had been given as gifts. That investigation is ongoing.

And the reason why investigators say this could get even worse is because so far only $2,000 per family has been disbursed, and families could receive as much as $26,000 per family. So, you can see a lot more money to come. And you have people who take advantage of these situations, and they should be drawn and quartered.

S. O'BRIEN: How did the brother and sister get access, get their hands on the debit cards?

SERWER: They were Red Cross volunteers. I mean, the really worst type of people.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that is...

SERWER: And so, they were just simply taking. The brother was a volunteer, and his sister was, you know, just there and took the cards and just going off to ATMs and using them.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a shame.

SERWER: And, you know, this is -- you know, they haven't been convicted yet as it were, but this is what the allegations are.

M. O'BRIEN: They might have to add some space in that special place in hell for these people, huh?

SERWER: Carve out a little bit more.

M. O'BRIEN: Carve out a little more?

SERWER: And make it more crowded. That's fine, too.

M. O'BRIEN: That's even better, yes.

SERWER: Either way.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, the latest hitch in the trial of Saddam Hussein. What would you do if you held a trial and the defendant just said, I'm not showing up, and it happened to be Saddam Hussein? We'll go live to Baghdad and try to sort this one out on AMERICAN MORNING as it returns shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) S. O'BRIEN: If you take a look at CNN.com this morning, we have much more on our top stories. Saddam Hussein refusing to appear in court. Also, some of the more interesting popular stories as well. Mega churches closed on Christmas, which falls on a Sunday. The holiday falls on a Sunday, so they're saying people won't show up, so we might as well close our doors.

A girl's life support is now in the court's hands. The man who is accused of beating his step-daughter tried on Tuesday to convince skeptical justices on the state's highest court that he should have a say in whether the comatose 11-year-old is removed from life support.

Also, you can check out Pipeline. It's CNN's new on-demand broadband video service. If you're heading off to work or school, a reminder, you can stay in touch with CNN and us here at AMERICAN MORNING on CNN.com.

It's time this morning for the "Morning Agenda." Lots to talk about in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We're going to be talking with Mike Levitt. He is going to be discussing the mental health of Katrina victims. We've been talking obviously a lot about the financial health and also just the physical health. When it comes to mental health, many people are predicting long-term problems.

And then this case, very similar to the Terri Schiavo case. An 11-year-old girl's step-father says she should be not be taken off life support. Some people say he's saying that because he could be accused in her death if she dies when she's removed from life support.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. He's accused of beating her along with his, I guess, wife in this case. And so...

S. O'BRIEN: Her aunt.

M. O'BRIEN: Or her aunt. So, I mean, the implications there are -- it's a terribly sad story, of course, an 11-year-old girl who is in a coma.

Going back to that Mike Levitt story, though. Remember we were talking to Cecil Tibo (ph) earlier this week, who is -- you know, she's the woman who had such difficulty getting an insurance claim. After appearing on our air, she finally got her insurance check and so forth. But what's interesting about her situation is she deals in crisis intervention cases. And her just kind of sense of it is, is that people are very depressed -- she herself admits she is depressed -- and that there is a higher suicide rate among Katrina victims.

And so, what Secretary Levitt wants to do is put some public service announcements out there, some commercials. Is that enough? Does a more concerted effort need to be done for these people long term? Because as this really sinks in, the real issues of mental health come up.

S. O'BRIEN: And, of course, we're following the weather as well this morning. Colorado really high winds. I mean, hurricane-force winds to talk about. Jacqui Jeras has a look at all of that, because it is a brutal day for many parts of the country.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JERAS: More on an ice storm coming up on the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, which starts right now.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.