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Your World Today

Fate of Hostages in Iraq; U.S. Torture Debate; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Remarks

Aired December 09, 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.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Muslim clerics join the calls for mercy for four Western peace activists taken hostage in Iraq.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran's president provokes an international uproar with inflammatory comments about Israel, again.

CLANCY: And Chicago's second largest airport reopened now after a runway accident that killed a 6-year-old boy.

Right now it's 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad; 8:30 in the evening in Tehran; and 11:00 in the morning at Midway International Airport in Chicago.

I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani.

Welcome to our viewers throughout the world. This is CNN International. And this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

We begin our report this hour in Iraq, where the fate of four kidnapped Christian peace activists and one American contract worker hang in the balance. The execution deadline for the four aid workers, including one American, is fast approaching.

Aneesh Raman joins us now live from Baghdad.

Aneesh, what is the latest that is being said about this case, if anything?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing, essentially, Jim. We are just hours away from that deadline, the second deadline given by the previously unknown insurgent group Swords of Justice, who for now two weeks have had four Western aid workers in custody.

They are members of a team called Christian Peacekeepers Team. You see their video that was released on Wednesday. American Tom Fox and a British national two of the four hostages. The other two are Canadian.

The Wednesday deadline extended until Saturday. The demands, that all prisoners be released and that U.S. and British troops start withdrawing from Iraq.

Now, the U.S. president has said they will not negotiate with terrorists. But there are obviously extensive efforts under way to try and locate these four hostages.

Now meantime, the fate of American Ronald Schulz, another hostage, he was taken around November 25 by a known insurgent group called the Islamic Army in Iraq. You see their video there.

His fate is now still unknown. There were text messages posted on Islamic Web sites yesterday saying that he had been killed. The U.S. government saying they have no information that anything has happened to him. That group as well demanding the release of prisoners from its insurgent group.

In the past two weeks, Jim, seven Westerners have been taken hostage in Iraq -- Jim.

CLANCY: Now, we have seen the Palestinians have weighed in. There have been Muslim groups all around the world, the United States and across Europe, that have all asked for these Christian aid workers to be released.

Has that effort been echoed there on the streets in Baghdad? What are the Sunnis saying?

RAMAN: It has. We've heard calls from a number of Sunni group for their release. And you'll recall that when we saw a drop in this insurgent tactic in the taking of Western hostages, it came amid global condemnation, if you will, from the Muslim world.

There was specific intelligence that said Zarqawi was getting pressure from bin Laden and others within the terrorist network, that this was not a good tactic, that it was backfiring, it wasn't helping the message. These attacks, though, these insurgents taking Westerners, in terms of kidnappings, is now back on the rise. A sign the insurgency trying to stake its claim.

But again, throughout Iraq there are calls for the release of these hostages -- Jim.

CLANCY: Aneesh Raman reporting there live from Baghdad.

Aneesh, thank you -- Hala.

GORANI: Let's talk more about these hostages. And some prominent Muslim clerics and others around the world are appealing for the freedom of those four Christian aid workers.

Paul Osman (ph) has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Shackled together, blindfolded, and wearing the orange jumpsuits intended to recall Guantanamo Bay uniforms, and all too often the clothing in which previous hostages have been executed. But the kidnappers have given their captives a 48-hour stay of execution.

Perhaps the cacophony of appeals is having an effect. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has made it clear that officials in Iraq are ready to hear from the kidnappers.

Extraordinarily, he was joined by the Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada (ph), who is being held in Britain for links to al Qaeda. He pleaded for the hostages' release.

Anasaf Tikriti (ph), from the Muslim Council for Great Britain, is in Jordan, trying to secure their freedom.

And Moazzam Begg, himself a former Guantanamo detainee, has added his voice.

MOAZZAM BEGG, FMR. GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE: It is our sincerest belief that Norman Kember, a 74-year-old Briton, and those with him are amongst those people, the many people who opposed this war from the beginning and were only in Iraq to promote human rights for the oppressed. Just like Sheikh Abu Qatada (ph), we also hope that our words may encourage you to show mercy to these men and let them free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wait and breadth of the appeals for mercy are giving some cause for optimism.

DAUD ABDULLA, MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN: More than 26 leaders in the region, Islamic leaders and leaders of resistance movements, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, they have also called for the release of the hostages. And I think this is perhaps even more important, because they reflect the mood and the views of the people of the region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends of Norman Kember hope he knows how much he and his fellow hostages are supported and draws additional strength from it.

PAT GAFFNEY, NORMAN KEMBERS'S FRIEND: My sense is that he'd probably be coping fairly well. I would hope that the fact that he's with others is a strength.

I also would have the sense that they will know that there is a wide global community supporting them, thinking about them, working on their behalf, praying for them. And I think that would also be a great source of support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Osman (ph), ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Looking at the broader picture in Iraq, Washington says it could bring home some 20,000 troops after next week's parliamentary elections in Iraq. Now, you have to recognize that troop levels were recently increased by just about that amount in anticipation of election violence by insurgents.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld explained how a further reduction, though, could happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We've got our force -- our folks in the Pentagon planning different scenarios, staying level at 135,000, 137,000, going up if we need to go up, going down if the conditions permit a reduction in our forces so that we are prepared to go any direction that's appropriate. And the plans are there, and what we'll do is we'll be visiting with the commanders after the elections are over.

You know, there are a number of uncertainties. We don't know how long it will take for the Iraqis to form a new government. It could take several weeks. It could take a month or two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: All right. U.S. troop levels now stand at about 155,000 -- Hala.

GORANI: Turning our attention now to Afghanistan, Jim, President Hamid Karzai there is welcoming NATO's decision to expand its peacekeeping mission in his country. A plan approved Thursday calls for increasing NATO's presence there from more than 9,000 troops to more than 15,000. The most dangerous counterinsurgency operations will still be left to the 20,000 troops led by the United States, but NATO will provide for training for Afghan forces.

One Taliban commander says more troops would only mean more targets for his fighters.

CLANCY: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is returning home after a European trip that was meant to ease concerns about U.S. treatment of terror suspects. She left Brussels on Friday morning. She's now expected to be back in Washington next hour.

Rice telling leaders in four nations that the United States does not condone torture and treats detainees within the law. Still, she sidestepped questions about alleged secret CIA prisons. Many diplomats said they did feel that Rice had, in their words, cleared the air.

GORANI: Now, American policy on the treatment of detainees is also the talk on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers say they are near a deal on a defense bill that would include a ban on torture, a move pushed by Republican Senator John McCain, against the will of the White House.

Let's bring in Ed Henry in Washington.

Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Hala.

That's right, two congressional sources tells CNN that, in fact, House negotiators have indicated to their Senate counterparts that they are now willing to accept John McCain's ban on torture. This is a complete 180 from where the House negotiators started their talks with their Senate counterparts.

It's also a blow to Vice President Cheney. He has been lobbying vigorously against the McCain amendment.

These sources do caution that the deal is not final. McCain, in fact, is still privately ironing out the final details with White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley. But these sources say that the House negotiators are saying privately that they are willing to accept the McCain language banning torture of detainees almost word for word.

Now, the lead House negotiator in all of this, House Armed Services chairman Duncan Hunter, told CNN yesterday that he believes that the McCain language will be "strongly manifested in the final product here." And what's also interesting is that this is coming after, as you know, wide international pressure on the Bush administration to speak out loudly against the use of torture of detainees.

In fact, yesterday, when I caught up with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the Capitol hallway, he did not want to talk about this subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Mr. Secretary, is the administration giving in on the McCain torture amendment? Are you going to accept the language?

RUMSFELD: The White House has been doing all of this. You will have to talk to them.

HENRY: But you're the defense secretary. Are you accepting the torture amendment, the McCain language? Presumably this is your area.

RUMSFELD: I've said to you that the White House is handling negotiations. And (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, we're expecting that once these talks are wrapped up over the next couple of days there could be votes in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, codifying the McCain ban on torture in the middle of next week -- Hala.

GORANI: Now, Ed, the defense secretary there did seem a bit irritated by your question, but here's my question. How politically significant would it be if this bill is passed through against the will of the White House, this language on an explicit ban of torture on detainees?

HENRY: I think it's possible that it could be seen as another blow to the administration that has been having difficulty getting its political footing. It's saying that even though it's a Republican-led United States Congress on issue after issue, whether it was Social Security reform or on Iraq in general, now detainee policy, Republicans on the Hill are now standing up to this White House more and more.

And here you have a case where the vice president, an extremely powerful figure in this administration, in the early part of the Bush years could go up to Capitol Hill and really pressure Republicans and tell them to back off when the White House didn't want something. Now you have McCain, other Republican senators, like John Warner of Virginia, the Senate Armed Services chairman, standing up to this White House. And it appears like they are going to have a victory here.

It could be another sign that the White House, as it heads towards lame duck status, is having some difficulty not with just Democrats, but Republicans in their own party -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. Ed Henry, live in Washington.

CLANCY: Well, still ahead, Iran's outspoken president makes controversial remarks again. We'll have details.

GORANI: And later, the perils of flying in wintry weather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right away the airplane from the front had went down because the wheel had broken off. And from there, I turned around and I ran, like, a half a block down because I thought it was going to come after me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: In Chicago, a plane runs off the runway, slams through a fence, and slides into a busy intersection.

That story and more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back, everyone. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: It's an hour of world news on CNN International. And we are happy to have our viewers in the United States with us this hour.

Iran's hard-line president, who earlier called for Israel to be wiped off the map, if you will recall, now once again drawing a barrage of international criticism.

GORANI: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be moved to Europe and expressed doubts about the extent of the Holocaust. There's worldwide condemnation of those remarks, which are only adding fuel to the debate over Tehran's nuclear program.

John Vause has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In short, he's at it again. A little more than a month since suggesting Israel should be "wiped off the map," Iran's outspoken, controversial president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has publicly questioned the extent of the Holocaust and said if European countries believed it happened, then they should give some of their provinces, "like in Germany, Austria, or other countries, to the Zionists, and the Zionists can establish a state in Europe."

RA'ANAN GISSIN, SR. SHARON ADVISER: Just to remind Mr. Ahmadinejad, we've been here long before his ancestors were here, and therefore we have a birthright to be here in the land that -- the land of our forefathers.

VAUSE: Ironically, the comments came at the summit of Muslim nations called to deal with terrorism and extremism and try and promote moderation and tolerance held in Saudi Arabia, in Islam's holiest city, Mecca. Once again, the Iranian president is the focus of worldwide condemnation.

From Germany, "The comments by the Iranian president," she said, "are totally unacceptable. As German chancellor and with that historical responsibility in mind, I can only say we reject them in the harshest possible terms."

To the United States...

ADAM ERELI, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: To these latest remarks which we've seen reports of, are clearly both appalling and reprehensible.

VAUSE: There's been swift and widespread denunciation.

And for Israel, more proof, if any was needed, that Iran's nuclear program must be stopped.

SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: This country does not recognize the existence of the state of Israel and will do everything it can in order to destroy the state of Israel.

VAUSE: Last week the Israelis sent a clear message to the Iranians with a successful test of it's Arrow anti-missile system. The destroyed target similar to the Iran long-range Shihad (ph) III, believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and able to reach Israel.

And this week Russia confirmed the sale to Iran of a sophisticated air defense system. Both countries are spending billions to stay one step ahead of the other.

(on camera): Israel's warnings about not tolerating a nuclear armed Iran have grown louder in recent weeks. For now, though, insisting the main focus is on diplomacy, preferably sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council. The big if, what happens should diplomacy fail?

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CLANCY: Well, why does the Iranian president appear to be risking increased international isolation with such remarks?

For some perspective, we spoke earlier to Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group. We asked him whether the comments were mostly meant for a domestic audience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARIM SADJADPOUR, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: For the international community there's been a bit of confusion. But, you know, during Mohammed Khatami's tenure, the previous president, we were widely under the impression that, you know, Iranians are a largely very tolerant people, progressive people in search of democratic change. And then all of a sudden they elect this new president, Mr. Ahmadinejad, who is very radical, kind of a throwback to the early days of the revolution.

And I think what people don't understand is that, you know, when Mr. Ahmadinejad ran this campaign, he very much suppressed this radical Islam (ph) side of him. He did not run on a platform of wiping Israel off the face of the map or having contentious relations with the West.

And I think that one thing people should appreciate is the fact that for the Iranian people, the question of Palestine doesn't have any particulars resonance. There's no land disputes with Israel, there's no border disputes with Israel.

Iranians are very much proud of being Iranian. They're not Arab. So Ahmadinejad, when he makes these sweeping statements about Israel, he's appealing to only a very, very small minority of the Iranian populous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Interesting perspective there. Now, Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments are the subject of our question this day.

CLANCY: We're asking this: What do you make of the Iranian's president's latest anti-Israel remarks? E-mail us your thoughts at ywt@cnn.com.

GORANI: Don't forget to include your name, where you are writing us from. And we'll read a selection of e-mails a bit later in this hour.

CLANCY: Well, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency says the international community losing patience with Iran over its nuclear program. Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei is in Oslo. He's going to be accepting the 2005 peace prize there.

He said he hopes outstanding nuclear issues with Iran will be clarified by the time he presents his next report. That will be in March. The IAEA director telling reporters this: "The ball is in Iran's court. It's up to Iran to show the kind of transparency they need to show." Adding, "They're inching forward and I'm asking them to leap forward."

ElBaradei is to receive the Nobel Prize at an award ceremony on Saturday. CNN's Jonathan Mann, our colleague, is going to have an exclusive live interview with the IAEA director general. Be sure to watch CNN's "Nobel Prize for Peace." That's a one-hour special live from Oslo, Saturday at 16:00 GMT.

GORANI: Now a check of what's topping the news in the United States is up next our viewers in the U.S.

CLANCY: While the rest of us are going to get a check on what's moving financial markets around the world, as well as new allegations against the makers of the drug Vioxx as another Vioxx lawsuit goes to a jury.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in a few moments. First, though, a check of stories making headlines here in the U.S.

Answers about what caused last night's deadly accident at Chicago's Midway Airport could take up to a year. That is the word from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Southwest jetliner will not even be moved until tomorrow at the earliest. It was landing in a snowstorm when it skidded across a runway, crashed through a fence, and slammed into two vehicles on a street.

A 6-year-old boy in one of those cars was killed. Several others were injured.

A witness described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHDI ABDELQADER, WITNESS: I was, like, in shock. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, man, what's going on?

So I get to 56th and Central, I get out of my truck, go towards the plane. There's about a couple of people, like two or three people standing, yelling, and out of their cars.

A police officer comes, walks towards the plane, and calming everybody down. And then we go by the vehicle, the plane was on top of it. And we hear the mom and the dad just -- the dad got out of the vehicle, grabbed his kid out. And then the mom is stuck in there with her two other children, and they were screaming, "Help me. Help me."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Southwest Airlines says three of the injured remain hospitalized at this time.

That winter storm that rolled out of the Great Plains, it['s working its way across the Northeast. The view now from Secaucus, New Jersey, is fairly typical of what's been happening over much of the Northeast.

Fat flakes tumbled from the skies amid skyscrapers of Manhattan. And by mid-morning, New Yorkers are navigating through several inches of fresh snow.

The storm is expected to merge with another system as it moves into New England. One forecaster calls the combo -- will be a doozy. There's a good official weather word for you.

And our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, looking at that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Oh, let's talk about Hurricane Katrina now. The aftermath still being measured on one college campus in the hurricane zone.

Tulane University will reopen in about five weeks. But returning students will see some big changes.

The school is laying off about 10 percent of its faculty and eliminating eight sports programs. Students will be housed on cruise ships. About two-thirds of Tulane's facilities' flooded, and recovery costs are estimated at $200 million and counting.

A Florida judge has rejected a plea deal for a former teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old student. Deborah Lafave was sentenced to three years of house arrest and seven years probation for offenses that happened in Hillborough Cunty.

But in Marion County, where prosecutors say one of the incidents occurred, the judge has now set a trial date for April 10.

Meanwhile, a substitute teacher in Jacksonville, Florida, is accused of using cocaine during class. Seventh grade students say they saw him sniffing a white powder during a science class. Police say a bag of powder found at the teacher's feet during questioning tested positive for cocaine.

He has played a superhero in a movie, and now basketball star Shaquille O'Neal wants to defend justice in real life. The Miami Heat center took an official oath as a Miami Beach police officer. O'Neal completed 1,200 hours of training, attended the police academy, and passed an exam.

A commercial pilot on what may have been taking place in the cockpit at the time of last night's plane crash in Chicago, that's coming up on "LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips at the top of the hour. Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Daryn Kagan. Have a great weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: It is the half hour in many parts of the world. Welcome back to your world today on CNN International. I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy, and these some of the top stories we're following right now. New remarks by Iran's hardline president have caused an international furor. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Israel to be moved to Europe, and then he expressed some doubts about the Holocaust. Countries including Israel of course, the United States, Germany, Austria, Russia, all strongly condemning these latest remarks.

GORANI: Now turning our attention to Iraq, Muslim clerics, activists, Palestinian militant groups, all calling for the release of four Christian aid workers, including one American, kidnapped in Iraq. The deadline for their execution is approaching.

Bob Franken reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They are seen on newly released video, Tom Fox of Virginia and one of the three other hostages, appearing as their kidnappers extended their execution deadline until Saturday. In addition to Fox, the three include a Canadian and two British citizens. In an earlier tape, an American accent is heard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a representative of Christian peacemaker teams, we feel that continued American and British occupation is not in the best interest of the Iraqi people.

FRANKEN: While members of Fox's Quaker group back home demonstrate their support, family members wait and desperately hope.

KATHERINE FOX, DAUGHTER OF HOSTAGE: I want to be able to communicate just how loved my father is. But more than that, I just want to hug him. I want to find a way to give back the strength he has given to me.

FRANKEN: The pleas for the safety of the hostages have been heard around the world. Public statements by Islamic leaders. Even an al Qaeda leader, Aba Katada (ph), held in Britain, who said, release the four prisoners. In London, Home Secretary Jack Straw spoke out.

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: If the kidnappers want to get in touch with us, we want to hear what they have to say.

FRANKEN: President Bush has taken a harder line. No deals with terrorists.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We, of course, don't pay ransom for any hostages. What we will do, of course, is use our intelligence gathering to see if we can't help locate them.

FRANKEN: The ransom in this case, the release of all prisoners in Iraq in return for the release of these four.

We can't tell, of course, if there secret negotiations going on, trying to beat the new deadline before the kidnappers say they will kill all four hostages.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Spanish authorities have arrested at least seven terror suspects in raids in the country's southern Costa De Sol (ph) region. They're suspected of financing the activities of Islamic terror groups last month. Police arrested 10 other terror suspects. The Spanish interior ministry linked them to an Islamic organization that was based in Algeria.

GORANI: And a U.N. special investigator next week makes his final report to the Security Council on the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

CLANCY: Now Syria of course was accused of complicity and was also accused of obstruction in the investigation. It has sent officials to Vienna for questioning.

Ben Wedeman explores events as well as the ongoing investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was murder most foul and murky. A car packed with a ton of high explosives killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and at least 20 others on Valentine's Day. His son, Saad, rushed to the scene, swore the killers would be found.

SAAD HARIRI, RAFIK HARIRI'S SON: I hope justice will be brought upon those who committed this heinous crime.

WEDEMAN: For many in Lebanon, there was no doubt who did it. For 30 years, Syria was the main power broker in Lebanon. Syrian forces entered the country in 1976 invited by the Lebanese government to halt the civil war. But the welcome soured as the peacekeepers became occupiers.

Publisher and parliament member Jibraine Tueni says it's simply implausible that Syria had no part in the killing.

JIBRANI TUENI, LEBANESE PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Syria was in charge of everything. Syria is to know every movement of anybody. Do you think it would have been easy to move 1,000 kilos of TNT? GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Back so soon. How are you, sir?

WEDEMAN: The motive, Syria and its Lebanese allies saw Hariri as working hand in hand with the United States and France. Both pressing Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. Syria flatly denies any role in the killing of the man whose likeness now plasters the city.

Rafik Hariri, self-made billionaire, the dynamo prime minister behind Beirut's rebirth from the ashes, with friends in high places.

United Nations, through this man, Detlef Mehlis, German sleuth supreme to search for clues in the Lebanese labyrinth. He interviewed more than 500 people, from taxi drivers to the president of Lebanon.

His findings bolstered suspicions that Syrian officials were instrumental in Hariri's murder. Then this man, shown up front of the cameras in Damascus, Husam Husam (ph), a Syrian informer working as a barber in Beirut, described as the masked witness in the Mehlis Report.

He sang like a canary to investigators, claiming senior Syrian officials, including President Bashar Al Ashad, including president's Bashar Al Assad's brother and brother-in-law were in on the plot.

But his song was all a lie, he told CNN in Damascus, alleging Lebanese security officers tortured him into pointing a finger at the Syrians, part of a political vendetta launched by Hariri's son, Saad, and his allies.

Mr. Mehlis doesn't have any proof that implicates Syria in this crime. And if he did, says Husam, the Lebanese authorities wouldn't had to resort to these very dirty theatrics.

Syria's Lebanese foes claim Husam was a plant, tasked with sabotaging the investigation.

TUENI: The Mehlis Report was not based on Husam Husam. The Mehlis report was based on something like 500 witnesses, and Husam Husam is one of them.

WEDEMAN: But without Husam's claims, the Mehlis Report loses some of its most damning testimony against Damascus. Syrian President Bashad Al Assad is calling on Mellis to correct his report. The Lebanese government is requesting a six-month extension of the investigation. But Mehlis wants to resign when his contract runs out at year's end. Adding fuel to the smoldering fire of Lebanese/Syrian relations. A mass grave has been uncovered in Lebanon's Baca (ph) Valley, near a former Syrian intelligence headquarters, sparking calls for another, possibly broader, inquiry into Syria's role here.

(on camera): Despite potential flaws the Mehlis investigation shines a harsh light on one of the darkest pillars of the system of rule that has oppressed the Arabs for decades, the Mubarat (ph). That's a catch-all Arabic phrase for the security services, the secret police. In many Arab states, they are law all unto themselves, free to detain, torture and murder. But their reign of fear was crumbling. One month after Hariri's assassination, more than a million Lebanese filled the heart of Beirut, demanding justice in the Hariri case and an end to Syria's presence.

The so-called Seder Revolution, combined with international pressure, helped drive the Syrians out earlier this year.

Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druze sect in Lebanon, and harsh critic of the Syrian regime, is spearheading the call for an international tribunal to bring Hariri's killers to justice.

WALID JUMBLATT, DRUZE LEADER: I think once we will have the truth. And once the people who took Hariri are to be jailed, and maybe to be tried and jailed, and I hope executed. I think (INAUDIBLE) will open a new phase in history. And I hope it will be the end of political assassination. And these regimes cannot stay. It's -- they are paradoxical to history.

WEDEMAN: The journalist was recently briefed by the investigator. The investigation he says may spell the end to the old way of doing things in the Arab world. It will reinforce the Democratic climate at the level of the Arab world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): "It will reinforce the democratic climate at the level of the Arab regimes," he tells me. "It will isolate the security intelligence regimes because those regimes are now exposed to international opinion."

TUENI: What we are witnessing now is, I think, a new Middle East and maybe a Middle East without the Assad regime in power in Syria.

WEDEMAN: Not all Lebanese share this enthusiasm for new Middle East or the U.N. investigation. The president of Lebanon is a close ally of Damascus, as is Hezbollah, the battle-hardened Shiite party that maintains Lebanon's last openly functioning militia.

(on camera): Mehlis is scheduled to submit his latest report to the United Nations early next week. But even the most optimistic here doubt he will be able to plum the murkiest depths of the mystery behind Rafik Hariri's murder.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: We're going to turn our attention now to Asia and look at some of the top stories there. Thailand's health ministry has confirmed the death of a 5-year-old boy from avian influenza. Now, he was the first -- he was first hospitalized on Monday. He died Wednesday. This was Thailand's 14th bird flu fatality. The boy's hometown was 80 kilometers northeast of the capital Bangkok. Thailand has now confirmed 22 cases of the H5N1 bird flu strain. More than 120 people have been infected with the strain, half of them have died.

GORANI: All right, take a look at this video. Debate over school reform turned into a shoving match in South Korea's parliament. Lawmakers scuffled briefly on Friday, hurling paper and placards at one another and pulling a man away from the podium after the ruling party pushed through a controversial bill giving the government, teachers and parents more authority over private schools. Opponents say the legislation threatens the autonomy of private schools.

CLANCY: Authorities in southern China have surrounded and sealed off a village where police fatally shot protesters in a dispute over land use earlier this week. Thousands reportedly took part in Tuesday's demonstration in the coastal village in southern China. International rights groups say they were angry about plans to build a wind power plant on local land. State media have not mentioned the violence, and government officials have not made any comment.

GORANI: Discussions on World Trade. Next week, the World Trade Organization Ministers Meeting kicks off in Hong Kong. After the protests surrounding the previous two WTO meetings in Seattle and Cancun, Mexico. , security, of course, a top priority.

Senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy looks at preparations to deal with protesters, this time in Hong Kong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Protest, Hong Kong style. Peaceful. Orderly. More family outing than angry confrontation. Tens of thousands at this recent pro- democracy march, not a single arrest. But the World Trade Organization meeting here could be different.

From the trashing of Seattle in 1999, to the riots which followed the suicide of a South Korean farmer in Cancun, Mexico, two years ago, gatherings of the WTO have become a magnet for violent opponents of globalization.

In a cluttered office, Elizabeth Tang and her colleagues are feverishly trying to coordinate the activities of dozens of protest groups heading to Hong Kong. Tang and the police expect nearly 10,000 demonstrators. She acknowledges not all of them are likely to play by Hong Kong rules.

ELIZABETH TANG, PROTEST COORDINATOR: Some of them may tend to be more dramatic and not everybody will be like Hong Kong people, you know, who are always really orderly.

CHINOY: The biggest concern centers on South Korea's militant farmers. They have a long history of violent protest against opening their country's market to foreign products. Over 1,000 are expected here.

Hong Kong police have been training for trouble for months, preparing for the territory's biggest security operation since the 1997 handover to China.

Officers even sent to observe South Korea's farmers in action at last month's APEC Summit in Busan, South Korea. (on camera): Police and protest organizers have agreed on routes for marches. And for this area, just a few hundred meters from the convention center behind me, where the WTO meeting will be held, as a site for rallies. But the authorities say they'll come down hard on anyone who gets out of line.

DICK LEE, HONG KONG POLICE COMM.: If people start burning cars, breaking windows and threatening the life of people in Hong Kong and cause serious damage to property, then we'll use force to stop them.

CHINOY (voice-over): As police make their final security sweeps, local businesses have been taking their own precautions. Some are expected to close, along with most schools in the area closest to the WTO gathering. The authorities are also keeping a careful watch on Hong Kong's airports and border crossing.

LEE: If there is accurate information to suggest individuals have come into Hong Kong to use violence to create problems, then (INAUDIBLE) have got an equal right to stop them coming in.

CHINOY: Ironically, if protesters do get violent, it could obscure the reasons for their demonstrations, their concerns about the WTO and globalization.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Hong Kong.

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GORANI: We're going to take a short break now on YOUR WORLD TODAY. When we come back, questions surround a disastrous plane landing in the United -- in the U.S. city of Chicago.

CLANCY: That's right. Coming up, a plane slides off the runway and into street traffic with fatal results. We'll have details.

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CLANCY: Welcome back. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. This is an hour of world news on CNN International. Now this story.

Chicago's Midway Airport has reopened after a fatal accident during a heavy snowstorm yesterday. A Southwest Airlines jet carrying 103 passengers skidded off a runway Thursday night, crashed through a barrier, slid into an intersection and killed a young boy in a car. At least ten other people were injured, two on the ground.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I come over here. And I seen the lights on top of the plane. And I looked -- I was right here on this corner. And the nose had came out of the barrier of the airport round. And right away, the airplane from the front had went down because the wheel had broken off. And from there I turned around and I ran, like, half a block down because I thought it was going to come after me. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: All right. That gives you an indication there of how severe the weather was in some parts of the United States. The airline says there were no indications of maintenance problems with the plane, which underwent a routine check the previous day.

CLANCY: And it was that weather, really, that is attributed to -- as the cause of the crash.

GORANI: Absolutely, Jim. And it's a weather system that we're seeing across the United States.

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GORANI: After a short break we'll bring you answers to our e- mail question of the day.

CLANCY: That's right. It's on Iran. It's a very interesting one about the latest statements made by the Iranian president about Israel. Stay tuned.

We're going to leave you here with some pictures of New York City. This is live.

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CLANCY: Welcome back. Favorite time of day, time to open "The Inbox."

GORANI: What do you make of the Iranian president's latest anti- Israel remarks. Here are some of your answers.

Hassan in Paris writes, "I found Ahmadinejad's comments about the Holocaust revolting. But more disturbing is the relatively mild reaction of Europe and the U.S. to his brazen remarks."

CLANCY: Grant from Australia had this to say. "Recent comments made by the leader of Iran clearly indicate that he is 'not knitting with both needles.' To even consider allowing the supply of uranium to this country would be the greatest act of stupidity in recent times."

GORANI: Now another viewer writes in support of the Iranian leader. "President Ahmadinejad is right when he says Israel should be moved to Europe as the Israelis never belonged in Palestine. They came after they were exiled from Germany by Hitler and they made themselves a niche where it was possible."

CLANCY: Finally, Tom in New Jersey writing this: "It does not surprise me to hear that the majority of Iranians do not agree with their president's anti-western comments. After September the 11th, the held spontaneous candlelight vigils in sympathy with the U.S." GORANI: All right, those are some of your comments and answers to our question. And that will do it for this hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Be sure to tune in tomorrow when we're going to bring you more international news in YOUR WORLD TODAY.

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