Return to Transcripts main page

Your World Today

Rescue Workers Still Searching for Victims in Philippine Mudslide; Abbas Asks Hamas Leader to Form Government; Some Lawmakers Challenge Takeover of Seaports by Dubai Group; Bird Flu Fears; Condoleezza Rice Meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister

Aired February 21, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A changing mission in the Philippines from searching for survivors to helping those already found.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Decision time for Hamas. It's now been asked formally to form a new Palestinian government and to modify its stand toward Israel. And one Hamas leader calls talking to Israel a waste of time.

And a big find in Iraq. U.S. forces discover a bomb-making factory just outside Baghdad on a day when there's also been another deadly bombing.

It's 1:00 a.m. in the Philippines, 7:00 p.m. in the Palestinian territories.

I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

Welcome to you, whether you're in the United States or elsewhere around the world. This is CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Heavy rain is slowing the search for victims and survivors. This four days after a sea of mud smothered a farming village in the southern Philippines.

VERJEE: The head of the country's Red Cross says search efforts will continue despite the seemingly long odds.

CLANCY: Now, search teams from across the world, literally, are working with their hands, with shovels, rescue dogs and high-tech equipment. But their work is being hampered by the shifting mud. They're also worried about the movements and the way that they could set off even more landslides.

VERJEE: More than 1,000 people are believed to be buried under the mountain of rocks and mud. Eighty-five bodies have been recovered so far. Part of the focus has shifted to caring for those who survived. More than 2,700 people are in Red Cross evacuation centers. At least 16 villages in the area have been evacuated.

CLANCY: Now, meantime, in Manila, President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo attending a mass praying for the victims and for the survivors. She said she has been overcome with the loss of innocent lives.

VERJEE: No one has been found alive since the first few hours following the mudslide.

CLANCY: A few who did manage to survive are not quite sure if they really were the lucky ones. Hugh Riminton spoke with some of these survivors who recalled the day that mountain literally came down on them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In this hospital corridor and in the wards to the left and right are the few, the very few, the survivors, 16 of them, in this hospital. There were 21 pulled out of the rubble in the first few hours. None since.

Two of those have subsequently died. Three others have been flown off for emergency help in other more sophisticated hospitals.

And that leaves these. We have spoken to them. They have different stories. The testament to randomness, there's no pattern for their survival. They include the physically strong, but also the elderly.

The eldest, 72. The youngest, a child of just one year old.

Among them is a little girl, 6-year-old Rosemary Sabunga (ph). Television cameras saw her being pulled out of the wreckage and being brought out from being entombed. She was lucky because on that particular day she was too sick to go to school and so did not suffer the fate of her three siblings and her mother.

Also here among the survivors, Irinia Valasca (ph). She also was seen being pulled out of the mud. She was buried for five hours.

Now, these people, these survivors, share a number of things in common. The stories of their survival might be different, but they say they have a bond between them. Whatever happens in the future, they want to stay together, to be resettled somewhere where this bond can be sustained.

This is the hospital in which they are trying to make their recovery, while up on the hill the search continues for all the members of these people's families who are still missing. And, in fact, that brings on the question of luck.

These might be deemed the lucky ones. Many of them don't see themselves that way. One woman told me she doesn't feel lucky. She would happily give her life for the seven grandchildren who are still missing in the rubble.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, in Ahawan (ph) Hospital, the Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Shifting our focus now to Iraq, where it has been another bloody day. Car bombs and roadside attacks continue to claim more lives.

In particular, a car bomb detonated in a marketplace in southern Baghdad. It killed at least 20 people and wounded 25 others. This attack one of the worst in recent months. It took place after a pair of roadside bombs exploded in central Baghdad. That attack killed at least one police officer.

The bombs targeted an Iraqi patrol, as well as a U.S. military convoy.

VERJEE: A new discovery in Iraq could make a dent on those roadside explosive devices. Take a look at these. These are some pretty amazing new pictures from the U.S. Defense Department in a raid southwest of Baghdad.

The U.S. military saying that it rounded up 39 suspects who were in the process of making roadside bombs, what the military calls IEDs, improvised explosive devices. This isn't the first time the military has discovered bomb-making factories. Let's take a little more time and look at some of the videotape that came in from the scene.

This coming in from the Department of Defense. And Colonel Jeffrey Snow and many other officials saying that the Iraqi people played a really integral part in helping the coalition forces with crucial intelligence information to find this cache.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. JEFFREY SNOW, U.S. ARMY: I think what's most notable about this is the fact that it was Iraqi citizens that came forward and provided us the information which ultimately led to an air assault operation to go in and uncover what was really a series of caches in southwest of Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: U.S. forces also found weapons, including artillery round, rocket-propelled grenade rounds, as well as a wide variety of other ammunitions.

CLANCY: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to form a government at a meeting in Gaza. Haniyeh was picked by Hamas to be its prime minister After the militant group won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament in last month's election.

Guy Raz now joins us from Jerusalem.

Is this now a done deal, or there more negotiations, many more negotiations between the president and the Hamas leader?

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, this is a process that it will take at least three weeks, perhaps as many as five weeks. But really, this is the period where things begin to get very complicated for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. In a sense, winning the parliamentary elections last month was the easy part. Now the Palestinian Authority, under a Hamas-led government, faces the possibility of international economic sanctions, and as well as diplomatic isolation.

Now, essentially, Ismail Haniyeh has about five weeks to form the next government. That's a government, a cabinet that has to be approved by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. And Hamas has essentially made it plainly clear that it is seeking a wide range of Palestinian political figures to take part in that government, particularly members of the opposition movement, Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian movement.

Now, so far, officials from Fatah and various other Palestinian opposition groups have essentially rejected those offers to join up, and for various reasons. Many officials simply don't want to be tainted by any affiliation with Hamas. Others want the Hamas government, in a sense, to fail. And they want to present themselves as a credible opposition in the event that government does in fact fail.

Now, in that letter that Mahmoud Abbas has handed to Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister-designate, that letter essentially says Mr. Haniyeh's government must abide by all previous agreements drawn up between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over the past decade.

Hamas has been somewhat ambiguous about this issue, not really making it clear what it intends to do. But, Jim, one thing is certain, Hamas now faces perhaps its greatest challenge ever, ostensibly taking over a government which requires some $2 billion a year just to function.

A lot of that money comes from the United States and from the European Union. Both have threatened to withhold that funding unless Hamas, of course, renounces violence and recognizes Israel.

CLANCY: Guy Raz reporting there live for us from Jerusalem.

Thank you.

VERJEE: Hamas' victory is expected to be a key issue during a visit to Cairo by the U.S. secretary of state. Condoleezza Rice is on a mission to lobby Arab allies to increase pressure on Hamas. And we expect to hear more from Secretary Rice and Egypt's foreign minister some time during this hour. So stay tuned for that.

Up next here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, new questions about the security of U.S. ports.

CLANCY: Some lawmakers want to put a stop to a deal with the Dubai-based company to manage key U.S. ports, but others say it's all much ado about nothing. We'll have some analysis for you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International. A delegation of Dubai's port authority is making the rounds in Washington, trying to win over U.S. lawmakers. Some in Congress are trying to block a deal which essentially allows a Dubai-based company to manage six major U.S. seaports.

Do lawmakers have a real reason to be concerned, or is Capitol Hill just making the takeover a bigger deal than it actually should be?

Jim Boulden reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The list of U.S. lawmakers who want to block Dubai's takeover of Britain's P&O continues to grow. But there have been no such concerns in 18 other countries where P&O has port operations.

Dubai Ports World's $6.8 billion friendly takeover of P&O is to be completed in a few weeks. And the British government, for one, has had little to say other than it's one company taking over another.

That lack of concern is no surprise to some security experts who say the Dubai port has one of the best safety records.

ROBERT SPRINGBORG, MIDDLE EAST EXPORT: This is an efficient port, well run. Security has been 100 percent. They've had no incidents there.

They trade with everyone. They traded with the Islamic republic in Iran since the very -- since 1979, since it was created. They've traded with the Saudis, of course.

So they trade with everybody and do it extremely efficiently.

BOULDEN: The U.S. ports in question are owned by state or local authorities. P&O and others rent space from them.

It's different in the U.K. British ports were privatized years ago. While P&O owns none of them, it is a joint operator of South Hampton Port.

Still, only 4 percent of its business is in Britain. And just 6 percent in the United States. Most of its business is now in fast- growing Asia. That's why P&O was a takeover target for Dubai.

And for the most part, P&O handles the logistics imports.

ROBERT WRIGHT, FINANCIAL TIMES: P&O operates container terminals. When you listen to the way that some of the lawmakers have talked about it, they've been talking about it as if this company is going control the whole port of New York, New Jersey. That's very far from the case.

BOULDEN: Each country has its own port security systems in place, but most of the containers which go in and out are unchecked. Security has more to do with theft.

Analysts are puzzled by the outcry in the U.S. because port security there is run by federal agencies, along with the states.

(on camera): As they watch the dogfight in the U.S. over the Dubai takeover, observers here detect a political point-scoring as much as genuine security concerns.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, joining us now to discuss some of the concerns by U.S. lawmakers over this U.S. ports row, we have Democratic congressman from Massachusetts Ed Markey. He's joining us from Washington. He's also a member of the Homeland Security Committee.

Congressman, thank you very much for being with us.

REP. ED MARKEY (D-MA), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Thank you.

CLANCY: And let me just begin right here. Arabs says this is racist. If it was anybody else who was taking it over, other than a Muslim, an Islamic country, an Arab country, there wouldn't be this outcry.

MARKEY: Absolutely not the case. What we have here on our hands is a Bush administration which has nickeled and dimed the program to secure nuclear materials around the globe.

We know that al Qaeda wants to obtain nuclear materials. And so it makes it easier to do that.

We also know that the Bush administration has a program which is an EZ Pass program, whereby in the ports around the world you can get an EZ Pass. No inspection of your -- of your containers to put those containers on ships heading to the United States. Here in the United States, there's a program that only inspects 2 to 4 percent of cargo as it hits our ports.

Now, on top of that, the Bush administration is now going to allow a foreign government to play the role in the unloading of all of this cargo as it is now in the American ports. And we know that al Qaeda wants to get nuclear materials on to a flatbed truck. And explode a nuclear device in an American city.

So the continuum all the way through is a program of the Bush administration spending a little money in order to secure what we believe to a very vulnerable aperture that al Qaeda will seek to exploit in order to have a nuclear explosion in an American city.

CLANCY: All right. What we seem to have here is a mixture of fiction and a mixture of fact.

Yes, it's true P&O is going to be owned -- with this takeover, going to be owned by the United Arab Emirates. Yes, it is true that al Qaeda wants to get a dirty bomb or some kind of nuclear material into the United States for a terrorist attack. At least that's what they've said.

But is it true that this company actually oversees the security? They don't.

MARKEY: Well, this company would be one that unloads the cargo. So, in other words...

CLANCY: But they don't do the security on the cargo. All they do is unload it. The ships come in and they unload it. No matter who's running the port, whether it's an American company, a British company, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, somebody is going to unload the cargo, right?

MARKEY: Right. That's correct.

CLANCY: So -- OK, they're going to be doing it. But who's going to be doing the security? Is it them?

MARKEY: Well, again, there's very little security. Only 2 to 4 percent of the cargo is inspected.

And so, if you then have a foreign country, United Arab Emirates, responsible for the hiring of the people who unload the cargo, because the Bush administration has this EZ Pass program overseas, where it's not inspected there, because it is nickel and diming nuclear security overseas, you now have this as the last point where you're checking, and you have a foreign government, the United Arab Emirates, hiring the people who are unloading this cargo, knowing that only 2 to 4 percent of it is going to be inspected at this last juncture before. If they exploit it, al Qaeda is able to move nuclear material into America.

CLANCY: Congressman...

MARKEY: What I know is that in Boston, Mohammed Atta and nine other terrorists found a way of bringing box cutters on to planes. And they determined to find the easiest way to get them on to the planes. And it was all legal.

Here, al Qaeda will be looking for the easiest way through. And what the Bush administration has set up is a roadmap to bring that nuclear material in with the least amount of likelihood that there will be a successful inspection.

We can't have commerce...

CLANCY: All right. Congressman...

MARKEY: We can't have commerce compromise national security.

CLANCY: All right.

MARKEY: And that's what's happening. CLANCY: Congressman, is this a bit of a silver lining for you? Now, you -- and it's only fair to say to everyone in our world audience here, Congressman Markey has been talking about port security a long time, before we ever heard about a UAE takeover of P&O lines.

So, this has been your issue. You're getting it out to the floor now. The security wasn't there before the UAE was going to buy this company.

MARKEY: Thank you. That's exactly the point.

In a way, this is a silver lining. We finally are having the discussion about port security that has been lacking.

The Republicans in the House and the Senate have consistently voted down any program that would have real security overseas, in the ports overseas before any of this cargo is ever placed on a ship. They have nickel and dimed the Nunn-Lugar program to find the nuclear material, to secure it before it hits the ports overseas that then hits the ports in the United States.

So all of this is now part of a puzzle which is coming together, I think, in the minds of the American people. And the fact that they are now allowing a foreign government, the United Arab Emirates, which has a spotty record, by the way, on security, to have responsibility at that last point, I think, is really going to help us to ratchet up the funding in the budget this year, over the objection, by the way, of the Republican House and Senate which has blocked it for the last four and a half years.

CLANCY: Democratic congressman from Massachusetts Ed Markey.

I want to thank you for being with us on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

MARKEY: Thank you

VERJEE: We're going to bring you a roundup of our business news. That's next here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: Yes. And our question of the day relates to the bird flu story.

This is the question for you: Would you stop eating poultry if bird flu was confirmed in your country?

VERJEE: E-mail us your thoughts at YWT@CNN.com. And we're going to read some of them here later on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. First, though, today's headlines from here in the U.S.

Out of Ohio today, allegations of a deadly plot against U.S. troops in Iraq. Three Toledo area men have been indicted on terror charges.

Authorities say the three were recruiting followers in a holy war against the U.S. and its allies. The indictment says that suspect Mohammad Zaki Amawi, a U.S. and Jordanian citizen, had conversations threatening to kill or hurt President Bush.

The other two suspects are Marwan Othman El-Hindi, a U.S. citizen from Jordan, and Wassim Mazloum, who is originally from Lebanon and runs a car business with his brother.

The indictment says the three practiced shooting guns and studied how to make bombs. The Justice Department will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. CNN will carry that live.

On to other news now.

You can add Republican and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to the list of lawmakers calling for a review of a controversial port agreement. Frist has issued this statement about the deal that would give an Arab-based company management control of six major U.S. ports. He says, "Recent reports that a company based in the Middle East is seeking to purchase the operating rights to several U.S. ports raise serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland. The decision to finalize this deal should be put on hold until the administration conducts a more extensive review on this matter."

Frist says that if the administration cannot delay the process, he will introduce legislation to put the deal on hold until the decision gets a more thorough review.

Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

A new Supreme Court justice may decide an old argument. It is Justice Samuel Alito's first day on the bench, and the Supreme Court has decided to review an abortion issue.

Specifically, they're looking at the 2003 federal law that bans a late-term abortion procedure that critics call partial birth. A federal appeals court struck the law down before it ever went into effect. The appeals court has ruled the law unconstitutional, citing a lack of a health exception for pregnant women who have a medical emergency.

Justice Alito is considered more conservative than former Justice Sandra O'Connor. And by replacing her he could sway the previous 5-4 vote when the high court reviewed a similar case back in 2000.

President Bush continues to promote his alternative energy initiative for the U.S. The president is in Colorado today addressing the National Renewable Energy Lab.

Mr. Bush says he wants to break the nation's addiction to oil by pushing alternative power sources such as batteries for hybrid and electric cars. The president is also calling for stepped-up research on pollution-free vehicles fueled by hydrogen and what he describes as more cutting-edge research on the production of ethanol-based gasoline.

The lab that President Bush is visiting has faced some budget problems, an issue Mr. Bush addressed this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I really appreciate the scientists and dreamers and, more importantly, doers who work here to help us achieve this important goal. I recognize that there has been some interesting -- or let me say mixed signals when it comes to funding.

The issue, of course, is whether or not good intentions are met with actual dollars spent. Part of the issue we face, unfortunately, is that there are sometimes decisions made, but as a result of the appropriations process, the money may not end up where it was supposed to have gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Two weeks ago, 32 workers at the lab were laid off because of budget problems. But then over the weekend, the federal government restored those jobs.

High-speed crash involving a very expensive sports car to tell you about. It happened a short time near Malibu, California. Police say the driver of this crumpled red Ferrari was speeding at more than 100 miles per hour, lost control of his million-dollar car, and crashed into a power pole.

Pacific Coast Highway is still shut down while police clear the scene. And get this: the driver of the car not only walked away from the crash, he ran away. He fled the scene, and police are still looking for him right now.

A passenger in the Ferrari also survived. And he only had a cut lip.

There you go.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break. And "LIVE FROM" starts at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. Here are some of the top stories we're following.

Search teams continue to look for victims and survivor after last Friday's landslide in the Phillipines. More than 1,000 people are believed to be buried under the muck and rock. At least 16 villages have been evacuated over fears that other mountain sites could collapse because of the heavy rain.

CLANCY: At least 21 people have been killed in a series of car bombs and roadside explosions in Baghdad. The improvised explosive devices targeted an Iraqi police patrol, as well as a U.S. military convoy.

Meantime, U.S. military officials report a raid in southwest Baghdad, uncovered this bomb making factory. Some 39 suspects were arrested.

VERJEE: Bird flu in the Balkans after cropping up in Bosnia. Croatia has now banned hunting wild foul, ordering all poultry kept indoors. It also banned imports of live birds and poultry from Slovenia, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. In Hungary, tests confirmed the H5N1 virus in three dead birds.

CLANCY: In western India, a massive of slaughter of chickens is coming to an end now. Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but scientists fear the virus could eventually mutate into a form that would be transmitted human to human.

As Ram Ramgopal reports for us, consumers are shunning poultry amid this latest bird flu scare.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)_

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three days after it began, the cull is nearing its end. Health officials in the western Indian state of Maharashtra say believe that they contained an outbreak of H5N1 virus among poultry birds. Health workers have destroyed hundreds of thousands of chicken in Nandurbar district. They're now turning their attention to birds raised in the backyards of rural homes.

Officials say this is going to pose a challenge because many of the indigenous people there do not understand the deadly nature of the bird flu. The elimination of whole flocks was triggered by the death of a few dozen birds in Nandurbar.

Local and international experts are confirming some of those birds died of H5N1 virus. The cull, targeting up to 7,000 birds, is one of the largest mass killings in India. The region has many large commercial poultry farms, many of whose owners are now left with a bleak future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I keep asking them to take blood samples of my bird. None of my chickens are infected. Instead, they've already killed 13,000 of my 17,000 chickens.

RAMGOPAL: The bright spot, so far, no humans appear to have been infected. Poultry from Maharashtra state has been banned from other parts of the country. India's neighbors are refusing to allow imports of chicken and egg products from India.

Elsewhere in the country, fear of bird flu has led to a dramatic fall in chicken consumption. Prices have fallen, as well, as Alshakor's (ph) consumers turn vegetarian, with the state railway system and some airlines taking chicken off the menu. Government officials says news coverage is fueling a panicky reaction that hurts the industry.

SHARAD PAWAR, INDIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER (through translator): To create disproportionate hype about the issue when the media is wrong, it is affecting the rural economy. The wrong signal is being sent overseas. The outbreak is limited to about ten square kilometers. Turning it into a national crisis is dangerous for the country.

RAMGOPAL: On the other side of India, along on the eastern seaboard, Samscupa Sandashan Paknik (ph) is creating what he calls an awareness campaign against the disease. Even without the arty appeals, many Indians appear to have already made up their mind. The best way to fight bird flu is to stay far away from chicken.

Ram Ramgopal, CNN, New Dehli.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: There's a whole lot less chicken cacciatore being served in dinner tables in Italy these days. But CNN's Paula Newton reports consumers aren't buying what government tells them, or poultry for that matter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many Italians themselves concede it sounds irrational. Consumers here are going with their gut instinct, and that means chicken is off the menu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because the Italian people is very emotional people. And they are worried, of course. And probably the media, a strong power in Italy. And when some people watch the television, listen, the danger, it probably is dangerous to do something, they prefer to stop.

NEWTON: The sale slump is most acute in Italy, where sales are down as much as 70 percent in little more than a week. The poultry industry is in crisis. The National Farmers Association in Italy says, at this rate, the industry will be wiped out in the spring if the bird flu scare continues to spook consumers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Our apologies for interrupting that. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Egypt. She's been speaking with the Egyptian foreign minister. Let's listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: ... enjoys an important and strategic relationship with Egypt. I do, indeed, look forward to a strategic dialogue that allows us to work together on the myriad issues that we face in this region and in the world. We had an opportunity to talk about that region, as Ahmed has said, including the situation in Iran, the situation in Iraq.

You missed Iran. And we did talk about Iran, and about the need, indeed, for the international community to remain united in insisting that Iran take a reasonable course in terms of the development of civil nuclear power.

We did talk about the Palestinian territories. And I want to thank Egypt for its leadership in having discussions with the people who will now -- Hamas, who will be the new Palestinian government, to make clear that the international community expects that any Palestinian government will have to meet certain requirements of governing, which means a dedication to peace; a dedication to the agreements that the Palestinians have signed onto before; obviously, you can't have peace if you don't recognize the other partner, therefore the recognition of Israel's right to exist; and the need to renounce terror.

Because Egypt has been a leader in this region for peace, a leader in this region for cooperation among all states of the region, including with Israel, and Egypt is therefore an important voice at this time of choice and change for the Palestinian people.

I want to say just to the Egyptian people that we were all saddened by the tragic events and the tragic ferry incident. Our thoughts and our prayers are with those who lost their lives and their families and also with those who were injured.

These terrible tragedies are a time for mourning. They are also a time to reflect on the importance of faith. And I wanted to just say that the United States stands with you at this time.

Eight months ago, I came here to Egypt to speak in Cairo about reform and about democracy in the Middle East. I said at that time that Egypt, which has so often led this region in times of decision, needed to be an important voice in leading this region again, as it faces questions of democracy and reform.

Egypt is a great country. And I believe fundamentally that Egypt has a great future. It has a young population that I think will insist and demand economic and political change in this country.

But it also is a country that has undergone a lot of change in the last eight months since I spoke here.

RICE: We have to realize that this is a parliament that is fundamentally different than the parliament before the elections; a president who has sought the consent of the governed.

There have been disappointments and setbacks as well and we have talked candidly about those, because the United States comes to discuss these issues as a friend, not as a judge.

We can't judge Egypt. We can't tell Egypt what its course can be or should be. But as a friend, we want to see an Egypt that is fully developing politically and along the lines of reform as well.

And so we've discussed the future of reform. We will continue to discuss the future of reform. We will continue to discuss candidly problems and progress in that reform.

But this is a country of greatness. And this region needs this country to be at the center of positive change.

Thank you very much.

GHEIT: Thank you, Secretary.

Secretary, let us organize that press conference. I would allow you to ask...

RICE: An American and then you're going to ask...

GHEIT: Or vice versa.

RICE: Why don't I ask an American and you'll ask an Egyptian?

GHEIT: If I may say one word, you notice during our discussions upstairs that gender equality on our side was more than yours. Right now, it is also the same: gender equality amongst the Egyptians are more than the Americans.

RICE: I'm going to claim a few Egyptian women for our side.

GHEIT: So I give you precedence.

RICE: Thank you.

QUESTION: Mr. Minister, regarding Hamas, do you think that Arab states should refrain from giving aid directly to any Hamas-led government? And, Madam Secretary, if different tactics emerge, particularly perhaps over giving aid, how will you maintain a united front in the international community to stick to the principles that you've laid out in the quartet?

RICE: Thank you.

Well, first of all, I think that there is remarkable agreement in the international community on a certain practical set of requirements for governing in the Palestinian territories.

If the new Palestinian government led by Hamas is going to be able to meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a peaceful life, for a better life, for a life in which there's economic development, it goes without saying that you cannot have one foot in the camp of terror and the other foot in the camp of politics.

RICE: You have to renounce violence. You have to be willing to live up to the obligations the Palestinians have taken over the last more than a decade for a cooperative relationship with Israel and for a commitment to peace. We are all committed to the road map, and we expect any Palestinian government to be committed to the road map. I think we have very solid agreement on that.

We also agree that it is going to be important to try and meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. And it's very easy to talk about the governments and the diplomats and all of the things that we're doing, but there are Palestinian people whose lives, in a sense, are in the balance here. And we want to be responsive to their humanitarian needs.

And, finally, we are going to support the interim government of Mahmoud Abbas until there is a government named. And we expect to -- we, I think, agree with Egypt that that must be done.

GHEIT: You see, the interim government is there and it has to be supported. There are humanitarian needs of the Palestinians, and that should also -- the support to them is an essential issue.

We should give Hamas time. I'm sure that Hamas will develop, will evolve. We should not prejudge the issue.

We object to whatever policies on the part of the Israeli government right now that are cutting the right of the Palestinians to receive their dues.

So it's only a matter of time, and we are sure that the Palestinians will recognize the requirements of the situation as they stand today, the road map, the need for a political, peaceful settlement amongst the Israelis and the Palestinians, the need to see the two states living side by side in secure and recognized boundaries for both.

So these are issues that the Palestinians and the government of Hamas, when composed, will have to face such requirements.

Also, we have to understand that the president has been elected by the people -- President Mahmoud Abbas -- and he is the head of, the authority, and his powers are still there as stipulated by the basic law.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I would like to welcome you very much here in Egypt.

I'm delighted that I heard you saying that you are here to speak with the Egyptian government as a friend, not as a judge.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I'm also delighted to hear the foreign minister saying that there will be a reviving of the strategic dialogue between Egypt and the United States.

But there are issues here that have been raised among the people and among the public. And I would like to focus on two issues that you, basically, raised quite a bit. One is reform. The other one is democracy. And I'm not addressing these questions as a government employee. I am a journalist and I'm addressing these questions to you as a journalist. And my aim here, really, is to have a strong Egyptian- American relationship.

But people in this country and elsewhere are asking very clear questions.

What kind of democracy are you trying to promote in this country and in this region?

Is it a democracy that, basically, will depend on financed NGOs that will get financed by foreign powers and get money from the outside?

Is it a democracy that, basically, violates human rights, as we see that it is happening in Iraq and the democracy of, basically, torture?

Is it the democracy that we see attacking mosques and churches in Iraq and the bombing of religious sites?

My real hope is, really, to have a strong leadership between Egypt and the United States.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I would like to see this relationship to flourish and to move forward, but also do not want to see this through the concept of double standards.

RICE: Well...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) the last part.

RICE: Oh, something about Hamas.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Elections of Hamas.

Did you mention Hamas?

And the election of Hamas as a result of a democratic election.

RICE: OK. Well, there's a long question there. So let me start at the very beginning.

The first point I would make is: Yes, Egypt and the United States are friends. But friends also speak candidly to one another. And...

GHEIT: And I think we speak candidly.

RICE: ... we speak candidly -- always.

GHEIT: Absolutely. Yes.

RICE: We always speak candidly. There's no question about it.

But the fact of the matter is that human beings desire to be able to say what they think, to worship as they please, to be able to have a say in those who will govern them.

These are very basic things.

And whenever we say, "Somehow there must be some people on Earth who don't want those things," I think it is a terrible statement about us.

If we really believe that we want to be able to say who will govern us, but other people don't. They either aren't ready for it or they don't care -- that's a terrible thing. And so what the president has said in his inaugural is that the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity are that people have those rights.

We understand that it is a process to come to a political system that opens up from being a closed system to one that is pluralistic, from where there's one candidate to many, where parliamentary elections are completely free. It takes time. We understand that.

But our aspiration is not that people will have an American-style democracy -- American-style democracy is for Americans -- but that there will be a democracy that is for Egypt or for Iraq or for any other people on this Earth, because democracy is the only form of government in which human beings truly get to express themselves.

GHEIT: Tell them about what you told us, during the president's meeting (inaudible).

RICE: Yes, I said that, look, the United States, as much as any country, has no reason to be a arrogant about democracy.

And a reason for humility: It was in my lifetime -- and I'm not that old -- in my lifetime, that the right to vote was guaranteed to African-Americans in the South. So we've been through our own struggles in democracy.

But however hard the journey is to democracy, it is worth it, and it's the only system in which human being can fully flourish.

Let me just say a word about Iraq.

Yes, the Iraqis are struggling. They're struggling to replace one of the worst dictatorships in modern times, a dictatorship that oppressed people, that used weapons of mass destructions against its own people and against its neighbors, that put 300,000 people in mass graves.

It's struggling to overcome that dictatorship and to build political system built on compromise and on political activity. That's hard.

But I can assure that whatever struggles they're having, whatever problems there have been with human rights -- and there have been problems with human rights -- do not even come close to what it meant to have Saddam Hussein come into your village one day and simply kill thousands of people and put them in mass graves.

That's not where the Iraqis are. They're trying to build a decent, democratic political system. And we need to support them in what they're doing.

So when we talk about democracy worldwide, it's because we believe that liberty should be available to all people, wherever they live.

And our discussions about how Egypt becomes more democratic, how Egypt makes progress, I think are some of the most important discussions that we have as friends.

GHEIT: You have Al Jazeera and you have Al Arabiya.

RICE: Yes, but I have to call one more American, who's right here. And then I'll call -- which one's Al Jazeera? OK.

GHEIT: And Al Arabiya too. Then Egyptian TV.

RICE: All right.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: First, Madam Secretary, you met Ayman Nour here on your last trip. And now he faces a prison term after a trial on what appears to be trumped up charges. His party is destroyed.

How disappointed are you by that result? And what will your say to civil society representatives tomorrow as they struggle to develop under this authoritarian government?

And then, for the foreign minister, I just want...

RICE: Two questions.

GHEIT: But I have to tell you also that I'll respond to that question myself. It was asked to the secretary, but I will answer after she finishes. I look forward to doing that.

QUESTION...: It's sounding as if you were saying that Egypt would support funding of Hamas-led government beyond the interim...

VERJEE: Apologies, we seem to have lost the signal. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice really talking about democracy in the Middle East. Saying human dignity is non-negotiable. She said that we don't want people to have an American-style democracy, but an Egyptian-style democracy, and Iraqi democracy.

She added also Iraqis are struggling hard today. She acknowledged that. But saying that whatever struggles they're going right through, is not comparable to the terror that was suffered under Saddam Hussein. The other big story that we have been following here at CNN. Jim Clancy's celebrating a very special anniversary. Twenty-five years here at CNN. He's been a real integral part in making CNN what it is today. Jim, you'll remember that.

CLANCY: I didn't have gray hair all of that time until after 25 years here.

VERJEE: All day, we have been getting messages from Jim's colleagues and friends. I want to read you a few.

From Christiane Amanpour. "Jim, the foreign correspondent's correspondent; the journalist's journalist. A very great anchor. Congratulations on 25 brilliant years. "

From Ingrid Formanek, our top field producer in Baghdad right now. "From Beirut to Bosnia, Berlin Wall, Baghdad, Baidoa (ph), Buqtade (ph) and Bujambuta (ph), a list of B places, an A class journalist who continues to do world-class journalism."

Ben Wedeman in Cairo calls you legend, Jim.

John Mann says, "Clancy, he's always just Clancy around here, which is true. He has done it all."

Michael Holmes says, "Who would have thought you would have kept the job this long, Jim?"

And Hala also weighs in here, and says, "It's professionals like you that want to make me a journalist."

CLANCY: It's professionals like me that know when we're out of time. That's YOUR WORLD TODAY. Stay tuned.

VERJEE: Congratulations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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