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Your World Today

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Warns of Opening 'Pandora's Box'; Former South African Deputy President Charged With Rape; Ports Controversy Continues; Inside Guantanamo Bay

Aired March 07, 2006 - 11:59   ET

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

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Is the legend of Pandora's box playing out in Iraq? Some blunt comments from a top U.S. official.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A charismatic politician and an explosive trial in South Africa. There's been a ruling that could have a major impact.

VERJEE: And brave woman, sad story. Admired for her tireless devotion to her late husband, Dana Reeve is now forever with her "Superman."

It's 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad, 7:00 p.m. in Johannesburg.

I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

Welcome to your our viewers around the world.

This is CNN International and this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

VERJEE: Daily sectarian strife in Iraq has spawned a frank assessment of the country's future.

CLANCY: All of this coming as three members of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia were the latest casualties in the war in Iraq.

VERJEE: Meanwhile, the country's political factions are jockeying with power with some officials calling for a delay for opening the parliament's first session.

CLANCY: And now we're hearing from the U.S. ambassador to Iraq who has been active in encouraging a unity government. He's made some rather dire comments about the country's future.

Aneesh Raman has that part of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With the American flag displayed on his flak jacket, and just days after arriving in Iraq last July, U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was eager to become a full-fledged negotiator in Iraqi politics. ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: I'm going to be proactive in both hearing from them but also telling them about our goals, our role, our programs.

RAMAN: But in the months since, Khalilzad finds himself more involved than he might have expected, arbitrating growing political mistrust and rivalries among Iraq's leaders amid a rise in sectarian tensions, exacerbated by the bombing of the Shia Askaria mosque last month, and after nearly three years of sustained insurgent attacks.

Now in a frank interview with the "LA Times," Khalilzad said, "We have opened the Pandora's box. And the question is, what is the way forward? The way forward, in my view, is an effort to build bridges across Iraq's communities."

Khalilzad is an informed view. He led nation-building efforts in Afghanistan, bringing with him a similar activist style. And here, Khalilzad is a familiar face.

In the buildup to the war, serving as ambassador-at-large to Iraq's opposition. Clout he has banked on to try to bring about a unity government which American officials feel is the only way to bring stability to Iraq.

But that, right now, seems elusive. Nearly three months after Iraqis voted in a parliament, Monday, Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, announced it would meet for the first time Sunday. But just a day later, Iraq's governing Shia alliance requested that meeting be postponed by up to a week, prolonging a leadership vacuum with the critical issue still unresolved -- who will be the country's next prime minister and run the government for the next four years?

(on camera): Khalilzad also warned that the threat remains for Iraq to descend into a civil war, an assessment which is at direct odds with other officials in the Bush administration. On Sunday, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the situation here was going "very, very well."

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: In central Baghdad, Iraqis tend to display an ambivalent attitude toward the presence of U.S. troops in their country. On the one hand, they want them to leave, yet many Iraqis acknowledge that a departure anytime soon would create a dangerous security vacuum, as Arwa Damon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Gold jewelry or a new pair of sunglasses. Iraqis of all ages flock to Al-Mansoor (ph). You can buy just about anything in this middle class western Baghdad neighborhood.

For a time after the fall of Saddam Hussein, people here expressed themselves freely on camera. Now most say they don't want to talk. They've become so afraid of reprisals from militias or insurgents.

Iraqi military forces were nowhere to be seen when we were in Mansoor (ph). And the Americans are staying out of sight, now in a backup role.

So, a few blocks away, people in this neighborhood got creative, using branches and aluminum water reservoirs.

(on camera): Residents set up this roadblock a few weeks ago after a kidnapping incident. It may not look effective, but for some, it provides a certain sense of security.

(voice over): The protection is not enough for Nawan (ph), with her son Fazi (ph). She wants the American military to be more active in forcing Iraqi security forces to be professional.

"They should observe from afar," she says. "Observe the police and have stricter guidelines for security."

Next door, Marm Badi Brahim (ph) and his friend Shara (ph) laugh. But ask him what would happen if the American forces withdrew, and there's not much left to laugh about.

"Massacres," he says. "The government is loyal to certain sects. And if the Americans withdraw, then there will be no one to hold them accountable and no one to control them."

These thoughts don't seem to be on these girls' minds as they pick out a gift from a collection that just came in at Uka Babasa's (ph) store. Business is slow, and because of the violence, the shop now closes at sunset. Uka (ph) wants the Americans to leave, but gradually.

"The problem is that when the Americans are in the streets," he explains, "it's the effect they have on the people. The people criticize them, or they are afraid."

But he reluctantly admits that if the Americans left now, there would be a huge security vacuum. Agreeing with many others here, whether they like it or not, that right now Iraq needs the U.S. military, perhaps more than ever before.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Russia denies that it has any kind of new secret compromise deal to try to persuade Iran to give up his nuclear enrichment plans. And the U.S. -- the top diplomat in the U.S. says there are no plans by Washington to go to the U.N. and demand sanctions against Iran.

The two top diplomats from Moscow in Washington were there in the U.S. Capitol today. They were holding talks after having dinner the night before. This is part of what they had to say.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The Russians did not tell us of any new proposal that they have made to the Iranians concerning anything but the -- the February 4 resolution. We still hope that this can be resolved in a -- through negotiations, through the IAEA. But it's going to require the Iranians to suspend their activities, to re-enter the moratorium, and to do a number of other steps which were outlined in that February 4 resolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: There is no compromise, new Russian proposal. All our contacts with Iran, with European (INAUDIBLE), with the United States, with China, and with others, including the director-general of IAEA, were about finding a way to implement the February decision by the board of governors of IAEA.

It is only in that context that our well-known suggestion to have a joint venture to enrich uranium on Russian territory to provide for the fuel needs of Iran was made. And we repeatedly stated that it's only in this context that this joint venture initiative is available.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Lavrov made their comments as the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors is meeting in Vienna. Going into Tuesday's session, Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said he still hopes for a diplomatic solution. This day has been filled with reports of various ideas for ways to end the dispute.

VERJEE: India's prime minister is urging the nation to remain calm after explosions rocked the Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi. The three blasts coming within minutes of each other struck a temple and then a railway station.

Police say at least 15 people were killed and dozens injured. The first blast went off at the Sonkat Morchin (ph) temple in Varanasi. The temple is normally crowded with devotees on Tuesday. The other blast shook the city's crowded railway station.

Varanasi is about 700 kilometers southeast of the capital, New Delhi. Police say that it's unclear at this stage who is responsible.

CLANCY: Let's turn our attention now to a trial going on outside Washington. Day two of the sentencing phase of the Zacarias Moussaoui trial.

He is the only person charged in the U.S. in connection with the September 11 attacks of 2001. When it is all over, Moussaoui will learn if he faces execution or life in prison.

The sentencing portion of the case could take, though, weeks or months. All of the evidence must be presented.

VERJEE: We want to take you to South Africa now, where politics, power and women's rights issue come into play in the rape trial of a former deputy president. On Tuesday, the judge ruled that the defense could question Jacob Zuma's accuser about her sexual history. The trial highlights, really, sexual violence in a country with one of the world's highest rates of rape.

Alphonso Van Marsh reports from Johannesburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma, with the glasses, holds the number two post in the political party once led by Nelson Mandela. The charismatic man once positioned to be South Africa's likely next president is fighting charges he raped a family friend.

Zuma's supporters rally outside Johannesburg's high court where Zuma pleaded not guilty Monday. They say the rape and separate corruption trial against the antiapartheid struggle hero are a conspiracy to end Zuma's political career.

BHEKA DLUDLA, ZUMA SUPPORTER: There is no one who can stand up and say (INAUDIBLE).

VAN MARSH: Inside court someone did. An HIV-positive AIDS activist testified how Zuma allegedly forced himself on her in his home.

The 31-year-old says 63-year-old Zuma came to her guest room naked and began massaging her against her will. She testified that Zuma knew her HIV status and that Zuma had sex with her without a condom.

In a statement to the court, Zuma said the encounter was consensual sex and that "She could have left at any time but she stayed for the night."

In this drama, sex is a central theme. One of the judges associated with the case stepped down as it was revealed Zuma fathered a child with the judge's sister.

Women's rights groups say politicizing this case will discourage others in a country where they say only one in nine women report rape.

DUMISANE REBOMBO, PEOPLE AGAINST WOMEN'S ABUSE: This is a human rights issue. This about power relations. This is not politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH: That's right. Advocates on both sides say that they will be outside that Johannesburg courtroom until a verdict is issued. And worth noting that today pro-Zuma supporters were outside that courtroom, outside that courthouse. They had photographed images, photocopies of the accuser. They burned them outside the courthouse today -- Jim.

VERJEE: Alphonso, Zain. Could this trial end his career?

VAN MARSH: Well, it depends on who you talk to. Jacob Zuma has immense, immense support amongst the masses here, particularly with the ruling African National Congress.

Now, while there is a growing outcry over the circumstances of this alleged rape, there are many, many people, as we saw in my story, literally hundreds, if not thousands of supporters, that come out to support Zuma every day. So, if he is acquitted, there are those who argue that he is still a legitimate and rightful person to run for the presidency in 2009.

Now, at the same time, we have to keep in mind that, aside from this particular trial, he is also scheduled -- Mr. Zuma is also scheduled to face trial on corruption charges later this year -- Zain.

VERJEE: Alphonso Van Marsh reporting for us from Johannesburg in South Africa.

Thanks, Alphonso.

CLANCY: And Zain, that takes us to our "Question of the Day."

VERJEE: We're asking you this: Should the accuser in a rape trial have to testify about her sexual history?

CLANCY: E-mail us your thoughts at YWT@CNN.com. And please do include your name and where you are watching us, and try to keep it a little bit brief. But YWT@CNN.com.

VERJEE: Still ahead, looking back on Dana Reeve.

CLANCY: A devoted wife who spent years caring for an ailing husband. Her life and her battle against lung cancer.

Our reporting is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

VERJEE: The woman who heroically cared for her paralyzed husband has lost her battle with lung cancer.

CLANCY: If you are just tuning in, we want you to know that Dana Reeve, the widow of "Superman" star Christopher Reeve, has died at her home in New Jersey.

VERJEE: She was 44 years old and had announced that she suffered from the disease last August. That's less than a year after her husband's death. She never smoked.

CLANCY: This has surprised a lot of people, Zain, as they look at this case. Surprised, because, you know, she was such a wonderful human being, in the eyes of many people, and also, here's a woman dying of lung cancer, and she never smoked.

Joining us now is Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to try to, you know, give us a little bit of information about this.

This seems to many of us to be a surprise.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. And, you know, it's just a sad story, as well, for sure.

A couple things to keep in mind, though. When you talk about lung cancer, there is a certain percentage of people who have never smoked. It's higher actually in women than in men. I think that's surprising.

About 10 percent of men who have lung cancer never smoked. About 20 percent of women who have lung cancer never smoked. So while it's unusual, it does seem to happen.

She was also very young. I mean, typically, people develop lung cancer a little bit more advanced age of life. She was 44, I believe, 43 when she developed it. And that is very young. So two things that are sort of surprising about that.

CLANCY: All right. And she was 43, and she just announced that last year. She had been treated for, what, just a matter of months. Why so sudden?

GUPTA: You know, I've got to tell you, Jim, it's so interesting. If you look at lung cancer, it is actually one of the deadliest cancers out there. And people don't realize that because we focus so much on breast cancer, for example.

But lung -- consider this, lung cancer actually kills more people than breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer combined. Now, there's just not as much attention to it. People have known this for some time, but we don't pay as much attention to it.

Part of the reason, that we haven't had much progress in being able to take care of people with lung cancer. Right now -- and we talked about this a lot when Peter Jennings died of lung cancer as well -- 60 percent of people who get lung cancer die within a year, 85 percent die within five years. If you think about those numbers for a second, those are extremely high numbers no matter what the disease is.

CLANCY: You know, and people are looking at this and they're saying, well, wait a minute, maybe I should get checked. But, you know, how do you -- I know you have mammograms, you have breast screening. But what do you have for lung cancer, really?

GUPTA: It's a great question, Jim. And I think that that's part of the problem, really.

If you think about breast cancer, you have mammograms. Colon cancer, you have colonoscopies. Prostate cancer you have the PSA test.

Those are all screening tests that have some benefit. With lung cancer, we really don't have that.

So, even though lung cancer is one of the biggest killers out there, we have never been able to come up with a good screening test as a medical community. Chest x-rays may not be sensitive enough to pick up a lung cancer, and CAT scans of the chest are probably too expensive to be used for every single American.

We just don't have that test yet, so when someone comes in, they may already have a more advanced stage of cancer than they would have if they caught it on a screening test.

CLANCY: All right.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, up in New York City this day.

Dr. Gupta, thanks, as always.

GUPTA: Thank you.

CLANCY: Great to have you with us.

GUPTA: Sure.

VERJEE: The death of Dana Reeve brought shock, as did that of former U.S. baseball player Kirby Puckett.

CLANCY: Puckett died on Monday. He was just 45 years of age. But he had a long history of health problems. He helped lead the Minnesota Twins to World Series wins back in 1987 and again in 1991.

VERJEE: He died after suffering a stroke over the weekend. Let's take a closer look with Will Selva.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL SELVA, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For 12 years, Kirby Puckett was the centerpiece of the Minnesota Twins, a fan favorite for his hustle and pure love of the game.

Drafted in 1982, his path to the big leagues was not an easy one growing up on the rough south side of Chicago. But his surroundings never got him down.

Puckett led the Twins to two World Series titles, but it's game six of the 1991 series that he will be most remembered, with that leaping catch at the wall and the game-winning homerun in extra innings, the force of decisive game seven.

In 1996, Puckett was forced from the game he loved when glaucoma took the sight in his right eye.

KENT HRBEK, PUCKETT'S TEAMMATE FOR 11 YEARS: If you can retire on your own terms, or if you happen to hurt a knee or something, or whatever, and it's part of the game. But to lose an eye and not be able to play again, it really hurt Kirby Puckett. You could tell. From the day he heard he couldn't play anymore he was a different person.

SELVA: In what he called the proudest moment of his life, Puckett was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2001. But shortly after that great day in Cooperstown, Puckett's flawless off-the-field image took a hit.

His wife Tanya (ph) filed for divorce, and during the proceeding accused him of domestic violence and infidelity. In 2003, he was acquitted of an alleged sexual assault by a woman in a restaurant. Following that trial, he moved to Arizona and kept a low profile.

The fans were always able to relate to the underdog that Puckett embodied. He was short, he was stocky, but he was the first to tell you that all that didn't matter.

KIRBY PUCKETT, FMR. BASEBALL PLAYER: I wanted to play baseball ever since I was five years old. And I want you to remember the guiding principles of my life. You can be what you want to be if you believe in yourself and you work hard, because anything -- and I'm telling you, anything -- is possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(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, let's check on stories making headlines here in the U.S.

First, to southeast Florida. A fiery crash ensnares 13 tractor trailers and several cars. The pileup happened early this morning and left a half-mile of wreckage on US 27. That's near the county line between Palm Beach County and Broward County.

At least two people were critically injured and several others rushed to the hospital. Authorities say fog may have been to blame.

From the boardroom to the courtroom, Enron's former top officials, Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay, faced one of their own today. Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow is a top prosecution witness is in the men's fraud trials. Earlier today he told jurors that he ran financial partnerships to conceal Enron's staggering losses. The energy trader was the seventh largest company in the U.S. before collapsing into bankruptcy four years ago.

Representative Tom DeLay faces his first serious primary challenge today, but the 11-term congressman will not be in his Texas district. An aide says DeLay, instead, would be in Washington for House votes and events, including a lobbyist-hosted fund-raiser.

One of the three Republicans opposing DeLay criticized him for spending the election night with lobbyists. DeLay is awaiting trial on money laundering charges linked to campaign financing.

The battle over legalized abortion ratchets up with South Dakota's governor signing a law that bans nearly all abortions in the state. The legislation mounts a direct legal challenge to the 33- year-old landmark case Roe versus Wade.

A judge is likely to block the ban before it is scheduled to take effect on July1. But it may set the stage for other states to follow suit.

Victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita may not have the long-term answers that they so desperately need, but short-term relief remains in hand. President Bush has signed off on a 13-week extension for unemployment benefits. The aid had been scheduled to end on Saturday. At least 165,000 people qualify, including small business owners and self-employed workers.

On Capitol Hill today, the governors of Katrina-ravaged states are seeking help. They're addressing the extra $18 billion in hurricane relief that President Bush requested last month. The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama are appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Here now is some of that impassioned testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: We have been waiting for this funding since President Bush made his moving speech on Jackson Square in September. Please do not make us wait any longer, and please help to honor his commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Let's focus on what's happening on the weather picture today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: On to our celebrity crime blotter today. It's a new age musical theme. Yes, we're talking Yanni, or as he's legally known, John Yanni Christopher.

The 51-year-old singer and pianist faces one misdemeanor count of domestic battery for allegedly slapping his girlfriend during an argument last Friday at the couple's home in Florida.

The "Miami Herald" reports that Yanni was released without bond on Friday afternoon after spending a dozen hours in the Palm Beach County jail. Yanni is denying his girlfriend's claim. His attorney is quoted as saying, "The last thing this man would do is hurt somebody with his hands." Coming up at the top of the hour, a special edition of "LIVE FROM," "Dealing With Cancer." Doctors on hand answering your questions and concerns.

E-mail your questions to LIVEFROM@CNN.com.

Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Hello and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. These are some of the stories that are making headlines around the world right now.

VERJEE: Three explosions rocked the Indian holy city of Varanasi, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. The first blast struck a Hindu temple and the other two hit a crowded railway station. India's home secretary says the blasts were aimed at soft targets to create tension and disrupt communal harmony. Varanasi is about 700 kilometers southeast of the capital, New Delhi.

CLANCY: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov denying now that Russia offered up any new proposal that would allow Iran to enrich even a small amount of uranium on its own soil. Rice and Lavrov meeting in Washington. They say they hope the dispute can be resolved through negotiations, but they say it's going to require Iran to suspend its enrichment activities. Lavrov meets with U.S. President Bush later in the day.

VERJEE: The U.S. ambassador to Iraq says a fundamental problem in Iraq is sectarian strife. He told the "Los Angeles Times" that Washington had opened a Pandora's box by invading Iraq back in 2003. While he's calling for a national unity government, Zalmay Khalizad says there remains the potential for sectarian tensions to evolve into all-out civil war across the region.

CLANCY: Still, top U.S. military commanders are denying that there is any present civil war. They say the risk is there. That was echoed by the U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday.

Meantime, in Iraq, more violence. A string of attacks hit Baghdad days before the new parliament is supposed to hold its first session. A police officer killed in Baquba, as well. A car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy ended up wounding five civilians. That was in a southeastern suburb of Baghdad. Earlier, another car bomb killed a civilian in western Baghdad.

Meantime, a Christian group is reiterating a call for what it says is the safe and speedy release of four of its peace activists that were kidnapped in Iraq three months ago. An Arab television network showed video of the three -- three of the four activists, a British citizen and two Canadians. The fourth hostage, an American, did not appear. No explanation for that. Did not appear on the videotape.

American soldiers killed in Iraq are having an effect on a Christian group in the United States. The group says homosexually is spurring what they see as God's wrath. The protesters said their message by celebrating at the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr examines this rather bizarre issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came by the hundreds to pay silent respect to Army Sergeant Ricky Jones, who died last month in Iraq.

But these motorcyclists and veterans also came to protect Jones' family on this most difficult day, protect them from protesters who never showed up. Members of a Kansas-based group have been appearing at military funerals across the country with hate-filled messages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He went to hell for her sins!

STARR: The group says soldiers that fight for a country that supports who homosexuality should not be honored.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God hates you and you're going to go to hell.

STARR: They had threatened to show up at Jones' funeral.

STEVE BUYER, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: It is outrageous, appalling and indecent for an citizen to commit crimes and perversions against a family grieving at the loss of their son. Army Sergeant Ricky Jones, with three of his comrades, were killed in Baghdad. With his body in transport to Kokomo, Indiana, someone has egged his family's home and left harassing phone calls that, quote, "I'm glad your son is dead."

STARR: The Kansas group did show up last month in Anoka, Minnesota, at the funeral of Corporal Andrew Kemple.

FRED PHELPS, PROTESTER: Every time a soldier gets blown to smithereens in Iraq of an IED, we rejoice. We're ordered to rejoice. It's not going to do with him. It's the Lord God Almighty destroying the fruit of this nation, and you know that. You know that's our position.

STARR: In an exclusive interview with CNN, a top army general addressed the issue for the first time.

BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, U.S. ARMY: It hasn't gone over the brink yet, I don't think, but I worry about the direction we're headed at this point. It's getting more and more prevalent.

STARR: But the Army says it's not up to them to stop the protests.

BROOKS: Our focus has to be on the families of our fallen. That's the first priority. And we also recognize that people have the right to assemble and the right to protest. That's -- we fight for that.

STARR (on camera): Several states are considering laws restricting protests at funerals. In fact, Indiana, Sergeant Jones' home state, passed a law just before his service banning disorderly conduct at funerals.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, more about the ports deal. In Washington today, lawmakers frantically searching for a compromise. They're trying to salvage a much-debated deal that would allow the United Arab Emirates company that now owns P & O lines to operate six U.S. ports.

Ed Henry comes back in with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republican Peter King is pitching a compromise. DP World would not operate American ports; that job would be subcontracted to U.S. companies.

PETER KING, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: A separate American company could do it, so long as there was no access to the information or to the operations at all by Dubai Ports. Dubai Ports can still be the contractor, but the actual work and access to everything would be controlled by a totally separate American company.

HENRY: Peter King presented the compromise to the White House with a warning: sign on or the contract may go down because of lingering concerns about the United Arab Emirates' past support for the Taliban.

KING: My concern is that people are working within the company, people within the government, who just four and a half years ago were allied with our sworn enemy.

HENRY: A similar plan is being pushed by another top Republican, Senator Susan Collins. So far, the White House has been noncommittal. But in this election year, Republicans find themselves under heavy pressure from Democrats, who are using the port flap to burnish their credentials on national security.

Democrat Harold Ford Jr., running for the Senate in Tennessee, taped this campaign ad at the port of Baltimore in Maryland.

HAROLD KING, DEMOCRAT RUNNING FOR SENATE: President Bush wants to sell this port and five others to the United Arab Emirates, a country that had diplomatic ties with the Taliban, the home of two 9/11 hijackers whose banks wired money to the terrorists.

HENRY: Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid vows other candidates will jump on the bandwagon.

HARRY REID, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: It's resonating because people have come to the realization that the Bush administration is basically incompetent.

HENRY (on camera): The controversy has also given Democrats an opening to propose an extra $1.7 billion in port security funding, charging the White House budget plan falls far short.

Ed Henry, CNN, Capital Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: A U.N. report recently recommended that the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay be shut down immediately, but some European lawmakers are saying that conditions there are actually better than in some prisons in Europe.

Joining us now with more is a delegate who recently visited the Guantanamo Bay facility. Anne-Marie Lizin, the president of the Belgian senate, is on the phone from Brussels. She joins us now.

Tell us what you saw.

ANNE-MARIE LIZIN, PRESIDENT, BELGIAN SENATE: Well, we have had the opportunity to see camp four, camp five, an interrogating session of one of the detainees. And we have had the opportunity to discuss with the medical staff and to see the medical installation there.

VERJEE: You saw an interrogation session, and by previous accounts of people who have been to Guantanamo Bay, everybody coming from outside as movements are very strictly controlled. Do you think that you didn't see the full story there, that what you saw was staged for you?

LIZIN: Well, you cannot -- never be sure that you see the whole story, but I was with two experts in my staff, who have been in Guantanamo six times before, and the analysis of the interrogation technique is that there is a change, and change resulting also in the critics from outside, that is sometimes in a positive way also, because some of the contact with the detainees, with some other services from outside, let's say the French, or the Belgians or Swedish, have put some (INAUDIBLE) that anyway being too strong or too brutal with detainees works counterproductive, and that's disgusting.

Taking into account the reality of their life is better. And what we have seen is a discussion with a detainee, who were free. The detainees sit, have something to drink, something to eat, which is, I can say, a normal standard for a detainee.

I will not answer on the question, is that normal or not, that this guy was a detainee (ph), but in this framework, it was normal interrogating session.

VERJEE: The U.N. report in February said that Guantanamo Bay detainees face treatment that's the equivalent of torture. U.S. officials have said, no way. That's absolutely not the case. When you went there with the experts, who've been there multiple times, how would you grade it today?

LIZIN: Well, the U.N. Report is a very good theoretical report. What we have decided to do, and especially with our president of the parliamentary assembly, (INAUDIBLE), we have decided to accept to go in condition that we don't speak to detainees, we speak to the American in charge of the bases, and we...

VERJEE: How can you draw any final conclusion if you don't get access to the detainees themselves?

LIZIN: I -- well, let me say the access to detainees is something can not do in the same framework. It's a reserved to the International Red Cross Committee. And we, as (INAUDIBLE) has agreed with that.

So what we try to seek is the analysis of what is the attitude, behavior of the U.S. in charge of this base? And a very important move is also a move not only in technique of interrogation, but also in the medical important staff, and the -- we are waiting now for more information about medical products that are used, and the people in charge of that, have answered to me, they will answer to statistics questions, to more detailed information, will be given to the reporter of the OSE (ph).

So I hope we will be able to make a fact report that will be something not theoretical. That was my objective when I accepted to go, and it will be result in May, and I hope in front of the assembly in July.

VERJEE: Anne-Marie Lizin, the president of the Belgian senate, speaking to us from Brussels. Thank you -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Coming up next, a very interesting and very disturbing story. Just how far would a parent go to help their child athlete get ahead? A trial in France raising some really disturbing questions.

VERJEE: Yes, and we're going to take a closer look at that. And also, will the spring wildfire season come early to the U.S. Southwest? More on that in our weather segment next.

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VERJEE: Well, you've seen it, or read about it, a father who heckles at referees when he's watching a son's football match.

CLANCY: You hear about a lot of mothers upset because her daughter's not picked for the cheerleadering squad.

VERJEE: So many of that. So all of the time we hear of that. But now a trial in France is raising some questions about how far ambitious parents will actually go to help their athletic children reach the top.

CLANCY: And you're not going to believe this one.

Jim Bittermann reports on the fatal consequences of one father's course of action.

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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tennis is big in southwestern France, something for the whole family on a Sunday afternoon, something from which fathers hope their children might learn sportsmanship and fair play.

But events at this tennis club in the small town of Dax (ph) have left parents and players wondering. After the father of a young player, an ex-soldier named Christophe Fauviau, was charged with systematically drugging his daughter's opponent opponents by spiking their water and orange juice. One case leading to the death of a young tennis competitor who was killed in a car crash.

At Fauviau's trial, now under way, many of his victims have been called to testify. He does not deny the allegations, that he struck at least 27 times.

(on camera): Repeatedly in court, Fauviau openly admitted that he dosed the drinks of his daughter's opponents with a powerful anti- anxiety drug. And he said he'd become so crazed about his daughter's victories that he began taking the drug himself.

(voice-over): His lawyer takes the position that the fanatic tennis father had completely lost control and should not be held accountable. But one tennis player he admits to having drugged, once among the top 100 amateur players in the country, says there's no justification for what Fauviau did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He needs to pay. It is so much like 27 players during four years, it's huge. So -- he needs to pay for this. He needs to pay.

BITTERMANN: Those are the feelings of the parents of Alexandre Lagardere, the drugging victim who died when he lost consciousness at the wheel of his car on the way home from a match with Fauviau's daughter.

Back at the Dax Tennis Club, members have planted an olive tree and named a tennis court in honor of the dead player. And they've begun a tennis tournament where winners will be judged on their sportsmanship as well as their scores.

Those who knew the obsessed tennis dad said they were surprised at all that's come out since the case has come to light. Said one father, everyone wants their kid to succeed, maybe even to become a champion, but what kind of lesson does this teach? Jim Bittermann, CNN, Dax, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CLANCY: What kind of lesson indeed.

VERJEE: We're going to open the inbox and read some of your e- mails after a short break.

CLANCY: Stay with us. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN international.

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CLANCY: This is also what's going on in your world today. Take a good look. It's a battle like no other in a small village west of Athens. Every year, as carnival season draws to a close, the town of Galaxidi hosts as ritual called The Flour Wars. Villagers wear protective gear and carnival costumes. They arrive in town are armed with flow, ready to meet their rivals.

It's believed that the ritual began in the early 19th century, when residents defied Ottoman rulers by painting their faces with ash and dancing through the streets.

VERJEE: Flour power. Looks like they are having fun there, too. Time to open up the inbox. We have been asking you for your thoughts about the South Africa rape trial.

CLANCY: Our question this day was, should an accuser in a rape trial have to testify about her sexual history. Now this is how some of you replied.

VERJEE: Vuyo Singh (ph) from Johannesburg, South Africa, says, "Zuma's defense team has the right to examine the accuser's past. She says she was raped, by whom, she should be compelled to say that publicly."

CLANCY": Anton from Saudi Arabia had this to say. "Why should an alleged rape victim have to testify in court and suffer the pain of public proceedings when there is medical evidence."

VERJEE: Calvin writes from the Netherlands, "The accuser has the duty to show he or she isn't pressing rape charges for revenge or financial compensation."

CLANCY: And finally this from an anonymous viewer, saying, "Making a person reveal their sexual history during a trial is wrong because it puts the victim on trial."

That is our report this hour. But the news continues. Kyra Phillips is up next on CNN USA. She has a special edition of LIVE FROM that looks at the life of Dana Reeve and the fight against lung cancer.

VERJEE: And our international viewers, stay tuned for Michael Holmes and Hala Gorani. They are coming up with the latest on Iran's nuclear programs. Stay with CNN.

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