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The Situation Room
Bush Administration Reacts to Iranian Showdown; President Bush Hails Global Literacy As Weapon Against Terrorism; President Chirac Says France Willing to Work with U.S. on Iraq
Aired September 18, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Lou. And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you tonight's top stories.
Happening now, the president of the United States and Iran taking their nuclear showdown to the United Nations. It's 7:00 p.m. in New York where President Bush is hours away from addressing the General Assembly and the Iranian threat. In an exclusive interview I'll ask the U.S. military commander in charge of the region, General John Abizaid, about planning for the worst-case scenario.
Thanks very much, Lou. ATov Plus, Muslim outrage despite a rare apology from the Pope. It's 1:00 a.m. Tuesday in the Vatican City where Benedict XVI is facing new threats and fears of a holy war.
And on the trial of tainted spinach, the E. coli outbreak is spreading and health experts scrambling to find the source of the deadly contamination.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
President Bush is New York to make the case at the United Nations for tough steps to stop Iran's nuclear program. But the president has no plans to speak directly with Iran's president at the U.N. and if diplomacy fails Mr. Bush has made clear the military option is on the table. War with Iran may seem unthinkable, but at the Pentagon there are people whose job it is plan for the unthinkable.
Let's go to our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Pentagon sources tell CNN that all of the planning for possible military action in Iran comes under the heading of prudent and routine planning -- nothing more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The objective -- stop Iran from being able to enrich enough uranium to make enough a nuclear bomb.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Imagine a Middle East within Iran with a nuclear weapon threatening free nations.
MCINTYRE: The military option -- pre-emptive airstrikes by American Stealth Bombers strike aircraft and cruise missiles, using the latest bunker-busting munitions in an air assault lasting several nights and dropping thousands of bombs.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I'm not going to answer about confirming or denying any plans that we may have. I can tell you we can deal with any problem that comes up militarily in the region.
MCINTYRE: The potential targets, more than two dozen nuclear facilities spread across Iran, some secret, some deep underground and some in populated areas that would have to be hit multiple times.
COL. SAM GARDINER, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Most people that have a sense of the Iranian nuclear program, say it has two parts. The part we see, and that's the part that we can target. And then there's probably a part we don't see.
MCINTYRE: The best case scenario is Iran simply rebuilds and military action is needed in another two to five years. Worst case, Iran retaliates, sponsors terrorism, attacks U.S. troops in Iraq, disrupts oil shipments to the Persian Gulf, pushing gas prices to record highs, and enflames anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world.
TRITA PARSI, NAT'L IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: We have seen in Iraq that a lot of things happened that we didn't plan for. If a military operation is initiated against Iran, we can be quite certain that the same thing will happen there but far, far worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: But while air strikes are unlikely, Wolf, even more remote is the possibility of any sort of ground invasion, especially given the fact that the U.S. military has its hands tied -- is tied up in the two countries that flank Iran, those being Iraq and Afghanistan -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie, stand by. I want to get back to you. In the new issue of "TIME" magazine, the possibility of war with Iran is on the cover. How likely is a U.S. military strike? And would it lead to all-out war?
Joining now is retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner. He's taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, the Air College and the Naval War College. Colonel, thanks very much for coming in.
You've just prepared a paper for the Century Foundation entitled "Considering the U.S. Military Option for Iran". You speak to a lot of people plugged in. What's your bottom line? How close in your opinion is the U.S., the Bush administration to giving that go- ahead order? GARDINER: It's been given. In fact we have probably been executing military operations inside Iran for at least 18 months. The evidence is overwhelming...
BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE)
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: When you say it's been given, the president says he wants diplomacy to work to convince the Iranian government to stop enriching uranium...
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: ... not go forward. I would tell the Iranian people that we have no desire for conflict. He told David (INAUDIBLE) of "The Washington Post"...
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: ... the other day. So what does that mean, the order has been given?
GARDINER: We're conducting military operations inside Iran right now. The evidence is overwhelming from both the Iranians, Americans, and congressional sources.
BLITZER: What's military operation?
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: Define that.
GARDINER: Sure. They probably have had two objectives going back 18 months. The first was to gather intelligence, where's the Iranian nuclear program. The second has been to prepare dissident groups for phase two, which will be the strike, which will come as the next phase I think.
BLITZER: Preparing intelligence that's understandable using all sorts of...
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: ... means they want to know what the Iranians are up to in terms of their nuclear program. But are you suggesting that U.S. military forces, special operation forces or others are on the ground right now in Iran?
GARDINER: Sure, certainly, absolutely clear. The evidence is overwhelming from a lot of sources. And again most of them you can read in the public. You know (INAUDIBLE) Hirsh (ph) has done good work on it and there are a lots of other people who have done that. I've talked to Iranians. I asked an Iranian ambassador to the IAEA. What's this I hear about Americans being there? He said to me well, we've captured some people who work with them. We've confirmed that they're there.
BLITZER: Yes, but you know, these guys -- the Iranians you can't necessarily believe what they're saying.
GARDINER: Sure. Sure. Sure.
BLITZER: They could arrest some dissidents in Iran...
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: ... and say these are American spies. They do that all the time.
GARDINER: Sure. The House committee of emerging threats tried to have a hearing some weeks ago, in which they asked the Department of State and Defense to come and answer this question because it's serious enough to be answered without congressional approval. And they didn't come to the hearing. There are sources that I talked to on the Hill who believe that's true and it's being done without congressional oversight.
BLITZER: Look, I was once a Pentagon correspondent...
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: ... many years ago...
GARDINER: Sure.
BLITZER: In those days and in these days, and as Jamie McIntyre just reported, and as you well know from your time active duty at the Pentagon in the U.S. military, these guys are planning contingency operations for almost everything. If Canada goes to war against the United States, they've got a contingency plan.
GARDINER: OK, different now, two differences. Number one, we have learned from "TIME" magazine today that some U.S. Naval forces have been alerted for deployment. That is a major step. That's first.
The second thing is the sources suggest the plan's not in Pentagon. The plan has gone to the White House. That's not normal planning. When the plan goes to the White House that means we've gone to a different...
BLITZER: You think it's possible there's a little psychological warfare being played on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad right now to rattle him, to spread the word, to put out this kind of information, to get him nervous perhaps, a little bit more agreeable to the diplomatic option?
GARDINER: It's possible. It's also possible that this path was selected a long time ago. You recall that even before Gulf II, that a time when the president said we have no plan -- I have no plan on my desk, in the summer of 2002, we began bombing Iraq, Operation Southern Focus (ph), without congressional approval, without the U.N. sanctions we went ahead and began bombing...
BLITZER: Well the argument that time was if there were violations of the no-fly zone, U.S. war planes were flying in the north and the south and there were rockets or anti aircraft going up they could take those out.
GARDINER: Yes, but it was a campaign to begin the war before the war began and you know I suggest the evidence is there...
BLITZER: And so you see a similar pattern right now.
GARDINER: Exactly.
BLITZER: We're going to follow this closely. Colonel Sam Gardiner, thanks very much. We look forward to reading your report that the Century Foundation (ph) is putting out as well.
BLITZER: And let's go back to our Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. What do you make of his analysis, Jamie?
MCINTYRE: Well, Wolf, you know I've known Sam Gardiner a long time. He's a friend of mine and I got to tell you I don't know what he's talking about. We have no reporting that would support the contention that there are U.S. military forces operating on the ground in Iran or that any order has been given for a strike and simply the plan has been sent to the White House. We just -- there's no information to support that. And every piece of information he has tells us the opposite, that is the planning has been routine contingency planning and that no decisions have been made to take any military action against Iran for all the reasons we've reported earlier this hour, all of the consequences that could flow from that.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And we're going to hear from General Abizaid later this hour on this specific question, Jamie. Thank you very much for that.
Let's move over to President Bush right now, who is preparing to address the Iranian threat, among other issues, when he goes before the United Nations General Assembly tomorrow morning.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is covering the president. She's joining us now from New York. Suzanne, give us a little sense of what you're hearing from White House officials about this Iranian scenario.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well White House officials insist that look, the president has said all along that all options are on the table including the military option, but they insist, as the president has insisted time and time again that they are taking the diplomatic road, the diplomatic track here. Now that diplomatic track, however, is conditional here.
I asked President Bush just on Friday, whether or not he was going to meet face to face, man to man with Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as you know he's going to be attending the same U.N. General Assembly meeting tomorrow. He says no, they need to suspend their enrichment uranium program first, then we'll join the talks.
The United States and the Bush administration has been pushing tough economic sanctions from the U.N. Security Council against Iran. They haven't been successful so far, senior administration officials say even disappointed they haven't gotten that resolution on the table up until this point. But, Wolf, look at the behind the scenes diplomacy. Look at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's activities and her European counterparts, the kind of talks and discussions that are going to take place the next couple of weeks, trying to bring Iran, entice Iran back to the negotiating table -- Wolf.
BLITZER: You have a quick headline of what we might hear from the president tomorrow when he speaks tomorrow at the U.N.
MALVEAUX: Well it's certainly going to be about the broader war on terror. He's going to talk about the so-called freedom agenda and the importance of the international community playing a critical role and trying to support (INAUDIBLE) democracies. We're talking about Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux thanks very much.
And this important note to our viewers -- please join us here in THE SITUATION ROOM Wednesday for my one on one interview with President Bush. I'll be speaking with him in New York on Wednesday.
Tonight, Republicans are desperately seeking a compromise on the treatment of terror suspects. There are new details just coming in to CNN. Let's turn to our congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel. What are you hearing, Andrea?
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I've just come out of a briefing with Senator John Warner and Senator Lindsey Graham. They are two of the three senators who are leading the charge among Republicans trying to basically put forward a different bill, a different -- different words than the president would like as far as what a military tribunal would look like, how you would put detainees on trial.
According to both of these senators, the White House is now offering new ideas. They are not using the word compromise, but for the first time in days, Wolf, we're getting strong signals from these three Republican senators that there's some flexibility and that there's some real negotiating taking place on the hard issue, in particular, Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.
So they are not talking about breakthroughs as of this point, Wolf, but they say everything started yesterday. And they're working feverishly now through the evening and we perhaps will get more signals tomorrow -- Wolf.
BLITZER: With the clock ticking less than two weeks before the Congress goes into recess for the elections. Andrea thanks very much.
Jack Cafferty never goes into recess. He's always with us here In THE SITUATION ROOM -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's true, I love it here. France is willing to help the United States end the war in Iraq. Say what? That's right. France. In an interview with CNN French President Jacques Chirac says that despite his objections to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 he would listen to calls for help from Washington.
Chirac says Iraq's future depends on giving support and guidance to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But he still's just as pessimistic, he says, about the country's prospects as he was at the start of the war. However, considering the way things are going in Iraq, working of the U.S.'s game plan, help from France may not be the worst thing in the world. I can't believe I just said that.
Here's the question -- how can France help the United States end the war in Iraq? Send your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jack thanks very much. The French always thought that war was a mistake.
Coming up, insurgents and religious violence. We'll take you to Iraq where al Qaeda is gaining strength and fueling more bloodshed. Plus, we'll find out what the secretary-general of the U.N. is now saying about the possibility of civil war in Iraq.
And outrage at the Vatican. What's the reaction in the Muslim world to the Pope's weekend apology?
And a video game with a killer goal, that would be "Kill President Bush." We're going to tell you who and what's behind this online terror.
Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The Pope says he's sorry for his comments about Muslims, but that's not stopping some Muslims from burning images of him. They say the Pope needs to do more to extinguish the flames of rage. Let's bring in CNN's Zain Verjee. She's watching the story for us -- Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, an ancient quote and a modent (ph) apology both are triggering tempers in the Muslim world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CROSSTALK)
(SOUNDS)
VERJEE (voice-over): In flames, effigies of the Pope, in Kashmir, Italy, Iraq, charred churches in the West Bank.
(CHANTING)
VERJEE: Angry chants and seething slogans from Indonesia, Iran, London, Egypt. It seems I'm sorry is just not good enough.
(SOUNDS)
VERJEE: Pope Benedict XVI has enraged some Muslims livid with his recent remarks on Islam where he quoted an ancient Vensatine (ph) Christian emperor who called Islam and the Prophet Muhammad evil and inhuman. The Pope tried to temper the angry by apologizing saying...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
VERJEE: I am deeply sorry for the reaction in some countries to a few passages of my address, which were considered offensive to the sensibilities of Muslims. He added that he doesn't share those views. There have been different reactions from Muslim leaders in different parts of the Muslim world. Some like in Britain have accepted the Pope's explanation and are discouraging more violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
VERJEE: In Iran, Ayatollah Khameini weighed in for the first time, warning it will make Muslim and Christian nations spiteful toward each other. Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt want more from Pope Benedict, saying his comments don't go far enough.
MOHAMMED HABIB, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD (through translator): It's a good step in the right direction, but not an apology and that it's left a lot of confusion for many Muslims. We need from him, to present a clear and frank apology.
But some Catholic analysts say he's done just that.
PAUL DONOVAN, CATHOLIC JOURNALIST: An apology is an apology. I would question the number of people that have actually read the whole speech, the context of the speech. It seems to be taking one sentence out of the speech, taking out of context, and then spinning that into an attack on Muslims.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: The Vatican appears on a diplomatic offensive now, instructing envoys in Muslim countries to explain the Pope's words on Islam to governments as well as religious leaders -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain thank you for that.
And still to come tonight in THE SITUATION ROOM, the president of Iran, he denies the Holocaust and gives the White House a headache over his nuclear ambitions, so what kind of greeting will he get in New York City tomorrow?
And my exclusive interview with the commander in charge of the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the Middle East. What if Osama bin Laden were in Pakistan? Would the U.S. be able to take him out? I'll ask General John Abizaid.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Tonight an advisory from the FDA amid an outbreak of E. coli -- throw out fresh spinach and avoid it on the salad bar. Right now Illinois and Nebraska are added to the list of states with E. coli cases bringing the number of defective states to 21 and there are more than 100 people sick.
CNN's Ted Rowlands is joining us now live from San Juan Batista in California along the coast. What's the latest?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the number of sick continues to rise, 114 confirmed cases now according to the FDA and as you mentioned they're scrambling to try to find a specific cause. There are spinach farmers and processors here and across the nation that are very nervous and waiting word as to exactly what happened.
There are 60 cases of people being hospitalized and 18 cases of kidney failure, along with that one death of the 77-year-old woman in Wisconsin. So the stakes are very high. It's a health risk. And for growers here the financial stakes are extremely high as well.
Basically the industry is on hold until they can come up with some answers. The problem, it is like finding a needle in a haystack. There has been one distributor that's been associated with this in California. But the FDA is quickly -- quick to point out there could be more in other spots around the country.
And there are many farmers that contribute spinach to that processor. Going in and finding out where the problem is, is what they're doing now. They have taken samples from here in this region. Those are been tested and they are backtracking. Some of those containers and these were all spinach containers were in the plastic packaged spinach. They're looking at those bar codes, figuring out where they came from and trying to get to bottom of this mystery. But until they do, they're warning people don't eat spinach.
BLITZER: Good advice. Ted, thank you very much, Ted Rowlands reporting for us.
And just ahead, the man who would be responsible potentially for a war with Iran. General John Abizaid, the commander of the U.S. military's Central Command on U.S. war planes, the hunt for Osama bin Laden and more. And more bloodshed in Baghdad and beyond, now the U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, weighing in on the possibility of a full scale civil war. We'll go to Baghdad. Michael Ware, our man, on the scene.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There's a very dramatic story unfolding in Hungary right now. I want to quickly go to Zain Verjee for an update -- Zain. ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, it's a tense situation unfolding right in the center of the city in Budapest, Hungary. Protesters are outside Hungary's state television station. They have set it on fire. There are cars also all around the area right in front of the TV station that have also been overturned, set on fire.
There are shards of glass all over the streets as well. They are reacting to elite (ph) recording that caught the prime minister of Hungary on tape, essentially Wolf admitting that the government had lied about the economy to win the election. Now police, I understand, are on the scene. They've used teargas to try and disperse the crowd.
As you see, it's about 1:26 in the morning there. And it doesn't appear that the crowds are going to go anywhere. They're calling for the prime minister to resign. The prime minister has refused to resign. We're going to continue to monitor this situation outside Hungarian state TV, but it appears that a tense situation and a standoff with police -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, we'll continue to watch it. Thank you.
And to our viewers you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Happening now, new word tonight that the White House is making changes to its plan for tougher interrogation of terror suspects, key Senate Republicans who rejected an earlier version now say the administration is showing some new flexibility.
Capitol security under review tonight, a man with a gun is arrested after crashing his SUV through a barricade and then running into the Capitol building. And violence in America is now on the rise. The FBI saying crimes including murder, rape, robbery, were up more than two percent last year. That's the first major increase since 2001.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're THE SITUATION ROOM.
As we have been reporting, President Bush is now in New York, where America's friends and foes are gathering over at the United Nations. Another visitor this week is the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That's causing an uproar in New York City, as you can imagine. While he won't have a meeting with President Bush, the Iranian leader will meet plenty of protests.
CNN's Mary Snow has the story from the United Nations -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, leading Jewish organizations are expressing outrage that the Iranian president is coming to New York and they plan on taking that anger to the streets here outside the U.N.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Should an elected official who denies the Holocaust ever happened and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, be allowed to attend the United Nation's General Assembly? Jewish leaders say, no.
MALCOLM HOENLEIN, CONF. PRES. OF MAJOR JEWISH ORGS.: I've asked if Hitler had come in the 1930s would they have let him in? And too many people say we would have been required by law to do so, but we certainly would have let our voices be heard.
SNOW: Malcolm Hoenlein is organizing a rally outside the United Nations Wednesday to protest the visit by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Among the featured speakers, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Outside of the U.N., New York's mayor is making secret of the fact that he won't be rolling out the red carpet for Ahmadinejad. He says the city does have a duty to provide security.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: The United Nations, under our agreement with the United Nations, has a right to invite whom they please. I can tell you, I will not host this person in my home. I don't plan to meet him or have any other contact with him. But the NYPD will do their job and make sure that everybody's safe in this city.
SNOW: Outside of his U.N. event, Ahmadinejad has an invitation that's drawing criticism. The prestigious Council on Foreign Relations has asked him to speak to about two dozen members, saying it's held similar talks with controversial leaders in the past, such as Yasser Arafat, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. A spokeswoman says "it is the mission of the Council on Foreign Relations to create a direct dialogue with world leaders and others. It is never and endorsement of their position and policies." But critics say dialogue with Ahmadinejad is useless.
HOENLEIN: do they think that they are going to change his mind? That they are going to convince him that Holocaust took place?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: As for the extra security the city will have to provide, the NYPD would not cite the specifics. It says it works with the State Department and Secret Service to provide security and that some, not all, of the overtime costs are reimbursed by the State Department, Wolf.
BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting, thank you Mary. Now to our CNN exclusive interview. His forces face a brutal insurgency in Iraq, a blood comeback by Afghanistan's Taliban and the hunt for an elusive al Qaeda leadership. Then there's a possible, possible military showdown with Iran. General John Abizaid is responsible for all of these areas as the commander of the U.S. military central command.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about Iran right now, because there is real fear that, as you well know, that the Iranians are moving toward a nuclear bomb.
Yesterday, I spoke with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, who said there's only a few months left before they cross a certain line of being able to enrich uranium and after that, there's almost no point going back.
There are some suggestions that you, as the central commander, are already deep involved in planning for a military strike against Iran. Are you?
ABIZAID: Well, certainly, Wolf, I'm not going to confirm or deny any planning that we're doing with regard to war plans. You know that I couldn't ever disclose that whatsoever.
I can tell you that we deal with an awful lot of contingencies. We have sufficient and significant military force in the region to deal with any country or any eventuality.
BLITZER: If the president said to you, "General Abizaid, go ahead and destroy those Iranian nuclear facilities," you got a plan? You got an option? Are you capable of doing that?
ABIZAID: Like I said, Wolf, I'm not going to answer about confirming or denying any plans that we may have.
I can tell you we can deal with any problem that comes up militarily in the region.
BLITZER: Because a lot of experts say the U.S. military right now is stretched way too thin. You've got your hands full in Iraq and in Afghanistan, where the situation, which is still under your purview, is deteriorating, as well.
ABIZAID: Well, there's 1.4 million Americans on active duty of the military of the United States. When you add the Reserve components in there, I think it's about 2.1 million.
We've got 200,000 in my area of operation. Not all of our sea power, not all of our air power, by any stretch of the imagination, is committed to my area. Any opponent that would think that we're over- stretched and we can't deal with our military obligations would be making a dreadful mistake.
BLITZER: With hindsight, was it a mistake to divert resources from the war on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to Iraq and, in part, that's why Afghanistan seems to be deteriorating so rapidly right now?
ABIZAID: Well, I would dispute the notion that Afghanistan is deteriorating so rapidly. Afghanistan is going through a period where the Taliban have gotten somewhat reorganized. They've become more lethal down in the south.
But we've also expanded our military operations in the areas where we haven't operated in several years.
BLITZER: It looks like the Taliban's making a major comeback, certainly in the south.
ABIZAID: No, I don't think it's a major comeback and I don't think that what the Taliban brings to the table is militarily threatening to the NATO forces or to American forces.
We've got to separate what's militarily significant from violence. There's a lot of violence. There's a lot of violence throughout my theater of operations, in all 27 different countries, in one form or another.
It's very, very important to understand that we've got to face the ideological challenge that's presented by Osama Bin Laden and his forces and we've got to face the same challenge that's presented by revolutionary Iran, and we can do that.
BLITZER: Is it a priority to find Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al- Zawahiri, Mullah Mohammed Omar, the former leader of the Taliban? Because you get different answers speaking to different officials all the time.
You're the commander. You're in charge of that hunt, presumably. Are you looking for him?
ABIZAID: I'm in charge of the military part of the hunt and, absolutely, we are working towards finding them and we're working towards capturing or killing them, no doubt about it.
BLITZER: But is it a major priority for you?
ABIZAID: Absolutely.
BLITZER: Do you have any idea where they are?
ABIZAID: If I knew where they were and I knew precisely in a targetable way, we'd go get them.
BLITZER: Because there's a lot of suspicion that they're in Pakistan, and you can't go to Pakistan.
ABIZAID: I would tell you that when we get good targeting information on any one of those three people that you mentioned, that we will go where we need to go to go find them and go get them.
BLITZER: Do you have authorization to launch air strikes in Pakistan?
ABIZAID: I think that just like the question that you asked me about the planning for Iran, that it's best not to reveal to you what authorities I have or don't have.
BLITZER: This deal that the Pakistani government struck with pro-Taliban forces along the border in Waziristan there, it looks like they're giving amnesty to these guys.
ABIZAID: I don't think they're giving amnesty, Wolf. I know the Pakistanis very well. I've heard all of the various complaints from various commentators here that the Pakistanis have given up the battlefield to the Taliban on the Pakistani side of the border.
That's not President Musharraf's intent. That's not the intent of the military commander in the region or of the governor in the region, as well.
I think the Pakistanis have a very tough series of diplomatic, political and economic problems associated with the federally administered tribal areas that they've got to get at.
I'm not certain that these current agreements will work out to our mutual benefit. We'll have to wait and see.
BLITZER: You're concerned about that agreement.
ABIZAID: I think we all need to be concerned, but then, again, I talked to President Musharraf about it just recently and President Karzai. We're all agreed that we've got to work together to deny that area to our enemies, our collective enemies.
BLITZER: We're almost out of time, but a quick personal question.
You've been doing this now for a long time. I went with you to Iraq last year. I know what kind of schedule, what kind of responsibilities you have.
What lies ahead for you, General?
ABIZAID: What lies ahead for me is more of the same, a lot of hard fighting in tough areas with good soldiers.
BLITZER: Well, good luck, General. Thanks very much for coming in.
ABIZAID: Thanks very much, Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And still ahead tonight, a video game with a killer goal, assassinate president. We're going to tell you who and what's behind this online terror.
And we'll also take you to Iraq where al Qaeda is gaining strength and fueling the bloodshed.
Find out why Kofi Annan is now saying that the dangers of a civil war in Iraq are oh, so real. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Just hours ago, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that Iraq could be on the brink of a full-scale civil war. Annan says Iraq and its leaders are at a crossroads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOFI ANNAN, UN SECRETARY GENERAL: If they can address the needs and common interests of all Iraqis, the promise of peace and prosperity is still within reach. But the current patterns of alienation and violence persist much longer. There is a grave danger, that the Iraqi state will break down possibly in the midst of a full- scale civil war.
The comments come on a day where violence around the country claimed more than 40 lives, more of those half of those fatalities came in a pair of suicide bombings in Ramadi in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar. CNN correspondent Michael Ware is in Baghdad.
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BLITZER: Joining us now from Baghdad, our correspondent Michael Ware. Michael, we're getting very close to the start of Ramadan, what only about a week or so off. What, if any impact, do you sense this will have on the insurgency, the sectarian violence?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what U.S. military intelligence is expecting and what all of us who have been here long enough are waiting for is the fourth Ramadan offensive. What has always been seen in Ramadan past is that the insurgency, particularly the extremists Sunni religious groups, raise the tempo and the ferocity of their attacks. The American military here on the ground is preparing for what it calls a significant spike in violence over Ramadan, Wolf.
BLITZER: And the whole nature of this spike, when you say the U.S. military, presumably the Iraqi military, they're getting ready for it. How do they get ready for it? Aren't they doing everything already that they possibly can given their resources?
WARE: Well, the resources obviously are a huge factor. There's clearly not enough American and/or Iraqi troops to do the job that ultimately needs to be done, be that here in the capital, let alone across the country itself.
But what we do see is that security procedures can be ratcheted up at least one or two more notches. There's normally imposed curfews, even more than we currently live under now. There can be the placement of additional check points. There can be increases in patrolling and operational tempos. Essentially, they tried to close particularly the capital, but other hot spots down even further than they can normally sustain for any length of time -- Wolf?
BLITZER: You spent a lot of time now in Iraq, over the years, since the war. You've been embedded with U.S. troops very recently. From your perspective, the big picture, is the insurgency and the sectarian violence getting more intense, more lethal, more dangerous or is this overall security situation, from the U.S. perspective, improving?
WARE: Wolf, there's absolutely no doubt about the answer to that question. This country is spiraling further and further into a cycle of both sectarian violence and insurgent violence. And most alarmingly about the nature of the insurgent violence is we're seeing al Qaeda in Iraq take more and more grounds within the insurgency itself. President Bush put Iraq front and center in the global war on terror. Well Osama bin Laden and his deputies have done the same. On the ground here, we're seeing al Qaeda in Iraq, which actually represents only a small fraction of the numbers on the ground. But, increasing its influence and in fact its numbers -- Wolf?
BLITZER: And you know a lot about the insurgency, the al Qaeda operation in Iraq right now. Give us a little flavor of what's happening?
WARE: What's happening is that we're seeing al Qaeda maintain its intensity. I mean, it's still the most well-funded organization out there. It's still the best structured. It still maintains the best secrecy or operational security. And it still has the most daring, most lethal, most unforgiving and most headline capturing or sensational tactics.
They have an ideology and a platform that the rest of the insurgency lacks. I mean, we've heard time and time again from the Baathists and the national insurgencies about their attempts to develop a political front.
Well we have seen that fall over repeatedly. Al Qaeda doesn't lack that. We're seeing them gain even further momentum, even in the wake of their death of their leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi among the rest of the insurgency. We're seeing normal Iraqi insurgents if there is such a thing. People who consider themselves secular nationalists being herded towards al Qaeda because of the pressures being put on their groups by the American army. But also by this sectarian strife and what they see is the imposition by America of a pro-Iranian government. As far as they see it, they are being left with no choice but be pushed to the extreme. Wolf?
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BLITZER: Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad.
Up ahead, a video game that puts the president of the United States in the cross hairs. It's an online terror story. We're going to bring it to you next. And with advisories against eating fresh spinach, how else should you get your greens? Jeanne Moos will take a closer look. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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BLITZER: The newest version of online jihadist propaganda isn't a video or an audio tape. It's a video game. In it, players are invited to assassinate President Bush. Our Abbi Tatton has details now on the latest way Islamic radicals are using the Internet to spread their message of hate -- Abbi?
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, it's called Quest for Bush or Night of Bush Capturing. This video game appeared on an Islamist Web site over the weekend. CNN's senior Arab Affairs editor Octavia Nasr says it's already popping up on multiple other sites available for download free. Armed with weapons, including an assault rifle, grenade launchers, a player advances through desert scenes, levels called Jihad beginnings and American's hell. Bush is clearly the target, but Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is also featured in pictures, as is Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair. Soldiers are killed, each with Bush's face, before an ultimate showdown with the president.
Now the game may be based on U.S. examples after September 11th. Two games, including "The Quest for al Qaeda" and later "The Quest for Saddam" were created in the United States. This game, "The Quest for Bush" lists its creator as the Global Islamic Media Front, a group that CNN's Octavia Nasr describes as primarily a Sunni Jihadist organization, Wolf.
BLITZER: Abbi, thanks for that. Abbi Tatton reporting for us.
I want to go back to CNN's Zain Verjee. She's watching this very disturbing story, what's happening in Budapest, Hungary, the Hungarian capital. Zain, update our viewers, a huge fire breaking out there.
VERJEE: Wolf, there are thousands of protesters out on the streets there, standing outside Hungary's state television station. They have set it on fire. They are poised on the steps there. They want to try and storm it. The cars that are in front of this building have been overturned. Many of them have been set on fire.
The protesters here are furious, Wolf. They are reacting to leaked recording that caught the prime minister on tape essentially admitting that his government had lied about the economy to voters in the last year and a half to two years. He said on the tape, "we lied in the morning, we lied in the evening and also at night." Police are on the scene. They have clashed with protesters. They have been firing tear gas.
The protesters are throwing back bottles and stones at police. This is the first kind of scene we're seeing since the fall of Communism in last 1980s. They are calling for the prime minister to resign and he's refused, Wolf.
BLITZER: Major, major story breaking out in Budapest. I have been to Budapest, Zain. It's a lovely city. I've been to that area. But these protesters are angry. All right Zain, thanks very much.
Let's go to New York, Jack Cafferty with the Cafferty File.
CAFFERTY: French president Jacques Chiraq says that despite his objections to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he would listen to calls for help from Washington. The question we asked is how can France help the United States end the war in Iraq?
Richard, "France could confront the administration with the need to face reality and confront them and confront them and confront them. It may not make an impact on the Alice-In-Wonderland leaders of our government, but it would be nice to see some backbone, some consistent standing up to them, unlike most of our Congress.
Ger in Seaside, California, "They can't. This is our problem. I don't see how they can do anything but make it worse for themselves and I'm sure the French people will let their government know that they disprove of the idea." Paul writes, "Every warm body in the trench will help stabilize the situation. This is a good opportunity for George Bush to end the era of unilateralism and cowboy diplomacy. He should ask for and accept the assistance. Every non-U.S. soldier over there decreases the odds of our family members getting killed."
Eric in Chicago, "No thanks France. We must look at this from their perspective. What's their incentive? Obviously it's more than just a peaceful world as they have passed on promoting peace on multiple occasions. France being such a self-serving nation, maybe we should dig a bit deeper before we decide to accept the offer."
James in Fresno writes my favorite, "What say we send a few busloads of Parisians to Baghdad? I can't think of a better way to help the Iraqis realize that there are indeed things less tolerable than the presence of American troops."
And John in Madison, Wisconsin, "It's about time. The French could teach al Qaeda how to surrender.:
If you didn't see your e-mail here you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile and read more of these online, Wolf.
BLITZER: See you in New York tomorrow, Jack. Thanks very much, Jack Cafferty. Let's find out what's coming up at the top of the top of the hour. Paula's standing by. Hi Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi Wolf, Jack didn't enjoy those last two e-mails at all, did he?
BLITZER: No, not at all.
ZAHN: His laughter said it all. Thank you, coming up just about six minutes from now we're going to go in depth to see what, if anything, the Vatican can do to diffuse the fury in the Muslim world over words that Pope Benedict has already apologized for saying, or at least the reactions to them.
And then, on this the fifth anniversary of the anthrax attacks, is the U.S. any more prepared for bio-terrorism? That answer may surprise you.
Plus an urgent top story in crime tonight, the search for whoever violently attacked a new mother and stole her baby. All that coming at you at the top of the hour, Wolf.
BLITZER: What a heart breaking story that is.
ZAHN: Oh, it's terrible.
BLITZER: Thank you very much Paula, coming up in a few moments. Still ahead, the Spinach alternative. Americans looking for green, find a lot of empty shelves at the grocery store. Jeannie Moos on the salad dilemma. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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BLITZER: The government says do not eat fresh Spinach. So how else should you get your greens? Here's CNN's Jeannie Moos.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eat your Spinach has become don't eat your Spinach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one leafy vegetable I love to eat is now unavailable.
MOOS: You think you feel bad?
According to "New York Post," Even Popeye is headed to the emergency room. E. Coli is something that's supposed to happen to hamburgers. Whoever imagined that Spinach could become ...
ZAHN: Breaking news.
MOOS: A vegetable that elicits snickers at the mere mention of it's name.
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Involving bagged Spinach, did you hear about this?
MOOS: It's no laughing matter to the more than 100 people it apparently sickened or the person who died. In the produce aisle, it's produced confusion.
(on camera): What's your Spinach strategy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not to buy it, not to eat it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll never eat Spinach again.
MOOS: Never?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever.
MOOS (voice-over): Even bagged salads are feeling the chill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't bought any.
MOOS: Some are going back to the dark ages and chopping up their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The old fashioned head of lettuce, the produce section, where, you know, you get to hold, grab it and feel it.
MOOS: Of course there are few --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spinach?
MOOS: Who haven't got a clue, even someone eating a salad. (on camera): Well you know the whole thing about Spinach, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
MOOS: You don't know about Spinach?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I'm on a media blackout.
MOOS: Is there any Spinach in there in?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There isn't. It's radicchio and endive.
MOOS: If we must temporarily turn over a new leaf ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Broccoli will be the new Spinach.
MOOS: What's the new Spinach
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kale?
MOOS: What's Kale taste like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not too good.
MOOS: What aren't you eating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What aren't I eating, chicken.
MOOS: Instead of Spinach?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MOOS: Which makes him chicken about eating Spinach.
What's your strategy in the produce department.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eat junk food.
MOOS: So for now the Spinach flag has wilted. At least Popeye eats canned rather than fresh Spinach so he'll avoid E. Coli. Though Botulism could still get him.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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BLITZER: I'll be in New York tomorrow. Wednesday, my interview with President Bush. Until then, thanks for joining us. Let's go to Paula in New York.
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