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New Violence Amid Search for Kidnapped Contractors in Iraq; Echoes of Vietnam?; Sudan Appears to be Backing Away From U.N. Deal

Aired November 17, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll succeed unless we quit. The Maliki government's going to make it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: History's lesson. The U.S. president uses his stock in Vietnam to sell his policy in Iraq.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The man spent half his life behind bars. Now he's headed home after an act of clemency by Pakistan that is being hailed by human rights groups.

MCEDWARDS: War and terror in the Middle East sees a certain habit go up in smoke for Israelis who like to indulge.

HOLMES: And a grandioso affair. Celebrity super couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reportedly splashing out well over a million dollars, several million, some say, to say "I do" in Italy. But money can't buy everything.

It is 6:00 p.m. in Bracciano, Italy, 10:00 p.m. in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Welcome to our report broadcast right around the globe.

I'm Michael Holmes.

MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards.

From Europe to the Middle East, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

HOLMES: All of those stories and more in a moment.

But first, even as coalition troops hunt for kidnapped security contractors, new fighting is breaking out in the same area. We begin the program in southeastern Iraq, with an update on those clashes and the fate of five contractors ambushed at gunpoint.

Arwa Damon is in Baghdad, joins us now live.

First update us on the latest there, Arwa. ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, the latest incident that you just mentioned briefly there happened about 20 kilometers southeast of Basra, in an area known as Zubair (ph). There, private security contractors clashed with Iraqi security forces.

This coming from a spokesman for the British military who said that British military responded to the attack, arrived after the firefight was over. They did recover one British security individual who was wounded in that firefight and evacuated him to a British medical hospital.

Now, this happened just a day after the kidnapping incident in which four U.S. contractors and one Austrian contractor were kidnapped. That also taking place in the vicinity of Basra.

The five were employed by the Crescent Security Croup, which operates out of Kuwait, and were in a convoy traveling from Kuwait to Tallil Airbase, where they came upon a fake checkpoint. Local militiamen were parading as Iraqi police.

The five were kidnapped, along with nine other drivers. The drivers, all of South Asian origin, were later on released. There is a current ongoing massive military operation to try to rescue these victims -- Michael.

HOLMES: Arwa, as all this goes on, political developments, too. A bizarre arrest warrant issued for a pretty well-known figure.

DAMON: That's right, Michael. The arrest warrant was issued for Harith al-Dhari. He is the head of the Muslim Scholars Association, and arguably, the most influential Sunni figure here.

The arrest warrant coming out from the Shia-led government, originally announced by the minister of interior. Later, the Iraqi government saying this was not an arrest warrant, rather, a warrant for an investigation. But regardless of the terminology, this has already inflamed Sunnis here.

It was mentioned during Friday prayers. One Sunni cleric saying, "What are they thinking? Have they gone insane?"

Harith al-Dhari, himself, who is out of the country, saying that he was being made a scapegoat by the Iraqi government that was trying to cover up for its mistakes that took place over the last three and a half years, saying that this was just the Shia-led government trying to further push out Sunnis not only from the political process, but also to isolate them and completely push them out of the country as a whole -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right, Arwa. Thanks very much for the update.

Arwa Damon there in Baghdad -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Well, George W. Bush says when it comes to Iraq, we will succeed unless we quit, drawing a parallel with the longest war in U.S. history that ended in failure. Appropriately enough, these comments came in Vietnam, where Pacific Rim leaders are gathering for a summit on security and trade.

President Bush says the U.S. war with Vietnam shows there's no instant success in the fight for freedom, as he called it. But as Ed Henry reports, critics see the lessons of history differently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is the Vietnam President Bush wants to highlight at the Asian Pacific Economic summit: hustle, bustle, Asia's fastest growing market for U.S. products. But it's still an awkward time for the President to visit Vietnam, evoking painful memories of another polarizing war just as he's trying to chart a new course in Iraq.

ROBERT DALLEK, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The similarities are so palpable in the sense that we're now three years and eight months later with the sense of being trapped there, caught in a quagmire.

HENRY (on camera): Even before arriving here in Hanoi, the president was asked about the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq. An inevitable question that may overshadow this economic summit.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Support for our troops is strong here in the United States, and it wasn't during the Vietnam era. So I see differences, I really do.

HENRY (voice over): But just last month, the president did see one similarity between the two wars. Asked about "New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman's contention the recent spate of violence in Iraq may be the jihadist equivalent of the Tet Offensive, the president said that could be right.

The 1968 Tet Offensive turned Americans against the Vietnam War by undercutting President Lyndon Johnson's rosy claims about the conflict. Presidential historian Robert Dallek, the highly respected Johnson biographer, says President Bush and his team are now in the same danger zone.

DALLEK: They were no longer credible. They kept saying things are going well, mission accomplished, we're making progress. And after a while, people looked at the realities and they don't see this progress. And it reminds them again of the kind of rhetoric and illusory thinking that we had in Vietnam.

HENRY: Under fire, Mr. Bush has now pushed out much maligned defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and is vowing to take a close look at the upcoming report from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which may call for a drastic shift in U.S. strategy. Signs perhaps that this president is starting here the echoes of Vietnam.

Ed Henry, CNN, Hanoi.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: The United Nations is hailing a deal to send peacekeepers into Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, even as the conflict spills over into neighboring countries.

On Thursday, the U.N. said Sudan had agreed in principle to allow peacekeepers to join the African Union force in Darfur. But now Sudan's foreign minister says there was no talk of a mixed force, arguing the deal only entailed technical assistance from the U.N.

Meanwhile, Chad has announced plans to send troops to the central African republic to confront rebels it says are coming from Darfur. The U.N. humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, says the situation in Darfur is getting worse by the day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF: We have a total meltdown for security now in west Darfur. I never would have believed it has gotten so bad in recent weeks. We hear story after story of armed men attacking defenseless women and children, of women being raped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: Well, Jan Egeland was forced to cut his trip to Darfur short when the Sudanese government blocked his access to refugee camps.

Mr. Egeland join us now on the line from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, for more.

Mr. Egeland, I'll ask you in a moment about you being turned back. But I want to ask you first about this deal on U.N. technical assistance. I'm a bit confused by it.

What does it mean? Will it eventually lead to a mixed force, or is that still a ways away?

EGELAND: There will be various support packages now for the beleaguered African Union force in Darfur. There will be personnel through the U.N. There will be money. There will be logistics. There will be other resources that will come in increasing intensity through the next year so that by autumn there should be a much stronger, much better, much more robust force to defend women and children, and humanitarian relief in Darfur.

MCEDWARDS: Is it a breakthrough, do you think, in the fight to get U.N. troops in, or is this more of an incremental step?

EGELAND: Well, I think it's -- it's both. But as to humanitarian work, I want to see changes on the ground.

I think Secretary-General Kofi Annan had a breakthrough, and others, but we now must see that the government agrees to a speedy support package coming to the African Union force. I was there myself today in Darfur. I could see that next to the African Union post in Al Ganena (ph), in west Darfur, three hours after I left a U.N. vehicle was stolen at gunpoint. It's really lawlessness that is order of the day now all over Darfur.

MCEDWARDS: It must have been frustrating for you not to be able to get in farther. Will you try again, or what do you do at this point?

EGELAND: Well, I was invited by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry to come to Darfur at the time that they chose. We had an agreed program that I would visit all over Darfur, and I had to cut short because now they wanted to only give me access to one of the remaining five sites.

I want to go freely. I'm a humanitarian worker. I should have access to the civilian population. But more importantly, it is that the humanitarian workers are now blocked.

There are many who cannot go out of the main towns. Many are even stuck here in Khartoum. It's a combination of a lack of security, it's a combination of attacks against humanitarian workers and the civilian population.

And a lot of bureaucratic obstacles, one of them being that American aid workers are now stuck in Khartoum. They cannot even go to Darfur as one of the restrictions.

MCEDWARDS: All right. We have to leave it there.

Jan Egeland, thanks very much for your assessments, and best of luck.

Jan Egeland.

HOLMES: All right. Moving on.

From death row inmate to free man, a Briton who spent half of his life in a Pakistani jail for a murder he says he did not commit is now on his way back to London. The Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf, commuted Mirza Tahir Hussain's sentence on Wednesday.

Hussain was accused of murdering a taxi driver in 1988. He was acquitted in a first trial. But an Islamic court later sentenced him to hang.

Hussain was given a reprieve following a diplomatic flurry that included involvement by the British government. But a lawyer for the taxi driver's family says they will petition the supreme court in a bid to put Hussain back behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALIK RUBNAWAZ NOON, ADVOCATE FOR VICTIM'S FAMILY: The grant of clemency by the president for Mirza Tahir Hussain is not (INAUDIBLE) law for the reason that under Article 45 he has already exhausted his power by rejecting his participation earlier. And at the second (INAUDIBLE) he has no jurisdiction to once again reconsider it when nothing is pending before him to grant clemency.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Hussain was freed after he was given clemency because he had already spent so many years in jail.

MCEDWARDS: Well, the woman who calls herself the gazelle of French politics has jumped way ahead of the pack. Segolene Royal overwhelmingly beat two contenders and won the socialist party's candidacy on Thursday. The nomination puts her on the verge of making history as France's first female president if she wins next year's election.

Jim Bittermann reports now from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was what the French like to call a vague de maree, a tidal wave. Segolene Royal swept away her opponents with more than 60 percent of the vote. While the polls had shown she was ahead, no polls were taken among the people who could actually vote, the 200,000 members of the socialist party, and so there was doubt right up until the results were announced.

It's believed her promises to concentrate on the problems of ordinary Frenchmen went down especially well with young socialists, many of whom are among the 50 percent increase in party members in the past year. Ahead, Royal faces a somewhat daunting task of uniting the socialist party. The party has never before tried holding a presidential primary vote, and the camps that supported her more traditional party opponents may not easily come around to supporting her.

In Royal's victory pronouncement, she said, "I will have the job of bringing them all together, including those who did not vote for me. I am counting on it." Indeed, she will have to rally all the left, because her likely opponent on the right could be Nicolas Sarkozy, known for his aggressive and well-focused campaigning skills.

But Royal has carefully honed her image as a new force in politics, someone concerned about the problems of the average Frenchmen, even though not everyone buys into that image.

DANIEL CZAKOWSKI, COMPUTER CONSULTANT: I think it's more she reacts more to polls. I mean, she doesn't really have ideas.

ELODIE BOUSBAA, STUDENT: We need someone good, someone with good -- someone who can do something good for the country, for France. We don't need a woman. It's not because she's a woman that she's going to do lots of things good.

BITTERMANN (on camera): Fairly (ph) designating a candidate six months before the presidential election could bring big benefits to the socialists, who will have time to establish Royal's credentials. But those benefits could quickly disappear if voters lose interest in the campaign or if Royal is not able to withstand the much closer scrutiny she will now face from outside her party.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: Well, a coveted resource goes up in smoke for Israelis who like to light up. Try to say that 10 times fast.

HOLMES: Yes. Just ahead -- this is a bizarre story -- with supply down, prices are way up for marijuana, leading some Israelis to take matters into their own hands.

Our Ben Wedeman will have a report.

MCEDWARDS: And then it is just a game. Yeah, right. Tell that to these adults.

We'll look at the pandemonium over, guess what, the new PlayStation.

Much more just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. Here are some of our top stories.

Fighting in southeastern Iraq after four U.S. contractors and an Austrian colleague are kidnapped at a fake checkpoint.

PlayStation frenzy. Sony unveiling its newest high-tech gadget and getting set for the big day.

Italians gearing up for the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back to CNN International.

HOLMES: That's right, seen live in more than 200 countries right across the globe.

This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

All right. They are neighbors, not friends. But over the years, many in Israel have come to depend on Lebanon to help fuel an illegal habit.

MCEDWARDS: Well, after the war with Hezbollah this summer, all that went up in smoke. Now Israelis who want to indulge either have to pay an exorbitant price or grow it alone, I guess you could say.

HOLMES: Yes, really.

Ben Wedeman has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The weekend's here, and a group of young Israelis relax with marijuana. This is strictly illegal, but in the pressure cooker that is Israel, many unwind by winding a joint.

ARI, WRITER: Yes, this is a damn stressful place. So yes, you need to have an outlet, you know? Like, it, you know, rides up on you. And that gets uncomfortable. So you got to have something to release the pressure.

WEDEMAN: But regional tensions are making themselves felt even in the smoky rooms where some Israelis go to escape.

(on camera): We're told the prices of marijuana and hashish in Israel have gone way up and that supply is way down. The traditional sources of these illegal narcotics have, in one way or another, gone up in smoke.

(voice over): For years, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula supplied the voracious Israeli market. But since a series of terror attacks in the Sinai, security along the border with Egypt has been tightened. The smuggling of Lebanese hashish to Israel, an important source of income to Hezbollah, has fallen off dramatically since last summer's war. A silver lining to that cloud for the Israeli authorities.

Before, an ounce of marijuana cost around $28. Now almost $250.

But addiction is the mother of invention. Local producers are filling the gap, says the leader of Israel's Green Leaf Party, which advocates the legalization of marijuana.

OHAD SHEM-TOV, CHAIRMAN, GREEN LEAF PARTY: Because there is now (INAUDIBLE) from Egypt or from Lebanon, so the weed that we have is home-produced, you know? It's self-production. And it's hydro. It's very good, really, and it's really, really expensive.

WEDEMAN: The police have also noted a qualitative change.

MICKEY ROSENFELD, POLICE SPOKESMAN: We've seen one or two fairly advanced laboratories that have been very well laid out, prepared. And this is something that we have before aware of that has been happening for -- for a short amount of time.

WEDEMAN: This group has switched to locally-grown marijuana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a couple of friends who are growing their own -- their own. If you want to get good quality, then, yes, that's what you have to do.

WEDEMAN: With ever-higher prices, these Israelis have concluded the grass is, indeed, greener on this side of the fence.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: It has been five years since a western-backed democracy replaced the Taliban in Afghanistan. HOLMES: Yes. Nonetheless, there have been few, if any, celebrations. Coming up, we're going to ask why.

MCEDWARDS: And it's supposed to be a game. So can't we just get over it? What's behind the latest madness in the world of video games?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. But first, we want to get some news to you that we are hearing from the governor of Basra. Once again, the governor of Basra.

We've been telling you about a kidnapping situation there in Iraq. According to The Associated Press, two hostages have been released. Two of the hostages from this contracting company, Americans, have been freed.

One last time, want to make sure we get this straight. According to The Associated Press, the governor of Basra is saying that two American contractors have now been freed. The condition is unknown at this point.

And as you can tell, we are just getting this information to us seconds ago. Our crews on the ground in the area, which we have many, are looking to confirm this information for us. And we will get it to you just as soon as we have more detail and confirmation here at CNN.

Meanwhile, House Republicans stick with familiar names to lead them into unfamiliar territory. The minority in Congress -- they've chosen Representative John Boehner to be minority leader when the new Congress convenes in January.

He beat his challenger, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, by a vote of 168-27. Boehner becomes the top Republican in the House. Speaker Dennis Hastert is leaving the leadership ranks.

Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri keeps his spot as party whip. This time, though, in the minority. Some Republicans are expressing disappointment the party did not turn to new faces after their election defeat.

The man picked to head the Pentagon making the rounds on Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates meeting with senators today. The war in Iraq the main item of discussion. This is Gate's first trip to the Hill since President Bush picked him to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A hearing on his nomination set to begin December 5th. Gates is a former CIA director. He was a member of the study group looking at options in the Iraq war.

Some horrifying moments this morning for this couple in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Rising floodwaters caught them off guard. They were forced to climb on top of their SUV after the cab filled with water. Rescue crews spotted them, waded out with a boat and towed them in.

It's just one of several rescues carried out in Maryland this week.

Farther south, as many as 100 people are left dazed, confused and without homes. That same storm spawned a killer tornado. It cut a path of destruction through a neighborhood in Riegelwood, North Carolina. Eight people are dead, dozens more injured.

Earlier this morning we spoke with Tomeka Jenkins, who no longer has a home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMEKA JENKINS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I went on to work. And as I got to work, I got a phone call saying, "Is anybody home at your house?" I said, "No." And I said, "Why?" They said, "Because your house is gone."

HARRIS: Because your house is gone?

JENKINS: I said, "What do you mean my house is gone?" They said my house is gone. I said, "What do you mean my house is gone?" They said, "It's gone."

I didn't believe them. So I hung the phone up and continued to work.

The second phone call saying, "Well, Tomeka, you need to get home because you don't have a house." So I immediately dropped the phone in tears and left and came here.

But when I got here, I couldn't get through to see actually what happened. So, really, you know, a tornado hitting here, you know, I thought was impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Tomeka Jenkins has no immediate family or homeowners insurance. To help her and many other victims like her, you can call 1-800-REDCROSS.

Reynolds Wolf standing in the weather center now, and trying to update us on all the situation and the aftermath here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: The TomKat wedding. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes set to tie the knot in a Scientology ceremony. Where -- or what, that is, goes on in a Scientology wedding? We are going to hear from a reverend from that church to get the inside scoop when you join Kyra Phillips and Don Lemon at 1:00 p.m. Eastern in the "CNN NEWSROOM."

Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Heidi Collins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: Those kidnappings highlight the risks of a job that lures people with high pay but comes at a high cost to personal safety.

It certainly does. Nic Robertson looks at the dangers facing private security contractors in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Locking and loading.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last minute preparations for one of the most dangerous jobs on earth: private military contracting in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a gun truck commander. Basically, I drive the truck. I set the lead pace for the convoy. My call sign is Gonzo.

ROBERTSON: The moments before the mission are loaded. Bravado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rambo!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Mr. GQ. He's our babe magnet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The military doesn't even like to go where we are going.

ROBERTSON: And a sobering dose of reality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clarkson, Cameron and Cadence (ph) -- those are my three reasons for being. We all got to be over here for a reason, mine is so that I can provide a better life for my wife and kids.

ROBERTSON: Amy Clark (ph) is there when Gonzo leaves. I wanted to find out how this gutsy industry works and Amy will show me. She runs the Baghdad end of a small military contracting business and has agreed to open the door to CNN so long as we agree not to disclose the name of her company.

AMY CLARK, PRIVATE SECURITY CONTRACTOR: The biggest thing I think about is that is my team going to get wiped out tonight.

ROBERTSON: What Clark doesn't know is that in less than three weeks, they will be hit hard in an attack and she will close down operations. When we meet Clark, she's running a tight-knit outfit, struggling to find a niche, competing against the titans of the industry, where contractors fill a void left by U.S. and Iraqi troops.

CLARK: I call it outsourcing conflict and a lot has been outsourced and where you've got a military where the assets and the personnel are strained thin, private contractors have had to step in and fill the void and it's unprecedented like in no other conflict.

ROBERTSON (on camera): He's a Brit, right?

CLARK: Yes, he's British, and he's great.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Industry insiders estimate the total value of logistical and security contracts in the multi-billion dollar range.

CLARK: The frontlines are the logistical supply lines. That's where a lot of the IEDs are being focused. They are focusing on the major supply routes.

ROBERTSON: And that's where Clark has found space in the market, on the frontlines. Her employees put their lives on the line protecting, among other things, drivers and trucks full of gravel destined for U.S. Army bases. In a 150-mile journey, the gravel's value can soar six times its original cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've lost several friends to IEDs, roadside bombs. I've been hit by an IED twice.

ROBERTSON: This is Gonzo's second tour as a private military contractor in Iraq. He doesn't know if he'll survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here is my MP5 automatic weapon, complete with nine round -- or nine, you know, rounds.

ROBERTSON: So when he came back, he started a video diary. And as he shows me his video, he explains exactly why he's prepared to risk his life again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife and I are pretty frugal. My goal is pretty simple. I just want to be able to pay off a house and get some property.

ROBERTSON: He can earn in three months what it would take him a year to earn back home. His motivation is high.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a good insurance policy, you know? Either way it's a win-win situation for my wife and kids. OK, right now they're collecting a paycheck at home. If anything happens to me, God forbid, then they'll be taken care of.

ROBERTSON: A former combat engineer, he served in Gulf War one. Back home, he'd either be driving a truck or working as a carpenter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we get ambushed and cut off, yes, then we're going to fight back. That's what we're paid to do, protect the clients, protect the asset. That's our job. To sound crude, our job, basically is to be a bullet sponge. ROBERTSON: Gonzo is exactly the sort of guy on which Amy Clark has built her small contracting operation. Ex-military, over 30, married and most critically, won't freeze up if called upon to shoot back.

CLARK: We had an incident Monday where the retaliation was much more complex than anything we've had. And, you know, one of these days I'm going to have to -- instead of going to one family and talking about a funeral, I'll have to go to three or four families.

ROBERTSON: That day almost came. Just three weeks after our first interviews, Amy Clark's teams were hit in multiple IED roadside bomb ambushes. We went back to find out what happened.

CLARK: Two IEDs went off simultaneously, downing one of our security trucks and wounding two of our people. At that point, they took on heavy small arms fire from rooftop positions.

ROBERTSON: Gonzo was out with another team when he got the call his buddies had been hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The blood in the back seat of the truck, all the bone fragments and flesh had pretty much told the tale. They got hurt pretty bad.

ROBERTSON: But the attacks that night were far from over.

CLARK: They took three IEDs, one in the front and two in the rear. By this point, we were down one security truck.

ROBERTSON: Clark lost two men. Five more were wounded, including Tony, who had given the security briefing only three weeks earlier. But if her situation was bad enough then, Iraqi police, she said, were accusing her team of killing civilians. And then came a devastating blow. The U.S. military withdrew her license to operate near Fallujah. Overnight, she says, she was closed down.

CLARK: I'm the type of person, I like to know exactly what the rules are, what the boundaries are. And if so, where do you violate those?

ROBERTSON: Gonzo and the others were given a week to find other jobs. Amy Clark's margins were so thin, she couldn't afford to keep them on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 10 years tops, there's going to be five major players and we all know who they are without even having to name them.

ROBERTSON: Clark is bitter. Insiders told her a bigger contractor has already picked up at least one of her jobs.

CLARK: But where's the transparency? I've gone above board to try to be transparent offering myself and any of our contractors open for questioning by anybody in this particular arena and no one has taken me up on it. ROBERTSON: She's still awaiting an answer she says, but on the question of the future, the company she was working for, she already knows that answer.

CLARK: If you fail here, no matter what the reasons are, it will be very difficult after this.

ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. We want to update you now on those hostages, or people who kidnapped those private security contractors in southern Iraq yesterday. More wire reports coming in now that apparently two of those foreign security guards, among a group of five who were kidnapped on Thursday after their convoy was ambushed, have been freed.

Now this is according to Iraqi police spokesman in Basra, in southern Iraq. So multiple sources now saying that two of those five kidnapped foreign security contractors, four of them American, one Austrian, have apparently been freed in a police operation. We don't have any more details than that. We're working on it. We'll let you know.

MCEDWARDS: Well, you might call it the ultimate A-List.

HOLMES: Yes, coming up, it's one of those weddings where the only rival is royalty. We'll run down the list of who's who at the celebrity wedding of the year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, there's a clue of what's to come. Welcome back. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY right here on CNN International. Well, TomKat will soon be known as Mr. and Mrs. TomKat, thank you very much. Within hours, Hollywood players Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are set to tie the knot in Italy. And Colleen has more on that.

MCCEDWARDS: This is exciting stuff, Michael. When it comes to romance, Paris may be the city of lights, Rome, the eternal city, but when it comes to weddings, the Italian town of Bracciano is the place to be. Between the jet-set arrivals and all the lavish parties. It's already a feeding frenzy for the paparazzi there. But we're going to turn instead to our own very respected and intrepid journalist, of course our Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci, who is standing by. Hey, Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello to you, Colleen. Rome may be the eternal city, but Bracciano is the place to be, or is it? We still don't have the official confirmation that the castle here behind me will actually host the so-called wedding of the year. That said, the city has been preparing for a few days. The world's media have descended here on Bracciano and the VIPs from Hollywood have begun to arrive here. The latest arrival, Will Smith and the international futbol star David Beckham with his wife Victoria have arrived also here today. Besides them, Jennifer Lopez and Jim Carrey. So, all these people are arriving in Rome for a wedding that supposedly will take place behind me tomorrow, Saturday. We're still waiting to hear the whereabouts of John Travolta, expected to arrive here today with his own private 707 carrying even more VIPs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VINCI (voice-over): It is one of the best locations in Italy money can buy. Tom Cruise reportedly paid close to $400,000, just to rent Castello Descalchi (ph), overlooking Lake Bracciano, one hour north of Rome. The total bill for the whole wedding, around $1.5 million dollars reports say. A lot, but less than the $3 million originally estimated.

But money can't buy everything. Authorities rejected the request to close the airspace above the castle to keep paparazzi helicopters away. And speaking of the media, they have taken the small town by storm. They, too, appear to spare no expenses. A window overlooking the castle's main entrance is worth more than $1,000.

ALLAN HALL, "STAR" MAGAZINE REPORTER: The photographers have got lenses you can see craters on the moon on, hoping for a shot up there to get the bride and groom.

VINCI: Details of the wedding are a close-guarded secret. Many here speculate the couple will reach the castle through this tunnel. At the end of it, hordes of journalists will be waiting for them on this side. Before the couple will disappear beyond this gate, off limits to anyone without an invitation.

All the money in the world won't buy Hollywood's hottest couple a Catholic wedding either. Tom Cruise is divorced. So no way, says the local priest who, according to Catholic Church tradition, needs to authorize all marriages in his parish.

The wedding won't even have legal status in Italy.

"I understand that it will be a ceremony with scientology rights," says the mayor of Bracciano, referring to Tom Cruise's religion, which isn't recognized here in Italy. "We at City Hall have not received any request for a civil wedding."

Locals will be disappointed, if all this proves to have been a ruse to keep reporters away from the actual wedding location. Starting with this shopkeeper who dressed his window to honor Tom Cruise, hoping the wedding will also bring good business.

EMIDIO FALCIONE, SHOP OWNER: The most important window that we make, is the "Top Gun" window, if you see, and we sell a lot of pilots jacket, like Maverick in "Top Gun" film.

VICNI: And, of course, this being Italy, food is playing a prominent role. The restaurant across from the castle's main entrance, is already fully booked for Saturday. The chef will prepare a special dish, the Tom and Katie risotto, with mushrooms and truffles served in a parmesnan basket.

VICNI (on-camera): And speaking of food, we understand that Tom Cruise is actually on a diet, that is according to a Italian newspaper here, so he will not be able to enjoy all these wonderful dishes that have been prepared for him over the past week that is of course, until tomorrow, when the big party starts.

Colleen back to you.

MCCEDWARDS: All right. Alessio Vinci thanks very much. And Alessio will hopefully be in one of those helicopters for us tomorrow to bring us everything that we can see. Parasitical alien ghosts haunt us with bad memories, however with the bridge to total freedom, you can fly, you can turn invisible, and you can perform astral projection. Weird science? No, we're just talking scientology here. But, when it comes to weddings, the protocol is actual similar to other churches. There's a bridal procession. The father of the bride and the best man, the exchange of the ring, all that stuff. Scientologists also make a pact not to sleep at night unless they settle any argument that they've had during the day.

But here's one really odd item. That girls, they say, need clothes and food and tender happiness and frills. A pan, a comb, and perhaps a cat. No, I'm not making this up. I promise you. The groom is asked to provide them all. So hopefully she'll get a nice pan out of all of this. The celebrity wedding, of course, comes the celebrity gossip, who's who, and who's not invited, that is. Jennifer Lopez, Jim Carrey, Jada Pinkett-Smith, John Travolta, Will Smith, they've all arrived. Oprah, however has not been invited. As for her infamous sofa, we're not exactly sure about that. Cruise jumped on it on her talk show to declare his love for Katie.

Given Cruise's track record, how long will love last here? For some answers on this, we're joined now from our London bureau, actually, by Ashley Pearson. She is showbiz reporter with "OK" magazine.

Ashley, this is starting to look a little bit more like a royal wedding than a celebrity one.

ASHLEY PEARSON, SHOWBIZ REPORTER, "OK" MAGAZINE: Well, it certainly is. I mean, it's Hollywood royalty, in fact, and I think this is shaping up to be the celebrity event of the year. And you have to remember, you know, Tom Cruise is a very famous actor.

But he's also, now, the head of a major studio in Hollywood, United Artists. So there are a lot of showbiz people there that are paying respect to him, not just as a friend, but as a colleague and perhaps someone they want to work with in the near future.

MCEDWARDS: So it's all politics then. I mean, I hear Oprah's out and Brooke Shields is in, despite their falling out.

PEARSON: Listen, there's going to be a lot of schmoozing and deal-making at this wedding.

MCEDWARDS: Really?

PEARSON: And the interesting thing about Brooke Shields is, you know, after that very famous falling out where Tom sort of attacked her for taking medication to fight post-partum depression, you know, he very publicly has admitted he went over there and privately apologized to her.

And what happened from that incident is that Katie has actually become very good friends of Brooke's. In fact, they both are big fans of the show "Grey's Anatomy" and they go over to each others' house to watch the show every week. So they actually have become friends out of this and that's why Brooke came.

MCEDWARDS: All right. Any idea how much money is being spent here and what kind of stuff it's being spent on?

PEARSON: Well, you know, I've heard estimates as high as $6 million.

MCEDWARDS: Whoa.

PEARSON: I mean, what you have to understand is he's -- Tom has not just rented out the castle. He's actually had them install new flower beds. He's repaved some of the roads in front...

MCEDWARDS: What?

PEARSON: ... for these guests. He's hired something like 300 limousines, 100 extra bodyguards, so he's really picking up the tab, not to mention the private jets for his family and friends. So he's really paying a hefty price for this occasion. That does feel a little bit like a premiere, as well as a wedding.

MCEDWARDS: All right, I have to ask you this just to show that I do have a cynical heart, truly, but the blogs are full of it today. How long is this going to last? People saying, look, you know, how many times does he go to the altar, how many years do you give this?

PEARSON: Five.

MCEDWARDS: Really?

PEARSON: If you want the honest answer. But, you know, look, Tom has invested a lot not just in this wedding, but in this relationship. They have a child together. I think, you know, it's his third marriage, but I think he feels that he finally got it right.

I definitely don't think Tom would have made such a public spectacle of this event if he didn't believe that this was going to last a long time, if not forever. But I think, you know, Hollywood, it's not the same as real life. So five years in Hollywood, that's a lifetime in the real world.

MCEDWARDS: Good point, Ashley Pearson, thanks very much. And a spectacle it truly is. Ashley Pearson with "OK" magazine.

We're going to take a short break here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, but we'll be right back. Don't go away.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. The King is back in the building apparently.

MCEDWARDS: Who do we mean? Good news from Graceland, I guess, for die-hard Elvis fans.

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MCEDWARDS: The Presley pretenders are finally being invited to the big house to compete to be crowned the King of imitation Kings.

HOLMES: Yes, the title of Elvis Tribute Artist of the Year is on offer to mark the 30th anniversary of the music icon's death. In the past, Graceland has kept the outrageous impersonators at arms length, but now it's hoping to attract a new generation of fans and, of course, keep a shine on Elvis' image.

MCEDWARDS: It's all in fun. That's in for this hours. I'm Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes. This is CNN.

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