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Indonesians Prepare to Greet President Bush; Former KGB Colonel Clings To Life After Possible Poisoning; At Least 19 Dead in Hilla Suicide Bombing

Aired November 19, 2006 - 19:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Not exactly a warm welcome. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, thousands of Indonesians angry over Iraq, prepared to greet President Bush.
And one of the hot topics of the day, pull out or stay put in Iraq? Hear two views on what should happen next.

Plus, Russian intrigue at the Kremlin. A former spy, accusations of murder, and a suspected poisoning.

It is 7:00 p.m. in Atlanta. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Carol Lin. Let's first catch you up on the headlines.

At least 19 people were killed, and nearly 50 others wounded in a suicide bombing south of Baghdad. Police in Hilla say the victims were day laborers. They had gathered around the attacker's car after he pretended to offer them works.

And Jonathan Cote is the second of five western security contractors kidnapped in Iraq that we've been able to identify. The former soldier's family sent CNN this photograph saying they hope he is released soon. Now former police officer Paul Reuben is the other American identified to-date. Reuben is from Minnesota.

President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin end the APEC summit with a milestone. The two leaders sign off on an agreement paving the way for Russia to join the World Trade Organization. Mr. Bush is spending his last day in Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.

Well it wasn't all big laughs Friday night at one comedy club in Los Angeles. Some in the audience say comic Michael Richards hurled racially- charged words and expletives at people who were disruptive and told him he wasn't funny. Richards' played the character Kramer on "Seinfeld." The full story coming up in 45 minutes right here in the NEWSROOM.

Well after three months of price reduction, get ready for the rebound. According to the latest Lundberg Survey, gas prices have risen an average of five cents per gallon in the past two weeks, making the average price for a gallon of regular self-serve gas $2.23.

Up first this hour, the chaos engulfing Iraq and the U.S. effort to find a way out. Today, sober assessments of U.S. options and increasingly ominous warnings. In some of his strongest terms yet, influential Senator John McCain says America needs more troops in Iraq, not fewer. The likely presidential contender says if the U.S. doesn't send more, defeat would be a catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The consequences of failure are so severe that I will exhaust every possibility to try to fix this situation, because it's not the end when American troops leave. It's the battleground shifts and we'll be fighting them again. That's -- you read Zarqawi and you read bin Laden, you read them. It's not just Iraq that they're interested in. It's the region, and then us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: McCain says the U.S. still can prevail but former secretary of state Henry Kissinger isn't sure. The former Vietnam hand now and informal adviser to President Bush spoke to the BBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think there is any hope left of a clear military victory in Iraq?

HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: If you mean by clear military victory an Iraqi government that can be established across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control, and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political process of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible.

I think a dramatic collapse of Iraq, whatever we think of how the situation was created, would have disastrous consequences for which we would pay for many years and which would bring us back in one way or another into the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well as for the president, he's waiting for options for a possible change of course, while Iraq descends daily into deeper unrest. We get the latest now from Baghdad from CNN's Arwa Damon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraq's latest kidnapped victim, Deputy Minister of Health Ammar Al-Saffar, also a member of the prime minister's Shia Da'wa Party, kidnapped from his home just on the outskirts of a predominantly Sunni northern Baghdad neighborhood after 24 armed gunmen masquerading as Iraqi police and government officials arrived at his home in six vehicles. This is not the first attempt on his life.

Back in June of 2004, gunmen opened fire on him. He escaped the attack unharmed.

Violence around Iraq claimed the lives of over two dozen Iraqis. In the southern city of Hilla, at least 17 Iraqis lost their lives when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a group of day laborers. He arrived at the scene and lured the crowd to his location by claiming to have jobs for them.

And in Baghdad, in the southeastern portion of the city, also a predominantly Shia area, at least 10 Iraqis were killed after triple car bombs exploded at a busy bus station.

And in southern Iraq, the search continues for five kidnapped contractors, four Americans and one Austrian, kidnapped after their convoy came upon a fake checkpoint in the vicinity of Basra on Thursday. The U.S. military is calling it a very well-coordinated and sophisticated attack.

Arwa Damon, CNN Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now since Arwa filed that piece, the death toll in the Hilla bombing has gone up to at least 19.

And now we have more on that kidnapping. CNN has learned the name of another of the four Americans held in southern Iraq. He is 23-year-old Jonathan Cote of Getzville, New York. The former soldier's family provided the picture, but does not want to say anything in public just yet. Former police officer Paul Reuben is the other American identified to date. Reuben is from Minnesota.

Now while the war stirs passions here at home, it's also contentious overseas. This was the scene in Jakarta, Indonesia today, an anti-American protest, ahead of tomorrow's scheduled visit by President Bush. The world's most populous Muslim nation is a critical ally on the war on terror. But among Indonesians, the war in Iraq is deeply unpopular.

CNN's Octavia Nasr is following events daily through the Islamic world. She joins us now by telephone. Octavia, give us some perspective when we take a look at these protests. How closely is the Muslim world watching as to what President Bush has to say in Indonesia?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR, ARAB AFFAIRS (on phone): Yes, Carol, this was a perfect example, actually, to see how the Muslim world views not necessarily Americans, but President Bush himself.

These protests are directed at him personally. You look at the posters, you look at the pictures. This is a president that was not popular to start with, and then his policies drove people totally away from him, the president of the United States, and later the United States all together.

Observers are warning us that the divide is growing bigger and larger every day, and basically, they say that Muslims in general are upset with the U.S. policies not necessarily in one country, or in one continent, but basically they list Afghanistan, they list Iraq, the rest of the Middle East. And they say that you know, the one person to blame for all the woes of these countries is President Bush himself. So definitely this represents the Muslim world, and not the extremists in the Muslim world, but the moderates of the time.

LIN: Well, I was going to ask you because how do these events, the protests in Indonesia, the potential for President Bush to say something about Iraq and the war on terror -- how does that affect, for example, the fate of the western contractors who are held captive now inside of Iraq, presuming that the kidnapers are watching the air waves as well?

NASR: Well, the thing is, there's nothing President Bush can say at this point to really save the lives of these contractors. You know, what Arab media and Muslim media are discussing right now is a general policy that needs to be very clear, as far as Iraq is concerned, that this policy was not articulated clearly.

You know, when the Democrats won both houses, there was a sigh of relief in the Arab and Muslim world as far as Iraq is concerned. But then right after that, they saw that there was nothing new that was proposed by the Democrats or by President Bush himself. You know, he did talk about, he's not going to stay the course. He's going to stay the course but he's going to make some adjustments, but really he didn't come up with policies. So right now, if you read the Muslim press or Arab press you're going to see that there's a lot of pessimism going on and they're saying basically that if something doesn't happen quickly, the world might reach a point of no return as far as Iraq is concerned, especially Iraq at this point.

LIN: A lot at stake. All right, thank you very much, Octavia Nasr for joining us on this Sunday evening.

Now there are many reasons why the American hostages in Iraq may still be alive. A former intelligence officer knows all about the kidnapping rings and what they want. Ken Robinson is going to join me live.

Plus, more agents protecting the U.S./Mexican border. Well, the new Congress and the president may actually make that happen.

And already, there's a lot of talk about who might be running for president. You're watching CNN, a lot happening right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: News across America now. The Navy is investigating a sewage leak from one of its barracks on San Diego Bay. Over the past two years, more than 10 million gallons of raw sewage seeped into the water. It was finally discovered and fixed Friday. Nearly 700 people also on a Carnival Cruise Lines Liberty have been hit by a contagious virus. The ship has docked in Florida and is getting a thorough disinfection.

And a Secret Service agent is in the hospital after trying to break up a mall brawl in Maryland. The off-duty agent pulled his weapon after a teenage gunman opened fire. Charges are expected against the shooter, who is also hospitalized in stable condition.

And now to securing the border with Mexico. President Bush and conservative Republicans haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye on the issue, especially the president's controversial guest worker program.

Now that would grant temporary legal status to foreign nationals who want to fill jobs here that Americans, well, so they say don't want. The proposal went nowhere in the Republican-controlled Congress, but it's fate may be much different with Democrats at the helm. Here's CNN's Kareen Wynter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were the shock waves felt from the congressional midterm elections.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MAJORITY LEADER: Today, we have made history.

WYNTER: Republicans lost control of both houses, but President Bush may have gained one advantage in the Democratic takeover, an unlikely base of allies on a top national security issue: illegal immigration.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe we can find some common ground with the Democrats.

WYNTER: Newly-elected House Democrats like Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona are just a few eager to work with President Bush on his comprehensive immigration reforms, a heavily debated plan which House Republicans have blocked for two years.

REP. HARRY MITCHELL (D), ARIZONA: I suspect that that would be one of the first things going through but I'm a freshman here, I don't know. But I think that since it's a No. 1 issue, it seems all over this country, or an important issue anyway, that it will be dealt with, I think, very quickly.

REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS (D), ARIZONA: If an idea is a good idea, it's a good idea, it's a good idea. It doesn't matter whether or not it's a Republican idea or a Democrat idea.

WYNTER: The president has had more support from Democrats and moderate Republicans on the guest worker plan, than with hard-line Republican conservatives who favor firmer immigration enforcement.

MITCHELL: It's an economic problem and I think that has to be dealt with and I think that's exactly what, from what I understand the McCain/Kennedy bill and the president's wanting to do.

WYNTER: Congressman-elect Harry Mitchell says nowhere is the problem more pervasive than in Arizona, a front-line state in immigration. Here in Tucson, border patrol agents bust nearly 2,000 illegal crossers each day from Mexico, a job that would be eased by the placement of more agents along the border if Bush's policy passes.

Analysts say that could happen, with the Democratic majority in Congress that stands ready to trump the approach of the president's own party. Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well it's an issue that's come up repeatedly since the Iraq war began: what tactics does our government use to get American hostages back? A live interview with a former intelligence officer coming up.

Plus, Palestinians act as human shields to protect the home of a militant leader.

And he's known for making people laugh on the show "Seinfeld," but it seems no one is laughing after Michael Richards' latest performance. Find out what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well the search continues for those five contractors kidnapped Thursday near Iraq's border with Kuwait. Their convoy was apparently stopped at a phony checkpoint, manned by gunmen posing as Iraqi police.

One contractor was Austrian. The other four, American. And one of the Americans has been identified as Paul Reuben. He's a former police officer from suburban Minneapolis. The other one, Jonathan Cote, a former soldier from New York. Both families tell CNN they remain hopeful their loved ones will be released.

So let's talk more about this with Ken Robinson, a former special forces and military intelligence officer, as well as an embedded journalist in Iraq. Ken, good to have you this evening. I know you have extensive knowledge about these kinds of networks that operate around Iraq. Who do you think has these contractors?

KEN ROBINSON, FORMER MILITARY INTEL. OFFICER: You know, we don't pay attention, Carol, to the nom de gere, the name that they attribute to themselves. There are just three really main factions, former regime loyalists. They are the Sunni jihadists and there are the Shiite jihadists. And in the south in Basra, that's the main center of gravity, the main area where the Shiites dominate, and it is looking like it is Shiite terror.

LIN: What do they want?

ROBINSON: They want the United States out. They've known since 1983, when they attacked -- the Lebanese Hezbollah attacked the United States embassy and the marine barracks in Lebanon, and then in Mogadishu in Somalia, when they attacked a group of rangers, a company of rangers, killing 19.

After each one of those major incidences, domestic resolve changed in the United States and the U.S. pulled out. And they've taken a page from that book, thinking that that's the way we will behave in this instance in the 21st century.

LIN: They want the total chaos. They want to send the message don't come here if you're a contractor, don't bother supporting this mission. They want soldiers and contractors and families alike terrified. So what keeps these guys alive?

ROBINSON: There's two things that will keep them alive. The first is, if they are being passed from group to group, one of the things that happens is criminals take people hostage and then they turn them over to a group that has an agenda and that group may want to exploit them and keep them alive simply because they're a bargaining chip.

The most important thing that keeps you alive when you're taken hostage is simply to humanize yourself with your hostage takers. It's been done successfully with other hostages held in Iraq over the last three years.

LIN: Talk about your kids, talk about, I don't know, even sympathy to their movement. We were talking about the "Christian Science Monitor" correspondent who at least spoke Arabic and was able to relate to them through language and that may have saved her life.

Can the families here at home -- at least two of them are telling us, look, we have hope that they're going to come back. We know that these public statements are carefully calibrated by U.S. officials who are trying to manage the situation. So what are they being told? Why would they say something like that publicly?

ROBINSON: Well, the one thing that the families don't want to do is to play into the hands of the hostage takers, and stir up more domestic unrest, because all it's doing is giving a reverberation, an echo to the original hostage taking.

What they want to do is allow the government, the government of Iraq, how fragile it is and the government of the United States to utilize their intelligence resources, because what they will do, they won't negotiate with the terrorists but they'll negotiate with just about everybody around the terrorists.

They'll deal with imams, they'll deal with tribal elders, they'll deal with former regimists, anyone where they can find information that narrows down a specific location. And so the best thing that a family can do is quietly wait.

LIN: And that is the most painful process of all, Ken.

ROBINSON: Brutal.

LIN: As we watched the pictures of these young men being held captive. Ken Robinson, I know this story hits home because you know so many in the forces. Appreciate your time.

ROBINSON: Thank you, Carol.

LIN: Well the Israeli military launched an air strike today targeting Palestinian militants. Both men were badly wounded and Palestinian medical sources say eight civilians were hurt as well. Now it came a day after hundreds more civilians escaped unscathed after Israel aborted another planned air strike. Paula Hancocks explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hundreds of Palestinians put themselves between an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza and its intended target. Late Saturday night, a militant leader in the Jabalia (ph) refugee camp was given a 10-minute warning call by Israeli forces to leave his home. An airstrike was imminent. But instead, he called on neighbors to defend the building, and with so many Palestinians directly in the line of fire, the Israeli air force called off the strike.

This senior Hamas militant said, "We decided to challenge Israel and sit on top of these houses that are threatened by airstrikes. So if we die we all die, and if we live we all live."

It appears that this unprecedented tactic of defiance has worked. At least this time. But two weeks ago, a call for Palestinian women to encircle a Gaza mosque to protect gunmen holed up inside turned bloody. Israeli troops shot and killed two of the women, claiming they were targeting the militants.

But last night's human shield tactic was seen as a success for the militants. This man says a campaign is starting now to protect the fighters. But airstrikes without warning continued Sunday.

An Israeli aircraft fired on a car in Gaza City. Two Hamas militants inside were seriously injured. Several civilians nearby were likely wounded, but Israel insists it always tries to avoid civilian casualties.

MIRI EISEN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: As soon as we know there are uninvolved combatants in the area, uninvolved civilians, then we are the ones who immediately stop the strike. We have done that in the past, and this is something that they know. And I want to think of it as our strength and not our weakness, and it's going to be something that we're going to have to approach in a different way.

HANCOCKS: Rockets fired from Gaza hit the Israeli town of Sderot Sunday, seriously wounding a 17-year-old boy. These rockets are one of the main reasons for Israel's airstrikes in Gaza.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: With neither the president nor the vice president running in 2008, it's anyone's election. We're going to get some analysis from Bill Schneider, he's terrific, straight ahead.

Plus, it reads like a spy thriller. A former KGB colonel clings to life after a possible poisoning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Here's what's happening "Now in the News." Still no word on Iraq's deputy health minister, Amarr al-Saffar. Gunmen kidnapped him from his Baghdad home this morning. It's not his first run-in with insurgents. Two years ago he dodged a gunman's assassination attempt.

And British Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Pakistan, visiting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Topping their talking points, the war on terror and how it relates to the ongoing conflict in neighboring Afghanistan.

Well, it wasn't all big laughs on Friday night at one comedy club in Los Angeles. Some in the audience say comic Michael Richards hurled racially charged words and expletives at people who were disruptive and told them he wasn't funny. Richards played the character Kramer on "Seinfeld," the full story coming up in 20 minutes right here in the NEWSROOM.

Now after three months of falling prices at the pump, get ready for a rebound. Gas prices have risen an average of 5 cents per gallon in the past two weeks. According to the latest Lundberg Survey, the average price for a gallon of self-serve regular is $2.23.

The 2008 presidential election is two years away, but the list of politicians testing the waters is steadily growing. So which opponents might the two parties fear most? Here is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Who are Republicans and Democrats most afraid of? We know Republicans don't like Hillary Clinton. They hold a 4:1 negative opinion of the New York senator, even though she's made a serious effort to reach out to Republicans.

SEN HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: You know, we can come together and try to solve a real problem for America.

SCHNEIDER: Republicans reassured themselves Senator Clinton can't be elected president. Can she? Polls show her highly competitive, especially if the voters are as eager for change in 2008 as they were this year. The candidates Republicans fear is Barack Obama.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: That is the true genius of America. A faith, a faith in simple dream. An insistence on small miracles.

SCHNEIDER: Obama doesn't have Senator Clinton's political baggage. Republicans have a neutral view of the Illinois senator, a candidate people don't know too much about? Uh-oh. The Republican Democrats fear is Rudy Giuliani. They like him. They really like him, by nearly 2-1. Democrats reassure themselves the Republicans would never nominate Giuliani. Would they? RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), FMR. MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: I'm in favor of gun control. I'm pro-choice.

SCHNEIDER: But that was seven years ago. Here's another Republican Democrats like. Since 2000, John McCain has shown an ability to appeal to voters across party lines. But many Democrats say wait until voters hear what McCain has been saying about the war in Iraq.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I would say roughly you need another 20,000 troops in Iraq.

SCHNEIDER: Which candidate should each party fear? Maybe Democrats should fear Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He's telegenic, and he has a big issue, health care.

GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Get Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals all to come together and say, you know what? Getting everyone health insurance is so important.

SCHNEIDER: Maybe Republicans should fear John Edwards, his economic populism proved very popular with voters this year.

JOHN EDWARDS (D), FMR. NORTH CAROLINA SENATOR: We need to get this economy back in-line with our value, the things you and I grew up believing in, hard work, responsibility, integrity, fairness. These are things that George Bush just does not understand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, Bill Schneider joins us now live from Los Angeles.

So, Bill, it looks like the field is wide open when you have the president and the vice president not running. So how does that situation shape the race?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it means that anybody can run and everybody looks like they're considering it. This is the first election in over 50 years when the incumbent president can't run again, and the vice president has given no indication he intends to run. It's wide open in both parties.

There's a tremendous market for change right now and right now. And right now its hard to say that there's anybody who is going to enter the race who is really going to carry the legacy of the Bush administration.

LIN: Yes. And so far, only one candidate has official announced that he's running, so why?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the others are all members of what I call "the explorers club." They're forming exploratory committees, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain on the Republican side have just formed their committees. Tommy Thompson, the former secretary of health and human services in the Bush administration; Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, say they're planning to form exploratory committees. Why are they doing that? Why don't they just say, to heck with it, I'm going to run?

LIN: Right.

SCHNEIDER: Well, because they can raise money now, they can test the waters, they don't have to reveal who is giving them support or how they're spending the money, until and unless they declare for president. So it's the testing the waters stage. Right now they're going out there and saying, show me the money and then I'll run.

LIN: But you're also saying that in 2007 there's something called an invisible primary. What's that?

SCHNEIDER: That's what insiders call it the year before the election, there's an invisible primary, in which the candidates compete to become number one in the polls of their party and number two, to collect the most money. The record shows that whatever candidate ends up at the end of 2007, that is, the year before the election, with the most money and at the top of the polls, always gets the nomination, except when they don't.

And the first time they didn't was in 2004, when Howard Dean ended the year before, he won the invisible primary, he had the most money, he was at the top of the polls and the Democrats went and nominated John Kerry.

LIN: As we look at video of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. All right, it is going to be an interesting race, whenever it actually officially starts. Bill, thank you.

SCHNEIDER: It started like a week ago.

LIN: Yes. Go figure. Bill Schneider, always a pleasure.

Well, one of the Democratic senators the GOP fears the most will be on CNN. Barack Obama will be a guest right here in the NEWSROOM tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Hear his thoughts about the future of the U.S. right here on CNN.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: So was it an assassination attempt? An investigation is under way into whether the Kremlin poisoned a former spy.

Apparently Michael Richards doesn't take too kindly to hecklers. What he said that shocked audience members.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, in case you missed it, here are some of the highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the BBC a U.S. military victory in Iraq is no longer possible. But on CNN's "LATE EDITION," Iraq's ambassador to the U.S. insisted that winning is not out of the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAMIR SUMAIDAIE, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: I still believe that it's possible, and I think a lot of people in Iraq, the members of the government, and the members of the Policy Council for National Security, all believe that the situation is retrievable. It's doable, but we need to have support of the right kind, and now, we have a lot of pressure on us, not only from our regional neighbors, who are interfering, but pressures from our own friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Henry Kissinger also urged the U.S. to reach out to Iran and Syria to help stop the violence in Iraq. Virginia's Senator-elect James Webb agrees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES WEBB (D), VIRGINIA SENATOR-ELECT: We need to talk Iran and Syria. I think it was a great mistake not to, as this moves forward. And that's one thing that I've been encouraged to hear from former Secretary of State Baker, that, you know, you need to talk to your enemies as well as your friends. You don't have to give up anything in terms of, you know, national concerns to be talking to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: On ABC's "THIS WEEK," Senator John McCain said the U.S. needs to substantially boost troop levels in Iraq. He insists withdrawing now would be catastrophic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: The consequences of failure are so severe that I will exhaust every possibility to try to fix this situation, because it's not the end when American troops leave. The battleground shifts and we'll be fighting them again. That's -- you read Zarqawi and you read Bin Laden, you read them, it's not just Iraq that they're interested in, it's the region, and then us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: On CBS's "FACE THE NATION," Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel said he plans to propose legislation to reinstate the military draft. He said that would make the U.S. leaders more cautious about going to war and help boost troop levels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I think at a time when national security is so important, having our young people commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals and at the end of that to provide some educational benefits, it's the best thing for our young people and the best thing for our country. I will be introducing that bill as soon as we start the new session.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LIN: All the Sunday talk.

In the meantime, we want to show you heavy rains in Afghanistan, which have spawned flash flooding. Shanon Cook has more details, plus more headlines from around the globe -- Shanon.

SHANON COOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, thanks, Carol. Yes, severe flooding created huge problems, particularly for really small villages that are surrounded by mountains because their access to main towns has essentially been cut off. At least 55 people were killed in the floods that happened in western Afghanistan. More than 100 are missing at this point. Rivers continue to swell their banks, making some roads impassable. NATO-led troops have brought in supplies, but roads filled with deep mud are preventing trucks from getting that aid to remote areas.

Well, 60 years after the fall of Nazi Germany, the German government plans to open its holocaust archives. Privacy issues have kept those files closed to the public, but after years of pressure from the U.S. and survivors groups, officials are unsealing the records for holocaust scholars, for victims and also their families. These records reveal a wealth of information about concentration camps and the people who lived and died inside them.

Well, after 12 long years, Russia is on its way to becoming part of the World Trade Organization. The U.S. has endorsed Moscow's membership. Moscow and Washington signed a bilateral deal Sunday at the APEC summit in Vietnam. We're seeing President Bush here with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the summit.

Carol, the U.S. was the last remaining obstacle for Russia's entry into the WTO. And it was the only member nation out of 149 to withhold consent. But of course now that obstacle has been lifted. Good news for Russia.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Shanon.

COOK: Thank you.

LIN: And it may sound like the plot of a new James Bond film, but it's a real life mystery being investigated by British police. It features a murdered journalist, a KGB agent-turned-Kremlin-critic, and an alleged poisoning at a London restaurant.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It reads like the plot from a Cold War thriller. A former Russian agent, who says he was hunted down and poisoned in a botched assassination. Alexander Litvinenko has been a controversial critic of the Kremlin. He says he fell sick after meeting a contact in a London sushi bar earlier this month.

Doctors say he's in serious condition with thallium poisoning. Even tiny quantities can be lethal. Close friends (INAUDIBLE) to his hospital bed say they believe he was targeted.

ALEXANDER GOLDFARB, LITVINENKO FRIEND: He is in a very poor state. He -- actually he looks like a ghost. He's lost all his hair. He looks like a patient who -- cancer patient who has been given heavy chemotherapy. He can barely speak because his throat is swollen. And it's horrible, because just a month ago, he was fit, handsome, young man.

CHANCE: A former colonel in Russia's security services, he was granted asylum in Britain in 2001, after turning on his own government, accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating a series of deadly apartment bombings in 1999. The Kremlin blames them on Chechen separatists. He also accused the Russian FSB, the successor of the KGB, of planning to assassinate Kremlin opponents like Boris Berezovsky, a powerful Russian tycoon, the FSB denied it.

But it had been the recent killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya that he says he was investigating when he was poisoned. Herself a fierce critic of the Kremlin, she was gunned down in her Moscow apartment building last month. Litvinenko says he found evidence of official involvement, something the Kremlin has strenuously denied.

(on camera): There's been no reaction so far from the Russian authorities about this poisoning nor has any evidence been made public that would indicate who may have carried it out. But detectives at Scotland Yard in London say they are thoroughly investigating what they view as a suspicious poisoning carried out on British soil.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: "Seinfeld" alum Michael Richards is getting more than laughs tonight. Find out why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Michael Richards is in the hot seat over a reported tirade at a Los Angeles comedy club. The actor-comedian allegedly hurled some harsh words at disruptive audience members Friday night. Now please note the following piece by Brooke Anderson contains language that some may find disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The laughing stopped abruptly Friday night at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, when renowned actor and standup comic Michael Richards, best known as Kramer from "Seinfeld," veered from his act and allegedly spewed the N-word at audience members in an expletives laden tirade.

DARRYL PITTS, AUDIENCE MEMBER: He goes on a whole diatribe and just goes on and on and on about -- you know, using the N-word and basically, I'm rich, I don't care what you think. I don't give an F what you think. I have enough money to have you arrested. F you, nigger, again.

ANDERSON: Darryl Pitts was in the audience and says Richards was shaken by a group of people who were disruptive and told Richards he wasn't funny. Richard's response?

PITTS: He said, 50 years ago you would be hanging upside down from a tree.

ANDERSON: According to Pitts, Richard launched a venomous personal attack against the rowdy group that stunned the 300 in attendance.

PITTS: Just got totally silent, it just took all of the air out of the room. He dropped the mic, and just walked off. There was never any, I'm sorry for what you just saw.

ANDERSON: Comedian Paul Rodriguez was also on the bill Friday night.

PAUL RODRIGUEZ, COMEDIAN: Once the word "nigger" comes out of your mouth and you don't happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining.

ANDERSON: But Richards, who was back on stage at the Laugh Factory 24 hours later didn't explain, refusing to talk on camera. He told CNN off-camera he felt sorry for what happened and he had made amends. To whom or how he made amends, Richards didn't say.

PITTS: Even if he found those particular guys that he offended, he offended everyone that was in that club that night. So he didn't make amends to me and that's not something that I can forget or forgive.

ANDERSON: Comedians are known to sometimes cross the line of good taste within their acts, but Pitts says Richards' actions far exceeded the boundaries of what's acceptable and he should take responsibility.

PITTS: He needs to make a public apology to everyone, because he offended every African-American in this country with what he did.

RODRIGUEZ: Freedom of speech has its limitations and I think Michael Richards found those limitations.

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ANDERSON: Carol, according to Pitts, Richards expressed regret after the fact. Pitts said he heard him say, hey, I think I should apologize to those guys. But that he was advised by people in the club not to because the group was extremely angry and people were afraid that there would be some sort of an altercation.

LIN: Wow. So what is Richards' camp saying?

ANDERSON: Well, we've reached out to who we think is representing Richards as a publicist but haven't received a response just yet. Interestingly, the Laugh Factory tells us they always book Richards through Richards himself. They don't go through anyone else, no middleman. And at this point if Richards is serving as his own representative in that capacity, he has only said to us off camera he is sorry for what happened, he has made amends. Again, he did not elaborate on how he made amends.

LIN: All right, thanks very much, Brooke.

ANDERSON: Thanks.

LIN: There's still much more ahead, straight ahead on CNN. Up next, "CNN PRESENTS: The Town that Fought Back," CNN's Kathleen Koch returns to her hometown of Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, to investigate the devastated town's progress following Hurricane Katrina. That's coming up next after a check of the day's top stories.

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