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Alliance Helps Reduce Violence in Anbar Province; British Troops Leave Base in Downtown Basra; Tower of London Sees First Woman Guard

Aired September 03, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: On the ground in Iraq. U.S. President George W. Bush makes a surprise visit before he sends his top commander in Iraq to Congress.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Repositioning troops. Britain prepares to leave Iraq's second largest city in Iraqi security control.

CHURCH: Serving with a smile. For the first time in more than 500 years, a woman stands guard at the Tower of London.

CLANCY: And smoked out. A proposal to raise cigar taxes by 20,000 percent prompts some to kick a habit.

CHURCH: It's 5:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Basra, Iraq.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast all around the globe.

I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

From Baghdad to Boston, Manila to Mexico City, wherever you are watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CHURCH: Well, taking stock of the troop surge ahead of a crucial report to Congress, U.S. President George W. Bush is on an unannounced visit to Iraq to get a firsthand assessment of the war. Now, he and his national security team bypassed Baghdad, heading instead for a dusty air base in Anbar province. The setting was symbolic as the U.S. considers operations in the Sunni region a success it hopes to replicate elsewhere.

Now, Mr. Bush is meeting with both military and political leaders. Aides say he wanted a personal briefing before top U.S. officials in Iraq give a long-awaited progress report to Congress next week.

And President Bush is expected to address U.S. troops anytime now. CNN will, of course, bring it to you live when that happens.

CLANCY: U.S. troops have succeeded in reducing violence in Anbar province, mostly by shifting their strategy. They've made alliance with Sunni tribal leaders and even some former insurgents, convincing them al Qaeda is their common enemy.

Aneesh Raman went along with some U.S. troops to give us a firsthand look at how that strategy plays out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: It's 1:00 a.m., 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, and under the cover of darkness a ritual of the Iraq war starts anew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go inside. Go inside. Go inside.

RAMAN: This is an air assault on a suspected al Qaeda safe house. And soldiers from the 3rd ID are hoping to catch insurgents by surprise. The house is empty, though there's little doubt who was here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a -- that's a guard schedule of -- of everyone that looks like worked -- is working here. Some guys that we've been tracking.

RAMAN: It is a constant chase. This time the insurgents a step ahead.

(on camera): The goal right now isn't to secure this area. There simply aren't enough Iraqi security forces to do that. Instead, it's to keep the insurgents on the run. It's been done many times before over the past few years. But right now, right here, the U.S. military says something is different.

(voice over): To see why, we head to an area further north with General Rick Lynch where American soldiers have, in just the past six weeks, slowly divided the local population against al Qaeda by changing strategy, decreasing attacks by 90 percent.

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: The surge gave us this capability. And see, what I found is you've got to take the fight to the enemy. You know? He only responds to offensive operations. So, we took the fight to the enemy.

RAMAN: And in doing so in new areas, they are trying to bridge the divide with a fearful population caught in between.

CAPT. HENRY MOLTZ, U.S. ARMY: We had to cut the phone lines because they were tracking our movements. We had to block some of the roads.

So the first thing that we had to do reconcile with the population was we had to take the first risk. And we were willing to do that. We turned all the phones back on. We opened all the roads. We invited them into our base.

RAMAN: Where they meet regularly. There are now just over 300 of what the U.S. military calls concerned citizens. Sunnis, some former insurgents, being paid about $380 a month to work with American forces against al Qaeda. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we need the surge forces in our areas to maintain overwatch of these concerned citizens.

RAMAN: And to show off in areas they don't routinely patrol. This night, four houses were raided.

It is a success story so new that, as Washington considers whether to keep the same troop levels into next year, area commanders are warning if that doesn't happen, this newfound trust could quickly fade away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Aneesh Raman joins us now. He's back in Baghdad live. He has more on this.

And I think the question has to be, originally some of these Sunnis are the ones who came to the Americans, the U.S. pursuing the policy. But aren't there pitfalls out there?

RAMAN: There are a number in terms of this small success story we're seeing, Jim.

First, as General Lynch told me, for this to gain traction, the increase in troop numbers needs to go on into next spring. That, of course, raises the question, will the American public, will Washington endorse that into next spring? And how will that affect troop moral on the ground?

Second, Shia politicians are growing increasingly concerned about the potential of Sunni militias that are forming under the guise of these concerned citizen groups if they are not immediately brought into the fold through the Ministry of Interior.

And the broader issues is this: military commanders here say, look, all of this is about buying time. It is a military mean means to a political end, giving breathing room to Iraq's government to finally come to grips with all the contentious issues it needs to and find consensus.

Iraq's parliament is set to convene tomorrow. No sign, though, of immediate progress on that front.

And so even if all of this success does decrease the violence, if the Iraqi government can't get their act together, find consensus, deal with de-Ba'athfication, deal with the oil revenue, deal with provincial elections, it could all be for nothing -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Aneesh Raman reporting to us there live from Baghdad.

He's talking about some of the pitfalls that are there, some of the conditions that are for the Iraqis to fulfill. President Bush may have comments about that to make.

You're looking at a live picture now from an air base in Anbar province. We're expecting to hear from the president during his surprise visit.

We'll bring you those comments live -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: We'll certainly do that.

But also, as the last British vehicles rumbled out, Iraqi flags went up at Basra's palace compound, marking the end of British control of that southern city.

Now, Monday's hand-over leaves Basra with no coalition presence for the first time since the 2003 invasion. But as Nima Elbagir reports, the move is a troop shift, not a withdrawal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, REPORTER (voice over): Basra Palace back in Iraqi hands today. As British troops withdraw from the city's outskirts, the Iraqi army is hopeful that contrary to evidence elsewhere in Iraq, the Shia militias will now curb the violence after such a symbolic move.

LT. GEN. MOHAN, IRAQI COMMANDER, BASRA OPERATIONS (through translator): We would like to inform everybody that the British troops have pulled out from the presidential palaces, and we've taken them over. We told those who were fighting the British troops, be careful, your brothers are now in the palaces.

ELBAGIR: The withdrawal will drop British numbers in southern Iraq to 5,000. All concentrated on an air base itself under daily attacks on the outskirts of Basra. A surge in violence this year has killed 41 British soldiers, the highest number of casualties suffered by the British since the first year of the war.

MAJOR MIKE SHEARER, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: This is definitely not a retreat. This has been a long-planned operation.

Essentially, all we have done is repositioned from Basra Palace back to the air station. We still absolutely are responsible for the security of Basra, and that will -- that will continue until we have achieved Iraqi control of the province, which we're hoping to do in the autumn.

ELBAGIR: Today's pullout is the latest stage of a long-term strategy of reducing the British presence in southeastern Iraq. The process began in July last year, with the hand-over of Muthanna province. Dhi Qar and Maysan followed in succeeding months.

This hand-over, though, is more localized. Britain giving up its last satellite base in Basra Palace. The 500 troops there withdrawing to the airport along what's become a dangerous supply route between the two bases.

(INAUDIBLE) takeover, the palace has been targeted daily by mortar and rocket attacks. The British presence within its walls viewed as a provocation.

RUDHA MUTER, BASRA RESIDENT (through translator): We reject any stranger. And they are colonialists.

We are pleased that the Iraqi army are now taking over this situation. We, as an Iraqi people, reject occupation. We reject colonialism. We want our freedom.

ELBAGIR: But what about the joint mission? President Bush keeps reiterating the need for a joint, firm stance in Iraq.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because success in Afghanistan and Iraq will be an integral part of defeating an enemy and helping people realize the great blessings of liberty as the alternative to an ideology of darkness.

ELBAGIR: The move may make Basra a little safer, but it certainly looks set to cause controversy back home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And again, that was Nima Elbagir reporting.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CHURCH: Where we are seen live around the globe this hour.

Well, they've been being on guard at the Tower of London for more than 500 years, a contingent of men in unmistakable red and black uniforms. Now change comes to the Beefeaters with the addition of their first-ever female guard.

Our Alphonso Van Marsh joins us now live from London with the story.

This is quite a monumental change, Alphonso.

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. Especially when you understand that we are here at London Tower, a complex dating back many centuries.

Even with this the building, the white tower here, is some 900 years old. And over this way, Rosemary, in this building, this is where the queen's crown jewels are kept.

And interestingly enough, for the last 522 years the job of guarding these treasures has pretty much been an exclusive club for men, but today that all changed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here, please.

VAN MARSH (voice over): Her first day on the job in the Beefeater uniform, Moira Cameron, the first female yeoman warder ever, wasn't letting the media attention go to her head.

MOIRA CAMERON, FIRST FEMALE YEOMAN WARDER: I wake up every morning and I still feel very, very happy to be here and very privileged to be working here.

VAN MARSH: Here is the historic Tower of London, where the yeomen warders have been an elite guard unit made up of men only for 522 years.

Cameron isn't the first woman to apply for the position, but she is the first to be admitted into the unit. Her bosses say, on merit.

(on camera): Today, Cameron is using her keys to open some of the towers here. It's just one of some 21 different responsibilities she's been trained for, though presumably later on she'll do it with a lot less media attention.

(voice over): Responsibilities that include guarding the queen's crown jewels and answering tourists' questions. Like other Beefeaters, Cameron served the minimum 22 years of decorated military service. Her boss says his male Beefeaters are learning to adapt to the change.

JOHN KEOHANE, CHIEF YEOMAN WARDER: Yes, there has been the odd one or two that have voiced their personal opinions. What they've all elected to do, quite happily, is to give her a chance and see how she gets on with the job.

VAN MARSH: Tourists were quick to add Cameron to the must-have photo checklist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's brilliant. They should have done that about 100 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You haven't done 22 years in the army, have you?

CAMERON: I have, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

VAN MARSH: So after 522 years, British and tourists alike are getting used to the new face of the old guard. No beard, just a smile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH: So, historic here -- historic day, I should say, here at the Tower of London. For 522 years, for the first time a woman joins the ranks of those Beefeaters.

And the random question that there's no real answer to, why do they call them Beefeaters? Well, according to legend, it's because dating back to the 1800s there are records showing that they were paid with rations of beef, veal and lamb.

Back to you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Oh, I'm glad you answered that.

All right. Alphonso Van Marsh with that.

She's become a tourist attraction of her own, it seems.

Thanks so much for that -- Jim.

CLANCY: Looking now at a case that we have been following over the past months, an Iran-American scholar, one of them, has been allowed to leave Iran after spending three months in a prison there. Haleh Esfandiari picked up her passport and left to reunite with her family in Austria. That's what her daughter is telling The Associated Press.

She's going to be spending at least a week there, and then she will return to the United States. Tehran had accused her of trying to create a soft revolution in Iran. She has steadfastly denied those allegations. She was released on bail the 21st of August.

Well, books, new pencils and a sharp lookout for incoming rockets, that's what youngsters in the Israeli city of Sderot need as they head back to school.

As Atika Shubert reports, some parents say their kids aren't getting the protection they need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Going back to school is not supposed to be like this, running for cover from rocket attacks. The Israeli town of Sderot has been the target of rockets launched by Palestinian militants from Gaza for years now, but it doesn't make the first days of schools any easier.

(on camera): Already this morning, several rockets have fallen in Sderot, one of them hitting this tree just meters away from the kindergarten.

(voice over): Mayor Ben Zikri's son was outside. He escaped unharmed but traumatized. Their home already hit six months ago by another rocket. The mayor says the government is failing to protect them.

"It's a joke," he says. "It's all for show. Look at this fortified school, but the kids didn't even make it to the bunker in time."

But on the first day of school, Israel's deputy defense minister toured recently fortified classrooms. He says the kids are fine.

MATAN VILNAI, ISRAELI DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER: They are very safe. You saw their mood. This is the most important thing. They're calm. There is no (INAUDIBLE). They are not under pressure. They understand the situation better than you, believe me.

SHUBERT: Students are being escorted to school by soldiers for the first week. Most of the classrooms in Sderot are fortified, equipped with concrete bunkers inside and out. But not all. At least 30 kindergartens remain without it.

This student says the constant worry gives him migraines. "I am afraid of those Qassam rockets," he says. "It makes me nervous all the time."

School is tough enough without having to dodge rockets on your way to class.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Sderot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All right.

Got to take a short break, but this is what's going on in Iraq right now. The U.S. president, in a surprise visit, expected to make some comments. We'll bring them to you live, along with some analysis.

CHURCH: And for our U.S. audience, we will have a check of the headlines for them.

CLANCY: And for everyone else, it's bad bosses. If yours is picking on you, should you be able to sue him? Well, that's being debated in a number of U.S. states right now.

We'll have the details ahead.

Plus...

CHURCH: Cigar aficionados in the U.S. are all fired up over government plans for a big tax on stogies. They say it will impact not only them, but thousands employed in the cigar industry in Central America.

Stay with us for that.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: All right, hello, and welcome back to our viewers looking in a around the globe, including the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: He is. And I'm Rosemary Church.

And here are some of the top stories we're following: Hurricane Felix has strengthened into a Category 5 storm as it barrels toward Central America. It caused some flooding as it passed north of Aruba Sunday. Felix's winds are now as strong as 260 kilometers or 160 miles an hour. Parts of Nicaragua, Belize, and Guatemala are on alert.

CLANCY: U.S. President George W. Bush getting a firsthand assessment in the war in Iraq before top officials make a crucial report to Congress.

Right now, Peter Pace, the general who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is addressing some of the troops. President Bush is expected to follow them. This has been an unannounced visit to Anbar Province, meeting with military and political leaders. He'll be addressing the troops any minute. And, again, we'll bring it to you live.

CHURCH: Meantime in Basra, British troops have officially handed over control to the Iraqi forces. But the British defense ministry says the move does not represent a pullout, or a major shift in strategy. Instead, it says it's part of a plan announced back in February by former Prime Minister Tony Blair; 5,500 British troops will stay at Basra's airport to train and supervisor Iraqi forces.

So, now, Iraq's second largest city is fully in the hands of Iraqi security forces, controlling Basra, of course, means fighting Shia militia bands. But are the Iraqis up for the job? Are they independent? As our Senior Political Editor Robin Oakley reports, the British withdrawal could be seen by some critics as a defeat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL EDITOR (voice over): For the first time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, there are now no British troops as a permanent presence within an Iraqi city. The withdrawal of 500 personnel from the Basra Palace to the airport on the outskirts of the city, some 10 miles away, is a significant step towards a full British pullout.

Even some allies are calling the withdrawal a defeat for the British, who never had the numbers to impose control, and who increasingly became the target of insurgent militias. Others insist it is a logical development and an opportunity.

MAJOR MICHAEL SHEARER, SPOKESMAN, BRITISH MILITARY, BASRA: Security in the city, as you would expect, will be constantly reviewed. But we are not -- we are not going to reduce the operational footprint in the city, as I mentioned earlier, to give the Iraqi security forces the time and space to police their own city.

OAKLEY: Back in London, the prime minister insisted, it wasn't the end of British operations in Iraq.

GORDON BROWN, PRIME MINISTER, GREAT BRITAIN: We will discharge all our responsibilities to the Iraqi people. We will discharge our international obligations except in the United Nations. This is essentially a move from a position where we were in a combat role, in four provinces, and now we are moving over time to being in an over watch role. And that is that we are able to re-intervene. OAKLEY: Mr. Brown, who needs more troops for Afghanistan, and whose prospects in any early election, would be helped by a pullout from Iraq is under pressure to name the date for all British troops to come home from Basra. He's refusing to produce one, saying that would increase their risks. But locals have certainly welcomed the initial move.

MAHMOUD AL-BACHAN, BASRA JOURNALIST: I feel happy about the British army would withdraw from the center of the city. And my happiness will be full if they were to withdraw from all Iraq.

ANMAR AL-SAAD, BASRA RESIDENT: So, I hope the British forces will withdraw from Iraq and from Basra forever.

OAKLEY: With the U.S. currently stepping up efforts with the surge of troops in Baghdad, the British move is less welcome in Washington. Although U.S. and U.K. forces will continue to fight alongside each other in Afghanistan, strains are showing in the coalition, with the war of words between retired generals.

U.S. General Jack Keane says the British have effectively disengaged from security duties in Basra, leaving its citizens at risk.

"It has been gradually deteriorating, with almost gangland warfare and the lack of ability of the police to control that level of violence."

U.K. General Sir Mike Jackson has described the U.S. post-war policy in Iraq as "intellectually bankrupt" and called former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's opposition to nation building "nonsensical".

(On camera): The British are putting a brave face on what some U.S. military figures are insisting is a defeat, which puts the people of Basra in a precarious position, subject to the whims of militia bands. But if the British do withdraw all their troops from Basra over the next few months, and the Iraqis fail to hold the line, then it could create a military gap in southern Iraq which U.S. forces might have to fill -- Jim.

CLANCY: Robin Oakley, live from Downing Street.

Robin, as always, thank you.

We'll bear that in mind looking ahead. It's the outcome of this pullout that is really going to matter to all of the parties involved -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: That's right. And for a long time, Basra's rival militias were fighting each other for supremacy. That stopped while British forces became the primary target. But the bottom line hasn't changed. Basra is worth fighting for. Jonathan Mann has some "Insight".

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: The British troops aren't leaving behind just any Iraqi city. Basra is the richest city in the country. And it has Iraq's only access to the sea. As the militias fighting for control of it know all too well, Basra's oil is the biggest prize in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAMOUN FANDY, INTL. INST. OF STRATEGIC STUDIES: Basra is really the economic capital of Iraq. It's -- it's port to the waterways of the world. But securing Basra is really a must.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Iraq's only really valuable asset is its oil. Three- quarters of it, 90 billion barrels of it, is under Basra, in the southeast corner, or in the vicinity. Now, there is oil in Iraq further north, but it can't be moved out of the country because of attacks on the pipelines. So, most of the 1.5 billion barrels, or rather, million barrels a day, that was exported last year, went to the port in Basra; $30 billion, more than 90 percent, of the government's budget for the entire country coming through that one opening into the sea.

Now, officially, the oil and the refineries that process it, belong to the central government. In practice, it's actually in the hands of a special security force known as the Oil Facilities Protection Service. A service that's almost become, in fact, a private militia to a powerful southern political party. A lot of the oil that service is supposed to secure has simply gone missing instead. No one really knows how much, but by the U.S. government's estimate, between $5 million and $15 million a day. Running the wells in Basra is a bonanza. It is worth fighting for. Especially now that the British military is pulling back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. DONALD SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: When you turn it over to the Iraqi military, it depends upon the Iraqi military in the area and whether or not they are strong enough to bring security to the area. That's to be seen. Also, the police are a major factor and the police are a major problem everywhere around Iraq. And, so, we don't know for sure what's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Notice in all of this, that it's not really about ideology. It's not really about Islam. These groups are fighting like groups will everywhere, over power and resources. They're fighting over money. In that respect, Iraq is not all that different from any other place.

CHURCH: So, what does it mean, then? I mean, in the end, with the British leaving the south, what are going to be the ramifications?

MANN: It's going to get worst, essentially. Everyone expects the factional fighting is going to increase. It has been at a minimum, now, in fact. As you mentioned, most of the attacks have been against the British. But there are three different political parties that split up control of Basra, and the environments, but they all want to run it. And they all want the oil money very badly.

So the assumption is, though no one can predict the future, is that the fighting we saw in the past is going on to get worse. And Basra, which is key to the economy of Iraq and key to the oil industry, which is supposed to get the whole country moving again, Basra could be a battleground that is beyond the Iraqi army to control.

CHURCH: Be interesting to watch. All right, Jonathan Mann with "Insight". Thanks so much.

Jim.

CLANCY: Well, in the immediate future, we are waiting and watching to see what the U.S. president is going to have to say. President Bush making a surprise visit to these young Marines, stationed in the troubled Anbar Province, where the administration sees quite a turnaround. Everybody's got their cameras out. Nobody's at attention. President Bush's speech may be a few minutes off. But whenever it happens, CNN will bring it to you live.

CHURCH: Well, you've seen the video, now get the behind-the- scenes story of some thrilling dancers.

CLANCY: That's right. I want to see this -- again. Ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CHURCH: Now, they've got their dancing shoes on in the prison yard, as you can see. We'll tell you how all that fancy footwork may be stamping out gang violence.

CLANCY: I can see how.

Up in smoke. Why cigar fans may soon decide they better stuff out those beloved stogies. No, no way! Tell me it isn't true!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And welcome back here, you're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International.

CLANCY: Seen live in some 200 countries and territories right across the globe.

Now, a few weeks ago we showed you an amazing video of some dancing inmates. They were in the Philippines, right?

CHURCH: They were pretty great, too. Our Hugh Riminton goes behind bars there to bring you the story behind a web video sensation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is not yet 7:00 a.m., beating the full blast of the tropical heat, the inmates of this Philippine prison are already an hour into rehearsals. It will occupy them up to five hours a day.

They're hard work under the eye of prison overseer Byron Garcia has spawned one of the unlikeliest hits on the Internet. a reworking of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

Videoed by the prison boss, it has drawn 6 million hits on YouTube. And Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Center, every able- bodied inmate must dance.

(On camera): Just in case you get the wrong idea, these prisoners are in here because they are the toughest criminals in all the central Philippines; 70 percent of them are rated high-risk inmates, and that means, most of them are rapists or murderers.

(Voice over): Many, however, could be innocent, still waiting for their cases to come to trial. The prison overseer rejects claims he's abusing the prisoners' rights by forcing them to dance so many hours a day.

BYRON GARCIA, CEBU PRISON OVERSEER: We don't have dumbbells here. We don't have weights. We have dancing. But, still, it does not affect how they feel about themselves. They are still men, although they dance.

RIMINTON: He's convinced he has a lesson for prison authorities everywhere, the way to crack the plague of violent prison gangs.

GARCIA: Guns, gun culture, impedes rehabilitation.

RIMINTON: And 1,600 inmates crowd this jail up to 16 men a cell. When Garcia took over three years ago, gangs and corrupt guards ruled this jail. Serious violence broke out at least once a week. Garcia sacked most of the guards and ordered the prisoners first to march, and then to dance.

His aim was to break gang allegiances, forcing inmates to work as a single unit with a single goal. He says there's not been a single act of violence in more than a year. Now, not guards, but fellow prisoners, guide the rehearsals, led by an accused mass murder.

Leo Sweiko (ph) tells me the dancing has taught him love.

Back in the cell, she shares with 11 other transsexual prisoners, Wenjiell Resane, who has waited for years on charges on drug charges, is enjoying her taste of stardom.

WENJIELL RESANE, PRISONER (through translator): It never leaves my mind that I'm a prisoner, but I'm very happy and proud of what I have done.

RIMINTON: Her co-star, a one-time professional dancer, agrees.

CRISANTO NIERE, PRISONER (through translator): Before life in the jail was very different. It was so bad. The atmosphere has changed. We're being treated as humans. RIMINTON: He has waited so long for trial on crack dealing charges he says his seven-year old son has only ever known him as a prison inmate.

NIERE: Before my son was ashamed of me. But now he tells all his school mates his dad is a dancer on YouTube. I'm proud my son is proud of me, even though I'm still a prisoner.

RIMINTON: It's rehabilitation one step at a time. Hugh Riminton, CNN, Cebu, The Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: OK, I get it. A little confused about whether that's a men's prison or a women's prison. But I suppose they are confused, too.

CHURCH: Look, five hours of dancing will keep them out of mischief. If it works, let's do it, right?

CLANCY: It's working.

And a new report shows that American workers are the most productive in the entire world.

CHURCH: That's right. But the bragging rights come at a price. U.N. figures from last year show the average American produced more than $65,000 of wealth.

CLANCY: Well above Ireland, the second country on the list, at $55,900 a year.

CHURCH: Luxembourg, Belgium and France rounded out the top five.

CLANCY: Researchers say the numbers really may be explained by the amount of hours that U.S. employees work. I don't know, I feel that, do you?

CHURCH: That's right. The average American put in 1,800 hours of work last year.

CLANCY: That's right about 250 more hours than the average French worker.

CHURCH: And 400 more than the Norwegians.

CLANCY: That's hard to believe; 400 more than the Norwegians? We're working too much.

CHURCH: All right, an horrific midair collision is caught on video. Thousands were there to witness it at an air show in Poland. We'll bring that up now.

Now, a Polish air force spokesman said both pilots were killed. Look at that. When their planes slammed into each other at full speed. Now, the wreckage spiraled into the woods below. As you can see there. There were no reports of injuries on the ground. But as they say, those two pilots, of course, died. Extraordinary now, in this day and age, of course, all these things are caught on tape.

CLANCY: That is horrific scenes there.

Let's lighten it up a little bit. Well, coming up, have a cigar.

CHURCH: And while you can afford it, of course, if some in the U.S. Congress get their way, it's soon going to be a lot more expensive to celebrate with a smoke.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Well, it's a uniquely Mexican celebration for a uniquely Mexican sound. Mariachi music, guitars, trumpets and wailing voices fills the streets of Guadalajara.

CLANCY: People from all over the world come to see the serenaders and wide-brimmed hats, their sombreros. They were also treated with other Mexican traditions, such as rodeo. Mariachi music originated in the state of Jalasco (sic), where the city of Guadalajara. Jalisco, I should have said.

That looks great. Looks like a good time.

CHURCH: Cigar smokers in the United States are fuming over a proposal that would radically increase taxes on their beloved stogies.

CLANCY: Yes, it could curtail a lot of celebrations. The money would go for a good cause, increasing Medicaid coverage for needy families.

CHURCH: But opponents say there won't be extra money if cigar makers go out of business.

CLANCY: John Zarrella has the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Cigar smokers at this Tampa tobacco shop puff away on what they say might be one of their last cigars. They're not thinking of quitting for health reasons. Rather, for matters of the pocketbook.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd quit smoking. I'd go from smoking three to five a day to smoking three to five a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll have to find something else to do.

ZARRELLA: At tobacco shops across the country, the talk these days is about a cigar tax increase Congress wants to pass, that the industry says could send it up in smoke. The tax on stogies would go from 5 cents to at least $1. The cost passed on to smokers could be two or three times that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep. They'll put us out of business. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They'll put everybody out of business.

ZARRELLA: The increased tax would affect both cigars and cigarettes. The money would go towards expanding a program that provides health insurance to 6.5 million children whose families can't afford private insurance, and who don't qualify for Medicaid.

ERIC NEWMAN, J.C. NEWMAN CIGAR CO.: OK, you can double our cigar tax. That's more than enough. But don't go up by 20,000 percent. That's outrageous.

ZARRELLA: Eric Newman is president of Newman Cigars in Tampa. Here they manufacture 35,000 cigars a day.

(On camera): And it binds the cigars, right here?

NEWMAN: That is correct.

ZARRELLA: Newman says he can accept a tax increase for the cause, but not one he believes will leave his company and the industry in ruin. The American Cancer Society says the cigar industry, with its 5 cent tax has had a, quote, "free ride long enough".

DAN SMITH, CANCER ACTION NETWORK: Cigar smoking is as harmful and addictive as cigarette smoking. And it needs to be fought with these kinds of measures so we can increase the numbers of people that quit. This is about saving lives.

ZARRELLA: But the industry is warning, if Congress insists on levying a dollar or more tax, the problem will be saving jobs.

NEWMAN: They aren't going to have to worry about coming after the cigar industry again, because there won't be a cigar industry.

ZARRELLA: The House and Senate still have to iron out differences over the tobacco tax increase. A tax that could be so steep, it turns the industry to ashes. John Zarrella, CNN, Tampa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And that's it for this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN.

CHURCH: We are waiting for George W. Bush. He's about to address the troops. There is a little delay. We don't know why, but we'll have it for you here on CNN when it happens.

CLANCY: Stay with us.

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