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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

What Does the Case Against Scott Peterson Look Like?

Aired April 18, 2003 - 23:00   ET

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

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


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll begin the second whip of the night and the second hour of NEWSNIGHT with more on the Laci Peterson case. Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California covering the story tonight.
So Rusty, start off whip number 2 with a headline?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, DNA scientists, Aaron, now say there's no question those bodies discovered in San Francisco Bay are Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner. And the police say they believe they have their man. That is Scott Peterson, Laci's husband.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. We'll be getting back to your shortly. We'll also get to Baghdad. There were protests in the streets of Baghdad of today. Nic Robertson will join us for that.

On to Germany next and the appearance today of seven American rescued POWs. Matthew Chance at Landstuhl tonight.

Matthew, the headline?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Aaron. And this is an amazing story of heroics because their journey has been so long and so arduous from captivity in Iraq. It's a freedom at last now. Those seven rescued U.S. prisoners of war that are being treated here in Landstuhl, Germany are finally being sent home. And home to a hero's welcome. We'll bring you that story.

BROWN: Matthew, thank you.

And to Fort Hood, Texas, where this weekend will surely be the best one they have had in a long time.

Jamie Colby there for us. Jamie, a headline?

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, good evening to you. 26 days down and now less than 24 hours to go. The POWs are headed home and not a moment too soon for their families -- Aaron?

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. Back to you and the rest shortly. Also coming up in our second hour of NEWSNIGHT tonight, how the war in Iraq and the U.S. victory is being seen in places where the opposition was especially fierce. We'll have reports tonight from France and Germany.

And we'll take a look at morning papers. We'll preview some of what you'll be reading about newspapers around the country and around the world. All of that in the next hour ahead.

But we begin with the case of Laci Peterson. Back in February, her husband Scott Peterson told a reporter that he missed his wife. And then he said this, "I feel like I'm in a dark corner." Tonight, he is in a very dark corner, indeed, arrested in the disappearance of his wife and in her death.

We go back to Modesto, California and CNN's Rusty Dornin -- Rusty.

DORNIN: Well, Aaron, for the past four months, ever since Laci Peterson disappeared, there has been a shadow of doubt cast upon Scott Peterson. He said he went fishing that day. Police began doing searches very early on in San Francisco Bay of his house, of his truck, of his boat.

But it wasn't until this week when the bodies floated ashore of what was believed to be a female and the fetus that were identified today as Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner, that Modesto police closed in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN (voice-over): His was the only name that ever came up during the investigation. Nearly four months after Laci Peterson disappeared and was murdered, Modesto police now say they believe they have their man, Scott Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scott Peterson has been arrested, that he is in the custody of Modesto Police Department detectives.

DORNIN: It was only days after Laci Peterson disappeared that Modesto police became very tight-lipped about Scott Peterson. Was he a suspect or wasn't he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, we're not ruling him in or out.

DORNIN: Peterson told police he went fishing at the Berkeley Marina that day and last saw his wife when she was going to walk the dog.

SCOTT PETERSON, CHARGED IN WIFE'S DEATH: I had nothing to do with Laci's disappearance. Even if you think I did, think about Laci. And I know that there's a nation that wants to bring her home to our families.

DORNIN: Laci's family described the pair as a loving couple and Scott as a model son-in-law. They stood by him for weeks.

SHARON ROCHA, LACI'S MOTHER: We feel Scott has nothing to do with it -- with the disappearance of Laci.

DORNIN: But things changed when Scott admitted to an affair, sold her car, and tried to sell their house. Laci's family said their trust was shattered. BRENT ROCHA, LACI'S BROTHER: I would like Scott to know that I trusted him and stood by him in the initial phases of my sister's disappearance. However, Scott has not been forthcoming with information regarding my sister's disappearance. And I am only left to question what else he may be hiding.

DORNIN: The family weren't the only ones to wonder. There were searches in the San Francisco Bay, where Scott said he went fishing, and searches of Scott and Laci's home.

On March 6, police said they believe Laci Peterson was a homicide victim, but wouldn't say why. And still the same line. Her husband Scott, was not ruled in, nor ruled out as a suspect.

The next week, police go back to search the Bay once again. Bad weather forces an end to the search. Then this week, two bodies are found, a female and full-term fetus. And nagging suspicions return. Were these the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn child? Was Scott Peterson involved? How could something like this happen?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: Now from what we understand, Scott Peterson is en route with Modesto police here to the Stanislaus County jail. He's due to arrive in about four hours. Now the district attorney says he will be arraigned on Monday or Tuesday and is likely to be charged with a double homicide under special circumstances, but they are not saying now whether they will pursue the death penalty or not.

Meantime, of course, the family has been devastated by all of this. They are not speaking to the press at all, the community here. There is somewhat a sense of relief that it's over and a sense of closure, and yet very sad that it had to end this way -- Aaron?

BROWN: Do we know -- I'll ask Jeff this, too, in a minute. They've been treating this case as a homicide now for more than a month. Was there evidence found on the bodies that led to this arrest? Do we know the answer to that?

DORNIN: I just spoke to the police chief and asked him, did you need to find these bodies in order to arrest Scott, and he said no, we didn't. So at some point, of course, the district attorney becomes involves and says yes, it's time, we can go forward, we can prosecute this case. But as far as the police here were concerned, they still felt that they had enough of a case, even without finding these bodies, that they could have gone forward.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California.

Jeffrey Toobin is with us. Jeffrey's our legal analyst. He's in Sherman, Connecticut tonight. Jeffrey, do you know of anything about the discovery of the bodies that made the arrests more likely? Or certain?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, I don't know. I don't think it's anything on the bodies or the bodies themselves, but it's simply the fact that they were in this body of water 80 miles away from where she got up that morning, and just one or two miles away from where Scott Peterson said he was on the day of the murder. I mean, how did she get there, if she wasn't put there by her husband?

BROWN: Play defense lawyer for a bit. You -- the facts as we know them, the body is found, not far from where he admits to have been fishing. That seems to be a critical piece of evidence here. How do you deal with any of the evidence that you know?

TOOBIN: Well, what you point to is the absence of evidence if you're a defense attorney in this case. Where's the murder weapon? What is the cause of death? What is the time of death? Who else did she -- possibly had access to her? What about the possibility of suicide? Those are the questions that a defense attorney, I think, is likely to raise.

BROWN: And what do you have in support of -- not that you necessarily need to have anything in support of those questions...

TOOBIN: Right.

BROWN: ...because you don't, but is there anything to suggest that she was despondent, for example?

TOOBIN: No, not necessarily, but when you find someone who is in a river, and you don't know what the cause of death is, suicide is always a possibility. And as a defense attorney, you're not required to prove anything. So if you can raise that possibility and claim that the prosecution's evidence hasn't excluded that possibility, then maybe you've got something that at least some of the jurors can go on.

BROWN: You were a prosecutor. I mean don't to be glib about this, but do you think jurors make an assumption that it probably was the husband?

TOOBIN: I think they do. I think jurors are human beings. They know. I mean, they don't know the statistic, but they have a general sense that -- what happens to be true. 75 percent of murder victims know the person who murdered them. No one in the world had a motive to murder Laci Peterson, as far as we know, except her husband. That is the single most compelling fact in this case. And that's going to be the toughest thing for the prosecution -- for the defense to refute. If he didn't do it, who else -- who did? And why would anyone want to kill her?

BROWN: Well, and well, okay, but what -- his motive is he's having this illicit affair? Is that his motive?

TOOBIN: He's having an affair, she's in the way. There's also a financial possibility. One interesting thing I thought today was that when the D.A. listed the special circumstances, one he did not list was financial gain, because that sometimes is one. He may add it later, but one of the issues that has been raised is, is there financial gain here? Was there an insurance policy that he stood to gain -- he stood to benefit from? If they could establish that, that would be another part of motive. BROWN: Jeffrey, thank you very much. Jeffrey Toobin with us tonight from Connecticut.

On to the day's other major story and the week's other major story and the month's major story, perhaps the year's: Iraq and the big developments there. Once embodied almost perfectly the promise and peril of toppling Saddam Hussein, thousands of Iraqis gathered freely today to pray and to tell the United States to go home.

Here's CNN's Jim Clancy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a rare display of unity, both Shi'ia and Sunni Muslim Iraqis joined together in prayers Friday. Islamic unity was the theme, but the U.S. came in for criticism. One cleric said the Americans toppled the regime for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and were not to be trusted.

The incendiary mix of religion and politics predictably spilled out into the streets. A large demonstration asserting Muslim unity, laid down a challenge to any outside efforts to impose a U.S.-led regime in Baghdad.

Elsewhere, an eerie sense of normalcy co-existed with the unbridled violence of the past week. As men looked on from a shabby street side cafe, the body of a looter lay a few meters away. Other uncollected casualties lay nearby. This man, we were told, was gunned down for $150.

Below Baghdad streets, urban legends live on. Thousands of people gathered around this traffic tunnel, ripping apart ventilation shafts in the mistaken belief they would find secret prisons where loved ones had survived the regime and waited to be rescued. Crushing one another for a closer look, any reaction from those below stirred rumors, another ghost from the past had emerged from a subterranean nightmare.

No one alive or dead was found. But hope dies hard when there is so little else left. Others who ventured out took advantage of a bristling trade and transport. As confidence returns, private buses and taxis shuttle residents between cities or neighborhoods, giving Iraqis living proof, loved ones were all right, another sign the city was struggling to its feet.

Jim Clancy, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Until recently, the only passion to be found in the streets of Baghdad would have been of the canned variety, a rented crowd chanting government slogans at gun point. Today people gathered freely. Their slogans are genuine and passions run hot.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been getting an earful. And he joins us again from Baghdad on Saturday morning there -- Nic? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Aaron, good morning from here.

Very changed times indeed. And what we're seeing is a progression since coalition forces, U.S. Marines took up residence right around this hotel a little over a week ago. We've begun to see that stability begin to be restored in the area. And what we saw on Friday was an increasing number of people coming out on the streets for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Joyful Iraqis drag a bronze replica of their former leader's head through the streets. Passions swelling with the increasing numbers of people now feeling safe enough to leave home.

The impromptu celebration follows the destruction of yet another Saddam statue. It clogs traffic at this now busy intersection, as drivers venture back on the roads. Another crossroad in the center of Baghdad. Another effervescent crowd chasing rumors prisoners of the old regime have been found.

In a highway underpass and by the light of a candle, a man explores a hole many hope might hide missing relatives. Hashim explains to us and the crowd how his brother Mohammed, was taken by the regime in 1985.

"I have looked in the military intelligence," he says, "the Radwaneer (ph) prison, the Salman prison, the Kaseeratesh (ph) prison and one in Carada (ph)."

(on camera): Despite the high numbers of people now coming out on to the streets, safety is still far from assured. Gunshots can frequently be heard ringing out. And just a few hours ago right in this spot, a man was chased down, shot in the legs.

(voice-over): With little of value left to steal, looters are settling down to selling their ill gotten foods. Business seems brisk. Payment please, in U.S. dollars.

Also taking to the streets, would-be politicians. This one representing the independent Iraqi parliamentarian movement. Like politicians everywhere, he wasted no time asking to get his message out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) We support democracy, independence and free will for the Iraqi people. To build a new Iraq, unified Iraq.

ROBERTSON: This man was listening intently. "There is chaos in Iraq," he says. "It has become a massacre. People killing each other. We need politicians and a government to complain to."

Possibly timely then that this contender for leadership posts, Akmad Chalabi, decided the mood was right for his first public speech since returning from exile.

AKMAD CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: I -- my role will be focused on building civil society in Iraq. I want to help build civil society, which I believe is the basis for a democratic system.

ROBERTSON: Nearby, amidst the smoldering ruins of the last regime, healing from even minor acts of revenge. This pilot Hassan explains how climbing on Saddam's broken statue, calms him down.

For all venturing out now, a chance however small to reconcile with the remnants of the old regime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And perhaps interesting, the people we're not seeing on the streets are from the affluent neighborhoods. When you drive around there, a lot of people still in their houses. Why?

Two reasons. One, because they're afraid their houses still may get looted. Another reason, a lot of those people in those affluent neighborhoods are former members of the Ba'ath party, not necessarily senior members, but reasonably well to do, well-off people who benefited from the regime. And it seems that they are still at this time, Aaron, a little bit reticent to show their faces.

BROWN: Just couple of quick practical things. We talked about money over the last two weeks. What is the currency now that's being exchanged?

ROBERTSON: Most people are still using dinars. You get about 2.5 thousand dinars for $1. Apparently the dollar is to become the official currency, at least until the interim government is up and running and there is a new denomination printed. But the dinar is what everyone's used to here. It comes in 250 dinar notes. So if you get $100 worth of local currency, it comes in a stack about this big, Aaron.

BROWN: And just quickly, are people being -- people who are now the American payroll, are they being paid in dollars?

ROBERTSON: That's what we understand they will be. We haven't seen anybody who's yet received money. But we understand all civil servants will receive $20. And I believe that's at least a couple of hundred thousand people here, Aaron.

BROWN: Nic, thank you. Nic Robertson in Baghdad on a Saturday morning.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the truth about hawks and doves in the post- war era. And then why one cultural adviser to the White House handed in his resignation over the looting of a Baghdad museum. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Used to be easy to tell hawks and doves apart, but Ron Brownstein, national political correspondent for "The L.A. Times," has been writing recently about how the distinction has been blurring a bit, a bit. He joins us from Washington now.

It's good to see you. You wrote today or the other day, I don't remember when I actually saw it anymore, that the neoconservatives, the Richard Pearls of the world who really aggressively promoted -- William Crystal's, too -- who aggressively promoted a war with Iraq, are now saying okay, that business is done. We don't necessarily need to be using the military all the time.

RON BROWNSTEIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "L.A. TIMES": Yes, in fact, the neoconservative thinkers both inside and outside the administration, the Crystals and the Pearls, as you mentioned on the outside, people like Paul Wolfowitz and Doug Fife on the inside, for years have been the staunchest advocates of war with Iraq, not only in this immediate period, but for several years arguing that it might be the key to broader change in the Mid East.

They really beat the drum the loudest and provided the most intellectual justification for this war. But in their writing since the fall of Baghdad, really, the succession of articles and public statements, many of them have argued that what we need to do now is use economic and diplomatic pressure on countries like Iran and Syria, without ruling out the possible use of military force, but not turning to it immediately.

BROWN: Well, and I mean, listen, you write about politics. As I look at this, and I assume as you look at this, there isn't a lot of political will out there right now, to be going to war with Syria or Iran or anybody else.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think that they see a variety of reasons here. You know, this -- the temperate tone, Aaron, I think was surprising to many, because so many of the neoconservatives have described the war with Iraq as part -- as really but one chapter in a larger confrontation. Some of them even use the term "World War IV" to say that all of this, the attacks of 9/11, the response in Afghanistan, and now the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, all of this will be seen as part of a larger continuum.

But they argue that, as you say, there is no stomach at the moment domestically certainly for any kind of military conflict. There's a question about whether there really is even enough capacity in terms of troops levels to really take on another responsibility, while stabilizing Iraq. And that's a point that many of them make.

And finally, I think they believe more than perhaps than they're given credit for, that military force should be a last resort and there should be an attempt to see whether the example of Iraq can compel or inspire changes in the behavior of Syria or Iran before you move toward that possibility.

BROWN: We've got about a minute here. I want to talk about politics a little bit. The president's poll numbers look terrific, as one would expect, given how the war went. Is there -- is he a slam dunk? BROWNSTEIN: No. And in fact, the poll numbers are kind of intriguing, because he's basically hit about 70 percent in almost every poll at the end of the war. That's a very healthy number, obviously. If he has it in the fall of 2004, he'll be re-elected in a walk.

But as you point out, at the end of a war, your numbers are inflated. And the peak this President Bush hit is about 20 points lower than the peak his father hit, largely because the country is more polarized. He has more resistance from Democrats and moderates and liberal independents. And also because his ratings on domestic issues were very weak before the war. It's possible we could get into 2004 and you'd have a situation where a majority of the country views him as a success in managing national security and defending us against terrorism, and a majority of the country views him as a failure in managing the economy. And that circumstance seems to me not a slam dunk in either direction. It's more of a prescription for a competitive race.

BROWN: We shall see. Ron, good to talk to you tonight. Thank you for staying around.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, looting priceless artifacts in Iraq. Plus, seven former prisoners of war prepare for the journey home. And how does the war look now to a pair of estranged allies, France and Germany? We have a ways to go on Friday night from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We read earlier this week that a security guard at the National Museum in Baghdad cried when he saw the destruction and the theft of the treasure he once protected. This looting has caused an enormous outcry far beyond Baghdad, accusations that the United States didn't do enough to stop it from happening. And among the critics, the chairman of a committee that advises the White House on how to protect antiquities around the world.

Martin Sullivan was appointed by President Clinton. He resigned from his post earlier this week. And he joins us tonight from Charleston, South Carolina.

Mr. Sullivan, it's good to have you with us.

MARTIN SULLIVAN, FMR. CHMN. OF PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON CULTURAL PROPERTY: Thank you very much, Aaron.

BROWN: I think the administration would argue, the Army certainly has, that it was a very chaotic scene in Baghdad. The events were happening much more quickly than people imagined and they just took things in sort of a triaged way, dealt with things as they could.

SULLIVAN: Sure. And I think we all saw the same thing. My concern is that the kind of looting of antiquities, and of the great library that happened was in fact entirely foreseeable. And it was foreseen. And to some extent, I feel that it was preventable if the master plan for engaging and entering into Baghdad had given it higher priority.

BROWN: Do you think it had much of a priority at all?

SULLIVAN: Well, it's hard to say, because the terms on which we elected to wage the war and move into Baghdad seemed to shift with great speed. But the United States, ever since President Reagan's administration, has been a signatory to an international convention under UNESCO to safeguard antiquities and cultural property.

And so we had a kind of -- both a legal and a moral obligation. And in this case, not only to one country's heritage, but the heritage of all civilization. So you know, it's going to take a long time to clean it up, hopefully retrieve some artifacts. But the cost and effort involved in that, to me, is enormously higher than the effort that might have been involved in trying to secure these very vulnerable places earlier on.

BROWN: I'm confused as to whether or not there was communication going on between your committee or others and the Pentagon or the White House or the government where the museum was concerned before the event?

SULLIVAN: Well, there absolutely was communication. All of the leading scholars of Iraq and of the ancient Near East in the United States were trying to get a message through to both the State Department, but particularly the Pentagon, about the urgency of protecting those places and a reminder that nine of the museums in southern Iraq were in fact looted during the first Gulf War. So this had happened before. And this very unique treasure was of great concern.

BROWN: This may seem off the wall, but is it good news or bad news that there is a sense that this was a very -- fairly sophisticated operation, maybe an inside job, that people knew what they were looking for? In terms of recovering what was lost, is it good news or bad news?

SULLIVAN: Well, I -- first of all, the part of the news that should not be forgotten is that no one should blame our troops on the ground. They were stretched thin. They were trying to attend to 1,000 urgent things at once. And it's hard to make calls in that kind of a context.

Now maybe the good news is that some of these rare things are intact, wherever they are, and with the good efforts that have been pledged from the FBI and the State Department and the international sources like Interpol, maybe they'll be recovered.

Again, the bad news, however, is a lot of the random later looting destroyed things that may not have the same monetary value, but they're enormously important in documenting the origins of civilization. And they're just smashed.

BROWN: I want to talk a bit more about what was lost and recovered, but let me ask as directly as I can, what's the point in resigning? I mean, what's done is done. What's the point?

SULLIVAN: Well, yes, it is done. And you know, everyone is sad about it. My feeling is that we are a society that just has a very short attention span. It's going to take years and years, the scholars are saying, to try to recover this. And in my little way, all I want to say is this is a very, very big thing. not only for America itself, but for America in the world and vis a vis Iraq.

BROWN: Do these people understand the scope of what was lost?

SULLIVAN: I'm not sure, because you know, there have been references that, gee, I didn't know they had that many vases or you know, old broken pots and so forth. But truly, this is extraordinary. This is the cradle of civilization. And even things that don't look like much have extraordinary meaning. It's as if you look at the star spangled banner in the Smithsonian and say, gee, that's just a tattered old cloth. Not so.

BROWN: Do you think the -- clearly there are organizations that are engaged now in trying to get as much back as possible. Is there much -- I guess organization to this, or is it just sort of waiting until stuff turns up on the market?

SULLIVAN: Well, there certainly is organization on the side of Interpol and the various international agencies like UNESCO. The problem is that there's probably tighter organization and certainly much more secret organization on the part of organized crime. And whether that was in cahoots with Saddam, or whether this was just an opportunistic heist that went on, organized crime is deeply involved worldwide in a plague of antiquities looting. And so this is not entirely a surprise.

BROWN: So out there on the black market somewhere, you would anticipate we'll start to see some of these items showing up?

SULLIVAN: I expect that we will see that again, you know, the record in the past suggests you won't see everything. You may not see some things for many years. The kind of penthouse collector -- and they're not large in number, but they are scattered throughout Europe and the United States, will hold on to things in great secrecy. The auction houses won't touch them. The galleries won't touch them. And it may be a good long time before we know exactly where some of these things got to.

BROWN: Mr. Sullivan, thank you for joining us.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

BROWN: Appreciate your time tonight very much.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

BROWN: And ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we'll have a footnote to the Laci Peterson case today, what her husband had to say earlier this year. And also coming up, American soldiers freed from Iraq, about to come home, the POW story as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

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BROWN: They come from different spots across the country. Six men, one woman, black, white and Hispanic. Two are pilots, one's a cook and a single mom, different in a lot of ways but alike in one key way and inseparable because of it. They were all American prisoners of war in Iraq. They were all rescued together. And they are all about to come home. The seven former POWs made a brief appearance today in Landstuhl, Germany, the hospital there.

Matthew Chance was there as well. Matthew, good evening.

CHANCE: Good evening to you as well, Aaron.

And we've been following this amazing story from the acts that captured, of course, in two separate incidents inside Iraq as U.S. forces swept across the country, paraded, we all remember, on Iraqi television, looking for the most part absolutely terrified as they were questioned by Arabic speaking journalists. We now know they were held often in isolation, moved from prison to prison before finally being tracked down and rescued by U.S. forces in the region.

Now those seven former U.S. prisoners of war are heading home, back to their family and their loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): With their ordeal in Iraq now just a painful memory, all seven freed prisoners, heroes at home, stood before the world's media, even the injured Shoshana Johnson, shot through both ankles, was propped up out of her wheelchair by comrades who have supported each other all along.

Warrant officer David Williams, pilot of a downed Apache gun ship, spoke for them all and with relief.

DAVID WILLIAMS, CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER: We all would like to thank our Americans for the tremendous support we've been getting. And we're looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can. I'd just like to remind everyone to say a special prayer for all those who are still fighting on the American fence.

CHANCE: The relaxed scenes could hardly have contrasted more with the first time they spoke to the cameras. As prisoners of war, their disturbing exhibition on Iraqi television provoked accusations of war crimes from Washington. Their treatment in Iraqi hands is still a matter of deep concern, even though on the medical front those overseeing their treatment say all is well.

COL. DAVID RUBENSTEIN, COMMANDER LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: They have an excellent prognosis. Likewise, their spirits are very high. They are working with each other, they're working with the debriefers, and they are in very good spirits.

CHANCE: But since their arrival from Kuwait, there have been concerns behind the waves and smiles about possible emotional damage caused by their terrifying captivity. There are no obvious signs, but specialist combat psychologists have been treating all seven rescued soldiers, talking through their harrowing experiences that may well, they say, stay with them long after any physical wounds have healed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Aaron, all seven of those former prisoners of war are said to be making good recoveries in both body and mind, but not until they're back at home with their family and their loved ones will their harrowing experience have come to an end -- Aaron.

BROWN: And Matthew, thank you very much. Matthew Chance tonight.

It's amazing that a visit planned by the president this weekend isn't necessarily the biggest news in Fort Hood, Texas. The really big news is that the POWs are coming home. The two Apache pilots are based there.

Jamie Colby has spent much of the week with the wife of one of them. And Jamie joins us tonight -- Jamie?

COLBY: And she is a remarkable woman. She's been so strong through this whole process. Now as she waits to be reunited with her husband, David Williams, sometime after 6:00 tomorrow evening, there is also word the president may join them on Sunday, just in time for the holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY (voice-over): Michelle Williams now has the news she'd been praying for.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS, WIFE OF FMR. POW: Easter Sunday's going to be a big Sunday for us because hopefully we'll be together by then.

COLBY: And they will. When the seven former POWs appeared this morning from Landstuhl, Germany, family members said they looked well. And now word is tomorrow they'll be home.

DAVID WILLIAMS, FMR. POW: We're looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can.

COLBY: That brief appearance set the wheels in motion, from Michelle's private welcome for her husband, David.

M. WILLIAMS: I think that that's what he's just going to, just being able to spend family time together.

COLBY: And the chance for Killeen, Texas, home to Fort Hood, where messages abound in support of the troops, a chance to give both Apache pilots based here, Williams and Ronald Young, a hero's welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a blessing that they were freed by the Iraqis and that we got to them before anything else bad could have happened to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is amazing, it really is. It's going to be a great big deal for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY: And obviously after the celebration ends, the healing process that started in Germany can continue. Michelle Williams has spent time with a psychologist and also her chaplain. And she says she's prepared to help her husband with whatever lies ahead. Having spent much of the last three weeks with her, I believe her -- Aaron?

BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie Colby in Texas tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a different take on Iraq, the view from Germany and France, what the Europeans had to say about the war, a war they did not support. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So what are those who insisted that the war with Iraq wasn't a good idea saying now? You'll remember that the opposition in two particular countries was particularly intense. And now that it's done, or is it, we have reports from Paris first and then Berlin.

Jim Bittermann and Stephanie Halasz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may have been on the sidelines, but opinion polls indicate the French watched the war in Iraq very carefully. So has their opinion changed now that Washington rules? Any doubt about President Jacques Chirac's foreign policy? Some apparently, but not much. Ask the butcher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) Mr. Chirac is very popular here.

BITTERMANN: Or a baker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) No, I don't see any change for the moment.

BITTERMANN: Or a retired dealmaker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) Maybe the U.S. should not have made war, but now that it is done, we shouldn't have raised any questions.

BITTERMANN: A more scientific poll indicates much the same. While President Jacques Chirac's 70 percent approval rating remains stable, French support for the war doubled to 36 percent, after the fall of Baghdad.

FRANCOIS MIQUET-MARTY, LOUIS HARRIS POLLS: (through translator) The end of the war led to change of opinion, in part, because factors concerning the weakening of France on the international scene. 46 percent of the French believe France is isolated diplomatically.

BITTERMANN: Chirac is now attempting to mend those diplomatic fences, suggesting a step by step approach to Iraq's post-war reconstruction, but never dropping his insistence that the U.N. be involved.

Even his opponents like this French doctor Bernard Kouchner, would agree. Kouchner has served for two years as the U.N.'s post-war administrator in Kosovo, was for the war to oust Saddam Hussein. But he says if the Americans try to politically rebuild Iraq without the U.N., they risk a fundamentalist backlash.

BERNARD KOUCHNER, FMR. U.N. ADMIN., KOSOVO: There is a real threat, there is a real danger of organizing another Islamic republic like in Iran. Don't minimize such a danger. And with the Americans, those danger is higher than with the U.N. system.

BITTERMANN: The French press increasingly suggests Chirac went too far in confronting Washington, but a conservative newspaper says he's not about to eat his words now or give in on involving the U.N. in post-war Iraq.

(on camera): Still, as one leading foreign policy commentator here put it, France has burned too many bridges, that if before the war French arguments were right, French conclusions were wrong. And he suggested now is the time for prudent, modest, and above all, quiet diplomacy.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE HALASZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Berlin, I'm Stephanie Halasz.

At Berlin's Free University, there is still talk about the war and its chaotic aftermath.

(voice-over): There's a danger things will be even worse than before, says Katya Las (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think they want to do something for the Iraqi people. The only thing that they want to do is establish themselves in this region. And I think the next goal is -- or the next aim is to conquer Syria or Iran.

HALASZ: And from this student, the war was not justifiable. Still, he says, one has to see what will happen. Germans did their best to head off the war, taking to the streets, demonstrating support for their government's refusal to back Washington's campaign to topple Saddam Hussein by force. Now that war is happening, protests have gotten smaller. But a recent poll found 82 percent of Germans still don't think the war will produce lasting peace. It's good that Saddam Hussein is gone, they say, but...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I look at the situation of the people now, it's worse than before because of the chaos there.

HALASZ: Some Germans blame America, some don't.

"One cannot always accuse the Americans of starting a war, but then not cleaning up it takes time," says this housewife.

Back at the university, as students listen to the discussion about the future of Iraq, academics consider the effect the anti--war movement will have on Germany's future.

DIETER RUCHT, SOCIOLOGIST: I think it will not change society as a whole, but I think this mobilization that we have seen, particularly among high school students, young people, it will have an effect on the future in the sense that a minority of these people will go on in being politically active.

HALASZ (on camera): This weekend, perhaps a final chance for the masses to protest. Over 100 demonstrations are planned over Easter with the overwhelming majority of Germans still saying they do not believe in this war.

Stephanie Halasz, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When NEWSNIGHT continues, we'll revisit the Laci Peterson case and take a look at morning papers from a few cities around the country and around the world. A break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we get to morning papers, another note on the Laci Peterson case and the arrest tonight of her husband. Here's a look at what Scott Peterson had to say earlier this year to CNN affiliate KOBR in Sacramento.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that law enforcement officials have told me that you won't take a lie detector test, that you've wavering back and forth on that. Why?

SCOTT PETERSON, HUSBAND LACI PETERSON: Well, let me say this about the investigation. I gave you two times earlier, 9:30 and 10:30 when the dog was returned here. Investigators on both sides, law enforcement, private, had asked me not to comment any more about times, about conversations I had with the police, about the possible polygraph, you know, test, if I have taken or have I not. And there are, you know, things surrounding the investigation so that it can be clear. So I'm simply not going to comment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On why you're not going to take it?

PETERSON: I'm not going to comment if I have or have not taken a polygraph with the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The life insurance policy, why take one out on Laci, $250,000?

PETERSON: We have life insurance policies in place that were established when we bought this home, that you're in right now, two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.

PETERSON: There was no life insurance policy taken out recently, as has been reported in "The National Enquirer."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After remaining silent for over a month, Scott says he decided to speak out because he felt the focus had shifted from Laci to him.

PETERSON: In hopes that people will go, do you know what? If I think he had some involvement, if I don't think he had some involvement, that doesn't matter because Laci is what matters. And she's out there missing. And she needs to be home with her families. So I don't care to defend myself. I don't care what people think of me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That was Scott Peterson earlier in the year. He's under arrest now and he'll be arraigned probably Monday or Tuesday in Modesto.

We were interested to see how newspapers around the country would play that story, given the magnitude of a war that is still somewhat unsettled business. So here we go.

"The New York Times" actually does play the Laci Peterson story. And I'll show you where in a second. But all of the "Times" front page with one exception deals with the war in Iraq. Some terrific stories in that regard.

Down on the side, a local story thought. "Study finds asthma in 25% of Children in Central Harlem," a very good story. And down at the very bottom, just a little tease in "The Times," "Husband held in slayings." And "The Times" plays the Laci Peterson on A-8 tomorrow.

"The Charlotte Observer" in Charlotte, North Carolina, had no problem figuring out where to put the story. "Husband arrested and bodies identified." They put it on the front page, and on the front page prominently, too.

"Iraq protesters challenge the U.S." is their main story on the war, but their best story on the war, honestly, perhaps the best story in the paper today, comes from "The L.A. Times Syndicate." "Soldiers find $656 million stashed in Baghdad houses." A couple of Army guys went around tearing down walls and came up with a lot of dough, a lot of American loot, and probably the story if you had more than the front page will tell you where they've found it.

"San Francisco Chronicle" obviously is going to play the Laci Peterson story very high/ And they do, way above the full. "Laci's husband arrested, DNA of missing woman, fetus matched to bodies, found by Bay." But there's lots of variety on the front page, too. "Iraqi crowd tells U.S. to leave," their main war story.

That's a quick look at a couple of morning papers from around the country. Hope -- there you are, hope you have a terrific weekend. We'll see you back here Monday, 10:00 Eastern time. Until then, good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 18, 2003 - 23:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll begin the second whip of the night and the second hour of NEWSNIGHT with more on the Laci Peterson case. Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California covering the story tonight.
So Rusty, start off whip number 2 with a headline?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, DNA scientists, Aaron, now say there's no question those bodies discovered in San Francisco Bay are Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner. And the police say they believe they have their man. That is Scott Peterson, Laci's husband.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. We'll be getting back to your shortly. We'll also get to Baghdad. There were protests in the streets of Baghdad of today. Nic Robertson will join us for that.

On to Germany next and the appearance today of seven American rescued POWs. Matthew Chance at Landstuhl tonight.

Matthew, the headline?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Aaron. And this is an amazing story of heroics because their journey has been so long and so arduous from captivity in Iraq. It's a freedom at last now. Those seven rescued U.S. prisoners of war that are being treated here in Landstuhl, Germany are finally being sent home. And home to a hero's welcome. We'll bring you that story.

BROWN: Matthew, thank you.

And to Fort Hood, Texas, where this weekend will surely be the best one they have had in a long time.

Jamie Colby there for us. Jamie, a headline?

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, good evening to you. 26 days down and now less than 24 hours to go. The POWs are headed home and not a moment too soon for their families -- Aaron?

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. Back to you and the rest shortly. Also coming up in our second hour of NEWSNIGHT tonight, how the war in Iraq and the U.S. victory is being seen in places where the opposition was especially fierce. We'll have reports tonight from France and Germany.

And we'll take a look at morning papers. We'll preview some of what you'll be reading about newspapers around the country and around the world. All of that in the next hour ahead.

But we begin with the case of Laci Peterson. Back in February, her husband Scott Peterson told a reporter that he missed his wife. And then he said this, "I feel like I'm in a dark corner." Tonight, he is in a very dark corner, indeed, arrested in the disappearance of his wife and in her death.

We go back to Modesto, California and CNN's Rusty Dornin -- Rusty.

DORNIN: Well, Aaron, for the past four months, ever since Laci Peterson disappeared, there has been a shadow of doubt cast upon Scott Peterson. He said he went fishing that day. Police began doing searches very early on in San Francisco Bay of his house, of his truck, of his boat.

But it wasn't until this week when the bodies floated ashore of what was believed to be a female and the fetus that were identified today as Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner, that Modesto police closed in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN (voice-over): His was the only name that ever came up during the investigation. Nearly four months after Laci Peterson disappeared and was murdered, Modesto police now say they believe they have their man, Scott Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scott Peterson has been arrested, that he is in the custody of Modesto Police Department detectives.

DORNIN: It was only days after Laci Peterson disappeared that Modesto police became very tight-lipped about Scott Peterson. Was he a suspect or wasn't he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, we're not ruling him in or out.

DORNIN: Peterson told police he went fishing at the Berkeley Marina that day and last saw his wife when she was going to walk the dog.

SCOTT PETERSON, CHARGED IN WIFE'S DEATH: I had nothing to do with Laci's disappearance. Even if you think I did, think about Laci. And I know that there's a nation that wants to bring her home to our families.

DORNIN: Laci's family described the pair as a loving couple and Scott as a model son-in-law. They stood by him for weeks.

SHARON ROCHA, LACI'S MOTHER: We feel Scott has nothing to do with it -- with the disappearance of Laci.

DORNIN: But things changed when Scott admitted to an affair, sold her car, and tried to sell their house. Laci's family said their trust was shattered. BRENT ROCHA, LACI'S BROTHER: I would like Scott to know that I trusted him and stood by him in the initial phases of my sister's disappearance. However, Scott has not been forthcoming with information regarding my sister's disappearance. And I am only left to question what else he may be hiding.

DORNIN: The family weren't the only ones to wonder. There were searches in the San Francisco Bay, where Scott said he went fishing, and searches of Scott and Laci's home.

On March 6, police said they believe Laci Peterson was a homicide victim, but wouldn't say why. And still the same line. Her husband Scott, was not ruled in, nor ruled out as a suspect.

The next week, police go back to search the Bay once again. Bad weather forces an end to the search. Then this week, two bodies are found, a female and full-term fetus. And nagging suspicions return. Were these the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn child? Was Scott Peterson involved? How could something like this happen?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: Now from what we understand, Scott Peterson is en route with Modesto police here to the Stanislaus County jail. He's due to arrive in about four hours. Now the district attorney says he will be arraigned on Monday or Tuesday and is likely to be charged with a double homicide under special circumstances, but they are not saying now whether they will pursue the death penalty or not.

Meantime, of course, the family has been devastated by all of this. They are not speaking to the press at all, the community here. There is somewhat a sense of relief that it's over and a sense of closure, and yet very sad that it had to end this way -- Aaron?

BROWN: Do we know -- I'll ask Jeff this, too, in a minute. They've been treating this case as a homicide now for more than a month. Was there evidence found on the bodies that led to this arrest? Do we know the answer to that?

DORNIN: I just spoke to the police chief and asked him, did you need to find these bodies in order to arrest Scott, and he said no, we didn't. So at some point, of course, the district attorney becomes involves and says yes, it's time, we can go forward, we can prosecute this case. But as far as the police here were concerned, they still felt that they had enough of a case, even without finding these bodies, that they could have gone forward.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California.

Jeffrey Toobin is with us. Jeffrey's our legal analyst. He's in Sherman, Connecticut tonight. Jeffrey, do you know of anything about the discovery of the bodies that made the arrests more likely? Or certain?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, I don't know. I don't think it's anything on the bodies or the bodies themselves, but it's simply the fact that they were in this body of water 80 miles away from where she got up that morning, and just one or two miles away from where Scott Peterson said he was on the day of the murder. I mean, how did she get there, if she wasn't put there by her husband?

BROWN: Play defense lawyer for a bit. You -- the facts as we know them, the body is found, not far from where he admits to have been fishing. That seems to be a critical piece of evidence here. How do you deal with any of the evidence that you know?

TOOBIN: Well, what you point to is the absence of evidence if you're a defense attorney in this case. Where's the murder weapon? What is the cause of death? What is the time of death? Who else did she -- possibly had access to her? What about the possibility of suicide? Those are the questions that a defense attorney, I think, is likely to raise.

BROWN: And what do you have in support of -- not that you necessarily need to have anything in support of those questions...

TOOBIN: Right.

BROWN: ...because you don't, but is there anything to suggest that she was despondent, for example?

TOOBIN: No, not necessarily, but when you find someone who is in a river, and you don't know what the cause of death is, suicide is always a possibility. And as a defense attorney, you're not required to prove anything. So if you can raise that possibility and claim that the prosecution's evidence hasn't excluded that possibility, then maybe you've got something that at least some of the jurors can go on.

BROWN: You were a prosecutor. I mean don't to be glib about this, but do you think jurors make an assumption that it probably was the husband?

TOOBIN: I think they do. I think jurors are human beings. They know. I mean, they don't know the statistic, but they have a general sense that -- what happens to be true. 75 percent of murder victims know the person who murdered them. No one in the world had a motive to murder Laci Peterson, as far as we know, except her husband. That is the single most compelling fact in this case. And that's going to be the toughest thing for the prosecution -- for the defense to refute. If he didn't do it, who else -- who did? And why would anyone want to kill her?

BROWN: Well, and well, okay, but what -- his motive is he's having this illicit affair? Is that his motive?

TOOBIN: He's having an affair, she's in the way. There's also a financial possibility. One interesting thing I thought today was that when the D.A. listed the special circumstances, one he did not list was financial gain, because that sometimes is one. He may add it later, but one of the issues that has been raised is, is there financial gain here? Was there an insurance policy that he stood to gain -- he stood to benefit from? If they could establish that, that would be another part of motive. BROWN: Jeffrey, thank you very much. Jeffrey Toobin with us tonight from Connecticut.

On to the day's other major story and the week's other major story and the month's major story, perhaps the year's: Iraq and the big developments there. Once embodied almost perfectly the promise and peril of toppling Saddam Hussein, thousands of Iraqis gathered freely today to pray and to tell the United States to go home.

Here's CNN's Jim Clancy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a rare display of unity, both Shi'ia and Sunni Muslim Iraqis joined together in prayers Friday. Islamic unity was the theme, but the U.S. came in for criticism. One cleric said the Americans toppled the regime for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and were not to be trusted.

The incendiary mix of religion and politics predictably spilled out into the streets. A large demonstration asserting Muslim unity, laid down a challenge to any outside efforts to impose a U.S.-led regime in Baghdad.

Elsewhere, an eerie sense of normalcy co-existed with the unbridled violence of the past week. As men looked on from a shabby street side cafe, the body of a looter lay a few meters away. Other uncollected casualties lay nearby. This man, we were told, was gunned down for $150.

Below Baghdad streets, urban legends live on. Thousands of people gathered around this traffic tunnel, ripping apart ventilation shafts in the mistaken belief they would find secret prisons where loved ones had survived the regime and waited to be rescued. Crushing one another for a closer look, any reaction from those below stirred rumors, another ghost from the past had emerged from a subterranean nightmare.

No one alive or dead was found. But hope dies hard when there is so little else left. Others who ventured out took advantage of a bristling trade and transport. As confidence returns, private buses and taxis shuttle residents between cities or neighborhoods, giving Iraqis living proof, loved ones were all right, another sign the city was struggling to its feet.

Jim Clancy, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Until recently, the only passion to be found in the streets of Baghdad would have been of the canned variety, a rented crowd chanting government slogans at gun point. Today people gathered freely. Their slogans are genuine and passions run hot.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been getting an earful. And he joins us again from Baghdad on Saturday morning there -- Nic? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Aaron, good morning from here.

Very changed times indeed. And what we're seeing is a progression since coalition forces, U.S. Marines took up residence right around this hotel a little over a week ago. We've begun to see that stability begin to be restored in the area. And what we saw on Friday was an increasing number of people coming out on the streets for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Joyful Iraqis drag a bronze replica of their former leader's head through the streets. Passions swelling with the increasing numbers of people now feeling safe enough to leave home.

The impromptu celebration follows the destruction of yet another Saddam statue. It clogs traffic at this now busy intersection, as drivers venture back on the roads. Another crossroad in the center of Baghdad. Another effervescent crowd chasing rumors prisoners of the old regime have been found.

In a highway underpass and by the light of a candle, a man explores a hole many hope might hide missing relatives. Hashim explains to us and the crowd how his brother Mohammed, was taken by the regime in 1985.

"I have looked in the military intelligence," he says, "the Radwaneer (ph) prison, the Salman prison, the Kaseeratesh (ph) prison and one in Carada (ph)."

(on camera): Despite the high numbers of people now coming out on to the streets, safety is still far from assured. Gunshots can frequently be heard ringing out. And just a few hours ago right in this spot, a man was chased down, shot in the legs.

(voice-over): With little of value left to steal, looters are settling down to selling their ill gotten foods. Business seems brisk. Payment please, in U.S. dollars.

Also taking to the streets, would-be politicians. This one representing the independent Iraqi parliamentarian movement. Like politicians everywhere, he wasted no time asking to get his message out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) We support democracy, independence and free will for the Iraqi people. To build a new Iraq, unified Iraq.

ROBERTSON: This man was listening intently. "There is chaos in Iraq," he says. "It has become a massacre. People killing each other. We need politicians and a government to complain to."

Possibly timely then that this contender for leadership posts, Akmad Chalabi, decided the mood was right for his first public speech since returning from exile.

AKMAD CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: I -- my role will be focused on building civil society in Iraq. I want to help build civil society, which I believe is the basis for a democratic system.

ROBERTSON: Nearby, amidst the smoldering ruins of the last regime, healing from even minor acts of revenge. This pilot Hassan explains how climbing on Saddam's broken statue, calms him down.

For all venturing out now, a chance however small to reconcile with the remnants of the old regime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And perhaps interesting, the people we're not seeing on the streets are from the affluent neighborhoods. When you drive around there, a lot of people still in their houses. Why?

Two reasons. One, because they're afraid their houses still may get looted. Another reason, a lot of those people in those affluent neighborhoods are former members of the Ba'ath party, not necessarily senior members, but reasonably well to do, well-off people who benefited from the regime. And it seems that they are still at this time, Aaron, a little bit reticent to show their faces.

BROWN: Just couple of quick practical things. We talked about money over the last two weeks. What is the currency now that's being exchanged?

ROBERTSON: Most people are still using dinars. You get about 2.5 thousand dinars for $1. Apparently the dollar is to become the official currency, at least until the interim government is up and running and there is a new denomination printed. But the dinar is what everyone's used to here. It comes in 250 dinar notes. So if you get $100 worth of local currency, it comes in a stack about this big, Aaron.

BROWN: And just quickly, are people being -- people who are now the American payroll, are they being paid in dollars?

ROBERTSON: That's what we understand they will be. We haven't seen anybody who's yet received money. But we understand all civil servants will receive $20. And I believe that's at least a couple of hundred thousand people here, Aaron.

BROWN: Nic, thank you. Nic Robertson in Baghdad on a Saturday morning.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the truth about hawks and doves in the post- war era. And then why one cultural adviser to the White House handed in his resignation over the looting of a Baghdad museum. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Used to be easy to tell hawks and doves apart, but Ron Brownstein, national political correspondent for "The L.A. Times," has been writing recently about how the distinction has been blurring a bit, a bit. He joins us from Washington now.

It's good to see you. You wrote today or the other day, I don't remember when I actually saw it anymore, that the neoconservatives, the Richard Pearls of the world who really aggressively promoted -- William Crystal's, too -- who aggressively promoted a war with Iraq, are now saying okay, that business is done. We don't necessarily need to be using the military all the time.

RON BROWNSTEIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "L.A. TIMES": Yes, in fact, the neoconservative thinkers both inside and outside the administration, the Crystals and the Pearls, as you mentioned on the outside, people like Paul Wolfowitz and Doug Fife on the inside, for years have been the staunchest advocates of war with Iraq, not only in this immediate period, but for several years arguing that it might be the key to broader change in the Mid East.

They really beat the drum the loudest and provided the most intellectual justification for this war. But in their writing since the fall of Baghdad, really, the succession of articles and public statements, many of them have argued that what we need to do now is use economic and diplomatic pressure on countries like Iran and Syria, without ruling out the possible use of military force, but not turning to it immediately.

BROWN: Well, and I mean, listen, you write about politics. As I look at this, and I assume as you look at this, there isn't a lot of political will out there right now, to be going to war with Syria or Iran or anybody else.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think that they see a variety of reasons here. You know, this -- the temperate tone, Aaron, I think was surprising to many, because so many of the neoconservatives have described the war with Iraq as part -- as really but one chapter in a larger confrontation. Some of them even use the term "World War IV" to say that all of this, the attacks of 9/11, the response in Afghanistan, and now the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, all of this will be seen as part of a larger continuum.

But they argue that, as you say, there is no stomach at the moment domestically certainly for any kind of military conflict. There's a question about whether there really is even enough capacity in terms of troops levels to really take on another responsibility, while stabilizing Iraq. And that's a point that many of them make.

And finally, I think they believe more than perhaps than they're given credit for, that military force should be a last resort and there should be an attempt to see whether the example of Iraq can compel or inspire changes in the behavior of Syria or Iran before you move toward that possibility.

BROWN: We've got about a minute here. I want to talk about politics a little bit. The president's poll numbers look terrific, as one would expect, given how the war went. Is there -- is he a slam dunk? BROWNSTEIN: No. And in fact, the poll numbers are kind of intriguing, because he's basically hit about 70 percent in almost every poll at the end of the war. That's a very healthy number, obviously. If he has it in the fall of 2004, he'll be re-elected in a walk.

But as you point out, at the end of a war, your numbers are inflated. And the peak this President Bush hit is about 20 points lower than the peak his father hit, largely because the country is more polarized. He has more resistance from Democrats and moderates and liberal independents. And also because his ratings on domestic issues were very weak before the war. It's possible we could get into 2004 and you'd have a situation where a majority of the country views him as a success in managing national security and defending us against terrorism, and a majority of the country views him as a failure in managing the economy. And that circumstance seems to me not a slam dunk in either direction. It's more of a prescription for a competitive race.

BROWN: We shall see. Ron, good to talk to you tonight. Thank you for staying around.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, looting priceless artifacts in Iraq. Plus, seven former prisoners of war prepare for the journey home. And how does the war look now to a pair of estranged allies, France and Germany? We have a ways to go on Friday night from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We read earlier this week that a security guard at the National Museum in Baghdad cried when he saw the destruction and the theft of the treasure he once protected. This looting has caused an enormous outcry far beyond Baghdad, accusations that the United States didn't do enough to stop it from happening. And among the critics, the chairman of a committee that advises the White House on how to protect antiquities around the world.

Martin Sullivan was appointed by President Clinton. He resigned from his post earlier this week. And he joins us tonight from Charleston, South Carolina.

Mr. Sullivan, it's good to have you with us.

MARTIN SULLIVAN, FMR. CHMN. OF PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON CULTURAL PROPERTY: Thank you very much, Aaron.

BROWN: I think the administration would argue, the Army certainly has, that it was a very chaotic scene in Baghdad. The events were happening much more quickly than people imagined and they just took things in sort of a triaged way, dealt with things as they could.

SULLIVAN: Sure. And I think we all saw the same thing. My concern is that the kind of looting of antiquities, and of the great library that happened was in fact entirely foreseeable. And it was foreseen. And to some extent, I feel that it was preventable if the master plan for engaging and entering into Baghdad had given it higher priority.

BROWN: Do you think it had much of a priority at all?

SULLIVAN: Well, it's hard to say, because the terms on which we elected to wage the war and move into Baghdad seemed to shift with great speed. But the United States, ever since President Reagan's administration, has been a signatory to an international convention under UNESCO to safeguard antiquities and cultural property.

And so we had a kind of -- both a legal and a moral obligation. And in this case, not only to one country's heritage, but the heritage of all civilization. So you know, it's going to take a long time to clean it up, hopefully retrieve some artifacts. But the cost and effort involved in that, to me, is enormously higher than the effort that might have been involved in trying to secure these very vulnerable places earlier on.

BROWN: I'm confused as to whether or not there was communication going on between your committee or others and the Pentagon or the White House or the government where the museum was concerned before the event?

SULLIVAN: Well, there absolutely was communication. All of the leading scholars of Iraq and of the ancient Near East in the United States were trying to get a message through to both the State Department, but particularly the Pentagon, about the urgency of protecting those places and a reminder that nine of the museums in southern Iraq were in fact looted during the first Gulf War. So this had happened before. And this very unique treasure was of great concern.

BROWN: This may seem off the wall, but is it good news or bad news that there is a sense that this was a very -- fairly sophisticated operation, maybe an inside job, that people knew what they were looking for? In terms of recovering what was lost, is it good news or bad news?

SULLIVAN: Well, I -- first of all, the part of the news that should not be forgotten is that no one should blame our troops on the ground. They were stretched thin. They were trying to attend to 1,000 urgent things at once. And it's hard to make calls in that kind of a context.

Now maybe the good news is that some of these rare things are intact, wherever they are, and with the good efforts that have been pledged from the FBI and the State Department and the international sources like Interpol, maybe they'll be recovered.

Again, the bad news, however, is a lot of the random later looting destroyed things that may not have the same monetary value, but they're enormously important in documenting the origins of civilization. And they're just smashed.

BROWN: I want to talk a bit more about what was lost and recovered, but let me ask as directly as I can, what's the point in resigning? I mean, what's done is done. What's the point?

SULLIVAN: Well, yes, it is done. And you know, everyone is sad about it. My feeling is that we are a society that just has a very short attention span. It's going to take years and years, the scholars are saying, to try to recover this. And in my little way, all I want to say is this is a very, very big thing. not only for America itself, but for America in the world and vis a vis Iraq.

BROWN: Do these people understand the scope of what was lost?

SULLIVAN: I'm not sure, because you know, there have been references that, gee, I didn't know they had that many vases or you know, old broken pots and so forth. But truly, this is extraordinary. This is the cradle of civilization. And even things that don't look like much have extraordinary meaning. It's as if you look at the star spangled banner in the Smithsonian and say, gee, that's just a tattered old cloth. Not so.

BROWN: Do you think the -- clearly there are organizations that are engaged now in trying to get as much back as possible. Is there much -- I guess organization to this, or is it just sort of waiting until stuff turns up on the market?

SULLIVAN: Well, there certainly is organization on the side of Interpol and the various international agencies like UNESCO. The problem is that there's probably tighter organization and certainly much more secret organization on the part of organized crime. And whether that was in cahoots with Saddam, or whether this was just an opportunistic heist that went on, organized crime is deeply involved worldwide in a plague of antiquities looting. And so this is not entirely a surprise.

BROWN: So out there on the black market somewhere, you would anticipate we'll start to see some of these items showing up?

SULLIVAN: I expect that we will see that again, you know, the record in the past suggests you won't see everything. You may not see some things for many years. The kind of penthouse collector -- and they're not large in number, but they are scattered throughout Europe and the United States, will hold on to things in great secrecy. The auction houses won't touch them. The galleries won't touch them. And it may be a good long time before we know exactly where some of these things got to.

BROWN: Mr. Sullivan, thank you for joining us.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

BROWN: Appreciate your time tonight very much.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

BROWN: And ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we'll have a footnote to the Laci Peterson case today, what her husband had to say earlier this year. And also coming up, American soldiers freed from Iraq, about to come home, the POW story as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: They come from different spots across the country. Six men, one woman, black, white and Hispanic. Two are pilots, one's a cook and a single mom, different in a lot of ways but alike in one key way and inseparable because of it. They were all American prisoners of war in Iraq. They were all rescued together. And they are all about to come home. The seven former POWs made a brief appearance today in Landstuhl, Germany, the hospital there.

Matthew Chance was there as well. Matthew, good evening.

CHANCE: Good evening to you as well, Aaron.

And we've been following this amazing story from the acts that captured, of course, in two separate incidents inside Iraq as U.S. forces swept across the country, paraded, we all remember, on Iraqi television, looking for the most part absolutely terrified as they were questioned by Arabic speaking journalists. We now know they were held often in isolation, moved from prison to prison before finally being tracked down and rescued by U.S. forces in the region.

Now those seven former U.S. prisoners of war are heading home, back to their family and their loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): With their ordeal in Iraq now just a painful memory, all seven freed prisoners, heroes at home, stood before the world's media, even the injured Shoshana Johnson, shot through both ankles, was propped up out of her wheelchair by comrades who have supported each other all along.

Warrant officer David Williams, pilot of a downed Apache gun ship, spoke for them all and with relief.

DAVID WILLIAMS, CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER: We all would like to thank our Americans for the tremendous support we've been getting. And we're looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can. I'd just like to remind everyone to say a special prayer for all those who are still fighting on the American fence.

CHANCE: The relaxed scenes could hardly have contrasted more with the first time they spoke to the cameras. As prisoners of war, their disturbing exhibition on Iraqi television provoked accusations of war crimes from Washington. Their treatment in Iraqi hands is still a matter of deep concern, even though on the medical front those overseeing their treatment say all is well.

COL. DAVID RUBENSTEIN, COMMANDER LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: They have an excellent prognosis. Likewise, their spirits are very high. They are working with each other, they're working with the debriefers, and they are in very good spirits.

CHANCE: But since their arrival from Kuwait, there have been concerns behind the waves and smiles about possible emotional damage caused by their terrifying captivity. There are no obvious signs, but specialist combat psychologists have been treating all seven rescued soldiers, talking through their harrowing experiences that may well, they say, stay with them long after any physical wounds have healed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Aaron, all seven of those former prisoners of war are said to be making good recoveries in both body and mind, but not until they're back at home with their family and their loved ones will their harrowing experience have come to an end -- Aaron.

BROWN: And Matthew, thank you very much. Matthew Chance tonight.

It's amazing that a visit planned by the president this weekend isn't necessarily the biggest news in Fort Hood, Texas. The really big news is that the POWs are coming home. The two Apache pilots are based there.

Jamie Colby has spent much of the week with the wife of one of them. And Jamie joins us tonight -- Jamie?

COLBY: And she is a remarkable woman. She's been so strong through this whole process. Now as she waits to be reunited with her husband, David Williams, sometime after 6:00 tomorrow evening, there is also word the president may join them on Sunday, just in time for the holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY (voice-over): Michelle Williams now has the news she'd been praying for.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS, WIFE OF FMR. POW: Easter Sunday's going to be a big Sunday for us because hopefully we'll be together by then.

COLBY: And they will. When the seven former POWs appeared this morning from Landstuhl, Germany, family members said they looked well. And now word is tomorrow they'll be home.

DAVID WILLIAMS, FMR. POW: We're looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can.

COLBY: That brief appearance set the wheels in motion, from Michelle's private welcome for her husband, David.

M. WILLIAMS: I think that that's what he's just going to, just being able to spend family time together.

COLBY: And the chance for Killeen, Texas, home to Fort Hood, where messages abound in support of the troops, a chance to give both Apache pilots based here, Williams and Ronald Young, a hero's welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a blessing that they were freed by the Iraqis and that we got to them before anything else bad could have happened to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is amazing, it really is. It's going to be a great big deal for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY: And obviously after the celebration ends, the healing process that started in Germany can continue. Michelle Williams has spent time with a psychologist and also her chaplain. And she says she's prepared to help her husband with whatever lies ahead. Having spent much of the last three weeks with her, I believe her -- Aaron?

BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie Colby in Texas tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a different take on Iraq, the view from Germany and France, what the Europeans had to say about the war, a war they did not support. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So what are those who insisted that the war with Iraq wasn't a good idea saying now? You'll remember that the opposition in two particular countries was particularly intense. And now that it's done, or is it, we have reports from Paris first and then Berlin.

Jim Bittermann and Stephanie Halasz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may have been on the sidelines, but opinion polls indicate the French watched the war in Iraq very carefully. So has their opinion changed now that Washington rules? Any doubt about President Jacques Chirac's foreign policy? Some apparently, but not much. Ask the butcher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) Mr. Chirac is very popular here.

BITTERMANN: Or a baker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) No, I don't see any change for the moment.

BITTERMANN: Or a retired dealmaker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) Maybe the U.S. should not have made war, but now that it is done, we shouldn't have raised any questions.

BITTERMANN: A more scientific poll indicates much the same. While President Jacques Chirac's 70 percent approval rating remains stable, French support for the war doubled to 36 percent, after the fall of Baghdad.

FRANCOIS MIQUET-MARTY, LOUIS HARRIS POLLS: (through translator) The end of the war led to change of opinion, in part, because factors concerning the weakening of France on the international scene. 46 percent of the French believe France is isolated diplomatically.

BITTERMANN: Chirac is now attempting to mend those diplomatic fences, suggesting a step by step approach to Iraq's post-war reconstruction, but never dropping his insistence that the U.N. be involved.

Even his opponents like this French doctor Bernard Kouchner, would agree. Kouchner has served for two years as the U.N.'s post-war administrator in Kosovo, was for the war to oust Saddam Hussein. But he says if the Americans try to politically rebuild Iraq without the U.N., they risk a fundamentalist backlash.

BERNARD KOUCHNER, FMR. U.N. ADMIN., KOSOVO: There is a real threat, there is a real danger of organizing another Islamic republic like in Iran. Don't minimize such a danger. And with the Americans, those danger is higher than with the U.N. system.

BITTERMANN: The French press increasingly suggests Chirac went too far in confronting Washington, but a conservative newspaper says he's not about to eat his words now or give in on involving the U.N. in post-war Iraq.

(on camera): Still, as one leading foreign policy commentator here put it, France has burned too many bridges, that if before the war French arguments were right, French conclusions were wrong. And he suggested now is the time for prudent, modest, and above all, quiet diplomacy.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE HALASZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Berlin, I'm Stephanie Halasz.

At Berlin's Free University, there is still talk about the war and its chaotic aftermath.

(voice-over): There's a danger things will be even worse than before, says Katya Las (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think they want to do something for the Iraqi people. The only thing that they want to do is establish themselves in this region. And I think the next goal is -- or the next aim is to conquer Syria or Iran.

HALASZ: And from this student, the war was not justifiable. Still, he says, one has to see what will happen. Germans did their best to head off the war, taking to the streets, demonstrating support for their government's refusal to back Washington's campaign to topple Saddam Hussein by force. Now that war is happening, protests have gotten smaller. But a recent poll found 82 percent of Germans still don't think the war will produce lasting peace. It's good that Saddam Hussein is gone, they say, but...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I look at the situation of the people now, it's worse than before because of the chaos there.

HALASZ: Some Germans blame America, some don't.

"One cannot always accuse the Americans of starting a war, but then not cleaning up it takes time," says this housewife.

Back at the university, as students listen to the discussion about the future of Iraq, academics consider the effect the anti--war movement will have on Germany's future.

DIETER RUCHT, SOCIOLOGIST: I think it will not change society as a whole, but I think this mobilization that we have seen, particularly among high school students, young people, it will have an effect on the future in the sense that a minority of these people will go on in being politically active.

HALASZ (on camera): This weekend, perhaps a final chance for the masses to protest. Over 100 demonstrations are planned over Easter with the overwhelming majority of Germans still saying they do not believe in this war.

Stephanie Halasz, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When NEWSNIGHT continues, we'll revisit the Laci Peterson case and take a look at morning papers from a few cities around the country and around the world. A break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we get to morning papers, another note on the Laci Peterson case and the arrest tonight of her husband. Here's a look at what Scott Peterson had to say earlier this year to CNN affiliate KOBR in Sacramento.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that law enforcement officials have told me that you won't take a lie detector test, that you've wavering back and forth on that. Why?

SCOTT PETERSON, HUSBAND LACI PETERSON: Well, let me say this about the investigation. I gave you two times earlier, 9:30 and 10:30 when the dog was returned here. Investigators on both sides, law enforcement, private, had asked me not to comment any more about times, about conversations I had with the police, about the possible polygraph, you know, test, if I have taken or have I not. And there are, you know, things surrounding the investigation so that it can be clear. So I'm simply not going to comment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On why you're not going to take it?

PETERSON: I'm not going to comment if I have or have not taken a polygraph with the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The life insurance policy, why take one out on Laci, $250,000?

PETERSON: We have life insurance policies in place that were established when we bought this home, that you're in right now, two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.

PETERSON: There was no life insurance policy taken out recently, as has been reported in "The National Enquirer."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After remaining silent for over a month, Scott says he decided to speak out because he felt the focus had shifted from Laci to him.

PETERSON: In hopes that people will go, do you know what? If I think he had some involvement, if I don't think he had some involvement, that doesn't matter because Laci is what matters. And she's out there missing. And she needs to be home with her families. So I don't care to defend myself. I don't care what people think of me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That was Scott Peterson earlier in the year. He's under arrest now and he'll be arraigned probably Monday or Tuesday in Modesto.

We were interested to see how newspapers around the country would play that story, given the magnitude of a war that is still somewhat unsettled business. So here we go.

"The New York Times" actually does play the Laci Peterson story. And I'll show you where in a second. But all of the "Times" front page with one exception deals with the war in Iraq. Some terrific stories in that regard.

Down on the side, a local story thought. "Study finds asthma in 25% of Children in Central Harlem," a very good story. And down at the very bottom, just a little tease in "The Times," "Husband held in slayings." And "The Times" plays the Laci Peterson on A-8 tomorrow.

"The Charlotte Observer" in Charlotte, North Carolina, had no problem figuring out where to put the story. "Husband arrested and bodies identified." They put it on the front page, and on the front page prominently, too.

"Iraq protesters challenge the U.S." is their main story on the war, but their best story on the war, honestly, perhaps the best story in the paper today, comes from "The L.A. Times Syndicate." "Soldiers find $656 million stashed in Baghdad houses." A couple of Army guys went around tearing down walls and came up with a lot of dough, a lot of American loot, and probably the story if you had more than the front page will tell you where they've found it.

"San Francisco Chronicle" obviously is going to play the Laci Peterson story very high/ And they do, way above the full. "Laci's husband arrested, DNA of missing woman, fetus matched to bodies, found by Bay." But there's lots of variety on the front page, too. "Iraqi crowd tells U.S. to leave," their main war story.

That's a quick look at a couple of morning papers from around the country. Hope -- there you are, hope you have a terrific weekend. We'll see you back here Monday, 10:00 Eastern time. Until then, good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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