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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
U.S., Britain on High Alert; Israeli PM Might Accept Road Map; Sorenstam Misses Cut
Aired May 23, 2003 - 22:00 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.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed I'm sitting in for Aaron Brown tonight, so good evening to all of you.
A three-day holiday weekend has begun in both the United States and here in Britain and both places are on high alert for terror and many people are on edge again.
This story came from Manhattan. A crew member aboard a cruise ship found something suspicious in a restroom, something with wires. The U.S. Coast Guard was brought in and passengers were evacuated but there was no terrorist, only a possible peeping Tom. The device was a hidden camera. Authorities here and in the U.S. must be hoping tonight that pranksters will be the biggest threat this weekend but no one's taking any chances.
And so, we begin with the latest on security in the U.S. Jeanne Meserve is following that story tonight -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Holiday travel make you see red, well try mixing in a little orange as in threat level orange. It is not going to be a fun weekend to fly -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Jeanne, thank you.
A major development in the push for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, Kelly Wallace is in Jerusalem with that tonight -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, the Israeli prime minister signals for the first time he can back that Mideast road map paving the way for a possible Mid East summit and perhaps President Bush's biggest leap yet into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: And we'll be watching.
And the story of an American doctor coming back from Taiwan with a suspected case of SARS, Mike Chinoy is in Taipei with that story -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, Taiwan continues to battle what is now the world's fastest growing outbreak of SARS and a U.S. Centers for Disease Control expert on controlling infections in hospitals may have himself been infected and has been flown back to the United States -- Christiane. AMANPOUR: Thank you, Mike.
And the second round for golfer Annika Sorenstam and the question did she make the cut? Josie Karp is at the Colonial Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas -- Josie.
JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Christiane, Annika Sorenstam did not make the cut. She's on her way home but she did make an impression on her male competitors and the thousands and thousands of people who came out to watch her try -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Josie, thank you, and we'll be back with all of those stories in a moment.
Also coming up on NEWSNIGHT, two very different stories involving post-war Iraq, one about efforts to bring desperately needed security trying to get Iraqis to hand over their guns, the other about whether the U.S. and France have patched things up after their diplomatic tussle, apparently not.
Homeland security is not an exclusively American enterprise and Robyn Curnow will look at the fight against terror going on right here in London on high alert for an attack as well.
And, Sheila MacVicar in Saudi Arabia tonight on the attacks there last week that shocked the world and the Saudis themselves, but could it lead to reform in the kingdom?
We begin with efforts to guard against terror as millions of Americans head off for the Memorial Day weekend. Today's travel day came with the usual headaches, the traffic jams, the airport lines, and the train delays.
But with the terror alert now back at orange, driving is a little more stressful, the lines are a little longer, and there are many more uniforms on the beat, the story now from CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): For air travelers a long weekend means long lines, maybe even longer this Memorial Day by threat level orange security measures, parking restrictions, more thorough searches, and more of them.
An estimated quarter of a million people will get all aboard Amtrak before Tuesday. There's no screening of passengers or bags but there is other security.
DAN STESSEL, AMTRAK SPOKESMAN: There are more officers on patrol at any given time but many of the countermeasures that have been initiated are invisible to the traveling public, things like monitoring the infrastructure, key bridges and tunnels and the like.
MESERVE: Washington's Metro Rail System has canceled leave for transit police officers. Other employees are in high visibility orange vests so riders can find them with questions or concerns. Passengers are asked to be vigilant and are given advice on how to stay safe. In New York, National Guardsmen are augmenting police patrols of Penn Station and other transportation hubs.
Security at bridges and tunnels and key interchanges may be apparent to drivers and in some states commercial vehicles will be subject to increased inspections. But for the most part, the biggest headache for drivers will be the sheer number of people on the road, an estimate 29.4 million nationwide.
AAA estimates that air travel is down 2.5 percent from last year. The sour economy is believed to be the principal reason, though concerns about terrorism may be a factor. As for how long we'll be at orange officials say the level of intelligence chatter is still high but otherwise things are "eerily quiet."
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And concerns about terror extend far beyond U.S. borders. Britain is a prime target. It was America's partner in the war in Iraq and one of the nations named in a tape released this week by someone claiming to be Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right- hand man.
That means we're on high alert right here in London as well, just as people in New York and other American cities are. This is a long weekend in Britain too and this is a place where the authorities have a lot of experience in fighting terror.
We get that story now from CNN's Robyn Curnow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn in London and fresh security measures to protect the mother of Parliament, large concrete blocks on the move into place around the palace of Westminster (ph), barriers aimed at preventing a suicide truck bomb crashing into the heart of British democracy.
(on camera): Police say these additional security measures are not in response to any specific terrorist threat. They say they're just precautionary measures in light of events happening around the world in particular the recent suicide bombings in Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
(voice-over): In both cases suicide bombers drove car bombs into buildings a tactic that's led police here to adopt new precautions. These latest attacks though also heightened fears that al Qaeda has regrouped and is again planning to strike western targets but potential targets in London may not be that easy to attack.
ANDREW GARFIELD, SECURITY EXPERT, KING'S COLLEGE: London is amongst the most well-protected cities in the world and that stems as much from the legacy of dealing with the IRA threat for 30 years as it does from recent security measures.
Also that the British public, the Londoners, are more attuned to these types of problems and threats and are more likely to report suspicious activity than perhaps the residents of other cities.
CURNOW: Londoners and tourists alike seem unperturbed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just here to see the sights I guess and it really doesn't bother us at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad to see it actually, you know. I think it's a good measure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear that something might happen but I don't think it will.
CURNOW: For Londoners, like residents of America's big cities, living with the threat of terrorism has become part of everyday life.
Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: For more now on the threat of terror and what law enforcement is doing to guard against it, we're joined by Weldon Kennedy. He's a former deputy director of the FBI and he joins us from Phoenix, Arizona tonight. Thank you for joining us.
Apart from that specific taped warning, do you have any other information possibly on what has raised this terror alert to high right now?
WELDON KENNEDY, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR FBI: None at all Christiane. We've seen various reports from law enforcement authorities to include the director of the FBI who has made reference to the fact that they have no specific threat information for the United States.
But, the fact that there has been increased terrorist activity in the Middle East, that we're coming up on a three-day holiday will there be large gatherings of people all over the United States? And the fact that there's been increased chatter in the intelligence channels about possible terrorist activity led them to prudently raise the threat level to orange.
AMANPOUR: So, you say prudently. Do you think that Americans have perhaps become complacent about the terrorism threat?
KENNEDY: Yes, it's been our finding and my company (unintelligible) recently did a survey where we found unbelievably that no matter about the terrorism that has been occurring in the Middle East, the fact that there has not been a terrorist act, a serious one here in the United States since 9/11 has led some people to lapse into a complacent attitude about security and about what they should do to protect themselves. AMANPOUR: Mr. Kennedy, clearly some very high level officials up and to the president have sort of also indicated or given the impression that "the tide has been turned." That's a direct quote. They've broken the back of this terrorism. Do you think those comments over the last week or so ahead of the Saudi Arabia blast perhaps lulled people into complacency and maybe were unproductive?
KENNEDY: No. We found that complacent attitude existed long before these recent comments. It stems from the fact that we in the United States have not been the subject or the object of a serious terrorist incident here since 9/11 of 2001.
AMANPOUR: And so, do you think that that threat still exists or do you think that the FBI and the other law enforcement, homeland security, have in fact done everything possible to protect the U.S.?
KENNEDY: There's no question, Christiane that the threat still exists. We're seeing very, very significant activity by al Qaeda operatives throughout the Middle East and we know that the United States is a prime target, as well as Britain and Canada are prime targets of al Qaeda. So, there's no question in anyone's mind I believe who's familiar with the subject that there's a very serious threat still existing.
AMANPOUR: So, the perennial question obviously with so often these threats and these different colors, orange and the others and on holidays these happening and sometimes information after the fact being proven to have been untrue or unproven at the time, how do you then energize Americans, if you like, and the whole community to be as vigilant as possible?
KENNEDY: That's a very difficult thing indeed. Unfortunately, most of the people will be going about their business as usual but law enforcement, believe me, in the United States does not have a three- day holiday coming up like most private citizens do.
You will find that they are working around the clock, many additional shifts, overtime and the like, working throughout their jurisdictions to ensure that the people are safe.
AMANPOUR: Mr. Kennedy, finally, isn't there a big report, a congressional report I understand about what happened in the lead-up to September 11 that hasn't been published yet and would you think key lessons be learned, absorbed by the publication of this?
KENNEDY: I would assume so. I don't know about such a report, Christiane, but there have been many inquiries obviously into the intelligence that existed prior to 9/11 and efforts to study how we could improve our ability to coordinate, to exchange information, and improve our readiness to combat any terrorist activity.
AMANPOUR: Weldon Kennedy thank you so much for joining us from Arizona.
KENNEDY: Thank you, Christiane. AMANPOUR: And still on the subject of terrorism, the American Embassy alerted U.S. citizens in Morocco today that Moroccan police have been getting anonymous calls threatening the capital Rabat and other cities with the kind of carnage that was inflicted there last week in Casablanca.
Coordinated suicide attacks on western and Jewish targets killed 29 people and 12 of the 14 bombers who were responsible. A U.S. official told CNN that the new threats do not specify Americans but the embassy statement nonetheless says U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance.
And it's famously true that the eye of the storm is a strangely calm place and Saudi Arabia which has been very much in the eye of the storm since September 11 when it comes to terrorism has been oddly calm.
But for the last week, not since the kind of terrorism they're used to seeing elsewhere hit them at home literally as they were sleeping, they have not been calm. And so what does this mean for an offered blink at Saudi society?
CNN's Sheila MacVicar reports from Riyadh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ali is just two years old. He has 44 stitches, most of them in his head, one of the youngest victims of the triple attacks in Riyadh. His parents are still in shock, still cannot believe the entire family survived that terrible night.
RHYM KAYALI: I remember the moment when the window and the frame came very strong and very suddenly and strong, very strong.
MACVICAR: The Kayali family lived here in a house in the crescent right where the suicide bombers blew up their device at the al-Hamra (ph) compound. They were very lucky.
ABDO SALAAM KAYALI: My neighbor is dead. My right-side neighbor has passed away. The guy from the left side just steps from the house he lost his kids, unbelievable moment, unbelievable.
MACVICAR: Seventy percent of the people who lived here were Arabs and Muslims, many of them Saudis.
(on camera): In the past, many of the victims of terror attacks here were westerners, often U.S. military personnel. Even the involvement of Saudis in 9/11 was largely ignored. Terrorism was something that happened to others and the causes were easy to disregard. The Saudis say there were many people here who had at least some sympathy for the terrorists and their causes.
(voice-over): This time Saudi TV broadcast pictures of the Crown Prince visiting the wounded and it was the sight of Arabs struggling to come to terms with what happened to them which has called revulsion, and from the Saudi middle class launched calls for real change.
RAED QUSTI, RIYADH BUREAU CHIEF, ARAB NEWS: Maybe they have not spoken up before. Maybe they were silent. Maybe they were mute but this has sort of like woken them up from their sleep.
ROBERT JORDAN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SAUDI ARABIA: This is a battleground right now and I think it needs to be treated as such.
MACVICAR: The U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia says he believes the government is now serious about reforms.
JORDAN: I think there will be a very sincere effort on their part with our assistance to the extent they wish it to move forward and to drain the swamp, to eliminate some of these root causes that in the long run are going to be dangerous if not fatal to the society.
MACVICAR: Saudi Arabia's leaders have called this a war. They are talking about changing what is taught in schools and ensuring what is said in the mosques all controlled by the government does not incite or encourage extremists. They have threatened to fire Muslim clerics who preach hatred against the west.
QUSTI: For the first time I can remember, there is now more calls for tolerance than ever before. People, we no longer want to hear in our sermons calls for destruction of Jews and Christians.
MACVICAR: Their biggest enemy, Saudis say now, is time. Deep- rooted reform will not take days or weeks. It may take a generation. Families like the Kayalis have already paid the price for past complacency. The fear, and there is real fear here, is that many more will pay before they win this war.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Riyadh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And, ahead on NEWSNIGHT, forward movement on the Middle East peace process as Israel says it will go along with American guarantees but with conditions. We'll talk with Stephen Cohen of the Israel Policy Forum in a moment. This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Road maps in the real world are not negotiable. The only choice is to follow them or not. People usually don't get to draw their own. But the so-called Middle East road map is another thing entirely. It comes into existence at all only if those who are supposed to use it agree on every bend, every milepost and every marker.
The new Palestinian government accepted it immediately last month and today, after much discussion with the White House, Israel said it would too but only if the U.S. addresses its concerns about the road map.
Kelly Wallace reports on all the wrangling from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): It was only after a carefully negotiated U.S.-Israeli deal that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he is prepared to accept the Mid East road map and seek a cabinet vote on the plan.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He accepted it because I assured him that the United States is committed to Israel's security.
WALLACE: Israeli officials say they told the U.S. that Mr. Sharon could only accept the plan if Israel's concerns were taken into account. The Bush administration in a public statement saying it will fully and seriously address those concerns, then gave Israeli officials the guarantee they say they needed.
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR ADVISER TO P.M. SHARON: There are real concerns and they are shared both by the Israeli government as well as by the U.S. government.
WALLACE: Israel is asking for more than a dozen changes made to the road map and insists on an end to Palestinian terror attacks before Israel should be required to take significant steps such as freezing settlement activity and pulling forces out of Palestinian towns. Observers believe it came down to U.S. pressure on Mr. Sharon that led him to back a plan he has many concerns about.
CHEMI SHALEV, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: He was a bit surprised by the fact that the president is pressuring him to accept the road map and though Prime Minister Sharon doesn't like the road map he likes American pressure even less.
WALLACE: The new Palestinian government is cautiously optimistic.
NABIL AMR, PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF INFORMATION: We consider this Israeli position as a positive step in the right direction. We hope that Israel will shoulder its responsibilities according to this plan.
WALLACE: Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who despite some reservations, has accepted the road map, has demanded Israel's acceptance before taking steps such as trying to reign in radical Palestinian groups responsible for suicide bombings against Israelis.
Now, with Mr. Sharon's announcement analysts believe there will be American pressure on the Palestinian prime minister, widely known as Abu Mazen, to deliver.
SHALEV: We will tell Abu Mazen you demanded that Sharon accept the road map. Now he has and now it's your turn to act.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Both sides say the president's involvement pushed the road map back on track after a wave of suicide bombings and now paves the way for a possible American, Israeli, and Palestinian summit meeting soon, still the major challenge ahead for the American president convincing the Israelis and the Palestinians to take serious steps now to move this process forward -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Kelly, you mentioned about a dozen concerns or reservations that the Israelis have. Do you have any idea, I know they haven't been specifically spelled out, but do you know perhaps a little bit of what those concerns are?
WALLACE: There are a number. One, in particular, the major stumbling block the Israelis say is the right of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes during Middle East wars to return to their homes inside Israel proper.
The Israelis want that to be given up before this road map is going forward. The Palestinians say absolutely not. This should be negotiated towards the end in a final status agreement back in 2005. Right now the guarantee from the Israelis is that the Americans will take this concern and the others into account as they try and move forward with implementation -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Kelly, thank you.
And to talk a bit more about the prospects for progress in the Middle East, we're joined now in Washington by Dr. Stephen Cohen of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development. Dr. Cohen had the opportunity to speak last night with the new Prime Minister of Palestine Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister. Thanks for being with us Dr. Cohen.
DR. STEPHEN P. COHEN, INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT: Thank you very much.
AMANPOUR: So, you heard Kelly Wallace's report and you know all the questions that are being raised by the Israeli side. What did Abu Mazen, or Mahmoud Abbas as he's known, say to you about the optimism or otherwise that he might have about this process now?
COHEN: He was in remarkably good spirits. For a very difficult situation that he's in, he was in remarkably good spirits. He feels that things are moving in a direction that he is happy about because he wants to take on the challenge of ending the violence. He wants to take on the challenge of trying to implement the road map and he feels that President Bush has now really chosen to take the lead in this process.
AMANPOUR: There's a lot of pressure on him obviously because one of the key demands, obviously, is to reign in the militants and the attacks against the innocent. What did he say and what do you think will be the outcome of meetings that he's had with Hamas in terms of how that is going to go?
COHEN: Well, he has started his meetings with Hamas and it seems that there's a somewhat different attitude of Hamas because they understand two things that are different from what they had before. The first thing is that they knew that as long as Yasser Arafat was the leader there was no chance that they would come to play any serious political role in the Palestinian structure, and they know that with Abu Mazen, he's not the kind of dominant figure against which they would have to struggle in order to participate in elections or otherwise become part of the system if they decided to do so.
The second thing that's different is that they are beginning to understand that Abu Mazen is talking to them about a very different American attitude towards intervening in this process and getting things going in a strong way, and I think there's also going to be a somewhat different attitude in terms of Egypt bringing the Palestinian groups together in Cairo.
I would say that what you have here is that the president this week, not only did he reach out and call Abu Mazen, thus shocking the system that seemed to be in waiting for when Sharon would decide to go to Washington, he simply wouldn't wait for that.
But also, the president was talking to many Arab leaders. Some came to visit him. Some he talked to on the phone. And, I think that what we have here is a breakthrough not only because of the decision of the president to talk to Israelis and Palestinians and tell them that he's serious about going forward/.
But also because the Arabs are engaged and the Arabs have all said to him when he thought they were coming to simply congratulate him on Iraq, they all said to him the key issue is to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Get it going and now he's saying to them he's getting it going.
AMANPOUR: Well, to follow up on that, clearly the Arab leaders, the allies of the United States have made that a very definite quid pro quo, whatever you like to call it. That's the price of them supporting the Iraq war. Britain has said it as well. The whole Middle East peace process is so important overseas.
The question many have and are still asking, and I've been talking to Arab leaders, is will the president of the United States use all the political power he's accrued certainly by, you know, dismissing the Israeli enemy in terms of Iraq, use that political power also to pressure the Israeli government as much as they have done the Palestinians?
And people question whether that might or might not happen during an election year with an important constituency in the United States, what do you think about that?
COHEN: Well, Christiane, I think we've seen the answer to that beginning to emerge this week. Sharon tried to give the president the brush off by not coming to Washington and the president simply didn't wait for him to make a decision.
He then got on the phone with Abu Mazen, had a real substantive talk with him, summoned each of the parties to send a delegate to talk to him in Washington, met for the first time face-to-face with one of the cabinet members of the Palestinians and then made sure that it was very clear to both sides, not only that he wants them to say yes and to say yes officially, but he wants also to come out to the region, to meet with them, to meet with the Arabs. This is a president who's saying I'm involved. This is my priority now. Get going with me.
AMANPOUR: Dr. Cohen thank you very much, and this is really interesting, and obviously we're going to be following it and watching it so closely.
And coming up on NEWSNIGHT, SARS is back in the headlines as new suspected cases are discovered in Canada.
And, an American doctor who may have got the illness in Taiwan heads home to the United States.
This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: We often hear stories about first response teams who rush to wars and crisis zones, people who are willing to put themselves in danger to help or protect others. This is a story about one of those people in another war against an elusive enemy, the war against SARS. It involves an American doctor, who, like many doctors and nurses before him in Asia, may have become a victim of the disease himself.
Reporting from Taiwan, here's CNN's Mike Chinoy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Covered in protective clothing from head to toe, a U.S. doctor helping Taiwan fight SARS, himself now a possible SARS victim, leaves a Taipei isolation ward, Chesley Richards (ph) of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control boarding an ambulance heading to the airport, where a special plane was waiting to fly him for treatment in Atlanta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a sobering situation for all of us. And as we've been saying from the very beginning, SARS is a problem for everyone, not just people in Asia.
CHINOY: As the hotel where Richards stayed was disinfected, the fact that an expert in hospital infection control may himself have been infected while visiting SARS wards here has dealt a new blow to Taiwan's increasingly desperate battle against the disease. The latest figures show 55 probable new cases in the past day, nearly two thirds of them in the greater Taipei area, and 116 new notified cases -- that is, doctors advising the health authorities of patients showing SARS-like symptoms.
Meanwhile, health experts and diplomats here are becoming increasingly frustrated by what they describe as the continuing confused and unfocused response of the Taiwan authorities, especially lapses in hospital infection control, in tracing the contacts of SARS patients and the lack of a strong central authority to manage the outbreak. One result: mixed signals to an already frightened populace, the latest example a health department edict earlier this week restricting sales of over-the-counter cold and fever medicines, ostensibly to prevent people from concealing SARS symptoms.
"I can't detain these patients or control their movements," says this exasperated pharmacist. "You can get a headache from the wind or from lack of sleep," says this woman. "If you can't buy headache medicine, what are you going to do?"
Now, as medical experts insisted the move had no value in combating SARS, the health department has reversed itself, saying drug stores can sell such remedies, but only after asking customers why they want to buy them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHINOY: Despite the confusion and the bad news, Taiwanese authorities insist they are making some headway in controlling the disease. But given the time lag between infection and the onset of symptoms, which is normally about 10 days, it's likely to be another week or two before the numbers will indicate whether things are, in fact, getting better -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Mike, what was -- what was the attitude of the Taiwanese authorities? We know a lot about what happened in China. There was a lot of denial. How did they sort of attack it, if you like, where you are?
CHINOY: Well, the irony here is that China's problems were the result of an authoritarian political system where all information was kept secret. To some degree, Taiwan's problems are the result of the fact that this is a wide-open, free-wheeling democracy only a dozen years removed from living under an authoritarian political system. One result is that the central government is very weak. It's run by a former human rights campaigner who used to lead the opposition party. And quite frankly, he hasn't been able to wield his weight.
One health official says, in many ways, democracy is a bad system for managing SARS because you have to impose constraints on people's behavior. People here in Taiwan have a culture where they don't like to listen to the authorities. They don't like to be bossed around. And so the political system has contributed to the spread of the disease here, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Mike, fascinating. And there was good news today for Hong Kong and the province of Guangdong in southern China, where SARS was first reported. The World Health Organization today removed its travel warnings from those two places. The warning stands, however, for Beijing, where our guest is tonight, Matt Forney, the Baghdad bureau chief for "Time" magazine. He's been looking at whether SARS will force a broader political change within the Chinese government.
So Matt, will it?
MATT FORNEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Hello?
AMANPOUR: Can you hear me, Matt Forney?
FORNEY: You know, I can. It's interesting. When -- when SARS first hit, there was a question. What would this mean for the legitimacy of the Communist Party in the eyes of ordinary Chinese? It was clearly the biggest domestic crisis since the 1989 Tiananmen uprising. And legitimacy's a serious issue here, especially regarding a disaster like this. The Communist Party well knows that one of the factors that led to the fall of the Soviet Union was the cover-up of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. So after the initial cover-up here in China, the government has, in fact, been much more transparent than it has been on most domestic events. It's encouraged the media to report more openly. It's sacked a couple of fairly senior officials who were responsible for the cover-up -- not the top officials who may have known about it. But still, many Chinese see that as a significant move. News conferences about SARS are being broadcast live, and journalists are asking tough questions in front of -- in front of all of China.
Now, there's a sense among ordinary Chinese, I think, that China's moving in the right direction. It's not the Soviet Union in the late 1980s that needed a fundamental change. What they want to do is push China's reforms faster, and I think SARS will give them a lever to do that. People who advocate political -- legal reforms, people who would like more freedom of speech and expression -- they will try to take advantage of this. And I think there's reason to believe that China's leadership, which is empowered by this new sense of perhaps legitimacy that they -- that ordinary Chinese people are willing to bequeath upon them, will allow this to happen slowly. Nothing radical, but there's a sense that, actually, the end result of SARS politically in China could be positive.
AMANPOUR: Matt, from the political to the medical. What do we know now about the actual cause of this? We're reading little tidbits about a little animal that may have been the cause of spreading this infection.
FORNEY: There's a group of scientists in Hong Kong who have identified a SARS virus which looks like the human SARS virus in an animal called the civet cat. this is interesting and possibly very important in stemming SARS at its source. Here in China, people in the -- even here in China, people in the south are known for their dietary habits. They eat wildlife. They eat pretty much anything. When you walk past restaurants in Guangjoe (ph) and in Guangdong province, where this disease began, they've got cages with pangolins (ph), porcupines, and often an animal called a civet cat, which looks something like a raccoon without its mask. It's common in soups as a substitute ingredient for tigers because tigers are less available than they used to be.
Now, if it is, in fact, the civet cat which carries this disease and spread it first to restaurant workers, who are believed to be the first victims of SARS in China, then it may be possible to go back and -- and stem this disease at its source. That may mean better handling of these animals, removing them from the menus. It may mean destroying the animals. No one's gone as far as to -- as to see what may come next. But it is positive that they seem to have identified the source animal of the virus.
AMANPOUR: Matt Forney in Beijing thank you so much for joining us. And we will have more on the SARS situation when we continue.
Fears of a setback in Toronto. New suspected cases are discovered in Canada. This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: A story now about Toronto, the place hit hardest by SARS outside Asia. There was bad news for Toronto today from the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC reinstated its travel alert for Toronto because of a cluster of new probable cases. That alert had been lifted just a few days ago. An alert doesn't advise against travel, it's meant to inform travelers about a health concern and ways to reduce the risk of exposure.
More now on the SARS situation in Canada with Dr. Paul Gully. He's the head of Canada's public health office, and he's in Ottawa tonight.
Dr. Gully, thank you so much for joining us. To what do you ascribe this sudden jump, perhaps, in the new cases of SARS?
DR. PAUL GULLY, HEALTH CANADA: Well, as of yesterday, we had just eight of our probable cases remaining in hospital. And now we find a number of cases, possibly, in patients in two institutions. What we have to do is investigate this very thoroughly to find out the link between these possible cases -- and we haven't confirmed them yet -- these possible cases and the previous cases because we think there will be a link found. So we've got to learn what that link is. But it is, obviously, a concern, a concern for the patients in those hospitals, concern for health care workers, concern for those people who would be asked to go into isolation.
AMANPOUR: So you've seen how Asia has dealt with it. There's been, on the one hand, denial in China, and on the other hand, sort of a robust dealing with it in other places. It's sort of peaked and sort of troughed now in that part of the world. Do you expect a similar pattern in Canada?
GULLY: Well, obviously, we're concerned with what has happened because, certainly, we didn't expect it. However, it is important to realize, again, this is hospital-based transmission. And throughout the world, sick people go to hospitals, and therefore, they're most at risk of either getting the disease in hospital or transferring it to health care workers. It was controlled in Canada before, and we feel that it can be controlled again. So certainly, in terms of a travel alert, the CDC travel alert, Toronto is still a safe place to be, but we will be putting all our energy into investigating the precise situation in which these individuals may -- may -- have got SARS.
AMANPOUR: Just to be clear, have you had fatalities in Canada?
GULLY: We've had 23 fatalities so far out of the 140 probable cases. Now, because most of the infections in Canada were in hospital, older people got the infection, those who were sick from other diseases before, primarily older people who have, unfortunately, succumbed from this disease.
AMANPOUR: And you trace it specifically from travelers coming from Asia?
GULLY: All the cases -- all the cases in Toronto, apart from one other imported case, can be traced back to the original person who arrived from the Metropolitan Hotel in Hong Kong, became sick, and died at home. And so after that point, there have been no further cases as resulting from importation. So it is possible to link them all through. This is why we think that it should be possible, if these people turn out to be cases, to link them back somehow.
But where that link was, and why there's been a gap in terms of identifying cases, we'll have to identify that very quickly because it will be important in terms of giving that information to other agencies, particularly the World Health Organization.
AMANPOUR: Dr. Gully, thank you so much for joining us from us Canada tonight.
GULLY: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: And as NEWSNIGHT continues from London: Baghdad's books, thought to be lost, turn up safe in a nearby mosque. That and more in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: We begin our quick look at some stories from around the world with an unusual item from Baghdad, unusual because it's about treasures not lost, but found. It was reported today that the imam of a local mosque, together with some followers, saved thousands of priceless books and manuscripts from the Baghdad national library during the ruinous looting there last month. The books, which were hidden in the mosque for safekeeping by men who faced bullets and chaos to spirit them away, represent perhaps a third of the contents of the national library.
And in Canada, just six days before the 50th anniversary of the first conquest of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (ph), another Sherpa today set a record for the fastest ascent up the world's tallest mountain. Pember Dorge (ph) went from the base camp to Everest summit in 12 hours and 45 minutes.
And some stories from around the U.S. tonight, beginning in Maryland, where there was an enormous traffic wreck today. Two people were killed and nearly 100 injured after dozens of cars were involved in a series of accidents on a fog-covered highway, Interstate 68.
And more than 6,000 sailors and Marines returned home today from the war in Iraq. The USS Harry Truman arrived at Pier 14 in Norfolk, Virginia, and was met by thousands of relatives and friends. The carrier had been away since last December. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT this Friday: Finally, the big story of the day, which is just how did Annika Sorenstam do against the men? This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: In terms of high-level support, Annika Sorenstam did very well. She had the American president rooting for her. As she began a second round of competing with the men of the PGA in Texas, President Bush said, "I hope she makes the cut. I'll be pulling for her." Sadly, it wasn't to be. But her place in the game's history is assured. More on her second and final day of play from CNN's Josie Karp.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARP (voice-over): Over two days, with good shots and bad ones, hugs and tears, Annika Sorenstam made her point, even if she did not score well enough to stay.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM, GOLF: I'm living a dream that I want to live, and I'm doing what I want to do.
KARP: A mid-round bogey spree on Friday. In short, Sorenstam would not make the cut. Her two-round score of 145 beat only 11 men. Yet when she delivered a putt to save par on 18, the crowd responded to Sorenstam the way they would to a champion on Sunday.
SORENSTAM: You know, why the tears come, it's -- I don't know. I didn't want it to end.
KARP: Mostly because of her impressive beginning on Thursday, Sorenstam felt she left a clear impression even on the men who questioned her presence.
SORENSTAM: I've had some guys that have said less positive things come up and tell me that they were proud of me. And for them to come up and say that and -- you know, I admire them for doing that.
KARP: Before she ever took her first shot from the tee at the Colonial, Sorenstam compared the challenge of navigating the course's 7,080 yards to climbing Mount Everest. On her way home after only 36 holes, she measured how far she traveled.
SORENSTAM: I've climbed as high as I can and, you know, it was worth every step of it and -- but like I said, you know, I won't do this again, but I will always remember it. You know, I know where I belong, and I'm going to go back with all the experience that I learned this week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KARP: While Sorenstam did say she is through with the men's tour, she said that she's very eager to get back out on the ladies tour, so eager, in fact, that she plans to play a tournament next week in Chicago. And she talked about everything that she learned. She says she wants to go back and share all that knowledge with her female competitors -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Josie, do you think she'll try this again? And she did mention something about the less than positive things some of the men had said about her. What was the level of support or otherwise for her there?
KARP: Let me address No. 1. She says, no, this is it. This was her one and only try out here on the men's tour, and she doesn't want to do it again. She said, in fact, you know, she knows where she belongs now. She had a great time. She wouldn't trade it for anything. But she wants to go and win majors on the ladies tour.
And then, as far as the level of support, what we saw, at least from the gallery, was really overwhelming. It's one of the things that will stick out most, I'm sure, from everyone who watched her go around the course the last two days, was the level of support from the public. And what we saw from her competitors, the ones who spoke publicly here just these past two days, was that she really made a positive impression. And she maybe didn't show that she belonged out here to them on a regular basis, but she definitely didn't do anything to embarrass herself -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Josie, thanks very much.
And still ahead in the next half hour of NEWSNIGHT, the move to ban guns on the open market in Iraq. And Saddam's son, Uday. Reports of his imminent surrender turn out to be premature.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: There aren't many 10-gallon hats and spurs to be seen on the streets of Baghdad, but in one respect, at least, the place could be Tombstone, Arizona, or Dodge City. As they were in the American Wild West, there are guns everywhere.
But there is, apparently, a plan to try to change that. CNN's Jane Arraf reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a plan aimed at helping stop crimes like this one. This man was shot dead in the Iraqi capital by a carjacker this week, his body left overnight on the pavement.
In the aftermath of the war, with no police and no government, but lots of guns on the street, there's been a wave of shootings.
LT. GEN. DAVID MCKIERNAN, COMMANDER, U.S. GROUND FORCES: As all of you know, this country, in the ensuing 30 years of Saddam Hussein's regime, has become one large ammo and weapons cache. And there's got to be an immediate reduction in the number of weapons in Iraq.
ARRAF: As a start, the U.S. will offer an amnesty within the next two weeks, allowing Iraqis to turn in guns before the weapons become illegal. There would be no more gun markets like this one, where automatic weapons and more are sold in the street, no questions asked.
(on camera): Iraqis would be allowed to keep small arms, but only in their homes and shops. Anyone carrying a gun in the street would need a permit. There would be limits on private armed bodyguards, and militias would be disbanded.
(voice-over): Except in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, where Kurdish fighters provided support for U.S. troops. The regional government there says it needs to retain those weapons.
MCKIERNAN: The Peshmerga are a little different story. The Peshmerga fought with coalition forces during this, and we're looking at leaving them with some of their weapons north of what is now called the freedom line, previously called the green line.
ARRAF: McKiernan and other officials say with more military police in Baghdad, more police stations, and more patrols, security is getting better every day in the capital.
But for most Iraqis unfamiliar with common crime in a city where almost all the violence was committed by the regime, it isn't getting better quickly enough.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And today, there was some tantalizing reports, which were subsequently shot down, that Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, was negotiating his surrender. Coalition forces would certainly love to get their hands on him to find out what he knows about all manner of things. Not long ago, he did talk to CNN's Ben Wedeman, who's in a position to give us some insight into the man, and therefore, perhaps, his situation, perhaps.
Ben is in Kirkuk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ah, yes, Christiane, well, we do know that -- we do believe that Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of the Iraqi president, is somewhere out there, somewhere possibly in Iraq. And as that report mentioned that there is a possibility that he might be negotiating with U.S. authorities to surrender to them.
And there's a very good reason why he would want to surrender to them, because to surrender to his own people, to the Iraqi people, would almost mean certain death. Uday Saddam Hussein is a man widely reviled throughout Iraq. He's somebody seen as a serial rapist, a murderer, somebody who had no mercy and took maximum advantage of his position as the president -- son of the Iraqi president, to basically do whatever he wanted.
He was a very scary man. I interviewed him some time ago. And during that interview, I made the mistake of asking the wrong question. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, March 7, 1997)
WEDEMAN: You're a prominent figure in Iraq. Would it be fair to describe you as the heir apparent to President Saddam Hussein?
UDAY SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): If that was not a question from you, from a foreigner, the person who spoke like that, even as a form of praise, would be questioned or punished. The makeup of the system of government in Iraq is well known. There is a party and there is a hierarchy. The first person is President Saddam Hussein, and the second person is (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: And that gives you an indication of the kind of -- his willingness, the ease with which he really threw out threats that really sent chills throughout the people of Iraq.
This was a man who would not hesitate, and I certainly got the feeling during this interview, with just the flick of an eye, he would just as easily kill you or me or anybody else. And that's why many people here in Iraq would just as well see him dead rather than go through a long process of some sort of war crimes trial with the Americans, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Ben, let me turn to Kirkuk, where you are. There have been all sorts of reports over the last days, weeks, and, indeed, months since the liberation of Iraq that there has been a lot of Kurd- on-Arab violence, sort of ethnic cleansing and basic violence in that region. What is the situation there?
WEDEMAN: Well, actually it's relatively calm at the moment. Over the last week there have been some shooting incidents in which about a dozen people were killed in this city itself, incidents between Arabs and Kurds. Today and the last few days have actually been relatively calm.
Now, one of the reasons for the mounting tension is that today there will be an election of sorts in which 300 community leaders representing the main ethnic groups here, which are the Kurds, the Turks, the Arabs, and also a small Christian minority, will be selecting 24 people to represent the community on a municipal council.
And yesterday, when we came here, for instance, there were U.S. troops have set up checkpoints on the edges of the city looking for weapons, just to prevent any sort of blowup of ethnic tensions.
So -- and one of the real problems here, Christiane, was that during the reign of Saddam Hussein, he instituted what was called the Arabization program, which was to create an Arab majority in this city. And he did this by expelling Turks, expelling Kurds. And when the regime fell, there's been -- since then, there has been a gradual return of those Turkomen, of those Kurds, to the area, and a departure of the Arabs.
But it wasn't -- it isn't really on the scale that anyone expected. The United States has by and large been fairly successful, unlike in Baghdad, in establishing law and order to a certain extent. This achieved with the help of the Kurdish militias that came from the north. So they haven't had the law and order problems they've had in Baghdad.
But certainly there are tensions here. They have not abated. But at the moment, it is relatively quiet, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Ben, just tell me again, why have the U.S. have so much more success in Kirkuk than in Baghdad? And of course there is been that attack against U.S. forces. It may have been a mistaken attack, but nonetheless there were shots fired, I think, over the last week by people describing themselves as farmers.
WEDEMAN: Yes, that incident actually was in a place called al- Hawija (ph), which is about 50 kilometers from here. Now, according to the farmers there, they -- it was a case of mistaken identity. They thought they were -- the Americans were Kurdish troops coming to the area. Those were Arab farmers, and therefore they fought back.
Now, it's not really clear what was behind that. But the real reason for the relative peace and quiet in Kirkuk is that the Kurds came in with the Americans, and they certainly knew what to do. They came with policemen, they came with troops, they came with city administrators, and they really came in and took over the place.
And we were here when the Iraqi troops left. There was one -- about a day and a half of looting, some disorder, but not the sort of the thing that you've seen in Baghdad. Before long, life did get back to a relative state of normalcy. So really, it was the fact that they had -- the American had local allies here who could establish some sort of peace and order, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Ben, thank you. And certainly that's sorely needed in Baghdad.
In diplomacy, there are times when the message can be decisive only by reading between the lines, by dissecting every semantic choice. Then there are the rare times when diplomacy is about as delicate as a sledgehammer.
Late last month, Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked directly whether France would be punished for opposing the U.S., and he was blunt. In a word, he said, yes.
And the continued strain in relations over the Iraq war was evident today in France, when foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrial countries got together ahead of the June summit. And we get that story now from CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Foreign ministers rarely wrap up meetings early, but it may have been an equally rare consensus among them that brought their gathering to a close ahead of schedule. There are virtually no bright spots in the economies of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and few could disagree with France, the summit's host, that stimulating growth should be a priority.
The deep divisions over Iraq seem to be gone but are not entirely forgotten.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have had a serious disagreement in recent months. We're not going to paper over, paper it over and pretend it didn't occur. It did occur. And we're going to work our way through that.
BITTERMANN: Trying to emphasize areas of agreement, France made it clear it was happy to devote summit time to addressing key U.S. agenda points on terrorism, postwar Iraq, and the road map for peace in the Middle East.
DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY: We are looking for solutions for the Middle East and for the peace process. We all do believe that it is very important that everything be tried in order to get forward.
BITTERMANN: But no matter what issues are on the table a week from now, when the G8 heads of state and government gather, commentators say the focus will be on U.S. President George Bush and how much he chooses to reach out to his critics after the victory in Iraq.
PHILIPPE MOREAU-DESFARGES, FRENCH INSTITUTE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: He must be very cautious, very clever, very intelligent. But if he is too aggressive, you know, he's too abrasive, of course, everybody will listen and will say, Well, they are the master of the world, we are going to obey. But it won't create an (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BITTERMANN (on camera): The last time George Bush visited Paris, almost exactly one year ago, critics here portrayed him as something of an innocent abroad. After the war in Iraq, that won't happen this time.
Still, analysts say the way he conducts himself at next week's summit will determine much about the future of relations between the U.S. and its allies during the rest of his term in office.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: As NEWSNIGHT continues, we'll get the latest from Algeria, as the search for survivors and victims of the earthquake goes on.
And we'll go to Cuba, where dissidents are again under attack.
This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) AMANPOUR: More now on the situation in Algeria, and some remarkable rescue stories from the place hit hard by an earthquake earlier this week.
A toddler was lifted from the ruins of her family's home. A 12- year-old girl was pulled alive from the rubble of an apartment building.
But for every miracle like that, there are hundreds more who weren't as lucky.
More now on the situation from CNN's Rym Brahimi, who's in Algiers and joins us now by videophone -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Christiane, indeed, the prime minister held a press conference earlier today to announce the estimates they have of the number of dead so far. It remains at 1,500, but that could go up.
In the area that was hardest hit, the area known as Bumardez (ph), it's a town and also a province, it's about 40 kilometers east of Algiers, well, there are about 80 buildings at least that collapsed totally, and there are some 10,000 people that have been left homeless.
The prime minister was reluctant to give the number of missing people, because he says they're still -- they still want to assess the damage further before they do that.
And now as you mentioned, Christiane, there are happy stories, but the level of devastation is such that there are so many very sad stories. You come across people who just wander about totally lost, looking for their loved ones.
In some areas, they've given up hope already. And although they're not officially calling it retrieve operations, they are in fact using bulldozers rather than sniffer dogs, which means that they're just sifting the rubble to see if there are any bodies.
One miracle story, the one of the 2-year-old toddler, Yustra Hamanish (ph), she was pulled out of rubble by French rescuers, but that's all relative. The six members of her family are still missing, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Rym, you just mentioned those French rescuers. I think you said French. How much help and support has Algeria been receiving from the outside? How well are they equipped to deal with this kind of rescue mission?
BRAHIMI: Well, that's a very good point, Christiane. In terms of international rescue efforts, they have received quite a lot of help, from many countries in Europe, from Russia, from Turkey, and even from neighboring Morocco. As you know, Algeria and Morocco aren't on the best of terms. They've received humanitarian aid.
So that's something that a lot of people have been very, very touched by here in Algeria. That said, a lot of people do complain about the lack of equipment that the local authorities have provided. A lot of people complaining that the response by the authorities wasn't quick enough, that there were delays.
At the press conference, the prime minister was literally grilled by reporters, and he ended up actually apologizing for the delays, saying that they had had to prioritize. That said, a lot of people very suspicious. They say that the government officials only court them when there's an election or when they want to be voted for.
But there's still be -- there's still a lot of praise for local people, just ordinary Algerians, who actually really poured into the areas, just volunteers helping out, seeing if they can do anything. And that's also been very striking in the places that have been hit by the earthquake here, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: All right, Rym, thank you very much.
A great deal has happened in the year since former President Jimmy Carter visited Cuba to show his support for a burgeoning opposition movement there called the Varela Project. The good news is that there seems to be more critical voices than ever on Fidel Castro's island. The bad news is that many and perhaps most of them are now in prison.
CNN's Lucia Newman reports from Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Go to the Internet, and you'll still see new articles written by Cuban opposition journalists living in Cuba.
Also alive, dissidents say, is the Varela Project. Exactly one year ago, the unprecedented petition, calling for sweeping political and economic change in Cuba, became a household word, thanks in part to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: ... con ocedo para uno nombre del Projecto Varela.
NEWMAN: In his historic visit to Cuba, Carter called on the government to publish and openly debate the Varela Project, a petition which, at the time, had already been signed by over 20,000 Cubans, according to its organizers.
Today, almost all the people in this video, who delivered the petition to Cuba's national assembly, are behind bars, sentenced to up to 28 years in prison following a nationwide crackdown on dissidents.
OSWAODO PAYA, VARELA PROJECT ORGANIZER (through translator): Of the 75 people imprisoned, at least 40 were active members or organizers of the Guerrilla (ph) Project's Citizen Committee.
NEWMAN: Paya says Varela Project organizers all over Cuba were targeted to crush the peaceful initiative for change. This government agent, who for years posed as a dissident, says the opposition movement is now finished.
ALEIDA GODINIEZ, GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE AGENT (through translator): The opposition's role in Cuban history is over. There are few of them still left, but they will never raise their heads again.
NEWMAN: Paya acknowledges the recent crackdown has been a hard blow, but insists the Varela Project is still going strong.
PAYA: The majority of those who signed the Varela Project want to continue. In fact, we continue to grow, without giving you too many details. For the first time, government repression has not paralyzed the people.
NEWMAN: Still, with President Fidel Castro vowing to continue cracking down on so-called counterrevolutionary subversives, many do feel intimidated.
ELIZARDO SANCHEZ, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST (through translator): Fear is the common denominator among Cubans right now. I also feel afraid.
NEWMAN: Despite their fear, Sanchez says he and others like him continue speaking out.
(on camera): Fifteen years ago, there were only a handful of dissident activists in Cuba. Today, government opponents say, there are thousands, which, according to observers, means that many more dissidents will have to be imprisoned to silence them.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And NEWSNIGHT continues in a moment with a revolution in art, how a young Iranian girl dealt with the stress of growing up by turning to pictures.
This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: There's been a lot of talk lately about regime change, and tonight, a conversation with a woman trying to change a regime's heart without guns or bombs or the might of an army, but through her cartoon drawings.
Marjane Satrapi grew up in Iran. She joins us this evening from Austin, Texas.
Welcome, Marjane.
Your book really portrays your childhood through cartoons and graphic art. Why did you use cartoons or graphic art to describe your situation?
MARJANE SATRAPI, AUTHOR, "PERSEPOLIS": Well, I wanted to do something that would be accessible to everybody, that everybody could read it and understand it. And here the images about my country, they are so wrong that if I just wrote a book, you know, nobody would have really the idea how it look like.
So I needed to use drawing. And also, you know, that is so many difficult situation in Iran, and that was so many very difficult things that was not so easy to write. So I needed more than words, and I used these picture to describe these situation.
AMANPOUR: What kind of reception have you gotten? You're on a book tour now of the United States. What has the reception been, given the feelings, really, about many Iranians?
SATRAPI: Well, I'm extremely surprised, and I'm very surprised in a very nice way, because I was not sure how my book would be considered at all, or received in America. And the fact is that everybody's extremely curious to have another point of view, because, you know, they are in front of something that is called the axis of evil. I am the axis of evil so far. And they can put really a face on this very abstract concept, and finally they have the feeling that we are not as scary as we look like.
So I think it's a big success for me, because people, they are just getting to know how the Iranian are at all.
AMANPOUR: Well, let me ask you about that, because yourself, you just mentioned it, I'm Iranian. There are many in the United States who try to show that not everybody is the same as a few who may be extremists or others. How much has that motivated you in, A, what you've written and drawn, and B, the conversations you're having in the U.S. now?
SATRAPI: Well, lots of it. I mean, just since I left Iran the first time in 1984 and the second time in 1994, I just was telling and telling the story again and again, just trying to show to people that a government is not representative of the whole population, especially not our government.
And it was just to show them that behind this government, that are individuals living normal life. And if they could live this normal life, they would certainly do it.
And many Iranians are struggling like that inside and outside of the country, and so far right now, I have a voice, I can talk, so I will just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) much as I can.
AMANPOUR: And is your book being published in Iran? Do you have any idea whether anybody has seen it there?
SATRAPI: Oh, yes, I know, because the book first came out in French, and in Iran, that is not so many people that they can read French. But now with this English version, I hope that many more people, they could have access on it, and they can read it. And probably I will make a translation of it in Persian myself and put it on the Web when I will have the time. As soon as I have it like that, everybody can have access to it.
AMANPOUR: What's the key point that you want to make with that book, and now in your trip to America?
SATRAPI: Well, really, the key point is that I just want to -- people -- I just want the people to read this book and to ask themselves twice this -- the question, Who are these people that you are so scared of? Are they so much different from us?
And just to realize that what they call the axis of evil, because this term really has been extremely shocking to me that behind this axis of evil there are people exactly like them, with the same beliefs, with the same hopes, with the same wishes.
And that's it.
AMANPOUR: Marjane, thank you very much indeed. I appreciate that.
And that's NEWSNIGHT for tonight. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London, and I'll see you again on Monday night.
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Map; Sorenstam Misses Cut>
Aired May 23, 2003 - 22:00 Â ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed I'm sitting in for Aaron Brown tonight, so good evening to all of you.
A three-day holiday weekend has begun in both the United States and here in Britain and both places are on high alert for terror and many people are on edge again.
This story came from Manhattan. A crew member aboard a cruise ship found something suspicious in a restroom, something with wires. The U.S. Coast Guard was brought in and passengers were evacuated but there was no terrorist, only a possible peeping Tom. The device was a hidden camera. Authorities here and in the U.S. must be hoping tonight that pranksters will be the biggest threat this weekend but no one's taking any chances.
And so, we begin with the latest on security in the U.S. Jeanne Meserve is following that story tonight -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Holiday travel make you see red, well try mixing in a little orange as in threat level orange. It is not going to be a fun weekend to fly -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Jeanne, thank you.
A major development in the push for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, Kelly Wallace is in Jerusalem with that tonight -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, the Israeli prime minister signals for the first time he can back that Mideast road map paving the way for a possible Mid East summit and perhaps President Bush's biggest leap yet into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: And we'll be watching.
And the story of an American doctor coming back from Taiwan with a suspected case of SARS, Mike Chinoy is in Taipei with that story -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, Taiwan continues to battle what is now the world's fastest growing outbreak of SARS and a U.S. Centers for Disease Control expert on controlling infections in hospitals may have himself been infected and has been flown back to the United States -- Christiane. AMANPOUR: Thank you, Mike.
And the second round for golfer Annika Sorenstam and the question did she make the cut? Josie Karp is at the Colonial Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas -- Josie.
JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Christiane, Annika Sorenstam did not make the cut. She's on her way home but she did make an impression on her male competitors and the thousands and thousands of people who came out to watch her try -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Josie, thank you, and we'll be back with all of those stories in a moment.
Also coming up on NEWSNIGHT, two very different stories involving post-war Iraq, one about efforts to bring desperately needed security trying to get Iraqis to hand over their guns, the other about whether the U.S. and France have patched things up after their diplomatic tussle, apparently not.
Homeland security is not an exclusively American enterprise and Robyn Curnow will look at the fight against terror going on right here in London on high alert for an attack as well.
And, Sheila MacVicar in Saudi Arabia tonight on the attacks there last week that shocked the world and the Saudis themselves, but could it lead to reform in the kingdom?
We begin with efforts to guard against terror as millions of Americans head off for the Memorial Day weekend. Today's travel day came with the usual headaches, the traffic jams, the airport lines, and the train delays.
But with the terror alert now back at orange, driving is a little more stressful, the lines are a little longer, and there are many more uniforms on the beat, the story now from CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): For air travelers a long weekend means long lines, maybe even longer this Memorial Day by threat level orange security measures, parking restrictions, more thorough searches, and more of them.
An estimated quarter of a million people will get all aboard Amtrak before Tuesday. There's no screening of passengers or bags but there is other security.
DAN STESSEL, AMTRAK SPOKESMAN: There are more officers on patrol at any given time but many of the countermeasures that have been initiated are invisible to the traveling public, things like monitoring the infrastructure, key bridges and tunnels and the like.
MESERVE: Washington's Metro Rail System has canceled leave for transit police officers. Other employees are in high visibility orange vests so riders can find them with questions or concerns. Passengers are asked to be vigilant and are given advice on how to stay safe. In New York, National Guardsmen are augmenting police patrols of Penn Station and other transportation hubs.
Security at bridges and tunnels and key interchanges may be apparent to drivers and in some states commercial vehicles will be subject to increased inspections. But for the most part, the biggest headache for drivers will be the sheer number of people on the road, an estimate 29.4 million nationwide.
AAA estimates that air travel is down 2.5 percent from last year. The sour economy is believed to be the principal reason, though concerns about terrorism may be a factor. As for how long we'll be at orange officials say the level of intelligence chatter is still high but otherwise things are "eerily quiet."
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And concerns about terror extend far beyond U.S. borders. Britain is a prime target. It was America's partner in the war in Iraq and one of the nations named in a tape released this week by someone claiming to be Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right- hand man.
That means we're on high alert right here in London as well, just as people in New York and other American cities are. This is a long weekend in Britain too and this is a place where the authorities have a lot of experience in fighting terror.
We get that story now from CNN's Robyn Curnow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn in London and fresh security measures to protect the mother of Parliament, large concrete blocks on the move into place around the palace of Westminster (ph), barriers aimed at preventing a suicide truck bomb crashing into the heart of British democracy.
(on camera): Police say these additional security measures are not in response to any specific terrorist threat. They say they're just precautionary measures in light of events happening around the world in particular the recent suicide bombings in Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
(voice-over): In both cases suicide bombers drove car bombs into buildings a tactic that's led police here to adopt new precautions. These latest attacks though also heightened fears that al Qaeda has regrouped and is again planning to strike western targets but potential targets in London may not be that easy to attack.
ANDREW GARFIELD, SECURITY EXPERT, KING'S COLLEGE: London is amongst the most well-protected cities in the world and that stems as much from the legacy of dealing with the IRA threat for 30 years as it does from recent security measures.
Also that the British public, the Londoners, are more attuned to these types of problems and threats and are more likely to report suspicious activity than perhaps the residents of other cities.
CURNOW: Londoners and tourists alike seem unperturbed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just here to see the sights I guess and it really doesn't bother us at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad to see it actually, you know. I think it's a good measure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear that something might happen but I don't think it will.
CURNOW: For Londoners, like residents of America's big cities, living with the threat of terrorism has become part of everyday life.
Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: For more now on the threat of terror and what law enforcement is doing to guard against it, we're joined by Weldon Kennedy. He's a former deputy director of the FBI and he joins us from Phoenix, Arizona tonight. Thank you for joining us.
Apart from that specific taped warning, do you have any other information possibly on what has raised this terror alert to high right now?
WELDON KENNEDY, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR FBI: None at all Christiane. We've seen various reports from law enforcement authorities to include the director of the FBI who has made reference to the fact that they have no specific threat information for the United States.
But, the fact that there has been increased terrorist activity in the Middle East, that we're coming up on a three-day holiday will there be large gatherings of people all over the United States? And the fact that there's been increased chatter in the intelligence channels about possible terrorist activity led them to prudently raise the threat level to orange.
AMANPOUR: So, you say prudently. Do you think that Americans have perhaps become complacent about the terrorism threat?
KENNEDY: Yes, it's been our finding and my company (unintelligible) recently did a survey where we found unbelievably that no matter about the terrorism that has been occurring in the Middle East, the fact that there has not been a terrorist act, a serious one here in the United States since 9/11 has led some people to lapse into a complacent attitude about security and about what they should do to protect themselves. AMANPOUR: Mr. Kennedy, clearly some very high level officials up and to the president have sort of also indicated or given the impression that "the tide has been turned." That's a direct quote. They've broken the back of this terrorism. Do you think those comments over the last week or so ahead of the Saudi Arabia blast perhaps lulled people into complacency and maybe were unproductive?
KENNEDY: No. We found that complacent attitude existed long before these recent comments. It stems from the fact that we in the United States have not been the subject or the object of a serious terrorist incident here since 9/11 of 2001.
AMANPOUR: And so, do you think that that threat still exists or do you think that the FBI and the other law enforcement, homeland security, have in fact done everything possible to protect the U.S.?
KENNEDY: There's no question, Christiane that the threat still exists. We're seeing very, very significant activity by al Qaeda operatives throughout the Middle East and we know that the United States is a prime target, as well as Britain and Canada are prime targets of al Qaeda. So, there's no question in anyone's mind I believe who's familiar with the subject that there's a very serious threat still existing.
AMANPOUR: So, the perennial question obviously with so often these threats and these different colors, orange and the others and on holidays these happening and sometimes information after the fact being proven to have been untrue or unproven at the time, how do you then energize Americans, if you like, and the whole community to be as vigilant as possible?
KENNEDY: That's a very difficult thing indeed. Unfortunately, most of the people will be going about their business as usual but law enforcement, believe me, in the United States does not have a three- day holiday coming up like most private citizens do.
You will find that they are working around the clock, many additional shifts, overtime and the like, working throughout their jurisdictions to ensure that the people are safe.
AMANPOUR: Mr. Kennedy, finally, isn't there a big report, a congressional report I understand about what happened in the lead-up to September 11 that hasn't been published yet and would you think key lessons be learned, absorbed by the publication of this?
KENNEDY: I would assume so. I don't know about such a report, Christiane, but there have been many inquiries obviously into the intelligence that existed prior to 9/11 and efforts to study how we could improve our ability to coordinate, to exchange information, and improve our readiness to combat any terrorist activity.
AMANPOUR: Weldon Kennedy thank you so much for joining us from Arizona.
KENNEDY: Thank you, Christiane. AMANPOUR: And still on the subject of terrorism, the American Embassy alerted U.S. citizens in Morocco today that Moroccan police have been getting anonymous calls threatening the capital Rabat and other cities with the kind of carnage that was inflicted there last week in Casablanca.
Coordinated suicide attacks on western and Jewish targets killed 29 people and 12 of the 14 bombers who were responsible. A U.S. official told CNN that the new threats do not specify Americans but the embassy statement nonetheless says U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance.
And it's famously true that the eye of the storm is a strangely calm place and Saudi Arabia which has been very much in the eye of the storm since September 11 when it comes to terrorism has been oddly calm.
But for the last week, not since the kind of terrorism they're used to seeing elsewhere hit them at home literally as they were sleeping, they have not been calm. And so what does this mean for an offered blink at Saudi society?
CNN's Sheila MacVicar reports from Riyadh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ali is just two years old. He has 44 stitches, most of them in his head, one of the youngest victims of the triple attacks in Riyadh. His parents are still in shock, still cannot believe the entire family survived that terrible night.
RHYM KAYALI: I remember the moment when the window and the frame came very strong and very suddenly and strong, very strong.
MACVICAR: The Kayali family lived here in a house in the crescent right where the suicide bombers blew up their device at the al-Hamra (ph) compound. They were very lucky.
ABDO SALAAM KAYALI: My neighbor is dead. My right-side neighbor has passed away. The guy from the left side just steps from the house he lost his kids, unbelievable moment, unbelievable.
MACVICAR: Seventy percent of the people who lived here were Arabs and Muslims, many of them Saudis.
(on camera): In the past, many of the victims of terror attacks here were westerners, often U.S. military personnel. Even the involvement of Saudis in 9/11 was largely ignored. Terrorism was something that happened to others and the causes were easy to disregard. The Saudis say there were many people here who had at least some sympathy for the terrorists and their causes.
(voice-over): This time Saudi TV broadcast pictures of the Crown Prince visiting the wounded and it was the sight of Arabs struggling to come to terms with what happened to them which has called revulsion, and from the Saudi middle class launched calls for real change.
RAED QUSTI, RIYADH BUREAU CHIEF, ARAB NEWS: Maybe they have not spoken up before. Maybe they were silent. Maybe they were mute but this has sort of like woken them up from their sleep.
ROBERT JORDAN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SAUDI ARABIA: This is a battleground right now and I think it needs to be treated as such.
MACVICAR: The U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia says he believes the government is now serious about reforms.
JORDAN: I think there will be a very sincere effort on their part with our assistance to the extent they wish it to move forward and to drain the swamp, to eliminate some of these root causes that in the long run are going to be dangerous if not fatal to the society.
MACVICAR: Saudi Arabia's leaders have called this a war. They are talking about changing what is taught in schools and ensuring what is said in the mosques all controlled by the government does not incite or encourage extremists. They have threatened to fire Muslim clerics who preach hatred against the west.
QUSTI: For the first time I can remember, there is now more calls for tolerance than ever before. People, we no longer want to hear in our sermons calls for destruction of Jews and Christians.
MACVICAR: Their biggest enemy, Saudis say now, is time. Deep- rooted reform will not take days or weeks. It may take a generation. Families like the Kayalis have already paid the price for past complacency. The fear, and there is real fear here, is that many more will pay before they win this war.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Riyadh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And, ahead on NEWSNIGHT, forward movement on the Middle East peace process as Israel says it will go along with American guarantees but with conditions. We'll talk with Stephen Cohen of the Israel Policy Forum in a moment. This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Road maps in the real world are not negotiable. The only choice is to follow them or not. People usually don't get to draw their own. But the so-called Middle East road map is another thing entirely. It comes into existence at all only if those who are supposed to use it agree on every bend, every milepost and every marker.
The new Palestinian government accepted it immediately last month and today, after much discussion with the White House, Israel said it would too but only if the U.S. addresses its concerns about the road map.
Kelly Wallace reports on all the wrangling from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): It was only after a carefully negotiated U.S.-Israeli deal that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he is prepared to accept the Mid East road map and seek a cabinet vote on the plan.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He accepted it because I assured him that the United States is committed to Israel's security.
WALLACE: Israeli officials say they told the U.S. that Mr. Sharon could only accept the plan if Israel's concerns were taken into account. The Bush administration in a public statement saying it will fully and seriously address those concerns, then gave Israeli officials the guarantee they say they needed.
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR ADVISER TO P.M. SHARON: There are real concerns and they are shared both by the Israeli government as well as by the U.S. government.
WALLACE: Israel is asking for more than a dozen changes made to the road map and insists on an end to Palestinian terror attacks before Israel should be required to take significant steps such as freezing settlement activity and pulling forces out of Palestinian towns. Observers believe it came down to U.S. pressure on Mr. Sharon that led him to back a plan he has many concerns about.
CHEMI SHALEV, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: He was a bit surprised by the fact that the president is pressuring him to accept the road map and though Prime Minister Sharon doesn't like the road map he likes American pressure even less.
WALLACE: The new Palestinian government is cautiously optimistic.
NABIL AMR, PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF INFORMATION: We consider this Israeli position as a positive step in the right direction. We hope that Israel will shoulder its responsibilities according to this plan.
WALLACE: Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who despite some reservations, has accepted the road map, has demanded Israel's acceptance before taking steps such as trying to reign in radical Palestinian groups responsible for suicide bombings against Israelis.
Now, with Mr. Sharon's announcement analysts believe there will be American pressure on the Palestinian prime minister, widely known as Abu Mazen, to deliver.
SHALEV: We will tell Abu Mazen you demanded that Sharon accept the road map. Now he has and now it's your turn to act.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Both sides say the president's involvement pushed the road map back on track after a wave of suicide bombings and now paves the way for a possible American, Israeli, and Palestinian summit meeting soon, still the major challenge ahead for the American president convincing the Israelis and the Palestinians to take serious steps now to move this process forward -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Kelly, you mentioned about a dozen concerns or reservations that the Israelis have. Do you have any idea, I know they haven't been specifically spelled out, but do you know perhaps a little bit of what those concerns are?
WALLACE: There are a number. One, in particular, the major stumbling block the Israelis say is the right of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes during Middle East wars to return to their homes inside Israel proper.
The Israelis want that to be given up before this road map is going forward. The Palestinians say absolutely not. This should be negotiated towards the end in a final status agreement back in 2005. Right now the guarantee from the Israelis is that the Americans will take this concern and the others into account as they try and move forward with implementation -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Kelly, thank you.
And to talk a bit more about the prospects for progress in the Middle East, we're joined now in Washington by Dr. Stephen Cohen of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development. Dr. Cohen had the opportunity to speak last night with the new Prime Minister of Palestine Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister. Thanks for being with us Dr. Cohen.
DR. STEPHEN P. COHEN, INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT: Thank you very much.
AMANPOUR: So, you heard Kelly Wallace's report and you know all the questions that are being raised by the Israeli side. What did Abu Mazen, or Mahmoud Abbas as he's known, say to you about the optimism or otherwise that he might have about this process now?
COHEN: He was in remarkably good spirits. For a very difficult situation that he's in, he was in remarkably good spirits. He feels that things are moving in a direction that he is happy about because he wants to take on the challenge of ending the violence. He wants to take on the challenge of trying to implement the road map and he feels that President Bush has now really chosen to take the lead in this process.
AMANPOUR: There's a lot of pressure on him obviously because one of the key demands, obviously, is to reign in the militants and the attacks against the innocent. What did he say and what do you think will be the outcome of meetings that he's had with Hamas in terms of how that is going to go?
COHEN: Well, he has started his meetings with Hamas and it seems that there's a somewhat different attitude of Hamas because they understand two things that are different from what they had before. The first thing is that they knew that as long as Yasser Arafat was the leader there was no chance that they would come to play any serious political role in the Palestinian structure, and they know that with Abu Mazen, he's not the kind of dominant figure against which they would have to struggle in order to participate in elections or otherwise become part of the system if they decided to do so.
The second thing that's different is that they are beginning to understand that Abu Mazen is talking to them about a very different American attitude towards intervening in this process and getting things going in a strong way, and I think there's also going to be a somewhat different attitude in terms of Egypt bringing the Palestinian groups together in Cairo.
I would say that what you have here is that the president this week, not only did he reach out and call Abu Mazen, thus shocking the system that seemed to be in waiting for when Sharon would decide to go to Washington, he simply wouldn't wait for that.
But also, the president was talking to many Arab leaders. Some came to visit him. Some he talked to on the phone. And, I think that what we have here is a breakthrough not only because of the decision of the president to talk to Israelis and Palestinians and tell them that he's serious about going forward/.
But also because the Arabs are engaged and the Arabs have all said to him when he thought they were coming to simply congratulate him on Iraq, they all said to him the key issue is to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Get it going and now he's saying to them he's getting it going.
AMANPOUR: Well, to follow up on that, clearly the Arab leaders, the allies of the United States have made that a very definite quid pro quo, whatever you like to call it. That's the price of them supporting the Iraq war. Britain has said it as well. The whole Middle East peace process is so important overseas.
The question many have and are still asking, and I've been talking to Arab leaders, is will the president of the United States use all the political power he's accrued certainly by, you know, dismissing the Israeli enemy in terms of Iraq, use that political power also to pressure the Israeli government as much as they have done the Palestinians?
And people question whether that might or might not happen during an election year with an important constituency in the United States, what do you think about that?
COHEN: Well, Christiane, I think we've seen the answer to that beginning to emerge this week. Sharon tried to give the president the brush off by not coming to Washington and the president simply didn't wait for him to make a decision.
He then got on the phone with Abu Mazen, had a real substantive talk with him, summoned each of the parties to send a delegate to talk to him in Washington, met for the first time face-to-face with one of the cabinet members of the Palestinians and then made sure that it was very clear to both sides, not only that he wants them to say yes and to say yes officially, but he wants also to come out to the region, to meet with them, to meet with the Arabs. This is a president who's saying I'm involved. This is my priority now. Get going with me.
AMANPOUR: Dr. Cohen thank you very much, and this is really interesting, and obviously we're going to be following it and watching it so closely.
And coming up on NEWSNIGHT, SARS is back in the headlines as new suspected cases are discovered in Canada.
And, an American doctor who may have got the illness in Taiwan heads home to the United States.
This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: We often hear stories about first response teams who rush to wars and crisis zones, people who are willing to put themselves in danger to help or protect others. This is a story about one of those people in another war against an elusive enemy, the war against SARS. It involves an American doctor, who, like many doctors and nurses before him in Asia, may have become a victim of the disease himself.
Reporting from Taiwan, here's CNN's Mike Chinoy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Covered in protective clothing from head to toe, a U.S. doctor helping Taiwan fight SARS, himself now a possible SARS victim, leaves a Taipei isolation ward, Chesley Richards (ph) of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control boarding an ambulance heading to the airport, where a special plane was waiting to fly him for treatment in Atlanta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a sobering situation for all of us. And as we've been saying from the very beginning, SARS is a problem for everyone, not just people in Asia.
CHINOY: As the hotel where Richards stayed was disinfected, the fact that an expert in hospital infection control may himself have been infected while visiting SARS wards here has dealt a new blow to Taiwan's increasingly desperate battle against the disease. The latest figures show 55 probable new cases in the past day, nearly two thirds of them in the greater Taipei area, and 116 new notified cases -- that is, doctors advising the health authorities of patients showing SARS-like symptoms.
Meanwhile, health experts and diplomats here are becoming increasingly frustrated by what they describe as the continuing confused and unfocused response of the Taiwan authorities, especially lapses in hospital infection control, in tracing the contacts of SARS patients and the lack of a strong central authority to manage the outbreak. One result: mixed signals to an already frightened populace, the latest example a health department edict earlier this week restricting sales of over-the-counter cold and fever medicines, ostensibly to prevent people from concealing SARS symptoms.
"I can't detain these patients or control their movements," says this exasperated pharmacist. "You can get a headache from the wind or from lack of sleep," says this woman. "If you can't buy headache medicine, what are you going to do?"
Now, as medical experts insisted the move had no value in combating SARS, the health department has reversed itself, saying drug stores can sell such remedies, but only after asking customers why they want to buy them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHINOY: Despite the confusion and the bad news, Taiwanese authorities insist they are making some headway in controlling the disease. But given the time lag between infection and the onset of symptoms, which is normally about 10 days, it's likely to be another week or two before the numbers will indicate whether things are, in fact, getting better -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Mike, what was -- what was the attitude of the Taiwanese authorities? We know a lot about what happened in China. There was a lot of denial. How did they sort of attack it, if you like, where you are?
CHINOY: Well, the irony here is that China's problems were the result of an authoritarian political system where all information was kept secret. To some degree, Taiwan's problems are the result of the fact that this is a wide-open, free-wheeling democracy only a dozen years removed from living under an authoritarian political system. One result is that the central government is very weak. It's run by a former human rights campaigner who used to lead the opposition party. And quite frankly, he hasn't been able to wield his weight.
One health official says, in many ways, democracy is a bad system for managing SARS because you have to impose constraints on people's behavior. People here in Taiwan have a culture where they don't like to listen to the authorities. They don't like to be bossed around. And so the political system has contributed to the spread of the disease here, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Mike, fascinating. And there was good news today for Hong Kong and the province of Guangdong in southern China, where SARS was first reported. The World Health Organization today removed its travel warnings from those two places. The warning stands, however, for Beijing, where our guest is tonight, Matt Forney, the Baghdad bureau chief for "Time" magazine. He's been looking at whether SARS will force a broader political change within the Chinese government.
So Matt, will it?
MATT FORNEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Hello?
AMANPOUR: Can you hear me, Matt Forney?
FORNEY: You know, I can. It's interesting. When -- when SARS first hit, there was a question. What would this mean for the legitimacy of the Communist Party in the eyes of ordinary Chinese? It was clearly the biggest domestic crisis since the 1989 Tiananmen uprising. And legitimacy's a serious issue here, especially regarding a disaster like this. The Communist Party well knows that one of the factors that led to the fall of the Soviet Union was the cover-up of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. So after the initial cover-up here in China, the government has, in fact, been much more transparent than it has been on most domestic events. It's encouraged the media to report more openly. It's sacked a couple of fairly senior officials who were responsible for the cover-up -- not the top officials who may have known about it. But still, many Chinese see that as a significant move. News conferences about SARS are being broadcast live, and journalists are asking tough questions in front of -- in front of all of China.
Now, there's a sense among ordinary Chinese, I think, that China's moving in the right direction. It's not the Soviet Union in the late 1980s that needed a fundamental change. What they want to do is push China's reforms faster, and I think SARS will give them a lever to do that. People who advocate political -- legal reforms, people who would like more freedom of speech and expression -- they will try to take advantage of this. And I think there's reason to believe that China's leadership, which is empowered by this new sense of perhaps legitimacy that they -- that ordinary Chinese people are willing to bequeath upon them, will allow this to happen slowly. Nothing radical, but there's a sense that, actually, the end result of SARS politically in China could be positive.
AMANPOUR: Matt, from the political to the medical. What do we know now about the actual cause of this? We're reading little tidbits about a little animal that may have been the cause of spreading this infection.
FORNEY: There's a group of scientists in Hong Kong who have identified a SARS virus which looks like the human SARS virus in an animal called the civet cat. this is interesting and possibly very important in stemming SARS at its source. Here in China, people in the -- even here in China, people in the south are known for their dietary habits. They eat wildlife. They eat pretty much anything. When you walk past restaurants in Guangjoe (ph) and in Guangdong province, where this disease began, they've got cages with pangolins (ph), porcupines, and often an animal called a civet cat, which looks something like a raccoon without its mask. It's common in soups as a substitute ingredient for tigers because tigers are less available than they used to be.
Now, if it is, in fact, the civet cat which carries this disease and spread it first to restaurant workers, who are believed to be the first victims of SARS in China, then it may be possible to go back and -- and stem this disease at its source. That may mean better handling of these animals, removing them from the menus. It may mean destroying the animals. No one's gone as far as to -- as to see what may come next. But it is positive that they seem to have identified the source animal of the virus.
AMANPOUR: Matt Forney in Beijing thank you so much for joining us. And we will have more on the SARS situation when we continue.
Fears of a setback in Toronto. New suspected cases are discovered in Canada. This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: A story now about Toronto, the place hit hardest by SARS outside Asia. There was bad news for Toronto today from the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC reinstated its travel alert for Toronto because of a cluster of new probable cases. That alert had been lifted just a few days ago. An alert doesn't advise against travel, it's meant to inform travelers about a health concern and ways to reduce the risk of exposure.
More now on the SARS situation in Canada with Dr. Paul Gully. He's the head of Canada's public health office, and he's in Ottawa tonight.
Dr. Gully, thank you so much for joining us. To what do you ascribe this sudden jump, perhaps, in the new cases of SARS?
DR. PAUL GULLY, HEALTH CANADA: Well, as of yesterday, we had just eight of our probable cases remaining in hospital. And now we find a number of cases, possibly, in patients in two institutions. What we have to do is investigate this very thoroughly to find out the link between these possible cases -- and we haven't confirmed them yet -- these possible cases and the previous cases because we think there will be a link found. So we've got to learn what that link is. But it is, obviously, a concern, a concern for the patients in those hospitals, concern for health care workers, concern for those people who would be asked to go into isolation.
AMANPOUR: So you've seen how Asia has dealt with it. There's been, on the one hand, denial in China, and on the other hand, sort of a robust dealing with it in other places. It's sort of peaked and sort of troughed now in that part of the world. Do you expect a similar pattern in Canada?
GULLY: Well, obviously, we're concerned with what has happened because, certainly, we didn't expect it. However, it is important to realize, again, this is hospital-based transmission. And throughout the world, sick people go to hospitals, and therefore, they're most at risk of either getting the disease in hospital or transferring it to health care workers. It was controlled in Canada before, and we feel that it can be controlled again. So certainly, in terms of a travel alert, the CDC travel alert, Toronto is still a safe place to be, but we will be putting all our energy into investigating the precise situation in which these individuals may -- may -- have got SARS.
AMANPOUR: Just to be clear, have you had fatalities in Canada?
GULLY: We've had 23 fatalities so far out of the 140 probable cases. Now, because most of the infections in Canada were in hospital, older people got the infection, those who were sick from other diseases before, primarily older people who have, unfortunately, succumbed from this disease.
AMANPOUR: And you trace it specifically from travelers coming from Asia?
GULLY: All the cases -- all the cases in Toronto, apart from one other imported case, can be traced back to the original person who arrived from the Metropolitan Hotel in Hong Kong, became sick, and died at home. And so after that point, there have been no further cases as resulting from importation. So it is possible to link them all through. This is why we think that it should be possible, if these people turn out to be cases, to link them back somehow.
But where that link was, and why there's been a gap in terms of identifying cases, we'll have to identify that very quickly because it will be important in terms of giving that information to other agencies, particularly the World Health Organization.
AMANPOUR: Dr. Gully, thank you so much for joining us from us Canada tonight.
GULLY: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: And as NEWSNIGHT continues from London: Baghdad's books, thought to be lost, turn up safe in a nearby mosque. That and more in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: We begin our quick look at some stories from around the world with an unusual item from Baghdad, unusual because it's about treasures not lost, but found. It was reported today that the imam of a local mosque, together with some followers, saved thousands of priceless books and manuscripts from the Baghdad national library during the ruinous looting there last month. The books, which were hidden in the mosque for safekeeping by men who faced bullets and chaos to spirit them away, represent perhaps a third of the contents of the national library.
And in Canada, just six days before the 50th anniversary of the first conquest of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (ph), another Sherpa today set a record for the fastest ascent up the world's tallest mountain. Pember Dorge (ph) went from the base camp to Everest summit in 12 hours and 45 minutes.
And some stories from around the U.S. tonight, beginning in Maryland, where there was an enormous traffic wreck today. Two people were killed and nearly 100 injured after dozens of cars were involved in a series of accidents on a fog-covered highway, Interstate 68.
And more than 6,000 sailors and Marines returned home today from the war in Iraq. The USS Harry Truman arrived at Pier 14 in Norfolk, Virginia, and was met by thousands of relatives and friends. The carrier had been away since last December. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT this Friday: Finally, the big story of the day, which is just how did Annika Sorenstam do against the men? This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: In terms of high-level support, Annika Sorenstam did very well. She had the American president rooting for her. As she began a second round of competing with the men of the PGA in Texas, President Bush said, "I hope she makes the cut. I'll be pulling for her." Sadly, it wasn't to be. But her place in the game's history is assured. More on her second and final day of play from CNN's Josie Karp.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARP (voice-over): Over two days, with good shots and bad ones, hugs and tears, Annika Sorenstam made her point, even if she did not score well enough to stay.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM, GOLF: I'm living a dream that I want to live, and I'm doing what I want to do.
KARP: A mid-round bogey spree on Friday. In short, Sorenstam would not make the cut. Her two-round score of 145 beat only 11 men. Yet when she delivered a putt to save par on 18, the crowd responded to Sorenstam the way they would to a champion on Sunday.
SORENSTAM: You know, why the tears come, it's -- I don't know. I didn't want it to end.
KARP: Mostly because of her impressive beginning on Thursday, Sorenstam felt she left a clear impression even on the men who questioned her presence.
SORENSTAM: I've had some guys that have said less positive things come up and tell me that they were proud of me. And for them to come up and say that and -- you know, I admire them for doing that.
KARP: Before she ever took her first shot from the tee at the Colonial, Sorenstam compared the challenge of navigating the course's 7,080 yards to climbing Mount Everest. On her way home after only 36 holes, she measured how far she traveled.
SORENSTAM: I've climbed as high as I can and, you know, it was worth every step of it and -- but like I said, you know, I won't do this again, but I will always remember it. You know, I know where I belong, and I'm going to go back with all the experience that I learned this week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KARP: While Sorenstam did say she is through with the men's tour, she said that she's very eager to get back out on the ladies tour, so eager, in fact, that she plans to play a tournament next week in Chicago. And she talked about everything that she learned. She says she wants to go back and share all that knowledge with her female competitors -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Josie, do you think she'll try this again? And she did mention something about the less than positive things some of the men had said about her. What was the level of support or otherwise for her there?
KARP: Let me address No. 1. She says, no, this is it. This was her one and only try out here on the men's tour, and she doesn't want to do it again. She said, in fact, you know, she knows where she belongs now. She had a great time. She wouldn't trade it for anything. But she wants to go and win majors on the ladies tour.
And then, as far as the level of support, what we saw, at least from the gallery, was really overwhelming. It's one of the things that will stick out most, I'm sure, from everyone who watched her go around the course the last two days, was the level of support from the public. And what we saw from her competitors, the ones who spoke publicly here just these past two days, was that she really made a positive impression. And she maybe didn't show that she belonged out here to them on a regular basis, but she definitely didn't do anything to embarrass herself -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Josie, thanks very much.
And still ahead in the next half hour of NEWSNIGHT, the move to ban guns on the open market in Iraq. And Saddam's son, Uday. Reports of his imminent surrender turn out to be premature.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: There aren't many 10-gallon hats and spurs to be seen on the streets of Baghdad, but in one respect, at least, the place could be Tombstone, Arizona, or Dodge City. As they were in the American Wild West, there are guns everywhere.
But there is, apparently, a plan to try to change that. CNN's Jane Arraf reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a plan aimed at helping stop crimes like this one. This man was shot dead in the Iraqi capital by a carjacker this week, his body left overnight on the pavement.
In the aftermath of the war, with no police and no government, but lots of guns on the street, there's been a wave of shootings.
LT. GEN. DAVID MCKIERNAN, COMMANDER, U.S. GROUND FORCES: As all of you know, this country, in the ensuing 30 years of Saddam Hussein's regime, has become one large ammo and weapons cache. And there's got to be an immediate reduction in the number of weapons in Iraq.
ARRAF: As a start, the U.S. will offer an amnesty within the next two weeks, allowing Iraqis to turn in guns before the weapons become illegal. There would be no more gun markets like this one, where automatic weapons and more are sold in the street, no questions asked.
(on camera): Iraqis would be allowed to keep small arms, but only in their homes and shops. Anyone carrying a gun in the street would need a permit. There would be limits on private armed bodyguards, and militias would be disbanded.
(voice-over): Except in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, where Kurdish fighters provided support for U.S. troops. The regional government there says it needs to retain those weapons.
MCKIERNAN: The Peshmerga are a little different story. The Peshmerga fought with coalition forces during this, and we're looking at leaving them with some of their weapons north of what is now called the freedom line, previously called the green line.
ARRAF: McKiernan and other officials say with more military police in Baghdad, more police stations, and more patrols, security is getting better every day in the capital.
But for most Iraqis unfamiliar with common crime in a city where almost all the violence was committed by the regime, it isn't getting better quickly enough.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And today, there was some tantalizing reports, which were subsequently shot down, that Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, was negotiating his surrender. Coalition forces would certainly love to get their hands on him to find out what he knows about all manner of things. Not long ago, he did talk to CNN's Ben Wedeman, who's in a position to give us some insight into the man, and therefore, perhaps, his situation, perhaps.
Ben is in Kirkuk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ah, yes, Christiane, well, we do know that -- we do believe that Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of the Iraqi president, is somewhere out there, somewhere possibly in Iraq. And as that report mentioned that there is a possibility that he might be negotiating with U.S. authorities to surrender to them.
And there's a very good reason why he would want to surrender to them, because to surrender to his own people, to the Iraqi people, would almost mean certain death. Uday Saddam Hussein is a man widely reviled throughout Iraq. He's somebody seen as a serial rapist, a murderer, somebody who had no mercy and took maximum advantage of his position as the president -- son of the Iraqi president, to basically do whatever he wanted.
He was a very scary man. I interviewed him some time ago. And during that interview, I made the mistake of asking the wrong question. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, March 7, 1997)
WEDEMAN: You're a prominent figure in Iraq. Would it be fair to describe you as the heir apparent to President Saddam Hussein?
UDAY SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): If that was not a question from you, from a foreigner, the person who spoke like that, even as a form of praise, would be questioned or punished. The makeup of the system of government in Iraq is well known. There is a party and there is a hierarchy. The first person is President Saddam Hussein, and the second person is (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: And that gives you an indication of the kind of -- his willingness, the ease with which he really threw out threats that really sent chills throughout the people of Iraq.
This was a man who would not hesitate, and I certainly got the feeling during this interview, with just the flick of an eye, he would just as easily kill you or me or anybody else. And that's why many people here in Iraq would just as well see him dead rather than go through a long process of some sort of war crimes trial with the Americans, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Ben, let me turn to Kirkuk, where you are. There have been all sorts of reports over the last days, weeks, and, indeed, months since the liberation of Iraq that there has been a lot of Kurd- on-Arab violence, sort of ethnic cleansing and basic violence in that region. What is the situation there?
WEDEMAN: Well, actually it's relatively calm at the moment. Over the last week there have been some shooting incidents in which about a dozen people were killed in this city itself, incidents between Arabs and Kurds. Today and the last few days have actually been relatively calm.
Now, one of the reasons for the mounting tension is that today there will be an election of sorts in which 300 community leaders representing the main ethnic groups here, which are the Kurds, the Turks, the Arabs, and also a small Christian minority, will be selecting 24 people to represent the community on a municipal council.
And yesterday, when we came here, for instance, there were U.S. troops have set up checkpoints on the edges of the city looking for weapons, just to prevent any sort of blowup of ethnic tensions.
So -- and one of the real problems here, Christiane, was that during the reign of Saddam Hussein, he instituted what was called the Arabization program, which was to create an Arab majority in this city. And he did this by expelling Turks, expelling Kurds. And when the regime fell, there's been -- since then, there has been a gradual return of those Turkomen, of those Kurds, to the area, and a departure of the Arabs.
But it wasn't -- it isn't really on the scale that anyone expected. The United States has by and large been fairly successful, unlike in Baghdad, in establishing law and order to a certain extent. This achieved with the help of the Kurdish militias that came from the north. So they haven't had the law and order problems they've had in Baghdad.
But certainly there are tensions here. They have not abated. But at the moment, it is relatively quiet, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Ben, just tell me again, why have the U.S. have so much more success in Kirkuk than in Baghdad? And of course there is been that attack against U.S. forces. It may have been a mistaken attack, but nonetheless there were shots fired, I think, over the last week by people describing themselves as farmers.
WEDEMAN: Yes, that incident actually was in a place called al- Hawija (ph), which is about 50 kilometers from here. Now, according to the farmers there, they -- it was a case of mistaken identity. They thought they were -- the Americans were Kurdish troops coming to the area. Those were Arab farmers, and therefore they fought back.
Now, it's not really clear what was behind that. But the real reason for the relative peace and quiet in Kirkuk is that the Kurds came in with the Americans, and they certainly knew what to do. They came with policemen, they came with troops, they came with city administrators, and they really came in and took over the place.
And we were here when the Iraqi troops left. There was one -- about a day and a half of looting, some disorder, but not the sort of the thing that you've seen in Baghdad. Before long, life did get back to a relative state of normalcy. So really, it was the fact that they had -- the American had local allies here who could establish some sort of peace and order, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Ben, thank you. And certainly that's sorely needed in Baghdad.
In diplomacy, there are times when the message can be decisive only by reading between the lines, by dissecting every semantic choice. Then there are the rare times when diplomacy is about as delicate as a sledgehammer.
Late last month, Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked directly whether France would be punished for opposing the U.S., and he was blunt. In a word, he said, yes.
And the continued strain in relations over the Iraq war was evident today in France, when foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrial countries got together ahead of the June summit. And we get that story now from CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Foreign ministers rarely wrap up meetings early, but it may have been an equally rare consensus among them that brought their gathering to a close ahead of schedule. There are virtually no bright spots in the economies of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and few could disagree with France, the summit's host, that stimulating growth should be a priority.
The deep divisions over Iraq seem to be gone but are not entirely forgotten.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have had a serious disagreement in recent months. We're not going to paper over, paper it over and pretend it didn't occur. It did occur. And we're going to work our way through that.
BITTERMANN: Trying to emphasize areas of agreement, France made it clear it was happy to devote summit time to addressing key U.S. agenda points on terrorism, postwar Iraq, and the road map for peace in the Middle East.
DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY: We are looking for solutions for the Middle East and for the peace process. We all do believe that it is very important that everything be tried in order to get forward.
BITTERMANN: But no matter what issues are on the table a week from now, when the G8 heads of state and government gather, commentators say the focus will be on U.S. President George Bush and how much he chooses to reach out to his critics after the victory in Iraq.
PHILIPPE MOREAU-DESFARGES, FRENCH INSTITUTE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: He must be very cautious, very clever, very intelligent. But if he is too aggressive, you know, he's too abrasive, of course, everybody will listen and will say, Well, they are the master of the world, we are going to obey. But it won't create an (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BITTERMANN (on camera): The last time George Bush visited Paris, almost exactly one year ago, critics here portrayed him as something of an innocent abroad. After the war in Iraq, that won't happen this time.
Still, analysts say the way he conducts himself at next week's summit will determine much about the future of relations between the U.S. and its allies during the rest of his term in office.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: As NEWSNIGHT continues, we'll get the latest from Algeria, as the search for survivors and victims of the earthquake goes on.
And we'll go to Cuba, where dissidents are again under attack.
This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) AMANPOUR: More now on the situation in Algeria, and some remarkable rescue stories from the place hit hard by an earthquake earlier this week.
A toddler was lifted from the ruins of her family's home. A 12- year-old girl was pulled alive from the rubble of an apartment building.
But for every miracle like that, there are hundreds more who weren't as lucky.
More now on the situation from CNN's Rym Brahimi, who's in Algiers and joins us now by videophone -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Christiane, indeed, the prime minister held a press conference earlier today to announce the estimates they have of the number of dead so far. It remains at 1,500, but that could go up.
In the area that was hardest hit, the area known as Bumardez (ph), it's a town and also a province, it's about 40 kilometers east of Algiers, well, there are about 80 buildings at least that collapsed totally, and there are some 10,000 people that have been left homeless.
The prime minister was reluctant to give the number of missing people, because he says they're still -- they still want to assess the damage further before they do that.
And now as you mentioned, Christiane, there are happy stories, but the level of devastation is such that there are so many very sad stories. You come across people who just wander about totally lost, looking for their loved ones.
In some areas, they've given up hope already. And although they're not officially calling it retrieve operations, they are in fact using bulldozers rather than sniffer dogs, which means that they're just sifting the rubble to see if there are any bodies.
One miracle story, the one of the 2-year-old toddler, Yustra Hamanish (ph), she was pulled out of rubble by French rescuers, but that's all relative. The six members of her family are still missing, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Rym, you just mentioned those French rescuers. I think you said French. How much help and support has Algeria been receiving from the outside? How well are they equipped to deal with this kind of rescue mission?
BRAHIMI: Well, that's a very good point, Christiane. In terms of international rescue efforts, they have received quite a lot of help, from many countries in Europe, from Russia, from Turkey, and even from neighboring Morocco. As you know, Algeria and Morocco aren't on the best of terms. They've received humanitarian aid.
So that's something that a lot of people have been very, very touched by here in Algeria. That said, a lot of people do complain about the lack of equipment that the local authorities have provided. A lot of people complaining that the response by the authorities wasn't quick enough, that there were delays.
At the press conference, the prime minister was literally grilled by reporters, and he ended up actually apologizing for the delays, saying that they had had to prioritize. That said, a lot of people very suspicious. They say that the government officials only court them when there's an election or when they want to be voted for.
But there's still be -- there's still a lot of praise for local people, just ordinary Algerians, who actually really poured into the areas, just volunteers helping out, seeing if they can do anything. And that's also been very striking in the places that have been hit by the earthquake here, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: All right, Rym, thank you very much.
A great deal has happened in the year since former President Jimmy Carter visited Cuba to show his support for a burgeoning opposition movement there called the Varela Project. The good news is that there seems to be more critical voices than ever on Fidel Castro's island. The bad news is that many and perhaps most of them are now in prison.
CNN's Lucia Newman reports from Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Go to the Internet, and you'll still see new articles written by Cuban opposition journalists living in Cuba.
Also alive, dissidents say, is the Varela Project. Exactly one year ago, the unprecedented petition, calling for sweeping political and economic change in Cuba, became a household word, thanks in part to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: ... con ocedo para uno nombre del Projecto Varela.
NEWMAN: In his historic visit to Cuba, Carter called on the government to publish and openly debate the Varela Project, a petition which, at the time, had already been signed by over 20,000 Cubans, according to its organizers.
Today, almost all the people in this video, who delivered the petition to Cuba's national assembly, are behind bars, sentenced to up to 28 years in prison following a nationwide crackdown on dissidents.
OSWAODO PAYA, VARELA PROJECT ORGANIZER (through translator): Of the 75 people imprisoned, at least 40 were active members or organizers of the Guerrilla (ph) Project's Citizen Committee.
NEWMAN: Paya says Varela Project organizers all over Cuba were targeted to crush the peaceful initiative for change. This government agent, who for years posed as a dissident, says the opposition movement is now finished.
ALEIDA GODINIEZ, GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE AGENT (through translator): The opposition's role in Cuban history is over. There are few of them still left, but they will never raise their heads again.
NEWMAN: Paya acknowledges the recent crackdown has been a hard blow, but insists the Varela Project is still going strong.
PAYA: The majority of those who signed the Varela Project want to continue. In fact, we continue to grow, without giving you too many details. For the first time, government repression has not paralyzed the people.
NEWMAN: Still, with President Fidel Castro vowing to continue cracking down on so-called counterrevolutionary subversives, many do feel intimidated.
ELIZARDO SANCHEZ, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST (through translator): Fear is the common denominator among Cubans right now. I also feel afraid.
NEWMAN: Despite their fear, Sanchez says he and others like him continue speaking out.
(on camera): Fifteen years ago, there were only a handful of dissident activists in Cuba. Today, government opponents say, there are thousands, which, according to observers, means that many more dissidents will have to be imprisoned to silence them.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And NEWSNIGHT continues in a moment with a revolution in art, how a young Iranian girl dealt with the stress of growing up by turning to pictures.
This is NEWSNIGHT in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: There's been a lot of talk lately about regime change, and tonight, a conversation with a woman trying to change a regime's heart without guns or bombs or the might of an army, but through her cartoon drawings.
Marjane Satrapi grew up in Iran. She joins us this evening from Austin, Texas.
Welcome, Marjane.
Your book really portrays your childhood through cartoons and graphic art. Why did you use cartoons or graphic art to describe your situation?
MARJANE SATRAPI, AUTHOR, "PERSEPOLIS": Well, I wanted to do something that would be accessible to everybody, that everybody could read it and understand it. And here the images about my country, they are so wrong that if I just wrote a book, you know, nobody would have really the idea how it look like.
So I needed to use drawing. And also, you know, that is so many difficult situation in Iran, and that was so many very difficult things that was not so easy to write. So I needed more than words, and I used these picture to describe these situation.
AMANPOUR: What kind of reception have you gotten? You're on a book tour now of the United States. What has the reception been, given the feelings, really, about many Iranians?
SATRAPI: Well, I'm extremely surprised, and I'm very surprised in a very nice way, because I was not sure how my book would be considered at all, or received in America. And the fact is that everybody's extremely curious to have another point of view, because, you know, they are in front of something that is called the axis of evil. I am the axis of evil so far. And they can put really a face on this very abstract concept, and finally they have the feeling that we are not as scary as we look like.
So I think it's a big success for me, because people, they are just getting to know how the Iranian are at all.
AMANPOUR: Well, let me ask you about that, because yourself, you just mentioned it, I'm Iranian. There are many in the United States who try to show that not everybody is the same as a few who may be extremists or others. How much has that motivated you in, A, what you've written and drawn, and B, the conversations you're having in the U.S. now?
SATRAPI: Well, lots of it. I mean, just since I left Iran the first time in 1984 and the second time in 1994, I just was telling and telling the story again and again, just trying to show to people that a government is not representative of the whole population, especially not our government.
And it was just to show them that behind this government, that are individuals living normal life. And if they could live this normal life, they would certainly do it.
And many Iranians are struggling like that inside and outside of the country, and so far right now, I have a voice, I can talk, so I will just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) much as I can.
AMANPOUR: And is your book being published in Iran? Do you have any idea whether anybody has seen it there?
SATRAPI: Oh, yes, I know, because the book first came out in French, and in Iran, that is not so many people that they can read French. But now with this English version, I hope that many more people, they could have access on it, and they can read it. And probably I will make a translation of it in Persian myself and put it on the Web when I will have the time. As soon as I have it like that, everybody can have access to it.
AMANPOUR: What's the key point that you want to make with that book, and now in your trip to America?
SATRAPI: Well, really, the key point is that I just want to -- people -- I just want the people to read this book and to ask themselves twice this -- the question, Who are these people that you are so scared of? Are they so much different from us?
And just to realize that what they call the axis of evil, because this term really has been extremely shocking to me that behind this axis of evil there are people exactly like them, with the same beliefs, with the same hopes, with the same wishes.
And that's it.
AMANPOUR: Marjane, thank you very much indeed. I appreciate that.
And that's NEWSNIGHT for tonight. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London, and I'll see you again on Monday night.
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Map; Sorenstam Misses Cut>
