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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Special Report: Iraq Votes

Aired January 30, 2005 - 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.


AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone. A page of history was written today. A country spoke. There are, of course, plenty of disclaimers. It was but one page. There was still deadly violence.
There are considerable challenges and plenty of unanswered questions ahead. But those are just the disclaimers. They aren't the lead. The lead is clear. Whatever the final numbers turn out to be, and whoever the winners are, Iraqis in large numbers braved threats in their own history and voted freely for the first time in more than half a century. In truth, it doesn't get much better than that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): On their fingers, in their feet, on their faces, a different kind of election day in Iraq.

"I remember elections under Saddam Hussein," says Oday. When I came to vote, I found my ballot was already checked yes."

BROWN: No civics lesson needed. In Iraq, the reasons to vote are as close as kin and as pressing as redemption.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of Iraq have spoken to the world. And the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East.

BROWN: Welcome news for a change, but far from the last word in Iraq. So where do things go from here? We talk with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel.

And always, a reminder of the price paid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, every single red color in this flag means the blood of my son. This is not for free. We paid for this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So that and more in the hour ahead. Our special report begins tonight with a very simple notion. Iraqis wanted to vote. Not all, not everywhere, not in total safety, nor with perfect knowledge of whom they were choosing or what they'd be getting, but plenty did vote. Later, we'll raise the knotty question of just how far plenty actually gets Iraq and the United States down the road.

First though, the shake of the day. And for that, we turn first to CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who is in Baghdad. Christiane, good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And we started looking at this day virtually 24 hours ago. In the early hours of the voting, it was very, very thin trickle of people. We heard explosions. We know that eight suicide bombers detonated their vests in Baghdad. We know that some people were killed and many more were wounded.

But today, even though this is the most dangerous election ever held in modern memory, today, really, from what we saw, it was the triumph of the will of the people who simply refused to give in to intimidation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): This is the day Iraqis thought they would never live to see. For more than half a century, no one has had this simple right.

"I remember elections under Saddam Hussein," says Oday. "When I came to vote, I found my ballot was already checked yes."

That was then. Today, under unprecedented security, Iraqis flow steadily to cast their first free vote, walking sometimes for miles to the polls. Many in this Karada (ph) neighborhood told us that they heard explosions as they got dressed this morning, but they came anyway.

"We've been waiting for this day for years," says Mina. "These are elections where we can vote with all our hearts."

Her husband Hadi says, "This is an important step for the future of my family. We haven't had this opportunity before."

(on camera): Behind me, you can see people being searched before they enter the polling station. And they get searched several times before they can actually cast their ballot.

While we've been here these several hours, we've heard explosions, but only in the distance.

(voice-over): While suicide bombers and mortars have caused casualties, not enough to deter the voting. Iraqi police and soldiers deployed at major intersections faced the biggest test of their fledgling force. These troops will not reveal their names or their faces, but they will say they are happy.

"We hope this election will succeed," says this soldier. "And that we'll have a new era of democracy, freedom, and security."

It's a major milestone for U.S. forces, too.

COL. MIKE MURRAY, FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION: Really the hard part for us has already taken place. Over the last two weeks, we've been working very closely with both the Iraqi police and the Iraqi national guard to make sure they're set, hardening all the polling sites, getting better material in place for them.

AMANPOUR: These women walked by after voting and raised their hands to Colonel Murray's men. "We pray for you, we pray for you," this old woman thanks them.

Inside, election workers who have seen their colleagues killed and have endured constant threats in the run-up to this day, they can hardly contain their joy.

"I can't describe it," says Zena. "I'm extremely happy today. I feel like I'm being reborn, that's how I feel."

A new lease on life for them and future generations. A man comes out and shows us his ink stained finger and his infant son's, too.

He can't vote. He's too little.

But his father tells us this is a badge of pride. One day, say these parents, their children will read about this in their history books. And they'll learn what they were doing here, what sacrifice, what bravery, what sheer will it took just to cast a ballot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So that was Baghdad. We don't yet know the full turnout. We think, from what we've been hearing from our correspondents and others, that it was high in the Kurdish north, that it was high in the Shi'ite south. But in the central Sunni heartland, it was quite low. But yet, we're still waiting.

We have now an impression, a roster of impressions from around this country on voting day, starting with Jane Arraf in Baquba.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This voting day began and ended with explosions. A steady stream of people came to this schoolhouse. In fact, more than 1,400 of them. So many of them, that the election worker handing out the ballots and stamping them told us he had calluses on his fingers from doing that work.

One of the last people in here who came just after the polls officially closed was absolutely distraught when they told him that he couldn't cast the vote. He was born in 1924. In the end, they let him.

Now in other places in Baquba and the heart of the Sunni Triangle, election workers were intimidated into not coming. Perhaps one-third of the polling stations in this region did not function because they didn't have enough workers.

But here, the workers showed up. The Iraqi police showed up. The army showed up voting at the end and keeping this place secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIET BREMNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been down to the polling stations this morning. There are large numbers. We saw them being checked in a very orderly fashion by the security, by the police and the army. They made their way into the polling stations. Queues for women and separate queues for men, hundreds of them waiting to cast their ballot.

And they said that this was a day that they had longed for. It was one that they were determined to come to, regardless of the threats and the intimidation. They wanted to cast their vote because they, the Shia people down here in Basra, have had decades of repression under Saddam Hussein. And this is their day of freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, voting in the early part of the day was quite brisk. People we talked to were very excited about the fact that they did get to vote. One man said he'd waited 40 years for this opportunity. Another lady described it as being a celebration, a good day for her she said, and a very good day for the Kurds.

Towards the end of the day, the voting tailed off. And election officials -- the election station we were at told us that they used about a three-quarters of the election, the voting ballot papers there. And they said that was an indication that there'd been quite a good, quite a high turnout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So that was Kurdistan, which is really been under U.S. protection for the last 15 years. And people have been voting, as you heard, in that report.

We're waiting to know the results. The counting is underway, but it'll be several days before we know who was the winner -- Aaron?

BROWN: Christiane, thank you. And there are a lot of heroes on this day. The Americans -- the American soldiers on the ground.

One hero gets very little mention is the Shia leader, the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, who at every point in the process, insisted this election go forward, no matter what was going on in the country, no matter what the Americans wanted, the coalition wanted. The Ayatollah al-Sistani said no, going to have an election as soon as possible. And he got his election today. We'll know the results in a while.

For British forces, all of today's good news was overshadowed once again by tragedy. An RAF C-130 transport plane went down today, north of Baghdad. At least 10 British troops died, perhaps as many as 15. No word yet on the cause, only the effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Yet again today, we see the sacrifice that they make. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives earlier today. They can be so proud of what their loved ones accomplished. This country and the wider world will never forget them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Casualties today come in addition to the 76 troops who have died in Iraq since the war began.

In dozens of different ways, we've heard Iraqis describe today's elections as a step toward a better future. For many Iraqis voting today was also a way to give meaning to loss.

In that sense, as much about the past as the future. CNN's Anderson Cooper joins us now from Baghdad.

Anderson, good morning to you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Aaron.

This election was not free of course. It has been paid for with the blood of many people. British soldiers today in that Hercules crash. American soldiers, of course, and most of all, Iraqis -- Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians, men, women, and especially children. There have been so many children killed in this conflict over the years. And it is that bloodshed, it is to honor that bloodshed -- that brought a desire to honor that bloodshed I should say -- that brought many Iraqis to the polls today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): In a rundown Baghdad playground, Jalal Da Air (ph) plays with his 11-year old son, Kassim. Nearby still visible, a crater made by a car bomb that killed his youngest boy.

Even in this city used to slaughter, the attack this September was shocking. At least 34 children were killed when two suicide car bombers struck a party celebrating progress, the opening of a sewage plant. U.S. soldiers had given out candy. A crowd of kids had gathered.

"A car bomb exploded," says 11-year old Kassim. "I rushed to get my brother and then the second bomb went off. I was hit on my leg and fell to the ground."

In the mayhem, Kassim couldn't find his little brother Akram. "He went to the hospital," he says, but he's unable to say anymore.

Akram was killed on the scene. He was only nine-years old.

"The candle of my life was blown out," his mother says. "May God take revenge on those responsible for killing my son."

His mother still keeps the clothes she bought Akram for school. "He asked for a suit," his father Jalal says. "I bought him this one. He didn't live to wear it."

Kassim clutches the teddy bear his brother loved. "Every morning," his father says, "he would kiss me here when he woke up."

Like many families in this neighborhood who lost their children in the September attack, their sadness and anger has turned to resolve.

"Defiantly, I will vote," says Akram's mother. "All of us will because we want the situation to settle down. We cannot go on living like this."

Hussein Abdul Rakman was also killed in the September attack. His brother was also determined to vote. "In Saddam's days, they used to sing we put our hearts in the voting box. Now I say we're not putting our hearts, but we're putting our whole future in these boxes."

Wesam al Suraji has no future. He too died in September. "God willing," his father Falak says, "I'll be the first to vote in the elections."

In this hard hit Baghdad neighborhood, Iraqi families voting, united in grief, determined that their children's deaths will not be in vain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And of course, there has been so much loss, so much sacrifice over the years in this country. Today, a celebration, but also a day of remembering, remembering those losses, Aaron.

BROWN: Anderson, Christiane, we'll get back to you later in the program to talk about the days coming up. Thank you for your work today.

History, it is fair to say, has many authors. And today's elections in Iraq, no exception. Many of those who worked hard and fearlessly to make today happen did not live to see it. Some had no particular reason to be part of the story, but were there because they believed that individuals can make a difference.

Such a story now from CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fern Holland loved riding horses around Oklahoma, just as she loved working in the courtroom. Five years ago, her law career was taking off.

JIM GREEN, FERN HOLLAND'S FRIEND: Once she got her eye on the goal, she didn't quit until she got there. She was very dogged in her efforts.

LAVANDERA: But Fern Holland's sister says her passion had nothing to do with a lucrative law career. VI HOLLAND, FERN HOLLAND'S SISTER: She believed that all people deserved basic human rights, and that one person really can make a difference in the lives of others.

LAVANDERA: To prove that, she quit the law firm and joined the Peace Corps, posted to West Africa. But a year after the coalition invaded Iraq, Holland volunteered for a new assignment, trying to heal a shattered country.

JAMES HOLLAND, FERN HOLLAND'S BROTHER: She saw a need for oppressed people and oppressed women. And she went where there was a need.

LAVANDERA: And for Fern Holland, the experience was a personal journey into the darkest recesses of Saddam Hussein's regime. Investigating war crimes, she discovered mass graves in southern Iraq. Holland interviewed three men who survived the executions. She wrote in a report by digging themselves out of their graves.

J. HOLLAND: It was like a modern day Auschwitz to her. And it deeply moved her. Hearing stories about people losing their small children and people being put around tires and burnt, and then pushed in the mass graves with bulldozers.

LAVANDERA: Holland had seen enough. She unleashed the passion and talents that earned her the nickname "Fearless Fern." She traveled around the Iraqi countryside, often with minimal security.

V. HOLLAND: They got in the communities, organizing women, organizing democracy groups, human rights groups, tribal groups, getting people prepared for elections, getting people educated about democracy.

LAVANDERA: In Fern Holland's videotape collection, you can see one of the women's centers she helped establish. And you see women working on computers, sharing ideas.

GREEN: You can't kill ideas. And that's what Fern's mission was all about, was instilling those ideas of freedom.

LAVANDERA: After nine months in Iraq, Fearless Fern told her friends she sensed change. She saw it in two women who approached her for help. The women wanted to evict a man described as one of Saddam Hussein's thugs. He was squatting on their farmland. She got the women a court order.

GREEN: She told the police they had to serve it. They had to -- and they said, well you know, you don't know who you're dealing with. And apparently they didn't know who they were dealing with.

LAVANDERA: Since Iraqi authorities wouldn't help, Fern Holland had an idea. She simply had the man's house bulldozed.

J. HOLLAND: When I heard the story, I thought yes, that's so typical Fern because that's her moral compass. I mean, she wasn't afraid of anything or anybody, but Fern had a way of doing it. LAVANDERA: While she made countless friends, Fern Holland also made enemies. Last March 9th, she was driving with an Iraqi colleague and another American when they approached a highway checkpoint. It was a trap. A group of men opened fire, killing all three in the car. American investigators told Holland's family she was the target.

GREEN: Here was a person who was over there, not fighting a war with guns, but fighting with courage and love. And she was trying to help people. And she was murdered for it.

LAVANDERA: As election day draws closer, Fern Holland's family finds comfort in the e-mails from the Iraqi women who promised to be courageous and carry on Fern's memory.

V. HOLLAND: We take great pride in that, knowing that Fern was part of their history. Women there will enjoy freedoms and rights for generations to come.

LAVANDERA: Fern Holland was 33-years old. She's buried next to her mother in a small cemetery in her hometown of Blue Jacket, Oklahoma. Before she was killed, she wrote a friend and said, "If I die, know that I'm doing what I want to be doing. We're doing all we can. Wish us luck. Wish the Iraqis luck."

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: More to come tonight from Baghdad and Washington and points elsewhere. Up next, the White House, the State Department. Plus, a look at the elements that go into fulfilling the president's ambition for spreading democracy around the globe.

Also, a look at more sacrifice in the name of democracy. The numbers keep growing. This is a CNN special report, "Iraq Votes."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: For the third and final day, Iraqi Americans voted in polling stations in and around five American cities. That scene was Irvine, California outside L.A.

In all, more than a million Iraqis living in 14 countries were eligible to vote. Polls opened on Friday to give Iraqi expats enough time to take part in the elections. And some did.

They may not have been high five'ing at the White House today, but the president and his men and women no doubt felt good. The vote took place, the violence was not as bad as many feared, and with just about every other reason to launch the war, WMDs, ties to al Qaeda shot down, one of the best reasons stood alone today. A vicious dictator gone, Iraqis seemed pretty pleased to be voting on their own destiny.

But if they were high five'ing in private, they were not in public. They have learned that lesson the hard way. Our senior White House correspondent tonight, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president called the elections a resounding success. And in congratulating the Iraqi people, clearly hoped to reshape the political debate here at home.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of Iraq have spoken to the world. And the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East.

KING: Administration officials cast the voting as a major defeat for the insurgency and a powerful rebuttal to Mr. Bush's many critics at home and abroad.

But mindful of past setbacks and of the stiff challenges ahead, Mr. Bush was cautious, calling the elections just a first step.

BUSH: Terrorists and insurgents will continue to wage their war against democracy. And we will support the Iraqi people in their fight against them.

KING: The president left the difficult details to new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and took issue with those who now want a firm time table for bringing home the troops.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SEC. OF STATE: I really believe that we should not try and put artificial time tables on this. We need to finish the job.

KING: Most Democrats remain harshly critical of the administration's Iraq policy. But as it monitored the elections, the White House welcomed statements from several leading Democrats, saying any talk of withdrawing U.S. troops is premature.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN, (D), DELAWARE: Pulling American forces out now would be a quite frankly, a serious mistake.

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: I think our presence there is going to be necessary for some time in order for this to be successful. And I think we must be successful.

KING: The White House says it needs another $80 billion in war spending this year and more later, as it plans on least 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq well into 2006. This, at a time a majority of Americans believe the war not worth it.

PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: The American public is gritting its teeth with each dollar and each death.

KING: But the Bush White House hopes the powerful images of Iraqis voting and celebrations of democracy even in places like Syria serve as a psychological turning point and help reinvigorate support here at home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And so as the president applauded the Iraqi people for their remarkable courage, he also took time to thank the American people for their patience during a very difficult mission. Mr. Bush well aware he will need that patience and need more of it now as the White House makes the case that these elections are a critical threshold in setting a U.S. exit strategy, but nowhere near enough progress, Aaron, to have any talk yet of an exit time table.

BROWN: No, but it's a nice way to start a week that will include the State of the Union speech, more talk of Iraq and other things.

KING: It certainly is. And the president is hoping it is both a psychological and a policy turning point. But you noted at the top, saying they're not high five'ing here at the White House. They remember all too well. They said the U.S. would be greeted as liberators. They said with certainty there would be weapons of mass destruction. And they were also caught off guard by this insurgency. It went quiet in the early days of the war, then came out and surprised them. More than a few people in Washington worry that could be what happened today.

BROWN: John, thank you. John King, our senior White House correspondent.

Just to amplify the tone of caution being sounded at the White House and the State Department, some perspective tonight. Our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield now on the imperfect relationship between the democratic process and all the benefits we've come to expect from democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Allow yourself a moment of optimism. Assume that these elections are a real first step toward a democratic Iraq. Does that mean Iraq will be free? Does this moment hold the promise of a more peaceful region?

That premise is at the heart of the president's core belief, offered dramatically at his inaugural.

BUSH: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.

GREENFIELD (on camera): But does this premise reflect the way the world really works? And if it does, what will determine whether Iraq will emerge both free and peaceful?

(voice-over): There's no question that elections have taken place in places where such events were once unimaginable. In Afghanistan, in Romania, in Ukraine, where deeply flawed election was rerun and where so far, the losers have accepted the outcome.

Elections have also taken place among the Palestinians, triggering a rare burst of optimism on both sides of that conflict. And there's also no question that free nations do seem far less likely to be breeding grounds for terror and violence. Signs do point to a significant connection between tyranny and terrorism. According to one study, 70 percent of all deaths because of terrorism from 1999 to 2003 were caused by terrorist groups from non-democratic countries.

But we have also seen elected leaders channel ethnic hatred into mass violence. Slobodan Milosevic came to power in Serbia, promising to avenge defeats that went back centuries. Once in power, he helped trigger wars and violence throughout the former Yugoslavia.

In Zimbabwe, the elected government of Robert Mugabe has presided over a steadily worsening climate of fear among political and ethnic rivals that has drawn international condemnation and sanctions.

In other words, majorities can freely vote to oppress minorities. And given the ancient, often violent power struggles among Iraq's ethnic and religious tribes, will the new constitution that the new parliament must draft protect minority rights? And even if the language offers such protections, will they be there in reality?

Finally, there is this bedrock question. Will the new government with our without U.S. assistance be able to end the violence that has seen government officials, journalists, human rights workers, and ordinary citizens assassinated, sometimes in broad daylight before the cameras? Fear of such violence imprison citizens as much as any tyrant or jail.

Indeed, one prominent neo conservative supporter of the Iraq War wrote recently that in Iraq, "democratic movements and institutions are dying" in large measure because so many who want to speak or write or organize cannot be protected from murderous assaults.

Further, can a civil society truly be nurtured in an environment where the most bedrock of needs, clean water, electricity, clean streets are in such short supply?

(on camera); The optimistic view is that today's images hold immense power to convince skeptics that in Iraq and elsewhere in the region, freedom can take root in what once seemed hostile soil.

But do they have the power also to change the minds of those who seek freedom itself as a kind of religious heresy? Can they persuade others to put aside hatreds that have been handed down across the generations? The fate of Iraq and of the Bush doctrine depends on the answers.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, an American son lost in Iraq on the long road to today's elections. Also ahead, democracy in the making, one frame at a time.

The Iraqi elections in still photos. We take a break first. This is CNN SPECIAL REPORT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The pictures and names we put on the screen each night are another measure of the cost of today's elections. More than 1400 American families have lost loved ones in Iraq. Their losses, part of today's story as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because always he was my big boy. That's Diego right there and right now there's a picture of my baby in his beautiful uniform. Brian is my baby big time and he's dead. One day he was playing Nintendo and the next day he was in the middle of the war.

Nineteen years old, they are not ready to do things like this. They are just -- wants to have fun, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE) doing something for everybody in this country.

He decided to go into the Army because after (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in New York changed his life I think. He said, dad, I have to do something for my country. It's my country to defend and I don't want to be here, sitting around waiting for somebody to kill us here. He was in the middle of nowhere. It was raining, you see here, and he was smiling. No matter what, he was happy all the time and you know why he was happy all the time? Because he was doing that for you America, for us and for everybody. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

I was asking, why don't you go to the Army and be in the kitchen? He said no, let me go to be in the front and I said no. I want to be with the best ones. Coming to this country, leaving everything, not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and giving his own life for this country was -- only heroes do that you know and he died with Diego the same day.

But no matter what, I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'm going to be OK. I don't want to think maybe some of the picture of my life, he's going to be in the picture of my life forever and I pray for every single family in Iraq and not only that because they deserve to leave a free life, free life and they deserve to have a free country like we have here in the United States. For me everything, the red color in this flag is the blood of my son. This is not for free. We pay for this and we pay this big time you know only to give some people a nice country to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's safe to say, Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska is neither a Pollyanna nor anyone's cheerleader. He says what he believes. Apparently they expect that sort of thing in Nebraska. We spoke with the senator earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: Well, senator, when you look at the pictures out of Iraq today and we don't know exactly how many people voted and how many didn't, but you do have to say it's a pretty extraordinary day.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R) NEBRASKA: It's a very extraordinary day Aaron. It's historic. It's a very important building block in the foundation for Iraqi democracy today, a long way to go. We all recognize that, but today is a day to celebrate I think in Iraq and around the world and much credit should be given to the Iraqi people.

BROWN: The administration has taken, particularly for its post- invasion planning, a lot of hits. Is this a vindication of that planning?

HAGEL: Well, I don't know if I would connect it to post-Saddam planning over the two years. Certainly the men and women who have been on the ground, those who have worked hard on behalf of the Iraqis over the last two years, deserve considerable credit here. There's no question about that. But we have a long way to go. This is a transitional government. We are still in the same position we were 48 hours ago. This government cannot defend itself. It, essentially, it has no economy or limited economic means to deal with its own course of action and governance responsibilities. That doesn't mean it can't develop into a democracy. We're hopeful it can. But with all the good things that happened today, significant things that happened today, we still have a long way to go and I thought Secretary of State Rice's comments today were very good, very measured, very on target and I think she reflected some of that as well.

BROWN: In the days ahead, we're going to see the make up of this government, but I think broadly we know it will be Shia-dominated. That government has some critical choices to make that are perhaps make or break in terms of whether the country holds together. Do you feel confident that whoever takes power, will take power in an inclusive way?

HAGEL: I believe we're all hopeful that that will be the case Aaron. We are uncertain as to how all of this unfolds. First as you noted, we don't have the facts yet. We don't know who won. We really don't know how many people voted and where they voted and where they didn't vote. So we've got a lot of pieces yet to put into perspective. But I would assume that the people who did win, who will form this 275-member national assembly with the responsibility to pick a governing council with a president, two vice presidents, write a constitution, prepare Iraqis for another election this December, are wise enough to understand that this will not work unless they do form an inclusive government.

BROWN: Let me ask you one final question. What do you think the -- what do you think it was like today in let's say, the presidential palaces in Egypt or in Jordan, in Syria, in the Gulf states, in all those countries that are something less than great democracies? Do you think there's a little more nervousness in those places today?

HAGEL: Well, I don't know about nervousness, but I hope there is significant recognition that as President Bush said in his state of the -- or his inaugural address, people yearn to be free and I think there is some message that resonates and will continue to resonate out of Iraq today because of these elections and those capitals that you referred to Aaron, I'm sure are taking note of that and I hope will work with all of us to work toward that end.

BROWN: Always good to see you, thanks, nice on a day when at least a page of history of written. I think we can say that much about today. Nice to see you Senator.

HAGEL: Thanks Aaron.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. We talked with him late this afternoon. Back to Baghdad as we continue tonight, but first from New York, this is a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to Baghdad now and the morning after the day before and quite a day before, so again CNN's Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. Anderson, I think on Friday, you were telling me about an Army officer who said, he thought the Iraqis would kind of stick their heads out in the morning and with things pretty calm, they'd probably go out there and vote and it sounds like that's almost exactly what they did today or yesterday for you.

COOPER: Yes, I think it is. He used a very non-military term. He said if Iraq has got a warm fuzzy feeling when they stuck their head out and I guess enough people did get at least somewhat of a warm fuzzy feel this morning and it was interesting. When we were -- Christiane and I were watching the polls very early in the morning when they first opened up, there was sort of this time period where people didn't really show up and you were kind of left sitting there watching, thinking, man, if nobody shows up, what happens? But slowly they began to trickle in and then the trickles became lines and the lines grew longer and we saw the dam fold as we did and it was a great day.

AMANPOUR: Yes and I think actually what was extraordinary, certainly here in Baghdad, people started to trickle even as they were hearing the explosions and they said that they had got up and they were getting dressed and having breakfast and even as they were doing that, they heard the explosions and decided to come out. I think also what's important is, as much as we've been talking about how the U.S. forces have enabled this process to take place, this was an Iraqi day.

The U.S. forces were definitely very conscious of the fact that they needed to be in the background. They weren't in front and center in the polls. Of course they were in charge of security and of course they had all that planned and all that in hand. But the Iraqis who I spoke to said, this is our day. We're the ones who faced down the fear and the intimidation and they thanked the Americans. They said that, you know, of course every Iraqi is proud. We don't want to live under foreign occupation, but for the moment, we probably need them for our security, but this was our day. COOPER: There was also an enthusiasm among the Iraqi security forces, at least at the polling station I was at among the National Guard troops, among the Iraqi police. I mean, I don't want to make too much of it, because who knows how long this kind of thing lasts. But they were enthusiastic in a way that I hadn't seen before and there was a sort of pride. One of them at some point said, look, there are no Americans around. This is -- the National Guard is in control here. And you don't hear that very often. And it was something that sort of stuck in my mind at least.

BROWN: Christiane, about a half a minute left. When do we start getting detail? When will we know the make up of this government and then after that, when do we know the president, the prime minister. When do we start to hear the detail where the devil lives?

AMANPOUR: You know it just takes several days. First of all, a lot of counties sending the ballots back to a central location, then announcing which lists have actually won and then the horse trading begins between the people who've won, between those people who've won on their so-called list, who's going to get what. And there's apparently bound to be a lot of that. But what happens is, they first, they first a presidential sort of council and then that goes to the whole national assembly for approval and then they pick a prime minister and then the whole business of getting down to write the constitution starts.

BROWN: All right. You guys have been stellar, stay safe there and get home safely, whichever it is. Thanks for your efforts tonight.

Still ahead tonight, one photographer's view with a first rough draft of democracy. We'll take a break first on this special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Survivors of war often come home with injuries, wounds, scars, both inside and out. Tomorrow night on NEWSNIGHT, we'll look at how veterans of earlier wars are helping veterans of this war cope with the kind of wounds that don't show on the outside. That's tomorrow on NEWSNIGHT, 10:00 Eastern time.

In the 22 months since the war in Iraq, we've looked at the story through many lens, often through the eyes of still photographers. Today again Scott Peterson of the "Christian Science Monitor" was in the street with his camera. We talked with him earlier by satellite phone, the connection a little rocky at times but the observation sharp.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT PETERSON, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": The last 24 hours has been kind of surreal more than anything else, but I think what we were able to document today was a transformation in Iraqi society. I know that there has been no shortage of apprehension, anxiety, trepidation as people looked at that date of January 30th being their election. Even this morning, so many Iraqi woke up. They had no idea yet for sure whether they were going to vote. What we saw was that as the morning wore on, you know, the first few voters came in. They were quite anxious. They weren't interested in giving their names. We saw in their faces this kind of tension that they were going through, just the fact that they had decided to step out onto the street, to approach the polling station where of course there was just layer up layer of security and as they saw more and more of their countrymen on the streets, walking to the polling stations, actually voting and dipping their fingers in that purple ink, which is kind of an indelible sign, that you have bought into the democratic process, the atmosphere changed to one of festivities.

I saw on the streets today so many people, it was extraordinary, thousands and thousands of Iraqis also. They were just walking on the streets and this is something that never happens. These are people who looked like they probably hadn't been outside for months. I mean you just don't have that kind of freedom of mobility and I think that it was really a manifestation of what changed in the Iraqi mindset.

You had the feeling of people who felt that they no longer were going to be victimized by the uncertainty or perhaps by the occupation. They just felt that they were kind of taking a dramatic step for themselves, for their country and this has really been the first time, since the fall of Saddam Hussein that they had been asked to do so. They really accepted that with relish. This is something that has given them back their country in a lot of ways.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we hope he's right and we hope it lasts. Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, morning papers from around the country and around the world and we'll do both today. Here's the money shot. I'm not sure who shot this picture, but it is the money shot of the election. It's the "Rocky Mountain Daily News" that will appear in a lot, a young woman with the purple finger signifying that she has voted. The fact that it's a woman in the picture tells you something too. Voice of freedom, the headlines, Iraqis flood polls in first free vote in half a century. That's a nice headline there.

The "Arab American News" published in the Detroit area. In Michigan, more poll workers than voters. An analysis piece, no good outcome for U.S. and Iraq. I'd like to read that and the editorial, election fiasco mirrors U.S. policy. That's the election fiasco for Iraqi Americans living in the Detroit area. They were none too happy about -- they felt they had to jump through a lot of hoops to vote.

The staff of the program thought I was being very harsh when I said, hey, if these people in Iraq can brave bullets and suicide bombers and all that, these people can drive across to vote. Anyway, they weren't too happy about it and they have a right to their own feelings, right?

The "Iran Daily," I don't know if you get this at home, but this is the English language paper in Iran. Millions of Iraqis vote in historic polls, attacks claim 33 lives. The Iranians have an interest obviously, not just as neighbors. The majority population Iraq, like the Iranians, Shia Muslims. They would like to exercise some influence in the region and now perhaps they will a little more.

"Cincinnati Enquirer," Iraqis defy violence to vote, 44 killed at polls but millions turned out. I don't know how anyone can look at the pictures of what went on in Iraq today, forget your politics. But you would have thought the war was a good idea, forget all that nonsense, OK, just for one day and look at those pictures and tell me that that wasn't something cool that happened. I mean those people showed a lot of guts going out to vote today.

Iraqi's crowd the polls, "Christian Science Monitor," headline. Down at the bottom, why businesses are once again keen to merge, big merger coming tomorrow, AT&T and SBC I think, $16 billion, weather in Chicago by the way is malaise. We're back tomorrow. We'll see you at 10:00 Eastern time. Good night for all of us.

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


Aired January 30, 2005 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone. A page of history was written today. A country spoke. There are, of course, plenty of disclaimers. It was but one page. There was still deadly violence.
There are considerable challenges and plenty of unanswered questions ahead. But those are just the disclaimers. They aren't the lead. The lead is clear. Whatever the final numbers turn out to be, and whoever the winners are, Iraqis in large numbers braved threats in their own history and voted freely for the first time in more than half a century. In truth, it doesn't get much better than that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): On their fingers, in their feet, on their faces, a different kind of election day in Iraq.

"I remember elections under Saddam Hussein," says Oday. When I came to vote, I found my ballot was already checked yes."

BROWN: No civics lesson needed. In Iraq, the reasons to vote are as close as kin and as pressing as redemption.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of Iraq have spoken to the world. And the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East.

BROWN: Welcome news for a change, but far from the last word in Iraq. So where do things go from here? We talk with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel.

And always, a reminder of the price paid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, every single red color in this flag means the blood of my son. This is not for free. We paid for this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So that and more in the hour ahead. Our special report begins tonight with a very simple notion. Iraqis wanted to vote. Not all, not everywhere, not in total safety, nor with perfect knowledge of whom they were choosing or what they'd be getting, but plenty did vote. Later, we'll raise the knotty question of just how far plenty actually gets Iraq and the United States down the road.

First though, the shake of the day. And for that, we turn first to CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who is in Baghdad. Christiane, good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And we started looking at this day virtually 24 hours ago. In the early hours of the voting, it was very, very thin trickle of people. We heard explosions. We know that eight suicide bombers detonated their vests in Baghdad. We know that some people were killed and many more were wounded.

But today, even though this is the most dangerous election ever held in modern memory, today, really, from what we saw, it was the triumph of the will of the people who simply refused to give in to intimidation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): This is the day Iraqis thought they would never live to see. For more than half a century, no one has had this simple right.

"I remember elections under Saddam Hussein," says Oday. "When I came to vote, I found my ballot was already checked yes."

That was then. Today, under unprecedented security, Iraqis flow steadily to cast their first free vote, walking sometimes for miles to the polls. Many in this Karada (ph) neighborhood told us that they heard explosions as they got dressed this morning, but they came anyway.

"We've been waiting for this day for years," says Mina. "These are elections where we can vote with all our hearts."

Her husband Hadi says, "This is an important step for the future of my family. We haven't had this opportunity before."

(on camera): Behind me, you can see people being searched before they enter the polling station. And they get searched several times before they can actually cast their ballot.

While we've been here these several hours, we've heard explosions, but only in the distance.

(voice-over): While suicide bombers and mortars have caused casualties, not enough to deter the voting. Iraqi police and soldiers deployed at major intersections faced the biggest test of their fledgling force. These troops will not reveal their names or their faces, but they will say they are happy.

"We hope this election will succeed," says this soldier. "And that we'll have a new era of democracy, freedom, and security."

It's a major milestone for U.S. forces, too.

COL. MIKE MURRAY, FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION: Really the hard part for us has already taken place. Over the last two weeks, we've been working very closely with both the Iraqi police and the Iraqi national guard to make sure they're set, hardening all the polling sites, getting better material in place for them.

AMANPOUR: These women walked by after voting and raised their hands to Colonel Murray's men. "We pray for you, we pray for you," this old woman thanks them.

Inside, election workers who have seen their colleagues killed and have endured constant threats in the run-up to this day, they can hardly contain their joy.

"I can't describe it," says Zena. "I'm extremely happy today. I feel like I'm being reborn, that's how I feel."

A new lease on life for them and future generations. A man comes out and shows us his ink stained finger and his infant son's, too.

He can't vote. He's too little.

But his father tells us this is a badge of pride. One day, say these parents, their children will read about this in their history books. And they'll learn what they were doing here, what sacrifice, what bravery, what sheer will it took just to cast a ballot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So that was Baghdad. We don't yet know the full turnout. We think, from what we've been hearing from our correspondents and others, that it was high in the Kurdish north, that it was high in the Shi'ite south. But in the central Sunni heartland, it was quite low. But yet, we're still waiting.

We have now an impression, a roster of impressions from around this country on voting day, starting with Jane Arraf in Baquba.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This voting day began and ended with explosions. A steady stream of people came to this schoolhouse. In fact, more than 1,400 of them. So many of them, that the election worker handing out the ballots and stamping them told us he had calluses on his fingers from doing that work.

One of the last people in here who came just after the polls officially closed was absolutely distraught when they told him that he couldn't cast the vote. He was born in 1924. In the end, they let him.

Now in other places in Baquba and the heart of the Sunni Triangle, election workers were intimidated into not coming. Perhaps one-third of the polling stations in this region did not function because they didn't have enough workers.

But here, the workers showed up. The Iraqi police showed up. The army showed up voting at the end and keeping this place secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIET BREMNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been down to the polling stations this morning. There are large numbers. We saw them being checked in a very orderly fashion by the security, by the police and the army. They made their way into the polling stations. Queues for women and separate queues for men, hundreds of them waiting to cast their ballot.

And they said that this was a day that they had longed for. It was one that they were determined to come to, regardless of the threats and the intimidation. They wanted to cast their vote because they, the Shia people down here in Basra, have had decades of repression under Saddam Hussein. And this is their day of freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, voting in the early part of the day was quite brisk. People we talked to were very excited about the fact that they did get to vote. One man said he'd waited 40 years for this opportunity. Another lady described it as being a celebration, a good day for her she said, and a very good day for the Kurds.

Towards the end of the day, the voting tailed off. And election officials -- the election station we were at told us that they used about a three-quarters of the election, the voting ballot papers there. And they said that was an indication that there'd been quite a good, quite a high turnout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So that was Kurdistan, which is really been under U.S. protection for the last 15 years. And people have been voting, as you heard, in that report.

We're waiting to know the results. The counting is underway, but it'll be several days before we know who was the winner -- Aaron?

BROWN: Christiane, thank you. And there are a lot of heroes on this day. The Americans -- the American soldiers on the ground.

One hero gets very little mention is the Shia leader, the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, who at every point in the process, insisted this election go forward, no matter what was going on in the country, no matter what the Americans wanted, the coalition wanted. The Ayatollah al-Sistani said no, going to have an election as soon as possible. And he got his election today. We'll know the results in a while.

For British forces, all of today's good news was overshadowed once again by tragedy. An RAF C-130 transport plane went down today, north of Baghdad. At least 10 British troops died, perhaps as many as 15. No word yet on the cause, only the effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Yet again today, we see the sacrifice that they make. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives earlier today. They can be so proud of what their loved ones accomplished. This country and the wider world will never forget them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Casualties today come in addition to the 76 troops who have died in Iraq since the war began.

In dozens of different ways, we've heard Iraqis describe today's elections as a step toward a better future. For many Iraqis voting today was also a way to give meaning to loss.

In that sense, as much about the past as the future. CNN's Anderson Cooper joins us now from Baghdad.

Anderson, good morning to you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Aaron.

This election was not free of course. It has been paid for with the blood of many people. British soldiers today in that Hercules crash. American soldiers, of course, and most of all, Iraqis -- Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians, men, women, and especially children. There have been so many children killed in this conflict over the years. And it is that bloodshed, it is to honor that bloodshed -- that brought a desire to honor that bloodshed I should say -- that brought many Iraqis to the polls today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): In a rundown Baghdad playground, Jalal Da Air (ph) plays with his 11-year old son, Kassim. Nearby still visible, a crater made by a car bomb that killed his youngest boy.

Even in this city used to slaughter, the attack this September was shocking. At least 34 children were killed when two suicide car bombers struck a party celebrating progress, the opening of a sewage plant. U.S. soldiers had given out candy. A crowd of kids had gathered.

"A car bomb exploded," says 11-year old Kassim. "I rushed to get my brother and then the second bomb went off. I was hit on my leg and fell to the ground."

In the mayhem, Kassim couldn't find his little brother Akram. "He went to the hospital," he says, but he's unable to say anymore.

Akram was killed on the scene. He was only nine-years old.

"The candle of my life was blown out," his mother says. "May God take revenge on those responsible for killing my son."

His mother still keeps the clothes she bought Akram for school. "He asked for a suit," his father Jalal says. "I bought him this one. He didn't live to wear it."

Kassim clutches the teddy bear his brother loved. "Every morning," his father says, "he would kiss me here when he woke up."

Like many families in this neighborhood who lost their children in the September attack, their sadness and anger has turned to resolve.

"Defiantly, I will vote," says Akram's mother. "All of us will because we want the situation to settle down. We cannot go on living like this."

Hussein Abdul Rakman was also killed in the September attack. His brother was also determined to vote. "In Saddam's days, they used to sing we put our hearts in the voting box. Now I say we're not putting our hearts, but we're putting our whole future in these boxes."

Wesam al Suraji has no future. He too died in September. "God willing," his father Falak says, "I'll be the first to vote in the elections."

In this hard hit Baghdad neighborhood, Iraqi families voting, united in grief, determined that their children's deaths will not be in vain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And of course, there has been so much loss, so much sacrifice over the years in this country. Today, a celebration, but also a day of remembering, remembering those losses, Aaron.

BROWN: Anderson, Christiane, we'll get back to you later in the program to talk about the days coming up. Thank you for your work today.

History, it is fair to say, has many authors. And today's elections in Iraq, no exception. Many of those who worked hard and fearlessly to make today happen did not live to see it. Some had no particular reason to be part of the story, but were there because they believed that individuals can make a difference.

Such a story now from CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fern Holland loved riding horses around Oklahoma, just as she loved working in the courtroom. Five years ago, her law career was taking off.

JIM GREEN, FERN HOLLAND'S FRIEND: Once she got her eye on the goal, she didn't quit until she got there. She was very dogged in her efforts.

LAVANDERA: But Fern Holland's sister says her passion had nothing to do with a lucrative law career. VI HOLLAND, FERN HOLLAND'S SISTER: She believed that all people deserved basic human rights, and that one person really can make a difference in the lives of others.

LAVANDERA: To prove that, she quit the law firm and joined the Peace Corps, posted to West Africa. But a year after the coalition invaded Iraq, Holland volunteered for a new assignment, trying to heal a shattered country.

JAMES HOLLAND, FERN HOLLAND'S BROTHER: She saw a need for oppressed people and oppressed women. And she went where there was a need.

LAVANDERA: And for Fern Holland, the experience was a personal journey into the darkest recesses of Saddam Hussein's regime. Investigating war crimes, she discovered mass graves in southern Iraq. Holland interviewed three men who survived the executions. She wrote in a report by digging themselves out of their graves.

J. HOLLAND: It was like a modern day Auschwitz to her. And it deeply moved her. Hearing stories about people losing their small children and people being put around tires and burnt, and then pushed in the mass graves with bulldozers.

LAVANDERA: Holland had seen enough. She unleashed the passion and talents that earned her the nickname "Fearless Fern." She traveled around the Iraqi countryside, often with minimal security.

V. HOLLAND: They got in the communities, organizing women, organizing democracy groups, human rights groups, tribal groups, getting people prepared for elections, getting people educated about democracy.

LAVANDERA: In Fern Holland's videotape collection, you can see one of the women's centers she helped establish. And you see women working on computers, sharing ideas.

GREEN: You can't kill ideas. And that's what Fern's mission was all about, was instilling those ideas of freedom.

LAVANDERA: After nine months in Iraq, Fearless Fern told her friends she sensed change. She saw it in two women who approached her for help. The women wanted to evict a man described as one of Saddam Hussein's thugs. He was squatting on their farmland. She got the women a court order.

GREEN: She told the police they had to serve it. They had to -- and they said, well you know, you don't know who you're dealing with. And apparently they didn't know who they were dealing with.

LAVANDERA: Since Iraqi authorities wouldn't help, Fern Holland had an idea. She simply had the man's house bulldozed.

J. HOLLAND: When I heard the story, I thought yes, that's so typical Fern because that's her moral compass. I mean, she wasn't afraid of anything or anybody, but Fern had a way of doing it. LAVANDERA: While she made countless friends, Fern Holland also made enemies. Last March 9th, she was driving with an Iraqi colleague and another American when they approached a highway checkpoint. It was a trap. A group of men opened fire, killing all three in the car. American investigators told Holland's family she was the target.

GREEN: Here was a person who was over there, not fighting a war with guns, but fighting with courage and love. And she was trying to help people. And she was murdered for it.

LAVANDERA: As election day draws closer, Fern Holland's family finds comfort in the e-mails from the Iraqi women who promised to be courageous and carry on Fern's memory.

V. HOLLAND: We take great pride in that, knowing that Fern was part of their history. Women there will enjoy freedoms and rights for generations to come.

LAVANDERA: Fern Holland was 33-years old. She's buried next to her mother in a small cemetery in her hometown of Blue Jacket, Oklahoma. Before she was killed, she wrote a friend and said, "If I die, know that I'm doing what I want to be doing. We're doing all we can. Wish us luck. Wish the Iraqis luck."

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: More to come tonight from Baghdad and Washington and points elsewhere. Up next, the White House, the State Department. Plus, a look at the elements that go into fulfilling the president's ambition for spreading democracy around the globe.

Also, a look at more sacrifice in the name of democracy. The numbers keep growing. This is a CNN special report, "Iraq Votes."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: For the third and final day, Iraqi Americans voted in polling stations in and around five American cities. That scene was Irvine, California outside L.A.

In all, more than a million Iraqis living in 14 countries were eligible to vote. Polls opened on Friday to give Iraqi expats enough time to take part in the elections. And some did.

They may not have been high five'ing at the White House today, but the president and his men and women no doubt felt good. The vote took place, the violence was not as bad as many feared, and with just about every other reason to launch the war, WMDs, ties to al Qaeda shot down, one of the best reasons stood alone today. A vicious dictator gone, Iraqis seemed pretty pleased to be voting on their own destiny.

But if they were high five'ing in private, they were not in public. They have learned that lesson the hard way. Our senior White House correspondent tonight, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president called the elections a resounding success. And in congratulating the Iraqi people, clearly hoped to reshape the political debate here at home.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of Iraq have spoken to the world. And the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East.

KING: Administration officials cast the voting as a major defeat for the insurgency and a powerful rebuttal to Mr. Bush's many critics at home and abroad.

But mindful of past setbacks and of the stiff challenges ahead, Mr. Bush was cautious, calling the elections just a first step.

BUSH: Terrorists and insurgents will continue to wage their war against democracy. And we will support the Iraqi people in their fight against them.

KING: The president left the difficult details to new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and took issue with those who now want a firm time table for bringing home the troops.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SEC. OF STATE: I really believe that we should not try and put artificial time tables on this. We need to finish the job.

KING: Most Democrats remain harshly critical of the administration's Iraq policy. But as it monitored the elections, the White House welcomed statements from several leading Democrats, saying any talk of withdrawing U.S. troops is premature.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN, (D), DELAWARE: Pulling American forces out now would be a quite frankly, a serious mistake.

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: I think our presence there is going to be necessary for some time in order for this to be successful. And I think we must be successful.

KING: The White House says it needs another $80 billion in war spending this year and more later, as it plans on least 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq well into 2006. This, at a time a majority of Americans believe the war not worth it.

PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: The American public is gritting its teeth with each dollar and each death.

KING: But the Bush White House hopes the powerful images of Iraqis voting and celebrations of democracy even in places like Syria serve as a psychological turning point and help reinvigorate support here at home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And so as the president applauded the Iraqi people for their remarkable courage, he also took time to thank the American people for their patience during a very difficult mission. Mr. Bush well aware he will need that patience and need more of it now as the White House makes the case that these elections are a critical threshold in setting a U.S. exit strategy, but nowhere near enough progress, Aaron, to have any talk yet of an exit time table.

BROWN: No, but it's a nice way to start a week that will include the State of the Union speech, more talk of Iraq and other things.

KING: It certainly is. And the president is hoping it is both a psychological and a policy turning point. But you noted at the top, saying they're not high five'ing here at the White House. They remember all too well. They said the U.S. would be greeted as liberators. They said with certainty there would be weapons of mass destruction. And they were also caught off guard by this insurgency. It went quiet in the early days of the war, then came out and surprised them. More than a few people in Washington worry that could be what happened today.

BROWN: John, thank you. John King, our senior White House correspondent.

Just to amplify the tone of caution being sounded at the White House and the State Department, some perspective tonight. Our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield now on the imperfect relationship between the democratic process and all the benefits we've come to expect from democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Allow yourself a moment of optimism. Assume that these elections are a real first step toward a democratic Iraq. Does that mean Iraq will be free? Does this moment hold the promise of a more peaceful region?

That premise is at the heart of the president's core belief, offered dramatically at his inaugural.

BUSH: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.

GREENFIELD (on camera): But does this premise reflect the way the world really works? And if it does, what will determine whether Iraq will emerge both free and peaceful?

(voice-over): There's no question that elections have taken place in places where such events were once unimaginable. In Afghanistan, in Romania, in Ukraine, where deeply flawed election was rerun and where so far, the losers have accepted the outcome.

Elections have also taken place among the Palestinians, triggering a rare burst of optimism on both sides of that conflict. And there's also no question that free nations do seem far less likely to be breeding grounds for terror and violence. Signs do point to a significant connection between tyranny and terrorism. According to one study, 70 percent of all deaths because of terrorism from 1999 to 2003 were caused by terrorist groups from non-democratic countries.

But we have also seen elected leaders channel ethnic hatred into mass violence. Slobodan Milosevic came to power in Serbia, promising to avenge defeats that went back centuries. Once in power, he helped trigger wars and violence throughout the former Yugoslavia.

In Zimbabwe, the elected government of Robert Mugabe has presided over a steadily worsening climate of fear among political and ethnic rivals that has drawn international condemnation and sanctions.

In other words, majorities can freely vote to oppress minorities. And given the ancient, often violent power struggles among Iraq's ethnic and religious tribes, will the new constitution that the new parliament must draft protect minority rights? And even if the language offers such protections, will they be there in reality?

Finally, there is this bedrock question. Will the new government with our without U.S. assistance be able to end the violence that has seen government officials, journalists, human rights workers, and ordinary citizens assassinated, sometimes in broad daylight before the cameras? Fear of such violence imprison citizens as much as any tyrant or jail.

Indeed, one prominent neo conservative supporter of the Iraq War wrote recently that in Iraq, "democratic movements and institutions are dying" in large measure because so many who want to speak or write or organize cannot be protected from murderous assaults.

Further, can a civil society truly be nurtured in an environment where the most bedrock of needs, clean water, electricity, clean streets are in such short supply?

(on camera); The optimistic view is that today's images hold immense power to convince skeptics that in Iraq and elsewhere in the region, freedom can take root in what once seemed hostile soil.

But do they have the power also to change the minds of those who seek freedom itself as a kind of religious heresy? Can they persuade others to put aside hatreds that have been handed down across the generations? The fate of Iraq and of the Bush doctrine depends on the answers.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, an American son lost in Iraq on the long road to today's elections. Also ahead, democracy in the making, one frame at a time.

The Iraqi elections in still photos. We take a break first. This is CNN SPECIAL REPORT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The pictures and names we put on the screen each night are another measure of the cost of today's elections. More than 1400 American families have lost loved ones in Iraq. Their losses, part of today's story as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because always he was my big boy. That's Diego right there and right now there's a picture of my baby in his beautiful uniform. Brian is my baby big time and he's dead. One day he was playing Nintendo and the next day he was in the middle of the war.

Nineteen years old, they are not ready to do things like this. They are just -- wants to have fun, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE) doing something for everybody in this country.

He decided to go into the Army because after (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in New York changed his life I think. He said, dad, I have to do something for my country. It's my country to defend and I don't want to be here, sitting around waiting for somebody to kill us here. He was in the middle of nowhere. It was raining, you see here, and he was smiling. No matter what, he was happy all the time and you know why he was happy all the time? Because he was doing that for you America, for us and for everybody. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

I was asking, why don't you go to the Army and be in the kitchen? He said no, let me go to be in the front and I said no. I want to be with the best ones. Coming to this country, leaving everything, not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and giving his own life for this country was -- only heroes do that you know and he died with Diego the same day.

But no matter what, I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'm going to be OK. I don't want to think maybe some of the picture of my life, he's going to be in the picture of my life forever and I pray for every single family in Iraq and not only that because they deserve to leave a free life, free life and they deserve to have a free country like we have here in the United States. For me everything, the red color in this flag is the blood of my son. This is not for free. We pay for this and we pay this big time you know only to give some people a nice country to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's safe to say, Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska is neither a Pollyanna nor anyone's cheerleader. He says what he believes. Apparently they expect that sort of thing in Nebraska. We spoke with the senator earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: Well, senator, when you look at the pictures out of Iraq today and we don't know exactly how many people voted and how many didn't, but you do have to say it's a pretty extraordinary day.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R) NEBRASKA: It's a very extraordinary day Aaron. It's historic. It's a very important building block in the foundation for Iraqi democracy today, a long way to go. We all recognize that, but today is a day to celebrate I think in Iraq and around the world and much credit should be given to the Iraqi people.

BROWN: The administration has taken, particularly for its post- invasion planning, a lot of hits. Is this a vindication of that planning?

HAGEL: Well, I don't know if I would connect it to post-Saddam planning over the two years. Certainly the men and women who have been on the ground, those who have worked hard on behalf of the Iraqis over the last two years, deserve considerable credit here. There's no question about that. But we have a long way to go. This is a transitional government. We are still in the same position we were 48 hours ago. This government cannot defend itself. It, essentially, it has no economy or limited economic means to deal with its own course of action and governance responsibilities. That doesn't mean it can't develop into a democracy. We're hopeful it can. But with all the good things that happened today, significant things that happened today, we still have a long way to go and I thought Secretary of State Rice's comments today were very good, very measured, very on target and I think she reflected some of that as well.

BROWN: In the days ahead, we're going to see the make up of this government, but I think broadly we know it will be Shia-dominated. That government has some critical choices to make that are perhaps make or break in terms of whether the country holds together. Do you feel confident that whoever takes power, will take power in an inclusive way?

HAGEL: I believe we're all hopeful that that will be the case Aaron. We are uncertain as to how all of this unfolds. First as you noted, we don't have the facts yet. We don't know who won. We really don't know how many people voted and where they voted and where they didn't vote. So we've got a lot of pieces yet to put into perspective. But I would assume that the people who did win, who will form this 275-member national assembly with the responsibility to pick a governing council with a president, two vice presidents, write a constitution, prepare Iraqis for another election this December, are wise enough to understand that this will not work unless they do form an inclusive government.

BROWN: Let me ask you one final question. What do you think the -- what do you think it was like today in let's say, the presidential palaces in Egypt or in Jordan, in Syria, in the Gulf states, in all those countries that are something less than great democracies? Do you think there's a little more nervousness in those places today?

HAGEL: Well, I don't know about nervousness, but I hope there is significant recognition that as President Bush said in his state of the -- or his inaugural address, people yearn to be free and I think there is some message that resonates and will continue to resonate out of Iraq today because of these elections and those capitals that you referred to Aaron, I'm sure are taking note of that and I hope will work with all of us to work toward that end.

BROWN: Always good to see you, thanks, nice on a day when at least a page of history of written. I think we can say that much about today. Nice to see you Senator.

HAGEL: Thanks Aaron.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. We talked with him late this afternoon. Back to Baghdad as we continue tonight, but first from New York, this is a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to Baghdad now and the morning after the day before and quite a day before, so again CNN's Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. Anderson, I think on Friday, you were telling me about an Army officer who said, he thought the Iraqis would kind of stick their heads out in the morning and with things pretty calm, they'd probably go out there and vote and it sounds like that's almost exactly what they did today or yesterday for you.

COOPER: Yes, I think it is. He used a very non-military term. He said if Iraq has got a warm fuzzy feeling when they stuck their head out and I guess enough people did get at least somewhat of a warm fuzzy feel this morning and it was interesting. When we were -- Christiane and I were watching the polls very early in the morning when they first opened up, there was sort of this time period where people didn't really show up and you were kind of left sitting there watching, thinking, man, if nobody shows up, what happens? But slowly they began to trickle in and then the trickles became lines and the lines grew longer and we saw the dam fold as we did and it was a great day.

AMANPOUR: Yes and I think actually what was extraordinary, certainly here in Baghdad, people started to trickle even as they were hearing the explosions and they said that they had got up and they were getting dressed and having breakfast and even as they were doing that, they heard the explosions and decided to come out. I think also what's important is, as much as we've been talking about how the U.S. forces have enabled this process to take place, this was an Iraqi day.

The U.S. forces were definitely very conscious of the fact that they needed to be in the background. They weren't in front and center in the polls. Of course they were in charge of security and of course they had all that planned and all that in hand. But the Iraqis who I spoke to said, this is our day. We're the ones who faced down the fear and the intimidation and they thanked the Americans. They said that, you know, of course every Iraqi is proud. We don't want to live under foreign occupation, but for the moment, we probably need them for our security, but this was our day. COOPER: There was also an enthusiasm among the Iraqi security forces, at least at the polling station I was at among the National Guard troops, among the Iraqi police. I mean, I don't want to make too much of it, because who knows how long this kind of thing lasts. But they were enthusiastic in a way that I hadn't seen before and there was a sort of pride. One of them at some point said, look, there are no Americans around. This is -- the National Guard is in control here. And you don't hear that very often. And it was something that sort of stuck in my mind at least.

BROWN: Christiane, about a half a minute left. When do we start getting detail? When will we know the make up of this government and then after that, when do we know the president, the prime minister. When do we start to hear the detail where the devil lives?

AMANPOUR: You know it just takes several days. First of all, a lot of counties sending the ballots back to a central location, then announcing which lists have actually won and then the horse trading begins between the people who've won, between those people who've won on their so-called list, who's going to get what. And there's apparently bound to be a lot of that. But what happens is, they first, they first a presidential sort of council and then that goes to the whole national assembly for approval and then they pick a prime minister and then the whole business of getting down to write the constitution starts.

BROWN: All right. You guys have been stellar, stay safe there and get home safely, whichever it is. Thanks for your efforts tonight.

Still ahead tonight, one photographer's view with a first rough draft of democracy. We'll take a break first on this special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Survivors of war often come home with injuries, wounds, scars, both inside and out. Tomorrow night on NEWSNIGHT, we'll look at how veterans of earlier wars are helping veterans of this war cope with the kind of wounds that don't show on the outside. That's tomorrow on NEWSNIGHT, 10:00 Eastern time.

In the 22 months since the war in Iraq, we've looked at the story through many lens, often through the eyes of still photographers. Today again Scott Peterson of the "Christian Science Monitor" was in the street with his camera. We talked with him earlier by satellite phone, the connection a little rocky at times but the observation sharp.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT PETERSON, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": The last 24 hours has been kind of surreal more than anything else, but I think what we were able to document today was a transformation in Iraqi society. I know that there has been no shortage of apprehension, anxiety, trepidation as people looked at that date of January 30th being their election. Even this morning, so many Iraqi woke up. They had no idea yet for sure whether they were going to vote. What we saw was that as the morning wore on, you know, the first few voters came in. They were quite anxious. They weren't interested in giving their names. We saw in their faces this kind of tension that they were going through, just the fact that they had decided to step out onto the street, to approach the polling station where of course there was just layer up layer of security and as they saw more and more of their countrymen on the streets, walking to the polling stations, actually voting and dipping their fingers in that purple ink, which is kind of an indelible sign, that you have bought into the democratic process, the atmosphere changed to one of festivities.

I saw on the streets today so many people, it was extraordinary, thousands and thousands of Iraqis also. They were just walking on the streets and this is something that never happens. These are people who looked like they probably hadn't been outside for months. I mean you just don't have that kind of freedom of mobility and I think that it was really a manifestation of what changed in the Iraqi mindset.

You had the feeling of people who felt that they no longer were going to be victimized by the uncertainty or perhaps by the occupation. They just felt that they were kind of taking a dramatic step for themselves, for their country and this has really been the first time, since the fall of Saddam Hussein that they had been asked to do so. They really accepted that with relish. This is something that has given them back their country in a lot of ways.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we hope he's right and we hope it lasts. Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, morning papers from around the country and around the world and we'll do both today. Here's the money shot. I'm not sure who shot this picture, but it is the money shot of the election. It's the "Rocky Mountain Daily News" that will appear in a lot, a young woman with the purple finger signifying that she has voted. The fact that it's a woman in the picture tells you something too. Voice of freedom, the headlines, Iraqis flood polls in first free vote in half a century. That's a nice headline there.

The "Arab American News" published in the Detroit area. In Michigan, more poll workers than voters. An analysis piece, no good outcome for U.S. and Iraq. I'd like to read that and the editorial, election fiasco mirrors U.S. policy. That's the election fiasco for Iraqi Americans living in the Detroit area. They were none too happy about -- they felt they had to jump through a lot of hoops to vote.

The staff of the program thought I was being very harsh when I said, hey, if these people in Iraq can brave bullets and suicide bombers and all that, these people can drive across to vote. Anyway, they weren't too happy about it and they have a right to their own feelings, right?

The "Iran Daily," I don't know if you get this at home, but this is the English language paper in Iran. Millions of Iraqis vote in historic polls, attacks claim 33 lives. The Iranians have an interest obviously, not just as neighbors. The majority population Iraq, like the Iranians, Shia Muslims. They would like to exercise some influence in the region and now perhaps they will a little more.

"Cincinnati Enquirer," Iraqis defy violence to vote, 44 killed at polls but millions turned out. I don't know how anyone can look at the pictures of what went on in Iraq today, forget your politics. But you would have thought the war was a good idea, forget all that nonsense, OK, just for one day and look at those pictures and tell me that that wasn't something cool that happened. I mean those people showed a lot of guts going out to vote today.

Iraqi's crowd the polls, "Christian Science Monitor," headline. Down at the bottom, why businesses are once again keen to merge, big merger coming tomorrow, AT&T and SBC I think, $16 billion, weather in Chicago by the way is malaise. We're back tomorrow. We'll see you at 10:00 Eastern time. Good night for all of us.

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