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Saddam Hussein Hangs, James Brown's Funeral a Celebration, Tornadoes Hit Louisiana
Aired December 30, 2006 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight is a night of happiness, a night of justice, a night of relief, a night of revenge.
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MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: Defiant as always, Saddam Hussein is put to death by hanging. From Washington to Baghdad, we'll have reaction to his death.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, honoring a president -- we'll show you the moving ceremony as Gerald Ford's body is taken from California to the nation's capital.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wedge tornado wrapped in rain.
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LONG: And deadly weather slams Texas and moves toward the Southeast.
HOLMES: All in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The news is unfolding live on this Saturday, the 30th day of describe.
Hello to you all.
I'm Holmes.
LONG: And I'm Melissa Long in this morning for Betty.
As we mentioned, the weather a big concern this morning.
HOLMES: Yes.
LONG: Let's talk first about the tornadoes that tore through Texas overnight.
We have Charles Bratcher on the line for us, the public information officer for Limestone County.
Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
CHARLES BRATCHER, LIMESTONE COUNTY, TEXAS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS: Sure, Melissa.
LONG: So I understand you had two tornado paths that struck us -- struck you, rather, yesterday.
Tell us about where that happened and how extensive the damage is.
BRATCHER: Well, approximately 2:00 p.m. is when the initial storm struck. It took two paths through our county and it extended approximately 20 miles in all. We had it skipping through the county.
We have extensive damage to approximately 30 to 40 homes. We did have one fatality and probably at least a dozen injuries.
LONG: How bad are those injuries?
BRATCHER: Most of them are minor, at this point. Most were treated and released -- scratches, bruises, that type of thing. We do have one family that was trapped under a roof, but they were freed without any major injuries.
LONG: You said the tornadoes were skipping through your county.
BRATCHER: Yes, ma'am.
LONG: How significant is the damage?
BRATCHER: It's probably well in -- well in excess of a million dollars before it's all over with in the county. We have not finished our assessments yet. We have teams in the area and on the ground at this point looking at all the damage and trying to assess what we do have.
LONG: And how often do you get tornadoes in your part of the country?
BRATCHER: Well, this is the first one, in my understanding, the one we've had in the winter since 1950.
LONG: Wow!
BRATCHER: So it's not very often we have them around Christmas. It's a bad holiday, certainly.
LONG: Well, since it was so unexpected this time of year, did you have sufficient warning?
BRATCHER: We did. We were able to -- our local news, as well as the National Weather Service, had issued warnings. We did have some warning and were able to get the warning out to folks.
LONG: Anything else you want us to know at this point? BRATCHER: No, ma'am. We seem to be doing well at this point.
LONG: That's good to know.
Charles Bratcher, the public information officer for Limestone County in Texas.
Thank you so much for your time, sir.
We appreciate it.
BRATCHER: Certainly.
HOLMES: Well, we're talking tornado there and also a tornado watch in effect right now in New Orleans.
Bonnie Schneider watching that for us in the Weather Center -- hello again, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, and Melissa.
We have two tornado watch boxes for you. One is for New Orleans. Now, this one will go until 2:00 today Central time, not just for New Orleans, but for Biloxi and Mobile, all the way eastward toward Alabama.
But then back off further to the west, look at this, through Baton Rouge, we've been tracking some very dangerous thunderstorms with frequent lightening, downpours of rain and really strong wind, up to 60 miles per hour.
We had some reports of tornado damage in Acadia, Louisiana. That's further back off to the west, near the Lafayette area. No report of a tornado warning, but the sheriff's department, according to the National Weather Service, did report damage from a tornado to one home, and that was in the Church Point area.
Now, as we go to our radar picture, we can show you the line of storms. It looks like some of the heavy rain is pushing a little bit further north of Baton Rouge, but there's a lot more where that came from. The moisture source coming from the south, from the Gulf of Mexico. But the entire system pushing to the east. And that's why the threat of severe weather will shift east throughout the day.
Zooming into the Baton Rouge area, you can see the areas in red indicating where we're getting the heaviest downpours of rain and the strongest storms. A lot of that, again, moving now north of the area.
But we're also watching the entire system, because this is the same system that brought all the snow to Colorado and it's still bringing snow to the Albuquerque area, three to four inches of snow expected.
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LONG: They called him the butcher of Baghdad, blamed him for 100,000 murders. But in Iraq today, it was Saddam Hussein himself who died, specifically for his role in a 1982 massacre. But more than that point, for a quarter century reign of terror. He showed no remorse.
We have reports and reaction from Baghdad, Crawford, Texas and Dearborn, Michigan. And we do want to warn you right now that some of the places we're going to share with you will be disturbing.
We begin our coverage now with CNN's Arwa Damon, who is live for us in Baghdad -- hello, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Melissa.
And the execution took place in the very early hours of the morning here in Iraq, right around 6:00 in the morning. Iraqis waking up to the end of an era in their very tormented history.
On the streets of Baghdad, in fact, throughout Iraq, there has really been a lot of mixed reaction to the entire trial, the verdict, the sentencing, and, finally, the execution of Saddam Hussein. In fact, in the streets of Baghdad, where CNN was covering the story from, just as the news was breaking, it took some time for the news that Saddam Hussein was dead to actually trickle out. And we really didn't see this massive explosion of celebrity gunfire that I think people were, to a certain degree, expecting.
Largely the reaction here to the (INAUDIBLE), when you think about who he was and what he represented to the Iraqi people, the very fact that his image was enough to instill fear, was fairly subdued.
Predictably, in some predominantly Shia areas, we saw celebrations. We saw celebrations in the southern portions of the country that are relatively safe; also, in the Kurdish north.
But, again, those celebrations fairly subdued. Many people, though, they were following this story, especially toward the end, especially as the story yesterday and into the early hours of this morning was building up momentum into those final moments. Really, for them, for the Iraqi people, yes, this is the end of an era. It is the end of their former dictator.
But the issues at hand for them are so much more significant, what they are trying to deal with right now is the violence. When you speak with Iraqis right now, there are some that will tell you that, yes, this was Saddam Hussein brought to justice but really his death, the significance of it, the impact that it's going to have on the future of Iraq, most of them do not believe that his death is really going to change the violence that is going to help the security issues that many of them are trying to deal with.
And, in fact, we also saw some people that were questioning whether or not he really needed to be killed.
Some people saying why do we need to be dealing with more violence, more violent images on our screens? That being said, of course, some others, especially those that suffered most under his regime, very much welcoming his execution, welcoming seeing Saddam Hussein strung up like so many before him were strung up under his regime -- Melissa.
LONG: Arwa Damon live from Baghdad.
Arwa, thank you.
HOLMES: We want to turn back to weather now and our Bonnie Schneider, who's keeping an eye on this weather that's -- these alerts seem to be coming fast and furious now -- Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: They sure are. Just -- yes, we were anticipating this with the tornado watches. We now have a tornado warning. This is for eastern Baton Rouge Parish in Southeast Louisiana. So you can see it here. We've highlighted it on the map for you.
There's the tornado warning and there's Baker. You can see Baton Rouge right in the center of it. This means that we have -- Doppler radar has indicated rotation in a cell that we've been watching. So it's possible for a tornado to drop down at any time with this system.
We've seen strong thunderstorms rolling through Baton Rouge pretty much for the past hour or so.
Here's the system. You can see that line indicated in the area in red. Winds have been as strong as 60 miles per hour with this system. And remember, it's all part of the bigger picture, which shows us that we have a tornado watch for Baton Rouge. That goes until noon today. And then, in advance of the system to the east, a second tornado watch. This goes until 2:00 p.m. Central time.
So the threat of severe weather will shift further to the east and stretch all the way into Alabama as we work our way through the afternoon.
And once again, that tornado watch for eastern Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana. And we'll be watching that throughout much of the day. I think this threat of severe weather will continue, with heavy downpours of rain, severe winds and frequent lightening strikes --
HOLMES: Man, Bonnie, thank you so much for keeping an eye on that for us.
We do want to turn back to Saddam Hussein's execution, that big story of the day.
President Bush called the execution an important milestone.
CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas -- hello to you, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you,
Well, President Bush's written statement was released about 90 minutes after the execution of Saddam Hussein. The president saying in that written statement that Saddam Hussein received a fair trial, the kind of justice that he denied to the Iraqi people.
At the same time, the president had praise for the Iraqis, saying: "It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law."
Now, at the same time, though, President Bush, in this same statement, acknowledged that the violence on the ground in Iraq is a difficult situation. The president saying that the execution of Saddam Hussein comes at the end of a very difficult year for the Iraqi people and for U.S. forces, as well. The president in that statement saying that bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not bring an end to the violence in Iraq, but he called it an important milestone.
Now, we should tell you, , already this morning, President Bush has been on the phone with his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley. It was about 5:55 a.m. Central time, 6:55 a.m. Eastern time that he spoke by phone with Stephen Hadley for about 10 minutes. We are told by a White House spokesman that the two discussed the fact that the execution had been carried out, as well as talking a little bit about some of the world reaction to it.
We understand, as well, the president had his normal intelligence briefing this morning and there is no plan right now for the president to come out today to talk about Saddam Hussein's execution in public --
HOLMES: And, Elaine, we assume the president got some kind of a heads up before the execution.
How exactly did he find out about it?
QUIJANO: Well, what we understand from a White House spokesman is that it was around 7:15 last night, Eastern time, that President Bush heard from his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley. And what Hadley told him at the time was that Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, had actually informed the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Zalman Khalilzad, that Saddam Hussein's execution was, in fact, just a few hours away.
At that time, Stephen Hadley then informed President Bush and the president actually went to bed knowing the conclusion and was under the impression that, obviously, if things did not go as the briefing had laid out, that, in fact, he would be awakened.
We understand that at the moment of the execution itself, the president was not disturbed. But, again, already this morning, the president on the phone with Stephen Hadley to talk about the fact that the execution had, in fact, taken place -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Elaine for us in Crawford, Texas.
Thank you so much, Elaine.
LONG: Did you know that more than a quarter of a million Arab- Americans live in southeastern Michigan?
CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is there in Dearborn with reaction now to Saddam Hussein's death -- Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Melissa.
There was a big party here last night, just across the street from one of the local mosques. And, as you can see, people are gathering once again this morning to continue the partying. In fact, many people have parties planned at their homes today, bringing families, friends over, a big celebration.
And, of course, the reason is so many of these people have a real connection to the reign of terror in Iraq. Many of these people personally impacted, family members affected.
In fact, we have a few Iraqi-Americans with us right now.
Najiva (ph), tell me how exactly was your father impacted by Saddam's reign?
NAJIVA: Well, my father was taken in and tortured by Saddam just because we were against him and we didn't support him. We just didn't like him. And just like, today we're just very, very excited. It's such a good day for us. Many of us are celebrating across the U.S. You know, it's like -- it's a dream come true.
LONG: What are your plans for today?
NAJIVA: Oh, we're going to have a big party for sure. We're going to go all out. Like a lot of families and friends are coming over and so we're just going to celebrate.
CHERNOFF: As you can see, people throwing candy, as they were last night, a tradition of celebration in the Middle East. And, of course, here, as well.
We have another person, as well, Mohammed (ph), who came here from Iraq when you were a young boy. You lived in Iraq. Your father, you believe, was actually killed by Saddam's regime?
MOHAMMED: Yes, Saddam took my father in 1979. It was when I was in the 10 years. I come to the United States in 1994.
CHERNOFF: So for you, is this sweet revenge?
MOHAMMED: Of course. We had this big, big party over here, this big, big holiday because, see, everything is beautiful today. See, the others -- the beautiful -- the people is very happy.
CHERNOFF: Now, you can say it's beautiful here in the U.S. of course. Now the situation, as you know, in Iraq, has been just absolutely horrific, very violent over there. Do you think this will actually improve the situation?
MOHAMMED: Yes, of course. The situation, I don't -- I can't -- I can't (INAUDIBLE) what can I feel for you, because it's Saddam Hussein, he killed everybody in Iraq. He killed my father. He killed my father. He killed my uncle. He killed every of the people over there for -- for nothing. For nothing. Just because the -- the government.
CHERNOFF: OK, thank you, Mohammed.
Thank you very much.
Now, as you can see, lots of people really do feel a great sense of relief that Saddam is now gone. And as you heard, a lot of people here feeling that this will lead to improvements in Iraq. And everyone has told me that they believe this is justification for the U.S. war against Iraq -- Melissa.
LONG: Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff, live from Dearborn, Michigan.
Thank you, Allan.
HOLMES: Whether it was reaction to Saddam Hussein's execution or just another normal weekend of violence, there were three car bombings in Shiite districts in Iraq today. One of them in northwest Baghdad killed at least 36 people. The other one, in the southern Iraqi town of Kufa, killed at least 30 people. Also rising, the U.S. military death toll in Iraq. Three more U.S. service members were killed. Those deaths were announced today, making December the deadliest month of 2006 and bringing the total U.S. military death toll since the war began to 2,998.
And when we continue our coverage of Saddam Hussein's execution throughout the next hour, including reaction from the Pentagon.
How will this affect the U.S. mission in Iraq?
LONG: And, also, a farewell to a president. Coming up, we'll have a live report from Palm Desert, California, where Gerald Ford's body will be moved across the country.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems to be fairly long-lived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And, also, it's (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god, it's close.
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LONG: Storm chasers trying to keep an eye on this twister in Texas that barreled through homes, leaving a trail of death and damage. You're watching CNN.
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HOLMES: Oh, we're taking a look at look here at some of that video of storm chasers chasing a tornado and that tornado began to chase them just for a second there. They got a little too close for comfort.
We've been keeping an eye on the severe weather that's happening around the Gulf area. The storm system is in Texas, also Louisiana.
And on the phone with us now is Sheriff Wayne Melancon, who is in a tiny community in Louisiana right now.
And, sir, tell us what just blew through your area.
SHERIFF WAYNE MELANCON, ACADIA PARISH, LOUISIANA: Yes, well, early this morning -- we've had a night of intense rainfall all night long. We've had some flooding out here. But early this morning we had, what we believe at this point to be a couple of tornadoes that touched down around the Meir area of Acadia Parish.
We seem to have quite a bit of damage out here. One home has been damaged, a trailer home, several other structures. At this point, we are -- our deputies came out and cleared the road so our people could get through it and we're assessing the damage and checking on every house to make sure that everyone in our area is safe and no one has been injured.
HOLMES: And what -- yes, that was going to be my next question.
So far so good? You don't have any word of any injuries yet?
MELANCON: At this point, we have no word of any injuries. Everything seems to be -- as far as injuries go -- everyone seems to be OK at this point. Like I said, we're going to have quite a bit of property damage. We're -- we were told two tornadoes may have touched down at this point.
HOLMES: Give us an idea of the severity of the damage there. I guess we're talking a rural area.
It didn't hit any kind of a downtown or a town or anything like that?
MELANCON: No. No, this is a rural area, a rural area in northeast corner of Arcadia Parish. It looks like it's a home that was damaged. Property, you know, a trailer home, barns, buildings, trees, things like that.
And, of course, we had some flooding in some low lying areas.
HOLMES: OK, give me...
MELANCON: Because we had like I said, a night of intense rain. HOLMES: OK.
Yes, give me an idea, again, what time all this was kind of going on.
Were people awake and were they seeing the warnings and whatnot on TV? Or were a lot of people asleep when this was going on last night?
MELANCON: I think most people were sleeping at the time. It was going on in the early morning hours and I think most everyone was asleep.
Of course, they were awakened by the noise and the rumbling and those type of things, of course.
HOLMES: What kind of calls, as well, to the sheriff's office? Are you getting a flood of calls for people needing maybe even rescue or help or -- you said not too many injuries yet, though.
MELANCON: We have no injuries. Our deputies have been on the scene, and myself, since early this morning. We've gotten some people out, but we don't -- we're not receiving any calls for help at this time. But we do have our deputies with boats. Wildlife and fisheries is on stand by and the Meir volunteer fire department are out doing their job, help clearing the roads and checking on people.
Everything seems to be a coordinated effort right now, working really well.
HOLMES: Do have anything coming -- any other weather coming behind this weather system? Or are you in the clear for a little bit now?
MELANCON: We're -- we should be in the clear for the next several hours, is what I'm told. We still have dark skies. It's overcast. But I'm told for the next several hours we should be OK. There is another front coming from Texas, it was just touched down a few minutes ago. But that we should be clear for the next, you know, several hours.
LONG: All right, well, Sheriff Wayne Melancon giving us the update from there.
Sir, thank you.
Good luck to you.
Good to hear, at least, there were no injuries reported there.
Thank you for giving us a couple of minutes.
We do want to get more on tornado warnings, watches and whatnot, I guess we could say. A lot of stuff going on in the weather around that region in Texas and Louisiana.
Bonnie Schneider keeping an eye on all of it for us -- Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Well, T.J. I want to show you exactly on Google Earth where Acadia Parish is in relation to some of the bigger cities in Louisiana and where we've had reports of the tornado damage that the sheriff was speaking of.
If we zoom in now on Google Earth, we'll take a closer look and you'll see, here's Arcadia Parish. And it's really the area just to the north of I-10 right here. And he did mention that it is a rural area, so certainly that's true, just to the north of Appaloosas in Louisiana; not quite as far off as you travel further to the west -- to the east, rather, toward Baton Rouge, but close enough that that's where we're definitely looking at some very strong and severe thunderstorms.
Some have been producing tornadoes across much of the region. In fact, the tornado watch for this region continues, for Baton Rouge and areas to the east. And a second watch will continue until 2:00. This one goes until 12:00 p.m. so we're getting close to that.
We also have a tornado watch that we're watching, as well. And this is for eastern Baton Rouge Parish. This goes for about another nine minutes. So that means that we've had rotation with our thunderstorms that we've been tracking on Doppler radar. And we could certainly see some very, very bad conditions.
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LONG: Six days of national mourning are underway for Gerald Ford. His widow Betty is about to accompany the body of the 38th president to the U.S. Capitol. Right now, the casket is at Saint Margaret's Episcopal Church in California.
CNN's Dan Simon now joins us live from Palm Desert -- good morning.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Melissa.
Well, Mr. Ford's body currently lying in repose here at the church. In just a little while, his body is going to be transported to the airport, where he will be flown to Washington, D.C.
Last night, we saw thousands of people file into this church. Many waited in line for several hours just to have that split second opportunity to pass in front of the casket and pay respect to the former president.
Yesterday was also the first time we have seen Mrs. Ford since her husband passed away. Obviously a very difficult day for her and the entire Ford family.
There was a private service and visitation for close friends and family. Among those in attendance included former Secretary of State George Schulz, as well as former Congressman and presidential candidate Jack Kemp.
The family's pastor says it was a difficult day, indeed.
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REV. ROBERT CERTAIN, SAINT MARGARET'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH: The Fords have been very good friends of ours for a long time. And so I'm kind of -- I'm suffering from my own level of grief, but at the same time, my whole life right now is to care for their grief.
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SIMON: In terms of what's going to happen over the next few hours and the next several days, first of all, there's going to be a departure ceremony, which has been pushed up a little bit. At about 9:00 local time, there will be a departure ceremony right here in front of the church. We'll see the honor guard and a Marine Corps band will play.
Then Mr. Ford's body is going to be taken to the Palm Springs airport, where he'll be flown to Washington, D.C.
There will be a state funeral this evening at the Capitol. On Sunday and Monday, Mr. Ford's body will lie in state in the Rotunda. And then on Tuesday, there will be another service at the National Cathedral. And then finally on Wednesday, the sixth day of national mourning, Mr. Ford's body will be flown to Michigan, where he will ultimately be laid to rest at his presidential museum in Grand Rapids -- Melissa.
LONG: Dan, you just shared a comment from Reverend Certain, a close friend of the Ford family. And that church, as well, a very integral part of the family. They have a pew dedicated to them?
SIMON: That's exactly right. You know, the Fords have been coming to this church for 30 years. This building you see behind me, this was -- this is somewhat of a new addition built in the late '80s. The Fords helped raise the money for it. As you said, there is a pew dedicated to them and this church meant a great deal to the former president. He and wife Betty, they came here pretty much every Sunday, Melissa.
LONG: Dan Simon live from Palm Desert, California.
Dan, thank you.
HOLMES: Now we want to take a live look in Augusta, Georgia, where mourners are filing past the body of the legendary soul singer, James Brown, this morning. This is a public funeral. It's set for early afternoon at the arena that bears his name there in Augusta. Eight thousand people expected at the service. Thousands more will listen to the funeral on loudspeakers outside the arena.
Brown left his mark on music genres as diverse as gospel, funk, disco, hip hop, rock and reggae. He died Monday at the age of 73.
LONG: The breaking weather news we've been covering this morning deals with tornadoes in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You have an update for us, Bonnie?
SCHNEIDER: I do. The County -- the Parish, rather -- just north of Baton Rouge, and that is East Feliciana Parish in southeast Louisiana, now has a tornado warning. This will go into 11:00 a.m. Central Standard time.
The one right below it, into East Baton Rouge Parish, this one is about to expire in four minutes.
Now, we don't have reports of tornadoes in these parishes now, but Doppler radar has indicated rotation in the thunderstorms, meaning a tornado could touch down at any time. So if you're in that vicinity, you'll want to take cover.
Strong thunderstorms are rolling across Louisiana, with the energy coming up from the south to the north, particularly here on I- 10. And it's important to note the threat from tornadoes will actually continue straight into the afternoon. The tornado watch boxes have now been extended all the way east to Alabama. And this goes until 2:00 p.m. Our tornado warnings highlighted here in red.
The tornado watch for the Baton Rouge area, through New Iberia, that will expire right at noon. So almost over with that threat, as these storms race off to the east. And a lot of the storms are actually working their way to the north at about 35 miles per hour.
We'll be tracking this severe weather throughout the day, so you'll want to keep it tuned here -- Melissa.
LONG: Bonnie, thank you for the update.
A strong weather system, not only in Denver, but in New Orleans today and around Baton Rouge.
HOLMES: Well, an adviser to Saddam Hussein's tribunal talks about the former dictator's legacy.
But does it even matter now that Saddam is dead?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am very happy. Saddam is gone. I am very happy for my people. Saddam, go to hell!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A noose around his neck, clutching a Koran. Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity. Greg Kehoe, the former adviser to the Iraq special tribunal, he joins us now live from Tampa, Florida. Sir, thank you for being here with us and you tell me if you can, in the short term and in the long term, will this trial and will this execution, help people reaffirm that, OK, Saddam was a bad guy? Or could this possibly get some sympathy for him because he was executed so quickly?
GREG KEHOE, FMR. ADVISER, IRAQI SPECIAL TRIBUNAL: There's always going to be a degree of sympathy for Saddam. He does have some loyalists from -- people from his hometown and other, probably, Baathists. It will have a dramatic impact on Iraqis both in the short term and the long term. This man did tremendous psychological damage to this country. People cowered in his presence even to the 11th hour. With regard to the long term, people on the political level, people will have to deal with the future now. There are people that were in Iraq fearing that Saddam would come back, others hoping that he was going to come back, others not quite sure. And people --
HOLMES: Was that thought really still there? I mean, Saddam has been out of the picture for sometime, at least out of power, and it didn't -- I mean, from all indication, you say maybe kind of worried about it, but people had moved on to other things and had other problems.
KEHOE: Oh, there was always a very strong question in many people's mind as to the future of Saddam Hussein. Because, because everything has been so inconsistent. Was the United States going to stay? We had a government in power that really wasn't very stable. Now, now that we're at this juncture, it's a watershed. There's no turning back. If this country is going to move forward in 2007 and the years to come, there's going to have to be some compromise among and between all these groups or this country's got no future at all. Clearly, as of yesterday or the early morning hours of today, there's no turning back for the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein is off the table.
HOLMES: All right, was this an open process, do you think the whole trial, will this be seen or viewed historically or viewed now even as he got a fair trial?
KEHOE: Did this trial have mistakes in it? Could it have been done better? Absolutely and I think if we look at this court in the years to come and see the many trials that they conduct, they will do things better. There could have been more controlled measures on many outbursts that took place. But nevertheless, we cannot overlook several very important facts, the due process facts. Number one, Saddam Hussein was tried in an open courtroom for you and I and everyone to see. Number two, he was represented by counsel. Number three, he was confronted by witnesses and evidence against him that he had the right to challenge. And number four, most importantly, he had his say in court. He got everything that he never gave to people that went through his secret courts for the past 20-plus years.
HOLMES: Aren't a lot of people not going to be getting something that they want, which is was see Saddam come to justice for crimes against them in particular? Of course this was the one incident, the Dujail incident back from 1982. But the major trial everybody says, the major one is the genocide trial that is going on right now. Saddam is not a part of it. Some are questioning whether or not that will get a lot of attention now. And for those families and those victims there maybe they think, wow, where's my justice now? He's dead, but he's not having to answer for the crimes he did against me. KEHOE: I appreciate that argument, that I'm sympathetic to it. But the reality is that there are so many crime bases that are currently being investigated and that can be charged in addition to the Anfal campaign. One need only look at the Shia uprising from 1991 with thousands and thousands and thousands of people were killed, when Saddam redirected his troops against the civilian population. That being said, these trials will still have a great impact within Iraq the trial that you were just talking about, the Anfal campaign against the Kurds from '87 to '88. The main defendant left right now is Ali Hassan al Majeed (ph). You know him as chemical Ali, the cousin of Saddam Hussein who was directly responsible for the incarceration, the execution, the gas attacks and the deaths of thousands and thousands of Kurds. In fact, he's the one (INAUDIBLE) on tape when he breeches -- when someone says you killed 140,000 Kurds, he said, no, I only killed 100,000 Kurds. So these trials are still very important. They still be watched. There are still major players involved because a lot other people other than Saddam Hussein were involved in these horrific crimes.
HOLMES: All right, again, Greg Kehoe, former adviser to the Iraq special tribunal, thank you so much. I appreciate your expertise this morning.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Witnesses say Saddam Hussein showed no remorse as he was led to the gallows in Iraq this morning. The former Iraqi president was executed just 56 days after being convicted for his role in a 1982 massacre. President Bush warned that Hussein's death will not end the violence in Iraq, but he called it an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy. Justice was swift and severe. Saddam Hussein's execution, again, coming just 56 days after that conviction. Joshua Levs now joins us live with a look at the final 24 hours leading up to the 6:00 a.m. Baghdad time execution.
JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CENTER: Exactly, yes, Melissa, thank you. We know that a lot of you are joining us today not aware of everything that's happened over the past 24 hours and exactly what led to this big news about Saddam Hussein. What I want to do here is just trace you through the big steps of the past 24 hours. So jump back to this time yesterday. The news of the day was that Saddam Hussein's execution could be imminent. His attorneys at that point were giving indications that once the U.S. military transferred him to Iraqi custody, that could mean hours until his death. We reported that here on CNN. Then the news broke that he was transferred and then Friday evening, Iraqi officials said Saddam would be executed by 6:00 a.m. Saturday Baghdad time. That's 10:00 p.m. Eastern. His attorneys made some last-minute maneuvers. They tried to prevent the hanging. Those did not work out and one of his attorneys told us here at CNN, quote, Saddam is ready to die. Then jump ahead to 10:00 p.m. last night Eastern. The news broke that it was just after 6:00 a.m. in Baghdad. News broke it had happened. Here's what we said on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All Hura (ph) television in Iraq is now reporting that the execution of Saddam Hussein was carried out 10 minutes ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: So right then in Iraq, particularly in Shiite areas, people started celebrating immediately. We're seeing several celebrations around Iraq that were taking place at that point. But it wasn't just in Iraq. It was also in the United States. We're going to jump over now to Dearborn, Michigan. You've got a lot of Arab-Americans there, including many Iraqi-Americans. But at this point, the video you're seeing, all these celebrations were taking place following reports that it had happened. No one at that point had any proof. Then, middle of the night, East coast time, it's getting closer to noon in Baghdad, that's when the video is released, showing that Saddam Hussein was, indeed, executed.
I'm going to tell you right now, we will be showing you some video -- we're not going to show him hanged. We are going to show an image of his dead body. It could be disturbing to some people. Feel free to look away. What you're seeing now is the video -- let's go back to that other video if we could, just for a second, back to the other video of Saddam Hussein being guided by masked people -- there you go -- people through to where the hanging will take place. This is what Iraqis saw first. They offer him a hood. He refuses it. So they tie it around his neck. Then they walk him over to the area where a rope is set up that will be serving as a noose. Underneath that, there's a trap door. When it opens, he will apparently fall down and that will trigger the hanging process. His legs are apparently in shackles as well. What you're seeing right now is the rope, people are tightening the noose up against him and that is what led up to that moment and this is what Iraqis saw.
However it froze -- we're not going to be seeing the hanging here. One more thing, we're now going to switch over to the video we started to show you of Saddam Hussein's dead body. This, folks is what Iraqis saw. And for them this is the moment that they know for a fact in their minds that Saddam Hussein has, indeed, been executed. This is grainy video. It's hard to tell exactly what it is. We're telling you, that's Saddam Hussein, his head is turned a little bit to the side. People see that, a lot of Iraqis getting that news. And here in the United States, a lot of people awakening this morning to that video and learning what has happened to the man who once led that country, now executed.
Just one more thing I'm going to tell you here and that's what's happened today. It was long said that if Saddam Hussein was executed, there could be reprisal attacks in the wake of it. Guess what we've seen today, Melissa, a slew of attacks here -- rather, there, in Iraq, and we've got dozens people killed. Many of those attacks taking place in Shiite areas, the same kinds of areas that were celebrating his death yesterday.
LONG: I should mention as well that he was executed on the first day of Eid, a very holy day in the Muslim community as well.
LEVS: That was part of what made it simultaneously controversial but also in a way what set up the timing for this to happen. LONG: Joshua Levs, thanks so much.
LEVS: Thank you very much.
HOLMES: As Josh was just mentioning there, there had been fears Saddam Hussein's execution could spark a violent reaction from Iraqi insurgents. CNN's Kathleen Koch is standing for us this morning with more on that. Hello to you, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi T.J. Certainly that's something that the Pentagon, the Bush administration, been very concerned about. No official reaction, though, from the Pentagon to the execution of Saddam Hussein. It's important to point out that the Iraqi dictator was in the custody of the U.S. military, the coalition, until he was transferred to Iraqi authorities for the execution to be carried out early this morning.
The -- there had been some speculation that the U.S. military might help in transporting Saddam Hussein's body from Baghdad. But we are now being told that the U.S. will not be involved. Certainly, because of the concern about the outbreak of more violence, the U.S. military was put on high alert after news of the execution was made public. Certainly there had been a great number of threats that were put out by the Baath party of Saddam Hussein, that there would be increased violence if the former Iraqi leader was executed. Certainly, the concern that insurgents would seize on this as an opportunity to wreak more deadly havoc. Certainly in Baghdad, we are seeing some of that. But the U.S. military, again, on high alert, very vigilant.
And word also, just about an hour and a half ago from Baghdad that another U.S. service member has been killed in Iraq. The soldier died Friday when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in the southwestern section of Baghdad. Now with that and then two other deaths of U.S. service members Friday, the death toll for the month of December now stands at 109. And T.J., that makes it the deadliest month this year for U.S. service members in Iraq.
HOLMES: All right. Kathleen Koch, thank you so much, reporting for us today from the Pentagon. Of course, our coverage of the execution of Saddam Hussein continues next hour.
LONG: But first, remembering Gerald Ford. Our political correspondent talks about the late president's legacy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Good morning to you. The body of President Gerald Ford is lying in repose for another few minutes in California. Betty Ford will accompany the coffin today from St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert to Washington, D.C.. The late president's body will lie in state in the Capitol rotunda for three days. CNN' correspondents Gary Nurenberg is on Capitol Hill now as mourners gather to pay their respects to the late president. Good morning.
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Melissa When former President's Ford's body is carried into the Capitol this evening, it will be a return, of sorts, to the roots of this man, the political roots of a man who served in that building for parts of four different decades. The last president who had the honor of lying in state in the Capitol rotunda is former President Reagan. When that took place two and a half years ago, his casket was carried up the majestic west front of the Capitol overlooking the Washington monument, the Lincoln memorial. President Ford chose deliberately to enter from the other side of the building, up the 45 stairs on the east front of the Capitol that lead to the chamber of the House of Representatives where he served so long, ending his career there as minority leader.
The plans for the observances over the next several days have essentially been in place for years. Washington spent the last several days tweaking those plans and getting ready.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NURENBERG (voice-over): National Park Service workers have installed fences on the national mall to the east of the Capitol to help police establish orderly lines of mourners. Security measures were evident this morning as Capitol police prepared. Parking is restricted. Some streets have been closed. The motorcade will stop at the World War II memorial to mark Mr. Ford's naval service in that war. Then it's on to the Capitol. Inside the Capitol rotunda, the Lincoln catafalque has been put in place to hold Mr. Ford's casket as it held Abraham Lincoln's. Workers are installing additional lighting and cleaning adjacent hallways in preparation. It is a return for Mr. Ford to the institution where he served from 1949 to 1973, an institution where he built his reputation and friendships that lasted until he died.
BOB DOLE, FORD'S 1976 RUNNING MATE: He was just a nice guy. You can sit down on the House floor -- and I've done that dozens of times when he was a leader and I was just a little something in the House and sit down and talk to him about your family or about anything. He always had time. You always had access if you wanted to see him. I think the same thing is true when he went to the White House. It sort of changed. It's sort of an open door policy at the White House, Democrat or Republican, if you knew Jerry Ford, you probably had access.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NURENBERG: The affection that you could hear in Senator Dole's voice is really shared in the city by many many people who admired President Ford. He was challenged for the Republican nomination in 1976 by Ronald Reagan who ran an anti-Washington campaign. He was defeated in '76 by Jimmy Carter who ran an outsiders campaign, saying it was time for a change in D.C.. But President Ford really was a man of Washington. And later today, he returns to the city he loved so much, a city that loved him. He will lie in state in the rotunda starting tonight and the public will have a chance to file by starting this evening and then Sunday and Monday. Melissa.
LONG: Gary, security will be especially tight. What does the public need to know if someone wants to go by Washington to pay their final respects?
NURENBERG: Very severe restrictions on what you can bring into the building, no weapons, obviously, but there are restrictions also on the amount of food and drink that you can bring. The size of your pocketbook is going to be limited. Those are also published in the Washington papers and available to anyone who's coming. But be prepared to leave many things behind.
LONG: Gary Nurenberg, live from the capital, thank you Gary.
HOLMES: The late president once quipped he was a Ford, not a Lincoln. His funeral, while grand a bit, will reflect his modest and unassuming personality. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider is joining us now live from Charleston, South Carolina, to talk a little bit more about that personality. Good morning, to you, Bill. Do they make them like this anymore -- politicians like this? So many people say he's a guy next door. Do they make politicians like this anymore?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not really because a lot of the fondness, the recollection of Gerald Ford is really driven by the recollection of an earlier era, an era before the harshness, the bitterness, the divisiveness that took over American politics. Certainly that was there during the Watergate period, that may be when this started, but Ford presented himself as a healer, as someone who would bind up the nation's wounds after the bitter divisions of Watergate and Vietnam.
Now, he is remembered, of course, from a not very healing moment, the pardon of Richard Nixon. But he certainly intended that to end the Watergate period, to allow the nation to come together again. It did not because of the very bitter anger that poured out after the pardon. But certainly, his persona as a politician, his style as president, was that of a moderate, that of a healer, which today is very rare in Washington.
HOLMES: You say it's very rare. I hate to -- I don't know how bad I might be putting you on the spot here man. But can you compare him to anybody, a president or otherwise, anyone in the House or Congress at all? A personality we can kind of see, OK this guy right here, that's kind of how President Ford was. It's so bitter now that maybe you can't identify a personality, but is there one you kind of can compare it to?
SCHNEIDER: I can only tell you that that's what Americans are looking for. You have a lot of candidates running in 2008 or planning to run or thinking about running, and some of them intend to present themselves as politicians who are healers, who are inclusive. You have some on the Republican side, John McCain tried to cross party lines and present himself as a bipartisan figure. On the Democratic side, Barack Obama is offering himself as an inclusive politician, someone who intends to heal, an inspirational figure. So while you can't find many people in politics who have adopted that style in a very harsher era, you find that that is what Americans want. And there are an awful lot of people who are offering themselves as healers for the 2008 election. HOLMES: Talk about how much his wife, Betty Ford, the beloved Betty Ford, it's certainly fair to say, helped in that public persona of his being a sort guy, a nice guy, a guy next door, how much she -- her role and their relationship played into that public persona.
SCHNEIDER: Of course, it was a lifelong love affair between the two of them. She is admired -- let me say this. Gerald Ford is regarded as a good president. Interestingly, the polls show that he is the most average president of modern times. More people rate him as average. Not worse than average or better than average, but average, of any president since Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s and as. But his wife, Betty Ford, is regarded as a great first lady. She was courageous. She battled cancer. She battled addictions and alcoholism. She was up front about it. She changed the national view of those problems. She started the Betty Ford clinic. She is really regarded as a path-breaking first lady and I think, like her husband, she was -- she is looked on with affection and fondness, as a first lady who other first ladies would be, I think, called upon to try to emulate.
HOLMES: Yes, often the case. Often beside a great man, you'll find an ever greater woman, won't you Bill. Well, thank you so much, our Bill Schneider. Thank you so much. We'll be checking in later with you, I'm sure.
LONG: And another fond farewell to the godfather of soul. Coming up, a live report on the funeral of singer James Brown. This is a live picture from Augusta, Georgia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Good morning. It's a final farewell tour for musical legend James Brown. Fans and friends are saying good-bye to the godfather of soul today. A public viewing is under way right now in the singer's hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Yesterday, there was a private memorial. CNN's Catherine Callaway is in Augusta for us this morning. Good morning Catherine.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Melissa. It is a show of just how much James Brown was loved here in his hometown, as the line of people trying to get into the James Brown arena to say their final farewells to their hometown hero stretches all the way down this street on Seventh Avenue and continues to wrap around the block, even though people have been filing in now, for hours. The problem now is that the arena which holds 8500, they're going to allow about 8100 people in the arena for the service later today and the arena is rapidly filling up. So a few moments ago, they shut the line down and wouldn't let anyone else in to file past the casket.
So they were asking people inside to sit down so they could get a number -- an idea of just how many number of people they could allow back in. And then they opened the doors up for just a couple minutes and now are allowing people back in. And these people are not just fans. Most of these people or many of these people from Augusta actually know James Brown from his involvement in this community where he had restaurants and radio stations. He was a philanthropist. In fact, he was at his annual toy giveaway here in Augusta just a couple of days before he died, before he was admitted into the hospital for pneumonia.
Now, as I said, this will continue until about 1:00. and then the Reverend Al Sharpton is expected to begin his -- what he's calling a celebration of James Brown's life. And we expect a number of celebrities to perform. It's a more jubilant party atmosphere inside the arena as they celebrate his life. It will be interesting to see, Melissa who actually performs. They're not telling us anything. It should be quite a party as he goes out with a little flourish, just like he lived his life. Back to you.
LONG: Kathleen Callaway, live from Augusta. And of course, we'll be following that celebration this afternoon. Thank you.
HOLMES: And violence erupts in the hours after Saddam Hussein's execution. We'll bring you the very latest from Baghdad. We'll have that for you all day long.
LONG: Honoring a president, California is just minutes away from saying good-bye to Gerald Ford for the final time. We'll take you live to Palm Desert for the start of Ford's journey to Washington.
HOLMES: And then at 1:00 Eastern, the funeral for the godfather of soul, Augusta, Georgia prepares to lay to rest the legendary James Brown. Stay here for CNN for all of today's developing stories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're taking you, now, to live pictures in Palm Desert, California. You're looking at the casket that's carrying the body of the 38th president of the United States Gerald R. Ford. This is a departure ceremony that's happening at St. Margaret Episcopal church there in Palm Desert. This was the church where he and his wife spent their time and they - this was their church after he left the White House. He spent some 30 years at this church. His body has been there, been a private ceremony and a funeral service there at that church for the past -- well, yesterday it happened, viewing as well.
But now it's time for him to leave for the departure ceremony. His body will then be flown back to Washington, D.C. for, of course, for the state funeral, which will happen at the national cathedral. That doesn't happen until Tuesday. In the meantime, we're taking a look here at the ceremony that is happening. We've been watching these pictures. We saw, really, such a sad and moving time, but also just a beautiful ceremony to watch these, as the honor guard, representing all the branches of the armed forces participating in this. His body will go from the church, taken, then, to the airport, to Palm Springs regional airport, where he will then be flown to Andrews Air Force base in Maryland where at that point he will be heading, his body will be heading to the capital. Our Dan Simon is on site for us there in Palm Desert, California, keeping an eye on the ceremony. Tell us how things are moving along there Dan.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi T.J.. The first leg of this good-bye journey is about to conclude. As you see, the casket being moved out of the church. Folks are assembling outside. The hearse is here to transport the body to the airport. Mr. Ford is going to be flown to Washington, D.C. today. We understand that there are about 200 assembled guests at the airport to say good-bye to Mr. Ford. The current administration has loaned the family a presidential plane, a 747 aircraft.
The body will be loaded onto the plane and the family will escort the body to Washington and there will be a state funeral this evening in Washington, D.C. on Sunday and Monday. Mr. Ford's body will lie in state. There will be another service Tuesday at the national cathedral and then of course on Wednesday, Mr. Ford's body will be flown to Michigan. He'll be laid to rest at his presidential museum in Grand Rapids. Last night, thousands of people in the community filed into the church to have the opportunity
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