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U.S. Completes Pullout from Iraq; Deadly Clashes in Egypt; Horror Murder in New York; N. Korea TV Says Kim Jong Il Dead

Aired December 18, 2011 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight -- street beating. Outrage over a woman's savage beating in Egypt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I myself saw an old lady pleading to army soldiers and they were still beating her until she apologized.

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LEMON: Protesters storm the streets after these images are broadcast around the world.

Set on fire. A 73-year-old woman burned to death as she tried to go home. Police have a suspect, but why did he do it?

American history. You saw it live here on CNN. The last American combat troops leave Iraq. We'll show you the end of a war.

Pedal to the metal. Get behind the wheel with us in one of the most popular video games on the market. We'll drive the Mario cart tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are bringing a video game to life.

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LEMON: It's all right here, right now on CNN.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us. And welcome to our viewers around the world. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Tonight, we begin with this. A landmark moment for the United States. After nearly nine years, 4,500 American lives lost, 30,000 more injured, the Iraq war is over now that the last remaining U.S. troops have left the country. CNN was there when the final convoy rolled across the border into Kuwait. This is how it all played out live on CNN on this show last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: This is breaking news, Hala, and it is history. The war in Iraq is officially over. U.S. troops are moving across the border into Kuwait now, Hala.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And what this means is that really the last vehicle and the last convoy of the last, last, last anything you can imagine in terms of the military is crossing into Kuwait.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here's the first truck now. It's probably -- this vehicle here is probably part of the route clearance element that comes through ahead of each series and makes sure that the road is clear. And behind those vehicles is going to be the last of the U.S. military presence or fighting presence in Iraq.

There's about 500 soldiers who have come over, men and women who have been coming over during the night. And these are going to be the last of these. So, it's been quite an historic moment and a very emotional moment around here overnight.

But this is the last of the last coming up behind me right now, Hala. Certainly, after nearly nine years, 4,500 U.S. military deaths, 30,000-plus wounded and, of course, nearly a trillion dollars of cost, this is now the very end as these guys come across.

Until they are about 800 meters away from here, everything was on the quiet. We weren't allowed to report anything. But now these guys are considered safe and they are considered now crossing into Kuwaiti territory. There's a bit of a no man's land, they say. An Iraqi checkpoint, about 800 meters on the other side of that gate. And the actual border is about -- I suppose about 10 meters or so inside that gate.

So once they were past the Iraqi end, one of the generals, General Buchanan, came over and said embargo is lifted and we were able to come to you. And you can see the vehicles coming across now. The massive Strykers that are so familiar to us who have been covering this war for so many years now. We spent a lot of time in those vehicles ourselves. And you can see them coming across.

LEMON: Just earlier in the month, there were 12,000 people at Camp Adder and then it dwindled down to about 500. And is anybody there now except for Iraqi forces?

HOLMES: No, there are not. There are no Americans left on that base anymore. In fact, you say 12,000. A short time ago, there were 3,000 there a day or so ago. That's how quickly they've moved out these final elements of U.S. presence here in Iraq.

LEMON: Is this the last convoy truck behind you? They are closing the gate.

HOLMES: Yes, the gate is closing. The gate is closing. So this is the last vehicle, fittingly, perhaps, it is an MRAP, one of the signature vehicles of this war brought in when the roadside bombs became so ubiquitous.

Let's just listen as this truck drives past.

The gates are now closed. The last U.S. soldier is out of Iraq, other than those who are going to be involved with embassy duties and the like.

So history in the making. Of course, the conversation you've been having and that we should continue to have, of course, is the Iraq that they are leaving behind. An Iraq where it may not be officially at war, but it's certainly a long way from being at peace -- Hala.

GORANI: Joining us now is Iraq's former national security adviser, Mowaffak Al-Rubaie. He's in Baghdad. What are your thoughts today? You're watching these images on your TV screen, I presume, right now. What is going through your mind as you watch this, Mr. Rubai?

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, FORMER IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, at the outset, I have to say that a big, big thank you to the United states of America for bringing down Saddam Hussein. That horrible, brutal regime just ended nine years ago.

What happened after the -- after bringing down Saddam Hussein was a lot of collateral damages on the Iraqi side. And I think this is a jubilant moment. And we feel in Iraq that we own the country now. We regain our country. We have now our sovereignty and independence completely. And we -- the sense of belonging is now sky high to Iraq. And we believe that we are on the right track.

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LEMON: We want to go to Egypt now where the flare up of violence in Cairo is troubling U.S. officials. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Egypt's government to show restraint but neither police nor protesters appear willing to back down. New graphic pictures are just adding to the public anger. And I have to warn you, the video is very disturbing. Journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy describes the scene in Cairo.

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MOHAMED FADEL FAHMY, JOURNALIST: Since we spoke, Don, the clashes have still been ongoing between the protesters and the police and the army. Today, the video we acquired, CNN, the video of the woman that was beaten severely and stripped of a substantial amount of her clothes, I spoke to the man who filmed the video and he was very devastated because when he was filming, he saw how brutal the army was. They were beating elderly, children and the girl herself was extremely beaten.

Just now, I spoke to a friend of hers, and she told me that the girl does not want to speak to the media. She's worried that the situation might be escalated. Her parents still don't even know what happened to her. They don't know she's the one in the video. Especially that picture has been on the front page of several newspapers here in Cairo and it has fueled a lot of rage.

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LEMON: I also asked him about a Cairo library that was torched, burning 213-year-old manuscripts that officials say are irreplaceable.

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FAHMY: The library, I was there at the site today to see what happened with it. It's a 200-year-old library with manuscripts that cannot be replaced. Today, there was a rescue mission ongoing as we speak. Many protesters and residents have been trying to salvage whatever is left from these books and manuscripts that clearly a big loss to Egypt as a nation. And, you know, they are trying to save whatever they can. There are people who are. The church is helping. The mosques are helping.

And it's basically finger-pointing. Again, the military saying the protesters caused the loss. And the protesters are saying the military caused the loss because the military was actually on the rooftop of the library building, throwing chairs and glass bottles at the protesters. So they were responding back with Molotov cocktails and rocks.

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LEMON: And that was journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy reporting on the chaos raging in Cairo.

Breaking news now. We want to tell you about something that is going on in North Korea. You see that picture. You know him. It is Kim Jong Il. South Korean -- a South Korean news organization is reporting that North Korean television is saying that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died. Pyongyang -- again, state television making that announcement. That's according to South Korean -- a South Korean news organization.

This is a live picture and that's all -- am I correct -- that the North Korean television is showing? They just have a picture up of Kim Jong Il. They say that the veteran leader died at about 8:30 a.m. on December 17th and that the announcement was made by a weeping announcer on television.

But this is all North Korean television is showing. It is just a picture of the supreme leader Kim Jong Il. And so there are news organizations there that are reporting that Kim Jong Il has died.

Our international wing of CNN working on information. We will get more to you within this broadcast. But again, this is what's being reported. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died. CNN checking to verify all of that information. Make sure you stay with us.

As we check on that, we want to go now to the Philippines, where the death toll is rising rapidly from a devastating tropical storm that engulfed the islands this weekend. More than 650 people are now confirmed dead. At least 125,000 people have been displaced or otherwise impacted. Soldiers are still searching for the hundreds still missing. Some help is getting to the victims and the U.S. has offered to help with the recovery.

Turning to a story that has profoundly disturbed so many of us today. New York police have arrested a man suspected of dousing an elderly woman with gasoline and setting her on fire. Jerome Isaac turned himself in to police. The story of what he allegedly did to 73-year-old Delores Gillespie has stunned the entire city and now the world. WABC's Kimberly Richardson has more on the arrest and the reaction of Gillespie's neighbors.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what hurts me so because I was home.

KIMBERLY RICHARDSON, WABC CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Here inside a fifth floor apartment across from this elevator, its walls are melted, ceiling and doors charred. The only clean spot where Delores Gillespie fell as fire engulfed her body and slowly killed her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said she was screaming the top of her lungs, and I didn't hear it. So I just feel that God didn't want me to intervene.

RICHARDSON: It's a mind-boggling crime that has rattled everyone that knew and loved Delores. This surveillance photo show each disturbing second how police say Saturday afternoon Jerome Isaac first waited for the 73-year-old on the fifth floor and as she stepped out of the elevator sprayed her with gasoline and then lit her on fire. Delores hired Isaac, the man who was known here for collecting bottles in the street, to help un-clutter her apartment.

Her son Maurice --

MAURICE GILLESPIE, SON OF VICTIM: He was stealing from her. He was in her house stealing all her stuff. And when she found out, he's not going to come anymore, and he started coming around harassing. He left notes on the door. He'd been there many times.

RICHARDSON: Friends say badgering her for money she didn't owe him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I asked her, did she take care of the business about the guy. You know, that's doing this to her. And she said, you know, that she's not worried about it anymore.

RICHARDSON: Sources tell Eyewitness News after Isaac killed Delores he returned home to this building around the corner to his apartment where he started another fire. Neighbors describe a door on the second floor that is clearly burnt.

Sources say Isaac, who reeked of accelerant, then turned himself in to this NYPD transit station and confessed to everything before being transferred to the 77 precinct. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For that little bit of money? Why? She wasn't a bad person. She didn't deserve that.

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LEMON: That was WABC's Kimberly Richardson reporting from New York.

Here's our breaking news right here on CNN and getting just off the wire. It's really not that much to tell you but it is big breaking news. Kim Jong Il, according to Korean news organizations, has passed away. A South Korean news organization is reporting -- I know it's a little bit complex here, but the South Korean news organization reporting that North Korean television has said that Kim Jong Il has died and the announcement apparently was made by a weeping announcer today. They said he died on December 17th, which would have been yesterday, 8:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., and that is a picture that you are looking at. Believe it or not, this is North Korean television and that's all they're showing now. We know that North Korea very restricted and Kim Jong Il is a big part of that.

So again, this is what we know. CNN is working to verify this. And if you look at the left side of your screen, this is North Korean television that they are reporting. And if we can just listen in to see the tone of what she is reporting. And you can see that she is very upset, which is why I wanted to listen to it, that she's very upset as she is reading this.

So again, North Korean television is saying the supreme leader Kim Jong Il has died. Born in 1941. That would make him 70 years old. February 1941. February 16th, as a matter of fact.

And again, it's believed that Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader, died yesterday, December 17th, 8:30 a.m. We're working to verify that here at CNN. So stay tuned. We will bring you more, and we will monitor North Korean television on this matter.

We have other news to report as we work on that tonight. A high school football game gets national television, but not because of the game. An out-of-control cart plows into some people on the field. You'll see the entire video next.

And it's $1,000 in your pocket but only if Congress can make a deal. What do you think the chances of that happening are?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Breaking news right now on CNN. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I want to welcome our viewers from around the world. We're getting reports now from North Korean television that Kim Jong Il is dead. CNN's Wolf Blitzer joins us now.

Wolf, you were in North Korea very recently. Before I get to you, Wolf, I want to tell you that we're hearing that the South Korean government is in emergency response status after the death of Kim Jong Il.

Wolf, you were there recently.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was there last December. I spent six days in Pyongyang. I went with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson. And at the time, the assumption was that Kim Jong Il was sick, but that he was in decent shape. This is almost exactly a year ago when I was there, but they were getting ready for a succession to his son. And he had been making appearances and over the past year has been making a few appearances, although it's obviously a totally uncertain situation that's unfolding now because no one really has a good appreciation of the inner workings of what's going to happen inside North Korea.

Reminds me of when his father died. We were uncertain what was going to happen. Kim Jong Il did eventually take over and he continued obviously the communist totalitarian regime in North Korea. We don't know what's going to happen now. There's not a whole lot of intelligence, a whole lot of information.

But I'm sure there's going to be a period of nervousness to see what happens on the Korean peninsula. And let's not forget, this is still one of the most dangerous areas in the world. We have a million North Korean troops north of the demilitarized zone. Nearly a million South Korean troops south of the zone and it's a very tough situation.

LEMON: And, Wolf, you know, I'm getting -- this is the time usually when we're reporting, we're catching people up on Monday morning on what they can expect because the Asian markets start to open. I want to say that the Asian shares outside of Japan is they experienced extended losses upon the death from state television of Kim Jong Il.

So this has global implications. It also has implications when it comes to the economy. And as you said, we don't really know what's going to happen as far as the succession plan and what this means for a country that is so restricted, if it's going to open up or what it means, instability or what have you.

And again, Wolf, this information is just coming in. It's just being reported by South Korean television as to what is happening on North Korean television as far as that announcement.

BLITZER: Right. It's a very early development, but it shouldn't come as a complete surprise because for the last few years, there have been numerous reports that Kim Jong Il was ill. We didn't exactly know the extent of the illness, but at least within the past year, year and a half, the process of beginning a succession has begun to go forward quietly behind the scenes.

It's very secretive, closed society in North Korea. That was evident to me when I was there during those six days. It's been evident to the whole world in trying to read the tea leaves on what's going on inside North Korea by no means easy even for real Korean experts of which I'm not one. But real Korean experts, you know, you speak to three or four of them and you get three or four different analyses of what's going on inside North Korea. And a lot of these so-called experts have never even been to North Korea so they don't necessarily have a good appreciation of what's going on.

But it's certainly a very serious situation right now. And as I was saying earlier, I remember, the Korean peninsula since the early 50's has been extremely tense. Still very tense a year ago. There were exchanges between North and South Korea. Artillery and all sorts of other incidents. The sinking of a South Korean warship by the North Koreans.

So this is a situation that the U.S., indeed all of Asia, will be watching very closely. And there are nearly 30,000 U.S. troops along the demilitarized zone, the DMZ between North and South Korea.

So you have the potential there for a lot of nervousness right now. And I assume there's a process going forward. I assume -- Kim Jong Il has been sick for a while. So the rest of the leadership, the Politburo there, I'm sure they have a plan but let's see how it unfolds. No one is going to be more nervous right now than South Korea. They're going to be watching this very, very closely because they, obviously, Don, have the most at stake in this situation.

LEMON: And Wolf, you know, I'm glad you said that because as I said just before introducing you, South Korea -- the South Korean government is in emergency response status right now.

Elise, we'll get to you in a minute. Stand by. We can hear you. Stand by, Elise Labott.

South Korean government is on emergency response status, Wolf, after the announcement of Kim Jong Il's death.

BLITZER: Yes. I am looking at the video that we're showing. You know, you go to North Korea and you have all sorts of preconceptions of what's going on and you think the leadership there, the elite, are totally isolated. But I can assure you they are not.

Many of these people that I met with and when I was there with Governor Richardson in December of last year, they are fully informed about what's going on. They are pretty sophisticated. Many of them actually even speak English. They watch the world and they have a pretty good appreciation. These are not completely isolated individuals from the outside world.

Some of the top negotiators spent a lot of quality time outside the -- one of the chief nuclear negotiators, for example, spent five years in London as the North Korean ambassador in London. So we're quite impressed.

And I remember at the time I did a one-hour documentary on CNN, "INSIDE NORTH KOREA," that they are pretty knowledgeable about what's going on. Pretty sophisticated. And they are obviously deeply committed communists and they have a very closed regime. 99 percent of the people have no idea what's going on but the leadership inside North Korea clearly knows what's going on but they are all very, very one -- unanimous in their support of Kim Jong Il.

Now, if, in fact, these reports coming out of North Korean TV and South Korean TV are true, then, obviously, this is a huge, huge deal. The transition process is going to be a period of quite serious attention on the Korean peninsula.

LEMON: Wolf Blitzer joining us. Wolf, stand by. We're going to get back to you.

In the meantime, we're going to get more information now as we find out more on the death of Kim Jong Il. As a matter of fact, we're going to join CNN International in progress. John Vause reporting now. Let's listen.