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Live From...
Outrage Over Beheading of South Korean in Iraq; Judge Clears Path For Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart
Aired June 22, 2004 - 15:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A look at our top stories now.
President Bush assures the world he does not condone torture of detainees. And the White House plans to further his case by releasing documents of what was approved in the way of interrogations in Iraq and in the war on terror. We'll have more on this in a moment.
Insurgents in Iraq have killed the South Korean hostage they abducted last week. The body of businessman Kim Sun-il was discovered by American forces near Fallujah today. In a video message apparently taped just prior to Kim's death, one of the captors condemns the South Korean government for having troops in Iraq.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the State Department's claim of a 30-year low in fatal terror attacks was in error and not an attempt to deceive anyone. A revised report released today puts the number of deaths in 2003 at 625, more than double the number the government first reported.
Also today, the biggest class-action suit in United States history. A federal judge approves the inclusion of more than one million and a half women in a suit that alleges widespread discrimination on the part of Wal-Mart. We'll have more on this story as well coming up -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Outrage and anger are reverberating over the beheading of a South Korean hostage in Iraq; 33-year-old Kim Sun-il was kidnapped by Iraqi militants just five days ago. He was seen pleading for his life on videotape Sunday. Today, U.S. troops found his body near Fallujah.
Our Sohn Jie-Ae has reported -- has reaction now via videophone from Seoul.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra.
It is still very early in South Korea. It is still 4:00 in the morning. But many South Koreans are going to wake up to the shocking news that the 33-year-old Kim Sun-il was indeed killed. Just hours before, early Monday evening, there had been news reports that there were negotiations, although these were unconfirmed reports, that there were negotiations being held with the kidnappers and that there was hope that Kim Sun-il could be released safely. These hopes were obviously dashed when the South Korean Foreign Ministry took to the podium and told the nation that the South Korean officials had identified the body as 33-year-old Kim Sun-il. So it is going to be a shock for many South Koreans who will wake up to this very, very awful news -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jie-Ae, what have you heard about this war on terror and support on behalf of the South Koreans? Will it change? Will it stay the same? How will this killing affect that?
SOHN: Well, we'll have to see. But the war on terror, the South Korean government's decision to send troops to Iraq was not a very popular one in South Korea. Many South Koreans believe that it was not a war that the South Koreans should be involved in.
South Korea -- many of the younger South Koreans especially felt it was an unjust war. And, therefore, this was one of the things that South Koreans that were taking to the streets were demanding that the South Korean government actually do -- scrap plans to send additional troops to Iraq and then pull back the ones that are already there.
So upon hearing this news, the demand to actually follow through on these demands could actually get higher -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sohn Jie-Ae, live from Seoul, South Korea, thank you.
And President Bush is condemning the hostage's killing as barbaric.
With more on that from the White House, let's get straight to Dana Bash -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, President Bush has had to come out for the second time in just four days to condemn the beheading of a civilian.
Obviously, it was Friday that he had to condemn the beheading in Saudi Arabia of an American civilian, Paul Johnson. Today, while he was sitting with one ally, he had to essentially talk about what happened to the civilian of another ally, and particularly, apparently, as President Bush even alluded to, because the fact that South Korea is still planning to send some 3,000 troops to Iraq in order to support President Bush's efforts there.
Now, the president said that this incident, that this what he called barbaric incident, should not stop South Korea from doing what they need to do in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want us to leave. They want us to cower in the face of their brutal killings. And the United States will not be intimidated by these people.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Meanwhile, at this hour, Kyra, the president's lawyers are giving a briefing to reporters, not on camera, but they are giving a briefing. And they are giving out about a three-inch-thick stack of documents in order to defend themselves here at the White House against any suggestion that they supported any policies that could have led to any indication that they allowed any kind of torture for suspected terrorists.
Now, the president's lawyers are expected to try to put to rest questions about whether or not there have been memos that perhaps suggested ways to deal with these terror suspects who are at Guantanamo Bay, because senior officials here say that it was unchartered territory. They didn't know exactly how they fit into the international laws like the Geneva Convention.
But what the president's lawyers are going to try to make clear -- and they're going to try to do so with these documents -- is that the president did not give any directive that supported torture. And the president talked about that as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We do not condone torture. I have never ordered torture. I will never order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, since this scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, there have been memos that have come to light from the Departments of Justice and Defense that were written in 2002 that suggested ways to perhaps stretch the limits of international law.
And there has been confusion and criticism from Capitol Hill about what that exactly meant and whether or not that might have led to some misunderstanding by some at the Pentagon and elsewhere about what exactly U.S. policy is with terror suspects, or even prisoners. That is why the White House is trying to have really a pretty big P.R. effort both here at the White House, at the Pentagon and elsewhere to try to put a stop to these questions and to try to end this, because this is something that has been hounding the White House for some time now, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash live at the White House -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Well, motion denied.
A military judge in the trial of one of the U.S. soldiers accused in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq rejected a call for a new Article 32 hearing for Staff Sergeant Ivan Chip Frederick. Allowing such a hearing would be akin to dropping the original charges. Frederick appeared for a pretrial hearing today without his civilian attorney, Gary Myers. Myers, who is pushing for a change of venue, didn't show, citing security concerns in Baghdad.
The lawyer for Private 1st Class Lynndie England is seeking a delay in her case, citing the resignation of his co-counsel. Her Article 32 hearing is now scheduled for July 12. And Specialist Sabrina Harman faces an Article 32 hearing on Thursday.
PHILLIPS: Eight days before the return of sovereignty to Iraq, it's still unclear what will become of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Iraqi and U.S. officials have been going back and forth on who should have legal custody.
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour sat down with the head of Iraq's War Crimes Tribunal to talk about their options.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you met Saddam Hussein yet in the context of your job?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I have not had the pleasure.
AMANPOUR: Will you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
AMANPOUR: When?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relatively shortly.
AMANPOUR: To do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To explain to him the procedures of what -- the charges and to give him a copy of the statute of the tribunal and to ask him whether he wants defense counsel.
AMANPOUR: When will you issue the arrest warrants?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not sure yet, but I would imagine relatively shortly with respect to at least a number of people.
AMANPOUR: You think one or two days after the handover?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possibly. I mean, we're preparing them. If the investigations are complete -- we're working very hard -- the investigations are complete by that time, yes.
AMANPOUR: Once you issue the arrest warrant, then, does legal custody immediately transfer to the Iraqi government?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the agreement or arrangement we're trying to work out is this.
AMANPOUR: But is it conceivable that the Iraqi government could get legal custody, while the United States maintains a security guard over him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one of the alternatives we're discussing. AMANPOUR: Is that the likely alternative?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, they've got better ability to protect him now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Chalabi says it will likely take months of preparation before Saddam Hussein will be tried.
WHITFIELD: In just a matter of weeks, a holy city south of Baghdad has witnessed an encouraging transformation from a deadly war zone to a newly launched work in progress.
CNN's Jane Arraf reports now from Najaf, where the U.S. military is proudly claiming success.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There are few guns drawn by the U.S. military in Najaf these days. The pact to dissolve Muqtada al-Sadr's militia and let Iraqi police secure the holy city appears to be holding.
(on camera): Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Army bases here were being attacked almost every night. But with the disintegration of the Mahdi militia, the attacks have stopped. Some of these soldiers are going home. And most of the city seems almost normal.
(voice-over): After almost two months of combat by soldiers whose tour of duty was extended to fight the militia, it's no longer deemed a major threat.
LT. GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. ARMY: In the span of seven weeks, through precision fires and intel-based operations, the militia has been defeated. And so now what the focus clearly is on is doing our best to reestablish the Iraqi security forces. They are getting better and gaining confidence each and every day.
ARRAF: Lieutenant General David Petraeus, in charge of rebuilding Iraqi security forces, flew in to see what the city needs. Petraeus reassured the new police chief the coalition would support and equip the new force.
PETRAEUS: We flew two Chinook, two large helicopter loads full of heavy machine guns and additional ammunition and weapons and body armor and other equipment. And that's what we've got to keep on doing.
ARRAF: Outside the main police station, it's clear that, in a city still scarred by fighting, this was not easily going to be a force that would abandon the old techniques.
We've concealed their faces because they told us that they feared for their lives if they were recognized. They told us these Iraqi men were suspected of firing a rocket-propelled grenade at them. One of the men, sobbing in fear, pleads with an American soldier to protect him from the police. Inside, the police chief and Petraeus are unaware of the incident.
It's clearly a work in progress, rebuilding a police force in a city where most policemen either abandoned their post or joined the militia when the uprising began. But now, at least, with the fighting over, that work has begun.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Najaf, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: News across America now. Long waits and poor reviews aren't stopping hundreds of fans, thousands, in fact, for lining up for Bill Clinton's John Hancock today. The former president is signing copies of his new memoir, "My Life," at two New York book signings. Some fans waited 14 hours to get a copies of the 957-page book.
More police testimony in the Scott Peterson murder case. The first detective to arrive at the Peterson home the night Laci Peterson was reported missing says Scott Peterson was calm, cool and relaxed.
A U.S. Senate hopeful is trying to salvage his candidacy after some salacious sex allegations. Actress Jeri Lynn Ryan alleges in court papers that her ex-husband Jack Ryan pressured her to have sex in clubs in front of other people. Ryan calls the uproar a new low for politics.
PHILLIPS: One lawsuit and as many as 1.6 million plaintiffs. As we just reported, a judge has cleared the way for the biggest discrimination suit in United States history. And it's against the nation's biggest private employer, Wal-Mart.
CNN's Jen Rogers is standing by in L.A. with more details on this -- hi, Jen.
JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
That's right. The numbers are pretty staggering, but it really is a case of simple math. Wal-Mart is the nation's largest employer. It has more employees than McDonald's, General Motors and UPS combined, 1.3 million in the United States alone. So, with this class-action suit being certified, it automatically jumps to the top of that list, the largest class-action suit ever.
Now, this is a case that was filed in 2001. And the case basically charges the world's biggest retailer with discrimination against women in pay, promotion and training. Now, Wal-Mart has previously denied that it has any pattern of discrimination, and it argues that basically that the fact that it has more managers that are men is basically due to the fact that more men are applying for those jobs. Now, Wal-Mart has come out saying that they will appeal this decision. Also, this decision, they are very quick to point out, really doesn't have anything to do with the merits of the case, the facts of the case. This is a legal decision, basically allowing this case to proceed as a class-action lawsuit. No trial date has been set so far. And, of course, these matters, Kyra, can take a long time to make their way through the justice system. The stock on Wall Street, though, is lower today -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jen Rogers, standing by in L.A. there. We'll continue to follow the case. Thanks.
We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, there's probably no group more relieved to see Clinton back in the spotlight than late-night talk show hosts. The scandals of his presidency were a seemingly endless source of monologue material. As the former president kicked off his book tour, David Letterman and Jay Leno wasted no time in returning to the well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Tomorrow is a big day. Bill Clinton's autobiography, his memoir is being published. It's 900 pages long. It's -- listen to this: It's actually longer than the last Harry Potter book. Were you aware of that? And both of them, I believe, were stories about a boy and his wand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
JAY LENO, HOST: How many watched the Bill Clinton interview last night? Did you watch that thing? Yes. I loved when Clinton told Dan Rather that the worst day of his life was the day he told Hillary the truth. Well, he's not going to do that again. I'll tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And former President Clinton's first prime-time interview will be on this network with "LARRY KING LIVE." That's at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.
WHITFIELD: A biblical parable comes to pass in the real world of Washington, D.C. A unique strategy plants the seeds of education in one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods.
And, as CNN's Sean Callebs reports, the seeds are already bearing fruit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six years of learning, working, struggling with the books, and now a diploma, and what graduating senior Deon Milton calls the chance of a lifetime.
DEON MILTON, STUDENT: I really didn't want to come here the first year. So I was just thinking that I'd come here for one year and leave. But I got hooked.
CALLEBS: Deon is a member of the first class to graduate from the nation's only urban public boarding school.
MILTON: I wouldn't say I was necessarily a good student. I was more of a "do enough just to get by" student. But like now it is more of, I do more than was expected of me.
CALLEBS: On the other side of the summer, Deon will head off to Hiram College in Ohio. In fact, all his classmates are going to four- year colleges, every single one. Even founders are amazed.
ERIC ADLER, CO-FOUNDER, THE SEED SCHOOL: The odds seemed to be so stacked against them. And that's not how life is turning out for them. They're getting what every kid deserves, which is a shot at being whatever they want to be in life.
CALLEBS: Eric Adler and Raj Vinnakota have MBAs from the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, two top Ivy League schools. They used to be well paid consultants, but they each gave it up because they had an idea, simply to give back.
RAJIV VINNAKOTA, CO-FOUNDER, THE SEED SCHOOL: To be able to now, six years down the road, say thank you probably in the best way that we can, by giving them a diploma and sending them off to college, it's really a testament to all of the work that everyone has done here.
CALLEBS: The pastoral $26 million dollar campus, built with a mixture of public and private money, is a beacon in a blighted neighborhood in the southeast section of Washington, D.C.
DR. RICHARD JUNG, HEAD OF SEED SCHOOL: Kids can be kids here. Outside the fence, that goes away.
CALLEBS: Ushered in in the seventh grade, qualified students are chosen by lottery. In its first year, the school was housed in the Capital Children's museum. Students lived in the attic.
MILTON: At first, it was in the children's museum. We lived at Trinity College and took classes on 16th Street in an office building. And now it's here. So it's kind of like a journey.
CALLEBS: Lesley Poole is administrations director and has been here from the beginning.
LESLEY POOLE, ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR, THE SEED SCHOOL: We said, if you spend six years with us, if you let us push you harder than you ever imagined, if you take on challenges that your neighbors and your peers outside of the school are not taking on, we guarantee you that you will have success.
CALLEBS: Deon is all smiles now. But his childhood hardly provided a fertile foundation for educational success, no father figure. His mother was unable to raise him. His aunt took on the role. He now lovingly calls her mom.
JOAN LYLE, AUNT OF DEON: The neighborhood schools here, I would not wish them on anyone.
CALLEBS: Rife with peer pressure, violence, drugs, the streets can be unforgiving, but, in this case, a fork in the road that led 21 bright kids to the campus.
POOLE: SEED has become my family. The kids have told me, the ones that are graduating, that I can have a life when they graduate. But they've been my life. Yes, they've been it.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: What a beautiful story of inspiration. So glad to see that.
PHILLIPS: And you were just saying your husband grew up in that area.
WHITFIELD: Well, he grew up in Southeast, yes, not in that particular neighborhood, but in the Southeast, that quadrant.
PHILLIPS: Couldn't think of a better way to wrap up this hour.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
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 June 22, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A look at our top stories now.
President Bush assures the world he does not condone torture of detainees. And the White House plans to further his case by releasing documents of what was approved in the way of interrogations in Iraq and in the war on terror. We'll have more on this in a moment.
Insurgents in Iraq have killed the South Korean hostage they abducted last week. The body of businessman Kim Sun-il was discovered by American forces near Fallujah today. In a video message apparently taped just prior to Kim's death, one of the captors condemns the South Korean government for having troops in Iraq.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the State Department's claim of a 30-year low in fatal terror attacks was in error and not an attempt to deceive anyone. A revised report released today puts the number of deaths in 2003 at 625, more than double the number the government first reported.
Also today, the biggest class-action suit in United States history. A federal judge approves the inclusion of more than one million and a half women in a suit that alleges widespread discrimination on the part of Wal-Mart. We'll have more on this story as well coming up -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Outrage and anger are reverberating over the beheading of a South Korean hostage in Iraq; 33-year-old Kim Sun-il was kidnapped by Iraqi militants just five days ago. He was seen pleading for his life on videotape Sunday. Today, U.S. troops found his body near Fallujah.
Our Sohn Jie-Ae has reported -- has reaction now via videophone from Seoul.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra.
It is still very early in South Korea. It is still 4:00 in the morning. But many South Koreans are going to wake up to the shocking news that the 33-year-old Kim Sun-il was indeed killed. Just hours before, early Monday evening, there had been news reports that there were negotiations, although these were unconfirmed reports, that there were negotiations being held with the kidnappers and that there was hope that Kim Sun-il could be released safely. These hopes were obviously dashed when the South Korean Foreign Ministry took to the podium and told the nation that the South Korean officials had identified the body as 33-year-old Kim Sun-il. So it is going to be a shock for many South Koreans who will wake up to this very, very awful news -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jie-Ae, what have you heard about this war on terror and support on behalf of the South Koreans? Will it change? Will it stay the same? How will this killing affect that?
SOHN: Well, we'll have to see. But the war on terror, the South Korean government's decision to send troops to Iraq was not a very popular one in South Korea. Many South Koreans believe that it was not a war that the South Koreans should be involved in.
South Korea -- many of the younger South Koreans especially felt it was an unjust war. And, therefore, this was one of the things that South Koreans that were taking to the streets were demanding that the South Korean government actually do -- scrap plans to send additional troops to Iraq and then pull back the ones that are already there.
So upon hearing this news, the demand to actually follow through on these demands could actually get higher -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sohn Jie-Ae, live from Seoul, South Korea, thank you.
And President Bush is condemning the hostage's killing as barbaric.
With more on that from the White House, let's get straight to Dana Bash -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, President Bush has had to come out for the second time in just four days to condemn the beheading of a civilian.
Obviously, it was Friday that he had to condemn the beheading in Saudi Arabia of an American civilian, Paul Johnson. Today, while he was sitting with one ally, he had to essentially talk about what happened to the civilian of another ally, and particularly, apparently, as President Bush even alluded to, because the fact that South Korea is still planning to send some 3,000 troops to Iraq in order to support President Bush's efforts there.
Now, the president said that this incident, that this what he called barbaric incident, should not stop South Korea from doing what they need to do in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want us to leave. They want us to cower in the face of their brutal killings. And the United States will not be intimidated by these people.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Meanwhile, at this hour, Kyra, the president's lawyers are giving a briefing to reporters, not on camera, but they are giving a briefing. And they are giving out about a three-inch-thick stack of documents in order to defend themselves here at the White House against any suggestion that they supported any policies that could have led to any indication that they allowed any kind of torture for suspected terrorists.
Now, the president's lawyers are expected to try to put to rest questions about whether or not there have been memos that perhaps suggested ways to deal with these terror suspects who are at Guantanamo Bay, because senior officials here say that it was unchartered territory. They didn't know exactly how they fit into the international laws like the Geneva Convention.
But what the president's lawyers are going to try to make clear -- and they're going to try to do so with these documents -- is that the president did not give any directive that supported torture. And the president talked about that as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We do not condone torture. I have never ordered torture. I will never order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, since this scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, there have been memos that have come to light from the Departments of Justice and Defense that were written in 2002 that suggested ways to perhaps stretch the limits of international law.
And there has been confusion and criticism from Capitol Hill about what that exactly meant and whether or not that might have led to some misunderstanding by some at the Pentagon and elsewhere about what exactly U.S. policy is with terror suspects, or even prisoners. That is why the White House is trying to have really a pretty big P.R. effort both here at the White House, at the Pentagon and elsewhere to try to put a stop to these questions and to try to end this, because this is something that has been hounding the White House for some time now, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash live at the White House -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Well, motion denied.
A military judge in the trial of one of the U.S. soldiers accused in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq rejected a call for a new Article 32 hearing for Staff Sergeant Ivan Chip Frederick. Allowing such a hearing would be akin to dropping the original charges. Frederick appeared for a pretrial hearing today without his civilian attorney, Gary Myers. Myers, who is pushing for a change of venue, didn't show, citing security concerns in Baghdad.
The lawyer for Private 1st Class Lynndie England is seeking a delay in her case, citing the resignation of his co-counsel. Her Article 32 hearing is now scheduled for July 12. And Specialist Sabrina Harman faces an Article 32 hearing on Thursday.
PHILLIPS: Eight days before the return of sovereignty to Iraq, it's still unclear what will become of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Iraqi and U.S. officials have been going back and forth on who should have legal custody.
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour sat down with the head of Iraq's War Crimes Tribunal to talk about their options.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you met Saddam Hussein yet in the context of your job?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I have not had the pleasure.
AMANPOUR: Will you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
AMANPOUR: When?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relatively shortly.
AMANPOUR: To do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To explain to him the procedures of what -- the charges and to give him a copy of the statute of the tribunal and to ask him whether he wants defense counsel.
AMANPOUR: When will you issue the arrest warrants?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not sure yet, but I would imagine relatively shortly with respect to at least a number of people.
AMANPOUR: You think one or two days after the handover?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possibly. I mean, we're preparing them. If the investigations are complete -- we're working very hard -- the investigations are complete by that time, yes.
AMANPOUR: Once you issue the arrest warrant, then, does legal custody immediately transfer to the Iraqi government?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the agreement or arrangement we're trying to work out is this.
AMANPOUR: But is it conceivable that the Iraqi government could get legal custody, while the United States maintains a security guard over him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one of the alternatives we're discussing. AMANPOUR: Is that the likely alternative?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, they've got better ability to protect him now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Chalabi says it will likely take months of preparation before Saddam Hussein will be tried.
WHITFIELD: In just a matter of weeks, a holy city south of Baghdad has witnessed an encouraging transformation from a deadly war zone to a newly launched work in progress.
CNN's Jane Arraf reports now from Najaf, where the U.S. military is proudly claiming success.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There are few guns drawn by the U.S. military in Najaf these days. The pact to dissolve Muqtada al-Sadr's militia and let Iraqi police secure the holy city appears to be holding.
(on camera): Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Army bases here were being attacked almost every night. But with the disintegration of the Mahdi militia, the attacks have stopped. Some of these soldiers are going home. And most of the city seems almost normal.
(voice-over): After almost two months of combat by soldiers whose tour of duty was extended to fight the militia, it's no longer deemed a major threat.
LT. GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. ARMY: In the span of seven weeks, through precision fires and intel-based operations, the militia has been defeated. And so now what the focus clearly is on is doing our best to reestablish the Iraqi security forces. They are getting better and gaining confidence each and every day.
ARRAF: Lieutenant General David Petraeus, in charge of rebuilding Iraqi security forces, flew in to see what the city needs. Petraeus reassured the new police chief the coalition would support and equip the new force.
PETRAEUS: We flew two Chinook, two large helicopter loads full of heavy machine guns and additional ammunition and weapons and body armor and other equipment. And that's what we've got to keep on doing.
ARRAF: Outside the main police station, it's clear that, in a city still scarred by fighting, this was not easily going to be a force that would abandon the old techniques.
We've concealed their faces because they told us that they feared for their lives if they were recognized. They told us these Iraqi men were suspected of firing a rocket-propelled grenade at them. One of the men, sobbing in fear, pleads with an American soldier to protect him from the police. Inside, the police chief and Petraeus are unaware of the incident.
It's clearly a work in progress, rebuilding a police force in a city where most policemen either abandoned their post or joined the militia when the uprising began. But now, at least, with the fighting over, that work has begun.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Najaf, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: News across America now. Long waits and poor reviews aren't stopping hundreds of fans, thousands, in fact, for lining up for Bill Clinton's John Hancock today. The former president is signing copies of his new memoir, "My Life," at two New York book signings. Some fans waited 14 hours to get a copies of the 957-page book.
More police testimony in the Scott Peterson murder case. The first detective to arrive at the Peterson home the night Laci Peterson was reported missing says Scott Peterson was calm, cool and relaxed.
A U.S. Senate hopeful is trying to salvage his candidacy after some salacious sex allegations. Actress Jeri Lynn Ryan alleges in court papers that her ex-husband Jack Ryan pressured her to have sex in clubs in front of other people. Ryan calls the uproar a new low for politics.
PHILLIPS: One lawsuit and as many as 1.6 million plaintiffs. As we just reported, a judge has cleared the way for the biggest discrimination suit in United States history. And it's against the nation's biggest private employer, Wal-Mart.
CNN's Jen Rogers is standing by in L.A. with more details on this -- hi, Jen.
JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
That's right. The numbers are pretty staggering, but it really is a case of simple math. Wal-Mart is the nation's largest employer. It has more employees than McDonald's, General Motors and UPS combined, 1.3 million in the United States alone. So, with this class-action suit being certified, it automatically jumps to the top of that list, the largest class-action suit ever.
Now, this is a case that was filed in 2001. And the case basically charges the world's biggest retailer with discrimination against women in pay, promotion and training. Now, Wal-Mart has previously denied that it has any pattern of discrimination, and it argues that basically that the fact that it has more managers that are men is basically due to the fact that more men are applying for those jobs. Now, Wal-Mart has come out saying that they will appeal this decision. Also, this decision, they are very quick to point out, really doesn't have anything to do with the merits of the case, the facts of the case. This is a legal decision, basically allowing this case to proceed as a class-action lawsuit. No trial date has been set so far. And, of course, these matters, Kyra, can take a long time to make their way through the justice system. The stock on Wall Street, though, is lower today -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jen Rogers, standing by in L.A. there. We'll continue to follow the case. Thanks.
We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, there's probably no group more relieved to see Clinton back in the spotlight than late-night talk show hosts. The scandals of his presidency were a seemingly endless source of monologue material. As the former president kicked off his book tour, David Letterman and Jay Leno wasted no time in returning to the well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Tomorrow is a big day. Bill Clinton's autobiography, his memoir is being published. It's 900 pages long. It's -- listen to this: It's actually longer than the last Harry Potter book. Were you aware of that? And both of them, I believe, were stories about a boy and his wand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
JAY LENO, HOST: How many watched the Bill Clinton interview last night? Did you watch that thing? Yes. I loved when Clinton told Dan Rather that the worst day of his life was the day he told Hillary the truth. Well, he's not going to do that again. I'll tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And former President Clinton's first prime-time interview will be on this network with "LARRY KING LIVE." That's at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.
WHITFIELD: A biblical parable comes to pass in the real world of Washington, D.C. A unique strategy plants the seeds of education in one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods.
And, as CNN's Sean Callebs reports, the seeds are already bearing fruit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six years of learning, working, struggling with the books, and now a diploma, and what graduating senior Deon Milton calls the chance of a lifetime.
DEON MILTON, STUDENT: I really didn't want to come here the first year. So I was just thinking that I'd come here for one year and leave. But I got hooked.
CALLEBS: Deon is a member of the first class to graduate from the nation's only urban public boarding school.
MILTON: I wouldn't say I was necessarily a good student. I was more of a "do enough just to get by" student. But like now it is more of, I do more than was expected of me.
CALLEBS: On the other side of the summer, Deon will head off to Hiram College in Ohio. In fact, all his classmates are going to four- year colleges, every single one. Even founders are amazed.
ERIC ADLER, CO-FOUNDER, THE SEED SCHOOL: The odds seemed to be so stacked against them. And that's not how life is turning out for them. They're getting what every kid deserves, which is a shot at being whatever they want to be in life.
CALLEBS: Eric Adler and Raj Vinnakota have MBAs from the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, two top Ivy League schools. They used to be well paid consultants, but they each gave it up because they had an idea, simply to give back.
RAJIV VINNAKOTA, CO-FOUNDER, THE SEED SCHOOL: To be able to now, six years down the road, say thank you probably in the best way that we can, by giving them a diploma and sending them off to college, it's really a testament to all of the work that everyone has done here.
CALLEBS: The pastoral $26 million dollar campus, built with a mixture of public and private money, is a beacon in a blighted neighborhood in the southeast section of Washington, D.C.
DR. RICHARD JUNG, HEAD OF SEED SCHOOL: Kids can be kids here. Outside the fence, that goes away.
CALLEBS: Ushered in in the seventh grade, qualified students are chosen by lottery. In its first year, the school was housed in the Capital Children's museum. Students lived in the attic.
MILTON: At first, it was in the children's museum. We lived at Trinity College and took classes on 16th Street in an office building. And now it's here. So it's kind of like a journey.
CALLEBS: Lesley Poole is administrations director and has been here from the beginning.
LESLEY POOLE, ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR, THE SEED SCHOOL: We said, if you spend six years with us, if you let us push you harder than you ever imagined, if you take on challenges that your neighbors and your peers outside of the school are not taking on, we guarantee you that you will have success.
CALLEBS: Deon is all smiles now. But his childhood hardly provided a fertile foundation for educational success, no father figure. His mother was unable to raise him. His aunt took on the role. He now lovingly calls her mom.
JOAN LYLE, AUNT OF DEON: The neighborhood schools here, I would not wish them on anyone.
CALLEBS: Rife with peer pressure, violence, drugs, the streets can be unforgiving, but, in this case, a fork in the road that led 21 bright kids to the campus.
POOLE: SEED has become my family. The kids have told me, the ones that are graduating, that I can have a life when they graduate. But they've been my life. Yes, they've been it.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: What a beautiful story of inspiration. So glad to see that.
PHILLIPS: And you were just saying your husband grew up in that area.
WHITFIELD: Well, he grew up in Southeast, yes, not in that particular neighborhood, but in the Southeast, that quadrant.
PHILLIPS: Couldn't think of a better way to wrap up this hour.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
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