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Saudi Officials Claim Raid Hit Al Qaeda Hard; 9/11 Panel Briefs Hill & White House Before Releasing Full Report Tomorrow

Aired July 21, 2004 - 14:04   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tracking terrorists -- a raid in Saudi Arabia yields new clues in the beheading of an American hostage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you put people in a confined area where there's not enough room for them, and you put horses in there and you surround it by an eight-foot fence, that's a recipe for disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Securing the convention -- some say efforts to prevent a terror attack are going too far. They moonwalked their way into the history books, and today, all three Apollo 11 astronauts talk to me about their giant leap for mankind. From the Washington newsroom for CNN, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now. We begin this hour with the spoils of terror. Hours after a raid last night in Riyadh, authorities are more convinced than ever that they hit al Qaeda's major base of operations in the Saudi capital, if not the Kingdom.

They killed two suspects and confiscated huge amounts of firepower. They also recovered the head of murdered American hostage Paul Johnson. It was stored in a freezer and positively identified this morning. A short time later, Johnson's brother Wayne spoke with CNN's Eric Phillips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE JOHNSON, BROTHER OF DEAD HOSTAGE: And it shows that the pressure that we have put against the Saudi government and the U.S. Embassy for the Saudi government is making them try harder. And I don't think that it should have been necessary for us to have to put this pressure upon them and still with no response. And it helps me with the closure that at least they found my brother's head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Nic Robertson was there when the raid went down. He filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTL. CORRESPONDENT: By the busload, reinforcements rush to help bolster one of Saudi Arabia's biggest anti-terrorist operations in months. Hundreds of national guard police, intelligence officials, and elite counter-terrorism forces combining to surround a large residential and commercial neighborhood, following a late night shootout with al Qaeda.

According to sources close to Saudi intelligence, two al Qaeda members were killed and three wounded when security forces closed in on what they described as an al Qaeda safe house used to store weapons. Among those arrested, the wife of the new Saudi al Qaeda leader, Saleha al Oufi. In the massive operation, not all details are yet clear. But, say sources, it's possible al Oufi himself could be among the dead or wounded.

With just two days more to go with the government's offer of leniency for al Qaeda members to turn themselves in, this is one of the biggest police operations so far, and perhaps an indication of what may come for those that don't take up the offer to turn themselves in.

Following the surrender of leading al Qaeda sympathizer Khaled al-Harbi a week ago, 58 Al Qaeda recruits have now taken up the government offer -- all facing interrogation and detention. It's not yet clear exactly what led Saudi security forces to initiate this massive raid or how many al Qaeda members may yet be out there.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Six hundred pages on 9/11 -- the final report from the independent panel studying the origins and learning opportunities from the worst act of terror ever witnessed -- ever imagined, on U.S. soil. The panel's findings and recommendations will be made public tomorrow. It's being rolled out today -- briefings on the Hill and for the administration. Sean Callebs been following it for us. Sean, as these briefings come out -- all kinds of leaks trickling out -- what do we know so far about what's in that report?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they really started last night when the members of the 9/11 Commission first briefed the GOP leadership in Congress. It went on today. They spent the latter part of this morning talking with the Democratic leaders in Congress. And information that is coming out is something that they may have known all along -- that the way that the U.S. has gathered its intelligence and disseminated that information is flawed.

And this is a panel that is going to make a strong recommendation. They would like to see a cabinet-level position at the intelligence officer level. However, still unclear -- would it be an entirely new agency, or would it be one officer to oversee the CIA and the FBI? Now, both of those agencies have made it clear that they believe that would just be another layer of government, and that is the last thing that is needed.

And also, the congressional members have made it clear, now is not the time to play the blame game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: For many of us who've been involved in intelligence matters and, of course, events surrounding 9/11, have always considered any consideration of this issue as sacred and hallowed ground -- that we go into it with the mission to find answers for the families, to reduce risk to the American people.

It's not about assigning blame. It's about preventing any future acts of terrorism to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: And Miles, you're exactly right -- 600 pages. And there has been a certain degree of pressure for Congress to take this information and act quickly. The congressional members, Miles, have made it clear that they are not going to be forced into making some knee jerk reaction, and they don't expect any overhaul of the way the intelligence operation is in the U.S this year.

O'BRIEN: Despite what they say, though, assigning blame and fixing things sometimes have to go hand in hand. It's just the nature of the business. Why are they so reluctant to point fingers, particularly when you look at some reports out there now of 10 instances where the ball might have been dropped leading up to 9/11?

CALLEBS: Yeah, you're talking about some information that first came out in The Washington Post. CNN has confirmed that. The report that will come out at 11:30 Eastern time tomorrow does point out 10, what they refer to as, operational failures -- some in the Clinton administration, others in the Bush administration.

But rather than point blame or try and turn this into some kind of partisan effort, Miles, the members of the commission have really made it very clear they want to keep politics out of this. They've tried to make this as non-partisan as possible. And one thing we will not hear tomorrow when this report does come out, any sort of indication that, perhaps, this could have been preventable.

O'BRIEN: Non-partisan in an election year, of course, that's a difficult thing to have happen. This notion of a cabinet-level tsar, whatever you want to call it, for intelligence, runs afoul of a lot of turf in this town, doesn't it?

CALLEBS: Oh, without question. And that's one thing that really hasn't gone over terribly well. I think a lot of people, if you read the information that's come out of the commission, will say that the way the intelligence has been gathered, and even more importantly, the way it has been passed onto those who need to know this information has just been done poorly.

But in terms of trying to build up a groundswell of support for some cabinet-level position to either oversee the CIA and FBI or, Miles, have some new entity out there, so far, not a great deal of ground support for this. It's going to be interesting, because the 9/11 Commission members, once this is all final, they are going to be going out across the country making their findings known to people, as they try and develop a certain degree of support for their 20 months of effort.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sean Callebs, thanks for letting us drop in on your turf. Appreciate it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A footnote or a federal offense? Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger says removing classified documents from the National Archives while doing research for the 9/11 Commission was an honest mistake. Republicans say it's a crime. Our Bob Franken says it's a controversy tailor-made for election season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sandy Berger has gone from former national security advisor to President Clinton to informal advisor to the John Kerry campaign, to current political distraction in this week running up to the 9/11 Commission report. Berger -- accused of mishandling classified documents, inappropriately taking some from the National Archives as he was preparing to submit testimony and information to the 9/11 Commission. Berger says that it was simply just a very, very dumb mistake.

SAMUEL BERGER, FMR. NTL, SECURITY ADVISOR: Everything that I have done all along in this process has been for the purpose of aiding and supporting the work of the 9/11 Commission. And any suggestion to the contrary is simply, absolutely wrong.

FRANKEN: Republicans see far more sinister motives. They've been jumping on this, saying that there was some sort of effort either to help the Kerry campaign or to withhold information from the 9/11 Commission. The commission says that there was no harm done in any case. But some of the complaints from the Republicans have been fairly vitriolic.

REP. TOM DELAY, (R), MAJORITY LEADER: As far as the Sandy Berger incident is concerned, all I know is what we read in the papers. But it looks like to me that this is just a third-rate burglary.

FRANKEN: And through all the political rhetoric that seems to surround everything these days, the reality is that Sandy Berger is still under investigated by the FBI.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And coming up at the half-hour, we're going to debate what should happen to Sandy Berger -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Attention, homebuyers -- if you're looking for a fixer upper, well, we found some deals for you, in Iraq, though. You know what they say -- location, location, location. The Baghdad real estate boom ahead on LIVE FROM. And Prince Charles is not calling his realtor, but he is hailing a cab. And forget the number 2 pencil and the blue books. How about an iPod as a standard back to school piece of equipment? They're free this year at one university. Of course, you've got to pay a little tuition. We're downloading all that ahead on LIVE FROM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The summer Olympics begin in a few weeks, and the host country is working feverishly to get ready, including putting tight security in place, of course. A published report says the U.S. would like to provide some extra help in the form of hundreds of Special Forces troops and armed agents. But Greece says it has not given approval for other countries to have armed guards protecting athletes. More on what might or might not happen, officially or unofficially, from CNN's Jamie McIntyre across the river at the Pentagon.

Jamie, are they really going to have Special Forces with the U.S. athletes?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably not with the U.S. athletes, but something is being worked out now at NATO. Of course, Greece is a member of the NATO alliance, and of course, the United States is a member as well, the most capable member militarily of the alliance.

And right now, the NATO Planning Committee is considering requests from Greece for military support for the Olympics, including increased security, likely to include things like AWACs planes and air cover over the Olympic games, but could also include some contribution of U.S. Special Forces that could also lend security either at the games or in a response mode nearby, where they could be a sort of quick reaction force.

Today, though, the Pentagon was quick to say that this is something being worked under the NATO umbrella, as would properly be done -- not something the U.S. is doing on its own. And right now, they don't have any final decision about what the U.S. contribution will be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The Greek government has made a request of NATO. NATO is evaluating that request. We tried to find out just before we came in here if we had any news on that, and we don't have news on if they've made a decision in Brussels or not. And once that decision is made, then we'll look at the kind of capabilities that might be required to help

QUESTION: Involving U.S. troops?

MYERS: It's all possible, sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now again, the Greek constitution prohibits armed forces from other countries or police from other forces carrying guns in Greece. However, if these troops are part of a NATO force, they could be armed and still be on Greek soil. But again, part of the consideration is whether they might not just be nearby where they could be in a response mode, and again, allowing Greece to take the primary role of providing security, which is the proper role for Greece as the host of the summer Olympic games.

The other thing that they're not talking about much publicly here is there has been some, what they call, chatter monitored by intelligence circles, indicating that, in fact, the Olympics and some other high profile events could be the target of a terrorist attack. So, of course, they're beefing up a lot of the security. And, of course, that's also something they don't like to talk about. They don't want to tip their hand about what they're doing to make sure that the games are more secure -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, from their perspective, the less said, the better, right?

MCINTYRE: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much. Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger says it was an honest mistake. But an investigation into whether he stole secret documents is raising questions about timing and dirty politics. We'll talk about it in just a little bit. And new food labeling rules -- for millions of Americans with allergies, the fine print is a matter of life and death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New fears for six new hostages seized today in Iraq by an obscure militant group called the Black Flag. A report aired on the Arabic language network Al Arabiya showed masked gunmen threatening to behead one hostage every 72 hours unless their company pulls out of Iraq. The men are from Kenya, India, and Egypt, none of which has troops in Iraq. But the hostages all work for the same trucking company based in Kuwait.

Other violence -- four people were killed today in a car bombing in central Baghdad. That explosion was reportedly not a suicide bombing. Despite all the stories of unrest and insurgent attacks, at least one industry is booming in Baghdad. Michael Holmes checks the classified ads for hot deals in Iraqi real estate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mr. Abdul Rasoul al Shideedi is having a very good year.

(on camera): Business is good?

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES (voice-over): There's your answer. Abdul is a Baghdad real estate agent. On his books, this, well, rather modest house, $1.5 million.

It's true that much of the country remains a renovator's delight or a fixer upper. But in much of Baghdad, real estate is booming, so to speak. There are even Webs sites for online buyers. Here, an encouraging line -- currently, phone and electricity are restored in the area. Note the word "currently." And this built-in, reinforced armored concrete -- an attractive feature in a country without homeowner's insurance. And the always-handy big basement designed also as antiaircraft bunker.

ABDUL RASOUL AL-SHIDEEDI, REAL ESTATE AGENT (through translator): It's all about investment, especially in this location.

HOLMES: Abdul's client list isn't overflowing with your ordinary Baghdad residents, however. This is a boom fueled mostly by outside cash -- foreigners based here for the reconstruction and Iraqi expats returning home after successful careers overseas. And they need bulging wallets as well.

Iraq is a country where, traditionally, people save and then sell everything they own in order to afford a house. No mortgages here -- cold, hard cash is what gets the deal done. All of which leaves the locals with not all that much to choose from if they want to be in a safe area.

AL-SHIDEEDI (through translator): For the people with $200,000, maybe they can buy a house. But for the youth, I don't think they can.

HOLMES: For those with cash, half of the Iraqi love affair with real estate is that there's been so little else to invest in of late -- that and tradition.

AL-SHIDEEDI (through translator): For Iraqis, every wall of the house is like a part of his body, his blood, and his soul.

HOLMES: It's not just a resell boom either. This, a huge mansion under construction for a local businessman, and rentals as well -- this place going for $25,000 a month. Abdul doesn't see business slackening off anytime soon.

AL-SHIDEEDI (through translator): I am very optimistic about the future of Iraq. I want to tell the good people, not the bad, that Iraq is open for you.

HOLMES: And he says he'll get that $1.25 million for that house.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A growing number of colleges are requiring students to come up with computers. But how about iPods...

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired July 21, 2004 - 14:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tracking terrorists -- a raid in Saudi Arabia yields new clues in the beheading of an American hostage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you put people in a confined area where there's not enough room for them, and you put horses in there and you surround it by an eight-foot fence, that's a recipe for disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Securing the convention -- some say efforts to prevent a terror attack are going too far. They moonwalked their way into the history books, and today, all three Apollo 11 astronauts talk to me about their giant leap for mankind. From the Washington newsroom for CNN, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now. We begin this hour with the spoils of terror. Hours after a raid last night in Riyadh, authorities are more convinced than ever that they hit al Qaeda's major base of operations in the Saudi capital, if not the Kingdom.

They killed two suspects and confiscated huge amounts of firepower. They also recovered the head of murdered American hostage Paul Johnson. It was stored in a freezer and positively identified this morning. A short time later, Johnson's brother Wayne spoke with CNN's Eric Phillips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE JOHNSON, BROTHER OF DEAD HOSTAGE: And it shows that the pressure that we have put against the Saudi government and the U.S. Embassy for the Saudi government is making them try harder. And I don't think that it should have been necessary for us to have to put this pressure upon them and still with no response. And it helps me with the closure that at least they found my brother's head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Nic Robertson was there when the raid went down. He filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTL. CORRESPONDENT: By the busload, reinforcements rush to help bolster one of Saudi Arabia's biggest anti-terrorist operations in months. Hundreds of national guard police, intelligence officials, and elite counter-terrorism forces combining to surround a large residential and commercial neighborhood, following a late night shootout with al Qaeda.

According to sources close to Saudi intelligence, two al Qaeda members were killed and three wounded when security forces closed in on what they described as an al Qaeda safe house used to store weapons. Among those arrested, the wife of the new Saudi al Qaeda leader, Saleha al Oufi. In the massive operation, not all details are yet clear. But, say sources, it's possible al Oufi himself could be among the dead or wounded.

With just two days more to go with the government's offer of leniency for al Qaeda members to turn themselves in, this is one of the biggest police operations so far, and perhaps an indication of what may come for those that don't take up the offer to turn themselves in.

Following the surrender of leading al Qaeda sympathizer Khaled al-Harbi a week ago, 58 Al Qaeda recruits have now taken up the government offer -- all facing interrogation and detention. It's not yet clear exactly what led Saudi security forces to initiate this massive raid or how many al Qaeda members may yet be out there.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Six hundred pages on 9/11 -- the final report from the independent panel studying the origins and learning opportunities from the worst act of terror ever witnessed -- ever imagined, on U.S. soil. The panel's findings and recommendations will be made public tomorrow. It's being rolled out today -- briefings on the Hill and for the administration. Sean Callebs been following it for us. Sean, as these briefings come out -- all kinds of leaks trickling out -- what do we know so far about what's in that report?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they really started last night when the members of the 9/11 Commission first briefed the GOP leadership in Congress. It went on today. They spent the latter part of this morning talking with the Democratic leaders in Congress. And information that is coming out is something that they may have known all along -- that the way that the U.S. has gathered its intelligence and disseminated that information is flawed.

And this is a panel that is going to make a strong recommendation. They would like to see a cabinet-level position at the intelligence officer level. However, still unclear -- would it be an entirely new agency, or would it be one officer to oversee the CIA and the FBI? Now, both of those agencies have made it clear that they believe that would just be another layer of government, and that is the last thing that is needed.

And also, the congressional members have made it clear, now is not the time to play the blame game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: For many of us who've been involved in intelligence matters and, of course, events surrounding 9/11, have always considered any consideration of this issue as sacred and hallowed ground -- that we go into it with the mission to find answers for the families, to reduce risk to the American people.

It's not about assigning blame. It's about preventing any future acts of terrorism to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: And Miles, you're exactly right -- 600 pages. And there has been a certain degree of pressure for Congress to take this information and act quickly. The congressional members, Miles, have made it clear that they are not going to be forced into making some knee jerk reaction, and they don't expect any overhaul of the way the intelligence operation is in the U.S this year.

O'BRIEN: Despite what they say, though, assigning blame and fixing things sometimes have to go hand in hand. It's just the nature of the business. Why are they so reluctant to point fingers, particularly when you look at some reports out there now of 10 instances where the ball might have been dropped leading up to 9/11?

CALLEBS: Yeah, you're talking about some information that first came out in The Washington Post. CNN has confirmed that. The report that will come out at 11:30 Eastern time tomorrow does point out 10, what they refer to as, operational failures -- some in the Clinton administration, others in the Bush administration.

But rather than point blame or try and turn this into some kind of partisan effort, Miles, the members of the commission have really made it very clear they want to keep politics out of this. They've tried to make this as non-partisan as possible. And one thing we will not hear tomorrow when this report does come out, any sort of indication that, perhaps, this could have been preventable.

O'BRIEN: Non-partisan in an election year, of course, that's a difficult thing to have happen. This notion of a cabinet-level tsar, whatever you want to call it, for intelligence, runs afoul of a lot of turf in this town, doesn't it?

CALLEBS: Oh, without question. And that's one thing that really hasn't gone over terribly well. I think a lot of people, if you read the information that's come out of the commission, will say that the way the intelligence has been gathered, and even more importantly, the way it has been passed onto those who need to know this information has just been done poorly.

But in terms of trying to build up a groundswell of support for some cabinet-level position to either oversee the CIA and FBI or, Miles, have some new entity out there, so far, not a great deal of ground support for this. It's going to be interesting, because the 9/11 Commission members, once this is all final, they are going to be going out across the country making their findings known to people, as they try and develop a certain degree of support for their 20 months of effort.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sean Callebs, thanks for letting us drop in on your turf. Appreciate it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A footnote or a federal offense? Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger says removing classified documents from the National Archives while doing research for the 9/11 Commission was an honest mistake. Republicans say it's a crime. Our Bob Franken says it's a controversy tailor-made for election season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sandy Berger has gone from former national security advisor to President Clinton to informal advisor to the John Kerry campaign, to current political distraction in this week running up to the 9/11 Commission report. Berger -- accused of mishandling classified documents, inappropriately taking some from the National Archives as he was preparing to submit testimony and information to the 9/11 Commission. Berger says that it was simply just a very, very dumb mistake.

SAMUEL BERGER, FMR. NTL, SECURITY ADVISOR: Everything that I have done all along in this process has been for the purpose of aiding and supporting the work of the 9/11 Commission. And any suggestion to the contrary is simply, absolutely wrong.

FRANKEN: Republicans see far more sinister motives. They've been jumping on this, saying that there was some sort of effort either to help the Kerry campaign or to withhold information from the 9/11 Commission. The commission says that there was no harm done in any case. But some of the complaints from the Republicans have been fairly vitriolic.

REP. TOM DELAY, (R), MAJORITY LEADER: As far as the Sandy Berger incident is concerned, all I know is what we read in the papers. But it looks like to me that this is just a third-rate burglary.

FRANKEN: And through all the political rhetoric that seems to surround everything these days, the reality is that Sandy Berger is still under investigated by the FBI.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And coming up at the half-hour, we're going to debate what should happen to Sandy Berger -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Attention, homebuyers -- if you're looking for a fixer upper, well, we found some deals for you, in Iraq, though. You know what they say -- location, location, location. The Baghdad real estate boom ahead on LIVE FROM. And Prince Charles is not calling his realtor, but he is hailing a cab. And forget the number 2 pencil and the blue books. How about an iPod as a standard back to school piece of equipment? They're free this year at one university. Of course, you've got to pay a little tuition. We're downloading all that ahead on LIVE FROM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The summer Olympics begin in a few weeks, and the host country is working feverishly to get ready, including putting tight security in place, of course. A published report says the U.S. would like to provide some extra help in the form of hundreds of Special Forces troops and armed agents. But Greece says it has not given approval for other countries to have armed guards protecting athletes. More on what might or might not happen, officially or unofficially, from CNN's Jamie McIntyre across the river at the Pentagon.

Jamie, are they really going to have Special Forces with the U.S. athletes?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably not with the U.S. athletes, but something is being worked out now at NATO. Of course, Greece is a member of the NATO alliance, and of course, the United States is a member as well, the most capable member militarily of the alliance.

And right now, the NATO Planning Committee is considering requests from Greece for military support for the Olympics, including increased security, likely to include things like AWACs planes and air cover over the Olympic games, but could also include some contribution of U.S. Special Forces that could also lend security either at the games or in a response mode nearby, where they could be a sort of quick reaction force.

Today, though, the Pentagon was quick to say that this is something being worked under the NATO umbrella, as would properly be done -- not something the U.S. is doing on its own. And right now, they don't have any final decision about what the U.S. contribution will be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The Greek government has made a request of NATO. NATO is evaluating that request. We tried to find out just before we came in here if we had any news on that, and we don't have news on if they've made a decision in Brussels or not. And once that decision is made, then we'll look at the kind of capabilities that might be required to help

QUESTION: Involving U.S. troops?

MYERS: It's all possible, sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now again, the Greek constitution prohibits armed forces from other countries or police from other forces carrying guns in Greece. However, if these troops are part of a NATO force, they could be armed and still be on Greek soil. But again, part of the consideration is whether they might not just be nearby where they could be in a response mode, and again, allowing Greece to take the primary role of providing security, which is the proper role for Greece as the host of the summer Olympic games.

The other thing that they're not talking about much publicly here is there has been some, what they call, chatter monitored by intelligence circles, indicating that, in fact, the Olympics and some other high profile events could be the target of a terrorist attack. So, of course, they're beefing up a lot of the security. And, of course, that's also something they don't like to talk about. They don't want to tip their hand about what they're doing to make sure that the games are more secure -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, from their perspective, the less said, the better, right?

MCINTYRE: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much. Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger says it was an honest mistake. But an investigation into whether he stole secret documents is raising questions about timing and dirty politics. We'll talk about it in just a little bit. And new food labeling rules -- for millions of Americans with allergies, the fine print is a matter of life and death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New fears for six new hostages seized today in Iraq by an obscure militant group called the Black Flag. A report aired on the Arabic language network Al Arabiya showed masked gunmen threatening to behead one hostage every 72 hours unless their company pulls out of Iraq. The men are from Kenya, India, and Egypt, none of which has troops in Iraq. But the hostages all work for the same trucking company based in Kuwait.

Other violence -- four people were killed today in a car bombing in central Baghdad. That explosion was reportedly not a suicide bombing. Despite all the stories of unrest and insurgent attacks, at least one industry is booming in Baghdad. Michael Holmes checks the classified ads for hot deals in Iraqi real estate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mr. Abdul Rasoul al Shideedi is having a very good year.

(on camera): Business is good?

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES (voice-over): There's your answer. Abdul is a Baghdad real estate agent. On his books, this, well, rather modest house, $1.5 million.

It's true that much of the country remains a renovator's delight or a fixer upper. But in much of Baghdad, real estate is booming, so to speak. There are even Webs sites for online buyers. Here, an encouraging line -- currently, phone and electricity are restored in the area. Note the word "currently." And this built-in, reinforced armored concrete -- an attractive feature in a country without homeowner's insurance. And the always-handy big basement designed also as antiaircraft bunker.

ABDUL RASOUL AL-SHIDEEDI, REAL ESTATE AGENT (through translator): It's all about investment, especially in this location.

HOLMES: Abdul's client list isn't overflowing with your ordinary Baghdad residents, however. This is a boom fueled mostly by outside cash -- foreigners based here for the reconstruction and Iraqi expats returning home after successful careers overseas. And they need bulging wallets as well.

Iraq is a country where, traditionally, people save and then sell everything they own in order to afford a house. No mortgages here -- cold, hard cash is what gets the deal done. All of which leaves the locals with not all that much to choose from if they want to be in a safe area.

AL-SHIDEEDI (through translator): For the people with $200,000, maybe they can buy a house. But for the youth, I don't think they can.

HOLMES: For those with cash, half of the Iraqi love affair with real estate is that there's been so little else to invest in of late -- that and tradition.

AL-SHIDEEDI (through translator): For Iraqis, every wall of the house is like a part of his body, his blood, and his soul.

HOLMES: It's not just a resell boom either. This, a huge mansion under construction for a local businessman, and rentals as well -- this place going for $25,000 a month. Abdul doesn't see business slackening off anytime soon.

AL-SHIDEEDI (through translator): I am very optimistic about the future of Iraq. I want to tell the good people, not the bad, that Iraq is open for you.

HOLMES: And he says he'll get that $1.25 million for that house.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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