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Vietnam Revisited; Najaf in Crisis
Aired August 20, 2004 - 13:59 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: Up first this hour, a divisive war, a presidential contest, bad blood on both sides. The contest is Bush versus Kerry 2004. But the war ended decades earlier. You may not know that the battles over who did what, who said what and who's being funded by whom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam was just devastating.
KERRY: ... randomly shot at civilians...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.
KERRY: ... cut off limbs, blown up bodies...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: This is the latest salvo from the anti-Kerry group that claims the Democratic presidential hopeful lied to win two of his Vietnam medals. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is legally financing separate from the Bush camp or GOP, but Kerry still accuses Bush of endorsing its allegations by failing to publicly denounce them.
Kerry has his own soft money allies. Among them, the grassroots Web group, MoveOn.org. But he spent his own dollars for the ad countering the Swift Boat claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters. Listen to someone who was there, the man whose life John Kerry saved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They blew me off the boat. All these Vietcong were shooting at me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, of course, Kerry and Bush and Ralph Nader, for that matter, had careers after Vietnam in which voters can and will pass judgment. But CNN's Bill Schneider tells us, if the past looms larger for Kerry, it's because he brought it up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): There's no shortage of issues in this campaign: terrorism, war, jobs, health care, energy. So why are we stuck in a debate about something that happened more than 35 years ago? Charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.
SCHNEIDER: And countercharges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters. Listen to someone who was there.
SCHNEIDER: Issues are not what got Kerry the Democratic nomination. Democrats agreed with Howard Dean on the issues; most notably, Iraq.
Democrats preferred Kerry because of his personal qualities. They saw him as more electable, someone who could beat Bush. Why? His Vietnam War record. Kerry made it the centerpiece of his campaign.
KERRY: I thought it was important, if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country.
SCHNEIDER: After Kerry showcased his war record at the Democratic convention, conservatives pounced, like Rush Limbaugh on his radio show.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: You didn't start basing your whole career and future on your four months service in Vietnam until the convention. And when you did that, yeah, these guys finally came up.
SCHNEIDER: Kerry now feels he has to fight back with something more than press releases.
KERRY: Of course, the president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: bring it on.
(APPLAUSE)
SCHNEIDER: Brave words, but the fact is Kerry is not likely to beat Bush on personal qualities. Polls show Bush has a clear advantage over Kerry as a strong leader who is good in a crisis, down to earth, and sticks to his positions.
Kerry's personal strength? Like any good Democrat, he cares about people. But when you talk about most issues, the advantage shifts to Kerry.
Voters rate Kerry better on the economy, jobs, education, and health care. Bush's issue advantages on terrorism. That's it.
What about Iraq? The two are rated about equal.
Kerry has to get the debate off personal qualities and on to the issues. His supporters know that.
WESLEY CLARK (D), FMR. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Stop the Swift Boat campaign, pull it all it all off the air. Let's get down to the issues.
SCHNEIDER: Kerry's opponents are doing their best to make sure that doesn't happen.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: White House press secretary Scott McClellan just moments ago addressed this issue with supporter os the president's ranch. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We've already said we weren't involved in any way in these ads. We've made that clear.
I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks. I mean, where has the Kerry campaign been for the last year while more than $62 million in funding through these shadowy groups have been used to negatively attack the president? The Kerry campaign has been noticeably silent and, in many instances, they have actually fueled these kinds of attacks by these shadowy groups that are funded by unregulated soft...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So is anybody out there listening? The National Annenberg Election Survey indicates yes. Annenberg finds the majority of Americans have either seen or heard about the anti-Kerry ads. Four in 10 have not.
Of those who have, 46 percent find the ads at least somewhat believable, 49 percent find them at least somewhat unbelievable. Statistically, that's dead even.
So here's what we know. Will the Swift Boat controversy sway your vote for president? E-mail us your answers and we'll read as many as we can on the air. Our address is livefrom@cnn.com.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq and the powder keg in Najaf. It's nighttime now, and scattered fighting has broken out again between U.S. forces and Shiite insurgents. At last report, Shiite fighters remain in control of the city's main mosque. But there are reports of renewed attempts to end their occupation peacefully.
Matthew Chance has the latest, and he's in Najaf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So just who's in control of the Imam Ali mosque? According to Iraq's Interior Ministry, earlier today Iraqi police and security forces simply walked into the compound. They found a few hundred members of the Mehdi militia who gave themselves up. That according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
However, Iraqi police in Najaf tell CNN they are not in control of the Iman Ali mosque. A senior spokesperson for Muqtada al-Sadr says, "This has not happened." This spokesperson telling CNN they are yet to hand control of the mosque over to a group of senior Shiite clerics. They are waiting for a delegation from the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.
The Pentagon tells CNN claims the Iraqi police are in control of the mosque are false. The U.S. military here in Baghdad saying it cannot confirm the claims made by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. U.S. Marine in Najaf say there is no intelligence to support the claims made by the Iraqi Intelligence Ministry as well.
Also on the ground, CNN producer Kianne Sadeq saying it appears that nothing has changed around the Imam Ali mosque. It is a confusing situation, but it seems that for now, at least, the situation on the ground remains unchanged. Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi militia by most accounts appeared to be holed up inside.
John Vause, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, more news out of Iraq. A videotape has surfaced today of French-American journalist Micah Garen, who was abducted last week in Nasiriyah. In the tape originally aired by Al Jazeera, Garen is heard introducing himself and reading a statement in English that's translated into Arabic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICAH GAREN, JOURNALIST: I'm an American journalist in Iraq and I've been asked to deliver a message...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The statement says, "I've been asked to deliver a message from the Martyrs Brigade, who want the American people to work on ending the bloodshed in Iraq." Garen goes on to say he's being treated well.
Another quick note on Iraq, and the fruitless attempts to discovered banned weapons allegedly possessed -- allegedly in the possession of Saddam Hussein. Today, the CIA says the final report on the weapons hunt in Iraq may include speculation as to what might have happened had America not invaded. But a spokesman says guesswork concerning the former regime's ambitions will not be the study's prime focus, as some reports had indicated.
PHILLIPS: News across America now.
In Texas, this huge, flaming plume of gas is prompting more evacuations just northeast of Houston. One day after an explosion ignited the fire, a second blast was reported earlier this morning. Everyone within a three-mile radius is being evacuated. No injuries are reported.
Elsewhere in Texas, call it a very big "thank you" note. It's from a man who received a new liver thanks in part to an appeal posted on a billboard. Now, that same billboard expresses his gratitude and urges people to donate organs.
And say it ain't so. There are new questions about the safety of Chicago's Wrigley Field. City officials have ordered a new round of inspections now at the ballpark. The Cubs have until noon Monday to show that it's safe.
Chunks of concrete have fallen from the upper deck several times since June, prompting repairs. But one reporter calls the work shoddy.
WHITFIELD: In the war on terror, stopping the flow of funds. The government has announced an arrest in an alleged terror financing scheme that involves hundreds of thousands of dollars. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington with details of this developing story -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, the three men are charge with racketeering conspiracy for allegedly running what U.S. officials call a U.S.-based recruiting and financing cell for Hamas. Hamas has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization and has claimed credit for car bombings, suicide bombings and drive-by shootings in Israel and the West Bank.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The individuals named in this indictment are alleged to have played a substantial role in financing and supporting international terrorism. They are alleged to be material supporters of a foreign terrorist organization taking advantage of the freedoms of an open society to foster and finance acts of terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: One man, Abdel Ashkar (ph), was taken into custody in northern Virginia. A second, Muhammad Salah (ph), was arrested last night in suburban Chicago. Salah (ph) was arrested and imprisoned in Israel in the mid 1990s, but the indictment alleges that after his release he, among other things, sent a Chicago-based associate to case possible terrorist targets in Israel.
The third man indicted but still at large is Musa Abu Marzuk (ph). He is described in the indictment as the deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau. He is believed to be in Syria.
The U.S. alleges these men ran a recruiting and financing cell that was operational for 15 years, that they used bank accounts in the U.S. and Israel to move money to recruit terrorists and finance attacks in Israel and the occupied territories. The United States is seeking the forfeiture of $2.7 million in accounts held by these men. And interestingly, for the first time, the attorney general went out of his way to say that this indictment is not a reflection on what he called the well-meaning people who practice the Muslim faith.
Fred, back to you.
WHITFIELD: And Jeanne, if Marzuk (ph) is in Syria, is it the U.S. government's ambition that there might be some cooperation with the Syrian government in order to get him extradited or something?
MESERVE: Oh, I think that's always hope that they can get their hands on the gentleman. But the fact that he is in Syria makes it quite unlikely that they will do that -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jeanne Meserve in Washington. Thanks so much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Only a handful of change now separates crude oil prices from the $50 a barrel mark. And many people are wondering if crossing the mental threshold will trigger a new recession in the global economy. Fred Katayama takes a look at both sides of the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As gas prices remain sky-high, consumers tighten their wallets in the U.S., and in Japan, the world's second-largest economy, businesses crimped spending last quarter.
Economists Stephen Roach predicts a 40 percent chance the global economy will slide into a recession next year.
STEPHEN ROACH, MORGAN STANLEY: It's not just that the oil price rises and therefore the economy rolls over, it's that higher oil prices, if they hit a strong economy, they will not hurt that much. If they hit a vulnerable economy, they will hurt a lot. And the U.S. right now, I think it's at its maximum state of vulnerability.
KATAYAMA: Vulnerable because of sluggish job and wage growth and the U.S. budget and trade deficits. And Europe's and Asia's economies are at risk because of heavy reliance on exports. What's more, the price of crude oil has spurted from $33 to $47 this year. And historically, an energy price spike has preceded just about every global recession, but most other economists say not this time. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, because the U.S. economy has been growing too fast, and China is trying to tame its overheated economy.
PROF. JAMES HAMILTON, UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO: We're producing significantly more oil than we did a year ago. The issue is not so much a shortfall of supply as it is strong global demand. But overall, strong demand represents a strong world economy. And that's good economic news, not bad.
KATAYAMA: And oil prices, while high, are still about 40 percent below the inflation adjusted record peak of nearly $80 a barrel in 1980.
Any disruption of supply, such as an attack on oil fields, could send prices sharply higher. Most economists agree the $50 a barrel level is key. Unless oil climbs above $50 and stays there for months, the world economy may be able to skirt a recession this time.
Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: A disturbing trend in the United States. Thousands of children from all over the world caught entering the country all alone. That's straight ahead.
And one woman's eyesight being restored thanks to a medical breakthrough involving a tooth.
And cutbacks for the classics. Why a growing number of cities are facing the music when it comes to paying for orchestras.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: It's a growing and disturbing trend. Every year, nearly 100,000 children from around the world are caught crossing into the United States illegally, and they're all alone. With harrowing tales of their journeys, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They come on foot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no food. I had no water. I had no strength.
GUTIERREZ: They come by boat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I traveled from China. It takes 20 days. The toughest thing I experienced was trying to jump on a moving train.
GUTIERREZ: And they traveled by rail, children desperate to come to the United States.
ASTRID BERNAL SANCHEZ (through translator): I came here to be with my mother.
GUTIERREZ: Fifteen-year-old Astrid can't remember the last time she saw her mother. Her mother left for the United States when she was only one. Astrid risked it all to come here, starvation and near suffocation to find her mother.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I hid under blankets in the compartment of a bus. Sometimes it was hard to breathe, and sometimes we only had water.
GUTIERREZ: Astrid's journey begins in El Salvador. Her goal? To reach Boston, where her mother is a factory worker.
Astrid has no idea where Boston is. Even so, she sets out on her own with just a backpack and a Boston address. It takes her 23 days through two countries and more than 2,800 miles to finally reach the international border at Tijuana.
Just one step away from U.S. soil, Astrid's dreams come to an abrupt end. Astrid (ph) is arrested by the border patrol.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I felt at that moment that I was returned to San Salvador. I would never try to come back here again because it was so difficult to get here.
GUTIERREZ: Astrid's broken dreams are shared by every child in this shelter. They, too, were arrested while trying to cross the border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I felt like taking my own life in that desert.
GUTIERREZ: For three days and three nights, Jorge walked through the Arizona desert without food or water. He's 15, from Guatemala, here to work to support his aging mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think of all of those who will follow me, kids. It's sad when you see pants of little children in the desert and socks and ribs, skulls, bones of persons.
GUTIERREZ: We were granted rare access into the Southwest Key Children's Shelter in San Diego and its sister facility in Phoenix. Here you see little children, as young as three and four years old who made the journey. One 4-year-old came with his 12-year-old sister.
OLGA TORRES, SOUTHWEST KEY: It is emotionally draining. And as a professional, the only thing that I know that kid needs, I want to give him hugs, I want to take him home, and give him a mom and a dad.
GUTIERREZ: We can't show you the youngsters' faces or tell you their real names for their safety. Many here still owe smugglers.
ISMAEL AVILEZ, SOUTHWEST KEY: They're dealing with people who threatened them, who have robbed them, people who might have tried to take advantage of them or possibly sexual exploitation.
GUTIERREZ: Ismael Avilez runs this center near San Diego. He has 15 beds. They're always full.
AVILEZ: At this time we have 36 different flags represented. And that would mean adolescents from every continent in this world.
GUTIERREZ: Seventeen-year-old Chao Fen (ph) is from southeastern China. Fleeing religious and political persecution, Chao Fen (ph) traveled more than 7,000 miles, from China to Paris to Cuba, then Mexico before he was caught here.
Daniella (ph) is 16. She's from Honduras. She escaped a life of abuse. Daniella (ph) says she will never forget the day she hopped the train north
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I saw one boy who was trying to catch the train. He couldn't get up on time. It took his leg, his arm. This part of his head was taken off.
GUTIERREZ: Each of the teenagers I spoke with told me what they experienced and saw with so horrible they would never make the journey again. For now, they wait in this shelter until their parents or sponsor can be found. For Astrid, the journey is about to pay off.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I'm nervous because I'll be seeing her for the first time.
GUTIERREZ: This is Blanca, Astrid's mother. She was tracked down in Boston. Blanca flies to San Diego, where she prepares to reunite with a daughter she has supported but hasn't seen in 14 years.
BLANCA BERNAL, ASTRID'S MOTHER (through translator): I felt horrible when I left her, but I did it for her. In El Salvador there isn't much work. I always planned on sending for her once I had my immigration papers. But it's taken years.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I never understand stood why my mother went to the United States. I always felt sad for not having grown up with a mother.
GUTIERREZ: Moments from now they will reunite. But it's not certain whether they will be allowed to remain in the United States. For now, it doesn't matter. A mother and child are together once again.
Thelma Gutierrez, El Cajon, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, whose name would you put on an airline terror watch list? How about Senator Ted Kennedy? Oh, yes, his recent problems getting on a flight raised questions about how a system designed to keep travelers safe is working. We're going to talk about it.
Country in crisis. Thousands of people forced from their home in Sudan. We're going to talk to a CNN reporter who has seen the report first hand. Our own Jeff Koinange joins us live on LIVE FROM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 20, 2004 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, a divisive war, a presidential contest, bad blood on both sides. The contest is Bush versus Kerry 2004. But the war ended decades earlier. You may not know that the battles over who did what, who said what and who's being funded by whom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam was just devastating.
KERRY: ... randomly shot at civilians...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.
KERRY: ... cut off limbs, blown up bodies...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: This is the latest salvo from the anti-Kerry group that claims the Democratic presidential hopeful lied to win two of his Vietnam medals. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is legally financing separate from the Bush camp or GOP, but Kerry still accuses Bush of endorsing its allegations by failing to publicly denounce them.
Kerry has his own soft money allies. Among them, the grassroots Web group, MoveOn.org. But he spent his own dollars for the ad countering the Swift Boat claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters. Listen to someone who was there, the man whose life John Kerry saved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They blew me off the boat. All these Vietcong were shooting at me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, of course, Kerry and Bush and Ralph Nader, for that matter, had careers after Vietnam in which voters can and will pass judgment. But CNN's Bill Schneider tells us, if the past looms larger for Kerry, it's because he brought it up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): There's no shortage of issues in this campaign: terrorism, war, jobs, health care, energy. So why are we stuck in a debate about something that happened more than 35 years ago? Charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.
SCHNEIDER: And countercharges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters. Listen to someone who was there.
SCHNEIDER: Issues are not what got Kerry the Democratic nomination. Democrats agreed with Howard Dean on the issues; most notably, Iraq.
Democrats preferred Kerry because of his personal qualities. They saw him as more electable, someone who could beat Bush. Why? His Vietnam War record. Kerry made it the centerpiece of his campaign.
KERRY: I thought it was important, if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country.
SCHNEIDER: After Kerry showcased his war record at the Democratic convention, conservatives pounced, like Rush Limbaugh on his radio show.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: You didn't start basing your whole career and future on your four months service in Vietnam until the convention. And when you did that, yeah, these guys finally came up.
SCHNEIDER: Kerry now feels he has to fight back with something more than press releases.
KERRY: Of course, the president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: bring it on.
(APPLAUSE)
SCHNEIDER: Brave words, but the fact is Kerry is not likely to beat Bush on personal qualities. Polls show Bush has a clear advantage over Kerry as a strong leader who is good in a crisis, down to earth, and sticks to his positions.
Kerry's personal strength? Like any good Democrat, he cares about people. But when you talk about most issues, the advantage shifts to Kerry.
Voters rate Kerry better on the economy, jobs, education, and health care. Bush's issue advantages on terrorism. That's it.
What about Iraq? The two are rated about equal.
Kerry has to get the debate off personal qualities and on to the issues. His supporters know that.
WESLEY CLARK (D), FMR. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Stop the Swift Boat campaign, pull it all it all off the air. Let's get down to the issues.
SCHNEIDER: Kerry's opponents are doing their best to make sure that doesn't happen.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: White House press secretary Scott McClellan just moments ago addressed this issue with supporter os the president's ranch. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We've already said we weren't involved in any way in these ads. We've made that clear.
I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks. I mean, where has the Kerry campaign been for the last year while more than $62 million in funding through these shadowy groups have been used to negatively attack the president? The Kerry campaign has been noticeably silent and, in many instances, they have actually fueled these kinds of attacks by these shadowy groups that are funded by unregulated soft...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So is anybody out there listening? The National Annenberg Election Survey indicates yes. Annenberg finds the majority of Americans have either seen or heard about the anti-Kerry ads. Four in 10 have not.
Of those who have, 46 percent find the ads at least somewhat believable, 49 percent find them at least somewhat unbelievable. Statistically, that's dead even.
So here's what we know. Will the Swift Boat controversy sway your vote for president? E-mail us your answers and we'll read as many as we can on the air. Our address is livefrom@cnn.com.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq and the powder keg in Najaf. It's nighttime now, and scattered fighting has broken out again between U.S. forces and Shiite insurgents. At last report, Shiite fighters remain in control of the city's main mosque. But there are reports of renewed attempts to end their occupation peacefully.
Matthew Chance has the latest, and he's in Najaf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So just who's in control of the Imam Ali mosque? According to Iraq's Interior Ministry, earlier today Iraqi police and security forces simply walked into the compound. They found a few hundred members of the Mehdi militia who gave themselves up. That according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
However, Iraqi police in Najaf tell CNN they are not in control of the Iman Ali mosque. A senior spokesperson for Muqtada al-Sadr says, "This has not happened." This spokesperson telling CNN they are yet to hand control of the mosque over to a group of senior Shiite clerics. They are waiting for a delegation from the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.
The Pentagon tells CNN claims the Iraqi police are in control of the mosque are false. The U.S. military here in Baghdad saying it cannot confirm the claims made by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. U.S. Marine in Najaf say there is no intelligence to support the claims made by the Iraqi Intelligence Ministry as well.
Also on the ground, CNN producer Kianne Sadeq saying it appears that nothing has changed around the Imam Ali mosque. It is a confusing situation, but it seems that for now, at least, the situation on the ground remains unchanged. Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi militia by most accounts appeared to be holed up inside.
John Vause, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, more news out of Iraq. A videotape has surfaced today of French-American journalist Micah Garen, who was abducted last week in Nasiriyah. In the tape originally aired by Al Jazeera, Garen is heard introducing himself and reading a statement in English that's translated into Arabic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICAH GAREN, JOURNALIST: I'm an American journalist in Iraq and I've been asked to deliver a message...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The statement says, "I've been asked to deliver a message from the Martyrs Brigade, who want the American people to work on ending the bloodshed in Iraq." Garen goes on to say he's being treated well.
Another quick note on Iraq, and the fruitless attempts to discovered banned weapons allegedly possessed -- allegedly in the possession of Saddam Hussein. Today, the CIA says the final report on the weapons hunt in Iraq may include speculation as to what might have happened had America not invaded. But a spokesman says guesswork concerning the former regime's ambitions will not be the study's prime focus, as some reports had indicated.
PHILLIPS: News across America now.
In Texas, this huge, flaming plume of gas is prompting more evacuations just northeast of Houston. One day after an explosion ignited the fire, a second blast was reported earlier this morning. Everyone within a three-mile radius is being evacuated. No injuries are reported.
Elsewhere in Texas, call it a very big "thank you" note. It's from a man who received a new liver thanks in part to an appeal posted on a billboard. Now, that same billboard expresses his gratitude and urges people to donate organs.
And say it ain't so. There are new questions about the safety of Chicago's Wrigley Field. City officials have ordered a new round of inspections now at the ballpark. The Cubs have until noon Monday to show that it's safe.
Chunks of concrete have fallen from the upper deck several times since June, prompting repairs. But one reporter calls the work shoddy.
WHITFIELD: In the war on terror, stopping the flow of funds. The government has announced an arrest in an alleged terror financing scheme that involves hundreds of thousands of dollars. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington with details of this developing story -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, the three men are charge with racketeering conspiracy for allegedly running what U.S. officials call a U.S.-based recruiting and financing cell for Hamas. Hamas has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization and has claimed credit for car bombings, suicide bombings and drive-by shootings in Israel and the West Bank.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The individuals named in this indictment are alleged to have played a substantial role in financing and supporting international terrorism. They are alleged to be material supporters of a foreign terrorist organization taking advantage of the freedoms of an open society to foster and finance acts of terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: One man, Abdel Ashkar (ph), was taken into custody in northern Virginia. A second, Muhammad Salah (ph), was arrested last night in suburban Chicago. Salah (ph) was arrested and imprisoned in Israel in the mid 1990s, but the indictment alleges that after his release he, among other things, sent a Chicago-based associate to case possible terrorist targets in Israel.
The third man indicted but still at large is Musa Abu Marzuk (ph). He is described in the indictment as the deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau. He is believed to be in Syria.
The U.S. alleges these men ran a recruiting and financing cell that was operational for 15 years, that they used bank accounts in the U.S. and Israel to move money to recruit terrorists and finance attacks in Israel and the occupied territories. The United States is seeking the forfeiture of $2.7 million in accounts held by these men. And interestingly, for the first time, the attorney general went out of his way to say that this indictment is not a reflection on what he called the well-meaning people who practice the Muslim faith.
Fred, back to you.
WHITFIELD: And Jeanne, if Marzuk (ph) is in Syria, is it the U.S. government's ambition that there might be some cooperation with the Syrian government in order to get him extradited or something?
MESERVE: Oh, I think that's always hope that they can get their hands on the gentleman. But the fact that he is in Syria makes it quite unlikely that they will do that -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jeanne Meserve in Washington. Thanks so much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Only a handful of change now separates crude oil prices from the $50 a barrel mark. And many people are wondering if crossing the mental threshold will trigger a new recession in the global economy. Fred Katayama takes a look at both sides of the debate.
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FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As gas prices remain sky-high, consumers tighten their wallets in the U.S., and in Japan, the world's second-largest economy, businesses crimped spending last quarter.
Economists Stephen Roach predicts a 40 percent chance the global economy will slide into a recession next year.
STEPHEN ROACH, MORGAN STANLEY: It's not just that the oil price rises and therefore the economy rolls over, it's that higher oil prices, if they hit a strong economy, they will not hurt that much. If they hit a vulnerable economy, they will hurt a lot. And the U.S. right now, I think it's at its maximum state of vulnerability.
KATAYAMA: Vulnerable because of sluggish job and wage growth and the U.S. budget and trade deficits. And Europe's and Asia's economies are at risk because of heavy reliance on exports. What's more, the price of crude oil has spurted from $33 to $47 this year. And historically, an energy price spike has preceded just about every global recession, but most other economists say not this time. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, because the U.S. economy has been growing too fast, and China is trying to tame its overheated economy.
PROF. JAMES HAMILTON, UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO: We're producing significantly more oil than we did a year ago. The issue is not so much a shortfall of supply as it is strong global demand. But overall, strong demand represents a strong world economy. And that's good economic news, not bad.
KATAYAMA: And oil prices, while high, are still about 40 percent below the inflation adjusted record peak of nearly $80 a barrel in 1980.
Any disruption of supply, such as an attack on oil fields, could send prices sharply higher. Most economists agree the $50 a barrel level is key. Unless oil climbs above $50 and stays there for months, the world economy may be able to skirt a recession this time.
Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: A disturbing trend in the United States. Thousands of children from all over the world caught entering the country all alone. That's straight ahead.
And one woman's eyesight being restored thanks to a medical breakthrough involving a tooth.
And cutbacks for the classics. Why a growing number of cities are facing the music when it comes to paying for orchestras.
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WHITFIELD: It's a growing and disturbing trend. Every year, nearly 100,000 children from around the world are caught crossing into the United States illegally, and they're all alone. With harrowing tales of their journeys, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has their story.
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THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They come on foot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no food. I had no water. I had no strength.
GUTIERREZ: They come by boat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I traveled from China. It takes 20 days. The toughest thing I experienced was trying to jump on a moving train.
GUTIERREZ: And they traveled by rail, children desperate to come to the United States.
ASTRID BERNAL SANCHEZ (through translator): I came here to be with my mother.
GUTIERREZ: Fifteen-year-old Astrid can't remember the last time she saw her mother. Her mother left for the United States when she was only one. Astrid risked it all to come here, starvation and near suffocation to find her mother.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I hid under blankets in the compartment of a bus. Sometimes it was hard to breathe, and sometimes we only had water.
GUTIERREZ: Astrid's journey begins in El Salvador. Her goal? To reach Boston, where her mother is a factory worker.
Astrid has no idea where Boston is. Even so, she sets out on her own with just a backpack and a Boston address. It takes her 23 days through two countries and more than 2,800 miles to finally reach the international border at Tijuana.
Just one step away from U.S. soil, Astrid's dreams come to an abrupt end. Astrid (ph) is arrested by the border patrol.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I felt at that moment that I was returned to San Salvador. I would never try to come back here again because it was so difficult to get here.
GUTIERREZ: Astrid's broken dreams are shared by every child in this shelter. They, too, were arrested while trying to cross the border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I felt like taking my own life in that desert.
GUTIERREZ: For three days and three nights, Jorge walked through the Arizona desert without food or water. He's 15, from Guatemala, here to work to support his aging mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think of all of those who will follow me, kids. It's sad when you see pants of little children in the desert and socks and ribs, skulls, bones of persons.
GUTIERREZ: We were granted rare access into the Southwest Key Children's Shelter in San Diego and its sister facility in Phoenix. Here you see little children, as young as three and four years old who made the journey. One 4-year-old came with his 12-year-old sister.
OLGA TORRES, SOUTHWEST KEY: It is emotionally draining. And as a professional, the only thing that I know that kid needs, I want to give him hugs, I want to take him home, and give him a mom and a dad.
GUTIERREZ: We can't show you the youngsters' faces or tell you their real names for their safety. Many here still owe smugglers.
ISMAEL AVILEZ, SOUTHWEST KEY: They're dealing with people who threatened them, who have robbed them, people who might have tried to take advantage of them or possibly sexual exploitation.
GUTIERREZ: Ismael Avilez runs this center near San Diego. He has 15 beds. They're always full.
AVILEZ: At this time we have 36 different flags represented. And that would mean adolescents from every continent in this world.
GUTIERREZ: Seventeen-year-old Chao Fen (ph) is from southeastern China. Fleeing religious and political persecution, Chao Fen (ph) traveled more than 7,000 miles, from China to Paris to Cuba, then Mexico before he was caught here.
Daniella (ph) is 16. She's from Honduras. She escaped a life of abuse. Daniella (ph) says she will never forget the day she hopped the train north
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I saw one boy who was trying to catch the train. He couldn't get up on time. It took his leg, his arm. This part of his head was taken off.
GUTIERREZ: Each of the teenagers I spoke with told me what they experienced and saw with so horrible they would never make the journey again. For now, they wait in this shelter until their parents or sponsor can be found. For Astrid, the journey is about to pay off.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I'm nervous because I'll be seeing her for the first time.
GUTIERREZ: This is Blanca, Astrid's mother. She was tracked down in Boston. Blanca flies to San Diego, where she prepares to reunite with a daughter she has supported but hasn't seen in 14 years.
BLANCA BERNAL, ASTRID'S MOTHER (through translator): I felt horrible when I left her, but I did it for her. In El Salvador there isn't much work. I always planned on sending for her once I had my immigration papers. But it's taken years.
SANCHEZ (through translator): I never understand stood why my mother went to the United States. I always felt sad for not having grown up with a mother.
GUTIERREZ: Moments from now they will reunite. But it's not certain whether they will be allowed to remain in the United States. For now, it doesn't matter. A mother and child are together once again.
Thelma Gutierrez, El Cajon, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, whose name would you put on an airline terror watch list? How about Senator Ted Kennedy? Oh, yes, his recent problems getting on a flight raised questions about how a system designed to keep travelers safe is working. We're going to talk about it.
Country in crisis. Thousands of people forced from their home in Sudan. We're going to talk to a CNN reporter who has seen the report first hand. Our own Jeff Koinange joins us live on LIVE FROM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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