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Bird Flu Sparking Jitters for European Union; Hussein Prepares for Trial

Aired October 18, 2005 - 13:33   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Live picture once again. You can actually now see the flames there at the bottom of the bridge. This is the 59th Street Bridge. Of course, also known as Queensboro Bridge, in Manhattan. We have not been able to see if there are any firefighters there on the scene, or if indeed they've got water on those flames, but you can obviously see the black smoke coming atop, billowing out from underneath that canopy there, on the bridge.
And you do see the flames on the lower level. This bridge had been under construction. Obviously no traffic flow, but we still don't know, and cannot confirm if indeed there are firefighters on the scene there working that blaze. But we'll keep you updated as we get more information on that 59th Street Bridge, Queens Borough Bridge fire in Manhattan.

Turning now to medical news. Eat your veggies, drink your milk and wash your hand. You know mom's rules, right? But you may not realize that the fed might tinker with that last one. The Food and Drug Administration is asking an outside committee to look into limiting the amount of anti-bacterial soap. And critics say these product don't really work any better for healthy consumers than regular soap and may actually contribute to the emergence of stronger bacteria resistant to antibiotic.

Now from anti-bacterial soap to anti-viral drugs, specifically Tamiflu, many scientists and health officials say that Tamiflu could be the first line of defense if the mutated bird flu virus sparks a global pandemic. The drugmaker, Roche, is based in Switzerland. The company says it will build a satellite plant here in the U.S. to help increase production capacity. Roche also says that it's willing to give sub-licenses to any government or private company that wants to manufacture or help manufacture Tamiflu.

In the meantime, you won't be able to score Tamiflu on eBay any longer. A spokesperson tells CNN that it pulled a Tamiflu auction off the site this morning after bits topped $174. eBay's rules prohibit sales of prescription drugs, you know, and earlier this morning, Roche urged people not to fall for the Internet Tamiflu pitches, saying that they risk buying bogus drugs.

Now to Europe, where bird flu is sparking jitters for the European Union. Confirmed cases have already been found in Romania and Turkey. But Greece is the first E.U. country to detect it in local poultry. As E.U. foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg for trade talks, bird flu also appears on the agenda.

CNN's Robin Oakley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A logo of flying swans may prove to have been an unfortunate choice for the six-month British presidency of the European Union. The 25-nation group is alarmed that birds are now spreading avian flu across their continent. First, the dangerous H5N1 variant of the virus was found in poultry in neighboring turkey. Affected ducks and swans were identified in Romania. Then a suspect bird was discovered on an islet off this Greek island of Kiosk (ph).

And the E.U.'s health commissioner had the culprits in mind.

MARKOS KYPRIANOU, E.U. HEALTH COMMISSIONER: All evidence indicates that suggest that the virus can be spread by wide migratory birds.

OAKLEY: E.U. foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on the preventive and security measures being taken in the countries which already have suffered outbreaks, and he predicted more.

KYPRIANOU: We cannot exclude further occurrences of outbreaks in poultry and other birds in other areas of the European Union.

OAKLEY: But did that mean a human flu pandemic would follow? the ministers knew they were treading a fine line between demonstrating they were taking adequate precautions and actually creating panic. So their tone was a comforting one.

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECY.: It's important that we reassure people across Europe that national governments and the commission are working very closely together, and coordinating their contingency planning in the event that we are faced with a transfer of the avian flu virus to human beings.

OAKLEY: For the moment, at least, they insisted, Europe was facing an animal health problem, not a human health problem. There are, as yet, no human cases of avian flu in Europe.

KYPRIANOU: The fact that we have avian flu in Europe now does not affect the possibility of a human influenza pandemic.

OAKLEY: But the motto across Europe is now better safe than sorry. Antiviral treatments being ordered in. National and intragovernmental capabilities in handling a pandemic are to be tested with an international exercise, and preventative measures, like putting free-range chickens inside where they'll avoid contact with migrating birds, are being stepped up.

(on camera): For the moment, E.U. ministers are comforting themselves that Southeast Asia has bird flu epidemics for the past five years, resulting the in slaughter of millions of birds, and that so far only 60 or so humans are died from contracting avian flu. But what they fear is a sudden mutation between the human and avian varieties, which could create the conditions for a pandemic, and they admit, they can't afford not to plan for that possibility.

Robin Oakley, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And we're continuing to follow of course that fire on the 59th Street Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge in Manhattan. You can actually see a close-up of those flames now, and firetrucks on the scene, firefighters working that blaze. We'll bring you as much information as we can as we continue to get it.

Meanwhile, straight ahead, what would you do in this situation? Wow. A heroic rescue in California from a burning car. You'll see how it all goes down. It's a LIVE FROM bonus story, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Tomorrow morning, Saddam Hussein will sit in chamber number one -- court number one -- inside Baghdad's green zone.

If the five judge tribunal finds him guilty, he could face the death penalty. The court is inside a building the fallen dictator once used to store his gifts. But those gifts are gone. And the only thing Saddam Hussein will receive now is a chance to fight for his life.

We'll discuss the trial with an international law expert in just a moment. But first, CNN's Aneesh Raman travels to Dujail. It was in 1982 that villagers here tried to assassinate the Iraqi dictator. And they say it didn't take long for Saddam Hussein to retaliate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On July 8, 1982, Saddam Hussein drove into Dujail, crowds running alongside his convoy, women rushing to kiss his hand, bellowing in forced joy.

It was the sort of visit Saddam often orchestrated, showing he was a man of the people. But when offered a glass of water in one home, he declined, always fearful of attempts to poison him.

Saddam then spoke to a crowd from atop the local party headquarters about the war with Iran.

SADDAM HUSSEIN, FORMER IRAQI LEADER: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

RAMAN: He was about to find out just how courageous. On this road, six young men were preparing to ambush the dictator. Muhammad Ali drove one of the shooters to the scene.

MUHAMMAD ALI, DUJAIL RESIDENT (through translator): Hassan came to me. I took him on my motorcycle. I remember he was carrying two pistols. We drove through orchards, looking for other men, but we only saw two. Hassan shot with his pistol to give the group a sign to start shooting at Saddam. When the convoy reached the orchard, three gunmen started sheeting at his convoy from the left side. Saddam's guards started shooting back.

RAMAN: Saddam escaped unhurt and moments later, villagers desperately tried to prove their loyalty.

DUJAIL VILLAGERS: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

RAMAN: But Dujail knew its fate. Immediately, a dictator's vengeance descended upon the village. With icy calm, Saddam himself started interrogating terrified locals.

HUSSEIN: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

RAMAN: No one's loyalty is taken for granted. And in the ensuing weeks, thousands of innocent villages, like Ali, who was 14 at the time, were thrown in jail, tortured, and many others executed.

Dujail was destroyed. Villagers show us barren land that once blossomed with orchards where the rebel gunmen hid that fateful day. Ali is lucky; he survived four years in prison.

But he never knew what happened to his brother. They were also imprisoned that day and it was only after Saddam's fall that he learned the worst.

ALI (through translator): I found a document signed by Saddam in 1985 to execute some of the Dujail people with us in the prison, 149 people, including seven of my brothers, 34 of my relatives and 118 people of my town. They are now forgot. To God they have returned.

RAMAN: Photos of his brothers proudly hang on Ali's living room wall, casualties of state terror. In sheer numbers, Dujail was not nearly the worst of Saddam's alleged atrocities. But that is of no consequence to the villages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Saddam should be executed immediately for this because he killed and executed too many.

RAMAN (voice-over): And now justice may finally come to Dujail, 23 years too late, but sooner than anyone here could have imagined.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Dujail, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, let's talk about that justice. Rahul Manchanda is an international criminal attorney. He joins us live from New York. Rahul, good to see you.

RAHUL MANCHANDA, INTERNATIONAL LAW EXPERT: You too.

PHILLIPS: A lot of questions about the Iraqi tribunal. First of all, its legitimacy: What do you think? MANCHANDA: Well, I think that the defense is going to try to interpose some defenses that are all technical in nature. As we just saw from the footage, the facts of the Dujail '82 massacre are pretty easy to prove.

And I think the defense will try to challenge the legitimacy of the tribunal; they're going to try to drag in the previous Iraqi constitution, which guaranteed -- supposedly guaranteed Saddam Hussein governmental immunity for all acts committed while he was president of the country.

And I think the challenge, really, at this point, is going to be overcoming these procedural technical hurdles to try to get to the meat and potatoes of this case.

PHILLIPS: Well, in addition to those hurdles, what about the judges, 800 judges in Iraq, right?

MANCHANDA: Right.

PHILLIPS: Five of them selected for this tribunal. How were these five selected? And how do you know that they're not biased?

MANCHANDA: Good question. Well, the reality is that the 800 judges that we're talking about were a mixture of Shiites and Sunnis. And some of them were loyalists to the Baath party, which was Saddam Hussein's party. Some of them were not.

Ironically enough, under Saddam's government, the -- well, and Saddam was a Sunni -- the Sunnis were at the top and also Baathist loyalists were at the top.

So, certainly, after the invasion of Iraq, those top level judges were removed because of loyalties to the Baath party and potential for abuse. The lower level judges, or the median level judges were a mix, a hodgepodge if you will, of Sunnis and Shiites and people that had different loyalty, you know, whether or not they were to Baathists or not.

The judges that were picked were picked based on impartiality, non-bias, and non-allegiance to the Baath party or to the Sunni majority.

PHILLIPS: Now, the judges -- they're going to do the questioning. We'll hear from the defense and we'll hear from the prosecution, right, but the judges actually do the questioning. Why is that?

And how do we know that Saddam won't hijack this trial like we saw with Slobodan Milosevic and the grandstanding that took place?

And we saw Saddam last time in court, when he just started challenging the judge and speaking up and -- you know, a lot of people thought that he sounded crazy at that moment.

MANCHANDA: That's correct. You know, one of the concerns of the tribunal at this point is not to repeat the same fiascoes of the Milosevic trial, where, again, Milosevic used the podium as a grandstand to sort of spew tirades against the international community.

It really is important that this particular proceeding be perceived legitimately as an Iraqi tribunal, an Iraqi court with Iraqi criminal code.

Again, the Iraqi criminal code is based on the Hammurabi law which is 5,000-plus years, which does call for the death penalty. Both the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the international communities frown on the death penalty, so this is quite ample evidence this is an Iraqi criminal proceeding.

PHILLIPS: So, why will the judges do the questioning?

MANCHANDA: Why will the judges do the questioning? Well, it really is -- this is because the tribunal is so new. I think a jury -- the real focus of a jury is to do fact-finding.

And at this point, right now, the main hurdles that are going to be taking place are procedural and technical issues, right now. And procedural areas the law, not substantive areas of the law like fact.

Once the facts come into play and we can actually get to the meat and potatoes of this case, you'll start to see more fact-finding, more evidence, comparisons.

But at this point, it's really just legal procedural issues, which judges have the area and the expertise to be able to do so.

PHILLIPS: Now, Rahul, if he's found guilty, if he indeed gets the death penalty, within the law, in 30 days he is supposed to be executed.

MANCHANDA: Correct.

PHILLIPS: But what's the reality of that? Because he gets, what, 12 times, 12 chances to appeal?

MANCHANDA: Yes. Exactly. He will be able to appeal these decisions as many times as he likes. Unfortunately, for the prosecution side of it, he will be afforded full rights under law.

Again, this proceeding must be perceived as an Iraqi proceeding and it must be perceived as fair and impartial. So, he will be afforded the opportunity to question witnesses, to raise any possible defenses that he has. And fortunately or unfortunately, he will be able to defend himself to the full extent, and appeals will be part of that defense.

PHILLIPS: Rahul Manchanda, thank you so much. And you're coming back tomorrow, right?

MANCHANDA: I hope so.

PHILLIPS: OK. Oh, I think it's in stone. Rahul, thank you so much.

Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, we are going to go more in depth with Rahul. We're going to talk about Saddam Hussein's defense. From a former United States attorney general to Moammar Gadhafi's daughter, who are the people helping Saddam plan his strategy and what is it? We're going to talk about it with Rahul more in depth, tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

We'll be right back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Rescue on a California freeway. A four vehicle crash, a car on fire, one man pinned inside, screaming for help. Other motorists and a rookie cop rushed to his side, risking their own lives to save his. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, go, go, go, go! Go go go!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, right here, right here, right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, just seconds later, that car was fully engulfed in flames. That driver, Licez Renasoso (ph), is hospitalized with a possible broken pelvis and other injuries, but is expected to survive.

LIVE FROM returns right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, rebuilding a state; in some cases, from the ground up. We're going to talk one- on-one with a member of the newly-appointed commission to put Louisiana back on map. That's coming up, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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