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Saddam's Trial Delayed Again; Down and Out in Los Angeles; Congressman Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Aired November 28, 2005 - 14:02   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And you can watch the president's speech live on CNN. He's scheduled to speak at 4:45 Eastern this afternoon.
A pretty astonishing scene in Baghdad today. Saddam Hussein back on trial, with one of his lawyers being a former attorney general of the United States.

The former Iraqi ruler deposed by the U.S. military is being advised by Ramsey Clark. He served as attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson. And in an interview, Clark told CNN he is there to try and ensure the process is fair.

For his part, Hussein isn't hiding behind his lawyers. He clashed with the judge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, FMR. IRAQI DICTATOR (through translator): I was brought here to the door and I was -- the handcuffs. We don't accept that. And at the same time, the elevator not working, and the Koran in my hand, and the handcuffs -- I went in the elevator.

RIZGAR AMIN, PRESIDING JUDGE: We will bring that to the attention of the police.

HUSSEIN (through translator): Mr. Judge, I don't want you to call them. I want you to order them. They are in our -- on our land. You have the servants. You are an Iraqi. And there are foreigners and occupiers and invaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, with the trial having polarized much of Iraq, protesters today in the Iraqi city of Dujail waved placards showing the former Iraqi leader. Dujail is the town where Hussein and seven other defendants are accused in the trial of committing crimes against humanity.

When the trial of Saddam Hussein resumed today one of the men sitting with the defense team was familiar to many Americans. Former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark is a consultant to lawyers representing Hussein and his seven co-defendants. Clark, who served in the Johnson administration, opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

After today's session he told CNN's Nic Robertson that his participation in the trial may be limited.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMSEY CLARK, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Whether I'll remain throughout the trial, it's not likely. If it proceeds as it did today, it would be a waste of my time, and perhaps even give an appearance of fairness that didn't exist, because I couldn't detect today that it would be easy to make a difference in terms of fairness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: An Iraqi official criticized Clark's participation in the trial, saying that Clark was silent when Hussein was committing atrocities and has no business being in Iraq right now.

We're going to hear more of CNN's interview with Ramsey Clark later this hour.

Well, if the trial of Saddam Hussein is dividing many Iraqis, Americans also have differing opinions. For more on that, we're joined by our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

What do you think? Do most Americans want to see him executed or not?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: If he's found guilty of crimes against humanity, yes, Americans have in the past and continue to favor the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. But the question here is, would the insurgency be weaker if Saddam Hussein were found guilty and executed? And they're under no allusions here.

Seventy-five percent, three-quarters of Americans, say, no, they don't expect even his execution to have much impact on the insurgency because Americans understand that the insurgency being fought by the Iraqi government and American troops is no longer about Saddam Hussein. It's about a sectarian competition for power between Sunnis and Shiites, and it's about opposition to foreign and many non-Muslim troops in their country. It isn't primarily about Saddam Hussein, though that is an element of it.

PHILLIPS: You also asked the question, is the trial a symbol of the problems in Iraq?

SCHNEIDER: Well, yes, it's been almost three years since Saddam Hussein was overthrown. And every day we read about delays, postponements, difficulties in the trial, terrible security problems.

Two of his defense attorneys were murdered. There was a plot to execute -- to kill the judge who brought the indictment.

This is becoming a symbol of the problems of Iraq. They can't seem to organize a trial. The risk is that this should be a solemn review of crimes and atrocities and it could become a political circus.

PHILLIPS: What are you hearing about Bush's speech on Wednesday at Annapolis?

SCHNEIDER: The word that everybody is waiting to hear him talk about is the word "timetable." A lot of Democrats have demanded a timetable. Some Republicans at least have dared to talk about it.

The administration says they will not accept any kind of timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. But now you have Iraqis themselves, the various parties to the conflict in Iraq, saying that they believe that there should be a timetable for Americans to withdraw. At least some of them have said that and endorsed that policy.

So what everyone is going to be waiting for on Wednesday, when the president speaks, is, will he in any way use the "T" word? Will he talk about any kind of timetable for the withdrawal of American troops?

PHILLIPS: All right. The "T" word, also the "I" word, the immigration policy. A bit of a balancing act, yes?

SCHNEIDER: Ah, that is a very tough balancing act for this president. He's got to balance two important constituencies, conservatives who don't like his guess worker program, they call it amnesty and they're outraged by it. Talk radio hosts and other critics have become very outspoken.

And on the other hand, Hispanics who are in the United States, most of them legal, they are very sensitive to anything they regard as an anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant policy. And the president has always throughout his political career tried to reach out to them and bring them into the Republican Party.

So he has to balance sensitivity to Hispanic-Americans, the nation's largest minority group now, and conservatives who are up in arms over what he's proposed in the past.

PHILLIPS: Bill Schneider, thanks.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

PHILLIPS: The fight for Iraq continues unabated and on various fronts. In Baquba, a car bomb detonated nearby a U.S. military patrol. Three sole soldiers said to be slightly wounded.

And word that four Western aide workers have been kidnapped somewhere in Iraq. One is said to be this man, Norman Kember (ph), a British citizen. The others, two Canadians and an American, still unidentified. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad confirms only that an American citizen is missing.

Straight ahead, drunks, hospital patients, vagrants tossed to the curb like garbage. L.A.'s Skid Row is growing, and city leaders are pointing the finger at nearby towns.

A CNN investigation next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, they're surveying the damage now right there at the U.S. Supreme Court. If you've been watching our news this morning, it was sort of a strange -- no one really understood what was going on until they started to kind of check out the marble on the ground and realize it had fallen from the top of the U.S. Supreme Court here. And we probably -- well, we know what you're thinking, just who are those figurines, right, that are immortalized on the Supreme Court building's west pediment there?

As you can see the video of the worker there sort of checking out where it came from, what could have happened, what caused it to fall, we're going to tell you who these guys are.

On the far left, William Howard Taft, former president and former chief justice who persuaded Congress to fund the construction of a permanent Supreme Court building. And then next to him, former Senator Elihu Root, sponsor of the bill creating Washington's Fine Arts Commission.

And then next to Root, no surprise here, the building's architect, Cass Gilbert. A little bit of a close-up now. It's good to be the architect, of course.

And in the middle, three conceptual figurines representing Authority, Liberty Enthroned and Order.

And then comes former chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes, who also happened to be chairman of the Supreme Court building commission. That is Washington, after all.

Then Robert Aitken is the pediment sculpture.

And finally, John Marshall, considered by many the granddaddy of all chief justices.

And who came up with legendary inscription "Equal justice under law"? Apparently, it was the architect.

There you go. A little value added on the marble and who it is up there.

They didn't lose a piece of the marble, though, by the way. It was just underneath them.

All right. The same jury that tried and convicted a Florida man for kidnapping, raping and killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia must now decide whether he should die for his crimes. A sentencing hearing began today for Joseph Smith. He's the man who was caught on tape confronting and luring away Brucia in Sarasota last year. Her body was found days later.

Jurors could recommend that Smith serve life in prison or be put to death.

The Los Angeles area has more homeless people than any part of the country. And most share the same address: Skid Row.

CNN's Randi Kaye just spent a week on Skid Row, but she investigated why the homeless population there is growing and who may be adding to the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Skid Row, a 50-square-block human dumping ground in downtown Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, let me see your wristband. Were you in the hospital recently?

KAYE: Still wearing a bracelet from the county jail, this woman, Lily, was too strung out to tell how she got here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long were you in the county jail?

KAYE: Because of the abundant social services, Skid Row is a magnet for the drug addicted, the mentally ill, the criminals, and the helpless. It's also a magnet for other cities who don't know what to do with their own problems, so they bring them here and dump them.

CAPT. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: I saw an outside agency dropping off an individual who didn't live in this area, who had never been here before and had been arrested in this area, down -- actually, right down there on that corner down there.

KAYE: Two months ago out on patrol, LAPD Captain Andrew Smith says he saw two LA County sheriff's deputies dump this man, Byron Harris, who Smith described as confused.

SMITH: Watched them pull to the curb, open the door, and take a handcuffed prisoner out, unhandcuff him, hand him a bag of his property and began to leave. And so I of course stopped him and tried to figure out what was going on.

KAYE: Smith says Harris told him he had not been requested to be dropped downtown. He had been arrested in Long Beach, 25 miles away. But a spokesman for the sheriff told CNN Harris, just released from jail, had requested food and shelter. Both available on Skid Row.

The spokesman said deputies did not dump that man or anyone else.

(on camera): Why do you think if it's indeed happening other communities are doing this?

SMITH: Well, we have a lot of services, social services down here. But, really, I think it's a way for other cities to get rid of the problems that they have.

KAYE (voice over): Skid Row services include food, shelter, medicine, even prenatal care. It's a unique setup borne from good intentions. But critics, like Central City East executive director Estela Lopez, now worry the free handouts are leading to dumping. (on camera): A long time ago they thought that this idea of centralized services was a good thing. Has it turned out to be a good thing?

ESTELA LOPEZ, BUSINESS LEADER: It's turned out to be a nightmare. What it has done, it's been a good thing for the 88 other cities and the county of Los Angeles that don't have to deal with problems that come from their own communities. They send them here.

KAYE (voice over): Which of these people have been dumped or decided to come on their own is unclear, but Estela Lopez and Captain Smith aren't the only ones who have witnessed dumping.

ORLANDO WARD, THE MIDNIGHT MISSION: How long have you been on the street?

SMITH: Orlando Ward works at Midnight Mission, just a block from where Captain Smith encountered Byron Harris.

WARD: I had a guy in our courtyard three days ago. He had a hospital gown on, he had -- the I.V. was still attached. So I went and asked him, I said, "How did you get down here?" And he said that the ambulance dropped him off a couple blocks down in front of a mission.

I said, "Well, did you go in?" And he goes, "Well, they just dropped me off."

KAYE: Ward was once a basketball star at Stanford University. Drugs lured him to the streets of Skid Row. He bottomed out, and after two years he got clean. Ward says Skid Row was designed to help people, not dump people.

WARD: It makes me angry when you dump people without attaching them to the services that they really need. If your motive is getting them out of your backyard and dumping them to somebody else, I have a problem with that.

KAYE: Captain Smith's 145 officers can hardly make headway here. San Julian Street, otherwise known as "Heroin Alley," is like a giant block party where everyone brings an illegal drug.

This woman propositioned me. Police say it's well known she's a prostitute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How am I going to get paid for this?

KAYE: She's explained she has been on the street since age 9.

(on camera): Why do you live like this and do this to yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because. You know what? This is a million-dollar corporation. It will never stop.

KAYE: This is Skid Row.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Baby, Skid Row looks out for Skid Row.

SMITH: How are you doing? How are you hanging?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm OK.

SMITH: Are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm hanging on.

KAYE: Captain Smith says police can't fix the problem. So who will? And when, the captain wonders, will other communities start providing services for their needy?

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: A great city can't be a place where we're leaving so many people behind.

KAYE: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is investigating. He says the city of Los Angeles has pledged millions to help the chronically homeless, but it's time the federal government step up, too.

VILLARAIGOSA: The only governmental entity with the resources to deal with the structural problems of poverty in the cities is the federal government. The federal government has failed and refused over the last few years to invest in housing, to invest in the urban core in our cities.

KAYE: The same society that's allowing people to live on Skid Row is, in some cases, transporting them to be forgotten and, perhaps, to die.

WARD: It's a cultural genocide. We're losing a whole generation of people to this despair and, ultimately, death.

KAYE: Unlike Byron Harris, countless others may have been dumped here without a witness.

Randi Kaey, CNN, on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you happen to work for Merck and Company, you may want to be careful about how much money you spend on the holidays. Merck says it will sell or close five of its 31 drugmaking plants and cut 7,000 jobs, about half of them in the United States.

The company which was forced to recall its painkiller Vioxx faces thousands of lawsuits. It's also about to loose patent protection for its cholesterol drug Zocor. And that will allow competitors to sell cheaper generic versions.

This past weekend, many stores offered some serious promotions and markdowns. But it wasn't even to loosen consumers' purse strings, I don't think. Susan Lisovicz has the numbers live from the New York Stock Exchange.

Hi, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

But you have to remember, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. So, you know, we really don't have a full sense of how this holiday season is going to shape up, but we do have some preliminary numbers. And some of them show that retailers may have something to be thankful for.

The National Retail Federation has a rosy report on this weekend's shopping fest. It says sales rose 22 percent from last year, as 145 million shoppers flooded stores and went online. The average shopper spent about $302.

Another research firm, ShopperTrak, says the holiday season's first two shopping days actually dipped half of one percent compared to the same two-day period last year. But ShopperTrak only monitors mall traffic and doesn't include stand-alone stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

And it looks like consumers definitely chose plastic this weekend. Visa reports a 15 percent increase in credit and debit card use over last year -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. That's Black Friday. Now get to Cyber Monday.

LISOVICZ: Yes, it's not over, is it?

This is the online equivalent of Black Friday, Kyra. It's supposed to take place today. The Monday after Thanksgiving has become one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.

Now I'm going to throw it back to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I've got to get right to Tony in the newsroom with more develops on Congressman Cunningham pleading guilty to tax evasion.

Tony, what more are you finding out?

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And Kyra, as I look over my shoulder here, we may just have enough time to take you right now to the scene outside of the federal court building in San Diego and hear the comments from the congressman.

REP. RANDY CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA: ... compromised the trust of my constituents. When I announced several months ago that I would not seek re-election, I publicly declared my innocence. Because I was not strong enough to face the truth, so I misled my family, friends, staff, colleagues, the public, and even myself.

For all of this I am deeply sorry. The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my office.

I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions. Most importantly, the trust of my friends and family.

Some time ago I asked lawyers to inform U.S. Attorney Carol Lam that I would plead guilty and begin serving a prison term. Today is a culmination of that process. I will continue to cooperate with the government's ongoing investigation to the best of my ability.

In my life I have had great joy and great sorrow. And now I know great shame.

I learned in Vietnam that the true measure of a man is how he responds to adversity. I can't undue what I've done, but I can atone.

And now, I'm almost 65 years old, and I enter the twilight of my life. I intend to use the remaining time that god grants me to make amends. And I will.

The first step in that journey is to admit fault and apologize. And I do apologize.

The next step is to face the consequences of my action like a man. Today I have taken the first step. And with god's grace, I will take the second.

God bless you.

QUESTION: Why did you do it, Congressman?

QUESTION: Why did you do it?

HARRIS: Wow. Kyra, as you can see there, the congressman breaking down, very emotional. He has entered a guilty plea to a number of charges.

Let me just sort of find the charges here for you. Conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion for under reporting his income in 2004.

Ed Henry is standing by, a congressional correspondent.

And Ed, quite a moment there in San Diego.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just remarkable. He mentioned Vietnam, of course. And most people know Randy Duke Cunningham for his service before Congress.

During the Vietnam War he was a decorated Navy fighter pilot who shot down five MiGs. In fact, his exploits helped inspire the movie "Top Gun." That's why this is such a dramatic fall from grace.

You can see he's now trying to face up to it. He's admitting that he misled his own family, his colleagues in Congress.

He had already announced that he was not running for reelection. But at the very beginning there you saw he also announced he is now resigning from Congress.

He pretty much had no other choice. He could have faced a vote, where his colleagues could have tried to expel him from Congress. He clearly wants to try to turn the page here.

I think the broader issue to take a look at is you're going to see Democrats jumping on this to say and continue to charge, as they already have, that they believe there is a culture of corruption in the Republican Congress.

Duke Cunningham, a very powerful Republican. He was sitting on a subcommittee that helped dole out these defense contracts. That's what led to this trouble. And you're going to see Democrats try to say in this next 2006 midterm elections that Republicans like Cunningham, Tom DeLay, who's already been indicted twice, they're going to say, even though these are completely separate cases, that powerful Republicans in Congress have now become drunk on power -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Ed, for a moment -- then we will get things back to Kyra -- let's sort of re-cap for folks who are just joining us, the guilty plea and the charges that brought this guilty plea.

HENRY: Yes, basically two years ago Congressman Cunningham sold his house in San Diego to a defense contractor. That defense contractor then turned around and sold it for a loss of $700,000.

What the prosecutors are saying is that basically was a bribe. That the house was sold at an inflated price so that as payback for the fact that the Congressman had gone to bat for this defense contractor, had gotten him millions of dollars in defense contracts.

They're also now laying out new details today that the Congressman received a Rolls Royce, that his daughter's graduation party was paid for. He got some sort of all-expenses paid trip, on and on. A yacht paid for by this contractor.

So, the bribery is laid out in full detail for all the world to see. He then, the Congressman, turned around and bought a $2.5 million mansion in San Diego with the proceeds from that first house.

You can see why that sparked the attention of the prosecutors in San Diego.

HARRIS: Wow, Ed, appreciate it. Congressional correspondent, Ed Henry for us in Washington.

And, Kyra, you heard the Congressman say there as he was breaking down that he now knows great shame. He knows he's going to jail. Sentencing is set for February 27th. And he also mentioned that he has lost the trust of his friends and family.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Tony Harris, thank you so much. Straight ahead, a manhunt goes on in the Pacific Northwest. On the loose, two inmates thought to be armed and definitely dangerous. More on that next hour. LIVE FROM is back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: After a weekend of giving many thanks a lot of people in Arkansas and Kansas are thankful to be alive after tornadoes hit the region yesterday.

The severe weather damaged at least eight homes in Arkansas. It also was blamed for at least one death, which happened in Conway County. About 8,000 homes lost electricity there. Most have power back on now though.

And we have some pretty amazing video of a tornado east of Marion, Kansas. It is one of several that just swept through about a dozen counties. Hardest hit was the town of Fort Riley where more than 30 homes were damaged.

The plains are being blizzard conditions or the plains are seeing blizzard conditions rather. Twenty-three days before the first official day of winter travel is pretty treacherous in Limon, Colorado.

Also, snow drifts as deep as six feet are reported in that area and Western Kansas. South Dakota is seeing drifts of three feet.

Blowing snow is creating poor visibility for drivers, and part of Interstate 70 East of Denver into Western Kansas remains closed, and so does a stretch of Interstate 80 in Nebraska. At least three highway deaths are being blamed on winter weather.

And skiers might welcome this news. The winter storm has dumped 26 inches of snow on Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Just over a foot of snow in Aspen.

Keep it on CNN throughout the day for continuous updates on severe weather and the blizzards in the plains.

Our Chad Myers will bring you the latest weather warnings as they come in.

The trial of Saddam Hussein resumed today. One of the men sitting with his defense team was familiar to a lot of Americans. Former U.S. Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, he's a consultant to lawyers now, representing Hussein and seven co-defendants.

Clark, who served in the Johnson administration, opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and an Iraqi government official criticized his participation in the trial saying that Clark has no business being in Iraq.

In Baghdad today, Clark spoke with CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we talked earlier about how there were two new people in the courtroom, two international advisers to Saddam Hussein.

One of them is former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark.

Mr. Clark's joining me now.

Mr. Clark, what is the purpose of your visit here and why are you in the courtroom?

RAMSEY CLARK, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I'm a lawyer. And I've followed Iraq for a long time, followed issues of justice.

My most immediate concern is the safety of the defense teams, because they're disconnected. Two lawyers were killed in this one case, executed, which is 20 percent of the lawyers in the case. Others are being threatened all the time. They have no real protection.

The negotiations for protection are made public, which means they're disclosing what the protection would be, and you can't hide then from your own protection.

But it's totally inadequate. So I hope to be able to negotiate and cause the court to intervene to provide -- you've got to have protection not only for the lawyer, you have to have protection for his family.

The chief lawyer has got six kids and a wife out there and they're very vulnerable.

You've got investigators and they're supposed to go around where it's dangerous and find evidence and find witnesses.

You've got witnesses that you'll have to bring in. How can you ask a witness to come in when there's a death threat?

So unless there is protection for the defense, I don't see how the trials can go forward.

ROBERTSON: Is there any indication from what you've seen in your conversations with the judge so far, the chief judge, that he's going to do anything to meet your requests?

CLARK: Well, sadly, we haven't been able to get a real reaction yet.

We raised it today, got no reaction. And we'll have to raise it when we come back.

ROBERTSON: The...

(CROSSTALK)

CLARK: The other thing I'm here for is to do what I can to see that there's a fair trial.

You know, I believe in fair trials always. But if there's ever a time when a fair trial both in fact, an actual fair trial, and in appearance, because appearance is all most people ever get to see, is essential in a case like this. It's essential to historic truth.

I mean, it will warp the truth if it's not an objective proceeding and fair. It's important to public justice because you're dealing with figures from history and public life.

And above all, to me, it's essential that it be fair to peace. There's not going to be peace if there's a perception among segments of the public that this was nothing but war by other means.

ROBERTSON: From what you saw in the court today, was it fair? Is it fair?

CLARK: Well, it's -- it's an extremely difficult case to assure fairness in. Because the passions in the country are at fever pitch. And it will take effort at every turn by the court and everyone participating to be fair and to show that you're being fair to have any chance for a fair trial.

I don't think of a more difficult situation. And I've been in many unpopular cases where there have been high community prejudice against the defendants. But here, it's just -- everybody has been hurt and everybody's angry.

ROBERTSON: Some Iraqis close to the government at the moment, close to the prime minister's office, have expressed anger that you're actually in the court and you're interjecting yourself into this process.

What do you say to them?

CLARK: Well, I say that's sad.

I would think if they wanted a manifestation of fairness, they would want someone coming in that would make it appear that they're not afraid of someone who is working to see that there's a fair trial.

ROBERTSON: What are your plans now? There's a seven-day recess. Will you stay here during this period and wait for the trial to restart? Will you stay through the whole trial now?

CLARK: Well, I can't stay here for a week waiting for this next hearing. So I'll spend three days traveling to go home and get some work done there and to get back. Whether I'll remain throughout the trial -- it's not likely. If it proceeds as it did today, it would be a waste of my time and perhaps even give an appearance of fairness that didn't exist.

Because I couldn't detect today that it would be easy to make a difference in terms of fairness. If I could help get those lawyers protected so they can hang in there and do their job, then that would be something. But if the trial is going to be long, for me to be here with so many lawyers in the case already, if they remain, it would probably not be cost effective.

ROBERTSON: Why'd you say from what you saw today you don't think you can make a difference?

CLARK: Because the way they run the court is, the lawyers on the defense side have had very little participation. The -- you know, it's one day, so what can you tell? Because they showed a videotape and nothing that was presented by the defense lawyers was really acted on. Nothing happened.

ROBERTSON: Mr. Clark, thank you very much indeed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that was our Nic Robertson with his interview there in Baghdad with Ramsey Clark with regard to the Saddam Hussein trial.

Well, straight ahead, entertainment news just ahead on LIVE FROM, including top honors for some big-time rockers.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood.

I'll have who those rockers are, Kyra.

Plus, Teri Hatcher may be desperate on TV, but the actress isn't backing down from a real-life lawsuit -- she's furious.

And I'll have the details when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The boy wizard still conjuring up some big bucks at the box office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to make an announcement. Hogwarts Castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" raked in almost $55 million over Thanksgiving weekend. The movie has earned more than $201 million in the U.S. since it opened just 10 days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REESE WITHERSPOON, ACTRESS: How you doing, John?

JOAQUIN PHOENIX, ACTOR: Well, OK, June. How you doing? (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Also doing fine at the box office, the Johnny Cash bioflick "Walk the Line." It remains in the number two spot with nearly $20 million.

Analysts say overall, box office receipts are up nearly 3 percent over last year's holiday weekend.

In other entertainment news, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Tina Turner -- they'll have to make room for some new Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductees announced today.

CNN entertainment reporter Brooke Anderson here to tell us who they all are -- Brooke?

ANDERSON: Kyra, they are making room for what is certainly an eclectic group of rockers gaining entry into the new class of Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famers.

They are new-wave icons. Blondie, fronted by Debbie Harry, is one of the most successful rock bands from the '70s and '80s new wave scene.

And from new wave to heavy metal, Black Sabbath finally gets into the Hall of Fame after eight tries. The group, led by Ozzy Osbourne, whom you're watching perform solo here, is considered by many to have set the standard for heavy metal music.

Well, these guys only managed to put out one album together but that one disc irreversibly influenced punk music. It was called "Never Mind the Bollocks." Here's the Sex Pistols.

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Miles Davis also received invitations into the Hall of Fame.

Now, artists become eligible 25 years after their first record is released. The indication ceremony will be held March 13th.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together again.

The reported couple visited Pakistan earthquake survivors last week. They toured areas devastated by the October earthquake and they also met with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Jolie and Pitt bought 40 orthopedic beds worth $100,000 for earthquake victims. The actors then traveled to Japan, where they are promoting their film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

Actress Teri Hatcher is proving she's no desperate housewife off screen. Hatcher is suing a British tabloid for libel. The newspaper the "Daily Sport," according to Hatcher's lawyer, falsely alleged Hatcher engages in sex romps with a series of men in a V.W. van parked outside her L.A. home. Hatcher, of course, refused the allegations. The case is expected to go before London's high court next year.

And life seems sunny and clear for "Today" show weatherman Al Roker. Roker is reportedly developing a sitcom for NBC tentatively titled "Meet the Rokers." It would loosely be based on his life. No word when the comedy series might air.

Kyra, Roker always injects a lot of humor into his forecasts, so maybe he'll make this one work as well.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks so much, Brooke Anderson.

Well, it's a crime that's getting plenty of attention right now by religious groups, police and store owners. Remember this video. The latest on the liquor store attack next on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Well, it's a crime that is getting plenty of attention right now by religious groups, police and store owners. Remember this video? The latest on the liquor store attack, next on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Liquor stores are traditional crime magnets, especially for armed hold ups, but now they've become targets of another sort of crime: vigilantes bent on destroying the stores' wares. Why?

CNN's Chris Lawrence explains.

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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first look, what you see on the surveillance video doesn't seem to fit. Ten men wearing clean suits and bow ties, smashing bottles and glass all over this Oakland, California, liquor store.

KALED SALEH, SON LIQUOR STORE OWNER: When they first walked in I thought they were a bunch of, you know, church people.

LAWRENCE: Kaled Saleh was on duty Wednesday night. He says one of the men asked him, as a Muslim, how could he run a store like this.

SALEH: They said we're not supposed to be selling liquor.

LAWRENCE: And then they attacked. One man jumped over the counter and tore bottles off the shelves. Others waited for a command and then destroyed entire walls full of liquor. The owners say they were accused of selling poison to the black community.

SGT. DOM AROTZARENA, OAKLAND POLICE DEPT.: Despite what anybody said, this is a crime. This is not an act of helping out a neighborhood, this is a crime.

LAWRENCE: This isn't the first time groups have tried to shut down liquor stores on the basis of religion, but earlier efforts were peaceful. In Chicago, a pastor led a successful 1998 campaign to close 26 liquor stores in his neighborhood. In Philadelphia, another pastor tried to attract a convenience store chain as competition to force out a nearby liquor store. And several churches in Selma, Alabama, have been fighting a city council decision that allows a liquor store to open among them.

Dr. John J. Hunter is the senior minister of 1st AME Church in Los Angeles, and says liquor sales have damaged communities like his.

REV. JOHN J. HUNTER, 1ST AME CHURCH: It's immoral. It -- there are many people that are driven by profit only, but responsible corporate citizens, responsible businesspersons, look beyond just merely the bottom line of profit.

LAWRENCE: The reverend says religious groups have an obligation to speak out about the damage these liquor stores can cause. In Oakland, police say the men attacked one store, then moved on to another.

"TONY," LIQUOR STORE OWNER: What they did is like gang member stuff and, like, you know, it's like, it's not right.

LAWRENCE: The owner of that second store says his name is Tony and he won't back down from these attacks.

"TONY": We got God. God judge us, they can't judge us. They're not going it be able to force me to stop selling it if I want to sell it.

LAWRENCE (on camera): Now, the men in the video wore suits and bow ties. That's the traditional outfit of the Nation of Islam. But they never identified themselves as members, and the Oakland office says they are not and have never been members of the Nation of Islam.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

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PHILLIPS: And this afternoon we're tracking reports that the first liquor store damaged in those attacks has now sustained heavy damage in a fire. According to reports, police believe it was intentionally set. We'll stay on the story.

And just when you think it was safe to go back in the water, well, there's been another shark attack off the east central Florida coast. A surfer is recovering today after a shark bit his hand yesterday. The 23-year-old says that the shark attacked him in just three feet of water. He's the fourth person bitten by a shark at or near the near Smyrna Beach (ph) jetty just over the past month.

It's called the Grisly Express, but some skiers may have grisly memories of the ski lift at the Canada's Lake Louise Resort. About 65 people were trapped in these gondolas for hours when the lift suddenly came to a dead stop and wouldn't budge. Ski patrollers finally slid along the cables, fitted the passengers with harnesses and lowered them to the ground one by one. A witness called it something straight out of James Bond movie. Kids, snakes and smiles: a welcome site for the city of New Orleans. We'll take you there, later on LIVE FROM.

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