Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Speaks Out; Security to Tighten in Iraq Before Saturday Constitution Vote

Aired October 13, 2005 - 12:31   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. And here's what's happening right "Now in the News."

U.S. troops give President Bush a positive assessment ahead of Saturday's constitutional referendum in Iraq. Ten soldiers in Tikrit took part in a live video conference with the president, and they told him that Iraqi forces are ready to take the lead in providing security for Saturday's vote.

Insurgents kept up the violence, though, today in Iraq. They attacked police stations in Kirkuk and Baghdad, killing two police officers and wounding ten others. Also, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in a Shiite town north of the Iraqi capital.

And Russia has put down mostly an attack by 80 to 100 Islamic militants in the southern region. One official actually said that the Interfax News Agency, that 12 militants were detained and 20 were killed. Twelve police officers and 12 civilians also lost their lives in the attack.

And ComAir says it will layoff 1,000 workers in Cincinnati. The regional carrier is part of Delta Airlines, which recently filed for bankruptcy. ComAir plans pay cuts for those employees who stay on. It will also sell off as many as 30 of the planes in its fleet.

Right now, we want to turn our attention back now to the focus on Syria. Specifically the country's president Bashar Al-Assad. His may not be a household name, but it's one you should know, because his influence extends well beyond the Arab world and right into your home. Now, as we said earlier, his influences, well, they include our gas prices, but also our own security.

Mr. Assad is at the helm of a regime that has long operated in secrecy. But now, we want to give you a glimpse behind the wall. He has done something he rarely does -- give an interview. And he spoke exclusively to our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. She is back now with more -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's perhaps worth remembering that in 1990 and 1991, the former -- the late president of Syria, Hafez Al-Assad, who's the father of the current president, was in the grand coalition with the Americans and all the other countries, in the cause to effect the liberation of Kuwait against Saddam Hussein's invasion. Syria joined the coalition back then. But this time, President Bashar Assad opposed the war. And he told me yesterday in Damascus that they did not support the war, but they do want to help America try to make the political situation there a little bit better. And as you heard, he said they've tried to resume security cooperation with the United States through a third party, but have received no response. We're obviously going to try and check into that and see what the status of that is.

But in the meantime, the Syrians are also under a huge amount of pressure from around the world, including their regional neighbors, because of the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. Lebanon used to be a client stage of Syria. Syria had to withdraw humiliatingly after the assassination, after a mass uprising against Syria's presence.

And now, the U.N., on October 25th, less than two weeks from now, is about to release the results of an investigation trying to find out who was to blame, who was behind that assassination. And some believe that Syria will be implicated. I asked the president about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

As you know, in two weeks, the U.N.'s investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri will be published and there are well- informed U.N. sources who say that Syria will be implicated.

BASHAR AL-ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA: We're not isolated so far. We have very good relation with the whole of the world. I think most of the country, they know that Syria is not involved in that crime for two reasons. The first reason, this goes against our principles. The second reason, this goes against our interests.

And from another aspect, Rafik al-Hariri was supportive to the Syrian role in Lebanon. It was never against. So there's no logic involving Syria -- in putting Syria's name in this crime. So far, we are very confident, and we'll see the investigation committee two weeks ago, and we're very cooperative. And we are more confident after that interview that they made in Syria that we are completely innocent. Syria has nothing to do with this crime.

AMANPOUR: And yet, you've obviously head the informed speculation that Syria could be implicated. If it is implicated, and if the names of high-level or any Syrian officials are provided as suspects, will you hand them over for an international trial?

AL-ASSAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Concerning this specific matter, if indeed there is a Syrian national implicated in it, he would be considered as a traitor and most severely punished. It is treason and where the trial will take place, that's different. However, we are confident that Syria is not involved, and so far, there is no material evidence of Syrian involvement. We are confident of that.

AMANPOUR: So just let me get it straight again. If Syrians are implicated, you will hand them over for international trial? ASSAD: Yes. If it's implicated, they should be punished, international or Syrian, whatever. If they're not punished internationally, they will be punished in Syria.

AMANPOUR: There are people who believe -- and very probably, the U.N. investigation will say this -- that Syria is behind the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri. Would you have ordered such an assassination?

ASSAD: This is against our principle and my principle. And I would never do such a thing in my life. What do we achieve? What do we achieve? I think what happened targeted Syria. That would affect our relation with the Lebanese people and with most of the country. So we wouldn't do it because it's against our interest, and it's against my principle. I would never do it. It's impossible.

AMANPOUR: If many Syrians are implicated, is it possible that such an act, such a crime, could have taken place by Syrian officials without your knowledge?

ASSAD: I don't think so. As I said, if that happened, this is treason.

AMANPOUR: Treason?

ASSAD: Treason. This is treason.

AMANPOUR: How did you first hear about the assassination?

ASSAD: Through the news. I was in my office.

AMANPOUR: As you know, because you've read it, and we've read it, there are witnesses who have said that during one of Mr. Hariri's last visits to Damascus, he was threatened by you unless he supported the extension of the mandate of the current president, Emile Lahoud, who's friendly to Syria. Did you threaten him, sir?

ASSAD: This is another illegal presumption. First of all, it's not my nature to threaten anybody. I'm a very quiet person. I'm very frank, but I wouldn't threaten. Second, as you said, threaten him for the extension. They say threaten him, then the Syrian kill him.

So why to kill him if he did what Syria wants, if he didn't do anything against Syria, if he wanted the extension. He helped Syria achieving the extension, or making the extension. So why to harm him or to kill him? There's no logic. But I didn't, and I would never do it.

AMANPOUR: You know Mr. Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, led a victory democratic coalition to victory in the last elections in Lebanon, and yet, he is now living in Paris. And he has said that he fears an assassination plot against him. Does Mr. Saad Hariri or any people, even those who speaks out against Syria in Lebanon, journalists, others, do they have anything to fear from you?

ASSAD: No, not at all. Definitely not, not from Syria. We don't have this system of assassinations in Syria, so they don't have to worry from that.

AMANPOUR: There are some people, sir, who say that you're the president, that maybe you're not fully in charge of those aspects, maybe you're not in the loop. Is that possible?

ASSAD: But at the same time, they say that I'm a dictator. So they should choose. You cannot be a dictator and not in control. If you're a dictator, you're in full control. And if you're not a dictator -- if you're not in control, you cannot be a dictator. Actually, I'm not the first one, I'm not the second one.

I have my authority by the constitution, by the Syrian constitution. But at the same time, it's not enough to have the authority. It's very important to make dialogue with the widest circle of people you can to take your decision. And this is the way I work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Dramatically, after that interview, after we had left the presidential palace, news came out that a top Syrian official had committed suicide. The interior minister of Syria, who had for many, many years had the Lebanon file. He was responsible for Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, and he had been questioned by the special U.N. investigative team some weeks earlier.

Obviously, people are going to be connecting dots and trying to see what that means in terms of reading the tea leaves about Syria's future. But certainly right now, there is a certain amount of tension in Damascus, Syria regarding the publication of this U.N. report come October 25th, as it's scheduled -- Carol.

LIN: Christiane, fascinating.

I want to get your perspective on this man. What was it, if anything, that surprised you about him?

AMANPOUR: Well, I was surprised by the fact that he chose to speak in English. We had been prepared for an Arabic interview with translators. We had been told that that was his preference, but he made his own decision to speak in English, and was surprisingly fluent. And I think he did that consciously, wanting to actually talk to an audience in his own voice and in his own words.

I also think that no matter what you think about the sentiments that he expressed, his manner of speaking is far different than any other dictator or strongman that we have met in the past, whether it be Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, the father of the president, Hafez Assad, or whoever, never spoke directly as he did. And I thought that that was quite interesting. Again, whether you agree with the sentiments or the arguments or not, the manner of speech was much more direct than one is used to in this part of the world.

LIN: Direct and genteel would you say?

AMANPOUR: Well, he doesn't come across as a big, blustery person trying to force his iron will. And that was the point of one of the questions I asked him. There are many people who believe that he's not in the loop.

On the other hand, he seemed to say that he actually was, and others do believe that he is. And he in the last party congress in Damascus, which was in June, he put aside quite a few of the Baath Party old guard and brought in many of his own people, sort of a younger, more modern group of officials to try to have his own people around him.

The question is, what is Syria's future now that this double- whammy pressure is on them? The U.S. pressure because of the Iraqi insurgency, and the global pressure because of the potential for Syrian implication in the Hariri assassination. Will that bring -- it is bound to bring, if it's proved that, much more isolation, potential sanctions. And as I say, some are predicting the crumbling of that regime. It's going to be very interesting to watch over the next several weeks and months.

LIN: Christiane, thank you so much.

We are going to have much more on Syria in a CNN Security Watch special, "The Syrian Connection." Tune in at 11:30 p.m. Eastern tonight for in an in-depth look at the Syrian president and his impact on American lives.

In the meantime, U.S. and Iraqi forces are tightening security and plan to impose an overnight curfew in the lead-up to this weekend's constitutional referendum in Iraq. Now the goal is to cut down on insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting the crucial vote.

CNN's Jennifer Eccleston is embedded with U.S. Marines in western Iraq as they conduct door-to-door raids in hopes of ending the insurgency.

Here's her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tightening the noose on insurgents, in western Al Anbar province, two coordinated operations in towns and cities up and down Iraq's famed Euphrates River. Their objective, denial.

COL. STEPHEN DAVIS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It's to eliminate the insurgent's ability to move. It denies him the ability to communicate, to operate, and it disrupts him, and it interdicts him, and it ultimately leads to the destruction of his network.

ECCLESTON: Is it that simple? Operation Rivergate, battle experience Marines launch simultaneous ground and air assaults in and around Haditha, an ancient smuggling group that thrives today; 2,500 American forces, mostly Marines, but soldiers and sailors, too. Alongside, Iraq's emerging army, several hundred strong, all primed for a fight, but no full-blown enemy offensive yet. They've either slipped away before the advance, or blended in with the local population, but their presence lingers, improvised explosive devices everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got the battery receiver, wires going to the hole.

ECCLESTON: Operations Rivergate and Iron Fist not the first in western Al Anbar. Matador, Swords, Spears, among others, preceded them. Back then, the insurgents pushed in after the Americans pulled out. The troops levels, American and Iraqi, not enough to sustain a constant presence. Now...

DAVIS: Very simple equation, presence equals security, equals stability, and that equals success. A vacuum is filled. And the insurgents will go where we are not. So we have to put the presence in those towns.

ECCLESTON: This time, after the battle, forces will remain. First, the Americans; down the road, the Iraqis. Two operations, two armies. The start of a fight to crush what they call the final outpost of insurgent activity in Iraq. Success here could very well turn the tide of violence throughout this country. Failure could do so, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: The focus is on Iraq this weekend on CNN PRESENTS. First, what's really working and what's not in the struggle to bring stability there. Progress report II airs Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, and then immediately following, why is public opinion about the war so divided?

John King gets the answers from a cross-section of Americans. "VOICES FROM THE HOMEFRONT" air Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

In the meantime, we're checking up on the weather today. And we've got another new "New You" participant as well. Today, it's our nail biter. Jonathan Karp. It looked like he kicked the habit eight months ago, but what do his nails look like now? That's straight ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Turning now to New Orleans. Now, more than six weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit, today the city's mayor will visit evacuees staying at shelters in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana, and he's also expected to visit the morgue in St. Gabriel.

Now The frustration of evacuees could be seen and heard when Mayor Ray Nagin visited a shelter in Shreveport, Wednesday.

Listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to go home. I want to help the people of New Orleans. But I can't do it if you are going to give us all these false pretense. We want everything legit and come to the table. It's people like us that's going to make the city flourish again, not promises and false hopes.

MYR. RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: That's what we are trying to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Mayor Nagin is up for re-election next year, and city and state officials are meeting today to try to figure out how these evacuees are going to vote.

In the meantime, New Orleans' residents are just starting the arduous task of rebuilding their city. And a lot of people are wondering, what will the new New Orleans look like? So we put that question up on our Web site, and here's what a few of you had to say.

For example: "New Orleans doesn't need to be rebuilt. That overstates the issue dramatically. But if we are to repair New Orleans, then we must do so beyond the physical damage and the resulting flooding and looting. New Orleans must be repaired socially, financially and environmentally, as well. Otherwise, New Orleans will not be able to weather the next storm." That's from Jeffrey Salazar in San Marcos, California.

And this from Sofia in Bakersfield, California: "Maybe not the same, but why not New Orleans rebuilt with safer levees and seawalls? New Orleans should be as colorful as ever, but with far, far less poverty and a better police force. We need New Orleans. It's our number one port, the third largest port in the world. How can we do without it?"

All right. And new start for a Jonathan Karp. When we first introduced you to him, he had a bad habit: biting his nails. So was he about to break this habit before his wedding day goal? Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a "New You" check-up, straight ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Remember when the new year rang in, along with your own lofty resolutions? Well, at the time, we introduced you to viewers who had set their own goals. CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta provides this "New You" check-up on Jon, who wanted to break his nail biting habit at the most trying of times.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): Since we last meet with him back in March, Jonathan Karp has been on a sweet ride. In June, he married his sweetheart, Erika (ph).

Long before the wedding, Jonathan knocked the nail biting habit. By the time the big day rolled around, he was concentrating on more important things.

JONATHAN KARP: My nails were great. You know, it was my last concern. I was more concerned about my tuxedo and making sure I looked good.

GUPTA: His secret, keeping his fingernails well manicured, eliminating any rough spots with a nail file instead of with his teeth.

KARP: And now it's like, you know, I don't really care if they do, you know, see my nails now because they're fine. It's not really, you know, on the front page anymore for me.

GUPTA: Stress was a primary reason Jonathan bit his nails. Stress from his high pressured sales job and planning for the wedding. But now he's found his own way to cope with the stress and to cool down and take his mind off the urge to nibble.

KARP: Coming home, you get on the bike, you may take the long way home and really, once I get home, I'm really not thinking about anything else. It really unwinds me completely.

GUPTA: Jonathan said he's conquer the nail biting habit. As far as the rest of his checklist, well Jonathan's motoring right along.

KARP: Got the girl, got the job, got the bike. Need the house and kids and then the yacht.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The yacht!

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, for the "New You Revolution."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Tomorrow, we're going to visit with the former aerobics instruction, Sandra Garth. When we last saw her, she had gotten back into an exercise routine, just after eight weeks. Now it's been eight months, and we admit we were pretty shocked by this "New You" check- up. Good for her.

There's much more ahead on CNN's "LIVE FROM." One man's lessons learned when he outsourced his life, his entire life, his work, his wife, even his son. That, straight ahead on CNN's "LIVE FROM."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com