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CNN Sunday Morning

French Journalist Defends Credibility of Security Memo about Bin Laden's Demise

Aired September 24, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: "Now in the News": A newspaper report that Osama bin Laden is dead may be speculation. Saudi sources tell CNN that bin Laden is believed to still alive, though he may be ill. Just ahead, we'll explain why the reporter who wrote the French story believes it is true.
Cleanup efforts may have to wait in parts of the Midwest and South because of flooding now from the severe weather. The Associated Press reports at least nine people killed in weekend storms that included tornadoes. Reynolds Wolf will have your complete forecast just ahead.

The pope today paid tribute to a nun killed in Somalia. There was speculation that that attack might have been linked to Muslim anger over the pope's remarks. Tomorrow he will be meeting with Muslim leaders to try to ease the tension, and we'll have a live report from Rome straight ahead.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: The FDA still hopes to get fresh spinach back on the shelves and soon, but two more companies are recalling the spinach products. Officials report 171 cases of e. Coli, in 25 states from tainted spinach. They have traced the contamination to farms in three California counties.

A northern Colorado football player is back in the game less than two weeks after being stabbed allegedly by a teammate. A rival who also wanted to be a punter on the team is accused of stabbing Rafael Mendoza in the leg, who was the punter. Prosecutors say they need more time to decide whether they will actually file charges on this one.

We run down the top stories every 15 minutes on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, with in-depth coverage all morning long. The next check of the headlines is coming up at 9:15 Eastern.

After a long journey, the Saints are coming home again, but can't a sports stadium help rescue a city's soul? From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It's September 24th. And good morning. I'm Rick Sanchez.

ROESGEN: We're waiting for the Saints to come marching home again, tomorrow. I'm Susan Roesgen filling in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for starting your day with us.

That report that Osama bin Laden died last month is certainly intriguing, Everybody is talking about it, but so far there's no evidence that it's true. The reporter who wrote the story cites a secret French intelligence document, and the leak of the document outraged French President Jacques Chirac, who stresses the information it was not confirmed. But our own CNN's Jim Bittermann sat down with the reporter who wrote it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN SUNDAY MORNING (voice over): In a town square, in rural France, the reporter whose article set off speculation about bin Laden's death is convinced the intelligent memorandum he publish side accurate.

Laid Sammari, a national reporter for the regional paper "East Republican", frequently writes about intelligence matters, but rarely has he seen a leak of this sort involving classified information from France's foreign intelligence agency.

A memo stating that a reliable source had given Saudi intelligence officials exact details of bin Laden's death.

LAID SAMMARI, JOURNALIST, EAST REPUBLICAN (through translator): that is to say, that on the 23rd of August in Pakistan, after coming down with typhoid, and the memorandum adds that he could not be treated because of the absence of medical assistance.

BITTERMANN: French and American intelligence services could not confirm the contents of the memo and said there was no new information on bin Laden's health, but there was tacit confirmation that the memo is authentic from French President Jacques Chirac, who said Saturday he had ordered an investigation as to how the memo found its way into print.

Sammari says he cannot reveal who gave him the memo, but that it circulated three days ago, through the president and the prime minister's offices, as well as the offices of the interior and defense ministers, passing through the hands of perhaps 50 people in addition to those of the foreign intelligence service. The he believes the memo will turn out to be true.

SAMMARI (through translator): The note ends with information according to which the Saudis are waiting to localize the burial place of the body, before making an official announcement of bin Laden's death.

BITTERMAN (on camera): Summari says it is up to someone else to prove whether bin Laden is still alive. All he is sure of is that Saudi intelligence has a source that claims the leader of Al Qaeda is dead. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Nancy, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: That brings us to this morning's e-mail question, how would bin Laden's death, supposing he were dead, right? What impact would that have on the war on terror, if any? E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com. ROESGEN: And we will discuss bin Laden, dead or alive, later this morning with International Security Analyst Jim Walsh. That interview is coming up in just a few minutes at 9:30 Eastern.

SANCHEZ: Venezuela's foreign minister is demanding that the United States be investigated by the United Nations. Why? Nicolas Maduro says he was illegally detained at Kennedy Airport, harassed and then beaten. This is a security faux pas, that he calls a flagrant violation of international law.

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We were detained for over 90 minutes, threatened by police, we were beaten, detained and handcuffed. In the moment when we explained, on several occasions, with our passports, who we were and we demanded our international rights at that moment, things go worse. The verbal violence increased, the abuse go worse.

SANCHEZ: I just returned from Venezuela last night and there's no telling how far the antagonism goes between the government of Venezuela and the government of the United States, but what do the people inside Venezuela really think about this?

From the country club to the barrios, I talked to those people and I'm going to share that story and what I learned from them, from my experiences, coming up in just a bit.

ROESGEN: And we continue following the aftermath of that line of storms that hit parts of the Midwest and South over the weekend. Various reports now say eight people were killed in Kentucky and a woman in Arkansas died when lightning hit her boat.

Thousands of people in several states now don't have power, and in Kentucky, the police are asking people to stay off the roads this morning because in some areas more than half a foot of water still covers the ground.

SANCHEZ: Reynolds Wolf has been diligently watching this process of weather as it developing around the nation.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Stories "Across America" now. A search ends in tragedy. Illinois police have found what appears to be the bodies of three missing children. Autopsies are planned today. The children were last seen with the woman charged with killing their pregnant mother and her fetus.

Police in at least seven states are now searching for this man, murder suspect John Woodring. He's accused of forcing his way into a North Carolina woman's shelter and killing his estranged wife, Bonnie Woodring. Police say Woodring is believed to be driving a stolen blue Honda civic.

These are scuffles that broke out in National City, California, where tensions are running high over illegal immigration. The mayor has said he wants to make the city a safe haven for immigrants. Supporters squared off against opponents at a rally that some say did nothing, but spread the anger even further.

ROESGEN: Well, the pope is reaching out to Muslim leaders. Will tomorrow's meeting end the outrage. We are live in Rome.

SANCHEZ: Also after a year of despair, New Orleans has a reason to celebrate. A glimmer of hope. Ahead a much-improved Superdome and the man who helped put it back together again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: Today he talked to the faithful, tomorrow Pope Benedict XVI tries to start a dialogue with people of another faith, Muslim leaders. He's hoping to diffuse the lingering tensions over his remarks a couple of weeks ago that have angered many Muslims. Our Faith and Values Correspondent Delia Gallagher joins us live again in Rome -- Delia.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: Good morning to you, Susan.

Today no mention of Islam, but the pope did speak about the Catholic nun who was killed last week in Somalia. He called her an authentic Christian witness. Said she died as a victim of violence, and the word forgiveness was on her dying lips, Susan.

ROESGEN: Well, Delia, if he's trying to downplay the tension, to try to get this thing behind him, why even bring up the nun who might have been killed by Muslim terrorists in Mogadishu? Why even bring that up?

GALLAGHER: Well, the general Vatican protocol when something like this happens is they send a letter of condolence, which the pope did last week. And he brought it up today, as he said, to point out authentic Christian witness, somebody that died as a result of violence. And this is something, even in his speech, he brought up this concept of violence. So I think he pays tribute to her and to her missionary nuns, as the head of the Catholic Church. And also to bring up this very pertinent question of what happens when violence takes over, Susan.

ROESGEN: In the meeting tomorrow, Delia, we said he is going to meet with Muslim leaders. Who is he going meet with? And how will this meeting go?

GALLAGHER: Well, the meeting is with ambassadors to the Vatican from Muslim countries. There are at least 20 of them. There's no official list yet. But also there will be Italian-Islamic leaders.

And I thought it was interesting, Susan, on Friday, we talked to an Italian-Islamic leader who wouldn't confirm for us whether or not he would be at the meeting. But he said that perhaps God wanted all of this to come up as a way to get into this dialogue. And certainly from the pope's perspective, he has said he wants a sincere and frank dialogue with the Muslim community.

So, tomorrow is really his opportunity to layout his agenda with all of the different interpretations of what he has and said, and how he feels toward dialogue, tomorrow, Vatican watchers say, it will be his time to really put it out there as to what he want do, how to take this forward, Susan.

ROESGEN: And, Delia, that's a closed meeting, we presume?

GALLAGHER: That meeting will be carried live by Vatican television. So, we will have the pope's remarks to those Muslim officials. Now, there is supposed to be a kind of informal gathering afterwards. Generally in these meetings, Susan, what happens is the pope gives a talk, and they listen. But then afterwards that will they will have a chance to meet with him privately, to say hello to him, and surely there will be some discussions there.

The key thing being, of course, is that it is a face-to-face meeting. These ambassador's don't always get to have that with this pope, and so this is a great opportunity, as well, to express to him what their concerns are -- Susan.

ROESGEN: OK, Delia, we'll be watching. Thank you.

And for more on religion and it's role in world events, be sure to watch "In God's Name" at 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. Former President Bill Clinton and CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour talk with a global panel of experts.

SANCHEZ: Let's get you caught up. In the "Now in the News", no evidence so far to back up this newspaper report that Osama bin Laden may be dead. The response from the U.S. and elsewhere has been skepticism. Saudi sources tell CNN they suspect that bin Laden may very well be sick, but not that he's dead in any way.

Back to zero now. That's where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he is in talks with his country's ruling Hamas party this, after Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel once again. Today this Islamic group said it is serious in forming a power-sharing government with the Abbas' Fatah movement. Both sides plan to meet with coalition talks later this week.

Search and rescue workers will try a third time to locate the site of a helicopter crash in Nepal. Reports show 24 people were onboard including U.S. and Nepalese government officials. Bad weather and poor visibility slowed previous search efforts.

Two more companies are recalling their spinach products because of the e. Coli outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration reports 171 cases in 25 states. Officials have traced the contamination of farms in three California counties. They hope the fresh spinach from other farms, back on the shelves, some time later this week.

Veteran Hawaiian Senator Daniel Akaka is going to keep campaigning. Akaka won Hawaii's Democratic primary overnight. Defeating challenger Congressman Ed Case. The 82-year-old senator took 56 percent of the vote. He will face a yet unnamed Republican challenger in November. We do run down the top stories every 15 minutes, here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. With in-depth coverage, all morning long. Your next check of the headlines is coming up at 9:30 Eastern.

ROESGEN: Now, a death threat over a doll? It sounds unbelievable, but it is true. Coming up, the shopping frenzy for a fuzzy friend.

First, Brenda Bernard is going global for us once again.

Brenda, what have you got?

BRENDA BERNARD, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, you have Elmo mania, I have George Michael mania.

He's making a comeback and I've got the details, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: Going global now. We're checking in with our International Desk.

SANCHEZ: Our Brenda Bernard is joining us now with some of the latest stories, internationally. And one interesting one about an entertainer that we all used to know.

BERNARD: Yeah. George Michael, I'll get to that in a minute, but right now thousands of Christians are rallying in Lebanon.

The country's Maronite Christian community is holding a demonstration at the site of their holy shrine in Harissa (ph), just north of Beirut. It is met, in part, to counter Hezbollah's massive rally Friday, when the militant group declared a divine victory over Israel in the recent fighting. Anti-Syrian politicians sent their representatives to today's rally to show solidarity.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is refusing to announce his departure date or openly endorse Finance Minister Gordon Brown as his successor. But tens of thousands of anti-war protestors are making their positions clear. They marched into Manchester yesterday where the prime minister's Labor Party is holding its annual conference.

On Tuesday, Mr. Blair is set to address the conference as leader for the last time. He has angered many Labor members with his backing of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

And get a load of this famous Brit.

Makes you want to dance, huh, Rick? Pop singer George Michael is back, kicking off his global comeback tour this weekend in Barcelona. It's the British icon's first solo concert tour in 15 years. Many people still remember bizarre reports about erratic behavior and drug taking, but the fans still love him, even if you don't, Rick.

SANCHEZ: I can hardly control myself right now. ROESGEN: I think Rick would look great in that suit, that shiny, whatever kind of suit it was. I get confused, Boy George, George Michael. It was an era before my time, do you believe it?

BERNARD: Hey, well, I can still rock to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"? Come on!

SANCHEZ: That's right. And by the way, I have that suit.

BERNARD: You have the suit.

ROESGEN: You have that suit. Get it out with your disco ball every now and then?

SANCHEZ: I had to be talked out of wearing it do the newscast, by one of our producers, by the way.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks, Brenda.

ROESGEN: Thanks, Brenda.

SANCHEZ: There's been a lot of criticism from Venezuela, on Hugo Chavez's, aimed at the United States, mostly aimed at the Commander In Chief President Bush.

I just return from Venezuela yesterday, where I made as part of my mandate to try and find out, not so much what the governments are saying about each other, but what the people of Venezuela, all the way from the country clubs to the barrios, are saying about their antagonistic president. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice over): After firmly planting himself on the world stage with incendiary words about President Bush, Hugo Chavez, is back, back in Venezuela, dedicating a new industrial complex. He boasts of improving his country's economy and calls U.S. policies a failure.

HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (through translator): Imperialist government of the United States now says that we have failed, that we are the ones who have failed. The U.S. government has failed everywhere one looks.

SANCHEZ: At the Caracas Country Club, the people who take credit for building the country's economy think Chavez is ruining it. They say he's only about words, and no action. And that, they say, is how he gets elected.

HERNAN DELGADO, VENEZUELAN RESIDENT: He has a persuasive speech, you know? In his speech, in the TV, he's convincing people, people who do not have a lot of ethic, education, culture. So it is easy to manipulate them by a persuasive speech, you know? SANCHEZ: These are people who live in the big homes, the ones behind the fortress-like walls. What they fear most is that Chavez will turn their country into another Cuba.

(On camera): Do you fear his socialist tendencies?

GONZALO OTAOLA, VENEZUELAN RESIDENT: It's not socialist. It is radical Communist.

SANCHEZ: You think he's already a Communist?

OTAOLA: He is. He is. But he can't show it all -- he's holding himself, little by little.

SANCHEZ (on camera): You don't have to go far to find the difference between rich and poor in Caracas, which is the difference between anti-Chavez and pro-Chavez. In fact, we found this little town, it's called Chapeyin (ph), after traveling two blocks from country club, which is directly behind me.

SANCHEZ (speaking Spanish): Pro-Chavez? Ute?, pro-Chavez?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking Spanish)

SANCHEZ: Con-Chavez? Or contra-Chavez? Pro-Chavez or Anti- Chavez?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Con-Chavez.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Con-Chavez.

SANCHEZ: You're pro-Chavez?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.

(Voice over): We found, though, that not everyone who is pro- Chavez says they're better off under his rule.

SANCHEZ: You think he's done a lot of good things for the poor people? (repeating question in Spanish.)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking Spanish)

SANCHEZ: But he hasn't done anything -- but nothing for you? (repeating in Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking Spanish)

SANCHEZ: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Very interesting.

SANCHEZ: And that's the situation. You know, what you come away with is a sense that all of Chavez's bluster, and especially when he criticizes the United States, makes him a real hero in his country. The question is, are those policies being enacted in this country in such a way so it actually benefits the people.

And I really think the jury is still out on that. Really, since the 2002 coup, we haven't really seen any substantial, economic gains for the people there.

ROESGEN: So often in countries like that you see the poor people who are the ones who praise the leader, when they're not benefiting from any economic services.

SANCHEZ: Not yet, in fairness to them. And certainly the people in the middle class and above are saying it's a disaster and he's heading toward total Communism, not just leftist socialist movements.

ROESGEN: Interesting report.

SANCHEZ: Thank you. Certainly something to watch.

ROESGEN: Still ahead, he's the most wanted man in the world, but what would Osama bin Laden's death make a difference in the war on terror? We'll have some insight ahead.

SANCHEZ: It's a makeover unlike any other. New Orleans is ready to celebrate. In about 15 minutes we'll speak to the man who helped restore the Superdome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: In the news, there is a lot of skepticism about a report that Osama bin Laden is dead. So far there's been nothing to back up the story in the French newspaper. Saudi sources are telling CNN they do think that bin Laden may be sick, but they don't think he's dead.

Venezuela's foreign minister demands the U.S. be investigated bite United Nations, why? Well, Nicholas Maduro says he was illegally detained for 90 minutes at Kennedy Air Port and missed his flight home as a result. U.S. officials call the incident a regrettable disagreement over security. Maduro calls it a "flagrant violation of international law," his word.

ROESGEN: The pope today praised a nun attacked in Somalia for pardoning her killers as she died. There was speculation that that attack might have been linked to Muslim anger over the speech by the pope. Tomorrow the pope will meet with Muslim leaders at the Vatican. He's trying to calm tensions over that speech.

More stormy weather may complicate the cleanup in the southeast and the south. The "Associated Press" reports at least nine people killed in weekend storms, eight were in Kentucky where up to a foot of water has flooded some areas and there were also reports of tornadoes yesterday. So now let's go to Reynolds Wolf for a quick check of the weather today -- Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROESGEN: Better be good. Thanks, Reynolds. S we run down the top stories every 15 minutes on CNN SUNDAY MORNING with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines will be coming up at 9:45 Eastern.

SANCHEZ: It is a fact that Osama bin Laden will die some day. And one French newspaper reports it may have already happened, though at this point French officials and U.S. officials are telling us there's no proof of that. Even if it were true, would it really make a difference in the war on terror? It's a question we've been asking this morning and renowned international security analyst Jim Walsh is joining us now to give us a sense of what effect it might have.

I imagine, Mr. Walsh, you can't put the toothpaste back in the bottle, can't you? Even if he were to die it won't end the war on terrorism.

JIM WALSH, INTL SECURITY ANALYST, MIT: Rick, you're right. It would not end the war on terrorism and we have some experience here. In Iraq, for example, we captured Saddam and we killed Zarqawi, but the insurgency is as bad or even worse than it's ever been before and with al Qaeda in particular, we have not captured bin Laden or al Zawahiri, but we've captured or killed their No. 3 person three or four different times and it's continued to grow and metastasize. So I think it would be great if we got him. I think it would be great if he died, but we shouldn't expect it to have an effect on the war on terrorism.

SANCHEZ: I was reading recently in "Time" magazine that there are children in parts of South Africa far enough from the Middle East wearing Osama bin Laden t-shirts. Has he become a bigger than life figure around the world for people who, in all frankness, despise the United States?

WALSH: I think that's right and part of it is the dynamic, Rick, that you identified with Chavez in the earlier report that someone who is anti-U.S., because the U.S. is so unpopular around the world right now that wins some points, but I hasten to add that bin Laden's popularity is really -- it's not worldwide, it's confined to a smaller fraction and really a more extreme fraction. Very few people become terrorists. There are a lot of people who are unhappy with the U.S., but they just stay unhappy and they sit in their home and they sort of complain.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, but what he's done is he's given that feeling a face, a face that has been extremely effective. What can the United States do to affect the sentiment, if not the men (ph).

WALSH: Well, I think one of the things -- we can do it on two tracks. One is to continue to attack the organization with solid police work so that we attrit it or reduce it over time, but the other thing, the most important thing is to not help him. That is to say, do not give him recruitment opportunities; do not give him propaganda opportunities that he can use opportunistically to bring more people to his cause. SANCHEZ: But there are people who argue that with every bomb we drop in Iraq we are doing just that and creating a recruitment opportunity for him and people like him. You say what to that?

WALSH: I say I think that's probably right. Remember, bin Laden got his start in the Soviet-Afghan war, and the thing that all extremists want to do, the way they recruit people is they take advantage of a bleed conflict, the pictures, the dying all the rest of it. That's what he learned in Afghanistan and that's what's happening in Iraq and it's not just me, it's intelligence agencies and others who are saying that they're using the ongoing co conflict in Iraq as a recruitment tool. And so that's why I say, one thing we can do is go after him and another thing is stop making mistakes. We need to end the war in Iraq as soon as possible, of course, and still produce stability, but the longer it goes on, the more benefit it is to bin Laden.

SANCHEZ: International security analyst, Jim Walsh, we thank you so much. Interesting comments. Thanks for being with us.

WALSH: Thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right.

ROESGEN: And now Nicole Lapin is here to highlight some of the ways you can follow the search for the world's most wanted man on cnn.com.

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN DOT COME DESK: Well Susan, you know what they say it's all with knowing your enemy, right? And that's a little bit of what we just heard from Jim Walsh, but also cnn.com and CNN presents have a special report out "In the Footsteps of bin Laden." This is the fruits of the labor of CNN trekking across four continents to bring you an exclusive look at that man, the al Qaeda leader, talking to people who knew him, talking to people who grew up with him personally.

And you can also listen to personal accounts from our reporters, including Peter Bergen. Who better to listen to? He was the first man to interview Osama bin Laden himself. And then you can get interactive on cnn.com, look at this map highlighting the locations where bin Laden has been from his birthplace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, all of the way the mountainous region of Afghanistan -- that's where bin Laden was hiding in a cave after the 9/11 attacks and, of course, he eventually escaped U.S. forces there and it's something getting a lot of play this weekend with reports of him being sick and know your enemy. It's on cnn.com/binLaden for a little more info.

ROESGEN: All right, Nicole, we'll check it out.

And we want to know what you think. How would bin Laden's death impact the war on terror? E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com and we'll read some of the responses at the end of newscast.

SANCHEZ: There's a new report that claims of global terrorism is growing faster than the U.S. and the allies can deal with the threat. And the recent intelligence report even blames the Iraq war for part of this as we were discussing moments ago with our security analyst. The report concludes, in fact, that the war has become a powerful recruitment tool for Islamic terrorists known as the "National Intelligence Estimate," the report says terror cells may now be growing at a rate faster than any military can eliminate.

ROESGEN: Well, the Saints are go about to come marching in after a year away from home. Ahead, how the opening of the Superdome gives new life to a city in need of hope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SERWER, CNN EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Ed Zander is the CEO of Motorola which is one of America's foremost technology companies. He came in this company turned itself around. And now what used to be a sickly company is now running on all cylinders. Ed Zander has brought excitement back to Motorola and he created an environment where people wanted to succeed.

ED ZANDER, CEO MOTOROLA: I believe that technology is -- inasmuch as your revenue and your profits and your products is if you, your customer, can really engage in dialogue around thought, and it's just an incredible advantage versus your competition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: A lot of people do know what it means to Miss New Orleans, but tomorrow there's going to be some hope there. Tomorrow in New Orleans it's going to be almost like the Super Bowl, a pre-game concert with rock superstars, U2, Green Day and the Goo Goo Dolls and former President George H. Bush will be the opening coin toss. It is Monday night's game between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons. But the game is probably the least talked about part of it. The Saints will be coming in, marching in to the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Here is a CNN fact check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): These are images we will never forget. Nearly 30,000 people stranded in the Superdome for days after Hurricane Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's imperative that we get them out. The Dome is degenerating. The conditions are degenerating rapidly.

ROESGEN: It took almost a week to move the last of the Katrina evacuees out of the 30-year-old stadium. Left behind were 4,000 tons of trash, four million gallons of rain water, and a nearly 10-acre roof that needed to be replaced. The damage was so severe that some thought the entire structure would have to be demolished. Instead, engineers determined the stadium could be repaired for a price, $185 million. Roughly 62 percent of which was paid by FEMA. Construction began in earnest in March and crews finished the largest re-roofing project in American history, seven weeks ahead of schedule.

The ambitious renovations also include new flooring, concession stands, scoreboards and box suites. Just over a year after Hurricane Katrina sent New Orleans Saints and their fans packing, the Superdome is ready to welcome them home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To bring it back up so rapidly is amazing, and I think it speaks well for the determination, for the hard work, for the commitment that people of Louisiana have today in focusing on rebuilding and rebirth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And joining us in New Orleans now is Doug Thornton, the Superdome general manager.

Doug, the countdown clock is ticking to tomorrow night. Will everything really be ready?

DOUG THORNTON, SUPERDOME GENERAL MANAGER: Oh, yes. Susan, we're very excited about it. It's been a remarkable story. The whole thing has been an incredible experience. The city is electric right now there's so much energy. It will be a wonderful night.

ROESGEN: What was the biggest part of the repair job? I'm guessing the roof, but maybe you think it was something else.

THORNTON: Well, I think the hardest part was, believe it or not, just figuring out what had to be done. There was so much destruction. It's a two million square foot building, there's so many spaces and there's so much equipment there, we had to figure out what was damaged before we could figure out how much it was going cost and how long it would take to bring it back.

Once that was behind us, then it was just a matter of working to get the funding and putting the pieces together, making sure the materials and the labor were available, and just manning up the job to get it done. But, I think one of the hardest things was just to, you know, to determine what was broken so we could determine how much it was going to cost and how long to bet it repaired.

ROESGEN: Well, Doug, you were in the Dome after the hurricane, you stayed there about a week when the air-conditioning went out, the toilets backed up, there was no light. What would you tell to other people who where there, the thousands of people who were there -- how would you convince them to come back to the Dome to just watch a football game?

THORNTON: Well, you know, I was there, as you said, and I think all of us have to be able to deal with our own emotions in our own way, but I would say to those people you should come back to the dome because it's a different place. It's a bright place. It's a fresh place. It's going to be a wonderful night on Monday. I think many of us in the post-Katrina, New Orleans era have, you know, struggled emotionally, but you've got to look adversity in the eye, stare it down, meet the challenge and move on. Katrina's always going to be a part of our history, we cannot change that, but we've got to be strong enough to face that adversity and face our own emotions and be able to move forward, and I would hope that those folks would come back to the Dome, embrace it, and feel the energy and the spirit that we have in that place now. It's a totally different place than it was before.

ROESGEN: Well Doug, listen, I'm in Atlanta, Falcons territory here, why don't you just tell us -- let's have a bet here, how badly the are the Saint going to beat the Falcons tomorrow?

THORNTON: Well, our team's 2 and 0. We've got Reggie Bush, Drew Bries and a great coach. We couldn't write a better script for this. It's going to be a wonderful night. And you know what, it's a -- the football game is a reason to be in the Dome, but this is a much bigger night for us. It's about the rebirth of this building and in many way, the rebirth of our city. So the Superdome represents that for us, I think symbolically here. So we want the Saints to win, don't get me wrong, we love the Saints, but I think the fans will be excited to be in the building. So go Saints.

ROESGEN: OK, Doug, I'll be there with you tomorrow in the Dome and we'll bring CNN viewers all over the world live reports. Thanks for joining us this morning Doug Thornton.

THORNTON: Thank you, Susan.

SANCHEZ: This is what is "In the News" right now, still no proof to support the French newspaper report that Osama bin Laden's dead. U.S. officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude until there's evidence one way or another. Saudi sources do tell CNN that bin Laden is believed to be alive, though he may have been somewhat sick at some point.

Venezuela's foreign minister is demanding that the U.S. be investigated by the United Nations. Nicholas Maduro says that he was illegally detained for 90 minutes at Kennedy Airport and that he missed a flight home. U.S. officials call the incident a regrettable disagreement over security. Maduro calls it a flagrant violation of international law.

Autopsies are planned today on the bodies of three children found in an Illinois apartment. The police are suspecting that they're the children of a woman who died after her fetus was removed from her womb. The children were last seen with the woman now charged in the mother's death.

Utah Supreme Court will decide whether a woman charged in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart can be forcibly medicated. Prosecutors want to make Wanda Barzee mentally fit to stand trial. Barzee's attorney says the lower court's decision to allow forced medication is not constitutional.

Another hot and windy day for firefighters in Southern California. They're battling a huge three-week old wildfire near Ojai. Dozens of people in the area have been asked to evacuate. The blaze has burned already 189 square miles.

And what do we do for you? We run down the top stories right here every 15 minutes on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. In depth coverage all morning long and your next check of the headlines is coming up at the top of the hour.

ROESGEN: And we are looking for your e-mails this morning, so while you watch, log on.

SANCHEZ: Our question: How will Osama bin Laden's death, supposing he were dead, what would be the effect on the war on terror? We want to know what you think. We've talked to the experts, but how about you? E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com.

ROESGEN: And then we will read some of the responses on the air right after this quick break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: The idea came when he felt his friend slipping away onto new schools, new jobs, and new relationships. Dennis Crowley is the founder of dodgeball.com. It's a very different kind of social networking site.

DENNIS CROWLEY, FOUNDER, DODGEBALL.COM: Dodgeball is an example of mobile social software. We explain it to people by telling them they're a set of tools that enable you to hook up with the people and the places around you when out in social environments. We use a mobile phone to send a message with your whereabouts back to Dodgeball and we'll look up that address of that location and look up a list of who all your friends are and then ping all those friends with your whereabouts.

SIEBERG: Google say such great potential it bought the company. Dodgeball.com plans to update its technology in the next few months making future meet-ups more user friendly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Do you recognize the little critter? The little laugh. Well, for this guy brings so much pleasure to children it's ironic this some adults would want to hurt each other to get their hands on one. The new "Tickle Me Elmo" doll is out and some people already getting into it, fighting over an Elmo. A man at a Tampa store says another customer threatened his life when he grabbed the last doll off the shelf. Can you believe it?

ROESGEN: And will we see more of that kind of thing coming up? Time to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what you've ahead on CNN's RELIABLE SOURCES -- Howard.

HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thanks Susan, I've got get one of those Elmos.

Should a television reporter should have asked Senator George Allen if his mother was Jewish and why that sparked a media furor in the Virginia race.

We'll also look at why Oprah and other talk show hosts are giving a platform to the disgraced ex-governor Jim McGreevey to peddle a book about his scandal. And Bill Clinton losing his cool and lashing out FOX News Sunday host, Chris Wallace. Plus the reporter who gave it all up to help Afghanistan.

It's all next on RELIABLE SOURCES.

ROESGEN: Sounds great. Thanks Howard, we'll be watching. That is RELIABLE SOURCES coming up at 10:00 Eastern followed by LATE EDITION at 11:00 with John King and then THIS WEEK AT WAR at 1:00 Eastern, so stay tuned with CNN as we go in-depth into the stories of the day.

SANCHEZ: All morning long we have been asking for your thoughts on our e-mail question which is: How would bin Laden's death impact the war on terror?

ROESGEN: We have this e-mail from Karl in Orlando. He says, "His death would have absolutely no impact on the so-called war on terror. Wherever he is, he is not directing attacks. Our actions in the Middle East are enough to keep the attacks going for a very long time."

SANCHEZ: Edwin from Toronto, Canada, has a contrasting point of view, he says, "It would have a profound effect on the war. Without bin Laden many of the contacts that keep the money flowing in al Qaeda are not motivated. Al Qaeda would crumble without him."

ROESGEN: And we have another one from Angel Hollywood, Florida. She writes, "If we were to find him alive and bring him to justice I think that would have a larger impact because after all, these people just live life to die, and if we had their leader alive it would definitely shock them immensely." Angel in Hollywood, Florida, thanks for writing for us.

SANCHEZ: Let's take a quick check of the weather forecast now with Reynolds Wolf who's standing by.

What you got, man?

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: I'm going to turn you into our sports guy, now. You ready for this?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Bring it on, man.

SANCHEZ: I'm going to put you on the spot and knowing where you're now living you're going to have a lot of guts to answer this truthfully. All right, you ready? WOLF: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Saints or Falcons tomorrow night?

ROESGEN: I know what it is.

Falcons. Sorry, Michael Vick.

ROESGEN: No, no, no. OK. Wait, wait, wait. Wait. Rick, your bet? Come on, let's bet.

SANCHEZ: Who would I pick in that game? They're playing at home so we'll take the Saints.

ROESGEN: No, I have the score. OK. OK, Reynolds, 21-13 Saints over Atlanta.

SANCHEZ: You're going Mr. Bush, huh?

ROESGEN: I'm going with the home team.

WOLF: There you go.

SANCHEZ: All right, guy. We'll see what happens next week. Thanks, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

ROESGEN: RELIABLE SOURCES is coming up next followed by LATE EDITION and THIS WEEK AT WAR, so don't go away.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you so much being...

ROESGEN: You're going to owe me a dollar.

SANCHEZ: That's right.

ROESGEN: I'm going to win.

SANCHEZ: We'll pay up. We'll see you guys.

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