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CNN Saturday Morning News

Novak Zone: Interview with Placido Domingo

Aired May 22, 2004 - 9:00   ET

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

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


THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. Good morning, and welcome to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Thomas Roberts.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Sophia Choi. Good morning. If you're just waking up on the West Coast, it is 6:00 a.m. Thanks so much for spending your own morning with us.

Well, here's what we've got coming up this hour.

The man who once had doors open up to him across Washington now can't seem to buy a phone call. The latest on Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi is just ahead.

A new documentary on TV news, and it's seen in the Arab world. We'll have a look behind the scenes of Al Jazeera.

Also, a big blow to the country's midsection. We'll have the latest on violent weather there.

ROBERTS: One American soldier was killed, three were injured in a car bomb attack in a town south of Baghdad. Two of the wounded were evacuated for medical treatment, with no further details on the bombing.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomb outside the home of a deputy interior minister killed seven Iraqis, including the bomber. The deputy minister survived, but he and his wife were wounded in the blast.

High prices at the pump are the hot topic at an informal OPEC meeting in Amsterdam. Ministers are talking about a Saudi proposal to boost the cartel's output. Saudi Arabia wants OPEC to raise production quotas by more than 2 million barrels a day to ease oil prices. A final decision, though, that's not expected until June.

CHOI: And the Israeli military says a suicide bomber blew himself up at a West Bank checkpoint near the Jewish settlement Bekaot (ph). A paramedic at the scene says four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were injured. One of the Palestinians is said to be seriously wounded.

New photographs in the prisoner abuse scandal, and now criminal investigations are under way in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is live in Washington with the latest details for us this morning. Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sophia.

As military officials continue their work, the scope of their investigations is widening. The Pentagon says eight more criminal probes have been added to the 25 that officials announced two weeks ago. That means a total of 33 investigations are now under way into the deaths of 37 detainees who were in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And according to Pentagon officials, of those 37 people who died, 32 of those deaths occurred in Iraq and five of the deaths in Afghanistan. Now, officials also say that 30 of the cases happened inside U.S. detention facilities. The rest were not in prisons.

Now, four cases that resulted in the deaths of eight people were justified homicides, according to the Pentagon. That happened as prisoners were trying to escape. One of those killed was at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, and seven were at Abu Ghraib. Two other cases were listed as homicides, and on death certificates which the Pentagon released, causes of death listed include a closed head injury, blunt force injuries, and asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression.

The Pentagon says nine other investigations are still pending, six of them cases in Iraq and 15 others were declared to be death by natural or undetermined causes, say officials.

In addition to that, interrogation procedures continue to be the focus of a probe as well, one that CNN has learned has led to a civilian contractor being referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

All of these developments come amidst more pictures and video of apparent prisoner abuse that emerged yesterday, something that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned might surface in the days and weeks ahead, Sophia.

CHOI: Elaine, thank you.

"The Washington Post" has once-secret documents suggesting that American soldiers sometimes abused Iraqi detainees to punish them or even just for fun. But a statement by one of seven MPs charged with abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison suggested involvement by military intelligence.

Sergeant Jeval Davis said he did not inform his superiors about the abuse because, quote, "I assumed if they were doing anything out of the ordinary or outside the guidelines, someone would have said something. Also, the wing belongs to MI, and it appeared MI personnel approved of the abuse."

ROBERTS: U.S. intelligence officials say that Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, gave U.S. intelligence secrets to Iran. Chalabi's home and offices in Baghdad were raided Thursday by Iraqi police, accompanied by U.S. troops.

We get more now from David Ensor, our national security correspondent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The man who maneuvered himself into the picture behind the first lady at this year's State of the Union speech had his home and offices raided by Iraqi police only after the president's national security team had been forewarned, according to a senior administration official, and had offered no objection.

Cut off from Pentagon funds just days ago, Ahmed Chalabi's fall from grace in Washington could hardly be more steep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most highly paid and trusted advisers may have deliberately misled our nation for months and years. And some of our officials may have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I suspect we may come to rue the day that we broke down the doors in his office in Baghdad.

ENSOR: Ruel Garecht (ph), a former CIA officer, now a neoconservative writer, says there is no way that the charge that Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress gave intelligence to Iran that might have endangered American lives, no way that that could be true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neither he nor the INC have ever had access to that type of information, nor would they ever be given access to that type of information. That is simply just -- just silly.

ENSOR: But at the State Department and the CIA, officials say Chalabi is a corrupt egomaniac with little support in Iraq who sent defectors to lie about mobile weapons labs and other WMD to convince Washington to go to war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It turns out that his intelligence wasn't so good, and he didn't have anybody in Iraq behind him.

ENSOR: Senior Pentagon officials insist not all Chalabi's intelligence was bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organization that he is associated with has provided intelligence to our intelligence unit there in Baghdad that has saved soldiers' lives.

ENSOR (on camera): U.S. intelligence officials insist that Chalabi gave intelligence secrets to Iran so closely held in the U.S. government, that only a handful of senior officials know them. They also say there is evidence Chalabi met with a senior Iranian intelligence official described as a "nefarious figure" who has played a direct role in activities against the United States.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: Going to bring you a programming note now. Should be a very interesting interview. Ahmed Chalabi will be Wolf Blitzer's guest tomorrow on "LATE EDITION." That's at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific, on CNN.

CHOI: Time now for a check of stories across America.

One year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge, that's the sentence for a U.S. soldier who deserted his unit in Iraq. Staff Sergeant Camillo Mejia (ph), stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia, says he has no regrets about not going back to Iraq. He calls the war unjust.

Jayson Williams will be tried again. That from prosecutors in New Jersey who are trying to convict the former NBA star on a reckless manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of a limousine driver. After a long trial, a jury was unable to reach a verdict on that one charge.

And attorneys for Martha Stewart also want a retrial for their client. This after a government witness who testified in the first trial was charged with perjury yesterday. Stewart's lawyers say the perjury charge undermines the integrity of Stewart's conviction.

Which brings us to our e-mail question of the day. Do you think Stewart should get a new trial? E-mail us at wam@cnn.com, and we'll read your thoughts a little later this hour.

War plans and conventional wisdom. The political plot thickens in this year's president's race. About an hour from now, President Bush will deliver his weekly radio address. Yesterday, it was all hail the graduate-in-chief as Bush spoke at LSU's graduation. On Monday, Bush will speak in prime time about the need to stay the course in Iraq.

Meantime, Senator John Kerry may decide not to officially accept his party's nomination at the Democratic convention this summer. And the motivating factor is likely money. Once Kerry and President Bush become official nominees, their campaigns will be limited to spending the $75 million in federal funds they'll each receive. But up until then, they're spending primary money.

Bush's primary season is five weeks longer than Kerry's because of the convention schedules, and Kerry says, "We are looking at this and many other options very seriously, because we won't fight with one hand tied behind our back." In response, the Bush campaign says only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention, but against the nomination.

Well, they are the eyes, ears, and often controversial voice from the Arab world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Al Jazeera has a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: Coming up, a look inside Al Jazeera's control room.

ROBERTS: And another spring storm takes a very devastating toll on one Midwestern town. We're going to take you there and have the details on the aftermath straight ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Good morning, Dallas. We're going to have your complete weather forecast. That's coming up in 15 minutes. But as we can see there, some ominous skies in Texas.

CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: He's performed for millions of people, for world leaders and celebrities, and now he's made to The Novak Zone. World-renowned tenor Placido Domingo pays a visit a bit later on on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back, everybody.

Time now to talk about the weather. Just a few minutes ago, when we left, said good morning to Dallas. Ooh, gray skies for them.

CHOI: Yes, lots of clouds out there, Orlen Sydney.

ORLEN SYDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I don't think a whole lot of them are will bring rain, though, that's some good news. But otherwise, this morning, it's going to be a little cloudy. Then this afternoon, you'll be partly to mostly cloudy and warm.

Take a look at the pictures currently out of Dallas. Your temperature right now is 73 degrees. You're going to see a high today of 89. Lows tonight, 71 degrees. Again, partly cloudy by the afternoon. Light winds. You know, there's an off chance you might hear a little bit of thunder later today, but I don't think this chances are very strong. Most of that action is going to be to your north and to your west.

For now, up in the Great Lakes and the upper Midwest, we are finding thunderstorms, two bow-shaped echoes now moving through Iowa and almost into the Chicago metro area. Watch out, Chicago. You're going to find some gusty winds as well as some heavy rain.

We do have a flash flood watch in effect for the Chicago metro area continuing northward through Waukegan on northward through much of the western coast of Lake Michigan. We also some warnings for localized street flooding stretching all the way back from Iowa City to Chicago and even on into parts of Michigan. So watch out for the heavy rain today.

And look at this. Some thunderstorms, you could see as much as two inches, maybe even as much as two and a half in parts of Iowa, southern Minnesota. An inch and a half not out of the question by the time we rack it all up tomorrow morning. And around that, you could even see as much as an inch of rain. So the rainfall definitely going to be a problem today.

This afternoon, you will find severe thunderstorms, again, in the Plains, Nebraska, Iowa, parts of South Dakota, southern Minnesota. A moderate risk for those areas. But now, remember a slight risk extends from the eastern slopes of the Rockies all the way out into the mid-Atlantic.

Even down south, you could see an afternoon thunderstorm or two pop up. New partly cloudy skies early. Then as your temperatures warm up in that humid air, you'll start to get those popcorn-type thunderstorms. Even Atlanta could see a chance of thunderstorms, 30 percent today. High temperature 88. Washington, D.C., will be in the 90s.

And there's the battle zone between the warm and cool air. Billings, 54 today. Minneapolis sees a high of 63. This evening,

Temperatures are going to be downright cold in the northern Rockies. In fact, the Bitterroots, you've got a winter storm warning in effect for tonight and tomorrow for heavy snows, maybe six inches or a little bit more in elevations above 4,000 feet. High temperatures, low temperature, rather, 39 degrees. Minneapolis, 52. You'll be 43 in Denver. The warm, humid air continues in the South. Your afternoon and evening thunderstorms may linger into the overnight hours.

Thomas, Sophia?

CHOI: Orlen, thanks for that. We'll see you in a bit.

SYDNEY: You're welcome.

ROBERTS: Well, if you haven't had time to keep up with the news this week, do not worry. We're going to rewind right now and take a look at some of the top stories for you.

On Monday, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same- sex marriages. Hundreds of couples took advantage of it and went ahead to tie the knot.

In Iraq on Monday, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council and six others were killed in a suicide bombing. The attack came about six weeks before the June 30 transfer of power.

On Wednesday, the first court-martial in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Specialist Jeremy Sivits pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in confinement.

And then on Thursday, Iraqi police raided the compound of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi has been a highly paid and trusted adviser to the U.S. administration. U.S. intelligence officials accuse him of giving intelligence secrets and passing them on to Iran.

Tomorrow, we're going to fast forward to the week ahead and tell you which stories are going to grab the spotlight.

And make sure you stay with us, everybody. It's Martha, Martha, Martha. She's back in the news, because there's potentially a situation where a prosecution witness perjured himself on the stand. So should Martha, in light of this, get a new trial? E-mail us, wam@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: The FBI has issued another general warning of potential terror attacks in the U.S. this summer. Nothing specific, but the government wants everyone to be alert about this.

As CNN's Tom Foreman explains, some experts worry that too much caution can be counterproductive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amtrak stopped two of its high-speed Acela trains and searched them with bomb dogs after a threat was called in to Baltimore police. But Amtrak says it was a routine precaution, the same as it has exercised for years.

FBI agents and police in Philadelphia are examining a motion detection device found on tracks there. But government and railway officials confirm such devices are often used by train companies, and no link to terrorism is apparent.

But add to all of that a new FBI warning for people to watch out for suicide bombers, and the public is hearing a lot of scary talk.

JIM WALSH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: In this day and age, there's no public official or government that wants to be caught in a situation that following a terrorist attack, it was found out that they didn't issue a communication, or they didn't tell the folks they were supposed to tell about it.

And so what we have now is a flood of information. Every little scrap of information that suggests even mildly that there might about threat, that's sort of put out there, and I think that's a mistake.

FOREMAN: There are real costs to the fear. The New York Transit Authority is considering banning all photography on subways, buses, and trains, trying to keep terrorists from collecting information on potential targets.

(on camera): The Department of Homeland Security wants a whole series of new security measures for railways, including the installation of see-through trash cans, which make it harder to hide bombs.

(voice-over): Amtrak says replacing all of its trash cans could cost a half-million dollars. And there is the mental cost.

LT. GEN. DANIEL W. CHRISTMAN (RET.), U.S. ARMY: You cannot, it seems to me, keep a civil population or any military unit in a constant state of heightened readiness before that unit or that population simply turns itself off.

FOREMAN: That, they say, could make the situation much more dangerous when serious threats come along.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: It's time now to check the headlines for you.

Six Iraqis were killed when a suicide car bomber exploded outside the Baghdad home of a government official. Four of the dead were bodyguards. The blast, at the home of Iraq's deputy interior minister, also injured 10 people.

The U.S. military launches new investigations into the deaths of up to 37 detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the deaths were reported at Abu Ghraib prison. A total of 33 investigations are now under way.

ROBERTS: Straight ahead, leaders from the Arab world talk politics in Tunisia.

Back in a moment with CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Arab leaders opened their annual summit meeting with a moment of silence today for Palestinian victims of violence. Delegates from the Arab League's 21 countries, along with Palestinian representatives, are meeting in Tunisia to talk about challenges facing the Arab world.

Our senior international correspondent, Walter Rodgers, is live in the Tunisian capital, joining us now with more. Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thomas, with more than 41 Palestinians killed by the Israelis in the past two days in Rafah alone, it is small wonder, of course, that the Palestinian-Israeli issue has come to the very top of the agenda here at the Arab League summit in Tunis.

The host, President Zine el-Abidine ben-Ali began by asking for that moment of silence. Indeed, he said the Palestinian issue has to be the top priority among all Arab nations at this point.

ZINE EL-ABIDINE BEN-ALI, PRESIDENT, ARAB LEAGUE (through translator): Continuation of the violence and attacks by Israel that are leaving the innocent casualties of the Palestinian people, and I also ask you to send up for a moment of silence for the souls of the Palestinians that were killed.

RODGERS: Palestinian president Yasser Arafat could not attend. He remains locked down by the Israelis in Ramallah. But he did address the Arab League summit by a closed-circuit television hookup. Arafat was saying that he is ready for resumption of peace negotiations with the Israelis. He said that he wants and needs a two-state solution, that is, a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with the Israelis.

And he lambasted the Israelis with a very long and strong indictment of their policies. He said, he accused them of being terrorists and said the Israelis were retaking territory, sinking down roots with no intention whatsoever of returning the land to the Palestinians.

Perhaps by way of footnote, one of the interesting things about this Arab League summit is that many of the issues on the agenda are more or less dictated directly or indirectly by Washington, Thomas.

ROBERTS: Walter Rodgers, live for us in Tunis, Tunisia. Walter, thank you very much.

CHOI: And let's take a look at headlines at this hour now.

In the West Bank today, a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Israeli military checkpoint. It happened near the Jewish settlement Bekaot in the Jordan Valley. A paramedic at the scene says four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were injured. One of the Palestinians is said to be seriously wounded.

The Iraqi Governing Council is considering Thursday's raid on the Baghdad home of Ahmed Chalabi. The council said there is no justification for the raid by Iraqi police, accompanied by U.S. troops. Chalabi is a member of the U.S.-appointed governing council.

Spain's crown prince is no longer an eligible bachelor. Prince Felipe was married this morning in a gala ceremony in Madrid. The guests for the wedding included Prince Charles and Nelson Mandela. Security for the occasion was extra-tight, with NATO F-18s and AWACS planes flying overhead.

Also, along with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo is one of the most respected and recognized voices in the world. At 63 years old, the great tenor has no plans to quit or even to slow down. But he did pause long enough to speak with CNN's Robert Novak in The Novak Zone."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to The Novak Zone.

We're at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with one of the great names in opera, Placido Domingo, the general director of the Washington National Opera.

Maestro, what does the general director of the opera do? PLACIDO DOMINGO, GENERAL DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA: You have, from the very beginning, the ideas of what you are going to present to the public. You say, Well, I want to do an opera by Verdi, an opera by Puccini, Mozart, and more contemporary opera and American opera, which is a must here in Washington. Every season we have been doing one, because I believe that American opera belong to the capital, to the country, you know.

And the public should know that in opera, everything that you are seeing today has been planned for years ago, everything.

NOVAK: Everything, huh?

DOMINGO: So what we are talking today is '07, '08 season. Already we are talking about that. So basically, we prepare everything, then we see which new productions we have to do, which director, which conductor. And this is a combination, a very difficult cocktail, you know, just to bring together.

NOVAK: You are one of the -- recognized as one of the world's great tenors, but you conduct, also here. And I recently saw a presentation of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" where you were the conductor. Do you like conducting in operas rather than singing in it?

DOMINGO: Well, I love every -- both careers. I mean, they have been parallel in the last years, as a singer and conducting career. And every day I do more and more preparing, of course, for the day than I was -- than I won't be able to sing anymore.

NOVAK: Yes, in "Manon Lescaut," you have performed the role of the male lead, of Des Grieux When you're conducting, do you feel like singing sometimes and just joining him and singing it together?

DOMINGO: Not really. I think I never think about singing when I'm conducting, or visa versa, you know? I try to do what I am supposed to do at the moment. The anticipation of the conductor is to, in that fraction of a second, is to anticipate what the public is going to listen. You have it here. You transmit it to the orchestra and to the singers. And then the public hears it.

It is just -- it seems like everything goes together, but there is a little difference of time.

NOVAK: Maestro, you are best known to ordinary people as one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti, Carreras, and you. Do you think the Three Tenors helped bring opera to the ordinary people around the world?

DOMINGO: We definitely -- I mean, we are proud that we did it, you know. Many people -- you cannot imagine the amount of letters that I receive, and, of course, my colleagues, in their own sight, saying, Mr. Domingo, I didn't know about opera. Since I went to the concert here in Chicago, in New York, in Washington, wherever, in Shanghai, in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), in anyplace that we go, now I go to the opera. I have my subscription, and I am a total, total opera fan. I dedicate my life totally to the singing of opera and conducting opera. Now and then, I do some concerts with them and some concerts alone, but my real passion is the stage and the pit.

ROBERTS: Maestro, you performed all over the world. Are the European operagoers different than those in America?

DOMINGO: Well, is no doubt that every public is, in a way, different. What I have to say is that the American public is already mature. And even the fact that there are centuries back comparing to Europe, they have really make the homework, and they come to the opera prepared, and they are so enthusiastic.

NOVAK: Here at the Kennedy Center, there is the screen showing the English translation of the libretto. And a lot of the purists I talk to think that this takes away from the opera. People are reading the text instead of paying attention to the music. I find that it enhances the enjoyment of the opera. How do you feel about it?

DOMINGO: I am with you. Absolutely, this has been an improvement. There are people, naturally, they knew what the opera were about, but they were not able to detect something that was very important in a certain moment, even the witty, because sometimes their librettos, they are very witty, you have things, and there are -- then you can really laugh, especially if it's in a comedy.

So before, things they have to be overdone in the comedies. You know, for the public to read. Today, is enough when you drop a line, when you say something that is funny, and you understand.

NOVAK: And now, the big question for Placido Domingo.

Maestro, when I go to the opera, I find an awful lot of people are as old or older than I am, a lot of gray hair. Are you concerned about that? And are you doing anything to bring younger people into the opera so they can appreciate it?

DOMINGO: Well, we are doing a lot of that. First of all, I -- you don't see it every day, then they are coming older and older generations. On the contrary, I have very much the impression that is a lot of young people then they are coming. We have a generation, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) generation that we call them, there is people between 20 and 30, you know, successful already, couples and they are in their 30s.

I never stop saying, the most important thing is education. From educating the children, it we give them the possibility to know what is classic music, what is just listening to the most beautiful movements of the symphony and the arias of the opera, and you teach them today without saying, Hey, this is something classic, the children, they are ready for everything.

ROBERTS: Placido Domingo, thank you very much.

DOMINGO: Thank you very much.

ROBERTS: And thank you for being in The Novak Zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: And talking with an opera star just isn't enough for Bob Novak. He had to become one. He appeared in the party scene of "La Traviata" at the Kennedy Center this week and proved to be quite a ham.

ROBERTS: Big smile there.

All right, everybody. Stay with us. Just ahead for you, another direct hit to the Midwest. Look at this. One small Iowa town gets leveled as tornadoes touched down overnight. We're going to get the very latest when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: To the moon, Alice! Maybe not that far, but some of the nation's top students are aiming pretty high today in Virginia. We're going to tell you why. That and much more when CNN SATURDAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: Panic, both in front of the camera and behind the scene during Al Jazeera Television's coverage of the war in Iraq. On this day, it was bedlam in Baghdad during a live shot by perhaps the best- known journalists on Arab TV.

Al Jazeera Television is, without a doubt, the primary source of news for the Arab community. The network brought the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq into the homes of millions of people.

Now, a documentary on the Arab television operation is taking you behind the cameras. "Control Room" debuted last night in the U.S. at the Film Forum in New York City. We will talk with the director in just a moment.

First, though, CNN's Suzann Kelly (ph) has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTROL ROOM")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six, five, four, three, two, one...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cue!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANN KELLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Jazeera Television began broadcasting in 1996 and now claims 40 million viewers in the Middle East. The film "The Control Room" is the first documentary about the popular network. It focuses on Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTROL ROOM")

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Al Jazeera has a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: The documentary also looks at claims that the network is a vehicle for Islamic extremists.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR OF ARAB AFFAIRS: So it does highlight moments where the U.S. is calling Al Jazeera the mouthpiece of the Iraqi regime, the former Iraqi regime, or Osama bin laden.

KELLY: CNN senior editor of Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr, is very familiar with the network.

NASR: But it also points out that Al Jazeera has upset many Arab governments by reporting on them, or reporting on things they didn't want them to report on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTROL ROOM")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We get grief from the Americans for showing these pictures, because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) be citing the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) basically instigating anti-American sentiments. I mean, I'm sorry. They can't have their cake and eat it.

NASR: I think the movie, this film, the documentary, is trying to get into the heart of Al Jazeera, and when I say the heart, it's really the heart, it's the emotions. They tapped on that a lot. They showed the employees and their reactions towards guests, towards events, towards policies.

About objectivity, I don't think the film attempted to look at that. I think that was the part that was missing, as far as I'm concerned. I was looking for more details about how editorial decisions are made. How do you decide to cover a story and not the other?

I think the piece was trying to be Al Jazeera's front, and I think it did a very good job at that.

KELLY: When asked how she would rate the film...

NASR: I'm not a movie critic.

KELLY: Suzann Kelly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Looks like a riveting documentary.

Joining us now is the director of "The Control Room," Jehane Noujaim joins us now live in New York.

Jehane, good morning. JEHANE NOUJAIM, DIRECTOR, "THE CONTROL ROOM": Hi, good morning.

ROBERTS: First I want to ask you, where did you come up with the idea to do this? Obviously, looking at the video and what you captured, it is riveting. But how did you come up with the idea?

NOUJAIM: Jazeera's been criticized in the Middle East and in the United States. So you always have a curiosity about people that have been heavily, heavily criticized. You want to know who the people are behind this channel.

KELLY: Jehane, you're Egyptian born, you were educated in the United States and then decided to go ahead and put this together, be the filmmaker behind this project. Is it because you think that there are such different perceptions of what the Arab world thinks is news and what the Western world thinks is the news?

NOUJAIM: Definitely. I've traveled back and forth between Egypt and the United States my entire life, and you watch the same world events, and you watch people having completely different perceptions of those same world events.

So in Qatar, when the war was about to start, I knew that there would be Al Jazeera located there, which was broadcasting to the entire Arab world, and 10 miles away was Central Command, which would be housing the military base, and also all of the Western networks that would be broadcasting to the Western world.

So in this tiny little Gulf state was news creation for the entire world.

ROBERTS: Jehane, Al Jazeera, as I understand it, is broadcast to some 40 million homes. And as we've heard, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he said it is the station for propaganda. Other people have called it Osama bin Laden's mouthpiece. So how did you convince Al Jazeera that they could trust you, that you could come inside and see how they do, see how they operate?

NOUJAIM: Well, it took awhile, because they definitely had their news -- you know, people doing news programs on them, where they had the stereotypical view of the Arab woman, the veiled woman, behind the veils, behind the veiled woman, behind the controls. And I drank a lot of coffee, smoked a lot of cigarettes with them in the cafeteria and really got to know them.

And I think that they felt like I was trying to figure out for myself. I mean, I'm -- my mother's American, from Indiana, my father's Egyptian. So I'm definitely caught between these two worlds, And I think that they trusted the fact that I was really, for myself, trying to figure this out. What was the truth behind this? Who are these people?

ROBERTS: And did you know what you were getting yourself into when you came up with this concept for what you wanted to put together? Did you decide that you were going to make this a film that more event-driven because of historical content, that is, or more people driven because of the people you were going to meet?

NOUJAIM: I must say that it was more people-driven. I mean, when I went there, I had no idea who I was going to follow or what kind of story I was going to tell. I just knew that this place that I was going to was going to be the center of news creation, and it was going to be the -- a fascinating place to be.

And so I would say it was definitely people-driven. I mean, I'm attracted to making films about characters that I find who are under pressure, who are complex people, who are going to challenge you and surprise you. If you're not surprised by somebody and when you're making a film, then the audience isn't going to be surprised by them.

So it's -- it would be a boring film to watch.

ROBERTS: Whose film will be changed in terms of perception, in terms of watching this? Who do you think their attitudes will change, Arab or American?

NOUJAIM: I intend for both sides to see it. Right now, we're showing it to an American audience, and it's been absolutely amazing. People have come up and said, Thank you so much for showing us this. Please, thank the people at Al Jazeera, please thank the people at Central Command. You know, it follows an incredibly insightful and charismatic, intelligent military press officer. Completely changed my view of the military when I met this -- met Lieutenant Josh Rushing.

So they -- people who have seen it have said, Look, you've completely changed our perception on this. This has been a glimpse inside Al Jazeera, a channel that, behind the scenes of a channel that we've heard so much about, but we've never seen the people. We've never understood what goes on behind this.

So I think it's had a great reception. In the Middle East, we haven't shown it there yet, but I think that it's very important for the -- for people in the Middle East to see another side to the U.S. military.

ROBERTS: Well, Jehane, we appreciate your time this morning to talk about your project. You are the filmmaker and director behind "The Control Room." Jehane Noujaim, thanks so much. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

NOUJAIM: Thanks for having me.

ROBERTS: You're welcome. "The Control Room"...

NOUJAIM: If you, if people want to -- if people want to see where it's playing, it's at Controlroommovie.com.

ROBERTS: Hey, there you go, a little tease. I was just going to say that too. "The Control Room," it opened last night at the New York Film Forum. It's going to open nationally next month. And you can find it on the Internet, as you just heard, too.

CHOI: Well, we've had some really tough weather out in the Midwest lately.

ROBERTS: Really have, past couple of weeks...

CHOI: Yes.

ROBERTS: ... they've been getting pounded.

CHOI: Here's Orelon Sidney with a forecast update for us. Hi, Orelon.

SIDNEY: Thanks a lot. I wish I could give you some better news, but today is going to be another day like the past several, as we look at severe thunderstorms again across the Midwest. A little stationary front here to the south of that, warm, moist air to the north, the cold air, and they're going to battle it out today and probably tomorrow as we continue to see a chance of thunderstorms across much of the region.

Look at what Iowa has been under the past 24 hours, numerous severe thunderstorm watches, numerous tornado watches. Right now, we have a storm system working towards Quad Cities. So you'll probably get some gusty winds.

Last night, though, in Bradgate, that's in Humbolt County, we did have damage to 90 percent of the structures in town, 15 people were injured. The good news is, nobody was killed.

Here comes the storms now, working towards you in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. These are going to rapidly move eastward. And they do have that bow-shaped echo, which indicates that they could contain some very gusty winds. So watch out for that.

Chicago, storm system moving through now. Waukegan getting the worst of it currently. But we do have flash flood watches in effect, northern portions of Lake Michigan. We also have some localized flash flood warnings. Watch out for that as well.

Showers and thunderstorms will continue today across much of the Midwest. They have a moderate risk of severe weather, especially Iowa, into Nebraska.

Sophia, Thomas.

ROBERTS: OK, Orelon.

CHOI: All right, see you later.

CHOI: All right, how high will they go? That's what many are wondering at this year's Team America Rocketry Challenge in Virginia. You're looking at live pictures there. Over 700 of the country's best and brightest students are there launching their hand-built rockets into orbit. The challenge is to get the rocket up to 1,250 feet, then drop two raw eggs down to the ground unbroken. The winners will share some $60,000 in prize money and go on to meet some NASA astronauts.

Well, should she get another shot? Our e-mail question of the morning, What do you think about Martha Stewart's push for a new trial? We'll read your thoughts just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Kathleen Hays in Washington. We're "ON THE STORY" of the latest in Iraq with Barbara Starr. Dana Bash in Texas going to talk about the president's plans to explain what's ahead. I'll be looking at gas prices and a surprise in the Martha Stewart case. Maria Hinojosa was in Massachusetts watching the first legal gay marriages. And Kelli Arena talks about security at the Olympics.

Great show, all coming up, all "ON THE STORY."

Back to you, Thomas.

ROBERTS: Kathleen, we'll see you shortly. Thank you.

Want to check our top stories for you now.

The prison abuse scandal is getting worse, apparently, each day. U.S. military officials now say that criminal investigations are under way in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Baghdad today, a suicide car bombing outside the home of Iraq's deputy interior minister. Six Iraqis are dead, plus the bomber, and 10 others wounded. Interior minister Abdul Jabar Josef (ph) and his wife are among the injured.

CHOI: Well, all morning long, we've been asking you for your thoughts on our e-mail question, Should Martha Stewart get a new trial after a federal witness was accused of perjury? And we've got some responses already.

ROBERTS: Certainly have. Want to start with this one. Sally in San Diego writes in, "Why are they making such a big deal of Martha? We have much bigger fish to fry. Why waste our tax money on court time and investigations?"

CHOI: And we've got one from Rosemary Brewster. She says, "Martha Stewart should not have a new trial. She was found guilty because she is guilty. There is no need to say anything any more."

ROBERTS: And I think we have time for one more here, guys. Becky in New Orleans writes in, saying, "Yes, the charges should be dropped. She was lynched. How many other government witnesses lied?"

And we got similar e-mail comments like that in the earlier hours too. But we'll keep you posted what happens with her case this week, if anything.

CHOI: And we appreciate you sending in your e-mails to us this morning.

Well, they say politics makes strange bedfellows. Well, that saying might not really be relevant these days. CNN's Bruce Burkhardt examines the politics of dating. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So tell me about yourself.

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Couples getting to know each other fast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, ready?

BURKHARDT: It's called speed or hurry dating, conversing with one person for three minutes, then...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On to the next winner, alphabetical order.

BURKHARDT: ... moving on to the next person. A way for singles to find their ideal mate. And nowadays, if you use the old line, What's your sign? the answer might well be, a Bush sign or a Kerry sign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a Republican. So I feel as if Republicans and Democrats are complete opposites.

BURKHARDT: Earlier online, all these people filled out their profiles. Do you drink? Do you smoke? Your favorite movie? And are your politics on the right or the left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe in the opposites attract rule. I mean, that's often said, and I just don't believe it.

BURKHARDT: A number of online dating services have sprung up recently, catering to political matchmaking. Republicansingles.com, Democratsingles.com, and Loveinwar.com. Isn't dating complicated enough without adding politics to the mix?

(on camera): This idea of identifying ourselves and a possible future mate through our political beliefs may be a sign of something larger going on.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But you know what researchers have found, that today, over the last 30 years, at least, people have sorted themself out by party. America is more segregated today than it's been in decades, not by race, by party.

BURKHARDT (voice-over): And yet, sometimes opposites do attract, not only attract, but endure. Witness James Carville and Mary Matalin.

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The whole idea that somehow or another you, I think that you can run a computer program and put everything through it, find out who's compatible, I kind of liked the old way, you know, where you just sort of bump into somebody at a bar or a supermarket, or get fixed up, and then see if sparks fly or not.

BURKHARDT: And even if you can't read a book by its cover, you can at least find out if it's a Republican or Democrat book. And sleeping with the enemy, it seems, is now the exception and not the rule.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And there you have it. Stay with us, everybody. Plenty more ahead right here today on CNN. Up next, it's "ON THE STORY," followed at 11:00 by "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." And today, we profile "American Idol"'s Clay Aiken (ph) and Reuben Suttered (ph) along with "Shrek 2"'s Mike Meyers. Then at noon Eastern, it's "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" with the latest from Iraq and a closer look at the upcoming handover of power.

CHOI: And we want to thank you right now for joining us this morning. We hope to see you right back here starting at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

ROBERTS: Bright and early, everybody. Have a good day. Take care.

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


Aired May 22, 2004 - 9:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. Good morning, and welcome to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Thomas Roberts.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Sophia Choi. Good morning. If you're just waking up on the West Coast, it is 6:00 a.m. Thanks so much for spending your own morning with us.

Well, here's what we've got coming up this hour.

The man who once had doors open up to him across Washington now can't seem to buy a phone call. The latest on Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi is just ahead.

A new documentary on TV news, and it's seen in the Arab world. We'll have a look behind the scenes of Al Jazeera.

Also, a big blow to the country's midsection. We'll have the latest on violent weather there.

ROBERTS: One American soldier was killed, three were injured in a car bomb attack in a town south of Baghdad. Two of the wounded were evacuated for medical treatment, with no further details on the bombing.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomb outside the home of a deputy interior minister killed seven Iraqis, including the bomber. The deputy minister survived, but he and his wife were wounded in the blast.

High prices at the pump are the hot topic at an informal OPEC meeting in Amsterdam. Ministers are talking about a Saudi proposal to boost the cartel's output. Saudi Arabia wants OPEC to raise production quotas by more than 2 million barrels a day to ease oil prices. A final decision, though, that's not expected until June.

CHOI: And the Israeli military says a suicide bomber blew himself up at a West Bank checkpoint near the Jewish settlement Bekaot (ph). A paramedic at the scene says four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were injured. One of the Palestinians is said to be seriously wounded.

New photographs in the prisoner abuse scandal, and now criminal investigations are under way in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is live in Washington with the latest details for us this morning. Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sophia.

As military officials continue their work, the scope of their investigations is widening. The Pentagon says eight more criminal probes have been added to the 25 that officials announced two weeks ago. That means a total of 33 investigations are now under way into the deaths of 37 detainees who were in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And according to Pentagon officials, of those 37 people who died, 32 of those deaths occurred in Iraq and five of the deaths in Afghanistan. Now, officials also say that 30 of the cases happened inside U.S. detention facilities. The rest were not in prisons.

Now, four cases that resulted in the deaths of eight people were justified homicides, according to the Pentagon. That happened as prisoners were trying to escape. One of those killed was at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, and seven were at Abu Ghraib. Two other cases were listed as homicides, and on death certificates which the Pentagon released, causes of death listed include a closed head injury, blunt force injuries, and asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression.

The Pentagon says nine other investigations are still pending, six of them cases in Iraq and 15 others were declared to be death by natural or undetermined causes, say officials.

In addition to that, interrogation procedures continue to be the focus of a probe as well, one that CNN has learned has led to a civilian contractor being referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

All of these developments come amidst more pictures and video of apparent prisoner abuse that emerged yesterday, something that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned might surface in the days and weeks ahead, Sophia.

CHOI: Elaine, thank you.

"The Washington Post" has once-secret documents suggesting that American soldiers sometimes abused Iraqi detainees to punish them or even just for fun. But a statement by one of seven MPs charged with abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison suggested involvement by military intelligence.

Sergeant Jeval Davis said he did not inform his superiors about the abuse because, quote, "I assumed if they were doing anything out of the ordinary or outside the guidelines, someone would have said something. Also, the wing belongs to MI, and it appeared MI personnel approved of the abuse."

ROBERTS: U.S. intelligence officials say that Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, gave U.S. intelligence secrets to Iran. Chalabi's home and offices in Baghdad were raided Thursday by Iraqi police, accompanied by U.S. troops.

We get more now from David Ensor, our national security correspondent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The man who maneuvered himself into the picture behind the first lady at this year's State of the Union speech had his home and offices raided by Iraqi police only after the president's national security team had been forewarned, according to a senior administration official, and had offered no objection.

Cut off from Pentagon funds just days ago, Ahmed Chalabi's fall from grace in Washington could hardly be more steep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most highly paid and trusted advisers may have deliberately misled our nation for months and years. And some of our officials may have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I suspect we may come to rue the day that we broke down the doors in his office in Baghdad.

ENSOR: Ruel Garecht (ph), a former CIA officer, now a neoconservative writer, says there is no way that the charge that Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress gave intelligence to Iran that might have endangered American lives, no way that that could be true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neither he nor the INC have ever had access to that type of information, nor would they ever be given access to that type of information. That is simply just -- just silly.

ENSOR: But at the State Department and the CIA, officials say Chalabi is a corrupt egomaniac with little support in Iraq who sent defectors to lie about mobile weapons labs and other WMD to convince Washington to go to war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It turns out that his intelligence wasn't so good, and he didn't have anybody in Iraq behind him.

ENSOR: Senior Pentagon officials insist not all Chalabi's intelligence was bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organization that he is associated with has provided intelligence to our intelligence unit there in Baghdad that has saved soldiers' lives.

ENSOR (on camera): U.S. intelligence officials insist that Chalabi gave intelligence secrets to Iran so closely held in the U.S. government, that only a handful of senior officials know them. They also say there is evidence Chalabi met with a senior Iranian intelligence official described as a "nefarious figure" who has played a direct role in activities against the United States.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: Going to bring you a programming note now. Should be a very interesting interview. Ahmed Chalabi will be Wolf Blitzer's guest tomorrow on "LATE EDITION." That's at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific, on CNN.

CHOI: Time now for a check of stories across America.

One year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge, that's the sentence for a U.S. soldier who deserted his unit in Iraq. Staff Sergeant Camillo Mejia (ph), stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia, says he has no regrets about not going back to Iraq. He calls the war unjust.

Jayson Williams will be tried again. That from prosecutors in New Jersey who are trying to convict the former NBA star on a reckless manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of a limousine driver. After a long trial, a jury was unable to reach a verdict on that one charge.

And attorneys for Martha Stewart also want a retrial for their client. This after a government witness who testified in the first trial was charged with perjury yesterday. Stewart's lawyers say the perjury charge undermines the integrity of Stewart's conviction.

Which brings us to our e-mail question of the day. Do you think Stewart should get a new trial? E-mail us at wam@cnn.com, and we'll read your thoughts a little later this hour.

War plans and conventional wisdom. The political plot thickens in this year's president's race. About an hour from now, President Bush will deliver his weekly radio address. Yesterday, it was all hail the graduate-in-chief as Bush spoke at LSU's graduation. On Monday, Bush will speak in prime time about the need to stay the course in Iraq.

Meantime, Senator John Kerry may decide not to officially accept his party's nomination at the Democratic convention this summer. And the motivating factor is likely money. Once Kerry and President Bush become official nominees, their campaigns will be limited to spending the $75 million in federal funds they'll each receive. But up until then, they're spending primary money.

Bush's primary season is five weeks longer than Kerry's because of the convention schedules, and Kerry says, "We are looking at this and many other options very seriously, because we won't fight with one hand tied behind our back." In response, the Bush campaign says only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention, but against the nomination.

Well, they are the eyes, ears, and often controversial voice from the Arab world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Al Jazeera has a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: Coming up, a look inside Al Jazeera's control room.

ROBERTS: And another spring storm takes a very devastating toll on one Midwestern town. We're going to take you there and have the details on the aftermath straight ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Good morning, Dallas. We're going to have your complete weather forecast. That's coming up in 15 minutes. But as we can see there, some ominous skies in Texas.

CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: He's performed for millions of people, for world leaders and celebrities, and now he's made to The Novak Zone. World-renowned tenor Placido Domingo pays a visit a bit later on on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back, everybody.

Time now to talk about the weather. Just a few minutes ago, when we left, said good morning to Dallas. Ooh, gray skies for them.

CHOI: Yes, lots of clouds out there, Orlen Sydney.

ORLEN SYDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I don't think a whole lot of them are will bring rain, though, that's some good news. But otherwise, this morning, it's going to be a little cloudy. Then this afternoon, you'll be partly to mostly cloudy and warm.

Take a look at the pictures currently out of Dallas. Your temperature right now is 73 degrees. You're going to see a high today of 89. Lows tonight, 71 degrees. Again, partly cloudy by the afternoon. Light winds. You know, there's an off chance you might hear a little bit of thunder later today, but I don't think this chances are very strong. Most of that action is going to be to your north and to your west.

For now, up in the Great Lakes and the upper Midwest, we are finding thunderstorms, two bow-shaped echoes now moving through Iowa and almost into the Chicago metro area. Watch out, Chicago. You're going to find some gusty winds as well as some heavy rain.

We do have a flash flood watch in effect for the Chicago metro area continuing northward through Waukegan on northward through much of the western coast of Lake Michigan. We also some warnings for localized street flooding stretching all the way back from Iowa City to Chicago and even on into parts of Michigan. So watch out for the heavy rain today.

And look at this. Some thunderstorms, you could see as much as two inches, maybe even as much as two and a half in parts of Iowa, southern Minnesota. An inch and a half not out of the question by the time we rack it all up tomorrow morning. And around that, you could even see as much as an inch of rain. So the rainfall definitely going to be a problem today.

This afternoon, you will find severe thunderstorms, again, in the Plains, Nebraska, Iowa, parts of South Dakota, southern Minnesota. A moderate risk for those areas. But now, remember a slight risk extends from the eastern slopes of the Rockies all the way out into the mid-Atlantic.

Even down south, you could see an afternoon thunderstorm or two pop up. New partly cloudy skies early. Then as your temperatures warm up in that humid air, you'll start to get those popcorn-type thunderstorms. Even Atlanta could see a chance of thunderstorms, 30 percent today. High temperature 88. Washington, D.C., will be in the 90s.

And there's the battle zone between the warm and cool air. Billings, 54 today. Minneapolis sees a high of 63. This evening,

Temperatures are going to be downright cold in the northern Rockies. In fact, the Bitterroots, you've got a winter storm warning in effect for tonight and tomorrow for heavy snows, maybe six inches or a little bit more in elevations above 4,000 feet. High temperatures, low temperature, rather, 39 degrees. Minneapolis, 52. You'll be 43 in Denver. The warm, humid air continues in the South. Your afternoon and evening thunderstorms may linger into the overnight hours.

Thomas, Sophia?

CHOI: Orlen, thanks for that. We'll see you in a bit.

SYDNEY: You're welcome.

ROBERTS: Well, if you haven't had time to keep up with the news this week, do not worry. We're going to rewind right now and take a look at some of the top stories for you.

On Monday, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same- sex marriages. Hundreds of couples took advantage of it and went ahead to tie the knot.

In Iraq on Monday, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council and six others were killed in a suicide bombing. The attack came about six weeks before the June 30 transfer of power.

On Wednesday, the first court-martial in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Specialist Jeremy Sivits pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in confinement.

And then on Thursday, Iraqi police raided the compound of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi has been a highly paid and trusted adviser to the U.S. administration. U.S. intelligence officials accuse him of giving intelligence secrets and passing them on to Iran.

Tomorrow, we're going to fast forward to the week ahead and tell you which stories are going to grab the spotlight.

And make sure you stay with us, everybody. It's Martha, Martha, Martha. She's back in the news, because there's potentially a situation where a prosecution witness perjured himself on the stand. So should Martha, in light of this, get a new trial? E-mail us, wam@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: The FBI has issued another general warning of potential terror attacks in the U.S. this summer. Nothing specific, but the government wants everyone to be alert about this.

As CNN's Tom Foreman explains, some experts worry that too much caution can be counterproductive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amtrak stopped two of its high-speed Acela trains and searched them with bomb dogs after a threat was called in to Baltimore police. But Amtrak says it was a routine precaution, the same as it has exercised for years.

FBI agents and police in Philadelphia are examining a motion detection device found on tracks there. But government and railway officials confirm such devices are often used by train companies, and no link to terrorism is apparent.

But add to all of that a new FBI warning for people to watch out for suicide bombers, and the public is hearing a lot of scary talk.

JIM WALSH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: In this day and age, there's no public official or government that wants to be caught in a situation that following a terrorist attack, it was found out that they didn't issue a communication, or they didn't tell the folks they were supposed to tell about it.

And so what we have now is a flood of information. Every little scrap of information that suggests even mildly that there might about threat, that's sort of put out there, and I think that's a mistake.

FOREMAN: There are real costs to the fear. The New York Transit Authority is considering banning all photography on subways, buses, and trains, trying to keep terrorists from collecting information on potential targets.

(on camera): The Department of Homeland Security wants a whole series of new security measures for railways, including the installation of see-through trash cans, which make it harder to hide bombs.

(voice-over): Amtrak says replacing all of its trash cans could cost a half-million dollars. And there is the mental cost.

LT. GEN. DANIEL W. CHRISTMAN (RET.), U.S. ARMY: You cannot, it seems to me, keep a civil population or any military unit in a constant state of heightened readiness before that unit or that population simply turns itself off.

FOREMAN: That, they say, could make the situation much more dangerous when serious threats come along.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: It's time now to check the headlines for you.

Six Iraqis were killed when a suicide car bomber exploded outside the Baghdad home of a government official. Four of the dead were bodyguards. The blast, at the home of Iraq's deputy interior minister, also injured 10 people.

The U.S. military launches new investigations into the deaths of up to 37 detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the deaths were reported at Abu Ghraib prison. A total of 33 investigations are now under way.

ROBERTS: Straight ahead, leaders from the Arab world talk politics in Tunisia.

Back in a moment with CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Arab leaders opened their annual summit meeting with a moment of silence today for Palestinian victims of violence. Delegates from the Arab League's 21 countries, along with Palestinian representatives, are meeting in Tunisia to talk about challenges facing the Arab world.

Our senior international correspondent, Walter Rodgers, is live in the Tunisian capital, joining us now with more. Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thomas, with more than 41 Palestinians killed by the Israelis in the past two days in Rafah alone, it is small wonder, of course, that the Palestinian-Israeli issue has come to the very top of the agenda here at the Arab League summit in Tunis.

The host, President Zine el-Abidine ben-Ali began by asking for that moment of silence. Indeed, he said the Palestinian issue has to be the top priority among all Arab nations at this point.

ZINE EL-ABIDINE BEN-ALI, PRESIDENT, ARAB LEAGUE (through translator): Continuation of the violence and attacks by Israel that are leaving the innocent casualties of the Palestinian people, and I also ask you to send up for a moment of silence for the souls of the Palestinians that were killed.

RODGERS: Palestinian president Yasser Arafat could not attend. He remains locked down by the Israelis in Ramallah. But he did address the Arab League summit by a closed-circuit television hookup. Arafat was saying that he is ready for resumption of peace negotiations with the Israelis. He said that he wants and needs a two-state solution, that is, a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with the Israelis.

And he lambasted the Israelis with a very long and strong indictment of their policies. He said, he accused them of being terrorists and said the Israelis were retaking territory, sinking down roots with no intention whatsoever of returning the land to the Palestinians.

Perhaps by way of footnote, one of the interesting things about this Arab League summit is that many of the issues on the agenda are more or less dictated directly or indirectly by Washington, Thomas.

ROBERTS: Walter Rodgers, live for us in Tunis, Tunisia. Walter, thank you very much.

CHOI: And let's take a look at headlines at this hour now.

In the West Bank today, a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Israeli military checkpoint. It happened near the Jewish settlement Bekaot in the Jordan Valley. A paramedic at the scene says four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were injured. One of the Palestinians is said to be seriously wounded.

The Iraqi Governing Council is considering Thursday's raid on the Baghdad home of Ahmed Chalabi. The council said there is no justification for the raid by Iraqi police, accompanied by U.S. troops. Chalabi is a member of the U.S.-appointed governing council.

Spain's crown prince is no longer an eligible bachelor. Prince Felipe was married this morning in a gala ceremony in Madrid. The guests for the wedding included Prince Charles and Nelson Mandela. Security for the occasion was extra-tight, with NATO F-18s and AWACS planes flying overhead.

Also, along with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo is one of the most respected and recognized voices in the world. At 63 years old, the great tenor has no plans to quit or even to slow down. But he did pause long enough to speak with CNN's Robert Novak in The Novak Zone."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to The Novak Zone.

We're at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with one of the great names in opera, Placido Domingo, the general director of the Washington National Opera.

Maestro, what does the general director of the opera do? PLACIDO DOMINGO, GENERAL DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA: You have, from the very beginning, the ideas of what you are going to present to the public. You say, Well, I want to do an opera by Verdi, an opera by Puccini, Mozart, and more contemporary opera and American opera, which is a must here in Washington. Every season we have been doing one, because I believe that American opera belong to the capital, to the country, you know.

And the public should know that in opera, everything that you are seeing today has been planned for years ago, everything.

NOVAK: Everything, huh?

DOMINGO: So what we are talking today is '07, '08 season. Already we are talking about that. So basically, we prepare everything, then we see which new productions we have to do, which director, which conductor. And this is a combination, a very difficult cocktail, you know, just to bring together.

NOVAK: You are one of the -- recognized as one of the world's great tenors, but you conduct, also here. And I recently saw a presentation of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" where you were the conductor. Do you like conducting in operas rather than singing in it?

DOMINGO: Well, I love every -- both careers. I mean, they have been parallel in the last years, as a singer and conducting career. And every day I do more and more preparing, of course, for the day than I was -- than I won't be able to sing anymore.

NOVAK: Yes, in "Manon Lescaut," you have performed the role of the male lead, of Des Grieux When you're conducting, do you feel like singing sometimes and just joining him and singing it together?

DOMINGO: Not really. I think I never think about singing when I'm conducting, or visa versa, you know? I try to do what I am supposed to do at the moment. The anticipation of the conductor is to, in that fraction of a second, is to anticipate what the public is going to listen. You have it here. You transmit it to the orchestra and to the singers. And then the public hears it.

It is just -- it seems like everything goes together, but there is a little difference of time.

NOVAK: Maestro, you are best known to ordinary people as one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti, Carreras, and you. Do you think the Three Tenors helped bring opera to the ordinary people around the world?

DOMINGO: We definitely -- I mean, we are proud that we did it, you know. Many people -- you cannot imagine the amount of letters that I receive, and, of course, my colleagues, in their own sight, saying, Mr. Domingo, I didn't know about opera. Since I went to the concert here in Chicago, in New York, in Washington, wherever, in Shanghai, in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), in anyplace that we go, now I go to the opera. I have my subscription, and I am a total, total opera fan. I dedicate my life totally to the singing of opera and conducting opera. Now and then, I do some concerts with them and some concerts alone, but my real passion is the stage and the pit.

ROBERTS: Maestro, you performed all over the world. Are the European operagoers different than those in America?

DOMINGO: Well, is no doubt that every public is, in a way, different. What I have to say is that the American public is already mature. And even the fact that there are centuries back comparing to Europe, they have really make the homework, and they come to the opera prepared, and they are so enthusiastic.

NOVAK: Here at the Kennedy Center, there is the screen showing the English translation of the libretto. And a lot of the purists I talk to think that this takes away from the opera. People are reading the text instead of paying attention to the music. I find that it enhances the enjoyment of the opera. How do you feel about it?

DOMINGO: I am with you. Absolutely, this has been an improvement. There are people, naturally, they knew what the opera were about, but they were not able to detect something that was very important in a certain moment, even the witty, because sometimes their librettos, they are very witty, you have things, and there are -- then you can really laugh, especially if it's in a comedy.

So before, things they have to be overdone in the comedies. You know, for the public to read. Today, is enough when you drop a line, when you say something that is funny, and you understand.

NOVAK: And now, the big question for Placido Domingo.

Maestro, when I go to the opera, I find an awful lot of people are as old or older than I am, a lot of gray hair. Are you concerned about that? And are you doing anything to bring younger people into the opera so they can appreciate it?

DOMINGO: Well, we are doing a lot of that. First of all, I -- you don't see it every day, then they are coming older and older generations. On the contrary, I have very much the impression that is a lot of young people then they are coming. We have a generation, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) generation that we call them, there is people between 20 and 30, you know, successful already, couples and they are in their 30s.

I never stop saying, the most important thing is education. From educating the children, it we give them the possibility to know what is classic music, what is just listening to the most beautiful movements of the symphony and the arias of the opera, and you teach them today without saying, Hey, this is something classic, the children, they are ready for everything.

ROBERTS: Placido Domingo, thank you very much.

DOMINGO: Thank you very much.

ROBERTS: And thank you for being in The Novak Zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: And talking with an opera star just isn't enough for Bob Novak. He had to become one. He appeared in the party scene of "La Traviata" at the Kennedy Center this week and proved to be quite a ham.

ROBERTS: Big smile there.

All right, everybody. Stay with us. Just ahead for you, another direct hit to the Midwest. Look at this. One small Iowa town gets leveled as tornadoes touched down overnight. We're going to get the very latest when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: To the moon, Alice! Maybe not that far, but some of the nation's top students are aiming pretty high today in Virginia. We're going to tell you why. That and much more when CNN SATURDAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: Panic, both in front of the camera and behind the scene during Al Jazeera Television's coverage of the war in Iraq. On this day, it was bedlam in Baghdad during a live shot by perhaps the best- known journalists on Arab TV.

Al Jazeera Television is, without a doubt, the primary source of news for the Arab community. The network brought the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq into the homes of millions of people.

Now, a documentary on the Arab television operation is taking you behind the cameras. "Control Room" debuted last night in the U.S. at the Film Forum in New York City. We will talk with the director in just a moment.

First, though, CNN's Suzann Kelly (ph) has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTROL ROOM")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six, five, four, three, two, one...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cue!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANN KELLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Jazeera Television began broadcasting in 1996 and now claims 40 million viewers in the Middle East. The film "The Control Room" is the first documentary about the popular network. It focuses on Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTROL ROOM")

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Al Jazeera has a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: The documentary also looks at claims that the network is a vehicle for Islamic extremists.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR OF ARAB AFFAIRS: So it does highlight moments where the U.S. is calling Al Jazeera the mouthpiece of the Iraqi regime, the former Iraqi regime, or Osama bin laden.

KELLY: CNN senior editor of Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr, is very familiar with the network.

NASR: But it also points out that Al Jazeera has upset many Arab governments by reporting on them, or reporting on things they didn't want them to report on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTROL ROOM")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We get grief from the Americans for showing these pictures, because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) be citing the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) basically instigating anti-American sentiments. I mean, I'm sorry. They can't have their cake and eat it.

NASR: I think the movie, this film, the documentary, is trying to get into the heart of Al Jazeera, and when I say the heart, it's really the heart, it's the emotions. They tapped on that a lot. They showed the employees and their reactions towards guests, towards events, towards policies.

About objectivity, I don't think the film attempted to look at that. I think that was the part that was missing, as far as I'm concerned. I was looking for more details about how editorial decisions are made. How do you decide to cover a story and not the other?

I think the piece was trying to be Al Jazeera's front, and I think it did a very good job at that.

KELLY: When asked how she would rate the film...

NASR: I'm not a movie critic.

KELLY: Suzann Kelly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Looks like a riveting documentary.

Joining us now is the director of "The Control Room," Jehane Noujaim joins us now live in New York.

Jehane, good morning. JEHANE NOUJAIM, DIRECTOR, "THE CONTROL ROOM": Hi, good morning.

ROBERTS: First I want to ask you, where did you come up with the idea to do this? Obviously, looking at the video and what you captured, it is riveting. But how did you come up with the idea?

NOUJAIM: Jazeera's been criticized in the Middle East and in the United States. So you always have a curiosity about people that have been heavily, heavily criticized. You want to know who the people are behind this channel.

KELLY: Jehane, you're Egyptian born, you were educated in the United States and then decided to go ahead and put this together, be the filmmaker behind this project. Is it because you think that there are such different perceptions of what the Arab world thinks is news and what the Western world thinks is the news?

NOUJAIM: Definitely. I've traveled back and forth between Egypt and the United States my entire life, and you watch the same world events, and you watch people having completely different perceptions of those same world events.

So in Qatar, when the war was about to start, I knew that there would be Al Jazeera located there, which was broadcasting to the entire Arab world, and 10 miles away was Central Command, which would be housing the military base, and also all of the Western networks that would be broadcasting to the Western world.

So in this tiny little Gulf state was news creation for the entire world.

ROBERTS: Jehane, Al Jazeera, as I understand it, is broadcast to some 40 million homes. And as we've heard, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he said it is the station for propaganda. Other people have called it Osama bin Laden's mouthpiece. So how did you convince Al Jazeera that they could trust you, that you could come inside and see how they do, see how they operate?

NOUJAIM: Well, it took awhile, because they definitely had their news -- you know, people doing news programs on them, where they had the stereotypical view of the Arab woman, the veiled woman, behind the veils, behind the veiled woman, behind the controls. And I drank a lot of coffee, smoked a lot of cigarettes with them in the cafeteria and really got to know them.

And I think that they felt like I was trying to figure out for myself. I mean, I'm -- my mother's American, from Indiana, my father's Egyptian. So I'm definitely caught between these two worlds, And I think that they trusted the fact that I was really, for myself, trying to figure this out. What was the truth behind this? Who are these people?

ROBERTS: And did you know what you were getting yourself into when you came up with this concept for what you wanted to put together? Did you decide that you were going to make this a film that more event-driven because of historical content, that is, or more people driven because of the people you were going to meet?

NOUJAIM: I must say that it was more people-driven. I mean, when I went there, I had no idea who I was going to follow or what kind of story I was going to tell. I just knew that this place that I was going to was going to be the center of news creation, and it was going to be the -- a fascinating place to be.

And so I would say it was definitely people-driven. I mean, I'm attracted to making films about characters that I find who are under pressure, who are complex people, who are going to challenge you and surprise you. If you're not surprised by somebody and when you're making a film, then the audience isn't going to be surprised by them.

So it's -- it would be a boring film to watch.

ROBERTS: Whose film will be changed in terms of perception, in terms of watching this? Who do you think their attitudes will change, Arab or American?

NOUJAIM: I intend for both sides to see it. Right now, we're showing it to an American audience, and it's been absolutely amazing. People have come up and said, Thank you so much for showing us this. Please, thank the people at Al Jazeera, please thank the people at Central Command. You know, it follows an incredibly insightful and charismatic, intelligent military press officer. Completely changed my view of the military when I met this -- met Lieutenant Josh Rushing.

So they -- people who have seen it have said, Look, you've completely changed our perception on this. This has been a glimpse inside Al Jazeera, a channel that, behind the scenes of a channel that we've heard so much about, but we've never seen the people. We've never understood what goes on behind this.

So I think it's had a great reception. In the Middle East, we haven't shown it there yet, but I think that it's very important for the -- for people in the Middle East to see another side to the U.S. military.

ROBERTS: Well, Jehane, we appreciate your time this morning to talk about your project. You are the filmmaker and director behind "The Control Room." Jehane Noujaim, thanks so much. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

NOUJAIM: Thanks for having me.

ROBERTS: You're welcome. "The Control Room"...

NOUJAIM: If you, if people want to -- if people want to see where it's playing, it's at Controlroommovie.com.

ROBERTS: Hey, there you go, a little tease. I was just going to say that too. "The Control Room," it opened last night at the New York Film Forum. It's going to open nationally next month. And you can find it on the Internet, as you just heard, too.

CHOI: Well, we've had some really tough weather out in the Midwest lately.

ROBERTS: Really have, past couple of weeks...

CHOI: Yes.

ROBERTS: ... they've been getting pounded.

CHOI: Here's Orelon Sidney with a forecast update for us. Hi, Orelon.

SIDNEY: Thanks a lot. I wish I could give you some better news, but today is going to be another day like the past several, as we look at severe thunderstorms again across the Midwest. A little stationary front here to the south of that, warm, moist air to the north, the cold air, and they're going to battle it out today and probably tomorrow as we continue to see a chance of thunderstorms across much of the region.

Look at what Iowa has been under the past 24 hours, numerous severe thunderstorm watches, numerous tornado watches. Right now, we have a storm system working towards Quad Cities. So you'll probably get some gusty winds.

Last night, though, in Bradgate, that's in Humbolt County, we did have damage to 90 percent of the structures in town, 15 people were injured. The good news is, nobody was killed.

Here comes the storms now, working towards you in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. These are going to rapidly move eastward. And they do have that bow-shaped echo, which indicates that they could contain some very gusty winds. So watch out for that.

Chicago, storm system moving through now. Waukegan getting the worst of it currently. But we do have flash flood watches in effect, northern portions of Lake Michigan. We also have some localized flash flood warnings. Watch out for that as well.

Showers and thunderstorms will continue today across much of the Midwest. They have a moderate risk of severe weather, especially Iowa, into Nebraska.

Sophia, Thomas.

ROBERTS: OK, Orelon.

CHOI: All right, see you later.

CHOI: All right, how high will they go? That's what many are wondering at this year's Team America Rocketry Challenge in Virginia. You're looking at live pictures there. Over 700 of the country's best and brightest students are there launching their hand-built rockets into orbit. The challenge is to get the rocket up to 1,250 feet, then drop two raw eggs down to the ground unbroken. The winners will share some $60,000 in prize money and go on to meet some NASA astronauts.

Well, should she get another shot? Our e-mail question of the morning, What do you think about Martha Stewart's push for a new trial? We'll read your thoughts just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Kathleen Hays in Washington. We're "ON THE STORY" of the latest in Iraq with Barbara Starr. Dana Bash in Texas going to talk about the president's plans to explain what's ahead. I'll be looking at gas prices and a surprise in the Martha Stewart case. Maria Hinojosa was in Massachusetts watching the first legal gay marriages. And Kelli Arena talks about security at the Olympics.

Great show, all coming up, all "ON THE STORY."

Back to you, Thomas.

ROBERTS: Kathleen, we'll see you shortly. Thank you.

Want to check our top stories for you now.

The prison abuse scandal is getting worse, apparently, each day. U.S. military officials now say that criminal investigations are under way in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Baghdad today, a suicide car bombing outside the home of Iraq's deputy interior minister. Six Iraqis are dead, plus the bomber, and 10 others wounded. Interior minister Abdul Jabar Josef (ph) and his wife are among the injured.

CHOI: Well, all morning long, we've been asking you for your thoughts on our e-mail question, Should Martha Stewart get a new trial after a federal witness was accused of perjury? And we've got some responses already.

ROBERTS: Certainly have. Want to start with this one. Sally in San Diego writes in, "Why are they making such a big deal of Martha? We have much bigger fish to fry. Why waste our tax money on court time and investigations?"

CHOI: And we've got one from Rosemary Brewster. She says, "Martha Stewart should not have a new trial. She was found guilty because she is guilty. There is no need to say anything any more."

ROBERTS: And I think we have time for one more here, guys. Becky in New Orleans writes in, saying, "Yes, the charges should be dropped. She was lynched. How many other government witnesses lied?"

And we got similar e-mail comments like that in the earlier hours too. But we'll keep you posted what happens with her case this week, if anything.

CHOI: And we appreciate you sending in your e-mails to us this morning.

Well, they say politics makes strange bedfellows. Well, that saying might not really be relevant these days. CNN's Bruce Burkhardt examines the politics of dating. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So tell me about yourself.

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Couples getting to know each other fast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, ready?

BURKHARDT: It's called speed or hurry dating, conversing with one person for three minutes, then...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On to the next winner, alphabetical order.

BURKHARDT: ... moving on to the next person. A way for singles to find their ideal mate. And nowadays, if you use the old line, What's your sign? the answer might well be, a Bush sign or a Kerry sign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a Republican. So I feel as if Republicans and Democrats are complete opposites.

BURKHARDT: Earlier online, all these people filled out their profiles. Do you drink? Do you smoke? Your favorite movie? And are your politics on the right or the left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe in the opposites attract rule. I mean, that's often said, and I just don't believe it.

BURKHARDT: A number of online dating services have sprung up recently, catering to political matchmaking. Republicansingles.com, Democratsingles.com, and Loveinwar.com. Isn't dating complicated enough without adding politics to the mix?

(on camera): This idea of identifying ourselves and a possible future mate through our political beliefs may be a sign of something larger going on.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But you know what researchers have found, that today, over the last 30 years, at least, people have sorted themself out by party. America is more segregated today than it's been in decades, not by race, by party.

BURKHARDT (voice-over): And yet, sometimes opposites do attract, not only attract, but endure. Witness James Carville and Mary Matalin.

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The whole idea that somehow or another you, I think that you can run a computer program and put everything through it, find out who's compatible, I kind of liked the old way, you know, where you just sort of bump into somebody at a bar or a supermarket, or get fixed up, and then see if sparks fly or not.

BURKHARDT: And even if you can't read a book by its cover, you can at least find out if it's a Republican or Democrat book. And sleeping with the enemy, it seems, is now the exception and not the rule.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And there you have it. Stay with us, everybody. Plenty more ahead right here today on CNN. Up next, it's "ON THE STORY," followed at 11:00 by "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." And today, we profile "American Idol"'s Clay Aiken (ph) and Reuben Suttered (ph) along with "Shrek 2"'s Mike Meyers. Then at noon Eastern, it's "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" with the latest from Iraq and a closer look at the upcoming handover of power.

CHOI: And we want to thank you right now for joining us this morning. We hope to see you right back here starting at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

ROBERTS: Bright and early, everybody. Have a good day. Take care.

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