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CNN Saturday Morning News
American Hostage Tom Fox Found Dead In Iraq; Kidnapping In Iraq To Raise Money; Slobodan Milosevic Found Dead In Prison Cell; March Madness Begins; Fulton Courthouse Shootings One Year Later; Memorial Services Marks Second Anniversary Of Madrid Terrorist Attack
Aired March 11, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, there is new information this morning in the developing story about an American hostage found murdered in Baghdad. Iraqi police say American Tom Fox had been shot in the head, his hands and feet bound. Fox's body was found wrapped in a blanket Thursday in a Baghdad neighborhood.
We're going to have a live report from Iraq in just a few minutes about this.
In other news, a new poll finds an overwhelming number of Americans, 77 percent, think Iraq is heading toward a civil war. The A.P.-Ipsos Poll asked, "How likely is it that civil war will break out in Iraq?"
Seventy percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats polled say Iraq is heading toward civil war.
We'll give you a chance to weigh in on this all morning long in our e-mails.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In Spain, a day of remembrance on the second anniversary of what is considered that country's 9/11. A delegation from Morocco placed a wreath at a train station in Madrid. Morocco is home to many of the suspects in the Madrid terror bombings that killed 191 people on March 11, two years ago.
In Pakistan, at least 26 people were killed late Friday in an assault by the Pakistani Army on a tribal region. According to Pakistan's military, it acted on intelligence reports that terrorists were gathered in the area. Local officials denied terrorists were in the area, saying local villagers came under military fire.
NGUYEN: Police are still looking for a man who prompted a brief evacuation of the Delta terminal at New York's LaGuardia Airport Friday evening. The man walked away from a security checkpoint while authorities tested residue taken from his shoes. And according to the TSA, the machine gave a false positive alert on non-explosive substances.
Well, a conference in Memphis today will give us a good idea who wants to run on the Republican ticket for president in 2008. The Southern Republican Leadership Conference starts in about an hour from now and a half dozen potential GOP candidates are testing the political climate. Notably absent, though, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Good morning, everybody.
Rise and shine. I know it's early. 7:00 a.m. ...
HARRIS: Rise and shine.
NGUYEN: Yes.
3:00 p.m. in Baghdad.
Good morning, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Thank you for being with us.
NGUYEN: We want to begin now in Iraq with new developments in the killing of an American hostage, Tom Fox. He was one of four Christian missionaries abducted last November as seen in this file footage. However, he was not seen in the video of the hostages made public earlier this week.
Now, the State Department confirmed last night that the blanket shrouded body found Thursday was, indeed, Fox.
His grief-stricken family and supporters are still struggling to understand why he was killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGE EPSTEIN, FRIEND: I'm very sorry that they're that desperate. But it does no one any good for me to want vengeance. If I don't understand why people come to a point where they feel that it's necessary to do something like this in order to get the recognition they need, then I can't possibly do anything to prevent it. And it certainly doesn't help to go back and try to get them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Fox's congregation is expected to hold a news conference in about four hours from now.
In the meantime, there is new information coming out about how Fox was killed.
For that, we turn to CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad -- Aneesh.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, good morning.
There is no hope now, just mourning and grief for the family of Tom Fox. His body, we understand from Iraqi police officials, was found on Thursday in the Al Mansour neighborhood of the capital, an area where a number of Westerners have been taken hostage.
They found the body wrapped in a blanket. It had been shot to the head, the hands and feet bound. They identified it early on as a Westerner. They then notified an Iraqi Army patrol that was passing by. They, in turn, handed the remains to the U.S. military.
The FBI has since identified the remains as those of Tom Fox.
Now, Fox was one of, as you say, four Westerners who were being held hostage, members of a group called Christian Peacekeepers Team, in Iraq to aid those Iraqis that are being held as prisoners by the U.S. and by Iraqi authorities.
The last video we saw earlier this week did not show Tom Fox. Instead, it showed the British national and two Canadians who were being held along with him. That raised concerns as to his fate and now it has raised uncertainty as to the fate for those other hostages, as well.
In all, we understand, right now, there are at least seven Americans who are either missing or have been kidnapped. Included among them, of course, Jill Carroll, who is -- was abducted now over two months ago. Her fate still unknown. The last video we saw of her came at the start of February. The last comments came from Iraq's interior ministry, who expressed hope that she would -- and optimism that she would be released.
But, again, no word more on Jill Carroll. And, again, today, the fate of Tom Fox, we now understand, the group that was holding him has killed him -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Aneesh, all of this is just so difficult on so many fronts.
So let's talk about a couple of things now.
One, the U.S. has a policy of not negotiating with terrorists. So, that being the case, what are governments and groups doing to help win the release of hostages? And, two, how successful have they been, especially in the case of Americans?
RAMAN: Well, as far as we're aware, no American who's been held hostage has been released. They have either been rescued, as we've seen in some cases, or, as we've unfortunately seen today, have been killed.
As you mentioned, the U.S. government does not negotiate with terrorists. When a kidnap situation does emerge, when it involves an American, we understand at the U.S. Embassy there is a working group that is always in place to deal with situations just like this. They try and secure any information they can as to the whereabouts, perhaps, so the military can go in and rescue the individual.
Meantime, the Iraqi government leads the efforts to try and establish back channel communications with the group holding the Westerners hostage. They do so through the imams at the mosques or through government officials who have contacts.
In terms of success, though, it is tough to say, because we never know exactly what has led to the release of those that do find themselves in the end released.
But, again, it is something that is done on a number of levels. Feverish efforts are taken. But the underlying point is that the U.S. government does not, for obvious reasons, negotiate with these hostage takers -- Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad.
Aneesh, thank you.
Well, Tom Fox's friends from the Langley Hill Meeting House will hold a news conference this morning at 11:00 Eastern and CNN is going to continue to bring you new developments on this story.
HARRIS: Tom Fox was just one of several Americans taken hostage while in Iraq. But not only Americans, or, for that matter, foreigners, are being kidnapped.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports from Iraq, where kidnapping is a way to raise money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ali Rahed Ujai (ph) is one of the lucky ones. He was kidnapped for ransom in Baqubah, freed by the Iraqi Army, now back with his family. The kidnappers originally demanded $150,000. His family refused to pay. They called again, asking for $50,000, his father Daea Darday (ph) says. I said, "I will build his funeral tent before I will give you even $100." I said, "Let him die. Let him be a martyr."
Kidnapping is big business all across Iraq. In the Abu Ghraib district west of the capital, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division has been busting kidnapping gangs since last year.
LT. COL. KEVIN BROWN, U.S. ARMY: Because of the criminal element, you know, you ransom someone, you make money and you can therefore fund your counter -- or your insurgent efforts.
DAMON: This marketplace was prime pickings for kidnappers until Iraqi security forces set up permanent checkpoints in the area at the beginning of the year. Military officials say things are safer now, but the Abu Ghraib neighborhood used to be sanctuary for the kidnapping gangs. Multiple joint military operations reduce their ability to function there.
BROWN: The kidnapping cells is elusive because -- because of the nature of that type of activity. I mean, it's criminal is what it is. And so what we have to do is work through our human intelligence linkages. They stay on the move. I mean, they don't -- kidnapping cells don't establish a location. You have to operate pretty quickly to stay on the heels of it and garner something out of it.
DAMON: When the kidnappers moved to the fields and farmlands north of the city, so did the military's intricate game of cat and mouse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We obviously advise audible small arms fire.
DAMON: The first major sweep of the area in early January saved the life of French engineer Bernard Planche.
(on camera): Bernard Planche was rescued about a month after he was kidnapped, when U.S. and Iraqi Army forces were conducting an operation through here. Planche, whose captors had fled, walked out of that little white building over there.
(voice-over): This run-down street in a relatively safe neighborhood became sanctuary for an entire family of 85, victims of multiple kidnappings.
"They kidnapped my brother, Aziz Salman says, "and I paid $30,000. They kidnapped my uncle and I paid $20,000."
Aziz shows the house where he used to live, a place he was proud to have built but may never return to. "I never cry," he says, "just when I had to desert my home." He lost his home but knows that unlike many other Iraqis, he was lucky to have enough money to save his family's lives.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
HARRIS: And this just in to CNN.
The local media out of Belgrade, Serbia is reporting that former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died in the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal's detention center in the Hague. Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as a leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia, as you know, was standing trial for a series of alleged crimes, including genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo during the 1990s.
Once again, this in to CNN. Local media out of Belgrade, Serbia is reporting the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal's detention center in the Hague.
We will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest information as soon as we get it.
NGUYEN: We want to check stories making "News Across America" this morning.
Police are still trying to figure out who raped and killed a 24- year-old grad student after she left a bar in New York. A police source tells CNN that a semen stain on the blanket she was found wrapped in did not match Darryl Littlejohn's DNA. Now, he is the bouncer named as a person of interest in the case.
Prosecutors are hoping the third time is the charm when they retry mob figure John Gotti, Jr. Yesterday, the jury deadlocked, forcing a second mistrial. The defense argued Gotti had retired from the mob and the statute of limitations prevented prosecution. Gotti, Jr. is accused of racketeering and arranging a brutal attack on a founder of the Guardian Angels.
A nurse who admitted killing dozens of patients under his care is going to jail for a very long time. Yesterday, a court in Pennsylvania Charles Cullen seven life sentences. Last week, a court in New Jersey gave him 11 consecutive lifetimes with no chance of parole. Cullen says he was trying to end his patients' suffering.
Nine years in prison -- that is what former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell could get after yesterday's conviction on tax evasion charges. But legal experts say it is doubtful he will get the maximum sentence. Campbell was cleared on charges he accepted payoffs from contractors who wanted to do business with the city during the 1990s.
HARRIS: And we are staying focused on the crime blotter, it seems, this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've just always thought of her as my mom. I never really thought of her as a runaway criminal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, his mom is a runaway criminal with quite a rap sheet. Still to come, new details about Lee Anne Howard, the girlfriend of the fugitive father. Wait until you hear her laundry list of offenses.
NGUYEN: Yes, we also want to introduce you to a new member of our morning team.
Reynolds Wolf is his name. He joins us ...
HARRIS: Man, am I happy to see you.
NGUYEN: ... from our -- why is that? Another guy on the team?
HARRIS: Thank you.
My goodness.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look, if you think teens are only good for emptying your refrigerator, think again. We're starting a new series this morning profiling "People" magazine's teens who are changing the world. These are amazing young adults who are overcoming adversities or disabilities. Their stories of courage and commitment will inspire you, we guarantee.
8:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, if you're just waking up with us, here are some of the top stories. Reports out of Serbia indicate former President Slobodan Milosevic has died. You're looking at a picture right there of him.
He was being held at the Hague while on trial for war crimes.
We'll give you a little more information about that.
The former Yugoslavian president was on trial for crimes against humanity, including genocide. He was a nationalistic dictator known as the butcher of the Balkans. And the indictments cover a lot of things, including the explosion of hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians from their homes back in 1999.
We have learned today that Milosevic has died.
Here's a little information about his health that may uncover some clues. Milosevic suffers -- or did suffer -- from high blood pressure, hypertension and resulting cardiovascular damage, according to medical reports. And according to reports out of Belgrade this morning, the former Yugoslavian president has died.
In other news, American hostage Tom Fox found dead in Iraq. He had been kidnapped with three other Christian peace activists last November. A group calling themselves Swords of Righteousness Brigades has claimed responsibility for that kidnapping. But there's no word yet on the fate of the other hostages.
HARRIS: Well, and the City of Phoenix, my goodness, it almost feels like a year long drought. It hasn't been that long, but it just feels that way since the last time they had any kind of significant rain. What was that, October...
NGUYEN: That long?
HARRIS: No, really? October 20th?
NGUYEN: All the way in October?
HARRIS: Well, it gives us great pleasure to welcome Reynolds Wolf...
NGUYEN: Another wolf man...
HARRIS: ... to CNN...
NGUYEN: ... to CNN.
HARRIS: ... SATURDAY MORNING.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, it is that time of year. The work stoppage begins because March madness is here. Time to play some basketball.
HARRIS: How about that?
And as you prepare to make your picks and get comfortable on the couch, we will take a look at the money behind the madness.
Round ball in hand, no knowledge of what to do with it, Rick Horrow is in West Palm...
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: No.
HARRIS: ... and he'll take us "Beyond The Game"...
NGUYEN: You got game, Rick?
HARRIS: ... when we come back.
HORROW: Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
NGUYEN: OK, we'll see how much game you have.
HORROW: I got game.
NGUYEN: We'll see you soon.
HORROW: I got game.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look, we've all seen the brackets. On Monday you'll be able to find them in just about every office in America. College basketball's March madness is here. Get this -- one consulting firm says employees' obsession with the championship series costs Bosnia Serbs $900 million in lost revenue last year. $900 million, Betty.
Did you hear me, $900 million?
NGUYEN: I'm listening.
HARRIS: Expect that same fixation from now until the final four ends on April 3rd.
Filling out the brackets has become a rite of spring, a very expensive rite at that. And Las Vegas, gambling operations are salivating.
We're now in the busiest time of the year for Vegas bettors. For more on the business of the final four, we bring in sports business analyst Rick Horrow, who joins us from his regular home, West Palm Beach, Florida -- Rick, good to see you.
Sorry we don't have ...
(CROSSTALK)
HORROW: Hey, man, how are you doing?
This is -- this is -- this is the final four ball from St. Louis last year...
HARRIS: Yes.
HORROW: ... the official souvenir.
We're going to Indy. We'll cover that in a few weeks and then we'll go through the picks and I'll take some more money from u.
HARRIS: OK.
And let me apologize ahead of time here.
We don't have as much time as I had hoped because we've got all this breaking news.
HORROW: Right.
HARRIS: But let's get started with this.
$3 billion annually?
HORROW: Yes.
HARRIS: So who is the big winner in this whole fest here? Are we talking about the schools, the advertisers, CBS, maybe all?
HORROW: One answer -- everybody.
HARRIS: Everybody.
HORROW: First of all, it's a $1.7 billion deal that CBS signed with the colleges over eight years. It was the financial bedrock of all of college sports. Eighty-eight percent of the rights fees of the revenue from college sports comes from those rights fees, which is twice as much as the NFL and four times as much as major league baseball. So that's huge.
Of course, the other issue is corporations -- $300 million of investment. They love it. The Gallup poll says that this is the third most favorite sport to watch for everybody, meaning college basketball.
But, Tony, the big winner is the schools. Three hundred twenty Division 1 schools get all that money distributed. But they use it for other sports. And that's why 360,000 student athletes every year in 23 sports and they wouldn't get those dollars if it wasn't for that NCAA TV money and college basketball.
HARRIS: Wow!
OK, and you're going to Indianapolis, I guess that's for the final four, right, in a couple of weeks?
HORROW: The final four. We'll go through the picks. This is selection Sunday this week. And, of course, it is that $3 billion business, Internet, all of the other dollars, $1.2 million for a 30- second commercial, by the way, Tony.
HARRIS: That's right.
HORROW: We'll cover all of that next week and leading up to the final four in Indy. And then we'll do our picks and then I'll gloat.
HARRIS: Yes.
HORROW: And it's Pittsburgh by 11.
HARRIS: Exactly.
HORROW: Oh, that was the Super Bowl pick now.
HARRIS: Exactly.
My apologies for the short shrift this morning.
Good to see you, Rick -- Betty.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
NGUYEN: We want to update you now on this developing story that we have learned just moments ago.
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died in the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal's detention center in the Hague. These reports are out of Belgrade, Serbia. And we have actually just confirmed those reports. Also, Serbian officials have confirmed this to Belgrade media there.
And let me tell you a little bit about Milosevic.
He was on trial for crimes against humanity, including genocide. Milosevic was a nationalistic dictator known as the Butcher of the Balkans.
And he suffered from high blood pressure, hypertension and resulting cardiovascular damage. According to his medical reports, his trial has been delayed several times because of his health problems. And we're going to get a little bit more on this development with the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from our very own Christiane Amanpour, who joins us by phone -- Christiane, we're just learning this. CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
At about 10:00 a.m. local time in the Hague, according to the official that we spoke to, he had been dead, apparently, for several hours when he was discovered and they are not sure of the cause of death. They say they are going to do an autopsy and it could be a while until we hear what exactly caused his death.
And that is all we know for sure at the moment.
So Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia, who has been on trial since the year 2002 at the Hague, a very lengthy trial that he conducted himself, at least his own defense, is now dead, officially confirmed by prosecutors at the Hague. And, as I say, he was discovered at 10:00 a.m. in his cell. Apparently he had been dead for several hours. And cause of death as yet unknown. An autopsy to be done -- Colleen.
NGUYEN: Christiane, this is Betty.
I wanted to ask you a little bit more.
You said he had been dead for several hours.
Aren't there some rotations there that the people guarding this detention center may have noticed before waiting several hours, or at least not knowing until he had been dead for several hours?
AMANPOUR: Well, Betty, you know, I can't second-guess what the -- what the people at the Hague are saying. But, you know, 10:00 in the morning, perhaps -- perhaps he hadn't been -- it's unclear his daily schedule. He was not a prison in the, you know, classic -- the classic sense of the word. He was in prison, but unclear about his actual daily routine and why it was not discovered earlier.
But this is what we're being told by the prosecutor's office. This is the first official confirmation of the fact that earlier today, radio in Belgrade, the radio in Belgrade had had reports that he was dead. And we have now confirmed it.
But this is bound to have statements later. The prosecutor's office saying that they will make a public statement some time later. And the tribunal, rather, will have a statement.
Slobodan Milosevic has been long a thorn in the side of the West, certainly since the backup of Yugoslavia in the early '90s. And finally with the end of his rule and subsequent arrest and deportation to the Hague, which we followed and covered and have covered his trial, certainly, ever since.
This has been a long, long trial. He has had months and months in his own defense. The prosecution wrapped up its case more than a year or so ago and he has now been conducting his own defense.
There were frequent, frequent hiatuses in the trial because Slobodan Milosevic was frequently ill. He had heart trouble. He had other trouble. At least that was the word that always we were told when he took frequent breaks from the trial.
And, as I say, now, this man, who is the first sitting head of state to have been indicted for genocide and other war crimes, is now dead. But he did not survive to see a sentence pronounced on him or to see -- to see exactly how the end of that trial was going to wrap up -- Betty.
HARRIS: And, Christiane, this is Tony Harris with Betty this morning.
Just a quick question. I know that you covered the Balkans wars.
Can you give us a sense of your recollections from those days of war and battle?
AMANPOUR: Absolutely.
I met Slobodan Milosevic and interviewed him in 1992, around the time of the eruption of war in Bosnia. And certainly previous to that, he had been blamed for the eruption of war in Croatia, the neighboring Balkan republic.
He was a man who often said the right things in public, but was deemed to do entirely the wrong things on the ground. He would have meetings and promise to seek peace in the Balkans, but all the time behind-the-scenes, and, frankly, in front of the scenes, he would be egging on and supporting and supplying the various Serb armies, for instance, first in Croatia and then in Bosnia, in order to do what was apparently his plan, and that to get a greater Serbia.
That never materialized and in the end he saw a war by the United States and NATO, intervention in Bosnia to end the genocide there and then Bosnia -- then after that Kosovo, as well, where the United States and its NATO partners intervened to prevent a genocide, a full scale genocide taking place in Kosovo.
Then after that, Milosevic went to elections in Serbia and that was when he lost the elections. And following that, he was arrested. He was kept in jail for a while in Serbia, and then finally deported to the Hague in 2002. And from then until now, has been in the courtroom with, as I say, frequent breaks for health reasons.
HARRIS: That's our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, on the phone with us from Kabul, Afghanistan this morning.
Christiane, we appreciate it.
Thank you.
We will take a quick break and we will come back with more on the life and now the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. HARRIS: And we are following breaking news out of Belgrade.
CNN has confirmed the death of former President Slobodan Milosevic. He was being held at the Hague while on trial for war crimes. And as we just heard from chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, his heart condition, poor health, heart condition and high blood pressure repeatedly interrupted his trial, which had been going on for close to five years, Betty.
He faced charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
NGUYEN: Well, there are, Tony, other disturbing details today about the death of American hostage Tom Fox. Iraqi police tell CNN the Christian peace activist, which you're not seeing right here in this video, was shot in the head and his body showed signs of torture.
There's a picture of Tom Fox.
Police found Fox's body in a Baghdad street on Thursday. The 54- year-old was abducted last November along with three other members of the Christian Peacemaker Team.
HARRIS: Let's take a look at back now at the controversial life of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Here's CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Slobodan Milosevic became president of Serbia in 1989. The Yugoslav wars would start two years later. Milosevic, the chief architect of carnage that had been unseen in Europe since the Second World War.
It would take the next decade to stop his murderous Balkan rampage, to arrest, extradite and try him on charges of genocide at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.
LOUISE ARBOUR, WAR CRIMES CHIEF PROSECUTOR: I presented an indictment for confirmation against Slobodan Milosevic and four others, charging them with crimes against humanity, specifically, murder, deportation and persecutions and the violations of the laws and customs of war.
AMANPOUR: Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo -- throughout the 1990s, Slobodan Milosevic's policies, his paramilitaries and his armed forces incited violence and ethnic hatred that would destroy Yugoslavia. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, millions forced to leave their homes and wonder the world as refugees. Civilians were the primary targets in this bid to redesign Yugoslavia along purely ethnic lines.
The term ethnic cleansing became synonymous with Bosnia, as Serb force there loyal to and paid for by Milosevic tried to carve out a separate state by forcibly moving the non-Serb civilian population. They did it by bombarding towns and cities like Sarajevo with heavy artillery, besieging villages and massacring civilians. Snipers targeted men, women and children. Markets full of people shopping were shelled and in scenes unknown in Europe since World War II, there were concentration camps, mass rape and the forced prostitution of women and very young girls.
This orgy of violence peaked with the Bosnian Serb assault on the tiny Muslim village of Srebrenica. To this day, the International Red Cross says that about 7,000 Muslim men and boys remain unaccounted for.
The top Bosnian Serb leaders controlled by Milosevic were Radovan Karadzic and his military chief, Ratko Mladic. They were twice indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity, for the horror they brought to Bosnia. And to this day, they remain at large.
In 1995, after NATO conducted bombing raids to stop the Bosnian subways, Slobodan Milosevic became the West's partner in the peace that was forged at Dayton that year. But he was as poor a peace partner as he was a war maker.
Having lost both Croatia and Bosnia, in 1998, Milosevic launched one more military campaign, this time in the tiny Serbian province of Kosovo. It would prove his undoing.
NATO again went to war to stop him. After 78 days of bombing, Milosevic finally capitulated. Now, NATO forces and a U.N. administration took over Kosovo. Hundreds of thousands of deported Albanian residents came home and survivors started looking for their dead.
Now, the War Crimes Tribunal was able to start on site investigations.
But ever the master of miscalculation, barely a year after losing Kosovo, Milosevic called new elections. After supporting him for 10 bloody years, the Yugoslav people had now had enough. Hundreds of thousands take to the streets to celebrate his downfall and the end of what many called their nightmare years.
Next came Milosevic's arrest and by April, 2001, only a few hundred diehards mustered the will to protest. F
With Milosevic in Belgrade's central prison, Yugoslavia's new government accused him of everything from corruption, political killings and election fraud, to money laundering and recently, even war crimes.
In June, 2001, the new government in Belgrade sent him to the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. His trial there started in February, 2002.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC, FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT: I consider this tribunal a false tribunal.
AMANPOUR: He never recognized the tribunal's authority and insisted on defending himself. If he had been found guilty on the more than 60 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes, he could have faced several lifetimes behind bars.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Our top stories just into CNN.
Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his prison cell. The former Yugoslav leader was on trial in the Hague for alleged war crimes. Serbian officials confirm this report, as well.
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is investigating the death of American hostage Tom Fox. Now, his body was found in Baghdad yesterday -- on Thursday, I should say. Iraqi police say Fox was shot in the head and showed signs of torture.
HARRIS: Remember this? A year ago a shooting inside an Atlanta courthouse that left three dead and the city gripped with fear while the accused gunmen, Brian Nichols, roamed the streets. It was 26 hours of terror and chaos that ended with an unlikely heroine, Ashley Smith.
A year later, CNN's Kyra Phillips visited Smith's apartment, where Nichols held her hostage before turning himself in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time Ashley Smith returns to her apartment since moving out one year ago.
(on camera) Is it strange being back?
ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY BRIAN NICHOLS: Yes, it's very strange being here.
PHILLIPS: What were you thinking when you pulled up?
SMITH: How nervous I was going to be going in here and just how kind of weird it feels.
PHILLIPS: How do you feel right now?
SMITH: OK. I'm a little short of breath.
PHILLIPS: So take me through that day.
SMITH: When I turned around and saw him right there, the door was already open. And he just followed me in and shut and locked the door.
PHILLIPS: He had the gun right on your head? SMITH: Yes. Yes, right at my face.
PHILLIPS: So what happened at that point?
SMITH: Well, he came in and closed the door and locked the door. I can just remember right here, just saying, "Please don't hurt me. I have a little girl who doesn't have a dad."
PHILLIPS (voice-over): It's been two weeks since Ashley last saw her daughter, but she planned to see her later that morning.
SMITH: He had the gun pointed right at me. And I began to scream immediately with a fun pointed at my face.
PHILLIPS: Thinking she may never see her daughter again, she tries to reason with Nichols.
SMITH: I said, "You don't understand. I haven't seen her in two weeks. Her daddy's dead. Imagine what she's going to feel like when I don't show up. She's going to think that I didn't want to see her."
PHILLIPS: Brian Nichols asks for something to help him relax.
SMITH: He asked me if I had any marijuana. And I was like, "What? No." But immediately I said, "I have some ice." And thought, oh, my gosh, what did I just do? I can't do that. But it was too late. I had already offered it to him.
PHILLIPS (on camera): Why did you have it?
SMITH: Because I was addicted at the time to it.
PHILLIPS: Did you feel a need to do it with him?
SMITH: No way. I knew that that was my last chance. I had been more of a prisoner to that drug for the past few years than I was to Brian Nichols that night in this apartment, really. It took control of my life. It even made me give custody away of my daughter, the person that I love the most in the world.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): For the first time in her life, Ashley Smith says she has the strength to refuse crystal meth.
SMITH: I just felt the presence, like the presence of God come into the house and like, like everything was going to be OK. And that's when I went and grabbed my "Purpose Driven Life" and asked him if I could read. I went and grabbed it and went and sat on the bed.
PHILLIPS: "Purpose Driven Life" is Rick Warren's best-selling devotional book. Ashley reads a paragraph out loud.
SMITH: "What you are is God's gift to you. What you do with yourself is your gift to God. God deserves your best. He shapes you for a purpose and he expects you to make the most of what you have been given. He doesn't want you to worry about or covet abilities you don't have." PHILLIPS: Nichols asks her to read it again. It seems to register, and he begins to open up.
SMITH: He said he felt like there was a demon inside him and that there was a spiritual warfare going on inside of him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: For more on that frightening day, watch "CNN PRESENTS: 26 HOURS OF TERROR," tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.
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HARRIS: Live pictures now of the Hague in the Netherlands. This is the site where the war crimes trial against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was being held. It is also the place where the former president died in a detention center. That news coming to us just a short time ago here at CNN.
Milosevic dying at 10:00 a.m. local time. Dead, apparently, for several hours before that. We understand an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. We know that he has suffered through several health problems with a heart condition, high blood pressure. Those conditions forced the stoppage and the interruption of his trial on war crimes several times.
But the news again this morning that at 10:00 a.m. local time in the Netherlands, Slobodan Milosevic died in a detention cell at the Hague.
More on this story as we get more information.
NGUYEN: We want to take you live to a picture in Washington right now we're watching because Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be arriving very shortly to meet with President Bush today. It's an 8:00 a.m. meeting and it's an important meeting.
Here's what they're going to be talking about.
The president will be getting an update on the strategy to defeat the IED threat. And, as you know, IED means an improvised explosive device. And we're talking about Iraq, obviously. And they're going to be talking about not only the threat, but advances that have been made to date against this IED threat. And, of course, we're going to be keeping on top of that.
And this is also important because starting on Monday, the president is going to be giving the first of three speeches on Iraq. So it's going to be important to include some of this information. So he's getting an update from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in just a few minutes. And we'll be following that.
HARRIS: Now a look at some of the other stories making news around the world as we go global. NGUYEN: In Spain today, a memorial service to mark the second anniversary of a terrorist attack in Madrid.
We have more on that story.
Femi Oke joins us from our sister network, CNN International -- good morning, Femi.
FEMI OKE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, all.
Good to see you.
Now, two years ago today, it started off as just a normal, hectic rush hour at a Madrid train station. But as commuters made their way to work a series of bombs exploded, killing almost 200 people. Today Spain remembers the Madrid terrorist attack at a memorial service in the city's Retiro Park, where 191 trees are planted in memory of those killed.
The wreath laying ceremony was attended by Spain's prime minister and the bombings have been attributed to the work of al Qaeda. But two years on, no one has been tried or formally charged over the attack.
Now, it's one of the most famous and prestigious universities in the world. The Sorbonne University in Paris has been home to great thinkers, Nobel Prize winners since the Middle Ages. And now, visiting are riot police can be added to that list.
The police stormed the Sorbonne University in Paris early on Saturday, pushing out student protesters occupying the building. About 80 helmeted police officers rushed the landmark institution to take out some 150 students who were barricaded in a classroom behind desks and chairs. The students were actually protesting against new employment legislation which would make it easier to fire people under 26 years old. And therefore they barricaded themselves in the university.
And finally, if that wasn't enough action for you, we head to Rio for a neighborhood shootout. Brazil's Army brought out a show of force in a shootout with local gangs in Rio this weekend. Bystanders ran for cover as drug gangs shot back at the Army. The crackdown was the first military operation in three years. It looks like they had to do a lot of house cleaning there.
Tony, Betty -- back to you.
HARRIS: Yes, boy.
NGUYEN: Wow!
HARRIS: OK, so why did the Army decide, I don't know, to go in this weekend, Femi?
NGUYEN: Right. Yes.
OKE: Well, what happened, one of their military installations, they'd lost about 11 weapons. So they're looking for those weapons.
HARRIS: Oh.
OKE: They say they're not going to stop. They're still going to be there in that neighborhood until they find all of their guns.
HARRIS: Got you.
Femi Oke for us.
OKE: Oh, I have to tell you, Tony...
HARRIS: Femi, good to see you...
OKE: ... Betty...
NGUYEN: Yes?
OKE: I will be back. Our big breaking news, of course, is about the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
HARRIS: Yes.
OKE: We bring you the international reaction in the next "Going Global."
HARRIS: Oh, great.
Great.
OKE: We'll see you then.
NGUYEN: All right.
HARRIS: Good to see you, Femi.
OKE: OK.
NGUYEN: Yes, that's a story that we're going to be following all morning long, so you want to stay with us for that.
Well, Reynolds Wolf -- do you know that name? Because you will soon. He joins us now. He's a new member of the team -- good morning, Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Just a couple of stories we want to keep on your radar this morning, the top stories that we're following here on CNN this morning.
Obviously the news that Tom Fox of the Christian Peace -- I want to say Peacemaker Teams...
NGUYEN: An American hostage in Iraq. HARRIS: An American hostage in Iraq has been found dead, shot to death, bound. And, also, the fact that Yugoslav -- former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died, as well, in his detention center in the Hague.
Both of those stories we'll be following in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which begins in a moment.
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