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CNN Saturday Morning News
Body Of Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic Discovered In Jail Cell; Milosevic Was On Trial For War Crimes; U.S. Embassy In Iraq Investigating Death Of American Hostage Tom Fox; President Bush Reacts To Recent News; Revisiting The Atlanta Courthouse Shooting
Aired March 11, 2006 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The man known as the "Butcher of the Balkans" was found dead this morning. The body of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who was on trial for alleged war crimes, was discovered in his jail cell.
And, good morning, everyone. It's Saturday, March the 11th. I'm Tony Harris at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen. We're going to take you around the world for live reports and reaction to the death of Milosevic. But first, we want to take a look at some other stories making news right now.
The U.S. embassy in Iraq is investigating the death of American hostage Tom Fox. His body was found in Baghdad Thursday. Iraqi police say Fox was shot in the head and showed signs of torture. Fox, a Christian peace advocate, was abducted last year, and there's no word on the fate of three other men abducted with Fox.
Thousands of people will be packing arenas in the next few weeks as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament gets into full swing. It's basketball time. But fans might not be the only ones in the crowd. The FBI and Homeland Security have issued an online warning for sports venues, advising that would be bombers could hide explosive under their clothes. Government officials stress they know of no specific plans for such attacks.
HARRIS: And New York's LaGuardia Airport doesn't look like it did Friday evening. Hundreds of passengers were struck following a security breach. A man walked away from security checkpoint while authorities tested residue taken from his shoes. According to the TSA, the machine can give false positive alerts on non-explosive substances.
And a historic morning in Santiago, Chile. Take a look. Live pictures now as a single mom is being sworn in as Chile's first female president. OK, not live pictures, pictures from just a short time ago. Michelle Bachelet, a Socialist, was tortured under the Pinochet regime. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is representing the United States at this historic event. And now you see live pictures.
NGUYEN: Well, it is 4:00 in the afternoon at The Hague, and there is a full-fledged investigation into the death of Slobodan Milosevic. The former Yugoslav leader's lifeless body was discovered in his cell at The Hague several hours ago. Milosevic is among one of the most vilified figures in modern history.
CNN chief international correspondent Christian Amanpour covered the ethnic cleansing that consumed the Balkans during the Milosevic era. She joins us from Kabul, Afghanistan.
And, Christiane, you were able to confirm this death just over two hours ago. Tell us what you know.
CHRISTIAN AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, at the time, we called the prosecutor's office, we called the tribunal, and they indeed confirmed to us that Slobodan Milosevic, his lifeless body, has been found by a guard at about 10:00 a.m. local time in the Netherlands.
Apparently his body had been there like that for several hours. They do not know the cause of death and they are going to conduct an autopsy and an inquiry. But according to a statement from the tribunal, it appears that he died of natural causes.
We have known for a long time that Slobodan Milosevic had heart trouble and other related illnesses, because his trial was postponed and held up several times due to his illness, a trial that had been going on for four long years because Slobodan Milosevic simply refused to accept the jurisdiction of the court there, refused to accept the charges and did not have a lawyer. Therefore he was defending himself, presenting his own defense, and defending himself when it was the turn of the prosecution. So this was going on for four years.
Now, comments have come out from the Balkans where, to his enemies, he was known as the "Butcher of the Balkans" for the long and bloody years that he is alleged to have coordinated and directed the break-up of the Balkans, an ethnic war, mostly against Muslims in Bosnia, in which his proxies, through shelling, besieging and sniping killed some 250,000 Bosnian Muslims and sent millions away as refugees.
One of the worst attacks was in Srebrenica in July of 1995, where to this day, some 7,000 to 8,000 Muslim young men and boys are still unaccounted for and presumably murdered by the marauding squads of Milosevic's proxies in Bosnia who, by the way, are still at large, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. So his many, many victims today are speaking up, saying that they feel sorry simply that he died before facing final justice -- Betty.
NGUYEN: So, Christiane, that being the case, what happens now? You know mentioned Karadzic and Mladic. Does a search for them, does that really accelerate at this point? Because they, too, are indicted for war crimes.
AMANPOUR: Well, it is one of the great scandals really, according to many in the international community, that those two, 10 years after the Dayton Peace Accords were signed -- the U.S.-sponsored peace accords that brought an end to the bloodshed and the war in Bosnia -- 10 years after that and with several indictments of the genocide and crimes against humanity on their heads, these two are still at large. And no serious effort has been made to bring them to justice. The prosecutor has called many times and throughout the times that U.S. and NATO forces were in the peacekeeping role in Bosnia, called for them to be arrested and is now calling on Serbia and whoever else is harboring them to arrest them and send them to The Hague.
And that call remains in place. The death of Slobodan Milosevic does not affect that. They want these two in The Hague to face their crimes and their, rather, charges of genocide and other war crimes.
NGUYEN: CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joining us this morning. Thank you for that, Christiane.
HARRIS: And, Betty, CNN senior international correspondent Brent Sadler also a veteran journalist in the Balkan's conflicts, and he joins us from his post in Beirut, Lebanon.
And, Brent, Christiane touched on it a moment ago. For folks stateside here who may not remember much about the Balkan's wars of the '90s and early 2001, they do remember a couple of images.
They remember the image of Slobodan Milosevic. They remember Srebrenica in 1995, and they may also remember a sniper alley. Talk us through your recollections of the massacre in Srebrenica, and sniper alley.
BRENT SADLER, CNN SENIOR INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, I went to Srebrenica when it was being besieged by Bosnian forces. I was taken in there by Canadian troops at that time. And that was a place filled with Muslims who essentially were being supposedly protected under the terms of a U.N. safe haven.
That simply collapsed, and there was the massacre of Srebrenica, the worst massacre since the end of the second world war, etched in everybody's memories worldwide.
Sniper alley you mention there, I can remember driving -- horrendous drive from the airport in Sarajevo to our hotel base and having to run the gauntlet of sniper fire, thankfully, mostly in an armored vehicle but at times without armor protection.
I remember one night actually seeing the red beam of a telescopic laser site dance across my flak jacket as I went through one of those very dangerous areas at nighttime, so that gives you an idea of the kind of circumstances that we, as journalists, were working under at that time.
And it was Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade who essentially was the puppet-master, if you like, of those Bosnian Serbs at that time. And the political commander, Radovan Karadzic, and the military commander, Ratko Mladic, both top wanted war suspects, were really, it was felt, felt working through the orders of Slobodan Milosevic and his terribly failed attempt at great bloodshed to try and create a greater, ethnically cleansed Serbia.
So these are some of the memories -- vivid memories -- I still carry today. I spoke to Mirjana Markovic, Slobodan Milosevic's widow, who was in Russia a short time ago, through a translator, and she summed it up very simply. She said -- remember she's a diehard Slobodan Milosevic supporter, obviously. She says "The Hague tribunal" -- and I quote -- "has killed my husband."
HARRIS: Wow. Brent, where does Slobodan Milosevic go now in this sort of pantheon of international criminals? I mean, are we talking comparing him to, say, Cambodia's Pol Pot? Are we talking about Saddam Hussein? What do you think?
SADLER: Tony, you know, Serbia had its killing field like we saw from that famous movie "The Killing Fields." It had also shades of Saddam Hussein's style of repression and torture and crackdown on political dissidents.
Vuk Draskovic, for example, who's the Serbian foreign minister of today, he went on a hunger strike during his opposition years. He faced two assassination attempts -- one, two bullets went either side of his head there. He's very lucky to be alive. He blames Milosevic for ordering that attempt on Draskovic's life. And so it goes on.
Christiane touched on there issue of closure. The fact that Milosevic has died before charges are proven against him is going to be used by his hard-line supporters of which there are still many in Serbia.
Almost 40 percent of today's Serbian Parliament is made up by two parties. One of them, Milosevic's SPS Party, has some 10 percent of the seats in today's Parliament. And the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, very much an ally of Milosevic during those Balkan wars, its leader, Vojislav Seselj, also in The Hague.
Two parties, 40 percent of the Parliament still very much a remnant, if you like, of the old thought of the way that ultra- nationalism is important still for Serbia of today, and this is going to create political turmoil -- the way Milosevic has died -- in Serbia itself.
HARRIS: This idea of a greater Serbia is I think part of what was his vision. CNN international correspondent Brent Sadler for us. Boy, Brent, thank you.
NGUYEN: Another story that we are following this morning, the killing of American hostage Tom Fox in Iraq. The body of the Christian peace activist was found in a Baghdad neighborhood on Thursday.
CNN's Aneesh Raman reports now from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials confirming they have found the body of American hostage Tom Fox, first discovered by Iraqi police in the Al Mansour (ph) area of Baghdad, and area that has seen a number of westerners kidnapped. The body was found wrapped in a blanket, a gunshot to the head. His hands and feet bound, showing signs of torture, as well. The Iraqi police handed the remains over to the U.S. military, the FBI eventually confirming the identity that it was the body of American Tom Fox.
He was kidnapped in the capital along with three other members of a group called the Christian Peacekeepers Team. They were in Iraq for the sake of peace. The group today reacting to the news spoke of Tom's life, mourned his passing, and expressed their condolences for his family.
The last we saw of the hostages was earlier this week, a video broadcast on Arabic language station Al-Jazeera. It showed the two Canadian and British hostages. It did not show Tom Fox. That had raised concern about his fate, and now this news has raised concern about the fate of the three remaining hostages.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And Tom Fox's friends from the Virginia-based Langley Hill Meeting House will hold a news conference this morning in the next hour. And CNN is going to bring that live to you when it happens.
HARRIS: And, Betty, reaction now from the White House on several events that have surfaced this morning. Elaine Quijano is there and has the latest for us. Elaine, good morning.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.
Well, you know, it was three years ago this month that the U.S.- led invasion of Iraq actually got underway. And since then, of course, public support for the president's Iraq policy has fallen.
Now, part of the equation officials here readily acknowledge has been the images of violence coming out of Iraq, some of the bad news coming out of there. And that's really why today we saw President Bush come out and take part in this briefing on IEDs as they are called, improvised explosive devices. He really -- intending to show that he has a plan, the United States military has a plan for countering those devices which have been responsible for so many of the casualties in Iraq.
Now a senior administration official says that these IEDs are something the president is going to talk about when he delivers the first in a series of speeches starting on Monday on Iraq, and if it sounds familiar, it's really because this is similar to what the president did back in December trying to essentially convince the American people that there is a plan, there is a strategy for victory in Iraq.
Now, after that meeting it was interesting to note the president was actually asked about another topic. His former domestic policy advisor, Claude Allen, who is arrested Thursday in Maryland.
Now, authorities there in Maryland allege that Allen illegally obtained $5,000 in refunds from two department stores and the president said that if those allegations are true that Claude Allen was not truthful with the White House chief of staff Andy Card or the White House counsel Harriet Miers. Here's what the president had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the allegations are true, something went wrong in Claude Allen's life. And that is really sad. When I heard the story last night, I was shocked and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment, that if it's true that we were not fully informed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, President Bush went on to say that he was sad for the Allen family. Claude Allen actually resigned from his post -- at least the announcement was made last month on February 9th and Claude Allen's last day here at the White House was about three weeks ago on February 17th. White House spokesman Scott McClellan says that the first they heard about his arrest was actually through news reports last night -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Elaine, any reaction at all from the president on the news of Tom Fox's death and the news of Slobodan Milosevic's death?
QUIJANO: Nothing yet from the administration on the death of Tom Fox but Slobodan Milosevic is a topic that actually did come up. The president saying after that meeting today that he was just hearing about it. And, in fact, we understand the president did just learn about it this morning in the Oval Office. So we'll wait to see. I'm sure there will be more reaction as the day wears on -- Tony.
HARRIS: Sure, sure. OK. CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House for us. Elaine, thank you.
NGUYEN: Stories making news across America today and tomorrow. Evangelist Billy Graham and his son Franklin will host the Celebration of Hope event at the New Orleans Arena. Both father and son spent yesterday talking with victims of Hurricane Katrina. This is Graham's fifth visit to the Gulf Coast since the storm hit.
In an Atlanta courtroom, the parents of Lita Sullivan finally got the justice they have been after for the last 19 years. A jury convicted a millionaire of murder for hiring a hit man to kill his socialite wife. Prosecutors say James Sullivan was trying to avoid losing money in a messy divorce.
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 gave Charles Cullen seven life sentences. Last week a court in New Jersey gave him 11 consecutive life terms with no chance of parole. Cullen says he was trying to end his patients' suffering.
And a former Atlanta mayor is facing nine years in prison and $300,000 in fines. Last night a federal jury found Bill Campbell guilty of tax evasion, but cleared him of bribery and racketeering charges. Legal experts say they doubt Campbell will get the maximum sentence but he could lose his law license in Florida where he moved after leaving office.
HARRIS: As we've told you all morning, two major stories breaking overnight -- the death of American hostage Tom Fox ...
NGUYEN: ... and the body of the man known as the "Butcher of the Balkans" was found in his jail cell this morning.
We're going to have more live coverage of both of these stories all morning long as we get you those details. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The controversial ports deal may be dead, but it's not forgotten. Today's fact check takes a closer look at who runs the world's major shipping facilities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of the biggest ports management firms worldwide, only two of the top 10 are American. They are Seattle's SSA and New York-based Maher. Both are controlled by families, unlike most of the international giants that enjoy closer ties to host governments.
SSA runs port terminals now in Seattle, Oakland and Long Beach, California. Maher is big in New York and New Jersey. Some experts question whether either has the clout right now to assume operations of the six installations DPW acquired.
American Presidential Lines, the oldest American shipping and terminal company was founded during the gold rush of 1848. It was sold in 1997 to a company based in Singapore.
Today, over half of the U.S. port terminals already are operated by overseas firms, and they are cashing in big on the current explosion in shipping fueled by the boom in worldwide trade.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his detention cell at The Hague this morning. Milosevic was on trial for alleged war crimes. We're going to have the full story on this a little bit later, but here's what we know so far. A full autopsy and toxicological exam have been ordered as part of the investigation into his death. More details are coming out today about the death of American hostage Tom Fox. Iraqi police say they found him in the streets of Baghdad shot in the head. And they say his body showed signs of torture. Fox was among four Christian peace activists abducted in Iraq last November.
And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Santiago today for the inauguration of Chile's first female president. Rice says Michelle Bachelet's victory represents a triumph of democracy.
HARRIS: I got a rare sight for you. Yes, this is pretty rare -- pictures of snow -- March snow in places that, well, rarely get snow at all.
NGUYEN: Arizona?
HARRIS: Yes, we've got San Francisco, Las Vegas -- Reynolds help me here -- we've got the desert around Phoenix.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right. Talk to you soon, Reynolds.
Well, for those of you just joining us today, the body of the man known as the "Butcher of the Balkans" was found in his jail cell this morning. We're going to have more live coverage on the death of Slobodan Milosevic as we get those details.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN ANCHOR: You can get federal tax credits for making your home more energy efficient. Installing items like insulation, energy efficient windows, and upgraded heating and cooling systems can save you as much as $500 this April 15th. To learn more go to energystar.gov and click on tax credits.
And remember, these improvements may also qualify you for state tax rebates or incentives from your local utility company. So be sure to contact your state's energy office as well.
Of course an energy efficient home means lower energy bills over time. And your house will be that much more valuable when it comes time to sell. I'm Gerri Willis with "Your Energy Tip."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Of course, we've been following the news this morning of the death of Slobodan Milosevic. Veronica De La Cruz joins us now with what is online. Veronica, good morning.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Tony. As you know, former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic -- he died while on trial at The Hague and he was accused of orchestrating the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Now, if you have questions about that trial or you want to get more background information on Milosevic, CNN.com has a special report. From Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo you can read about the 66 charges that were filed against him to find out more about his rise to power.
This timeline chronicles the dates beginning with December 1990 when Milosevic is elected president in Serbia's first multiparty elections since World War II, leading up to February 12, 2002, when went on trial for masterminding ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia.
To learn more about Milosevic's upbringing you can read his profile. For instance, he was born on August 29, 1941 in Serbia to parents who were both school teachers. He attended the University of Belgrade and graduated with a law degree in 1964. He spent the early part of his career as executive and then director, Tony, of the Yugoslav state-owned gas company Technogas.
Now, Milosevic, as we've been reporting all morning, has died at the age of 64. To get the details -- listen to this -- you can read the CNN Wire, which is a running log of the latest news from CNN world headquarters reported by CNN correspondents and producers and of course, Tony you're familiar with the CNN wire, but we want to get everybody at home familiar with as well.
HARRIS: It's a great tool. So we're actually going to make the wire, the CNN wire that we use...
DE LA CRUZ: ... available online.
HARRIS: as kind of a life blood for us here online for folks at home.
DE LA CRUZ: At cnn.com and the report is at cnn.com/milosevic.
HARRIS: That is fabulous. OK, Veronica, thank you, appreciate it.
And stay with CNN all morning for new developments on the investigation surrounding the death of Slobodan Milosevic.
NGUYEN: And the U.S. embassy in Iraq gathers new information in the death of an American held hostage. Tom Fox's friends, they plan to talk to the media about 30 minutes from now. We're going to have more live coverage of both of these stories all morning long. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: An update on our developing story. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died. He was found dead in his prison cell this morning at the U.N. detention center near The Hague. Milosevic was on trial for war crimes during the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
The U.S. embassy in Iraq is investigating the death of American hostage Tom Fox. His body was found in Baghdad Thursday. Iraqi police say Fox was shot in the head and showed signs of torture. Fox, a Christian peace advocate was abducted last year. There is no word on the fate of three other men abducted with Fox. Tom Fox's friends from the Virginia-based Langley Hill meeting house with hold a news conference this morning at 11:00 Eastern. CNN will bring it to you live next hour.
NGUYEN: The FBI and homeland security has issued a warning for arenas hosting basketball tournaments. That's right. Law enforcement sources say an online threat advises would-be suicide bombers to hide explosives under their clothes at sporting venues. Government officials though stress that they know of no specific plans for such attacks.
Well flight operations are back to normal at New York's LaGuardia airport. Hundreds of passengers had to wait after a security breach there. A man walked away from a security checkpoint late yesterday afternoon while authorities tested residue taken from his shoes. Now according to the TSA, the machine gave false positive alerts on non- explosive substances.
HARRIS: Testing the political waters, several potential Republican presidential candidates are gathered in Memphis, Tennessee for the southern Republican leadership conference, live pictures now from Memphis. And South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham is speaking. Anticipated frontrunner former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani isn't attending the conference.
And we have been bringing you news this morning of the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
NGUYEN: Femi Oke continues to follow that story from us. She's at the international desk. Hi there, Femi.
FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Good morning to you all. Dead at 64, the former Yugoslav president was found in his prison cell at The Hague in the Netherlands. Milosevic had been on trial at The Hague since 2002 on 66 counts including genocide and war crimes. This epic trial was often punctuated by cantankerous remarks from the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC, FORMER PRESIDENT OF YUGOSLAVIA: I would like to know first of all can I speak or you are going to turn off my microphone like first time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Milosevic if you follow the rules, you will be able to speak. If you deal with relevant matters, of course, you will be able to speak.
MILOSEVIC: Well, that is my next question. I would like to make presentation on the illegality of this tribunal.
(END VIDEO CLIP) OKE: When indicted, Milosevic refused to plead guilty or not guilty and represented himself in court, insisting on his innocence. But many considered him responsible for decades of bloodshed and oppression that eventually led to the break up of Yugoslavia.
Now, this video that we're watching was taken on February 22 of this year, two days before The Hague tribunal rejected Milosevic's request to travel to Russia for specialized medical treatment. Now, the U.N. tribunal issued a statement today saying Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell. A full autopsy and a toxicological examination have been ordered.
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour covered the violent break-up of Yugoslavia and knew Milosevic as well as any journalist. She recalls the bloody reign that earned him the name the "Butcher of the Balkans."
(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 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 wander the world as refugees, civilians with the primary targets in this bid to redesign Yugoslavia along purely ethnic lines.
The term ethnic cleansing became synonymous with Bosnia as Serb forces 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- Serb, 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 the 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 investigation. 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 took 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. With Milosevic in Belgrade 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.
MILOSEVIC: I consider this tribunal forced tribunal and ....
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)
OKE: There's a phrase in this business called working the story. Let me tell you what is happening at CNN right now. We are sending live shots to The Hague, the court that you just saw there in that last report from Christiane, also in Belgrade. In Moscow we have the wife, the brother and son of Milosevic so we're expecting to hear from them in the next 24 hours or so.
And of course, there is Brent Sadler and also Christiane Amanpour giving us their personal accounts and their experience of reporting on this story over the years. It's only just beginning. It's a major international breaking story. Thanks for the quiet days, guys. Back to the news desk.
NGUYEN: As you know, we will be following it Femi across the world. Thank you. HARRIS: Femi, thanks.
OKE: You're welcome.
NGUYEN: Far too often the images we see of Africa are of famine, drought, and war, but that's about to change. The new 24-hour Africa channel wants you to see the continent's glamour, culture and thriving business. The founder of the African channel joins us live tomorrow on CNN Sunday Morning." That's at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
HARRIS: Well, we've been getting new information all morning long about two major stories developing even as we speak. First, there was a death of American hostage Tom Fox whose body was found on the streets of Baghdad.
NGUYEN: Plus, the man known as the "Butcher of the Balkans" was also found dead. He was discovered in his jail cell this morning. We're going to have more live coverage of both of these stories coming up next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: For those of you just joining us, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his detention cell at The Hague this morning. Milosevic was on trial for alleged war crimes. There's a full autopsy and toxicology test that will be ordered as part of the investigation into his death.
More details are coming out today about the death of American hostage Tom Fox. Iraqi police say they found him Thursday in the streets of Baghdad shot in the head. They say his body showed signs of torture. Fox was among four Christian peace activists abducted in Iraq last November. Coming up at the top of the hour, we're going to have live coverage of a news conference by his friends and church members.
Plus Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Santiago today for the inauguration of Chile's first female president. Rice says Michelle Bachelet victory represents a triumph of democracy.
HARRIS: A year ago today, a shooting at an Atlanta courthouse left three dead, a fourth person was later killed in the Buckhead section of the Atlanta. The city gripped with fear while the accused gunman Brian Nichols roamed the streets.
It was 26 hours of terror and chaos that ended with an unlikely heroine, Ashley Smith. Nichols is now in an Atlanta jail awaiting his trial in the shooting. 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. Is it strange being back? ASHLEY SMITH: 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, a little short of breath.
PHILLIPS: So take me through that day.
SMITH: I turned around and saw him right there, the door was already open. 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: It's been two weeks since Ashley last saw her daughter, but she planned to see her later that morning.
SMITH: He just had the gun pointed right at me. I began to scream immediately with the gun 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 is 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 asked for something to help him relax.
SMITH: He asked 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: 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: For the first time in her life, Ashley Smith says she has the strength to refuse crystal meth.
SMITH: I felt the presence, like a presence of God coming to the house and like everything is going to be OK. That's when I went and grabbed my "Purpose Driven Life" and asked him if I could read. I went and grabbed it and I 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. He said he felt like there was a demon inside of him and that there was a spiritual warfare going on inside of him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Wow, for more on that frightening day we were here for a lot of it, man, watch "CNN PRESENTS: 26 HOURS OF TERROR" tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DE LA CRUZ: Well a popular cell phone is off the market and it is making a list of what is popular at cnn.com. Cingular and T-Mobile have pulled the Razr phone which is the slick looking Razr-thin cell phone off the shelves because of a technical glitch which is causing the phone to drop calls or turn off.
Motorola is saying only a limited number of phones are affected and a spokesperson for the company is saying those phones were sold between January 16 and February 28, but is not saying where they were sold. Motorola is also saying that it is still selling the Razrs and that they do expect availability to return to normal next week and we do have that phone right here. It's hot pink.
HARRIS: Hot pink.
DE LA CRUZ: It is hot pink, but check it out. This is Razr thin.
NGUYEN: Is this part of the one.
HARRIS: Absolutely. They are all being yanked, Betty.
DE LA CRUZ: But they are saying it's a limited number of phones that have been affected. So what I thought we would do is see if this phone is working and we have Reynolds our new weather guy here. Reynolds, what is your phone number. We'll call you.
NGUYEN: Don't say it on the air, Veronica. You're going to let him walk right into that trap.
HARRIS: He wanted to cooperate first day and all on this weekend show.
NGUYEN: She is trying to wreck your career already.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: All right, Reynolds, thank you.
Well there's another hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING coming up and we continue to follow the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
NGUYEN: We're going to talk live to the former special envoy to Bosnia and Kosovo, Richard Holbrooke as well as bring you more coverage from around the world on this leader's death. Want to keep it right here on CNN.
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