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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Snow Storms Hit the Northeastern U.S.; Saddam Says He Will Stand Firm

Aired December 05, 2002 - 17:00   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.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST (voice-over): War or peace? Saddam speaks.

SADDAM HUSSEIN, PRESIDENT OF IRAQ (through translator): We will try to avid bringing harm on the Iraqi people.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's his choice to make.

BLITZER: Getting ready for conflict. A new command center put to the test as a carrier battle group puts to sea.

Al Qaeda threats. Does the end of Ramadan mean the start of new round of terror.

Snow smacks the Northeast. And ice pulls the pulls the plug on the Carolinas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's frightening though, because you think about people who don't have power and...

BLITZER: United Airlines veers off course. Will you be grounded by a bankruptcy?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Live from the Persian Gulf, reporting from Doha, Qatar, here's Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: You don't hear from him often but once you do, you know the whole world is listening. It's Saddam Hussein's turn to speak and precisely that's what he did today. It's our headline from the Persian Gulf.

Saddam Hussein's turn to talk, promising his people victory no matter what the cost.

Strong words also from President Bush about the chance of war. But some questions he left for the Iraqi leader to answer.

In a moment, we'll have reports from both capitals in the standoff with Iraq as part of our complete coverage. But we begin with some major news unfolding back home in the United States. Let's go right to CNN's Marty Savidge. He's standing by at the CNN center in Atlanta -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Wolf.

Right now the Northeast getting the same thing that much of the south got yesterday, snow and ice from a major storm.

This is a live picture of Market Street in Philadelphia. The city's already seen seven inches of snow. That's enough to close schools for the day. But the worst of it is over there.

Not the case in Boston, where the forecast calls for up to 10 inches of snow before it is all over there.

CNN's Orelon Sidney will join us from the weather center for the latest on this storm.

First, though, we have three reports for you: Michael Okwu in New York. Jason Bellini has travel troubles from La Guardia airport, and Jeff Flock is in icy North Carolina.

We begin now in New York with Michael Okwu -- Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, good afternoon to you.

Sections of the Northeast are experiencing some of their worst snowfall since January of 2000.

If this is what they mean by winter wonderland, then I would bet most of the New Yorkers here would just say, "take it back," or at least those New Yorkers who are experiencing rush hour traffic that you see just behind me. Always a challenge in the city, but made all the more difficult because of this snowfall.

Forecasters expected some six to eight inches here. The worst of it came swirling down and around this afternoon. The weather service expects temperatures to hover below the freezing point for most of the part -- of the rest of the day.

Officials in New York repeating the storm mantra, take mass transit.

In Philadelphia, where up to eight inches were expected, officials declared a snow emergency. All schools were closed, although at this point some 60 percent of the streets have been plowed.

And in the nation's capital, Marty, five to eight inches fell before it all was over. It stopped this afternoon.

Most schools were closed, even President Bush making the point that earlier this morning when he took his two dogs for a walk, the snow was so thick that one of them actually disappeared in the lawn. About a 250,000 tons of salt, New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg says are being used to combat the snowfall here. He also says that by the time the snowfall is all over, supposedly at about 10 o'clock this evening, they will have used about 1,000 snow plows.

And it all comes at a very high cost. He says it costs about $1 million per inch -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Michael Okwu, live on the streets of Manhattan, thanks very much.

And the picture is not looking any better in the air. The storm is causing big trouble for travelers trying to get in and out of the Northeast.

Arriving flights are being delayed an average of almost five hours at New York's La Guardia airport. And that is where CNN's Jason Bellini is standing by live -- Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, not a great day here at the airport. At least people in the city could enjoy the beauty of the storm. But here at the airport, the delays have been bad all day.

We've only seen a handful of planes take off today. People are camped out, some of them planning to stay all night.

In the terminal today, here's a look at what things were like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELLINI (voice-over): You better not laugh. You better not cry. It won't help a bit. You're not going to fly.

A big snowstorm is here in town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They keep on telling me it's going to be another two hours, another two hours. I wish they'd just close the airport so they can make a decision.

BELLINI: At La Guardia, like JFK, like Newark Airport, the snowstorm hasn't closed things down, but you had to be incredibly lucky to be on a flight that wasn't either greatly delayed or cancelled.

Thousands of people from hundreds of canceled flights called loved ones and colleagues to say they might not leave today, a cruel reality, especially for those planning to fly to warmer climates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my flight was cancelled to Myrtle Beach, and I had to book tomorrow. It's just a nightmare.

BELLINI: A traveler's nightmare, not a winter wonderland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELLINI: And no word for stranded passengers on when things will clear up and when they'll be able to take off -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Jason Bellini, live in La Guardia airport, thanks very much. His mom would say, get a hat.

All right. To the south, the problem is ice and it's knocked out power to well over a million people.

CNN's Jeff Flock is live in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the latest on that. You haven't got snow, but it's almost as bad, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not any more, Marty, but there are things falling from the sky. I don't know if you can see what's behind me here. You can see these trees that have gone down.

Here's a man who's just helping to gather up -- Go ahead, sir. Don't let me get in your way here. Helping gather up the brush. Maybe you can see him off behind me there.

But let me give you some indication about what has gone down here, specifically a lot of trees and power lines. And be careful, you've got somebody about to walk across here.

Maybe you can see over here, folks with the Department of Public Utilities. We got a power line down here. They've hung a red sort of scarf up there so people can see and don't come through and hit the power line. That's not a live power line any more. Nor is this one here. This one was headed into this house.

And of course, we're in the blackout zone. This young lady's power that lives in this house is completely out.

More than a million customers all throughout North Carolina, Marty, have lost power. And of course when you talk about 1 million customers, I'm talking about a million homes and businesses. And of course, that's a whole lot more people.

So I think it's fair to say that the number of people without power and in the dark tonight are in the multiple millions in North Carolina.

If you can get an up-close and personal look at the damage here, this is just one of them. A tree, weighted down with all that ice, came down and knocked a hole in this lady's roof. She is inside and had water pouring in earlier.

Another house up the street the same sort of way.

And one thing, before we get away, I want to let you hear from one of these residents. We talked to somebody who withstood all of this last night and said it was an incredible scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounded like we were in a war zone, you know, because the trees themselves, I mean, sounded like cannons going off. And then all the branches, secondary branches coming down with it. So from about 3 o'clock to 4:30 this morning, it was deafening out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Indeed, Marty, I leave you with this last image. Take a look at this oak tree, 100-year-old oak tree. Hard to count the rings right here, but we know it's more than 100 years old.

And this one withstood Hurricane Hugo when they lost a lot of trees, but did not withstand the ice storm of 2002 here in Charlotte, North Carolina.

That's the latest. Marty, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Jeff Flock, thanks very much. It's going to be awhile, cleaning up that.

Now for the very latest on how the weather is affecting air travel. We are joined by Travelocity.com's Rally Caparas. He's been looking at how it's impacting on the airways.

I would think this is the day where you, if you were an air traffic controller today, you'd think of another line of work.

RALLY CAPARAS, TRAVELOCITY.COM: Well, those guys have been working hard. We're coming out of the busiest travel period of the year, Thanksgiving holidays, and here they are coming into the week, busting it.

I mean, they have been working hard. I've been following them until 5 a.m. as I have the delays, and it's been incredible. It's the worst travel day of the year thus far. And we're almost done with 2002.

Let's go to where the delays are right now. Those airplanes are in the sky. About 4,000, 5,000 aircraft flying around. You'd think there'd be far fewer than that.

But here's what's happening. Up in Boston, you're going to see 60- to 90-minute arrival delays all night long, well past midnight if they still fly into that airport at that time.

Now we're talking La Guardia, Newark, Philadelphia and JFK. You're going to see three- to four-hour delays there.

Down in Atlanta, we thought we were out of the woods. However, we just got a ground delay forwarded from the FAA, and now we're back into 90-minute arrival delays.

So the delays are going to continue throughout the night. Tomorrow we'll have much better conditions, Marty. Thank goodness. We all need a rest from it.

Back to you.

SAVIDGE: Rally, how quickly could they get this all sorted out, do you think? CAPARAS: Well, I think by tomorrow morning we're going to have much better conditions. And probably by 5 o'clock tomorrow, we should see things back to normal.

SAVIDGE: Rally Caparas with Travelocity.com, thank you very much.

Let's bring in Orelon Sidney now. She's been tracking the storm for us.

What's the latest, Orelon?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: It's the beginning of the end, isn't it?

Excellent news. We've got this big low pressure center still sitting off the coast, but right now it looks like the low pressure area is going to move very fast and out into the North Atlantic.

We still have quite a bit of snowfall associated with this now, but about 5 p.m. Eastern time, that's when we expect to see the snow ending in places like New York. And you can see some clearing spots here on the radar.

Still, lots of snowfall extending out through Long Island. You can expect up to 10 inches in the eastern edge of Long Island before it's all over.

Heavy snow now is going to be moving into Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket. They're looking for 10 inches of snow between now and tomorrow when this is all over.

Do have some snow amounts for you. Staten Island picked up 5.5 inches; Brooklyn almost five; La Guardia, five inches of snow.

And as we talked about earlier, and as Rally said, it's going to get a lot better, but not tonight.

Temperatures are in the 20s and they will plunge later on tonight. Temperatures in the south are in the 40s. And that means some of that ice, of course, has started to melt. That's going to be a problem for folks walking.

But look at tomorrow. Much, much better. Storms out to sea; we'll see some garden variety lake effect snows. High pressure and partly cloudy skies for the weekend -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: The sun will come out tomorrow. Orelon Sidney, thank you very much. And that is it from here.

Let's get back to Wolf Blitzer now in Qatar -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Marty. We'll be getting back to you later this hour.

We have important news happening in the showdown with Iraq. The Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, speaks out today, and he utters some tough words.

The president of the United States is also speaking out.

We'll have reports from both capitals, Baghdad and Washington.

Also, U.S. troops, they're on the way to this part of the world. Some of them are leaving today. Why Qatar could be pivotal in terms of a war with Iraq.

And the friendly skies: How United Airlines' financial troubles could affect you.

We're also standing by this hour for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Washington. We'll see President Bush do that later this hour. We'll have live coverage here on this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In a moment we'll hear directly from Saddam Hussein. He had some choice words today, vowing victory in a potential war with the United States.

That and much more is coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, which returns in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to Doha in Qatar, where Qataris have been celebrating the end of the Eid ul-Fitr celebration, celebrating the end of the month of Ramadan, the fast here in the Muslim world.

The Iraqi president is not celebrating yet. He's certainly not celebrating the prospect of a potential war with the United States.

He spoke out about all of that today. And CNN's Nic Robertson is in Baghdad and has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): There's been very little of President Saddam Hussein on Iraqi television in the last few weeks while the inspectors have been here, but he appeared this morning with high members of his Ba'th ruling party, with senior officials from his cabinet.

He had a message for the Iraqi people. That is that right now they face a testing time and that they should use their ability to and their capacity to bear that test.

He said also that, to disprove U.S. accusations Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, that the U.N. weapons inspectors should be allowed to go about their work. Now, he said in that statement, "We should provide them" -- that is the weapons inspectors -- "with such a chance, after which if the weaklings remain weak and the cowardly remain coward, then we shall take the stand that befits our people, principles and mission."

Not clear exactly what the principles and mission are, but certainly the Iraqi leadership and Iraqi officials have made it very clear that if the weapons inspection mission is a front for aggression against Iraq, then certainly they say the people of Iraq are ready to stand up to that.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In Washington, the Bush Administration is making it clear that the ball is directly in Saddam Hussein's corner.

Let's go right to the White House. That's where CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley is standing by -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, White House officials continuing to say that the burden is on Saddam Hussein and that he can shed himself of the burden by providing a truthful declaration of his weapons of mass destruction this weekend.

Here at the White House meanwhile, they are preparing for December 8, when that declaration is due. They say it's the beginning of a process; it is a process that could lead to war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): The snowy scene outside the White House and the holiday scene inside...

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: The theme this year for the White House holiday decoration...

BUCKLEY: ... belied the serious drama of the upcoming deadline facing Iraq, the possibility of war.

President Bush was asked if it were likely and what would trigger it?

G.W. BUSH: That's the question that you should ask to Saddam Hussein. It's his choice to make. And Saddam Hussein must disarm.

BUCKLEY: Disarm what, Iraqi leaders continue to say? So far, inspectors have not been blocked and have not, at least publicly, reported finding any weapons of mass destruction.

Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz telling ABC's Ted Koppel that the U.S. is determined to wage war on Iraq, whatever the inspectors say.

TARIQ AZIZ, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF IRAQ: The war is not because of weapons of mass destruction. Because the whole issue of weapons of mass destruction is a hoax. When they find that there are no weapons of mass destruction, they will use another pretext to attack.

BUCKLEY: White House officials say peace is the preferred method of disarmament and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Iraqi officials are lying when they claim there are no weapons of mass destruction.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: President Bush has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Donald Rumsfeld has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Richard Butler has said they do. The United Nations has said they do. The experts have said they do.

Iraq says they don't. You can choose who you want to believe.

BUCKLEY: White House officials are skeptical that Saddam Hussein will provide a truthful declaration on December 8. If the U.S. view is on December 8 that the declaration is false, that's when White House officials will have some major decisions to make about whether and when to pursue military action -- Wolf.

BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley over at the White House, thanks very much, Frank.

Meanwhile, over at the Pentagon, the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, as is his way, is by no means being shy about going very, very hard on the Iraqi leader.

Let's get some details from our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORREPSPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is making it clear that the U.S. is going to hold Saddam Hussein to a very tough standard.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): Even before Iraq submits its disarmament declaration to the United Nations, the United States appears to be laying the ground work to reject it.

While insisting it is waiting to see what Iraq will say, the Bush Administration has set the bar very high for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. Essentially he has to show not just that he's disarmed but that he's a changed man.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: He could decide the game is up and open up his country and say, Here are our weapons of mass destruction, and here's where they're located, here are the people who made them, here are the people that were working on them. And we've decided that we would rather stay in power and become responsible members of the world community and stop repressing our people and stop threatening our neighbors. MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld said the only other way war could be averted was for Saddam to voluntarily give up power and seek asylum in another country, an unlikely prospect at best.

The hard line comes as President Bush laid out an uncompromising standard for compliance in a Pentagon speech earlier this week.

G.W. BUSH: Any act of delay, deception or defiance will prove that Saddam Hussein has not adopted the path of compliance and has rejected the path of peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon insists it is not prejudging Iraq's report, but from President Bush on down, U.S. officials admit they are predisposed not to believe it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Jamie, thanks very much.

And here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: "Do you think Saddam Hussein will still rule Iraq five years from now?"

We'll have the results later in this program. Go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote. While you're there I'd, of course, love to hear from you. Send me your comments.

Send me your comments. I'll try to read some them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column: cnn.com/wolf.

With the Islamic holy month of Ramadan coming to an end, does that signal, potentially, a new round of terrorism against U.S. targets? We'll take a closer look at that in just a moment.

Also, why is Qatar so important -- so important a location when it comes to a potential war with Iraq?

We'll have all that.

But first, today's "News Quiz."

How did the Emir of Qatar rise to power? A -- elected to office; B -- overthrew his father; C -- inheritance; D -- revolution. The answer, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

There were two explosions today in towns in eastern Indonesia. One of them killed three people in a McDonald's restaurant. The second blast occurred an hour later, damaging four cars at an automobile dealership. There's been no claim of responsibility so far. In recent years, eastern Indonesia has been the site of frequent violence involving Muslims and Christians.

Muslim militants may have been behind an attack in Pakistan earlier today. There was an explosion at the Macedonian consulate in Karachi, and three people, including a security guard were found dead.

A message left on the wall suggested the attack was the work of al Qaeda, an apparent attack of revenge. Several Pakistanis were killed in Macedonia last March in what police called a pre-emptive raid on Muslim terrorists.

And there are also fears that Muslim terrorists may be stepping up certain terror activities now that the month of Ramadan has come to an end. That concern is based, in part, on a series of recent threats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It starts with a statement posted to a web site known in the past who have posted credible al Qaeda statements. It threatens strikes to coincide with the end of Ramadan, telling the American people, "you have not learned your lesson."

Then, the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera said it received a fax and a Ramadan statement from ousted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, predicting chaos and destruction.

We don't yet know if the bombing of a McDonald's in Indonesia was connected to Islamic extremists, but it occurred as the restaurant was filled with people celebrating Eid, the breaking of the Ramadan fast.

We do know that the Mombasa attacks, which al Qaeda has taken credit for, and which were aimed at Israelis, struck on the eve of Hanukkah.

So as Christmas approaches, is there more reason to become concerned?

U.S. Officials say they are mindful of the Ramadan threats but have been in a heightened state of alert for some time.

But a look at al Qaeda's history shows little reason to believe the group attacks on holidays, though that may be changing.

The only major attack blamed on al Qaeda that had a symbolic date was the 1998 embassy bombings, which occurred on the eighth anniversary of U.S. troops landing in Saudi Arabia to prepare for the Gulf War. That troop presence is something that Osama bin Laden has railed against many times.

But most of al Qaeda's terror, including September 11 attacks, have occurred not on a date al Qaeda found symbolic, but on dates when its operatives thought it would be most effective.

And amid all of this, thousands and thousands of U.S. troops already here in the region of the Persian Gulf. What are they doing? What are their plans? What are they expected to be doing, especially here in the strategic location of Qatar?

Back in the United States meanwhile, thousands more shipping out today for the Persian Gulf.

Finally, what the financial troubles of United Airlines could mean to you.

We're covering all of that.

And we're standing by this hour, live coverage of the lighting of the White House Christmas tree. We'll watch President Bush and his invited guests go through that annual tradition.

We'll have the coverage and much more on this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked, how did the Emir of Qatar rise to power? The answer, B. In 1995, Crown Prince Hamad Bin Khaleifa al- Thani overthrew his father to become Emir.

You're look at the Qatar air base built from scratch. It's a $1 billion facility for a country that has virtually no air force of its own. Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting live from the Persian Gulf. Coming up, a sendoff for U.S. troops headed to this part of the world.

Here in Qatar meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command is building up its presence and stepping up its operations here throughout the region, establishing indeed a temporary headquarters to oversee potential operations in the Persian Gulf area. And those operations are growing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The U.S. military is methodically putting finishing touches in place for a possible war with Iraq. A dozen years ago following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, it took the Pentagon and its coalition partners six months to deploy half a million forces in the Persian Gulf. This time, the process is moving much more quickly in part because current U.S. war plans call for far fewer troops. That's in part the result of more sophisticated high-tech firepower.

(on camera): The planning is currently at an advanced stage with Commanding General Tommy Franks preparing in the coming days to lead a simulated war game, code named Internal Look. By all accounts, it's a rehearsal for the real thing.

(voice-over): He will be here at the As Saliyeh base in Qatar with about 1,000 of his Central Command troops. They're being joined by a modular command and control operation that's been airlifted from their headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Another 3,000 U.S. troops were already in place in Qatar.

General Franks, who commanded the Afghan war, will be in constant communication with other U.S. forces in the region and back in Florida and the Pentagon.

Quietly, without a whole lot of fan fare, U.S. troops are getting in place to surround Iraq -- in Kuwait, where some 12,000 U.S. ground forces are training along the border with Iraq; in Saudi Arabia, where nearly 7,000 U.S., mostly Air Force personnel, are based at the Prince Sultan Air Force Base near Riyadh; in Bahrain, where nearly 5,000 sailors from the Fifth Fleet are based; in Oman, where some 2,000 U.S. Air Force troops operate two-dozen fighter aircraft poised to strike; in Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, where an air base has been reconfigured to accommodate B-2 stealth bombers and in Turkey where 4,000 U.S. troops operate out of the Incirlik Air Base.

Beyond that, the U.S. Navy shortly will have four aircraft carrier battle groups in the region. That, by the way, is what the Navy had in place during the first Gulf War as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And more U.S. troops and equipment are heading to this part of the world even as we speak. Earlier today, the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and nine vessels in its battle group left the Norfolk Navy port. CNN's Bob Franken was aboard the carrier and he has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We're standing on the flight deck of the USS Harry S Truman. It's going to be steaming toward the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and it also is going to be steaming into the possibility of hostilities with Iraq. Of course, that gives this routine deployment -- it's a normal deployment -- gives it a meeting that is anything but routine.

This flight deck -- just to give you some idea of the magnitude -- is four-and-half acres of flight deck. From one end to another, it's almost as long as the Empire State Building is high. Up above me is the top of the mass. From that point to the water line is 20 stories. This is a massive operation. It's going to involve for a six-month deployment, some 8,000 sailors and Marines, more than 5,000 aboard this ship alone as it steams to the area.

It's accompanied by a complete contingent of about 80 aircraft, all manner of combat airplanes, various jets that do the various things that are done in war. There are 12 ships involved. It's part of the normal battle group.

Now, this is an aircraft carrier that is the most recent one in the Navy. It has had one deployment before this, and that was right after the bombing of the USS Cole. Now, this one is sailing again into the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. The specifics of the mission are of course always kept secret, on, as I said, to a possible confrontation with Iraq. That is something that's going to be decided somewhere else. But it's something that will be carried out to a large degree from this ship.

Bob Franken, CNN, aboard the USS Harry S Truman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Bob. We don't normally read our e-mail at this point in the program, but we're going to take an exception today because we have some unusual e-mail raising an important question, especially where I am right now. How do you pronounce the name of the country I'm in? Let's get right to those e- mails.

Antonio from Dallas, Texas is writing this -- "Would you guys please stop mispronouncing Qatar? It's pronounced "ka-tar," not "cudder," with the second syllable being accented kind of like if you add a "k" in the front of Atari."

And this from Robert in New York -- "When I went to school, we learned that Qatar was pronounced like guitar. But today, I heard it pronounced on your show like "kudder" and it appears to be spreading among your guest. Am I wrong?"

Robert and Antonio, I have to tell you a lot of us who are here in Qatar right now are trying to get it straight. We went out on the street earlier today and asked some of the locals how they pronounce the name of their country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar. Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Q-A-T-A-R. Qatar in English. In Arabic, it would be a little bit different. It would be Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is Qatar. Arabic, Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, if you're still confused, we've asked CNN international Octavia Nasr, whose native language is Arabic to come in to help us better understand how do you pronounce the name of the small but very important country -- Octavia?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR: Wolf, that was very funny to watch how these people are split. I think they're trying to make it easier on Americans to say the same of the country. The country's name is Qatar. In Arabic, there is no "gu" sound. In English, the spelling of the word doesn't have any "g" or anything suggesting a "g" sound. So please, whatever you do don't call it Qatar because that simply doesn't exist.

Now, the confusion is that because locals in the Gulf region pronounce the "ha" sound in Arabic. They pronounce it as "g." But then again, the word Qatar is made out of three letters, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Unless you can say the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just like I say them, please don't even try.

So what we did, as you know, we debated the issue. And we went over the different spellings and pronunciations in the dictionaries and we came up with the closest possible to Qatar, which is Qatar. And in order to remind everybody, I just brought my scissors with me. So it is cutter. And again, no matter what you say, just don't call it gutter.

BLITZER: All right. So if we're going to call it Qatar and we're all agreed, we're going to call it Qatar. What do you call people who live here in Qatar?

NASR: Well, you call them (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I'm just kidding. You just call them the Qataris because if we're going to settle on Qatar, then that makes them Qataris. And again, if you talk to officials from Qatar, they're going to tell you the name of their country is Qatar. And sometime in press conferences, we see very interesting reporters trying to call the country Qatar, Qatar, Qatar and then officials repeating after them Qatar, Qatar, Qatar. So let's not try -- let's not make the same mistake and let's call the country Qatar and the people of that country, the Qataris.

BLITZER: Qataris and Qatar. All right. To our viewers out there, I'm being flooded with e-mail. It's not guitar, it's not gudder. It's Qatar, Qatar -- Kutter. That's how we're going to pronounce here on CNN. Stick with us on this one, Octavia Nasr. Thanks for that explanation. I'm sure we'll still get some e-mail on this matter.

When we come back we'll be joined by CNN's Connie Chung. She will look back --- remember the life and times of the legendary broadcaster, Roone Arledge, as we just reported, has passed away earlier today. Also when we come back, the not so friendly skies of United. How will it affect the flying public if United Airlines goes into bankruptcy? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's check in on some other headlines right now, some other news. For that, once again, we go back to CNN's Marty Savidge. He's at the CNN center in Atlanta -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Thank you, Wolf. Manhattan's district attorney is requesting that the convictions of five men in the Central Park jogger case be thrown out. Earlier this year, another man confessed to the 1989 rape and beating attack. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Youssef Solam (ph) served more than seven years in prison for a crime that the district attorney now says he should not have been convicted of.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My poor child grew up in jail.

FEYERICK: Solam (ph) was one of five young men found guilty in the rape of the Central Park jogger more than 13 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wants his life back. He did seven years in jail for a crime he didn't commit.

FEYERICK: Confessions given at the time helped convince two juries the teens were involved in the rape and in the assaults of others in the park that night, crimes that shook the city for years. But in a dramatic turn of events, Manhattan's D.A. is asking a judge to toss out all convictions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The verdicts have been set aside in their entirety.

FEYERICK: The bombshell reversal dropped after new evidence came to light. A confession and DNA match linking someone else, Matias Reyes, a serial rapist, to the crime. The D.A. says that, "If that evidence had been available at trial, the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendants."

Investigators spent months reanalyzing the evidence and using DNA testing not available in 1989. Lawyers for the five are convinced the confessions were coerced, even though some parents were in the room when the young men were questioned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The confession that Reyes has put forward made it clear that the -- that his confession could not be reconciled with the statements that they took from the young men because both sets of statements went from A to Z. So it meant then that those statements were fabricated and it raised the question of how that happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: An official with the Detectives Union calls the D.A.'s move a rush to judgment. He says it's an all-time low for the criminal justice system when we take the word of a convicted murderer and rapist, Matias Reyes, over the hard work and testimony of dedicated New York police departments, so this reversal certainly not uniting the city. Remember, these crimes were so shocking that they simply burned themselves into the psyche of all New Yorkers -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: They did indeed. Deborah Feyerick, thanks very much, live from New York.

Well, the weather is not the only thing affecting United Airlines today. The financial turbulence is hitting hard. Will the carrier land in bankruptcy court? And the holiday season in Washington, the national Christmas tree of 2002. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Trouble is mounting for United Airlines, which now appears destined for bankruptcy. After being denied a federal loan guarantee yesterday, today its shares plunged two-thirds and Standard & Poor's downgraded the airlines debt to the lowest possible level. So, what does it all mean for passengers? Here's CNN's Alan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The clock is ticking for United Airlines to pay off $900 million in debt in the next seven days or face bankruptcy. But United customers seem more concerned about the storm blanketing the East Coast Thursday than a potential bankruptcy grounding the airline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as they're flying today, we're fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody's got their problems these days.

CHERNOFF: In Chicago, United's hub, the same sentiment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am not concerned. I'm flying to Tokyo in January and to Dublin in March.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My expectation is they're not going to go away.

CHERNOFF: And in Los Angeles...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm certainly not going to jump ship just because the going's got a little rough for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a strong airline, you know, historically, so I have a lot of faith.

CHERNOFF: In the near term, they're right. Just look to U.S. Airways, an airline already in bankruptcy. It filed for Chapter 11 in August and has kept flights operating on a normal schedule. United is pledging to do the same, saying on its Website it "will continue to be business as usual for every one of our customers."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United airlines will actually be in a stronger condition after they file for bankruptcy than they are at this current moment.

CHERNOFF: The longer term flight plan may be different. Experts say United could be forced to ground planes, drop service in some markets, cut the number of cross-country flights and eliminate unprofitable international routes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most likely Latin America because Brazil and Argentina are still very weak. There could be some pullback from Europe, since they have a partnership with Lufthansa. But it could come from just about anywhere. CHERNOFF: And here in the U.S., cutbacks would most likely impact United hubs in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco.

(on camera): As for those much coveted frequent flyer miles, United says they'll still be honored. And analysts say even if United were to go out of business in the future, a competitor would certainly honor the points in hopes of gaining new customers.

Alan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And still to come, we will be taking you to Washington, D.C. for what is an annual tradition, the lighting of the national Christmas tree by the President of the United States. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We want to go back to Washington where President Bush is about to light the Christmas tree. He's speaking right now. Let's listen in.

G.W. BUSH: ... Christmas season, we recall that God's love is found in humble places, and God's peace is offered to all of us.

Laura and I are pleased to be with you at this Christmas pageant of peace, and we thank you all for coming as well. I want to thank Barbara for hosting this event. I want to thank all the entertainers for making the night such a special evening. Thank you all for coming. I want to thank Peter and the board of directors and the production team for organizing this fine event. I appreciate Santa coming. It looks like he needs a belt for Christmas. Finally, I want to thank all the good people at the National Park Service.

The national Christmas tree is a living tree and the Park Service looks after it every single day of the year. For nearly 80 years, in times of calm and in times of challenge, Americans have gathered for this ceremony.

The simple story we remember during this season speaks to every generation is the story of a quiet birth in a little town on the margins of an indifferent empire. Yet that single event set the direction of history and still changes millions of lives. For over two millennia, Christmas has carried the message that God is with us. And because he's with us, we can always live and hope.

And this season, we celebrate with our families and deeply missed family members no longer with us. Thousands of families in our nation are still grieving over the terrible losses that came to them last year on September 11. We pray for their comfort. We pray for the comfort for everyone who's lost a life this year.

Our entire nation is also thinking at this time of year of the men and women in the military, many of whom will spend this Christmas at posts far from home. They stand between Americans and grave danger. They serve in the cause of peace and freedom. They wear the uniform proudly and we are proud of them.

Laura and I wish every American family the blessings of this season. Happy holidays and a Merry Christmas. And now, we have the honor of lighting the national Christmas tree. And joining us we've got two new friends, Samara Banks (ph) and Ben Sneller (ph), to help us light this tree. Now, if everybody will all step up to it. Get ready. Please join us in the countdown -- five, four, three, two, one!

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: A beautiful site in Washington, D.C. President Bush and two volunteer friends lighting the national Christmas tree. In Washington, D.C.

That's all the time we have today on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'll be back tomorrow at noon Eastern, 5 p.m. Eastern. Much more coverage live form the Persian Gulf, but up next LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE which begins right now.

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





Stand Firm>


Aired December 5, 2002 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST (voice-over): War or peace? Saddam speaks.

SADDAM HUSSEIN, PRESIDENT OF IRAQ (through translator): We will try to avid bringing harm on the Iraqi people.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's his choice to make.

BLITZER: Getting ready for conflict. A new command center put to the test as a carrier battle group puts to sea.

Al Qaeda threats. Does the end of Ramadan mean the start of new round of terror.

Snow smacks the Northeast. And ice pulls the pulls the plug on the Carolinas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's frightening though, because you think about people who don't have power and...

BLITZER: United Airlines veers off course. Will you be grounded by a bankruptcy?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Live from the Persian Gulf, reporting from Doha, Qatar, here's Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: You don't hear from him often but once you do, you know the whole world is listening. It's Saddam Hussein's turn to speak and precisely that's what he did today. It's our headline from the Persian Gulf.

Saddam Hussein's turn to talk, promising his people victory no matter what the cost.

Strong words also from President Bush about the chance of war. But some questions he left for the Iraqi leader to answer.

In a moment, we'll have reports from both capitals in the standoff with Iraq as part of our complete coverage. But we begin with some major news unfolding back home in the United States. Let's go right to CNN's Marty Savidge. He's standing by at the CNN center in Atlanta -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Wolf.

Right now the Northeast getting the same thing that much of the south got yesterday, snow and ice from a major storm.

This is a live picture of Market Street in Philadelphia. The city's already seen seven inches of snow. That's enough to close schools for the day. But the worst of it is over there.

Not the case in Boston, where the forecast calls for up to 10 inches of snow before it is all over there.

CNN's Orelon Sidney will join us from the weather center for the latest on this storm.

First, though, we have three reports for you: Michael Okwu in New York. Jason Bellini has travel troubles from La Guardia airport, and Jeff Flock is in icy North Carolina.

We begin now in New York with Michael Okwu -- Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, good afternoon to you.

Sections of the Northeast are experiencing some of their worst snowfall since January of 2000.

If this is what they mean by winter wonderland, then I would bet most of the New Yorkers here would just say, "take it back," or at least those New Yorkers who are experiencing rush hour traffic that you see just behind me. Always a challenge in the city, but made all the more difficult because of this snowfall.

Forecasters expected some six to eight inches here. The worst of it came swirling down and around this afternoon. The weather service expects temperatures to hover below the freezing point for most of the part -- of the rest of the day.

Officials in New York repeating the storm mantra, take mass transit.

In Philadelphia, where up to eight inches were expected, officials declared a snow emergency. All schools were closed, although at this point some 60 percent of the streets have been plowed.

And in the nation's capital, Marty, five to eight inches fell before it all was over. It stopped this afternoon.

Most schools were closed, even President Bush making the point that earlier this morning when he took his two dogs for a walk, the snow was so thick that one of them actually disappeared in the lawn. About a 250,000 tons of salt, New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg says are being used to combat the snowfall here. He also says that by the time the snowfall is all over, supposedly at about 10 o'clock this evening, they will have used about 1,000 snow plows.

And it all comes at a very high cost. He says it costs about $1 million per inch -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Michael Okwu, live on the streets of Manhattan, thanks very much.

And the picture is not looking any better in the air. The storm is causing big trouble for travelers trying to get in and out of the Northeast.

Arriving flights are being delayed an average of almost five hours at New York's La Guardia airport. And that is where CNN's Jason Bellini is standing by live -- Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, not a great day here at the airport. At least people in the city could enjoy the beauty of the storm. But here at the airport, the delays have been bad all day.

We've only seen a handful of planes take off today. People are camped out, some of them planning to stay all night.

In the terminal today, here's a look at what things were like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELLINI (voice-over): You better not laugh. You better not cry. It won't help a bit. You're not going to fly.

A big snowstorm is here in town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They keep on telling me it's going to be another two hours, another two hours. I wish they'd just close the airport so they can make a decision.

BELLINI: At La Guardia, like JFK, like Newark Airport, the snowstorm hasn't closed things down, but you had to be incredibly lucky to be on a flight that wasn't either greatly delayed or cancelled.

Thousands of people from hundreds of canceled flights called loved ones and colleagues to say they might not leave today, a cruel reality, especially for those planning to fly to warmer climates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my flight was cancelled to Myrtle Beach, and I had to book tomorrow. It's just a nightmare.

BELLINI: A traveler's nightmare, not a winter wonderland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELLINI: And no word for stranded passengers on when things will clear up and when they'll be able to take off -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Jason Bellini, live in La Guardia airport, thanks very much. His mom would say, get a hat.

All right. To the south, the problem is ice and it's knocked out power to well over a million people.

CNN's Jeff Flock is live in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the latest on that. You haven't got snow, but it's almost as bad, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not any more, Marty, but there are things falling from the sky. I don't know if you can see what's behind me here. You can see these trees that have gone down.

Here's a man who's just helping to gather up -- Go ahead, sir. Don't let me get in your way here. Helping gather up the brush. Maybe you can see him off behind me there.

But let me give you some indication about what has gone down here, specifically a lot of trees and power lines. And be careful, you've got somebody about to walk across here.

Maybe you can see over here, folks with the Department of Public Utilities. We got a power line down here. They've hung a red sort of scarf up there so people can see and don't come through and hit the power line. That's not a live power line any more. Nor is this one here. This one was headed into this house.

And of course, we're in the blackout zone. This young lady's power that lives in this house is completely out.

More than a million customers all throughout North Carolina, Marty, have lost power. And of course when you talk about 1 million customers, I'm talking about a million homes and businesses. And of course, that's a whole lot more people.

So I think it's fair to say that the number of people without power and in the dark tonight are in the multiple millions in North Carolina.

If you can get an up-close and personal look at the damage here, this is just one of them. A tree, weighted down with all that ice, came down and knocked a hole in this lady's roof. She is inside and had water pouring in earlier.

Another house up the street the same sort of way.

And one thing, before we get away, I want to let you hear from one of these residents. We talked to somebody who withstood all of this last night and said it was an incredible scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounded like we were in a war zone, you know, because the trees themselves, I mean, sounded like cannons going off. And then all the branches, secondary branches coming down with it. So from about 3 o'clock to 4:30 this morning, it was deafening out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Indeed, Marty, I leave you with this last image. Take a look at this oak tree, 100-year-old oak tree. Hard to count the rings right here, but we know it's more than 100 years old.

And this one withstood Hurricane Hugo when they lost a lot of trees, but did not withstand the ice storm of 2002 here in Charlotte, North Carolina.

That's the latest. Marty, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Jeff Flock, thanks very much. It's going to be awhile, cleaning up that.

Now for the very latest on how the weather is affecting air travel. We are joined by Travelocity.com's Rally Caparas. He's been looking at how it's impacting on the airways.

I would think this is the day where you, if you were an air traffic controller today, you'd think of another line of work.

RALLY CAPARAS, TRAVELOCITY.COM: Well, those guys have been working hard. We're coming out of the busiest travel period of the year, Thanksgiving holidays, and here they are coming into the week, busting it.

I mean, they have been working hard. I've been following them until 5 a.m. as I have the delays, and it's been incredible. It's the worst travel day of the year thus far. And we're almost done with 2002.

Let's go to where the delays are right now. Those airplanes are in the sky. About 4,000, 5,000 aircraft flying around. You'd think there'd be far fewer than that.

But here's what's happening. Up in Boston, you're going to see 60- to 90-minute arrival delays all night long, well past midnight if they still fly into that airport at that time.

Now we're talking La Guardia, Newark, Philadelphia and JFK. You're going to see three- to four-hour delays there.

Down in Atlanta, we thought we were out of the woods. However, we just got a ground delay forwarded from the FAA, and now we're back into 90-minute arrival delays.

So the delays are going to continue throughout the night. Tomorrow we'll have much better conditions, Marty. Thank goodness. We all need a rest from it.

Back to you.

SAVIDGE: Rally, how quickly could they get this all sorted out, do you think? CAPARAS: Well, I think by tomorrow morning we're going to have much better conditions. And probably by 5 o'clock tomorrow, we should see things back to normal.

SAVIDGE: Rally Caparas with Travelocity.com, thank you very much.

Let's bring in Orelon Sidney now. She's been tracking the storm for us.

What's the latest, Orelon?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: It's the beginning of the end, isn't it?

Excellent news. We've got this big low pressure center still sitting off the coast, but right now it looks like the low pressure area is going to move very fast and out into the North Atlantic.

We still have quite a bit of snowfall associated with this now, but about 5 p.m. Eastern time, that's when we expect to see the snow ending in places like New York. And you can see some clearing spots here on the radar.

Still, lots of snowfall extending out through Long Island. You can expect up to 10 inches in the eastern edge of Long Island before it's all over.

Heavy snow now is going to be moving into Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket. They're looking for 10 inches of snow between now and tomorrow when this is all over.

Do have some snow amounts for you. Staten Island picked up 5.5 inches; Brooklyn almost five; La Guardia, five inches of snow.

And as we talked about earlier, and as Rally said, it's going to get a lot better, but not tonight.

Temperatures are in the 20s and they will plunge later on tonight. Temperatures in the south are in the 40s. And that means some of that ice, of course, has started to melt. That's going to be a problem for folks walking.

But look at tomorrow. Much, much better. Storms out to sea; we'll see some garden variety lake effect snows. High pressure and partly cloudy skies for the weekend -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: The sun will come out tomorrow. Orelon Sidney, thank you very much. And that is it from here.

Let's get back to Wolf Blitzer now in Qatar -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Marty. We'll be getting back to you later this hour.

We have important news happening in the showdown with Iraq. The Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, speaks out today, and he utters some tough words.

The president of the United States is also speaking out.

We'll have reports from both capitals, Baghdad and Washington.

Also, U.S. troops, they're on the way to this part of the world. Some of them are leaving today. Why Qatar could be pivotal in terms of a war with Iraq.

And the friendly skies: How United Airlines' financial troubles could affect you.

We're also standing by this hour for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Washington. We'll see President Bush do that later this hour. We'll have live coverage here on this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In a moment we'll hear directly from Saddam Hussein. He had some choice words today, vowing victory in a potential war with the United States.

That and much more is coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, which returns in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to Doha in Qatar, where Qataris have been celebrating the end of the Eid ul-Fitr celebration, celebrating the end of the month of Ramadan, the fast here in the Muslim world.

The Iraqi president is not celebrating yet. He's certainly not celebrating the prospect of a potential war with the United States.

He spoke out about all of that today. And CNN's Nic Robertson is in Baghdad and has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): There's been very little of President Saddam Hussein on Iraqi television in the last few weeks while the inspectors have been here, but he appeared this morning with high members of his Ba'th ruling party, with senior officials from his cabinet.

He had a message for the Iraqi people. That is that right now they face a testing time and that they should use their ability to and their capacity to bear that test.

He said also that, to disprove U.S. accusations Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, that the U.N. weapons inspectors should be allowed to go about their work. Now, he said in that statement, "We should provide them" -- that is the weapons inspectors -- "with such a chance, after which if the weaklings remain weak and the cowardly remain coward, then we shall take the stand that befits our people, principles and mission."

Not clear exactly what the principles and mission are, but certainly the Iraqi leadership and Iraqi officials have made it very clear that if the weapons inspection mission is a front for aggression against Iraq, then certainly they say the people of Iraq are ready to stand up to that.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In Washington, the Bush Administration is making it clear that the ball is directly in Saddam Hussein's corner.

Let's go right to the White House. That's where CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley is standing by -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, White House officials continuing to say that the burden is on Saddam Hussein and that he can shed himself of the burden by providing a truthful declaration of his weapons of mass destruction this weekend.

Here at the White House meanwhile, they are preparing for December 8, when that declaration is due. They say it's the beginning of a process; it is a process that could lead to war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): The snowy scene outside the White House and the holiday scene inside...

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: The theme this year for the White House holiday decoration...

BUCKLEY: ... belied the serious drama of the upcoming deadline facing Iraq, the possibility of war.

President Bush was asked if it were likely and what would trigger it?

G.W. BUSH: That's the question that you should ask to Saddam Hussein. It's his choice to make. And Saddam Hussein must disarm.

BUCKLEY: Disarm what, Iraqi leaders continue to say? So far, inspectors have not been blocked and have not, at least publicly, reported finding any weapons of mass destruction.

Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz telling ABC's Ted Koppel that the U.S. is determined to wage war on Iraq, whatever the inspectors say.

TARIQ AZIZ, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF IRAQ: The war is not because of weapons of mass destruction. Because the whole issue of weapons of mass destruction is a hoax. When they find that there are no weapons of mass destruction, they will use another pretext to attack.

BUCKLEY: White House officials say peace is the preferred method of disarmament and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Iraqi officials are lying when they claim there are no weapons of mass destruction.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: President Bush has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Donald Rumsfeld has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Richard Butler has said they do. The United Nations has said they do. The experts have said they do.

Iraq says they don't. You can choose who you want to believe.

BUCKLEY: White House officials are skeptical that Saddam Hussein will provide a truthful declaration on December 8. If the U.S. view is on December 8 that the declaration is false, that's when White House officials will have some major decisions to make about whether and when to pursue military action -- Wolf.

BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley over at the White House, thanks very much, Frank.

Meanwhile, over at the Pentagon, the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, as is his way, is by no means being shy about going very, very hard on the Iraqi leader.

Let's get some details from our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORREPSPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is making it clear that the U.S. is going to hold Saddam Hussein to a very tough standard.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): Even before Iraq submits its disarmament declaration to the United Nations, the United States appears to be laying the ground work to reject it.

While insisting it is waiting to see what Iraq will say, the Bush Administration has set the bar very high for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. Essentially he has to show not just that he's disarmed but that he's a changed man.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: He could decide the game is up and open up his country and say, Here are our weapons of mass destruction, and here's where they're located, here are the people who made them, here are the people that were working on them. And we've decided that we would rather stay in power and become responsible members of the world community and stop repressing our people and stop threatening our neighbors. MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld said the only other way war could be averted was for Saddam to voluntarily give up power and seek asylum in another country, an unlikely prospect at best.

The hard line comes as President Bush laid out an uncompromising standard for compliance in a Pentagon speech earlier this week.

G.W. BUSH: Any act of delay, deception or defiance will prove that Saddam Hussein has not adopted the path of compliance and has rejected the path of peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon insists it is not prejudging Iraq's report, but from President Bush on down, U.S. officials admit they are predisposed not to believe it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Jamie, thanks very much.

And here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this: "Do you think Saddam Hussein will still rule Iraq five years from now?"

We'll have the results later in this program. Go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote. While you're there I'd, of course, love to hear from you. Send me your comments.

Send me your comments. I'll try to read some them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column: cnn.com/wolf.

With the Islamic holy month of Ramadan coming to an end, does that signal, potentially, a new round of terrorism against U.S. targets? We'll take a closer look at that in just a moment.

Also, why is Qatar so important -- so important a location when it comes to a potential war with Iraq?

We'll have all that.

But first, today's "News Quiz."

How did the Emir of Qatar rise to power? A -- elected to office; B -- overthrew his father; C -- inheritance; D -- revolution. The answer, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

There were two explosions today in towns in eastern Indonesia. One of them killed three people in a McDonald's restaurant. The second blast occurred an hour later, damaging four cars at an automobile dealership. There's been no claim of responsibility so far. In recent years, eastern Indonesia has been the site of frequent violence involving Muslims and Christians.

Muslim militants may have been behind an attack in Pakistan earlier today. There was an explosion at the Macedonian consulate in Karachi, and three people, including a security guard were found dead.

A message left on the wall suggested the attack was the work of al Qaeda, an apparent attack of revenge. Several Pakistanis were killed in Macedonia last March in what police called a pre-emptive raid on Muslim terrorists.

And there are also fears that Muslim terrorists may be stepping up certain terror activities now that the month of Ramadan has come to an end. That concern is based, in part, on a series of recent threats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It starts with a statement posted to a web site known in the past who have posted credible al Qaeda statements. It threatens strikes to coincide with the end of Ramadan, telling the American people, "you have not learned your lesson."

Then, the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera said it received a fax and a Ramadan statement from ousted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, predicting chaos and destruction.

We don't yet know if the bombing of a McDonald's in Indonesia was connected to Islamic extremists, but it occurred as the restaurant was filled with people celebrating Eid, the breaking of the Ramadan fast.

We do know that the Mombasa attacks, which al Qaeda has taken credit for, and which were aimed at Israelis, struck on the eve of Hanukkah.

So as Christmas approaches, is there more reason to become concerned?

U.S. Officials say they are mindful of the Ramadan threats but have been in a heightened state of alert for some time.

But a look at al Qaeda's history shows little reason to believe the group attacks on holidays, though that may be changing.

The only major attack blamed on al Qaeda that had a symbolic date was the 1998 embassy bombings, which occurred on the eighth anniversary of U.S. troops landing in Saudi Arabia to prepare for the Gulf War. That troop presence is something that Osama bin Laden has railed against many times.

But most of al Qaeda's terror, including September 11 attacks, have occurred not on a date al Qaeda found symbolic, but on dates when its operatives thought it would be most effective.

And amid all of this, thousands and thousands of U.S. troops already here in the region of the Persian Gulf. What are they doing? What are their plans? What are they expected to be doing, especially here in the strategic location of Qatar?

Back in the United States meanwhile, thousands more shipping out today for the Persian Gulf.

Finally, what the financial troubles of United Airlines could mean to you.

We're covering all of that.

And we're standing by this hour, live coverage of the lighting of the White House Christmas tree. We'll watch President Bush and his invited guests go through that annual tradition.

We'll have the coverage and much more on this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked, how did the Emir of Qatar rise to power? The answer, B. In 1995, Crown Prince Hamad Bin Khaleifa al- Thani overthrew his father to become Emir.

You're look at the Qatar air base built from scratch. It's a $1 billion facility for a country that has virtually no air force of its own. Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting live from the Persian Gulf. Coming up, a sendoff for U.S. troops headed to this part of the world.

Here in Qatar meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command is building up its presence and stepping up its operations here throughout the region, establishing indeed a temporary headquarters to oversee potential operations in the Persian Gulf area. And those operations are growing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The U.S. military is methodically putting finishing touches in place for a possible war with Iraq. A dozen years ago following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, it took the Pentagon and its coalition partners six months to deploy half a million forces in the Persian Gulf. This time, the process is moving much more quickly in part because current U.S. war plans call for far fewer troops. That's in part the result of more sophisticated high-tech firepower.

(on camera): The planning is currently at an advanced stage with Commanding General Tommy Franks preparing in the coming days to lead a simulated war game, code named Internal Look. By all accounts, it's a rehearsal for the real thing.

(voice-over): He will be here at the As Saliyeh base in Qatar with about 1,000 of his Central Command troops. They're being joined by a modular command and control operation that's been airlifted from their headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Another 3,000 U.S. troops were already in place in Qatar.

General Franks, who commanded the Afghan war, will be in constant communication with other U.S. forces in the region and back in Florida and the Pentagon.

Quietly, without a whole lot of fan fare, U.S. troops are getting in place to surround Iraq -- in Kuwait, where some 12,000 U.S. ground forces are training along the border with Iraq; in Saudi Arabia, where nearly 7,000 U.S., mostly Air Force personnel, are based at the Prince Sultan Air Force Base near Riyadh; in Bahrain, where nearly 5,000 sailors from the Fifth Fleet are based; in Oman, where some 2,000 U.S. Air Force troops operate two-dozen fighter aircraft poised to strike; in Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, where an air base has been reconfigured to accommodate B-2 stealth bombers and in Turkey where 4,000 U.S. troops operate out of the Incirlik Air Base.

Beyond that, the U.S. Navy shortly will have four aircraft carrier battle groups in the region. That, by the way, is what the Navy had in place during the first Gulf War as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And more U.S. troops and equipment are heading to this part of the world even as we speak. Earlier today, the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and nine vessels in its battle group left the Norfolk Navy port. CNN's Bob Franken was aboard the carrier and he has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We're standing on the flight deck of the USS Harry S Truman. It's going to be steaming toward the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and it also is going to be steaming into the possibility of hostilities with Iraq. Of course, that gives this routine deployment -- it's a normal deployment -- gives it a meeting that is anything but routine.

This flight deck -- just to give you some idea of the magnitude -- is four-and-half acres of flight deck. From one end to another, it's almost as long as the Empire State Building is high. Up above me is the top of the mass. From that point to the water line is 20 stories. This is a massive operation. It's going to involve for a six-month deployment, some 8,000 sailors and Marines, more than 5,000 aboard this ship alone as it steams to the area.

It's accompanied by a complete contingent of about 80 aircraft, all manner of combat airplanes, various jets that do the various things that are done in war. There are 12 ships involved. It's part of the normal battle group.

Now, this is an aircraft carrier that is the most recent one in the Navy. It has had one deployment before this, and that was right after the bombing of the USS Cole. Now, this one is sailing again into the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. The specifics of the mission are of course always kept secret, on, as I said, to a possible confrontation with Iraq. That is something that's going to be decided somewhere else. But it's something that will be carried out to a large degree from this ship.

Bob Franken, CNN, aboard the USS Harry S Truman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Bob. We don't normally read our e-mail at this point in the program, but we're going to take an exception today because we have some unusual e-mail raising an important question, especially where I am right now. How do you pronounce the name of the country I'm in? Let's get right to those e- mails.

Antonio from Dallas, Texas is writing this -- "Would you guys please stop mispronouncing Qatar? It's pronounced "ka-tar," not "cudder," with the second syllable being accented kind of like if you add a "k" in the front of Atari."

And this from Robert in New York -- "When I went to school, we learned that Qatar was pronounced like guitar. But today, I heard it pronounced on your show like "kudder" and it appears to be spreading among your guest. Am I wrong?"

Robert and Antonio, I have to tell you a lot of us who are here in Qatar right now are trying to get it straight. We went out on the street earlier today and asked some of the locals how they pronounce the name of their country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar. Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Q-A-T-A-R. Qatar in English. In Arabic, it would be a little bit different. It would be Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is Qatar. Arabic, Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, if you're still confused, we've asked CNN international Octavia Nasr, whose native language is Arabic to come in to help us better understand how do you pronounce the name of the small but very important country -- Octavia?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR: Wolf, that was very funny to watch how these people are split. I think they're trying to make it easier on Americans to say the same of the country. The country's name is Qatar. In Arabic, there is no "gu" sound. In English, the spelling of the word doesn't have any "g" or anything suggesting a "g" sound. So please, whatever you do don't call it Qatar because that simply doesn't exist.

Now, the confusion is that because locals in the Gulf region pronounce the "ha" sound in Arabic. They pronounce it as "g." But then again, the word Qatar is made out of three letters, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Unless you can say the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just like I say them, please don't even try.

So what we did, as you know, we debated the issue. And we went over the different spellings and pronunciations in the dictionaries and we came up with the closest possible to Qatar, which is Qatar. And in order to remind everybody, I just brought my scissors with me. So it is cutter. And again, no matter what you say, just don't call it gutter.

BLITZER: All right. So if we're going to call it Qatar and we're all agreed, we're going to call it Qatar. What do you call people who live here in Qatar?

NASR: Well, you call them (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I'm just kidding. You just call them the Qataris because if we're going to settle on Qatar, then that makes them Qataris. And again, if you talk to officials from Qatar, they're going to tell you the name of their country is Qatar. And sometime in press conferences, we see very interesting reporters trying to call the country Qatar, Qatar, Qatar and then officials repeating after them Qatar, Qatar, Qatar. So let's not try -- let's not make the same mistake and let's call the country Qatar and the people of that country, the Qataris.

BLITZER: Qataris and Qatar. All right. To our viewers out there, I'm being flooded with e-mail. It's not guitar, it's not gudder. It's Qatar, Qatar -- Kutter. That's how we're going to pronounce here on CNN. Stick with us on this one, Octavia Nasr. Thanks for that explanation. I'm sure we'll still get some e-mail on this matter.

When we come back we'll be joined by CNN's Connie Chung. She will look back --- remember the life and times of the legendary broadcaster, Roone Arledge, as we just reported, has passed away earlier today. Also when we come back, the not so friendly skies of United. How will it affect the flying public if United Airlines goes into bankruptcy? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's check in on some other headlines right now, some other news. For that, once again, we go back to CNN's Marty Savidge. He's at the CNN center in Atlanta -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Thank you, Wolf. Manhattan's district attorney is requesting that the convictions of five men in the Central Park jogger case be thrown out. Earlier this year, another man confessed to the 1989 rape and beating attack. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Youssef Solam (ph) served more than seven years in prison for a crime that the district attorney now says he should not have been convicted of.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My poor child grew up in jail.

FEYERICK: Solam (ph) was one of five young men found guilty in the rape of the Central Park jogger more than 13 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wants his life back. He did seven years in jail for a crime he didn't commit.

FEYERICK: Confessions given at the time helped convince two juries the teens were involved in the rape and in the assaults of others in the park that night, crimes that shook the city for years. But in a dramatic turn of events, Manhattan's D.A. is asking a judge to toss out all convictions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The verdicts have been set aside in their entirety.

FEYERICK: The bombshell reversal dropped after new evidence came to light. A confession and DNA match linking someone else, Matias Reyes, a serial rapist, to the crime. The D.A. says that, "If that evidence had been available at trial, the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendants."

Investigators spent months reanalyzing the evidence and using DNA testing not available in 1989. Lawyers for the five are convinced the confessions were coerced, even though some parents were in the room when the young men were questioned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The confession that Reyes has put forward made it clear that the -- that his confession could not be reconciled with the statements that they took from the young men because both sets of statements went from A to Z. So it meant then that those statements were fabricated and it raised the question of how that happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: An official with the Detectives Union calls the D.A.'s move a rush to judgment. He says it's an all-time low for the criminal justice system when we take the word of a convicted murderer and rapist, Matias Reyes, over the hard work and testimony of dedicated New York police departments, so this reversal certainly not uniting the city. Remember, these crimes were so shocking that they simply burned themselves into the psyche of all New Yorkers -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: They did indeed. Deborah Feyerick, thanks very much, live from New York.

Well, the weather is not the only thing affecting United Airlines today. The financial turbulence is hitting hard. Will the carrier land in bankruptcy court? And the holiday season in Washington, the national Christmas tree of 2002. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Trouble is mounting for United Airlines, which now appears destined for bankruptcy. After being denied a federal loan guarantee yesterday, today its shares plunged two-thirds and Standard & Poor's downgraded the airlines debt to the lowest possible level. So, what does it all mean for passengers? Here's CNN's Alan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The clock is ticking for United Airlines to pay off $900 million in debt in the next seven days or face bankruptcy. But United customers seem more concerned about the storm blanketing the East Coast Thursday than a potential bankruptcy grounding the airline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as they're flying today, we're fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody's got their problems these days.

CHERNOFF: In Chicago, United's hub, the same sentiment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am not concerned. I'm flying to Tokyo in January and to Dublin in March.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My expectation is they're not going to go away.

CHERNOFF: And in Los Angeles...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm certainly not going to jump ship just because the going's got a little rough for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a strong airline, you know, historically, so I have a lot of faith.

CHERNOFF: In the near term, they're right. Just look to U.S. Airways, an airline already in bankruptcy. It filed for Chapter 11 in August and has kept flights operating on a normal schedule. United is pledging to do the same, saying on its Website it "will continue to be business as usual for every one of our customers."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United airlines will actually be in a stronger condition after they file for bankruptcy than they are at this current moment.

CHERNOFF: The longer term flight plan may be different. Experts say United could be forced to ground planes, drop service in some markets, cut the number of cross-country flights and eliminate unprofitable international routes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most likely Latin America because Brazil and Argentina are still very weak. There could be some pullback from Europe, since they have a partnership with Lufthansa. But it could come from just about anywhere. CHERNOFF: And here in the U.S., cutbacks would most likely impact United hubs in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco.

(on camera): As for those much coveted frequent flyer miles, United says they'll still be honored. And analysts say even if United were to go out of business in the future, a competitor would certainly honor the points in hopes of gaining new customers.

Alan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And still to come, we will be taking you to Washington, D.C. for what is an annual tradition, the lighting of the national Christmas tree by the President of the United States. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We want to go back to Washington where President Bush is about to light the Christmas tree. He's speaking right now. Let's listen in.

G.W. BUSH: ... Christmas season, we recall that God's love is found in humble places, and God's peace is offered to all of us.

Laura and I are pleased to be with you at this Christmas pageant of peace, and we thank you all for coming as well. I want to thank Barbara for hosting this event. I want to thank all the entertainers for making the night such a special evening. Thank you all for coming. I want to thank Peter and the board of directors and the production team for organizing this fine event. I appreciate Santa coming. It looks like he needs a belt for Christmas. Finally, I want to thank all the good people at the National Park Service.

The national Christmas tree is a living tree and the Park Service looks after it every single day of the year. For nearly 80 years, in times of calm and in times of challenge, Americans have gathered for this ceremony.

The simple story we remember during this season speaks to every generation is the story of a quiet birth in a little town on the margins of an indifferent empire. Yet that single event set the direction of history and still changes millions of lives. For over two millennia, Christmas has carried the message that God is with us. And because he's with us, we can always live and hope.

And this season, we celebrate with our families and deeply missed family members no longer with us. Thousands of families in our nation are still grieving over the terrible losses that came to them last year on September 11. We pray for their comfort. We pray for the comfort for everyone who's lost a life this year.

Our entire nation is also thinking at this time of year of the men and women in the military, many of whom will spend this Christmas at posts far from home. They stand between Americans and grave danger. They serve in the cause of peace and freedom. They wear the uniform proudly and we are proud of them.

Laura and I wish every American family the blessings of this season. Happy holidays and a Merry Christmas. And now, we have the honor of lighting the national Christmas tree. And joining us we've got two new friends, Samara Banks (ph) and Ben Sneller (ph), to help us light this tree. Now, if everybody will all step up to it. Get ready. Please join us in the countdown -- five, four, three, two, one!

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: A beautiful site in Washington, D.C. President Bush and two volunteer friends lighting the national Christmas tree. In Washington, D.C.

That's all the time we have today on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'll be back tomorrow at noon Eastern, 5 p.m. Eastern. Much more coverage live form the Persian Gulf, but up next LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE which begins right now.

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