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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Is Saddam Still Alive on His Birthday Today?

Aired April 28, 2003 - 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, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's his birthday. Is he celebrating somewhere? An insider's new information on the fate of Saddam Hussein.

What happened to Iraq's deadly weapons? You'll hear from an Iraqi scientist and a U.S. search team.

Do Iraq's neighbors know the answers? I'll ask Jordan's foreign minister, Marwan Muasher.

Standing ovation. The president and defense secretary get cheered on opposite sides of the world.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iraq will be democratic.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Each of you helped make that happen.

BLITZER: And for first time on TV, exclusive and dramatic pictures from inside the Pentagon as the war unfolded in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.

BLITZER: It's Monday, April 28, 2003. Hello from Washington. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting. We're following several developments right now.

A birthday mystery tops our headlines from Iraq. Saddam Hussein turned 66, if, if he's still alive. As hometown loyalists celebrate their former leader's birthday, a captured henchman tells interrogators he saw Saddam as recently as early April.

And what happened to the weapons? As a U.S. Army test team tests suspicious chemicals, the man considered the father of Iraq's bioweapons program tells CNN the country's deadly germs were wiped out by economic sanctions. We'll have more on that coming up.

And a town hall meeting. The American pointman for the new Iraq hosts a cross section of prominent Iraqis to try to lay the groundwork for an interim government.

We'll go live to CNN's Jim Clancy in Baghdad and to Nic Robertson at that suspected site in northern Iraq. But we begin with the question that has bedeviled the Bush administration ever since U.S. troops took aim at the Iraqi capital. Where is Saddam Hussein?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): U.S. officials say former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz is telling his interrogators Saddam Hussein was alive in early April, after the initial U.S. air strike in March designed to kill him, but before the second so-called decapitation strike later in April. But U.S. military officials aren't sure Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. custody last week, is telling the truth. The commander of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is very precise with his words.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I have seen nothing over the last week or two that convinces me that he is still alive.

BLITZER: President Bush says the U.S. intelligence source who pinpointed U.S. precision-guided bombs and missiles towards Saddam on that opening night of the war is convinced the Iraqi dictator is dead. But before President Bush is ready to make that declaration, he needs hard evidence, such as DNA.

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: They're searching those two sites that we bombed for DNA that's compatible with his. All these things are just going to have to go on for a while while we see what happens.

BLITZER: In the meantime, there's lots of speculation. Senator Pat Roberts is chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and privy to the most sensitive inside information.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), KANSAS: The intelligence community is split about down the middle. If he is alive, he's probably somewhere in northern Iraq.

BLITZER: Senator Carl Levin is another member of the committee, and suspects Saddam could have crossed the border into Syria.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Because it was a very porous border, and because I can't have total confidence that the Syrians would not provide some haven to top Iraqis. There's some relationships there which I don't think we can discount.

BLITZER: Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi says Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, are still alive, but hiding out in different places inside Iraq. Chalabi says Saddam has a plan to kill himself, and others, if he's about to go down.

AHMED CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: This is a piece of information that came to us from intelligence officers who came to be debriefed here, and they confirmed this from two sources that he has taken possession of those suicide belts, and that he has them in his possession and he was trained on them. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The other consuming focus on U.S. forces involves the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. But as this haunting legacy of the past hangs over Iraq, there's new hope for the future.

Let's go live to CNN's Jim Clancy. He's joining us from Baghdad -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, I should say good morning, Wolf. It's about a few minutes past 1:00 in the morning here in Baghdad, where about 250 intellectuals, writers, technocrats and others met with Jay Garner, the U.S. civil administrator appointed by the president in order to see things through in Iraq, provide post war reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and a rebuilding of the infrastructure, as well as the building of democracy.

The Iraqis joining him this day in the capital decided that in four weeks' time they will meet once again, and then they will decide on an interim government. A twist here, Wolf, it is the exiles coming from outside Iraq that say they would like the U.S. to step aside, let them run the show, while it is Iraqis who have always been here that are saying no, we need more U.S. help to help us get through all of this, to make the transition.

Meantime, we talked with a doctor who was involved in the bioweapons program in Iraq. A doctor who says that it was U.N. sanctions that really broke apart the program. He says he was brought back into that program in the early 1990s after the first Gulf War. His task, his orders, lie to U.N. weapons inspectors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NASSIR HINDAWI, FORMER IRAQI SCIENTIST: I had to lie, because my job was to speak to the groups, like Dr. David Kelly, Dr. Reschel (ph), Dr. Stezel (ph) to try to convince them that the base is set up for using single-cell protein, but, of course, I was lying. And they knew that was not correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: The laboratory he was describing was set up for dual use, as he described. He also told us that he believes if the sanctions had been lifted, Iraq would have immediately resumed its biological weapons program. Wolf.

BLITZER: Jim, where you are now, it's already the day after Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday. As you know, for decades this was a day of celebration, for celebration upon the people of Iraq. No celebrations as far as we can tell, very little celebration yesterday, where you are, today, where I still am. What does it say to the people of Iraq that the day has gone by now without Saddam Hussein making an appearance?

CLANCY: Well, first of all it was a day that was rumored to hold great danger for all Iraqis who opposed, who relished the demise of the former dictator. Many people on the streets were talking about suicide car bomb attacks, Saddam Hussein making an appearance in the suburbs someplace, making his presence felt once again in the capital.

That did not happen. People stood up, people looked out. They saw there was no more Saddam Hussein and for many of them, it's an incremental step. They say it proves they never liked him, without him forcing them, they would never celebrate. For many it represents a day, just one more nail in Saddam Hussein's coffin, proof that for him and for all of those around him the party is well and truly over.

BLITZER: Jim Clancy doing some excellent reporting for us in Baghdad. Thanks, Jim, very much.

Meanwhile, there are conflicting results from tests on the latest suspected chemical weapons find in Iraq. As many of you probably know by now, 14 55-gallon drums were discovered in a field near a former Iraqi military position in the northern part of the country.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live at the site. He's joining us now with the very latest developments. Nic, what's the latest information?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, so far three different teams have performed tests on the chemical drums. Two teams believe there are -- there is a blister agent and a nerve agent present in these drums, in these 55-gallon drums. It all began with the discovery of these 14 drums on Saturday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. VALERIE PHIPPS, U.S. ARMY: That vehicle in front of the barrels...

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Neatly stacked on a barren hillside, the U.S. military's latest suspected chemical weapons find. Already the first results being called into question.

First Lieutenant Phipps explains what she found when she first got to the site.

PHIPPS: This area right over here is the area that we were testing. The barrel that stands straight up is the one that we opened.

ROBERTSON: Fourteen 55-gallon drums in all, out in the fields. Unlike other sites already investigated, not an industrial plant.

PHIPPS: We got to the barrels. The one barrel we decided to open was giving us seven bars of G-nerve on our I-cam.

ROBERTSON: An almost full-scale reading, indicating the deadly nerve agent cyclosarin.

PHIPPS: Once we opened it, we tested the liquid on M-8 paper and M-9 paper, which showed blister. ROBERTSON: A lethal blistering agent. Later tests showed it could be mustard gas.

Since then, the 1st 10th Cavalry have been guarding the site while waiting for more advanced test results. The first of those, from a sensitive site team, found a close match to the results of Lieutenant Phipps. But the second follow-up test, by a mobile exploitation team, came up with negative results, suggesting the liquid may be nothing more than rocket fuel. And there were missiles dug into the revetments in the hillside close to the chemical drums.

But adding to the questions about this site, two mobile laboratories. Nothing in them makes their use easy to interpret.

(on camera): Meters here showing thousands, hundreds, tens and units. And on the back wall over here, a table of operation, calibration zero setting, metering of tests and calibration doses. Here, pneumatic diagram charts, an electrical diagram chart, and on the back, a correction table, in Cyrillic and in English. And on the bottom, dose settings, prescribed dose, prescribed dose with algebraic correction. But difficult to know exactly what this vehicle was designed to do.

(voice-over): Produce chemical weapons or missile propellant? When the complete results come back from the chemicals tested here, they'll also be a better indication of what these labs were used for. For now, it seems the search for proof to support the premise for war, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, will have to go on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, some of those samples being tested by the U.S. Army here in Iraq, some of the samples sent back to the United States. Results could come as early as Tuesday morning. However, it may take a few days longer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson with all the latest developments. Nic, thanks very much.

South of Iraq, the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, continues what many are calling a victory tour, telling U.S. troops they've made history. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is traveling with the defense secretary, and reports from Doha, Qatar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A huge enthusiastic welcome by the troops at Central Command's desert war time headquarters in Qatar. The secretary again reminding his critics that the war plan worked. The move to Baghdad, the quickest march on a capital in history, he said, proof of U.S. success.

RUMSFELD: A humorist in Washington the other day sent me a note, paraphrasing that, and it said, never have so many been so wrong about so much

(APPLAUSE)

RUMSFELD: But I would never say that.

STARR: The weeklong trip through the region is the Bush administration's post-war effort to reshape the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf. Officials confirming to CNN two key initial steps, the air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia will now move to Qatar, part of a continuing central command operation here. A joint U.S. military task force will be established in Baghdad to provide military coordination for reconstruction and peacekeeping, ensuring the U.S. keeps a firm hand on both efforts. The secretary said the end of Iraq as a threat to its neighbors means the U.S. can make permanent changes.

RUMSFELD: We're going to be able to reduce the size of our forces, obviously.

STARR: The secretary also saying he is not concerned about recent anti-American demonstrations in Iraq. It's all part of democracy at work, he says, while still promising Gulf leaders U.S. troops will get out of Iraq as soon as they can.

(on camera): It's been a chance here today for everyone to cheer the victory. But there is still much instability in Iraq. And even as this event went on, local leaders were meeting in Baghdad to try and organize a new Iraqi government.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Camp As Sayliya, Qatar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And here's your turn to weigh in on the new Iraq. "Our Web Question of the Day is this: will the U.S. ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Please vote at cnn.com/wolf.

And while you're there, I'd like to hear from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column. Just go to cnn.com/wolf.

So where is Saddam Hussein? And is he set to self-destruct? I'll ask one of Iraq's neighbors, the foreign minister of Jordan, Marwan Muasher.

Also, nuclear North Korea offers to give up the bomb but, and that's a critical but, a hefty price is at stake.

And inside the Pentagon at war. The decision-makers like you've never seen them before.

And a menacing brushfire moves near a residential neighborhood in Cleveland, not far away from the Ohio city. We'll continue tracking this fire, moving very, very ominously close to a neighborhood. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Coming up, inside the Pentagon. Pictures from a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, pictures you've never seen before. A rare glimpse during the war in Iraq. Watch it here for first time on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. We're back in 30 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Iraq's neighbors are watching closely as efforts to rebuild the country get under way. Jordan is among those that have a huge interest in a successful outcome. The country's foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, met today with the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, here in Washington.

The foreign minister's joining me here now live. Thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister, for joining us.

Jordan was among those who didn't want President Bush to go to war. Are you now, looking back on what's happened, the liberation of Iraq, Saddam Hussein gone, are you now ready to say President Bush did the right thing?

MARWAN MUASHER, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I don't think there was a question that, you know, we supported the regime of Saddam Hussein. It is obvious that the Iraqis themselves are relieved that that regime is gone. Our concern had been, and still is, to have an Iraq where you have a representative and inclusive Iraqi government rule the country. And I think that is where our efforts are focused on. And this was the subject of my discussions with U.S. officials.

BLITZER: But are you ready to give President Bush credit for getting the job well done?

MUASHER: Well, I think, you know, I mean, it is not a matter of giving him credit. I think we have talked about this in the past. Jordan has been always a U.S. ally. But the important thing is to work with President Bush and with everyone to ensure that the region views are heard on how to make sure that we have a smooth and a quick transition to a democratic Iraqi government.

BLITZER: Where do you believe Saddam Hussein is right now? First of all, do you think he is alive?

MUASHER: I have no way of telling whether he's alive or dead. And I don't think that is the question. The question is the fate of Iraq and the Iraqi people. And I think, again, that is where we should focus our energies.

BLITZER: What about the weapons of mass destruction? I want you to listen to what the Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, said earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: ... stabilize the country, the second is the humanitarian situation. And the third, and we can take our time about this, and say we should, is to make sure that we investigate weapons of mass destruction. And we will do that. And as I say every time I'm asked, I remain confident they will be found.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Are you confident that those weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq?

MUASHER: Again, we have no way of telling. I think the question to ask is not whether there are weapons of mass destruction or not now. That is behind us. The regime is over. The question now is how to reconstruct Iraq in a way that would make it democratic, that would make it friendly with its neighbors, and that would have the Iraqis determine their own future. We can talk about weapons of mass destruction without knowing for sure whether they are there are or not. I don't think that is where we should focus our energies.

BLITZER: As you know, many at the Pentagon, many of the top leaders at the Pentagon, some at the White House, have a great deal of confidence in Ahmed Chalabi to emerge as one of the leaders of a new Iraq. He's wanted in Jordan. You believe he's a crook.

MUASHER: He's a convicted in Jordan for 22 years, because he's embezzled $70 million of regular people's money. And that is our problem with him. We have...

BLITZER: Did you raise this issue with the secretary of state today?

MUASHER: I have. We've raised it with many U.S. officials. What we are saying is this, let the Iraqi people decide whether Ahmed Chalabi, or any other Iraqi, should have a role or not. It is not up to us to decide, and I hope no one will push him...

BLITZER: In his defense, as you know what he says is that this was a trumped up charge that Saddam Hussein forced the late King Hussein to do it, and it was a military tribunal that had these charges filed against him.

MUASHER: I don't think Ahmed Chalabi forced the leaders of Lebanon or Switzerland, also, to do something against him. He's in financial trouble over there as well.

Look, the bottom line is, it is the Iraqi people who should decide, not me and you, and not anybody else. And if the Iraqis want Ahmed Chalabi, it's their choice. But it shouldn't be ours.

BLITZER: Mr. Foreign Minister, welcome to Washington. Thanks so much for joining us.

MUASHER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

Nuclear standoff with North Korea and offers on the table to give up the bomb. But will it diffuse the looming threat of war? Plus, behind the scenes of war. Exclusive pictures inside the Pentagon.

Also, real life horror stories. New details on a man accused of holding women as virtual slaves in a basement dungeon. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's been a new development in the nuclear standoff with North Korea. After some nuclear saber rattling, Pyongyang has put a peace deal on the table. CNN's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Only days after President Bush warned North Korea's President Kim Jong Il against nuclear blackmail, Secretary of State Powell sounded a slightly less ominous note.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: They did put forward a plan that would ultimately deal with their nuclear capability and their missile activities. But they, of course, expect something considerable in return.

KOPPEL: U.S. officials tell CNN during last week's talks in Beijing, North Korea said it expected Washington to make the first move, demanding, among other things, written assurances the U.S. would not attack. But even then, North Korea's envoy said his government would only consider taking reciprocal steps like dismantling its nuclear program, ending missile tests, and permitting weapons inspectors to return.

During the Beijing talks, North Korea also admitted, for first time, it had one nuclear bomb. With talks ongoing between North and South Korea, Secretary Powell dismissed reports suggesting Pyongyang had explicitly threatened to test it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The Bush administration is not of one mind as to exactly what North Korea meant by last week's nuclear declaration. Some see it as the start of an opening move, the start of a lengthy negotiation. And others, Wolf, see it as perhaps another reason to get even tougher -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Andrea Koppel with the latest on North Korea at the State Department. Andrea, thanks very much.

President Bush is out promoting democracy in Iraq. But can he deliver on that promise? We'll take a closer look.

Also, Donald Rumsfeld takes a victory lap in Qatar. But was he so confident during the war? We'll have some exclusive photos of him behind the scenes.

And women held captive. A 67-year-old man accused of locking them in a dungeon.

First, some other news making "Headlines Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A group of wives and mothers marched through Havana to protest stiff sentences given to 75 dissidents this month. Pope John Paul II has also appealed for leniency for the group, some of whom were sentenced to as much as 28 years.

Rivals of the Irish Republican Army's political wing, Sinn Fein, say its offer to disarm doesn't go far enough. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams says the IRA will get rid of all its weapons if power sharing resumes in the province.

A World Health Organization official says SARS continues to spread in mainland China. But he says he believes the worst of the outbreak is over in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada.

A Russian Soyuz space capsule docked with the international space station overnight, the first such mission since the shuttle "Columbia" disaster in February. The Soyuz brings a fresh crew and supplies and will take the current crew home.

And an eye opening art exhibit at a London department store. 500 volunteers shed their clothes and took up positions throughout Selfridges for American artist Spencer Tunick's latest venture. The store was not open at the time.

And that's a brief look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Something you haven't seen until now. Coming up, we'll take you inside the Pentagon some new pictures we have just received, pictures showing what was going on behind closed doors during the war. Top secret war room among other things during the attack on Iraq. But first, for the latest headlines, let's go back to CNN's Arthel Neville. She's in the CNN news room in Atlanta.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: President Bush was in Dearborn, Michigan today talking to Arab-Americans about plans for a new Iraq.

Let's go live to our senior White House correspondent John King -- John

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Wolf, that speech in Dearborn brought into focus one of the major challenges facing the president. He offered reassurances yet again today that the Bush administration, the United States government, does not want to pick the new government of Iraq. But it also is clear the administration wants to have a big hand in shaping it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): The president told the audience of Arab- Americans there is no doubt about the bottom line.

BUSH: The Iraqi people would choose their own leaders. And their own government. America has no intention of imposing our form of government or our culture.

KING: But Mr. Bush also appealed for patience and was well aware his speech in Michigan was being carried live across the Arab world by Al-Jazeera, Abu Dhabi TV and other media outlets often critical of U.S. motives in Iraq and across the Middle East.

BUSH: The work of building a new Iraq will take time. That nation's recovering not just from weeks of conflict, but from decades of totalitarian rule.

KING: The White House says Mr. Bush is open to an Islamic democracy in Iraq. But the president says there must be some separation of church and state, and the administration says it will not allow a fundamentalist regime like in neighboring Iran. The president's speech coincided with a major U.S. organized political meeting in Baghdad. The latest step in the difficult process of shaping Iraq's post war politics, and navigating its ethnic and religious rivalries. It also was Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday and Mr. Bush said the former Iraqi leader, not the troops who toppled his regime is to blame for the country's major problems.

BUSH: While the dictator spent billion on weapons, including gold covered AK-47s, nearly a quarter of Iraqi children were born underweight.

KING: USS Abraham Lincoln is steaming home to San Diego. It will be the stage for a speech on Thursday in which Mr. Bush will say the major combat phase in Iraq is over, and the focus now shifts to security and reconstruction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING: But mindful of the giant challenges ahead on the political front, on the security front and on the reconstruction front, sources say the president will be very careful, he will not say the war is over. Mr. Bush is well aware the mission is not completely accomplished and that U.S. troops won't be coming home anytime soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John King with the latest at the White House.

John, thanks very much.

Now to an Iraqi mother and son who once resented Americans. So why did they change their opinion? CNN's Thelma Gutierrez, show us what healed over time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His was one of the faces adopted by the anti-war movement. An 8-year-old Iraqi boy with a big smile, injured by an errant U.S. missile. His name is Mustafa. His life would change forever with this picture, taken by an American photographer later discovered by peace activists.

COLE MILLER, PEACE ACTIVIST: I decided I wanted to make a poster, I wanted to put a human face to what is called collateral damage.

GUTIERREZ: Mustafa's story began in 1999, when a U.S. Missile mistakenly struck Basra, killing six. Mustafa was one of 15 wounded. Shrapnel scattered through his body. Four years later, Mustafa still needed medical care he couldn't get in Iraq. For Bert Sax, Cole Miller and others in Los Angeles it became their mission to bring him to the U.S. After five months of intensive work, Mustafa and his mother land in Los Angeles. This is where we met up with her.

UM HEIDER, MOTHER: The first time indeed I came to talk to any American person.

GUTIERREZ: You were mad?

HEIDER: Yes. But then I meet with very good American people.

GUTIERREZ: It didn't take long for Mustafa to warm to his temporary home, while waiting for surgery to remove the shrapnel from his body. And a prosthesis for his hand.

HEIDER: He asked me, mama, why you didn't bring me two fingers? Can you put two fingers on my hand -- on my hand? I told him no. It is not important to have two. You have three and you can write and you can eat, you can do anything with them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me examine him.

GUTIERREZ: A team of U.S. Doctors like Hussein Al-Darsani volunteered to help. Al-Darsani, points out the many scars on Mustafa's body. The result of shrapnel entry wounds, and a long incision from having part of his liver removed. His mother hopes x- rays of his body will show why Mustafa feels pain.

What is it we're looking at when we see all of these tiny white spots?

DR. HUSSAIN AL-DARSANI, MUSTAFA'S PHYSICIAN: Those are micro or small shrapnel scattered in both thighs.

GUTIERREZ: Through his pelvis, shoulder and skull.

(on camera): Is this shrapnel that can actually be removed?

AL-DARSANI: They very hard to remove. Too small.

GUTIERREZ: For now Mustafa may have the shrapnel from his shoulders and hip removed. The doctors can do little more but make plans for his prosthesis. His mother is grateful her son's injuries are not life threatening, but she takes pains to remind us there are many more children in Iraq who desperately need help.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And this footnote, the Iraqi boy's brother was killed by that errant missile.

A rare glimpse inside the Pentagon at war. Coming up, the photographs of the Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly. But, first, here's our weekend snapshot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Screening for SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is raising new concerns in the travel industry. At least five major cruise lines are screening passengers who spent time recently in Toronto. Dozens of SARS cases have been reported in Canada. Most of them in Toronto. But today, there is word that new cases are now on the decline in Canada.

Aloha, USA: Sailors aboard the USS Hamilton were treated to a Hawaiian homecoming Saturday. The ship returned to its home port of Pearl Harbor after almost nine months at sea. It spent part of that time participating in the war in Iraq.

Farewell NRA: Actor Charlton Heston said good-bye over the weekend to fellow National Rifle Association members as he stepped down as the group's president. The 78-year-old Heston announced last year he has symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease.

Spectators killed. An elderly man and his wife were killed Saturday night while watching a car race near riverside, California. Two of the cars on the track collided with one of them careening into the stands. The other vehicle flew into the inner field, hitting the couple who lost a son in a race car accident more than a decade ago.

Top pick. Southern Cal quarterback and Heisman Trophy Winner Carson Palmer was officially announced Saturday as the top pick in the NFL Draft. His new team, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Saved by the coach. In Portland, Oregon an embarrassing moment was made a little easier by a shoulder to lean on. Eighth grader Natalie Gilbert was having a bit of trouble with the National Anthem at a Trailblazers game. That's when coach Maurice Cheeks stepped in to help out.

And that's "Our Weekend Snapshot."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've seen lots of dramatic pictures from the war in Iraq. But now for first time we're about to see some new images that captured the drama that was happening inside the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): War gets under way inside the Pentagon. These pictures taken during the earliest days of the war show the top echelon of the U.S. military command at its most critical moments. Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly got unprecedented access to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his generals even inside the Pentagon's secure video teleconferencing room where Rumsfeld spoke to commanding General Tommy Franks as the battles unfolded.

DAVID HUME KENNERLY, CONTRIB. EDITOR, "NEWSWEEK": I never saw anybody get rattled during the process. Those are a bunch of people that know what they're doing.

BLITZER: Kennerly witnessed President Bush at the Pentagon in the first days of the war.

KENNERLY: The president came in and saw me taking pictures and he said, Kennerly, you show up in the most amazing places. So he wasn't used to seeing a photographer in there. And obviously I had to leave before anything interesting was discussed.

BLITZER: At one moment, Kennerly walked into an office and captured Rumsfeld in a very animated conversation with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. A photograph, Kennerly says, that may be misleading.

KENNERLY: It really looks a little more serious than it was.

BLITZER: The pictures depicted the defense secretary, who Kennerly says, has a very close relationship with his top commanders and aides. People like spokeswoman Tori Clarke, an architect of the idea for embedding reporters with military units. Kennerly calls Clarke one of the most fascinating and important people at the Pentagon.

KENNERLY: In the meetings they have before hand, before they go out and brief the press, Tori seems to anticipate 90 percent of what the press is going to ask.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And David Hume Kennerly is joining us now live from our Los Angeles bureau. David, as usual, very good work. Thanks so much. A few other pictures I want to put up on the screen and show our viewers and have you talk a little bit about them.

This one shows the defense secretary watching CNN, the night of the bombing, Shock and Awe first unfold. Talk a little bit about that night.

KENNERLY: Well, I think -- I don't think anybody had been more prepared than Rumsfeld and his staff for the event when it happened. This photograph was taken in Tori Clarke's office, just prior to him going out and giving his first briefing with General Myers to the press. And this is what is called a prebrief. And they walk out of that door right across the hall and that's where you see him in the briefing room, on CNN.

BLITZER: And there is another picture you have -- you were in his home the night that president gave Saddam Hussein that 48-hour deadline. And you were watching with the defense secretary as he was watching the president deliver that speech.

KENNERLY: Well, at that point everything was locked, loaded and ready to rock 'n' roll. You know, they -- he was pretty relaxed. I think he had great confidence in the plan. And I think he had -- he knew that it most likely was going to happen within the next 48 hours. The days leading up to it probably were a little more tense than when they were actually ready to go.

BLITZER: What was it like watching the secretary of defense, his top civilian deputies, as well as the military brass as this war unfolded during those early hours and days of the war when there was a lot of uncertainty?

KENNERLY: Well, for me, I mean, that's really where it gets exciting, to be inside situations like that. I'm very privileged. I've been doing this my whole career. I mean I started out inside the White House with the President Ford administration which is where I met Rumsfeld and Cheney and all those guys. And I've been doing this through administrations all the way through.

But this is really the pinnacle of why we exist to take these kind of photos to show the people at work, the people who are making the decisions. It is rare to see this.

BLITZER: And what about that second week of the war, though, when there were the sandstorms, there were some serious problems, the POWs obviously. We learned about them. Was there a clear sense of depression that seemed to unfold?

KENNERLY: Oh, I don't think at all. I think everybody knew -- you heard General Myers and Rumsfeld, all of them talk about the plan changes the minute the war starts, really. And I think they were very confident all the way through.

I really honestly never saw them doubt what the final outcome would be. I know they kept saying that over and over, but they believed it and they were right.

BLITZER: David Hume Kennerly with some exclusive pictures for us. Thanks very much, David, as usual. Appreciate it.

Meanwhile, in Syracuse, New York a bizarre criminal case is now under investigation. Just ahead, the story of five women and their accusations of sex and captivity against a former handyman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now to a story of five women held captive under ground in upstate New York. A sheriff is coming forward to tell a shocking account of imprisonment and rape. And there may be more victims. CNN's Jamie Colby is joining us now live from upstate New York. Jamie, actually, are you in New York or upstate New York?

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in New York City, Wolf. We've been following this all day. Today investigators did release a photograph they say may help identify even more victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY (voice-over): This is John Jamelske, a 67-year-old retired handyman who police say is a serial rapist a torture chamber under his house where he kept his victims for periods ranging from two months to two years.

So far Jamelske has been charged with kidnapping and raping only his latest alleged victim, a 16-year-old who escaped three weeks ago led to Jamelske's arrest. In a statement to the county sheriff, the teenager said...

SHERIFF KEVIN WALSH, ONONDAGA CO., N.Y.: "I cried and I prayed every day of captivity. I never cried in front of him again after slapped me so hard he injured my ear." She's still deaf in that ear. "I did everything he asked, hoping that he would release me."

COLBY: Two other teenagers and a woman in her mid-20s claim Jamelske held them, too. And Monday police said they've identified a fifth alleged victim, a woman in her 50s who claimed she was held for ten months.

WALSH: She was raped and tortured in his dungeon, her phrase. And that occurred about five years ago.

COLBY: This woman, now 28, held two years ago, told her story to CNN affiliate WSTM.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt basically, felt like an animal. Just rotting away, like some sex animal that -- for his pleasure.

COLBY: The women told police they were forced to keep diaries of their physical activity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was supposed to have sex with him every day. And if I didn't have sex with him every day that would add on to the time that is would going to be there.

COLBY: In a statement obtained by CNN, Jamelske told police his relationship with the 16-year-old was consensual and, quote, "fun." And he thought she was 18.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY: Wolf, today we learned that two of the alleged victims filed police reports after their ordeal and police admit they were not thoroughly investigated. Jamelske is being held without bail. His attorney has told CNN he plans to ask a judge to have his client evaluated by a psychiatrist -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie Colby in New York. Thanks, Jamie, very much for that horrible, horrible story, unfortunately.

"Our Web Question of the Day" is this: will the U.S. ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on "Our Web Question of the Day." Remember, we've been asking you this, will the U.S. ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Look at this, 39 percent of you say yes, 61 percent of you say no. This is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to some of your e-mail. Dave writes this, "There are people who are willing to have the world wait 12 years or longer for Iraq to disarm, but they aren't willing to wait even 12 weeks for a actual search to produce real weapons. Where's their patience now?"

Kate sends us this: "Every time someone in Iraq finds a can of roach spray or a microscope, we hear that this could be the smoking gun only to hear the next day that it's nothing. There are no WMDs being found because there are none to find."

And finally this from Sadiq: "Now that President Bush has liberated the Iraqis, he should liberate the homeless, unemployed and those without health care in America."

A reminder, you can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live each week day 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm also here every day at noon Eastern.

Tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., I'll speak with Jane Harman, congresswoman of California, member of the Intelligence Committee. We'll get the latest on the search for Saddam Hussein.

Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

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







Aired April 28, 2003 - 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, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's his birthday. Is he celebrating somewhere? An insider's new information on the fate of Saddam Hussein.

What happened to Iraq's deadly weapons? You'll hear from an Iraqi scientist and a U.S. search team.

Do Iraq's neighbors know the answers? I'll ask Jordan's foreign minister, Marwan Muasher.

Standing ovation. The president and defense secretary get cheered on opposite sides of the world.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iraq will be democratic.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Each of you helped make that happen.

BLITZER: And for first time on TV, exclusive and dramatic pictures from inside the Pentagon as the war unfolded in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.

BLITZER: It's Monday, April 28, 2003. Hello from Washington. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting. We're following several developments right now.

A birthday mystery tops our headlines from Iraq. Saddam Hussein turned 66, if, if he's still alive. As hometown loyalists celebrate their former leader's birthday, a captured henchman tells interrogators he saw Saddam as recently as early April.

And what happened to the weapons? As a U.S. Army test team tests suspicious chemicals, the man considered the father of Iraq's bioweapons program tells CNN the country's deadly germs were wiped out by economic sanctions. We'll have more on that coming up.

And a town hall meeting. The American pointman for the new Iraq hosts a cross section of prominent Iraqis to try to lay the groundwork for an interim government.

We'll go live to CNN's Jim Clancy in Baghdad and to Nic Robertson at that suspected site in northern Iraq. But we begin with the question that has bedeviled the Bush administration ever since U.S. troops took aim at the Iraqi capital. Where is Saddam Hussein?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): U.S. officials say former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz is telling his interrogators Saddam Hussein was alive in early April, after the initial U.S. air strike in March designed to kill him, but before the second so-called decapitation strike later in April. But U.S. military officials aren't sure Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. custody last week, is telling the truth. The commander of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is very precise with his words.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I have seen nothing over the last week or two that convinces me that he is still alive.

BLITZER: President Bush says the U.S. intelligence source who pinpointed U.S. precision-guided bombs and missiles towards Saddam on that opening night of the war is convinced the Iraqi dictator is dead. But before President Bush is ready to make that declaration, he needs hard evidence, such as DNA.

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: They're searching those two sites that we bombed for DNA that's compatible with his. All these things are just going to have to go on for a while while we see what happens.

BLITZER: In the meantime, there's lots of speculation. Senator Pat Roberts is chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and privy to the most sensitive inside information.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), KANSAS: The intelligence community is split about down the middle. If he is alive, he's probably somewhere in northern Iraq.

BLITZER: Senator Carl Levin is another member of the committee, and suspects Saddam could have crossed the border into Syria.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Because it was a very porous border, and because I can't have total confidence that the Syrians would not provide some haven to top Iraqis. There's some relationships there which I don't think we can discount.

BLITZER: Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi says Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, are still alive, but hiding out in different places inside Iraq. Chalabi says Saddam has a plan to kill himself, and others, if he's about to go down.

AHMED CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: This is a piece of information that came to us from intelligence officers who came to be debriefed here, and they confirmed this from two sources that he has taken possession of those suicide belts, and that he has them in his possession and he was trained on them. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The other consuming focus on U.S. forces involves the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. But as this haunting legacy of the past hangs over Iraq, there's new hope for the future.

Let's go live to CNN's Jim Clancy. He's joining us from Baghdad -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, I should say good morning, Wolf. It's about a few minutes past 1:00 in the morning here in Baghdad, where about 250 intellectuals, writers, technocrats and others met with Jay Garner, the U.S. civil administrator appointed by the president in order to see things through in Iraq, provide post war reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and a rebuilding of the infrastructure, as well as the building of democracy.

The Iraqis joining him this day in the capital decided that in four weeks' time they will meet once again, and then they will decide on an interim government. A twist here, Wolf, it is the exiles coming from outside Iraq that say they would like the U.S. to step aside, let them run the show, while it is Iraqis who have always been here that are saying no, we need more U.S. help to help us get through all of this, to make the transition.

Meantime, we talked with a doctor who was involved in the bioweapons program in Iraq. A doctor who says that it was U.N. sanctions that really broke apart the program. He says he was brought back into that program in the early 1990s after the first Gulf War. His task, his orders, lie to U.N. weapons inspectors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NASSIR HINDAWI, FORMER IRAQI SCIENTIST: I had to lie, because my job was to speak to the groups, like Dr. David Kelly, Dr. Reschel (ph), Dr. Stezel (ph) to try to convince them that the base is set up for using single-cell protein, but, of course, I was lying. And they knew that was not correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: The laboratory he was describing was set up for dual use, as he described. He also told us that he believes if the sanctions had been lifted, Iraq would have immediately resumed its biological weapons program. Wolf.

BLITZER: Jim, where you are now, it's already the day after Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday. As you know, for decades this was a day of celebration, for celebration upon the people of Iraq. No celebrations as far as we can tell, very little celebration yesterday, where you are, today, where I still am. What does it say to the people of Iraq that the day has gone by now without Saddam Hussein making an appearance?

CLANCY: Well, first of all it was a day that was rumored to hold great danger for all Iraqis who opposed, who relished the demise of the former dictator. Many people on the streets were talking about suicide car bomb attacks, Saddam Hussein making an appearance in the suburbs someplace, making his presence felt once again in the capital.

That did not happen. People stood up, people looked out. They saw there was no more Saddam Hussein and for many of them, it's an incremental step. They say it proves they never liked him, without him forcing them, they would never celebrate. For many it represents a day, just one more nail in Saddam Hussein's coffin, proof that for him and for all of those around him the party is well and truly over.

BLITZER: Jim Clancy doing some excellent reporting for us in Baghdad. Thanks, Jim, very much.

Meanwhile, there are conflicting results from tests on the latest suspected chemical weapons find in Iraq. As many of you probably know by now, 14 55-gallon drums were discovered in a field near a former Iraqi military position in the northern part of the country.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live at the site. He's joining us now with the very latest developments. Nic, what's the latest information?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, so far three different teams have performed tests on the chemical drums. Two teams believe there are -- there is a blister agent and a nerve agent present in these drums, in these 55-gallon drums. It all began with the discovery of these 14 drums on Saturday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. VALERIE PHIPPS, U.S. ARMY: That vehicle in front of the barrels...

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Neatly stacked on a barren hillside, the U.S. military's latest suspected chemical weapons find. Already the first results being called into question.

First Lieutenant Phipps explains what she found when she first got to the site.

PHIPPS: This area right over here is the area that we were testing. The barrel that stands straight up is the one that we opened.

ROBERTSON: Fourteen 55-gallon drums in all, out in the fields. Unlike other sites already investigated, not an industrial plant.

PHIPPS: We got to the barrels. The one barrel we decided to open was giving us seven bars of G-nerve on our I-cam.

ROBERTSON: An almost full-scale reading, indicating the deadly nerve agent cyclosarin.

PHIPPS: Once we opened it, we tested the liquid on M-8 paper and M-9 paper, which showed blister. ROBERTSON: A lethal blistering agent. Later tests showed it could be mustard gas.

Since then, the 1st 10th Cavalry have been guarding the site while waiting for more advanced test results. The first of those, from a sensitive site team, found a close match to the results of Lieutenant Phipps. But the second follow-up test, by a mobile exploitation team, came up with negative results, suggesting the liquid may be nothing more than rocket fuel. And there were missiles dug into the revetments in the hillside close to the chemical drums.

But adding to the questions about this site, two mobile laboratories. Nothing in them makes their use easy to interpret.

(on camera): Meters here showing thousands, hundreds, tens and units. And on the back wall over here, a table of operation, calibration zero setting, metering of tests and calibration doses. Here, pneumatic diagram charts, an electrical diagram chart, and on the back, a correction table, in Cyrillic and in English. And on the bottom, dose settings, prescribed dose, prescribed dose with algebraic correction. But difficult to know exactly what this vehicle was designed to do.

(voice-over): Produce chemical weapons or missile propellant? When the complete results come back from the chemicals tested here, they'll also be a better indication of what these labs were used for. For now, it seems the search for proof to support the premise for war, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, will have to go on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, some of those samples being tested by the U.S. Army here in Iraq, some of the samples sent back to the United States. Results could come as early as Tuesday morning. However, it may take a few days longer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson with all the latest developments. Nic, thanks very much.

South of Iraq, the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, continues what many are calling a victory tour, telling U.S. troops they've made history. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is traveling with the defense secretary, and reports from Doha, Qatar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A huge enthusiastic welcome by the troops at Central Command's desert war time headquarters in Qatar. The secretary again reminding his critics that the war plan worked. The move to Baghdad, the quickest march on a capital in history, he said, proof of U.S. success.

RUMSFELD: A humorist in Washington the other day sent me a note, paraphrasing that, and it said, never have so many been so wrong about so much

(APPLAUSE)

RUMSFELD: But I would never say that.

STARR: The weeklong trip through the region is the Bush administration's post-war effort to reshape the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf. Officials confirming to CNN two key initial steps, the air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia will now move to Qatar, part of a continuing central command operation here. A joint U.S. military task force will be established in Baghdad to provide military coordination for reconstruction and peacekeeping, ensuring the U.S. keeps a firm hand on both efforts. The secretary said the end of Iraq as a threat to its neighbors means the U.S. can make permanent changes.

RUMSFELD: We're going to be able to reduce the size of our forces, obviously.

STARR: The secretary also saying he is not concerned about recent anti-American demonstrations in Iraq. It's all part of democracy at work, he says, while still promising Gulf leaders U.S. troops will get out of Iraq as soon as they can.

(on camera): It's been a chance here today for everyone to cheer the victory. But there is still much instability in Iraq. And even as this event went on, local leaders were meeting in Baghdad to try and organize a new Iraqi government.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Camp As Sayliya, Qatar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And here's your turn to weigh in on the new Iraq. "Our Web Question of the Day is this: will the U.S. ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Please vote at cnn.com/wolf.

And while you're there, I'd like to hear from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column. Just go to cnn.com/wolf.

So where is Saddam Hussein? And is he set to self-destruct? I'll ask one of Iraq's neighbors, the foreign minister of Jordan, Marwan Muasher.

Also, nuclear North Korea offers to give up the bomb but, and that's a critical but, a hefty price is at stake.

And inside the Pentagon at war. The decision-makers like you've never seen them before.

And a menacing brushfire moves near a residential neighborhood in Cleveland, not far away from the Ohio city. We'll continue tracking this fire, moving very, very ominously close to a neighborhood. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Coming up, inside the Pentagon. Pictures from a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, pictures you've never seen before. A rare glimpse during the war in Iraq. Watch it here for first time on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. We're back in 30 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Iraq's neighbors are watching closely as efforts to rebuild the country get under way. Jordan is among those that have a huge interest in a successful outcome. The country's foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, met today with the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, here in Washington.

The foreign minister's joining me here now live. Thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister, for joining us.

Jordan was among those who didn't want President Bush to go to war. Are you now, looking back on what's happened, the liberation of Iraq, Saddam Hussein gone, are you now ready to say President Bush did the right thing?

MARWAN MUASHER, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I don't think there was a question that, you know, we supported the regime of Saddam Hussein. It is obvious that the Iraqis themselves are relieved that that regime is gone. Our concern had been, and still is, to have an Iraq where you have a representative and inclusive Iraqi government rule the country. And I think that is where our efforts are focused on. And this was the subject of my discussions with U.S. officials.

BLITZER: But are you ready to give President Bush credit for getting the job well done?

MUASHER: Well, I think, you know, I mean, it is not a matter of giving him credit. I think we have talked about this in the past. Jordan has been always a U.S. ally. But the important thing is to work with President Bush and with everyone to ensure that the region views are heard on how to make sure that we have a smooth and a quick transition to a democratic Iraqi government.

BLITZER: Where do you believe Saddam Hussein is right now? First of all, do you think he is alive?

MUASHER: I have no way of telling whether he's alive or dead. And I don't think that is the question. The question is the fate of Iraq and the Iraqi people. And I think, again, that is where we should focus our energies.

BLITZER: What about the weapons of mass destruction? I want you to listen to what the Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, said earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: ... stabilize the country, the second is the humanitarian situation. And the third, and we can take our time about this, and say we should, is to make sure that we investigate weapons of mass destruction. And we will do that. And as I say every time I'm asked, I remain confident they will be found.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Are you confident that those weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq?

MUASHER: Again, we have no way of telling. I think the question to ask is not whether there are weapons of mass destruction or not now. That is behind us. The regime is over. The question now is how to reconstruct Iraq in a way that would make it democratic, that would make it friendly with its neighbors, and that would have the Iraqis determine their own future. We can talk about weapons of mass destruction without knowing for sure whether they are there are or not. I don't think that is where we should focus our energies.

BLITZER: As you know, many at the Pentagon, many of the top leaders at the Pentagon, some at the White House, have a great deal of confidence in Ahmed Chalabi to emerge as one of the leaders of a new Iraq. He's wanted in Jordan. You believe he's a crook.

MUASHER: He's a convicted in Jordan for 22 years, because he's embezzled $70 million of regular people's money. And that is our problem with him. We have...

BLITZER: Did you raise this issue with the secretary of state today?

MUASHER: I have. We've raised it with many U.S. officials. What we are saying is this, let the Iraqi people decide whether Ahmed Chalabi, or any other Iraqi, should have a role or not. It is not up to us to decide, and I hope no one will push him...

BLITZER: In his defense, as you know what he says is that this was a trumped up charge that Saddam Hussein forced the late King Hussein to do it, and it was a military tribunal that had these charges filed against him.

MUASHER: I don't think Ahmed Chalabi forced the leaders of Lebanon or Switzerland, also, to do something against him. He's in financial trouble over there as well.

Look, the bottom line is, it is the Iraqi people who should decide, not me and you, and not anybody else. And if the Iraqis want Ahmed Chalabi, it's their choice. But it shouldn't be ours.

BLITZER: Mr. Foreign Minister, welcome to Washington. Thanks so much for joining us.

MUASHER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

Nuclear standoff with North Korea and offers on the table to give up the bomb. But will it diffuse the looming threat of war? Plus, behind the scenes of war. Exclusive pictures inside the Pentagon.

Also, real life horror stories. New details on a man accused of holding women as virtual slaves in a basement dungeon. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's been a new development in the nuclear standoff with North Korea. After some nuclear saber rattling, Pyongyang has put a peace deal on the table. CNN's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Only days after President Bush warned North Korea's President Kim Jong Il against nuclear blackmail, Secretary of State Powell sounded a slightly less ominous note.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: They did put forward a plan that would ultimately deal with their nuclear capability and their missile activities. But they, of course, expect something considerable in return.

KOPPEL: U.S. officials tell CNN during last week's talks in Beijing, North Korea said it expected Washington to make the first move, demanding, among other things, written assurances the U.S. would not attack. But even then, North Korea's envoy said his government would only consider taking reciprocal steps like dismantling its nuclear program, ending missile tests, and permitting weapons inspectors to return.

During the Beijing talks, North Korea also admitted, for first time, it had one nuclear bomb. With talks ongoing between North and South Korea, Secretary Powell dismissed reports suggesting Pyongyang had explicitly threatened to test it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The Bush administration is not of one mind as to exactly what North Korea meant by last week's nuclear declaration. Some see it as the start of an opening move, the start of a lengthy negotiation. And others, Wolf, see it as perhaps another reason to get even tougher -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Andrea Koppel with the latest on North Korea at the State Department. Andrea, thanks very much.

President Bush is out promoting democracy in Iraq. But can he deliver on that promise? We'll take a closer look.

Also, Donald Rumsfeld takes a victory lap in Qatar. But was he so confident during the war? We'll have some exclusive photos of him behind the scenes.

And women held captive. A 67-year-old man accused of locking them in a dungeon.

First, some other news making "Headlines Around the World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A group of wives and mothers marched through Havana to protest stiff sentences given to 75 dissidents this month. Pope John Paul II has also appealed for leniency for the group, some of whom were sentenced to as much as 28 years.

Rivals of the Irish Republican Army's political wing, Sinn Fein, say its offer to disarm doesn't go far enough. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams says the IRA will get rid of all its weapons if power sharing resumes in the province.

A World Health Organization official says SARS continues to spread in mainland China. But he says he believes the worst of the outbreak is over in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada.

A Russian Soyuz space capsule docked with the international space station overnight, the first such mission since the shuttle "Columbia" disaster in February. The Soyuz brings a fresh crew and supplies and will take the current crew home.

And an eye opening art exhibit at a London department store. 500 volunteers shed their clothes and took up positions throughout Selfridges for American artist Spencer Tunick's latest venture. The store was not open at the time.

And that's a brief look "Around the World."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Something you haven't seen until now. Coming up, we'll take you inside the Pentagon some new pictures we have just received, pictures showing what was going on behind closed doors during the war. Top secret war room among other things during the attack on Iraq. But first, for the latest headlines, let's go back to CNN's Arthel Neville. She's in the CNN news room in Atlanta.

(NEWSBREAK)

BLITZER: President Bush was in Dearborn, Michigan today talking to Arab-Americans about plans for a new Iraq.

Let's go live to our senior White House correspondent John King -- John

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Wolf, that speech in Dearborn brought into focus one of the major challenges facing the president. He offered reassurances yet again today that the Bush administration, the United States government, does not want to pick the new government of Iraq. But it also is clear the administration wants to have a big hand in shaping it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): The president told the audience of Arab- Americans there is no doubt about the bottom line.

BUSH: The Iraqi people would choose their own leaders. And their own government. America has no intention of imposing our form of government or our culture.

KING: But Mr. Bush also appealed for patience and was well aware his speech in Michigan was being carried live across the Arab world by Al-Jazeera, Abu Dhabi TV and other media outlets often critical of U.S. motives in Iraq and across the Middle East.

BUSH: The work of building a new Iraq will take time. That nation's recovering not just from weeks of conflict, but from decades of totalitarian rule.

KING: The White House says Mr. Bush is open to an Islamic democracy in Iraq. But the president says there must be some separation of church and state, and the administration says it will not allow a fundamentalist regime like in neighboring Iran. The president's speech coincided with a major U.S. organized political meeting in Baghdad. The latest step in the difficult process of shaping Iraq's post war politics, and navigating its ethnic and religious rivalries. It also was Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday and Mr. Bush said the former Iraqi leader, not the troops who toppled his regime is to blame for the country's major problems.

BUSH: While the dictator spent billion on weapons, including gold covered AK-47s, nearly a quarter of Iraqi children were born underweight.

KING: USS Abraham Lincoln is steaming home to San Diego. It will be the stage for a speech on Thursday in which Mr. Bush will say the major combat phase in Iraq is over, and the focus now shifts to security and reconstruction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING: But mindful of the giant challenges ahead on the political front, on the security front and on the reconstruction front, sources say the president will be very careful, he will not say the war is over. Mr. Bush is well aware the mission is not completely accomplished and that U.S. troops won't be coming home anytime soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John King with the latest at the White House.

John, thanks very much.

Now to an Iraqi mother and son who once resented Americans. So why did they change their opinion? CNN's Thelma Gutierrez, show us what healed over time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His was one of the faces adopted by the anti-war movement. An 8-year-old Iraqi boy with a big smile, injured by an errant U.S. missile. His name is Mustafa. His life would change forever with this picture, taken by an American photographer later discovered by peace activists.

COLE MILLER, PEACE ACTIVIST: I decided I wanted to make a poster, I wanted to put a human face to what is called collateral damage.

GUTIERREZ: Mustafa's story began in 1999, when a U.S. Missile mistakenly struck Basra, killing six. Mustafa was one of 15 wounded. Shrapnel scattered through his body. Four years later, Mustafa still needed medical care he couldn't get in Iraq. For Bert Sax, Cole Miller and others in Los Angeles it became their mission to bring him to the U.S. After five months of intensive work, Mustafa and his mother land in Los Angeles. This is where we met up with her.

UM HEIDER, MOTHER: The first time indeed I came to talk to any American person.

GUTIERREZ: You were mad?

HEIDER: Yes. But then I meet with very good American people.

GUTIERREZ: It didn't take long for Mustafa to warm to his temporary home, while waiting for surgery to remove the shrapnel from his body. And a prosthesis for his hand.

HEIDER: He asked me, mama, why you didn't bring me two fingers? Can you put two fingers on my hand -- on my hand? I told him no. It is not important to have two. You have three and you can write and you can eat, you can do anything with them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me examine him.

GUTIERREZ: A team of U.S. Doctors like Hussein Al-Darsani volunteered to help. Al-Darsani, points out the many scars on Mustafa's body. The result of shrapnel entry wounds, and a long incision from having part of his liver removed. His mother hopes x- rays of his body will show why Mustafa feels pain.

What is it we're looking at when we see all of these tiny white spots?

DR. HUSSAIN AL-DARSANI, MUSTAFA'S PHYSICIAN: Those are micro or small shrapnel scattered in both thighs.

GUTIERREZ: Through his pelvis, shoulder and skull.

(on camera): Is this shrapnel that can actually be removed?

AL-DARSANI: They very hard to remove. Too small.

GUTIERREZ: For now Mustafa may have the shrapnel from his shoulders and hip removed. The doctors can do little more but make plans for his prosthesis. His mother is grateful her son's injuries are not life threatening, but she takes pains to remind us there are many more children in Iraq who desperately need help.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And this footnote, the Iraqi boy's brother was killed by that errant missile.

A rare glimpse inside the Pentagon at war. Coming up, the photographs of the Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly. But, first, here's our weekend snapshot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Screening for SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is raising new concerns in the travel industry. At least five major cruise lines are screening passengers who spent time recently in Toronto. Dozens of SARS cases have been reported in Canada. Most of them in Toronto. But today, there is word that new cases are now on the decline in Canada.

Aloha, USA: Sailors aboard the USS Hamilton were treated to a Hawaiian homecoming Saturday. The ship returned to its home port of Pearl Harbor after almost nine months at sea. It spent part of that time participating in the war in Iraq.

Farewell NRA: Actor Charlton Heston said good-bye over the weekend to fellow National Rifle Association members as he stepped down as the group's president. The 78-year-old Heston announced last year he has symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease.

Spectators killed. An elderly man and his wife were killed Saturday night while watching a car race near riverside, California. Two of the cars on the track collided with one of them careening into the stands. The other vehicle flew into the inner field, hitting the couple who lost a son in a race car accident more than a decade ago.

Top pick. Southern Cal quarterback and Heisman Trophy Winner Carson Palmer was officially announced Saturday as the top pick in the NFL Draft. His new team, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Saved by the coach. In Portland, Oregon an embarrassing moment was made a little easier by a shoulder to lean on. Eighth grader Natalie Gilbert was having a bit of trouble with the National Anthem at a Trailblazers game. That's when coach Maurice Cheeks stepped in to help out.

And that's "Our Weekend Snapshot."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've seen lots of dramatic pictures from the war in Iraq. But now for first time we're about to see some new images that captured the drama that was happening inside the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): War gets under way inside the Pentagon. These pictures taken during the earliest days of the war show the top echelon of the U.S. military command at its most critical moments. Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly got unprecedented access to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his generals even inside the Pentagon's secure video teleconferencing room where Rumsfeld spoke to commanding General Tommy Franks as the battles unfolded.

DAVID HUME KENNERLY, CONTRIB. EDITOR, "NEWSWEEK": I never saw anybody get rattled during the process. Those are a bunch of people that know what they're doing.

BLITZER: Kennerly witnessed President Bush at the Pentagon in the first days of the war.

KENNERLY: The president came in and saw me taking pictures and he said, Kennerly, you show up in the most amazing places. So he wasn't used to seeing a photographer in there. And obviously I had to leave before anything interesting was discussed.

BLITZER: At one moment, Kennerly walked into an office and captured Rumsfeld in a very animated conversation with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. A photograph, Kennerly says, that may be misleading.

KENNERLY: It really looks a little more serious than it was.

BLITZER: The pictures depicted the defense secretary, who Kennerly says, has a very close relationship with his top commanders and aides. People like spokeswoman Tori Clarke, an architect of the idea for embedding reporters with military units. Kennerly calls Clarke one of the most fascinating and important people at the Pentagon.

KENNERLY: In the meetings they have before hand, before they go out and brief the press, Tori seems to anticipate 90 percent of what the press is going to ask.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And David Hume Kennerly is joining us now live from our Los Angeles bureau. David, as usual, very good work. Thanks so much. A few other pictures I want to put up on the screen and show our viewers and have you talk a little bit about them.

This one shows the defense secretary watching CNN, the night of the bombing, Shock and Awe first unfold. Talk a little bit about that night.

KENNERLY: Well, I think -- I don't think anybody had been more prepared than Rumsfeld and his staff for the event when it happened. This photograph was taken in Tori Clarke's office, just prior to him going out and giving his first briefing with General Myers to the press. And this is what is called a prebrief. And they walk out of that door right across the hall and that's where you see him in the briefing room, on CNN.

BLITZER: And there is another picture you have -- you were in his home the night that president gave Saddam Hussein that 48-hour deadline. And you were watching with the defense secretary as he was watching the president deliver that speech.

KENNERLY: Well, at that point everything was locked, loaded and ready to rock 'n' roll. You know, they -- he was pretty relaxed. I think he had great confidence in the plan. And I think he had -- he knew that it most likely was going to happen within the next 48 hours. The days leading up to it probably were a little more tense than when they were actually ready to go.

BLITZER: What was it like watching the secretary of defense, his top civilian deputies, as well as the military brass as this war unfolded during those early hours and days of the war when there was a lot of uncertainty?

KENNERLY: Well, for me, I mean, that's really where it gets exciting, to be inside situations like that. I'm very privileged. I've been doing this my whole career. I mean I started out inside the White House with the President Ford administration which is where I met Rumsfeld and Cheney and all those guys. And I've been doing this through administrations all the way through.

But this is really the pinnacle of why we exist to take these kind of photos to show the people at work, the people who are making the decisions. It is rare to see this.

BLITZER: And what about that second week of the war, though, when there were the sandstorms, there were some serious problems, the POWs obviously. We learned about them. Was there a clear sense of depression that seemed to unfold?

KENNERLY: Oh, I don't think at all. I think everybody knew -- you heard General Myers and Rumsfeld, all of them talk about the plan changes the minute the war starts, really. And I think they were very confident all the way through.

I really honestly never saw them doubt what the final outcome would be. I know they kept saying that over and over, but they believed it and they were right.

BLITZER: David Hume Kennerly with some exclusive pictures for us. Thanks very much, David, as usual. Appreciate it.

Meanwhile, in Syracuse, New York a bizarre criminal case is now under investigation. Just ahead, the story of five women and their accusations of sex and captivity against a former handyman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now to a story of five women held captive under ground in upstate New York. A sheriff is coming forward to tell a shocking account of imprisonment and rape. And there may be more victims. CNN's Jamie Colby is joining us now live from upstate New York. Jamie, actually, are you in New York or upstate New York?

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in New York City, Wolf. We've been following this all day. Today investigators did release a photograph they say may help identify even more victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY (voice-over): This is John Jamelske, a 67-year-old retired handyman who police say is a serial rapist a torture chamber under his house where he kept his victims for periods ranging from two months to two years.

So far Jamelske has been charged with kidnapping and raping only his latest alleged victim, a 16-year-old who escaped three weeks ago led to Jamelske's arrest. In a statement to the county sheriff, the teenager said...

SHERIFF KEVIN WALSH, ONONDAGA CO., N.Y.: "I cried and I prayed every day of captivity. I never cried in front of him again after slapped me so hard he injured my ear." She's still deaf in that ear. "I did everything he asked, hoping that he would release me."

COLBY: Two other teenagers and a woman in her mid-20s claim Jamelske held them, too. And Monday police said they've identified a fifth alleged victim, a woman in her 50s who claimed she was held for ten months.

WALSH: She was raped and tortured in his dungeon, her phrase. And that occurred about five years ago.

COLBY: This woman, now 28, held two years ago, told her story to CNN affiliate WSTM.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt basically, felt like an animal. Just rotting away, like some sex animal that -- for his pleasure.

COLBY: The women told police they were forced to keep diaries of their physical activity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was supposed to have sex with him every day. And if I didn't have sex with him every day that would add on to the time that is would going to be there.

COLBY: In a statement obtained by CNN, Jamelske told police his relationship with the 16-year-old was consensual and, quote, "fun." And he thought she was 18.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLBY: Wolf, today we learned that two of the alleged victims filed police reports after their ordeal and police admit they were not thoroughly investigated. Jamelske is being held without bail. His attorney has told CNN he plans to ask a judge to have his client evaluated by a psychiatrist -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie Colby in New York. Thanks, Jamie, very much for that horrible, horrible story, unfortunately.

"Our Web Question of the Day" is this: will the U.S. ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Vote now at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results immediately when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on "Our Web Question of the Day." Remember, we've been asking you this, will the U.S. ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Look at this, 39 percent of you say yes, 61 percent of you say no. This is not a scientific poll.

Let's get to some of your e-mail. Dave writes this, "There are people who are willing to have the world wait 12 years or longer for Iraq to disarm, but they aren't willing to wait even 12 weeks for a actual search to produce real weapons. Where's their patience now?"

Kate sends us this: "Every time someone in Iraq finds a can of roach spray or a microscope, we hear that this could be the smoking gun only to hear the next day that it's nothing. There are no WMDs being found because there are none to find."

And finally this from Sadiq: "Now that President Bush has liberated the Iraqis, he should liberate the homeless, unemployed and those without health care in America."

A reminder, you can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live each week day 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm also here every day at noon Eastern.

Tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., I'll speak with Jane Harman, congresswoman of California, member of the Intelligence Committee. We'll get the latest on the search for Saddam Hussein.

Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

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