Return to Transcripts main page

Your World Today

Iraq Offensive; Blair Africa Plan; Remembering Columbine

Aired June 07, 2005 - 12:00   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.


ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Going door to door, U.S. troops getting up close and personal in their effort to keep insurgents from crossing into Iraq from Syria.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: A man on a mission. Britain's Tony Blair heads to the White House, seeking the U.S. president's backing on a plan to help Africa.

CLANCY: And man in the mirror. Does Michael Jackson's view of himself reflect the world's? Jackson myths, facts and the stories behind them.

VERJEE: It is 9:00 in California, 8:00 p.m. in Tal Afar, Iraq. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

A large-scale military offensive against insurgents is under way in northern Iraq.

VERJEE: U.S. and Iraqi troops, backed by tanks, helicopters and armored carriers pushed into a city near the Syrian border.

CLANCY: Meantime, a series of suicide car bombs and attacks killed more than a dozen people in other parts of the country.

VERJEE: CNN's Jane Arraf joins us now from an embedded group in Tal Afar.

Jane, what is happening now?

Unfortunately, we seem to have lost our audio connection with Jane Arraf. We're going to try and connect with her again soon.

Meanwhile, a show of force by U.S. and Iraqi troops in a restive Iraqi city close to Syria's border. We're going to bring you more details when we connect with Jane via videophone.

CLANCY: All right. And we want to bring in, too, Jennifer Eccleston, who has been covering this story from Baghdad, looking at some -- as they work there along Syria's border, in order to try, in one way or another, to break the back of the insurgency, what they really want to do is cut down on the attacks that have been taking place. But yet, this was another day in which car bomb attacks mainly focused on the Iraqi military, the fledgling troops that are trying to take over security control of the country. It was cause for concern by many.

Let's go to Baghdad now live if we can to Jennifer Eccleston -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim.

Well, it was a relentless campaign of terror that continued today. And as you mentioned, a trio of suicide car bombers attacked three separate Iraqi army checkpoints within an hour.

What we know right now, it happened in the town of Hawija, which is in northern Iraq. We know that 14 people were killed, including three Iraqi police officers. And also, there were 39 wounded.

The last two months, the U.S. military has recorded some 130 suicide attacks. But the Iraqi government and the American officials here in Baghdad say they are making some headway in stemming the tide of violence, especially here in Baghdad with that Operation Lightning.

They've made over 800 arrests. They say they have now got a large part of the city under control. But that didn't stop today 28 Iraqis being injured in a car bomb that exploded outside of a popular cafe in northwestern Baghdad.

We also know that two Marines died in Al Anbar province over the last two days after suicide car bombs attacked. And that is just the latest casualty -- mounting casualties, Jim, for U.S. soldiers here in Iraq -- Jim.

CLANCY: Jennifer, people are wondering, now, we've had a clamp down there at the capital, Operation Lightning, 40,000 security forces involved. Has it made much of a difference? Can Iraqis feel that?

ECCLESTON: Well, we have to go by what the Iraqis are telling us, and also by what the Americans are telling us. And you understand, each day we get sort of a police blotter, a rundown of all the operations that took place of all the searches and seizures that they go neighborhood by neighborhood, throughout Baghdad, confiscating weapons, confiscating ammunition, and also arresting people, like I had mentioned. They claimed to have arrested over 800 people, though it's highly unlikely that those people -- that all of those people are still in prison.

So it's hard to see in front of us from when we go out on the street that there is this active engagement going on. And we do see the odd checkpoints every now and again. But it is hard for the Iraqis to gauge this on a day-to-day basis, except from what they hear on their local television station and from the briefings that come out from the ministry of interior, the ministry of defense, and also from the U.S. government -- Jim.

CLANCY: Jennifer Eccleston there, live from Baghdad, one perspective on the story -- Zain.

VERJEE: We want to get another perspective now from Jane Arraf. She is in Tal Afar, embedded with U.S. troops. She joins us now.

Jane, if you can hear me, tell us what's happening right now.

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Zain, what's happening is that this city of Tal Afar, a troubled city that is in the grips of insurgents, according to the U.S. military, has seen the biggest show of force in months from U.S. soldiers and Iraqi soldiers. That involved tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, helicopters, pretty well every means at their disposal -- disposal to show they were able to go into that city, into the most dangerous neighborhood with Iraqi soldiers at the forefront.

As they moved in -- and we moved in with them -- there was scattered gunfire, Zain, as well as mortar rounds fired. One U.S. soldier was killed. Three suspected insurgents also killed.

At the end of it, the U.S. military say that they rounded up at least 28 suspected insurgents. Almost all of them on their most wanted list.

Now, this is part of a campaign with U.S. troops here in the northwest of Iraq to root out insurgents that they say are still coming through the Syrian border -- Zain.

VERJEE: CNN's Jane Arraf reporting. Thanks, Jane.

Coming up in a little bit, we're going to take a closer look at how effective this latest U.S. military operation actually is -- Jim.

CLANCY: Another top story this day, British Prime Minister Tony Blair calling on U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House. The administration's staunchest ally in the war in Iraq may come away a bit disappointed.

Mr. Blair is pressing the U.S. and other developed countries on three fronts regarding aid to Africa: accelerated debt relief, increased cash, and lots of it to fight hunger, as well as support for a plan called the International Finance Facility that would allow poor nations to raise money using promises of future aid as collateral for loans.

We're joined now by White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson outside 10 Downing Street.

Suzanne, how much help can Mr. Blair really expect?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there's really a joint initiative that is going to be put on the table formally announced this afternoon. What he can expect is $674 million in aid to Africa. Specifically, to feed some 14 million in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Now, this, of course, is not the G8 initiative that Blair has been pushing to double aid to Africa in 10 years. But what this announcement is meant to do is to allow both of these leaders to stand side by side in a picture that says, hey, we are committed to at least providing some sort of humanitarian aid for Africa, to lessen the sting of U.S.' refusal to back Blair's plan.

But I should let you know that -- that there have been people -- specifically, Blair, who said this morning with journalists that he does not see this as the end, that it's simply the beginning. That there's still going to be talks with the G8 summit in July -- Jim.

CLANCY: Suzanne, if you'll just stay there for a moment.

Nic Robertson over at 10 Downing Street, let me just ask you, how important politically is it for Prime Minister Blair to get a strong showing of support there in Washington?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there are two real reasons. One is obviously to set the stage for success at the Gleneagles summit, the G8 summit to be held in Scotland in about a month's time.

Getting the United States as much on board with Blair's initiative to end poverty in Africa will certainly leave some sort of political legacy behind for Tony Blair. He's likely to leave political office in the next few years.

So he's not made a lot of progress in Europe. He's lost his party, a lot of votes here, by being an ally to the United States in the war in Iraq.

Success on the African front would be a good political legacy for him. And the other reason, Jim, that it's important for him is that he needs to be able to show that allying himself and Great Britain with the United States has some political payback, that he can go to the United States, and that he can change President Bush's mind and opinion on some issues. So to get some success in Washington, to bring that -- to bring that back here, would silence some of his critics in Britain that say this is an alliance that goes only one way and that Tony Blair has not made -- has not been able to make impact on any U.S. policy -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Let me go back to the White House and Suzanne Malveaux.

And Suzanne, as Nic has pointed out there, it's important for Tony Blair. At the same time, you pick up the British newspapers this morning and you see President Bush taking a lot of fire, saying that he is not committed to aid in Africa. This coming from members of aid groups and even some political voices there.

Is the White House a little stunned by this, given the -- you know, the budget constraints it has in other forces?

MALVEAUX: I wouldn't say stunned, but I would say disappointed and somewhat frustrated with the press that they are getting. We heard from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the week saying that the commitment to Africa is robust. And just to give you a sense of how important it is to this administration, they have been in negotiations with the United Kingdom for weeks now. But it was as recent as this past weekend an administration official told me that the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and a U.S. sherpa (ph) were meeting with their British counterparts to work out these negotiations, this announcement that is going to be made that allows both the United States to come forward with somewhat of a modest amount of money for humanitarian aid, but at the same time, allows it to come forward and show that it is making commitment to Africa. And Blair, of course, does not leave empty- handed -- Jim.

CLANCY: Suzanne, thank you.

Nic Robertson, a final question to you. Gleneagles next month, the G8 conference. Is the British side expecting a major show of support from the U.S. there?

ROBERTSON: It's hoping for it, Jim. Certainly, that's what the brief has been from 10 Downing Street, from officials here, that they are not giving up, that they're going to Washington to see what they can get.

They will continue to work all those issues. Whatever the maximum that can be achieved will be what they'll put on the table at Gleneagles. This is about setting the G8 summit up for success, setting Tony Blair up for success. So they are still hoping that they can make progress on those key issues -- Jim.

CLANCY: Suzanne Malveaux joining us from the White House, Nic Robertson there at 10 Downing Street. Thanks to you both.

Now, both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair holding a news conference at 20:45 GMT today. That's 4:45 Eastern Time in the U.S. CNN, of course, will bring that to you live.

VERJEE: The Israeli military says a Palestinian-launched rocket has killed a Chinese and a Palestinian worker inside a Jewish settlement in Gaza. They say five other people were wounded.

This follows two similar attacks on Israeli towns or settlements. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has claimed responsibility for one such attack, saying it was retaliation for a visit by Jews to a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem. The British foreign secretary, who's meeting with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, had this to say...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: The fact of these rocket attacks today in which, I understand, a mother and child are still in deep shock, and two non-Israeli citizens have been killed, illustrates the wanton random terror which the Hamas and other similar organizations are ready to practice to undermine peace and security here in Israel and also to undermine the Democratically-elected president and his government within the Palestinian authority. And our policy is clear. We will have no dealings with the leadership of Hamas or other such organizations unless and until they wholly renounce violence and they renounce their charter calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: The attacks come in spite of a recent cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

CLANCY: Well, here's much more to come on YOUR WORLD TODAY. We're going to revisit our top story.

VERJEE: The Tal Afar offensive in Iraq. We're going to talk with our military analyst, retired Major General David Grange.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: As we reported, hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi forces descended on an Iraqi city close to the Syrian border, launching a major offensive against insurgents, following weeks of attacks. For more on the military operations there, we turn now to CNN's military analyst, retired Major General David Grange.

General, the U.S. military says it wants to cut off those infiltration routes from Syria into Iraq. How much infiltration is there? Do we really know?

MAJ. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, we probably don't really know, but there's a lot going on. And Syria is one of the biggest violators of the sovereign border of Iraq. And something has to be done to cut off the infiltrators. Pressure needs to continually be put on the border area, to maybe include an exclusion zone inside of Syria to some extent.

VERJEE: This has been a desert trail for centuries, as "The New York Times" pointed out this weekend. It's a route that has traditionally been used to smuggle goats, to smuggle sheep, to smuggle leather hides. And the insurgents capitalizing on that.

What's the U.S. military doing in this operation to adapt itself?

GRANGE: Well, covering the area as best it can with the forces available, both the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces. And it's a big area. It's a tough region.

The good news is, it's not a jungle, like Vietnam bordering Laos and Cambodia. But it's still tough to cover every infiltration route. And you can hide and move easier in the desert than many people believe you can.

VERJEE: How's the U.S. going to tell the good guys from the bad guys? GRANGE: Well, that's part of the problem, because disguises are used, means of infiltration that look very benign to a military mind. And maybe just trading, it may just be goat herders. It could just be people going back and forth to businesses and schools and things like this. So it is very difficult to determine friend and foe.

VERJEE: The danger, of course, as we can also point to in past instances, when there's a push by the U.S. military, by the Iraqi troops, insurgents often disperse, regroup, live to fight another day. Is that the danger with this operation? How successful can it really be?

GRANGE: Well, that's usually one of the spin-offs. And because that's the tactic of insurgents, of guerrilla warfare, is to disperse and survive. But any time you're not on the offensive, you're not winning.

You have to be on the offensive to put the pressure on, to keep the enemy off balance, to put unknown situations in their lap. And also to induce second and third order effects that lead to other success, like the other day, uncovering the major complex underground bunker system. That only happened because of offensive operations.

VERJEE: How is the U.S. military approaching the Shia-Sunni issue in that area? You've got a lot of Shia Iraqi troops going into a Sunni area, looking for largely Sunni insurgents. How is the U.S. military sensitized to that?

GRANGE: Well, very -- it's a very sensitive situation. But we know now from a captured letter from Zawahiri to bin Laden that he said right before the elections that he's afraid the elections are going to happen and he's afraid the Americans are not going to leave.

And if they don't do something to go after the Shia -- now this is Sunni talking -- and split the government, split the population, and cause a civil war, that they could lose this fight, and that the coalition, the Iraqi government could, in fact, win. So that's their tactic right now.

VERJEE: CNN's military analyst, retired Major General David Grange. Thank you so much -- Jim.

GRANGE: Thank you.

CLANCY: Let's take a closer look at some of the stories that are making headlines in the United States this day.

An extraordinary move. The government of Aruba giving its employees a half-day off to join the search for missing American student Natalee Holloway. Prosecutors must decide whether two security guards arrested in connection with Holloway's disappearance should be held for additional time.

VERJEE: The U.S. Senate is voting to end the debate on the controversial nomination of Judge Janice Rogers Brown for the U.S. Circuit Court. A vote's expected later today. Republicans say Brown's worthy of confirmation, while Democrats call her ideological and extreme.

Democrats have been blocking Brown's nomination since 2003. A bipartisan deal ended the standoff over Brown and two other nominations.

CLANCY: An end to Olympic hopes. New York State board rejecting plans to build a $2 billion stadium on Manhattan's west side.

Officials have said the stadium complex is crucial to New York's chances for hosting the 2012 Olympic games. The International Olympic Committee is to choose a city next month. New York State officials say there could be further negotiations on the issue.

VERJEE: We're going to be checking the world markets after a break.

CLANCY: And more General Motors job cuts ahead. We'll have the numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Now to a major financial story in the United States. Big job cuts in the auto industry. Chris Huntington joins us now from New York with more bad news for General Motors -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, General Motors might as well be dubbed "General Misery" right now. The company is struggling with sales, with its huge SUVs that aren't selling particularly well and chewing up all sorts of gasoline. And now the company officially stating that it will cut 25,000 jobs in the United States by 2008.

That announcement being made at the GM shareholder meeting earlier today by General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagner. And he said, frankly, the main problem that GM is confronting right now, at least in terms of its high costs, is the high cost of health care coverage.

Wagner saying that that cost of paying health care benefits for its employees amounts to about $1,500 per vehicle sold. So overall, General Motors wants to try to trim about $2.5 billion of costs a year. That's a big tab, coming out of -- primarily by trimming health care costs and the number of employees that are covered by health care.

GM says it's negotiating with the United Auto Workers, but it is not exactly optimistic. In fact, Wagner himself saying he doesn't believe necessarily they can achieve all of those cuts through negotiations. So, hence, they may have to trim some jobs, or they certainly will be trimming jobs.

GM is not specifically saying which plants in the United States it will shut down. But, indeed, it is saying that plants will be closed.

It recently closed some domestic plants. And, of course, folks in Europe may well be aware that GM has had a plan for about a year and a half to cut about 12,000 manufacturing jobs in Europe, about 10,000 jobs in Germany alone.

The biggest problem that General Motors faces in the United States is the product mix that it is putting out there on the marketplace. It has been betting heavily on full-sized so-called SUVs.

These are the big sport utility vehicles that are basically built on pickup truck platforms. They're very, very big, they use a lot of fuel. And with gas prices rising in this country, the sales of those full-sized SUVs have been dropping dramatically. And General Motors is trying to fix that, but it's going to take a couple years of product development to get out from under that business model -- Zain.

VERJEE: Chris Huntington in New York.

Time to check in now on what's moving the markets in the United States. Over to Valerie Morris, also in New York.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

VERJEE: We'll bring you an update of our top stories just ahead.

CLANCY: All right. As CNN celebrates 25 years of compelling stories, we're going to talk with the survivor of the shooting at Columbine High School. That was back in 1999.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really have tried to see the good come out. And I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: He talks about the positive side of this devastating experience.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Hello, and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

These are the stories making headlines around the world. The White House says President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce a joint initiative to help end African famine. The U.S. is prepared to spend $674 million. The announcement appears intended to take the sting out of Mr. Bush's opposition to Mr. Blair's more expensive plan that would double aid to Africa.

VERJEE: U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a joint operation against insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar. Forces detained 23 suspected insurgents. A U.S. soldier was killed in the operation, along with four insurgent. Meanwhile, three suicide car bombs exploded in the area of Hawija in northern Iraq. At least 14 people were killed, more than three dozen people wounded.

Jurors in the Michael Jackson trial have begun their second full day of deliberations. Fans are maintaining a vigil outside the courthouse, carrying signs with messages such as "We Shall Overcome," and "Only Love, No Crime." Jackson has retired to his Neverland Ranch to await the verdict.

VERJEE: The singer's trial has become a spectacle, not only because of his fame, but also because Jackson has made a spectacle of himself over the years. Playing up his quirks, even putting some on, acquaintances say.

But as Rusty Dornin reports, it's increasingly hard to separate fact from fiction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's an impromptu show atop his limo after appearing in court, or showing up in public as a masked man, when it comes to Michael Jackson, this biographer says,it's about his image. Are those images, myths, realities or just giant P.R. stunts?

J. RANDY TARABORRELLI, JACKSON BIOGRAPHER: Michael Jackson controls Michael Jackson's image, for better or worse. He does what he wants to do. He hopes it works out. And sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, that's big news.

DORNIN: Like when Jackson appeared to be sleeping in an oxygen chamber. Myth. Jackson was using the chamber as a fountain of youth. He says it helped heal old burn injuries.

And how about the Elephant Man? Myth. Jackson wanted to buy the skeleton of the badly deformed Joseph Merrick. He later claimed he was fascinated, but said, quote, "What would I do with a bag of bones?"

Back in Jackson's own backyard, part of Neverland's menagerie was Bubbles the Chimp. Myth. Jackson wanted to communicate telepathically with the primate. He says Bubbles was just a pet.

TOURE, POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: There was a period, it seemed, in the '90s where Michael wanted to make us think he was weird. There was the hyperbolic chamber. There was the Elephant Man bones. There was Bubbles the Chimp. There was the llama. And it was just like part of the whole Michael mystique to make you think he was weird.

DORNIN: Former adviser Rabbi Shmuley Boteach believe much of the strangeness was purely a put-on, like the masks.

RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, FMR. JACKSON ADVISER: And I said to him, take that stupid thing off, you look like a monkey, you look like you're insane, and even then he said to me, well, it was more like, he said, a razzle-dazzle kind of thing.

DORNIN: Boteach claims he encouraged Jackson to drop the eccentricities, but the superstar's managers object.

SHMULEY: His manager was saying, Shmuley, you don't get it, you're trying to make Michael normal, and he's famous because he's not normal. He's famous because of all the peculiar things that you think are just bad for him, that's what gets people talking about him.

DORNIN: But it was Jackson himself in Martin Bashir's documentary who turned what might be considered oddities into a legal and public relations nightmare. He admitted sharing his bedroom with children not his own, and made no excuses for it.

TARABORRELLI: I think that he's been insulated for so long from those of us who live out here on the other side of the gates of Neverland, that he doesn't really understand how it's playing out here, and he thinks that we are going to be convinced that it's OK.

DORNIN: The image of Michael Jackson as Peter Pan, myth or reality? It's one that doesn't play very well anywhere anymore.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Some of the other stories drawing interest in the U.S.

VERJEE: We begin in Washington, where senators have ended debate on one of President Bush's long-stalled judicial nominees. A vote is now set for Wednesday. A compromise was reached last month over several nominations and will likely mean confirmation for Janice Rogers Brown. Republicans say she's worthy of a seat on a federal appeals court. Democrats have called her ideological and extreme.

CLANCY: General motors rolling out some major changes. The struggling automaker reports its plan to cut some 25,000 U.S. jobs over the coming years, as well as shut down more plants and assembly lines. GM hopes this move will help it weather its worst financial crisis in more than a decade. At this hour, stocks are up.

VERJEE: Some patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes say they'll keep doing it, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says they can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws. The courts on Monday decided that the federal ban on the medical marijuana trumps 10 state laws that allow it.

Still ahead, we go back six years to the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

CLANCY: We're going to hear from one survivor who lost his sister in that tragedy and what he says are the lessons learned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: As CNN marked its 25th anniversary, we've been looking back at some of the stories that were remarkable during the first 25 years. VERJEE: What we want to do is look at what happened and how events during those 25 years affected ordinary people and also how they've healed.

CLANCY: The worst school shooting in U.S. history. It occurred on April 20th, 1999. It was Columbine High School, outside Denver, Colorado, in Littleton. Two students went on a rampage there that killed 12 of their classmates, as well as a teacher and then they shot themselves.

VERJEE: Craig Scott was sitting in the library when the shooters entered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRAIG SCOTT, COLUMBINE STUDENT: The library was the first room that the two shooters entered. They came over to where I was sitting and they saw my friend Isaiah. And Isaiah was so scared and the last thing that he heard in his life was racial slurs being made against him. And the last thing that he said was, I want to see my mom.

After the two shooters killed Matt and Isaiah next to me, and then left the library, I heard a voice tell me to get out of there. I yelled at everybody, come on, let's get out of here, I think they're gone. And I'd asked somebody, I said do you have a friend or do you have a brother or sister that's in school that I can pray for? And all along I had this feeling something like there -- something wasn't right with my sister Rachel.

They came up and began to mock her for her Christian beliefs. Her final moment was when Eric picked her up by her hair and asked her, do you still believe in God? And she said, yes, I do. He said, well, go be with him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: We spoke to Craig Scott recently about what happened and what he's doing now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT: To me, Columbine, the day of the shooting, was really a spiritual event. Maybe in telling this it will make sense. I heard the shots coming from outside of the school. And at first I didn't realize what was happening. I thought that there was a senior prank. I thought there was kids joking around. And a teacher ran in, screaming. And she was screaming at all of us students to get underneath tables and to get underneath desks.

And I got underneath the table with two of my close friends, Isaiah and Matt. And we started hearing the gunshots get louder and louder as the two shooters entered the school. The library was the first scene, was the first room that the two boys entered. And it was the scene of the most intense shooting at Columbine High School. Immediately, they were shooting off their guns and they were mocking some of the students before they shot or killed them. VERJEE: What happened to Isaiah?

SCOTT: They came over to where I was sitting and they noticed Isaiah. And Isaiah was one of the few black students at our school. It was a predominantly white school. And the two shooters had read books of Hitler and were influenced by those books and by Hitler. And they began to make racial slurs against Matt -- I mean, against Isaiah. They began to make fun of him for the color of his skin. And that was the last thing that he heard in his life. And the last thing that I heard him say was, I want to see my mom.

And it's really -- as I travel and I now share with teens across the country and really across the world, I challenge prejudice and discrimination and basically not to label and judge people, because I saw it at its worst at that moment. And shortly after the two shooters got up and left, or got -- left the library, leaving ten students dead or dying and over 20 wounded.

And I remember just sitting there. And I was paralyzed with fear. I didn't know what to do. I felt like my heart was going to stop beating and I couldn't think straight. And the only thing I needed to do was to pray. And I simply asked that the fear be relieved and to give me courage. And as soon as I prayed and asked for that, it happened.

And I was the first student to stand up in the library. And I yelled at everyone, come on, let's go, let's get out of here, I think they're gone. And I helped a girl who had been shot in her shoulder, had been blown off. And I helped pick her up. And we all -- about 30 of us students ran out of our school and we ran behind a cop car a distance away. And as soon as we took cover, the two shooters returned to the library and they were exchanging gunfire with the police.

VERJEE: How did you find out that your sister had been killed?

SCOTT: Immediately, I felt like there wasn't something right with Rachel, who was my sister. And when I was outside of the school, all I could think about was other people that were still inside of the school, because I knew how terrible it was to be in there and to be living in that fear and terror. And so I began to pray for those people.

But all along, I didn't feel like something was right with Rachel. And so -- it wasn't confirmed until the next morning that she was the first one killed. And it wasn't until later -- there was a boy that was with her who's now paralyzed for life, and he was there during her last moments and said the shooters came up a flight of stairs and they shot them from a distance and it hit Rachel three times.

And then they walked up to Rachel and they began to make fun of her for her faith. And they knew her from class and they knew she was a spiritual person and she had a deep faith. And the last moment of her life was one of the shooters picked her up by her hair and said do you still believe in God, and she said yes, I do. And he said go be with him. And she took her last and final shot through the temple.

ZERJEE: How did your family, how did you, cope with that, recover from that?

SCOTT: There were a lot of things that helped me get through the next years of my life and especially that next year. And I think the number one thing has been the grace of God and it has been -- I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. I believe we all are three-part beings, spirit, mind and body. And I really have tried to see the good come out and I have. In the last -- in the last five years, my family and I -- we've reached over 10 million people in speaking situations around the world.

ZERJEE: Is it healing for you to do that? Is it cathartic?

SCOTT: It's really passed the healing and therapeutic stage for me to do that. I do it because it's worth doing and because I -- what I share is I share about my sister. And my sister was an incredibly compassionate person. She understood that people are what's most important on this earth and that relationships are what matters in the end.

And so I go into these schools and I share with them my experience and what I went through and I talk to them about -- I talk to my fellow peers about not labeling people on the first or second or third time that you've met a person, how easily it is to judge someone. But you really don't know that person until you've spent time and you've talked with them about the serious things and asked them the questions that matter in life. And I challenge the students to do that.

And I also challenge them -- I believe that kindness is an antidote to violence. And I challenge them to go out in their school and find the kids like Eric and Dylan, like the two shooters at Columbine, who felt excluded, who felt put down. Find those students and reach out to them in kindness and it's amazing the stories that I do hear, of students following and picking up that chain reaction of kindness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Craig Scott also told us that gang members in high schools have come up to him and handed him their bandanas and that other students who said that they had planned to use bombs in their schools instead detonated them in the woods.

CLANCY: Now tomorrow at this time, we're going to hear from another survivor. This time from the Rwanda genocide.

VERJEE: Even though her entire family was murdered, one woman says she's forgiven the Hutu militia that hacked them to death. YOUR WORLD TODAY will continue after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Time now for a look at sports on a day when Malcolm Glazer took a firmer group on English football giants Manchester United by making the boardroom a home away from home.

CLANCY: Terry Baddoo has that story and much more.

Hi, Terry.

TERRY BADDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

Manchester United fans didn't want him to take over the club. They demonstrated when he did. So presumably, their passions will only be more inflame by the news that an American business tycoon Malcolm Glazer has appointed his three son to the board. Joel, Brian and Edward Glazer will become nonexecutive directors after Roy Gardner resigned as chairman, along with nonexecutive directors Ian March and Jim O'Neill. Glazer, who also owns the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers became majority shareholder of united on May 16th, and now holds a 76.2 percent stake in the club, which he hopes to make 100 percent in order to take the Red Devils off the stock market by the end of the month. This latest move, of course, will make his detractors even more suspicious.

On the international soccer scene, Wednesday's a big day of qualifying matches for next year year's World Cup finals in Germany. But while home advantage may favor some of the contenders, it won't help the North Koreans, as they'll be playing their home game with Japan away from home. What's more, they'll be doing it behind closed doors with no fans of either side admitted to the game in Thailand as a punishment imposed on the Koreans by football's governing body, FIFA, for crowd trouble in Pyongyang at an earlier game North Korea and Bahrain. A win for Japan, incidentally, would put them through to the finals.

Lastly, to the NBA, in which the defending champion Detroit Pistons faced Miami Heat Monday night for the right to face the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Final. Game seven of the Eastern Conference final with everything on the line then, in the final seconds of the first half, a Pistons' turnover allowed Eddie Jones to gather the ball and beat the buzzer with the half-court shot that made it a five-point game.

To the fourth quarter, tied at 74, when Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace worked the pick and roll, and Wallace finished with a huge slam, en route to an 88-82 Pistons' win that puts them back in the final.

And that's the sports for now.

Terry Baddoo, thanks a lot. Good to see you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VERJEE: More news after the break. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: Thanks for being with us. I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 June 7, 2005 - 12:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Going door to door, U.S. troops getting up close and personal in their effort to keep insurgents from crossing into Iraq from Syria.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: A man on a mission. Britain's Tony Blair heads to the White House, seeking the U.S. president's backing on a plan to help Africa.

CLANCY: And man in the mirror. Does Michael Jackson's view of himself reflect the world's? Jackson myths, facts and the stories behind them.

VERJEE: It is 9:00 in California, 8:00 p.m. in Tal Afar, Iraq. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

A large-scale military offensive against insurgents is under way in northern Iraq.

VERJEE: U.S. and Iraqi troops, backed by tanks, helicopters and armored carriers pushed into a city near the Syrian border.

CLANCY: Meantime, a series of suicide car bombs and attacks killed more than a dozen people in other parts of the country.

VERJEE: CNN's Jane Arraf joins us now from an embedded group in Tal Afar.

Jane, what is happening now?

Unfortunately, we seem to have lost our audio connection with Jane Arraf. We're going to try and connect with her again soon.

Meanwhile, a show of force by U.S. and Iraqi troops in a restive Iraqi city close to Syria's border. We're going to bring you more details when we connect with Jane via videophone.

CLANCY: All right. And we want to bring in, too, Jennifer Eccleston, who has been covering this story from Baghdad, looking at some -- as they work there along Syria's border, in order to try, in one way or another, to break the back of the insurgency, what they really want to do is cut down on the attacks that have been taking place. But yet, this was another day in which car bomb attacks mainly focused on the Iraqi military, the fledgling troops that are trying to take over security control of the country. It was cause for concern by many.

Let's go to Baghdad now live if we can to Jennifer Eccleston -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim.

Well, it was a relentless campaign of terror that continued today. And as you mentioned, a trio of suicide car bombers attacked three separate Iraqi army checkpoints within an hour.

What we know right now, it happened in the town of Hawija, which is in northern Iraq. We know that 14 people were killed, including three Iraqi police officers. And also, there were 39 wounded.

The last two months, the U.S. military has recorded some 130 suicide attacks. But the Iraqi government and the American officials here in Baghdad say they are making some headway in stemming the tide of violence, especially here in Baghdad with that Operation Lightning.

They've made over 800 arrests. They say they have now got a large part of the city under control. But that didn't stop today 28 Iraqis being injured in a car bomb that exploded outside of a popular cafe in northwestern Baghdad.

We also know that two Marines died in Al Anbar province over the last two days after suicide car bombs attacked. And that is just the latest casualty -- mounting casualties, Jim, for U.S. soldiers here in Iraq -- Jim.

CLANCY: Jennifer, people are wondering, now, we've had a clamp down there at the capital, Operation Lightning, 40,000 security forces involved. Has it made much of a difference? Can Iraqis feel that?

ECCLESTON: Well, we have to go by what the Iraqis are telling us, and also by what the Americans are telling us. And you understand, each day we get sort of a police blotter, a rundown of all the operations that took place of all the searches and seizures that they go neighborhood by neighborhood, throughout Baghdad, confiscating weapons, confiscating ammunition, and also arresting people, like I had mentioned. They claimed to have arrested over 800 people, though it's highly unlikely that those people -- that all of those people are still in prison.

So it's hard to see in front of us from when we go out on the street that there is this active engagement going on. And we do see the odd checkpoints every now and again. But it is hard for the Iraqis to gauge this on a day-to-day basis, except from what they hear on their local television station and from the briefings that come out from the ministry of interior, the ministry of defense, and also from the U.S. government -- Jim.

CLANCY: Jennifer Eccleston there, live from Baghdad, one perspective on the story -- Zain.

VERJEE: We want to get another perspective now from Jane Arraf. She is in Tal Afar, embedded with U.S. troops. She joins us now.

Jane, if you can hear me, tell us what's happening right now.

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Zain, what's happening is that this city of Tal Afar, a troubled city that is in the grips of insurgents, according to the U.S. military, has seen the biggest show of force in months from U.S. soldiers and Iraqi soldiers. That involved tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, helicopters, pretty well every means at their disposal -- disposal to show they were able to go into that city, into the most dangerous neighborhood with Iraqi soldiers at the forefront.

As they moved in -- and we moved in with them -- there was scattered gunfire, Zain, as well as mortar rounds fired. One U.S. soldier was killed. Three suspected insurgents also killed.

At the end of it, the U.S. military say that they rounded up at least 28 suspected insurgents. Almost all of them on their most wanted list.

Now, this is part of a campaign with U.S. troops here in the northwest of Iraq to root out insurgents that they say are still coming through the Syrian border -- Zain.

VERJEE: CNN's Jane Arraf reporting. Thanks, Jane.

Coming up in a little bit, we're going to take a closer look at how effective this latest U.S. military operation actually is -- Jim.

CLANCY: Another top story this day, British Prime Minister Tony Blair calling on U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House. The administration's staunchest ally in the war in Iraq may come away a bit disappointed.

Mr. Blair is pressing the U.S. and other developed countries on three fronts regarding aid to Africa: accelerated debt relief, increased cash, and lots of it to fight hunger, as well as support for a plan called the International Finance Facility that would allow poor nations to raise money using promises of future aid as collateral for loans.

We're joined now by White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson outside 10 Downing Street.

Suzanne, how much help can Mr. Blair really expect?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there's really a joint initiative that is going to be put on the table formally announced this afternoon. What he can expect is $674 million in aid to Africa. Specifically, to feed some 14 million in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Now, this, of course, is not the G8 initiative that Blair has been pushing to double aid to Africa in 10 years. But what this announcement is meant to do is to allow both of these leaders to stand side by side in a picture that says, hey, we are committed to at least providing some sort of humanitarian aid for Africa, to lessen the sting of U.S.' refusal to back Blair's plan.

But I should let you know that -- that there have been people -- specifically, Blair, who said this morning with journalists that he does not see this as the end, that it's simply the beginning. That there's still going to be talks with the G8 summit in July -- Jim.

CLANCY: Suzanne, if you'll just stay there for a moment.

Nic Robertson over at 10 Downing Street, let me just ask you, how important politically is it for Prime Minister Blair to get a strong showing of support there in Washington?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there are two real reasons. One is obviously to set the stage for success at the Gleneagles summit, the G8 summit to be held in Scotland in about a month's time.

Getting the United States as much on board with Blair's initiative to end poverty in Africa will certainly leave some sort of political legacy behind for Tony Blair. He's likely to leave political office in the next few years.

So he's not made a lot of progress in Europe. He's lost his party, a lot of votes here, by being an ally to the United States in the war in Iraq.

Success on the African front would be a good political legacy for him. And the other reason, Jim, that it's important for him is that he needs to be able to show that allying himself and Great Britain with the United States has some political payback, that he can go to the United States, and that he can change President Bush's mind and opinion on some issues. So to get some success in Washington, to bring that -- to bring that back here, would silence some of his critics in Britain that say this is an alliance that goes only one way and that Tony Blair has not made -- has not been able to make impact on any U.S. policy -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Let me go back to the White House and Suzanne Malveaux.

And Suzanne, as Nic has pointed out there, it's important for Tony Blair. At the same time, you pick up the British newspapers this morning and you see President Bush taking a lot of fire, saying that he is not committed to aid in Africa. This coming from members of aid groups and even some political voices there.

Is the White House a little stunned by this, given the -- you know, the budget constraints it has in other forces?

MALVEAUX: I wouldn't say stunned, but I would say disappointed and somewhat frustrated with the press that they are getting. We heard from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the week saying that the commitment to Africa is robust. And just to give you a sense of how important it is to this administration, they have been in negotiations with the United Kingdom for weeks now. But it was as recent as this past weekend an administration official told me that the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and a U.S. sherpa (ph) were meeting with their British counterparts to work out these negotiations, this announcement that is going to be made that allows both the United States to come forward with somewhat of a modest amount of money for humanitarian aid, but at the same time, allows it to come forward and show that it is making commitment to Africa. And Blair, of course, does not leave empty- handed -- Jim.

CLANCY: Suzanne, thank you.

Nic Robertson, a final question to you. Gleneagles next month, the G8 conference. Is the British side expecting a major show of support from the U.S. there?

ROBERTSON: It's hoping for it, Jim. Certainly, that's what the brief has been from 10 Downing Street, from officials here, that they are not giving up, that they're going to Washington to see what they can get.

They will continue to work all those issues. Whatever the maximum that can be achieved will be what they'll put on the table at Gleneagles. This is about setting the G8 summit up for success, setting Tony Blair up for success. So they are still hoping that they can make progress on those key issues -- Jim.

CLANCY: Suzanne Malveaux joining us from the White House, Nic Robertson there at 10 Downing Street. Thanks to you both.

Now, both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair holding a news conference at 20:45 GMT today. That's 4:45 Eastern Time in the U.S. CNN, of course, will bring that to you live.

VERJEE: The Israeli military says a Palestinian-launched rocket has killed a Chinese and a Palestinian worker inside a Jewish settlement in Gaza. They say five other people were wounded.

This follows two similar attacks on Israeli towns or settlements. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has claimed responsibility for one such attack, saying it was retaliation for a visit by Jews to a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem. The British foreign secretary, who's meeting with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, had this to say...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: The fact of these rocket attacks today in which, I understand, a mother and child are still in deep shock, and two non-Israeli citizens have been killed, illustrates the wanton random terror which the Hamas and other similar organizations are ready to practice to undermine peace and security here in Israel and also to undermine the Democratically-elected president and his government within the Palestinian authority. And our policy is clear. We will have no dealings with the leadership of Hamas or other such organizations unless and until they wholly renounce violence and they renounce their charter calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: The attacks come in spite of a recent cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

CLANCY: Well, here's much more to come on YOUR WORLD TODAY. We're going to revisit our top story.

VERJEE: The Tal Afar offensive in Iraq. We're going to talk with our military analyst, retired Major General David Grange.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: As we reported, hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi forces descended on an Iraqi city close to the Syrian border, launching a major offensive against insurgents, following weeks of attacks. For more on the military operations there, we turn now to CNN's military analyst, retired Major General David Grange.

General, the U.S. military says it wants to cut off those infiltration routes from Syria into Iraq. How much infiltration is there? Do we really know?

MAJ. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, we probably don't really know, but there's a lot going on. And Syria is one of the biggest violators of the sovereign border of Iraq. And something has to be done to cut off the infiltrators. Pressure needs to continually be put on the border area, to maybe include an exclusion zone inside of Syria to some extent.

VERJEE: This has been a desert trail for centuries, as "The New York Times" pointed out this weekend. It's a route that has traditionally been used to smuggle goats, to smuggle sheep, to smuggle leather hides. And the insurgents capitalizing on that.

What's the U.S. military doing in this operation to adapt itself?

GRANGE: Well, covering the area as best it can with the forces available, both the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces. And it's a big area. It's a tough region.

The good news is, it's not a jungle, like Vietnam bordering Laos and Cambodia. But it's still tough to cover every infiltration route. And you can hide and move easier in the desert than many people believe you can.

VERJEE: How's the U.S. going to tell the good guys from the bad guys? GRANGE: Well, that's part of the problem, because disguises are used, means of infiltration that look very benign to a military mind. And maybe just trading, it may just be goat herders. It could just be people going back and forth to businesses and schools and things like this. So it is very difficult to determine friend and foe.

VERJEE: The danger, of course, as we can also point to in past instances, when there's a push by the U.S. military, by the Iraqi troops, insurgents often disperse, regroup, live to fight another day. Is that the danger with this operation? How successful can it really be?

GRANGE: Well, that's usually one of the spin-offs. And because that's the tactic of insurgents, of guerrilla warfare, is to disperse and survive. But any time you're not on the offensive, you're not winning.

You have to be on the offensive to put the pressure on, to keep the enemy off balance, to put unknown situations in their lap. And also to induce second and third order effects that lead to other success, like the other day, uncovering the major complex underground bunker system. That only happened because of offensive operations.

VERJEE: How is the U.S. military approaching the Shia-Sunni issue in that area? You've got a lot of Shia Iraqi troops going into a Sunni area, looking for largely Sunni insurgents. How is the U.S. military sensitized to that?

GRANGE: Well, very -- it's a very sensitive situation. But we know now from a captured letter from Zawahiri to bin Laden that he said right before the elections that he's afraid the elections are going to happen and he's afraid the Americans are not going to leave.

And if they don't do something to go after the Shia -- now this is Sunni talking -- and split the government, split the population, and cause a civil war, that they could lose this fight, and that the coalition, the Iraqi government could, in fact, win. So that's their tactic right now.

VERJEE: CNN's military analyst, retired Major General David Grange. Thank you so much -- Jim.

GRANGE: Thank you.

CLANCY: Let's take a closer look at some of the stories that are making headlines in the United States this day.

An extraordinary move. The government of Aruba giving its employees a half-day off to join the search for missing American student Natalee Holloway. Prosecutors must decide whether two security guards arrested in connection with Holloway's disappearance should be held for additional time.

VERJEE: The U.S. Senate is voting to end the debate on the controversial nomination of Judge Janice Rogers Brown for the U.S. Circuit Court. A vote's expected later today. Republicans say Brown's worthy of confirmation, while Democrats call her ideological and extreme.

Democrats have been blocking Brown's nomination since 2003. A bipartisan deal ended the standoff over Brown and two other nominations.

CLANCY: An end to Olympic hopes. New York State board rejecting plans to build a $2 billion stadium on Manhattan's west side.

Officials have said the stadium complex is crucial to New York's chances for hosting the 2012 Olympic games. The International Olympic Committee is to choose a city next month. New York State officials say there could be further negotiations on the issue.

VERJEE: We're going to be checking the world markets after a break.

CLANCY: And more General Motors job cuts ahead. We'll have the numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Now to a major financial story in the United States. Big job cuts in the auto industry. Chris Huntington joins us now from New York with more bad news for General Motors -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, General Motors might as well be dubbed "General Misery" right now. The company is struggling with sales, with its huge SUVs that aren't selling particularly well and chewing up all sorts of gasoline. And now the company officially stating that it will cut 25,000 jobs in the United States by 2008.

That announcement being made at the GM shareholder meeting earlier today by General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagner. And he said, frankly, the main problem that GM is confronting right now, at least in terms of its high costs, is the high cost of health care coverage.

Wagner saying that that cost of paying health care benefits for its employees amounts to about $1,500 per vehicle sold. So overall, General Motors wants to try to trim about $2.5 billion of costs a year. That's a big tab, coming out of -- primarily by trimming health care costs and the number of employees that are covered by health care.

GM says it's negotiating with the United Auto Workers, but it is not exactly optimistic. In fact, Wagner himself saying he doesn't believe necessarily they can achieve all of those cuts through negotiations. So, hence, they may have to trim some jobs, or they certainly will be trimming jobs.

GM is not specifically saying which plants in the United States it will shut down. But, indeed, it is saying that plants will be closed.

It recently closed some domestic plants. And, of course, folks in Europe may well be aware that GM has had a plan for about a year and a half to cut about 12,000 manufacturing jobs in Europe, about 10,000 jobs in Germany alone.

The biggest problem that General Motors faces in the United States is the product mix that it is putting out there on the marketplace. It has been betting heavily on full-sized so-called SUVs.

These are the big sport utility vehicles that are basically built on pickup truck platforms. They're very, very big, they use a lot of fuel. And with gas prices rising in this country, the sales of those full-sized SUVs have been dropping dramatically. And General Motors is trying to fix that, but it's going to take a couple years of product development to get out from under that business model -- Zain.

VERJEE: Chris Huntington in New York.

Time to check in now on what's moving the markets in the United States. Over to Valerie Morris, also in New York.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

VERJEE: We'll bring you an update of our top stories just ahead.

CLANCY: All right. As CNN celebrates 25 years of compelling stories, we're going to talk with the survivor of the shooting at Columbine High School. That was back in 1999.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really have tried to see the good come out. And I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: He talks about the positive side of this devastating experience.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Hello, and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

These are the stories making headlines around the world. The White House says President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce a joint initiative to help end African famine. The U.S. is prepared to spend $674 million. The announcement appears intended to take the sting out of Mr. Bush's opposition to Mr. Blair's more expensive plan that would double aid to Africa.

VERJEE: U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a joint operation against insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar. Forces detained 23 suspected insurgents. A U.S. soldier was killed in the operation, along with four insurgent. Meanwhile, three suicide car bombs exploded in the area of Hawija in northern Iraq. At least 14 people were killed, more than three dozen people wounded.

Jurors in the Michael Jackson trial have begun their second full day of deliberations. Fans are maintaining a vigil outside the courthouse, carrying signs with messages such as "We Shall Overcome," and "Only Love, No Crime." Jackson has retired to his Neverland Ranch to await the verdict.

VERJEE: The singer's trial has become a spectacle, not only because of his fame, but also because Jackson has made a spectacle of himself over the years. Playing up his quirks, even putting some on, acquaintances say.

But as Rusty Dornin reports, it's increasingly hard to separate fact from fiction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's an impromptu show atop his limo after appearing in court, or showing up in public as a masked man, when it comes to Michael Jackson, this biographer says,it's about his image. Are those images, myths, realities or just giant P.R. stunts?

J. RANDY TARABORRELLI, JACKSON BIOGRAPHER: Michael Jackson controls Michael Jackson's image, for better or worse. He does what he wants to do. He hopes it works out. And sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, that's big news.

DORNIN: Like when Jackson appeared to be sleeping in an oxygen chamber. Myth. Jackson was using the chamber as a fountain of youth. He says it helped heal old burn injuries.

And how about the Elephant Man? Myth. Jackson wanted to buy the skeleton of the badly deformed Joseph Merrick. He later claimed he was fascinated, but said, quote, "What would I do with a bag of bones?"

Back in Jackson's own backyard, part of Neverland's menagerie was Bubbles the Chimp. Myth. Jackson wanted to communicate telepathically with the primate. He says Bubbles was just a pet.

TOURE, POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: There was a period, it seemed, in the '90s where Michael wanted to make us think he was weird. There was the hyperbolic chamber. There was the Elephant Man bones. There was Bubbles the Chimp. There was the llama. And it was just like part of the whole Michael mystique to make you think he was weird.

DORNIN: Former adviser Rabbi Shmuley Boteach believe much of the strangeness was purely a put-on, like the masks.

RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, FMR. JACKSON ADVISER: And I said to him, take that stupid thing off, you look like a monkey, you look like you're insane, and even then he said to me, well, it was more like, he said, a razzle-dazzle kind of thing.

DORNIN: Boteach claims he encouraged Jackson to drop the eccentricities, but the superstar's managers object.

SHMULEY: His manager was saying, Shmuley, you don't get it, you're trying to make Michael normal, and he's famous because he's not normal. He's famous because of all the peculiar things that you think are just bad for him, that's what gets people talking about him.

DORNIN: But it was Jackson himself in Martin Bashir's documentary who turned what might be considered oddities into a legal and public relations nightmare. He admitted sharing his bedroom with children not his own, and made no excuses for it.

TARABORRELLI: I think that he's been insulated for so long from those of us who live out here on the other side of the gates of Neverland, that he doesn't really understand how it's playing out here, and he thinks that we are going to be convinced that it's OK.

DORNIN: The image of Michael Jackson as Peter Pan, myth or reality? It's one that doesn't play very well anywhere anymore.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Some of the other stories drawing interest in the U.S.

VERJEE: We begin in Washington, where senators have ended debate on one of President Bush's long-stalled judicial nominees. A vote is now set for Wednesday. A compromise was reached last month over several nominations and will likely mean confirmation for Janice Rogers Brown. Republicans say she's worthy of a seat on a federal appeals court. Democrats have called her ideological and extreme.

CLANCY: General motors rolling out some major changes. The struggling automaker reports its plan to cut some 25,000 U.S. jobs over the coming years, as well as shut down more plants and assembly lines. GM hopes this move will help it weather its worst financial crisis in more than a decade. At this hour, stocks are up.

VERJEE: Some patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes say they'll keep doing it, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says they can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws. The courts on Monday decided that the federal ban on the medical marijuana trumps 10 state laws that allow it.

Still ahead, we go back six years to the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

CLANCY: We're going to hear from one survivor who lost his sister in that tragedy and what he says are the lessons learned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: As CNN marked its 25th anniversary, we've been looking back at some of the stories that were remarkable during the first 25 years. VERJEE: What we want to do is look at what happened and how events during those 25 years affected ordinary people and also how they've healed.

CLANCY: The worst school shooting in U.S. history. It occurred on April 20th, 1999. It was Columbine High School, outside Denver, Colorado, in Littleton. Two students went on a rampage there that killed 12 of their classmates, as well as a teacher and then they shot themselves.

VERJEE: Craig Scott was sitting in the library when the shooters entered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRAIG SCOTT, COLUMBINE STUDENT: The library was the first room that the two shooters entered. They came over to where I was sitting and they saw my friend Isaiah. And Isaiah was so scared and the last thing that he heard in his life was racial slurs being made against him. And the last thing that he said was, I want to see my mom.

After the two shooters killed Matt and Isaiah next to me, and then left the library, I heard a voice tell me to get out of there. I yelled at everybody, come on, let's get out of here, I think they're gone. And I'd asked somebody, I said do you have a friend or do you have a brother or sister that's in school that I can pray for? And all along I had this feeling something like there -- something wasn't right with my sister Rachel.

They came up and began to mock her for her Christian beliefs. Her final moment was when Eric picked her up by her hair and asked her, do you still believe in God? And she said, yes, I do. He said, well, go be with him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: We spoke to Craig Scott recently about what happened and what he's doing now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT: To me, Columbine, the day of the shooting, was really a spiritual event. Maybe in telling this it will make sense. I heard the shots coming from outside of the school. And at first I didn't realize what was happening. I thought that there was a senior prank. I thought there was kids joking around. And a teacher ran in, screaming. And she was screaming at all of us students to get underneath tables and to get underneath desks.

And I got underneath the table with two of my close friends, Isaiah and Matt. And we started hearing the gunshots get louder and louder as the two shooters entered the school. The library was the first scene, was the first room that the two boys entered. And it was the scene of the most intense shooting at Columbine High School. Immediately, they were shooting off their guns and they were mocking some of the students before they shot or killed them. VERJEE: What happened to Isaiah?

SCOTT: They came over to where I was sitting and they noticed Isaiah. And Isaiah was one of the few black students at our school. It was a predominantly white school. And the two shooters had read books of Hitler and were influenced by those books and by Hitler. And they began to make racial slurs against Matt -- I mean, against Isaiah. They began to make fun of him for the color of his skin. And that was the last thing that he heard in his life. And the last thing that I heard him say was, I want to see my mom.

And it's really -- as I travel and I now share with teens across the country and really across the world, I challenge prejudice and discrimination and basically not to label and judge people, because I saw it at its worst at that moment. And shortly after the two shooters got up and left, or got -- left the library, leaving ten students dead or dying and over 20 wounded.

And I remember just sitting there. And I was paralyzed with fear. I didn't know what to do. I felt like my heart was going to stop beating and I couldn't think straight. And the only thing I needed to do was to pray. And I simply asked that the fear be relieved and to give me courage. And as soon as I prayed and asked for that, it happened.

And I was the first student to stand up in the library. And I yelled at everyone, come on, let's go, let's get out of here, I think they're gone. And I helped a girl who had been shot in her shoulder, had been blown off. And I helped pick her up. And we all -- about 30 of us students ran out of our school and we ran behind a cop car a distance away. And as soon as we took cover, the two shooters returned to the library and they were exchanging gunfire with the police.

VERJEE: How did you find out that your sister had been killed?

SCOTT: Immediately, I felt like there wasn't something right with Rachel, who was my sister. And when I was outside of the school, all I could think about was other people that were still inside of the school, because I knew how terrible it was to be in there and to be living in that fear and terror. And so I began to pray for those people.

But all along, I didn't feel like something was right with Rachel. And so -- it wasn't confirmed until the next morning that she was the first one killed. And it wasn't until later -- there was a boy that was with her who's now paralyzed for life, and he was there during her last moments and said the shooters came up a flight of stairs and they shot them from a distance and it hit Rachel three times.

And then they walked up to Rachel and they began to make fun of her for her faith. And they knew her from class and they knew she was a spiritual person and she had a deep faith. And the last moment of her life was one of the shooters picked her up by her hair and said do you still believe in God, and she said yes, I do. And he said go be with him. And she took her last and final shot through the temple.

ZERJEE: How did your family, how did you, cope with that, recover from that?

SCOTT: There were a lot of things that helped me get through the next years of my life and especially that next year. And I think the number one thing has been the grace of God and it has been -- I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. I believe we all are three-part beings, spirit, mind and body. And I really have tried to see the good come out and I have. In the last -- in the last five years, my family and I -- we've reached over 10 million people in speaking situations around the world.

ZERJEE: Is it healing for you to do that? Is it cathartic?

SCOTT: It's really passed the healing and therapeutic stage for me to do that. I do it because it's worth doing and because I -- what I share is I share about my sister. And my sister was an incredibly compassionate person. She understood that people are what's most important on this earth and that relationships are what matters in the end.

And so I go into these schools and I share with them my experience and what I went through and I talk to them about -- I talk to my fellow peers about not labeling people on the first or second or third time that you've met a person, how easily it is to judge someone. But you really don't know that person until you've spent time and you've talked with them about the serious things and asked them the questions that matter in life. And I challenge the students to do that.

And I also challenge them -- I believe that kindness is an antidote to violence. And I challenge them to go out in their school and find the kids like Eric and Dylan, like the two shooters at Columbine, who felt excluded, who felt put down. Find those students and reach out to them in kindness and it's amazing the stories that I do hear, of students following and picking up that chain reaction of kindness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Craig Scott also told us that gang members in high schools have come up to him and handed him their bandanas and that other students who said that they had planned to use bombs in their schools instead detonated them in the woods.

CLANCY: Now tomorrow at this time, we're going to hear from another survivor. This time from the Rwanda genocide.

VERJEE: Even though her entire family was murdered, one woman says she's forgiven the Hutu militia that hacked them to death. YOUR WORLD TODAY will continue after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Time now for a look at sports on a day when Malcolm Glazer took a firmer group on English football giants Manchester United by making the boardroom a home away from home.

CLANCY: Terry Baddoo has that story and much more.

Hi, Terry.

TERRY BADDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

Manchester United fans didn't want him to take over the club. They demonstrated when he did. So presumably, their passions will only be more inflame by the news that an American business tycoon Malcolm Glazer has appointed his three son to the board. Joel, Brian and Edward Glazer will become nonexecutive directors after Roy Gardner resigned as chairman, along with nonexecutive directors Ian March and Jim O'Neill. Glazer, who also owns the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers became majority shareholder of united on May 16th, and now holds a 76.2 percent stake in the club, which he hopes to make 100 percent in order to take the Red Devils off the stock market by the end of the month. This latest move, of course, will make his detractors even more suspicious.

On the international soccer scene, Wednesday's a big day of qualifying matches for next year year's World Cup finals in Germany. But while home advantage may favor some of the contenders, it won't help the North Koreans, as they'll be playing their home game with Japan away from home. What's more, they'll be doing it behind closed doors with no fans of either side admitted to the game in Thailand as a punishment imposed on the Koreans by football's governing body, FIFA, for crowd trouble in Pyongyang at an earlier game North Korea and Bahrain. A win for Japan, incidentally, would put them through to the finals.

Lastly, to the NBA, in which the defending champion Detroit Pistons faced Miami Heat Monday night for the right to face the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Final. Game seven of the Eastern Conference final with everything on the line then, in the final seconds of the first half, a Pistons' turnover allowed Eddie Jones to gather the ball and beat the buzzer with the half-court shot that made it a five-point game.

To the fourth quarter, tied at 74, when Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace worked the pick and roll, and Wallace finished with a huge slam, en route to an 88-82 Pistons' win that puts them back in the final.

And that's the sports for now.

Terry Baddoo, thanks a lot. Good to see you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VERJEE: More news after the break. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: Thanks for being with us. I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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