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Your World Today
U.N. Assesses Iran Nuclear Program; Space Shuttle Discovery Returns; Gaza Disengagement Struggles; Nagasaki Marks Anniversary of A-Bomb
Aired August 09, 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 INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Iran rattles international nerves as it defies warnings not to resume nuclear activities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Discovery is home.
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ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A safe shuttle landing soothes frayed nerves at NASA.
CLANCY: And caged and surviving on their wits and nerves, no peace for children languishing in Philippine jails.
VERJEE: It is 8:30 p.m. in Tehran, 9:00 in the morning at Edwards Air Force Base in California. I'm Zain Verjee.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Welcome to our viewers around the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
We're going to begin our report this hour with an emergency session of the United Nations nuclear watchdog amid growing concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Months of negotiations with Tehran are in danger of collapsing after Iran rejected international warnings and resumed sensitive nuclear work.
Walter Rodgers is monitoring the IAEA meeting in Vienna right now. He joins us with the latest.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, what we're hearing here is that the United Nations still hopes to diffuse this standoff, this collision course between Iran and the west over Iran's nuclear weapons program diplomatically. Mohammed ElBaradei, a short while ago, told reporter as the session began that he hopes Iran will rescind its decision to restart its uranium enrichment program, which, of course, could ultimately lead to an Iranian nuclear stockpile.
ElBaradei, again, trying to downplay the crisis, says he thinks this is more a hiccup than it is a permanent rupture. Nonetheless, the American ambassador to international organizations, Greg Schulte, seemed a bit more determined and firm. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG SCHULTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: We share our European allies' deep concern about the course Iran is taking. We are consulting with them and other board members on next steps. Iran must not be allowed to violate its international commitments and much not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
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RODGERS: The Iranian representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency here in Vienna, Cyrus Nasseri, was asked about the American statement. He said the Iranians are going to continue their nuclear enrichment program, their fuel-cycling program, and they're not going to be told what to do. And he had some rather blunt words for the Americans when they urged the Iranians not to -- not to embark on a nuclear program.
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CYRUS NASSERI, IRANIAN REPRESENTATIVE TO IAEA: The United States is sole nuclear weapons state which had the guts to drop a bomb, to kill and maim and turn into ashes millions in a split second. The United States is in no position whatsoever to tell anyone and to preach anyone as to what they should or should not do in their nuclear program.
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RODGERS: The Russians have suddenly joined in lockstep with the European big three. That is, the Germans, the French, and the British, urging Iran, saying it would be wise to stop this nuclear enrichment program straight away. But again, the Iranians are digging in their heels. And what's becoming increasingly clear to everybody is that if the Iranians did decide to embark on a nuclear weapons development program, there's not much diplomacy can do to stop it -- Jim.
CLANCY: Well, that is the obvious question. Listening to that Iranian official and the defiance in his voice, what can the IAEA do? I mean, what does anyone there in Vienna expect it would be able to do?
RODGERS: Well, I expect the most you can get out of this meeting here, which will go again tomorrow, will be a warning to the Iranians. But remember, we shouldn't get carried away in the rhetoric in all this.
The Iranians have had a chip on their shoulders against the United States for nearly 30 years now. So ignore the rhetoric. Watch the diplomatic minuet which is going to continue.
The Russians have moved into the full court press. The Europeans are marching in lockstep with the Americans.
There are nonaligned countries in this board of governors at the IAEA which are not very keen on a tough stance against Iran, but that's because they have their own nuclear programs and they don't want a precedent set. We're talking about Brazil here.
But this, again, has plenty of windows left before the U.N. resumes its general assembly session, plenty of diplomatic window to talk this through. And it doesn't appear in anyone's interest to go to the mat on this despite the tough rhetoric we're hearing now.
What's needed is an opportunity for everyone to back down, and particularly the Iranians, to back down just a little bit so that the negotiations can re-commence -- Jim.
CLANCY: Reporting there live from Vienna, CNN's Walter Rodgers.
Thanks, Walter.
VERJEE: Much to the relief of their families and NASA managers, crew members from the space shuttle Discovery landed safely just a few hours ago in California. NASA went with plan B because of concerns about the weather in Florida.
CNN's Sean Callebs join us now from the Kennedy Space Center.
Sean, a big sigh of relief.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed. The collective sigh of relief from one end of the country to the other here in the United States. Space center employees here at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as those gathered at Edwards Air Force Base, in California, where a shuttle mission that had stretched about 14 days came to a picture-perfect ending at 5:12 Pacific Time this morning. That is when commander Eileen Collins safely glided Discovery back through the atmosphere, down to the long runway at Edwards Air Force Base.
The wheels came to a halt. Thus, bringing a successful conclusion to what NASA has called a test mission all along.
Now, a lot of focus has been on those heat-resistant tiles on the shuttle. It had undergone close to $1 billion worth of improvements over the past two-and-a-half years, designed to make the mission into space as safe as possible. This, of course, after the Columbia disaster February 1, 2003.
After the shuttle came down, the seven-person crew was able to get out and have a chance to look at the orbiter up close, look at just how it had been affected by that fiery re-entry into Earth. And afterward, Commander Collins had high praise for team and the space agency as well.
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EILEEN COLLINS, DISCOVERY COMMANDER: We had a fantastic mission. We are so glad to be able to come back and say it was successful. And we have resupplied the International Space Station, and we've met the test objectives of the space shuttle program, brought Discovery back in great shape, as you can see behind us. And the crew was really anxious to walk around and see what the outside looked like, and it looks fantastic.
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CALLEBS: All smiles there. And certainly, you can hear the excitement in her voice. But the sonic booms that came just before the shuttle touched down really signaling great news to NASA, indicating that Columbia -- I mean, Discovery had made it through the most intense portion of the heat up in the atmosphere.
Now, NASA was also asked some pretty pressing questions at a news conference shortly after landing about when the next mission would take place. However, the shuttle fleet has been grounded for the time being until they can tackle a problem with the external fuel tank, a persistent problem of foam chunks full falling off.
We know from hearing NASA administrator Michael Griffin today at least five chunks deemed larger than NASA will allow fell off during the liftoff 14 days ago. So hopefully, NASA says, within -- before the end of the year, they will be able to launch Atlantis.
Zain, that would be the next shuttle to go into space.
VERJEE: Sean Callebs reporting. Thanks a lot, Sean -- Jim.
CLANCY: We're going to go now to the Philippines, where very young eyes are peering out from behind bars. Now, this is a very important story, but it is not a story that you're going to find comfortable to watch. Children not yet in their teens languishing in an overcrowded prison, some in the same cells as pedophiles.
Chris Rogers was there.
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CHRIS ROGERS, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice over): Thirteen-year-old Edwin just one of 20,000 children behind bars. Some guilty of petty crimes. Others guilty of nothing. Homeless and unwanted. Denied their human rights.
Locked up in adult, overcrowded jails, open to abuse. Sharing beds with pedophiles. This is the evil in Philippine jails the world wasn't meant to see.
To gather our evidence, we went undercover with a team of charity workers bringing help to inmates, claiming to document urgent cases on camera. We were welcomed to a hell on earth: adult cells crammed full of bodies and disease. This prison's warden told me he barely had the resources to keep the inmates alive.
It's a college of crime for child prisoners. There are too few social workers to help them, not enough courts to put them on trial.
(on camera): Imagine sticking your head inside a full-heated oven that stinks of urine and body odor, and that's pretty much what we're experiencing here in this jail. We've only been here half an hour, and it's absolutely unbearable. Imagine being here for a month, like Osama (ph) has.
(voice over): The 13-year-old is accused of stealing a necklace.
Catholic missionary Shay Cullen has decided to dedicating his life to helping these vulnerable prisoners. He brought us to a jail he's particularly concerned about where we found the true horrors of mixed cells.
At this prison teenage boys are locked up with sexual offenders. One giggled as he told us he had a special relationship with the boys. Another said he was in charge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sleep anywhere, on the floor, (INAUDIBLE).
ROGERS (on camera): And what's going on?
FATHER SHAY CULLEN, CATHOLIC MISSIONARY: Well, it's difficult to say, really, but it would seem that there's a lot of, you know, men here who would be -- have a great interest in the boys. They have some pedophile instincts.
ROGERS (voice over): Shay's inspiration for his work comes from 5-year-old Rose. He discovered here sipping a typical childhood treat of cola in a cramped prison cell.
The missionary's grim discoveries never end. Karim (ph) is 11, charged with the pettiest of crimes, imprisoned with 200 of the most wanted, including murderers and alleged terrorists. Karim (ph) is petrified.
"In another jail, 14-year-old Alpi (ph) told us back is rotting. This is what happens when you sleep on a dirty floor."
Manmi (ph) sleeps on a makeshift bed like the one he had on the streets.
"They feed me. And I have friends here." "It's better than being on the streets," he told me.
How can a child think jail is better than life on the streets? We searched for more children like Manmi (ph) in the city slums.
Under a bridge, we found a community of orphaned and abandoned children. They sniff glue to heal the pain of homelessness and numb the fear of police abuse.
Last week, Jinboi (ph), who's just 10, managed to escape from prison. He said it was OK for a while because the food was good. But the police beat him, so he ran away.
While we filmed, a patrol car sped by. They suddenly scurried up a sewer pipe, a well rehearsed escape.
Children aren't just treated like rubbish, they live off it. On the city dumps, families search for food and junk to sell.
(on camera): There are dozens of communities like this across the Philippines. And it makes you wonder if free people end up living and working in conditions like this, how can you expect imprisoned people to be found in decent, humane conditions in jails? It's also hardly surprising why children turn to crime to try and make a living.
(voice over): But 13-year-old Edwin knows there's a high price to pay. Four months of prison life has scarred him physically and mentally. While we were filming, Edwin learned Father Shay Cullen wants to rescue him. He's demanding his release, demanding justice. It's an agonizing wait for Edwin, but a single ray of hope in his miserable existence.
Chris Rogers, ITV News, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: When it comes to children being held in filthy, life- threatening jails, the Philippines certainly isn't alone. As Harry Smith reports, the plight of imprisoned young people is getting noticed worldwide.
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HARRY SMITH, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice over): It was the plight of 5-year-old Rose who was found in a Philippines jail which inspired the campaign to free the country's child prisoners. But around the world, thousands more are tonight behind bars. UNICEF says up to a million children are held in adult prisons in some of the 192 countries which have signed up to an international agreement outlawing such practices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: UNICEF is actually lobbying for governments around the world to comply with the convention on the rights of the child. We are deeply distressed that even though most every country has signed up to it, that they are falling far short of their responsibilities.
SMITH: I took a copy of the ITV News report to the Philippine's embassy in London, where the deputy ambassador agreed to be interviewed. After learning of its content, she declined to say anything other than this...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. I shall transmit this to the appropriate authorities in Manila.
SMITH (on camera): The report also claims that in Pakistan children as young as 12 can be executed. Children in Albania were found in cells with no toilets and forced to sleep in their own feces. Brazilian prisons are described as overcrowded, filthy and violent, with contagious diseases left untreated.
In Burundi, children are left to die with no proper medical care or sanitation. And in Indonesia, 8-year-olds can be tried in adult courts. JULIA POWELL, UNICEF: These children are languishing in prisons with no one fighting for their rights. And we want to give them a voice and make sure that their rights are upheld. We're calling on the U.N. to appoint a special rapporteur for children in prison.
SMITH: The U.N. said tonight it would welcome anything which helped focus on the rights of children.
Harry Smith, ITV News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: All right. In the second part of our series on child prisoners, we're going to be taking a closer look at the work that goes into trying to rehabilitate children who have been abused in custody. That report is going to air tomorrow right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
VERJEE: Still ahead, though, on our program...
CLANCY: A look at the stories that are making news in the United States.
VERJEE: Including a somber announcement from the widow of "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve. Stay with us for that.
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CLANCY: Welcome back. You're watching an hour of world news on CNN International.
We're going to look at Iraq right now. Emergency police in Baghdad report a suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. military convoy. One soldier was killed, but three civilians nearby also lost their lives. Two U.S. soldiers and 42 civilians were wounded. The blast happened in the center of the city, near Taiyaran Square.
Separately, Iraqi police say 10 of their officers have been killed, six others wounded in a spree of drive-by shootings in Baghdad and Baquba. In one attack, insurgents shot four policemen to death on a highway in the eastern part of the capital with automatic weapons.
Now, the U.S. military has released this footage of an attack on a suspected insurgence near Haditha in western Iraq. The insurgents fled. They had fired some mortars.
They fled the scene and drove into -- you can see the car there driving into a safe house. And then the unmanned aerial vehicle fires, destroying the safe house, killing everyone in there, and reminding them that safe houses just a figure of speech
VERJEE: British investigators are in Rome to interrogate a key suspect in the London terror bombings. A lawyer for Hamdi Issac says his client gave British authorities the same answers that he had previously given to Italian investigators. Issac is suspected of involvement in the July 21 failed terror bombings on the London transit system. Britain is seeking extradition, a hearing that's set for next week.
CLANCY: All right, Zain. Let's check in on some of the other stories that are making news in the United States.
The widow of actor Christopher Reeve has announced that she has lung cancer. Dana Reeve spent nine years caring for her paralyzed husband before his death last year. She says his courage will help inspire her. Two days ago, ABC news anchor Peter Jennings died after a four-month battle with lung cancer.
VERJEE: Ground-breaking publisher John H. Johnson died on Monday of heart failure at 87. Through his "Ebony" and "Jet" magazines, Johnson brought more positive portrayals of African-Americans to the mass market. He also encouraged corporations to advertise to black consumers.
CLANCY: In Ohio, a confessed highway gunman is scheduled to appear again in a Columbus courtroom. Charles McCoy Jr. has agreed now to drop his insanity defense and plead guilty to the attacks that left one woman dead and area motorists fearing they might be the next target. The shooting spanned five months from 2003 into last year.
VERJEE: Just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International, oil prices retreat.
CLANCY: And we're going to take a look at the effects that's having on world financial markets right after this break.
Stay with us.
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VERJEE: Time now to check on in on what's moving the markets in the U.S.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
CLANCY: We're going to have a roundup of the main stories coming up in just a moment.
VERJEE: And we'll also have the latest on the imminent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When the Palestinians start educating their children that we are human beings, there might be a chance. But as long as they teach their children only to kill Jews, peace will never come.
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VERJEE: Notice has been served, and bulldozers are standing by. We're going to take a look at whether the Jewish settlers will go quietly or not.
This is CNN.
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CLANCY: Well, welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.
VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. Here are some of the top stories we're following.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog is trying to decide how to respond to Iran's resumption of sensitive nuclear activities. Governors of the IAEA met in an emergency meeting in Vienna, and they're expected to resume talks on Wednesday. Western nations fear that Tehran could be trying to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
CLANCY: The Space Shuttle Discovery and its crew are back on Earth, but they did land a little ways from home. Discovery touched down in California, after being twice waved off from landing in Florida due to the weather there. The NASA administrator Michael Griffin says space officials are going to try as hard as they can to fix the lingering problems with fuel tank insulation to get back into space later this year.
VERJEE: The Israeli pullout from Gaza and parts of the West Bank is set to begin on Monday. As the date nears, there are now conflicting claims of credit.
Ben Wedeman reports from Gaza.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Gaza, guns talk. For these gunmen from one of Gaza's many armed factions, the upcoming Israeli pullout is their victory, and it came from the barrel of their guns.
"The resistance forced them to leave," their commander, Abu Saad (ph) tells me. "Our constant attacks and martyrdom operations pushed them out of Gaza." It was patient diplomacy, the Palestinian Authority counters, that convinced the Israeli government to end the decades-old occupation.
Speaking in Gaza Tuesday, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said the pullout is just the beginning, that he hopes that eventually what is about to happen here will be duplicated in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. Others say credit goes to ordinary Palestinians who stayed in their homes and refuse to leave.
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, PALESTINIAN POLITICIAN: It's a long struggle, 38 years of struggle. It started before Hamas was established, even. And it continues after the authority gave up the whole principle of struggle.
WEDEMAN: Regardless of who did it, the militants insist they'll continue the fight against Israel, using every means at their disposal. MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR, HAMAS LEADER: We are talking about (INAUDIBLE), about real confrontation about martyrism operations, about every method used by the militant groups.
WEDEMAN: In a sandy lot on the edge of Gaza City, in plain view, fighters from Islamic jihad show off their methods. Chanting "Death to Israel, death to America," and showing scant inclination to bask in the glory of the victory they insist is theirs and lay down their arms.
(on camera): The rush to claim credit for the Israeli pullout is just part of a widening and deepening power struggle between the Palestinian Authority and the militants, a struggle many here fear will intensify and possibly turn violent once the Israelis leave.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Gaza.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: The Israeli government has issued its final notification to the settlers in Gaza. While many of the settlers are getting ready to move out, others say they're going to stand their ground.
Guy Raz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More and more boxes sliding into the moving boxes. Within a month, Israel's settlement project in Gaza will be over, 38 years after it began. The families who are sent here to settle this land are quickly coming to terms with the demise of that enterprise, even though most, like David Sa'ada, aren't enthusiastic about it.
DAVID SA'ADA, SETTLER (through translator): My kids are still small so they don't really understand what's going on, just that we have to leave our house because the government is deporting us.
RAZ: His neighbors in the Rafiah Yam settlement are also packing up, their small street now choked with metal containers. David Sa'ada is leaving voluntarily, but he has no grand hopes for a breakthrough in resolving the conflict.
SA'ADA: When the Palestinians start educating their children that we are human beings, there might be a chance. But as long as they teach their children only to kill Jews, peace will never come.
RAZ: The mood in Morage settlement is somewhat different. In the synagogue, vigilance and prayer go hand-in-hand. Morage will be one of the first of the Gaza settlements to go, in less than eight days. But Haim Gross, the settlement security chief, still doesn't believe it will happen.
HAIM GROSS, MORAGE SETTLEMENT SECURITY CHIEF: We're not really scared so much because we know that we're in God's hand and we don't think God wants this crazy evacuation and to throw Jewish people out of their own homes.
RAZ: The army bulldozers, now gathering around the settlement, indicate a different reality. The recently abandoned greenhouses, now skeletons, also signal the end.
(on camera): An end for the settlements, but a new beginning for Gaza's custodians, the Palestinians, few of whom will shed any tears for their long unwelcome and now departing neighbors.
Guy Raz, CNN, in Gus Katif (ph) settlement, Gaza.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Still ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, heroes of the deep.
VERJEE: The dramatic international rescue that made grown men cry. After saving the lives of the Russian submarine crew, the British team gets a warm welcome home.
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VERJEE: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY, an hour of world news here on CNN International.
With seven lives hanging in the balance, British specialists rushed to the other side of the world in a rescue operation. Their efforts freed Russian sailors trapped on the ocean floor in a mini- submarine.
Martin Geissler tells us about the rescue team's reception when it returned home.
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MARTIN GEISSLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their life or death mission a complete success, the submarine rescue team flew home today to a hero's welcome, the armed forced minister on the tarmac to offer congratulations and hearty handshakes. He told them Britain and the world had been watching, delighted at their triumph.
The real emotion, though, came from their loved ones. The team brought home these extraordinary pictures of the operation on the seabed. The seven-man crew onboard the Russian sub had just a few hours of oxygen left. Scorpio, the British submersible operated by remote control on the surface, cut through the netting and freed it just in time. Helped by the clear water 600 feet down. The visibility here was unusually good.
The moment the vessel resurfaced, unforgettable, for the Russians and the British team alike.
CDMR. IAN RICHES, PROJECT COORDINATOR: I cannot ever explain to you properly the feelings of elation amongst us all. And it would be wrong of me to say that grown men don't cry. I can assure you, a lot of grown men cried that day, to see that submarine back on the surface. I'm sorry, but the emotion is getting to me again. GEISSLER: The seven-sub mariners didn't have the chance to thank their rescuers personally. Their gratitude, perhaps, goes without saying.
(on camera): Given the time constraints and the lives involved, there was obvious pressure on this mission. But the whole task was well within the capabilities of this little vehicle. It's designed specifically for this purpose. And the team who operate it are, quite simply, the best in the world.
(voice-over): Though, too modest to admit it. This lunchtime, that team are heading back to base, on standby for the next mission, just as taxing, perhaps, but hopefully less dramatic.
Martin Geissler, ITV News, at Prestwick Airport, near Glasgow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Wildfires are raging in parts of Spain and Portugal right now. Bone-dry conditions fanning the flames as the peninsula experiences its worst drought in decade. Hundred of people have been evacuated as the fires approach, and there have been deaths in both countries.
In Spain, a firefighter died after being hit by falling rock, and a pilot helping to fight a blaze was killed when his plane struck the side of a mountain. While in Portugal, a man died as he was try to save his house.
VERJEE: Let's check some other stories now making news in the United States. The widow of actor Christopher Reeve has announced that she has lung cancer. Dana Reeve spent nine years caring for her paralyzed husband before his death last year. She says she's now undergoing treatment and is optimistic about her prognosis.
CLANCY: The U.S. army has relieved a four-star general of his command in a rare act of discipline against such a high-ranking officer. Army officials will only say that General Kevin Byrnes had been under investigation for, in its words, personal conduct. Byrnes was in charge of U.S. Army training and doctrine command.
VERJEE: Florida Congresswoman Katherine Harris officially kick off her U.S. Senate campaign. Some Republicans are concerned about fallout from her role in the 2000 presidential recount. Harris, a Republican, was Florida's secretary of state at the time, and some Democrats accused her of stealing the election for President Bush.
CLANCY: In Kingston, Tennessee, police are searching for two prisoners who escape his as they were being escorted from the county jailhouse. Authorities say someone fired a shot from a nearby car during the prisoner transfer, striking one deputy in the stomach. Authorities locked down the area and school after the escape.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CLANCY: Well, you've heard the expression, dig your way out of debt. These guys took it seriously. It was a big-time heist in Fortaleza (ph), Brazil. Police say thieves tunneled their way in from a nearby house, broke through a two-meter concrete wall and made off with $65 million. That's $65 million. The robbers created a sophisticated 80-meter tunnel. Get this, it was complete with electronic lights. It's being described now as the biggest bank robbery in Brazilian history.
VERJEE: When we come back, one story of Nagasaki.
CLANCY: It had lain forgotten in an attic for decades, and now we're going to bring it to you, next here on CNN.
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VERJEE: The second and last city ever attacked with a nuclear weapon has marked the 60th anniversary of its devastation with calls for a ban on nuclear arms.
Thousands of people crowded into Nagasaki's Peace Memorial Park on Tuesday for a solemn remembrance and moment of silence. The park's located near the center of the 1945 blast, which instantly killed at least 40,000 people, and eventually took tens of thousands more lives.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the occasion a time to remember the victims and pray for world peace.
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JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER: We, as the only country that experienced an atomic bomb in human history, will continue to abide by the peace constitution and non-nuclear principles under strong determination that we shall not let the tragedy be repeated again. We shall lead the international society in pressing towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. We will also work with utmost efforts for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Japan surrounded just six days after the bombing, ending World War II.
CLANCY: Many people want to know, what was it like right after that bomb hit in Nagasaki? Well, there was one reporter there, a resourceful one who was determined to get that firsthand account, right from the scene. But his reporting was suppressed by the U.S. military and later thought to be lost. It would fall to his son to discover his father's dispatches from Nagasaki and a set of never- published photographs of the death and destruction there, as we hear now from Beth Nissen.
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BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military filmed the detonation of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki, but it would be weeks before the American public would see pictures or read descriptions of what the bomb had done. ANTHONY WELLER, SON OF GEORGE WELLER: No journalists were being allowed in, and no news was being allowed out.
NISSEN: Anthony Weller's father, George, was a war correspondent in Tokyo for "The Chicago Daily News." He expected General Douglas MacArthur to allow reporters into Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the Japanese surrender.
WELLER: Instead, they were told nothing in southern Japan was open to them.
NISSEN: George Weller went anyway, by an intrepid combination of renting a row boat and local trains. En route, he removed the brass war correspondent tabs from his military issue uniform. When he got to Nagasaki, he told the Japanese authorities there he was a U.S. Army officer.
WELLER: My father presents himself as Colonel Weller, and says that he's been ordered here to make full reports on the situation in the city, which was still burning and smoldering.
NISSEN: "Flames flicker across flattened blocks," wrote Weller in his first dispatch, dated September 6th. Nagasaki was, he wrote, "a wasteland of war."
WELLER: "Look at the face of the Catholic cathedral torn down like gingerbread, and you can tell that the liberated atom spares nothing in the way."
NISSEN: From the moment he arrived, George Weller could see, smell the dead. By some later estimates, 70,000 people died instantly in the hot white blast. On his second day in the city, George Weller saw more survivors.
WELLER: "In swaybacked or flattened skeletons of the Mitsubishi arms plant, it's revealed what the atomic bomb can do to steel and stone. But what the riven atom can do against human flesh and bone lies hidden in two hospitals of downtown Nagasaki."
He'd seen people who were terribly scorched, but he's seeing, over the next few days, people who survived the bomb suddenly dying.
"According to Japanese doctors, patients with these late- developing symptoms are dying now, a month after the bombs fell, at the rate of about 10 daily."
NISSEN: This first account of radiation fallout, which would kill thousands more Japanese in the next months and years, was typed up, and, like Weller's first dispatch, driven by courier to U.S. military sensors in Tokyo.
(on camera): What happens to those dispatches?
WELLER: They disappear.
NISSEN (voice-over): By some later accounts, General MacArthur was so furious at Weller for defying orders and impersonating an officer that he personally quashed Weller's reports. Weller had carbon copies of his dispatches, but his newspaper couldn't run them without military clearance.
WELLER: Thanks to MacArthur's censorship, one of the great stories of his life, if not greatest, had been totally silenced.
NISSEN: Weller stayed in Nagasaki for three weeks, then left Japan. He went on to cover other stories, other wars. Somehow, over the years, he lost track of his precious Nagasaki papers.
WELLER: I think these just ended up in apartments in the Middle East or in Italy or in Cyprus, and he just thought them lost.
NISSEN: George Weller died at the end of 2002, at the age of 95. It took days for his son to sift through the papers in the study of his father's home outside Rome.
WELLER: Finally, I opened a mildewed file folder. The opening was, "Nagasaki, 06 September, send immediately." And I felt an enormous sense of relief, that they weren't lost to history, and then also sadness, because they'd been in a box 25 feet from where he'd been sitting for the last couple of decades of his life, believing them lost.
NISSEN: To his surprise, he found something else. A stack of black and white photographs his father had taken in Nagasaki and never mentioned.
WELLER: They're pretty telling photographs. A gate to a temple, and all that's standing is the gate. Or a man covering his face with a handkerchief as he walks down the road.
It wasn't the destroyed city that stayed with him, but these people. It shook him. And shook him particularly because he wasn't allowed to get the story out.
NISSEN: Anthony Weller is assembling a book of his father's dispatches, notes and photographs from Nagasaki, 60 years later, 60 years late.
WELLER: Here was a situation in which a momentous thing had been done, by our leaders, in our name, and we deserve to know exactly what it was. And that was his role, was to get the story out.
NISSEN: At long last, it is.
Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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