Return to Transcripts main page

Your World Today

Iraq Mosque Attack Fallout; U.S. Military's Perspective on New Wave of Unrest in Iraq; Armed Robbers in England Get Away With Huge Haul

Aired February 23, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Rage and revenge. Hopes for unity evaporating in Iraq under the searing heat of violence, panic and protests.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: From busy market to rubble. A grim scene of destruction following a night of heavy snow in Moscow.

VERJEE: And it's been called the Pearl of Africa, but lately without quite the luster. We're going to take a closer look at Uganda and its critical first multi-party poll in a quarter century.

It's 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad, Moscow and Kampala.

I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

Welcome to our viewers throughout the world. This is CNN International and this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, it could only be described as an already shaky social and political framework holding Iraq together suffered another fracture as an attack on a Shia shrine unleashed a new and a troubling wave of unrest all across the country.

VERJEE: A cycle of attacks and reprisals along Shia-Sunni lines have left more than 100 dead across the country.

CLANCY: Now, in one attack near Baquba on Thursday, gunmen shot more than 40 people -- 4-0. They dumped their bodies in a roadside ditch. Interior ministry officials say the victims were returning from a demonstration.

VERJEE: For anther day, tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Samarra and Najaf and other major Iraqi cities. Iraqi leaders are struggling to restore order and are attempting to close the widening sectarian divide.

CLANCY: There are deepening rifts on the political front as well. The country's most powerful Sunni political bloc says it's suspending talks to form a unity government.

VERJEE: For the latest now from Iraq, we go to Aneesh Raman, who joins us live from Baghdad. Aneesh, are Iraqi leaders going to be able to calm the situation? Can they?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that remains unclear. We haven't yet seen large-scale violent response. We've seen reprisals, though. This remains, Zain, a critical situation that today seemed to deteriorate virtually by the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RAMAN (voice-over): A war-ravaged country again on high alert. Throughout Iraq, fear rising that sectarian strife has hit a breaking point after an attack on Shia Islam's revered Askariya Mosque. Iraqi security personnel on leave have been called back to duty. Curfews have been extended.

In Baghdad alone, more than 50 Sunnis have been killed. An equal number of Sunni mosques have been attacked, five of them destroyed. Throughout the country, Sunni officials say, some 100 Sunni sites have been targeted.

In Samarra, the bodies of three Iraqi journalists working for Al Arabiya were found, all executed, including a well known reporter, Atwar Bahjat, a Sunni from Samarra in her 20s. And late Monday, amid the ruins of the sacred shrine and amid angry crowds, the country's interior minister, Bayan Jabr, a Shia, called for calm.

"This aggression of the holy place as a whole is an aggression against one-and-a-half billion Muslims," he said. "It is not an aggression on one community rather than another."

Divides deepening, as well, on the political front. The country's biggest Sunni political bloc now boycotting talks to form a new government after accusing Kurdish and Shia leaders of not condemning the reprisal attacks, playing sectarian politics.

Just last week, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad threatened to withholding funding for Iraq's security forces if the new government had sectarian ties. And now Shia leaders are placing blame for the recent attack on the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The ambassador's statements have given the green light for terrorist groups to carry out more violence. Consequently, he bears some responsibility.

RAMAN: The bombings come at a critical time, which is why virtually every Iraqi leader is appealing for calm. But one notable voice, that of firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi militia have taken up arms and threatened revenge, has been publicly silent.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RAMAN: Iraqis tonight are struggling -- and Zain, tonight Iraqis are struggling with the uncertainty, the simple uncertainty of what comes next, what tomorrow will bring -- Zain. VERJEE: And seven U.S. soldiers, Aneesh, were killed yesterday. Can you tell us a little bit more about that. The circumstances?

RAMAN: Yes, we're getting word from the U.S. military four of those soldiers killed Wednesday after they were hit a roadside bomb. The other three, also soldiers, north of the capital where that attack took place. In all, as you say, seven U.S. military personnel killed. We're waiting further detail, but those roadside bombs, those IEDs, the perennial killer of U.S. forces here, again claiming U.S. lives -- Zain.

VERJEE: Aneesh Raman reporting from Baghdad -- Jim.

CLANCY: Kut is a moderately-sized city south of the capital of Baghdad. It doesn't have as many politicians or religious leaders as other cities, and maybe that is why from that city came a glimmer of hope in this mess in Iraq, a glimmer of unity.

Tens of thousands of Muslims, Shia and Sunni, marching together in the city of Kut. They denounced Wednesday's bombing of the Golden Mosque together. And together they denounced the reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere.

The demonstrators called for an end to violence, saying that they are all Iraqis. Both Shia and Sunni leaders taking turns to address the crowd, warning them Iraq could fall deeper into sectarian violence.

VERJEE: U.S. President George W. Bush says the mosque bombing in Samarra was an evil act intended to create civil strife. He's urging all Iraqis to remain calm and he's promising that U.S. troops will help rebuild the sacred shrine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of the United States strongly condemn the destruction of the Golden Mosque. We believe in freedom to worship. And I understand the consternation and concern of Iraqi Shias when they see this most holy site wantonly destroyed.

I appreciate very much the leaders from all aspects of Iraqi society that have stood up and urged for there to be calm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: It is very important in all of this -- there are tens upon tens of thousands of U.S. troops inside Iraq right now. The military there has to have some perspective on this latest surge of violence in Iraq. It must be cause for concern.

Let's go to the Pentagon now and Barbara Starr live.

Barbara, what's the response coming from field commanders today?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the public face is more calls for calm, trying to work it out, trying to get the Iraqi security forces to remain in the lead, for them to be the public face of security in Iraq. But behind the scenes, there is great concern by U.S. military commanders -- I think you're hearing a fire alarm in the background, perhaps, Jim. I'm not sure. I'll keep talking.

There is great concern by U.S. military commanders. What they are saying is that they need too see this violence tamped down in the next 24 to 48 hours. They are concerned it that it really could devolve into civil war in Iraq -- Jim.

CLANCY: At the same time, they have to be concerned. I mean, they cannot put themselves in the middle of this. That would only accomplished getting attacked by both sides, wouldn't it?

STARR: That is exactly right, Jim. What you are not going to see if U.S. military commanders can make it all work, is any large- scale movement of U.S. troops on to the streets of Iraq.

U.S. convoys, U.S. troop movements will be kept at a minimum over the next few days. They don't want to be seen as being out there and perhaps inadvertently sparking more violence.

But that is not to say that U.S. troops won't be there. It's just like on election day. They'll be on standby, they'll be just behind the scenes, they will be ready to move in to help the Iraqi security forces if needed.

But military commanders want to keep -- U.S. military commanders want to keep a very low profile. They want to give the Iraqis every opportunity to take control of this situation. But that is not to say that they are not very, very concerned.

And again, the feeling is that they want to see the Iraqis get a handle on this in the next 24 to 48 hours. They think it is a very, very crucial test for Iraqi security forces -- Jim.

CLANCY: Is there any sense there at the Pentagon among the military commanders -- they are the ones that have been trying to tell everyone that the militias, the private militias that are out on the streets of Iraq today, affiliated with religious groups, affiliated with political parties, pose the biggest risk to the country. And now we see that played out here.

STARR: Well, that's right. I mean, what U.S. military commanders have been focusing on for several weeks now is this problem that they see. The Ministry of Interior, which essentially -- essentially controls police forces in Iraq, not the Iraqi army, infiltrated by militia groups. A great deal of concern that the police forces in the towns and villages across Iraq are not necessarily loyal to any new national unity government that might be formed.

One U.S. military commander explaining to me this morning it's not the Iraqi army that they worry about in this instance. They do believe the Iraqi army is a national level organization in Iraq at this point. As tough as it is for them, for the Iraqi army troops, very young, very green in this situation, it is the Iraqi police forces, the Interior Ministry forces and the extent to which they are infiltrated by any variety of militia groups.

The way U.S. military commanders view this bombing of the mosque is this: whether Zarqawi himself was responsible for it or not, it is people loyal to the notion of sectarian violence, of trying to spark a civil war, which is Zarqawi's agenda. It is those kinds of people that did this, and that is why they think this is fundamental test, a crucial test at the moment, of whether Iraq can really move into becoming an independent nation and stand on its own.

CLANCY: Clear perspective.

Barbara Starr, I want to thank you very much for being with us there live from the Pentagon.

VERJEE: Anger over the bombing in Samarra spilling over also into the streets of Lebanon. The militant group Hezbollah organized a huge rally in Beirut to protest the mosque attack. Hezbollah called for Muslim unity in the wake of the bombing. The crowds also expressed solidarity with Iraq's Shia community.

CLANCY: Iraq, of course, the topic of our inbox today.

VERJEE: We want you to weigh in on this. Can Iraq overcome sectarian divides?

Send us your comments, YWT@CNN.com.

CLANCY: And don't forget to include your name and where you're writing us from. We want to know that as well.

Rescue workers trying to free survivors of a roof collapse in Moscow at this hour. At least 40 people were killed when the roof of this building -- it was over a busy wholesale marketplace -- just simply came crashing down.

Now they're use blow torches, cutting torches, anything that they can get their hands on to try to get inside. Authorities say they are actually talking by cell phone to some of the victims still trapped inside all of the wreckage that you see here. An investigation has already been launched into the cause of the collapse.

Obviously there was some heavy snowfall. Did that weigh the roof down, or was there some flaw in the design of the building?

VERJEE: Now to what could be one of the biggest heists in British history. Armed robbers impersonating police officers stole millions of pounds from a security company south of London. Now an intense hunt is under way to find them.

Let's get some more details from Jim Boulden. He is in Tonbridge in England. He joins us now.

Jim, do the police have any leads? JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Zain, they don't have any leads. And that's what's interesting about this.

This was a well-organized, meticulous raid in the early hours of Wednesday morning. And I have to say that the police held a press conference a few hours ago and they say that the amount of money taken could possibly raise -- be raised to 50 million pounds. That's something like $87 million in cash.

That would be by far the biggest cash theft anywhere. It's just an extraordinary amount of money. And the police say that very few people could have taken this kind of chance and very people could have done an armed raid.

Now, let's hear from Adrian Leppard. He's the assistant commissioner for the Kent Police, and this is what he had to say about the gang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIAN LEPPARD, DEPUTY CHIEF OF POLICE: All inquiries are open at the moment. We have a wide -- an open mind as to who may have committed this crime.

We know for a fact that this organized crime at its top level. This is planned and executed with military precision. And so all we can say at the moment is it's organized crime. We are keeping an open mind as to who might be behind that and whether they're going out of the country or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOULDEN: Now, Zain, the insurance company involved with the company that runs this cash depot has given a reward, up to two million pounds -- that's something like $3 million -- if anybody, including members of organized crime, were to come forward with any clues of who had done this. But as of now, police say they don't have anybody, any ideas of who did this -- Zain.

VERJEE: How were the robbers able to do this? How did it happen?

BOULDEN: Yes, let's go through that.

The police have released some video, some CCTV pictures of a white van. This is a 7.5 ton Renault vehicle that pulled up here on Wednesday morning.

They released two pictures of this van. They're hoping that will spark the thoughts of some of the -- of members of the public.

There were four vehicles involved in this in total. None of them have been found. And so they're hoping by releasing this CCTV video and the pictures, and maybe describing some of the other vehicles, that would help spark some memory. Now, the way -- the way this was used is the van pulled up here. They used the family of this manager of this depot. They kidnapped his wife, they kidnapped his 8-year-old son. They held them at gunpoint, driving around the countryside here in Kent.

They also took him and they told him and brought him here, and said they would kill the family if he did not let them in. So the man let this armed gang in, some six people. And they spent an hour here filling that white van up. And then they disappeared.

And Zain, I have to tell you, this was at least 40 hours ago, and the police say they have no idea where that van is now.

VERJEE: CNN's Jim Boulden reporting.

CLANCY: Still ahead right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, the debate over who should manage U.S. ports.

VERJEE: We're going to hear from both sides on the issue. Some U.S. senators want to know more, and the Bush administration trying to ease their concerns. The latest on this polarizing dispute ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

In the United States, the controversy over allowing a Dubai-based company to manage some major U.S. seaports takes center stage on Capitol Hill. The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a briefing on the deal.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England says the deal with Dubai Ports World was scrutinized by a large number of U.S. agencies and they found no reason to be concerned. He also warned the U.S. can't isolate international partners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON ENGLAND, U.S. DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: In this war, this very long war, it is very important that we strengthen the bonds of friendship and security with our friends and allies around the world, and especially with our friends and allies in the Arab world. So it is important that we treat our friends and allies equally and fairly around the world, and without discrimination, otherwise it will be harmful in this war.

The terrorists want us -- they want our nation to become distrustful. They want us to become paranoid and isolationists. And my view is we cannot allow this to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: The other point of view, a senior Democratic senator questioning the deal, even going so far as to say that the Bush administration has lost the trust of the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: We're talking about a country that until recently recognized the Taliban as the official government of the -- of the -- of Afghanistan, a country that, in fact, has their own ports, through no fault of their own, arguably, but incompetence has allowed nuclear materials to be shipped from Pakistan into Iran, et cetera.

I mean, there's a whole lot of reason to be concerned here. And the idea the administration says, trust me, trust us, just, we know what we're doing, is literally ludicrous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Longshoremen are the workers who do all the heavy lifting at U.S. ports. "The New York Times" quotes the longshoremen's union as saying its workers have no specific objections to the deal. They just want to know a little more about the role of the Dubai government.

As Adaora Udoji reports, there are those who do, though, have serious doubts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE GROFFO, LONGSHOREMAN: Zero-six with that.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Groffo has been working the New Jersey Port just across the river from New York City for more than 30 years.

GROFFO: We handle a wide array of containers here.

UDOJI (on camera): From all over the world.

GROFFO: From all over the world.

UDOJI (voice-over): Some of the people who manage the terminals also come from all over the world. Today, a Danish company and a Chinese company each runs a terminal here.

GROFFO: Six level here, so that the people can...

UDOJI: That doesn't bother Groffo, who is the safety director at the company where he works.

GROFFO: None of them are at war with America.

UDOJI: However, he and many of his fellow longshoremen are vehemently opposed to a United Arab Emirates-owned company taking over one of the terminals, a country where, they believe, some are tied to terrorism.

GROFFO: I know how they feel about us. And I -- I don't want something like that to happen here in America, where we possibly could be looking at another 9/11. (CROSSTALK)

UDOJI (on camera): So, you're worried that they are not going to have their eyes open as much as, say, another company would?

GROFFO: I feel that there is a possibility that their backs could be turned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people say they might put bombs and things in containers and ship them over here. That's all.

GLENN GOODWIN, LONGSHOREMAN: You know, for the last four years, we have been hearing about -- you know, our president telling us that, you know, the Middle Easterners are the enemies. But, yet -- and, still, now it is OK to go to the negotiation table with them. You know, I mean, it is ridiculous.

UDOJI (voice-over): Longshoremen here say a Dubai Ports World takeover won't change their jobs. And their union acknowledges, security will still be handled by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs, among many others.

But, still, five years after the World Trade Center attacks, they feel betrayed by President Bush.

GROFFO: I thought it was great when he went after Osama bin Laden. I thought was great that he went into Iraq. But, now, I don't understand this, and I want answers. I'm not comfortable.

UDOJI: Groffo is promising to do his best, to tighten security, to remind his fellow workers to keep their eyes and ears open, because they are, he says, a first line of defense for a city that has seen what terrorists can do.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, Newark, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Business news is next here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: We're going to be checking in on financial markets.

And coffee sales of the world's largest food company brew up a strong full-year profit.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. First, though, a check on stories making headlines here in the U.S.

Details still coming in about a school shooting today in Roseburg, Oregon. Police say a 16-year-old student is wounded, another person is in custody. And Roseburg high school is under lockdown. The extent of that person's injuries are not known.

Authorities say the gunman appears to be a student who fled the scene but was cornered by police. The suspect was taken into custody after a short standoff, during which he held a gun to his own head.

Four people are dead following a small plane crash in Virginia. Officials say the flight originated in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last night. It went down while trying to land at an airport in Stafford, which is about an hour south of Washington. Officials say there was heavy fog at the time, but they don't know if that caused the crash.

Firefighters say that a fire at New York's Plaza Hotel appears to be confined to a stairwell between the second and third floors. The hotel at the edge of Central Park is being renovated and partly turned into condominiums. About 110 firefighters are on the scene

A White House report blames many factors for the failed government response to Hurricane Katrina. Among them, inexperienced disaster response managers and a lack of planning, discipline and leadership.

The White House now wants to see a greater military role in response to natural disasters. As you've heard often, more than 1,300 Gulf Coast residents died after Katrina. Hundreds of thousands more were forced from their homes. In the 228-page report, Homeland Security adviser Francis Townsend urges changes in 11 key areas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCIS TOWNSEND, WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: The one thing that the government tends to be best at is red tape. But what we know is, when we're fighting a deadly hurricane or a terrorist threat, red tape can no longer be tolerated or accepted. So we need to rewrite the National Response Plan so it is workable and it is clear.

We will require officials at all levels to become familiar with it. We will draw from the expertise at the state and local levels to ensure that we get it right. And we must exercise it before the next event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Included in the recommendations, preposition of a federal field office to coordinate response, embed a single military point of contact, designate locations for receiving, staging and moving military resources, and develop personnel rosters. The White House reports does not single out any individual for blame, nor does it call for anyone's resignation.

Hurricane evacuees in Louisiana and Mississippi are getting more time to make long-term living plans, and at the government's expense. FEMA today announced an extension of hotel and motel accommodations until March 15. That move affects more than 7,400 families. The government plans to continue offering housing referrals to evacuees. We have an update now on the case of the family who was killed on Sam Donaldson's ranch. A New Mexico judge today sentenced the teen killer to state custody until he turns 21.

Prosecutors argued that Cody Posey should have been sentenced as an adult. But the judge sentenced him as a juvenile, saying that the state failed to show Posey could not be rehabilitated. Posey was convicted two weeks ago in the 2004 deaths of his father, stepmother and stepsister. His father was a foreman on newsman Donaldson's ranch.

A 4-year-old Texas boy is back home after quite an ordeal early today. Someone stole his mother's car while she was at a Houston convenience store.

Authorities say the keys were inside, the doors were unlocked, and the little boy was in the backseat. The car and the child were found at an apartment complex about 10 minutes later. Police are looking for a man and woman in the case. Sweet little boy there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Has the White House learned from mistakes made in response to Hurricane Katrina? Former FEMA regional director John Copenhaver joins Fredricka Whitfield on "LIVE FROM" at the top of the hour.

Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break. I'm Daryn Kagan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee.

Here are some of the top stories we're following.

Iraqi leaders are trying to close the Sunni/Shia divide as violent sectarian reprisals followed a bombing of a revered Shia shrine in Samarra. More than 100 people have been killed across the country as Sunni mosques and other buildings have been targeted. Thousands marched through the streets of Najaf, Samarra and other major Iraqi cities on Thursday. Meanwhile, the country's most powerful Sunni political bloc says it's suspended talks to form a unity government.

CLANCY: Rescue workers are struggling to free survivors of a roof collapse in Moscow. At least 40 people were killed when a roof of busy wholesale market place came collapsing down. An investigation into the cause of the accident has been launched. Russian authorities say terrorism has been ruled out.

VERJEE: The U.S. Armed Services Committee is holding a briefing on the controversial deal to allow an Arab government-owned to manage six major U.S. seaports. You're looking at live pictures now. U.S. president George W. Bush says the deal won't be going forward if it allowed port security to be compromised. Some lawmakers want the deal to be put on hold until it's been reviewed further.

CLANCY: Iraqi insurgents kidnapped and killed three journalists working for the Arab channel Al-Arabiya. Al-Arabiya says the reporter who was killed, Atwar Bahjat, known for her professional integrity, also known for her objectivity. She was known in Samarra as a Sunni, the daughter of a prominent educator there.

Earlier, we spoke with Al-Arabiya correspondent Diyar Omari.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIYAR OMARI, AL-ARABIYA CORRESPONDENT: I think it will be a great loss. I think that everybody feels very sad, very upset, about the loss of Atwar Bahjat, our correspondent in Iraq. And Atwar -- I've known Atwar from 1997. She -- we worked together on the Iraqi satellite TV. And she -- at that time, she was working for the culture stuff. She was preparing poets, and she was roving the country, all around the country, making interview with Iraqi intellectuals. She was working on the cultural stuff most of the time.

And I left Jazeera after 2003, and I met her. And she was -- come to my office, and she was taking a chance of training as a correspondent for Al-Jazeera. And, you know, I met her and said to her, how could you mix poetry with politics? And she said to me, it happens sometimes. And she was very daredevil. She was covering all the hot-spot areas. I think it will be a great loss for Al-Arabiya and for the Iraqi journalism in general.

CLANCY: Diyar, why would the -- whoever carried this out, why target -- first of all a woman. Why target, Diyar, a journalist?

OMARI: Well, I think that they target everyone there. I mean, there is no discrimination between women and men.

CLANCY: Did they know her?

OMARI: I think there will be -- yes. I think there will be an order to execute Atwar Bahjat. So they take her from the spot and with two of her colleagues and they take to some area, near to Aldor (ph) village, and they shot her there. So I think there will be a summary execution for Atwar Bahjat.

I don't know why, because I following her to way from Samarra, and she was telling the truth, and she was so neutral. I mean, she did not tell anything. Because Atwar, she's very cautious to tell everything on the standards of journalism. So that I'm very amazed they take her and why they kill her.

CLANCY: Was Atwar Bahjat killed because it was known she was a Sunni? She was from Samarra.

OMARI: She born in Samarra and her father was noted teacher in Samarra and he works there. And then after that, they moved to Baghdad. She's from Samarra and her mother from Karbala. So she's mixed Sunni and Shia.

CLANCY: It was country. What did she want to do? What did she give her life for there in Iraq?

OMARI: She was very daredevil. I was every time telling her, you must stop working (INAUDIBLE). So you have to, you know, take down time. And I think she was -- she was trying to do something for her own C.V. She was try to be well-noted correspondent. But, it is not enough to be a good correspondent. It's not enough to stand before the camera and you telling your name and telling the truth. You have to be balance. You have to be very careful, especially the -- for your life.

I think there will be more difficulties for the Iraqi and for the foreign journalists to work in Iraq. Atwar, she was trying to tell the truth. She was trying to balance between her small village, Samarra, and between the -- all the Sunnis and Shiite people there. So I think that this was not enough, for some people have been watching her, and they execute her for nothing. For me, for nothing. But I think she didn't say something that hurts the -- all parties concerned near Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: The group Reporters Without Borders says now that more than 80 foreign and Iraqi journalists have been killed since the U.S. led invasion in March of 2003.

VERJEE: Uganda's ruling party says Thursday's election was free and fair and rejects opposition complaints of voting irregularities.

CLANCY: Now, this was -- it's important because this was the country's first multicountry balloting in a quarter of a century. The East African nation has been seen in the past as an example of new leadership of Africa. Major disappointments, though, with this involvement in the war in Congo, and it still suffers under a lingering insurgency by the Lord's Resistance Army.

Voters lined up, though, for hours, withstanding heavy rain in some areas. International leaders have praised the incumbent president Yoweri Museveni for some of his reforms, but critics say the one thing -- the one place where he has failed is that he has stayed in office so long. They think it's time for a change in leadership. His closest challenger, Kiiza Besigye. He is the former friend and the personal physician of President Museveni.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was Winston Churchill who described Uganda as the pearl of Africa nearly a century ago, a land as breathtaking as it is bountiful. But after independence in 1962, the pearl quickly lost its luster, as one brutal dictator after another, Idi Amin, Milton Obote, brought the country to its knees. That was until the arrival of this man, Yoweri Museveni. One day, in 1986, he marched into the capital, Kampala, with just a handful of fighters and took over the country. He was hailed as a hero both at home and abroad.

FREDERICK GOLLOBA-MUTEBI, MAKERERE INST. OF SOCIAL RESEARCH: In 1986, I was teenager when Museveni came to power. I was a large (ph) teenager, massively interested in politics. I knew what happened before he came into power, and I never expected it to come back. The demons of Obote and Amin are still very much here with us.

KOINANGE: Museveni inherited a country in ruins, wracked by sectarian hostility and economic freefall after Idi Amin it expelled its Asia business owners. He set about restoring stability and reviving its economy. And in the process, became a darling of Western governments and international institutions. But after 20 years, he says there's more to do.

YOWERI MUSEVENI, UGANDAN PRESIDENT: You see, what we have done now, up to now, in the (INAUDIBLE) Uganda, we have, in the government, now achieved minimum recovery.

KOINANGE: Both U.S. Presidents and Bill Clinton and George W. Bush visited Uganda and praised Museveni's leadership in combating AIDS.

But some look elsewhere in Africa, to country's like Zimbabwe, and see what's called the "big man's syndrome." They believe Museveni should go before the taste for power becomes an addiction.

He couldn't disagree more.

MUSEVENI: so when you say enough is enough, what are you talking about? For me, I don't think what we have done is enough. I think it's simply a beginning towards the "enough" we're talking about.

KOINANGE: His main challenger for the country's top job is his onetime friend and personal physician, Dr. Kiiza Besigye. Neither man is a stranger to war, military or political. And it's obvious from their rhetoric that there's no love loss between them.

KIIZA BESIGYE, UGANDAN PRES. CANDIDATE: President Museveni was determined to entrench the one-party state and the constitution, and we were opposed to it. And of course we were also seeing very dangerous signs in the government, relating to corruption, which was clearly being condoned, or even encouraged in some cases by President Museveni himself.

MUSEVENI: Besigye is essentially somebody who -- I don't want to use strong words on him, but somebody who abandoned the cause and went to -- with other forces, which are not revolutionary forces.

KOINANGE: Museveni promises that if he loses, he'll bow out gracefully, unlike his predecessor.

MUSEVENI: If my people vote me out, it is my people who will vote me out. It will be their decision. If they don't vote for me, I'm going on do my own things, because I have my (INAUDIBLE), which is my family.

KOINANGE: But he doesn't think about defeat.

GOLLOBA-MUTEB: If Museveni wins, I don't Museveni is going to have an easy time of running this country, as he has down in past. Opposition is going to go. And if Kiiza Besigye wins this election, I think he's going to have difficulties, primarily with the security forces. Anyone's who's spent two to three days in this country would know by now that the security forces are partisan.

KOINANGE: Two men, one coveted prize, the pearl of Africa. After 20 years of hard-won progress, the people of this beautiful country may have a right to be apprehensive.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Kampala, Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Let's shift our focus to a concern for the entire world, bird flu. The virus spreading through Slovakia. It was found in a wild falcon and a grib. The scientists in Australia, meantime, say they would not be surprised if the virus had arrived in their country already. There is some positive news, though. It's coming in from India. Authorities there have carried 11 -- cleared, rather, 11 of 12 people who have been quarantined after an H5N1 outbreak in chickens in their area.

Still, the rapid movement of this virus, from the Asia into Middle East, on to Africa and into Europe is fueling all the fears that a human pandemic could very well follow.

VERJEE: Egyptians are taking the threat of bird flu seriously. The virus was found in the country just a week ago. But already people are changing their behavior to avoid any potential infection.

Ben Wedeman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For centuries Caireens (ph) have cherished their birds, symbols of freedom and mobility in a cramped city. But now that bird flu has come to Egypt, they've become symbols of disease. Infected birds have been culled. The virus has shown up in almost of Egypt's 26 provinces.

Workers in the Egyptian Health Ministry's central lab are checking throat swabs from people who may have been exposed.

DR. HALA ESMAT, EGYPTIAN HEALTH MINISTRY: We are searching now in all the people working among those affected places and affected farms. This is what we're doing now, screening all the way (INAUDIBLE).

WEDEMAN: Every day they receive around 100 samples here. Until now, all tests have come back negative. But experts warn only a matter of time before someone falls victim to bird flu here.

DR. IBRAHIM EL KERDANY, WHO: In countries which are densely populated, like Egypt, like Nigeria, like India, it will be more expected, because the stock, the poultry stock, and the people live very closely together.

WEDEMAN (on camera): Since the outbreak of bird flu in Egypt just a week ago, poultry, which was the main source of protein for most Egyptians, has largely disappeared from Cairo markets, leaving many wondering what they'll feed their families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With four pounds, less than one dollar, you can buy everything. You can buy chicken. You can buy some vegetables, and to make a very good meal for all the family.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): But chicken is out, fish is in.

"Yesterday fish was cheap. Now it's a bit more expensive," fishmonger Mahmoud (ph) tells me. It's all about supply and demand.

At least for some, the dark cloud of bird flu has a silver, if somewhat slimy and scaly, lining.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: They tell a tale of unspeakable crime. Coming up here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, French headlines scream about torture in a basement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: To our viewers in the United States and around the world welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY.

VERJEE: France is being shaken by an unthinkable crime that lead to an agonizing death. Authorities investigating the case of a young man, who was apparently kidnapped, held for ransom for days and days, and died after being tortured systematically by captors.

VERJEE: There are so many questions now not only about how the captors even managed that horrifying crime, but about anti-Semitism in the country and basic lawlessness. Jim Bittermann has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The case has shocked the country. For three weeks, a young French Jew was held kidnapped and tortured while his kidnappers demanded a half million dollar ransom because, they believe, French officials said, that, quote, "Jews are rich, and they will pay it."

In the basement of suburban apartment building, only a few miles from the center of Paris, authorities say 23-year-old Elan Halini (ph) was repeatedly stabbed and burned with cigarettes, and finally, when the ransom went paid, he was doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire.

He was found bound and nude near a suburban train station, and died on the way to the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was shocking.

BITTERMANN: Those who live in the public housing block where Halini was held said they could not believe such a crime took place in their midst. But several apparently did know something had been going on, and the building superintendent and several residents have been arrested.

In the Paris neighborhood where Halini sold cell phones at this shop, his friends were furious that police had not done more to save him. And there was even more anger for those in the apartment building who did nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think they are all accomplices. If it was just for a day or two, it might be different. But for three weeks, you hear cries, strange comings and goings. Even an anonymous call to the police might have helped.

BITTERMANN: News reports of the brutal killing began to surface as French Jewish associations were holding their annual dinner. And there was both outrage and fear that such a thing could have happened.

ROGER CUKIERMAN, COUNCIL OF FR. JEWISH INSTITUTIONS: The poor guy, Elan, was tortured during three weeks by a team of 15 people. And he was really tortured in every way possible. I don't want to enter into details. It reflects a deep hatred which you can explain only by racism or anti-Semitism.

BITTERMANN: Public officials from the French prime minister on down have vowed to get to the bottom of the case, and find those responsible. But like the suburban riots that struck France just months ago, the attack on Elan Halini will no doubt shake the national self-image.

(on camera): The violent torture and death of the young cell phone salesman not only raises the question of anti-Semitism here, but also rips away the facade, once again, from the lawlessness that runs just beneath the surface in the Paris suburbs.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: It's time now to open up our "Inbox." We have been getting loads of e-mails from you, and asking you your thoughts about sectarian violence in Iraq.

CLANCY: Everyone wanted to weigh in. The question was this: Can Iraq overcome the sectarian divide? Here's how some of you replied. VERJEE: Fadel Tounsi from London says, "sadly, I think Iraq won't avoid sectarian violence. There are grudges that can easily escalate into terrible religious strife."

CLANCY: Zahra Aziz from Florida wrote this: "Sectarian violence can be overcome by appealing to the majority of the country and by taking the problem to Ayatollah Ali Sistani."

VERJEE: Mahnaz Fatima writes from Karachi in Pakistan, "the sectarian divide can't be bridged when the Muslim world hasn't condemned the Al-Askaria Mosque bombing and is indifferent to insurgent attacks."

CLANCY: And finally, coming in from Gerald Graham from Canada, this: "Iraq can overcome sectarian violence, but only if the Shias and the Sunnis come together in solidarity and refuse to let terrorists rule the day."

All right, that's from the "Inbox." You know, one of the examples people are asking is, well, how do we do this? Why is there so much strife here and there? Look south of Baghdad, look at the city of Kut. Look at what happened there today. Sunnis and Shias coming out, condemning not only the bombing of the Golden Dome, also they were condemning the reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques.

VERJEE: Exactly, saying look, we're not Sunnis, we're not Shias, but at the end of the day, we're all Iraqis. And we don't want the extremist elements here to undermine our own sense of national unity.

CLANCY: That has to be our report for this day.

VERJEE: We're going to continue to keep an eye on Iraq and the situation there. Stay with 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