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Your World Today

Gun Battles Between Hamas and Fatah Factions in Gaza; Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Washington for Talks; Interview with Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq; Amnesty International Report Criticizes Many World Governments

Aired May 23, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Israel's prime minister in Washington. And the talk is all about the turmoil back home. He's making a case for doing things his way
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Duplicity and double speak on human rights. These are among the accusations as Amnesty International comes out with its report card on the world.

CLANCY: And horrific human rights abuses in Congo. Rape used as a political weapon. These women are singing to relieve their pain.

It is noon right now in Washington, 5:00 p.m. in London.

I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

Welcome to our viewers throughout the world and, of course, the United States.

This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

We're going to begin our report this hour in the Middle East, of course, where an internal Palestinian power struggle threatens to escalate into an all-out civil war.

CHURCH: This, of course, as Israel's prime minister comes to the United States with a message of his own. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas lacks the power to negotiate peace. Therefore, Israel is going it alone.

Well, as Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, holds talks in Washington, back home the hunt is on for Palestinian militants. In the West Bank, Israeli security forces arrested a top commander of the militant wing of Hamas. Israel accuses Ibrahim Hamed (ph) of masterminding suicide attacks on Israelis and of planning attacks on railroads and gas depots. Israel says Hamed (ph) has been want for the past eight years for his role in terror attacks that have killed more than 60 Israelis.

CLANCY: Now, in Monday's fierce gun battles between Hamas and Fatah factions in Gaza, one Jordanian civilian was killed. Now, Palestinians are used to looking at Israel as their common enemy. Now the Palestinians are fighting against fellow Palestinians, battle lines not so clear as they once were.

John Vause has more from Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest victim in this Palestinian violence, a Jordanian, an embassy worker in Gaza. His flag-draped coffin surrounded by a guard of honor and taken to the Israeli border. And from there, going home.

In the last month, internal fighting here has claimed eight lives. Dozens more have been wounded, including Mohammed Abu Asiya (ph). During Monday's shootout, he was inside a nearby building when he was hit by a stray bullet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This (INAUDIBLE) with a gunshot injury to the right side.

VAUSE: He's now in a stable condition, but fears not only for his own safety, but also for his five young children.

"Once there was a reason to be proud to be injured by an Israeli bullet," he told me. "Now it is humiliation to talk about being wounded by my own people." And like many, he worries Gaza is edging closer to civil war.

But the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who ordered the Hamas militia on to the streets a week ago, says that won't happen.

"There is no expression for civil war in Palestinian vocabulary. I assure the Palestinian people they're able to overcome these incidents," he said before a meeting with rival officials from the president's Fatah political faction.

Um Ahmed (ph) doesn't believe him. For almost two hours Monday, she was pinned down inside her home, not far from the worst of the shooting around the Palestinian parliament building.

"I'm afraid," she says. "I'm afraid for my children and my grandchildren. Look at them. They're still shaking." "Only god," she says, "can stop the violence."

(on camera): Palestinians have been close to the edge before but always managed to find a way out, united by a common enemy in Israel and a goal of building a nation. But many wonder if that will be enough this time.

John Vause, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, discussions of Israel's West Bank pullback plan and Iran's nuclear program are expected to dominate talks in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to meet with President Bush in the coming hours. And Ed Henry is watching developments at the White House.

Ed, why are we seeing what appears to be this lowering of expectations of today's meeting with the new prime minister of Israel?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Rosemary.

That's in part because U.S. officials are urging a go-slow approach about this plan. What you're seeing is Prime Minister Olmert meeting with as many U.S. officials as possible, trying to sell them on the plan to withdraw from most of the Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

Earlier, he met with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in advance of that Oval Office meeting with President Bush that you mentioned. Let's not also forget that this is the first real chance for President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert, who's only been in office for about a month, to really take a measure of each other.

U.S. officials urging that go-slow approach. They're concerned that imposing a West Bank settlement on the Palestinians may complicate the Mideast peace process, obviously. But Prime Minister Olmert is trying to make the case that ever since the terror group Hamas took over the Palestinian government, Israel no longer has a partner in peace, and they may have to act unilaterally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: What are we going to do, wait until the Palestinians will change? How long? One year, two years, three years five years, 10 years? And in the meantime, what, more terror, nor innocent people killed, more victims, more blood, more suffering, more pain?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, what the White House is doing is urging the prime minister, though, to deal with the Palestinian president, Abbas, rather than having to go through the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority. Part of the thinking is that a negotiated settlement could actually help the peace process if it helps paves the way for a Palestinian state. But Israel is also planning to keep significant -- some other significant settlements.

Some concern here in Washington that it would look like a land grab at a time when the president here, President Bush, is desperately trying to mount this international coalition to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions. Of course, Iran has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Obviously, that's going to be a top issue that will be discussed in his Oval Office meeting today -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: But it really -- little more coming out of this than just getting to know each other.

HENRY: That's right. I mean, frankly, that's exactly how White House Press Secretary Tony Snow a short while ago framed it to reporters, that it's mostly a "get to know you" session. They of course want to try to move the peace process forward, but they want to, you know, keep expectations down, especially given the violence in Gaza you were just talking about over the last 24 hours. Extremely difficult to expect too much from these talks -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Ed Henry monitoring all of that from the White House.

Thanks so much.

CLANCY: Well, turning now to Afghanistan, the target was clearly Taliban fighters, armed fighters. But after the first bomb struck, some of those fighters ran into neighboring houses. Today, Afghan villagers are burying their dead after a U.S. air strike that targeted, as we said, the insurgents, but then caught the civilians in the crossfire.

The number of dead still unclear. Local officials report at least 15 civilians were among scores of people killed in the attacks. The strike was one of the deadliest since the U.S. invasion more than four years ago. It comes amid an upsurge in intense fighting.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has called for an investigation. U.S. officials say they're confident that they hit a compound and killed 50 Taliban in the operation. They say they are, though, looking into those reports of civilian deaths.

CHURCH: Well, to Iraq now, and the bloodshed goes on unabated. Eighteen people have already been killed across the country today. In one attack in Baghdad, a car bomb targeting police commandos killed at least five policemen. Earlier in the mainly Shiite area of Sadr City, another car bomb exploded in a crowded market, killing at least five people.

The violence comes as Iraq's prime minister tries to fill key interior and defense ministry posts. Nouri al-Maliki has vowed to crack down on insurgents and the swathe of suicide blasts, car bombings, shootings, and kidnappings.

CLANCY: So, amid all of the unceasing violence, Iraq's fledgling government struggles to try to forge ahead, minus some of those key ministries.

What are the prospects? We're joined by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Mr. Ambassador, welcome. I'm glad to have you with us.

We know a few things now. We know we've got a new government and we know that security is the number one issue. But defense, interior ministry, the national security post, all not filled.

What is your assessment really of where you stand today?

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: I believe that, Jim, with the formation of a national unity government, all major Iraqi communities now have their representatives in the government. And that was a necessary condition to put Iraqis on the right trajectory, to put the country on the right trajectory.

Still, there is the challenge of getting the right ministers for defense, interior and the national security department. I believe that in the coming days, they will be appointed.

There is an agreement among all communities that these people ought to be people who do not have ties to militias, people who are non-sectarian, because sectarianism is a big challenge for Iraq. And that there are people who are strong and unifiers. I believe that in the coming three, four days, Prime Minister Maliki will make up his mind and substantively will announce his decision.

CLANCY: All right. Well, it's taken us five months to get to this point. If you look at the invasion, it's taken three years. And I want to get your honest assessment here, because a lot of people, the American people are trying to assess just what's going on amid the calls to pull out, whether they're going to draw down the troops, or whatever.

President Bush says it's a turning point. But The Associated Press today interviewed a soldier, a U.S. soldier at an observation post in Ramadi. His name is 1st Class Brit Rubel (ph). He says, "It's out of control. We don't have control of this. We just don't have enough boots on the ground."

Something that we've heard many times before. Is it time for a real reassessment of the strategy?

KHALILZAD: Of course, from the point of view of a particular soldier in Ramadi -- and we know that in Ramadi the situation is a difficult one...

(CROSSTALK)

CLANCY: Is it under control?

KHALILZAD: No, I believe that parts of Anbar are under the control of terrorists and insurgents. But as far as the country as a whole is concerned, it is the coalition forces, along with Iraqi forces, who are in control. But it's a difficult security situation that Iraq is going through.

There is a sectarian violence, particularly in places like Baghdad. And there is the terrorists' efforts to derail the process.

They didn't want the Sunnis to participate. They failed. The Sunnis did participate.

They didn't want a government of national unity. Now there is a government of national unity. They are trying to derail that. But I believe Iraq cannot succeed, would not have succeeded and would not have been put on the right trajectory if a national unity government had not been formed. This is the necessary step, but a lot of other things need to be done. Militias have to be brought under control. Security institutions needs to be trusted by all Iraqis. And those are the challenges for the new government.

CLANCY: All right. Let's talk about another area that you're specializing in. And that certainly is the relationship with Iran.

How is Iran modifying this conflict? How are they perhaps interfering here? You have the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr. U.S. military intelligence has told me he's taking his orders or he's getting his advice directly from Iran.

KHALILZAD: Iran's policy is a mixed policy towards Iraq. On the one hand, Iran has good relations with the government, says it supports the changes that have taken place in Iraq. But on the other hand, they do support some militias, providing arms, money, training, direct or indirect. And they are also working with some of the groups that are opposed to this change.

And we are working with Iraqis and others to encourage Iran to abandon the second track, working with militias. We do not oppose good relations between Iran and Iraq. And we have not sought to impose our differences with Iran on our Iraqi friends.

CLANCY: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, I want to thank you very much -- we have to leave it there -- for your perspectives on an important day. And we wish you continued luck as you negotiate your way forward, along with Iraqi officials in the new government.

KHALILZAD: Well, thank you.

CHURCH: Well, they were subjected to brutal repeated rapes by men in uniform.

CLANCY: Coming up here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, horrifying stories of pain, inspiring stories of courage. We're going to introduce you to some of the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And a very warm welcome back to you all. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International.

Well, Amnesty International has just released its annual report card on the state of human rights around the world. The group says the pursuit of security and double standards on the part of powerful nations has undermined human rights worldwide.

Human Rights watchdog says the war against terrorism is draining energy and attention from the problems of the poor and underprivileged. The report says terrorism is inexcusable, but adds the U.S. and European governments undermine their moral authority to champion human rights when they defy the absolute prohibition on torture. Well, among other key points, the group calls on the United Nations and African Union to address the conflict and end human rights abuses in Sudan's Darfur region. Violence there has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced more than two million in the past three years.

CLANCY: Amnesty International found the human rights abuses are rife in one country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. That country still a battleground three years after a peace deal was signed.

CHURCH: The Congolese army is trying to regain control of the mineral-rich eastern part of the country ahead of elections in July. But Amnesty International says both the army and rebel militias are committing widespread rape, killings, and abductions in the region.

CLANCY: Our Africa correspondent is there, Jeff Koinange. He's in southern Congo. A little bit later in the show, we're going to be talking with him live. But first, let's get his personal look at the atrocities being committed.

He was in Bukavu in Congo, along Lake Kivu, southern Lake Kivu. We're going to warn our viewers right now, the stories the women tell in this report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They have nothing to sing about, and yet they sing. They sing to comfort each other and to find strength.

These mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters have all been raped again and again by men in uniform. The crimes are not isolated incidents.

Twenty-one-year-old Sinzi (ph) was attacked by 15 men wearing uniforms of the Congo army. She says they raped her for eight days and eight nights. She was brought here on a stretcher. Now she needs a cane to walk. "They can take away my womanhood," she says, "but they will never be able to break my spirit."

The stories get even worse. Twenty-eight-year-old Henrietta Norta (ph) says three years ago she was gang-raped while her husband and four children were forced to watch. The soldiers then disemboweled her husband and continued raping her and her two oldest daughters, ages 8 and 10. This went on for three days, she says.

"I wish they could have killed me right there along with my husband," she says. "What use am I now? Why did those animals leave me to suffer like this?"

Inzigide (ph) tells us soldiers used her as a sex slave for more than a month. She bore a child as a result. Every day, she says, feels like a death sentence. This 19-year-old mother struggles to keep her maternal instincts alive.

"I sometimes feel like killing myself and my daughter," she says. "I look at her and all I see is hate. I look at myself and all I see is misery. Sometimes I wish I were dead."

(on camera): Officials here say this past year there were more than 4,000 reported rape cases in this one province of the Eastern Congo alone. An average of 12 women arrive here at the rehab center for treatment every single day.

As part of the peace deal that ended the civil war here more than two years ago, the country's various militias were integrated into the army. The men in uniform now rape at will.

(voice over): Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere is the lone physician at this hospital that specializes in victim of sexual violence. He says he performs an average of six complex operations a day to repair damaged tissue to mutilated victims. And even when he's successful in the physical, he's not sure he's able to repair the mental.

In his 23 years practicing in this region, he admits he's never seen such brutality.

"When we hear stories of how some of them have knives thrust into them after being raped," he says, "and how some suffer gunshot wounds after a pistol has been fired between their legs, it's the cruelest and most barbaric thing I have ever seen."

He takes us to one of several wards filled with victims of sexual abuse. Colostomy bags hanging on the floor. And hanging over their heads is another frightening scenario. The chances are high that they could be HIV positive, raising the prospects of being rejected by family members once they leave the hospital.

He tells us that 19-year-old Helene Wamumzala (ph) first came here when she was 14 after being raped for days. She was treated and released.

Six years later, she's back. This time horribly disfigured, he says. And he's not even sure she'll be able to fully recover this time around.

"It's unimaginable that she could go through such pain," he says. "It's simply unforgivable."

Aid money designated by international charitable organizations for victims of sexual violence may be about to run out.

"It's so tragic that the world can afford to sit back and let these things happen," says Marie Walterzon of the Swedish Pentecostal Mission. "Is it because they are poor and voiceless Africans? The women of Congo deserve better."

Here in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it's easy to find the victims of rape. But Amnesty International and private donors say there seems to be no effort to find the rapists.

And so the women of this country must try to heal without justice. It makes the words of their song all the more powerful. "We will never be broken," they sing. "We will never be broken." Jeff Koinange, CNN, Bukavu, in Eastern Congo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(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 of stories making headlines here in the U.S.

Fascinating testimony in a Maryland courtroom today. One sniper testifying against another.

That scene is playing out right now in the second trial of John Allen Muhammad. This morning, his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was on the witness stand. Malvo testified he met Muhammad when he was 15, that Muhammad showed him how to shoot rifles and told him in July of 2002 that, "We're going to terrorize this nation."

Muhammad faces six murder charges in Maryland for the 2002 sniper spree around Washington. Muhammad is representing himself at the trial, so he'll cross-examine Malvo. Both have already been convicted in a killing in Virginia.

More than 26 million potential victims, and one big delay telling them about it. A government source tells CNN that federal authorities waited nearly three weeks to report the theft of a laptop. It held personal data on millions of Americans.

A computer analyst for the Department of Veterans Affairs had taken the information home. That home was a target of an apparently random burglary. The source said the government withheld an announcement because it hoped to retrieve the information before the thieves realized what they had.

No bipartisan bickering here. Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are voicing concern over the FBI's weekend raid of a Democrat's office. That Democrat, Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana, he is caught up in a bribery investigation. Both Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert say they are very concerned about the search of his Capitol Hill office. Hastert issued a sharply-worded statement and reiterated his points just minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: We understand that they want to support and pursue the process that the Justice Department is trying to pursue. But there's ways to do it. And my opinion is that they took the wrong path. They need to back up, and we need to go from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The weekend raid was apparently the first time FBI agents had ventured on to Capitol Hill armed with a search warrant. Jefferson has vowed to fight these allegations. Just nine days from now a new hurricane season begins, and New Orleans hoping that these scenes will not be repeated. But it's taking no chances.

Right now, emergency workers are staging a drill and mock evacuation of the city. Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore last August 29th. Its floodwaters killed hundreds of people and stranded thousands more.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: A man maybe best known for this moment during the 1988 vice presidential debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD BENSTEN, VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE IN 1988: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Lloyd Bensten is being remembered today as a politician with a diplomatic and effective way of getting things done. The former Texas senator has died at the age of 85. After a long career in the Senate, he ran for vice president in 1988. That's what led to that debate. That's when he had those harsh words for Dan Quayle. He later served as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. Bensten's son says that he had been in poor health since a stroke seven years ago.

News about news. ABC has tapped one of its big hitters to go to the plate for "World News Tonight." The network today named Charlie Gibson as sole anchor for its evening news cast. Gibson will start Monday. Current anchor Elizabeth Vargas will step down to take maternity leave and return later for other assignments. Gibson will do double duty for a month, staying on "Good Morning America" to co- anchor until June 30th.

After a crazy season finale, "Desperate Housewife" Marcia Cross joins Kyra Phillips today on LIVE FROM.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Here are some of the top stories we have been following this hour.

Israeli security forces captured a top commanded of the militant wing of Hamas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Ibrahim Hamed is accused of ordering and planning suicide bombings that killed more than 50 Israelis. Israel also says he planned to attack railroads and gas depots.

CLANCY: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in Washington, meantime. Discussions expected to focus on his plan for a unilateral pullback with no negotiations with the Palestinians. Also on the agenda, Iran's nuclear program. Mr. Olmert holding talks with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. He's going to be meeting in the coming hours with the president.

CHURCH: Well, the body of a Greek pilot has been recovered after a collision between a Greek jet fighter and a Turkish jet fighter over the Aegean Sea. The Turkish pilot was rescued after this collision some six hours ago. The jet planes collided during a mock dog fight, something that's not uncommon in disputed air space between the two countries. Athens and Ankara have issued statements saying the accident will not escalate tensions between the two countries.

Well, at a time when the U.S. is immersed in a debate over illegal immigration, the leader of the country that's the source of many of those immigrants is coming over the border for a visit.

CLANCY: Mexican President Vincente Fox arrives in Utah on Tuesday. He's going to push his version of immigration reform. As Ed Lavandera tells us, Mr. Fox's five day trip is likely to cause a little controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mexican President Vicente Fox's visit to Utah may not appear to make a lot of sense, but when you realize the state's Hispanic population, made up of mostly of Mexicans, has tripled since 1990, it does.

Fox will use Utah as an example of what the illegal work force means to the United States, but he's walking a fine line, especially among critics who say a Mexican president should not interfere in American politics.

PRES. VINCENTE FOX, MEXICO: U.S. economy needs this energy, needs this working force. At the same time, we know that we have to do the part of our responsibility that has to do with building up opportunities in Mexico.

LAVANDERA: Fox's government says it opposes President Bush's plan to use the military to support efforts to protect the border. Fox also says the U.S. should make it easier for Mexican immigrants to earn legal status. Some Utah politicians in this conservative state say they support President Bush's idea of a guest worker program, but that puts them at odds with organizers of the Utah Minutemen, who are planning marches at Fox's visits.

ALEX SEGURA, UTAH MINUTEMEN: To me, it's mind blogging that the conservative state that we are continues to pander to Mexico's wants and desires.

LAVANDERA: But the business of this visit is business. Mexico is Utah's third largest trading partner. President Fox is scheduled to meet with Utah's governor, local business and Mormon church leaders, as well as members of Salt Lake City's growing Mexican community.

(on camera): When Vincente Fox ran for president of Mexico six years ago, he made a point of campaigning in the United States, looking for votes among Mexican nationals living here. It's election year again in Mexico, and even though Vincente Fox can't be reelected, it never hurts to press the flesh among his own countrymen to help his own political party.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, Amnesty International has released its annual report card on the state of human rights around the world. The London-based group says the pursuit of security and double standards on the part of powerful nations has undermined human rights.

European political editor Robin Oakley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR (voice-over): Governments across the world, especially the most powerful ones, are bitterly criticized in Amnesty International's latest report. Those involved in the war against terror, it insists, are giving a new lease of life to old-fashioned repression.

The U.S. in particular is sharply criticized once again over the 460 inmates at Guantanamo Bay, still held without charge or trial and for what Amnesty International charges are wider excesses.

IRENE KHAN, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Our research over the past year has shown evidence of widespread torture and mistreatment in U.S. controlled detention centers. Our research also shows that the CIA has forcibly transferred prisoners to countries where they have been tortured.

OAKLEY: E.U. countries, too, are criticized as partners in crime of the U.S. and the so-called rendition of terror suspects.

KHAN: At least seven European countries have been implicated in the rendition of 14 individuals.

OAKLEY: The U.S., of course, regularly denies such allegations.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Torture is a term that is defined by law. We rely on our law to govern our operations. The United States does not permit, tolerate, or condone torture under any circumstances.

OAKLEY: America's staunchest ally, too, says that humans rights have to be weighed in the balance in a game in which the rules have changed. TONY BLAIR, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I believe it is wrong to frame this debate simply in terms of the civil liberties of terrorists suspects. Of course their liberties are important, but so are the liberties of the people who may be victims of a terrorist attack. What about their most basic civil liberty, the right to life?

BLAIR: What about their most basic civil liberty, the right to life?

OAKLEY: Amnesty insists the war on terror is lost when those waging that war use double standards. But its harsh words are not confined to Western superpowers. On Darfur, it praises U.S. efforts, while slamming both the African Union and the United Nations for failing to stem the killings, rapes and starvation. Security Council members, it says, have crippled U.N. efforts.

KHAN: Two of them, Russia and China, actively works to preserve their own economic interests there of oil and arms trade.

OAKLEY (on camera): Amnesty accusation is that partial governments are paralyzing international institutions with selfish trading interests and narrow security policies. Few diplomats expect that to change, but voters are becoming more sensitive to what many see as increasing human rights abuses in the prosecution of that war on terror.

Robin Oakley, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, the debate over the war in Iraq continues.

CLANCY: That's right. You're going to be talking with a U.S. military general who has a really different idea.

CHURCH Indeed. General William Odom. We'll be talking with him and finding out that he wants to see troops in America and Britain pulled out immediately. We'll find out why on the other side of the break, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Well, welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. The Iraqi army still undergoing training by U.S. troops. Recently Iraqi soldiers learned by doing. It was a type of assault that they'd never before experienced.

Arwa Damon reports to us from Kirkuk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go ahead and get first group over there.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the last rehearsal for these Iraqi army troops. The mission is in minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ready to get out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're ready to bounce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's roll.

LT. ADAM GREGORY, U.S. ARMY: It's like being a teacher anywhere else. You get to see the effects of your work as they get better.

DAMON: But test time is over. This is not only their first air assault, it's the first time these men have been up in a helicopter. The Iraqi army doesn't have machines like these, and it shows. The mission, to capture a suspected insurgent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go ahead and move to the next one. Go to the next one, right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: This is the real thing. Learning as they go, instructed by 22-year-old Lieutenant Adam Gregory, himself on his first tour to Iraq.

GREGORY: Where we at? OK. Take this and see -- no -- these. We're going to consolidate them in one courtyard and then we're going to sort them out to see if we got our man over. Tell them to give the instructions, OK? Tell them just to stay here seated, hands out in front of them on their laps. Yes, I want them to give the instructions.

DAMON: For the Iraqi army, it's clear instructions at every step.

GREGORY: They can go back to doing what they're doing.

DAMON (on camera): They're now waiting for nightfall to maintain the element of surprise while they continue their search.

(voice-over): Pushing through fields and farmlands, continuing their round up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell them to put them underneath.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Search complete of the target houses. We are a dry hole once again, and we can be extracted.

DAMON: They'll keep looking for their men. In the meantime, these Iraqi soldiers have conducted their first air assault.

GREGORY: Part of the reason we're out here is just so they can get a practice and, you know, one day they can do this on their own. But -- you know, if that's all we get accomplished here, then that's a success.

DAMON: For now, the Americans provide the instructions and the helicopters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, one man who has become a thorn in the side of the Bush administration over Iraq is retired Lieutenant General William Odom. He's also a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and he maintains a dim view of the war on Iraq, which he calls the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history.

He joins us now. Thank you, sir, for talking with us. The greatest disaster, and such a disaster in your way of thinking that you've been calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. coalition troops from Iraq. That's not going to happen anytime soon. But why exactly are you making those calls?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM, (RET.) U.S. ARMY: I make that case very sharply, not because I think we can suddenly pull out in a month or something like that, but try to force people to think about making the fundamental strategic decision to withdraw. It may take us six months or nine months, but it shouldn't take us a year.

CHURCH: Why do you see that as necessary? Because a lot of critics would say, and they have been saying, if the troops withdraw, there will be civil war. It will encourage terrorists. It will affect and undermine the credibility of the United States. What do you say to those critics?

ODOM: Well, as I've said in print several times, part of those things are true and part of them are not true. There's a civil war going on now. There's been one going on almost since we crossed the border. Almost of the untoward things going on right now were absolutely predictable and unpreventable once we launched the war.

You have to understand this war was never in our interests. It made this country safe for al Qaeda, therefore bin Laden was ecstatic that we did this. The Iranians were ecstatic that we overthrew their old enemy, Saddam, and allowed them to have the kind of growing influence they have with the Shiite community in Iraq. We've essentially created a situation that makes progress toward a unified government virtually impossible. And the reason formation of a government is no exception because the key ministers over the control of violence there, minister of interior and defense, haven't even been agreed on.

I think we should get out earlier rather than later, because we can't leave the region, but we can't manage the region by ourselves. We cannot get the kind of alliance with the Europeans and other major powers until we withdraw. Staying bogs us down, prevents us from trying to limit the larger regional damage that we've unleashed by starting the war. The longer we stay in, the worse that is going to be, not better.

CHURCH: Do you get many people supporting what you're saying? ODOM: A surprising number. I get obviously people who fundamentally disagree with you, usually do not write, although quite a few do say rather bitter things. But I've been speaking around the country. And I get a massive amount of mail that says, keep talking, keep saying this, it has to be heard. I think the Americans have a good solid instinct for this. And I also think that we may be saying the administration looking for an opportunity to begin to withdraw no matter how things go.

CHURCH: Yesterday, we heard from the new Iraqi prime minister. he was pretty much saying that Iraqi security forces would take over by the end of the year. We didn't hear any withdrawal plans from George W. Bush here today. But could that be the starting point, do you think?

ODOM: The administration will never say that it's going to withdraw, and that we're declaring -- and that they have lost the campaign or lost the war, but they may be beginning to look for cover.

The mere fact that the new prime minister said that his troops could take over tells me he's probably been encouraged to say that. Any realistic prime minister knows that the civil war there is going on within his own government.

The Shiites have been able to dominate the police forces. They go out and drag in Sunnis and kill them in jails. The Sunnis perform terrorist acts, explosions, et cetera, as their way of fighting back. So his government is split seriously on this line.

CHURCH: All right. General William Odom, thank you so much for talking with us. Appreciate it.

ODOM: Thank you.

CHURCH: And still ahead, he was a rising star, young, strong, and fast.

CLANCY: But then, he broke his leg. The 3-year-old colt who was favored to win big in upcoming horse races faces his toughest challenge yet. We'll have the story of a horse named Barbaro next.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

CLANCY: He wasn't just any horse. Anyone could see that. Today, he's on a 24-hour watch, and in some ways, horse lovers around the world are standing watch as well.

CHURCH: They are. Barbaro was favored to win the Preakness Stakes, but seriously broke his hind leg at the start of that race. The prognosis A 50/50 chance of survival.

CLANCY: CNN's Jason Carroll gives us a closer look at a champion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This 3-year-old colt named Barbaro was a rising star, good-looking, strong, and very fast.

Just a few weeks ago, he won the Kentucky Derby, and Barbaro could have done something that hasn't been done since Affirmed did it in 1978.

ANNOUNCER: Affirmed has got a nose in front as they come on to the wire!

CARROLL: Capture the Triple Crown, winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes.

On Saturday, Barbaro was favored to win the Preakness. But in a world where everything is measured in seconds, the dream ended in one agonizing moment.

CARROLL: At the start of the race, Barbaro broke his leg. The cause is still unclear. He limped off the track, his hind leg clearly hurt. Doctors say his bone was shattered in more than 20 pieces. Veterinarians at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center for large animals operated for hours to repair it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just amazing to see him walk like that. And the first thing, he went in and started eating hay, so, they did a terrific job.

CARROLL: Barbaro looked alert after his surgery, but his condition is still uncertain.

(on camera): At horse farms all over the country, like this one in Long Island, New York, owners and trainers are really pulling for Barbaro's full recovery.

(voice-over): Horse owner Joe Lostritto is back on his farm after the Preakness. His horse, Platinum Couple, was next to Barbaro when he was injured.

JOE LOSTRITTO, HORSE OWNER: My heart dropped. You cannot describe the moment. It's like you lost all your breath. You know, it just -- you cannot describe it.

CARROLL: Lostritto and his family know the pain of putting down a horse injured in a race. It happened to them twice. They believe Barbaro will pull through.

LEIGH BERKOWITZ, HORSE OWNER: He was committed to winning all his races, and I think he's a strong-minded animal, and I think he will make it.

CARROLL: A champion who faces his toughest challenge.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Long Island, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And the world's watching the outcome of that story. Well, that's it for this hour.

CLANCY: "LIVE FROM" is up next for our viewers in the United States.

CHURCH: And for our viewers elsewhere, another hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY is next. I'm Rosemary Church.

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

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