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Muqtada al-Sadr Suspends Activity of Mehdi Army; Taliban Releases Four More South Korean Hostages

Aired August 29, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A six-month pause. A radical anti-American cleric in Iraq tells his militia to lay down their arms a day after rival Shiite groups clash.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A terrifying ordeal comes to an end for some South Korean hostages in Afghanistan.

HOLMES: And the aftermath of the wildfires. One Greek village becomes the symbol of a country's national disaster.

MCEDWARDS: And, two years later, New Orleans marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

It is 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad, it's 11:00 a.m. in New Orleans.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes.

From Kabul to Canberra, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Let's begin with Iraq.

The Shia militia that the Pentagon once called the biggest threat to Iraq's security is putting aside its weapons, at least for now. Hard-line cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mehdi army to suspend armed activities. This coming a day after it was directly involved with deadly clashes with Shia rivals.

Let's bring in Michael Ware in Baghdad to explain the significance, or otherwise, of this.

Michael, of course what went on in Karbala was, frankly, ridiculous -- Shia militias battling Shia government forces in a Shia town, at a Shia festival. What is the significance of Muqtada al-Sadr saying this now?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, firstly, Michael, welcome to the future of a post-American Iraq. This is a glimpse of what it's going to look like.

If the British defeat in Basra and the internecine fighting that we're seeing and the competition down there isn't enough, Karbala is a glimpse what's going to happen. A very Lebanese-style breakdown of militia-versus-militia power blocs fending for power.

Now, what we've seen in the wake of a number of casualties, 54 killed in this holy city during this holy festival, is that Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his powerful militia to suspend military operations. Now, to be frank, in the final washout, this honestly doesn't mean a great deal, certainly according to the Mehdi militia sources we've been speaking to, both on the ground, in the mid ranks, and at the leadership levels.

It came to the U.S. military announcing it's investigating an incident that involved one of its troops. When they say "suspend military operations," that's Muqtada saying stop going out and picking fights without consulting with the leadership first.

The Mehdi militia still protects large parts of Baghdad. It still protects other southern Shia-dominated cities. That's going to continue. And they do that armed.

Their checkpoints shall remain. Their control shall not be reduced. This is essentially Muqtada playing to a domestic audience, making it seem that he addresses the significance of these terrible civilian casualties.

But militarily, they're going to stay in tact. Have no fear of that -- Michael.

HOLMES: And Michael, of course this all comes at a time when Nouri al-Maliki is under great pressure for his performance, or lack of it, as the Iraqi leader. And you have a Mehdi militia whose political wing still is literally part of the government.

It becomes a bit of a joke, doesn't it?

WARE: Well, Michael, the whole government is just a series of armed militias which, according to U.S. military intelligence, are backed by Iran. Now, Iranian officials here on the ground, at the embassy, deny that, as does the government in Tehran itself.

Nonetheless, the fact remains that the currency of political power in this country is simply the size of your militia. And I'm afraid to say, apart from the two Kurdish power blocs, all of the militias are opposed to the U.S. Indeed, most of this government is opposed to the U.S.

So, the fact that Muqtada's militia a part of this government really just defines this government. It's a loose coalition of largely anti-American militia.

HOLMES: All right. Michael Ware with some important context there, live in Baghdad.

Thanks, Michael.

MCEDWARDS: Well, and speaking of Iran's role in Iraq -- Michael raised it's there -- the U.S. military says eight Iranian nationals detained in Baghdad have now been released. U.S. soldiers arrested them at a hotel on Tuesday, leading them away with hands bound and eyes blindfolded.

The U.S. says unauthorized weapons were found in their car earlier in the day. Iraqi officials say the Iranians were invited to Iran to sign an electricity supply contract. Iran angrily protested the detentions and demanded a full explanation.

A senior U.S. official has told CNN that the Iranians should not have been arrested, at least not in that manner, blaming it on a mistake ordered at a low level of command.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, an adviser to the top U.S. general in Iraq weighed in, calling those arrests, in his words, "regrettable". He also said they have nothing to do with U.S. President George W. Bush lashing out at Iran on the same day.

Mr. Bush repeated accusations that Iran is meddling in Iraq's affairs and arming Shia militias. He says he has authorized U.S. military commanders to "confront Tehran's murderous activities." President Bush also criticized Iran's nuclear ambitions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust. Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. And that is why the United States is rallying friends and allies around the world to isolate the regime, to oppose economic sanctions.

We will confront this danger before it is too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, Mr. Bush speaking just hours after the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made some incendiary remarks of his own. He said the U.S. occupation of Iraq is collapsing and he pointed out Iran is ready to step in to help fill the vacuum.

MCEDWARDS: Well, finally free, 12 South Korean church volunteers seized by the Taliban nearly six weeks ago will soon be heading home. They were released by their Taliban captors as part of a deal with She south Korean government. Seven more members of the church group, though, are style being held.

Sohn Jie-Ae has more now on the reaction in Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Members of the same church took this happy snapshot in the Korean airport before leaving on a summer volunteer trip to Afghanistan. It is easy to see from the excited expressions that it never entered their minds that this would be the photo from which the world would identify each hostage taken by the Taliban. Now there is home once again the ordeal of most might soon be over thanks to negotiations by the South Korean government.

On the streets of Seoul, relief, but concern as well. "The main condition of the release was the withdrawal of the dispatched troops," says this man. "I think this may set a negative precedent. I think the South Korean government broke the unspoken law of international community by negotiating with terrorists."

The South Korean government says it agreed to continue with plans already in place to remove 200 soldiers from Afghanistan by the end of the year. Another promise was to stop all Christian missionary activities in that country.

The church group says its people were not on a missionary troop, but one South Korean Christian leader did not find the demand unreasonable. "To release the hostages safely," he says, "we would abide by the request of the Taliban."

Family members in South Korea who had been gathering every day for news from Afghanistan could not contain their emotions at the news. But there was also sadness that the joy could not be shared by the families of the two men killed by the Taliban.

A sentiment also felt by two women who were released earlier this month. "You may think of us as happy, now that we are with our families again," she says, "but we can't sleep at night worrying about the hostages that were left behind. I understand that Islam teaches respect for life and love of family. I hope very much for the return of my friends, so that they, too, can be reunited with their families."

A hope that seems to be coming true for at least most of the once happy church group.

Sohn Jie-Ae, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Greece has become compensating victims of six days of wildfires. But right now a break in the weather gives firefighters an upper hand, but another heat wave is coming, and that could spark new fires. At least 63 people have died, some of them burning to death in their own cars as they tried to flee the fires.

Frederik Pleitgen has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Vasilli Mitros' (ph) services are in big demand these days. He digs graves here at the cemetery in Artemita, the village with the single highest death toll from the wildfires still raging in Greece. Twenty-eight people from here have lost their lives.

"How can one feel? Anyone who has a soul has to be moved by this tragedy," he says.

And this grave moves even a man who has been digging graves for years. Four children will be laid to rest here. They died in their mother's arms, trapped by a fire front. She was trying to drive to safety when the flames cut off the road. The family ran, but it was too late.

Charred pieces of clothing tell the gruesome story of what happened next. With nowhere to go, the mother sat down, locked her children in her arms, and waited.

Several other people also died here, including three firefighters. "The people thought they would be safe by the fire truck, the mayor tells me, "but the flames just overwhelmed them and they tried to escape up this hill."

(on camera): But there was no escaping the flames. And just to give you an idea how terrible the situation was, take a look inside this car. The flames were hot enough to melt the steel and even the glass from the windshield.

(voice over): Artemita has become a symbol of the disaster that has gripped this nation and horrified the world.

Asima Boropoulo (ph) has lived her all here life. Her house still stands, but several storage stacks fell prey to the flames. Still, she says, she considers herself lucky.

"If only the people hadn't died," she says. "The houses don't matter. We will live and rebuild them."

A terrible irony. Authorities say had the woman and her four children stayed in her house, they would have lived. It remained virtually untouched by the flames. Her husband will lay her and his children to rest here on the Artemita cemetery, where Vasilli Mitros (ph) digs yet another grave.

Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Artemita, Greece.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: All right.

Just ahead here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, the U.S. Gulf Coast two years after Katrina.

HOLMES: President Bush joined local leaders in marking the anniversary, but the occasion is more solemn, of course, than celebratory.

MCEDWARDS: Certainly a happier moment to talk about in London, though. Former South African president Nelson Mandela on hand to see the unveiling of a rather familiar looking statue there, don't you think?

HOLMES: Yes, I think so. MCEDWARDS: Who is that?

HOLMES: Irony or arson? That's another one of our reports. Fires severely damaged the last crematorium in Israel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Well, the bells ring out in New Orleans, marking the moment two years ago when the city's levees failed.

HOLMES: Yes. You see there Mayor Ray Nagin leading the ceremony on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

MCEDWARDS: Meanwhile, at a school on the other side of town., U.S. President George W. Bush took part in a citywide moment of silence.

HOLMES: The distance between Mr. Bush and local leaders served really as a bit of a metaphor for the gap between the federal government and local authorities, a gap the president says Washington is working hard to close.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of people down here probably wondered whether or not those of us in the federal government not from Louisiana would pay attention to Louisiana or Mississippi. In other words, it's one thing to come and give a speech in Jackson Square, it's another thing to keep paying attention to whether or not progress is being made.

And I hope people understand we do. We're still paying attention. We understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: Well, you know, there's a popular bumper sticker in New Orleans, and it reads, "Proud to Call it Home".

HOLMES: Yes. Two years after Hurricane Katrina, however, drove locals out of the city, the homeless population has doubled in New Orleans.

MCEDWARDS: Yes. It's incredible when you look at the statistics. And those returning are actually finding a very different place from the one they left behind.

HOLMES: Yes. No kidding.

Susan Roesgen has a look at the continuing crisis in the Crescent City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a hot and sticky night, people who have no place else to go sleep on cardboard and concrete. Some of them were homeless before the hurricane, but many were not. And to make the point, they have started sleeping right across the street from city hall.

What's the city doing about it? "Keeping Them Honest," we asked Mayor Ray Nagin.

NAGIN: We're trying to provide these services that we need help to do. And that's -- that's where you are being unfair.

ROESGEN (on camera): Well, do you agree that it is a city responsibility?

NAGIN: It would be a normal city responsibility under normal circumstances. These are so far away from normal circumstances.

ROESGEN: You know, right outside your window there, we could see this new homeless camp that has sprung up. Have you gone over there to look? Could we -- you want to take a look, walk out with me on your balcony and take a look and talk about that issue?

NAGIN: No, I know exactly what you're talking about. You know, homelessness is something that was here prior to Katrina.

ROESGEN: So we just finished our interview with the mayor, and this is what he didn't want to do. He didn't want to come out here on the balcony right outside his window to look at that homeless camp across from city hall.

(voice-over) These are the mayor's new neighbors, some of the 12,000 homeless, twice as many as before Katrina. Mayor Nagin says the city has provided all the services it can up to this point. But some of the homeless have joined together here with a message for the mayor: you're not doing enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hear a lot of talk about what you're doing, and we're doing this and we're doing that, but yet we see nothing taking place. We want to see some action take place down here.

ROESGEN: Many say they have jobs but can't make enough money to pay for a place to stay. Like this janitor, Morrow Trotter.

MORROW TROTTER, HOMELESS: I work, and I still can't afford housing. So we've got people up here that can't even afford houses that have jobs, go to work seven days a week.

ROESGEN: Since Katrina, housing in New Orleans has been in short supply, and rents have gone up a full 30 percent, with many returning evacuees not even knowing it until they get here.

Linda Gonzales is a nonprofit shelter director who tries to help.

LINDA GONZALES, SHELTER DIRECTOR: Well, you see people that were not homeless before are now coming back and finding that they cannot make it because of the rent. So they try, and then all of a sudden they realize they can't keep up with the rent. They get behind a month or two. Then they call us, and they say, you know, can you help us?

ROESGEN: For many, there just is no help, only the prospect of more nights spent in the shadow of city hall.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, the effect of the storm on the city can be appreciated in statistics, as well as stories. Here are some of them.

In the past two years, the death rate has jumped by 47 percent as seven of the 22 hospitals serving the city shut down. Those hospitals provided more than half of all available hospital beds, while more than 4,000 doctors were displaced from the area and the health care system, of course, still on its knees.

And the murder rate has doubled, while some criminal suspects walked the streets, freed by a withered judicial system that in some cases can't even bring suspects to trial.

MCEDWARDS: All right. A look there at how complicated the situation is.

And you know the truth is, New Orleans was a complicated place before Katrina as well. It was world famous for fun, but it was also a city with terrible crime, corruption, and poverty as well.

So maybe the best way to compare New Orleans, then, to what it is now is neighborhood by neighborhood.

Jonathan Mann joins us now with just that in our "Insight" segment -- Jon.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: New Orleans was never just the party town it portended to be. There was a whole lot wrong there, and Katrina made everything worse.

Even now, even after billions of dollars have been spent, New Orleans is a mix of what has been built and what is still broken. This is what President Bush promised two years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it that takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know, there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans. And this great city will rise again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Some parts of it are rising. Let's look at the area right on the Mississippi.

Zoom in a little bit on the Garden District. Now, this is one of the prettiest places in the city. It's on the northern -- or rather, the southern end, just touching on to the river. And it's on higher ground than the points further west. The Garden District is doing OK.

The French Quarter, the heart of the tourist industry, that looks pretty good, too. It's basically the way it was before the storm.

But if you go further east to the Lower 9th Ward, the Lower 9th Ward has seen -- well, the flipped cars are gone, the worst of the filth is gone. But the Lower 9th Ward is mostly empty. Most of the people who lived there have not returned.

Why not? We have a different map that can tell you about that. This one was done by the Army Corps of Engineers.

This is a map of the risk of flooding before Katrina. Look at all of that deep blue. That is where you would be, under deep blue water in the event of a storm.

Well, you can't even tell, but when they did the map again, it basically is the same. The Lower 9th didn't really get any better after two years and billions of dollars.

Let's go over to Lakeview, a very different part of the city. From the southeast to the north, Lakeview -- look at the deep blue. That, once again, would be under water in the event of a bad storm.

After the Army Corps of Engineers, look at it now. They made dramatic improvement. People are moving back into Lakeview, and you can -- you can tell why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAGIN: You can beat us up with this and that. You can talk about, we should be much further than we are. But the bottom line is, this city was totally devastated, and many people lost their lives. And the measure of a city or any city, is about its people. And our people are coming back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: People are coming back. Depending on how you do the math, about two-thirds of New Orleans residents have returned. But a recent poll found that a lot of them don't want to stay. Almost a third of people in New Orleans now say they are seriously considering leaving again.

MCEDWARDS: Wow, that is so sad.

And, you know, one of the big questions at the time was, what if it happened again? Would this area be ready if a storm this big were to hit again. Do we know the answer to that yet?

MANN: We do, and that's probably the saddest thing. If the same storm hit again, the same thing would happen. Despite the enormous efforts by the Army Corps of Engineers that are still ongoing and have years and years left to run, they are working to a storm that they say is going to be a one in 100 years storm, one in 100 chance of it happening.

Katrina was a one in 400 years storm. It's way worse than what the Army Corps of Engineers is working to now. And they still aren't up to that lower standard.

So, would it happen again? It could, and it would be the same.

MCEDWARDS: All right. Jon Mann with "Insight".

Jon, thanks very much.

HOLMES: Interesting.

So, what happens when private lives spill over into public places?

MCEDWARDS: Well, coming up, the arrest of a U.S. senator in a sex sting operation. This one not only raising eyebrows, it's raising some pretty big questions, too.

HOLMES: Plenty more after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries and territories all around the globe, including the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. Let's update you on the stories to the minute.

They've been held hostage, by the Taliban for nearly six weeks, but now 12 members of that South Korean church group are going home. Militants set them free as part of a deal done with the government in Seoul, where South Korea agreed to stick by its decision to pull its 200 non-combat troops out of Afghanistan.

MCEDWARDS: Iraqi Shia Cleric Muqtada al Sadr has ordered his militia to suspend armed activities for six months. And aide says that includes attacks against U.S. and coalition troops. The order comes after al Sadr's Mehdi army clashed with Shia rivals in Karbala leaving dozens of people dead.

HOLMES: U.S. military says it has released eight Iranians arrested in Baghdad. You see a couple of them, there. Soldiers detained them on Tuesday. They're hands bound, eyes blind folded after reportedly finding what they described as unauthorized weapons in their cars. A senior U.S. official told CNN they shouldn't have been arrested in that manner, blaming it on a mistake at a, quote, low- level of command.

MCEDWARDS: Well, Iraq and the United States are very much at odds over Iran's role in Iraq and exactly what is going on there. In fact, President George W. Bush is upping the rhetoric quite a bit these days. He said Tuesday, and this is a quote, he says that he has "authorized military commanders in Iraq to confront Teheran's murderous activities."

So what exactly could the future hold for the United States. We are joined by the Trita Parsi, in Washington; he is the author of "Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and The U.S."

Trita, it's great to have you.

TRITA PARSI, AUTHOR, "TREACHEROUS ALLIANCE": Thanks for having me.

MCEDWARDS: This is so interesting. There's so much being said. And it's being said in a way that sort of makes you listen and go, huh, what is this all about? What do you think it amounts to?

PARSI: Clearly, I think, right now, there's a trajectory of the relations between Iran and United States that is going towards a conflict unless there's a robust shift towards real diplomacy. That's what we haven't seen so far. But if that doesn't happen and things continue the way they are right now. The risk of conflict will grow by the minutes.

MCEDWARDS: But how can the U.S. make a case for conflict in Iran. When you know, it's in Iraq, things have not gone well, it is in Afghanistan. It's very complicated, how could the case ever be made?

PARSI: I think the president has basically showed us how the case would look like. It would basically be to say that the Iranians are killing American soldiers in Iraq. If that is made convincingly, so far no evidence has been publicly shown to support that. But if that is made convincingly, then the president can certainly go ahead and say as a result of that, the United States needs to respond.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, "convincingly" I guess is the question, though, right?

PARSI: Absolutely.

MCEDWARDS: Because the record on intelligence, the prewar intelligence hasn't been that great.

PARSI: Without a doubt. I think the president is facing an uphill battle not only with the American public on that issue, but also with Congress. We've seen in the past when the first instances of American allegations against Iranian involvement in Iraq came, that many members of Congress were very skeptical about it. They basically felt this was deja vu. This is Iraq all over again. MCEDWARDS: Why would the case of Iran and its alleged nuclear program and all the concern that it's developing nuclear weapons, why has diplomacy not been more effective?

PARSI: Well, diplomacy has not really been tried. What we have seen so far is two small meetings, in Iraq, between United States and Iran, only discussing the Iraqi security situation. There are a number of issues that is separating Iran and the United States. Unless you have broad diplomacy, the chances of diplomacy to succeed are very small. As a result, I think it would be unfair to say diplomacy has been tried yet. Genuine diplomacy is yet to be tried.

MCEDWARDS: That sort of seems to be what's behind a lot of international concern that's seems to be growing. You know I was just scanning the headlines and the major international papers online today. There seems to be a lot of concern about this. The French leader coming out and saying, you know, the international community has to put pressure on Iran, or face catastrophe.

PARSI: Absolutely. One of the big differences now, between -- compared to a year ago is that European leaders and European diplomats are far more concerned about the risk for war between the United States and Iran than they were before. About a year ago, there were a lot of people in Europe making the argument United States cannot go to war with Iran even, if it wants to. Now I think they have realized that the tensions are so high, the situation is so explosive, that whether intentional or not, the smallest incident can spark a major conflict.

MCEDWARDS: I kind of don't even want to ask this, but I'm really curious about the picture you would paint about this. If there were to be a military conflict, what would it involve? What would it look like? How absolutely devastating could this be in the entire region?

PARSI: I think it's pretty safe to say that it would be quite devastating, not only because Iran, obviously, is a far more powerful country than Iraq was, but also because the Iranians have capabilities in other countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq and they can destabilize those areas.

But perhaps most importantly, we saw in the Iraq case, that even though militarily Iraq was defeated in only three weeks, the aftermath was a completely different story. Iran is the country three times the size of Iraq. And the aftermath over there would probably be far more devastating than Iraq has been so far.

MCEDWARDS: Trita Parsi for us in Washington.

Trita, thank you.

PARSI: Thank you for having me.

HOLMES: All right, switching gears, 17 years after his release from a South African prison, Nelson Mandela is being honored as a hero for all who stand against oppression. Alfonso Van Marsh is live in London with that story. Alphonso, a very important day for Nelson Mandela and certainly a lot of dignitaries turning out for this.

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Michael. And as you can see it's cast in bronze, it weighs nearly a ton. As you can tell, it's absolutely huge. About nine feet tall, almost three meters. As you mentioned, we're talking about that statue honoring Madiba, former South African president Nelson Mandela.

And you can see he's, actually shown here wearing his trademark of button down shirt, bright the bright patterns, a attributable to a person that many people say is larger than life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH (voice over): It wasn't just the statue, but the man himself that the crowds came to see. The frail, 89-year-old former South African president who sacrificed 27 years in prison to help bring democracy to his country in the flesh. Honored with a bronze statue in the heart of London.

NELSON MANDELA, FMR. PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA: Though this statue is of one man. It should, in actual fact, symbolize all of those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country.

VAN MARSH: This was vintage Mandela, engaged, the crowd thrilled to see that his likeness joins that of Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln, recognizing him as one of the great leaders of his age.

Less than 30 years ago when anti-apartheid demonstrators gathered in central London. Britain, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, branded Mandela a terrorist.

On Wednesday, a different prime minister say sang a different tune in Mandela's praise.

GORDON BROWN, PRIME MINISTER, GREAT BRITAIN: May Nelson Mandela's story and may his statue summon us and future generations to stand with him and seek a world worthy for what is best in our common humanity. President Mandela, you will be here with us always.

VAN MARSH: Unveiled before a crowd of thousands, this statue of Nelson Mandela will rest here at Parliament Square, just a stone's throw away from the Houses of Parliament, the symbol of the very British institutions that once ruled much of Africa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ah, it brought tears to my eyes, to be honest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a long time coming and I think picked the right spot to erect it, as well.

MANDELA: When Oliver Campbell and I visited Westminster Abby in Parliament Square, in 1972, we half joked that we hope that one day a statue of a black president would be erected here.

CHOIR: Oh happy day, oh happy day --

VAN MARSH: Well, that day is here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH: Now, Michael, it's been a few hours since that was unveiled. You have to see this here, you still have crowds of people waiting to get that first picture of this replica of Nelson Mandela. Truly an electric atmosphere, oh, what a happy day -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Thanks very much, Alphonso. Alfonso Van Marsh, there in London.

MCEDWARDS: A great scene there.

HOLMES: It's a great story.

MCEDWARDS: A U.S. lawmaker is standing accused for trying to solicit sex in an airport restroom.

HOLMES: What a story. A U.S. senator says, he's not gay. In the high-stakes Washington politics game that alone may be enough to seal his fate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone, to YOUR WORLD TODAY, right here on CNN International.

MCEDWARDS: That's right, we're seen live in more than 200 countries and territories all around the world.

Well, the shock wave continues to spread after a U.S. senator's guilty plea in a sex sting operation that we want to tell you about now. Republican Senator Larry Craig, a so-called family values man, now says he did no wrong even though he pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. Candy Crowley has the story now that has Washington abuzz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Senator Larry Craig denies the allegations against him and the underlying implication.

SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: Let me be clear. I am not gay.

CROWLEY: Craig was arrested in June at the Minneapolis airport for alleged lewd behavior in a men's bathroom known for sexual activity. The police report describes in excruciating detail Craig's alleged actions, including two minutes when the senator stood outside, peering into the stall of a plain clothes policeman working on a sex sting.

"Craig would look down at his hands," the officer wrote, "fidget with his fingers and then look into the crack in my stall again." The officer says Craig then went into the stall next to his and, "At 1216 hours Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."

The report says Craig also made several hand motions beneath the stall partition. The policeman responded by showing his badge.

Once inside the police operations center the officer says Craig protested that his actions were misconstrued. Then the report says, "Craig handed me a business card that identified himself as a United States senator, as he stated, "What do you think about that?"

The senator eventually paid a fine and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. A plea he now says was a mistake.

CRAIG: I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I did nothing wrong.

CROWLEY: The senator says he pleaded guilty to, quote, "make it go away" and because he was stressed by a newspaper investigation into his sexual orientation. "The Idaho Statesman" looked into allegations and rumors that have cropped up in the senator's quarter century in Washington.

In 1982, during an investigation of charges that lawmakers were having sex with underage congressional pages, Craig, whose name never surfaced publicly, nonetheless denied it publicly. A statement aired on ABC News.

CRAIG: Persons who are unmarried, as I am, by choice or by circumstance, have always been the subject of innuendoes, gossip and false accusations. I think this is despicable.

CROWLEY: The newspaper probe began last year after a gay activist said Craig was gay. One of the sources of that story told "The Statesman" he had sex with Craig in a bathroom at Union Station in Washington. The paper found the source credible, but there is no proof of the event, nor similar stories from two other men. And the senator has denied it all. In Washington that may not be enough to save his career.

JENNIFER DUFFY, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: I think it's very damaging. There is a lot of smoke here. The truth is that in politics, smoke is as deadly as the fire sometimes.

CROWLEY: Craig's crisis is exacerbated by his own record. He's one of Capitol Hill's most conservative members, from one of the country's most conservative states. He is a family values Republican who favors a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman. He voted for the Defensive of Marriage Act, a bill defining the institution of marriage. He opposed a bill to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: In a way, if he wouldn't have been just such a God awful big hypocrite. Part of you just wants to -- you feel sorry for him, the guys' got family, he's got kids. You sort of feel sorry for him, but --

CROWLEY: Politics is not an arena rich in sympathy. Craig is out as chairman of the Mitt Romney team in Idaho. Romney compared Craig's problems to bill Clinton's, quote, "It's disgusting." Fellow Republican leaders already fearful of getting hammered in 2008 scrambled for distance. They called for an Ethics Committee probe.

Whatever Larry Craig did and didn't do, politically he is toxic now. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: It was the only commercial crematorium operating in Israel.

HOLMES: Now it's been badly damaged by fire. Coming up, could religious practice and religious prohibition provide any clues to the cause?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, I was going to pick one up for you, because I know you do like a 7,000 carat diamond, don't you?

MCEDWARDS: You were going to get me one, were you?

HOLMES: Well, I was going to talk to your husband and get him to get it for you, yeah.

MCEDWARDS: Actually, I would rather have the money.

HOLMES: Can you imagine?

MCEDWARDS: So unromantic of me.

HOLMES: This is a 7,000-carat diamond we're talking about. A small mining company in South Africa says it has unearthed what it says is the world's biggest diamond.

MCEDWARDS: It would be. This claim has people both excited, also raising their eyebrows just a little bit here.

HOLMES: The diamond, you can see it there, in that picture, which was actually taken on a cell phone, has yet to be verified. But if it turns out to be real, it would be more than double the size of the previous record holder.

MCEDWARDS: That picture is not that great, but I guess you're supposed to be impressed.

HOLMES: I was saying to Rosemary Church, in the last hour, that if you have a 7,000-carat diamond could you not get a digital camera? They're using the cell phone to take the photo. We'll see how that one turns out.

MCEDWARDS: I'm sure we'll see it in all its glory later on once it's verified.

Anyway, another story to tell you about here, the only commercial crematorium in operation in Israel has been badly damaged by a fire, and this fire is of suspicious origin.

HOLMES: To say the least, Orthodox Jews view cremation as an abomination and this fire did happen after the secret location of the facility was published in a religious newspaper.

MCEDWARDS: That's right. Atika Shubert has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Alon Nativ owns the only funeral home in Israel to offer cremation. This is what remains. It was burned down days after a local newspaper publicized the location of the crematorium an anonymous suburb.

Police say it was arson. No suspects have been arrested but Nativ has his suspicions.

ALON NATIV, CREMATORIUM OWNER: Because they're terrorists, or maybe they're just fanatics. They want to establish a theocratic instead of democratic in Israel.

SHUBERT: Orthodox Jews say cremation is against religious law. Only burial is acceptable. They have even invoked the image of mass crematoriums used in the Holocaust to dissuade the public. But Nativ estimates that up to 20 percent of Israelis, Jewish, or otherwise, are choosing cremation.

NATIV: Who are they to judge. I'm saying, people who want to choose cremation, should have the right to do so. And we're just providing the service to those who want.

SHUBERT (on camera): This is the latest flash point that illustrates the growing divide between religious and secular Israelis. The vast majority still choose burial, but a growing number now also choose cremation. One reason? Environmental concern for the amount of space that burial takes up in a small country.

(Voice over): Religious lawmakers have responded by promoting a bill that would ban cremation altogether.

"Burning the body of a Jew is desecrating the honor of that person, desecration of the dead," says lawmaker Nissim Zeevi, of the religious Shas Party. This legislation says that a Jew that wants to cremate his body in this way has no place in the land of Israel.

Other politicians vehemently oppose the bill. Yossi Beilin, a Meretz MP, says he wants to be cremated.

YOSSI BEILIN, KNESSET MEMBER: If I have to choose a between a grave and a vault for my grandchildren, I prefer the vault. So my message to these people, is that we live in the 21st century, it is a democracy, and whoever wants to end his life this way, or another, is allowed to do it.

SHUBERT: In Israel, cremation is literally a burning issue; and one that divides the nation, even in death. Atika Shubert, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: That will do it for this hour. I'm Michael Holmes.

MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards. You're watching CNN.

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