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British Prime Minister Blair Vows to Step Down Within a Year; NATO Says More Ground Troops Needed in Afghanistan; Democrats Criticize Timing of Bush's Recent Speeches on Terror; Austrian Kidnapping Victim Breaks her Silence

Aired September 07, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I am not going to set a precise date now, and I don't think that's right.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: No specific date, but Tony Blair says he will resign within a year.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: The call from NATO commanders in Afghanistan, we need more boots on the ground.

CLANCY: Held hostage for eight years, an Austrian teenager speaks for the first time about her ordeal.

GORANI: Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe. I'm Hala Gorani at the CNN Center.

CLANCY: And I'm Jim Clancy from London to Kabul, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

With his country losing faith, some of his policies increasingly unpopular and his own party piling on the pressure, Britain's Prime Minister says he'll step aside, but not just yet.

GORANI: Now we begin with the announcement by Tony Blair, a leader whose support of the Iraq war and close ties with the U.S. president may have helped seal his early departure.

CLANCY: Now Mr. Blair is saying that he will leave office within a year, 12 months, but he didn't give an exact date.

GORANI: His statement comes after what some are calling black Wednesday. A Labour Party revolt of sorts that saw eight junior ministers quit over Mr. Blair's leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAIR: As for my timing and date of departure, I would prefer to do this in my own way, but it has been pretty obvious from what many of my cabinet colleagues have said earlier in the week, the next party conference in a couple of weeks will be my last party conference as party leader. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Tony Blair led Britain's Labour Party to an unprecedented three consecutive victories in national elections. He was the most forceful and articulate leader on the world stage, as the U.S. spearheaded the invasions of Afghanistan and then Iraq. Political veteran Robin Oakley joins us now with more on Mr. Blair's announcement. He will step down within the next year. Robin, what hurts Tony Blair the most about having to come out and make this statement?

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: It will be hurting him like having teeth drawn without an anesthetic, Jim. Tony Blair is used to being the man in charge, the man who dominates his party. He has been their great electoral asset, as you say, three election victories. Now, suddenly he is a liability to his party. He's being driven by events. He is being driven by his party. That's why he has been forced to start talking about the timetable for his departure, something that only a week ago he was really refusing to do. And it is for Tony Blair a humiliation. He wanted to be spending the next year or so working on his political legacy, seeing through the policies that will last in the Labour Party after him, doing more on the Middle East peace process, more on the Northern Ireland peace process. Instead, he is a man fighting for his political life trying to end the turmoil in his party. He is the man who turned Labour back into a party of government. Now he fears they could be turning back into a party of opposition with their internal wrangling. The only moment of hope perhaps for Tony Blair today, that his neighbor here in Downing Street, Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer, the man who wants his job, has come forward and said, yes, it is for Tony Blair to choose the time of his going, and he will support the decision that he has made. Maybe that will help end the turmoil, Jim.

CLANCY: All right, Robin Oakley there in London where Tony Blair fights, perhaps not for his political life, his political legacy. Thank you.

GORANI: Prime Minister Blair's problems at home can be linked closely to his long-time alliance with President George Bush. A new poll shows public opinion in Europe and the U.S. converging against Mr. Bush. Seventy seven percent of EU citizens disapprove of the president's handing of international affairs. The figure stands at 58 percent in the U.S. European disapproval of U.S. foreign policy has jumped by 20 percentage points in the five-year history of the trans- Atlantic trends poll. Jim?

CLANCY: Well many people speculate that whoever takes over from Tony Blair, they won't lend U.S. President George W. Bush the kind of support he has enjoyed over the last six years. As David Mattingly tells us, it was the relationship between Tony Blair and President Bush that always received close scrutiny and lately had stumbled into a bad light.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before 9/11 everyone wanted to know if the moderate British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a close friend to President Clinton, would get along with a conservative Republican from Texas.

BUSH: We both use Colgate toothpaste. [ laughter ]

BLAIR: They're going to wonder how you know that, George.

MATTINGLY: After just two visits, one of them to the president's Crawford Ranch, it was clear that Bush and Blair had become fast friends.

BUSH: I can assure you that when either of us get in a bind, there will be a friend on the other end of the phone.

MATTINGLY: After 9/11 Blair was invaluable to Bush and his eloquence, articulating to friends and enemies alike the need for a global war on terror. When other allies balked, Blair was a full partner in the war in Iraq in spite of opposition at home. Bush gained an influential advocate in the U.N. and abroad, and Blair profited from the perception that he could influence the American president.

BLAIR: The reason why we are standing side-by-side with America is not because we feel forced to. It is because we want to, because we believe that is the right place to be.

ROBIN NIBLETT, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC INTL. STUDIES: These are two men who are both driven by conviction, I think they are driven by a similar perspective that following your instincts and your values on foreign policy, roots the foreign policy in something deeper than the moving and shifting sands of expediency.

MATTINGLY: The perception that Blair had the president's ear faltered, however, when he failed to convince the Bush administration to take bold steps in fighting global warming and poverty in Africa. A turning point in public opinion came at the recent G8 Summit in St. Petersburg when private comments were picked up by an open microphone.

BUSH: The irony is, is that what they need to do is get serious (INAUDIBLE) and stop (INAUDIBLE).

MATTINGLY: While U.S. voters reacted to the president's colorful language, British voters couldn't shake the image of their prime minister seemingly bowing to the seated president.

JOHN PRIDEAUX, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, ECONOMIST: Almost a bit like a courtier while Bush was sitting down apparently not paying him much attention, and this was written up as a sort of low point in Tony Blair's relationship with the American administration.

MATTINGLY: Few presidential pals have had to pay a bigger price. And when Blair steps down, he will be leaving a void at a time when good friends are hard to find. David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, we saw that, they're strong allies sharing many concerns, especially in the war against terrorism, but while one leader is preparing to bow out, the other is forging ahead, staying the course with his policies, whether they're popular or not. Let's look more closely now at Tony Blair and George W. Bush. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now from Washington. Well, George W. Bush's strongest ally in the world is now a lame-duck leader. How significant is that, and how does it change things?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I'm not sure it is a dramatic change because we've known that Tony Blair is going to step down at some point. He promised to before the last British election in 2005. I was over there to cover that election, and one of the reasons the Labour Party survived is that he made a pledge he would not lead the party in another general election. The issue is only when this would happen. So it's not a very dramatic piece of news. He is under pressure, of course, from his party to step down, and now he has announced that he would do that in the next year. Clearly, because of the concern about political damage and most of the political damage is, of course, his relationship with President Bush, the war in Iraq. But from President Bush's point of view, he will be very sad to lose Tony Blair as a key ally, but he is, I think, expecting that Blair's successor will also be willing to carry out most of the same policies.

GORANI: And will that be the case, is it likely to be the case or will the unpopularity of the Iraq war and other possibilities that Tony Blair and George W. Bush were so allied on, will that force the new leader to perhaps take another route?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I'm not sure the new leader is going to abandon the Iraq policy. I remember, I was in Britain when Gordon Brown and Tony Blair were having a press conference in 2005, and a reporter said to Mr. Brown, does he support Blair's policies on Iraq, and there was a thundering silence in the room. It was a very dramatic moment, and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Blair's apparent successor, said dramatically, yes, and Blair heaved a huge sigh of relief. Which means that basically he's on the same page. That could get Brown in some trouble. He may be challenged for the leadership of the Labour Party precisely because he says he supports the prime minister's policies on Iraq, and he may -- if and when he becomes prime minister, he may choose to modify some of the policy a bit so a lot of this remains to be seen. He is generally thought of as somewhat to the left of Tony Blair in his views.

GORANI: All right, Bill Schneider, senior political analyst. Thanks so much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

GORANI: Jim?

CLANCY: Well, changing the topic now. At least from politics to the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. We need more troops. That is the message from NATO's top commander there. He is urging member countries to send reinforcements to the southern part of the country. General James Jones says he has been surprised by the level of Taliban attacks in recent weeks. The rising number of attacks was front and center. As the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan held talks Thursday in the Afghan capital Kabul. Tim Lister has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than a year of political sniping, Presidents Musharraf and Karzai say they're at one in waging the war on terror. Musharraf admitted to Afghan officials and lawmakers in Kabul that Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were crossing into their country from Pakistan.

GEN. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: I completely agree that there are al Qaeda and Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Certainly they are crossing from Pakistan side and causing bomb blasts and terrorist activity in your country.

LISTER: But he insisted his government and Pakistan's Intelligence Service were not involved in promoting the Taliban.

MUSHARRAF: Did they want Pakistan to be like Taliban, Talibanized? No, sir. Nobody in Pakistan in their right senses ever wanted Pakistan to be Talibanized. Talibanization is not our future.

LISTER: An assurance offered in the wake of his decision to end the Pakistani army's offensive against Taliban fighters in North Waziristan, a staging ground for (INAUDIBLE) into Afghanistan. In return, the government expects pro-Taliban groups to eject foreign fighters associated with Al Qaeda and end cross-border attacks. President Karzai gave the new approach a cautious welcome, but some U.S. officials are concerned it will allow militants to roam freely. The Taliban is already causing more trouble to coalition forces than at any time since he was overthrown five years ago. With NATO's commander admitted, he has been surprised by the scale of the latest Taliban offensive. In Kunar Province along the Pakistani border, the U.S. 10th mountain division is trying to dislodge Taliban fighters in the Korangal(ph) Valley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is basically one of the -- I wouldn't say strongholds, but a place where the Taliban and al Qaeda have known to roam freely, and right now we're putting an end to that.

LISTER: But the Taliban has proved itself resilient, and further south in Kandahar, NATO commanders have caused for urgent reinforcements to help defeat the insurgents before the onset of winter. Tim Lister, CNN, Atlanta.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well she was held captive for eight years.

CLANCY: Incredible story. But Natascha Kampusch never gave up her hopes of escaping. She spoke about the ordeal in her first television interview. We're going to bring that to you in a moment. Plus --

GORANI: Fallout from George W. Bush's confirmation that secret CIA prisons actually exist. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back. We're seen live in more than 200 countries across the globe. CNN International, where you're watching us. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. Now, European lawmakers are demanding to know the location of secret CIA prisons around the world. This after U.S. President George Bush admitted to their existence in his third speech on the war against terrorism. Democrats say the timing of Mr. Bush's revelation has everything to do with the November elections. Ed Henry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president initially insisted his series of speeches about the war on terror wouldn't be political. Well, so much for that. In the third speech he acknowledged for the first time the existence of secret CIA prisons around the world. But sought to turn that to political advantage. Two months before the midterm elections. Once again, casting Republicans as the party that will keep America safe.

BUSH: This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they were able to kill.

HENRY: The president revealed that 14 senior members of al Qaeda previously in CIA custody have been transferred to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay so they can finally be prosecuted. Among them, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Abu Zabaydah, a field commander for Osama bin Laden. And Ramzi Binalsheibh, a would be 9/11 hijacker. Back in June the president had been dealt a major blow when the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals set up by the administration were unconstitutional and could not be used without a legislative framework. Now the president has sent congress legislation that he says would fix the problem. With victims of 9/11 families in the audience, the president played one of his political trump cards.

BUSH: As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, can face justice. [ applause ]

HENRY: Amid international outrage about the so-called black prisons, the president insisted techniques used on the detainees were tough but legal.

BUSH: I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world, the United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it, and I will not authorize it.

HENRY: And, the president claimed, the intelligence gleamed the from the CIA program thwarted terror plots in Britain, Asia, and the United States.

BUSH: Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.

HENRY: A year ago the president said some of these attacks were stopped, so Democrats immediately asked why the president is saying it again now on the eve of the election.

JANE HARMAN, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: I do think the timing is suspicious. For years many of us have been saying, the international world has been saying, and many litigants in court have been saying that his program violates the law and the constitution, and Congress is basically being told either take this program or you're coddling terrorists.

HENRY: Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: And now a very human story, a story of both strength and despair and most of all, a story of courage. For the first time since she escaped a kidnapper's grasp, young Natascha Kampusch is talking about years in captivity, and it's not just what she's saying. As Matthew Chance tells us, it's the way she tells her story. Here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For eight long years she was a terrified hostage. Age, just 10, abducted by a suspected pedophile as she walked to school.

NATASCHA KAMPUSCH, FORMER CAPTIVE: He grabbed me. I tried to scream but no sound came out. Yes, I was in desperation and very angry, I was upset with myself that I did not change the side of the street and that I did not go to school with my mother in her car. That was awful.

CHANCE: Now a young woman of 18, this is the first time Natascha Kampusch has spoken on camera since her dramatic escape last month, and the suicide of Wolfgang Priklopil soon after, the man who held her captive.

KAMPUSCH: I was fully aware that my escape would also be his death sentence because he always threatened me with suicide.

CHANCE: This was a kidnapping that shocked Austria. In 1998 police had searched the country, but found no trace of Natascha. All along she had been held in this tiny underground cell not 10 miles from her home. It had a bed and a toilet and a lot of books, but little else.

KAMPUSCH: It felt very claustrophobic in that small room. I threw water bottles against the walls or banged against them with my fists so that maybe someone could hear me. I don't know. It was harrowing and if he had not taken me up into the house at some point to have a bit more space to move, I think I might have gone crazy.

CHANCE: How long was it, she is asked, before he took you up to the house? Was it years? No, after a half a year she said, then I was allowed up to wash and to take a bath in the bathroom. Over the years Priklopil occasionally took Natascha out of the house into shops, even on a skiing trip. But all the time Natascha says she was closely watched.

KAMPUSCH: He was very careful. He barely left my side. He would show signs of panic every time I was more than three centimeters away from him. He always wanted me to walk in front of him and not behind him so he could keep me in view. I couldn't approach anyone because he threatened harm them if I spoke with them. He would kill or get rid of them.

CHANCE: And she was so terrified she couldn't even cry for help, she says.

KAMPUSCH: For example, the nice ladies in the home improvement stores, they would then ask, can I help you? And then I would just stand there completely intimidate and in panic. My heart pounding with (INAUDIBLE) and my circulation. Barely being able to move. I then just had to stand by helplessly while he got rid of the salespeople.

CHANCE: The exact nature of this relationship remains unclear, though police believe there was sexual contact. Natascha is unwilling to discuss this. It's the future she wants to talk about.

KAMPUSCH: I want to travel. For instance, go on a cruise with my family. Also, if I pass my Austrian high school graduation diploma, to go on a trip after completion of secondary school, but, of course, not with alcohol and partying, but a nice one. Not a summer splash or an all-inclusive, but, rather, something nice.

CHANCE: Something to make her life feel normal again. Now her eight-year nightmare has come to an end. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: What an incredible story.

GORANI: And a remarkable young lady.

CLANCY: Poise.

GORANI: Unbelievable after her eight-year ordeal, still to be able to sort of tell her story with that much confidence. All right. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, reporting from inside a war zone.

CLANCY: That's right. Coming up right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we'll speak with an Iraqi journalist who is intimately familiar with all the dangers.

GORANI: And Israel's most famous prisoner of war appears in a new documentary. Could it provide clues about Ron Irad's whereabouts? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again everyone. I'm Tony Harris from the CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. But first, a check of stories making headlines here in the United States.

Arrest in Arizona. Phoenix Police are holding a man linked to a serial killer case. The suspect has been charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. The charges are linked to the so-called baseline killer investigation. Police blame the baseline killer for nearly two dozen crimes over the past year. Eight killings, 11 sexual assaults. At this point police say forensic evidence ties the suspect to only two sexual assaults. The mayor praised the police work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PHIL GORDON, PHOENIX: We're fortunate today to have another monster off the street, and as the county attorney said, any time we can take a violent criminal off the street, that's a great day for this city and this county and for the entire community.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Police say they have no evidence indicating the suspect is the baseline killer.

President Bush on the road and on topic. Just last hour Mr. Bush finished his fourth speech in eight days. The common theme, security changes made since the 9/11 attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The Patriot Act has increased the flow of information within our government, and it has helped break up terror cells in the United States of America and the United States Congress was right to renew the terrorist act. The Patriot Act. [ applause ]

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And here's a closer look at the Patriot Act. It was enacted just 45 days after the attacks. It lowered the institutional barriers between law enforcement and the nation's intelligence agencies. And most notably, it broadened their powers for secret surveillance in terror investigations.

Hand over in Iraq. Iraq's prime minister today signed a deal to take command of the country's military forces. Iraq will take control of its eighth army division as well as its small naval and air forces. A U.S. military spokesman called the ceremony a huge significant event, but it's not clear when Iraqi forces will be prepared to take over their own security. The timing is key to any eventual drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Planes are landing at Beirut International Airport today. Israel lifted its nearly two-month-old air blockade. However, a naval blockade remains in place until international forces take over patrols. Israeli officials say that could happen within the next two days. Israel says it drew up the blockade to keep weapons shipments out of Hezbollah's hands.

A confirmation vote today for John Bolton scuttled. Bolton has been the U.S. ambassador at the U.N. for the past year, but he has never been formally confirmed by the Senate. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Luger took the nomination off today's agenda. He didn't explain, but it could be the committee was on course for a tie vote. President Bush temporarily put Bolton in the job last year while Congress was in recess. That move after Democrats repeatedly blocked a vote.

The battle against western wildfires. Montana fire crews say bees, bees are the latest challenge. Firefighters are getting stung 40 to 50 times each day. Some needed medical attention. The fire has scorched almost 290 square miles and 26 homes and west of Las Vegas, Nevada crews say a wildfire grew to more than 2,000 acres overnight. A highway near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area has been closed. No reports of injuries or structures in danger.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: How about this? A heavy hitter shakes hands with baseball's youngest champs, just about an hour-and-a-half ago. No, no, no, less than that. Half an hour ago, President Bush wrapped up his visit to Atlanta. He had a quick meeting with the newly-crowned winners of the Little League World Series. The youngsters are from nearby Columbus.

Coming up next in "CNN NEWSROOM" at the top of the hour, Kyra Phillips talks to a rancher who has lost almost 2,000 acres to wildfires in Montana.

Meantime, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break. I'm Tony Harris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. Here are the top stories we're following for you this hour.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he wants to leave his own way. He says he will step down within one year, but he is refusing so far to give a specific timeline for his departure. Mr. Blair led his Labour Party to three unprecedented consecutive victories in national elections, but his support for U.S. President Bush and the war in Iraq cost him in the polls.

CLANCY: NATO's top commander urging member states to send more reinforcements to the mission in southern Afghanistan. General James Jones saying this: his forces are a little surprised at the level of Taliban resistance. Jones says he does believe the situation will be resolved by the onset of winter. GORANI: Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch has gone public with details of her eight years in captivity. In her first TV interview, the teenager says she never gave up hope of breaking free, but was terrified of making a failed escape attempt. She says she now wants to get her high school diploma and go on a cruise with her family.

CLANCY: Well, turning now to the war in Iraq. Insurgents continue their attacks in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people. But a small portion of Iraq's armed forces now being placed directly under Iraqi operational control.

Michael Holmes joins us live from Baghdad, with a little bit more on this. Michael, what does it really mean? Is this a big step or just a small, well, what would we say, ceremony?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I'd say the latter, Jim. Major General William Caldwell calls it gigantic, however, and I suppose can you call it significant in a ceremonial sense. A formality, really. What we saw today was the handing over for command structure for Iraq's armed forces to the Iraqi government.

But let's put it in context. How many forces are ready to come under that command structure? Well, as it turns out, not that many. It includes the Navy and the Air Force. Now, the Air Force has just 800 members. We asked the Ministry of Defense how many were in the Navy. The spokesman didn't know. We estimate it to be about 600 or so men, and just one army division is involved.

Now, that's all that's ready for full Iraqi control. The country has 10 divisions, so in essence, 90 percent of the military isn't ready to come under Iraqi control as yet. Major General Caldwell saying divisions may be handed over at the rate of one or two a month in the months ahead, but that's by no means certain -- Jim.

CLANCY: What is the significance of all of this, though, for the strategy that the Iraqis, the U.S. and others, have laid out, that the Iraqis themselves are going to be standing up? You see it on the ground. How ready are they?

HOLMES: Well, not really, Jim, to be honest. I've been out with a couple of U.S. units as they've been conducting joint operations, and they are still very much in control. I think that the U.S. wants it to be seen that, more and more, they're handing over forces and responsibility to the Iraqis. But on the ground, it's not really happening that way.

And even the unit that was handed over today to Iraqi control, it was the army division that was involved in that firefight in Diwania, where they essentially got a bloody nose and had 23 of their own soldiers killed by militia members linked to the Madhi army.

So I think there's still a long way to go. And, of course, we still see the violence on the ground. As you said, 19 dead, 65 wounded. This day alone, a whole series of bombs and mortar attacks and drive-by shootings. And that's just here in Baghdad -- Jim. CLANCY: All right. Michael Holmes on the scene. Michael, we miss you and hope we see you soon. Michael Holmes, one of the members of our anchor team here on YWT. Thanks -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. We certainly do. A few more weeks, hopefully.

Since the Iraqi insurgency began, practicing journalism there has been fraught with danger, and that is just as true for Iraqi journalists as it is for those flown in from around the world, perhaps more so. The dangers, though, for them go beyond the insurgents.

Joining us now to talk about the problems and the future for Iraqi journalists is Ali Fadhil. Mr. Fadhil is a documentary filmmaker who's also worked with several Western media outlets to cover Iraq and the war there. Ali, thanks for being with us.

Tell us how dangerous it is for Iraqi journalists versus, say -- and we hear a lot about this in the Western media -- how dangerous it is for those who are flown in from around the world. What are the differences?

ALI FADHIL, IRAQI JOURNALIST: It's a big -- thank you very much, first. It's a big difference between the Iraqi and Western journalists in Iraq. You know Iraqi is now regarded as the blackest place for journalists around the world. Too many of them being killed, and it's maybe the worst country in the world for journalists.

As for us, as Iraqis, you know, we have the Iraqi identity, which is the one thing that cannot protect us from our own people, which I mean the security forces and including militias and other people. Of course, Westerners are as well intimidated and can be targeted by the same people, but they at least have immunity from the Iraqi forces, relative immunity from the Iraqi forces.

GORANI: So you're saying Iraqi journalists, it's not only the insurgency you have to worry about, it's the militia. It's sometimes the police. You're saying even the U.S. military's attitude toward Iraqi journalists has changed. Tell us about your own case.

FADHIL: It's really all people in Iraq, all sides that are fighting against journalists. And the problem is, we have nothing to bring -- we have nothing to defend ourselves. Only the -- what we are telling. So even the American army itself and the American administration in Iraq also is being involved in this fight against journalists.

My case -- actually, in January, last January 2006, my house was raided at the 8th of January, and by special forces from the American army. They used explosives on the door. They ruined all the furniture inside the house. They were searching for American journalist Miss Jill Carroll from the "Christian Science Monitor." And they accused me, they accused my family in the house, of being terrorists.

But as soon as I explained to them I'm a journalist, things, well, kind of moved and changed. Then they detained me for a night. Then they compensated me after they took me to a place with folded hands and hooded face, and I find myself in the green zone the next morning.

GORANI: Let me just jump in. You also faced suspicion from ordinary Iraqis, your neighbors. Local journalists don't usually reveal the fact that they work as journalists, because this puts them at risk as well.

FADHIL: That's true. It's not only on my case, it's everyone.

I'm a physician, and I switched from medicine into journalism, and that's how my people in the neighborhood I lived in knows me. I'm a doctor. I go to my hospital every morning. That's what they know. But in fact I'm a journalist.

GORANI: But now you're revealing yourself. You're telling the world you're a journalist, and you're going to go back to Iraq, I understand. What continues to drive you in this face of so many risks?

FADHIL: It's actually the situation in Iraq. I found myself useful to Iraq as a journalist more than as a doctor, and that's why it drives me to go back and report in Iraq, and I find myself very moved by this fact, and I find myself I can do a lot to my people in Iraq through the media.

GORANI: Let me ask you this, in other parts of the Middle East -- I'm thinking of countries like Syria, for instance -- local journalists who work there censor themselves essentially, because they know that if they go too far, they might get into trouble. How -- after the Saddam era -- presumably this happened during the Saddam years -- how do you shake that? How do you go from living in an authoritarian environment to being in an environment where you have a lot more freedom to write what you want?

FADHIL: That's actually the best thing that happened in Iraq, if I would say. Beside, we had cell phones in Iraq. We were able to report at any level in the government, at any level in the Iraqi -- in the American forces. We were sitting in conferences and questioning officials in the international zone, the Green Zone, under the observation of the Americans. So we have the best freedom in the region. Actually, our journalism, our media, started from April 9, 2003, I would say, and it's decades ahead of our counterparts in the other Arab countries. People in Syria, people in Iran, they cannot write the way we want. We can criticize the government at any level, we can reach at any level, but I wonder how long this will last.

GORANI: That is a big question, and at the risk of your life as well.

Many thanks, Ali Fadhil, a journalist there, for speaking to us on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: Another story from long ago. He's still Israel's most famous prisoner of war. GORANI: New video has surfaced on Ron Arad. It's part of a documentary, but what does it mean for Arad's family, his country, and for other captured Israeli soldiers? Stay with us.

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GORANI: You're with YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International where we're bringing our viewers around the globe the international perspective on the news of the day.

Now the Israeli air blockade of Lebanon has formally ended. The first commercial flight since the war began on July 12th have arrived in Lebanon. A Lebanese civilian airliner flying directly from Paris. That's an MEA flight there, circled the airport in Beirut before landing. The runways have been repaired, thankfully for the passengers in the planes, and workers are reporting to duty. The naval blockade, though, will remain. Lifting it has been postponed for 48 hours to give more time for an international force to be in place.

CLANCY: Well, Israel's extended air and sea blockage punished Lebanon, but failed utterly to half the resupply of arms and rockets to Hezbollah. That is the view of Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who told CNN before the announcement that the blockade was undermining being lifted. He said that the blockade was undermining moderates. It had no effect on Hezbollah, and actually had no help in strengthening the shaky cease-fire.

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WALID JUMBLATT, DRUZE LEADER: The cease-fire is very fragile. The blockade is useful, because the rockets and the weapons are not coming from the sea or from the airport; they're coming from the Syrian border. Still coming. So the blockade should be lifted.

And if the Israelis think that they can get back their prisoners through the blockade, it's wrong, just wrong, false assumption. And the people of Hezbollah and Hezbollah's constituency, they have nothing to lose, are just getting money with bags, billions of dollars, or millions of dollars.

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CLANCY: Hezbollah has been handing out stacks of hundred-dollar bills to residents who whose homes or apartments were destroyed in the month-long war. Iran is believed to have provided $700 million to Hezbollah to provide relief and upstage government efforts to rebuild efforts that hinge on an influx of international aid -- Hala.

GORANI: The recent conflict in southern Lebanon started after the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. Israel is extremely concerned when any of its troops are killed or missing in action. Now, new video of a captured Israeli airman has surfaced in a documentary.

As Paula Hancocks reports, both his family and his country are trying to figure out what it might mean, both for him and for the others who are still missing.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Ron Arad, Israel's most famous prisoner of war.

RON ARAD: I'm a soldier in the Israeli army.

HANCOCKS: It's the first time Arad's voice has been heard in 20 years. Seen smoking a cigarette in his cell, Arad talks in English about the pilot training he underwent.

This video is part of a documentary from Lebanese broadcaster LBC. Experts say the images were likely filmed before 1989. For Arad's family, it raises more questions than it answers.

CHEN ARAD, BROTHER OF RON ARAD: There's no doubt that somebody from the Hezbollah gave the video cassette to the Lebanese reporter, so now there's no doubt that this is a Hezbollah message now. The question is, what kind of message is it?

HANCOCKS: This is the moment Israeli airmen Ron Arad bailed out of his plane it was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. He was captured on the ground by the Shiite Amal (ph) organization. When negotiations for his release failed, it is believed he was sold to Hezbollah in 1988. Israel has a nationwide fixation with Ron Arad, in fact, with any soldier missing in action.

DAVID HOROWITZ, EDITOR, "JERUSALEM POST": Israel has always been extraordinarily vulnerable in terms of soldiers who go missing or are captured, even soldiers who are killed, wanting to get them back to, ideally of course alive, wanting to get bodies back, being prepared to agree to astoundingly asymmetrical exchanges.

HANCOCKS: This new documentary also focuses on previously unseen footage of the moment Hezbollah kidnapped three other Israeli soldiers in October 2000. The remains of the three soldiers were released four years later in a prisoner swap.

The release of all this new video at this time is particularly compelling to Israelis as the fate of three more kidnapped soldiers is unknown, one taken into Gaza, two into Lebanon. Mindful of failed negotiations to secure the release of Ron Arad, thousands of Israelis demonstrated last week to put pressure on the government not to let the same happen with the most recent military hostages.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

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CLANCY: All right, we're going to take a short break hear, but when we come back, a bit of a happier story. Panda-monium right here in Atlanta at the zoo.

GORANI: Get it, panda-monium?

We'll be right back.

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GORANI: Now to something warm and fuzzy. A U.S. zoo is celebrating a rare giant panda birth, and it is possible he or she may have a twin even. Rusty Dornin joins us from the Atlanta Zoo with details on that.

Hi, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been a lot of excitement here at the zoo in Atlanta, and now more watch and waiting. But before we show you their new edition, the new panda, we going to show you the male here. That's Yang-Yang. He is just chewing bamboo, which is what they do, of course, in the wild. And he also is being kept away from Lun-Lun and the baby.

And even in the wild it's not uncommon for the male panda to never see the baby that has been born, and, of course, here at Zoo Atlanta they're going to be keeping them apart as well. There is some concern even that there could be even violence if the two were brought together. But let's get to talking about the new edition here, of course, which has not been named. It has barely been born.

We're with Dennis Kelly, who is the president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta.

It was a long labor, record-breaking, right?

DENNIS KELLY, CEO, ZOO ATLANTA: Well, it was a record-breaking labor, Rusty, it was about 35 hours, and the longest we had seen before that was about 34 hours. The average is less than 24, so it was a long wait.

DORNIN: Is she going to be a good mother?

KELLY: She is being a fantastic mother. A first-time mom, we're nervous about it, but after this first squeal and her, sort of, surprise, she did exactly what we had hoped. She gently picked it up in her mouth, and she's been cradling it ever since.

DORNIN: Fifty percent of the time, there's a twin born. Is there any indication that she is going to give birth to another cub?

KELLY: Not right now. We've been monitoring her very closely for the last 24 hours. We're going to look at her closely for about 36 hours to see if there's another cub, but mom is doing great. We're just thankful that we've gotten one healthy cub at this point.

DORNIN: Now of course these pandas are on loan from the Chinese government, and, also, I understand, when the cubs are born, you also have to pay some kind of revenue or money with the Chinese for those cubs.

KELLY: We've agreed share any extraordinary profits with the Chinese on this cub, but you know, we're sending at $1.1 million a year. For Conservation China, going for great work in China, and we're very proud of the work that's being done.

DORNIN: Thank you very much, Dennis Kelly at Zoo Atlanta.

Very proud parents here, of course, waiting to see if another cub indeed will be born. They're allowing a little longer time because she took so long in labor, but as for now, they're on standby -- Paula.

GORANI: All right, Rusty Dornin at Zoo Atlanta. Thanks very much.

Thirty-five hours of labor, Jim. What do you make of that?

CLANCY: I can barely stand it.

GORANI: All right. That's -- whatever that means.

That's it for this hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY. Thanks for watching. I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: Here with a panda bear, I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN.

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