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MI5 Reports It's Following 30 Plots & 1,600 Suspects; Insurgents Take Credit for Rumsfeld Departure

Aired November 10, 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: Britain's domestic spy chief warning of dozens of terrorist plots involving hundreds of young British Muslims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody that was there, enemy, friendly -- everybody walked away changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A U.S. soldier in Iraq tells of horrific moments that lasted a lifetime for him.

CLANCY: A full parade it was not. But Israeli gays still find a way to fight for their rights and tolerance.

GORANI: And suspicious goings on at a castle in Italy fuels speculation of a wedding date for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

It's 5:00 p.m. in London, 7:00 p.m. in Jerusalem.

Hello and welcome. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

Glad to have you with us.

All right. We're going to begin our report this hour with an ominous warning from Britain's top counterspy who says the threat of terrorism in Britain is serious and growing. And it's going to last a generation.

GORANI: Well, MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller says her agency is tracking some 30 terrorist plots involving, according to her, some 1,600 homegrown suspects -- Jim.

CLANCY: And what's important is she's saying that the threat is changing. It could involve now chemical agents, radioactive material, even nuclear technology.

Robin Oakley is on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR (voice over): Londoners will never forget July 2005, when suicide bombers caused the deaths of 52 people. But what chance of a repeat or of an even worse terrorist attack?

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, director general of the MI5 security service, has given a stark warning of the extent of terrorist activity in Britain and of its coordination by al Qaeda, which she calls an organization without restraint, giving guidance and training to its British foot soldiers on an extensive and growing scale.

(on camera): Since last July, Dame Eliza says police and officers here at MI5 headquarters have thwarted five major conspiracies, saving perhaps thousands of lives. Ninety-nine suspects are awaiting trial in 34 cases, 200 networks are being monitored by police and security services. These involve more than 1,600 individuals engaged in planning terrorist acts in Britain or overseas. And 30 major plots are being investigated.

(voice over): Dame Eliza warns, "Resilient networks, some directed from al Qaeda in Pakistan, some more loosely inspired by it are planning attacks, including mass casualty suicide attacks in the U.K."

And things could get worse. "Today we see the use of home-made improvised explosive devices. Tomorrow's threat may include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactivity materials and even technology."

She's worried, she revealed, by the rapid radicalization of those who perceive worldwide injustices against Muslims, like these young men in Walthamstow filmed by CNN watching and applauding a video sympathetic to al Qaeda.

Security chiefs rarely go public, but Dame Eliza even did so with a time scale. "The threat is serious, is growing and will, I believe, within us for a generation."

Some Muslim organizations greeted that with skepticism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Convenient, isn't it? So for a generation, they can continue to get the money they want at taxpayers' expense. And that means also that for a generation this skewed foreign policy is not going to change. That means we are going to continue to go on, fight wars and import ourselves on other peoples.

OAKLEY: But while the Muslim Council of Britain urged that Muslims should not be treated as a suspect community, they acknowledged the threat to British lives. Intelligence experts said Dame Eliza's remarks were designed to keep the public on guard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eliza Manningham-Buller never says anything unless she's thought about it very, very carefully. I think in one sense she wants to warn the public the threat is sustained. And just because there haven't been attacks for sometime doesn't mean to say there won't be some in the future. It takes time to train up agents and to get them involved in communities that they're interested in. So there is a real manpower problem in MI5.

OAKLEY: That, too, could have been a motivation for an unusual intervention. The security services have had their strength increased by 50 percent since 9/11, but they're clearly overstretched. And the fear is their numbers are not rising fast enough to keep pace with the increasing terrorist threat.

Robin Oakley, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: U.S. President George W. Bush spending more time with Democrats than usual. Even after this election victory. Right now, he is meeting with the likely new leaders of the Senate.

There's been a lot of talk about bipartisanship. So far, it's just talk. But that can only go so far.

Dana Bash takes a closer look now at what may lay ahead and who some of the key players are likely to be.

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DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Giddy Democratic leaders took a victory lap.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: The election's over. It's time for a change.

(APPLAUSE)

BASH: Soon-to-be majority leader Harry Reid promised bipartisanship, but not before taking a swipe at Republicans.

REID: They've set a very bad example in not working with us. We're not following that example.

BASH: And at the White House, the presumptive speaker of the House promised to work with the president, up to a point.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE LEADER: We have our differences. And we will debate them. And that is what our founders intended. But we will do so in a way that gets results for the American people.

BASH: The shift in power means Democrats, not Republicans, will set the agenda across Capitol Hill and take top posts. Liberal congressman Charlie Rangel is likely to chair the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Senator Robert Byrd, who says the White House spends money on wrong things, will head Appropriations. Joe biden, who wants to partition Iraq, will lead the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Democrats promise to make good on broad campaign pledges. First and foremost, changing course in Iraq. SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: The American soldiers are losing their lives. I don't think we can wait. I don't think we can ask them to wait.

BASH: For now, Democrats want a bipartisan summit to discuss the war. And besides Iraq, they have other plans.

REID: We have to have results in doing something to make healthcare more affordable and more available. We have to do something to create energy and dependence.

BASH: One irony, a guest worker program for illegal immigrants, a top Bush priority his own party blocked, will likely pass with the Democratic Congress.

(on camera): But the Democrats are taking control of the Senate by a razor-thin margin, 51-49. And because of the Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to get most legislation through the Senate.

(voice over): So Republicans can block anything they don't like.

SEN. JOHN SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: If we're talking about raising tax, the answer's no. If we're talking about spending more money in areas where we've already spent a tremendous amount of money without result, the answer's going to be no.

BASH: Controlling the Senate means Democrats get to pass judgment on the president's picks for government jobs. And they're already warning the White House to think twice, especially when nominating judges.

DURBIN: Don't send us political extremists. There was a time when the president was successful doing that. But I think that time has passed.

BASH: Yet the party thrilled about having power again is well aware it must use that power carefully, not lurch too far left, govern from the middle.

Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, the chief of Iraq's al Qaeda wing is claiming in a purported audio recording that the insurgency is what drove U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from office. He also had some words for the U.S. president, George Bush.

Michael Ware is live from Baghdad with more.

I remember, Michael, a few days ago you said, "It wouldn't surprise me if, in one of these recordings, we heard those al Qaeda militants use the Donald Rumsfeld resignation in a propaganda tape." And here you go, you have it.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Hala. I mean, this was too good an opportunity with so much political upheaval in Washington for the insurgency and for al Qaeda not to try and capitalize upon it.

The first out of the blocks was an Iraqi Shia politician, backed by a very powerful militia. He said this was a sign of American defeat. Then we had the Sunni Islamic Army of Iraq say that this was a triumph, a victory for the insurgency.

Now we see al Qaeda's leader in Iraq take it further. He's actually taunting the U.S. administration, calling President Bush a lame duck and Secretary Rumsfeld a coward, saying to Secretary Rumsfeld, "We've not yet had enough of your blood. Come to the battlefield."

He says the day of victory for the Islamic state of Iraq has come sooner than expected and America has no choice now but to run. So this very much is by the numbers, as you point out -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. And another thing is, before 2003, it would take weeks, sometimes months before an al Qaeda tape or videotape would come out mentioning a news event. Here we're looking at 24 hours, churning those tapes out like a well-oiled P.R. machine.

WARE: Oh, absolutely. And we've seen this develop since the -- since the advent of the insurgency in 2003.

We've watched their levels of sophistication rise. Not only on the battlefield, but in terms of their information messages, from the very raw and clunky videotapes we first received in 2003, to the very slickly-produced productions we get now.

We've also seen them operating in real time, as you highlight. They're watching these elections very closely. The Islamic Army of Iraq referring in detail to Speaker-Elect Pelosi, and now we have Al Qaeda in Iraq coming out and leaping on this.

Now, remember, this is a group that started as a handful of Jordanians in a camp in Harat in Afghanistan that became the notorious group led by Zarqawi, known as Tawid al-Jihad (ph), became Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Mujahideen Shura Council. Now we see them create the Islamic state of Iraq with its own (INAUDIBLE). And that's who -- he's saying, "I now have 12,000 fighters to give you."

So this, it's from here that this generational war that British intelligence talks about is going to come from -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. Michael Ware, live in Baghdad.

Thanks, Michael.

CLANCY: Well, violent riots in southern China captured on videotape.

GORANI: Just ahead, we'll have a live report from our Beijing bureau chief about what triggered these protests.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody's got to do it. I guess I'm that somebody.

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CLANCY: And in his own brave worlds, we look back on an American soldier and his very tough mission in Iraq.

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GORANI: Well, welcome back. We're seen live around the globe.

This is your YOUR WORLD TODAY.

The main stories we're following for you this hour from around the world.

President Bush and Democrats making nice following a Democratic sweep in Congress. An insurgent message from Iraq as well. And we will look at this, frank words about the terrorist threat in Britain.

CLANCY: And we want to take a closer look now at the war in Iraq. The U.S. is preparing, of course, to mark Veterans Day. This, a time when the country remembers those who serve and many of those who paid the ultimate price. And on the eve of this day, a grim reminder of the ongoing war in Iraq and the toll, not just on Americans fighting in Iraq, but also on the Iraqi people themselves.

Numbers for Iraqi civilian casualties have been hard to come by. And honestly, do we know which numbers are exact? We don't. But the estimates vary anywhere from 50,000 to 600,000, and that's according to so-called experts.

Well, now the Iraqi Health Ministry estimates 150,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion in 2003. Now, this is a figure that includes civilians, police, and those who were abducted and whose bodies were later found.

Now U.S. casualties, we take a look at that, 2,843 U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Two more servicemen were added to that toll this day.

Well, amid the daily violence in Iraq, military doctors struggling to save the lives of soldiers and civilians. CNN crews recently had exclusive access to some of the doctors, the nurses, and the victims at the 10th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.

This weekend we're going to be airing a special. It's called "Combat Hospital," taking a close look at the work of the medics. And it's remarkable work that they do in the war zone.

Here's just an excerpt.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your left toes, it looks like you're going to lose a little bit of the -- the end of it, right at the toenails there. Just a tip off the big toe and maybe the second toe in. Just the tip.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like the toenail part.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will I still be able to walk?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hell yes. Of course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be able to do...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doctor, this isn't my first barbecue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really/ You've been through this before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the second time I've been -- I actually just went through...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to stop visiting us. But we appreciate you taking one of the team. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I hate you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we love you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we love you, too.

Man, you don't want to be like a frequent flyer with us. That's never a good sign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, that guy served his country. I mean, what more can you ask? Wounded twice in action, plus the fear of every day going out and you never know if you're going to get wounded again.

That guy's a hero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: "CNN PRESENTS, "Combat Hospital," premiering this weekend. You can see the complete documentary this Saturday at 07:00 Greenwich Mean Time.

It is hard enough to be wounded in war. But then to recover alone in a military hospital or a hotel far away from home and family, well, that's harder still.

Soledad O'Brien brings us the story of an organization working to make the recovery of war veterans just a bit easier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When an IED, an improvised explosive device, blew up under Sergeant Brian Fountaine's Humvee back in June, his injuries were devastating. He had to fight to stay alive.

SGT. BRIAN FOUNTAINE, WOUNDED IN IRAQ WAR: You can see my driver screaming, my gunner just, you know, freaking out. And you see me laying there with pools of blood forming on the bottom side of my legs.

You just kind of sit there and you're, like, "All right. I've got a choice. I can either sit here, lay back and die, or I can save myself." Well, I chose the latter.

O'BRIEN: Today he is still fighting to recover. Just 24 years old, Brian lost both legs. They've been amputated below the knee.

FOUNTAINE: They might have took from me, you know, a physical part of my body, but they'll never take from me the fighting spirit.

O'BRIEN: Now it is an excruciating battle to get better. It was made worse for Brian, who was separated from his family and his girlfriend while being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

FOUNTAINE: Everything hurts my back.

O'BRIEN: Now Fountaine is being helped by the Fisher House, a nonprofit organization in D.C.

Ken Fisher is the chairman of the foundation which provides homes for families and loved ones of hospitalized military personnel and veterans.

KEN FISHER, CHAIRMAN, FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION: Our troops today don't make policy. They're out there to do a job, and that is to defend this nation. And Fisher House Foundation is there to support them and their families because, quite frankly, the need is there.

O'BRIEN: More than 21,000 American soldiers have been wounded in combat in Iraq. Ken Fisher says these homes away from home are crucial to a soldier's recovery.

FISHER: It's not just having a place to sleep, but it's also having people to help you. So it's the support network that forms in the houses, which is a byproduct of the foundation.

O'BRIEN: Brian lives free of charge at the Fisher House with his girlfriend, Mary Long.

MARY LONG, BRIAN FOUNTAINE'S GIRLFRIEND: Just not having to worry, being able just to be here and see for my own eyes that he's walking, see for my own eyes that he's getting better, that this problem is going away. I'm so grateful for it.

FOUNTAINE: When I first started walking, one of the first things that I did was I took her up and I held her hand. And for the first time since we started dating, I was able to just walk down the hall and hold her hand at the same time.

You know, other people might take that for granted. That was huge. That was huge.

O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Soldiers on the front lines of the war in Iraq or the battle zones of Afghanistan reflect often on their mission, on their lives, and how they put one at risk to accomplish the other. It's rare to overhear those very private thoughts, but that is exactly what our own Arwa Damon did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm specialist Will Mock (ph) from Harper, Kansas, with 22 Infantry here in Falluja. Mission accomplished.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was during the fight for Falluja in November 2004 when we got to know the soldier everyone simply called Mock (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like every other man, distressed, a little scared. But, you know, this is what we do. And I thought about telling my family about it, but no way. I didn't want them to worry.

How would I describe Falluja to someone else that had never been there? First I'd say, "You might want to rethink about going." And say, "Make your peace with God, because you might not come back."

It's a living hell. It was a living hell. Some moments lasted a lifetime.

DAMON: No pretenses with Mock (ph), not about the mission, not about his love for being a soldier, despite all the emotional turmoil of his experiences.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's not only me that's changed. I think everybody that was there, enemy, friendly, everybody walked away changed. The ways that we changed, you have a different outlook on life. You don't take nearly as much for granted. And when you tell your girlfriend or your mother, father, "Hey, I love you," you really mean it.

This right here is my family.

DAMON: He was afraid then of going back home to Kansas, worried he had changed too much. His motto, tattooed on both arms, "Strength and honor."

A tough soldier, apologizing to us for being rough around the edges. He wasn't. In many ways, still the gentleman his family brought him up to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no reason in me saying, "Hey, Ma," you know, "I got shot at a lot today." Or, "Hey, Ma, we had to fight the enemy and, you know, some people didn't make it out, friendly and foe." It's just something better left untalked about.

DAMON: His first one-year tour of duty finally ended in February 2005.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big relief. Overwhelming joy. You've got a deep feeling of our part is completed here.

Nobody wants to die out here. Even though the soldiers would for our country, any of them would, that's not a question.

I heard my grandfather once say, "Somebody's got to do it." I goes I'm that somebody.

Every time we lose soldiers and we have our ceremonies here for the fallen comrades, and they play the "Taps" for those men, that's probably the moments that will stay in my mind more than ever. From now until the day that I die, every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, when I go to the local cemetery in Hartford, Kansas, and they play "Taps," I'm sure I'll -- it will hit me pretty hard then.

DAMON: This Veterans Day they will be playing taps for him. Mock (ph) re-deployed to Iraq in August of 2006. The last time we saw him was on a rooftop in eastern Baghdad.

Twenty days later, on October 22nd, Mock (ph) was killed by a roadside bomb. One of 11 killed in Iraq that weekend. At his memorial, his commanders and his men echoed his motto, "Strength and honor, Sergeant Mock (ph)."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

We'll be back.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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CLANCY: Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us live from London to discuss some of these new terror findings.

Nic, you've been on this story a lot. People say they're shocked, they're surprised, 1,600 British Muslims being tracked by MI- 5. But really, are they seeing the whole picture? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, as the head of MI-5 said, they may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg, Jim, those 1,600 people, the ones that they know about who are active and involved in plotting or planning terrorism here or abroad. There may be many, many more people. And in the statement that's now been made public, it's very clear she's very concerned, not just that this is going to go on for another generation, but that MI-5 is not capable this time of dealing with the level of this problem. She's very concerned about the number of people who are going from being sort of sympathizers to radical extremist, prepared to take part in acts of terrorism. She's very concerned about the age of people who are doing that at this time.

So the concerns are there. And the subtext that experts told me about -- I spoke to a senior former officer, used to be in the CIA, said to me, the subtext here is quite clear. The situation in Britain, as far as MI-5 is concerned, is out of control. And he has the utmost respect for MI-5. And analysts here are saying the same thing -- Jim.

CLANCY: What are the Americans saying, then, about their own predicament?

ROBERTSON: They're saying we should take -- we should look at the situation in Britain and be aware, that if this is the problem in Britain, potentially there's a similar problem in the United States.

Law enforcement in the United States is very aware of this. Just last weekend, I attended a conference in New York between Pakistani community, both young people and senior leading members in that community, and the FBI and homeland security. They're actively trying to recruit members of that community into those agencies. Because they want to understand what's happening in their community. And that's really what the head of MI-5 was saying, that -- in her statement, is the solution here in Britain is understanding the community that's going to lead to resolving these problems.

But as one analyst told me today, he said, look what was happening in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. These training camps for terrorists were still active. That came on the heels, five years after winning their battles against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. They saw the -- the jihadists saw this as a success, and they will see, he said, an (INAUDIBLE) situation in Iraq, and he predicted the United States would lose. This is a former CIA officer in the CIA, predicted that the groups, the jihadi groups, will see Iraq, see Afghanistan, as successes for them. And this will make them continue in the vein that they're in right now. That's why the problem is so big and will go on for such a long time, in the eyes of all these experts -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right, some pretty sobering analysis there, being relayed to us by Nic Robertson, who's been talking with both U.S. and British intelligence officials. Thank you very much for that, Nic.

GORANI: The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, hinted he will step down and not head a unity government, but only in exchange for Western aid. Hamas has been trying to form a government with the Fatah faction as a way to lift a western embargo. But the prime minister says Western powers don't want him to be part of the new information, and he would like to see the suffering end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISMAIL HANIYEH, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER: They have one condition, that the siege will not be lifted unless the prime minister is changed. When the issue is like this, the siege on one hand, the prime minister on the other, I prefer the siege be lifted and the suffering ended.

Well, an international aid boycott has devastated some parts of the Palestinian economy -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right, we're going to take you now to the White House there George W. Bush has been meeting with key Senate Democrats today. Let's listen.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Elections are over. The problems haven't gone away. And I assured the senators that we will cooperate as closely as we can to solve common problems. Of course, I said this after I congratulated them on great victories. I know they were proud of their team's efforts and they ran good campaigns. And they talked about issues that people care about and they won. And my attitude about this is that there is a great opportunity for us to show the country that Republicans and Democrats are equally as patriotic, and equally concerned about the future and that we can work together. You know, Senator Reid and I are both from the west. I'm from west Texas. He's from Nevada. And we tend to speak the same language, pretty plain-spoken people, which should, you know bode well for our relationship. I appreciate you all coming. I'm really looking forward to working with you.

SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: Mr. President, thank you for having us here. This has been an excellent discussion. We've talked about issues that are important to our country. Election's over. The only way to move forward is with bipartisanship and openness, and get some results. We've made a commitment, the four of us here today, that's what we're going to do.

BUSH: Thank you, sir. Dick, you want to say something?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I thank the president and vice president for meeting with us. We talked on a lot of important issues. On Veterans Day, we talked alot about Iraq and our soldiers and their families, which mean so much to all of us.

We talked about our agenda and moving forward on our agenda, finding things we can agree on to start off on the right foot. I think that's important. This is a day for looking forward, as we should, instead of looking backwards to past battles and past elections. I do want to say thanks personally to the president and vice president for their conciliatory gesture by wearing blue ties today. From our side, we think that is a symbolic indication and we're off to a good start. BUSH: I was hoping you would notice, senator. Thank you, all. Good job. Thank you very much. Yes, appreciate you. Thank you.

CLANCY: Well, there you have it as the lights go dim there. The honeymoon still very much on -- they are all smiles and handshakes, congratulations and pledges, commitments to work together between the White House and Capitol Hill. Important political developments. All right.

GORANI: Even a few tie jokes. All right, a lot more ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: For once, fundamentalist Muslims and Jews can agree on one thing.

GORANI: Well,they don't like what they see taking place at a stadium in Jerusalem.

CLANCY: And then a bit later, a castle fit for a Cruise and a Kat?

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CLANCY: Welcome back. Seen live in more than 200 countries all across the globe, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy, alongside Hala Gorani.

A gay pride rally in Jerusalem today has become the flash point for gay rights in Israel. The annual event has drawn conflicting points of view between secular Israeli society and religious conservatives. For an in-depth look at the issue, let's take it over to Hala.

GORANI: All right, thanks Jim. Absolutely, contentious debate. That's putting it mildly. Organizers of the gay pride rally in Jerusalem say they want to promote understanding, tolerance, and open- mindedness. But, Orthodox Jews see it as a provocation against the religion and oppose the event vehemently. Paula Hancocks reports from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's exactly what a few thousand gays, lesbians and civil rights activists did Friday -- singing and dancing in a Jerusalem stadium, under heavy security. One policeman for every reveler. Flamboyant, certainly, but still toned down. A full parade through the streets of the holy city was canceled after Palestinians threatened retaliatory attacks following the Israeli shelling that killed 19 civilians in Gaza this week. And ultra orthodox Jews had threatened to disrupt the parade, holding nightly protests and clashing with police. They view homosexuality as an abomination.

YOAV ARAD, GAY ACTIVIST: They request that we would be considerate to their feelings, while they're calling us an abomination. Demand we would not go into Jerusalem because it might provoke violence, when they're the ones being violent.

HANCOCKS: Yoav Arad and Etai Pinkas have been gay activists for the past eight years, fighting for the same rights and tolerance given to other minority groups.

ETAI PINKAS, GAY ACTIVIST: We got married in Toronto, which was very nice, with the snow and everything. But this is not possible in Israel. And we can't even register our marriage here in Israel.

HANCOCKS: The two believe gay pride rallies like this are imperative to chip away at what they call religious leaders' homophobia.

HANCOCKS (on-camera): It's not the parade through the streets of Jerusalem that they wanted, but it's still not a bad location. The rally is right next to the Israeli parliament and also the prime minister's office, so it will be very difficult for the powers that be to ignore their message.

ARAD: I think people who are working to keep women oppressed, to keep Arabs oppressed, to keep homosexuals oppressed, are a part of the past. And I think the future is ours.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): There was disappointment among the revelers that their celebration was confined to one stadium. But also an understanding peculiar to Israelis.

PINKAS: Many events have to be be in closed areas because of security reasons. We have to be considerate. There's been bombing in Gaza and hundreds of threats of terror this week so I think we also have to be responsible.

HANCOCKS: Authorities breathed a sigh of relief as the day went by with little trouble. A tricky balancing act of security, freedom of expression, and religious sensitivity.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, let me give you a picture of what it's like to be gay in Israel. There is opposition, we heard, from conservative religions, but many cities in Israel do have thriving gay scenes, as compared to the rest of the Middle East.

The Israeli military for instance is banned from discriminating against gays. Homosexuals are drafted into the army for mandatory service like anyone else and are given the opportunity to progress up the ranks according to the military. But, efforts by the gay community to win approval for same-sex marriage as we saw there in Paula's piece, facing a major obstacle in Israel. Secular groups have been fighting to get a law passed in parliament, but Jewish religious authorities who hold a monopoly over Jewish marriage and divorce vehemently and strongly oppose that measure.

All right, well gay pride festivals have been held each year in Jerusalem in recent years. But, this time, the event was billed as bigger and better, causing greater outrage. Jewish leaders say allowing the rally to take place is surrendering to mental illness, while gay rights activists say attacking gays goes against the main teachings of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths. Earlier, we spoke to leaders from both sides of the issue.

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RABBI YEHUDA LEVIN, JEWS FOR MORALITY: This is called, for millennia, the Holy Land, it's the Holy Land, not the homo-land. It's not appropriate to have this kind of display, the kinds of things they say and they do in these parades is really offensive to the average religious family person. Say that they tried to do this in Mecca or Vatican City or Cairo or the Holy City of Najaf, they wouldn't be allowed to do it. Why should Jerusalem be second rate? All the Gentiles and Jews in the world call this the Holy Land for millennia. It's inappropriate.

HAGAI ELAD, GAY RALLY ORGANIZER: I think that wounds Judaism more than it wounds gay rights. That's a complete distortion of what Jewish values are all about and that's part of my own heritage. It's not only the heritage of Rabbi Levin with all due respect. And part of what we're doing in Jerusalem is also to challenge this fundamentalist interpretation of God's word and of what Jerusalem is about.

This is a world city with a unique symbolic significance. And we will not give in to people's rude attempts to both monopolize this symbol and, at the same time, use it against human rights and against respect for other human beings.

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GORANI: A heated debate and it won't go away anytime soon really in a region where tradition and religion play such a large role in daily life. That's it for this look though. Now, Jim, back to you.

CLANCY: All right, Hala, thanks a lot. Fascinating examination of all of that. Some interesting comments, whatever your opinions may be. Much more to come right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, including a romantic wedding in this medieval Italian town. It looks like something out of a movie. "Mission Impossible" for Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Just maybe.

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GORANI: Well, it's a typical Hollywood love story. First, the paparazzi, then the paparazzi and then third the baby and then fourth the wedding.

CLANCY: That's right, typical. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are going to be married somewhere in Italy next weekend. Alessio Vinci's going on the prowl. He's looking for the actual location of the TomKat wedding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a castle where "Top Gun" will soon become top groom. The word is spreading fast in Bracciano, a medieval town outside of Rome, overlooking a volcanic lake.

Reports in a Roman newspaper sets off a rush of journalist. And the castle, usually open to the public, has been closed until the end of the month. "No filming or question allowed as to why," says this woman at the ticket office.

In town, locals notice unusual police activity outside the mayor's office and the aristocratic owners of the castle ask that the piazza below the main entrance be closed off to traffic on November 18th, the date Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are believed to have set to tie the knot.

The mayor insists it's not the first time the piazza has been cleared of traffic. Then she acknowledged Tom Cruise is every Italian woman's dream, herself included. So the town cannot be caught off guard. "So many women lust after an international star like Tom Cruise," she says, "and it's also an opportunity for the world to get to know our town."

But this could all be a publicity stint. True or not, locals are bracing for what could be the largest party they've ever seen. "I'll be staking out the castle from the night before," she says. Her mother even gave her permission to skip school for a day.

The rumor mill suggests the wedding will be a three-day affair. A rehearsal dinner on the 16th, a Catholic wedding the next day and the final ceremony on November 19th. But wait, a Catholic wedding? Not so, says the local priest. Although Katie Holmes is Catholic, Tom Cruise is divorced. And, of course, a prominent member of Scientology, a sect the Vatican disapproves of, by which many speculate will play a main role in the wedding.

(on camera): But despite all the buzz, the owners of the castle say they know nothing about the wedding. But even if they did, they wouldn't be able to say much anyway. Local media here report that anyone involved with the preparations of the wedding had to swear secrecy or pay a penalty of up to $1 million. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Bracciano, near Rome.

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CLANCY: Well, a bright green Christmas tree now rises among the gray skyscrapers of Manhattan.

GORANI: And a sure sign that the holiday season is nearly upon us. How many days left? Two months it seems like. Workers are putting up the giant tree at New York's Rockefeller Center.

CLANCY: Now the Norway spruce was trucked in from Connecticut overnight. It's about 30 meters tall and it weighs, get this, nine tons.

GORANI: Wow.

CLANCY: It's a big one. That's it for this hour. I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. Stay with CNN.

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