[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Terror warning. Are U.S. interests in Africa once again targeted for attack? An urgent appeal to save a peace plan.
[Colin Powell, Secretary Of State:] You must not allow terrorists to win.
[Blitzer:] How Jerusalem residents are coping.
[Unidentified Male:] I think the price of going to something like this
[Blitzer:] Is Saddam Hussein still alive? Tips, intercepts and possible sightings. The latest from U.S. intelligence. A comrade lost to a sniper's bullet.
[Unidentified Male:] Always looking forward to going home and going to see his son.
[Blitzer:] Arizona ablaze. Fire sweeps through a mountainside community. Wild about William. And wild about Harry. A big weekend for two British lads. Thanks very much for joining us. We're following many developments, including the latest on Secretary of State Colin Powell's talks here in Jerusalem as well as in Jericho with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Much more on that coming up. But first, we begin with a developing story. Word of a possible terror plot against the United States interests in Africa. Nearly five years after terrorists destroyed two U.S. embassies there, there's an urgent warning that the new U.S. embassy in Kenya may be targeted. Let's go live to CNN's Barbara Starr. She has details at the Pentagon Barbara.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, this all began because yesterday the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency issued a terrorism threat warning to U.S. government authorities warning them about the possibility of what they said was an imminent terrorist attack against U.S. interests in Kenya. The Pentagon said that information was specific, was credible, and was tied to the al Qaeda, which of course, has operated in east Africa for years. And today, indeed, the State Department shut down the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, that embassy rebuilt after the 1998 bombing of the original U.S. embassy in Nairobi. The State Department was not clear today about when it plans to reopen the building.
[Philip Reeker, State Department Spokesman:] We do expect that the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, will remain closed Monday and Tuesday, but obviously we'll keep you current on that as the weekend goes by and those days arrive.
[Starr:] The Pentagon also said in this classified report that it now considers the threat level in Kenya to be high. And by Pentagon standards, there's some very unsettling words about what that means. The Pentagon says that means that anti-U.S. terrorists are operating actively in the region, and that they may be planning to use large mass-casualty-producing attacks against U.S. facilities. That's what led the Pentagon to raise the warning level in Kenya the threat of that. And of course, again, Kenya being an area of ongoing concern to the United States, even after 1998. Several months ago, of course, the attack against the Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa, concerns that the al Qaeda was basically casing airports in Kenya, leading to a cutback in commercial air traffic there. But this latest warning is said to be very specific, very credible. New, fresh information about the concerns about a possible terrorist attack in east Africa Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Very ominous development. Thanks very much. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Let's continue at the Pentagon. There's new indications that Saddam Hussein is alive. For that, let's bring in our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He's following this story Jamie.
[Jamie Mcintyre, Cnn Senior Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, Wolf. While the fate of Saddam Hussein remains uncertain, U.S. intelligence analysts are increasingly becoming convinced that he's alive in Iraq, especially based on evidence or intelligence that has collected over the past few weeks.
[Mcintyre:] Excavation of the two sites in Baghdad where the U.S. tried to kill Saddam Hussein with decapitation air strikes has produced no evidence he was at either place. And U.S. officials say scraps of information from local citizens and in interrogations of captured regime members, have convinced many U.S. intelligence analysts it's likely Saddam is alive and hiding in Iraq. But the official U.S. government answer from the White House on down is no one knows.
[Lt. Gen. Jay Garner , Former Iraqi Administrator:] I talked to Iraqis that told me he was alive and I have talked to Iraqis that told me he's dead. Those that said he's alive generally outnumber those that said he was dead. I don't know whether he is alive or dead.
[Mcintyre:] U.S. officials tell CNN General Abid Hamid Mahmud, Saddam Hussein's closest confident has been talking since his capture by U.S. Special Operations forces Monday, but officials won't characterize what he's saying. And Pentagon sources say so far, most senior regime members haven't disclosed much of value. A U.S. Special Operations team, code name "Task Force 20", which took part in the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, is spearheading the manhunt for the fugitive Iraqi leader, and Pentagon officials continue to express confidence they'll get him.
[Victoria Clarke, Pentagon Spokeswoman:] It's important to get final determination, as I call it, of his status or his whereabouts, as we want to have all of the Iraqi leadership. And we'll do it. We're working through the now infamous deck of cards. We're working through that pretty significantly. And we will get there.
[Mcintyre:] U.S. commanders believe that getting Saddam Hussein is key to stopping the attacks that have been inflicting almost daily casualties against U.S. forces. The Pentagon has been reluctant to say the U.S. is fighting guerrillas, but this week on Capitol Hill, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said as much, saying it was a guerrilla war, but one that he insisted the U.S. would win Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thanks, Jamie, very much. Here in the Middle East there are dramatic developments unfolding as the U.S. braces possibly for an explosion another round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. One reason why President Bush dispatched one of his top diplomatic troubleshooters to the region. Unfortunately for Secretary of State Colin Powell, he found himself in yet another familiar predicament, his latest effort to promote peace a disappointment. Not much headway, at least not in public. He and his aides have been hoping to get word from Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, that Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups would accept a cease-fire in their terror attacks against Israel. The best Abbas could offer Powell publicly, following their talks in the West Bank town of Jericho, was a promise to keep trying.
[Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister:] I am confident highly confident that we will reach an agreement with all these organizations.
[Blitzer:] Earlier, following a separate round of talks with Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, in Jerusalem, the Secretary of State lashed out at Hamas.
[Powell:] The enemy of peace has been Hamas, especially over the last two weeks.
[Blitzer:] To that, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the Hamas leader, who was nearly assassinated by the Israelis in Gaza earlier this month, lashed right back at Powell.
[Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Hamas Leader:] He is totally with the Israeli terror against Palestinian rights. He is an enemy to Palestinians.
[Blitzer:] While the war of words was playing out, yet another deadly incident. An Israeli motorist driving through the West Bank was shot and killed. Three other passengers wounded, two seriously. Israeli military sources blame Palestinian gunmen. It is precisely these kinds of attacks that strengthen Prime Minister Sharon's refusal to abandon his policy of targeting suspected terrorists for assassination despite urgings from Washington.
[Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister:] We have to make sure there are no independent terror organizations on the ground. The terror organizations must be fought.
[Blitzer:] Despite the disappointment, top Bush administration officials promised to keep on pushing. To underline President Bush's commitment to advance his road map, hailed by all sides only two weeks ago at the Aqaba Summit, he's dispatching his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to the region next week in an effort to pick up where Powell left off. And Israelis and Palestinians say they're deeply looking forward to that visit by Condoleezza Rice. Much more news coming up, including this. Off the rails. Dramatic developments happening right now. We'll go live to California, where an out of control train barreled into nearby homes. Plus, blazing Arizona. Fire season goes up in flames. And... If you just arrived in Jerusalem unaware of the history of this city, you would never know how real the terror threat is. That's because the people who here are not determined to let the terrorists win. They go on with their lives as normally as they can. That's a determination almost all of them seem to possess.