Saddam Hussein On Trial; Rumsfeld Discusses Iraq; 9/11 Panel Gives Government Low Marks on Security
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're out of time. Here's Daryn.</s>DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You guys have a great day in snowy New York City. We'll go ahead and get started with taking a look at what's happening right now live on CNN TODAY. We have a lot of things we are watching all at once. First, live from Washington, you can see Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. We'll be hearing from him in a little bit. Also in Washington today, the 9/11 Commission giving the White House and Capitol Hill failing grades for protecting the nation against a terrorist attack. There is that live story. We're going to dig deeper into what they're saying. And I just told you about Donald Rumsfeld. Also ahead, defiance in a Baghdad courtroom. Saddam Hussein, his defense team walks out. A former U.S. attorney general speaks up for the ousted dictator. Those stories and more ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY. But first, let's check out other stories happening "Now in the News." A suicide bomb exploded outside of a mall in the northern Israeli city of Netanya today. At least five people are dead and 35 others are wound. The militant group Islamic jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Palestinian authority has condemned the bombing, calling it sabotage against the peace process. Israeli security officials are meeting to discuss a response. Iran has announced plans to construct a second nuclear power plant. This comes amid rising tensions in the Middle East over Iran's nuclear aspirations. Israeli prime minister candidate, Benjamin Netanyahu, says that he would support a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear program. Iranian officials say they don't take that threat seriously. Iran says it's nuclear program is designed to produce electricity, not weapons. A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck east and central Africa today. The quake's epicenter was in the Lake Tanganyik region on the Kongo Tanzania boarder. Trembling was felt in those two countries, as well as several other African nations. There have been no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. Florida teenager Lionel Tate will face a competency hearing later this month after revealing that he hears voices and has considered suicide. In 2001, Tate became the youngest person ever sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. at the age of 13. That murder conviction was later thrown out, but his life sentence could be reinstated for violation of probation. And good morning. Thanks for joining me on this, the first Monday in December. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Saddam Hussein is the defendant, but in many ways the Iraqi court itself is on trial.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to leave the courtroom if you don't accept this.</s>KAGAN: The court did eventually allow Saddam Hussein's legal team to challenge the legitimacy of the trial. That concession ended the defense's 90-minute walkout led by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Joining us, Michael Scharf, a law professor in Ohio who helped train the Iraqi judges and prosecutors in Iraq's special tribunal. First, though, let's set the stage with CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad. Aneesh, hello.</s>ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning. As you said, the defense lawyers walked out. When they returned, though, riveting testimony began. Testimony that continues in the video feed coming out of that courtroom on a 20-minute delay. It is testimony from the first witness to speak in front of Saddam Hussein and his seven had co-defendant, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed. He is a villager from Dujail and he has been recounting in specificity what happened in July 1982 after Saddam Hussein survived an assassination attempt there, and then allegedly had thousands of villagers thrown in jail, had over 140 of them executed. Mohammed spoke directly at times to Saddam Hussein, to the other defendants. He had remarkable confidence for a man who was just now confronting the dictator and the tyranny that ruled his life for 30 years. Really, in some sense, speaking on behalf of all Iraqis. At the beginning, the defendants themselves interrupted him, Barzan Hassan, Saddam Hussein's half- brother. He asked that they be kept quiet. He addressed Saddam Hussein specifically as well. At other times, though, he nearly broke down. Specifically when he talked about the torture that his brother endured.</s>AHMED HASSAN MOHAMMED, WITNESS, (through translator): If I were to mention the names and the methods of torture, I would need more than 10 days. Senya Agu Magit (ph), they broke him. Broke his arm, his leg. This is during the torture and they also, Sali Ali Asad (ph), they also shot at his foot. All of that during interrogation.</s>RAMAN: Remarkable images, Daryn, considering what this man endured and the man that he was standing in front of. To backtrack though, earlier in the day, essentially a battle for control of the court between the defense lawyers and the judge. Something we saw in the two previous trial sessions. Today, though, it reached a boiling point. At the start, the judge, with more confidence than we've seen before, tried to immediately bring the first witness. The defense lawyer stood up, said that they did not want that to happen until they could make oral arguments both about the security situation and the legality of the court. They wanted to do that through former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. The judge tried to go ahead without that. The defense then walked out. The judge deliberated for 10 minutes, and when the trial resumed, Ramsey Clark did make a statement. He talked about how this trial could either further divide Iraq or provide some means of reconciliation between the varying groups. And that until security that is suitable is provided for the defense team, this trial cannot go forward. Then we saw, as we're seeing now, the first witness testimony. Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad. Aneesh, thank you. And we'll get to Michael Scharf if just a minute. Right now, though, Thomas Kean, the former commissioner of the 9/11 Commission, speaking about how the federal government has implemented idea proposed in the 9/11 Commission report. Let's listen in.</s>THOMAS KEAN, 9/11 PUBLIC DISCOURSE PROJECT: Pursuant to that law, there is now a director of national intelligence. There is now a national counterterrorism center. Now these are structural changes and by themselves we all know they can't correct problems. But they give us a better opportunity and a structure within which to correct these problems. Now as a result of these and the other reforms that have now been done, are we safe as Americans? Well, we're safer. We're safer. No question about that. No terrorist attacks have occurred inside the United States since 9/11. But there is no question that we're not as safe as we need to be. We see some positive changes, but there is so much that needs to be done. Look at this report good. There are far too many c's, d's and f's in this report card that we're going to issue today. And there are many things as I go around the country and talk to the American people, there are many things that people think have been done that simply haven't been done. Our leadership has been distracted in this country. Some of the failures are shocking. Four years after 9/11, it is a scandal that police and firefighter in large cities still can't talk to each other reliably when they're hit with a major crisis. It's scandalous that airline passengers are still not screened against all names on a terrorist watch list. It is scandalous that we still allocate scarce homeland security dollars on the basis of pork barrel spending and not on risk. So we're frustrated, all of us. We're frustrated at the lack of urgency in addressing these various problems. Bin Laden and al Qaeda believe it is their duty to kill as many Americans as possible. And as we meet here, we know they also are meeting and plotting to do us harm. On 9/11 they killed nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens. Now many of the steps that we recommend will help prevent such a disaster from ever happening again. We shouldn't need another wake-up call. We believe that the terrorists will strike again. So does every responsible expert that we have talked to. If they do, and these reforms that might have prevented such an attack have not been implemented, what will our excuses be? While, the terrorists are learning and adapting, our government is still moving at a crawl.</s>KAGAN: We've been listening to Thomas Kean, the chairman of the former 9/11 Commission. They are issuing a report card on how they think Congress and the White House has implemented suggestions that they made in their report following 9/11. Basically Thomas Kean saying that he does believe America is safer than it was before 9/11, but not as safe as America needs to be. Our David Ensor is covering that story. We'll have much more on those developments just ahead. Right now, though, I want to go back to the idea of Saddam Hussein being on trial in Iraq and bring in Michael Scharf, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University. Also a legal adviser to the Hussein tribunal. Hello.</s>MICHAEL SCHARF, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: Hi, Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Well, let's talk about the training and the judge and the attorneys have had. Are you satisfied with how this court is running so far?</s>SCHARF: Not completely, I must say. You know, we did some rehearsals, some moot courts and practiced what would you do, for example, if the defense counsel or the defendants tried to disrupt the proceedings. And the judge is supposed to, and he was selected because he is the calmest, the most sympathetic, the most reasonable- minded judge and he's supposed to portray that image, but sometimes he may go too far the other way. He really does need to keep control of this court. And what we haven't seen yet in your broadcast, but I was monitoring the trial on my computer, is that he allowed later on in the trial today one of the defendants to cross-examine the witness, which is very unusual because there had been a decision not to allow the defendant to act as their own attorneys and yet that's exactly what's going on. And instead of cross examining the witness, the defendants started talking about his own mistreatment in court. And he went on and on and on and the judge didn't cut him off. And so this is, I guess, a tightrope act for the judge. He's got to learn his way in the courtroom. And unless he masters this and gains full control, there is the possible that this proceeding could become a train wreck.</s>KAGAN: And we do want to explain to our viewers what we're watching on television. This is a taped delay, about 20 minutes late, of the latest video coming out of this trial in Iraq. What do you make of Saddam Hussein's demeanor so far?</s>SCHARF: Oh, Saddam Hussein, this is very interesting. I've been reading Gerald Post (ph), who's a criminal psychologist profiler's examination of Saddam Hussein. For example, you notice that Saddam Hussein's hair is now dark. He is wearing these designer suits and these well-pressed shirts and he looks an awful lot, I think, like George Clooney in this new movie coming out, "Syriana." Now what I think is happening is that Saddam Hussein is trying to send signals to his people back home. He's not wearing a suit and a tie and he hasn't gone back to the single mustache because with the beard and with this more casual look, they can identify him since they're out in the field doing the insurgency, he's looking like he's part of that. And, on the other hand, he's being combative in the courtroom, showing them that the president has not yet given up on his power.</s>KAGAN: And getting back to this idea of just how organized or disorganized his court is. Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. attorney general there, joining Saddam's defense team, saying you've got a big problem here, folks, because these defense attorneys and their families are not safe. And no matter what you think about Saddam Hussein and the people on trial, if you don't protect the entire judicial system, this is just not going to fly here in Iraq.</s>SCHARF: Well, they have $100 million allotted to this trial and 80 percent of that is supposed to go to security. And a lot of that has gone to the security of the judges and of the prosecutors. Well, more of that has to now go to the security of the defense counsel. And I'm sure that there will be major developments to ensure that these people have an arm of secure guards, that their families are moved into the green zone because their safety is just as important as any other trial participant's.</s>KAGAN: Michael Scharf from Case Western. Thank you for your insight. We'll be watching. Iraq is also the topic of the hour today in Washington. That's where Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, as we look at a live picture from that event. The Bush administration has launched a campaign like defense of the war which has seen public support plunge. Let's get the latest from our CNN Senior Correspondent Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, we've been watching the speech over here and it's interesting because Donald Rumsfeld has been portraying the pessimistic view of what's going on in Iraq as one held by what he called the so-called elite in American society. The news media, he called the foreign affairs establishment and academics and think tanks. But he says the Iraqi people, the U.S. military and the American public, to a large extent, are optimistic. And he made the argument that the U.S. cannot abandon Iraq because he says, if it did, it would turn into what Afghanistan was before September 11th, namely a haven for terrorists and a launching pad for attacks against the United States.</s>DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: In my view, quitting is not a strategy. Quitting is an invitation to more attacks and more terrorist violence here at home. This is not just a hypothesis. The U.S. withdrawal from Somalia, embolden Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. We know this. He said so. The message that retreat in Iraq would send to the free people of Iraq and to moderate Muslim reformers throughout the region and the world would be that they cannot count on America. The message it would send to our enemies would be that America will not defend itself against terrorists in Iraq and it will not defend itself against terrorists anywhere.</s>MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld is continuing to take questions from the audience there in Washington. But he added his prepared remarks with a challenge to the news media. He said that the U.S. military has been introspective in reassessing its progress and policy in Iraq. But he said, at the same time, he thought the news media ought to do the same. And he complained that many of the stories about what's going on in Iraq lacked the proper context and detail. He complained about a couple of recent stories, including the report that the U.S. military, through a private contractor, had paid for the placement of stories to be -- favorable stories to be put in the Iraqi media. He said that that story gained a lot of currency even though he said that the U.S. military is still trying to figure out the facts in that story. He also complained about the story a while back about the report that a Koran had been flushed down the toilet at Guantanamo. A story that was never substantiated and turned out to be not true. So he challenged the news media to do a better job in providing context and he made the case, he said, that overall he believes that the U.S. and the world will be better of for staying the course in Iraq. Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. We'll leave you to listen in to what Donald Rumsfeld has to say and you can bring us any newsworthy nuggets as they become available. Also out of Iraq, another U.S. soldier is reported dead there, killed by a roadside bomb. The U.S. military says the soldiers patrol was struck yesterday in eastern Baghdad. In all, three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday, raising the death toll in Iraq to 2,130 troops. And in Afghanistan, the military there reports three U.S. soldiers were wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy southwest of Deh Chopan. The soldiers are said to be in stable condition. Also in Afghanistan, five American soldiers were treated for injuries after two helicopters were hit by enemy fire and forced to make emergency landings. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on her way to Europe this hour. She'll confront accusations that Washington has shuttled terror suspects around the world to secret prisons where they're tortured. Report have further fueled international criticism of the Bush administration's handling of its war on terror. This is what Rice had to say before boarding her flight. We'll have those comments for you in a minute. Secretary Rice is visiting four different countries. She will emphasize the need for a unified front in the war on terror. And she plans to call upon U.S. allies to help rally their public support for the anti-terror campaign. Back here in the U.S., folks in the northeast about to get a dose of snow to go with those cold temperatures. It's already falling in Virginia this morning. Take a look at that. How much could come down before it's all over? The white mess on the right side, that's Roanoke, Virginia, for those of you trying to figure out where in Virginia we're looking at. Chad Myers has the forecast for the nation coming up. Also live right now in Washington, D.C., members of the 9/11 Commission handing out grades on how well its recommendations were followed. We've got to tell you, the report card's not looking good. Also, we're learning more about the communication or lack thereof between the White House and Louisiana's governor in the days before and after Hurricane Katrina struck. What really went on? We'll sort it out for you.