Vegas Casino Fire; Saddam Interrogation Details
BLITZER: Saddam Hussein himself said his weapons of mass destruction were little more than a mirage. That word now coming from his FBI interrogator, who spent several months with the ex-dictator. We're going to tell you what other secrets Saddam Hussein may have revealed. And the tale of the text messages. -- Detroit's mayor caught up right now in a very embarrassing scandal, with allegations of an affair and -- and possible perjury. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. With only hours to go before the South Carolina primary, Democrats are making one last push, as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to slug it out, John Edwards is reminding voters that there are three candidates in this Democratic race.</s>JOHN EDWARDS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The media, from my perspective, has been obsessed with the two glamour candidates, who have over $100 million each. And what I've learned is I'm the underdog and I'm out here fighting in the trenches. And what I have seen over and over -- at the debates, for example -- is when undecided voters watch the debates and they actually hear what I have to say, they almost universally move in my direction.</s>BLITZER: As far as South Carolina goes, Republicans have been there, done that. They're looking ahead to Tuesday's primary in Florida. The best political team on television will look at both of these contests. Much more on these stories coming up this hour and next. But let's move to another story that we've been following most of the afternoon -- a stunning sight that shut down part of the Las Vegas strip. Flames shooting from the top of a giant hotel and casino, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. The fire is now out, thank God, but the investigation is only just beginning. Let's turn to Carol Costello. She's been following the story for us. What's the latest? Those pictures hours ago -- only a few hours ago -- were oh so dramatic.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it happened at 11:00 a.m. And that would be Las Vegas time. As you said, Wolf, the fire is out, but, boy, was it a bear to fight. The best news -- everybody got out OK. But what an ordeal. This hotel is 32 stories high. It has more than 3,000 rooms. Maids and firefighters went door-to-door banging on each one shouting, "Fire! get out!" One bride in her wedding dress was seen running from the hotel. This is what firefighters had to say.</s>ED CAGALO, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA FIRE DEPARTMENT: High rise fires are never easy to fight. And, as you can see, with it being outside, our firefighters actually had to hang out the windows to try and cut the fire off while we directed our fire streams at an angle where we could make contact with the fire. So it wasn't an easy fire at all.</s>COSTELLO: It was not, but they got it out. Firefighters aren't sure how much damage was done. It appears that mostly the outside facade of the building burned. And that's a good thing, because the hotel's most expensive suites are on those top floors. No word on what caused the fire, Wolf, but there were welders working up there just before the flames broke out.</s>BLITZER: Well, when we get some more information, we'll share it with our viewers. Carol, thanks very much. Let's move on, though, to other news that we're following right now. It seems Saddam Hussein may have revealed a number of secrets during his long hours and hours of interrogation -- and including an admission that his arsenal -- his deadly weapons of mass destruction were actually a mirage. Let's go to Brian Todd. He's watching this story for us. What are you learning -- Brian.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, while he was in U.S. custody, Saddam Hussein spent a lot of time with a 36-year-old FBI interrogator named George Piro. What that young agent says Saddam told him throws more cold water on the justification for war.</s>TODD (voice-over): War over weapons of mass destruction. But the man who allegedly had those weapons told his interrogator it was mostly smoke and mirrors. FBI special agent George Piro, who questioned Saddam Hussein every day, at least five hours a day for nearly seven months, says Saddam told him he was bluffing about having WMD and didn't expect the United States to invade, but faked a weapons program because he was afraid that Iran would. A clip of Piro's interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" is on the network's Web site. Another surprise from Saddam, according to Piro, he'd stayed one step of ahead of U.S. forces on the night major combat operations started.</s>GEORGE PIRO, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: He said that he was at -- at one of the locations. He said it in a kind of a bragging fashion, that he was there but that we missed him. And he wasn't bothered by the fact that he was there. It was more of the fact that he was there, but we still weren't able to -- to get him.</s>TODD: The full interview with Piro can be seen on "60 Minutes" on Sunday. We spoke with Ron Kessler, who interviewed Piro for his new book, "The Terrorist Watch." Piro told Kessler Saddam was a neat freak who would wash his hands compulsively if he ever shook yours. "The former Iraqi president also flirted with an American nurse while in custody," writes Kessler, and had plenty of romantic advice for his young FBI handler.</s>RONALD KESSLER, AUTHOR, "THE TERRORIST WATCH": Saddam said, you know, Arab women are better at a certain age because they'll be loyal to you and American women are too independent.</s>TODD: The agent told Kessler when it was time to part ways, he smoked Cuban cigars with Saddam Hussein. Then...</s>KESSLER: They hugged each other in the traditional Arab way, which made George rather uncomfortable. But then -- then Saddam definitely was shaken and teared up.</s>TODD: George Piro told Kessler he found Saddam Hussein likable, with a good sense of humor. But Piro said he never forgot what an evil man Saddam was and said he felt his conviction and execution were fair -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: What other personal information about Saddam Hussein are we learning?</s>TODD: Well, Kessler writes that Saddam told George Piro that he didn't trust his younger son, Qusai, even though he had groomed Qusai to be a successor. When Piro pressed Saddam on his sons, Kessler writes, Saddam said, "Look, leave me alone. You don't get to pick your kids. You're stuck with what you're given and this is what I had."</s>BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks very much. Fascinating material. Last night at the Republican presidential debate down in Boca Raton, Florida, all the Republican candidates were asked whether they -- whether the war against Saddam Hussein was actually worth it in terms of blood and treasure, even though the U.S. has never found any weapons of mass destruction. Here's the gist of what they all said.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was a good idea. It was not worth the failures that happened, but it is worth it at the end of the day, because we will have peace and success in the Middle East and our men and women will return and return with honor. And they won't have to go back and now fight Al Qaeda there.</s>RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm for it not because of polls, but because American is in a war -- an Islamic terrorist war against us. America has to succeed in Iraq. And the goal in Iraq is an Iraq that's stable and an ally of the United States. And to be president of the United States, you have to be able to read polls, but you can't have them push you around.</s>RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Al Qaeda wasn't there then. They're there now. They were no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with 9/11. There was no aggression. This decision on policy was made in 1998, under the previous administration, because they called for the removal of Saddam Hussein. It wasn't worth it. And it's a sad story because we started that war and we should never be a country that starts war needlessly.</s>MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now everybody can look back and say oh, well, we didn't find the weapons. It doesn't mean they weren't there. Just because you didn't find every Easter egg, doesn't mean it wasn't planted. My point is that when the president acted, this country was united in believing it was a necessary thing to do. It's easy to second guess a president. Whoever of us is elected, we'll be second guessed, too. But I hope we have the courage and the resolve, once we commit to something, to make sure we don't back away just because the polls say we should.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor Romney, was the war in Iraq a good idea worth the cost in blood and treasure we have spent?</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was the right decision to go into Iraq. I supported it at the time. I support it now. It was not well managed in the -- after the takedown of Saddam Hussein and his military. That was done brilliantly -- an extraordinary success. But in the years that followed, it was not what -- we were under managed, under prepared, under planned, under staffed. And then we came into the phase that we have now. The plan that President Bush and General Petraeus put together is working. It's changing lives there. And, perhaps most importantly, it's making sure that Al Qaeda and no other group like them is becoming a superpower, if you will, in the communities and having a safe haven from which they launch attacks against us.</s>BLITZER: So with the exception of Ron Paul, all of the Republican president candidates say the war against Saddam Hussein was definitely, in their opinion, worth it. A Minnesota flight instructor was awarded $5 million this week. It was a U.S. government award for helping to convict 9/11 conspirator and former flight student, Zacarias Moussaoui. But were two other tipsters and fellow instructors short-changed? Let's get some specifics now from our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, who's watching this story. What's this all about -- Kelli.</s>KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one U.S. senator wants to know why two other men didn't get part of that reward for their help in the Moussaoui investigation. Senator Norm Coleman asked the State Department to see what could be done to ensure that they, too, receive the credit that they're due.</s>ARENA (voice-over): They're good friends -- military veterans who work together at the same flight school in Minnesota. Hugh Sims and Tim Nelson are also the men who alerted the FBI about a suspicious student named Zacarias Moussaoui in August of 2001.</s>HUGH SIMS, FORMER PAN AM INSTRUCTOR: I explained to them that we had a student at the Pan Am flight academy that I think is asking for training that could become dangerous.</s>ARENA: In fact, of all the Americans Moussaoui ran into, Nelson and Sims were the only ones known to have called the FBI. In fact, they were recognized by the Senate for their bravery. So the men were shocked to learn that another flight instructor they worked with was just given a $5 million State Department reward for his help in the Moussaoui case.</s>TIM NELSON, FORMER PAN AM INSTRUCTOR: I was just totally dumbfounded.</s>ACOSTA: So just who is $5 million richer? Officials say it's instructor Clancy Prevost. Prevost also noted something odd about Moussaoui and asked his bosses to call the FBI. But for him, it ended there -- until he testified at Moussaoui's trial.</s>NELSON: Are we paying people to testify or are we paying people to do the right thing?</s>ARENA: Sims and Nelson went much further. They called the FBI themselves -- bypassing their bosses, who were reluctant to turn in a paying customer -- risking their jobs and reputations. They got nothing. Prevost could not be reached for comment. The State Department, which awarded Prevost the money privately, would not comment on specifics.</s>TOM CASEY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The Rewards for Justice program operates on the basis of nominations. So a U.S. law enforcement agency would have made a nomination of this individual.</s>ARENA: A U.S. official says that it was the FBI that made the recommendation. He says the bureau considered information about Sims and Nelson, but only nominated Prevost. The FBI, Wolf, had no comment.</s>BLITZER: Kelli Arena, thanks very much for that. Let's go back to Jack Cafferty. He's got The Cafferty File -- Jack.</s>CAFFERTY: It's all about the system, isn't it, when you get to Washington, D.C.?</s>BLITZER: A little bureau...</s>CAFFERTY: It doesn't matter...</s>BLITZER: A little bureaucracy going on.</s>CAFFERTY: Yes. It doesn't matter whether the right thing is done or not, it's well, we've got this system and this is the way the system handles it so -- so don't ask. Amazing. John McCain is getting no love from the Republican base. This is according to his 95-year-old mother -- a delightful lady, Robert McCain. She says she's seen her son get no help whatsoever from the Republican base. Nevertheless, Mrs. McCain says that he can go onto win the nomination. She says: "I think holding their nose, they're going to have to take him." You've got to love it. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY C-SPAN) ROBERT MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S MOTHER: Now I'm really popping off, but he worked like a dog to get Bush reelected. He ever -- he's backed Bush in everything except Rumsfeld. Have you heard other senators and Congressmen backing Bush over eight years? Find me -- give me a name. And I've never seen any public recognition for the work that he's done for the Republican Party.</s>CAFFERTY: It doesn't get any better than that. I wish she'd run for president. And when asked about his mother's comments, McCain said that although he loves her dearly, they do disagree on some things. He joked that given his mom's age -- 95 -- she should get a little latitude for her candid remarks. McCain also pointed to the fact that he won more Republican votes than any other candidate in both South Carolina and New Hampshire. He says the support he got from Independents should show conservatives that he's the most electable candidate come the general election. But his mother might well have a point. Mom knows best, you know, sometimes. McCain has tough critics within the conservative establishment. This includes people like former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, former Senator Rick Santorum and conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh. A lot of them are disgusted with positions McCain has taken on issues like immigration, campaign finance reform, his decision to work with Joe Lieberman on global warming and his opposition to President Bush's tax cuts. So here's the question -- John McCain's mother says he has no support from the Republican base. Is she right? Go to CNN.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. She's terrific, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, 95. God bless her. Thanks very much.</s>CAFFERTY: Yes.</s>BLITZER: Jack Cafferty will be back shortly. We've seen recessions before, but what if the next one -- if there is a next one -- is different? We're going to show you why some fear the U.S. economy is plunging into some very dangerous, uncharted waters. Also, you're going to find out why Barack Obama needs to win South Carolina's primary and what his biggest challenge may still be. Also this -- reports of secret sexy text messages spark a scandal at Detroit's city hall, with the mayor at the center of it all. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.