Winter Arrives Early; Saddam on Trial; Ramsey Clark, Newest Member of Saddam's Defense Team; Battling the Insurgency
ANNOUNCER: From across the U.S. and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360. Live from the CNN studios in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us. We've got a lot ahead tonight, but first, some of the stories we're following at this moment. Sixteen months after issuing its urgent national security recommendations, the Bipartisan 9/11 Commission today released a report calling the current state of affairs scandalous in several areas. The committee's Republican Chairman Thomas Kean put it this way, quote, "A lot of the things we need to do really to prevent another 9/11 just simply aren't being done by the president or by the Congress." Still on the subject of the war against terror, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, prepping for a trip to Europe, said that this country has in fact captured and held terrorists through so called renditions, and European governments have cooperated, but denied detainees are transferred from one country to another for torture. And the war about Iraq also continues to rage. In a radio interview today, Democratic Party Leader Howard Dean said, quote, "The idea that we are going to win this war is an idea, unfortunately, that is just plain wrong." That elicited a counter shot from RNC Chairman Ken Melman, who said Dean's, quote, "outrageous prediction sends the wrong message to our troops, the enemy and the Iraqi people." Just 10 days before historic elections. A split decision in Texas today, where a judge upheld money laundering charges against Congressman Tom DeLay, but dismissed a conspiracy indictment against the former house majority leader. Because the case against him is continuing, Mr. DeLay will not resume his leadership position. Well it is rough-going tonight if you've been up there. Up and down the east coast there is rain, there are heavy thunderstorms, even some tornados down south. In the mid-Atlantic northern and plain states there is snow -- lots and lots of snow. And winter has yet to officially begin. Take a look at all those images. Many are wondering if it is a sign maybe of what's to come this winter. CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with the latest -- Rob.</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Anderson. It's been snowing here all night long. The boardwalk itself, you know, just a handful of people walking up and down it. They still have the music playing, but business, as you would imagine with the snow coming down is pretty low. We're into December now, but this -- at least in the northeast -- is already the second snowfall of the season. Some would say we're off to a pretty fast start.</s>MARCIANO (voice-over): It's December 5 and already much of the East Coast is seeing the second snowfall of the season. And, unlike yesterday's dusting, this one's turning into an all out storm. From North Carolina to Massachusetts, advisories are up and the warnings are out. And the snow accumulations could be substantial. One to three inches in Boston, two to four inches in New York, three to five inches in Philadelphia, and up to seven inches here in Atlantic City, with heavier snows expected in Delaware and Maryland. If this seemingly early snowfall has you asking, what's up with this wacky weather? Well, the truth is, not much. This is an East Coast winter -- the way winter is supposed to be. We may be getting what feels like an early start to the snow, but according to the National Weather Service, we can expect a winter snowfall that's, well, average. The southwest and the plains may get a bit of a break with above normal temperatures, but for the rest of the country, there's as much chance of a cold winter as there is of a warm one. And because there's no big climate pattern in the picture, like an El Nino, or a La Nina, snowfall should be about average as well. Tis the season for bundling up and digging out. But it's also a time when visions of high home heating bills may be dancing in your head. And the energy traders say they're outlook for winter is cold and grim.</s>PAUL FLYNN, ALARON.COM OIL TRADER: Earlier in the year, you know, we had one of the warmest Novembers on record. Everybody was talking global warming. Winter was not going to happen. Oil prices fell down, heating oil prices came back down, crude oil prices came back down, but then all of a sudden we have this first big cold blast come through. Now everybody's talking about a colder than normal winter.</s>MARCIANO: Everybody in the energy business, anyway. And if they're right, that we're heading for a long cold winter, oil prices could rise to about $70 a barrel, sending home heating costs soaring in the northeast. The rest of the country uses mostly natural gas to heat their homes. And they won't get a break either, since natural gas prices are expected to rise even higher than oil.</s>FLYNN: I would suggest that we're going to probably see heating bills 30 to 50 percent higher in most of the country.</s>MARCIANO: So throw another log on the fire, throw on an extra sweater and get ready. Winter has arrived.</s>MARCIANO: December 1, a lot of people don't know, that's really the beginning of winter -- at least in the world of weather. December, January, February, so today being the 5th day of December, it's (inaudible). As far as what this snowfall's been doing, just about two inches here. But it's pretty wet. I mean, it's really compact and that's for one of two reasons. One, we're pretty close to the freezing mark and we're pretty close to the Atlantic Ocean. And that's the story with this storm, Anderson, is that the closer you are to the ocean, that's where you're going to see the higher accumulations. We could see by tomorrow morning as much as seven or eight inches here, even more possibly. Down in Delaware and Maryland, New York City might only get two or three inches and then off and to the eastern shores of Long Island, they could see even more. The farther away you are from the ocean -- kind of like hurricanes -- the better off you'll be with this storm. Anderson, that's the latest from Atlantic City. Back to you.</s>COOPER: Rob, what's the mood music they're playing?</s>MARCIANO: It's some nice house music, actually. Some neat tracks. Sounds pretty good. Really, hang out and kick you for a little bit.</s>COOPER: All right, you go do that. Rob, thanks very much. As we heard earlier, the trial of Saddam Hussein got pretty heated today. Among the highlights, Saddam's half brother accused a witness of being a liar, and Saddam got into a shouting match with the judge. Take a look.</s>SADDAM HUSSEIN: Your honor, may I speak? I'm your brother in the brotherhood of Iraq. I'm not scared of being executed. Nobody can explain my history from '59 until now.</s>JUDGE RIZGAR AMIN: Please get to the question -- the time is tight.</s>HUSSEIN: Oh, now the time is tight?</s>AMIN: We are addressing a specific issue...</s>HUSSEIN: It's not for me, it's for the sake of Iraq. Give me time to talk. This is my right. I served you for 30 years, give me a chance. Don't interrupt me. I'm defending myself. I am not only defending myself, I'm defending you all.</s>COOPER: It is just after 7:00 a.m. in Baghdad. The courtroom opens in just a few hours. Nic Robertson was in the courtroom yesterday. He's going back in. He joins us live. Nic, what are you expecting today?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESONDENT: I think, Anderson, we can expect more of those sort of theatrics from Saddam Hussein and his brother, half brother, Barzan Hasan al-Tikriti, that both sort of being much larger than life in the courtroom, both standing up and shouting. But I think one of the things that we won't see -- the trial -- there was a moment when Ramsey Clark essentially called all the other defense lawyers out of the court. I talked to his defense team last night. They told me they're not planning that sort of tactic again. It's on a deal with the judge. The judge wants to push things forward. They've told him, we won't get in your way if you don't get in our way. So, I don't think we're going to see anybody walking out of the courtroom, but again this is Baghdad. This is Iraq. And in this trial, we've already seen just about anything can happen -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Nic Robertson, thanks very much. Live from Baghdad. The job of defending Saddam Hussein is probably not one that lawyers are rushing to apply for. So far, two of his lawyers have been killed. A third, has left the country in fear. Newest member of the defense team, Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, today asked the judge for his team. Clark took on Saddam's case last week. This isn't the first controversial client he's had. CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look at his career.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than 30 years he's stood by the world's most outcast offenders, people implicated in attacks on America, terrorism in the Middle East, war crimes in the Balkans, genocide in Africa, and now Ramsey Clark is lending legal aid to Saddam Hussein.</s>RAMSEY CLARK, FORMER U.S. ATTORENY GENERAL: The passions in the country are, you know, fever pitched. And it'll take effort at every turn by the court, and everyone participating to be fair and to show that you're being fair.</s>FOREMAN: The Texas born son of a Supreme Court Justice, Clark was Lyndon Johnson's attorney general during the Civil Rights struggle. But after failing to be elected to the Senate, his full attention landed on American Foreign Policy -- with a crash. Time and again, he has offered advice to those doing legal battle with the U.S. government, arguing often venomously, that America's economic, political and military power must be contained by the world's courts.</s>CLARK: Because I think if you don't protect the rights in the hardest cases, you don't have rights.</s>FOREMAN: Clark was criticized for meeting Saddam Hussein shortly before the war. He's being attacked again now for insisting the dictator deserves a vigorous defense.</s>BASAM RIDHA, ADVISOR TO IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Clark has no business to be interfering. This is an Iraqi trial, run by the Iraqi people and for the Iraqi people.</s>FOREMAN: Still, Clark's eagerness to travel the globe, criticizing America has earned him an international reputation. At a George Washington University Law School, Jonathan Turley says in this case, Clark may have a point.</s>JONATHAN TURLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: There's no question Saddam Hussein deserves a fair trial. He's not going to get one. There's no question he deserves good lawyers. And I don't think he's going to get those either. I'm not too sure he deserves Ramsey Clark.</s>FOREMAN (on camera): Well that's a curious way of putting it. What do you mean by that?</s>TURLEY: Ramsey Clark will often go into a case as an attorney and use the case as a vehicle to criticize the United States. That's not necessarily representing your client.</s>FOREMAN (voice-over): Clark has never apologized for using people accused of terrible crimes to promote his views. Indeed, he has defended his actions and often theirs too, by saying the greatest crime since World War II has been American Foreign Policy. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.</s>COOPER: Last week President Bush promised what he called, complete victory over the Iraqi insurgency. But when we talk about the insurgency, what exactly do we mean? Joining me now to talk about how it's evolving is Michael Ware of "Time Magazine." Michael, good to see you again. You wrote there's a struggle within the insurgency in Iraq. Talk about the possible shifts of leadership.</s>MICHAEL WARE, "TIME MAGAZINE": It's been strange bed fellows from the beginning, Anderson, out there in the insurgency. As we've seen, a number of groups coming together in a rough alliance to fight a common enemy; that being U.S. soldiers here in Iraq. One of the leading divisions within the insurgency has been the secularists, the nationalists, who see themselves fighting a war of liberation. They consider themselves freedom fighters. Here they are going out there on operations with Zarqawi's fighters. These are people who are using the extreme form of tactics, who are hoping to bring about a holy war that will deliver an Islamic state. There is great friction between these groups. Now a year ago, Zarqawi's people very much, through money and through the momentum of this fight, had the leading hand. We're now seeing that shift. More and more Zarqawi's people, mostly foreigners, were killed or captured or disbursed. They've been replaced by Iraqis. And these Iraqis have a much greater connection to their old comrades, still fighting for the Baathists or the nationalist insurgency. So we're seeing a recalibration within the insurgency right now.</s>COOPER: You've been reporting from Baghdad for a long time, taking a lot of risks. I want to read you something that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said today about the media and how they are portraying what is happening in Iraq. He said, and I quote, "One of the reasons that views of Iraq are so divergent is that we may be looking at Iraq through different prisms of experience or expectation. For starters, it must be jarring for reporters to leave the United States, arrive in a country that is so different, where they have to worry about their personal safety and then being rushed to a scene of a bomb, car bomb or a shooting and have little opportunity to see the rest of the country." The implication being, we in America are not getting the full picture because of what you and everyone else who is reporting there are only showing us the bombs.</s>WARE: Well, I'd personally like to invite Secretary Rumsfeld to come and spend some time here on the ground in Baghdad in what he would refer to as the Red Zone. Whenever Secretary Rumsfeld himself has visited Iraq, it's been well within the embrace of the U.S. military. He has been encased in the Green Zone. Let him come out and taste what life is like for the ordinary Iraqis. For the ordinary Iraqi, a few soccer balls, a painted school means nothing. When you cannot have confidence in sending your children to elementary school and that they won't be blown up, that government-sponsored death squads won't kick in your door at night, that you won't be caught in the crossfire of some awful battle. Let Secretary Rumsfeld come and live that life for a day and then let him talk about the positives that are being unreported. If -- it would be an insult to the Iraqi experience to have it any other way.</s>COOPER: Because in your mind, security is the number one concern you hear from Iraqis on a daily basis?</s>WARE: It's not in my mind. This is their life. Security right now is all that matters to the. I mean, it's got to the point where security is well and truly above democracy or deliverable justice. These people just want to be safe. They just want the war to stop. And I have to say I've got a growing sensation that this is the feeling in which they are in accord with the American people. The American people, as the polling is showing, are caring less and less about indoctrinating the Middle East with democracy and they're caring more and more with just seeing the place stable, seeing it stop producing more and more Al Qaida terrorists, instead of creating fewer.</s>COOPER: Of course, the question then is what to do. There has, of course, been talk in the United States of a pullout. Secretary Rumsfeld today said, quote, "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 emboldened Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. We know this: He said so." Do you think a U.S. pullout or setting a timetable for a pullout would be a victory for insurgents?</s>WARE: Well, a pullout right now is simply impossible, Anderson. There's no way that U.S. forces can withdraw. They've gone too far. The implosion that would happen in this country would have regional consequences and would erode American power. So what's the alternative? U.S. military intelligence tells me that there's been a long and painful evolution in their thinking. They realize that militarily, they cannot win this war in the time available, in the time that American public opinion will give them. So they're looking for a political solution, which is always the answer to an insurgency. What are they doing? America is looking to bring back the Baath party, the old Baath party -- not of Saddam, but the Baath party of Iraq. These are the former allies in the 1980s. They share America's concerns about Al Qaida and Islamic extremism. The Baaths never had Al Qaida here and they also share America's concerns about Iran. So -- Ambassador Khalilzad has said let's roll back the Baathification. It's gone too far. Let's bring back the army. Let's talk to these insurgents, these nationalists, and get them in the political process and back into government.</s>COOPER: Michael Ware, always good to talk to you. Thank you, Michael.</s>WARE: Thanks, Anderson.</s>COOPER: A daring and radical operation. One woman receives the face of another. Tonight, we are seeing the first images of what that surgery accomplished. Take a look. We'll show you a fuller picture, coming up. Plus, a woman's determination to help a mother she didn't even know. Hear how she found this mother's two children, buried, abandoned in the woods. And this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For 20 odd years, I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about this and didn't tell -- just like my mother didn't tell her best friend. I never even told my best friend.</s>COOPER: Imagine having a secret like that for 20 some years. What would make a person have to hold a secret that long? Well, you won't believe it, what he had to hide. We'll talk with him, ahead.