Putin Claims Russia Tipped Off U.S. to Saddam Terror Plots; Saudis Scramble to Find Paul Johnson as Deadline Looms.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Did Saddam Hussein target America for terror attack? Russia's president drops a bombshell about intelligence shared with the</s>U.S. KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Sounds so sweet. A live tribute this hour honoring one of America's most original voices.</s>THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Thelma Gutierrez in Los Angeles where a long list of recording heavyweights are paying their last respects to the legend, Ray Charles.</s>O'BRIEN: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.</s>PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. It's Friday, June 18, CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.</s>PHILLIPS: Russia to the rescue? Two days after the independent 9/11 Commission cited no credible evidence between collusion between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, seemingly contradicting one of the Bush administration's rationales for war, comes a bombshell from Vladimir Putin. The Russian president, who opposed the war, tells reporters that Russian intelligence warned Americans on several occasions that Saddam was plotting terror attacks against the U.S. We get the details now from CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty -- Jill.</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Kyra, first of all, President Putin isn't making any connection directly to al Qaeda. That's one point on this. But it's a very interesting comment, as you have said. What Mr. Putin is saying is that before the invasion of Iraq, Russia and the United States, as they are now, were sharing intelligence information. And Russian agents uncovered information from their sources that the Saddam Hussein administration -- Saddam Hussein regime was planning attacks on the United States both domestically and internationally. Here is what President Putin said today about that.</s>VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Indeed, after September 11 and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, the Russian special services received information that the official bodies of Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist attacks on the U.S. territory and on American military and civil sites outside the country. This information has indeed been conveyed to our American colleagues.</s>DOUGHERTY: And apparently conveyed directly to President Bush, because Mr. Putin says that President Bush himself got in touch with the head of Russian intelligence and thanked him directly for that information. Now President Putin says that there is no information, however, no proof, that Saddam Hussein's agents were involved in any terrorist attack against the United States. Russia continues, as it did in the run-up to the war, to be opposed to the war in Iraq, as you mentioned. And Mr. Putin said that has not changed. But interestingly, again, the timing of all of this, because after all it comes during a very strong debate in the United States about any possible connection that Saddam Hussein might have had to terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Jill Dougherty live from Moscow, thank you -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: The White House isn't giving an inch on the Iraq-al Qaeda connection allegation. Vice President Dick Cheney made the case today for the second time this week, claiming overwhelming evidence of high level contacts. He also called the media irresponsible for saying the 9/11 Commission concluded those contacts came to nothing.</s>DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There clearly was a relationship. It has been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming. It goes back to the early '90s. It involves a whole series of contacts, high level contacts between Osama bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence officials. It involves senior official, a brigadier general in the Iraqi intelligence service going to the Sudan before bin Laden ever went to Afghanistan to train them in bomb- making, helping teach them how to forge documents.</s>O'BRIEN: The 9/11 panel says bin Laden sought Iraqi support in that Sudan meeting mentioned by Mr. Cheney but he was basically snubbed. Twelve days and counting until the return of Iraqi sovereignty and possibly martial law, that's being considered by Iraq's new government in light of daily insurgent attacks on Iraqis and Iraqi infrastructure. In Baghdad today a U.S. military supply convoy was totaled in a rocket-propelled grenade attack but no one appears to be hurt. South Korea is sending more than 3600 troops to Northern Iraq later this summer. That will make Seoul the third-largest coalition partner in terms of troop strength, and reconstruction is job one. And 660 South Korean troops are in southern Iraq already. They too will head north in the next few weeks. And Sunday is the target date for resuming Iraqi oil exports from southern terminals. You may know exports were halted entirely south and north by those devastating attacks on the pipeline. A U.S. official says southern lines could be at full capacity by the middle of next week.</s>PHILLIPS: Today appears to be the day Paul Johnson's kidnappers have threatened to kill him unless Saudi Arabia releases all its al Qaeda prisoners. Johnson is the Lockheed Martin engineer who was captured last Saturday by al Qaeda members or sympathizers calling themselves the al Fallujah Squadron. Saudi authorities are said to be combing the kingdom with no success so far. One man who knows more than most of what it is like to be a prisoner of hostile forces, Ron Young Jr. was a chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army when his chopper went down in central Iraq less than two weeks into. He and crewmates spent three long weeks in fear for their lives before being rescued by U.S. forces in Tikrit. Today Ron is a special contributor to CNN. He joins us now with his reflections on what's happening. Now you and I have been talking a lot about this. When you look at this video of Paul Johnson and you look at just his behavior and his mannerisms, what do you think is different about this versus a Nick Berg or your situation?</s>RON YOUNG JR., CNN SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, right now, he went into this situation and, of course, he knows what happened to Nick Berg. And that's a very heavy thing to have weighing on your mind to go into this situation. You can tell that he's being very careful about everything he does. He's not trying to provoke him. He's taken on a severely subservient role which is what he has to do to try to keep himself alive at this point. And you know, our hearts just go out to the families and everything, and of course, our prayers. And I really applaud his family and the things that they've done to try to keep him alive by coming on camera and telling him how much he is a father and how much they love him. And I think that's a very good thing they're doing, trying to build a case for this man to be spared.</s>PHILLIPS: Is it different for Paul Johnson, for example, with you as a soldier, you sort of knew you had a chance that you would be rescued because of just the way the military operates and the duty to come after you. But you also were telling me in your mind, you thought you were going to die.</s>YOUNG: Absolutely. Every day I felt like that I was going to die. Especially when I was there laying on the bank and, of course, the Iraqis come over and they're tying me up. And they get behind me. And one of my takes a rifle and butt strokes me across the back of my head with it and basically knocks me almost unconscious and I start seeing stars. And when I come to, I'm looking over and Dave has a knife to his throat.</s>PHILLIPS: Dave was your crewmate.</s>YOUNG: Right, Dave being my crewmate that was shot down with me that night and taken captive also. But you know, and seeing that, and of course, the last -- the next 20 days were not any less fearful whatsoever. Every day we thought we were going to die. And I had basically made up my mind in the very beginning that the Iraqis were going to kill me.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about something different that is happening here. It started yesterday, he called himself "Sayed (ph) the Believer." He came out on this Web site saying, you've got to stop this, this isn't right, this is not Islamic. You don't kill innocent people like this who have done nothing to you. Then today this quote comes out from a top Saudi cleric, an imam, calling on these terrorists to repent and coming out with this quote saying that it is wrong and it's against the Muslim religion. It's unique here. Do you think that this could change the dynamics?</s>YOUNG: I do. I think he has a better chance right now than he has had the entire time through this. I mean, at first you look like, oh, my gosh, this is a horrible situation. But today after the developments that happened yesterday and, of course, today, it seems like he has a fairly good chance of making it now because you have the religious leaders, the highest ranking religious leaders over in Saudi Arabia in the city of Mecca, the center of Islam, basically saying that this is an evil thing that you're doing and that you guys need to repent. And they're basically declaring that they protect this guy. And under the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, if they're granted protection, Muslim protection, then basically Muhammad has said that either killing them or harming them or causing them any injury whatsoever or robbing them is absolutely wrong.</s>PHILLIPS: Now that's interesting, because with you the same thing happened, there were actually Iraqis that came to your defense?</s>YOUNG: Absolutely. We were sitting in the back of a van. And there were seven of us, of course, in there. And we'd been sitting there for three hours outside a grocery store kind of waiting for what's going to happen to us. And we had changed hands about six times. And this was going to be the seventh. And we were on a very tight rope. We started to feel like these guys were about ready to kill us, stick us in a grave and walk away from us. And three guys took us over. And when they finally got us to a house, they started talking to us about the reason that they wanted us to live, and it was so that we could come back to the States and tell the world that Muslims are actually a peaceful people and that they believe in human rights and they don't believe in the Saddam Hussein regime. And you know.</s>PHILLIPS: And here you are alive. Hopefully the same thing for Paul Johnson.</s>YOUNG: We hope so, absolutely.</s>PHILLIPS: Thanks, Ron -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: Frank Sinatra called him a genius, Aretha Franklin called him the voice of a lifetime. And while that voice will never really be silenced, not as long as there are turntables or CD players or whatever may hold, the man himself, Ray Charles, is gone. Charles being mourned, thanked and celebrated, as we speak at the First AME Church of Los Angeles. And that is where we find CNN's Thelma Gutierrez -- Thelma..</s>GUTIERREZ: Miles, the funeral started just a few moments ago. Inside the First AME Church there are 1500 people, many of them well- known. This is a private invitation-only memorial service. There are many people seated outside here in the overflow section. Among those who we saw arrive earlier today, actress Cicely Tyson, Clint Eastwood, Glen Campbell, Little Richard, B.B. King, and the Reverend Jess Jackson. Right now let's listen in to the funeral where the Reverend Robert Robertson is speaking.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and for the hours that are brighter and the roads that are straighter and the dreams that are nobeler, we praise thee, Lord. We praise you, Lord, for the tender memories that mortal death cannot extinguish.</s>GUTIERREZ: There will be a number of musical tributes as well later in the service. The service will last about two hours. A musical tribute later on by Stevie Wonder. One coming up by B.B. King, Glen Campbell as well, who said that he will play, of course, a very famous song "Georgia." And he said when he arrived here earlier that he remembered once when they had played together in Las Vegas and that he actually -- that Ray Charles actually opened for him -- Kyra.</s>O'BRIEN: Thelma Gutierrez, thank you very much. President Bush on the road. The commander-in-chief takes his message to the troops. We're LVIE FROM... Ft. Lewis, Washington, straight ahead. And the former commander-in-chief, remember him, Bill Clinton? He is set to release his revelations, some 900 pages worth. We have a sneak peek inside the tome.